Happy Halloween

Being a regualr elf was not hip enough.

Meet the hipster elf, Katie Grace.

XOXO

Donna

In which the girls rake.

Just out of the hospital, are you?

Very sorry to hear that.

Here's a rake.














CAR!!







Learned this from Matthew.







Crunchy and comfy.


“The leaves fall, the wind blows, and the farm country slowly changes from the summer cottons into its winter wools.” 
~Henry Beston

Halloween movies @ Pdubs website

Hi!

I wrote a post for the Entertainment section at The Pioneer Woman's website again.

It's for Halloween movies.

Halloween Movies for Chickens

Have you seen Misery?  

Kathy Bates' wardrobe = My wardrobe-the homeschool years.

That's scary too.

Have you seen all the movies on the list?

 Miz BOO

aka

Donna 

I will.

~From the Chicago Tribune of my childhood






“If by my life or death I can protect you, I will. ”
~Tolkien


In searching for a perfect 'light' quote, 
I found the above Tolkien quote.

Tears sprang to my eyes.
I have felt that much stronger than ever before.
My girl is vulnerable.
I  want to move into her apartment and
sleep in her bed and touch her face in the night.

But, we are being brave.
Her friends are watching out for her.
God bless them.

Nonetheless, my heart aches.
I want to be there.
But my place is here.

Here I hope.
Here I wait.
Here I count the days.

It will get easier.
With every day that passes and every brave step she takes.
It will get easier.

It has to be.


XOXO
Donna

Beauty is all around.

Strollers lined up outside a book store in Lincoln Square.
Story time.





I am reading Peace Like a River by Leif Enger.  Many of the QL readers recommended it.
Emma has finished it is impatient with me to finish it.

Emma loves this quote;

“Fair is whatever God wants to do.”   

Here is another favorite;

“I remember it as October days are always remembered, cloudless, maple-flavored, the air gold and so clean it quivers.” 

Beautiful words.
Beautiful images.


Raking up our piles of good.


Encourage one another,
Donna

“Sometimes heroism is nothing more than patience, curiosity, and a refusal to panic.”

Hello friends,

I wanted to give you an update on how Emma is doing.
We went to the neurologist appointment.
She asked a ton of questions.
She did not answer ours.



She thinks Emma will do well on the medicine.

We are glad there is medicine that is effective.
But they don't know why.

ha.

My daughter in law Melinda said, even if Emma did not have
a grand mal seizure and they learned she had the little seizures (absence seizures)  they would have put her on meds for those. ..the little ones....She said, they don't even want you to have those.  Which I didn't really understand because they were so unnoticeable.  But something is going on in her brain that should not be going on.  So they like to calm it down with the drugs.

It made sense to me.  Thank you nursing student Melinda for being able to explain something we asked three different ways to the neurologist.

Anyway.

Emma has been seizure free for eight days!  She is almost to the full dose they want her on and she will be relieved to get there.   The side effects are not terrible.



We are hoping and praying that the medicine works as expected.

Thank you all of the love and care and thoughts and prayers.




Love you.
Mean it.

Donna

“Sometimes heroism is nothing more than patience, curiosity, and a refusal to panic.” 
~Leif Enger

And so it goes...

Hi friends,

Emma said I could share a little more of what is going on.
In the last ten days Emma has had two seizures.  Both of them included
ambulance rides to Emergency Rooms.

The first seizure was a shock as we had absolutely NO IDEA why this was happening.
 She had it on the bus coming home and landed in Beloit Memorial Hospital for a few hours.
They did a cat scan and that looked clear.

The following day Emma had an EEG and it appears on first look that she has something called 

Juvenile Absence Epilepsy.

But she was put on medicine and we thought...well...that was just a one time thing...
her absence seizures were so mild we did not even know she was having a seizure.

So she went back to Chicago.
Getting in to a neurologist is pretty impossible and nobody seems as concerned about this as we do...so I came back to Wis.

Then exactly on week later she had another.  It was even more of a shock....and very hard on me as Emma was in Chicago.
Thankfully I had been in touch, just that day with my friend kathyb 'from the comments.'
Kathy lives close to the city and is a nurse.
She and her husband rushed to the hospital to be with Emma until I could get there.
What a comfort to know that Emma was not alone and with kind, loving friends.
I am thankful God gave us kathyb and her Fireman.

They released Emma that night saying she was good to go.
So I am sticking close to Em until she sees a neurologist tomorrow in Chicago.

She is taking off this week of work and classes and internship.

Yesterday she felt like running.
So I drove the car behind her.


We are hoping and praying she does well with the medicine and that her seizures can be controlled without much fuss.

We really don't know much and we are looking forward to meeting with a neruologist.

Please pray for Emma.

With love,
Donna

Inside and out.

A real live carpet of leaves.

from Jep in the comments a few days ago.

"When I fall
let me fall without regret
like a leaf."
Wendall Berry

Real life. Still life.

Inspired by the light.

XOXO

Donna

Quick Bulky Mittens

I found this pattern at the yarn store...they said to get it for free on Ravelry.

It is called Quick Bulky Mitten by Aimee Pelletier.

See that ribbing?  That takes minutes to knit.  The needles are so huge and the
yarn so fat!

You only cast on 20 stitches.  So super simple.
We decided to try these as a learning project for Emma.
She finished one mitten really quickly and then we realized that the needles were too small...
8's and 10's.  So I undid it and she will try again when she gets the bigger needles.
The pattern called for this exact yarn and those sizes...I don't know what could have gone so wrong.
But I've adjusted it to work out.

I knit this pair for Katie yesterday in an hour or two.

Crazy simple.

I will make some for myself next in Blue Sky Alpaca.

The above yarn is called Malabringo Rasta.

Perfect day to make mittens.
There is a chill in the air and drips falling from the sky.

Knitting comforts.

Encourage one another,
Donna

Baker. Miller. Yum.

Sorry I've been gone for so long.
I've been super busy and took an unexpected trip to Chicago on Sunday/Monday.


Emma came home for a wedding.  The bride and groom are long time homeschooling friends.
Emma was especially close to the groom and his family; his sister is her best friend and his brother was in India with her.
I was Emma's plus one.
We saw so many old friends.  It was really fantastic!
They included a song from The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings in the ceremony and this was a perfect, nerdy, fun touch :o)









So pretty, Emma.

Please pray extra hard for Emma.  She is going thru a great deal of stress and has some new challenges.

Thank you very much.






We ate these yesterday morning.  Oh gosh.  Very delicious.

Em's new friends opened a great restaurant.  It's called Baker. Miller.
4610 N. Western
Chicago....
Lincoln Square neighborhood.

Baker. Miller

They are creative.  For breakfast you can have fabulous oatmeal and for lunch you can have grain bowls or plowman's lunches.  Everything is healthy and natural and you know...all those things that are extra good for you.

If you are in Chicago.  Try it out.




You can sit here.

:o)


Miss you.
Mean it.


Encourage one another,
Donna

In which I write for Ree

I wrote an article for Ree's (The Pioneer Woman's) website...
if you like movies, I think you will like it.

Follow the link below;




Foriegn Film Fest @ The Pioneer Woman's website

XO
Miz Boo aka Donna

Rather lovely.

The same leaves over and over again!

They fall from giving shade above

To make one texture of faded brown

And fit the earth like a leather glove.

~Robert Frost, "In Hardwood Groves"

Eugene Galien-Laloue

Autumn is rich and ripe and rather lovely, isn't it?

Encourage one another,

Donna

The Carlton Dance. Fun times.

So great!




This was my second favorite dance of the night.
For a girl who is not allowed to dance at school...she's so good!


I'm not enjoying many of the couples this year.
Three, I like.


Any way.
These two.

Great fun last night.

Encourage one another,
Donna

Edgewood hoco2k14...yeah. that's how they say it.

We had to go out to buy a coat on Saturday. It was so cold and wearing a scarf/shawl was out of the question. Anyway a pea coat is totally classic and can be worn for years.
AND it looked fantastic with Katie's Classic French look.
It's so much fun dressing her up.
It's like Pinterest come to life :o)










This is a re-enactment.  I turned around and the corsage was on....
So I made them do it again.




Here they are!  Casey is also a freshman.  They have been friends for a few years.
I like this picture because I have seen this face before.
I also like because they are posing for someone else.







Same picture.  Different crop.



They went to the dance with two other couples.
As you can see...this is just one of the couples.
Katie loved meeting and spending time with the other couples.
No shoes were allowed on the gym floor...so things evened out at the dance.
Height-wise.




I thought this would be funny.




Katie didn't really get it.










It's a little thrilling to be 14.
I'm so thankful for nice, sweet, boys and girls.

They do exist.


XOXO
Donna

I want to go to there....

want. and need.

time for bed

Who likes slipcovers?

I do. I do.

swoon

After two long years of living with a crumbling shower...Monday, the tile guy is coming...and so is the plumber.  I will show before and after pictures when I can.  We are overjoyed to be finally getting to this project.

It won't look as spectacular as these pictures....but it will be heavenly to us.

Fingers crossed.

Have a great weekend!

Katie has another homecoming this weekend...this time with a BOY.  

Come back Monday or Tuesday to see how she changed up her black tulle skirt!

And to see the boy.  

Lots of love!

Donna

Wisconsin in the fall.

Pines and Maples.
Crows and Geese.
Packers and Badgers.
Wool and Fleece.

October is here.
Look!!





"O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow's wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
Tomorrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow.
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know.
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away."-   Robert Frost, October




Encourage one another,
Donna

Big Love

Esther and Jim.

This is not at their wedding.
They must be guests.

Mom does not have mascara on. I wonder about that.
Dad's hair is a thing of beauty, isn't it?

Dad has both of his arms all the way around mom.
That says something.

I have the original 5 x 7 of this one.  It's a treasure.





Donna and Emma

(how many of you thought this was Katie?)

Emma is sitting on the dining room table.
I am holding her safely.

I do not like to put mascara on.
Emma's hair is in her usual top knot.

I treasure those days.
I loved my babies.


My parent's friends have told us how much Esther loved her babies.
They told us how much our dad watched over us.


Maybe it's easy to love well when you have been loved well.

My heart breaks for those who haven't been so blessed.




Encourage one another and love.
Donna


P.S.  September 30th is the anniversary of my parents death.  I saw this post in my archives yesterday and thought I would share it today.