I had a grand time at the Reformation Day Fair this year! The talks were very informative and encouraging, and I had a wonderful time meeting new friends, fellowshipping, and being encouraged by all of the above.
(Be sure to read Racheal's blog for m0re information about the event...)

With no further ado I will share my pictures...which really are not very good quality, but maybe you all will enjoy them anyway : )


Friday afternoon travel....

Saturday...

The jam session!!

I played the tambourine and the shaker a little, but I mostly just listened and enjoyed...


The Highland games!

It was so very funny...the guys were supposed to go and pick the rock up and return it to the starting place for the next contestant, but almost all of them would forget, and the man with the mega phone kept having to say "Don't forget the rock!!"


The Dance!!

As is the nature with lots of people moving around at the same time, not many of the pictures turned out very well...but here are a couple...

And that's all folks...

I was blessed with a wonderful time this past weekend and was pleased to be able to meet several "new relatives"...my brothers and sisters in Christ. May God bless all his children, and all his church.

Hello everyone, sorry it's been a while. Life has seemed a bit hectic and off kilter for the last several weeks...

I'll start with last week...Monday G-pa had a very bad nose bleed but he didn't want to go into the clinic, because he was afraid that they would send him to the hospital in the The Big City like last time he had a bad nose bleed which they couldn't get stopped. Soooo his nose probably bled for about 3 or 4 hours before he finally decided to let us take him in. And that wasn't good as his hemoglobin levels were already rather low. I helped him change into a clean shirt, and loaded him up into The General, as I call it, (the wheel chair van...there is a story behind that...but no time now...) and then unloaded him again at the clinic and hauled him inside. The wheelchair accessibility to that building is really not very good, there is a ramp, but getting through those two doors is quite a hassle... So the Doc. packed his nose and said he wanted to see him again in three days.

On Tuesday Mom, Grandpa and I headed for The Big City to pick Grandma up from The Big Airport as she had flown back up here from The Other State. Okay...back up...that probably didn't make any sense...you see...G-ma had gone down to The Other State with Daddy so that she could go to her favorite dentist and get her drivers license renewed, then she flew back here and Daddy remained there with his dad. Then The Sisters headed up here, stopping to be part of a reenactment on the way. At any rate...we picked G-ma up from The Big Airport...and it is big! It has been ever so many ages since I had been to an airport...and I didn't really get to see much of this one...but that didn't bother me...I really think that I would freak out if I got stuck in an airport...I hate crowds!! So after picking G-ma up we made the long drive home. We stopped and ate dinner at a Bob Evans, I really like their Cob Salads, That is almost always what I order when we go there : ) So by Tuesday I was already feeling like it had been a very long week....and....I can't really recall much of the rest of the week...except that we returned Thursday to the clinic to have G-pa nose unpacked. And also that our Friday market was canceled for pending rain which didn't happened.

This Monday The Sisters arrived for their visit. YAY!! Looking forward to several more weeks with them : )
I don't remember all that happened Tuesday, but I do remember rolling up about 11 irrigation hoses from the now pretty much finished garden...and being hot while I was doing it :) Oh yes, and I moved the chicken coops too.

Yesterday afternoon after feeding the chickens and gathering eggs (we only got three!! ) I pulled up all the old rusty flags from the very sad looking rhubarb patch...but before I got finished I had to go in and change out of my skirt into a pair of jeans because some very annoying little buggies that live in high grass were nibbling on my legs and making them itch!!  And they are still itching...

I busily zipped around in the go buggy :) (It was fun Daddy, I like your toy, and I think I've finally learned how to drive it correctly, it has shifted fine for me the whole time, once I learned the "feel" of it ;) )

I used the buggy to help Mom pull a big piece of wood over to the fire pit where she was burning pieces of the old rotten corn crib that Uncle D. pulled down with his truck several years ago...Racheal was mowing till until mower broke...and by that time it was nearing time to knock off for the day anyhow...We stopped by to see the grandparents and then proceeded on to the house to bathe and eat dinner, more then one of us were a little blank from hunger...

So, today is market prep day, and after lunch, I shall get busy making a few grain free baked goods to take to market tomorrow.

So until next time my dear readers,

Have a Jolly day!!
Au Revoir!!

Yesterday was a busy day...
In the morning I went with Daddy to help him get some firewood from Mr. John's place. Daddy had gone the day before and felled a few trees and brought home a load of wood, but wanted to have a little extra help for the second load as Mr. John would not be available to help him. There was a huge mulberry (huge for a mulberry tree, it was probably about in the range of a medium sized tree when it was standing) which he had cut down  the day before and we started on that. Daddy using his chainsaw took off all of the green leafy branches and I drug them into a huge brush pile. Some of those branches thought it would be jolly if they could take my head with them as they flew and flumped into that pile....thankfully none of them succeeded. :) And after all the leafy branches where gone Daddy started chopping up the firewood sized stuff. It is obviously still green and will need to weather a while before we will be able to use it...but time will take care of that. We took the "go-buggy" as we call it, with us, so we loaded the wood into it's little bed and then hauled it over to the trailer. So we got the entire mulberry tree cleaned up. We will probably go back next week and get the rest of the big Poplar that Mr. John's friend left and some other trees...We must have wood to keep the fire going all winter and keep us warm!
It was probably 3:00 to 3:30-ish when we started home...we had taken along a snack "lunch"...and ate that on the way home. After getting home and showering (Daddy and I were dirty....you know, hauling sappy, sawdust covered wood...) I ate some real lunch at about 4:00. :) Then I started my usual Thursday market prep day baking. I made gluten and grain free "white" bread, zucchini bread, and chocolate brownies.
So yes, a busy and productive day....it's nice to have those...seems like so many of my days are not as productive as I should like them to be.
Anyhow, I must run for now, Daddy is going to market instead of me this week so I must help get them off soon.

Hello all ya'll folks who have probably reckoned that I fell of the edge of the earth...again...
I'm still here...but just don't get around to posting overly often ("Oh really? I hadn't noticed!"  Yeah, yeah....rub it in ;) ).
Anyway, I have something to post about this evening, so if I post it NOW, it'll get done :)

So...today Mum and Daddy went to town, it was  kinda an out and about trip, so they were figuring on probably being gone an hour or so. Mum said she would lock me in the house, but I said no, I could get it, since I walked out with her. So I walked on out to "see them off" so to speak, I waved as they drove off and turned around to go back inside...That Moment...a shocker...THE DOOR IS LOCKED!!!!!!!!!

HELP!!!
 
They weren't too far down the road yet, so I lit out beside the road waving my arms like a maniac and hollering "WAIT!!!!" (Although I don't know if I was actually hollering all that loud or not...they couldn't have heard me either way. But it sounds good in writing :) )  They slowed down....oh, they saw me, good...no...that was only a fleeting hope, they were only slowing down to make the turn! What am I going to do now!! I hastily darted towards the  barn: "Please LORD, don't let the door be locked!!" Thankfully it wasn't. Upon entering G-ma and G-pa's cozy apartment, I (now panting and out of breath) asked if I could borrow G-ma's phone, and briefly explained the situation. G-ma doesn't currently have a key to the big house...she did, but it got lost somehow (I didn't loose it though!! Even with my history of loosing house keys. It was lost before that anyhow). So having called them I got Mum's assurance that they'd come back right away and let me in. Whew!!!
And they did...came home, gave me the key, and let me unlock the door, return the key, and made sure I was securely INSIDE before they drove off again!
I guess that Mum had thrown the lock on the handle reckoning to lock me in....but I unsuspectingly shut the door behind me when I followed her out! So that is how I came to be locked out of the house...for a second time....but I couldn't even get in the garage this time!!

Ahhhh...it was good to have That Moment of panic over with!!

See ya later gator (or gators as it may be ;) ), I'm off to vaccume!

Katherine

Hello folks!
Here is my third "tutorial"...This style is a type of "quick" crown braid that I "invented". It is also for long hair.

I call it the Turban Crown Braid... 

Alright, first you begin by parting your hair and dividing it into two halves...just like you are making regular ol' double braids. Which you are, but these braids only need to be long enough so that crossing over in the back, the end of the braid will be even with the middle of your forehead. Clear as mud right? (I'm good at that if you hadn't noticed :) )

Now cross the two "half braids" in the back....

...and bring them around front and fasten them at the middle of your forehead. You can use a hair doey, or a clip...I have a hair doey that has a decorative piece attached to it...which is ideal for this style.

Separate your two braid ends and tighten them up (like you would a pony tail)...then "fold" them back until they meet at the nape of your neck and fasten them into a mini pony tail.

You may leave the style like this, or wrap around this "mini pony tail" and pin it to hide the hair doey. (Which I obviously did not accomplish in the picture below, but you get the idea...)

And that basically is the Turban Crown Braid! But there is this variation....
Once you have fastened the braids in front of your forehead, instead of leaving the ends loose, braid them. 

Then proceed as normal, only tuck them in behind the crossed over braid bases and pin (rather than gathering them into a pony tail).

And then of course you could "re-use" the style and have these cool 'X' shaped braids!

That is all of the styles that I have for now!
I hope that you have enjoyed them!

See you next time,

P.S. Once again, I am sorry for the poor quality of my photographs....

Good afternoon! Here I am with my next hair "tutorial" post...I hope you enjoy.

The pony tail for LONG hair...

First, very simply, put your hair into a pony tail. I must use a stretchy head band instead of a regular hair doey because my hair is so thick. Next, "split" the hair just above the pony as if you were going to flip it...you are, just not yet, so you don't want the pony tail to be tight and taunt against your head as you would usually.

Divide your pony tail in two, braid each section, and fasten both ends (separately).

Now comes the part where you are going to "flip" your tail...or tails as it is now. Pull the braids up through the "slit" above your pony tail holder. Be sure that you flip UP not down...Once you have done the "first flip", and now have both braids sticking out ON TOP of your pony tail holder, grab both of the sides right by the pony holder and pull it tighter, just like you would tighten any loose pony tail. You want to make it a little tighter to your head at this point.

You will need to repeat the above process of looping until the braids become as short as you want your pony tail to be. You can see in the photo below, I am pushing the skinny ends of my braids up through the "opening" with my thumbs. As you will have multiple loops of braid, be sure that some are rather pulled to the side, so they don't just pile up, one braid loop directly on top of another, the affect will be flatter and better in the end...

Okay, I have the braids looped until they become as short as I want my pony tail to be...I know, it looks kind of dorky at this point, but we're not done yet!

Now fasten the two "short braids" together with a doey...

And then un-braid them!
You may wonder why that whole process of braiding and unbraiding was necessary...let's just say it makes looping all of that hair a LOT easier, and keeps the whole style from being loose and floppy...it makes the end result more snug and a lot less knotty!

If your covert bun feels too floppy for your comfort, you can place a clip below it to help support it, I don't usually though.

This style also works great for double pig tails (now why is one a pony tail and two are pig tails??). The "covert" buns tend to show a bit more when worn in this double style. But overall, it works great!

Of course all of that rigamaroll is completely unnecessary if one has shorter hair, but if you have hair that is quite long and don't have practical place or occasion to wear a three foot long pony tail (or pig tails), this hair style makes it possible to wear shorter "tails" without the threatening thought of cutting one's hair!!

Hope you enjoyed :)

Au revoir!

Hello everyone!
No, I have not fallen off of the planet, I just do not get to posting blogs very often as I stay rather busy most of the time...but anyway, finally, after oh, probably a couple of months of my sister begging me (okay, begging might be a little strong, but it sounds good in the writing) to post these "hair tutorial" pictures I am finally getting it done!!
So here you go Racheal!
I do apologize for the somewhat fuzzy quality of most of these pictures, I do not know why they turned out that way, I must have had my camera on the wrong setting or something...

Starting with the 1700's up-do...

Gather the hair from the front and top of your head (the "crown" of the head I believe it's called, right?)...

And put it into a pony tail...like this:

Next, you take this portion and you roll it...I know, it sounds challenging, and it is a bit, but it can be done.
Wrap it around your hand like this:

Complete the roll, and lay it flat on the top of your head, now pin it. If you have hair that doesn't mind bobby pins, then you can use them to secure this "roll" to the top of your head; however, if you have hair that rebels against bobby pins, like mine, you can use a clip (it must be one that can hold quite a bit of hair), and clip all the hair of the bottom of the roll to the hair on the top of your head. Clear as mud?

Pin roll, and adjust so that it "looks right"...

Now take the remaining hair and pull a section aside.

Take the rest and tie it....

...in a knot...wrap around the tail, and pin.

I was able to use bobby pins for this part of it...because it was such a tight little bun the bobby pins actually stayed in. I think I used 4 big bobby pins, two on each side.

You should end up with something that looks kind of like this:

Take the section you separated out and curl it...

Although it may look like the entire side section that I have curled, it actually is only the very ends...I took the rest and pined it up unceremoniously in the back so that the hair style would come out looking like it was supposed for the picture.
I decided that because of the fact that a three foot long side section of hair cannot be curled very easily (if at all) that this hair style would be preferable for those ladies whose hair is not quite as long as mine....However, there are some variations for longer hair.

Variation 1: After you make your "roll", take all of your remaining hair and knot, twist 'round the ends, and pin. You just won't get any curls :)

Variation 2: Once again, after making your roll take all of your hair and knot it, but don't wrap around the tail. Pin it and let the remaining hair drop... 

Here you can see that my hair doey (okay, I know it's a weird name, but that is what I have always called them, because you do your hair with them right?), otherwise know as an elastic, hair tie, etc. is showing at the base of my "roll"...If that happens to yours, you can kind of cover the hair doey up, and pin the cover up section in place....just use your common sense and you'll do much better than trying to listen to my weak attempt at instructions :) Or you could just ask someone else to put the whole thing up for you :)

Then curl your "tail"! Which I obviously didn't, because curling takes a long time, and I was planning on photographing a few more hair styles that afternoon...

One more note...you may have noticed that in some of the photos I have a clip in the place of a hair doey (laugh if you must), now that is the way I did it originally, but found that the clip kept awkwardly showing. The hair doey really blends in quite a bit better, especially if you use one that "matches" your hair (not something like florescent orange or anything :) Well, unless your hair happens to be florescent orange...but that wouldn't be very 1700's period correct....)

Alrighty, well I hope you enjoy! I do have a few more styles to post, but at this time there is a kitchen and in it dirty dishes to wash! And then I shall make pizza! (GAPS approved.) 
So until next time,

Hi Ya'll!!
I know it has been FOREVER since I've posted on here...so please forgive me.
I would like to relate to you a little story about my birthday a few days ago...It was a fairly average day, and I worked on a paper for school in the morning. After a lunch of very yummy salad Mama gave me my presents. A pretty yellow synthetic rose ( I started to sing, "There's a yellow rose in Texas...." when I took it out of the bag :) ), powdered mineral foundation and blush, and a new Bible! An ESV study Bible. Yay!! I had been wanting a new one...my old one looks a bit raggedy about the binding.  We also ate GAPS aproved coconut cake. Oh so yummy :) My new glasses came the same day as well! So, after lunch I returned upstairs to work on my paper and later Savannah and I ended up chatting over Skype and then she called me up...so I sat there and talked to her until it was past time for Mama and I to have left to go to the entertainment event that was being held at church that evening. So we were running late...Mama gave me the key to lock the door on our way out, which I did, then hopped into the car and away we went. Well, when we arrived in the church parking lot, I had forgotten that the key was still in my lap burried in my jacket (It was quite chilly), but I happened to see it as I was getting out of the car and being in a hurry because we were late and becuse it was cold out, I hastily grabed the key and plunged it into my purse...or so I thought. Mom and I went in and we enjoyed the show. When it was over and we had stood around and talked for a bit we decided it was time to go home (Mama had a headache). And when we arrived home, wonder of wonders...they key was not ANYWHERE in my purse or in the car...guess what, haste makes waste and extra trouble (hmmm...seems like I've heard that before). So anyway, what are we going to do!?! Are we going to have to break into our own house?!? Really don't want to have to break that glass window...Thankfully however, there was another option....which I *fairly* quicky decided on doing....In the back bathroom there is a window that opens into the stairwell of the basement and it is very easy to open, in fact sometiems it slides down a few inches on its own. So I got a 5 gallon bucket and with the aid of the top end of a 2x4 to which the hand railing is crewed, I clamored up, opened the window, and steped in on top of the washing machine...the cat freaked out and went running when she saw me coming through that window (which I was rather glad of, becuase that way she didn't try to  get out). And then I unlocked the door and life proceeded. It all sound funny now, but at the time I was very agrivated at myslef for loosing the key!! You do not, EVER, loose your house key!! Unless you're a qualified burgler and it's no big deal to open a locked door...(alright, bad joke...) So afer dumping everything out of my purse and searching in the car some more, I finally decied that I must have missed my plunge and droped the key on the gravel, and it must still be at chruch. And you know what? It was :) On Sunday morning we arrived a little early purposely to try and find the key before anybody parked on it...and before we were even parked ourselves I said "There it is!!" (It's on a dark brown rawhide string, so it showed up nicely against the white gravel). So I hopped out right quick and grabed it up and took special care to be sure it was IN my safely zipped purse before I proceeded to go inside!! 
Anyway, that was my "epoch" birthday.
Don't worry...I do not write my school papers this way...costant reppition of the word 'so', endless spelling and grammar mistakes...at least I hope not...and I really hope that there aren't too many here either, but I am in a bit of a hurry and need to go now, SO I hope that you enjoyed this :)

Yourn Truly,
 (sorry, I guess I'm feeling ornery:) )

The other day we got to visit with some friends...I had a good time and got to eat some good food and learned how to play chess and make duct tape hair bows :) Thank you all for a good time!!

Picture: 1) Lucy showing me how to make duct tape hair bows.
               2) Sam showing me one of his precious trains.
               3) Me, modeling the hair bow that Lucy made me.