Reflections?

Reflect upon 2010? Several of my favorite bloggers have been reflecting back on 2010. It is so much fun to glance at the photos I posted during the year and see my life in a nutshell. Maybe I should reflect too. I went as far as to try and make a mosaic of my photos like Attic24 did but I couldn't figure it out.

I thought about what I would say about "my" 2010 but nothing jumped out that was worthy of putting in my blog.

I think instead of reflecting, I shall pro-ject myself into the new year. With that in mind, I found a challenge I'm going to attempt. You might notice the "Sketchbook Challenge" badge on my blog....this is it. It is a challenge to sketch during the year. ( Click on the purple link for details. ) I need to sketch more. I'll never be any good if I don't pick up my pencils a little more often than once a year. So, I'm digging my art supplies out from under my fabric remnants and I'll be set for the first sketch tomorrow.

There will be themes set each month. I'm trusting it is something that will inspire me right from the get-go!

Who knows, I might just get brave enough to post some sketches.



Three J's

We have five grandchildren and haven't seen any of them since September due to families getting sick each time there is a work break. I'm getting withdrawls! Here are three our three J's ages 15, 13 and 10.

Our 15 year old is 6' tall - unlike his mother, he won't have a problem seeing over the dashboard when he starts to drive.

This is a funny story I have to share: Both girls learned to drive on my yellow Chevy van. Kari was practicing driving with her dad in the parking lot of her high school. He wanted her to back up in a straight line. She wove from one side to the other. He told her to imagine cars parked in the parking spaces and not to hit any of them. She still swerved.

He had her stop and asked her how many cars she thought she'd hit. Her answer was, "I don't know, Dad, I can't even see the roof of the high school!"

Jack scrunched down and looked back from her level and sure enough, he could only see air!

Needless to say, she used phone books, pillows and anything else that would make her tall enough to see what she was doing.



Chores

It's my turn to do the chores and I don't mind at all. The elk are out across the street again. Just a peek at them as I go to our mailbox is so uplifting. I started with bringing in the firewood before it started to rain too hard.

Not bad for an old lady, huh?

Then my favorite tree was glistening in the daylight. I had to grab my camera.

The next two remind me of something Georgia O'Keeffe would have painted.

And to think, Jack wants to cut this tree down and make room for a wood shed.

Nope. Not going to happen on my watch!

Happy Cat

I don't know who is happier; Hook or me. I called the vet yesterday morning and said I wanted to come and get him and take him home. They agreed because they couldn't get him to eat after all this time!

OMG! I was so excited, I felt like a kid on Christmas morning. He had an infection and was dehydrated. No broken bones so I don't know why he couldn't use his foot. OH well. He meowed all the way home.

After sitting on my lap for 15 minutes getting all the lovin' he could soak up, he jumped down and went right to his food. Now I just have to finish up the meds... three pills a day which he doesn't like to take. I'm happy that he is feeling better so I'll get them down him. He does not like people food or wet food....just Iam's dry cat food. That means the pills have to be placed in his mouth and held there until they dissolve or until he swallows them.

Biscotti for Two

I made biscotti to take to California with us....looks like it is all ours now. (There are several layers beyond what you can see here. MMmmmmm, layers of goodness.)



Christmas Walk

I can not believe the weather. I went for a walk to feed the horse and snap some photos. I ended up with no jacket, short sleeves no less! It almost reached 60° here today. I now have a fire started as it has begun to rain and Jack is on the couch bundled up but still chilled.

Speaking of sick...my cat is still at the vet. I have a feeling I may have to turn over my January paycheck as well! All this from a woman who's parting words as she was driving to the vet's were, "I won't let them do any spendy tests or keep him."

Uh huh.....that didn't last long. I just went along with x-rays, blood work, hydration and parking him for a few days! I must be nutz.

(sigh)

so....on with my walk:

What you cannot see is the patches of blue sky through the clouds.



Christmas Morning

I just looked over and saw the sun shining in and warming the house. It's just too quiet to be Christmas.



Christmas Eve Day Check List

1)    Call family and cancel travel plans
2)    Unpack car
3)    Make chicken soup for Jack (yes, he caught my bug)
4)    Pick up cat from vet & sign over December paycheck to vet
5)    Buy more Kleenex
6)    Bake bread for soup
7)    Bring in firewood
8)    Get Camp Fire Girls' Manual out and keep fire going
9)    Box gifts to be mailed (those dresses need to be worn in winter)
10)  Shift gears.....clean house....work on quilt
11)  Celebrate that we have a lovely, warm house to hunker down inside
12)  Go with the flow
13)  HAPPY HOLIDAYS, EVERYONE!!

In All My Glory

I went to upload a photo to post of the Barbie Doll clothes I just made for Zoe when I discovered a photo Jack had taken of me. I don't think this is fair play to photograph someone who is sick and just trying to take a nap on the couch.

I figure...what the heck...I might as well share with you....so here I am in all my glory....it's as good as it gets, folks.

 I deleted a closeup view of my pudgie cheeks sticking out over the covers. Jack's one saving grace is that he didn't take a video so no one can hear me snoring!

This is the pic I intended to post. The gold fabric is the same as one of Zoe's dresses. These were kind of fun to make, I might just give a hand at a few more.

I do feel a bit better today. Perhaps we'll be on the southbound road during my vacation afterall!



Change in Plans

We were supposed to be pulling out for CA today but it's not going to happen. I'm just too sick to go anywhere. We'll miss Zoe's birthday and Christmas too by the looks of it. I just cannot knock this cold. I'm sneezing, coughing, hacking and I have a Kleenex box permantly attached to my nose. Well, it feels like it.

I thought I'd go ahead and post the photo of the dresses I made for Zoe. I didn't hem them yet; I think I best try them on her.

If I get to feeling better, we might try and go down later next week.

I just cannot imagine that I've gone so long without seeing my girls and my grandkids!

That's a Wrap!

Okay...gifts are all wrapped. Thanks to Jack and his love for the internet to find just about anything, the shopping got done and delivered in time to be wrapped.

Those of you who know me, know for CERTAIN that I have no throw-away wrapping paper.... It's only recycle....re-use for me!!! Fabric leftovers. These bags can be re-used every year. Some of them have been around for a long time already! The girls don't want to hang onto anything so they give me back the bags! Oh dear. Maybe next year, they will be such cute bags they won't WANT to give them back to me.

Snuggled Down and In

I left work early Thursday feeling very sick. I think I have a touch of the flu and a bad cold. I'm just so tired. I can get off the couch for awhile then I have to go right back and cuddle under the blankets. I couldn't get warm either.

Jack built a great fire, the house was 79° inside and the temp outside only got to 39°. He couldn't be in the living room with me because it was so hot. Then I was under blankets to boot! I slept most of the afternoon and evening and night.

Yesterday, he made chicken rice soup in the crock pot so I would get well! Bless his heart.

He stoked the fire and left me alone all day again.

Whatever I did to deserve this man, I'm glad I did it!

Now I'm back to the couch.

I've Got Mail!

This is too funny. This envelope arrived today from our 7 year old granddaughter. (Only granddaughter.) Luckily, our daughter added some more information to the address so it did arrive safely!

The inside was as precious as the envelope:
I thank my lucky stars that I was given a girl who enjoys writing letters and notes and drawing pictures. Tucker is her cat who ran away.

Wonders of Nature

This little guy lost his tail. Maybe my cat had him by the tail and he just shed it right off. What amazes me is that by now, he has grown a new tail. Much like a Sci-Fi movie where humans grow new limbs.

We have a lot of lizards here and I don't have a clue what kind s/he is other than beautiful.

Lizards don't scare me the way snakes do. Why is that?

Something Missing

Jack is at it again. He ripped out the cupboard above our fridge to cut it down and get ready for our new fridge which will arrive the end of this month. Appliances are all so much bigger than they were back 20 years ago when we bought ours. I guess bigger means better. It certainly means "expensive"!

We had to stick with a narrower one because of our built in area being only so wide. The one Jack liked is narrower but taller.

When we tried pulling the cabinet out, it was wedged in so tightly, screws weren't even needed to hold it up! That is how Jack builds everything.....sturdy and measured to the 64th of an inch! Seriously. I have a hard time seeing the 1/8 measurement on the tape and he measures to 64ths. Help me!

Anyway, you can see he had to plane away some of the wall when he installed the cabinet originally. So we'll paint the wall and he will shorten the cabinet.

(And yes, I'm up before 4:00 again on a day off. Jack got a leg cramp and yelled out and he scared me so much, I screamed and jumped. That did it. From dreamland to wide awake. There is no going back to sleep once I'm awakened so completely!)

A Very Purple Bag

Okay....so I gave my Christmas bag to my BFF, Eileen, and another co-worker asked where her bag was. I told her it was on my cutting table. I noticed she jumped all over one piece of fabric in Eileen's bag that had tiny purple circles in it. I figured she must be drawn to purple so here it is.....

I know what you are thinking right about now: "Just how many bags of the same pattern can one person make anyway?" Well....it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 bags right about now and I haven't sold one of them. All gifts!

I just love the idea of a nice market bag so we don't use so many plastic bags and fill up the landfill for generations to come! I think us shoppers all deserve a few of these bags!

I'm making myself another one right now too. I discovered I don't own one in black!

or yellow

or brown

or orange

or......

Wordless Wednesday

Pretty Mushrooms All in a Row

I don't understand why these mushrooms grew in a line. They went over the bank and around a tree, all lined up. They are pretty too. I guess I'll have to start learning about mushrooms because we sure as heck have several different kinds that grow here.

His and Her Projects

Jack and I are always busy with one project or another. Of course, his are much more major than mine, but nonetheless rewarding.

His:

 This is the dry run for the railing along our retaining wall. Jack did the rock work a few years ago. This completes the project once it is powder coated and anchored down.

 Hers:

A Christmas market bag for co-worker, BFF Eileen. She has just about worn out the one I made for her this Spring and she loves the Christmas holiday!

Little Shirt

I decided to make a shirt for my youngest grandson. I had so much fun sewing it that I think I'll make pajamas for my other grandsons as well and a blouse for the little miss. All of a sudden, she isn't into wearing dresses! OMG! No dresses?

This photo didn't show the colors very well. It isn't as wild as it looks. I figure if he doesn't like it, it was fun making it anyway.

Elk Alert!

The elk have been across the road for over a week now. They share the field with cattle. Well, the cattle move as far away as they can get, I've noticed. If I have my camera and walk to the mailbox, I can't see the elk - but dang sure if I don't have my camera...there they are, just across the road from me.

Afterwork yesterday, there they were by the road again. I decided to drive home and get the camera. By the time I got back and parked safely, they had been scared off by so many folks stopping along the road. They were still close so I got some photos. Well....other than it was raining and the photos look grainy...

I got an amazing video of two young guys locking antlers and tossing their heads. You could hear their antlers make a cracking noise each time they banged heads.

We live in an amazing place. I look at other blogs and see that there is amazement everywhere! It's there to be appreciated if we only take the time.

Thanksgiving Escapees

Time for Mom to Go Home

When I realized our jigsaw puzzle was finished, I told Mom it was time for her to go back home because I didn't have any more puzzles.

Sadly, she had to fly home yesterday. We had the best visit ever so the time just flew by us.

We sat and put this 1,000 piece puzzle together and chatted and chatted. One thing would remind us of something else. We brought up old memories, good times, great laughs and loving people. (Sigh)... I miss Mom already!