Wanna Play!

I don't quite know who to feel sorry for...the girl or the kitty!

Momma, What is it?

Sonshine's new favorite phrase is "What is it?"






What is it Momma?

I don't know looks like a bunny's rain coat to me.

It's WRAPPED Momma!

Oh, well, that's strange wrapping paper.
Here, let's unwrap it.




What is it Momma? It's a FLOWER!!


A flower? ooooo pretty!




What wonderful things to make a flower out of!

For your viewing pleasure.....

Created by Mrs 4444, Friday Fragments are bits and pieces of your week that are usually brief; too short for a stand-alone post, but too good to discard. Collect humorous observations, "Heard" items, and other small gems and put them together in a Friday Fragments post.




messy smiles!




watching Daddy work




goofball!


stealing Mommy's seat!



When you can't play with Mom.....any old head will do!


Big Girl at the table!


Subvet makes the BEST appetizers ever!! (and I don't like bacon OR jalapenos!)


"Cheese!"

blooms

FINISHED!!

So Jacquie continued Spring to Finish (part II) into May....


I actually have TWO finishes to show...numbers 2 and 3!

Because I do things in "steps" in my mind, when each "step" is complete I count that as a finish. I've been trying to get Sugars' baby quilt finished. It needs to be done by the time she starts preschool in August so she can take it for naptime.

So, here is the first finish....I finished applique-ing all 21 flower centers!!




And the second finish is that I got all 20 flowers basted in place onto the quilt.
Turned out I'd forgotten to leave a space to embroider her name on the quilt so I now have an extra flower....I haven't decided what to do with it yet.



The original quilt pattern was for a twin size quilt with pieced borders and whatnot. When I decided to use this pattern to make Sonshine's baby quilt I just used the center and put a narrow border on it...but the extra 3 blocks made it too long for my taste. So with each of the 3 baby quilts I have 3 extra blocks that I bordered same as the quilts. These will go into my Momma Quilt along with the bumper pad covers I made, fabric from the curtains and crib skirt I made and blocks with each of their embroidered newborn footprints. :-)

THAT QUILT IS NEXT ON THE LIST!! and I am so very ready to get started on it!!

but first things first and I am now furiously applique-ing flowers.......

Worn out!

Okay, well, we once again have fleas. sigh. Been a couple years so it's time for the exterminator to come and treat the house for us...double sigh.

This means every closet must have an empty floor. For most of our closets this isn't a big deal....except "mine". The closet in Sugars' room is where ALL of my sewing stuff is stored. And, given my rush to get projects finished in April and May and my inability to lift things the last 3 weeks the remnants of those projects did not get put away properly.

So I took this morning of solitude in the house and did some organizing and clearing out of my fabric closet.

The before pictures:







The after pictures:





Stephanie, look closely at that tub on top...


Those bigger tubs that are left in the closet are heavy and will have to be moved by Mr. Wonderful later


Now, I've been made fun of for keeping every scrap of fabric.



Turns out I have a friend who is making a quilt (or two?) out of selvages!! So as I sorted I pulled out a pile of stuff to send to her.



and a bit to send off to another blogger friend


I'm getting in the giving away fabric mood!
At the end of June I will be traveling to Shreveport to pick up 15 boxes of fabric that I have inherited from my Grandmother! Ain't no way all THAT will fit in this closet so I will keep what I like and send the rest to someone else's house! If you want to be on the list to receive some fabric email me your address!! I might post pictures and have a "raffle" once it gets here....we'll see. For now I need a nap!

For some reason........

I've found myself thinking I sure could use a Handy Dandy Notebook!

You know, one that stays in the side table drawer

And has a picture of a big comfy thinking chair on the front.

That I can write all the clues my kids give me to the games they want to play.





Or maybe I've just seen too much Blue's Clues lately!










or maybe it's the drugs?

Memorial Day.

"Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May (May 25 in 2009). Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War (it is celebrated near the day of reunification after the civil war), it was expanded after World War I to include American casualties of any war or military action."
source: wikipedia




Flying the American Flag at Half-Staff

An easy way to remember when to fly the United States flag at half-staff is to consider when the whole nation is in mourning. These periods of mourning are proclaimed either by the president of the United States, for national remembrance, or the governor of a state or territory, for local remembrance, in the event of a death of a member or former member of the federal, state or territorial government or judiciary. The heads of departments and agencies of the federal government may also order that the flag be flown at half-staff on buildings, grounds and naval vessels under their jurisdiction.

On Memorial Day the flag should be flown at half-staff from sunrise until noon only, then raised briskly to the top of the staff until sunset, in honor of the nation’s battle heroes.

source: United States Department of Veteran's Affairs


Take a moment to thank all our veterans and to remember those who've died in service to our great country today.
Sarah

Hero

Look at this man.


Look into his eyes. Look closely. Notice the expression on his face. Note the way he wears his uniform.

Look again. Can you imagine what he may have been thinking when this picture was taken?

What do you think his plans for his life are?

Look at him again. Look at the set of his jaw, the shape of his ears.

Would you like to shake his hand?

What do you imagine you would say to him?

What would he say to you?

Look at this man.


"This painting is of Clint Gertson, who gave the ultimate sacrifice for his country, and to help insure the freedom of the Iraqi people. This painting is done by Kaziah Hancock, a well known artist who paints these works of art of our true American hero's who have given all.....for free.

My wife and myself considered ourselves honored and privileged to know Clint's wonderful parents, Susan and Gayle Gertson of Eagle Lake, Texas, for they too have made a great sacrifice...

If you, or someone you know has lost a son or daughter in combat, you can contact Kaziah at Project Compassion by using this, or the above link.....

Kaziah, may God Bless you and your staff for the wonderful work you have, and are, doing for these families that have given so much for their Country......" Cookie

Look again at this man.

Can you tell him thank you? For all the things he saw....and all the things he didn't live to see?

Every week Subvet posts the names and ages of our soldiers that have fallen.

It's a list of names.....every name has a face, just like Clint.

Look at this man. This man died for you.

What have you done today to honor him?

Again, look at this man, remember him, honor his sacrifice.




I am reposting this in honor of Memorial Day Weekend. Mr and Mrs Gertson, again, I thank you for the sacrifice of your son. God Bless.

No Naughty Kids at My House!

Why??




"I am Smurf-Vader! And you better behave or you will be in deep Kim Chi!"










UPDATE: saw all 3 surgeons Friday and they all say that everything's going well. I did a lot of walking and even more car-riding and faired better than I'd expected to. Hopefully this is a sign that the worst is behind me...or at least behind my behind. As soon as I can sit straight without hurting I can drive. (yipee) And we got a letter saying that my short term disability claim was approved! This is very good news indeed!

Looky!! Looky!!!

now, can anyone tell me what THIS one is? it's totally different from the other lillies in the bloom, but the stalk and leaves look the same. The stapens are brown, not yellow and the bloom opened straight up. soo pretty!

my new theme song

stop the playlist on the right...

Finished!!!

So Jacquie continued Spring to Finish (part II) into May....

Here is my first finish for May



I have finished basting all the flowers/centers for Sugars' baby quilt.
On to applique-ing the centers to the flowers!

New pics!

Thought you'd like to see the crew since I haven't posted pics in a little while.






Diana asked if they missed me as much as the cats........

not that I could tell! Course already having a stay-at-home-Dad plus my tiredness/soreness post-op probably makes it hard to tell.

walking?

So, my goal was to be walking to the corner and back by the end of this week.

We're the second house from the corner..although we are on a fairly steep hill, so I thought this would be a doable goal. (yes, I ALWAYS set goals!)

Turns out that when I visited the MD he said that this particular surgery takes a Looong time to heal from and that I need to revamp my goals a bit. Apparently rectal reconstruction is much more debilitating that the 2 C-sections I had...even with me falling in the hospital after the second one!

Let it be known that having a constant pain in the ass is....well....a pain in the ass!
And NOW I know where that phrase came from!!

I did get to the corner and back once on Thursday, I kept rubbing my belly....my belly doesn't hurt but I figured it was a bit more socially acceptable than walking down the street rubbing my butt!

Think I'll wait a couple more days before I try it again though. ;-)

Doctor's Orders!

I'll save you the gory details, but I made an emergency trip to the rectal MD on Thursday as I was afraid I was getting an infection at the stitches line.

Turned out it was just localized swelling.


Guess what his prescription was??


TAKE A BATH.

Matter of fact, he wants me to soak in a warm/hot tub of water FOUR to FIVE times a day!! For at least 20 min each time!!!


I'm thinking THESE are instructions I will have no problem complying with!!

:-)

Friday Fragments

Created by Mrs 4444, Friday Fragments are bits and pieces of your week that are usually brief; too short for a stand-alone post, but too good to discard. Collect humorous observations, "Heard" items, and other small gems and put them together in a Friday Fragments post.


I snuck outside on Tuesday for a SHORT walk across my driveway (haha) to see how my lillies are coming along. Last week when I was out here weeding my little bed I counted 42 blooms waiting to flower. They're not open just yet, and you can see my irises and hyacinths are all done. But wow look at all those blooms. I can't wait!! The plant in the corner is one my step-mom gave me this year for Easter, once it's blooms were spent I stuck it out here too. By the way, every single one of these lillies was bought as blooming potted plants and then stuck in the ground, and they've all come back with more stalks and more flowers each year! Never throw away a potted plant just because the flowers have fallen off!!!




you can also see how much the weeds have grown in the last week!! We've had a TON of rain! I'm trying to devise a way that it will only rain on the flowers and not on the weeds. I'll let you know once I have a plan.





After 2 years solid of being Miss Tom-boy, little sister started taking the hair stuff off my dresser and trying to put in on her head...so I am having to learn to play dress-up!

It might have been the dress' influence huh?

pause the playlist and enjoy.

thanks to Airman Mom.

To Tell a Tale of Two Tails

I'd like to tell you a tale about two tails.

My two constant companions.
Unless there's kids around, these two furry guys go everywhere I go. They hide and watch for when the kids' bedroom doors are shut so they can come and find me!







I guess they noticed my absence during the hospital stay.






For no sooner do I waddle in the door and climb in my bed, than here comes Speedy Girl, the 10 year old tabby cat. She climbs on the bed....snuggles up to my butt as close as she can get without being totally under me.....and proceeds to TAKE A BATH!! If I'd had more energy at that moment I might have killed her!




Less than 5 minutes later Mr. Boots comes up on the bed, he's 5, climbs under the covers in front of my stomach....pushes his head into my gut just as hard as he can without pusing me over....and purrrs loud enough wake the neighbors!



Fortunately the drugs were good and all 3 of us slept for the rest of the day!


Needless to say...they haven't left my side since!







Fear not friends...I am under constant supervision!