Nothing New

Well, nothing to exciting has happened since I last posted. I officially resigned as church secretary just before Thanksgiving so that I could focus on my school work and actually finish my projects for my show. I went home for Thanksgiving, things there were fairly typical for my family.

While I was there my brother Todd was kind enough to let me invade a space in his heated shop to refinish an antique wash stand that had sat in my parents basement ever since I can remember. I stripped off the extremely dark finish and re-stained it with a lighter more natural color. In the process Todd told me it's actually made of oak and pine. I said, "Well, I wondered why part of it had this nice grain to it and the other part didn't!" Regardless of the differing woods the piece is much prettier now. I just need to polyurethane it again.

Since I got back to Manhattan I've been living in the metals studio trying to finish a couple of pieces that I desperately want in my show. Although, I did spend 3.5 hours down in blacksmithing last night. My final project in that class is a small table (about the size of an end table). I think I finished the first step, but I have to talk to my teacher. He's saying to do one thing and I'm thinking I should do something else.

Well, that's pretty much it. My show is December 15th - 19th. I'll have much more time to post pictures of my pieces and projects then.

Costumes

So I realized about a week ago that I completely forgot to post about the Centennial Celebrations we had at church on October 5th. Everyone was asked to dress up like it was 1908. Seeing this as a great sewing challenge I took on the task on making my costume. Skirt, top, and jacket! I had so much fun! The last time I made clothing it was all for Mike and Lindsey, but this time it was for me.

Miss Lindsey and Miss Cherry pose for a picture as they await the festivities.
Gossiping, I mean chatting, with the gals!
Undertaker Harry and his lovely wife Donna enjoy the fact that there will be no undertaking today.
Everyone who dressed up posed for this picture. No one is smiling because no one ever smiled for pictures back in the day.
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Last night of course was Halloween! The church put on a Fall Festival and once again we were asked to dress up in non scary costumes. I once again took on the challenge of making my own gypsy costume. The skirt, top, sash, hair piece, one of the beaded necklaces, an anklet, and my favorite the hoop style nose ring. (Unfortunately you can't really see it in the picture.)
No shoes, did Gypsy's have shoes? This one didn't!
Well, this being a church function, they wouldn't let me tell fortunes. So I was the face painter. Emily was the first "kid" that I painted. Pastor Linda was the first adult, but as she's the one who took all these pictures I don't have one of me painting her.
I don't know how many faces I painted. Lots! I did two masks (both on adults), a snowflake (on a snow princess), rainbows (on a rainbow princess), pumpkins, spiders, bats, flames, dripping wounds, a power cat, some letters, a leaf, several flowers, heart, and even a couple of butterflies. I did get one request for a squirrel or a duck, but Miss Lindsey (renaissance lady) walked away with a flower instead.
Emily was a big fan! She just kept coming back for more!
Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

Repair Days

Note: This is the last of my catch up posts. It will make better since if you start with the once called SIMS and work your way back up to this one.

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Hooray! Repair Days 2008! Time to travel 11 to 12 hours in a van to volunteer our time, energy, and skills to repair other people's metal items for 2 days, see an exhibition in the "National Ornimental Metal Musium", get an apron, maybe a new catalogue, spend some money, and then drive the 11 to 12 hour back! Hooray! Repair Days 2008!

~~~

Look it's a portable blacksmith shop! Complete with coal forge, vice, anvil, and other various hammers and tongs.

This is a picture of Bonnie taking a picture of the way cool stair case to nowhere. I didn't even notice that Bonnie was in the picture until later.

Spencer is attempting to fix a huge silver plated punch bowl.
Kylee spent a good 30 minutes to an hour filing a piece of brass down to the right size, just to be told to use steel instead. She was trying to fix an old fashioned door bell. This is when Elloitt was teaching Bonnie and I how to lead solder. We had found this mirrored tray with feet. Well the mirror had been replaced and in the process of replacing the mirror they had bent and broken most of the feet.
Since the tray was only silver plated, we had to use lead solder. Lead solder melts at a much lower temperature than silver solder (which is what I'm used to). But lead soldering was super easy to do and it was kinda fun!
There was an auction that Eric and Elloitt both donated pieces too. Eric's "Little Apple Express" went for around $350-$375 somewhere around there. Elloitt's "Copper bowl" went for something like $600. It was really cool. They also had a raffel. I won twice! Got a hand grinder, and a drill set. Good thing Todd gave me a drill for Christmas 2 years ago! We came back Sunday afternoon/night, rolled into town about 11pm. Whew! I need a nap!

Elizabeth Brim

Stories through pictures! This is 1 of the 4 drawer pulls that I made as my first ever blacksmithing project. Unfortunately in this picture the pull isn't actually finished. I just took it home to make sure it would fit. The next day I sand blasted it, put a black patina on it, and put two coats of butcher's wax on it to keep it from rusting. So the finished piece is actually a shiny black color.

John made a snake hook for his first project, and then brought his snake in to show us that it worked. As you can see it does work and Six (the snake) is actually quite fond of it. This is Eric's reaction to Six. Ha Ha he's not to fond of snakes!
This is Elizabeth Brim. She came as our visiting artist for this semester. She makes these amazing pieces out of iron; flowers, high heels, hats, camisoles, tutus, even iron pillows!
Oxi-acetylene welding!
Leaf making demo!
To make the iron pillows she would weld two flat piece of sheet steel together, attach a tube, heat the whole thing up, and then blow compressed air into it. This process it just a little dangerous (ok maybe it's a lot dangerous) because sometimes the weld seam will pop and then it sounds like a bomb goes off and hot steam can come up and burn you. This is what that looks like. Oops! (Ha! I didn't scream, but someone else did!)
This is the blown up piece after we let it cool off.
Then Eric had to inflate a rocket that was going to be his and Elizabeth's auction piece at Repair Days. This one didn't blow up.
This is the "Little Apple Express" all finished. (Eric didn't have a camera so I have lots of pictures of this thing. Need to make him a CD.)

The next morning after Elizabeth's demo we all loaded up and headed to Memphis, TN for Repair Days. That's in the next post.

SIMS, September 26 & 27, 2008

Ok, so this is the first in a series of me catching up. The last weekend in September I went to Carbondale, IL to attend the Southern Illinois Metalsmithing Conference (SIMS). This year they had three blacksmiths.

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This is Michael Bondi, he's holding up a piece on Aluminum that he forged into this sculptural piece. The piece he started out with was about 1 inch round bar stock about 6 inches in length. By the time he was finished it was about 3 feet long! This is just a way awesome picture of the scale flying off a hot piece of iron when the power hammer hits the metal!
This is Ries Niemi. Yes, he is wearing a utility kilt. Eric (my teacher) told me he watched Niemi demo in a tuxedo once. So that should give you a glimpse into this guys character. This is John Medwedeff. Better known as "Duff" his demo was on scroll making, he also gave a talk about his business. He's done several public commissions. The last picture is on one of his pieces. It's a pretty good sized fountain. The picture isn't the best, because it was dark and I didn't have a tripod to set my camera on so it was really hard to get a clear picture.
Anyway, it was a good trip! Had lots of fun, learned lots of cool stuff. Time to do the next catch up post!

It's not snails or slugs this time!

If it's not the snails or the slugs what could it possible be? Okay, this is going to totally gross a couple of you out big time!!! If it's not snails or slugs . . . it's BATS!!!

So I walk out my door this morning after having this dream that my apartment had a mouse infestation and I had called my land lord (in the dream, not for real) and told them that I was getting a cat and that I wouldn't be paying the monthly pet fee, because there were mice and I was going to get the biggest, meanest, mouse killer cat I could find! And when I moved out in 4 months they could deal with the mice that were left however they wanted and all that. So I walk out side (for real now) and there is a mouse curled up in my entry way and my first thought was Oh no! It wasn't a dream! but upon closer evaluation I realized the "mouse" had wings. So I pray, Dear God, please either let it be alive and gone by the time I get back, or let it be dead so I can get rid of it with the pliers when I get back.

Well, God answers prayer! Just not how I would have liked. The bat was still alive, but not gone! I know because I poked it with the pliers to see. At this point it looks at me and starts clicking at me and showing me it nasty, pointy, needle sharp teeth. And I can just see it thinking, I'm so gonna bite you if you touch me again! I AM SO GOING TO BITE YOU!!! And not being a huge fan of getting rabies, and thusly rabies shots, I backed off.

Then I remembered that Tammy (sister) and Doug (boyfriend of sister) were coming to the game tonight. So I call Tammy, "Do you think Doug would do me a HUGE favor?" So yeah, Doug came and sorta scooped the bat into a cup and dropped it over by a tree. The tree will be it's final resting place, because it was obviously either sick or hurt, and I am not dragging that thing into the vet med hospital for the vet students in the exotics rotation to look at. (If they really want to see it they can come look at it themselves. It's out under the tree.)

Anyway, while I was waiting for Doug and Tammy to get here I got some pictures!

This is what I saw at first.Then I poked it with the pliers.Then it showed me it's teeth. Click, Click, Click, I'm going to BITE you!!!

The Blemish of Singleness

Hi all,
So the following is an excerpt that I typed up from a Boundless podcast (Boundless is a Focus on the Family thing for 20-somethings). When I listened to it, it struck me how much I could identify with what was being said. So much of the time my married friends just don’t seem to understand how I feel about being single. It feels like they are always down playing it. And while I understand that marriage is hard and frustrating at times, it almost feels as though they are only focusing on the bad.

I hate being single! I hate standing on the side lines watching my friends all move forward with their lives. I hate hearing comments like, “No you don’t want a boyfriend” or “It’s not worth it” whenever I say anything about being alone or wanting someone. And yet, when asked if they would rather be single, the answer is always no.

I realize that what I’ve said and what is below may strike a cord for some of you. My intention isn’t to upset anyone, but just to get my thoughts and feelings out. I realize that I’m not perfect. I know I’ve said, “It’s not worth it.” And really, dating for the sake of dating isn’t worth it. But dating for the sake of marriage is. The thing is I can’t seem to find a guy who’s interested in dating for the sake of marriage. Or at least not one that’s my age.

I’m sure that for the single people out there, you’ll be able to identify. And for the married people I hope you can simply remember what your single days were like.

-Cherry


The Blemish of Singleness
by Patrick Dunn

Remember the shock, the terror and disbelief of your first pimple? You stared, spent hours in front of the mirror. Did almost anything to hide it, the way to much makeup thing, the band aid trick, where you told everyone, “Uh yeah, my dog scratched me,” but you only had goldfish. Or, like the fake beard, “Umm, I’m celebrating Rabbi days aren’t you?” Or if you decided, “Cha whatever, I don’t care.” You know you did. Anytime you looked in the mirror or talked to someone you thought about the pimple.

Well, that’s how being single can feel sometimes. You try to ignore it, cover it up, make excuses, but it’s always there. Lurking! Here’s part of an e-mail from a girl I know, basically she’s venting to her sister and has her top 5 issues about being single, I’ll give you her issues and a few of my own thoughts.

Number 1 from her. Something happened when I turned 23, I ooze singleness. Anyone and everyone is currently trying to set me up with anyone and everyone. “Oh he’s male he’s perfect,” “oh he goes to church he’s perfect.” Well, here’s the thing, when girls are being set up, your friends and family are usually thinking “he would be great for her” or “they would be such a cute couple.” When this starts happening to a guy, its usually because someone feels sorry for you.

Number 2. Creepy men think that one thing in common is grounds for asking you out on a date. Now girls you laugh, but guys are in a tough spot. You know we’re supposed to be the “pursuer”. But this is major pressure. I know, there are guys out there that have made pursuing a hobby; they kinda left out the commitment part. Or there’s other guys that could earn a degree in pickup lines. But most of us are just the opposite; we have no idea what to say to a girl we’re interested in. Sometimes that one thing in common, it’s all we’ve got to strike up a conversation. “Eh, I see you’re eating food, yeah I need food too, it’s crazy how God gave us both teeth.” I was proud of myself for actually saying anything to a girl I was interested in, and after all that effort, you hate to think you’ve been filed into the creepy guy box.

Number 3. Meeting desperate men. When guys turn 23 they all of a sudden feel rushed to find a spouse. Avoid these men at all costs. You know this is scary, for all of us! And guys we’ve all met the girl whose biological clock is ticking.

Number 4. Single comments from Dad. He must think I’m pathetic. You know there is a point in everyone’s life where they know their parents are starting to worry about them. Really this is one of them, the years pass, you’re still not in a serious relationship, Mom smiles and says, “That’s ok dear, it’s all in God’s timing, right?” Yet her thoughts are racing, “What did we do wrong? I knew we shouldn’t have moved into the country! Maybe it was the super hero pajamas!”

Number 5. Hearing the never ending question, “Are you dating anyone? . . . No. Oh, oh well.” We all know how it feels to smile and say, “No, not right now.” But inside our thoughts are racing, “What’s wrong with me? Was it the super hero pajamas?”

But really being single is frustrating. It is like that pimple. It’s so hard to avoid. You see couples everywhere, you’re caught playing the “How did that person get someone” game. Or you start wondering “what wrong with me?” for a while I was convinced somehow that I was secretly crowned, the “czar of nerds” or emitted some strange high pitched shriek that only girls could hear. Sure, you can take the “I have more time for Jesus” approach and really some of the most powerful time in my life were when it was just God and me and I couldn’t use relationships as a crutch, and a way to fill me. But even then, I still wished I was with someone. Or you can decide, “I don’t need anyone I have plenty of friends! In my, uh, online world.” But, hu, here’s the thing, hanging out with your alter ego SIMS avatar or spending hours as one of War Lords Zargotor’s freedom fighters online doesn’t really count. And since we’ve been divinely created for relationship, it can be tough to be alone.

Really, being single seems like one of life’s great mysteries. Some of your friends will say, “Just let it go and trust God’s timing” while others tell you, “It’s your duty to find a mate! Get’er done!” Here’s all I know, God is God, and he can do whatever he wants. After years of being single, I married. Of course someday my children will graduate from high school, see me in the stands and yell, “Grandpa’s here!” I mean, I don’t understand why things turned out the way they did, there was a lot of growth, a lot of adventure I probably couldn’t have had if I’d married early and also a few train wrecks. But when I look at where I’m at and who he eventually placed into my life, it was all worth it. And I pray you’ll be able to say the same thing someday, if you’re single. Even if right now you feel like you did when you saw that first pimple.

Business Minor

I got a C in my Finance class! So I officially have my business minor! Hooray no more business classes. One semester and I'm DONE!!!

Blessings

While all is not resolved, I do have one piece of good news.

I talked to my teacher about a question that I had missed on the test and he is going to give me the point. He is also giving the entire class 2 extra points as a curve. This will bump my grade on this test up to an 80% and my grade for the class up to a 72.5% a C!!!

Praise God!!!

Thank you all for your prayers! I'm still struggling with some aspects and decisions. Please pray for wisdom and courage.

Prayers

I'm asking for prayers. I can't go into details on this, but I definitely could use your prayers. The situations that I've found myself in are to the unbearable point, and I often wish I were invisible. It's time to make a change and since I can't make myself invisible, I'll have to figure out something else. I would appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

Thanks.

Devil Rivets & Heroes!!!

For some reason blogger will not let me put spaces in between paragraphs. So each paragraph is a different color.

Ok so yesterday was a rough day. I'm having a really hard time in the finance class that I'm taking and it's stressing me out big time. Well, yesterday after a horrible hour and a half in class I loaded up my book bag with all the stuff I would need for work, got in my car, and nothing. No engine starting noise, no lights, just a sick beeping noise.

I'm like "ok I'll call Bethany and see if she can give me a ride to work," then remembered that she was about 2 hours away with Phil trying to find a place to live when they move. (Crud! I was going to ask Phil if he could at least check the battery.) So I start making calls, Lorie is super busy, but might be able to give me a ride in half an hour or so, Pastor Pat is at camp, Dean is at camp, Pastor Linda is at camp, Lola is baby-sitting, Katie's car is also broken, and no one else answers the phone or is at work. So I pop the hood and the first question is "ok where in the heck did they hide the battery?" Seriously, you can't see the battery at first glance. I finally found it and got out my tools.

1) First I had to remove this huge obnoxious bar.
2) Then I had to remove one of the three (3? well, maybe it's just 2) fuse boxes that I've found so far.
3) Then I had to remove the wind shield washer fluid thing. This was the hardest! It was held in place by one bolt and two plastic black rivets. Those rivets are straight from the devil!!! I got the first one and it went flying, the second one hit me in the face!!! Like I said straight from the devil!!!
4) Now I can see the battery, but there is this bar over it and one of the bolts is so far down that I can't even get my hand down there, let alone a tool.

By this time I'm hot, sweaty, and filthy. I've talked to Tim (very busy brother with auto shop), Travis (not busy brother, with some car knowledge), and Mom (moral support). Had a break down; cried so hard I couldn't see, and my face is still stinging from that devil rivet. And after all that work I still can't get the stupid battery out.

Lorie called back and said that she could give me a ride so I took her up on the offer, put all the pieces back together. (It was a lot easier to put it together than it was to take it apart.)

Got to work, did stuff there. Carolyn came and got me and took me to the softball games. Bethany and Phil showed up for the second game and they took me home.

Then today Phil took my car apart again. He now has this nifty extender thing for his ratchet. (I need one of those for Christmas Dad.) He then took me to Wal-mart, helped me find the right kind of car battery and then put it in. Also while Phil was trying to get my battery out Bethany and I took the giant bike I'd just got back to Wal-mart and exchanged it for a kids bike that I can actually ride. Yes, a kids bike!

So Phil and Bethany are officially my new heroes!!! Thanks for all your help! What am I going to do when you move away??? (I'm gonna get that dang ratchet extender!)

I passed!!!

Just thought I'd let you all know that I passed "Accounting for Investing and Finance" with a C! I've never been so glad to get a C in my life!!!

Johnny & June

Found a new song!!!

It's by Heidi Newfield and it's called

Johnny & June.

I love this song, but I really put it on here for Lindsey, 'cause I think she'll love it too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woxYkcRYE7E

Busy Lil' Beaver

Ok, because of the TORNADO that went through Manhattan last night I do not have class today. Which means it's 7:20am and I am freshly showered and dressed with no place to go! (And yet I am NOT sad that my test got pushed back to Monday! Thank You Jesus for an entire weekend to study!)

Ok I'll probably go out and get some pictures of the damage later but now I have to update you all on the church projects that I've been working on. I started this project way back in March over spring break. Pastor Linda asked the board and then me if I would paint in the Nursery. There was an unfinished wall that they wanted painted and thought maybe I would have some good ideas on how to fix it all up. I don't think they expected me to go as crazy as I did. I take that back I KNOW they weren't expecting me to do what I did. There is a border all around the top of the room (except on the new wall) and I just took the animals from the border, blew them up, and painted them on the walls. I also added vines to help tie it all together and grass all around the bottom. (The grass was already there, but I had to paint over it because I could not get my paint to match the existing color.)


So I started at the door and basically worked my way around the room. You can see the border in this first picture.

When the door is open this guy looks like he's peaking around the door to see what's going on.

The new wall.

Pastor Linda found this verse for me. We left out the part about multiplying the earth. We figured that if you've got a baby in a nursery you already know that part!

I can't seem to choose a favorite. I really like the baby elephant, but the little monkey swinging from a vine is cute too.

In my apartment I finally made some curtains. Here's what they look like!

Kitchen window

Craft Room Window

Door

No longer hoofin' it!

Hooray! My car is finally back! I no longer HAVE to walk everywhere. I have my independence back! Hooray! I NEED to go to Wal-mart right now! Have a great day!!!

Broke Again

Well, my car is broke. Again. I could smell anti-freeze when I used the AC; not all the time, just some of the time. So I mentioned it to the car guy when I went in to have the oil changed. He called me back a little later and told me that I had a major anti-freeze leak in the intake manifold (or something to that affect, I was kinda upset when he was trying to tell me this, so I'm not real sure what he said anymore.) Anyway, I'm officially car-less for the moment and have to depend on the kindness of friends to haul me around. (Thanks Phil and Bethany! And Pastor Linda!) Either that or hoof it! (Yesterday there was to much hoofing it. I'm exhausted!)

Grades

I passed all my classes with B's. This is a huge relief! After I finished that Accounting final I was sure I would have to retake the class. So hooray for being able to guess correctly!

Slip, Smash, Bang, Boom!

Well as a perfect ending to finals week Bobby, Lindsey, Carolyn, Mike and I went to see the new Narnia move. In an attempt to save a little on gas (since its up to $3.75 here) we decided to car pool. And since I live closest to the theater I was last to be picked up. Unfortunately, as I was attempting to climb the stairs just out side my apt my flip-flop caught on a step and I fell up the stairs. (I know falling UP the stairs sounds wrong, but that's what happened.) And of course my hands were full so I couldn't catch myself very well and . . . well, catching yourself with your elbows is painful. I came away with a big bruise just below my left knee, a non-bleeding scrape on my right arm, and a bleeding scrape on my left elbow. It's probably been about 18 years since I fell so hard that I ended up bleeding. I forgot how much it hurts! My elbow burned all the way through the movie. But I'm ok, I'll heal up, and be fine. Just thought you might like to know how my finals week ended! Oh, and the movie was really good! Much more "witty" than the first one.

Yucky Finals

Oh thank God Finals are over!!! Tuesday was tough - 2hours and 6 1/2 pages of hand written essay type answers for my lit final and another 1 1/2 hours for the accounting final during which the thought, "Oh crap, I don't know the answer" ran through my head pretty much constantly and then it was "People are leaving! How can they possibly be done? Did we even talk about this in class? I'll just guess again." So I guess you could pray that I made some good guesses and managed to pass accounting. Thursday I had my critique in metals - it wasn't to bad. Just really long!!! I didn't have to take the final for Management (thank goodness, it would have been between the lit and accounting finals, don't think I could have handled that!)

So sad

Today we all had to say Good Bye to Rob and Lynette and their two kids Duke and Kasiddee. It was sad! Rob came around a said bye to everyone as fast as he could so that he wouldn't cry. (Isn't that cute!) Lyn gave out real hugs! We will miss them, but we know that God has a plan for them in Texas.

Copy Cat

Hey I'm copying Mindy!

http://stretchjeansarebad.blogspot.com/

This is how we are going to keep each other accountable, even while being in different countries.

New Song

Anybody every heard of Emily West? I just heard her song "Rocks In Your Shoes" and totally loved it. So I found it on YouTube (and listened to it 4 more times). Check it out!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNb39CBCPlc

Not so Cheery

Cheery Cherry huh? Not so much. It's 5 o'clock in the morning. Why are you awake? you ask. Because I'm starving! Mmmm water!

Last night I went to the mall to buy some shorts for summer, because none of mine fit. Guess what? None of the shorts I tried on fit either. I got bigger sizes, they all look like crap! I stood there looking in that full length mirror and just wanted to cry! In fact, after I left all those clothes in the dressing room for someone else to buy, and finally got to my car I did cry. I called Mom, told her everything and just cried. Of course Mom was really helpful and encouraging. (Love you Mom!) But I got to thinking that none of my friends know how I really feel about this, and since I find it much easier to just brush something off rather than say how I really feel, I thought this might be the best way.

I'm sick of T-shirts! All I ever where is blue jeans and t-shirts because that is the easiest way to cover everything up. Don't get me wrong I still love denim! But I used to where cute little tees and tank tops. Not now, it's disgusting! I tried on a tank top: it was too tight in the stomach/hip area and too small in the chest area. Forget it I hate clothes.

Hello Salad, Fruit, and Veggies!!!

I'm still alive, I swear!

So you all are probably having heart attacks or falling out of your chair or something because I actually updated this thing. Yeah, I know, a new blog entry every 6 months is not acceptable. I'm going to blame it on school (I should be reading David Copperfield right now), my computer (totally screwed up all the pictures I had saved to it), and my general dislike of computers in general. No offence to anyone, I know some of you couldn't live with out them, but they really make me mad MOST of the time.

I'm gonna try to catch up by using pictures. There are a ton of them, but trust me I actually cut it down!

Repair Days 2007 in Memphis, TN

A group of us went down to Memphis to participate in their annual Repair Days in October. It was a lot of fun, but also frustrating, since I worked on one piece the entire time and ended up passing it on to someone else to finish.

Spencer is soldering a candle stick holder.

Me trying to fix that stupid thing.

(I don't even know what it was!!!)
Travis holding up the charm he made for his wife Celeste.
Courtney is using a fleck shaft, but I don't know what she's using it on.
Megan is trying to put hot pitch in a knife handle. I tried to help her with this and burned my finger on the pitch. It blistered immediately!
Elliott (our teacher) is helping Lynn with her repair.

Eric is being a big goof. I thought he had a hammer, but now I realize that it's a really big wrench.

On to Thanksgiving!

This year Todd and Angie hosted and I was put in charge of organizing it. (Okay all I really did was have people sign up to bring stuff, and make sure everyone knew when and where to be.)

Todd is carving up the turkey while Taylor is somewhat patiently waiting for him to finish. (She's super hungry!)

After dinner we all went down stairs and played on the Wii. (You'll notice there are no pictures of me! haha, I'm really bad at it. Give me a good old Nintendo!)

My dad: I'm not sure he gets this.

Taylor is showing us how it's done!

The Flood!!!

During finals week in December there was this huge Ice Storm! (You may have heard about it or experienced it!) The biggest impact it had on me was that it caused half my apt to flood. Let me tell you the feeling you get when you've just woken up and you walk out into your living room and your feet hit freezing cold, wet carpet is not a good one.

This is the only dry spot in my craft room. I had to move everything out of this room by myself, good thing everything is fairly light. You should have seen my apt. There was a sewing machine in my bathroom. I couldn't get to the kitchen sink I had a path to my bed, but still had to crawl over things. It was an experience I hope I never get to experience again!

My living room carpet!

The economics book that was setting on the floor. It weighed about 3lbs to begin with, but I couldn't even pick it up with one hand after this. In fact when I did pick it up, water just poured out of it. Yeah, I didn't get to sell that one back. The trash can bought it!

Christmas 2007

Christmas is always a big affair for my family. But this year was extra special for me because I got to see my friend Teniah. We hadn't seen each other in about 3 years. So that was very special for me.

T'Lane just loved the finger nail accessories that Grandma got her. Of course she also likes bugs and creepy crawly things too. I guess she a well rounded girl.

And Taylor had to show off her and Tyler's new Whoonu game.

My mom got this ornament for my dad because he had fallen off one of our horses while trying to train him, back in August. The fall was pretty bad, he broke his collar bone, fractured his shoulder blade, and broke at least 5 ribs. Obviously he is much better now.

Tammy started playing hymns on the piano that is terribly out of tune, and Todd and I couldn't help but join in.

I LOVE the next two pictures. Tammy was trying to play one of Taylor's songs that she just learned in piano lessons, and was failing miserably so Taylor was teaching her how to play it. This was especially funny since Tammy's been playing for at least 30 years and Taylor is only 11.

Tyler is also is piano lessons and Trace wanted to learn how to play Jingle Bells so Tyler taught him. After just a few minutes Trace was playing so well, we all thought it was Tyler playing! Guess Tyler's a good teacher.


January 2008

I turned 24 on the 6th. All in all it was a good day until I found out that my ex-step niece was in a car accident. She now has some brain damage, but is doing okay.

I finally finished this quilt for Holly and Corey's baby girl, Avery Mae.

While I was in the sewing mode I made this Army quilt for Chris and Mindy's new baby boy, Will. I have to say this was easily the fastest quilt I have ever made!

Easter 2008!

Okay skipping right along. This is my mom and I as we pose in our Easter dresses. If our smiles look plastered on, it is because my camera is apparently beyond the grasp of my dad. It took him a while to get him bifocals in place to he could see the screen.Okay and this is just a random picture that I took of Tyler's cat Grace. She is so funny. The last time I was there she climbed me like a tree! I mean she literally launched herself at me and climbed until she was on my shoulders. TWICE!!!

Look how innocent she looks in this picture. Don't let her fool you! She has sharp little claws!!!