Spinning, Weaving, Knitting...

Oh my goodness, I did not realize how long it's been since I've been online! My mother went through some health issues and I spent August through the beginning of November helping her out. She is doing great, by the way...

And now CHRISTmas is almost here! What a blessed time this is for our family!

So, I GOT MY LOOM and Wow is it wonderful!!! I have woven several projects... rugs, dresser cloths and dish cloths. It is SO COOL!!!!! Alas, I am running low on fiber to weave, so I have directed my attention to knitting, with fits of spinning thrown in here and there.

We have no money to buy presents for CHRISTmas, which is hardly anything new. This year I actually got started making presents early. Wahooo! I need to take photos and post here... I will soon!

I have knit some ponchos, hats, scarves and SWEATERS! I actually made myself a sweater from a Family Circle book I found at the library. I also knit my daughter a lovely sweater that she will get for CHRISTmas. She knows about it, though, because I asked her to pick out the yarn. :) I have two more hats to make before Christmas... I hope I can do it!

I got some lovely fiber several months ago from FrogEye Emporium in Winchester. It's a moreno blend, dyed in rustic blues and tans. g*o*r*g*e*o*u*s. I can't wait to make something with it after I am done spinning it! (My spinning is still limited to using a drop spindle until I can save up $$$ to buy a wheel, so it takes a while.) I have actually been working on plying, and so far so good! I got a sample of alpaca fiber from a fellow down the street. It was not carded well at all, so it was pretty hard to work with, but once I got it done, it was beautiful plied! I love alpaca...

Family wise - everyone is doing well. I miss my daughter in Cincinnati so very, very much, but I don't forsee getting to go out there to see her for a while yet. I want to very much. I will definitely go for her birthday... I would like to go before then, though.

Off to have a rather late lunch. Kids are restless... time for a writing assignment!!! Blessings... May the joy of Jesus flood your soul this Christmas season!

Dream Weaving

I am so excited!!! I just got word that my friend is giving me her loom -- an honest-to-God floor loom!!! I can barely contain my excitement! She said it makes cloth up to 40" wide. She is bringing me a video and book on Sunday and the loom will arrive next week. It takes up alot of space, and I think she wants her livingroom back, but I will be thrilled to make room for it!

Other news on the textile front: my neighbor who owns alpacas is having an open house next month, and I fully intend to participate however I may. I am hoping he will let me set up a little area with some drop spindles and some "spare" fleece in order to introduce folks to spinning. Alpaca is harder to spin than some of the sheep's wool I've done, but it sure feels lovely when it's done! I am hoping my friend will bring her spinning wheel (I haven't really talked to her about it yet) and set it up. We've been looking for any excuse we can find to sit and spin together. I haven't done a whole lot of spinning, though, since I hurt my hands... I haven't done a whole lot of anything, really.

On the hurt hands front: I have FINALLY gotten in to see an orthopedist (that only took 4 months and lots of rescheduled appointments since our area is really short on orthopedists.) She immediately sent me to a hand specialist. He told me what he thinks is wrong, and there were many things he mentioned, and he asked me to be patient with him so he can get it all figured out and fixed. I go to a neurologist on the 4th for some testing, and I'd appreciate prayers. I seriously NEED to be able to create and have really been struggling the absence of creativity in my life.

August First

Wow, it's the first of August! Part of the Wow Factor is because the summer is really flying by, but the main part of the Wow is because of the importance of this date as a birthday for so many of my relatives and friends.

My grandmother, Helen, (we always called her Gram Pat) was born on August 1, 1910 in Jackson Springs, NC. She was a wonderful, strong woman, one of 14 kids. She was the last of her siblings when she passed. Oh I love her so much... I know she prayed for me every single day. Whether I blessed her or worried her, she prayed! My mother has very different memories of her, since she had to work nights when my mom was little, and I just can't imagine it. My father left us when I was 2, and Gram moved in to help take care of me and my little brother. She left her house, her belongings, everything. In fact, because she was staying with us and not using her house in DC, the pipes burst there and she ended up moving in with us for good. She was strict and loving. I am so blessed to have had her in my life! I still can hear her telling ghost stories over a little tea party in my bedroom... "Who's got my golden arm.... Whoooooooo's got my gooooolden arm... YOU DO!"

Gram's second son, Jon, was born on August 1. He was my "Uncle Sooey." He was one of my favorite people on the planet. He would come by for a visit on his Honda motorcycle (which I loved!) and as he left, he would always say, "Bye, Sweetie!" I tried and tried to say "sweetie," but the best I could come up with was "Sooey," so it stuck! Poor man was labeled Uncle Sooey for the rest of his life. Good thing he didn't mind - that is, as long as it was ME calling him that! Sooey died of lung cancer almost two years ago. There is definitely a hole in my heart that only his memory fills...

Sooey's second son, Chuck, was also born on August 1! How cool is that! (Happy Birthday, Chuckie!)

My father-in-law, Howard, was born August 1, 1923. Have you ever seen Everybody Loves Raymond? If so, Howard was Frank. Born in Queens, he had the same accent and mannerisms, attitudes and much of the same history (except he fought in WWII, not Korea.) He was a tough man to deal with sometimes, but in the end I was so glad to have gotten to know him. We got to spend lots of time together during his last couple of years on earth, and I am grateful for the experience.

Oh yeah, my Gram's best friend, Mrs. Blackmon, was also born August 1. I think she was one year older than Gram, and she was a neat lady who taught me to love to work with yarn. She always had something going on!

There are many more, but these are the folks in my family that I either wish a very happy birthday to, or am honoring their memory on this, their birthday.

All's Well

I was thinking about different things about each of my kids that makes me happy and thought I'd write some of them down. I *finally* have a notebook by my bed (out in the open!) so that I can record moments as they happen.

I love how Becki writes songs, everything about it. Beautiful instrumentation, beautiful words, beautiful voice, excellent message. I am amazed by the obvious supernatural favor bestowed on that kid! And when she dances before the Lord, I literally stand there with my jaw dropped watching her. I've never seen anything like it.

Rae's photography is amazing. She has quite the gift. It's breathtaking watching her at work, so full of confidence, so inspired in her sets, and it is amazing to me how well she deals with her clients. She looks very professional (she didn't get that from me!) yet when she is on a roll, you can see the little girl in her coming out to enjoy the fun of it. That's how I want to be when I grow up!

Josh is adorable. That young man is silly and sweet, and stronger than he thinks he is. He has an amazing heart. He actually brings me breakfast in bed on occasion! (He works nights.) There are so many precious things about him; today I am inspired by his way with animals. I have not seen an animal that has not just gone straight over to him and sat at his feet. It's like they KNOW he's safe and loving.

I am seeing new sides to Zack lately. He is really starting to take the "older brother" role a little more seriously, and is trying to prevent or quickly resolve arguments between siblings rather than causing them. He is blossoming, and is finally starting to relax and enjoy more of life. I love to hear him laugh!

Danny = fireball. He is a bundle of energy and strength. He runs around all day like the Tasmanian Devil, then all of a sudden comes over to cuddle time. Then he runs again. I love the spontaneous hugs! He is creative and is now keeping a sketch book. It's wonderful to see his mind at work in drawings.

Speed Racer, I mean, Stephen loves riding his bike and tending to his garden. He's alot more willing to try vegetables that HE actually grew! (Read: picky eater.) He is very strong on his bicycle, which I still consider miraculous. Now if I could just get him to be more faithful to wear his helmet. While I love seeing that bright blonde hair zooming around the yard, I'd rather see the blue helmet. (Yes, I do make him stop and put it on.) Ahhhh... boys.

One thing that has caught my attention lately about Lydia is that she sings alot. I haven't seen that in my kids for a while and I love it. She really blasts it in the shower (you GO, girl!) and makes up alot of the stuff she sings. She dances and spins and it makes me want to be 4 again. What a sweetie!

To sum up:
Becki worships
Rae shines
Joshua comforts
Zack laughs
Danny hugs
Stephen rides
Lydia sings

Life is Good.

We have been busy little beavers in this house. The bathroom is finished, praise God! Homeschool is almost done, although we will actually continue schooling through the summer. We've had lots of little events, some miracles, and lots of blessings going on.

I guess the event I should cover first occurred on May 20th. I had my booth set up at our town's festival and all was going well. I had my son, Danny, with me, and he was having a blast playing with another child. I heard a loud sound and lots of screaming all at once, and when I got up, I saw Danny in the middle of the road, lying in the fetal position. I got to him first and checked him out... he was unconscious, totally unresponsive. It was horrible, absolutely horrible. He had taken the brunt of the collision on his face, and his legs had been run over. Those were the facts, but I've been learning that Truth trumps facts. The Bible proclaims that his healing was already paid for, and that God desires that we walk in health! After I did the quick head to toe check and swept broken tooth particles out of his mouth, I laid hands on him and prayed. I prayed in the Spirit first, then I prayed out loud, proclaiming health and wholeness over this child who Loves his Jesus... I knew that I knew at that time that he would be completely fine! Within a minute he started to regain consciousness (unconscious for about 2-3 minutes total.) In the ambulance, facts said that he couldn't move his eyes to the right, but Truth said that he was healed and whole. During the ride, he called out to me and asked me to pray with him. I took a knee by his side and asked if he wanted to pray or he wanted me to, and he said he wanted me to. so I did - I proclaimed the Word of God over my son, and thanked Him for healing him. We prayed for peace and for comfort over everyone involved, and for joy to shine through. When we got to the ER, they moved him straight into the resuscitation room (trauma room.) He had xrays of his head, neck and chest (for some reason they did not feel it necessary to xray his legs.) They also did a CAT (or was it CT?) scan on his head. The miracle is this: No broken bones, other than a broken tooth, no internal bleeding, no intracranial bleeding. He stayed in the hospital overnight and the next day to get him through the effects of the concussion.

End of the story: Danny is doing great. He has to go back to the dentist in a few weeks to have his tooth fixed, but most of the scabs have already come off of his face and legs. I have a few pictures of him in the ER that I was thinking about posting, but I think that's just too much to have to see unless you're absolutely ready for it We have our own personal issues about how the town police handled the accident, but like I said, they are our own issues and I don't need to vent them here. We think often about the woman who hit him and pray that she is doing well. We know that she probably could not have avoided hitting him, because he didn't see her coming. I thank God that it was a festival setting and she couldn't drive very fast through the crowd! I can't imagine what higher speed would have done. We pray for peace and blessing over her and her whole family, with all of our hearts!

There were alot of awesome people at the festival who, once they found out it was Danny who had been hit, sent presents to him. For example, one of the vendors was selling these puppet dragons. Danny mastered the working of them, and went over there OFTEN (bless their hearts for humoring him!) to play with the demo puppet. It was great - he wanted one so badly... Anyway, when they found out it was him that had been hit, they sent one of the large dragon puppets to him. He had it in the hospital and it really encouraged him whenever he was awake. Another vendor had jars with sand art in them, and Danny had planned to go get one of those as well. They sent him a beautiful sand art jar which Danny now has in the china closet to keep it safe from littler hands. The mom of the little boy he had been playing with came to the ER and brought him a bag of gifts and a card. The vendors in the booth next to mine, GREAT PEOPLE, took over my booth and ran it until my husband and son got there to break it down. I will find their website URL and post it, because they really had some beautiful pottery. She also offers classes for children!

Our other time-consuming event, rather, ongoing project, is the garden. This year we planted a garden out back! We are using the square foot gardening approach, except that I didn't really measure. Next year I will... Each of the kids has a 4'x4' garden plot in which they have planted whatever veggies their little hearts desired. Lydia also has zinnias in hers :) we have 18 of those plots altogether, plus a row of zinnias and a row of sunflowers (paired with pole beans) at the north end. It is such a joy to watch things grow, pull obvious weeds, wait for seedlings to appear, etc. The kids are taking it seriously (but not obsessing) and are totally enjoying this project! Personally, I can't wait for the fresh veggies that I won't have to pay an arm and a leg for!!!

I have been working on jewelry, and selling it :) I have been in one festival so far this year, and look forward to doing more. I have not been able to get any more work done on the website, and as it is I need to swap out photographs of pieces, since so many have sold. That is a project for this week! I am hoping to get a lightbox so I can take better photographs of each item, and I want to get more of the non-jewelry handcrafts represented on the site. Lots of work to do... I'm breaking into a sweat thinking about it! Too funny!

There has been much more, but this is obviously longer than any blog post has a right to be. I will try not to stay away so long... Until next time, blessings to YOU!

Under Construction

I have been MIA for a very good reason - several, actually. For one, I have been quite busy building myself a bathroom. There is only one bathroom in this house, and it has been a bathroom in name only. The toilet has never worked properly since we've owned this place - you had to pour a bucket of water into it in order to flush its contents. The bathtub has had holes in it, and the faucet and drain leaked terribly. The sink was falling apart, and it also leaked. The floor was rotten - quite literally. Several years ago I bought tiles, a new toilet, cabinetry, paint, and everything else I would need to remodel it, with the exception of a new bathtub and sink. (I did have them picked out, though!) The real holdup has been getting my husband to do the plumbing. I don't know why the project has frightened him so, but he has resisted me the whole way. I finally couldn't take it anymore, and when my daughter came out to visit, we decided that enough was enough. My other daughter's husband agreed to help me with anything I couldn't do, and he loaned me the money I needed to get the greenboard, bathtub, sink and backerboard. For kicks and grins, we also bought new lights and a new exhaust fan! By God, we were going to have a REAL BATHROOM in this house!

Becki and Patrick set about ripping out the old bathroom. My husband set up a temporary toilet downstairs... it is not very private, but it works pretty well. We have been bathing the kids in the kitchen sink for the past few weeks while the work has been going on. They LOVE it! Back to the remodeling: The kids ripped out the old bathroom, all the way down to the studs and subflooring. Becki had to return home that day, but it was cool that she got to help get it rolling. We ended up replacing some of the subflooring. The previous owner had allowed a leaky toilet to go untended for apparently a very long time and the subfloor was damaged severely. Jon taught patrick how to weld/solder/braize, so Patrick fixed some seriously flawed water pipes. They redesigned the drainage pipes, adding in a more appropriate vent access, and installed the new center valve for the tub.

Then I got to do my thing. I put in new walls and a new floor. I now have ceramic tiles on the floor and greenboard walls and ceiling. Pat put in the new exhaust fan and lights after I painted the walls, and a new WORKING toilet and sink after I tiled the floor. It is so nice to have a toilet that actually flushes! I have cement backerboard installed around the bathtub waiting for a tile surround, but I have injured my hand pretty severely doing some catering, so Patrick is going to finish the tile work for me. I am SO excited!!! Within the next few days the work will be complete! All I have to do after the tile is put up baseboards, towel bars and a new door. The door may actually be a little while, but I'll set up a curtain until we can buy one.

During this time I have also been involved in two weddings. One was for a friend of my daughter's, and for that one I just made wedding cakes. The other was for one of my dearest girlfriends, and I had the joy of catering that one, in addition to making the wedding cake and jewelry for the bridal party. That was fun! I overdid it a little, though, between the weddings and the constructions, and have apparently blown out a tendon in my hand. So I'm not doing anything for a little while, so I can give it time to heal.

I guess it's obvious that I took pain meds tonight. I'm rambling like crazy. I don't think anyone even reads this blog, and that's okay, but I really wanted to make sure I got on here and documented why I've been MIA for the past several weeks. I am hoping to be able to get online everyday again... I missed this creative outlet and look forward to start journalling again.

And the doctor says...

The news wasn't all that bad! Thyroid, kidney, liver functions all great. Blood sugar great. Potassium, calcium, chloride, and the other one were great. Blood pressure was the best it's been for a while!

As far as the cholesterol numbers go, they need help but overall weren't too bad. My mother's total cholesterol was over 300 for a good while and she has been taking meds for years. The numbers I got back today were:

triglycerides: 127 (should be 0-149)
HDL: 45 (should be in the 50's to 60's)
VLDL: 25 (should be 5-40)
LDL: 127 (standard is 0-99, but with high blood pressure and meds, aim for 70's to 80's)
Total Cholesterol: 197 (should be 100-199)

The HDL is the 'good' cholesterol, and it is rather low; the LDL is the 'bad' cholesterol, and it is high (not soaring, but still of concern). We're pretty certain that the cause is genetics, since I have been focusing on my eating and exercise for many months and am already doing the things that are suggested as the first steps in lowering cholesterol. We discussed the possibilities of medications and vitamins and fish oils... Since I have been through so much in the past few years (hysterectomy, severe allergic reactions, hernia repair surgery, more anaphylaxis to name but a few...) we agreed that we will not be passive, but will work to get it under control NOW. I expressed my concerns with the statins (and lack of education regarding them), and figure that is probably how we will end up going. We're going to add more fish oils into the diet, and make sure I'm getting my B vitamins. It is a hard decision, but I feel I have to give serious thought to the lipitor or zocor (since there is a generic available and our insurance is SO lame in what they will cover if it isn't generic) In any case, we are monitoring this closely now, as well as the metabolic panel, and I am bound and determined to get healthy!

blah blah blah... enough of the medical stuff. This afternoon I intend to make lunch, clean up and do some crafting. I will also do some more descriptions for the website, but I want to have something created today. That always inspires me to keep on going!

Have a blessed day!