It's raining again today. We went from beautiful 86 degree temps to mid 40's to low 50's and rain. With all the wind, it sure can go right through you.

I've been sorting through stuff. Man! Why do I keep so much junk? And where does it all come from? Granted, I keep more because of homeschooling because the law requires it, but really, why the other stuff? Does anyone else keep things they wonder why they ever kept, or is it just me? LOL I had a good weekend of sorting and tossing. The kids want to have a yard sale, so they have a pile started for that. It's got them excited enough to get rid of a few things that they may not have otherwise parted with.

Mother's Day will be soon, so I decided to stitch up a present for MIL. She is such a dear - so sweet, and never a bad word from her. Her advice is always about loving each other - even when the kids are bad, because they won't be children long :-) What a precious MIL she is!! I saw this adorable pattern a couple of years ago, and bought it, but found I needed all speciality threads and beads, so it went back on the back burner. I bought all the required threads the middle of last year and finally had it all kitted together to do it for this mother's day. It's called "Grandmothers: A Special Love" by JBW Designs, and I think it's very appropriate for her. Please forgive the quality of the scan - the middle bead held the piece off the glass enough to make the middle blurry.



I smoked my CC on Friday. I had a bunch of threads, beads, and fabrics I needed to do some of the patterns that have been sitting in my stash, not being done because I didn't have the necessary materials. Sure I can substitue things, but the look isn't the same, and on a Just Nan, I won't sub normally. I love the way Nan designs and wouldn't change a thing on them! Not so with most of the primitives tho. I have a field day with them - they're never stitched the way they were designed.

Well back to work sorting and tossing......

I sat down and started digging and cataloging my WIPS, and what I finished that was a WIP this year. I started with 47, finished 13 and added 3 that I really wanted to do, so my grand total right now is 37. There - I admitted it. A pattern diet WAS a good idea. I've been having a great time playing in my stash, and gosh, I forgot I even had some of those patterns! Yikes! I could have purchased them again!!!!

Today has been the first day in over a month that I could actually do something and breathe afterwards. The awful cough has pretty much gone away - still some but not the doubling over kind like before - and now not much for shortness of breath either. Almost a month and a half down with this crap and nothing seem to help. Sure glad it's over with.

Finally started the spring cleaning today. Should have been done by now, but I'm just starting. Temps have soared into the 70's and may possibly hit 80 on Monday. The garden tiller isn't running and we so badly need to turn the garden. Too late to get peas out, and soon will be too late to get other things in like potatoes, onions, etc. I hate being behind like this.

It appears house hunting will stop. It amazes me that everything we have looked at has been a high priced dump - and when we come home, we appreciate what we have. It's just so small, so we've decided to add on an addition - about a 22x40 ft. one. It won't be this year, as the good contractors are booked already, so it will be next year before that happens, but it will be so nice to have a larger house and at the fraction of the cost of the ones we've been looking at. We want to add a living room and kitchen, and will take the existing LR and turn it into a master bedroom and then the kitchen we have now will become the master bath/walk in closet. With that done, we will be able to have enough room for 7-8 children.

After spring cleaning we'll make an appt with the adoption agency to finish up our home study. All we need is just the house inspection and we are done. We also need to get our form out for foster care. Since most of the stuff will already be done by our adoption agency, there won't be much that will be needed except for letters of recommendation and the classes that get us licensed. We are so close to being done now - would have been if hadn't been for the health stuff. .....grumble......

I think our whole town is outside today - everyone doing their yard work and enjoying the great weather. As I sit here typing, I can look out the picture window and see the flury of activity and wonder why I'm here typing. Ah yes, I'm taking a break from cleaning. LOL Well, with that being said, I should get back to work and get more done. It's amazing how things accumulate over the winter.

Did ya miss me? :-) That flu really had hold of our family. Still isn't all the way gone yet. The kids still don't eat well and they now act like they have bad colds. We've upgraded to that. Doctors visits and prescriptions have become part of life this past month. Glad that they are finally getting better. I hate seeing kids sick!

We spent the day coloring eggs and making chocolate covered peanut butter eggs (very much like the Reese's PB eggs, but the kids claim they are better. HAHAHA!!!) No luck on a house yet. We're seriously considering just adding on here - would be a lot cheaper than buying and we'd end up with a nice sized house and done the way we'd like it.

I'm working on my grafting class and have been doing pretty good. My grades aren't bad - actually pretty good for not being in college for over ahem years. You don't think I'd really admit how long I've been out of school, do you? LOL!! My first grafts still look alive, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they will take. Have 2 other types to do yet - may work on them tomorrow. We'll see how much dinner and the holiday activities take over my day.

We are having a modest dinner tomorrow - ham, gravy, mashed potatoes, maple-candied sweet potatoes, broccoli with cheese sauce, cauliflower with a bread crumb topping, and some home made candies for dessert. Dessert?!!! HA! No one will eat it, so I didn't do anything special except for the candies. They always stuff themselves on the main meal.

We have started the process to get licensed for foster care. Our adoption councelor has been trying to get us to become foster parents, but we've been putting it off for a bit. We were approved a few years ago, but the agency we went with closed, so we accepted it as a sign - after all that time, money and work to get there, and then the doors closed, and the worst thing was they never let us know. We waited, and waited, and waited to hear from them - leaving messages, and not getting any return calls. That didn't sit very well but now that I look back, I don't really think we were mature enough to have handled the situations that we can face. Heck, now I wonder, but raising our own has helped a little. :-)

I hit one of those silly little internet quizes again - yah I know, I'm just a sucker - but this one hit me funny. And I loved the book as a kid!!!!

You're Watership Down!

by Richard Adams

Though many think of you as a bit young, even childish, you're
actually incredibly deep and complex. You show people the need to rethink their assumptions, and confront them on everything from how they think to where they build their houses. You might be one of the greatest people of all time. You'd be recognized as such if you weren't always talking about talking rabbits.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.