the emotional life of sølje

long time, no posts! It’s been busy, my head full, and very little seems to even connect to quilting or art type stuff I normally write about. I am homeschooling again, so our days are full… but I am happy to say, the change out of public school has been a blessing. I fought it, but knew it was going to happen, and am pleasantly surprised with how it is going!

Anyway…

Every year when I polish my mom’s tea set, I wonder what the makers mark means. This comes from a bread basket dish/piece/whatever that belonged to one of my great great grandmothers. So, I google every year to see if a maker’s mark comes up that is similar, but haven’t found a match yet.

Any silver types that have an idea? I am also wondering if it really is silver, but maybe pewter. it doesn’t oxidize like the silver tea set, which makes me wonder. I think I have rubbed off the old patina that it may have come with… or maybe the silver content is so small it doesn’t oxidize? I don’t know.

Thoughts?

Tags: A Family Affair, Folesesliv av Solje, Uncategorized by Solje
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Unless someone is for certain otherwise, I am going with a Townsend’s Warbler for identification. They are pretty!

I think the birds were around all day yesterday. We must be have good enough seed to be on the permanent snacking route or something I used Kevin’s camera to try and get some better photos, and a couple did turn out ok. I tend to be shaky, so mix that in with a flitting bird and we have issues.

Kevin took the picture below. This was in the early evening and he stuck around while everyone was outside on the deck! I guess either the guy is getting too fatten up to move or he knows we are harmless. After the eating that went on earlier, I tend to think it is the first thought.

Tags: A Family Affair, Washington State by Solje
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Today was a quiet, pleasant, foggy morning. But there was a flurry of activity through the trees and the bird feeders. Though, it would appear that Daniel’s peanut butter pine cone with birdseed was a little more popular with one bird. I am not positive, but I think this might be a Goldfinch. I will have to scour bird sites and see if I can find a match. If I had Kevin’s camera, detail would have been much better, but this bugger kept flitting from one spot to another. I would have probably missed him in the process of finding him!

It’s narrowed down to a warbler. Townsend Warbler?

Tags: A Family Affair, Washington State by Solje
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First, Julie… I am so laughing right now! I JUST read your comment about suggesting a red border etc! Guess what I did?

I am thinking about adding some length to it, considering some scrappy squares or something (like a pillow tuck), and continuing the border I created today. I am liking how it is coming. The red added some excitement to it.

I am so ready for this week to be over. I am hitting my limit on parenting/ADHD issues, and learning about being badmouthed on a forum I had no clue existed (beads!) has really kept me on edge. I take things to heart and it has been hard to let it go. I would prefer people ask for clarification on my words rather than simply making presumptions. Usually when I am in the middle of a scrap, I’m at least 50% to blame–along with knowing it is going on.

My batteries need to be recharged in a bad way.

One nice spotlight was Darrin had his first haircut yesterday! Those wispy baby hairs are something else. Kev and I went back and forth about going to his barber or not, but yesterday we just decided we’d give it a try at home. Kev does Daniel’s hair, which is pretty easy, but Darrin’s being so straight–mistakes would be quickly seen! I think Kevin did a great job

Tags: A Family Affair, Quilting by Solje
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ok, so it wasn’t muddy water. Had Kevin chosen to be baptized during the summer, perhaps so since our church goes to the lake for baptisms. Instead, it was in a hot tub My sister and her family came for the event, and Kevin’s testimony was beautiful.

So, I was wondering offhandedly if there is a bachelor party the night before a wedding, what is there pre-baptism? anyway… Kevin’s testimony had the inclusion of our son (who had been asking a lot of questions regarding God, Jesus, and everything in between) who basically led us back into the church, and Pastor John Czech had a nice statement (”out of the mouths of babes”) thanking Daniel (who, in front of a few hundred people, replied, “you’re welcome”) for leading us there. It was a journey for us, and the time was right to seek spiritual guidance.

Friends of ours had been attending this church for a few years, and had on occasion suggest visiting. They had checked out other churches in our area (I think eight?), and found this one on a whim after being discouraged on not finding a right fit. I’m glad they laid out the ground work, we are hooked

We had lunch afterward with friends and family and had a great time.

Love this song (not too mention I have a crush on Trace Adkins)…

Tags: A Family Affair by Solje
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I have purchased the Swarovski annual ornament every year since Kevin and I married. Maybe I should have staged the ornaments better for the photo, but I was finishing up putting away the stars and snowflakes and decided to snap a shot anyway.

Starting with 1996-2006 along the long row, 2007/08 at the top.

Swarovski creates stars on odd years, snowflakes on even years.

Tags: A Family Affair by Solje
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Bonnie’s eyes are smiling!

A snail in the mouth… kind of an odd shot

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We went to the South 47 Farm today to pick our pumpkins. Every year more and more people show up. I guess its good for the farm, but it was once less crowded for our own convenience. I checked out the produce, but for the most part our weekly CSA share has everything we need. I had briefly thought of getting some pumpkins for making a pie (winter something pumpkin? can’t remember the name… seems like “silky” was in the name), but when it came time to buy our pumpkins, Darrin was grumpy that we weren’t letting him push the “pumpkin barrow” around (sorry guy in front of us who’s heels we clipped… oops), so I let Kev do the deed and I took the boys over to see the animals.

Like last year, the weather was perfect. Sunny and blue skies. We definitely chose the right weekend! Daniel is going to be Harry Potter for Halloween. We bought the costume stuff yesterday, and today he wore his glasses to the pumpkin farm… Can’t wait until he’s 20 and I can say, “Remember when you wore HP glasses to the pumpkin farm?”. He’ll love me for it.

Tags: A Family Affair by Solje
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Daniel’s 1st day of 3rd grade. Do you think he’ll let me do this through 12th grade? I have high hopes for a successful year.

Tags: A Family Affair by Solje
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Kevin worked on the deck railing this weekend. He is now to the far end of the deck railing-wise so he has to start thinking about what he is going to do for posts (that side did not have any posts dug on the outside of the deck area). The lattice skirting needs to also be finished when the posts are done, and then he’ll be able to get back to the railing part. I like how the arbor is coming together! On either side of the part that is up will be another arbor section that is a step down in height. That will probably be next weekend’s project. Also I think we’ve decided on doing some firing strips between the top and bottom boards of the railing. We were thinking more lattice, but have decided against that. I’ll be painting when the project is done (or close to it, depending on how the other end of the deck’s railing goes).

And my poor Bonnie. She has a growth on her chest just after her front legs that is about in the middle of where her rib cage meets. When I called to make an appointment last Thursday, my hand could easily cup it (just smaller than baseball sized). It has since grown and I don’t think it’s looking good. We’ll see what a biopsy says.

Tags: A Family Affair by Solje
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I lost something in the resizing, clicking through will take you to the photo’s home. This was our weekend project=power washing the deck and the start of our deck railing (the part not yet painted). Kev decided on a Sunday afternoon about four/five years ago to start ripping up the old decking. It took about three years to put down the composite decking, and about two years for the railing. Now that Darrin is walking (running!), it’s time to make sure he doesn’t take a header off of the deck (or, more like making sure MOM doesn’t take a header off the deck!). The power washing really took the grime and slime off, and now it looks almost like new again. I am planning to do some planting around the deck, thinking about a Primrose Lilac (which is yellow). I have a lilac that my mom gave me about 8yrs ago next to the stairs of the deck. I transplanted it there this spring and it seems to like it’s new location as the growth has come on. I am sure it will get huge, and we are ok with that (privacy).

So, one half done, another to go. Kevin is brainstorming a gate at the stairs.

I like how my tomatoes are looking so happy, and the blooms on Joseph’s Coat have opened up with many colors That name on the bottle of wine is about how I felt after I finally got it uncapped. It wasn’t even corked, and twisting it was impossible because of the thickness of the cap’s metal. Sheesh. It is tasty. A glass and a half was about it for me.

On the power washing… Kevin and I decided that we didn’t notice how hot it was over the last two days because of power washing the deck. The water did feel good!

Tonight we bbq’d some country pork ribs marinated in Bernstein’s Balsamic Vinegar and Garlic (I think was the name) salad dressing, along with some yellow and white corn and salad. Daniel thought there was something wrong with the corn with the different colored kernels

Tags: A Family Affair by Solje
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I am so excited to see flowers emerging on my tomato plants! I couldn’t get the heirloom tomato seeds to germinate this year, and on a whim, the boys and I went to Molbaks to pick up a couple of plants. We were in luck that there were two Charlie-Brown-Christmas-tree-type tomato plants left. We planted them, and Darrin and I have been touching (gently) the leaves every time we are on the deck. I tell Darrin to talk nicely to the tomato plants so that it could bring us lots of tomatoes (in a sing-song way. We are goofy). I am positive the tomato plants are growing well because we sing to them

Joseph’s Coat can be dramatic. I need to really trim it back this fall/winter and take care of it. I have neglected it, and it didn’t like the old location so this spring I moved it. The rose seems to enjoy its new location and has been giving me new growth and flowers. I really don’t know how to take care of climbing roses, so I ought to read up because obviously I haven’t been taking care of it right. It should be bushy

Here’s my weed watcher, Bonnie. She isn’t very happy with the new transplantings I have done in front of our deck this year, it has displaced her old sleeping locations

Its a good thing I don’t do advertising for a career, because the product placement obviously wouldn’t have worked for the advertiser in this pic Happy Birthday, Kevin! We enjoyed yummy rib steaks from our recent steer purchase, along with grilled corn on the cob, finished up with German Chocolate cake and Baskin-Robbin’s Rocky Road ice cream. The cake was a fiddly recipe, but it turned out really well. I have had some years where it was pretty questionable… but Kev would eat it with a smile. This year I think we’ll freeze most of the cake and enjoy it later through the year. It is a large cake and we are both doing well with our diet/exercising right now.

Tags: A Family Affair by Solje
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I have been trying to convince Kevin that we should get some chickens… not a big flock, just 3 or 4 hens. And surprise! On King5’s noon news, they did a blurb about urban chickens! I had to call Kev about it, and he said that they were just talking about this at work… and he mentioned my chicken desires! LOL! I call this synergy!

And… then I see Seattle Tilth is doing a COOP TOUR THIS WEEKEND! I really think the forces are in my favor for starting my own flock of city chicks in Bothell. So with this, I have to also do a blurb about one of my favorite blogs I enjoy: (not so) Urban Hennery

Now I need to find a cute chicken picture to add to this blog…

This really old chicken UFO quilt top should work Until I get my real hens

Tags: A Family Affair, Quilting by Solje
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The SeaFair Pirates typically show up at our Bothell 4th of July Parade… and this year was just as exciting with them Daniel was even given a pirate’s coin! I told him to watch out for those surly characters… that he might get stolen and made to swab the deck

Unfortunately I took the video when they were further down the route, so they aren’t as clear. There are pirates on the ship, and of course land roving pirates… but the boom wasn’t missed in the video! I think their “ship” is named the Moby Duck.

Tags: A Family Affair by Solje
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Darrin with his first Webkinz. I let the boys pick out a Webkinz today on the way to pick up our weekly produce box. Darrin hasn’t let his puppy go since picking him out.

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