Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Are these boxes smaller this year, or is it just me??




I made some little girl scouts in the next town over very happy. I'm admitting my addiction caused me to spend slightly over $31 on Girl Scout cookies. I bought a few different kinds as a token gesture so that my hubby knows he wasn't overlooked, but the majority of my purchase was those THIN MINTS!! 



There was a brief moment of horror as I took note of the short box. What the heck?!?!?! When did this start? Did I not buy them last year that I missed some notified transition? Or did they switch the size & keep the price all whilst I was unaware? 

Hmmm.... I'd love some feedback on this, but I do realize not everyone is so obsessed about their cookies & some of you probably couldn't care less. But I'm a cheap motha, and I'd like to know... 

WHEN DID THE SHORT BOX COME ABOUT?

Of course the other sad fact that comes with having spent more money on a shorter box of Thin Mints is that it takes a lot less time to eat an entire sleeve... or two... or heck, the whole dang box!

NOM NOM NOM....

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Quite Possibly THE Most Touching Gift Ever

Yesterday marked the 23rd month anniversary of my 10 year old son's passing. 

Montie had Marfan Syndrome & on March 19, 2009 his heart stopped beating while he slept on the couch.... a fire was going & I was sleeping on the floor next to him. He'd just had his 7th back surgery to adjust his titanium rods, and we weren't able to make it up to his bed.

Montie was the happiest child I've ever known! His vulnerability met with a smile seemed to draw in both adults & other kids. 

But he never met one of his best friends in person. Mont met T during an online PS3 game. I want to guess it was one of the Call of Duty versions, because they (a gaggle of kids, including my younger daughter, Morgan, and my hubby) played it constantly. Not only did they play the actual game, but the kids over the years created their own games within the games. 

It was all fascinating to watch... how these deep relationships were created virtually & carried over later to phone conversations & plans being made to meet up with a few of these friends and their parents.

Unfortunately, we never got to carry out these plans to meet before Montie passed away. And later when we did meet T & his parents, it was all so bittersweet. We laughed, set off fireworks, and  carried on with T & his parents for two days. Throughout thoroughly enjoying hanging out in person with someone whom Montie had treasured as a friend. Oh but it was sad knowing he wasn't here physically to experience it with us.

Morgan & T have kept in touch, part of each other's virtual world of friends that span the country. 

And yesterday T & his parents surprised us with a gift we will treasure forever. Below is a drawing T commissioned his aunt to do as a gift to us... 


The personal additions are reminders of how much fun T & Montie had playing Little Big Planet & Call of Duty. And Turkeylip was Montie's call-sign online...

This was drawn from one of the last pictures taken of Montie. 

Thank you T <3



Thursday, February 17, 2011

Snowman Stitchery

At the end of the day when I'm too tired to keep working or cleaning but not tired enough to go to bed, I've been doing a fair amount of hand stitching. 

I'm not sure when I'll get around to finishing it (edging it) so thought I'd just show it now. I think I want to back it with fabric & make it into an "ornament" to hang on an artificial tree we've put in the dining room. I thought it'd be cute to sew and/or stitch up little, seasonal ornaments that I could switch out.

Dang, I've been doing a lot of "thinking" by the words of that last paragraph! Now if I could only translate that into more productivity!! I can't help that I don't seem to have very many productive hours lately!! At least I don't think I can. I don't seem to be much of an early bird OR a night owl. Oh I'm up till midnight or later, however, as I've alluded to earlier, I'm mostly incoherent after I'd say about 10pm. I'm awake but my brain starts shutting down & the politeness in me starts to sleep as well ;-)  After 11pm I like to be deeply immersed in a good book while snuggled under my electric blanket.  But I digress...


I have a thing for snowmen...


-a close up.

Hmm... seems a silly day to share a snowman when it's so springlike outside! Ah well, we still have all of March to go through, so I think the snowmen can hang around a while longer.

I have another little snowman stitchery started, but since I'm either a very slow stitcher or just mostly incoherent by the time I'm stitching, perhaps I should start on the spring/summer set now??

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Hot off the quilt machine...

These beautiful quilts were made by a very talented young lady whom works at Stitch and Craft  ... she's not much older than my eldest but she's been teaching us quilting classes for years!

I was honored she asked me to quilt them for her


... and the back.


And the second quilt, Lover's Knot...




 ... and the back.

 That's all for tonight. I'm not feeling particularly chatty, since I'm keeping track of what's going on with the Grammy's.

And not to start any hate talk, but my daughter is 14 so WE ARE BELIEBERS!! Totally enjoyed the Bieber & Usher performance, amongst others...

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Friends are a blessing!

Being blessed with great friends is awesome!

Just having someone to connect with on an emotional level deeper than "What are we having for dinner?", "Where are my shin guards?", "Can you take me to ______ ?", etc., is a wonderful gift from God.

It's made all the sweeter if you share interests, hobbies, viewpoints...

My two sewing buddies & I finally got together after a several month hiatus to sew (duh) & exchange Christmas goodies! See the show & tell below...


Look closely at this clock K gave to see what's in place of what is usually numbers...
so cute!

 Also from K, she knows I've become more interested in canning/freezing in the last few years as we keep expanding our gardens. I have no natural ability whatsoever in the kitchen, so having clear, concise instructions to tell me what the heck I'm doing will be most helpful.

These goodies were actually for Valentine's Day but just had to show off the little bag my friend, S, made that held the rest of the items. (those are little heart pins to the left there)

... and a subscription to this magazine! 

K, S & I share several obsessions: sewing, quilting, and FOOD. We laugh because as we're sitting at one sewing get-together & beginning to look ahead to our next gathering, most often we talk about what "food theme" to have BEFORE we figure out where/when!! hahaha

For example, when we sewed this past weekend we had a breakfast food theme. S made these delicious egg/bacon in toast cups, K made a very yummy baked oatmeal, and I'd brought a totally unhealthy but sinfully tasty Monkey Bread.

And though we haven't yet set a date for our next sew-in, we've already decided we're making finger foods for next time... 

Friends make my grown-up days more tolerable & help me stay sane! I'm so thankful for my girlfriends :-)

p/s I'm blessed many times over because in addition to S & K whom I share those obsessions already mentioned, I also happen to consider a handful of family members some of my best friends as well. But I'll save that for another day....



Tuesday, February 08, 2011

A Mysterious Finding...

It seems innocuous enough, but where did it come from?



This bottle of Rita's water mysteriously appeared on our dining room table. 

When it was noticed, everyone wanted to know, "Who went to Rita's & didn't invite me?!?"

But I haven't gone, my husband hasn't been there, my oldest daughter who used to work there hasn't gotten anything from there, and my younger daughter is too young to drive herself to Rita's without one of us!! 

In thinking back to this week's visitors (which weren't many) to the house, no one who hung out or came into the house that far had brought it in.

WHERE DID IT COME FROM???

Perhaps I should let you in on a tidbit about our 221 year old house.... we are a stop on Marietta's Ghost Tour.

Some from here would suggest there have been haunting occurrences...

....some from here have heard things.... seen things...

but none remembers finding random objects none of us brought into the house. 

Hmm.... just thought it was interesting & thought I'd share.

Friday, February 04, 2011

February is Marfan Awareness Month!

Marfan syndrome is a disorder of the connective tissue.  Connective tissue holds all parts of the body together and helps control how the body grows.  Because connective tissue is found throughout the body, Marfan syndrome features can occur in many different parts of the body. 

Marfan syndrome features are most often found in the heart, blood vessels, bones, joints, and eyes. Sometimes the lungs and skin are also affected.  Marfan syndrome does not affect intelligence. 
About 1 in 5,000 people have Marfan syndrome. This includes men and women of all races and ethnic groups. (taken from www.marfan.org)

Our son was diagnosed with Marfan Syndrome at birth. Marfan Syndrome is considered a progressive condition, and therefore we knew in our heads we most likely wouldn't get to spend as many years with Montie as we'd want.

But in our hearts we had to press on in faith & do whatever we could to make Montie's time here on earth as "normal" as possible.

Montie is missed so deeply...




Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Nothing much going on...

I'll rephrase... there's always something going on around here. There's just nothing too exciting to report. We've had more snow & some sleet, but it was mostly disappointing here in Lancaster, PA.

Not a whole lot has gotten done on our yucky bathroom, but I did remember to take a picture of the ugly vanity. And actually this doesn't show it in it's full glory, as we've already started trying on paint colors on the bottom. I CANNOT WAIT to lose the baby blue counter top -EWWWWWW!!!


This is the mirror that usually hangs above the vanity. We're still trying to figure out what to do with it.

I've done very little sewing, but I have picked up three quilt tops to quilt this week. I'm pretty excited about working on them since I haven't had anything big to quilt in a few weeks. Will post pics as they are completed.

I need to come up with something small to work on this weekend. Am looking forward to some  sewing time with my good friends Kathryn & Suzanne! But I don't sew well when I'm blabbering, so it has to be something relatively easy. Hmm.... actually it's late & thinking this hard is hurting my brain, so I'll have to ponder it all tomorrow.

Until then....