It Is Well

I found this old piece of wood when I was out hiking way back in the hills one day. I couldn't part with it so I strapped it to my pack and carried it all the way home with me. 

I decided to make a sign out of it.

Winterizing

 I decided to winterize my pillow.

A Stitch In Time

I pulled out my needles this afternoon. My knitting needles that is. I was wondering when the itch to knit was going to hit. Uh oh. Did you hear that? So here I sit, in a room warmly lit, piecing together pillows bit by bit. I better stop or this threatens to get corny. 

This is my favorite season. I just love the coziness. For some reason it causes images to flit about in my mind of a haven from the freezing temperatures. Something like Mr. Tumnus' cottage in the woods. California is hardly a Narnia, but let's just use our imagination. Maybe I'll pull out the can of spray on snow. LOL.

I was at the craft store picking up this yarn and they had packages of scented pine cones. I LOVE those things they always smell so good. Gonna have to pick one of those up on my next trip.

Anywhoo, what was my point? Oh my point was... I made this cream pillow cover (photo above) a few years back and I've decided to make another one but in a more of a chocolate mocha color. Stay tuned for future updates on our progress. 

Also Kia would like you to know that she is freaked out of the yarn label. She has been frozen stiff ever since it wrapped around her mid-section. Ahhh ha ha ha! Look at at her face. Lol. 

'Tis the Season

 Made Rumble Cakes this evening. 

Mmm.... I put in 5x too many cherries and pecans but no worries... my love for peanut butter seems to have balanced out the equation. I'm not exactly sure how many scoops of peanut butter I impulsively added but apparently it was enough to spread the extra nuts and berries quite nicely.

Who needs formulas anyways? 

Coziness

I couldn't resist on this lovely cool fall evening. Baking always ups the cozy factor. Mmmm... smells lovely in here. 

Kia

My baby and her fresh catnip.

Family

Finally got around to editing these from my birthday. I love my family. We had a great time celebrating at my parent's house. I was playing around in the yard with my camera.

Stiiiill in my 20s. :)

Cleaning Day

So proud of my cleaning day. Ahhh... Home Sweet Home.

Baking Banana Bread

I love to bake. It maaaaay have something to do with sweets, but I can't be entirely certain. Never-the-less... after seeing my friend Liz's beautiful banana bread photo today, I had such a craving that I had to go to the store and get bananas for my own loaf. The first thing I will tell you about baking... and this is the very most important part... you must wear a cute apron. It makes everything turn out much better. Secondly, you must play music that you love while in the kitchen, and lastly use fresh ingredients people. None of this baking soda that has absorbed every smell in your fridge.

And it always helps to have a "secret" ingredient as well.

My Dream House

I found my dream house today. Amidst age old oaks, golden hills dotted with cattle, weather-worn barns, windmills, and magnificent rays of sunlight, there she was...

Mothercraft {Part III-Areas 4-6}

Building Family Ties and Respect for Parents

1. Enjoyment by parents of each other's company

2. Respect for each other's opinions.

3. A truly self-reliant outlook on life.

4. Treatment of the child with respect as an individual, a person worth consulting.

5. Enjoyment in doing things together as a family.

6. Sensible use of family income and joint decisions about its use.

7. Skills or traits in each family member that the others are proud of.

8. Recognition of lasting values rather than desire for excitement and amusement.

9. Acceptance of community responsibility.

Strengthening Values in Family Life

4. Treating one's children with respect is not likely to come about unless one tries to learn what children are like and what to expect of them as they develop. Sometimes it is necessary for a father to interpret the children to the mother, though more often it is the other way round. But the more anyone knows about children, the more he realizes how worthy they are of consideration.

5. Enjoyment of family companionship come from having had fun together many times. To one family walking may be fun; to another, playing games; to a third, gardening; to still another, entertaining guests. The main thing is to try out many things that can be done as a group. Some of them will bring pleasure that will build up warm feeling of oneness.

6. Sensible use of the family income depends to a great extent upon training in using money but also upon the amount of respect parents feel for each other. If either the husband or the wife feels that the other is extravagant or stingy or not always sensible, there is bound to be some arguing and disputing. Because it is more often the man who provides the income and because men have so long held the purse strings, many men unthinkingly expect to make decisions as to how money shall be spent. They have not stopped to remember that in our present way of living it is the wife and mother who must know how to buy, about comparative costs of food and clothes and rent, and that the family will be better served if decisions are made jointly.

If the husband and wife talk over the advantages of buying a new rug now or putting it off, of renting a house in one neighborhood for the sake of the school or in another for the sake of the fine yard, the children are learning while they listen. They are learning (1)that talking thing over is a good way of bringing out all sorts of ideas and feeling, and (2) that it is a democratic way of living in which no one person dictates what others shall do. As they grow older, they will get in one the discussions, too; Molly will have a chance to tell the family why she thinks dancing lessons should be included in the budget, and Mark will ask, if Molly is going to have that money spent on her, won't it be fair for him to have a like amount to buy a camera?

Mothercraft {Part III-Area 3}

Building Family Ties and Respect for Parents

1. Enjoyment by parents of each other's company

2. Respect for each other's opinions.

3. A truly self-reliant outlook on life.

4. Treatment of the child with respect as an individual, a person worth consulting.

5. Enjoyment in doing things together as a family.

6. Sensible use of family income and joint decisions about its use.

7. Skills or traits in each family member that the others are proud of.

8. Recognition of lasting values rather than desire for excitement and amusement.

9. Acceptance of community responsibility.

Strengthening Values in Family Life

3. A truly mature, self-reliant outlook on life is reached only through practice in responsibility. A girl who has been pampered or one who had developed a self-pitying point of view because of early hardship, a man whose father has tried to keep him bowing to his will or one how has been less outstanding in school or in sports than his brother, may find that the final growing up has to come after marriage. Recognition of one's need for a more realistic outlook is the first step in changing one's habits.