Thankful to be dry

We watched the rising waters of the Susquehanna River back up into this massive storm drain which leads into our little town. 

The 1st picture was taken this past Friday morning after most of the rain had already stopped pelting. Usually there's barely a trickle in there, but we weren't concerned at this point because it was well below the halfway mark of being full.

However, since we're "down river", this 2nd picture shows how on Saturday, well after the rain had quit falling, we were still watching the river by us rise. 

And by Sunday afternoon, finally, thankfully, the river crested & we could breathe a small sigh of relief. 

(Don't ask me who thought hanging the figure was fun, but it was there... in the way, so it's in my photo >:-/ )

Homes are in danger of flooding here once the water hits the 49' mark. Personally, since we sit a bit higher, we're not in danger of flooding until it hits about 55', just to give a point of reference.

A lot of people who visit us don't understand how the river can possibly flood over the railroad embankment towards our homes. But see that's not how it happens! The picture below shows the view from my front door. The river doesn't flow over the embankment but rather backs up through the above-shown storm drain and then up through the drainage grates by our homes.

During normal weather our rain water runs down our grates into the storm drain and then into the Susquehanna River. But when we have a combination of heavy rains & snow melting up north, it all flows downward towards us & backs everything up.

This last picture shows the view if I walk up onto the railroad embankment & look down to the river. Within those trees are where I usually walk my spastic lab puppy. He'd probably like it down there now --sloshing through the water & mud are his thing. But if he'd take off, it's currently too cold for me to want to go in after him. So yeah, I think we'll just walk the neighborhood until we dry out a bit!

But in the grand scheme of it all... thinking about how scary it can be to worry about my house flooding left me feeling a little....sigh.... what's the word I'm looking for???? .... small, insignificant, but a speck in the realm of world horrors...

You know dinner is a bust when....

...people head to Burger King afterwards!! LOL

I tried making spaghetti & meatballs, and I've made this numerous times with great success in the past. In fact, it's been a favorite staple dinner in our house for years. 

I especially love to let the saucy meatballs percolate in the crock pot for the day.

HOWEVER, I've been on this organic food kick lately. My older DD became a vegetarian a few years ago, which deepened my investigations into fresher foods.

After reading the book Skinny Bitch recently, I furthered my efforts to buy foods in a healthier way.

  

Lest I put off a certain unappreciated vibe, let's just be clear that I'm not really trying to be "skinny" or a "bitch"- just heard this book had good information!! 

I'm much more interested in just doing the best I can to feed my family as healthily as I can afford.

One downside to this fresher, greener eating is a slightly different food bill. And another downside would be starting to experiment with the brands out there & not having many people to ask, "Which brand do you think tastes great?"

So I bought this organic spaghetti, and I'm thinking it was made out of some kind of freeze-dried veggies, so that when it hit water for the directed time of 4.5 minutes, it immediately became mush. 

Our spaghetti was in 1-2" pieces & tasted very much like cardboard.

This picture has loaded funny, and it's showing the fettuccine when I, in fact, bought the spaghetti, but it's the correct brand & the boxes look almost identical.

**DISCLAIMER: I am not affiliated with any type or brand of pasta in any way, shape, or form!**

My DH & younger DD hit the BK this evening. I hit the Oreo bag...

A Couple Finishes!

I'm still doing a good job of trying to hack up my lungs. Having the flu has been horrible! It's been a good 10 years since I've been this sick. 

Normally I can't sit still for long, especially if it's during the day. I like to be busy & I'm very fidgety. BUT I've done a lot of sitting around this week... watching a lot of garbage tv with my younger daughter... going through some old magazines... and when not engaged in coughing up loogies, wielding needles & doing some stitching! (sorry, bad visual)

This Winter piece was stitched last week, but I finished it this week -put on the backing, binding & the hanger.

I finished hand-quilting the table runner this week too. Since I've been pulling this project out here & there for about a year, it was very satisfying to put those last stitches in & tack down the binding & call it done! 

 A little bit of the back...

And this is my newest start: Walking in a Winter Snapperland- Villa by Bent Creek.

Smokey-the-Spastic-Lab sprawled on our couch. He was literally lying there in all his glory watching tv! lol I still have a love/hate relationship with this big boy. He likes to be RIGHT THERE with us all the time, but being he's big & doppy & drooly & sometimes smelly & usually knocking things over with his uncoordinated bod, his commotion can be quite overwhelming & unwanted at times!!

Hope you all are gearing up for a relaxing, fantastic weekend :) 

Tomorrow is our 23rd anniversary, but we're too sick to be doing much. We'll postpone dinner & hanging out for another weekend when we're up for more than sitting around on the couch.

This week gone by

A gift was received...

Smokey the spastic lab ate a mitten ornament...

 And I got the flu :(  

Below is most of my arsenal in fighting the battle of the bug: 

DayQuil & NyQuil for the few days my skin felt as though tarantulas were crawling all about it.

Vitamins to load up my immune system after-the-fact. 

Green Tea with antioxidants.

Water for hydration & flushing the system.

And last but not least Agave Nectar to sweeten the tea & sometimes straight down my throat during a coughing fit. (The Chloraseptic in the background wasn't mine -makes me gag!)

Fortunately, the tarantula-skin feeling has gone away, but I am left with coughing fits that as my daughter said, "Ought to leave us with rock-hard abs"!!! 

I WISH!

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....

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

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??

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...

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....

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.

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...

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....

FAIL!!

Toaster Oven Baking FAIL!!

I recently bought the cutest, most reasonably priced toaster oven, which I've loved using just because some things taste better when not soggy. 

It heats up quickly, and has cooked lots & lots of lunches & reheats over the past few weeks, so when I ran out of room on my large cookie sheet going into my full-size oven, I thought I'd try popping them into the mini oven.

It was a burnt FAIL, and I'm not sure why? Anybody out there that can enlighten me? I set it at the temperature and for the time indicated, and yet these sugar cookies don't look anything like my large oven beauties. Hmm...  should've taken a this one versus those, but I didn't. 

Suffice it to say these are chunky & burnt, and the others are flatter, paler & taste good!

p.s. ~Getting more snow here in Lancaster, PA!

Pen with Paper versus Computer

Do you have a preference?

When you write, if you write, do you prefer using pen with paper or the computer? 

Not long ago if you'd asked me this, I wouldn't have hesitated to respond with an answer of "pen with paper". I've always like the act of putting ink onto paper. And I've enjoyed many afternoons rereading journal entries from years gone by.

But nowadays I'm so used to doing so much on the computer, typing is faster & less painful on the hands & wrists for me. I think I've come to appreciate the quickness with which I can get words written out on the computer. 

But it's just not the same as paging through a journal. It's not the same as seeing all those dented, written upon pages, and holding them, to really KNOW I've written them. 

Oh yes, I know, I can visually SEE I've written (typed) something on the computer for years afterward, too, however, I hate the act of scrolling through various pages. My eyes hate when I scroll for them. And then my eyes send their complaint to my brain = headache.

Currently I vacillate between an online journal, my paper journal shown above, and my blog, which is still typing online but in a different place. I'm getting annoyed with myself with having so many different areas of journalling going on. If I want to look back for something that I wrote about, I'm never sure with which source to begin.

So for now I'm going to keep going back & forth until I at least fill this butterfly notebook. Because I'm anal-retentive & I cannot leave it half blank & fully commit somewhere else :-)

Take care...

Working Hard or Hardly Working?

Does anyone else feel a little deflated energetically after the hub-bub of the holidays? I know it's my norm, and so I've grown to embrace this slow-down period. Combine my lethargy with the recent snow & ice coating the neighborhood roads, and I've had some nice excuses to stay put in my warm, cozy home!

I've enjoyed movie marathons with my two teenage girls, cross-stitching by the fire, a few unexpected mornings I was able to lay in bed longer than usual (LOVE my electric blanket in our bedroom with no heat vents!!), with the only drawback being that walking Smokey the spastic lab has taken a slightly treacherous feeling as I skirt around and/or over ice & snow patches.

My hubby has been able to take some days off with us too. But he's also begun redoing our bathroom. Remember we live in a 200+ year old house, that has some interesting quirks. Our bathroom is a large quirk. It used to be a small bedroom, but it makes a good size bathroom. I thought I'd post this "mostly before" pictures.....

He's actually started painting already. This is from the doorway looking into the bathroom. To the right behind the brown dresser in the ugly vanity, of which I now realize I didn't get a proper pic. 

Past the draped clothes rack & around the corner lie the toilet & shower (you'll have to excuse the dirty laundry piles- they've been shoved here & there to allow room to move while also painting, etc...

  

Below are the closet/laundry doors as seen from the vanity area...

Will share more pictures of the ugly vanity & updates as prettier things begin to happen!

Last but not least is a small project I tackled, that I've been wanting to try since about November. It's a Snap Happy Snap Bag by Stitchin' Sisters. There are 3 sizes on this pattern, this being the mid-sized bag. Perhaps you've heard of Snap Bags? There's literally a metal tape measure within the top casings to make it snap closed after it's been opened. It's the coolest thing!! So fast & east to make & cute to boot! 

Good night everyone!

A Belated Happy New Year!

I'm not one for New Year's Resolutions. In fact, I can't remember the last time I made one. Some time back --like a decade or more ago-- I became so very ambivalent about them. I suppose it has something to do with the quickness with which my life seems to change. Just when I think I've accepted what my life *is* at the moment, it changes.

And I quite believe this is how it is for lots of moms out there, because so much of *us* is wrapped up in *them*. That's not a bad thing in many ways, I suppose, since by pouring our hearts & souls into little bodies of reckless energy whom we hope will then turn into adults filled with caring hearts & souls, we are fulfilled. 

But I digress.... the new year has begun. I'll not sugar coat it & say "the holidays were nice, went too fast & let's all look forward to the new  year". How 'bout I just admit there's a big part of me that's just glad the holidays are over?? Holidays are hard enough in a whirlwind kind of way for all Moms trying to orchestrate the perfect season for making holiday memories.

But I do believe holidays are harder for those of us grieving. There's an extra "load" we carry upon our shoulders. We miss so much what we can't celebrate with those who have left this earth. I know in my heart where Montie is, and I trust he's in a better place for him, but I miss him. 

All the time.

In any spare moments in those weeks leading up to Christmas I kept busy sewing. Now you & I know there aren't many down times in those weeks, but I wanted, or needed, to keep exhaustingly busy. Being busy keeps me from wallowing. And so I sewed up a bunch of gifts.

This first set is for a very special family way out in Australia! I met such a supportive mom on the The National Marfan forum who also has a son with Marfan Syndrome, and our boys look so much alike! She also has two daughters & all the kids' names start with M -- just like us! 

Buzz Lightyear/Toy Story quilt...

.... with dragonflies quilted in to mimic those on the printed blue squares!

The next set of pictures show a set of place mats I made for my mom for Christmas. She requested royal blue be included, but I had free-reign on the patterns! These were so much fun to make...

That's all for now! We're expecting snow today, but only 2-4", which is really just enough to be annoying!!