Pajama day

Another photo from Sarah of Tootie!  Today is pajama day at preschool....well, of course Lorelei wanted a gown.  One from last year.  Sarah happened to have these leggings for her to wear under it!  Isn't she adorable.

I did not get to visit any blogs yesterday due to one thing and another.  And I won't be blogging after this for a few days.  Tootie has her tonsils out Friday...say a prayer that all goes well for her.

And in case I do no more blogging till after Christmas, I want to wish each and everyone a Merry Christmas. 

Recent pics to make you smile...

These are recent pics Sarah has sent me...in the top she was wanting pics taken with her and Otto...or Otti as we call him.

The one above and the ones below were taken on different day...

Can't you tell what a wonderful dog he is?

I am even getting anxious to see him.

I told Roger the first thing he will do is come greet us, then run get his blanket and bring it to share with us.  If he loves you, that is the first thing he does after his initial greeting.

YES! We have snow...

I am sitting looking out the window at a white, white world.  And watching the birds flock to the feeders.

I suppose I will be sitting here watching the birds today.

Bridgeton Covered Bridge

This is another view of the Bridgeton Covered Bridge...I take a picture of it almost every time I am near it.  I don't know if I have ever taken one that I totally love.  Almost always the sky is too washed out.
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Do you realize that it is a bit less than two weeks to Christmas?  Are you ready for it?  I am close.  Got most things wrapped, though I do have to get a couple wrapped and mailed.  We bought the ham the other day, but still have to figure just what all we are having.  Since there are so few of us I do not do near the cooking that I did when younger.

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I have decided to make a crumb border for the quilt top that is on my design wall.  It is taking me longer to make it than it did to make the top.  Or at least that is how I feel.  I try to sew a little bit each day.  Some days I do more than others.  I had a friend comment on the post of the top the other day saying that crumb blocks are hard work.  I must say I agreed with her...they are no mile a minute block for me.  Yet they are sort of mindless.  No worrying about seam allowances or points matching.  Just sew and trim.

I am in the mood for a new sewing machine....I don't need one.  I absolutely love my Juki 98Q...I just want one to play with and maybe have upstairs. And it is another Juki that I want...but have been looking at some of the cheaper  Brother sewing machines.  I have been debating on getting a little sewing cabinet and bringing one of mine upstairs from the basement.  I know though that I would end up running up and down the steps half a dozen times every time I wanted to sit and sew.   Plus there would be the mess upstairs...so I never quite take the plunge to bring it up.
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I think it is supposed to get up to the freezing mark in the next day or two...and we are supposed to have snow tonight and tomorrow.  If it gets up that warm, and it does actually snow, I am wondering if it will be a heavy snow that lays on branches and sticks to fences...I hope it is.  

For the first time I am really showing my age about snow...I really consider the fact that we might get in a wreck when going out for pics.  Even on the back roads.  I have never been a fan of being on main roads right after a snow, but on the back roads where there is hardly any traffic, I have always felt pretty secure.  So we shall see whether we get out even if we do get a nice snow.

Daughter's new Etsy shop...

Sarah, Lorelei's mom, has started BowTodayBowTomorrow....her new Etsy shop.

What little girl wouldn't like some of these!  If you have a little girl in your life, check her shop out. 

Lucky to be alive

This is our Bubbie.  Some of you may not remember, but at the end of 2008, he ended up with a broken leg....he had to have a pin put in. It was left in for a period of time, then taken out.  I don't remember for how long.  The vet thought he had been hit by a car.

That was his first close call.  The next one was probably within a year.  We don't know for sure what happened to him.  It was summer, I noticed he wanted inside so opened the door for him.  He came flying in, went in out bedroom and laid down and did not move for 24-36 hours...didn't get up to eat, to drink, or to go to the potty.

He had no sign of anything on him...no blood, not roughed up fur.  Nothing.  He finally got up and drank a little, moved to another room and laid for several more hours.  Gradually came back to himself.  When he finally wanted back outside, he slunk out looking up and over his shoulder...like he expected something to grab him.  We wondered if a hawk had caught him....or almost caught him.  Though in all honesty, he didn't go much beyond our yard, and I have never seen a big hawk here.  But had seen a big owl.

Anyway, I consider that Close Call #2.

We got our Rav 4 near the end of 2007....we started out parking it on one side of the garage.  Roger has a shelf on the wall that is up out of the way...he puts some of his better boards there. It was on the passenger side. Can you guess what is coming?

Roger was out working in his shop and had all the doors open.  Bubbie was in there messing around...he and Puss Puss have a habit on jumping on whatever vehicle they choose and getting up in the rafters and then walking over to where they are on top of the shop.  So, he is in the process of exploring.

 Roger seen it happen...Bubbie went to either jump up or jump down from that pile of boards and he hit them just right till the pile of boards fell, and Bubbie fell with them...and the pile ended up on top of him...only, they didn't really hit him.  Something was there to keep the weight of them from landing on him or he would have been either a dead kitty or hurt kitty.  (They did put a sharp little dent in the door of our Rav4.)  Roger could not believe that Bubbie walked away with not even a scratch.  Close Call#3

We come to today...Roger and I were getting ready to go shopping.  I knew I had let Bubbie and Puss Puss out earlier...so I went to the door to let them in--only Puss was at the front door.  So I let her in.  I looked around for Bubbie but he is not in sight.  I went to the back door and he's not there either, so being that he has thick hair and doesn't seem to mind the cold, I thought he could just stay out.  I went out and pull the door closed behind me.

Our storm door is hard to shut....the wind has caught it so many times, and we have fixed it a number of times...but it just will not close unless we give it a firm push.  Well, I just came out and put my back to the screen door and give it a push....I had a coke in one hand and my purse in the other is why I was pushing with my back.

Anyway, I gave a push and it would not close...pushed again, and I was thinking what in the world is going on now...I thought the wreath had come down and was somehow caught between the doors.  No, it was Bubbie.  He had not made a sound...but he was scared of me!  It had to have hurt. 

I unlocked the door, and held the screen open for him to go inside, but he would not risk going in till I went inside....and held the door open from there.  It really is a wonder I didn't hurt him.  So I call that Close Call #4....thought in reality I don't think he could have died from it.

O Christmas Tree

I am not sure how this will show on everyone's computer...it looks fairly good on my computer. Let me know if it is dark or light on yours.  It was taken at night several years ago.  The photos I took of this tree remain some of my favorites. 
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I actually started wrapping presents today.  I always think of how we used to be so saving with wrapping paper when I was a child.  We didn't just rip open the presents, not like we do these days.  And we tried to save the best of the paper from one year to the next.  And we saved all the ribbons.

We almost always got a new jigsaw puzzle...it was such a treat to get one.  I think we used a big piece of cardboard to work them on, but I have no idea where it came from.  Or maybe it was a piece of thin plywood.  I really cannot remember which....but was thinking cardboard for some reason.

Anyway, we always laid out all the pieces face up, and tried to put like colors together, then found all the edge pieces and worked that part first.  Next we would each choose an area to work on.   I can remember my brothers getting aggravated at me for reaching across their view. 

I had a habit of when I actually put a piece in and it fit, I would give the board a little tap.   They always teased and said I did it to draw attention to the fact that I had just found a piece.  Who knows--maybe that is why I did it subconsciously.

I still love jigsaw puzzles to this day.  Just as when I was a kid, I have my favorite colors to work, or more to the point, colors that are much harder for me to work.   I find it hard to do anything else if I have one out, so I don't work one too often.  That was part of the reasons for wrapping presents...to feel freer to start something fun.  I wrap presents on the dining room table, but that is also where I like to work puzzles.  Thus, the wrapping needs to be done.

Covered bridge at Bridgeton, Indiana

We went on a drive...took the backroads to Bridgeton, Indiana and on to Mansfield.

Even though it was bitter cold, Roger cast around a few times below the dam a few times.  Did not get a single hit.  The fish were probably frozen too!
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I started getting this ready to post last night but did not finish. It looks to be another day about the same as the past two.  There is just another light skim of snow.  Up where we went yesterday had had more snow than here...I think they had had at least two or three inches.
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The house sparrows come in flocks....it is sometimes hard for other birds to get anything.  Then it will go a spell with not a single one out there.  I suppose they go visit other feeders at that time.

Not sure what this day is going to hold...I suppose I best get off here and get ready for it.  I still have the ham to get...and presents to wrap. 

What is on the design wall...

I almost swore to  myself I would not do another crumb quilt after the last one...but I didn't know what I wanted to start on...I did find some unfinished crumb blocks that I didn't know I had.

So the next think I knew, I had committed to make enough to make small quilt.  This time the blocks are 12 inches finihsed. This is 60 inches square and I am thinking I will add borders of some sort.  I want it to be a rectangle instead of square so trying to decide how I am going to come to that end.  You can click on these to expand the view.
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For all you cat lovers...or anyone that has ever had any experience with cats...I happened on this book of poems written by the cat...I am hoping it brings up the page where all you have to do is scroll down and read a few of the poems.  Two or three of them Bubbie must have collaborated on for they sure fit him.

Just a line or two....

We went to Sarah's for Thanksgiving...was so good to see everyone.  Lorelei is growing by leaps and boounds.  Or it seems so.

Her dad had taught her to play part of Mary Had a Little Lamb in about ten minutes...probably knows the rest of it by now.

She has a stack of flash cards with words...and recognizes them on sight.  So hard to believe she can done do that.