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Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Harold and The Purple Crayon


One more of my unfinished projects sliding over to the finished objects column. Yippee, the end of the year is almost here and I've made some good headway. I still have 2 ghans in the works, that simply aren't going to get finished this year; a scarf I'm working on for myself (which I plan to finish in time for New Years Eve), and a pair of mittens I need to finish (probably will be the first item in 2010 to be finished). Made one mitten and laid it aside, totally forgot I never finished it's mate.

The credit for the cute name for this preemie blanket for The OddBall Knitters group goes to my daughter who thought of the book when I showed her the purple yarn I planned on using. The stitch I used is Purled Ladder Stitch which is an 8 row repeat. It's soft, as I used Caron Simply Soft yarn. I don't like working with this yarn, though knitting with it is better than crocheting with it. Many love this yarn because it is soft and is classified as worsted weight. Although I don't believe it stays together well, separates easily when working with it which requires one to knit or crochet slower. It also often requires adjustments with gauge because it truly is thinner than most worsted weight yarn. For a baby blanket though, it will be soft. It's now on it's way to Michigan to the next Oddball knitter.

Happy New Year one and all, if you're traveling be safe.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Green Acres

knitted preemie blanketGreen Acres is the place for me, ...can't remember the rest of the words to the song. Chim in, if you do. This is, as you can see bright lime green. I am the first knitter on this preemie blanket already headed to the next knitter. With the title of Green Acres, I imagine as the blanket grows we'll see lots of shades of green being used. Kinda fun to start one and think up a title/theme.

I cast on 102 and used a new stitch...well new to me that is. It's called horizontal dash which is an 8 row repeating pattern. I like texture when using a solid color, as I don't think stitch varieties show up when using variegated yarns.

This preemie blanket is for OddBall Knitters who donate to hospitals all over the country for The Linus Project.

Who's counting down til New Years with either crafts or home projects?

Monday, December 28, 2009

Christmas Tree

Christmas OrnamentsIt takes awhile to get my old ornaments all unwrapped and out of the box in preparation to decorate the tree. One year, I tried to upscale and make the tree more modern/classy, the fam didn't like it. You see ribbons, beads and other upscale tree decorations alot these days. But, my tree is pretty much the same as it has been for the past 30 ish years. Wooden and handmade ornaments. Ornaments my daughter made in school, or some her friends made for her etc. So, here they are before they made it to the tree.
Christmas TreeAnd here's the tree finished. We still use a real tree, all white lights, and the last thing I put on the tree are the candy canes which makes me think of grandpa. He always gave them to us after Mom and Grandma would leave the room. It was fun. They'd be busy baking or cooking and we'd put them on the tree. They'd always act surprised when they came back and saw us putting them on the tree, or eating one off the tree. lol Good Memories.

Do you use a real tree or artificial? What's your favorite part of decorating your tree?

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Another WIP turned into FO..count down til the end of the year

knitted oddball preemie blanketThis is titled Sunnydaze, cute name but looking out the window right now it's sure not true. It's snowing again here, and it's cold. This is an oddball preemie blanket I finished a few days ago. Each person knits a prescribed section. The blanket travels until completed and is then blocked, washed and donated to an OB unit for project Linus. I was the last knitter on this blanket and so did a little orange lacy edge after completing my orange section. One more WIP converted to FO. YIPPEE!!! Started another one called Green Acres, and will get it in the mail heading towards the next knitter as soon as I know who that is. I'm counting that as a FO (finished object), cause I've finished my portion. Check back for picture on the next post.

Look at this fun yarn, I bought 2 skeins at a yarn specialty shop the other day to make myself a scarf. Mine is looking pretty shabby. Time for a new one. Am anxious to start working with this yarn, it's super yummy soft. Not gonna start it until I get at least 1 more WIP converted to FO.
special yarn

Monday, December 21, 2009

Working on Works in Progress


Doubt I'll get all my WIP (works in progress) turned into FO (finished objects) by years end; but am making headway. Last night finished a scarf for The Bridge and Beyond. Finished and have ready to mail a scarf for Oklahoma Brain Tumor Foundation (the one pictured here), which is knitted with 2 strands of yarn. The dark purple is Plymouth washable wool, and the light purple (which looks almost gray in the picture) is super soft Red Heart Plus...or at least I think that's what it's called. The wrapper was no longer on that yarn. It looks and feels like mohair; but having used it previously I know it's not. It's very thin and soft. This isn't a charity I'm real familiar with, but am doing this through the group Sharing our Gifts, which I just recently joined.

I've just separated some baby items, and am getting those ready for mailing, where did I put that address? lol...seriously, I cleaned my desk off the other day and it's caused me problems about where I put stuff when I got all neat.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Unending Circle of Life

lighted wreathA friend made this wooden wreath for me many years ago. I really like it. Sadly, I think this will probably be the last year for it. As you can see the lights are going. He strung lots of lights to this wooden frame and we place it on the garage just above the door. There really isn't a good way to replace a few bulbs, and the strings are nailed/stapled so removing them would be a job. A good portion of the red ribbon is not showing up, and now some of the greenery is starting to go. Hope we make it through the end of this season at least.
lighted wreathI thought it time to talk about the meaning, the true meaning of Christmas Wreaths. We place them in and outside our homes. We use artificial and life wreaths. The shape is a circle which represents the unending circle of life. Traditionally, wreaths are made of evergreen which represents everlasting life. Wreaths are often made of Holly branches, or sometimes holly branches are added to the evergreen wreath for decoration. Holly branches have thorns which represent the thorny crown that adorned Christ's head. The red holly berries represents Jesus's blood that was shed for us.

Peace and Love to you all during this special time of the year.

**Anyone know why the gadget to show other posts isn't working?
****Did you read the previous post about Nativities and Memories?

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Nativities make for lasting memories

When you decorate your house for the upcoming Christmas Holidays, do memories come flooding back to you. Do specific items you doctorate with remind you of a particular person or a particular Christmas Memory? This small old nativity set belonged to my hubby when he was a child. Many of the original pieces are gone either lost or broken; and others here have been glued and some pieces added; but most of the pieces are the original ones. We always set this up in our daughters room. When I first saw it many years ago, it made me smile as it's the exact same set my Mother had when I lived at home. Somewhere along the line, her set too had some broken pieces, and other pieces were scratched so she painted hers white and silver. So, even though Mom won't be with us this Christmas (a first, since she passed in April), I look at this child's nativity set and think of her.

This larger, and far newer nativity set was hand painted by Dorothy, my Mother-in-law. She's not been with us for a very long time now; but every year when I unwrap each piece I think of her. She was a senior citizen when she painted this set in ceramics and I think she did a fabulous job. The stable was made for her by a gentlemen who lived in her building at the time. He too was a senior. This nativity set is always placed on top of the entertainment center in the living room.

Tell me about your Christmas memories.

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Action

If you're near my age you remember home movies, Dad would say "action", everyone would wave and talk and move around. Not sure why everyone talked, the home movies didn't have sound; but for some reason we did. Everyone waved at the person taking the movie, silly I suppose but, we felt compelled to interact with the cameraman.

We've come a long way from the camera pictured above, and that's not really one of the early models. I can hear the ticking now the camera made after it was wound up. lol And the awful bright lights.

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Monday, December 07, 2009

Weighting for Christmas

Waiting/Weighting for Christmas puts a whole new look on those LBS, we've all put on. A little tongue in cheek here.The Adventures of Larry Leptin (psssss, make sure you have your sound on)

Seriously though folks, the 5 rules of Leptin are:
  1. Never eat after dinner
  2. Eat 3 meals a day
  3. No large Meals (aren't you glad I waiting til after Thanksgiving to post this? lol)
  4. Eat Protein at Breakfast
  5. Reduce the Carbs (ouch that hurt, I really Love Pasta)
My Dad says eat all things in moderation, and he's 83, so I'm thinking he's knows what he's talking about.

Merry Christmas to all

Sunday, December 06, 2009

Do you remember?

Do you remember Christmas's of years past? I don't honestly know if I remember this Christmas, or if my memory stems from seeing the picture over and over. If you're close to my age, you no doubt have a similar picture of one of your early Christmas's. The TV console in the background with the round tube. If you're younger you're probably wondering why I'm wearing a little short sleeve dress. All little girls wore such dresses. In those days they didn't (we didn't) wear pants, boys wore pants. We didn't wear skirts, skirts and sweaters where for when you got older; little girls really didn't wear the same things as their mothers just in smaller sizes like they do now. You didn't see little girls with tats, or piercings, they didn't wear black. We all must have kept our houses warmer in those days too. I do remember it being very cold walking to school with our legs out. We did sometimes where pants under our dresses; but those pants naturally had to be taken off when we arrived at school and hung up our coats in the cloak room. I feel pretty certain this little dress was pink and I was thrilled with it; and thus was showing it off.

Do you have such memories?

Sunday, November 29, 2009

I don't like working with Cotton, Do You?


I don't like working with cotton. I find it hard on my hands, it doesn't seem to shape as well. I've used it to make a baby hat or too, several pair of booties some time back; and now a washcloth. I bought several skeins of colors I liked a year ago; but I have a feeling it's gonna stay in my stash for quite a while. I love using a cotton knitted/crocheted cloth; but I don't like the actual making of them.

Anyone else had that experience? Now that's it's cold, it's not really the right time to make items with it anyway; but...interested in your experiences.

Daughter likes green, so perhaps I'll find some nice green soap and add this to her Christmas gifts? Also don't like the way the cloth ended up. Just your basic corner to corner; but the decreases look sloppy to me.

Friday, November 27, 2009

It Pays to clean?


Anyone addicted to yarn, like myself will relate to this I know. Moving a few things around the other day, and found a bag of something soft. Hum, wondered what it was. When I opened it, I found booties! Had completely forgotten I made these. Not even sure when I made them (maybe on the plane when hubby and I went to Florida?), but was thrilled to find them. They're mostly FO (finished objects for my non yarn friends). I'll be able to add these to the current hats and booties I'm making. Got 2 sets finished, and 2 partial set's going...so hopefully can get these all finished and in the mail soon.
*Found objects are the 2 pair of patriotic booties, the multi-colored wee little preemie booties, current items are the yellow hat and booties-multi-colored hat, aqua hat & booties, and the light blue booties. Plan to make booties to match multi-hat, and hat to match light blue booties.

Soooooooo....go clean out something and see if you find a treasure too. Let me know if you do.

Hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving with family, and hope you'll check out my posts about being Thankful, here and here.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

The Attempted Murder of Miss Peggy Sweetwater


Traveled to St. Louis this past weekend to visit with my daughter and see her play. Well, not her play, but it was her directorial debut. The play is quite funny, she had the lead in this play when she was a sophomore in high-school. Doing British accents is a challenge but always fun. Lot's of funny lines in the play, "The attempted murder of Miss Peggy Sweetwater". Her kids did a good job under her direction, so it was one of those proud mommy moments. The story takes place on a banana plantation, thus the monkey's and bananas. You know anything with a monkey in it has to be funny. The cake she bought the kids was for their cast party, they loved it and were quite surprised she did that for them. The set simple, a living room; but the kids did build it which was pretty cool. They said they learned alot from her. Nice hun!

Where you involved with high school drama? Or college theatre? Brought back fun memories for me watching this past wkend; of all the times I watched my daughter on stage either in a play, or singing in a concert.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Tickets Please

Halloween ConductorYou've perhaps seen some cute pictures of this little guy before. Maybe on his Thomas The Train Bike, or his Thomas The Train Bed, or wearing a Thomas The Train Shirt....got the picture? He LOVES all things train related, with Thomas and his friends at the top of the list.

Here's my pseudo-grandchild at Halloween. He'd only just gotten over the flu, so wasn't as animated as he typically is.........still though, soooooooooo cute.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

I love making booties and wee little hats

I'm not sure what color you call this, but it's one of my favorite colors when making baby items. This is the same yarn I used awhile back for a scarf and hat for The Bridge Project. In fact, it's the same skein of JoAnne's Sensation. I love buying that yarn in it's large quantity. This hat and pair of booties went to my SIL for a baby shower gift. I've made a 2nd pair of booties, and have started a 2nd hat. This 2nd set will go one of the charities...perhaps Lil Troopers?

One skein has 615 yards of yarn, so you really can make quite a bit with one skein of it. This is chunky, so thicker than normal weight yarn, and soooooooooo soft. The set is knitted. The hat was knitted in the round, while the booties are straight garter stitch (I think they're more cushy when made with straight garter stitch), on size 9 needles.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Winter Wonderland

knitted preemie blanket
I've been trying hard to change WIP (work in progress) to FO (finished Objects) as I have too many projects going. Would love to get everything currently started finished by the end of the year to start fresh in 2011. Don't know if that's going to happen, but I'm trying.

This preemie knitted ghan is for donation to The Linus Project, through Oddball knitters. It's a fun group, everyone knits a section and passing the blankie along to the next person. Each blankie has a theme, a name and the knitters select their colors based on that. I've had this one far too long. Had it tucked away when Mom died; and finally remembered it, found it and got it finished and mailed. Felt good to get this long over due project finished. Working on a 2nd one currently for this group that's almost as old.

An especially busy week this week at work, longer than normal days.........sigh, that really cuts into my knitting, crocheting, and blogging time.

Sunday, November 08, 2009

Red, White and Blue

So many way to show we care. Red, White and Blue. Be patriotic. These 12 inch squares are traditional style grannies. The royal blue left over from a blue scarf I made for The Bridge Project, The white from a yarn donation from Rae's Mother, the red and variegated from my stash, navy also left over from several other scarves for The Bridge Project. These 7 12 inch squares are for a new group I found recently doing a search using the words crochet and charity. American Angels Heroghans.

All squares need to be 12 inches, all squares need to be red, white, or blue or combination there-off. All are joined and given to grieving families who've lost a love one in service of their country. To date this group has crafted over 700 heroghans for families who's loved ones were indeed hero's.

Show your patriotism. If you like to make baby items there are 2 groups who distribute handmade gifts to newborn's who are born while Daddy's deployed. (Marine Corp Kids and
Lil Troppers). Want to support injured military personnel, donate 8 x 10 inch squares through HAP (Handmade Afghans to thank our military Project), who assemble and distribute thousands of afghans throughout military hospitals to our injured service men and women. Want to support the active military personnel make hats for the Ships Project (read about it on my friend Sandie's blog). Give your support to grieving family who's hero has paid the highest price, their life-- donate 12 inch squares for American Angels Heroghans. All groups have links in my sidebar.

Friday, November 06, 2009

When Men go Shopping

leaf blowerA week or so ago, hubby and I were blowing and raking leaves. He always starts up on the roof in order to get the junk out of the gutters etc. He was almost done when our trusty blower stopped. He came down off the roof and headed to the hardware store. I thought he was looking for a part, so I continued raking. When he came back from Home Depot (his favorite store), he had this new shinny red blower! Ok, the old one was old; maybe it cost too much to repair. I don't know, he didn't say. We continued with our work. Later he said, he thought he could fix the old one and would use it as a vacuum instead of blower---therefore we'd have one of each. They all do this, I think. But, the connection to do that on the old one broken and so was taped with duct tape, so he never used it except to blow.
table top heaterThat's him, putting together the other item he bought while there at Home Depot (did I mention it's his favorite store?) It's one of those table top heaters. You sometimes see them in outdoor eating areas as a way to extend the time people can eat outdoors at bars and restaurants. Sometimes there on a taller pole beside the tables. Interesting I thought; but you see my printer hasn't been working right for several months. Every-time I need to print something, I email it to him at work. That's convenient, right? It printed spotty. Well, that was before the new computer which is Vista. After that, it didn't work at all. The photo software isn't compatible with Vista, and the scanner part only partially worked. I wanted a new one; he said to wait. I'm still waiting. You know how much new printers cost? Not much is the answer. Anyone care to guess what a new shinny blower and table top heater cost? When women go shopping they compare prices, they shop around, they think about it. Often they go multiple times before they buy something..........men go, see, and buy. End of story.table top heaterAfter we finished the leaves, the sun was getting lower in the sky, it was cooling off. But, cocktails on the deck is always a nice reward after a hard day of labor. lol

He got a good buy on the heater, it was on sale; and he had a coupon for more off. Several days later he was once again at Home Depot...did I mention it's his favorite store! I don't even remember why he was there that time. lol Anyway, they had lowered the price again and so he get's a refund of the difference.

Sunday, November 01, 2009

Patriotic Donation

Patriotic booties and hat for newborn. This last set fills my box, and completes this donation to Marine Corp. Kids (link on sidebar). I sent 5 newborn sets, plus one extra pair of booties, and 3 preemie sets with 2 additional hats. They are all knitted, and vary in colors. Blue variegated, light pink, yellow, brown variegated, rose etc. Think most have been pictured here earlier as they were finished. Marine Corp Kids sends donations to various military hospital when wee ones are born while Daddy's deployed. Such a small thank you for all they do.

I must now focus on finishing up some long over do ghans that are in my project bags. I don't like having them hang over my head for as long as they have.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Happy Halloween


Look at the size of this pumpkin. It touches the back tailgate...and goes all the way to the silver toolbox. Side to side it didn't quite touch, but it did fill the length of this truck bed. The truck was from Indiana. I cropped so his license plate wouldn't be visible. Look how much above the truck bed the pumpkin shows. Daddy and I were driving north on US Rt 23 on our way back from Chillicothe the other day when we saw this ahead of us. He was driving so I was able to pull out my new camera and get this photo, even though both the truck and our car was moving. Thrilled it turned out so I could share this HUGE pumpkin with you. This just outside Circleville, where the annual pumpkin show was taking place. It's been years since I've attended the festival, though when our daughter was young we went several times. Lots of pumpkins on display, lots to buy. And everything you can think of made from pumpkins, and then some to eat.

Happy Halloween one and all. Hope the kid's have fun as they go trick or treating, and have their parties at school. What fun memories this time of year brings.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Beauty and Work


Beauty is all around us this time of year. These little trees are called service berries. I've never heard of them until my neighbor planted 2. Now I see them everywhere. Aren't they pretty? I can see these looking out my side kitchen window.
Not sure you see really how many leaves are piled up here; but took hubby and I blowing and raking several hours on Sunday. We have leaves at the curb ready for pick up the full length of the house, on both sides of the drive. As do the 2 neighbors between us and the end of the street. Our neighborhood has a large truck vacuum that picks up the leaves about 5 times during the season. The leaves are then composted at a facility where we buy our mulch in the spring. It's my understanding our community was one of the first in the nation to develop this system. It's really a good system. They don't fill the landfills with them this way, and it's far easier than cutting up leaves yourself, and or bagging them which is what many neighboring communities do.
This is hubby's new leaf blower. He had just finished blowing all the leaves off the roof and out of the gutters when the one we've had for years broke. So, he ventured out to the hardware to make a new purchase.

Do you rake or blow your leaves?
What's your communities method of collecting the leaves?

As it's continuing to get colder and colder with each passing day, I'm reminded what a hard time of year it is for those who are homeless and less fortunate. And with that, please read about my homeless project here. I'm betting, there's something you can do to help.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

New Camera, at last!


That's the front view of my new camera. It's very small and light weight and can easily be slipped right into my purse. I do have a camera bag that will work for it as well; but love being able to put it in my purse. Funny how these things progress. My first digital camera (which is the one I used to take this picture), was an Olympus. It still works, sorta...just very very slow you fall asleep holding down the shutter. It was a 2 megapixels. My 2nd camera which I loved (used for 3 years), was a Canon that was an 8 megapixels. I really liked my 2nd camera. I thought it took great pictures, was easy to use and batteries lasted forever. It took 4 batteries and was therefore a little larger, and heavier; but I liked the way it fit in your hand. Sadly, that's the camera that broke while we on vacation the last time. Lousy timing. So many of the new camera's don't have a view finder and I use it more often than the viewer. I find it faster, easier on the eyes---particularly in bright sunlight. Somewhere I read you use less batteries that way too? Anyway, since so many now don't have view finders I looked a bit. Ended up with another Canon. It's a 12 megapixels. I do like it being little enough to put in my purse, but find holding onto it a little harder because it's smaller. No doubt I just need to get used to it It has a nice size view screen on the back which gives you the ability to show someone a picture you just took. This is the number 1 selling camera right now according to the guy at Staples they can't keep it stocked. I also tried to order on line and it was out of stock. So, he ordered it from another store for me and called when it came in.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Suz ie Q, baby I love; oh Suz ie Q. I've never been good at remembering who did what song, so perhaps one of you know which song it is that's in my head as I type this post. This is Susie, you've seen her before. She's quite a ham, loves to have her picture taken and is often a model for me for finished scraves, hats and the like. She said, and I quote; "the blankets no good until it's been test". Now if I had a little smiling face thingy here it would be rollin it's eyes. LOL

Anyway, this is a super soft blanket I finished a few weeks ago. It was requested by my boss. Not like one can really say no to one's boss. This isn't the prettiest baby blanket I've made, the colors? I don't know, what do you think? The yellow just isn't soft pretty baby yellow to my way of thinking; but then she picked out the yarn ...........sooooooooooo there you go.

It's one huge granny square, but the yarn was quite thin, like fingering weight so it took forever to make. I used a small hook (can't now remember what size), and did 3 or 4 rows for the ruffle edge. I ended up with 9 scallops per stitch so you know how long that took.

She gave it as a shower gift for her niece who loved it.


Feeling under the weather the last 3-4 days, better today; but still taking it easy. Didn't go to work, no need to spread the bugs.

Gonna spend some time sorting hats, mittens, and scarves today for the homeless folks and the free clinic folks. Have you visited The Bridge and Beyond? If not, please do; some very big hearted and talented people have donated fabulous items.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Flat Stanley Project

click on picture to enlarge and see detail


Do you know Flat Stanley?  Has your child or grandchild done a Flat Stanley project at school?  It's fun, it's educational.  A co-worker's nephew is doing a Flat Stanley project and so we're doing what we can to add to his project.  I took my Flat Stanley tailgating last wkend; but due to the old camera only working some of the time.  The pictures I thought I had....weren't there.  Errrrrrrrrr, I so need a new camera.  My regular camera broke while on vacation a couple of weeks ago, thus I've been trying to use the old one.  Very frustrating.  So, while Flat Stanley was appropriately colored to be Buckeye for tailgating, those pictures are non existent.


He also traveled with hubby and I last wkend to St. Louis with a car load of stuff for our daughter.  On the way back we made a couple of stops and Flat Stanley got his picture taken in Indiana, and in Illinois.  These 2 pictures with The Bison and TeePee were taken in Illinois on US Route 70 exit 76.  This is a fun stop for all.  The kids will love the TeePee and The Bison, parents will love the very unique gift shop; and furry friends have some room to roam and stretch their legs.  It's not the first time we've stopped here; nor will it be the last.


Here's Stanley in Indiana, again on US Route 70.  He got his picture taken by a nice memorial to our men and women in service.  The Blue Star Highways were started as a way to honor our military after the close of World War II, by ladies garden clubs all across the country.

If you'd like to join in on the project it would be great.  You can color your own Flat Stanley and take him places, photograph it and email it to me.  Or...you could take my Flat Stanley, print it and go visiting.  It's a geography lesson primarily for this particular group of kids; but the kids learn so many other things as well.  I like to add some history info, they can find locations on the map etc.  It started out as a way to get kids to write letters, to journal; but there are many possibilities.  Let me know if you're interested.  Here's a link if you'd like to color your own Flat Stanley


oophs forgot to add Stanley's picture in case you want to print it and take with you to various locations and email photo's back to continue the project.  Remember, my camera (super old one), isn't taking great photo's).  He looks very faded here...errrr

**for the first time in awhile, I was able to visit, read, and comment on each and every blog on my blog roll (all 28 of them).

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

JACKS, Mother and Daughter and childhood games

Depending on how old you are, you might or might know what this is a picture of.

  • It's Jack's. This picture is rather traditional in appearance. I remembering having multi-colored ones too. My Mother taught me to play Jacks. I love to play with her sitting on the front stoop in Marion where I grew up. I can see us there now. The stoop was small and off to the right side was a metal box for the milk man. It was a great game for mother and daughter to play because it really didn't take much time, you could stop and start if you got interrupted easily. Which Mom, usually did to run inside and start a load of laundry, or to hang another load on the clothes line out back. As I got better, we'd play with 2 sets. You really had to get good at bouncing the ball higher to scoop up that many Jacks. You also had to have a bigger hand. Somewhere along the line I remember a friend showing Mom and I a "special ball" she had that really bounced; allowing you more time to scoop up those Jacks. It was the inside of a golf ball. You'd crack open the golf ball, unwrap the rubber bands that were there and inside you had a "special ball".

A fun memory, Thanks Mom.

Did you play Jacks?

If you're new to my blog you might not have seen these Alphabetical Memories of My Mom:


A=Advice, Afghan, Apples
B=Bread, and Bernie
C=Camping, Creativity and Courage
D=Dancing and Delaware Dam
E=Energy and Etiquette
F=Friday
G=Gown (wedding gown), grape pop
H=Hammocks and Holidays
I=Ice Skating and Isaly's

Sunday, September 27, 2009

No No, Not SNOW


Snow, that's what this is folks. Ugh. Remember it will soon be this time again. Moving pictures from memory sticks, CD's, and my old computer; trying so hard to get everything on the computer and into proper folders then do a massive back up and pitch the old stack of stuff. Always trying to get more organized. In so doing, I came across this picture. Sorry it's a bit blurred and dark. I took this looking at the window at my fabulous neighbor. You've gotten a glimpse of my bad neighbor with his dandelions...now you can see my wonderful good neighbor as he's snow blowing for me.

Thought you'd get a kick out of this, if it's still hot wherever you are. And sadly, it's a reminder to us all of the season ahead. Can you imagine being homeless, living outside without a roof over you head in these conditions? I can't either, and yet I know it happens. If you're not aware of my homeless project, please hop over Here and read about it. See if there's a way you can help. Thanks.

Do you dread winter and snow?

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Do You See What I See?

"Do You See What I See?" Way in the sky little lamb? As I typed the title to this post that Christmas Carole came to mind. Though that's not what this post is about.
unusual tree
Do you? See what I see? This tree is huge, the circumference that is. Not very tall anymore; as it's been cut so many times. Damaged through storms and time, not much is left. This tree speaks to me. Partially I think because given it's size, the hundreds of years it's grown; think what all it could tell us. This tree truly does call out to me. It's located in Green Lawn Cemetery here in town. Green Lawn is the 2nd largest cemetery in the state. It's quite old, historic and interesting. It's not possible for me to go to this cemetery without stopping to visit, my tree. Even my friends call it, Sandy's tree. I feel quite spiritual when I'm there. This is the front of the tree, I see a body; do you? Like a person is facing you.  And below
tree
Is the back of the tree.  Do you see the back of a body? I do.

The first time I photographed this tree was almost a bit spooky. I was driving by on my way out of the cemetery,(had photographed for people doing their genealogy). I spotted it and had to stop. After parking the car and walking over I felt a chill, an odd sensation. I walked in silence around the tree and wondered about it. I started to leave after photographing it, when I felt compelled to stay a bit longer. Almost like I was visiting. Once again I decided I really needed to leave, choose a different path to exist by and there in front of me a tombstone of Frank Schoenfeld. I looked at it several times, as well as his family members around him. I didn't know he had died. Frank Schoenfeld had been my favorite teacher. He was my 7th grade homeroom teacher, taught Ohio history. He was a fabulous teacher, which I think is why I loved history so much. Now to appreciate how odd it was for me to find the memorial you need to understand the size of Green Lawn. It is 360 acres, founded in 1848 and has hundreds of thousands of memorials.

Until they painted a couple of the roads it was not uncommon for people to get lost there. Even now with the roads painted, I never go without a map of the cemetery in hand; and I'm pretty familiar with it. People used to joke about leaving bread crumbs so they could find their way out.

The list of who's who buried in this cemetery is very impressive, from President G.W. Bush's grandfather, to Governor Rhodes, to Eddie Rickenbacher, to slaves in unmarked graves from years back. The tree surely has witness much.

Do you see what it speaks to me?  Do you see what I see?

Monday, September 21, 2009

Chemicals Needed, lots of them.

dandelion fieldFor YEARS everyone in the neighborhood has threatened to slip over during the darkness of night in super stealth mode and spray this yard. Not just spray, but SPRAY like there's no tomorrow. Regardless of how well we all weeded, or sprayed our yards (and many have it done professionally), we could not get rid of the dandelions. Can you see why? What a constant eye sore, on top of the additional work it caused the rest of us in the neighborhood....and let's talk allergies. ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

He would wait and wait to mow, then when the grass was about a foot tall, and his weeds and dandelions had blown all around the neighborhood; he'd give in and mow the tops off. He never sprayed, he never pulled a weed. The yard was either full of yellow dandelions, or the fuzzy seeds of the dandelions, or those purple weeds (can't remember what they're called.)

But, there's more. When he did decide it was time to mow, he mow at night and bagged it. Well generally only 2 strips could be done because the grass was so tall so it would take him forever to mow. Which meant everyone had to hear the mower for hours and hours during their quiet time. And because he hated to mow, he had the mower set to the lowest possible setting and the yard look scraped the next day or so. So pretty. Thankfully, we spend most of our time out back and not in the front.

Good news, after 20+ years, he put the house on the market and moved out. YIPPEE. However, the house has remained empty for almost 2 years. The only good part of this, he finally hired someone to cut it. Thus the above photograph. Big mower, he could do it quicker. At least we had less noise to deal with. Then after the house had been on the market for ages, someone convinced him he needed to do something about the yard. FINALLY, he sprayed it; but as you can imagine once was hardly enough. Now, we have our fingers crossed that if the house sells (he has it way over priced), we'll get more considerate neighbors that take care of it better than he did. Only time will tell. He's tried selling it himself with no luck; and just recently we've learned he's getting a Realtor. Fingers and toes are crossed.

Do you have bad neighbors like this?

Friday, September 18, 2009

The waiting is Painful!

CatLook at the patience! These pictures were taken 2 summers ago on my deck just about dinner time. My kitchen window looks out onto the deck, which I love. I'm able to look out as I prepare meals. I quickly got my camera. Initially took the a photo from inside; but wanting a better photo actually was able to step out onto the deck to get these photo's. Neither moved. They both were quite intent.
Cat and chipmunk
cat and chipmunk
So, what do you think?
Want to see and read more about animals? Please visit my SIL's blog

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Homemade Noddles!

This is my niece who helped me with making homemade noddles. Realized I never edited these pictures, there were in the wrong folder on my computer and are from Thanksgiving a few years back. We make homemade noddles...TONS of them, believe that year we made about 6 recipes worth. We are a huge bunch when we gather for the fest and everyone loves my homemade noddles. Then we had to make more so my little helper had some to take home. We made egg noddles for the meal and for her to take home, then we made tomato basil angel hair...bird nests for her to take home. She was a good worker, but tired at the end. It takes lots of time and energy...and all day project.
My daughter usually helps me, but wasn't getting home from Baltimore until late the night before Thanksgiving and so wasn't able to. She was teaching 5th and working on her Masters at the time, and they didn't get off early.