Marie Grace Designs:

See these:

They are real farm sacks from a real farm and they are tied with real farmy twine. They are also filled with real Llama fleece.

See, I have this sister who talked to our Grammy who knows these people who have 4 pet llama and they offered me this fleece. Now this is all well and good (and very exciting) but lets try to remember that

A) I tend to get myself into things I probably shouldn’t and

B) I don’t know how to spin fiber.

Now I’ll tell ya I was so stink’in excited over the idea of being given llama fleece that I never really stopped to think about what I’d do with it. Should I send it to a mill and have it all done up pretty for me or should I take the time to learn to do it myself? This is fresh stuff right off the critter so it needs cleaned and carded and all that other mysterious stuff I’ve read about but never actually done.

And as if becoming the proud new owner of llama fleece wasn’t enough... I got to meet the actual llama!

Now, I must warn you that these pictures suck because I’m a total bonehead. Apparently when I am faced with the prospect of meeting real live fuzzy llama who have bestowed their fleece upon me I forget everything I have ever learned about taking a picture.

The llama live with Steve and Denise and their lovely daughter. Never will you meet cooler people than Steve and Denise and their lovely daughter. Here’s the proof... the llama are named Angus, Axel, Oz, and Meatloaf. No kidding.

Here’s Denise and some of the crew:

Turns out llama like to sniff your breath to see if you smell familiar. Seems they also like kids...

There were so many fun photographic opportunities here that I am still kicking myself for not paying more attention to the lack of light in the barn. The good thing is that Steve and Denise have invited us to visit again. I hope they really meant it or they will be quite annoyed when I keep showing up asking if the llama can come out to play.

I’ll keep you posted on what becomes of the llama fleece but feel free to offer up some advice.

Now, I understand that I have been tagged by Tammy and am therefore supposed to tell you 8 things about me. I’ve never done the meme thing before but here goes:

1. I have been divorced, widowed, and am currently not married. Mac Daddy has been trying to get me to marry him for a few years now but I just won’t give in. Seems to me there are no guarantees and no pastor or piece of paper can get me one. I figure we have what we need and we don’t need to prove anything to anybody.

2. I would rather go fishing than go shopping.

3. I hate wearing shoes. I’d rather go barefoot.

4. Ya know how when you roll a penny and it gets to the point where it falls over and does that weird spin in place on its own edge thing? Ya know the sound it makes when it does that? It makes me crazy. I have been known to physically launch myself across a dining room table in order to slap a penny that is making that noise. Plates do it too. Awful.

5. In my opinion the sexiest thing a man can wear is a pair of Levi’s and a flannel shirt.

6. I have never made it to a due date with a pregnancy. All the kids were between 3 and 6 weeks early. They were all natural non-medicated births.

7. I’m pretty sure I was born in the wrong time period. My goal in life is a cozy farmhouse where I can knit and sew and hear the chickens clucking in the yard. I want to name all the hens and collect eggs. I want to muck out barn stalls and throw hay. I love the smell of alfalfa. Thats not to say I want to wear a dress that goes clear to my ankles and be referred to as “Ma” but simple and quiet would be nice.

8. I have a step mom and a mom in law that I am very close to but I don’t speak to my real mom. Seems she’s a bit too much like her mom and I decided it was time to break the cycle. That was nearly a year ago and I don’t miss her. I feel guilty about not missing her.

On moving...
We’re putting some things in storage and packing things we don’t need right now. We’ll soon be listing the house and I figure it will be easier for the real estate agent to show if nobody is tripping over things. We’re still in the exited what-will-happen-next phase but I know the stressful part is coming. I’m just trying to keep my eye on the prize. Visiting the llama helped remind me of where we want to be and what the goal is. Here’s the view the llama have from their front yarn... I am so jealous.

Well, okay... I haven’t actually fallen in the forest (at least not lately). I have, however, fallen in love with the mountains and the lake all over again.

We’ve been fishing...

See, years ago we lived right up over the hill from this very lake. In-fact, if you look at the very center of this picture:

I was smack-dab in the middle there in a flat bottom fishing boat when my water broke with Kid #3 (that would be him in the first picture above).

We lived near my sister and her family and my parents and grandparents and friends I’ve had for so long.

But life happens and things change for better and worse and we moved away and out of the trees and far from the lake and my sister and her family and my parents and grandparents and friends I’ve had for so long.

We certainly had a plan and good reasons for moving. Part of me needed to get away from the life I had shared with J because even though everything looked the same it didn’t feel the same with him gone. It was a constant reminder of things we did everyday and places we went on the weekend and hot summer evenings.

Mac Daddy and I have made a good life here where its a little louder and a lot busier. We’ve been happy and stable and the kids have thrived and grown.

But we’ve always talked about the what-ifs and the maybes. I’ve told him my fishing stories and he’s told me his tractor stories because though we both have country roots we’ve never been there together.

He was not shocked to hear that I’ve slung cow manure at 2 am on a dairy farm and I can just imagine him perched atop a Farm All tractor.

The kids and I drove up to my sisters house the other day to spend some time with her and her kids. The kids all played together (there are 8 between us). The little kids played in the sand box, the boys climbed trees and found a bird nest. My sister and I sat at her kitchen table where we could see and hear the kids, and the mountain, through the window. She worked on a quilt binding and I finished up some smocking and we talked.

That evening Mac Daddy and I talked again and we looked out our window at the work trucks and the freshly paved road and the sign for the new development that is being built behind our house. It looks just like the one in front of the house. And there’s a new store right around the corner where you can buy gas and cigarettes on your way to the highway.

I find it all so very sad.

So we’ve decided to go home... together.

While we work at finding our perfect little place in the mountains I’ll continue to knit and smock and drive the drive that takes us home to play as much as we can.

There’s a lovely pink item blooming...