What's Going on in my Life

Bad news first, one of the black puppies died.  My Mom had been asking me if Tippy had enough teats to feed all of her pups.  I guess not.

Now on to some fun things going on in our lives.  This kid gets to go to California with the high school band (he will be a Freshman next year!) in December for some Bowl.  Not the Rose Bowl, but another one I've never heard of.  Not only do they get to perform in the parade and the half time show, but they are going to go on a harbor cruise, Seaworld, and Six Flags!  Sounds like fun, right?  Even more fun for Derek and I, our son is earning the money HIMSELF!

This kid had about 6 or 7 inches of her hair cut off.  She wanted it shorter, but the lady at the salon told her to try this length first before she goes any shorter.  This way, she can still wear it in a ponytail.

What's going on with me?  Well I haven't sewn, knit, or done anything really useful in the past week.  I have just caught the Downton Abbey bug, a little later than everyone else.  They have the first season on Netflix instant streaming; and since I just started watching, I'm missing season 2.  But!  The season 2 DVD comes out February 7th, and I just might have to get it.  It's the "U.K. unedited addition", I wonder how big the difference is between the U.K. and USA editions?



Awwww, Pictures of the Week

Our dog, Tippy, had her "batch", as my son says, on Tuesday night.  She chose to give birth in the tiniest space possible, where I couldn't get a good head count.  I saw 2 brown pups and 3 black ones that first night.  Wednesday, my son said he saw 3 brown and 3 black.  Wednesday night I realized there were 4 black pups.

It wasn't until yesterday that Tippy finally left her house to come out and greet me, when I realized there were 4 brown pups and 4 black pups!  One for every member of our family!

Sooooo, anybody want a puppy?

Birthday

Wow.  Another teenager.  I think I'm too young for teens, wasn't it just a few years ago that they were born?  Last week my 2nd born turned 13.  He's passed his older brother in height, his voice is changing, and his turning into a man right before my eyes.

Do you want to know what he was most excited about to turn the big 1-3?  Facebook.  Yup, I'm one of those moms who won't let her kids get a Facebook page until they are officially 13.

He also got an iTouch that he hasn't put down since he opened it.  Derek and I decided this year to give a "big" present on the kid's birthdays and try to spread the love over the year instead of all at once at Christmas time.  We'll see at the end of the year if it worked in our favor or not.

Quilt Progress

I decided on using the Small Plates pattern from The Practical Guide to Patchwork: New Basics for the Modern Quiltmakerfor my quilt.

After spending a time over a three day period precisely cutting strips and squares, I decided I don't know why in the world people like quilting! 

Once I got done with the cutting and got to the fun part of sewing, though, I liked it a little more. 

Didn't these blocks turn out cute? 

I'm a little worried that I didn't buy a wide enough variety of fabric.  The pattern calls for 20 different prints, and I used much less than that.  We'll see. 

Addicting Little Series

My son got the first 5 books in The 39 Clues series for Christmas.  He went on and on about how great the first one was and begged me to read it.  I did, just to please him, not really expecting anything from a book that my 10 year old enjoyed.  Let me tell you, those little books are chock-full of adventure!  I'm addicted and read all 5 within the week.  Now I've ordered the rest and can't wait until Tuesday so I can find out what happens next.

Within the books there are also clues and riddles for you to figure out yourself.  My boy solved a code within some of the pages and the message was this:

"This competition is about hope"

It reminded me of the scene in A Christmas Story when the boy gets his decoder ring and finds the message, "Be sure to drink your Ovaltine".  Yup, my boy felt just about as disappointed as Ralphie with the message he found.

New Old Bedspread

My mother had some old quilt tops that either my great-grandmother or great great aunt made many moons ago.  Since my girls have a new double bed that they share, I needed a new bedspread.  We pulled out the quilt tops and found this sunbonnet block one.  Isn't it cute?  And just perfect for their room!

I'm not so sure it's a quilt top, though.  The seams are finished on the back, with bias tape covering up the unfinished seams on the front.  The sides also have this thicker tape border like in the picture on the left below.  I think maybe it was meant as a bedspread or bed cover. 

Are there any quilters who read my blog?  If so, what would you do?  Would you make a quilt or leave it as is?

It's currently soaking in Oxi-Clean right now to try to get the stains out of it.  You wouldn't believe the stank that came off this thing after putting water on it!

I read so many things on the internet on how to clean old linens and Oxi-Clean seemed to be on most people's lists.  I even saw one website that recommended soaking the linens in buttermilk!  Could you imagine that smell?

Update on my progress:  I soaked this for 24 hours in the Oxi-Clean and that didn't get rid of the rust stains.  Any ideas for what might work? 

Wounds

My older son has reached that magic age where he loves horror movies.  He and his friends were counting down to see The Devil Inside, and it came out this past weekend.  After the movie, four extra boys came over to spend the night.  They all came in acting like the movie wasn't scary at all and what a disappointment it was.  I was surprised that they were home so early and looked it up online and saw the running time was only 82 minutes.

That night, all Derek and I heard was creaking from the floorboards above us in our old house from them running back and forth, back and forth - I don't think I've ever wished for a ranch style house or basement more.  I also vowed that night that it would be the last time I let five 8th grade boys spend the night.  Good thing for my kids that I have a short memory, because I'm pretty sure I've said that before.

The next morning, Nate had a big red mark down his nose and also on his forehead.  He said he thought he heard a noise behind him and turned to run .... and ran right into the wall! 



The forehead and nose on day 3.

 

So..... I'm wondering if they were just trying to act all manly, and maybe the movie was a bit scarier than they let on! 

I thought it was so funny and had to share, he didn't think so (hence the "evil eye" in the picture above).

Red and Blue Quilt

I'm going to tackle my first quilt with the above precious fabrics.  I think I need more red, right?

Book

I want this book:




Real bad.

Some Random Thoughts

1.  My husband bought a Disney app for the iPad called Where's My Water?  At first I thought he was crazy, not only because he downloaded a Disney game, but he also paid money for it.  I just want to go on record for saying this is the best game ever for the iPad!  I think I was also go ahead and say, I think it is the best $0.99 we've ever spent.  It's so much fun and I feel so smart when I figure out a way to get Swampy some water.  Maybe I'm just easily entertained.  Go check it out if you have an iPhone or iPad.

2.  I have found the BEST remedy for not being able to sleep this week.  I have a hard enough time falling asleep at a reasonable hour anyway, much more so when my man is out of town like he was this week.  Well; Derek happens to work with a guy who plays a mean Indian flute.  When Derek met him he came home and told me about this guy, and that he even won a Grammy for his music.  Well ... I looked him up and Derek was just a couple of letters off.  It turns out he won a Nammy - the Native American Music Awards; still an honor, I'm sure. 

The coworker was so nice, that he gave Derek a couple of CDs of his music.  I decided to play one of them the other night and I was out like a light.  I'm telling you, I still haven't heard past track 2 because I am instantly relaxed and right off to sandland.  I'm not sure if he will take that as a compliment that I use his music to sleep, but thank you, dear Golana for helping me find a non drug remedy!

3.  Having kids grow up and into adult shoes stinks!  I had to buy my 8th grader a new pair of sneakers yesterday in 5 months his foot grew from a size 7.5 to a 9.5!  Unfortunately, they don't make cheap men's sneakers. 

I will leave you with some pictures of my daughter yesterday who had a serious case of static electricity going on.

A Few of my Favorite Presents

This past Christmas was one of the best ever.  I got some amazing presents from my kids, including:

A big iron skillet from my second born.  I can't wait to fry a whole chicken on it using Lucinda Scala Quinn's method.  I have a couple of smaller sizes, but this one is juuuuust right.

My other son got me a CD that I wanted.  I'm loving The Black Keys right now.

I also got a decorative tree made of roses and a box of blue vase rocks from some of the others. 

My man gave me a wonderful electric blanket; and just in time, too - since it's finally gotten cold in GA.  It's so fancy, that it has a dimmer button for those (like me) who hate any emission of light during the night.

The one who thinks they got me the greatest thing of all, was my youngest. 

I haven't used it, yet - I guess I need to so she'll know how much I love it. 

My sister and her family got my kids a joint present this year:  a tether ball set.  I wanted to add a picture for her so she can see how much they have enjoyed it .... do you see how the ground is brown and stomped down in a perfect circle around the set?  They love it!