It's Favorite Foto Friday!!!!

This picture is from Bridgette's visit to my house in May 2007.  She and her husband, Norm came to visit all the way from California.  We had a blast with many friends that week.  I remember we ate some crabs on paper, surrounded by "visqueen".  We played mini-golf in the front yard, a Mother's day tradition at our house.  We watched movies and caught up on life.  Everyone enjoyed meeting her hubby for the first time, though I had talked with him on the phone.  They had just been married since July the previous year, 2 days before our son was born.  Go figure, we both had "life" events on the same weekend.  

I thought of this picture of Bridgette and I for my very first Favorite Foto Friday because she blessed me this week, not unlike many times before.  I had just seen her Christmas card this past weekend, addressed and stamped and laying in the bottom of my "work" bag.  OOPS! I had held it out from the pile to be mailed that day in December.  I tucked it in the bag for safekeeping with intentions of writing a more personal note in card before mailing.  I hadn't talked with her since October.  I thought it would be a good thing to catch her up on more details than the short and sweet 10 pt font, half-page Christmas letter that was in the envelope.  Well, over the Christmas break, I never opened my bag, probably because our office was closed so why would I need to open my work bag.  Sadly, it laid in there forgotten.

Sunday I was thinking about Bridgette and about the card that I had found.  I would sit down and write that note, now having grown to letter/novella length (in my head anyways).  As we were winding down the night on Sunday getting ready for a movie and Mason's bedtime, the phone rang.  It was B.   I was surprised and yet not surprised.  We kinda have that connection.  When one of us calls, the other had been thinking of that person that day.  I will admit that it is she that actually picks up the phone more often than I.  She prefers that old-fashioned, personal touch and makes a point of taking time to connect with the ones she loves.  I tend to send "social networking" messages and emails.  And who could live without that so very personal text message?  I must add that texting has changed the communication between our teens and their parents and is very handy in many situations.  (hmmm, I'm thinking this is the future site of a link to a future blog.)

So, we chatted, for 54 minutes, as my husband pointed out.  Trust me we could have gone twice that long.   But it was wonderful.   First on the list, "where's my Christmas card?"  No, she didn't really say it like that, and I began with "Ok, so here's what happened" before she could even ask.  She mentioned that her mom in Alabama received one and her sister in Arkansas received one.  They each mentioned the  updates about the kids, etc. when she talked to them on the phone.  She was just curious why she didn't get a card.  Was Donna upset?  Did Donna have her new address?  NOPE, Donna was just forgetful and then procrastinated AGAIN.

Since that wonderful conversation I have received a card in the mail from her.   Hey B, I promise to mail yours today, or maybe tomorrow.  I love you and can't wait to come visit and hug your neck and swim in your pool and drink some passion fruit iced tea; but mostly just to visit and laugh together and make new memories.  I know you'll read this for the first time when you open the Christmas card and see this page printed on paper.  I hope you smile.

____________________________________________________

PS - Happy Birthday Aunt Kala!!!  I hope Texas is warmer for you today.

We Made a Horse

After watching a movie about horses, our son wanted to make a horse that he could ride.  I offered a stick horse from the toy store.  He really wanted to make one.




We looked at some pictures of handmade hobby horses on the web, and went to the craft store for some supplies.  He knew the colors he wanted and had an idea of what it should look like and an assumption that I could just make this happen.







So we gave it a try.  I traced a Christmas stocking onto brown paper and then cut and re-taped where I thought there should be more angle for the neck.  Then I added some more paper to make a longer neck.






I had to lay out the accessories to convince myself this was going to look like a horse.

I waited for his nap time and then got to work cutting and basting.  

I used my computer  to play with some shapes and cut the ears and eyes and used a button for the nostril on each side.

When he woke he wanted to know if he could ride his horse.  

It wasn't long before we were able to put the head on the stick and he could test drive it.

Mason really enjoyed stuffing the head himself.
I had to help stuff it tight and make it firm.

I watched several how to videos online to find out the best way to secure the head to the stick.  We sawed several notches, made a padded pouch at the top of the stick and then secured the bottom of the horse with thread in the notch.

I waited to stitch the ears on after the head was stuffed.  

If I made another one, I might try stitching them on 

before sewing the head pieces together.  

The ears and the bridle were the hardest things to get just right.

Now we have one happy cowboy.  Yee ha!!! 

First Day of the Month

With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.  ~Eleanor Roosevelt

Happy February

The first day of the month is so fresh for me.  A clean slate to start again and a new purse to organize.  No, I don’t buy a new purse every month.  I haven’t bought a new purse in a long while.  I do change my purse at the beginning of each month.  Don’t know why, just seems like something good to do, for me.  I thrive on change.  I usually don't mind when plans are canceled and I have to go to plan B.  That’s just how I roll, most of the time.

I usually spend the last day of each month reviewing the month in my head.  Going over what has happened, what was accomplished and what needs to be continued on my “to do” list for the coming month.  Well, now that I have a blog, lucky you, I get to share it. 

My FAVORITE
college basketball player.

We began January celebrating my wonderful husband’s 43^rd birthday.  (He will like the “wonderful” part.)  We woke on New Years Day and planned his day around the Penn State bowl game.   Favorite snacks would be served at half-time and dinner after the game. (His beloved team didn’t win this time.) He didn’t know that dinner would bring a welcome surprise.  Our oldest daughter had already returned to her college campus after Christmas break (basketball season) but was coming home to surprise her dad for his birthday.  With the help of friends, she pulled it off and we enjoyed a great dinner time and played games into the late night.

Other January happenings: I began my new organizing tasks, started my blog, and crocheted a scarf (from start to finish) for a gift to be given in February.   

My family and I helped with a homeless shelter hosted by our church for a week.  We got the kids involved and feel it’s good to teach them to serve by serving.

We traveled to Pennsylvania several times for college basketball games and more than those, we sat by the computer cheering while watching the live game updates scroll down.

Our younger daughter added another “brace” to her collection.  She’s been to the orthopedic doctor’s office more times than we’d like to count.  This time for a sprained thumb.  She wore the brace for several weeks and had to sit out at a tournament in Richmond.  She played ref for most games and enjoyed the trip regardless.  She’s healed now, attending practices and ready to play again soon.

We’ve enjoyed some snow days and spent several days without electricity.  We've been to ice skating lessons and made a BIG snowman and a hobby horse (stayed tuned for future blog).

We watched some movies:
Australia
Grown Ups
Lord, Save Us from Your Followers (documentary)
Secretariat
Despicable Me
The A-Team
National Treasure:  Book of Secrets

It's been a good month,  I can't complain.
God is good and His mercies never cease.  

Enjoy your day today - make it count.
I hope you cherish the quiet and the unexpected. 

Power Appreciation Day

There’s something to be said for turning off the tv for a day and see what kind of family fun you can have.  But having no power during a snow storm and no sign of repair in sight gives a new meaning to “appreciation”.

I love this cool candlelit pic of my hubby. 

On Wednesday night we had thunder and lighting during our snowstorm.  Thunder snow is pretty cool to watch.  We had the fireplace blazing. My daughter popped a movie in the dvd player and my husband had just put the oil and popcorn in a pan on the stove when darkness came.  It didn’t even warn us with a flicker.  Just OUT “like a light”.  : )    We stoked up the fire, got settled down with blankets and went to sleep assuming it would be back on sometime during the night or early morning.

After 12 hours we were told it may be another 48 hours until power was to be restored.  It did only last about 26 hours.  Was back on for 10 hours and back off again for about 6 hours the next day.  This time has provided some interesting lessons for our family.  While this event is still fresh in my mind this winter, I will refer back to this list to prepare for next winter’s storm effects.

First of all, it’s good to know where the flashlights and candles are.    Our son is a big fan of flashlights and we have many.  Some cools ones that have several light and red glow settings.  They come in handy for finding the matches for the candles.  Check out my favorite one.

A fireplace and stockpile of wood is a blessing and we would have been very cold without it.  (Our neighbor’s house temperature without a fireplace was in the 40s)  It’s good to have wood stacked ahead of time close to the house with minimal effort to bring it in.  We did run out on the porch and had to shovel a path to our woodpile but we got more stacked close to the door and were able to feed the fire easily.

A 2^nd heat source was a borrowed kerosene heater.  We used it several times to take the chill out of the room when the fire had died out while we were sleeping or away from the house for a bit.

A gas grill with a side burner was very handy to boil water for hot drinks and dish washing and to heat soup.  We could have cooked more meals there if needed.  We were plowed early so taking the car out to get prepared food and coffee was not an issue.  I just thought it was a cool idea to use it.  We will keep our propane gas tanks filled for the next event, should we need it.

Speaking of gas tanks, keeping your vehicles full is a good idea.  It would be good to keep warm, should there be no other heat source.  While my husband and daughter shoveled snow, they turned on the vehicles and charged our gadgets.  We have several with cigarette lighter adapters for chargers and a power inverter that we can actually plug something into.  While this wasn’t necessary for survival this time around.  It sure was nice to have them and our cell phones were needed because we don’t have a landline.

We put our refrigerated food in coolers on the porch with the lids up in the daytime for the cold air and down at night to keep out the freezing air.  This allowed me the opportunity to clean out the empty fridge.  I’m a big fan of a neat and clean fridge.  : )  The freezers began to thaw a little but the food never thawed.  The ice cubes and ice cream sticks got soft but nothing was lost.  There was plenty of snow available to use as ice should the food have begun to thaw.

We were happy with how calm our kids remained during this time.  One is at college and unaware of the entire event.  The others actually had fun.  They said they enjoyed being together as a family and sleeping in the living room by the fireplace.  (They did watch movies on a freshly charged laptop – we weren’t really roughing it.)  We were never in danger; maybe a little inconvenienced but always safe and warm and together.  We enjoyed the views that the beautiful snow provided.

I was content to have fun and be content.

Snow Day

It's a beautiful snowy day.  School is closed, office work being done from home.  What a great day to start a new blog.

In January I decided my word for the year was to be "content".  I want to strive to be content with what I have, AND what I don't have.  Content but not complacent.  I don't want to not care.  So I'm organizing.  I tackled the hall linen closet and "straightened" my desk.  Then after reading some creative organizing sites suggested by a friend (thanks Carol), I got an idea to begin in my bedroom and not work anywhere else until the bedroom was done.  I ordered a cube-style shelf that can hold books and fabric drawers to bring all of my craft/sewing/picture/magazine clutter into one central location.  I've purged drawers, boxes and baskets.  I've given items to friends and charity organizations and of course, some were destined for the trash.  My husband did his side of the closet (even without my asking).  He did a fine job and had several bags for donation as well.  I now have a very clean, clutter-free bedroom and it makes me very happy to walk in there.  I've dusted and vacuumed under the bed (**scary**) and behind the bookshelf and now only have a few drawers to organize and that room will be done.

Other rooms have benefited from my bedroom beginnings.  My office area has found some clear floorspace that once held, you guessed it, boxes of stuff that needed to be organized and didn't have a place.  That place was found in the "cube center".

So another task on my 2011 list was to start my blog and keep my brain organized.  That is done and I am content.