Remember my ranch house with the pool?

It is no more..............it had to go.................MOLD, MOLD, MOLD.    Now I can build the house I have always wanted to build.  I am still working on my plans.  Hopefully, next Spring I will begin to build.  Anyway, Jason had a great time pushing it in and burying it.  It was quite the spectacle to behold.  If you have a bulldozer, you can do anything.  Did you realize someone could come to your house with a bulldozer while you were gone, and..................................when you came back it would look like a tornado had hit it?  Scary thought........................

There goes my bedroom.  You can see the narrow door that goes into the bathroom.

The front of my house looks a little saggy.

The back of the house is more than a little saggy.

  

And my patio door does not look very inviting.  Nothing ever stays the same..........change is inevitable.............



OK...............I can't wear cute high heel shoes, but perhaps I can wear

beautiful jewelery.   I found a jewelery maker named Larry Vasquez who makes the most amazing jewelery.  He uses Mediterranean corals, rubies, lapis,  southwest American turquoise and Australian opals set in 18K and 24K gold.  Take a look at these.  Which would you like to have?

This piece is called Fate.   Look at the beautiful turquoise!!!!

This is Little Red Riding Hood..................love the ruby falling from the turquoise.

And finally, Them There Rainbows.  All three are offered at Blue Rain Gallery.com.

I think I would really like to have Them There Rainbows because I love the opals.  Which would you like?

You know, you can have more than one.....................provided you have the cash:

Fate--:$19500

Little Red Riding Hood--$16500

Them There Rainbows--$18500

My Daddy always   told me he wished he had been born rich instead of so good looking.  I lost out on both.

What????????

I just came in from checking on the irrigator.  We are irrigating 600 acres of beans and corn and I have been assigned the task to check on it before dark to see if it is still running.  Sometimes it gets stuck and pumps out precious water for as long as it takes us to notice that it is not moving.  One of our neighbors called last week and said he had water running down the creek by his house, thanks to our irrigator.

Anyway, when I came into the house I headed straight to the bathroom-----just because I needed to head straight to the bathroom.  When I flipped on the light I could see there was something on the toilet seat.  I didn't have my glasses on and my first thought that my most recently potty trained grandchild had left a little present for me.  I stepped forward to get a good look and it was a green frog,  about 3 inches long. 

How do you remove a frog from your bathroom?  I don't know what you would do, but I didn't want to take my eyes off him, so I grabbed a washcloth and enclosed him in that.  I carried him outside and let him go.  Now I am wondering how he got in there:

     1.  My oldest grandson was playing a trick on Gamma.
     2.  I brought him into the bathroom on my clothes when I took a shower after mowing my yard the other
          night.
     3.  Somehow I brought him in with the clothes I had hung on the line to dry.
     4.  He has always been in my bathroom and I just hadn't see him before.
     5.  Somehow he came up one of the drains in the bathroom.
     6.  He followed the snake into the house.      YIKES!!!!
  
What do you think?

Oh, OK. I'm back. I just needed

a little break.  Thanks to all who told me they missed my posts.  I just went through a little dry period.  Anyway......................................................I do have something on my mind this morning. 
Caution:  Men....TMI   (too much information)  You will thank me for this.  Do not read this post.  Trust me,  you'll thank me for warning you!












Ok, Ladies,  Do you share my habit for wearing underwire bras?  I have been wearing them for years---out of necessity.  They seem to work well with me and I have been buying the same brand and style for years.  Its that brand that costs a fortune, but I figure that if it is comfortable, it is worth the price I pay. 

However, for the past year I have been having problems with my high priced underwires.  They must be making them cheaper because the underwires work their way out of the channel they are sewn into and they poke me.  There is nothing worse than having a wire poking you.  They really hurt!  Can you empathize?

I had been fighting that stupid wire:  tugging it back into it's channel all day long.  Yesterday evening I went out about 7pm to mow my lawn.  I  had just begun to mow and that darn wire began poking me again.  It was still hot out and I just lost it!   I stopped my mower, snapped open the clasp on that bra, pulled the straps over my arms and pulled that torture devise off of my body.   Then I threw it on the grass.  Every time I passed that wicked item I ran over it with my mower.  I would detour out of my mowing path to run over it.  The mower would just throw it to the side with the clippings.

After I had run over it a dozen times or so, it finally caught on the mower blade and I listened to the whap, whap, whap as the blade whipped it around, hitting the sides of the mower platform.  I smiled at the sound.  You take that!  My underwire rode with me for a few rounds, but when I got near the driveway, it suddenly stopped.  I figure it was thrown out into the driveway.  I kept looking for it, but couldn't find it.  I assume it is still our there, ...................it is a nude color and would be hard to see in the driveway.  I even walked out there  to look for it when I was done mowing.  I couldn't find it.  With my luck, the next time my preacher comes over he will walk into my house dragging it on the heel of his shoe..........................................

Have you ever.........................

gotten into a slump with your quilting and just want to box it all up and put it in the closet?  I don't know what is the matter with me.  I feel like I am treading water.  I have my dragon quilt and the quilt I made with mom last week sitting on my sewing table.  I have a basket of fabrics I have been using to make my Dawn Heese BOM and I tried working on a block tonight.  I put a few vintage blocks together (I purchased them Monday and thought I could put them together in one day).  I have the facing on a hand quilted flea market find 1/4 of the way on.  I have 7 blocks done on a quilt I started 2 years ago.  I have 30's pieced quilt together and waiting for borders .................I think I started that 2 years ago.    I must be suffering from ADD.  I can't stand this feeling of not accomplishing anything...............not finishing anything.  Tell we what to do before I throw everything out in a fit of despair!           Oh, I forgot I have fabric to make Jillian and Shea Lone Star Quilts. HELPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP.

I have been working on Dragon's Lair all day...............

because I wanted to get the second dragon done.  Having to rip out some of the thread painting wasted about 1 hour this morning.  I am making progress, however.  I hope to have it done today.

I have been working on Dragons' Lair.....................

but I am still fighting that #@$&## metallic thread.  Why, oh, why did I think I wanted to use metallic thread on this?  I know why.  Because it would be beautiful, rich, elegant, and difficult to do.  Why can't I just make a simple quilt?  They are beautiful too.  But I always want to go beyond the ordinary.  I want to create something unique and beautiful.  When I pieced these log cabin blocks, I had in mind to make a simple barn raising log cabin quilt.  But I changed my mind.  So here I am.........................stop complaining, Marilyn!!
Here is my progress.....................if you can call it that.

Oh, did I tell you that I plan to put  perhaps 18 dragons of increasing sizes throught the quilt?

Plan B

I really want to use the gold metallic thread on the dragons, but that didn't go well sewing through the freezer paper.  Metallic thread is so hard to sew with and the thread was shredding. 

Plan B.  I cut out the silhouette of the dragon and  ironed it to the quilt---remember it is freezer paper.  I then used a Fons and Porter white mechanical pencil and traced around the dragon silhouette.  This mechanical marking pencil is the best I have ever used---finally I have found something to mark with that WORKS!   I then sewed on the marked line and now I will have to free hand draw the inner parts of the silhouette.  The dragons may not be exactly alike, but it will be close enough.  I think this will work.  I'll post a photo when I get one done.

Working on Dragons Lair

I thought I would let you know how I am attempting to put the vision I have in my head onto this quilt.  Many times I am unable to execute my vision, but I am hoping that this will work for me.  This is the middle section of my quilt, consisting of 4 Log Cabin blocks.

I cut  a piece of freezer paper the exact shape and size of the area I want to add my quilted dragons.  I decided I would make 4 mirror image dragons in this space------one in each section of the "cross", heads faced toward the center.

I then took one section of the "cross" and drew my dragon to fit this space.  I looked at numerous images of dragons and decided I wanted a Chinese looking dragon to go along with the oriental fabric I chose for the Log Cabin blocks.  Taking bits and pieces from various drawings, I created my own dragon.  I will make photocopies of my drawing and then I think I can iron my freezer paper section onto the quilt section and quilt over the top of the design.  I THINK that will work.  I hope so.  I really enjoyed drawing this dragon.......I just wish it was that easy to get it onto the quilt.  I'll keep you posted.

 

I went today to rescue Jilli from the babysitter....................

not that she has a bad sitter.  In fact, she is very nice and competent.  I had set my alarm for 5am because I needed to leave by 5:30.  Well, I woke up at 4am.  No sense in laying in bed, waiting for the alarm to go off.  So I got up and now I am tired.  We had a good day, though.  Jilli and I went grocery shopping because I was out of milk,  and snow--a big snow--is in the forecast.  But I already knew that because I can forecast snow by the appointments I make with my hairdresser.  It is no longer funny.  Tomorrow is the third appointment I have made to get my hair colored and cut and each time is snows and I stay home if schools are cancelled.  I anticipate another snow day tomorrow.  So, when I call to cancel this appointment, I will make another appointment for next week.  When I find out what day it is, I'll let you know when we will have another big snow.  Michelle Bogowith will be calling me for my forecast.

This is getting serious.  My hair is almost to my shoulders, and my roots are GRAY----Yikes!  My mom suggested I let my hair grow out so I can see just how gray I really am.   NEVER,NEVER,NEVER............. I am  going to have dark hair when I am 90............or maybe red, or black............but never gray.  I feel too young to have gray hair, so I just won't have gray hair.  Isn't it nice to have a good hairdresser?

Fun at Gamma's

Yesterday Jason and Mamie's little ones came over for "Art and Music".  Since they are home schooled, I get to teach the arts to them.  Shea and Laine are both learning guitar, they are both making their own quilts, sometimes we draw and paint, sometimes we cook, sing, dance.  It is always a fun time.  Yesterday they helped me put up my tree and then we did some Christmas cooking.

This was the first order of business.  I took all of the butter out of the refrigerator and discovered this?  Who has been eating this stick of butter?  After a forensic dental exam on all three of them, I have narrowed my list of suspects, but that person has denied the crime.  Those are definitely teeth marks!

It was decided that Dallas would help me make a batch of fudge.  I am not a good fudge maker, but I decided to try the Hershey's Cocoa Fudge recipe because it is supposed to be the best.  It was, however, considered an "Advanced Difficulty" recipe-----using a candy thermometer.  Dallas and I followed the recipe to the letter.

Dallas is a good "cooker".  He can add sugar to a bowl like a pro.  While I stood at the stove and watched the boiling cauldron of chocolate Christmas bliss and  sang along with the Christmas songs  blaring from the CD player(the kids always think it has to be as loud as it can go) this is what was going on :  Dress Up with Auntie Rachel's old dance costumes!

Evidently all that money we paid for those costumes have been well worth the cost.  When the fudge was finished boiling and then cooling, I beat it with a wooden spoon just like the recipes said-----but it almost set up in the pot.  I did get it into the pan and this was the results:

Yummy!

I was just testing Laine's gag reflex!

If you want to come by for some homemade fudge, this will be sitting outside my door.  Help yourself. 

 Now was Laine's turn to help cook.  We made peanut butter fudge and it turned out much better.

Really yummy. 

Shea and I decided to try another batch of the Hershey's Cocoa Fudge.  This time I didn't rely on that candy thermometer--I think it needs to be thrown away.  I did the old "drop a bit in cold water and watching it make a soft ball" and it turned out really well.  Not gagging this time. 

Are these the teeth of the crime?

Busy Time of Year!

I have really been busy this week. Monday was my quilt guild meeting which was a lot of fun.  I took Jason to the doctor Tuesday. Wednesday I had supper with friends.  Thursday I had Jason's kids over and we made 4 batches of cookies and they gave some to neighbors.  Today I am appliqueing my 4th Dawn Heese BOM.  I kept thinking that applique was easy until today.  I did a rooster and there were some very sharp points.   Very bad---I did very bad.  I even have an applique book that tells how to do sharp points, but mine turned out really bad.  Hopefully I will get better with practice. I would post a photo of this block, but I can't find the battery charger to my camera.........................I vaguely remember thinking to myself that THIS would be a better place to keep it than where I usually kept it.  Guess what?  I can't remember what THIS is.  Talk about frustrating. I keep searching for it, but no luck yet.  Gotta go and look some more for my charger.

Halloweeeeeeeeen

Don't ask......................................you may hear more than you want to know.

There is something terribly wrong with me.................................

Rachel called me yesterday and told me their small town's merchants were going to have treats for children from local day cares and babysitters if they would wear their costumes and promise not to trick them.  I had to go and see my babes in their costumes and help Rachel as they went trick or treating.  Guess who remembered her camera. but forgot the SD card?-------it was still in my computer.  I was so disappointed.  Garrett was a dinosaur and Jilli was a butterfly.  They had such a good time and the merchants were so generous.  It was so nice that the little ones could go during daylight hours and not have to compete with the older kids.  Rachel is going to send me photos to put on the blog.  I really think Rachel had as much fun as the kids.  I wouldn't have missed this experience for the world.  I'm glad I went---it would have been easy to stay home.  I took each of my grandchildren a small bag of candy.  I told Garret about it and he asked me why I had brought them candy.  I told him that I just wanted to give them some Halloween candy.  Garrett told me, "Awwwwwww   that is so nice of you."  Isn't that sweet?

I survived...........

and am doing well.  The worst part of the procedure was having to get on the scales.  As a former nurse, I know that I have the right to refuse any treatment, test, procedure that I want..........................so I always refuse to be weighed at the doctors' offices.  I get lots of irritated looks from nurses, but hey,  I know my rights and I don't want to be weighed.  (I threw my home scales away a few years back because, evidently stepping on and off the scales wasn't enough exercise to cause any weight loss.)    
      So, back to what I was saying.....................I'm a former nurse and I knew the anesthesiologist would need my weight to calculate my anesthesia medication dosage. So I was weighed and WHOA!  It's enough to make me cry.  Oh, well.  I told Jason and he told me I need to get back on my bike.  I have been thinking about doing that again.  I used to love biking on the Katy Trail, in fact I would ride from Columbia to McBain and back and one time I even rode from Columbia to Rocheport.  It would be fun to take my grandchildren to ride with me.  They would like that.
     Rachel took me for my surgery, got my meds, and even got me a Jimmy John's............I was getting hungry............you know, NPO after midnight and all. She was so sweet to me.  It was really painful for me to get out of the car and walk into the house, but within 20 minutes I got up and was able to walk. I did just fine.  They gave me a really neat icing contraption and it felt so good.  Shea came by today and that made me feel much better.  I took the bandage off today and I have 3 small wounds, each one neatly fastened with one tiny stitch. 
     I have laid around all day, icing my knee and resting ....................and thinking about that number............you know the one.....................that number on the scales.   Yuk

Too much spandex to be seen on the way to church..........

\

bike race?   what bike race?

I'm cleaning today!!!

Sorry to bother you, but since I have a new (old) house that I have been living in for the past 3 months, I have had to adjust my cleaning to meet my new situation.  I have never been a fan of carpet, so before I moved in, I tore out all the carpet and replaced it with a vinyl flooring that looks like wood.  Pretty neat.  The rest of my house is pergo or vinyl..................................so I bought a Swiffer.  My daughter had been singing the praises of swiffering for a long time and I thought I would give it a try.  Let me remind you that I live on a farm.................so don't be grossed out when I tell you my mud room may have anything from dirt to manure to dog hair.  My house always has thread on the floor because I sew a lot.......................and on any given day there is a parade of pickup trucks, SUV's, Tractors, combines, gators and whatever going within 30 feet of my house--and most of them go by multiple times...................and the dust flies every 20 minutes.  Back to my swiffer.  I love seeing this. 

mud room

living room/dining room

No, seriously----------------I love this because I can actually see how much dirt I am removing from my house.  It is very satisfying...........its like instant gratification.  I thought you'd appreciate this.

 I also made a discovery yesterday.  I was canning apples and I thought I had "Fruit Fresh "in my cabinet, so I found it, grabbed it, and began sprinkling it liberally on my apples to keep them from turning brown (oxidation).  After I had cooked them for a few minutes, I could tell something was wrong...............they began to fall apart.  I looked at my "Fruit Fresh" and discovered it was really citric acid to be used in canning tomatoes.  I canned them anyway, thinking they would be ok, but I began to worry about them so I checked out citric acid on the Internet:  It can erode the enamel on your teeth ( goodbye 6 pints of apples) and it can get rid of hard water spots on your sink...................................I have HARD water, so I sprinkled the rest of the bottle on my kitchen sink.  It was really gross..............I wish I had a photo of it.  Much to my amazement it took every bit of it off and now my sink is shining like new!  So, my two new favorite cleaning products are: 

Citric Acid and Swiffer Wet  Cloths

........................I thought you might be interested,  perhaps shocked, but interested..............oh, never mind.  This is what happens when you live alone and have no one to talk to,.........................................

Cereal can mean many things

I told you that many times I eat cereal for meals.  It's quick, easy, little cleanup, and I really like cereal.  But there are different

types of cereal meals:   Take this one for instance:  small banana(fiber), blueberries(antioxidants), and cereal(do you notice the box says "lowers cholesterol).  Never mind that this is a sweetened cereal..............the good outweighs the bad................besides it say "honey", not sugar on the front of the box.  This is a good Breakfast Cereal Meal!

     Then there is the  Cereal Meal for those of us who worry about our bone density and the prospect of spending our golden years at the orthopedic clinic.  Milk is good for you( Calcium, Vitamin D) and if milk is good for you, just think how good Heavy Whipping Cream must be!!!!!!!!!!!!  I call this my Lunch Cereal Meal.

     Furthermore, there is the Cereal Meal  that is good to eat for dinner because it is supplemented with that energy booster, sugar:  the Dinner Cereal Meal.

     My fourth Cereal Meal is called  "Dessert Cereal Meal"  This is good when you are happy, sad, sick, tired, frustrated, bored, mad, lonely, depressed, or when you get back from trying on swimsuits at the mall.  Marshmallows are mostly air, so it doesn't hurt to add a few to make you Dessert Cereal Meal extra special.

Oh, you might need an bigger bowl..................

Report on my new potato pot

Just to let you know, I used my new potato pot yesterday to bring my applesauce to a boil and it did not stick one tiny bit..............................well worth the money I paid for it!!!

There is something terribly wrong with me.................................

As I was driving home from shopping this evening, I got to thinking about some of my purchases.  I bought some spools of thread.  Count them..........Count them again.    What do you think they cost me?  I also bought a new coffee maker because my old coffee pot wouldn't heat up this morning.  Look at it carefully.  What do you think it cost?  Now think back to a few days ago when I blogged about my incredibly expensive potato pot.  Believe me, I am going to have to name that pot in the will to keep my kids from fighting over it----it was that expensive.  Several weeks ago I bought a new toaster.  I'm embarassed to tell you how expensive the potato pot was.  The coffee pot cost $8, the toaster $6 and the 8 spools of thread..............................are you ready for this?????..........................$70..........................no that is not a typo.  I don't have a dishwasher because I don't want one.  I could afford one, but I don't want one.....and that's final!  I hang my laundry on the clothesline and I drive an 8 year old SUV.  What in the world is wrong with me??????  Let me hear from you---it is cheaper than a therapist.