Available Puppies (for the local folks)

Posting here to make it easier for folks to see the puppy pictures. It saves time compared to emailing!

Here are the puppies... (names can be changed, we just didn't want to call them all "puppy")

The mom is a brittany. Brittanys are well-known as loyal family dogs that adore children. Our brittany, Meadow, fits this. Brittanys love to be with their people and her puppies are similar. The father is a black lab. Meadow follows me around the house and is very mild-mannered. She's a bird dog and naturally has a soft mouth (aka - she doesn't grab people). Her pups have lovely personalities.

Cedar - this has been the darling of my girls. He was the smallest puppy at birth, but not a whole lot compared to the others. He has a cute white chin and white paws. He loves to be wrapped up and snuggled. He seeks out children and will cry if he wants love and attention. If you want a puppy to follow you everywhere, he's probably a great choice! His tail never stops wagging.

Pics of Cedar:

Snapdragon - He's about as laid back as his biggest brother (going to Anna's house). He's more of the type to hang back. He isn't shy, but he definitely isn't a dominant leader type. This would be a great puppy for a home that might want to avoid the super bouncy climby type. He has more of a lab build and is very thick. Of course, I can't promise that won't change later! hehe. He is mainly black with a bit of white on his chest.

Yarrow - he will eagerly clambor up onto any open lap. He *adores* Noah (2) and will allow him to gently tote him around. If you have littles that like active puppies, this is a good one. However, he will also sit to be scratched. Charli got him to "sit" and then spent five minutes scritching under his chin. He's a lovely puppy, floppy ears, and appears to have more of the brittany build. He is inquisitive and fun. After about 10 minutes of play he climbed up in a lap and went to sleep. He has a half white chin.

If someone wants two puppies I'd recommend Snapdragon and Yarrow going together.

If you want me to hold a puppy for you, I can do that. All puppies are well-socialized with a variety of children and ages. We're raising them off of our kitchen and often take them out for playtime (together and individually). *This* is the type of puppy I'd want for a family with children. They're not going to be shocked by loud noises or chase the family cat. (Our family cats don't put up with a lot of puppy antics.. so the pups have a HUGE amount of respect for felines).

Getting rolling...

Next week we'll resume school. It's going to be nice to have a routine again! We have enjoyed our time off. The Christmas stuff is put away, the puppies are getting closer to leaving (1/17), and the next big celebration is Bethany's 10th birthday.

I have made progress on Dear Jane - I will be adding pictures later on.

My household journal is also getting in shipshape. It is nice to have this stuff out of my head and on paper. Yesterday, I organized my sewing corner to make it possible to have a place to set my sewing machine. I usually sew at the dining room table. It makes life easier because I can sew while the children are playing. If I squirreled it away somewhere I'd never get to sew.

I want to make this easy quilt for the living room: http://quiltville.com/striptwist.shtml First, I need more fabric! I can't believe my stash is actually dwindling. Noah "helped" me organize my fabrics and I've less than a thought.. c'mon Hancocks.. have a good sale! hehe.

That's about it for our news. We're planning for a quiet family weekend before the routine starts again next week!

PR: We're really missing church. We're hopeful to find a second vehicle or large van. If those inclined would pray with us, we'd appreciate it. We're blessed that we have a vehicle, and that we've enjoyed a more quiet intimate year so far, but we still really miss a church fellowship. It's been weighing a lot on my heart lately. I told Jim we should tell a church if they'll loan us their bag van on sundays we'll be happy to increase their church memberships by 8! hehe. We don't feel comfortable double buckling or whatnot the children to be able to go.. All in God's time. :)

Making Time For Jane

I did name the quilt, at least I think I'm sticking with this name.

Many times when I do things I hear from others "Oh, I'd never have time for that.." It can come in response to a book I read, afghan I finished, having six children, camping, homeschooling, natural childbirth, baking bread, wanting to grind grain, and so on. When I went to school fulltime the fall before last (5 classes) I heard it even more. lol. I did tell everyone the trick is to ditch the television and phone. I answer email, but I rarely get on the phone for long conversations anymore. I think I talk to my Dad the most because he doesn't type a lot!

I hear it a *lot* about sewing and quilting too.. or I hear "If I had time.."

Well, eventually a person has to make time for whatever they'd like to do -- especially if that activity might be more of blessing later on. For me, my quilting will be more profitable than watching a television show. I used to love The Amazing Race and was excited about watching it this year -- I haven't seen a single episode. The last television show I watched was America's Test Kitchen (PBS cooking show) because Naomi was nursing. In 50 years my quilt(s) will still be around, but nobody will care who I wanted to win TAR. lol. Also, it gives me a chance to either chat with the various children that wander past.. or listen to talk radio/sermons on my ipod while stitching.

The quilting I do with friends allows me to fellowship in a way that has been lost to many. Sitting around a quilting frame, discussing family and life, is much different than a five minute conversation with a mom during softball season. Life is slower, the talk is more in depth, and the encouragement is sincere.

So, without guilt, I'm "Making Time For Jane". I'm not waiting for the kids to grow up, the puppies to find homes, for the money for the perfect fabrics, for my quilting skills to increase, for me to lose weight, for the house to be spotless, or anything else. I'm doing it now -- even though I'm a busy mom of a half dozen blessings and praying for more. :)

Dear Jane - New Year's Day

Our family is going through a round of colds and yuck. We've all been left a little crabby, so we've spent New Year's Day trying to pass time in a nice manner. Daddy has overloaded on football, Mommy worked on quilting (while listening to talk radio), and the children enjoyed a day of freedom.
Here is my Dear Jane progress so far:
This block was SUCH a trial. I starte on it yesterday, but grew tired of some of the flubs. I resumed it today and finished it.. after ripping out numerous seams. Whew. I think this isn't a block to try while under the weather. It is
I-12 Fred's Square Fair This block was my reward for finishing up with Fred! It was very simple and I like these colors together. It is J4 Adelaine's Apron Strings.

A few of these colors ar similar, but they will not be next to each other in the quilt. This combo looks much prettier in person. This one is L7 Town Square This block gave me more fits than Fred's Square Fair, but I didn't do as much ripping out. I just stared at it.. a lot. I still didn't get it quite right (shh! don't tell). I'll probably redo this one.. or just assume nobody will know the flub except for me. (For the Dear Jane ladies, I'm sure someone notices the problem. I'm not sure if the PP'ing pattern is off or if I assembled it incorrectly. Today was too chaotic for me to really dig into it).

It is: G2 Mohawk's Trail

F3 Snowball:

H13 Farm Fields (I couldn't resist the farm fabric):

Total for 1/1/08: 16 blocks. Goal for this week: 25 blocks. (Want to hit a certain level for the Dear Jane mailing list!).

Here are the levels:

Silver--25

Gold--50

Diamond--75

Jubilee--100

Platinum --130

Wonder Workers --all 169 blocks completed

Miracle Workers --all block and all triangles completed

Goddess-- Dear Jane quilt finished.

Admittedly, my progress will slow as I hit the intermediate/advanced blocks, plus the applique will greatly slooow me down. I'm also starting the Women of the Bible quilt next week (1 block per week) along with the Bible study. Oh.. and school, yeah.. that starts next week too! Although I can run the sewing machine while discussing math problems. :)