Just three this week.

But, that was my goal. Two weeks down, 50 more to go.

I’ve spent the past 2 weeks preparing of a funeral for a woman at church. Echo Pryor Arnesen left behind a husband, 6 children, and 19 grandchildren. She was one of those people you just can’t forget once you meet her. She was exhuberant and always had something to say. It was actually pretty hard to keep her from saying anything There were a few times during Sunday meetings that I would cringe as she recounted stories of dreams she had and how the Lord directed her to get a child out of bed because its head was wrapped in covers…I can’t think of any more right off the top of my head, but most Sundays there was something. The stories were true though. She had a simple faith and not only believed in miracles, but expected them.

In the room where the family set up the viewing were tables of pictures and scrap books. She was a wonderful record keeper. She kept a journal for each of her 6 children from the time they were born and continued to add to them after they left home. What a treasure. She was unforgettable by virture of her personality, but her love and commitment to her family ensures that she will never be forgotten.

I don’t love my children any less than Echo loved hers, but will they remember that when I’m gone? I’m just so deeply impressed by her committment and dilligence to write so personally for each of them.

Maybe I should take a page from her book…

Yep. That’s me. I’m about 20 weeks now, I think. With the first one you count the days. After that it is hard to keep track.

Anyway, I’m pretty sure I mentioned the home improvement chaos that’s been going on here, and that all we had left was some kind of home office set up. Well, the thing-a-ma-bobs I ordered from Ikea were out of stock, so we had to figure out alternatives. I had a few ideas and tried to figure out how to make them work, while Barry went to Mendelsons (read big warehouse of unimaginable junk) to see if he could find something used that would be suitable. He came home with a used desk–a very officey desk, but the right size, and he thought, even the right color. I was a wreck!! Despite my best efforts to hold back the tears I cried. No. I bawled. For hours. And into the night. And the next day.

I had in my mind exactly how I wanted it to look, you know? I was disappointed, understandably. But heart broken? Crying for hours? Poor bewildered Barry.

So, setting aside Sunday meeting lesson preparation that I could have attended to, we set out on an adventure Saturday to find the Amy Butler fabric I needed to make me feel better. Then I ran another errand or two and we put this together.

The lighting is bad, but hopefully you get the idea. Now I have a place to display my daily drawings and other pretty things. The desk really isn’t bad either, now that I’ve come to my senses.

And, for my mom I’m putting in some pictures of our new wood floor and one of the living room. It’s fall in Ohio, and I realize I have to say good-bye to good light until spring. I think I’ve also messed up the settings on my camera somehow and can’t figure out what I’ve done, so you may have to use your imagination a little bit here.

I really love my new floors and freshly painted walls. The gold walls in the living room show up pretty accurately. The carpet is a bit warmer.

I’ve been inspired by Lisa’s posts of her daily drawings, and so I thought I’d take a stab at it this school year. I adhere to the educational philosophy of “it’s you, not them.” My real responsibility is for my own education–and in order to teach my kids that they, in turn, bear the responsibility for their own educations I need to be learning and making during school time. So, here’s week one of drawings. Here in writing I’m only requiring myself to do 3 a week, but this week I have 5. You know, it’s new and the motivation is high

They’re all small, about 6″x6″ give or take, on scraps of printmaking paper using watercolors and a regular old #2 pencil.

My other mom school work is working on the Womanhood Course in a new organization called The Art of Womanhood.

On a recent trip to the Dayton Art Institute I discovered Cincinatti artist Paige Williams. I love the graphic simplicity of her paintings–most of them having just three perfectly balanced elements. They have both sophisticated and childlike elements, flat bold colors, and interesting lines.

Check out the exhibition notes.

I’m finally posting photos of the package Kim sent me forever ago. She sent me buttons, and oodles of fun new and vintage scraps,

beautiful Marimeko scraps (I’ve been eyeing the green and brown one for a long time),

and solids, of course!

Life has been eventful here, to say the least. We got back from our trip to Idaho in August and promptly rearranged all the bedrooms upstairs. We painted walls and furniture, put kids in new rooms, and moved my art room. Now I have the smallest room–but it has the best light all day long and we’ve solved all the furniture arrangement problems I had before. As soon as the upstairs was back together Barry’s parents came to visit.

Then, Lowes had a sale on carpet. I’ve had carpet in the dining area of my house and with kids and spilled juice, crusty yogurt, etc. etc. it’s been really getting to me. So, we put new wood floor in the dining area and new carpet in the other two rooms downstairs. And, of course, while the old carpet was torn up and furniture moved out of the way there had to be painting of walls, and painting of walls includes picking of colors and many, many, many trips to Lowes (luckily it is about a mile away). Anyway, we’ve had several weeks of absolute chaos, but I think we’re back in control. We’re still working on a computer desk, but I’ve decided on making the “hollow core door and Ikea tressle desk” from the latest issue of Blueprint magazine. The tressles are on their way, the door will just be another trip to Lowes. Then we’ll set it up in the dining area because I’m tired of having office mess in the front room.

Now, two more photos in parting. I had a chance to use a long arm quilting machine while in Boise. Is that cool or what?! Here’s a peak of what I did.

So, now the blog resurrection begins. I’ve missed you, internet. I’ve had a good breather. I’m still going to be cautious with my time, and after this I’m a little hesitant to post too much about my kids, but my artsy and crafty stuff needs somewhere to say hello!