Family Weekend

I am wrapping up my holiday break and will be going back to work/school on Monday.  So, this weekend we are spending it doing family events.

Yesterday, my mother-in-law and I went to watch our eldest granddaughter play her first basketball game.  I have never had better entertainment.  Have you ever watched Kindergarten girls play basketball?  You never really know how much there is to learn about something such as the sport basketball until you watch little folks learning all about it.  Those girls were so cute! 

The coach had worked on defense and they knew their "spots" and would run to them to set up for a zone defense.  Evidently they had each practiced at every "spot" because when Lillie first went out on the court, the coach shouted, "Other side, Lillie!" and she hopped right across the key and into the right spot.  Later, he shouted, "In the middle, Lillie!" and she zipped right into the middle and those hands went into the air.  Now, I'm not sure there was much real defending against a basket being scored, but all of them knew about their "spot!"  Mostly, the game was just watching the girls run back and forth from one goal to another, but in the end, Lillie exclaimed that it was, "Fun!  Fun!  Fun!"  Isn't that what sports and games are all about?

Tonight we will be celebrating my mother-in-law's birthday.  She will turn eighty tomorrow and our crew and Mike's brother, Jim, and his crew are putting together a dinner to honor her and fellowship together.  We already know that there will be at least twenty-two of us and we aren't sure that two of our children and their families will be coming.  So, there will be a crowd to usher in her new decade of life!  I'm to bring the birthday cake and I've stirred up a Chocolate Wet Cake.  You can find the recipe HERE.

Eggs!

Mike's got eggs!

 

A few months ago Mike took on a new project.  Then, for Christmas, Stephen and Bonnie gave him more chickens.  So, now we have eggs!  LOTS of eggs! 

He is getting almost two dozen per day!  Here are some of the ones he gathered this week:

We were doing fairly well at keeping up with them.  Stephanie, a friend from work, has been buying a couple dozen each week.  We have given some away to family members.  I have made deviled eggs to take to holiday gatherings.  We shared some as Christmas gifts.  We have eaten eggs fried and scrambled for breakfast.  We boiled eggs for lunch bags.  We have enjoyed omlets for dinner.  All of a sudden, though, our fridge is almost over-run with eggs!

Today's gathering

Does anybody want some farm-fresh eggs?  They are tasty - any way you prepare them!

And there will be more tomorrow...

Bad Taste

Guess who's sickly?

Yep, and I am one of those folks who resists doctors and medicines as much as possible.  I've been schlepping round with 'sinus pressure' for a couple or three weeks.  I would notice the stuffiness in my sinuses when I'd roll over in bed and it seemed like all the fluid in my head On New Year's Day I started REALLY feeling sinus-pressure-to-the-max - even to headache mode. 

So, I crawled out of bed and shuffled to the shower and drug around to get dry and dressed and was out the door to the walk-in clinic by eight o'clock in the morning on January 2nd.  Upon arrival I started to sign in and the girl behind the counter said, "We do not have a provider here as yet.  I just want you to know that we have put a call in and don't know whether one will arrive in minutes or an hour or what."  So, I tromped back out to the truck and went down the street to the local medical clinic.  Nobody was in the waiting room; so, I thought I might have some luck.  I asked the girl behind the counter there if there was a possibility to be a work-in because I was almost positive I have a sinus infection.  She shook her head and said no.  (Do these places just not want business or what is the story with that sort of attitude?  I gave my regular doctor's office (which is a 40-minute drive across town away) a call and learned that he is off on Wednesdays and the Physician's Assistant is slammed but will try to work me in SOMETIME.  So, I just trudged back home and flopped on the couch. 

In a while, at about ten-thirty, the original walk-in clinic called and said the provider had arrived and I could be seen if I wanted to return to the clinic.  I did.  Six prescriptions. 

I had to drive another ten miles to the pharmacy which my insurance is in bed with is in cahoots with is contracted.  The girl at the drive-thru window said I could wait thirty minutes for my meds.  By now it is nearly noon and I have had nothing to eat.  So, I drove through a fast food place and got a roast beef sandwich and a glass of tea.  When I returned to the pharmacy, I only had to wait about ten minutes.  Then, I had to have a pharmacist consult on every single one of the six prescriptions.

I got back home at around one-thirty and crashed on the couch.  I was $160 (plus the $10 for lunch and $3 for Red Box movies) poorer and still felt like crap. 

The most important question I would like answered at this point is:

Why does cough syrup have to have such a B-A-D taste?

Mike's Christmas Gift

Stephen and Bonnie fulfilled one of Mike's wishes on his list. They wrapped and presented him with this HUGE spatula.  (No that wasn't on his list!  Who knew they made such a thing?)

Attached to the spatula was a printout with clipart and wording to explain that he also got twenty-one chickens! Almost as soon as all the wrapping paper landed, he was out the door and up at Stephen and Bonnie's barn to check them out. Upon return, he claimed, "Those are some pretty chickens!"

Part of his flock

Fresh feed

 

Looking them over closely

 

 

This one has sort of a necklace of grey/black feathers.

 

There are red ones, black ones, and white ones.  I don't know much about chickens but they do look pretty good to me, too.  The next project will be to expand the pens out at Mike's barn and get these new girls placed in their new home.





Snow!

Yes, we got a little bit of snow on the Saturday after Christmas!

Just a little dusting...

 

 

It was a wee bit deeper on the deck.

 

It was pretty.

Design Consultant

I am proud to add a plate to the shingle I have hanging by my door - Design Consultant!  (No, I don't really have a shingle and who knows what it would say if I did - klutz, goofball, cheapo, wanta-be...) 

Recently, my daughter, Bridgette, began making garden flags to give as gifts or to sell to folks who like a custom look.  I might be just a wee tad bit biased, but I think she does a marvelous job!  See:

See, she even has a repeat customer - other than me!  (If you would like your own custom garden flag, you can contact her!)

A few days ago she was working on Christmas gifts and was stitching one for my daughter-in-law, Jessica.  Jessica and Bryan have a new house and they are having all sorts of fun making it home.  Anyway, one of the things on Jessica's wish list was garden flags.  So, Bridgette had drawn her name and decided to fill that wish. 

When we went to Sir's Fabrics a few weeks back, we had stumbled across some outdoor fabric remnants.  I picked up a piece that I'm going to use to freshen up my deck sofa and another couple of pieces that I have no idea how I'm going to use - but it was a bargain and I loved the pattern and I've learned not to let that get away!

As soon as Bridgette saw a couple of pieces of the outdoor fabric, she said she thought of Jessica.  I would describe Jess's taste as a combination of earthy, modern, jazzy, natural, and elegant.  So, I guess that is why she fits so well in this family - eclectic is how that sort of design is referenced.  She leans toward browns - tan, chocolate, caramel, etc., greens - sage, seafoam, olive, etc., blues - robin's egg, grey-blue, etc., rust, russet, etc.  Her choices are always beautiful and usually something I would not have noticed till she picks them! 

Anyway, Bridgette found a paisley-type print that she thought looked like Jessica and got it for the base of the garden flag.  Immediately Bridgette's creative brain went to work on how the finished flag was goint to look.  She wanted it to be an all-season one that could be displayed at any time of year.  Since we are southerners, it seemed natural to me that Bridgette thought of putting an initial on it. 

So, this past week, I got an email asking me if the garden flag needed an extra personalization element.  At that point, the flag had the printed background, an oatmeal-colored oval, and a printed B appliqued on it.  I was consulted by her asking me if she should also add their last name.  Then, I was consulted to know what color the last name should be stitched. 

I showed the work-in-progress to my friend and co-worker, Kris, and we recommended the color and encouraged that she add the last name.  I think we did a great job on this project, what do you think?

Oh!  And, Bridgette did pretty well, too!

Yes, this was a shameless plug for my daughter and her work-from-home business.  Yes, I was compensated for this post - she showers me with love and some of her experimental projects!

Recycling

Some projects are started from scratch and others are a result of recycling.  I recently tackled one of the recycling ones and I'm quite pleased with the results.  You may remember the post that featured a re-do of this stool. 

It was a bargain and I liked the upholstery of the embroidered floral stripes on a background of black silk.  However, it just wasn't happening in the bedroom where I decided was to be its home.  So, off with the embroidered silk flowers and on with a tone-on-tone damask leaf print. 

Maybe some day I will get brave and tackle a slip-cover for the chair and the two will match...

At any rate, I hung onto the silk embroidered fabric.  After a trip to the dry cleaner, it was ready for another project.  I thought it would fit in with the decor of the den and sort of further tie my merlot silk drapes with the neutral furnishings and infuse my love of florals.  So, I knew the piece was destined to become pillows.

At first I thought about making a cover for the large throw pillows on the couch like I did HERE or HERE.  I really like the idea of keeping them as matching pairs, though, and I would have to piece something else with the embroidered silk to make that work.  Not really the look I had in mind.  So, after digging around in my sewing room a bit, I pulled out a couple of rectangular lumbar-type pillows that my friend Angela and I had snatched up for a couple of dollars at Old Time Pottery.  I dug a little bit more and found the remnants that were left after Jessica and I crafted her a pillow or two.  (You can read about that HERE.)  It is a simple little tone on tone print in a golden cream color.  Then, I dug into a recently acquired stash of trims that I picked up at the local Dollar Mart which coordinated beautifully.  Voila!  Custom-crafted decor!

One of the new pillows rests on this wing-back side chair near my revamped frame and floor-lamp.

The other one rests here in the rocker my Daddy gave me several years ago.

Here is a close-up of one of the pretty little pillows.

 

I like a recycle project when it turns out as pleasing as this one!