Prairie Scraps

I've been crafting this week, but don't have things ready to share with you just yet.  We've had some excitement this week on the Prairie - Turkeys!  We've had about 17 turkeys coming daily to our yard and eating from the cherry tree out front.  Two to three of them go up into the cherry tree and shake it down, while the rest scramble for what falls (hopefully next year, we will get those cherries before they spoil, and the turkeys will be out of business.) After they check out the cherry tree, then they line up and make a trip around our house and eat under one of the trees in the back yard.  They are usually here for about an hour each day, but the give the entire family a lot of excitement for the day! They've gotten brave enough, they go just outside the patio door in the back of the house.  That is, they go there until our very dumb dog discovers them and barks.  Then, they are headed for the hills, literally.  My oldest is plotting and plann...

"No More Perfect Moms: Learn to Love Your Real Life"  is so packed with practical information for the everyday Mom, that I struggled to finish it.  Not because it's too long, or wordy, or uninteresting, but because I wanted to read each and every word, hold onto it, make it a part of my life and really chew on all the details from cover-to-cover.  This book is so good, that I didn't want to miss a single thing.  I wanted to read one chapter at a time, and not only process it for my life, but also implement the advice and challenges in it, one by one. Jill Savage brings to the forefront, what, for today's mom is such a struggle to recover from - the "Perfection Infection" that our society has created in motherhood.  This "Perfection Infection" is the need to compare ourselves to every other "perfect" Mom out there, and live up to that expectation.  Moms tend to look at other's perfection on the outside, but expect ourselves to ...

We have wanted to have chickens for eggs and meat for a very long time now.  Back in WI, we were quite sure we couldn't have them in our within-city-limit backyard (although we were pretty sure we could get away with it.)  Well, we now have a chicken coop on the side of our barn, so we've been plotting and planning on getting chickens as soon as we possibly could.  Well, a few times, I found them for free either on Craigslist or a homeschool list, but I've always been one person late.  I just can't bring myself to buy a laying hen for $7-$10 each, so I've been patiently waiting for my opportunity. Mr. Right told me to look on Craigslist this morning for something else, and low and behold!  Bingo!  We got some! Aren't they gorgeous?  Of course, there are some downfalls to getting 2 year old hens and a rooster that is 1 year old, but, we also have a chance at getting eggs right away.  We won't have to wait as long as the chicks take to get to ...

Ok - I've been a very bad blogger over the holidays!  After the craft show, I just couldn't catch up before the holidays, and decided to just spend some time with my family!  It was our first Christmas here on the Prairie, so we were attempting to find our way with no family and "old" friends around.  Never fear, I have been crafting and scrapping, though! I wanted to share one of the projects we worked on as a family.  When I say we, I really mean Mr. Right was put to work.  We made a Ladder Ball set for my in-laws.  We got all the directions on the internet on  Just Build Stuff Here.   Isn't the internet a wonderful place?  I'm not going to show you all the details for that project here, because they did such a wonderful job over on their site. After making the set, I wanted to make a bag to carry it all in, but boy was this bag a heavy one!  I originally thought I could just transform the leg of a pair of jeans into the bag, but h...

 About a month ago,  a good friend of mine suggested that I apply for the  Hearts at Home  opportunity to be on a launch team for founder, Jill Savage's new book, "No More Perfect Moms."  When I looked at the site and found that there were several things I had to do to qualify, I initially thought that it would take too much time to do, so I almost just clicked out of the site.  Then I hesitated, and decided, why not?   You can imagine my surprise, when I got notified that I was chosen to be on the launch team and that I could download an advance electronic copy of the book!  I've started to read the book, and am already ecstatic about the topic for this book: to get over trying to be perfect and "learn to love your real life!" Although it's too late to get involved in the Launch Team, never fear, there is still time for you to get involved in this great book! Sign up today for the  31 Day No More Perfect Moms Challen...

I am sorry for the gap in my posting, I have had a ton of things on my plate over the holiday season.  I hope that you and yours have a very blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year! Although I've been absent from posting lately, I have been pondering and planning for the coming year!  I am really excited to be sharing new projects that I have done with my MOPS group, new books I'm reading, organizing in the new year, and I've been selected to be on the Hearts at Home Launch Team for Jill Savage's new book!  Stay tuned for more soon!

We are down to just moments before our craft show!  Of course, we haven't had time to even get worried or nervous, because we are trying to get as many things finished as possible!   In an effort to get our layout down, we have a chalk outline in my friend  DeAnn over at Stampin' on the Prairie .  Fortunately we did this  (and took my own advice HERE ), because we discovered that our booth is really narrow!  It is 7 feet wide by 9 feet deep.  Doing a dry run has helped us think through the possibilities of what to do.  Unfortunately, our ladder shelf is going on the side of the booth instead of the back.  We are hoping to be able to go a little over our boundaries at the back of the booth, since most crafters here put their things only in the front of their area. On to more exciting things, I am getting some of my larger furniture items done, finally!  (I always work better under pressure, which in turn makes me a huge procra...