Ahhh. Friday.

I must be doing something right. I've gotten three high fives and two handshakes from my boss this week. That's nice.

My counter us cluttered with dishes, we have no milk, Julian has a head cold. I'm totally relaxed. That's nice.

Tonight we have no obligations. I think we might pre-pack the kayaks on the truck so we can head out first thing in the morning and get out on the lake. Maybe not - we planned this for Julian's birthday this past Monday but didn't go because it wasn't warm enough to be fun.

Speaking I'd Julian, I've been pretty proud of him this week. He's been slammed with a group project, allergies , sickness, regular toils of grad school and a whooping lacrosse opponent (not to mention failed birthday plans). He's handled it all so well. So thankful for him.

Back to reality

When I get stressed, I dream the wildest dreams. Last week was one of those if-I-can-just-get-through-this-week weeks and I realized yesterday that I had myself fooled and THIS week is another one. Whew.

So I'm dreaming all kinds of weird dreams. Sometimes I am very glad to wake up and other times I am not as glad. My dreams are unbelieveably detailed, with colors I cannot explain and everything seems so tactile and real.

I dreamed that when I went to a donor's house to ask about a gift, his wife harangued me, Lady Catherine de Bourgh style in the garden to tell me the donor would only give if SHE told him to! (So glad to wake up!) I told Julian this morning that my dreaming has been so active that it seems like everything I touch reminds me of a dream I've just had in the past few days.

I was riding to work on the PRT this morning and thinking happy thoughts about making this pincushion I found on pinterest [click it]:

Copyright: Martha stinkin' Stewart

So I'm daydreaming about making this because I have a friend who needs one. In fact, she and I were working on a project last night and we needed some pins. She pulled out her beautiful velvet heirloom pincushion which had been her grandmothers. She loved it. It was green, kinda like that one in the middle. It was sort of falling apart, but we were still sticking pins and pulling pins... until I said to her, "Danielle, how about you stop using this or you will wear it out. Let me make you a new one." So I am all excited about doing just that... but it was just a dream. I did not spend yesterday crafting with Danielle, she (I assume) does not have a pincushion in disrepair. Bummer. THOSE are these stress dreams that really bum me out. In the famous words of Eminem, "Snap - back to reality."

End of a long week

This is a week I'm glad is over. Julian had two lacrosse games, both wins. We had a great visit with cousin Natalie and it happened to coincide with her birthday. I was in charge of an all day visiting committee meeting on Friday - I'm so glad it went well. Whew. Spring has finally sprung and its about time.

Easter projects....

You see how I failed at photo documenting? Yes. So my Maggie Rabbit was a much anticipated project that I adored every moment of. I got the kit a few weeks back but not having a tremendous amount of experience in the blanket stitch and being a bit intimidate by the perfection of Alicia Paulson, I just looked at the kit for about two weeks straight. Then Julian said I better get to it if it was going to be done for Easter. It never even occurred to me to do it for Easter... and I had no idea how nicely it would come together. It was a pleasure start to finish. I had to borrow some #5 knitting needles from my MIL over the holiday so I will update with complete pictures in good time. 

Then after some inspiration from my newest favorite blog, I tried these tie-dyed eggs with mom. It was fun, but I think in the future I'll have a better idea of what kind of tie works. The colors need to be very bold and the tie of pretty nice quality. The one that worked best was a hand sewn tie from the mens store in town that had lived a good life and was found in Goodwill in tattered shreds. You can see the original 'Daniels' tag in the picture. 

So much fun. Nice to do projects just because you want to.

McCormick Farm

We went home this past weekend and I got to spend some quality time with my family on Saturday. Mom and I did craftsy type things and the boys worked on things around the house. In the afternoon, Julian joined us and we all went to McCormick's farm to walk the dog. They have a new nature trail there which we'd never seen and though we drive past it on a regular basis, its been years since Julian or I actually intentionally went to see the sights. It was nice.

Looking back towards the working part of the farm,
now owned and operated by Virginia Tech.

This was a honey bee tree, it really captivated
me - one of two holes from which bees were
busily buzzing.

Looking across the pond that Cyrus McCormick dammed
up to work his water wheel - this is more of the landscape
to which I am accustomed - rolling hills, not in-your-face
tree covered mountain. 

Same pond, different view. I could not determine if those
were duck boxes or bluebird boxes. 

Marl Creek - the same creek that ran through our farm when
we were growing up

Cyrus McCormick headstone 

The waterwheel to work the mill

The pond down by the house.