What to do on a Gloomy Day

Another gloomy day here in Ohio! The weather this summer has been terrible. I am still waiting for that 90* day where you have to be in water in order to be outside. We have been to the pool only a handful of times and the water is freezing. My little ones do not even want to go in it.

So what to do on a gloomy day? Yesterday we cleaned the house... well we picked up the house. Pretty bad when it takes you all day to just pick up! So today I better actually clean. A little dusting, vacuuming, and scrubbing should do the trick. I hope to get through it this morning so I can do some sewing this afternoon! My cousin is still waiting on her purse. I am going to see her Saturday so my goal is to get it done by then! Still not sure how I am going to get it not to sag in the middle... I will try a stiffer interfacing and hope that it is not to rough feeling in the end. I hate to ruin good Amy Butler fabric with bad interfacing!This is the bag that we are modeling my cousin's bag after. It is from PacoLupe one of my favorite purse designers on Etsy.com. This is a cute hipster I hope to whip up for my cousin as well. We'll see!

Before the sewing though, I am determined to play a game with the kiddos. I use to have a neighbor that you would find often in her PJs sitting on the floor playing all sorts of games with her kids (and it would be noon)! She would let everything go whenever they asked to do something. Her house was not spotless and I am sure there were many things left undone, but her kids were happy and loved being with her! I took many lessons from her and learned to take time out for the kids. Lately with all that has happened this summer I feel like I have not done a good job just being with my kids. SO today is the day to do that! What about you.... is there someone you need to go and play cards with?

Have a good one!

more fair pictures

Anna winning 5th place in "Egg in Spoon" contest.

Alex competing in flags - Bubba is not a contesting horse, but she had fun trying. It is always fun to try to go as fast as you can, scary but fun. I think she may of won a ribbon in this event because all the really fast horses dropped the flag (slow and steady wins the race!).

She looks so beautiful in her English riding attire and Bubba is just as beautiful! They make a good team! Should we buy him?

A long week at fair!!!!!!! Maria was actually only with us 2 days but it was very tiring sitting around all day waiting for them to show. I looked over and she was asleep! Maybe it was more boring than tiring for her. She actually loves horses and I think she will follow in the girls footsteps and become a rider.

So where do we go from here? Our lease on Bubba is about up. I might be able to renew it and continue on with the girls training on him. He is such a good horse. Everyone at fair loved him and wanted to ride him. I really trust my girls on him. He rarely gets spooked and has bonded a lot with Alex. His big advantage is his jumping... boy can he jump! Since this is Alex's thing, I think sticking with Bubba might be the best thing. The owner has offered for us to buy him for a VERY good price. But with that comes the vet bills, farrier bills, etc.. I do not think we are in a position to do any more than we are doing. We have also been offered a different horse. A friend has one that she is keeping at her barn and would like Alex to have it. She would help us out with the bills as long as we feed it. Sounds like a good deal, but that means leaving our trainer, and no indoor arena to train at. Plus the horse is a little "green" meaning he needs some work to be show quality. Alex is very intrigued to take on this horse and work with it, but I do not know if I trust her to jump him. So we will see where the world of horses take us. All I do know is that God has always provided opportunities within our budget for my girls to ride. I know he will continue to do so in the future... God is good!

Back to Business

We are back from the county fair!

Let's make one thing clear.... I AM NOT A COUNTY GIRL! Never in a million years did I ever expect to be spending a week at the fair from sun up to sun down! I am a "city" girl or at least a suburban girl! Well, I did survive with only a few laughs from my fellow barn moms.

On July 17th we unloaded our "leased" horse into it's new home for the week. One thing was clear we did not have all the supplies needed to show for the week. Luckily we have great people in our 4H group who loaned us everything (wheel barrow, pitch fork, saddle rack, tack box, hooks, black hoof polish, spray paint (yes you paint the horses legs and polish it's hoofs black), riding gloves, etc.). But considering the horse is not really ours we did pretty good. It is amazing the STUFF you need to show a horse. Talk about some money tied up in a "recreational sport"! You can imagine the cost just to own the horse, but add all that other STUFF to it and it is quite the investment. Some of the mom's work one or two jobs just to pay for the horse! SAD. I am lucky to have a daughter who knows our limitations and respects what we can do. She is very appreciative to be given the chance to lease a horse and show it.

So Alex and Anna spent the rest of the week showing in all different classes, from your typical equitation classes to your fun "ride a buck" classes. Alex pretty much did all English classes she could, where Anna stuck to just the simple fun classes. They both came home with lots of ribbons to be proud of. Alex also participated in Musical Freestyle, which is where the rider puts together a routine to music. If you ever want to come watch a horse show this is the one! It is amazing the costumes these kids come up with and it is very entertaining. Alex put her routine to Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock'n Roll". It really got the crowd involved and singing! Got to love the oldie but goodie songs! She had a lot of skills packed into her routine including 3 jumps, which Bubba did great at! She competed against 3 others and one girls did the song "Mickey" (remember... "oh Mickey you're so fine, you're so fine, you blow my mind"). Who does not love that song. And her costume was Mickey mouse and her horse was dressed as Minnie! It was so adorable. I did not see her routine, but she did take first place and Alex took second. We were still very proud of her and a lot of people came up to her and told her she did great!

So we had a lot of fun and the girls made some new friends. But I am glad to be home and getting back to a normal routine. Now it is time to start planning for our school year!

Words of Encouragement

Just loved my devotion for today so I thought I would share!

Take a Break!

Suggested Bible Reading

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you--you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today."

-Matthew 6:25-34 (NRSV)

Today's Scripture The psalmist said to God, "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" -Psalm 119:103 (NRSV)

THE honeybee is known for ceaseless labor. Its hive is a hotbed of activity. No wonder. A single worker bee makes 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime, and a good hive will produce 50 to 60 pounds of honey to survive the winter. The work never ends!

Still, it's a little known fact that even the hard-working honeybee will find a spot on the comb, cease all activity -- and do absolutely nothing for a while! Nothing productive as far as the world is concerned. But this time of refreshment and renewal is absolutely essential. Bees seem to require a little time away from the busyness of life, and it doesn't seem to hurt the hive at all.

Many of us discover that our levels of stress and anxiety rise because of the never-ending tasks that fill our days. We worry about whether we can keep up. During these moments I find it best to follow the example of the honeybee and just stop. After all, Jesus did the same thing. When he was very busy, he went up the mountain to pray -- to create a time and space for God to refresh his spirit. If Jesus needed such time, surely we do too.

Frank Ramirez (Pennsylvania, USA)

Prayer

Lord, we open our hearts to you. We stop to listen and learn from you. Amen.

Thought for the Day I cannot make a moment of time, but I can give time back to God.

Shaving Cream - Keep out of reach of Children!

this and that

Lovin' the long weekend!

Started by having coffee at the local coffee house with my hubby! We finally were able to sit down for about an hour and just talk about this and that! Our lives have been so busy lately that it seems like we are strangers living in the same house. So we enjoyed out time together and got some much awaited business taken care of! Then we headed to our community garden to water our plot. I would take a picture of it, but it is pretty bad this year. With 3 kids in baseball Bill did not get it put in until late, then he did from seed (thought he would save us some money by not buying plants from a greenhouse) BIG MISTAKE! I told him it would take forever to grow the plants that way. He did start some inside out house in April, but did not care for them enough and they all died! So our garden is slowing growing, maybe in late September I will see some peppers and snap peas!

Then we had to run and get my van from the shop. In case I did not mention in an earlier post everything around me is breaking. When I got Alex home from the hospital the computer had a virus (turns out it had over 3000 viruses!) so it was at a friends getting fixed. Then that night my air conditioner stopped working. It was broke for about a week, of course it was the hottest week of the summer (that couldn't of happened when I was at the hospital?). Then my van started acting up! So we got that into the shop. Finally all 3 were fixed and life was getting back to normal.... or so I thought! The air conditioner acted up again and we had to get them back out here to check it out AGAIN. Then my van was not fixed after paying a TON of money for repairs. We decided the problem was bigger than originally thought so we took it to a Honda dealership and they got it working right... luckily it was all done under warranty! At least my computer has not had a problem since... so far! Oh ya, let's not forget my bodily injuries! Even I am broke!

I decided to take up jogging. Well this is something I have been wanting to do for a long time. On and off I have been trying to get in the habit of running. My goal is to run a 5K. So over labor day weekend Canal has a 5K that benefits the Relay For Life so this year I am determined to run it. The other night I headed out for an evening run. I expected to do a half mile jog then walk the other 2. Well I did not even make it to the end of my street when I felt my hip go. I had this injury in the spring and it took about a month to get rid of it. It is a pain in my upper pelvis/hip area. When I run it kills! It just hurts when I walk. So after doing research on it I learned that I have to take it easy for a few weeks and let it heal. Then try stretching more before I jog. I really wonder if I will ever be able to jog... I may have to stick to walking. Sorry Erika, my 5K jogging partner!

Well, I am off to enjoy some July 4th activities. We are getting together with another family with 4 kids to have a shaving creme fight and water wars. Then we will have a cookout and head up to our church to watch some fireworks. Sounds like a good day!

Here are some pics of Father's day at my brother's house. My sister in law was in town from Colorado with my niece and nephew. It was a wonderful day with my family! I am blessed!

My dad with his grandchildren and Mike and I. What a good looking group!

My dad holding his newest grandson, Tyson.

Sorry for the blurry pic but still a good one of Kathy and Ty!

Alex, Morgan and Ty

Zachary the baseball/football player! He is just a riot! This is what he wears to all of Kyles games. What is amazing is that he is only 2 and can throw the ball with tremedous accuracy!

Dip in the pond anyone?

Mercedes fetching her ball in the pond! She loves to swim, except I think she gets water in her ears and has to constantly shake them! I always wanted a retriever that would swim!

Here is Olivia finally getting to fish with her Barbie fishing pole she got from daddy for her birthday in March.
I cannot think of a better way to spend a nice summer day than at a park with my family and dog!

New Livy Marie Bag

For her birthday (in March) I told my cousin she could order a customized bag. We finally got around to picking some wonderful Amy Butler fabric and it is ready to go. Before creating it with that fabric, I thought I better do a sample first. Good thing because it needs some tweeking! Here is my sample. I love the look of it and the fabric combination is just right! What do you think Chelle?

I just do not like the way it sags when you carry it on your shoulder. The single strap purses tend to do this and because it is a wide short purse it is even worse. So if my dear sewing mentor who tends to read my blog (aka Trish) can give me some advise I would appreciate it! Do I need a stiffer interface? Do I need to put a hard bottom in it?