About a month ago my husband bought me a new laptop, and ever since I feel like I’ve been in a fight with technology. First of all, the laptop did not always play videos or audio. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong so we took it back. Now with this next laptop I cannot get my Artisan program to download so that I can do digital scrapbooking. I still haven’t figured out what the problem is. It’s frustrating in the extreme.
On a happier note I’ve been able to do some more sewing lately. I’ve made a skirt for my youngest daughter and repurposed a sweatshirt into a jacket for my middle daughter. They’re both happy. I also made a shield/pillow for a little boy in our church who has four older brothers. Now I’m working on a gun case for my second son’s airsoft gun. It’s going slowly because I have to make the design/pattern as I go along.
On an even happier note my husband is doing so much better. We just finished our third chemo cycle (two weeks of chemo on Thursdays and a week off). His appetite has returned in a huge way. He’s had very little nausea from the chemo and no hair loss. It’s really been amazing, and I know, an answer to prayers from so many people. He went back to work for one day to fill in for the man who’s filling in for him. He’s hoping to do the same next week.
It’s no secret that I love bags and purses and making them. This link is only a picture, but it would be easy enough to do. I love the idea of a purse made from a sweater and plaid wool. I read online recently that to keep a purse made from stretchy material from getting stretched out of shape you only need to line it with a non-stretchy fabric. I think I need to look for a sweater the next time I’m at the thrift store.
I made these cupcakes for my husband’s birthday. They are soooo good. I made the cupcakes and the icing, and then my middle daughter piped the icing on.
Salted Caramel Pretzel Cupcakes
I want to do my own hanging baskets this spring so I’ve been searching Pinterest for ideas and tips. I like this post. I think I’ll get some ideas here.
Best Plants for Hanging Baskets
I struggle with sewing zippers. This method looks like it makes zippers easy, and I want to try it when I do the zipper on my son’s airsoft gun case.
The Absolute Easiest Way to Sew a Zipper
My middle daughter is now a teenager! and launching her own blog soon about dressing modestly but fashionably. I’ll let you know when it’s up. In the meantime you can get an idea of her style sense by following her page on Polyvore.
When our girls turn 13 we give them a hope chest. It’s been fun to shop for them and to see how the hope chest we find seems to match the personality of the girl it is bought for.
I hope you and yours are doing well. And for those of you who have been praying for my husband and our family, thank you so much. God is answering prayer for us every day with the return of my husband’s health.
Intentional Simplicity 
Oh so very thankful that everything is going extremely well for your family. We truly serve an amazing God who cares about every detail of our lives. He is a God of miracles. I will continue to pray for all of you.
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Yes, He is a God of miracles. Thank you for your prayers.
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Jen, I am SO HAPPY to hear your husband is doing so much better! Praise the Lord! He looks so handsome in the above picture. I will continue to pray for him as well as you, sweet sister and the rest of the family. You are certainly an amazing testimony of God’s grace and love the way you have cared for him and all your responsibilities as a mother AND still manage to do the sewing and other things. Praying you all have a sweet, blessed weekend!
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Thank you for your kind words. We appreciate your prayers. God has been good to surround us with those who pray for us.
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I’m so happy to hear that Hugo is progressing so well! What an answer to prayers.
So many of those plants for hanging baskets are ones I’ve used in my container garden! I’ve grown nasturtiums with great success for the last few years. They have great big seeds that are really easy to harvest in the fall and replant the next year! Petunias are very easy and showy. Verbena and calibrachoas are more favorites for me. I don’t really like geraniums in containers because they get so “leggy” and look straggly. But lantanas — I adore lantanas. I get some every year, sometimes in a variety of colors, and they are wonderful. I’m totally pinning that article, as there are some in there I’m not familiar with and might want to try out this year! Thanks!
I’m pinning that zipper tutorial for future reference, too.
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Oh, thanks for all the suggestions. I’m such a beginner in gardening. I enjoy it, but I know almost nothing about it. 🙂 I’ll let you know what I do, and how it goes.
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I’ve never tried hanging baskets outside because we don’t have a place to hang them from, but I love the way they look! I do have a couple inside with spider plants in them, which are awesome.
Of the stuff they listed there, I’ve also had great success with begonias and impatiens in shady areas, back when we lived in WI, and also fuschias. I’d love to do fuschias again somewhere, but haven’t found the right place here.
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This house already had the hooks for hanging baskets and they were quite cheap at Wal-Mart, but still I’d like to try this on my own. I have a spider plant too. I like them because they’re so easy to maintain. 🙂
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The great thing about hanging baskets is, you can reuse them. One thing I’ve learned is to put a paper coffee filter at the bottom of all containers, hanging or not,before putting the dirt in. Keeps the dirt from washing out the bottom so quickly. The filter eventually biodegrades, so it doesn’t work forever, but they do the trick for the year.
I did hanging baskets at our apartment in CT a couple times, which was great until a pair of mourning doves decided to nest in one of them. We enjoyed watching the babies hatch and grow from inside the apt, but we couldn’t go out on our balcony anymore because the birds would freak out.
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That’s a great idea with the coffee filters. I saved my baskets from last year to hopefully use this year.
Birds! That would have been fun to watch though.
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Oh, here’s another list of plants that do the “cascade” thing and are great for hanging baskets: http://postris.com/popular-pin/131528/favorite-plants-to-cascade-ove/ They have a few different ones.
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Thanks. I’ll have to check that out. I need to make a decision reasonably soon about what I’m going to plant. 🙂
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