My Knight In Shining Armour

Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!!!
We have celebrated 82 birthdays with our children and grandchildren, 64 of our own birthdays, we have suffered loss and buried several loved ones, we have triumphed over illnesses and disease in our children, and ourselves, we have made 4 apartments (that first one will always be my favorite), and 3 houses into homes, we have had little and we have had plenty.
I have learned, from that tender age of 18, how to be a wife and mother, and you a husband and father. We have done well. You tell me every day that you love me, but my heart swells when I hear from others of your love for me. Just like the Proverbs 31 woman, I am blessed to have my husband praise me.
My desire for you comes from that same passage of scripture....
"The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her so he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil ALL the days of her life."
I pray that is what I am for you.
Thank you for 32 years of feeling safe, loved, and valued!
I Love You, Kim!

Back To Basics

It wasn't much of a computer break, but I was able to sort out my computer issues. I have given up facebook, except to answer messages and post quilt pictures. I plan to go back to my blog reading/posting schedule. My morning coffee will be shared with blog reading and commenting. I plan to post more here than I have been. I was going to wait til Monday to start, but so much is going on I thought I would post today.

Let's start in the kitchen. I made a Spaghetti dinner just the way Sweetheart likes it....no it is not homemade sauce. I made a wonderful homemade sauce, but it was too late....by the time I made it, my family was hooked on Prego. :(
I browned some Italian sausage.....
...made some homemade meatballs....
...and simmered it in the crockpot all day. It turned out wonderful!
Yes, my family also prefers Cole's garlic bread! It is amazing how they get use to something and won't give it up. They do love my homemade bread too. ;) I don't feel too badly using a jar sauce or frozen bread.
My grandkids have been here for the last few days. What a treat it has been! Emerson is talking up a storm, and TJ graduated from Kindergarten!!! Along with the joy, comes some mess. With all the kids here, things get out of shape quickly!!!

Emerson was suppose to be getting dressed, but instead got caught up in Dora!
She put that shirt on all by herself! She was so proud! Once dressed, they all headed to the backyard for some play. That gave me time to straighten up some...It is amazing how just a few things out of place can make things appear out of order. It took me less than 10 minutes to put things back in order.At lunch time, TJ explained the difference between Kindergarten and 1st grade. It was fascinating!
I put them all to bed late last night, knowing they would sleep in a bit in the morning. HA! TJ and Zach were up before 7! Zach was up before 6!!! They did lay and watch a show while I drank my coffee and jumped in the shower.Well, TJ watched a show....Zach went back to sleep!
Today is full of sunshine and outdoor fun!After lunch, TJ and I will come up with a special birthday dinner for his guy.....
....and tomorrow morning they will go to Daddy's house til Tuesday. Finally, it feels like summer is here!!!

Sunshine!!

We have had some nice weather lately, and the sunshine has streamed through the window beautifully. In the early mornings, the bunnies are all over the backyard, much to Sassy's enjoyment!
Speaking of bunnies, I have a few Easter pics to share. My children all ready for church on Easter morning..... My mom and sister joined us for church too! After a wonderful church service we all came back and had a cookout. The grandkids were with us this year, which made Easter extra special!!!
I will share more Easter pics next time.
Here is an update on the family....
Sweetheart is working LOTS of hours, but I am so grateful for the job!!!Charlotte is, well,.....Charlotte is Charlotte. She has good and bad days. School has been an issue here, but I think maybe, hopefully, prayerfully, she is starting a new trend.
She is enjoying her needlework, playing outside with friends, and hanging with her brothers.
Zach is doing well in school, and is looking forward to a summer break. We homeschool through most of the summer, so he may be an unhappy guy very soon! Oh well, we only work in the mornings. He LOVES that cat, and is spending lots of time outside playing with his best friend, Stephan.
Kyle is so glad the weather is nice. He is outside more than he is inside and loves playing basketball with the guys in the cul de sac!Me? I have been getting Bud and Rachel's old house ready for the new tenants. My sister in law, who lives in Colorado, owns the house, so I am helping her by showing and renting it. The new family signed the lease here this afternoon. I am so glad that is over!! Now on to some Spring cleaning around here and back to some quilting projects that have been far too neglected! My mom an sister are coming early in the morning to attend Mother's Day service at my church. How blessed can I be? 2 times in 3 weeks!!! Next Sunday, Zach is getting baptized, so that will be an event also!
That's all for now. I will come back early next week and share more! I'm sure this long post wore you out!!!

Spring Is In The Air

Hee Hee...Poor Sass looks like a goofy cartoon cat in that picture! She was looking at birds flying over head through that big glass door.

The birds are out in large numbers lately, singing, and flitting around the back yard just to torment the poor girl! It feels like Spring! I have seen many of you are doing your Spring cleaning. I haven't really started that just yet. Still a bit too cold outside. I did a MAJOR clean and organizing of the library one day last week though. It was really bad. All these books came off, and went back on in a much more organized state. TJ and Emerson were here Saturday night and Sunday. They both LOVE the books here and I read to them every visit. Emerson noticed the difference right away. She is a "detail" kinda gal!! She went over and brought me this book, saying, "read it." This book had been on an upper shelf before, so she noticed it right off. We read a bit of it, though it did not have enough pictures to satisfy her. I noticed in the front flap, it was her Daddy's book, won during a Vacation Bible School contest when he was only 4 years old! Awwww....such memories.

You know that old saying, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder"? It is SO true. I miss Sweetheart so much, that on his days off, I am like a love sick puppy!! He had a "honey-do" list this weekend and got to all of his jobs....with a little help, of course!

Let's talk quilts for a minute. Today the mailman brought me this....

Is this wonderful, or what? I LOVE it. Remember the little Bear Paw I made for my Girl Scout leader? Well, she sent this to me as a PIF gift. It is a Friendship Star variation. I am so excited to have it. Her hand quilting is so beautiful and the colors are perfect. I put it on the hutch in my studio. My own quilting has been going well. I finished the 3rd PIF just yesterday.

I will show you a full pic when it is received. It was mailed today. I still have a couple more to do, but I am taking a little break to work on something else. I have been wanting to get the leaves appliqued on the border of the Underground Railroad Sampler for quite some time. That time is now! It needs 93 leaves so I got those all drawn out onto freezer paper and cut out.They are all pressed on to the fabric, ready to be cut and stitched.I was certain I did not have enough fabric, and if I had not found those triangle pieces, I would not have. A sweet blogging friend, Glenda, sent me some similar fabric that would have worked, but it looks like I will have enough. I will use the fabric Glenda blessed me with to bless another in an upcoming PIF gift.

So, I think I will go watch Dancing With The Stars and cut leaves. Sounds like a wild night, eh?

I will leave you with a pic of Sassafras...she is birdwatching even before I can open the blinds in the morning!

Returning To Normal

I created my Home Management Binder years ago...it started out a "Control Journal", but I didn't like that name AT all. It has been a wonderful tool in organizing my cleaning schedules and daily routines. It worked for me...I didn't work for it. Two years ago, Sweetheart got laid off and his business actually closed it's doors. There has been little, or nothing in the way of work ever since. God has provided for us in ways I can not even begin to share here. Just know He has performed miracles here! Anyway, in that 2 years, my schedules have been put to the side. Things get done regularly, but not always by me. Sweetheart is a clean-freak-neat-nick-OCD ....well you get the idea. He likes to clean. Problem is, he doesn't really know how. He is great at picking up and making things appear clean...in reality they are not. I would do the deep cleaning, but things were not on a schedule. Having Sweetheart here most days is like a never-ending weekend. I could never make it all work. Once or twice a week he would go to his mom's, but I usually took those days to relax and sew. Now...2 years later, Sweetheart is going back to work.

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

What a blessing...those words are an understatement. Though I will miss him SO much, my schedules can work for me once again and I find myself almost giddy at the thought of "returning to normal". Homeschool, though affected in the beginning, has moved along quite well in the last 2 years with Daddy home. Little will change, though we may be a bit more laid back. Dad liked everything "timed"....and he preferred the kids do school at a table. Zach use to work in every room of the house, which was fine with me. Today was testing so he stayed at the table.

He was pretty confident he had done well.

Sassy will miss Sweetheart as much as we will. He is the one who gives her treats! I found this pic of her this morning....remember when she looked like this???

That little 1 pound 7 ounce sweetie with the cut off whiskers? She sure grew up.....

....and OUT! Maybe she will thin out now that "Daddy" is not here all the time!

I am so thankful for the last 2 years and even though it has been difficult, I would not trade them for anything. Having all that time with my husband was a gift. That is how I look at it! I am excited for him in this new job as he creates a new future for himself and for me and the kids. He is an amazing provider!!!

Ok, on to some quilty-sewing news. I joined a PIF on facebook. It was a 5 person PIF and I signed up with Christina. She sent me a beautiful hand-made tea wallet.Inside she had filled it with some wonderful teas and a scripture print from her online store, For His Glory Photography.
Go take a look at her prints. They are GORGEOUS!! You can find them by clinking on the above link.

Christina signed up on my PIF so I made her this....I chose the Wagon Wheel design because she and her family moved out west this summer. They traveled by RV and made a real memory of the trip.

Here is the back...you all know how I love the back of a quilt as much as the front.All my PIF's will have the same backing fabric to tie them together. Yeah....it was a large piece I bought and then decided against. It works for a back!
I still have 4 more to go. The 2nd one is in the hoop and the 3rd is almost ready to go there. It still has a few more leaves to add on.I may just start blogging a little more now that I will be back in "normal"...Sweetheart use to always read my blog from work and he would know how the day went before he ever saw us sometimes! His hours will be long, so I may have to take lots of pics and post them so he knows what is happening!

Oh, one more thing...we had the grandkids last week. TJ had no school Mon-Wed. so they were here Friday night and then went with Daddy on Saturday morning til Tuesday afternoon. We got them overnight again and then they went back to Mom on Wednesday. It was an unexpected blessing and we sure enjoyed them! They seem to be adjusting well. I know they sure adore their Daddy. When he walks in they go crazy over him!!! He's crazy for them too!

Ok, I think that is all for now. I'll be back soon to let you all know how normal feels!