A Bug with a Mustache

This photo was taken February 28th, 2015.   I'm writing this post back in March.  I thought I'd pop this up here and see if the weather matched on the day it appeared....

At any rate, it makes me smile....

Sunday Thoughts

God is right.

I need to rest today.

I think I'm going to spend some quality time on the sofa with a crossword puzzle book.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Fierce Artist

My husband snapped a few photos of me to test his lighting set-up.  I happened to be wearing my painting clothes, so I grabbed some brushes to make the scene make more sense, and he cropped the photo to this:

Book to Remember

Classic Paper Techniques for Greeting Cards & Gifts
by Alisa Harmless

I'm not really into making my own cards, but this book has a lot of techniques that I think I could use for other things.

I especially liked this paper manipulation technique that makes it appear as though the paper has been braided.

Randomly Timed Round-Up

What have I been up to lately?

I’ve be working on calendar pages…..

Gen and I made a skirt.  (Here it is, not quite finished.)

I was amused by both the resolutions on both the top and the bottom of this page….  One of them belongs to my dear husband.  I love his sense of humor!

I finished this purse made from braided strips of old T-shirts.  My niece Arwen has one, and I’m looking forward to both of us rocking matching purses.  I’m testing it to see if it is going to hold its shape well at that size.

Keep on creating!

Amazon Revenue

Our earnings from our Amazon Portal were $2.04 in January.  Thank you for your purchases through the Amazon Portal (the box to the right with the search box).  Every little bit helps!

We've already cut at least 10 years off of our mortgage, and we just passed a mortgage milestone this past month.  It seems like such a slow process, but we are grateful to be able to work toward our financial goals with very few sacrifices.

Valentine's Day Gift

Beard Oil = Valentine's Day gift for both of you!
* He gets something cool he'd never buy for himself.
* She gets a softer, better-smelling beard.

Here is my husband's website.  (There is a sale on the unscented blend!)

Not Berry Good

We’ve been thinking about getting some perennial food sources started, i.e. berry bushes.   Since I am an absurdly picky eater, we thought we’d better do a taste test.  (The shortbread is just because Handsome can’t resist temptation…..)

The blue berries are frozen aronia berries and the red ones are dried Goji berries.

Happily the shortbread came in handy to overcome the flavor of the aronia berries.  When Robert ate one, he paused and asked, “How do we know this isn’t monkey poo?”

The goji berries weren't too bad.  They were much sweeter, and there's almost a hint of a maple flavor. I've been adding two to my raisons in my oatmeal each morning.  It think we might try a Goji berry bush.

Gratitude Jar

It took us a while to get around to going through the Gratitude Jar, I'm sorry to say.  (And in 2016 we are going to put more in it!)

But here are some highlights:

Feb - That the power came back on and that we have a warm place to stay.
March - That we could buy a new microwave without money stress
March - Fun roller skating with Arwen
June 1 - Mom & I walked around Holmes Lake on her Retirement Day

The last one is my favorite!

More Tiles!

I did this with alcohol ink on reclaimed tiles over contact paper petals that were then removed.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I have plans to use a border of these around a mirror, with a little help from Dad....

Snow!

The accumulation has begun....

These photos are from 9 am this morning.  Belovedest has done Snow Blower Trip #1 already.

No, he isn't snow-blowing the street.  He's going next door to do the driveway of a woman in her sixties who lives alone.

So glad the lights are still on!