Thank You For The Award!

Thank you for the blog award Kimberly! It's nice to be appreciated and it means a lot coming from you! Kimberly is an awesome woman of God and is holding down the home front while her Hubby is deployed. Holding down the home front includes home school 5 kids and taking care of some of their special needs. Maybe when you read this, you can say a prayer for her and Hubby - that Kimberly will continue to be strengthened by God and that Hubby will come home safely. Less than 2 months to go! Woo Hoo!

So here is the tricky part for me! There are many blogs I read on a regular basis and love and I have many blog friends who I know in real life too! Maybe I'll have to pick some of my newer reads. Here are the rules:


1. Post this award on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3. Nominate at least 4 other bloggers, and add their links as well.
4. leave a comment at the new recipients' blogs, so they can pass it on.


Wisteria and Roses - This is a lovely blog that I have just begun reading this summer. Not only does she have lots of "lovelies" to share, but her faith sparkles through. One of the things I appreciate about her writing is that she speaks honestly about living with Autism and losing a child as well as the daily ins and outs of life with family. I'm enjoying getting to "know" her.

Woolly Tales - Heather has been allowing all of us to vicariously be shepherdesses on the Canadian prairie! I love the little glimpse of ranching life she gives me and I'm enjoying getting to know her beautiful spirit as well!

Down On The Farm - Marci blogs about life on Amazing Grace Farm. Lately she has photographed George as he emerged from his chrysalis, the amazing bounty God has blessed their farm with and daily snippets of farm life. In addition to her blog, Marci has a little General Store where you can find all kinds of neat products for simple and healthy living!

Deborah's Doings - I never know what I will find on Deborah's blog - snakes, babies, bread, turkeys, chickens, knitting and weaving. Their family survived a hurricane and now they are needing to relocate again. Please pray for them to be able to sell their home quickly so they will not be separated from Daddy at his new job!


Hmmm... do you see a theme? Perhaps being cooped up in the house since August 28th has me enjoying the outdoors vicariously! LOL

Here are a few other blogs for your enjoyment (And I am updating the links at right. Don't see yours? Let me know so I can remedy that!) that I did not leave an award for. These are blogs where I do not really correspond with the person, but enjoy the inspiration from their blog. (I feel funny leaving a blog award for a stranger - like I'm a stalking blogger fan! lol)

Eyes of Wonder - Jewels opened her blog back up for public viewing! Yeah! Then her camera broke! :o( Hopefully she'll be posting more soon because her photography of their simple life, gives you a feast for the eyes!

Little Cabin in the Woods - Lovely photography of life with "Three Empresses".

Little Jenny Wren - She makes the most lovely little Waldorf style dolls I have ever seen! Many posts feature knitting and homemaking skills in her beautiful Australian home.

Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods - Beautiful photography in Scandinavia.

Amish America - News and views of the Amish land and people.

Handbook of Nature Study - Charlotte Mason method teaching from a nature book my Grandma used in college in the 1920s! Lovely photos of her family's outdoor adventures.

Yarn Storm - Her book just arrived in the mail today and I can't wait to delve into. My friend Pamela in England, who sadly, no longer has a blog, introduced me to this riot of color! There is always something fun to see even if you are not a crafter or baker!

Posting, Blog Housekeeping Etc

Hello Everyone!

Several of you have written me off list with issues in commenting on my blog. Haloscan was recommended by several of my blogging friends. Today I installed it and I am happy with its easy installation process, but I am so SAD! It erases all the previous comments that people have left in the blogger/google format. So if you are wondering why I deleted your comment... I did not! Hopefully now, more people can comment and I can actually ANSWER your comments! Let me know if you have any problems.

I am cleaning up my links listing. I have not done this for over a year. The broken links should be gone, but I want to add YOUR blog links. If you are not already listed, please let me know so I can.

When I was on vacation and sometimes when I am not, I post from our laptop. I looked at the blog today on our desktop and was appalled and how goofy some of the colors look and how dark they are. Sorry about that! I'll have to keep that in mind when I edit on the laptop.

Hope you are having a great weekend! What are you doing with your extra time off? Are you starting school tomorrow? Hubby goes back to school (work) tomorrow and the kids I start back after our summer break, though it is not technically the first day of school as we begin the new year in July. But we are looking forward tomorrow in starting school at our new table. Previously we had a wobbly 30x48 table with a leg that fell off. I got a great deal on the same type of table (so no need for new chairs) that had some dents in it (the kind that would get there eventually anyway when you have kids) for $129! It will be nice to have a little extra elbow room to spread out our papers, projects and books!

Blogiversary Winners!

Thank you everyone for all your comments! It was so nice to hear from some of you who lurk and a few who were brand new and several who had never commented before!

Several asked about my quilt. Yes, it was my first quilt and there are mistakes in it to prove it. :o) We used Quilts, Quilts, Quilts which gives a lesson and a block or full quilt for each technique. Many people ended up with lap quilts or wall hangings but that did not seem practical to me since I live in such a small space. I decided to make a Queen size quilt. Our instructors laughed, warning I would probably never finish! LOL Well they are partly right. You can see from the photos that I got it sandwiched with the backing and batting, but it is still waiting to be quilted. Because of it's size, it is difficult to machine quilt. I don't have a frame or room for a frame to hand quilt and I don't have the money to send it out to be quilted, so three and a half years later it is waiting. However, posting about it has given me some incentive! :o)

Thank you for all your lovely comments and I would love to get to know YOU better!

So, without further ado, I numbered the list of names who entered and if you were entered twice for posting on your blog or for being a new commenter, you were given two numbers. Then I went to Random.org to produce random integers. If you won, please email me with your snail mail address at talindamood at hotmail dot com. Also I will try to post photos later of the yarn that was won.



Prize One: 3 skeins Sock Memories Yukon from Knit Picks went to Tina at Take Heart Farm


Prize Two: 2 skeins Crystal Palace Kid Merino in Circus (rainbow variegated) went to ikkinlala, a first time commenter who does not have a blog.


Prize Three: Beth Holland's Bread for Life Cookbook, volume One goes to Marci at Down On The Farm. (Go look at her cute little lambs on their Amazing Grace Farm. She is having a "Name the Lambs Contest".)


Prize Four: 10 of my photo cards, some of which can be seen at Love Notes Photography goes to Donna at Spinning Daydreams. Donna is a twin mama too.


Prize Five: One enlargement of 8x10 or 8x12 that may be customized by a scripture, quote or poem goes to another Theresa at Knitting Nonpareil, who is also a twins' Grandma!

Congratulations Everyone! Thank you so much for helping make my blogiversary fun! :o)

Three Years Blogging And A Give Away

Honestly, I can't believe it has been 3 years! Blogging is a part of my life, surfing blogs is a huge distraction :o) and I have learned so much from fellow bloggers, from recipes to sewing tutorials to photographic techniques, that I can't imagine living without blogs! And, that's not including all the friendships I have developed and some I have met in real life and others I hope to over the coming year.

Four years ago I took a quilting class at Quilter's Corner, my local quilting store. At the time, my son had just turned 3 and my girls were about 19 months old. I was done nursing babies and could leave for longer periods of time and I was restless, needing some type of "outlet". Quilting was something I had dabbled in over the years but had not learned the actual techniques so a class sounded like fun. In addition, I had hoped to meet some other gals locally to make friends. That didn't exactly happen, but almost...

Theresa with her finished pieced top of sampler blocks made in class - November 2004.

I didn't meet someone who lived near me, but I did meet Amy. I noticed her right away and felt that we were supposed to meet. Previously I shared a little of this story and have linked to her blog. Amy is "sparkly", intelligent and has a great sense of humor. She has also known deep grief. And though our griefs are different, I instantly felt safe with her. One day in class she shared with us that the Sacramento Bee was featuring an article about blogs and she was interviewed. HUH?! What's a BLOG? She explained to me what a web log was and I was interested.

Our teacher Barb is at the design wall helping Amy determine the best color for the background of her quilt.

Blogging sounded like fun, but I didn't have time at the moment. It appealed to my creative side. At the same time I began the quilt class, I also bought my first digital camera. Things were lining up.

Here is Amy's quilt top pieced together and hanging on the design wall.

Guess what else Amy does? She knits! Knitting is something I had done since kindergarten off and on with varying levels of success. In the early 90s I was quite gung ho and took a lot of knitting classes even some with famous knitters like Alice Starmore, but my long bout with Pseudotumor Cerebrei and the chronic severe migraines it left in its path, left my knitting bag in the closet. Amy reminded me how much I loved it. My pregnancies gave me some migraine relief and I was having longer stretches of pain relief and able to use my eyes to concentrate more on close up work and so I got out the needles and started knitting again.

The best Hubby in the world - my Valentine's gift - my friend Laura watched the kids and Tim and I went to the quilting store and pinned my top to the batting and backing. That's true love.

Another view of my top while I was piecing it together.

At the time I started blogging, my friend Laura had little lambs.

And she tenderly cared for my little lambs. Here she is with D. She came once a week, generally Mondays and played with the kids to give them and me a break. Sometimes we went to see her small "farm" in the middle of the city, like the day pictured here.

This is J playing peek a boo with Laura. See that bright yellow? That's Laura's kitchen! She was that vibrant and alive - you saw her colorful clothes. She was a unique individual. She loved me for who I was and in spite of who I was and we loved her right back!



At the time I started blogging, we lived in a "gated community"! There were baby gates everywhere!

And there were babies everywhere! LOL The girls had just turned 2 years old. This is J petting the neighbor's kitten and A behind.

And D was 3 and, well... not much has changed! He's grown at least a foot but he's the same goofy boy! :o)

And when I had started blogging, Hubby was the same age I am now (this is on his birthday) and we both looked a lot younger and had less gray.

And when I started blogging, I had no idea that I would be writing this post today. There was no inkling of what may emerge in words and friendships and projects.

During that time I began knitting prayer shawls as a ministry. I turned forty. And in these three years, the first two recipients died of Ovarian Cancer. Then Laura was taken Home with Uterine Cancer. Though I have grieved deeply, I have also had many moments of joy. I joined the Christian Artisans Group where I have made incredible friendships. And I have made friends with many of you who have visited here and whose blogs I visit. My blog has been a place to share family news and photos with Grandma as well as my growing interest in photography. Interestingly, my blog has also been a way to learn more about some people I know in real life, as we have been able to "chat" back and forth through the cyber lines.

Though my first blog entries were simple and somewhat stilted, I have begun to find my voice. I am beginning to express myself and though it may sound cliche, I feel that my blog has been a gift to help me grow. So, THANK YOU Amy! I believe God put us together for a reason - our meeting was an Ephesians 3:20 gift! Thank you Lord, that you work in marvelous and mysterious ways!

Who knows how much longer I will blog, but for now, I am having fun and I hope you are too! Now, for the fun part!

A few gifts need a new home! :o) I'm sorry, I don't have pictures because if I waited, I might never get this post up!

I will draw names. Your name will be entered into the "pot" by leaving a comment here on THIS post through Wednesday, April 30, 2008. Please indicate in your comments whether or not you want to be entered for the knitting prizes because if I draw the name of a non-knitter, I will re-draw.

Your name can be entered a second time if you comment and you have never commented on my blog before. And the third way to enter is if you mention and link to my blogiversary give away on your blog (but you need to let me know that you did so!). Winners will be announced approximately May 1st.

My blog is now open to all commenters except anonymous, so it accepts Word Press and other IDs. If for some reason you cannot comment, my email address is up near my profile to the right.

PRIZE 1: In honor of all the healthy eating changes I have made lately, I am giving a copy of a small cookbook that I have found so helpful, Beth Holland's Bread For Life Volume I. So far I have made at least 6 recipes from this book and they have all been good!

PRIZE 2: For the knitters out there, 3 skeins of Knit Picks Memories Sock Yarn in the Yukon colorway which is navy, medium blue, medium gray and light gray. Each skein is 100% Merino wool and 220 yards. Three skeins will make BIG socks, lace or ?

Prize 3: This is also for knitters. Crystal Palace Kid Merino in colorway "Circus 9803" which is a rainbow variegated yarn. Two balls, which are approximately 240 yards each. This would make a colorful and bright scarf.

Prize 4: Choose 10 of my Photo Cards, some of which can be seen at the provided link.

Prize 5: Choose one of my photographs for an 8x10 or 8x12 enlargement OR 2 5x7 photographs. If it works with the photo, I will be happy to customize it with a Scripture, poem or other appropriate text, or you can have it as it, ready for framing and/or matting.

Lastly, I want to thank all of you who take the time to comment, encourage and share your lives with me. I still struggle to keep up with answering comments, but I do always read them and they mean so much. I go back and look at your blogs too! That's always a joy. In your comments to this post, if there is anything you would like to see me write about, share or photograph in future blog posts, please let me know. Thanks for being part of these last three years. God bless you all!

Blogiversary Give Aways Coming Soon

Sorry everyone! I thought I could get my giveaways up before the end of my 3rd blogiversary, but time and children's health have not been on my side today! LOL Please bare with me, it's coming soon! :o)

Wellness Wednesday #26

Hello Everyone! I am sorry about last week. We are all trying to survive around here and there are times when what is happening in real life takes precedence over schedules in cyber-life! Today I weighed in again at 315#. I have not been able to get exercising and I believe that number probably won't budge until then. Because I still have sick kiddos to take care of, this will be a very short post; hopefully you will all understand.

However, today is a special day for me! It's my blogiversary. So come back later today as I will be announcing a blogiversary contest/drawing. In the meantime, I leave you with some photos of my roses.

New Beginnings

So, what do you think? I spent several hours working on a new look for the blog yesterday. For many months I wanted to personalize it with my own photography in the header as well as organize it more. I love the new way to be able to "click and drag" items into the template. It makes organizing my links so much easier! My husband would laugh...you should see the way I organize my "favorites" in Explorer! LOL

Over the course of the last year I have been gradually changing the focus of my blog. Initially this was my knitting blog. The more I blogged, the more I enjoyed the venue to write. Even if noone ever reads my blog, I enjoy writing. I also enjoy sharing my photography, because my photography generally says more about me than my words.

And though I would blog even though I didn't have any readers, my readers do make my blog much more enjoyable! Thank you for all the comments you leave. I have not yet determined how to consistently follow up on comments, however, I do enjoy going to your blogs and reading about you and your lives and ideas. So if you are "lurking", please leave a comment, so I can say "hi" and "thanks"!

Well, this is the first post of the new look on the blog. It reflects many of the changes that are taking place in my life...organizing, simplifying, learning. Maybe I will begin sharing some of those things here. Thanks for stopping by...I hope you enjoy!