A Free Skirt...

One of my projects was making a new liner for the hammock. We have a hammock frame and it had, note the word 'had', a cloth that you laid on. I'm calling it a liner because I can't think of another word to call it. That fabric aged being out in the elements and eventually tore through. We tucked the frame in the corner of the patio and saved the old liner for me to use as a pattern.

While at the fabric store, I checked out fabric in the really marked down section. I found a nice piece of denim and purchased what I thought it would take to make a new liner. I also got the hem tape to stitch on the edges.

I made the liner and it sewed up really quite easily. However, I overfigured on what I would need for the liner. I had a big piece of denim left over. What to do, what to do???

Then I remembered another item on my to do list was to cut up one of my mother's skirts and use it for a pattern to make me other skirts. This skirt fit me to a "T". It was just the right length to wear and not fight it to keep it down. It was just a perfect fit for me.

I cut the skirt apart. I laid out the extra denim fabric and cut me out a skirt. Then I sewed it together one evening. Claude was quite impressed with my ability.

Sunday I wore my new denim skirt with a white blouse and the neat yarn necklace the Marx family gave me for my birthday. I looked pretty snappy if I do say so myself.

I've saved the cut out skirt for a pattern and will make me another skirt at some point. Yeah me!!

He's Back...

Okay, I should have posted this a week ago...but alas, I did not. But today, I shall get this blogging entry and another done.

What does one do after 45 years have lapsed since one graduated from high school? Well, if one is Claude J. Christensen, one gets on an airplane and heads to Utah to visit with old friends and catch up. Especially if one can combine that with a chance to visit with his mom and family as well as take his oldest grandmonster with him. There you have it in a nutshell. Claude made a trip to Utah and Katelyn was his traveling partner this time.

They left Kentucky and Michigan on Friday, August 17th and returned to their respective states on Friday, August 24th. They met up at the Salt Lake Airport where Gramma Bonnie was there to take them north to Tremonton for the week.

Their calendar was very full. Saturday was Claude's class reunion. Sunday was church and family. Tuesday was a visit to the new temple in Brigham City, Utah and a cook-out at young Daniel's home. I know they went to the fair and rodeo while they were there. They made it up to The Oaks in the canyon toward Huntsville for an Oak Burger. Shannon came and kept Katelyn company most of the time Katelyn was there. They ate lots of fresh tomatoes picked right off the vine in the field next to Bonnie's home. Katelyn got to see the Golden Spike Monument where the meeting of the rail lines between the east and the west occurred.

The highlight for Katelyn was the Brigham City Temple. Katelyn was actually born in Brigham City. For that reason she has had a soft spot in her heart for this temple being built. We took her there when it was under construction a couple of years ago. She really wanted to go to the open house prior to the dedication of the temple. It just so happened that Claude's trip was at the same time. Claude called to get tickets for the family to go to the open house. The tickets are free. They just serve as a means to regulate the number of people going through the temple each day so tours flow smoothly. Claude let Katelyn know he got the tickets for August 21st. Katelyn was so happy. That was the second anniversary of her baptism and she would spend part of that day in the Brigham City Temple. One happy young lady there. Katelyn is in the white dress and in the background sitting on the wall are left to right: Brian, Shannon, Daniel, Lynette, Joann (standing taking picture of Claude taking picture of Katelyn) and Bonnie in the red dress. One of life's simple joys is when moments are just right.

Before Claude left on his journey, I got my ducks in a row for a week to myself to fill pretty much as I pleased. Not wanting to waste this precious time, well, some of it I would deliberately waste but most of it was full of productive things, I prepared a clipboard with some notebook paper and made lists of things I wanted to accomplish. This was pretty much a pie in the sky list. I knew I wouldn't get anywhere near all of it done but I knew it would help me to pick things to do that needed to be done as the spirit moved me to to accomplish something else. My list turned out to be two pages long. Goodness!!!

 

Before Claude left I tackled two projects I've been wanting to accomplish. Before heading up to bed I pulled out the clipboard to scratch these things off the list. Can you believe it??? Neither of the things I accomplished were on the list. Geez!!! I could only laugh at the silliness of it all.

 

When I left Claude at the airport Friday evening, I stopped at Hobby Lobby in Florence, Kentucky and picked up the items I needed to make my own stencils. Then I came home and relaxed for the rest of the first evening.

 

Saturday was the day Nissa came to pick up Paul and Aubrey. Andie and the Mini's came as well as Papa and Tiny. I filled my morning finishing up getting ready and my afternoon and evening enjoying family. I've blogged about that day previously.

 

Sunday was church and I played the organ for the first time since getting the calling to play every other Sunday. That was great fun. I spent the afternoon with Papa and then back out to the house for the evening.

 

Monday was my training at the Scott County Extension Office for my upcoming term as president of the Countryside Homemakers Club. That took all morning. I treated myself to lunch at Fazoli's, a quick stop at Walmart for some crafting essentials, then I hurried home for a visit with my new visiting teachers in the afternoon. Monday evening found me creating a stencil for my bricks. That took about three hours of the evening. I ended my day by curling up in my bed and reading "The Hobbit" for an hour. I really wanted to finish that book before the movie comes out this winter. I read it long ago but needed to refresh this tired old brain.

 

Tuesday was Family History Center day. Claude normally would have gone with me for that but, since he was out-of-town, Papa joined me. We actually had a day where no patrons showed. I spent the bulk of the time typing Mimi's journal and Papa read a book. The last hour however I placed my computer in front of Papa and we recorded him talking about the church in his personal history. I took him to lunch after we closed the Family History Center. Then he headed back to Georgetown and I headed to the fabric store for more crafting supplies and fabric. When I left Walmart on Monday, I only took one bag out with me thinking it had my few items in it. I didn't realize until Monday evening after my company left that I only had the dish liquid to clean my bricks with, everything else had to be at the store. I called Walmart and they knew about my other bag and said I could check on it Tuesday. So Tuesday on my way to the Family History Center I stopped and picked up my scrub brushes and ribbon. In the evening at home I spent two hours cleaning soot covered bricks. I read some more in my book that evening and watched Angels and Demons on the television.

 

Wednesday I worked in my home all morning on my to do list. In the afternoon I sang with Papa at the nursing home. Wednesday evening I painted my bricks with black paint, read some more in my book and completed more crafts.

 

Thursday was my day at home. I stayed in my pajamas all day long. Just gotta love a pajama day every now and then. I stenciled my bricks and completed more of my to do list. I got a lot done on organizing my things to be president of the Countryside Homemakers. I made phone calls and created documents in my computer to, hopefully, make that position go more easily and smoothly this year. I finished my book. In the evening I watched Rock Center with Brian Williams. They did a piece about Mormons. They tried to be fair. There was a lot unsaid that would have made some things clearer. I found myself remembering when John Kennedy ran for president. He was Catholic and I still remember all this hubbub about him being Catholic. I remember thinking way back then, "What is all this about his religion?" I knew good Catholics and just couldn't wrap my head around all the hype about 'how could a Catholic be president'. I'm feeling the same kind of things about this stir about Mitt Romney. We'll see what happens on election day.

 

Friday was the day to pick up my hubby. I was able to accomplish a few things in the morning. Then I headed to the Cincinnati airport in the afternoon and retrieved the big guy. I parked my car and went into the baggage claim area. I positioned myself in a different location than where I would usually stand so I could see Claude come up the escalator and, just maybe, he might not see me. I kept turning back to see the baggage claim area as the escalator was flooded with people on what I assumed was Claude's flight. At one point when I turned to look at the baggage claim belt to be sure I didn't miss him, I started to turn my head back to the escalator and who should I find watching me watch for him...you guessed, Claude was watching me. How he did that I'll never know but I felt like I did 42 years ago when I was watching for him to get off the plane in Shreveport, Louisiana and he managed to get past me. For a big guy he can be pretty stealth-like.

 

We both had good weeks, we both filled them to the brim with things we wanted to do and some things we had to do. Life was good for us that week.

A Circle of Stars...

I just love Moravian stars. I think they are absolutely beautiful.

I first saw them and knew what they were when Claude and I visited Old Salem in North Carolina. I purchased one for our Christmas tree.

Andie found directions for making them and eMailed the link to me. I saved the link while I looked for ribbon to make them with.

They don't make a lot of the paper ribbon in 3/4 inch widths. They still make it for the curling ribbon but not the old paper ribbon we used to wrap presents with. I finally found some in Walmart this last Christmas. I wanted white but they never had white. So I purchased red, blue, green and lime green.

I set to making star after I found the right ribbon. It took me an entire evening to figure out the instructions. There is one place where you must flip the ribbon just right or the center of the star doesn't stand as it should. Once I got that part down I was off and creating.

I filled a big box with stars. Why so many stars you might ask? First, I make a handmade ornament for the people on our block, the people Claude and I work with at City Hall and in our community and the people we visit teach and home teach and serve with at Church. It totals up to needing about 50 of whatever ornament I happen to choose to make. This year I'm giving everyone a star that has a string threaded through one of the points to  hang on their tree. Second, the pattern came with a picture of a cute wreath made out of Moravian stars. That was something I was sure I needed to try. So I filled my box with all kinds of colors of stars.

As the year wore on I realized our Countryside Homemakers would need four Christmas items donated from our club for the Membership Auction. I thought I could make a wreath out of the stars for that. Then the Countryside Homemakers decided to set up a booth at Sadieville in September on September 8th and use the proceeds of the items we sell that we donated for the book pack program to feed needy kids at the public school. I could make a wreath for that. I also wanted a wreath for myself.

I hit the craft store and purchased 4 wire wreath forms. I came home and spray painted them silver per the instructions for making the star wreaths. I purchased 4 spools of ribbon with wire in it from Walmart in 3 different colors. I pulled out my hot glue gun. Today I finished the last of my wreaths.

The colors in this picture are kind of skewed. What appears as purple is really a nice royal blue.

The first wreath I made is the bottom right and it has all the colors of stars in it. The second wreath I made is the top right and that bow is blue not black. The third wreath I made is the top left and was only done in the two shades of green with an occasional red star. The intent was to have it appear like holly. It will look that way to me but may not to others. The last wreath I made is the bottom left and is all blue stars with a silver glitter bow. My intent is to find something with the University of Kentucky logo hot glue it to the two blue wreaths. That should make them sell like hot cakes. We do 'bleed blue' in this part of Kentucky.

I'm planning on keeping the wreath that is supposed to look like holly. The others will be donated for the other purposes mentioned above.

Now I will have the rest of the year to string the other Moravian starts so they can be Christmas ornaments. Yeah me!!!

A Brick At The Time...

Sadieville has a Rosenwald School. I have blogged about ours before. 

Rosenwald Schools are one-room schools built many years ago when Arican-American children had no school to attend. Julius Rosenwald gave Booker T. Washington permission to use some of the money he donated to Tuskegee Institute for the construction of six small school is rural Alabama. These were built in 1913 and 1914. Pleased with the results, Rosenwald agreed to fund a larger program for schoolhouse construction. In 1917 he set up the Julius Rosenwald fund. By 1928 one in every five rural schools for black students in the South was a Rosenwald school. These schools housed one-third of the region's rural black students and teachers.

One of these precious schools and a vital part of our nation's history is located in Sadieville, Kentucky. We are trying diligently to refurbish this school to use it for a history learning center, display of the African-American history that is rich in Sadieville and connects with Nicodemus, Kansas.

In October of 2011 we had enough funds to replace the roof on our Rosenwald School. During this process the chimney simply disintegrated and fell off the roof onto the ground.

After finishing the roof replacement, I collected the potentially usable bricks and placed them in two boxes inside the school. It just seemed there would be a way to utilize them in the future.

For this year's September in Sadieville, to be held September 8th, I determined to clean some of those bricks, paint and stencil them, and then sell them as a fundraiser to help with the restoration. They could be used as door stops or simple decorations.

Claude brought the boxes to our home and placed them on the patio. Then, bless his kind heart, he chipped all the old mortar off the bricks and stacked them as he used to stack hay as a youth on our back porch.

This week I sat down Monday night and made an outline of the brick size with pencil and paper. I cut that out so I knew what surface area I had with which to work. Then I set to work to find a simple picture of a school building. I looked at pictures I have taken of our Rosenwald school and clip art pictures found on the Internet. I then created a drawing of simple one-room building that I felt comes close to our Rosenwald School. I purchased a stencil of letters at Hobby Lobby. Putting my school drawing and the letter stencil together I came up with a stencil pattern for the bricks. I traced this onto stencil paper and then cut out my stencil with an Exacto knife.

Tuesday night I went out to the porch with an old ice cream bucket, Palmolive dish liquid, and scrub brushes in my rubber glove covered hands. As fortune would have it, that happened to be a cooler evening and it was quite pleasant to sit and scrub 24 of the best of these bricks with soap and water to get the soot off them.

Last night I brought the 24 bricks into my family room and placed them on our card table which I had covered with old paper. Then I painted the best large flat side with a coat of black acrylic paint.

This morning I stenciled with white acrylic paint the words "Rosenwald School - Sadieville, KY" and a little picture of the schoolhouse.

I'm very happy with the results and hope they provide much needed income to help with our continued refurbishing of our American history treasure.

Oh Deer...

Monday evening as I stood in my kitchen making a few phone calls, I looked out my breakfast room window. When what to my wondering eyes should appear but 4 tiny reindeer. Actually, it was a mother for sure, two spotted fawns for sure and one that looked like a teenager. I'm guessing on the teenager but it seemed that way to me.

This is one of the spotted fawns.

And the next picture is the teenager. I was standing on the upper deck taking the pictures. The teenager kept looking up as the flash would go off. I loved this picture with its ears all perked funny.

It was one of those moments where living in the country gives you a little measure of joy. I just know if Bailey had been here she would have been ooooing and aaaahhhing over Bambi. 

That Family Thang...

Saturday I was blessed with a few hours of family time. It was the weekend for Aubrey and Paul to be returned to their mom, Nissa. They were due to arrive between 2pm and 3pm. Andie and the Mini's were going to come and spend the night with us so the cousins could play together. I also invited Papa to join us Saturday evening for dinner and fun. Nissa and Andie would head to their respective homes Sunday morning early.

We filled our time with food, games, movies, and fun. I only took a few pictures. The first one was of Hayden. He noticed that Claude was not going to be with us. He climbed up in the rocking chair where Claude likes to sit. Then he announced we should reassign seating since Pa was not here. He determined he should get the rocker. I took a picture and eMailed it to Claude to alert him of the new change in seating assignments.

I put a nice roast in the crock pot that morning. I also put rolls out to rise during the day. Andie made a slaw out of red cabbage. We made some mashed potatoes. My home smelled sooooo good. We enjoyed dinner not long after Papa arrived. This then gave us the rest of the evening to play.

While we were eating dinner, someone asked if I could give them a haircut that night. Then someone else asked if they could also get a trim. Hayden heard these questions. Then he said, "Does anyone have a wallet?" That caught every one's attention because the question didn't seem to fit with the conversation. But it did fit. Hayden paused after the question and when we were all looking at him he gave the follow-up comment that explained his question. He said, "It seems someone should be paying Ma to give all these haircuts." We all cracked up. Andie assured him that Ma was happy with a hug and a thank you for giving hair cuts. It was one of those cute moments I'll remember forever.

Aubrey listened to Papa share stories about his life. He was so happy sitting on the sofa with his arm around her as she listened to him sharing those stories.

Aubrey and Paul took the Mini's out for a round of blowing bubbles. Nissa brought the Mini's each a little pail with bubbles to be put in them. The kids used all those plus my big jug of bubbles stuff.

Hayden and Paul are growing their hair out. Aubrey spent some time combing Hayden's longer hair for him.

Paul showed us the tie-dyed T-shirt and cap he made this summer.

Hayden and Paul watched a Harry Potter movie while Bailey curled up in my bedroom to watch her show giving the adults some time to talk. We had ice cream. The grandmonsters would have a sleepover in the basement. It was a full evening.

Sunday morning we had a big breakfast together before everyone hit the road. I pulled out paper and the kids colored the letters "H" "I" "P" "A". Then the kids lined up on the front porch for a picture to send the Claude (Pa) that said "Hi Pa".

It was great fun to have this time with family. Come on Christmas...

Epilogue:  Sunday afternoon I went to Papa's apartment for a visit. I asked him if he had a good time. He grinned really big and said he did. I told him that Andie commented Saturday evening that he seemed perky and even added some humor to the evening. Papa then grinned more and said he did have a great time. He even commented about a moment when Aubrey looked up at him and said, "I love you, Papa." He was very touched by that sentiment. I think it was the happiest I have seen Papa since Mimi passed. Good stuff this family thing.

The Telephone...

I know I have commented about the use of electronics. I did not realize how dependent I had become on the use of them.

This year I will be the president of our Countryside Homemakers Club. There are about 15 of us in our particular club. I wanted to contact these ladies to remind them of the commitment we made at the May meeting to provide five craft items each to donate and sell at September in Sadieville on September 8th. The proceeds are going to the Back Pack Program at the elementary school to help provide food for needy children.

Normally, I would have everyone's eMail and pop the exact same message to everyone with encouragement to call with questions. Most of these ladies do not really do the eMail thing. It dawned on me I needed to slice time out of my day to make 14 telephone calls (I really didn't need to call myself.)

As I sat calling and speaking to or leaving a voice message, I realized how out of the 'phone calling' loop I have been. I do make phone calls but for blanket contact of a specific group of people I really haven't done that in a very long time.

It was pleasant chatting for a minute with the ladies that wanted to chat, quickly delivering my message to those in a bit more of a hurry, and receiving phone calls back from those with whom I left messages.

Since I'll be doing this at least once a month, I had prepared myself a grid. The grid has a place at the top for the date and the purpose of that phone call. The page then has each ladies name, phone number and a space for notes about what we talked about for me to refer back to as needed. May seem overkill to some people, but for me it helps me not worry about forgetting what I talked about with each lady and I'm sure I called everyone.

This grid happened to have an incorrect number on it for Kathy. She was our president last year. I had transposed her number and put a 74 instead of a 47 in part of the number. I left a message at the wrong home. I was not aware of this until Kathy called me back. It seems the number I called was a friend of her's from her church. Her friend knew it should have gone to Kathy, she called Kathy and related the message, then Kathy called me. I just found that amazing and funny. Kathy and I got a chuckle out of it. My list is corrected. That, my friends, is another joy of living in a less populated area.

I think I'm actually looking forward to calling. The biggest factor for me is the amount of time. I'm really used to that eMail saying exactly the same thing so I don't miss any points when making 14 calls. Plus it is all done with one send instead of 14 separate items. But I now remember the joy of actually talking person-to-person with lots of people in one day via telephone.

Look...Up In The Sky...It's A...

Yesterday morning I hurried out to get the mail. I heard a sound I'm not use to hearing in the quiet of country living. I looked up in the sky and found it.

There it was, a helicopter. It was circling and circling and circling and circling (that word looks funny when you type it that many times) around Burgess Heights. This is a street in Sadieville that is on the top of a hill.

I stopped with my mail in hand and pulled the old flower stems off three of my day lily plants in the front flower bed and it was still circling.

I stood on the front porch and watched for a bit and it was still circling.

I took my mail inside and retrieved my camera. When I went back outside, it was still circling. What in the world was going on?

Detta lives in the last house on the top of the hill on Burgess Heights. I called her to be sure everything was okay there. She had been at JoCarol's just before I called. JoCarol lives five houses down from me. Detta explained this helicopter had already spent a fair amount of time circling Eagle Bend (our sub-division) before heading over to the Burgess Heights area. I missed this because I had been in my basement during that time and didn't hear any of this noise.

I posted to Facebook to see if anyone in Sadieville was aware of why we would have a helicopter circling our quiet little 'ville'. Others were aware but not sure why the helicopter seemed to be circling so long.

I watched a bit of the evening news. There I found the answer.

Our crack Sheriff Tony Hampton was out with the helicopter doing surveillance for marijuana. They happened upon 200 plants along Hwy 32 that someone was growing. They valued the plants at $2,000 each. That would be $400,000 in product. Yike!!

I heard another story from Jessamine County where their Sheriff's Department found 154 plants but they only valued them at $1,000 - $1,200 per plant. I'm not sure why Scott County's marijuana would be worth more. Maybe it is that good clay and rock soil we have here. Hah!!

Such a flurry of activity in our little 'ville'. Happy the Sheriff's Department decided to do a search earlier in the year and cleared these plants. The things humanity does sometimes just amaze me.

You Say Crape...I Say Crepe...

This morning I hurried to the mail box at the end of driveway to get my letter in before the mail carrier came. As I turned to come back into our home this was what I saw.

Okay, maybe I should have waited to take the picture until after Claude cut the grass. But I just couldn't. This was my view and it was bursting with joy.

About four years ago we put this little plant in the ground. It grew okay the first summer. The next summer it appeared to not be alive at all. Claude ran over it with the lawn mower one summer and we thought that would be its demise.

This year it came back from a very dead state with lots of strong branches. It appeared we would have a banner year. Then the freeze hit late in the spring. Everything on it died. The limbs felt brittle. We were pretty sure we were going to lose this plant.

However, experience has now taught us that this plant is one of the last to burst back to life after shutting down for the winter, so we just let it stay to see what would happen. Eventually the limbs started coming out and it developed leaves. Then we saw lots and lots of buds. We've watched limb after limb slowly burst into color. This morning I think it is at or close to its peak.

Now, I've always spelled Crepe Myrtle with an 'e'. I've done a bit of research and found you can spell it with an 'a'. I'm going to stick with the 'e' version myself.

I also checked about pruning it. One source said, "If you don't know what you are doing, it is best to leave it alone." I'm thinking Claude and I will go with that philosophy regarding pruning this little bit of joy in our yard. If you don't prune it right you get few limbs and therefore few blossoms. I'm fond of these blossoms in great abundance and will just let nature take its course.

Hope you enjoy our bursting with joy Crepe Myrtle!!

A Tribute...

While visiting Papa this afternoon, we went through the mail he has received. A part of this mail was something from Ryan Quarles. It was on beautiful parchment paper.

Ryan Quarles is our Kentucky State Representative. He is a wonderful young man who is a farmer by profession and a lawyer by education. When I say young, I believe I could easily be his mother. When he first ran for Representative and I first met him, I had a instant positive feeling about him. He was sincere. He did not want to trash talk his opponent. He had prepared himself through service at the state capitol to be ready to take a public office. I felt really good about endorsing him.

This last week we were invited to a fund-raiser for Ryan. Again, I was impressed by his goodness. He used his time to speak with us to tell us what was happening in our state government and what he proposed to do about it Again, no trash talk about his opponent. I truly believe he just a good person.

I recognized his name immediately on these documents and the attached business card.  There were five copies of the same document.

I brought this beautiful tribute to my mother home and shared it with my hubby. I have shared it with my family via eMail and will send originals to my sisters for their family histories.

Claude and I are both very appreciative and amazed that government paused to pay tribute to my mom. A tender expression means a great deal to us. We enjoyed each card and eMail we received and have saved everyone. This tribute will be placed with these cards in mom's funeral book. Thank you to everyone who has sent warm wishes and heartfelt caring expressions.

Sometimes...Ma's Gotta Do What Ma's Gotta Do...

When we visited the Marx home two weeks ago, I was going to cut Bailey's bangs. I thought about it on the way home and realized I did not get that done.

This coming week Bailey will begin Kindergarten. I have stewed and worried and fretted over not getting those bangs cut before Bailey heads to school all this week.

Friday morning I came up with a plan and presented it to Claude. I prefaced it by explaining my worrying over this and coming up with a possible solution. The plan was to go to the Marx home Friday afternoon and offer to watch the Mini's while Andie and Michael had a date Friday night. Then spend the night and play until lunchtime. Buy lunch for all of us and then head home. Claude liked the plan and was very understanding about all my 'Ma worrying'.

I called Andie and explained my 'Ma worrying'. Andie stated she was about to try to cut Bailey's bangs herself with the understanding she may have to still go to a shop and get them cut. I then told Andie about my plan and asked if it would fit at all with their schedule. Amazingly, it worked out well on all counts. Saturday morning was the school orientation for Hayden and Bailey. They each had different times to be there. If Claude and I were there we could watch Hayden while Andie and Michael to Bailey to her orientation and then watch Bailey while Andie and Michael to Hayden to his orientation. Then we would all have lunch as planned and Claude and I would head back to Sadieville.

Claude and I packed the few things for an overnight visit. He finished his last meeting and we were on the road by 4pm. Yeah us!!

I called Andie to let her know we were on the road. She informed me that Hayden was told he would have to have a haircut before school. He has been letting his hair grow since April. Usually he wore it in a buzz cut like his dad. He and his dad went to the barber shop together to get these haircuts. Now that it is longer he was told he could go to the barber shop or he could see if Ma (me) would cut it for him. Andie said he told her he wanted me to cut his hair. Then he added, "I won't have to go out then." Such a guy!!

Friday evening Andie left us with a tart made of fresh tomatoes & pesto in a pie shell for dinner. It was very good. The Mini's picked out the 'Cats and Dogs II' movie for us to watch with them. It was a relaxed evening.

After the movie we read the next chapter in Alice in Wonderland and then the Mini's headed to bed with the understanding that haircuts would be done first thing Saturday morning. All agreed, snuggles were given, and off to slumberland the Mini's went.

This morning (Saturday) we did get haircuts in the morning. Then Claude let Hayden have his turn at the Kindle.

We did the rotation with Bailey going to orientation first and Hayden second. Bailey wore her new backpack. Please look closely at the shoes.

During these times with each child, I learned to play the Harry Potter Lego game. It is like a board game with Lego pieces. Hayden follows the rules, Bailey pretty much makes up the rules as she goes along. She is close but she likes to improvise a bit. It is a fun game.

After Hayden's orientation was finished, we all gathered up and headed to Subway for lunch. Andie had to get back to the school to cover the remainder of the day of orientation. She is an officer in the PTA. So we picked a place to eat close to the house and the school. Amazingly it took us three cars to get there. Claude and I were driving ours because we were leaving from there to go home. Andie drove Michael's so she could go directly to the school after we ate. Michael drove the van so he had carseats for two kids.

Claude and I entered Subway first, followed by Michael with the kids and then Andie. This is a big Subway and the kids had room to twirl and stretch a bit while we were in line. At one point I looked at dear little Bailey and this is what I saw...

Please note Bailey's selection of footwear. The girl does have a flare with the wardrobe.

We headed back to Sadieville after a fun quick visit. I'm much more relaxed knowing I got Bailey's bangs cut, Hayden's hair cut and Andie's bangs cut. Aaaaahhhhh...

Tread Gently...

We have Papa enrolled in the Silver Sneakers Program at the Pavilion in Georgetown. They have a wonderful track on which to walk or run. Papa goes over there several days a week and walks the track.

He went last week and found a sign on the door stating they were closed for renovations until the 13th (this coming Monday). When Papa related this to me, I told him we have a treadmill in the basement. I assured him he would be more than welcome to come and walk the treadmill if he wanted to sometime.

This afternoon I received a phone call from Papa just as I finished my last Blog entry. He wanted to know if we were going to be home. I told him yes. He said he wanted to come and walk the treadmill. I assured him he could come on out and walk away.

When he got here I took him downstairs to the workroom in the basement where the treadmill is located. I showed him how we plug it in, then turn it on.  Next I stepped up on the treadmill and helped him put the string that attachs with a clip to his clothes and a magnet to the treadmill on his shirt. If he fell while walking, the magnet comes off and stops the treadmill. Very important feature as one ages. I showed him how to set the treadmill for walking and carefully pointed out that he should NOT press any of the incline buttons. Then I explained how the display tells you how long and how far you have walked, how many calories you have burned, what your pulse rate is, and the speed at which you are walking. He was oriented and ready to go.

Papa hopped (figuratively speaking) up on the treadmill, set it for two miles per hour and then stepped onto the moving treadmill. Once I was sure he was okay, I took Tiny and headed outside so she could run the hill. When we came back into the house, Papa was still walking. Look at poor little Tiny. I'm not sure she has any idea what Papa has gotten himself into this time. Or, maybe she is wondering if she could hop up there with him!!

Papa walked for about 15 minutes total. He was quite ready to rest when he finished. He had already done several errands before he came out to our home.

We got Papa a root beer and he and I settled down in front of my computer to work on a cassette tape we are trying to transcribe.

His back started to hurt so upstairs we went. He nestled himself in the sofa and stretched out to relieve the pain. We had a good talk about his life.

Then he headed out to take the long way home.

I planned on preparing my Sunday School lesson. That didn't happen but I did have a very nice afternoon with my father.

Crafty Lady...

My pile of craft projects is TOTALLY out of hand...again!!!

I determined I would spend Wednesday morning trying to crank some of these projects out. I did that and finished what I really wanted to get done this morning.

I'm going to be the president of our Countryside Homemakers Club this year. Our previous president gave us each a little treat each month. There are at most 15 of us at any given meeting. I liked getting that little handmade treat and thought that was a tradition I would like to continue. I needed something for 9 month (we do not meet during the summer). I went through my stuff and came up with a few that I had received and or made in years past. I gathered the materials and put these crafts on my 'to do list'.

This one I cranked out earlier. It is a set of four coaster made of yarn run through monk cloth. I put a little quote in them and titled it "You 'Mat'ter... The quote is from Helen Keller and says, "I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do."  I've packaged this treat in sandwich bags, four coasters and one quote per bag.

These cute turkeys will for the November's meeting. I don't know how long ago I made one of these for our home but I truly believe it was when we lived in Denver. This little turkey has a stick inside of it. You purchase a pineapple and use it for the turkey body. You just insert the stick in the bottom of the pineapple and the leafy crown at the other end is the turkey's tail. It makes a really cute table decoration.

For the December treat I made a pattern from a Christmas treat given to Claude and me long ago in Maryland from a young couple we love very much. I made a pattern and will fill these with something Christmasy.

Another thing I needed to make crafts for is the table the Countryside Homemakers will have at Sadieville in September, which is just a month away. The proceeds from our booth will be used to fill back packs with food for local elementary school kids in need. They take them home over the weekend.

These are crayon aprons made for that booth. I bought one at a thrift store years ago and made a pattern from it. I pulled the pattern out, went through my scraps of fabric and bias fold tape, pulled out some little tablets I had on hand, and purchased 5 packages of 8 crayons each.

I'm completed some little cross-stitch projects that will also be sold at the Countryside Homemaker's booth.

Now, I'm going to clear out those projects and work on my Sunday School lesson for Sunday the remainder of today. I'll tackle my own sewing goals tomorrow. Lots of mending and things in that pile.

Happy Birthday to Me...

What does one do to celebrate turning 62????

I'm a pretty low-key person. I'm happy if my birthday is done quietly. This year I turned 62. I'm officially old enough for my Social Security check. This is a milestone.

Claude received a postcard in the mail a month or so ago with an AARP discount offer he thought I might be interested in. I taped it to my calendar on the month of July. I flipped to July and noticed this postcard but did nothing with it. As my birthday approached it occurred to me this would be a great outing for my birthday. I shared the idea with Claude and he too felt great about it.

We blocked Monday afternoon for this little trip. We drove to Cincinnati to the Cincinnati Museum. We see this building from I-75 every time we go to Michigan. The structure has fascinated both of us but we've never managed to get there. We were even more taken with this structure when we got up close and personal.

It was and still is a train station. Now it only houses the Amtrak train. But you have to look really close when inside to find the train portion. Inside in a Museum about Cincinnati History, the Museum of Natural History and the Children's Museum. There is also an OmniMax Theater and several other smaller exhibits. There are gift shops and and place to get something to eat. There is just lots of space being put to a very good use.

Our goal was to view the special exhibit about Pompeii. There are artifacts from Pompeii that don't usually make their way to this area of the country. So it was a treat. Our discount gave us a little off the cost to view the exhibit and free audio tour gear. We purchased tickets for the Pompeii exhibit and two IMAX movies.

Here are some pictures from the Pompeii exhibit. You are not allowed to use your flash on your camera but you can take all the pictures you like without a flash. I took a picture of everything. My experience in photographing in odd lighting situations with no flash is poor, fuzzy pictures. I didn't know if I would get one but I took 174 just in case I could get one. Love that digital photography.


Cremation Jars

 

Wine Amphoras

Gladiator Helmet

Statue of a Woman

Hand God Based on Indian Belief

Fresco

Marble Table with Lion Legs

Mosaic Floor Tile

Furniture & Candelabras

Cooking Pots

Red Clay Bowls

Eagle Fountain Spout

Herma

Garden Wall

Body Cast of Man & Woman

That is a morbid picture with which to finish my photo sharing but the end of the exhibit was the body cast portion.

The Pompeii exhibit was very interesting. I left the exhibit knowing these people lived well, even by our 'standards'. There were about 20,000 people living in Pompeii. It was a great trade route located on the Bay of Naples with a river running beside it. Food was plentiful. House decorations were spare. But they lived very comfortably.

We hurried back upstairs to the OmniMax Theater. The remainder of our afternoon would be spent there. We watched two IMAX movies back to back. The first was about Hawaiian volcanoes. The second was about the Arctic. They were both excellent. My memory of other IMAX experiences were of a really, really tall screen that was curved in front of you. This screen was dome shaped and you really had to lay back to enjoy the view. So much so that for the second movie we moved up another row in the seating.

As we drove home I asked Claude if he found, as I did, that most IMAX movies we have seen tend to be 'Save the....' When we went to an IMAX theater in Hawaii it was about saving the Coral Reefs around the world. Nonetheless, the movies are spectacular and well worth the price of admission.

On the way home we stopped for dinner at The Olive Garden. However, they had a wait and, quite frankly, I had not eaten anything but my bagel in the morning and therefore was not up for a wait. We walked to the next restaurant, Smoky Bones, for dinner. Salmon was my choice, not the barbecue. Excellent meal.

It was a very nice birthday celebration. Now...how shall I fill my 62nd year?

July 27th & 28th found Claude and me headed to LaGrange. It was time to enjoy the Mini-Marx's.

Hayden lost his first two teeth. He actually had to have them pulled because their roots were so long they were not giving up their place in his mouth. And, he already had two permanent teeth coming in to fill that space. Something had to give and the dentist made that happen. Hayden was a trooper. He had those teeth pulled and then he even had a friend spend the night that night. Great job Hayden!!

Claude scored a Kindle Fire as a promotional gift when he got his hearing aids. It arrived that week. He downloaded Angry Birds (which must be the most important game to little ones nowadays). Bailey curled up on her favorite cushion to play Angry Birds while Hayden enjoyed the Wii. He saved his money and purchased the next Harry Potter game. It is actually great fun to watch him work this game. I'm absolutely, unequivocally not any good at playing the Wii games. Andie was able to get a lot of errands done during this time. I managed to get another square crocheted for the baby afghan I'm working on.

Now Bailey's attention span was a little shorter than Hayden and she needed outside time. Out we went for a little fun in the back yard.

When he arrived in LaGrange, I mentioned to Andie that I really wanted to find time to take Hayden and Bailey to Dairy Queen for a meal and ice cream. The Mini's ears picked up on that from whereever they were in the house at the time.

As the afternoon wore on, Hayden realized he was hungry. He assured me we should make good on the Dairy Queen idea. I told him we couldn't go until Andie came back with the car full of car seats. He suggested we call her and encourage the completion of her errands. I called her and she was in the checkout line of her last stop. This appeased Hayden.

As soon as Andie entered the house, Bailey started her chant, "Let's go to the Derby Queen!!"  Read that carefully... Bailey is turning into a real Kentucky girl.

After a great dinner and some ice cream for dessert, the kids went upstairs to get in their pajamas and prepare to show me the new family reading chair. When they were all ready, they yelled downstairs for us to head upstairs. This is what we found.

This was a purchase for Andie and Michael's anniversary. It is a chair and a half. It was ordered from a company in Indiana. First we got some fabric samples that Andie picked out on-line in the colors and types of fabric she thought she might like in this corner. The family picked the fabric they all liked best. Then they picked the style of chair. The order was placed and within a week or so they had two boxes show up at their home. The company cuts the frame out of board from the pattern you select, they cut the fabric you picked and sew it up in pieces, they pack these items and the cushions with the air sucked out of their packaging into the boxes and ship them to you. If you have any issues, you just call and get a replacement. They have been excellent so far with this process. Hayden and Bailey helped Andie put the chair and automan together and put the fabric on it. We purchased a hardback edition of Alice in Wonderland for a family reading. The chair is a success and is quite comfortable. The cool thing is that, when Andie wants to change it up a bit, she can order a different set of fabric covers and change the entire appearance.

Now it was time to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Andie had craft ready to make and the Mini's each got their own Olympic torch. Game on!!!

Saturday morning began with chocolate chip pancakes and three crafts.

The first craft was playing with magnets. Here is Hayden enjoying his magnet.

The second craft was an attempt at a hovercraft made with an old CD, a balloon and the cap from a water bottle super-glued to the CD. The difficult part was getting the water-bottle cap glued to the CD.  The idea is to blow up the balloon, place it over the bottle cape (which is pressed closed). Then you set the CD on a hard surface and open the bottle cap. The air goes out the bottle cap and makes the CD go into the air like a hovercraft. This is Bailey counting to 30 as she holds the cap in place.

The third craft was something called Cloud Dough (I think that is right). It is made of flour and baby oil. The kids just made the mixture and enjoyed using cookie cutters and shaping it with their hands. It just smelled heavenly. Hayden asked if they could eat it. The answer was, "No, it is for the outside of your body, not the inside."

While the Mini's played, Andie harvested her garden spots. She came in with a carrot that Bailey planted. She handed this tiny carrot to Bailey. Bailey placed the carrot by her head and said, "What's up Doc?" Such a kid.

The remainder of our afternoon was spent at the Oldham County Aquatic Center.

Hayden has been taking another round of swimming lessons. He has learned to jump off the diving board and go down the tall slide. He was so very anxious for Claude and me to see these feats of daring. Here is my pathetic picture of Hayden going off the diving board.

Yep that splash in the water is my grandson. It gets very hard sometimes to watch and take pictures at the same time.

Here are a few more pictures of the water fun. Bailey is in the purple striped swim suit. Hayden has on a white T-shirt with sleeves over his swim trunks.

When we got ready to leave, the kids were shivering. We wrapped them in towels. While looking through their the bag of kids stuff Hayden brought we found a sweater Bailey shoved in there at some point. Here she is curled up on Claude looking too Cha-Cha for words.

Back to Casa Marx to change our clothes and we were off to Sadieville. A wonderful visit. I overheard Hayden say to Andie, "I think we should do this once a month."  I love my family.