This just in....

Go to this blog and check out the lovely post about me and my creepy, lil' portraits. Her name is Emma and she has quite a passion for fabric- something of which I understand and approve. Anyway, please take a look at the post and then take some time to visit her blog.

Danielle

P.S. Here's a sneak-peek...

My Chickens...

...are doing beautifully!

They are getting big and they look like chickens now. And, they are laying eggs!!! We are up to five eggs a day now. Two more chicks to go! They are quite sweet and I can tell that they are 'attached' to me. That's kinda cool. I've gotten attached to them, too.

Greeting me in the coop.

Striking a pose. Isn't she pretty! Work it, Baby, the camera loves you!

Eggs!

Welcome to the Chicken Run.

Enjoy your day!

Rainy Saturday

As the title implies... it's raining. We need it. Everything looks so dry. The sun is great but it has been so intense lately that I appreciate the gray-ness.

What to do on a rainy Saturday?

Nathanael is being introduced to "Sinbad the Sailor"- the one with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Maureen O'Hara. I think he is liking it. He looks mesmerized!

Asher is napping. I'm potty training him still and it is going real well. Any accidents tend to be more my fault than his. He has gotten pretty good at letting me know when he has to go potty. But only about 90% of the time. The other 10 % is me asking/reminding him. Sometimes I have the nerve to relax- let my potty-guard down. I end up paying the price. We're getting there. I can see a light at the end of this particular tunnel!

As for me... I'm doing laundry, of course. And I've been sewing. I've been working on an 'ode' to the painting American Gothic, using Halloween themes. This current piece is a couple of skeletons- "Mr. and Mrs. Bones". I have also been working on a few small framed portraits and Halloween masks. The ideas are a-flowin'! Now, I am going to take a break and have lunch. Yesterday I started reading "Auntie Mame" - hysterical! I love the movie (Rosalind Russel) , but haven't seen it in many years. So, I think I'll curl up with my book and some lunch and, as Depeche Mode put it, "enjoy the silence".



Enjoy your day!

A day at the Art Fair...

In Grand Ledge, Michigan, there is a long, narrow, pretty island in the middle of the Grand River. And, on the first Saturday of August, there is an Art Fair held on this little island. It is called, appropriately enough, the Island Art Fair. And I was in it!

On Friday, my father, my niece and I went to set up my tent in the same location I've been in the two years before. It is a lovely spot!

Here is my 'spot'.

Here is my stuff.

Here is my view.

Set-up went well. The tent looked quite festive and creepy once everything was put up and out. It was a successful show and I came away with a lot of great compliments and a lot of new fans.

Now I'm back to frantically sketching, stitching and creating! (Of course, after I clean, do laundry, garden and dole out some love for the chickens.) Enjoy your week!

Sunday Morning

Good Sunday morning to you all!

Last weekend we had our family reunion on my mothers side. Lot's of fun and great to see everyone! Asher was all over the place- very exhausting! But he did pretty good. He was exhausted when it came time to leave and was asleep by the time we started the car.



I've a busy week ahead of me with a craft show at the end of it. I am both excited and nervous about the show. I feel like I am prepared, though. That's what is most important at this point.

Dave and Nathanael have been on a camping trip since Thursday night leaving Asher and I to some quality alone time. We are having lots of fun together and we are seeing a lot of the grandparents. We miss our guys, though!

Chickens are getting big and seem to be nesting. Perhaps eggs are soon to come?

The garden is still growing. We have corn that is reaching to our second story and pumpkin vines reaching around the block! I've learned a lot this year in the gardening department and can't wait to apply it next year. Tomatoes are starting to ripen, too. I don't know what I'll do if they all turn red at the same time. It'll look like the house is on fire!

Time to get ready for church. Have a great day and God bless!

Just so you know that I haven't passed away (yet)...

This is just a quick "hey there!" to let you know that I am still around.

I haven't been willing or able to blog lately because:

* I started potty training Asher a little over two weeks ago and so my conversation is limited to "Do you have to go potty?" I'm sure that that is all any post would have been about at the beginning. As a matter of fact, we all had potty-on-the-brain so much that if Asher wasn't on the potty, Nat. and I were.

* I got the flu. From where I don't know but it kicked my butt!!!!! I had two days of 102/103 fevers. Two nights without sleep. Killer head aches, body aches and stomach aches. So bad I had to beg my husband to stay home and watch the kids. All this started two days after starting to potty train poor Asher. Oy! the timing!!! Anyway, it has been two weeks and one day since the first fever and I am finally on the mend. I still feel really wiped out but I am also ready to get on with my life! During all of this I just didn't have any desire to get on the computer. Thus the silence.

* Because of the above nightmare, I feel and know that my home and family have been sorely neglected. So, each day I've been trying to do a little catch up and get back to feeling 'normal'. The computer, again, was not much of a priority.

* Other things preoccupying my time: a luscious, voluptuous, vegetable garden, starved-for-attention, young chickens, random 'accidents' to mop up, an ever-looming, fast-approaching craft show the beginning of August. And strawberries. We picked 21 lbs. (WHAT!!!) on Sunday and I have been (will be) processing strawberries ever since.

* I didn't do too much sewing while I was sick, the headaches kept any desire to concentrate, or even think, at bay. However, the needle is threaded and these nimble (ha!) fingers are stitching away. I'll post some of my progress soon.

That is the long and the short of it! I'm going to do some reading with Nat. now. Enjoy your Tuesday and I promise I will post again soon!

Combat Potty Training

Me: Asher, do you have to go potty?

Asher: Yeah.

Me: Run to the potty, Asher. Run to the potty.

Nathanael: Hold your fire! Hold your fire!