Dig, Dig, Dig

We were listening to a Disney CD this morning and the "Dig, Dig, Dig/Heigh-Ho" song from Snow White  came on. It's a song I've always loved, but as I was listening to it today I had an odd little epiphany towards the end of this verse:

We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig from early morn till night
We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig up everything in sight
We dig up diamonds by the score
A thousand rubies, sometimes more
But we don't know what we dig 'em for
We dig dig dig a-dig dig

And just for the record... I cannot read through those lyrics. I MUST sing them. Every. Single. Time.  Okay... moving on!

The line "But we don't know what we dig 'em for" just kind of hit me today.  I mean...isn't that how life seems to work?  I know it is for me.  I dig through trials and troubles. I dig through the craziness of everyday life. I try to do my best and work hard and and sometimes... well, sometimes I just kinda sit back and think "What in the heck am I digging for???"

Now, I know that I'm rewarded with blessings throughout my day. Not necessarily HUGE things each day. But little things. A phone call from a friend. The giggles of a child. A hug from my husband.  A beautiful sunset. The good bits of every day that make life so much better. And yet, for me, I seem to miss the value of these diamonds and rubies.  In my case, I think I don't recognize the gems like I should.

Maybe it's because the digging process can be difficult, monotonous, frustrating and extremely time consuming. And by the time I get to the good stuff I'm tired and covered in dirt. And sometimes those blessings don't look quite like I had thought. I was hoping for a sapphire when I plucked out that ruby. Or maybe the blessing is something that really doesn't look like a gem at all. It's rough around the edges, dull and has absolutely no appeal (in my life, these ones are often disguised as a U-Haul van.... I think I won't understand the beauty of these gems till later in life or maybe not till the life after this...).

 I guess what I'm trying to say (and not doing a very good job of it) is that this life is a lot of work, but it's worth it. I may not understand what all of my diamonds and rubies are for right now... but someday I will. The only question left is this: which dwarf am I going to be like as I dig, dig, dig from early morn till night?

Now I'll leave you with a few gems from this month...
Little Bug at horseback riding lessons.  Look at that grin!!

Red with his new hair cut... I told him to give me a "Hurrah" cheer.  This as good as it gets when you're 12...

Baby Girl finishing homework...

A finished project for a friend...

It's the little things...

Christmas Quilts

2 out of 3 kids needed a new quilt for their bed this year.  I had already started a quilt for Red just a little over a year ago... and yeah.  Never finished it till this fall.  I pulled all the pieces out, reminded myself of the pattern and got to work.  It didn't take too long to get it all pieced.  Then I took it to a little place here in town to have it quilted.  My hand sewing is pretty much terrible, so I was more than happy to pawn the job off on someone else.  They did a fantastic job and this is the final product...

I did hand sew part of the binding... it took about forever to get it done.  But I did it :)  And I really love the way it turned out.  I didn't get a great photo of him opening it, but he really loved it!

 I knew I wanted to do a rag quilt for Baby Girl, but wasn't sure how exactly I wanted to put it together.  I sketched out several things, searched Google and Etsy for ideas and finally came up with this...

I was pretty much THRILLED with the way it turned out!  It's bright and fun - just like Baby Girl.  She was pretty excited about it too...

I just finished a baby quilt (that I'll blog about later) and then I have another baby quilt to put together and then a quilt for Little Bug and THEN one for me :)  I'm really looking forward to the me quilt.  I've bought the fabric, picked the pattern and I'll hopefully get to work on it.... in a month or two :)

Creative Juices

Lately I have felt like I was in a creative slump.  Just couldn't get the wheels in my head to spin the way I wanted them to.
Awhile back Busy Bee Lauren wrote a blog post about a new book she had received for Christmas (I think). It sounded like the perfect way to get my thought process moving.  So, I got a copy for myself.

I forgot to get a picture of it before I started... just imagine the cover without the doodles on it.  Okay??  Okay.
So, the instructions are pretty simple...

(Can you spot the "hidden Mickey's" throughout my book??)  And so I began.  We took Red to the Cracker Barrel for his birthday and so, I "documented" my dinner...

Hubby thinks it's totally gross... but it makes me laugh every time I look at it.  Here are a few other pages I've done...
I don't drink coffee... so this is my hot cocoa page.

 This was something my 3rd grade teacher would have us do if we were bored... draw a bunch of swirls, pick 5-6 colors and try to make it so that no colors are touching (except at corners).

 Fruit stickers...

 Stamps (some of these are from Christmas cards from last year...)

 I didn't do such a great job connecting the dots with my eyes closed...

 Still need to figure out what I want to decorate the other hand with :)

This is my FAVORITE page so far... which makes me sad since one of the instructions in another part of the book says I have to give away my favorite page...

 My nonstop line got a tad damaged (and it's not finished quite yet...)

I have to admit... I've struggled with some of these items.  You're not supposed to wipe your food in a book, rip the pages, burn the edges, or doodle everywhere... and so far, I've done the easier items.  At some point I have to tie a string around it and take it for a walk... which sounds kind of embarrassing.  I also have to take it to a public place and ask people to write/draw in it.  I thought about just letting my kids do that part, but that seems the cowardly way out.
But the best part?  It's helped me cut loose a little bit... and I've been feeling more creative...

I'll post pictures when it's complete.
So, here's a question for you...
how do you get your creative juices flowing?