Things are hoppin' around my house. Brian and I are trying to paint my DR and Kitchen and still be ready for a house full of people this weekend. We'll make it -- I think :)

It was great to get him home and to enjoy Avery's Bday in Nashvegas before coming back to cleveland. You can check Jen's blog for a longer narrative but here are some pics from my camera.


Can you see him ????






























Oh Yeah --- my kid can hold her breath for five minutes while walking on her hands underwater-- can your kid do that????

Brian's HOME!!

Here is Brian at the airport with his Barqs and his ham sandwich as requested (except we did forget the mustard :))








And, here is Brian about four hours later. I'm thinkin he was tired after all that traveling!










We don't see pics of Michael and Avery very often and I thought this was really good so I'm posting it. It's from when we ate at SaltGrass last night -- good food!!

COMING SOON!!

Got an email from Brian --- he's in Hong Kong so he won't get in trouble with his visa. He will be home tomorrow (July 10) on the same flight. He was rerouted through Chicago -apparently the route he would have been on to arrive today no longer exists???-- so he had to pay an extra $143. Guess that makes sense if you work for the airlines. Anyway, just 24 hours. Can't wait!!

BUMMER!!

For any who know that Brian is due home tomorrow -- thanks to the Chinese driver getting lost several time taking him to the airport in Xi'an and then the people there not knowing where he was supposed to check in and sending him all over the airport, he missed his flight to Hong Kong. Supposedly he'll be on all the same flights once he gets to Hong Kong only it will 24 hours later. But, I'm off to NashVegas after awhile anyway and will enjoy Avery's birthday tomorrow and then hit the airport on Thursday. (I hope :))

More later

LATE NIGHT SEWING

Why is it I always get the urge to sew after 9pm. It's not like I drink coffee at that hour. I just seem to get a second wind. So here is the result of doing just that. I had to rip out two seams before I even started because
the two strips I sewed the other day, were backwards. Not the first two I took a picture of but the next two. After doing that, I pinned and sewed the six strips I had left to the two that were already together.

My resident observer who had been slacking off on his bed in the back finally came and laid in the doorway.
He kept asking me to please turn off the sewing machine and Jack Bauer and come to bed. To which I replied "Not yet!"

The finished top being inspected by my resident observer. He gave it a thumb's up and so, we are off to bed. Has an interesting design I think. All for now.

IT'S A HOLIDAY

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY EVERYBODY!!!
Have a great day and don't forget to remember what this holiday represents to all of us.

12 SQUARES, SHOES FROM ZAPPOS,DOGS WATCHING TV AND WHO KNOWS WHAT ELSE....

I have 12 of the 48 log cabin squares joined so my quilt top is 1/4 complete. You can kind of see a pattern emerging. I actually did that yesterday -- haven't gotten around to sewing today. I spent a good part of the morning at school helping my boss with a project and then going to the grocery after which I took Lucy home. (She helps me clean -- actually, she does the work and I just appreciate it). Then this afternoon I spent most of my time putting this weeks bulletin together and makng out the list of those who will be serving all through July so that putting the other bulletins together will go faster.

I ordered two pair of shoes from Zappos late yesterday afternoon and guess when they arrived -- today around 5:30. Not bad for free shipping! After supper - just before dark, I put on my new Asics and took Toby for a walk. Like walking on air. They were very comfortable. My new sandals are pretty comfy too.

Toby was all relaxed and enjoying season 4 of NCIS with me but I personally enjoy a good crime show a lot more when watchinig it right side up. Him -- not so much. Makes me wonder if he's really paying attention. I just love that show -- way better than CSI. It always has a good story and a little comedy thrown into the mix. Plus, it makes our guys look like good guys instead of dopes.

Tomorrow, more quilt squares, another pair of "jeans-into-capris" and some cooking.
All for now...

Comfortable Old Jeans

I've spent the last 3 hours trying to balance my bank account. It normally takes 20 minutes. I don't even know what I did because when I finally walked away for awhile and then came back and started over -- it took -- about 20 minutes. But, it's done, the bills are paid and I'm good to go for another month. I'm debating on planting another tree in the backyard and feeding it miracle grow to see if money really does grow on trees. Let me know if you've had any success in that area.

This morning I took my oldest raggediest jeans that I love to wear and turned them into capris. They are cooler to wear and soooooo comfie. They were just too raggedy around the bottom. I also patched the hole by the pocket where if you were interested in looking you could see my brightly colored cotton undies. (Sorry if that's TMI but at least its covered now) I also finished the ends of the ribbon on the pillowcase dresses and went to the dollar store and found some storage baskets to help me organize my kitchen cabinets a little better.

I might have some surprise company Friday night. Actually, it won't be a surprise since they called me today. Michael and one of his friends are thinking about coming to the delta to play golf on the fourth. If they do, they will come here afterward and spend the night. I hope they do. I always love it when my kiddos come even if just for a few hours. I tried to sweeten the deal by saying we could cook some steaks on the grill!! Hope it works.

Tonight is going to be an earlier night for me so I'm off to bed at 10:30. Tomorrow is "put together my quilttop day" (the log cabin) and I'm excited about it. I'm also planning a quick trip to town to get material for two more pillowcase dresses.(for my sweet TX granddaughters). I'm thinking some mixture of blue and brown or maybe pink and brown. I'll have to see what they have.

Here is a picture I found of a "Wonky" Log Cabin quilt. If you look closely you'll see that the strips are cut so that the give an off-kilter effect. I love how it looks and can't wait to try one - of course it is at the end of my project list -- honest it is.

If anyone knows what to do when your pictures start showing up as html in the compose window and you can't see the actual picture, let me know. It started doing that a couple of posts ago and I don't know what I changed.

51st Post

I just realized that my last post was number 50. Guess that is some sort of milestone in the blogosphere.

I've finished the dress I started LAST year for Vail and am now hoping
it will fit Katy. I've only the handwork left to do. It will have two bttons int he back - a green one and an orange. I thought that would be a fun thing to do.

These are the pillowcase dresses I made. They have a matching ribbon that has the red from all three dresses and then some yellow and green that goes with the flowers. I think they turned out really cute.

Summer Travels Part 3: The End

Well, all I can say is these young whipper-snappers who think a vacation is go-go-go and spend all your money on a cruise or disney world (or something similar) have never spent a week with my sister! We got to babysit (well, I was really just along for the ride) two of the cutest little misters you will ever meet -- Thomas and Charlie. They were more fun than a barrel of monkeys -- for real. I didn't even hear Charlie (around a year old) cry until the last day we kept him. And Thomas -- he was very entertaining! He kept us laughing the whole time. We wanted to go to the IKEA store down near Cinncinatti one day and about 10 miles down the road decided to do our "local" shopping since we had the boys with us and save IKEA for after mom and dad got home. Even though they had been really good and happy we figured that might be safer. And it was -- that was the day that Thomas decided to act like a two year old -- imagine that and he will be three this month. He didn't want to listen to gramma and had to ride in the cart for a while and was not a happy camper. Any way, he got over it and we had a fun shopping trip but got home in time for naps and lunch which would not have been the case if we'd gone to IKEA.

Maddie the year old Rotweiller kept us hopping too. She wanted Toby to play every time he came outside and Toby only plays with humans so there was a lot of hopping and leaping by the pup and alot of growling and snapping by the crotchity old Cocker Spaniel. Then she ate her water bucket -- a five gallon white pail, and chewed up several plant pots and even knocked a big heavy plant pot off the bench under the tree while chasing the cat. She lives an exciting life in between her time outs on a very short chain.

We tried out a couple of new recipes -- a beef brisket recipe from the Pioneer Woman's blog -- you need to check out her recipes -- they all look really good. I made the green beans for our potluck at church today and there weren't any left to bring home. I also made Paula Deen's (no-cal) banana pudding. You just think it has cream cheese, condensed milk, and coolwhip in it but it's just your imagination. Boy was it good!!

There were four grown Neely boys at the house one evening and honestly -- you couldn't tell the difference between them and the three year olds -- they are hilarious.

Sunday afternoon, Michael and Avery came by for a suprise visit -- they were visiting friends in Dayton for the weekend. Michael and Avery and I took a ride on Uncle Lundy's new GATOR. Avery was not happy at first and then all of a sudden she saw a cat and the tears stopped and she was having a great time and I got off and she rode with her dad by herself.

I learned a new four letter word for FUN -- it's IKEA. Beth and I went and spent about four and 1/2 hours there. They have a showroom with all kinds of rooms set up and you get all kinds of organization ideas from them. then they have the wharehouse and the other area that reminds me of a Walmart kind of with aisles of things that you saw in the showroom. It was a really fun adventure.

My ride home was uneventful -- I spent the night in Nashville and Thursday morning Jen and the girls and I went to a store called Rooster Tails -- full of hand made kind of rustic tables, kitchen islands, chests and other stuff. A really neat place. We at lunch with Michael and then I came the rest of the way home. I listened to two books while I was traveling -- Philip Margolin and James Patterson. Both books were very good, keep you awake while traveling stories which was good since Toby chose to snore the entire trip.

It was great to sleep in my own bed for a change but I have to say that I didn't want to leave. I guess as I get older I appreciate the old homeplace and family more every time I visit. Okay, before I get carried away, I'll end with two funny stories about Ella (even though I wasn't there when they occured. I called Beth yesterday and I heard a child's voice say "Hello" I said hello back and the voice said -- Aunt Vail, this is Ella. We talked a minute and then as I was going to hang up, she asked for my phone number. I told her that Gramma had my number already and she said no, I want it for me so I can call you from my house. I told her okay but she would have to be sure and have permission from Mom or Dad before calling. She said "okay". So I began 6 - 6 - 2 and about that time Ella said "How do you make a 6" My other story was told to me today by my sister (gramma). Apparently their calico cat had kittens in the last few days. So sometime yesterday (I think), Ella came in saying "Grampa, Grampa, the titty-tat had five titties!! --- Don't you just love it!!!

Here are some real pictures of the new kitchen and Mike, Avery and I riding the gator.

Summer Travels Part 2

The weather in PA and Ohio has been nothing short of fabulous. I have been enjoying myself soooooo much. There is nothing like a good dose of family to make you forget about whatever needs to be forgotten :) Beth and I had a very enjoyable trip to see mother. We helped her plant some flowers, walked the pony from Grandpa's barn to her barn, watched Freida ( her year old Doberman) run back and forth across the yard like a race horse, went to see our Auntie Lois and ate on the patio overlooking the bay, took Mother to eat at Olive Garden, ate sauerkraut and pork and homemade strawberry shortcake (YUMMMMMM), went to Frankie's garden stand and bought enough plants to fill her car to overflowing and watched two movies.

We've been back at her house since after lunch on Tuesday so she can babysit Thomas and Charlie while Matt and Amanda are on a mini vacation to NYC. She is the best grandma ever (of course!!!) and Thomas and Charlie are so much fun to babysit. So far we have been to the Old Time Pottery where I got a couple of pots to put some plants in and this morning I potted some Lavendar I bought and also a geranium with some verbena. They look good. I'm thinking about painting my thumb green to see if that will help me keep the plants alive. Last night we went to "Homerama" which is like an open house at some brand new homes that are furnished and everything. You can get lots of ideas for your house or your dream home. There were four houses -- the smallest was 5800 sq. feet. Ben and John and Allen went with us -- (none of their wives are in town.) We had a lot of fun. Even Charlie and Thomas enjoyed the trip. The boys folks will be back after lunch tomorrow and then it will be just Beth and I since Lundy is in Hungary til Wed. We are going to make a trip to the IKEA store on Monday. I passed it on the way up here. It is huge and Beth says it is full of all kinds of neat stuff. I'm planning on leaving here Wed. morning, spending that night in Nashville and going home on Thursday. I was going to leave earlier and spend a couple of days in Nashville but since Lundy is gone and I'll be coming back to Nashville for several days when Brian gets home, I'll be there for several days anyway, I selfishly decided to spend more time with my big sis.

Enjoy the pictures.



Here are Mother and Auntie Lois







I couldn't resist taking a picture of my old homestead bedroom. I still love that wall paper -- although I don't want it in my house -- it wouldn't have the same effect :)






Mother on our movie night -- even Frieda couldn't keep her awake during the movie :))






Happy Charlie is always smiling!








Thomas -- showing us his eybrow trick. He is keeping us all in stitches.







The fierce rotweiller guard dog Maddie staying behind the high barbwire fence --- it is disguised to look like cardboard.






Here are two sneakpeaks of Beth's new kitchen .



****

**** Just

Kidding :)

Summer Travels Part One

What fun I had in Longview! Therre were games of Hi Ho Cheerio, books to read, walks to go on, trips to the boardwalk (in Shreveport) and to the fabric store (sorry, I missed my fab-anon meeting) and lots of hugs and I love you's in between.

Billy and Stacey have a neat garden with peas, tomatoes, bell peppers, carrots, squash and things I know I've left out. Strawberries -- I had a couple and they were delish! I also found out you can eat nastursiums (it's a flower). The leaves and blossoms are very tasty in salad. I tried a leaf -- it's spicy like pepper. I didn't try one of the blossoms.

Those kids are go - go- go all the time. I applaud Stacey and Billy too for being able to keep up with them :)

Sunday afternoon Billy aired up the pool for the kids. Once the pool had enough water we let the kids get in. Here they are in the pool.

There must have been something in the water though because Jack was drinking the water and

the next thing I knew .....