*love & peace*



Talk soon...

mrs. rodgers neighborhood...part 1

Tree trimming is complete! I use a pre lit, artificial tree. I once had a nice 7-foot tree, but it was "mistakenly" put out with the trash some years ago. However, when Cameron was born and able to walk, I bought a 4-foot tree (seen below). I decided to put it on a table that continues to work well for us. I store this and all holiday decorations in the attic, but this year was more, shall we say, trying than years before.  

I believe something or someone was looking over me. While getting the boxes down I fell from the attic. I was on the 4^th step from the top and just went backward. Landed on my knee. I was a cross between the bionic woman and some sort of stunt person with a little bit of grace to boot. I managed to do a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar kind of move and turn in mid-air; hence landing on just my knee instead of my back or neck. Did I mention I fell on concrete? Uh, yeah. All I got was a knot and a bruise, believe it or not. I did stay out of the attic the rest of the day and asked for help later on.  

On top of this little chaotic event, more than half my lights didn’t work and I wasn’t about to test every single teeny tiny light bulb! No. No. No. Instead, I just went to Dollar General and bought a strand of white lights and VIOLA! I’m satisfied. This little tree will be purposely put into the trash this year.

Moving along…

Mom and I celebrated our birthdays on the 10th and 11th. Saturday, we had a really nice time with our friends, Sally and Susan, as we always do. We were invited to Sally’s beautiful home for lunch, gift exchanging (for our friendly Christmas exchange too) and some stitching; although we didn’t get to stitch an inch. We did rummage through Sally’s stash, though ;-)

I received these gifts from both my girls. Isn’t that Jane Austen thread keep just to die for?! And we can always use more scissors! Sally stitched this darling little JBW stocking for me and it adorns my tree as we speak. I just love handmade gifts, don’t you? Thank you, Sally and Susan, for being so good to me. I love you both so much!

Hold onto your needles gals…

This is what my mother gave me for my birthday.

This is just the top! Check out the quilting of the spools of thread and needles all around my name. This quilting is done inside and out. The background fabric is a sampler style. It looks like it could be Moda or Blackbird, but mom wasn’t sure. Even I'm not really sure, and I don't really care. She had it made for me. It’s really very pretty.

The trip inside is even better…

Five pockets are crochet serving a purpose for a ruler, scissors (with a built-in magnet), a thread keep (maybe Jane Austen will fit cozily inside), a pencil, and a dainty little cube for Thread Heaven. But of course, the mind is a crazy place and I can designate these cozy nooks for anything I like. I love that it has one massive place for “my project” and the separate areas for all other necessaries. This is one of the best gifts I have ever received. Thank you, Mom!

Sunday was my birthday and I spent it with my parents…

Mom is so funny. She stopped by her local store and saw this cute little elf cake and knew that it was for me.

Like Paulette, I took some photos at my parent’s house. There is just something about mom’s house during winter that just feels like, well, home. I messed played with my photos a bit. Mom really likes nativity scenes. I only took a few photos of two of them. She has a few more scattered around the house that I didn’t capture.

I really played with this next photo. My parents have very high ceilings and mom has Grandma's sleigh on a window ledge far out of reach. Grandma made this Santa and his sleigh of reindeer many, many years ago. She could create anything and was a queen when it came to plastic canvas and yarn, which were the used materials. I thought it would look neat to add snow...so I did.

Later on Saturday night we all met up for our birthday dinner. Hibachi style. And dad had one more gift up his sleeve for me...

Did you think I was kidding about Mrs. Rodgers neighborhood?!?! Nah! I really meant it :-). And you can start calling me that from now on, please..................(j/k).

To be continued...

journey

And I don’t mean the band. My last, significant post was May 9. Seven months ago. A week hasn’t gone by that I haven’t thought about making a journal entry. A wise woman recently said to me, “Blogging is a luxury and we have to be in the right frame of mind to do it or there isn't any fun in it.” And I agree with that. Sharon is so right.

In May I was let go; other wise, fired from my job. It’s been touch and go since and I’ve only now felt like blogging. I still don’t have a job so times are tough, and with Christmas around the corner I’m not very “merry.” All I want for Christmas is a career. Can Santa help with that?

Jose is now 14 years old and has visited the ER twice since May. Once requiring a visit to the OR; and we have no insurance, but blessed be us. Jose is perfectly fine, health wise. He needs to do better in school and his attitude needs adjusting BIG TIME! I love him with every ounce of my body. He gave me the title “mother.” Being pregnant and unwed at 21 with him saved my life in ways he’ll never understand. But I don’t always like him. I can go from being so unbelievably proud of him one minute and telling that to anyone who will listen, to regretting ever opening my mouth the next. But God love him.

Cameron is 4 years old and has not visited the ER. Cameron has developed such a mature personality and his sense of humor is wicked. He’s extremely independent, creative and determined. He still looks like Curious George and he’s in love with his Papa (my dad). He calls me ‘sweetheart’ a lot. He’s such a hoot and a pleasure to be around, but annoying sometimes because his energy level is full force all day. Oh, and he never stops eating and still maintains a tiny figure. He does NOT get that from me!

I have been stitching and managed to get a couple things finished this summer. I was able to get one piece framed, however. It’s a Christmas gift for someone very special to me. I will post pictures of it in an upcoming entry. I also read more this summer and finished a few books from my Kindle. 

This year has been a tough one in so many areas. I’ve had a lot of blessings too. Lots of changes. I just turned 36 and by far the most difficult job on the planet is parenting. And what’s harder than that…parenting alone. Anyway, this is my humdrum post and promise the next one will be great!

In a rare moment, here is Jose and Cameron getting along. Cameron needed help battling Bowser in Super Mario and asked Jose to assist. Lucky Cameron...Jose said yes.

Talk soon!

paging dr. cameron

The other day I picked Cameron up from daycare which followed a visitation with his daddy. After our miss-you hugs, we got into the car and our conversation went so...

Mommy: The kitties are sick, Cameron.
Cameron: What's wrong (concern in voice)?
Mommy: They have colds. The kitties are sneezing and have runny noses. But not Samantha. She's not sick. (She's our oldest cat.)
Cameron: Are they at the doc-dor?
Mommy: No, honey. They're at home.
Cameron: They need cat tissues.

Like I said. Paging Dr. Cameron... Paging Dr. Cameron... You have a telephone call at the front desk.

Talk soon!

meet ms. elizabeth hancock

I was tempted introduced to a new SAL for 2012 started by our infamous Vonna from The Twisted Stitcher. Of course, I joined!

Look at the gorgeous colors, and the verse is beautiful. Diane Williams did a great job with this sampler. So, head over to Vonna's blog, send her an email and sign up. Or if you lack will power go over to Stitching with Elizabeth Hancock blog, just created by Vonna, and get yourself tempted. I did!

Talk soon!

quickie

I'm dropping in for a quick hello. I've updated my page here. I've got new additions (furry babies, that is) - take a peek on the side panel! They are awfully cute, I must say so myself :-). I haven't posted in 7 months. Whew! I'll talk briefly about that in my next post. Have a good evening!

Talk soon!