Do you know the popcorn man?

I've been hearing this song for days now...Oh, do you know the popcorn man, the popcorn man, the popcorn man? Oh, do you know the popcorn man who travels with the circus? My son had his circus today at school. I was a tad bit anxious a couple days ago since I had to find a needle in the haystack and come up with a ringmaster costume in April! I couldn't believe my luck when I ended up in the third thrift store in town and found this red suit jacket (don't tell him, it's a women's petite size 4) with black velvet aroud the collar, the wrists, and at the chest. It was a tiny bit large for him, but he was tickled! I made him a top hat out of fun foam, I dressed him in a pair of dress black pants and a dress white shirt, and I fashioned a pretty cool (if I do say so myself) megaphone out of cardstock (colored red with marker), ta da -- he was a handsome ringmaster indeed! He got a lot of compliments since he stood out from the rest of the ringmaster's that were in the other classrooms because he was wearing red. The other ringmasters had on all black. I am glad I persisited in finding him a red jacket. It made his week. Oh, do you know the popcorn man, the popcorn man, the popcorn man...

Thoughts for today...

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Both Amanda and Paige were up all night whining. If it wasn't one it was the other...Lately, I feel as though my house has been taken over by toys and school papers...Every morning lately, I've had to change Amanda's bedding since she has had some pretty bad, messy diapers (she's getting molars in)...I am discovering someting torn, broken, or missing every day...I must have a house full of children, huh???? Have a good day!

Only four left

We lost another kitten. Our cat Beauty was really packed into the cathouse she had her kittens in and she must have layed on top of one of the orange kittens and sufficated the poor thing. Oh, I am so bummed out we lost one of the orange kittens! I wanted orange cats so bad and was so happy to have gotten two and now we are down to just one. I hope we don't lose anymore.

The shearing of the alpacas was quite the adventure. We really have a lot to learn. We also realized that our barn is not nearly set up right to do a shearing of this magnetude. Since we are planning on having a large herd eventually, we need to do some more planning and will need to pour some cement in our existing barn so we have an area to shear in. I am glad we participated in this process since now we have a better idea of what we need to do.

I am getting the dishcloth loom now. I was stuggling there. I think I have everything backwards though since I have only made dishcloths on needles thus far. My design is recessed rather than raised. My outside rows are recess also. I am thinking I will get some curling. I'll finish this cloth though since it is a learning process. I resorted to doing my knit and purl like Isela demonstrates rather than the ewrap and/or flat knit stitch. It was the only way to prevent my stitches from getting too tight.

Can't sleep

Insomnia has hit me again. It's after one a.m. and I feel totally awake. I have a big day tomorrow with the first alpaca shearing and all too, but sleep will not come. So, after laying in bed for the past two hours to no avail, I'm back at my computer again...

I forgot to relay the good news. We got five baby kittens yesterday. The kids were so excited. I thought Paige was going to explode! The poor momma cat had to have been stressed out by those noisy kids though, I had to chase them out of the garage, they were just screaming and jumping around with so much excitement and she was in labor, howling in pain, I felt horrible for her. They just didn't understand why it hurt her so much. They ran outside and kept peeking into the garage and were still jumping around and yelling to eachother in excitement. Every once in a while I would catch one of them sneaking into the garage and I had to chase them back out again. Momma cat did lose one. I don't know if it was from all of the chaos or if she would have lost it anyway. We still got four black ones and two orange ones though! I am so happy we got orange ones!!!! I've wanted orange cats for years and kept getting grey ones. It's about time we get some orange cats.

New dishcloth loom, exercise progress, and shearing.

Eight miles down, only 142 to go! It's starting to feel good. I have been wanting to run away from this extra baby weight, run to get some time to myself, run to banish insomnia...run so I can experience the exercise highs I used to before I had children.

I got my dishcloth loom earlier this week. At first I was frustrated. It's a fine guage loom and I had troubles with it getting too tight. I popped into my looming dishcloth group and wonder upon wonder there was someone who asked that very day about why she was having touble with her fine guage dishcloth loom getting too tight. Someone suggested that she use a pen with all of the guts taken out to help her keep her wraps loose and I tried it, low and behold, it did the trick!

We have shearing on two of our alpacas on Saturday! It's suppose to be a hot and stuffy day. I bet the alpacas will be happy to shed their winter coats! I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Bev's Journeyings: A bit of this and that sage advice

Bev's Journeyings: A bit of this and that sage advice
I can't tell you how wonderful and profound I found the words in the above post. I met Bev in my Loom Knitting Newbies group over on Yahoo.com. I participated in the Chemo Slumber Cap Relay loom knitting slumber night caps for chemo patients. I headed on over to her blog to see a picture of all of the caps and read a little further in her blog and found what one lady in her Bible verse study group had learned about the verse Malachi 3:3 "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." It made me think about all I had endured in my life thus far, how much I have seen others suffer in their lives as well, and I started to cry. It really makes a person's heart swell when we realize that no matter how bumpy and lumpy and difficult our journey is, our Saviour is there along with us and He never takes His eyes off of us! We need to endure suffering in order to become like Him! We can be rest assured in the fact that He is right there with us and He will not allow us to parish. Make sure you check out that post!

I forgot to post the winner for the Looming Angels Blog button yesterday. Drum roll please.....and the winner is....

To take this button, right click and "save picture as" to save to your hardrive. Then you can upload to your server and link to the Looming Angels group using HTML. Here is the address: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LoomingAngels/

Yes, Sir! Yes, Sir! Three bags full!

Me with Gabriela Lucia

I went to visit with my alpacas yesterday after my sister and I had our spinning class! Oh, so much fun in one day! And, on top of all of my excitement, I got some bags of alpaca fleece that was going to be thrown out by the owners of the farm where my alpacas are!!!! Yes, you heard it right! I got free alpaca fleece to play with! Not top of the line alpaca fleece, but dirty, coarser fleece. I can certainly do something with it though. My first attempt at washing a small section of it was a disaster though. I felted it before I wanted to felt it! Maybe I should just skip the washing part and card the fleece and prepare it to felt first. Either that, or I should do some more reading and asking questions before I try it again...well, I am not the researching type, so I'll just do it again until I get it right. At least I have lots to work with.

Kaden and Gabriela sure hit it off. I had to laugh and laugh, my husband said that Gabriela must have mistaken Kaden for a cute boy alpaca because he has those big brown eyes and long eyelashes...just like an alpaca!


Kaden Loves Gabriela, or does Gabriela Love Kaden????

We took the alpacas for a walk down the driveway. Paige decided she had to try and Gabriela got away from her. Paige and Gabriela made up though...



Paula is due this summer. We are hoping for a baby girl! Keep your fingers crossed for us since a girl gives you more breeding stock and helps grow the herd! Isn't her fleece the most gorgeous color??


Me and Paula

Well, I need to go announce another winner on the Looming Angels Yahoo Group Grand Opening...I'll announce the winning blog button tomorrow...see you then!

I hope it gets better!

Ouch! My knee hurts. I guess I'm already to the limping part! Hee, hee. I hope it gets better! Four miles down though!

I am about as stressed as stressed can be lately. I had three tricky customer service issues to try and resolve and it wasn't even my fault! The person who took my orders at my supplier was let go just after I placed those three orders, and me and my customers were victims of her mess ups! Ouch! That hurts too! Not a good start! I hope it gets better.

I have a dishcloth loom coming and I am so excited!! I don't know why I have become so interested in dishcloths, it is just nuts. I love needle knitting them and now I can try looming them. I just need to find the time! I bought a couple dishcloth leaflets with some darling patterns I am just dying to make.

I will finally get to spin tomorrow! Here I thought all plans were off when last night my husbands brother called up and said his mother had been rushed to the emergancy room. He right away said he wanted to go see her on Saturday. My heart sank. Then he remembered I had my spinning that I was so looking forward to so he said we can go on Sunday instead...except, now I will probably miss the Looming Angels Grand opening. Changes, changes. Things are always changing around here!

See you next week!

Walking...running...limping my way there!

I started my exercise program yesterday. Now that the baby is finally going to bed at a decent time at night I finally have some time for myself to get myself back after having her! I know she is the last one so now I can be assured when I reach my goal, I shouldn't have any forced setbacks! I felt so FABULOUS when I was in super shape before I got pregnant with my son. I remember the feeling. I liked it. I want to feel that great again about myself and to just feel good. I slept better, ate better, looked GREAT and didn't have any of the aches and pains I have now (even my arthritis wasn't as bad). I know I am seven years older, but I am still young! I want to feel young again. So, rather it be walking, running, or limping my way, I plan on making it there!

Amanda May, my new customer service rep

I got this bright idea to take pictures of my 16 month old with a play telephone and add her to my baby website. My goal is to give my website a warm and fuzzy feel. A newly pregnant woman or newly expectant father will usually go all googly over babies. I know, I've been pregnant three times and my husband has had a total of six children. Stay tuned for the big publish with all of my changes.

Drum roll please.....and the winner of the blog/webring button for the LoomingAngels group is....Sorry, you'll have to wait until next weekend during the Grand Opening of the group to hear the winning button!

My dragonfly dishcloth is almost done. Boy, it sure takes me a long time to get through projects these days. Just too much going on, I don't have time for leisure activities anymore :-(

Have a blessed Easter! See you next week!

Hurry up and wait!

It seems I've had nothing but one dissapointment after another this past week. First of all, the weather had been so incredibly beautiful, the birds had been singing, the grass was turning green, the trees were beginning to bud, and then, it snowed. I am grateful we didn't get as much as was predicted, but, none the less, we still got snow... last weekend my sister and I were suppose to have a spinning class and that ended up not happening either! The gal who was going to teach us had baby lambs coming in and she couldn't be there...the grand opening for our Looming Angels group has been changed to not this weekend, but the following. The owner of the group realized Easter was this coming weekend and needed to change the date to Sunday, April 15th instead...and, because of the snow, the dates for the alpaca shearing have changed. Now they are not going to be sheared this coming weekend, but rather, not until the very end of April and the two following weekends in May!

Waiting is not necessarily a bad thing. Good things come to those who wait. Our Easter story promises us our Saviour is coming back to us very soon. This is indeed a very good thing! Our Saviour taught us to ask for God's Kingdom to come in Matthew 6: 9-13. We need to pray each day fervently:

9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Waiting for the return of our Lord has been a long, long wait, it seems. If we look beyond our current headlines, though, we can see that God's prophecies are quickly being fullfilled and we can be assured in the fact that our Lord's day is not very far off! Yes, we need to hurry up and wait! Our Lord is coming soon...and what a joyous day this will be!

What is going on?

Why is everything going heywire???? I wrote a post this morning and it isn't showing up, now when I go to make another post, it is written in another language??? This is a cruel, cruel joke, especially when one hasn't gotten any sleep!

Tick tock, tick tock...1 am...2 am...3 am...4

Insomnia is horrible for anyone. I always thought it was the most horrible thing when I had to go to work the next day stumbling about in a zombie like state, watching the clock at work just as I had all night long, tick tock, tick tock... That was until I had children and I decided to become a stay-at-home mom. Mom is always on duty, you know. I watched the clock for hours on end last night. I decided to get back out of bed when I just couldn't get to sleep by 1 am. I tried to read for awhile but started getting restless legs (which is misery on top of misery when you are exhausted) so I crawled back in bed and miracle upon miracles I fell asleep...then came a little wimper (at 2:30 am) that got louder and louder. So up I got to check the baby. Talk about cruel. I layed back down only to begin watching the clock once more...3 am...4 am...5 am...I was sound asleep when bright and early at 7 am the baby started to cry, ready to be up for the day! Oh insomnia as a mother is the most horrible thing! I am making friends with my coffee pot today.