Of Showers and Lofts

Well, I guess its time for an update.  Emily and I have been sick with a sore throat yuck.  But we’re both on the mend!  Yippee! 

We recently got the lift for Emily’s shower and did a few modifications to the area in our bathroom for her.  Today she took her first shower in there.  Oh it was so nice not to have to try and lift her from the shower chair and back to the wheel chair by myself!

I’ve also been busy the last couple of weeks working in the upper loft of our home.  I’ve been clearing out the “stored” things and giving lots of things away so I can create a new sewing space.  Here’s what it looks like right now.

I am so excited about the changes that will be made.  Soon there will be a window in this wall, and I will have a counter against the wall to put my sewing machine on!  I’ll take more pictures as the modifications progress.

Please remember us in prayer.  It would be nice if we were all well for Easter.

Thanks for listening ~

Sew Wonderful

You know, I’ve never liked to sew but this is just terrific!  I am enjoying my new machine so much. 

Start with one blue sweatshirt.

Add “stay stitching” and then remove ribbing.

Make a collar pattern.

Adding home made bias tape.

Bias tape pinned on, cuffs completed.

Sewing the collar on.

Finished.  Now time for the decoration. 

Sewing fabric onto the sweatshirt.  (I should have sewed the line stitch and then trimmed it before this step.)  Now I have to trim without cutting the sweatshirt.

Adding another piece of material and embroidering on it.

Wow, that looks good!

And I did it all myself!

Thanks for listening ~

A Wild Eagle Nest

In Norfolk Botanical Garden this Eagle has 3 chicks. Here she is feeding her chicks fish. You can watch live video on the Eagle Cam.

Other news from here-- I’ve been busy. The busier I get the less I post. Sorry…

Our garden is growing! Yippee! The seedlings love my greenhouse. I’ve started more plants because the first ones are doing so well.

The new dirt for my garden arrived last week. I spent the whole afternoon shoveling it till I moved the fence-high pile all over the garden area. Jered came home when I was about 1/2 done and he grabbed his barn boots and helped me shovel the rest of the dirt.

We bought a rototiller from a neighbor. Jeff worked it on the outside edge of the garden, which now is twice as big as it was last year.

Last years garden.

The rototiller works great. We were hoping to till in all the new soil but the rain came back.

Yesterday was a nice day and very warm out. I put the greenhouse outside so the plants could get ready for planting in the garden.

Some of the plants are probably ready to be put into the dirt but I want to give them an equal chance at hardening in the cooler outdoor weather.

So for now they are zipped in the greenhouse at night and open to the elements during the day. I’ll start planting in a few days. Grace is excited about that.

I’ve always wanted fruit trees. Now that we don’t have horses in the pasture to knock them down we have room for fruit trees.

On Saturday Jeff and Jered planted 5 trees. They are the short little things with paper wrapped around the trunks. We have 2 cherry, one red and one green apple, and a plum tree that is blooming already. I’m still looking for a pear tree to buy. I know it will be a few years before we get fruit. Hopefully the trees will thrive where they are and produce a lot.

Grace has been on a diet of sorts. We have cut out the High Fructose Corn Syrup in packaged foods to see if that helps with the ADHD. I don’t have much control over what she eats at school. She eats nearly nothing so what ever she eats at school is a plus, even if it is HFCS.

Emily has been sick off and on. She’s having trouble with allergies and wheezing this week. Seems to be getting to everyone around here.

And me, well I’ve been using my sewing machine. I’ll post pictures in another entry. I’ve also been busy spring cleaning. I need to find a permanent home for my new sewing machine so the upstairs HAS to be reorganized. Not my favorite job, probably my least favorite, but it has to be done. Isn’t this where some good Samaritan group comes out of the woodwork for a day of moving and cleaning for a worthy cause??? Na, probably not. But maybe I’ll pray for that to happen when we order our new carpets…. lots of furniture to move around on that day.

Thanks for listening ~

9 Days Later

And 9 days later we have …..

Sprouts!

Here is a list of what we planted:

Emily -

Chives, Spinach, Watermelon, Cabbage, Long Peppers, Cilantro, Little Cucumbers, Buttercrunch Lettuce, Cantaloupe, Sugar Peas, Corn, and Beef Steak Tomatoes

Grace -

Garden Beans, Small Sugar Pumpkin, Roma Tomatoes, Beets, Iceberg Lettuce, Lemon Cucumber, Jalapenos, Carrots, Cherry Tomatoes, Double Yield Cucumbers, Radish, and Red Blush Onions

I forgot about and will probably plant Sweet Yellow Onions, Squash, Broccoli, and maybe Cauliflower.   I should also think about planting some Dill for the pickles I want to make.  I have Garlic, Rhubarb, Strawberries and Mint already growing. 

There's a nice picture in my mind of how I want my garden to be and I drew it on a paper so I’ll know where to plant everything.   I just need to get the garden space ready.  We’ll be putting topsoil on our garden this year.  I’m hoping to get a couple of nice hills for the carrots, beets, radishes and onions.

So I’m praying for sunny days and enough rain/snow right now so we don’t have a drought.  And maybe I should set up a rain barrel?

Thinking sunny and rainy thoughts until next time.

Thanks for listening ~