Tears and prayers for Alabama

Carpenters tape measure is used for the closure
6X5 Snappy Bag

We are still waiting to hear from some family and friends in AL. The power is out in most area's so without a cell phone they are gonna have a heck of a time making contact, however from the news reports it seems like there was no major damage to any of the neighbourhoods where they live. The news footage from around the state is more than the mind can take in, so many lives lost and the numbers will surely climb as the days go on and the responders can get to some area's that are still cut off. Have heard from a few through facebook that the power may be out for weeks so they are leaving town until power and water are restored, 1/2 a million people are in the dark with little or no running water tonight. So sad....
Kara and I did a little sewing today, put together the Snappy bag above, super easy and uses very little material so I should be able to clean out my scrap pile of fabrics making a few more of these. The odd part was you use a metal tape measure for the closure. After Kara left tonight I ran up to Lowe's home improvement and picked up the cheapest one I could find then finished off the bag. What do you know it worked!! Super cool. The bags are soooo easy and fast to put together it's not funny, quilting the fabric is the only part that took any time.

Garden update:
Lettuce in the flower boxes don't seem to be to happy, may need to find a new home for them, only 6 potatoes have sprouted so far (not giving up hope), Carrots have finally popped up and are looking good, everything else seems to be doing OK, happy to have finally gotten a little rain.

Sweet Home Alabama

Sweet little ruffle apron, and I do mean LITTLE
Some yummy new fabric

Our hearts are breaking from the news coming out of Alabama. Rambo man grew up in Huntsville AL, our family moved to the area when I was still in High school, we meet, married and started our life together there. We have many family members and friends who still reside in Alabama, we have heard from most of them but still waiting for news from a few. We are now under a high wind advisory and a tornado watch until 2:00AM, storms have already moved into the Asheville NC area so it looks like I will be up late into the night with an eye on the sky.

Today was my last day of spring break before the babies return tomorrow. I decided to blow off everything I shoulda and coulda done today and treat myself to a trip to the fabric store. I needed to sign up for a few classes I am taking in May and pick up the materials for class, of course I didn't stop there..... Picked up the pattern for the ruffle apron pictured above along with a jelly roll and 2 fat quarters that would make 2 aprons, ya right. Had enough fabric to make one little bitty apron, the length is fine, the ties are OK, but the waistband is 14 inches, GRRRR I thought maybe I picked up a child's pattern but the size says adult small to XXXL. The bib aprons I make most of the time have a waistband of 26 inches, plenty roomy for any size lady. Gonna have to find some skinny A... person to pass this little jewel on to. I will give it another try using bolted fabric, the jelly rolls are to expensive, also plan to change the construction a bit, didn't like what they suggested and of course I will be enlarging the pattern by A LOT!! Have the supplies for 2 classes I will be taking next month and a few extra fat squares for a cute little "Snap Happy" bag I want to make. In all my spare time! HA

Stainless Steel Goddess

25 tomato plants finally in the ground
Rust is not possible!!

The new Ball Elite stainless steel canner is a beauty can't wait to can some strawberry jam (soon, very soon) without the worry that the bottom may fall out. What a nice surprise to hear the man in brown's truck pull up to the house after busting butt in the garden today. I don't have the heart yet to put the old canner to the curb but it really must go the rust is almost through in 3 different spots.

Finally got the tomatoes planted in the new bed, lots more work to do around the bed to keep the yard from creeping back in and we may need to put up some fencing to keep the critters out but at least they are planted and watered in. I put 25 plants in the back bed in hopes that we will have enough tomatoes to put up this year without having to supplement from the local farmer. We started the new bed by putting down cardboard then adding grass clippings, leaves and compost over the summer and fall last year then just had it all tilled in (when the fella finally showed up) Rambo man did a once over with the little tiller to loosen up the soil a bit more then we just planted without adding anything else. We may not get great results this year since we didn't implement the soil much but I am hopeful. Might take another week or two to get the area looking and working the way I want but for now we just needed to get them in the ground.

Have you read the book " The $64 Tomato" by William Alexander, super funny and so true if you don't watch what you are doing a garden can take over you life and bank account! This super small little garden spot has cost us $170.13 so far (cost listed below) Please, oh please let us beat the odds and make this pay off!!!! Our goal is 12 quarts of tomatoes and 22 pints by the end of the summer along with fresh sliced tomatoes during the season. I might just sneak a few more plants in the larger garden area as insurance!

Tomato garden cost;

2 Garden hoses - $ 33.47 each

1 Sprinkler - $ 34.97

Spigot splitter - $5.97

25 plants - $ 62.25

Sweet rental house

Sandy back yard, perfect for an Easter egg hunt

Our Grands at the Wedding, lovin the hammock

We arrived home from our family road trip to Key West late yesterday just in time for Rambo man to head back to his project. Key West is exactly 908 miles from our home one way, that is a heck of a long way to go in just 5 day's but it's all the time Rambo man could spare this late in the project he is on, we were afraid he wouldn't be able to make it at all so we can't complain!!!

The Wedding was beautiful, our Niece was lovely and her new husband is a doll baby, we look forward to watching them begin their new life together, can't wait to see the beautiful family they will become! I know my sister is need of a long rest after the over the top festivities they planned for everyone, it was a perfect weekend. They started the Wedding off with a tour bus for everyone of the island followed up with dinner at Margaritaville, Saturday the ceremony was held on the beach of the Waldorf Austria followed by the reception in the ball room, on Sunday they hosted an Easter brunch at Mango's on Duvall street. We arrived Friday with an hour to get ready for the rehearsal dinner then headed out after the Easter brunch on Sunday, talk about a whirlwind trip!

I now have 2 day's off before the rest of the family returns from vacation to get the yard back in shape (sorta), thin the onions, carrots, and radishes then get some plants in the regular garden, figure if I work from sun up to sun down I should be able to make some headway and finish up over the weekend.

Weekly spending; Lets not go there! Na, it really wasn't that bad. We were able to get the rental house that was wonderful at 25% off by booking and paying a few month's in advance. We lugged snacks and drinks with us to save a little, enjoyed some sightseeing that cost nothing, rented a dune buggy sorta thing for the family on Saturday that we were able to get at a discount from the front desk at the resort. The butt kicker was of course gas prices, on the island it ran $4.05, total spent on gas for the trip was $480.00, yikes!!!

Travel Tips

Ear plugs keeps communication pleasant

Largest Barnes and Noble I have seen, two stories of pure joy

Short post as we need to get back on the road, total spent on gas $205.00 yesterday UGHHHHH. Had a great lunch at Krystal hamburgers, family favorite when we can find one

Toy Story

Oh how I love a deal! While wondering around in Walmart looking for things to fill Rambo mans Easter basket I found this jewel of a backyard toy for the Grands . Regular price $89.95, marked down to $25.00 in addition to that I had a $5.00 off coupon. Not a bad deal $90.00 toy for $20.00, now if I were a truly frugal Nanny I would put it back for Tyler's Birthday, however I am not so he and Papaw put it together last night while I got the lawn mowed. Instead of using the teeter totter as was intended he was putting stuffed animals on it and catapulting them across the den, hummm little boys just think a different than our girls did at his age.
We are off on our road trip this morning for our Nieces destination Wedding. The truck is packed, snacks and drinks are within easy reach, and I am gonna try as hard as I can not to focus on the ridicules price of gas!! This will be the first holiday in 15 years that we will be away from home. However all of our children and Grands will be meeting us down there so we will still be together. I am such a stickler for traditions it's not easy for me to step out on the wild side and do the whole resort thing during a holiday. I did bake a batch of Easter M&M cookies to take along and we will be finding the time to dye Easter eggs and have a Easter egg hunt for the big and little kids. I have a ham and all the fixin's for when we return to have our traditional dinner, that will have to do for this year!

Ya for seeds

Our radish and onion seeds have come up, no sign yet of the carrots but I am sure they will be soon!! Fella came and worked on tilling the garden again today, not sure what he is thinking, he went over the work he had already done and still didn't do the back garden. We plan on planting next week, sure hope he will finish the back garden by then so I can get everything in and be done, at least until the weeding starts up.

Strawberry season starts in 2 weeks, checked on what we have left from last season today, 6 packages of frozen berries (2 cups @) and 7 - 4 ounce jars of jam. We still have 11 jars of asparagus that I need to use up, asparagus will come in around the same time as the berries. AJ our beloved hound dog (beagle) dug up our asparagus bed last year so we will be headed to the farm to make a purchase.

The heat is on now, temp was 85 degree's today, the house is at 79 degrees tonight. Pulled out an extra fan from the attic to use tonight. I am trying to hold off on the air conditioner as long as I can, but if this heat keeps up we won't be able to hold off much longer.