Five things I learned in August

I'm linking up with Emily at Chatting at the Sky for her Things I Learned series where we share the serious and the silly things we learned during the previous month. Mostly silly. Five may not seem like many, but, hey, that's more than one a week!


1. I'm not sure if it's because we no longer have anyone in our family that follows the school year calendar, or the fact that I'm getting older (?), but this August went by the fastest that I can remember any August traveling. 

Our youngest child graduated from college in May, so no back to school shopping for clothes or supplies. No "new class" anticipation. That's not to say that there aren't other things we've anticipated (like my daughter's first real post-college job!)

2. Going to the Iowa State fair never gets old. Okay, so we do the same things there every year. We go on a weeknight evening when we can get in for nearly half price (we're Dutch, after all). 

us at the Iowa State Fair!

We take in the Big Bull, Big Boar, Butter Cow, the Agriculture Building to see all the garden vegetable winners, and get the free egg-on-a-stick from The Egg Council. (we are a pretty easy to please family.) 

Two of our young adults kids came with us this year. It tickles me that they like going as much as we do. "I wouldn't miss the fair!" my son said as we were making plans to go.



3. When my hubby planted tall sunflowers right outside our family room windows last year, I thought it was an odd spot, honestly. It's not the typical landscaping seen in our neighborhood. They are tall, the tallest one got to 12 feet, 9 inches this year!

I've decided that there couldn't have been a better place to plant them because I've had a front row seat to the Goldfinches that have come to eat the seeds. As I wrote in another post, they've acted like circus performers, hanging on, upside down, to the outer petals of the flower, blowing in the breeze with the stalks, and plucking out seeds. It's been one of the most entertaining things this month. Again, I'm easy to please!

4.  I looked on Pinterest and found a new knitted dishcloth design to try. Just the right challenge for this fairly new knitter. My first try, I goofed up and had to rip out the half that I had finished. I didn't fret about it. I just started over! I've decided that trying something new, trumps being perfect at it! 

The one with the mistakes...

5.  As mentioned in #1, my daughter just got her first post-college job! She's been looking since before graduation, and looking in her degree area of Advertising, applying all of the country to things that looked interesting. 

She ended up getting a part-time job with a church camp, doing their communication and design materials! I couldn't be more happy, because she's happy. She knew the camp directors by their first names before her first day. I'd say that's going to be a pretty homey place to work!

What kinds of things did you learn in August? Did it go as fast for you as it did for me?

Blessings to you!

~Anne

When I let my hands do the work

LInking up a little late. Linking up for Five Minute Friday on Saturday this time over at Lisa Jo Baker's blog. Once a week, we get together to write on a topic for five minutes straight with no edits. Just writing for the sheer fun of it. Letting our writing hair down so to speak. Won't you come on over and see what others have written on the topic "hands"? 

At least twice a day, 

or more if I can get away with it, my hands go for the yarn and needles. 

I’m not sure what it is about knitting, but somehow the stress drains away, and I am transported when I start to knit. 

So far, I’m just a beginner, really. I just took two two hour classes on two afternoons. I’ve learned to knit two kinds of dish cloths.

The teacher I had at the knitting store had made all of the examples in the store, many of them being sweaters, or vests. Very intricate patterns. Very fancy. I could easily compare.

But, somehow I am spared from comparison this time.

I am going to take an “intermediate” knitting class next week where I will learn to do some kinds of knit stitches that look like lace. Perfect for making scarves they say.

For now, I’ve been very content to pick up the yarn and needles and go to work on my little pinwheel shaped dish cloths. This last week I mailed one to my step mother and may end up mailing out more.

I know it’s not much, but somehow it is a part of me. 

Something that is handmade. 

Something that I spent a few hours on.

And, oh, the way my thoughts wander when I’m knitting.

Oh, big problems are not necessarily solved.

But, my breathing slows, my thoughts go still. 

I put my worries away and let my hands do the work.

Knit four, yarn over, knit to the end, leave two stitches. Knit four, knit to the end. Repeat.

Thanks for stopping by for FMF on Saturday!

What I learned in April

I'm linking up with Emily at Chatting at the Sky for her "What I learned" link up. Below I'm sharing some things I learned in April in no particular order. Come on over to chattingatthesky.com to read what other writers are learning. Both the silly and the serious!


1. The first thing I've learned since writing these end of the month posts is that if I do not keep notes during the month, I get to the end and it feels like I haven't learned anything. Not true, of course.


2. If you ask clearly for what you need, you just might get it. We had to travel from Iowa to Indiana last weekend. I had a seminar and my husband had to drive on Saturday to Columbus, OH. I didn't have a way to get to my seminar. (call a taxi? I've never.) 

So, I emailed the bed and breakfast we were planning to stay in and they said, sure, they could drop me at my seminar on Saturday morning. (Actually, they made their eighteen year old son get up early on Saturday morning to take me. No joke. He was not too talkative on the drive.) No charge. 

And, John, the Innkeeper, made my gourmet breakfast an hour earlier than everyone else. I will tell all of my friends about Prairie Guest House in Fishers, IN. Plus, the room "Courtney", in the 100 year old house, was sweet. Here's a pic from their website because I forgot to take a picture!

prairieguesthouse.com

3. We finally named our new-to-us Camry. His name is Wilson (not my choice, but it is approved by my husband and adult children, and of course the car could not be a girl's name.) It's growing on me. Named aptly after the dealership where we purchased him.

Yes, we name our vehicles. You should try it. It makes life a lot more fun.

My husband's previous car was J-LO, not necessarily after the actress, but because the license plate randomly said JLO before the numbers. My husband's current commuting car is named Scotty. He is red, and Scotty from Star Trek wears a red shirt. And since Scotty from Star Trek is my husband's hero, his red car became Scotty. (are you ready to commit our family yet?)

And, last but not least, the van we just traded off had been named endearingly  "The Meatwagon" by our three kids. How heartwarming! My daugher was actually sad when we got rid of the Meatwagon.

4. My "new" Camry has an awesome sound system and I've newly discovered that Josh Groban's voice is the perfect road trip companion.

5. My birthday was April 23rd and I wanted to go to a new restaurant that we hadn't tried before. I always have to check for a gluten free menu. When I saw that they served sandwiches on gluten free buns, I was all in. 

We went to Granite City Food and Brewery, and I ordered a Reuben sandwich. The first Reuben I've had in at least five years. It was like sandwich heaven. My husband liked his burger too, so we'll definitely be going back! 

6. I tried a new dishcloth knitting pattern. I only had to rip three of the points out one time and then, success! I finished a new dishcloth on our roadtrip last weekend. All I need to do is sew up the side and cinch up the center. I think this one is rather pretty! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

What I learned in March

I'm linking up with Emily at Chatting at the Sky for her monthly link up where we share some things we learned during the month. Here, in no particular order are some things I learned in March, (the serious and the absurd). Come on over to Chatting at the Sky to see what others have learned!



1.  I learned to knit. I took a beginning knitting class at my local yarn shop. Oh, what fun that was, and why did I wait so long? Our teacher was Janet, about eighty. She was as spunky a lady as I've seen in awhile. Very patient with the four of us who were all thumbs. One of the most important things I learned in my two week class? "Honey, we don't call these 'sticks and strings'. They are called 'needles and yarn'." What a hoot!

2. Referring to #1, I made my first dish cloth and am on my second one now! I'm realizing what all the fuss is about. Groups of gals get together in this store and knit and solve all the world's problems. I think I'm going to join them soon. Maybe they can solve some of mine.

3. When my daughter was home from college on Spring Break, I think we thrifted every day except the last one. We did seven different thrift stores in seven days. I love to thrift and so does my daughter, but by the seventh one, we had both reached our limit of thrifting for the week! {but we both got some great deals}. I have never done that much concentrated thrifting in one week.

4.  I bought my own thinning shears. I am constantly fighting with my thick hair. I have dreamed for years of owning my own thinning shears. We have a Sally Beauty Supply in town and it was probably a couple of years ago that I priced them. At the time I thought $20.00 was too much. But, this month, I forked over the $20.00, and I have never been happier with my hair! Okay, so I chopped it a little close in one area, but no one will ever see it because I have so many hairs! Again, why did I wait so long?

5. I started Beginning Watercolor last week. It was the first time I'd ever stepped foot in our town's Art Center. Again, I wonder why it took me thirteen years to figure out that about two miles down the road I could take some art classes in my own hometown. I had so much fun in water color class. I can't wait for this week.

6. Always double check your spelling after using Swype on your electronic device. I Swyped a comment to one of the folks I follow on Instagram. Instead of saying "Nice shot" about the picture he took of downtown Des Moines, I accidentally said "nice __it". You get the picture. To make matters more embarrassing, I was on my phone and didn't know how to delete. And to make matters even worse, he is the worship leader at my church. I raced over to my computer to try and delete it before he saw it. I also apologized for my mistake. I guess he'd seen it because he commented back. "__it happens. No problem." {I am so thankful for grace, lol}

7. After twenty years as minivan drivers, we traded off our van for a Toyota Camry. It is "new" to us, and I love being able to drive a car again! *also, it has a sunroof and heated seats*! I'm feeling like I am in a little bit of car heaven. :)

How about you? What serious or absurd things did you learn this month?

Hope you are doing well! Thanks for stopping by!