Hands To Work

Saturday at home

We are just hanging out at home today.  It's beautiful...about 75 degress and the sky is the most awesome shade of clear blue.  Love it!

Lily and Elisabeth are spending the day with us.  Lily loves to be outside.  Especially with dogs.  And she loves the camera.  Can you tell?

Chuck had to clean up the yard since Chloe and Betty spent the week.  I'm sure you can imagine.  Well, Lily couldn't be happy until she helped her Poppa.  I know.  Not our finest moments as grandparents.  She carrid around a bag while Chuck filled it up.  She would pul it up over her shoulder like a purse.  Yeah, we know how to have fun around here!

Look at this beauty!  Betty is just about the sweetest dog I have ever known.  I love her.  Lily loves her.  Betty LOVES Lily.  And Helen.  I would keep her all the time if it wasn't for the slobbering, drooling, muddy footprints, shedding and lots of gas.  Eeeewwww.

Here is Helen.  She is getting so big.  He goal in life is to pee on each blade of grass and chew up anyting in her path.  Today it was the rabbit water bottle that was ready to go in the trash.  Usually she finds things that don't belong in the trash until she is done with them.  Sigh. 

Miss Lily is going to be 22 months old on the 21st.  She is growing up so fast.  Her voculary is unbelievable.  She spends a lot of time with adults and it shows.  She repeats everything and I mean EVERYTHING she hears.  That can be a problem. 

I need to get the sweeping done and finish up the designs for Shelley's retreat in a few short weeks.  Have a great one!

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Helen again...

I got an updated picture of little Helen.  About 10 days until she moves in.  I can't wait!

Catching Up

  this is what I was thinking about almost 17 months ago....waiting for a sweet little baby to fill our home with adorableness, wonderful (and not so wonderful) smells, cries and coos.  And what a blessing she has been to us.  We were so worried about what might happen....all the What If thoughts crowding out happy thoughts.  And then she arrived. And grew and grew and filled our hearts with laughter and joy which pushed all the worry away.  She and her monmy moved out two weeks ago.  How quiet the house is now.  I don't see her every day.  Chuck and I are learning to live without anyone else in the house for the first time in 28 years.  I'm so lucky to have gotten to spend so much time with my Lily girl.  It's time for Elisabeth to step into that full time roll of mothering and she's doing beautifully.  I'm so proud of her. 

This is Maggie.  We lost her to old age and bad hips a little over a month ago.  She would be 13 this month.  I am so missing her.  She was unable to get up the stairs for the last year and stayed in the living or family rooms unless she had to go out.  I'm still listening for her tail to rustle against the carpet when I walk into the house.  Expecting to hear her whine with anticipation of a meal.  Watch her faithful friend Pansy (one of our cats) clean her face and sleep with her.  My heart is empty. 

So with all these changes I have some decisions to make.  What are we going to do with the extra bedrooms?  Should we take down the glow in the dark stars on the ceilings?  Should I start unbaby proofing the house?  What am I going to do about designing?  That's a hard one.  I've been a sluggish designer ever since I found out Elisabeth was expecting.  Now I'm working full time and driving an hour each way to work.  Do I have any creative juices left?  I'm not sure.  So I think I'm going to take some time to enjoy my time....stitch when I want, knit when I want, leave the house when I want.  Spend more time with my husband.  Revamp my office and finally have a sewing room that I don't have to share with guests, a computer, hundreds of charts and baby toys.  I am so happy when I get a note encouraging me to continue to design.  I think I will.  We'll see.  I have a few classes to teach this year but won't be taking on any new commitments for now.  I also will not be able to fill any orders other than those requested by shops and distributors. 

Thanks for hanging in there with me.  I'm such a lucky girl....I have too many friends to even count!  I'll continue on with the blog but I'm shrugging off the guilt and enjoying what comes next!

I will never be....

  a great photographer.  Either I forget to change the settings ...

or Iget so excited about the subject that I don't notice what is in the background or...

I don't double check for nasty nether regions on dogs as they play.  Oh well, I love them all just the same.

We had a full house this weekend.  My parents (in pic #2) arrived on Wednesday to help us celebrate my baby's 22nd birthday (also in picture #2 with a blue streak in her hair).  Courtney dropped off Chloe and Betty (picture #3) on Friday before she and John headed down to Duck NC for a week.  Then Elisabeth's good friend of 14 years recently turned boyfriend drove over from Stafford to spend the weekend with her.  Robbie left yesterday, parents left this morning and Elisabeth was in school all day today so Lily and I had a relaxing Monday for a change.  Betty settled down once the company was gone thank goodness.  She just turned a year old and has a lot of energy. 

We (Mom, Dad, Chuck, Lily and me) went to the fall fiber festival at Montpelier on Saturday.  We all spent more time in the car than in the field where the event was held but it was nice to get out of the house.  The weather was beautiful and Lily loved seeing the dogs, sheep, goats, llamas and rabbits.  She knows "what the puppy says" so she "barked" at the dogs all afternoon.    I hoped to see my super cool friend Pat Cross but didn't pay close enough attention to her email telling me that she would be at the festival on Sunday. 

I'm just about finished with my revisions on the class piece that I'm teaching next weekend.  It's turned out so much better than the first time.  I love it and hope the girls at Shelley's retreat have fun making my little acorn!

Happy Day

Chuck and I took the girls to the park today.  They were overflowing with energy and it had to be expended somewhere other than my living room!  Since it was only around 40 degrees, no one was around and we could let the dogs run.  They had a blast.  We froze.

I had the nicest talk with my good friend Bridget from Something Extra in Ohio.  She got me so excited as she described her shop, upcoming classes and possibly a trip to England in the next year or two.  Oh how I would love to go!  She is hoping to come to my retreat in October and once again bring lots of goodies to sell.  Her wares were such a success last year.

Finally, if anyone happens to be in the Lebanon IL area this month, stop in to see the girls at Mom and Me and take a look at my trunk show.  Last month it was in Florida and Cyndi at Needlepoint Ivy had a very successful show!  Thanks to all of you wonderful shop owners for helping to showcase my designs.  It is most appreciated!