Homey Week

Oh how I love the week between Christmas and New Years.  I've always kept it unscheduled for staying home by the fire, resting up from the hectic pre-Christmas hustle and bustle.. crocheting.. reading.. not doing a lot.  Two little baby girls have been born to our family - one a few days before Christmas and one right on Christmas day!  So.. some baby bootie crocheting is being done.

I shopped for the yarn in my extensive cotton collection.. :-)  I could not resist this gorgeous raspberry pink.  This bootie design is my own - I don't follow a pattern.  I tried to write it up one time and not one of my testers was successful so I gave up trying to explain how I do it.  :-)

Basically I chain 11, do 3 sc in the 10th chain, sc down, increase 3 on each end, do four rows this way then dec 3 on each end, sc around, then do the toe end top, then go up for the ankle part.. doing a sc sp, sc sp and then a sc, dc, sc.. around.  :-)  Confused yet??  But it works.  I also do a row of ch spaces at the ankle to thread a ribbon tie through.

I've always been surprised that there was not a Camellia bush on the farm, and meant to get one for years.. FINALLY last year I got two bushes.  We planted this one by the big stump in front of the chicken pen and henhouse.  Well, lo and behold, it's happy I guess and it decided to bloom.. now.. in the snow.  

See the snow?  We got some Saturday evening and then it snowed most of the day yesterday.  I love seeing it snow.  

Have you ever tried to photograph snow?  NOT easy.  But this was my best attempt.

It was more impressive last night.. but it was dark.  This is what is left at this time.  It's a few degrees above freezing here.

I thought I'd show you this neat carved spoon that Caleb picked out for me as a gift at an art and craft show.  I want to hang it in the kitchen.  He also picked out this bird ornament.

This is a photo book that Kristi had made for me, it's full of pictures of all our beloved grandchildren.  I treasure it.

Someone asked about the "root basket" Kristi got for me.  I used it for Christmas dinner, serving the baked potatoes in it.  It will also be a good bread basket.  

Kristi made the most interesting cupcakes for everyone as a gift.  Here are the fondant decorations...

Then she made the "glass dome" out of gelatin - dipping a balloon into it and then letting it dry and then popping the ballon.  She baked cupcakes, frosted them and added the little things inside and placed the dome over it.  I can't bear to eat mine!

When I was outside snapping some photos I thought it was funny to see the big koi fish "hiding" under our protection rock.. but they're so big their tails stick out.

I even got a snap of Simba having lunch.. Kristi was sitting nearby when I got this.  He's feeling more at home each day.

Kristi and Caleb were driving down the Sandy River Gorge yesterday and Caleb spotted a bald eagle!  So, they raced home and grabbed her good camera and went back hoping he'd still be there and he was!  How cool is that?

 My cousin Ed has been looking through his mother's photo collection and scanning them and posted a few on Facebook of me and my sister Denise.  I was just 15, on the left.  My sister and I were sent on a bus to Oklahoma from Oregon to visit relatives for one summer.  We went from one aunt and uncle's home to the next to visit and get to know them all summer.  Mom was one of 12 kids and dad was one of 6, so we had a lot of family to visit.  

I don't even remember where we were when these photos were taken, but the one below must be when we just returned from our trip.. that is our mom on the left.  Always the poser, she was.  :-)

What a hodgepodge of photos, eh?  By the way, I just finished a book by Rosamunde Pilcher that I highly recommend, "Winter Solstice".  I enjoyed it so much that I downloaded another by her "Coming Home" onto my iPad and am 2/3s through that one and it's equally wonderful.  Do you have any good book recommendations?  Are you having a "homey week" too?  I hope so!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)