EKjourney Backup

My parents invited us over for breakfast.  Apparently there was a ton of buttermilk about to go bad...perfect for pancakes and since the Kelly children have voracious appetites, what better way to avoid waste.  Pancake count (hearty, whole grain, pumpkin pancakes) between 5 little Kellys was 33 I think and a fruit bowl, bacon, and milk in addition to that. Out of the car and running through the woods Mom, this one is perfect!  Hmmm, perhaps a bit to wide?  More running and hide and go seek...reminded me of trying to herd cats...an expression Phil and I use often.  LOL!   A view from the top My parents  Cutting down the tree. Some Kelly family pictures!  We rarely have a picture taken with all of us together.  Since my parents were there, I had someone to take them.        

 We had Thanksgiving at my parent's house, as is our tradition.  They invited a man and his daughter from their church to join us.  I love how my parents extend invitations to those who might not otherwise have a Thanksgiving meal to join our family.  A toothless smile on this almost 6 year old girl. They  look so sweet and loving....LOL! I wasn't in a picturing taking mood but I did snap a couple of quick shots to show how beautiful the food was.        My mom bakes bread every Thursday and we are lucky enough to be gifted with 4 loaves a week!       The discovery that no, indeed he would not be getting dessert because he ate no dinner.  I am not quite sure why he would have thought otherwise.  LOL! 

The Etsy shop is still a work in progress and unfortunately the name Over the Top is already taken.  I have been tossing around the names Tip Top and Whimsy.  I managed to get 7 hats made during the month of November.  I have a couple that I can put on Etsy when we are ready to list them and several Christmas hats made for the children.  I have been timing how long it takes me to make a hat and I am surprised (and not in a good way LOL) at the number of hours I spend.  A baby hat takes over 5-6 hours, a child's hat takes about 7-8 hours, and an adult hat 10 plus hours.  It takes even longer if I decide to tear out the stitching because it isn't looking the way I had imagined.  The more yarn variety I use, the longer it takes me to weave in the ends.  I usually spend over an hour just with a tapestry needle making all the ends secure.  Minimum wage plus materials puts the hats in the 50-80 dollar range.  Yikes!  I would never pay th...

 9 years ago, around 1:00 in the afternoon, this darling little boy entered the world and I begun my journey as a mother.  Every birthday seems bittersweet as we celebrate their life but also know that their childhood is fleeting.  This year marks the approximate half way point.  Can we really be half way through his childhood, can we really have moved past him being a little boy?  It hardly seems possible.  When they are little, it seems they will always be little but as they are racing through these years each day becomes more precious than the last. I am thankful for this boy.  I am blessed to be his mother.  I am grateful to be able to homeschool him and spend my every day, my all day, interacting with him, teaching him, guiding him, and watching him grow into the man he will become.  What a privilege!   Then...   ...And now Legos    Archery lessons   A delicious chocolate mint cake made by Aunty Tina

We had dinner last night with our dear friends the Pints as a final goodby before they move.  The movers are packing up their belongings today.  Tuesday they stay in Portland.  Wednesday they fly to back to their hometown in Iowa. I met Kelly on a parenting website several years ago.  While I didn't really know her personally, I knew of her through her writing.  I discovered that she had moved to Oregon, to my little town, and we met and became instant friends.  I have so appreciated her friendship...her encouragement, her understanding, her advice, her acceptance.  I don't make friends that easily and while Kelly is a busy extrovert with lots of people in her life and a busy household of 10 children, I have felt a special kinship with her and with her family.  While I am so thankful for modern technology to keep in touch, I feel a great loss having her move from 5 minutes away to 29 hours away.  I don't know when I will see her again...when ...

Both of  my orders came in the mail today.  Check out these delicious yarns! The following are from Jimmy Beans (not to be confused with Jim Beam whisky or Jimmy Dean sausages).  They are beautiful yarns from Italy.  I got them on on sale and while they are a little more spendy than economy yarns, they are so colorful and lovely that I think I can use them in small amounts and get a lot of mileage out of them in my hats.             This shelf is my basic economy yarn and now I have a big color lot to choose from.  I made one last order to supplement with a few more styles and some neutral colors and then I will have a wonderful base of textures, colors, and yarn weights for endless possibilities!

I can't believe it has been less than a month since the idea of having an etsy crochet hat business has become more than just an thought. I have an Etsy shop but I need to get the marketing pieces put together before I am ready for a listing.  My shop's name is "Over the Top" because my hats are...literally and figuratively!  I took some gift money that I received and invested it in start up costs (aka, yarn!).  I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of a few boxes as well as some some crochet embellishment books (that my parents got me as part of my birthday gift). Once again, my crafty corner has been rearranged...this time to the bedroom.  The playroom is becoming a more official school room (more on that at some point) and the bedroom now has a small table, a bookshelf, a cubicle style shelf, and the two DVD case shelves.  Once it is stockpiled and organized, I will do a blog post on it.  Now the yarn is set out on display so I can see everything at once whe...