Pop of Pattern Wednesday

I have a 13 month post to write, but I have a mental block hindering its progress.  It's not an issue with lack of material, but more an issue of denial on the part of the said 13 month old's mother.  Sigh.  :)

While I'm procrastinating, I'll entertain you (questionable) with a pattern that is tickling my fancy these days.  If you've been reading long, you know of my love of ikat.  There are so many beautiful uses of it these days that I hardly know where to start... soo.... today we're just going to talk about ONE form of ikat.  Since I haven't been able to track down a technical name for this pattern, for today's post we shall call it ...

"Round Ikat"

ooooohh,  ahhhhhhh.  Right?

Ok, for those of you eager for pictures, here ya go:

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This is the second time I've referenced Pixelimpress' work on my blog - I just love all her designs!  I am seriously considering ordering them with just my name and email, phone, etc to hand out to my friends!  ha!  "Hi mom, would you like my card?"  ;)  Only trouble would be selecting one design!  Can I do an assortment?  :)

 

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I'm thinking this is worth purchasing, for a shocking $10.69!  I think this would be a great table runner with my chocolate brown dishes.  Perfect for everyday use.

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 This fabric is a super cheap $11.99/yard making it a great choice for drapes or other larger projects.  There are TONS of colors - easy to find one to work into your design!

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I'm loving West Elm again these days - the above dish is actually just brushstrokes, but I thought it was close enough to this "pattern" to include.  I love the irregularity of the strokes and the color.

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 These are also from West Elm and are really tempting to me.  I'm considering new drapes for my living room and these would be a natural fit - let's call my color scheme "'natural". 

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This ottoman is pretty fantastic -- love the color, height, legs, etc!  What a great alternative to a sharp-cornered coffee table in this age of walking (ahem, yes, you heard right!) toddlers!  Hm... pretty soon I will be posting pics of my living room and asking for feedback for a new design -- I can't wait to hear your thoughts!

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Ok, as most of you that actually know me know, I am a scarf ADDICT.  I love them.  And, since I love blue, and I love "round ikat" (use it in a sentence this week), AND I love scarves... I think this seems like an obvious choice for me!  :)  Now.... I need to come up with a supportive argument for this purchase when I have two closet hooks devoted to my scarves already. 

Ok, so what do you think?  This is a softer way to bring in an accent color than a sharp geometric print -- of course you know I love those too -- but sometimes the space looks too harsh for a geometric.  Am I boring you?  ;)  Bill, no comment. 

Love!

Favorite

Guess What -

I'm addicted to Gap Argyle socks. 

This would be a more "serious" pair... in case you are worried about them being too noticeable. :)

Gap had them marked down to $1.99 each this weekend and I loaded up.  I think I have at least 20 pairs now.  Excessive?  If you say so.

I think it's the clever way Gap uses color in their argyle patterns that gets me excited, well, that and the fact that the socks just fit my feet perfectly.  :)  The styles they have online are never as interesting as the options in the store. 

If you buy a pair, tell 'em I sent ya! 

Nah, I'm kidding.  ;)

Love!  On this particularly WET Monday!

Different Perspective

Eli's arrival into this world has greatly altered my relationship with our Heavenly Father, Jesus.  I know I made that point here.  But, today, on Good Friday -- it's all (literally ALL) I can think about.

Did God seriously offer His son as a sacrifice for my life?!  Did He do this, knowing how often I was going to screw up, live for my own agenda, and not follow His perfect will for my life?

I know He did - and I cannot find anything more humbling.  


Without Jesus I would have absolutely no chance at experiencing even one day in Heaven -- which is the ONLY thing that could beat out months of all my favorite things - beaches (ideally in Cronulla), Eli, ice cream, Eli, Bill, Tom Ford's Black Orchid, our families, Eli, ... you get the picture.

Lord, through the suffering of your Son, you have allowed me the option to serve You and, through your grace, spend eternity with you in Heaven.  My heart radiates at that thought -- Heaven... with YOU!... for ETERNITY!  Eeekk!!!  :)  While I promise to try not to, I know I will still mess up and be a messy Christian.  Lord, please continue to mold me into the woman you designed me to be.  More than anything, I ask that you speak through me as I walk through life -- with Bill, Eli, and every single person I come into contact with.  Lord, I ask that they see You -- not me -- and are inspired to pursue You that much more.

I love you, Lord, and I thank you for the ultimate sacrifice!  AMEN!

I pray you all have a fabulous weekend celebrating with friends and family!

Love!

Spinach Greens!

This must have been harder than I thought!  I have a bunch of farm novices on my hands!  ;)  Go figure, right?

Congrats to Beth for pretty much nailing it!  :)

Here are some more pictures from the harvest of spinach greens last week:

These pictures were taken from Bill's phone while he drove the tractor, pulling the "buggy".

It takes seven or eight "buggy" loads to fill up a semi, so they have three tractors, each with a buggy, available during harvest.  As you can see from the picture, the spinach cutter harvests the greens and then sends them on a conveyor belt to the buggy.

Full buggy ready to transfer to semi

This is a picture of dumping the spinach into the semi.  Can you see that man's head right where the greens are hitting the semi on the left corner?  That provides a bit of scale for this picture.... that's a LOT of spinach!  This spinach is grown specifically for a regional canning company.  Bill can't remember how long they have sold greens (also including mustard, turnip and collard greens) to this company, but he thinks it could very likely have started before he was born.

So, in order to figure out how many cans of spinach can be made off of one acre of spinach, let's see if we can do the math...

(we're using estimates from this year's yield)
1 acre = 10 tons of spinach
10 tons = 20,000 pounds (according to Bill's noggin)
20,000 lbs = ~320,000 ounces (according to my handy iphone app)
320,000 ounces / 13.5 oz per can = ~23,704 cans

Um... WOW!  That's a LOT of Spinach!  And, to make it even more amazing... times that by 45 acres!!  Ok, brace yourself...

That means Bill's family is producing enough spinach to equal 1,066,680 cans!

Leads me to wonder -- who actually buys canned spinach?  

Ha - I think I'm going to forward this to one of my best friends that is a math teacher at my old high school.  I'm sure she'd appreciate all the numbers!  :)

Please let me know if you have any questions - I'll ask my handy dandy farmer hubby.  I wrote this with his help tonight - I get in over my head quickly when talking "farm" talk!  :)

Hope you've had a great Tuesday!  Little E had a fever all day and was pretty cranky until I realized I wasn't giving him enough medicine to actually do any good.  Bill and Eli had an hour of playtime before bed and he said it was the best play time they have had in a while and that he seemed to be feeling better already.  If you are so inclined, please pray that whatever is ailing him might, um, STOP.  :)  I have a feeling it's the 2nd molar coming in... I hope I'm right!

Love!

Farming Friday

So, I finally made it through my google reader list (it is seriously getting out of control -- I need to 'unsubscribe' to some in order to find some effectiveness when sitting in front of the computer!).

For today's Farming Friday post, I want to quiz you all.  Can you tell what is happening here?  Can you guess what they are harvesting?

**UPDATE**
I'll give you a hint - this particular item of produce is not commonly eaten by my generation in this particular region of the US.  But, I suspect it is far more common in the South.  :)  

Does that help?

In related news, they have officially planted most corn AND have even planted some watermelons!  I can't wait for summer days with lots of fresh produce - it will be even more fun this summer since Eli will actually be able to partake!  :)

Have a fantastic weekend!

Love!

My favorite brekkie

Ok, I know I've been absolutely horrible at blogging lately -- I have the best of intentions, I do, but my life is changing a bit and I'm having a hard time figuring out how this blog plays its part.  :)

Basically, one of my prayers was answered in that I am now getting to work PART TIME!  :))))))  (That's a big smile, not lots of chins).  :)

So, before I was working roughly 45 hours a week, and now I am only working about 28 hours!  :)  As a result of that, I have endeavored to spend considerably less time on the computer.  You know what that means -- less blogging!  :(  But, it's a really fantastic thing for my little family.

ANYWAY, the point of this post is to share my latest and most favorite breakfast lately!  I'm trying to convert everyone I know to Greek yogurt.  It's the best.  :) 

Have you tried this?  Cherry is my favorite, but they are all good!

Have a great Tuesday!

Love!