Cookies, swap and fun!

Okay, so over the weekend I made two big batches of persimmon cookies, and they turned out great! When I was in elementary school I had a friend named Wendy who was from Alaska and lived with her Grandmother and one time when I was over at her house her Grandmother served persimmon cookies. They must have been really delicious because I have remembered alllllll this time how much I loved them and wanted to make my own. So, a couple weekends ago while I was visiting my mom I found some almost ripe persimmons at the store and bought like 8 lbs of them! I will say that persimmons take a loooong time to reach the perfect ripeness. It's worth the wait though because these cookies are the bomb diggity! I found the recipe on allrecipes.com, it's a good resource. I did not, however add raisins, just walnuts and I liked the flavor with those.

And swoon! Friday I trekked to a teeny little outlying town to check out the quilt store and found this fabric that I absolutely had to have a 1/2 yard even though frankly I have no idea what I'm going to do with it! and let me tell you part of the fun was that the bolt was wound around not merely plain cardboard like normal bolts of fabric but metallic gold! It just looked so pretty! And whimsical. and fun.

And next up is another swap I participated in on Swap-bot, "Bakers Dozen Ribbon Swap." the first picture is what I received which was from Jeanne, a very generous package of fun ribbon!

this second picture is the package that I sent out to Katie, I had fun putting it all together. Katie had mentioned in her profile that she scrapbooks, so I just put in a few little brads that she might could use with the ribbons. I like to do that with some of my scrapbook pages.

a tardy WLW

Oooops! I forgot to post my weight loss Wednesday results! I didn't lose anything, just stayed the same this week. I was sooooo sore from the spinning class last Wednesday night that frankly any other exercise was out of the question. BUT, I went again last night and it was way better this week! I'm hoping that once it gets closer to New Years the gym will have a special (I'm figuring they will) and I can join and go to classes more than just once a week. As it is, I'm going as a guest and it's $5 a class. If I wasn't a guest it would be $10 which frankly I'm just not willing to pay.

fabric and swaps

This past weekend I drove down to visit my Mom. She had asked me to come down to help her get a little organized in her sewing room. We had so much fun on Saturday avoiding getting down to work, let me tell ya! We went to a couple thrift stores and a yard sale. I was specifically looking for vintage sheets, so I was super pleased to find a few at "Thrifty Bargain" which is a giant sorta grody thrift store. And, everything was 30% off!
So, when I left town it was SNOWING! ugh. By the time I got past the California border a little ways there was no more snow, but Mt. Shasta was in a cloud cover. On the drive back, this was the view! Absolutely beautiful! I had to stop along the way to get this pic because it was just so clear and gorgeous.

The other pretty landmark along the way is Castle Cragg. It just jumps out at a couple points along the way and is beautiful. This one is a little trickier to get a pic b/c it's on the side of the highway and there's not really anywhere to safely pull over to get a pic. So, honestly this picture does not do it justice, but you get the idea anyways :)
Also, can I please tell you that when I left Chico it was 68 degrees (!) and when I got home it was 34 (double !!). Pretty much that is not coooool. Brrrrr dude.
Okay, so we did get down to business and got all the Christmas fabric folded, sorted by color (I can't help it!) and drawers labeled. It was great! So, one genre done. My Mom's sewing room is seriously like a giant store, she has every type you could ever want! I brought home a box which is a generous mix of vintage, solids and Christmas prints! Also, we dug out some flannel to back my quilt! bonus! I'm looking forward to finishing up the quilt and now it will be totally cozy too!

So, I'm going to go ahead and post the pics of the "vintage sheets as fabric" swap that I participated in on Swap-Bot. We each had two people to send a package to, the requirements were to send two fat quarters of vintage sheets. One of the ladies that I sent to I think hasn't received hers yet because it was going all the way to Canada, so I'm not going to put a pic up yet. (just in case?)

These two pics are of the first one that I received, I liked everything in the package.

And then this was the second package, from Jane, all totally cute as well! She also included a little piece of a moo-moo she was making a quilt out of.This is the "scrapbook supplies surprise" package that I received. In an earlier post I had posted a pic of what I sent to my partner. But I guess it wasn't really a partner per se since I sent to someone different than who I received from.This is the first package that I had sent out to Adaiha. She had put in her likes that she liked olive and lime green so I tried to pick sheets that sorta matched that. I included a handmade card. I really hope she can use everything!

WLW

As of this morning I am down 2.1lbs! Yahoo! And tonight I am going to try spinning for the first time. My friend Kristin convinced me to take the class with her and a few other ladies. Honestly I'm hoping I don't keel over in the middle of it, I'm so out of shape. Frankly that would just be embarrassing! And last night I could NOT sleep. I finally made myself stop reading and close my eyes at 4am. I really could have stayed awake all night, and even though I was technically "sleeping" I wasn't really.

today's Godstop

Okay, so seriously??!! I literally JUST posted my last post, then popped over to the LPM blog (Beth Moore) and this video addressed what I was just talking about. God is so cool. I just HAVE to say that! Have to. I didn't say before exactly what study I'm working on - it's "Believing God", and in it there is a 5 statement pledge of faith, which is: God is who he says He is, God can do what He says He can do, I am who God says I am, I can do all things through Christ, God's word is alive and active in me. As if the video didn't get my immediate attention, Beth says that exact statement of faith towards the end of this video!

V. cool

stuffins

So, ladies night at Jan's was great fun! We laughed a ton, which we all needed. Sunday was the scrapbooking crop - I just worked on my Thanksgiving decoration thing. I really should think of an official name for it so I'm not rambling every time I explain what it is. I finally finished it up last night after bible study. I like the way it turned out! I also made this tote bag over the weekend with more of the fabric I'm loving right now. My embroidery skills are still not super fabulous but I really like the way this turned out. I drew the deer freehand and then traced over it onto the white fabric. I'm totally digging deer silhouettes right now so this makes me happy :)
I have a little confession. I think I'm in a "blue" period. I can't even articulate what I mean. I have done bible study after bible study and continue to ask God to change me, change my reactions, my feelings - everything. But I don't think I'm changing. And the sad part is that I know it's me. It's my fault. I have not been drawing close to Him, I have not followed through with scripture memory even though honestly that was helping me tons. And I think I just do that, run out of steam and then feel terrible. When am I ever going to get it through my head that I can't do this on my own energy - that I need to totally rely on God and let Him fill me up and get me through? One thing I am relieved about is that He is so patient and does NOT give up on me - or anyone else for that matter. In our video last night Beth Moore said "We get do-overs", and I thank God for that. Every day right now is a do-over.

mish mash of weekend stuff

I tried out one of these journal covers, not sure that I completely followed the directions (what's new?) but I think it turned out well anyway. I didn't really pay attention while I was sewing that the lining fabric was sewed upside down. But I figured that was just fine since it is on the inside. So the fabric on the outside I found at the thrift store, and loved it. I decided to use it for this project because I wasn't actually covering a journal but rather a composition book that I use as my idea book. And, I felt like the print was sort of creatively ispiring. The inside is part of a vintage sheet. I love the pen holder!

At the office I work at we have two Debbies. One we call Little Debbie because she is short and the other Big Debbie because she is tall. I prefer to call Big Debbie, Tall Debbie because she is quite thin and Tall Deb fits her better. Anyways, Little Debbie brought me a huge bag of apples on Thursday from her apple tree! Today I peeled and cut them all up. I put two big ziplocs in the freezer with enough apples for two pies. I'm deciding whether or not I'd like to make apple sauce or apple pie with the other ginormous bag?

Next up today I am going to bake some cookies for Jan's girls night! Ya-hoo! I have a recipe that takes boxed cake mix and makes cookies. So, I'm doing German chocolate and I think I might even frost them! mmmm good.

Tomorrow there is a scrapbooking crop! I'm looking forward to making my Thanksgiving page to put in the frame that I change out. I put out most of my Thanksgiving decorations, but don't really have too many places to put things in this other house so can't use them all. I'm trying to think up what I can make to put a display together on the little shelves above the stove.

Oh yeah, and I also got my swap packages sent out yesterday for the vintage sheets as fabric swap I participated in. I'm not going to post pics yet though until they've gotten them. I didn't think anyone actually read my blog except Jennifer, but apparently for the scrapbook supply swap my partner got a sneak peek! Which is totally fine, but it may have ruined the surprise?

orange, black and Red Rain

So, here's the thing, I'm not much of a Halloween candy passing out or dressing up type person. Never have been. I remember as a child being embarrassed to knock on a strangers door and ask for candy being dressed as something other than myself. I do like to make cute (not scary) decorations. Yesterday during the day I took apart this bracelet and made it into a charm bracelet that I will enjoy a lot more. Being right in the middle of town for the time being there are a TON of kids in my neighborhood and frankly I did not feel like buying and handing out candy.

Thankfully last night at my church there was a concert, the band being Red Rain. It was awesome! We have been so lucky that the band has come to play at least once a year. They are all very talented. Since it was Halloween there wasn't a huge crowd, which is too bad because they really missed a great show. I'm glad I went!