Still no power and it looks like it might be a few more days of living in the dark.  On the bright side, Heather has been getting a lot of knitting done by candlelight!

(posted by Heather’s husband)

An unexpected storm hit the midwest yesterday and left us without power.  As a result, Heather will not be able to sign on to post. (I’m posting this from my work computer)

Hopefully power will be restored soon because more storms are on the way and our sump pump will not operate in the present condition.

When Heather is able to, she can blog about the wall of wind, the fallen tree, our desperate attempt to bail water from our basement, and our neighborhood bucket brigade.

In the meantime, you can see a little bit of the damage in the following link:
http://www.ksdk.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=100574

(posted by Heather’s husband)

My husband and I celebrated our anniversary a couple of weeks ago, but had refrained from exchanging gifts until a bonus check arrived.  Last night I got my anniversary gift:  A brand new sewing machine!  I have never owned a (working) sewing machine in my life, and I have always wanted one.  (I do have my grandmother’s antique one.)  I used one that belonged to a friend once, but that was the only time.  Now I get to learn to use my own.  I have always had to sew everything by hand, which takes quite a while, and therefore not much gets accomplished.  I do enjoy quilting by hand, but I would like to learn machine piecing.

My first project:  Learn to use the machine.  Second project:  Kitchen curtains.  After that, who knows.  I would like to attempt this handbag pattern by Amy Butler.  I have had the pattern for a couple of years, intending to do it by hand, but I have not attempted it yet. 

Any tips or hints that anyone has about using a sewing machine would be appreciated!

I am so excited!  Have I mentioned before that my husband is awesome? 

Eunny just knitted some awesome argyle patterned socks.  Check them out here.  I cannot wait for her to publish her pattern.

One of the things I like best about living in the Midwest is all of the fresh produce available here in the summer. When I drive between towns I pass fields of corn, alfalfa, soy beans, horseradish, tomatoes, watermelon, etc. There are many roadside farm stands that sell freshly picked locally grown produce – everything from corn to berries and peaches. Sweet corn is one of my absolute favorites. Since I grew up eating this freshly picked, I do not care for frozen or canned corn. Today I stopped and picked up half a dozen (but they gave me 7) ears of fresh sweet white corn, onion, portabella mushroom cap, and a quart of blackberries. We will have hamburger with grilled onions and mushrooms for dinner with sweet corn and salad, followed by blackberry cobbler for dessert tonight. I am going to make a smaller version of this Blackberry Cobbler (minus the nectarines). I made it last summer and it was very good. It goes very well with vanilla ice cream. Mmmmm…I cannot wait. I get hungry just thinking about it!