Progress

Please click to expand the view...

I forgot to post this in my last post...our daughter that lives in Missouri came the day after Christmas and we made two more sections...there are 5 sections in this photo...3 on top and two in bottom row.  I think there are 4 sections to each row.  I am not sure how long it actually takes to make the two sections because we do other stuff besides sew.  This is something she designed...she got the idea from a basket she saw.
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I think I got all the wrapping paper and gift bags put away today.  I had thought I was done with Christmas other than the nativity and Christmas stocking, and walked in and saw all of that stuff.  I didn't have the energy to do it when I first realized I had left it out.  And I am wondering what else I will find.  I always find something.

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How many of you make lists?  Some of the women I admire most make lists but I never have.  I always had one in my head...now my head is empty and does not retain my lists so I really need to start making physical lists.

Another thing...do you reward yourself for getting jobs done?  I was always one to do the things I liked the least, first, and the jobs I liked better were my reward.  Or maybe I would allow myself to read a few pages once I accomplished something.  Now, it is apt be I allow myself to visit a few blogs.  Or play Mah Jong Dimensions. 
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I am going to leave you with a video....I may have shown it sometime in the past, but it is funny any time I watch it.


I hope you enjoy it even half as much as I do.

Did you survive Christmas

I am sitting here watching Alone in the Wilderness....Documentary tells the story of Dick Proenneke who, in the late 1960s, built his own cabin in the wilderness at the base of the Aleutian Peninsula ...I have seen part of it before but not all of it.

Anyway, our tree and what few decorations I have are put away except the nativity set and my Christmas stocking.

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When you really look, you can tell he is in high spirits.

This was just a few seconds before...he had the entire tree shaking and his paws were just a blur.  It is as if were a young cat again.  If it is not the tree it is something else.  And we are having warm weather and it is in an out, in and out.  Roger said, "What is wrong with him?'  I asked him didn't he know?  Bubbie was wanting us to come outside and sit with him.  They just love for us to come and sit outside with them...they are perfectly content.

Well, I have to stop till I can watch this show...

Wishing you a Merry Christmas...

I just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Bubbie has been in fine form these past few days.  In case you cannot tell he was having a ball in the above photo.  Notice that his tail is just a blur.  He was seriously considering attacking the ornaments but we yelled at him before he could do any damage.    But I have not looked closely at the tree skirt.  I had made the mistake of straightening it out a little bit.  And he had tried to dive under it.  I wish I could get a video of him doing that.

I done it!

I could not wait any longer...I had been trying my best to wait till at least the day after Christmas but I just could not wait any longer.   I love puzzles of snow scenes best of all....it being Christmas is a bonus.

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Roger is feeling better...but still has not started wearing that hearing aid yet.  She said to wait at least 5 days.  So, when I talk to him, we have to turn the sound off the TV and I about have to about yell for him to hear...but as long as he is feeling good, I will take that.

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We saw this pair of Bald Eagles on Saturday on the way home from Walmart.  Maybe 100 yds from the road.  I was able to pull off thank goodness.  I post a couple more pics over on my other blog.  These were not far from Paris, Illinois.  Believe it or not, we saw another one about 6-8 miles east of these but there was no place to pull off the road.   I cannot believe how many we see.  We may go a month or two and only see one, or even none.  Then it is like we hit the jackpot...I cannot even think how many we have seen in the past month.    When I was a kid, I never expected to ever see one in real life.

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My current read is Caroline: Little House, Revisited by Sarah Miller.  I am really enjoying it.

I hope everyone is ready for Christmas...I  think I am...I think I was the latest I have ever been mailing Christmas cards.

A little sewing...

I got this fabric back in the summer to make Lorelei a new pillowcase.  But just this afternoon sat down and made it.  She loves turtles...

It felt so good to sew a little bit.  Just seems like I have had a hard time setting down to sew the past couple months.  I think part of it was having that quilt started.  I just wanted it done but did not feel like going in the basement to sew.

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I am sorry for the confusion about Roger's ear.  I should have said that the nurse practitioner did not see the dome...she did not think it was in his ear.  She says it is only an infection.  I hope she is right. 

Not quite a three dog night....

Instead a Two Cat Night....

Every so often, I have a night I can't sleep.   I cannot say that this was a sleepless night...I think I dozed a little bit over an hour...at one point I had been to bed and read a long while and tried to go to sleep in there but just could not settle down...then came in here and boy did both cats come to attention when I came in and picked up the quilt.  Soon as I got it spread out, here they came.

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Roger's ear was hurting this weekend, but he did not want to go to urgent care.  Then it snows Sunday/Monday and I did not want us out in that.  And when I asked how he felt, he just said he felt strange..and I did ask about his ear and that was his answer...and he has not mentioned it hurting again.  I should say that any time I asked how he feels, his standard answer is he feels strange.  I really am stupid, though...he has never mentioned an earache in all our married life.  So should have taken him whether he wanted to go or not.

But his hearing aid had been whistling so bad, he could not stand to wear it and he had lost the little  dome that goes on the tip of it.  So we went down to the hearing aid place to get it fixed this afternoon right after lunch. She looked at his ears first and said that he had an infection, and she was afraid that the dome was stuck in there.  I called our doctor and she was not in today, so he ended up going to Convenient Care.  We were down to Terre Haute before 2:00, and it was almost 4:00 before we got out of there.  It is just an infection...not that that isn't bad enough. 

I have waited since we got home to get notification that his meds are ready but have not received notice. I am to the point I am ready to go get my pjs on.  Roger always says he looks forward to when it is time to go to bed.  I look forward to taking off my shoes and putting on my pjs.

I just spread this out on the floor...too lazy to do anything better.  It is so, so strange.  All those blocks and still there are several sets of blocks close together with the some of the same fabrics in them.  I have no idea how many different fabrics are in these.  And most are from scrap bags I have bought.  Not all, but a big majority.  And some are from quilts my daughter has made

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I thought I would leave you with a little Jeannie

A finish

I have had this about 2/3's or 3/4's finished for over a month at least.  I had to set the sewing machine back to regular sewing and just had not gone back down and started.  This evening I had to do a load of laundry, and there it sat in a pile on my cutting table.  Since we have 4 or 5 inches of snow on the ground, and I had shoveled the sidewalks...I thought I am not going anywhere, I am free to work.

I got the load of clothes going, and got the machine sat up, and by the time the clothes had been washed and through the dryer, the quilting was finished.  I had done decided to not even use a binding.  Instead I left enough of the backing to flip to the front and sew down.  but I am not showing you that.  I did not take my time, I did not try to do a good job.  I just wanted it finished.  And finished it is, and has been washed and dried.    I like it better now that it has been washed....but I still am not proud of it.

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The latest Simon's Cat video above...




The above was the video that got me hooked on Simon's Cat videos.  It is so Bubbie that it is not even funny.  And it is still one of the better videos though there are a few that are just as funny.

Hodgepodge

Last weekend, the kids took Lorelei to Indy to see some of the Christmas lights...this is her and one of her friends.  I know it does not show her very well, but you can tell she is all about being crazy.  Any time I try to take a picture of her, she makes crazy faces.  She is a happy child, and I pray she stays that way.

I get to pick her up from school in a bit...we have no real plans.  I need to see if I have all the ingredients for cookies cause we might make some.  I would love to have some peanut butter cookies.  I love chocolate chip cookies, and oatmeal cookies, but peanutbutter cookies might be my favorite.

Oh, and the Chocolate no bake cookies.  When Lorelei's mom was young, she had a friend that lived over on the next street.  A lot of times when they got together, they made the No Bake cookies...they might have to go from one house to the other to find all the ingredients, but they would find them.  I cannot have the the No bake cookies without I think of them...

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The other night when I posted pics of the orange, it had made me think about when I worked at the orchard.  There were two or three old ladies here in town that would call my boss and tell her they would really like to have some apples but had no way coming to get them.  She would ask me if I minded dropping some off to them as I came home.  As small as this town is, if they had lived on the complete opposite end of town, it would not have been much out of my way.  So, I always brought them.

It is funny, the difference in people.  The one lady that lives closest to me was well off enough to go to Florida in the winter.  She would barely step out of the door to get the apples and not have two words to say, would offer me a couple dollars for bringing them.  I did not really want anything, but you could tell she would have begrudged it if I had taken it.

Then there was Anna...she always wanted me to come in, always offered me a drink, and tried her best to pay me.  She hated that I wouldn't and finally after the third or four time, insisted that I take $5.  And she was not getting the apples for herself so much, as the nurses that came to take care of her husband who was housebound.  It was like walking into a room of sunshine to go visit her.  And she had a neighborhood cat that came to visit and he had six toes.

Then I had one lady that I only remember delivering to once or twice.  She was little bitty, and made me think of a chickadee or nuthatch, just flitting about.  Had such a bubbly personality.  And was old...I think at least in her 70's if not 80's.  For the life of me, I cannot remember what she had been in her life, but she is one person I would have loved to know better.  But what stuck with me is she told me she loved any fruit and ate ALL of it....the peelings and all.  Even oranges and bananas.  I will never forget that as long as I live.  But she said she shared the apples with the kids of the neighborhood.

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Did you see the moon night before last?  Isn't it gorgeous?  The Full Cold Moon...
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It is not long till I go get Lorelei...I need to see if Roger is going with me or staying here.  I need to remember to take my kindle to read if I want.  Well, I won't be taking it...the battery needs to be recharged...I am reading The Hunters of the Hills by Joseph A. Altsheler...an old book.  I have read several of his books and enjoyed them all.

Mixture....

Do you like oranges?  I think they were my mom's favorite fruit.  I think about the only time we ever got oranges or bought apples was at Christmas.  The apples were red delicious and to this day, if I see them my thought automatically turn to Christmas.  They are a beautiful apple, but not one that I care to eat.

I was not especially fond of eating oranges either, but we would roll an orange around with a lot of pressure....the cut a small hole at the top, and I don't know if my brothers did this, but I would also use the knife and stab around down in the pulp....then squeeze the juice directly into our mouth...delicious.
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Well, I got a wish today.  We went to Hardee's this morn and as we were walking in I told Roger I wish 'T' and 'C' would walk in....I sat down, and Roger waited for our food...about the time he sat down in came T and C ...so we sat and had a good visit.   Then another couple we sometimes visit with came in.

That second couple has been married 60+ years.  I cannot remember if they had been married as long as I have been alive, or a year or so shy of that.  I know it totally surprised me cause they do not look nor act that old.  But lots of days there is a whole big group that they visit with.  And they personally know each other...know all the same people--people we don't know so we go ahead and sit elsewhere...

And while we were all talking today, found out that T's nephew had drywalled the other couple's whole house.  They were bragging on what a good job he had done and had not told who, so T asked who done it and it was that nephew...

As I have said before, we live in a small town...at Hardees most days there weill be a group that sit and visit...some eat, some just have coffee.  some of the workers know what we want to eat without us having to tell them...LOL
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We had to run over to walmart as we left Hardees, and ran into Roger cousin and his wife there....so we were those people that stand and take up a whole aisle!  Though we did try to get out of the way,, and not really take up the whole place...and we were back in a back corner that does not have a lot of people come through.

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Every now and then I try to do some sketching with colored pencils.....I mean about once a year.  The above I got disgusted with and quit.  Others can just draw and sketch and paint so I get stuff and then I am then too afraid to even try but I really think a person has to try...sometimes over and over.   Maybe I should make that my New Year's resolution...to try daily weekly at least, or daily would be better.

I think I might be better off to cut and paste...LOL

Friday happenings and more

I got this in the mail yesterday...a good friend sent it to me...she is someone I met through blogging.    It is hard not to sit and read it all at once.  I sat right down and read yesterday's devotion when I got it, and then today read today's and they both were/are so fitting for how I have been feeling.  I searched for it on line and when January ends I am going to order it.  It is published bi-monthly and I think if I ordered it now, I bet I would still get this current issue.  At least that is what I have had happen with quilt magazines.
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Another friend showed her thumb on her blog...so I tried to take one of my thumb....it is my right thumb so had to take pic with left hand.  Not an easy task for me but I did get one good enough for you to see.   I did this at the end of August...that dark spot was down at the very base of the fingernail when it was first done.  It is taking its slow sweet time growing out.  My hand slipped off a wrench, and I hit this metal edge on the power washer.  It hurt....

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More not so great photos and video...the ones that I take are just taken with my little P&S camera. I am on one road and those buildings are over on the next road...at least half a mile away.  Maybe more.  And those geese are about midway between the farm buildings and me.  If  you expand the view, notice that big old red tractor! 

You might want to turn the sound off or way down on this video....



While the videos don't look so terrible on my computer, I don't know what happens to them when uploaded to youtube...they become even worse than they really are.  Still you can get a feel for how they were today.  This time they were over in some farm fields.
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I keep meaning to tell that my current read is

The Good Earth by Pearl Buck... it has been years and years since I read it though I have looked at it several times and thought about starting it again.  If I knew, I forgot that it is the first of a trilogy.  I don't know if I have read the others.  The second one is The Sons, and the third is A House Divided...and that title sounds so familiar but I honestly don't think I have read it.

I hope you have a good weekend....

Not so great image and video...

As usual we were headed to McDonald's this morn...a lot of morns we choose to go to one in a neighboring town...for a couple of reasons.  They remodeled ours and we neither one really like how it is now.  Not enough booths, and there is no color...everything is gray and black, except for a few light shades that are red.

But that is not the point of the story.  We always like to go to the neighboring town and watch for hawks on the way, and we occasionally go through the end of the strip pit area.  As we were about to pass the road into that area, I noticed all the geese in the area and quickly turned down the road.  And soon as I did, down the road I saw two Bald Eagles fly across the road  at a very low altitude.

So I spead down the way as fast as I could to get across from the snow geese and to look for the eagles.  I did spot one of the eagles all the way across the field in a tree beside the big strip pit.

When my camera is as zoomed in as close as it will go, I never get good quality photos, but at least you can see him.  When looking without zoom, unless you are really looking you would never have seen it.  That is how far away he was.  I could just see little white dot...I had to get the binoculars out to really see. Then try to find him with my little P&S.

All told today, we saw at least 6 eagles, and two more, but I really think one was one of the first two we seen cause I had focused on the one and did not see where the other went.  And then another one was where we later seen two more...so am assuming it stayed there a while.

Below is a short clip of the snow geese...I recommend turning your sound down  or off...the wind was horrible.



I could not hold the camera steady ....partly the wind.  Partly just me I guess.

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I do have my tree up, and the lights on but that is as far as I have got.  I am thinking we will decorate it tonight...

It is a pathetic tree...I bought it new last year, because it does not take up much room.  But you can see right through it.  But I am living with it again this year.  I hope I remember how much I hate it and next year soon as the trees come out, I want to go look for a new one.

A finish of sorts...

We had our Thanksgiving meal on Wednesday for convenience...so Thursday I picked this quilt back up and continued on with the binding.  I laid it in the chair while I went and did something else, and came back to find that Bubbie had dragged it to the floor for something to lay on.

I wrestled it from him and finished it while we watched the Saints Game...

My daughter took it home the next day.  She chose the fabrics and I made the top.  And then she paid to have it quilted.  It has sure been a long road from start to finish.  I cannot even think how many years have passed...



Here shows the top when it was finished in Feb of 2016.  Keep in mind that it took me a while to make the top.  Every where we went, we looked for batik fabrics.   I would guess at what she would like, knowing that if she didn't like them I would be happy to have them in my collection.

Watch this....

Watch this...it is one of the best feel good stories I have seen. 



At the beginning it is Tony Dungy talking...he was Dunn's coach while at Tampa Bay.  Also notice near the end that one of the families he helped, the little boy in red is Dashaun Watson.  A pro-quarterback today for the Houston Texans.

Not going to say any more.  Just wanted to share a wonderful story.  It is only about 3 1/2 minutes long.

Mixed bits....

I don't even know where to begin...so much I want to share but it is all odds and ends of things.  But I am going to proceed or I will end up forgetting something.



I came across the above over at By Stargoose and Hanglands.  I found it so wonderful I had to share.  I will never think of harp music the same way again...and I had never heard of a kora.  It is a West African instrument.

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I came across the above quite by accident.  Talk about a horse loving to do what it does.   Not to mention a great rider!  The bridle comes off, but the horse and rider continue on as if he has all the control in the world, when in reality the horse could have done anything she wanted.  He was disqualified because he put two hands on the reins to pull the bridle up where she could not step on and trip herself or whatever.  But it was her last ride doing this and he wanted to let her finish it the ride.

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I picked this up at the bookstore today...in fact, I paid for it twice.  I thought the total high, but most times I say something and I am wrong...and about half the time it is me thinking that it isn't enough and they have missed scanning something.  I have started trying to hold my tongue.  But I got out to the car and checked the receipt and there it was charged twice.  I took the receipt back in and they refunded the money.

Anyway, it is the first quilt book/magazine I have bought in years.   Anyway, no one I know likes the modern quilts.

Things such as the above....I just love the color and no holds barred approach.  A lot of modern quilts use big blank spaces to let the eye rest such as seen in this quilt.  And it gives room to do some fancy quilting if you want.  But I am not going to go on and on...Modern quilting means different stuff to different people.  I just wanted to show the book.
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We came home from the book store and the New Orleans Saints game was on the TV...I got out daughter's Lotus quilt and set to work on the binding.  I worked on the binding for the rest of the game and for at least an hour or two after the game..  I did one whole side.  So I am half way done.  If I could just work every night that way, it would be done by Thanksgiving.
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I have sat here for half an hour.  I know I am forgetting something.  But maybe it will come back to me and I can use it in another blog post.

In case I don't post again, I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Notes...

I just got home from Walmart a little bit ago and got unloaded.  Roger had the TV on and it was on the music channel and a concert.  It ends up it is a dukes mixture of artists.  First on was Joe Walsh, then I don't remember who was next.  Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.  For one.  Then Michael Martin Murphy sang Wildfire, which was bad enough...

Then Richie Furay sang this:



I sat here with the tears streaming...it always makes me cry.  I do not know why.   Is anyone else like that with music...even the theme music to some of the shows we watch either brings tears or makes me feel like crying.  Run for the Roses was written by Dan Fogelberg.  If you don't like the song, shut sound off and watch the slide show of foals and horses.

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Anyway, for some good news.  I went to the dermatologist yesterday and she didn't see anything that concerned her.  She is going to watch one mole.  I refuse to worry about it most of the time in between visits, but come the day or two before and I really begin to dread going.    But I am thankful that I have the holidays free of that worry.

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My leaves are done, as well as the gutters are all clean for one more year.  The guy that we had mow our yard mulched the leaves, and got up and blew out the gutters.  I feel like a ten ton weight has been lifted from me.  It was just always there in my mind.  The gutters more than anything.  The leaves I could have eventually got done by myself.  But now that is nothing to worry about.  And the way the weather has been, it would have been hard to do. 

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I had been looking at this book, then a blogger had this on her blog....I thought I knew who.  Well, I must be crazy cause I could not find it on her blog...so I thought maybe it was on this other blog...but no not there.  Anyway,  I have borrowed Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens from the library and I am really enjoying it.  I always enjoy seeing what other people are reading.

I feel like I am forgetting something but going to go ahead and post this.  I hope you all are having a good week.

What's happening....

I got the binding sewn on my daughter's quilt...just the first round by machine, and have started the hand stitching part.  Normally I can whip through a full or queen in about 3 days, but have not touched this today.  And last night when I started it was no walk in the park.  the thread wanted to tangle, even after using beeswax on it.  It knotted up at every little stitch, and I even had to break it once, and take out stitches enough to thread the needle till I could finish off that bit of sewing till it would not come undone.

I got this fabric panel in the hopes it will inspire a baby quilt...  The way things are going, it is questionable whether I will get anything done any time soon.  but isn't it cute?

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I have been doing things in baby steps it seems.   Cannot seem to totally finish anything.  I got boxes broken down again...still have a few but they would not fit into the box I was using.   I  order some of the pet supplies from Chewy because it saves Roger and I from handling some of the heavier items so many times.   Then there are things we order from Amazon on a regular basis...so we always have quite a few boxes at the end of 4 or 5 months.

I have had to let the leaves go but today got a few more raked up.  Roger kept coming to check on me...it is too hard on him to try to help, but he feels guilty if he don't.  So all I did was 4 big bags.   The leaves were still damp from the snow, and still some snow on the ground out behind the garage because it doesn't get much sun.   We saw ice still on a couple roads today.  I could not believe there was any left any where.

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Roger went to bed with a headache...any time he has one it still scares me so bad.  Specially right at first.  I can usually talk to myself and remember that this is to be expected...but it takes a while to settle down and not be on edge.  Lately he stumbles so easily.  I cannot tell you how many times I have thought sure he was going to fall.  Oh, it may not be every day,  but it probably is every other day.  Besides the fall in the bedroom two or three weeks ago, I think he has only fallen twice...and one of those he fell back on the bed.  So in ways not a fall, but if the bed had not been there, he would have been on the floor.

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It is funny...at night, Bubbie always has to go over to him in his chair but he always comes back to me.  When he was young, Bubbie was all Roger's and our daughter's....I was only needed when he was hungry.  But boy has he changed to a mama's boy.

I guess I will hush for this night....I hope you all have a good week ahead...

memories....

I was washing dishes yesterday, and I got to thinking about my sister, Fran.  The above post card was one she sent in the 1960's...but that is not what I want to write about.  Though how I ended up with it is more than I know.  And it has been in my kitchen cabinet for a long time.  I get it out and touch it and read it every now and then.

Of our family, I think she was the favorite of us all.  Here is one story about her...and I thought I would share another story that again shows how she was.

For a few years when the kids were young, we were living pay check to pay check...I just had to plan every dollar.  Well, this one Christmas, I had to wait till the day before to buy groceries to do Christmas dinner.  I don't remember if I already had the ham or not, because I would buy it ahead if I could catch it on sale.  Well, Christmas Eve was my in-laws wedding anniversay and we had to go there to see them and take their anniversary gift.

I was thinking we could visit with them and run by Kroger's there near them to pick up groceries.  I don't remember if I actually went and left Roger there with the kids, or if I called, or how I found out, but Krogers was closed!  I called our local grocery here in our town, and they were open but would be closed before we could get home.  So I called my sister.

She made a list of what I needed and I told her how much I had to spend.  I don't remember the amount...but every penny was planned.  Well, we visit a bit more and then head home and stop by my sister's to pick up the groceries...I paid her the money and we loaded up and came on home.

My, oh, my what had she done!  I cannot remember what all there was extra...there were mixed nuts, there was ribbon candy, and I don't remember what all else was in the bags.  But she had probably come close to spending twice what I told her.  Just getting things she thought we would enjoy.   And would not think of letting me pay her.

Just such sweet memories.  I hope you have some to share...it would be fun to hear some good, heartwarming stories.

A little show and tell...

This shows the block before I totally finished the applique...  The black basting line is basting the leaf shape to the freezer paper base.  The white stitching stitches the shape to the background fabric.

Showing the stitching...the thread is more orange than it looks in the photo, but not as orange as I wish it were.

Here you see the stitches on the back of the block...

Above you see I have cut the background away from the behind the leaf and am removing the freezer paper.   One thing about this freezer paper, I don't think it is as good as what I used to get.  It does not feel as heavy and makes crinkling sounds.

And here is what it looks like after the basting is all removed and the freezer paper removed.

I have only finished the applique part of a few of them.  All the others I have finished still has the freezer paper and basting in them.  At the rate I am going, it is going to be a long time before I finish them all...have several things going and need to start another one...and yet I do so little.

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I raked a bunch of leaves yesterday...well, 8 big garbage bags stuffed full as I could stuff them.  But that is nothing to what I used to rake at one go.  I had raked 4 a few days ago.  I still have quite a few to go, and keep waiting for the rest of the leaves to fall from a neighbor's tulip poplar and another neighbor's maple tree.  Bubbie was my constant companion through it all.
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I think I am warming up leftover meatloaf for supper...we need to eat on it.  Seems like at times, I love meatloaf and will have made one that is on the small side.  Then I make one a bit bigger, and we don't seem to enjoy it as much.  Anyway, I need to get in there and at least set it out.  I will actually probably put it in the oven later and let it warm up that way.  Most of the time we just warm up what we eat in the microwave.

I should have been outside working in leaves...but I have sat here instead.  And I did sew a few stitches.

I don't know if it was real bad allergies or what, but was sick a couple days this past week...but it passed quickly.  My throat was sore and I blew and blew and blew my nose the first morn.  Normally, Roger never volunteers to stay home for breakfast, but he looked at me and said, 'We don't have to go anywhere this morn....don't even worry about it.'  I don't know if it was how I sounded or how I looked or both.  LOL  I always sound and feel worse early in the morn. 

I hope you all have a good week...I feel like I am forgetting something I wanted to ask but cannot think what it is for the life of me.

Deer season....a funny

Being that hunting season is here, and I have heard it mentioned elsewhere, it brought to mind this story.  It has been published a couple times before,  but whether you hunt or not, I think you might find this at least amusing...maybe even funny.  It is one of the stories that would only happen to my husband.  Or his cousin.

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A friend wrote a story about one of his hunting excursions. Being the wife of a hunter and sister to hunters before that, I could identify with a lot he said. About 5:00 being the witching hour for hunters, or for my husband when he is meeting fellow hunters it is sometimes even earlier. Also, unlike rotten apples to disguise the human smell, hunters now have doe urine. I wouldn't want to mistake that for my perfume, now would I, but that is besides the point.

This is a story of one of my husband's hunting trips. A few years ago he decided to hunt out on property near the orchard where I worked. It actually belonged to the brother of my boss. A day or two before the planned hunting trip, he and his buddy went out to decide where they were going to put their tree stands, and in so doing had to hack out a path through some of the undergrowth.

On the morning of the hunt, they met here before going out there...it is at the most 10 minutes from here. They get out of the truck out there and the farm cat greets them. It is young, not even a year old.  Roger pets it just a second and he and his buddy proceed down the path...they get to the 'y' in the path and his buddy goes one way while he goes they other. The cat follows my husband.

He is hunting with bow and arrows, and hunting from a climbing tree stand. So he gets to the tree he has chosen to use, and gets his tree stand situated on it and climbs up the tree. I am not familiar enough with the process to paint a good picture, but it is a tree stand that he does the physical climbing with. It has two parts....one part is the actual seat and the other is the part he stands on....THIS is a video from you tube and does show how his works.

When climbing up to a tree stand, he always ties his bow to a long rope and once he gets up as high as he is going to go, he pulls the bow up with the rope. He gets the bow up and gets situated...he hears this meow. It is still practically dark, so he kind of looks but doesn't see anything. He sits back, and he hears it again! And he can hear it so plain...he does not have the best of hearing. So he gets his flashlight out and bends way over the tree stand while shining it all around and still doesn't see anything.

He sits back again and hears it again! And he felt something on his legs...he looks down at his feet and there sits the kitty! It had sat by his feet as he climbed up the tree. It proceeded to climb up into his arms, purring all the while, and doing the rubbing thing that cats do when they are happy to see you. He held it out at arm's length and dropped it!

Did it run for home you might ask. The answer would be no. It played around the bottom of the tree my husband was in, chasing leaves or anything else that caught it's imagination. After a while of playing, it climbed out onto a dead log and went to sleep!

This is an honest tale; I don't have the imagination to make something like this up. And this is only the tip of the iceberg--things like this continually happen to my husband, my older daughter, and my husband's cousin.

How sweet is he???

At some point almost every day, this guy snuggles in my lap...and sometimes two or three times a day if I set down.  He spends a lot of time outside, and comes to meet us when we come home.  He will walk in front of us and flop down on the sidewalk and squirms around.  He wants us to play with him.  If we walk around him and go on, he jumps up and runs back in front of us and does it again.

When I am outside doing something, he is usually not far away.  As long as I don't have something that makes a lot of noise.   If I sit down to take a break, all I have to do is say his name or pat my leg and here he comes.

The past year or two, he has started getting in behind the curtain like above.  I would love to know what goes through his mind.   We used to play hide and go seek.  I would run and there is a certain way/beat I pat my legs and call his name and it is Game ON.  Then I remain quiet and let him come hunt me....I jump out and scare him.  He is a jumpy cat...he is so easy to scare.  Anyway, I scare him and he takes off and I run to tag him.
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I raked a few leaves this afternoon...did a load of laundry... a tiny bit of housework...just this and that.  But felt good to accomplish a little.  Leftover chili for our evening meal.  Roger was even content with it.  I don't mind soup at any time but Roger is not crazy about soup in warmer weather.
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This is my current read...O Rugged Land of Gold by Martha Martin.   I saw it as a movie years ago and when it told it was based on this book I looked at the library and believe it or not, they had an old copy of it.  It was hard backed and well worn.  And I read it probably a couple times over the years.   And I told a blog friend about it as well as some of my other favorites.  So in talking to her, I decided I wanted to read it again, so I just ordered my own copy.  And it is as good as I remembered it.

Photo overload from today....

Roger had an appt over at Indianapolis...really Avon, but you cannot tell when you go from one to the other....so these are scenes along the way there and back.

Just so you know, it was misting rain in this one...that one I know for sure.  Remember to click and expand the view.

The rest of these are on the way home, and while overcast, no rain or drizzle, at least not in the photos.

Every direction I looked, there was beauty.

I have often wanted to turn  by this church and travel some of the backroads on that area

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It was so beautiful that it made my heart sing, while at the same time I could have cried at the beauty of it all.

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We just had to go to the ENT to get a prescription renewed...no big deal.  And he is going to up the dosage on one.  Roger leaned back and half slept all the way there, but did stay awake on the way home and saw all the beautiful colors. 
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This is what I am reading now...He Called Me Son by Barbara Arnold.  I am enjoying it.  When I got it, it was free.

I have so much I need to do, so I guess I should be happy it is supposed to rain the next couple of days or I would want to take off and ramble the backroads.  Hopefully I will get to before the leaves are gone.

Shhhhh--don't tell anybody

A year or two before Roger's stroke, I got a sewing machine to keep upstairs.   In the dining room.  Till I could look outside and see the sun when I sewed.  But I kept bring up stuff and adding more...I had all you see in these two photos stuffed in my dining room.  (To be honest, we seldom use it as a dining room these days.)    But still, when I get to working on stuff, it is a total mess.

So today was the day...

I had a bedroom I kept free of everything except a couple items...to have to spread my quilt sandwich out to pin baste.  But since I can no longer get down on my knees, I decided to move everything in there.  I cannot begin to tell you the chore that was.

Roger was helping me move that tall shelving unit in the top photo...it is not heavy at all.  I had taken everything off and it was easy to carry.  I walked backwards till we got in there, and had Roger take his end around...and he started falling backwards and could not stop.  I have no idea why he fell...he knocked over a chair, knocked over the ironing board and my drying rack...he was not hurt.   He did not hit his head..it was almost like he went down in slow motion. 

He sent the iron flying, along with everything I had sitting on the ironing board.  I was thankful the iron fell away from him and did not flip back and hit him on the head.  In the photo above, a couple things are still on the floor.  I was texting with my daughter and sent her pics as I was cleaning up the mess.  Let me reword that...I was picking stuff up off the floor.  A lot of stuff still needs to find a home.
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In trying to get to Roger when he was falling I did this...

My little finger does not tip up that way normally.   I am not sure what I done...it does not want to bend down when it is flipped up like that but I can bend it down and if  I keep my hand half closed it will stay better.  If I open my fingers out, it flips up right away,  It is hurting a little now, and the least bump gets a big OUCH from me.