A Hunter or A Gatherer?

Well the answer to this question for me is yes, on both counts. I love to go hunting with my family.We get to do this as a family and that is important. My oldest doesn't care much for anything outdoors but he tags along. The little one however eats, drinks and sleeps hunting. The TV channel is always on some kind of hunting. So this weekend we took him out with us to show him the preparation side of hunting. He needs to know its not all about just going out and sitting in a stand and shooting. There is scouting and knowing where the deer are. And the stands have to be checked and secure with clear shooting lanes. Our main task yesterday was to put up two stand right next to each other so that he and his dad could hunt together without crowding each other. So it took a while and he got real tired but we got the job done. And he and his dad were very happy. There was real good deer sign in the area and we have seen several deer while watching through binoculars. So I think he has a good chance of not only harvesting a deer but watching how they act and react to other deer and the sign of people in their area. One of the parts of hunting I enjoy is just sitting back and taking in all of nature. The soft sounds of the woods is very peaceful and to see animals in there own habitat acting the way nature intended can be very amusing. I once watched a spotted deer jumping around and splashing in a puddle over and over again. And just this weekend I saw a buck rear up on his hind legs and kick at a little one for just playing around him. He obviously didn't want to be bothered while eating his dinner. And it funny to see how squirrels chase each other while jumping from tree to tree, flipping around and even falling only to catch themselves on another branch. I love all aspects of nature. And yes we also eat the animals, that is how God intended.

But since Justin is his mother's child he also was in the fields with me picking up corn cobs, husks, whole cobs with corn and acorns. The cobs I will be dipping in scented wax to use in bowl fillers and the acorns are going to be used in a Halloween decorating projec,t I will share that with you later. But he still had hunting on the brain so all the full ears of left over corn from the combine were put in a pile in front of his trail camera. lol Gotta love that boy!

This was hard work but it was a good time spent with the family!

Bread Anyone?

Well today I was up early and since it's the kids last day before they start school I let them sleep in! So after getting hubby off to work I started on some crafts. I have several orders from two of my best customers so today I was making for them. I made foe homemade bread. The pattern is from Hill Country Creations and it was my first time making them. I think they turned out really good. They look like I let them rise a little too long but that is because my boys wanted to help me stuff them. And who couldn't use a little help? They had no idea what I was talking about when I tried to show them how to shape them, and it was very funny watching the oldest try to stuff with the craft stick. The little one kept asking if his was full enough and it looking lumpy so I had to help a little. But all in all we had a good time stuffing. We did decide that we need a stuffing machine like Build a Bear has, so if you want to get us an early Christmas present it's OK by us. It turned out nice today so we took them outside to grunge them up and let them air dry. I tried a new stain mix today with molasses and I liked how it looked but the bread came out sticky. So I had to add a little more spice to it keep it from being so tacky. I think I will use this method again though, maybe on Hams! I finished them off with some grungy cheese cloth and twine and stuck two in pans. It was a very fun pattern and I got to spend time with my boys. Life is good! Well school tomorrow so I will be missing them for sure, but I just may get a few more crafts made.

The Brenda Photo Challenge

One of the blogs I follow has a fun picture challenge.
Each challenge has a new theme and this
month was my first one to participate in. And the challenge was Dirt. Dirt what can you do with dirt. I searched high and low to try to find an interesting picture of dirt. I guess I couldn't see the potential in this one. So while on a outing with my photo club I snapped a few pics of possibilities. When I get home I always rush to my computer to see what I had captured. They never are the same when viewing them on the camera. The computer lets you see so much more in the picture. And while browsing through them I found this first picture. I had taken it because of the natural whole in the rock was so interesting and I could just imagine it filling with water during a rain, showing off all of the color rings in the stone. But while looking at it I noticed, in the bottom of this natural bowl, on top of this beautiful stone hill was Dirt! I was over thinking the challenge. So my advice to you would be to relax, shoot everything it all has hidden beauty and go with the flow. I also added the pic of dirt that I was trying to make look interesting. Who knows beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You can check out the other entries at The Brenda Photo Challenge Blog. Have a great weekend everyone and happy crafting.

We Have A Winner!

To start off I would like to thank everyone who signed up for my giveaway. It looks like we are all ready for some fall decorating. And I am right there with you all. I think this heat has alot to do with it, it needs to break soon! Anyway, you gave me lots of ideas to work with and I hope to be able to get them all on here real soon. So the winner will get the Scarecrow bobbin pick and I promised a surprise so in December she will also receive a copy of my Barns & Bridges calender! This will have pictures that I have taken myself from around our area of some beautiful places. Or at least I think they are beautiful. It's all in the eye of the beholder I guess. It will include the barn on my page and the one in this post, the rest you will have to wait to see. So Mandy Rash congratulations!!! I will have your prize out to you soon. Well I am up early and I better get busy there are orders to fill, shows to get ready for and patterns to buy. I just got a pattern yesterday for caramel apples!!!!! I love crafting! Have a good day everyone.

Woo Hoo!

Between the blog and the blog facebook page I am now over 100 followers! So you know what that means, it is time for a giveaway again. This is the item that will be given away. It is a scarecrow bobbin pick just in time for fall. So in order to be put in the drawing you need to leave a comment on my blog or facebook page. I will draw a name from everyone who does this on Thursday. The only thing is I want you to tell me in your comments what kind of primitives you would like to see on my blog. I will keep a note of all of them and see what I can do for you. Thank you all so much for following and liking my posts. I have really enjoyed the blog world so far and I am learning more and more every day from my fellow bloggers and followers. Happy crafting everyone!

It's All About Me

Well I am here, I haven't been on in a while. I have been trying to make some very important decisions. And in the process I have lost sleep and have kept myself confused and wore out so there has been no crafting getting done. I finally talked to my husband about it yesterday. He is great and supports me no matter what but he always wants me to make my own decisions, even when I want him to tell me what to do! So after our talk I have decided I will not be going back to work when school starts. My heart is doing OK but just the thought of having to keep up with those kids was stressing my out. And the doc said I need less stress because I have started having problems with anxiety. It is not so much of a problem for me but Joey said all the stores around here have probably got my picture posted like a bad check list and they are not going to let me in. Isn't he sweet? So I am trying real hard to be nice and keep my picture off the walls. So spending the nights sleepless wondering if I will get called in and the days dealing with kids will probably not help in my fight to stay calm. And in order for me to handle my pacemaker adjustments calm is what I need. I also decided I will not take the anxiety meds, they make me like a zombie, and no thyroid meds. As long as my heart is ok my thyroid seems to be staying stable and I have even lost six pounds! Woo Hoo! I will continue to take my potassium when I start noticing signs of it getting low and I will take my daily aspirin, just in case. So I feel like I am not hiding that from my family now since I have done it this way for three months already. I know, I am bad. So with a clear head and the help of some Tylenol pm I slept eleven hours last night. I feel much better now. And since the doc also wants me to keep active I am going to give my craft business a real shot and stop playing around. I will be doing orders and craft shows this fall. If all goes well by the end of the year I will set up an Etsy account to sell online and we will convert part of the garage into a craft room. I know this all sounds like stress but since I can do this at home, at my own pace I can keep the focus on my health and my family. I am super excited about making these changes and can't wait to get the ball rolling. I will also continue to blog and stay in my photo club because I enjoy doing both of them very much.

And like this picture I took, there are only two things for sure in life. There is life and death, all the things in the middle are just random decisions you make to decide if you live it to the fullest or waste your time waiting for the end to come. I love the Lord and know I will not have to worry about any of this when I am gone. So for now I will live life to the fullest, stay right with God and enjoy it while I am here. And I have wonderful family and friends to help me with that. I love them all.