Wonderful People

This is my second post today. I don't think I have ever done that, but this one could not wait til tomorrow. I have met some really wonderful people since I started this little blog. I have made a friend with someone who I consider a sister even. I really can't count the blogs I read on a regular basis as I can't skim them out...they are all so good. Almost daily I add another one to my long list. My sweet hubby is starting to feel like a blog widower. I will have to do something about that. There is one blog that if I ever dreamed of taking off my daily list, my 2 little kids (I have to separate them into catagories..little kids, big kids) would have a fit!!! Everyday we read My Piece of Heaven where Joni talks about farm life with "The Farmer". My kids LOVE that she calls him that. Zach will even ask about The Farmer if he is not mentioned on the blog that day. Anyway, Joni wrote about a rattlesnake encounter and then posted a picture of some rattles her and The Farmer had collected from rattlesnakes. She taught how they get their "buttons" and how you can actually tell the age of a rattlesnake. My kids must have said cool after every sentence. Well today the mail came and there was a package for the kids from Joni and the farmer. They were very suprised and thrilled!

Inside were 4 rattles from "real live rattlesnakes". When Charlotte said that phrase Zach decided he would look very closely, but not touch. Charlotte was very careful when she took them out.

It really made their day, and without any coaxing from me, both of them mentioned how nice Joni and The Farmer are. Zach wants to know when they are coming over! So Joni (and The Farmer), thank you from the bottom of my heart for reaching out, not to a quilter, but to a quilter's kids!

Is My Thumb Getting Greener?

Is that a beauty or what? It reminds me of Easter and New Life. Speaking of new life... my garden is growing.

Here is my first bell pepper. It is small but there. I only planted these a couple of weeks ago. I was late getting them in and they already had flowers on them. I was afraid they might not make it. Maybe my thumb IS getting greener.

Here is one of the many large yellow blooms on my cucumber mounds. Larry the Cucumber will be making his apperance very soon.

Here are the green beans bearing a gazillion little purple flowers. I am not sure what that means but it sure makes my thumb look green!

And the tomatoes!!! There are little green tomatoes popping from the bazillion tiny yellow flowers. Now you KNOW my thumb is a true shade of green!!!

Ok, so the Bleeding Heart that hangs on my front porch is not bleeding any more. On a positive note, the little guy who sat too close to the stove has made a come back and it looks like he will make it. I will need to think of a special name for him. Any suggestions? Now to make me feel like a real gardener, I think I'll stay in the backyard with the vegetables and this:

Roller Coasters, Packages, and a Correction

What a day already!! I took the kids to my niece's birthday party at an indoor amusement park. Great fun for the kids, but I am wiped out! They had fun, though Zach got on the roller coaster by himself and got very scared. Luckily, my mom had the girl stop the whole thing and let him off. All he could say was "Oh dear! I am never going on that roller coaster again." He IS his mother's child!

They all had a good time. It may not look like much of a ride but...

This picture was of Zach once the ride started! It went pretty fast for a "kiddie ride".

Though it took us almost 90 minutes to get there, we made it home in about an hour. I tried a short cut! I was pleasantly surprised to find 2 boxes on my front porch, both from Amazon. Neither were the one I have been patiently waiting for, but they were both fun.

I have never read any of the Elm Creek Quilt novels, and this book contains the first three. Great fun! On a different subject, Charlotte saw my post on her quilt top and made it a point to me that this is NOT her first sewing project. She did make me a pillow for Mothers Day several years ago. Correction noted!

Welcome To My Home

Updated: April 2009

I decided to update this post as I have changed so many things in the past, almost two years! You can see more home tours by visiting Keeping The Home (the list is under her own home tour).

I love to see other people's homes! Is that odd? A person's home speaks of who they are. I have seen homes with 4 rooms that said, "welcome" and homes with 20 rooms that cried , "not welcome." I try very hard to make my home a welcoming place for any who enter, but especially for those who live here. In my adult, married life, I have lived in a one bedroom apartment, a mobile home, a 3 bedroom cape cod, a 3 bedroom split level and this 2 story home I live in currently. In every home I have ever lived in, one thing stays the same. It is home! So once again, welcome to my home.When you come through the front door, you will come into the entryway. I change things here so often that it would probably never look the same on any two visits!
To the left is the formal dining room.To the right is the formal living room, though we use it as any other room, so I hesitate to call it "formal". This is one of 2 rooms on the list to be painted. We can not decide on a color...what do you think?Down the hall through the entryway is a coat closet and the powder/guest bathroom.From there you enter the eating area. This is where we home school and eat most of our meals. I change things in here a lot too. From table cloths, quilts, place mats and table runners...always something different.
The sliding glass doors going out to the back yard are in this room. To the right of the eating area is the family room. This also opens to the formal living room. We spend a lot of time here. We love our heritage library.To the left of the eating area is the kitchen. Here is where I almost live!I love a clean sink!!!!!
I love clean counters too. My kitchen is open to a large part of my house, so I need to keep it clean and uncluttered. I change things on my counters pretty regularly too.My aprons hang on the side of the pantry.
From here you go to the back hallway and the laundry room. That same hallway enters the formal dining room. The main level of our home is like one big circle. The laundry area is more like a closet. I keep cleaning supplies here also.The back hallway leads to the garage. There is also a large closet which we converted to a pantry and the opposite wall holds my sign collection.That is the main floor. Recently, we finished a room in the basement. There is a door next to the powder bathroom which takes you downstairs. We call it "The Man Room" because it was where Sweetheart would hang out. Our kids have some how taken it over.My son Kyle has a room downstairs also. He likes his own space! Can you tell he is patriotic?Let's head back upstairs to the second floor.Upstairs there are 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Here is my 11 year old daughter's room.My 7 year old son's room....In the hallway there is a linen closet. I converted it into our home school closet. It is perfect for all our supplies.The kids bathroom....Here is the office/sewing room. It is my favorite room in the house. It has a story all it's own which you can read about here. By the way, I have a number of sewing room/studio tours listed on my sidebar. If you have a tour of your own sewing room/studio, please let me know so I can add you to the list. You do not need a "room"...just a space where you create!Finally, my (and Sweetheart's) bedroom and bathroom. This is the other room in the house that needs painting. I am making a pink and brown quilt for this bed and plan to paint the room a soft brown. The quilt on the bed (under the top quilt) is so worn I had to cover it with this smaller quilt. Yeesh, that top quilt has been all over my house!! From the kitchen table to the family room to the bedroom! It sure gets around!That is my upper level.

I hope you enjoyed your visit! Don't forget to let me know if you do a home tour! Come back soon!!!Blessings, Bren