The phone call

The phone came at 10:30 pm on November 21, 2012. It was Bob's brother telling us that our beloved grandma Lu was dead. She died peacefully in her own home which is what she wanted. I had promised her years before that she would "never get locked away and forgotten " in a nursing home. It was something that at age 93, she worried about. She was in good health right to the end only briefly mentioning that morning to me that she felt a little tired and was going to take a nap. She said she would call me later but that call never came. Something that I had mentioned to Bob as we got into bed that night only to receive the call from his brother 25 mins later. The next few days are a blur to me. Thanksgiving came and went and all I could think about was a conversation grandma and I had just days before she passed away. "I will make the pies this year" she told me. She was so happy that we were now living so close to her. She loved the kids so much and was looking forward to spending more time with them. The chaos following grandma's death and funeral arrangements when dealing with Bob's mother are something I would wish on no one. Not only had we just weeks before dealt with the loss of our home, all our belongings, the two dogs, then moving 3.5 hours from "home", plus the loss of grandma Lu - the woman who basically raised my husband - now we were having to deal with my drug addict mother in law who couldn't be bothered to show up on time to the funeral directors meeting to plan her own mother's funeral. My husband and his brother went to the meeting and made the arrangements only to then have them changed later that day by my mother in law. What a mess. The funeral was very uncomfortable with family tensions running very high. During the whole funeral all I wanted to do was stand up and scream "what is wrong with you people! We should be celebrating this wonderful womans life not fighting over petty things." But I remained silent. Bob and I and our children decided we would honor grandma Lu in our own way. No one can take away all the special memories we have of the times we spent together. After grandma was taken from us so suddenly, I felt more alone than ever. The only person the kids and I really knew here in Jamestown was gone. I felt like I had lost my best friend.

A new start

Although we felt relief to find a home to rent in Jamestown and move here - it did not come without some issues. Number one - my husbands job. Bob is an engineer for BNSF and moving here was an issue since he is still based in Mandan which is an hour and forty five mins away on a good day with perfect roads. This presented an obvious situatiion of long miles, lack of sleep and driving at all hours whenever he got the call to go to work. Another issue that needed to be addressed soon after the move was my farm animals. My dairy goats and alpaca were being cared for by family friends back home but we needed to figure out a solution to bring them here. Luckily just a few weeks after moving here we were able to find a place where we could board most of my Oberhasili does and buck and the alpaca. I made the deacion to sell the remaining goats that I had. Then there was the kid and school. After breifly considering to put the kids back in public school we decided that the kids had been through enough changes and we would continue to homeschool. Our homeschool group families in Bismarck / mandan had been very generous to provide us with lots of books and supplies and what we didn't have I ordered. We started things off slow. I was very tuned into the fact that we might have a teary day here and there as the kids thought about Belle and Bear and the weight of everything we lost started sinking in. We had some good days and we had some bad days. So we began our lives here at our new home. I was greatful to have a roof over our heads and to able to spend some quaility time with Bob's grandma Lu. Things were coming together and I was starting to breath a little easier. Until the phone call came. More tomorrow.

Shaking the dust off

For those of you who know me you already know my story. On October 24, 2012 my family experienced a great loss. Our family home burned down as the result of an electrical fire. We lost everything we owned and were left with just the clothes on our backs. Most heartbreaking loss of all was the fact that our two dogs - Belle a 9 year old yellow lab who I described as my "other kid" and Bear - a playful 1 year old pommerian puppy were lost in the fire. In those few short hours on a chilly fall day our lives where changed forever. The first few weeks after the fire are still a blur to me. Some of my husband's co workers paid for several nights in a motel for us. Later the Red Cross paid for a few more days. Everyone who knows anything about North Dakota knows we are in a housing shortage and we needed somewhere to call home fast! We weren't interested nor did we ever entertain the idea of rebuilding in the community that our now burned home still halfway stood. We had moved there only 6 years before because I fell in love with the house and now that was gone. We had no emotional ties to the area. A week after the fire we traveled to my husband's hometown of Jamestown ND so his 93 year old grandma Lu could see the kids and check us all over to make sure we were ok. Spending the weekend there we found a house advertised for rent. It was an answer to our prayers! We had somewhere to call home at least on a temporary basis. Our initial lease was only for three months. So on Nov. 6 2012 with my van filled with donated items the families from our homeschool group, the soccer club and our church had given us - we arrived to start our new lives in Jamestown ND. More tomorrow

New Changes!

As some of you know, Sat. will be my last day at the Post Office. I am going to miss some things, but definately not others! The last three years have been interesting to say the least and I have learned a lot. I am going to miss the customers, but not how political the job is getting to be! I am going to take the summer to re-focus and will enjoy the next few months spending time with Bob and the kids and may actually get to go to the Sat. morning spinning group, which I could never go to because I was working! I am still going to fill in for the CPO in Shields when they need me, but I am really looking forward to not having the stress that went along with the job!

Here is Brianna pictured with my former high school science teacher, Mr. Jim Collins who is one of the founders of the Earth Day celebration at the National Guard Armory in Bismarck. He was helping the kids make their rain sticks this year. It is always fun to see him. He really was one of my favorite teachers!

Mr. Travis decided to get his face painted like a pirate while at Earth Day this year. They even had someone making baloon shapes for the kids so naturally he had to get a sword! Doesn't he look scary!

Here is Travis listening to a presentation on water quaility. The woman who was doing the presentation told me later that she was really impressed with the kind of questions Travis asked her. She was also impressed that he knew what "cover crop" was and what "no-till" meant! Not bad for a kindergartener!

Here are the kids with a weed at this year's Earth Day Celebration in Bismarck. We have gone every year since they started it 3 years ago. The kids always have a lot of fun and we learn so much about how to take care of our precious mother earth.

Here is a pic of the cool knitting tatoo that my friend Bethany has. She came to my class in Richardton and I just had to get a picture of it. She gave me the name of the guy who did it for her. Robert just shock his head when I showed it to him!

Here are some of the ladies who were busy spinning at the Advanced Spinning class that I taught on April 17th at Sacred Heart in Richardon. Students worked with exotic fibers and I unveiled my newest scarf pattern, "Wild Thing Scarf" that showcases the yarn that we spun. I will be posting te pattern on Ravlery soon.

More of the ladies spinning!

Had a great time visiting too!

Here are Bob and Travis holding the first set of twins that were born this season. They were born 3 days before the big Good Friday storm that went through and are much bigger now! The one on the right is Freedom (doeling) and on the left is Constiution (buckling). We are using all Patriotic names this year.

This is another one of the new baby goats. Her name is Independence and she is part lamancha (notice no ears?!) Brianna and Travis think she is a keeper. I think so too!

Here is Brianna with the newest baby goat, Besty Ross who was born on April 22. She has a twin brother that has been named Constitution. (We are using Patiotic themed names this year.) This little girl will more than likely be Brianna's show goat for 4H this year.

Travis Won A Bike!

Pictured is Mr. Paul Unruh and Travis with his new bike. Mr. Unruh is from the Flasher Society of Masons who sponored the bike giveaway. Travis was presented with his new bike at the Family Fun Night on April 17. He is very excited and can't wait to take it for a spin!

After "day two"

After "day one" progress

For fun I decided to participate in a dishcloth KAL on Ravelry. It started on Wen - but I didn't get a chance to look at it until yesterday. After the kiddos went to bed, I copied down the 2 days worth of the instructions that had been posted and went to work. The yarn that I am working with is a eco cotton in off white. Here are some pictures to show my progress.

Well - we woke up this morning to - SURPRISE!! MORE SNOW! Bob estimates at least another 8 inches of the white fluffy stuff! The kids were let out of school early. There is no way we will be making it to church this evening. I am off to find a project for the kids and I to work on!

Here are some more pictures! The one at the top is Brianna standing by the Bunny Barn!

Just wanted to share a couple of photos from the Christmas Blizzard that we had. We got over 26 inches of snow and it blew for 2 days before we were able to get out. It took the next 2 days to dig our way out completely and now we are suppost to get another 8 to 10 inches starting tonight into tomorrow! Oh - the joys of living in North Dakota!

Happy New Year! I can't believe that it is 2010 already! This past year seemed in some ways to just fly by and in others to really drag on! But we are all here - alive and well in this new year and I personally am very thankful to put 2009 behind me!

Moving on - one of the things in this new year that I would like to do is to make a comitment to be a faithful blogger. I would like for my students as well as past students and friends to be able to come here and see what is going on in the fiber studio, any upcoming events or shows that I will be doing and personally to see what is going on in the Olson family. I don't guarntee that I will be posting daily - but at least a couple of times a week!

Tri-Loom Weaving

Thought I would share some picutres of a shawl done on my Tri-Loom. The yarn that I used was commercially spun wool. It took me roughly 10 hours start to finish to get this shawl done. I wanted it to be light and airy - so I didn't use a blucky yarn. The shawl that I have on the loom right now is a mohair/wool blend. I have been having a lot of difficuly bringing the yarn back over to the other side - so it is taking me a lot longer usual. Will try to get some pictures of the new shawl on the loom tomorrow.

I have been talking about starting a blog for a long time and finally just decided that I really needed to get one up. Especially since it sounds like my website won't be up for a while. (We are still working on pictures!) Anyway - this will give all of my BSC Enrichment students a chance to take a little look into what is going on here at the studio during the week and will I will be able to post any updates or additional info for my classes. I look forward to posting some pictures and getting more info up over the weekend. (Still working on those youtube videos for my current toothbrush rug class.) Hopefully they will be ready by Sunday!