I work in retail. For me that means a lot of long hours, a lot of rude people, and usually not enough time available to do things for the people I love. So many corners have been cut over the years because after working all day I am just too tired to do all the things I would really like to do. This year for the first time I have had some family living close enough to me to spend a holiday with and as usual, nothing went as planned but we survived. Our holiday was cut short because both my cousin and I had to be at work by 3 AM this morning to take care of Black Friday shoppers. I was having a lot of fun this morning because it was busy, people were decent and generally happy and everyone was on their turkey hangover and generally feeling genial. Then the bomb dropped when our loss prevention manager called me to tell me that my car had been broken into. They smashed my back window and took a bag out of the back seat that they assumed had something good in it. It did but not anything that they would ever want or need. I am a needleworker. In that bag was a couple hundred dollars worth of hand dyed fabrics, threads, beads, charms. patterns and books. Nothing they will ever want. Nothing I can replace. what is worse though was in the top of that bag were my families' Christmas stockings. Each one stitched over the years, my oldest sons' I started stitching for him when I foind out I was pregnant. This would have been the 21 Christmas it was hung. It makes me sick to think that these thieves will open that bag, find out they really didn't get anything worth anything to them and they will discard it and some of my children's history is gone forever.

So I am sitting here being mad and depressed and I go to one of my favorite blogs Pioneer Woman and I realize that what I lost are things. No I can't replace them exactly but I can replace them. God gave me that talent. There are so many things I can't replace like
The memory of my oldest son graduating from boot camp.
or my youngest son following in my father's footsteps an being in the color guard (and meeting the governor and his wife)

Or my brother and his family especially

these sweeties that I love as much as my own kids

my mom (and cousin Lois in this pic)

My hubby



My nutso family members old, young and in between.

So they got my things, and they took away part of my day, they damaged my car but they don't get me, they don't get the folks I love and well, I can always hope they can't sleep well at night. I have a lot of things to be thanksful for! Thank you Ree for helping me remember that.

Don't think I have written here since I took over as team lead for Produce. I miss my friends in the meat room but I don't miss the cold and I like the group I am working with now. I am having one spot of difficulty though. I have one part timer who is giving me fits.

He likes the ladies, particularly some in the neighboring departments.
He likes to visit them.
He likes to help out one the floor.
He likes to wander.
He likes to text at work.

He doesn't like to follow the directions I leave.

This morning was especially bad when I got to work and discovered that there were several major things left undone. Fixing what he didn't do put me behind in what I had to do. Me being behind put Andy in the position of finishing what I didn't get done and the wanderer works again tonight. The cycle repeats unto infinity so in the end, we end up with major problems.

We have a program in place to deal with this called coaching. You get coached and it stays on your record for 1 year. If you get coached 3 times in the year period you are on what they call a decision day or "D" day. This means you were given your last chance and your next required coaching means you are terminated. Guess where the Wanderer is. On a "D" day which means if I coach him, I have to fire him. a week before Thanksgiving, 5 weeks before Christmas. I wouldn't want to do that to someone even if they brought it on themselves not to mention, it leaves my department chort (ok, considering his work ethic maybe that isn't a big deal). So I have to make a decision and I thought I had until my manager told me to kind of postpone it until after the holiday. OK. Then I started thinking, why should I? Shouldn't he be held responsible for his lack of attention to the department he is being paid to work in? Aren't I responsible for holding him accountable and setting a precedent for the rest of my workers?

So now I am going to go get a shower, get dressed and go back to work to talk to him tonight before someones rumor mill gets rolling. I can't wait to see where this goes. :-(

I am off from work today. My mother in law is still in the rehabilitation hospital so I could sleep in a bit (until 7 since the cable man was coming) and it was just lovely sleeping last night and cool this morning so lying in bed seemed like a great idea. Well we have not had home phone service in over a month so I did need to get up and around for that. The guy was here pretty early, seemed like the job was done and Tommy and I took off for Newport to explore a knife shop (I needed a sharpener for work), and the bakery supply place so I could get some sprinkles for my Halloween party treats I am making (they didn't have what I wanted). After that we went to Newport on the Levee to browse the big Bares and Noble there and get some lunch. We spent quite a bit of time in B&N and decided we didn't want lunch there since the places we liked were either way too expensive of had gone out of business. (Boy that place is suffering!) We decided to hit Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch and it went down hill from there. We got there just about 2:00 and the place was pretty empty but apparently only had one server working and he wasn't really pushing himself. We placed out order and waited 45 minutes for our food! With all those spicy wings (YUM) it didn't take long until we were out of drinks. Just as we were remarking on the lack of service the waiter brought drinks to the table and took off. Imagine my surprise to find that my Sprite was now water. Do you think he came back so I could get the mistake corrected? We waited and waited for him to come back and by the time he did, we just needed our bill a go box because Tommy was going to be late for work.

I came home and discovered that my phones are NOT fixed you can't call in or out and to top it off I had a $400 cable bill waiting for me. Since I can't get any help with this I am about to tell them to shove it.

I have now spent 3 weeks waiting for a referral from my doctor's office and I called them again today and they were supposed to call me back but have not. I am about out of patience with a lot of things here.

OK, the guys are home and I am going to throw some burgers in the pan... Later!

My mom said she had read my Brigadoon post and was sorry that there were no pictures of this little face on there. Thought maybe it was too hard to capture him as he doesn't sit still for very long.

It is very true, he sure doesn't sit still but he was absolutely the highlight of my vacation, or vacations as it were. This is my nephew. He is almost 3.

I am no stranger to nephews since I have 8 of them, and I love each of them. This will be the last one though so he is special. He reminds me of my own boys where they were little, but that is not it. As my brother says, being with James is like having your own Comedy Central Show. He is funny as hell. He is smart too. I find it fascintating that a child that young has such a sharp sense of humor.

He is tough as nails too. I have seen him fall flat on his face and never whimper. I won't tell my diaper rash story but suffice it to say, I was crying and he never shed a tear.

So there you are mom. I was just saving those memories. I bring them our and they make me smile. Just like this face. Aunt Ria loves her James. I wish I could take him home!

Do you remember the story of Brigadoon? In case you don't, it is about an enchanted Scottish village that appears once every hundred years for just one day. To the villagers the hundred years seem to pass in the span of one day so things never really change for them.

I have a Brigadoon too. Since 1920, my mother's family has had a family reunion. Imagine something that has occurred every year for 90 years! There were a few years that they missed, wars, scattered family events things like that but they have almost always managed to get at least a part of the family together every year. For the last 10 years, a group of us have been meeting at my uncle's house in beautiful upstate NY. My uncle's family consists of 4 children the same ages as my brothers and I and we were all close growing up even though we lived several hundred miles apart. Guess what? Nothing has changed.


We now start arriving at my uncle and aunt's place on Friday (or in the case of people who are date challenged this year Thursday) and the fun never stops. We camp out in their yard and as the weekend progresses people come and go, campers come and go and food just multiplies until we begin to believe we are eating every 20 minutes or so. We usually have somewhere around 15 kids (although some of them are in their 20's) and somehow we almost always manage to have a baby somewhere to snuggle and rock. We take hundreds of pictures, put together a Power Point slide show which makes us laugh until we are wetting ourselves, drink some (although no one EVER gets stupid or staggering) have a wonderful campfire and an overall lovefest.


My siblings, cousins and I are all in our 40's and for some of us are damn close to 50, but nothing ever changes. For this one miraculous weekend, we are all children again. We physically get together one time a year but to us it is if only one day has passed. Monday morning comes and the most depressing picture appears when the campers are closed up and gone, the pop-up awnings are all gone, tables and chairs are all packed away, garbage picked up and hauled away, no kids, no flamingos (another story trust me), no laughter. Brigadoon has passed away for another year.


There is nothing in the world I would trade those few days for. I dread the day when we start to find ourselves making other plans, when it begins to seem like too much work or too much travel. I can't actually see that day coming but it may. Our older generating is dwindling faster than our younger generation is maturing and I worry that their bond is not as strong as ours is. I pray the enchantment of our Brigadoon is never broken.

I just got back from my (cough) 30th High School Reunion. I had never attended one of the reunions before; I had no desire to attend one. You may find it hard to believe but High School was not the high point of my life. Frankly, I hated most of it. Not the schooling parts but the people parts. I didn't understand what made some people outcasts just because they didn't wear the same clothes, or live in the right neighborhood or whatever. I still don't.

Being back with some people I knew, but hadn't seen in 30 years was a little weird. Some of us slipped back into our friendships easily. Some of us had been talking on Facebook for months so we were already somewhat reacquainted. The sad thing was the cliques still exist and even though there is a lot more common ground among us as adults than there was as kids, those cliques still clung together to the exclusion of all else.

Some people haven't done so well and some people are just plain annoying like the jock hero who is now a drunk and the do-gooder who insists that everyone march to his drummer or they are not worthy of his attention.

I think in the end, despite various life experiences, the people that I liked in high school I could probably still be friends with today if given half a chance. I hope that now that we have reconnected, that half chance is possible. :-)

I found this story on-line. I am the daughter and niece of the"greatest generation". We were brought up to love and respect this country, those men and the freedom they fought and gave their lives for. I am the mother of a soldier. The day he graduated was probably the proudest day of my life.

I know who the real heros in this world our. God Bless Shifty Powers and all of our armed forces no matter where or when they serve(d) us.


Darrell "Shifty" Powers.
Shifty volunteered for the airborne in WWII and served with Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 101st Airborne Infantry. If you've seen Band of Brothers on HBO or the History Channel, you know Shifty. His character appears in all 10 episodes, and Shifty himself is interviewed in several of them.

I met Shifty in the Philadelphia airport several years ago. I didn't know who he was at the time . I just saw an elderly gentleman having trouble reading his ticket. I offered to help, assured him that he was at the right gate, and noticed the "Screaming Eagle", the symbol of the 101st Airborne, on his hat.

Making conversation, I asked him if he'd been in the 101st Airborne or if his son was serving. He said quietly that he had been in the 101st. I thanked him for his service, then asked him when he served, and how many jumps he made.

Quietly and humbly, he said "Well, I guess I signed up in 1941 or so, and was in until some time in 1945 . . . " at which point my heart skipped.

At that point, again, very humbly, he said "I made the 5 training jumps at Toccoa, and then jumped into Normandy . . . . do you know where Normandy is?" At this point my heart stopped.

I told him yes, I know exactly where Normandy was, and I know what D-Day was. At that point he said "I also made a second jump into Holland , into Arnhem ." I was standing with a genuine war hero . . . . and then I realized that it was June, just after the anniversary of D-Day.

I asked Shifty if he was on his way back from France , and he said "Yes. And it's real sad because these days so few of the guys are left, and those that are, lots of them can't make the trip." My heart was in my throat and I didn't know what to say.

I helped Shifty get onto the plane and then realized he was back in Coach, while I was in First Class. I sent the flight attendant back to get him and said that I wanted to switch seats. When Shifty came forward, I got up out of the seat and told him I wanted him to have it, that I'd take his in coach.

He said "No, son, you enjoy that seat. Just knowing that there are still some who remember what we did and still care is enough to make an old man very happy." His eyes were filling up as he said it. And mine are brimming up now as I write this.

Shifty died on June 17 after fighting cancer.

There was no parade.

No big event in Staples Center .

No wall to wall back to back 24x7 news coverage.

No weeping fans on television.

Let's give Shifty his own Memorial Service, online, in our own quiet way.

Rest in peace, Shifty.

I am posting a video today made by a friend of mine from HS for her daughter. Her beautiful daughter Amanda is a diabetic. Their lives are filled with so many difficult moments and yet they manage to stay upbeat. I love this video because it is truly a work of love from Amanda's mom. Amanda is an ambassador for her annual ADA walk again this year. You might not know her but I know you know someone whose life this disease has touched. Please look for a walk in your area and consider making a donation!



Support the cause!

is my nephew James.

It has been a year since I have seen him and this picture makes me so sad. he has grown so much and I have not been around to kiss those cute little round cheeks of his. I have not been around to admire those grown-up little jeans he is wearing or hear him giggle or read him a book. I love getting pictures of my family but sometimes they just make me sad.

What makes me really glad is that a week from today I will be able to wrap my arms around him and kiss him silly if he will sit still that long (which I know he will not). It's ok, I can still hear him giggle!

how much can I get done?

Yesterday we moved another load of stuff from our house to the new one. I am getting tired of trying to cook with only tiny pans and things! Today hopefully we will have some trucks to get some of the bigger things.

After we did that, I went and picked up my MIL so she could see what we have been doing at the new house and she can get a feel of how things will look. We are trying to make it a family place as we don't want her to feel like it is our house it belongs to all of us and we are all making the decisions. She seemed to like it although I don't think she really cares as long as she is with family.

After we took her home, I finished the first coat of paint in the kitchen and I LOVE it, love it love it! We are putting the same color in the dining room but I am using the little half pint of smaple paint I bought that was too dark and mixing it with a translucent glaze to give the dining room a little different feel. Fancy it up a bit you know.

When I had the first coat of paint finished, I took my Allison Brennan book Sudden Death out on the deck along with some cheese and crackers and tried to enjoy the cool evening breeze and some peace and quiet. I am learning (after 22 years in the country) that peace and quiet is relative. Within minutes of me settling on the deck, my neighbor came out on her backyard swing and had a long and loud conversation on her phone. I am not used to neighbors that I can see and hear and I miss my birds and frogs... oh well...

OK, I am off to track down #1 son and a truck, put a second and last coat of paint in the kitchen, do some laundry, paint the dining room, move some more stuff, go to Target and find a shower rack, go to Hobby Lobby and find a shelf for the kitchen, hang some pictures, paint the hallway...oh hck you get the idea...no rest for the wicked my mama says! It's ok, vacation is a week away when I head east for my 30th High School reunion. This will be the first one that I have been to and I am really looking forward to it. So many of us have reconnected through Facebook that I really can't wait to see people again. I plan on taking lots of pictures too. It will be wonderful to see my family too since it has been over a year since I have been home. I am debating as to whether or not we can declare Sunday a shore day. Too much to do, too little time!

I believe in karma. In the past few months I have had someone I believed was a friend betray my trust... badly. It hurts. Not only did I have to re evaluate how I looked at someone I thought I could trust, but now she owes me a lot of money and I know that short of suing her, I will never see it. I can and will sue but geez... So I believe that someday, in someway, her bad karma will come back to haunt her and when it does, I have kind of hoped she thinks about me and the trust she betrayed...

The flip side of karma is this. I have a friend whose stepson brought home a "homeless" friend to live with them. I don't think it was for a real long time but the kicker was when the stepson moved out and the other kid had to stay because he had no where to go. The whole situation was beyond awkward and I am sure more than a little embarrassing for all involved. So my friend helped this kid get a job. He helped him get to work when he didn't have a way to get there. The kid helped around the house a bit but clearly my friend was doing more for this stranger than the stranger was doing for him. He had no idea how much more he was doing though.

After a few weeks of the kid working his grandparents agreed to let him move in with them. He was able to get a car to have his own transportation. He is now working a second job and doing well, great actually. My friend hadn't heard much from him since he moved out and he was not worried about that after all the kid was virtually a stranger and my friend had no ties to him,nor did my friend figure the kid owed him anything. The kid however had some other ideas.

Yesterday my friend's father called him to tell him that there was someone down in the fields working in his vineyard so my friend drove over to see what was going on. Turns out the kid had worked all the hours his first job allowed him for the week and it was too early to go to his second job so he went to my friend's vineyard and by the time my friend got there had set about 40 fence posts for him.

No one asked him to do that. Certainly no one expected him to do that. In the end though, the kid knows the gift he was given and has tried to pass that back and refill the well so to speak. So this has made me rethink some of my situation. I am sure someday my former friend will at some point have to reap what she has sown. I know longer care if she thinks back to the situation she has put me in...I just hope she has enough intelligence to realize what has caused the situation and at some point will decide to refill the well she has drained so she can find some balance in her life.

Talk about Independence Day... here's to growing up!

A couple of weeks ago I took a class at my local library on Tatting. Tatting, in case you do not know is a way of making lace. You can do it in several ways either using a shuttle or a needle. I tried and tried but I just could not get the shuttle tatting to work, I ended up with twisted mess after twisted mess! So I broke down and bought a set a tatting needles and lo and behold I got it right off, I can tat chains like mad! Can I make a ring? NO. Now be aware that I bought just the needles and got my instructions for the needle tatting off the Internet. I cannot for the life of me get any of the demos that I have watched to work! I have no clue what I am doing incorrectly but I know I am wasting a lot of thread which fortunately is not too expensive but it is very pretty and I hate wasting it.

I just don't get it, I am an intelligent, very crafty , hands on person. This is not going to defeat me. It may take the rest of my life but I am going to get it.

In the meantime, I am going to do a couple of things. First I am going to troll ebay and see if I can find an edition of the needle tatting book I should have purchased (if all else fails, I will get it the next time Hobby Lobby has a 40% off coupon). Then I am taking a shower and curling up on my bed to read my book. I think the tatting will have to wait a bit until I am feeling less frustrated!

On another note totally, We are slowly but surely making our way through the painting and renovations at the new house. The bathroom is going to take much longer than we expected. That is frustrating but glory I am enjoying the colors I am choosing. I will have to go to the other house and get my battery charger so I can take and post some pictures. I am looking forward to getting everything finished and getting the moving done.

Happy Independence Day tomorrow, fly your flags high and with great pride and remember the men and women who have made that possible! God Bless America!

There is so much going on in my life right now. We are moving into my in-law's house, making it handicapped accessible so we can move my MIL in with us, painting, cleaning, moving...it all adds up. On top of that neither of us is taking vacation time to actually do this so we work all day and then go to the house and work. We are working all day on our days off. There isn't any down time as we want it finished as soon as possible.

On top of this, I have not been well. I have had bouts with debilitating pain. I could not close my hands, my legs hurt so badly I couldn't sleep. I am experiencing chronic fatigue (imagine that). Nothing was/is helping. On Monday I was in so much pain that I called the doctor and took a 1/2 day from work to go. He believes that I may have fibromyalgia. I have always thought that fibromyalgia was a catch all diagnosis for "I have no clue what is going on". It has so many symptoms and so many variations. I am on a course of steroids that have taken the edge off the pain but have not eliminated it. I can feel the drag of depression coming on with the ramifications of a diagnosis.

This year has just been one thing after another health wise. I have also had to deal with some tremendous losses, my beloved friend Pam who I still miss daily and the betrayal of someone I truly trusted. Moving, my MIL's health issues, my so loved uncle's health issues. I hate it. It is no wonder I am tired and no wonder I am depressed.

I am looking forward to my high school reunion in a couple of weeks. I hope by then they will know what is going on with me and I will feel well enough to travel and enjoy my family and friends. I just want all the pieces of my life to fall into some semblance of order... is that just too much to ask?

Well in the last month, lots of decisions have been made and there are lots of changes to come. My MIL is finally home from the hospital and we are hoping she is on the road to repair. We have decided that the place where she is living is not able to meet her needs and our having to run back and forth 3 or 4 times a week was getting very old so we are going to move into her house and make it handicapped accessable and finish the basement off so there is room enough for everyone in that little ranch. We will all be living together. I finally get my children grown and self sufficient and I take on another! LOL We will see how it goes. I am trying to not be stressed out about everything that is and will be going on but it is still on my mind and I am having trouble sleeping. I will be glad when it is all settled and we can get a system going. I have been in this house for 22 years. While it has more than it's share of problems and pains, it is still my home.


I got my plane tickets to go home for my 30th HS reunion in the middle of July. I am excited to be going home and I am looking forward to the reunion. I am looking forward to a break as well.

We are all enjoying the abundance of fresh fruit on the market and today I found a baby tomato on my vine! I have baby peppers too. We had sweet corn for dinner tonight and it was wonderful. I love summer!!

Once again that time of the year has rolled around. This is the 48th time it has rolled around. I had to work today but since there was a lot of mindless time I got to thinking about past birthdays. I love having a May birthday. I love spring and to me May is the best of it. Almost always my birthday is a beautiful day. About 100 year ago The Slackwood Elementary Fair used to fall in my birthday week. That was always great fun. One of my favorite birthdays was the year I got my first bike. It was a pink and white Schwinn, I think it might have been a Hollywood but I don't really remember. It had a white basket with pink flowers on the front too. I absolutely loved it. I think it was the same year that my mom painted a set of dresser drawers for me. White enamel and they had little bouquets of violets decoupaged on it. She still has the set. I nearly always had my favorite cake too. Angel food with strawberries inside and whipped cream outside. YUMMO!

There have been other memorable birthdays along the way like the surprise party the people I worked with (my extended family in my heart) gave for my 40th at my favorite restaurant in Lexington, Bella Luna.

The years go on don't they? Memories are good. Family is good too. Happy Birthday to me!

I just finished Sunflower Star by Laura J Perin last night. I just love it. I haven't taken it off the strips yet because I just like looking at it! I did make one change in her design. I did not care for the wide green border she designed around the outside so I made it half the size. The colors are wonderful and I can't wait to put it together. (once I decide how I want to do that!)

The is Desert Star by From Nancy's Needle. I finished it about a month ago and posted an awful picture of it. This was my first canvas work piece and I am hooked for sure. I can't wait to start another one.

Right now, I dug out fabric for Wendy K.C. Designs' Bee's Garden Stitching Accessories. I am stitching that with Carrie's Creations threads on 28 count Quaker in a color called Country. The fabric came from Silkweavers and I have had it for a while. I can get all three pieces (needlebook, fob and biscornu) out of this one piece of fabric.

On another note, our nest is empty, the birds have fledged. We were lucky to see the last one leaving the nest. I didn't realize how much I enjoyed watching them until they were gone. :-(


Off to get the day started!

They are getting so BIG! Mom is gone a lot now because she has a LOT of hunting to do. No supermarket fills her needs. Those mouths are never closed. I can relate I have 2 growing boys! Bottomless pits!!


This is one of my clematis. It is so pretty. I look forward to it every year and I am sorry it doesn't last very long.

#2 son and I went out this afternoon and bout impatiens for my back flower bed and posts to stake up my Rose of Sharon trees. Maybe tomorrow we can get them all in the ground. There never seems to be enough time to get everything I want to do done. I did get my Sunflower Star finished up to the last border. I got that last border started and decided I didn't like it as wide as shown so I ripped it out and made it smaller. I should be able to finish it tonight.

OK, I am off to finish cleaning up dinner and then I can get back to my sewing.

I was wrong there are not three babies, there are four!



They are getting so big and they are so stuffed into that nest. We were lucky to get a look while mama was looking for dinner. We made sure not to touch anything close and got out of there really quickly!

I am making great progress on my Sunflower Star. I have the cream border on and am working on the next one. I should have gotten larger stretcher strips but I guess I will figure out how to get everything on there!

This is mommy on her nest.




And if you look very carefully you can see one of the little buggers trying to peek out! They have gotten a lot bigger in the last couple of days too.


This is my sunflower star. This border is a booger. I have already frogged one portion of the border. I like how it looks though!



And this is my first clematis bloom of the year. It looks whiter than previous years. They are usually quite lavender.

My dog got a bath and she isn't happy. My MIL has osteomyelitis (a deep bone infection)in her foot and she isn't happy. I had to change her packing and dressing today and UGG... I wasn't happy.

It is however a beautiful day and I am going to take my sewing, my audiobook (The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer OMG good!) and a cold drink out on the patio and relax for the hour and a half I have before someone comes back home.

That's all I got folks!

My little mama bird has hatched her eggs. I have 3 little nearly bald babies in the nest. I got a really good look at them while mom was out shopping the other day! They have a great home too, that bush I was going to rip out is honeysuckle. It is in full bloom now so they have a very sweet hiding place. Once they are grown and gone, I can trim it all back, for now, I have a nursery that is fascinating me!

I found this great blog this morning and have been shopping for free samples ever since$5.00 Dinners I went there to check our her amazing coupon binder and stayed for the link that went toFree Stuff 4 free

I can't wait to read some more!!

The Breast Cancer Site

During the month of April the Breast Cancer site (in addition to funding mammograms) will donate $10,000 for research if clicks on the site total 200 mammograms. As of this posting they are at 71% of their goal with only 8 days left! Please go there every day and click. Tell your friends and family! During these times it's hard for any of us to donate money so this is a wonderful way to help out. It costs you nothing but a few seconds of your time! You can click 1 time per day. I also have a link on my blog. Please continue to click even after April to help fund mammograms.

This question was posted on Running With Quills. This is a blog written by some of my favorite authors. I enjoy reading their insights. Sometimes they make me think. The question is:

What brings you the most happiness, the greatest sense of peace. Do you remember one particular day, or series of days in your life with more joy than any others?

So I am thinking. There are some obvious ones, the birth of my boys, their milestones, family reunions... and some not so obvious and these are ones that tend to creep into your mind when you really aren't trying to think of the answer to a question!

Some of my favorite days with my boys were when they were little. When the days weren't a constant rush of we have to be here, do this, go there. On beautiful days I would pack us a picnic lunch, take a blanket outside and park us under a tree. We would blow bubbles, color, read books, do a puzzle. We would eat outside! Why is that, such a common thing, such a treat? We would lay on our backs and watch clouds, close our eyes and listen to birds, watch a spider spin a web and listen for frogs in the pond. Looking back, we didn't have nearly as many of those days as I would have liked.

We read. We read a lot. I hope that is a gift that I gave my children that they will pass on. Before Harry Potter was the craze that it became, I tried to get my oldest to read it. Nothing doing. The youngest was too young to read that yet so I decided we were going to read it every night. We shut off the TV, curled up together on the couch and I read out loud. Eventually #1 son did some of the reading too. We loved those nights. We couldn't wait for the next books. They drew pictures of the things we "saw" in the books. By the end of the series, everyone was fighting over who would get the books first! :-) We still talk about those nights and we have all read the books over and over. My copies are all about worn out.

Remembering things like that give me peace and joy. I also get joy from the things my hands create. I would love to be an artist but that is not my gift I guess. My needlework is as close as I get to creating works of art and they are works that someone else has designed and dozens of others recreate as well. In lots of my projects I have made little changes that make them "mine". There is a peace that comes over me when I pick up a needle. It is a peace that may have been passed down for many generations since I come from a long line of needle workers. I like to think that I am just another knot in the thread.

Then there are things like:
Quiet days on the beach
The smell of apple blossoms coming in my kitchen window
The first violets I find in the grass every year (spring is HERE!)
My golden yellow dog sleeping in the sun in the bright green grass
The first time I hear our spring peepers
Finding a robin's nest in my bushes where I can watch the miracle!
Fresh baked bread
Sheets drying on the line
A good book
My son dressed in his Army uniform, the other son dressed for his first semi-formal (be still my heart)
Summer rain
Tomatoes warm from the garden

I guess life is pretty good huh?

It was pretty nice here today, a little chilly but the sun made an appearance. Things are really green and poppin'! I pulled out last year's mandevilla and prepped the space for the wisteria that I bought. I am planning on having the family build a pergola over the patio for my mother's day/birthday present I think I can train the wisteria to go up the side of the pergola and across the top which will be pretty and shady!

I found a few fun things too. These wood violets are in full bloom along the edge of my property and are also scattered all through my yard.


My daffodils are about finished but a few are still showing their pretty faces.


The Bleeding Hearts are some of my very favorites



When I tried to take pictures of the bleeding hearts I discovered a secret. I have a little mama! I was going to trim back these butterfly bushes and trim out the little invasive tree but I found this nest with a single egg in it. Mom has been sitting in it (now that I found it I can watch and avoid) and I can't wait to see the baby robin.

Of course now I can't do any trimming!

I lost a great deal of my apple tree this fall when we had a tremendous wind storm. I have very few flowers at all but these are so pretty. I will sure miss the sweet scent of a tree full of them outside my kitchen window.

I have made spicy beef and potato burritos for dinner and a kahlua cake for dessert. All in all, not a bad day! :-)

It opened today at 2 PM at and already I have found a designer who is new to me and something I want to put on my wish list. I have been on the site approximately 5 minutes. This designer is Brenda E. Kocher and the design is Grandma's Rose Garden.

here is another one I really like, DebBee's DesignsDiamond Delight IV

From Rouge Du RhinShells and Shellfish

From Nancy's Needle (I just love her stuff...Tigerlily Tiles Liberty StarsEvening Star and yes, I could go on! lol

I won't even bother to list the stuff from Keslyn's

Well I will quit there so I can finish watching Criminal Minds. More tomorrow probably!

Holy Hannah I have had a heck of a time the last few months. I am rarely if ever sick. First I end up at the doctor and he thinks I have kidney stones. Two CT scans and a KUB X-ray and not only did I have kidney stones, I had gall stones. I ended up at a urologist and he wanted to break up one stone since it was supposedly too large to pass on its own. In the meantime, I had been scheduled to have my gall bladder out which I did and it went well. The night before I am supposed to go back to work the unpassable stone decided to pass and I ended up in the emergency room. The stone passed (thankfully) and I went back to work. I made it through the entire week and was grateful to have Easter Sunday off. I got up feeling queasy but managed to get lunch made and get #1 son to work. By 4 PM all you know what broke loose and I have been sicker than a dog ever since. About 8 this morning I started being able to keep down liquids but I still feel awful, ache everywhere and just want to sleep... and cry. I missed another day of work too.

I started a new blog today and will update it again this afternoon. I decided that I want a seperate blog for my books so Too Few Bookshelves is it. Take a look and see what you may want to add. I welcome your additions and recommendations!

A friend of mine made this little goodie and brought it to work for breakfast a couple of weeks ago. I thought it would make a great, quick Easter breakfast and boy howdy it sure does. My boys are inhaling it as I type. It is quick and easy and starts with good old Pillsbury Crescent rolls.

You need:
a tube of Crescent rolls
4 eggs
about a pound of cooked breakfast meat (ham chopped small, sausage or bacon, crumbled)
grated cheese of your choice
a tablespoon of milk

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

Spray or grease a 9X13 baking dish. Unroll your crescent rolls and lay them in the bottom of the dish, flattening it enough to fill the bottom and close the seams.

Add your cooked meat on top of the crescent rolls.

Scramble the eggs with the milk and pour them on top of the meat. Tilt the dish a bit as needed to make the eggs even.

Top with your favorite shredded or grated cheese. I didn't add an amount because frankly I rarely measure things like that.

Bake for 15 minutes, remove from the oven and let sit for about 5 minutes.

As Rachael Ray would say, Yum-o!

I would show you a picture but well, most of it is gone now. I made it with breakfast sausage and sharp cheddar this morning but I may make it again tomorrow with leftover ham and I have yet to figure out what cheese I would lke. I think it would be equally good with just your favorite veggies too. I have asparagus and mushrooms here and a yummy 4 Italian cheese blend that is calling me. Ok, I am going to grab me a piece before it disappears! Enjoy!

I got a good amount of work done on the Sunflower Star from Laura J. Perin's American Quilt Collection. I love the colors in this piece and once I got the pattern set in my head, it has progressed very quickly. I will try and post a picture when I get home tonight. I have all the gold sunflowers in the center complete and the first quadrent of colors done. I just need more hours in the day. I am already picking out my next one but keep changing my mind! There are so many pretty ones. Right now I am stuck between Indian Autumn, Celtic Knots,Triple Irish Chain,and Delectable Mountains. I will probably end up flipping a coin. I haven't even started thinking about her Secret Garden Collection! LOL

She also has a beautiful new piece on her blog. You can find her blog in my blog roll at The Two Handed Stitcher. Enjoy.

Ok, off to work so I can come home and stitch. It is supposed to be a rainy night so that is a perfect way to spend it!

I went to work again today even though I probably stayed home. Oh well, I am still in one piece even if I am tired. I came home and was just putzing around on the computer when I decided I would check out the CakeWrecks blog. I am not sure what is funnier, the pictures of cakes gone horribly wrong or the commentary. In any case, my gloomy mood has been dismissed with several hearty laughs. My dog thinks I am nuts sitting here laughing at nothing she can see (or hear) but that's nothing new. *grin*

I am listening to Tess Gerritsen's The Keepsake on my Zune and I didn't want to get out of the car when I got home. It just gets creepier and creepier! I have a couple of hours left to myself this afternoon so I think I will take it and my sewing outside and sit in the sun. I am also actually reading James Patterson's Cross Country I love all his Alex Cross books and am currently waiting for his New Murder Club book The 8th Confession which comes out April 27th. All this murder and mayhem makes my life look a lot more stable! :-)

and some days you are the bug. Today was a bug kind of day. DH had to work overnight and wouldn't you know, I started with another kidney stone at 3 AM. It woke me from a sound sleep and it was bad. Now stupid me, I have some pain meds from my surgery that I never used but do you think I thought to take any? You would be correct if you guessed no. At 4:30 I woke my oldest son to tell him I was getting in the shower and if I wasn't out in say 1/2 an hour, please check on me. I sent a text to my husband which he didn't realize he got after all why would I be texting if I was asleep? #2 son got up and sent to school before hubby got home from work. By 7 AM I was on my way to the ER.

The normal paperwork ensued. I was so nauseaous I wondered if I needed to grab their garbage can. The nurse tried two times to start an IV and ended up blowing out the vein in my left arm. That is extremely painful but thankfully distracted me from my throbbing gut. After the second non-productive stick I asked for another nurse who had my IV up and going in a matter of seconds. *sigh* a minute after that I got both anti-nausea and pain meds. I could now finally think and string together a coherent sentence. The X-Rays showed that my 5mm stone that was on the last x-rays was now missing or had shrank to 2mm. Since they don't shrink we allowed as how I probably passed it. That leaves just one small stone thankfully. Needless to say I will not now be going for the lithotripsy.

The long and the short of it is I missed what was supposed to be my first day back from work. I came home and slept since I didn't get much last night so my day was pretty much a loss. I did go and pick up my son and 2 of his friends from football practice and they made me laugh on the way home. They are a funny group of guys.

We just got home and I called for a couple of pizzas and I am chilling for the rest of the evening.

The piece at the top is the Desert Star piece I posted about yesterday. I finally got it to upload today!

I finished my canvas piece last night. Then I cried. I wanted to show it to Pam. I'd upload it but I can't get pictures to upload to blogger right now so it will have to wait.

I got out Laura J Perin Designs' Sunflower Star and have it all ready to go on the frame. I have sepnt the morning running errands and getting trash together for the clean up crew so now I can spend the rest of the day sewing if I want. DS#1 is at the mall with his friends, DH is sleeping since he has to work overnight tonight and DS#2 is doing whatever... he wants to be out driving. He is a driving fool. :-)

I feel like I am moving in slow motion today. I know it is because I am still in shock. My eyes are raw from crying so much yesterday and the tears are still ready to flow today. I am so lucky to have had her in my life. It will be so dreary now without my red headed friend from Texas. God sure got a handful when he took her home! :-)

I received a call a couple of hours ago that my dear friend Pam had died. She was just 62. She was planning on retiring in a month. She had finally found balance in her life again, was loving time with her husband, her kids and her darling grandkids. She had survived a major medical mistake, gone through hell before it could be fixed and came out on the other end. She found peace with not being able to sue the idiots that screwed her up. She landed a job she really enjoyed after being treated like dirt by an employer that never learned what a gem he had.

Pam was my stitching buddy, my enabler, my motivator. Pam was my sounding board. There was nothing we could not and did not talk about. Pam picked me up when I thought I would never get up again. Pam saved my life when I didn't want to get up again.

Very few days went by when we weren't in touch in some way even if we just swapped places on wordscraper. There were hundreds of emails over the years, silly cards, little gifts. We were so alike we could have been twins.

I feel like a part of me is gone. I am sitting here looking at the canvas piece I am almost finished with and I know now she will never see it. I almost called her this morning because it is Saturday and I was going to give her heck about not answering my email from yesterday. I thought she would check in to make she I was still at it :-)

I will never get to make and give her the sunflower canvas I bought for her. She loved sunflowers. I waited too long, I was just too slow.

I know I have learned over the years that life changes in an instant. It still never fails to knock me to my knees when I blink and part of my life has changed forever.

One thing I am happy about, she knew how much she meant to me and I know what I meant to her. We were good about telling each other that. It still leaves a hole though.

Goodbye my friend, until we meet again. I love you and always will.

Maria

I just love these...everytime I they come around I have to laugh. i hope you enjoy them too.

They're Back! Those wonderful Church Bulletins! Thank God for church ladies with typewriters. These sentences (with all the BLOOPERS) actually appeared in church bulletins or were announced in church services:


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The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.
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The sermon this morning: 'Jesus Walks on the Water.' The sermon tonight: 'Searching for Jesus.'
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Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.
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Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say 'Hell' to someone who doesn't care much about you.
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Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.
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Miss Charlene Mason sang 'I will not pass this way again,' giving obvious pleasure to the congregation...
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For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.
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Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.
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Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.
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A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.
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At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be 'What Is Hell?' Come early and listen to our choir practice.
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Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.
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Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.
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Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.
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The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.
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Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM -20prayer and medication to follow.
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The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.
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This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.
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Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10 AM. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B. S. Is done.
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The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the Congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.
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Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.
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The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy..
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Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.
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The Associate Minister unveile d the church's new campaign slogan last Sunday: 'I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours.

Some days it is enough to just be. There is nothing more perfect than the first beautiful spring day unless it is being off on that day and being able to spend it soaking up the warmth of the sun.

After my little trip to Cincinnati this morning (which came out fine BTW) I came home and curled up on the patio in the sun with my current read. Other than taking some time to give Ab's a bath while it was nice and warm and she could dry in the sun, I spent the entire day there. I am now a little crispy around the edges but feeling better than I have in months. I needed the rest, the fresh air and the sun burn.

I finished my book over dinner (corned beef and cabbage of course)and I absolutely loved it. I was reading Sarah's Quilt by Nancy E. Turner. Sarah's Quilt is the second book in her Sarah Prine Series. I read the first book These is my Words a couple of years ago while I was at my mother's and somehow even though it was wonderful and stuck with me, I never got around to looking for the rest of the trilogy. In fact at the time I don't even know if I realized it was a triology. In anycase, I found books 2 and 3 at the library 2 weeks ago and snatched them both up. If you'd like to know more about them check out Nancy Turner's web site.

I am now sitting here watching The Curse of the Judas Chalice with #2 son. We both love these movies and it is a good way to end the day (assuming I can stay awake from my overdose of fresh air). Tomorrow is back to work and then I am off Thursday but have to be at the hospital at 7:00 for my pre-op stuff. After that I will have the rest of the day to myself I think. It is supposed to rain. I sense another perfect day to read coming on!

I decided I wanted to change the look of my blog last night and have been playing with it ever since. There are lots of neat looks out there and I am still looking and playing. I have found some templates that did not work at all and some that erased things like the blogger nav bar so as I said I am still messing around.

Right now I need to run, hubby is here stressing about my test this morning and telling me we need to get moving. I don't think we need an hour to get there but since we have to go to Cincinnati we might. Oh well, off I go. Hopefully we will be in and out quickly!

Thankfully it is Monday so I am off tomorrow. It won't have a great start since I have to go have a bladder scan first thing due to the kidney stone episode but that should not take long and then I can be home for the rest of what could/should be a beautiful spring day.

As I am sitting here I can hear the peepers singing in the pond. It isn't quite warm enough to open the windows tonight but at least the heat is off.

Well it is almost Tuesday so I guess I should call it a day and get some sleep. I am not really worried about the procedure tomorrow but I do wish it was over already. More tomorrow sometime I hope although I may be too busy sitting in the sun!