Submitted

Sitting Bull ©2009, Elisabeth Schmieg

In the quietness of the gallery this afternoon, I clicked the mouse on the submit button. Did I make any mistakes? Is my work good enough? Am I truly an artist of quality? Will they like me? Little me from my little town? Am I good enough? Do I qualify?

This is a dream that I sure hope could come true and now that I have clicked submit, time will tell. One month from now I could be being visited by judges looking at my work deciding if I will truly get this or I will just spend another weekend at home. Just to be a finalist would be something, but please, please, please could I be good enough to get this grant?

Needing prayers.

Pink Lady ©2009, Elisabeth Schmieg

So Sleepy

Can I go home and rest now?

Nope, not till Monday

dun, da, da, daaaaa . . .

Well, we made it through the 4th of July and my 30th birthday :o∫
There, I said it--I am no longer in my 20's and care free (as care free as someone with a 40 acre farmstead can be), but I guess I can be 30 and just fine--I just thought I should feel more like a grown up when I turned 30 (not especially on that day, but you know just as life goes along). Of course, it might be a youngest child thing, too. I don't think youngest children probably ever feel like they are the most grown up anyway. Always have somebody older telling us that we aren't doing it right.

Oh well, I'm still enjoying my camera and taking photos around the farm--Dan got me a nice camera case for my birthday, so now I feel a little more secure about bringing it from place to place without wrecking it.

We've made hay and there is more to be made, again--no wonder we can never get to finishing the siding on our house . . .

I snapped a shot of Dan before he went out on the tractor with his hay gear on--He did end up taking the sunglasses off-they made him look silly.

Mowing the grass/clover field

Dan put our old metal wheels up in the arch to the pasture.

Dairy/Berry Day in town was well attended (free root beer floats and strawberry sundaes--what do you expect?)

The light around here this summer has just made things look so nice--I'll have to see sometime what it can do for me (will it give me back my size 6 body?--probably not)

I love the lightening rods on our barn--the barn was built in 1918 after the other barn on our property burned down from a lightening strike--those rods have been there ever since!

The wild roses were blooming around here near the end of June--I just love them. It is amazing what prettiness just lies down in the ditches of our gravel roads!

On that note--have a great weekend and take some time to smell the roses.

Still Alive

No knitting lately--my wrists and arms seem to have been hurting off and on for the past month or so. Probably because I have to do a lot more typing now (working two days a week as a church secretary and making two newsletters that total about 24 pages every month). I suppose I should see someone about that, huh? Or maybe I'll just get some comfort from some precious kittens at home instead!

I don't think Dan will let me name him Squishy McSnookersons, but maybe I could call him Frank instead.

I've been thinking of naming her Myrtle or Madge.

I'm not sure what to name him, but he might become my parent's kitten, so I'll let them handle that--I've got 12 others to worry about . . . and speaking piles of kittens.

They're getting bigger everyday.

On other subjects . . .

We made 12 batches of maple syrup this year totaling over 70 quarts. Pretty good for a couple of amateurs.

Had a campfire a little while back. I had fun taking pictures of the flames.

The sun was setting as we sat in the pasture enjoying our fire. That was a beautiful night.

More pictures of the goings on around my place in the last couple months will be coming. I thought putting 20 pictures into one post might be a bit much.

Busy Signals

Crazy, busy life going on right now---sorry no updates for a while---if anyone ever reads this anyway!

Just saw this . . .

Not that this is anything all that new to anyone, but I found it interesting when I saw it on Isela's blog.

If you want to do the same thing just snag it and bold the stuff you've done.

1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Gone rollerskating

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Acted in a play or performed on stage

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted-not painted, but drawn

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten caviar

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85. Read the entire Bible once

86. Visited the White House

87. Won money

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club

93. Had to put someone you love in Hospice Care

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

100. Read an entire book in one day

Umm . . . I don't know if anyone told you, but it's March now

Hey, it has been a while--a long while, but I thought I would let you know I am still here. Instead of trying to sum in in words, I will sum up in pictures.

(except to also say--haven't been at the gallery much as Winter months are always slow and also started a new job two days a week because, ummm, bringing money home is always a good thing especially when we want to eat and do things)

Dan had his 30th birthday in January

His dad also turned 60--we left up the tree until after Dan's birthday because it took a lot of effort to do this one--it involved having it wired to the wall!


We took out the old wood furnace (in the back of the photograh)


And installed this fancy-shmancey-new-fangled wood furnace---it's so purty!

I finished these Plain Jane style toe-up socks. They are knee highs! (and I have now given them to my neice as she saw one of them when they were finished and she seemed to like them a lot--She already plans to wear them to school with a pair of shorts come Spring!)


It has snowed here and Reno likes to stand in picturesque ways out in the barnyard (technically, this is the goat pasture to my way of thinking because when I was little we had dairy goats and it was thus named "the goat pasture" (as opposed to the sheep pasture, except we didn't have a sheep pasture, just sheep and a large pasture--oh, I don't know why anything is named the way it is, I was little and these are my memories, I don't know what they mean) because there is another yard attached to it that is directly behind the barn and that is really the barnyard, so I don't know what to call this part of the pasture--maybe I'll just call it the South Yard)


And Mike likes to sit in picturesque ways on this little sleigh when it is sunny out!


On Valentine's Day Dan and I and the dogs went for a long walk--it was windy and sunny. We had fun even if Dan looked a little silly--you'll notice there are no pictures of me, so nobody can recall how silly I looked.

Other things have happened in the last few weeks (including adding a new cat to the household and having that yellow dog in the background of the last picture run away (Montana loves to run and find new people to have fun with, sometimes she won't come home and this last time even with all of the precautions we had taken to prevent running away she got loose and is gone. Dakota is very sad and howls at night missing her friend--in fact she went searching for her the day Montana ran away and came back home very sad and sore)).

Well, things are looking up anyway and it is about time to make maple syrup again.

Happy New Year!

We spent New Year's Eve at a friends house and had a lot of fun. We got to see a Wii in use which was fun and we played Apples to Apples with our friends and a tweenage girl. We were able to laugh a lot, spend time with people we don't see very often, and even use the 4 wheel drive to get one of the party goers out of the ditch (the driveway is kind of a killer sometimes and it was very icy this year).

New Years Day we slept late and watched a couple of movies and yesterday we moved our water heater to a different spot so that we will be able to put our new furnace in sometime in the next week or two. (It involved redoing plumbing and electrical stuff as well as using a floor jack and balancing a big water heater on a strip of metal). Soon we will have to redo duct work. Fun, fun, fun!

Yesterday and today I am succumbing to a nasty sinus infection and am having trouble thinking much. If I haven't made much sense so far, sorry.

In a weak moment I took a little quiz and here are the results . . .

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz...

You Are a Doris!

I've always felt a bit like Doris Day I guess. I am a bit naive sometimes, but I stay that way purposefully. I'd rather look at life with love than with scepticism.

Merry Belated Christmas

Hey all, just a quick note to wish all of you a Merry Christmas. I realize it was 2 days ago, but really the Christmas season lasts until Epiphany (Jan. 6 or is the the 4th--maybe I should actually check things out before I write them) anyway (and doesn't start in mid-Nov or earlier as Walmart would lead us all to believe).

I received a few wonderful things from some very wonderful family members who know me so very well. My brother and sister-in-law (well maybe just my sister-in-law) gave me a giant bag of beautiful wool yarns. My sil used to go to the Yarn Cafe every week for their knit night, so when they went out of business this fall (sadly) she was at least able to help them out by picking up large quantities of yarn (for me of all people--how did she know?).

The other gift that brought tears to my eyes was the item I have stolen so often in the past few years from my dad. He gave me his Canon. I was in shock. (and am hoping that he has plans to replace it with a brand spanking new one very soon) Now, I won't feel guilty grabbing it and taking lots more pictures.

December One, the Year's Almost Done

I feel like Fezzik from The Princess Bride sometimes when I write titles for my posts.
Pretty soon someone is going to say something like, "Stop it, not, I mean it."
and I'll shoot back, "Anybody want a peanut?"

Last week I was thinking about the Tie One On Day and thought, "Hmmm what should I do about it all."

I ended up making a bunch of whole wheat dinner rolls on Sunday afternoon (23rd) and was thinking about how I might be able to get some kind of apron. Now, I currently have three aprons and I am very attached to each one of them, so I was thinking I would go out and buy one. Then thought, "Hmmm, there is no money in my checking account right now and I don't think Dan will consider me getting an apron that essential of a thing to do, so I guess I will have to make one."

Then I remembered all of my mom's old sewing patterns are still at my house (they've never left actually).


And I found her old apron pattern!


With that I looked through my stash of fabric (Tuesday morning--I am a procrastinator after all). And started to work.

I was up all night (because other things had to get done that day too) and I was able to finish it off in time to bring it over to a woman I know who was in need of some encouragement.


I turned out sooooo pretty that I had to take a couple pictures of it!


And now, I have to make one for my mom. (She saw it and now needs one, too).

I am so excited that I was actually able to make something so pretty and this woman I brought it to just loved it (and the bread) so much. She told me that she has really been wanting an apron and doesn't have one!

So that was that and then . . .

Dan and I had a good Thanksgiving weekend. On Thursday we went to his aunt's house for the big Thanksgiving. I would say there were at least 40 people there. (And that wasn't even the whole family). Friday was pretty much a day of resting (I came into work for a couple of hours, though) or rather getting the house ready for my brother's family to stay the night on Saturday. Then Saturday we had my family's Thanksgiving dinner here in town at my parent's apartment. Two of my older brother's and their families came and we had a brief video conference thingy with my other brother's family from Idaho.

Keep thinking of things that we can do to help others out!

Take him out back to the woodpile

Back when I used to work at the school for boys who had gotten into trouble, they used to have to move woodpiles back and forth as a punishment for doing not so nice things.

Well, at our house, it isn't technically a punishment because, ummm, even if it isn't much fun we still have to do it, so the house can be warm.

Dan wanted me to take a picture of him and all that he (his brother helped a bit) has accomplished in the past year in regards to woodpiles (this doesn't include what is already in the basement).


Now, take special notice in this close-up of the dangerous hazards that can befall you while working in the out-of-doors around our place.

Dan might be wearing a warm fur cap (it was really windy that day), but I don't think it was supposed to come with a Siamese Cat attachment.

I promise to help Dan move these woodpiles into the house slowly, but surely as Winter progresses . . . no more snow since the bit that had fallen earlier in the month, but it has been chilly, chilly lately. Ice is now covering the lake just down the road from us. Dan is hoping that it will continue to freeze well, so that he might be able to go ice-skating the day after Thanksgiving.

Ohh, one more picture.

This is from Thanksgiving Day 6 years ago (Dan and I were just married). We went ice skating on this little lake not too far from his parents' place with his old dog, Ginger. We had so much fun! She loved ice skating and would even pull you around out on the ice!

Kindness and other qualities that are kinda nice . . .

(Here is a random picture I took of Dan's aunt and uncle's shed just to distract you from the fact that I am a rambling person lately)

So anyway, kindness . . .

I don't know how many of you have come to my blog lately and seen on the sidebar that I have a link to National Tie One On Day (the day before Thanksgiving). By participating in this day you would make (or goodness, even go out and buy) a loaf of bread, write a little note of encouragement of some kind, wrap it up in an apron, and deliver it to someone in need of sustenance or encouragement. (If you have the means, go ahead and give more than a loaf of bread, I say, especially if you know a family is in need of sustenance).

This day perfectly wraps up what we should be doing for eachother every day. In some small way or in large ways let us all think of something we can do to encourage our neighbors whether near or far. I know I need it often enough and I know that you all need it, too.

Other organizations that do similar things to this are Operation Christmas Child, Heifer, your local food shelf, your local church, Feed the Children--the list goes on and on.

Just last night on the news, I heard of a woman just North of where I live that put an ad on Craig's List to give one family a Thanksgiving dinner with all the fixings. Now, there is a woman that we can all aspire to be.

Let us do likewise, and not just at Thanksgiving and Christmas, but in January and May and August. I am not perfect in providing care and encouragement to others and I certainly need to work harder at it and not get frustrated when there are those who will take advantage of other people's kindnesses.

Let us love one another . . .

Things and all

It snowed this past week. At the moment it has all melted and gone, but it will soon be back. This week has been a rush of so many things-dance classes (being taught by me because the instructor was sick--aack!--and the recital is only a few weeks away--double aack!), driving to the cities, going down to Iowa last weekend to see my brother in a beautiful 0pera, The Sparks Fly Upward, (I knew he had a part, but goodness, I mean this was a PART--it was the premier of an opera about the holocaust in which there are three main families-two Jewish and one Christian-all friends. My brother played the part of the husband in the Christian family that helped to hide and protect the other families----it was a wonderful and moving opera. The composer has been working on it for 15 years and is hoping that it will get picked up by a producer or go on tour or who knows.), getting ready for an open house at the gallery, and more and more . . .

Let's look at a picture or two instead of having me write, huh?







All Better!

I'm not sure on a good title . . .

Hey, all---I don't know if you are a person like me (probably not, I suppose), but I have mixed feelings about events this week.

Don't get me wrong, I do think that Barack Obama and Joe Biden will do a decent job being in office. I really do think that somehow, some way people will be able to work together on things again and I am hopeful for our future.

I am a person that gets sad when people are rude to one another and who likes to see people being kind to one another. I guess I say this as an Evangelical Christian person who feels hurt by how Evangelical Christian people are shown as being ignorant of the world and extremely unkind to others who hold different beliefs from them. For me, being a Christian means that I should love others around me, including the people that are mean to me and who I disagree with, and that I should constantly strive to all around me with the same kindness Christ showed to those around Him. Maybe I am thought of as silly and naive, but I would rather look dumb, I guess, than to be someone else that I am not.

I may not be making a whole lot of sense to anyone, I am just writing out some thoughts I have had in the past few days. I was reminded recently of one of the administrators that used to speak once a week at chapel during college. He was doing a series from the Sermon on the Mount and would often tell us college students who worried about what we should be doing with our lives and what kind of jobs we would have later on and who we should be dating and all of that, "I don't know what major you should have or the person you should marry, but I do know that God's will for your life is to . . . (love one another, look at your own faults before you look at the faults of others, or care for those in need depending on the section from the Sermon on the Mount he had been preaching from that day).

I guess I think back on those days a lot when I see some controversial subject being talked about and I think, "Hmmm, God wants me to love my neighbor and my neighbor is everyone, right? I guess I need to be conscious of doing that whether I understand their life or not. God knows what He is doing and things will turn out well."

I think back on those days when Dan and I are wondering how money situations will get handled and I think, "Okay, God has things under control and I don't need to worry. Just keep going and doing the work that needs to get done and somehow things will be fine." Fine doesn't mean things won't be hard. Fine doesn't mean I get everything I want, but fine means that I will somehow have the things I need when I need them most.

Ummm . . . anyway, let's try and to be kind to one another and not be mean to someone who might have voted differently than you or I or whomever else. A little love and kindness to those who are hurting (and even to those who are not hurting) can go a long way to making people whole again.

The Weekend and Horse Adventures

Well, Dan and I had a wonderful weekend, for the most part. Fun times on Halloween with a bonfire, hayride, and friends over on Friday night. Saturday was a beautiful day as well. We went out into the pasture and had a little campfire out by this little cabin my brother built many years ago all by ourselves (well, Little Hank and the dogs came out with us and the horses were munching on grass in the background, so we weren't totally "by ourselves" I guess)

If you look straight above the round bale a little ways, you will see a little whitish thing on the hill and that is the cabin. My mom took this picture before Dan and I were married (over six years ago now, but the landscape hasn't changed all that much except that we make small square bales not round bales)

Sunday we went to church and then ate out at Carlson's Orchard which is a restaurant and apple orchard open only in the Fall that I worked at for one season (the year Dan and I were married in fact). Mmmm . . . we had tasty fresh foccacia club sandwiches, cider, a little soup, and apple pie!

We came home and Dan decided he would like to try out riding Beauty. (My horse that I have not yet ridden, but she has been ridden about three times and worked with some and all that, ummm, but she is still stubborn about stuff (hmmm, much like me)).


She behaved really quite well as Dan was putting the saddle on and adjusting and tightening things. I mean not perfect or anything, but she wasn't mad at all. Then Dan got on her and she was just like a bucking bronco. (and I was standing right next to them--eeeeks)


Well, I ran away, Dan flew off her, and then she came running back for me. Then I had to run again. Dan said she looked like she was about to pounce on me and I thought it seemed like she was trying to slow herself down not to hit me, but there are now huge skid marks at the spot I had been standing. Poor Dan got the brunt of it all though. It has been a while since he was thrown off a horse (In fact, I believe he has been thrown off of all of our horses now. Old Reno used to be a fighter and Checotah was even worse. They have calmed down a great deal now that they are in their mid-twenties). Nothing is broken and I gave him a good back massage last night, but he may be needing to see the chiropractor. We'll see how he is feeling tonight. His neck felt stiff this morning, but he wasn't dizzy or anything!

Beauty calmed down, too. She was able to get led around and have the saddle get pulled on and pushed around on her and all of that without getting upset. Next time Dan will take more time getting up on her (he said that she seemed so calm up to that point it didn't seem like he would have to do the normal just leaning on the saddle a bit and that kind of stuff, but he figures that was a bad idea now) and hopefully she will respond a lot more nicely.

Poor Dan gets the tough jobs around our house--all I really spent the day doing yesterday was washing and folding clothes and doing some Christmas knitting.

She's Got Personality

Your result for What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test...

Non-conformist, Visionary, and Independent

4 Abstract, -6 Islamic, -6 Ukiyo-e, -1 Cubist, -4 Impressionist and -14 Renaissance!

Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which exists independently of what may appear to others as visual realities. Western had been underpinned by the logic of perspective and an attempt to reproduce an illusion of visible reality. It allowed the progressive thinking artists to show a different side to the world around them. By the end of the 19th century many artists felt a need to create a 'new kind of art' which would encompass the fundamental changes taking place in technology, science and philosophy. Abstract artists created art that was diverse and reflected the social and intellectual turmoil in all areas of Western culture.

People that chose abstract art as their preferred artform tend to be visionaries. They see things in the world around them and in people that others may miss because they look beyond what is visual only with the eye. They rely on their inner thoughts and feelings in dealing with the world around them instead of on what they are told they should think and feel. They feel freed from the tendency to be bound by traditional thought and experiences. They look more toward their own ideas and experiences than what they are told by their religious upbringing or from scientific evidence. They tend to like to prove theories themselves instead of relying on the insight or ideas of others. They are not bound by common and mundane, but like to travel and have new experiences. They value intelligence, but they also enjoy a challenge. They can be rather argumentative when they are being forced or feel as if they are being forced to conform.

Take What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test at HelloQuizzy

Alarming ;o)

Well, guess how I spent most of my afternoon . . .
Dealing with an alarm system and trying to get ahold of people who can fix it. Thankfully, all is well now and has been fixed, but golly-gee these systems are a little screwy sometimes.

Anyway, now tonight I get to go to a play with friends (wooo, its a double date-how exciting). We are going to see a community theater production of Arsenic and Old Lace starring the director of our old high school one act plays plus a couple of other productions I have been in. It should be fun.

Chilly

I am cold today--been chilled all day ever since I got out from underneath my warm, cozy covers this morning. (I didn't want to leave them, but I had to go and do things that just aren't getting done all that well today because I never really wanted to leave my warm, cozy bed). We have 3 quilts and one of those warm fuzzy blankets on our bed right now and that sound so nice . . .

I am currently wearing these cozy leg warmers-in fact I did last night, too along with socks and a pair of fuzzy slippers with a blanket wrapper around me as I knit and watched TV

It was 52 in our house this morning when I woke up--I don't know what it was when Dan left for work this morning at 6, but he was cold, too. He even said so and his poor hands and nose were cold, too. I know this would be a fairly easy thing to fix. We could plug in our electric baseboard heaters, but I hate to have to pay for too much electricity as it is only October and we have a whole winter ahead of us.

Soon you will begin to warm our home, won't you?

We were going to bring wood into the basement this week (and still will), but it will take a bit of situating as things with the well and other stuff happened in the basement this summer and the spot where we haul the wood into has some shelves in it at the moment and so an old fruit cellar has to have scary spider webs and nasty things taken out of it to put the shelves into it,blah, blah, blah . . . all fine and good and we even could have brought in a little bit of wood just to last us a few days, but then it rained good and plenty on the wood, so I am cold today . . . not the worst thing ever, but I just wanted to whine for a few minutes.

Thanks!

I think I will make some nice eggs with ham and toast for supper tonight. That sounds warm delicious. mmmm

Changing

It has been chilly here lately. Enough so, that we need to start bringing wood in the house to warm up this week. (Our house has lately been ranging in temperatures between the mid-fifties and mid-sixties) If we weren't such cheapskates we would have already had some kind of heat on for the past few weeks. Instead we have big blankets on the couch, nice fuzzy slippers, and plenty of quilts on the bed. (I think I am going to put the flannel sheets on this week, too).



With the cool days come beautiful colors and the need to get things out of the garden!


I went out on Saturday and picked the remaining butternut squash and gourds. Everytime I thought I was done picking the gourds, it seemed that I would find another couple hiding out under a leaf or in the carrots!


Even Hank got involved!


I also went for a walk out into the pasture to get some pictures of the fall color before the wind blew all of the leaves off of the trees. We have had some wonderful color around here this fall!


Dan worked up on the roof finishing up a small section of siding . . . you never know, someday the whole house might be sided and looking pretty again.


On Saturday I also got a little something in the mail! It's my October sock mailing from Sundara Yarn. This picture doesn't show off the color the best, but it is a beautiful deep purple that has some darker and lighter hues spread throughout. I think these might become some Christmas socks for my mom!


Finally, I have been working on some socks of my own again. I have two skeins of this yarn and I think that these could turn into some nice knee socks. I love having long socks to wear in the winter and fall in our old, drafty house.