Life in the Creek and Wednesday Medley

Mr. C. and a member of his fan club

Join Terri and the Gang
for

She writes the questions;
we write the answers.
Plug them into your own blog
and join in at
Your Friend From Florida
 

Wednesday, January 16th, is National Do Nothing Day!! National Nothing Day was proposed in 1972 by columnist Harold Pullman Coffin. This day has been observed annually since 1973. Of course, the way to celebrate it is to do nothing! 

1.  To commemorate Do Nothing Day in SOME way, tell us something about your life (or the life of someone close to you) in 1973!! 

 1972, as close as I could find to 1973.

We lived on a farm in Wisconsin, out in the middle of nowhere.

We still live on a farm in Wisconsin, out in the middle of nowhere, but a different farm and different nowhere.

December 2018.

Not a farm, definitely not the middle of nowhere.

London

On the left, that curly-haired toddler (in the photo above), and what he looks like today.

Along with his youngest son. See the family resemblance?!!

Advent, 2018

2.  Now that we are thinking back, please tell us what your favorite past time was as a child.

It would be a toss-up among the following: baseball, riding horse, climbing trees, playing football, building forts, swimming in the creek (crick in those days).  

 Everyone likes to play in the creek!

3.  What is the best way to cheer you up on a bad day? 

Remind me of Who God is and Who I am, and let me ponder that for a while. That's the absolutely best way, as long as it's done in love.  After that, make me a Full English Breakfast, but never ever at breakfast time, only ever at dinnertime. 

Mine would be nitrate-nitrate?-free bacon and gluten-free bread.

And Mr. C usually cooks the tomatoes a bit longer.
And a few olives would be a nice addition.

4.  How old were you when you first started dating? Do you remember your first date?

I don't think there was a 'dating' thing going on in my life. I was still doing all those things mentioned in the second question's answer when I was 15 or 16. But I do remember going to a movie with a neighbor boy after getting permission (a very reluctant permission) from my dad. Both the movie and the boy were quite underwhelming. I was far more interested in professional baseball and horses.

I think that's Queen Anne's Lace just under the fence.

5.  Today is also National Fig Newton day.  Do you like figs/Fig Newtons?

I actually do like Fig Newtons, not any other kind of fruit in them, but figs, and I never ever buy them. I think it would be too easy to eat the whole package of cookies, and besides, they're not gluten free. I tend to have an issue with cookies. The word 'nemesis' fits here. Even my own delicious double-chocolate gluten-free cookies filled with extra chocolate chips and lots of chopped walnuts. See what I mean?

It's been a year and a half since I had help making cookies!

6.  Tell us something random about your week.

I wasn't going to mention this, but the whole nation knows that a 13 year old girl who lived not 20 miles from us escaped her captor last Friday and was reunited with her extended family after her parents were murdered and she was kidnapped 87 days earlier. The whole story was all over the news and Facebook (which I'm not on), but I just wanted to say one thing about it: Do not ever stop praying for someone. Don't ever give up hope. The fact that this girl is alive and was held captive within an hour from her home is nothing short of incredible. I think everyone was shocked that this was a single perpetrator and that all this time he and the teenager were in the general area. Praise God that she managed to escape. And this girl will need the prayers of all who are willing to pray for her as she moves forward - having heard the murder of her father, witnessed the murder of her mother, and lived with the trauma of captivity for three months. Lord have mercy.

Three boys, one toy
But they were nice and shared.
Most fascinating were all the noises it makes!
Least interesting were the darling fleece footie pajamas 
that probably got thrown out with the wrapping paper. LOL
Late Christmas gift opening last Saturday
(grandson)

*** 

Lastly, these two are often in the same room where I'm working (or playing). I have a conference table set up in the library where I'm starting to work on my England journal. What a project! At least I kept daily notes on my phone, so I have text to go with the photos and ephemera.

Tommy & Smokey

 Don't ask me why the rooster napkins are in there.

***



Check out my natural, handcrafted vegan soap!
Buy any 5 or more, Get 1 FREE

Thyme & Lavender

(a great combination!)

Natural, handcrafted vegan soap

No animal products

No harsh chemicals

Only natural colorants

Great lather

Moisturizing

Delicious fragrance

Each bar is labeled and wrapped, ready for gifting



...and more! Check out all my handcrafted soaps at
 
HomemadeSoapNSuch


and at


Our ETSY Shop

Have a wonderful Wednesday, everyone!

Join me on Instagram: @cranberrymorning

HomemadeSoapnSuch is Being Featured

 

Jemma from At Home With Jemma blog is featuring Etsy shops each Friday this month. I am pleased that Jemma has chosen to feature my Etsy shop, HomemadeSoapnSuch, today.

 

 AtHomeWithJemma.com

All of my regular HomemadeSoapnSuch buyers know that I always have a Buy 5 or More, Get 1 FREE policy, but right now through November 30, you can get an

additional 10% off your purchase.

To get the additional 10% off, you must use the code JEMMASFEATURE at checkout 
  I cannot change it after the fact, so please remember to use the code.

Use Code: JEMMASFEATURE

Also, I almost always have multiples, so although I list soaps one at a time, please feel free to Convo or email me with a request of any number and mix of soaps. I will check inventory, get back to you, and make you a Reserved Listing with your name, that you will then see among my listings.

I have many Christmas soaps, as well as all the regulars. Always moisturizing and beautiful, made with natural base oils, essential oils, quality fragrance oils, and botanicals, mostly from my own garden. 

Each soap bar comes wrapped in a cigar-band type label with ingredient list, and is wrapped in a clear cello bag and sealed with a gold seal - all ready for gift giving.

These beautiful soaps make great gifts for teacher, hair stylist, dog groomer, veterinarian, postman, etc.etc. etc......... and are great stocking stuffers! :-)

Note: The 10% off additional discount is currently available

only at my Etsy Shop.

I ship fast. Your purchase is shipped within 1-2 business days via USPS Priority Mail or USPS First Class Mail, depending upon weight of package.

Christmas Morning

Figgy Pudding

Olde Thyme Christmas

Christmas Forest

Enchanted

Christmas Hearth

Mandarin Orange Spice

Cinnamon Stick

...and many, many  more!

Check out my natural, handcrafted vegan soap!
ALWAYS: Buy 5 or more, Get 1 FREE

Lemon Verbena
Natural Vegan Soap

...and more! Check out all my handcrafted soaps at
 
HomemadeSoapNSuch
PayPal friendly

and at

Our ETSY Shop

Join me on Instagram: @cranberrymorning

The Old Woodcutter and His Sons

Mr. C. and two of our sons cut firewood on Saturday. It was a brilliant day for that job. No snow and in the 40s, which is the kind of weather Mr. C. likes for that job. I see that there's a lot of birch in the pile this time, and I guess there's another truckload (at least) waiting at the edge of the woods to be added to what you see in the photo.

 And yes, Grandson did just wake from a nap
and he has a cold. Poor little guy.
Sitting here at the island with his woodcutter daddy

 Just guess what he's looking for
The lovely camouflage duct tape is to keep the you-know-whats out from under the hutch.

You didn't think you'd get away from here without seeing more cat photos, did you?
Clockwise, from lower left:
Smokey, Tom Kitten*, Fraidy,
Smokey (again), Audrey licking her favorite kid (kit)

In case you missed the story of our new rescue cat,
you can read it HERE.

The part where the kittens come into the story is HERE.

*because Tom Kitten and the Roly Poly Pudding
is my favorite Beatrix Potter story

Sleeping in the potted yucca

Sixteen year old Tuppence wearing a grim look
'You're not seriously going to keep any of them, are you???'

This photo was taken just after letting Audrey out of her confinement in the kitchen so that the two adult cats could meet face to face with no gate between them. Audrey was sweet; Tuppence was haughty, and quickly ran up to the landing to emphasize her seniority.

Yes, this is the same stairway that a grandson and I ripped the carpet from last spring. I still haven't decided what to do with it. I don't like to rush into things.

And now,
about
Snapseed, a free photo-editing app for your phone:

View from the porch, early November, looking south toward the harvested soybean field
No filters or photo editing of any kind

Same photo, edited with the Snapseed app on my phone

There's not a Snapseed app for the computer, so I had to email the photo to myself, but it's fun to play around with Snapseed and see the differences it can make. There are so many possibilities. It's a free app, and uncomplicated, but not intuitive (at least not to me). Like I do with almost everything else, I Googled to find a tutorial. It was definitely worth the few minutes it took to see how to use it.

Have a wonderful Monday, everyone!


Linking to Cooking & Crafting with JJ
and
Mosaic Monday
and
Monday Social

***

CHRISTMAS SOAPS ARE READY

Check out my natural, handcrafted vegan soap!
Buy any 5 or more, Get 1 FREE

Natural Vegan Soaps


...and more! Check out all my handcrafted soaps at
 
HomemadeSoapNSuch
PayPal friendly
 
and at
Our ETSY Shop

Join me on Instagram: @cranberrymorning

GOOD FENCES and GIVEAWAY WINNERS ANNOUNCED

We visited our daughter and family in Wausau on Saturday, where I took these photos of the bridge at the park. Unfortunately, it was during the [unavoidable] brightest light of the day, so they're not my favorites. Still, it's a pretty park, and I love the beautiful Wisconsin River.

 On the way home,

sunset over Highway 29

THIS POST IS LINKED TO

THERESA'S GOOD FENCES

***

AND NOW, what you've all been waiting for...

***GIVEAWAY WINNERS ANNOUNCED***

Thanks to everyone who participated in our HomemadeSoapnSuch Christmas Soaps Giveaway!

Yesterday evening at 8:30 CDT, our young grandson (with us for the week) reached into the hat to select four winners, each of whom will receive one bar of their choice of HomemadeSoapnSuch soaps.

And the winners are:

MRS. T

DONNA

KATIE CLOONEY

DEBBY@JUST BREATHE

Please email me with your choice of soap and your postal address.  Thanks! 

Judy (at) soapnsuch (dot) com

P.S.  I hope to be catching up on blogs beginning next week!

Natural, handcrafted vegan soaps!

...and more! Check out all my handcrafted soaps at

HomemadeSoapNSuch

and at

Our ETSY Shop 

 

Natural Vegan Soap GIVEAWAY - Christmas Soaps

Today and tomorrow only, (Tuesday and Wednesday) we're having a giveaway of our natural, handcrafted vegan soaps for Cranberry Morning blog followers!

FOUR WINNERS -

There will be FOUR WINNERS among the entrants, each winner receiving one bar of HomemadeSoapnSuch handcrafted soap - their choice. (This can be any soap from among the approximatelly 38 different types.)

Here's what you need to do:

(Don't worry, it's easy.)

1. Be a follower of my Cranberry Morning blog. (Yes, this super-eclectic blog)

2. Visit HomemadeSoapnSuch.com OR HomemadeSoapnSuch.Etsy.com and choose the soap you would like if you win.

3. Come back to this post and leave a comment, telling me which soap you would like and how you follow Cranberry Morning.

That's all there is to it! Remember, this quick Giveaway ends Wednesday night at 8 PM.

I will announce the winners on my Cranberry Morning blog post on Thursday. Make sure to leave a way for me to contact you via email.

Thanks!

And Good Luck to all the entrants!

...and more! Check out all my handcrafted soaps at

HomemadeSoapNSuch

and

HomemadeSoapnSuch.Etsy.com 

 

Wisconsin Barns, Good Fences, and Good Grandkids

I hope everyone had a good weekend. We have had a couple nice and sunny, but windy, days. It's so wonderful to see bare ground once again and temperatures in the 60s. I know it's not going to last, and winter might still spit out another snowstorm before springtime is here in earnest, but I'm happy with the blue skies and warm temps we're having right now.

I am dipping into my files for photos of April barns and fences. It was interesting as I perused my files. Some Aprils, we still had snowbanks this time of the month. Other Aprils were nice, like this one. With the photos today, I'm attempting to reflect the weather we're having right now. These are from April 2012.

Our daughter and her family and in-laws stopped on their way home from Duluth yesterday, and two of our grandsons from our son's family happen to be staying with us for the week, so it was fun getting the little boys together. They turned on the garden hose and spent a lot of time watering the garden pond, the bird bath, pushing wheelbarrows around, and jumping off the front porch.

 Cousins and Friends, jumping off the front porch,

evidently competing to see who can break an ankle first.

(They never tire of this sport!)

Chewing on a foxtail and building a castle.

When I uploaded the photo, I noticed the trowel, its handle buried. Children lead such dangerous lives!

So I have to share this little anecdote:

When I was helping the above-pictured grandson get ready for church yesterday morning, he pulled a sweatshirt out of the dresser drawer.

"Um, let's not wear a sweatshirt,'* I said, setting it aside. 'It's going to be really warm in the church, so let's not wear something that heavy.'

He chose a different shirt.  After putting on his shirt, he pulled a little ball of his clean socks out of the drawer, held them in the palm of his hand, considered them for a moment, and then said, 'I can wear these, Gramma. They're not too heavy.'  He put on his socks, sat down on the bed, lifted a leg, and said, 'See, Gramma, they're not too heavy.  I can still lift my leg.'

*BTW, I HATE it when people talk like that, using 'we' or 'us' to kids, when they don't mean it's going to be a joint effort, and it's not like he AND I were going to be wearing the shirt!  And yet, much to my horror, I found myself talking that way. I promise I will try to be less judgmental in the future.

***

Daughter and Granddaughter

Photo taken in Duluth this weekend.

(not by me)

One never knows what to expect from the weather in Duluth. If the wind is coming from the west, off the land, then it can be a fairly warm day. But if the wind is coming off the huge, deep, and cold Lake Superior, then it can be freezing and miserable!  Our daughter and family happened upon one of those wind-from-the-west days. Looks like summer, doesn't it!

Have a great Monday!

***

Check out my natural, handcrafted vegan soaps!

Buy any 5 or more, Get 1 FREE

'Cucumber Peel & Aloe'

...and more! Check out all my handcrafted soaps at

HomemadeSoapNSuch

and at

Our ETSY Shop 



***

This post is linked to

Good Fences

(on Thursday)

 

Kwik Sew Pajamas and Cotton Knits

Photo sent by our daughter

Kwik Sew Pajama Pattern 3510

T1-T2-T3-T4

It's a good thing I finally got these PJs sewn up when I did, or the two cousins would have already outgrown them. That's what I get for procrastinating. I had the fabric several months ago, but had a mental block about using red ribbing with them, and it was impossible to find the exact blue in ribbing fabric. Finally I realized that I had to get these done if they weren't going to be too small for them, so I sewed them, red ribbing and all. I was surprised at how much I liked the finished product. 

 The Other Cousin's New Jammies

Photo sent by our son

I fell for the little fire engines and Dalmatians when I first saw the fabric at JoAnn's. Unfortunately, there were, and still are, very few kid prints available in 100% cotton knit.

We used to be able to buy cotton knits in Eau Claire at Mill Ends Textiles, which had a huge selection of cotton knits, among other fabrics. The store has recently closed. With the dwindling number of mills in this country, naturally there are fewer mill ends.

One can go into any fabric store these days and find enough woven fabrics to delight any quilter, but for someone who wants to sew a simple pair of kids' cotton knit pajamas with a cute print, those fabrics are becoming harder to find. A friend steered me to Fabric.com and I was able to find a few there, but not a huge selection, nothing like the rows of bolts of cotton knits.

 I loved the fire engines and Dalmatians on this cotton knit

I went to the fabric store yesterday to see if I could find the next size larger in this pajama pattern, but could no longer even find this pattern, Kwik Sew 3510. Evidently, it's no longer in print. How could it be out of print? It's a classic pajama pattern. Also, one thing I've noticed about some patterns, is that the instructions don't always give the easiest or smartest way to do something. It had been a while since I'd sewn, and because I followed the instructions, I had to rip out the waistband and the neckband before simply doing what made the most sense.

August, 2014
The pajama recipients - the cousins

Now I'm considering what to do with the piece of cotton knit fabric below.

 Another piece of cotton knit from my stash

Do you think this would work for pajama pants for a 7 year old grandson?

Anyway, my favorite patterns are Kwik Sew and Simplicity. Usually they have the most understandable and sensible instructions. Do you have a favorite?  Do you have a source for 100% cotton knits?  Do you sew? Do you know what a sewing machine is? ;-)

Hope you have a great weekend, friends. I can't believe that January is almost over!

***

Check out my handcrafted, vegan soaps.

Buy any 5 or more, Get 1 FREE

Chunky Lemon Drop & Chunky Wild Berry

Natural, Handcrafted Vegan Soap

Special Price!

...and more! Check out all my handcrafted soaps at

HomemadeSoapNSuch

and at

Our ETSY Shop 

Although I usually forget to do it, there is a chance that this post will be linked to one or more of these great linky parties:  Amaze Me Monday and Inspiration Monday and Mosaic Monday and The Barn Collective and    Treasure Box Tuesday and Vintage Bliss Tuesday and KatheWithAnE and Rubbish Tuesday and Our World Tuesday and Tuesdays at our Home and Tuesday with a Twist and  Knick of Time Tuesday (vintage)  and   Tweak it Tuesday and Vintage Inspiration Wednesday and Ivy and Elephants Wednesday and Adorned From Above  and Artsy Corner Thursday and  All Things With Purpose and Home & Garden Thursday and Good Fences on Thursdays and  Time Travel Thursday and Freedom Fridays and Vintage Inspiration Friday and Simple Saturdays Blog Hop and Saturday's Critters