Camden's Quilt

Last year for Christmas, by the skin of my teeth, I managed to complete a quilt top for Camden. Sometime in August of this year I finished the whole quilt. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, considering it is my first "real" quilt.

Lessons learned:

• Mom knows everything.
• I am even more of a perfectionist than I previously realized.
• I like sewing!
  
• Next time borrow a quilting machine instead of cramming a queen size quilt through the sewing machine.
• Mom can fix anything.

Here is the finished result on our bed.

Dahlias

Several months ago my dear mother requested that I post some more pictures of the dahlias in the garden. With no more ado, here they are.

Loony Eclipse

It's high time that you all got to know the furry ball of insanity that lives with us. We've managed to capture and record for posterity a few of his most enjoyable quirks. In only a few months we'll have a baby to show off, but we're practicing on the cat for now. Enjoy!

sleeping in the playing dead position

Naps with daddy are a favorite.

He loves to stretch out and nap in the sun.

In case you haven't noticed, he likes sleeping.




Boxes are among his favorite things.

How to fish for kitty cats:

Under the influence of a powerful herb: catnip. Maybe we should bake it into some special brownies for him.

This one is definitely a favorite. Here Eclipse is entertaining himself by defending his home against a ferocious and blood-thirsty piece of plastic that once connected two earplugs. Who says animals don't have vivid imaginations?

So there he is. Hopefully you feel like you know him a little better now. Come visit us!

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary.....

Michelle and I had a long and stimulating conversation today. It began by her asking me, "How does your garden grow?" After trying for a while to come up with the rest of the rhyme, all I could think of was "with snakes and snails and puppy dog tails." She was able to help me out, although I still can't remember the poem.

Ah yes, gardening. That is the subject of today's post. We have several gardening areas, since we couldn't fit everything into one spot. I have included for your viewing pleasure several shots of the little things growing around here......

1. Most importantly, the Tater! I'm 18 weeks along, and Camden and I will find out one week from today whether we are having a prince or a princess. If you haven't made your official guess yet, NOW is the time!

2. Cucumbers! Camden fashioned a makeshift trellis for these little babies to climb, after we discovered they were trying to take over the garden.

3. Tomatoes! We planted two regular plants, and one that is supposed to be a cherry tomato plant, but they look awfully big to me.





















4. Okra!

5. Peppers!

6. Watermelon! We even have a teensy baby one almost the size of a marble.

7. Cantaloupe!


8. Lots of flowers!

--Convolvulus: a morning glory type of flower

Cosmos. Camden made these planter boxes for me. Aren't they cute?

I planted cosmos out in the garden, too. The first one bloomed today.

These are my dahlias that I started inside from seeds. They're so beautiful!










9. Last, but certainly not least... SQUASH! The two plants are absolutely gigantic and have claimed about half of the garden.

On Sunday after picking a couple of these beauties, I decided to do a squash-in-the-fridge inventory. We had 12. And that was after having squash every day for a week. WOW! It's coming out our ears (as plainly demonstrated here.) Since our first picking, we have had steamed squash, chicken-squash stir fry, and grilled squash. We've been eating squash in some form twice a day for over a week. Hopefully we don't get tired of it. Just in case, feel free to send us any suggestions on how we can serve up our bountiful harvest. (No really, PLEASE!!)


We've gotten a great deal of satisfaction and fulfillment out of being able to supplement our food supply with things we've grown ourselves. I'm grateful for a prophet's counsel to plant a garden. I'm also thankful for actual dirt (not Georgia clay) that grows things, and rain (not drought) that waters them. I've developed an even deeper appreciation for the beauty Pennsylvania offers as I've watched our garden grow.

The Baby's Heartbeat

Last night Amber was quite distressed over several things. The first was the fact that there was this really bad smell in the house. It was not me. Our kitchen sink would not drain so the landlord came over and did some stuff that didn't work. Unfortunately he put this stuff down the drain that really smelled bad. So we had this really nasty smell in the house. He got it fixed last night, but the smell took a while to dissipate.

The second issue was that she was trying to upload an audio file of the baby's heartbeat to the blog. Apparently, this blog will not let you do that. So, I took it upon myself to make it into a little movie that will load. So here it is.

Reflections of a College Graduate

Growing up, my dad often filled my imagination with tales of wild adventure. It seems that many of such stories included a scene wherein the main character stood with arms outstretched on top of a tall, green mountain, taking in the incredible panoramic mountainous views while Rocky-like music fanfared around him. Such is the state of bliss and freedom that I have discovered since graduating from college. (Thanks, Dad, for providing the basis for my immense appreciation of this feeling.)

It is wonderful to have the time to do whatever the heck I feel like doing. In the week since we've been home from graduation vacation, I have done a little pleasure reading, planted a garden, cleaned and organized some of our house, and (gasp!) watched a little TV!!! I find that my days are the most happy and fulfilling when I am busy. Somewhere in the course of my life (perhaps because of my mission?) I have learned that life is too important and enjoyable to waste time sleeping in late or staring at the TV. There is too much to be discovered and accomplished! There is truly something to be said for making and achieving goals.

Even though school took quite a bit longer for me than most, and even though the stress produced volumes of sweat and tears, and even though I had to take some classes that were just, let's face it, RIDICULOUSLY, AGONIZINGLY IRRELEVANT yet EXCEEDINGLY DIFFICULT, I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to gain a college education. I feel very blessed to be able to look back and see that I bloomed and grew despite trying circumstances. This knowledge, I'm sure, will inspire me to continue progressing throughout my life.

It's so GREAT to be done!!!

Summer Time MAY be here

Amber has graduated! I am done with classes! I guess they are both quite important milestones in our lives. I have found that I get bored a lot sooner at work. Previously, I got very little work done because I was always studying and working class assignments. I never had any spare time. Now, going home is great because I have nothing to worry about. It is nice. Amber and I are trying to find thing to do with our new found time. So far, I am a fan of a little downtime.

The weather up here in PA has been great. Sunny skies all day long with temperatures in the 70's. I have taken some pretty pictures since getting up here. The first is of a duck feather that was near a small duck pond that is on campus.



The second is a picture of a really cool fountain that is on campus as well.