Learning to Crochet and Snow Balls

A new skill is sometimes hard to develop.  I tend to look at someone who seems to have it all together and then end up not even trying.  I can't decide if I'm a perfectionist or not.  A perfectionist wants to do things perfectly, but do they give up if they can't do it?  I don't know, but I totally wish I knew how to crochet.  Over Christmas, I decided to simplify my decorations, mostly because I couldn't access them and didn't want to, but I started over from scratch with my deco.  One of the things I wanted to do with my tree was a pom pom garland, you know, because all pine trees have snow balls on them.  But anyway, I was inspired by this blogger and her farmhouse perfection at Fairview Farm.

I could handle the basic crochet chain and a hot glue gun.  It's not perfect, in fact it's a bit like a Monet...it looks better from far off.  But it was fun...I'd like to learn more than the basic chain stitch, I found the whole thing of it, yarn and hook, very therapeutic.  I need to give up on my expectations of something needing to be perfect and just do it.  I may very well find a new hobby.

Do you struggle with perfectionism?

What are your hobbies?

And then there were two...

I sit here in the passenger seat watching endless snow covered fields and farms pass by. Safely enclosed in my 70 degree car I note the temperature outside is a balmy 5 degrees. We are heading to Rexburg, Idaho, to get Miguel set up at BYU - Idaho. Three cars we are....Miguel, his Fiancé and our car.

He has only been home for six months and he is leaving again...and we realized that he very well may have moved out for the last time. He's getting married between semesters in April leaving just TJ and Ladybug left.  Another letting go moment.

Sometimes the pain of being a mother just hurts too much.  I've been known to say I want to quit, I don't want to be a mom anymore, but, really, I wouldn't trade it for the world.  Besides, he'll have to come home and visit to warm up. BRRRRRR!

Coming at ya from somewhere on I-86...


 

Get on your knees, Get the help of God, Get up, and Go. {Miguel's Missionary Moment}

February 3, 2014

"Hey...........

So this week has been kind of slow with Tuesday and Wednesday being snowy and icy.   Basically, all of our appointments for the week fell through because of the weather. But most of them rescheduled.  Jon, our top investigator, dropped us. She came out and said that she wouldn't come to church and wouldn't be baptized and isn't interested in us coming anymore.  It was a complete surprise. She was going to invite her Chinese speaking husband to meet with us and the member that spoke Chinese, but I think he made her stop meeting with us. Another lady named Laura, was an investigator in the past, we started teaching her. We challenged her to pray about what we taught and we stopped by and she said she got an answer but wouldn't tell us her answer. Instead she just talked about how if what we share is true than it changes everything. I felt so strongly she got a yes it was true.

We built this sweet snow man and some little black kid jacked it.  I saw him with it and I walked up and was like "That's a nice snow man did you make it?" and he was like "yeah I did" then I was like "Are you sure?", and he is like "well my friend mostly made it but I helped", and I was like "are you sure?", then he was like "my friend made it."  I was like "bro this is my snowman!" It was sooooooo funny. but that's all I got!!!

Elder Hamer!

Get on your knees, Get the help of God, Get up, and Go."
(Miguel's special message to me above)

Myth Busted

Source

We anxiously checked the weather.  They were calling for freezing rain followed by snow which would make for treacherous morning driving.  School closures seemed eminent and  Ladybug, despite a two week break for Christmas, secretly longed for a snow day.  There is something special about a snow day.  It's like you are getting away with something, but it's okay.

Superstitious myths were passed by word of mouth.  Things that would *guarantee* a snow day.  Dutifully Ladybug followed through on each and every one.

1. Flush ice cubes down the toilet
2. Sleep with your pajamas backwards
3. Sleep with a spoon under your pillow

Morning came with just a small dusting of snow and zero school closures and major disappointment.  Despite all the measures taken, Ladybug had to go to school, and thus the Myth of how to ensure a Snow Day was busted.  

What is it that make Snow Days so different, special and longed for?

 

Let it melt, Let it melt, Let it melt

It snowed on Christmas Eve, then again on New Years, and it hasn't melted yet!  I'm sure you think, "Hey lady, you live in Idaho, what do you expect?"  But it has seriously never stayed like this before...at least not in Southern Idaho.  We usually get a snow and it melts off by noon.  This snow has stayed because of the single digit freezing temperatures we have been stuck in for nearly a month.  Brrr. We haven't been able to take down our Christmas lights, not because we are lazy, but because of all the ice on the roof.  This weekend it is supposed to warm up to 37°.  I don't think I've ever celebrated 37° before.  It's almost tropical!  Time to take those down!

This is what happens when it's been foggy and freezing.

Kind of a pretty effect to this chilly weather.

Speaking of shaving yesterday,

KT had to shave off his goatee for work.
  

Now he remarks that his chin gets cold.  

Ya think?

Birthday Weekend

In honor of my birthday, KT wanted to take me out of town.  He had this planned before we knew we were even taking a trip to see Military Man in Salt Lake.  I knew it was important to him to do this for me, and let's face it, it was fetchin' sweet, so we did go out of town two week ends in a row.  Very indulgent, like we NEVER do this...We have been married for almost 23 years, and I can count on one hand the number of weekends away we have had.

This is where we stayed...

It was a lovely place and so peaceful..

While we were there it was warm and 60's at home, but it snowed and was chilly in the mountains.  It was a perfect opportunity for photography, reading and sleeping....And we still made it home in time for Easter Services.

This is a very frozen Payette Lake.  

This is KT standing on said frozen lake.  

A lake we have boated on and tubed on in the summer.  

Stark contrast, wouldn't you say?  

Here is the Brundage Ski resort, we checked out.  But, I don't ski, and it WAS "MY" weekend...

This was so sweet and relaxing, and truth be told, it was the first birthday in sixteen years that I haven't spent at either a softball field or baseball field.  And that's a fact!

In Like a Lion

Oh, March, the surprises you do hold...

Days like today

Source:  ME

It's days like today, that I just want to pull on some warm sweats, 

drink cocoa and curl up with a book.

It's days like today that I want to bake spicey warm pumpkin breads 

that fill the air of my home with its fragrant smells. 

It's days like today, that I want to lie on the couch 

and watch a good movie with a bowl of popcorn and a blanket.

It's days like today that I'd rather stay home and do nothing, 

have no responsibility and just live in the moment.

Dreaming of a Snow Day

Source:  ME

Sitting at home, listening to uplifting beautiful music and I am grateful for the warmth of my abode. Out the window the trees bend and groan and leaves swirl about as if caught in a whirl pool with what promises to be the first real storm of the season. Thoughts of snow days and jolly snowmen fill my mind. Mugs of warm hot chocolate and books snuggled up under warm blankets.

 Fireplace aglow, curled up cat, and a pajama day.

 

Mele Kalikimaka from Idaho

Source

I would be a little remiss if I didn't mention the fact that I LOVE snow at Christmas time. Unfortunately, it has been greatly lacking in my neck of the woods. Let it be known that I live for sunshine. It completes me, warms my soul and brings me muchas happiness, but there is something about Christmas that just calls for snow. Maybe it is because I grew up in Colorado and snow was a beautiful way of life.

I spent a few Christmases in Hawaii, I know boo hoo, but seriously, Mele Kalikimaka did not mean Christmas to me. (It certainly didn't Jingle my Bells).  And lately, due to the Sunshine and lack of snow, I am in the mood to don a grass skirt and start singing Mele Kalikimaka instead of It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas.

Ladybug has been invited to a birthday party today.  They are going tubing.  My first question, "WHERE THE HECK ARE YOU GOING TO DO THAT?"  Apparently a few hours up into the mountains there is a place that is making snow.  Good times, she'll have fun.  Which made me start thinking that I should break out my snow cone maker and spread that lovely white stuff around the yard.....Make my own snow.  You know, to attain that White Christmas look. (I just won't add any yellow flavoring.  Mom always said, 'don't eat yellow snow...')

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

Snow Day!

I love a snow day! I find them as exciting and fun as the kids. We got about 8 inches of snow here in Western Idaho. It was beautiful and a perfect way to start the first day of December. Despite the horrible roads, I had a hair appointment, and gosh darn it, I was not going to cancel. Don't mess with a girl and her hair...The kids kept busy shoveling, and making a snow man. Ladybug and I went for a walk later through the snowy neighborhood.

What did/do you do for a snow day?

When the snow won't come to you...

You go to the snow. Our friends in Idaho City had some compassion on us and invited us up for some sledding. We don't have any of the white stuff ourselves, so we partook of their heavenly white snow. Their idea of sledding is to tow tubes behind the 4 wheelers. I officially became photographer...Nothing spells Christmas like S-N-O-W. And, no I never won a spelling bee...

I wish I were...

Today I wish I were in my old home of Colorado. Reading news on the internet, I see pictures of a white wonderland: My former home buried in snow. My thoughts bring me to my snow days of youth. I remember being all cozy and snug in the house with the fireplace going and a steaming mug of cocoa. What could be better? I remember my brother trying to wade through four feet of snow to borrow eggs on Christmas Day. I am most definitely in love with snow days.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

Some images from our very white Christmas. Kind of unusual for our area...This is what turns an otherwise dreary winter landscape into a beautiful "Winter Wonderland." Now I would trade this any day for a little "Mele Kalikimaka", but this runs a close second. .