Tuesday, September 28, 2010

The power of numbers

Do numbers rule our lives???? I would say, yes, most of the time.
I decided to make a list (a list you say??? That's so unlike you Lorie, a list?) of numbers and things that happen in accordance with those numbers. Here we go...
  1. No. of text messages I sent while sitting in the Dentist Office waiting room today after school.
  2. Lunches packed for school tomorrow.
  3. No. of outfits Grace and I mulled over for school pictures on Thursday (all in all NOT a bad number considering our tastes don't usually mesh.)
  4. Times I told both kids to GO TAKE A SHOWER after supper.
  5. Times Grace beat me while playing her new favorite game, Guess Who? last week.
  6. Number of miles driven to the Dentist's Office after school (one way)
  7. Scrapbook layouts done the other day in preparation for my scrapbooking weekend away next weekend.
  8. Math problems I helped Evan with for his homework tonight.
  9. Number of times I told the little boy I help at school to be quiet during class (in a 3 hour span)
  10. Number of windows on the lower level of our house.
  11. How old Grace will be on her birthday in January.
  12. Evan's favorite number (date of his birthday....hence the best number EVER!)
  13. Total years Brent and I have been married.
  14. Date that Brent, myself, and my Dad share for our birthdays (2 months apart)
  15. No. of pages I read in my book this morning while I was eating breakfast.
  16. No. of times I thought about printing out the PTO minutes for next month's meeting, but didn't.

17. Recipes I looked at while planning this next week's menu.

18. No. of years I've been out of high school. Yikes!

19. How old I was when I lived in Costa Rica for 3 months.

20. Minutes it takes me to get to the grocery store every week. (one way)






Side note: When I was taking these number pictures today Grace asked me, "What are you doing now?"

I told her, "I'm just taking numbers pictures for my blog."

Whereas she told me, "That's kinda dumb, mom. That's like saying I'm gonna take only pictures of RED things."

Hey, not a bad idea......Maybe my next post will have you seeing RED!

Monday, September 27, 2010

King Henry VIII

Say what you say? King Henry VIII???? Yes, I'm a little obsessed. It started I would say last year when I picked the book The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. (It's also a movie, don'tcha know...)
(and VERY good!)
Anyway, It's mostly about King Henry VIII and his 2nd wife Anne Boleyn, who we all know was beheaded, poor girl.
I love the drama about what went on at court and all of Henry's wives, and how back then, just one tiny comment could be considered treason, and "off with their head" became a commonplace.
I see you're all wondering where a vintage farmgirl's obsession with medieval things comes from?! I'm not sure. But this hasn't helped with my current obsession.

THE TUDORS. That's all I'm gonna say. It's a Showtime drama series with only 12 episodes a year. THAT is not nearly enough. I came across it in my Netflix search for something good, and each time I have to wait for a new disc in the mail with 3 episodes feels like torture! Of course it's all a dramatic version of what King Henry VIII was like, but it's GOOD and of course filled with lots of queens and treasonous villains.
This is the current wife I'm watching.

Jane Seymour. Pretty girl. Not so pretty back in those times I'm sure. She is one of the lucky ones and isn't beheaded. She's wife no. 3. I'm in the midst of all the swirling hate and love and action. I'm loving every minute of it!
I'm also reading anther one of Philippa Gregory's novels:

It's about King Henry's great niece Mary Queen of Scots. It's a little slow going, but I'm sure the plot will thicken soon.
Take a hint from me....for once, try something you might not think you would enjoy. You just might surprise yourself!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

A bit of Fall

Sorry I've missed the last coupla days. I've been down and out with the flu. The horrible truck runs over you, you get up, and a semi lays you flat flu.
I just thought I had eaten some bad Chinese food Monday night for our 13th anniversary...but no.
I have to say, my hubby was very nice. He picked up the kids from school, since they usually ride home with me, and he got them ready for school the next morning. So, because of his niceness (is that a word?) I'm inserting some pics of him in last weekend's Apple Festival parade. He is so proud, and keeps asking me why I haven't posted these yet....so....


Thanks again love of my life!
Now, the flu and tractors is NOT what I'm posting about. Last weekend my daughter and I did a little fall decorating. She's been drivin' me crazy about it, so I finally gave in.
I gotta tell ya'll, Grace has the knack for decorating. She put several of the vignettes together, and I'm mighty impressed.
checkin' out the stash...

Grace's doin'
More of Grace's handiwork...

I would have to say, next to Christmas, this is probably my favorite season to decorate for.
I AM waiting to get my pumpkins, though, cause come Thanksgiving, I'm ready to hurl them across the road I'm that sick of them.
Now tell me...what are some favorite fall decorating ideas you have?









Monday, September 20, 2010

Old times

When exactly did people or businesses stop painting their logos on the sides of buildings?
It's a tragedy really. They look so neat.
It was surely the best advertisement they had at that time...and it lasted for years and years and years.


Throw in a street lamp or two

and some hoodlums (from any era)

(Grace tells me she was demonstrating how to smoke a cigar in the background...hmmm...)

and you get a really cool reminder of how it used to be.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

A Lost Art.

I was up SUPER late Thursday night working on this....liquid gold.
At least that's how it feels to my family. Several times a year I get a call that the vegetable/fruit I ordered is ready to be picked up. It's a vegetable/fruit crisis, and it usually comes on a very BUSY week. I don't know how that happens, but it usually happens that way. This week was no exception!
Brent called me at work, "THE GRAPES ARE READY. CAN YOU PICK THEM UP?" No, actually I couldn't. I was getting groceries and I had a million other things to do before this crazy busy weekend. So, he graciously picked them up for me. I thought about it all that afternoon. About how I'll have to spend HOURS that night canning liquid gold.
We think of it that way because it's really THAT GOOD. And, if we don't pace ourselves in drinking it, it doesn't last all year. I have 5 quart jars left from last year. That's not bad. I made 59 more quarts the other night.
We started with this...

and ended with this...

I'm glad I learned this old fashioned art. It's quickly going out of style I think. I'm glad I can put away all this food for my family for us to enjoy all winter because we sure do miss fresh stuff from the garden.
Now, I want you all to know I'm not tootin my own horn. I'm just glad I can do it. I'm proud of what I've done, cause gosh darnit, it takes a long time to do.
But look at what I've got!

(side note....my mother did the green beans. I can't take the credit for that, just the grape juice, tomatoes, and jam are mine.)

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Initials Anyone?

I'm all about my initials. Well, my last name anyway. With a name like Yoder, I share it with ALOT of people in my area. Mostly amish. NOT that there's anything bad about that, but when we were picking out the names of our unborn children, EVERYTHING sounded amish with the last name Yoder, so thanks for that honey! :-)
Anyway, I hope you don't all think this is becoming a craft blog. It's not, NOT that there's anything wrong with that, either, I do like to document our life, it just seems like since I've been back to work at school, I have a lot less time to just go out and take a creative picture of something and blog about it, PLUS, I'm on a very creative streak, AND this sentence is getting very long, so I'll stop.
So, once again I was browsing this wonderful Ladies blog. I can't help myself...she is AWESOME!
and I came across a craft where she made a very cool craft with her initial (S) and some Vinyl.
Now, I've always wanted to have my initial setting around the house, AND I've always wanted to buy the vinyl I can use with my Cricut machine, I just haven't until now....so I did.
Remember that frame I bought at Goodwill last Saturday....here, I'll refresh your memory...


I like it because it was $.50, which on 50% off day makes it $.25 PEOPLE!!! I have red all throughout the house, so this fit well. When I went up to buy it, the cashier said, "Now, isn't that sad...someone didn't even keep the picture of this lady. It's a real picture after all!"
True, how true. I'll show you what I found when I dismantled the frame.
First of all, this card was behind the picture. I'm totally using this for some kind of fall craft! And secondly, this was on the back of the picture.
Familiar to anyone? If so, here's your long lost relative...I'll be happy to send it to you!
So, task at hand, I got out my supplies.
Vinyl and a cricut, who knew it would be so easy?
Now, this paper on the left is NOT pink, it's creme, but for some reason this is what it came out like. Unfortunate.
I just messed around with some scrap paper until I came up with a combo that I liked. Also, the color box distress ink, is a MUST for any project. It gives it that old/vintage/weathered look.

And Wa-la, first one down, one more to go.
Next, at Hobby Lobby, I picked up one of these chipboard initials.

Since both will reside in my home, in the same area, I used some of the paper left over from the frame project.

Then I traced around the initial like this...

cut it out, and adhered it with these (BEST THING EVER MADE. NO JOKE.)


How does it look?

Monday, September 13, 2010

Paris, France or New Paris???

The other day on our trip to Hobby Lobby, Grace picked out a wall sticker that got me thinking.
First of all, it was 1/2 off, so it wasn't a bad price, and it was adorable! It was the Eiffel Tower and it was brown.
Now, her room is purple if you remember, which is a hard color to decorate with. We're trying hard to bring it into the tween years without being too garish.
So, along with the brown wall sticker, I bought some brown paint (espresso to be exact.)

Oh, and just a side note, if you don't have one of these....spray paint "guns" I call them, you MUST get one. It keeps the paint off your hands.
As you can see, mine has other paint colors on it from many uses before this. It was a GOOD buy.
Anyway, I used the paint to paint this side table,

this lamp,

and these drawer pulls from her desk.
The table turned out good, and so did the lamp, well, everything did actually.
(I don't know why this picture is fuzzy....was I really that excited about the color?)
So, the lamp also needed some sprucing up.
I took the rather boring tan shade, some cocoa colored ribbon, some gems, and my trusty hot glue gun.
I had an idea in my mind the whole time, but this is what evolved, and I really like it!


Tell me, does a girl going into the tween years still love having a jar full of bouncy balls hidden out of view behind the curtain? (the answer is YES!)
Next we hung up the wall sticker. LOVE it by the way! (note the drawer pulls and side table)

Of course, since we now have a wall sticker from Paris and we live in New Paris, we needed a Paris sign for the door.
By the end of this project, we were BOTH happy, and that's sayin' alot!