KITCHEN PHOTOS ~ ~ ~

One of my online friends, JoJo, always asks to see pictures of our kitchen!! So this one's for you, JoJo!! I had to pick a day when everything was shipshape and snap some photos before someone came along and gave it that lived-in look!! We call it a kitchen/keeping room ~ in olden days the keeping room was the hub of the home and this is truly where we spend most of our time!
The kitchen area itself is not that big ~ kind of like a galley kitchen. I always say that I don't do much cooking but when I do, I have a nice place to do it in!! Actually, when we built the house, I told our friend, who was designing the kitchen, just to draw it out ~ I didn't really want one, but he said I had to have it for re-sale!! Sixteen years later, I guess it's a good thing we left it in! The cabinets are cherry with this really dark stain that I saw in a magazine ~ we love it still! Sonny got his Viking range ~ I always told people that was 'his stove' ~ but I'm glad we we have that, too!

The high counter at the left of this photo, as well as a place to eat, serves as a divider to separate the work area from the living area ~ if we're eating at the table, it kind of shields the messy part from view! And when all the kids are home or we have a party, this is where everybody hangs out! Had we known, we could have built just a really large kitchen with a really large counter ~ because it's the most used room in the house!
We spend our evenings watching Tv here (if I'm not in my hooking room or Sonny's not in his office) and we most often eat in front of the Tv, too. When we have company or the grandkids, we do eat at the table and they love to eat by candlelight ~ I think it's a nice touch for them ~ you can feed anybody anything by candlelight and they'll think it's good!!

These spatulas are Sonny's latest project ~ since we're home more in the winter, he spends a lot of time in his workshop and last week, he made these!! They're cherry wood and the flipper part is very thin ~ they're quite beautiful!! We have lots of wooden utensils we've bought at shows thru the years and we do use them ~ I guess he thought he would try his hand at it and I'm sure there will be wooden spatulas in the future of all the girls in our family!! They'll like that for sure!!

Today is a rainy day in Ohio ~ we've had several days of sun and that's a wonderful thing! I've actually walked every day this week, and as soon as the rain lets up, I'm heading out the door. I've fallen off my exercise/hook every day goal and I'm trying to get back on! This old body needs some serious work, so I'm trying to get some fresh air and exercise and work on getting back on track!! In January, I spoke of my 'one little word' for the year, change ~ it's still there ~ in the back of my mind ~ trying to 'change' some old habits and create new ones! I know that you all know how hard it is to stay disciplined and dedicated ~ I used to be both those things! Wish me luck!!
Alice

SHEEP RUG PROGRESS ~ ~ ~

For the last two evenings, I have actually hooked a while ~ so the Leicester sheep rug is coming along! This rug is for my friend, Melody, who travels to Ireland as often as she can ~ the white circles in the sky are from a sweater that came from one of her travels and needed repurposed into something meaningful! It really became quite thick after felting and was quite a challenge to pull into loops ~ but I think it gives the sky great texture and also guided me as to where this sky was going! I have to mention, too, those blobs of black are his ears ~ hooked with a black velour-type wool ~ the loops are pretty high ~ I might clip them for a proddy look ~ I'll see when it's finished!

In one of our conversations as to what Melody might like in this rug, she mentioned outstanding Irish rainbows ~ so last night I went through my handspun yarns and dyed rovings and came up with this rainbow ~ I hope you like it Miss Melody!!! I'm leaving the sheep till last because the fleece I will use for his body gets caught on the grippers of the frame and can make quite a mess ~ all the wool hooking around it will be done when it gets centered on the frame for the final hooking of the fleece body and head ~ and that should be in the next couple of days!!

Ohio is under a winter storm warning all day and this is what it looks like on our deck!! We've had a bunch of snow just today and more on the way!! I love it that I can stay inside where it's warm and safe ~ actually, I am very grateful for that!! A big shipment of wool came the other day, so I'm washing wool on the second floor (that's where the laundry area is) and running it to the basement to dry (we moved the old dryer down there just for the wool) ~ so once again, I say "wouldn't you think I'd be skinny from all these stairs?!" No ~ they just hang on for dear life ~ the pounds, that is! I am back on the exercise everyday/hook every day plan that I committed to ~ I fell off the wagon a little last week ~ but I'm back on task now!! CHANGE ~ remember my 'one little word' ~ well, I tell you it's hard to put it into practice ~ but I'm trying ~ what more can one girl do????? Have a good day ~ doing something you like!!
Alice

Just thought I would check in ~ we had a quiet weekend ~ I didn't leave the house from Thursday until today!!! For those that know me ~ that's like a miracle! I think I'm resting up for all the fun we're going to have this year ~ or from running myself ragged last year ~ that sounds more like it.

Regarding my 'one little word' that I chose as my mantra for the coming year ~ I think it has value!! The word is "change" and as I go about my day and am tempted to say or do some of those really unhealthy or annoying things that are so much a part of me ~ that word goes marching thru my mind! Not every time that it should, but it's helping! Of the first 12 days of this year, I have hooked every day but one (making great progress on that 'hands' rug). With a nice exercise room like this ~ wouldn't you think I'd use it faithfully ~ I'm trying ~ I've exercised every day since the 4th (that was the day I determined that I can't ignore the benefit of exercise any longer) except for Sunday ~ I've eaten oat cereal every morning but one to help lower my cholesterol ~ I'm making changes ~ so far so good!!

All the Christmas stuff is put away ~ my friend, Vivian, wants to come see our organized basement so she can get motivated to work on theirs ~ and I can actually say "Come on over!". That truly is a good feeling! My office is another matter ~ I have considered whether this was a good idea ~ to show you a picture of the mess I work in every day ~ or use it as a tool for motivation to get it organized ~ to 'change' my work environment! So here it is ~ in all it's glory ~ it will be a couple of weeks before the transformation will be finished ~ this is tax prep time, time to get the year-end reports done, get the w-2's and 1099's out ~ but as I'm doing this, I'm going to work on putting this place in order!! CHANGE ~ it's a good thing!

Another good thing is that my England Memory Rug is going to be in a book on pictorial rugs that is coming out this fall! Last week, I had a photographer come and take professional photos that are required by Rug Hooking Magazine, the publisher of Jane Halliwell Greene's new book! I'm very excited to have my rug accepted ~ that rug was definitely a labor of love and tells a story. I happened on Jane's blog one day in the fall when she put out a request for pictures of rugs that might be suitable for her book ~ I emailed ~ she emailed ~ and she liked what she saw!! You can check out Jane's blog here. Jane is a painter and a rug hooker ~ her blog and website are very eye catching! Sheri, who writes the Shabby Sheep blog, is also going to have a rug in the book ~ I know she is thrilled, too!

One more good thing is that all by myself ~ I installed a new counter on the blog. The other hit counter that my son put on for me, all of a sudden quit counting this past week!! I was absolutely elated and had just told my husband that there were over 12,000 hits and I couldn't believe that many people had looked at these ramblings since August. And it was like the universe heard me bragging and said well, guess what honey ~ we're done now!! There are all sorts of policies and rules and I don't know if I broke one, but it wasn't counting anymore. So after a couple days of waiting to see if it would come back online, I found another site and after more time than I want to admit ~ I figured it out and those nice purple balls at the end of the left-hand column, give me the info that lets me know someone out there is interested in what I have to say! And the blessing is, it gives me even more info like how many are new, how many are returning readers ~ so that malfunction turned into another good thing!

Those two new rug hooking forums that I wrote about in my last post, have taken off like wildfire!! So many interesting rug hookers have joined and both sites have informative forums and one has an online class ~ they are addicting ~ I can hardly keep from checking them hourly to see who I know that has joined and what they have to say! They're both great additions to our rug hooking world!

That's it for today ~ more snow and bitter cold in our weather forecast ~ if you're somewhere warm, be so grateful!!!

SAY GOODBYE TO ~ ~ ~

The tree ~ because we took it down on Sunday. Actually, there is no 'we' ~ Sonny took it down ~ he buys, decorates and dismantles the tree ~ I don't like to do any of that ~ it used to be the kids and him ~ how it's just him!! I took all the other decorations to the basement yesterday ~ 17 trips down those stairs (you would think I'd be skinny!) ~ and now today, I have to pack it all in the Christmas containers. I think the house looks so naked after all the greenery and adornments are packed away ~ I really love the house dressed in it's Christmas attire!

And say goodbye to ~ 2008! It was quite a year ~ quite a challenge for the building business ~ which I prefer to look at as a learning experience. Learning to be more conservative ~ learning that no matter what, I can't will that phone to ring with another great job! ~ learning patience. We were so grateful that it was a year of good health for us all ~ you can't put a price on that! So I thank the universe for the lessons and look forward to this new year of health and abundance for all!

This was the view from our lake condo this weekend ~ we love to watch the ice form over the lake ~ very peaceful. We are so blessed to be able to be there ~ I will never take that for granted! We went up on New Years Eve day ~ got Tad settled (who, by the way, had strep throat~ugh!) ~ met our friends for an afternoon libation ~ and then met for dinner in the evening.
And this, dear friends, is the famous 'Walleye Drop' in Port Clinton, Ohio ~ it's almost like the ball dropping in NYC ~ but not quite! They drop this fiberglass walleye (whose name is Wally) ~ P.C. is the walleye capital of the world! ~ from a crane at midnight in the middle of town. We try to enjoy this event every year, as long as it's not below zero ~ it was cold last week but lots of people jammed together helped keep us warm! It doesn't take a lot to entertain old folks!!

This past week, two of the blogs that I read ~ THE THING I DO & THE DOODLES OF MY MIND ~ mentioned Ali Edwards blog and her idea of choosing 'one little word' as your focus or mantra for the coming year. After checking out Ali's post, it seemed like a good idea and my word for this year is 'change'. There are a lot of things about me that require 'change' and as I go about my day the word actually creeps into my thoughts ~ that's a good thing! One aspect of me that needs 'change' is my exercise habits ~ I have exercised in our workout room for 3 days straight! That's like a miracle! I also want to hook every day ~ I've hooked every day this year on my 'hands' rug that has to be finished for the UFO challenge by January 20th ~ a small amount of time spent hooking every day, will show great accomplishments ~ I like this change!! Certainly, there are others ~ changes that I have to put into practice quietly ~ that will make me a nicer person ~ a healthier person ~ a more productive person, etc. ~ we'll see how that goes!!!

Let me know if you check out Ali's blog postings dated Dec. 31 and Jan. 3 and if you decide to choose 'one little word'. I'm guessing it can make a difference ~ I'm anxious to find out! Have a good day wherever you are!
Alice