"Gramie?" . . . "Yes, Kai?" . . .

"I think I might have fed the fish too much fish food." . . .

!

"We'll have fat fish tomorrow so Grampie can go fishing in the back yard!"

This One's For You, Bud

Joseph, this is my gift to you......a clean and sterile, (pretty much), environment to come home to. So COME HOME SOON!!!

Love,

Your MIL (Mother-in-law)

Get Set ... Get Ready ...

We are so busy around here.... getting ready for Joseph to come home from the hospital.The house has to be clean. Not just clean, but REALLY clean.
Danette wanted to hire a cleaning woman who does "deep cleaning". I told her there isn't a cleaning person around who would do the deep cleaning I have in mind.
Dust the ceilings, vacuum and wipe the walls, clean the windows, clean the slider tracks until you can eat dinner off of them, remove EVERY item from the shelves and wash it or dust it, vacuum rugs and underneath rugs, strip all bedding and curtains to be washed, window shades in the kitchen need cleaning, cupboards to be wiped, fridge to be cleaned, the patio and deck and grass need to be tended, then the bathrooms and Danette and Joseph's bedroom. Dust is our enemy and we are on a mission to rid this house of all dust.

It's a bit tough when the kids want to read every book you pull off the shelf or play with every car you wipe clean. Seriously, they really are a lot of help considering how young they are. They want to be a part of this process to bring their dad home and keep him healthy as his stem cells continue to multiply.

Hauling things out into the hallway to clean was hard on the kids. Danette thought it was a good time to pull items to donate and clear some space in their rooms. Uh huh.....every little thing was a TREASURE ... even the tiny scraps of paper in Kai's room was being saved for a REASON!

So Joseph and Danette are singing to his stem cells and we are cleaning. We are all in this together and we are all working together the best we can. It feels good.

Quilts and Family Traditions

I have a "Ta Dah" moment to share with all of you:

The top is done, now I need to gather fabrics for the backing and cut out the batting then think about how to quilt it.

This quilt pattern came from a magazine titled, "Australian Quilters Companion" and the pattern is called "Woven Squares in Squares".

Remember this and this ? All to make the above quilt.

So what does this have to do with family traditions, you ask? EVERYTHING!! This is for my grandson, Jacob who just completed 8th grade. My grandmother made baby quilts for us. I have the rag tag quilt I called "mine" as a child. Who knows if it was really made for me, but I'm the one who ended up with it.

Worn to a frazzle from time and lovin'.

Then there was the Family Tradition for both grandmothers to give quilts to the graduating seniors. Of course, I received one from each grandmother and have since passed those along to each of our girls.

What a satisfying feeling to be able to pass along the tradition of quilt giving. I have added my own twists to the mix: I give baby quilts, 5 year old quilts and 8th grade quilts. I figure by the time they go into high school, those 5-year old themed quilts have to go to the bottom of the stack and it's time for a more adult quilt.

Then when they graduate high school I'm sure it will be time for another quilt and then college and weddings. Whew! I won't run out of quilts to be making for a very long time!

I also started the tradition of giving Grandma-Aunties Quilts to newborns. Since I got my sis and sister-in-laws into quilting, we all put rows on the new one's quilt. Cool tradition.

Jack thinks I should save this for Jacob's birthday. But what is a tradition if you don't follow through with it? Besides, quilts need to be given at very special times. Birthdays are different "specials" and will need a separate gift this year. I just don't want to mix the two right now.

Company!

Yay! Company has arrived. Okay, it was only for a few hours one evening, crash for the night then a few hours in the morning....but better than nothing. My younger brother called out of the blue and dropped by! What a fun surprise. He used to always do that when we all lived in CA. I'd wake up in the morning, look outside and there he would be asleep in his Jeep....drove through the night and didn't want to disturb us. Yes, he is a kind hearted kinda guy, you just can't help but love him to pieces!

I have a OLDER brother, (only 11 months older) and a BABY brother, (11 years younger) and my "twin" sister (4 years younger). You can tell by looking at us that no one was switched at birth!

I hope to see the rest of the "clan" this summer. Hmmmm, maybe I can catch a hydro plane race.