I almost stayed in town tonight...

It is not very nice outside this evening and I debated if I should take up one of the two offers I had from friends to stay with them tonight or go home. I decided to head out to the highway and then, if things looked bleak, I'd turn around and go back to town. When I got out to Hwy. #34 though, the road was fairly good and I could SEE it, so I headed for home---and God saw to it that I was safe. :)

This morning, I worked some more on the family newsletter... I also made lunch (while Mom was doing a session for a client) and pressed the new skirts that recently arrived from New Creations Apparel---my favorite place to shop for long skirts.

Do you have a favorite place to shop for reasonably-priced modest clothing? I'd love to hear about it!

More recent pictures...

Mother and Andrew went to Bismarck today--Mother for sessions and Andrew to see the chiropractor again. (He's not sure what he did, but his back has been bothering him...)

Andrew had plenty of time to do odd jobs around town while Mom was at her office. One of the things he did was go to KT Animal Supply and pick up the fish I requested... We released these (below) in our stock tank this evening--so hopefully they'll eat all the algae that's growing there, or at least keep it down somewhat. Goldfish were 15 cents each there, so it's at least worth a try!

My South African friend always likes to know about my fish, so I thought I'd post a picture of some of my pets... It's so hard to get a good picture of them, as they're always on the go, but the one below turned out better than most.

I have lost quite a few of my fish while learning about getting a tank going and keeping it clean and all, but recently the fish have been doing well, so I'm hoping the 16 fish I now have will live long and healthy lives! Pictured below (during feeding-time) are my 2 orange Swordtails (male and female); a male Fancy-Tailed Guppy; and my 2 Harlequin Rasboras. I think my ScissorTail Rasobra is also shown toward the left side, but it's hard to see him...

A couple days ago, I dug out one of my prairie dresses to see if it still fit and to decide if I would wear it this year or not. When wearing this dress to a history night years ago, it was winter and I just put a long sleeved turtle-neck on underneath so it would be modest. However, as I'd like to wear it now during the warmer time of the year, I decided to just make a little something to fill in the area that's too low (for my liking) and wear it that way. A little smocking later and I have...

...a cute addition to my dress that will not make it too much warmer to wear. Now I just need to press it and I'll be ready to go to Prairie Days. :)

Jacob and I were home alone most of the day (my dad was hauling grain for a farmer), and we got much done outside. We fixed, filled, and hung bird-feeders; set up bird-baths; wacked off and pulled some weeds; cleaned out the swimming pool we have in for the geese; and did other such useful things. :)

Our biggest project by far though was: improving the looks of the front of our house... For the last few years, the area pictured below has been filled with tiny rocks that the grass and weeds grew over the top of and it was a MESS! We've been talking about doing something with that area for years, but as we also keep talking about adding onto the house on that side, we've just mowed off the mess and lived with it that way, thinking that that area would soon get covered up when we built.

BUT, the addition hasn't happened yet and now we have other ideas and plans, so Jacob and I did some experimenting in landscaping, using some pieces of granite we had sitting around for several years; some dirt from the garden; a flower-tower from my Bornemann grandma; a chair; and some flowers and flower seeds. Here's the end result:

I planted Moss Rose seeds in all the cracks, so hopefully they'll come up nice and will look pretty yet this summer. I wish I'd taken a before picture, but I don't like taking pictures of ugly things, so I didn't. :)

And now, one last picture... This is something that Andrew bought for me today while in town. Got any ideas of what "It" is? I'll fill you in tomorrow...

That was our day....

Until tomorrow evening, I bid you a good night and Godspeed (a phrase meaning "God spede you" or "God prosper you")

A gift--and a mystery picture!

I was working on something in my bedroom this afternoon when I heard a knock on the entryway door... It was a neighbor (well, they live about 8 miles from us, but we still call them neighbors!) with a gift for me from his wife: 2 pretty dresses that she'd outgrown; a blue blouse and some books she thought I might enjoy. I was so very pleased--mostly about the dresses!!!

Here's a picture of the embroidery and the soft, velvety collar on the blue dress:

And here's a picture of my favorite of the two--the pretty green dress.

I've read in Fascinating Womanhood that denims and corduroy are not considered very feminine fabrics, (the blue dress happens to be a light denim and the green is corduroy,) but I'm hoping that the embroidered flowers will help to negate the more masculine type of fabric... :) What do you think?

Before I head for bed tonight, I want to share another mystery picture that I took today... It's probably going to be an easy one for most of you, but I thought I'd give it a try.

What is---this?

I'll wait to post your comments until tomorrow evening if they contain guesses. :)

Sweet dreams~ and may God bless you all as you daily seek out His will for your lives!