First off, I hope everyone got their pin cushions safely. I know we had a couple of friends that were mailing to other countries so it may take some time. I would love to see what everyone received, so if you don’t have flickr please send me an e-mail picture if you can.

Work in Progress…

I’m working on a lot lately but here is one little snippet into my basket.

Thanks to every one inquiring into The Yarn of The Month Club! I still have 4 spots open for next month. Just e-mail me anytime. Don’t forget to save $5-10 up until September 2, 2008.

Also coming up…

…we will be having another swap! Also we have another yarn contest! I’m working on something a little funky and I need some help with a name.

Our coffe maker broke a couple of months ago and I must say that I wasn’t too sad to take an appliance off of our counter. I loved it in fact! So, we have been getting up and putting water on the stove to warm up for the french press. We have both enjoyed doing this task in the morning. There is something in the process that gets us really excited about making coffee. It’s been great.

The only problem that comes out of all this is how much it costs to buy whole beans every week. We have been spending too much money on coffee so we are finally going to break down and buy a new coffee maker.

How do you make your coffee in the morning?

Who wouldn’t want to go back? John’s Uncle David was celebrating his 60th Birthday at the Liz and Aaron’s this weekend. We were invited last week but we pretty much weren’t going to go so we could save money. Well, Friday night rolled around and we just changed our minds all together. We got up on Saturday morning, packed up the car and we left.

It was such a great time with so much family there. The chickens have grown up a little bit. They have horses there now, nibbling up the grass. Great people, great food, great times.

On Sunday Harriet woke up and was kind of sad right off the bat. I’m pretty sure she was the cause of some people waking up. (sorry friends.) It was so sad, she would just lay her head on the couch and fall asleep, while she was still standing. She had a fever all day and was very lethargic and then this morning she woke up good as new! I’m not sure what was wrong but she is definitely back to being herself again!

Uncle David! Thanks for the self portrait on my camera!

…to my baby? Oh yeah, she grew up to be this awesome 5 year old in one blink of my eye.

That’s right. Mary started Kindergarten today! I can’t really explain these emotions, but it’s definitely an uneasy feeling but at the same time very proud. I tried to do a lot with her this week like I wasn’t even going to see her for a long time. We colored a lot. Read tons of books. Made some goobly glop stuff out of her concoctions book. She helped me cook 3 meals. We went on a huge walk the other day to run errands! I don’t think she knew what she was in for, but when we got back we did sidewalk chalk. Rainbow triangles. We made some new maps. Tried to clean out the work room. On the last day we watched Nanny McPhee together for the first time. (Cute movie.)

All the while if I had an empty second on hand I was trying to fill it by cleaning and organizing. Today while she was gone, I finished scrubbing the bathroom and then decided to start rearranging furniture again. (It’s a really great way to keep your mind off of things.) I took the changing table out of the bathroom and moved it into the family room for the t.v. to go on. Then I organized all the movies into the drawers and what was left I will bring to the Library. Sewing is another good way to keep yourself busy. Let’s see, I embroidered 3 things to go on a quilt. I made 2 scarves. I am halfway through a big set of dinner napkins. I needle felted and embroidered a new brooch. All fine and dandy, but I still didn’t sleep last night. I’m off now to see if I can make some of that up. Goodnight!

Here is Mary after school telling me a story…

Here she is thinking really hard…

Thank you Leslie for the great patchwork pincushion! It is so pretty and I love the buttons too! I already started sticking it all over with pins when I was working last night.

Leslie also sent me some extras! A hand made book. (I just love the print!) She also sent me this cute fabric and some yo yos. (You know how much I love yo yos right now.)

Thanks Leslie!

Here is the little guy that I sent Leslie…

Have you ever been to the site Whip Up? I check it every couple of weeks and every time I do I’m always wondering why I don’t go there more often. It’s chalked full of crafty fun! Well, the other day they mentioned different places to go on the web for yarn of the month clubs. They actually linked to sewSpun! Can you believe it? So in honor of the Whip Up linky to sewSpun you can save on the YOTMC for the next 2 weeks. So, if you order before September 2, 2008 you will receive $5 off a 3 month subscription and $10 off a 6 month subscription!

I can’t get my pictures off of my camera! Today of all days. This morning was such a great surprise in the post. I received snail mail from Annie which is so exciting! I also received my pin cushion from the swap, and a letter from another swap I was in. Too bad I can share the pics with you. Boohoo.

How about this one Mary took the other day…

On Sunday we all went to a county park and took out a paddle boat. Harriet really hated it at first, but as soon as she calmed down she realised how cool it was and then loved it.

John and I both took the same picture of each other with the girls and didn’t even know until we got home and looked at them all. Here’s the one I took…

…and the one John took.

My favorite one from the day is John, Harriet, and Mary all holding on to the steering wheel. It was so cute.

Last Thursday John’s cousin Jane came through town with a friend of hers on their way to Illinois. We had a good old fashion grill out, chicken, steak, and dogs. Iowa corn and raw veggies. Yum. Then our friends Shannon and Jared came in too. We had a really great time visiting. It was also really cool because it was the third week in a row we got to hang with Jane!

On Friday John took Jared golfing so we could set up a surprise Jazz party for his Birthday. Jared is way more into Jazz than any of us are so we usually don’t end up listening to it. So for a his Birthday we went all out. John made some really cool album covers with Jared’s name and pictures in them, we made some record bowls for snacks, and we even set up a make shift bar outside. It was a lot of fun!

Here are some cutouts we made for the back patio.