school daze . . .

Todd was on shift yesterday, so I was *almost* destined to spend the day alone. Luckily, fate and my daughter stepped in! I had a quiet morning, which was nice because it allowed me to finish up quilting on my Russia block and do all my physical therapy exercises. Joc, who's a third grade teacher, had meetings most of the morning, and then a PTA sponsored lunch. Afterward, though, she came and got me and I helped her prepare for the first day of school and she kept me company with her bright and cheery self!!!

This year, she was able to move her classroom into the school building. Last year she was in a portable. So she did have to start from scratch on getting her room ready. The school-wide theme is that the school and its students ROCK! All the teachers have cute welcome bulletin boards outside their classrooms. Joc's was the BEST!

I helped cut out flash cards . . .

And made lovely messes . . .

And I collated papers and stuff, too, but mostly I just admired.

If I was in third grade, I'd like to be in this classroom!

Science books ready to go!

She hasn't hung her curtains yet.
I think she was doing that today.

There's lots of 'areas' in her classroom!

See that stack of textbooks, below, ready to be handed out??

School starts MONDAY! I think she's ready!

We had a productive day and it was lots of fun! I miss being in the classroom and getting ready for a new school year!! (I don't miss administration. LOL!)

Today, Todd and I spent at Camp MACOBA! Yay! With the crutches I'm able to maneuver the steps inside the RV! This is tremendous!! Last hurdle is the shower. But it won't be long, now. It won't be long at ALL!

We have a church up here for their church-wide picnic this afternoon. Todd went over and chatted with the setup committee when they first got up here. We're both going over in just a bit to say hello. Then we'll head back to house for the night. But it will be one of the last times--perhaps THE last time, that we spend the day at the RV and return to the house for sleep. And I'm so ready!

Ciao!!

:)

i can't get enough . . .

Last night was the last night of our ladies summer Bible study. It was fun, and I'll miss that interaction when AWANA starts back up next week. Todd has mentioned, though, that he may be doing some Wednesday night speaking to AWANA leaders at other churches about Camp MACOBA. Fun!

Before church last night, Kim brought Sawyer over for a little visit. She said Sawyer missed his grandma, but really, Kim knew Sawyer's grandma was missing him! She also sent me a couple of new pictures . . .

and . . .

And of course I took some of my own, too . . .

I love this new foot fascination!
Kim says he gets angry if he's sitting in his swing
and can't reach his feet! And *everything* he can grab
goes straight to his mouth! It was so cute when I was
holding him last night, to have him reach for my face!

Of course,
Sawyer wanted to have a little quality *grandpa* time too!

Todd went yesterday and filed the paperwork to get me
my very own handicap decal:

Bright RED! It's a temporary pass, for six months.
It will be very helpful.

And here are the exercises the therapist gave me
to work on last night . . .

I was already doing some of it.
Today I've tried walking (in the boot) using
the walker as support. Yay! It's getting there!

Tonight we are meeting Joc & Jason in town for dinner. She had her 12-week appointment yesterday, and mommy and mini- are doing great!

Long weekend coming up -- hopefully next week I'll be able to start driving and things will start getting back to normal again! I'm anxious to move back to the RV and resuming LIFE!

:)

what a happy day!

Yesterday was *all* words, so today will be mostly photos . . . and mostly photos of what I wrote about yesterday! :)

I had a *great* visit to the orthopedist today! She wrote me orders for physical therapy! Yay! First they are going to transition me to 'full weight bearing' in the boot, and then they'll progress to 'full weight bearing' without the boot! I have to go three times a week for the next four weeks. And, I got a handicap sticker. Which means as soon as I can walk to my car, I can DRIVE! I'm seeing light . . . the end of the tunnel is getting closer! I have my first PT appointment TODAY!

Then I went to my family doctor, who told me the bite site looks very, very good and that I dodged a big bullet! Whew! :) In retrospect, four days in the hospital is preferable to what could have happened with a brown recluse spider bite.

I get to see this little fellow today, too!


Here are the baby wrens . . . can you see them?
I counted at least four!


Aren't they cute??
They are *so* noisy when Mrs. Wren is
there with a juicy worm. But they know
if they see me, they need to pipe down and get small.

There's the little nest, tucked into the corner.
I didn't move the plant to get a good picture,
because I didn't want to frighten the baby birdies.

One of the benefits of being at the house this
summer was we were here for the figs! They are ripe and yummy.

And sooooo happy! :)


Last one: Sawyer Practices His ABC's!


Here's the back side of the Russia block
I'm back to working on. I really do love this quilting stencil.


And here's the sweet package I received from Karen,
at Little Pieces of My Life.

See?! A present for me!

Cute little pin, isn't it??

And aren't these edges beautiful handiwork???

Yay! And I'm off!

:)

a picture's worth a thousand words . . .

And today, you're getting the words. :)

It's been a nice, albeit quiet, day. I finished the last of the redwork blocks early in the day, so I accomplished one of my Charming Girl goals! Yay! After much thinking, I did finally decide on a name for the last block, but not without some terrific (and interesting) input.

For example:

Sawyer Writes His First Postcard (postcards are big in my family)
Sawyer Practices His Cursive Writing for Aunt Jocelyn
Sawyer Takes His ACT
Sawyer Writes, 'I'll Behave in Class' One Hundred Times

But what I finally decided on is, Sawyer Practices His ABC's. I like it!

Then I pulled out my Russian pillow and picked up on quilting it where I left off. Whoops! I got the corners done and am working on the sides, and then it'll be ready to stitch into a throw pillow! I take so long to get anything done -- I first started talking about this in . . . MARCH!

Let's see, I also baked a pan of brownies, to take to church tomorrow night. We are serving lunch to the teachers of the elementary school next door, and the brownies are actually for that. Can you believe school starts in less than a week? Crazy! This year has simply flown by, collectively, though some of the days have dragged a bit!

What else? My Jocelyn came by to pick up some fabric she's using to dress her classroom windows! And we talked about her nursery and crib sheets, and owls (which is how she wants to do the nursery) and burp cloths. And I showed her all the darling owls I've been finding to do a redwork quilt for the baby!

I also watched Sleepless in Seattle. Because I've seen it a million times and I can do handwork while I'm watching it and not keep my eyes glued to the screen. And because it makes me cry. And because I love that movie. :)

And all day I been hearing little birdie noises . . . like baby birds. And I wasn't sure where out back they were, but felt they were kinda close. And then, when I pulled the brownies out of the oven, I turned around and there was Mrs. Wren, hoping under the screen in the kitchen window, with a big, fat worm in her mouth. She was feeding her BABIES in my WINDOW! I do love the wrens! And as I sit here typing away, I can hear the chorus of baby birds singing, "Feed US!" Yikes -- they are really noisy and demanding! :)

Hmmm. I've also been thinking a little about October. It's only two months away and I hate to have it creep up on me and not be prepared when the question invariably comes, "What do you want for your birthday?" I think I know. I'm pretty sure. I want one of THESE! And maybe one of these, to match my car, which I hope to be driving really SOON!

Oh, oh, OH! How could I forget this?? I entered THIS giveaway on Little Pieces of My Life back in July, and I WON! The most darling, hand-crocheted edged PINK pillowcases! They came in yesterday's mail! With a cute little quilting pin, too! And it was all so prettily packaged, I really felt like I was getting a present in the mail! Thank you, Karen!!!

All in all, a pretty full and satisfying day. Think how dangerous I'll be when I'm on two, working legs!!

For now, I'm off to taste-test a brownie (just doing my duty) by placing it under some homemade vanilla ice cream and topping it with some whipped cream.

And for the record, this entry was worth 0.65 of a picture. Wow! I think that saying needs to be re-evaluated!

:)

visual updates . . .

I had a very productive Saturday! I got finished two of the three redwork blocks I have left on the Sawyer Quilt . . .

Sawyer Waters the Garden

and Sawyer Wants an Apple Pie!

I started this last one, but will probably not finish it until tomorrow. I'm not sure what I'll name this one, either! I already did Sawyer's First Day of School, so I'm hanging. Any ideas??

I told my sisters I'd post the progressive pictures I took of my spider bite (sorry anyone else). But it's not really gruesome. :)

This was it the morning after.


This was it five days later.


And this is it yesterday, or eleven days later. It will be what it'll be.

And I know this is silly, but like I said yesterday, I'm so *proud* of the flexibility in my right foot, I wanted to share that too!!

Here it is, pointing as hard as I can make it point! You can see the wound has closed up and is healing very nicely, too.

And here it is flexed back as far as it will go. Yay for me!

I think an entry like this needs to be balanced out with a new picture of my sweet grandbaby:

Happy days!

:)

charming girls update!

Okay, time to take a look at the Charming Girls goals I set for myself for July/August, and see how I'm doing . . .

#1: To accept that things are the way they are, and to graciously accept the help of others. I'm working diligently on this one. :)

#2: To ensure that birthday and anniversary cards are sent out in a timely manner, as well as thank you notes! Yes! I'm caught up on all my thank you notes (which accumulate quickly when I'm living up to goal #1) and celebration cards!!!

#3: To continue to withstand the call of the vending machine at work. It's been three months since I last fed that stinker any money, and I'd like to keep it that way! (There's absolutely nothing healthy in it!) Okay, lemme 'splain. Just one day I purchased something out of it -- we got caught short one day when preparing my lunch. So, I bought a bag of chips to supplement. But NO chocolate. The machine doesn't seem to call as loudly to me anymore. Whew! It also helps if I just don't bring my wallet into work. LOL! :)

#4: To put the final touches on Sawyer's quilt and get it to him and his mommy!

#5: To finish the redwork squares (there are 10) that I started today. I think this is within the range of possibility. I like having handwork to do in the evenings! Yay! I only have one more redwork square to finish -- I'll have pictures to post tomorrow! This is such a happy!

#6: To work on the degree of motion in my foot. It's currently at about 20 degrees; I'd like to get it up to 50-60 degrees before I start physical therapy next month! I'm actually proud and excited about this one. I go back to the doc on Wednesday, and I have worked really hard to get a good range of point/flex motion in my foot. I think I've got it up to about 70 degrees!! It's really come a long way in the last four weeks! :)

#7: To organize (or at least develop a plan by which to organize) my quilting area in the RV to make it more user-friendly. Clutter is very discouraging to me!

The two goals that I haven't made any progress on are two that I can't even start until we're back into the RV. Hopefully that will be next weekend, if everything goes well Wednesday!!

Go, Charming Girls, go!

:)

lovely tea diversions . . .

Well, looking ahead, the coming week is full of possibility! Wednesday I have an appointment with the orthopedist, and I am hoping she allows me to begin bearing weight on my right foot again, which will open up so many opportunities. Moving back into our RV at the camp and driving, not the least of these! After that appointment, I have an appointment with my family doc, who's treating the blasted spider bite. While the inflammation is nearly completely gone, the (now) quarter-sized bruise and the dark blistery looking thing are still present. Don't know what this bodes, unless it's more waiting, which wouldn't surprise me.

I've already made good headway (i.e., I'm almost finished) with the eighth of the redwork blocks. I'd like to have all ten finished by Tuesday eve! Then I'll start processing out the other blocks. The pattern calls for a simple nine patch in reds and whites, but I'm thinking I'd like to add a denim look to this quilt! But more on that later, when I've finished the redwork.

For today, I've been playing around in my photo directory, and pulled up some fun tea tables I've done in days past. When we moved from house to RV, most of my 'dainties' (though not all) were left behind for my daughter and daughter-in-law. But I do love a good tea party, and thought I'd share some of my favorite memories in the form of photos, today . . .

This was the first table that I ever hosted, for the Flint River Mother-Daughter Tea. That was in 2006. I used my everyday china because I was so in love with the colors! It's still a favorite -- I love the yellows, greens, and blues. They make me smile!

This was my table the next year, for the same tea. I was a little more elegant and went with my Lenox Kelly china (which I did take with me on the RV). This was such a fun table, and I loved making the violet sachet favors!

This was a little tea party I did for my daughter and her friend/roommate, when they made a weekend trip home from college. It wasn't ultra-fancy, but it was fun and the food was tasty! My kitchen was decorated in apples and since that was the setting, I used my apple tea set and the apple snack plates and cups.

This was an impromptu afternoon tea setting for Joc and I, late one weekend when she was home from college. I love having tea with my girl!

This was a tea table I did at First Baptist Gurley, when my Sunday school class hosted a tea party for all the senior adult ladies of the church. As with the previous church tea parties I'd done, each table was hosted and decorated by a different lady. The different tables were all so beautiful, and it was such a fun afternoon! The tea service I used here was one Jocelyn brought back for me from her second mission trip to China. It's beautiful!

And this table was the last table I did at Flint River, in 2009. Jocelyn and I co-hosted at this mother-daughter tea! We invited two of our dear friends and their daughters, and Joc's mother-in-law (to be, at the time) and her daughter. We had a lovely afternoon. If I'm remembering correctly, I gave the tea etiquette portion of the program!

I wish I'd thought to take pictures of the last tea I had here at the house. After Joc's wedding, I did a tea party for her two flower girls and their mommies. It was my sister and my niece, Lucy, and my friend Jenda, and her daughter Emma Grace. We had such a fun afternoon! But I forgot to get pictures! What was I thinking??

I have such fond tea time memories . . . I think it may be time to brew a pot!

Cheers!

:)

we . . . love . . . cheese . . . cake!

Todd and I both enjoy desserts -- just a little something sweet to cap off a nice dinner! Trouble is, Todd is very, very conscious of his sugar intake. It's really tough to make a tempting dessert without sugar, so I've been looking for new recipes to tempt his palette! This is one I found a couple of months ago which he's really enjoyed . . .

Easy Cheese Cake - No Sugar Added!

Take a softened, 8-ounce block of light cream cheese (neufchâtel)
and add 1/4 cup of granular Splenda and a generous
2 teaspoons or so of vanilla. (Or, for a bit different taste,
trade out the vanilla for almond extract! Amaretto cheesecake!)

Beat well.

Add 1/2 cup of skim milk and beat until smooth.
Scrape sides of bowl and beat again.

Add 1 cup of skim milk (yes, more milk) and beat until well mixed.

Add 1 4-serving box of Jell-O brand instant pudding
(sugar free, fat free), cheesecake flavor, and mix until
well blended. Mixture will quickly begin to thicken.

Pour about a third of the mix into
pre-prepared graham cracker pie shell.

Add 3/4 cup of your favorite sugar-free jam --
I used Smucker's Cherry Preserves.

Top with remaining 2/3 of the pudding/cream cheese mix.
Smooth top.

Cover and chill for at least four hours.
Serve with sugar-free whipped topping!

YUM!

ps. They released me from the hospital yesterday. Four days and three nights!!! I was so super-shocked at the whole week. I came home yesterday and crawled into bed and slept all afternoon -- I was so exhausted from my stay. LOL! I went to work today, just like the last four days never happened. Crazy. All over a stinkin' spider bite!

For tomorrow? REDWORK!!!

:)

how did this happen . . . ??

It was really not my intention to spend more than 24 hours in the hospital, but such was not my fate. I had a rough night, complicated by a reaction to one of the antibiotics they gave me early this morning, and so spent most of the day nauseated and, well, ugh. :)

The doc made his rounds just after noon, and much to my surprise, did not release me! I mean, really -- I was a little shocked! But he wants the inflammation to be reduced by at least fifty percent, so here I am. He did switch up my antibiotics, which made me happy, happy, happy!

I haven't done anything quilt-y, though this would have been the perfect time for it, but I was caught totally off guard! Ah well, today would NOT have been the day for it, and I'm praying that tomorrow I'm fifty percent better. LOL!

I do have another precious photo of my cuddle-bug grandson . . .

That happy smile is good medicine for me!

To healthier days!

:)

tidbits . . .

Today's blogcast comes to you from Crestwood Hospital. Come as a surprise to you? It did me too! I went into the doctor's office this morning to let him have another look at my spider bite. While he was, on the one hand, pleased that the center of the bite had not grown or ruptured, the exterior inflammation had grown more than ten times the size it was Friday (which was about 2.5" diameter). He decided to send me to the hospital so I could get some IV antibiotics. So, at the hospital I am! What a curious summer this has been for me!!!

On a happy note, hanging around all weekend with my leg propped gave me plenty of time to work on my Sawyer redblocks!!

Sawyer and His Pal.

Sawyer Reads "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"!

I also got to spend a little time with the little guy yesterday afternoon, while his mommy & daddy headed up the road for a swim party! I do adore my darling Sawyer!

My daughter has recently gotten interested in making her own cards. She does a wonderful job, too! Here is the one she made for Todd and I for our anniversary, last month . . .

She's got beautiful handwriting. It's a very elegant card.

She's got an eye for embellishments, too!

This was on the inside . . .

We're so blessed to have such wonderful children!!

But then she told us to turn the card over;

that there was more on the back.

On the back?

Did you catch it? Let me give you a close up . . .

ANOTHER grandbaby!!! She's due sometime in mid-February. Now both *my* babies will have babies!!!

I am LOVING this season of my life!!!

*grandma sigh*

:)

hop on over . . .

Got any plans for this evening? May I suggest you head on over, lickety-split, to the Little Pieces of My Life blog?? She's celebrating her 150th post, and she's doing so by giving away completed redwork blocks of Bunny Hill Design's SnowBound! Oh my, you all KNOW this is right up my alley!

But you really do need to hop on over there . . . she's shutting this one down soon!!!

Good luck -- to us all!!

ps -- I *did* make the homemade peach ice cream tonight. YUM!

:)