The moods of the season

Hello boys and girls.  Can you believe the date?  I hope winter flies by as quickly as the last few months have. 

I haven't stitched.  My arthritic hand is still restricted after all the painting, sanding, waxing, so I tried a little decorating.  I don't know why I'm not in the mood to do so, but maybe the delays in completing these house projects is the culprit.  Sometimes I think we get more wrapped up in the decorating than the meaning. 

 

 My Italian aunts hung a single wreath and had a small indoor tree.  All their time was taken up with baking, entertaining, doing for others.  I think we spend more time decorating and shopping these days, but everything is so very different now. 

 

 

 

 

  

I have to tell you a story about my Polish

grandfather.  After his wife passed in 1959, he and a group of friends planned a trip to visit their home place for a few weeks.  First time back since immigrating to the US.  My mother and aunt met him at the airport upon his return and were in a panic.  They saw him exit the plane and as he stepped off the stairs, he went face down on the tarmac.  Didn't move.  They went running over to their elderly father in tears, thinking he had a heart attack.  When they got to him, he was sobbing and kissing the ground.  Further inspection showed he had no socks, no underwear, old torn pants and tee shirt, shoes with holes.  They then thought he was robbed.  No, he wasn't.  His old village that he visited was so poor, he left all his belongings, luggage, money, clothing, even his wedding ring, to his people, and wore their tattered clothing home.  He was so grateful for the US and although he had a very small house and no money, he felt like a king on our soil.  From then on, every extra penny he had went to Poland.  

 So what does that have to do with decorating?  I have no idea.  I'm just in an odd mood.  This morning, a woman in Aldi's was forced to leave some food and toys behind when she was short of cash.  We offered her extra money for the toys, and I started crying.  WHY???  She refused graciously and thanked us.  I came home to an email and was told that my cousin (my age) is being put into a nursing home because of early dementia and she is devastated, and rightfully so.  She was a home economics teacher and can do anything related to needlework, is a gourmet cook, traveled the world and visited almost every country.  Now I'm going to start rambling so I'll stop.

I bought another little milking stool.  And look at that baseboard!  Mark installed it and we may tackle the crown moulding next week.  I have final coats of paint to apply after filling the nail holes on the door trims and base.  Kitchen man #3 called and agreed to make my three cupboards - nothing else.  That's the best offer we can get so I took it and the kitchen will not be what I originally planned.  I thanked him and didn't even ask for an estimate. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I received these old wooden thread spool Santas that are handcarved and painted by Carol Barnes of Back Porch Carver.  Sweet!!!  Thank you Carol!

 

  

Tomorrow I will stay home and sew the latest Santas, maybe decorate a little more, and watch the white crap fall.  We had very warm temps yesterday and I cleaned up the yard of leaves and limbs - again.  All that extra physical work has not changed my mound and I guess that's why they are called Mounds bars.  And here's something new - my sister's car broke down again.  What a surprise.  It would be cheaper to lease one for her.   I still haven't ordered the new charts I want and maybe will add online shopping to my list for tomorrow.  And I have to watch the brats closely.  Bud has decided to turn on Squeaky.

 

Enjoy your weekend, stay safe, kiss the ground, hug your cousin, call your friends, visit your family, hang your wreaths, and bake them cookies!

Thanks for visiting, and listening to my ups and downs.

Announcing!

Greetings.  Are you all shopped out?  Fabulous bargains over the weekend.  The pet store even had wee-wee pads on sale!  Not that I need them - yet.  With very few people to buy for, I went for the bath section and got $25 bath towels for 6.99 less 20%, and sheet sets (with king cases!) for sis's king bed for $15.99, regular price of $90.  Happy happy happy.  Still sad about other things though.  Why is it that the holidays are so merry yet so emotional and sad at the same time?  Anyway, I got an email smacking me on the knuckles about not doing a separate post for the journals.  Sorry.  I said I would post them Monday and I did!  I'm uncomfortable "announcing" my work as if it's some great event.  But to make everyone happy,

THERE ARE A FEW JOURNALS FOR SALE ON THE JOURNAL PAGE - HIT THE "JOURNAL" TAB AND BE AMAZED AND BEWILDERED AT THE  MAGNIFICENT, WARPED, WONKY, CHIPPED, BURNED, AND DIRTY LOOKING OUTSTANDING WARES OF MINE!!!

 

If it's sold, Paypal will take you back to the page and the transaction won't go through.  How dare they!

I did a little outside decorating yesterday and will fill a few more tubs today.  I'm not much of a bow girl.  Possibly burlap ties, but I don't want to get too fancy.

And a note to Barb - I got your message and am still holding your boxes for you.  Not sure if my emails are getting through because of your moving.  Anyone else that has not claimed their order by now, sorry, I'm done shipping.

 I am decorating a little inside today, and I mean a little. The trim is still not installed and we've decided to do it ourselves.  The kitchen man #3 has dumped me again, and if I'm not too old to learn, I may become a finish carpenter. I hope a class on patience is included.  Seems not enough younger people are interested in working with their hands so the old farts will have to take over.  If I can take wee-wee pads with me on the job - good to go!!!

Tomorrow it's back to stitching!

Thanks for visiting and enjoy your day.

 

I almost forgot!

Whew!  That was close.  But I did remember!  Random scrambled and chose Anonymous Kelley.  Send me your address/country/planet and I'll get it in the mail pronto!  Thank you all for participating.

 

Tomorrow I will post a few journals for sale.  They are wonky and more primitive and I can't get this size any longer so these few will be it.

 

Until then - have a relaxing evening!

 

 

 

 

 

Finally finishing

Hiya. I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. We didn't have turkey yet. My sister's driveway is like a luge track and without a sled, she can't get down and we can't get up. So the FRESH turkey breast that I ordered, which was ice cold and rock hard (but "fresh" before they froze it), was thawed and is now back in the freezer pretending to be fresh for the second time.  I checked the Butterball hot line and it's OK as long as the meat was thawed in the fridge the first time and not on the counter. We thought we would have it today (Saturday) but the fricking snow and ice is not budging. Ridiculous. It was a wet heavy snow which melted beneath and then froze so no matter how it is plowed and salted, it's still ice. The first part of the downhill luge ride has large trees to bump which keeps you on the drive, but the right angle curve that you hit after picking up unbrakeable speed is a steep nose dive straight down an eight foot cliff.   Several times when cars went over, the tow truck had no way to hook them for removal because they were literally grill in the ground and trunk in the air. Eventually, sometime in June, I'll thaw the fresh turkey breast.  When we went to the cemetery today to place the 7 day candle on mom's grave (anniversary of her passing on December 1), the lane wasn't plowed and we were lucky to get out.

Ed hasn't shown up in weeks and I was planning on the trim being finished before Thanksgiving. Crown moulding miter cuts are not something we want to attempt. I brought a few small Christmas trees from the attic, walked past a dark room, and almost dropped when I thought I saw a four foot apparition. The outside light shone on the translucent bag over the tree and scared the heck out of me.

But I did make some progress on the last Santa pieces.

Interfacing is fused (and also to 4 different pressing cloths, now discarded) and the fabrics chosen. I've never used denim as a backing but think I may for the starry Santa. Tomorrow I will sew them on the machine. I happened to find the last three tiny samplers so they will be completed also.

 

 I started using this to clean the clipped tails off the back of the linen instead of tape like I used to.
   I never thought to use this before and it cleaned my ironing board cover of all those stray threads so much easier than my other brushes.  There are several around the house and I really like them, as long as I pay attention to the arrow on the handle.  So glad it was in my pile of fat quarters





My poor Squeaky sits outside in the evening while the others are looking out at him.  He eats a LOT, cries and cries, and peeks inside when I open the door, but won't come in.  I still haven't touched him and he is very aware when I am near.  I've been torn up by these three other brats enough to know that wild cats may look like they want petted, but don't force it.  Nitzy still draws blood when I try to remove him from a chair to go outside to his condo.  Bud is the only one that allows my husband near.  Eventually, Squeak will come around and hopefully they will all get along.  He's really grown and is getting larger than big man Bud.  He has his own padded house but stays in the open "lounge" area.
Enjoy what's left of the weekend and Random and I will return tomorrow for the drawing.  Stay safe and warm! 
Thanks for visiting.

Thank You

Hello people.  How is everyone?  Many of you are preparing for Thanksgiving and many of you are preparing to join the sale crowds.  Me?  I'm painting boxes!!  I want to thank everyone again for making my sale a success and since many of those purchases were gifts for others, I thought I would offer one just for you.  The red house was one of the favorites so I sat down at the computer and worked with it until it fit the oval.   It's now a duplex (the kids moved back) with other elements.  If you would like it, please leave your comment on this post, initials for no-reply and anonymous.  Random will generate a winner on Sunday DECEMBER 1 .......WHAT??????????  Didn't I just post about it being the first of November?  Oh well,  Sunday, December 1, at 8 pm EST.

This is what I saw last night and it continued.  And continued.  I guess summer's over, huh?  I knew it was coming and didn't want to look, but I stepped onto the deck for flash relief several times and couldn't miss it.  Time to give up the swing and put it away after I chip the ice off.

My husband got up an hour earlier to clean the driveway and deck for the kids.  He also blew a path for them in the yard.  Remember last year's cat race? 

 

So they were happy this morning to have their area cleaned of snow. Their condos are up on 6x6 beams and under roof so they don't have to worry about the high snow.  Poor Squeaky cries all the time and sits at the door as if he wants to come in, but I can't touch him, nor will he enter.

Lots of household chores need to be done today.  Hopefully I will catch up because we are both running out of underwear.  Of course we have spares!  But where the hell are they?  It takes less time to wash a load that try to locate them.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Be grateful for whatever we have in our lives.

It could always be worse.

I know it's a cliché but I'm not a writer, I'm bitchy, tired, have paint in my hair, dirty underwear, and whining cats.

But I am so grateful.

Blessings!!

Stay safe.

 

Thanks for visiting. 

Leave a comment only if you want to be included for the box offer.

And here's the messy old bean soup recipe.  I think you can right click and print.

 

Almost done

Hi everyone.  It seems like I haven't read blogs, stitched, or done anything other than boxes for weeks.  But it's only been days.  Almost 60 pieces and I will finish them up tomorrow.  I want to thank everyone that made a purchase!  I understand many of the boxes are for Christmas gifts and I hope everyone will be pleased.  My local store hasn't had my favorite brand and paint color for weeks so Mark took me to Michaels and Hobby Lobby in Ohio where I found it.  Bought them out!  I also found the 20x26 piece of 28 count DMC linen in the tube for $8 .... $4 with a coupon.  I never saw it there so I inquired on my last visit, and now they have it.  Happy.  Tired.  But happy. 

 In between the boxes, I raked my large front yard by hand before the white crap came, and started repainting the trim because Ed will be coming this week for installation. 

These guys were not happy about the white stuff either, and now, almost midnight, there is a large ball of 12 legs curled up on my chair.

 

Mark made one of my favorite soups today while I was working.  French Market bean soup.  I love soups made with a large ham hock.  Lots of dried beans, the ham, some crushed tomatoes, barley, just a fabulous soup.  I am not a bean lover but this soup and that Rootin Tootin bean salad are two of my favorite dishes.  Go figure.

I have no idea how long it will take to catch up on posts.  I did catch a glimpse of Nan's new Christmas design and I love it.  Niky's Primitive Christmas caught my eye too.  When I have time, I will add other samplers, some threads for these projects, and get an order to an online shop that carries them all.  Not always the case, and it bugs me to have to pay shipping costs for several separate orders.  Rates are going up again in January by 3¢ for 1 oz. (49¢) and another 1¢ for each additional oz. (21¢) so shipping costs will increase again.

I have to untangle those legs and get the brats outside and into their bungalows. Off to bed! I'm so disappointed in Hallmark Channel's holiday lineup again this year. They play the same Christmas movies over and over for two months with no other programming. I need my 11pm hour Frazier fix and sure hope that programming returns.

Thanks for visiting and for making my sale a success.

Hope your week starts good and finishes fabulous.