111

Today we are celebrating my 111th post with a giveaway! If you leave a comment I will put your name in a hat and draw one out and the winner will receive a hand painted original. When I choose a winner, I will choose a painting just for you. If you've never left a comment before, now is the time! I love comments from random strangers or old friends. :) I will write a new post to announce the winner on March 8th!

original artwork thursday

Couldn't get my camera to cooperate, so here is a banana from a while back to satisfy your crafty cravings. I'll post more current pics next time (hopefully!).

Interesting facts about bananas and my family:

1. when I was pregnant with Isaiah, bananas made me gag.

2. I didn't feed Isaiah baby food bananas because I was pregnant with Lydia and bananas made me gag.

3. Lydia eats bananas, Toby eats bananas, and Chloe eats about 2 bananas a day, but Isaiah won't eat one even if it's covered in chocolate chips.

4. We buy about 3 bunches of bananas a week.

5. Because of leg cramps I had to learn to eat bananas when I was pregnant with toby and chloe, and ate one almost every day cut up with pears (toby) or blackberries (chloe) and walnuts, with vanilla yogurt.

6. there are about 26 carbs in a banana.

7. That's probably more about bananas and me than you wanted to know!

do I look like a truck driver?

This is the truck we are buying tomorrow. Nathan took it for a test drive last night. Truck that seats 6 = freedom! So excited to have a secondary vehicle again!

original artwork thursday

these are a few pictures from this week's sketchbook. I'm on a rainbow kick... I don't know why. Hopefully I'll pull through that and create something actually cool soon :) (although secretly I love rainbows and clouds and swirls and birds...)

Nutty Goodness

Today starts what I hope will be a waistline reducing sprint. Nathan and I both have decided to low-carb it. Four babies in 5 years added pounds that weren't welcome, and so we say, "Be gone!" Joining the gym didn't work, trying just to "eat healthy" never seems to work for us, so taking carbs out of the mix is just going to force us to make better choices. I think eventually we will add back in whole grains and yogurt which is just so good for you, but for now meat/fish, salad, cheese, nuts and berries. Plus other non root veggies. I'll let you know how it goes! For a late breakfast I had string cheese and nuts. I love string cheese so it was kind of a treat! We'll see how I feel in a week....

original artwork thursday

original artwork thursday is simply a way for me to show you what I have been working on, from crocheting to painting to sketching. Feel free to leave a link of your artwork in the comments, and if enough people link up (or anyone!!) I'll think about getting a linky tool to make it easier.

This weeks art is from my first week of sketchbook delight.

here's what's up

1. Fed lunch to 8 kids yesterday. Thank goodness for paper plates.

2. Can't get enough of my 2 yr old saying ninya tuttles (ninja turtles)

3. am loving my sketch class, and will have some stuff to show you soon

4. can't believe that kindergartners are supposed to know how to do algebra (4+?=7)

5. can't believe I am the party pooper telling my kids not to blow bubbles in
their drinks. I always wondered why I couldn't do that as a kid....

It is quiet in my house right now. shhhh.... enjoy this silent moment with me.

Nathan and I planned our garden this weekend (we even have a binder now) and built two garden boxes. The warmer weather has gotten us all excited for spring! We are planning on getting chickens in may, probably between 50 and 100 meat birds, plus some egg layers, and probably a lamb and a couple of pigs. I am so ready!! We are planning a little comapnion planting this year, including a few flowers known to help ward off the bad buggies or make your food taste better. Hopefully there will be lots of pictures of the garden and any good tips we learn this year. I just need to talk Nathan into a better camera (i.e one that works properly!).

Do you garden? Do you know how to grow your own food? We feel like this was a part of our education that was sorely lacking. It would be nice not to wonder which plants to plant together or to know how many times to replant. There are so many garden kinks we could have worked out in the 27 years up to now.... ah, well, it's never too late to learn!

The quiet is no more... which means I have kiddos to take care of!

original artwork thursday (OAT)

faux bois owl

5 things

1. got Nathan's sister to do our taxes!!

2. got a real live record player and a few good records (still on the lookout for journey, chicago, the monkees, jimmy buffet, the who, hall and oats, and on and on.. I love that our kids will know what a 33 is :)

3. finally (finally!!!) got the mud room organized

4. signed up for sketchbook delight with alisa burke

5. am watching eureeka every night with Nathan (love sci-fi!)