LOVE Sling

My sister requested a new purse recently and being she now has 2 kids and her hands full she wanted a hands free bag. I of course had to use Amy Butler's new LOVE fabrics because she needs the latest trends ya know! I made the bag nice and roomy, added a long sling strap attached with funky metal rings. She loves hers. I recently added 2 new sling bags into my Etsy shoppe as well. And I think I'll need to be making one for myself as well.

Food Inc.

Last night I finally got around to watching Food Inc. I was happy also that my lil' sis was here visiting so that she also got to watch this movie. I wasn't taken by surprise, I always try to keep pretty up-to-date with all the "real going ons" in this country of ours. So even though this movie did not surprise me, it was still very disturbing. As some of you already know I'm almost 4 months deep into my total detoxification/elimination diet (recommended by my doctor to combat some rapidly increasing thyroid disfunction). I have cleansed my body from all artificial and processed junk. I have never felt better than I do right now. From this experience I have found thus far that I am indeed allergic to corn, in all shapes and forms, even organic grown corn. I'm still in the testing stages for various allergens but most of the big ones have already been tested. My sister has first handedly seen my rapid weight loss, my abundant increase in energy, and my zeal to get out there and be healthy. She has contemplated doing my 'diet plan' but thought it was a bit out of touch for her. After seeing Food Inc. last night I think she was enlightened. She recently switched jobs from working at a local meat market. She would be aware of the deliveries and also how to make various meat related products, but until last night she never comprehended what a 'big-business' agriculture has become in the US. She was shocked to see all those pigs and cows in their processing lines and then realize that various sections of that mass slaughter ended up right in the small town of Montgomery, MN. She didn't recognize the label on the deliveries as one of the 4 top meat companies in the US. She was under the assumption (as was I) that local meat markets got their meat from semi-local farms, probably within the state. So not true! And the whole issue of corn fed this and that, whoa. Next time I butcher I'm gonna be darn sure I know where my beef was raised and what it was fed. In fact I'm going to send my hubby out there to verify the farmer's claims! I recommend everyone to take the time to rent this hour and a half long informational dvd. Together we can change where we get our food. Send Big Agriculture a message! The same goes for politics. You don't like something, let your voice be heard! We cannot all be ignorant and tolerant. That is not how our great USA was intended to be.

title?

It's finally a warmish day here in MN and no rain in the forecast! Yippee! Quick finishing up a couple things around the house, birthday dinner stuff for the hubby, etc. and then my son Jordan and I are hitting the pavement with our runnin' shoes on.

I did a bit of sewing earlier this week, amazing I know! and I even got 5 new things put into my Etsy shoppe. Wish I could keep up with all on my plate.

Fun in Albert Lea, Minnesota.

Last weekend the kids and I spent some time with a friend of mine from college and her 3 kids down in Albert Lea. The weather wasn't the worst, compared to what we've been having up here in MN. Saturday afternoon we took the kiddos to a local pumpkin patch and played the games they had set up out there.




Adria had lots of fun with her girl-friend! Back at home it's mostly boys in our neighborhood.





There were some walking trails too so we took full advantage of them...anything to try and burn off some the kids' energy!

Lunch w. Great Grandpa

About 3 weeks ago my grandpa (74 & my dad's dad) suffered another small-ish stroke that sent his blood pressure into the ground. He spent a week or so in the hospital and then we realized that the nursing home was inevitable. He's a very tall man and hard to move from place to place and he was not stable on his feet anymore. He's been living next door to us for about the past 4 years with my grandma (his ex) (loooong story!) ever since he started having these mini strokes. My aunt lives in the basement and was his sole caretaker for the past 4 years. My kids are so fortunate to have a great-grandpa that is still with us and that they will remember. We try to stop in daily or at least every other day to drop by for a visit with him. His mind is completely intact which is a huge blessing. The picture above I snapped after the kids had finished their brown bag lunch while 'papa' ate his lunch. The kids thought it was cool to eat lunch there.

sweetness

Just playing around here with some photo editing techniques. Wow, these photo programs are SO complex. I really need to find a class to take. It's kind of a bummer that I live over an hour away from the Twin Cities and running back and forth with my already crazy lifestyle is just not going to happen. Enough of my whining! In this picture I played around with canvas texture and also depth of field. Am I on the right track, anybody? I am grateful to have such an adorable subject to work on! And I am missing him so much!

A snowy rendevouz!

So, on the snowiest day (Oct. 12) I decided we must do a dogwood run! Hey, harvesting in the snow beats rain right? We've had lots of wet gloomy days around here. I hear its the latest Midwest trend. The kids had fun frolicking about in the fresh dusting of whiteness while I trimmed and pruned everything I could find with pretty red branches. I spent today plucking off the dried leaves and arranging them into pleasant little bundles to sell at my booth at the Buffalo Nickel. The kids thought it was pretty cool to have the van full of 'forest' as the little guy put it!

snow...

I've lived in Minnesota all my life and to my recollection I don't ever remember this much snow so early in our fall. I always have the leaves raked up before the snow falls. This year most of the leaves are still on the trees. I do pray this isn't an indication as to the kind of winter that is ahead of us. This is the 2nd time this October we've been graced with this white fluffiness. Maybe we'll be lucky and it will skip us then in December(?)

my sweet nephew

Here is the newest addition to my younger sister's clan~Gregory Robert. Named after 2 very special in their lives that are no longer with us... He is just the most perfect thing! I truly wished I lived closer than 2 hours away but despite the distance I've made 2 trips to see him in his first week of life. He reminds me so much of what my little Nathan looked like at this age. I've got quite a few family members pushing me to go for No. 4, but in all honesty I don't see that happening. I am enjoying my "baby time" with all my little nieces and nephews. When that comes to an end, we'll see!

Other than the new cutie pie I'm keeping ultra busy working on projects for Jordan's Cub Scout Pack Meeting in October. I am on the party committee and I think this year is going to be the best ever. My aunt has graciously helped me paint up 6 huge Halloween banners to aid us in decorating the gymnasium. We've got flying withches, pumpkin headed scarecrows, spooky trees and bats, I really should get some photos snapped up of them and share them here on the blog. They are incredible. We're going to have game stations set up for the kiddos. Aunt Susie and I will be manning the face painting table. As much fun as its been preparing for this party I will be SO happy when its all said and done!

slacker...

I'm sorry I've been a blog slacker lately. We're still settling into our new fall routines. Homeschooling the little ones takes up plenty of my day, but even though its a huge committment it still is what feels right. And I figured I would update, for those of you who are interested, in my elimination/detox diet program. I'm 2 months into it now and feel better than ever. I've even started running! I've never been a runner. The most I've run thus far is 3 miles without stopping. I still am amazed by what turns my life & health has taken in 2 little months. I've now hit the 30 pounds lost mark in just 2 months. No more shopping in the plus-sized section! I hope to have more time to create/sew and blog this winter once the weather inhibits my outdoor activities, but until then I'm hoping to ride this out to the end.

Later Friends, Deanna

Foto Find Friday (Eyes)

Alright, I'm all caught up with themes I think! This picture I snapped today as my little guy was Mr. Grumpy. He was upset because he could not find his special black striped softball. I love his scrunchie brows! For more Eyes themed photos visit Angie's blog and follow Mr. Linky to the other participants blogs.

Foto Find Friday (last weeks theme)

I'm a bit behind on Foto Friday Themes but I still wanted to share this picture with you. The theme for last week was color. One morning I walked outside and noticed that my Limelight Hydrangea was starting to turn pinkish in color. A sure sign that fall is on it's way. Now I'm off to capture a photo for this weeks theme: eyes... Be sure to follow this link to see Angie's Blog all the other participants great photos!

Foto Find Friday

Angie recently started up a Foto Find Friday on her blog AngelicaGraceDesigns and I thought it would be fun to participate and also something different to blog about. Every Friday a new theme will be set in place. Our first theme was flowers. Easy enough for me! I had taken this photo about 2 months ago in my aunt's gardens. It was the very first flower to really come to life in her gardens this summer. I love the intensity of the orange popping against the black and white background. To see other participants' entries just click on Angie's photo at the top of this post and you'll be taken to where you need to be!

baby girl is 10!

Yesterday was my baby girl's 10th birthday. It was all about her. For lunch I treated her and the boys to a lunch at Dairy Queen including Tagalong Blizzards too. As I'm still on this body detoxification diet it was hard to sit there and watch them enjoy their treats. But this diet has not been all bad, today I hit the 10 pounds lost mark. Not too shabby for only 2.5 weeks. Back to Adria...We spent her day playing sports outside with some neighbor kids and then later in the afternoon the UPS man brought our homeschool books for the upcoming school year. She was more interested in that than continuing her baseball game so her and I went into the house and sorted out the books. She was so excited about her grown-up looking books! Daddy came home from work early which meant we could also go out for supper. Her pick was a fantastic little Chinese place in Buffalo. This time I could eat with the fam, white rice only though! After we got back home we jumped on the bikes and went for a 6 mile bike ride around the lake in town. And after that..company came over for cake and ice cream and they brought lots of presents with them too. And much later, while the boys were playing game cube, she came and snuggled up with me in bed and we watched tv. I think she had a good day. ;)

The kids...

Here's a continuation of the shoot I did with the kids last week. I really like the picture above. To me it reflects their interaction together and their energy. (Their ever abundant supply of energy I might add!)




This picture with the piggies reminds me of their neediness and innocence. And how I wish they would always remain this way.



I adore this picture of Adria and Jordan together. They have always been the best of friends and they rarely ever fight. Maybe 1 squabble in a months time. They truly are inseperable. It probably helps that they are only 20 months apart in age and basically grew up together, like twins would.



And who can resist a funny face shot. Problem is though with my little one, that he seems to do the funny faces in ALL the pictures!