Wallpaper is the devil!

I like a good renovation, don't get me wrong, but wallpaper is a huge mess to deal with. My dad and I are fixing up one of the cottages for some renters coming in on the first and 'he' started a project we just couldn't finish. This one room had 4+ layers of wallpaper on it and we've been working at it for several days now without much improvement. In fact we're making the room uglier by the second. We tried using vinegar and hot water on the walls to get it off and then a miracle product DIF that doesn't work a true miracle. We even went so far as to rent a professional steamer to work on the walls but none of them are doing the trick. And we're both getting impatient about it. Dad finally decided today to just cover it up with some extra paneling we had from a previous renovation (our motto, save everything because you may need it one day). It will cover two of the walls and we're going to mud over one of them and just prime and paint. This post is just to remember how horrible removing wallpaper is and to prevent myself and anyone else out there reading this from ever doing it again.

p.s. I didn't write this for suggestions on how to remove wallpaper because we did everything we were supposed to and it was still awful. We scored the walls with those little circle tools and followed all the instructions but to no avail. Never again!

Unexpected Joys

I got an unexpected call from my cousin last week wondering if she and her husband could come up to jolly Maryland for a visit. Now considering Symphony and Caleb had just come home with Joy I very quickly realized that they didn't want to really see me but the baby instead. I am completely fine with that I just wish they would have said that to begin with.

All kidding aside it was a wonderful two days spent with Emily and Rob. They just moved to North Carolina so they're only about 5 hours away from us instead of the 17hrs when they lived in FL. It was a joy to visit with them.

Joy isn't afraid of heights at all and the sun doesn't bother her when she's sleeping either.

We went to Antietam Battlefield and did some drive-by reading of the monuments. And of course we went to the top of the Tower at Antietam (don't ask me it's real name because I couldn't tell you).


And after that we went to Harpers Ferry where Emily really wanted to take a picture by one of these white informational signs. Go figure.



There were kind enough to pull over so I could take a picture of one of the canons at Antietam battlefield. I thought the color of the aged/oxidized copper was really cool. Maybe something to incorporated in a painting or quilt.

All in all it was great fun seeing them both. Hopefully I can make it down to see them before the end of the summer is over.

Blessed

So the moment that everyone has anticipated in my family for months arrived last Saturday. Symphony and Caleb came home bringing with them Jaclyn Joy Lovelady. It is so amazing to be able to hold and love this little child of God that came into our family so unexpectedly. She is truly a blessing like none other. While I pick on her a lot for looking like a little old man (and if she scrunches her face just right one of those little tree monsters off of the movie the The Mummy II, sorry Symph) she is of course the most beautiful child I've ever seen. She's so tiny but she's already got character and strength all her own. Symphony and Caleb are going to have their hands full with this little wiggler. She's going to be crawling around getting into all sorts of mischief before they know it.

We had most of the Brown family over this past weekend to celebrate .
So of course there was lots of family portraits.

Here's Great Grandma and Grandpa.

The four generations picture. Four generations of love and life.

And of course Joy and her favorite Aunt posing pretty for the camera!

I don't know how I'll ever survive with them living so far away in Fort Hood, Texas. It's just not fair. Symphony and Caleb are going to be great parents, I know that, but Joy is going to need someone to play with and who better than her favorite Aunt.

Father of all,
Be with this new family of yours as they move so far away from their earthly family. Please provide them with friends and a church family in Texas that will help them when they need it, and keep them close to you always. Keep Caleb safe as he works and Symphony sane while she takes care of Joy. May Joy grow daily learning about You and Your world so that she'll never forget who You are. I love you and I thank you for your many blessings.

So you know I love you

Some no bake cookies for Symphony, whom I've promised for a while to give, to be sent with mom tomorrow!

*edit: make that try to let you know that I love you because you won't be getting these. I goofed the recipe up! This time instead of cereal type no bakes I got gloppy no bakes due to adding too much milk (oops!). Sorry but know that I will have plenty of goodies for you when you come home:) I love you

Jaclyn Joy Lovelady

In case you haven't heard yet there's a new addition to our family as of yesterday. Here is my niece Jaclyn Joy Lovelady. She was born July 9, 2007 around 11:30 am eastern time. She ways 6lbs. 7oz. and I have no idea how long she is but does that matter? Look at her adorable face.

Granted the picture is not the best but mom will take care of that when she flies out to Arizona tomorrow to visit her kids (Symph and Caleb) and hold her new "joy". How I wish I could be on that plane with her tomorrow but I'll just have to wait another 9 days before they come home to visit before moving to Fort Hood, Texas. Mommy and baby are doing just fine (and I think daddy's doing okay too now that he's gotten some rest:). They're already home and recovering and discovering everything they can about each other. How I long to hold her and tell her just how much I love her and have anticipated and prayed for her coming into this world.

Thank you God for the many blessings that you give us in this life. May we never forget to give credit where it's do and have a joyful and thankful heart in you.

It's about time!

So I finally got my vegetable garden started this year! It's not much of anything right now simply because I don't have a lot of time to take care of it nor the equipment to get it bigger quick. I've been hand tilling the earth and planting seedlings I started as well as store bought plants. Most of the seedlings actually didn't survive but there are a few zucchini plants that survived and that makes me so happy! If only I had an entire garden of zucchini I'd be even happier. No I'm just kidding. Although I am a bit partial to zucchini I also love many other vegetables. Here's some pictures of the plants I've started......

These are all my tomato plants! I like tomatoes almost as much as I like zucchini.

Here's a picture of the rest of the plants. There's mostly tomatoes right now. With a few zucchini plants a yellow squash, cumber, and green pepper plant. I want to get more in the ground still, but this will have to do for now.

Then there's this mysterious vine that was right next to my little garden. Have any idea what this plant could possibly be? If you do please let me know so I can know to either let it be or pull it.

I know it might seem crazy to be planting a vegetable garden when I can just go to the store and buy vegetables without all of the work. A certain sister of mine thinks I'm crazy for doing it I'm sure (among other things). There's a certain satisfaction in planting your own garden and being able to eat plants that you helped to grow. I enjoy the being outside and seeing the plants mature. The best part though is being able to just go out in the garden and pick something to cook for dinner. So much better than having to go to the grocery store!

Next summer (or maybe even this summer if I get around to it), I want to plant the back field of my parents property with sunflowers of all kinds. We'll see if that ever happens though.

Not goodbye

So yea,

Only one of the coolest people I know is going to begin her journey to Australia in about 3 hrs. She's going to be there for two years training people to be disciples through an organization called YWAM. She's going to be on staff there working in the Biblical Studies program.



She's not one of those girly girls (no offense to those of you who are), that like to talk about hair and make-up or boys all the time (again no offense to those of you who do). This is probably one of the reasons that I appreciate our friendship so much. I'm not very girly (or at least I don't feel so most of the time) and it's nice to have someone around that I can relate to. She is very "real" and not afraid to be herself in front of everybody.



An instant friend to anyone, she is super-fun to be around, and always easy to talk to. I value her friendship and insight into life and God's workings in it, more than she knows. Although she can be a little dramatic sometimes (something to do with her being a middle-child and all), there's never a dull moment.


It is my hope and prayer that while she is back in Australia, she continues to glorify you God in all that she does. Father, help her to train up disciples to follow you and know you more. May she remember that You are always with her in the good times and the bad, and that Your plans for her are better than any she could have planned for herself. I love you and thank you for putting her in my life.

It's a girl!

There's going to be another girl in the family! Symphony found out today. Pray for dad with all of us girls to contend with:)

Remembering

For Good Friday this year my friends and I watched the Passion of the Christ and then spent some time together talking, reading scripture and singing. I had seen the movie before but never really taken the time after watching it to think about what I'd just seen. Something that stood out to me while watching was how Jesus was silent for the most part while the people persecuted him. He didn't defend himself or show them their own faults, He simply let them do what He knew had to be done in order for all of us to be forgiven. I kept hoping He would say some cutting remark (trust me, there were a thousand going through my head), to hurt those hurting Him. But that would have completely defeated the purpose of His sacrifice. There was also the scene with Judas running down the hill with all of those little demonic children chasing after him and harassing him on all sides. I've definitely 'felt' like that before, when there's too many conflicting thoughts coming at me from all sides trying to break me down and I let them get to me.

After the movie we sat around thinking, reading scripture, and singing. Just generally worshiping God. It was something I haven't done in a long time. When it comes to worship that is sung I often find it hard to do in church. It's not that the worship is bad (all of the time) or anything like that. It is mainly because worship became more about me hearing my own voice than worshiping God. Then there's the issue of analyzing the songs that you're singing to see if they are praiseworthy enough to sing for the glory of God. Oh and don't forget about the music being so loud that you're too irritated to actually sing, let alone worship. I think that one of the most amazing things to hear is the sound of hundreds of people singing out to praise the God that we are all congregated together for. Worship for me in the past couple of years has been more of a time spent with Him in His creation along with prayers of thanksgiving and praise. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it felt good to sing again and glorify God.

worship-The reverent love and devotion accorded a deity

Alas no kayaking

While I don't like to admit that I'm a fair weather kayaker, I'll admit that I did not go kayaking today partly because of the rain. The other part of me not kayaking was because I wanted to spend some much needed time with my family. I was able to spend some time with my two sisters whom I love and hardly ever get to see, so it was a pleasure to see them both today. They are both so much fun when we're all getting along.

Glorious Spring!

I went for my first bike ride of spring yesterday and it was absolutely wonderful. I'm looking forward to the next! Hopefully it doesn't rain tomorrow and some kayaking can be done too.

Best of Show!

Ok, so I know it's been almost a month since this event actually happened but just in case you were wondering how it went............


First, here are some pictures from the Wild and Wacky Cardboard Sled Derby:

Showing up with the whale and boat on our trailer to Whitetail Ski Resort was probably the most fun out of the entire event. Watching everyone's facial expressions as we unloaded the beast was great fun! The actual race itself was very short-lived. The sled went of it's own accord for probably about 3 seconds. One moment of those 3 seconds ended up in the local paper though. The photographer for the Herald Mail caught an image of me running in front of the whale as if I was being chased by it (this was actually the moment right before I jumped into the mouth of the whale, definitely something I'll never forget). It was great fun!

We ended up winning Best of Show and 2nd place for funds raised. While yes it is a very strange and bizarre thing for people to make cardboard sleds and race them it is definitely for a good cause. Not only does it encourage community by bringing people together, but it also benefits Cedar Ridge Boys Ministry.

No children were hurt in the sledding of the beast!

Slor Fest 2007

So what have I been up to lately? Well other than being completely weird because of medications from my wisdom teeth removal surgery (yea I guess I did act a little weird, but I just thought it was my everyday normal kind of weird, apparently it was a bit more than that from the accounts I hear from my friends), and sleeping a lot because they made me sleepy, I've been working with my friends on a sled! Not just any sled though. You see this sled is a giant whale sled with a mini boat to go with it. We are making this sled to enter in the Cedar Ridge Wild and Wacky Card Board Sled Derby.

Here are a few photos of our work in progress.

All of the helpers include: Karla, Matt, Dustin, Joel, Amy, Katie, and then there's me.

You have to be careful with this whale because it has teeth and likes to eat people that say "glorious day" all the time. Joel was it's first victim. His memorial service will be held this Sunday at 2pm at Whitetail ski resort where we will also be holding the sled race at the same time. Once we've finished racing we're going to be cutting the whale open to retrieve his remains. I know it will be a sad day but it should also be a day to celebrate the going home of our dear friend.

Hope to see you there (whoever you are)!

Favorites

This a a few of my favorite pictures that I have found of flickr recently. There are a lot of amazingly talented people on there! Click on picture for a larger view.

Winter Wonderland

This winter has been a strange one indeed. It started out with record highs and now we're down to record lows. They even had a two hour delay for local schools the other day because it was too cold (with wind chills of -17 degrees!). Anyways I came home today to work on my car before Bible study and to my astonishment the creek was covered in ice.


This being my parents first winter at the Creekhouse, we'd never experienced anything like this. Last year around this time I was taking my friends kayaking down the creek. I must say that although it is cold it is still beautiful to behold. I am thankful for the winter weather and have enjoyed seeing snow around here lately (even though it doesn't last for very long). Now all we need is a really good snow to go sledding with.

Here are a few other pictures of the creek that we have come to call home.


It's really quite fun when the fog is out in full force here (that is if you're not driving around in it of course).

Wedding bells are ringing!

This is my baby sister. I can remember holding her and feeding her as a baby as well as changing her diapers. Then when she began to crawl she would climb up onto anything and everything, including the couch to look out the window. We couldn't leave any of the animal food out where she could get to it because she'd eat their food instead of her own. As she got a bit older we would play school togehter and I would help her learn to read and write. We were play pals growing up and I can remember sometimes tickling her and trying to make her laugh so hard the she'd begin to cry (sorry about that). Okay so I wasn't exactly the greatest older sister but I just wanted to make her smile. My favorite memory of when we were younger was when all three of us would sneak out into the hallway in the middle of the night and huddling together in front of the heater. We would sprawl out on the floor and just fall asleep there all together 'til morning when mom or dad found us all lying there.




Well now she's growing up so fast I can't believe it. She's married! I can't quite come to grips with it all yet because I still want to protect my sister from all the bad things out there in the world. I want to keep her close to me and not let her get hurt by anyone or anything. Now that she's married it's going to be a bit more difficult to come over early in the morning and jump on her bed to wake her up so we can talk. Or have that time with her late at night while everyone's sleeping to goof around. She's got someone else to do these things with her now.

My new brother, Caleb, is someone that I am looking forward to getting to know through the coming years. I know that he will take good care of my sister (because if he doesn't he has two very protective sisters to deal with:) and love her. These two youngin's have so much yet in life to learn and they are blessed to have eachother, along with two very loving supportive families, to help them out along the way. I hope and pray that God will bless them both in this new life together and that they will always put Him first in their relationship.

It's been a while

I know I haven't written on here in a long time but I didn't realize until today that it had been almost two months! Well, I'll post a little bit on what's happened in my life in the past two months as well as what's going currently too (for whoever it is that may be reading this blog of mine). I'm just really slow at getting into this on-line journal thing but I really want to be able to keep up with this so bear with me.



Thanks for your patience!

Sculptural Art?

This past week I had to do a sculptural installation for my senior seminar at school. Being an "artist" who has no background in sculpture whatsoever I decided to make things that could be used and display them in a sculptural way. I don't like to make things that won't or can't be used for anything. It always feels like I'm wasting my time and energy on something that is going to go to waste and end up in a landfill someday.

As you can see in the picture I have a bed in the middle of the gallery here at school and on top of it and around it are various objects that I have made all out of recycled materials. The quilt on the bed you may have seen before in a few of my first posts. Then there are two other blankets. The green one is an old army blanket that my Granny left behind when she died that I added a little color to and the other blanket an afghan that I made out of recycled sweater yarn and some yarn that I had on hand. Then there are two rugs. One a braided rug that I used up a bunch of my mother's fabric on that had been sitting in a box for years and the other one made out of yoyos from bits of fabric that would have gone to waste otherwise. All of these items have been made over the course of the past year and a half.

My love for working with fabric is a gift from my Grandmother. She taught me how to sew when I was 12 and I haven't been able to stop since. I've made quilts, clothes, costumes, banners, and recently flags. There's so many things that I haven't tried yet though and I continue to enjoy the process.

I love to make things for people that I love. I always have and I always will. I know that not everyone appreciates the handmade gift (a certain sister of mine), but that's okay one of these days you'll really want me to make something for you:). And when you do I'll be ready.

Raku Firing!

Just in case you were wondering what I've been up too................


I've been working in the ceramics studio an awful lot lately working on various projects. Mostly just playing around with clay. This semester I took on an internship working with my ceramics Professor and learning the different aspects of a ceramic studio. One of the things that I've been working on is firing pieces in our small kilns here (pictured above). This is the initial firing for all of the pottery made here. It's called a bisque firing. After this firing we glaze the pieces and fire them a second time in a much larger kiln where they're fired at a higher temperature. After that firing the pieces are complete.

One of the new firing techniques I've been taught is Raku firing. This technique is where you have a bisqued piece of pottery with a special glaze on it specifically for Raku and we then fire it in a different kiln outside for about 45 minutes at very high temperatures as you can see below.


Now I don't know all of the technicalities of it all but the basics are that we take the pottery out of the kiln while it's still orange and put in inside a garbage can filled with sawdust.


After placing the pottery in the garbage can we throw a few fistfuls of sawdust on top of the red hot pieces and cover them up so they can burn some more (you can see me in the picture below getting ready to throw the sawdust on top of the pieces once placed in the garbage can).


After letting the smoke and fire die down for about 10-15 minutes in the garbage can we take them out and dunk them in water.


This type of firing is very unpredictable but so much fun and has some amazing effects when finished. There's lots of different glazes and the two cups below are Copper Penny. Very glossy and iridescent in some places.



The cylinder below was glazed with Gun Metal Black. Very cool! I think I'm going to try this on a few of my pieces. It's not very practical or functional but it's so much fun to do and the outcomes are quite stunning (most of the time).


For now though I have quite a bit of glazing to do for the regular glaze kiln. A lot of these pieces are going to be Christmas gifts and contributions to a Craft Sale that I'm helping to coordinate at school.


Back to glazing!

Rain and sunshine!

The other day I was able to spend some time with some of my favorite people in the world. Most of which are 12yrs old and under! We did our lesson on Thanksgiving and went around the room sharing what everyone was thankful for. I have to admit that being thankful is something that hasn't been on my mind a lot lately. Life has thrown a lot of stuff my way in the past few weeks and I've been keeping myself too busy to be thankful. Well, that has to change or I'm going to begin to fester and rot. Here's a list of things that I am thankful for:

- the rain, so that the plants can live
- getting drenched walking in the rain
- that feeling of coming in after a good walk in the rain, changing into dry clothes, and cuddling up under a warm blanket (next to a warm fire if possible)!
- can you tell it's been raining here lately?
- the peole who love me so much in my life even though I feel completely unworthy at times
- classes that feel more like I'm playing than working (most of the time)
- thrift shops
- sleeping in (on occasion)
- sisters who never leave life dull for me (and don't either of you try to deny it)
- parents who are so full of grace and patience
- sledding (not quite time for that yet, but soon)
- friends who are completely wonderful (most of the time:)
- Most importantly though a God who created everything perfectly to fit His plan.

One of the challenges given to the kids that I work with was to write down at least one thing every night that you're thankful for before you go to bed. I think that this is something that everyone should consider doing at some point to kind of put into perspective all that God has given us. We take so much for granted and don't even consider giving thanks to God when it's due.

Well I hope that you had a Wonderful Thanksgiving with much to be thankful for!