My Granddaughter Has Made Her Entrance to the World!

It’s true!! Noel Heart, oldest daughter, and Chief, her husband, had their baby daughter on the 20th!

I got to go to the hospital for the better part of a day and cuddle that sweet little bundle. It’s been four years since I had a grandbaby to hold. There is nothing better in the whole world!

Her blog name is Darlin' Girl. It's one of my terms of endearments I use with children. And it fits here beautifully.

I’m thankful that Chief and Noel Heart live nearby so I can get my fill of baby holding. It’s between 3-4 hours away. Much better than Massachusetts!

I feel like a grandma pulling out her brag book!

A Thoughtful and Thankful Day

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

This year has brought bounteous blessings in my life. If I took a pen and paper, the list would take 20 pages or more. And those would just be those I remember.

One of the most miraculous (and I don’t use this word lightly) is about my oldest daughter, Noel Heart.

One year ago, she was in a serious car accident. Her car was a compact one that Chief’s grandma had given them for Noel to drive to and from work. When she was driving back from dropping Firstest off at school, she came to a construction zone. As she drove through, her car tire went into a little gully. This flipped the car and it rolled over five times.

During the roll, her driver window was broken and her arm went out of the gaping hole. She shattered her upper arm and broke a finger. Her head was bounced against the ceiling several times.

She lived.

Those are the most precious words. With a small car, the cabin should have been crushed. She should have been killed.

She lived.

Heavenly Father was watching over her, as he does each of us every day. It was not time for her to leave earth.

She lived.

Noel Heart and Chief had been married just over a year. Half a year after the accident, Noel Heart became pregnant with their first child.

Because of this accident, she and I became close again. We have shared laughter and tears this past year. This Thanksgiving my most extraordinary blessing is:

She lived.

Noel Heart, Chief and Baby
Taken yesterday at Apple Hill

I hope that part of your Thanksgiving is to deeply reflect on all the blessings in your life. The big and the small. And like the name of the holiday reminds us, give thanks. Say a prayer and fervently thank Heavenly Father for all the blessings he sends your way.




You might also enjoy an earlier post I wrote which expresses gratitude for friends. You will find it here.

Be sure to enter my giveaway celebrating my 4th blogiversary.

Mish Mosh Monday #4: The Great Mosquito Contest

Camping is a great love of mine. I haven’t camped out enough, but there were a couple of years that I went with my kids.

The kids and I always had fun. We played card games, swam in the river, told stories at night in the tent, and ate food you would only eat while camping.

R: Our overloaded car for camping, Middle: Noel Heart cooking, L: Noel Heart & I riding in our boat

When school was out and summer school was over, the kids and I would pack up in the summer and go camping. The first year, we met my Sisty Ugler and her daughter at Chetco River campground, just over the border in Oregon. 

Playing in the sand & water at Chetco River, We weren't much good at pole tents!

The campground was ideal. It had a beautiful, clear river flowing right next to it, there was beach to play on and plenty of space to ride bikes.

Another reason the campground was idyllic was the lack of other campers. The big attraction in camp-grounds in the area was down in Brookings on the coast.
 The Chetco River campground was just used as overflow when the coast campground filled up. Consequently, the river campground was only full on Fridays and Saturdays.

Salamanders! TGS playing Solitaire

The second year, the kids and I went alone. We 
brought our two man boat and would sail, two at a time, on the river. The water was so clear you could see all the way to the bottom, 8-10 feet down, and see salamanders walking on the sandy river bottom. There were wonderful places to swim too.

Nancy Drew in a tree, TGS & Nancy Drew building a fire, Noel Heart

We were getting our fair share of mosquito bites too. Every night, I would be awakened two or three times by someone needing me to put Campho Phenique on their itchy bites.
 For fun, I announced a contest. During the week we 
were there, we would see who could get the most mosquito bites.

The rules were: As soon as the mosquitoes came out in the evening, everyone had to put on long-sleeved shirts and pants, then put mosquito repellent on all exposed skin. At the end of the week, the one with the most bites would be declared winner.
 The week we spent camping was the best vacation I've ever been on. I had worked my first year as instructional aide at Montgomery High. Being on vacation with the kids restored my spirits and I found the perspective I needed to continue on.
The end of the week came too soon, but we were anxious to count bites and find our Great Mosquito Contest Winner. 
The turnout was funny: 
1st place: Nancy Drew had over 70 bites
2nd place: TGS had 30. 
3rd place: I had 20 bites. 
4th place: Noel Heart had less than 15
No one even came close to Miss Drew!

We knew then that Nancy Drew must have some
mighty sweet blood to make mosquitoes risk that yucky tasting repellent!

TGS wading in river, Noel Heart & Nancy Drew eating berries they picked, TGS ready for the river

We still talk about that week and laugh about The Great Mosquito Bite Contest and how Nancy Drew won. She always won…even when winning wasn’t good!

For Pink’s Sake! & Nancy Drew is here again!

This post is brought to you by the number

Yes, the brilliant number four! One, two, three, four more days until the end of school! That’s Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday!

So many good things happening! It’s Friday, and it’s a three-day weekend! Nancy Drew, SWH, Sweetie & Curly came for a week-long visit! 

More on that later…
I can’t wait to tell you about a blog hop that I’m participating in!

Anna is the lovely lady who writes the Life Sew Crafty blog. At this time in her life, her mother-in-law is fighting cancer for the second time. Anna wanted to host this blog hop honoring several women in her life who have battled cancer, the last being Tina, her mother-in-law. The medical bills are piling up and up, and Anna is asking for donations to help defray some of the cost for the family.

At the same time, she is collecting pink quilt blocks to make a quilt to donate to the Cancer Center where her DMIL has had her treatments. She has instructions on her website for making a pink block.

Also, many bloggers are participating in a blog hop and show off pink blocks of their own. Every two weeks on Saturday, there will be three-four blogs to visit. Here are the participants for tomorrow!

May 24

Jess @ Quilty Habit

Melinda @ Quirky Granola Girl

Kristyn @ Melon Patch Quilts

Visit her blog site click on the badge at the top of the right sidebar to see the full calendar of blog participants!

Exciting Thing #2

I am going to be hosting For Pink’s Sake on June 7! It’s my first time hosting. To say I’m excited is a gross understatement!

I have already picked out the pink block I’m going to make. Here are some hints: It’s from an old book, it hails back to 1923 and for those who like Bonnie Hunter quilts—it has 65 pieces!—for one block. You can be sure I won’t be making this as a 4” block! By the way, for those who want to make a whole 75” x 87” quilt, it takes 1,617 pieces or 42 blocks: 21 pieces & 21 plain.

Sharing with Can I Get A Whoop Whoop Friday!

And now for the promised family visit information!

L to R: Curly, SWH, Nancy Drew, Sweetie

Picnic on the Beach
Clockwise, starting from right rear:
My kid's dad, Yours Truly,  my "new" DSIL: Chief,
Sweetie, Nancy Drew & SWH

I'm burying Curly's legs in the sand

Of Grandchildren, Murderous Trees, and Flimsies

Home again, home again jiggety jog!

Coming home from vacation is exquisite! Don’t get me wrong. Vacation is tremendous and this past week was the stuff dreams are made of! After all, who can resist this?

Curly

Or this?

Sweetie

Or for that matter, this?

Nancy Drew

Not me! Definitely not me.

But then, I miss this…horribly.

My Adorable Hubby

Now moving along to the Design Wall and another scintillating view of my garage wall!

I’m sure you don’t have to guess that I didn’t get any quilting done this past week! I bought fabric which you’ve seen on my previous posts. I had brought along a couple of blocks to work on for my Redwork Quilt. I didn’t even sew one stitch!

The week before I left I was chugging along to the finish line of the Log Cabin! I had spiderwebbed the columns and had started on the rows. I’m almost half finished with the rows then the quilt will become a flimsy!! (a quilt top without batting or backing).

I had to drag the beautiful thing out to the garage wall. Once up, I had to back way, way back to get it’s king-sizedness in the frame. On my way backing up, I met Mr. Meyers Lemon Tree. I can hear you all ooo-ing and awwww-ing in gustatory pleasure of the a Meyers Lemon.



Hold it just one doggone minute. You haven’t met Mr. Meyers Lemon who resides in my front yard. Did you know that Meyers Lemons have thorns? Great, big, long thorns? Of course, the taste of the Meyers Lemon is worth it.

Try getting stuck with this a couple of dozen times!

Of course it is! Except when Mr. Meyers Lemon in my yard does not produce lemons! It lives just to poke me and draw blood. Fiendish, blood-sucking thing! I’ve lived in this house for 10 years and never seen even one little blossom. Mr. Meyers Lemon just hangs out there and mocks me whenever I leave the house.

I have dreams sometimes. Wonderful dreams. Lovely dreams…




Maybe I’ll just go out there and show it the axe…
"I want lemons! I want them now! Now!"
Oops, I see I’ve been around my 3-year-old granddaughter too much!

But I digress…Now onto more pleasant subjects. I was backing up to take a picture of my Log Cabin quilt. And ran into the thorny lemon tree. I fixed it! (evil grin). No…unfortunately…not the axe. But I did get the big snippers and hacked away all those new-growth “branchettes”.

Even so, there is some greenery in the picture. This is due to the upstart of a bush that sends its tendrils all over the side of my house. Weaving it’s way through the fake shutters, attaching itself to my screens, climbing up to the roof…

Calm yourself. Deep breaths. You need to be calm.

And now, after all the build-up! Here is my stunning quilt!

You can see the unsewn rows at the bottom, plus tangled rows on the ground. Yes, but by next week I will have a finished flimsy.

Now I have a question for you amazing, knowledge-able quilters out there:

I bought my fabrics from very reputable, well-known fabric lines. But there are two of the yellows that are fraying a lot. Some are so frayed they are getting close to the seam.

On another quilt, I used bonding crystals and strips of fabric and bonded the fabric to the seams. On another quilt with not as much fraying, I used Fray-Check. I’ve thought of zig-zagging the seams together outside of the seams, then pressing them to one side.

What do you think is the best solution? I await your suggestions!

And…beware the murderous Meyers Lemon Tree!



I’m hooking up with Patchwork Times, Show and Tell Tuesday, Fabric Story, Linky Tuesday, WiP Wednesday, Needle and Thread Thursday, I Quilt, and Fabric Frenzy. All the badges are in the right sidebar. You just need to visit each blog because there are always cool things to see and neat ideas!

Happy New Years to All!

Happy New Years. And I hope you haven't spent it like I did!

Christmas morning I was "sick". New Years Day I was sick.

Interestingly enough (at least for you, my lovely readers) is that we have a family tradition of someone being sick on Christmas Day. Not every Christmas, but enough to make us sick of it (sick humor) (more sick humor) (...)

But let's just hurry past that and go to the happy news: I had the blessed opportunity to spend Christmas with Nancy Drew, SWH, Sweetie and Curly. I haven't spent Christmas with my family for six years. Phew. This year Nancy Drew and her family moved to Utah which is much closer to us. Hurrah!

I flew in on Monday. It was euphoric...only a 90-minute flight. Now contrast with the flight to the East Coast: 9 hours. I was doing the happy dance down the corridor in Utah.

That night we went to Temple Square in Salt Lake City. It is always spectacular. The most beautiful, Christmas-y thing you've seen!

First stop: The two lovebirds posing in front of Joseph and Emma Smith statue.

Many nativities. This one Peruvian? I think. These were about 3 feet tall.

Japanese, so cute. These were between 4 and 5 feet tall!

Curly in front of the Reflecting Pool

Sweetie at other side of Reflecting Pool

Looking up at a lit-up tree!

Even a bag-piper playing Christmas Carols.

Nancy Drew and I in front of a Temple window.

Sweetie took a pic of us off guard!

We had a wonderful dinner that my daughter prepared after getting home from work. Home-made mashed potatoes! What a joy to stay up the next night, Christmas Eve, putting out presents and stockings!

SWH's family has a Christmas breakfast every year. It starts at ten, but he was doing the cooking and had to leave early. Christmas Eve ND & SWH set the wake-up time at 5:30 in order to get all the presents opened before the breakfast. Imagine my surprise and delight when I was woken up at 6:30! I think it was the first time I ever saw parents waking their children up for Christmas morning!

There is so much joy watching a three-year-old, with wonder in her eyes, walk out of her bedroom that morning! It was just as much fun with our 11-year-old Sweetie. She was ecstatic and enthusiastic about every gift! She got a bike and she was bouncing all over, eyes shining.

Sweetie with bike

Sweetie with Zebra (her fave!) bedding

Curly showing her Dad the Princess Sophia doll

Curly playing with her V Tech learning pad

New outfits

Sweetie trying out her new manicure nail dryer

For the especially observant, the Happy Birthday banner is for Nancy Drew. She was born on December 26.

I'm sharing this over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. Pop over to see more fun! Badge in right sidebar.

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Christmas Carol Countdown: 10 Days to Go!

The school kids are hyper all the time now. They're bouncing off the walls and can't wait for vacation. Whenever one of my students says to me, "I can't wait for Christmas!" I have to chuckle inwardly. You think the kids are anxious...the teachers are chomping at the bit!

School is like a massive sugar high these days! Lots of high spirits and squirrely-ness and exuberant behavior. If we can only survive eight more days!

One of the activities in our family's advent countdown was the Balloon Stomp. It would definitely fit the activity level I see at school. It easy peasy too! Every player gets a balloon and blows it up. I think there was a rule of not putting so much air in it that it pops when you look at it! Get some yarn and cut a 18-inch length. Tie one end loosely around your ankle and tie the other to your balloon. Each person can decide the length of yarn between ankle and balloon, the only rule being that the balloon has to touch the ground. Experience has taught that the closer the balloon is to your ankle, the easier it is to defend.

The goal of the Stomp is to break everyone's balloon by stepping on it with your foot. At the same time, you must protect your own balloon. The winner is the last person who has an unpopped balloon. 

One person yells "Go!" and the madness begins. It's wild, it's crazy, it's a madhouse. Boy, is it fun! My kids have fond memories of this game and that's the idea. Memories and traditions. Glue that holds us together.

Amazingly enough, I just heard this song two years ago. The great Louis Armstrong originally did it. I actually heard it done by Garth Brooks, but when I went to find it on iTunes the only version I could find was Louis Armstrong. And what a version!

Searching for it on YouTube, I found this incredible video someone put together. It has fantastic editing. There are clips of Armstrong himself singing the song interspersed with period cartoons. It's a treat! Sit back and enjoy: "Zat You Santa Claus"

Christmas Carol Countdown: 11 Days to Go!

Disclaimer: I originally wrote a Christmas Carol Countdown in 2010 when I first started this blog. I had no followers, my family were the only ones who read it. I didn't know anything about blogging or linky parties, etc. So I wrote a Countdown. This year, I decided to do "The Best of..." and re-post those blogs. I wasn't good at doing it every day, so I will also write original posts. The original set of blogs can be found in the subject list in the right hand column. Just click "Christmas."

I promised to tell you about traditions our young family had at Christmas time. My mom made each of my children an advent calendar. The one she made for my second daughter had a Christmas tree with lots of little pockets below for the countdown. It was 1980 and the girls were one- and three-years-old. That was when the most delightful Christmas tradition idea sprouted in my head.

I used the advent calendar with the pockets and in each pocket I put a slip of paper with a Christmasey thing to do. Some were traditional: go get the tree, decorate the tree, and the others ranged from the boisterous to giving service. Before December, I would map out when the Christmas shows would be on TV. Watching "How The Grinch Stole Christmas," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and "Frosty the Snowman" were a must. A slip of paper would go in the proper day when we would watch them on TV. I might remind you right here that this was pre-video player and videos. It was just in its infancy and hardly anyone had them. We watched what we wanted to watch on TV when it was on TV at the exact time.

Next I would put in the slips for Setting Up The Manger, Reading the Christmas Story from the Bible, and also the traditional: Write Letters To Santa.

Two of the most anticipated days were for Slurping Jello and the Balloon Game. To prepare for Slurping Jello, make a regular, fruit-free jello, but add a little more water. About a quarter cup. Jello should still set up, but be a little soft. When ready, give everyone a paper plate with an equal amount of Jello on it and a straw. It helps if the straws are wider, if possible. Sitting at the table, wait for the signal: Ready, Set, Go! Everyone slurps Jello through the straw! It might be quite an easy task, I never found out. Invariably, the sound of slurped jello busted everyone out in laughter. We soldiered on until the first person slurped up all their jello and was declared Winner!

The kids LOVED it, we all had fun and it was a short little activity too. Not every one of our things took loads of time.

A couple of hints I have for Advent Activity Countdown is:
1. The slips are secret. No one knows until the pull the slip and read it aloud.
2. I would usually end up moving slips around to fit our days. Sometimes I would need a quick activity and so I would swap a longer one with a shorter one.

Tomorrow, more activities from the Advent Countdown Calendar!

I've written it before, Christmases that have children involved, around, underfoot and anticipating Santa are the richest of all.

This leads me to today's Countdown Carol. It's a song my mom often sang around Christmas and this version was done by Andrea Bocelli and children on his Christmas Special one year. Andrea is one of my treasures. I own everything he has ever recorded. One magic year, my husband gave me tickets to see him in concert! Probably about 5 years ago, the tickets were $200 a piece. It was tremendous...and all the other superlatives you can think of! Here's my pick for today. Enjoy!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

My sister, on right, and myself at Christmas in 1962.

My mom would always start singing that popular song, "It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas" around the beginning of December. It has stuck with me through all these years, and although I don't know most of the words, I always have to hum it when I start seeing Christmas lights on houses.

The weather here in California is cooperating for the beginning of December and the Christmas season. It's been cold, very cold, in fact. We've been getting frost!

I love the Christmas season. The joy, the giving, but mostly children. I had so much fun when my children were little. In the coming days, I'm going to share things that we did when my kids were little.

Last year at this time, two of my three children lived on the East coast. My daughter, Nancy Drew, and her family, including my new grandbaby. Curly was 2 years old. My son, TGS, also lived on the East coast with his new bride.

An event that our family had been anticipating for five years finally happened. Nancy Drew and her family moved to Utah! I live in Northern California. We are only 12-14 hours away from each other. Nancy Drew moved at the beginning of September. In the Veteran Admin. where she and her hubby work, they get almost every holiday off. In October, she got Columbus Day off and so did her older daughter. She added a day to the long weekend and came out to visit for the weekend.

Next came Thanksgiving and her family, my oldest daughter and her new hubby came to dinner! I'm heading to Utah for Christmas. This is so much better than a visit once a year. And I get to spend Christmas with children. I'm very excited, to say the least.

Now on to Christmas...

The advent calendar and the Twelve Days of Christmas have always been heartily celebrated in our family. More details in the days to come! My countdown to Christmas for this blog is going to be sharing some of my favorite carols sung by the artist I think did it best! Music has such a wonderful way of bringing the Spirit of Christmas, the Spirit of Christ, into our lives. We feel the warmth of the spirit and it makes us vow to do more, help more, give more.

My first choice for Christmas Carol Countdown is by the Norwegian singer, Sissel. She has a truly incredible voice; it makes you think of angels! A few years back, she was the guest artist on the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert. It was the first time I had heard her and I was entranced. The selection today is Angels from the Realms of Glory. And don't be too surprised if Sissel shows up later this month in the carol list.

Remember to check every day until Christmas for the Christmas Carol Countdown!

Random Superheroes

We've all known superheroes. In my youth it was Mighty Mouse.

 When I was heading off to college it was The Six Million Dollar Man. Who was the superhero you loved from your childhood?

Of all the superheroes I've known, my favorite is Superhero Curly!

Each year I go East to visit my kids. When I get to Nancy Drew's house I have the most wonderful two days. Sweetie gets to stay home from daycare and I get her all to myself. This year when I arrived, Sweetie said, "On our day, can we make a cape for Curly? She loves being a superhero." This
 is one reason I call her Sweetie. Later that day while we were looking at cool stuff in her room she said with wonderful intensity: "I love Curly. I would step in front of a car to protect her." Excuse me while I wipe my eyes.


On our second day, off we trotted to Joann's to find the perfect material. Sweetie wasn't feeling well, but she was determined. Of course all the fabric was overwhelming and we went through the aisles twice. Sweetie was looking for something bright and cheery. I pulled out some fabrics here and there but they weren't "it." Finally Sweetie sat down on the floor, feeling worse. I started scanning the fabrics right in front of us. Suddenly I saw this fantastic fabric in front of me and drug it out and showed her. She looked at it and said, "I like it." Pause. "I really like it." We had found it! The cape was to be reversible, one down, one to go. Sweetie remembered that I had shown her dotted fabric that had glitter on it. Perfect!

Back at home, we laid out a "pattern" I had gotten from Craft Buds, a blog I found through Google. Instead of goofing around trying to devise my own cape and get the right design, I used her pattern. Sweetie and I laid it out, she cut it out and we pinned it.

I had given Nancy Drew a 1960's Pfaff that my Aunt Marie had. I do not have good mojo with that sewing machine. Yes it was a wonder to see. I had learned to sew on my mother's same machine. With it I had started my quilting journey. Nancy Drew does not sew, but she had this cheap (in both senses of the word) to do basic mending. Hence, the Pfaff found its new home with my second daughter. It was fun taking that 50 pound machine as carry-on luggage, but that's another story!

Four years ago, Sweetie and I made her first quilt. We used the Pfaff. Nancy Drew had inserted the bobbin case incorrectly. When we made the first stitch, the needle got stuck in the down position and wouldn't budge. Exasperation. Tugging. Bother. Tugging. Vexation. Calling hubby. Botheration. Breaking of bobbin case. My "swear" word: Snergen. I finally conceded victory to the pesky machine. Eventually we borrowed a machine from a friend of my daughters.

Hold on to your seats...fast forward. Pfaff all fixed and read to go. I couldn't find where the pedal plugged into the machine. Brilliant idea.  In retrospect, idiotic move. I plugged the pedal into the wall outlet. Press pedal. Pop! Smell of electricity dying. Machine gives a sigh and dies.

However, the machine did work. If you turned the wheel by hand. Which is what we did. Sweetie did the turning of the wheel and got remarkably fast with it. Not before I gave it a try. My wedding ring was hitting the metal wheel. I decided to take off my ring. Snug, no budge. Soap to the rescue! Two weeks later I still can't get the ring back on. Aggravating.

It turned out fantastico!

 Since Curly wasn't there, the only models we had were ourselves!

Up, Up and Away!

I Will Save You!

This is definitely saving the best for last: Superhero Curly!

  Off to save the day!

I don't know for sure, but I think Curly's smile was enough for Sweetie!

Hooking up with Really Random Thursday. Grab badge at right and see how random other people can be.