A Newsy Little Post #5

Yesterday we had our Realtor over, and she got us all signed up ...and now our house is officially "on the market". We all thought the meeting went very well. To quote Mom- "I forgot how easy she is to work with!" :) We love our realtor. Something she told us had us all trying not to be very excited... She has some people who like log homes and want to live right around this area that are coming by to look at our house on Saturday! (that's tomorrow!) :) We will be praying very hard while we are out of the house letting them tour it. :)

This evening we are going over to a friend's house to celebrate one of their sons' 16th birthday with a bonfire and a cook-out... It's supposed to be in the chilly low 40's, so we are planning on bundling up! :) I'm sure we will have a lot of fun - we always enjoy getting together with this family.

Our mission for today and tomorrow morning is "Keep the house clean!" :D ...And dust a few areas that need to be freshened up, as they were dusted last week and are now ready for another go-round. :) I think the kitchen and dining room are also due for a good sweeping and mopping. :) Those places tend to get messy faster, because we eat all our meals at home.

Daddy has been reading to us every evening out of the book of John, and we are all enjoying the discussions we have afterwards concerning what was in that evening's passage. Last night we read about Jesus's first miracle when he turned the water into wine at a wedding. I was fascinated to learn that the amount of wine that he made from the water totaled nearly a ton! I somehow hadn't envisioned that it was such a huge miracle. :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Yes, We are Moving

The time has come for us to leave our rurally located, rustic, charming log home, and venture north one hour to the area in which my dad works. We will be living closer to two larger cities, both of which are beautiful, and have lovely stores, and there will me many more opportunities for my two brothers and I... I to sell my jewelry in the shops, and my brothers to maybe start a business of their own. Mama is also planning on starting a Music Studio and teaching voice lessons, and I will be brushing up my piano skills and teaching beginner piano lessons. :)

I am feeling lots of emotions about the move, the top ones being excitement, interest, a small regret that we must leave our gorgeous God-given house, expectancy, and a feeling of uncertainty. We don't have a house picked out yet... or at least 'officially' picked out yet... we have seen quite a few lovely homes in the area that would be best for my dad to drive to work from, and there is one in particular that has a creek in the yard with a quaint little bridge over it that my brothers and I are especially fond of... so we shall see what comes of that. :D

Once we move, I am sure Daddy will enjoy not having to commute 2 hours (1 there, 1 back) every day except Saturday... we also attend a sweet homechurch group that mostly meets up in Peachtree City, and when we move we will be able to get together with some of the families and do activities together on weekdays, not just when we're up there for church on Sunday.

We have been pondering this move for about a year, so I've had some time to get used to the idea, and I am very excited to see what chapter I'm about to journey through in this new season of life and what my Lord has in store for my family and I... I have a feeling he has something special and wonderful waiting for us.

So far, we have had two unofficial 'showings' of our house that had us working like busy beavers to make sure everything was in "apple-pie order"... and since we are planning on listing it on the market later this week, I am sure we will be kept on our toes working to keep everything nice and tidy in case somebody surprises us with a sudden request to see the house. :) We have a wonderful realtor though, and I am confident that she will do her best for us. She helped us buy this home four years ago and bent over backwards to do everything she could for us! I have absolute confidence that she will do just as good a job this time as she did then. :)

My family and I would appreciate your prayers for us in this time of change. Thank you! :)

Hugs,

(New signature! :D)

Time just slips away...

Get ready for one of those "random musings and ramblings" posts! :)



Doesn't it seem like time just flies these days? Maybe it's just me. However... I logged on to check my email, planning to spend no more than 5 minutes at the computer, and the next minute I found myself blog-hopping and reading a bunch of random photography blogs and looking at all the amazing pictures, and the sweet weddings... ahhh... ♥♥♥....

And then, I looked up at the clock... and it had been an HOUR since I sat down at the computer. It reminded me of a video over at the rebelution that I saw the other day. Something about "hold that thought, God, while I check my email". :)


I have been convicted lately that I need to spend more time doing the important things that my family needs me to do... like helping my mother around the house, doing things without being asked, and being a sweet and gentle influence in our home.

Now all that remains is for me to put this wonderful theory into practice...

Would you, reading this right now, please send up a quick little ten-second prayer that I could succeed in this mission I am attempting? I would very much appreciate it. :) Thank you.

How about you? Do you feel that you spend your time in worthwhile endeavors most of the time? I don't know if I do. What are some big time-wasters for you? For me it's probably the internet, (email/blogging) reading stories for fun, and crocheting. :) Those are good things by themselves, but too much of them isn't a good way for me to be spending all my time.

Anyway, just thought I'd jot that down while I was thinking about it...

Oh, and there is some very interesting news over on my mom's blog. Just in case you want to read it. :)

Have a wonderful, productive, efficient day!

I Finished My Afghan...*dances*

I do apologize for the lateness of this post. My family and I have been up to lots of things lately...

But, anyway, here are some pictures of my finished afghan!

I absolutely l♥ve it!

I finished it on Saturday evening at 9:30 pm, so it was ready for homechurch the next morning! :) I was very pleased to have completed it and reached my goal to have it done. :) And, I must confess, I am delighted with how it turned out. It's bright, colorful, crazy, and for me, distractingly pretty. :) The next afghan I crochet (not doing that for a while!) ...will have a pattern, and will not be so 'sampler'-style... but I like how this one came out. :)

The Next Sherwood Pictures Movie is...

Well, we don't know yet! The producers haven't released the name or story line yet.... but there are rumors that they will announce this info on November 15th, 2009. I am very excited and can't wait to see what it is about! :)

By the way, Which did you like best...

Flywheel,
Facing the Giants, or
Fireproof?

Drop me a comment and let me know! :)

Collecting my Thoughts...

Well, I am attempting to collect my thoughts and grab ahold of my days, though they still seem a little frenzied now and then...

Today was absolutely beautiful... the sun was shining, the air was clear, the birds were singing outside my bedroom window, and life was good!

My mother and I went over to a lovely friend's house for lunch and she showed me how to cook "Fritatta" (Sp?) and it was delicious! For those who aren't sure what a Fritatta is, (I wasn't until I saw it made) It's kind of like Quiche, but without a crust. Fritatta is made with eggs, and then whatever you want to throw in them, cooked in a pan until they're like a thick, fluffy egg pie. Delicious! Ours was made with tomatoes, romaine lettuce (did you know you can cook it? It's very good!) cheddar cheese, parsley, thyme, and parmesan cheese. Mmmmmmmm. :) Wish I had a picture to show you... but I didn't have my camera!

Well, the other day we talked about me getting my driver's license finally (After having had about 3 years of learner's permit... yeah....) I kind of felt like this little guy:
But I'm sure I'll get over that feeling. :D

And I know ya'll are very curious about what I am making with my crochet blocks....

But... ahem, *cough* I just realized I didn't download pictures of it yet... *blush* so you'll have to wait to see what it looks like, but I will tell you.

I'm making an Afghan! (blanket, but the proper name is afghan) When it is completed, it will fit my Queen-size bed. :) I am very very close to being all done. I can hardly wait!

In fact, I think I'll go work on it right now. Ta-ta! :)

Swirly, Whirly, Busy Days...

Well, my life has been a whirl of activity over the last week and this weekend... we had a wonderful time visiting Homechurch yesterday after not having gone for a few weeks due to sickness... it was so nice to see all the familiar faces again. Our homechurch seems to have grown closer and deeper and I am so excited to see how the Lord is working through all of us. :)

.:.:.:.:.

The SBD (South Beach Diet) is going splendidly - Mama and I made tacos for dinner tonight and she and I had ours 'taco salad'-style without chips. I put a smidgen too much *hotsy-totsy* sauce on mine and consequently felt somewhat akin to a fire-breathing dragon, but it was very tasty nonetheless! :)

And...... for the past week I have been up to something very special, colorful, and involving...

Crochet blocks.

And that's all the hint you get, until further notice. Any guesses? :)

Love & Hugs!

A Late Update (hey, that rhymes) :)

Hi all!
To get directly to the point, Mama and Daddy and I are doing well on our South Beach Diet. Daddy has moved into phase 2 a little early, because he felt sick this morning (please pray that he feels better) and Mama and I think he needs some extra nutrition to get well. Besides, he works hard and burns much more calories than us ladies do. :)

We have all lost weight... Daddy has lost a couple pounds, Mama has lost several pounds, and I am down from 160 to 156.8. :D Now before you gasp, let me remind you that I'm quite tall ( 5'9"... ) AND Dutch. :D So.... I'm built strong, (am strong) and not twiggy, but I do not look heavy at all. :) Thank goodness. :) However, 156 feels way better than 160! :) I am hoping to get into the 140's.

Mama looks much slimmer! :) I will have to get her to post a picture of herself on her blog so you can see what she looks like now... and I may even dare to post one of myself here in a few days... :D


I AM missing my desserts.

... and fruits.

But overall - I am not feeling desperately hungry, quite comfortable, actually... and this diet has been fun and interesting so far. :) We'll see what happens in the next few days...

Oh, and for those of you who are keeping tabs, you will notice there are much more things in my Etsy Shop! No doughnuts yet though... I want to take some more 'artsy' photos of each individual doughnut with a matching background and props, for the main listing pictures. But those will be forthcoming soon! :)

Thank you for all your lovely comments! I am delighted with the new readers I've had! Welcome, Ya'll! :D I am planning on coming over to visit your blogs soon! :)

What Ho! Home from the Show.

We're home from the show! Actually, it was done on Saturday, but it took me a while to get around to posting about it. We were very tired afterwards.
Mama and I did rather well, getting about 1/5 the profit we made at the GHEA homeschool convention in May... but then our town is a small town and we had much less people stop by than at the convention.

Here are all the new doughnuts I crocheted for the Fall Fest...


Aren't they neat? I just love them. Unfortunately, not one sold! I was rather disappointed, but now this means you have a chance to purchase them from my Etsy Shop! (give me a few weeks to get them on there...)
Here's our little booth... my jewelry table is the one with the pink tablecloth and Mama's 'craft' table is the one with the cute little autumn ribbon running around the top edge.

This is the garland we made to hang around our booth... we took square fabric 'charms', folded them in half to make triangles, and sewed them all together in a straight line! :) I thought it was quite adorable. :)

I had lots of jewelry for sale...

...mostly earrings and necklace & earring sets, with a few bracelets...

And some stunning beaded watches that I designed and Mama put together. (Will have better pics soon!)

Here is Mama's table. She was selling all-natural heating bags, crocheted hotpads/potholders, homemade peach jam, and gift baskets with two jars of jam and two potholders inside.

We were giving away free samples of the jam on wheat thins... I think that helped sell it! :) Once people tasted it, they wanted to buy some.

We also had the doughnuts on a dessert stand on Mama's table. So many people stopped and picked them up and exclaimed "how cute!"... yet I didn't sell any! :( sigh.... (let it go, Julia....) :D

Now, for some breaking news from Julia's Family...

Yesterday, Daddy, Mama, and I started the South Beach Diet! :) I never thought I would try something like this, with rules and a menu plan... but we found the book at a yard sale for only $1.00, so... we thought we'd give it a try! :) I'm excited about it, yet also a little sad because for the first 2 weeks, we won't be eating sugar, fruit, bread, rice, pasta, or carbs, and no dairy except low-fat cheese. However, there are lots of tasty things we can eat, like my mom's homemade chili, black-bean soup, and crockpot chicken, and I'm SO thankful that I can still have all the dill pickles I want. Whew! Those would have been very hard for me to give up.

I will try and keep you updated with our progress! :)

Love & Hugs,

Can it really be October already?

But it must be, for there is a new crispness in the air, and the leaves outside my log home on a woodsy hill somewhere in Georgia are faintly tinged with the promise of vibrant color to come. ;)

You know it's Autumn when I wax eloquent. :D

I've enjoyed a mini-bloggy-break, after my prolific posting of September, but I couldn't leave my dear blog alone for long! :D

I've been kept extremely busy creating lots of unique and intrisically beautiful objects, such as crocheted doughnuts, necklaces in all the popular shades of this season, (hint: Plum and Magenta) earrings, and even a bracelet or two. Also been helping my dear mother make hot packs filled with corn - you know, the ones you stick in the microwave for a few minutes, and then cuddle up with under the covers on a chilly night. :)

The reason for all this productivity?

On October 10th, (Next Saturday!) I will be running a booth in a nearby small town for the "Fall Fest" it's hosting, selling all the delightful aforementioned things! :D If you have a suspicion that you live close by me and would like to come, feel free to leave me a comment with your email (it won't be published) and I will be happy to email you the particulars. :D

Pictures will be forthcoming of some of my projects, if anyone would like to see what I've been working on. :) Don't expect them right away, however, because I really am quite busy! ;)

And the winner of the jewelry giveaway is...

#7, Morgan! I randomly generated that number using Random.org.

Here's her comment:

Morgan said...

Hello Julia!

I just wanted to say that I love your blog! I'm homeschooled right now (I'm a junior). You are a great writer, and I'm now following your blog.
And...while I'm at it, I'll enter your contest.

I like purple.
I have pierced ears.
I much prefer silver.
I like simple - long or small/short. Doesn't matter!
And I'm linking to your blog on my blog!

Congratulations, Morgan! :) Please leave me a comment with your address, and I will send you your custom-designed earrings! :) Bonus points for you if you post about it when you get them - lol! :D

Many blessings,