Jumping by---

Does life ever slow down? Maybe if my allergy-meds would work, it would make me at least feel better on this ride.

Remember the bucketbag I showed a couple posts ago? Well, they went into the booster-club's silent auction and brought $35 each. Yes, there were two ---similiar but a little different. I also was asked to make two more for that same price...of which will pay back for the fabric purchased for all sewed.

Also, those of us who always volunteer to do/make for our children involved in too many projects....I made a pan of brownies. Chocolate frosted, nuts..the whole thing. Yep...would you pay $30 for a pan of brownies? Well, one lady did and told me that she'd make sure I got my pan back because she for-sure wouldn't ever use it!

As far as the house-progress. I'm waiting on a wood-stainer. He was suppose to be at my house several weeks ago, but since we weren't quite ready for him he took on another fast-job. That job turned into taking longer than expected, so we're the ones waiting. Stain and then flooring..can you can FINISHED?! Don't ask me when we're moving--Sometime between now and Christmas.

How about a lighting preview? These light fixtures were put on my want-list several months ago for my dining room and kitchen and then low-and-behold Lowe's discontinues them. Oh, the power of Ebay! Some good-soul bought the whole line and they're in the process of being shipped to my Rural Route address as I type! And..did I mention the price was about half of what I would've paid for them if they were purchased 6 months ago? Gotta love a sale.

A Look inside the House

Some weeks there seems to be a lot of progress and other weeks nothing. Here's the latest:




Looking down into the basement. The lights on the left are called "kick-lights". I liked them because I can change the bulbs myself with getting the ladder out. The whole basement is painted "something blue" by Sherwin Williams. I kept singing the Smurf song while we were painting. It's VERY blue...but very pretty. Have I said: The basement is two bedrooms and a livingroom--total area about 26x26 or 676 sq ft.

Standing in the dining area looking towards the walkway on the west side of the kitchen. My pantry door is open and the main part of the kitchen is on the right. The center door goes down into the basement.--Laundry room is on the right side of that door.


Standing in the east side of the kitchen back again towards the pantry over the island which isn't where it's permanent location will be. Pantry has shelves!






My Pantry door. I wanted something different--took me two weeks to find this door. We'll see how long it takes me to break it!

In the livingroom. Doesn't everybody have two saws in their livingroom? The window on the right is over my kitchen sink.




Standing in the other end of the livingroom. The master bedroom is through the hall on the left side and my sewing room is the door on the right.


These two are my sewing room--and closet. I have a south and west window, so there's lots of natural light. The walls are painted a light tan color and the woodwork will be stained this week (HOPEFULLY) .
I was also told I'd have sidewalks, porches and a driveway this week. I've learned to get excited when you see them show up, but not until.

If you haven't noticed, this house is very open. The rooms are large and one flows into another. Had a gal come out over the weekend who wanted to know who designed the house. Yeah...MamaKoch the designer?! All of the contractors have loved working here because of the open feelings to the rooms. They say so many of the new homes today are small choppy rooms. This house doesn't have a LOT of rooms...just usable square feet in each one!

New Quilted Bag

I've been higher than a kite on allergy-meds this weekend, but I knew I had a deadline (okay, I'm a week ahead) for this project.

Every year our FFA group holds a fundraiser where the kids are auctioned off for a day's worth of work. Some of the parents (yeah, you know who we are) volunteer to make handwork or homecooked (fresh cookies) to also be auctioned off.

This is what I came up with this year:

It's called a BucketBag and I got the directions from Andrea at The Welch Quilter.

If you're not from Oklahoma or one of the surrounding states, you make not "get" the fabric. The Orange/Black is symbolic for Oklahoma State University which is the big Agricultural University in our state. ** It's NOT Halloween fabric**

The directions Andrea has posted are easy to follow along. I think the only thing different I did was to shorten the handles. The next one I make may be made with bigger squares and given as a diaper bag.

Since I'm a week ahead of my deadline, I may make another one!

A pretty find....

If you have a minute, go over to Sue's and look at her courthouse steps quilt. I didn't link just the one post because you need to scroll down and look at the previous post of a close-up. It has applique and she's hand quilting it.

Absolutely georgous.

A little quilty!

I got reminded that I haven't posted anything quilty lately. Sorry...I have to dust poor Bernina off anymore before I can even use her.

Here's two things that I have tried to do. These two quilts are string blocks made by members of our local guild--I've sewn them tegether. No, I didn't even make the blocks, but feel lucky to get to set down long enough to sew some blocks!

They both needed pressing before they go to the quilter, but while the wind wasn't blowing and Rusty wasn't around--I snapped a quick picture!

Here is what we've been busy with (besides the new house)--County Fair Time! Grand Champion Barrow. This is the last show before we go to the State Level--which is the first week in October. I'm always inspired at the state fair with the variety of quilts they have too! It'll be a fun trip.

Still here.

It's Wednesday. Only Wednesday? The days are going by fast actually, but this week is full of deadlines and I'm behind.....as usual.

House update: The tile I picked out for the kitchen floor is discontinued, so I picked out another one. Oh wait...they found enough of my tile in a warehouse in Florida if I still want it. But....the wood laminate is discontinued--Pick out another shade. I'm scared to pick out carpet.
The cabinets are all in and the trim carpenter will be here next week. When he's done then the stainer will come. (I call him the Stain-Master)--he's an old friend.
Sinks are picked out, but not for sure yet on cabinet tops. Appliances are in the garage. Bricker will get the front eave done today. Can I breathe?

Quilt update: I have to remind myself that I'm going to have a brand-new sewing room and one day I'll get to sew. Forget it for right now.

Family update: Newly married couple are doing wonderful. My food bill shrunk in about half after the wedding! Troy has another stock-show last weekend and won a 2' tall trophy for showmanship --yes..Mama took pictures, they're still in the camera.

Work update: It's still here and still paying the bills. I was upgraded to a new job title. New position, new responsibilites, new supervisor, travel..LOTS of travel, very little more-pay. It's a good job, so I'm not going to gripe..too much anyway.

Farm update: Can you say QUIT RAINING?! We have gotten over 20" in the past 3 months. A lot of our top-soil is in the ditches next to the road. There's a 40% chance of more rain tomorrow. The weeds are taking over the fields because it's too muddy to get out there and work the soil. DH got his 4-wheel drive tractor stuck in the mud, but luckily could get it out with the neighbor's help. Glad I had to go to work that morning!

Next Monday is a holiday. This Friday is the last day of the pay period and I'm maxed out on over-time. It's use or lose and I think I'm going to USE the extra time and take a Friday off! Four day weekends are the best.

Hope somebody is getting to sew 'cause I'm sure not getting to! I can see a paintbrush in my future tho.

too much of a good thing

Yes, we were hoping for a little wet weather....well, we got it.

We farm between the 9.23" and the 6.5". Yep...more than we needed.

Cindy asked what quilts I entered in the local fair. I entered the Bricks 'n Stones quilt and the Bullseye quilt. I'll just say that the gal taking the entries put the B'nStones quilt in the wrong category (it's their choice not mine) and the judge didn't like the Bullseye. Oh well.....at least I still got to take them home.

Did anybody else get zapped by Gmail? I lost EVERY message I had saved.....EVERY contact I had.....EVERYTHING! I finally got back into it this morning.....SOOOOooooo aggravating!

A break in the heat.

I think it's hot everywhere. This will be the first chance of rain in almost a month. Remember us calling Noah this Spring? A farmer is never happy!



We have a small local fair this weekend. They have a small animal show and of course I had to enter a few quilts. It'll be a nice busy weekend.

Oh...the cabinets have arrived. I've been on the road (a lot) with work the past two weeks, so maybe I can post some pictures later on. No surprises yet and everything has been done that I've asked....so I'm happy so far.

Hay

Every summer we try to put up as much hay as we can to feed during the winter months. This summer we've been blessed with an abundance of hay crops. The grass we're cutting here is called Bluestem. We've already made 400 big round bales of Bermudagrass hay, so our cows will be nice and happy this winter.

I had help taking pictures and they just begged to have their picture made too. DC and Rusty are always in the middle of everything on the farm!

Believe it or not, I got to do some sewing last night! I found my sewing machine and got to work on some string-blocks that my guild members made. Have GOT to get some youth-sized quilts together..soon!

We have a door.

We had a whole five choices on door colors and this one definitely fit our scheme. It's a shade lighter than the trim--so I'm happy.
We also are getting the front pillars bricked.


Cabinets are being built TODAY! I talked to him last night and I'm still working out some details around the cooktop and the island. YEAH!

Wedding-August 4, 2007

Groom's Table--Troy set the whole thing up.

(take before it was finished!)

Brides cake--blue water fountain not yet running in the front.

I love this pictures of the boys. Notice the purdy white socks--and the yawn on Trent's face! Can you tell they're relaxed?

It was a fun and enjoyable wedding. No surprises and lots of people to help us celebrate. The pastor was great and no squabbles with anybody.

I didn't take a lot of pictures, so these are all I have to share until the bride gets back and meets with the photographer.

Start of a new Month

The last post until after the wedding --it's saturday. I'm leaving work early, to go prepare food, decorations and room for company.


I shall return....with a new family member and hopefully some calmer days.


And then we shall be even busier with the house. Life is busy.

Last Monday of July

What do you do when you're tired from work, people, jobs and did I mention people? You try to have some fun. Laughter is the best medicine!

We were moving some wedding-shower presents....and who says even big boyz can make their own fun?!

Let me introduce you to my three bucketheads:

oh...and the girls too!

Can you visualize 21 gallons of paint? That is what three of us ROLLED on the walls in my new house yesterday. Yes...ONE day....I have muscles aching that I didn't know I had. I also have an eye infection. It's been a tiring weekend.

ONE MORE WEEK TILL THE WEDDING! Actually 5 days. We're excited, but we're sure ready. YES...I have my dress! May have paint in my hair, but I have a nice dress!

Brick on the house--

I've owned stacks of bricks since January, but it sure looks good seeing it on the sides of the house instead of piles on the side of the lot!

All of the house has the sheetrock taped and is ready for texturing. This picture shows my kitchen---isn't it georgous?! It's twice the size of my current kitchen....I'm gonna love it. I've been looking at other people's homes trying to get cabinet ideas. Do you have anything special in your kitchen that I would love?! I'm taking ALL ideas!

Check your dishwasher....

I have a Maytag dishwasher and have ordered a new one for the new house. Received a letter yesterday saying that my old one may be a fire hazard.
Yep......checked the serial and model numbers and mine is definitely on the list of hazardous ones. It's ran 4-million loads of dishes but it's suddenly unsafe to use.

Oh, they'll send you $75 towards a new (same brand) one or will send the Maytag repair man out to fix it.

The instructions say to "unload, unplug and repair or replace immediately". Two months of doing dishes by hand? Okay...yes, I'm spoiled. I like my dishwasher.

Here's the link if you want to check our your Maytag. My voucher is in the mail!

A little bit...

Bren from Pieces From Me taged me to tell 7 random facts about me. Since I'm such a not-exciting person, this is really hard...but I'll try to tell some things that you might not already know.

1~I have always been a farmgirl. Raised on a peanut farm and was raised by a man who didn't think it was necessary to hire anybody to work 'cause he had us girls to do it. I can drive a tractor with farm equipment as well as any type of truck you put me into. I can describe (& understand) irrigation, engines, farm-crops and any type of equipment as well as fertilizer (chemical to organic)!

2~I did not marry a farmer. My husband did! When my boys were little, I stayed at home and did the farm work while he worked in town. Pigs, cows, chickens, turkeys and kids were all part of our little farm which eventually has grown to 1200 acres. My hands have been in places I probably better not say online....I am not afraid to get dirty! Now, I live with a stay-at-home farmer and I work in town.

3~I have a degree in computer/business education and have taught classes. It took me 18 years to get my bachelors degree. The degree helped me get my current job with the federal gov't...yes, it's a division of the agricultural department.

4~I owned a bakery for four long years. Probably not what you expect from a school-teacher/farmgirl, but it was something I wanted to do....and then something I wanted to get out of. I have old-family recipes that I do NOT give out! lol I was raised by a Mom who thought every girl should know how to make a perfect pie-crust as well as cook for a harvest crew.

5~I lost both of my parents and grandparents before I was 40 years old. Life and death is very hard to deal with but I learned that I had 4 people at home that I can count on for anything. I also learned who not to count on. Even close family members can say and do very mean things when there's a death in the family. I have very-close family members whom I never care to speak-to again!

6~I'm tall. I've been 6' tall since I was 13 years old. Kinda hard to deal with during the dating years. DH and I are the same size....having 3, 9lb. boys kinda re-arrange my hips a little though. Those 3 boyz have all out-grown us both. My Dad was 6'10" (Mom was only 5'5").

7~I'm probably considered a loner. I love my quiet times alone and can work real good by myself. I do not like crowds, and probably talk more when there's more people around just to justify to myself that I can survive in a crowd. I live with a man who talks non-stop....so I have very good listening skills! Some people might consider me stand-offish because I have to know ya awhile before I talk a whole lot! But then....after you get to know me, I'll talk yer leg off!

I know I'm suppose to tag people, but it's summer and everybody is very busy. If you want to participate, go ahead....and tell us more about you too.

Here are the rules for the tag:
Each blogger should list 7 random facts about themselves and list these rules for the tag. Next tag 7 others and list their names on your blog. Leave a comment for each of the tagged on their blogs letting them know they have been tagged and to visit your blog for the rules.

July 12th

Two times on this date in the 40+ years I've been on this earth it's rained. Today is the second one of them. It NEVER rains on July 12th. It's suppose to be hot and dry this time of year. Since this is the nothing-is-normal year....it might as well rain.

I'm guessing today will be normal in that it's un-eventful. I may be going towards OKCity to buy some more wedding items, but I haven't gotten the final call on that. My dress is bought, so that's one less worry. I maybe barefooted....but at least I have a pretty dress to wear.

New house update: The sheet-rockers are suppose to be done today too. The tape-texture crew will show up next week. The cabinet maker is coming out this weekend to measure. It's coming along one step at a time.

Absolutely no sewing done lately. I'm actually thinking about boxing some things up and not even worrying about them until I get moved into the new sewing room. I walk into it now and think about how I want it arranged. So many possibilities.....it's gonna be nice to have ROOM!

Edit**--Dh called me at noon and asked "why didn't you tell me it was your b'day?"! We've been running in circles so much, we don't know if we're coming or going. He had to go to the crop-insurance agent and check on collecting money for this soggy crop and as he was signing and dating the papers he realized what today was.

Walmart has their school supplies already out. Is that depressing or what?

Progress on the 4th

I've learned never to make too many plans...'cause they usually don't work out. There's always a kink to everything.--especially when you're working with construction-crews.

But...since I can count on a few people, we did see some progress last week.

Contractor decided that it would be a lot easier for us to paint, if we climbed onto the front-end loader and ride on it instead of a ladder....heights don't usually bother me.....usually. What's hilarious is that we had to put on TWO coats! TWO trips to the top of this peak! Hopefully, we won't have to paint for a LONG time!

We tried to paint fast and I had just as much paint on me as the eaves. I was told several times that I was saving myself a lot of money....I sure hope so.

Remember all of the concrete problems we had with the basement....well, this is the dust from two grinders trying to smooth out walls and ceilings in the basement.

I was volunteered to run the grinder on the kitchen floor to smooth up the patch in there. I have muscles in my arms that I didn't know existed.

The electrician is finished and the insulators came and finished yesterday. They first put this mesh fabric up and then came back and filled it full of blow-in insulation. The fabric reminded me of a dryer sheet and then the insulation is like poly-fill. Some of the walls have "the pink stuff" and then other's have this blown-in style.

Hopefully, we'll have sheetrock Monday. They partied a little too much over the 4th and couldn't quite-make it back to work for a few days. Must be nice to be so undependable and still get the job!

We've also gotten another 2" of rain since July 4th. Hopefully we'll be done with wheat harvest TODAY! We've never cut wheat this late before and have never fought the mud like this either.

Still gotta eat!

Shhhhh.....don't look now, but we've had 6 hours without rain!

The schedule for this week:

Monday-electrician finishes

Tuesday-heat/ac gets installed

Wednesday--Holiday...nobody works (but us cleaning up)

Thursday--insulation guys come

Friday--Sheetrock crew comes and does the whole house

We'll see how we stay on schedule, but so far we usually stay on it. Since it's all work being done inside, they do come when they're suppose to. Oh, the bricker may start this week, and the cabinet-maker is starting this week too.


I spent the weekend painting and caulking the undereaves and under the front/back porches. I'm multi-talented as I also "got" to run the sander to smooth out some rough spots in the concrete--where my kitchen island goes. Oh such fun.....and oh that shower felt so good that night!

But...since we still gotta eat..and I've been feeding construction workers, here is a recipe I made and they all gobbled it up.

Sweet Bread

1T yeast
31/2 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1 t salt
1/2 c butter --1 stick
1 egg
1/4 c water
1c milk

Combine sugar, butter, water and milk in microwave container and heat till warm.
Add yeast to warm liquid and add egg, flour and salt and mix until forms a soft ball. I do this in my stand up mixer. May have to add another T of flour.

Cover and let rise until double. I leave it in my mixer bowl and just cover it with plastic wrap.
Shape into desired form and let the dough rise again.
Bake 350 for 15 to 20 minutes. My guys like for me to make them into hamburger-sized buns for sandwiches or hamburgers. Yes, they're probably considered king-sized buns, but they're really good! You could shape it into a ball and bake in a pie-tin like purchased sweet bread.

Very versatile, very good, very easy.


I took the pictures on my kitchen table as I was trying to get some blocks made for guild meeting too. If you ever make this easy bread....you'll never buy the store bought again. It's SO easy!

Still...last week of June

It's still raining. We've had so much rain the past two weeks, we're considering building an ark next. For the weather service to issue flood watches and warnings for the prairie is quite alarming. It's just scarey thinking that one of these days it might quit and not rain again. Just how loud do we gripe? It NEVER rains like this.

House update: The electrician has worked for two days now and is making good progress. I talked to him this morning for about 2 hours and we're all on the same page. The cabinet guy came last night and we drew where all of them were going to be built, so we could center lights over certain parts of the kitchen. Some lights aren't going to be installed until the cabinets show up. The electrician has been good to work with.

I should also have steps to go down into the basement today. It's actually DRY! May sound funny, but I haven't been down in there yet. I don't climb DOWN very good..and it's definitely a climb down with the ladder to get in there. I'll wait on the staircase.

Appliances have all been picked out and final decisions are going to be made today. Cooktop and double ovens are going to be SO nice. I'm not going to endorse any product, but I definitely have my opinions on what I want. If you really want to know what I'm picking out, email me and I'll tell you what brand and why it's what I want. I've priced these appliances for months now and am please to find out that our local-owned appliance store is giving me the best price over any chainstore....and I didn't even have to ask him to lower his prices.

Sewing has been limited at my house and probably will be for a few more days. For some reason, there's always something else that needs to be done!