Sometimes gifts are a little late.  Noel is a month old.  I just finished this little outfit and sent it on it's way.  Little by little the project was accomplished.

 I was sitting in the library at a school waiting for my next character education class to start when a young man came into the library to talk to the librarian.  They were standing nearby watching as I worked on another small crochet hat.  The librarian again said, "What you working on now, Mary Beth.  Everytime it's different."  The young man said that his wife likes to work on stuff like that too, but doesn't have the time right now with kids and all.  I stopped and looked at him and said, "She should not stop doing what she loves.  Tell her to keep at it."  I proceeded to tell him that I kept right on crocheting even when three babies were in diapers.  I couldn't work on projects for long periods of time then, but bit by bit and row by row they were accomplished. 

I still can't seem to spend a huge block of time on any given project-even with an empty nest.  Here are some of the things I've learned about about being creative on a busy schedule:

1. Keep most projects small.  If they are too big, they may be overwhelming.  My big projects tend to  get shoved onto a closet shelf and not worked on for a long time. 
2. Make them mobile.  Put them in a tote or bag.  Sometimes they are  small enought to slip into a purse.  Try to have them handy.  Even time riding in a car or waiting in a office is a perfect time to work.
3. A little bit every day gets the project accomplished, but if nothing is done on it today, there is something to look forward to tomorrow.  Don't get  discouraged.  I know a lady that picked up  her cross stitch project after leaving it lay for 10 years!  She's at it again.  :)
4. Be able to put the project down immediately.  (Husband is more important than the project.  So are children.)  This can be a hard one for me, but I realize my obsession with getting something finished can turn out to have serious consequences.  
5. Don't  be overloaded with projects.  Do one at a time.  Keep a notebook of ideas for "other" projects to get to.  It's just an idea page and doesn't have to cause hang ups.  

I'm hoping that the man in the library talked to his wife about her desire to create and encouraged her develop her talents.  Maybe when she is older she can say, "I do know how to do that" instead of "I wish I could have," or "I wish I would have."

Giving of time and talents are part of generosity and can be used throughout a lifetime.

Brushing horses is a task that has to be done.  Parts of this job are enjoyable like being outside and working with the horses and taking time to ride, but brushing at this time of year has it's drawbacks. Three things have helped me make spring time and horses more manageable.

1. Which way is the wind blowing? 
I've been very careful lately to stay out of the unhealthy dust clouds.  These silly horses love to roll and with that comes dust and lots of caked on mud.  Now that the horses are shedding, flying hair is another constant when brushing.  Observing wind direction and facing down wind keeps dust particles and horse hair out of the face.  Love those breezes.

2.  What do I wear?
There are days I could kick myself for wearing "sticky" clothing to the barn.  I find certain materials do collect horse hair.  I avoid them in the spring. Turtle necks, Hoodies, sweaters, sweat pants, mittens, or jersey gloves are not advisable wear when brushing.  Wearing jeans and a light wind breaker and leather gloves seem to keep horse hair from sticking.  I want to say being down wind would keep hair off my clothes too, but being around horses is a "contact sport" for me. 

3.  How to end on a good note?
Brushing horses in the spring is a lot of work and it's so good to have help.  Having guests come ride is the same as help for me. Over and over I ask for the brushes to be cleaned before being put away.  I show how to use the mane and tail comb to clean off the hair, or how to use the heel of the boot to help bang it off, but inevitably there will be brushes still filled with hair.  I'm learning to be quick to catch the brushes before the help/guests start riding their horses.  I like to start the next day on a good note - clean brushes. 

I'll keep brushing.  Soon summer will be here and horse coats will be sleek and shiny.

I went to cdbaby and uploaded the artwork and song, "I Know a Lumberjack"  It is now available for digital download.  Hey.  At least it's "out there" instead of sitting around.  Hopefully music teachers will find it and want to use it in their classes.  The kids love to sing it.  Check it out at: http://cdbaby.com/cd/marybethbrace13
It's something new.  
Now on to another project.
 

Things have been clicking right along here at the Brace home.  The kids are off again to their own endeavors and it is quiet here...except for Julietti (Yetti for short)  barking once in awhile.  Sometimes her sister Muna comes to visit.  Muna is much more of a barker than Yetti.  Muna's owner, Kimmie, is now living in the area permanently.  We are glad when she brings over Muna...to play with Yetti.  We put them in the closed in yard out back.  They rustle and tustle for a good long time. It's fun to watch them.  It's part of our entertainment. 

When they are tied out on the runs they bark back and forth to each other and to every sound imaginable.  One time a Blue Heron was driving them crazy.  The Heron didn't care a bit. We looked through our gun scope (It's just the scope.  It's on our window sill. We use it often to check out the movements on the mountain or hill as they call it here in KY) and saw that Blue Heron just resting on the bank on the far side of the creek. 

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I've been very busy "clicking along" on a knitting project.  My niece Amber had her baby.  I looked through my supply of yarns and chose to do a sweater and pants set.  It's almost finished and will be out in the mail this week.  I have a few buttons to put on the sweater.  Some string elastic also needs to be threaded through the waistband of the little pants.  It took time, but I'm happy to say the knitting is complete.  

I used the garter stitch for the whole outfit.  It's a straight knit on every row.  I chose the garter stitch because my pearls are extremely tight.  I have to practice making my pearls loose.  They are much tighter than my knits.  A stockinette piece (knit one row, pearl one row) that I've completed in the past looks ripply because of my inconsistent tension.  So...it's a garter stitch for me...easy and with consistent tension.  

I've come to the conclusion that my knit and crochet pieces are for gifts only.  To sell a piece would put me in a financial hole.  Think about it:  Just a small crochet item like a hat will need a skein of yarn.  That will cost from 2.50 - 8:00  a skein or more depending on quality and type of yarn.  How long does it take to make a hat?  An hour?  It takes me about two hours for a simple knit hat. If I sold the hat for $10.00, I would probably end up with $2/hour for my time.  In my opinion and in my case, I can do other things that are more profitable.

I take time to knit and crochet. I think. I pray. It's what I do while riding in the car or waiting in an office.  Now days you get lots of looks when you knit or crochet in public.  I kind of feel sad for people who don't know how.  I see people of all ages sitting in a waiting room glued to a TV or staring (at me) and twiddling their thumbs.  I often wonder if it's a stress related reason that they are seeing the doctor.  (I'm going to see the dentist. It's a huge office with ma For me knitting is a stress reliever and a satisfying past time.  It may take a little time and patience to learn, but it's well worth the effort.  

It was great to have all of the family home in early January. Ethan came home for his birthday. Of course we had to get a picture.  We took a bunch, but it's hard to get a good picture of my family.  (Look at the end of this just see my choices.) I chose the above, but it needed some attention.  My glasses have a shine, the picture behind Shalisha had an annoying glare and the wrinkles in Ethan's shirt are distracting.  

We have adobe photoshop elements 7 on our computer.  It's been there for over a year waiting to be used and since our prayer supporters are asking for a new picture, I decided to try to touch it up.  I had some time today because of bad weather and no school. Nate has always told me that the way you learn on the computer is to play and figure it out.  There is a cancel button, an undo button or a go back arrow, and a "save as" button so you don't ruin your original picture.  The work I did was in no way perfect, but at first glance or to the untrained eye it will pass.  Maybe it will be an encouragement to others that want to give photo shop a try.  

The buttons I used on photo shop were the cloning tool, the crop, auto enhance, and the spot healing brush tool.  It isn't perfect but I like it much better than the original...and our family is happy not to have to pose for another half hour trying to get the perfect shot...Our family?  Haha.  It wouldn't happen.  We would be very frustrated with each other.