AAWWWW ;(

We are soooo mean.

We stand in the background just laughing at this adorable little baby as she tries, the best she knows how, to communicate that she would "PLEASE like to be removed from her stomach and just sit down on the chair again".

"Whatever Happens.......

... in Vegas, stays in Vegas." ??

I accompanied Michael to the big hot city in the desert this past week where he played a few basketball games against random other 17 year old boys from Chicago, Arizona, North Carolina, Southern Cali, etc.

Although there are some very fun things to do there, I was basically alone much of the time, and it was very hot much all of the time, and it seemed like my quick walking ability that I try to hone a few x each week is non-existent on the "strip". You walk for nearly 20 minutes just to get from one hotel across the street to the next one.

Michael played well about half the time and so the games were decent to watch.

My pictures turned out horrible. I have some photo studying to do.

He is off to So Cal for the next tourney and I returned home to get ready to travel across the country to my

cute nephews wedding. (no offense to my other nephews)

The hubby, Stephanie, & I will meet the Mikester in Boston where we will have a little family time.

Good idea right?

Why can't I get these pictures and the font to line up where I want them too????

I promise my next post will be more positive.

Viva Las Vegas!!!!

Skunks & Racoons & Rats Oh My

We've been having lots of fun around the homestead lately with "Critters".

I think we've spent most of our miscellaneous income on the cute little creatures as well, and I also think it had better stop pretty darn quick.

This is the corner of our property where we have a very inviting shed. Apparently the underside of this shed is an ideal place for a family of skunks to set up house.

One morning, last month I looked out my bathroom window at about 5:00am, only to see 4 cute little baby skunks meandering around on the little stone walkway outside the shed door. They promptly followed one another down a little hole that had been dug, and disappeared underneath the shed.

Since then we have caught 2 baby skunks, 2 adults, 1 raccoon, 1 cat, (which was released) and discovered a rodent problem on the inside of the house (not the shed, but the place where us humans reside). Each of these caught animals cost us $139.00 and then we had the house checked out and all the 1/4 inch openings around vents, pipes, shingles, etc. all covered and protected for another $500.00. Then you have to add all the traps, and ba

it stations, and it seems to have been a very successful month for the "Critter Guys".

This last picture shows a gaping hole in the bottom of our fence, which shows a nice, well travelled pathway for the large animals. Guess we have a job for the gardeners if Michael doesn't get it done before school starts up again.

Orange and Purple?

Here are the 2 cute little sun dresses I whipped up for the "L" Granddaughters on Saturday. They turned out a bit large but I tend to do that when making things for children.

On the otherhandgger. I on the other hand, am always planning on gway when construc

Anyway, Lexy likes orange, so I thought I'd do them both that way. We can just tell Lena she likes orange, and with purple too!ep

My New Time Moocher

I have yards and yards of cotton fabric that was once intended to make quilts. Some of this variably colored stash has been used in small part in actual quilts and much of it was used for parts of other items of clothing, or in hundreds of diverse projects over my life. Here in my garage is the bulk of this fabric semi-cataloged into colors then into drawers.

I have wondered over the past few years, if anyone even wants or uses handmade quilts anymore. I don't decorate my own home in a style that lends itself to a country feel, nor do I want more than one or two "Art Quilts" hanging on my walls for fear that each room should not look like the last one ventured into.

So the dilemma is what to do with all the creativity as well as the great fabrics and sewing abilities I have developed over the years. Yes, I have been sewing clothing for the cute little granddaughters, but sometimes I have just a small amount of fabric that needs to be highlighted and so I've decided APRON'S are my new way to use the extensive fabric stash.

Instead of the soup d'jour that is an expression, I've made up my own project d'anne for this year. I hope to make a couple dozen and give them for birthdays throughout this year. The first ones are pictured above. The bright colored one was for my DIL Kara's birthday in June, and the blue one should match my own kitchen well. If you have any old fashioned apron ideas or patterns, send them my way. BTW have you ever checked out apron blogs, or patterns on the Internet. These ladies are crazy! Oh wait ... am I now one of the crazy ladies?

I finally finished Austin's (my SIL) socks. I made him choose the yarn for them when he and Katz took me to Amsterdam last October. These are the first socks I've made from the toe up. Usually socks are knitted starting with the top cuff and then worked down to the toe. i wanted to have a little longer leg on them but didn't want to run out of yarn before I was finished so this was a good way to accomplish that task. I also made them both at the same time using one long 40 inch round #2 needle. It worked well, but I feel that I knit faster when I use 4 double pointed needles and do just one sock at a time, so I will do them toe up and on double pointed's when I make John the next pair. Sweet!

And lastly, my Stepher in a new dress that I made for her. Hope you looked real close at the blue apron above, 'cause the fabric should look familiar. It had these flouncy sleeves that we trimmed down and put a little pleat on the bottom of for a cute effect. The bottom border matches the paisley fabric (I LOVE paisley) that the main part of the dress is made from. This should be a casual dress she can wear during the school year at home and at play. And isn't she cute in it?!

Bike For Breath

This particular Saturday morning we were signed up to bike in a fund raiser for "Breathe California".

The Hubby (what a handsome guy, huh) works for a company that develops medications and one of them has a pulmonary use, hence we are on the list of possible helpers.

Here are a few of the short range bikers that He works with. The 50 and 60 milers already took off for the mountains. This bunch is going 10 or 18 miles.

We start out near the west end of the San Mateo Bridge and ride along the bay through marshes and flat lands. The paved trail must go on for miles and miles.

There are cool birds, and some smells that make me wonder if it would be worth it to live this close to the bay, but it is a beautiful ride.The airplane traffic is also fun to see coming in.Check out the clouds. I don't know what it is about clouds, but there were so many different kinds in the sky this am.

...And we're done. Off to Michael's basketball games.

Marching Tunes

Yep ... after a few years of not living in my childhood home (like 33 years), I still got awakened with John Phillip Sousa blasting in my ears this morning. Sergeant Samuel W. Kelly - 1944

My father used to love Saturday mornings and WORK. We would be enthusiastically awakened bright and early to start our day with a little marching music and a nice breakfast. Then we'd be led to the standard chore for the day (usually weeding the hill) and then making sure our rooms were spic and span before we were allowed to go anywhere, do anything, or see anyone. Being one of the "little girls", I'm sure our chores were light in comparison to the older children of the family, but Camille and I still thought we worked pretty hard.
The Drum Major at Provo High School in 1943 or 1944. Is that what got us into the marching?
What a cute skinny guy. One of these days I'll pull out a picture of me in the 70's following in his footsteps.
Joyce Mower - 1944

He was able to turn this girls head and after WWII they started their life together.

Good job Mom & Dad. (And thanks for the patriotic, memory invoking call this morning.)

Happy 4th of July !!

Costco's My Friend

Last evening when I was sewing a new blue dress for my Stepher, I had to quit in the middle and make some dinner for the fam.After 30 seconds of looking through my cupboards, fridge, and turning the oven on, I was finished.

Yes, thanks to my trusty friend COSTCO, I finished making dinner in 30 seconds.
.... and it was quite yummy and pretty nutritious I might add. Back to the sewing machine.

Gotta love it.

Latest BLURB Book

www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/740631

So this is what I spent my extra time on while I was at camp a couple weeks ago, and then continued when I came home for a few days. This is a new book all about our European vacation and we have our own pictures and commentary throughout.

I finished it and had The Hubby and Katz get it all edited for me, then I ordered it up.

Wah Lah! After waiting for a mere 6 days, it arrived last evening via my friendly UPS man. It looks as good as I thought it would.

This is my 5th Blurb book and I have yet to be disappointed in any of them. Perhaps some of the dark photo's could be lightened up a tad, but that could be my fault in the first place.

Look it up ... Blurb.com

They (the blurb folks) have just added a new service that allows you to completely design your own books say in PS4 or another design software and then just load it all up to their server. I am going to try that next so I can do Michael's photo albums with all the cute buttons, paper and extras that I did the old hand done scrapbooks with.

I am a bit fearful that it'll take me an hour per page, but hey, I used to spend that on my hand done pages, and I am sure to get speedier and speedier as I get more used to Photoshop.

I'm so excited.