Just a quick note

Just wanted to brag on my SW Engineer son, Josh, for making me the Air Force Mom pic over on my sidebar. Great job, kiddo, I love it!

Busy, busy time

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms and grandmas out there! My wonderful Air Force son, Peter sent me these beautiful flowers for Mother's Day. And then in yesterday's mail I got two cards from him and from the Utah grands, Paris and Annalynn. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family! I hope all you mom's out there have a wonderful day today.

Now that spring is officially here with warm weather and rain, things have been really busy around here! We have planted over 50 trees, several bushes, some flowers and have tilled up a new garden area. We already have a veggie garden but we want to plant ornamental corn, sunflowers and tobacco this year and I didn't want that in with my veggies. We have the new area tilled and post holes dug for the fence, just need to get it fenced in--need to keep out those pesky groundhogs--and get it planted. As for the veggie garden, the strawberries are blooming and I'll be picking rhubarb today. Several varieties of tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, onions, melons, zuchs and cukes will be going in soon. And I'm going to try my hand at butternut squash this year. I have a wonderful butternut squash soup recipe I got from a friend. Butternut Squash Soup

It is supposed to get pretty chilly the next couple of nights so thought I'd wait till it warms up just a tad bit more before setting out the plants.

I've also been renovating and clearing out the flower beds. We have a lot on shade on our property so I'm slowly starting several different shade gardens. I have one full of hostas, astilbes and ferns and one with lots and lots of columbine. I plan on posting pics as I go along. This year I bought about a dozen different perennials to replace some that were lost over the winter and to add to the garden.

We have had a couple of rainy days which meant I got to stay inside and sew! These are the 9 patches I've been working on for the one a day quilt along that

Crazy Mom Quilts is doing. I'm doing them all in pinks and purples. I have a ton of FQs in those colors.

And I've been working on DDIL Andrea's Lone Star quilt. Here's half of the star done. I'm using Jo Parrot's book, "Template Free Stars" and so far it's been pretty easy.

I have the other half completed just need to sew the halves together and do the inset squares and triangles. That's going to be the nerve wracking part. I had a friend who did a very small 8 pointed star and when she added the set in squares and triangles her whole top bowed up in the middle. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that doesn't happen here. A queen sized quilt bowed in the middle would NOT be a pretty sight!

That's pretty much what I've been up to this week.

Till next time......

Diet and Exercise

Since October I've been working really hard to lose weight. I developed "runner's knee" last summer and the amazing thing is a runner I am not! Unless of course you count running between the ironing board and my sewing machine. Uh, there's about a foot of space between them. Anyway, I went to the doctor, he prescribed meds, sent me to PT and I was to use a cane. PT did wonders and my wonderful therapist didn't even suggest I lose weight to help the knee. But everyone knows the more weight you carry the harder it is on the joints so I started dieting. I am a Weight Watchers alumni (became a life time member back in the late 80's) but as you've probably guessed by now, I sort of fell off the eat right wagon. But I did go back to what I had learned in WW, and that meant writing everything down, counting and measuring. I also started exercising. My routine now consists of yoga and walking. I do two different yoga programs. One is Kurt Johnsen's Yoga for Life on the Veria channel and the other one is Deni Preston's Total Body Workout on the BYU channel. I have been doing yoga for about a year and a half now and love it! Not only for a firmer and more limber body but I also needed to improve my balance. Don't want to be one of the those little old ladies who fall and break a hip. Both programs are great and focus on different things depending on the day. On the days I don't yoga I walk using one of Leslie Sansone's programs. We can get them on demand through FIT tv for free. Right now I'm doing her Heart Association's Start Walking 3 mile program. I get too bored just out walking around the neighborhood. Leslie keeps things interesting and although I've seen the show a lot of times I never get bored with her. So anyway, since October I've lost 50 pounds! I got out clothes for this summer I hadn't been able to get into for ever. And I also have noticed when I grocery shop I am now shopping the outer fringes of the store. Lots of fresh fruits and veggies and very little processed foods. I'm also experimenting with new things I've never tried before. And with that said here's a great no bake granola bar recipe using agave syrup (something new I discovered). NO BAKE GRANOLA BARS 2 1/2 cups crisp rice cereal 2 cups uncooked quick oats 1/2 cup yellow raisins 1/2 cup brown sugar substitute 1/2 cup agave syrup 1/2 cup peanut butter 1 tsp vanilla 2 tsp cinnamon In large bowl mix cereal, oats and raisins. Bring brown sugar substitute and agave to a boil stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter, vanilla and cinnamon. Pour over ceral mixture, stir till coated. Press into a 13x9 inch pan and cool. Cut into 16 bars. 140 cal. each. till next time.....