Words

  

No joke, words can bring life or death.  Life to a friendship, death to a friendship.  I have the gift of gab but I am married to a man who listens well and it could be said he is a man of few words.  One thing that is great about not running your mouth all the time is that when you do say something it seems to mean more somehow. When Jason says something out of the blue that is kind or thoughtful it is great.  

We recently celebrated five years of marriage.  Where did those five years go?  I have been a little sentimental lately because of this milestone.  As a result I have been completing some some projects on the back burner in my brain that involve remembering those years and how it all started.  

Jason and I started dating in December.  My birthday is in February, so he didn't have very long to come up with something great.  But he did.  He bought me a gum ball machine.  He noticed that when leaving any store I would scan the gumball machines and always try to have a quarter or two on me.  He filled the gumball machine with gum of course but also with a bunch of little plastic containers that usually have little prizes in them.  Instead of prizes he put in little notes.  When I received the gift I was floored by his thoughtfulness.  I took it home and he gave me a bunch of quarters.  I used them slowly over the next few months.  I loved opening those notes.  It was a gift that I enjoyed for a long time.  I saved all those notes and a few years ago I pressed them in a book with the plan to frame them or display them someday. 

Here is what I came up with.  Finally. 

I found an old frame that I had laying around.  The glass broke in this frame so I was kind of at a loss of what to do with it.  I painted it.  Used some scrap book paper and just arranged the notes.  Kind of scrapbookish but I like it. 

Having these notes is a gift I will treasure for years to come.  Cheesy.  I know. 

Oh, and Walmart was where we went to get some alone time.  It was the only place in the small college town that we could get away from our roommates and not have to spend money.  

 
I have some other projects in the works.  I will share them as I complete them.

Instagram discovery

 

This past April I started using instagram.  How I went this long without even knowing about it just shows how out of touch I can be.  All well.  I know about it now and it is sweet.  I find myself taking more photos with my phone so I can play with the options.  

(Detroit)

I have also found some great tutorials that involve printing these photos to display in your home.  I think that this is something the digital age has robbed a little.  I hardly ever print my photos.  So sad.  So many great pictures just hidden away in cyber space.

I wanted to share some of my favorites so far. 

A cactus heart...there has to be some kind of metaphor here...guard your heart...but not too much.  I don't know.  Something like that.     

A picture of a picture.  My grandpa and grandma.  

This is from a place I walk frequently.  I seem to have a lot of pictures of these trails.

  One day I was being "Auntie" to this guy and his lovely sister and we were driving. I spotted this turtle on the highway.  He was stuck right in the middle of the road!  I stopped the car (after much quick teaching to the kids to never get out of the car on a highway) I jumped out, picked him up and we transplanted him to a quiet dirt road.

It was a fun moment in the day and I was thankful to have my phone on hand to capture it.

One thing I love is how the colors pop with the right options on Instagram. 

 I have been enjoying just remembering the everyday little things.  I can see how blessed I am when I look back over these photos. 

Oh Quincey. 

 I suppose I should throw one of me in here too.  So serious. 

 

I took this just the other night.  I know there is quite a bit of dark areas here but I kinda like it. 

  Do you use instagram?  What other apps are out there that are even cooler?  

Switchfoot: A light show

I had the chance to go to some great concerts this past week.  I am a new Switchfoot fan and I would have to say that seeing them live has only increased my appreciation for their talent.

The music was incredible.  But...the lights were amazing!!  It was so fun to take photos of this show.  I have been trying to get more familiar with our camera and this was great practice for a situation I don't normally get to capture.  

Jason took some of the closer ones because if I took pictures close up it would only include arm pits.  Being short is most certainly not a plus at a concert.  So...I wandered back in the crowd and the stage was still beautiful even from a distance.    

Breathtaking.

Before and After-A Book shelf

 I found this for 2 dollars!!! What??! Wow.  I actually went up to the cashier and asked if the price was right.  Well...it did have some serious wax drippings from candles and it was kind of ugly.  I can fix that with some scraping and sand paper and cleaning.  I didn't get a complete before and after but here is it during the process.

This was actually a display case of some kind, I found little bits of glass when I was cleaning it. 

All done.

Now here it is in action.

I thought about painting the back panel a contrasting color.  What do you think?

Garage sale finds

Jason and I usually go to a few garage sales each summer.  We really like estate sales.  Not fake estate sales.  Real ones.  The newspaper ads all claim to be estate sales but they aren't really.  Hard to find the real deal.  Some Saturday mornings we head out.  I do love these types of outings with Jason.

Here are some of the items we found. 

 

This box opens up!  We got these boxes for 5 dollars each.  Not too bad. 

 This cute lamp caught my eye, only three dollars. 

  I have been wanting a dutch oven of my own. Now I have one! I have been looking into how to season it.  It was 16 dollars.

 These glass insulators are so beautiful.  I have seen them here and there online and have always wanted some.  These were two dollars each!  

The experience involved in getting the glass insulators and the next two items was unforgettable.  We headed for this sale not far from our house and as we were getting closer I said to Jason..."I wonder if it is at that one place with all the stuff in their yard?"  As we got closer I got more excited.  This place was straight out of American Pickers.  When we pulled up I was surprised to see how many cars were there for being in the middle of the woods.  Nothing was priced at this sale.  If you wanted something you had to go up to this man in bibs sitting on his four wheeler with a huge white/gray beard, sunglasses and a baseball hat.  I was a little nervous.  He was very nice though and let me name my own price.  He had some cool stuff.

  Jason picked out this milk jug thing.  I wasn't sold on it at first but it is pretty sweet.  The thing I like about this sale was that you just can't find this stuff out there in an average store.  It has character.  It has a story.

Now this is awesome.  I got it for 5 dollars!  It is super heavy.  We looked it up and it was made in the 1930's.  We have plans to clean this guy up and have it sit somewhere around the house.  It would rock if we could get it working.  Just dreaming.  More to come on this find.

Garage sales are kinda cool because it gets you out there in your community, talking to your neighbors.  When you live out in the country like we do it can sometimes be hard to chat casually with the people you live near.  How do you connect with your neighbors?     

Current knitting

I am loving this simple project.  My mom has been doing this project for a while now and after months on seeing how beautiful it is I asked for the patten.   

It's a blanket.  Kinda strange to be knitting a blanket in eighty degree weather but it isn't heavy on you when your knitting since it is done in sections.  I have made knitted blankets for other people but never for our home.  I was looking around at our boring throw blankets and was thinking... 

"Hey!  What in the world?!? I knit.  Why don't I have a knitted blanket around here?"  

Time to change that.

It is all knit stitch with decreasing and picking up stitches.  Pretty easy to do while watching a movie or riding in the car.  It is done is squares and then assembled.  I think I need ten squares.  I have now finished three.  

It is knit with Fisherman's wool and Noro.  Who doesn't like Noro?  I find myself spurred on just so I can see how the colors of the Noro play out.  

I need to start another project too.  One at a time is not enough.  I am thinking about doing this one.  Jane Richmond is one of my favorite knitting designers.  Check out her blog, she has links to her patterns there.  Ahh...so many options. 

Oh, here is the link to the blanket pattern, you can buy it on Raverly.  It is call the Mitered Crosses Blanket.  Not sure if that link will work since I found it signed into Raverly.  But if you don't have an account you should.  It is a great site for the knitting and crocheting community to get free patterns and buy ones you really like.  Plus you get to see lots of other peoples projects.  I need to put some of mine on there.  My Mom just told me about an app that makes it easier to upload your project pictures right onto Raverly from your phone/ipod.  I will let you know how it works.

             

Keeping time

I enjoy seeing the seasons change and the passing months. I use lots of different calenders to stay organized. 

I enjoy these calenders that my Mom discovered.  It has become a family tradition to receive these each year at Christmas.  I get pretty excited to see the next years illustrations.  There are made by Linnea Designs and can be found here.  There are a lot of great calenders on this site, I haven't really explored it much.  Hmmm...may have to get some other Linnea calenders. 

Here is one from Target.  It helps with changing schedules.  I admit, I sometimes write down happenings after they have happened so I can look back at all the great times the month held.  It is on our fridge door.

This is a fun one my Mom got for me for my birthday. It's a knitting/farm themed one.  A great addition. 

This one stays in my purse, it's my on the go calender.  Another Target buy, only a few bucks. 

I have been working on being more focused.  This helps. 

How do you mark your days?