A New Computer

 

I finally broke down and had Ron get a new computer for me. I was still on Microsoft Vista. That is how old my computer was and nothing was updating anymore. I was hardly getting on my computer or even turning it on because I was so scared of it. I am now on Windows 10 I have this snazzy computer that I am having to learn. I have a new camera that I am having to learn too. I made it though a new phone okay. I thought I would write a blog and see how it goes. You know it really helps me that Elliot and Peter and Ron all are in the Computer industry. They know so much. I am still having to play catch-up because I am not a tech person. AT All!

 

I hope you had a very nice Memorial Day weekend. It was a nice weekend here. Tomorrow is Peter's
23rd birthday. Our youngest son will be 23. How can it be? He was my first and only C-section. What a challenge that was. What a downfall it was too. Super woman became mortal. The kids at that time were newborn- 2-4-6-10-14. Until that point in my life, I was able to leap buildings in a single bound, with a baby strapped to my hip. I am thankful for that period in my life. As I was reminded this morning, it became the most defining point in my character. I had to let my pride go and I had to ask for help. I don't think I was ever the same. The greatest lesson I learned, was God was greater and I could learn to trust Him in every single circumstance. For home schooling that year, lesson plans slipped and we spent hours, me reading out-loud, and everyone else playing with Lego's. So now, as a 23 year old, I am thrilled beyond measure at how he has turned out. He is a very nice guy.

Can you see that guy we caught on the game cam? Its a possum. He is so huge. I still enjoy that game cam. We have caught such fun things on it.

 

Ben when he was here when he was weed eating the pasture for us. This made us laugh. He worked so hard when he was here. My goodness. He got us so caught up on our outside work not to mention fixing so many things that were broke.

 

I wanted to show you the bench Ron made me this weekend. I bought some new chairs for the quiet porch, but being short I needed something for my feet to rest on because my feet don't touch the ground. I showed him a picture of what I had in mind, and less than a hour he had this for me. Well, not exactly this, I had to paint it and then Ron did the stencil. Isn't it cute?

 

Its such a nice place out there. I keep telling myself I am going to stay out here longer than five minutes very soon.

We got all of the flowerbeds mulched again.  Front and back. Its so pretty now. It has freed my mind.
Now it takes me about an hour to keep them clean. Compared to in the past when it takes me three days at least.

I loved this porch this morning as I was taking pictures. This is where we used to sit until they put the road in. Now its just to noisy, but its still a nice area.

I have been in fixing up the house. I feel like I woke up. Ron said that I have been off of gluten for six months now, and it takes that long to get out of my system. Every morning now I wake up excited about all of the things I am going to get done. So its nice really. We are going to do 30 days of Whole 30 starting June 1st. It was nice to take May off, we never really strayed away from it though.

I love this view of my dining room. I would say it is finished. If anything can ever be finished.
Makenzie got this tablecloth for me for Mother's Day. I just love it so much.

One more thing. I finished Mrs. Peter Rabbit. I got her all bound and she is hanging in my office. I just had to show her to you. I think for the first time in 8 years since I started hooking rugs, I made a break through in my hooking. I am still a far cry from where I want to be, but with this rug, I can finally see that I could become a good rug hooker.

I love her face.

So that is how it looks from my fence post this morning. Thanks for stopping by to read my scribbling. Its taken me almost 3 hours to write this post, but I got it done.
I hope your last week of May and the first week of June will be splendid.

~Kim~

"An older missionary said something to Amy Carmichael when she was a young missionary that stayed with her for life.
She had spoken of something which was not to her liking. His reply was, "See in it a chance to die."
---taken from the devotional A Lamp For My Feet, by Elisabeth Elliot

Monday Post

 

On my birthday, my son gave me his camera. Its much fancier than mine. I have been trying to learn this camera and my pictures will look different for awhile. Its a very nice camera, so its the person behind the camera than needs some work. I am learning.

 

Ron took pity on me and helped me finish the pool fence. It only took us four hours rather than eight if I had been doing it alone. I am so thankful still. I have to tell you though. The reason I wanted the pool fence painted was because of my beach sign. I saw this beach sign way back on my friend Debbie's blog, "Its All About Purple." 

I loved that sign and I found the letters and I got the board painted. ( You can buy the letters from Hobby Lobby.) But, the fence looked so bad, I knew before I could put that sign up I had to paint the fence. Can you imagine? That is how my mind works though. Here is my sign, finally!

 Ron helped so much. Debbie thank you for posting that picture too.

So then I got to put our chairs and umbrellas out and Ron put some plants out there so one of our outdoor living places is ready to go.

I hope they do okay out there. I hope its not too hot. We can always move them on the porch.

Speaking of porches, I finally finished the Quiet Porch. We spend so much time outside this time of year.
The Quiet Porch is where I do my quiet time and  because its just off the office where I stitch and hook my rugs I go out there a lot.

You can see the town in the distance and the sea trains they have brought in.  Its quiet though.
My end tables are grape boxes I got from Megan.

I do love old boxes from all of the farming that goes on around here, these are from Giumarra Farms.

Last summer because of the heat, I let my hens out in the back yard too much. This year, I didn't want them in the back yard. We have it all nice and pretty this year and I just didn't want them taking dust baths in the flowerbeds. Ron came up with a solution.

He put a little door in the back wall of the chicken coop.

As soon as I let them out of their house in the morning and open the door, they race to go outside.

Now they have this nice little area to stay out in and take dust baths and they watch me when I am outside walking or working. Its very nice for me too. They are under the trees and its much cooler out here. We will see when it gets really hot though.

Just a little picture of my three tomato plants and my peppers and zucchini. I feel like its the neglected garden. I still haven't got the rest planted as we have been doing so many other things. At least I have some green tomatoes.

My last sign.

Maybe I have never mentioned but since I was a little girl I have been obsessed with big foot. When they showed that Patty film on the news it has never left my mind. I saw this sign and I knew I needed one just on my fence before you go out in the pasture. Ron and I hope to take some time off this summer and go to Northern California and visit some of the big foot museums up there.

Anyway, just a little of what has been going on around here. I think I am caught up. I will have to come up with some more projects this week. I am a little tired though.
I hope you have a lovely week. Thank you so much for stopping by.

~Kim~

“You must learn to know the difference between tales and the truth, my Liza, she would say. Fairy tales have a habit of ending too soon. They never show what happens afterwards when the prince and princess ride off the page.”

---Kate Morton, The Forgotten Garden

Odds and Ends

 

Our hydrangeas are beginning to bloom.  Can you believe that its almost been five years since Emilie and Nik got married? Here is a blast from the past picture.

 

Every thing was just so green and perfect. I don't think our yard has looked that good since. I think that is why its good to have a wedding every so often,( just not yet.) Its really gone by fast. We painted the swimming pool fence then, so its been five years since we painted. I got the bright idea that I was going to paint it.
By myself. All alone. On Tuesday. I painted that fence for 8 hours. By myself. With oil based paint. Have I ever mentioned I am the messiest painter in the world. When I paint it looks like I take a bath in it. No matter what it is that I am painting. This is oil based paint that doesn't come off very easy. I have really white streaks in my hair now. I also have white paint tattoos.

So without further ado, here is my fence.

The front of the fence

The side of the fence

You can still see my blue tape in the picture. Its gone now. I tried using a  paint glove. It didn't work worth a darn.
The fuzz from the glove stuck to the fence. So I ended up with a little roller. I can paint three sides of one side of the fence. Then I go on the inside of the fence and paint that side. It took me about an hour per section. I have exactly the same amount to go. One more side and the back of the fence. I was so sore yesterday I could hardly move. Plus I got so sunburned because I was trying to get rid of my okie tan. You know when you wear short sleeves and you have a line? So I tore the sleeves off of one of Ron's old t-shirts and my oldest shorts and painted all day. Yes, vanity, vanity.  I was a wreck when I did finally come into the house. I am ready to finish the job now though, I am not as sore as I was. I can at least get up out of a chair without wanting to cry.

I do not like oil based paint.

This last weekend for Nik's birthday, earlier in the year,  Emilie talked to a man who is a magician while she was standing in line at a grocery store. She had never heard of this place called the Magic Castle. 
You have to be invited by someone who works there or knows someone.
It is very exclusive and its really hard to get to go there. There is a dress code so they all dressed up and drove down to Hollywood.

  The had a blast and they are still talking about the magic shows they saw. They still can't figure out how in the world these people did the magic tricks. Plus a dinner that they said was the best they have ever eaten.
I had never heard of the place until they started planning on going there.

Our oldest grand daughter turned 9 this year. I was so happy when I saw the pictures from her birthday, because all nine of our grand kids were in the same place. Ben and Megan had made it to Kessie's and Ryan's house and the kids were able to spend time with all of their cousins. For my Mother's Day that made me so happy to know all of the kids were together and Ben and Megan were once again with family.

So life has changed a lot in five years. Change is good. It keeps me from getting in a rut. I am though, hoping I can slow down pretty quick. I still blame this fit bit. I sure sat a lot more before I got it.

I just want to thank you so much for stopping by what is turning out to be my once in a while blog.
I  hope wherever you are life is wonderful and perfect like today has been weather wise.
~Kim~

A house is made with walls and beams; a home is built with love and dreams.

---Ralph Waldo Emerson.

My Finished Projects.

I have not been a very good blogger of late. I have been so caught up in finishing projects because I wanted to show you something. My grand daughter had a birthday in April. I wanted to send her a quilt. I have had this pattern for almost two years. It was so far beyond my quilting skills. I would stare at the pattern and put it away. In January, I decided that I was going to do this no matter what. It had sixty eight pieces. I had all of my fabric and I was going to do it this year. I of course, wasn't finished by her birthday. I did manage to finish it this last week. I mailed it and now I can show you this quilt.

They are on vacation this week.  In one of the pictures, I noticed that C. had taken it with her. It really made this grandma a very happy lady.

I did finish my Rabbit rug yesterday and even managed to get it steamed. I am so happy with this rug, I cannot even begin to tell you. It is what I have seen in my mind and now I can move on to something else.

I will start binding it today. I have enjoyed every single thing about this rug. Now I need to figure out what is next.

This summer I plan on refinishing all of the vanities in all of the bathrooms. I have been experimenting on small wood projects to get in the practice. That is why you are seeing the table project and now these small wood projects. I don't normally like painting, but I am making myself like it. Just like gardening. I never really liked it until I made myself like it. The thing they have in common is I don't like to get my hands dirty. I have learned to love gardening and painting, I just have to push through it. Because I am really very lazy.

Here is one of the small wood projects I did with Ron's help last night. I am not a very good measurer. So he has to help me. I like to mainly eyeball things.

I am going to rough it up today and stain it I think. I really like it though.

My last few projects. I have two washboards. One a friend gave me and one I bought in an antique store. I wanted them so I could show my counted cross stitch things I work on all of the time. I thought I would just use magnets. The wash board part isn't metal that anything will stick to. So my washboards have just sat there as washboards. Then I saw this picture. So simple. A string and close pins. I didn't even know if Michael's sold clothespins. They do! In every color you can imagine and in sizes I never thought about in my life. Now I have a way to show my cross stitch things without messing up my wash boards. You know in case I ever have to use them for real. So here they are. One in on the fireplace and one is in my laundry room.

By the fireplace.

In the laundry room.

I love simple solutions.

That is what I have been doing. I wake up every morning so excited about projects. Now I am going to finish His Eye is on the Sparrow. I can't wait.

Thank you so much for stopping by today. I really appreciate it.

~Kim~

"A swarm of bees in May

Is worth a load of hay;

A swarm of bees in June

Is worth a silver spoon;

A swarm of bees in July

Is not worth a fly."

-  Rhyme from England

May Odds and Ends

Happy May

Can you believe its May? This year is just flying by. I was thinking this morning. Ten years ago I started blogging. I was fifty. Tomorrow I will be sixty. I admit to feeling a little shocked I am that old. I hope that I can just move on from here. But blogging ten years now that is an accomplishment.

How about a before and after.
I had this table in my entry. I decided to try my hand at using milk paint. I really love using milk paint.
I am very happy at how it turned out.
But first here is what it looked like before I started.

As I started really looking into redoing this table, I found out that someone put together a table from nothing but parts. Even the front of the drawer, someone made two holes and cut it out with a hack saw. As my grandmother used to say, " You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear." Which was what I was going to do.

Here is my finished table.

I am very happy. This was my test subject. All of the vanities in my bathrooms need to be refinished this year. So I wanted to get myself in practice with something that wasn't going to be a big deal. I like the look and I am very happy with it.

This weekend while Ron and I were working on our garden. Which we got part of it planted but not all of it. The guy that lives on the other side of my brother, let a man who had lost his lease  on land where in the fall he has a Halloween town and at Christmas a Christmas town. We were shocked to start seeing all of these buildings begin pulling in on flat bed trucks. It freaks me out to look at it. Its like a dead town moved in.

A silent town on a prairie

Just sitting there with their eyes covered

All waiting for a home.

Creepy right? Unless I walk over there and count them for sure, I am guessing there are 20 or more. They are in a circle and they almost fill that whole pasture. It could even be a set for a movie. I catch my breath every time I happen to look over at them. Is just so silent. I will be glad when they are moved on to a different place.

Emilie came over and fixed my flowers. I have some other things to write blog posts about. I have been as busy as a bee. Ron and I race the heat, we have to get so much done before it gets here which will be by the weekend.

Happy May, I wish you the best month.

Thank you so much for stopping by. I know that you are as busy as me.

~Kim~

It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.
---C.S. Lewis