Hello from the land of doctoral studies!

So... I have been terribly remiss in posting. I landed my dream job and went back to grad school full time. A happy combination, but an extremely busy one needless to say. My bustling life has found the IG community to be very rewarding as I am on the go so very much.

However, the warmth of this spring day beckoned my heart back to my first love ~ blogging. I know I will not be as regular in my contributions as in former days, but my heart craves this space to think and breath and send happy wishes out into the great big world.

Crafting helps me keep my sanity these days. Any moment I can steal away into the craft room - even if just to fluff my nest for five minutes - feels like pure golden joy. Rejuvinates my heart,  empowering me to a place of calm and a sense of God's peaceful presence.

Miss Lucy Cat is sweet and ornery as ever. She is my furry baby and knows it. What a spoiled little thing she is! But I would not have her any other way.

Well, end of term grading calls my name, so I will bid adieu. Be back sooner rather than later this time, though! ;-)

Wishing you warm sunshine smiles! 

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

After our Williamsburg trip, I had precisely two days at home before journeying off again. Only this time in the complete opposite direction of our last trip and minus hubby. This excursion held a new exitement, for it meant getting to spend time with my sister who had moved states away for over a year. It also meant quality time with my parents and the opportunity to see new landscape. 

 However, I had just cozied back into my home routine. My morning breakfast rituals of coffee or tea with some sweet eat and devotions. All my pretty dishes. Table cloths. Quiet moments. Morning views.  

 The colorful details of my homely nooks. Embroidered pillows. Vintage linens. Happy familiarness. In a mere two days, these simple delights had not lost any of their charm. On the contrary, the thought of leaving my home again so soon and this time for just over two weeks simply wasn't striking my fancy. 

Lucy Cat seemed to understand. She saw my suitcase again by the door and hopped up into my lap for some chin rubs. She always seems to understand my mood. The thought of missing her cuddles made me (I will admit) a bit misty-eyed. 

But, I also knew that leaving would be the hardest part. Once I was on the road again, I would revel in all the new and beautiful experiences that awaited and cherish the moments with my loved ones. Yes, I would miss John, home, and Lucy Cat, but the time would go by quickly and they would be there waiting for me with open arms upon my return. 

And I was right. 

I will be delving into my trip West in the coming posts. Until then...

Wishing a happy day to you!

Lucy Cat on Animoto!

Wanna see something cute, adorable, and oh so sweet? 
Check out Lucy in this fun little Animoto video I made: 
Miss Lucy is So Pretty

I have had so much fun playing around with this app this week! My kinders love it! I try to catch them each doing something every week or two and then premiere a new video on Fridays during snack time. So many uses for this app!

Happy Lucy Day!

 Hard to believe that a year ago today, we brought our baby 

home from the animal shelter.  

 Hubby knew he wanted a grey cat. I knew I wanted a short haired one.

 But most of all, we wanted a cat to snuggle 

and love and give a good home.

Lucy is a cat of many moods ~ 

sometimes cuddly, sometimes playful, sometimes wild.

 No matter the mood, we know she is our kitten cat. 

To love and nurture and make our house a home. 

 After I scooped her out of her shelter crate and held her to my heart, I knew she was mine. Lucy instantly wrapped her two sweet paws around my neck and claimed me as her mama.

The shelter didn't have her actual birth date on record, but we choose to celebrate this day as her Homecoming Day. So glad she came home with us! Now, she is queen of our castle (and we but her humble servants). There is never a day she doesn't bring us a chuckle. 

We love you, Lucy Cat!

♡♡♡♡♡

What is your lovable pet story?

Before & After with a Kitchen Sneaky Peak

How do you like my pink chair? The color is watermelon from the Krylon family of spray paints. I crocheted the stool cover from the pattern in Nicki Trench's book Cute and Easy Crochet - a book which has been popularly circulating the blogosphere and for good reason. The title perfectly encompasses the patterns that fill this delightful book.  

You can see from the before pictures above that there was nothing wrong with the chair. It was a great buy - only $4 instead of $84. However, I wanted to happify it for my kitchen redo. 

Hubby was a little sad to see the brown and cream go bye-bye, but Lucy whole-heartedly approves. As a matter of fact, she seems to think that this chair was made for her own especial benefit. I was going to sew the crocheted cover onto the stool, but Mimsie had the good suggestion to leave it as is so I could easily remove it for washing. Glad I followed her advice! Little One loves leaving her fur all over this piece, so it is wonderful to be able to simply toss it in the wash without a thought. 

I just love how the light illuminated the bright whiteness of her whiskers. Oh, the simple joys of life!

May you, dear friend, find many simple pleasures along the path of your life today and always!

Kitchen Redo Progress

 So, as you can see, the kitchen redo is coming along rather slowly. We have had some unexpected plumbing and car issues arise which set me behind budget wise for a smidge of time. However, I did get notice that I will receive a bit of a raise at work this year (we haven't for a over a year now), so I think I'm going to buy paint this week. Half of the cabinets have been painted white, but the other half are still waiting. There is so much more to move off the shelves on this side of the kitchen that I made sure to leave this side for last. (Terribly lazy of me, I know!)

 Here is the curtain that I sewed together back in May. You may notice an addition to it. I had a sneaky suspicion as I was sewing it together at Mimsie's that it would need to be lengthened in order to cover the dishwasher's gap and my hunch was correct. 

 Thankfully, I all ready had some coordinating fabric in my stash that made for the perfect header to my curtain. I knew from the second I picked up the cheery red print at Zeke's fabric outlet that it needed to be used in my kitchen, but just didn't know where at the time. Problem solved! And rather more quickly than I thought it would be, too. 

 Lucy has always adored hiding behind curtains. They seem to afford her the perfect place to practice her stealthy pounces on unsuspecting prey (mostly John and I, but the occasional moth or beetle are just fine, too). I never anticipated just how fascinated Lucy would be with this newly curtained area. I often walk into the kitchen and smile to see her grey scraggly tail curling out from underneath.

I hope to share more pictures soon. I only have about a week and a half left before the summer starts winding down, so I'd better get to work quickly!

Till next time...

Quiet Pursuits

 I have found that "those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer" have not yet materialized for me. Each day seems to bring a new busyness to it. Yet, I find somehow that I don't mind too much. As long as I get a chance to start the day off with some quiet time and a cuppa joe.

While I may not be able to indulge in full-blown laziness, I have been able to find bits and pieces of leisure time sprinkled throughout each day that quite suit my fancy. Yarn and hook are never far from my side.

Neither is Miss Lucy Cat. It would seem this little miss has been enjoying the stolen bits of summer just as much as I have. She is quite childlike being noticeably more amiable when her mommy is home. Lucy follows me around each day and is always eager to greet me at the back door whenever I come home from errands and visiting. The patter of her sweet paws are one of the many simple joys of my life just now. 

What simple joys are you enjoying during this sweet season?

Is that a Lucy Cat I see?

Why, yes! I do believe it is! 

Our furry baby loves to be cuddled and snuggled by her mommy and daddy, but we thought we would be pushing our luck when we enveloped her in this sleep sack. At first, she squirmed, but then she popped her two front paws out and threw herself back in her daddy's arms for a royal belly rubbing. Isn't she just adorable? Maybe mommy will have to crochet her one of her own someday soon....

 I have recently begun trying my hand at crocheting baby cocoons (aka sleep sacks). Since this past June, I have had 23 friends and family who have had or announced they are having a baby. Normally, there are only 2 or 3 babies being born in any given year, thus my long-time tradition of crocheting an afghan for each new little life was never in danger of extinction. With this bumper crop of babies, though, I knew I had to find some new and quicker patterns to make! 


There has been some trial and error. Not all cocoon patterns are equal. I tried 3 different ones before I found the one above. I have decided to stick with using it, but just vary the yarns and embellishments from now on. Nothing is as disheartening as tired fingers yanking out nearly a whole skein of yarn after your stubborn brain finally admits the pattern is not working up the way it should. 


One of the features that first drew me to this particular pattern was the little cowl top, but I have yet to attempt that part of the pattern. (Guess those 3 previous errors are still messing with my head).  For now, I simply crochet the pattern until it is the length and width I want finishing it off rather than stitching the cowl. If you should try the full pattern, let me know how it works out for you. Maybe I will brave up and try it, too. 


This particular baby pod was made for a new little guy named Teyton. As I finished weaving in the last yarn tail, Hubby queried, "So does that make this a Tater Sack?" 
Good thing we both have a corny sense of humor.


Till next time,



P.S. I fully laundered the baby sack before gifting it to the actual baby for whom it was intended. Lucy was barely in it for 2 minutes ;-)

Long time no see!

Well, I did see some of you on Pinterest ;-) It has been so much fun finding new ideas, new projects for the home, new recipes, and most of all - connecting with new people who share my interests! I definitely see now how blogging and Pinterest can go hand in hand. 

For example: 

See this pin above from the Mod Podge Rocks blog? It inspired me to use materials I all ready had on hand to make this.

 The frame was picked up years ago for 10 cents at a thrift store. I created a backing from scrapbook paper stock. The keys were a fairly recent purchase from the Michael's dollar bin. (and since I am a teacher, I now get an additional 15% off which made the keys 85 cents each... oh my cow, I love a good deal!)

I hung it beneath the wreath that was the backdrop for our wedding cake last July. It has white twinkle lights woven through it which make a lovely golden glow in this corner during the cozy winter evenings.

❄❄❄❄❄

Meanwhile, even though my blog has been woefully neglected, my hands have still been busy with more than a few happifying makes. And now that we are finally getting inches and inches of the fluffy white stuff, snow days have given me the opportunity to get even more projects done around our home. 

To briefly catch you up on our corner of the world, the last week of 2011 was full of beautiful memories of times spent together with friends and family. Lucy (aka Punkin Bear as John has affectionately nicknamed her) enjoyed our first Christmas together as a family.Her antics keep us in stitches and her sweet, loving cuddles warm the cockles of our hearts. Since we do not plan to start a family right away, she is truly our furry child and we are eating up every minute of being her "mom" and  "dad."

Hope your 2012 is off to a wonderful start. May every day of this year bring you more joy and less sorrow!