Good evening my friend. I hope you all had a wonderful day and were able to get out and enjoy the day some. Did you do anything fun today?

I have to admit today I have been knitting some. I told myself that I needed to get the prayer shawl off my sticks BEFORE I can start anything new. Well that has been torture!  But I am sticking to it and have been  working on the Prayer shawl. Especially since I got a new pattern the other night that I REALLY WANT to work on....

So the other night I went to my friend Shelley's store. Shelley has an awesome fiber store, she sells lots of yummy yarn and fabulous patterns she is an great knitter to boot! Well on Tuesday night she had an open class called Fiberaholics, so I went to get some "girl time" in and well to knit with some awesome knitters!! Shelley helped me out with a finding a pattern for a pair of socks that is done in the round instead of on double points. I really have the sock bug, and now its getting colder I need a couple more pairs! I also had some yarn with me that I showed Shelley and said this is telling me that it wants to be an outer jacket or sweater, something along that line . So she helped me find the perfect pattern, which is actually in a booklet with other patterns I will also use!! Score for me! 

This is the yarn I took in. It was in a hank and Shelley taught me how to spin it into a ball! That was SOOOO fun! I need one of those toys! The yarn still looks better in person than in the picture but I thought I would share.







The yarn is light beige and has some light blue -green in it. Its called Seamoss and its Haitian Rayon and Silk.

This is the back of the pattern, I am doing it all in the one yarn. Although I might have to make another one later.











This is the  front of the jacket, I just love it. It is just what I had in my minds eye. If you would like to make one of your own Shelley has the booklet in stock. The booklet is put out by Berroco, #307- Linsey. If you ordered one of the patterns we could all do a knit-a-long, we could post  pictures of our progress. Fun! While you are checking out Shelley's shop www.eweyarns.com you should also check out her sexy sock yarn. They are beautiful colors, all inspired by a song- have to say the yarn inspired by the song Imagine is still my favorite!

Happy shopping and tell her I sent you!





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Sewing Projects

Thought I would go ahead and put some of the sewing projects up while I am still sitting here at the computer. I am trying to get some gifts done for Birthdays, Christmas and whatever else there is going on. So far this week and part of last week these are the projects that  I have gotten sewn .

Pillow case number 1. I think it turned out cute with the stripes and the little dots in the red material.

I like the flowers and of course Mikhaila wanted it as soon as I got it sewn.

Just another picture so you can see alittle more of the whole thing.

Pillow case 2- this one is Mikhaila's.

All the polka dots.

It turned out pretty nice.

The front of the mug rug that I made, this was the first that I did. I gave it to a friend and she really liked it. That is so nice when you give someone something and they not only appreciate it but they use it! 

This is the back of the mug rug.

This is the quilt I am putting together, 11 other women and myself made a block and then we exchanged them. It was a great day when the blocks came in the mail and then... I started worrying about how to put it all together.

So I talked to  my friend Anita and asked if she could help me put the quilt together as I have never finished or even put a quilt together in my life that was actually going to be quilted. I have done other types of blankets. So she set up a day to come over and put all the blocks on the wall so we could figure out how to connect them.

So these are those pictures.  We got it all figured out together and now I am sewing and squaring  up the blocks. I think the ladies all did fabulous jobs! The only problem is ... now I have been bite by the quilting bug and well I don't have that big of a stash so at times it gets frstrating to try and make something really cool. LOL

I also did two more mug rugs, and a cute dish drainer. Those pictures will have to be posted after the ladies receive them as they are gifts and well I don't want to ruin the surprise by them seeing them on here.

I also finished a cowl I was knitting. I am excited as I started a beautiful sweater jacket- for me! I will take some photos and post them so you can see what I am knitting. I also am almost done with the prayer shawl.

How about sharing what you are working on. Have a project pattern to share?

Until next time dear friend be thankful for what you have.... soeone somewhere has less than you.

Yum! Produce from the garden.

Hello there folks. I have been really busy and I have neglected all of you. So I am here to show you what I have been up too. This may take some multiple posts!

To begin with I have been harvesting, what have I gotten out of the garden? Well let me show you.



Just some of the cukes that we have grown. We also have the burpless long ones, they are growing great- will plant those again next year. I have gotten more fruit from those as well. A good result from a new product I have grown.




Some tomatoes. I picked some green ones as well as they really have not turned red and I have a ton of flowers on the plants so I want the energy to have the plant turn those flowers into tomatoes, not just continue to grow these.



Some apples off a friends tree. Around here we have apples ready and there are a ton on the trees. My two trees that I pruned have a lot of apples on them, I have not started harvesting them yet, they have turned redder since I left them on the tree. The crap tree is loaded as well. Not as much on the pear tree as I thought we would have.



Some rhubarb, I was so happy to get some more of this as we lost the other stuff in the freezer when it did not work.



Yes a huge bucket of various size cukes. I has been a great year for cukes!

Yes the beans are coming in!! Woot woot! I planted 3 rows, only 3/4 of a row came in. Next year I will be doubling the amount at the first planting as well as doing pole beans too. Plus I might stagger the other plantings just in ase the rows don't come in. We really like beans, so we could freeze as well as an  them for the winter. 

Cabbage. I still have 4 heads of purple to harvest. The goats and the geese ate all the other ones I had planted! Nice of them! These four heads are nice, big, firm and taste ymmy!



Some squash, 15 of them that came off the vine on the first harvest day! There are still alot on the vine! I blessed some different friends with some as I don't need 15 with more coming! LOL



Swiss chard and some celery. Swiss chard is a green, very good just wilted in a hot pan with some crumled bacon throw in there. Very good for you. We eat it right out of the garden, its yummy!

These are the cabbages before I took all the outer layer off and the root. I just pull the whole thing up and then all the goodies go to the animals. That is my puppy Dahlia wo had to help me.



Here is another picture of Dahlia and her mom Dutchess. They had to inspect, jump on and even eat some of the veggies as I was cleaning and taking pictures of all the produce. Dutchess eats alot of veggies and I guess her daughters will too. Tiki, Duthess's other daughter is not in the pictures, she was wrestling with a cat.

So what have you been harvesting from your garden or trees? What have you been making with the produce?  Do you have a recipe you would like to share? What are you going to be shopping for that maybe did not grow this year or that you did not get enough of? I want more squash of any kind,  but espeially spaghetti squash. I did get some corn frozen courtesy of my friend Maria but  would still like to put some more up. I need to make a ton of apple sauce as my daughter can eat ALOT of it! Thank God its a bumper year for apples! I will be making pear sauce as well. I also need to make carmel apple jam, I gave them away for Christmas and it was a big hit!

Recipes will be coming.

Thanks friend for stopping by.





Book Review- Surviving Your Serengeti by Stefan Swanepoel

I found this book to be very interesting. The author takes us on a journey where he compares the animals traveling across the Serengeti to those who own businesses and are trying to keep the business going- each is basically trying to stay alive. He shows us what we can learn from the animals and gives us fresh ideas to apply to our own businesses.
I thought the book might  be hard to read or just give me the same old information that other business books have done in the past. I found instead that it was a lighter read, kept me interested, had information that I can apply to business as well as life. He tells the information as a story but at the end of each chapter he sums things all up for us by telling us just what we need to know.  The Strategic Lion for example, how to go about getting it all into perspective, characteristics you will see in yourself if you are the Lion and how to maximize that skill.
If you do not know what animal you are by reading the book there is a section on how to figure out what animal you are.There is also information on the African Wildlife Federation, a percentage of each book sale goes right to AWF. I found that a very Noble thing to do, as I am a animal lover myself.
If you go all the way to the back of the book, on the dustcover there is a website that you can sign up for a free Business eNewsletter.
I would suggest this book be read by anyone that wants to be a winner, survivor, a champion in their personal or professional life.

This book was given to me by Thomas Nelson Publishers to read and to publish a review about. The opinions listed here are all my own.

Book Review- Rumors of God, by Darren Whitehead & Jon Tyson

I found Rumors of God to be a refreshing read.It made me wish that I could go to a church that either Darren or Jon were working at just to see them in action.  It would be great to have a intelligent conversation with either of them!
The statistics really were eye openers foe me. When it was pointed out that an average North American sees about 3,000 ads per day it really drove home the fact that we are really being programed to want/need items that we would e able to survive without. It makes it very clear that we are a technology culture that is being told what to wear, think, need, want by whoever is selling that product. To know that only 8% of the world owns a car was shocking to me. I am one of the 8%. I knew America had more cars than other countries but I did not know the overall percentage was so low. We are sold the idea that everyone should have a car, if you have really made it your family may have multiple cars. Would our country be so dependant on others if we did not think we all had to drive our own car??

I found it refreshing that there are people thinking outside of the box. People going to minister to those that need God- meeting them where they are living, working- not waiting for those people to show up in a church.  Jesus did not wait for folks to come find him he was out in the world walking, meeting, greeting people. Shouldn't we be doing the same thing?
I would highly suggest reading this book to everyone.  We all have time, talent and money we can be sharing with others- we just need to figure out how to accomplish that. In the Bible Paul says " The life that is truely life is found in how we steward our resources, not in hoarding them. Think how you can make changes in your own life and then go out and be a light unto the world.

This book was sent to me  free of charge from Thomas Nelson Publishing. All they ask in return is for me to write my personal  review on the book and share it with people like you. I appreciate them giving me this opportunity.

http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/6018359-raine-lampert%22%3EView all my reviews</a>

Happy belated Fourth of July!!

I am so sorry I did not get the post on here for the fourth of July.I sure hope each and everyone of you had a good, safe holiday! Why did I have problems not getting things posted??? Well let's sit down and have a cup of tea and I will tell you why?

We had high 90 degree days two days before the whopper of a storm rolled in!! I can not even tell you what the storm felt like when it came rolling in! First there was every yucky color in the sky,then  the winds were clocked at speeds going from 60-110 mph, could have been more. The trees were bent in half, I thought the branches were going to come through the window many times as the trees were just a whipping around. We had a huge dust storm, it looked like the history pictures back in the dust bowl era! The poor dog was out as it came up so fast we could not go out and get her, she did survive but had to have the dirt and all the leaves that were plastered on her washed off. It did end up raining some, but we did not get the hail that some areas got. Our willow tree in the back split in half and came uprooted so it is basically a goner. The tree is half in the garden, half on the ground. It of course was the shade for the pigpen, the cow, horse and the pigs were all under it and by God's grace nothing was killed. I will have to move the pigpen tho so they have some shade again. Of course the electricity went out so we were out of power only friday and some of Sat, there are still some areas up here that have no power. It was freaky to go outside or look outside and there were no lights anywhere. Talk about feeling isolated! Mikhaila and I went to bed early friday night.
Saturday we spent alot of time outside in the shade as it was cooler out there then in the house. I did get some knitting done.  We got electricity in the afternoon, which made us both happy as we were still packing for her to go to Mexico! I still had to do laundry. Sat night we went to the Wilderness Fellowship and listened to some great music!! The Ottersons were back to sing for the holiday weekend, the Wilderness Fellowship had campers out there- not where I would want to be in a storm! Scary!! We had an awesome night with the Ottersons, O'Brians, Hersheys and other musicians that came to jam with them. It was a blast!! The only thing is I really want to play an instrument after going to things like this. I guess I need to get ahold of an instrument. It was a wonderful 3.5 hours! What a blessing they all are!
On Sunday we went to church and the kids and adults did a song that they are going to perform in Mexico. It is in Spanish and they also do sign language to it, they looked so sharp performing it. I am so proud of each of these kids and the four adults that went, they are such a blessing to all of us! We got Mikhaila's laundry done, thank God the electric was back up and running in the town  Frederic!
Monday I had to have Mikhaila at the church at 5:00 am so they could get loaded and get down to the airport to get on their 10:30 flight. They were all really excited to be going. I got choked up when they left but am very proud that I did not cry and embarrass my daughter. After that I came home and did all the animal chores, threw the dogs and her puppies in the car and headed up towards Alexandria, MN. I had a great time at my Aunt Bonnies house, they had a full house of people and dogs! My Aunt Donna was up from Texas and my Cousin Leo was over from the Dakotas, my cousin Trinity was up from Utah with his family. We had a great time hanging out, eating, talking and lots of fireworks to watch. The next morning I went to a good friends and hung out with her, we got to just hang out one on one- that never happens. My dogs and her dog got along good, we watched tv, talked and ate. Another great time!
Please check out my book review page. It is listed on the right hand side under the heading pages. I am sure as I get more reviews up there that something will spark your interest, remember reading gives your brain a good workout, it also gives you something to chat with others about.
Now that you are all up to date on what has been going on here I will leave you with this....I hope all of you are healthy, happy and appreciate your family, friends, what you have. It could all be taken away tomorrow-

Nice and foggy out there, have not seen that in awhile...

Good morning, come in and chat with me a minute. I feel like I have neglected the blog and other areas of my life. Sometimes life gets in the way of life doesn't it?

Well I am back and I am glad to say that most of the gardens are in. I do have some things sitting here that need to go in still. I was going to get in there yesterday and work on things however we were blessed with a whole day of rain!!! Thank you Lord we so needed it!! I also keep figuring out more things to plant so that does not help. Plus I am really trying to do the whole companion gardening, so hopefully things will grow better. So this takes more time as I have to look up info before planting. I think it will be interesting to see if it helps in the long run. I know I have learned alot.

We went to the flea market or some call it the farmers market in Pine City yesterday and there wasn't much to see due to the rain but I did get some herb plants so I was thrilled about that.
If you never have gone there I would highly suggest do that. There s alittle of everything.

We have been busy here at the farm, we had a visitor that came in and got our chickens so now we are down to the adult rooster. That means no egg sales at the farmers market for me! I did put all the chickens we had out in the coop, they are now 4 months old. They won't be laying for awhile yet so that is frustrating! We worked on the outside run to make all the holes disappear and we put a tin roof on it as well. Pretty snazzy. Here is my awesome helper, very little complaining I was so proud of her. Its nice to work together on something.

Mikhaila had to move her cow out of the trailer (the coop) so that I could put the chickens in there. She was so worried about her cow being outside!!! If he would be ok!! I told her he is a cow he can't stay in a little trailer all his life so she brought out and tied him to the tree over by the garden we were working in. It was very fun to see him try eating fresh grass for the first time. He kept chasing the grass around with his tongue and he would lick it like a lollipop! We were of course laughing at him and he looked so sad and down. We gave him a little pep talk and when he first got ahold of his first grass and ate it he was so proud, he did his little cow smile. He sticks out his bottom teeth and it looks just like he is smiling! LOL This is Topher checking out the day, he is so funny because he would not come out of the trailer even if the door was left open. He is about to come out of the trailer and be tied to a tree and have some grass!

Here he is gettng his first day of freedom. I think it was harder on Mikhaila then it was on him

So now you see some of the stuff we have been up to. As always there is a ton of projects to do. We are slowly getting some of them done. I will post the raised gardens in another blog, those are coming long nicely. I will take some pictures of the plants now that they have had a good drenching.

Did I show you the slipper socks I finished for Mikhaila? I am not sure if I did on here or just on Facebook. Well these are my first socks and Mikhaila picked the color, I am proud that they are done, actually they were not that hard to do either!



I will talk to you soon. Have a great day. Here is todays challenge, go give something to someone. We all have things we do not need any more, or that we could do without. Go surprise someone with a gift. Why? Because you can. We are to be a blessing to others. Let me know what you did, and how you felt afterwards.