Summer

I love summer! And today was a nice summer day -- cool enough to wear jeans in the morning, enough rain to water the plants, and a lovely sunshiney evening with perfect temp. Everyday doesn't always bring such pleasant weather, but I have been enjoying the cooler summer this year.

And, it is so nice to be out of school! I wake up in the morning without that responsibility on my shoulders of getting the kids through their lessons. It seems we spend quite a bit of time on housework though, and 90% of the time I feel like it doesn't even make a dent! I was reading over at Sally Clarkson's blog and she said something about how her house is "always in the process of being in and out of messes." That's my house for sure. But, maybe that's where life takes place -- in the messes. So maybe I should be happy that there's a lot of "life" going on around here.

I've decided I need an eye checkup. I'm admitting that I've been avoiding knitting because it strains my eyes and gives me a headache. I hope it's not time for bifocals! I thought that was a nother 10 years down the road!

Preparations are underway for a family vacation in another week. We are actually GOING AWAY for vacation this year. This will be our first trip away since returning from Scotland. I think we are all excited, despite the 20 hours of driving each way. It sure takes a lot of organizing to ready 6 people for being away from home for 2 weeks. Next week is going to be hectic with a bridal shower, our 10th anniversary and family birthday celebrations (oh, and all the packing too!).

Maybe I won't think about all that tonight. Michael is sick with whatever the children had last week. He's due to leave for Pittsburgh first thing in the morning for a wedding this weekend. I need to go get that suitcase packed and then maybe sit and do something relaxing (not knitting) to try and get rid of the headache I incurred this afternoon.

Back to the subject of this post: summer. It certainly is flying by quickly. But there is so much to enjoy! The colors around are just gorgeous, the fruits and veg are amazing, beautiful and inspiring, and watching the children have fun makes me happy.

Fourth of July

We managed to have a fun Fourth of July, despite the cool weather and rain. I think it's a tradition now to watch the Sheridan parade:

This was an elaborate float:

And a very cute red fire engine:

This is for Lovella especially:

This one too:

The parade ends with the tractor parade:

It's fun to watch tractors of all shapes and sizes and colors roll by:

The best part is catching all the candy that is thrown:

After the parade we headed to the local park for a picnic under the trees. The children played on the playground for awhile and then we went home for naps.

Christina hosted an indoor BBQ at her house in the evening.

Bethany and Rusty (soon to be married) put together the trifle:

We had strawberry pie, raspberry pie, blueberry pie and sugar cream pie, along with trifle:

The children enjoyed it all!

And before we headed home there were sparklers in the garage (out of the rain). Maybe next year it will be warmer and sunnier. But, we all still have some good memories!

Minis

Felted minis are out! I must admit that I like them even more than the full-sized felted flowers. They are so cute!!! These are attached to alligator clips, just perfect for little girls' hair.

I don't have any in the Etsy shop yet, but am still trying to decide how to sell them: in pairs, single, etc.

And, a price has to be determined. They take as much, if not more, time than the large felted flowers, which is a shame, since I think minis could be even more popular than full-size.

The flowers pictured are all gone now, but I think I'm going to have to make some more very, very soon because they are just too cute!!!

From Skirt to Dress

Rachel and I have been working together on a summer dress for her. The dress was originally a Ralph Lauren skirt that I couldn't pass up at a Goodwill 50% off sale. I knew the skirt wouldn't look good on me, but I figured it could be turned into something.

We used a store-bought pattern but adjusted it here and there to fit the shape we had to work with.

Rachel is pleased with the results, so that's what matters! :) (You can click on the picture to enlarge it -- we utilized the button band that ran down the center of the skirt, adding a few additional button holes to the bodice. We also kept the bottom of the skirt in tact, cutting it to the height of the original pattern and just gathering it up a lot.)

On the sewing front, a friend sent me the link to the sewing blog of Paula Prass. Paula is from our area and her blog is beautiful! She also has some terrific links to other sewing sites.

Have a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

Making Jam

Christina and I got together to make jam last week. It's something we love to do. Cooking up fruit and ladling it into jars makes us feel like we are "playing house." It's a lot of work, and perhaps not extremely cost-effective, but it pays dividends in "feel goodness."

Tea was a necessary companion.

We made jars and jars of strawberry freezer jam and then took the plunge with the cherries we picked to make some proper cherry jam. It came out quite well!

The color of fresh strawberry jam is just amazing!

Now we are contemplating what's next. Black raspberries are in season, but it takes hours and hours of work in our woods, over days and days, to pick enough and I just don't feel like pushing for it. Perhaps raspberries will be the thing.

Back to School

Today was Emily's first day of school -- grad school that is. She's started the adventure of becoming an Occupational Therapist.

Something celebratory was in order, and flowers happened to find their way (free of charge) into my hands!

Michael hung up the beautiful maple mirror I found at Goodwill last week for $7.50, and voila, Emily's room was transformed.

Day One of school was a success. Now Emily just has two years to go!

Transformation

It' s been 12 days since my garden looked so very sad:

Twelve days since the Miracle Gro was first applied. Wouldn't you agree -- there's a huge difference!!!!

While we were at church camp everything sprung to life and GREW! We even have baby squash!

And we actually picked our very first radish yesterday:

Everyone was so eager to try it so we cut the radish into 5 bits. Our excitement ended in tears when we realized how spicy these radishes are! I guess just the adults will be enjoying them.

I'm so happy that the garden is doing so well!!! I was beginning to think it would be a disaster but now I'm pretty confident we're going to have some good produce.