Look what the chickens did!

Back in July, Joel and Andy went on a 4-H field trip to the Poultry Science department at NC State. They learned about chickens and ended up bringing some of the day-old chicks home with them. They turned out to be 4 hens and 2 roosters. In the past 4 months, we've learned alot about chickens!

Did you know that roosters don't start out saying "Cock-a-doodle-doo"? When ours first started to crow, they sounded like those little baby dolls that say "Momma" when you turn them over on their tummies!

Last night, Andy came in the back door, very excited and calling for me to come see what he found! When he fed and watered them, there were 2 eggs in their pen. By this morning, there was another one! Ah, there are farm-fresh eggs in Shari's world tonight!

More Fall Pics

Here are a couple more of my favorite shots from my stroll through nature.

Fall

Fall is a beautiful season. So is spring, so don't make me choose which is my favorite.

On Easter weekend this year, I went out with the camera and took a walk, taking a few "artistic" shots along the way. I was pretty pleased with some of them and decided that I must do the same thing when summer gave way to cooler temperatures and the leaves changed colors. Last week, I remembered that and went on a fall walk around my world. I'm glad I went out when I did because I would have missed some of the best shots if I'd waited any longer.

This one is a mum that was in an arrangement I received when my grandmother died last year. I planted it in my front flower bed and it came back this year. Bright, showy flowers - wouldn't Grandma like that!

Over the next few days, I'll post some of my favorite shots from fall in Shari's world....

Knitting an Afghan

I grew up watching my mom knit. I thought it was so cool to sit beside her on the couch while she worked on whatever her current project was. Sometimes it was a sweater/cap/bootie set for a new baby. At other times, it was an afghan of some type. When I was in high school, she made my friends and me scarves in our school colors of purple and gold. She had the neatest rhythm in her knitting - Mom is a "thrower" so the whole couch jumped a little when she looped the yarn around her needles.

One of the projects I especially remember was a sampler afghan she made for my grandmother. It consists of 10o blocks. Each of 50 patterns was done in a varigated yarn and also in either of 2 solid colors. Then, each square had to be put together according to a chart to make the finished project. I can still see the stacks of knitted squares, little squares of paper with the number written on them, attached by a safety pin. When all the squares were done, she laid them out on her bed to begin putting them together.

A few years ago, my grandmother moved into an assisted living facility and we had to clean out years of accumulated memories from her house. While cleaning out the attic, we found that afghan. Needless to say, it was in less than great condition. Who knows what it had been home to during its stay in the attic. Regardless of its condition, I wanted that afghan! Thinking about the time of its creation brought back the warm, safe, happy feelings of my childhood days. I took it home, washed it and, in spite of a couple of moth holes, it came out pretty good!

One day a few months ago, after pouring over knitting books looking for projects that a non-talented knitter might be able to complete, I asked Mom about that afghan pattern. She found it in a notebook that she had long ago hand-copied patterns in. There were even some notations in my own childish handwriting in the margins!

We talked about it and decided to make another one together. So, as part of my "Rewards for Good Behavior" program to encourage me to do the things I need to do, we're going to get together when possible and knit the more complicated squares together. I'll knit the varigated squares while Mom knits the solid ones. I've finished simpler squares 1 and 3 and I'm working on square 5 now.

There's knitting going on in Shari's World these days!

First Day of School

CedarWoods School is back in session! Andy's first day of 11th grade went very well yesterday. We just completed classwork for our 2nd day - 2 down and 178 to go!

We have a full schedule for this year - English (which includes Grammar, Vocabulary, Composition and Literature), Business Math, Biology (complete with dissection labs!), American History, Spanish and Health/PE. I'm setting aside 3-1/2 hours for "classroom" instruction and then homework is on his own time - he's going to be learning alot about time management and setting priorities this year in addition to his academic studies.

Of course, Andy's not the only one working on his time management skills! This is the time of year that I wonder what I was thinking when I decided to go to work parttime while homeschooling a high schooler! This summer, I've been re-evaluating the things I do and how I do them in order to simplify routines and schedules to fit in everything that needs to get done. Sometimes it's a process of evaluating, then re-evaluating, then re-re-evaluating. I have to remind myself that there will be time to do some of the things I just want to do when Andy is through with school - which really isn't that far away! The historical fiction novel for the young adult market that I want to write will just have to wait a little while. The zippered, hoodie sweater that I want to knit will feel just as warm in a couple of years. I am working "rewards for good behavior" into my schedule - monthly dinner out with Karen, working on a knitted sampler afghan with my mom when I can make a couple of free hours to knit more complicated blocks under her guidance. All work and no play makes Shari kind of cranky!

Well, the laundry is piled to the basement ceiling in Shari's World today so I'll bring this entry to a close and get a load or two done before heading out to work. Till next time....

Andy turns 16!

Well, my "baby" is 16! In some ways, it seems as if his birth was yesterday. On the other hand, so much water has gone under the bridge that it seems a lifetime ago.

We celebrated with pizza, cake & ice cream and about 40 friends and family. Andy's 1941 Farmall tractor is the love of his life right now and he had hoped to be able to hook it up to a neighbor's hay wagon to take anyone who wanted to go on a hayride. Unfortunately, the weather didn't see fit to cooperate and that plan had to be scrapped. His cake had a picture of him on his tractor and all his family and friends honored him with mostly gifts of cash to go towards his tractor restoration fund. So he was a happy "birthday boy" when he went to bed that night!

The next step is getting his driver's license. The car insurance comes up for renewal soon so we're waiting for that to add him to the policy - I'm still in shock from talking to the insurance man about how much our bill will increase!!!! My heart goes out to anyone who has multiple teenage drivers!

Oh well, life goes on! I'm still trying to figure out how to juggle all the "must do's" and fit in some of the "want to do's" like regular blog posts. Obviously, I haven't got a clue since I haven't posted in months. I'll keep working on it and post as often as I can to keep you up-to-date with what's going on in Shari's world...