Reviewing my parenting ideas and adding 4-H Cloverbuds.

I often reflect on our parenting strategies, reviewing any major life altering mistakes we have made and then looking into the future and visualizing where we need to end up.  Jacie is 8 now and I believe we need to be focusing on life skills.
She is becoming an outstanding reader and I am happy after doing an extra workbook on her own over Christmas Break in the area of math she is doing much better in the math department. I also send thanks to my friend Barb and her introduction of the Stack the States game on the IPAD, Jacie now knows all the 50 states and several facts about each.
However we have some work to do in the area of life skills.  With all of the mandatory testing we cannot expect teachers to teach these skills.  I really don't think politicians will ever consider basic life skills important enough to put on a test.  They think we all eat out, have housekeepers and people who change our oil.  I don't know who they think will do this for them, if no one is trained.  At any rate we are beginning the 4-H Cloverbud program this summer.  Jacie is taking the Road to Cooking Project.  We had an old book, which I believe will be very similar to this years so this weekend we did lesson one in the old book.  The first lesson includes a scavenger hunt for different cooking equipment in your very own kitchen.  It also includes cleaning celery, cutting celery and putting peanut butter in the celery with raisins on top. With the help of only her sister, this became an hour long activity, that was all fun.  Ok there was a little squealing over putting the peanut butter in the celery as it ended up on her fingers and did not look as neat as she had hoped.  

The sun will come out tomorrow.

Today really didn't go as I had planned.  My favorite jeans that are irreplaceable, ripped out.  I started a new project that will literally take me 10 times longer than I had first planned. 

However the sun has set and . . . 

tomorrow the sun will most likely rise for second part of my now ten day project.

A Chair with a Purpose

We were visiting with my brother this weekend and I brought home with me my Grandma Poorman's old sewing chair.  I had recently saw someone who refurbished an old office chair with color.  I thought I would work on it over the next week. I stopped on our way home and found a piece of fabric.  However Jake then got very interested in the project and then he took over.  So he finished it.

First he took the back off . . .

Then he pulled all the staples out  . . .

He cut the padding to fit. We used quilt batting, but you could use foam. Mostly just use whatever makes your butt happy.

Then cut the fabric larger than the piece you are covering.  Check the size of the piece you took off. Pull it tight and staple on backs side.  Watch how you pull, not to cause any wrinkles.

The final product.

Inspiration from "Turquoise Thursday" on Cattle Call

I have always thought turquoise is a really pretty color on other people and for decorating in other people's homes.  About a year ago I found Crystal Cattle: Turquoise Thursday blog. I enjoy reading her blog and this also began my not only noticing more turquoise around me, but truly appreciating the color.

A couple of weekends ago Jake took the girls and I to Amish Country and I walked into Miller's Dry Goods and Fabrics . This was one of my Grandma Poorman's favorite fabric stores.  As I walked to the back of the store I was instantly drawn towards a stack of fabrics centered around the Moda line of
Marmalade.  I decided to buy the fat quarter stack. Because I am new to turquoise after I got all the pieces cut out, I was scared of what I had.  I got some confidence to move on with the project from my quilting mentor Jennifer and Jennifer at the girls' bus stop.  I finished the quilt top last weekend.

Thank you for the inspiration Cattle Call and thank you for the courage to forge on Jennifer and Jennifer.  Stay tuned to see the finished product in it's final destination.

Handmade Beef Producers Christmas

I made the girls a couple of shirts. I bought t-shirt paint (which is much improved, since my 4-H years) and made four shirts.  The front of the shirts say 4+ Feeders, the name of our feed yard, and the back of the shirts say EAT BEEF.

I made two extra ones for two special beef eaters and beef producers in Nebraska.  They are going in the mail tomorrow. The Martins, our partners at the feedyard have three adorable children.  Chase the oldest goes to school each morning.  

Regan is her mom's ranch hand, during the day as they check their herd of cows.  By 9AM eastern time I usually can call Gail and she is doing the morning check and breaking water with her two helpers.  I can count on a good story of Regan and some sort of shenanigans.  The story puts a smile on my face, however I am not sure her mother feels the same way.


Kaitlin is not quite a year old, and I couldn't get the stencils to fit on anything that small. Sorry, Kaitlin. Maybe there will be a summer version, that I can work something out on.



















The girls got to wear their shirts on Friday to school for dress down day.

Backwoods Fest with Midnight Mama

I spent the weekend helping my friend Jennifer at the Backwoods Fest in the county that I grew up in.  I got to see many people I haven't seen in years.

Jennifer taught me how fun sewing can be and is an excellent seamstress. Along with being able to sew almost anything, she is also very creative. She named her business Midnight Mama which turned many heads and created a few smiles.  Jennifer teaches third grade, is raising twins with her husband who is a full time farmer, which only leaves hours after midnight to sew.

My Grandma Poorman who passed away last year had this booth for years.  After she passed away I really felt that Jennifer should start marketing her skills.  Before you had to be a family member or friend of Jennifer's to get a special quilt or project from Jennifer, now she is sharing them with everyone.



Jennifer sold some of her items, but still has some inventory if you are looking for Christmas gifts.  She also has several quilts for sale. She took some orders for special baby quilts and a few t-shirt quilts.  We talked much of the weekend about how special it is to create a quilt for someone and think about that person the entire time you are making it.  She did make an awesome puzzle piece quilt that sold through the Backwoods auction to benefit autism.  The quilt brought $130 the first time and then was donated back and sold again for $130.  Checkout Jennifer's blog at Sew It's Midnight  for more unique gift ideas.

United States Farmers and Ranchers

I recently applied to be one of the Faces of Farming and Ranching for the United States Farmers and Ranchers (USFRA).  I filled out an application and made my first youtube video.  Things I learned making a youtube video.

1. IPads make excellent video recorders.
2. Cattle and kids do not always follow instructions or perform.
3. I hate my recorded voice.
4. A good sunset makes everything look prettier.
5. Cutting and editing I-Movies is fun.
6. Uploading youtube videos is challenging.

for the love of beef on youtube

The top 15 will be announced in November at the USFRA's Food Dialogues in New York City.  http://www.fooddialogues.com/ny-food-dialogues

After interviews and another video they will narrow down the 15 to 5.  The 5 chosen farmers and ranchers will be given the opportunity to explain America's very resourceful, safe, abundant and full of choices food supply from the farmers and ranchers perspective. The 5 representatives will be able to meet people outside of rural America and gain a better understanding of their view points when they make their food choices.

This is a very exciting opportunity for farmers and ranchers.  To see other applicants go to youtube.com and type in faces of farmers and ranchers.

Senior Fair

I participated in Junior Fair for eleven years.  I always enjoy looking through projects at any county fair anywhere in the country.  I love a County Fair.  However in many places across the country the increasing age of senior fair exhibitors and declining entries saddens me.  Last year while visiting the Belmont County Fair with my friend Stephanie, I said I am bringing back senior fair. So I made three entries this year for the 2012 Belmont County Fair.  We took them today.

The first one is the quilt I finished up last year after the fair.

The second one is on the pictures I posted on my blog last year and then it became one of my most read blogs Happy Cows Live Everywhere! I have recently learned that the pictures I love taking where all the cows are at the bunk eating, are confusing to the consumer.  Apparently many think they have to live like this with no place to move.  This picture shows some of the area they have to move about.

The third entry is the one I am most proud of, which is Jacie's quilt.  This is the first quilt top she has made and the first quilt I have quilted (by machine).

None of my entries are perfect and we probably won't bring home purple ribbons.  In fact I was joking, saying that fair attendees would probably look at our exhibits and say "I could do better than that".  That would be exactly the result I am looking for, bring your entry next year and then the senior fair grows.  

The farmer and his quilt pattern.

I have laid out quilt tops long before I could sew.  Grandma Poorman would let us lay out simple block patterns and she would sew them together.  I now believe it was because she would rather sew than to crawl around on the floor moving block patterns and colors around.  However my Grandpa, Dad and Uncle John would often stop by to inspect our patterns.  They would look it over and say things like "oh you have two blues together".  I always found this behavior so annoying.

I am laying out my fourth quilt tonight in two weeks.  I am starting to feel like Grandma, I just want to sew.  Jaelin was laying out a quilt with some extra block on one side of the living room while I was laying out the pink John Deere quilt on the other side.  Guess who shows up?  Jake!  "That pattern is not correct", he started. "Oh, really," I reply as I was having flashbacks to my childhood.  He began to explain how he would do it and how the pattern should flow.  Finally I said, that sound like a great idea.  He is now designing the quilt.

Quilting and History channel for the day, oh my!

I've been sewing this quilt top all week.  It is finally finished.  After taking it apart and putting it back together.  There was not supposed to be a pattern, and that sometimes is hard to do.  Jake pointed out a string of reds together.  I ignored him.  But then Jaelin, my darling kindergartner pointed out the same pattern.

Jaelin: "oh, what happened here?"
Me: "Mommy messed up!"
Jaelin: "that's okay, it still looks good."

So I ripped that out and tried to fit the rest of the pattern together yesterday.  As I was designing and sewing, I decided to watch/listen to the History Channel.  The shows that were on were called Decoded.  The stories investigate conspiracy theories.  The one show interviewed people and discussed if there was indeed gold in Fort Knox.  History Channel - Decoded The show goes on to discuss what would happen to the world and the economy if there was indeed no gold there any longer.  At the end of the show they made a reference to the Wizard of Oz.  I don't know if I have been living under a rock and why I haven't seen this before.  I am not sure if I buy into all this, however with the references to Agriculture I thought it was worth the share for interest anyway. The real story of the Wizard of Oz

What to do when the electric is out.

When you have younger kids, the first thing you do is establish three or four times which things they can't do because they require electric.  The second thing you do is try to get them to understand that a generator can't run everything and while Disney and Doc Mcstuffins are very important, they do not trump a deep freezer full of beef.  With those things established we moved on to finding things we could do without electricity, which became a form of challenging fun.

We first had a puzzle marathon and labeled boxes that had missing pieces, so if we ever find them we will have a good idea of where they go.  I should note the reason we have missing pieces is because the girls ran a zoo or dog shelter I am not sure which in their rooms for awhile and they used the puzzle pieces for food. I am sure I will think that is funny also someday.  I also realize I should have put the puzzles along with many other items on a higher shelf.

By the second day with the generator underway and it looking to be days before electric would be restored and all of the puzzles finished we moved to project two.  The Blossers bought Jacie a sewing kit and small machine for her birthday last winter.  With no electric I thought it to be the perfect time to get the material out and help Jacie cut out her first quilt.  I cut with a rotary cutter and mat - hmmm.  That would not work for Jacie.  Jacie also does not measure well enough to mark the squares.  Oh and then I remember Grandma would use a piece of cardboard for a pattern.  That is actually how I cut the quilt out Grandma "helped" me with.  I cut a pattern and she was on her way.

I was thinking - this is painful, why did I start this, why didn't I purchase a bundle of fat squares.  Over a process of several days they were cut out.  The work was done 70% by Jacie, so I would give her a C on cutting.  But, for a seven year old I probably should not be criticizing. Then she laid it all out in the pattern she wanted in the middle of the living room floor.

She was then bored, so she left to go do something else.  Her dad came home and turned on the fan and well you know what happened.

I don't know if it is her age or the generation but they want a one minute craft with stickers and paper.  She wants to start a project and for it to be finished in one minute.  I really hope that sewing teaches her patience.

Tonight she decided she wanted to sew.  She sat down at the machine with 100 questions of how she could get hurt because she is cautious like that.  You would have thought it was a table saw or a gun.  Since her pattern was gone, I just had her sew pieces together in a random order until she finished two rows. Then she was bored and I needed to clean up supper so the other seven rows will be finished another time.

That is the status of her quilt thus far.  She wants to enter it in the Belmont County Fair in September.  I have a feeling it will be finished and featured on this blog in 2026.

Found some stuff . . .

I have been cleaning unwanted boxes out.  This is a true feel good experience.  If you need a pick me up - clean out a box or a drawer.  Since we didn't have electric, I started cleaning.  A few years back I thought it would be fun to figure out the Floriculture CDE and we did over a period of a few years.  We progressively moved from around 10th to 2nd in the state. In the process I learned some skills.  I can now make corsages, bows and flower pens.

I found this left over stuff I had purchased for my cousins bridal shower these were the center pieces and then each guest left with a pen. After cleaning out the box and finding these things and still not having any electric I thought I think I'll make them.
If you want to make them, this is what you will need . . .

flowers of your choice . . .

floral tape and pens . . .

First take each pen and discard the cap. Next hold the flower next to the pen so the flower covers the top of the pen.  Next use the tape to cover the flower and the pen.  If you haven't used floral tape before it is sticky but will not dry that way.  If you slightly stretch the floral tape and wrap it around the object it will make a smooth appearance.

 I cover each pen almost down to the end of the pen.

Finally find something beautiful to display your pens in.  I believe the cost of the pens were roughly 50 cents, mostly because I bought nothing on sale or with a coupon.

These would make an excellent gift for a teacher.  I used to have a set for my desk for students to borrow.  It worked out nicely, boys suddenly started remembering their own writing utensils and these rarely left the room.