Sew behind

So I hightailed it back to Iowa from Kentucky and made it to Maddy's house JUST in time to head out to the barn quilt painting night nearby.  We were each given a free token from a drink. :)

and then got to work!  Matthew arrived later but watched us work while he enjoyed a drink too.

Our finished products.  Mine graces the entryway table.

And because Matthew's sister was getting married over the 4th weekend, I dog sat the "girls" for them at their house for 5 days.  I DID come back home to have an outting with Leon on the 4th though. 

and I got to see Aggs a little too!  She is walking now!

 I borrowed Maddy's kayak and then piled Leon's in with it and we went to a lake nearby.  Had a great time!  We didn't figure out the kayak launch thingy until we got back from exploring the lake though.  It would have made getting into them easier and not gotten my feet wet.

And every time I want to get a pic of this kid, he tries to strike a pose to discourage me.

And when he's NOT looking like an alien, he comes off looking like a child model!

While dog sitting, I did as much sewing as I could.  I finally finished these compression leggings!  I started them 3 years ago at a sewing workshop, using a flat-fel stitch with my serger.  I screwed up and left my blade on and it practically had fallen apart on me when I tried them on back then.  Plus they were super tight.  But I guess that was their intent anyway.

So I pulled all the seams apart and just serged them up like normal.  I felt like Sandy in the last scene of Grease.  REALLY snug!  But wow, they made my legs look great!

Since then, I've cut them into shorts length, and they'll be the bottoms of my swimsuit for the cruise.

Of course, now, I can't find them... but I'm sure they'll turn up.

And through one of my widow groups on FB, I met up with another widow who is staying the summer in the town near where Maddy lives.  After a false start to watching fireworks together, due to absolutely NO parking within 1.5 miles of the lake, we met up a couple days later to go on a cruise around the lake.  I had seen where Maddy had been on it a few times and it looked like SO much fun.  Maddy had encouraged me to actually go on the cruise while I was there, so I did with my new widow friend and her boyfriend.

However we never left the dock...  We sat on top of the boat sipping on drinks for 1.5 hours until we saw the "captain" plug the boat back in. Um hey...  are we NOT going out?  Nope, something was wrong with the starter and if we wanted to wait until 4pm, we could go out then or get our money back.

Well, I needed to get back to the pups, and they had other plans too, so we parted ways and I headed back to Maddy's.

This is the paddle boat part that WOULD have been working, if it had started.

And this is the boat.

Someday...

Anyway, I didn't get as much sewing done as I'd wanted over the 5 days, but that's ok.  As long as I get two/maybe three things done by fair time.  I've got more snaps on order for a toddler jumper, need to do the buttonholes on the jacket for Matthew and stitch up a coat for me.  And then after the cruise, hem a dress for Maddy for her other sister-in-law's wedding!  So many weddings!

I guess that's what Saturdays are for.  Sewing catch up.

RICK!!!!!!

 Well not much happened yesterday...  Work stuff, a little housecleaning on my breaks, got to cuddle with Aggie for a bit after supper and I went upstairs to watch a little tv and fell asleep fully clothed.  I woke up at 9:30 pm wondering how that happened and then got ready for bed.  Managed to get back to sleep and woke up at 4am.  I'm on a caffeine diet at the moment.  SO time to get caught up on some things I missed writing about!

On August 31st, I attended a concert in the Chicagoland area with two of my sisters and a brother-in-law.  

WHAT fun day!!  We saw Tommy TwoTone (Jenny 867-5309), 

Paul Young (Every time you go away), 

the Hooters (And we danced) 

and the big draw of the evening was Rick Springfield (Jesse's Girl).

They were all great!  I could have listened to them/him all night but life and age catch up with you.  He was celebrating his birthday 74th birthday!  Can you believe that!!!?  He danced around on that stage (with no shirt) like a 35 year old...  

I was impressed. thoroughly.  

He came within 5 feet of us while crowd surfing and touching everyone during the Human Touch song.  THIS WAY!!!!  but nope.  Oh well.  

After the concert, I drove to one of my sisters homes about an hour away and slept on her couch before heading back the next morning, superty duper early.  Dog sat for Maddy and Matthew while they went to visit family for a few days.

And that was the last bit of my summer.

Weekend's past. Profiting off fear

So last Thursday night, I made up the table with china and to keep the cat off the table, I covered it with another tablecloth.

It worked!

It was a very nice dinner.  Ryan liked his gift of a PS3 game controller and Jen liked her gift of various coffee beans.  She's a coffee connoisseur.  

Meri joined us for a while, but sat at the counter and didn't eat with us.

As soon as the table was cleared, our first company (in a LONG time) showed up.  One of Robb's high school buddies on his way through.  He was staying over that night.

Then while I was out on a walk, my brother-in-law and his wife arrived.  They were here for the weekend to help their son organize his college stuff for a trip to Arizona where he found a job!  They're taking a bunch back home with them too.

That's the nephew, his mom and his girlfriend.  Oh and their dog Blue. 

Josh JUST graduated with a degree in landscaping and noticed our tree in our patio area, apparently for the first time.  

"Hey!" he said, "What a great Service berry tree!"  

Wha?...  

The last 22 years that we've lived here, we always thought the berries were poisonous on this tree for humans.  He pointed out three other trees in our front yard that are, but not this one.  

Who KNEW?!

Well, I guess he did.

Service berries were a staple in the American Indian's diet for like, since... ever...  I googled it. 

 So no one else other than Josh and myself sampled the berries.  They didn't want to spend the next few days sick.  

Yeah, I didn't die!

So on Monday morning, I spread out several sheets under the tree and harvested enough to fill two gallon sized plastic bags, when all processed.  There is still a LOT left on the tree.  

After picking off all the stems and flash freezing them on cookie sheets, both bags are tucked away in the freezer for future smoothies or just to munch on.

yummm

Now a days, every time I walk past, I pick off a few and eat them.

On Saturday night, Leon and I met up with Josh, Carli and family and played mini-golf.  Leon was a complete goofball and the group of people 5 holes away were on our heels pretty quickly.

Leon "won" with 96 points (and that's being gracious).  I came in 2nd place from the other end of the spectrum.

We're going to have to go there more often so Leon can improve his game.

There was an ice cream truck, just outside of the mini golf course.  We had to wait in line for a LONG time to get our ice cream, but it was worth it.  They pour out the cream and ingredients on a cold stone and then roll it up. 

The bowls of ice cream looked like 5 fat fingers.  Much like  my fingers look today after having eaten that.

I carbed up a BUNCH this past weekend and hopefully will be back to my prior last week weight by the next weekend.

We'll see...

AND last but not least, I hooked up the sprinkler for the boy.  He's having a blast with it.

He might be having to pull fresh mown grass off his ankles but at least he doesn't care when it cools you down.

As a contrast, here is a Facebook memory that popped up in my feed from 5 years ago!

STILL the sprinklin' fool!

Last night I announced that I was going on a walk and Leon asked if he could come along.

SHURRRE!

It turned into a meander.  I got my steps in and then some, but no heart points whatsoever.

He learned all about tar used in street building and brought back a few bits that he wants to melt and paint with.

Who was I to say no?!

Tar art sounds amazing!!

Stinky but amazing.

We'll see what happens there.

Anywho, back to the grind.  Got lots to do over my lunch today...

OH!  and I scored a 2nd Instant Pot off the local swap page!  I just KNEW online or in person garage sales would produce a couple...  It was all the rage last fall and I'm sure some people are getting sick of them or just too afraid to open the box.  

HA!  Their fear is my reward....

bwahaha...

Tempered Housing

Robb, Meri and I went and looked at another house last night.  It was built in 1930 or so and might be the ticket for her.  She's still waiting to see how much she's pre-approved for before she can proceed.  

The thing that she likes the best about it is that it has an attached efficiency apartment and she already has someone who wants to rent it from her, sight unseen.  It just needs the kitchen installed.  So she's checking out where to get the items inexpensively to outfit a quick efficiency kitchen.  

With this potential renter, she doesn't mind giving them a key to her part of the house so they can use her kitchen until it's completed.  

The basement has a secret space that was the old basement stairs all sealed up from the outside.  It's mostly boarded up on the inside but I can totally see her making it into a canned goods area just for fun. I remember when she was young that she would go around our house playing Nancy Drew and knocking on all the walls to see if she could find our secret passageway.  She found our furnace air duct.  Smart girl!!  

So, this house has an honest to goodness secret passageway!!!!  Well, cut off steps but it is one.

Don't know what will happen, so we're sitting in suspense waiting.

In the meanwhile, Leon is getting bored with summer and short tempered.  

I can't wait for school to restart. 

actually a pic of the last day of school.  You can tell how much I've neglected the yard this spring...

 I'm thinking of re-initiating ye ol' summer time daily nap for him...  or me...

For a Reason

Meri and I took the boy swimming last night.  

Had to break in the family summer pass.  I guess Meri already had with the kids she's been babysitting this summer.

But it was Leon's first time back.  

He figured out how to ask for some of the general pool toys at the window and swapped things three times during the course of our swim time.

Meri started giving him swimming lessons, but he was having none of it.  That'll come.

He got brave enough to go out to water as deep as his chest and climb out on the ladder.  His "braveness" is going to get him into trouble.

 He found a diving stick on the pool side and figured it was the girl's that had just swum past him.  He picked it up to throw it out to her.  I said, "HEY!  Put that back! She left it there for a reason."

 He said, "But WHY??!!! "

I didn't know but said she'd left it there for one.

So later, he put the yellow floaty thing next to our chairs and said, "I left that there for a reason."

"What's the reason?" I asked.

"Just, I left it there for a REASON..."  really stressing the point because that should be enough of an answer for me.

It really should be enough.

So I'm ending this post today for a REASON.

She's BAAACK!!!!!!

I took a vacation day on Friday!!!  Robb and I headed out early and got to the campus just before 11am.  Robb is better than a GPS because he guessed 10:39 EXACTLY and we were finding a parking spot at EXACTLY 10:39am...

A few hours and a lunch later, we were mostly done.

I got paged and struggled to get logged into my computer from Robb's laptop.  Maddy took us to a coffee shop and I had my nose buried in the laptop almost the entire time.  I got a couple photos of the very unique place just before we left.

Maddy headed off to the first end of the year concert and Robb and I checked into the hotel and then found some seats in the auditorium and chilled.

Matthew found us and we enjoyed the show.

I took videos during the 4pm showing and then stills of the 7pm show where we sat with Matthew and his parents.

As I'm sure I've said on numerous occasions...  I wish I could go back to college!
Particularly this one.

Photo recreation.

Here is one of her choirs songs.

jlj

Afterwards, Maddy and Matthew came back to the hotel with us where apparently the hotel thought we were suckers...  The room was the hole of the county.  Smoky with smoke colored cobwebs on the ceiling and dirty walls.  Oh well, you pick your battles and it was cheap.
Because it was graduation weekend, all the other rooms were booked.

We ordered some apps from Applebees and by midnight were enjoying some Wan Tan Tacos.  YUM.

Saturday, we took Maddy some breakfast and she did her R.A. checking out duties until the graduation ceremony where her choir was singing.

Matthew got to walk a lit candle in, then he came to sit with us.

Then we did some more R.A. duties while Robb took off for home in the loaded down van.  The kids and I got a final lunch at the caf, more R.A. dorm cleaning duties, then the afternoon Call Service.

About 40-50 kids received calls to their first teaching jobs all over the U.S., a few overseas, but the overseas ones weren't announced during this service.  Those types of calls require a huge heads up.

So these graduates found out just where they would be moving to in the fall for a 1, 2 or potentially permanent position somewhere in the U.S..  A lot of gasps and surprised behavior from a few that got a call from California or Washington.  I wasn't as emotional during this one as I was from last year's.  Next year will be emotional as Maddy will be putting in her name for a call...
Maybe her stints in Colorado have seasoned me.
Maybe not.

After that service, we said our goodbyes to Matthew and headed back to the dorm to do the final run down with the rest of the R.A.s after changing our clothes to some grunge-wear.

Maddy and I had the duty of sweeping out the bathrooms and then the laundry room.
She'll kill me for posting this... but...  I thought it was funny.

When we got down to the laundry room, there were several baskets of clean clothes on the counters.  Maddy was shocked.  We knew several girls were going on the band tour and they probably belonged to them, but Maddy said, "WHO would leave their clothes down here??"  She went over to one of the baskets and pulled out a shirt.  "I mean who is missing these clothes??!"

Suddenly she stopped because the clothes she was pulling out of this basket were hers.  She had thought they'd been stolen out of the laundry room back in January...  But they'd been sitting in here the whole time!  Whew!  I'm glad we got the laundry room sweeping job!!

Around 4:30, Maddy asked if we could take off and off we went.  Exhausted but relieved that it was finally SUMMER for her!

Got home at a decent hour but every one went to bed shortly after anyway.

And while we were gone, another car bit the dust.  Or rocks in this case.  But that's a story for when we have lots of alcoholic drinks and are living in a nursing home in order to chuckle about it.

What did YOU do this weekend?

Warm Thoughts

AHHH

Remember getting into your car and basking in the warmth before you start pitting out?

It's a distant memory anymore. 

Silly winter.

a little bit of memory chasing in my posts -  Dusty Summers and Dad. 

I'm dreaming of a warmer time that consists of tank tops and shorts...

But not looking forward to mowing all the time...

I just want to go outside and not have to wear a coat.  or shoes that cover my toes.

July 2013

We've got a LOT of outside upkeep to do on our house this summer, so I think that's why I've been trying to get in as much sewing as I can this winter.  Because I'm pretty sure I won't be sewing much when the geese come back to Iowa.

So... that being said, I have nothing else to say right now...  

But clients are calling me off the hook this morning!  

Who even uses the phrase "off the hook" anymore??

Tomorrow is Friday and then AHHH  a weekend.

Almost as good as summer, but not as warm.

Don't Cross The Streams!

Problem with taking the boy shopping... 

Can I have this?  And me, being Grandma, first looks at the price and then regardless, says ok...

On Friday we I got him a water sprinkler toy.

 It was a hit...

 

I love this shot!  He was attempting to jump over the stream.

Then Meri figured out she could manipulate the little straw thingies and aim them for the Leon.

Then it became WAR...