Friday, October 26

back from vacation

We are back from visiting my family in New York state.
So much to talk about...so many beautiful pictures to share.


I am feeling so fragmented being back home and trying to slip back into
routine, getting caught up around here, digging the house out from under drifts of kitty hair.....
I will share a couple pictures and be back in a couple days with more and tell about our wonderful trip!

Sunday, October 14

loose ends...

ever the procrastinator i am.....
we have known we were going on the family vacation back east to visit my dad, step mom and his side of the family for at least two months.
why then am i sitting here thinking of all of the things i need to accomplish tomorrow?
we leave to an overnight hotel tuesday so that leaves monday (tomorrow) to finish washing loads of laundry, fold them and have the kids put them away.
same with dishes.....
i know it is extra work to finish up the house before you leave on a trip but it sure makes the coming home easier....especially when it will be 6 of us coming home.

animals have caretakers
mail will be held
new shirt made for my oldest daughter
rides to the overnight hotel lined up
cleaning out the fridge of perishables tomorrow
yard cleaned up for winter so we dont have to do it in the rain when we come back

church was awesome today.....you sure dont know how much you miss something or someone until you havent seen it or them for awhile.
it has been at least 6 sundays since i have seen my church family....one sick kid after another and when you are the only parent this can make for a loooooong stretch.
anyway, good to see everyone again.

the weather has been sooooo beautiful for the past three days....seems like real fall weather.
crisp air, sunshine, people hurrying up the last minute yard work or house painting before the rains come.
i have immense respect for paint ~grin~
we werent able to get the house painted this year (it seriously needs it) but i finally got my picket fence all white. at least this winter when it is all rainy and blustery outside i will have a pretty white fence to look at....exactly the reason i painted it now instead of next summer when the house will be painted...so that i will have something cheerful to look at outside.
i will post before and after pictures when we come back Oct 26th.
it is a MAJOR difference.

have a GREAT week!
Lori xo

Wednesday, October 10

book give away

wow...I just got an email from Biblical Womanhood talking about a homekeeping book give away.
Sounds like a wonderful book and I hope I am one of the lucky winners.



When I was a younger mama I took for granted being able to stay at home with my children and got sidetracked too much with other matters. I still get sidetracked quite a bit but not as much as then....a little too much involvement in church activities and helping friends out back then and not too much emphasis on things like the husbands work uniforms or making sure the clean clothing actually made it to the drawers.
I digress....
Now that this past year has brought me into single parenthood of the bustling bunch of kids I no longer take staying at home for granted because I make soooo many sacrifices to do it and work many an odd job for people to make ends meet to be able to continue to stay home.

Some day I would love to be as organized as most women who choose to stay at home but I know my family loves me in all of my quirky homemaking ways.

Hopefully as soon as we come back from our family vacation (my dad and step mom paid for us to visit them...woohoo!) I will update my etsy shop which is supposed to help keep me at home with my kids too... Etsy shops really dont work well if they aren't updated. ~grin~
I am working on some super cute skirts for little girls with an appliquéd horse head with pillow trim for the mane called the *Giddy Up* skirt that I need to get some pictures of in case anyone who reads here has a little girl in their life that is a horsey lover... they are in sizes 2T, 4 and 6. They will be $38 with shipping included.

This picture is a WIP because of the button eye and little mirror medallion from the bridle missing. On the back of these skirts will be an appliquéd horse shoe with *giddy-up* embroidered on it. They are all wide wale corduroy except the tan one...it is regular curduroy.
Anyway, if you are a woman who is a homemaker at heart you may be interested in the give away....go leave a comment in the link at the top of this post!

Friday, October 5

peeping chicken....

See anything that doesn't fit in this picture? Look closely.....
Usually we have a cat peeping in our kitchen window at us but imagine the surprise to walk into the kitchen and see this beauty.
This is one of our *girls*.
She must have flown the coop and thought this was the closest thing to a roost.


silly bird.....


Sophie lost her first and second *official* teeth this past week. The top one had to be taken out because of one to many run ins with the floor...the floor won.
when did my baby start looking so grown up? gotta love those freckles.


Sophie has been on an ornament kick this week. you cant tell from the photo but each one was hand drawn to perfection and then a thin strip of paper was cut for the hanger and stapled on.
many hours of fun for the little crafter. she would love to sell them but i dont know where to encourage her to do this....how do they start this at the age of 5? wow....already a craft diva.
oh...the one on the far right is actually a puppet with a recycled limb from a tree that was laying in the yard....ever the recycler is that girl.