And here she is!

DGD Paisley was born today! Mother and baby are fine. She weighed 6 lbs. 8oz. and came on the 36th week. She is just perfect.

Thank you for all your prayers for our family.

Blessings,

Merry Christmas!

I wish you the very merriest of Christmases. A safe and healthy one as well.

We are having a WHITE one! Yes, we had snow. Boy, did we ever. Not so many inches as when it was falling but it was blowing. We had almost white out conditions, folks. In TEXAS! I don't live in Amarillo or anywhere near there. We woke up to rain then it changed to snow around 11am Christmas Eve morning and kept falling all day and stopped between 5:30 and 6pm.

The flakes were small. We have friends that live about 30 miles north of here and they have huge snow drifts. Ours are a foot and a half at best. The roads became covered in snow late in the day.

This photo was taken around noon yesterday.

This photo was taken around 5pm. I took both from inside the house from our dining room window looking southeast.

We called off our family Christmas gathering last night. DD had more snow than we did. She lives west of us and they got more snow out that direction.

DDIL is still doing good. The baby weighs a little over 3 pounds now. We are in week 29 now. Thank you for your prayers.

We traveled to visit our parents and family for a family gathering on the 19th. We took DGS Mason with us. And of course Sissy went, too. DD and her family didn't get to come. DGD Aimee woke up throwing up. Ewww. DS#1 got his okay from his doctor to drive that distance and he was overjoyed. He is doing well after his back surgery.

Blessings,

Update

DDIL is doing better. She has stabilized. No contractions. But she is in the hospital for the duration of her pregnancy. Bless her heart. She is confined to the hospital room--no wheelchair rides or anything. The baby weighs a little over a pound at this point. She has a laptop and is surfing the internet from time to time. Thank God for the internet. Thank you for your prayers.


Blessings,

Hi again

Not much quilting going on yet but I hope to remedy that real soon. LOL I did get a Take 5 small quilt top pieced week before last. And we took my quilting machine to Denton to have a repairman look at it. The only thing he found wrong was the needle was in backwards. He said that would make it sew like it was out of time. I haven't quilted with it yet. Why? Well, we kept DGS Mason for several days while his parents were out of town. He had a cold and developed an ear infection. After an antibiotic and decongestant he is on the mend.

This has been the wetest(around 16 inches) October for our area in years and cooler too. It was in the lower 40's this morning. We have been getting the eaves and trim on the house ready for paint. Between rains. Tomorrow we plan on opening the paint buckets. We hope to get a lot done because we are forecast for more rain Sunday night and then later next week. My shoulder is sore from scraping this afternoon. I washed and hung out clothes. My clothes lines were full. Hanging clothes out has been challenging with the rain as well.

Oh, I found 365 Days of Free Motion Quilting blog while reading another blog (that's how I have found some really neat blogs!). She is a very talented quilter.

Sorry there are no pictures in this post. I will try and remedy that soon.

Blessings,

Update

Sorry, that I haven't posted lately. It's been busy again. We traveled to San Angelo/Ballinger last week on Thursday and Friday to take a Charolais bull to DH's dad who raises Charolais cattle. We took DGD and DGS with us to visit their great grandparents. It rained on us while driving down there. They went home Saturday evening. Then on Sunday I got ready for our quilt retreat. There will be a post about the retreat up and coming. I had a wonderful time. While at quilt retreat DH called to tell me his dad had been taken to the hospital. I got home Wednesday evening and then the next morning we drove back again to San Angelo. DFIL's stent they put in 2007 was completely blocked and found another blockage. They fixed all that. We drove home the same day. We stopped in Abilene to see DN who is visiting from the UK (and she is expecting their first child). This morning DFIL was supposed to go home but after an EKG they found another blockage and took him back into surgery. Thank God they found it and took care of it while he was there. We stayed home this time.

Rain--when we left at 4:00am Thursday it was pouring rain. We drove for about an hour in rain you could barely see to drive. When we got home the rain gauge had 2 3/4" in it. Glorious.

I am so tired. I am doing laundry and paying bills. I have made a note to myself. No traveling or grandkids before quilt retreats. It is too exhausting.

God Bless,

Home Again!

Yes, I'm home. And it feels good. DS is doing good after back surgery. He should be able to drive this week. He is getting around slowly but good. Thanks for all the prayers. He and I had a good time together at his house this last week. I had time to read a book, finish sewing "Pieces Parts" quilt (and DGD Aimee loved it when she saw it this weekend).



I cooked and cleaned and watched TV.


And we celebrated DGS Mason's 2nd birthday Saturday afternoon. What a precious baby! AND we are going to be grandparents again! Mason is going to have a baby brother or sister! Praise the Lord!
Can you see Butterball and I in the reflection of the patio door? You can click on the picture to enlarge it.



AND we have a new doggie at our house. Ruby is her name. She is a border collie. Yes, there may be puppies--someday. Max is getting older--ten years old. Ruby belonged to our DD and family and since moving into their new house Ruby wasn't happy in their smaller backyard. She was herding bugs. Poor baby. She seems to be happy here. She is 9 months old. Lots of energy! Oh, boy, here we go again. Poor Max. First Butterball--lots of energy and now Ruby--lots of energy. His naps will never be the same! We took Ruby down to meet the calves and hogs last night. It was feeding time and everyone was making lots of noise and she didn't like it at all! Ruby and Butterball are very curious of each other. So funny. Ruby had the habit of licking DD's dogs faces. Go figure. She tried it with Max just now. Let's just say it didn't go over too well! She probably thought "Grumpy, Old Man!"


Blessings,

Popping In

I am at my DS#1's house taking care of him after his surgery. He is doing well. He was dismissed from the hospital on Friday. He is progressing every day. He can't drive for two weeks following his surgery and can't go back to work for four weeks. I will stay until he can drive. I have been cooking and doing some cleaning. ; ) He hasn't offered to disown me or suggested I go home yet so I guess we are getting along peachy.

I brought some quilting projects. : ) and my sewing machine! Can you say "almost quilt retreat"?
I got the "Pieces Parts" quilt all together. There is a Jo-Anns right up the road. I went there today to buy ball-point needles to hem up lounge pants that are knit that DS#1 had bought. There's also a large thrift store I want to check out. I've visited a Super Target. Love it. AND maybe I will find time to check out the two quilt stores in the area.

I missed you guys in the last few days. I am using his computer to post. Trying to catch up on blogs. Thanks for all the prayers.

Blessings,

Blogging Break

I am taking a blogging break. I may pop in the middle but I'm not sure. Things are getting busy around here again. I've been picking squash. Yesterday I picked our first batch of okra. Fried okra for supper. : ) The blackeyed peas will be ready in a short while and DS#1 will be coming home from the hospital. So I'll catch you later.

Blessings,

Update on Brian

His surgery went well. He was in a lot of pain initially but today was better. His spinal cord was nipped in the process of fusion surgery and he's had to lay flat for more than 24 hours. This happened a couple of months ago when they had given him an injection in his back. At that time he got a migraine so severe he had to be hospitalized. But this time no migraine. Praise God. Tomorrow he will be up and walking for the first time after surgery. He has a back brace to wear anytime he is not in bed and has to wear it for 3 months.

Thank you for your prayers and I would certainly appreciate continued prayers.

Donna, Happy Birthday today!

Blessings to you all,

Needing your prayers again

Our DS#1 is having back surgery on Monday morning. Would you please say a prayer for him? Thanks. I will try and let you know how everything goes on Monday night or Tuesday sometime.

Blessings,

The next Tiger Woods?

The next Tiger Woods? We were in Abilene Saturday. Let me back up--we met DS#2 and DIL in Decatur at a mexican restaurant Friday night and came home with DGS Mason. Then we got up Saturday morning and drove to Abilene to meet DH's parents and brother and wife and we ate lunch at another mexican restaurant. We like mexican food--; ) . We were visiting in the backyard and I asked DBIL if he could find a ball in the garage for Mason to play with. He found a tennis ball and then got the idea to improvise a golf club/baseball bat (which ever Mason was imagining). A plunger -- you know the kind you use for plumbing problems. Yeah! Unscrewed the stick from the rubber. The stick became the club/bat and the rubber became the tee. It worked good! Okay, okay. No, it wasn't all gross so don't go saying ewwww! Mason loved it. He even backed up and got down on the ground and looked at his shot. I kid you not! It was hilarious. That was lunch and early Saturday afternoon. Then we stopped at DD and family on the way back and ate supper with them. She made a mexican dish! Can you say MEXICAN FOOD?! All the grandkids had a ball playing together. Then we headed home. Got Mason a bath and he (and us) slept well. He woke up at 7am. You put him on the ground and he runs. I took him down to the garden and we did some watering. He had a blast with the garden hose. Yes, he got soaked. My plan entirely. Not necessarily my plan to get pretty much soaked from the knees down. 8 ) Silly NaNaw had on blue jeans. Oh well not to bother. We got that all done and came in and got baths. Ate a light lunch and then loaded Mason and DH up and drove him home. DS#2 and DIL cooked us supper. Not mexican! Yay! Steak on the grill. Yummy. DH and I came home and pretty much collapsed.

Earlier in the week I made a blackberry cobbler from blackberries a friend from Bowie brought us. Oh my goodness! Some vanilla ice cream and warm blackberry cobbler--doesn't get any better. Unless it's chocolate and then we're talking a whole new thing! LOL

And I've had to discipline myself. Yeah, you may be thinking diet. That, too. But I've had to discipline myself to finish the repair of this quilt for someone. This is an older quilt that had lots of wear. The customer wanted to preserve it as much as possible. I am sewing down the pieces by hand that have come apart. This must have been a beautiful quilt in it's day. I don't know how old it is. It is hand pieced and hand quilted. It has flannel between the layers. I have worked on this for hours! A labor of love let me tell you. I don't have too many hours left. Yay!

Today, I went to a demonstration. A free demonstration making a jacket using a sweatshirt. I've never done one before. I've admired those I've seen others wearing. A nice demo! And a nice salad luncheon followed. You know I haven't had to cook much lately. This is working pretty good! Stay tuned but don't hold your breath for the jacket I do. LOL ANOTHER project in the making! Oh, no! Where does it all end? I know six feet under. Let's not rush things, okay? What the heck -- give me another project. I can do it.

Happy quilting and blessings,

Busy Week

Happy Valentines! We loaded pigs to take to auction on Tuesday before daylight. Then Tuesday afternoon DGS Mac had a program at school that I was invited to. It was a musical with percussion instruments and he had a speaking part. He did good. I got pictures. Wanna see? I knew you would!




This one was after the program and they
had already taken up the thingy a ma jiggys.



Afterward I got to check both DGS and DGD out of school early (lucky me with parental permission, of course) and we went to Dairy Queen for a treat and visited while their mom was still teaching. Then we met mom at their house and visited. While we were talking it came a hail storm. Nothing big -- marble size at the most. And the sun was shining! I knew we were forecast for bad weather later that evening so I gave my goodbye hugs and kisses and headed home. We didn't get any bad weather just rain and some wind. But Colleyville in the DFW area and areas near the Red River and Oklahoma just across the Red River from us did receive some really bad weather.

Then Wednesday as you know I have Kraz-z Quilters. I made lasagna (Stouffer's lasagna --Stouffer's did all the work) and salad and we quilted and quilted. Then Thursday I loaded up my quilting notions and went to Post Oak. I had a lovely time with the Busy Bees of Post Oak and a wonderful meal. Folks, this is the real thing. An old time quilting bee! Thanks, ladies.

Needless to say you didn't have to rock me to sleep either night. And I have been sewing rows on the Navy 4 Patch Stacked Posies as I have time per Wanda at Exuberant Color's method to save time. I think I'm going to like this. Since it is chained together, nothing gets separated and it's easy to pin the next step.



I'll get you a picture of my crumb blocks later. I have a total of 63 now. I love quilting! 8 )


Blessings,

Spring is Sprung?

Is it really here? We are closer anyway. There are fruit trees in bloom; the geese are flying north; and the temps are forecast into the eighties later this week. We enjoyed the snow but I'm glad we don't get it like up north. There were lots of snowmen made in yards. The DFW area only got a dusting of snow and mainly rain and sleet.

We have daylight saving time. Woohoo! Yeah, right. Who loves losing an hour of sleep? We had DGS Mason Saturday night so his mommy and daddy could go out with friends. We were to meet Sunday morning/lunchtime at my DS's house in Arlington. My in law's drove up and had rented a motel room in Arlington and my husband's sister was in town (DFW area) from Colorado. Well, we didn't set the alarm. Babies always wake up, right? And we have this inner clock that doesn't let us sleep late even on the weekends, right? Wrong! Baby didn't wake up and we slept. It was eight o'clock old time when I woke up. It's a little over an hour drive to son's house. Mason didn't want to eat and I had to have a shower. To make a long story short--we arrived there five minutes before twelve o'clock.

Speaking of Mason--he has really grown. He is eight months old now and sits alone pretty much.

Here is Mason and Larry. Isn't he darling? Don't look at my counter behind them. It is a catch all and catches it all all the time. We enjoyed him very much but the time flies too fast before he's gone. He has a bib that says "I'm going to Texas Tech". That's what his DD wants anyway. As parents we know things don't always happen the way we want. God has a way of changing our plans. In the picture on the right are l to r myself, my daughter-in-law, Angie; Larry's mom, Mary Ann; and Larry's sister, Debby. Here are the "guys". Oldest DS, Brian; DH, Larry; FIL, Fred holding Mason; and youngest DS, Marcus. DD and family couldn't make it.

Blessings,