Amazing Swap Goodies!

I just wanted to take a few moments and show your some swap goodies made by Kendra over at The Stone House Primitives!  She was my swap partner in my MIL's Thankful Friends swap.  I have to say when I got the package I squealed with delight!  It felt like Christmas!  Kendra made everything so personal--I absolutely loved EVERYTHING!  She sent a birch-tree frame (we love northwoods stuff!) a cute moose ornie, she needlefelted our baby his FIRST ornie ever too!  She also sent some homemade Woof Snax for Strider, some cute pet tea towels, a yummy smelling candle with an awesome wool wrap-around for it, an ADORABLE angel kitty, a needle felted Strider dog (not pictured and I'll explain why later) and something I've wanted for a long time but never expected something so personally-done--a penny rug but this one has Golden Retrievers around it!  Looks like my dog!  Ah thank you Kendra! 

All of her wonderful goodies!

Two of my favorite things--Kendra did a stichery candle cover of one of my favorite Lord of the Rings quotes!  I've also wanted a penny rug for ever so long and she did one of my golden retriever Strider! LOVE!!

Kendra was so thoughtful--she made our baby his FIRST Christmas Ornament!

I love this--we have a black cat so it's' so fitting.

 So you might be wondering why I wasn't able to yet picture my awesome needle-felted Strider.  The culprit (or rather accused as we know it was her) above is the reason why.  When we weren't home Tinuviel our kitty decided to try to practice voo-doo on our poor dog.  She grabbed my Strider off the counter and did a bit of claw and teeth work.  I was so mad!  I fixed the issue then put him on a higher, thinner decorative shelf for protection.  Then my husband and I went to visit my brother-in-law and his wife for the day.  When we came back, Tinuviel had Strider in her mouth AGAIN and scaled the shelf for him!  This time he was worse for the wear (though fixable) but I just haven't had a chance to fix him yet.  She's managed to find his wooly body no matter wherever I hide it so once it's fixed, this doggie is going behind glass.  That second time I ended up literally bawling because more than anything I think it's hormones on a high.  It's the third trimester (5 more weeks to go!) and what I wasn't aware of was it's apparently common to feel terribly emotionally off-kilter near the end. My midwife's suggestion to help with my anxiety/depression?  Lots and lots of Chamomile Tea! 

Thank you again Kendra for all of your sweet kindness and for being my swap partner!  I so enjoyed making things for you and LOVE what you sent! 

 I have lots more news to share including about my SURPRISE (and man was I surprised!) baby shower, and some projects (like the unfinished crib bumper shown above) but that will have to wait for another day.  I hope to write more soon!  Just don't expect it TOO soon--with 5 more weeks to go and a million things to do, I'm not sure what to do with myself sometimes! 

Blessings!

Family Time Monday!

As promised I am posting again today!  I've been searching around for my digital camera so I could add photos with my post but alas our little House Gnome who steals things must have found it while we were visiting the in-laws because it's nowhere to be seen!  While I'm sitting here typing to you little Fox I think is sitting comfy--I can feel a nice little bump in part of my stomach where his little bum must be!  

As promised I'm going to now tell you our kitties' names!  I wish I could have found the camera--they've just been so cute!  Our handsome sleek black male kitty we have named Nova.  How we came to that idea is somewhat funny--there is a Christian family radio drama my husband got hooked on and at one point something called Novacom was a big part of the plot line.  We were talking about that and then started to move on to Novas and Space.  We had other names for him but I told Mr. Fox he had to pick the name and in the end Nova was the one he liked best so that was it! 

The girl kitty I picked the name for.  I wanted something Elvish as I'm a big Lord of the Rings fan (both of us are) and I had thought a kitty named Tinuviel (pronounced Tin-ooo-v-el) would be lots of fun.  It's a lesser known name from Tolkien's book The Silmarillion which is about the history of Middle-Earth, where LOTR takes place.  Tinuviel was the name of the first elf maiden to fall in love with a mortal man  The name might be a tad hard to pronounce at first but it gets easier and really fits her.  She's my love bug kitty. 

An Artist's rendition of Tinuviel the Elvish princess

So this weekend we went over to my in-laws' house to have fun family time!  We took our doggie Strider and now he's lying here on the floor all konked out.  The weekend was a lot of fun and our dog thought so too.  Before we got him another dog he lived with used to attack our dog occasionally so I don't think he really learned how to play with other dogs.  We've had him since March and he's finally starting to come out of his and get down and really play with other dogs!  He had some fun times with my MIL's dog Jack and my brother and sister-in -law's dog, Moose!  Meanwhile the rest of us people played mini golf on the Wii, ate good food, played a ridiculous board game called Quelf for 3 or 4 hours, went on a walk and talked.  It was relaxing and fun.  I worked on some art while we hung out as well. 

Another piece of art I worked on was sketching ideas for Little Fox's blankie!  Here's an idea I came  up with--though placement of the objects may change.  And... we may need to simplify a little depending on whether or not my MIL thinks we can realistically make this from scratch or not.  I hope we can do something at least similar!  Let me know what you think!

Until next time my friends--blessings from the Most High on you all! :)

Busy day more coming Monday!

Whew it's been a busy day today!  So much so that my original plan to make a FULL post today will have to be moved to Monday!  I'll give  a very brief rundown for the now though:  our kitties both have names now!   I'll tell you Monday what they are!  They are doing super well and now come all around the house and aren't too afraid of our dog (usually they just ignore him) and their personalities have begun to shine through more too!  Our girl is playful and inquisitive and I often wake up with her laying on top of my now bigger stomach purring like crazy!  Our boy is a bit more shy and nervous but very lovey--he loves being petted and I've found he'll kind of reach up for my hands with his paws when he wants pets!  So far it appears all our animals get along well but I'm keeping Pipkin the bunny away from the kitties for the most part.  I want to introduce them slowly though so they realize Pipkin isn't a walking lunch if he does get time to run around!

I just joined my Mother-in-Law's swap and am having a blast with it so far!  Right now I'm working on something special that is my own pattern and idea! I'd show you an in-progress picture if I could but that will have to wait till my partner, Kendra from The Stone House Primitives gets it first!

I'm hoping to start sketching a design for little Fox's blanket this weekend--if I do I'll post a little sketch pic on Monday!  I'm pretty excited to do this with my MIL--it will be a fun project together I am hoping :)  I want to make a nice bumper for his crib too!  Yesterday I also got a backpack-style carrier for little Fox too from someone on Craigslist brand new!  It was a nice midnight colored organic cotton Ergo carrier that they had gotten new at their baby shower (but already had a few) and so they sold it to me for $70! It's still a lot but usually brand new it costs somewhere between $118-$140 for one of those so it was a good deal.  It was an investment because I'm learning the advantages of baby wearing and it's something my husband thinks he may be willing to wear so we can go hiking with little Fox, etc and I don't really think he really saw himself wearing the wrap I had gotten from someone!  It also will fit little Fox till he's about 45 pounds and I hear they last so seemed like a useful thing to have and I wouldn't have had the heart to ask anyone to get me something so pricy like that!

We also went to the local Pumpkin fest today (my husband, MIL and me) and it was cold but fun.  Had some hot cider and a cinnamon doughnut!

That's all for now but I hope to do a bigger update with some photos Monday!  Have a blessed weekend!

Carolina Pulled-Pork Sandwiches Recipe!

Hello friends!  I'm determined to be more regular with my blog again so I thought I'd share this tasty recipe with you I tried for the first time tonight!  I got it from the May issue of Family Circle that I saw sitting at work recently, and though it's more of a summer recipe, the fact that it cooks in a slow cooker made it the perfect choice for tonight!  It takes a bit of time but not too much, is easy, and my husband and I both loved it!

INGREDIENTS:

Pork:

1 boneless pork shoulder roast or picnic roast, skin removed, trimmed (about 3 1/2 pounds)

1 teaspoon seasoned salt

1 teaspoon paprika

2 tablespoons canola oil

Sauce:

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 small onion, diced

1 cup vinegar

3/4 cup ketchup

1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar

2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard

8 seedless sandwich buns (we used potato buns-delicious!)

1. Pork. Rub pork all over with seasoned salt and paprika.  Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Brown pork on all sides, 12 minutes.

2.  Sauce.  Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add onion and cook 5 minutes.  Stir in vinegar, ketchup, brown sugar and mustard.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.  

3.  Transfer pork to slow cooker; add sauce.  Cover and cook on HIGH for 6 hours or LOW for 8 hours.

4.  Meanwhile, prepare Coleslaw.

Coleslaw: In a medium bowl, whisk together 3/4 cup light mayo, 3 tablespoons cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon each of celery salt and black pepper.  Stir in 1 bag (1 pound) deli shredded coleslaw mix.  Refrigerate until serving.

5.  Remove pork from slow cooker and allow to cool slightly.  With 2 forks or your hands, shred meat, discarding fat and bones.  Stir pork into sauce in cooker.  Divide evenly among sandwich buns, topping with coleslaw, if desired. 

Makes 8 servings  Prep 15 minutes  Cook 22 minutes  Slow cook on HIGH for 6 hours or LOW for 8 hours.

A couple notes I have is I used potato buns.  I also didn't have spicy mustard so I used regular and it was still delicious.  Also didn't have celery salt and so just added a touch of regular salt to the coleslaw.  It still turned out great!  Hope you enjoy!

A Stitchery, Kitties' New Names and Ramblings

Hello friends!  It's been a whole week since we adopted our kitties--can't believe it already!  They have been adjusting very well.  They have names now too!

The girl kity is named Tinuviel!

Mr. Fox chose the name Nova for the boy kitty.

 I wanted the girl to be named Tinuviel as I'm such a big Lord of the Rings geek.  If you've read The Silmarillion you hear about her there--she's the Elf maiden who fell in love with a mortal man first.  Mr. Fox and I had several name ideas for the black kitty but I wanted him to pick.  In the end he chose Nova because it sounded unique and space is so black like our wonderful cat.  They are adjusting well.  Tinuviel is all over the place romping about like a kitten and Nova is a bit more nervous, but he's starting to explore a little bit more.  I think he's still a bit nervous about Strider our dog.  So now--we are a four animal (and an unborn baby!) household! :)

Strider likes to hang out with us as we work.

Pipkin our Netherland dwarf bunny

Speaking of baby, I've been really really wanting to sew him a baby blanket.  I get so tied up with work and such that I figure now would be a good time to start.  Mr. Fox and I think a shark and sea creature theme would be fun!  I kind of want to do a blankie with a shark and a snorkeling fox.  My big dilemma--what material should I use?  I have lots of fleece and it's so soft and colorful and would make a great blanket but will it be harder to wash than just plain old cotton?  Also should I preshrink the fabric?  Help please!  :)

It's football season now and so Sundays we've been spending the day at the in-law's house to watch the game.  (And socialize and eat!) We have a TV but don't have cable or the black box and Mr. Fox LOVES football.  Yesterday when we went over my MIL from Ravenwood Whimzies showed me how to do a stitchery and I'm now working on my very first one!  I need to finish the words and then add color pencil for the inside of the lines.  Next weekend we hope to make a pillow of it!  It's been so much fun I think I'd like to do more sometime!

Lastly, do you have any suggestions for quick homemade meals?  With work and cleaning and such it's so hard to find time to cook!

Until next time, may God bless you all dear friends!

Tribute to Indy

 As some of you may have heard from my mother-in-law, the other week ago we lost our 16 (or older--every time my husband speaks of him he seems to add a year haha) cat, Indiana Jones, or more commonly known as Indy.  Mr. Fox and I had gone to the great State Fair one Sunday and that night we noticed our cat hadn't been waiting at the door as he often does when he's been out all day.  I had seen him outside the day before, as had my husband, so things seemed ok; he had been eating and acting pretty normal and--we came home super late and sometimes he has been known to stay out all night.  Monday was labor day and so we were home most of the day and didn't see Indy at all.  At this I started to feel concerned--it wasn't like him to not be pestering us for dinner or to come inside.  That evening I didn't see him and asked Mr. Fox if he'd seen any sight of our feline friend as well.  Tuesday it stormed and still no sight of Indy.  By now we had really seriously begun to wonder.  Our cat wasn't young anymore and he was set in his ways like an old man--we wondered if he'd gone off to find a quiet place to rest his last.  The next day our sad suspicion was confirmed.  We couldn't find him anywhere and worried if he did go off to die that he ran off to the woods in back and that we'd never find his old body. It turns up my husband while poking around found his poor body under the deck; he looked peaceful like he just knew his time had come and he went out there to rest.  We buried him in the pet graveyard in our backyard.  We'll miss you, Old Guy, from your silent chattering (he couldn't really meow) to your demands for dinnertime.  He was the first cat I've ever had.

   Speaking of cats, I have just finished this 8"x 10" acrylic painting for a co-worker that I have started months ago that he commissioned me to do.  He has a cat he is very fond of too named Raven.  I had a lot of fun with this but it was frustrating too--I wanted it to come out well!  I spent hours on it and though I usually love working with black this time it was a huge challenge to me.  I'm pretty happy with the end result though!  If anyone has any pointers for me I'd be happy to hear!

Lastly I want to introduce you to... well... she is nameless as of now (as is a male black cat not pictured) but I got her and another kitty as a surprise to my husband yesterday!  He had never lived without a kitty around before and though he was handling it well, I missed having a cat around.  I saw our local SPCA had a "special" going on where you could name the adoption fee for an adult cat right now since they had so many that need homes.  I snuck off to the shelter yesterday after work, hoping Mr. Fox would forget I had a shorter shift and not notice.  I planned originally to just get one (though was open to the possibility of two because Mr. Fox had spoken of getting two at once before) and ended up leaving with two sweet adult kitties!  I managed to get them for $30 for the pair and they had been strays before so they never had a real home before so this was a good deal for them.  So far they are adjusting really well despite our dog's curiosity.  You may wonder how I broke the news to Mr. Fox?  Well, he had noticed my absence and so called me while I was filling out adoption applications--but I managed to stay mum about it.  When I got home I told him he had to get on his shoes and help me get something out of the car.  I guess he briefly--very briefly wondered if it was kitties but figured it must be groceries or something I found free by the side of the curb instead.  He had the cutest grin when he saw the carriers and he's been quite happy with his surprise!  Now the task is naming them! 

I have to run now dear friends, but thanks for reading and have a blessed day! :)

My BIG SURPRISE!!

Hello friends!  My last post had some news but not all the news I had wanted to share.  There has been so much happening the past few months!  Something I now want to share is very near and dear to my heart.  As some of you remember, I had a miscarriage back last October.  I'm not going to lie it was very difficult but God got us through.  When I miscarried they found a polyp and I got that removed back in January.  They said there was a chance I'd miscarry again if I got pregnant with the polyp if the baby managed to implant on that.  About a week after Easter, I found out I was pregnant again!  I was ecstatic and nervous at the same time.  I feared another miscarriage--I couldn't imagine going through that again.  God's been taking care of our little baby though and now, next week I'll be FIVE months pregnant!  We just found out August 15 (the feast of the Assumption) that our little baby is going to be a BOY!  So my mother-in-law at Ravenwood Whimzies is going to be a grandma :)  I want to take a moment now and share some pictures. 

 

 

 

 

 

Our little Minion at 8 weeks!

Baby Minion and I at 18 weeks

Can't believe how good ultrasounds have gotten!  Here he is in 4-D.  You can see his little arms grabbing his head!

Now that we know what our baby is and now that I will hopefully have a tiny bit more "free time" since we aren't getting ready for big 4th of July parties (end of June) going on vacation or getting ready for a craft show (August) I hope to blog a bit more about the happenings around here and hopefully craft a bit more to get ready for him!  I want to make him a blanket at least and maybe make a bumper for his crib. 

That's all for now--GOD IS SO GOOD! :)

Happy Happenings!

Hi everyone! As usual life has gotten the best of me as far as updating goes.  My oh my does a lot happen in a day--certainly in a few months!  Most of my days are similar, my friends, with all their comings and goings (but the comings and goings is usually me to work and back again).  After work it's making (or heating leftovers) for dinner and lately it's been doing crafting after that if something else isn't vying for my attention.  There HAVE been a few noteworthy things though that I want to share!

First of all remember back in September we had to bring our adopted dog back to the SPCA due to Springer Rage?  Well I'd waited and waited to get another dog and in March we finally were able to start looking again!  This time I wanted to go for a Golden Retriever as they are good with just about anyone and are very trainable.  As a breed they tend to be friendly with no aggression issues so it seemed a good way to go.  We applied to the local Golden rescue but were told they had kind of a long waiting list.  I didn't want to wait forever to get another dog so I posted a "wanted ad" on craigslist.  Within a short period of time someone contacted me and we got our new DOG! :D

Strider the Second

We called him Strider the Second because two weeks wasn't long enough with one Strider and he just--he just is.  He's a 2 year old Golden and when we got him he had a lot of fleas (from living in the country) and an infection in his front legs.  We got him fixed and got the treatment to clear up his leg problem.  I'm noticing he might have a food allergy possibly now too (he always is getting rashes, etc) so we are trying him on a grain free diet now.  He's always so friendly and happy! He was the dog we were praying for.

This month Aug 18-19th I'll be doing my own booth at the Celtic Fest that we are having locally.  My mother-in-law at Ravenwood Whimzies plans to contribute a few items to sell too.  I've been working madly trying to create things to sell!  I've also gotten an air compressor finally so I can learn to use my airbrush I got over a year ago.  I'm hoping to do t-shirts!  The picture above is some practice.  I have a long way to go (but hopefully will be ready to do some things by then).  Controlling the tool is unusual! 

Baby Burp Cloths I'm sewing.

I have more news too but that's all I'm sharing tonight--I'm running out of time and need to get to bed due to work early tomorrow but I hope to post again soon!  Blessings to you all! 

My Bunny Swap!

Hi again everyone!  I'm going to have a brief show-and-tell session this evening!  I finally got pics of the bunny swap that Sandi from The Primitive Skate made for me and boy, are they lovely!  I am not going to lie, I squealed in delight as I opened each parcel in her package--my husband and mother-in-law can attest to that!

Look at all she gave me--she spoiled me so much with all her lovely crafts!

 I love the bunnies--they look absolutely adorable together--I love the contrast of the two of them too!  <3

 She made a GENIUS!  bundle of carrots from a rough-woven fabric and had them tied together--so cute!  I love bunnies in general and stuff that has to do with them so these ideas were so awesome!  She also gave me sweet smelling tarts, a cute notebook, and a couple cinnamony goodness pantry cakes--one of them is a bunny shape! 

Oh Sandi--thank you oh so much!  And a big thanks to my mother-in-law at Ravenwood Whimzies for holding the bunny swap!  I had so much fun! 

Here is a pic of the bunny I made Sandi in return:  it was the first time I did a project quite like this and it was a blast to do!  I plan to make a few more hehe.

I took a picture of her with my real bunny, Pipkin to show size comparison! 

That is all for tonight--I have a hopefully BIG day tomorrow with more NEWS to share soon! :D

BUNNY SWAP!

Hi Friends!  I just got my Bunny Swap today from Sandi at The Primitive Skate! She spoiled me so much with her part of the swap and I squealed with delight as I opened each part of her special package!  I haven't had a chance to take photos yet it's been such a crazy day but I will get up some pics very soon to show you all!  THANK YOU SANDI!  I love everything! :)

So much art so little time!

Hi my friends!  I've failed yet again to post quickly.. *kicks a rock*  I tell ya someday I'll get a hang of this!  I wanted to thank all of you for praying for me--a few weeks ago I had a surgery to remove a polyp that they found when I had my miscarriage back in October.  I had a checkup last Monday and it seems to be doing just fine!  I won't have to go to the doctor for three months now which is great and I am very very grateful for all your prayers!

Earlier this month I also had a friend from Minnesota (I moved to NY in July) visit--my first friend from back home visiting!  It was a wonderful time. I will post a pic or two sometime soon.

I have a question for all you bloggers now--I find it hard to think of things to write sometime or just phrase things--how do you all do it? I enjoy reading your blogs so much!

I'll end off with a picture I did for my parent's 25th Anniversary which was last week.  It's two snuggling bears in a different style than I usually do.  Someone on my facebook page suggested I do a carving of my parents' initials in the tree and put the year of their marriage on the cabin door so I followed her advice.  This was a lot of fun to do!  Please, if you are on facebook consider following my PAGE! :)

Blessings to you all!

Click to see full image!

The Mysterious Tipi

Hello my friends!  Today I wanted to share with you about an exciting outing my husband and I had!  Over the last couple months every Sunday we've been off somewhere--celebrating birthdays, hanging out with family and having fun but I had also been desiring for a Sunday here we can spend here at our home.  With my new full-time job sometimes it doesn't feel like I'm home very much anymore (probably doesn't help that when I'm done with work it's nice and dark) and Saturdays lately have been so busy at our home they haven't been too much of a vacation either.  So today was a blessed day of rest at home!  Deer season has just ended out here and we have a large woods that begins in our back yard (most of it isn't ours by a long shot but we can go into it) and we've been waiting for hunting time to be over so the woods would be safe to wander again.  Today we went on an almost four hour walk in them!  The weather was glorious and it was so much fun!  We picniced on a log and ate cheese meat and crackers and some of my own homemade beef jerky I made with my dehydrator--a gift from my mom-in-law!  On the way back from our walk we came to a bunch of pine-trees and this time we discovered something we definitely didn't see before: it was a very well made tipi and "camp" area.  What was really cool was you could stand up inside with no difficulty and it seems the structure was held together in part by vines woven throughout the logs to hold it in place!  Definitely a mystery--I don't think small boys made this there were beer cans throughout the "camp" and it was made with much skill!  When we came back we sat in the hot tub some and this evening we watched the second episode of Start Wars while we ate dinner.  I haven't ever seen them all (only the first original movie) so I've been wanting to know the whole plot line so we are working through all of them.  I keep trying to guess what's going to happen next!

That's all for tonight more soon!  I want to post latest projects sometime!  I do have a prayer request though.  The next three days I will be going to the doctor--I have a surgery (minor) on Wednesday and I ask you to please pray that it goes well!  Doctors and health-related things tend to make me a bit anxious and so I really want this to go smoothly!  Thanks so much!

Meadow on the edge of some of the woods.

 

Still alive!

Hi my dear friends!  It's been a while!  I promise a decent post with pictures soon!  The Christmas season and birthdays and my new full-time job have had me running about without much free time to post or do lower key art!  It is now over now and I feel like I have much news to share!  I am hoping over the next week or so I can go over the latest projects, some plans, and news as well as prayer intentions!  I don't have my camera plugged in for pics yet though so it will have to wait tonight.  Thanks for staying as my followers I appreciate it ALL of you!  Happy New Year my friends! :)