Depending on your personal role, baby showers can be fun, entertaining, or lots of work. We are going to help get food ready for the couple's shower being given to our darling daughter's brother and sister -n- law. Her dh's brother is working in Alaska for a local company, and they moved to Anchorage back in June. Not so long, but since I still haven't figured out how to Skype, my dh and daughter both tell me all I have to do is turn on the camera, but I've been so tired this summer.(heat, heat, and more heat) Anyway, it seems lots longer since I saw them. Especially as they are expecting their first child.
Last I heard, there were more than 60 folks coming to the shower, lots of family members + friends, so even if I'm just chopping celery for the chicken salad sandwiches...(don't know what we are making) they'll appreciate an extra set of hands. Livvie and Jen will be there too, so part of the time may be just my regular Friday with Livvie, which will also be fine with me. Son in law was supposed to get the pinata today, I bought some of the candy for it yesterday. There will be lots of kids at the party too. So, this is a really exciting event, and as usual my imagination has been working overtime.
It seems like a lifetime since I had my baby shower for Jen, and it was 30+ years ago, so a few years short of half of my life. Just about 3 years ago this sister in law and her sister gave Jen's baby shower for Olivia. A blink of time...
At that shower we played two games that were partly gross, but mostly fun so here are quick directions for them. Who knows who may be planning a baby shower out there.
First, was the name the baby food game. The plastic containers of baby food were passed around, and we got to guess, taste if we wished, then write down the veggies each of the numbered containers contained. It wasn't as easy as you might think, as many of the foods contain blends of fruits and veggies....
If tasting baby food doesn't seem all that bad, this one was fun but definitely gross. I wished I'd thought to take pictures of the contestants gently sniffing the diapers. In about 8 diapers, the hostesses put a different fun size chocolate candy bar. (think Baby Ruth, Milky Way, Snickers) Then they stuck them in the microwave for about 20 seconds. Just enough to melt the candy into a glob. The diapers also had a number on them, and we had a list of candy used and had to figure out which was which. Not telling who, and it wasn't anyone I'm related to thank heaven, one of Jen's friends stuck a finger into one glob and then tasted it.... she didn't win, but we all teased her about it! This game was much harder than the one with the baby food. Many of the candy bars look a lot alike when they are semi melted! Wonder if we'll play that on Saturday?
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Too sweet not to share...
Grandpa,
Olivia asked to email you. the below is from her - good luck!
xxxxxxnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn ( I love grandpa)
7777777 (I LOVE GRANDPA!) she was yelling
all498888888833333333333333333333333333333311477 (I LOVE Grandma!)
ooozddddddddddddddddddwwwwaaaa,,,,,,, (hello)
66644waaa,////////////////////000000000000000000000099999999999-pppppp (I love YOU!)
222ttttrrrrrpmmwwwwww (ice ice baby)
on this note. hope you guys are having a fun day :)
Our daughter typed in the translation of her message. Hoping all the time she spent on the keypad is an early indicator of a love of math! ♥
Know what is scarier than finding a Black Widow in your storage unit?
Finding a black widow spider and her egg sack.... to be continued if I survive! Off to mail a package, and spray the daylights and black widow(hopefully the only one) to infinity and beyond!
Didn''t mean to tease, but didn't want anyone worrying if I don't post till Monday. Still now that you know, I wouldn't mind you saying a prayer for me to drive the beast and her progeny out! (Actually, I took care of the egg case already.) But wasn't dressed for battle when I discovered the spider under a rolling hand cart. Flip flops not being my considered best footwear for battling poisonous spiders. Which turned out to be against more than I'd hoped.
Within minutes of getting the door open on the unit, out of the corner of my eye, (Thank you, Lord) I caught a furtive movement on the back of the ladderback chair I keep over there. I'd stopped at the store and had a new broom(to sweep clean with) and a gigantic can of bug spray for crawling insects. Grandma was ready to bring it on!
They say a brave soul dies but once, but a coward dies a thousand deaths. To that I'd like to add that an old lady who gets the creeps from spiders and yet loved Eight Legged Freaks, and Arachnophobia(both great spider movies) will suffer at least 500 imaginary attacks during the scourging of a storage unit. I only had one real battle today, and that was with a male black widow.
Before leaving to do battle, I mailed my witch rug to its new owner. She had been out of town, I'm not just that tardy about getting it into the mail. Went to the store to stock up on spider nuking items, and had googled for:
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/black_widow_spider_bite/article_em.htm#Black%20Widow%20Spider%20Bite%20Overview
Black Widow Spider Bite Symptoms The black widow spider produces a protein venom that affects the victim's nervous system. This neurotoxic protein is one of the most potent venoms secreted by an animal. Some people are slightly affected by the venom, but others may have a severe response. The first symptom is acute pain at the site of the bite, although there may only be a minimal local reaction. Symptoms usually start within 20 minutes to one hour after the bite. There are several pages of info, and none of it made me feel better. Who is most vulnerable? Elderly and children are the most likely to die from such a bite.
Now some- THATS GOOD, they aren't very likely to bite humans, NO THATS BAD unless they are tending an egg sac... THATS GOOD I smooshed to smitherins the egg sack several days ago, NO THATS BAD WITH NO SIGHT OF THE FEMALE BUT A SIGHTING OF A MALE..... BTW males can mate several times before being devoured by the female. Me, Oh My, why did I have to google about them?
In the end, it was the TX heat that forced me to abandon my Search and Destroy mission for today. We are supposed to get a cold front in tomorrow, but today after 45 minutes in blazing humid sunlight, I felt dizzy and weak. She who runs away, lives to fight another day. After returning home, I showered and put every stitch I was wearing into the washer. Now I can relax and work on finishing my ATC cards for October 1st.
I really would appreciate your prayers of protection for my next foray into the storage unit early next week.
Didn''t mean to tease, but didn't want anyone worrying if I don't post till Monday. Still now that you know, I wouldn't mind you saying a prayer for me to drive the beast and her progeny out! (Actually, I took care of the egg case already.) But wasn't dressed for battle when I discovered the spider under a rolling hand cart. Flip flops not being my considered best footwear for battling poisonous spiders. Which turned out to be against more than I'd hoped.
Within minutes of getting the door open on the unit, out of the corner of my eye, (Thank you, Lord) I caught a furtive movement on the back of the ladderback chair I keep over there. I'd stopped at the store and had a new broom(to sweep clean with) and a gigantic can of bug spray for crawling insects. Grandma was ready to bring it on!
They say a brave soul dies but once, but a coward dies a thousand deaths. To that I'd like to add that an old lady who gets the creeps from spiders and yet loved Eight Legged Freaks, and Arachnophobia(both great spider movies) will suffer at least 500 imaginary attacks during the scourging of a storage unit. I only had one real battle today, and that was with a male black widow.
Before leaving to do battle, I mailed my witch rug to its new owner. She had been out of town, I'm not just that tardy about getting it into the mail. Went to the store to stock up on spider nuking items, and had googled for:
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/black_widow_spider_bite/article_em.htm#Black%20Widow%20Spider%20Bite%20Overview
Black Widow Spider Bite Symptoms The black widow spider produces a protein venom that affects the victim's nervous system. This neurotoxic protein is one of the most potent venoms secreted by an animal. Some people are slightly affected by the venom, but others may have a severe response. The first symptom is acute pain at the site of the bite, although there may only be a minimal local reaction. Symptoms usually start within 20 minutes to one hour after the bite. There are several pages of info, and none of it made me feel better. Who is most vulnerable? Elderly and children are the most likely to die from such a bite.
Now some- THATS GOOD, they aren't very likely to bite humans, NO THATS BAD unless they are tending an egg sac... THATS GOOD I smooshed to smitherins the egg sack several days ago, NO THATS BAD WITH NO SIGHT OF THE FEMALE BUT A SIGHTING OF A MALE..... BTW males can mate several times before being devoured by the female. Me, Oh My, why did I have to google about them?
In the end, it was the TX heat that forced me to abandon my Search and Destroy mission for today. We are supposed to get a cold front in tomorrow, but today after 45 minutes in blazing humid sunlight, I felt dizzy and weak. She who runs away, lives to fight another day. After returning home, I showered and put every stitch I was wearing into the washer. Now I can relax and work on finishing my ATC cards for October 1st.
I really would appreciate your prayers of protection for my next foray into the storage unit early next week.
Friday, September 24, 2010
A new season is starting!
Today was still muggy and humid when I went out to go to Livvie's today. It was a great day when we came back over here for lunch and about an hour of pool time. Around 2 pm we had a typical summer downpour...
And yet, there is a real cold front coming to us on Sunday! I endure Houston summers for the pleasure of the remainder of the year. We will have some fall color in December, and a few cold days in February when chicken and dumplings might be considered a must. Chili is acceptable at any time of the year in Houston, but we generally save it for cooler weather.
Best of all, we've been enjoying new tv shows! My favorite so far is Hawaii Five - O A friend ;) told me it will be rebroadcast Saturday if you missed it on Monday(CBS). Bluebloods the new one with Tom Selleck and Mark Wahlburg is due to start in a few minutes.
I may have an exciting adventure to share after tomorrow.
And yet, there is a real cold front coming to us on Sunday! I endure Houston summers for the pleasure of the remainder of the year. We will have some fall color in December, and a few cold days in February when chicken and dumplings might be considered a must. Chili is acceptable at any time of the year in Houston, but we generally save it for cooler weather.
Best of all, we've been enjoying new tv shows! My favorite so far is Hawaii Five - O A friend ;) told me it will be rebroadcast Saturday if you missed it on Monday(CBS). Bluebloods the new one with Tom Selleck and Mark Wahlburg is due to start in a few minutes.
I may have an exciting adventure to share after tomorrow.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Sunrise Sunset Swiftly Fly the Years....
Today is our daughter's birthday, and since she is older than 29 I won't say by how much. But last Sunday as we were sitting next to each other at church I was thinking that it really doesn't seem that long ago that I was going to church with my mom and grandmother. My attention was on the sermon, so that thought just skittered through quickly and was gone for then.
Later, my dh and I planned a dinner for our daughter and her family. Today*Thursday* is the day she stays late at her office. So we had the dinner last night. I fixed chicken and rice, a dish she'd liked as a girl, and one that can stay in the oven a little longer if traffic is heavy. Peas a veggie Livvie loves, salad and her favorite cake.
Every week on Thursdays she gets to sleep a tiny bit later, because her hours are shifted so that she can answer the phones in the office until 6. She works for an international company, and although she talks to people around the world, the majority of the business for her office is here in the US. Sleeping in is a good way to begin your birthday. I made sure to post a HBirthday to her Facebook, and called and left a message on her cell...today was busy for all of us. :) The world has changed so much since I was the granddaughter until now, when I'm grandma.
My Grannie was born before the turn of the twentieth century. She grew up in a time completely different from the time I did. No electricity, no indoor plumbing, no cars, no tv, no lots of things that I consider pretty good stuff now. My infancy was filled with illness, in fact if there hadn't been antibiotics it likely I'd never have survived. Life is so fragile in those early years.
This all is starting to seem pretty random to me. Premiere episodes of my tv shows are about to begin, so guess that is enough for now. I wonder what the world will be like when Livvie is the grandma.
Later, my dh and I planned a dinner for our daughter and her family. Today*Thursday* is the day she stays late at her office. So we had the dinner last night. I fixed chicken and rice, a dish she'd liked as a girl, and one that can stay in the oven a little longer if traffic is heavy. Peas a veggie Livvie loves, salad and her favorite cake.
Every week on Thursdays she gets to sleep a tiny bit later, because her hours are shifted so that she can answer the phones in the office until 6. She works for an international company, and although she talks to people around the world, the majority of the business for her office is here in the US. Sleeping in is a good way to begin your birthday. I made sure to post a HBirthday to her Facebook, and called and left a message on her cell...today was busy for all of us. :) The world has changed so much since I was the granddaughter until now, when I'm grandma.
My Grannie was born before the turn of the twentieth century. She grew up in a time completely different from the time I did. No electricity, no indoor plumbing, no cars, no tv, no lots of things that I consider pretty good stuff now. My infancy was filled with illness, in fact if there hadn't been antibiotics it likely I'd never have survived. Life is so fragile in those early years.
This all is starting to seem pretty random to me. Premiere episodes of my tv shows are about to begin, so guess that is enough for now. I wonder what the world will be like when Livvie is the grandma.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Tra La the Witch Rug Sold, Oh Happy Day~ October sold! :)
I just got an email saying that my witch rug of Lori Brechlin's October design, as made into a backing by Kris Miller of Spruce Ridge Rugs sold for its opening bid! I am so excited, I could dance! I had a great time hooking this rug, and hope it brings much happiness and fun to its new owner. Now what new pattern of Lori's will I get?
LOL, well, maybe I can put off shopping for awhile. I do have those wonderful birdhouses to hook.
LOL, well, maybe I can put off shopping for awhile. I do have those wonderful birdhouses to hook.
Sometimes things just work themselves out
Okay this is a TERRIBLE picture, but I had to take it while I still had some of the wool left! I've been sitting here looking at my unfinished brown wizard rug. Unhappily, because the background needed to suggest a deep forest to match my mental picture of what I was trying to create. The wizard has stopped and is looking behind him, before turning to disappear from sight. Once I began cutting strips and filling in the areas of the background it was perfect to me. Isn't that a wonderful feeling when your mental picture and reality converge? It has been sitting for a long time, because I couldn't find the right background wool. Then rug camp came along bringing the wonderful stacked jack-o-lanterns rug from Maria, and I also worked on the rug that will be for our granddaughter's birthday next February, the Karen Kahle design, Waterlilies. In fact, this summer was the first for a long time, where quilting didn't eclipse hooking.
I finally began palette dyeing in May. It has taken me 5 months to get to Yellow Green, so this wonderful wool nearly was overdyed several times earlier... but it would always have disappeared in my "creative piles" just at the time I needed to find it to presoak. I can be looking right at something and not see it. If you are the same you understand. If not, well although there are times it is a curse, but sometimes it saves something special from being used or thrown away. Of course this wool was never a candidate for the trashbag. ;)
What is he looking at? I hope you will feel he is searching your soul. His face is the merging of a human and owl face. I especially love his eyebrows, which are somewhat like proddy, but merely very long loops cut to twist this way and that.
This jacquard wool is a piece of Pendleton wool, that was transformed via my Jam Jar with extra Khaki Drab added to my yellow green formula. The large white area will be a luna moth, my nod to LOTR movie where a luna moth is a messenger to Radagast, the brown wizard. This design is an adaptation of April DeConick's Santa for 2009. She used that rug to teach us value hooking at the Kirby Circle. I hadn't started dyeing my wool yet, and had more brown than anything. A brown Santa seemed sad. So with April's permission, I adapted her pattern to be a wizard instead. The beautiful lavenders of his cap were a swatch pack from April, to add an extra memory of the class and her teaching for me. This rug will be finished as a pillow most likely.
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