Another giveaway alert...

I can't help myself, I have to try to win stuff! They are having a big quilty type giveaway over at Inklingo. Go check it out!

Playing Catch-Up...

This past Friday, Baby Girl and Spartan went to the Daddy/Daughter Dance. First they went out to eat for dinner, then danced the night away...well, at least until 8:00 when the dance was done!

It's amazing to me how fast she is growing up! She is such a little darling!

On Saturday I took Baby Girl with me to a local quilt show. There were some beauties there! Here are my favorites in order of preference:

This one was just so sweet and simple. It reminds me that things don't have to be complicated to be beautiful!

This one I loved because of the applique flowers. They are blanket stitched on and beautifully done!

How cute is this one?!? I love that the maker made things dimensional on this. The jewelry and watch are real!

I love the colors and the over all romantic feel of this one! The images are gorgeous!

This one was my favorite because it incorporated everything I love in a quilt! First of all, it's quilted! Second it has applique. Third and the biggest draw for me, the embroidery! The maker did an exquisite job on the embroidery! This one gets my blue ribbon!

Today I saw a lone May-fly on my kitchen window, so I thought I would share some buggy "loveliness" with you.

When I was growing up, we lived in a town/city near a lot of water. When I say a lot of water, I mean not far from one of the rivers that is a main pass through between Michigan and Canada. Every year we would get inundated by what we, as kids, erroneously called "fish flies." What they actually were, was "May-flies."

As entertainment in the townhouse complex I lived in, we would go around with buckets and collect them off of the window screens, doors, walls, cars, you name it. They were always everywhere! One year we got hit really, really bad. When I say really bad, I mean they were everywhere! My Mom had a silver Vega back then. When we wanted to have air from the vents (we didn't have air conditioning, only rich people had that in their caddies!), we had these levers down by our feet that we had to pull. I assume it opened some kind of levering system underneath. Well, when we got hit so bad by the fish flies, they got into the vent system because we had left them open overnight. Talk about stink! That car stunk to high heavens for weeks!!

Being the times in which we lived, we weren't "politically correct" as one HAS to be now. We didn't worry about if a child got a spanking for mouthing off or if someone, or the neighborhood children as a whole, were cruel to...oh...I don't know...let's say for example...fish flies. Mind you, we had none of the "acceptable" ways of expressing our glee in disgusting, possibly inhumane entertainment. We didn't have Nintendo, XBox, Playstation. We had our imagination...and our bicycles. Can you imagine where I'm going with this??? Well, we would take our buckets and buckets full of fish flies and pour them out onto the sidewalk. It would look like a river of insects. Then we would ride our bikes through them. Yes folks, I said we would ride our bikes THROUGH them. I can remember they made the most satisfying (gross now) popping sound as our wheels went over them. Not satisfied with just squishing them, we would get halfway down our "river of bugs" and then put the binders on. We would go sliding through them while our bikes tried unsuccessfully to stop. Believe it or not, it was great fun!

When I've told my children this story, they think I was deranged as a child. Even the boys think I was gross...sigh...I made such a better boy than my boys do! They are afraid to touch the creepy crawlies. No tadpoles, no frogs, no snakes, no snails, no "fish flies" have ever come home with my children. I guess, when I was growing up, I collected enough for all five of us!

Hope I didn't gross you out too much! Have a great buggy day!

Giveaway...

Sharon over at It's Dafficat has been dying cloth. She has come up with some beautiful colors! She is also generously giving some of it away! Hop on over there and check it out!

Moxy-clean and a Pillow...

So...a while back I wanted to find a laundry additive like oxyclean but at a cheaper price because...well...I'm cheap. I developed a brand new product! Yes folks, you can get the recipe right here! It's terribly complicated, so you better have your pencil ready to write down this LONG, DIFFICULT process!

So...ready??? Mix equal parts of these two (yes, I said two) ingredients:

Use about two tablespoons per stinky load of laundry. Thats it. Seriously. This stuff works just as good, if not better than Oxyclean! I mean this stuff really, really works! It gets Spartan and Runners stinky, sweaty running clothes fresh as a daisy! Come to find out, my Grandmother used to use the two products I use for the "stinky" stuff. Isn't it amazing how when we get older, all the things our "elders" did and said suddenly make sense!! If you are interested, I can dig out my homemade liquid laundry soap recipe. Just let me know. It's phosphate free...better for the environment.


Now Baby Girl's pillow:

I really loved doing the hand quilting on this. I think I will do more small projects that I can hand quilt. I almost hated to make this into a pillow because I thought the quilting on the back looked so cool. Even Spartan commented on how neat it looked...that's saying something!

Lastly, I wanted to share with you some words of wisdom from my favorite Doctor in the whole world. This woman is seriously awesome! Like, if circumstances were different, we would be friends instead of Doctor/Patient. Drink more water. Move more, whether that means exercising or taking a walk around your house, just move. Take fish oil, it's a mood elevator and hormone regulator (if you are on medication, check with YOUR Doctor first). Get enough uninterrupted sleep at night.

That's all folks...Have a good weekend!

Thanks...and...This Is So Embarrassing...

I can't believe what a whin-ey butt I was being yesterday! Thank you friends for your kind encouraging words.


I started on my mission to whip my house and me into place. Here's my first embarrassing picture:

There are about 2 - 2 1/2 loads of laundry here. All needing to be folded. For days. But lookie now:

All tamed! And yes, it did all get put away! I even managed to do two more loads of laundry after this and they got folded and put away too! I cheated on the dinner thing though, I got pizza while I was out! Baby steps...

I also finished my butterfly pillow, which I will post a picture of after I get back from errands and a Doctor's appointment.

I will also be posting a helpful tip for making what I call "Moxy-clean," which is Mom's (me) version of Oxyclean.

Be back soon...

What Do I Do?

So...almost a year ago I had to have surgery. Nothing that most would consider "serious." Girl stuff. Where you sit stuff. Stupid stuff. I've been told that I will have to have another in a couple of years. Don't know why they didn't just take it out when they were in there. Stupid medical community. Not like I'm having anymore kids. I've already got four and I'm 44. Stupid. Doctors.

Anyways, that's not really what this post is supposed to be about.

Due to said stupid surgery, I gained 10 pounds. I laid around. I did nothing. I. Did. Nothing. How long does it take to recover from a surgery that went well coupled with a difficult recovery...reacting to the medicine...throwing up...pulled stitches...bruising...disgusting.

My point is it has been a year. Almost a whole year and what do I do? I weigh 10 pounds more. I lay around (nap every day), I do nothing.

I had this self-relization while washing my hair at 3:15 in the afternoon today so that I will look presentable enough to pick Runner up from track practice. So that I won't look disgusting for when Spartan comes home. Now I know that I battle mild depression, but this is absolutely ridiculious! Enough is enough! Enough. I. Say.

So, what does this have to do with you? Nothing really. I am sort of using you as my sounding board. My motivator. My supervisor as it were. Starting Monday, I am going to post for five days exactly what I do (or don't do). I'm hoping it will be a form of shock therapy to jolt me out of my lethargy.

Happy Earth Day!

Here are just a few of the things I do to try to help out:

Always run a full load of laundry.

Always run a full load of dishes.

Always turn off the water when brushing our teeth.

Always set the thermostat down.

Use home made grocery bags.

It may not seem like a lot, but every little bit helps. I also turn off lights when not in a room, and the television! Don't forget those un-used items that are plugged in, they draw electricty even when they aren't turned on!





Don't forget to turn off your lights tonight at 9:00pm!

Teatime and Butterflies...

So, I have decided that I pretty much love all the fabrics that come out of Lakehouse Dry Goods Fabrics! Here are three that I am currently in love with:

These are from the Teatime Floral line. I was at my local quilt shop this past weekend with Baby Girl and we fell in love! So I bought a half a yard of each of these to make up a couple of pillows for her bed.

What you can't tell from the pictures is that the dot material and the butterfly material both have a pearlized pattern to them. Simply lovely.

I am almost done with the pillow top. I decided to try my hand at hand quilting. It's going very well, aside from a sore index finger from pulling the needle and a sore middle finger from shoving the needle halfway into it under my fingernail. Little enough ouchies considering I am loving the way it it turning out! Besides, if I don't screw something up, or get hurt, I haven't made it right!

I plan to make a ruffle for the pillow and once I get it done I promise to post a picture...I know I'm bad about that. I still haven't posted pictures of the last two purses I made...bad me...

Giveaway

Sue Daley just got her book published! It looks to be a lovely bunch of projects! Hop on over to her site to find out more and sign up for her giveaway!

I Could'da Been A Contend-ah...

I really should have gotten off my lazy butt my degree in some medical field. I could have been an operating room nurse, or a surgeon, a surgical vet at the very least!

Why do I say this?

Well, not to toot my own horn but, first, I'm smart enough. I did very well on my ACT's. Top 10% in the nation. Things have always come easy to me that way...I'm just lazy as hell.

Second, my fine motor skills are VERY good. I started crocheting and hand sewing when I was five and it didn't look like a five year old did it! I taught myself to bead and became pretty close to a master at it. (sounds self-inflated doesn't it? if you knew me better, you would know that just isn't the case.) I taught beading classes until I got bored started to hate beading.

Third, and lastly, blood and gore just don't bother me all that much. Now don't get me wrong. If it's my family and most particularly my babies, forget about it! I'm a basket case, controlled, but a basket case inside!

What brought all this on you ask? (Even if you didn't, I'm going to tell you). A couple of days ago Ree over at The Pioneer Woman told us about a cow on their ranch that had a prolapsed uterus. "Interesting," I thought. Well, today, she posted about a darling white calf they have and gave a link to see the more "gory" pictures of the prolapsed cow. Me, being me, jumped right on that! Click...read the unnecessary disclamers about grossness...scroll...scroll...and there she was. Poor baby. I heard myself saying "you poor baby" and "aww, poor thing." I have had surgery for somewhat related problems and so could totally empathize with her (as if she processes things like we do). My next thought was "wow, that's kinda cool" and "I wonder what that is part of."

In high school my favorite class was Biology II. We dissected cats for half the year and though it sounds gross, it was one of the coolest things I have ever done. Learning about the muscles and the organs was awesome.

So again I say "I could'da been a contend-ah" if only I hadn't been so frick'in lazy.

Hindsight is 20/20.

How I Met My Dad...

My Mother divorced my biological father when I was four years old. It was definitely a case of good riddance to bad rubbish. When I was eight, my Mom's oldest friend, Benta and her Husband, set my Mom up on a blind date with a man that Benta's Husband worked with. His name was Gregg and he was a blessing in disguise.

When we were coming down the stairs (my Mother and Me), Gregg thought she, (my Mother) was the babysitter because she looked so young. They got along well on their first date. As they got to know each other my Mother learned that Gregg had four children from a previous marriage. Kathy, Lorie, Greg & Tom. Now, at that time my name was "Lorie Ann" and Greg told my Mother that his second Daughter's name was "Lorie Ann." It gets better. My birth date is 12/23/64. Lorie's birth date is 12/23/65. My Mother thought he (Gregg) was handing her a line as long as her arm, wouldn't you? She made him prove it by showing her Lorie's birth certificate. Sure enough, our birthday's and names, which were spelled in the more unusual old fashioned way, were the same, we were just a year apart!

As they dated, I got to know the girls better. It was fun for me, but exhausting for them. Being an only child I wanted to do stuff with them non-stop! Instant siblings!

Mom and Gregg dated for four years before they finally decided to take the plunge and get married. When I was twelve, they married and we made the decision that Gregg would adopt me. Now we had a real dilemma. The government would never be able to tell the two of us girls apart. They would assume the different years of our births was just a typo. There was only one thing for it...I got to change my name! My Mother never liked my name anyways, it wasn't her choice, so it was an easy transition for her. We went through several names. I liked Heather Ann and Amber Ann. I found out later my Mother DETESTED Amber Ann, she thought it sounded like a stripper's name. We finally agreed on the name Lynn. But not just Lynn. To meld before and after we chose Loralynn Ann. I love my name. Most people call me Lynn, but I love the name Loralynn. I use Loralynn for business and have a couple of friends that call me by my full name even though they have mostly known me by Lynn.

My Dad (Gregg) was a Godsend. Both for my Mother and me. I definitely needed a positive male role model and he fit the bill perfectly! My children know that he isn't my biological father, but they also know that it takes a lot more to be a Dad than to just make a baby!

The Karma Award

The Karma Award

I received this award from Ginger over at Loves to Dream. If you haven't been to her blog, you should really check it out! I go there everyday! She has interesting facts, a recipe and links to projects galore...all new, everyday! I love her blog!

Here is the text that accompanies this award:

Karma Award

These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind of bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

Picking just eight is difficult for me, but here are some of my favorites:

Cindy from Cindy is Crafty...and she makes things too! Funny stories, lovely crafts!

Bloom from Bloom Wonderful Quilts and other sewing creations!

May Britt from Abyquilt Some of the most beautifully done applique you will ever see!

Jane from Jane's Fabrics and Quilts We share an obsession with the same fabrics!

Su from Contemplating my needle and thread She has the most beautiful cross-stitch!

Patty from Pip Stitch She always has the best links to more projects!

Christie at Serenity Now The most interesting pictures and stories...not your usual run of the mill site...very cool!

Anne from Tempus fugit Lovely cross-stitch and finishes from this French site!

The blog owners that receive this award can post the logo on their blog , with the blue text above , mentioning the person that has awarded them and her blog and then pass it on to other eight blogs of their choice, if they so choose. Finally they will need to contact the blog owners to let them know they have been awarded.

My thanks to those mentioned (and many not) for making my bloggy visits so interesting and enjoyable!

Susan Boyle - Singer - Britains Got Talent 2009

I got the link for this video from asimplequilter.blogspot.com . This is a video of an incredible thing. As Christine alludes to, we should not judge a book by it's cover as we never know what is inside waiting to be discovered! This brought tears to my eyes.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Everyone!



Check out this great giveaway over at Pig Tales & Quilts!

Dishes & Bubbles & Water...Oh My!

Things were just simpler when I was growing up. Technology-wise. We didn't have all the gadgets and gizmos that make our lives easier and yet more complicated today. No video games. No remote controls. No “Roomba’s.” No email. No facebook.

We didn’t get an automatic dishwasher until I was about 11. By then my Mother had met my “real Dad” (more on that later) and they had been dating for a little while. For Christmas (?) one year, he got us an automatic dishwasher. We lived in a townhouse and had a very small, galley kitchen. The dishwasher would sit, when not in use, at one end of the kitchen. The kitchen and back hall formed an “L” shape. One end led to the back door and ½ bath and on the other, at the corner of the “L” was the door to the basement.

Before we got the automatic dishwasher, I was the “automatic” dishwasher. I didn’t mind the chore actually. As a little girl I loved playing in the sink water. I would squirt in WAY too much soap and have mounds of bubbles to play in. Each dish and glass would become one of my “babies” that were dirty and needed a bath. Or they became containers that needed to be filled and refilled from one another. I would endlessly pour water and bubbles from one container to the other, splashing water everywhere.

Until I was 12 it was just my Mother and me at home most of the time, so there weren’t very many dishes to do. Even so, before we got the dishwasher, I would stand at the sink, on a chair, washing dishes forever! I didn’t stop until my Mother would come in and make me! By the time I was done, my fingers were all pruney (is that a word?), the counters were soaked and the floor was slippery! It was actually a great way to keep the miniscule kitchen floor spotless as my Mother had to mop it up every time!

Now, my kids whine, when they are on kitchen duty, if a sibling didn’t rinse and load their own dishes. They are in a hurry to get to their games, their shows, their computers. I’m guilty of that too, now. I “have” to check my email, facebook, blog lists. I have been totally sucked in, assimilated as it were.

Maybe the Amish have it right after all.

"Ebay" by Weird Al Yankovic

I have recently been surfing on ebay. I have decided that ebay is evil. It takes over my control, it hypnotizes me, it makes me buy. The world is quietly being taken over by ebay, one pile of junk at a time. When my goodies come, I'll post pictures. Bad me. Don't tell Spartan...

Giveaway Time...

Check out the great giveaway over at Green Fairy Quilts! She is giving away a Moda jelly roll and a cute quilt pattern!

Writing Exercise

I have decided to add a new weekly challenge for myself here on my blog. My s-i-l stopped by my blog and loved it! I feel so blessed to have a wonderful friend in her and she requested (since she enjoyed it) that I do more writing here. When I was growing up I was sure I was going to write. I wrote poems and short stories...all the time. As often happens, life got in the way and my writing went by the wayside. So, long story short, I am going to do a weekly writing exercise here to try and brush up my skills (or lack there of, you be the judge!) Mostly it will be about my memories or my children or my daily life (which I truely believe to be interesting to no one but me). So sit back, put your feet up and get ready to be thrilled (bored).


My earliest Easter memory is of when I was about four years old. I remember laying in my Mother's bed, all warm and comfy. I loved sleeping with my Mother, she was my everything! It was just the two of us against the world! I can remember how warm she was as I was all cuddled up to her back... and then the thought that it was Easter morning popped into my head! Open came the eyes, off came the sheets and I was ready to bound out of bed. I scooted to the edge of the bed and just before I was about to jump out I looked down and saw the most gorgeous pair of black patten leather shoes...with an egg in them!!! I was more excited about the shoes than the egg, we didn't have a lot of money and these were beautiful shoes. I plopped down on the floor next to the shoes, pulled the egg out and stuffed my bare feet into them. "Oh," I thought, "just like a princess would wear!" I proceeded to hunt for my eggs in my new shoes and nightgown!

After finding the eggs and eating a quick breakfast we dressed in our pretties for church. Bundled into the car and off to Grandma and Grampa's house. I bounced up and down, back and forth in the back seat. Scrambling from one side to the other (we didn't wear seatbelts back then) looking out the windows singing over and over the words: "Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go..." Just those words, over and over and over! I must have driven my Mother crazy!

I watched the city buildings give way to mostly housing. Then we turned onto THE road. Sugarbush Road. Down the winding road we went. The elementary school my mother went to came into view as I looked out the passenger window, Green School, it was even painted green! Bop, bounce I went, over to the driver's side window so I could see the HUGE barn that was part of the Sugarbush ranch. Bop, bounce back to the passenger side to see the river and Grandma's house! Into the driveway we pulled, Mom barely putting it in park before I was jumping out. I can still hear the sound of the cinderstones under my new shoes as I walked across their driveway. Up the steps and in the front door. There's Grandma sitting at the dinette table, drinking coffee.

"Hi, sweetheart! Happy Easter! I have something for you."

It wasn't just something, it was SOMETHING! It was the most gorgeous ever (faux) fur white coat. Oh, it felt so good! The best part, it had a matching muff with it. Now I really was just like a princess! I know it sounds strange to get a fur coat for Easter, but it was quite big on me so that I would be able to wear it the next winter (and as I recall the winter after that too!)

My next memory of that day is after church services were over. Standing in the line to say good morning to the Minister. I had a wonderful secret. I had snitched a bunch of the pretty foil wrapped chocolate eggs from my basket at Grandma's and stuffed my pockets full. I had been eating them all morning! It's amazing that I didn't get any chocolate on my beautiful coat!

This is the most vivid memory I have of Easter as a child. I don't remember the dinner or what I did most of the day. But these things stuck out to me the most. It's funny what gets stuck in your head. Most of my memories are just snippets out of time, but this one is a lovely story that plays out in my memories every year at this time.

Here's hoping that you have a wonderful childhood memory of Easter as well!