crafts

Here's a picture of the berry wreath I made. It looked great against my door but I gave it away to our Girls Night Out party...which was soo much fun!  I took home a scrapbooking bag, (which I use for quilting instead) and I am really happy with the rest of the items I got.  FYI, we brought items and traded... kind of like shopping but without paying for them!

Yesterday I spent a lot of time trying to get the house clean from the week. I didn't clean much at all last week so I had about 2 weeks worth of laundry to put away, i washed all sheets, and during nap time I washed the kitchen floor and cleaned up the kitchen, and then i also vacuumed in the morning. There was gravel everywhere. I have been excited to do all these different crafts. I still have to finish kate's quilt, but I am looking for a border or two to go around it, and then I can finish. But in the meantime, I am excited to work on another berry-acorn wreath for my door, and some acorn napkin rings! And I want to do an acorn picture frame. If it is decent out, I want to take some pictures of the girls for fall, even though it is not quite fall, but I bought a really cute dress for Maddy, (unfortunately it's a bit too long!) and some sparkly black leggings. Anyway, last night I looked at some quilt ideas for Maddy that I want to start. I am also going to try to make a few throw pillows for the living room with some cute floral fabric I found. I will take pictures when I finish, of course.

I am reading a book called "So long Insecurity" by Beth Moore, and I have been stopping all that I do at night and at 9pm about, I go to the bedroom and read.  I do get sleepy, and I have been falling asleep much faster. But I have to juggle my cleaning and 'fun' crafty projects during naptime and after they go to bed. I am working on becoming more efficient, like doing dishes while i'm cooking/baking (which is sooo helpful!) and cleaning up my messes right away after I am done.  well better go now, coffee time is over!

Baby Quilt

I finished the baby quilt yesterday. I had a deadline for today, since I was planning to give it as a gift to my cousin Heather for her baby who was getting baptized today. I am pretty pleased how it turned out. I definitely would feel comfortable doing another baby quilt by myself. I got some help with the border since I had never actually done a whole quilt, but it wasn't too hard. It did take a while to do though and I think mostly it's because i work a lot slower but I definitely will appreciate quilts when I see them!!

emily

This week has sure gone fast. I can't believe it's already Friday!  I was so confused yesterday- I thought it was Tuesday.  Anyway, Monday was the jewelery party, which was tons of fun, Tuesday we tried to walk but it was windy and cold... Wednesday I went to Grand Forks with Emily, which was her last day helping out here. She is leaving for Florida for college next week! So I thought it would be fun to spend the day kind of shopping and just having fun. 

We went to TJ Max, to the mall, to Platos Closet, and to Target. I think she got a couple dresses and a couple skirts, some towels for college and a few other things. Kate and Maddy did ok but I remembered why I never bring them with unless I am shopping for groceries! I can't even explain how much i will miss Emily. And for certain it is not just because she was helpful to our family (really helpful) -- we have had a lot of good talks and even though she is younger than me, she is a great role model  and example to me and my children. *tear*  (I did shed one when I dropped her off)

Yesterday we took another walk and went to the park, and then the afternoon I spent working on a acorn and berry wreath. It was so pretty! I finally finished after two days of working on it. I finally realized that lately I have been having troubles falling asleep at night because I am so active at night. I guess it is just like working out.  For instance, Wed. night after the girls went to bed, I cut up and froze a bunch of green peppers, sewed and ironed some of my blocks for the baby quilt i'm working on, worked on my wreath, and did a bunch of other things that *needed* to be done.  So, i am going to try to stop at 9, and start reading then.... which pretty much gives me hardly any time after the girls go to bed to do anything.   today hopefully will be a more relaxed day with not so much scheduled plans.  Better shower!

party

Yesterday was mine and robyn's jewelery party. So far we have $160 each to spend on free jewelery! (Maybe more, have to wait for orders to come in) but I should know tomorrow.  I forgot to take pictures... I really did want to take some but it was busy most of the night. Everyone seemed like they were having lots of fun. All the food was delicious, except i have been naughty with eating things I shouldn't. I am not worried about gaining weight but I was hoping to lose some more. I re-arranged my living room yesterday for more seating and found that my dining room table arm chairs look awesome in there.  I hope I can find some some for cheap somewhere.

Today during nap (which the kids are actually napping, knock on wood) I have worked on the baby quilt that is almost finished, and i am trying to put together a night stand that we got at Ikea.  I have learned that I get bored really easy because I finished pinning but got bored after sewing 3 blocks, and then i quit the night stand about 2 times... and now i am supposed to make supper but i am just really lazy.  That always happens after the days i've been extremely busy. Plus last night I got 6 or so hours of sleep b/c i could not settle down after the party! Peter has been getting up really early to go out to cut beans.... I think tomorrow he is planning to be out there around 5 or 5:30 which means, thankfully, he won't be working late but maybe that will force us to go to bed earlier! 

never-ending bad day

I can't believe how bad this day got. From the time I got home at 1:30pm, that is when it all started. It wasn't just that both kids cried and cried and would not nap, it is that thing after thing after thing kept going wrong.  I am almost afraid to go to bed to wake up to another bad day. Just to show how bad it was today, there's no date night, *and* I am having a pop!! My bike came and when Peter tried to put the pedals on, something broke, and then I went to open our  metal, yes, metal cabinets, the metal part broke off, so ... now what?  I can't weld a metal piece to our cabinet?

Anyway, below are some of the pictures I took today. I wish I knew more about editing but these will have to do:

last day?

Well, today might be the last day of grain harvest (lord willing) We have been so thankful for the weather this week-- almost getting rain in a matter of miles and last night it looked like rain but it dissipated before it got to our fields. I will be so excited if everything goes well today and they are able to combine. This is hopefully my last meal today too.

Yesterday when I went to GF, I bought some more fabric at Joanns! This time it is all floral. I really wanted to make a baby quilt out of that for my cousins baby, but I already cut out a small quilt for her so I didnt want that to go to waste. I was surprised how quickly it went. I cut for one hour during nap time on Tuesday, and then another hour or half hour after they went to bed, and I was done!! it was 4 1/2 inch squares and I had to cut out about 48 of them or something, which goes quickly if you have one long strip of fabric in each design. Anyway, so last night after I put them to bed I sewed some of them together. It won't take me long with this quilt. My sister kelsey showed interest, and I told her that I could teach her to make a baby quilt. She said she wanted to make one for the girls, and she just wants a hobby so I am more than willing to teach her. She will do great! (Even though I hardly know anything about sewing myself, but squares are relatively easy).

I picked up some ingredients for the jewelery party Robyn and I are hosting on Monday. So far it looks like 9 girls are coming who have RSVPd either online or by phone. So that is going to be so fun!! I have some pictures but I didn't get time to download them.  I feel like I have so many fun things I want to do but obviously not enough time to do all of them. Now that I am spending a lot of time doing quilting, my pictures and my devotions at night are on the back burner. Peter and I are still doing our couples devotions but I have gotten bad at doing my own. I have to get more disciplined! That's it for now, I am going for a walk.

go to bed late, wake up early

that's what my kids do. I bet you a nickel they will be up before 7 tomorrow, and they went to bed after 9 tonight.  I am wishing they will sleep in.  Today was my day to cook and it was a pretty easy meal but I am exhausted from having to clean up. I tried my best to clean as I went but when I bring home the two crock pots and all the dishes we used to bring out there, my kitchen is piled high now. I did my exercising this afternoon. I went at 1:45 and got out at 3. I feel I had a really good work out. I pushed myself harder because I made some bars and had half of one, which I know are a ton of calories. Plus, I dont even really know how much weight i've lost because my scale keeps fluctuating. That is so frustrating!! I want to lose 3 more pounds and my half goal will be reached. I am planning to stop after that and then do this diet again in the winter when I have more time to go to the gym. I dont think 2 days a week is cutting it.

Without blabbing on and on, and with 3 more harvests to go (whenever grain harvest gets done, if it ever will)  I will be so happy to be done this year with farming.  I have a feeling it's going to be a really really long two months.

Here's some pictures from this week, or mostly today. I accidentally picked my basil plant, so i had to freeze it.

Yay!

Yesterday ended up being a really productive day. We had another sewing day at my mother in laws and I actually got a lot done on my quilt. I never intended to keep working on it because I can do a lot of it at home.. I wanted to start on a couple pillows or maybe my skirt, but I just kept working on my quilt because it was going fairly smooth. Here are some pictures of my progress. I sewed blocks of 10 across and 7 down, and then I had to sew strips together, which is what I finished last night while peter was still working:

Then, from those strips I have to iron good, and sew two together, then add more and more and then I will be done with that major part! The next step after that would be the borders, and then the backing, and then the binding. So i am excited and sad at the same time... what will I work on? Maybe i will start another quilt- either for maddy or for a gift for a friend. Once I know what i am doing, it goes by pretty quickly. But if i'm lost, then I feel like I dont want to do the quilt anymore. (Especially if I dont even know how to run my machine that well!)

Today I plan to go for a walk with the kids since it is cool, and do a few loads of laundry to ease up on my workload on monday, since that is my meal day. It feels good to not have to cook today-- so today I might do some buns and tomorrow maybe i will make some bars for Monday. I plan to make pot roast on Monday so it can be in the crock pot.  I just have to say that I am praising god right now for no rain.  This means if they get a good day in today, they will have about 2 or so days of combining left. I feel so thankful for their hard work in the field... for peter being able to support our family.I am happy to help them when I can.   Well I better go! Here's the girls yesterday.

rain go away!

Don't get me wrong, the last three days of Peter not combining 'til 10 was awesome!!! But.... they've got about 4 1/2 days of good combining left.  That's kind of sad but I am trying to be hopeful that this too does not drag on like most every harvest. If only the weather would cooperate.  It has been super nice though, -- what a nice change to have him home. I feel like this year has been way busier than most years i've been married to him.  He was gone a lot during planting, and then since he sprays most everything,  he worked really long days before harvest. So really, I had already gotten used to him being gone before harvest started, but with meals mixed into it -it  has made it more tiring. 

Today during lunch he came home with a white rose. What a sweetie. We had gotten into a small argument last night and he said he felt that God woke him up during his sleep and convicted him that he was wrong in the argument.  What a blessing to have a Godly husband.

Yesterday we went to GF and Peter finished getting tools for the farm so he dropped me off at JoAnns. Yikes! I never knew I could spend so much time at that store!   I got fabric for 4 throw-pillows for my couch, and some fabric for a skirt... possibly two skirts, or else I might use that fabric for pillows again. We also got the stepping stones for our project alongside the house (going to our backyard) and some groceries. It was a nice "date".  :)  

Since i missed my work out yesterday, I went today and my mom watched the girls for an hour. I thought i did good, and though I woke up in a bad mood and a headache, I am glad I went to work out because it made me feel much better.  I lifted some weights too.When I put on a pair of jeans today, they felt a little loose, (could it be just my imagination?) I dont know, i'm weighing tomorrow.  During nap time I rushed to get some photos organized, lists made for the Jewelery party i'm hosting with my friend, and I finished sewing my blocks on Kate's quilt!!!!!!!!  Yay! So, i have to iron and cut those (1/4 inch shorter b/c i messed up with the other blocks) and then I get to do the final step, which is sew bigger blocks together and just keep adding to the quilt. 

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I've been walking with a friend around Stephen. It has been so nice to have a friend who wants to get exercise too. It gets lonely walking by myself. So here's a couple pictures I took so I could display something on my blog!

and look at my two big girls. 

so hot!

Today was brutally hot. I started off my day with going to the gym and had a pretty good work out. I can tell I am already building my stamina. While I hope to lose some weight, my ultimate goal is to feel better about myself, which I think can happen if I continue to work out. It seemed like again, I was in the kitchen all day. The girls took a really good nap and so I was able to get most of what I needed to get done during those two and a half hours. At 3:30 we went to the pool which was a nice treat, but it was almost TOO hot to do that! Bringing food out was not fun in the heat either, so we packed up and left before 7. One of the combines broke down today... it's such a bummer. I think we all want to get done. Tomorrow I am going to a  jewelery party I was invited to from a girl at my church,  so I am looking forward to that. I am  hopeful that it doesn't rain just yet; with this intense heat I am a bit worried about hail and severe weather. But... I guess I need to leave that in Gods hands.

I haven't really been taking any pictures lately.. which is a good thing for me because the last couple weeks I haven't really had time to edit and upload.  Here's a couple just from the fair.  Well, time for bed!

sigh of relief

Just going to write quickly about my day.  We got another day of combining in today. It seemed like a really confusingly long day. They were short with help in the morning and so I drove in to help move trucks and combines, and then brought out lunch from the cafe, hurried home to feed the kids, then down for naps, and began to work on supper. But, kate never did fall asleep and she ended up waking up maddy one hour into her nap.  It was a really long day, so I am very thankful it is over now. Even bedtime was a disaster. I also got a visitor today, which was expected but I was not feeling well today at all. Day 6 of my diet was blown when I misunderstood where they were combining and ended up driving around for 15 minutes. I honestly started having an ugly cry in my yukon!  At this point the girls were speechless and I just couldn't control myself.  Now that I think about it, I laugh, but still!! So from then on I had a peice of chocolate pie, a cookie, and some koolaid.  Obviously that is not an extreme amount of food but each day this week I would only allow a taste of any type of dessert, so I am not proud of my night but it is definitely not the end of the world. 

Anyway, hopefully this week I will get back on track and lose some weight actually!

taking forever

just a quick update on today.  I DID wake up and go jogging! But i hated it, but it was worth it. I definitely prefer going to the gym for sure.  I think mostly it is is because I am in such bad shape. Anyway, I went to my mother in laws where all the girls had a sewing day. I worked on my quilt for Kate for quite a while today, and it felt like I hardly got anything done.  However, I did get a ton of tedious cutting done, which would have taken me several days of 2 hour nap breaks to get it done!  So now I can start sewing the remaining 24 strips and then i can start laying them out and sewing large blocks together.  FINALLY. but it's taking forever.

Peter and the crew have been working l-o-n-g days. They come home at 10pm every night! I am excited to have date nights back! Well gotta go, Peter's home.

kristen

August 5th

I dont know what titles to put sometimes. Anyway, today went well, but I was up a little earlier than normal and now I am starting to get tired. I am so happy that I did pretty good on my diet again today, went for a couple of walks and tried to do some exercising in my living room... that didn't go too well. My hope for tomorrow is to wake up earlier and go for a short jog. Like probably only 15-20 minutes. But that is still something! I hate jogging. And during nap time, which i am thankful both slept about 2.5 hours, so i got my kitchen pretty clean and throughout the day i washed a few loads of clothes, and cleaned up around the house. It will be nice to wake up to that. I love that feeling, so I hope it stays though out the weekend.  Then while i was uploading pictures to my blog, i went outside and cleaned the car, watered the flowers, cleaned out their backpacks and put them in the wash, and now i am folding clothes. I have so much energy!!

Here's some more favorite pictures from the week:

The second to the last picture is Emily, the girl who is helping us this summer with all the kids. and the next photo is my flower beds. Each year I like to take a picture of what I planted so I can compare what arrangements worked out best. 

well, off to bed. Hope I can fall asleep so I won't be tired tomorrow!

going well

Today was a pretty good day. I went to the gym to work out, and it went well. I ran a lot more than yesterday and burned more calories in a shorter time. I also tried to lift some weights to tone my butt, arms and legs.  I hope I am not just wasting my time!  And today I wasn't as hungry so I snacked less. I even made a chicken salad sandwhich for supper, and I could only eat half of it because I got full really quick. I had other vegetables too but I was really pleased. I am hoping for at least 2 weeks on this diet, and working out for 3-4 weeks.  I went for a walk this afternoon too so that helped.  Today was a good diet day.

I was busy in the kitchen most of the day too making food for the field, (noodle salad, cookies, baked potatoes, and packing up all the other things. I made some bread and chicken salad too. Good thing Emily was here to help me with that in the afternoon.  She is such a kind girl. I hope to be like her some day. Just so gentle and kind.

Well, here is a couple of my fav. pictures from the past couple days:

Got through Day1

Well, day 1 wasn't too bad... but i thought it would be easier! I mixed my shake and it was really chalky and was a lot of calories. So when it came time for lunch, I modified it and it tasted much better and probably 100 calories less.  Now this morning it was even better and a bit less calories. So, i am hoping that it won't be such a hassle to drink. I know it's a hassle to mix up because our mixer is connected to a bosch mixer so i have to drag the whole thing out just to make a smoothie.

I did work out yesterday too for about an hour.  Now this morning I am going for a walk with a friend and hoping to burn some more calories.  I was kind of watching how many calories I was burning while on the treadmill so I'd get an idea on how much i would burn in a half hour of just walking. It was at least 100 calories.

This morning I was soooooooo tired!! I could hardly get up. And when I did, I was practically falling asleep! My body was sore too. I wonder if this is just an effect from yesterdays day.  I got hungry about 11:00  and then my afternoon smoothie really filled me up til 3, then I got really hungry. Then it seemed like i was hungry all the time the rest of the day. So i tried to snack on a few things without over doing it, but I was still hungry. I think it was just my body getting used to only eating a certain amount of calories a day, so hopefully today will be better and the rest of the week too.  Anyway, I better go!

dieting

ugh.. i'm so tired today because I went to bed late last night. Not only am I tired, but I have to start my diet today. So... I don't really feel like running today, or doing anything strenuous for that matter. I bought a protein powder at the health food store so my plan is to make a smoothie for two meals a day (bfast and lunch) and then eat a healthy, balanced meal at supper time. I don't really feel like having a smoothie either!  Wish me luck :)

fair time

Yesterday was such a good day. I went to Grand Forks all by myself, (which doesn't happen often) and actually made more than one stop, which also doesn't happen very often! Even though it was to get groceries, it was still fun. I left at 9 am and came home at 3:30. I found out that the girls didn't nap much, and that Peter was going to be combining. I was sad at first but then I realized that because of this weather, it is best to just get done as much as possible so the grain is safe in the bins rather than hail or tornadoes destroying the fields.

I put away all the groceries and cleaned up the rest of the kitchen from the day before (I brought food out to the field) and then ate a quick supper and went to the fair! It was really hot but it was lots of fun. I only got some pictures because the batter on my camera died! I charged it all day, or so I thought.. but I charged it on an outlet that you need to turn a switch for it to work, and I didn't do that. So i was really bummed, but at least I got a few pictures of maddy, which is what i wanted since this is her first year that she has gotten to ride rides. And who knows, maybe we will go today for a little bit since peter hasn't been there. While we were there though, the sirens started going off because we were under a tornado warning and bad weather was coming from argyle to warren.

When I got home, a snack was given and they were to bed as quickly as we could since it was 9:30 already. Yesterday I bought this couples devotional book-- we had tried doing an actual bible study together, but since I am already in a bible study and we both want to do our own additional reading, it ended up being way too much reading for us both and we dont have hours to read in the bible. So i picked out this, probably 20 minute devotional where we read and then it has about 3 deep questions we answer, and then we both pray - which is so much better than praying in the dark. Like one of the questions in our first day was something like, "what are things you are not praising God for that he is doing in your life?" and we thought about it, and came up with just the safety each day that we are not always attentive to give God glory to, and a few other things. well, i have to get ready for church now.... more later!