Category Archives: Fun and Games

I’ve Become Humpty Dumpty

It’s been about three years since I had my first heart episode and had all the tests that went with it ending up with a pacemaker. Before that, I was a walker. A few years ago I lost a lot of weight just walking. Didn’t change my diet or anything, just walked until I was walking five miles every day. And it was easy.  I was skinnier than I was when I got married.

Then I hurt both legs, not at the same time which made walking painful. Then the heart…. Well, it just all went downhill from there.  I’ve always been an active person, but this last year and with the Covid quarantine on top of it, I’ve been less active, let’s just say. I do manage to keep the house, play with the dogs, take care of the chickens, quilt and knit, but a lot of that is done sitting down as I tire very easily.  I really try to walk, but just a few steps and I’m winded.

Sadly, just because I’m not walking as much does not mean I stopped eating and with the quarantine and David always being hungry, we eat all the time it seems to me. I could go all day, and I do, not eating a thing, but when David is home he wants to eat.  And he is thin.

Anyway, I’m not one to stare in the mirror very often, but I caught a glimpse the other day and I did think to myself,  “I’ve turned into Humpty Dumpty.”   Regular sized howbeit, busty on top and round from the waist down.  I told David I could be a Weeble  Wobble. Remember those? Weebles Wobble and they don’t fall down. Well, the falling down I cannot guarantee, but I could wobble, I tell you.  My clothes have not changed fit or else they’ve stretched A LOT, but I haven’t gone up a size, thank goodness but you can’t go up much when you are at the top of the sizes!

Well, something must be done.  Summer is coming and I do want to go swimming and there’s a wedding coming up and I would like the bride not to be ashamed I’m her grandmother so I am going to try to trim down a bit.  Don’t know how, yet, or if I will even be successful because when you tire out easily, exercising does not come easily.

I bought a new exercise thing that I saw on TV. It was advertised by the guy who use to host The Newly Wed Game back long ago.  He’s old now, like me, and found that his balance was not very good so he, with his exercise guru, devised this platform that rocks and you have to stand on it and balance yourself. It has two poles that you hold onto while doing this.  I noticed after I had the pacemaker installed that for some reason my balance was not as good.  When the puppies would jump on me I’d practically fall down and that wasn’t good. So I got this THING and I’m trying to use it so I can gain my balance again. It also has rings attached I can lift to strengthen my arms and upper body strength which I have none.  Right now I’m doing good to do twenty arm curls.

I’m not making any promises to myself or anyone else, but I’ve got it in my mind that I will exercise and maybe get back to walking a little each day and seeing if I can remove the Humpty from my Dumpty.  David never says anything about my weight. Never has for which I am eternally grateful, because who needs a husband who tells you you are fat?   It would be like me telling him he’s getting bald.  Men don’t like to hear that, either.  But David wouldn’t say anything anyway because he’s kind and loves me.

I wish I could say I will challenge myself and tell anyone reading this how I am doing, but I’m not going to do that. Nor am I going to have a before or after photo should I succeed.  But if I do happen to lose a few pounds in the coming months, I will tell you.  If all is quiet suffice it to say, I’m a complete failure at this.

I’ve bought so many exercise machines in the past.  I still use my exercise bike and I have the Cardioglide which you stand upon and swing your legs forward and backward. I love that. I have had other things that have gone by the wayside. I even had that contraption you hung yourself upside down on, but it scared me and I sold it to a guy at a garage sale I had.  Now I kind of wish I still had it. I need to stretch this body out a little longer.

If you are struggling to lose some weight, join the party.  It’s a pretty big one from what I can tell when I go out in public.  Not a whole lot of stringbeans out there.  We are a rather rounded bunch of people, we Americans.  McDonald’s has not been good to us!  Not that I eat at McDonald’s that often. Maybe once in the past year.  I find myself looking at people and thinking to myself, “Am I that fat?”  I probably am or fatter, but I tell myself, “Naaah.”

I never thought I’d talk about my weight here where anyone can read it, but hey, what’s the secret.  People can see me.  I know I’m not in tiptop shape. Not even tip shape.  But there is hope and hope springs eternal and it is Spring and Summer is coming….

Here’s to exercise and the strength to do it!  Bye.

 

It’s Not Even Summer Yet

 

I can’t believe all the things we have already done in the past few weeks and it’s not even Summer yet. ( I wrote this a few days ago when it wasn’t Summer yet.)  We have several family things and trips planned for this season

For the first time in years I have been swimming in the pool before July.  Usually June has cool nights and the pool was never warm enough for me, but because of very hot temperatures, it’s been really nice for swimming.   We have already had a couple of pool parties.

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I love having a pool full of kids and toys.  I hope I see this scene many times this Summer.

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I love seeing boys enjoying a Summer day, sitting on the swing on my shop porch.  My grandchildren are growing up much too fast.

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I love eating cold watermelon and freezing the rinds and feeding the to my chickens. How they love it.

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After eating, a quick ruffle of the feathers and on to other things.

I finally finished my shop. Except for some curtains and a few paint touch ups it’s done and I have been able to work on a quilt.  Right now everything in so neat and clean. Hope I can keep it that way.

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In my shop I am surrounded with things I love.

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I bought this pretty poster in Laurel, Mississippi on our last trip.  The town where Hometown is filmed.  One of David’s and my favorite fixer upper shows.

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I Mod Podged two and a half inch fabric squares all over this dress form.  I like how it turned out so I’m thinking of Mod Podging maps all over another one.

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A friend and a very talented lady who was also Nana to my Grandchildren, painted this straw hat for me years ago.  She has since passed away, but I think of her every  time I look at this hat.

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This hanging lamp has been in our kitchen, our dining room, my shop, taken down and stored in our basement and brought back into my shop once more where I hope it will stay.  I’ve had it for about thirty years.

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I have a little reading corner where I can read a book or look through quilt magazines and books for ideas for more quilts.  And yes, I have read all those books on the shelves.  People ask me that when they see my book shelves.  Now most of my books are on my Kindle, but I still read every single day.  My mother taught me the love of reading when I was a girl and for that I will always be grateful to her.  She was a voracious reader. She’d read James Michener books like eating candy.  Michener was not known for his thin books.

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I did this ceiling a few years back, painting quilt blocks on boards and David nailing them to the ceiling   The fun part was deciding what quilt patterns to use.

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My exercise bicycle which I don’t use as often as I should.  I have had it for a long time and we cannot find one just like it.  Before the mileage meter broke I had ridden over 25,000 miles on it. I keep it to remind me to exercise.

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I use these Edison type bulbs around the shop to give it a soft glow.  It’s taken months to get my shop painted and cleaned, but I am so happy with the results and I have so much more room. And I love my big cutting table that David built for me. One of a kind.  It can be moved easily and I can lay a big quilt on the top.

This  past weekend we took a trip to Squire Boone caverns in southern Indiana with our grandboys.

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They had never been in a cave before so this was quite the adventure for them. People ask if they are twins.  No, they are brothers born one year apart.

They thought the cave was awesome.

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I think it’s pretty awesome too. To think that water helped form all these formations.  A constant drip, drip, drip and in several years you get a stalagtite or a stalagmite.

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Sometimes you even get fried eggs!

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Squire Boone, Daniel Boone’s younger brother, owned the land this cave was found on and he loved exploring it and they buried his bones here.

It was a fun day, but very hot. Almost 100 degrees.  The boys mined for gemstones and got some things at the gift shop and we decided to leave and get dinner.   We stopped at Frisches and they both ate a big meal.

So on the way home this is what happened.

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Completely wiped out with all they had done.  They slept almost all the way home.  The only thing was, they got a nap and were well rested and ready to go again while Grandma and Grandpa were tired and ready for a nap.  We swam all evening, watched a movie.

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Ready for church Sunday morning.   They were up with the chickens.

It was a fun weekend ending with another pool party and an impromptu birthday celebration for a new teen who turned thirteen who was visiting us.  His cake was made of Twinkies and we ate vanilla and chocolate mint chip ice cream.

I will end this post with a story of life and death.  What happened right before my eyes on our front porch.

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A battle between a big spider and a stink bug.  I was rooting for the spider.

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I don’t think the stink bug had a chance.  The spider wanted its meal too much to let go.  Nature can be cruel sometimes, but that’s the way it is.

Here’s to caves, little boys and Summer days.  Bye.

 

 

Easter Celebration and a Tutorial

Can’t believe Easter was just last Sunday.   It’s one of my favorite holidays for many reasons. For one, it’s the happiest day for Christians all around the world who celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ who was beat, tortured and hung on the cross on Friday and on the third day he arose.  He took every last one of our sins upon himself. Only God could do that.   Because of Jesus, I can face every day knowing that He lives and lives through me.  One day I will see His face.

The other reason I love Easter is because of the fun things we do with out grandchildren.  We always have an egg hunt. This year two of our grandchildren were in California with their daddy and our granddaughter was in Florida with friends.  As our grandchildren grow older, their lives get busier and we see less of them which makes me sad, but that is the way of life.  But we had two grandboys and our son’s girlfriend’s son here to hunt eggs so it was fun. David and I prepared 216 eggs.  Seventy-five of them had little pieces of paper in them with dollar signs on them. Those who found those got a dollar for each one.  Dangling that carrot in front of young boys gives them a big incentive to hunt the eggs.  We hid some in he house and in my shop because we were expecting rain and when it didn’t rain, we hid more outdoors.

The hunt was a great success and each boy got a wad of dollar bills. All but two of the eggs were found. I suppose I will run across them sometime just like I do every year.

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I cut some of the daffodils from my garden for the table.  I had fun dyeing those eggs using just food coloring water and vinegar.

We had a nice dinner and conversation as we ate. In the course of talking we got to laughing about the Debbie Downer character who was on Saturday Night Live years ago.  Debbie Downer always found something pessimistic to say when her friends were discussing something.  Every time she said something pessimistic, the music would go Wa-wa-wa.   It was really funny.  Well, we were discussing whether we were getting any eggs and I mentioned one of our hens had died of old age this week and my son went “Wa-wa-wa,”  and we all started laughing. Then I tried to think of pessimistic things to interject in the conversation just to get to say it.  We were all laughing so hard.  I guess you had to be there, but if you have ever seen that sketch on SNL you know what I am talking about.

This week besides painting in my shop, something that seems to go on and on, I did manage to do a little quilt making.  And by little I mean the quilts are little.

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I have been working on this quilt.  Orange peel.

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Kathleen Tracy made this quilt. Now I have made orange peel blocks before and the instructions for them are in this book, but I make mine a little differently so as to get uniform orange peels.  Here is how I do it.

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Take one small piece of fabric.

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Draw the orange peel shapes on freezer paper.  Cut them out.

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Iron one on each piece of fabric you are using for all the orange peels. I used 64 different colors of fabric to make it more patchwork looking.

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Next, iron in the ends.

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Press all around the orange peel shape. Don’t burn your fingers!

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Remove the parchment paper.

Then I go one extra step some people don’t do.

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I baste around the orange peel.

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Pin it on your square.  Sew around it with tiny stitches.  Do this 64 times and you will have enough little blocks to make this particular quilt.

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I must admit it is quite habit forming making these blocks.  I so enjoyed stitching each different orange peel on its block.  I have them sewn together, but I will show you that in another post.

We are expecting yet another round of snow tonight.   I’m so ready for warm weather and sunshine.   We were going to go to the Indianapolis Zoo Saturday, but that’s been cancelled.   We will get to the zoo sometime this year.  Maybe even go to the Cincinnati Zoo.

Here’s to Spring, wherever she is and may she get here before Summer. Bye.

 

 

 

 

Summer Fun and How Not to Photograph the Blue Moon

We had a Blue Moon the other night.  For those of you who don’t know what a Blue Moon is, it is when two full moons happen in the same month. The second one is called the Blue Moon.  Ever hear someone say something only happens in a Blue Moon?  They are not rare, but don’t happen often.  We had an especially beautiful clear night for looking at the moon.  Not a cloud, except for the cloud of mosquitoes that was hovering around me as I took pictures.  I didn’t have the tripod up so I tried to take the pictures with my shaky hands.  Let’s just say some of them were not the best.

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No, there were not two moons, just my not being able to hold the camera still.

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It rose behind  the trees across the street.  See that figure at the bottom.  Kind of looks like an angel doesn’t it?  Rising in the mist.  I don’t know what it is really.

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That moon would not hold still!

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It was so bright.

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Loved the silhouettes on the moon, or are they moon creatures???

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Finally, a sort of good picture.  By then my legs and arms were a mass of mosquito bites and I was thinking about going in where I would be safe from the blood thirsty little critters.

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But still, because I wanted to keep my readers happy, I continued snapping pictures.  What is that line across the moon?  Does it have an equator?   Or is that a big rubber band holding it in the sky???

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Ack!  What is that?  Time to go inside.  I think this is a giant mosquito coming at me.

We had one final big swim and cookout Sunday with the grandkids.  It isn’t very often they all can get together and with school starting and sports, homework, plays and other activities, they won’t be getting together again soon.  Anytime I can have them all with me makes me happy.  They are all growing so fast and soon will be all grown up, just like our kids did and they will all go their own ways and do their own things, so for this little bit, I will enjoy every minute I have with them.

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The water felt so good.   It’s been really hot around here lately.  The boy cousins were having a great time playing together.

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Our lone granddaughter stayed out of the rough housing.  She was smart.  Me, not so much.

I did not want to go in the pool because I knew my hair would get wet and we were going to church that evening, but as I sat watching all the fun and since I was so hot, I decided to get in my suit and join the fun.  I told the grandboys I did not want my hair getting wet.  No, no, no.

Well, after one dumped a whole bucket of water on my head and almost lost his swim trunks to me, I knew my hair was doomed.   From then on it was splash Grandma and I enjoyed it.

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I think they are ready for America’s Got Talent.

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Good balancing act, don’t you think?

I hope my grandchildren will remember all the fun they had at their grandparents’ house.  We certainly enjoy them, but boy, was it quiet when they left.

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I see the moon,

The moon sees me,

Down through the leaves

Of the old Oak tree.

Please let the light that shines on me,

Shine on the one I love.

Over the mountain,

Over the sea.

Back where my heart is longing to be.

Please let the light that shines on me,

Shine on the one I love.  Bye.

 

How to Bathe a Baby

Today I will give you instructions on how to bathe a baby. It’s really very easy.

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First you get the shampoo, a towel and a bowl for rinsing.  A Cool Whip bowl is the best to use.  It reminds you of delicious desserts you ate while you are bathing the baby.

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Oh, did I neglect to tell you the baby was a puppy?  Yes, Molly is getting her first bath.  We didn’t bathe our other two dogs when they were pups and therefore it is impossible to bathe them now. It is dangerous to even try.  So, Molly will get regular baths so she won’t be afraid when she gets too big to handle.   First you get the puppy wet.  Keep the water and shampoo away from her eyes.  This also works with human babies.

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Then with very rapid motions you put shampoo on the puppy and rub it all over her until she is a bubbly little furball.

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Continuing to wash the puppy until your hands almost disappear, you get her nice and clean.  So far the puppy does not know what is happening to her.  She only tried climbing out of the tub once.  But, as you can see, I can move fast and kept her in.

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Then you gently rinse the puppy under the faucet because it is faster that way and gets the soap off her really well.

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By this time the puppy is resigned to the fact she is going to have to endure this just a little longer.

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Then you take a clean towel and begin drying her.  She loves this and makes moaning sounds as I rub her.

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Here she is.  A nice clean puppy who smells like baby powder.  Or as David says, “She smells like a baby’s butt.”   Then you sniff her for about a half hour and rub her dry and think how adorable she is.

Molly has made herself right at home here at the Craig house.

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She sleeps among the shoes.

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She and I both slept on the couch the other day.

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She sleeps with the chickens.  See the black Australorp?  She cosied as close as she felt safe by Molly and laid there for a while.  I am trying to get both chickens and puppy used to each other so Molly won’t want to eat them later.

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The chickens were very curious about her, but didn’t allow her near.

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She sleeps with Bonnie.  I’m rethinking that extension cord right there where she can reach it.  She hasn’t found it yet, but I’m not taking any chances. I have puppy proofed my shop as well as I can, but I am sure she will find something I never thought of to chew one day.

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Yes, she sleeps a lot and I have a hundred or so pictures of her doing so.  I just can’t resist.

Lest you think all I have done since we got Molly is watch her, play with her and walk her, I have done other things.

I picked our first pumpkin out of our garden this week.

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This is one of twelve or thirteen we have seen in the garden.  This is one of the small ones.

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I tea dyed some lace for a project and hung it out to dry in the wind.

I also finished my Christmas sheep quilt top.  I really love it and can’t wait to show it to you.  I finished knitting another hat.  I finished a book and began another.  I did laundry.  I started a new quilt.  I fed and watered the chickens.  I gathered eggs.  I went to church.  I took a walk.  I baked an apple crunch and a rhubarb crunch, both of which have been eaten in a matter of days.  I would say I dusted the house, but I would be lying.  I cleaned up after the pup.  My shop floor looks like I have a real baby with all the toys scattered all over.  I cooked lasagna.  I baked a chocolate chip applesauce cake that I forgot to put vanilla in, but it still tastes pretty good. I made three trips to the vet with three dogs.  I had to hold Bonnie down while they trimmed her nails.   I sat in the air condition because it has been so hot and humid.  I would rather be outside, but I am getting a lot of hand quilting done on a quilt that I hope to have finished next week.  I did a few other things, but the pup has had a lot of my attention this week.

Here’s to bathing babies(human or canine.)  Bye.

 

 

Beautiful Kitty

Just thought I would show you the beautiful kitty my grandchildren have.  She really is a cutie.   A precious, fluffy, feline.  No cat can match her.  It’s hard to describe how pretty she is.  Are you anxious to see her?  Well, here’s her picture.

 

 

 

 

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Please, don’t be scared.  She just needed to be shaved and she’s not too happy about it.  Poor kitty.  Bye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

End of Year Frivolities

Well, it’s the end of 2013 except for the celebrating.  My idea of celebrating this year will be to go out to the chicken coop at midnight and throw the girls some chicken scratch like confetti and yell, “Happy New Year!” which will cause them all to lay an egg because they will have all been asleep.

I will also give Belle and Bonnie some bones and give David a great big kiss and go upstairs and snuggle down into my bed and read a good book.

I’m done with all the partying and trying to pretend to have fun on New Year’s Eve when really, I would rather be home with the one I love or if any of my other loved ones wanted to join us that would be okay, but don’t expect me to be the life of the party.

I use to think we needed to be out doing something on New Year’s Eve and every year I never felt like it was all it was cracked up to be.  David and I dressed up one year and went to a big party at a hotel in Indianapolis.  There were bands and lots of food and even a casino.  I don’t gamble but this was not gambling for money.  We were the oldest ones there and everyone treated us so nicely and we had a good time. At the end of the evening there was a balloon drop and it was amazing there were so many balloons.  We had masks and hats and noise makers.  It really was fun.  We stayed all night at the hotel and the next morning they served a huge breakfast buffet with everything you could think of, even sushi, which I tried and decided I didn’t like it much, but everything else was so good.  We planned to do it again the next year, but David had back surgery right after Christmas that year, so we couldn’t go and for some reason, we have never done it again

We have several birthdays in December.  Our youngest grandson was born three days after Christmas and this year he had his very own party instead of sharing a party with his older brother who was born in November.   It was like Christmas all over again for him.

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He was one happy kid.

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He licked his fork clean of all the icing.

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He opened lots of presents.  He does that tongue thing that seems to run in our family.  My mother use to stick out her tongue when she was concentrating.

We had a nice evening visiting with my son-in-law’s family and enjoying the children.  When we were driving home we passed this amazing, Christmas lighted house.  We pulled off the road to take pictures.

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A beautiful Nativity.

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Polar bears around a tree.

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This house had everything lit.  It was beautiful.

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Santa and his sleigh.

It was a lovely ending to a very nice day.

Now that 2013 is being put to sleep and a brand spanking new year is upon us, I want to wish you all a very blessed new year.  May your year be one of health, joy and love.   I’ll be writing about my plans for the new year next time.  Happy New Year!  Bye.

I Got This New Camera, so……..

Last fall I dropped my little camera that I have been using ever since I started my blog.  It wasn’t an expensive camera, but it did the job I wanted it to do.  When I dropped it, I couldn’t zoom in for pictures any longer.  So, David got me a new camera for Christmas.

Since we got to spend some time with our grandchildren this week, I got to practice taking pictures and my grandchildren were happy to oblige.

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Photo bomb.

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My granddaughter wasn’t here at the time.  She was busy getting her first book published.  Yes, my fourteen year old  granddaughter has written a book.  One of a trilogy and she will soon be a published author.  That will be a blog in itself when the book gets published.  Therefore, I didn’t get many pictures of her.

I wanted to get a picture of all the cousins together.  Getting kids to all smile at the same time can be hard as you will see by the next few pictures.

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Finally got a decent picture, but, as you can see, I got the other adults’ pictures, who were trying to take photos too, in the mirror behind the children.

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This boy was a chubby little baby just a blink of the eye ago.  Now he can bench press his six year old cousin.

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We gave the  children some Christmas gifts.  These are games David and I built and painted.  We gave them an assortment of balls and they spent a good part of the evening rolling the balls down the ramps.  There was a third one, but I didn’t get a picture of it.

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I tried getting creative and took a picture of my daughter’s Christmas tree’s reflection in the window.  I think it looks awesome.  They live out in the woods up a big hill.  The view in itself is awesome.

I’m really looking forward to taking pictures in the coming year with my new camera.  Who knows where it will take me or I will take it.  What adventures we will have.  Maybe something spectacular will be photographed.  Who knows.  The new year lies before us with all its joys, sorrows, fun, and living to experience.  I want to photograph it all.  Bye.

 

‘Twas

 

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‘Twas days before Christmas

And all through the house,

Not a creature was stirring,

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Not even my spouse.

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The chickens were nestled

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All snug in their beds,

While visions of juicy worms

Danced in their heads.

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Balloons were hung on the ceiling with care,

In the hopes that our grandchildren

Soon would be there.

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And I in my Santa hat,

And Dave in his socks,

Were roaming the house,

And checking the locks.

When out on the lawn

There arose a great noise.

“What is it?” I wondered.

It’s our grandboys!

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With balloons on their heads,

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And balloons on their ears,

They made me laugh so,

It brought me to tears.

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Our granddaughter, too, got into the act.

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And looked just as funny,

It’s a matter of fact.

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Little boys wrestling.

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Little boys giggling.

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Little boys laughing,

And little boys wiggling.

They were silly and fun.

Quite funny I’d say.

I love them so much,

I could watch them all day.

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But then in a twinkling,

They had to go home.

Which gave me the idea,

To write this new poem.

But I heard them exclaim,

As they drove out of sight.

“We’ll be back soon, Grandma.  We love you.  Good Night!”

 

 

‘Tis the Season

It’s that time of year again.  The time when I say I am not making Christmas gifts this  year and then I begin to madly start making as many homemade gifts as I can.  I don’t know what it is, but I always start getting all these bright ideas right around Thanksgiving.   Actually, I started a little earlier this year as my sister-in-law and brother-in-law gave us a great idea for gifts for our younger grandsons.  We have been working on them and having so much fun doing so.  I say we because there is some building involved and since I am pretty much useless building things with wood, I am leaving that part to David.

When I am working on a project I all of a sudden get ideas to work on other projects and before I know it, I have four or five projects going at once.  My shop is in shambles  right now with fabric and paints all over.  I have a sign on my door reading, “‘Tis the season not to be nosy.  Santa’s workshop.”  This is to keep nosy grandchildren and others out of my shop so they won’t see what is going on in there.

But I  am so excited I want to give a little hint about what I am doing, so here are a few pictures that I don’t think gives too much away.

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This may or may not be the start of a present.

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These are a few of the fabrics I am using in a project which is not a gift.  At least not for this year.

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I love this quilt.  I am going to modify it because I think the shepherd  is a little wonky.  Here are a couple of my sheep.

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They started out with all these pieces.

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When I finally got one of the heads done, I was so happy.  It’s going to need some eyes, probably buttons, but I know a man who has thousands of buttons so I’m okay on that.

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I really admire people who write up patterns for quilts.  They can take a few squares and make them turn into a sheep’s head just like that if you follow the pattern carefully which I don’t often do as I get ahead of myself in the excitement of making the block. But this time, it actually looks like a sheep head.  I did make a mistake on both the blocks, but I think the block looks better with the mistake in and will do the same to the rest of the blocks.  I need to make six more sheep.

This pattern comes from this book.

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Look at all the wonderful things you can make.  You can make ornaments, quilts, a tree skirt, pillows or a table runner and anything else you can think up using these patterns.  You could put things on towels or aprons.  Let your imagination run wild.

I may be a little busy for the next few weeks so my posts may be few and far between, or maybe not.  But I want to wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Hope you get to share it with family and/or friends and have a feast and fellowship all day.   God bless you all.  I am so thankful for all of you that come here and read my little blog.

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Happy Thanksgiving.  Bye.