What a Sound

Look what we have in the back yard of the cabin. Hard to see but it is a wonderful brook with little waterfalls all around. Oh my what a sound, nice and cool with hot tea on the deck and lots of tinkle breaks, why does running water make ladies have to pee

Friday Fun

 The little girls were full of life Friday! Here is Kara chasing Karsyn around.

 After naps is reading time, that is until they get their motors running again then they are on the move/

 Tyler is at the ripe old age of 5 now, he thinks he is too big to take pictures at the cherry tree each year :(

 Of course I couldn't get Karsyn to look my way when her big brother was running around like a wild man.

 Mason as always just loves to be played with, ahhh sweet babies!!

They finished up the day with a little time in the swing, then Nanny hit the couch!!!

I should be up finishing things that need to be done before we leave in a few hours for the mountains but here I set messing on the laptop. Friday nights and Saturday mornings are my slow time, as in my body doesn't want to move. After having the little guys all week I need some recovery time!! The car is packed for the most part, just a few odds and ends to throw in. The house is as clean as it needs to be but I do need to do some banking and pay bills before I hit the road. I am not sure if I will be posting while we are away, you never know if the cell phone/internet service will work in the mountains. If not I will post next Wednesday when we return with what I hope will be lots of projects I completed. For sure there will be more laugh lines on my face, more calories eaten than should be allowed, and sweet times with my buddies.

Have a great weekend and do something nice for yourself, we deserve it!!!!

Still Getting Ready

 This is one of the quilts I really wanted to get done while on our girls trip. I had everything cut out in case I could find the time.

 Yesterday since I only had Mason man I started stitching up a few squares, 72 to be exact.

 Then moved on to trimming them all up.

 What the heck, might as well put a few of the whole quilt squares together.

 Tonight I finished the last of the quilt squares 24 in all. This quilt top will for sure be done over the weekend!

Now on to the clean up before bed, UGH

I was so into making quilt squares after Mason left yesterday I just kept at it....until WAY past my bedtime. I paid dearly for that late night today I can tell you. After dropping off  Mason and Karsyn today I jumped in to finish the rest of the quilt squares then packed them up. I am afraid this quilt is going to turn out a little to white for my tastes but until its put together I won't know.

My food basket is ready to go along with all the recipes, laundry is done and clothes are packed. In the morning I hope to finish packing the car so we can get on the road Saturday morning bright and early. 

I am keeping track of the time I have put into this quilt, so far 19 hours. I have had many ladies ask how long it takes me to make one of the larger quilts. I have no idea, maybe I can remember to track the rest of the time it takes so I have a better idea of the time involved.

Off to sweep the floor then on to bed at a reasonable hour tonight. I have all 3 little ones as well as pick up and delivery since SIL #1 is out of town. Nothing like fighting morning rush hour traffic then back at it in the afternoon Friday night rush hour. I HATE DRIVING!!!

Time to Pack

 Mason and I worked on packing for my weekend girls trip today.

 I have had this purse pattern and fabric put back for awhile, maybe I can work on it this weekend.

 This table runner and four square quilt are also on the list of would love to do for ME with Strawberry Fields fabric.

 Mason fell asleep in this position.  I think all the fabric decisions might have overwhelmed him.

 I pulled out some of my stash to possibly work up purses for the little girls.

Then it was on to cutting our this super cute reunion fabric that will someday be a Charming Old Maid quilt. I had forgotten I had some charm packs stashed away.

Mason and I had a nice, quite, relaxing day pulling together projects to take to the mountains this weekend. Tomorrow I hope to finish up then do any odds and ends that need to be taken care of before the little girls join us at the end of the week. I know I am taking WAY more than I can possibly get done but I'm not sure what mood I will be in so I am taking a variety of things to work on. 

Each of us will take a day to do the cooking while we are away. I think I have come up with my menu for my day. I need to pull it all out of the pantry and put together a basket of condiments and such we might also need. We do hit the grocery for milk, eggs and such when we arrive but the rest mostly comes from home. Not only are my girl friends all pretty darn crafty they also know their way around the kitchen, some yummy food is for sure going to be eaten if nothing else gets done!.

Do you ever take the time for a girls getaway? We started doing it once our girls were all grown and out of the house (also off the payroll) I try to do a mountain trip once a year unless one of our DD's are ready to give birth (lots of that lately) Hubby also has his mancation once a year, pretty much a Harley Rally someplace. Having our Christmas/Vacation fund in place this year is an added bonus, that is if hubby could have stayed on budget, grr. I know I will come way under budget so it will all work out in the end but the man really needs to learn how to handle money better!!! 

HOT, HOT, HOT

 Finished the new baby girl quilt top yesterday morning.

Poor Mason man was stuck wearing girls clothes yesterday.

It is still crazy hot here, last night hubby had enough and turned the air conditioner on, sleeping in 83 degree heat was just to much for him! As much as I hate using the air so early in the season he was right, a good nights sleep is a must around our house. He tried to till the garden yesterday afternoon but it's still to wet to work in, maybe in a week or two it will dry out enough. With the weather we are having I am not sure how well the early spring plants are going to do, time will tell.

Hubby also worked his magic on our washing machine. It seemed to me that the agitator wasn't working very well, sure enough it had striped itself out. Took him less that on hour to put in the new parts, now its working like new again!! I figure he saved us a couple of hundred dollars in service calls and labor fees, I have almost forgiven him for his overspending on his mancation! HA

By the afternoon it was so stinkin hot in the house even with all the doors and windows open along with the fans on high that I striped Mason man down but had to dress him in little girl clothes as I only have winter things for him, he makes a cute girl don't you think? Mommy sent things with him today for me to keep on hand, she isn't crazy about cross dressing her little guy. I was able to finish piecing one of the little girl quilts I have lined up but the pinning had to wait until maybe today. I will have to see what Mason has in mind before I can get anymore work done. I would like to have it pinned and ready to quilt on our girl trip. I'm not crazy about how bright the colors are in this quilt, I lean more to pastels for babies. Maybe when I get it worked up I will feel differently. I hope to devote much of the day to planning and packing for our girls trip, having the 3 little ones Thursday and Friday leaves no time to do anything other than keep my head above water, we will be headed out bright and early Saturday so It's now or never.

We watched an interesting interview on TV last night with economic EXPERTS. Their assessment of our economic problems is Americans are not spending enough money, people are not taking on debt or buying homes. As soon as consumer confidence comes back we will be able to get the economy moving in the right direction again. They think to many news broadcast have scared people off from their normal spending habits which in turn has added to the economic decline. GIVE ME A BREAK!!! Now it's all of our fault that we are balancing our families budgets, living within our means, putting a little back for a rainy day, basically trying to be good stewards of our money that is the USA's downfall. Some day's I would like to jerk the cable out of the wall!

Sunday Stuff

 Found 2 memory games at Wally World today for $2.99 @ in the clearance isle, these will be great for charity Christmas gifts this year

 Our pear trees are in full bloom, I figure we should harvest 2 or 3 pears this season!! Hey you gotta start somewhere. Ignore the shaggy yard, I will get the mowing done tomorrow evening.

The cherry tree is putting on a show again this year. I need to get a photo of each of the grands at the tree before the blossoms are gone. One good thunderstorm will strip it bare of blooms.

Today was a SPEND day!! I slept in until 7:00AM, super late for me them took myself out for a nice breakfast before heading to Wally world to replace my EXPENSIVE crappy iron. I have come to the conclusion no matter what you spend for small appliances they all are made of the same crappy parts, never again will I put real money out for an iron. Mine is only 3 or 4 years old and leaks like a rusty bucket. I picked up one for $39.95 today that was suggested by some other quilters, figure if I can get a few years out of it I will have spent my money well. I did consider the model that the quilting stores have out that runs $190.00 but several ladies say they are having the same problem with leaking so I went for the cheapo.

I also needed to pick up a few more items to send our friend in Afghanistan a BoBoo box. I made BoBoo boxes for all the kids and their friends when they went off to college, this young man received one as well but that was 11 years ago. He ask his Mom if I could send another one his way as they don't have access to OTC drugs, bandaids and such. Tyler finished decorating the container at supper tonight so I can pack it up and get in the mail. He decorated with super hero stickers, because "Army men are real super hero's" I couldn't agree more.

While waiting for Hubby to arrive back from his mancation I cut out 2 baby girls quilts. I want to get one pieced and pin basted before our trip next weekend, the other I will take along for a quick easy peasy project I may or may not do. Then it was off to supper with the family, always a fun time (more $$ spent). We did Italian tonight, Tyler wanted spaghetti and meatballs, how can restaurants justify the price when a durn noodle cost nothing to cook. I must admit it was nice not having to clean up the mess in the kitchen and all through the house after our family Sunday dinner. The cooking I don't mind but the clean up is a bugger!!!

Off to bed, Mason man will arrive bright and early. I need to get hubby's clothes washed (hope I find some cash) then we are going to do a little work in the garden tomorrow afternoon. Hubby will have to head back north Tuesday so I need to get as much of the tilling done while he is around, I don't do tilling!

Fabric Overdose

When DD#3 dropped Kara off this morning I had her hold her up to our cherry tree for a quick photo. Hope I can get a better picture when her hair is not a mess before the blooms are all gone!

 After SIL#3 picked Kara up I headed to the quilt shop to purchase the additional Christmas fabric I need for our girls weekend retreat. Surprise, surprise I couldn't leave without something extra, Sweetwater Reunion fabric.

 I LOVE this stuff, also have a jelly roll of it in my stash. I HAVE TO LEAVE this home next week or I will once again end up with a dozen things going at once. I am thinking this would make a nice Father's Day quilt for hubby as well as look pretty cute in the family room! Any reason to make another quilt works for me.

 Remember this fabric I won from Kathy's blog   http://quiltrestoration.blogspot.com/ 

 I used it along with a pattern I had picked up awhile back to make a note pad holder. The one from the pattern is on the right hand side. I didn't care for the looks of it so I started over this time using a binding on the edge. It turned out much nicer.

Inside it has a pocket for a notepad, pen and coupons or whatever. Thanks again Kathy I have used up just about every single bit of the fabric making little notepad covers this afternoon.

I was so dog tired after the grands left yesterday I didn't even eat supper, it was PJ's and the bed for me before the sun was down. Kara didn't arrive today until 11:00 so I did a quick pick up, some kitchen cleaning and 2 loads of wash from the grands this week. The one room I didn't hit was the grands room. When Kara walked in the door of the play room she yelled out EWWWW. Great I have an 19 month old now critiquing my domestic skills. I did get busy while she was playing and cleaned up the room to her liking!!

Once SIL#3 picked Kara up I was off to get the errands done for the week (I hate traffic) I didn't get to the post office in time but I think I can manage on Monday since I will only have Mason Man for the day. I have all the tread I should need along with cutting blades and the extra fabric I was short of for the Christmas quilts. Why, oh why, can't I go in a fabric store without loosing my mind!!!!! Just when I have my "Room of Sin" all nice and organized I drag in an additional bag of fabric..... No regrets, this stuff is cute! I also bought a pattern to work up the new fabric but as luck would have it when I sat down tonight to study it the package is missing the last page. I have the worst luck buying patterns, something always seems to be missing. Monday I will see if the store will e-mail me a copy of the last page, with gas up to $3.79 a gallon I don't want to make another trip out unless I have to.

Hubby has decided Nanny needs a day of rest so Sunday dinner will be our treat for the family eating out. Hubby is playing nice with me since he has been using the debt card instead of the CASH he has in his pocket at the bike rally in Daytona, grrr that man. I know the waiters at restaurants cringe when they see us coming. We need a table for 9 and also 3 high chairs please, a nice out of the way area might be best!! What the heck we are really good tippers so it all works out in the end.