Westwoods

This is a book Shaunti brought home from the library the other day.   I thought it was to cute to not share.                       Happy Mothers Day to all us mommies...  See we do have a big inflence on our families...

I finally did it!  I've been wanting to learn to make soap for a long time now and the other day Jenn Beachy kindly invited me for a lesson.  We had a lot of fun and I know a little more than I did before, but not much.  I still wouldn't want to try this alone.  As you see, it takes a lot of ingredients you maybe wouldn't have on hand normally. and then this "red devil lye" is a little scary.  Please listen to the pros on this one. It requires expensive essential oils of your choice... and many different trays, bowls, cups, a scale that weighs things out by the ounce...etc....  many many tools. Here's some of the pretties we added. Two days later, I went back for a lesson in cutting it up.  Soap like this needs a couple days to set up. Here's me, the professional at work.  smile. Look at those beauties...   This is the Wake-Up Bar.  It has lavender oil and flower heads in it as well as mint leaves and pop...

  Here in the valley it's green and the geese are hatching out their goslings...  We live next to a pond and it is full of new life.   I woke this morning to the sound of steady, heavy rain on the roof... the kind that settles in for awhile. These snowy mountain pictures were taken by my spouse on Sat.  He went high in the mountains with a group of experienced snowmobilers. After many hours of wondering where was my husband and trying not to worry about his whereabouts.... After all I usually worry and everything is OK so why not this day? I finally get a call about eight-thirty at night that Bruce is in an ambulance headed to Libby.  They think he's OK but won't know till they get him checked out.  I was babysitting Olivia and Jemima and was in the process of putting everyone in bed. Finally, thanks to Charles, a friend from church,  I get word that he's going to be fine and is coming home yet that night but that he has a bad co...

  This won't mean anything to you because for some odd reason I don't have a before picture of what hung above our dining room table.  It was a huge picture of roosters and along the side of that was a plate rack with four different kinds of rooster.  Too many roosters...  Bruce was growing weary of the sight of them.   So... one day last spring I found an old rickety window all flaky with white paint and that beautiful green blue color I'm crazy about peeking through.  I had visions of hanging it above the mantle in our living room but I brought it home and it was too big.  It sat in the garage for about a year.  One day I was having coffee with some friends at my favorite store in town and I saw an old window used in this fashion. {only they hung theirs on the ceiling}  Bless their hearts...  I thought of this wall and how small the dining room seems.  So I was telling Bruce all about it and he liked it too.  Therefore, we...

The title alone should give you fair warning that this will be a most boring post.  I have the idea if a person has a blog they should now and then post something of interest.  I remember when I went to winter Bible school there was a poster hanging in study hall that annoyed me like crazy.  It said something like...There are three kinds of people in life... The first kind make things happen, the second kind do something else that is important I can't remember what it is right now, and the third kind say "what happened?"    Obviously, what bugged me about it is I am that third person.  I was then and still am...   So anyways, life is good and interesting and spring is here and the early stuff is in the garden... etc...  We are having a good time doing what it is we do.    And then a little thought I've been chasing around... We had home Bible Study last night at Lowell Grabers and he had us study the whole book of Jonah.  We r...

 Bruce went to Va over the weekend for a cousins wedding and so my wonderful friend Jenn flew in with her youngest child and spent four beautiful days with me.  We had a grand old time of shopping like we used to when we were young and unmindful of adult responsibilities.  Bath and Body Works made some money off us that day.  It was just like shopping with Jenn used to be.  The same silly things caught our attention.  The mall shopping is seen through different eyes than it was when I was unmarried.  That one store we walked by, I about flipped at the posters they hang for all the world to see.  I used to walk by that store and go in and look.  Now I cringe and cover my eyes.  Are things worse or did I change that much?  On to better things.  Since it was spring break with no daddy at home, I took the kids out for pizza.  Jenn and Addison made that fun for all.  Jenn taught them how to be very mannerly when ...

  The word on photo is my attemp to hide my electric plug in thingy... Why do I never notice these things while taking the picture?   Notice the wee gold bird.  I don't actually like live birds up close and personal as some of you well know.  But this little guy was the perfect candidate when I found him in the thrift store all orangey clay...