Things That Are Hard to Believe

That this is the 4th anniversary of losing son Tyler......

That tomorrow would have been granddaughter Lily's first birthday.......Hence the name of what I do..... and why.

May God be ever present in your lives, through the hard times AND the good times.

WWCS Week #4

Q. What is the ideal setting for enjoying the perfect cup of coffee? Who would be there - or would you be alone? Inside or out? Morning or night? With food or just the steaming cup of joe?

A. The perfect cup of coffee is made perfect by having a loved one enjoy it along with you, or 2nd best would be sitting in front of a fire with a favorite blanket and book. Not very creative, but it's the truth. I would drink coffee at any time of the day if it meant I'd get to be with a special friend or family member. Food doesn't really enter into the equation. :)

Designing My Own.....

This represents almost half of a design I'm playing with for a new bag. Picture doesn't do the colors justice as the rusts, reds and browns are much deeper in color. But I love cables....AND this tweedy effect. Once it gets blocked and lined, I think this bag is going to be simply luscious.

Season, this is the stuff Abby helped me pick out at Michael's a while back, remember?

Thanksgiving Drawings

During a serious Thanksgiving conversation between us and Abby & Hunter's parents, the two kiddos were told to go off and make something for us...... thus came this very special drawing from two of the sweetest kids, along with knowing they were obeying their parents in leaving the room. Precious material, this will get scrapbooked at some point, ya think!?!?

Brea Bag Minus Strap

Here is Shawna's Christmas present minus a good strap. Season and Bill BOTH have great ideas for one, so that's all to be done on this and it's finished.
And the pretty insides.... I rather like it.

Hey, I may be sitting on my hind end, but it feels good to get some things accomplished!

Cable Bag ready for Etsy

WOW! Get this - TWO completed projects in 8 days? Don't get used to it though. This one will get listed on Etsy to see how if does over there. Above is of the bag laying flat......
.....and here it is kind of propped open.

Thanks for looking and have a nice day!

WWCS Week #3

The Thursday upcoming is Thanksgiving in the U.S., so let's all - American and not alike! - just share a post with what it is we're thankful for. A wonderful thing to do any time of year, I thought it'd be a nice thing to share for this week with the group!



Wow, it's rather a loaded question because it really gets one thinking about many many things. First off, I would say I'm thankful for my husband, children and grandchildren. I'm thankful that God has allowed me to still be alive and kicking (as some of you know the past few years have been full of heartache) and that He's never left me. So very grateful. I'm thankful for the ability to work with my hands, to create and make things; for still having all 5 senses; for the ability to work at a job; to have a roof over my head; food on the table.... but most of all I am thankful that I have a relationship with Jesus, for without Him, I don't know where I'd be right now.

One Bag FINISHED

Well, folks, here is the completed Formal Boot Bag from BagStyle Knitting (link to the left). As usual, after doing the first one, there are obvious things that can be done to improve on the second one. But I'm pretty happy with how this turned out and it's DONE! :)

Weekend Updates

Good morning to everyone! Here it is Sunday again with no blogs all week, not keeping y'all updated on things that are happening around the zoo. Have a cup of coffee (here's my new favorite cup I got from Sue on her latest trip to California) and sit back.


With all the recent eBay-ing I've done in trying to get rid of stuff' around here, it's been very interesting to find what is worth trying to sell, and what stuff isn't worth even a penny. It's been very informative and educational, sometimes surprising and sometimes disappointing. But such is life, a rollercoaster as grandma says in "Parenthood", one of my favorite lines and moments from that movie.



In cleaning up photos on the computer and the camera, I came across this silly one of Jack after Halloween. Looks like it is his costume to be a platypus. Poor guy, you'd think he lived in a house of pranksters. But he is the most forgiving and loving dog that he may have been laughing right along with us, just enjoying a silly moment.

Updates on projects which have sat too long unattended, hoping that just posting in public will help me get moving and get them completed.


This is going to be a market bag from a knit-a-long I'm involved in from the BagStyle book. Yes, the fiber is hemp, but there is a little wool in it so it's not as scratchy as all that macrame' cord we all used to use for hanging plants! Remember those days? YIKES!




This is the update on Kodiak's sweater (the shop lab). He didn't get it for his hunting trip with his dad last week, but he wasn't mistaken for a deer and came home safe without his Safety Orange gear. All that's left is the ribbing around the whole perimeter and ribbing for his 2 front legs.

This is the Formal Boot Bag, from the same KAL for BagStyle, that is in the final stages. Need to keep sewing (ick, by hand) the band around the center and get a good idea for getting a good lining going with plenty of pockets and pen holders. Wish I didn't mind the hand sewing so much, it might have been done by now. :) But it is getting there and will probably end up being a Christmas present.

The Brea Bag is ready to have the same done to it, sew it together and get a pretty lining into it. Shawna really likes this one, so she may be getting this for Christmas. This was an incredibly fun pattern to knit up, but can you tell I can get the knittin' done, and then stall on the hand sewing of stuff? What can I say, but that it's not from NOT having enough coffee around! LOL



There was a movie on last night that I'd been meaning to watch for awhile now, called "Facing the Giants". After having a week as we'd had this past week, yes - a rollercoaster, this was the perfect movie to watch to get things back into perspective. I would highly recommend this to anyone who not only enjoys football movies, but to anyone who has maybe lost vision, hope, perspective or deals with fear. This is one movie that should be in our home video libraries.

Going thru KW (knitting withdrawal)

Here it is Sunday, and the needles haven't even been touched, not even ONCE! But if any of you are following my eBay escapades, you will notice I've cleaned out 1/2 of my hall closet and about an 8 inch pile of crafting patterns (only a football field length to go). There were some things found in that closet tho that I just can't let go of as these were meant to be gifted out, and will still do that, even though it was an emotional struggle - keep to give away or sell to clean out!

Got to enjoy Season and her kids yesterday and will be having dinner with Shawna and family this evening. Our first time to their bungalow. Keep us all in your prayers.

Hope every one of you are having a wonderful weekend.

WWCS Week #2

As the cold of winter approaches, do you change the projects you work on? Do you work on gifts for others or do you continue working on projects for yourself?

The projects I work on usually go to other people no matter what time of year it is. Sometimes I will work on one of the on-going sweaters for myself, but generally everything I do ends up in someone else's house. The type of things I knit run from decorating cards to large afghans. The time of year doesn't honestly matter to me as far what I'm knitting, just that I GET to knit! :)

Winter Wonderland Coffee Swap Week #1

When did you first start drinking coffee? What age were you? Was it about the caffeine, or do you love the taste and smell? Tell us how your passion began!

I honestly don't remember when I started drinking coffee, but I know it was after we got married and we had received a beautiful glass stove top coffee brewer as a wedding gift. As they say, curiosity killed the cat and finally my curiosity got the better of me and I HAD to try it out (and not having any idea HOW to even use it). But I've been hooked ever since. That was 30 years ago, and the addiction to the smells, taste and caffeine are integrated into my everyday life. With all the flavors available now, I know I will never have enough time to try them all out. And what coffee drinker can walk into a Barnes & Noble and not be overwhelmed with delight at the aromas that permeate every inch of their store! Ahhhhhhh Just thinking about it puts a smile on my face and good memories come to mind of shared moments with my sis enjoying coffee together there. Coffee and good memories just go hand in hand. The grandkids ask now to try a sip of my coffee, they love the ice coffees the best. And by the way, thank goodness that Mr. Coffee was invented!

From the weekend......

The little kids came over Saturday so their mom and I could go to Sam's and guess what grandpa had in store for them outside before we left! Letting the cattails from the pond explode in their hands like dandelions. Poor Dylan was getting it all up his nose so if they get sick, it's not MY fault! Got that grandpa! LOL They were having so much fun and I hated to say no, even though there was so much 'cattail' stuff everywhere afterwards. So I didn't - I watched and took pictures and kept my mouth shut - letting them have their harmless fun. :)
I did a lot of knitting over the weekend, but nothing is finished. Just in progress, which is a good thing. This is the first of 5 strips to be done for Haley's wedding in May. I blocked out a little of it so you could see how pretty the hearts and tulips came out. There was some work done on the 'formal boot bag' also, but there is a lot of handwork to it to get it to be what I WANT it to be so.... that meant loading the printer that works onto the computer that works. There needs to be printed tags on the projects I finish and just wanted those fabric tabs done (even though it took over an hour to load the printer software) as it hinders me from the finishing touches. Kodi, our resident shop dog, needs a hunting sweater, too, so that got started and almost done over the weekend. (Thank you to TCM for Gone with the Wind and Jezebel and Rebecca) That is in Hunter Safety Orange and when he models it, I'll post it. He's a gorgeous chocolate lab and has a November hunting trip planned, so he'll want it. LOL Have to take final measurements so his hiney doesn't hang out too bad. :D

eBay-ing Stuff

Now how hard should it be to get rid of stuff, downsize, simplify? The problem is when you start digging, WAY too much pops up that needs the ol' heave-HO! I didn't realize how much stinking work it was to put things up for sale on eBay, but we've been plugging along. I want this junk OUT of my HOUSE! :) Thought you should know what I've been up to since I haven't blogged a whole bunch lately.

Watch for grandma*p* - she may have things you want! LOL