My view this Saturday morning

 

Blessings this Thanksgiving

I'm thankful for many things this Thanksgiving! Friends, Family and good health especially. And for 2 wonderful grandsons! Thank you, Lord, for the ability to work from home. In my quilting studio, on the hangers, you can see the quilts lined up, waiting for longarming.

My 3 yr old grandson is so proud. He put his coat on all by himself!

Quilt for Sammy

 My grandson turned 2 months old yesterday!  He is a little brother to 3 yr old Joshua.  I made this quilt for Sammy and now that the binding is finished I can give it to him.

It's a boy!

 My daughter is pregnant with our second grandchild and we found out yesterday it's going to be another boy!  We are thrilled to know Joshua will have a buddy to grow up with.  This is the quilt top I made to celebrate.

How grandchildren perceive their grandparents

1. I was in the bathroom, putting on my makeup, under the watchful eyes of my young granddaughter, as I'd done many times before. After I applied my lipstick and started to leave, the little one said, "But Grandma, you forgot to kiss the toilet paper good-bye!" I will probably never put lipstick on again without thinking about kissing the toilet paper good-bye....

2. My young grandson called the other day to wish me Happy Birthday. He asked me how old I was, and I told him, 72. My grandson was quiet for a moment, and then he asked, "Did you start at 1?"

3. After putting her grandchildren to bed, a grandmother changed into old slacks and a droopy blouse and proceeded to wash her hair. As she heard the children getting more and more rambunctious, her patience grew thin. Finally, she threw a towel around her head and stormed into their room, putting them back to bed with stern warnings. As she left the room, she heard the three-year-old say with a trembling voice, "Who was THAT?"

4. A grandmother was telling her little granddaughter what her own childhood was like. "We used to skate outside on a pond. I had a swing made from a tire; it hung from a tree in our front yard. We rode our pony. We picked wild raspberries in the woods." The little girl was wide-eyed, taking this all in. At last she said, "I sure wish I'd gotten to know you sooner!"

5. My grandson was visiting one day when he asked, "Grandma, do you know how you and God are alike?" I mentally polished my halo and I said, "No, how are we alike?'' "You're both old," he replied.

6. A little girl was diligently pounding away on her grandfather's word processor. She told him she was writing a story.

"What's it about?" he asked.

"I don't know," she replied. "I can't read."

7. I didn't know if my granddaughter had learned her colors yet, so I decided to test her. I would point out something and ask what color it was. She would tell me and was always correct. It was fun for me, so I continued. At last, she headed for the door, saying, "Grandma, I really think you should try to figure out some of these colors yourself!"

8. When my grandson Billy and I entered our vacation cabin, we kept the lights off until we were inside to keep from attracting pesky insects. Still, a few fireflies followed us in. Noticing them before I did, Billy whispered, "It's no use Grandpa. Now the mosquitoes are coming after us with flashlights."

9. When my grandson asked me how old I was, I teasingly replied, "I'm not sure." "Look in your underwear, Grandpa," he advised "Mine says I'm 4 to 6." (WOW! I really like this one -- it says I'm only '38'!)

10. A second grader came home from school and said to her grandmother, "Grandma, guess what? We learned how to make babies today." The grandmother, more than a little surprised, tried to keep her cool. "That's interesting." she said. "How do you make babies?" "It's simple," replied the girl. "You just change 'y' to 'i' and add 'es'."

11. Children's Logic: "Give me a sentence about a public servant," said a teacher. The small boy wrote: "The fireman came down the ladder pregnant." The teacher took the lad aside to correct him. "Don't you know what pregnant means?" she asked. "Sure," said the young boy confidently. 'It means carrying a child."

12. A grandfather was delivering his grandchildren to their home one day when a fire truck zoomed past. Sitting in the front seat of the fire truck was a Dalmatian dog. The children started discussing the dog's duties.

"They use him to keep crowds back," said one child.

"No," said another. "He's just for good luck."

A third child brought the argument to a close. “They use the dogs," she said firmly, "to find the fire hydrants."

13. A 6-year-old was asked where his grandma lived. "Oh," he said, "she lives at the airport, and whenever we want her, we just go get her. Then, when we're done having her visit, we take her back to the airport."

14. Grandpa is the smartest man on earth! He teaches me good things, but I don't get to see him enough to get as smart as him!

15. My Grandparents are funny, when they bend over, you hear gas leaks and they blame their dog.

Professional Tote or Diaper Bag

I took a break from quilting to make my daughter and grandson a diaper bag.  I used a pattern called the Professional Tote by Laura Martell from the Creative Thimble.  I'm impressed with the quality of this bag!  It is durable and will last for years to come.  If you are looking to make a tote bag this one is high quality and feels just like a piece of luggage.  The pattern is written very well, it was easy to understand and follow. 

Note:  I didn't use decor bond as the pattern suggests.  Decor Bond didn't 'bond' and shrank when I tried using it.  I used Shape-Flex fusible woven interfacing (Pellon SF101) and it worked much better.  

Fun in my Sewing Room today

I had a visitor today who kept me pretty busy.

Just had to post this!

Mother's Day surprise

What better news to get on Mother's Day than your daughter is pregnant with your first grandchild?

I went to the fabric store to buy fabric for the baby's first quilt. I'm making one quilt now and I'll make another one when we find out if it's a boy or a girl. She is due Dec. 4th. I'm so excited!

I'm working on this quilt now and have put Diamonds and Pearls on the back burner.

Home-Ec is taught in this school!

In homeschool today my son made his first loaf of bread.  Yes, we used a breadmaker but still, it's a loaf of bread!  We added home-ec to his schedule this month and it's going pretty well.  He wants to make more bread!

Christmas morning pancakes

Here's our Christmas morning Chocolate Chip pancake recipe!  I hope you enjoy it.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a large bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking powder and sugar; set aside. Preheat waffle iron.
2. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs. Stir in the milk, butter and vanilla. Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture; beat until blended. Add 3/4 cup of mini chocolate chips
3. Ladle the batter into a preheated waffle iron or frying pan. Cook until golden and crisp.
4. Serve with butter, extra chocolate chips, syrup or strawberries

Just sayin'...

Zucchini

Like everyone else who has a garden, my zucchini is overwhelming the garden!  I love this time of year.  I tried something new tonight, grilled zucchini added to our paninis.


Young child who shall remain nameless says (que the tune "Nobody knows the suffering I've seen, nobody knows my sorrow") MOOO-ooooOOOM! There's vegetables in here!!!!


Sourdough is on the left, and an italian brioche is on the cutting board. Yellow and green zucchini from my garden, ham, turkey and the cheeses are either smoked cheddar, swiss or asiago or have all 3! Who wants to come for dinner tomorrow night?

One of my BFFs used zucchini instead of apples in a pie tonight.  What a great idea Cindy!

Sticky floors = Happy kids

My son's 13th birthday party is finished. The carpet has been cleaned of the spilled pop and ice cream. Popcorn under every piece of furniture is going to stay there a little longer because I'm going to bed!

Can I trade a teenager with anyone? Low mileage. Takes showers if faced with no Xbox time (hasn't discovered girls). Great computer skills! Loves video games. Prays for his mom! Prays for his mom... well, maybe I'll keep him around another year or two? 

1st birthday

10th birthday - selfie video

The edge was here today

Today has been an emotionally trying day. I haven't felt much like eating, but I did get my exercise in today. I am trying to remember what I posted yesterday on my blog... maybe that's why the Lord sent that thought yesterday, to prepare me for today? 

My son has mental and emotional disabilities. He's 12, very intelligent but his behavior problems get in the way of homeschool work. It took him 278 days to complete 4th grade. He got all A's and B's! He has Tourette's, Aspergers/Autism, OCD, ODD and ADHD. 

So I live with drama, basically. I'm a laid back person, it takes a lot to get me mad and even when I'm angry it takes a lot to push me over the edge. Today was the edge. I haven't gone over it...yet. Stress leaked out, several times today, those salty wet things that slide down your cheeks, you know that kind of stress I'm sure. 

I've been through some pretty tough trials in my lifetime and after the last extreme stress (2005-06) I learned the Lord DOES rescue me from evil. But it sure would be nice if it were on my timeline instead of his, you know? (grin) 

So here's to remembering "God is for me, so who can be against me?" "Press on and have hope, because God IS faithful" "His mercies are new every morning, GREAT is His faithfulness". 

Whether your problem is discouragement, illness or aging, sometimes all you have left is Jesus. 
When you're angry and bitter, you can still cling to Jesus in the midst of your tears. You can grab onto him and refuse to let go until he brings you through it. You'll find, to your surprise, that he holds on to you even tighter than you hold on to him. 

Jesus understands sorrow. He knows about being hurt. He remembers the terrible moment on the cross when his Father was forced to abandon him, because he was filthy from taking on our sins. Jesus won't let me go. 

Thank you Father. 

Safe alternatives to OTC drugs

It's not easy being green...

My son and I are doing yardwork today.  Today's task is cutting up all the tree limbs I trimmed from a few trees so the city can haul them away Tuesday.  We found this on one of the branches I cut down.

When it morphs, it will become:

Dr. Doolittle lives here

As most of you know, we found a puppy running loose on Christmas Day and decided to keep her.  Our cat, Puff, wasn't thrilled about the idea but she's beginning to warm to the idea slightly.  Puff speaks cat and Macy speaks dog while an 11 y.o. "translates".    Never a dull moment at my house.  

Macy wants to play 'chase me', while Puff thinks Macy is on the attack....so Puff scratched both of Macy's eyes tonight.

Emergency vet bill: $154
Puppy anitbiotic, puppy tylenol and eye ointment: $125
Cone around her head (I.e.: can't chew shoes, toilet paper, etc.): PRICELESS

Can we keep the cone on until she's through puppyhood?

Christmas and treasures

Several of you may recall we found a dog running loose on Christmas day.  After going the usual routes to find the owner, and finding no one, we decided to keep her.  My son named her Macy.  She's an adorable little thing, but within a few days it became apparent that she is not a Christmas dog.  9 rolls of shredded toilet paper later, plus numerous treasures from the garbage can tucked neatly under the dining room table... it appears we do not have a dog on our hands.

I was taking photos this morning for a column I wrote for our local newspaper.  The editor had a moment of temporary insanity and asked me to write a few columns for him.  In this one, I included a link for a recipe of mine called Chow Chow.  Southerners know what Chow Chow is, if you're a Northerner, click on "Gardens" at the top of this page and you'll see the recipe, as well as the column.

While taking photos for the article, I noticed the snowman I was using in the display.  The poor thing had been removed of his arms.  Unbelievably, there they were on the floor, lying in broken pieces, covered in dog slobber.  A friend of mine inspected her teeth, low and behold, several were still un-erupted... so we have a Christmas Puppy on our hands.




I think we'll keep her around another year or two, and see how it goes.  Something I've also said to my children since they were born, and I ended up keeping them... but we'll see...

I'm a mother. 20 years later.

My mind couldn't wrap itself around the thought back then, when a few people said tyranny had come to America.  I remember being unable to contemplate the thought that my government would ever begin to treat it's citizens the way Russia or China or South Vietnam treated their citizens.  This was unthinkable.  I clearly remember putting the thought of an unarmed mother holding her baby out of mind, and I went about my life.

I'm a mother.  20 years later.  And I think back on the murder of an unarmed woman holding her baby.

Her last photo

An unarmed woman holding her baby was labeled a threat by my Justice Dept at Ruby Ridge.   20 years later, my Justice Department is making an attempt to legally label someone else a threat... without due process... to legally murder anyone they label a threat.

NBC: Justice Department memo reveals legal case for drone strikes on Americans

Randy Weaver and his family were just another set of "troublemakers" who wanted to be left alone.  While I, and most of Americans like me, paid no attention to the atrocity, a substantial minority on both sides of the political spectrum did pay attention.  They were outraged and wouldn't forget. And dear Lord, forgive me, I want to forget.  I don't want to remember.  I remember seeing the funerals on the news.  Yes, I prayed for the baby who would never know his mother.  I remember.

The actions at Ruby Ridge were studied long ago.  And, damning as the Justice Department investigation was, officials are believed to have destroyed evidence to keep it away from investigators. The Justice Department completed a 542-page investigation on the case in 1995.  Then hid the report from the public.  However, the report was acquired by Legal Times newspaper, which placed the report on the internet.  The report revealed that federal officials may have acted worse than even some of their harshest critics imagined.

Federal officials claimed a violent confrontation between the Weavers and the government began when the Weavers ambushed federal marshals, but the report tells a very different story. A team of six U.S. marshals, split into two groups, trespassed onto Mr. Weaver's land on Aug. 21, 1992. One of the marshals threw rocks at the Weaver's cabin to see how much noise was required to agitate the Weaver's dogs. A few minutes later, Randy Weaver, Kevin Harris, and 13-year-old Sammy Weaver came out of the cabin and began following their dogs. Three U.S. marshals were soon running away through the woods.

At one point, U.S. Marshal Larry Cooper "told the others that it was ['expletive deleted'] for them to continue running and that he did not want to 'run down the trail and get shot in the back.' Cooper told them to take up defensive positions. They took a position behind a stump and waited.  As Sammy Weaver and Kevin Harris came upon the marshals, gunfire erupted. It was Sammy who was shot in the back, killed while running away from the scene (probably by Marshal Cooper, according to the report).1

Does tyranny begin when an angry young man, remembering Ruby Ridge, blows up a federal building filled with babies in a daycare, along with men and women innocently going about their day?  Or would that be anarchy?

When does tyranny begin? A dad, a 13 year old boy, his mother and his baby brother were innocently going about their day, too.

My government wants legal permission to send drones, instead of federal marshalls, to kill Americans they think are a threat.  And I want to be protected!  I want my government to do a good job keeping my family safe.  But what happens when my government runs amok?  They want to control who gets to buy automatic weapons, to protect me they say.  Like they protected me from an unarmed woman holding her baby?

Slowly, like a child testing the weight of ice on a lake in winter, my government has tested the waters of tyranny, to see how far they can go.

The U.S. Supreme Court said "It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error." - in American Communications Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, at 442.

Please God, please help the American people ask what I'm asking now.  And dear God... please let the powers in Washington listen to the American people they serve.  Please let them ask, when does tyranny begin?  No, better still, let them ask what will the anarchy that follows look like?

1.  source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Ridge