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Month: December 2004
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There is STILL so much left for me to do this week. ARGH. I have lost an entire month somewhere along the line. That so stinks…
In addition to totally cleaning my house …deep cleaning in some cases, I have wrapped NOTHING
and we justdecorated the main tree last night. We have two more trees to put up also. I have done no baking yet..why am I sitting at this computer!!!
AAHHHHHHHHH
I have to finish the four table runners I am giving as gifts to my MIL and SIL. I have to finish the snowflake placemats for my MIL *and I am safe saying this on here because neither of them read this site
* We have to finish decorating, but I can’t do my family room until I clean up all the messes from my projects, which means I have to FINISH the projects! I also need to finish lining two curtain panels for my living room, and I need to cut hem the drapes for over top of the windows in the living room also. I am going to make a big push to finish all of the curtain sewing and table runners tonight. Then I can finish the place mats tomorrow if I don’t get them all done today.
I am very blessed in that I love my MIL dearly and she is a wonderful person to be around and have as my MIL. She is difficult to buy for in that she is at the stage in her life that she pretty much has everything she needs, and what she does need she buys. I wind up making her gifts that she can and will use. Years ago I made her Christmas placemats which she has used every year since then, but I only made 4 as I made them for her kitchen table. She said the only thing she didn’t like about them was that I didn’t make enough! *G* She wished I had made about 8 so that she could have used them on her dining room table when she has guests.
I thought making her new placemats, and 8 of them this time, would be a good gift for Christmas.
Of course, when I went to get fabric to make the placemats, I wanted quilted, double sided, blue and white or blue white and silver snowflake fabric.
Do ya THINK I could find cotton or poly cotton fabric with snowflakes on it ? The answer would be…NO. So, I figured I would buy fabric for backing, blue fabric for the front, batting, and binding and make them for her. I’ll just stamp or stencil the snowflakes on.
Could I find snowflake stamps or stencils?
NO.
Cause it isn’t July and the retailers are retarded. It’s December and I can’t find snowflake stencils or stamps but there was VALENTINE’S DAY CANDY at the registers in Joann ETC yesterday.
So here it is 2 weeks before Christmas, and I am totally thwarted in the only thing I can think to make for my MIL that I can actually get done in the time left. Yes, I should have started thinking of this months ago,
and don’t ask me why I didn’t, but I suppose the immediate is always what I deal with daily and the later on I don’t have time to deal with until IT is an immediate.
Did that make sense?
So I start wracking my brain, because other than making my own stencils *yech…talk about time consuming*
I am bumfuzzled as what to do. I go to Joann ETC and Michael’s 
in search of ideas, and voila…I find an $8 tub of Foamies shapes, full of cut outs of 3 inch snowflakes in 4 different patterns. The wheels start turning. Aren’t stamps often made from a thick foam ? Click 
CLICK! I bought the tub of the Foamies snowflakes, glued two of the snowflakes together, glued THAT to a block of wood *I cut down a 2×4* and VOILA! Snowflake stamps! I then tested it on a scrap of the washed, dried and ironed blue cotton fabric I bought for background fabric. It worked! 
I then heat set the dried paint with and iron and am going to spray the fabric with a sparkle paint to give it a bit o’ glitz. I will toss the whole shebang into the dryer to heat set that paint and then I can join it all together. I will take pics and show what I did later on…after Christmas most likely.
Necessity is indeed the mother of invention!
Dang….
I pray I get this all done
by tomorrow night. I want to make some biscotti, Challah bread and a yule log for Christmas day!
Anyone else out there franticly searching for a place to hide???
Blessings…
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…An AwakeningThe
phone woke me at 1:30 this morning. Ah, I can hear what you are thinking!!
“10:30!! I am lucky if my kids let me sleep until 6:30!!”
pThis
morning I was up til around 4 a.m. Around 11:15 I called Brenna down from her
room **no she wasn’t asleep yet** as I remembered the Geminid Meteor shower was
at its peak last evening. If you have never spent 3 hours hanging out the window
of your van in subfreezing weather to look for shooting stars, teach your child
about constellations, the milky way, and the Pleaides, you are missing out
on a wonderful opportunity! *G* No sarcasm inserted at all right there. I kept
thinking over and over how cool to be able to do this with my daughter, with no
thoughts or repercussions from having a 9 year old awake until 2 a.m. In 6 years
she may not remember that yesterday we read that the real hill that the Battle
of Bunker Hill took place on was Beacon’s Hill, or the structure of sentences
with subjects or predicates, or even that squids and octopi are mollusks, but I
can guarantee that she will remember that meteor shower, snuggling with her mom
to stay warm, and the cobra constellation she picked out in the moonless sky.
Education comes in many forms…
…speaking of which, I will get back to the 10:30 phone call. On the other end
of the line was my friend Donna. She and her husband are some of our best
friends. Her daughter is my daughter’s best friend. Her son and middle child,
are my two favorite teenagers. I didn’t mind Donna waking me. I minded even less
when I heard the news she had to relay.
Going back a bit over a year ago to a morning when Donna’s brother in law,
Scott, was found by her sister lying on the floor of their townhouse foyer.
Scott is a teacher and had been on his way out the door when, we later found
out, he had a seizure that put him down and out. Lisa had trouble rousing him,
and when she was able finally able to do so he had no memory of what had
happened. Following an ambulance ride, blood tests, MRIs, CAT scans, and a
myriad of other medical procedures, Scott, in his late 30s, was diagnosed with a
brain tumor. This diagnosis for any of us would be devastating, but combine it
with the fact that Scott is the father of two young boys that adore him, the
main income earner for his family, and a very loved husband and father and
friend, we all were in shock. Scott’s own mother died several years ago of a
brain tumor though the kind she had was not the kind he was diagnosed with.
Scott’s initial diagnosis was of a small tumor located on the outside of his
brain. More tests, more scans, more brain mapping for neuro surgeons, and then
surgery was scheduled. When Scott’s head was shaved and his skull cut open , and
the tumor was revealed. Upon his diagnosis, the tumor was originally mapped at
the size of a pencil eraser. The tumor was now the size of the yolk of a large
egg. The doctors removed as much as possible in an 8 hour surgery at Johns
Hopkins, closed Scott up, and hoped for the best. Testing on the tumor revealed
that it was benign. Friends and family alike breathed a sign of relief.Four
months later tests showed the tumor had grown back. More than quadrupling its
original size, the tumor was now the size of a baseball. Surgery was quickly
scheduled, Scott’s head opened up again, and as much of the tumor was removed as
possible, which was very little. Where originally the tumor had been on the
outside of his brain, now it had grown into the brain tissue making much of it
inoperable. New biopsies revealed the tumor was cancerous and growing at amazing
speed. The doctors at Hopkins again closed his skull, this time giving little
hope for family and friends. Radiation was scheduled daily for weeks on end in a
hope to delay the tumor’s effect on Scott’s basic functions. Doctor’s warned
that in 25% of the cases of this type of tumor, the radiation had little to no
effect, and in fact the tumor would continue to increase in size. We all prayed,
Scott went to radiation treatments and held on to the hope that the doctors
could heal him. He had been all through this before with his mother just a few
years before.There
was a difference though, in what happened with his mother and what was happening
with him. First of all, his mother wasn’t a Christian. Does healing only come to
those who are Christians? Absolutely not! But hope certainly comes much easier
to those that know where their future lies. And it also comes easier when God
has given a word to someone before all of this even started. You see, Scott’s
wife Lisa was giving a scripture in her prayer time, and a word from the Lord.
He told her that someone in their family was going to have a tumor and that God
wanted to heal them. A very specific word. I remember when it happened as Donna
told me about it, and I remember talking to Lisa about it.
Forward back to Scott’s last surgery.The
Hopkins surgeons closed Scott up, and immediate plans were made to do radiation
on the tumor to prolong his life. Not heal him, and the tumor was incurable
through any means known to the doctors.Is
that a lead in line or what?
Donna’s call to me this morning was that the MRI Scott had last week was read by
the radiologist. It was read by the surgeons. It was read by everyone….
THE TUMOR IS GONE
The impossible has
been done. God reached down, and keeping the Word of promise that was given to
Lisa over 2 years ago, He has removed every trace of tumor from Scott’s brain.
The tumor in the brain matter is completely GONE.
I am spending time today going from tears to laughter, with a good mix of the
two at the same time.What
a wake up call! I will wake up to this any day!
Blessings…
Jehovah Jireh…God Our
ProviderJehovah Rophe…God Our
Healer -
And Sew It Goes...
If someone asked me to describe my talents/training/interests,
the description that would most fit me best would be “Jill of All
Trades, Mistress of None”. I think I have been like that most of my
life. I am interested in almost everything , but there is no one thing
that I have ever been interested in to the exclusion of all else. I
enjoy building and repairing computers, building websites, gardening,
herbs, woodworking, sewing, quilting, designing and decorating,
culinary arts, baking, photography, writing, drawing, antiquities,
painting, crazy quilting, bird watching, hiking, camping, biking,
music, singing, genealogy, scrapbooking, reading, volunteering,
theatre, crocheting, knitting, costume making, etc. etc. etc. I could
probably go on for quite a long time, but the above pretty much form
the core of my interests. Looking at that list makes me look quite
scattered…
Yes, it is a good thing to have a broad range of interests, but on
the negative scale it means that there is no one thing that holds my
interests intently enough for me to truly master it. I do many things
well, but there is no one thing that just grabs my interest and holds
it tightly. One thing I consistently have interest in, yet it varies
by what I do with it, is sewing. I love to quilt, sew clothes,
household items, crazy quilting, curtains…I have frequently made
curtains for friends, family, and even acquaintances *nice way to
supplement my income!*. Right now, I have 1/2 dozen sewing projects in
the works. Christmas is a goal for finishing some of them, and New
Years for what I don’t manage to complete.
This house has 23 windows, most of them quite large. The curtains on
all of them have been purchased from thrift stores over the last 3
years. Not a thing wrong with that, because I have gotten some VERY
nice curtains, expensive curtains, at great prices because I have
purchased them used. But now that we are tightening up the design
elements in the downstairs rooms, I am replacing a good number of
window dressings.
My living room isn’t yet painted. Face it, with 13 rooms in the
house, it is going to take a while. Not to mention the fact that I am
ANAL about painting. It has to look exactly like what I see in my
head, or mama ain’t happy. p Pitiful I know. That is the reason that
in the three years we have been in this house I have only painted two
rooms: the dining room and the breakfast room. Both took incredibly
long to paint:
the
breakfast room because the walls are tongue and groove paneling, and
oh MAN ALIVE did it take forever to paint all the spaces on the walls
AND ceiling! The dining room was started right after New Year’s last
winter, but the plaster walls were so cold that the paint WOULD NOT
ADHERE and dry correctly! We had to wait until the end of March to
finish. How LAME is that? But the red looks AWESOME in there.
It durn sight better, considering including primer it took about 6
coats. Whew. No more red painting for me. Enjoy it folks!
The ceiling we painted a metallic gold. You can _just_ see the gold
in the picture to the left.
Ok, sounds strange, but it looks gooood! I will take pics and post
them tomorrow. I bought a sheer gold fabric to put on the windows as
sheers, and I am planning on buying saris to make into curtains for
the windows. Obviously, the theme in there has leaned towards the
East. ;o)
The living room will probably be the next room to be
painted.
I would like to have had it done before Christmas, but I knew better
than to try it! lol I settled for getting some really pretty burgundy
tone on tone panels from Tuesday Morning, fro $17.50 a panel. They are
similar to these, but I just have the panels not the toppers, and more
burgundy than purple. Pictures will be taken when I finish lining,
hanging, and steaming them! The regular price through J.C. Penney were
$70 per PANEL!!! EGADS!!! They weren’t even LINED! I am in the process
of lining the third of 4 panels right now with a thermal lining
fabric.
I
made
crinkly gold sheers for the room, like these in this image below,
and will eventually make balloon
shades for the windows.
The windows are probably 150 years old, so the more layers of
fabric to insulate those puppies the better. )
Yesterday I bought some sheer burgundy fabric for $2 a yard at Joann’s
*SCORE!!!!*.Similar to this, but the color is more burgundy than
purple:
I
will be making a scarf swag for the
top
of the curtains, and I want to edge each scarf with a beaded fringe.
Something like one of these would do it for
me:.
If it is too blasted expensive to buy 12 yards of beaded trim, I guess
I will buy beads and make my own! Sounds like a winter long project,
eh? Lessee…36 feet of beaded fringe made by hand…errr…. whew.
Ok, maybe I will scrounge and hunt til I find it on the cheap. **hopin**
So that room should be done by Wednesday, save the beading fringe and
the balloon shades. Joann’s has a pretty off-white moiré fabric for
the blinds, but that is another $60 or so, so that will have to wait
til after the turn of the year. I should finish the other projects
first anywho.
And then there is the family room. The carpet is dark green, the
walls will eventually be a textured tan/gold *think sunny but not
overly so, I want the room bright*. So the colors for the room will be
the green, add sage to it, purple, and an off white. The love seats we
picked out are a light tan, nice and neutral. The two chairs we picked
are an eggplant color, all in a micro suede fabric. This is similar to
the chair, not exact, and of course I want it upholstered in the
eggplant colored micro suede..mmm ..buttery soft! I can’t find an
image of the chair online, but it is from Bassett furniture.
I
can’t wait until we can afford to buy them! Right now all we could
afford to do was get the fabric for the window coverings. I found some
sheers that are white with leaves scattered on them, and over that is
going a nice, rich, purple Dupioni silk. UMMY!
Those
panels I will also line when I make them. I want some sort of topper
over them too, but I haven’t planned that out. I need to get the
panels made first as we need insulation on the windows!
And sew, er…so…I am sewing. And sewing. And sewing.
Did I mention that I am making gifts for my mother in law, and
sister in law? I will post pictures of the various projects as I
finish them. So include with the curtains for my house the table
runners and place mats that are slated as gifts for the two
aforementioned ladies, and I have quite a bit of sewing to do…THIS
WEEK! EEK!!!
OH…I DID get almost ALL my Christmas cards done TODAY! I love doing
stuff with the computer printers!HOW
many days is it until Christmas???? !!!!!
I better get moving…but first to sleep, perchance to dream
**probably about sewing…ya think???**
Til later…
Kathie
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And
now a word from the photographer…
I love photography.
LOVE it.
There is
something about capturing an image for eternity that appeals to the
deepest part of me. If I manage to capture an image, and it conveys
emotion, a sense of a place or a time, a feeling, or causes a certain
feeling in the viewer, I feel I have accomplished a goal. I love to
freeze forever a beautiful view that just lifts the innermost part of
me, a view that fills me with wonder and awe is worthy of sharing. I
strive to share that sense of awe with others.Or share the feelings of
beauty, majesty or ennui.
The memories
photos evoke never fails to impress me. When looking at photographs of
people, especially the formal portraits taken in the late 1800s up
through the 1930s, I unconsciously fill in details of the lives of
those who are looking into the camera, chin up, eyes bright, shoulders
squared. When I see documentary photos of wars and soldiers, I feel a
pang knowing many of those are the
last
recorded images for family and friend who sent their kin off with a
tight hug, kisses and tears. The photographs of flowers cheer and lift
me with their color and lightness, their texture, their simple
being. I can feel the warmth of the day when the sun is shining in
a photo, or feel the thunder where there is a rainstorm.
I don’t know
exactly how, or when it happened, but I rarely just take my camera out
and just shoot…to shoot. There was a time I couldn’t be found
without a camera in my hand or on my person. I have caught accidents
and incidents that otherwise would have gone unrecorded. I have caught
sudden showers, and instant emotions. I am going to return to carrying
my camera with me where ever I go.This is going to
be remedied Immediately. There are emotions and moments passing by uncaptured.
Until later…
Kathie
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Typhoid
Mary and Her Kin…
I have an
inordinate distaste for shopping during the winter months. It has
nothing to do with the crowds, or the frantic rush of people to out-do
last year’s gift, buy for that person who you really don’t know what to
get them, or those who go nuts over the !!!ONE DAY ONLY !!!! or !!!50%
OFF TODAY ONLY WITH THIS COUPON!!! sales. **Ok, I am not ashamed to
admit it…”I” often hit those sales. Not necessarily for Christmas
gifts, but I wait until this time of year for necessary things, or
replacement of warn out do-dads because of the terrific prices.**
What I take great exception to are those who INSIST on going shopping
while in the throws of some virulent disease. Why in the heck is it an
earth-shattering necessity to go out to get underwear when you sound
like your are coughing up a lung?? Why does one HAVE TO GET that scarf
from Old Navy??!! Why will their lives NOT BE COMPLETE without that
Shrek video…**HEY ONLY $11.88**??!! Why is it people drag out
their child for milk when the kid has mucus running out of every
orifice ?? **not to mention the fact that kids sneezing and
hoarkin’ and honkin’ and having gobs of mucus coming out of their nose
makes me violently nauseous**
Ok…I know people have to provide their kids with food or medicine
and sometimes you just HAVE to go out. But more often then not people
just won’t take the time to sit home and let someone else do running
for them, or just SIT THE FREAK AT HOME until you don’t make others
ill!
EVERY BLASTED’ TIME myself or my husband or daughter have gotten sick
for the past 4 years, it has been after we have been shopping! Every
time I get some virus, it goes into my sinuses and I wind up with a
nasty sinus infection, then it goes into my chest and I get a nasty
cough. Last year, New Year’s Day I went shopping and wound up
with something that gave me a mild case of pneumonia. Can I just TELL
YOU how ticked off I was about that? You and I both know that someone
HAD TO GET THAT HOLIDAY wrapping paper at 75% off. How many people did
they make violently ill through their thoughtlessness ??? How many
elderly or young were hospitalized? How many family bread winners lost
a day’s pay and put their family deeper in debt from their rudeness
and lack of common sense.
I hate touching shopping carts anymore. I think I am going to
start carrying medical gloves and wear masks when shopping from
November to March, like the people in Hong Kong were doing last year
when that terrible virus was going around. Then I want to go
home and boil the clothing I was wearing. I carry the gel disinfectant
with me at all times, and I wipe down the shopping car, my hands, the
cart again, etc. People are just NASTY.
Hey maybe I can start a new trend…You heard it here first. Best
start buying up boxes of medical gloves and masks.But
not if I get there before you…. ;oD
Did I mention that last year my daughter got head lice from someone at
the dance class she takes at the local rec center? *shudder* It makes
my stomach roll just to think about it. Now, realizing that I don’t
have my child in public school for a multiple number of reasons **oh
geez, just typing the word lice makes me itch*, the fact that I put my
child in a dance class through a local rec center, and it is held at
the school where she would go if she went to public school irritated
me to no end. Can you just FEEL the thrill I felt about it? Comon…try
harder. I know you can feel it from there…
Oh, and it took a ton of work to get rid of the nasty things, then,
she got them BACK at the time of the recital because whatever back
stage mom there was, must have gone from the contaminated child to
Brenna’s head. This year, I am going to have to be a stage mom I
suppose, or make durn sure that NO ONE touches Brenna’s head except
me. Once more, I will wind up looking eccentric and freakish in order
to protect my family. *sigh*.
Something else …I refuse to touch the doors of public bathrooms.I
now grab a paper-towel, or if it is one of those LOVELY **not** bathrooms
where they refuse to put in towels, I use the bottom of my coat or
shirt to open the door to leave the bathroom. Or my shoulder.
I also won’t touch pens at registers. I carry my own and don’t care if
I have to stand there five minutes digging for it. I can virtually SEE
all the fungi and virii crawling all over that little piece of
plastic.
I have a solution. I say that those who are sniffin’ and hackin’ and
hoarkin’ and mucusin’ in public, have to yell *or cough or hack*
UNCLEAN before they approach people. Wear a cloth wrapped round their
head, and medical gloves.
There should be a little cover that goes over shopping cart handles,
like there is for toilet seats. Even perhaps a special ” For Virus and
Fungus Sufferers” cart section.
Or maybe we can just lock em’ in a room like was done to Typhoid Mary.
OR THEY COULD STAY OUT OF PUBLIC until they aren’t contagious. Maybe
then my husband wouldn’t have been home sick for the last 3 days. And
I wouldn’t be fighting a stomach virus. I haven’t had a stomach virus
in 7 or 8 years. I have taken stock out in Astragalus, Vitamin C and
colloidal silver.
Ok..its Saturday. And more the fool me…I have a 50% off one item
coupon for Joann ETC that is only good today. I am going to brave the
crowds and the various pathogens they carry with them.
I am armed and ready with my disinfectant gel and medical gloves.
Blessings… -
Tis the Season
…ALREADY?!
I don’t know about
y’all but I am SO not ready for the holidays. All of a sudden it is the
first week of December, and I feel like it should still be the
beginning of October. I lost 2 months somewhere along the line. I feel
like I have been incredibly busy, yet also I feel like I haven’t gotten
a thing done!Is
there anyone else that feels like they have been spinning their wheels
this Fall? I definitely have been doing a decent amount of schoolwork
with my daughter, and my aim is to try and get ahead by a week or two
in the hopes of taking days for crafts, baking and house decorating. I
would like to invite some friends over and just let the kids play and
bake cookies. I think all of the kids would appreciate that. I never
manage to do the amount of baking I would like to.
I always make grand plans in my head to make some nice little gifts for
friends just as a special “Thank you for being you”, and for Brenna’s
various teachers, coaches, etc. that she has throughout the year. I
think I finally have figured out what to make without overdoing
it…how does this sound?
I want to take small white bags and decorate them with stamps or
stencils, and put in each one a piece of biscotti, a couple of pieces
of homemade fudge and some chocolate covered pretzels; fold the top of
the bag top down, and put some sort of small cutesy thing such as a
little wreath or a candy cane or such at the top. Just something simple
but that let’s the person know they were thought of.
I will find my copy of my Coconut Pecan Biscotti recipe. I made it for
the first time last year and oooo boy it is GOOD. Course if you hate
coconut and pecans it isn’t for you! lol In that case, enjoy the
chocolate covered pretzels or fudge. I will post the recipes I use.Anyone else out there have some killer holiday recipes to share???
Nothing says ” Eat a ton of me and add 3 inches to
your hips” like biscotti! Even so, try this recipe. It will become a
favorite!Kathie
Coconut
Pecan Biscotti1/2 C. butter
3/4 C. brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
3/4 C. sweetened coconut
2 1/4 C. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1 C. (4 ounces) chopped pecansHeat over to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheet or line with parchment paper.
Mix flour, baking powder and salt. Using electric mixer, cream butter and sugar
in large bowl to blend. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each
addition. Beat in coconut. On low speed, gradually add flour mixture. Stir in
pecans.Turn dough onto floured work surface and divide in half. Shape each half into
two-inch wide log the length of a rolling pin. Transfer to cookie sheet, and pat
down with hands to make dough flat and same thickness along the length.
