Le Temps des Perelles Finish

I started this sweet little project before I began work on the Ort Bag. It was just sitting in my workbasket half done, so I decided to finish it up the other night. I think I will put it in my sister-in-law's basket for Christmas. It was a free pattern that you can find here.

Berger Shepherd Finish

I finished the Berger Shepherd by Danybrod! I'm very happy with how it came out. Doesn't it just remind you of a priest or minister guiding his flock?

It was stitched for our priest in thanks for a very beautiful Mass for Caressa's First Holy Communion a few weeks ago. I hope Father Tom likes it as much as I enjoyed stitching it for him!

Liebster Blog Award

I'm so excited that I got this encouraging award from Krista of Just Stitching Along! This award is geared toward new bloggers or bloggers that have under 200 Followers. The word liebster in German means favorite. I have found some beautiful and helpful blogs that I have on my Favorites bar and click on them nearly every day. I would like to pass those on to you! When accepting this award, there are several things the blogger must satisfy. They are:

1. Choose five up-and-coming blogs (with fewer than 200 followers) to award the Liebster to.

I Stitch Therefore I Am Beautiful cross stitch, great book selections, everyday life

The Path to Frugality A delightful blog about all things frugal and then some

If You Do Stuff Stuff Gets Done Wonderful sewing, cooking and family life

Simplicity and Beauty Delicious recipes, simple, joyful living
Wendy's Ramblings Knitting, recipes, family life

2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.

3. Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites. Leave comments on their blogs so they know about the award.

4. Share 5 random facts about yourself that people don't know about you.

1. I have lots of energy and am known to do Zumba at 11:00 PM before bed

2. I share the same birthday as my brother but we are two years apart; neither of us were C-sections

3. I've had six miscarriages but view them as gifts from God

4. My favorite chore is hanging clothes on the line. I use that peaceful, quiet time to pray for my family or others who may need prayer

5. I have a degree in computer programming that I never used and am computer challenged

I hope you can visit the blogs I listed above as I enjoy each one so much and hope you do, too!

Thank you, Krista, for the opportunity to share my favorite blogs with others!

Delicious Lenten Supper

Yesterday was Friday, which meant meatless meals throughout the day. I'm not much of a meateater anyway, so I kind of like Friday's during lent!
For lunch, I made Creamy Vegetable Soup. Although I've made vegetable soup many times before, this was the first time I made it creamed. I got the idea from Elizabeth . It was really good and my girls loved it. I'll definitely be making it again.
For supper I made Kartoffelpuffer, which are basically potato pancakes. Again, I've made potato pancakes many times but this particular recipe is a keeper. They held together much better than the ones I've made in the past. I think keeping the onion and potato separate and squeezing out the juices separately before mixing them together is the secret. Whatever it was, they were very good and I'll make them again.
To round out the meal, I made zucchini and onion sauteed in olive oil with salt and pepper for seasoning, and a green salad. I made a light pound cake for dessert with a spoonful of left over Layered Fruit Salad (see post below) from the communion.
What is your favorite meatless meal?

Caressa's Special Day!

We had a wonderful morning as Caressa celebrated her First Holy Communion! Father Tom, our pastor, gave her the sacrament during the morning daily Mass. He did a beautiful homily, as always, and made it very meaningful for her. She is elated!

Here she is back at home opening her gifts. She changed into her everyday clothes so she wouldn't get the communion dress dirty. Seeing she's the last of my little ones to make the sacrament, it was a little sad for me. I'll tuck the dress away and save it for my future granddaughters in case their mom would like their daughters to wear the dress.

I was a little worried on Tuesday as Caressa had a decent fever and cold. Not worried health-wise but certainly worried that the communion may not take place. It's terribly hard to get the family together all at the same time. The older boys schedules are all over the place and this day was the only one that would work. She bounced back on Wednesday, thankfully, but Cassidy followed suit with a fever yesterday. The rest of us all have colds but no fever so it was all good.

Afterwards, we had a nice brunch. We had Baked French Toast with Maple Syrup,

which was ridiculously delicious and equally fattening, Cracked Pepper & Brown Sugar Oven-Roasted Bacon, Pretty Layered Fruit Salad, (scroll down a bit for both recipes - under Brunch) Canadian Bacon, Linzer Cookies, and Whole Wheat Mocha Nut Muffins! Everything was really good!

I thought I would be able to relax once breakfast was over and my husband went back to work and the older kids continued on with their day, but no... that didn't happen right away. A trip to the Minute Clinic for Kaleigh was next. She's had the same virus and got antibiotics. She could have done without them, but is going to New York tomorrow with Kyle and Casey and wanted to feel better than she does today, so I conceded.

However in the afternoon I finally got to take a half hour for myself and read some of the book, Plain. It's very interesting and inspiring to someone like myself; a lover (or dreamer) of a quiet, country life. I'm just barely into the first part of the book but looking forward to reading more.

I foolishly thought I would have this piece, Berger Shepherd, finished in time to gift Father Tom with for the special Communion. I just purchased the pattern last week; why I thought I could do it in time is beyond me. He will get it soon, though, as long as my swollen, arthritic finger holds up. It's a nuisance and it irritates me no end that it dictates how much needlework I can or cannot do.

My new little kitty, Daisy was lounging on top of Mixie this afternoon on my pile of paperwork spread across my desk. Looks like I have some neatening up to do.

Here she is again. Isn't she just beautiful? One of my Mother of Divine Grace families that I consult for gifted me with her. I just love her; she is one of the sweetest kitties we've ever had. Of course, it depends on who you talk to around here on which kitty is the most loveable, but I think she'd win hands down should we ever take a vote on it.

Spring Fever

Just when I thought spring was near (and it is, really) we got snow. Not that it's a bad thing as we haven't had much of a New England winter, but I got a little spoiled with the mild temperatures and I thought for sure spring was nearly here. Well, it is spring in my room! My window sill got a good cleaning this morning, my plants got all the dried leaves and buds nipped off and they are now sitting beautifully, bringing me much joy! My eight year old daughter, Kierra, surprised me with the pink hyacinth yesterday while shopping at the grocery story. It has added a sweet, flowery aroma to my room. Casey gave me the lovely orchid for Valentine's Day. Instead of water it gets 3 ice cubes each week. So far it's doing wonderfully.

We did a pretty heavy clean out of the basement yesterday. I still need to go through my fabric and yarn stash which I didn't get to. Today doesn't look too promising either. But soon... I would also like to get to the laundry room. We have a closet that needs new shelves and I would like to put up a shelf for jarred food storage. The shelves above the washer and dryer need straightening, too. Those jobs all need attention.

On the stitching front...

I have one side of my Ort Bag complete! I had a couple minor problems here and there. I had to rip out a few times as my stitch was off. For some reason, the tulips at the top just don't come out right unless I center it from the top middle. The same happened on the second side I'm currently working on. It is a fun stitch, though, and I'm really enjoying it. My friend that is stitching it with me is completely done! Her completed project came out so pretty. She's amazing in that she stitches pretty fast and always has something beautiful to show when she's done!

Just For Elizabeth!

Elizabeth... I went to read your blog today and can't get in! I will sorely miss my visits to you. If you read this, please send me an e-mail or something so I can visit you. Of course, if your blog is closed for whatever reason, I fully respect that, too.