I am one of those people who has grandiose ideas, and sometimes they work out! But, these ideas truly are a mess before they are done. I ran out of room in my sewing room so my mess for the past few weeks had to be put in a corner of our living room:
Hopefully, this mess will be gone in a few weeks – either to my quilt studio or all put together and sold. I guess the secret of success for any idea begins with a mess!
I used to be able to crochet. Well, I can still crochet but because of my skin allergies, the yarn or thread has to be washed before I can use it or my hands & fingers will blister. Have you ever pre-washed yarn or thread? Even in a lingerie bag? What a tangled up nightmare! Certainly takes the fun out of my non-quilt talents!
While cruising up and down the aisles at our local craft store, I found these beautiful small, pre-made hearts at an extremely affordable cost. I have mostly used them in cards to people who lose a loved one or just to say “you have my heart.” I have quite a stash of them and purchase a few more each time I go into that craft store. They are just perfect examples of a tangible object that reminds all of us that a heart is perfect as long as it is a heart full of love.
You may have seen this Mini Quilted Lovie here I made using one of these crocheted hearts. They would also make a great applique for a special quilt!
You never know what may be lurking in your craft shops and stores if you don’t take the time to look up and down each aisle (in my case, while looking for something else entirely!).
My husband planted some beautiful herbs last year. They are beautiful because they are annuals and as long as we water them, don’t let them go to seed and the Texas heat doesn’t kill them…they will come back year after year. LOVE me that kind of gardening! Not to mention that we can either freeze some of them (basil frozen, check) or dry some of them in the food dehydrator. So I can have fresh, home-grown, organic herbs whenever I cook…or hubby cooks.
Here’s some of my beautiful herbs:
Thyme
Rosemary
Basil
A word of warning…do NOT plant chives if you have free range turkeys. Within the first month of having planted chives, the two Tom turkeys we have ate the chives down to the roots! Really chapped my khaki’s because that was one of the few items I would have cooked with most often!
School starts next Monday for three of my kids, Wednesday for our oldest who is in college. But, I have been taking this week as the calm before the storm. It’s not really working…my husband had had to drop his daily plans to fix a number of things this week, so he has been at a slow simmer for a few days…our oldest daughter is planning and packing and trying to organize her move to her dorm when it’s virtually impossible to do so as her previous year’s stuff is spread from her room, throughout the house and even up in the barn…our son could care less, he is ready to begin his classes whenever it’s time…and our two daughters are both ready and not ready to return to the daily grind.
Tonight, we have to attend their school’s “Meet the Teacher” night, where we will meet all of the new coaches teachers, and there are a lot of them. Over a dozen teachers in our small public school have either retired, not had their contracts renewed, found better jobs elsewhere or left just because they could do better elsewhere.
That little jab at coaches teachers is not a joke. For nearly EVERY. SINGLE. POSITION. ANNOUNCEMENT the school put on their website, they were looking for coaches FIRST and then, well maybe if they were state certified to teach a close-enough subject matter, they may be considered. For a school that CLAIMS to always put academics first, it really chaps my khaki’s about how those positions were advertised.
So, since there are many things that frustrate and aggravate me about our local school…I am trying to treat this week as the calm before the storm. My husband has one online class this year, too, and it’s on Mondays – it runs from 4 pm through 6 pm. Which means I have to shorten my nap time to be able to pick our daughters up from the bus stop as well as get our son moving so he can finish his school work before he has to leave for Scouts 15 minutes after hubby finishes with his online class. Oy.
The photo above. It’s my calm before the storm.