Praying for Spring

It may be hard to spot this camouflaged Praying Mantis.  He was one of many that I had camp out in the Lantana last summer.  They preyed on beautiful butterflies and honey bees all summer.  It is amazing to watch them as they stalk and ambush their prey.   It is hard to try to maintain a butterfly garden when you have a good crop of mantis.  It is all part of the circle of life I guess.  

I was going through some pictures trying to decide what to blog about and ran across summer garden pictures.  Oh how I long for summer.  I can hardly wait for spring to come and for the days to get longer.  I can't wait to start our garden and harvesting all of its goodness.   I know we have to have the seasons and winter is important, it just seems to last so long - longer than spring and summer anyway. 

It has been a busy and long week for me.  I am bombarded at work and have had a lot of after work activities to tend to, sweet Grand Baby being one. Yes, she is still wonderful.  I am hoping work will settle down over the next few weeks and I can have a little more time at home at night.  I have to get busy on my Spring Swap crafting. 

I hope you enjoy your weekend.  Do something fun!

Rare Snow at the Beach

Shrimp boats covered with snow.

Live Oak trees snow bound.

Harkers Island Bridge

Beautiful snow covered marsh.

This is a rare sight.  So rare that I am sure thousands of pictures have been taken.  These pictures are from a friend at Harkers Island, NC.  This is a small island on the far eastern part of the state.  It is a beautiful place. 

We had another snowstorm last weekend in NC.  I didn't tell you about it because of all of the Grand Baby excitement.  Here at home we got about 3 inches of nothing but snow (no ice).  It was one of those fat fluffy snows that is so pretty coming down and doesn't mess up our roads.  Down at Harkers Island they saw about 6 to 8 inches.  They haven't seen snow like that in almost 20 years.  I think it is beautiful.  I wish we could have been down there to experience it.  I can't wait to get down there this spring and talk to the locals about it.  I am sure they have some great stories to tell.

Grand Baby Update - she is wonderful and sweet.  Mommy, Daddy and baby are all well and adjusting to their new exciting life.  I am so proud of them.  They are working hard and doing great. 

Enjoy your Sunday and keep in touch.

The Sweetest Valentine

This has to be the sweetest Valentine ever.  Grand Baby arrived late afternoon on Valentine's Day.  She is wonderfully perfect and just unbelievable.  She has the sweetest face and is just so peaceful and content.  I am overwhelmed by her. 

You truly cannot imagine how it feels to be a grandparent until it actually happens.  There are no words to describe it.  How can someone so small and helpless fill us with so much love?  How can someone that tiny hold the whole world in her hands?  How can she ever know how much she means to us?   Just writing about her makes me cry.  I am so overcome with emotion when I pray for her it is unbelievable.  I am so consumed by her tiny little presence that it is mind-boggling.  There truly is a love that grandparents have for their grandchildren that is so different it cannot be explained only experienced.  I wish I had the words but I don't.  All I can say is I love her.  I thank God she is here safe and sound and healthy. 

I can't wait until she is home and I can really start to spoil her.  I've worked hard at it since she arrived but there is so much more to do. 

I am sorry if you are get bored reading about Grand Baby, but you probably will see more about her over the days to come.  I will try hard not to be a sappy granny but try to keep it real - as real as a granny can.

Hope you had a sweet Valentine's Day. 

Being a Brewer's Wife

When you're the wife of a homebrewer, you can come home to some odd sites sometimes.  A few weeks back I found this on the kitchen counter.

I found this on the stove.

Hubby decided he needed an additional bottling bucket. So he went to the hardware store, bought a bucket and had to make some alterations to add the spout.

It works great!

As you can tell by the pictures, the brew stuff is pretty much all over the kitchen. It tends to spread out and the process goes along.

View of the kitchen table.

This is Hubby's first go at an Irish Red and it is his very own recipe.  It has been conditioning for a few weeks and is ready to be sampled tonight.  I'm sure we will give it a try.  

Hope you enjoy your Friday night!

Shower Surprises

Can you believe this beautiful baby quilt a very dear friend made for Grand Baby?!  She invested so much time and care in making it.  Big Girl was so surprised and absolutely loves it!  This is one of those baby gifts that almost makes you cry.  It is just so sweet and thoughtful.  I love the colors and design.  It is an absolute treasure. 

I finished the brown sweater in time for the shower.  In fact I got up extra early on Sunday morning to be sure it was ready and wrapped before going to church that morning.  It turned out pretty nice.  I had a tough time with it Saturday and had to pull some of it out (several times) and try again.  I don't know why I had such a hard time.  Maybe the pressure I put on myself caused me to panic a little bit.  There are a couple of stitch flaws and of course when I look at it that is all I see.  No one else seemed to notice.  I don't know if they were being kind or really couldn't see my mistakes.  It doesn't really matter anyway because Big Girl was very appreciative of it. Below is a picture of the full sweater. 

So far it has been a busy week.  I am thinking about what I will make for the Dutch Sisters swap.  I have lots of things running around in my head.  It will be so much fun.

Hope your week has started out well.  Keep in touch!

Gingerbread House versus The Vans

Thank goodness they're here!  The Vans finally arrived.  We have been trying to order these shoes since Christmas and have had numerous issues with our order.  We finally had to go directly to Vans and placed the order a week or so ago.  They arrived yesterday and Little Girl is soooo happy.  They really are cute, purple and pewter checked with mismatched laces.

 

So I know you're asking, what the heck do these shoes have to do with a gingerbread house?  Well this is the story. 

 

We traditionally put together a gingerbread house (from a kit) each year a week or so before Christmas.  Each year it is a challenge and we laugh because it can be more frustrating than enjoyable.  But it is one of our traditions.

 

After all we had been through ordering these shoes, the orders being cancelled electronically, problems with the gift card, etc., Little Girl declared that Christmas would not be over until she got her shoes.  Well to her dismay, I got up early one morning and cleaned up from the holidays.  When she woke up (that afternoon) she was very upset because Christmas was done.  The tree was put away along with all other traces of the holiday, except the gingerbread house.  I left it for her to dispose of in the woods behind the house for the critters to enjoy.   Little Girl then made a new declaration, that the gingerbread house would stay until her Vans arrived.  We have abided by this decree.

 

We have had a gingerbread house sitting on our kitchen table since sometime mid December.  We have had to explain to visitors why we still have it.  It is all but petrified now.  Little Girl will take it to the woods today and maybe some beavers will come up from the pond to chew on it a while.  I think they would be the only critters with strong enough teeth to manage it at this point.  

 

So that is the story of the gingerbread house versus the Vans.  I will be glad to see the house leave, even though it has been fun to hang on to a little bit of Christmas this late.

 

Hope you have a great Saturday.  We will be attending baby showers this weekend for Big Girl.  The time is getting closer for Grand Baby to come.  I can hardly wait!

Striped Bag......again?

Please ignore the homebrew bucket

and other beer making supplies sitting on the table.

(That is for another post.) 

Okay, so I will get over myself about the striped bag after this post, I promise.  I am just so pleased with it.  My sister-in-law got her package today and was tickled.  She went on and on about it and made me feel like the best sis-in-law ever.  She also made me believe I was an awesome craft person.  She was so surprised and thrilled to finally have something made from her yarn.  

So before I put it in the mail to her I took a couple more pictures of it.  I wanted to see what it looked like stuffed and sitting upright (pictured above).   I rolled a beach towel to put in it and pretended I was going out on the boat, just to see how it would do.  It worked great!  After all, it's just a bag. ;-)  I also wanted to have a picture of the drawstring slide that I made from plastic canvas.  I thought it turned out pretty good, especially for a first try.   Here is what it looks like up close -

Pretty darn good if you ask me.  So there.  I'm over myself and the striped bag.

Life is good!
And so is the striped bag!

Another Snow Day

Wow!  Another snow day tomorrow - school is out again.  I did venture in to work today.  Once I made it to the main highway I was okay.  The trick was making it to the main highway.  I went in late so I had very little problem.  I will probably go in late again tomorrow.  I will wait for daylight before I leave the house.  I feel better when I can actually see things!

I got my swap partner assignment today from the Dutch Sisters.  I am crazy excited.  I am a little nervous about what I will make and may change my mind before it gets too late.  What ever it will be will definitely have to wait to be started after the brown sweater is done.  (I am feeling some pressure, as I want the brown sweater finished for a baby shower on Sunday.)  I am bad about changing my mind anyway.  So a little more time to think about my swap goodie may be a good thing.

I hope you are having a good week and are smiling.

Snow Day

Beautiful snow early in the morning.  So peaceful.

Partying snowman with wine bottle arms 

says, "Whoop Whoop!"

 Bird tracking through the snow.

  

Snowy Lavender

Chilly Habaneros

Frozen Monkey Grass

  

Big fat kitty leaves tracks in the snow

as she quickly makes her way back to the house.

  

 Gloves drying in the sun after a long wet day.

 Enjoying a day off of work and school.  Lots of knitting to get done and cartoons to watch.  Hope you are enjoying your day no matter the weather.