keeperoftheskieswife

Nomad

2011-11-17T18:10:00.006-06:00

Meg's quilt is DONE!

I have named this one "Nomad."

Meg is a wanderer at heart, she loves to travel and see the world. I don't see her settling down in one place, ever! But, wherever she goes she will have this quilt and a piece of her momma's heart and love to keep her warm!

She had bought the map fabric a few years ago because she liked it. She never knew what she was going to do with it. She gave it to me to include in a quilt for her. This is the pattern I drew up. I am super happy with how my pattern came out! The flying geese (triangles) represent her flying around the world, and the row of three strips represent the roads she will travel on.

This is the center of the quilt.

back of quilt is a cool hexagon pattern that ties well with the front colors. Meg's nickname is Bear, so I made her label with a bear applique.

I am in love with this quilt....ha, I say that with everyone, huh?!

Hot Artichoke Spinach Dip

2011-10-14T11:25:00.000-05:00

I always make this dip whenever I host a party or we are attending a pot luck. People are always asking me for my recipe, and some friends have even called me up and put in an order for it. :)

I thought I would finally sit down and blog the recipe. So, here it is.

Hot Artichoke Spinach Dip

Ingredients:
1 14oz. quartered artichoke hearts, drained
3/4 cup 3 cheese Italian (I use Frigo-parmesan, asiago & romano)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 10oz. package frozen spinach, thawed & squeeze all water out.
1 8oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup mozzarella, shredded (& more for top)
salt & pepper

Heat oven to 350° and get a 9x13 pan out or several small ones

In food processor place artichoke hearts, 3 Italian cheeses & garlic. Pulse 5 times. Add spinach, cream cheese, sour cream, & heavy cream - pulse until combined. Add mozzarella & pulse 2-3 times more. Season with salt & pepper.

Spoon mixture into baking dish. Top with additional mozzarella.

Bake for 20-25 minutes and it's hot & bubbly! We eat ours with tortilla chips.

Enjoy!

Bird Nest Quilt

2011-10-12T19:10:00.000-05:00

Both my girls are now out of the house for good (again) and living on their own. I decided to make each of them a quilt for snuggling on the couch. I finished Tori's first.

I took them both shopping for fabric and had them pick out several colors that they wanted in a quilt. I then (tried to) decided on a pattern. I made this one up as I went along. Tori picked out these amazing colors and prints and I think they all flow beautifully together.
Hubby named it Bird's Nest, appropriate name since we call Tori, Bird.

I made twelve 12" disappearing 9 patch blocks and twelve 12" solid blocks with 2 1/2" strip pieces for the sashing and border. I am IN LOVE with how it came out!

Back of quilt with my label on it.

Here is Bird with her Bird's Nest quilt :)

*find me on facebook....TheMadQuilter

Juicing for Health

2011-09-21T18:10:00.000-05:00

I juice at least twice a day.

Some juices are just as pretty as they are yummy. This one was beets, red grapes, peach and an apple.

Cabbage & Granny Smith apple = delicious!

Sweet potato, carrots & cantaloupe...Yummers!

Tomato, watermelon, pineapple & oranges! One of my favorites! So refreshing!

And then you have this ugly cuppa juice....cabbage, red grapes, celery & granny smith apple. Not the prettiest, but it was actually quite yummy.

Do you juice? I highly recommend it!!!

Treasures found

2011-09-10T07:59:00.000-05:00

Tori moved into her very own apartment last month. The only thing she was lacking was a table. She wanted/needed something small to fit in the space she had. John had been looking on a local website everyday, but everything he found was way to big. While driving into downtown one day I discovered a newly opened flea market. I was super stoked over this discovery. I love thrifting and finding those hidden treasures. So you can only imagine my exhilaration when I came across this table! I immediately text a photo to Tori and she responded with a OMG perfect! That's just the size I wanted! Ah! (those are all quotes)

Here it is sitting pretty in here home. It's for sure vintage, just not sure what decade...maybe 50's? It's very sturdy. Whoever painted it did a fabulous job, and she can always strip it later on down the road and bring it back to it's natural state. Isn't it just darling?!!

I also found this vintage pyrex in the "Forest Fancies Mushroom" pattern for Tori. She had found a baking dish awhile back in this pattern. (both my girls have a love affair with vintage Pyrex...just like their Momma)

John went back to Dolly's flea market with me a week later and I found more vintage Pyrex. O, my goodness, I was in Pyrex heaven.

This pattern is "Town & Country."

I came across the ENTIRE nesting bowl set of "Americana" I about fell over. There are no chips and very few scratches. Woo-Hoo!!!

So, John told me that I have become a hoarder of Pyrex. Whatever! I explained to him the difference between a hoarder and a collector!!! He was really just kidding...I think.

Who's that blogger?

2011-09-05T10:44:00.000-05:00

You've probably forgotten all about me by now. It's been over 3 months since I've blogged. :/

Quick update:

I lost my job at the school. I was upset about it at first, worried about my children...wondering if they will make it without a "safe person/room" to go to. I still worry about the kiddos, but i'm not upset anymore. I am LOVING just being a bus driver again!! This is the start of my 21st school year driving a bus. O, and the best part, I was one of the lucky few who received one with air conditioning!!

I spent the summer worried sick about my two daughter's traveling all over Europe. They visited 9 countries in all. Here are a few pictures from their adventures.

Spain

Portugal

Belgium

Barefoot Park in Germany (therapeutic 3 hour walk)

They both agreed that Portugal was the most beautiful place on Earth. I want to visit now.

The girls were home for most of August. They have both moved out again. Tori back to Conway, in her own apartment, for her last year in college. Meg moved to Texas where she is tutoring after school and is thinking about going back to college to get her degree in Bi-lingual Speech Pathology.

So, we are empty-nesters...again!

Happy Labor Day, everyone!

8 more days

2011-05-27T17:58:00.006-05:00

That's 8 more days I have to work before summer vacation! Our last day is June 9th. This has been the never ending school year. Thanks to a crazy winter/spring of snow & floods we have an extra 6 days added on to the year.

I started a page on facebook....TheMadQuilter....check it out if you wish and "Like" me. :) Go here and check it out.

Also, check out Jenna's vlog on youtube. You can see sweet baby girl, Scarlett, in action. Love that baby girl. Jenna & David and my sweet baby Scarlett, will be moving to England in the near future. I'm trying to get her to start a blog as well.

Hope to catch up with all of you this weekend!! Happy Memorial Day! Be safe!!!

What I'm currently working on

2011-05-15T09:35:00.002-05:00

Another busy weekend for me.

I'm adding the binding to the "Punctuation" quilt and then it's in the
washer & dryer before it goes to it's new home.

_______________________________________________________

I cut up 180 squares, and then sewed them together to make 90, and then cut them to make 180 triangles, and then I pressed them all open to have a total of 180 squares. (does that makes sense?) That took about 4 hours and my back is now hurting from being bent over the cutting table, sewing machine and standing up to iron/press.

I've decided on 2 different quilts with this material.

The Zig Zag

The Pinwheel

__________________________________________________________

I'm making a Sock Monkey story book quilt as well. This one is going to be fun to make. Who doesn't love Sock Monkeys?!! My girls would giggle when I sang them this song when they were little.

Mother's Day

2011-05-11T18:18:00.004-05:00

Tori took one of her prints and made me a card with it. She put together this cute bundle of fabric...there is a vintage bed sheet, a pillow case, and some other fabrics. I plan on making myself a herringbone quilt. It melted my heart how well she knows me.

I made my mother-in-law this hourglass quilt. The fabric is from the same roll I used to make the quilt I gave her and my father-in-law in March.

I made my Mom this Giddy quilt. I am in love with this fabric line. She put it over her chair in the living room. It matches her colors perfect.

2011-05-10T19:47:00.003-05:00

I miss this little girl
so much and she's
only been gone
for 1 day.

Life is Good

2011-05-07T21:29:00.002-05:00

David, Jenna, & Scarlett are here visiting us. We are enjoying having them here especially Scarlett, it's so much fun having a baby in the house.

She is a doll!

Jenna & David are AMAZING parents!!

Nona loves this baby girl, and so does Pap. She loves her Auntie Tori too. We are stealing every kiss and hug we can since they are moving to England this summer. Isn't she just precious?!!

bad blogger award goes to ME! (SPAIN)

2011-05-04T16:15:00.000-05:00

I've been a bad blogger.

My photos of Spain on my computer some how got messed up. I wasn't able to get them to come up at. all! It was very frustrating. John finally was able to fix the problem last week. We have had some of the CRAZIEST weather you can possibly get here in the Natural State. Tornadoes & torrential downpours that led to floods all over the state. I've been busy making quilts for baby showers and for some people who hired me. So, I haven't had much time to blog or read blogs.

I'm not going to drag out my trip to Spain. I'll just post some pictures and maybe write a caption. Let me just say the trip was a very memorable one! It is a beautiful country!!

My 40th Birthday! We celebrated in Tarifa, Spain. It just happened to be Carnival that weekend...where EVERYONE dresses up crazy & celebrates!

Roman Ruins in Bolonga

The World's Oldest Outdoor Market

Chocolate Cappuccino, the chocolate was thick in the middle. YUM!

HUGE TREES!!Tree Hugging Hippie :)
Swings!

Dehydration :(

Wine & Tapas while Dad recovers at the hotel.
Gorge of El Tajo....Ronda, Spain! This town was beautiful! Ernest Hemingway wrote some of "For whom the bell tolls" here.Spain's oldest bullring dating back to 1785.

The Royal Chapel in Granada, Spain. The chapel contains the tombs of the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella and their daughter Joanna the Mad and her husband Phillip the Fair.

The lead caskets that hold the actual remains.

The Alhambra at night.

You can see some of the Alhambra behind them.

The architect and detail was fascinating...amazing that this castle was built in the 13th Century. Over looking the city of Granada which means Pomegranate

Cheers to a wonderful trip. Tori leaves on the 22nd of May to backpack across Europe with Meg. I'll be one nervous Momma for 7 weeks.

For now....

2011-04-08T09:56:00.002-05:00

I'm typing this from my iPhone, so not sure how it's going to look.

Spain part 2 will be coming this weekend. But, for now, a short post to show off my new blog design!!! Isn't is GREAT!!! My good blogging friend, Dee, designed it. Go check out her blog...she does amazing work!

http://homesickcajun.blogspot.com/

Spain (part 1)

2011-04-03T09:40:00.000-05:00

I took over 1,000 photos while in Spain. Whoa! Because we visited so many towns, I'm going to write several posts over the next week or so.

DAYS 1-3

March 16th - The first day was basically traveling day. It took 3 airplanes to get to Spain. Little Rock to Dallas. Where we had a 5 hour layover.

Dallas to London, England where we had a 3 1/2 hour layover

Me on the long flight to London....all happy & relaxed because I took a Klonopin. :)Did I mention I have a fear of flying...anxiety was kicking in big-time!
John sleeping in Heathrow Airport

March 17th - and then finally...London to Malaga, Spain. When we got to the luggage belt we waited and waited....and our luggage was no where to be seen. We weren't the only ones...everyone who had a connecting flight from London was missing their luggage. Thankfully, they just put it on the wrong belt.

Meg was flailing her arms at us...I didn't see her but John did....I didn't see her because I was looking for my long, curly headed daughter. She had got her hair cut that morning...14 inches cut off!!! We were reunited after 6 months!!! Longest we have ever been apart. I cried and hugged her neck! Her hair is cute!!!

Another American teacher friend of hers, Jason, came with her for the 1 1/2 hour drive from La Linea to Malaga.

This is the view from Meg's living room balcony. Pretty nice, huh?!

We had dinner that night in La Linea at this Argentinian restaurant. The food was freaking amazing!!!
My first glass of wine in Spain. You can see how tired I am from traveling!
Meg & Daddy...John feel in love with this steak dish they had. It was so good he didn't need ketchup....I think that's the first time I have ever seen him eat steak without it.

Walking around La Linea. See that huge rock behind us? That's Gibraltar. We said good night and went to our hotel to get some sleep.

March 18th - Meg & Hillary came to our hotel room at 10:00 that morning. We were supposed to be ready at 10:00 but.....we were still sleeping! Oops...we got ready fast though.
We walked along the beach front to a restaurant called Aqa for breakfast.
They are in the middle of repairing that walkway the girls were telling us. Oh and there's that rock again. OK, so we are all fueled up and ready to go climb the "Rock of Gib"

But first they took us to the outdoor market where we bought honey and some nuts for the climb.

Once we crossed the border in Gibraltar (you have to show passport but they don't stamp it) it was like being in a different country...well, I guess we were since the British own it...haha.
The photo above is Meg & Hillary pointing to wear they live and the rock is all that green.

You have to literally walk across the runway...YES, Airport Runway....to get to the center of town and where you can hike the rock. (Gibraltars airport is one of the top 10 most dangerous in the world!)

Meg has a tradition where she always picks a flower once she gets in to Gibraltar and puts it in her hair. :)

We walked up hills and steps (2,000 steps total)

and down those steps

breathtaking views!!

We finally made it to the top....that was one of the most insane workouts we have ever done!!! I had to stop several times because I felt an asthma attack coming on....luckily it never happened but I did use my inhaler a few times to help me breathe. John said his legs were like jell-o and he was having a hard time with the last 90 steps.

Once up top there is a colony of about 200 monkeys that live there.

This precious little guy went to climb on me and I jumped. I put my hand back out to let him climb up me and he pushed me away. hahaha

He ended up holding my hand for awhile. He was so cute!!!

We got to see this one nursing on his momma....so beautiful!!! Momma was grooming him while he was nursing. Daddy was laying behind momma.

Once down from the hike (we took the cable car down) we went and ate at "The Star Bar" we had the fish and chips!! They are famous for their fish and chips....they were featured on some food network show. YUMMY!!!

HUGE tree where a cat named, Mickey, lives...Meg called his name and he came running out of the tree. She said, "head butt" and he head butted her. I did it and he got me in the eye...Mickey head butts HARD!!! It was cute to see him.

Beautiful sunset over the runway! Goodbye, Gibraltar! We enjoyed you!!!

We crossed the border back to La Linea, Spain and went to Meg's apartment. Her friend, Bianca, another American teacher was coming down to spend the weekend with us. She teaches in La Roda which is further north.
We went and had a few drinks before heading off to sleep. Oh, by the way...this was the last day of my 30's!!! Great way to say good-bye to that decade.

Instagram

2011-03-31T20:26:00.003-05:00

Hey blog pals -

I am back from SPAIN!!! We have actually been home since Saturday. I am SO jet-lagged still. It's been hard getting up at 4am everyday for work and than working for 9 1/2 hours. I talked with several nurse/doctor friends of mine and they said it might take me up to a week to adjust back to this time zone. Several others said something about flying west messes them up and that's how we flew home. Hopefully by Saturday I will be well adjusted! So, I am hoping to post photos and tell you all about my trip over to see my daughter, Meg, and the beautiful country of Spain this weekend.

Meanwhile, do any of you have an iphone? If so, do you have Instagram? I am obsessed with this app. If you want to follow me I'm.....@bettylovesashley

Can't wait to catch up on reading your blogs and seeing what has been going on in your lives. But right now....I'm going to bed!

-Betty

Student Competitive Art Show

2011-03-13T09:00:00.002-05:00

This past week was the 2011 Student Competitive Art Show at UCA. My baby girl, Tori, is a junior there. She entered 3 pieces and 2 were selected to be in the show. There were a total of 227 pieces entered....the largest one UCA has seen....only 57 were selected to be in show and compete.

The awards are: 4 honorable mention - 3 Awards of Excellence & 1 grand prize. The awards of excellence received $100 & grand received $500.

Tori learned early in the week that her installation was up for an award! John was home when she got the call and he said she was jumping up and down with excitement!

Out of 57 pieces....only 8 awards....Tori was the second to last called...talk about me holding my breath....she won an Award of Excellence!!

Her piece she did is very touching. It represents her memories of my Dad (he passed in 2006) and of my mother....her memories of their home....where she spent a lot of her childhood.
Here she is explaining the art work to Grandma . She is pointing to the book that happens to be my favorite.

This one! That's my parents wedding photo and that was my Dad's tie.
Here is a close up of the left side of the book.

One of his many, many hospital wrist bands. He always gave Tori his bands. Also, the blue shirt in the background was his favorite shirt.

It's hard to see it, but in the middle circle are the actual staples from one of his last surgeries.

Another piece of his favorite blue shirt.

This one is empty. I'm not sure why she left it empty. But everyone looks at art differently, right?! So, when I look at this I think of my Dad being gone...part of us is empty because he isn't with us anymore.

The artist with her work. I am SO proud of her and all of her accomplishments!! It was an honor just to be selected to be in the student competitive show, but to WIN was even sweeter!!!!

She also won 1st place in a show the week before. She has yet to get that drawing back. When she does you can bet I'll blog about it!

Birthday, Quilts & Blankies

2011-03-08T18:30:00.000-06:00

John turned 42 this past weekend. All day he kept saying, Babe, 42....42 babe. We celebrated on his day by going to Coco's, our favorite Mexican restaurant. All he wanted was a GIANT Margarita! We got there before happy hour was over so we could get that sucker for 1/2 price!

Let me just say when you turn 42...eat a lot of Mexican & drink (almost) all a giant margarita....this is what happens to you at 7pm.

You pass out...on the couch with your coat & glasses still on.

I finished binding & quilting the Color Me Badd quilt on Saturday. Today, Tori delivered it to it's owner. I'll admit...I had a hard time seeing it go. I always get attached to my quilts, but this one was different...I mean I really got attached to it. Maybe because I dreamt of the design in the middle of the night and got up right then and sketched it all out.

My label...I finally remembered to label a quilt! I've forgotten to do so on the last 3.

I'm happy that it's going to be loved.

Dinosaur has been wanting a quilt like his brother Reeses. I don't have the time right now to make another doggy quilt, so I whipped him up this flannel blankie. It's funny because he knows it's his.

Composition Notebook Makeover

2011-03-03T20:03:00.003-06:00

Do you like Do-it-Yourself projects?

I do!

I was stumbling on my latest obsession (thanks to my daughter, Tori, for getting me addicted) the website, "Stumbleupon.com." There are millions of DIY websites out there.

I came across a blog where a lady had covered her composition book with fabric. I immediately knew I wanted to do that to my comp book.

and to my sketch book...especially the sketch book...this cover is UGLY!

There are several different ways to cover the book. I went with this tutorial here because it was the quickest. I love the way Vanessa covered her comp book. I plan on making this one, but it'll have to be later this month because I have 3 quilts to finish by the 14th. I must focus on the quilts and quit making small projects.

Voilà....here they are! Pretty cute, huh?!

(almost) Wordless Wednesday

2011-02-23T19:38:00.000-06:00

I made John a pillow for Valentine's Day. I appliqued a 3 on it. If you've been following me for awhile, you'll recall that John & I say..."3" for I LOVE YOU. We always end our text with 3 & we even do it on facebook. I love the way it came out.

I made my mom a pillow for Valentines Day too. The photo in the middle is of her and my dad. I believe it was taken around 1966. This was the first time I have used photo fabric...I like it!

I can see me making more pillows in the future. They sew up fairly quick, and are a fun accent to any room. The most expensive part of the pillow is the form, but Joann's has them on sale quite often. I'd like to make a few for my living room, but must finish other projects first!

Granola Bars

2011-02-20T13:32:00.004-06:00

Today is day 7 of the 30 day challenge...

We have both been struggling with the sweets. I decided to make granola bars to help us in that department. Not only does it help the craving for sweets, it's also good for you!

Here is my recipe if you're interested in making them.

Molasses Granola Bars

2 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick cook)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

6 pieces crystallized ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/3 cup molasses
1/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup dates, pitted (you can use prunes)
2/3 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup unsalted pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup chopped dried pineapple
1/2 cup dried crasins

Directions:

In a food processor, combine the molasses, maple syrup, vanilla, and dates. Pulse three times. Add the cinnamon, ginger, salt, nutmeg, and cloves. Puree until mixture is smooth. Add the oats and pulse until the oats are coarsely chopped.

Remove the oat mixture from the food processor and transfer to a medium bowl, scrape the edges of the food processor to remove all of the mixture. Stir in the crasins, pecans, pineapple, and pumpkin seeds until well mixed.

Line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper. Press the oat mixture into the baking pan until the mixture is evenly distributed throughout the pan and tightly packed.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 25 minutes. Remove from oven, cool in the freezer until the bars are firm. Lift the parchment paper out of the pan, remove, and cut into 8-14 bars.

Store bars in an airtight container for up to a week.

* You can really add any fruit...apricots are good....sunflower seeds instead of pumpkin would be good too. ENJOY!

30 days

2011-02-17T19:55:00.001-06:00

John & I have swore off all sweets and alcohol for 30 days!

Can we do it? YES WE CAN! It's not going to be easy though!

Day 1: Valentine's Day. Yep, we started this on the day of love. What were we thinking? We had the best dinner at Boscos and a glass of Pinot Noir would have tasted so good with it.

Day 2: I wanted a stinking cupcake so bad. I don't know why I was craving cupcakes, I don't usually eat them. I wanted a vanilla bean with buttercream frosting one. John was craving a Margarita from our favorite Mexican restaurant. We did good and didn't give into our cravings.

Day 3: No cravings...ate very clean.

Day 4: Today - I had a very busy day I didn't have time to think about sweets...until I got home. I wanted ice cream. I was afraid I was going to give in and eat some Ben & Jerry's (we had 6 small containers in the freezer) so I took the lids off of them all and turned them upside down in the sink and ran hot water on them. I watched all that creamy yumminess slide down the drain. It was painful to watch.

26 more days to go.....

Quilts for sale

2011-02-12T21:32:00.001-06:00

I put 2 WIP's (works in progress) on Facebook this evening. Both were For Sale. I sold them within 2 hours. HAPPY, HAPPY ME!!!!

Color Me Badd sold first....within an hour...:) I got the idea for this one in a dream. I woke up at 3 am and sketched it out...even wrote the name down. Color Me Badd was one of my favorite groups in the early 90's. My girls and I would dance around the living room singing "I wanna Sex you up"...yep, they were only 4 & 2 years old at the time...hey, don't judge me...they turned out just fine! They are both strong, independent, intelligent women!

The 2nd quilt....my monochromatic improv quilt...
I named it "purple haze" actually it didn't "sell". My niece, Morgan, who is 14, is in the hospital for the second time in 3 weeks, liked it. Morgan had an appendectomy on the 22nd of January. She is back in the hospital today with an awfully large abscess...she had to be sedated and had it drained...she has a drainage tube right above her tail bone...she has to lay on her tummy and she is in major pain. She told her momma how much she liked it... my sister said she is on 3 pain killers, but is brutally honest...she even told her daddy he needed a haircut. HAHA I actually thought of Morgan the entire time I was making this quilt, so it is only fitting that she be the owner.

When she was in the hospital last time she had the quilt I made the family with her the entire time....her sweat, blood, tears & spit went into that quilt. Knowing how much it was loved and how it brought her SO MUCH comfort....makes me happy to give her purple haze.

I'm so stoked! I finally sold a quilt!! Woo-Hoo!!!

Snowpocalypse

2011-02-11T16:03:00.012-06:00

It started snowing on Wednesday, February, 9th at 7:58 am. By 10:00 am we already had 2 inches on the ground.

It snowed SO HARD at times we couldn't see the house across the street. You can tell how hard it was coming down by the picture of my house below. It makes the picture look blurry.
The boys weren't sure about all the white stuff....it almost buried them in places. John shoveled the sidewalk several times just so they could walk.
Within an hour and a half it was covered again.
Dinosaur seemed to like it much more than Reeses did.

Ready to go in the house where it is warm.....they would run in and sit by the heater for at least 30 minutes thawing out.
The backyard.....still snowing at this point.

My backyard the next morning at sunrise....

We ended up with 7.8 inches officially....I measured 8.3. You can see the path John made for the dogs...it goes from the front door to the mailbox.

Being snowed in for the past 3 days I got tons of sewing done! I finished my Postage Stamp Quilt!
I was going to sell this, but John fell in love with it, so it now resides in my living room.
I made a coffee table runner to match it.
It's been a very productive few days! Being snowed in made me realize how much I love my job. I loved getting tons of sewing done, but I have missed my co-workers and kiddos!

I plan on getting out of the house tomorrow. I need to go to the fabric store....I ran out of purple thread. I also need to go to the gym....I've eaten so much I feel like I've gained 10 pounds!

The snow was beautiful...fun...but I've had enough of winter....it can leave now!

She is 23!

2011-02-04T16:10:00.004-06:00

Today is Meg's 23rd birthday! It's been a weird day not getting to hug her in person. I did skype with her first thing in the morning and was able to see her all dressed up on her birthday. She looked beautiful! It was 2:30 pm in Spain.

Here is a picture of her somewhere in Spain over the holiday. She was in a pomegranate grove...I love this photo of her.

We finally received our Christmas package from her that she sent out the 2nd week of December!! It took forever to get to us!!!

We were super excited to finally get it. How perfect that we opened it on her birthday...she was on skype so she got to see us open it.

She wrote a detailed translation and description of all the goodies!

She said all the individually wrapped items are called "Polvorones & Sortidos dulces" they are all part of the Christmas tradition. Most of them are made just north of her in a giant cookie factory in a town called Estepa. She said the whole town smells like cookies! The only thing that kinda grossed me out was they don't use butter in the cookies....they use pig lard....um, yes, you read that right....pig lard. Once I got past the thought of it, I tasted some of the goodies and you can't tell...just the texture is a little different. They are very delicious!!!

We are huge olive oil users in this home...Meg sent us the best olive oil that Spain has. I love the bottle.

The olive oil comes from a protected natural park in the region of Jaen. She translated the label for us...this is what she wrote:
"Olive oil of superior quality is obtained directly from olives that are only cold-pressed. The cultivation of these olives proceeds the Phoenicians and since the Roman Empire has been converted into one of the most important olive oils in the world for its quality tradition and the volume of its harvest. The olives used in the production of this oil from Our Land, are 100% Picual variety. It is a fruity oil with great balance between sweet flavors, bitter and spicy, and great persistence that culminates into a smooth and elegant bitterness that contributes to its character. Recommended raw, with dressings, with toast or in salsas.

Meg said that they don't use butter over there....they pour olive oil on everything the way we use butter. I can't wait to try this olive oil...it sounds wonderful!

I'm going to share with you all what she wrote in our Christmas card....of course it made me cry.

Daddyo, Momma & Sisterface,
It hurts my heart to be here thousands of miles away from the ones I love on such a special day. But the experience itself is bittersweet. Bitter-because I see all of these families preparing for the holidays together, and it makes me miss y'all so so much. But something about the absence is sweet too. Sweet-because I'm fulfilling a dream here, because I had amazing parents to push me and encourage those dreams and because I had a little sister to share those dreams with and imagine in our childhood. I will miss all of you very much on Christmas day...but I hope my absence makes you appreciate your time together even more. 2011 is an exciting year! I can't wait to show all of you this beautiful place...and most importantly, I can't wait to share this experience with those who made it happen! Love you so much!
Forever, always & no matter what, Meg

Somehow getting this package today made it easier that we aren't sharing her birthday with her. I'm extremely proud of the woman she has become. She is an amazing teacher (her students love her) she is strong & independent, loving, kind, and Beautiful! I made brownies with fudge topping for dessert and we are going to sing happy birthday to her. I can't wait to hug her neck in March.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MEG!!!

accomplished!

2011-01-30T07:50:00.000-06:00

I had a very productive Saturday!

I accomplished ALL my goals and some!

The house is clean top to bottom.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous out.
75° - so me & the boys went on a walk.
We soaked up some good ole Vitamin D from mr. sun.

My Postage Stamp Quilt Top is complete!
1,200 2" squares!!!
(photo taken by: Tori)

Punctuation Quilt is sandwiched and basted!
This is a gift for a teacher friend.

And....Curly Girl is COMPLETE!!!
Once I started quilting her I knew I had to finish this beauty. My back was killing me from all the work I did all day, but I was determined to finish her! All I had left was to make the binding and sew it on. I absolutely adore her. She is a combination of the quilts I made Meg & Tori for Christmas 2009.

I made a pieced back. I think it's as pretty as the front.

Alice approves!

Progress

2011-01-26T19:00:00.000-06:00

Well, I am feeling 100% myself again! Woo-Hoo! It is SO nice to finally feel normal again. I do have a slight cough, but the tussionex takes care of that. Tori made an appointment for Friday (finally) she still has a pretty nasty cough, so I am glad she made this appointment. I worry about that girl.

I have made huge progress on my postage stamp quilt. All 48 blocks are sewn and pressed!! All I have to do is sew them together to make my quilt top and I am in the running for the free fabric! I should have it done by Saturday early afternoon. They aren't perfect....but hey...that's what gives it character, right?!

I can never stick to one project at a time....I don't even clean like that...I'm always going room to room never finishing the room completely. I'm weird, I know. Anyway, with all my UFOs you would think I wouldn't start another project... but I did!!! I started a birdhouse quilt....this is my first quilt making pinwheels. I made this one tonight and realized I hate the tan & rust borders. I text Tori a picture and asked for her artist advice. She agreed with me that I need to go with a cream and maybe a pastel peach color. So, I am putting this project on the back burner until I can go to the fabric store.

My goals for this weekend:
1. to finish postage stamp quilt top!
2. sandwich & baste punctuation quilt
3. quilt curly girl quilt

That's on top of sheet washing Saturday...cleaning house, laundry etc. etc.....AH- can I get it done? We shall see....

How do you spell relief?

2011-01-24T17:38:00.003-06:00

I went and saw our family doc this morning at 7:40. I've been so miserable I wanted to hug him the minute I laid eyes on him.

I DO have pink eye...surprise surprise! I took a photo this morning for your viewing pleasure. I know how much you guys love to see pictures with the writing on a blog.
{insert big cheesy grin} This actually looks better than it did Sunday morning, thanks to hubby for putting steroid drops in eye the night before.
{he knows how to pamper me}

I have bacterial sinusitis! Yay me! Not. He had nurse Karen shoot my arse up with some medicine that I can't even pronounce let alone spell. I think it was some strong steroid. He said I'd feel better by this afternoon. Well, I feel about 70% better already! YIPEE!!!!

I'm on an antibiotic, prednizone, tussionex for my cough (LOVE this cough medicine!) & an antibiotic/steroid drops for my eye.

I just hope & pray that I wake up tomorrow and I'm back to normal. 2 weeks is all I can handle being sick!! I'm ready to kiss my hubby again!!!

How do you spell relief? Doctor House, that's how!!! :)

P.s. I have yet to piece those blocks together. Yikes....I'll be a piecing fool when I feel 100% again. I'm determined to be in the running for the free fabric!!!

Sick, sick go away

2011-01-23T07:51:00.006-06:00

Sickness has been in my home for over a month now. I am so ready for it to GO AWAY! It started before Christmas when Tori came down with a nasty cold. We thought it was because she had mid-terms, was moving home & it was the holidays, so her body was weak from little sleep. Well, it has lingered longer then it should...it turned into a nasty stomach virus & she is still couging her pretty little head off a month later. One thing about both my girls...they don't like western medicine. They rather heal themselves with herbal teas and home remedies. Now don't get me wrong...I will do the same...I try all the herbal therapies as well. But, there comes a time when you must go see a Doctor!!! She has not seen Doc yet! But hey, she's 21, I can't make the call anymore.

This is where I come in....I have been sick for 2 weeks now. It started out with a runny nose...so runny I had to keep tissues up my nose all day.
Then I started coughing and coughing and coughing....So much and SO hard that I had to sleep in my sewing room because I was keeping John awake at night. I woke up Friday morning and felt like I had been hit by a ton of bricks...literally, square in the face. My nose feels broken! It's weird, I've never had this symptom before. I can barely touch it and it's super painful. My throat feels like it's on fire...it hurts to swallow water! Strep, maybe? Sinus infection? So I made an appointment and I go see my Doctor on Monday morning. I'm hoping he'll shoot my arse with some heavy duty antibiotics to make me feel better FAST!!!! And as if things couldn't get worse....I woke up this morning with my right eye crusted completely shut! I held a hot rag on it for 5 minutes and it's been oozing all morning. (Gross, I know) So I'm pretty sure I have Pink Eye on top of everything else! JEEZ-can it get any worse...don't answer that!

With me being sick I am so far behind on the Postage Stamp Quilt Along.

I chose Remembrance by Brannock and Patek for Moda fabrics and a cream solid.

Here are my strips all sewn together and waiting to be cut up! Yep, you know quilting...cut fabric, sew fabric, cut it up, sew it again.

There are 4 blocks on table that are waiting to be pressed. I only have 42 more to do by tomorrow afternoon. HA! I doubt that's gonna happen. I really wanted to have the top finished so I could be in the drawing to win $100 worth of fabric. Who knows, maybe I can do it. I have to have it finished by February 1st. We shall see. You can see my UFO's in the background
(ufo = un-finished objects)

So, I am hoping to come back and tell you all tomorrow that I am feeling 100% better and I got a burst of energy and finished all my blocks and UFo's!!! Hahaha Yeah, right.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

into the woods

2011-01-10T08:33:00.001-06:00

We had our first major snow storm of 2011 last night. We received about 6 inches, that's a lot for central Arkansas. So we are snowed in today and I couldn't be happier....well, yes I could, if I didn't have this horrible, nagging cough I'd be happier!

UPS is supposed to be delivering my fabric for the quilt along today. I'm not sure he'll make it out here in the country to deliver it with the roads being so bad. Oh well, I can work on my "punctuation" quilt.

I finished the "into the woods" baby quilt. I made this quilt for my friend Becky's grand-baby, Mason. Her daughter, Sydney, is due on March 16th. The shower is this Saturday. I was going to wait and post pictures then, but they don't read my blog so I decided to post today. (at least I don't think they read it)
I took these pictures this morning. I wondered what my neighbors think of me sometimes. That crazy Betty is out there again taking pictures of quilts....this time she has one draped over a tree. hahaha

I love the color combination in this quilt. The deer, birds, bunnies and other animals are so precious.

Here is the back of the quilt. John loved the back as much as the front. I hope baby Mason is going to love this quilt.

Those who sleep under a quilt, sleep under a blanket of love.

Postage Stamp Quilt Along

2011-01-04T18:20:00.003-06:00

I have decided to join Rachel over at P.S. i Quilt for her postage stamp quilt along. I have never participated in a quilt along before, so I am super excited about doing this. I am in the middle of making several quilts at this time, so why not start another, right?! I never can work on one project at a time. I haven't decided on what fabric to use just yet. I have 3 jelly rolls in my stash, but not sure I want to use any of them, and I have to buy the yardage still. When I decide on fabric I'll post photos. Oh, and there's a drawing for 1st, 2nd, & 3rd place winners for a gift certificate to my FAVORITE fabric store, Fat Quarter Shop! If you're interested click on P.S. i quilt above for more info.

Melting Snowman Cookies and giveaway winner

2010-12-17T18:10:00.001-06:00

Melting Snowman Cookies

Sugar Cookies

1/3 cup cold butter
1/3 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour

Beat butter and shortening with an electric mixer for 30 seconds on high speed. Add in sugar, baking powder and a dash of salt. Beat until combined. Add in egg and vanilla and continue mixing. Add in the flour 1/2 cup at a time. Lightly flour your rolling surface and place half your dough on top. Make sure dough gets nicely coated with flour on all sides. Roll out your dough 1/8 to 1/4 inch in thickness and cut using a round biscuit cutter. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes or just until the cookies edge is firm and the bottom of the cookie is a very light golden brown. Cool on a rack

Sugar Cookie Icing

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tsps milk

2 tsps corn syrup

1/2 to 1 tsp. almond extract

Add your powdered sugar to a medium sized bowl, then add your milk and corn syrup. Mix well!! Then add your extract and slowly add more milk and corn syrup until you get the consistency you prefer. If you add more it will be runny, less will make it thick.

Haphazardly ice your cookies, the more imperfect the better cause it gives the effect of melted snow.

While you are icing your cookies, place a few large marshmallows on a plate and microwave them on high for about 20 seconds. They should puff up a some but they will shrink back down if you let them sit for a bit! Before you pick up a marshmallow grease your fingers with some cooking spray first. They can be very sticky! Place it on the iced cookie. Decorate the face with brown or blue jimmies for the eyes and an orange one for the nose. Different color ones as the buttons. Let set up and enjoy!!!

Thank you to all who entered the giveaway! The winner of the Flannel Froggy Children's Blanket using random.org is #1 HB Send me your address and I'll have it in the mail asap! Congratulations!!!

A Giveaway

2010-12-14T18:27:00.015-06:00

I have been in such a good mood lately. Why? Well, I am no longer a regular bus driver, I got my special needs route back 3 weeks ago! I went from having 85 kids to having 7....ah, it's so nice! NO MORE STRESS!!!

So I decided to do what we blogging woman do best when we we are happy and excited....we have a giveaway!

I am giving away this adorable flannel children's blanket handmade by me. One side is camouflage with frogs and the other is a warm cream.

It measures 36x42 To enter all you have to do is leave me a comment.

Here is a close up of the froggy fabric. It is very soft & quite warm. I think it will make a little boy, or girl for that matter, very happy!

I'll pick a winner using random.org this Friday, December 17. I will announce the winner at 5:30 that evening. GOOD LUCK!

Camo Bunko

2010-11-21T07:50:00.001-06:00

Since November Bunko fell on the opening weekend of deer season here in Arkansas, the theme had to be Camo or some type of hunting related.

In case your eyes are old like mine, my shirt reads, "Don't you wish your girlfriend could HUNT like me"

You know us crazy women...we had to do something goofy! So some of us posed with Jennifer's gun...
Naomi wore her hubby's uniform...her mother came, she was visiting from Atlanta.

Becky & Sunny in there matching shirts...their shirts say, "This babe bags Bucks!" They looked cute!

Shawna & I posing with the gun, we were supposed to have a mean look on our faces, Shawna smiled and I'm not sure what I was doing.

The Bunko Girls

We were two girls short this time around. Naomi's mom played & we played with a ghost. For the record, I HATE when I have to play with the ghost, we never roll good.

Weekend Plans

2010-11-13T09:25:00.001-06:00

John is headed to deer camp, it finally turned cold outside and it's the weekend....so what are my weekend plans? I'm going to finish the "IN LIKE FLYNN" quilt. It's going to be me, my sewing machine & lifetime television all weekend! (I love to listen to lifetime movies while I sew) Oh and my petting zoo of course!

Back in September my nephew, Flynn, who is 8 years old, asked me to make him a quilt for Christmas. How could I resist?! How many 8 year old boy's ask for a quilt for Christmas?!! They usually want video games, bicycles, and guns. He requested that it be red, white, & black. I headed to the fabric store to buy the material. While there I found some baseball fabric that I thought was darling. Flynn plays baseball so I thought I would incorporate it into the quilt...after all it is red, white, & black!

I'm not a quilter who goes by any certain pattern...I buy the magazines and look on line at all kinds of quilt blogs, but I usually just decide on the "look" of the quilt that I like and then draw up my own version and pattern. So with this one I decided to do big 14" square blocks with the baseball, red, & black and then sash & border it with the white.

Here is the quilt top pieced together.

All basted and ready to be quilted!

I can't wait to give it to him.
I hope I can wait for Christmas.
It's going to be a wonderful weekend!

Wicked

2010-11-10T19:07:00.002-06:00

John and I went and saw the Broadway Musical, "Wicked", on Sunday. It was wonderfully Wicked!!! If you get the chance to go, GO! It is well worth the price of the tickets. John got the best seats...we were dead center, 7th row!

This is the map of OZ. The dragon moved and it's eyes were red in the opening act.

Glinda & Elphaba

The costumes were amazing! The actors were awesome! Everything about the musical was, well, Wicked!!!

Taken photos was strictly forbidden....um, yeah, tell that to a blogger! I pulled out my iphone and took 3 pictures. I really wanted to take more but I got nervous. They aren't the best...but the memories I have when I look at them are great!

It was such a wonderful evening!

Here I is...

2010-11-04T18:26:00.001-05:00

So yeah, I lied, I said I would be keeping up with my blog more often....it's just ridiculously hard sometimes to get on here and write. My life isn't that interesting anymore....it's just me & John and our petting zoo. I work, he works, we clean, he hunts, I sew, I quilt....that's about as exciting as our life is now. But hey, I LOVE our life, boring as it may be. No really, it's not always boring....I think.....

I committed to this picture a day on Facebook. It is extremely hard sometimes to try to figure out what to capture & post. The other day I posted this cute fabric I ordered from
Fat Quarter Shop whenever they have their 50% off Moda fabrics I get all excited!! I'm making a quilt for my sister's kids who live in New Hampshire with this "wee woodland" fabric.

Meg has been in Spain for a month and a half now and her room is exactly as she left it....a mess! HAH! It's really not that messy. The bed needs to be washed and made and the bathroom needs to be cleaned and a little dusting is in need. Easy peasy....it's just been easier to keep the door shut! It's on my "to do list" for this weekend.

Reeses got neutered on Tuesday. Bless his little balls....I mean Heart....he was so groggy and walked all funny when John brought him home. He looked so pissed at us. Here he is passed out in his bed.
So I started quilting my "curly girl" quilt a few weeks ago. Here it is on the machine with Meg's crazy cat, Alice, who thinks she has to be right by my machine every. time. I. sew!
So I was just happily stippling along (actually the stitch is called meandering...but anyway) and my thread kept breaking....I would get frustrated and re-thread the machine. Finally after the umpteenth time, I took the quilt off the machine and realized the bobbin had been birdnesting for quite awhile. I took a deep breath, folded up the quilt, and laid it on the bed. I haven't touched it since. It's going to take me about 2 hours to rip out all the stitches.

:( Not Fun!

So I picked up my material for my "Stacked Coin" quilt that I was planning on selling. Here is the front of the quilt and that's Tick Tock looking at me.

Here is the backside. Well, I didn't sell it....John & I both fell in love with it, and it gets loved every night when we sit down to watch TV. This one I stippled and it is the best stippling job I've done thus far.

So there ya go. Not as interesting a life as some, but it's my life and I'm enjoying every single minute of it!

The Mad Quilter

21 years

2010-10-17T08:26:00.000-05:00

Our baby girl, Tori, turned 21 on October 16th.
It's quite weird that our children are both legal adults now. It seems so surreal.

Here she is opening up her birthday card from her daddy & me. That's my futile attempt at drawing a bird. (Tori calls me momma bird & I call her bebe bird)

She seemed confused when she was looking at the gift inside...it was an airplane ticket from Little Rock to Spain.
Silly girl thought it was real for a moment (it was dark in the restaurant) She was thinking OMG! You bought me a ticket...Um, I haven't picked the days yet....
We are buying her round trip ticket to Spain so she can visit her sister this summer for a month. They will be backpacking around Europe! Look at that smile...I think she liked her gift!

Tori didn't order a drink on her 21st (she actually was feeling a bit under the weather) but Bonefish gave her a box of chocolates!

We went back to Grandma's house and had birthday cake.

I wonder what she wished for?!

Daddy & his baby monkey!

Momma & her bebe bird!

Grandma & Tori!!!

Nick, Tori, Me, & John

It was a great night. But honestly, if felt weird not having Meg there to celebrate with us. I know it was hard on Tori. My girls are best friends, they are twin souls.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Tori!

this summer

2010-10-09T15:52:00.001-05:00

I made a memory quilt out of some of my dad's old clothes. I surprised my mother with it on the 4th anniversary of his passing.

It was one of the hardest things I have ever made. Every time I would iron the clothes I would smell my dad. It was just overall a very emotional experience.

I taught Meg how to make a quilt this summer as well.

I was very impressed with her quilt! She is a quick learner. She made this baby quilt for a couple that she worked with.

(back of quilt)

I am currently working on 3 quilts. Two of them I am planning on selling....well, I'm going to attempt to sell them. One is a 'stacked coin' pattern and the other is a 'winter storybook quilt'.

Life...

2010-10-02T18:57:00.004-05:00

Since Meg left for Spain the house is quieter, the kitchen stays clean, her car is always parked in the driveway, and John & I don't get meals prepared for us anymore! We both miss her morning eggs and potatoes....and I miss my morning coffee and conversation with Hillary...we became very close this summer, and I have to say, I am happy that she is a part of Meg's life! She is a wonderful woman!

Life has gone back to the way it was before she moved in for the summer. We are empty-nesters once again. We work our different schedules, not seeing each other for days at a time, spending all of Sunday alone, since this is the only entire day we have together, and then doing it all over again.

Meg started a blog....unlike her mother, she is an amazing writer!! She majored in Creative Writing...you can visit her here if you'd like, and read about her adventures in Spain.

I know my posts have been far and few between...I'm going to try to be a better blogger since Meg is in Spain...that way she can read about what is going on over here in our lives.

Meg is on the plane

2010-09-18T06:26:00.000-05:00

Destination - Spain!

Time - 1 year.

Purpose - Teaching English to ages 6-12

(Zach, Meg & Hillary)

Meg got on the plane at 5:00 am this morning. I can't help but cry as I sit here and type this blog post out. I am going to miss her greatly. I am so proud beyond words of the woman that she has become. It's going to be tough not being able to pick up the phone & call whenever I want to or send/receive text messages 10+ times a day!! She is going to be 4,000 miles away from me for a year! Before we left for the airport she left notes on the counter top one for each of us...her sister, Tori, me & her daddy. Needless to say, I cried my eyes out when I picked it up....and the first line I read was...."First of all, stop crying!" haha She knows me to well.

The hardest thing about being a mother is the letting go. I know she is 22 years old, an adult, but she will always be my little girl.

Big Ben

2010-08-29T07:19:00.004-05:00

We said goodbye to our precious BenBen on Friday... 8/27/2010.

Ben had a major seizure and was just unable to recover from it.
He is buried in the backyard next to our Boxer, Soxebaby.
He will be missed!

Lap quilt

2010-08-23T11:00:00.001-05:00

I found this hand dyed fabric on-line at Fat Quarter Shop & I fell in love with it. I knew immediately I wanted to make a lap quilt for John to lay on the couch.

This is my first stipple quilt...it took me 3 hours to stipple it. It was a lot of work but well worth the overall look of the quilt.

It has now become one of my favorites!

Sports Bunko

2010-08-21T18:15:00.000-05:00

Augusts Bunko theme was "Sports."

Beth always has the best ideas....she put on make-up to make her look really tan!

It was Naomi's bunko month...but since her house is being renovated we had it at my house.

I borrowed this cheer-leading outfit from my neighbor. The pom poms were Meg's when she cheered in jr. high.

Jennifer wore her sons basketball uniform!

It was another fun girls night! I didn't win, again!

Little Princess

2010-08-09T21:00:00.000-05:00

I finished the "Little Princes" quilt for my little princess, Scarlett.

Here is the front of the quilt. I love the colors & patterns of the fabric.

For the back & binding I decided to use a black & white polka dot.

All rolled up & ready to be loved by the little princess.

Here she is at 2 weeks old. She looks just like her momma, but I can see her daddy in her too. She is beautiful.

Grandma quilts have love in every stitch.

The Mad Quilter

2010-08-06T12:00:00.000-05:00

Last week I was in the mood to thrift. So John & I headed towards town. We never made it to town. I saw an estate sale sign so we went there. I was thrilled when I saw this furniture & knew it would look perfect in my sewing room.

It's was made in 1976 by Ethan Allen. So you know it's high quality furniture. I LOVE the daffodil yellow color....it's so retro.

Above is actually 3 different pieces. I put them along the wall so I would have more space to move around the room and easier access to my supplies when sewing.

View from the other side.

My cutting station is just to the left of my machine now. So much easier than behind me.

I have plenty of drawer space to hold my fabrics now. I love that I can display my Holly Hobbie dolls (from my childhood) on a shelf instead of in a basket on the floor.

It can still be used as a guest room if needed. But they would hate it when I wake them up at 6 am so I can sew.

I am lovin' my new sewing room. It's so 70's, cozy & inspiring me to get in there and create beautiful things.

John has nicknamed me "The Mad Quilter." So I put the saying on my cork board.

Heat Wave

2010-08-02T08:20:00.000-05:00

We are under an excessive heat warning! NOT looking forward to this week; I'll be staying indoors for sure!

Thankfully, my outdoor cats are smart and have been staying in the garage where it is cool. We keep a box fan in there for them and it stays about 85°. It makes me sad when I see animals in heat like this without any shade or some kind of shelter.
Speaking of outside cats....anybody out there want one? They are sweet cats! I don't have the heart to take them to the pound. I wonder sometimes what my neighbors think of us! They probably think we are a crazy family....well, we are, but that's another post. At least we live in the country so our houses aren't that close together.

Back to the heat wave, this week is going to suck...big time! I'm SO ready for Autumn!

Ready for the world

2010-07-30T08:30:00.000-05:00

She was so ready to see this world.

She came 4 weeks early, on July 22nd.

Weighing 6 lbs. 8.7 0z, 19 1/2 inches long.

It was a rocky beginning, but as her Momma puts it...she's their little fighter!

Meet my beautiful Scarlett!
Isn't she just precious?!!!

White Trash

2010-07-29T07:40:00.001-05:00

July's Bunko theme:

Teri went all out with the decorations!

She put on her best nightgown to host this party!
Kristy, pregnant with twins, again, drinking her Coors.
Beth loves to show off those panties.

Shawna had to pick up the baby from day care & the baby's daddy gave her that black eye.
Slutty trash?!!
Sunny needed to brush her teeth & Becky, she just looks cute!
Michelle & Naomi, trashy stuff! (These two and me all got 3 bunkos....Naomi ended up winning the money...so close!)
I brought some deviled eggs to the party & what's a white trash party without some Purple Passion (thanks, Michelle) which by the way.....tasted great in high school....eh, not so much now.

It was yet another wonderful time with my Bunko group!

She saw it happen

2010-07-27T08:00:00.002-05:00

My daughter, Meg, was driving home in a thunderstorm on July 12th. She thought she saw a rodent run across the road in a very busy intersection. Upon further notice, she realized it was a very small kitten. She pulled over and in the wind and rain she freed this tiny baby out of a tree that it had climbed up for safety. Soaking wet and scared to death she brought the little one home.

We were eating dinner when she walked in the door. She said, "You're going to kill me, but I just found this baby kitten and just had to save her and bring her home." John & I were both like...great, another cat! (we have 7 outside) Then John said, "well, at least she will be well fed and loved here until we find her a home."

John named her Alice...he said she saw Meg was getting off early and she planned her rescue. (you Twilight fans will understand) We started bottle feeding her because she was around 4 maybe 5 weeks old.
We all started falling in love with this tiny little girl. We decided to keep her & would keep her indoors....we haven't had an indoor cat in 8 + years.

She has many different cries...one for hungry, bottle, sleepy....it's funny how much she is like a human baby. Speaking of bottle, she LOVES her bottle time. Meg bought a can of kitten milk replacer and we've been giving her that on top of her food. I am weaning her off of it soon.

She is a lot like the dogs....we come home and they greet us at the door, she is right behind them jumping up & down with them. She climbs up on the couch and takes a nap with them....sleeps in their beds and even tries to eat their food. She'll even beg for a piece of cheese like them & she eats it!

She is a huge snuggle bug....she would rather be right up on someone or in your lap while she is sleeping. If you sit down she is right there with you.
Sweet, sweet Alice.

Surprise

2010-07-25T07:30:00.001-05:00

So I orchestrated a surprise birthday party for my mother's 67th birthday.

I asked her to dinner (normal thing I always do) but instead of picking her up I had my brother bring her to Little Rock. I told her I was running behind due to an appointment. When she walked in to Boscos....we all stood up and sang Happy Birthday! She was surprised and started crying. Didn't expect to see half her family there. (some had to work, others in another state)

Here she is with me, daughter-in-laws Becky & Diane, sister Kristy

Pictured here with three of her 4 sons, Mark, Chad & Timothy as well as my husband, John.

Just a handful of the granddaughters....Kayla, Elise, Tori, Emily & Meg.

Grandchildren & great-grandchildren!

I was happy it all worked out. It was a good time!
I hope all her wishes come true!

Healthy Yummy Cookies

2010-07-15T17:15:00.004-05:00

I was in the mood for something sweet today but didn't want the calories that go along with it...thanks to the insane amounts of butter, sugar & flour that go into baking sweets. My craving was getting the best of me so I sat down in front of the computer and started looking for a healthy low-fat cookie recipe on my favorite food blogs. I was so delighted when I found the perfect one! This cookie recipe is butter-less, flour-less, egg-less, and potentially sugar-less. It's melt in your mouth delicious!!

This is a must try recipe!!!

HEALTHY YUMMY COOKIES

3 large, ripe bananas, well mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut oil, barely warm - so it isn't solid (or alternately, olive oil)
2 cups rolled oats
2/3 cup almond meal
1/3 cup coconut, finely shredded & unsweetened
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 - 7 ounces chocolate chips or dark chocolate bar chopped

Preheat oven to 350°

In a large bowl combine the bananas, vanilla extract, and coconut oil. Set aside. In another bowl whisk together the oats, almond meal, shredded coconut, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks/chips.The dough is a bit looser than a standard cookie dough, don't worry about it. Drop dollops of the dough, each about 2 teaspoons in size, an inch apart, onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 12 - 14 minutes.

Makes about 3 dozen bite-sized cookies.

*You can make your own almond meal by pulsing almonds in a food processor until it is the texture of sand - don't go too far or you'll end up with almond butter.

Nocona

2010-07-12T07:53:00.002-05:00

I finished 2 out of the 5 quilts I am working on this summer. (I did stop work on these to sew the quilt panel for the Parkinson's quilt....so I guess it's 3 out of 6)

(front of King quilt)

Meg's best friend, Jessica, and her husband Simon, are having a little boy. She asked me awhile back if I made quilts on commission. At that time I wasn't really sure if I was ready to start making quilts to sell.

(back of King quilt)

Jess was in her last semester of nursing school (school was draining their income) & I knew how badly she wanted a quilt for the baby. So I told her to pick out some material, let me know the name & lot numbers and I would make the quilt as a gift!

The nursery theme is "Arkansas Wildlife." These colors match the nursery perfect. Jessica is an amazing artist...obviously, these aren't your typical nursery colors...only an artist would think this far out of the box. But I love that! Baby Nocona is going to love his room.

(front)

I had so much material left over I decided to make a second quilt for Nocona.

(back)

You might be wondering about the name, Nocona....well Jessica is Cherokee Indian & Mexican....Simon is British.....the name Nocona means, the wanderer. I wish I could remember the story of how they came up with the name....I think it is beautiful.

Meg gave her a baby shower yesterday and she loved the quilts. I was happy to see her reaction....she wasn't expecting two. It's so weird to me that Meg & Tori have friends that are married & having babies.

"Those who sleep under a quilt
sleep under a blanket of love"

A stitch in time, saves nine

2010-07-08T11:20:00.000-05:00

I have made this quilt panel in honor of my father-in-law, Brad, who is battling Parkinson's disease. This panel will be sewn together with 15 other panels to make one huge 8 foot block. The blocks will be sewn together to make one gigantic Quilt for the 1st Global quilt project to focus the world's attention on this progressive disease.
The quilt (no one knows yet how big it will get) will be on display at the 2nd World Parkinson's Congress in Glasgow, Scotland on September 28th - October 1st, 2010.

Brad was diagnosed in December of 2007. He was forced to retire from his job but has not let the disease get in the way of him enjoying God's green Earth. I decided to add a fishing pole & a fish because of Brad's love for the sport. This is one of the things he can still do that the disease has not robbed him of enjoying. Bagel is what my girls call Brad instead of Grandpa. A nickname that Meg coined when she was just 2 1/2 years old. It stuck and they still call him Bagel to this day.

Brad nor I may never touch the completed giant quilt but I hope, nonetheless, that it will touch the lives of many others.

It has been my honor, to honor my father-in-law, & to be a part of this project...& in this small way I helped in raising awareness!

To Brad- I pray that you will keep enjoying life to it's fullest! That you have many, many more years of fishing ahead of you.That you will never lose heart and when you get down just know that God will carry you.
With love- Betty

One day...

2010-07-06T09:50:00.002-05:00

My dream is to own all three of these one day.

I would love to have a GO! by Accuquilt and all the Dies that go with it. Ah, It would be so nice to cut several pieces of fabric at once. No more rotary cutting, slicing my fingers, hurting my back....I could make some amazingly beautiful quilts if I had this product. Cutting out the strips is the most time consuming...with this contraption it would cut down hours of work.

An Embroidery Machine. Just a small, simple one.

A Lenni Longarm Quilter!! Oh, this is my dream machine! Look at the low price of only $9,900! That's a steal....seriously, that's cheap! I could quilt the most beautiful designs instead of just doing straight or wavy lines on my quilts as I do now.

One day...

Twilight Saga

2010-07-02T08:59:00.002-05:00

June's Bunko theme---Twilight Saga

The hostess for the month of June was Sunny. She did an awesome job with the decorations & gave some of the best party favors.

Blood drip anyone?

The party favors were filled with vampire teeth, glow sticks, twilight band-aids & Twilight chocolate! She made that picture of her & Edward at faceinhole.com

We had a chocolate fountain! Yum!

She asked us what Team we were on...and made us all our own Martini glasses.

Jacob & Edward crashed our party! We were thrilled!!! :) Hey don't judge me in this picture...he's 18 now!!

Marie was Team Jacob

Jennifer couldn't decide so she was Team Jacward.

Sunny was loving her some Edward.

Becky & I laid in bed with Jacob. He was so stiff....hahaha wait...that doesn't sound good.

I didn't win again, as usual. But I sure did have a lot of FUN!!

I saw Eclipse with my mom on Wednesday. It was hands down the best one yet! The actors did a better job, the make-up was better, I'm more in love with Edward & Jacob now....ah, I can't wait for Breaking Dawn. Was it just me or was Victoria a different woman? That was the only thing I didn't like about the movie.

All we need is love at OneTrueMedia.com

2010-06-28T09:19:00.002-05:00

I signed onto myspace today for the first time in ages. I had forgotten about this video I made back in 2006. Thought I'd share!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

In Abundance

2010-06-26T18:35:00.001-05:00

My vegetable garden is producing so rapidly, I love it!

Nothing says summer like fresh veggies on the table straight from your own garden! It's very gratifying working in my garden everyday. I know exactly what has gone into the produce. I garden organically....I make my own insecticides....so my family isn't eating any harmful chemicals. I love going out there everyday to see how it has grown overnight.

We had a Siamese twin squash this time around. What a cool surprise to find under the leaves.

My cucumbers are producing at lightening speed more than anything else.

I have made vinegar cucumber salad twice, given some away & made bread & butter pickles. I made two - 1 qt. jars. They are very delicious!

John, who isn't a fan of the pickle, found these to be very, very good. Made my heart smile. He took some to work and chopped them up and used it as a relish on his turkey dog.

I have a feeling I will be canning several quarts in the next few weeks.

"In order to live off a garden,
you practically have to live in it.
- Frank McKinney Hubbard

Oddie

2010-06-24T18:25:00.002-05:00

My female cat, Oddball aka Oddie, who gave birth to 4 kittens back in April, became ill this week.

This photo above was taken 3 weeks ago. She was a healthy girl. We took her in on the 7th of June to be spayed. The surgery went well & she was home the next day, even started nursing the babies again.

Sunday we were under a heat advisory here....I was making sure all my cats had fresh water & plenty of shade. Oddie went missing sometime around 10:30am. I assumed she went to explore in the woods which she does often. I looked for her all day. Around 10pm that night, Tori found her by the garage outside. She was weak, dehydrated, feverish & her 3rd eyelids were out. Tori & I brought her inside & slowly started giving her water with a syringe. I decided not to take her to the ER Vet (honestly because it is SO expensive!) Tori nursed her ALL night. Oddie slept by her side and she would get up every hour and give her more water.

By 7 am she hadn't gotten any better. So Tori & I took her to see Dr. Lewis....we were there when they opened at 7:30. Tori held her the entire ride, she never moved or meowed. Dr. Lewis took her straight in to exam her. Obviously, she was dehydrated (Tori saved her life by nursing her all night) Under her tongue was swollen, her fever was 105(normal is 101) & she was staring into space like she didn't know where she was.

She spent 4 days & 3 nights in the hospital....it was touch and go for awhile. She was given fluids by IV and 5 different antibiotics. But she never came out of the "fog/stare almost comatose state" she was in. She was tested for everything! All test were negative! Doc called this morning and said she is slowly making progress....she finally ate on her own after 3 days of not eating. He though it would be best for her to be in her comfortable surroundings.

John & I went and picked her up! She laid in Meg's arms for 20 minutes and Meg could feel her relax her body. She was happy to see her babies & her babies Daddy. Sad thing though, she tried to move her mouth to meow & nothing came out. I feed her some moist food & she drank some milk.

Doc isn't quite sure but he thinks she can't see all that well. She has some neurological problem going on & the only way to tell for sure is to get a CT scan. Those cost $1000! I opted to pass on that. My bill for the Vet was expensive enough, adding another $1000 wasn't gonna happen.

Here she is after coming home. She is still a little lethargic, she is weak...can only take a few steps and then has to sit & she cocks her head to the left.She walks this way as well...with her head cocked. Doc isn't quite sure why this is happening & he isn't sure if it is permanent or not. If it is permanent, I'll still love her...she is my cutie girl...it's sad though to see her this way all the time.

I'm happy to have her home!

Work in progress

2010-06-22T10:55:00.001-05:00

I currently have 5 quilts in progress. I can't seem to just work on 1 project at a time. This is both frustrating & satisfying at the same time. It's just the way I operate though...I think I produce a better quilt working this way.

I name my quilts....so what you see in BOLD is the name. I have yet to name the first quilt.

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Tori took this picture this morning (excuse the jammies) of me cutting material. The quilt top in the foreground is for Megs best friend, Jessica.
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King Quilt

Here is the 2nd quilt that has been sandwiched and basted, it's all ready to be quilted. Jessica chose the material, they are decorating the baby's room in Earth tones with animals. She is an artist, an awesome one! She painted a mural on the nursery wall. I have stressed over this particular quilt....I think because I know she is an artist & I want to give her a beautiful piece of art in the form of a quilt...that her baby boy will have for many years. I pray she likes it.

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Curly Girls
Do you remember the quilts I made for my girls last Christmas? I had enough scraps leftover to make a pretty decent size quilt. So I started sewing that top.

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Little Princess
This is the material I started cutting today. It's for baby Scarlett.(my nephew David's baby girl) She is going to be arriving in this word in about 8 weeks, I need to get busy 'cause it's going to be here before we know it.

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Daddy's Hands
This has been the hardest quilt to make! I've been working on it off & on for 5 months now. Some days I go in my sewing room with the intent to work on it, but I start crying and hold the material and end up walking away. The material is my Dad's old clothes. The block with the pockets are my favorite....he always wore a shirt with a pocket so he could keep his cigarettes in them. I hope to have this done by Christmas for my mom....hopefully sooner!

Almond Joy Cake

2010-06-20T05:00:00.001-05:00

Do you like Almond Joy candy bars? Then you will go gaga over this cake! If you aren't big into making cakes by scratch, you can use a chocolate box cake, but I don't recommend those....the ingredients in them are horrible! I have altered this recipe to suit my family...I've "tried" to make it "healthier!" :) Some recipes call for evaporated milk (I used half & half)
The cake recipe is actually from one of my Julia Childs cookbooks. It's yummy by itself.

Almond Joy Cake

The Cake:
1- 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, separated
2 large egg whites
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 350. Oil & flour a 9x13 pan.
Sift together 1 cup sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda & salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together, egg yolks, oil, water & vanilla until blended. Whisk dry ingredients into yolk mixture until blended. Set aside.
Beat all 6 egg white until fluffy & then add 1/2 cup sugar. Beat until stiff peaks. Fold 1/3 of whites into chocolate batter to lighten it then turn chocolate mixture into remaining white and fold it in gently.
Place in pan and cook 35-40 minutes.

Coconut Filling:
1/2 cup half & half
1 entire bag mini marshmallows
3 cups sweetened coconut
In a saucepan, stir together half & half and 1/2 cup sugar; bring to a boil. Remove from heat & add marshmallows until the melt. Add coconut, stir well and then spread on top of warm cake.

Chocolate Topping:
1/2 cup half & half
1/2 stick land o' lakes unsalted butter
1- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sliced Almonds
In a saucepan combine 1/2 cup half & half, 1/2 cup sugar & butter and bring to boil. Remove from heat and add chocolate chips. Melt until smooth. Add vanilla. Add about 3/4 cups almonds, stir & pour that over coconut layer.
Sprinkle remaining almonds over the top of cake. Refrigerate to firm it up. Let cool completely before cutting.

ENJOY!

Mastered

2010-06-19T07:13:00.001-05:00

Dionne over at Homesick Cajun gave me this kicking award!

It's the Master of karate and friendship award! :-) So in true awards fashion, I'm supposed to name 5 things that I've mastered. Here we go.

1. I have mastered the Art of quilting. Well, mastered it to my standards anyway.

2. My humble garden is actually producing veggies....so I've mastered gardening.
Here is my very first cucumber harvest!

3. Raising my daughters! They have grown into strong, beautiful women!
Here they are with their Daddy.

4. I have mastered the art of drinking WINE! :0

5. My family says I have mastered the Art of cooking/baking. It is one of my passions!

So I am to pass this award onto 5 people.

Heather

Melody

Susie

Natalie

Tori

All moved in

2010-06-16T09:30:00.000-05:00

Meg moved back home yesterday. Her lease was up at the house in Conway & Tori got 2 new room-mates, so it only made sense that she move back home.....since she leaves in 3 months. This is the first time she has lived here in 4 years. It's going to be nice having her home for the summer. Tori hopefully will be visiting a lot so we can have family dinners at the "dinner table!" It was a very hot day to be moving furniture and boxes galore. On the way back to our home with all of her belongings behind us, I turned to John & said, "Jeez, this girl owns more stuff than you & I did when we first got married & moved to Louisiana!" We both started laughing. It's going to be a great summer!

fawn & fern photography

2010-06-14T06:38:00.001-05:00

Tori has finally started a photography facebook fan page.

Her business is called "fawn & fern"

She has done some amazing work, if I do say so myself.

If you have a facebook.....check her out and become a fan...or "LIKE" as it is now called.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/fawn-fern-photography/123928304312129?ref=ts

Here is a picture of her latest maternity series. She hasn't yet posted these to her facebook site. I absolutely am in love with this photo.

Check her out!

Teaching in Paradise

2010-06-12T06:00:00.002-05:00

Meg received her teaching assignment. She will be teaching in,
La Línea de la Concepción in the province of Cadiz, Spain!!

It's the southern part of Spain.

This is where she will call home for a year.
September 2010-September2011

The town she will be teaching in is right on the border of the Rock of Gibraltar! She will be 30 minutes from Morocco. She can go swimming in either the North Atlantic or the Mediterranean Seas. Oh, she is going to be teaching in Paradise!

She will be teaching English to children between the ages of 6-12. She only works 3 hours per day...15 hours a week!
Can you imagine that?!

I am SO very proud of her!

Oh, and the answer is YES!!! I am planning a 2 week trip to go visit her next year!

Hello!!!

2010-06-11T07:23:00.002-05:00

Hello Blog World!

The end has finally arrived for the 2009-2010 school year! It was a doozie of a year. It was my first year driving "regular" kids to & from school. For 18 years I drove special needs; I'm hoping to get a special needs route for the 2010-2011 school year. I love all children....but being responsible for 60+ kids was totally stressful!!

I'm going to do a fragment blog and just update what has happened around here in my world.

April 10th, 2010, Oddie gave birth to 4 kittens....3 girls & 1 boy.
She delivered them in this spare tire that stays in our garage.
She is introducing them to Reeses...who thinks he is the daddy!
7 weeks old! The little girl on the left has been adopted! The 2nd one is the boy....I decided to keep him. John named him Crusty (when he was about 4 weeks old his eyes were crusted over & we had to doctor him for a few days) He is huge compared to the girls. I still have the other two girls....anyone want a kitten?
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Aprils Bunko was at my house. The theme was Bridesmaids....I was the bride!

We even had a wedding cake!

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On April 30th, 2010, Arkansas was hit with severe weather. An F3 tornado touched down 1/2 mile from my home. It was on the ground for hours. The destruction was insane....it was surreal. No one in our town was killed thankfully but several homes were totally destroyed!

These were the lightening strikes that night.

It was a very scary night & then we had round 2 the next day.
That's a weekend we will never forget.
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May's Bunko theme was Cinco De Mayo & it was held at Becky's house.
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On Memorial Day John & I started the day out with laughter! I got behind him and flipped my hair over his head to see what he would look like with hair. He took my phone & took some pictures. We were laughing so hard. He has this photo as his profile pic on facebook.
And that's what you missed in the Keeper of the Skies world!

...

2010-05-20T18:02:00.001-05:00

soon, very soon.....promise!

Not quitting

2010-05-02T09:13:00.000-05:00

It has been brought to my attention by Heather that I have not blogged in a month. After 3 failed attempts to get my password correct, I finally remembered it and was able to log in to blogger. So this blog post update is for you, Heather! :)

I do miss reading all your blogs on a daily basis.....I miss updating mine. I have told myself several times....I'll do a blog post about this or that....and then I never do. There is always housework to do when I'm not working or John is home & I spend all my time with him. Heck, not only have I not blogged....I haven't seen my girls but TWICE in April!

Now, I do have a facebook...and yes, I do get on that everyday. But facebook is quick & totally different. Speaking of FB....my childhood friend, Shawn (we went to elementary school together in New York) who I haven't seen since 1983, found me!! How cool is that!! She still looks the same. She said when they had their 20th class reunion...they were talking about the people who moved away and who they'd like to see again....she thought of me....and then searched for me on FB. So we filled each other in on the last 27 years and it has been wonderful. My husband found his best friend from England (who he hasn't seen or spoken to in over 24 years) on there as well. Facebook is an amazing way to rediscover long lost friends!

I have so much stuff to share from April....Bunko (it was at my house) Kittens, my Asthma, TORNADOES!!!

So I'm not quitting blogging....I've just been really busy living life!

I'll try to play catch-up this week.

Double Movie Dinner Date

2010-03-26T07:30:00.001-05:00

It was that time again, time for our all day date that we like to call,
"Double Movie Dinner Date".

We went and saw, "Remember Me" first. Rob Pattinson, in our opinion, was wonderful in this movie. I know it got some bad reviews, but we really liked it. I never listen to the critics anyway, I usually like what they hate. John & I both were moved to tears.

After this movie, we went shopping at Whole Foods, then ate at our favorite Cajun restaurant, Copelands. It was de-lish as usual.

The second movie was "Shutter Island". This movie was twisted, freaky, & a bit too long for me. It was well-written, but still left me wondering about some things.

Our date was coming to an end....but we decided to make one more stop before we went home. We went back to Copelands and ordered a Bananas Foster Napoleon Cheesecake to go. We pigged out on it when we got home. Yummilicious!!

Fever

2010-03-25T08:58:00.004-05:00

Wednesday, March 24th was a planned family date. John & I were driving up to Conway to have lunch with the girls.

While on our way up there, Tori text'd me and said, Meg was running fever but it's going down, she was plenty of water and cold compresses. Tori said she felt weird too, but was sure it was just allergies. They both had been hiking outdoors the day before. I told them we could cancel, but they insisted we come anyway.

We arrived at noon, the scheduled time. They both weren't ready yet...I could tell they BOTH felt miserable.

We went to lunch at Mike's Place, niether one had a big appetite. Actually, they barely ate at all.

They let me take this photo even though they felt crappy.

We went back to their house. Daddy did the usual "daddy to do list" jobs. Like put oil in the cars, fix windshield wiper blades, fix the screens in the windows....etc...etc.

All of a sudden Meg's temp soared past 101...the fever hit Tori really fast....I felt her head and knew she was running at least 99....we took her temp and it was 99.9. Ugh! Poor girls.
I told John we better leave so they can get some rest. But before we did leave, I made them take a family photo...LOL. You know I HAVE to have these photos!!

You can tell they feel horrible....but I think they are still beautiful, even when they are pale and feverish.

Sunshine and Moonbeams

2010-03-24T08:30:00.001-05:00

This is my nephew, David & his lovely wife, Jenna.

David lived with John & I his junior & senior years of high school. (he is my sisters son) We treated him as if he were our son. He had to follow the same rules as the girls, he joined the family every night for dinner, had a curfew....he had structure & stability in his life for the first time in awhile. (his parents divorced when he was 7 or 8) During his stay with us we all grew very close, especially him & John. They have a father/son relationship that will never be broken.

David graduated from high school in 2005 and joined the Air Force that fall....where he became a Firefighter. He met his beautiful wife, who is a paramedic in the Air Force, they fell in love & got hitched in Vegas in September of 2008.

We got a call in December from David telling us he was going to be a daddy!! We were SO excited for him & Jenna. Then a few weeks ago, David called John & I and said we better start thinking of grandparent names, unless we want grandpa & granny, Um NO thanks!! Although his mom is the true grandmother (his dad passed away this past summer) we were flattered that he would ask us to be the baby's grandparents and happily accepted the call.....we are going to be Nonna & Pap!

They had an ultrasound done on Monday, the doctor said she is 70% sure it is a GIRL!! They will have a 3-D one done on Tuesday and that will confirm for sure if she is indeed a girl.

John & I have already started buying this little one gifts. Here is the first stuffed animal....Pap picked it out on Monday while we were waiting for the call. Its a cute monkey named, Bongo.

So be forewarned...there is gonna be lots of baby talk in the future!

Oh my!

2010-03-20T19:15:00.001-05:00

Wow~ My last entry was on the 27th of February!! That's crazy!

Since John started his new schedule the beginning of this year, we have had more time with each other, and I have had less time to blog!

I guess I'll have to do another this & that post...and then I can go visit everyone and catch up.

We celebrated Johns birthday at Vino's, our favorite pizza parlor. It was just the 4 of us! We ate pizza, drank freshly made root beer, and enjoyed great conversation!

March Bunko was 50's Sock Hop!

The gals surprised me with a surprise birthday party!! I was VERY surprised! It was so sweet. I had to hold back my tears...they are the best friends!!
Funny story behind the cake....Becky had it at her store (she owns a tanning & clothing store) There was no school that day, so I went in to tan earlier then I normally do. Marie told Becky that I was there...she grabbed the cake to bring it in the back and the box buckled and the cake got smashed...the top slide to the side. I thought they were acting funny....but brushed it off. Becky told me later the story of the cake & that there were balloons behind the counter that they had been blowing up! So...she had to fix the cake...so they put the feathers on it! GREAT MEMORIES!!!! The cake was oh. so. delicious!!!

I turned 39 on Friday! Just the 4 of us went and ate sushi at Sekisui. yummy yummy!!! I got a free fried cheesecake since it was my birthday. It was sinful I tell you! I got a little emotional at the table...not because I'm 1 year from being 40( well sort of) but because the girls made me a homemade card....Meg wrote that she was sad that she isn't going to be here for my 40th next year (remember she'll be in Spain) and that she is soaking in all these memories! Yea- I cried! My girls are my world!
I am on spring break this week! John and I have lots of plans :).....sleep in....go to the gym....garden...watch movies....just spend time together! I might even sew a little.

Smorgasbord

2010-02-27T07:00:00.000-06:00

I've been to busy to blog.

I hate it that I don't have much time this year to blog.

I miss reading everyone's blogs on a daily basis.

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February's Bunko theme was Mardi Gras.

I made Shawna & I funky Tutu's and John made me the mask I'm wearing.

We ate yummy cajun food and laughed a lot & screamed a lot. I didn't win, again...maybe March will be my lucky time. You are never to old to play dress up! :)

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My precious daughters, Tori & Meg. This was taken at a "Cool Shoes" party. It's a party where college age kids go and dance....Tori's boyfriend, Nick, usually DJ's at them. I stole this picture off of their facebook. We have had several dinner dates with them this past month. It's been very nice.

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We had to take Ben Ben to the vet a couple weeks ago. He had a horrible seizure. He couldn't open his mouth to meow, his tongue was hanging out, he tried to walk but after 3 steps he would fall over, he ended up drifting into a comatose stat....he was very lethargic. Dr. Lewis ran several test (kept him overnight) he said Ben Ben never came out of the self induced coma all night. He didn't even have to sedate him to draw blood. So we were waiting for all the results to come back (they had to send some off) We did know that he had an ear infection and in that same ear he has polyps. They were pretty sure he had a brain tumor. :( I wasn't buying this tumor business. The doc wanted to send us to a Vet neurologist so Ben Ben could get a CT scan that would cost $1,000!!! Um, NO! Because if he did have a tumor they would confirm it and I'd have to spend more money to put him to sleep. If he didn't then, YAY here's my $$. I love him but come on...that's ridiculous. So we picked him up along with a 7 day course of antibiotics and $468.00 lighter in the pocketbook.

3 days into the antibiotics Ben Ben came alive.....he was like 10 years younger again. (he's about 13 yrs. old) he was jumping up on the couch....even jumped on the bathroom counter which he has never done before! He is running around the yard with Reeses. You can tell he feels
SO MUCH BETTER!!!!

All the test came back normal!! Doc said he was a healthy cat and it is possible that the ear infection put some swelling around the brain and caused the seizures. So I think he was having the seizures because of that stupid ear infection! I know it's not a brain tumor! Doc put him on another round of antibiotics and will remove the polyps soon.

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Really?!

2010-02-16T17:52:00.004-06:00

I've had a terrible week thus far....

My email has been messed up....so we are in the process of moving e-mails and eventually we will delete our classicnet accounts.

I got pulled over on my way to work this morning. Got a ticket with 2 offenses on it. One for speeding....40 in a 25....I swear I did not know that the speed limit dropped to 25 from 50....I've been driving that route for 12 years. I'm pretty sure it drops after the light (i'll check tomorrow) The second one was for failure to stop at the red light...Um, Mr. Policeman, I did NOT fail to stop at the red light!! The light was green and as I went through it it turned red! There is a law that says NOT to brake...to continue on so there is no rear end accidents. Why would you write a ticket saying I failed to stop? I go to court on the 25th to fight this......if it goes on my record it's 9 points towards my CDL license....if I receive 14 I can kiss my CDL bye bye and there goes my job as a bus driver! I am pretty confident the judge will be understanding and agree with me. I was so careful driving home this afternoon!

I had a 6 year old cuss me out on my bus. 6 years old!! He said words I didn't even know until I was in my 20's! He is a foster child....It made me sad writing him up.....the things that child must have seen and heard to learn words like that just broke my heart! Seriously, I can't even type what he said it's so foul....I'm still flabbergasted that those words came out of a 6 year olds mouth.

Things can only go up from here.......I hope!

The King

2010-02-13T07:45:00.002-06:00

Buttons and patches and the cold wind blowing, The days pass quickly when I am sewing.

~Author Unknown

Spoiled Doggy!

Reeses is the King of the castle....especially now that he has his own quilt.

February Snow

2010-02-11T08:00:00.003-06:00

I watched the news on Sunday night before I went to sleep---the weatherman said it was going to rain....
maybe a slight dusting of snow.

I woke up at 4 am---as I was walking down the stairs I looked out the window and thought I was dreaming. There were at least 2 inches of snow on the ground and it was still snowing!

I turned on the telly and sure enough...school was closed....and the weatherman was saying we could get up to 10 inches! WHAT?? Just 7 hours earlier he was saying a dusting!!

Well of course NO ONE saw this one coming. I needed to go to the grocery store because I was running low on coffee creamer (A MUST HAVE) so John & I ventured out in the beautiful snow.

Reeses wasn't crazy about it when it was falling.

We stopped and rented some movies. Then John wanted his chinese so we went to King Buffet. John is like a movie star there....he walks in and all the women go...Oh Hiiiiii---and smile REAL big. They will make the cook prepare fresh mongolian beef (for the buffet!) just for him! He even got a Christmas present from them! They flirt with him right in front of me. It's quite funny.

We let our food settle while we shopped at Kroger---along with everyone else who decided they needed groceries. It was packed!

We went to workout....we were the ONLY ones at the gym. It was NICE!! I was playing around and taking pictures with my phone.
Being silly. :)

The drive home was beautiful. It was still snowing.

This line of trees is on the golf course.

The snow was heavy on the trees.

The fire department made this snowman...and dog. Love it!

Our Home. It looks so beautiful covered in snow.

We ended up receiving about 7-8 inches of snow. Some areas around us got the 10!

I haven't seen this much snow in Arkansas in 22 years....I was pregnant with Meg the last time we got a big snow fall like this one.

They are calling for more snow this afternoon....and again on Sunday! Will the weatherman get it right this time?? Will it really only be an inch or will we see a foot?? The snow is still on the ground (so unusual for Arkansas) it melts during the day--but once the sun goes down the melted snow freezes over. So the school district I work for has closed school again.

It's SNOW DAY #4! I am SO ready to go back to work!

Third Hand Thrift

2010-02-08T05:50:00.002-06:00

My daughter Tori & her love, Nick, have opened an Etsy shop. They sell vintage clothing, shoes, jewelry & miscellaneous items.

Become a follower of their blog
---Third Hand Thrift----
you will find the link to the Etsy shop on the right hand side of the blog. Check it out....you just might find something you've been looking for.

Spread the word----especially if you know someone who loves vintage clothing.

ATC Quilt

2010-02-07T06:00:00.000-06:00

The Air Traffic Controller Quilt is complete!

I really enjoyed designing this quilt. I love the control tower in the center of the quilt. I loved making that block. Not bad for my own pattern, huh?!

The back is pretty too!

It looks nice on our bed. It matches our bedroom perfectly.
It is warm & cozy. I'm very proud of it.

Celebration

2010-02-06T16:29:00.004-06:00

We celebrated Meg's birthday on Friday.

We went up to the birdhouse (girls home) in Conway and made dinner.
John made Tilapia Alfredo....yummo!!!

The 4 roommates & Zach. Meg purposely made that face....the woman is a goofball.

We bought her 22 scratch off tickets.....she won $11.
I made her the Chocolate Almond Cake that I made last week. It was a huge hit.

The small candles were melting the sparkle candles so we had to sing Happy Birthday really fast!! It was funny....there was wax all over the cake.

Here she is with her girlfriend, Hillary.....their friend Zach who is also going to Spain was there but I forgot to take his picture with them. He is in a few from dinner.

Her Grandma came of course.....she has never missed a birthday.

Our family photo.....one I will print out and frame for sure!

She's 22

2010-02-04T00:01:00.003-06:00

My baby bear Meg is 22 today.

She loved to play with the stupid snot bulb. She would try to suck out her snot and would get real mad if I tried to take it away. She loved getting sugars from her Poppy. (my dad)

At 14 months old she fell out the back door at my parents house and broke her leg. She was enjoying an ice cream cone with daddy here.....she loved ice cream!

She has on her favorite Peewee Herman socks. I still have those pink Keds. I had been spinning her around here.

Her sister is her best friend.

Now all grown up---she has replaced the snot bulb with tissues. She has never broken another bone & still loves to eat ice cream. Although still tiny enough for Momma to spin her around-I just hug her neck instead. Her sister is still her best friend.

We are going to her house to celebrate on Friday. Her Daddy is going to make dinner and she wants me to make the cake. We are really going to cherish this birthday since we won't get to celebrate her 23rd with her since she will be in Spain teaching.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABY BEAR!

Oh Phil

2010-02-03T05:42:00.003-06:00

So Punxsutawney Phil saw his damn shadow.....thanks Phil for 6 more weeks of winter. I am SO tired of this crazy weather. It's hot & then cold....rain & then snow--with a lot of ice...the wind has been so strong at times it almost knocked me over. UGH!!! I'm tired of winter!!!

I WANT TO BE HERE!!!!

I can feel the warm sun just looking at this picture.

Kitty

2010-02-02T06:04:00.002-06:00

My goal is to be Kitty. lol....just kidding....sort of. :)

What does one do when Iced/Snowed in?

2010-02-01T00:00:00.003-06:00

One cooks & bakes & eats & watches movies & eats & eats & eats!!! Then one feels horrible for eating SO much!

Dear Body~
I know you have endured many hours of pain during my workouts at the gym. You've been tired & sore many times. You have heard me complain about you, pinch you, measure you, poke you, cry over you. I have put you through the ringer this weekend with all the food I've eaten...it's all my fault, I don't blame you this time. After all the food that has been put into my mouth this weekend---you are the one who will suffer the consequences. I'm sure after eating the chicken, mashed potatoes & rutabaga, stuffing, peas, rolls, Quiche, popcorn, a bottle of wine, bagels, eggs, chips, peanuts, strawberries, yogurt & granola, Chinese food, chips & salsa, guacamole, pico de gallo, Fajitas & a too die for CHOCOLATE ALMOND CAKE, you have gained at least 4 pounds. I know you're ashamed of me...I'm ashamed of myself for eating so much. But it was all so good and there was nothing else to do. I'm sorry to tell you that you will be extremely sore this week as I will be pulling overtime in the gym---I vow to go back to my healthier eating choices and portion control. I will not weigh you or measure you this week. I will not let you down again, because without you there is no ME!! Can I have just one more slice of cake?
Me

I made Julia Child's favorite dessert ever. Chocolate Almond Cake.
I am not one who usually craves/loves chocolate....but after this cake I think I am a huge fan. Seriously, TO DIE FOR!!! The frosting is incredible.

You can find the recipe online if you don't have her cookbook.

Bon Appetit

2010-01-31T06:00:00.003-06:00

A couple months ago John & I settled into the couch to watch a movie. He had rented the movie, Julie & Julia, knowing that I had been wanting to see it since it first came out in the theaters.

During the movie John looks at me and says, "I didn't know who Julia Child was".
(Me) *takes in a breath* huh? Seriously?
(John) Well I have heard of her by name but didn't know she was a famous cookbook writer, Chef and TV personality.
(Me) WOW! Don't you remember me watching her when we lived in Louisiana.....she came on right after Justin Wilson----the guy who always wiped his snotty nose while cooking and said....How y'all are? and I guar-ron-tee!! That was the only hour I sat in front of the TV all day. To watch Julia & Justin teach me how to cook.
(John) I remember Justin.

So yeah- that was a bit of a shocking conversation for me. I couldn't believe he didn't know who she was!

We both love to cook & both love trying new foods no matter how scary they look or how intimidating the recipe is. There isn't a vegetable that we don't eat. If the food is seasoned just right--it's going to be delicious!

So after watching this movie and seeing them make the Boeuf Bourguignon we knew we HAD to try it!

So I bought all the ingredients, read the recipe thoroughly, and chose a Sunday to make it so I could put all my focus on the meal.

(photo isn't the best....it was an after thought)

Along with the Boeuf Bourguignon I also made (from the cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking) Sauteed Mushrooms & Brown-Braised Onions. I made mashed fingerling potatoes & crescent rolls to go along with it. I would have opened a can of Le Sueur peas but I didn't have one.

This was the BEST beef stew I have ever made!! Actually John said it was the best beef stew he has EVER put in his mouth. He is a v e r y slow eater as it is---but this day he ate even slooooower. I asked him why--he said he wanted to savor every bite! All three dishes were AMAZING!!!! The gravy most outstanding!!!

I can't wait to try out one of her desserts.

Oh and if you haven't seen the movie yet....RENT IT!!! It was wonderful. Not only did it tell the story of both Julie & Julia and their love of cooking, it was a beautiful love story between Julia & her husband Paul....about their life long commitment to each other - about their love for each other..... I actually cried a few times! (I'm a big emotional sap anyway)

BON APPETIT!!

ATC Quilt

2010-01-29T09:50:00.001-06:00

I am almost done making the blocks for Johns ATC quilt top. I have changed my mind numerous times on the design of this quilt. Remember the star block I blogged about? I decided I didn't like it, on this quilt anyway, so I won't be using it. Maybe I'll make a pillow out of it.

I am excited to be nearing completion.

Pinnacle Mountain

2010-01-26T05:35:00.000-06:00

January 18th (MLK Day) John & I took Reeses and hiked Pinnacle Mountain.
I think everyone else had the same idea. It was very busy. The weather was also unusually warm for January...it was close to 70 degrees.

It was a struggle to climb up with all the people hiking. Also we had to slow down or stop all together several times because 2 women broke their leg coming down the mountain and the park rangers & EMT's were treating them.

Here is a view from on top of Pinnacle. I'm going to try to stand in this same spot every month and take a picture. It'll be neat to watch everything bloom & change.

"everything the light touches is your kingdom"

Reeses was so tired and hiking back down the mountain can be tricky--so we put Reeses in the backpack. We thought he was going to freak out but he actually loved it!

He ended up falling asleep on the way down.

It was an awesome workout. I can't wait to go again next month.

Buddha Hand Citron

2010-01-23T19:45:00.000-06:00

Have you seen one of these before? I never had until I walked into Whole Foods back in November. I picked it up, smelled it, and thought what in the world do you do with this thing. About 1 week later, as I was surfing the web, I came across a site that told you what to do with this fruit! Yes, it's a fruit. I studied all about this wonderfully crazy, amazing, fragrant, kinda scary looking fruit....I am in love with the 'Buddha Hand Citron' now!
It is centuries old- it traces back to Northeastern India & China. It is very fragrant, very citrus, with a hint of floral. Some people in China use them to fragrant their rooms. The entire fruit is edible. It contains no juice at all. The inside, called pith, is solid white and is not bitter, unlike other citrus, and can even be eaten raw. Sadly it's not truly delicious...until you make Succade!
Candy, that is!!

Cut the Buddha hand in half and then slice it into strips....chop the strips into chunks.

Put them into a saucepan and add 3 cups water & 3 cups sugar. On medium heat bring it to a boil. Once it boils turn it down to a simmer.

The syrup will start to thicken and the fruit will become translucent. You want to continue to cook until the syrup reaches the thread stage (230* F) Once it reaches the thread stage take it off the heat and let it rest in the pot for at least 30 minutes.

Strain the fruit trying to get as much of the syrup off as possible. (Save the syrup) Spread the candy on parchment paper to dry. It will take about a day. A fine crystallized coating will form on the outside. The candy may now be stored in an airtight container and used however you see fit!

Here is the Succade after it has been dried. It's quite yummy. I have been eating it out of the container...I think I might make Morning Glory Muffins and add some of these instead of pineapple. Oh and the syrup....it is yummy in a cup of black tea, it makes it taste just like a cup of Earl Grey.

Wait till Helen Comes

2010-01-22T05:55:00.003-06:00

A couple of my students (girls) read this book and loved it. My mother then read it and she loved it. So I decided to read it. I would say it's a must read if you are a preteen (if not scared of suspense)--heck, even an adult! :)

It's about Molly & her younger brother, Michael & their bratty step-sister, Heather. Their parents marry & move them out in the country where they live in an old church. There is an old graveyard on the property....they explore the graveyard and something happens to Heather. She starts talking weird----saying things like, Wait till Helen Comes, you'll be sorry!

Go to your local library and check it out.

Pajama Party

2010-01-20T18:20:00.001-06:00

January's Bunko was held at Shawna's house & the theme was Pajamas! It's so much fun to dress up and hang with the girls, act silly, laugh and play Bunko!

We ate Italian food & drank yummy Pomegranate Martinis.

Becky, Renee, Beth & Teri at the head table.

Michelle, Diana & I.

Sunny & Becky looking cute in their rollers.

Shawna & I being silly.....and Jennifer in the background laughing at us. (too many martinis...tehehe)

Michelle was the Bunko winner and walked away with the $70 prize....Sunny got the most Wins & walked away with $30 & Beth had the most Losses so she got $20.

The Girls

Can't wait for next months....the theme....Valentines of course!!

Doggy Quilt

2010-01-16T08:00:00.000-06:00

I was at Hobby Lobby the other day picking out a gift for my friend Shawna's new home. Of course when one is at Hobby Lobby you can't just go in & stay in 1 section of the store. I had to meander around and look at all the new merchandise.

I found my way to the back where all the material & sewing supplies are.....imagine that! I was quite pleased when I came across a sign that read, "fat quarter bundles $9.99" I have an obsession with fat quarters (John calls them Fat Backs....cracks me up) so I had to stop and check them out. I was pleasantly surprised to find a bundle just perfect for the quilt I want to make Reeses!
I showed Reeses the material and he gave me his approval....he licked it!

Delurker Day-Mornings

2010-01-15T05:50:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was Delurker day....a day where the Lurkers come out of the closet and comment on our post...introduce ourselves....don't be shy! I am so guilty myself.....lurking around and never commenting. But last night I did comment on every. single. blog. I. read!! By time I got done I was tired! I forgot to write my own post. So here is to Delurker Day a day late....better late than never, right?!

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Since school started back on January 5th the morning temperatures have been in the 20's or below. It was windy, cold, icy, one day the low was 11 degrees! Let me just tell you it sucks to be freezing, to the point of uncontrollable shivers, and have to....Check the fluid levels, pre-trip IN & OUTside of bus....making sure all lights are working and that the tires are in good shape etc....etc....
After I am done with all that (it takes about 10 minutes) I sit in my car to warm up; Thank goodness I park right behind my bus! Just as the shivers subside it is time to get out of the warm car and back into the cold air.....and into the COLD bus! It takes a good 45 minutes for my bus to warm up completely.

I am SO ready for SPRING!!!

Family Dinner Date

2010-01-14T19:16:00.005-06:00

On Tuesday we had our first dinner date of 2010!

We met downtown Little Rock in the River Market area (where both girls work) Meg had to work that night so we chose a restaurant close by. We decided on "Flying Fish" which is one of our favorites!

We all ordered the Tilapia Fish Tacos....they are AMAZINGLY delicious!!!

Along with the great food we had wonderful conversations. These nights, although short sometimes, are memories I will forever cherish.

Our hour and a half was up....Meg had to get to work; we all walked her the two blocks to the Saucer. John & I then walked Tori a few blocks to her car. As we walked back to our vehicle hand in hand we talked about how lucky we were to have these two as our daughters.

I *heart* Family Night!!

1/10/10

2010-01-10T10:45:00.002-06:00

We are 10 days into the new year! So far it has been amazing!!

John started a new schedule this year. We are still trying to get adjusted to it, it's been really weird-but in a good way. He now works a day shift on Fridays-he has Friday nights OFF! This is the first time in over 22 years he doesn't have a night shift on a Friday. We celebrated his first Friday night going out with a couple friend of ours. We ate great Mexican, had great Margaritas & laughed till our stomachs hurt.

We also get to workout together Sunday-Tuesday at the gym. I have really missed working out with him. This summer he whipped my bootie in shape----I need that again because I was a naughty girl over the holidays, ate everything in sight and gained 5 1/2 pounds.

On Wednesday & Thursday nights I do an hour on the elliptical with my 2 girlfriends, Shawna & Sunny. John says we burn just as many calories running our mouths as we do on the machine...haha! I'm also going on Saturday mornings with Shawna and we are doing a 65 minute elliptical workout. At this rate those pounds should be off by the end of the month.
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My girlfriends and I started a Bunko group. I'll be blogging about those crazy nights on here I'm sure. We are doing a dress & dinner theme each month. It's gonna be FUN! There will be a group picture every month. The first one is this Saturday.

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I had a lady ask me on Facebook if I make/sell quilts for other people. (she is actually my sisters childhood bff) She loved the ones I made the girls. I was very flattered. I told her I thought about it but really not sure just yet. I am still making blocks for Johns....which by the way I think are coming out cute. I'll have to take some pictures and post what I've done so far.

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I was lying in bed last night I was thinking about what I want to accomplish this year. So I decided to write it down in my journal.

My Goals for 2010:

* more quality time with John
* visit my girls more often at their home
* more family dinner dates
* more dinner & movie days with my mom & sisters
* more couple dates with great friends!
* Stay committed to my workouts.
* to not worry so much about the house being "perfectly clean"
*Sew a quilt for Reeses (yes, I said Reeses!)
* make the memory quilt out of my Dads old clothes
* sew a few summer tops & skirts
* go on more walks
*hike Pinnacle mtn. at least once a month
* visit more yard sales
*plant my vegetable garden (in the ground this year)
*crochet more
*make other Jams as well as my usual Strawberry
*read more books

I'm sure many more will come to mind.
I only have 8 months until Meg moves to Spain so those dinner dates and just time spent together will be at the top of my goals!!!

Have you wrote any goals for 2010?

Goals are dreams with deadlines. ~Diana Scharf Hunt

Scholarship

2010-01-06T05:53:00.001-06:00

Tori's Art Professor recommended her for a "Performance Scholarship" last month for her good performances in her Art & Photography classes. She received an e-mail yesterday & she GOT IT!!! Woo-hoo!!

I knew she would....that $700 a semester will pay for her books and some supplies (art & photography supplies are Expensive!!!)

So I thought I'd share some of her photography with you all.

The two above were taken at our favorite place in Georgia!

Her baby kitty, Lili.

Her best friend, Natalie on her wedding day.

These photos were the last two she developed in the darkroom last semester. She took them of her Dad & I for a class assignment....she framed them and gave them to us as a Christmas gift.

She has been hired to take photos of engaged couples. I absolutely love this one. She went to high school with this cute couple.

She took this photo of my sister & her family back in August at the Old Mill.

God definitely gifted the child with some talent!
I am proud of her!
Congratulations, Tori.

Snow Day!

2010-01-04T06:28:00.002-06:00

It started snowing yesterday around 2 pm.

I woke up at 4 am, turned TV on and school had not been closed for the day. UGH....snow and 23 degrees out...brrrr....went and got in the shower, did hair, make-up, made lunch...etc..etc...getting ready to walk out the door at 5:35am and my brother called. The district had finally called it...we have a Snow Day!!

Well I had already been awake for almost 2 hours so going back to bed ain't gonna happen. I should do something productive since I am up....nah- I think I'll sit on the couch and chill with my dog.

I don't wanna!

2010-01-03T09:01:00.001-06:00

Today is the last day of my winter break.
**sniff sniff**

This has been an amazing break! My girls came home for the 1st part and we had a wonderful time with them!!! John was off all last week and we had the BEST time together....my abs still hurt from laughing so much.

Do I have to go back to work? I don't wanna! I really like being home! I get to cook, bake, clean & sew! The latter being my favorite, it has been so relaxing for me lately. I have had a strong desire everyday to sew since we moved the love seat into the room downstairs and made the spare room my sewing room. It's just so cozy.

I get to watch/listen to the TV as I sew...I have a portable heater in there so it's nice & toasty (this room is above the garage & it stays cold!) It has all the old country decor we've had since 1988. :)

I found this cubby/shelf thingy at Lowes and John put it together for me. All my fabric was shoved in that basket that's under the ironing board....so now I'm all neat & organized. Being organized has made my creative wheels start turning. I have SO many projects in mind....and NOT enough time!

I put cork boards up on the wall...that way when I get an idea I can sketch it out and pin it to the board. After this picture was taken I had an idea for a sweater for Reeses....I measured him (which he didn't like) and then sat down and sewed it.
Here he is wearing it....calling them HOGS in the Liberty Bowl....Woooo Pig Soooie! It must have helped because they WON!!!

So I am going to enjoy this last day of of my winter break. John is back to work....the house is clean....I've baked banana muffins....so I guess I'll go SEW some blocks for John's quilt!