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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Satisfaction

This one is about the moment I felt satisfied with my life.  Wow, where do you start with this one.  Should it be something momentous, an achievement award or such, a major accomplishment, or tiny moment in time that affected me, a sunset that was breathtaking, a peacefulness that came over me, a moment of complete serenity  -  what path do I take.  I think I'm putting way too much time into this one!  I came up with 2 moments that tell me I did something right in my life.  The first was when everyone in my family came to see me at the hospital for my surgery.  I try not to send them on a guilt trip but I'm sure they could have sensed my disappointment if they weren't there so maybe that shouldn't count.  I made it through fairly well I'd say with not a lot of anguish or fear.  As I was waiting to go into the operating room, I noticed it was number 73 which made me feel like everything would be fine since that's my lucky number (year I got married and graduated).  But the moment that I can honestly say was even better was when the grandkids visited in July.  We spent the week doing a bunch of things and my main goal was to get them back home safe and sound.  When the week was over and we were going home I asked Braden if he wanted to come back next year and do it again and there was an emphatic "Sure".  Those are the kind of moments I will look forward to having every year.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Picture in 2010


This a picture of me from last year (in the middle)during my last summer at work.  The past year hasn't changed my appearance all that much except for a couple more scars from my surgeries and a few more gray hairs.  I do have a new heart valve and a pacemaker though.  I think the main way I've changed since last year is in my stress level.  I'm amazed at how easy life can be without the stress of getting up and going to work and dealing with a lot of other people.  Having all your activities on your own terms does wonders for your emotional health.  I guess that's what retirement is all about.  At this point I'm surprised the life expectancy doesn't skyrocket!

Sunday, August 28, 2011

My Goals

When I was still working, I thought about all the crafts I wanted to finish or do but knew I'd have to wait for more time.  After retiring and starting this blog, procrastinating was off the table.  One of the themes of the blog was  "No more excuses".  I'd have to say my goals have been working on all those crafts and finishing projects.  Something I want as far as decorating the cabin has been an afghan and quilt on every bed.  I initially wanted to use up material that I had but with every new purchase there is more and more to use up.  I have a place at the cabin to sew so that will be an ongoing goal for quite awhile.  Since I'm not sure when we'll be moving to the cabin on a permanent basis, I want to make the most of the resources we have here such as the garden and fruit trees.  I just made 3 batches of Cinnamon-Crabapple jelly from our tree, thinking that will probably be the last I will do.  I'm pretty sure it will last awhile even using some for Christmas gifts.  I know these goals are ones that can be measured, etc. like those Smart Goals I've mentioned before but I'd also like to have some not-so Smart Goals that are even more important.  Oprah wrote in her magazine this past year that when making New Year's resolutions we should use adjectives instead of verbs or nouns.  So in the spirit of simplifying my life I'd like to make a goal to be happy, busy and satisfied with what I've accomplished, no timeline and the only judge will be me.

My Cell Phone

This is something I try hard not to leave home without  -  my cell phone, charged and ready to go.  That's the whole point of it anyway  -  to use when you're out and about without access to a land line phone.  That's why my hubby and I got them in the first place. I also take it when I walk in case of emergency and to know the time.   Of course, it's become much more than that over the years.  Now it's our long distance phone service, so without a charged phone at home, my calls are limited.  That's exactly what happened last week, to my surprise.  I heard a beeping at home and realized it was my phone and it needed charged.  As I reached for my charger, I became aware that it was not in its usual spot and I had a pretty good idea where it was.  Fortunately, I had enough juice to make a quick call to my hubby who confirmed my suspicions  -  he had taken my charger, along with his when he went out of town.  To make matters worse, the car charger we bought wasn't working either!  Well, after I calmed down, I made a run to Kmart to buy another car charger that I could take with me on my trip. Another thing I realized was that it doesn't feel too good to be tied to anything that much, be it phone or computer.

Friday, August 26, 2011

TV Addiction

TV addiction  -  what an awful thing.  It drags us in and keeps us hanging for a whole week with no end in sight.  I'm guilty of ODing on it.  I first started watching reality tv with the Apprentice and not even when it first started.  Then it was Biggest Loser after the first few seasons, then reruns on cable from Australia and UK.  When that didn't satisfy me, I rented old dvds and watched them late at night.  Now I have Bravo and the Housewives to keep up with my fixes.  Bravo is like that bag of candy I talked about before but with every new Housewives show it's more like a bottomless bag that they keep full of tv goodies.  I have to say though, I'm a functioning addict thanks to Bravo.  I can still live my life because they constantly replay all my shows.  My hubby is also very sympathetic to my addiction and made sure the tv we have at the cabin has Bravo  -  what a guy!  Do I need help with my addiction  -  no, I get that from Watch what happens live with Andy Cohen (on Bravo) where he brings us all together to talk about our addiction.  So for the record, my name is Mary and yes, I'm a reality show addict.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

My Fear

I don't feel that I have an extreme fear of anything to speak of, not like some people who can't look at a picture of a snake for example. Sure, there's things I get shook up about just like everyone else. I've even overcome my fear of driving in the snow and ice. I suppose if I had to pinpoint a specific thing I really hate to do and that gets my heart athumpin is merging. My kids will laugh at this because they know how I am and how far I can go to avoid this. I'm getting better with it, especially with all the driving I've done but when a merge situation is approaching, I tense up. I think it stems from being in situations where there's been a lot of traffic and I've had to stop and wait. I've never been real confident driving anyway and some of it comes from both my parents not getting their license until a little later in life. Once I got mine they were hesitant to let me drive much, especially when it was raining or at night. Of course, they didn't have any restrictions on my brother (double standard, maybe). I'm very open about my driving habits - I take the road less traveled, there's never a road trip where I haven't taken the wrong turn at least once and I like having Mandy (my gps or another shoulder at the wheel, so to speak) with me. I seem to manage to get where I'm going, maybe not as fast as others, but I manage.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Bad Habit

This challenge is a habit I wish I didn't have. It's got to be my binge eating. I was so good right after my surgery - didn't want or need any sweets or in between meal snacks. Of course, I wasn't feeling all that good either. Now that I'm feeling better, I crave the sweets and snacks. What's up with that? I realize I got those cravings out of my system then but now the weight is starting to inch up. My problem is I can't stop once I get started eating. Give me a bag of candy and I'm not happy until I finish it and after I'm still not happy, physically and emotionally. As you can see from the pictures I posted on the last challenge, I wasn't always heavy. And what's surprising is that I drank regular, not diet, pop and whatever else I wanted back then, including that pizza I was holding. I guess that's what having 3 kids will do to your metabolism when you aren't watching. It probably only would have taken a little exercise to keep the weight under control but who knows if I would have done it. Maybe not. At least my bad habit isn't worse than that like drugs, alcohol or smoking, that's what I tell myself anyway. My strategy for licking it (no pun intended) is not having it in the house and keeping busy - hope it works!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

A Place I've Traveled To

This is a picture of me when I was in Valladolid, Spain. I lived with a woman named Carmina, la viuda de Sanz, which means she was the widow of a man named Sanz. Living with her was a niece named Gloria who was going to school in the city. My roommate was Beth who was from Pittsburgh and going to Carlow College. This picture was taken in Las Moreras, a park in Valladolid.


This is a picture of Carmina and me after Beth and I made a pizza at her apartment. It was more difficult than you might think because only the bakeries had access to yeast so all we could use was baking powder. Otherwise, it turned out pretty good.

I went to Spain to study there with a group organized out of Indiana U. of PA. This was during my junior year of college from Jan. to June of 1972. It was a very interesting experience and one I'll never forget. I told you all this talk of pictures was making me want to scrapbook.
Sorry this picture is so small, I'm still trying to figure this out.


Monday, August 22, 2011

My Movies

I warned you I'd be catching up on all this so here goes. This challenge is to name my favorite movie but picking one is next to impossible. A few years back this scenario was put out there - if you were stranded on a desert island with only a tv and dvd player, what 5 movies would you pick to watch for the rest of your life? Well, my response to this challenge is similar to this question but I'm organizing them in categories because a lot depends on your mood and the season. The first category is musicals which I would include Dirty Dancing, Mama Mia and Grease (can't whittle that down at all, sorry). The second category would be comedies which would be Up in Smoke and Saving Grace. Both of these involve marijuana - what can I say but I think it's hilarious and it gets me laughing every time. As far as the drama/thriller movie I'd have to pick The Game with Michael Douglas. You either love it or hate it but it's one of those movies I could watch over and over. The final category is seasonal movies and I'd have to pick Santa Claus, The Movie. There's just something about this movie that pulls you in and makes you believe - I love it!

My Baby Picture



The next challenge was to post a baby picture of me and it certainly was a challenge! Things just don't come as easy to me as others. I found a picture but the problem was getting it in the right format. Anyway, here it is. I sure looked like a happy baby! Back then there weren't a lot of pictures taken, at least not like there are now. All this looking at pictures made me want to scrapbook. I know there are more challenges where I have to post other pictures. It might be a good time to start organizing them.

Song of the Day

I'm playing catch-up today so bear with me. This was supposed to be written on Sat. but I was on the road, with no internet access, so I'm writing it now. It was probably a good thing because I don't listen to many of my cd's when I'm home. It just so happened that I was listening to one of my JoDee Messina cds. I have 4 of them that are great on road trips. Sat. was a day that I knew was not going to go as planned. I had to travel from Mechanicsburg to some point north of Snow Shoe to attend a Field Day for Forest Landowners that my hubby and I registered for a while ago. Normally we would have both been at our cabin but I was at my son's helping out with my grandson, so we were coming from different directions. I got up early, grabbed a cup of coffee, said a couple quick good-byes and I was out the door, knowing that I would be late. It was the best I could do. Along the way, my hubby called to say even he was caught up in some unexpected circumstances. I talked to him a little later in the trip and he informed me of the road I was to encounter. I was prepared for the worst and it turned out to be pretty bad. Anyway, getting back to the song - "That's the way it is" - was pretty much the way it was that day. Some of the lyrics are - you gotta roll with the punches ...you gotta bend when the wind blows ...you live, you learn, you crash, you burn, and that's the way it is. Listening to the song kind of gave me permission to be late and it would be alright, and it was. By the way, I got to hear a lot of my songs during that trip, which I loved.

Friday, August 19, 2011

My Family

My parents have been gone for quite awhile but I still think about them and write in this blog about them, especially my mother. My mom and I are very similar in what we enjoy doing such as crafts, cooking, playing cards and our volunteer work. She was a Girl Scout leader for many years just like me. One thing I could say about my mom is that she would try just about anything, craft wise. As far as cooking, she especially liked to make desserts - her pies were the absolute best! Whenever I would take the kids down to visit, she would always have the cards dealt out and ready to go the minute I got there. My dad enjoyed his garden and took great pride in it. When he wasn't in his garden, he enjoyed sports and TV, especially westerns. I don't think he ever missed a Bonanza show! Both of my parents had a hard life growing up. My mom's mom died when she was only 12 and she quit school in the 8th grade so she could stay home with her younger sister to help take care of their brothers as they worked. My dad went to the 6th grade and then started working. I remember him telling us how he and a bunch of other guys would sometimes come to Erie to pick fruit. Other times when he had a job at home, he wouldn't get paid with money but a bottle of milk. When he brought it home they would have to use it in their coffee so it would go further. Despite their struggles in their youth, both my parents have been very generous with us. When my husband was laid off from work, my dad was right there helping us. I'm sure the hard times they went through have helped my sisters, brother and I become the people we are today. With not much education to speak of, we couldn't ask them for help with our studies. They still supported us in our goals, whatever they might be. Now that my siblings and I all have our own families, we still look to each other for love and support, which is what family is all about.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

My First Love

I'm interpreting this in a different way which I guess is my prerogative. Besides crafts which probably came a little later, my first love would have to be music. I remember Christmas when I was about 12, I got my chord organ. My sister was helping to put it together Christmas Eve and she must not have been able to keep it to herself because she came upstairs and got me to come down and play with it. Her only request was that I didn't tell my brother. For years after that, even into high school, I would come home from school, go to my bedroom and play that chord organ. It didn't matter what I played, be it Christmas carols, church music, or old time favorites, I played and sang along. It seems like this love of music ran in our family, especially the females. Both my sisters played musical instruments in school and one of my sisters continued taking piano lessons to fulfill this dream of hers. Both my daughters played instruments also and my older daughter inherited that chord organ from me. I remember many Christmases when she performed for us. My one disappointment was that I never learned how to read music and be able to play the piano but I still have that same love of music. I'm fully aware that I have no musical talent to speak of but that doesn't keep me from enjoying it.

My Blog Name

This second blog challenge is to explain where I got my name for the blog. I knew I wanted it to be about my journey through retirement and doing all the things I put off because I was too busy. Thinking of a name was a bit harder. At the time I was listening to Taylor Swift and there was one song (A Place in this World) that had a phrase half way through it that she belted out. Of course, I was right there with her, belting it out. As soon as I heard it again, I knew that Girl on a Mission was my title. As anyone knows, picking a username, or in this case a website for my blog can be trial and error. I decided on tswiftgirl as no one else had that one. One thing I did once I had it was Google the name to see if it would come up. I found many interesting sites, some of which I didn't want to be associated with. It was then that my hubby helped me make up my calling cards that I passed out the last week of work to keep in touch with coworkers. At first I would check to see who was reading my blog and then I came to realize that I was doing this for myself, not others, and I wasn't as concerned with the followers. This has definitely been a personal journey that I do for myself - alone, on my own.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

My Blog Challenge

I've taken an idea from my daughter-in-law who also has a blog and started this challenge. It's a list of 30 things to write about in my blog for 30 days. It will be a modified version because I don't want to give away too many secrets ha-ha. The first one is to introduce myself with a picture and tell 15 interesting facts about me. Well, the way I look at it, the fewer pictures of myself on here, the better, so you'll have to look at the posting I just made this morning and see me in my floppy hat. As far as the 15 interesting facts, after this month you'll know enough about me to last a lifetime. I will say, and I'm sure you've already guessed it, is that I like to do crafts. My name is Mary, or Mary Mouse as some called me in college because I was so quiet. I've been retired for a year and I've been fascinated with blogs since I saw the movie Julie and Julia. I better stop there or I'll give too much away and not have anything left to write tomorrow.

My Floppy Hat

And it is very floppy! In fact my hubby says it reminds him of an old Petula Clark video where the background singers have on similar floppy hats. It will definitely do a good job of keeping the sun off my face and back of my neck. As I said before in my other blog, the pattern was a bugger. The brim alone was 9 pages that I had to piece together like a puzzle and tape. But I did it. The rest of the pattern was not too difficult. I realized early on that I would need more interfacing in both brims to have it hold up like I wanted. Everything fit pretty well but there was alot of easing necessary to connect the crown and side panel. I also added some topstitching to the brim and side panel, just to finish it off a bit. The last part that was my idea was to add eyelets to the crown and side panel to help let some air in. They went in very well, I thought.

Since it is a little floppier, I can fold the front up so I can see. Of course, you know by now I'm off on my next project. Keep you posted.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Martha Bashing

I guess I'm on a roll, nothing can stop me now! Decided yesterday to make a hat for our upcoming Field Days in Centre Co. Whenever I need a hat for the sun, I usually have to wear a baseball cap and don't particularly like them. I'm not even much of a hat wearer but some things demand it. So anyway, I ran across a pretty easy pattern in my Martha magazine and printed out the pattern last night. Wow, was Martha getting bashed on that site for a pattern that people said was too difficult and a waste of time. Then a little 9 yr. old said her Grammy said she could make it and it was easy. I went ahead and tried putting the pattern together as it was in pieces like a puzzle. Oh, I forgot to mention that after all these complaints, someone from Martha's got on and provided another site to go to for some help (didn't really help much though). I finally went back to the olden days when a good size window was the best tool you could have, especially if you didn't have a light box. Crafters will know what I mean by a light box. That would have been too small for this project anyway. What I had to do was make the hash marks darker with a marker, put them up on the glass in order to see through, line them all up and tape them together. It still got a little tricky with the last row of the brim when I had 2 rows already up there and had to tape a 3rd. Anyway I managed to get it together so it wasn't as impossible as all those people were saying. I've decide on a beige print with some pink flowers and a solid beige inside. We'll see how it works out. I realized that doing these small projects in between the quilts keeps my sanity intact!! I'll post a picture on when I'm done.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

My Two Mile Walk

This a visual tour of my 2 mile walk at our cabin. Here's our cabin nestled in the woods of Moshannon State Forest. There's a sharp incline right at the end of our driveway so things get hoppin right out of the gate.

As I walk along there's alot of interesting things to see and if I'm lucky I may see a deer running away from me.




This is the CCC Camp that was built in the 1930's. The following sign is located across from it and there are other personal camps down that road.





Across from the camp is a very unique outhouse with stained glass windows. It's even a two-seater!

















This is a picture of me at the intersection of Fourmile Rd. I travel a bit further to make up my 2 mile walk and then I head back home.

P.S. That was my 200th blog posting!










I Need Classes

Yes, I need classes, quilting that is. I'm trying so hard to find what works best for me with these quilts. I read the books, watch the TV shows, catch the Internet videos, buy the right tools and then try it out firsthand. So why is this so difficult? Each time something goes wrong, I understand why and set out to fix it, but there's always something different. Right now with this second quilt, it still seems so hard to maneuver all the excess around the sides. I'm contemplating tearing out a section because I'm just not happy with it, and I know from experience that would be my best option. It should be getting easier instead of harder. At this point I cannot see myself making a full size quilt and machine quilting it. I can do the top but the quilting is throwing me for a loop. The one thing I haven't tried yet is a wall hanging size (more manageable) or the lap quilting technique. The lap quilting is doing individual squares, machine quilting each square, sewing the fronts by machine and then the backs by hand. I definitely don't want to hand quilt anything for several reasons including I'm not good at it, it's too time consuming and finally, it doesn't last as long. But I kind of enjoy hand stitching. I find it relaxing, easy and I think I do a pretty good job of it so maybe that's my niche. Unfortunately, not all quilts utilize that technique to the fullest. I have to admit my hubby listened very well to my complaints yesterday and even offered some advice - take some classes! Isn't that what I was trying to do all summer but previous commitments and the store closing got in my way. I know that when I'm done with this quilt, I will lay it out and admire it and think of what a good job I did, but am I having fun during the process? That's what I'm striving for in the end and I'll know when I get there.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

One Month of Movies

I made a decision as to what plan to have for Netflix. If it were completely up to me, I would cancel the whole thing. I'm very disgusted with them for a bunch of reasons, however my hubby has found his niche - horror movies (instant play). Therefore I decided just to do the streaming so he can watch his movies. You have to wait a month anyway to see the new releases so I'll probably do pay-per-view for the few movies I watch anymore. So, until Sept. 2, I'm going to get my money's worth out of Netflix. It was difficult but I filled my queue with movies and intend to watch and send as many as I can this month.
By the way, in case you're wondering what's gotten into me with all the blogs - I have a goal which is to get 200 blogs before my retirement anniversary date which is Sat. It was supposed to be when I started the blog but that didn't materialize. I'm almost there!!

Hometown Foods

Today I'm writing about foods that are specific to a certain area. There were a couple of things lately that got me thinking about this. One of the food writers from our paper sent out an e-mail last week asking for Tastes of Erie in addition to Smith's hot dogs, ox roast, and pepperoni balls. I thought for a minute and came up with our sponge candy from Stefanelli's. The next day in the paper was another article about a Facebook page that was all about things specific to Erie and they mentioned the sponge candy. We take alot of these things for granted but until we travel, we have no idea the rest of the world is so deprived. Then my daughter-in-law talked about a certain tomato pie on Facebook. I kind of knew what she was talking about since she's loved a certain pizza that my hubby gets at International Bakery, but I looked it up and found the recipe. Of course, when I mentioned it to my hubby, he just had to stop and buy some. It also got me thinking about pizza we had growing up and continued to get every Friday night in Chewton when we would visit. It had that same kind of sweet sauce, thick crust and sprinkling of Romano cheese. It came in 2 varieties - sweet and hot (hot peppers), but no pepperoni. Of course, the ultimate food pick has to be the hot dog or Greek sauce that we get in New Castle. Yea, most cities have some kind of sauce but it's nothing like theirs. That's why whenever we make a trip down there we have to stop and get a couple containers of it for our hot dogs.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Another New Trick or Not

I'm sort of in a quandary as to whether to make some microwave potato bags or not. In a food blog that I follow, Jennie wrote about the potato bags and used them for corn on the cob. She raved about how well they cook, as long as you're only doing a couple ears. I got to thinking how that might be more efficient than heating a big pot of water. I've tried microwaving them before and it didn't work that well for me. Anyway, with the sewing I've been doing I thought it would be a quick and easy thing to whip up with some of my stash. As I looked for patterns, I also found the warnings that go along with them as far as fires. One posting summed it up by saying she didn't want to be responsible for a fire hazard. It seems I'm sucked up into these new and improved ways to do things a little too easily and I need to be careful. I remember a girl at work, years ago, saying that she made corn on the cob in the dishwasher!!! It was great for a big load and cooked them perfectly. After that I saw on TV where someone made salmon in the dishwasher (wrapped in foil). Sounds crazy, I know, but I'm sure the first thought of cooking things in the microwave at record speeds probably raised a few eyebrows.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Hunka-Hunka Music

We saw an Elvis impersonator at the Clearfield Co. Fair on Saturday and though I don't consider myself an all-out Elvis fan, I seem to gravitate to his music. I've seen some really good shows in Vegas that I thoroughly enjoyed and until this weekend I wondered why. I think it's in every young girl's life to find a movie during those middle school years that you want to see over and over again and makes an impact on you to last a lifetime. For me I think it was Elvis' movies Love Me Tender and Blue Hawaii. We didn't see many movies back then but these were the first ones I remember seeing at the theater. I also remember what my daughter's wanted to see at that age - Lesley and her friends were into Top Gun and Allison and all her friends saw Titanic over and over. I also remember all the Disney movies coming out when Allison was young and how we looked forward to the next one. I really miss going to the movies but I have the next best thing now - plays at the Reitz Theater in DuBois. My hubby stopped going to the movies a long time ago but he enjoys the plays so I take him up on it every chance I get. Next weekend we'll see The Great American Trailer Park Musical! That should be pretty interesting if nothing else but I just found out today that his cousin has the lead male role. I'm sure they'll do a great job.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Go Anya!

The new season of Project Runway started last week and once again I'm lovin it. I know I've written about it before but here goes again. Maybe part of it is because I'm sewing so much lately, but I think these people are so talented. I'm especially rooting for Anya who Heidi talked about on GMA before the first episode. She told the story about during casting this girl came in saying she had only been sewing for 4 months. Of course the other judges were convinced she was a fraud and didn't want her on the show. Heidi wanted to at least give her a chance but we didn't know until the first one if she got that chance or not. Well, she did. During the show last week, they had to make an outfit with their pajamas and 1 sheet. It was the first time Anya had ever sewn with silk and had ever made a pair of pants. She was struggling with it but managed to make one of the best projects of the week. Hooray for her!!! This week was the unconventional challenge where they got their supplies from the pet store and though she wasn't the best she was safe for another week. These designers are fabulous in my book because they do it all - have a unique idea, draw the design for it, create it, usually with no pattern and sew it themselves, in a limited amount of time. Of course there's always a twist which I love. Can't wait to see what next week will bring, especially for Anya.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Why Not On Facebook?

Every now and again I get the urge to do Facebook, especially when someone else befriends my hubby who has a page. Mind you, he got onto FB not really knowing what he was doing, doesn't understand what is going on and has threatened to stop it if he only knew how! I've told him to keep it because I use it to look at pictures of the kids, etc. and rarely post anything myself. Maybe I'm just a tad curious too and want to keep up to date with things. In fact, we just printed out some information from a cousin who did some genealogy work and posted it on FB. We appreciate that by the way. Now it isn't because I'm antisocial or anything like that but more, I've been there, done that sort of thing. I'm sure you're asking how as FB is new. Well, when we first got the computer, even before Windows, getting on the Internet was not like it is now. But we did have message boards through the Erie provider that we had and we all spent alot of time chatting with others. I even, at one point, had a camera and earphones attached to the computer so I could talk to my sister in CA for free! So it was basically the same but in a different format. Going way back I remember my mother on the CB radio at home and talking to all her good buddies. I think she wanted her handle to be Pocahontas but that was already taken. If she were alive today she probably would be on FB.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Old Dog - New Tricks

Thanks for the comment on the purse, Judy. The one thing that amazed me the most was that I was able to put everything I had in my other purse into this smaller one and I still have room! I'm on to my next project, well, sort of. I bought the material for a baby quilt to make in the next couple of months. I debated whether to wait for the new stuff coming in or get some stuff on sale so I opted for the cheaper stuff. This time I'm combining fleece and flannel, mainly because I wasn't able to find the flannel panel (it rhymes) that I wanted for the center. I'll wash them both before I start, as I always do (hot debate in the quilting world) but I know flannel shrinks so I want to be prepared. I won't start this until after I get another quilt finished (already begun). At least now I have some new tools to work with - I received my walking foot, quilting guide and darning foot in the mail yesterday!. I just have to figure out how to put them on my machine and use them. Who says retirement can't include learning some new tricks?

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

My Purse







Well, here's my purse I just made. I'm thrilled that I could put the pictures on my blog! Of course, the purse was not quite as easy as I originally thought. Measurements are critical to this as I found out. I think overall it turned out pretty nice and it showed me that I really don't need a big bulky purse to hold my bare necessities. It's also cute as can be, especially with my fabric choices. Now I'm off to Hobby Lobby to buy some thread for my next project.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Inherited vs. Learned

I sometimes look to the animal kingdom for inspiration thinking it's a simpler, more natural and back-to-our-roots kind of mentality. Maybe it's going back to the inherited vs. learned theory and wonder exactly what makes people bad. But this weekend as I watched some of the animals and birds that frequent our cabin in the woods, I realized that the characteristics they exhibit aren't any better. For instance, the hummingbirds swoop down on others and won't let them eat. There is a constant battle going on for food when there's plenty to go around. Also we have a mother doe that won't let the other deer eat any food she sets her claim to. I think she would even prohibit her own fawns from eating the food if they wanted to eat it. So far they get most of their nourishment from her so we let it go knowing it'll feed 3 and not just one. There is such territorialism (if that's a word) in nature and it's disappointing. It's the law of nature which we are a part of, so can we really expect more of people when they act the same way? Though it makes me disappointed in nature, I'm also inspired by how kind we as humans can be to each other.