Judgement Day Didn't Ruin Our Weekend

Well, I guess somebody misjudged Judgement Day!  Who comes up with this stuff anyway!  I have to admit, though, that just a minuscule little part of my brain had this fleeting thought of, "What if?".  I'm glad we're still here.  You know me, I just have way too much still to do!

Friday we drove the 1-1/2 hour drive to watch Logan in his 20 minute kindergarten end of year choral program. We wouldn't have missed it.  It was so cute!  Logan seems to love to perform.  He did a great job.  One thing you notice right away, ( second to how cute he is) is that he can not stand still.  But that's OK.  At least he's not a lifeless lump standing up there!

Logan's in the red T-shirt.

They were supposed to make a face!  He got into it!

He kept looking at us, knowing we were taking his picture

We picked up pizza and went back to Austin and Melissa's house after the program to visit with all the kids for a little while.  Then we headed back for the 1-1/2 hour drive home.  I've found that I don't mind the drive time at all anymore because I take my knitting and get a lot done in the car.

I knew on Friday that Saturday was going to be a beautiful day.  All the weather reports were saying so.  We've had so few of them to date that I was planning my whole day around it.   Hubby had wanted to bring Leanna home with us on Friday since we're going back down there again today for Landen's dance recital.  I had to stand my ground and announce that my firm plan was to work outside all day on Saturday.  Hubby even suggested that I just put Leanna in her walker out in the driveway while I worked!  Give me a break!  I adore her, but I'm not doing that!  

Saturday we woke up to the beautiful day I was expecting.  My plan was to clean out the rest of the weeds and leaves from the bushes in the front of the house.  And there's a lot.  Before I started, I got on the phone trying to find an available painter that would power wash and stain our back deck.  I was only leaving messages and no one was even answering the phone.  Why are contractors so hard to get a hold of?  I guess they're all so busy in this bad economy, huh?  Finally, Hubby said, "I'll just do it myself.  No use paying someone hundreds of dollars".  I thought, "Oh great - he's going to rush through this and not do it the way I want it done".  Of course, a job that he does is always a job that we do when it comes to a lot of projects like this.  He told me to clean the deck while he went to Lowe's for stain.  I did, because I wanted it done!  But that threw me off my weed and leaf cleaning schedule.  

After some frustration and yelling at each other (nothing too harsh) he finally got to staining the deck in the back while I went to work on my project in the front.  By the end of the day his job was all done and mine was partially done, but I felt good about our accomplishment for a day's work.  We both have sore backs today, but saved money.  It was worth it.   Just a side note - not one of those painters I called have yet to return my phone call!   And I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures of us working so hard out in the sun, but it didn't even enter my mind.  I'm always mad at myself for missed photos like that!

Anyway, after a glass of iced tea, I then poured myself a glass of wine at 5:55 and sat for 5 minutes sipping my wine, wondering what was going to happen at 6:00 for Judgement Day.  Nothing!  Absolutely nothing!  It was a good day!

Now we're back to a rainy, gloomy  Sunday.  It would be so nice to have at least two days in a row of nice weather.   Now I need to get dressed and ready for another 1-1/2 hour drive down to the kids' house for 5 year old Landen's dance recital.  He wanted to take dance lessons this year instead of gymnastics and I understand that he's the only boy in the class.  This should be another cute picture day!  And more knitting to get done! 

Keeping Life Good and Less Difficult

This is the page of my Mary Englebreit calendar for next week.  When I turned the page today, this struck me that it is so true and I feel like most of the time this is how I try to live my life.  As a woman, mother, wife and grandmother, this is probably true for most.

This was the case for this weekend for me.  My son and his wife had volunteered to take the pictures of the church members for their church directory.  They are both photographers for the Air Force.  Hubby and I offered to pick the three kids up and keep them with us for the weekend since their mom and dad were going to be busy the whole weekend.  As always, it's great to be with the grandchildren, but you all know how hard it is to get anything else done.  It's worth it!

Leanna is crawling now so a bottle at least keeps her in one place for a little while.

Landen plays a lot with little character figurines.   Yesterday he talked (conned) his Grandpa Bobby into buying him some new Batman characters.

Logan finally, reluctantly, left his Wii game long enough to eat a few pancakes.  He was also doing some building with Kinex.  He's very good at building things.

This is what kept us very busy all weekend.  The week had also been very busy with work.  I was putting together mailings and presentation folders for Hubby.  We also started the remodel project on our main floor powder room.  This has been on my project list for about six years now.  I knew what I wanted to do wasn't going to be cheap, so I had to wait a while.   My next post tomorrow will show the progress so far.  I'm very excited about it.

A few weeks ago I wrote a post here about whether to go back to work doing something other than what I already do which is actually quite a bit for my Hubby's Financial Planning business.  I have since answered my own question.  NO WAY!  At least for now.  What was I thinking!?  I certainly have enough going on without piling something else on. I don't need to make things difficult for myself, as I'm trying and loving making life less difficult for others.  I'm happy just the way things are!

A Grandma Weekend

(Mary Englebreit calendar)

How did I do it?  How did I raise two sons?  The above picture maybe sums up the why and how! Hubby and I did a pretty good job, too!  I worked full time with my own business, cooked meals (most nights), kept a clean house, attended all the boys' school and sports functions, and still had energy left over. Organization is always my secret weapon.

Now, my boys are 28 and soon to be 30, and I'm so glad I had babies when I was very young!  It's not easy.   Parents need to have that youthful energy, which I hate to say I no longer have for long periods at a time.

My oldest son and family were here for the weekend, from about noon on Friday until noon Sunday.  It was a very nice weekend but I'm worn out!  In a good way.   I had the three kids mostly by myself on Friday.  Austin and Melissa had several errands to take care of and Hubby was working.  I have to say, they are very well behaved kids, but it's still a lot of work that I'm just not used to on a daily basis.  I love having them here, though.  I had made a taco casserole ahead of time for lunch.  Austin and Melissa brought Chinese home for dinner.  We had a relaxing evening just watching TV. (Well, relaxing with three kids takes on a different level than when I'm home alone with Hubby)

Saturday morning started out with homemade waffles and fresh strawberries.

After breakfast, Austin and Melissa got into the old photo albums.  I've always taken a lot of pictures, but in the days before digital cameras or even computers, I kept them all in chronological order in albums and scrapbooks.  Now most of my pictures for at least the last two years is on my computer.  I really should have a lot of them printed because  they spent hours flipping through pages of books enjoying all the old pictures.

Hours later, Austin was still sitting on the floor with his memories.

Logan, my oldest grandchild and very special to all of us, is six years old and loves television, video games, movies, the computer, and anything of the like.  He's an expert at video games.  We got a Wii game for Christmas so that they could have it here at our house when they came to visit.  This is where Logan spends most of his time.

As you can see on the TV screen.  He wouldn't even look at me for a picture until he paused his game.
Logan is such a beautiful, unique, sweet, loving and lovable little boy.

Landen, our second grandchild is now 5.  His Bobby (they call us Bobby and Nina, by their choice, not by our insistence) is his best bud and he clings to his Bobby like glue.

  I don't know what they were looking at, but they then got the binoculars to see whatever it was even better.
In order to give Bobby and Landen a little time apart, we suggested that Landen sit and color Bobby some pictures that we could hang on the refrigerator.

That worked for a little while.  That's red marker on his cheek!

Poor little baby Leanna has a cold and an ear infection, so she was just a little bit fussy.  Otherwise she's such a good baby.  She's now 9 months old.  Her poor little nose was so stuffy so Mommy gave her a nice warm bath to clear up her congestion a little bit.

She loves splashing around in the water.  Then she got cuddled up in warm jammies and was happy and content with her bottle.

I spent the whole Saturday just basically cooking, cleaning, holding the baby, getting snacks for the boys and monitoring game and TV time.

Austin and Melissa went to some friends' house for dinner and for the evening.  This gave them a night out with friends they hadn't seen in a long time and some much needed time alone without kids.  It was a busy evening for me.  Did I mention they brought their dog, too?  My evening with kids is just different than what I'm normally doing.  I certainly can't sit and knit while watching TV!  Forget it!  The baby was very fussy but finally went to bed about 9:00.  And Logan wouldn't leave the TV turned off after his 9:00 curfew.  I'd go up to check on him and he'd have the TV turned back on again.  I finally got it all under control and I have to admit that I was exhausted!

Sunday morning, Grandpa Bobby got up with the boys and I got up with the baby.  I baked cinnamon rolls, changed a diaper, fed the baby a bottle, let the dogs out, and the clocks were set an hour ahead so it read 8:00, but really it was still feeling like 7:00 am.  Then I noticed that Logan hadn't been seen and there he was downstairs in front of the Wii game without me even knowing it!  Who knows what time he got up and sneaked down there.

By the time they all left at noon, I realized I never brushed my teeth or washed my face for a day!  This is when I'm so glad I had my children very young!  And weekends like this are why I'm so glad to be a Grandma to my beautiful grandchildren!

I'm linking to Show Off Your Cottage Monday.  I usually show off a room or something in my house, but decided to share what goes on in my house this Monday.

A Picture and a Hug are Worth a Thousand Words

Picture and Thought for the week:

This just makes me think of my Hubby with our grandchildren.  He is very well loved by them all.
This is from my new 2011 Mary Engelbreit calendar.

  I love calendars. They serve me as a journal as well as a great organizational tool. I sometimes will write notes about what happened on a particular day or the weather for that day.  Then I save my calendars to be able to look back on.
 I love to be able to look at the week and know at a glance what I have to do and where I have to be.  When I turn the page to a new week and see that it's blank it feels so good.  I am very much a homebody.  I know so many people that say they would be bored if they just stayed home all the time, but not me.  I have so many hobbies and projects and I love my home to be organized and clean and decorated.  But if I know ahead that I have to be somewhere or do something, then I can plan around that and stay organized.

I know, very OCD!  And it gets worse the older I get!

Anyway, I just love my new calendar.  

To Work or Not To Work

First off, I'm linking to a new Blog Hop that was started today by ""Capers of the Vintage Vixens" .  http://capersofthevintagevixens.blogspot.com/  I'm linking up my Etsy Shop, which I really have not been very active with lately.  It's such a fun hobby and most of what I make I usually give away to family or as gifts.
For those interested in Buying or Selling, this is what it is about.

Every Tuesday  they will dedicate their blog to: Sellers and Buyers. We are so excited about it!!! This is how it works: First grab yourself a cup of tea and sit back and get ready for some fun.

For those of you who have an online boutique, etsy, or other web-based store you can advertise here FOR FREE! At the bottom of this post  you will notice the "linky". Click on "Click Here to Enter", fill in your store's web address and image. Then "Get the Code" and post it to your blog every Tuesday! It is a Blog Hop, so your site will be advertised on blogs around the world.WorldWide! 

For you who love to shop, this is where you will find the best deals and most unique things. From vintage to antique to handmade. Something for everyone and sure to be lots of fun. And if you like it... let your friends know :-)


I've also been debating the idea of starting a new business venture.  I've been retired from my own insurance business for over 7 years now and I really enjoy staying at home and doing my thing.  Then we moved into a new, big house,  my sons' got married and 5 grandchildren came along. So I've been busy and I still enjoy it all, but I'm thinking now that I'm very capable of doing something that would make me a little more of my own money.  Here's the catch and the reason for my hesitation.  I want to work when I want to work; I don't like to leave my house; I want to be able to visit my grandchildren whenever I want; I want to be free to travel whenever I want; you get the picture!  So I've been keeping my mind open for a while now to anything that might fit into my requirements and schedule.  Yes, I want my cake and eat it too!  At least I'm very lucky enough to not HAVE to work, although the extra money would be very nice and relieve Hubby from having to bear all the stress and responsibility.

I know I'm maybe looking for the impossible, but I MAY have found something that's close to measuring up.  It's ACN - It's a tele-communications service provider that was featured last year by Donald Trump on the Celebrity Apprentice and will be featured again on his show in March.  I won't go into explaining all about it, but here is a web site if anyone is curious.  http://www.acninc.com/

If anyone has any comments on this, or personal experience with ACN, or just can relate to my inner debate, I'd be interested to hear about it.

In the meantime, I'll continue to enjoy my home, family, grandkids, and Etsy hobby.  It's just that a little extra of my own spending money might be nice, too!

A Good Night's Sleep is Priceless

I'm feeling much better!  What a difference a good day's rest and a good night's sleep makes.  I don't necessarily require a lot of hours of sleep, but the hours that I do sleep need to be worth it!  Uninterrupted and deep.  The bad news is that poor hubby is now sick.  His sick (and it better stay "his") was the stomach kind, not the head kind like mine was.  So I slept in the guest room last night since the kids are away for the week.  I think that's only the second time in six years that I've slept up there.  I have to say that I think that is why I slept so well.  I know he would feel terrible if I told him that, so I'll keep it a secret!

Today has been a very quiet day all to myself.  Hubby has been sleeping all day and wants absolutely nothing to eat.  He's still blaming his sickness on bad Chinese food from Friday night, but I feel sure it's a flu bug.  I bet we don't get Chinese again for quite a while, though.
So anyway, I've been putzin' around the house, cleaning and catching up on the computer. Uhhhh!! It feels so good!  I still had the lower level family room to clean up from Christmas.  That's the last room to get done.  Finally, all the Christmas decorations are down and all the boxes and bins are put away.  I just need to dust and run the vacuum down there now.  I thought I'd take a little lunch break first.  Don't want to overdue it!
I keep my girly, lacey Christmas tree up through St. Patrick's Day because I like to decorate it for Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day.  I did the Valentine's decorating last weekend right before the kids got here.  As you can see, the tree isn't that much different, except I try to take off anything that looks real Christmasy and put on some red bulbs and hearts, with heart garland.  It's all pink, white, red and lacey.

My mantel is back to normal now with a few little wooden hearts added.

The entrance foyer table is ready to welcome now with a Valentine greeting.

I still might do more with this.  A trip to JoAnn's is needed.

And last night, since I had no interruptions from about 5:00 to 11:00, I was able to almost finish two knitting projects.  This one is a scarf that I made from very good yarn that Hubby got me for Christmas.  I would have never spent this much money on yarn myself!  It's silk and mohair with silver metallic threads in it.  Then I beaded the yarn to make silver beaded fringe.  This looks really pretty with a black turtleneck.

This little white baby hat is one of two.  The second one isn't finished yet.  One will have a pink flower and trim and the other will have a purple flower and trim.  The daughter of a very good friend of mine just adopted 

two twin girls from Africa.  She will be going back to Africa to pick them up next month.  This Saturday I am going to a baby shower for her.

Well, my lunch break is over, so I'll go clean downstairs for about an hour and then I'm done for today.  

A Beautiful Winter Day

Today is a beautiful, snowy and wintry day.  I love days like this when I can be inside where it's warm and comfy and look out the window at the snow coming down.

I do not like to drive in this weather, so I don't if I don't have to. 

Here's another tree I put up on my front stoop.

I decorate it with a grape and wine theme.  My house has a European/Tuscan/grape/wine decor so I like to continue the decor out to the front porch.  I put the tree outside in the Fall, but now just added the bow and some more Christmasy decorations.

I just finished and listed this little mini quilt for sale on my Etsy shop.

It's hand appliqued and hand quilted and then framed in a 5x7 table top frame.  It looks good sitting on a table, like I've done with my entrance table.

Speaking of Etsy - I made another sale yesterday.  I get so excited when an e-mail comes through that says "Congratulations, you've made an Etsy sale". It's not about the little bit of money, but more about the thrill that someone found my site and liked something I made.  My cute little Geisha pincushion sold.

  

This is re-purposed from an antique Japanese vase.

Right now I'm working on knitting and sewing some Christmas presents.  I'll show pictures after Christmas so I don't give anything away.

Well, back to my Elf Workshop.  Since Hubby is out of the office for the day, I have a nice and peaceful day home alone.  It's a good winter day!

Thanksgiving Dream

I had one of those dreams last night.  You know, the kind where you wake up with crusty tears left over in your eyes and a sadness that you have to think about.
I dreamed that I was left homeless along with my mother and father.  Now I have no idea why my husband was not with me and why I was without a home with my mom and dad, but that's what it's like with dreams!  So we are homeless, but we could not find anyone to help us.  We kept asking different people and then asking those same people over and over again, but not only could we not get any help, everyone was so mean to us.  It was so sad and frustrating.
 I forced myself to wake up slowly so that I could remember what my dream was about and ponder what was making me so sad.  I was trying to make sense of it.  I realize now today, more than ever, how thankful I am to have a home, a loving family, and a caring mother and father.  I feel so bad for all of those people in the world, during this season especially, that don't have that. As  I slowly got out of bed, my feelings changed from a lingering sadness to a renewed happiness.  A better sense of what I have in my life.  I'm so glad that I have a husband that provides for me and children and grandchildren that I can kiss and hug and admire their beauty and health.  I feel like I need to make another person's life better if I can.
We had a great Thanksgiving, and that could be what inspired my dream.  I hugged and kissed my beautiful granddaughter, Leanna, all day!

I was surrounded by family.

And we all enjoyed great food!

Look at the wild hair on this little girl!  Because of the way the baby hair is rubbing off, she's now got a mix of  mohawk and  mullet.  She is just the happiest little girl.  And so am I!!

Art, Crafts and "Stuff"

I decided at the last minute last week to enter a local craft show.  I was the last entry of forty vendors to reserve a table last Wednesday afternoon and the show was held on Saturday.  I don't do craft shows normally, but this one was being held at our Lakeview Lodge, which is right around the corner from my home.  Literally.  I can walk there.  Which, of course, I didn't do on Saturday because I had all my stuff to lug.  I have little "stuff" though and I don't have an over abundance of "stuff", so getting it there was no problem.  My problem was gathering it all together and tagging everything on Friday night.  That's when you realize you have more "stuff" than you thought you did.

So here it is, my "stuff" all ready for hubby to carry to the car and drive me over and unload for me.  I could have managed myself but I think he must have had a moment of feeling obligated, since I was complaining loudly (on purpose for him to over hear) to my mother on the phone that parking might be a problem.
Mom also knits and she was sharing the table with me to sell her beautiful shawls.

Here we are setting up our table and there's Mom wearing one of her shawls.  It was actually a very fun day with a very good turnout, but we only sold a few things.  At shows like this people are looking more for crafty Christmas decorations and/or less expensive items.  Our "stuff" isn't cheap because we use expensive yarns and my little quilts are very time consuming.  We knew that going in, but that's OK.  The Lodge also served lunch and we visited with a lot of people and we made enough to cover our cost for the day.
I came home with a renewed interest in catching up and updating my on line Etsy shop.  I had been ignoring it lately since I just haven't had the time to pay attention to it or make or list anything new.  Now with my new phase of slowing down and trying to do more of what I want to do, I am having fun with Etsy again.( I have a link to this on my sidebar.) I just don't make things quickly.  Some people list new things every day and I just can't do that.  Here's a new mini "fairy" quilt I listed yesterday.  I was told by some of the wonderful Quiltsy ladies on Etsy that they have heard this term used for the very mini quilts and suggested I try using that tag on my listings.

This quilt is about 3-1/4" square and the whole thing is in a 5x7 frame.  I love making them, even if they aren't making me rich!
I also finished knitting the purple baby set that I was making for a friend's daughter's baby shower that was also on Saturday.  I got that delivered to her on Friday afternoon.

 I get quite a few requests for knitted items, but they also take a while.  I was asked at the show if I used a knitting machine.  NO!  Mom and I both knit by hand the old fashioned way.  I don't take too many orders at a time because I then get overwhelmed and feel pressured.  Not how I want to feel when doing what I love to do!
My wonderful hubby is working out of the house today, thank goodness!  Yes, he's wonderful, but I just have to say that he gets on my nerves when he's working at home.  He questions me all day about what I'm doing and I really feel guilty if I'm spending too much time working on my "stuff".  Only because I help him with paperwork and computer work and he constantly reminds me where the most money comes from.  I know, but------. So now I can relax for a while and do what I want!

Vegas, Baby!

I’m on the return flight home right now, on this 31st anniversary of our wedding,  from Las Vegas to Cleveland.  We’ll arrive about 6:30 p.m. Eastern time and then the three hour drive back home totally exhausted.  We’ve had three fun filled days in Vegas with my parents and another couple, but we are all worn out. 
Hubby and his working partner attorney were in seminars for two straight days so Mom, Dad, the attorney’s wife (and friend of mine), and I shopped till we dropped and had lunch one day at Planet Hollywood and the next day at the Bellagio.

Everything in Vegas is in excess.  We walked too much, ate too much and spent too much money.   I feel good, though, that we didn’t gamble or drink too much!  So I guess we did good and it was worth it.
As we walked the Strip during the day, dressed up characters are standing around available to get pictures with – for a tip!  Woody from Toy Story was almost kind of perverted and gave my girlfriend and me the creeps.

Elvis was OK.

We stayed at the Monte Carlo hotel on the Strip.  It’s very nice and since we were there for hubby’s seminar we got a pretty good discount on the room.  We’ve started to rate the hotels in order of beauty and luxury since we’ve stayed at a good many of them now through the years.  Our number one pick so far is Caesar's,

then Mandalay Bay,  Monte Carlo,  Bally’s and Stratosphere.  Didn’t care for the Stratosphere at all!  I would love to some day  to stay at Paris,

Bellagio and Wynn.  That will probably only happen if we get good seminar rates.

Our highlight was Sunday evening (Halloween)at Cher’s last show.  Wow!  Her voice was as good as ever, and even though she’s not skinny like she used to be, she looks great at 60 something.  And she had a change of costume for every song.

In between songs, to give time for the costume and scenery change, they played old clips on a huge screen of the old Sonny and Cher show, clips from her movie roles, etc.  The show was quite spectacular and we were on the First Mezzanine but direct center so the seats were good.  We just used binoculars to get some close up views.  Because of the binoculars we could tell that she had on a full flesh colored body stocking under all those skimpy tight outfits.  See, even the most beautiful stars with all their cosmetic surgery still have to resort to tricks and secrets to get that fake perfect look!  Makes you kind of feel a little better in a way.
Hubby had bought me a new outfit before we left home to wear to Cher.  It was very cute, and comfortable, velvet black leggings and a red and black ruffled velvet tunic.

  But the shoes were a different story.  They were black mesh with very, and I mean very, high heels with red roses clipped to the side.  I called them my cute hooker shoes.

Believe me, they were not made to walk in!  Even though we took a tram to the show from Monte Carlo to Caesar's, you still ended up walking quite a lot.  I had the worst blisters on my heels by the time we got to the show that I carried the shoes and walked barefoot after the show.  It was funny, though, that as I carried these cute shoes in my hand I had a lady come up to me to tell me how much she liked my shoes!
We had dinner before the show that first night at a Chinese restaurant inside Monte Carlo.  Very good food and an excellent black raspberry sake.  I’m going to be craving one of those about 10:00 tonight I think!  The second night we ate at Di’Ablo’s, the Mexican restaurant inside the hotel.  The show we saw that night was the ignorant group of girls at the table beside us screaming and hollering for the San Francisco Giants throughout the whole dinner as the World Series final game was playing.  The manager finally came over to them and asked them to leave, just as we were finishing.  We should have complained a lot sooner.  I know it’s Vegas and people get wild, but come on!!
Our final night there our friends really wanted to see “Phantom”.  The rest of us weren’t that interested and didn’t want to spend that kind of money on another show.  We ended up getting a cab and going downtown Las Vegas to Freemont Street and it was actually very nice and a lot of fun.  There is a light show that plays above Fremont Street like every hour.

(You can see the old hotels and then that lit up dome above them is a dome roof above the street where the light show plays.)

Then we got tickets to a show inside the Golden Nugget.  A comedian by the name of Gordon Brown.  He sings and does impressions.  It was a great show.  We were pleasantly surprised by the show, Fremont Street and the Golden Nugget. 
Now we’re approaching re-entry into reality.  I’m O.K. with that because I don’t think I could go another day at that pace.  Tomorrow I would love to rest for a day, but that’s not on the schedule.  I’ll have to pick up my dogs in the morning from the dog sitter and then go pick up my three grandchildren for the weekend.  Their mother has to go to Virginia for a few days and their dad, my son, has to work Thursday and Friday.  I may have to stay down there unless they take the boys out of pre-school and kindergarten for one day. 
After Sunday things will settle down just a little bit and my thoughts will then turn to the Holidays.