Be KIND

Be KIND to unkind people.

They need it the most.

I bought a little wooden sign several years ago with this saying on it. I placed it in my kitchen window in hopes that I would see it everyday to remind myself

to take a little more time with those that are a little less kind and a lot harder to deal with.

I liked the saying so much that I decided to stitch it onto fabric and frame them. I completed the stitcheries months ago but just got them framed this past weekend.

I was on the phone with a not so nice lady this morning and as I was talking and getting madder by the minute I looked up to see the sign. I tried really hard but have decided that there are just some people who you will never be able to "kill with kindness." 

But that's OK because at least I know that I tried!

Another SNOWDAY!

This week has started out snowy and schools were once again cancelled. Our kids have actually spent more time out of school than in school since the first of this year. (Amazing!)
Yesterday morning the weather channel was predicting an inch of snow for overnight. Well by last night that had changed and we were right on the line between getting 2-4 inches or 3-5 inches. 
It snowed all night and the picture above is what it looked like when I woke up this morning.
By late afternoon, the snow had finally stopped and I went out and measured.

Yep...almost 5 and a half inches!

I haven't ventured out today other than to clear sidewalks but have heard that the roads were pretty bad. This evening, the main roads are clear but ours has yet to be plowed or salted. The snow is packed solid into a slippery sheet and cars are having a hard time getting stopped at the intersections. 

So far school is on a 2 hour delay for tomorrow. We'll have to wait and see if that stays or they get cancelled yet again. 

It's Been A While!

Do you see how pretty that sky is?
That picture was taken a good while ago and it seems like forever since we've seen pretty skies like that.

Where is SPRING??

It's definitely not in my neck of the woods. We awoke this morning to about 2" of a slushy, wet snow. Of course, school was cancelled due to the ridges being snow covered. It melted quickly but was still a cold & icky day.

I haven't been on the computer much lately. Just can't seem to stay interested in it.

While missing in action though, I have celebrated a milestone birthday (my 40th). Does that mean my life is half over or has it only half begun??
I say it has only just begun!
On the down side though, I finally resorted to taking medication for my high blood pressure. 
Happy Birthday to ME......NOT!
I've been watching it climb higher over the past year and had hoped to be able to get it under control but to no avail.
So after a few weeks of feeling awful and my numbers staying way higher than needed I finally gave in and went to the doctors. So far so good. The new medicine is keeping it down where it should be and I am feeling much better.

Now the only other thing that would make me feel better is some SUNSHINE.
I am so anxious for this weather to break. I haven't had a garden for a few years now. We put a new pool in, which everyone loves, but it took the place of my old garden. However, this year I'm tilling up a new spot so that I can have a garden to work in once again. It won't be as large as the previous but it will do. 
All I need now is for the weather to cooperate. As I type, it's a chilly 34 degrees out with snow still laying on the ground. It all needs to melt and go away. Let the warm spring breezes blow and the sun shine all day.

SNOW DAY

The kiddos are happy today because school has been cancelled. It started snowing this morning and it hasn't stopped yet. No major amount but it's made the roads a mess. It's really slippery out there!
Good day to stay indoors.

I caught this little guy climbing the fence at my parents' house. At first I thought someone had thrown something down in their yard (that blob laying in the photo above) but then I noticed it move. 

It's the fat little squirrel that we often see scurrying up the tree after the acorns.

With a three day weekend I hope to get some time to work on a few projects. At the moment I'm still working on my knitting.

And I've begun another stitchery.

The only problem is that I messed my hand up the other day. This may sound stupid but I used a shovel to break through some ice and after I was done I noticed my left hand kept shaking. Kind of like what it does after using the weed eater on the grass in the summertime. I figured it would stop shaking, which it has, but now I have no muscle strength in that hand now. If I try to hold an ink pen or a thread and needle it feels as if I'm going to drop them & I don't seem to have much control of it. I'm guessing that I have pulled a muscle because I can feel it all the way up to my elbow.
Oh well, I will find something to keep busy with while giving my arm and hand a rest.
Well I'm off to find that "something" to get into.
Have a great weekend!

Oreo Pudding Cake & Freezing Temperatures

Brrr.. it's cold outside!
It was a brisk 3 degrees when I woke up this morning. Schools have been on a two hour delay for the past two days and I just received the call that they will be on a delay again tomorrow.
When it's this cold outside I prefer to stay indoors. Hubby and I have been walking each evening since October but we decided to skip last night because it's simply too cold. So instead of walking I have been curled up in a chair with my laptop surfing Pinterest.
There are so many neat ideas on there. Everything from decorating, cooking, crafting and so forth. I could spend forever looking around that place.

I found this cake recipe on there and decided to give it a try. I went to make it but quickly realized I didn't have all the ingredients needed. No problem though, I just substituted a box of vanilla and a box of chocolate pudding for the Oreo pudding and left out the Cool Whip. It was a hit with all the kiddos....hubby included!
You can find the recipe HERE at the The Country Cook.

I've also been browsing the internet for any new 2013 Block of the Month patterns. I've found a good many and listed a few of my favorites on my sidebar. Not sure that I will get around to making all of them but I'm definitely going to grab the patterns while they are free for the taking.

What are you working on? 
Any new projects or just trying to catch up on unfinished ones?

Safe from Sandy

                                              These guys and gals don't mind the rain. 
                                    They were munching away in a neighboring yard.

All is well here and thankfully the storm has passed...well not entirely but the worst is over. 
Here in our area we were told to brace for high winds and possible flooding. 
A little before bedtime last night the winds were beginning to pick up and I was certain that it would be a pretty sleepless night.
But I slept like a baby, with the exception of a few noisy gusts that blew through.

So now that the winds are gone we are left with RAIN..RAIN..and more RAIN.

No major flooding yet, which is super. 
However they will be watching the Ohio River in the next few days to see how high it rises. I'm thankful that this storm brought no serious issues to us but my heart goes out to all those that were affected by it. 
There is no place like home and when that home has to be abandoned or worse...it is destroyed then you feel as if you have lost a safety net or your place of comfort.
But homes can always be rebuilt ~ lives can not so it's better to be safe than sorry!

Feels Like Fall!

This weekend brought some very fall-like weather and I'm loving every bit of it. The A/C is turned off, the windows are wide open and it is so cool and comfy.

I'm already finished stitching this month's Promises and Borders block (I'll post a pic as soon as I sew the border around it) so I thought I'd begin on a little fall project.
I had to go to our local quilt shop the other day to find some temporary adhesive to use in my new project and while there I couldn't resist a few fat quarters. They will be perfect for my newest adventure.

I'll show you more when I get all the pieces cut out!

With the approach of fall the apples on the tree are getting bigger though fewer in number thanks to the deer.

The flowers are fading...

and since the temperatures are dipping into the low 50's at night I figured we'd better get the pool closed up for the season. Once the water cools down then no one wants to get in to remove the steps and so forth. So Friday evening was spent doing just that. Everything removed, pool water drained down a little and the cover is on. I hate to see the summer be gone but at the same time I am more than ready for fall.

Weeks Worth of Chit Chat

HI all!
It's been a week since I last posted so I thought I'd better pop in for a little chit chat.

School will be starting soon (Aug. 23) so I've been busy getting all my prep work done for Katie's homeschooling. Usually I work all summer on this but lucky for me I saved everything from Gage's homeschooling. So I have a complete year of lessons already planned out, just need to add a few new things here and there.

We've also had a few appointments this week. Katie had a dentist visit and I a Dr. appointment. I try to get them all scheduled in before school begins that way my oldest son is home to babysit the younger two. Just makes things simpler!

You all may remember that the transmission went out in my truck at the beginning of summer so I've been stuck without a vehicle for the past few months. (or at least until hubby was home in the evening with his)

So this was a happy sight for me ~ having it towed to the garage to get it fixed.
I now have my wheels back!!!

Oh, and I received an email last night that just made my evening.

Shabby Fabrics has a new "Blessings of Autumn" BOM that they have just begun. They also held a giveaway for the pattern set and guess who won????
                                                    ME!
I can't wait to get this. I love all things FALL so this will be super fun to work on.

Well that's been my week in a nutshell.  Nothing really special going on but too busy to blog and sew.
Now that things are done and a little back to normal  I've got to get busy on the latest Promises and Borders block that was just released as well as a few other sewing projects that I've got going.

Risky Connection???

Have any of you visited my blog and received a risky connection message from your anti-virus program??


This morning when I logged on and went to my blog that dreadful message appeared at the top of my screen. The only thing that I had done recently (Sunday) was change the music selection that I had playing on the Mix-Pod box at the bottom of my page. (For any of you that don't know what Mix-Pod is ~ It's the feature that allows you to play music in your blog background.) 

To make a long story short Mix-Pod's music choices come from You Tube (which I'm not a big fan of) so I deleted the Mix-Pod account and as soon as it was removed the risky connection message no longer popped up on me. So I guess I'll just not have any music playing in the background just to be on the safe side or until a better music player comes along. I  wish Playlist still worked on  Blogger but it doesn't :(

I've scanned my computer and thankfully no viruses or spyware were reported. 
However if any of you happen to receive similar messages when visiting my blog please let me know so that I can get to the bottom of it.

A week of NOTHING other than Pinterest

It's been one of those weeks!
I've been out of sorts with steady sinus headaches which just really puts me in a mood.
You know the kind of mood that I'm talking about, the one where you just really don't want to do anything at all.
So that is what I have done all week...pretty much NOTHING!
No cooking (at least anything worth blogging about), very little sewing and no blogging. About the only thing that I did accomplish was spending hours and I mean hours on the internet as I sat up a Pinterest account. (yes, I know I'm a bit behind in doing this.)
Eventually I'll place a link on my blog so that you can browse through my favorite finds.

Yesterday was my big once a month grocery stock up trip. My Mom is on vacation this week so she took us. Katie and I both got our hair cut. Katie decided it was too hot for long hair plus she hates having to comb it all out after being in the pool so she went for an above the shoulder cut. I too did the same thing.
After that we began our grocery shopping.
Later in the evening we went out for dinner and then stopped at Jo Ann's Fabric.
My Mom had given me a gift card for there so I decided to use it to buy what other than fabric! (Thanks MOM!!)

I got a good many fat quarters that I can use in my hexagon quilt as well as a new thimble. All that stitching that I've been working on lately really makes the tips of my fingers quite tender. 
Well that's all that's going on in my world. 
Hope you have a great weekend!

Around the House

The flag is flying in anticipation of the upcoming 4th of July.
The flowers are in full bloom.

Pretty pink and purple petunias on the top and bottom front porches.

More pinks along the porch.

Out back a few Zinnias are the only plants that sprang up from the three different kinds of seeds that I planted there. The ugly little fence in front of them was a must just to keep the dogs out. I'd love to take it down now that the flowers are blooming however I know that the dogs would have them trampled over in a heartbeat. 

The skies are sunny with lots of puffy clouds.

The kids are either swimming in the pool or playing under a shade tree. Does that face spell ornery or what?

Inside our home the blinds are all being kept shut in an attempt to keep the house cool. It feels as if I'm living in a dark dungeon.

But with the temperatures soaring outdoors it's nice to be able to come inside to the cool even if it is a bit dark.

Not much cooking in the kitchen...it's too hot for that!
It's time for crock pot or grilling recipes.
Oh and that reminds me, if you've been following my blog for a while then you will know that this past year has not been a good one for our appliances. We've had to replace the refrigerator and the stove. Then my chest freezer died and I had to get that replaced. I remember saying then that we shouldn't have too many more problems because almost all of our appliances have been replaced.
Well I was wrong.
Our microwave quit working on us this past weekend so I had to go and get another one.

Hopefully now all those new appliances will continue working for quite some time. However, with the way things are made so cheaply now a days I won't hold my breath on that one.
Hope you all are staying cool!

Half of a Sellers "Hoosier" Cabinet

This old cabinet or shall I say half of a cabinet has been sitting on a top shelf in a storage room for quite some time.
The bottom of the cabinet was trashed so the top was cut off with the hopes of one day recreating something with it.
Well the other day during the process of cleaning out the storage area my Dad decided to toss the cabinet figuring it was project he'd never get around to messing with.

However, I hated to see it go. So needless to say I grabbed it out of the junk pile.
Now what to do with it?

Needs a little cleaning, huh?

As I said it's only half of a cabinet.
I have the top half which is a 2 door cabinet with a flour sifter. Below that is a storage compartment with a roll top door. I also have the counter top work place, 3 drawers and two lower cabinet doors. 
So my question is what shall I do with them.


My first thought is to create a functional desktop that would look awesome in a kitchen.
Hang the top half of the cabinet on a wall.
Use the wooden counter top piece as a desk.( I'd have to create some sort of "legs" for this!)

Use the drawers for storage. I'm already envisioning the smaller drawer being used for some of my favorite sewing supplies.
And lastly the two remaining cabinet doors could maybe be used as decoration on the kitchen walls. They of course need something to pizzazz them up a bit first.
The wood isn't oak so I'd just strip it down and repaint it.
My thought was retro...maybe white trimmed in red, turquoise or even pink???
The second option is to just pull the flour sifter out of the cabinet and sell it on Ebay and then trash the rest of the cabinet.


So what do you all think?
What would you do with it?
I'd love to hear any ideas that you may have!