Life with our Kitten

We have now had our kitten for a whole week now!
We had been going back and forth saying "It's a boy!" "It's a girl!" but we finally got to the vet who told us that it is a girl!! (Poor Dad.) Because of that factor the name we had chosen (Stormy) no longer fits.  So instead because she is so small we named her Milli.

We've been kinda worried that she isn't settling in well.

What do you think?.......

By Jacqueline

Insane

That is the word that would best describe us at this moment.


We have brought this......

Stormy & Audrey

(the cat not Audrey)

Into our house.

Yes, we know, you don't have to tell us.

We're insane.

A six week old kitten with our two, grumpy, middle-aged Cats.

( for those of you who don't know Twitchy died in January)

Yup......

We found him in a storm drain in the parking lot of the grocery store.  It took 30 minutes and half a can of wet food before we caught him.

In the last 36 hours he has resided in our home he has already:

*let us pick him up   *pet him

*purred   *begun to play

*gotten stuck behind the piano   *made the acquaintance of the above grumpy cats (did NOT go well)

Of course his meeting with the grumpy cats deserves its own paragraph.  Cecile sniffed him a few times and got her tail as bushy as a bottle brush before she promptly hissed.
Red didn't even have to sniff a few times before she decided that the cat was pure evil.   She hissed and growled her head off.

 By Jacqueline

Christmas Piano Recital

Out piano recital was earlier in December, but we had to learn how to get the video from the video camera to the computer.  Better late than never ;0)

We usually play in the church auditorium on a 9 foot Grand!, but this year we were in the choir practice room because the auditorium was set up for the Christmas music service. (The choir sang Vivaldi's Gloria and did an excellent job.)

We have a great teacher and have learned so much from her.  Thanks Mrs. M.

We each played three songs.  Here is Jacqueline playing Joy by Tom Geron.



Here I am playing Magnificent Monarch by Melody Bober.

December Projects

Like everyone else, December has been busy.  Shopping and a bit more shopping (thank heavens for the internet so some of it can be done in jammies ;0),   trying to get school done, baking, post office runs--really no different than your life.  So I thought I'd just post some pictures of what we're doing.

Jacqueline isn't a morning person.

Some siblings don't appreciate sing along

Twitch worked hard putting up the decorations--time to hang ten.

End of decorating Day 1

Stringing popcorn and watching "White Christmas"

Making Snow Globes

Jacqueline's latest decorating project.  Don't you love the color?!

Made this pattern over the fall, but it needed...

Face improvements

Making soap

Success!

What could be better then tasting the 'fruit' of our labour?

Wardrobe Change

Since the fall weather finally looks like it is here to stay, I decided to switch out my spring/summer clothes.   

 Organized Chaos

More Mess

Director of Operations

Organized, for now.

Switching out clothes is a really good time to try on favorite outfits. My usual excuse is that I am making sure they fit though the chance of me growing is slim. This skirt, top, and vest is one of my top two favorite fall outfits.  Mom made it for me last year from a sixties pattern we bought online.   I love vintage clothes, mostly because they are so smart and femine, qualities that are very hard to find in the stores today. 

I love not only facts about history but also seeing how life would have been.  Clothing is just one area of that.  I have several books on different eras of clothing that I love. One of the things that I have noticed is how causual our society has become.  It seems such a shame that when this pattern was published this outfit would have been for school or shopping but with the way our society is now, it can only be worn to church without looking overdressed.  I sincerely wish that not only recitals and parties but also daily life could regain some of its former elegance because there are many things that I would like to wear which I can't now. 

Applesauce

We went and visited Miss Laura and her family earlier this week.  We had such a good time with them.. so good I forgot to take very many pictures! When I am having fun reading to three or four cute kids, running around outside, cuddling a baby, or talking up a storm,  I, at least, forget my camera even exists!  We had hoped to pick some apples while we were there but the orchard had been picked clean.  So we just bought some apples for applesauce and apple butter.  There was even enough to squeeze out a pie! Mom discovered that we needed some canning equipment that didn't get here until late in Friday. So we didn't get to the applesauce until this morning.

One-on- one with Mom on a quiet Saturday morning turns into a peeling.. 

 and chopping festival!

The recipe that we used for applesauce is really good one that Miss Laura recommended. The recipe calls only for cinnamon but we put in nutmeg and cloves too.

This was my first time canning anything and Mom hasn't done it very much either  so it was very interesting to see exactly what is done and very rewarding when the first batch "popped".

Since we are new at canning the mistakes we made were very interesting too.  We put to much water in the bath and boiling water spilled over the sides a couple of times!   Now we most definitely know what not to do the next time around.

The very first one!

Projects

A couple of years ago somebody gave me a book about knitting toys for children which I haven't ever used.  I looked through it and liked the projects but never had any reason to make them.  Fast forward to present: me with an ever growing yarn stash.  I decided that I really needed to do something with my yarn before I found myself knee deep in it. I started looking through my books to find something that could work and discovered a pattern for a knitted doll.  Since I had quite a bit of different colored yarn leftover from my purses, I decided to try it.

The first one I  made was the pink and purple  fairy.  The pattern was easy to follow and didn't take to much time.  Trying to embroider her face, do something, anything with her hair, and arranging her skirt to look like petals (I imagined her as a flower fairy), was what took the most time!  I think I starred at the skirt for the better part of a week, trying it first one way and then another!

The green and yellow one was an accident.  But once Mom found the netting, I was in love.  The skirt and the hair went much smoother this time.  So did her face.  I only had to do it once!

This project was a lot of fun and easy to do. I do think I would make it again just not in the immediate future.  One can do the same pattern for only a short time.

How We Use 80 Feet of Rope!

Dad had to work most of the day on Saturday (his line was running), so when he came home he decided that he needed a project to help him relax . The first thing he hit upon was a rope swing. So he packed Jacqueline and me off to the home improvement store to buy 80 feet of rope! When we got home, Jacqueline and I found our work clothes and then headed out to help him.

The rope was in 3 different pieces so we had to find the longest one and then tie a pair of knots on either side of the middle where the ropes attached to the swing would go.

One bored Jacqueline + one camera= a lot of funny pictures

Tying the rope around the tree. (Dad is standing on a ladder in our tree house)

On the other side Jacqueline had to hold the rope taunt. 

When Dad finished one side, he had to tie the other .

I think that we were all praying at this point. 

Once Dad had finished tying and had gotten off the ladder the mood lightened a lot, probably because no one was  thinking about how far away the nearest emergency room is!

Jacqueline was so excited that she couldn't wait for the seat! Swinging is her favorite think to do.  She is outside for an hour or two almost every day!

Drilling holes in the seat for the ropes.

Tying knots in the rope.  Notice that Dad's favorite beverage for working (and not working)  has made it's appearance

Mom was worried about how a rope tied to 2 trees was going to support any one's weight so she made Dad try it first.

After individual turns, Jacqueline and I decided to go together.   Even Mom tried the swing although she declined any souvenir photos.

Jacqueline has commented that in all of our videos one or both of us is screaming.  So here is a continuation of that tradition.