Happy Thanksgiving, and A Week of Thanks, Day 5

We had a full day today with visits to both sides of the family.  We started the day hanging out at home and watching the parade while getting food ready.  Then it was off to Grandma's for lunch.  Ada has been having some separation anxiety issues just lately, so we weren't sure how things would go, but she did great and enjoyed playing with and being held by everyone.

 Lunch was SO delicious, as always.  You can never have enough of my Grandma's cooking!

Great-Grandma tries to convince Ada she should only look at the pretty trivet and not eat it...

Reaching for Grandma's pie

Our second stop of the day was at Chris' Aunt & Uncle's house.  Ada received lots of attention (they have 3 little girls that love babies), and loved it. :)

Ada loved these maracas; definitely going to have to go on the Christmas list. :)

...and here she is being mesmerized by a flashing light-up toy. :)

And finally the perfect end to a Thanksgiving Day, a delicious piece of pumpkin pie.

Today I have been thankful for so many things; a quiet house in the morning, being able to substitute the walnuts I did have on hand for the pecans I forgot to buy, gathering with so many family members, and a sweet little girl who slept the entire car ride home.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Week of Thanks, Day 4

Today I am feeling super thankful for a short work-week. Once you're out of school and you stop getting snow days and winter breaks, the next best thing is a paid holiday. :)

I'm also feeling thankful for having a few moments to myself today - one step closer to getting my December Daily album done. Still planning to have pictures of the completed album posted this weekend.

A Week of Thanks, Days 2 & 3

Monday:

I was feeling thankful for Google Reader, which allows me to escape from work for a few minutes each day and read about what I'd rather be doing: crafting something! :)


Tuesday:

Today I am thankful for managing to fit our turkey in the fridge. (Thanks Mom for all those years of teaching me how to always make it all fit!)

Catching Up & A Week of Thanks

Wanting to catch up this morning on some things I've been meaning to post about lately.

First off, there was a request for a better look inside Weekend Sewing; related post here. Here are a couple pics I took that show some of the projects featured in the book:

Back cover

and Table of Contents

Holiday planning has been in full swing around here since the beginning of the month. One project currently in the works is this year's December Daily album. I've once again been inspired by Ali Edwards' album and will be creating a cover with fabric and trim...pics to come later this week.

For now here's a sneak peek at the inspiration / basis for the inside pages of this year's album.


Last year's album had a much more vintage / old-time Christmas feel. This year I surprised myself by being drawn to lots of brigher reds and greens, and a bit more modern / happy feel. So far I am loving the results. I'm about half way done at this point and hope to have pictures posted by the end of the week of the completed album, ready to go for December 1.

Last, but not least, today also kicks off a week of daily 'thankful' postings. With Thanksgiving upon us and so many things to be thankful for, it seems the perfect time to focus on the good things in our lives. I hope some of you will join me; feel free to leave a comment each day or post on your own blog. What are you thankful for today?

Today (and every day) I am so thankful for these two. :)

1st Halloween

I was more excited than usual for Halloween this year...mostly just excited to dress up Ada. :) We carved a pumpkin, which we haven't done since the year we got married!


Then we got Ada dressed up in her costume, put our pumpkin out on the step, took some pictures, and waited for the trick-or-treaters to show up. I was all excited to answer the door with Ada and see the other kids dressed up. Usually we get about 10 kids that stop. This year - ZERO. I was bummed...and so was Chris because I had only bought one small bag of candy and a huge package of 30 bags of pretzels. (In my defense I like having something non-candy to hand out to the really little kids.) I was given no end of grief over not having a big bowl of leftover candy for him to snack on - so we made up for it the next day by getting several bags of marked-down candy at Target. (And I have to admit he's not the only one that was excited to fill the bowl up with chocolate...)

All dressed up.

And a view of the tail. :)

Sunday was spent doing yardwork; it was finally nice enough (and dry enough!) to clean up the leaves.

Lots of deep blue sky.

Ada helping Mama rake leaves on the garden.

Weekend Inspiration

If you're looking for a great weekend project, look no further. I have been feeling so completely inspired by this book lately. Lots of great general sewing tips and tons of fun projects; even the complicated projects are presented in such a way that they seem totally doable (even for a beginning sewer like myself).


I've also been feeling super inspired by the online scrapbooking class I'm currently taking at Big Picture Scrapbooking: Yesterday & Today, taught by my favorite scrapbooker, Ali Edwards. I wavered back and forth for quite a while trying to decide if I really wanted to take this on right now (it's a 12-week class), but am SO glad I signed up.

(I had to put this on hold while focusing on Permaculture for the last couple of weeks, but am planning to dig back in to the class this weekend, and am hoping to post some pictures in the next couple weeks as my album starts to come together.)

Permaculture

Last week I had an amazing opportunity to take a Permaculture Design Course. This is something I have dreamed about doing for the past several years, but until now had only found courses offered in other parts of the country. So when I discovered a course being held at Natures' Nest Farm in Montrose, only 20 minutes away, I knew I couldn't let the opportunity pass me by. I found out about the class only a week before it started, so that week was pretty hectic around here, working on all the prep work for the class and also getting things ready at home as Chris was going to be pretty much on his own with Ada for the entire week of the course. This class was going to be intense - Sunday-Friday starting at 8:30 am and going until 9-9:30 pm each day, and a half-day each on the Saturdays before and after. (Did I mention how amazing my supportive hubby is??) The certification course requires 72 hours of instruction - basically cramming a semester's worth of class into one week. I was SO TOTALLY excited!!

There were just under 25 of us in the class, with a pretty diverse mix of backgrounds and goals. It was so great to hang out with a group of people that are as excited about Permaculture as I am.


The week was a mix of classroom time, hands-on outdoor activities, videos, and even a talent show (enough said on that). :) Ada got to spend the day with me on Wednesday, when we went on tours of three permaculture sites around MN.

Instructor Mark Shepard


Checking out the world's coolest chicken coop at Welch Permaculture Gardens

On the last morning of class I got my certificate - I am now a certified Permaculture Designer! (At least on paper - I still have lots to learn!!) :) My mind has been in overdrive and I feel like I now really have the tools to dig in and work on our yard - so excited to start planning and making changes!!


More on Permaculture

The word was originally coined by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in the 1970's; it's a combination of "permanent agriculture" and "permanent culture" and focuses on designing sustainable human settlements. The three underlying principles are Earthcare, Peoplecare, and Fairshare (reinvesting surplus).

From Tagari, on Permaculture Design

The philosophy of Permaculture is to reduce the impact that human settlements have on non-renewable and renewable resources, while creating an abundant living environment, catering to the needs of all living creatures.

Permaculture is a science developed through the observation and analysis of natural systems. Through this analysis set structural patterns common to all natural systems emerge. Permaculture design then applies these “Patterns” to the development of sustainable human settlements, harmoniously integrating landscape and people while providing food, energy, shelter, and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way.