Tag: children

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The May Garden

I love perennials in my flower beds. These grow in the raised flower bed at the front of the house. I am transplanting an off shoot to the new flower bed.2014-05-23 15.18.55

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Aren’t they bright and sunny. I can’t remember the name of them. We also have Russian Sage growing in this flower bed. The sage was planted in the middle and has migrated out to the front edge.

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It has bright blue flowers that the bees love. It is tall and ferny and simply lovely and yes I cropped this photo so you can’t see the tree growing in the bed at the back. Here is a good shot of reality. It is the area around the corner from the front garden bed.

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It is pretty wild and needs a lot of work. These are the new flowers that we added last week.

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English daisies and Purple cone flower both of which we had at our last house. They seem to love hot summers and the so- so watering job that I do.

I have too many projects going right now and I feel really stretched thin on the creative side of things. I am in the process of adding some new to the shop and I feel really pretty overwhelmed and terribly forgetful. I am tending to skip around from project to project during the day and not seeming to accomplish much.

I guess I need a new challenge and there is one I am thinking about but I just can’t decide if I really want to participate. It is a daily listing challenge and I am wondering if it would be wise to try it. I would have to list something new in the shop everyday. Summer, has been a little crazy so far. We have three of the kids home. One is working a full time internship with regular working hours and the other is working almost full time hours at Arby’s. This means that he has crazy hours. So I am not sure about the listing challenge. The other challenge is a one hundred Granny Square block challenge. I am still thinking about this one. I have been tossing it around since we lived in Iowa, which is close to 2 years ago. The other challenge has to do with more scrap busting! I am still thinking about this one, but I know that it wouldn’t be wise to totally stop buying supplies like I did for the 100 items in 100 days challenge!  http://www.chocolatedogstudio.com/2014/01/17/1-thing-for-100-days-challenge/

I do need to use up some scraps so we will see!

talk to you later!

Karen

 

 

 

 

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WIP’s

WIPS or works in progress have been stacking up at the sewing table. The good news about that is that cleaning has brought a bunch of partially finished projects to light. Here are a few that I have been working on lately.

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There are several many crochet projects in a partially finished state. I tend to work more on inspiration when it comes to the yarny projects. So, yes there are many half done. IMG_4025

Like this one. I am going to take it to the DMV  while I wait for the driver’s license testing to be over. I hope things go well. I also hope that we don’t wait long for his turn to take the test.

See you later,

Karen

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Graduation

Once again we are here. It seems only yesterday that he was this big.

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Such a funny little guy. In the top photo he is three and the bottom photo he is about 5 months old. He is now almost 19. I will never forget seeing him face down in the sand pit with his brand new glasses on his face. I will always remember “Sometimes my Mom lets me have three pieces of cake!” at about four years old as he conned my cousin into two large pieces of cake. I will never forget his cello breaking at a summer music camp! I loved watching you come into your own as a high school student. IMG_1850 er YBThere is not much left to say, but Congratulations! You have a strength and fortitude that astounds me. Thank you for being the funny guy, the punster, the artist and quiet guy. I can’t wait to see what happens next in your life and where life takes you!

See you later,

Mom

 

 

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New and Old Together

I have long wanted to add cute little hats to my crochet baby blankets. These baby afghans are just calling out for some cute newborn hats. I recently opened the baby shop. While I was getting it online and started, I had a couple of days where having baby hats was a great idea. I just ran with it. Here they are, the blankets and the hats on the same page.

They are beautiful and I will be adding more crochet baby hats with matching baby afghans as I get the time. You can find these in my shop at www.chocolatesbabyshop.etsy.com. I am off to get some things completed for graduation.

Talk to you later,

Karen

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Flower Blanket

This is a sweet little baby blanket set. The flowers are crocheted as the blanket and the hat are crocheted together.

2014-04-22 18.04.172014-04-23 10.55.43 2014-04-23 10.55.50  Only one side has the lovely white flowers with the yellow centers.

 

Talk to you later,

Karen

 

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Chocolate’s Baby Shop

Introducing Chocolate’s Baby shop! You can find it here: www.chocolatesbabyshop.etsy.com I started it to put all the baby items in since I had so many. Now I am adding these super cute baby hats and blankets to the shop in the week ahead.

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I also have some cute baby bibs and will be adding some taggies and possibly some baby shoes as well.

Talk to you later,

Karen

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Oklahoma City Museum of Art!

We spent the weekend away from our children. It has been about 10 years since we planned to spend time away from them with a purpose. The intensive child rearing years can be overwhelming. We got stuck in just planning to get them to adult age and had not planned beyond that horizon. The end of child rearing and the speedy approach of the empty nest is now only about 3-4 years away. So, it was more than time to spend time talking, dreaming, planning and thinking what we would do in the future. We visited the Oklahoma City Museum of Art and saw the Ansel Adams art exhibit and also the Dale Chihuly Glass exhibit. 2014-04-05 12.31.46 2014-04-05 12.34.05

We weren’t allowed to take photos in the Ansel Adams exhibit, so I don’t have anything to show you of the beauty he captured in his photographs.

I have been wanting to see the Chihuly Glass exhibit for years and years. It was incredible and the photos I took do not do his work justice. The blown glass is enormous and he created with bright colors. Imagine the bright colors of my crochet blankets only glowing. Each piece of glass appeared to glow from the inside.

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This is a boat with giant  glass marbles. The colors were intense and bright. The same range as the colors in the photo below. This is a ceiling installation in a hallway. The colors in this photo are more true to life.

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We also saw a wonderful exhibit of recycled items called http://www.okcmoa.com/see/exhibitions/come-on-down-by-lisa-hoke/

I will tell you more about her art soon!

Talk to you later,

Karen

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Heading to College Preview Week…revisted!

 

I originally wrote this two years ago and now we are facing the third child to graduate and leave our house, yet my emotions are much the same as they were then.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/103074242/comfort-coffin-fine-art-print-bird

Our oldest daughter is a senior this year. She will be graduating and  heading off into the great adventure called life which is exciting. I am sure that this is how she sees it. I know it is how I saw it. I am afraid that now I see it as an abyss full of dark and menacing shadows. Yes, I know I am being over protecting, but Moms do that sometimes. I did not feel this way when our oldest started out to college.

Well, back to the context, we are headed to a College preview week, not day or even weekend. It is a week of activities to help them get used to being at a college. It is a Monday to Thursday experience of living in the dorms, eating dorm food, even taking some mini classes, trying on a major to see if it fits. The college has bent over backwards for us. Which is exceedingly nice. There was one point on Tuesday that they had talked to me more on the phone than my mother had for the week.  I quickly remedied this on Wednesday and called my Mom for a long involved chat about sending your daughter to college. I came away with the knowlegde that it doesn’t get easier when you are a Grandparent. The abyss becomes the mouth of a hungry dragon that breathes fire.

I know that this weekend is set up to help us as home schooling parents cut the apron strings, and to assure us that they do know how to take care of our kids. So I will be there for the week as well, feeling I am sure somewhat like the third wheel. So there I will be living in the dorm, eating dorm food and even taking some mini classes about financial aid, helping your student prepare for college.  I  hope that I leave the week feeling that the abyss at least has some lights and a few life preservers stashed here and there, along with some friendly faces. I need to go and pack some super long twin sheets and my clothes, I keep putting this off as I am not quite ready to do the letting go required of me. Thankfully, I have a WHOLE YEAR of final events to get used to the letting go. Do I sound sarcastic, well I intended too. I rather wish that the letting go was like labor , BOOM there you go, and 24 hours later you have a graduate. They have fledged and left the nest successfully, but they don’t and it doesn’t happen this way.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/96487883/birds-nest-feeding-baby-birds-spring

Yes, well. She survived and did wonderfully well, loves college, made friends and has great grades. Her friends ARE the one she met at the college preview week.   So now on to the third child. Say some prayers for me as we head into the last stretch of the Sr. year of high school!

Thanks,

Karen

 

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Things I don’t do….

One of the joys of reaching this point in my life is the ability to say “I don’t do that well and I don’t have to prove that I can, or I can survive quite well not doing ___________.” In fact I reached this point one Thanksgiving when a very close and dear friend gave me a recipe to create a 3-d turkey cake. In fact it is this very cake here.

http://www.parentsconnect.com/parents/food/recipe-center/cake-recipes/turkey-cake.html

Susy made it and it was beautiful. “You can do this, won’t it be fun! It is so Easy” she said.When I was finished, my turkey was laying on his back with his little turkey feet up in the air. He looked like someone had blasted him with a shot gun. In fact, I made little turkey feet out of pipe cleaners and stuck them in so that you could see that he was in fact a true Thanksgiving turkey! I still smile about that turkey cake. Will I every make an elaborate cake like this again. Nope, never, ever, ever… I can make a bundt cake from scratch and I can cook good meals. I don’t have to make 3 -d cakes ever again! I don’t have to keep up with the other women in my life…they have their gifts and I have mine!

There are other things that have I have decided that I just don’t have to stress about anymore. I don’t have to have superstar perfect children. Bear with me a minute on this. Then there is the time we were signing some papers and I sent all four of  the kids 10 and under out the back yard to play. The lady we were meeting with said “what well behaved children you have.” I said, oh they are probably playing in the mud in the back yard. What were they doing…yes, exactly playing in the mud, rolling in the mud, throwing the mud. There wasn’t an inch on any of them that didn’t have mud on it or in it.

Our children are perfect children, and are perfect at being imperfect human beings growing, learning and making mistakes. Don’t even get me started telling you how I know what five rolls of toilet paper dissolved in a bathtub looks like…or how much water it takes on the floor to make it like a slip and slide,or exactly what kittens do when they are dunked in a kiddie pool, or what happens if you put a twist tie in an electrical outlet, or ….well the list is endless.

I don’t have to have a perfect house. Wow, I admitted that on paper. Really, all my real friends really already know, I don’t have a perfect house. It is usually in a state of perfect disarray. It has six visual people that leave things out so they can find them again. A perfectly logical thing to do. We also tend not to see the work that needs to be done, but I will admit that I am working on that. It is getting better and getting cleaner as time goes by but a neat freak I am not. Come on by and hang out.

Talk to you later,

Karen

 

 

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Computer Challenge!

As I look at my computer/internet. I find myself being challenged to change, to remember and to continue marching forward. I don’t know about you but as a stay home mom, I have struggled with isolation. I have struggled with loneliness and feeling like the only one home in this huge neighborhood. This was never so true as when the kids were babies. I am old enough to have experienced life before the internet and cell phones. Life is is better with both.

Allow me to explain…

Pinterest allows me to indulge my need for new information in bite sized pieces. I can be challenged to remember to exercise, to restart that old habit, to find a new way of doing things. Just this week I remembered how easy it was to freezer cook. I simply cooked twice as much and then froze the extra.

http://joyful-mommas-kitchen.blogspot.ca/2012/04/top-5-freezer-meals.html

 

Strange that I had forgotten how easy it was. I have tried new ways of doing things. Flylady.com keeps nudging me and reminding me how easy it is to clean/home repair in little easy baby steps.

http://www.flylady.net/d/br/2013/02/27/you-have-made-me-a-better-mommy/

I also have to confess that I am a visual person so, I tend to keep projects out where I can see them, along with lists, books to read, papers to deal with. That tends to keep things very disorganized. So, once again baby steps on the cleaning. I can fold one load of laundry. Run one load of dishes, wash three pots, sweep the floor and wipe down the bathroom.  Even if I am still not into routines, I do have things cleaner than they were. JUST remember, that if you drop by the house was clean until it sensed you coming and then it self destructs.

Facebook keeps me plugged in with friends and family. I see faces of friends and get encouraged to keep plugging ahead in this life. Heartwarming stories scroll down the screen and  remind me that the world is not always a cold place. It isn’t an answer to everything but it does help keep the odd lonelies away. The ones that come on is a rush when things are quiet. Which seems to be happening more and more these days as the kids are growing up and away.

I get blog updates from different folks that remind me to stretch, to achieve, to reach out and grow. I get tidbits of information on all kinds of different topics from new craft ideas, to organizing, to parenting and marriage  and tips on managing our family finances. I love having lots of resources to pull from. These little gadgets will make my life so much easier. Everyone has cords and what to do to keep them separated….now I can color code the kids’ charging cords. Incredible idea!

http://www.cabletiesandmore.com/american/catalog/dotz-identifiers-computer-office-p-2586.php

Yes, the internet has changed our lives for the better or worse, it depends on how you use it. How does the computer challenge you?

Talk to you later,

Karen