Busy life too much going on

I am so tired of this weather. It is all snowing and flooding and muddy. Yuck! I keep telling myself in a few weeks the grass will be green and it will nice to outside the mud will be gone. I can't tell you how much this winter has seemed to drag on and on. I am trying to think of a place that has season but that isn't so freaking extreme. I will have to investigate that for my old age.

Things here are busy...Autumn has prom in a few weeks. We are actually going to be chaperones. I am looking forward to it. It is so nice to see all the kids dressed and having fun. Jacob is busy with track, speech and school homework. I can't believe he is 14 now. His birthday was yesterday. We took him to Texas Roadhouse and his present was a PSP. His is so excited about. He is getting so tall and growing up fast too. He is a pretty good kid. Seth is at his inquisitive stage. ASking all kinds of questions and telling you what to do because at six he knows it all too. He has some pretty funny exclaimations...like I put a cover on a our new couch. He says " What are you covering that up for?" He just ughhhh's and walks away. He also is very personable to everyone he meets. He comes to where I work after school and strikes up conversations with anyone and everyone he sees there. Seth is our social butterfly.

Well, I suppose I should get David and go out and try to get our van out of the mud it has been in for 3 weeks now. I would like to drive it again. I am sure Autumn would like to have wheels again too.

December 2, 2008

Weather….Christmas Weather. …My idea of a perfect Christmas time weather would be snow falling on Christmas Eve. Big fluffy flakes slowly drifting down from the sky on a dark night, slowly making the ground turn white so perfect and clean. There would be no wind and just a quiet peaceful looking landscape. Since it is Christmas, there would be no reason to go anywhere so we could just look at it from a cozy warm home with all of our children there, enjoying their gifts, and us just enjoying the moment of being together. I think that is the best no stress or worries for one day out of the year. Just enjoying the moment. Because these moments are going to change in the years ahead as the kids grow up and leave for their own lives.

December 1st, Christmas Journal

The last few years I have done an online class about Christmas. I get sent a prompt by email each day until Jan 6th. I usually try to do a scrapbook page or writing etc every day. It does get hard with all the running around that we do in December. But I will try to share it with all of you. It has made the Christmas season something I look forward to because it causes me to step back and see the real reason behind the commercialization of todays season.

MY MANIFESTO

Starting today, December First, I will keep a Christmas Journal.
In it I will write something every day to reflect the holidays of my past,

enjoy the holidays of my present, and dream about the holidays of the future.

To some this would be a stack of papers and trivial scribbles, but not to me.

I am taking back my Christmas.

I am letting something important I relish
and more importantly, I am giving fifteen minutes to myself, every day, no
matter how crazy this season becomes. This Christmas I will make
something with my own hands, my own words, and
my own memories.

Please stay tuned to my blog for more special Christmas lists.

God gave us a gift

Last night we got home from doing a bimonthly shopping trip(groceries etc). It was one of those rare nights that were clear and quiet. Usually when we get home at night the first thing I do is look up at the night sky. Sometimes there are few stars and moon but last night was a awesome. It was full of stars. Here usually in the winter when it is -20 and it looks beautiful but all you really want to do is go inside to get warm. After we brought all of our groceries and such in the house. We all went outside and enjoyed the simple pleasure of looking up at the night sky. Trying to find what constellations we could remember and see. I wish I could have gotten a picture of it. It is always so inspiring to look at how small we really are here in on this Earth. Makes the problems of our little world seem so insignificant somehow. It was really just nice to be with my family and enjoy the simply being together.

This past few weeks have been trying to say the least. The elementary guidance counselor at the school died of colon cancer which she had been battling for about a year. Her family will never be the same and will always be missing someone. Another family lost their daughter in a car accident. She was 17. This is the 3rd girl that has been killed in a car accident in the last four years. So that is another family who will be missing someone for the rest of their lives.

So last night I think was God's gift to us to make us appreciate the family we have right now. We made a few memories especially when Seth said Look there is star orange one right over there.(pointing across at our neighbors property.)..When told no that is just a light Seth says: Our darn it!

The other highlight was there were shooting stars. I saw at least 3. It is always so neat to catch sight one but last night I think most of us saw at least one. So there were wishes made. I just hope God heard them.

Mom's Birthday

Yesterday was September 24, which was my mother's birthday. She would have been 84. It has been 3 years since she left this world. It has been hard some days when I have had the need to talk to her about something. She wasn't a perfect person but someone who shared many memories with me. She chose a different path than I might have but I learned from her mistakes. I know what kind of person I want to be and know what would have made her proud. I learned to volunteer my time even though I am busy with my kids. I learned that kids want to know what is expected from them. I learned that I want to happy with myself always. I learned you can be strong and still be loved. I feared my mother, I loved my mother. She was a person who get anything done. She wanted the best for all her kids. She also expected so much more than I think we did of ourselves. I would like to think she was proud of all of us. We all took different roads to get where we are now but I think we turned out okay. She made me a stronger person and able to stand up for myself. If I could stand up to her then I could make it in the world on my own. I took care of her for nine years doing many things that kids at my age never would have to do but I loved her and wanted her to be happy.
She gave me the love of crafting. I have all of her knitting things. I taught myself to be creative from cross stitch, crochet, knitting, scrapbooking and spinning yarn. If you don't know something you learn. Well, anyway....Thank you, Mom for giving me the strenght to speak my mind and be giving of myself to others.

Happy Birthday!!!!

Sheba has gone to a better place

Sheba was our dog for almost 15 years. We got her as a puppy from a farm a few miles from our home. She was a black lab and german shepard mix. She was very loyal and loving. She grew up with all the kids. She also tolerated all the other dogs we have brought home. She was smart and helped keep the kids safe. She loved roaming our 11 acres and making sure the place was safe. She was afraid of the coyotes but what dog isn't. She would sit for hours waiting for the squirrels to come out of the trees. She hated the squirrels or maybe she loved to chase them. The last few years she couldn't do so much patrolling but she loved to sit outside and listen to the traffic going by so she could bark. Even though she had a hard time seeing, hearing and walking she lived for those few moments of laying in the sunshine and rolling on the grass. We will miss her but she was not enjoying life as much lately. So it is a blessing that she is now passed on.

Thoughts on why I spin and knit

Lately I have been contemplating why I create/craft things. I learned to knit because I thought producing a knitted fabric would be cool. It is rather neat to take to sticks and some string and create a fabric that stretches and returns to an unstretched state. I crocheted for a many years and the fabric that creates is just so solid, I guess. It is great for blankets I think. Knitting you can make so many more things that are great and useful. Well, once you get to know knitters many turn out to be spinners too.

Once a few years ago, our women's group hosted a lady who spun yarn. She demonstrated how she did it and it was just fascinating to watch a piece of fluff become some else that was useable and helpful. For some reason what she did always stuck with me. The only place I heard about spinning was in the Bible and fairy tales. But it always seemed like magic. In this day and age of computers and other technology to make our lives easier; it is sometimes nice to return to a craft that makes you appreciate what you have. I don't have to spin and knit to provide warm clothing for my family. But I can do it as a way to remember that once this was the only way to have any clothes at all and thus appreciate that I can go to a store to get what I need.

Now, I have 2 spinning wheels and 5 spindles, not mention alot of wool and other fibers around the house. It is a hobby that I can do just about any where and do too. I take my knitting everywhere. The other day I was knitting at our local pool and a little girl came up to me and asked what I was doing...I said "making socks" She said "making socks....I have never seen anyone making socks" She watched for bit but went on her way. It makes me think that I am sort of an ambassdor of knitting to people who may have never seen a grandmother or mother knitting anymore. It makes me sad too that not many people know someone who knits. If we don't pass this craft on to the next generation it may be lost.

All I know is I can happily amuse myself without electricity for many hours at a time. I produce something at the end of that time that is unique and not perfect. My kids ask about what I do so they at least know how something is made. Autumn is saying she knows more about fiber than she wants to know because of me. Jacob enjoys learning to spin. He likes the mechanics of it. Seth just likes watching the spinning. Even David is interested in the process too. He helps me with my wheels and when I ply he helps with the tangles.

I would love to go a retreat and learn more about knitting and spinning but that is a great cost and time is also an issue between work and the kids. But someday I will do that. So when you see a sheep, alpaca, or goat or see that cashmere or wool sweater think of me. I will spinning and knitting something I think.

Left: handspun Alpaca Right: hand knit lace shawl.