Finished By Friday

After eagerly watching weather.com's winter weather watch turn into a red alert this morning, we are finally really getting our snow! It rained a lot of the night, so everything is too wet and let the snow stick, but the flakes coming down are huge!

I know I said I wouldn't be posting a lot of school stuff on here, but I am getting such a kick out of this drawing class, that I just have to post some more! My subject had to be something in my house and I had to be sure to include the background (wall, etc.). I chose a lamp sitting on a big speaker. You should have seen me trying to figure out how to get on eye level with the crazy thing! This one is just for laughs! I had to do a contour drawing which is actually NOT a drawing, but a hand/eye exercise. I wasn't allowed to look at my paper (only a glance now and then. I think I looked a little more than I was supposed to) and the marker had to stay on the paper at all times unless you got really far off track and needed to pick it up. As you can see, I need a little more practice! And this is my worst nightmare come true! I am absolutely terrified of drawing people (any live subject really) but alas. . .!

Yep! Somewhere around 11:00 last night, the rain turned to snow and there was a light dusting of snow on the grass this morning (still is).

For some time now, I've been pondering the question Becky posted on her blog not long ago - "What should we do about Nettie Gardner?" Well, imagine my surprise to receive the answer in the mail just today! This kind and conciderate advice came from Cottage Living Magazine. I too got Net a magazine subscription for Christmas last year. The answer?

HA! I just got grades for week two of this class and was highly amused to read the comments from the teacher. She said what a wonderful job I was doing and that I was an overachiever and the time and energy I put into this class really showed and that I gave great feedback to my classmates! I'm still chuckling, because this is the first class that I have had the nerve to not buy the text books ($30 worth) because I've been buying them and then I do good to open them once! And I only have about half of the art supplies I need according to instructions! I have been reading the lectures (which I haven't always done in other classes) but that's just because I'd have no idea what the instructions were telling me to do otherwise (with all the art terms and stuff!)! In all fairness to myself though, I am usually one of the first people to submit assignments, because I try to submit the day before it's due. I can't say that I really spend a lot of time on mo...

And finally, our last activity of the weekend was an award ceremony for a dear friend and former music teacher - Ermina Pincombe. After years of playing just about any stringed instrument and singing folk and sacred music, Ermina was finally recognized and awarded for her talent and for helping keep Adirondack traditions alive and for helping pass them down. Ermina was one of three award recipients for this year. There was also a Native American beadworker and gustoweh maker and a blacksmith. The other two brought in pieces of their work to display, but Ermina (and her son David) played and sang four songs for the audience. We left from church Sunday morning, ate our picnic lunch on the run, and made it to Canton, NY just early enough for the 2:00 ceremony. Afterwards, there was a nice reception with certain foods to honor each of the three awarded. It was a very nice ceremony and reception to celebrate the native culture of the Adirondacks! Here are some pictures. On Stage and very ...

The Pilgrim News for this month just came out, and Jon was very pleased to FINALLY have one of his photos published - and on the front cover!

A lot of the day Saturday was spent in Plattsburgh again doing some shopping. We hadn't planned to go back after just being up there Friday night, but. . . We went to Wal-Mart, Had a late lunch/early dinner at a Chinese place, then went to the mall for a bit. When we got home, we had to finish up laundry, type up and print bulletins, do homework, pick up a few groceries, and straighten the house a little. This made for a late evening followed by an early morning Sunday. Here is my freebie for the day. We haven't come up with a name yet, but you wouldn't believe the laughs we got out of this crazy, good for nothin', stuffed lamb! It turns out that I spent over $15 at Bath and Body Works so I got this little guy for free. I really don't know why anyone would pay the original $8 for him, but we have gotten quite a kick out of him for free!

We kicked off the weekend by going to Brad and Melissa's house for pizza, wings, and pumpkin carving. There were eight of us - Mom & Dad, Brad & Mel, Jon & I, and Melissa's mom and Grandma (Gram didn't carve a pumpkin) and boy what a mess! Here are just some of the MANY pictures I took. Boys and their toys! (Jon and Brad just had to use the dremel to cut the tops of their pumpkins while Dad used his good ol' faithful blade that he has used for years!) Cleaning out the pumpkins. (You'll notice the killer blade in Dad's hand!) Sharron (Mel's mom) picked a hard pattern for hers, so Mel helped her finish it. (Gram came to check on the progress.) Mel's and Mom's (I guess I missed getting a picture of Mom. She worked very diligently the whole time!) Brad did two. Jon did two. Dad's and mine What a mess! Brad and Jon cleaning seeds to be roasted. We also had yummy apple cider! Thanks Brad and Mel!! We had a blast! We'll post pictures of...

. . . Not enough days!

. . . To a blog near you! . . . (OK, my Blog) Lots of pictures! Jon and I were invited to Jon's brother, Brad and his wife Melissa's house to carve pumpkins Friday night. We had LOTS of fun!! BUT, for tonight. . . it's already been kind of a long and busy weekend and we're only about halfway through it, so I think I'll head for bed. Be back soon! Leah

Here is yet another of my accomplishments for you to enjoy! My tea kettle is shiny red with a brushed stainless lid, black handle and knob on the lid. My mug matches my correlleware and is just white with black lines and a bit of a square shape. Our silverware are brushed stainless.

K, first off, I am not in some morbid kick. I have not been feeling sick lately, and I REALLY don't plan on dying for a good long time yet, but. . . I'm sure you've noticed that I changed the music yet again. I still love the other song, and if you liked it better, you can simply scroll down and select any of the four songs listed. In the meantime, let me tell you a little about this song and my life lately. I Hope You Dance by Lee Ann Womack - For some time now I have really liked this song. It always reminded me of Beck (and all my sisters) because she was the one that was around when I was at that awkward age. She always pushed me out of my comfort zone and "made" me have a good time no matter how awkward and stupid I felt! She didn't push or pull in one direction or the other, but simply supported the current whim - from wanting to be a teacher to my little fling with art! I have always liked this song for these reasons, but just recently when I looked it ...

Nope none around here recently! But I just had one of those moments tonight where I said something from long ago and found myself explaining to my sweet and patient husband. His only question was whether it was a long story or not. When I assured him it wasn't, he asked if it would take me a long time to tell it. . . (He thinks some people take entirely too long to tell a simple story - he should know! But we won't go into that!) This post is mostly for my siblings. Sorry to the rest of you casual lurkers! To make a long story short. . . The other day driving through town, we noticed that these people were driving a car that had been sitting "FOR SALE" in their yard for quite some time. We thought maybe someone might have finally bought it. Well, on the way home from church tonight, we noticed that the car was sitting back in the yard where it has been sitting. Jon commented that it must not have been sold. I said, "Maybe they were just test driving it...

Ok, Second assignment in and I am already so pleased with my progress! I still have a long way to go, but at least I'm not feeling so intimidated by this class anymore! I guess we'll see how grades go!

This is my first actual drawing assignment for my first actual drawing class! Hopefully by the end of this class I'll have something a little better to post so you can see my progress!

This past weekend, Jon's cousin (and my good friend) Aimee took a break from work and came up to visit! Saturday, we decided to explore the fine town of Burlington. This of course included the ferry that took us from NY across the lake to VT, shopping (with little success), and dinner at Olive Garden. Here are a few pictures of our little day trip. I wish I would have thought to get pictures of some of the friendly scarecrows that were all over along the road, but unfortunately I didn't think of this until after dark! "We're all happy and excited and having a good time. . .!" This was Jon trying to get us all smiling after several tries at this same pose! These people were nuts! It was really cold on the water! The boat. And us!

I finally pulled my plastic tote of sweaters out of my closet! Actually, to be more literal, I pulled my plastic tote of sweaters and fleece PJ's from deep inside my closet where I really couldn't get to it to just grab a sweater. Now, it is just inside my closet - much easier to access! (Yes, my closet is reeeeeeeally deep! This is nice, but the door is off to one side, so getting to things can be a bit difficult!) I know. I know!! I shouldn't be blogging if I have nothing better to blog about, but the sad truth is that I DON'T have anything better to blog about, and I spent all day yesterday doing major house cleaning, so I feel I deserve some blog time! And while we're talking about sad truths. . . A couple things come to mind. One is that I'm pretty sure that the last of our Indian Summer has passed. It's been raining for days (which I truly don't mind!) and weather.com shows a patch of "mix/ice" coming later today. Thankfully, there are...