Life in the Bristolwood

I thought I would share some more cute pics from Murphy’s big day. After all, it isn’t every day that a wee laddie marks a big day like his first!

This picture so exemplifies Murphy….”Mum, can I have a cookie?” Oh, and Angus? How did he feel at the advent of this momentous occasion?

Yup…he stayed on Mark’s leg…wearing his little birthday hat…showing no emotion. (can you say SO Scottie!!!!!! What a Scottietude!!!!) But, beware, when I opened the “special” packet of birthday food, IE, Three Dog Bakery’s Special Chicken, Veggies, and Rice Entree, little Angus could be seen *sitting pretty*…….and, yes, I split the packet two ways. The boys loved it!

We are so proud of both of our little Bristolwood Scotties. Even though they will never set foot in a show ring, they are our little champions, giveng far, far more than they ever ask…..

All righty…WHAT can cause a normal family to get a bit *crazy*? Well, in this family, the answer is…a celebration!!! And, because life is short and celebrations few, we choose to celebrate our Scotties’ birthdays! Yup. Pretty cool, eh?

This is our little birthday boy, er…pup….Murphy, getting a “cookie” for being such a sweet little fellow! Today, he turned one year old, crossing the threshold of puppyhood to that of a bonafide “dog”. Of course, we will never think of him as such…he is our little “boy”. (in a dog suit!)

Today’s tasks included picking up a birthday cake, ice cream, flowers, balloons, doggie cookies, and even a few little party favors from the Dollar Tree! And yes, Murphy’s name was on the birthday cake…even though he only got a wee taste of frosting. He did get a small portion of vanilla ice cream with a Three Dog Bakery Peanut Woofer.

And, yes, we did indeed sit in the dark with our “glowing” glasses from the Dollar Tree, singing choruses of “Happy Birthday” to our little fellow! As I said, we are your average run-of-the-mill family!!! hehehe This is the kids….with Murphy wearing the blue “collar” and Angus the green…

Happy Birthday, our little Murph….and many, many more!

Well, I do have a dream, and many people think I am too silly.

You see, my dream is to live in a tiny little house with a very big barn. The barn would be large enough to be divided into many different areas. There would be a place where Mark could work on the vehicles, teaching Ben how to do oil changes, brake jobs, and all the things a young boy would want to learn about. There would be a specific area where Mark could do woodworking.
I would also have areas…soapmaking, sewing, and a craft area. The whole idea of this “dream” is that we could leave the messes behind and not have to clean up like you do when you make a terrible mess in the house. It would not be so critical!

I have had this dream for quite some time. I guess the reason is because I want my home to be picture perfecct! I grow so weary of cleaning and REcleaning over and over and over again to no avail. It would be so perfect to be able to sprawl out and work on a project and not have to figure in the time it takes to clean up afterward. And, just like a regular job, we could go to the barn to accomplish the tasks we have planned for the day. And, my tiny house would remain clean and beautiful…..

There are times when I think I cannot continue breathing….those times when I feel so very overwhelmed and sure that I cannot continue on.

Then, I suddenly become aware of the beauty that surrounds me. Beauty that I neither created, nor had any part in creating. And then, I am in awe of the One who loves me…..

And I fall to my knees and thank Him for giving me a taste of this great big beautiful world that was put here, not for His own pleasure, but that we might enjoy!

And then, once again, I can breathe. And, I say a prayer of thanksgiving…..

One of our neighbors has a “bit” of damage to the deck on their house….Seems they had one of those BIG “globe” looking bee….wasp….whatever nests under the deck. Well, yesterday, a hole appeared in the deck. There were big splinters of wood strewn on top of the deck, while remains of the nest are on both the ground below, as well as on the deck itself. Upon inspection, the son found black bear tracks in the woods above the house. In looking closely at the hole in the deck, one can actually see some “claw” marks on the wood. Seems the bear found the nest and decided he was hungry YIKES! That caused a bit of a stir in the Bristolwood today, but we knew there were bears about. Another neighbor had called while we were away to warn us that a *visitor* had left their premises and was headed our way. Seems it liked the seed in their bird feeder.

Today, I dragged out my Grape Aran Pullover sweater front that I had knitted a couple of years ago. I misplaced or outright lost the pattern shortly after finishing the front. I have torn the house apart, looking for the pattern, all to no avail. And so, with a fluttering heart, I have resigned myself to the fact that as soon as I find another pattern that I love, I will begin “ripping” my sweater front out. That sounds so awful, doesn’t it?

This pattern is so lovely. It had lace, twisted cables with a bauble in the center, a pretty 3-D grape pattern in the center, then more lace, etc..

This picture shows a closeup of the lace pattern, cable with bauble, and the grapes. It also gives a more true representation of the purple heather color of the yarn. I have not knit since this project. My poor heart was kind of broken by losing the pattern, but I think I shall survive!!! I have a couple of books with lots of Alice Starmore patterns, so I am confident I will find something I love again. It will be good to take up needles and yarn again, as my sweater inventory is getting rather depleted! I love sweaters, wearing them all winter long. The past couple of nights have warranted donning a sweater, and there is just something so comforting about putting on a warm and cozy garment! Perhaps the sad experience of having to take this sweater apart will be the impetus needed to get me knitting once again.

Several years ago, I was pretty good with my Minolta 35mm camera. With the arrival of the digital cameras on the scene, I felt totally lost. To begin with, my computer skills are sorely lacking…I watch Mark use the camera with no problems nor great thought. Me, on the other hand, YIKES! I need to think, rethink, and then think all over again. The difference between Mark’s comfortable intuition and my total ineptness!!!

I have been bound and determined to conquer the camera. I downloaded the manual onto my laptop, so I can read when I am faced with a new challenge! I took a few pictures today. I was so excited to discover that I can get about 1″ away from an object with the “Super Macro setting”! Cool, eh? So, here is the center of a coneflower!

This picture was the result of playing with the “saturation” setting. I was so happy with how it turned out. The color was quite lifelike after I set the setting *way* up!

This was a “weed” I found in a neighbor’s yard. I love that color once again turned out so perfect. It was really difficult taking this picture, because the wind kept the little subject swaying back and forth..

Well, I (obviously) need more instruction with my little camera, but thought I would share a few pictures anyway.

Ok, well, I finally signed up, I am now ‘officially’ a blogger *dances around and throws confetti*.
So what will be next? Well, you’ll just have to stay tuned to find out…

Much Luvs~Shell

What a shock I got when I was awakened at about 4:30 this morning…. See cute little Murphy?
He sure is a cutie, isn’t he?

We love our little Murphy all to pieces. I have made it a point to give Murphy a raw bone about once a week as this is an excellent source for keeping sparkling clean teeth. (King Angus has never been a bone-chewer….he HIDES bones, never to retrieve them again!)

Apparently, last night when I lifted Murphy onto the bed to sleep, he was hiding his highly-prized (albeit greatly reduced from the size in which it was given to him!) treasure in his mouth….I was so exhausted, I never even heard Murphy chewing on the bone! However, when I was awakened at 4:30, I felt the bone!!!!

Can you imagine little pieces of bone “crumbs” under your body? I felt thousands of tiny little shards poking into various parts of my body. I brushed some onto the floor, but as I brushed, it seemed like these annoying little buggers were multiplying!!!

Ah, well. The bedding, including comforter are all in the wash, even as I write. And Murph? Well, does this look like a face that would EVER want to hurt anyone???? Nah!

Blogging has become so much fun that I have begun to cherish these few minutes I have to myself to share a bit of my beloved Bristolwood! In the process, I have marveled at the beauty of some of the pictures I have seen others take as I look at their blogs. So, late last night, I went to Olympus.com and downloaded the manual for my camera. I have saved it to my desktop, so now I can look up info whenever I need to! (my camera didn’t come with the complete manual…all 268 pages!)

I have now decided that perhaps my photos have been looking a bit faded and washed out. I read through part of the manual, learning about sharpness, contrast, and saturation and how to adjust the settings using the (gadzillion) buttons, bells, and whistles! Since I am a “hands on” type of learner, I have been *quizzing* myself…setting and resetting the controls! I didn’t actually take many pictures as I was TRYING to make the changes in the settings become more “intuitive”. Short of a brain transplant, I may not be able to retain all that I learn…I am so in awe of how Mark can read through an instuction manual and just do things. And, that is WHY he is a mechanical engineer who frequently inquires of me how to spell some of the simplest words!!
I spent every spare moment with my camera today, and I think I may be understanding it. Or, beginning to! I did a “retake” of the solar lamp, toad house, and coneflowers, and compared to the photo from a couple days ago, I think it is a much better exposure!

I completely forgot to finish my Scottie soap mold; I guess tomorrow is another day! Thankfully, I DID remember to fix dinner. It was tough, but I did do it!!!

This is my “science diet”, because I really do have it down to a science! Takes about 45 minutes.

• I preheat the grill
• As grill preheats, I rush inside and cut a hunk off a head of cabbage. Then, grate the cabbage and carrots. (using large grater for capusta (cabbage) and smaller one for carrots)
• The above takes about 5 minutes…at this point, put marinated (all day in fridge) chicken on grill on “high”.
• Run back into house and make the dressing for coleslaw.
• Add dressing to slaw, then refrigerate. No need for plastic wrap….it needs to only chill
• Run to the basement and grab that 5 pound bag of Bird’s Eye green beans from Sam’s. Take upstairs. Heat 1/2 stick of butter in 2 quart saucepan (I use Revere Ware) and then add garlic, or (if out of garlic) garlic powder. As soon as butter is melted and garlic stirred in, add green beans to pan, filling completely. Leave covered on stove on low until chicken is ready.
• Turn chicken down to “low” setting and go sit for awhile!
• When chicken is no longer pink, grab off grill onto serving plate, put beans in serving bowl, and grab coleslaw from fridge.
• Watch everyone’s face light up!!!!

While I was sposed to be “sitting”, as noted above, I enjoyed my (prolific) cherry tomato plant. I love that plant, but hardly any of its offerings have made it past the porch. I grab them and eat them as they ripen!!! I have shared (a few) with Mark….

This was one of those days that I did a lot of things but have nothing to show for all of the effort! When I got up this morning, I began thinking that I had wanted to make a soap mold of a Scottie head. (heaven forbid the day I discovered Ooomoo….) Poor Mark thinks I have kinda lost my bearings sometimes, but I just love makin’ things! Here is a picture of three soaps I have made from my own molds already.

(note to self) Do NOT photograph light colored soaps on a WHITE towel!!! The soap on the left is a “Scottie Angel”. I usually pour up one of these whenever I make a batch of soap. I made this mold when Ruth (whom I wrote about previously when she lost two Scotties in less than a week) lost her Seamus last year. The center soap is a lime soap with a cameo of a Ceskie Terrier. I still have hopes of one day owning one of these dogs. They are very similar to a Scottie, but generally more laid-back. And, the soap on the right is a mold I made of a Scottie head that is one BIG chunk of a soap! The two Scottie soaps were actually rectangles that I used a knife to cut the angles on the bars. I really like the way they turned out. They are supposed to be Lavender Swirl bars, but came out more like “Lavender Marble”!

So, this morning I sat down with my Sculpey clay and began playing. When the family got up, I had to put my clay aside…

We took the truck into the garage for a diagnosis and estimate. While they took a look at the truck, we went to the bank, then drove a few miles up the road to grab Chinese for lunch. We got a call from the service people…the truck looks like it needs some big $$$ repairs. We picked up the truck and drove it home, giving it a good and thorough cleaning up. Mark got online and found that he could do the repairs himself for a fraction of the price. What to do, what to do???

Ben called a little friend, and he came over for a visit. The two boys played in the pool and Ben and I killed about 16 horseflies! Those big old flies come around every year about this time, dive bombing anyone in the pool and making everyone shudder at the thought of one of them landing on them! They are so big and gross!!!! After the pool, the boys warmed themselves back up in the hot tub.

Like I said, busy day, but nothing to show! Well, OK, the truck looks like new and is sparkling in the driveway! In the midst of all the busy-ness, I also washed, folded, and put away a couple of loads of laundry. And, got a terrible tension headache! Thank heavens the Chinese restaurant always gives enough food for a couple of meals. I was too tired to cook!

Hopefully, I will be able to finish up my Scottie head tomorrow so I can make another Oomoo mold. Does anyone have any idea WHY I keep making MORE projects for myself?