Happy Father's Day!

The Father's Day card Holly and Adam picked out. The Ten Commandments of Dad. I accidentally deleted the picture of the front of the card.
I would like to say that my Dad doesn't curse or swear, but he does tell us to turn off lights in rooms that aren't being used!
Happy Father's Day, Dad!

PS: Dad said he loved his card! I think it was a hit!

7(ish) Layer Salad

The recipe for this salad came from my sister's Mother-in-law who is an amazing cook. We had this salad at her house over Memorial day and I haven't gotten it out of my head.I put myself on a rather strict diet. Not entirely sure how long I'll make myself be this strict but I'm hoping to break some bad eating habits and create some new good ones. The diet I am putting myself on is basically just meat (fish and eggs and cheese included), veggies and perhaps 1 half cup of no-sugar-added apple sauce or a glass of skim milk every day. I hope to keep it up for the whole week and perhaps start adding in It's boring. I hate it. I miss junk food. But I'm going to do it anyway and I made this salad today to have something yummy to bring to work with me. I think there are more than 7 layers in this salad. I practically have a whole produce section in here. Wish me luck as I try to make it through a full-time work week without sugar...namely chocolate!

Beaded bobby pins

I had some fun this past week decorating these little bobby pins. I used fishing wire and beads I had along with a couple of drops of super glue (that stuff really sticks to your hands!) to do these. It was a fun little project. Easy and manageable while working full-time. I would like to do a few more in the future.

Gettysburg!

We took a little trip to Gettysburg Battlefield this past Sunday. The weather was made to order. I love it when the weather is perfect. Not too hot, not too cold...just right. In the words of Goldilocks anyway. :)








It was a huge battlefield. I had no idea how big it would be. You had to drive through it and even then it took us hours. It is very beautiful out there in Pennsylvania. But personally I think I liked Antietam Battlefield a little better. It is a little smaller and I think not quite as rugged as Gettysburg is.

Whenever I am on a battlefield or at Harper's Ferry I am just amazed at how peaceful those places seem. They're quiet and beautiful and yet so much violence took place there. Especially the battlefields. They're described as being blood-soaked and strewn with bodies. Horrible really. I couldn't picture it when I am in those places.

I like going to historic places. I think it's so neat to walk on ground that has been walked upon by historic people. George Washington was a scout or surveyor for Harper's Ferry so who knows if I have walked the same grounds as he did. I think it's sort of a neat thought.

I have often wanted to go to Israel to see the places that Jesus and his disciples and the apostles walked. Talk about history! I think it would be so awesome. That's one of my goals one day.

Craft Fair!

I went to a craft fair near Harper's Ferry on Saturday. It is a juried craft fair and you have to pay to get in (I had a coupon so I got in cheaper) so there were a lot of really talented artists there with beautiful creations! It was a lot of fun and I not only saw a lot of beautiful work but I got to talk to a few of the artists too which was fun.


Each ''store'' had a booth in the tents and there were probably about 10 of these large tents in the park with lots of stores in each tent.This lady makes wire jewelry. I bought a ring from her.

This store was just selling handmade soap. It smelled really good there.This store was selling hand-spun/dyed yarn and knitted goods. For very high prices...


This store was one of my favourites. The reason being that the artist is a patient at the dentist office I work at. All of this work is done by Mona Kissel and she is a polymer clay artist. Her work is just beautiful.

There was also a store where a lady was doing paper cuts. I am not posting that picture because she asked me not to put anything online because she didn't want anyone to steal her designs. I will just say that she did very pretty work. It looked like fun. She told me a lot of the history and technique behind papercutting. Perhaps someday I'll try my hand at that.

Also not pictured is the "hammock" store. I'm not sure what it was called but they had outdoor furniture and really awesome hammocks and hammock swings that are SO comfortable. I still haven't given up on my dream of owning one someday. :)

The only other thing I bought was a bottle of sparkling apple cider that my family helped drink up. Thankfully! It was very sugary so all I wanted was a little glass. But my younger brother was able to drink a lot of it being that he is a teenage boy who can eat whatever he wants. :) My little sister helped out a fair bit too.
I almost bought some yarn remnants from one of the yarn artists but I'm glad I didn't. I already have too much yarn that I haven't used yet and I can't justify any more. Truthfully I just can't justify any more craft supplies. :)
It's like a weird sickness or something. Am I the only one with this disease? :)

Oh summer...

Well, I don't think this summer is going to be the kind where I get to sit lazily in a hammock and breathe honeysuckle air and just take in nature in general. No. Not for awhile anyway. I'm very busy these next few weeks. I'm working 5 days a week this week and for the next 2 weeks at the dentist office so most of my days are filled with with dental assisting. I have been working on some fun stuff but our computer isn't letting me upload pictures so it will be awhile before I do any posting. But I am planning to do some posting on the things that I've been up to lately including journaling, gardening, sewing (hopefully), stamping...I'm also hoping to go to a craft fair this weekend and I'm sure I'll have pictures of that!

In the meantime, enjoy your summer!

2 months old today!

It's weird to think that 2 months ago today our Olive was born. Since then she has grown considerably and her personality is developing. She is a lot of fun. We love her. :)Happy two-months-old-day, baby! You are the best niece I could ever ask for.

Where I'd like to be.

This is my summer dream come true. A hammock. Unfortunately it isn't mine. But it is my sister's (she own's two) and I got to spend a lovely hour and a half or so there today. I sat out there with my niece in my arms and Jacqueline sat in the swing across from me and we swung and chatted until Olive fell asleep. I think God decided to give us a few extra springlike days since I was so allergic to the outdoors the past few weeks and couldn't go out and enjoy it. It is very gracious of Him.Jacqueline and Matt have a lovely yard. It's full of different kinds of trees and there are forsythia bushes and a rose plant out there too. Their next-door neighbor has a beautiful rose garden which is nice to look at too. I think that in their situation it's better than having their own rose garden because they can enjoy the beauty of it without having to care for it. Having an infant and keeping up with a garden sounds like a pill to me.

I think there must be honeysuckle near the yard because it smelled so good out there too. It was just a perfect way to spend an afternoon. Under a shady tree with a slight breeze, chatting with my sister (before they leave for 3 weeks!), snuggling Olive, inhaling the wonderful smelling air...I could easily spend every day this summer doing nothing but swinging outdoors. I could read out there, eat out there, knit or sew, nap in my hammock swing...

Someday I will have my own home and I will have a garden and in that garden I will hang hammocks and I will spend all summer outdoors in my garden planting things and when I'm not planting I'll be in my hammock. And I'll hang an extra one for visitors. Because the only thing that could make spending a summer outdoors in a garden with a hammock more pleasant is to have a friend out there with you.