Warmer Weather

Worked hard today sewing just about all day. This is what I plan to do tomorrow. The water temperature in the pool today was 78! I try to wait for 80 but I may just go ahead and get in tomorrow with Paige and relax some.

I had a friend that saw this photo and commented that I needed to get out some. I asked her why she said that and she said, "taking pictures of your feet?" I told her that I had just painted my toenails which was a rare occurrence and my feet and hands are the only parts of my body that aren't fluffy! ha!

A Popular One

This was such a popular photo on Facebook that I decided to post it on here. This was taken a few days ago on a day when it was such a beautiful, wonderful day that we opened all our windows and enjoyed the nice breeze and sunshine. I guess when I went back in to tweak my photos I took that day, I just felt so happy that I went for all the color I could get on this one. This was just for fun. I got so many happy comments about it that I guess I wasn't the only one who thought it was fun and happy. Hope there are some of you who didn't see it on FB who enjoy it here! Happy Monday!

Cheers!!!!

Tomorrow, the 27th, and Wednesday, the 29th are my nephew's and niece's birthdays, respectively, which we celebrated today. My nephew will be 21 and niece will be 24.

I usually have my camera with me everywhere I go but with all the other things I was having to remember to take with me today, I forgot my camera! I'm so mad at myself for doing this because I didn't get any pics of our family together to celebrate their birthdays.

So. . .here is a pic of a glass of wine that I had fun with my Corel program and color that I really like. It's bright and cheery so cheers to you, Spencer and Meaghan, and Happy Birthday and many more! Love you both!

You Can Always Spot A Lady!

Just a shot I got today of a ladybug. Don't you just LOVE ladybugs? They are so pretty! Had to get on my tummy to get this shot. My hubby asked me if I checked myself for ticks! ha!

Dog Sitting

This is Roscoe. We are "baby" sitting him while his family is gone to the beach for a long weekend. He is Farley's little buddy and they are having the best time together. He chases the cats, though. I think he thinks they're squirrels! ha! Everyone adjusts and it always turns out ok. He's a good little doggie. He just likes to chase cats.

I Forgot!

I forgot all about posting yesterday. I am furiously reading the above book. It's over 700 pages, I've had it checked out from the library for 6 weeks now and it's due tomorrow. BUT. . . I really am interested in it and I do want to read. The library is closed on Mondays so I tell myself I really do have until Tuesday to turn it in and only have to pay 2 or 3 days overdue fees which would probably amount to less than a dollar! ha! I have recently fallen in love with the library.

You see, I have this sickness and it's books. Books, books, books. Of all kinds. I can hardly restrain myself from buying books so I started using the library. I still go to BAM all the time, nearly every Thursday when I take Paige to MDO, and it is SUCH a temptation to buy a book. But I am doing pretty good with that since I know I can always go to the library. Plus, going to the library makes me actually read and finish the book whereas owning the book tends to make me start a book, put it down and not come back to it for months, maybe even years later! I know it sounds very crazy. I have one friend who knows this about me and tells me she cannot understand how I can start a good book and just put it down. I don't know either. If anyone out there could explain that to me, I'd be grateful.

So that's why I forgot about posting yesterday. I will read a lot today because today is an "off day" for me. But in the back of my mind, I have TONS of sewing that I want to do, too. I guess I will just divide my time today between the two. It's just nice to have a day to do as I please:) I probably will have another post today to "count" for today.

Spring is Here!

I took these photos a few days ago when we noticed our roses in the backyard were starting to bloom. They are almost in full bloom now so I think spring is here! It is beautiful today, around 77 degrees, I think, and the sunshine is just wonderful!

Not only are the two rose bushes in the backyard in full bloom but the Betty Prior rose that is in the side yard has buds all over it, too. The Lantana is up and the Mexican shrub with purple flowers (can't think of the name of it now! ha! - is it Mexican Heather?), the other purple stuff (Moses in a Basket?), the Easter lilies will be blooming pretty soon, and some purple irises that my SIL gave us are up and getting tall so I'm hoping they will bloom. I've seen irises blooming already.

You know, as we get older, the names of things or just a word to describe something can escape our minds so easily. Just yesterday I was asking my husband if he could remember the name of the roses in the backyard and he said Knockout. As soon as he said it, I said, "oh yeah" and he said just remember they're "knocked up" roses! ha! I told you he has a way with words but that's the way I remember the name of these roses now.

I live with a crazy man! ha!

Interesting Find

Today was a golfing day with Paw Paw and Paige. We came to one area of the golf course where they had cut down a huge dead tree and had not carried off the tree yet. Paige wanted to go climb on the tree and I went with her. When we got there, we found this huge piece of bark from the tree that had these ferns growing in the bark along with moss. I just thought it was beautiful and decided to bring it home and place it in our little flower garden, surround it with some rich soil and see if it will take hold and grow. Just an experiment. I love ferns.

Pals

This is not a very clear pic but it's really difficult to photograph pets and children because they won't be still! ha! Plus the light was low and I was trying not to use the flash because I might get that awful "pet eye" glowing look.

This is our oldest daughter's cat that we inherited because her husband is allergic to cats. Her name is Halle and she is so sweet and so beautiful. Her eyes are beautiful and I wanted to capture them. I'm tired and this is the best I gave it for tonight.
The Pal effect with Minnie and Mickey was what I was trying to capture. She just jumped up on the sofa and got right between Mickey and Minnie.

These are the little moments in our lives that my husband and I get so childishly delighted about. I know it's silly but it's fun!

Nostalgia

Today I spent the day with my mother. We watched church TV, ate lunch, and then I asked if I could look through her crocheting things. I am looking for a particular type pattern.

As we were looking through her crocheting things, we found a card from a craft club she belonged to when she was a young woman. It cost $1 a month to belong and they would send a kit for you to do of different kinds of crafts.

On this particular card (part of which is pictured above), there was a list of about 300 people who won gifts by entering some sort of sweepstakes with them and there were drawings of the prizes possible to win. This picture of a hair dryer was one of the prizes. When I saw it, I just burst out laughing. I had a hair dryer like this when I was a teenager. I remember it well. I would wash, rinse and comb the tangles out of my hair, then roll it on rollers and sit under this hair dryer. It was really a cool thing to own one of these hair dryers! ha!

My mother and I had the best laugh over this. I just wonder if any of you out there remember this hair dryer?

I Promised

I think I promised a few posts back that I would photograph my collection of Easter eggs "up close".

These eggs are very special to me because they were painted by a dear, dear 80-something year old lady at our church and given to me as gifts for the past six years.

I didn't get one this year. She broke her ankle, had surgery on the ankle, and didn't paint as many eggs as she usually does every year. She said she starts painting Easter eggs right after Christmas and starts painting Christmas ornaments right after Easter so I guess she paints all year!

She did paint one for Paige this year and has every year since she's been born. I was very happy about that. I didn't photograph it before I gave it to her but maybe I can "borrow" it one day and photograph it. It had a bluebird on it and was very sweet.

This tradition goes way back when my girls, nieces and nephews were small children. I ordered eggs from her every year for my two girls, two nieces, and a nephew until they were twenty-one. Then I started ordering them for Paige and she just started painting one for me every year about 7 years ago. Plus I've been receiving Christmas ornaments for a few years from her, too. I will post pics of them when it's closer to Christmas. They are gorgeous, too.

She is married to her second husband but a little while after her first husband died, I asked her if I could come watch her paint. She told me that she painted every Wednesday. She said she would love for me to come visit. It was a very interesting visit to watch how she does it and she has two kilns (one as a backup). I had never seen a kiln until then. She used to enter her work in the fair and always won blue ribbons but doesn't do that anymore. She does beautiful work and I wanted to share it with you. Hope you enjoyed the close examination of each egg. The photos do not show it but my name and the year with the word Easter is on each egg, either at the top, bottom, or side. I treasure these beautiful eggs.

Coincidental Day

I've been searching my mind for something to post today. I felt as if I had nothing interesting to post because I just felt like I did nothing productive (or interesting) today. I had low energy. I kept telling myself, I'll eat, do my laundry and then go upstairs and sew. I made all my phone calls I needed to make, checked my email, checked my blogs, checked FB, more laundry, eat again, still no sewing.

Then I decided I would just not beat myself up for not doing any sewing, that I was just not in the mood for it today for some reason and I just wanted to lie down and read. I picked up this book (pictured above) that I've been reading a little now and then for a couple of weeks. This is a book about the shootings at Columbine. When I read today, I finally reached the section in the book when the shootings took place and realized that on the 20th of this month, in three days, it will be 10 years since this event happened! My goodness, where does the time go? It really does not seem like it's been 10 years since this happened.

The dictionary defines coincidental as happening by chance without being planned. Taking time today to go back to this book and reading about the date all this horror happened at about the same time 10 years ago IS completely coincidental. I don't know why but things like this just amaze me and confirm my belief in a higher power in this world. Maybe I was not meant to sew today. Maybe I needed to read about this incident that really happened in our world 10 years ago and reflect on it.

I've made my post for the day so back to my book!

NOTE: Last night while taking pics at Disney on Ice, my youngest daughter and I "shared" shooting photos with my camera because Paige would sit in my lap part of the time and in her lap part of the time. To me, photography is the most challenging under the conditions we were in last night. Emily got the best photos and she told me she was shooting in a flash off mode. It was so dark in there that I could not see very well to turn my dial on the top to the different modes. I thought I had it on just auto pics and I had accidentally put it on flash off mode. Those were the best pics in the group. So I learned something about my camera operation and I will investigate it further in my operation manual.

Disney On Ice

I was invited to go to Disney on Ice tonight with "you know who"! Paige-ee-poo and her mommy and I had a grand girls' night out.

First came Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, etc. in a cute little red car that was broken and then the Cars came out and fixed it. Very cute.

The Little Mermaid was next and we had colored bubbles and Sebastian and Flounder and all the cute little sea creatures. I love the Under the Sea music.

Then The Lion King was next with the African drum beat. It was the loudest of all.

They gave us a little break and last was Tinkerbell, which was Paige's favorite, she said. All the costumes and sets and lights, etc. were very magical and I imagine even more magical to a child.

We bought a Cinderella princess-type flashing light toy, snow cone, popcorn and had a great time. I think Paige is old enough that she will remember this as a magical night. I know I did when I was a child and saw it. I still remember how much I loved the costumes and lights and all the colors. Good night, sweet girl. Sleep tight. Sweet dreams.

My 100th Post on Tax Day!

I have missed a couple of days and posted activities of vacation days in one post but today is my 100th post and it just happens to fall on tax day.

I posted this photo because today I was just thinking that life sometimes resembles a maze. The dictionary defines a maze as 1. a complicated and confusing arrangement of streets, roads, etc. 2. a large number of rules, instructions, etc. which are complicated and difficult to understand and 3. a specially designed system of paths which are difficult to find your way through.

Life does have it twists and turns. Some days seem to be just horrible and some delightful and everything in-between. But most of us just keep on trying to find our way through this maze of life.

The above photo is not mine but I liked it. It's a stock photo.

Special Little Moments

Today I took my mother to the doctor for a check-up, lunch and visit with her. I decided to take Paige along for the trip and let Paw Paw just have the day to do what he wanted. Basically, everything went pretty smoothly. We just had one period of time in K Mart when Paige was very fussy and whiny but she was just tired and needed a nap. We were in there to pick up a prescription for my mother. Paige kept asking for popcorn or cheese curls, just this and that, and she had just eaten a pretty big meal and I kept telling her no, etc. Probably everyone in the store could hear us.

Finally, after we had looked around some and gotten one thing that I needed (security envelopes to mail bills), we went over to pick up the prescription and as soon as we walked up, the saleslady that worked there leaned over and handed Paige the origami bird pictured above.

This is the second time this has happened so I knew the story behind the bird. She told me that a man makes these and brings them in from time to time just for them to hand out to customers, especially children. He just loves to make origami art and give them to the pharmacy in K Mart.

As soon as the lady handed Paige the bird, she hushed. Then she started smiling while examining this little paper creature and I could see the wonderment in her eyes. Then the saleslady handed her a sucker and she was really smiling at the kindness this lady was showing her. We both thanked her and both of our moods changed with this one act of kindness, silently given:)

We left the store happily and went to the car, got all buckled in and Paige was still looking at this creation and asked me what it was. I told her it was a bird and a man made it and it was called origami which was art made from paper. I asked her if she wanted to name the bird. She said yes. Then I asked her what she wanted to name the bird. She said Bird of God:) What a special moment. Calm, serene, thankful, peaceful, joyful and silent. You see, right before all the crying and whining and begging from being just tired and needing a nap started, she was singing:

Oh, the B I B L E. Yes, that's the book for me. I stand alone on the Word of God. The B I B L E. And everyone in the store(s), including me, was listening.

A Trip to the Lake

Took a little early trip to the lake today to check on hail damage. Here's a little expanse of water. . .

A little trip down the slide. . .

A . . .

little . . .

swinging . . .


A little driving. . .

and. . . a little ART!! Fun Day!

Easter Day

Here are our two little egg hunters taking a break to sit in the swing. They really play well together and had such a good time together. They are 3rd cousins. And Easter Bunny came to see both of them!

The Easter Bunny cake made by my youngest daughter. It was very good - coconut!

A thank you gift for my youngest daughter for caring for our pets and keeping a watch on everything at our house while we were at the beach. I bought the pot at the beach, was given the fern by my friend at the beach and bought the daisy and planted it. It turned out cute. She's going to put it in her sun room. It will look gorgeous there!

Just a cute little bunny kitchen towel I found. No, I did not make it but I liked it enough to buy it because it looked handmade.

This little Easter tree is one I've had many years and the ornaments have been collected over the years. Paige decorated it. Some of the ornaments her mommy painted when she was a little girl.

Had to include a photo of these jelly bellies because I asked my husband to get some jelly beans. He went into the grocery store and got some at one of those machines and couldn't stop the flow of jelly beans! He ended up with way too many but couldn't put them back! Guess we'll have jelly beans for a while.

And our table. Paige helped me do this, too. I think it looks pretty and just very simple.

We had a wonderful Easter with about twenty people here. Hope you enjoyed my Easter "tour". I really do enjoy holidays. I just wish my oldest daughter and her husband could have been here:( We missed you.

More of Easter

Boy, oh Boy, is this commitment! I am definitely too tired to post on a blog but I'm doing it because I committed myself to doing it every day of this year! whew!

These are a few more decorations Paige and I put out for Easter today. At first I didn't like the photo. It's dark and a little blurred and it's straight out of the camera. I tried working with it a little on the computer and I just like it the way it is because the mirrored shelf is old, the bunnies are very old and it just has an antique look. The eggs are very special. A very dear lady in our church who is in her 80s paints ceramics and has been for many, many years. Every year she has painted these Easter eggs for my children and nieces and nephews for me to give as gifts as they grew up. Now that they're grown, she has been giving me one every year even though I didn't place an order for them. She is so sweet to do it and they are so special to me. She also has been painting a Christmas ornament every year for me.
Tomorrow when I have better light, I want to photograph each egg separately so you can see the detail. They are exquisite.

But, for now, goodnite all and hope you have a blessed Easter tomorrow.

Getting Ready for Easter!

I love to decorate for holidays - all holidays. I remember a restaurant in the little town my mother lives that I visited once in which the owner had a bare tree in some sort of pot close to the front door. I think the bare branches were painted white but I'm not sure of that. But she hung decorations on that tree for every occasion or holiday including Valentine's Day. I just loved that. I think she kept little white lights on it, too.

Today I went into the attic to get out my Easter/Spring decorations that I've had for years and years and I still love them. This wreath I've had for many years. It was the only decoration that made it to its place! But there's tomorrow. . .

We are having our families here on Easter so I want to decorate and clean the house. I started with the cleaning, too, but will have to finish tomorrow because I needed and wanted to sew tonight:) Easter sewing, of course!

Happy Easter and Spring to all of you!

Back From Vacation!

This where I've been for the past 4 days - near water! We were invited by some wonderful friends to come be with them at the beach and had a wonderful time. I took around 40 photos one afternoon and chose some of my favorite ones to post since I've missed posting for 4 to 5 days. I wanted to upload more but it wouldn't let me. Don't know what I'm doing wrong or if they limit you here to so many photos to upload on one post? Anyone know about that? Anyway, the blue is just beautiful, don't you think?

On this particular afternoon walk, we saw the most beautiful flowers everywhere! I don't know what this is but isn't it beautiful?!?

More of the unusual (for me, at least) and so, so beautiful!

This is one of my favorite photos because it shows how much and how strong the wind was blowing that day. It was a beautiful day but the wind was really strong. Here is that beautiful blue again but this time in the sky.

Just got lucky and caught the sunbeams here. These flowerbeds were gorgeous and they were everywhere. I just love the snapdragons.

And finally, I got this shot for my girls. This is one of their favorite flowers and I saw only one, the perfect color for my girls - PINK!! More tomorrow!

A Cooking Tip and Sex Manual Tip in One Glorious Post!

OK, so this is my blog for the year I turn 60, right? And, what, you ask is this photo? Well. . . today I wanted to make banana bread and in my recipe I use for this most of the time, I was missing one ingredient so I had to switch recipes. This was easy to do because of the accumulation of cookbooks over 37 years of marriage. So I found one and was putting all the ingredients together. I noticed a little footnote at the end of the recipe as I was working that said something to the effect that if you want the walnuts (I like to use pecans) to spread throughout the batter and not sink to the bottom, to take about a tablespoon of flour and sprinkle your nuts with the flour and this would make them spread throughout the batter.

In all my 37+ years of cooking, I'd never heard of this. My husband was on the computer in the kitchen while I was working and he is a very good and experienced cook. He was a cook in the Army National Guard for years and cooked for big, big groups of men. He knows a lot about cooking so I asked him if he'd ever heard of doing that.

This was his comment that kept me laughing for a good while: "No, I've never heard of that. It sounds like something you'd read in a sex manual. Coat your nuts with flour before you stick your banana in!" ha!

Now I hope none of you reading this are offended but as you get older, the less tactful you seem to be and certain statements just strike you as humorous! I told my mother and she had a good belly laugh from it and she's 82 this year! I didn't think she was going to quit laughing. I guess you could just say my husband has a way with words?!?

Anyway, I tried it and it worked and I thought I would share this cooking hint with all of you who come here to read. I hope you got a good belly laugh out of it, too!

Oh, I almost forgot! The photo is of my coated nuts!!! ha!

Blah, Blah!

Now I have a sunburn look on my face so I called PriMed back tonight and they told me to quit the antibiotic. But in January, I had the same flushed look in the beginning. I think it's the steroid shot they gave me. But I feel much better and did sew a LOT tonight. I appliqued 3 baby receiving blankets and one little Tshirt to make for a two-piece outfit with capris for my great niece. Also I have a burp pad ready to trim with ribbon so I feel like I had a very productive day. Just no photos. Tomorrow I should have lots of photos on my other blog bearbearcreates.blogspot.com with all these creations! It was basically a good day except for the flushed face but I feel ok otherwise. Maybe tomorrow will be a "no - blah" today! Yay!

Blah!

No photo today. Just a short post. Sick. Went to doctor this morning and got treatment. Blah. Missed seeing my precious Erin because of this :(

Dear Old Auburn!

I took this photo when we went to the AU/LSU basketball game a few weeks ago. I love it. It reminds me of my college days and what a good time I had. I just love seeing these "kids" together having a good time "up on the roof"!

When I was old enough to go to college, I didn't want to go. I was too scared to go. I had never been much of anywhere but where I grew up and I was too insecure to go to college. My daddy told me I was going whether I liked it or not! I was so mad at him for that but now I am so thankful he did that. It made a big change in my life.

Dear Old Auburn I love you and always will! I was just thinking of you today for some reason.