Conference Pictures

A little late, since it's been nearly two months ago...but one month of that was waiting for an opportunity to upload all the pics.
Click here to see the album.
There are descriptions there for all of the pictures. :)

It's Party Time!

Yes, that's right - the party is about to begin!
In celebration of the opening of her new blog, Jew Girl's Journal, Lizzy is throwing a party! Come one, come all! It's open to everyone! And yes, there will be giveaways! Is there anything else that you could possibly ask for to convince you to come and join in all the fun? :)

It's the Busiest Time of the Year!

And no....it's not Christmas!

With garden work, keeping up with my fast-growing herbs (harvesting, drying, and crushing), helping out with the welcome bags for the CHEF conference, and preparing for the booth that I will have at the said conference in addition to all of the normal duties of life....the last month and a half or so have been pretty full. Oh, and hockey playoffs...we mustn't forget that! :) I knit during games...further down, I'll post some pictures of what I've been making!

On May 7, I set up a booth at Houston, Missouri's Spring Festival. Here are some pictures:

I should have taken pictures before I started selling. Several things are gone, especially the necklaces...so my display is half empty! I love my new earring display! A friend of mine bought that for me. :) Also, notice that I now have a really nice hand mirror on my table! A nice lady from church bought that for me when she found out that this very essential item in the activity of trying on jewelry was missing from my display at last year's CHEF conference. How sweet! :)

Speaking of the CHEF conference, Jewelry By Jaime will be at this year's conference! It's only 17 days away! Wow...has it been a whole year already? *time flies*

I've been trying to make a variety of new things to sell. To the right are stitch markers for knitting.

To the left is a new necklace using the diamond stitch pattern that I've used several times before and an interesting idea I had for the center dangle. Click on that one to see a bigger picture.

I'm really trying not to get stuck in the same situation that I always seem to....that is, waiting until the last minute to do everything and then end up staying up all night before the morning that we leave. Over the past few days I've completely reorganized my bead boxes (with Ahnnah's help). I didn't plan on doing this, but you know how it goes...you move one thing and then end up moving them all! Also, we're going to be very busy the week before the conference....filling 1200+ bags with 15+ different items that will be handed out to all of the conference attendees. Wow. That's a lot of bags! We don't have a final count on the number of bags yet, or the number of things being put in them. I think that we added another item to the list this morning, though. I'm glad that it has turned out so well! Anything that helps CHEF out with paying for this conference that blesses us so much is time well spent! :)

At the end of April, we had a lot of rain here. We visited a really neat waterfall nearby on the 18th, and then again on the 26th after a whole week of rain. Here are two pictures that I took, one from each visit:

Amazing, isn't it?

Here are some more pictures. You can click on them to see larger images.

Here are some knitting projects that I've finished recently. Click on the images to go to their corresponding Ravelry project pages, where you can see more information and pictures. :)

I actually just finished a second penguin. He's more rotund. :P I think I like him better, too. I don't have a picture of him yet, though.


This is one of my current projects. I love these socks!




I have several more things that I don't have pictures or pages for yet, including lots of baby booties.

I just remembered that in an older post from nearly a year ago, I mentioned a project I was working on that I would post about....and never did. Oops. Here it is. :)

Here's a link to the project page of a second one that Ahnnah and I made together.

I've recently started teaching sign language to a young girl that I know. Tuesday was my first class with her, and I was surprised to see how well she already knew the alphabet. She also learned how to do the song "I Love You Lord" very quickly. It was fun to finally be able to teach sign language to someone. I need to figure out what I'm going to teach her this coming Tuesday. I'm not the type who plans ahead very well...LOL. Lesson plans....what are those?? :P

Ahnnah also now has her very own drawing student. Yay! Speaking of which, here is her latest masterpiece.....I'm amazed. The scan doesn't do it justice....it's simply awesome.
That's Ben Barnes, a.k.a. Prince Caspian.


Ok, I think that's all I've got. Quite enough to last for a while, right? :) It's more than I planned on posting, anyway.

First Lyrics Meme

Hey, how about another tag? :P
This time it's from Margaret at It's A Fine Life.
I'll get to it in a minute...I thought everyone would enjoy a short update on what's been going on in my life. ;)
The highlight of our year is always our annual home-school conference, and this year's was last week. This one was by far the best one yet. I do plan on posting about it, hopefully sometime soon. ;) That was Monday through Wednesday. We got home a few minutes before midnight...
The Sunday before was spent preparing to leave early on Monday morning. It was really late when I got to bed on Sunday since I had so much to do...I got a call on Saturday afternoon asking if I'd like to have a table in the vendor hall to sell my jewelry - free of charge! Thursday was spent cleaning up the mess that I left from preparing, and from Friday until now I've been sick. And this time I can't blame it on Danny...:P During periods when I wasn't too ill to think clearly I was corresponding with a few people who ordered custom items at the conference. :)
So, there you have it...a short update. :)

Also, I'd like to ask you all to pray for Lizzy, who is not feeling well right now. You can read a little more on the subject at the bottom of this post on her mother's blog. Thank you. :)

~*~*~

Now for the tag. :D

Put your music library on shuffle. Post the first lines of the first 25 songs that come up. (Skip over songs where the first line contains the title, songs in languages you can’t order a drink in, and exceptionally mumbley (my spell-checker says that's not a word :P) singer-songwriters {And instrumentals}.) The game: Guess which songs the first lines are from! Google=cheating.

1. The broken clock is a comfort, it helps me sleep tonight/Maybe it can stop tomorrow from stealing all my time...

2. I know this tension that you speak of/We're in the palm of a hand making a fist...

3. We’re sending out a message to the future/That words could not communicate...

4. Thought that I could hide/Oh how I've wasted time/I spent my life running from You...

5. You break the glass/Try to hide your face/Recorded lines that just will not erase...

6. A beautiful and blinding morning/The world outside begins to breathe...

7. I've got my memories/Always inside of me...

8. The fight is over now, the bright lights turned somehow/The strength I have is running out, the current pulls me down...

9. Wash away the thoughts inside/That keep my mind away from you...

10. Has everything you’ve counted on left you right here with no warning?

11. This time, This place/Misused, Mistakes...

12. Did you think you were immune to this/Did you think you could escape without infection...

13. Is my imagination running away or is all this really happening to me?/Am I a prince in a far-away land filled with fantasy?

14. You might think that you'll never be the one to save the day/Or do anything that matters in the world...

15. I could see Snow-covered hills/You were walking, I was standing still...

16. I am all around you and I see everywhere you see/I am everything you believe...

17. All these places I have been/All these faces I have seen...

18. There's no need to say a thing when I'm before You/In this silence I feel refreshed with peace...

19. I used to rule the world/Seas would rise when I gave the word...

20. Face down with the LA curbside endings/With the ones and zeros...

21. We should get jerseys/Cause we make a good team/But yours would look better than mine/Cause you're out of my league...

22. Every tree and every stone/Every rushing wind that moans...

23. Time moves slowly while you're gone/I haven't heard your voice in quite some time...

24. Do you dream that the world will know your name/So tell me your name...

25. Can we get back to where we started?/When creation lived peacefully in Your hands...

I tag:

Whoever sees this and feels like being tagged. ;)

Hockey and Christmas - Can It Get Any Better?

Ok, time for a much-needed update. :P

The game I went to was great! The Pens won 6-3. You can read all of the details here, if you like. ;) Though the majority of Blues fans weren't impressed with their own team, apparently Sidney Crosby was, LOL. That's good to know. :)

A couple of days before the game, I received my "Roaming Penguins" in the mail. These little guys are so cute! You can read all about them here, and about a special project that they're a part of here. And, if you click here, you can see what other Roaming Penguins are up to. One Marc-Andre Penguin has actually met his human counterpart, Marc-Andre Fleury! I have a Sidney Penguin, a Geno Penguin, and a Marc-Andre Penguin (so far! :D).

My dog, Bunny, with Sidney, Geno, and Marc-Andre Penguin. They're all so cute!

And yes, Marc-Andre is actually sitting on Bunny's back. :P

A couple of weeks ago, Lizzy surprised me with an amazing drawing of Sidney Crosby. Now, i must take a minute to brag on my friend. ;) I showed her an icon I made using a picture that I found and mentioned that I would love to have a drawing made from it, but I would need to find a bigger version of it as this one was on 250 pixels. She said that if I found one she would try to do it for me, so I went to Google Images and started hunting. We were talking on Windows IM while I was looking, and I was sharing my results...some were quite interesting, and I found several good pictures (I probably added at least 50 new pictures to my rather large gallery :P)...but not the one I was looking for. About 50 pages into my search, Lizzy informed me that she found my picture. Quite amazed, I asked if she could send me the link. She said no, and sent me a file on IM. I was completely speechless - It was a drawing! She drew it while we were talking and I was searching. Isn't she wonderful? :)

This is the picture that I showed to Lizzy, and have yet to find a bigger version of.

I made a wallpaper using her drawing, and added a poem I wrote to go with it. I love how it turned out. :)

Click the image for a full-size version

Voting for the starting line-up of the NHL All Star game is now open. Somehow Canadiens fans have managed to cheat and get their players tons of extra votes...if it weren't for that, I do believe that Pittsburgh's own Crosby and Malkin would be in 1st and 2nd place for the Eastern Conference. None of the Blues' players have made it to the leaders' board yet. :( We're trying, though...

~*~*~

Moving on to a different subject (one that I'm sure my readers will be much more interested in! :P) - Christmas is coming! One of our local radio stations has already switched over to playing Christmas music, and another one will tomorrow. I've also started some of my shopping. :D This year, I'll be knitting as many gifts as I can. I have the yarn for three scarves...I have no idea who I'll be giving one of them to. :P And the other two I'm making using Lion Suede. I really love how the first one's turning out. I'm going to have to get me some later to make one out of. :D I'd also love to be able to figure out how to make socks before it's too late...and my Mom has requested leg warmers. The pattern I have for those has some unfamiliar stitches in it too. :P This past weekend, I invested in the Knitting For Dummies book, so I'm hoping that it can help me. :P

I still have yet to decorate my room. I hope to have it done by Thanksgiving. :) My sister won't let it not be. :P We have twice as much this year than we did last year...it should be fun. We even have lights to put up this year. :)

Also on the subject of Christmas...I'll be playing the part of a cow in a Christmas play at church. Yes, a cow. :P My mom volunteered me. Excepting the narrator, the cow is the largest part. I guess that's why she wanted me to do it...

My sister is drawing the animals that we'll use for the play, and I'm colouring them. You'd be surprised how hard it is to colour a sheep. :P

Ok, I think I'm done. :P Is this the longest post I've ever made? I think it is...

Now I have to go and locate all of the links that I need to add in...:P

Happy (Belated) Independence Day!

I know, I'm a day late...but you can't tell about what you did to celebrate until the day is over! :P That's my excuse, and I'm stickin' to it! LOL. ;)

We went to our friends' house and shared a meal together, and visited with the baby goats. :D I got some more cute pictures to share. ;) Gracie is sweeter than ever! She even gives 'kisses' (she puts her nose up against your cheek). After enjoying ourselves outside for a bit, we went back in and had some cake and ice cream, and then the men (including Danny) shot off fireworks. Danny (who now gets a paycheck every couple of weeks) provided at least half of the fireworks, and there were four people providing! :P He does a great job at picking them out, and provides quite a show!

I was trying to get my videos to work, but they won't. :( So I'll just post the links.

Danny's Finale

Danny's Fountain from last year

CHEF Conference 2008 ~ Part One

Well, with it being so long since I last posted, I have a few different things to tell about now. :P
Last week was our annual home-school conference (Monday through Wednesday, June 23-25), and I have several pictures and videos to share from that. :) The first batch will be of the actual conference and convention center that it was held in, and later when I get the photos fixed and uploaded, I'll post some of the hotel that we stayed at. The convention center and the hotel are both one building combined, so all we had to do was go through a door and then up an elevator to our room. It was great!

My parents are the home-school leaders (for CHEF [Christian Home Educators' Fellowship], the larger home-school group of several surrounding areas combined) for our area, so we help out with the conference. We were there early to help set up, and we help clean up afterwards. Also, during the conference we help out at some of the speakers' tables selling their merchandise for them when they're speaking or need breaks. We'll also help out vendors who are short-handed, or work at the registration table. We have fun. :)

I think this is the second year in a row that I haven't actually attended a class. We're usually busy working, and when we have free time we like to walk around the curriculum hall looking at books. I got a few really good ones this year. One is about a drummer for the Confederate Army during the Civil War called The Orphan and the Beaten Drum: A Tale of the Invasion of the Confederate States by Bryce A. Chandler. He was actually at the conference (and signed my book!) in costume. Every once in a while he would go into the foyer and play either his drum or his fife. It was great. I have a few videos, which I will upload when I can. (Uploading videos on dial-up isn't easy. :P) He also has another book that I wish I had the money to buy called A Courier For Stonewall that looked really good. I picked up a flyer from his table that has a couple of links on it: Southern Cadence Press, the Publisher, and Slice of Bryce, his blog.

There was one 'class' that I wanted to go to this year, and would have, but our Grandma showed up for a visit right before it started, and stayed until after it was over (she lives near where it was). It wasn't exactly a class, LOL. I don't know what you'd call it. :P The Burns Family was showing a preview of their newest film Pendragon:Sword of His Father and talking about how they produce God-honouring films. My sister had a nice long talk with the youngest of the Burns boys (while I was busy working a table and couldn't join, of course! :P) and told me all about it. It sounds and looks great! You can view a trailer of the Pendragon moviehere. And here's the link for the Burns Family Studios site.

There was also a class that started when that was over that we would have liked to attend (but Memaw was still there) by Kevin Swanson. We became friends with him while talking to him during the speakers' dinner on Tuesday. He and his son Daniel sat at our table. He's a lot of fun to talk to! There are some photos of his table in the album. :) 16-year-old Daniel was almost always there, and handled most of the work there...I hardly ever saw Mr. Swanson there. He trusts his son to handle it all. Isn't that great?

My sister and I helped out at Visual Manna's table most of the time. Mrs. Jeffus is very nice, and has been close with CHEF for a long time. She lives in the area. Next to her table was Genevan Foundation for Cultural Renewal. They're also from this area. A very nice family...with lots of kids! One of the boys, I believe his name was Ben (who was working the table along with his sister most of the time), could juggle. He did it often. It was fun to watch. I got a video of him in the foyer after the vendor hall closed on Tuesday evening, but I wish I had one from when we were sitting next to him. The man who was helping out Mr. Swanson (whose table was next to theirs, and it seems that they were friends) could also juggle. They would do it together sometimes, and once in a while would try tossing balls back and forth to each other. That was fun to watch, because they obviously need to work on that stunt some more! :P Sometimes others would stop and juggle with him, too. That was fun. They also have a blog, The Serven Clan.

Here's the photo album for the 24th Annual CHEF Conference :D

LOL, did you all notice, I've figured out a new way to put links into my text? I've been trying to figure it out for forever! Figure out how to get my own HTML code to work for them, I mean. All I had to do was click the 'Edit Html' tab at the top...duh! :P