The new year is almost here...I have not made any resolutions. At least not publicly. I have so many things I need to do I should at least set down a list of things I need to accomplish.

The thing at the top of the list isn't exactly a resolution, but I do have to start doing the paperwork for my husband's retirement. And that within the next month or two. Preferable in the next week or two just to get it off my mind. There is so much paperwork to go through...not sure that there is too much to fill out, just need to go through and check it all out.

Now to the things that I really want to accomplish in the next year or things I want to become a habit.

1. I really need to make it a habit to walk at least three days a week. Just some sort of exercise routine. All my life I have loved walking, but the past few years have got so out of shape that I get short of breath so easily. And if it is climbing hills/a lot of steps, I might as well forget it.

2. There is definitely a need for organization in my life. If you have read this blog very long, you can probably tell that just by the number of times I have to hunt for things. One of the things that compounded the problem is when MIL moved to the nursing home several years ago, so much of her stuff came here. We hung on to a lot of it for years while she still lived. But she passed on in the fall of 2005 and I still have things to get rid of.

3. And of course, I would like to get more projects done in my quilting and more pictures taken.

Not a very big list, but that is all for now.

I finally found my favorite cow picture...I took several and this is the best in my opinion. I don't think I did a good job of capturing them, though you may get a little bit of the feeling I had. It was like I was a visitor at their house and they were just waiting for me to come on in. This was taken several years ago, with B & W film. I will always love black and white film for some things.

I have spent hours on-line trying to come up with a plan for a couple baby quilts and nothing has caught my fancy yet...I usually see something and play off it. I feel like even when I go to sleep that I am subconsciously thinking about it.

I have had a couple or three frustrating days, starting Thursday afternoon. I just thought I could go pick up the B&W pictures I have...I could not find hide nor hair of them. Friday, I went to the mall to return some things...I had the gift receipts for two places. Neither one would just give money back since I didn't have the actual receipt...I didn't mind bad at the one because it was a major dept. store.

The other was Finish Line and I did mind because they didn't have anything to fit my body! I am not done with it yet...I did just let my daughter spend the money. But I plan to get on line and write them and just tell them I won't be spending any more money there--it is usually where we buy our tennis shoes, and also I had spent about $100 on daughter there...so, even though it isn't much. Also, I am thinking of going in there at some busy, busy time and buying a dozen pair of socks, buying each one separate and tell them why--because they are gifts and I want someone to be able to return them with ease....then taking them back the next day.

But it wouldn't be quite fair because it isn't the kids' fault that works there. So I won't do it. But it sure crosses my mind. In all honesty, from now on when I buy gifts, if what I buy at a store is going to two or more people, I will pay for each person's separately because that is the policy in our mall...to get in-store credit...not actual cash. Which isn't too bad if it is a major dept. store...but still what if there is something somewhere else that you really want?

Anyway, that really frustrated me...I had a gift certificate to Joann Fabrics but just came home I was so aggravated. Then, looked for pictures again. No luck.

Yesterday, DD and I went looking at houses for sale in Terre Haute and I did go to Joann's and got a fabric fix. I got several fat quarters, plus some slinky type fabric to make a pair of pjs. I am trying to get up my nerve to go cut them out.

Oh, but that is not the end of Saturday...cancelled checks were awaiting me when I got home. So last night I decided I might as well balance the checkbook and get it done and over with. When I went to put them away, I decided to dig a little deeper in that drawer which is about the second place I had looked for my B&W pictures--and there they were!

Now to get off my bottom and go do something.....

I finally found this picture and scanned it in...
Anyway, I thought I had a picture of beans strung on a string and actually hanging up but was not lucky enough to find it, but did find this one of some on the string waiting to be hung...we would hang them up around the edge of the porch...I don't actually remember this for sure but think if it was threatening to rain and blow in, we surely took them down. When cooked the beans definitely had a different taste--kind of a strong taste. And they were darker colored than normal.

We also used to dry apples. We would peel them and cut them into fairly thin slices and spread them out to start drying...then put them in these white heavy bags...mom called them feed bags but they are NOT the material we call feed sacks. anyway, after they had started to dry we put them into these sacks and left them in the sun to finish drying. They had a leathery texture...and are quite a good snack. I keep thinking I will try some that way here, but never do.

Otherwise, I took down and put away the Christmas decorations--whoops! I just now remembered I left my Santa Claus on the front door. I will have to get that in a few minutes while it is still on my mind. It is such a chore to put the Christmas tree away...I do not know know how many trips up and down the basement stairs I had to make. A minimum of 6, possibly 8 or 9.

I also have been looking for a box of pictures I have taken and not got in albums...most of my black and white pictures. There is at least one I want to share...of cows. It is one of my favorites. So hopefully I will be able to think clearer tomorrow and remember what I done with them...

Before......




After...

The first picture is scanned in from actual photo taken a few years ago. I don't know just when. The roof was really looking bad; I was so afraid they would let the barn just waste away. Imagine how happy I was to find that it had been repaired this past fall! I hate to think about what it cost to repair it because it is a big barn!

A couple of OLD photos--from the time before my digital camera..I have the actual photos that I scanned in. This is a barn from here in Indiana, but right now I can't think where it is at. I do that sometimes...forget things that is. Plus, it doesn't help that a lot of time I go for drives and just take a side road and wonder around, not really knowing where I am, till I come to a major road and can maybe figure it out. I really don't know what I would do if I actually needed help...

From my house to yours, Merry Christmas!

Actually the house below is the one I grew up in! This was taken in 1973...a lifetime ago. The lumber for the house came from our property, my parents had a couple friends that were carpenters--one laid the block foundation. And if I am remembering what I was told correctly, they helped get it framed. But my brothers and all of us helped with all the rest of it. I was not even in school, but I was given a block with sand paper wrapped around it to sand down where two pieces of dry wall were seamed together. This will always be home to me...my brother owns the place now. We go down there on an irregular basis. Hopefully when my husband retires we will have more time to go.

Instead of listening to Christmas music like normal people, I made myself a new tape from songs I have downloaded over the past few months...the first four songs specifically mention Tennessee, and two of those mention Knoxville. I am not from Knoxville, and only been there a few times, but it is the nearest big city to where I grew up. Guess you can tell I sort of been homesick....and it is something that can't be cured. Because I can't go back in time.....

I had to search my photos to find one I wanted to upload...this is one from nearby Parke County. I still have not taken any pictures of Christmas lights. I had the time tonight, but it turned so cold and the wind is just howling again. Nothing sounds quite so cold as when the wind is howling across the flat land of Indiana and Illinois. Anyway, I have been cold all evening anyway and just didn't want to get out in it.

I did sew a couple lines today, but that was it. I am really in the mood to sew, but seems like when everyone is around I have a hard time going down there and starting. I need to make a decision about a couple baby quilts. My oldest daughter wants to make one for one of her secretaries...and my youngest daughter's best friend is due in April. She is having a boy, and I don't have any fun panels to use that would go good for a boy.

I really don't want to get into any more quilts like the Raggedy Ann and Andy one we did a year or two ago. And then a couple years before that, we did one for my oldest daughter's boss's daughter. And we had the mom sneak us a sample of the wallpaper and did a custom one based on the wall paper colors and figure....the more I read the more I have become uncomfortable with doing anything like that because of copyright. I wasn't doing them to sell, and sure won't be doing any more. But I am still just uncomfortable with that whole process.....

So this time around I want simple and quick if at all possible...

I had to change my header picture to this one--it is the same barn as in the previous picture, just a little different view. And the one in the post is actually part of our yard--the creek had flooded and was running through it a little bit...It is hard to describe the feeling that washes over me when I see these pictures. It goes to the very core of my being...a million feelings come tumbling in. The happiness we found at this, at the little shack that we lived in is almost too good to be true.

My husband and I moved to Tennessee and lived on the property this barn belongs to for a little over a year. We only had a wood burner--a Buck Stove to be exact--to heat with. We cut our own firewood. I learned to use a chainsaw then.

We had three channels on our TV: PBS, NBC, and CBS. In that time there we became hooked on Masterpiece Theater, though the main show I remember watching was I, Claudius. I don't remember the show as much as I remember the anticipation of seeing the next episode.

We had a huge garden there--I canned enough green beans that year to last us two or three years. Plus I sold enough to more than pay for all the fertilize, plants and seeds that I had to buy. We didn't have to pay for the garden to be plowed--we used my brother's tractor and plow.

I raised both half-runner and cornfield beans (they are very similar to pole beans), okra, tomatoes, potatoes, okra, pepper, and onions I know. I cannot remember if I raised anything else or not. Oh, I know I had cabbage...I remember making kraut with it.

My husband could shoot from the front yard over to the ridge behind the barn pictured above--I think he could place the target 500 yards. He could shoot his bow and arrows in the front yard. Just an idyllic sort of life for us at that time.

We still miss this place--I dream of it fairly often. In my dreams it is always so good to be there. I was only a mile from my mom and half a mile from my best friend..I visited with both almost daily. If not actual visit, then talked on the phone. That seems a lifetime ago.

I guess Christmas is a time of remembering...seeing these pictures and some others really have me in mood. Kind of sad and happy all at once--just thinking and remembering.

I just now noticed my full sized picture is at the top of my blog--hallelujah! And I went and checked on Intenet Explorer and it is back there, too! I am one happy camper now!

Christmas memories

I have not sewn a stitch today--but I did make another batch of Fantasy Fudge. Actually a double batch. And it turned out good for the first time in ages. I wanted some to give to a couple friends...but don't know when I am going to get it to the one. I called her and she was not home..so maybe she went to some of her kids' homes for the holidays.

Husband stayed home today with a sinus infection. He did not sleep hardly any last night and kept the rest of us up most of the night with his coughing. He doesn't go back to work till the day after Christmas.

Christmas is almost here...and I haven't found any hard candy so far. Hard candy, apples and oranges are such a part of my Christmas memories. Mommy and daddy always bought a bushel of red delicious apples and a bushel of oranges every Christmas that I can remember. I was not crazy about the apples, and today I care even less for red delicious. But I remember loving the oranges, or to be more specific the juice from them.

And we usually got at least one new jigsaw puzzle at Christmas...to this day I love jigsaw puzzles. If not for the kitties I would have one out right now.

We always hung up an actual sock Christmas eve and would get up and find hard candy, nuts, and apples and oranges in them. And when I was small, I always got a cap buster. Mom would hide it some where and I would usually hunt and search till I found it...let the noise begin! And our tradition was to have fire crackers on Christmas eve, and it must have been fairly popular for us to be able to get them every year. I have never heard of any one else that did this besides my brothers and their friends. Of course I was always out with them.

We always shot off the biggest part of them after dark, then the next day we would hunt the area for ones that had not exploded. We would do one of two things with them...break one in half, light it if it still had powder, and drop it on a solid surface such as the sidewalk, and stomp on it. That would cause it to go off as if you had lit it the regular way.

The other thing we did was collect all we could find, and unroll them. If they had powder we collected it...I don't remember how many it would take. We would drill a hole in a chunk of wood and make some kind of cork, or find something else we could plug closed. My dad actually had dynamite fuse from when they dug the basement to our house....

We would beg a length or two from him, and use it to light our homemade explosive device! We had a blast seeing what we could actually do with the powder...if it was too big of a piece of wood nothing..I know we used other stuff...but I don't recall what. And I don't recall the results. I just remember us running to get behind cover. We really never had anything that was that big or dangerous--wouldn't have wanted it to go off in our hand, of course but it was nothing to worry about.

That would scare people to death now. Also think of how a kid can't have a knife at school...and I understand but it is still a sad situation. When I was a kid, all boys had pocket knives. For years when I worked at the orchard, I carried a knife and was just as apt to have it with me at the grocery store or Walmart as to not. It just went in my pocket.

Now I am finally getting used to carrying a purse again...for a long time I felt naked without my wallet in my back pocket. And every now and then I will pay for something and forget and put it in my hip pocket still...

Well, I am slowly but surely getting sleepy so will sign off for the night.....

This is a different view of the barn seen in my header...I found it while looking for the picture of beans strung on strings to dry. Could not resist posting it, and between the two I don't know whether I like it in B & W best or just the way I found it...off-color colored film picture. So I just am posting both.

These are two different sets of blocks--well not actually sets. Just blocks made from odds and ends of fabric that is left over from other things. The first blocks without all the yellow were made years ago and are 6 inches square. The ones with what seems to be becoming my signature color yellow I have been working on in little bits of time here and there. They are 6 1/2 inches
square ...yet somehow or other I will merge the two into one quilt, though I haven't decided how yet.

And that last is looking down in my tub of scraps...I really should have taken time to take a better picture
but I didn't. But you can still get the idea of what a mess I have. I declare that I cannot tell that I am using any out of it. I think I need to go down and just sew for an entire day. But that is not likely to happen till the holidays are over with.

Blogging issues still, but I will deal with them....I know from responses here and at about.com that it is not just my computer. Or me. I did see where a few others were having even more severe issues than me with Internet Explorer. I did investigate one website I was directed to at about.com and also in the discussions on Blogger, but what I seen did not really address my issue.


So, continuing on, I have been busy this entire day, did not sew a stitch, and yet doesn't seem to be anything to show for it. I was in my cabinets trying to clean out old, useless things. And I had help...lots of help. From the three young 'uns. The above photo actually has all 4 kitties in it, but my boy is behind the princess and you can hardly see him. It was the three of them that helped...investigated everything I was doing and tried to help. Into every cabinet I had open...

And The Princess has been to almost the very top of the Christmas tree two or three times today...she is definitely feeling like herself. My tree is looking on the run down side...I am sure from having to drag them out of it so many times. And I finally broke down and put the presents under it, not bows or ribbons of course. It is now for sure their favorite place to run and hide and play....so much more than when it was bare.

Anyway, I did have one big, heavy garbage bag when I got done...then my younger daughter stopped by on her way home from work and had tacos with us. After she left we went to Terre Haute to see our friend's daughter play basketball...her team won and she made several points...

Tomorrow I need to go finish shopping for my husband. I will probably try to find him something he would like for hunting or fishing...just not sure what that is going to be.

Blogger problems....

I am having problems with my blog...I can see the barn picture behind my header if I use Firefox but not with Internet Explorer. Another friend says she cannot see it at all. I suppose it started with the changes Blogger made...the first I noticed any changes was this past weekend when all that showed in the header picture was the tip of the barn roof. So I went in and resized the image--well, I cropped it. That loaded fine...

Then last night in messing around, I switched to IE for something and noticed no header, switched back to Firefox and everything was fine. Switched back to IE, and tried reloading the picture while using it, still didn't show there. but it still shows for me while on Firefox.

I am trying to scan through the help topics but so far no luck with this exact problem.

Anyone that reads this, please post if you see this picture in my header and tell me what browser you are using...

I finally took a couple snow pictures...these are from over in Illinois, not too far across the state line. Doesn't it look so cold and lonely? I didn't have the nerve to go far because I was afraid of running into drifts that I couldn't get through. The roads going east and west were fine for the most part, though some of those only had a lane wide enough for one vehicle to pass through. I don't know what would have happened had I met another car.

I also went to Lori's_Pins_'n_Needles. I had to buy a couple things there to finish up one Christmas present. She has the most beautiful selection of fabrics that I have come across in one quilt shop. She carries a wide variety. If anyone is ever passing near Paris, Illinois, I highly recommend this shop.

I bought my friend a couple half yard pieces of fabric, then I bought two half yard pieces that I am going to make us each a fat quarter from. Then I bought a couple or three things I just wanted. I bought a little pin cushion with a magnet to stick to my Juki...I think I will eventually want one for my Pfaff...then I bought some freezer paper pages till I don't have to cut my own. Also got myself a 6 1/2 Creative Grid ruler...I think I will eventually switch over to those.

I have Christmas presents wrapped now, but not bows. They are going to be lucky to survive the cats this year. I have had to get the little Princess out of the tree several times since she has started feeling better. And they tend to like to play under it--even with all the presents under it. They just play on top of them, or knock them out.

I have been sewing a little bit, but it is not something I am driven to do. Been making scrap blocks--just sewing bits of scraps together...using a rotary ruler and cutter and cutting a straight edge, adding more strips, till I can cut a 6 1/2 square from the sewn together bits. Not sure what I am going to do with them when I get done. But it is enjoyable to sew even a little bit.

I am glad I have a cheap iron--the cats have now knocked mine to the concrete floor twice--and it still works! I told my husband he was going to have to make me something to hold it till they couldn't knock it over. Not quite sure what it is going to be or how it is going to work, but he will come up with something once I start pestering him about it.

Since wet stuff keeps falling, I have yet to get out and take any pictures...so I kept digging around to find something to post that reminds me of the weather we are having now.

This was taken December 8, 1973 in Tennessee with a polaroid camera...remember them? This is one of my favorite pictures--takes me back to childhood almost instantly.

There was nothing better than snowy days for me. I would get my cheap old boots on, get the dogs and take off on a 'grand' adventure...this is just some of the area I might cover in an afternoon. This was just part of my growing up playground.

The barn that is prominent in the pictures was ours...it was built by my brothers under the direction of my dad when they were in high school! My dad had muscular dystrophy and by the time we got moved to the 'new' house, he was not able to do much. This barn, as well as our house was all built from wood that was taken from the trees on our land....my parents were nothing if not self sufficient in so many ways.

There is a creek that is the boundary between our property and the neighboring property...there were two or three summers that I played in that creek a big part of the day each summer. Catching crawdads, skipping rocks, etc....I really don't know what we did to have so much fun, but those are some of the best memories of my life. It was a couple or three years that my nephew, who is a month older than me, spent the summers with us.

That barn holds tons of memories...of calves we raised on bottles, of swings we had in it, playing hide and go seek, building tunnels back in the hay, or just me sitting in the loft hunting blackbirds with the old .22 rifle. I don't hunt anything now, though if I was back in a place where I had a garden and birds or groundhogs were destroying what I had planted, I could still do it. Might not enjoy it, but I would do it.

Enough of memories for the night...snow is really beginning to fall. I sure hope I can get out tomorrow and take pictures. I love snow pictures....

Mama Cat and the Puss Puss were spayed today--they are still under the affects of anesthetic. Though probably more sore than under its affect by now. When we brought them home they could hardly stand. I sat and held Puss Puss for the longest time...Mama does not want to be held. I am so relieved to have it done...no more worries about kitties having more kitties.

Will wait a bit on the boys...I forgot to ask how old boys have to be to be neutered. My daughter is in hopes of finding an apartment that she can have her boy in at least....so she may have to get him de-clawed as well. I really do not like the thoughts of that, but realize she really would miss him. That is a ways down the road though. She is hoping the divorce will be final the last part of January.

I keep forgetting and calling my boy Cougar, or Coo....he just reminds me of him so much. Sometimes I think I was a complete fool to allow myself to have cats again, knowing how much pain there is later on down the road. Yet I would not go back to being without them for anything.

The quilt was washed today and sent on its way to Pennsylvania to a childhood friend that I have not seen since 1974! That is the year we graduated, and I don't think I seen her after we graduated...we were not really close friends then but have been emailing for the past 2 years. She emailed to wish me happy birthday for the first time in 2005 and we email at least 4 or 5 times a week if nothing interferes.

She does not know it is coming so am kind of anxious to see what she says. I love surprising someone about more than anything. I did wash and dry it before I sent it...I used a Shout Color Catcher and it did catch color. I meant to write care instructions but didn't because I wanted to get it sent.

Her dad was from Tennessee--the community I was from. But she was born in Pennsylvania and didn't move to Tennessee till in 5 or 6th grade if memory serves. It had to be huge change for her! I think we had one of the last old time grade schools....

It had 4 big rooms--I am not good at all at extimating sizes but they were big and each room had a coal stove and that was how it was heated. Two grades were in each room--one teacher per two grades. I think all through the first 8 grades there were the same 4 boys in my class. Then there were 5 of us girls that went through all 8 grades together...another girl came for a couple years in 5 and 6th and then moved. Then Deb came and stayed.

We were not really close in school, specially in the elementary years--I and my best friend were tomboys. Always wanting to play whatever ball was in season a big part of the time. There were times when it seemed like the kids would all play hide and go seek, or tag. And every now and then the girls jumped rope...

Are you beginning to realize we did not have any sort of gym or organized sports? I really don't think we missed anything...we all had a good time. We had two 15 minute recesses--one in the morn and one in the afternoon. I can still remember the times of those recesses--grades 1-4 had them at 10:00-10:15 a.m. and 2:00 pm--2:15 p.m. And grades 5-8 had the next 15 minutes. I am not real clear on lunch--we all had it at the same time--but I cannot remember if it was at noon or not. I tend to think it was.

We ate and then got to go outside and play a while...younger grades were not supposed to mix with the older students but my best friend and I got permission to cause we played ball with the older boys...we were told not to come crying if we got hurt. That was a lifetime ago...oh, and we had outhouses--one for the boys and one for the girls. And for the first 4 years we had to take our lunch, and then that only changed because parents complained and they started shipping in hot lunches from one of the other elementary schools!

You cannot imagine how scary it was for me to start high school! All those rooms! So many kids that I didn't know. Just so many things that my kids were doing from the time they started school. That is when the girls in our class really started sticking together...other than Deb, I have kept in touch some with the other 4 ever since graduation. And would have her too if she had not moved back to Pennsylvania and me to Indiana...maybe not right at first but I am sure it would have happened sooner than this.This is a picture I 'borrowed' from my brother--this is how the old school looks now. So sad to see it this way...one of my friends has tried to talk people into turning it into a community center but no one seems to care.

Not the greatest but still nothing to hang my head in shame over...I was really pleased with how it turned out. It is 57 1/2 inches by 64 1/2 inches.

This is another of the pictures I took the other day in nearby Parke County...almost every bit of the snow is now gone. It has rained and drizzled off and on all day long. We are supposed to get freezing rain towards morning. I really hope they are wrong about this...

Wednesday I take Mama Cat and the Princess to be spayed. I am sure hoping the weather is accommodating that day. I am taking them to a vet in the south end of Terre Haute instead of to the vet in our little town. I called out there about the age they have to be and got two different answers, so I called down there and got what I thought I had been told before, plus what I had read. And he is the vet we used when we first married--and also when Sarah got her dog from the shelter a few years ago, we got a deal on getting her spayed by going to him. We also left her with him when my mom died...he got so tickled at how glad she was to see us when we got home that he followed us out to our car/van talking to us and laughing about her. He really likes animals.

When we were first married I had a dachshund that jumped off my lap while I was setting on a step stool. She got down in her back till she could hardly walk and that on New Year's eve...we called him and his response was so immediate--meet him at his office in 15 minutes. There was no outrageous charge--just the normal office charge and charge for the medicine...I don't remember if he gave her a shot or not. But I think his quick response was a big part of her recovery...she never had another bit of back trouble in the rest of her years...

Change of topic--I finally finished the binding on my small quilt while watching the Indianapolis Colts play tonight! I want to try to get a good picture of it tomorrow but don't know how possible that will be. I am convinced that the flash on my camera is not even up to par for normal pop-up flashes. Maybe I should ask for a good flash for Christmas--but I don't use the flash that much.

Can you guess that I love barns? This barn is along highway 41, in Parke County. Maybe it is because I spent so many happy hours in the barn when I was a child. It was one of my favorite places to play...going to the barn to milk the cow, feed the pigs, and feed the cows in general was never a chore for me. And even though that has been over 30 years ago, the smell of cow or horse barn is a pleasant smell to me that takes me instantly back to my childhood.

We were dirt poor in so many ways. We raised almost all the food we ate...we raised and butchered four hogs every year, we almost always had a cow or two that we milked, and raised all our vegetables. And we picked wild blackberries, as well as there was a couple old apple trees that my mom gathered apples from to make jelly with. To this day my favorite job on earth is to pick blackberries. Why I don't know...as a kid I always ended up with bunches of chiggers...if you have never had them you haven't missed anything other than misery!

My mom filled every jar she had and also had a deep freezer that was always stuffed to the brim with food we raised. And there would be guys bring truckloads of peaches up from Georgia and drive along the roads and stop and ask if you wanted to buy peaches...my mom always bought a couple bushels and we would freeze and can them. It is so refreshing to come in from hoeing the garden and to have peaches that are just beginning to thaw--that are still in that crystallized state. I am getting hungry just thinking about them.

We had cornbread almost every day of our life, and my mom made biscuits every morning too...there were a few times when she got bronchitis that she didn't get up and make biscuits but I bet that was not five times a year. And her biscuits were unlike anybody's I have ever seen. But oh, so yummy good! When grand kids were home, I have seen them have her make them a pan of biscuits after breakfast and they would eat every one of them.

She didn't measure anything, just mixed them up by feel. And she didn't roll them out and cut with a cookie cutter, she just pinched off a little bit of the dough, and worked it between her hands, and placed in the pan. And every one was the same size! I do not know how to explain what they were like...but I would give anything to have a pan of them right now!

Another thing I never hear of any where up here is shucked beans...or do not even hear them called dried beans. We always took green beans and snapped the ends off them, and if need be we took the 'strings' off--I wonder if anyone that is reading this knows what I mean? Anyway, then we would have just use regular string/or crocheting thread and a big needle and would run the beans on the strings and hang them to dry. And everyone called them shucked beans down there...they had a sort of strong flavor, but I really liked them. I think I have a picture somewhere of some...I will hunt for it after while and scan it in...

Enough reminiscing for now...

Three of fifty pictures that I took today. I seen the sign Egg Farm Road and of course I had to travel down it. It was a nice little country road.

Even though the last pictures would give you the impression of miserable cold, I really was amazed to have any icicles at all. Just did not seem that cold enough to for anything to be frozen.

I finally thought to try something new today--I used Picasa to merge two pictures together...I like the way these turned out. I think I might try to take a few with this in mind....

We are supposed to get 2-3 inches of snow tonight. I am excited. I always love that first snow..

I finally got the tree decorated--have no idea how long it will last. My dd and I ran last night and picked up all shatterproof ornaments. This is a handheld shot and I should have had my tripod. I feel like a weight has been lifted to have this done.

I have had a long day...got up with a sore throat and feeling really awful. The feeling went away for the most of the day but is back again tonight.

I tried to get the papers filled out for my husband's retirement by calling one of the ladies at his work. We decided it would be better to meet at the training center Wednesday. I have also ran to Wal-mart and by the grocery store. I did a load of towels today, though they are still in the dryer. I cleaned out a bunch of stuff out of my fridge and fixed supper.

And, when Roger got home, we got my quilt hanger up that my friend had her husband make me for my birthday in November. I really like the picture that is above it, and just chose to have it down lower than maybe I would have otherwise. I also pulled out a few more Christmas decorations. But still I have not attempted to put lights on the tree. I had hopes of picking up some extra strands of lights at Walmart but they did not have any at all except outdoor ones that hang like icicles off the edge of the roof.

So I came home without any. I might try some other places tomorrow.

The cat in the above picture is Mama Cat....she is so content.

We don't need Christmas decorations--we have Christmas cats! Bubbie is the main one that is up in the tree, simply because his mommy is too heavy to be able to climb easily. But doesn't he look like he lives in the lap of luxury in all of these pictures?


My daughter's new bed/mattress set and chest of drawers arrived last week. It was almost impossible to make the bed because the Princess had to help. When we were done, it was so cute: all three of the kittens and my daughter were stretched out on the bed. I told her the kittens thought she bought the bed for them. See more pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/rose.swalls



I spent about 5 hours at the Emergency Room Thursday night with my daughter--she has a torn muscle. But her leg was swelling and we were afraid to wait because of the possibilities of it being a blood clot. She can walk with ease and the calves of her legs only cramp occasionally now. Not even sure that the right one is cramping at all...it was the left one that was swollen and also it cramped the hardest. It hurt to touch the calf of that leg when we were at the ER.

I have been sewing a little...but not finishing anything. Every time I try to set and do this one binding one of the cats ends up trying to help me and I just put it away. That quilt has been cat tested and approved already.

It was not too cold here today, but this afternoon the wind has started and has been howling. Coming from the west/northwest. I can barely open the back storm door. It is the type of wind that makes Shelby, our dog nervous. I suppose she will want to be able to be close to me the entire night. If she can't be close to me, she whines.

This is Chunky Monkey hard at rest! He does lay in some of the most contorted positions I have ever seen a cat lay in. This one is not bad in comparison to some I have seen. Sometimes he will have an arm so out of position that I think he about has to be double jointed.

This weekend was fine entertainment from them. Sunday morn, husband got up to go to the potty and came back to bed. Normally I lay there with my eyes closed, but for some reason I had them open and seen him come around the end of the bed--one of the cats was under the bed and grabbed him! I laughed till I cried at his expression and the way he jumped.

Then there is the little girl, who is sometimes a little princess and sometimes Puss Puss. She loves Roger--when he comes home from work, the first thing he is supposed to do is pick her up and pet her a few minutes. Then when he puts her down, she helps him take off his work boots, followed by a quick dash to the bedroom for a romp on the bed.

She will come get in bed with us, and she peddle pushes/kneads with her paws. And will go in and out from under the cover numerous times. Well, I went to bed just a bit past midnight Sunday night, leaving the kitties all asleep in the living room and dining room. I had not been in bed but a minute when up over the side she hops. Goes straight to husband to peddle push for a few seconds, then is in and out under the cover I don't know how many times.

Then she comes and gets on my chest and peddle-pushes for a bit then lays down and I think she is settled down good. I continue petting her all the time thinking we have got it made--we can just lay there and go to sleep, or back to sleep as in the case of Roger. But she only lays there a few minutes and hops up and goes over on his pillow to peddle push with her face right in his face, and purring loud enough to wake the dead. By then I am laughing so hard I am shaking the bed, so get up, grab her and sleep on the couch. He can't stand it cause her whiskers tickle his face sort of like walking through a spider web.

Mama cat is so settled in...I think she fully realizes she does not have to worry about anything here. I have not had her hiss at me or heard her hiss at anyone since about the first week. Can about sit down on her and she won't move. So different to when she was at her other home--she would not stick around for anyone except my daughter. She was constantly in the defense mode.

Aren't they pretty?

No matter how hard I try, I just cannot seem to get in the mood for Christmas...looking at these presents from a couple of years ago should inspire me. But all I can do is look and think, 'Wow--I made those bows.' I have three presents bought for two people, and still have more shopping to do for those two people. I have not idea what I am getting anyone...I can always buy for my older daughter. I seem to be able to choose clothes she likes, and can always find a dozen things she really likes.

My younger daughter is a different matter however--she just doesn't seem to want a lot of anything. Her husband is the same--he loves working on cars for fun...year before last we bought him a whole bunch of tools...and my older daughter also bought him a socket wrench set, then last year we bought him a battery drill set that also had a saw, and a palm sander...plus extra battery pack...so he is basically set for tools. Oh, we also got him a vise. He has an engine hoist...so just not much else that he needs. (His mom or grandma have bought him other tools)

Then there is my quilting buddy who is taking a LONG break from quilting...she has been crocheting and knitting some but since I do neither I would have no idea what to buy in the yarn dept...

I had wanted to machine quilt a couple quilts but with older daughter moving back home for a bit, I just cannot seem to get in the groove and get things done. She brought her two cats with her, and I already wondered just how I would get a quilt sandwiched with the two cats I had. Now it would be next to impossible.

OH, BTW, the picture that is in the header is one of mine that was scanned in from an old photo! It is one of my favorite pictures! It is in Tennessee from the winter of 1978-79.

Three of the kitties sitting in the window--they love for me to open the window enough for them to sit in it...Mama will get in it and sit or lay stretched out for an hour at a time.

I have been preparing some for tomorrow--I made my homemade noodles, made a pecan and cherry pie, made the deviled eggs and got a start on the potato salad. Also got the bottom layer of my pudding cake made. I do not know what it is with me and pie crusts--I made them for years with no problems and now every time I make one it wants to tear. It is almost impossible for me to get one in the pan without it being torn. They are still flaky and good, but it is frustrating to lose the one art that one has in the kitchen.

I just have to tell that I did 20 big bags of leaves! I am not sure what we are having for supper--we may go out or we may fix something easy. But I don't have the energy to do much.

Just thought I would add pictures of my babies, as well as Mama Cat and their brother. the top one is my Chunky Monkey, followed by Mama Cat. Below her is my Puss Puss aka the Princess aka Miss Priss formerly named Lucy. And below her is my daughter's boy, who we call Bubbie--Bubba with a long e sound on the last instead of the a sound. They all live here now...I think Mama has a chance of becoming the cat she used to be before she was taken to a household with kids that did not recognize they were living things, instead of a toy to just be tossed about.

I am busy this day--I am actually bagging leaves. I thank God that my younger daughter and her husband bought us a leaf blower for our anniversary this year! It is done worth it's weight in gold to me. I still have to use the rake a little bit, but nothing compared to normal. I don't think I will get all done that is out there, but I done have 5 huge garbage bags stuffed as full as they can be. The leaves are slightly damp for the most part and I think they stuff down much better that way!