Sunday, November 30, 2008

After Thanksgiving!

Wow! Thanksgiving was great! I actually got to go to Houston to my younger brother's house but David and Cassi stayed home. Amanda went with me. Cassi and Amanda were not looking foward to going to my mother-in-law's and to be honest I wasn't either. I had thought about going to Houston to join my parents there with my brother and his wife so I actually just invited myself. :) I knew my brother wouldn't tell me no. :) I did get to take Indy which was even better.

Me and Amanda left on Wednesday morning for the 8 hour drive with her driving. Everything was fine and I didn't mind her driving until we hit Dallas where it was bump to bump traffic and Amanda has the patience level of minus 100!!! It took us about an hour to get through Dallas but we made it and on to Houston we went.

Thanksgiving day was just nothing but eating and then a trip to Galveston. That was something to see after Hurricane Ike. You could see where houses used to be. There were still boats in the ditches off the highway. Trash everywhere. Sand where yards used to be. Whole neighborhoods that were deserted because they were still without power and water. The most amazing thing were the houses that did make it through the storm on the beach, the ones that are on stilts that have driveways under the house, the sand and dirt under that driveway was washed out a good five feet deep! The concret would just be huge rocks. My heart went out to all those people because they still are without a home.

The one thing I did notice about Galveston... it stunk!!! The beaches are not like the beaches in San Diego or Cancun where they are soft sand beaches. These beaches were hard packed. The Gulf is not blue like the ocean in San Diego and definitely not like the Cancun turquoise waters, it was more a green color. But I will admit the ferry ride was sort of fun as long as the birds didn't swoop down and peck your head or pop on your head!!!

I spent most of the day Friday with my brother and dad at a car show which really is not my thing but I wanted to spend time with them and me and my brother can always find things to laugh at no matter where we are. :) Amanda spent the day with my sister-in-law and mom shopping.

We came home on Saturday and that is when Amanda's driving got the best of me. I got home, told David I would NEVER travel with her again!!!! The 90-95 mph speed when the speed limit was 70 was not for me and she is a smoker and that smoking about did my nose in even though seh did roll the window down some. Overall we had fun but man that was not the fun part at all!!!

Here is the one thing I totally forgot about Houston... It is HOT there on Thanksgiving!!! I took hooded sweatshirts and ended up borrowing a t-shirt from my sister-in-law just so I wouldn't sweat to death. It is really sad to see people putting up Christmas lights in shorts and sweating while doing so. LOL I am so used to it being cold or at least cool on Thanksgiving!!!

I am glad it is all over with and now on to Christmas, my favorite time of the year. :)

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving though.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

SHOOT THE FULL MOON!!!!

What is it about a full moon that makes people act like idiots and makes my job so stressful? It is like when there is a full moon or really close to being full, everyone goes brain dead.


Not the best picture of the moon tonight. It was a harvest moon but by the time I found batteries for the digital camera from hubby having it at the races and taking so many pictures, leaving it on for extended periods of time, he ran the batteries down, the moon had turned into this. But this has been my reason for the past two days at work of being so stressed I just feel like running away. I just want to shoot the full moon and make it go away even though it is gorgeous at times.

Turning Twenty



While at a quilt shop with my oldest daughter, Amanda, who is not a quilt nut like her mom, she saw this quilt on display and fell in love. They had the kit but I told her I didn't have time to make it or the money for the kit right then. :D That next week since she does not live at home I called the quilt shop and sure enough they still had the one kit left that had the fabrics/colors that she liked so I bought it over the phone. I had hubby go by and pick it up. So while hubby went to the Texas NASCAR race with my younger brother, I made the quilt top and it goes to the quilter next week to get machine quilted before Christmas.



I just love this picture because he took the digital camera and took over 150 pictures of pit wagons which is what he is sitting in front of here. This was in the pits and he had a blast even though he doesn't look all that thrilled to be there. LOL He is the type of person that doesn't show on the outside how excited he is on the inside. I would just love one day to see him get so excited that he started jumping up and down and running in circles. He would have us all in shock! LOL But the weekend was a great one for both of us as we both got to do one thing we love... me sew, him watch a NASCAR race in person plus visit the pits.

Progress....

Making progress on the cardigan. Had to stop for a little bit because I just couldn't get in my head how to get the other sleeve on the needles and have it going the right way. :)

It clicked while working today how to do it and what I was doing and now it is off and knitting again. All that is left is the last sleeve and the front band and buttons. Then to block it which should be fun since I really do not have a spare bed to leave it laying on until it dries. Great! Back to thinking again!!! I feel a headache coming on!!! :)

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Godzilla and Sweater

While knitting on my sweater last night my husband decided there was a movie on TV that he JUST HAD to watch again! Godzilla! How many times does it take watching Japanese people talking in English but their lips are moving to the Japanese language and a really fake Godzilla knock down tall buildings before you realize it is really a stupid movie? Well he thinks it is the neatest movie around. I just laughed because the favorite word that these people were saying were 'damnit' and it was in nearly every single line. I am so glad I have something to do besides watch a movie like that to entertain myself. :)
While watching that awful movie and laughing every time they said 'damnit', I did get some work done on my sweater.

So far it has been easy to do and I like the fact that it is all knit as one piece and I don't have to sew things together. The band or neck is not on yet and the beginning of the sleeves are on pieces of yarn right now. Once I finish the body and the band do I get to move on to the sleeves and then I will tell you how hard it is. :)

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

How Time Flies!!! Can I Get it Back???

Wow, it was in April I posted my last blog!! What happened to the time between April and October. It feels like it has only been a week, maybe a month since then. Can I get that time back, please???!!!! :) Not a lot has happened since then but still I want that time back so I can do more.

I did have surgery back the end of August that I am glad for now... hysterectomy. Amazing what they find during surgery for the doctor to tell you afterwards that you should have had this surgery many years ago. Well, HELLO, no doctor would listen to me many years ago about my problems and if they did they just wanted to give me a pill to make the problems stop. I am a firm believer if you have problems like I was having a pill is not going to fix the problem! I was so happy to finally find a female doctor who listened and said after doing a D&C for a biopsy of the uterus that I had no choice but a hysterectomy had to be done and done it was. I am still recovering but am amazed that for once in my life I can now sleep all night long without waking up. Amazing what hormones will do for you when all the the other problems are gone. :) And only one day so far where the hormones were just not doing their job and I was not a nice person! LOL

Also got to go to Cancun in July which was fun but I doubt we will ever go back... way too many timeshare salesmen who will literally chase you down the street to try to sell you on them. The ocean was gorgeous. The sunrise was gorgeous. But the deep sea fishing for 6 hours out on the ocean was not fun in my book! I even took Dramimine an hour before the trip but that didn't help at all. Throwing up over the side of the boat is not my idea of fun and a cruise is not in my future as sea sickness is not fun!! Horseback riding on the beach and in the ocean was the highlight of the trip for me. Riding in the ocean is harder than it looks but so much fun. I could have done that for longer than I was allowed. :) Here is just one of many pictures I took while there of the ocean.



And one of the sunrise...

Fun!!!! And the water was the most prettiest shade of turquoise ever!


Monday, April 28, 2008

A Cocker Spaniel and Cow Poop!

That title alone should get your attention!

On Sunday we woke up to cows in our front yard. They were from across the road but in three years this the first time we have seen them get out. David shooed them back over into their pasture and I figured the excitement was done for the day. OH NO!!!

Later on in the day I let Emma and Indy out to go do their business. When I went to let them back in Indy was at the door but Emma was out in the middle of the backyard finishing up her own business. I could tell from a distance she had something on her. She is white and black and the white was no longer white! She came to the door and when she got closer I saw what she had done!!! She had found the cow poop and rolled in it!!!!!!!! She was no longer white on her back but green!!!!! She stunk and I slammed the door in her face! I went to get a wet towel to see what I could do with her as we were trying to leave. (We have no fence around our backyard just around the 8 acres the horses graze on.)

Of course when I looked at David he was rolling! He knew what she had done when he heard me say "Emma, what have you been in?". He thinks this poor dog is stupid anyway and I have always taken up for her but now I am thinking she is really stupid!

As I was cleaning her off Indy was looking at her like "I tried to tell you not to do that but you wouldn't listen". I got her cleaned up and we left. I asked while in the truck why didn't Indy roll in it and David laughed when I answered my own question... "Because she is a cow dog and knows better?"

I know Cockers are not known for their smarts but are known for their looks and Emma is a very pretty parti black and white cocker but after her roll in cow poop, her smarts of what I thought she had went out the window. She is my dog that when a brand new bag of dog food comes in the house she will sit and stare at it like she is going to levitate that dog food right out of the bag and into her mouth! She will sit there for hours on end staring, so where did my thinking come from of thinking this dog was smart!!!!!! I love this dog to death but I think her nose needs to be checked for smell as she thought that cow poop was perfume for a dog and she was totally wrong!!

Thursday, April 24, 2008

WOW!!!!

That is about all I can say is WOW!!


Have you ever forgotten a password or login to something like your own blog?? Well I just did and believe me I don't think I will do that again. Granted it has been months since I have been here to write anything so I guess I can use that as an excuse for not remember but man they make it hard to get back in when you do forget. But three emails later I am here again!!


It does look like winter is over with finally but now we are floating instead of skating on ice. There is enough mud and water around here to last us a long time! I just wish it would have all be spaced out over the summer months so that we don't have to worry about grass fires or not enough rain to cut hay for winter. I am glad though to see all the hostas, monkey grass, trees and bushes showing their green. Now it is time for me to get out and plant the flowers in the flower beds. I tell myself each fall I am going to plant tulips but I don't for fear of moving. Every place we have ever lived when I planted tulips we have moved before they bloomed the next year.


With that being said we are looking toward the future of moving back to Texas, home, so maybe I should plant tulips! There are a few things we need to do before that move is really done and those things will take a little bit of time.


In the meantime, I have taken up knitting and here is a picture of the first socks I made!!!
Not too bad, I don't guess for my first pair. Only thing I will say is that this pair of socks had better last for a really long time as the yarn alone was $21!!! LOL They were fun and I will probably make more.
I did actually do some sewing over the last several weeks. I have some quilt blocks laying here that I need to get mailed for a block swap on Country Quilting Square yahoo group's Anniversary Swap. We did this a few years back and I needed more blocks to put with those 24 from that year so I can put together a very large sampler quilt in blue and yellows. That is my goal for this summer.
Now that I have my login and password again for my blog I will try to post more of the going on here in my life.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

New Family???

Why is it on some days you wake up and think you really wish you could trade your family in for another one who didn't cause so much worry and stress? I thought I really wanted to do that today but thought it would be luck I would get another family that had worse problems than my own. :)

The things I learned today really opened my eyes of being a mom and made me wonder what did I miss and when did I miss it. I just found out that my oldest who is now 25 years old loves art museums. Where did I miss that when she was growing up? I love art museums but never had anyone to go to them with me until today. I was thrilled to learn this but still puzzled of where I missed this small bit of knowledge I feel like I should have learned about my daughter as she was growing up at home. She never really cared to paint, draw, color or anything so I guess I just took it she didn't like art.

Then my youngest who is now 21 and thinks she can make her own decisions, which she can but she doesn't understand that when those decisions require help from her family that her decisions should be made with that person she is relying on to help her. She is the drama queen in the family and also the one who has expensive taste, which makes me think AGAIN where did I miss that bit of knowledge and could I have changed that when she was younger.

Today has been a day of questioning was I really as good of a mom as I think I was or am. I know my girls know I love them but then again when I told my 25-year-old tonight that I loved her on IM, it hit me, when was the last time I told her that and to be honest, I can't remember! She is going through a time right now in her life that I think she needs to hear that and that alone makes me wonder again, if I would have been telling her that I love her every day, would that have changed what she is going through right now. The 21-year-old thinks getting free furniture that is used from someone is the most awful thing in the world. She sees this as they are getting rid of it for a reason, which they are, they are getting tired of it and are getting new furniture. She didn't want a used washer because again the person getting rid of it is getting rid of it for a reason! She would rather have brand new furniture that she will move around for the next who knows how many years over something nice and used that if it gets torn or broken in a move it won't matter. Where she got this expensive taste, I honest cannot tell you. Again, if when she was growing up if I would have made her wear hand-me-downs of her sister's would this have all been different?

I am lost on where I went wrong or if I really did. I know they both know I love them and will always be there for them when they need me, so maybe that is all that matters. I don't know. Can I have a new family? Better yet maybe I had better stick with mine because I don't think my heart could handle it if one of them was suddenly not there.

Friday, January 4, 2008

A New Year

Someone asked me today what my New Year's Resolutions were and it stopped me in my tracks. I had to think about this for awhile and discovered that I have never been one to make resolutions at the beginning of a new year. I just go with life and change things as I see fit to do so when the time comes. Year before last in 2006 in October I decided to lose weight. Now everyone would have thought I was crazy and some said I was because the holidays were coming up and that would be the worst time to be losing weight. Well, I didn't care, I did it anyway and lost weight even during the holidays and eating my mom's famous chocolate chip cookies. I carried that over into 2007 and by April I had lost 40 pounds (still need to go about 20 more). I have organized my life in the middle of the year and kept it that way for a long time now. I do things on a whim or when I think I want to do it, not at the beginning of a new year. I guess that is just me flying by the seat of my britches as my dad always said. :) But again I thought about this resolution thing and thought hmmm, maybe I should give it a try and see what happens. It took me a long time to come up with something but I did.

This year I want to manage my time more so I have more time to sew and make more quilts. This will be hard for me because I work at home and my 'office' is in the corner of my sewing room. When I get done with work the last place I want to be is in this room where my sewing machine is because when I come in here I sit down at the computer first thing and it never fails I find something to either work on or email someone back. Work, work, work! I need to find that fine line and draw it between work and sewing.

Another thing I thought about changing was making sure I get fully dressed before work every day. Now that sounds like I sit here half naked working, but I don't. LOL I am lucky enough to work at home so I can wear anything to work in and on cold winter days I choose to wear flannel pj pants and a sweatshirt with my fuzzy houseshoes. I feel like I should probably actually get 'dressed' for the day but why, I work at home and no one sees me but the dogs and hubby when he comes in at night and he doesn't seem to mind that I know of. Now I do take a shower every morning, dry my hair and curl it and put make up on so I am very presentable all day in case someone shows up at the house. So I'm thinking this resolution has already been broken before it was even tried.

After thinking on those two things, I got tired of thinking and I think my resolution will be just to be myself throughout the year, change things as I see fit when they need to be changed, and just enjoy life as it comes to me. I am very blessed with a great husband and two great grown daughters plus I get to work in flannel pants and sweatshirts. I am going to try to make more time to sew and make more quilts, but overall my New Year's Resolution is just to continue being me as I know that one will never get broken or forgotten on the back burner somewhere.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

12 Days without Electric

Some of you know that we were hit by the ice storm in Oklahoma and were without power for 12 days. I tried my best to find the humor in the whole ordeal but after day 2 that was tough to do! I put together a little 12 Days Before Christmas that really can't be sung to 12 Days of Christmas but you can try if you so desire. It sort of helped me take my mind off of sitting in the dark freezing by the fireplace. Here it is:

12 Days before Christmas

12 days of without power and freezing at night!

11 trees with broken branches (really there are so much more than 11)

10 glasses of ice tea (found a new coffee shop that has the best sweet ice tea in town!)

9 phone calls to the electric company (they got tired of hearing from me)

8 loads of firewood (well there was actually more but I had to fill in this number)

7 quilts to stay warm under (not counting the blankets and sheets!)

6 days without internet (before the generator came into our lives)

5 days of eating Taco Bell (or rather Taco Hell! Not too many places in town to choose from to eat)

4 huge tree branches falling on the house (this was scarey!)

3 gas cans that have to be filled up twice a day (this was expensive!)

2 heat lamps that are out for the puppies to stay warm with

1 Generator (that saved us from freezing to death but came too late to save the food in the fridge or freezer)
Just had to share my little diddy that really doesn't mean much but boy do I NEVER want to go through that again!

What am I doing!?

Okay thought writing a blog about my life and what all is going on with it would be sort of fun, but now that I have sat down to do it, I'm not so sure. The words come when I'm thinking about writing but when I sit down to write, they seem to disappear. It is like my brain just shuts down or gets scared to let those thoughts out. Maybe if I write more, the easier it will come and those thoughts and ideas will flow more freely. Wish me luck and hopefully you will see more of my blogging as the days go by. You will probably read about my quilting, my dogs, my girls, my new found love of knitting, and possibly just about my life in general because sometimes it can get pretty funny. I will be adding pictures as I go for all to see but for now I just have to get used to how this blogging thing goes and what all I can do on here. Wish me luck and hope to have several of you reading my blogs as I go.