Home from the Teach Them Diligently Convention ~ Jewelry Pics!

I'm ho-ome! *sings cheerfully*

Ahh, I can't tell you how good it is to be home again. I'm very tired from our long weekend, but it was a great success!

Where was I, you ask? I didn't tell you? Oh my! I was at the Teach Them Diligently Homeschool Convention in Spartanburg, South Carolina!

(I was so busy preparing for it that I didn't have time to blog for a few weeks!! Do forgive me!)

I wish I had the energy to write more in this post, but a picture is worth a thousand words, so I hope these will suffice...

My booth! Signature pink curtains, cozy carpet for feet that had to stand all day (mine) and new banner identifying the whole shebang.

 But I suppose I should start at the beginning. ^ The nice bed in our hotel room... Mama and Daddy slept well! :D I slept in the fold-out couch and the boys parked themselves in cots here and there.

 Our cozy little kitchen and table that became the makeshift office/laptop platform. :D MOHL girls, I emailed and chatted with you from there! :D

 A STOWAWAY? Yes indeedy - Survivorman snuck along for the ride and quickly made himself at home. (He's an inside joke in our family. We take turns moving him when nobody's looking... you never know where he'll pop up next!)

 Okay. Back to the booth. My brothers' booth was right next door. We had something for everybody! It was fun seeing people's reactions when they found out we were related. "You're one family?" "Yep." "Cool!" :D

 Closeup of the left side!

Closeup of the right side!

My view, all day, from my chair, looking out...

The chandelier earring rack, hanging necklaces, one of my mademoiselle stands, and the samples of the eBooks.

 Closer view of the very-dangly chandelier earrings...

Up-close shot of the spinning copper necklace stand...

The mademoiselles and the back half of the left side..

The wall of necklaces, bracelet stand, and otherwise right half of the booth....

 The earring trees! My Daddy made these for me. I am so thrilled with them... this year we changed to all-white stands instead of the dark brown ones and I absolutely LOVE the look.

 Another view... Hmm, you can see the cute 'cherry-drop' set on the white bust in this shot...

 The bracelet rack!

The eBooks on CD that I was selling! (Go HERE for more information about those!)

The princess-length serpentine chains with sparkly pendants... and a few spring-like necklace-earring sets! Those all sold! ('cept for the champagne-colored square crystal pendant)

 More jewelry! And cute jewelry bags that a friend of mine makes... I was selling those for her.

A closer look at the banner I designed for my booth....

*sigh* Was going to keep this one if it didn't sell... but it did. :D Oh well. Must not be meant for me.

 Wall of necklaces... part one,

Two,

Three,

And four! Many of these are now gone... sold! :D

I am so thankful that I did as well as I did. There were some very good speakers, which was great, but distracted people from shopping, I think... :D Still! I was very impressed with how the coordinators set up the convention, it was very well done and I will be coming back (If they'll have me) ;) ... if they have the convention again next year! :)

Oh! And........

 The Warfare by Duct Tape booth!

The eBooks my brothers wrote on creating their historically-based duct tape weapons! If you know any boys, chances are, they'd love this. More info at: WarfareByDuctTape.com

Off to rest and read...

I bought MYSELF a big red heart...

... just because I like chocolate. :D

No, I don't have a valentine. Never had a boyfriend, actually. I'm waiting for the one special man that God has already chosen for me. One day I'll meet him, and I'll get to tell him that I never held hands with, kissed, or gave my heart away to anybody else but him. How precious will that be?
So - yes. Valentine's day brings thoughts of love and marriage into my head. But it also reminds me to stay strong in my convictions and remain pure and unspoiled for my future husband.

February is a month of birthdays in our family! My sweet Mama had her birthday on the 9th, and my handsome brother Mark celebrates his today, on the 14th. He's 18 years old now! He's never been that thrilled about having a birthday on Valentine's Day, but the rest of us think it's pretty neat. :)

We made Mama a tasty, healthy, sugar-free chocolate cake for her birthday. ;) We did lots of little things to make her day special... waffles for breakfast, a fresh bouquet of dandelions, and going out to Ryan's for dinner.

I wrote her a letter that I'd like to reproduce here to show you, because it give you some idea of how blessed I am to have Mama for my mother.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Mama,
I did not know what to get you for your birthday this year, so I decided to give you my words in this letter. I am so blessed to have you as my mother. All my life, you have nurtured and cherished me, daily making sacrifices for my benefit.
You say that you're so imperfect, and that you wish you had been a better mom, but Mama... you are the best, bravest, most devoted mother I have ever seen. I would not trade you for any other mom on earth.
You constantly battle against tremendous pain, and over and over again, I see you win. You are an amazing picture of perseverance and dedication.
Daddy has a faithful wife in you, for you support and encourage him in a sterling example of a godly helpmeet. I pray that one day I will have a chance to love and honor a man as you do him.
Mark and Steven don't know I'm writing this, but I know they would agree with me in saying that we have the most wonderful mommy in the world.
I love you so much! Have a very happy birthday!
Proud to be your daughter,

~Julia

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This morning we surprised Mark with the board game Settlers of Catan, a fancy duct tape sword and knife that Steven custom-made for him, and a big heart-shaped box full of chocolates. I think he was happy. We're also planning a trip to the LEGO store up in Atlanta sometime soon.

Later this evening we'll have one of Mark's favorite meals, Amish Chicken, and then enjoy a delicious "Turtle Cake" for his birthday cake. One of our very favorite desserts to make, it's a Mennonite recipe that involves German chocolate cake mix, a gooey caramel filling, and chocolate chips on top. It's best eaten with a dollop of whipped cream. Yummmm.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I Went to a Wedding

.... and this is What I Wore... ;)

I don't get a chance to 'dress up' very often these days, so I made sure to get pictures while I was looking all fancy-shmancy. :D

 And the hair! Oh my! I wanted to wear it up, but was bored with all the buns I'd been doing recently, so I tried modifying a hairstyle that I first saw on Elizabeth Botkin. :D Anna Sophia actually told me how she did it. (You know, I may not agree with them on some of their doctrine and beliefs... but you have to admit, those girls always look so classy!) :D

I call it... "The Asymmetric Wad (which is half-falling-apart)".

When I had at last finished pinning the loose, silky mass to the back of my head, I surveyed the effect in the mirror, gave an "oh well" shrug of my shoulders, and proceeded to have my mother spray about a quart of hairspray on it to hopefully stick it together. :D

I was shocked, stunned, and blown away by how many compliments I got! :D I think I ended up explaining to fourteen separate people how I did my hair. Lol!

This post is interrupted to tell you how much I love, love, LOVE this outfit. :D

The blazer, which I adore and have worn to the past five or so formal occasions I've attended, I found at Ross. I think it was $20 and part of a set with a really short skirt, but the blazer was perfect.

The lacy top I'm wearing underneath it I found at Walmart a couple of years ago.

The dark gray wool skirt I found at Goodwill for $5 with the tags still on it, it's an Anne Taylor Loft and the original price tag said $85.00!!! Now that's the way I like to buy my clothes! I wish that kind of a deal smacked me in the face more often. ;)

The black not-that-high heels are from Walmart from a few years ago. They have cute little bows made from strips of leather at the corners.

And here's me with my handsome brothers! They looked seriously spiffy, and I just love how we all match... ;) See how I never feel that tall? They make me feel short. And I'm not. :D

Daddy and the boys... (This ^ photo has a funny story "behind" it. Mark leaped into place as I was photographing Steven and Daddy, and, liking the composition, I snapped the picture.) ;)

Such fine-looking menfolks I'm related to! I absolutely love those argyle vests we picked up from a Yard Sale, nearly brand new. :D I wish I could have gotten a picture of Mama, but I didn't have a chance before it was time to leave.

I also wish I had taken a few pictures at the wedding, which was lovely, but the bride had emailed me saying they were asking everyone to not take pictures so that their professional photographers wouldn't be bothered. Rest assured, it was beautiful. The colors were Apple Red, Black, and Silver-Gray... and the reception food was the best I'd ever had, and I've been to over 20 weddings at least. :D There was a chocolate fountain with things to dip in it like... strawberries, rice-krispy treats on a stick, bananas, oreos, marshmallows, and a host of other things that taste good dunked in chocolate. The rice-krispy treat was my absolute fave. :D

Anyhow, I'm hoping you enjoyed this little peek into my life as of late. :D

I'm thankful for ...Memories

 Today I'm thankful for memories.

We set up a table in the living room and pulled out two huge bins of unsorted old family photos, printed years ago and left in the dark. They'd been in their bins, undisturbed, for a really long time. My mom decided a little while ago that it was time to finally do something with them, so we found some photo albums and bought them inexpensively... and now are getting out the old pictures to finally sort and put them into books for easy viewing. :)

And wow... the memories that are surfacing! Even ones I'd forgotten about. And some of the photos I had never seen. How precious they are. Maybe I'll post some photographs of the photos on here sometime... I refrained from taking a picture of all the pictures spread out on that worktable in the living room, for I confess - we've made a royal mess! :D

It's incredible seeing what I looked like at five months old. And five years old. So cute! (What happened? Ha-ha-ha...) My brothers were such chubby little grinning munchkins! I wish I had those years back so I could give them another hug while they were still so small and adorable. Not that they're not adorable now, but they're just BIG and adorable... which isn't the same, somehow! :D It makes me wish I had been a better big sister.

It's also amazing seeing the clothing styles back then, even for kids' clothes. Especially if you're looking at pictures over 15 years old. It's so strange to see how much it's changed since then. I imagine one day that my children will look back at the pictures of me when I was a little girl and think it looks funny too... after all, it will have been a generation ago.

Also - I have promised myself to buy three or so video cameras and keep them in various places around my house one day, so that I can capture ALL of the cute moments with my children in the future. :D And take lots of pictures!!! I plan to invest in tons of CDs and/or flash drives to store my millions of digital photos. :D The moments and memories are just so special. :D

That's what I'm thankful for today. The memories. And the future looks even brighter. :D

 Speaking of future... my favorite season is almost gone! Here's a little fall wordart I found somewhere, as a farewell to Autumn... ;)

Can you believe there's a chance we might see SNOW in my yard tomorrow? That's what they say! And it feels like it outside too... there's a certain raw coldness in the air that feels like snow could happen. Shocking, really! ;) We'll see what happens. :D

Have a lovely week!

I'm Thankful for... my Family

Annnnnd welcome to day 3 of the 30 Days of Thankfulness Challenge! :) Visit HERE to see the other posts for today. ;)

Don't know how I put this one off for so long, because one of the things I am MOST thankful for in my life is......... my wonderful family.

Dad, Mama, Mark, and Steven. (I was taking the picture) :D

I just love our family. We all mesh together like a perfect puzzle with all the pieces. All of us are so different, but our personalities and special gifts and traits all complement each other beautifully.

Daddy is creative, gentle, and wise.
Mama is smart, visionary, and so amazingly supportive of us all!
Mark is analytical, clever, and honest.
Steven is so tuned in to God, sweet, and strong.
I am creative like daddy, have ideas like Mama, and am working on being the best big sister that I can. :D

("Big" being a relative term, of course...) Mark and Steven tower over me now... and this picture is almost a year old. They've grown since then. :D Not only are they great brothers, they're a pretty awesome pair of bodyguards too.... :D

I love my family, and I thank God for each one of them. :)

I've never been so scared by a trash can in my entire life

I should have been folding laundry, but I took a break in between two baskets to check my email. I was staring glumly at the "0 Unread Emails" statement when I heard a slight rustling sound, almost like a small insect moving about. I looked under my desk, from where the sound seemed to be proceeding from, but could see nothing out of the ordinary.

I clicked on my blog and amused myself by snooping on the Live Traffic Feed on the sidebar, seeing who was visiting (and not bothering to comment! Shame on ya'll!) and who had come from where (As an aside, will the person from Mankato, Minnesota who visits me every day introduce themselves? I would love to meet you!) ;)

WHEN SUDDENLY.....

I heard more rustling. And as ducked down from my position in the computer chair and looked underneath my desk, something MOVED in the little wastebasket and looked like it was crawling out of the can! As my heart ceased beating in my chest, the laptop cord fell out of the trashcan with a loud THUMP on the floor, startling me nearly out of my senses! I gasped in fright and shrieked at the same time. (If such an action is possible).

Yeah. I literally took a picture so you could see what I was talking about. ;)

(The laptop cord is connected to the laptop on top of the desk, and plugs into the wall. It happened to be resting on top of a plastic grocery bag that was smushed inside the trashcan)

I can hardly describe the totally crazy adrenaline rush and overpowering fright that washed over me even as I realized in that exact instant that there was nothing to be afraid of. (!!!!) What made everything worse was the fact that my brother Mark was reading his History in the soft armchair across the room and he instantly looked up to see what was the matter and witnessed the whole thing. I gasped "Oh my goodness!" and all at once I saw the humor in the situation and I started laughing so hard tears came to my eyes!

{In my own defense, we get lots of scorpions and other critters in our log home in the woods, so it's not uncommon to see unusual bugs in unusual places now and then, so my high alert was completely understandable.}

I was so freaked out by the cord falling out of the trashcan that when I started to stand up my legs buckled underneath me and I sat down on the floor. Lol! I couldn't believe how scared I was. I think most of it had to do that I was leaning down in an awkward, undefensible position and the can was only a few inches from my nose when it happened.

I'm not sure why I decided to share this story with you - it was certainly hilarious but you sort of 'had to have been there', if you know what I mean. ;)

Anyway, I hope it tickled your funnybone in some way (laughter doeth good like a medicine!).

The SOS outfit for day 5 will be posted sometime this evening, so come on back for that! :)

UFO- Ultimate Frisbee Obsession

Last Friday, we drove an hour away to the Frisbee field, where we had a most stirring game of Ultimate Frisbee. The temperature was a balmy 90-something degrees and the air was so humid that it felt pleasantly like thick pea soup against your skin. (:P) The sun gently toasted our faces and made us radiate the heat back in return. By the end of the game all our T-shirts had gone a shade darker with perspiration.

But it was so worth it.

Ultimate Frisbee? Bring it on! :D

A view of the frisbee players walking back after a point had been scored. If you know me you can probably spot me in this picture.

The opposing team waiting for the throw-off to start the next point. Boy, there were some really awesome players there this week! Look at all the tall, lean guys.

A leaping catch by 'Frisbeeman'. See the little guy in red on the right? He was awesome - he caught like 4 or 5 points!

V. leaning into his throw, and making sure he gets it off before Sky can get in his way. (There's my brother Steven in the background. )

The frisbee flying down into the end zone with little D. in hot pursuit!

The frisbee zooming towards the knot of players in the end zone again. (Note the water bottles near the orange cone marking the corner of the end zone... a very necessary part of Ultimate Frisbee in the summer)

Everyone relaxed but alert, waiting for the girl in yellow to throw a pass. (I'm in this picture too. Hint- I'm wearing pink) The tall guy in cutoffs in the middle of the shot is my brother Mark.

B. making a catch just before M. can jump in to block her.

Best shot of the game - Frisbeeman himself about to throw with Mr. T ready to block him if he can. Look how excited all the players in the background are... ;)

End zone - Lil' D. is reaching up to catch but I think the man behind him blocked this one.

Me getting ready to throw behind the zealous attempts of Sici to block the pass...

Oooh, I wish this pic could have been a few seconds earlier. M. and Frisbeeman went up for the frisbee in the end zone but M. yanked it into his grasp before Frisbeeman could get to it... here they are coming down.

A cool (If slightly blurry) shot of one of the girls about to catch the frisbee.

Mr. H. about to catch the frisbee. Sky is trying to thwart it but Mr. H. got in front and made this one, despite his broken hand!

Uhh - not sure exactly what's going on here, for the frisbee is almost certainly behind someone, but it must be exciting 'cause I'm running. So glad I put my hair in a bun for this game... it was hot enough already without wearing what feels like a long fur scarf down your back! ;)

Here's Steven getting ready to throw off a long bomb.

Arrrgh! I could have maybe made this catch IF I had dived for it, but I've never done that before, and wasn't confident enough about it to attempt it in the split-second I had to make the decision. Plus I sorta didn't feel like getting grass stains all over my Guy Harvey T-shirt. ;) Sky (on my right) almost had it but the frisbee ended up landing smack dab between us. Rats. :P

I guess you could say I both won and lost... for the first 1/3 of the game or so I was on the team that ended up losing, and then I got traded to what ended up being the winning team for the last 2/3rds. :) My brothers were each on one of the teams, so at least I got to play with both of them. :D I love playing Ultimate Frisbee, regardless of the outcome - but it's fun when you have a hand in the win. :D

If you live in Georgia and like to play Ultimate Frisbee, you should hop on over to Frisbeeman's blog and read about the games that go on almost every Friday.

Have a wonderful week!