Yarn Embroidery

The one thing that I do remember from this blur of a winter was the fun I had doing yarn embroidery. I had first seen this in a store window in New York on our fall sister's trip.

Heaven only knows how much this one cost!!!!

This one cost $15 from Walmart, plus a little yarn and time.

Until tomorrow,

Shelli

I base most of my fashion sense on what doesn't itch. 

~Gilda Radner

When in doubt, wear red. 

~Bill Blass

You have to have the kind of body that doesn't need a girdle in order to get to pose in one.  ~Carolyn Kenmore

Your Business clothes are naturally attracted to staining liquids.  This attraction is strongest just before an important meeting. 

~Scott Adams

I want to die with my blue jeans on.

~Andy Warhol

If most of us are ashamed of shabby clothes and shoddy furniture, let us be more ashamed of shabby ideas and shoddy philosophies.... It would be a sad situation if the wrapper were better than the meat wrapped inside it. 

~Albert Einstein

It is an interesting question how far men would retain their relative rank if they were divested of their clothes. 

~Henry David Thoreau

Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes. 

~Henry David Thoreau, Walden

As long as there are cold and nakedness in the land around you, so long can there be no question at all but that splendor of dress is a crime. 

~John Ruskin

Out of Control!

So, about setting our yard on fire.....

The two snows we had this winter brought down many an old limb. Our burn pile on the back of the property was impressive, but we had managed to pick up and burn most of the snow damage.

However there is a cluster of big pine trees way up at the front corner of the property and the snow accumulation on their needles broke off several huge limbs, creating a giant pile of brush. The thought of hauling that many limbs all the way to the burn pile was discouraging, so we had ignored that final job for as long as possible.   Then on a Saturday morning we had the bright idea of burning the pile where it sat.  We wouldn't burn the whole pile at once, but would keep the fire small and add limbs as we went. It had been raining a lot and it wasn't windy, so we thought it would be safe as long as James was right there watching.

I was up the hill beating back and poisoning some out-of-control mock orange, when I heard James yell, "Shelli, I need your help!"  Now I have rarely heard panic in my husband's voice, but I knew immediately that something was really wrong, and when I climbed out of that fence row, there were flames everywhere!!!!!

James already had the hose on, but it was painfully obvious that we needed more reach, so I ran up to the house for more hoses and while there grabbed Fred and Ethel's sleep mats to beat out the flames. By the time I got back down the hill, neighbors had come running to help. The fire was racing across the field fueled by the winter-dead grass, moving out in an ever-growing circle!

Everyone had instinctively taken up an evenly spaced position around the circle beating out the fire
with dog mats and pine boughs, while James was hosing down the most crucial front of the flames - those quickly approaching the woods where dried brown leaves were waiting to feed a fire that would have burned up heavenly only knows how much of our property!

And then it was over...... Suddenly what had seemed out of control, was snuffed out, beaten back, and dead.

As we all stood around catching our breath, an older neighbor from across the street came over and said with a twinkle in her eye, "Ya'll meant to do that, right?!"  Then she said, "Don't worry, It will green up in a week. You'll never know it happened."

She was right! In a week the new grass was filling in and now you can't notice a thing. It really is as if it never happened, except that James and I prematurely aged at least ten years and will never, ever complain about hauling limbs back to the burn pile!!!!

Until tomorrow,

Shelli

Don't let your dreams go up in smoke - practice fire safety. 

~Author Unknown

Good judgment comes from experience, and often experience comes from bad judgment. ~Rita Mae Brown

Wisdom begins at the end.

~Daniel Webster

It's Just A Blur

Well, DF, I wish I had a good excuse for falling by the blogging wayside, but I don't. In fact, the last few months are just a blur, but I think they went something like this...

December
     snow
     cooking
     cleaning
     closed day care- babysitting
     Christmas
    closed daycare- babysitting
January
     snow
     broken pipes at the daycare- babysitting
     flu
     rain
February
     Valentine's family gathering
     Daycare closed for Mardi Gras- babysitting
     set our yard on fire
     dig, transplant, prune
     rain

Here it is in pictures.......

Six inches of snow

Olive's mini spinach pizzas (I must have made a million of these!)

All Olive wants to do is play outside!

Our second snow

It was 75 degrees on this day, but Olive 'needed' her hat!

   

We didn't burn the yard intentionally, but that's a story for another day!

See what I mean, just a blur, but what a wonderful Olive-filled blur!!!

Until tomorrow,

Shelli

Give us Lord, a bit o' sun,
A bit o' work and a bit o' fun;
Give us all in the struggle and sputter
Our daily bread and a bit o' butter.
~From an inn in Lancaster, England

People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child — our own two eyes. All is a miracle.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

For My DF

I am ashamed!! Thanksgiving to February with not one blog post..........

Then I heard that my Dear Friend (DF) was having surgery and when I texted her to let her know I would be praying for her, she texted back, "Main thing I wanted to say is how much I miss your blog."

Now I am really ashamed!!!   So rather than send get well cards, DF, I hereby promise to walk through your recovery with you by blogging daily until the only 'sick' you are, is 'sick' of reading these posts!

Since we're starting this special time together on a Sunday, I'll share a snip-it of devotional from Streams in the Desert by L. B. Cowman. It can be our Sunday Schoolism for today. 😉

Never look ahead to the changes and challenges of this life in fear. Instead, as they arise look at them with the full assurance that God, whose you are, will deliver you out of them. Hasn't He kept you safe up to now? So hold His loving hand tightly, and He will lead you safely through all things.

            Surely I am with you always. (Matthew 28:20)

Until tomorrow,

Shelli