This is the only picture I have of myself while I was in gymnastics. I went to gymnastics lessons for quite a few years and competed in gymnastic competitions, both team and individual, many times, but for some reason there’s only one picture to prove I was even ever a gymnast!
Last week we were run out of our house by the fumes and dust the contractors made while fixing the ceiling. Now, I’m not complaining ~ not one bit ~ because you see our insurance company is going to reimburse us for all of the costs associated with having to live in TLF for 3 nights (TLF is Air Force speak for "Temporary Lodging Facility" which is pretty much the same as one of those hotels that have kitchens in their rooms). And they’re paying for the costs of boarding Jake at the vet’s office (since pets aren’t allowed in TLF), as well as the extra money we paid to eat out every meal last week. And of course they’re paying for all of the repairs, too. So, life is good ~ and I got to eat out every day last week, which has pretty much cured me of my desire to eat out for quite a while!
I have been knitting up a storm lately. I’ve started working on my felted purses again, and I’m cranking them out pretty quickly. I’m looking into possibly getting a booth at the Holiday House craft show in Little Rock this November. They get tons of people through there ~ it would be a good chance for me to sell off my remaining Cachet Candles inventory as well as my felted purses.
Our yard is beginning to come to life again. The trees are all starting to green up ~ I’ve discovered we have 6 dogwood trees, and they’re all in bloom (they’re all white dogwood trees). The bulbs planted by one of the previous owners are all coming up ~ I have some beautiful white irises blooming, as well as the daffodils. My friend "Mrs. Arkanblogger" is supposed to bring her daughters over Friday morning for knitting lessons, and I plan on ambushing her into telling me what sorts of bulbs I have growing in my yard as well as getting her to help me re-landscape. I’m not a flowerbed person ~ most of the summer here it’s too hot for me to be outside weeding and watering. I have tons of bulbs in the several flowerbeds on my property, and I really don’t want to get rid of them ~ I just want to replant them all into one lovely flowerbed instead of having them spread out all over our 3 acres! We have a lot of bushes that need some extra loving care (Roger broke his arm last July and wasn’t able to prune/trim the bushes in the fall, so they’re all a little overgrown and sad looking). He and Sawyer have been spending some time out in the yard mowing, raking and cleaning up. Taking care of 3 acres is a pretty big job! Now if only we could find a fertilizer and weed killer that actually works on the grass (which is mostly weeds)!
We took the Suburban in to have some repairs done. New brakes, 2 new tires, balance and alignment ~ ug, $1200! And that’s still not everything that needs to be fixed on the ‘Burb (as we call it). We’ll have to take it to the Chevy dealer and have them do a few things, like fix the squeaky windows, sticky doors, leaky windshield……. It’s a good thing we paid this car off a while ago and therefore haven’t had to make any payments on it. By the time we’re done fixing it up we’ll have spent all the money we saved by paying it off early!
Jake’s fat and has been put on a diet by the vet ~ prescription weight-loss dog food, and no more table scraps. 
He has started to lose weight already, though. He’ll be 5 years old at the end of May, so he’s still pretty young and active. I’ve been complaining about him being fat for a while now, but nobody believed me. When the vet weighed him she wasn’t real happy ~ he was about 15 pounds overweight (he topped out at about 106lbs., when he should be more like 90 to 95lbs. max). Getting his weight down is important if we want to keep him around for another 5 to 7 years, so he’s on a very strict diet now, and everyone else in the house believes me when I say he’s fat. 
Patrick has taken the car this morning to drive to Ft. Smith and pick Ariel up. They’re on spring break this week ~ Ariel is going to spend the last 5 days of spring break with us. It will be nice to have another female in the house! Roger and I are looking forward to the chance to get to know Ariel a little better ~ Patrick frequently tells me Ariel is so much like me it’s scary. Should I feel sorry for all of the males living in the house when there are 2 of me present?? Not likely! 
Sawyer applied for and has been accepted as one of the 17 kids from our church who will go to Thunder Bay, Ontario, this July on a mission trip. Congrats, Sawyer!
Ya know, it’s pretty cool living "in the country" (more or less). I love having the field behind our house ~ I even like the cows and calves that frequently roam there (as long as we’re upwind and not downwind!).
The other day Sawyer and I were home, and since it was pretty warm outside, we had the doors and windows open. We had just sat down at the dining room table to eat our lunch when we heard a classic hawk screech. We hadn’t noticed that type of bird cry before ~ I think that’s why it stuck out (like when you live on the Air Force base you don’t the planes that regularly fly there, but when there’s a different plane flying in or out you’ll notice it because it doesn’t blend with the rest of the aircraft noises). I thought it was strange to hear a hawk since we’ve lived in this house almost 2 years now and haven’t noticed any big birds other than our owl. And the screech we heard definitely wasn’t our owl.
This afternoon, Roger was looking out at the field from our bedroom window. He saw a really big bird fly down and land in the tall grass out there. I joined him in time to see the bird hopping around in the grass, obviously chasing something. We watched for a few minutes, then Roger decided to step out onto the back porch and see if he could get a better look at what kind of bird it was. Just after he got outside, the bird flew off with something dangling from its claws.
Roger was able to identify the bird as a red-tailed hawk ~ and the thing dangling from its claws was a snake it had caught in the field. Amazing ~ living in the country is so cool!
I once heard that our eyes stay the same throughout our life. Personally, I think my eyes were bigger and bluer when I was a kid than they are now. I’ve uploaded a new photo album ~ the "eyes" have it ~ so you can see what I mean. It’s a public photo album, so you won’t need a user name or password to view it. Just scroll down a bit, find photo albums in the right-hand sidebar, then click on the "eyes" have it.
Tammera! "Mrs. Arkanblogger" and I took our friend Tammera and her mother, Diana, to lunch today at Crazy Hibachi Company. It was very good (I was silently hoping that it WOULD be good since apparently someone told Tammera they didn’t like Crazy Hibachi ~ thankfully Tammera and Diana both enjoyed it). Tammera celebrated the 13th anniversary of her 29th birthday today. Happy birthday again, Tammera ~ hope "y’all" had a good one!
As promised, a picture of our fancy-schmancy new sheet metal chimney cap………
One of Jake’s cow friends was tromping around in the field behind our house yesterday ~ Jake decided to go out and see her………
These are a few of the projects I’m currently working on:
crocheted cotton purses (in various stages of completion):
one of my felted purses, as yet unfinished and unfelted:
and another crocheted baby blanket, this one for David and Leah Lukas’s first baby:
While there’s no shortage of baby blanket patterns out there, I am getting a bit weary of making them (now if only I could get people to STOP having babies!). I know of at least one more I’ll have to make before the end of the year though ~ our youth pastor and his wife are expecting their second baby in September.
I have several new pictures to post ~ of the new chimney cap, the new baby calves playing in the field behind our house, as well as a pic of Jake’s "old’ friend and one of Jake chasing after one of the cows, a couple of pics of some of my current projects in progess ~ I’ll get them posted as soon as I have a chance.
The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous for the past couple of days. Highs in the low 60’s to mid 70’s, sunny, just a slight breeze ~ if only it could be this way year round here!
Last week Roger was sick with the flu. Knocked him flat on his behind. He missed a couple of physical therapy appointments, and several days of work. He’s better now, but for a while there he wasn’t even able to get up off of the couch. Sawyer and I have so far been spared from the virus that attacked Roger.
Patrick is registered and paid in full for a LeadAmerica youth conference this summer. He’ll go to Washington, D.C., for 10 days and attend an Intelligence, Defense & National Security conference (click on the colored words to see the web site for this particular conference). He’ll stay in the dorms at Catholic University, and he’ll get to tour several of the "3-letter agencies" (CIA, FBI, NSA, etc.) as well as attend briefings and mock situation rooms. Click here for the LeadAmerica web site to learn more. Not only that, but he’ll be in the nation’s capital for the 4th of July. How cool is that?!
We learned that Sawyer has the opportunity to go to Canada this July with our church’s youth leadership team on a mission trip. We haven’t received all of the specifics yet, but it looks like he’ll be gone for about 2 weeks. Add to that that he’ll be attending 86-Hours again and the CelebrationSingers will be singing with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra on Father’s Day, it’s shaping up to be a pretty fun summer for Sawyer! He has been tossing around the idea of getting a part-time job at the paintball place in Jacksonville for the summer, too. Boy, I sure hope this kid turns 16 and gets his own car pretty soon! (LOL)
Yesterday the contractor finally showed up to fix the chimney cap and flashing. So, now we have this fancy new sheet metal chimney cap and flashing. It’ll take a little getting used to ~ the chimney cap changes the way the house looks from the outside ~ but hopefully we won’t have any more leaks. Now we just have to get the guys to show up and fix the inside where the leak damaged the ceiling and walls all around the chimney in the living room and office/craft room ………
If you’re interested in learning more about Hannah Garner, her accident, and what the people of Cornerstone Bible Fellowship and the Little Rock area are doing to help her and her family, please click here.
