2009

Once again my nest is empty. I struggle as the kids leave and go their separate ways because I know it will be a long time before I see them again since one is in TX and the other in MD. I did get a little extra time with DD as we traveled to TX with her to visit DH's elderly parents who also live down there. FIL is 87 and not in real good health. While there we got to see a lot of family that we haven't seen in years. We all enjoyed the visit.

I was happy to come home though. After having lived away from the heat and humidity of south TX, I've become a softy. I hate that hot, sweaty feeling. Somehow, 80 degrees in Dec. no longer seems "Christmasy" to me. I've become accustom to having cold weather during the holidays....and I actually look forward to it each year. I'm one of those sick people who actually like snow and cold weather. Because I was gone, I'm so far behind. I still have outside decorations to take down....and decorations inside as well.

I've thought a little about what I want to accomplish in 2009. First of all, I want to work very hard on shedding a few pounds and doing the very best I can to lower those all important numbers associated with my diabetes. I am going to concentrate on completing some quilts that I have all the blocks complete, but not put together. They were BOM projects done through a local quilt shop. I will share pics as I work on those. I'm going to limit new projects that I start, but I will allow myself to start some new ones if I feel like it is something I really, really want to do. I want my sewing to be fun stuff! Since I am the "bookkeeper" in my family, I want to get my paper work in order and shred the unnecessary clutter that always accumulates. This spring there is also a little outside painting in my future. The porch rails need a new coat of paint. And then as spring comes on, I have plans for a small garden. I hope I can also do a little better at posting to my blog. Over these holidays, I put family first because they are important.

I'm hoping for a productive 2009!

The nest.....

Oh what a happy quilter I am! My nest is temporarily filled again with both of my little chickadees. DS home from Maryland and DD home from TX. All is well and I can relax and enjoy these holidays. The stress will return when both have to travel back to their respective states!

I've been sitting in my recliner this afternoon doing a little applique. Why? Because I deserve it after doing this!
Yep, that's right.....I cleaned the driveway so DH could drive right in tonight when he comes home from work. I did it with a snow shovel and my little muscles in my fat little arms! At least I can feel like I got a workout doing it. Now this guy who lives down the street from me.....he did it the lazy way. If you enlarge the picture, you can see him in the middle of the picture.
Bet he doesn't feel as good as I do after that workout I had!

This snow really adds to my Christmas decorations out front. I don't do a lot, but snow really adds the true seasonal touch.
I'm surprised the decorations are still there after all the wind we had over the weekend.

In my last post, I shared some pictures of ornaments and my tree. How about a look at some of my other decorations! I don't do elaborate decorating, just enough to make it feel like Christmas.

I collect Nutcrackers. None of mine are expensive originals. I just look for ones that I like and I look for variety. These guys sit in my entry.
I put the rest of the collection on my mantel.
My MIL always had what she called little pixies hidden around her house and on her tree. She had the kids look for them. Several years ago I found one just like hers at a little variety store, so I bought him. He sits on the railing at the foot of my stairs.









Later I found a couple more of the little pixies and they also help decorate the stairs.










See the blob of brown in the photo above....well, it's this guy.....hanging around on the railing opposite the pixie.
I've put my table topper on the dining table. I pieced and handquilted it several years ago. I won the centerpiece at a Christmas party last weekend. It's fresh greenry and smells so nice.
And DH brought me this poinsettia, so I set a few other holiday items on the counter with it.
Last year I found this wooden tree. I stained and finished it and this year put a few decorations on it. It sits in my sunroom.
I have this Norfolk Pine in my living room and each year I put bird ornaments on it. It's difficult to see some of them with the drooping greenry. This plant doesn't look so good this year. I need to give it some TLC!


And this year I found these bells and I decided they should hang on my backdoor.
I'm a fairly ecclectic person and it shows in my choice of decorations. I have one more thing to put out. That's our nativity scene. I'll share that when I put it up.

Life has been so busy at my house. We made a trip in mid-Nov. to Austin, Texas for the official swearing in ceremony for DD. It was so nice and DH and I are so proud of her.

We rushed back home so I could begin to prepare for Thanksgiving......and so DH could return to the deer lease for the last 5 days of the hunt. Hunting season here is 10 days and that swearing in ceremony was 4 days after opening day. He went and hunted 2 days, came home and we drove down and back (about 752 miles each way) over the next 3 days, then he went back and finished his hunt. Isn't he a good dad?? That's why I love him! Oh, and he did get a deer. We have it processed and I use it in place of beef in my cooking.

I made it past company over Thanksgiving, and I've moved on to Christmas decorations and preparations. I put my lights up outside the weekend after Thanksgiving before the cold and snow came our way. By the way, it is 9 degrees F here this morning and we have 4 inches of snow on the ground. It's bright and sunny, but yesterday the snow was coming down sideways and it was so dreary looking.









I put my Christmas tree up last Sat. We have had this artificial tree for 19 yrs. It is getting a bit shabby looking and I had thought about buying a new one, but decided to use it one more year and try to buy the new one right after Christmas....hopefully on sale! Here's my tree.









Hope you will not mind tilting your head as I'm not good enough with the computer to figure out how to rotate the picture. Looks like my kitty had fun last night. See the one ornament on the floor.

Since I've given you a look at the tree, I'll show you a few of the ornaments on it. I decided this year that I wouldn't get out the really nice ornaments. I decided to decorate with a few glass balls, all the homemade ornaments, and those ornaments that I used in the years when the kids were little and the ornaments were things that didn't matter if they broke. One of the first ornaments we hang each year is very old and is always hung high on the tree. My husband made it when he was a little boy. For those who may not recognize it, the ornament was made with one of the old rubber jar seals and a Christmas card. This has hung on every tree we've had in the 32 yrs. we've been married. It also hung many, many years on my MIL's tree until she gave it to me.






I've made several ornaments through the years. Here's a look at a few of them.
I really enjoyed doing the cross-stitch nutcrackers. I collect nutcrackers and made several of these ornaments when I found the pattern. I also enjoy crocheting. The snowflake ornament is made with size 30 cotton thread and is about 1.5 inch in diameter.

I made 28 of these little pony felt ornaments when my son was in first grade. The teacher asked me to make them and then she put a candy cane in them so they looked like a stick horse. She gave one to each child as a gift. The pony still looks good after all these years. DS is 26.









Since I like to garden, I couldn't resist buying this ornament several years ago. I hang it low since my kitty can't hurt it.











My kids often made ornaments at school and gave them to me as gifts. DD made the little wooden bear with her picture and DS made the gingerbread bear with wiggly eyes. That one still smells so good!









With my children both planning to come home this Christmas, I wanted our tree to be one with lots of memories for them. What better way than some of those hodge-podge ornaments....many of which they made! It's beginning to feel like Christmas.

One last thing.....I used multi-colored lights on my tree this year. One child likes white lights and one child likes multi-colored lights. I just felt colorful this year when I selected the tree lights. To be fair, all the outside lights are white.

I've not been doing much stitching lately. Life has just been too busy. I'm hoping things will settle down a bit after the first of the year so I can get back to my unfinished quilting projects....and maybe have some finished items to share on this blog.

A Little Good News

Lately my posts have been so infrequent because there isn't a lot of stitching going on. Today my post is totally non-stitching....so if you are interested in something involving quilting or sewing....don't read any further.

I've shared the following picture with you about a year ago in December. This is a picture of DD and myself the day we brought her home from the hospital....Dec. 25, 1979. Isn't she a cutie!







At this point in her life, we had no idea what the future held for her. We hoped we could nurture her and teach her to be a caring and decent young woman. As she grew, she quickly showed us that she had an independent nature. She wasn't going to follow the rules of being a cuddly little thing that loved pink and wore ruffles. She was known to go in her room, remove the clothes I had put on her....and come out in her own choice of clothing. She was a daddy's girl and she loved wearing his cap. She's still a cutie in this mother's eye!
If I asked you now what you thought she might become by looking at the above photo......I bet the responses would be very interesting. I must tell you that she did have a very feminine side. There were times when she really did like to dress up in pink and ruffles.........and she loved her baby dolls. She's a doll collector today.












She even took time to stop and smell the flowers as she grew.








When she started school, she had a real drive to learn. She wanted to read right away....and she developed a love of books that continues with her today. I vividly remember her 4th grade year of school. One of her teachers recruited her to try out for a ready writing competition. The kids were given a topic to write about and they had to write an essay within a certain amount of time. The topic she was given was...."Who would you like to be like when you grow up?"If I remember correctly, she placed 3rd in the competition with several other schools. She came home and told me how her teacher had complimented her on the maturity of her essay. DD had written in that essay that she wanted to grow up to be a lawyer like Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. We weren't a family with any lawyers and we had not made it a practice to discussed the Supreme Court in our house, but we did encourage our kids to learn about the current events of the day. Again, if my memory is correct, this is about the time that Sandra D. O'Connor was selected to be a SC justice and that made a big impression on DD. I always told her you can be what you want when you grow up if you work hard enough. I thought she would pursue a career in writing or maybe in library science.

She worked hard through school, graduated from high school with honors, went on to college and got her BS in Computer Science. We were so proud when she graduated from college. She got a job working in computers, but I guess that 4th grade dream of becoming a lawyer was still very much alive in her because she saved every penny she made and one day told us she was leaving her job and going to law school. She paid her own way with the money she had saved and with a scholarship. We were so proud when she graduated after 3 long, hard years. That's her receiving her law diploma.









And yesterday she got the good news that she passed her bar exam and will officially be sworn in as a lawyer in the great state of Texas on November 18!! DH and I are so proud and in these turbulent times.....a little good news is so welcomed! Now we are hoping she will be able to find a job and become a good lawyer who can truly help make this world a better place.

Pillowcases

We have company coming for Thanksgiving. DH's brother and his family will be here with us. There are 2 little boys in the family and one of them was born on Thanksgiving. I am planning to bake his favorite cake....applesauce cake....for him to enjoy while they are here. We are going to give him $ and let him select something he would like as a gift. I also decided to make him a pillowcase. I don't want the other little boy to feel left out, so I made him a pillowcase too. I think I will let the birthday boy pick first. Here's what they look like. If you enlarge the photo, you can see that the prints I used are perfect for 2 little boys from TX.








These pillowcases are fun to make and they are nice for gifts. While I was making the 2 for the little guys.....I made one for my niece also. I had made my DD pillowcases from this fabric and I still have enough for another 2 cases.









It felt good to sit and sew! I've been in such a slump lately....not sewing or posting to my blog either.