It's a bath...no it's a sewing...

No, lets just call it a multi-purpose room!!

It's been quite a while since I posted some pictures of rooms and I've been really busy lately trying to get some more cleaning out and organizing done.  Unfortunately I seem to make a huge mess in the process, and it causes more dis-organization & work needing to be done in another room.  Sometimes a room that I've already got pretty much gone thru.  Seems to be the story of my life tho.  After all, I'm *only* a stay at home mom, what else would I do, right?  RIGHT.

One of the biggest problems joys in my life is that I love creating and have way too many hobbies and things I want to do. (When I hear people say they are bored, I just grit my teeth & roll my eyes.  smile politely and wonder what they do with their time.)  There is just not enough time in my life to do all the things I want to do, and NO time to be bored!  Oh yeah, blogging comes under creating in case you were wondering!

Back to my house.  Remember-- we moved last spring.  Remember-- we moved FROM a huge house, TO a small house. Remember-- I have stuff.  Alot of stuff.  I don't mind going thru my stuff, but I hate getting rid of my stuff.  So I keep it, store it--but sooner or later something has to be done with it, or....

#1 it will get filthy from barn dirt,
#2 it will get broken or torn, or messed up from people digging around looking for other STUFF
#3 it will get wet
#5 it will get ruined by mice, dogs or cats.
#6 if nothing else, it's likely to get thrown away if my husband or kids get too tired of having it in their way.
#7 And help us all if my daughter comes home at Christmas time and decides SHE needs to help me go thru it!

I worked lately on my scrapbooking nook & supplies and got them the space under control, but didn't get around to taking a picture of it.  Now I've messed it up a bit because....  (there's always SOME excuse ya know)

Anyway I've been sewing again lately!  I use to sew.  Loved it and made lots of clothes and other things over the years.  For many years I had a quilting machine and did custom quilting.  I've made a lot of friendship quilts for friends, but for the last 10 years there's been very little sewing.  Now the bug has hit again, and I had no space to work except my dining room, and that's a bit inconvenient a lot of the time.

After racking my brain on where I could make myself a sewing spot.  After crossing off the barn (too cold, dirty & unfinished) and the basement ,(too damp and dark) I came up with basically 2 choices.  My downstairs bathroom, or my upstairs bathroom.

Now I know that probably sounds really strange, but
#1. I'm desperate here.
#2.  I have 2 really big bathrooms
#3.  I believe in utilizing space
#4.  If you don't have something and you want something, figure it out, and make it work!

(I'm really in to #4.  I grew up this way--blame it on my mother. Or being poor.  Or something.)

I didn't take before photos, not much was changed except a dresser where the sewing machine now is.
And, I still have a couple boxes on the shelf of non-sewing STUFF that has to be gone thru.  But, I have my space and I'm quite happy.

We didn't do anything to this room when we moved in except put the two white cabinets on the wall for storage. The colors matched my bathroom decor anyway, so we left it the way it was for now.

 The sewing room from the doorway

 Sewing room from the bathroom

 The bathroom/tub

 The bathroom sink/stool

Looking out the door to the hallway.

There you go.  Mission accomplished.
Oh, you wondered why I didn't put it in my downstairs bathroom?
My Laundry room is in there.  :)

Thanksgiving day

I love Fall.  I love the colors, the feel of the season & the beautiful autumn decor that abounds.  It's why I started decorating my house for the seasons because I started collecting all those "feel-good" colors of oranges, yellows, reds & browns.  It warms me & gives me a comfort feeling.

Thanksgiving has always been our familys special holiday to get together on.  This holiday goes right along with the warm fuzzy feel-good feelings! Family, friends, food & fun along with all those great colors even if the weather has already turned cold and looks like winter.

  A first holiday in a "new" house is always special too.  Special gatherings, holidays, company for meals seem to cement the "making the house a home" feeling.

Because all my side of the family had other plans this year and my married girls were with their husband's familys, we invited a few others to be with us and our two older boys.  It worked out for some of Leon's family to be with us this year too. 

 There was alot of this going on--

 The waiting Living room was full of people.

 The baby was happy (and cute!)

Our company was delightful (Too bad I didn't get Duane in this one too!)

 The food was plentiful!

 The baby  was kissable.  (Did I mention  so cute?!)

 We had 6 kids between the ages of 3 and 6!

 The tables were full

 And desserts were waiting.

 I do believe this is the first time in over 30 years we've shared Thanksgiving with you Lori!  The only other time I remember is the year before Leon and I were married.  So glad your family got to come--and join us!

On the other hand, as many great pictures as my kids get just PLAYING with my camera--WHY when I deliberately give them the camera and permission to take lots of pictures do I generally only get goofy-unfocused ones?

Moments to love

A couple weeks ago when we were in Sidney for a long weekend with our kids I decided to surprise Kyrie and pick her up from school.  It was a beautiful day, so Kara and I walked--and I handed off my camera to Kara.

Let them be little

-- Let them sleep in the middle  

And somehow she does end up in the middle even tho there was only 2 of us!

She's so still my "baby" even tho she's 9, and tries very hard to keep up with the rest of the kids.  Last night everyone else had plans & she was feeling very tired & a bit left out, and so when she asked me with big sad puppy eyes if she could sleep with me, and it was a Friday night too. How could I resist!

After all--

I can remember when you fit in the palm of my hand
Felt so good in it, no bigger than a minute
How it amazes me, you're changing with every blink
Faster than a flower blooms they grow up all too soon

So let them be little 'cause they're only that way for a while
Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day
Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle
Oh just let them be little

I've never felt so much in one little tender touch
I live for those kisses, prayers and your wishes
Now that you're teaching me things only a child can see
Every night while we're on our knees all I ask is please

Let them be little 'cause they're only that way for a while
Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day
Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle
Oh just let them be little

So innocent, a precious soul, you turn around
It's time to let them go

So let them be little 'cause they're only that way for a while
Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day
Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle
Oh just let them be little

Let them be little

She's 16-

She's Beautiful-

and she's mine.  (well, ours-on loan anyway)

Meshayla turned 16 back in September.  Sixteenth birthdays seem like quite a milestone, and it's always fun to do something special.
Our convention is in September, and also I was leaving on my trip in September and Morgen and Meshayla were both going to stay with their older sister  in Sidney while I was gone and somehow we needed to squeeze a birthday celebration into the month too.  When I found out that all the kids were going to be able to come to York this year along with the advantage of it being a holiday on Monday after, we started making plans for a surprise party for Meshayla on Sunday night.
I might add that it's very hard to pull a surprise off in this family--too many people, SOMETHING or SOMEONE always slips up.

Well, this is true except when you intend for everyone to know something and assume that they do, then SOMEONE DIDN'T find out when they were suppose to.  (Note--don't ever assume)

Anyway, amazingly no one let it slip, and we pulled off the surprise party.  Amazing.  As was the cake that Lynisha made and brought with her, leaving it here at the house on their way to York.

Meshayla and her "twin-cousin" Rebecca have celebrated their birthdays together since they were 3 years old.  This year Rebecca is living in AZ, and so she wasn't here on their birthdays.
When she came back on her school break the girls got to spend some time together, and took a whole bunch of pictures of the two of them (with help from Morgen.)

Here's a few of my favorites they took.

To celebrate their birthday together, my sis and I took the girls on a girls day out to shop & eat before Rebecca went back to AZ

Happy happy 16th year to both of you!

  ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Going back

Right now I'm so far behind on blogging the "country memories" that I don't even know quite where to start.  It's really tempting to just blog about last weekend, our time in Sidney with #1 Grandchild's birthday, but that's kind of silly when I want to add a few other things from before that.
The "Country Memories" got neglected while I got ready for and went to and posted the Finland trip memories.

When I went back to do some catch up posts I realized that I'd never even posted the pictures from Kara and Kaela's birthday party.
Their birthdays are in July, but the girls were staying in Sidney for 3 weeks including their birthdays, so we had their party later in August.

Hey, it's the party that counts, right?
And this was so much fun!


We got a new trampoline for the girls's birthday.  We've really missed having one for several years now.  This is our 3rd trampoline in 16 years.


The table's all set up in anticipation of party time!





 
 Caitlyn, Katie, Kara (11) Kaela (9) and Hannah




 That is an "11" and a "9"---NOT a 119!

 And they finished up the party by cooling off in the pool


 Good friends, good times!

Sieze the moment. The day.

"Too bad my to-do list is still longer than my life expectancy."

I saw this today on someone's facebook comment.  It really does sum up the way I feel, however I have to admit that honestly It really is more true for me to say;

"Too bad my WANT to-do list is still longer than my life expectancy"


I don't suppose that's altogether a bad thing.  It's not like I don't have plenty on my "NEED", or "MUST"- to do list--I certainly do but I realize also that alot of those things don't matter so much whether I get them done today or tomorrow or next week.  Life happens, the dust comes back, the windows will need washed again,  There will be another year for a garden to feed my family the "real- the fresh"

Today our oldest grandchild turned 6.  In the blink of an eye.  Where did the time go?  What have I accomplished in those six years.  Not near as much as I wished, naturally or spiritually--and  it's no one's fault but my own!  Three years ago in September I started blogging.  Yesterday as I was working on exporting my Finland journal posts to their own blog I was flipping thru those 3 years of posts.  Wow!  I can say alot has happened in 3 short years--A lot of living going on.

Nope, the real issue is what I WANT to do.  I've always said that I will never be one of these "old" people, sitting all day with "nothing to do".  (I also have determined I will never be one of these "old" people who have to clean their already clean house just to keep busy--OR SOMETHING!)
*Now if any of you readers are "older" than me--please do not take offense here. Neither am I discounting a clean house! 

Don't get me wrong--I like a clean house.  I like washing my windows so the sun sparkles thru them.  I enjoy my furniture & corners dust free.  I like my dishes done & my sink shinning.  I like things in their place--I enjoy a reasonably clean house.  It makes me breathe easier, gives me space to think, to create, and to enjoy my home.

So what is on my "WANT" to-do list?
Scrapbook
Sewing
Organizing
Decorating
Creating
Baking
Cooking
Canning
Reading
Quilting
Playing with my camera.
Antique browsing/shopping
Spending time with my grandkids
Enjoying the seasons--whatever they are.


Seizing the moment.  Yeah, that's really what I need to work on the most.  Making the most of every moment, every hour, every day, week, month & year because they go so swiftly.


All right--so I really have done all of those things on my list.  Even in the middle of raising 12 children.  All of those things are on-going, and maybe a few of them won't be so appealing to spend my time at in years to come.  In the mean time-

I'm off to enjoy my day.

And the next thing on the list is cleaning the tub.


HAPPY MONDAY!  HAPPY NOVEMBER 1!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET KYRIE!