Music is playing inside my head, could it be Blue Hawaii?

We've had a busy few weeks, so no blogging, but I've been trying to keep up with some of my favorite blogs. DH played keys with the awesome Fried Glass Onions band for the Shannon Street Blues Festival in Jackson, TN. It was packed. I had no idea so many people would attend. The crowd seemed to really enjoy the music. Here he is (far left) along with the horn section and the fabulous Jackie Johnson. She has an outstanding voice, so it was a joy to hear her sing again.


You can read more about who's who here, if you're interested.





On Tuesday, I hosted my Bunco group at my house. We had a luau and I made the tissue paper pompoms that are so popular lately. (I made mine own instead of buying Martha's kits). There are a couple of tips I found after searching online. One is the tissue should be 1/3 longer than it is wider. These are very addictive once you get the hang of it. I hate to take them down now that our party is over. I served fresh fruit, fruit dip, chips with cheese dip, deli sandwiches, pineapple with cheese squares, potato salad and assorted cheese cakes for dessert. The table cloth is actually a vintage sheet that I had in my linens for just this type of occasion.

Memorial Day

Having a son in the military makes this day even more emotional for me. This holiday many wives, moms, sisters, fathers, and brothers are paying respect to their loved one who gave their lives for our freedom. It is the ultimate sacrifice. My son is deploying very soon. I can hardly bear to think about it, however, I know God is watching over him, as well as the other men and women serving in the armed forces.

This weekend, DS/11 and I went with his scout troop to Veterans' Cemetery for a ceremony and placed flags on the graves of soldiers.

Mothers Day

I had a very nice Mothers' Day this year. I received a storage box for my stash of scrapbooking paper from DS/11 and an OTT light from my DH. My DD/26 gave me the beautiful white roses. I took her and my mom to lunch. I didn't hear from DS/22 (he was at Ft. Irwin, CA, for combined training with the other battalions that are deploying in August). He was, however, able to call me this past Sunday and wish me a late Happy M'day! I was so thankful to hear from him. He will be coming home for a brief visit and then deploying to Iraq (at least, as far as we know).

It's hard to wrap my brain around becoming a grandmother for the first time and seeing my son go off to war within the same 4 months. Needless to say, God has a bigger plan than I can see. I just can't quite grasp it all yet.

Showing some Pink Love

Stitch Pink blog is having a contest to win some pink threads . Check it out...quick. It ends tomorrow!

Estates Sale Bargains

Just take a look at the "loot" from the estate sale DS/11 and I found today! I could hardly believe it! I recently had to throw away my pattern cutting board because it was falling apart. The new ones are $6 to $9, and I just haven't replaced it...until now. The last sewing project, a Harry Potter robe for DS/11, was a pain to cut out without a cutting board. I'm so glad to have replaced it without having to pay full price for a new one.

Also, The "hot dog" looking thing is a Dritz seam roll. It's for ironing seams in sleeves and tight areas of clothes. I was so excited when I saw all the thread, I could hardly believe it!! There are over 100 spools and some are wooden (which is a bonus since I use the empty ones for small bits of lace, ric-rac, and trims. I paid $17 for everything. Almost all of the thread I have (prior to this "new" find) is thread from a yard sale I scored about 20 years ago. Any time I can buy second hand, I get more satisfaction knowing I'm being "green". Thrifting is much kinder to our planet, don't you think? It's definitely easier on my budget!!

Stitching Goodies in the Mail!!!

Becky sent me a grab bag of stitching goodies in the mail. She had a giveaway, but I didn't know I was picked!! Look at all the lovely designs. I'm going to have a blast stitching on these! You must check out her blog. Her stitching is awesome!

This is the very first time anyone has ever sent me cross stitching in the mail. Thanks Becky, you are too sweet for words!

What happened to me???

Well......I have been stitching again and I'll share an update soon. In the meantime, I got great news from my DD/26 and my SIL. On their second anniversary they found out they are expecting a baby! I am going to be a grandmother!!!! I'm so excited! I can't wait to start sewing for the baby, as soon as we know if it's a girl or boy.

I have been lurking around all the stitching, sewing, scrapbooking, and organizing blogs during my quiet moments. I will, however, try to do better (we've heard that before) and blog more often.

RIP Sawyer

Yesterday was a tough day for our family. Our pound puppy, Sawyer, went to "a happy place" (so DS/11 said) after 15 years of being a part of our family. It's been very sad, we've all been very teary-eyed, but we know he was in pain and had lived a very long life. We miss him and his loyalty, his trusting nature, and even his stubbornness.

Bunny Cake and Craft Eggs

Well, it's been too long between posts, so rather than try to backtrack too far, I'll just start with this past week. DS/11 and I made a bunny cake (without the coconut). He wanted chocolate icing, so we made a yellow cake with milk chocolate frosting. DS/21 called, while we were baking the cake, and told me he would most likely be deployed to Iraq on Aug. 15th. It's hard to believe he has been in the army for 1 1/2 years.

I made a some decorative eggs to use each year for Easter. I found an awesome tutorial at Inspireco. I used sheet music for these. They are a lot of fun to make and I'll be making more. I want to make some more from old pages from books and dictionaries and thrift bibles. I plan to put some of our family's favorite verses on some for a more personal touch.

I haven't been cross stitching lately. Unfortunately, my magnifying lamp broke. I did, however, sew up a quick "Harry Potter" robe recently for DS/11 who had to dress up like a favorite book character. I'm anxious to get back to my "Gathering Honey" sampler. Now I just need to find a new lamp on sale!

Baking Frenzy

Guess who's been baking like a crazy woman? Me! I had to bake a bunch of goodies for my son's scouts bake sale last Sunday.


















The bake sale was to raise money for their individual saving accounts. The accounts allow them to save money to be used to offset costs of camping trips, etc. Here are some of the goodies I baked (didn't get photos of the cookies - chocolate chip and sugar).







Here are 2 of the 3 tables of bake goods. Most everything sold!!










My DD/26 decided I needed my hair colored.....so she offered to do it for me. It's
not quite my best color for my skin, but we'll keep trying. At least my hair is all one color, which is an improvement.

What happened to January?

I can't believe how packed the month of January was for our family! Our calendar was full! Hopefully, things will settle down a bit. We had a birthday party for DS/11 at The Incredible Pizza Company. It is new to our area and made for a great party for the 8 boys, a few parents, and family members. The venue is set around the 50s era and there is a huge game room with bumper cars, go-carts, and such. Here's a few pics of the party.











The Pinewood Derby was exciting this year. DS/11's car was silver with a #1 MSU Tigers theme. He won 1st in his scout pack.












This month, DS/11 "crossed over" to become a Boy Scout. A ceremony and banquet marked the occasion. At the ceremony, he received a trophy for 1st place Webelos 2 Pinewood Derby, then another trophy for 1st place Overall in his pack! Now, he will participate in the district-wide derby later this month.












In the meantime, I will be baking for the scout bake sale this Sunday and help with a science project. Two fundraisers have been going for raising money for DS/11's chorus trip that is coming up in April. Oh my goodness, it just never ends.

DH played a gig at Higher Ground recently.
It was a fun "road trip" of sorts. In the first pic, DH is in the middle and in the bottom pic, he's on keys.













DS/21 is still stationed in Colorado. I miss him so much.

January is starting off with a Bang!

As I mentioned earlier, DS/21 came in town for a couple of weeks following Christmas. We got to see him a few times which was great! He had to rely on us and his friends to get around because the military said it was too high risk to drive his motorcycle home. He was disappointed, but managed to see some of his friends and family before flying back to Colorado today. Unfortunately, during his trip, he misplaced his cell phone twice, so he had more "down time" than he had planned, and to top it off, he lost his wallet! Here's a photo of my son-in-law, DS/21, and DS/10 the night we took him out for dinner.
Here's a photo of my son and me. Notice the cut and bump above his right eye. Yep! He got that while he was here, too! I'm just so thankful he got to come home for a visit. I was sad to have to tell him goodbye again. We have no idea when he'll be allowed to return home for a visit.





Today, while he was flying back, I was having minor surgery to remove a cyst on my wrist. I now have a huge wrap on my hand, but I can remove it Saturday. I don't think I will be cross stitching until I remove the wrap. It's bulky and besides, I'm on pain meds, so handling a needle may not be the best idea!!

I also got the results from my MRI on my neck. (2 bulging disc and 1 herniated disc in my neck). No wonder I'm in pain! I got some meds and will have a shot (in my neck) for pain relief in a few weeks. Hopefully, that will buy some time to watch and see if it will get any better (or worse).

That's all for now....it's a little tricky trying to type with this "extra padding" on my hand!

We love Christmas!

Our family had a good Christmas this year. I prepared dinner on Christmas Eve and we ate so much that almost no one ate the desserts!
We opened gifts and played Uno (the card game). Later that night, we watched National Treasure 1 on dvd, before seeing the NT2 on Christmas day. We really enjoyed the movie and I recommend it as a family movie.

Here's a photo of our tree. I couldn't get the lighting right, but it's must prettier in real life.
Oh well.

We have a very eclectic collection of ornaments; everything from handmade to very fragile figurines. Some are pretty, while others are just plain odd. One in particular is a "pigpen". It's a ballpoint pen with a tiny pink pig on the side of it! All I know is my DH has had it since before we were married. I won't bore you with a photo of that one.

Every year I have bought each child an ornament. When DD/26 was married last year, she was given her ornaments for her tree. Now, we have our ornaments, plus 2 sons' ornaments on the tree. Here's one of two jesters I gave DS/21 a couple of years ago. The face is very detailed and the fabrics are velvets. Another ornament that my aunt gave me this year is 3 snowmen holding an American flag.Here's the first nutcracker DS/10 got for Christmas. He loves nutcrackers, just like his older brother.

Every one of my children has enjoyed making the cloved oranges. They make the whole kitchen smell great!

I didn't put out my Dicken's Village this year. There wasn't enough time. I miss it not being out. Maybe next year!

DS/21 (the soldier), will be home for a visit tomorrow!!! WooHoo!! It has been 10 1/2 months since he's been home.

I have enjoyed reading and seeing all the Christmas decorations, crafts, sewing, and ideas on your blogs. What a treat it has been this season to have so many blogging friends that are creative!

Here are some of my favorites for you to check out:

RuthAnn at Warm Pie, Happy Home
Hillary at Wee Wonderfuls
Andrea at The Craft Room
Katrina at A Kiwi Stitching

3 Years and Still Blogging

Today is my 3 year blog anniversary. It's hard to believe I have stuck with it, though I have been inconsistent in my posts. I'll try to improve on that. I love all your comments and I especially enjoy all your stitching, sewing, quilting and scrapbooking blogs. They make me very happy. I get so inspired. Now, if I could just find time to stitch up something new to share!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my blogging buddies!

We actually celebrated last night, so today we are recuperating. I hardly took any photos, but here's a couple...
The photo above is my mom and daughter. My daughter works for an orthodontist, so she has braces (a job perk) for the 2nd time. Here's another of the 3 amigos...how many guys does it take to carve a turkey?We had a big meal, played a few rounds of Uno (card game), then watched Deal-or-No-Deal on TV. We began at 5 and everyone left around 10pm. Today is leftover day. Yeah!!!

Unfortunately, DS/21 wasn't able to come home from Ft. Carson, so that was tough. I did get to talk to him by phone though. He's hoping to come home after Christmas. (We haven't seen him since February.) He's the one in the foreground.

New Job!!!!

I have started my new job and I love it so far. It's contract labor, which is what I've done since I left a full-time job (executive assistant to VP). I am using a micro-cassette transcriber to transcribe tapes, scanning photos and maps, etc., and other "clerical" tasks. The great thing is that I do all this from home!!! It took quite a while to find this type of independent contracting work, but the hunt has finally ended. This has the potential to turn into full-time hours, which is also a plus.

How many of you know someone who uses a Dictaphone or other micro-cassette transcriber? I'm just curious because I love using one, but apparently there are newer ways to transcribe (like digitally or by speech recognition software). Let me know if you do this kind of work or use another method.

I am still in the process of rearranging my sewing studio/office, but I will find time to catch up on some stitching very soon. I need to stitch to relax and give my mind (and ears) a rest.

I'm Also Trying to Win A Red IPod Nano

I found this contest today, too! It's worth a try, right. You can find out about it at Its Right Now.

Win A Pink Dyson!

I found out about a contest to win a $400 Pink Dyson! You can see the information about it if you click on the Pink Dyson in my sidebar. Out of each PINK DYSON VACCUUM CLEANER that is sold, Dyson donates $40 to help Breast Cancer Research. Not only is this vaccuum for a great cause but it also does a great job of keeping your home clean.

The contest is ending soon, but I'm giving it a shot. I would love to have one. You should take a chance.

You Light Up My Life

While you may be another year older, you are still the light of my life. In other words, you're still a hottie. Yeah, you're Hooooooottt! Happy Birthday to my Rockstar.
(photo from appearance on television show Live at 9)

A Small Finish and A Few Deals

While the boys were on a camping trip, I finally did the finishing on the ornament "Jesus, Author of Faith". I bought 1 yard of the 4mm rope trim ($1.34) at Hancock Fabrics. So, now I'm dancing a wee little happy dance.

Recently, I went to an estate sale and walked out with one small item. It's an old double digit numbers stamp ($1.00).
I just need to clean it. I am sure I can use it for scrapbooking or something, right?





Look, what a deal I found at a yard sale...almost new hot rollers ($4.00)!!! Now, I can retire my 20+year old set.

The dr. told me I have a couple of bulging disc in my neck, so I will be doing pt soon. Oh what fun...