The Countdown Begins!

Well this is it our last day and night living and sleeping in a house that isn't our own. Yippee!! It will feel really good to be in our own home again. I'm especially excited because this house is brand new, and the house we owned before was over 50 years old. It was a nice house, but everything was old. Made that way by someone else. This one will be all ours. Kind of like when you buy a new car vs. a used one.

I'm not feeling too much pressure to pack because we'll still be renting this house for a while, so everything can stay until I get around to bringing it to the new house. Movers are coming Sunday to get the big items for us, and Mike will do our beds.

Not sure how I'll sleep tonight. It's better than Christmas Eve!

Nature Photographer in the Making

You may recall in another post that we bought Haley a camera. She loves to spend time outdoors and so we thought it would give her an opportunity to capture some great moments doing what she loves. Here is a picture she took recently that I thought it was excellent and I just couldn't resist sharing it.

What do you think?

Good News to Brighten My Day

I received a call this afternoon from my mother-in-law, she has decided to take us up on our invite to come and visit for Thanksgiving!! My mother-in-law is over 75 and has to walk with a cane so, she doesn't like to go too far. We are all thrilled to death she has decided to visit!! I'm beside myself with excitement.

This was just the good news I needed today. We heard back from our landlord, and they won't let us out of the lease. Therefore, Mike and I will need to continue paying it while we live in our new house. Which will really stink, but we are too excited about our new house, and know that we made the best choice.

Life is Good

We have phone lines to the new house! Yippee!! However, the big draw back to living out in the sticks is going to be the lack of high speed Internet. The only Internet available is dial up. I know! Dial up still exists? It is amazing how we have come to rely on high speed Internet so much. We will have to find a way around this, but if this is our only real difficulty, life ain't so bad.

Last night was pot luck at our church. Remember I mentioned they do this every month or so and they had one again to celebrate Halloween. The kids played games, wore costumes, and got these incredible grocery bags full of loot!

It was great to be able to tell everyone that we would be moving in to the house officially, and people even offered help. What a wonderful community we have found. We are truly blessed.

Officially Homeowners Again!

We have our date to close on the house!!! Yippee!!! October 31, we will be proud home owners once again. I'm thrilled, but also very overwhelmed with the little details. But, that's me!

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!
Check out the link!

What a talented woman!! Faith would absolutely love this dress. She would most likely never take it off. Wish I could sew like that.

Oh how good it feels!

My sister Laura got her knitted wrap I made her for her birthday and she was thrilled!! She loved everything about it, and said she intended to get plenty of use out of it.

It makes me feel so good to know she loves it as much as I loved making it for her.

Now....who to make something for? This is fun giving away knitted items to those you love, especially when appreciated.

What a trip!

Image may be disturbing to some viewers!

What a great trip we had!! We enjoy cousin Larry and his family's company so much. Mike especially enjoys being with Larry. They share a lot of the same interests and same ideas. I especially enjoy seeing Mike so relaxed and at peace when we visit them.

He was even able to do a little hunting. Although, he was hunting for deer he was able to shoot a turkey. He used his cross bow to shoot it. Can you see the pride in his face?

Let's Just Get Away

With all the anxiety of buying the house, Mike and I have decided to take the kids and get away for a couple of days. It should do us all well.

We are heading down to Southern Virginia to visit cousin Larry and his family. They live on an absolutely beautiful piece of property, Larry is a tree farmer. Mike and Jake will do a little hunting, the girls will enjoy the pool (yes, still open and nice enough to swim in October) and of course I'll do some knitting.

Homeschooling is Too Awesome!

The kids and I just finished up an awesome History Lesson. They happen to both be working on United States Government. Granted Jacob's is a little more intense than Haley's, but we were able to have an open discussion about the three branches of government. Something I LOVE to discuss. Why is that? I don't ever remember being so entranced with it when I was in 8th grade.

It just makes me sit in awe at what those men, back in 1787, accomplished. Our Constitution! Imagine the heated debates! Would of loved to have been a fly on the wall.

Gosh, have I ever said how I love homeschooling my kids?

Now I've Done It!

Laura, don't read this post!

Among knitters we have this term, "Process Knitting". Which essentially means you teach yourself a new technique each time you take on a project. Or try a new style of knitting. It is all process knitting. I've never really been a process knitter myself, but I do sometimes convince myself I'm ready to try something new.

If you know anything about me, it is that I'm not a lacy, frilly kind of gal. I'm more cotton and denim. So, I've never really considered doing a lace knitted project. Although, I must say I do appreciate the work and the look of something that is lace knitted.

When I decided to take on a knitted lace project, I was both nervous and excited. The biggest challenge was that my first lace knitted item was to be a gift. A gift for my sister Laura's 50th birthday. I'm really pleased with the results and am looking forward to doing something like it again.

Here it is:

Guess being an addict can sometimes be a good thing. Tell me what you think.

Oh the turmoil!

Wow, it has been 3 days since I had anything to write in my blog! Does that mean I live a boring life? Well, maybe.

I've been doing school work (with the kids), house work, laundry and of course plenty of knitting. I'll finish Laura's wrap for her 50th birthday today, and should even have time to block it. Maybe I'll post a picture tomorrow.

When a knitter is in the process of finishing one project she/he spends almost as much time figuring out what will be worked on next. Or at least I do. So yesterday morning I spent a lot of time figuring out what I wanted to make my dad for Christmas and then discovering I didn't have anything in my stash (yarn in waiting to those of you who don't knit) that would work for the project I decided on.

Which can only mean I had to place a call to my favorite yarn shop back in Connecticut!! My good friends Sue and Paula, found exactly what I needed, and it was all in the bargain bin for 50% off!! No kidding!! So, since I saved all that money I then put them to work to fill the box, that was already now coming to Virginia anyway, with a some more yarn for the stash. Woooooo Hoooooo!!

Now I need to find something to work on until the box arrives! Oh the woes of a knitter!

Counting our Chickens

Okay, so maybe we are counting our chickens before they've hatched, but Mike and I just couldn't help ourselves. We went shopping today for the new house. We knew we wanted to get a kitchen island and Mike really wanted a new table.

We went to a couple of big warehouse furniture stores, but hated what we saw. It was all the same old, same old run of the mill stuff.

We ended up looking up hand crafted furniture stores in the yellow pages, and found an awesome store in Forest, VA, Henderson's Furniture. Over a lot of deliberation and discussion we ended up purchasing items made by Borkholder Amish-Crafted Furniture.

Now I'm more excited than ever to get into the house! Although, it will be another 10-12 weeks before the furniture is made and delivered.

Although the colors we chose are a little different than these pictures, you get the idea. There are 4 chairs that we chose to go with the table also.

Just Everyday Stuff

Not much happening around here.

We had to renegotiate the contract on the house because the appraisal came in lower than buying price. Which is good for us. One more hurdle to hop over that is all. Because it is a new construction there are a lot of forms that need to be completed that we have to wait on. But, we still expect to close before the end of October.

As for knitting, I'm still working on Laura's 50th birthday gift. Almost finished there and formulating the next project. Thinking Dad will get something knitted for Christmas.

Today we all go to mass at 1:00, and then we will do some shopping. Haley is in need of warmer clothes. Then off to Liberty University for Jacob's piano lesson.

VP Debate

Not only am I a knitting addict. I am a bit of a news addict.

In fact I really need to limit how much I watch because I get obsessed. Although I am extremely tired of the election coverage, I can't help but be watching. So, I am extremely excited about the debate tonight. Maybe because it is the only one scheduled between the two VP candidates.

I'll be allowing Jacob to stay up and watch. Consider it a lesson for school.

Will you be watching?

Knitted Gifts

Mom & Laura, Do not read this post!

Here it is the sweater I made my mother for Christmas.

I bought the pattern and yarn back in April. Stored them, packed them, and then moved them to Virginia. Strated it September 10 and finished it yesterday. Hopefully she will get some use out of it in Florida!! Now that she is 70, she is cold more often than not! LOL

Now that I'm on a role with knitting and giving it away. I decided to make my sister Laura something for her 50th birthday coming in November. She apprciated her purse so much. I started this wrap last night out of a beautiful alpaca yarn. She should get plenty of use out of it in Utah!!