Memaw Bake's Memories

Copper Pennies!

2011-06-21T14:20:00.002-05:00

Have you ever eaten Copper Pennies? They are sooooo good. Actually they aren't really copper nor are they pennies, discuss amongst yourselves.

Here is the recipe:

COPPER PENNY SALAD

2 lb. carrots, cleaned and sliced -- or baby carrots
1 lg. green pepper, diced
1 lg. onion, sliced
1 (10 3/4 oz.) can tomato soup
1/2 c. oil
3/4 c. vinegar
1 c. sugar or ½ cup splenda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
Boil sliced carrots for 10 minutes; drain. Put in bowl with green pepper, onion, and celery. Mix soup, oil, vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper. Pour over vegetables. Marinate overnight.

This recipe came from www.cooks.com

Wish I had a picture, but it didn't last long enough.

Hope you are having a great day. Love one another.

A Wise Old Man---

2011-06-15T12:07:00.002-05:00

This was posted on someone's facebook page. Can't remember who, would love to attribute it to my bff, but I just can't remember if she posted it or not. I think this is going to be my mantra from now on.

A wise old man once said, "There comes a time in your life, when you walk away from all the drama and people who create it. You surround yourself with people who make you laugh. Forget the bad, and focus on the good. Love the people who treat you right, pray for the ones who don't. Life is too short to be anything but happy. Falling down is a part of life, getting back up is living."

I hope you are having a great day. Love one another.

The Garden is Growing!

2011-06-14T13:27:00.010-05:00

The tomatoes are loaded. They just need to get ripe. There are 15 tomatoes of the good eating and canning varities. There are 3 Roma tomatoes. They are shaped like little pears. Someone told my sister-in-law they were especially good for salsa. The radishes to the left are huge and have gone to seed. To the left of them is the row of cucumbers. Pickles--YUM! You can(if you look close)see the three hills of pumpkins coming up. This is the second time he planted them.
The poor corn took quite a beating when the wind blew really hard yesterday. We had wind in excess of 50MPH.
Again the corn, but you can also see one of the sprinklers my brother built from pvc pipe and a sprinkler head. Fun to play in.
We've already had a 'mess' of green beans. Quite tasty.
The okra is growing. After all the rain, some had to be replanted. It will be so good when it starts bearing.
This is a conglomerate of things. There's squash(squishy squash as The Banty Hen says), bell, and hot peppers, sad cilantro(again due to the water)and a row of dill. My brother put 100 lbs of chicken litter on the garden a few days ago. I'm hoping it wasn't too much
This is the Banty Hen ready to go to school this morning. We planted some flower seeds last Tuesday. When we got up the next morning, she wanted to go out and see the pretty flowers. They are up now, and she can't wait to see them bloom. I also planted more cilantro, so maybe we'll be able to make salsa yet.

I hope you are having a wonderful day. Please be kind to everyone.

List is Growing Shorter!

2011-06-13T10:27:00.003-05:00

I started these dresses last year. As I got them near completion, I realized they were too big for the girls. So I put them away to finish for this year. I finally finished them, and the girls wore them for the first time yesterday.

The other thing I finished was the squares made of orange and lime green satin. There were 6 15" squares of each color, and there were 12 12" squares made from the rest of both. That ended up being 36 squares. I cut them and serged them. They were delivered this morning. These will be used in a wedding reception. The wedding and reception are both tropical themed, and these squares will be used on the tables with either a fish bowl or an arrangement of some type on them. I wish the bride and groom a wonderful life.

I need to make one tablecloth for a friend who has a bbq wagon. Next is a dress for my youngest granddaughter that I smocked quite some time ago, and have the smocking finished, but need to sew it up.

Tomorrow, I plan to have some pictures of the garden. I can't call it mine, because my brother has done all the work, however, it is in my yard and I flip the switch to turn on the pump to water. I have the hard work to do, right???

I hope everyone is having a great Monday. Love one another.

My Little Pony, My Little Pony

2011-06-08T14:30:00.002-05:00

We had a problem finding anyone to make The Banty Hen's birthday cake. She wanted a My Little Pony cake so I decided I would make it. I used a page from one of her coloring books to get a pattern, and make the cake.

She was very excited, and seemed very happy with it. I'm keeping her this week while her mother is in training. I figured since my son is working and has Superhero with him, they would be better off if I kept her at night. She continues to attend Discovery Island, which is 5 minutes from my work. I drop her off and pick her up in the afternoon.

Yesterday, we planted flowers in the garden. She said she would see how they looked this afternoon. I explained to her it would be several days before they came up, and I don't know if she will be able to wait. We planted hot pink zinnas that get about 36 inches tall, and mexican sunflowers which get 5 to 6 feet tall. I hope they come up and she can enjoy them.

She has a lot of energy, but has been a very good girl. We painted her fingers and toes last night, took a picture of them with my phone and sent it to her mothr.

I hope you are having a great week. Love one another.

Completed Projects?????

2011-06-01T14:19:00.002-05:00

I promised that while I was off last week, I was going to finish some projects and post pictures.

Well, that didn't happen. I got almost zilch done. I mostly just chilled out. Not very productive, right? I hope to do better, just don't know when.

Hope you had a great holiday weekend. Love one another.

More Lovely Weather

2011-05-25T14:35:00.002-05:00

What's up with this weather? Today, we here in Arkansas, specifically NE Arkansas, are under a Severe Weather Alert. We are expecting super cells with tornados embedded in them. We are all watching the sky and the radar to see what happens. Hopefully nothing, however we are all prepared. Some area schools have already let out and are taking the children home. Word is that the storms will develop from 3:00p.m. on, and the schools don't want to have busloads of students on the roads during this time.

My oldest daughter picked up her son and they have headed to Mississippi where there is no severe alerts. My younger daughter and her family are heading to her in-laws where they have a storm cellar.

I'm not sure what my son and his family will do. They have a safe area in their house(that's not to say a bonifide safe room), but it should keep them as safe as anything could, except being underground.

Then there's me. I don't like storm cellars, and often tell the kids that I need to stay on top to tell the emergency people where to dig them out. I think my fear of being trapped and no one finding me is worse than taking chances with the storm. I'd much rather be at home, but after seeing the homes in Joplin, Mo, I'm not too sure home would be very safe. We have a computer room here that has 1 foot thick walls reinforced with re-bar, and the roof is the same. The only thing is they cut corners by putting in glass doors rather than the heavy ones they should have. Still, that's probably a safer place than my house. I just don't want to stay here until 10p.m. That's when the storm threat should be over.

Hopefully the storms won't develop and I can go home and watch the ballgame.

I hope you are having a great day. Love each other.

To Do List!

2011-05-24T14:32:00.002-05:00

I'm going to be off for a couple of days the end of the week, and I have a To-Do list. I'm thinking if I put what I need to get done in a list, I will be more likely to make it a To Done list. I'm going to start with the oldest things first, since these things have obviously been sitting there the longest.

1. I made two sundresses last year for the oldest two granddaughters. Unfortunately, they were too big, so rather than redo them, I put them back to finish this spring. Here's what they need.
A. Buttons and buttonholes for the straps.
B. A bit of embroidery work on the collars.
C. Button and holes where the collars attach.
D. A tuck near the bottom to make them just a touch shorter.
All this could be done in a couple of hours.

2. I smocked a front for a dress for The Banty Hen earlier in the spring. It got laid aside while I did Easter dresses. Here's what it needs.
A. Trace off the pattern and cut it out.
B. Sew up the dress.
Now this will take a bit longer, but should be accomplished easily in a day. It's a simple dress smocked from the shoulder not rocket science.

3. My dil's mother and step-father have one of those mobile BBQ wagons, and they asked me to make a couple of tablecloths with elastic around them for their picnic table, which I did, but with the rest of the material, they wanted one that would go over their square chest deep freezer. That requires.
A. Cutting the fabric using the measurements given.
B. Running it through the serger.
C. Attaching the elastic.
I'm allowing 2 hours from start to finish on this one.

4. A friend whose daughter is getting married asked me to serge around the edges of a couple of pieces of fabric--note the word couple. When she brought it to me, she wants 2- 15" squares out of two pieces of satin - one green, the other peach. Then she would like as many 12" inch squares as I can get out of the rest. That's 4 15" squares, and I don't know how many 12" squares. So, here's what has to be done to those.
A. Measure both pieces.
B. Mark and cut 4 15" pieces, being careful not to waste any.
C. Serge all of the pieces.
This I'm allowing at least 4 hours.

I believe my two days off are full. This weekend is also our family reunion. I've been asked to make potato salad, and I'm possibly going to attempt to make a watermelon cake. That's Saturday used up.

At some point I have to go get the hamburger meat, hotdogs and a few other things. The reunion is Sunday afternoon.

I'm hoping there are enough left overs that I won't have to cook on Monday, and with a little luck, I won't see anyone all day.

I'll have pictures next week of what I finish on my To Do list, and if the cake turns out, I'll have a picture of it. I'm trying to polish up my limited decorating skills since the next weekend I'm making a My Little Pony cake for The Banty Hen. That girl lives and breathes My Little Pony.

I guess this sounds like I'm complaining--I'm not really. I love making things for my grandchildren, and doing for others. Besides, I get paid for the tablecloths in BBQ, and boy is it good.

I'll keep you posted on how things progress.

I hope you are having a great day. Love each other.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

2011-05-23T12:00:00.003-05:00

We here in the mid south(namely Arkansas) continue to have rain. Along with that rain comes thunder, lightening, sometimes hail and tornados. It stormed about every hour last night, nothing major, just enough to wake me from my needed rest.

I'm not complaining mind you, I still have a roof over my head, unlike those unfortunate folks in Joplin, Mo, and other places. My heart hurts for them, especially those who lost loved ones.

As I looked at the pictures on the internet of the destruction, the 1968 tornado came to my mind. It was also a troublesome year for bad weather, and a good piece of Jonesboro was stripped from it's earthly bearings. 35 lives were lost, many severly injured. I very well remember all the chaos during that time. It's been 43 years since that tornado had it's way with Jonesboro, and if you drive through those areas now, you see very little to remind you of what happened that night in mid May, but it is still very vivid in the minds of those who lived through it.

Please remember all those who have been affected by these storms.

Hope you have a good day. Love each other.

Diva Horse

2011-05-20T08:04:00.003-05:00

What is that song from Mr. Ed, something about a horse is a horse of course of course, and something about unless it's Mr. Ed. Well, there is another type of horse for a school program. It's a Diva Horse. Princess #1 has turned into a diva of sorts, and last night she was a horse. When I commented about not having ever seen a horse with pink finger and toe hooves, she informed me hers were pink because she was a diva horse. It's kinda hard to tell, but in the first pic here, you can see her ears and mane made of knitting yarn. The second pic is a side view and shows her tail.

We are so pleased with the school that 3 of my grandchildren attend. The kids are happy going there and they are always involved in something. A couple of months ago, Princess #2, and her cousin Superhero were in a program where everyone was bugs. They allow the parents to come up with a costume(nothing elaborate) and it's such fun to see what some of them look like. P#2 was a ladybug, and Superhero was a lightening bug(firefly if you aren't from the South).

P#1 was in last nights program, and it was called, 'The Cheese Stands Along', based on the song, 'The Farmer in the Dell'. There was the farmer, his wife, the nurse, the child, the dog, the cat, the rat and of course the longsuffering Cheese.

Some of the children were dressed as cheese from all over the world. The cutest one was string cheese. The rest of the kids were divided up into farm hands(cowboy hats, plaid shirts, etc) and various farm animals. They all sang, some had lines, and everyone did a great joy. The director introduced the different groups and they were given the opportunity to take a bow. Having this opportunity to be in the spotlight and being praised for a job well done is such a wonderful way to build self-esteem in these young children. I was not only proud of my granddaughter, but of everyone's grandchildren on the stage.

Hope the sun is smiling on your face today. Love one another.

The Flood of Ought 11

2011-05-19T11:23:00.004-05:00

This year's flood through the Mississippi River Delta will go down in history along with the 27 and 37 overflows. The levee system is much better now than it was then. In fact, I doubt there were any levees back then. When the river overflowed, it just meandered wherever it found a low spot.

I live in a small town on the banks of the Kahlua colored St. Francis River(pictured here). It's always this muddy, thus the name Kahlua colored. This picture shows how close to the top of the levee the water came. Just below the bridge in this picture, the levee had to have some reinforcement to keep it from overflowing. I have heard that if that had indeed happened, plans were in place to evacuate us.

The St. Francis River has it's head waters in Missouri. We feed out of Lake Wappella. However, we do feed into the Mississippi, just quite a good ways on down the river.

I live about 3 blocks from the river. This picture shows my yard, even though that isn't my house. The water came up to my house, but didn't get in. I have a crawl space, so it would have taken quite a bit of water to actually get in. Thankfully, I didn't have to find out just how much it would require.

We fared so much better than so many during this trying time. I was never without basic necessities, I don't have to file insurance reports on any damage(other than we considered asking for government assistance for the garden). It looked pretty sad for a while, and we lost a few things, but not so much that we'll go hungry this winter.

I was able to get to work each day with only minimal worry about what I might find when I got home. Fortunately, one of my neighbor/friends called and gave me updates from time to time so I wouldn't worry. All in all I really wasn't inconvenienced in any way by the flood.

Unfortunately, there are so many who have been inundated and still have water/mud in their homes and have lost so much. Many have already started rebuilding already, especially along the Black River. I doubt I'll ever see this type of flood again in my lifetime. This is a part of history. Someday our children and grandchildren will watch footage and see pictures on some weather documentary, just as we see pictures of the floods back in 27 and 37. I'm sure they will look just a foreign to our offspring as those pictures do to us. Hopefully, we won't have to deal with it again.

Hope you are having a good day. Love each other.

T-Ball and A Birthday Party

2011-05-18T14:39:00.004-05:00

Hello everyone. It's been quite a while since I posted. Don't know why. Just one of those things.

However, I want to tell you about my youngest granddaughter's T-Ball game. I went last night to watch her 'play'. She was fine when it was her turn to hit the ball and run the bases. However, her attention span gets very short when it's time to stand out in the infield waiting on a ball to be hit in your direction.

Most of the time, she wandered around. There was an older gentleman(I'm assuming he was there to help), out on the field near 1st base. She would go over and stand up against him like he was her best friend and talk to him. Her mother said they had never seen him before. She doesn't usually take up with strangers. But then one time while she was on 3rd base, she was showing the coach her belly.

They are all cute. She's almost 4, and I really think some were younger. It was fun watching all of them with caps a little bit too big, trying to keep their gloves on their little hands, and running. They were so adorable.

My next to the oldest grandson turned 14 on the 16th of this month. My how times flies whether you are having fun or not. We bowled, ate pizza and had cake and ice cream. He got Chicago Cubs baseball tickets for his birthday. He told his other granny, it was the best birthday ever.

I hope this post finds everyone having a good day. Be nice to someone.

Where Have I Been and What Have I Been Doing?

2010-10-20T14:30:00.013-05:00

Since my trip in September, I have been unable to find the docking station for my camera. I keep thinking the battery is going to die soon, but in the meantime, I have been able to make a few pictures of what I've been up to. This two piece suit has kept me busy for a few days. There are two of them, one for each of the princesses. One a size 6, the other a size 7. I have come to learn to hate making multiples of anything. The first one was no problem, but I had to beat myself over the head to get the second one finished. I purposely left the first one unhemmed so it wouldn't be finished until the other one was as well. It's sad when you have to play mind games with yourself to get things done. I have to tell you a little history about this fabric. The mother of the two princesses was a bride's maid in a wedding 13 years ago. For each function she attended, I made her a new outfit. This is some of the fabric I used to make a suit for her. I have no idea why I would have bought so much, but when I figured it up, I had to have used about 2 yards for her suit, 1 yard each for the girls, making 4 yards, and I have two left. That means I bought about 6 yards of this fabric. I must have gotten a real deal. I have plenty left to make the banty hen a jumper and even a vest for superhero(if his dad will let him wear it.) The jacket is a chanel style that is short. The skirts are pleated like a kilt. I think the girls will wear black turtle necks and leggins.

The other thing I've been doing is working on a rocker. It's one I found out in my storage building. Most of the varnish has long since gone, and the boards in the seat had separated as you can see by the pictures. I got out my mouse sander and worked on it for about two hours one Saturday morning. Since I work full time, that's about the only time I have to work on anything.

I think it's a cute rocker and will look really cute once I get it painted and some cushions made for it. My plan is to stencil something on the back and down the center. Make a cushion for the seat and a roll pillow for the back. But first things first.

I used wood glue to fill in the crack and some wood filler on a few other places that needed some attention. I put clamps on the chair to hold it in place until the glue had time to set. The instructions said overnight. That took up the rest of that weekend. So, finally the next Saturday, I was able to put two coats of primer on it. I'm painting it white by the way, so of course the primer is also white. I don't have any pictures of the chair after priming, but if the weather cooperates, I should have a couple of coats of paint on it this coming weekend. I've got more sanding and smoothing to do as well, but I think it's going to be a really cute chair for a little girl's room.

Sorry to have been away so long. Love one another.

Bloglines.com Going Away!!

2010-09-15T12:52:00.002-05:00

If you use Bloglines.com to get to your blogs, you have seen this message:

As you may have heard, we are sorry to share that Bloglines will officially shut down on October 1, 2010.
More detail can be found on the Ask.com blog - http://blog.ask.com.
We want to make it as easy as possible to transport your feeds to another RSS aggregator, so below are some simple instructions:

I'm not talented at using these types of tools, so when I found Bloglines, I thought I had died and gone to blogland heaven(not really, but it's so convenient). I had added the blogs I read each day, and the nice thing about it is that as new posts are done, the blog name shows up in BOLD. That way you only click on the blogs with new information. And as we all know saving key strokes allows for more time to actually read our favorite blogs. Also, I can login to Bloglines.com no matter where I am, and presto, right there before me are all the blogs I need to see.

Therefore,I have a cry for help. If you know a great RSS aggregator, please tell me about it. I just don't think I can make it without this type of service.

I hope you are having a great day. Pray for our nice weather to continue. Love one another.

#@% BUGS

2010-09-10T14:00:00.002-05:00

We were without electricity last night after the power station was hit by lightening. It went out about 8:15 last night, and didn't come back on until 7:40 this morning. Needless to say, I had to open the windows and try to get a cool breeze, which I was able to do.

However, the bugs singing outside my window were terribly annoying. They sang alllllll night long. Then there was the generators that keep the sewer pumping stations going down the street, and the one that keep the water pumping up the street.

Needless to say, I kinda like having to be closed up in my house with the a/c running so I can sleep--peacefully.

But I did think about what it would be like to be blind and have to get around all the time in the dark. How fortunate I am to have my sight.

I hope you have power today. Pray for those in the California gas explosion. Love one another.

My Daughter's Birthday!!

2010-09-09T14:58:00.005-05:00

Today is my youngest child's birthday, and even though I remembered the day, I got the age wrong. I commented on her facebook page that she is 31 today when actually she is 32. I just can't catch a break. This first picture is of her at about 6 or 7(I'm sure I'll be corrected, if that's not right).
This picture is of her in senior high.
Thirty two years ago, I was one miserable camper. It was a Saturday, my then husband was golfing, and before he left that morning, he said don't go to the hospital til I get home about 6pm. He got home about 6pm and almost to the minute, my water broke. My beautiful little girl was born about 9pm that night. I didn't believe in prolonged labor.
This last picture is her senior picture. Happy Birthday Daughter#2.

These pictures are courtesy of Princess#1. Saturday she and the rest of the grandchildren were at the house. She asked if she could take some pictures. I said sure as long as none are of me. She took 47, many of which were pictures hanging on the wall(hopefully the spiderwebs don't show up). These are 3 of the ones she took.

I hope you are having a great day. Pray for those in the wildfires out west and those in the flood around Dallas. Love one another.

I Brought No Luck To The Cardinals!!

2010-09-08T11:00:00.011-05:00

When we arrived at the ballpark on Saturday, they were doing a photo session with fans. We didn't get there in time for me to get on the field(the number was limited, but we got close enough to get some long(and I mean long)shots of my favorite player, Yadier Molina.
We took a few pictures, went to the Team Store and bought me a shirt, and made our way to our seats.
The rest of these pictures are taken of the stadium from our seats. We were in section 342 which lines up with first base. From where we were sitting, we had a straight line from first to second base.
We had a good view of everything. I missed seeing one play at first, but that was the fellow's head in front of me. I got to see Molina throw Brandon Phillips out at second base. I got to see Dennys Reyes pitch to a couple of batters. He's my favorite relief pitcher. Brenden Ryan played shortstop. He's one of my favorites too. I do miss Ryan Ludwick, but I guess that's all part of the game.
We had been listening on tv to the booing that was being done when Brandon Phillips came out to bat, and it was definitely loud, but it was nothing to how it sounded in person. They booed him every time he came out, and cheered when he missed a ball or was called out on strikes. When Molina threw him out at second, the crowd was on their feet cheering.

It was a fun day. I got to spend time with my brother and SIL, we got to see a good ballgame(even though we didn't win).

I hope you had a great Labor Day. Pray for those in need. Love one another.

Plans for Saturday!!

2010-09-03T10:46:00.004-05:00

This weekend is a three game series with Cincinati. So, about a month ago, I asked my brother and sister-in-law about attending a Cardinals game on Sep 4th. My SIL is a Red's fan, and I am a Cards fan. My poor brother isn't a fan of either, and doesn't follow baseball too closely. He's going along to do the driving, and the refereeing(is that a word?). My brother's wife has been my SIL for over 40 years and we've never had a cross word. That statement may not be true after Saturday. If you watch the Cards or the Reds, keep an eye out for a couple of women fighting up above home plate. My poor brother will be in the middle.

My daughter commented, 'What has Uncle Larry gotten himself into?' I told her he didn't get himself into anything, he was dragged in. Katherin and I made plans and told him what we were doing and don't think he was given a choice.

We'll leave about 9am and the game starts at 3:15pm. We'll stop somewhere along the way and have lunch, the game should be over about 6ish, unless they go into extra innings, and we should drag our tired selves in about midnight. But it will be a good day. We have fun when we are together. And truly, I'm not terribly concerned about any fights, unless our seats are surrounded by lots of Card fans, and her Red's shirt causes trouble. In that case, brother and I will be called on to protect her.

The weather should be nice, and it will be a wonderful day. Then on Monday, I'm going to make something for lunch and the kids will be around to eat, and maybe the bro and sil will be there too. Aren't three day weekends wonderful?

I hope you are having a good day and have planned a good weekend for yourself and your family. Pray for safe travel on the roads this weekend. Love one another.

My visit to Eastern Tennessee!

2010-09-02T14:50:00.018-05:00

I have friends(yes, real friends)in Eastern Tennessee. I left NE Arkansas Thursday morning and arrived at their home around 3 in the Afternoon. Jan, Con, three dogs and five cats greeted me. They live in a very nice home surrounded by woods. It makes for a wonderful place for their animals to run. They commune with nature too. She has four hummer feeders and as we sat on the porch in the evnings and mornings, they buzzed us as they came to feast on the feeders and on the flowers in the yard and around the fountain. There is a little green frog that lives in the fountain. He comes out and sits on the rim, but if you get too close, he dives back into the pump housing. Jan has a beautiful stained glass lotus blossom she made in the pond that the frog sits on as well.

I was treated to a scrumptous meal of roast, potatoes, carrots, wheat rolls and applie pie. I think I made a pig of myself, but I was hungry.

On Friday, we visited with Jan's mom and dad. Then along with Don, we went over to Sgt York's home. In case you don't know or don't remember, he was a WWI hero, and the most decorated veteral of that war. He came from humble beginnings in the hills of Tennessee, and a movie was made about his life starring Gary Cooper. You can read about him here. This is the grist mill his family owned and operated.
This is the water source that powered the mill in it's early days. It was later changed to some sort of motor driven grinding mechanism.

This is the turtle we saw at the edge of the stream. Don't know exactly what kind it was.

The picture below is yours truly standing by the statue of Sgt York beside his home. Don't know why I didn't get any of the house. The house was very interesting. The original furniture is there(and what I wouldn't give for some of it). Several of their clothes are on display. His now 84 year old son is the park ranger that spends his days there at the house telling about the life of his famous father. I asked him if he realized when he was a kid that his dad was such an important man, especially when very important people came calling. He said no he didn't. Anyone who knocked on the door was welcomed in, and people from every walk of life came to their home. The Yorks had 10 children, losing two in infancy, they raised eight to adulthood. The thing I thought was funny was the names of some of the children. The ranger was Andrew Jackson York, one of the brothers was Thomas Jefferson York and a sister was named Betsy Ross York. He was a true patriot, a person who had greatness thrust upon him, but struggled financially all through his adult life.

On Saturday, we drove to Chatanooga to the Fresh Water Acquarium. Along the way, we stopped at the overlook to the valley below. It was hazy that day, but still quite beautiful.

Once inside the acquarium, we found this fellow. Can you tell which is me and which is the penguin?

The butterfly room was awesome. There were butterflys everywhere. The blue one was the most beautiful I'd ever seen. When it's wings were open like in the picture, you see this beautiful blue, but when they are closed, the outside looks like a tapestry in browns.

Jan left Don and me to rest while she went to get the truck. I thought this building was interesting across from the bench on which we sat.
I had a wonderful(but too short)time with my friends. On the way home I got to thinking how long we've known each other. We met in late 1994, so it's been 16 years. My how time flies. Seems like only yesterday.

I hope you are having a wonderful Thursday. Pray that the newest explosion in the Gulf doesn't prove to be as tragic as the last one. Love one another.

Procrastination!

2010-09-01T16:22:00.008-05:00

That's me alright. I have been procrastinating, and school started back for the University with whom I'm employed, so time in front of computer at work has been at the max, and time in front of the one at home--almost non-existent.
I'd like to thank Katie from One Scheme of Happiness for sending me the book and the knitted badger in the picture. I brought my badger whose name is now Katie to work. She's too cute to leave home in my sewing room. Besides, she might get lost in there.

I told you a while back about a bookcase/entertainment/china cabinet that I scored 'For Free'. Below are some of the pictures of it. It is 6 ft wide, and I think 8 feet tall. I haven't measured it to be exact, but I'm going by the pieces of backing. There are two of them and they are laid sideways.

I could leave the backing, but I want to remove it and put beadboard on the back. I think that will look much better. I also want to remove the scallops at the top, and put some trim and crown molding across the front. The ends will also have to have something done to them, maybe a bit more bead board. I want to paint it black, and I have the perfect place picked out for it(Kids, not in my house) my son has already told me he isn't putting it in my house. There isn't room, and he's absolutely right.

I'm not sure what I will do to the doors. I don't know if I'll fill in the groove near the edges or what, but the hardware will at least need painting. I'd rather not have to replace it because I'm going to have enough in the beadboard and trim, but I hope to have something pretty when it's finished. In the meantime, we're calling it my white elephant.

I'm not planning to do to much to it until it cools off a bit, and I have a wooden rocker I want to do first. it's much smaller and shouldn't be too much work. I think it's going to be white with some stenciling on the back rest. But we'll see.

I hope you are having a good day. We got a bit of rain this afternoon. Pray for the people at the Discovery Building. Love one another.

Where Have I Been?

2010-08-18T13:29:00.002-05:00

I was attacked by a virus last Thursday. It took until Monday to get rid of it and me back on track. Yesterday was a catch up day. Hopefully, I won't get another one of those lovely things. If you want to know the truth, I think I got it from another blogger, because I was reading along on a blog, and everything closed zip, zap, zowee!! Just like that! I could restart my pc and work on anything that was local, no problemo. I could send and receive email, and I had internet access, but when I would attempt to open Internet Explorer, I'd get a message saying 'failure to initialize'. We ran one virus scan 4 times on Friday, and again on Monday. Each time finding something I hadn't seen before. Then we changed to another virus checking software and found some the other hadn't. This nasty piece of work actually changed some of the settings on my Internet Explorer, and it finally took two of us sitting side by side with my pc and a laptop, and comparing settings. Needless to say, I'm back on line, and a measley little ole virus isn't going to keep me away from blogland.

I have some more projects in the works, and lots to do, so come back and see what I'm up to(that is if my kids don't put me in the home first). They think I've lost my mind, and they may be right. They keep telling me they are reporting me to Hoarder's Anomymous. Actually, I'm reducing things as quickly as possible. I just have to work on some before they leave. I found a rocking chair and two chairs in the storage building which is getting torn down. I also found a Holly Hobby babydoll high chair. I had thought about painting it, but I think a good cleaning is all I'm going to do. I have a feeling it's worth some money. It's in mint condition, just dirty.

What projects are lurking around the corner for you?

I hope you are having a great Wednesday. Pray for those deluged in water around the world. Love one another.

One Goal!

2010-08-12T11:17:00.007-05:00

Do you remember the song from Sesame Street, you know the one that said "Three of these things belong together, three of these things are kinda the same"? Well, that's what I'm going for here in an offbeat sort of way.
Just looking at the four pictures here, you probably couldn't in a million years find any connection to even get two of them together, but there is a connection.
The first three are connected because they go into the princesses room. The first one is the first initial of their first names. They aren't finished. I had planned to paint them the turquoise that is in their bedding, and may still do so. Their parents have painted the bedroom two colors. The top half of the room is a soft yellow and the bottom half is a pink. This will be divided by a chair rail, but I don't know what color it will be. They are putting it up today. I will need to ask their mother what color she wants the letters painted. I don't know if she will hang them on the wall or maybe set them on a shelf(that is assuming each girl has her own shelf). Another decision mom will have to make. The second is three girls dancing. There are only two girls, but I got this for a dollar at Abilities Unlimited. It was painted gold, and I'm painting it white. I have some work to do on it. It has some little holes in it, and they need to be filled with something. I thought it would look cute on their dresser. The last thing is a dresser scarf/runner that I made from some of the leftover fabric from the bedding set. It will cover most of the top and hang down about 12 inches on each side. It is very plain. I thought about trim on the ends, but that would have meant a purchase, and stash reduction is the ultimate goal here.
Then there's this little dress. I'm not very good at lace insertion and I originally made this for one of the older girls. The first time she wore it, some of the lace separated from the fabric. It has hung in the sewing room for a couple or three years, and in an effort to reduce the contents(aka stash), I did some machine stitching around the insertion using some of the decorative stitches on my machine, using a machine embroidery thread. I'm hoping that The Banty Hen will be able to get a couple of wearings out of it before summer is over.

The way all of these are connected is that 1. they will help reduce my stash, and 2. will finish some unfinished projects, and 3 get them out of my house before the hording people come.

As a side note to my children, I have another piece of furniture to play with and will be bringing it home soon. It's not as big as what's sitting on my carport right now.

I hope you enjoy driving your children crazy like I do. Pray for them. Love one another.

Stash Reduction!!

2010-08-11T09:16:00.006-05:00

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had made a new pair of slacks and they fit pretty well. So, since I can't seem to buy anything that fits, I decided it is time to work on some things for myself. As I began thinking about what I wanted to make, it dawned on me that there were three goals I could accomplish. 1. Have a few new pieces of clothing to wear. 2. Save some money, and this is an important one, 3. Reduce the amount of fabric in my stash.

It seems that about the only thing I ever do is add to my stash. I've heard a couple of gals call this a 'stash enhancement'. So, I've decided to call mine a 'stash reduction'. This 3rd thing is very important since my oldest daughter mentioned an intervention from a hoarding group - again! BTW, my hoarding isn't filth like so many of those on the show. You won't find any rotting food, empty fast food cartons, or empty wine bottles in my house. I just can't seem to pass up a bargain, but in some areas, it seems a bit out of control. Should I be attending meetings or something?

So last night, after the Reds and the Cards settled down to playing ball and not fighting, I began working on my latest project. First I got out these two pieces of fabric. Thought there was enough to make a pair of capris and a shirt. Plenty to make the shirt, but only enough to make a pair of shorts. Not to be deterred, I went ahead and cut out the shorts, since I'll need a few things for a short trip I'm taking the later part of the month.

Then I spied this piece of knit I had bought to make a top. I cut it out and had a finished shirt by bedtime.

By the way, I have this on today. The pattern amounted to a front, back, sleeve and neck binding. By using my serger,I was able to cut it out, and sew it up in about an hour and a half(this was with one eye on the ballgame too.)

Tomorrow, I will have pictures of the big bookcase that is now sitting on my carport and that my son is not happy with me for asking him to move. It's big, and it's heavy. I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew.

What project are you working on? Pray for cooler weather. Love one another.

I'm Definitely A Sucker!!

2010-08-10T09:08:00.002-05:00

I tend to be a follower. I'm easily swayed. You can talk me into almost(I said almost)anything. I go with the crowd. Whatever you want to do, I'm usually with you.

When I first started reading blogs, my daughter told me about the pioneer woman. I didn't follow her down the path of becoming a rancher's wife and having 4 children(I only have three), but as she cooked, I cooked. I thought I had to make everything she posted in the way of food. And I kept up for a while, but you have to remember, I don't have anyone to cook for on a daily basis so you know where I'm going with this. Either I eat everything I cook, or take it to work, and my grocery budget just didn't like that.

Then I decided I needed to find some sewing blogs since I do a lot of sewing. I found more quilting blogs than clothing blogs, so what did I do, I made a couple of quilts for my grandchildren. This made both them and their mother happy, and I was tickled to do it for them. But as much as I'd like to quilt, I don't seem to have the ability to put things together enough to make pretty quilts, plus I just don't know if I can commit that much energy to one project.

Then I found a couple of blogs that make adult clothes. So what did I do, I(after years of sewing primarily for small children)have decided to make myself some clothes. I made a pair of slacks over the weekend that turned out very well, so I'm planning to make more. I also want to make some capri's and a couple of pair of shorts. I intended to do some cutting out last night, but a huge bag of purple hull peas that I found in my Living room had to be shelled.

I've also been reading a blog called The Frosted Gardner. They take furniture that has seen better days, usually being that the finish is ruined from years of abuse. They do some sanding, some repair, then they paint and refurbish the pieces. So what do you think I've done? Yesterday, I found out that a fellow behind me who is remodeling a house has decided to remove a custom hutch. It was sitting on his front porch. I marched my happy self over and asked what he was planning to do with it. He said he would give it to me if I wanted it, which, of course, I did. My son will move it to my house today. I have big plans for it. If it gets moved today, I'll take some pictures when I get home tonight and post them here. I'll also tell you what my plans for this piece are, and maybe you can help me with a few minor decisions.

I hope you aren't as easily moved to do crazy things like I am. Pray for me. Love one another.

For Whom Do You Sew?

2010-08-09T15:30:00.005-05:00

If you sew that is. I like to sew for my granddaughters, but I'm the one who needs clothes. I have very few dress clothes since I mostly wear jeans to work. But I have need of some things and I can't seem to find anything that fits.

I'm 5'3, and a petite fits in length as far as leg length. But from waist to crotch even a petite is too long. I have a pair of jeans that I've been wearning for 3 years and they are pretty worn. They are too long in the seat, but I wear them anyway. I decided since they are pretty much worn out, I'd make a pattern from them and see how that worked.

I've used garments to make new ones before. Sometimes I have good luck and sometimes it's a disaster. But during my spare time, I ripped one leg out of these jeans, pressed it and used it to make a new pair of slacks.

As you can see, I'm making a pair of white slacks. I got the fabric from Hancocks, and it has the best 'hand' of anything heavy enough to make slacks I've picked up in a while. I trimmed some off at the top so they wouldn't bee too long in the seat(we've already discussed that) and sewed them up in about an hour. They don't have a zipper, but they do have pockets. I don't like pants without pockets. I wore them to church Sunday morning with a white tank top and royal blue shirt with burnout segments in it. Needless to say, I looked like a top model(and if you believe that, I've got some swamp land south of town for sale--reasonable).

I like this pair of pants enough that I've dug out enough fabric to make another pair, and think I will make a couple of pair of capri's. I'm taking a short trip the end of the month, and having something nice to wear would be great.

I'm going to start the capri's tonight. I'll let you know if I finish them before I go to bed.

I hope you've started something new and exciting this week. Pray for a break in the heat. Love one another.

Mary, Mary, How Does Your Garden Grow?

2010-08-04T14:02:00.002-05:00

The little garden my brother has planted in my yard has proffered a bit of work. As August rolls around, it's becomming more of a chore to work with the bounty. But here's a little update. The garden has cut into my sewing time also. Would you believe I'm just finishing two of the three sundresses I started back in April. Fortunately, they are running big, so I think when I finish them, they will go in the closet until Spring. Then they'll have something new to start Summer, 2011.

Back to the garden.

This is the first year in a long time I've been involved in a garden. Actually, my brother has done most of the work. We think the cucumbers and the squash crossed. We've gotten almost no squash, and the cucumbers get too big too fast. I've made lime pickles out of them.

The tomatoes haven't done well. The leaves curled up and the production has been sad. I have made some tomato juice. We had an early crop of green beans, and have now replanted in an attempt to get a second crop. We are cutting lots of okra and it looks like it will continue. We've had just enough to eat along and give my son enough to make a few quarts of pickled okra. The purple hullpeas did ok, but a friend had a big patch, so I've ended up canning about 40 quarts, and my brother has put enough in his freezer to feed a small army this winter. I also made pea hull jelly.

The small watermelon patch has about 10 melons, but the one I cut the other night had very little taste. I personally think they got in bed with the cukes and squash.

Oh well, there's always next year.

We are having an extremely hot spell. It got to 103 yesterday and is supposed to get to 101 today. If you don't have to be out, the best thing is to stay in.

I hope everyone is finding a good cool spot. Pray the heat wave won't last. Love one another.

Pea Hull Jelly

2010-07-27T12:30:00.002-05:00

I was asked about the pea hull jelly that I made. It was pretty simple. I googled it and got the following recipe:

PEA HULL JELLY

4 c. pea hull liquid
7 c. sugar
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 box sure-jell

To prepare juice; rinse 2 large handfuls of purple hull pea hulls.
This will be almost full in an 8 quart blancher pot.
Add enough water to almost cover.
Bring to a boil and simmer about 5 minutes or until liquid becomes dark reddish purple.
Strain and measure out 4 cups. May need to add water to make 4 cups.
Follow directions on package of Sure-Jell to make "cooked jellies". Yield 8 cups.

It was one of the easiest jellies I've made. I washed a bunch of pea hulls(fortunately mine were pretty clean and had no bugs, but I washed them a couple of times anyway). I put them in a big pot that I use to do tomatoes in. It has an insert with holes in it for straining. I put as much water as I thought I could without it bubbling out, and cooked them probably a half hour. The recipe said 5 minutes, but I just didn't think that would be enough. I added water about midway through the process.

Then I strained the liquid through a cloth to make sure there was no sand or anything left in the liquid, and followed the directions on the package of sure-jell.

I ended up with enough to make 4 quarts or 8 half pints.

My brother laughs every time I mention it. I gave them a jar, but I haven't gotten any feed back on whether they liked it or not.

The folks here at work liked it, but then I brought hot biscuits for them to eat it on. It tastes a bit like grape jelly.

Then I

Oh Fall Where Art Thou?

2010-07-23T15:29:00.010-05:00

My brother planted a small garden in my yard space. I didn't think it would offer a lot of veggies, but if we all got a bite or two of something, then it would be worth his time.

For the size of this plot, it has produced abundantly. First we had green beans. They were totally delish. They didn't last a long time and we didn't have enough to can. When they finished, he pulled up the vines and re-planted. We don't know if they will make before cool weather, but no reason to allow the space to go to waste.

We are getting several tomatoes, lots of cucumbers(most of them are going to our step-mother. She's making pickles). We are getting bell peppers. They are small, but will be great in soups and other recipes this winter. Once the okra started bearing, it has been a real treat. We've had several 'messes' and should have okra until fall. My son got enough to make some pickled okra last week.

Our pea patch didn't last very long, but my brother began picking from a patch of a friend of ours. He picked a lot of peas, and my son picked enough for 3 cooker's full.

We also have a few watermelon vines. They aren't ready yet, but should be soon.

I've posted a picture of the 'fruits of my labor'. It includes peas, tomato juice and pea hull jelly. Since this picture was taken, I've canned 2 quarts, 5 pints and 2 half pints of lime pickles. I added jalepeno peppers to give them some kick. I don't know how they taste yet, but I'm hoping they will be good. The cloth on which the canning is resting belonged to my children's great great grandmother. The bowl on the easel is depression glass and belonged to my great aunt.

But I'm about ready for cool weather.
I'm also posting a few more pictures of the pillows I made for the girl's room. I'm glad this project is finished. I haven't seen the room yet, and don't know if it's been painted or not.
The girls are going to Nana and Papaw's for a week to attend Bible School. I figure the kids will paint while they are gone.

Now I have their dresses to finish and on to something else. I really need to do some housecleaning, but don't know how much will get done.

What have you been doing during this hot weather? Pray for a reprieve from the heat. Love one another.

What I Should Have Learned!

2010-07-15T13:22:00.002-05:00

When you have a commute to work, you have time to think about things. So this morning, my thoughts took me to things I should have learned. Things I should have learned from my mother when I was a kid. Things I should have learned from my grand-mother-in-law after I married(way too young)and she had to finish raising me. Things I should have learned from reaching out to others who had information I could have used later in life.

My nephew is going through some difficulty, and has been on my mind a lot lately. I think one of the things I should have learned early on and something he is learning the hard way is that life(real life, not the board game)is the hardest game you will ever play. I've digressed.

Yesterday, I was out looking for some dill weed for my son who is the pickle maker in the family. The lady, who was gracious enough to give me some, even though I offered to pay for it, and I were talking about how Mrs. Rosie(my grandmother-in-law)used stems and whatever else she could get when making pickles. So this morning, on the way to work I was thinking about her and all she had to offer in the way of knowledge. Why didn't I ask more questions? Why didn't I pay closer attention when she was making pickles and chow chow, and canning vegetables? Looking back(and I know you are going to say 'Hind sight's 20,20')I should have been at her elbow and looking over her shoulder, taking notes and learning everything she had in her vast intelligent mind.

My mother taught me to sew, crochet and make a mean pan of biscuits. I was only 19 when she died, but why didn't I know how to churn, how to make butter. Why didn't I learn to quilt rather than sit and read a book. She and Mrs. Rosie were veritible fountains of knowledge, and I allowed all that knowledge to go to the grave with them when I could have had it in my head or in a notebook.

A lady from our church quilted beautiful quilts. I expressed a desire to learn to quilt, and she offered on more than one occasion to teach me. Did I take her up on that...you know I didn't.

So now I have to do what so many people who want to make things are having to do. I'm having to go to the internet. If there's something in particular I want to do, I google it and find out all the information I can. The ladies I've mentioned above would have imparted their knowledge and wisdom(a subject for another day)with love, love for the craft, love for the sharing, and love for me. However, google just spits it out. No love with that knowledge.

If you have an opportunity to learn something from someone who has been there and done that, don't pass it up. Learn all you can from older people. They are an absolute wealth of knowledge.

I hope you learn something new from someone else, not the internet. Pray that we have people who will teach us about life. Love one another.

All Finished!

2010-07-14T15:14:00.004-05:00

The quilts I've worked on since April are completely finished. I made the quilt tops, and had them quilted. I fell out of the sewing mood, and they sat for a couple of weeks(about a month actually), then I put the binding on them and gave them to the girls. Next I made the pillow shams, but they seemed a little blah, so I laid them aside for a couple of days(about a week actually).
I made wide bias binding and stitched it around the shams, and they looked much better. I made two little square pillows and added some bling I found in my sewing stash(girls, what would we do without our stash?). The bolster pillows have a section in the middle that has their initial embroidered and a pair of flip flops appliqued on them.

When their mother took them in, the girls got excited and both said they felt rich. Doesn't take much to make two little girls happy. I was a bit worried they might argue over which got which little pillow since they are different, but they didn't. I just know they slept much better last night for having their new pillows. They now just need their parents to paint their room. They are two very lucky little girls. They have wonderful parents.

I hope you have had something lately to make you feel rich, whether it's financial, inspirational or anything else that can make a person feel rich. Pray for someone special to you. Love one another.

A Shrimp Recipe

2010-07-09T16:32:00.003-05:00

We played cards last night, and the hostess served shrimp creole and an appetizer called 'Bang Bang Shrimp'. Her husband is a fabulous cook, and he did the cooking. The recipe for the Shrimp came from a place in Memphis Tn called BoneFish Grill. I'm putting the recipe in my blog because 1. I can, and 2. It is wonderful. If you enjoy shrimp, you will thank me at least a hundred times for putting it out here.

The recipe is not hot, hot, it just has a bit of heat left on the palette after you swallow. Not enough to burn or make you grab a glass of something to drink, but just the taste. I don't know that I'm going to buy the bottle of Hot Chili sauce just for 3 drops, so I'm going to leave that out the first time I make it, then I'll decide if I think it's important enough to add it in the next time. Then if I see I'm going to make it often, I'll splurge on the Sriracha hot Chili Sauce.

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup Thai Sweet Chili Sauce
3 drops Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce (or to taste)
1 pound shelled and deveined shrimp
Dry cornstarch
oil for frying
lettuce
chopped scallions

Directions:

Mix mayonnaise with Thai Sweet Chili Sauce. Add hot sauce to taste. Dredge the shrimp in cornstarch. Deep fat fry the shrimp until lighty brown. Drain on paper towel, put in a bowl and coat with the sauce. Serve in a lettuce lined bowl, top with chopped scallions.

This recipe for Bonefish Grill's Bang Bang Shrimp serves four.

I hope you've had a wonderful post 4th of July week. It hasn't been quite as hot as a few weeks ago, but still pretty warm. Pray for those less fortunate than yourself. Love one another.

Half This Year Is Gone!!

2010-07-01T15:39:00.002-05:00

Just the other day, I was trying to remember to use '2010' rather than '2009' on my checks. Now, suddenly, I am writing 'July' on everything. Where has the time gone? It's funny how time flies whether you are having fun or not.

Have I accomplished anything this year? Not much! Am I exercising like I was sure I would? Not Much! Have I cleaned out my sewing room? Nope! I'm just 6 months older is about all.

Are you doing anything special for the 4th of July? Since we had the big catfish feast last week, I'm not really planning to do much of anything. I'll have 3 days off, and the weather is a bit nicer than it has been, so maybe I'll get a few things done. One thing that is really needed is to clean my vehicle out on the inside. It needs to be vaccumned and all the interior dusted and wiped down. I even bought one of those long handled sponge washer thingee's like you see on tv(except I got mine at Bed Bath & Beyond)to wash the inside of the windshield about 6 months ago, and it's still in the package. Who knows, maybe this weekend, I'll break it out and get busy.

We're getting purple hull peas, okra and cucumbers out of the garden. Our squash has been disappointing. We've gotten a few bell peppers, and some several messes of green beans. I think they are going to be removed and replanted for a second harvest. The tomatoes have been loaded, but the leaves have curled up and they look awful. We either have a bad case of heat stress or possible contamination from chemicals used on the farms nearby. We've had a few ripe ones, and since the weather has cooled, we'll see if they do better.

Oh, and we have watermelons. Right now there are 4 that are pretty good sized, and more small ones in the vines. I'm just hoping they don't taste like squash.

I hope you are planning a perfect holiday. Be sure to thank God for his kindness in allowing us to live in this country. Remember all those who serve and have served to give us the freedoms we enjoy. Love one another.

Hush Puppies

2010-06-29T13:11:00.005-05:00

As I mentioned, our fish fry was a success. I have had a couple of folks ask for the recipe I used for the hush puppies. I actually used parts of 3 different recipes and I think they turned out great. Everyone else said they liked them as well. Here's the recipe.

Hush puppies Serves 20

2 cups self rising corn meal mix – yellow or white
2 cups self rising flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
2 Tbsp sugar

Mix all the dry ingredients together.

1 large onion chopped finely
1 or 2 jalepeno peppers center and seeds removed, chopped finely(optional)

Add onion to dry mixture.
2 eggs
1 cup milk
¾ cup buttermilk, more if necessary to moisten mixture completely.

Stir until all combined. Drop into hot grease.(about 350 to 375 degrees)
May be cut in half for smaller batch.

After making ½ of the recipe, add the jalepeno’s and fry up the rest.
I used only one jalepeno, and you could see they were there, but you couldn't really taste them, so next time, I'm using two.

I hope everyone is having a great Tuesday. Pray for those affected by the oil spill. Love one another.

Lightening Could Strike Twice!

2010-06-28T15:29:00.006-05:00

I know you are wondering why you are seeing this big scratch looking thing on this hand. This is my son 'The Contractor'. This is where he was struck by lightening on Thursday. He was putting away the water hose when he heard a clap of thunder off in the distance, but didn't think much of it until he got struck. This place is more like a gouge than a scratch, and the skin on it is gone. He also has a big red place on the inside of his hand below his thumb.
It scared the bejesus out of him, and frightened his 7 year old son 'Superhero' shown here. Fortunately, he wasn't hurt. And we have teased him unmercifully about it.
Friday night when the cloud came up and it began to thunder, he gathered all the kids inside. His new motto is 'If you can hear it thunder, it's time to take cover.'
If only it had trimmed that thing on his chin.
I spoke with him today, and he said his hand was a little sore and looked like it was trying to get infected. It's in such a hard place to keep covered since he works out in the heat all day and gets sweaty and dirty. I'm just so thankful that he wasn't hurt any worse than he was, and hope there's no residual damage anywhere in his body.

Our birthday supper for my sister-in-law was a great success, even if she did make her own cake/cakes. She made a chocolate and pineapple cake. We had more fish than we could possibly eat. My hushpuppies turned out very well if I do say so myself, my nephew made slaw that was wonderful, and we had pickles, onions, tarter sauce, green tomato pickles. It was all so very good. I think everyone had a good time. We had 20 in attendance. The contractor did the cooking, and we did the eating. He also catches the fish we eat. He and his friend have nets in the river.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend and are happy to be back to doing what you do on Mondays. Pray for rain. We need it badly. Love one another.

Friday Thoughts And The Quilts!

2010-06-25T12:28:00.008-05:00

I've been on my soap box this morning. What else is new about that, right?

There are some things that just 'bug' me. The obits in the local paper seem to hit a nerve often. In the last few years, the paper has begun charging for anything over a certain number of words, thus allowing family members to write the obit for their recently deceased loved one. Today a 95 year old lady is in the column. There are quite a number of nice things said, but the phrase that got me is, and I quote, 'She was admired for her spunk, her fire for life and her ABILITY TO ACCESSORIZE'. Accessorize????? Something tells me that just isn't right. I've ranted about the obituary process here before, but when is someone going to help people write these things.

I guess if you allow someone to list all their honors and medals for bravery(which I don't have a problem with), then they have to allow folks to list that their brother had a love of flower arranging and that great Aunt Mabel took a plane ride to Heaven, or that cousin Sam is playing drums in that great band in the sky. If you knew these people, you already knew all these wacky details, if not, then ignorance is bliss. I personally don't care that the 95 year old lady could accessorize. I found it nice that she was a member of a church and that she had taught school and Sunday school, but I just don't care if her jewelry matches her clothes, handbag and shoes.

I've decided that it is important that I write my own obituary. Here is what it should say. Memaw Bakes died (insert date). She has 3 children(insert names here) and 6 grandchildren(insert names here). There will be no visitation, no service. There will be a yard sale at her home(insert address here) next week. She hopes to be missed.

Today is my sister-in-law's birthday. We are having a fish fry in her honor tonight, even though she made her own birthday cake. My son is frying up some catfish, and there'll be about 20 of us in attendance. I'm hoping this will be a great birthday for her since it's her first in Arkansas in a while. Her youngest son and his girlfriend has come home to help her celebrate. Then tomorrow, her sister and her parents will be at her house. Happy Birthday, sister-in-law
I'm getting close on the bedding for the girls.
The quilts are finished, but as I told you yesterday, I'm not happy with the pillow shams. I've attached a couple of pictures so you can see what is finished. I think you will agree the shams need a little something to make them stand out just a bit.

I hope you've had a wonderful week. Pray for more rain(this worked yesterday). Love one another.

I Updated My Photo!

2010-06-24T13:49:00.004-05:00

I have a friend who is having a birthday Friday. She along with the rest of the girls are going to the lake to celebrate. I have other plans for the weekend, so I'm not going along.

I did get a gift to send and decided that it needed something special, something personal, something she will treasure for many years to come----probably not!

When you get to be our ages, it's difficult to come up with anything cute and cheap. These are the main two criteria for any gift I give, well, the cheap part anyway. I got her a Tervis tumbler, and a notepad--no connection between the two--the tumbler holds a lot of liquid, doesn't leave any rings and doesn't sweat. The note pad is small and cute, about the size of a cell phone(I went to the middle and up at the top of one of the pages, left a note). But the part of the gift on which I absolutely outdid myself is the framed picture of ME. The gift is in a cute little bag, with lots of tissue paper. The frame is neatly wrapped in some of the same paper, and hopefully she will open it last.

My intent is that if I can't be there in person to look at, they can have my picture. I told one of the other girls to be sure and keep it sitting in a place of honor while they are there. If I can't be there to keep them laughing, then they will just have to laugh when they look at my goofy picture. And by the way, the picture I have added to my profile here is that picture.

I thought everyone could get a kick out of it.

I've been sewing every night this week, and am just about finished with the granddaughter's bedding. I'm not happy with the pillow shams. They are just too plain. I'd show them here and let all of you(being my best friends) help me decide what to do with them, but alas, the pictures are on my camera at HOME. I think I'm going to take some of the left over turquoise/teal fabric, make some bias tape with it, and stitch it around where the holding seam is on them now. They just need a splash of color to make them stand out. The binding on the quilts looks pretty good for an amateur. Their mother just needs to decide what color to paint their rooms and get that done. I have a couple of throw pillows that I'm going to put their initials on and applique some flip flops onto a segment that is the backing fabric so they will show up. If you want to see the quilts prior to being quilted, you can go here. I should have everything finished by the weekend and will definitely have some new pictures. What do you think about painting the bedroom a pretty white?

I hope you are staying cool. It's thundering outside here. Pray for much needed rain. Love one another.

The End of Another Week!!

2010-06-18T15:38:00.002-05:00

Another week has now come to an end. It's been hotter than the hubs around here this week and we see no end in sight. Every day, we have small dots of afternoon showers, but for some reason, it doesn't seem to rain where I am. We are watering the garden every couple of days, and have picked some green beans.

They are really good too. I picked them the first time and shared them with my brother who has done all the work on the garden(wasn't that nice of me). He picked them yesterday and shared them with me. I broke mine last night and am giving them to my daughters. I'm hoping we have enough to can a few jars just to be able to say we've canned them.

My brother has decided that the squash and cucumbers have mixed. Not that hasn't hurt the squash except they aren't bearing like I think they should, but the straight dark skinned cucumbers are coming off long crooked and very pale in color. They taste fine, they just aren't what he thought he planted. I'm going to look for a kosher dill recipe and see if we can make some chunk pickles out of them. Should be interesting.

Princess #2 is spending the night tonight. Her older sister is playing in a ball tournament tomorrow and her mother didn't think she'd make it all day in the hot sun with nothing to do, so she's going to come help me sew. She likes to sit on a stool beside my sewing maching and hand me pins. I hope to get their quilts finished and their pillow shams done. The quilts need to be finished around the edges, so that shouldn't take too long. And we'll see how long it takes to make two shams. With her help, it may take a while.

We are having a fish fry next weekend for my sister-in-law's birthday, and I have volunteered to make the hush puppies(the ones my son makes are absolutely inedible) and I have a couple of new recipes. I'm going to try one out tomorrow just to see if they turn out ok. There may be about 20 of us, so I'll need quite a few. One of the recipes serves 20, or I may have to just double one of the others.

Otherwise, I'm just planning to stay in where it's cool. I hope the princess brings some good movies, since I'm sure we'll be watching them most of the day tomorrow.

I hope you have had a good week. Pray for those in distress. Love one another.

Banty Hen is 3!!!

2010-06-14T14:49:00.006-05:00

We celebrated the Banty Hen's 3rd birthday Saturday. She thinks she is a princess, and she loves pink. So it only stands to reason that she had a pink princess cake. Opening presents was a chore since what she really wanted to do was play on the slip n slide her mother bought. All the kiddos enjoyed sliding and playing in the water.

I didn't get a picture of her in her new dress, since she was having none of trying anything on to show everyone. There just wasn't time. I have two more of these beauties to make. The ones I'm making for the older girls are also sundresses, but they also have a collar on them. Maybe before summer, I'll get a picture of all three in their colorful dresses.

Here are a couple of pictures of my lace cap hydrangeas. They have been loaded with blooms this year, but I have two bushes on either side that are trying to smother this one out. They are Burning Bushes, and are huge. I asked my son to either cut them back to the base, or pull them out. I'll probably go home one afternoon and they'll be gone. But whatever is easiest for him is what I perfer. He's busy, but manages to work things in for me.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I know I did. I also picked green beans out of our garden. I got almost 4 lbs, and after sharing part of them with my brother who has done all the work, I snapped, washed and cooked them almost done last night.

I'm getting ready for company from Tuesday night until Thursday morning, and am excited about seeing my friend.

Have a great day. Pray for the families who lost loved ones in the flood in Central Arkansas this past weekend. Love one another.

I Just Can't Seem to Make Myself Post!

2010-06-10T14:53:00.002-05:00

I have been really bad about not posting lately(not that anyone has really noticed). Thing is that many of the blogs I normally read daily aren't posting much either.

It's not that I haven't had anything to post about lately, just don't seem to have the 'want to' to put things into print.

I've been pretty busy. I'm working on three sundresses for the granddaughters, I haven't finished the quilts for the girl's rooms yet(although they have been quilted), my Cardinals have lost the last three ballgames. I think they should come back home and stay away from the west coast.

The garden that my brother has been growing is beginning to have some veggies close to being ready. I did pick two squash the other night. They could have been a bit bigger, but I just couldn't stand it any longer, so I picked them. I slice them thinly, chopped up a shallot, and sauteed them in a little butter and olive oil. It only took a couple of minutes. I drained them on a paper towel, and they were delicious.

The grandchildren are now out of school. The girls are going to church day camp every day, and Superhero is helping his dad. By the way, if I haven't already told you, Superhero got the Math Award for his Kindergarden class. Princess #2 got a Respectful award in her Kindergarden class, and Princess #1 got the Math, Language, Spelling, Reading, and three other awards in her 1st grade class. About the only thing she didn't get was the perfect attendance award.

But best of all the Banty Hen hasn't been kicked out of her school. She will be three next week. She is a very smart little girl. She is also very head strong. I feel for the fellow who becomes her husband in about 20 years.

I hope that wherever you are, you are staying cool. Pray for our troops. Love one another.

School Reunion 2010!!!

2010-06-04T15:31:00.004-05:00

We have a school reunion every 5 years on Memorial Day Weekend. This was the year. In 1985, our school consolidated with another and changed the name and the mascot. We were the Catfish, and the 2nd most unusual in the state. Most unusual went to the River Rats in the southern part of the state. Many classes got together on Friday night and visited amongst themselves so they could visit with others on Saturday.

We began gathering about 11:00a.m. on Saturday morning and visited until 3. Finger foods were furnished. Lots of pictures were taken, lots of hugs were exchanged, and everyone enjoyed the day.

At 5p.m. we moved over to the First Baptist Family Life Center where our meal was catered by Ron's Catfish. It was wonderful. They fed about 350, and it was amazing how fast people moved through the line. Fish, hush puppies, cole slaw, pickles, onions. It was great. Cake was served for desert, and it was alllllll gone.

I didn't take a single picture, so I stole/borrowed this one from one of the other people in my class. That's me in the solid rose colored top in case you don't recognize me from my profile picture.

The classes were recognized, former beauty queens, cheerleaders, conference champions and others were recognized. My brother, John sang several songs that covered the time from the 40's to the 80's.(The school graduated it first class in the 40's and the last in the 80's.) Former teachers and coaches were asked questions about their memories of the school and former students.

And a good time was had by all.

It will be 5 years before we have another. Some won't be around by then, so this will be the last time we will have seen them. There will be more of the later class groups that will begin to take part just as happened this time. And as always happens, things will continue to change, but one thing is certain, we will forever have our memories of the school and the good times we all shared together.

Neglected Blog!!!!

2010-05-26T13:18:00.018-05:00

My poor little blog has been neglected. I have totally ignored it as though it were a chore I didn't want to do. I've had plenty going on to tell it about, but I've put it over in the corner and pretended it didn't exist. I'm sorry little blog. I must treat you better.

I doubt anyone even checks in any more to see if I'm still around. I'm sure everyone thinks I've totally deserted you, and it has seemed that way. So, I'm going to do better. I promise.

Since I last wrote, I got my vacation pictures back as you can see. These are the six gals that made the trip along with me of course.

This is my grandson who now resides in Orlando. He came up and went to lunch with us. I'm not sure he has recovered. Getting to see him was worth the whole trip.

This is a view of the beach looking north from our condo.

Here we all are having dinner near a lighthouse. I can't remember the name of it. The food was good and the friendship even better.

I took a few pictures of my hydrangea which is blooming like crazy,

and a couple of pictures of the garden my brother has in my yard. I have open space, he has shade.

Superhero and Princess #2 have graduated from Kindergarten. They are ready for first grade next year.

We will have our All School Catfish Reunion this Saturday. I think everyone is excited about it. We have 325 students, teachers, alumni, spouces,etc coming for the evening meal. I hope to have pictures next week of that event.

In the meantime have a great day. Pray the devastation in the Gulf will be minimal. Love one another.

Gone For Awhile!

2010-05-10T16:38:00.002-05:00

I left for a vacation to Daytona Beach on April 20th. We returned on the 25th, and I was rested, but at the same time totally exhausted. I went back to work on the 26th, and haven't seemed to have a minute's rest since.

While on vacation, we shopped, we spent 6 hours one day on the beach, we shopped, we ate, we shopped. Have I said that already? Our favorite place to eat was Crabby Joes, which we renamed Crabby Patty's(in honor of SpongeBob Squarepants, in case you don't have small children or grandchildren). It was a restaurant out on a pier, and when the screens were open, the birds could fly right through. Fortunately, the screens were closed when we were there. The nice thing about it was that before the sun went down, the water was beautiful, then after dark you could look back toward the beach and the lights were gorgeous.

We shopped at IKEA, something we don't have in our neck of the woods, We went to Daytona's flea market(it's the 3rd largest in the country)and the fresh produce was absolutely out of this world. We hit Marshals, Chico's, and a shoe store that sells Reiker shoes.

We laughed, ate, people watched, laughed some more, ate some more and had a wonderful few days of being away from family, ringing phones, and all the other daily grind stuff. Then it as back to reality. Getting away for a few days if very good for the soul, but it also makes you appreciate what you have when you get home. We had a hostess with the mostest. She opened her home to us and entertained us like royalty. Thank you so much Jacque.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's day. I certainly did. My children are very good to me and I love them all dearly.

Princess Quilts

2010-04-19T15:57:00.009-05:00

The last few days, I've been working on a pair of matching quilts for Princess 1 & 2. Their dad built them cute white twin beds, and their mother picked out the flip flop fabric. She bought turquoise sheets for backing and for part of the inside.

Not being a quilter, it took me a while to decide what I wanted to do, and a co-worker who has taken quilting lessons helped me with the final design. It couldn't require too much cutting and matching, because I'm just not that good at it, and confused myself several times on the pieces required for this.

I'm taking them to the lady in our community with a long-arm quilting machine, and she'll quilt them up for me. Then I'll finish the edges once we've made sure they fit the beds, and after we've determined whether we need to add more around the edges or if we need to trim some off.

I still have two pillow shams, assorted throw pillows and a curtain to make before I'm finished. The pillows have to be personalized, but that won't be too much trouble.

I'll be gone for a few days. My friends and I are going to Daytona Beach for a few days. I sure hope it's warmer there than it is here. I'll also get to see my grandson who moved to Orlando in January. His mother wants him for souvenier. I'll be back to work on Monday the 26th.

I hope everyone is looking forward to a good week. Pray for the travelers stuck in all the airports. Love one another.

Spring Fever!

2010-04-15T15:25:00.002-05:00

I have a question about Spring Fever. If you have, it does it mean that you can't get enough done, and you just want to be busy getting everything done that you didn't do all winter? Does it mean you want to clean closets, dig in the flowerbeds? Does it mean you just don't have enough hours in a day?

Or, on the other hand, does it mean that you don't want to do anything but just sit and watch your favorite ball team play ball? Or nap? Or just sit and do nothing?

A couple of weeks ago, I was in a sewing mood. I had a dozen projects I wanted to be working on all the same time, and I got a couple of things finished. Now, however, I don't want to do anything. I've been cleaning a little(and I mean little). But when I get home in the afternoon, it's like I just deflate. And there I sit in all my deflatedness until bedtime.

I had hopes of getting two quilts ready to quilt for the princesses while I go on vacation, but that hasn't happened, and I can't see doing much right now since I only have a few days before I leave. I have towels to monogram as gifts for the girls, and I have to get packed. Maybe I should just start my vacation early.

I hope you are having a great day. Pray for those who can't fly because of the volcanic ash. Love one another.

Beautiful Dogwoods

2010-04-09T10:25:00.005-05:00

I love dogwoods. I think they are the most beautiful flowering tree we have. I also love redbuds, but they aren't as graceful and meaningful as are the dogwoods. I have given some thought to driving around town and taking pictures of all the dogwoods that are blooming. However, I might get hauled away by the men in white coats for trespassing on people's property. My neighbor has two trees in his yard, and there's another a few houses on up the street.
I planted 3 dogwoods a few years ago. One promptly died, another died but came back the following year only to be crushed when the pine trees were cut. I have one small tree left. It has about 20 blooms on it, and it is a red dogwood like the one pictured here. We don't see too many of them in our area, and I don't know if they are naturally red, or if they have been crossed with something to make them red.

It's a beautiful day outside, and promises to be a beautiful weekend. I hope to get out and enjoy at least some of it.

I hope you are having a great day and looking forward to a wonderful weekend. Continue to pray for the Miners and their families. Love one another.

Very Boring Wednesday!

2010-04-07T15:27:00.002-05:00

It's rainy, it's windy and it's blah. If it weren't for bible study tonight, this day would be a total drag.

I went to Abilities Unlimited today to see if I could score any good deals. I'd been looking at a dresser base that would be great to paint and fix up. I found one thats in really good shape, but last week all furniture was 1/2 price. This week it's only 20% off. I should have bought it last week, but couldn't decide, but I just don't see paying 32 dollars for something today that I could have bought for 25 last week. They had another one that I liked too, but it had two drawer runners that needed to be repaired, and they wanted 56 for it. Not hardly!!

But what's worse is that I may have to cut my son out of the will. He hurt my feelings and ticked me off today at lunch. I just had a question--about the dresser that needed the repair, but he wasn't interested in answering to my satisfaction, and basically told me to call back when he cared. Now, wasn't that terrible? I'm not used to being spoken to this way by any of my children, and especially him. Never mind the stress he's been under with his wife being gone for job training and he's trying to work and take care of two little ones, and his MIL is staying with them right now. Needless to say, he's not in a very good mood.

I'm sure I'll forgive him at some point, but it will probably be after turkey season. Maybe he'll be in a better mood then.

Hope you are having a better day than I am. Pray for the miners and their families. Love one another.

Proof of Spring!

2010-04-06T10:30:00.005-05:00

The bottom of the windows in my living room are about chest high. Therefore, if you are sitting, about all you can see is sky or the distant tops of trees. So I planted a Redbud right smack in front of the middle of my front porch where I can see the blooms in the spring and it can shade the front during the hot part of the summer.
Right now, it is blooming beautifully and has a beautiful granddaughter in it. I wanted her to go higher, but she refused. I have three more across the back of the property, but the only time I see them is when I drive in to park.
This is one of my Clematis. I cut it back pretty good early in the spring so it would have time to grow some length before it began to bloom. You can't see the buds in the photo, but there are about 20 on it. It should be really pretty very soon.

Do you have proof that Spring has sprung? I hope so.

I hope you are having a great Tuesday. Pray for the miners and their families both in China and West Virginia. Love one another.

Superhero and his Turkey!

2010-04-05T12:48:00.003-05:00

My grandson is 6. His dad told him when he was little, that when he was 6, he could start hunting with him. He was allowed to go on the youth deer hunt back in the winter, and this weekend was the youth hunt for turkey season.

His dad got him up about 3:30 Saturday morning, and off they went. I don't know how long they were in the woods before getting this turkey, but they bagged it, took it to the local newspaper, had this picture made and were home by lunch.

They went back again Sunday morning, but all they got was hot and tired. However, Superhero is quite pleased with his first turkey, and says he's having it mounted and hung right over his bed. I didn't hear his mother concur with that, so I guess we'll see what position it has in his room. For now, it's in the freezer waiting to be stuffed.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. The weather was absolutely beautiful yesterday. Pray for those who are lost. He is risen. Love one another.

Silk Tie Dyed Eggs

2010-04-02T14:39:00.007-05:00

This isn't going to be a tutorial. It's going to be a what not to dotorial.

I found the instructions and pictures of eggs dyed with silk ties. I thought it would be a great thing to do for Easter.
Then I spent some time thinking about the project. You use regular eggs, but if I went to the trouble of dying these eggs, I didn't want to crack them to get the egg out. So being the extra bright person I think I am, I decided to blow the egg out of the shells.
Here are the eggs after I blew the insides out.
I made a trip to Abilities Unlimited and bought 4 silk ties for 4 dollars. As you can see, they weren't all that pretty, but the instructions said pretty ties didn't usually make the prettiest eggs.
I took the ties apart, cut off the big end, and wrapped the eggs, right side of fabric against egg shell.
Next, I wrapped the white fabric just like the instructions said. I didn't have any twist ties, so I used straight pins(next time, if there is a next time), I'll use rubber bands if I don't have twist ties.

Then the fatal flaw in my plan reared it's ugly head. Those eggs floated rather than sunk. Didn't I know that anything containing air would float? You'd think so. Then I thought maybe water would fill the cavaties and they would sink. But they didn't. I put a plate on them, and it kept sliding to one side.

But I cooked them anyway,20 minutes. Took them out of the water at the appropriate time, and this morning, I unwrapped them. Here are the results. The process works, but next time(if there is a next time), I'll leave the egg in the shell. They all took color. The lightest one in the picture, is very lightly marbles. The others are ok too.

Looks like one of the princesses will be spending the night tonight. I have two paper eggs I bought at Hobby Lobby. I think we may decorate them tonight or tomorrow. I'll have to see what she wants to do.

I hope you are looking forward to a beautiful Easter. He is risen indeed. Love one another.

Great News!

2010-04-01T15:34:00.002-05:00

I checked my lottery tickets a few minutes ago, and I found that I have won the jackpot.

Daughters, don't get too excited!!!

April Fool!!!!!!!

Have a great day. Pray for my children who will kill me after this post. Love one another.

When It Rains, It Pours - Not Water!!

2010-03-31T16:06:00.003-05:00

Things have been really quiet for the last week and a half. Not too much going on at work. Just daily routine things you can do in your sleep.

Then BOOM!!! everything breaks at once, and everyone needs to be fixed ASAP. So, I've spent all day 'putting out fires' as we call them. A co-worker and I have just spent the last hour walking someone on another campus through a problem. And it was a big problem. Fortunately, everything is now working.

This morning, all 10 HR reports dealing with retirements was showing too much money being submitted to everyone's retirement accounts. Fortunately, one fix took care of all of them, it just took a little time to figure out what that fix should be.

Other than that, it's 76 degrees outside. The sun is shining, and I'm going to pick up The Banty Hen from daycare in just a little while. Then my day will be happy again. WooHoo!

I hope you have had a great day. Pray for the flood victims in the NE. Love one another.

A Lousy Day And A Headache!

2010-03-30T14:31:00.002-05:00

It has been less than an interesting day today. I've had a sinus headache along with a sinus infection for several days, and am taking an antibiotic for the infection. The antibiotic makes me about half sick to my stomach, so anytime I think about eating, I get queasy, and if you know me very well, you know I don't do without food for very long at a time. I just wish my head would stop hurting.

And, as if that isn't enough, we're having server problems here at work. Email, forget it. I can get to the internet, but no email, no working with our main program since it goes through our server to get to the internet. And most of the phones are dead. Thank goodness for cells.

Other than that, it's beautiful outside. Very few clouds in the sky, and 68 degrees.

I hope it's warm and sunny where you are. Pray for the rain soaked East Coast. Love one another.

They Both Fit!!!

2010-03-29T14:11:00.005-05:00

For some strange reason, my blog wouldn't upload pictures earlier. However, it has gotten over it's mad spell or whatever was causing the problem. This is the dress from Kari Mecca's book that I've had since 2008 and finally got around to making something from. This same dress is shown using ric rack flowers and I wanted to make sure it fit before I spent a lot of time on that one. I think this fits just fine. Your opinion? She looks really good in these colors.
This little outfit fits like a glove. I was afraid it would be too big. That the pants would come to her ankles and the top would be more of a dress than a top. I was wrong again. I obviously have no eye for size and measurements. This is a size 3, and she will be 3 in June. She really likes this one because it's pink. I didn't have any trouble getting her to take off the dress, but she didn't want to take this off. I could have let her wear it around the house, but I want her mama to decide when she wears it. I am very pleased with both of them.

I hope you had a great weekend. The weather is beautiful today. Pray for people everywhere. Love one another.

Don't Start Anything On Friday, You Can't Finish!

2010-03-26T15:48:00.002-05:00

My grandfather-in-law was a very superstitious man. He wouldn't walk under a ladder. If a black cat crossed in front of him, he would turn and go back. He threw salt over his left shoulder before he ate. And one big thing was to never start a job on Friday that you couldn't finish, because on Monday you'd go do something different.

Ok, so I don't know if going to Abilities Unlimited to look for silk ties means I began a project on Friday or not. I know for a fact, I won't get to do anything with them until next week, but when I get a bee in my bonnet, I'm not happy til I've at least taken the first steps toward the project goal.

For those of you who know me, you know I live alone, so you are probably wondering why I need silk ties, especially ones that came from a thrift shop. I saw this website about making silk dyed Easter eggs. You can see how to do it here. I decided I have to make some so I bought four. They had a lot more, but I didn't want to go overboard. I intend to blow the eggs out of their shell, and then dye them. You can leave the eggs in, but then you have to break them to get to the egg. If I go to this much trouble, I don't want them broken.

I'm keeping grandchidren this weekend, so no craftiness in my plans. Just got to keep the little ones safe and full. But I'll have to get the eggs done the first of next week, since Good Friday is one week from today.

I hope you are having a great day. Pray for grandparents everywhere. Love one another.

The Bird Sang At Midnight!

2010-03-25T10:37:00.005-05:00

What kind of bird sings at midnight? Actually it was 1am, but I'm not sure the birds have gone to daylight savings time. They may not change til the end of the month, but regardless of whether it was midnight or 1, what business does a bird have singing that late at night. Doesn't it know that singing is the very best way for a cat to find it in the dark?

Now I guess you are wondering how I knew this bird was singing at that crazy time of night. I was up! I usually go to bed, set my sleep timer on the tv for 90 minutes and never know when it kicks off. Not last night! I couldn't seem to turn my mind off. Then I'd get hot and kick off my cover, then I'd get cold and cover up again. Then I decided I was going to wear my bed completely out, so I got up and went to the couch. Believe me, there's nothing worth watching at that time of night.

Anyway, back to the singing bird. When I went to bed about 2ish, it was still singing. It was beginning to get on my last nerve. Sometime you just hope the cat wins.

I hope you are having a great day. Pray that all the Spring breakers make it home save, sound, and glad to be back. Love one another.

Finished Projects!

2010-03-24T09:19:00.010-05:00

This is the project I've been working on. It's called Paisley(something), I can never remember the whole name. It is from AS&E Issue #83. I thought it would be a quick little outfit, since the smocking was a simple pattern. I'm thinking I can whip this out 'toot sweet'. WRONG!!!! Yes, the smocking didn't take too long. I'd never done the flower petals like these, but it worked up pretty fast.
Then came the cutting and sewing. There's just about 20 miles of piping(I'm exaggerating of course)and as much binding. It all had to be sewn together, and each seam took sewing three times. One seam to make the piping, one to sew it in place, and one to put the binding on. And the flounce to the top is a full circle. That's a long way baby. But I've extremely pleased with the outcome. I think it was definitely worth all the time I've put into it. Now, hopefully, it will fit.
Here is a closeup of the smocking. The petals on the flowers are made with a technique similar to making bouilion roses. My work never looks great, but usually looks better after the garment has been washed. I think that allows everything to get in place a little better--evens out the stitches.
In this one, you can see the buttons I used for the front. They are just decoration. It actually buttons down the back. These buttons are JHB, and I've had them for probably 25 years. I also had the ones down the back in my stash too. I'm working that stash down, just not too quickly.
This little project was next on my list. There are two ways to make this little pinafore/sundress. One has a lot of ric-rack flowers on it, and thus a lot of work. My intention is to see how this version fits before I spend the time on the other one. This one took about 4 hours from tracing the pattern pieces(all two of them)and cutting it out.
It goes together easily enough and this Kaufman fabric has such a good feel(hand)to it, that I think it will wear very well. The ribbon is two different ribbons. The turquoise ribbon is a bit darker than the light turquoise in the dress fabric, and the brown ribbon was a bit darker than the brown fabric, but I think they compliment each quite well.
Oh yes, and look at the buttons. They are the same as what I put on the other outfit. I was able to use all the buttons. I had six in all. Twenty five years ago these buttons cost $1.50 per card, I don't know what they'd cost today. I've been so surprised at how the cost of notions has jumped. Thread is like spun gold, and the color choices seem so limited. And this is at Hancocks. You'd think they'd have the best variety in town, especially since they are just about the only game in town. Their only competition if Hobby Lobby since our Wal-Mart doesn't carry fabric any more.

My next big project(after the little dress)will be matching quilts for my two granddaughters who share a room. Their Daddy built each a twin bed, and we have beautiful yellow fabric with flip flops all over it for the quilts. I'm anxious to get started on that as well.

I hope you are having a wonderful day. Pray that what I've made fits the Banty Hen. Love one another.

Same Song, Second Verse!

2010-03-22T15:48:00.014-05:00

I know anyone who takes the time to read my blog is tired of hearing that I haven't finished my most recent project. I have 3 very good reasons, and here they are lying in front of the tv. Princess #2 looks quite the lady in her play dress and sneakers. And the pose leaves a lot to be desired. Superhero is wearing his new 'snake' boots. If you have these on when you are turkey hunting, the snakes can't bite through them. The Banty Hen is in the middle.
Saturday afternoon, the older two left, and the Banty Hen stayed. This is her Sunday morning after a Smores poptart watching Handy Manny.
As you may notice, she is in full control of the remote.
A Spiderman jug of milk will get the remote out of her hand. But she is still totally engrossed in Handy Manny.
After a bath and head wash, she got dressed and let me braid her hair.
Her hair is very fine, and not easy to braid.
She totally likes to ham it up for the camera, and says, 'take another one memaw'.
Her Mama is in Atlanta training for a new job. So that means I get extra time with both her and her brother(He's the one with the snake boots).
She let me comb her hair at least a dozen times. I french braided it, but it is so fine and silky that it didn't stay long. She was a very good girl all day long. She stayed with me Sunday night and I took her to school this morning.

I hope you had as much fun as I did. I do love me some grandchildren.

I also hope you are having a great day. Pray for those less fortunate. Love one another.

Stroll Down Memory Lane!

2010-03-19T12:10:00.002-05:00

My oldest daughter called me last night. She always asks what I'm doing. My answer is usually that I'm watching tv, or maybe sewing. Last night I told her I was 'strolling down memory lane'. Of course she laughed at me, so I explained. A gentleman in our community died the other day, and his funeral is today. In my mother's picture box, I knew at one time there was a picture of this man and his wife made around 1954. I wanted to find it and take it to his daughter today so I went through the 'picture box'. The thing about looking for a specific picture is that you can't just glance at the pictures you come to, you have to examine them. In examining them, I basically got lost in time. I rarely look at these pictures. This picture box stopped growing with my mother's death. Many of the people in those pictures I don't know. Probably 80% have no names on them, and the only way I know about when they were made is that old pictures have a month and year printed in the border.

The gentleman who died was ten years younger than my dad, but they grew up in the same community, my dad having moved there when he was in his early teens. Many people who did not know them really well, often got them confused. They got each other's parts bills from the implement company, and once my mother got a pickup truck load of geese that the other man had bought. Over the years, it was sort of a joke, but my mom and dad were really good friends with the family. I didn't find the picture. I've put it somewhere with the intention of getting it to them, and don't know where it is.

His younger sister taught school, and when my younger brother was born, I was summoned to her room. When she told me I had a baby brother, I cried. I wanted a sister.

Thanks for listening to my stroll. I hope you are having a good day(it's beautiful here). Pray for those who have lost loved ones. Love one another.

Here's My Excuse!

2010-03-18T13:46:00.008-05:00

Yes, this is the reason I was unable to work on my sewing project Tuesday night. This is the Banty Hen and she keeps me hopping when she's at the house.
I wouldn't have it any other way. I did work on the project last night. I'm about ready to attach the flounce to the top part of the bodice.
The one problem I have is that I don't like the buttons I bought to go on it. I thought they'd be perfect, but I don't like them at all, so I'm going to have to fall back and regroup. I think when I get it ready for buttons, I'm going to take it to the fabric store and pick them out. I just had a scrap of material when I picked the ones I have.

Tonight I have to keep the grandchildren while parents go to teacher conferences. It'll be about 8ish before I get home. I brought the project with me to do some of the hand work. Whether I'll get anything done or not remains to be seen.

And I have a confession to make. I didn't watch 'The Quiet Man' last night. When I got home the Celtic Ladies were singing on PBS so I watched(listened)to them. The music was grand.

I hope you are having a great day today. Pray for me tonight as I try to keep up with four, seven and younger. Love one another.

Happy St. Patrick's Day To You!

2010-03-17T13:57:00.006-05:00

Were there ever any snakes in Ireland? I find it hard to believe that any one could run them all out if there indeed were snakes there. But it makes for a good opportunity to enjoy the day, cook some unusual food, wear something green, and for those who imbibe, it's another excuse to get drunk.

My youngest granddaughter spent the night with me last night. She didn't have anything green, so I made her a 3 leaf clover out of ric rack, added a pearl, and hot glued it to a barrett. I hope it stayed in her hair.

I was with a friend in Savannah one year just a couple weeks after St. Patrick's Day. This is a big holiday there. The gal driving the tour train said that eveyone in Savannah was Irish on March 17th. I think Jackson, Mississippi has a big parade and party on this day as well. I think this is the holiday that the Sweet Potato Queens participate in a parade too.

To my knowledge, there aren't any really big parties around my neck of the woods, but to all those who get wound up for this holiday, I hope it is all you want it to be. I'm thinking in honor of the day, I may watch 'The Quiet Man' with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara tonight. You can't get any more Irish than that.

I hope you are having a good St. Patty's Day. Pray for all those who will end up in jail for their celebrations. Love one another.

Where Did Monday Go?

2010-03-16T13:27:00.006-05:00

What happened to Monday? I know we all dred Monday's because we have to go back to work. Our weekend is over, caput, ended. But all of a sudden I looked at the clock yesterday and it was 4:00pm, and I had to be out of here by 4:15. Needless to say, there was no post yesterday. I don't usually post on the weekends since posting at home is a slow laborious thing. I need to have my pc cleaned up and maybe things would go faster.

My project for the Banty Hen is under construction. I finished the capris, and am working on the top. I have part of it sewed together, but had to stop and make more piping. I like putting the inset in place, the flounce on the bottom of the shirt, the sleeves, the buttons and buttonholes. I think it is turning out nicely. I'll have pictures when it's finished.

In the meantime, I've begun thinking about my next project. Below are a couple of pictures of the same dress shown two different ways. The first one is made of two fabrics, with lots of ric rack flowers around the bottom and a cluster at the top. I'm currently working on the flowers. instead of yellow and blue, I'm making it yellow and aqua.
But before I spend all my time on a dress that I'm not sure will fit, I'm going to make the one below. My DIL likes turquoise and brown, and I found this fabric and it felt good. It's Pima, so it should wash and wear really well. I thought I'd make it first, and see how it fits, then I'll know what to do on the one above. I have a question since I don't particularly like the brown with turquoise dots, I'm not sure which piece should be the middle. I don't really like the idea of the brown being next to her face(she's only 2 1/2), but I really think the brighter color should be the focal point of the dress. Should I go ahead and put the brown at the top and bottom, or put it in the middle? I also need to put some trim on it, I'll have to give that some thought as well. I hate making decisions.

I hope you are having a great week. Pray for those in need. Love one another.

Card Party Last Night!

2010-03-12T13:04:00.003-06:00

We played Conasta last night. It's our once a month game. The stakes are a whole $25, and all the food the hostess has prepared.

When we started 28 years ago, we talked about labor and delivery, now we talk about what knee we need to have fixed or the arthritic joints that hurt because of the weather. There are six of the original 12 who started playing. We lost one because she moved. We lost one because her husband didn't like her spending time with friends. We lost one because she found some type of religion that made having fun a sin(literally). A couple left because they had too many obligations to commit to spending one night a month with the rest of us. We miss them, but we have replaced them over time and have a fun bunch of gals.

We hope our arthritic hands will allow us to continue to hold the cards and our old timers will allow us to play a game before we forget what we are doing once we get to the old folks home. And by the way, I hear that in the interest of being politically correct, we are no longer senior citizens, we are now to be called old people.

Which do you think is better--old people or senior citizens? Preferrably, I want to be called ALIVE, but that's just me!

I hope you have a great weekend planned. Pray for those you love. Love one another.

Stormy Weather!

2010-03-11T16:07:00.002-06:00

Don't know why, there's no sun up in the sky...stormy weather. Great song, unfortunate weather. We had some pretty bad storms roll through Arkansas last night. Fortunately, I was in just the right spot for nothing to happen except a bit of thunder, lightening and some rain. Others weren't so lucky. One of my co-workers lives in Randloph County. His jeep got beaten pretty badly from the hail as he was on his way home.

I made it home from church before it even started raining in my neck of the woods. Today, however, the sun is shining and it's in the high sixties. We went out at noon without even a jacket on. That was really nice. From my office window, I can see the daycare workers strolling some of the kiddies around. They do this pretty often weather permitting. What's fun is going by and seeing all the little kids riding trikes on the sidewalks. They have some pretty good traffic jams.

It's been a beautiful day, and I think the rest of the week is going to be nice as well. Spring is on it's way. My neighbor has daffodils blooming. I think my son killed all mine with roundup last year. He doesn't like trimming, so he kills. If I were paying, I'd probably complain.

I hope you are having a wonderful day. Pray for the tornado victims. Love one another.

Friends in Blogville!

2010-03-10T16:46:00.003-06:00

Blogville is a large community of people who love to share themselves with the world. It's a tight knit community. We share thoughts, ideas, problems, recipes, sewing tips, photography. You name it, and if there's a way, we will share it right here in our own little corner of the blogisphere.

I've been blogging for about 2 years. I have been reading blogs for about that long as well. For a long time, my family didn't know that I had a blog or was posting regularly. But I finally told them, and they are my most faithful commentors.

I posted a picture yesterday, and complained about the fact that I'm not good at taking pictures, and Jennifer from the Cotton Wife(who is a fantastic photographer) told me about a button that looks like a flower on my camera that would help with my close up problem. I thought this was so sweet of her to take her time and tell me this since she is so incredibly busy. Thank you so much, I'd never noticed that button before. On one of the quilt blogs I read, I posted a question about the size of the blocks she had made. I immediately got a sweet response. I'm thinking you can ask people most anything and they graciously respond.

I just had to brag a little on my blog friends. You all are a special bunch of folks.

Have a great day. Pray for Becky at Twisted Fencepost. She has lost her last sibling. Love one another.

My New Project

2010-03-09T14:36:00.004-06:00

I'm not the greatest at taking pictures, and my camera isn't the greatest at showing close up detail. I've finished the inset for The Banty Hen's play set. I hope to have it pretty much done by the weekend. She loves pink, and that is the main color. This little inset worked up very quickly, the technique for the flowers was something I had not done before. The outer petals start out like a bouillon rose, but instead of wrapping your needle, you cast on your thread like you were going to knit. I wish my pictures were better so you could see. Some came out perfectly. Others--not so much, but washing usually evens out any bobbles in smocking, so there's hope yet. My grandmother-in-law used to say,'who'll ever notice on a galloping horse', so maybe no one will notice any imperfections.
One thing I like about the AS&E books is that there are lots of techniques I've never done before, and they really add to the work.
I had a couple of friends ask to see a more up close picture of the dress Princess#2 wore in the pageant. If you double click, they will enlarge. I should have made some pictures of her closer up, but like I say, I'm not very good with a camera.

I hope you are having a wonderful Tuesday. Pray for those in need. Love another.

And If For Any Reason The Queen Cannot Fulfill Her Duties!

2010-03-08T14:43:00.005-06:00

Our little Princess #2 became First Alterate in the Ms Bearcat pageant at her school. We are very proud of her. We were concerned that she might decide she didn't want to participate at the last minute. But she was so excited, and kept assuring us that she knew exactly what to do, and she did. She walked, did her turns perfectly, smiled at the judges and did a great job.
The people behind me kept saying,'you can tell she's been in pageants before', and when it was over they said they had her picked to win. While my head was growing bigger with each comment, I kept quiet and listened. This was her first and probably only pageant. Her mom isn't into that sort of thing, and it can get pretty expensive. There isn't anyone in our family that has the kind of money it takes to do this sort of thing. We were just surprised at how well she 'performed' and that she participated.

When we got home, we were talking about the pageant, and we were saying the little thing about if the queen can't fulfill her duties(what duties?), then first alternate would step in. My daughter(her mother)said, there's always the possibility that a playboy photoshoot could show up and cause her to lose her crown. At 5 years old, I don't think there is much chance, but the main thing is that P#2 had a good time, and she was perfectly happy with her sash, trophy and gift bag.
I hope you had a great weekend and are planning to have a good week ahead. Pray for people who are in pain. Love one another.

A Long, Long, Long Week!

2010-03-05T15:59:00.002-06:00

I really think my title today deserves the word 'long' four times, but was afraid I'd scare everyone off. It has been a long week. I woke up about 4:30 this morning and wondered if it was Friday or Saturday. I went back to sleep and when the alarm went off, I knew it wasn't Saturday. I don't set the alarm on Saturday. So my day started off on the wrong foot.

I've been dreaming some crazy stuff lately, and last night was no exception. In part of my dream, the girl down the hall from me at work and I was milking. We weren't milking anything ordinary. We were milking a giraffe. First, I'd hold it's head and talk to it to keep it calm while my co-worker milked, then she would talk to it, and I'd milk for a while. I'm not sure what we were planning to do with the milk, but when we were finished, we only had about a quart, so either we are really inexperienced at this, or it's just hard to do.

So, do you have crazy dreams? If so, what is something you've dreamed that makes absolutely no sense? I've bared my sleeping soul here, you should too.

Hope everyone has a great weekend(looks like the weather is going to cooperate). Pray for the homeless. Love one another.

Calling All Parrotheads!!!

2010-03-04T14:43:00.004-06:00

Are you a Parrothead? Do you know what that is? If not, you don't know what you are missing. I am a huge Jimmy Buffet fan, but alas, I've never been to one of his concerts. And what's more, doesn't look like I'm going any time soon.

My chiropracter knows I'm a big Buffet fan. I went in the other day and he said,'Guess what I've got?' I didn't have a clue. He said he had Jimmy Buffet tickets for Nashville. I didn't know he was going to be in Nashville, but with a lovely price tag of 130 + handling, etc. these little jewels come to a whopping 157 dollars.

Slightly out of my price range. Then a consultant with our school, who is also a big Buffet fan says he has some extra tickets and I can get one from him for Indiana, but to have fun with this group, I'd have to come to Chicago to ride the bus with the rest of their group. Something tells me they are seriously going to be at the pre show. That would be like traveling around the world for me.

He's also going to be in St. Louis. Now I could drive up and spend the night and come back the next day, but again, tickets are out of this world. So, it basically looks like I'll just have to keep playing those cd's while driving down the road, and singing those songs I know by heart. And keep thinking that one of these days, I'm going to win the lottery and then I can get my own bus(along with a good looking driver)and make my way to all the concerts I want.

What is your favorite Jimmy Buffet song?

Hope you are having a good day. Pray for Parrotheads everywhere. Love one another.

So Much To Do, So Little Time

2010-03-02T14:19:00.006-06:00

I promised yesterday that I'd have a picture of the things in my give-a-way that was won by Twisted FencePost. I mentioned that 'Twisted' won my prize, and the person I was talking to said,'you know someone named 'Twisted'? Yep that's me. I have a friend named Twisted. Without further adeiu, here is the picture. 'Twisted' will be receiving this when she sends me her mailing address.

I thought the birdhouse would remind us that soon the birds will be looking for homes in which to raise their babies. The green tea towels are for St. Patrick's Day, the little floral notepad is to list all those projects you want to finish, and the picture is one of my favorite scriptures,"Faith...Is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see".

Now it's on to my next project. Actually, I have three in mind. One is a little quilting project. It will be a wall hanging. Then, I've started a smocking project for The Banty Hen. She loves pink, so this pattern from AS&E issue 83 called Paisley something should look really cute on her. The top will be the pattern, and the pants will be solid(wonder how they'll look after she sits in a mud puddle in them?) The third thing is a sun dress from Kari Mecca's 'Sewing With Whimsy'. It has flowers made from rick rack, and I've been wanting to make something with it since I got it last year. Can you tell it takes me a while to make up my mind about projects? Oh, and I have to be in the right mood.

I hope you are having a great day today. Pray for those who are hungry and have no place to rest. Love one another.

My Give-A-Way

2010-03-01T13:17:00.006-06:00

During the month of February, I posted that I was having a Give-A-Way. When I first announced it, I wasn't sure what would be in it. Especially since I was still working on the pageant dress, and didn't know if I'd have time to do something handmade or just some things I like that I thought a blogger might like as well.

I did get the pageant dress finished on Saturday. Even though it looks pink, it is snow white. Her mother will put the bling on the bodice this week. You'll notice it is in two pieces. That seems to be the fashion today. If you go to a rental shop, you can pick the bodice and the skirt separately and get exactly what you want.

I know you are much more interested in the winner of the give-a-way than the dress, but, had to throw in a couple of pics anyway.

I had 65 comments left on my blog during the month of February, and each comment was given a number. Since I couldn't find my random number generator, I asked my co-worker down the hall to pick a number between 1 and 65. If you know anything about racing, then you will know who her favorite driver is when I tell you she picked 29. In case you aren't a race fan(like me), you wouldn't know that is Kevin Harvick's Nascar Number. On my spreadsheet with everyone's name, the number 29 was Twisted FencePost. Congratulations Twisted. If you would send an email to shirleysmith@astate.edu with your mailing address, I'll get your gift in the mail. I'll post a picture of it tomorrow. I've been a bit scatterbrained lately, should have had a picture for today, but I keep blaming everything on that pageant dress(that I know you are tired of hearing me complain about).

The future Miss America's pageant is Saturday. Hopefully, I'll have some pictures of her in the dress next week.

Hope you are having a wonderful Monday. Pray for Chile. Love one another.

Do You Hit The Floor Running?

2010-02-26T09:42:00.003-06:00

Are you a morning person? Do you only get up early because if you didn't, you'd lose the roof from above your head? Are you sluggish, do you feel rundown, do you poop out at parties? Then you need Vitamitavegamin. Oh, wait part of that is a Lucy sketch.
What I'm wondering is if you get up early, do you immediately get started, or does it take you a while, once you are vertical, to actually get moving?
This is the problem I'm having. I've been getting up between 5 and 6 for the last 15 years. I've always gotten up early, but for the past 5 years, I've had to be up by at least 6 just to get to work on time. The ten years before that, I had to get up at 5.
And I get up about the same time seven days a week. It doesn't matter if it's the weekend or a holiday, I still get up at the same time. I'm beginning to think my internal clock is stuck, and since not much else works in the old body, why should the clock.
I get up, but instead of jumping in the shower, starting a load of laundry, picking up dirty clothes or anything else, I just go sit! It's irratating, because before I know it, I have only a short time to get ready for work. I so wish I was one of those people who 'hit the ground running'. Then at least I might get a few things done before work, and then would enjoy coming home more.
So, ok, I need a diagnosis. Is there something wrong with me, or am I just lazy?
I'm so glad it's Friday. I have a pageant dress to finish this weekend, so I'd better get an early start tomorrow. That is if I can drag my body off the couch.
I hope you have had a great week. Pray for couch potatoes everywhere. Love one another.

I'm On A Fruit Kick!

2010-02-23T16:08:00.005-06:00

I have gone through two large bags of oranges in the last couple of weeks. This is something I never do. I like oranges, but the way I've been eating them, you'd think I loved them. I've eaten several bananas too, but not as many as oranges.

I kow you are saying,'This is good. This is healthy. Good for you.' But what you don't understand unless you know me very well, is that generally I'm not a fruit person. NOTE:Before the daughters make a comment here, I will admit I am a bit fruity, just not a fruit eating person. Can usually go without fruit. Not particularly in love with juice. It just isn't me. I'm more of a meat(preferrably pork) and potatoes/pasta person. But today when I realized I had only one banana left and no oranges, I was not a happy camper.

Then yesterday I saw a post about the proper way to cut up fresh pineapple, and now I want that too. So, when I get off work, I'm heading to Sam's and hopefully get another bag of oranges, a pineapple or two, and maybe even a box of strawberries. They are in season in South Texas, so we should have some here.

Like so many other things in my life, this may be just a phase, but, I'm hoping it isn't.

Have you gone through any phases lately?

I hope you had a great day today. Happy birthdy to my BFF Carolyn. Pray for her, she's in LasVegas spending her husband's money. Love one another.

What You Will Do For GrandChildren!!

2010-02-22T12:55:00.010-06:00

A long, long time ago(about 31 to be exact)while I was expecting Daughter#2, I made a crib quilt. I took a piece of green and white baby check fabric, hand appliqued a white satin butterfly in one corner, put it together with a batting and lining, and hand quilted it using the checks as my guide. I didn't do a very good job, It wasn't a perfect retangle, but it worked. I don't remember D#2 being overly fond of the little quilt, and it eventually got passed down to her nephews.

They used it some and at some point the white satin butterfly came off from wear, leaving only the outer embroidery that held it in place. It got put in the closet at some point and forgotten for some years, and I don't know if P#1 used it or not, but P#2 fell in love with it and began calling it her snugley. She doesn't carry it everywhere she goes, but she sleeps with it every night.

At some point, it had to have some mending done, and I fixed a three cornered tear and reattached the binding, but I never took the time to repair the quilting that had come out, thinking it just wasn't worth the time it would take. WRONG!!!

P#2 brought said quilt(alias snugley) with her Friday night and after we ate, she insisted I fix it. I had been giving some thought to what I was going to do to fix it since the batting was in shreds, and you could put both the top and bottom together and still read newsprint through it. There's a scripture about putting new cloth in an old garment. Well, this just didn't seem worth any effort. Then I had what I thought would be a brilliant idea. At least in my mind it was brilliant.

First I set about taking the quilt apart. Didn't take much since most of the sewing had come out already. P#2 sat by my side and as I pulled out threads she would ask,'you aren't hurting it are you Memaw?'. I assured her I wasn't and took it completely apart by bedtime. She slept with the two pieces.

Saturday morning I dug around in my fabric stash and found some fabric and a baby quilt batting. I took the top and laid it face down on my bed, then I put a piece of yellow plisse`(spelling?) and laid it on top of the old top. Next I put a layer of batting, then a piece of white plisse` on top of that and finally the old lining which I could not get her to part with. Then I pinned the back up like it was before, and sewed all around. By the way, basting spray is a wonderful thing. It kept the quilt sandwich from moving around. As I sewed around the edge, P#2 removed the pins. Needless to say, this took a while.

Remember I told you about the butterfly. The white satin is long gone, but the outline remains. I used the free-motion embroidery foot, and sewed around it. Aren't you proud of me? I think, since you can't get too close to it, that it looks pretty good.

That helped get my courage up so I put a section of the quilt into one of my machine embroidery hoops and did some free-motion quilting. Again, since you can't examine it too closely, it looks pretty good.
She allowed me to do one more small spot before she pried it from my hands and went to the couch with it. As you can see, the quilt will live a while longer. Had she not taken it, I would probably have done a lot more. She says next time she comes, I can do more on it.

She said she'll keep bringing it for me to fix forever. I asked if she was planning to take it on her honeymoon, but she said she'd probably leave it at home. Below is one of the patches I put on. She picked the material and rickrack and was most impressed with my ability to fix it.
Isn't it wonderful they think you are sooooo smart when they are little. And who knows, her first child may love it as much as she does.

I hope you have a wonderful day. Pray for your loved ones. Love one another.

My Friday Night Is Already Planned!!

2010-02-18T17:37:00.005-06:00

Superhero and Princess#2 are spending the night with me Friday night. I'll pick them up after work and off to memaw's house we'll go. These two cousins are both 6 years old. Both in Kindergarden and play really well together.

I think I'm going to see if I can find some GO Fish cards. I think I can whip em. Hope they bring cash.

I always enjoy them being at my house. I know too well that in not too many years, they'll have outgrown me, and I won't hear the giggles of 6 year olds in my house anymore.

I've told you before that my goal in life right now(besides trying to be a good Christian)is for my grandchildren to have good memories of me. The oldest one is now 25, and he occasionally does a 'remember when we did _____ Grandma'. Of six grandchildren, he's the only one who calls me that. The rest all call me memaw.

I hope you have wonderful plans for the weekend. Pray for those who are hungry. Love one another.

I Think I Know Why!

2010-02-17T13:35:00.005-06:00

I've been mulling this quilting thing over in my mind for a couple of weeks. And I think I have figured out why I can't get started(other than the pageant dress has to be done first thing). I am afraid of color. I'm not the greatest at putting colors together. I know what I like after I see it, but I don't want to spend hours cutting, sewing, etc only to decide that what I've done is ugly.

I'm posting pictures of three quilts. I don't know who made them, but I think one is really ugly(which is what mine will probably be), one is busy and one is very pretty. If you made one of these quilts, I apologize if you think the ugly one is yours.

If you are a quilter, does this plague you as well? Does this type of delima nag you in your sleep at night? Do you have blocks that once you did them you decided they were awful and pitched them aside? I have a desire to use up my stash of scraps, not start another one of projects gone bad.

So, needless to say, you don't have to worry about getting anything quilted in my give-a-way(shameless plug!)

But what I think I will do is do a couple of small wall hangings. This should either get me really excited, or kill any desire to do more.

I think I've worried about this enough for one day. I need to get crackin on that pageant dress and ignore my scrap box for another day. Maybe by the time I get the dress finished, I'll have decided what I want to do.

I hope you are having a great day(sun is shining here). Pray for people looking for work. Love one another.

I Want To Learn To Quilt!

2010-02-16T12:41:00.003-06:00

I have always wanted to learn to quilt. I remember my mother having a quilt frame that hung from the ceiling. She would let it down, work on it, and then draw it back up near the ceiling to get it out of the way. I have her quilt frames. I don't know if daddy made them, or if she bought them somewhere. I've had a couple of opportunities to learn, but have let those slip through my fingers. And with the quilting machines, it is just too easy to take your tops and have them done quickly. There is also a group of ladies at the Methodist church who quilt on Tuesdays. They have told me I welcome to be a Methodist on Tuesdays if I would like to learn to quilt. They put up a quilt and hand quilt it. The money they make goes to support the work of the church.

But with working full time, I'm unable to be a Tuesday Methodist, so I guess I'm going to just have to do the best I can. I joined a group that is doing strip projects. I haven't done any yet. I keep planning to and I've even cut some strips, but I think I just need someone to take me by the hand and help me decide how to get started. I want to do pretty quilts. I don't want to make something that the colors scream at you. I want them to say thank you for putting me next to these other pieces.

However, first, I have a pageant dress to make. Then I desperately need to clean my sewing room, then maybe I'll be able to work on a quilt of some type.

I hope you are having a wonderful day. Pray for those who are hungry. Love one another.

Happy Valentines Day--Early!

2010-02-12T11:02:00.002-06:00

Since I don't usually post on the weekends, I thought I'd wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day--early. I don't have a significant or insignificant(whichever the case may be) other, I don't get anything much for this day. My children usually buy for their persons of interest, but I just let it pass by. I think the kids were all having parties at school today, and will all come home with lots of Spiderman, Hanna Montana, Tinkerbell and Handy Manny valentines.

I remember doing the same thing when I was a kid, but we didn't have all the special valentines. Ours were just hearts that smiled, or ducks that smiled, or squirrels that smiled(you get my drift here)that said 'Be mine Valentine'. We decorated our boxes with crepe paper and cutout's. My mom was really good at helping us do that. Our boxes were usually red, and she would make hearts with cutouts like snowflakes and we would glue them to the box. I remember one time she made roses out of crepe paper. And my brothers and I proudly carried them to school only to bring them home filled with cards from our class. We always had cupcakes and cookies for our parties too. Those are good memories.

I hope you make some memories on Sunday, and that you have lots of good memories of Valentine Days past.

Have a great day today. Pray for those who won't get to enjoy valentines day. Love one another.

Two of the Four Christmas Dresses

2010-02-11T15:35:00.003-06:00

These are the dresses I made for the girls for Christmas. Since I had four to make and didn't have time to do picture smocking on each, I did the base smocking and put buttons on for decorations.

Princess #2 in the green had Santa's on her dress. P#1 had candy canes. The Banty Hen(not pictured here)had snowflakes on hers, and if I remember the great niece had elfs on hers. They were all different colors and I thought turned out pretty well.

The dresses are all made of 32nd check gingham, and will be something they can wear this summer by simply changing or removing the buttons. I suggested they wear them for Easter.

I won't be making Easter dresses this year since I have a pageant dress to make for P#2, and I only have a few weeks to get it done, and with me working every day, I'll be burning the midnight oil to finish it now. I love sewing for the girls and would do much more if I were retired, but someone has to make me a living and since I haven't won the lottery, I guess I'll just have to keep working.

Hope you are in out of the snow today. Pray for those who are cold. Love one another.

Princess #1 Has A Great Teacher!

2010-02-10T15:02:00.002-06:00

Princess #1 enjoys school. She loves to read and learn. For this we are very thankful. We are also very much aware that she has a great teacher. P#1 is in first grade. She had a wonderful teacher last year for kindergarden too.

This year her teacher is going over and above what is required of her. The picture at the left is of my granddaughter working on a piece of embroidery. On days that it is raining or too cold to go outside, she takes the girls who want to learn, and they work on their projects. P#1 is working on a sitting dog. I don't know what the rest of the design is, but you can see she is working on a leg, and is doing a very nice job. I don't know if the teacher furnished the hoops, needles, cloth and designs or if the girls took some money to buy a kit she had put together for them.

Being a person who does all types of needlework, I am thrilled that she is working with them in this area. I think it will encourage these little ones to learn other types of handwork and crafts. So much of this seems to be a dieing art(You just don't see too many embroidered pillowcases and table scarves any more). I don't know what she plans to do with her finished project, but whatever it is, I will help with it if she wants me to. Don't guess you can tell that I'm a very proud Memaw.

Hope you are having a great day. Pray for those without power. Love one another.

Two Princesses

2010-02-09T09:34:00.003-06:00

These are the Princess Sisters. They look nothing alike, but are indeed sisters who are 16 months apart. Their mom took this pictures before the Father/Daughter banquet at church. They got new dresses(which you can't see for their sweaters, but are really pretty), daddy put on his best suit and off they went. They had a great time. They also had little wrist corsages and daddy had a rose in his lapel. They felt quite grown up.

The other picture is my trees in front of the house. The reason you keep seeing these trees is that I don't have to get off the front porch to snap them. We got another 6 inches of snow during the afternoon yesterday and last night. We're off again today because what has melted a bit is now freezing on the roads making driving hazardous. Sometime soon, we'll have a spring thaw and be able to get back to work. That's not to say I'm not enjoying staying home. But I'm afraid if we continue to miss school, the kids may not get a Spring Break, and we all know how they look forward to that.

Don't forget my GIVEAWAY on March 1st.

I hope you are having a wonderful day. Pray for those who are hurting. Love one another.

Post 400 WooHoo!!!

2010-02-08T10:08:00.005-06:00

Today is a momentous day. First I didn't have to go to work today because when I got up this morning, we had this beautiful snow on the ground. We are supposed to get another 2 or 4 inches starting around lunch time. I work for a University and because of this snow, it is closed today as are all the schools in the area. We had eight fogs in August, this is our 5th snow. Looks like we are due 3 more before winter is over. This is a picture of one of my oak trees in the front yard. I took it from my front porch as you can see by the overhang in the upper right corner.

Second this is my 400th post. I'm thinking that is a milestone in itself. And with such a milestone comes some responsibility. I think I should have a GIVEAWAY. If you leave a comment on one of my posts during February, you are automatically entered in my drawing. I will draw on March 1st. Since I'm starting a week into February, I will also use previous comments this month as entries.

I know you are wondering what the prize will be. I don't know yet. I just had this idea about 10 minutes ago, so I've got to do some thinking. It will most likely be something I make. I've got to give that some thought. But when I decide, I'll let you know. I'll remind you each day in my post to enter.

In the meantime, I've got to start working on a pageant dress for Princess #2.

I hope you enjoy your day. Pray for those who are hurting. Love one another.

2010-02-05T13:40:00.003-06:00

I was reading this morning on The Cotton Wife's blog(http://thecottonwife.com ) that some obviously misguided magazine editor made the comment that she wrote too much about her children. Duh! Evidently this editor doesn't understand the reason for blogs. In my opinion, if you are writing a blog to hone your skills, you are probably in the wrong place. I think this is the place you share your small corner of the world with other people and learn about theirs.

I have made lots of new friends in this blog community, hopefully encouraged some folks and talked endlessly about my children and grandchildren and read about others. If anyone thinks I talk too much about my family, close my blog, remove it from your favorites list, and move on with your life. I probably won't know about it, and I very possibly won't care much.

I started my blog to keep a record of the things my grandchildren did, and my thoughts for two reasons. When I get old and senile, I can look back at my blog and be reminded of things, and in between wiping drool from my face, my grandchildren can read about the thoughts and feelings I had for them. I'm a firm believer that my grandchildren should have wonderful memories of me, not just the shell that sits in a chair playing with a sock monkey and calling it baby.

Of course there's also the possibility my children may use it against me in a sanity hearing when they decide they want all my money. I guess I should give that some thought as well.

Why did you start your blog?

I hope you are planning a great weekend. Pray for misguided people. Love one another.

A Question about Sphagetti!

2010-02-04T14:33:00.002-06:00

You thought I was going to ask about some of the herbs and spices in the sauce, or maybe whether you use jarred or homemade. Well, my question is much more basic than that.

Do you break your sphagetti before you put it in the pot of boiling water? And why or why not?

This question has bothered me ever since I made my sphagetti last night. But while we're on the subject, you might as well tell me if you prefer store bought or homemade. And do you like yours with meat in the sauce, or how about lumps of veggies ie tomatoes and mushrooms?

I know the world won't stop turning if I don't get the answers to these life changing questions, but hey, they kinda stick in your mind if you don't know ask.

I hope you are having a great day(drizzling here). Pray for sphagetti eaters everywhere. Love one another.

Princess #2 is almost Six!

2010-02-02T12:21:00.008-06:00

This little gem of a girl will be six on February 5th. Her party isn't until the following Saturday. My grandchildren are all growing up. That's what they're supposed to do I know, but it's hard watching them spread their little wings and fly off to school and parties and stuff. The pictures are all Princess #2. She's about a year old in the white dress, and probably 2 1/2 or 3 in the pink hiding her eyes. She's 4 in the third picture and the last one was taken upon the loss of her first tooth late last summer. She doesn't look like a baby(although, she acts like one sometimes). She's all into dressing up and loves to change clothes often.

I got her a swim suit for her birthday even though it's only February. Her mom says she'll wear it every day until summer. I also got her a sun dress. I'm thinking her mom will put it up until she's ready to wear it, but maybe not.

She's a smart funny little girl. Gets her smarts from her daddy(my sil). I love all my grandchildren equally, but this one looks like her mother-my daughter. Her sister looks like her dad's side of the family. That might make her just a little bit special. Will I get kicked out of the grandmother's union for admitting that?

I hopeyou are having a great day and the sun is shining in your corner of the world. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Diamonds in the Daylight!

2010-02-01T10:29:00.004-06:00

If you live any where in North America, you know that the mid-south was hit with a monster trouble making weather system. It extended from Saline, KS down to San Antonio, TX and all points east.

In NE Arknasas, we started out with sleet(this I know for I was out in it), changed to freezing rain, then back to sleet and about 5am Friday morning, it began to snow and it snowed all day Saturday.

The campus where I work closed Friday, and after I got inside my house Thursday night, I didn't even stick so much as my nose out until this morning. I did, however manage to open a door and take the picture on the left side of the page. If you look at the uppermost part of the picture, you can see how the sun was making the ice on the limbs sparkle. From my vantage point(not that you can see it that well in my photo), it looked like there were huge diamonds hanging all over the tree. It was nothing short of beautiful.
But it's back to work today. Got to catching up to do since we missed Friday.

Hope you are able to get out and about today. Pray for our country. Love one another.

What Snow?

2010-01-28T08:36:00.003-06:00

They showed the Panic-o-meter on the news last night. The one that shows when you should get eggs, bread and milk or if they expect a lot of snow, it goes over to the sled and boots. We are officially in the eggs, bread and milk area of the meter.

Unfortunately, what usually happens when we get all built up for a big round of bad weather is that it misses us and we get nothing but a big let down.

However, it has been a year since the big freeze that left our area looking like a war zone and this is still very fresh in the minds of everyone in this area. They promise this will be nothing near that scale, but that we will have some ice and maybe 5 to 10 inches of snow. It's wierd that everytime I try to type 'snow', I type 'snot'.

If it snows, school will dismiss, and the campus here will probably close. That means a day off for us. We are just hoping the power stays on. But just in case it doesn't, I have the heater shown in the picture. My son, The Contractor, installed it for me after Christmas. And, I've been using it to heat my house. I set my central unit down to 50, and have been allowing this little gem to keep me snug and warm. I have closed all the bedroom doors, and open mine about an hour before I go to bed.

So I say, Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!

What are you waiting anxiously for today?

I hope everyone has a great day. Pray for snow, Love one another.

Spring Oh Spring, Where Art Thou!

2010-01-27T08:48:00.003-06:00

I've gotten two seed catalogs recently. There's nothing I enjoy more than looking through these catalogs thinking of all the things I'd like to plant. I think about how good those tomatoes will taste not only during the summer months, but this next winter in canned tomatoes. How much I'll love making that fresh summer salad with cucumbers, onions, oil and vinegar. And some fresh corn. There's nothing like fresh corn. Oh, and do I want to plant hot peppers or sweet peppers, or maybe both. I had no idea there were so many varieties of peppers.
I remember my mother ordering her seeds and getting the package back with everything in it. The box would be much smaller than a shoe box, but would produce an acre of fresh food which wasn't allowed to go to waste. Aside from what we ate, she canned everything she grew in that garden.
I can't say I've ever been as good as she was when it came to waste. She believed in the old proverb, 'waste not, want not', and we never went a winter without good food. She even shared with family and friends who had not laid by in store as she had.
Then I get to thinking about all the hard work it takes to make that garden and how hot it will be when it's time to gather everything and all the late nights required to can and preserve everything. That makes me tired.
I end up not planting anything, and hoping that someone takes pity on me and gives me a few fresh tomatoes and maybe a mess of okra.
I know I sound much more like the grasshopper than the ant. I used to be the ant, but not anymore.
I hope your garden plans turn out better than mine will. Tell me how you plan for your garden to grow.
Have a great day. Pray for those less fortunate. Love one another.

School Reunions

2010-01-25T11:01:00.003-06:00

We have a school reunion every 5 years, and it's that time again. The school in our community is a consolidated school, and is called Riverside. When I was in school, it was just plain Lake City. We didn't have other schools among us. We were pure.

We now gather to remember that school, see old friends and classmates, and spend time thinking about how much everyone else has aged. Our school came into existence in 1929 with a graduating class of 9, and in the year 1985 had it's final graduation of 24. That's not very large classes considering some schools graduate hundreds each year, but we are very proud of our graduates.

We have lost most of those from the early classes. If you graduated in the first class and were seventeen, you would now be 108. When we met yesterday, we determined the oldest living graduate is from the class of 1942. He is 85. Our last graduating class is now 40. Our group is aging and eventually there won't be anyone left who remembers the Alma Mater, or that we were proud to be the mighty, mighty Catfish. Which brings up another point. We were one of two schools in the US that had unusual mascots. Why, you ask, would anyone want to be a fish that is the bottom feeding scavenger of the river? Well, our town is built on the banks of the St.Francis river, and we are known for producing some of the best catfish in the tri-state area. I don't know who picked the mascot. Maybe the child of a fisherman from that first class of 1929. Who knows. But we were proud to be called catfish and many of us own license plates that have our beloved mascot on it displayed on the front of our vehicles.

Those who met yesterday have a lot of work ahead, geting letters out, working on the program, finding entertainment, planning the meal, making sure everything is in place so that everyone who comes will have a great time.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day. Pray for our troups. Love one another.

This is What I Should Be Doing Today!

2010-01-23T04:00:00.001-06:00

See this photo. I finally got my new light fixture put up. Unfortunately it wasn't as long as the old one, so as you can see, I have some work to do.
And that white strip to the right of the light, there's another one just like it on the other side. First, I'll have to use my scraper and get some old paint and wall paper remnants off. Then I'll have to prime it, and paint it.

And it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow, so this will be an all day event. That and I have a place around one of my ceiling vents in one of the bedrooms that used to sweat and mildewed. The Contractor took care of the sweating problem, but now I have to prime that area and repaint it. You know it won't look exactly like it did when it was first painted. Fortunately, I didn't paint the ceiling white. I painted it and the trim an off white, some of which I still have, so maybe it won't be so bad.
The work involved in maintaining a house is never-ending. It just keeps eating at my pocketbook.

Hope you are having a great Saturday. Stay Warm. Love one another.

Way Too Much TV!!!

2010-01-22T10:09:00.003-06:00

All my friends and family know that I watch entirely too much tv. In the summer, I'm pretty much hooked on Cardinal's baseball. The rest of the year, it's Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Brothers and Sisters, Three and a Half Men, Dog the Bounty Hunter, White Collar, Burn Notice, any John Wayne movie. The list goes on and on.

With the programs I love, there also comes commercials. You either love them or hate them, and I have both. I hate the Sonic commercials. I hate the Geico commercials, I hate the ones with the cavemen, and the new ones with the perky girl selling all kinds of insurance.

On the other hand, there are some that I love. The capitol one commercials with the vikings are favorites. There used to be one about a car where a bird was trying to hit it with bird droppings, and in the process hit the garage wall. But my newest favorite, and this one won't be seen all over the country is one about a car dealership in the Little Rock, AR area. When I see it, I stop and laugh--sometimes outloud. It's a man and his two grown sons all three dressed in nice business suits. The dad is sitting and the boys are standing like they are about to get a portrait painted. The dad starts off, and blows his line. Then he says he's starting again, and about the time he starts one of the sons begins to fiddle with his cell phone. To which the dad says, 'put your phone up', and he starts again. He manages to say his line, but then the other son forgets his. They all end up laughing.

I think this is a perfect commercial. You get to see the fun they had making it, and see them as real people. Personally, if I were in the market for a car, would definitely go see these fellows. I bet they have a great time at work.

What programs are you hooked on? Which commercials do you dislike and which ones do you like?

Hope you are having a wonderful Friday. Pray for all the people involved in the Haitian relief effort. Love one another.

Superhero and the Principal!

2010-01-21T15:27:00.002-06:00

Superhero, that handsome young man who just turned 6 a few days ago, had to visit the principal's office yesterday. He was in music when, as his side of the story goes, another kid jumped on his back, and he was just trying to get him off. The teacher saw the disturbance, and sent both to the office.

His story continued that he didn't get into trouble, but the other boy did. We're finding that a bit hard to believe since he's known to embellish stories of his feats of daring do.

Funny thing is he told his other memaw that he only had to tell one person and since he'd told her, he didn't have to tell his parents. When she pointed out to him that he would have to tell them since they'd find out anyway, he said then he'd get in trouble at school for telling more than one person. We are either raising a con artist or a policitian. Guess we need to start working on a legal defense/campaign fund soon.

But in his defense, he's made it over half the year without any problems, so I'm not terribly worried. In fact, I think it's kinda funny until I begin remembering some of the stunts his father pulled when he was in school.

I hope everyone is having a great day. Keep Haiti in your prayers. Love one another.

A New Adventure!

2010-01-20T15:00:00.002-06:00

As you get older, how do you feel about new adventures? I don't mean a vacation, or a new hobby. I mean a new life adventure. I've noticed as I get older(61 now), I am not much in favor of new life adventures. I'm not interested in starting a new job, or moving to another city or even a different house. I just pretty much want to keep the status quo(whatever that means).

My 84 year old neighbor lady has lived in the house behind me for 40 years. She was married to a minister and in the early years of raising five girls, they moved several times. But her husband decided to go into public work and they bought the house in which she lives.

Time is catching up with her, and she had pneumonia twice last winter and has had it already this winter. Each time she seems to grow weaker and after this episode her daughters set up nursing visits and physical therapists to come in and check on her and work with her. Of the five daughters, only one lives within 30 miles. Three live 2 and 1/2 hours away, and one lives in Colorado. So the bulk of caring for their mother falls to the one living nearest.

I knew last week something was in the works because this daughter came and spent a day working on business affairs with her mother, and Saturday she came and took her mother to look at assisted living apartments. She will be moving into one the first week of February.

This neighbor lady is good spirited, kind and would never offer a complaint about much of anything, but she did tell me last night she's having some mixed emotions about this move. I encoraged her to look at it as a new adventure. We talked a while about the good and exciting things that will come with the move(being close to the daughter is the main one). Since I live alone, I know this may also happen to me some day. I already wish I lived closer to my children, and they are only 20 to 30 minutes away, but I would like for it to be 5 or 10.

I know she will do just fine, but it will be hard looking toward her house and knowing she no longer lives there and never will again.

I hope you are having a great day. Pray for the Haitian people. Help if you can. Love one another.

It's Monday and the Sun is Shining!

2010-01-18T12:52:00.002-06:00

We've had some nasty weather here in our little corner of the world lately. First it was almost unbearably cold, then it warmed up and rained part of Saturday and Sunday.

However, on the way to church yesterday, as I drove west, there was a faint rainbow in the western sky. That told me it wasn't going to rain much longer, and when I got out of church, sure enough the sun was shining.

It's supposed to get up to 60 today and is at 57 now. Unfortunately, I'm stuck inside but I do have a window that allows me to look outside.

I appreciate the comforting comments about my grandson moving away. I know I'm not the first to feel this loss, and it helps to know others have survived.

When my husband and I first married, we lived in a small mobile home attached to his grandparent's house. While we lived there, we had our first child, who happens to be the mother of the grandchild who just moved away. I was a stupid young girl when this child was born, and gave not a second thought to moving away from this older couple who had fallen in love with our baby.

I'm sure they knew we wouldn't always live in a trailer attached to their house, but they certainly weren't ready to see us move. I later learned from another relative, how upset this grandmother was when we moved 30 minutes away. That same grandmother also told me often that you pay for the things you do on this earth before you ever leave it, and I am now paying for taking that precious great grandchild away from her. It's true, what goes around, comes around.

I hope you are having a great day. Pray for the people of Haiti. Love one another.

Spreading Our Wings

2010-01-15T09:47:00.001-06:00

My oldest grandson is grown, and has decided to try his wings. He'll be 25 in a few days, and this past Sunday morning, he put all his earthly possessions into his small car and pointed it southeast. He has transferred with his job to somewhere in Florida. It's 2 miles north of Orlando. He will stay with a friend until he finds an apartment, and he's planning to go to school there.

He has always lived with his mother, and I guess we just assumed he would continue to do so. But about a year ago, he began making rumblings about moving south. It has taken this long for everything to be in place the way he wanted it before he moved. I guess I should be thankful he is a patient person and didn't just jump in his car and go there with no plans, no job or money.

He has always been a good kid, and he'd better continue to be since none of us can afford to go there and bail him out of jail. He spent a lot of time with me when he was little. His mom and dad divorced when he was very small. He can't even remember them ever living together. So on the weekends when he wasn't with his dad, he would come to my house. I literally dragged him everywhere. I took him on a float trip with my office buddies once, and we used to go to the local wrestling matches(we prounce it 'rasslin', but I was afraid no one would know what that was). Then there was the time when he was little that I forgot he was at the house. I decided to go to the store, got in the car and was driving down the road when I remembered I had forgotten him. I turned around, went back and took him with me.

He eventually outgrew me as grandchildren are prone to do, and I got used to not seeing him except on special occasions, but I knew he was just a few miles away.

He is my firstborn grandchild, and for about 8 years, he was the only grandchild, so he is exceptionally special to me. I know he will make it fine in his new adventure, but I'm sure going to miss him.

I know others have sent their grandchildren off in different directions...to other states, to other countries, to war, and I know it is hard regardless if they are 2 or 22 or even 52. So to all of us with that separation anxiety, I say, let's all say a special prayer, and hope we see them soon.

I hope you are having a great day. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Super Hero is Six!

2010-01-13T14:12:00.003-06:00

Six years ago today, I was in a hospital in NW Arkansas looking at my precious newborn grandchild. The first for my only son, we were all excited.

He is a good natured loving little guy, and handsome to boot. He started Kindergarten this year and is loving it. We all worried that my son would pay for his raising with this little boy, and that my daughter-in-law would have to pay for my son's raising as well. However, he has been a relatively easy child to raise. I realize he's not grown yet, and if I remember correctly, my son was a good little boy too.

Super Hero loves to laugh and play. He comes to spend the night with me as often as we can make arrangements, and I get to go to his house and keep him and his little sister sometimes. They only live about 20 minutes away now, so I get to see them often. He is going to Karate this afternoon, and if she doesn't forget, his mom is going to let him call and tell me how it went. That way I can wish him a Happy Birthday. His party isn't until Saturday, but everyone should be remembered on the actual day.

Hope you are having a good day. Pray for our country. Love one another.

New Year's Lunch

2010-01-11T15:45:00.005-06:00

I started a new tradition last year. I cook lunch New Year's Day. I cook the usual southern fare for New Year's, including black-eyed peas, hog jowl and cornbread. I also usually make some type of potatoes and greens.

This year, I fried the potatoes in some of the hog jowl grease, and I made creamed collards. I had never cooked collards before, but I had seen Pat and Gina make them on their cooking show so I thought I'd try them. Let me tell you, they got rave reviews. One of the fellows at the table went back for 3rds and I think everyone went back for 2nds.

If you are interested in the recipe, you can go to this link and follow their directions to the letter and you will have a dish you will love. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/neelys/creamed-collard-greens-recipe/index.html.

I hope you had a great New Year's. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Another Day Older!

2010-01-11T15:34:00.005-06:00

I'm thinking maybe one of the reasons I'm not too fond of the holidays might just be that soon after, I turn another year older. Yes, I've had my 61st birthday. It happened back on the 3rd. My kids took me out to breakfast after church. They gave me two new skillets. Unfortunately, I don't have anyone to 'whop' with them. But I'm using them already. They are very heavy Calphalon, and should last me the rest of my natural life.

The following Tuesday, we celebrated my birthday at work. I had two cakes. One of the girls brought an Italiam Cream cake and another brought a Mandarin Orange cake. That night 'the girls' took me to a movie and then gave me gifts. I got some of the best smelling body butter by Arbonne(Ginger Citrus) and another cake, I got a throw and a new wallet, I got a bottle of Cherry Blossom lotion from Bath and Body Works(My all time favorite) and some candles. I got some chocolate, and trivet with my initial on it.

By the end of the day, I'd had three good birthday celebrations and three wonderful cakes. How blessed am I?

Hope you've had a good day today. Pray for our country. Love one another.

The Holidays are Over, Back to the Grind

2010-01-11T14:48:00.002-06:00

I get two weeks off at Christmas. It's one of the perks from working at a University. We save up our small holidays, and then use 2 or 3 days leave and have wonderful time to finish shopping, do some baking, go carolling, decorate the house and put up the tree, re-learn the words to all the favorite songs, spend time with family, and all that other wonderful stuff I like to do during the holidays-----NOT!!!!! except the spending time with family. I do enjoy doing that.

My middle name should have been Scrooge. Its not that I'm tight. I'm just not a festive Christmas person. Christmas has never been a fun filled holiday for me. I always put up a tree, and did all the baking and stuff when the kids were at home. I tried very hard not to let my feelings about the holidays influence them.

But now that I don't have kids at home, I don't have to do all that stuff. I didn't put up a tree, I didn't do a lot of baking, I did no shopping(actually, I managed to wrangle the girls into doing what little I needed done) And basically, I stayed home and denned up like an old bear and enjoyed my time off. I did make 4 dresses, 3 sets of pajamas, 2 cowboy vests and a Santa Suit for Super Hero. I called the little ones Christmas morning to see what Santa brought and then settled back and took a nap.

Now I'm back at work and looking forward to Spring.

I do hope everyone had the Christmas they wanted, and are looking forward to a bright new year.

Pray for our country. Love one another.

Four Christmas Dresses, Three Pairs of PJ's, Etc.

2009-12-15T16:14:00.007-06:00

I have 4 of these dresses almost completed. They are all made alike, smocked the same, just different buttons. Rather than do the picture smocking and put however many snowmen, santa faces and other Christmas prints on these dresses and make them only for a few wears, we opted to use buttons that could be changed. The dresses are made of 32nd check gingham, and can be worn all next summer.

This is the oldest pictured here. Her dress is light blue with peppermint suckers, her younger sisters is mint green also with the red trim and has Santa faces on it, and The Banty Hen's is hunter green with green ribbon(the red and white didn't look good on it) with big white sparkly snowflakes. The forth dress will be for my great neice who is celebrating her first birthday today. It is sewn together, and the smocking almost done. We are putting elfs on hers. Hopefully sometime over Christmas we can get a group picture.

This picture is of the PJ's to which I alluded in my feeble atempt to sound like the 12 days of Christmas in my title. I saw some really bold pj's online that were an animal print with big(huge actually) pink flowers and were so cute. They were 34 dollars a pair, so I started looking for fabric to make them. I didn't find what I was looking for, but did find this gorgeous piece of cotton knit that had the best hand to it, and I bought all of it for 14 bucks. It's going to be a bit interesting to get one for The Banty Hen out of what I have left, but I think with a bit of work, it will happen.

Then it's on to Superhero. He wants a cowhide vest(I just happen to have a piece of fabric that will work nicely for that) and he wants a santa suit. So I've decided to make him one out of fleece that he can sleep in and he'll have a new set of pj's too.

I was also planning to make the 3 girls a pair each of pink and white flannel camo pj's and make Superhero a regular color pair of flannel camo pj's. I can find plenty of pink and white, but none for him. And I've been looking for quite a while. I guess I'll have to rethink that idea.

I have figured out the problem with my camera. It isn't my camera, but the software on my pc at work. When I unplugged it in mid transfer, the program became confused(I think unstable is the correct term)and thinks it's still in transfer mode. I've got to take my software to work and reload. Then I think I'll be in good shape.

Thanks for your suggestions. I have to keep that camera working since getting a new one is out of the question.

I hope you are having a great Tuesday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

What's Wrong With My Camera?

2009-12-09T16:38:00.002-06:00

I was uploading some very important photos the other day and I unplugged my camera (silly me) from my computer before it finished. Why did I do that, you say? I don't know. I had unplugged it before I even thought about it not being finished.

Now I can see the pictures I take, but when I upload them to the pc using a cord, not the base, I get damaged files that won't open. This makes me very unhappy. I've had this camera about 5 or so years, and I don't use it nearly as much as I should. And now it doesn't matter how many pictures I take, I can't upload them to my pc.

The one thing I haven't tried is to upload at home where I have the base. They may work from there, and if that's the case, I may just need to reload my photo program here at work.

If anyone has ever had this happen, let me know what you did to fix it, please. I took the battery and the card out for a while thinking it would reset itself when I put them back in, but that didn't work. I've been working on dresses for the granddaughters and wanted to put some pics for you to see, but haven't been able to yet.

I hope you are having a good day. Pray for our country. Love one another.