June Jems

What else happened this month?

I got NEW sandals from Heather in Brazil!!

They are super comfy and great quality South American leather.   She originally planned to bring them to me but at the last minute couldn’t pull off the 6 hour trip each way to get here.  It was just after our big May parties so I couldn’t go find her either.

But I had a very happy day when the box arrived from her!!  Isn’t she sweet?  🙂

Thank you!!

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Earlier in the month, JP was honored & thrilled to be invited to attend a Fine Arts Conference at Willow Creek along with some others in the music ministry at church.  What a treat!!

This was his first outing on his own but he had a great time and handled buying his own food & staying in a hotel just fine.  🙂

One evening they went to Medieval Times for dinner & the entertainment.  It sounded like a ton of fun!!

A highlight of the conference was hearing Darlene Zschech speak and the live Hillsong concert!  JP’s first live concert – nothing like starting at the top!  He said it was fabulous.

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K has had a busy month with her 2 classes & her RA job.   One class is an independent study with her hat making instructor.  She is loving the time at Eia’s studio and learning some of the business end of it as well.  She and another student did an art fair this past weekend.  Near the end of July a bigger one is planned near K’s neighborhood and they plan to have hats & accessories for sale that weekend as well.

She is following leads for jobs and also looking for an apartment to rent.

Her students in the building arrived last Sunday (6/21).   She has a floor of high school girls spending 2, 3, or 5 weeks studying at SAIC.   She has taken any of the ones in the building on trips to the grocery, Chinatown, and Dairy Queen.   I’m sure she’ll include a trip to the thrift store again as that was a huge hit last summer!  She is a good tour guide!

She also had a weekend at the beginning of the month with Phil’s parents!   She ran them north & south and back again for 2 long days.  They all had a great time!

Her other class ends this week.  She has enjoyed it but it is intense, putting a whole semester of work into 3 weeks.   This has been on Chicago architecture and they have only been in the classroom a few times.  The other days are spent touring and studying the city!  (I only had a small panic when she called that she was lost!  I googled her location and could direct her in the right way once I knew where she was and had her heading the right way!  🙂  Yeah for the internet & cell phones as she was walking away from the street she needed when she called. )

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Phil continues to watch his crops grow and with all the rain & heat we’ve had, the corn seems to be jumping!   He is nearly done with spraying but has a few fields of soybeans to get to yet.  Yesterday and today have been too windy for that job anyway.

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Mrs. So & So has been busy this month back in the work station.  I’ve made 96 oz of MSM cream,  192 oz. of goat milk lotion, and 8 batches of goat milk soap. Whew!

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Here is my newest appliance:

The dishwasher died June 1st!  Sort of funny but I was SO thankful I had made it through May with a working one!!

The buttons are along the top so the front is flat and clean.  🙂  I’m loving it!

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Another Year…

Yesterday (6/29) was my birthday but we did most of the celebrating on Sunday.

The first idea was to go to a town about an hour + south of here as I’ve heard they have a nice quilt shop, antique shop, and garden place.  However, the quilt shop was closed on Sundays so we went with plan 2.

I have looked like a total idiot lifting weights since I switched out of sweatpants so my 2nd ask was for workout clothes.  🙂

We headed to the bigger town an hour to the northeast mid-morning on Sunday.  First was din-din before the crowds hit.  JP had been to bd’s Mongolian Grill with the worship team members (coming home from Willow Creek….. did I blog that?  must get caught up!!)… and had raved about the place!!

He suggested I register on the site so did that on Saturday.  On Sunday before we headed out, there was a birthday email from bd’s and that gave me my dinner free!

If you’ve never been there… it is like a buffet line but you fill your bowl with various meats, pastas, and veggies for your stir fry.  Then select a bowl of sauce and add any seasonings you like.  Then there are people there to cook it for you!

I cheated by putting a few pieces of noodles in my bowl but the rest was safe for me.  Until I caved and chose Kung Pao sauce instead of the Spicy Buffalo sauce that would have been sugar-free.  I had about 3 bites of rice, too.  But even so… I didn’t feel too bad so that was yummy & fun!  🙂

We all enjoyed dinner and it was nice to beat the crowd.

Next we toured Sam’s and loaded up on necessities there.   As well as… Phil is going to add sugar to his next sprayer tank to the soybeans so we had 70# of sugar!  Quite funny in the (2/3) sugar-free house.

My turn next… off to Kohl’s.   I shopped and the men went across the street to PetSmart for food for the birds and elderly dog.  I was nearly done when they returned and am quite happy with my new clothes!  (not modeling them but I must say I felt much better this aft when I went to workout! 🙂 )

On Monday, the men had cards and a nice blouse for me.   The postwoman brought me several cards and my Facebook friends found me too!  😉   I had a good celebration!

(I still want to find that yet-explored quilt shop and will take birthday money along that day.  🙂 )

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WVA Report

JP’s week at Worldview Academy was wonderful!!! 🙂

We arrived at Trinity University Friday morning about 11 to pick him up.   We could have joined in class starting at 9, but the drive and the chores and the need for beauty sleep (Phil got it!) and all.   😉  So we left here at 8:34.  (late by 4 mins)

So once at TU and greeted by the still enthusiastic staff, we walked across the nicely wooded campus to the chapel.  There we could get in the last 15 mins of their last class… something along the Top 10 List of Life.   It was good!

We finally found JP sitting in front of us…up many rows.  🙂

The students were dismissed to meet with their small group and since so many parents were there, the students were encouraged to wave and keep going.   Finally, once we said something, JP saw us as he walked by and came to give me a hug.  🙂  We chatted about 1 min and they were reminded to just wave.  I’m sure he wasn’t the only one who had found his parents.  🙂

The students came back in the chapel about 10 mins later.  They had received their WVA certificates and camp photo and we had received some parental information.

As part of the closing, we sang 2 worship songs and saw a DVD as an overview of the week.  Once all was finished, JP easily found us again.  We talked a few minutes and he had had a great time.   He quickly was ready to come back next year if he wasn’t taking classes, but we all agreed this was better than a college class.

We were able to preregister him and get a good discount on next year’s camp.  The locations change every year so we hope it will still be in the Chicagoland area.

At church he told a friend that after 26 hours of classes, he still wanted more.  Some of the speakers had to hurry they had so much to teach and so he would have loved to hear more.

We walked back to the car and JP’s suitcase and sleeping bag had been loaded in by the staff after we parked.

On the way home we asked about other homeschoolers being there.  He said only the small group leader in his small group of 8 students had NOT ever been homeschooled.  He said about 90% of the camp was homeschooled or had been at some point.  How super to be the majority for once!  🙂

JP’s roommate was there for the 4th time and his brother was there for the 5th time.   They traveled from FL for this week.   They like trying different areas.  🙂

We had a good trip home and enjoyed his stories and experiences.   What a super week of training and he continues to share it with us.

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A Week of Empty Nest

Added another pix on Thursday…

On Sunday, we took JP to a week of Worldview Academy.  Like camp but at a college campus.   Not rustic… thank goodness they have air conditioned buildings!  🙂  (We have heat indexes of 105 – 110′ F this week.)

On Sunday once we arrived and had JP moved in to his room.

He isn’t allowed to email us and he can call but would have to ask the director to use his phone so we doubt that will happen.   So we’ve heard nothing.

But WVA has a website of weekly pictures for the parents.   Finally today they have some pictures up and I found him!  🙂

And then I’m guessing this could be his small group….

So we continue to pray he is having the “best week of his life” and growing and learning so much!  We can’t wait to hear his report!

I found him in a group shot today (Thursday).

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Sixty Years!

What does 60 years of marriage look like anyway?

Dorman & Joan

Back in 1949, on June 24, my parents got married.

My mom’s mom made the wedding dress and they got married in the church where they now attend.   In between they lived in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and back to Ohio.   Each of us 4 kids were born at each new location.  They stayed in Ashland once I arrived and the family was complete. 🙂

They have terrific grandchildren!

Ten grandkids make a super pyramid! 2006

And 6 1/2 great-grandchildren.   How fun!

2008

Congratulations Mom & Dad!

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K’s Book

For months I’ve been planning and formulating a fabric memory book highlighting just a bit of K’s time in Chicago.  I’ve titled it Opening.

I wanted to include a tag book with her story so turned to Phil.  In the last several years, his writing has come to bloom and I thought this would be another avenue for him.

I asked him to write a short something as a review of K’s time in Chicago.

About a week later, I asked how the story was coming.  He hadn’t done it yet.

Another week passed and I asked again.  (thankfully he doesn’t get upset at this nagging)

So after lunch that day, he grabbed his spiral notebook and click pen and wrote.  Thirty minutes later he came to read to me.

We laughed.

We cried.

I said it was perfect!

I copied his story on tags I had coffee stained

it works better with instant coffee... must buy some

and stamped his title, “Life So Far”, added her name, the date, and had Phil sign it.  I covered the back side of the tags with fabric paper.

my big sheet of fabric paper

Fabric paper is muslin covered with paper scraps, layered with pattern tissue and then painted with a wash of fluid acrylics.  The tag book is tied together with an assortment of yarn & rick-rack.

back of tag book

As Keturah grew up on a farm

Animals were something she could charm

Her curly hair would bounce all day

And down by the creek she loved to play

—

Her school was decided to be at home

There were hidden talents later to be known

In 2004, when school was done

She decided to work and have some fun

—

But to our surprise

To the city she would arise

She became a student at SAIC

And soon a great artist to be

—

Mom & Dad are so proud

She says it’s like floating on a cloud

You grew up around Ag

Now go get them and make a new bag!

Just lately, I went to the work of assembling a few pictures, some fabric, some photos of her fabrics printed on fabric, and a few bits of embellishment.

later I added words from a book inside the keyhole: she can

The pages of the book are canvas boards covered with fabric.   The ribbon runs through the pages to hold them as one.

The book can be folded up like a book or stood up accordian style for display.  Both sides are decorated.

If you have followed K’s work, most of this will ring a bell with you.

description of all the elements

Here is the 2nd page with the pocket to hold the story on the tag book –

Each side:

K got this in the mail yesterday with her lotion refills I made last week.  🙂  Now I can tell you about what I’ve been doing!

This idea is from Lesley Riley‘s book: Fabric Memory Books.   She is one of my favorites!!

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My Dad

Happy Father’s Day!

It is quite hard to find pictures of Dad… the one behind the camera most of the time.  But I couldn’t resist this one from our CA trip many moons ago!

Happy Father’s Day!  I’ve said before how I can’t believe you stayed east and left your CA.  I know how much you love that.  Thanks for loving Mom and caring for us!

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Fireworks with Extra Punch!

Last Saturday after church, we were invited to my friend Becky’s house to enjoy her town’s fireworks.  What a treat!  We have gone before and this is fireworks extraordinaire!

Becky & Dan’s yard meets up with the area  where the fireworks are lit.  Even with  sitting at the other end of her yard on the deck, we still have to crane our necks wayyyy back to see the show.   Some of them literally went past us and over the house.

And the booms… RIGHT THERE!

I know fireworks pictures are never very dazzling with an old point & shoot but I still had to have something to post.  🙂

After the fireworks were done, there were actually firemen who came to ask if their house was OK as several had landed a bit low and we had watched several sparks land in their trees.  All was A-OK, but this was the first year the firemen came by to check on them.

A visit with Becky is a treat anytime but her fireworks party is always such a highlight!  I guess it pays to pay your taxes.  😉  (We always joke to Dan that he must really put out the cash for such a show in his yard!)

This was the second time that one of the guests had done time in the big (mid east) sandbox.   Neither one could handle the explosions.   How ironic that what is meant to celebrate our freedom is such a struggle for those who have fought to preserve it.

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For the Weekend

Between laundry and helping JP pack for Worldview Academy….

I’m

playing ketchup with Pat Sloan and working on my Galena BOMs.

I finished 4 of these – March BOM – last night.

Now on to May (I accidently skipped April 🙂 ) —

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So Unimportant

My friend at Knit1Kids4 tagged me.  I don’t want to let this go too long so here is a quick post.

And maybe you’ll learn something!  🙂

The Rules:
* List Six Unimportant Things That Make You Happy
* Mention and link to the person who tagged you
* Tag six of your favorite bloggers to play along

1. My hot cocoa that I have everyday, year round.
2. Reading Quilting Arts magazine.
3. Comments on my blog.
4. Emails that aren’t forwarded but real chat for me.
5. My indoor plant with a touch of pink on the leaves.
6. Cutting up perfectly good fabric and sewing it back together again.

I am tagging:

Heather

Angi

Sarah R

Sarah W

Kim

Leslie

And now….

I’m taking a very hot puppy to my sewing room.  She can cool off and I can put together some New York Beauty blocks.

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