Thursday, November 30, 2006
Bits Of Good And Bad!
My momma used to say, “If you can’t say something good about some one then don’t say nothin’ at all” So I have been pretty quiet for a few days but you know me I gotta blab sometime so here goes.
What you are seeing are the changing of the bulbs for the outside lights. I got everything ready on Sunday, went outside to hang them only to find that the molding the roofers put up was too close to the cup hooks to allow me to hook the wires over the hooks from the ground with a long pole. I brought the ladder up from the garage but couldn’t make myself climb high enough to do the job. I ended up in tears, calling my son-in-law David to come up and hang them for me. I swear they can hang there until they rot now!
Cindy came up with David and help me put a bit of dinner on the table. While she was here I showed her the antlers I had bought to put on Brandy for a picture.
As you can see they fit Cindy better and Brandy would rather Cindy wore them. As a side note we played one game of pinochle and the girls lost!!!
On Tuesday the 28th we went to see Dr. Schuster again. The arm used for dialysis is not functioning correctly. The dialysis has been increased to three days a week and a surgery for the other arm has been set up. Poor Jay is upset and I wish I could tell everyone involved to stop bitching and start working together to make what he has work.
Wednesday I went in to have my Field site (or visual field) test done and have the measurement for the cataract operations taken. Today it was down to our personal physician’s office for a chest xray for Jay’s surgery. Then he was off to Davita for dialysis this afternoon.
In the meantime the outside is ready to go --just need to add power but the inside is a mess.
The tree is upright--still in the box--but hey closer then down in the basement.
The living and dining rooms have so many boxes, bags and decoration waiting for attention that I can hardly reach the light switch to see what is in the way. Poor Brandy can find her bed and Molly hides for hours in the mess then all of a sudden you see two big eyes peeking out at you. But when I get up from here I will start the cleaning up and decorating on the inside. It is cool and rainy so we aren’t going out anywhere.
This weekend is the Lake Orion lighted Parade and every thing is ready to go. I won’t be down there this year --too much crap coming down up here but I thought I would share last years picture of our troupe that was printed on the Orion township parks and Rec. site.
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We will visit again soon!
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Six Pairs!
It started on Thanksgiving afternoon. Dakota tried on his costume.
It seems to fit the bill!
Then daughter-in-law Debra reminded me that we were going to make clown shoes after dinner. It looks really simple were her words. So we started by cutting out a pattern from a paper bag and then cutting out the outside of the shoes. I made a pattern for the lining and cut those out. The outside was cut out of a combination material and foam which meant they had to be cut out one at a time. Unfortunately we forgot to turn the material over for half of the shoes so we ended up with one side being black and the other being gray. Then we hauled out the sewing machine.
I was at the machine and Deb was stuffing the toes with foam and pinning the lining in. My second goof came when I didn’t turn the outer lining inside out to hide the seams before sewing in the lining. We took turns at the sewing machine because we were getting tired. But despite the problems we still came up with a cover which resembles a large shoe.
We weren’t able to complete all six pairs before Deb had to leave so I told her to leave them and I would work on them in the morning. Friday morning I started in again and Deb drove back up to finish them up. I used a permanent marker to color the gray sides black. It was 4 pm before we finished.
I didn’t think we would ever get done but heck we didn’t even know how to make them in the first place. Deb had borrowed one from a friend to help us figure it out. So there you have it six pairs piled on the table.
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Thursday, November 23, 2006
Remember!
Remember--Don’t eat to much, smile a lot, and give Thanks
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
The Objective!
The objective was to take ideas and alterations suggested last Saturday and complete them before Thanksgiving and still knit my four 7 inch squares for Firefly. Sunday into Monday I worked on the squares. I started the costumes on Tuesday and finished the last one this morning before my dental appointment. So here they are. The Festive apron.
This is for Jasmine.
Next the clown pants.
This completes Dakota’s costume.
Last the red dress needed a gusset on both sides for extra room.
That done it was time to put away the sewing machine, box of materials, the thread caddy, and the iron and board. I looked around to see Molly checking out the table top on her way to a dining room chair.
I guess she figured if Momma could miss up the dining room table she should be able to walk across it. Before I could yell at her she had jumped to the chair.
The only thing left now is to sit down tomorrow to our dinner with Wes, Deb, Jasmine, Dakota, and Richard. ( I washed off the table of course.) I’m drooling all ready. Happy Thanksgiving every one.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Plans!
Over at Pammie’s Place she wrote about Firefly’s request for knitted squares to be turned into blankets. So here is my contribution.
They are packaged up and ready to go to the post office tomorrow morning.
On Saturday Dakota , Jazz, and two of her friends came up to try on costumes for the Christmas parade. Dakota was outside with Brandy when I had the camera out so he didn’t get in a picture.
I pulled material out this morning after I finished the squares. I need to put gussets in the red dress to allow the girl to wear a sweatshirt under it to stay warm. Dakota needs a new pair of pants to go with his jacket and I have to make Jasmine an apron that is festive to go over her striped outfit. The other young lady choose another dress which fit much better for her costume and needs no adjustments.
After the post office trip it will be back home to pull out the sewing machine, the pins and the tape measure. I would like to get the alterations done so the costumes can go home with the grandkids on Thanksgiving Day because the parade is on the 2nd of December.
This year Cindy has to work Thanksgiving, Les’ crew will be at Ann’s family’s dinner, Wes’ family will be up here with us and Richard as usual. This year our gathering is small enough that I order the whole dinner from our grocery store. I just had to take advantage of the opportunity to take it easy for a change.
So if I get this sewing project done I’ll try to get a picture of it. Hope your plans for the holiday are progressing well.
Friday, November 17, 2006
Old Saying!
Remember the old saying of ‘I buy you books and all you do is chew on the covers’? Well I am going to revise that a bit. It is now an Old Momma’s saying.
“I keep buying me books and all I do is stare at the covers’. Another three arrived yesterday and I still have two I’m reading: ‘Dark Tower’ book Five and ‘Angels and Demons’. My Ellery Queen and AHMM short stories now number 14 on the bedroom shelf and I only read them before going to sleep. I am trying to avoid the book reviews in the newspaper because I know I’ll find another one to stare at because I sure don’t seem to have time to read them.
Oh well such is life!
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Spirit!
My Spirit was 10 years old yesterday. He is an important part of my non-human family. He talks, coughs, and groans like Jay. He says, “Good morning” in several different voices to get my attention so I will open the cover on his cage in the morning. Right now he is whistling because he knows I will stop and get him a cracker if he gets annoying enough. But talking or annoying he is one of my babies and I love him.
Brandy Says!
Momma went to the pet store today for cat food and small hook bill seed and look what she came home with.
Blue is Daddy’s favorite color so she picked out a blue sweater. She said she felt bad because she got my hair cut and then it turned so cold.
Speaking of Daddy.
I want to know who’s toy is this anyway?
Momma says to give you another Dog Philosophy So hear you are!
I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird cult. --Rita Rudner
Ho Hum!
Oh the time you will have when Jay is at dialysis. Yeah right! I devoted a whole day to making divider pages, putting recipes in plastic page protectors, making sure the the same food item appeared on both the recipes in that sheet, and then filing them in the book! I made sure that the recipes in the Jay Wants To Try were recipes to be tried.. Then the recipes we have made went into Tried “Em MMMM Good! The recipes from our grocery store and Betty Crocker e mails went into another smaller book. Unfortunately the Want To Try book that contains breads, rolls, and assorted desserts hasn’t been worked on yet. This is what happens when you search the net for recipes and then don’t file them.
Friday, November 10, 2006
Those Were The Days!
Another sunshiny day. The paper says 49 today. Yesterday I was out in shirt sleeves all day. I always remember November as being cold enough for a heavy coat with the exception of November 11, 1972. That day I was in North Carolina burying the children’s father. His wish was to go home as he put it. I stood outside during the ceremony in a light sweater, there were no coats in sight. I couldn’t get over the weather. Well yesterday reminded me of that time.
Jay is down to two dialysis a week so yesterday we went to get his hair cut and stopped at Oliver T’s, a gourmet shop, on the way home. Knowing my hubby’s passion for creating good things to eat, when I spotted this I had to ask if he wanted it.
This is by Nordic Ware and there was even a scone mix packed with it. So now we can make perfect size scones when ever we want.
We also had lunch while we were there, sharing a sandwich of roast pork with orange/cranberry chutney on sourdough rye bread--grilled. Yum, Yum!
The best part --it was only $5.95 and was big enough to share. These little outing are our entertainment!
Waking up at 8:30 am is becoming a habit. Not a bad one except Jay likes to stay up until midnight and I have to ask him to take his blood pressure and sugar tests so I can record them and fix his insulin if needed before I go to bed. So consequently some afternoons a feeling of siesta time hits me between the eyes and I steal away to that quiet bedroom for a quickie! I remember when it was another kind of quickie but I was not in my 70’s then. Those were the days!