I need this vacation..........

I need this vacation...I truly do. My youngest grandson has reached that age, where he is trying out his wings......voice.......his way of doing things........in other words becoming independent. Independence is good. I also believe that if an adult (and I am still a sane and rational adult......no one has taken over my affairs) tells you to do something, you better do it OR be ready for the circumstances. I believe the time for circumstances has come to play in our relationship..........oh what a shocker for this little man. The boys will be leaving to go and visit their other grandparents for two weeks.........so one week I will be vacationing back east and the next I will be hanging out and enjoying my freedom locally.........either way, I need this time.

Time

My watch stopped this morning........6:44 am. I of course didn't notice it until 8:50am, when we were getting ready to leave to run errands..........you see I am fixated on time. I wear my watch 24/7...yup even while I sleep. Could I see it in the middle of the night..........nope...........don't have a light thingy on it.........could I even read the numbers without my glasses, not sure, but I doubt it........so why do I wear it..........I don't know.........I truly don't............I think mostly it's because I am so forgetful that if I don't wear it, I will forget to put it on in the morning. So now I can see you scratching your head and thinking - - 'She's fixated on time, but would forget to put on her watch in the morning?' Remember the name of my blog.....It's me I think.............

I remember my first watch.......it was a plastic framed, cloth band of Cinderella. I wore it for quite awhile, until I received my "grown-up" watch of artificial read alligator leather with a red metal encasing around the face.......it was soooooo grown-up. I found my first watch, the Cinderella, many years later, in fact I had all three of my children and working in a coal mine at the time......it still fit and I wore it for a long time again..........sadly one of the plastic side pieces that held the band broke.......no way to repair it..........I was so upset. I have had many watches.........one of my favorites was a plastic band, with a watch face that was really really really big, and the whole thing was done in the basic color wheel.......you know, red, blue, green, yellow.......I loved it. In fact when it finally gave out, I drove to the mall and bought another one just like it......big deal you say.......at the time, the closest mall was 2 1/2 hours away, one way.........I liked that watch.

I have my mother's watch. She received it for her graduation present from high school......it still works and that is the watch that I tend to put on for dressing up........very simple, quite small and the gold has aged............but to me it represents getting dressed up and the woman who taught me how to be a lady.

I have my Nana's broach watch........I rarely wear it........it is a beautiful old piece and still runs also. I am so frightened when I wear it, that I am constantly hitting my chest, or feeling my chest/shoulder area to make sure it is still there- I am sure you are getting the mental picture now.........not a good thing.

Looking forward to designing my own watch band with beads, but that will be a future project......not quite sure what I want, so until I do, will hold off on that.........so many choices in color, types of beads, beads or pearls........sigh......see some pretty hefty decision making involved.

How many of you wear watches? I am totally amazed at the number of people that don't wear watches. I am NOT amazed at the same people who are constantly asking "what time is it?".........I want to take them by the hand and lead them to a discount store and show the how inexpensive watches are.......of course if they don't put it on each day, the whole purpose of that field trip would be lost and wasted, huh?

I said I was fixated with time.......I guess that is true........mostly I have to keep track of it.........since I have slowed down, (if I get much slower I don't know what I'll do), I have to make sure that I arrive at appointments, church, picking up children (that is a biggy.......was late once picking up Daniel at school...........he was upset.........BIG TIME), and I get into a store and start to wander and I don't think I have been there hardly any time at all and zappo......look down at the watch and it's been an hour............so I do try to keep track of time.........I know it goes by much quicker than it use to........do you think the world is spinning faster or something.......I KNOW it isn't because I am gaining years..........I Know IT!!!!!!

Cave dwellers

I was brave and refreshed, so off to the caves we went..............all in all it was a pretty good field trip. I have never been to a cave to visit and of course neither have the boys, so I had no idea of how to prepare them for this, except that I would not be carrying anyone during the trip!!! Daniel was a given, but Andrew........well he still wiggles in some carrying time..........he is the youngest grandchild and of course "the baby" of this family, so sadly I do need to indulge both him and myself with a few carries.

Going in was steep and quite slippery in spots, and leaving, well let's just say I think I passed the first test for climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro !!!!!!! Humid......holy mackanolie was it humid. Now I also have night blindness and I was quite scared about that factor...........but I did ok - the cave was quite well lit. Daniel did quite well all in all, Andrew, well he kept coming up with any and all excuses to be carried.......let's face it, his legs are small and mine aren't much longer!!!! We slowly but surely found ourselves closer and closer to the end of the group.....and that was ok, I didn't want to hold others up.

Four older teen-age boys were last in the group and they were polite and said that they would stay behind us in case I needed help................now didn't their mama's raise them right??? At one point when we stopped as a group, the area that we (the end of the group) was at, had this humongous deep and dark cavern on one side of us..........now before I proceed on, I must tell you that Andrew's main concern, other than being carried, had been that there might be monsters in the cave.........typical concern for a three year old?????......so we are listening to the tour guide (and she was the youngest and cutest little thing) and one of the boys says in a typical teen-age sarcastic way " Hey I bet this is where the bear lives"...........I was almost bowled over by Andrew trying to climb my body......literally! I turned back to the boy and said in my most stern and authoritative voice " Are you out of you mind? Are you trying to scare the poo out of this kid?" He - the teen-ager - looks scared to death all of a sudden and offers to carry Andrew.......Andrew of course wouldn't go to him........and then turns to his friends and says " Crap, it's like being here with my mother!!!" I almost cracked up. At the end of the tour I thanked each of them for being so kind to us and staying with us...........shoot, now I know I wasn't the reason..........they knew the guide from school and wanted to surprise her at the end of the tour...........sigh........oh well, they were still nice young men. We had a slushees at the food shop and cooled down, did a quick tour of the gift shop......and then we went to the little dinosaur statues to have a picture taking session...............

You should have seen me getting Daniel up on this egg........it is so smooth that he couldn't get a good footing by himself........if anyone had a video camera, maybe we will be on u-tube......it must have been comical. Now the sun was bright and I was trying my best at the photo taking.........but honestly I was just pointing the camera and truly couldn't see what I was snapping.........like what was taking place when I snapped this one????? Either oldest brother
was trying to snap his head off, trying to hush him up so we wouldn't get spotted by the enemy (or aliens) or getting him to turn his head so I could snap the picture........I don't know........I do the best that I can....they are always alive and breathing when their parents come home, we have adventures to share, we haven't had to go to the emergency room at all and the laundry is done.......I haven't heard any rumors about firing me, so guess I am safe for another year or two.

A Field Trip

A few weeks ago, I took the boys on a little field trip........we have a safari type establishment really close to us, you know one of those that you drive through and the animals are free to roam. My kids paid for this experience and it wasn't cheap.........of course I don't think anything is reasonable any more.......I truly am becoming an old person!!!!

So this stately gentleman was one of the first animals that we saw........
Andrew in all of his 3 year old wisdom called him a reindeer......worked for me. BUT and isn't there always a but involved, all animals became reindeer........ALL OF THEM. I tried to explain that this was a goat

(and technically I don't think it is, but that was the first name that popped into my safari challenged mind).......nope, it was a reindeer........ok, so it worked for him and it could work for me too............now big brother on the other hand, well he must have gotten up on the wrong side of his bed and every other bed in the household too.........I mean he just was a nasty little troll. He didn't like this place, he was bored, Andrew was getting on his nerves, he was bored, this was the worse day of his life. I truly did start to laugh in the beginning.......I did. I mean who at seven years old goes on and on and on like some menopausal old woman?? Then slowly, very very slowly, my laughter turned into a seeping sore, and with each 'I'm bored, this is the worse day of my life" remark, it was like sea water being poured over that seeping sore.........not a good feeling. I am not, nor will I ever be a perfect Nana.......and here is the example to prove it.............I made sure that there we weren't holding up anyone else in the safari line........and I stopped the van, turned around and said " Get out" of course he just looked at me........."Get out Daniel, I have had it.........if you are so bored, and this is the worse day of your life, then please share all of this with someone else. Andrew and I are enjoying ourselves.........and since you can't be polite and keep your thoughts to yourself, get out. Maybe another family will pick you up, maybe someone that works here will drive by and pick you up...........but get out." Now that I think of it, it probably was mean, if you are going to turn me in to an agency, please wait and do it after my vacation and be prepared to turn in 3/4s of the families in the world too.....and if you stop reading my blog because you think I have miserable child-rearing talents, so be it............but it worked, he apologized and has never started this type of rudeness again, at least not with me. It wasn't the best safari type place, I have been to better, but it was fun and the two animals that I liked were.............



He or she was on top of a hill and for some unknown reason, saw us and came running down (and it was hot people....waaaaaaay to hot to be running) at us and it was truly like the cartoons..........of course he or she didn't eat the pellets that we purchased, but there was plenty of corn on the road and that is apparently what they like.......so he or she stuck around and it was cool. Here is a close up of the feathers





I don't think that I have ever seen ostrich feathers this close up......

I don't know for sure, but I think this majestic creature is a llama.........whatever it is, I really did like it.........when we stopped to look at it, in my mind, it stared right back at me............I don't know why I liked this, staring is usually rude, but for this creature, it was cool. Now get prepared to turn me in again, but I wrote down other license plates so that you could turn these families in too...........at some point Andrew could not control himself anymore and before I could say "supercalafradulisticextraledoious", he was unbuckled and grabbing food to throw out the window at the animals...........









Daniel soon joined him and since I was going less than 5 mph, (got a little worried about what this would do to us with overheating an all........) both boys threw out food and had a good time.

At the end of the drive, there is a little petting area..........shoot, they only thing to put hands on were goats and that was ok.....Andrew again was thrilled, Daniel was more worried about stepping in droppings..........to each his own......... This is the only picture I could get of the two of them together...........sigh. Most of the nannies (isn't that what a female goat is called?) were obviously pregnant and I showed Daniel how to put his hands around their huge tummys and try to feel the babies move.........no luck......but he did enjoy that.

All in all it was a mixture of good and bad.......thinking about doing the caves today.......we'll see how the boys do with the idea..............if they don't show interest, then we'll have a jammy day or a sprinkler day.........maybe board games........maybe it will be just a survival day..........tee hee...........man I am having font challenges today, aren't I ..........oh man.............

Concert night

Yup, went to a concert last night......can you believe it, me a Nana, at a concert???? It was so totally different than I expected........totally. First I was wearing my lime green with pink flower jammy bottoms, with my pink jammy top, I made the popcorn, I was able to stretch out on the love seat, and I wore these adorable, free 3-D glasses supplied by the biggest discount chain store, Wal-Mart and I KNOW that I was just rocking and totally good looking at the Miley Cirus concert........

Yeah, the whole family settled in late late last night, (Dad recorded it since they went to a bar-b-que and I was doing other things) and we all watched it together. Ok, so I am completely and easily fascinated by the most mundane and simple things, but I just kept saying over and over again......." Aren't these 3-D glasses cool.......look how the things look......this is so cool." a few minutes would go by and I would start in all over again..." Aren't these cool you guys?".....pretty soon I could catch the vibes that I wasn't winning brownie points with my parrot like repertoire!!!! The youngest member, even tho' he does have a fairly good size melon head, well we had to tape his glasses to his head..........whatever works, right? He also flitted between whoever had the biggest stash of popcorn at the time.........and tired.....yikes he was tired, he had to jabber jaw through most of the concert to keep himself awake.........but it's amazing how you can block it out..........must be a gift passed down from parent to parent.

The best event of the night was Dad..........he has THE most amazing recliner/rock chair, in leather.........it is cush.......the boys in fact are downstairs now, re-watching the concert and sitting in it, like two young princes, at a private showing.........any ways, last night son-in-law has his glasses on and pushes the chair back.....yeah you guessed it......next thing we hear is this ZZZZzzzZZZZzzZZZZzzzz.........obviously not coming from the television screen.........I got to laughing.........it was a fun night............what did you do last night for enjoyment?

Ok Ok Ok OK

Ok, I missed yesterday too..........and I know where I was too.........right here at the computer.......making a little non-professional catalog to send along with my jewelry that is going up to NE next week-end. I am trying to make this as easy and simple for the other grammy as possible. So I figure if I have the name of each piece, the price, and a picture of the piece, that will help her 99%, nothing is 100%. I only have the bracelets done right now.....still need to do the necklaces, ear rings, and other little odds and ends that I carry..........get that....."that I carry" like call me Macy's!!!!!!! You know it isn't easy put things in alphabetical order.........I still have to sing the alphabet song some of the time........... I DO!!!!! So tomorrow or maybe in just a wee bit I will work on the necklaces........as I pretty sure I have most of them photoed...the ear rings...........sigh, well I know I only have one of two pair, as they were just not photographing well. Good gravy, make them sound like they were humans........can an ear ring have a good side??????? It's just that the wire shines no matter how overcast the morning is, so you get this glare on the photos.........and I am not earning enough to start investing in photo props or aids........shoot there is waaaaaaaaay to much in the jewelry making area that I need or want.........so that is where I was yesterday.........really and truly busy.........being an industrious little ant........now lets hope all of this work, categorizing, paper and ink make a difference.......fingers crossed!!!!!!!!

It's still today........

Well I am of the age where the words DENTIST, brings on automatic stomach clenching, hyperventilating, sweats and every viable excuse not to go to the above professional. I am beyond scared.........there are times that a horizontal position would be welcomed instead of going to the DENTIST.

I went today...........I am/was/and will be brave.

I don't have the strongest enamel on my teeth.......so one of my back molars had an enamel crown,,,,,,,,,,well it has chipped, broken and totally left what is left of that tooth..........so I in all of my dental wisdom, had decided that I would just have it pulled. I called and made an appointment, knowing nothing about this particular dentist.......I have no one really to make inquiries about their personal dentist (the sil and the boys go to one, but I couldn't get into him)....so found one very close by.....told the receptionist how scared I was, have no insurance and she fooled around with times to get me in (one of the kids has to leave work to watch the boys) and I went.

I guess I knew in the back of my mind that the dentist, who happens to be a very petite young woman, would try to convince me to keep the tooth...........she did and as I type, I am feeling over and over again, the temporary one with my tongue...........oh come on now, you would be doing the same thing too.......it was painless, but the sound alone of those drills was about enough to do me in.........I survived, I did more than survive, when I have to go back I don't think I will have to take Pepto Bismol at all...............hooray!!!!

I used the graphic of the little girls under an umbrella today, as we are experiencing the rain from the tropical depression Dolly..........we do so need the rain, but it is coming so fast and so hard, that all of the ditches are already full and the streets are doing their gushing into the gutter thing...........suppose to continue with the rain and winds until Saturday...........

I guessed I missed yesterday............

I don't know what happened to yesterday........I know I was here..........I remember it........for once I really do..........it was my "older" friend's birthday, and I called her and ribbed her and we giggled and talked about our upcoming trip. I went to the gym and did cardio for one hour straight.......I know I was here yesterday.........so why didn't I post? In all truthfulness, I think time just got away from me..........it was like morning and all of a sudden my s-i-l was walking in the house and it was 5pm.............hello??? what happened to the time in between? I know what happened to the evening...........I am trying to download ALL of my old floppy A disc (and why did they call them floppy, as they are hard as bricks.......see I have always wondered about that.....) I NEVER realized how many I had accumulated............whoa, this is s l o w going process.........half of them won't download, and then my A drive will just refuse to work 1/4 of the time, so that leaves me only 1/4 of the time to download, make new files and try to put the right graphic or picture into the right folder...........see, it is slower than slow..........no, it is slow!!!!!!

So what happened to yesterday........well maybe I did get some things accomplished, but not doing my blog.........and I do like posting daily..........I want people to be able to count on me, to know that unless I am sick or know I will be away (but I have already pre-posted bloggings for while I am gone in August) that I will be here......ewwwwww, here is an new quote that I had sent to me today..........I love it..............

Middle age is when you've met so many people that

every new person you meet reminds you of

someone else..........Ogden Nash

Hmmm so now that I remember very little........I must be past middle age........right?

's

Music, Music....

Now for some of you, adding the music thing is an everyday accomplishment.....for me it is declaring today a holiday!!!!!!! I have the greatest fear of messing with my computer and whappo zappo, losing everything. I know, I know.......I've heard the same thing over and over.......there is nothing you can do that can't be undone...........well keep telling me, because I am still quaking in my little worn down scuffy house slippers (nope, I'm not dressed yet).

I do so enjoy music.....and again I don't get to listen to "my" music that much. No I am not a martyr......far from it..........I'm a whiner........in fact I am seriously thinking about gong on the road and doing a little seminar on whining..........but more about that later. When we are in the car, the youngest grandson is learning his nursery rhymes.........you know, Mary had a little Lamb, Grand old Duke of York, Row Row Your Boat.........that sort of thing..........and thank goodness , oldest grandson chose a Disney pre-teen cd yesterday at Wal-Mart, so we can listen to something a little more up to speed........so unless I am alone in the car, I don't get to listen to "my" music. We have a wonderful station in San Antonie..101.1..........it places music from the 60's and 70's........I love it.........

Going to the music site was an adventure too......I knew some of the names of the songs I wanted to put on my list, but some I just knew how to sing.........I know, I know.......what can I say.....it's another quirky part of me. So sadly I spent lots and lots of time there, listening, smiling, remembering, rejecting until I FINALLY picked a few of my kazillion favorites........hope you enjoy them too.........tried to do a little of this and a little of that, so there would something for everyone.......will add more later on...........I am quite proud of myself.........it's a semi-holiday.......we might have a jammie day........we might go to the gym........we have the whole day ahead of us..........it's exciting!!!!!!!!!!

Another movie topic.........

I can't believe that I am writing another movie topic.......really I can't........but here I go any ways........MAMA MIA !!!! When I looked up the reviews, the silly critics gave it only a C+, the public gave it an A-. stick with your peers ladies, stick with your peers. The only reason I got to go, was that I had a free pass......and so did my daughter........so off we went and left the men behind. We did get popcorn and it was good.....so that was a +, we didn't get "our" seats.........and that was a bummer, man we got there 25 minutes early too......guess if we truly want those seats we better bring a paperback and settle in for a wait.........which would be ok with me......tee hee.

Now to the people around us.........95% women.............need I say more.........just watching my fellow females was a movie in itself. I love women, I need their friendship and camaraderie. I need their humor and warmth......not that I don't love men, because I do and would love to have one in my life, but women just their own special club and I love being a member. Now what I am going to share, well now that I typing it out, it isn't as funny, but trust me last night, my daughter and I had as much fun with the people as the movie (the movie was hilarious.....pee your pants funny.) We arrived fairly early so we had the pick of our seats (just not "ours"). so we settled in and within 5 minutes the crowds started.......yikes, we timed it right. At first the ladies and a few gents moved toward the top and found seats, but then the "standing in front of the front row and counting" started.........that alone is funny, because some of the ladies were confident in their first count.......others counted one or two times........now some brave maidens just headed off.........others, we will call them the shy new kids, would either mouth, while others would use their football stadium voices to shout "are those seats taken?"...........like are you talking to me or to the other 486 people sitting next to three empty seats? I saw whole families of females come in, one family deposited Grandma in the ground floor chairs and were going to leave her there......and they were going to go up farther........well it took Grandma a few minutes to figure this one out........gutsy ole' Grandma just stood up and went with them......shame on them to think they were going to have fun without her...........GO GRANDMA!!!! Now another family of females came in.....they stood, they counted, they spied.......and found two seats for the pre-teens in a row above us, and two seats right in front of us......ok.......then the mother and grandma left......they were gone for quite awhile, and no wonder..........honest to pete, they came back in looking like they had just gone to the grocery store..........hot dogs, sodas, nachos, popcorn, candy, I didn't see any ice cream, so I guess they missed that food group..........then they had to dispense it.........I didn't turn around to watch that chapter........I was still laughing to hard at seeing them walking in like they were feeding a local football team!!! I saved the best until last.........two ladies sat down, right next to my daughter........ok.......well they were talkers......I mean talkers.........this was before the movie (hey have you ever noticed that even before the movie, people whisper in the theatre??? weird huh?)

I didn't get many of the funny comments, I just was enjoying watching my daughter laugh.......and she was laughing too, they must have been quite entertaining.........one of the best she shared was right at the beginning of the movie........"Hey, I didn't know this was a musical." Jenn just about cracked up.........then I guess they were oogling (and rightfully so) the men in the movie......between the movie and Jenn's seating companions, she really had a good night of laughs............

If you get a chance to see Mama Mia, go...........it's refreshing, funny, A MUSICAL, the scenery is to die for.......and I give it an A.

Two, yes 2 stories to share.......

Hey there........first let me share....in my world I think that popcorn and ice-cream should officially be made into two important food groups. AMEN. I do love both of these foods.....no I don't love, love them, but I sure do salivate and pout if I don't get them once in awhile.......bad pouting too. Now I am not patting myself on the back, but I make some darn good popcorn at home.......I use one of those stir poppers, popcorn oil and only a certain brand of popcorn.........you know the one with the man and his bow tie........I don't skimp on the butter either........REAL BUTTER ONLY. So now you can see that I take this whole popcorn thing seriously.

We went to see Journey to the Center of the Earth last Saturday........it was good, hmmm, thought I had shared this already, and if I did, well what can I say........so my daughter and I go into the theatre to get "our" seats............the one in the front row, with the railings in front of us.....(with two little boys, there are some potty breaks, and one of the kids just climbs through the railing and takes the boys........not Nana..........love it), well I should have know that something was amiss, as even though we arrived plenty early, "our" seats were taken!!!! Daniel and Daddy offered to wait in line for the popcorn and sodas.......we get the giant combo thing.......this humongous container of popcorn and two enormous sodas............you can actually get the popcorn refilled for free if you want.........cool, huh? Well we waited and waited and waited and when they finally came into the theatre.........they were empty handed. Now hold onto your seats.........take a deep breath...........the theatre had RUN OUT OF POPCORN!!!! Can you believe it? When my sil told us, I took a deep breath and then another, I don't think I have ever gone to a movie without popcorn.........I was afraid I was going to get the shakes, start squirming in my seat, cold sweats..........whatever happens when you do the withdrawal thing. Well here is the second part of the story.........littlest grandson had climbed up onto mommy's lap and fell asleep..........and started to snore. No, not a gentle little nasal sound, it was a combo of an full size chain saw, a jet taking off and landing at the same time and with a rhythm that some singers would love to achieve. Everyone around us was giggling once they found out that it was this little three year old boy...........it was funny. When he woke up, he was a little disorientated, so he and mummy went out to get the popcorn.........now get this, the line was outside of the theatre almost to the parking lot..................I mean can you believe it????? Need I say that they didn't stand in line..........I made it through the movie...though I hope I never have to do it again.......shoot we didn't even get a soda, I just thought of that..........oh well, my hips didn't miss it that much.

I'm on aroll.......

OH man, can you guess which room I am taking you into today?

I would never have thought that I would have gone with these colors..........but it started out with finding the shower curtain on ebay..........fell in love with it and from there it took off..........

I had made this piece of art a long long long long long long time ago........and when I was finished with it, my husband, at the time, made a comment that it would never sell........so I just put it away in my craft room and forgot about it.............my daughter comes for a visit, sees it and falls in love with it.........I come to live with them and gently claim it back for my bathroom.........what can I say. Technically it is still hers, I am just borrowing it until I leave.........

Do any of you remember when this all got started........coloring on fabric, man it was fun......and relaxing. Did you know that coloring is one of the most relaxing things you can do? Well it is.

Next is the window in the bath tub/shower combo.........had the berries from my own house and they were the right color, purchased the pretty white curtains (they are crisp and white......love it)

Last, but surely not least, is this area.............my sil says if a wall is blank anywhere around me, that I just HAVE to put something on it..........thinking this is a true statement. I bought the French picture at Old World Market (another fun place to visit) and framed it myself, the sign was purchased on my last trip to Gruene (remember it is pronounced Green) with my older friend this spring........the hanger was purchased at Hobby Lobby, when they were 50% off......so all in all it was a very economical setting........

So there is my powder room........what do you have in yours? I hope someone shares........

The walls at my computer.......

More truth than fiction to the statement above!!!! Just haven't made that many friends since I moved to Texas.........and I miss having girl friends to giggle with......so I rely on my computer friends.

Well today's "here is what is on my walls" area, is the space around my computer..........not a whole lot going on, but what is there, I really like.

Here is the whole group.............and you can see some of the mess around my computer.........drives my kids totally and absolutely bonkers...........they are neat freaks, devoted to decluttering America, look for them near you soon, as they truly are devoted to eliminating all piles, throwing away or giving away to charitable organizations anything and everything that they haven't used ( I know, I know, we are only allowed to much weight for each military move........but Lord help them if they think I am leaving much behind, I have one room, they have a whole house!!!)

Here is a close up of the one picture "Youth is not a time of life, but a state of mind" -Samuel Ullman.......since I have lost my mind most of the time, I seem to be truly lost in this quote. I sent a copy of this to my older friend.........told her I would let her pick first which one she wanted to be..........I do that...........pick which one I would want to be. If I get a catalog in the mail and know I can't afford to purchase anything, I will sit down and while I am drooling over it, I play a game, "if you could only pick one item on each page, what would you pick."................so I am easily kept busy and happy...........and sooooooooooo easily entertained.

I believe in this so much......I love to sing and will sing in the grocery stores, Wally World, the park.........and yes my adult children are most likely calling back and forth trying to figure out which "institutional home" I should be registered at.........doubt if they will consult me!!!

Sadly you can't read this one at all, but it is the "To Believe" paragraphs, angels, children' innocence, that sort of thing...........another thing that I do........I believe in all sorts of things, Santa, fairies, mermaids, the Loch Ness Monster........need I go on?

The most important thing of course if the crucifix hanging on the wall........no words needed there.

Well that takes care on one more area...........shoot, I better get to taking some snapshots, other wise we won't be able to progress to another room.............I crack myself up!!!!!

At the landing

Yesterday I showed you what was at the top of the whole set of stairs.........today, oh I can see you are all sitting at the edge of your chairs in delight and anticipation......this is what you see at the top of the first landing, before you turn to go all the way up the stairs..........shoot, if this whole thing keeps up, I'll be guiding you tile by tile, wood plank by wood plank and having to wake all of you up.........but I like to see this sort of thing, so I was in hopes that some people would like to see what are on our walls.

Hmmm, it appears that the middle stitchery is a wee bit crooked.....now don't you think that I would have seen that before I took the picture....yeah, but I didn't..........sigh. I embroidered this while I was pregnant with my last child, my son. I spent most of that pregnancy in a 5th wheel travel trailer, with two little girls, ages 4 and not even 1 and a husband that had a roving eyes. I had this forever and one year, my military children while they were visiting me, asked if they could take it.......as my sil was taking a framing class at the time...............wha -laaaaa, isn't the end results nice? I write something like that, and I sure don't mean it to sound like someone fishing for compliments..........it's a statement or words that I use quite often.........."isn't that nice, isn't this nice."

This piece of art has a good story to it.........as you know I like to think that I can make quilts.......I know that I LOVE quilts and appreciate the time and cost that goes into each and every stitch. When my mother-in-law passed, my ex, his brother and wife and I went to clean out the house.........oh what treasures we found. We found this quilt, that was in truth, quite bad condition, but it had such fancy hand work, and the material used, what was left of it, was gorgeous. I wanted it and so did my sister-in-law.......now before I could stop her.........she whips out a pair of scissors and cuts it in half................I just stood there with my mouth open........truly I think they had to tell me to breathe..........I couldn't believe it...........I would have told her to keep it, if I had known she was going to do that.............but there, it was done. The minute I saw my half, I knew what I was going to do with it. I had four good sections......well not perfect, as you can see, but four that were salvageable.........one for each of the children and one for us. That Christmas, I took them to a frame shop and had them framed for Christmas gifts. The gentleman that I took them to, was so nice and liked the idea that I was doing this, that he asked me questions about my ex's grandmother (oooo, forgot to mention, this was his grandmother's quilt, my mother-in-law's adoptive mother.) so I told him how she was a nurse in Canada and came to Wyoming as a mail order bride. He has all of this written up and placed nicely on the back of the frame. This household is lucky, as I have mine and they have theirs, so two get to grace this home. No, my ex didn't want it......

I bet you can't wait for the next area to show up tomorrow.........tee hee...........

What's on the walls?????

Walking up the stairs and turning on the landing, you look up and wha-la........this is what stares back at you.........my nuclear family, Daddy, Mum and myself, at the young and innocent age of 17...and I was innocent in many many ways............

I have no idea how my Mum found this photographer, but he came to our house and took a family portrait...and it turned out quite nice. After my parents both passed away, this is one of my treasured pictures. It ended up at my second daughter's home.......not quite sure how. My son at Christmas time kept teasing and taunting (he is a horrible teaser, almost relentlessly) me that I would cry at the gift that the kids were going to give me.....told him, "The only thing that will bring tears to my eyes will be if you can bring my parents back to me.".............well you guessed it..........opened up this huge package and the first person out of it was my Daddy, followed by Mum............cried like a blubbering beauty queen winner. I love this part of the story though, my son told me that a person at his work did this for charcoal for him. He then looked at me and said " You'll never guess how he learned to do this.".............oh son, you forget I am the queen of trivia, read anything and everything and watch movies at a drop of a hat...........man you can pick up more information at these locations than you know...........so I never even looked up from the picture and said as matter-of-factly as I could " In prison."..........oooooooo I loved it..............the look on his face and the other kids was priceless.........totally priceless, ole' mom knew something that they thought I would never know........I was on a roll.............so then my son shared the story on how this man spent part of his life in prison...........it seems that he took a car for a test drive.........and just forgot to return the car........ok, it's not funny, it is a against the law and I am sure that the car dealership was upset and rightfully so, but that Christmas morning, with the whole family gathered together (and that is an event that has only happened twice since everyone has been grown and married) we all found it funny.......I started to giggle first, then one by one everyone else joined in.........all day we would say things like "Hey, did you remember to return the car?" or "I'd let you borrow my car, but you never return anything."...just silly things...........now it isn't funny, but that day, well it is a memory for sure............I have other art pieces that I will share too..........and most have a story to go with them.........

It's another lookeeee lookeeeeee

OOOOOO I was wandering again, looking for some pictures of quilts, when I ran across this one.......isn't it wonderful?? Here is the artist's site........http://www.rogersonlithographs.com/ Oh how I would love to see these in person.........I love the style and whimsy of them..........but again I regress from the day's blog news.................

I am in a book..........ME !!!!!!

I have been a fan of Pat Sloans,well it seems like forever. I have a tendency to like scrappy quilts (and I think it's because I am not the quilter of the year........shoot I am not the quilter of the second.......the mini itty bitty second), but so far no quilt that I have given as a gift has been refused or given back.........sigh, but then maybe the people receiving them remember how their mums taught them. Here is the page with my quilt on it...........of course with my vast knowledge of life and the computer, did I think that all of the words would be backwards??? that my name would be backwards???? well of course not........so I don't even know if I can get a close up of my name............ok,ok, I am being totally and completely vain...........rarely does anything like this happen to me............shoot, this is the first time ever to be published..............ME!

Hmmm, pretty lousy scan........sigh.........another things to put on my list of things to conquer........I am thinking that I am going to either run out of lead in my pencil ( I like mechanical pencils) or paper..........another little quirk of mine, I use the reject print outs from the computer or what my grandson the artist throws away to put lists on..........I hate to waste paper.

Thank you for being so kind to allow me to ramble and share.........I truly just wanted to share my moment of "fame"..............tee hee

The Park......

Y eah, like people relax like this any more.........cracks me up!!! Shoot, you don't see people who are retired relaxing like this any more.........and there is NOTHING wrong with relaxing...........nothing. I personally don't think that any one should feel guilty, taking a few minutes to just sit.......to gaze out on a body of water, the sky, a hill, a garden, a child at play or sleep.........or at absolutely nothing at all. AMEN.

The title said park, and that is where the boys and I went for a couple of hours yesterday......we went fairly early in the morning, so that I wouldn't pass out in the heat...........not a pretty sight........oh trust me on that one. This particular park is by our local library and does supply shade to us gentle fair maidens. Oooo, this is totally a whole different story, but a funny one, well maybe you had to be there to hear the voices..........I rarely wear bermuda shorts outside of the home......once in a great while.........mostly the capri, clam digger things, well I went to my hairdresser the other day and wore a pair...........she is of Hispanic descent and has that beautiful latte complexion...........she took one look at my legs and just yells out "Oh, you are a white girl!"..........well the shop all had to stop what they were doing and look of course..........well what was I going to do........I pointed out one of my itty bitty spider veins and said " Not only that, but look, I am a true blue blood too!"...........I am of the fair, almost albino complexion of Irish. Ok, so now that I went totally off the subject, I was going to share some photos that I took at the park.

This is Andrew......he is three and just at the age where is truly discovering so much and sharing this discovery is such a delight. You forget how frightening learning to balance and learn to walk on something that seems high to you............

Daniel steps up to the plate and helps little brother out.........he has had some issues lately with being the "older" brother............so I was very proud of him just being there for his brother.

I really like this one..........you could use this on a Christmas photo/card.......I love getting cards with photos enclosed or the old fashion photo card...........

I am trying to remember to take my camera with me........so I can practise and also share more of my own photos with you.............so bear with me...............you could bombarded with some real hummers...........

Hmmm,,,,,,,

H mmmmm, i got lost today........in blogs...........I woke up late, in fact I woke up to find both of the boys up and sitting together ever so nicely on the new and giant bean bag chair, watching some silly cartoon on t.v. (the little girl has pink hair and they live in--hmm, Lazy Town I think.weird), so I thought i would write........and I thought and thought and thought and then it got scary, because with each thing that I thought of writing about, I had already written. I have shared about books, cakes, ice-cream, cartoons, aliens, flowers and more botanical things,

shoot what was I going to write about.............so I started to wander........and wander I did..........

I went to one blog and read and drooled over pictures, then started clicking and looking at other blogs and more blogs and more blogs..........I was so lost with clicks of the mouse, that even if I had bread crumbs and a map, I would never have found my way home unless I remembered how the arrow and clicking can solve anything (most of the time)

I found so many beautiful blogs. The one thing that made them stand out in my mind were the photos.........everyone has the most wonderful snapshots..........here are two of the blogs I ended up at

http://ofilde.canalblog.com/ this is written in French........and I was ecstatic to be able to recognize some of the words..........the photography here is wonderful

http://velvetstrawberries.typepad.com/andreasingarella/ wander over here and look at the photos.......again, varied and deeeeee-lish-us

http://fabulousfifi.typepad.com/chez_fifi/ another fun and drool worthy spot..........

Oh I am looking at the time and maybe I wandered to far.........but some days just require that you wander.........right?

A list.......

APHORISM:A SHORT, POINTED SENTENCE EXPRESSING A WISE OR CLEVER OBSERVATION OR AGENERAL TRUTH:

1. The nicest thing about the future is that it always startstomorrow.

2. Money will buy a fine dog, but only kindness will makehim wag his tail.

3. If you don't have a sense of humor, youprobably don't have any sense at all.

4. Seat belts are not asconfining as wheelchairs.

5. A good time to keep your mouth shut is when you're in deep water.

6. How come it takes so little time for a child who is afraid of thedark to become a teenager who wants to stay out all night?

7. Business conventions are important because they demonstrate how manypeople a company can operate without.

8. Why is it that at classreunions you feel younger than everyone else looks?

9. Scratch a catand you will have a permanent job.

10. No one has more driving ambition than the boy who wants to buy acar.

11. There are no new sins; the old ones just get more publicity.

12. There are worse things than getting a call for a wrong number at 4AM. It could be a right number.

13. No one ever says "It's only agame." when their team is winning.

14. I've reached the age where thehappy hour is a nap.

15. Be careful reading the fine print. There's no way you're going tolike it.

16. The trouble with bucket seats is that not everybody hasthe same size bucket.

17. Do you realize that in about 40 years, we'llhave thousands of old ladies running around with tattoos? (And rap musicwill be the Golden Oldies!)

18. Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Corvette than in a Yugo.

19. After 50, if you don't wake up aching in every joint, you are probablydead!!

20 Always be yourself because the people that matter don'tmind, and the ones who mind, don't matter!

Lookeee Lookeeeee

I've been given an award.......me!!!! Jan from http://coffeyhousecollection.blogspot.com/ gave this to me. Man, I am think'n that I am THE QUEEN

I have never received an award on my blog and I just thrilled......Jan is the very first person that I ever swapped with on the internet. I was soooo scared that my work wouldn't be up to par. She was so gracious about my humble trade, she is so creative.......please take time to look at her blog.

The rules for receiving this award are1) Put the logo on your blog.2) Add a link to the person who awarded you.3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.4) Add links to those blogs on yours.5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

I am going to have a hard time doing seven, as some of the blogs I read everyday, well as often as I can, have no idea who I am........so I hope when I show up with my award, they don't think I am some prankster..........shoot, I hope they come and read my blog and maybe I can make a new friend........

ok, here it goes.

1. Lola............ http://ansewon.blogspot.com/

2. Jana............ http://sewgoodfriends.blogspot.com/

3. Roseann...... http://rosebudscottage.typepad.com/

4.Joanne..........http://cottageinthemaking.blogspot.com/

5. Sally Jean....http://www.sallyjean.typepad.com/

6. Karla............http://karlascottage.typepad.com/karlascottage/

7. Mel...............http://melslazydayz.blogspot.com/

Oh man, I hope I did the above right, it took me long enough........now to go and post at these sites........I am so slow, a snail gives me a good breeze.

Thank you Jan, I am honored that you chose me and that you read my blog, you do read it, don't you??????????