Dress Pictures!!!

So, when we decided to go to NJ for Jenny's wedding, I didn't have anything to wear. So, yes... I made a dress, in less than a week. I finished hemming and put the ribbon on during the car trip. I totally forgot to take pictures of me in the dress. This is the closest we got.

So I pulled it out of the closet today to take pictures. Sorry it's wrinkled. I'm too lazy to iron it just to take the pictures. Besides it'd just get wrinkled when I put it away...

I used this pattern

I thought it turned out really well.

Sarah and her dolly

Sarah had a little doll,
Little doll, little doll.
Sarah had a little doll,

With PJ's white as snow.

Everywhere that Sarah went,

Sarah went, Sarah went.

Everywhere the Sarah went,

Dolly was sure to go.

Stephie bought dolly at the store,

At the store, at the store.

Stephie bought dolly at the store,

For her Sarah Bethie.

Now Sarah is overjoyed,

Is overjoyed, is overjoyed.

Now Sarah B is overjoyed,

That she has a new dolly.

A weekend with friends

I very blessed to be able to spend this last weekend with friends. Rebecca and I drove down to David and Kristi's on Friday night to spend the weekend with them. You see Joanna, my friend of mine from Colorado, whom I haven't seen in 10 years, is in Chicago the month of August. So I called D&K to see if they wouldn't mind some company and if we could go into Chicago and meet up with Joanna. They said sure and we made a weekend out of it! We went into Chicago on Saturday, picked up Joanna and headed around town. Rebecca and I managed to not get any pictures but Kristi posted some on her blog. We walked all over Chicago, probably 6 miles in all. We saw everything from the beach, to Union Station, to a huge aluminium, steel, whatever it was bean. (We didn't take this picture. I found it online)

We got to go to the World's Largest Free Air and Water Show. We saw an F-22, a Stealth Bomber, the Army Paratroopers, and the Thunderbirds among many other things. I quite enjoyed it. I had no idea that planes could be so entertaining!

It rained on and off all day. My favorite part was when we took Joanna back to Union Station and had to run a couple blocks in the pouring rain. Needless to say, we were soaking wet, but Joshua and I were enjoying ourselves.

After dropping Joanna off we went out to eat at a Greek restaurant in Greektown, Chicago. It was called Artropolis. It not only gave us a chance to dry off but the food was wonderful! Thanks Dave!!!!

This is the only picture Rebecca and I took the whole weekend. 2 wet, and happy friends!

All in all I had a wonderful time. Thank God for friends.

a little announcement

So, after much thought, prayer, and debate. I have decided to not try out for the DBQ Symphony. For a variety of reasons.... let's just say that was the peaceable solution.

Also, for those of you who I've talked to about my violin teacher (Ruth) who was wonderful. She won't be back at the U this year teaching. She got a music research job and it won't work with her schedule to teach. So... I'm not sure what will be happening.... I'm very unsure about taking lessons from yet another teacher who I don't know... So.... anyway.... I don't know what is happening there. I would appreciate your prayers that I would know what to do in the situation. Oh, and my recital is probably on hold, until we get this all straightened out. Life in regards to music has been quite interesting and trying the last week or so. So, that's what going on, I just thought I would let you all know.

Les Mis Quiz

I'm Jean Valjean!

(No, really.) Some people may see me as a little sanctimonious, but though I care deeply about doing right, I'm not above a little skulduggery in a good cause. Being in touch with my spiritual side doesn't make me an easy target... on the contrary, in fact. Which Les Miserables Character Are You?

Quote of the Day (Lincoln)

I have been driven many times upon my knees
by the overwhelming conviction
that I had nowhere else to go.
~Abraham Lincoln

- As I was standing in the Lincoln Memorial reading the speeches he gave and thinking about the world today and the world then, and what President Lincoln said, I was reminded of this quote and it really got me thinking about how it is so true and how I really need to get on my knees.

Quote of the Day (Chambers)

"Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God
whose ways you may not understand at the time."

—Oswald Chambers

I was looking over the quotes I have saved for future quotes of the day, or at this rate, week.... and when I read this one I knew it was the one I wanted to post. I really need to remind myself of this one.. and this was the best picture I could find, sorry..

The picture I promised!

So... these are the pictures of one of the most beautiful things ever!!!! I know some of you could argue with me about that, but just humor me!











One of the 4 original decorated Stradivarius violins!!!!!!!!! Yes, an original!!!!!!

It was beautiful!!!!

Home Sweet Home

O.k. right here and now I am going to make an announcement:

OK, 2 announcements

#1 We are home!!!!

#2 I am a country girl and I LOVE it!
I know without a shadow of a doubt that I do NOT like big cities, nor ever want to live in a big city, they are confusing, ridiculous and totally unpersonal! I would gladly live the rest of my days in a small town. DBQ isn't too big, PV is great. I tell you, being able to turn around when you want, actually knowing where you are going, not being beeped at, and just the peace that goes with living in a small town is totally worth it! I don't care if the shopping is better and there are more opportunities small towns are the way to go!

There, now I will get off my soapbox.

oh, no I haven't forgotten about the beautiful thing I was going to show you all, I just haven't gotten to the picture yet.

Giveaway!!!

Beautiful Womanhood is giving away a $25 Vision Forum gift certificate!

Click here for details

Hello from New Jersey

Ahoy all!!!!!

As of around 9:00 P.M. ET today I am in New Jersey.

Washington D.C. was amazing!!!! We saw the

• National Air and Space Museum (Smithsonian)
  
• The National Archives (Totally awesome! we saw, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and one of the four copies of the Magna Charta, it was almost 800 years old!) it you ever go to D.C. you have to go to the Archives.
  
• All the monuments, (Washington, FDR, Jefferson, WW2 (twas beautiful!), the Lincoln Memorial was amazing!!! our best president ever!!! I didn't want to leave!)
• The Capitol
• The White House
• Ford's Theater
• Arlington National Cemetery and the changing of the guard at the top of the Unknown Solider.
• ummm and a bunch of other stuff but I am tired and can't think of anymore right now.
  

We wanted to go to the National American History Museum but it's closed until 2008 for major renovations :( thankfully they had moved 150 of their most popular artifacts to a special display at the Air and Space Museum. So well... I'll tell later when I can actually post a picture but I saw the most beautiful thing!!!!!

So I had lots of fun, but I am definitely tired :)

W'e're off to see the President

At least Luke thinks and hopes so. We are off on our 2nd every family vacation. 2 days in D.C. and then on to N.J. for a wedding. I'll post pictures if we have any extra time while we're gone :)

Oh and I will post dress pictures when we get back :)

Don't miss us too much! We'll be back on the 9th.

arggg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week life has been crazy isane busy and stressful. I think I shall scream!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Teaser Camp Pictures

o.k. well... it is taking forever to sort through, resize and upload camp pictures. So, here are a couple teaser pictures. I will post more tomorrow :)

Raising the Flag

Goofy campers


And let us run with patience the race that is set before us...


Choir time (do, do, do, do, re, me)

Quote of the Day (Cole) and a couple camp pictures :)

To observe nature closely is to follow the finger of God.

~Thomas Cole

Hugs!

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Get hugs of your own

Prayers please

Hi everyone,

I'm just posting quick to ask for prayer. I woke up yesterday and my eyes hurt and where swollen or something. I light hurt them, and for a while anyway I had to fight to keep my eyes open. They got better as the day when on but where red and hurt again this morning. They are definitely better but I would still appreciate prayers. I'm not sure what caused it in the first place. I'm believing that it is not allergies or anything like that.

Thanks!

Profile Picture

That better? :)



This was the original picture:



Then I cropped it a little:

Then a little more:

I remember when...

Gas went up 25 cents today! To $3.25. 25 cents a gallon!!! That adds up terribly quickly. What happened to the good ol' days when gas was .79 a gallon.....

The Rapid Decline of Social Graces

I don't know it is the summer weather or what but recently I have been noticing a definite lack of social graces. "Please" and "Thank You" are no longer staples, but have become wayside words. People want what they want and they want it now. No waiting patiently, no please and thank you, no nothing, just disrespect. People pull up to drive thru and holler hello before you even have a chance to reach for the talk button... It's very disconcerting. What happened to the the common courtesy people use to show to one another? What happened to tipping your hat at a lady when she walked by (I know guys don't wear hats as much....) What happened to saying please and thank you because you truly meant it? What happened to just plain being politeness? I don't know for sure what it's been replaced by. But personally, I don't like it, let's go back to the old way, the polite way. The way that makes other people feel appreciated and respected.

Quote of the Day (Winston Churchill)

In my belief, you cannot deal with the most serious things in the world unless you also understand the most amusing.
~ Winston Churchill

Quote of the Day (Jane Austen)

To you I shall say, as I have often said before, Do not be in a hurry, the right man will come at last; you will in the course of the next two or three years meet with somebody more generally unexceptionable than anyone you have yet known, who will love you as warmly as possible, and who will so completely attach you that you will feel you never really loved before.
~ Jane Austen in a letter to her niece

O.k. so this isn't exactly a something to think about quote, it just struck my fancy. Jane Austen, the woman who wrote so much about love is giving her niece advice about it :)

Quote of the Day (C.S. Lewis)

These quotes have to come with an explanation :) About a year ago Dad put in the movie Shadowlands.It is an excellent movie about the life of C.S. Lewis. Anyway, I didn't watch all of it, I came in about half-way through. But right away the following lines caught me ear and had me thinking for a few hours.

We read to know we are not alone. Do you believe that?
~C.S. Lewis

Experience is a brutal teacher, but we learn.
~C.S. Lewis

Why do we love if losing hurts so much?
~C.S. Lewis

Quote of the Day

To love is to allow hope into your life.

To hope is to allow uncertainty into your life.

To be uncertain is the essence of learning to trust God to bring only the disappointments He deems best.

~Gretchen Louise Acheson

Music Quotes (Quote of the Day)

Love is like a violin. The music may stop now and then, but the strings remain forever.

~June Masters Bacher

Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty. Magical music never leaves the memory.

~Sir Thomas Beecham

Where words fail, music speaks.

~Hans Christian Andersen

Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent.

~Victor Hugo

Of all the music that reached farthest into heaven, it is the beating of a loving heart.

~Henry Ward Beecher

Music is well said to be the speech of angels.

~Thomas Carlyle

Music is love in search of a word.

~Sydney Lanier

Quote Of The Day!

In regard to this Great Book, I have but to say, I believe the Bible is the best gift God has given to man. All the good Savior gave to the world was communicated through this Book. But for this Book we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man's welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found portrayed in it.


~Abraham Lincoln

Quote of the day

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
- Theodore Roosevelt

Questions.....

When life gives you questions what do you do? I'm curious, so post/answer away!

And please post more than just pray or ask God or something like that. What else do you do? Do you think and agonize about it? Do you put it on the back shelf and put it out once a day to get new thoughts? What do you do? Does this even make sense????

Dear God

Dear God, I've had a happy day;
I've tried to do my best.
And now I thank You for the night
When children all can rest.
Amen.

So....

I need a new profile picture,... any ideas?


Or shall I just sew something and then have Steph snap a few pictures :)

Material!

After waiting, entirely too long! I finally got to go to JoAnn Fabric's and buy material!!! I'm going to finally get around to sewing again!!!
Here are pictures of the material I got.

This is a pink flowered material. It was on clearance for $2 a yard! I LOVE clearance!!
The Home School group is doing a Civil War day this fall. So I will probably use this pattern with brown accents and a brown sash. The 2nd picture is a a better idea of what color the material really is..

This material we got for Lydia. We are making this pattern

Except we are making her jacket out of this brown material.

This material I bought to reproduce a shirt I saw at Maurice's. I will be putting sleeves on my shirt and I am going to make it in a regency dress instead. The shirt I saw had white underneath, but I liked the green better :) The white material was $13 a yard, but it was 50% off. But! When they rang it up it was only $2.49 a yard!!!!!! YAY!!!!!

I love shopping for material!!!! And sewing!!

Now, I just need a new sewing machine... :{

me wrist

So, I have a little run in with the fryer at work... and this is the result:

This actually looks much better. I was dropping chicken down and some oil jumped out and landed on my arm, yes oil jumps. It happens fairly often so I just wiped it off my arm and washed my wrist off. It didn't hurt at first, but then it started almost stinging. I put ice on it and tried walking around with my wrist stuck in ice water, but that didn't last long and I had to start putting stock away so I ditched that idea. But by now, my arm was red from the back of my palm to 3 inches up my arm. Stephanie rigged up an ice pack with empty hot dog bun bags, and I put stock away with it tied to my arm. We were very worried that it would blister, the oil is about 375 degrees. But thankfully the big spot had a flat blister that popped one day when I was getting dressed, I don't know why... So, that was last Wednesday. This picture is from, Saturday I think. Today it is starting to peel but looks a hundred percent better than it did a week ago.

Pictures as promised :)

BEFORE......

AFTER......

As you can see there are 1 1/4 melted chocolate walls and 3 3/4 milk chocolate walls. We both like it a lot better than the yellow, the brown is more relaxing :) Luke was the one who pointed out our chocolate milk paint :) He was helping us paint and then the next day as he was pouring chocolate milk into his cup he calmly remarked, this is what color your walls are. :) It was pretty sweet :)

So, there you go :) Opinions??

ahh!!! and what's been going on....

So, today was the last day of school in Platteville. It was crazy!!!!
When the high schoolers are free, the rest of us have to suffer... the air was positively electrifying today. I think I could have hooked my hair dryer up to it. And of course, because they were out of school, we had a bunch of goofy, jerks in through drive-thru. Just in case anyone was wondering, when all 5 people in the car talk and try to order at the same time we can't hear you and it will only take longer to figure out what you wanted to order. So, that's mostly what my day was like, totally hectic, with lots of crazy kids... but now, I am at home and it is peaceful and quiet, almost everyone is in bed asleep, except me and Dad, we are the night owls. But hey, it's quiet and peaceful, and I can actually get stuff done.

Tomorrow I hope to finish cleaning my room, then I can take pictures and show you all the new paint job :)

And Sunday, I think I finally! get to go to Joann's and buy fabric! Yay!!! I've been waiting for weeks!!

here's the post I started a few days ago...

Hello all!! I know I haven't been a very good blogger recently... Life seems to be passing me by at a very fast pace. It's quite scary actually! I'm not sure what I have been doing recently. Work, life, KIT 4 KIDS stuff. Finished the coloring book, YAY!!!! It took Susie and me 5 months, but it's finished, finally! So, now hopefully life will go on. I just found out that Strings Workshop has been cancelled for this year :( I was really looking forward to it. But that's o.k., more time to save my money up I guess.

Most of you don't know but I am hoping to do a violin recital this Fall. You are of course all invited, I can't guarantee you will enjoy it, but you are welcome to come! So, I will spend the Workshop time practicing instead. Recitals are lots of work, which reminds me, I need to find an accompanist.....

O.k. well, it's late and I am a little tired, so I should go to bed. I will try very hard to be a better blogger, even if I don't have anything interesting to post :)

Time era quiz

You are living in the 1950's. You want to live in a place where there is still technology and cars yet you don't want all the technology we have now. You want to go back to a place where life was more conservative and peaceful and value on family morals was much higher. The 50's is for you.
Take this quiz!