Proverbs 31:22

What does this: Plus this: Plus a good portion of this: Equal? In this case, it equals this: This was the first time I tried my hand at lace shaping. Here's what the yoke looked like after I'd shaped the lace and sprayed it well with spray starch. This was also the first time I'd used a pattern out of Sew Beautiful magazine . I have to say that I was less than impressed. None of these laces and entredeux are cheap and the pattern underestimated nearly every item on the list. I had to go back and buy more fabric, more entredeux (both ones called for). I also thought the directions were lacking. Even though I am an experienced seamtress, this was the first heirloom project I've done. I chose this ones from the ones that Kimberly listed as her favorites because it said it was for beginners. There were several things I did wrong because the directions were not clear (or perhaps because there weren't enough diagrams). I realized after I had finished the steps, Oh, I ac

Niki, over at Pumpkin Country, posted this list on her blog today. I thought it would be fun to join in. 10 Things I've Never Done: 1. Traveled in an airplane (will if I have to, but it's not something I desire to do; I like to see what I'm traveling by) **2. Had a son (unless the one miscarriage I had was a boy) 3. Been able to whistle 4. Been snow skiing (tried to water ski, but that was a disaster) 5. Been able to roller skate 6. eaten raw fish, nor do I care to **7. traveled out of the United States 8. sang in public; I have spoken and acted in public, though 9. been able to appreciate snakes (at least I don't scream and run when I see them anymore, though) **10. knitted The ones with ** next to them are things that I would like to do one day.

I tried my hand at making biscotti yesterday. It was really pretty easy. I got the recipe from Giada de Laurentiis on Everyday Italian . Here's the link to the recipe . These are delicious with the almonds and lemon zest in them. Two of my favorite things are lemon flavor and almonds! Here's a little interesting information on biscotti from Wikipedia : The word "biscotti" in Italian is the plural form of biscotto, which applies to any type of biscuit, and originates from the medieval Latin word biscoctus, meaning "twice-baked": it defined biscuits baked twice in the oven, so they could be stored for long periods of time, which was particularly useful during journeys and wars. Through Middle French, the word was imported into the English language as "biscuit". If you want to read more of the article, click here . I already knew it meant "twice-baked" because Giada shared that little tidbit on her show. I like how she shares stuff like th

I've been using Laikyn's camera lately and when downloading some recent pics, I found these funny ones she took of herself a few months ago. Laikyn is our "baby." She will be 18 in a few months. She recently received the study-at-home materials to get certified to be a Personal Fitness Trainer. She will graduate in December of this year from high school. One of the coolest things I love about Laikyn is that she's always wanted the "costume" for everything. She wanted (and I made her) a Pocahontas outfit when she was little. She also had a Little House on the Prairie dress and bonnet. She had the whole camouflage Army outfit at one point, too (complete with BB gun). When her study materials came in this week for Personal Fitness Trainer, she was looking through the material and said, "Ooh, I want a t-shirt!" I just had to laugh. She said, "What?!" I said, "You've always had to have the costume to go with whatever you're do

I liked the bulletin board in our kitchen so well, I decided to do other bulletin boards in the house. I have paper for three of them, but I've only completed one so far. ;-) I did the one in my office over my desk with the MOST gorgeous paper from Hobby Lobby. (click on the picture to make it larger) When I shopped for the paper, I looked and looked through all the bins waiting for "the one" to jump out at me. When I saw this one, I *knew* it was it!! I wish that there was fabric like this. I'd have to make a bag or something from it!

Yesterday was the day to weigh in and take measurements after another month has gone by. (Where does the time go???) The results weren't as dramatic as last month's, inches-wise anyway. I only lost 1.25". Even though I say "only," I'll still take it! It's better than nothing. I did lose another 3 pounds this month, though. That's a total of 7# in two months. The total inches lost in two months is 8.5!! I have noticed an increase in muscle tone, especially in my legs (quads). I also achieved the first level of FitLinxx points at the YMCA. At 15,000 points, you earn a water bottle with the YMCA logo on it. Now, I'm working towards the 30,000 mark and a workout towel. It's something fun to see the progress and count the points.

Nathan Flynn Broyles has arrived! At his parents request, I won't be posting any pics of his face on my blog. Mom and baby are doing well. They came home from the hospital yesterday. I cannot explain how I feel about this child. It is totally different than the emotions I experienced with my daughters' births. For example, when he cries, I think it is the most amazing sound. When my daughters cried, I stressed out, wondering what was wrong with them. Is it just maturity and having gone through it already and knowing that all will be well in the end? Or is it that I'm not responsible for him that makes me enjoy his cries? Another neat thing about his being here is that now not only do my daughter and I relate mother-to-daughter but also mother-to-mother. Having Nathan has done exactly what having Kimberly did in our lives --- it has changed them. Nothing will change your life like having a child (except maybe having a grandchild!)

I decided that I am moving back to Blogger. I also decided that I'm not transferring all my posts from Typepad to here. I seriously doubt that anyone will be looking for my old ramblings anyway. :-)

This month has been a SUPER CLEANING month, which means we deep clean in each room. (Maybe it should be called DEEP CLEANING month??) This week, the upstairs room that got a deep cleaning was the library. Sorry, I don't have any before and after pics. :-( You'll just have to take my word for it that I weeded out a lot of stuff (this is our last year of homeschooling, after all) and made what was left more organized. The only things that are still hanging around in the room that don't belong here are the boxes and baskets I have set aside for our book sale on Tuesday hosted by our cover school. Whew! I said all that to say that I had my hubby take down a HUGE bulletin board from the library and put it up in the kitchen in place of the small one that was in there. Here's what it looked like after he hung it in the kitchen: The one with all the papers on it is the small one that was hanging in that spot. Yesterday, I picked up 12 sheets of pretty 12x12 scrapbooking paper f

...if I should come back here to blogger after all Typepad's recent "improvements" that have made posting a pain. So, I guess this is a test post. Let's try uploading a photo. Pretty easy and it even let me automatically select if I wanted to center this photo (one of my mom and Kimberly one Christmas with "Betsy"), which is something that Typepad doesn't do --- and I can never seem to remember what the html code is for centering an image!! I just played around with changing the font type and the size. Also pretty easy compared to the "improvement" Typepad recently made, which would somehow decide to only change a paragraph even though I had selected ALL THE TEXT in a post. Let's see, what else do I need to check?? Here's a link to my Typepad blog: http://livinglovingandlearning.typepad.com/ . That was ALSO easier than the new way Typepad has it --- you have to type text and then highlight it and then click to insert a link. Okay, somet