Wood Heating!

The wood stove has been installed. Yippee! The two young "boys", (are they getting younger or are we getting older?), who installed it were very friendly and efficient. I was told to expect them to be here 6-7 hours but 4 hours of hard work later, they were finished! We haven't had a fire in it yet, but I think it looks very nice tucked away next to the pantry. I have a screen to put around it when little ones are here. We're thinking of buying a pallet of North Idaho Energy Logs as they supposed to burn cleaner than wood and longer than the Presto logs you can buy at the store. There is no worry of bringing buggy wood into the house either with the energy logs and it's using a earth friendly product. I don't think we'll need the stove a lot the rest of this winter, but it's nice to know it's there in an emergency.

We had to move my clock to another wall. Dennis bought me this handmade clock in the Amana Colonies in Iowa for our 15th wedding anniversary. I love this clock. If I forget to wind it, (a rare occurence), I can't sleep at night without the chimes. It chimes every 15 minutes and I don't even hear it anymore unless it doesn't. Does that make sense? Chloe tells time by it too. She knows exactly when she's supposed to eat! It used to be on the wall right behind the chimney. Obviously that wouldn't work anymore so we moved it to the dining room. I keep looking at the wall in the living room to check the time. Old habits die hard don't they?

The next pictures are of my current project(s). We've had a veritable baby boom at church in the past few months and I was down to just one of my rainbow blankets "in stock". I decided I needed to restock my shelves, so yesterday I started two new ones. I've never done this before but it's working very well. I do each one to the same point in the pattern before moving on. Although I have this pattern memorized, the old memory isn't what it used to be and it's easier to do two at a time! I think I need to make four more so I'll have five on hand for gifts. I know of two more babies on the way already! I've been encouraged to find a way to sell these blankets, but I don't like rejection. I honestly don't know how to get started and I don't know if anyone would buy them anyway!

And these little shamrocks. Remember them from my last post? Well, they've been strung up into a delightful little garland that I'll be hanging on the kitchen island very soon. I also made a few pins with them. I think they are so cute!

We had our friends Neal and Jenny over last night for dinner and dominoes. We usually try to have a date night with them the last Friday of every month, but since November someone has been sick every date night! So we just switched it up and had it last night. I made homemade noodles for chicken and noodles, baking powder biscuits, green beans from last summers garden and cranberries. We were going to have ice cream for dessert but everyone was too full. After a rousing game of dominoes we were all exhausted by 8:30. Sad isn't it? But the three of them all had to get up for work today and so we had an early evening. They'll be back tonight along with several other people for Bible study. I've had to stay in another room the last several weeks because I didn't want to make anyone sick. It will be nice to see them all again tonight.

And now to my questions from Taci who most graciously nominated me for the Liebster Blog. As I said last time, I don't know many bloggers other than ones already nominated so I'll say a heartfelt "THANK YOU" to both Taci and Shari who nominated me and answer their questions. Shari's were answered on my last post.

Favorite animal? My Chloe dog of course!
Favorite colors? Lavender
Favorite non alcoholic drink? Diet Pepsi OR Diet Coke I like both. I know that's unusual.
Crochet or Knit? Both equally.
Your passion? My faith.
Getting or giving? Giving of course.
Favorite pattern? I think my Rainbow Blanket. I've made it for so many years.
Favorite day of the week? Sunday
Favorite flower? Pansies
Favorite country? USA
Favorite Recipe? I love to cook and it's impossible to choose. Maybe fried chicken.

Okay friends. I'm off to meet with the insurance agent. It's time to go over all our "stuff" again. I dread this visit every year. Insurance just isn't my thing and I get bored easily! :-)
Have a wonderful weekend and remember to look around you at all the beauty. It's there if we just open our eyes to it.
Blessings,
Betsy