There is a light at the end of the tunnel....I think :)

Paul has a new job that will be starting the 14 of March and a very possible contract to hold his attention and make some wages until then. Such a blessing. This is great news. The other news is the we(well actually Paul) are going to renovate the bathrooms. The small bathroom doesn't need much, we are switching out the dated cabinetry for a sleek pedestal sink. And then we will eventually tile the floor, it has maple laminate that will be replaced throughout the house to hardwood eventually. (When the kitchen is re-done) We have found very reasonable sources for hardwood and cabinetry, and the labor is, well, free, I suppose. We want to do all of this by the end of the summer. The yard will be needing attention too. We have nearly 3/4 of an acre. It is landscaped, but we have way too much grass, we will be making planting beds and order a whole bunch of sand to make a "beach" area. Caden will have a blast with a huge sandbox in the backyard. The fencing around the pool is ok but will need to be replaced soon because it is ugly. Luckily my mom's garden needs to be preened and we will be able to get starters for a lot of different kinds of plants. I am so excited for that! It will;; require a lot less mowing when we are done. The house has been updated since 1975, it looks good, but not great. We would like the cabinets drawers to actually have rails to glide on. We are making it look modern with "furniture" like cabinetry and quality hardwood instead of maple laminate which looks great but is quite slippery. Our cat has even developed "the skid with bottom down to stop you from running into fridge technique"

Onto other happenings. Caden has had an ongoing cold. It has gone from bronchitis to just a drippy icky nose that makes everyone grouchy. I have found out that I have apnea. Severe apnea, which is so strange because I have none of the risk factors, I don't even snore. I stop breathing 31 times in one hour. So strange. So now I go to the ENT to see if there is an obstruction. There are two kinds of apnea, obstructive and neurological, like premature babies that have not developed the wiring to keep breathing, or people with neurological disorders. I have no idea what mine is. I get to go and get a lumbar epidural on Tuesday for my ongoing nerve damage in my back. So a lot of health stuff going on here. Paul has been pretty healthy, except for all the stress he has to have, ugh.

Well I haven't made much of anything crafty this week, but I have found some pretty things. I will wrap this entry with nice positive thoughts.....

Etelage is a beautifully creative jewelry store down under in Australia. They have beautiful jewelry like this:



and this:



if you want to see the most detailed little glass cakes go to http://www.untitledsmile.com/. Really unique, such sweet details.

I have been so inspired by Jen Garrido


"anything for you"


"fiesta love"

One more artist Elsa Kawai
In fact, Etsy is a wonderful site to wander around to look at and purchase beautiful artful items from jewelry to ceramics and supplies.

hello...

hi all. well we made is through rain, hail, sleet, lightening, thunder, freezing rain, snow and oh yeah tornado watches all in one day-yesterday. It was an interesting weather day.

Caden is fighting another illness, he has been lying down all day, which you all know, that is terribly unusual. We have a kid who does sommersaults when he has bronchitis. It is nice to have cuddle time, but not when he is sick :(

Paul has redesigned our kitchen while he is awaiting the offers from two jobs. And they are both local! Very local, no long commute. It is nail-biting though, waiting for offers that will (hopefully) change your life.

Tomorrow it is supposed to be 8 degrees as the high, so we have decided to "pack" it in and stay home, nice and warm. The weather people call it breath-takingly cold, so we will just sit this one out (or in, rather! :) It will warm up in a couple of days.


good day!

"paper work"

today I worked on some paper collages...


"the blues" log cabin quilt inspired paper collage


pinwheel collage, papers, button, wool


pinwheel collage, papers, wool felted ball, glass pin

hope you like them! Have a good day!

wool and water

I thought that I would share some of the crafts that I have been working on lately. I have been making wool and soy silk scarves. I used up most of my colors, time to get more roving and batting, I think I really enjoy felting, especially with the addition of the silk. The first on I made I call "swiss cheese"...

This is made with cream wool roving and white soy silk, I forced holes after felting.

I must apologize for the bad picture quality due to a snowy day and no natural light...

The next one used up most of my colors in my roving supplies. I love this one, but I think that I will use it as a prototype due to not quite enough roving to felt strongly. But I love the idea anyways and it looks pretty I think...





I will end this with some gratuitous pet pictures...


Zoe is getting used to living with us, I love her long hairs, we have never had a long haired kitty before, no allergy problems, she lets us give her bathes, luckily.



This is our boogie eyed goldfish Bob, otherwise called the Notorious B.O.B. He is a good fish, I really don't know what a "bad" fish would entail!.

mini-adventure, 49.9 miles north, $29.90 budget

Yesterday was the last sunny day before the snow was going to come, so we knew we should make the best of it. Paul thought of a very interesting adventure. We all picked three numbers, averaged them and 49.9 miles north was the average. Then the budget averaged to be $29.90.
Here's Caden all ready to go:


Favorite blanket (fleece with a road design I picked out, backed and tied together) and Stinkball in hand, his trusty piece of baby blanket, oh it was so gorgeous when Great Grandma made it, I salvaged a large piece, he gets this little tidbit that I cut off to through away to make it more safe, but it turned out that is what he really loved about it, so I tied it all together to make it safer. anyways...


We got to 49.9 mile north...here it is...


Mile marker 152 on US 31. That was nice, what next? Well Ludington was just a few miles aways, so off we went. Caden had to go potty anyway, that is the norm.



We chased a few seagulls at the beach. Took a little ride to look at the dunes, lighthouse and all the sites...

ate a little food and headed home, under budget and a little less stressed. We were able to drive away from a few troubles, and relax a little. Something I suggest to anyone who needs to get away from the trials and tribulations of day to day duldrums. To top it off, Paul got another interview scheduled right before we left, so we left on a good note. A good way to enjoy a lttle sunshine!

superbowl xv-pictures

our superbowl cake, in our small group in church we are outnumbered by the kids, Paul thought of having this cake made, I thought it was a funny, good, idea!


This is Caden and his trusty "stinkball" (a bit of baby blanket he like to rub his nose and suck his fingers with) he ignored it for about two months and now he is back at it (only at home at night). This is Caden's main girl, he just adores her!

so those are about all the pictures we took during the party, we were too busy to take too many pics. The kids made a super castle, mailbox included. The adults watched the game on a projector big screen downstairs. All had fun!

A True Valentine

"For God so loVed the world,
That He gAve
His onLy
BegottEn
SoN
That whosoever Believeth
In Him
Should Not perish,
But have Everlasting life."

John 3:16

superbowl xv

We had a nice party, our first in in this house, actually our first in Michigan! We had about 10 adults and 10 children. The children made a castle out of cardboard and we had games, food and lots of fun. We thought that this would help "heal" Paul's homesickness, but it just was fun while it lasted. It didn't put a dent in it. Don't get me wrong, we had a good time, but we miss the family parties that were had nearly once a month for not much of a reason. Paul hasn't seen his parents in over a year and it is getting to him. Now we had some discouraging news today, we are having troubles being all happy! sorry.

life

Our church has started a "Godblog", in which we communicate through journaling and praying with God, that is sorta like a blog-isn't it. Is is not what we do, journal our life experiences, our wants, loves and desires on our blogs? Well, life has taken an unexpected turn for us...we have been dissapointed. I guess we will see what is next. But life will march on, we have our health, (well sorta for me ;). So all I want to do is share some visual interest, what helps keep me happy.


another beautiful fabric and creation in the work bysix and a half stitches


of course another favorite from my favorite, Penelope for those of you who "know" my house, it would look beautiful, no? I love this painting.


and

by Mati Rose McDonough


This linocut is by the always talented Littlestflower from Australia

and finally

The always enjoyable resin encased works by Alena Hennessy

Hope this adds a little sunshine for your day, because I sure hope that the light at the end of the tunnel has not been shut off due to power shortage! hehe

medical mayhem

Brain scan:done,
Completely strange Sleep Study:done.
Prognosis: Who knows.
The sleep study was not an experience I recommend. I didn't want to do it.(who really would?) I have had another undocumented one during attaining my BA. It showed no REM. Guess what, this one, ten (ugh) years later, no REM. The technician slapped a C-PAP, (something that you put on your face to keep you breathing) for 6 hours. It did not help. She said I had sleep apnea. She was not qualified to make a diagnosis. Needless to say, I freaked out. I don't need another ailment. Luckily Paul had the presence of mind to call my neurologist, who was also appalled by this and told us that it takes 10-14 days for Doctors to go over the information and make a conclusion. This conclusion was something completely out of the realm of expectation and hopefully under further review completely false. I rarely snore, my husband has never noticed me stopping breathing at night, how could I have apnea. I don't sleep, that is all, who knows why....

So that is how my last two days went. But to make up for all of this medical nightmares, guess what found it's way to me?


that's right...
The local little bookstore ordered it and got it in super fast. This is the best! It makes up for a couple of crummy days, and so does having a loving husband and cute kid, and my new found cuddle-mate Zoe.

She slept in my spot last night during my testing, and was all out of sorts until I got home. Animals really make you feel loved pretty much unconditionally. (It is probably because I am the one who feeds her, but I like to think otherwise!)