Garfield is DONE!

Thought I would do a quick update before we head to our county fair. We aren't going for the actual amusement rides. We go for the concerts. This year we are probably only going today to see Ronnie Milsap. I love a lot of his songs. Most people ask what he sings and after they hear the songs, they know who he is. We have seen him a few other times and one time Jerry and I were picked by the radio station DJ to meet Ronnie Milsap backstage. It was kinda cool. :o) Jerry took a blanket down earlier today to put on one of the bleachers in the grandstand. We are pretty much right in the middle, perfect! The show is at 8pm but we will go about 6, check on our blanket and walk around through all the booths and tents. It's really nice out, not as hot as it usually is for the fair. :o)
I finished Garfield! I finished him up the other day. I couldn't wait to see the difference the backstitching would make. I took a before and after picture to show the difference. Here's without the backstitching:

and here's with backstitching:

Quite a difference, huh? :o) Now I'm back to working on the heart design. :o)

We decided to get Louie a bike for his birthday this year. His birthday isn't till August but we saw a pretty good deal at Wal-mart the other day. We gave it to him early so he will have lots of time to ride it before school starts. This is his first bike except for a tricycle so we put training wheels on it for him. Please excuse the pj bottoms. He didn't know we were coming. :op And he was really confused when he opened the door and we said "Happy Birthday!" He turned to his dad and said "They said happy birthday but today's not my birthday".



T-ball season is done for this year. Emma and Louie are both going to play Fall soccer (football for my across the pond friends :o). That is on Saturdays though so we won't have to take Emma. I have had Emma back here for yesterday, today and Friday because her dad is helping his brother work on his house. Here are Emma & Louie with their medals and Louie got a certificate for most improved batter. :o)




When we went outside earlier we saw a baby bird from our birdhouse. Mom or dad was out there with it while it was practicing flying. The parent kept bringing food to it too and Emma thought it was kind of neat to be able to see that. I went out with my camera and took a pic. I didn't think it would turn out too great because I really had my camera on close up. I thought it might blur a little but I got a few good ones. it's funny because the babies always look bigger than the parents. I noticed the same thing with some robins last year. It must be all the fuzzy feathers. :o)


Well, I guess I better get going and get things ready take to the fair with us (book or magazine to pass the time, water bottles, Josh's DS, etc.) Amber is meeting us there to watch the show. Nate isn't into country music but he will be able to hear it anyway because he'll be working with his dad at the Optimist's booth selling deep fried cheese curds. (Yum!) The booth is right behind the grandstand.

Until next time {{{{{Hugs}}}}}

Cross Stitch WIPs Update-as promised

Can you believe I'm actually here again updating my blog??

I promised the other day to put some updated pics of my cross stitch here. I am working on about a million things right now (check my list of xstitch commitments on my blog) but some seem to turn into UFOs. I'm trying not to start anything new that I haven't committed to until I finish that list. :op I will have more time to stitch now because as of today, I'm out of a job. Emma's daddy got laid off indefinately. They told them yesterday morning. There have been some rumors but the supervisors just kept telling them it wasn't true. I feel really bad for them. Emma's mommy is getting laid off for 1 week every month for the rest of the year and they are going to a 4 day work week but only working 9 hours a day so they are still losing 5 hours a week on the 3 weeks they are working. Mike was supposed to get his braces on next month but dad's insurance was paying $2000 of it. Now he won't be able to get them. They are just really worried because Tracey doesn't make enough to pay all the bills and they don't qualify for anyting to help them out like food stamps. It's almost impossible to find a decent job around here right now. General Motors is the big employer and they are closing the whole plant before 2010. They make the huge Suburbans (sp?). It will leave TONS of people out of work. That's not counting all the other places that have laid off around here. It's all a result of the ridiculous gas prices. I hate that it happened to someone so close to me. :o(

Here are my recent wips. Remember, you can click on the pictures to make the bigger. :o)

Garfield is part of a round robin in one of my yahoo groups. It belongs to Cherie and this is the last piece I need to stitch on. This is the first time I have stitched on 11 count aida. I'm not used to stitching on such a big count. It takes 3 strands of floss to cover. As you can see, I still need to finish the tree and the garland. The backstitching should really bring this one to life. :o) I was a huge Garfield fan when I was a teenager but this is the first time I've stitched him.


This heart piece is for a small finished exchange. August is Mare's month to receive. Her themes are either Black Cats or Hearts. I will probably make this into a pillow but I'm not sure yet. This one is really relaxing to work on. I think it's the colors. :o)


I am making a name piece for Emma & Louie with LK's A-B-Crazy chart. I haven't started Louie's yet because I need to find the right flosses. Most look to 'girly'. Here is Emma's so far. It's stitched on a piece of DMC fabric that is printed with little pink hearts.


Last week Emma lost a tooth (to Louie's dismay since he's a year older and has yet to lose one) so Tracey asked me to make Emma a tooth fairy pillow. She just wanted something 'girly' and Emma's favorite color is purple. Even though she's only 5, I wanted to find something she wouldn't grow out of. I found the fabric and cording and then decided I need something for the front near the hanger. I went to Wal-mart and found the perfect button! It has a pocket on the front to hold the tooth and then her money from the tooth fairy. :o)


I think I totally forgot to post a picture of the ring bearer's pillow that I made for Amber & Nate's wedding. The design was a freebie I found somewhere but the flowers were pink and the ribbon was blue. I changed it to match their flowers better. I like the way it turned out and I think they did too. I hope so anyway. :op


And last but not least, here is a mug shot of one of our critters. I saw him earlier today. He tried to pretend he belonged there but I know for a fact we didn't put any chipmonk statues in front of the drain pipe! Hard to believe this little innocent looking guy (or lady) is responsible for an underground city in our backyard. Oh, and a friend mentioned putting cayenne pepper on the garden plants. If the rabbits get in again, I will try that. bwwwwaaa ha ha! I'm turning evil in my old age. :op

I Hate Rabbits! and a Yummy dinner and Dessert

I tried to post this blog entry last night and when I was about 3/4 done, it disappeared! I was so mad! So anyway, I'm trying again.

Before anyone wonders, the rabbits have nothing to do with dinner. :op

One day last week I saw a lady on the Rachael Ray Show that decided to cook every meal from home for a whole year. And she decided to use a Crock Pot for at least part of it each day. She has a blog called A Year of Crockpotting. Everyday she adds the recipe for whatever that day's crock pot produced. The nice thing is that if you go to the bottom of the recipe she has the 'Verdict' where she will honestly tell you if the recipe was bad. Sometimes her and her DH liked it but the kids wouldn't touch it. Some days it was a huge success. Be sure to read the verdict before making anything from that site. :o) Anyway, checking out this blog made me search for others. One I found is Crockpot Adventures which looks like the last entry was in October 2007. It does have some yummy looking recipes though. On Tuesday night we ordred Pizza Hut Pizza Mias. Josh got pepperoni, I got green olives and Jerry got beef topping. Don't they look yummy?

But back to the crock pots. After the pizzas we had the yummiest, easiest dessert. Only 3 ingredients! It's Crock Pot Cherry Cobbler from the Crockpot Adventures.

Crock Pot Cherry Cobbler

(this recipe works for a 2.5 - 3 quart crock pot, double it for a larger crockpot)

1 box yellow cake mix
1 stick butter, melted
1 can cherry pie filling (you can also use apple, blueberry, peach or other canned fruit pie filling)

Stir melted butter into cake mix (it should be crumbly). Pour pie filling into crock pot. Top with cake mix and butter mixture. Cover and cook 2 hours on high or 4 hours on low.


We used Cool Whip but vanilla ice cream would have been awesome with it too. Last night we tried blueberry. It was yummy but I love cherry pie so I'm sure the cherry will stay my favorite. In the fall we plan to try apple. I know, it's pie filling available all year but fall just seems like the time to eat apple pie. :o) Oh and peach too....so many choices....

Now, about those rabbits. We live in the middle of a city (small city, yes, but still a city) and I think all the wildlife in town lives on our property. We have a chipmonk that is tunneling a city under the yard. Some parts of the yard actually seem to be sinking. What I'm wondering is where is all the extra dirt going? There are holes everywhere but no little dirt piles. Anyone know how to get rid of him? Or them? He's really cute and I don't want to hurt him but.... Then there are the squirrels that have taken up residence in the attic of our garage. When we pull in or out of the driveway we sometimes have a little face peering out of the hole they made! When we go in the garage one might run up the wall! Our garage IS connected to the house by a breezeway. It's not like it's way out or anything. Anyone know how to get rid of them? They've been there a few years..... :op And then there are the rabbits.....Every year when we plant a garden (or flowers) the rabbits eat everything (except the tomatoes. Have you ever smelled your hands after touching a tomato plant? They stink!) So this year we planted the garden and put a 3 foot tall deer fence around it.

We used stakes tohold it to the ground between the posts so the rabbits couldn't go under it. We thought it was working until the green pepper plants started looking like they were getting eaten. Then the jalapino plant about disappeared! Apparently the plant isn't spicy. Then one day I looked out back and sure enough, there was a rabbit in the garden! I went out back and I have to say, I know it sounds mean but I laughed watching the poor thing try to get out. It kept jumping and boucing off the fence! It's a fabric fence so I'm sure it didn't hurt. But it was really scared. It just looked funny. So we started spraying some stuff around the garden that is supposed to keep them away. It's really stinky (I think like animal pee) It can't be sprayed on plants we will eat so we just sprayed it about 8-10 inches away from the garden. Well, it was working because the pepper plants started growing! Then....it happened again. The plants were getting eaten and the pepper plants stopped growing. We had resprayed so I'm not sure what was up with that. Then I saw him in the garden again! I went out back and he did the bouncing thing again. The I saw him sneak out the bottom of the fence! I looked and there was a hole about 6 inches tall! So off we went to get some chicken wire fencing. It's only 2 feet tall but they can't chew through it. (I hope!) They can't jump over it because we kept the other fence there and just put this one around it. We measured around the garden and figured we needed 40 feet of fence. That was giving us a little extra. We bought a 50 foot roll....and ran out about 3/4 of the way around! You can see in the middle of the picture where the little bit left is rolled up. How did that happen?? So Jerry had to run back to get a 25 foot roll! We also have this staked to the ground and have bricks holding other areas on the bottom.

So now we have officially paid more for the veggies in our garden that we would have paid at the store. I love having a garden but I really have to wonder if it's worth it.
So that's my world. Exciting, I know. I haven't gotten too much stitching done in the last few days. I am working on a small finished exchange piece that isn't really too small. I love it though and it's fun to work on. I'm also working on a round robin piece of Garfield in a Christmas tree. It's fun to work on but I had to take a break from the green for a while. :op I promise to have a few stitching updates either later today or tomorrow. No finishes but some WIP updates.

I better post this before it disappears again.

Have a wonderful day everyone and thanks for reading my blog. Remember, I love comments so I know who was here. :o)

{{{{{Hugs}}}}}

Making Clay

Last Wednesday me and Emma made some clay. This clay is much better and softer than any you can buy.

I always hated that the Play doh clay was so stiff that it was hard for the kids to shape or roll out.
This homemade one is super soft and lasts a really long time in a plastic container or ziploc bag.

We made one batch but divided it in half because Emma wanted purple and blue. I was out of food colors so Tracey (Emma's mommy) brought what she had. These were cool neon colors. I've never seen them before.
Usually if I'm buying food colors I buy the Wilton paste ones for frosting. I didn't want to use those because I was afraid I would send Emma home with colored hands. :o)

Here are some pics of our uncolored clay, adding the color, Emma mixing it in and finally getting to play. It took all of about 10 minutes total to get it ready but when you're 5 years old, 10 minutes can be a long time. :o)

We use kitchen stuff for clay tools. A pumpkin knife works really well because it cuts the clay but it's pretty impossible to cut yourself with. Also, cookie cutters, candy molds, anything with a cool texture. :o)
Here is the recipe for anyone that wants to try it. I have been making it since my kids were little and never had it fail. I usually do the stove part (Emma was on a stool watching it change from liquid to clay) and when it's cool enough let the kids mix in the food color. You might want to color it on wax paper, foil, cookie sheet etc. so the counter doesn't get stained.

Play Dough

1 cup flour
2 Tablespoons cream or tartar (in the spice aisle)
1/4 cup salt
1 cup water
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil (I used canola oil)
food color

Mix together in a small pan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. When mixture pulls away from the sides, remove from pan. (it will look like a ball of mashed potatoes) Split dough into as many balls as you want colors. Let cool until cool enough to handle. (I flatten it out and mush it around until it cools enough for the kids to handle) Add food color about 3-4 drops at a time until desired color. Be sure to mix completely before adding more color. The color kinda hides in the clay. Store in airtight container. Long lasting. Does not harden as fast or crumble like commercial play dough. It's completely non-toxic but tastes pretty bad. Don't ask me how I know. :op
If anyone tries it be sure to let me know how your kids like it!

OH! from my slideshow, for all those that asked, the horses didn't poop on anyone around us. I'm not sure if anyone further down the parade got pooped on. :o) If you are wondering what in the world I'm talking about, you need to watch the 4th of July slideshow in the previous post. :o)

Also, I was supposed to post about Louie's big owie and I forgot. So if anyone is still wondering, here's the story. I got a call from my son-in-law a few Saturdays ago. He asked me to take him and my grandson to the ER. Louie had been playing catch with my nephew Sam and Sam was showing Louie how to bat. He swung the bat and on the back swing he got Louie on the side of the head. I said I would be right there and hung up. Then I remembered I had hardly any gas in my car. I called Jerry who was out at the lake fishing and asked how fast he could get there. We figured it would take him less time than me stopping for gas. So I called back and said Jerry was coming. Then I wondered if anyone had called Amy at work. I called her and no one had called. She was to shakey to drive (neither of us was sure how bad it was, just knew it was bleeding a lot and he was screaming. This kid never cries when he gets hurt) I told Amy I would get gas and then pick her up. I called Jerry and told him NOT to go to the hospital the way we usually do because the road was closed because of the river flooding. He said "ok". When Amy and I were about halfway there Jerry called on my cell and said "Don't take Parker Dr. It's closed because of the flooding" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Huh? "Didn't I just tell you that????" I said "Did you go that way?" He said "yeah, I forgot it was closed". Why do men never listen?? So they had to back track and made it to the ER just a few minutes before us. Louie had quit bleeding and crying by then. They took him right in and he was in there for a couple of hours. He got a nice warmed up blanket and got to ride on the bed to go have a cat scan. Luckly he was ok. He didn't need any stitches, they used some kind of glue. Weird.

The picture was taken on Monday, just 2 days after it happened. He wasn't supposed to play on the playground or in T-ball until the following Wednesday. He was in summer school at the time and one of his classes was sports so he missed that on Monday. He went to his own Dr on Monday and was told that it was healing really well and he could go back to play t-ball that afternoon and his sport class the next day! Kids heal so quick. Anyway, he's ok, thank goodness. It was scary. We were worried about his hearing too. But all is good. :o) He's a tough kid!

Until next time, {{{{{Hugs}}}}}

Small town 4th of July

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Busy, busy, busy!

Well, I figured it was time to update my blog. I know, it's past time. I decided I better do it because my friend Lainey in Scotland said she keeps checking to see if I have any new stitching on there. She figures since I'm not blogging, I must be stitching! :o) I have been doing a lot of stitching actually. As you can see, there are quite a few pictures above. As I've been finishing things, I've wanted to add them to my blog but it seems like I never get around to it. Then finishes just kept piling up and it seemed overwhelming to blog about them. I'm going to add all the pics and just put a list of what everything is. Hopefully everyone will be able to figure out the jumbled mess. Sorry the pics are small. I didn't want to take up too much room. You can click on them to enlarge them.
1 & 2-These pics are from a month ago when we planted the garden. The plants are quite a bit bigger now. It needs to be weeded but going out there is crazy. The mosquitos can just about pick us up and carry us away! We have lots of mosquitos because of all the flooding. And it was nice to know that they were breeding in the flood water that had sewage in it! Yuck!
#3 These are 2 bibs that I stitched for Lisa in Canada. She is on one of my Yahoo groups and we secretly put together and sent her a big package with stitched gifts and a gift cert for 123stitch.com
#4 is my ornament for June. So far, so good on stitching one every month this year. :o) Now we'll see if they actually get finished into ornaments before Christmas. :op
#5 This is my stitched part of Jana's Round Robin. This RR is almost done and on the next mailing date mine will come home to me! I can't wait to see it!
#6 is a bookmark that I stitched up from a kitted up freebie that Eva sent me. I think it was for the month of May and the theme was butterflies. For the kitted up freebie exchange we choose a freebie from online or a shop freebie and send it to our partner along with fabric, threads, needle and any needed buttons, beads, charms, etc. That way our partner can just open it up and start stitching. :o)
#7 is my June Block Swap block. The theme for June was Buttons. I had a hard time finding something. I was looking for a chart with buttons. I didn't find any so I thought this one would look cute if I added buttons to it.
#8 is Viv's potholder for the Small Finished Exchange. Her theme was Celtic design. This one went to the UK.
#9 is Debra's towel for the Small Finished Exchange. Her theme was Flip-Flops. I need to stitch this design again for Amy. She's a flip-flop fanatic.
#10 is Helle's bookmark for the bookmark exchange. This was my first swap with someone in Denmark. :o)She sent me a few postcards from there. :o)
#11 & 12 are a piece of fabric I dyed last week. They show both sides. Not sure which side I will use. It depends on the chart I use it for. This was the first time I tried using 2 colors and also the first time I used liquid Rit instead of powder. I like the liquid A LOT better but it doesn't come in as many colors. :op
#13 is for a Yahoo group I am on. Brooke from Brooke's Books designed the chart and challenged everyone on the list to make it their own. I added the lace, fabric flower and jewel 'cherries'. I also changed a jar of fireflies to the little flag. This is for a contest that everyone on the list will be able to vote for a favorite. Wish me luck!
#14 is a seasons stitch-a long I am doing on another Yahoo group. We got the chart for Autumn on July 1st but as you can see, I'm not quite that far yet. Spring actually came out first but I was anxious to stitch the flip-flops so I started with Summer.
#15 is my July ornament.
#16 is my July Block Swap block. The theme for July is cats. I stitched the ornament and block both last night. :o) I have so many things to finish that I had to find some that wouldn't take too long to complete. It seems like I barely get the ornament & block done and it's another month already!

So there you have it. This is what I have been up to. Well, whenever I have a spare minute anyway. Summer school ended today so Emma and Mike will be here all day. It was kinda hectic getting Emma going for school everyday. She's definately not a morning person. :op Summer school was everyday for 4 weeks. Preschool was only 3 days a week. Louie and Little Louie would meet us here every morning and we would walk or ride together. Same thing at pick up time. Plus Emma & Louie have T-ball on Mon & Wed afternoons. T-ball goes till the end of July. I will try to post some pics of that and July 4th over the weekend. Oh, and also about Little Louie's 'owie' and trip to the ER. I'll keep great grandma & aunt Anna in suspense til then. ;op
Well, I guess this is enough of an update for now. Lainey, I'll try to keep up with the stitching updates. :op I just know when I get on here it will take a while because I always seem to write a book. :o)

Take care everyone. Have a happy and safe 4th of July.