I run, I pray.

I used to walk outside 6 days a weeks. 4-5 miles a day. For the most part I enjoyed my daily walks. My shoes and I were tight!

Then we had our snow. I mean, the week of Christmas we got ALL of our snow! And then it dropped way below zero and was so cold forever that I couldn't walk on the slick roads.......

 The Mr. and I got a treadmill for Christmas.

Well, that sucker is hard for me to walk on.

Why?

I. Have. No. Clue.

 However, I have found to my delight, (?) that I can run on it. 2-3 miles at a time. I know that doesn't sound like much, but for a..... ahem,  well,  for someone like me, It's huge! I've had this cold or whatever has been going around, and it lasts and lasts and lasts. So needless to say I haven't walked or ran very well for the past while. Pretty sporadically.

  Now tell me this,

 why is it so easy to break a good habit?

and so VERY easy to start bad ones?

Like, loafing around eating who knows what and not moving all day long? Calling myself sickly and telling myself it's OK to "rest" again.

So I pray for the desire to run and walk.

I do.

I have a son who is trying to quit smoking.

 I know this is a way way, way hard thing.

  I've told him that while he's doing this hard thing, I'll learn to run. A way hard thing for me.

 If he can do hard things, I can too.

I'm running for you, Roo.

 And when it's hard and I don't think I'm going to make it, (which is about 7/10's of the way through each mile) I pray. And I keep going.

 I pray that I'll have strength, and then I pray that my son will also have the strength to pass up that next erg to smoke. And the next one too.

I could never run by myself. Running is pretty physical, an I'm not very. 

But I want to run. 

I want to be fit and healthy.

I want to push ALL diseases away that can come to an overweight middle aged woman.

I want my son to reach his goal. And if he slips up, I want him to have the courage and strength to begin again.

So I pray.

For myself and  my "little Roo".

That we can meet our goals, and better our lives.

.

.

.

.

.

 ...Just

 desires and prayers of a mom.

 Blessings from the Stone House

Random and tuck swap

Tuesday we had a wonderful Chinook wind blow into our neck of the woods. It was NICE, over 40 degrees, which was about 50 degrees warmer than on New Years day when we were sledding. I am loving the warmth!

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a blanket crane. I  have the first coat of paint on it. When it's done it will go above this bed in the spare bedroom.  I was soooo spoiled this year from everyone. Thank you family!

(the heart tuck belongs further down the post.....I

couldn't get it to move ....it drove me Berserk-O  so in the end I just left it here ) 

Oh, and you can get the pattern here to make your own blanket crane. Scroll down to find it. Chris from Simply Prim blog shows us how.

I have a helper today. I put her on Rinse duty for our breakfast dishes. She's a very dedicated helper!

I had yen to frame a recipe for a snowman but didn't want to  stitch it myself..... out of January time..... Well a couple of years ago I had found a pillow with a snowman recipe on it.

 So, wal-la!  I had to add some fabric to the sides to make it fit into my frame, and I'm enjoying the way it turned out.

You can see it had more buttons on it. They were sewn to the bat and I had to cut them off and forgot to put them back on........yet.

I belong to a tuck swap with 9 other ladies and we meet once a month, taking turns hosting at our homes (last year we swapped ornies) We have a drawing which we all look forward too, and   sometimes more than one drawing  which was the case last night. We had 3 giveaways, and I won one which I'll show on another post. It was my turn to host last night and this morning I realized I should have taken pictures of everyone's tucks. Next month. :-)

This sweet little punch needle tuck belongs to me,  made by Laura. Its stuffed with rags and coffee stained.   I LOVE IT LAURA! Thank-you so much!

Here are a few others. I can't tell you who they belong to because the recipients were absent and they haven't see them yet.... :-) (remember the little tuck up top? it belongs here...)

The  love letters below were part of the main give away made by Angie. All the work. The stamps, the cancellation stamp, the lines on the bottom..... they have been coffee stained and glittered, cute

huh?  I just thought they were fun and you would like to see them.

Here's the total giveaway. oops....minus my knitting in the back ground..... Lucky girl LAURA!

Last week I was at the TS, and I found four of these 100 % cotton curtains. I had them in my cart and they decided to put them back not knowing for sure where I would put them. As I was driving away I had the thought because they have a colonial pattern on them, that I could make short gowns out of them for the  little girls to wear at Rendezvous. So after I had run a few errands I went back and got them. The next day, just for fun I hung them in my bedroom............. and here they'll stay.....sorry chick-a-bees, no short gowns from these fine curtains. (if your the kind person who donated these to the Ts, drop me a line an tell me where you got them I need two more!!! LOL )  ( and Thank You! )
( I know this is NOT a good picture, Curtains have a brown back ground, there's a touch of purple, green tan and red. Glorious red. )

And lastly,

I have a  another yen,

this time to have a valentine tree. This is Jennifer Bowman's tree. I love it. Jennifer's blog was the very first blog I ever set eyes on. I first saw her home in the Country Sampler magazine, where they gave us the blog address....I was hooked!

This is a way fun tree.

Also

 Hazel Ruth has an awesome valentine tree you can see here.  It's loaded with goodness! :-)

Hope you are having a nice Chinook in your woods too!

Enjoy your day.

Blessing from the Stone House. Mercy

Blessings Unmeassured!

Welcome to the world sweet baby girl! This photo was taken on Friday Jan 14th which was her actual due date. She was 20" long and weighed 8lbs 3 oz!

Here she is, 1 day old,  being adored by her uncle, but she is very busy "starving" lol

Wow.

 Never. gets. old!

Each one comes so perfect and unique, straight from Heavenly Father.  Shinning with glory and full of love!

What an absolute miracle!

Blessings from the Stone House

canvas town and A BABY

Hi everyone. Just thought I'd share a few pictures of a favorite grandson toy. It's a town, painted on canvas. It was made for the Mr. and his brothers when they were children by one of their aunts. My own boys played with it, and now the grands love it too. It's 45" x77" .  I have no idea what year she made this,or what it's painted with, but the shops were all shops that were located in Roosevelt at that time.

 This is pretty much what the hospital that the Mr. was born in really looked like. It's the home health building now, and it still mostly looks like this.

 We don't have a railroad in the basin at all, nor is our airport building this big! But how can you make a town without a train or a big airport? lol

Lots of fun hours have been spent playing with this little town for 3 generations of boys here in the stone house. I love things that last and can be loved and passed down to be loved some more.

This is an exciting day for all of us, big brother and little brother came to spend the night last night because mom and dad went to the hospital early this morning to have a baby! (ya, big brother was not wanting this Kodak moment he he)

and to add to the boy mix,we throw in a girl cousin who came to play today cuz her mom went to work....at the same hospital, where she will be one of the nurses for mom and new baby.

So while I was working on this post I got "the" call from our son. Our tiny new little granddaughter is here!!!!  Can't tell you anything more than that because they hadn't weighed her yet. Her dad said she was kinda bald tho.  ( like her Granna after her self haircut)  I always worry so much about

 both mom and baby and I'm so glad when labor and delivery is done and everyone is safe and well. I'll have to see about getting some pictures. I won't be able to go into town clear until the Mr. comes home  from work tonight and can sit with the chick-a-bees.  Welcome to the world sweet baby girl! (who is still nameless )

Blessings from the Stone House

the winner is.....

THANK-YOU RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR FOR PICKING OUR WINNING NUMBER!
the WINNER IS # 4 GAYLE! WAHOO!

Gayle said...
Mercy - What darling scarves you made - I love that pom pom fringe! So perfect for keeping warm on a cold winter day! I'd love to take part in your giveaway!
You can visit Gayle at her blog The Middle Sister, and see the many beautiful wool treasures she hooks.

Congrats to Gayle!  If you would please email me you address I'll get this little winter time giveaway in the mail to you.
THANK -YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE FOR JOINING ME FOR THE GIVE AWAY, HELPED ME GET "BACK IN THE SADDLE" OF BLOGGING AGAIN. :-)
ENJOY YOUR EVENING1


Carpe diem.......Seize The Day

Hair Cut? Whack job's more like it!

I don't think I would have made a very good Pioneer. I'm such a whiner, I'm so done with winter already! I can't imagine what it must have been like for our pioneer grandmothers and grandfathers, just to keep alive everyday. How much work just to keep warm in the winter time!  Wow. I'm so grateful for my nice warm home, an my washer and dryer, and hot water heater etc.!

Here's one of the things on my "to make or buy" list for warmer days.  Pony swings! I love them, and think we need some  (at least 2 or 3 ) for the grands. I want mine hung on a pipe swing set, with ample room in between them. Eeeeehaw! Imagine what places will be visited on the backs of these noble steads!

...and on just as light of a note,

 I cut  whacked my own hair this morning....I know my DD would have cut it for me, but the deal was, well, I couldn't wait. Oh my word! I knew I wanted it short short, like my oldest DD who is sporting a way cute faux hawk....but when I made that first snip with my scissors, uff da! Opps! What in the world had I just done to myself? It was about an inch long!  OK,  maybe an inch and a half.  lol

 I couldn't even cry about it,  cuz I knew it would do no earthly good, just got to work cutting the rest  off.  This January through March part of winter is a very dangerous time of year for me! Out with the old, in with the new! Ha. Help! I need a keeper to keep me out of trouble ! lol Bless my Daughters heart she'll get stuck cleaning up the back where I have a hard time seeing! Oh the things a beautician does to herself because she thinks she can!  There will be no forth coming photo......not for a inch or so! he he he  :-)  Truly, I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy the simpleness of it. This much I do know, it will grow!!!

This is the last day of the winter giveaway here at the Stone House. Enter if you haven't. Tomorrow  we'll have randon number do the honors.

Enjoy your Monday!

Carpe diem.......Seize The Day

Traditions



We have a couple of New Years traditions that we hold fast to. One I wanted to stop for reasons of pure laziness  er I mean  insanity  er I mean because all the children had grown up, (but the Mr. would not hear of it, stating traditions are important, and then I think he sang the tradition song from Fiddler, which you're going to be singing now lol)  At any rate you get the point!   On New Years Eve, Father Time leaves a family gift under the tree. Something simple like a game or a movie or sometimes a new dvd player. Always something that the family can enjoy together.
The other tradition is tubing/sleigh riding on New Years day, followed by a feast of Clam chowder and ham of some kind. Sometimes we go up to the mountains, and sometimes we stay closer to home. This year it was bitter cold. (BTW we here in  the Uintah Basin have been the coldest place in the US or so they said on the news..... ) anyway  we stayed  home so we could come in and warm up totally thaw out
and have hot chocolate, and hit the tubs again!  We did get FROZEN :-)


One of our neighbors gave our  teen an old snowmobile, which he and his cuz fixed up , and he has been in motorized heaven ever since. "Zooming" (because there is no other speed to a 14 yr boy) up and down the lane. My opinion? It's been sooooooo cold it's warmer to walk than ride on a "zooming" sled! LOL ANYWAY,
We pulled tubs and sleighs behind both his "sled" and the four wheeler. It was pretty fun for the bigger and fearless, and those with less sense,  while the little guys just got pretty cold.  Here it is, our teens pride an joy! Why did they make them with only one eye headlight?

  This is our son and his son. Look how red little brothers nose is!

This is our teen  and one of the twiner grands.

The other fearless twiner

Here is big brother looking cold too. His hat was knitted out of wool by his mom. Love it.

The teen trying out a "slower" version of a sled

This is Bo Dog. He's the back room lay about! He's around 16 this year, so I guess he's due.

This is big brother and I. Do I look comfortable? I was not. Couldn't do it. I needed more air in my tub or a smaller hole in the middle or..... something or rather! LOL I kept dragging my rear end , so we tried something different.

This WAS an accident waiting to happen! We were ALL tied onto the four wheeler, and I can't tell you for sure how many times we had to stop to collect someone on our mile ride. And yes, that's me sitting on my tub, and I rolled off of it as many times as the little kids did!

Here I am running to get back on. You can see how beautiful it is where we live. It was also just up the road about 20 feet that I found the cougar track.

Ahhhh! The warmth of a wood stove!

After we had eaten and warmed ourselves up, totally thawed out, we headed back outside for fireworks! We made a "valiant" effort to hoot and holler, wishing the cows and coyotes a Happy New Years Day!

Here's the best clam chowder recipe you'll ever want!

Clam Chowder................ Vern Kaaiakanamu

2 61/2 oz cans minced clams

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup diced celery

2 cups diced potatoes

3/4 cup butter (has to be butter)

3/4 cup flour

1 qt half and half, or cream

 1/2 teaspoon salt

dash pepper

Pour clam juice over vegetables, (adding enough water to "just" cover them) and simmer for 20 minutes till done. Set aside. Melt butter in heavy pan, add flour . Cook 1-2 minutes until thick. Add cream, whisk until smooth and thick. Add vegetables and clams. Do not over cook.

I mostly double this, or more depending on how many are here to eat.

This year we ate it with open faced ham on homemade bread sandwiches. Soooo heavenly

Don't forget to go here and leave me a comment to be entered in my winter give away. Monday is Jan 10Th is the deadline.

Carpe diem.......Seize The Day