WIP Wednesday -- Actually Have Been Working!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and now I wish you all also a Happy New Year too!


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I finished up the covered composition notebooks and got them all wrapped.  I have 7 left to give to my guild to put in the boutique for sale at the Wichita quilt show in June.

I was told that a lady wants to buy 2 of the double towel scarves from me soon, so I went ahead and got a start on making with the 4 towels that I had on hand.  It ended up that my daughter also brought home a towel from work that she wanted me to make into one of the scarves for her for Christmas too.  I made that one, finished one of the other 4 and have 3 left to just sew up.  I will buy a towel each time I'm out and continue to make these all year long.....at least that is my plan.

Amelia will turn 1 on January 14.  I have made each of the grandchildren the jingle bell blocks for either their 1st birthday or first Christmas for years now.  I went to my room and gathered my supplies and have a good start on getting her blocks done.   I intend to make as many as I can and start getting them put into my Etsy shop as well.  I have one set of 2 in there now, but I am going to change it to a set of 3. 

I've been missing my headband to keep my ears warm with it getting so cold outside.  I ran across some fancy yarn in my sewing/craft room, so sat Christmas Eve afternoon and crocheted myself a headband before the evening church service.   Yes, an idea as well to make more for Christmas presents last year.  While in my room yesterday I found more of the fancy yarn, so I am on a roll to getting more made!

Last, but not least, I was finally able to get to the quilt shop and use part of my gift card to buy some 505 spray.  I got this little baby quilt basted......of course now I'm anxious to try to start machine quilting it, but it must wait until I get the towels done.....and I won't be home again until late Thursday night. 

I did not do well at all with the challenge of completing 17 UFO's in 2017, as you can see on the sidebar that I only finished a few of my 17.   I think I will edit that and add 2018, and add more of my UFO's to the list!

Our family Christmas party was awesome as usual.  A little stressful with work schedules and things, but we finally were all together.  Unfortunately I didn't think to take any pictures until after the gifts were opened.  Here are the few shots where I attempted to get in everyone who was there.

Hoping beyond hope to be able to continue crafting and sewing as I have been this past week every week!

I link up with the following blogs:



Jo's Country Junction:  http://www.joscountryjunction.com/

KatieMae Quilts for BOM weekly linky.  https://www.katiemaequilts.com/blog/

 

Frugal Friday With Marsha --Hope You Had a Nice Thanksgiving

I do hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving and got to spend the day with loved ones and friends.
I feel very blessed that we were able to work around work schedules and get everyone there.  Well, everyone but 3 of the grandchildren. 

My middle daughter and her husband work at a smoke house, so they have taken care of the turkey and ham the past few years.  She also made the pies as well as homemade rolls.
I do feel bad that they provided so much of the food as well as hosting at their house.

Her step-son made the green bean casserole.  My husband and I provided the potatoes and gravy.   My middle daughter provided the cranberry sauce and stuffing.  My son and his fiance provided the candied yams.  And, my mom made her "famous" applesauce jello. 

I took a few pictures.  They aren't the best, but I am sharing them with you this week anyway.

Lots to be Thankful for each and every day.  This is something that we all need to remember every day, not just on Thanksgiving Day.

Blessings to all!

Thanksgiving Card

by graphicdesign

Grateful Thankful Blessed Rustic Script - damask Throw Pillow

by MarshEnterprises

The Family Is One Of God's Greatest Masterpieces Tile

by EnchantingQuotes

Frugal Friday With Marsha -- Thanksgiving Dinner

Is Thanksgiving dinner frugal?  If you think about the fact that each family, or person, brings something to share for the dinner, then yes.

One grandson said yesterday that we need to eat like this everyday.  We laughed as we spend hours preparing the foods for the day.  My oldest daughter commented that if we made this much food in one day just for us at home, we would eat all week on it.  She is right on that for sure.

My middle daughter made dinner rolls from scratch, as well as an apple pie.  They bought the turkey and smoked it at the smokehouse where they work.  Her family made others things such as a veggie tray, gravy, a homemade cheesecake, and the green bean casserole.

My youngest daughter brought the cranberry sauce.

My mom mad her "famous" applesauce Jello.

My oldest daughter provided the candies yams, a pumpkin pie and a sweet potato pie (and the whipped topping), drinks, a small ham, and the boxes of stuffing.

I made the deviled eggs and the mashed potatoes.  Last Saturday our town gave away tons of potatoes free.  They were from a large farm here in Kansas.  They were the potatoes that the farmer couldn't sell to the stores because they were different shapes and such.  I picked up 2 - 10 lb bags.  When we went to church Sunday, someone in the church had picked up 7 bags and had them out for any members who wanted to take as many as they wanted.

You know we are eating leftovers today....all day  :)

I don't know why, but I just didn't take any pictures at all yesterday. Usually I'm snapping pictures as we cook as well as when we eat.  I'm kicking myself now, of course.  I "stole" this picture that my middle daughter took of her hubby's full plate.

I hope you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving with family and friends.  See you next Friday  :)

A Year in a Camper--Book Review

A Year in a Camper  a family's story of rediscovering the american dream
Written and Illustrated by Mama and Papa of AmericanFamilyNow.org.

ISBN 9781480016415
104 pages available in paperback or kindle.







I found AmericanFamilyNow.org through the weekly homeschool hop linky at Hip Homeschooling Mom.  I was so excited to find their blog and I have been following by email ever since.

See, I have this dream in my own head of living in a camper.  Not necessarily like Mama and Papa and family do, with the camper in a stationary place, but living in a camper all the same.   I have so enjoyed following along with their adventures through their blog.

When I seen the blog post that they had published a book, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it to read.  I am happy to bring you this review.

A Year in a Camper begins with a letter to the reader, written by Mama.  The story starts in the Spring of 2011.  Other chapter are: Summer 2011, Fall 2011, Winter 2011-2012, Spring 2012.  The book ends with Me with You with Ukelele and an End Note.

The book is intermixed with past memories, future hopes, and what was happening right then.
Strung throughout the books are some of Mama's journal entries.  Sprinkled throughout are pictures, drawn by Mama and Papa.

The back of the book reads:
Ever daydream of letting go everything that keeps you tied down?
Of abandoning a traditional lifestyle for a more unique, adventurous experience?
We did, and we wrote this book as a window into the journey of our first year untethered.
(My answers were yes, yes, and I can't wait to read it)

My thoughts:
I truly loved reading A Year in a Camper.  It brought several things to life for me that I hadn't really thought about in my own dream.
Among those was basic survival.  Mama and Papa are stationary.  They have gardens, and a chicken coop, an outhouse, a well.  (I asked my hubby if he would know how to build a well, to which he told me yes)  

Another thing that was on my mind, was how would it be when you, or others are sick--particularly to their stomach.  Here at home I can hide away from the sick person, or hide myself if I am the one sick.  Mama touches on that in the book, but not much more than to say that she had worried about it, but that it wasn't really that much different than when the family was sick in their house.

One thing that wouldn't happen to me-----I wouldn't get pregnant like Mama did  :)  They adapted to it quite well, including giving birth with a midwife at the camper, just as they had done so with their first 3 children in the house.

Preparing to leave their house, renovations on the camper, building and more changes to the camper once they were set up, storage, eating, entertaining, education, and more are all written about.

This book is a keeper for me.  I intend to look in to it quite often.  My middle daughter is really wanting to homestead, so I will be allowing her to read it and give me her thoughts.   It's more of an eye opener to me than a lot of websites I've visited, because it's a true story on a personal level.


All proceeds from the sale of the book are going to Mama and Papa building a permanent home on the land.
Click the top photo for more information on purchasing the paperback version.
Click the bottom photo to buy A Year in a Camper in Kindle

 



Disclaimer: I was sent a complimentary copy of A Year in a Camper for the purpose of this review. I was not compenstaed in any other way and all opinions are my own.

Homeschool Journal--We've been on Hiatus!

We've been on hiatus from many things!  It looks like I've not even written a blog post since October 5th.  Wow!

Life has been just crazy.  First Jasmine was working at the state fair, then my oldest daughter followed the state fair to Oklahoma so we had her 5 children for 2 weeks.  That would have been awesome if I was also homeschooling them, but alas, the father of the 3 oldest says no.

Last week was Jasmine's 16th birthday.  You know 16th's are special so we did a lot of planning and preparing for her party, including driving out of town to pick up my middle daughter and granddaughter so they could be here for her day.

It was rather funny.  One of the things that Jasmine spent some of her birthday money on was a word search book.  At a lull between decorating for the party and such she sat down and started working the word searches.  Her boyfriend called me over to point out that she was learning doing the puzzles.  Each one had a theme such as horses, authors, etc.  I thought it was rather neat that he is seeing the learning outside the classroom and textbooks.  Yes, he goes to public high school.

They are also learning music in youth group.  Jasmine is learning to play the bells for a program they are doing.

I will end today sharing some photos from her birthday party.

I am linking up with:

Old School Fun with Chick-fil-A--Win 3 Free Kids Meals!

Lace up your sneakers because the new Nutritious Chick-fil-A Kid’s Meals are going to help fuel active family fun! Spring is here and what better way to promote an active lifestyle, and enjoy the great outdoors than with some old school games for your family to enjoy. 

Have fun with the Old School App below!

• Fun Activities! Spin the wheel to get an endless amount of Old School Fun and games for the entire family!  You’re just a spin away from creating awesome family memories!

• The Old School Fun Quiz! Are you a disco-dynamo or the bomb dot com? Take the throwback quiz to reminisce about the pop culture icons of your era!

Disclaimer: Old School Game App and information has been provided by PartnersHub and Chik-fil-A. They are also providing the prizes to the winner.

Giveaway open to residents of the United States who have physical mailing address. Winner will be chosen using rafflecopter. Enter using the rafflecopter form below. Winner will have 48 hours to contact me or another winner will be chosen. Giveaway ends April 6, 2012.

Homeschool Journal--Wedding Week

Last week was the wedding of my oldest daughter.  They were married February 29th.  They just had to have the odd date.

We did very little school work, and I just didn't let that get to me!  We were busy with final preparations, making decorations, mints, etc.  Buying new clothes was also part of the deal.
We did get math in a couple of days as well as some reading about England.  We also attended Bible study as well as playing bingo for family fun night at church.

Here is a photo of Jasmine serving the punch after the wedding:

 Here is a photo of the wedding party---which includes all 5 of my daughter's children.  Elizabeth chose a burgundy dress and then they went with a blue for their second color.

 I'm late getting this posted this week due to getting schoolwork complete this morning!  No Bible study today due to a funeral of a church member....of which we are now running out the door for.

Homeschool Journal--Christmas is Upon Us

I'm sure most of you are like me---good intentions for book work this past week, but it just didn't happen.  We only ended up with 2 good days of book work.  We have so many activities going on aside from the normal activities.
Time to relax about it and go with the flow.

One day last week we spent 5 hours at our church for a funeral.  A beloved church member passed away.  She was 88 years old and led a full faithful life.  The service was extra long as many people had wonderful things to say about knowing her.  We have been helping with funeral dinners for a few years now (Jasmine and myself), and this one was no different.  Serving over 100 people (family), was a lot of food, a lot of prep, and a lot of clean up.  It's all worth it to know you are providing a service to the family.  Plus, you hear even more stories of their life during the mealtime.

Thursday evening was spent at church.  It was the usual monthly grill fundraising night so we went to eat as usual.  They have added back in family fun night to be from 7-9 after grill.  This last week some of us spent the 2 hours decorating the church upstairs.  When we were done with that we packed up goody bags.  We Christmas carol to the shut-ins and they each get a goody bag.  Then, Santa was there after church to let children sit on his lap and get a goody bag too.  That was assembly line fun to put the bags together.  They played the movie Prancer for the younger ones to watch while we worked, and plenty of snacks and drinks were available for all.
Here's Jasmine untangling garland and lights to decorate the choir area.

In her youth group on Wednesday evening they went Christmas caroling at Wesley Towers.

Here is wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!!

 
Christian Glitter by www.christianglitter.com