Last Friday In July

 

Can you believe that we are almost to August? I  like turning the page on my calendars. I like greeting a new month. Even if it is August.

We found out yesterday, that grand baby number nine is going to be a girl!!! I think that is exciting news. That will bring the total to 5 boys 4 girls. She will make her appearance in November, right around Thanksgiving. I think that is a wonderful way to give thanks. Her sister next to her will turn two.  They might even have the same birthdays.

I finished a wood project today. It still smells like paint. I am glad I finished something wood before summer is over.

When we have people over and as it seems lots of people now. I always want some place to put my silverware. I saw this pattern online here. 
I have this huge old wood pile that I need to be using up, so I thought this was a good first. Poor Ron, first the windmill and now wood projects. He is so good to put up with my ideas.

 So next time we are having a dinner, I can set this on the counter and put the silverware in the jars and not
have them scattered everywhere.  In one neat place.

Last weekend The Old Tattered Flag was having a Christmas in July sale. I love her patterns, and I don't need any more patterns, but I did buy a couple. Just because they are so cute. Which I want to give her a plug. She has the best service in the whole wide world. She is in New York and I got those patterns in two days. I don't know how she did it but she is just the best.

As I post these pictures, they are quite a contrast together. I can't wait to get started on both of them.

 

I am having a Friday night sleepover with four of our grandsons. Pizza, Smores, Popcorn, and
Despicable Me and some Minecraft. With swimming just to keep them cooled off. It should be a nice busy
weekend. I am glad they like spending the night here.

Have a lovely weekend,
~Kim~

 

“So he caught her in his arms and kissed her, and they were very happy, and told each other what a beautiful world it was, and how wonderful it was that they should have found each other, seeing that the world is not only beautiful but rather large.”
― E. Nesbit, The Magic World

“Even I never dreamed of Magic like this!”
― C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia


“Some of the most wonderful people are the ones who don`t fit into boxes.”
― Tori Amos

Ramblings With Kim

Yesterday, while out in the garden I had my phone. My phone does color better than my camera so I was able to get richer colors. I loved this dark, purple color. All of the photos on this post will be from my phone.

July is racing on by isn't it? It hit me Monday morning that this is the last week of July and August and school starting is right around the corner. I still have so many things I want to get done before school starts again. I have been in high gear ever since. Next week will be deep house cleaning, windows, blinds, fans, and every thing that can be washed cleaned or straightened. My railings and porches are so dirty and dusty. We aren't supposed to wash sidewalks or driveways. Next week though, too bad. I am washing the outside of the house.

 

I couldn't tell about this flower, whether it grew this way or something took a bite.

 I have been working on my summer rug. I have loved working on this rug so much.

Pattern by Buttermilk Basin

I have never been able to dye wool and get a good antique black. This week though I used that book by Barbara Carroll and  Emma Lou Lais.

Antique Colors for Primitive Rugs

90-Antique Black

I also managed to get the 1820 Sunflower rug finished and bound. In August, I always think of sunflowers.

1820 Sunflower---Pattern by Cathy Greschner

 I painted some wood yesterday, using chalk paint. Today I am making my signs. Hopefully I will have something to show you soon.

Yesterday, I got out books for the home schooling Moms. Three of the boys will be in third grade. Two of them will be in first. There will be a kindygardener. :) She told me that the other day. Of course, the youngest ones will have to be in school too. There is something exciting about getting ready for school. I can't wait to walk down the back to school aisles. There is something special about new pencils, crayons, and reams of paper. I always want to buy new pens and notebooks. Do you? I always think the most romantic speech is in the movie with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks " You've Got Mail."

  " Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly-sharpened pencils..." I love that scene with Meg Ryan is walking to the prettiest bookstore in the world with a pumpkin in her arms.

 

Sorry I am all over the place with this post. It has been my brain this week. All over the place.
I hope you have a lovely rest of the week. Thank you so much for stopping by today.

~Kim~

 

" If we could simply remember that this is true of everything---that God's purposes are slowly being
worked out for His glory and our good---we would, like the farmer, keep faith and wait quietly.
From A Lamp for my Feet, p.57

A Nice Week

 

I went for a walk this morning. July has been such a nice month. We have had lots of rain and clouds. Today,
we have a wonderful coastal breeze. It was so cool this morning, even the morning glories were not even open yet.

When we brought the wind mill home, we didn't bring the tail. When driving around and you see a windmill sitting out in a field, I know I never thought about how big that tail really is up on top, I think it operates like a rudder. Anyway, yesterday Ron brought the windmill tail home. It was a big as the bed of his truck.

Isn't that cool? Can you see the bullet holes in it? I just love the old writing. Here is a picture with Ron holding it up for me to snap the pictures.

A Bit of Americana

Here is my newest rug, it is a rug pattern by Buttermilk Basin. I know that I need to get it finished before summer is over.

 

 I thought I would show you a new project. I hope that I can show you what I have in mind for this sometime next week.

I dyed wool yesterday. I love these colors. It has been so nice to get my brain rested.  To get to be creative every day. I think it has been the best kind of vacation. When I go on vacation and we are staying someplace, I always miss cooking. This week it has been so nice to be on vacation and cook. I picked peaches one morning and then made this lovely blueberry-peach coffee cake. Then to have coffee on the patio after swimming.

For dinner we have been picking these peppers out of the garden.

 

 Ron roasts them and then we have been eating Chili Relleno at night with Mexican rice and black beans. I have always wanted to make them but I never took the time. I keep trying to get them like the ones I have in Mexican restaurants.

 

I thought I would show you how in the summer we have palm trees that just grow wild here. Every where there is water, these silly palm trees grow.

 

This has been just a bit of things we have been doing this week. Our kids will all be home tomorrow. I miss them but it sure has been nice to just be us. Sasha will be glad to have them back. Ron and I think we are rather boring. Sometimes I think boring is nice.

Thank you for stopping by and for visiting today.

~Kim~

“I do know my own mind,' protested Anne. 'The trouble is, my mind changes and then I have to get acquainted with it all over again.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of the Island

A Mom Brag Post

I just had to write this, because since I opened the mail I have been in tears. When you home school or when I started home schooling in the dark ages. In those days, no one was home schooling and we did it with the drapes closed. I doubted myself and my ability. I knew that since I had been a terrible student in school, what game was I playing thinking I could home educate my children? I hung on to God very tightly and prayed almost constantly on my knees that ^"And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)

Well today, I got a package in the mail. I opened it. In it was this:

 This is Kessie's book in paperback!!! There has never been a single day in her life that I haven't been proud of her. So when I opened this box, and held in my hands her book. I have held her babies and rocked them and I have just been a grandmother and a mom. But this was different, because I was her teacher. For 12 years. She was demo child number one. She had to sit through me trying to be smarter than a first grader. 

 The back of the book says " When the beekeepers arrive in February, bringing their bees to pollinate the almond crop, one of them acts like a vampire and says his name is Malevolent, and tries to murder Libby's lousy boyfriend. Yet his honey improves her illness, and his bees sing words that she can understand." Libby, a high school senior, has been bedridden for six months with Valley Fever, struck on her father's farm in California's central valley."
I can't wait to start it tonight.

Thank you for reading along, I just had to share.

~Kim~

“You are not what others think you are. You are what God knows you are.”
― Shannon L. Alder


 

Here's To Your Health---Guest Blogger

 

It has been awhile since I gave an update on Tangy Tangerine. I thought you might like a different version from someone else rather than me. So I turn my blog over to my other cute half. He is writing the blog today. Happy Monday! Thank you for reading.

I first found out about Dr. Joel Wallach from my other cute half, who had been listening to him on the radio. He is a veterinarian and doctor, and what he had to say was so interesting I bought his book "Dead Doctors Don't Lie" and read it through twice. He explains how mineral supplements are used by those who raise animals and that as a veterinarian and researcher he formulated vitamin and mineral supplements for many varieties of animals and eliminated birth defects, all kinds of diseases and doubled and tripled the life span of many species by doing this. He makes a compelling argument that this should and indeed does work for the human animal just as well. But we can't expect to get the essential nutrients we need from the food we eat, because the soil our food is grown in has been depleted, so we must supplement to get these essential nutrients.

This makes sense to me, so we decided to try the mineral supplement he created, "Beyond Tangy Tangerine". It was spring when we started taking it, and we started noticing little health changes. During a checkup in May my blood pressure was a respectable 116/72, perfect for my age and the lowest it has been in years. My wife's hot flashes, mood swings and other menopause symptoms went away. Her carpal tunnel pain started to ease, now she can do her rug hooking all day without the constant pain in her hand and wrist.

I work at an Engineering firm and I am used to working around top notch highly educated people every day. I rely on people who are experts in their fields, who are mechanical, electrical, civil, and automation engineers. I've read several of the books Dr. Wallach has published, and the quality of his research and work exceeds that of any person I've known. I'm no expert in the field of medicine or nutrition so I have to rely on those who are, and he has made it easy to find out what you need to get healthier. In fact, Dr. Wallach teaches how to reverse disease naturally without drugs and surgery by supporting and promoting the structure and function of the body, using science based clinically verified medical nutrition.

START HERE

If you are interested in learning more about Dr. Wallach, his protocols and these supplements start by listening to the audio "Dead Doctor's Don't Lie". Contact me at ronh01 _at_ sbcglobal.net and I will send you a link to this audio, or leave a message for FarmGirl asking for it. If you are struggling with a specific health issue I would be glad to send you a link to an archived webinar hosted by Dr. Peter Glidden, a qualified medical nutrition expert who discusses that health concern.

If you want to know where to find and order these supplements go to http://zest4living.youngevityonline.com and enroll for free to become a preferred customer and get a 30% discount on the products.

If you are already taking the supplements and want to share them with your family and friends go to http://zest4living.youngevityonline.com and click Join to enroll as a member for $25, you will get the DVD and full color product catalogs, and you can even earn your supplements for free.

The company that makes these products is called Youngevity, a fantastic company that has a 30 day money back guarantee, they have been around for over 17 years, they have an A1 rating with the BBB, and are publicly traded. But most importantly, their products give results, this is something I've seen personally, and something you must see for yourself.

"It's not what you eat that kills you, it's what you don't eat. If you're sick and tired of being sick and tired, educate yourself and start with the Healthy Start Pack. The key to health is giving your body all 90 essential nutrients it needs."

Dr Joel Wallach, DVM ND

Binding Rugs

 

I hope you have had a wonderful week so far. Most of my weeks fly by, but this week has taken its own sweet time. Next week Ron will be on vacation and we will have the house all to ourselves, as the boys go back up to Santa Cruz to be camp counselors again. I am so looking forward to being just us for a week. Kinda like a honeymoon. ;) We always manage to get in some kind of mischief when we are home alone. Last year we caught the smoker on fire.  No one catches a smoker on fire. It should be fun.

 

I have almost three rugs bound this week.  The biggest rug, the Mermaid rug will take a bit of time as it is a huge rug.

Here is a bit of my work.

 

I should finish this one today and get it steamed. I start to get panicky when I have unbound rugs, stacking up.
I have two new patterns on my frames. I dyed wool this week so I am ready to go, but I had to get the binding done before I can pick up my hook.

 

 I finally got Faded Glory bound. This was just experiment from start to finish. I dyed the wool using other darker red and blue in hot water and let it sit. I love how those colors turn out using that method. I will be trying it again.

I finished this one of Cathy Greschner patterns! 

I do enjoy her patterns so much. The whole time I am hooking them I feel like I am smiling. I was trying to use up my worms-my left over pieces of wool. I didn't make a dent in the bags I have but it is fun to try and use them anyway.

This is my mermaid rug. It was a test for me. Also very challenging as water is hard and then all of the letters.
The words are loosely copied from A Midsummer's Nights Dream.

"And heard a mermaid on a dolphins back, uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath, that the rude sea grew civil at her song; and certain stars shot madly from their spheres to hear the sea-maids music."

I think it will look lots better bound and re-steamed. This one will be one I have to put away for awhile as all I see are the mistakes. I did that what is is called, you know when you rip it out, oh yea, reverse hooking. Three times. I just had to finally stop. 

This is the middle of July and I have so many summer rugs I wanted to get done. I am ready to start doing fall rugs.

Just a bit of what I got done this week. I hope to start on the mermaid rug binding, today. After my work of course.

I hope you have a lovely Thursday,
~Kim~

 

"Garnet found a silver thimble in the sand by the river and she was sure it had magic, for the summer had proved exciting and interesting in so many different ways. There was the coming of Eric, an orphan and such a nice addition to the family; the building of a new barn with money loaned by the government; and the fair at which Garnet's carefully tended pig won a blue ribbon and three dollars and a half! Every day brought pleasure of some kind to Garnet of the flying pigtails, for she was bursting with energy and good spirits and she loved the outdoors and growing things."

Elisabeth Enright---Thimble Summer

Bringing the Windmill Home

 

The windmill is home. It was hot, and lots of hard work. I am so thankful for my family, who put up with my hair brained ideas. I did take pictures.

You can't really tell how big it is from this picture.

Trying to figure out how to dismantle it.

Talking about how best to remove bolts.

The windmill is over a hundred years old. Those bolts have been on a long time.

Getting the first one off.

The first of six

Once they got all of the blades off then the scary hard part. 

 

 

Getting that cast iron motor unchained from the poll.

It was so heavy.

All loaded on the trailer to be brought home.

I have the blades now in my shed. The motor and shaft have been soaked in kerosene and  WD40. Ron and Ben want to fool with it but it is hot. So it will get soaked until they can get the shaft to turn. It is a huge project.

As they work on it I will keep taking pictures. It really is so amazing to me to have it here now. It really isn't in too bad of shape for as old as it is.

Thanks for visiting today. I still can't believe it is here.

Have a lovely Monday,
~Kim~