Quilting Dreams

It's been 3 weeks without any quilting and well, I'm starting to get antsy.  I started dreaming about what quilt I wanted to make for the bed that's in Emma's future room.  This is how I knew it was time to at least plan my next quilting venture.  It may take me twice as long to get anything done now, but we'll give it a try and see how it goes.

I've decided to go with the Ohio Star.  I thought it fitting since I now live in this great state.  I got the idea from an awesome book I borrowed from my mother-in-law.  It's called The Quilter's Block Bible by Celia Eddy.

I'm not a huge fan of the colors they use, but mine's not going to look anything like this anyway, because the room is lady bug themed and I think I'm going to set my blocks on point with sashing.  I'm getting excited already!  Next step- I need to find some fabric!! :)

Garden: Phase II

Call me silly, but I'm seriously excited about my two new fruit trees.  My dad planted semi-dwarf peach trees in our side yard.  In case you're curious (and even if you're not)- this kind of peach tree cross-pollinates itself and bares fruit a lot quicker than your normal peach tree.  In fact, these trees are a little bigger, so we may have peaches as early as next summer.  Wahoo!

Meanwhile, we planted zucchini and 3 different types of tomatoes.  We need to get some more top soil and wait for it to dry out a little bit more around here, and then we'll finish off our little garden with some herbs (basil, cilantro & oregano), potatoes and green beans.  We'll see how things turn out the first try.  The first year is always a little iffy with a garden.

Humble Beginnings

Today my dad helped us start a little 6 x 6 garden.

 We took the grass sod and transferred it to the front yard where there was nothing but sad little patches of quasi-grass growing.

When we dug it up it became apparent the reason for the sadness was because grass seed had just been thrown over cement and rocks.

Here are the after pictures of the front yard (we also did a bunch of patch work to help the rest of the lawn).  The lawn should be looking fabulous in about 2 weeks.

 (a little Miracle Gro and Patchmaster to help it out)

Here's our cute little garden patch ready to plant.....

We even have a fence to keep out the rabbits (and a certain little toddler that I love).

Over seven hours working in the yard and not a single contraction.  What's a girl got to do around here to get a contraction?  Oh well, I'm being induced first thing in the morning, so I suppose I can wait until then.

Taco Time

A fun thing about Columbus- All over the city there are Taco Trucks.  It's about the most authentic Mexican food you're going to get in the Midwest.  There's even a website that gives you information about all of them and ranks them.  They are open year round- no matter the weather- all day long.  There's even a direct TV satellite connected to this one. (It makes me smile).  Last night was my first experience- this is the truck we went to that's close to our home.
Joel's favorite food is Mexican, so he was very happy with his Chorizo and Huevo (egg) tacos.  I liked the Tacos al Pastor (pork).  If you're in Columbus and want cheap, authentic Mexican then stop at one of the trucks (eh, I'd double check to make sure that particular truck is alright beforehand, but you get what I'm saying).  It's pretty fun.

Vintage Joy

I'm related to some pretty talented people.  This would include my awesome cousin.  She makes all kinds of adorable things.  She made this little skirt for Emma and a matching bow tie for Nathan.  Super cute, huh!  Check out her blog Little Cumulus and if your looking for some vintage love of your own she's got a sweet Etsy shop at The Modern Marigold.  She even does custom orders. 
Thanks, Amanda!

Deep in the Heart of the Ozarks

We just got a bunch of film digitized, and there are a lot of really fun pictures in there.  I'll probably be sharing a lot of these in the near future, but the ones I wanted to show you today are from when my family lived on a farm out in the middle of no where Missouri.  It was just Adam and I back then- I'm guessing 1981/82.  They're pretty fun.  Look how young my mom looks. :)

In the Nick of Time

Phew.  The last thing I wanted to accomplish before the little tyke came along is now complete.  I can mail off Britty's quilt and enjoy the few remaining days.

I have been officially scheduled for a blood platelet transfusion early next week.  It's a 2 day process (Monday and Tuesday) and then I will be induced shortly afterward.  The exact scheduling of the induction will most likely occur tomorrow at my last OB appointment.  Wish me luck.

Pox and More

I was talking to my mom last night about how both my boys are sick right now, so Joel would have to wear a mask in the delivery room, and we were reminded of my mom's worst delivery experience because of all of us being sick.  I'm the oldest of 5 and when my mom had Daniel (the youngest) all four of us had the chicken pox.

My youngest sister Christina had it the worst.  She was 2 1/2 years old and had them all in her diaper.  She cried when my mom left to deliver Daniel.  Of course my mom felt terrible, like she was abandoning her.  It was a Sunday, and my mom's friend Leona Cook came over to watch us while she was in the hospital.  My dad had a brand new job, so he couldn't take any personal leave, so he had to just drop my mom off with the new baby with 4 kids sick with the chicken pox at home.  He would come back on his lunch breaks to try to help, but it was pretty bad.  Technically, none of us were supposed to go near my mom or the baby, but we lived in this tiny apartment in Student Housing at Penn State-Harrisburg (the apartments have since been condemned and abolished for asbestos).  It was absolutely miserable.  My Grandma couldn't fly out until a week later- my poor mom.  I think it made the decision of no more children a lot easier after that experience. 

PS- To this day Daniel has never had Chicken Pox.

Triple Irish Chain

I'm so excited that I got the quilt top done and even got it layered.  Joel's working in the Emergency Room this month and has had some crazy night shifts, so I've been able to work on this after putting Nathan to bed.  There may even be some hope of getting this done before the baby comes.  We'll see.

Resolution Revamp

Back in January Joel and I came up with our 2011 Resolutions, and believe it or not, we're already a quarter the way through the year. 

(Picture of President Thomas S. Monson taken from ldsmediatalk.com)

Twice a year my church holds a world-wide conference via satellite, tv, radio and internet where the Prophet, his 12 apostles and other general authorities speak to us.  They are always my two favorite weekends of the year, because I always walk away inspired, wanting to improve my life.  So, it was a happy coincidence that our quarterly review of our goals occurred on the same weekend as General Conference.

I think posting our goals up on our bathroom mirror did wonders because this is the first time I've actually been doing a good job with my New Year's resolutions.  There was one category that Joel and I both need to work on, but for the most part I'm really happy with our progress.  How are your resolutions going?  Do you still remember them? :)

Organization Complete...For This Project Anyway

I realize that I'm the only one that cares, but I'm thrilled that I completely organized all of my choral music.  This project has been hanging over my head for a couple of years now, so it's nice to have the database done.  I finally went with filing by voice part, genre and then song title (alphabetically).  It's funny that it doesn't look like that much once it's all been nicely organized.

Now all I have to do is get some shelving for these guys and I can cross off another long-term project that I have put off long-term. :)