Welcome Back

It's only been two years since my last post! I wasn't feeling very inspired to write, and just generally busy with life. Oh, and there was a minor little change in life during this year that kind of made me drop everything else:
Emma Marie Adkins Dudding was born on Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 5:03 in the morning. She weighed 8 lbs., 2 oz. and measured 20 3/4 inches long. That was five months ago already! Emma is growing up so fast, and I hope to share more here about how she is growing and learning every week. More pictures and videos are forthcoming!

French Community College Kids Sing Thriller

Lip Dub IUT SRC Rouen 2008
by arcanes-prod

Bathroom Redo

Back in July, when we moved into our house, we started redoing the guest bathroom. As you can see below, this bathroom was decorated with hideous wallpaper, gold fixtures everywhere, and a maroon toilet and sink. !! With the help of our wonderful friends, we started taking down the wallpaper, one shred of paper at a time. We only got maybe 25% of the paper taken down that first day, even with 6 people or so working on it! Unfortunately, there was not one, but four layers of wallpaper to remove. Mike and I continued to work on it for an hour at a time over the next few weeks. We got so frustrated with it that we caved and spent $50 on a wallpaper steamer. Thank goodness we did! I do not recommend trying to remove wallpaper without one!

My dad to visit in mid-August to help us do lots of house projects. We finished removing the wallpaper, installed a new sink, a new toilet, mirror, and new sconces. Dad and I also added texture to the walls and painted at the same time. I am so happy with the final result! Almost two months later, I still go in there and breathe a sigh of joy when I look at it!

Before: During: After:

Brown Clutch
Finished: September 1, 2008

Pattern: Adapted from My Favorite Sweater Clutch by Julie Holetz

I made this clutch larger than in the pattern, and did not decrease at the top as much. I eliminated the ribbed top from the pattern, and added a small flap. I used a magnetic closure on the flap to hold it together, and I sewed in the lining by hand. I used the crochet stitches as a guide to evenly space the hand sew stitches.

Yarn: 1 skein Lion Brand Cotton Ease in Taupe

This yarn is very easy to work with and sturdy enough for a purse. I used almost exactly one skein--no leftovers!

I think it turned out very cute!

The Reason I Haven't Been Very Good About Posting Lately....


Mike and I bought a house!! We close tomorrow and we start moving in this weekend. We are so excited!! It has been an all-consuming endeavor, so I haven't been keeping up here like I want to. I hope to be back to normal in the next couple of weeks though. So long for now!

Half-Shell Blanket


I finished this blanket last August 2007 while I was on a blogging hiatus. I love this pattern so much--it is so easy and creates a beautiful texture. I also love the border, which you create by crocheting from left to right instead of right to left. It was awkward at first, but makes such a pretty frame for the blanket.

Pattern: Easy Patterned Throw by Vera Hannaford (from the website Crochet Me)

Yarn Used: Lion Brand Wool-Ease Solid, 10 skeins in Natural Heather

Bonus Picture!

Here is a picture of Sadie running in the fields around my Dad's house. We went to Arkansas to visit some family there a couple of weekends ago. I think this city dog looks so cute against this back drop of yellow flowers, running wild and free!

Book Review: The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff

Jennifer chose The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff for our last book club, and everyone who read it loved it! The book centers around a fictional town named Templeton, based on real-life Cooperstown, NY (of James Fenimore Cooper and baseball fame). The main character is Willie Upton, living in present-day, and her research into the lives of her ancestors, back to the town's founder, Marmaduke Temple. The book goes back and forth between the past and present in each chapter, and all of the ancestors get their turn to tell their story. The author puts handy family tree charts at the end of each of Willie's chapters so you can keep track of who's who.


The book is an interesting mix of magic and reality, as one of the main characters of the book is a monster who lives in the town lake. There are also ghosts, visions, and other mysterious happenings, but the author treats them almost as everyday and accepted occurrences. I really enjoyed this aspect of the book--the cross between the mundane and the fantastic. I also immensely enjoyed all of the characters in Monsters of Templeton. Each character had major flaws, but that made them more true and real. No one is perfect in this book.

Lauren Groff is a great story-teller, and this is one of those books that you don't want to end. My favorite section of the book is the Charlotte and Cinnamon letters--you'll have to read it to find out what these are! I hope Lauren Groff is working on another book--I would like to read it!