Grandkids!

My husband has come to the conclusion that I need grandchildren.  While he was working yesterday, I spent the entire day from 7:15 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. putting this little village together.

Okay, okay...maybe a few years ago it was a little village.  Somehow it seems to have grown.  I swear to myself every year I'm not going to buy anything to add to it.   When it comes time to put the village up again, there are boxes of new goodies I didn't own the previous year.  It's Elves...I tell ya!  

To spill my guts here, you can't see the box sitting on the floor that has more village goodies in it.  D doesn't even know that's what's in the box.  Guess he'll know if he reads this blog.  Oye!

You can't see it but there are three ponds to skate on.  Alright, they're broken mirrors with snow sprayed on them then wiped off but don't tell the kiddies that.

My villagers are very eco friendly.  If you'll note, there are no cars.  Nope, they take horses or walk where they want to go.  The cars are in the boxes and I think they'll stay there this Christmas.  Yep...it'll be a green year.

For those of you who are curious, yes the street lights go on.  It's a pain because they have to be turned on individually.  So do the bridges, archways, horse & carriage, snowman, etc.  That's another thing I think I'll do each year then don't get to it.  Wire everything to a master switch. That way I won't be hiding boxes under houses and the snow and I could touch one button and have instant lighting.  Just another thing on the 'to do' list.

Oh...what's the best part of the village?  It's right by the front door so when someone comes in the breeze blows snow all over the place.  It's a mess but because it makes me smile, I put up with it.

Now it's time to head out and put some boxes away and do some cleaning up.  It's been a laid back day today so I've done absolutely nothing constructive.  Maybe tomorrow I'll clean house and that'll leave Wednesday for wrapping presents.  Another mess I enjoy making.  Luckily S's present is on the back of the pick-up and will stay there until we celebrate Christmas on Sunday.  I love gifts to big to take off the truck.  LOL!

Happy Christmas everyone!

Love

My husband says he loves me more times than I can count.  I think at times I take for granted he'll say it, which isn't a good habit to get into. He's always been a touchy, feely, sweet talkin' guy but the other night he really proved his love.  

Sometimes it's not the big things that say I love you...it's the small thoughtful things.  It's been very cold here lately by California standards and D proved his thoughtfulness.  I'm used to hopping into bed on ice cold sheets.  You see I just can't remember to turn on the electric blanket.  (That's where I miss having the waterbed.)  

Anyway, the other night as usual D is already asleep so I quietly pull back the blankets prepared to hit the ice and get surprised with warmth.  WOW!  It was great.  My thoughtful husband turned on my electric blanket before going to sleep.  Now that's what I call love and thoughtfulness.

Sometimes it's the simple pleasures that make life worth living. 

Outsmarted myself again!

Well, I did the, 'outsmart myself' thing again.  I figured since I had to go out today I might as well get my coupons and go buy a couple of converter boxes for the TVs.  I remember saying to myself, "I'm going to put these right here so when I need them, I'll know where they are".  I'm guessing you're getting where this is going.

I can't find the darn things in any of the desks, pending files, coupon files or gift certificate files.  I just don't have a clue where I put the darn things. What's worse is I can see those orange cards in my minds eye.  (&(^$#@!

What I did find (E you've seen this before) is an old picture of Doug, Patti and Jim.  I even remember that Volkswagon!  Check out that garage.  See how tight it is getting the VW to fit?  Imagine mom and dad parking the 62 Galaxie 500 (which is the size of an aircraft carrier) in one.  Talk about fit like a glove.  I was going to say, you really had to know how to drive back then.  Then I remembered dad ran over the dog once getting the car out of the garage.

Oh, he was okay even though a 5,000 pound car completely ran over him. Because he was a fat obese wiener dog, his layers of blubber saved him from getting hurt.  Go figure!

Okay...okay...back to the search.  I got sidetracked with the old picture but just felt it needed to be posted.  Check out how Shannon resembles Patti.  She wouldn't in person but the camera really makes it look that way. Weird....spooky....oooooooo....

Birthday Party

So mom's party turned out to be a success.  It was nice seeing everyone.  I just wish H had arrived earlier so she could hang out with her cousins.  She did have a nice one on one visit with mom after everyone left.

This is mom opening her....er I mean...E's kindle.  I got a recorded call from UPS today telling me the Kindle will be delivered between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. tomorrow and someone has to be home to sign for it.  Luckily D will be home because I have a doctors appointment at 2:00.  The recording didn't give the option to go to UPS and pick up the package.  Sometimes I just find automated recordings irksome.

S never posts pictures of herself.  I guess she's like me and is always behind the camera.  She looks so relaxed here.  She was listening to S and W come up with more harebrained ideas of painting the kitchen appliances with various patterns like flames.  I think racing stripes for the fridge was also a topic of conversation.

The good news is, with everyone being young and pretty new homeowners they don't have the cash for such crazy ideas.  It's when they actually have money they can dip into to act on some of these notions that men get dangerous.  LOL!

I'm gonna get shot for this one.  S hates his picture taken so I thought not only would I prove I have a picture of him but I'd post it for the world to see.  If he knew, he'd try and find a way to hack into my blog and remove it.  Yahahahar! I love being a mom!  What you miss in this picture was the glare he gave me after the flash of the camera.  Of course I gave him the innocent...whaaaaa??? look.

The good news is today I got two rooms completely decorated with Christmas goodies.  The bad news is....they're the laundry room and the bathroom off  the laundry room where nobody goes.  Oh well, at least they're spotless.  Yep, I cleaned cabinets out, washed the outside of the appliances, scrubbed the floors and so on.  At least I have two beautiful  rooms in the house.

Tomorrow.....the living room!

It hailed here twice today.  We had a beautiful rainbow but it disappeared by the time I went from the family room to the sewing room to get the camera then to the front door.  It might have lasted at least 4 nano seconds.  Oh well, better luck next time.

Crazy Zoobie

Check out this crazy Zoobie.  I've had two people ask about the monkey so I finally ordered some.  It's absolutely hilarious.  The arms and legs are so skinny and weird.  It's not my favorite Zoobie by animal species because it's so gangly, but I absolutely love the red color and how soft it is.

This guy just makes me shake my head and laugh.

The Real Story

I am such a horrible daughter.  Look at this poor woman, she's exhausted.  She spent the morning taking the Christmas decorations out of the boxes and putting them on the coffee table.  A taxing job to be sure, considering the amount of boxes I have.  We barely touched the surface of getting the stuff out and put around the living and family rooms.

We had to take a break in the afternoon and watch Disney movies.  See how quickly she got in her 'spoil the wiener dog' mode?  She only has two for the moment.  The little bump under her right hand is A.  As you can see, N is headed for the chair so she could take her place in mom's lap. Nope she's not letting the other two hog all the grandmother heat.

So here's the night version of mom's visit here.  As you can tell, she's really resisting the dogs. Yep, she wanted to go run around the circle for a bit of exercise but those darn doxies held her down.  I know it's hard to tell but there are three in her lap.  See G's red and white Christmas coller?  If you look real close you can see the brown and white spots of N (she's hiding under mom's left arm).

My dogs are very loving and the only reason they decided to grace mom's lap was to keep her from venturing far.  Since they aren't allowed past the backyard, they wouldn't be able to rescue her if she and her walker rolled down the driveway.

Do I have thoughtful guard dogs or what?

As you can see Gran is having a tough time adjusting here.  Yesterday she was a Mac whiz, today she's taking the Dell for a test spin.  I think the Mac is better for her eyesight because it's a 24" monitor.  I'm hoping it will lessen the eyestrain a little so she can enjoy what's she doing longer.

She's missing one important thing....oops...three important things.  The dogs.  When I'm in that chair, I'm covered in dashshund.  How is it she's able to enjoy the cushy chair without all that additional fur?  I need to find out what her secret is.

Now here's a dog that knows what's important.  While the little ones are hogging up the desk chair, G has firmly planted her carcass in front of the space heater.  Now you'd think since she carries that long hair fur coat around with her everywhere, she wouldn't need additional heat.  I guess the grayer you get the more heat you need.  LOL!
Believe it or not, I actually share this chair with these two little hogs.  Yep...they allow me to teeter on the edge of the seat and work on the computer.  Heaven help me if I'd like to actually use all the chair for my tookus.  It really is a dog's life around here.  N is out for the count but A is sneaking a peek.  You'll note her head is just too heavy to lift for the camera.

Nice Day

Today D took pity on me and moved the fan light from the guest bedroom into the sewing room.  The one I had in here was brand spankin' new but only allowed 60w small based bulbs in it.  It was so dark in here I had to use a flashlight to aim at the machines when the threads broke so I could find the ends.   Now I have four 100w CFL bulbs which use only 14w each and it's like daylight.  I'm in love!

Yes, if you have good eyes you can see I'm watching Order of the Phoenix (again).  I'm actually listening to the extra CD with all the goodies on it.  I've already taken a tour with Tonks around the set.  Now we're trying to understand the mysteries of Harry and Voldomort.  Ooooooo....I'm scared.

Check out my cash register.  It's one of the first things I  bought for PAW's Embroidery.  It was built in....nuts, I forgot 1949 or 1950.  Anyway, it weighs about as much as a volkswagon and made of solid oak and steel.  I love it!  Ya gotta push in the buttons for a sale, then wind the handle, a bell rings and the drawer pops out so forceful it could knock you off your feet if you stand to close.  COOL!  

I spent the day working on a couple of Zoobies for a customer in Malaysia.  Yep, I said Malaysia.  She and I worked out using Paypal for the conversion and it actually went very smooth.

E says sometimes you just have to do what the customer wants and this was such a case.  She wanted the name across the back of the Zebra by the tail instead on the tummy.  I tried to explain to her the name would get lost in the stripes but she insisted and decided to have me do it in silver or gray.  I found a silver gray thread but it just didn't look right.

She also wanted the name on the blanket and the silver gray thread looked terrific on the black fleece. It also took much more time than I had anticipated it would.

Li also wanted a Baboon.  She agreed with putting the name in red to match the muzzle of the beast and I suggested white or the bright yellow on the face for the dark brown blanket.  She wanted the same red.  It was okay but didn't make my eyes pop.  Ahhhh....back to, the customer is always right.

Spent the day with E yesterday working on how to edit some names in my digitizing program. She doesn't think she helped much but she really did.  I was in one of those loops where you do the same thing over and over and can't understand why what you're trying to do still doesn't work.  I looked at the command choices a gazillion times and nothing new popped up.  Within a few minutes of opening the program she says, "Merge".  That was the magic word. A whole new world opened up for me.  That alone was worth the trip. Okay..okay...so were the deep fried shrimp at the local dive. Mmmmmm....crunchy, hot and yummy just what I needed.

Ooops...getting off track here.  I worked on Zoobies and stuff today.  I know the Zoobies didn't take all day but I'll be darned if I can remember doing much else.  Tomorrow, I hope with D at work I can digitize the bone font for a customer's name badges.  I'll have to bring out the serger and see if I can give them a merrow edge.  If not, then satin stitch embroidered around the edges will have to do.

Not much else happening today.  I'd better shut up now because my mind keeps wandering and thoughts of the turkey tacos I want to make for dinner keep appearing.  Yep...I think I'll head to the kitchen and start cutting up goodies.

Bye for now!

Nice Birthday

Well, here's my latest digitizing test.  It definitely had a little of everything in it.  The instructions were strange because at times they didn't tell you what color to make the words.  This posed a problem because when you came to the end of the lesson you were suppose to have 9 thread changes.

I had eleven.  At the very end when you have nine colors they tell you to move the black word shadow in behind the purple word shadow.  That changes the stitching sequence so the purple on ups & downs stitches first then black shadow then purple shadow.

I don't know if they're going to like my pointing this error out to them and recommending they move the black shadow to stitch first then ups & downs and purple shadow stitch together.  That at least would have made the thread changes 10 instead of 11.  I know..I know..I just blew up your brains with this boring stuff.

My birthday has been great!  It's stretched out to a week.  Had Dinner with S & S, visited H because she was sick, got spoiled by D, (we'll be going to San Diego to see a terrific line up of country singers in a couple of months), got great hand knitted socks from E, got Victoria Secret smell pretties from mom, had a wonderful long conversation with A on the phone and C took me out and wined and dined me this weekend.  Have one sister MIA and didn't hear a peep from her.  Oh well...life goes on.

I really do love these long extended birthdays.  I think that's the way they're suppose to be. Yep, everyone write Obama and say the first thing he needs to change is birthdays must be a minimum of 5 days long.  And.....you must receive 1 gift per day. 

I'm hoping to get out to see dad tomorrow morning (Monday).  I need to say my goodbyes just in case.  Mom keeps saying he wakes up and talks to her and recognizes her but he's only known who I am once that I can remember in the past year.  It's been really hard being the kid who doesn't exist.  I don't take it personally because it's just one of those things.  Ahhh....too sad so I'll shut up now and move on.

I'm just gonna relive my time with C.  She made me laugh, made me drink and made me eat more than I've eaten in a long time.  I think this was the first time it's been just the two of us going out in 30 years.  Why'd we wait so long?  Hmmmm... 

Luckily I'm in a good mood because I'll be heading out to the kitchen to cut D's hair.  It's not good to have your wife in a down mood when she's got something sharp in her hands.  LOL!

Australia

A few years ago D and I sold mom and dad's 57 Ford Retractable to Pete and Linda in Australia. Getting the car ready for shipping and then driving it to the dock in Oakland was a real adventure.  D had removed all chrome, knobs, lights, etc and locked them in the trunk for safe keeping.  We drove from home to the Port of Oakland in the most illegal fashion possible and didn't get stopped once.  I was a nervous wreck but D just took it in stride.

The car was in nice condition but after Pete got done with it, it was and is in absolutely beautiful shape.  Mom and dad would be so proud of what he's done to the car.

Anyway, Pete and Linda have become family to us.  He's become like a brother to me and keeps me in stitches with his emails and phone calls.  He's got the funniest laugh.  That alone will start me laughing uncontrollably.

Every once in awhile a package will come out of the blue from Australia.  It's always packed with cool stuff from Pete and Linda.  Now, I should know by looking at the package where it's from because as you can see, Pete has absolutely no fear of tape.  He actually never really needs a shipping box, just 10 rolls of tape will do.

Check this box out.  It's another home made version from Pete.  I can't believe I actually had to look at the label to see where it came from.  Wouldn't you think the shape and massive amounts of tape would tell me by now who it's from.  LOL!

Pete knew I've always wanted a boomerang and here one is.  Yep....made in Australia.  I only wish it was nice and warm out so I could take it for a test spin.  Since D has refused to chase after it if it doesn't come back, I've decided I'll take it to the soccer field where it's nice and open and give it a try.  I know...I know...it's going to take lots of practice and I should be patient.

I don't drink tea but I think Pete and Linda have been rooting around in my head.  I've been reading about the health benefits of Jasmine tea and thought I should give it a try.  I haven't bought it yet but guess I'd better because now I have an adorable tea bag holder.  Oh yeah, I also got an apron, and two tea towels with definitions of Aussie sayings.  D got the car magazines Pete sends him.  I think he's already read them cover to cover.

I love these coasters.  The colors are so vibrant and the wood is absolutely beautiful.  They had a little blurb in them from the artist Hugh Symonds saying how much he traveled and then settled in Australia because of the beautiful landscape.

As you know I'm taking a digitizing course recognized by the country of Australia.  It turns out the other day I ran into a word I didn't understand.  They used the term overleaf.  I tried to put it in context of the subject matter and still drew a blank.  A quick email to Pete and I find it means, "next page".

I love talking to Pete and Linda because I learn so much.  Sometimes I have to ask what a word is but for the most part, we communicate very well.  D and I swear we're going to do two things before we die.  The first is a trip to Australia to see Pete, Linda and the kids.  The other is to go to Ireland.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my goodies from Australia.  I have trouble coming up with cool American stuff to send them, so if you've got any ideas, send them my way.

Digitizing Lessons

I bought this horribly expensive digitizing lesson a few weeks ago.  I was disappointed when I received the first lesson because it's in print on a CD.  Which means I have to print up a hard copy before moving on with a lesson.  I got the impression from the description that I'd be following along with someone actually doing the design on video.  I get frustrated when I have to take time out to read the lesson then try and decipher what the heck they're saying.  It takes so much longer for me to get through it that way. 

Anyway, after a couple of hours work, I digitized the above flowers.  They turned out pretty good, especially for a first shot.  The design was a simple clip art cartoon drawing and I converted it to thread then manipulated the thread design in each peddle.

This flower is the actual test.  I take what I've learned from working on the flowers above and use them for this little ditty.  

The book gives me written instructions of what the flower is to look like, then I'm suppose to do it.  This flower turned out so good I'm actually sending in my first sew out to be graded.

The nice thing about grading the project is, they'll tell me what I did wrong and how to fix it if they see something amiss.  

 This is the only official digitizing course recognized and backed by a major country.  So when I finish the lessons, I'll be a certified digitizer by the country of Australia.  That means, if PAW's goes belly up in this economy, I can get a job with pretty much any large digitizing company.  Of course, making money for someone else isn't my cup of tea so the diploma is pretty much for my personal self esteem.

Well, that's it for today.  I think I'll attempt working on the motorcycle patch that's been giving me so much grief.  I can't find anyone to do such a small patch job.  The only guy who says he'd do it didn't do a nice job on the sew outs.  )&(^%((*)_!  That's why I need to become a crack shot digitizer.  OYE!

S & S House

Well, here's the little gem from the outside.  I was going to put these pics on the last post but the blog site was acting squirrly so I gave up.  Sometimes it does that but who am I to complain because so far blogging has been free.

Right there on the left of the house behind the white fence/gate is a great big cement pad. Perfect for the Malibu.  I understand however, it will be getting the garage and the new, fancy modern cars will be relegated to the cold winter winds and rains.  You can tell who S loves the best when it comes to his cars.

S hates the color of the house.  He doesn't seem to like living in a peach color house.  Maybe he wants fire engine red.  Guess I'll have to ask him about that.  LOL!

I realize this isn't my house and as a parent I should butt out but don't you think this wall would look better with another window in it right there on the left? 

The bedroom in the back has two windows in it. One on each wall, so adding one to this wall would be well within sticking with the design of the house.  I know S has and knows how to use a reciprocating saw.  Okay, nuff said, I'll hush up now.

It's a cute house.  A perfect starter home which will easily lead them into their next home.  The kids should be proud of all the wonderful things they are doing to make it theirs.

As you can see, my son and I  have different priorities when it comes to getting a home ready to move in.  Here's S yacking on the phone and watching Cars on his TV.  Nope, the bed isn't up, the dresser is still in the garage along with tons of boxes but the TV's on the wall, the WII is set up, the cable is on and all the other gaming goodies are ready to go.  YEP!  We are definitely of two different generations with different priorities.  LOL!

I have to admit he did a beautiful installation.  Can you see any wires running down the wall to the power?  NOPE.  I bought D a Seesnake last year for Xmas.  It's this little doohicky you feed into the wall and it has two LED lights fixed to a itty bitty camera so you can see inside the walls.  

Sarah got mad at S because he kept sneaking it around corners  and spying on her.  She can't wait until we tell him to give it back.  The joke could be on her because D's found a bigger better one he'd like.  Guess who'd get the old one if Santa bought him a new one for Xmas this year?  Yep....most likely S.

As you can see, watching Cars is really draining my poor child.  LOL!  Alright, this is where I have to admit he and D brought over three huge loads of things to be put in the house.  You know, little stuff like washer, dryer, side by side refer, queen bed, furniture, etc.

To say the guys were pooped by evening is an understatement.  D went home, I stayed and ate with S and painted a little bit more.  Then I went home to a nice hot bubble bath waiting for me.

Dang I love that thoughtful hubby of mine!

New house....

Well S & S finally bought a house.  They were looking in WC, Concord, CV and ended up in Livermore.  The one place that son of mine didn't want to be because of his commute to the city.

Anyway, it took them about 10 months to get a house.  They put 12 or 13 bids on houses but were constantly outbid by speculators.  To say they were getting frustrated is an understatement.

They lucked out on this one and bought it from Uncle Sam.  It was a bit tense for awhile because  of the Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae mess but all turned out well in the end.

It's obvious S is a homeowner.  Look at those pants he's wearing.  I didn't have the heart to tell him those might end up being his dress jeans for awhile.  LOL!  That boy is definitely my kid.

He got in the habit of finding a corner where he could pull up the carpet and see if there was hardwood floor under it.  He struck pay dirt on this one.  The original red oak floors that were installed in 1954 when the house was build were still in tact.  

Anyway, D and I spent last week with S cleaning and painting.  We got the walls of the living/dining room and all bedrooms done.  The woodwork, kitchen and bathroom will get done next week and the week after.  

The workers have been there the past few days stripping and sealing the beautiful red oak floors.  They are turning out fantastic.  Today (Saturday) they'll put the last coat of sealer on them.  The kids will spend tomorrow and the rest of the week finishing up some of the trim work and moving in.

The bathroom is pretty much a mess.  It had the original toilet dated December 1953 in it.  S pulled that out already and installed an American Standard toilet that is guaranteed to flush a bucket of golf balls without any trouble.  Can't wait to test that puppy.

I'm catching up on cleaning my own house and PAW's Embroidery stuff.  I've got to get my tush in gear and finish staining the closet door today because I just know I'll be helping the kids the next couple of days.

Soooo....off to work I go.  I'll post more pics later.  Especially of the beautiful refinished floors.

Airing My Dirty Laundry...

Yesterday was such a boring day and today is rapidly becoming the same.  I haven't done laundry in two weeks and here is the result. Shameful I know but I really hate laundry.  If I could wear cheap, inexpensive, biodegradable disposable clothing, I would.

I did laundry and stayed in the kitchen all day yesterday folding and cleaning.  I had three loads that were already washed and just needed folding waiting for me when I woke up.  

Being Irish, I still think when I sleep the leprechauns are going to come in at night and clean up after us.  So far the little buggers haven't shown up.  I'm thinking they can't get off their barstools long enough to visit my house.

When D got home from work around 3:30 yesterday I was still in the kitchen folding and cleaning.  To say I was dead on my feet would be an understatement.

This counter was a bit of a challenge because there were so many different things to tackle and most of them took me out of the room.  That means resisting the urge to get started in another room when I visit it.  A non fatal disease I suffer from.  I think it's called, "nonfocalitis".

Anyway, I got the box on the right put away.  It contained the China tea set mom gave me.  I was a good girl and actually put it in the china cabinet.  GO ME!  The little black picture on the counter, I actually put in the guest room and will hopefully hang it next week sometime.  You can't see it but there is a big hand embroidered picture laying flat on the counter.  My mother in law made that back in the 70's.  It's real cute.  I painted the frame last week and actually put the picture back in it yesterday.  Now it too is sitting in the guest room waiting to be hung.  At least it made its way into the correct portion of the house.

The island was nice because it was paperwork that I threw away and paint/stain I needed to put away.  Easy, piece of cake, a cinch, a 5 minute job.

Look at this table, it's a mess and I created it all by myself.  This morning however, it looks great.  I put the pomegranates Nana gave me in a nice metal bowl on the counter.  That way they not only look nice but are easy to grab, clean and eat.  YUM!  I had one for breakfast.  Gave each dog a little taste and they all loved it.

Anyway, I got the clothes folded, went through tons of papers and either threw them away, filed them, or put them in the bill folder to be taken care of on the first of the month.  I even cleaned the desk in the kitchen and got rid of stuff.  Yep, I had a garbage bag and dumped stuff without giving it a second thought.  boy did that feel good.  I think what felt the nicest was actually polishing the wood on the kitchen table and making it look pretty.  Considering the table is almost 30 years old, it's in great shape.  

Well, I hear D is done cleaning the pine needles out of the rain gutters so now I don't have an excuse not to stain another door.  I didn't want debris on my new stain and cleaning the gutters was a great excuse to be lazy.  Soooo....off to work I go....more staining and laundry.  Yep, just another day in the jungle.

Socks...

I spent the weekend away from home catching up on shopping, visiting mom in the hospital and taking stuff to Nana.  

Today I'm supposed to be cleaning house and catching up on the truckload of laundry that needs to be done.  So far I've paid one bill and have completely ignored the goodies I bought at Wally World last night on the way home from Patterson.  I'm thinking they'll still be on the table and counter when I peek my head out the door after I've completed typing this.

Anyway, when your sister asks, "So...do you want your birthday present now or do you want to wait until your birthday to open it?", my answer is always going to be, "NOW!".  Of course that was the correct answer.  It just so happens my feet are cold this morning so I've been wearing my brand spankin' new socks created by the loving hands of my sister Nana.  Aren't they cool?  They are loud and flashy kinda like my personality is at times.  Yep, these puppies scream my name.  

Look how cute they are.  I had to post them on my blog for the world to see.  My sister is a very talented person.  Actually, I don't know how my parents did it but all of us girls are talented in our own variety of ways.  At the very least we are all artsyfartsy.  As with most Americans, we're limited by the time we have available to get normal things done, which takes away from the time we'd love to be creative.  I believe most of our kids have inherited the creative gene in a variety of ways.  It's always refreshing to see what everyones been up to.

So, thank you so much for the great socks Nana.  I appreciate all the time and effort you put into making them.  Also, a big thank you to Nana's grandkids M & T for dying the yarn.  The colors are terrific and the socks are fantastic.  I love them.

Now....what's the top of my counter look like?  Maybe I can find it sometime today.  If I don't post on this blog in the next 4 days, send in the rescue squad to come and find me.  

Have a great day everyone!

When I got home, D was in the garage aka the Vortex (because things get out there and disappear forever).  Anyway, I went out to talk and catch up on what he'd been up to today and the next thing I knew I was putting a new cord on his reciprocating saw.  He tried to convince me the saw came with the cord all chewed up when he bought it new.  Yeah right, like I fell off the turnip truck yesterday.

Now electricity is something I usually leave to him because it's one of my least favorite things to do.  I'll tackle it if he's not home and I really, really want something done (I don't get that desperate very often).  This time he brought over the saw and a new cord and expected me to replace the darn thing.  He wanted me to splice the new cord onto the old just after it came out of the saw housing.

Nope...not good enough.  The next thing he knew I had the saw in two pieces, cut the old cord inside the housing and was ready to go. He came over with these little metal dohickies I hadn't seen before and showed me how to splice the ends together squishing the metal piece forcing the ends together.  I added electrical tape (so as not to fry him when he turned on the power), put the little beast back together and as you can see by the picture, the saw works and D didn't get electrocuted.

What I learned about Doxies

Okay...okay...mom gives me her big doxie, Dave puts it in the entry hall until I find where I'd like to put it and all is fine.  We leave the area and hear Nisie growling.  When we come out to see what's happening, she's got her hair on end and is growling at the doxie statue.   Nuttie thinking it's a threat to her pup starts growling.  Neither notice the statue isn't moving or paying a bit of attention.  Neither notice it isn't breathing or blinking but they are both growling.  It's absolutely hilarious.

The statue has been in the house 4 days now and Nuttie will finally get close, sniff it and decide it isn't real.  Nisie still hasn't figured it out.  She stands a respectable distance and growls.  I might actually have to take her in, put her next to it and knock on it so she can hear it's plaster.

I used to think dachshunds were intelligent but this little exercise is making me think again.  LOL! 

Nano Speakers

I wanted some speakers for my Nano so when I'm working I don't have to rely on the earbuds.  I  looked at some at Ross but they just seemed a bit icky.  So I head to Wally World and here's this pretty pink triangle shape box with a speaker on each end to match my nano.  It didn't give any specs on power or the speakers so I thought, 4 batteries, small, pink and I can return it if it's a bust.  Oh did I mention it was $10.  I've used this almost continuously for the past 3 days.  THEY'RE GREAT!  I've used the goofy thing so much right now I'm recharging my Nano.

If you need simple speakers, no bells or whistles I'd highly recommend this little unit.  As you can tell, it's compact.  It just has a simple on/off button on the top and the nano regulates the volume.  It'll work with iPod or any MP3 player.  Just put your MP3 player on the little shelf, plug into speaker and off you go.  There aren't that many products I'm amazed by but I have to admit this is one of them.  S wouldn't like it because it isn't a super whoopie blast your ears out 'system' but they work great for me when I'm cleaning, redecorating, painting....you know girlie stuff.

Meet the New Baby

Okay, okay...you know when you're not looking for something and it jumps right in your face.  Well that's what happened to me.  I was minding my own business cruising Craigs List (first mistake) and there it was!  Right there!  A listing less than 30 minutes old.  Destiny, yep that's it.

It's a 4 year old EMP6 with 4 hours and 142 stitches on it.  And it costs less than I paid for my first one.  Yepola, that's destiny.  Now I get those excited fluttery feelings in my tummy and grab for the phone.  Of course I prepare myself for the guy to say, "Sorry, sold!"  No siree, we make a date and up to Roseville we head. 

I was a prepared shopper.  I had six cones of thread, fabric hooped and ready to go and a pattern on a flash card.  I even threw in a bobbin.  Talk about not wanting any excuses not to use the machine.   I put the little beauty through a small pattern and it works great.  Okay, okay, not perfect because I used his cheap thread but I can live with that.

So now I have two machines and am ready for Christmas.  Now if I could just get Dave to work on the website.  Not having my name out there is killing me.  I've got the toys, I just need the work.

I donated a couple of totes and Zoobies to a local children's charity auction.  It takes place November 15th in Alamo.  Here's hoping I can pick up some Christmas business from that.  If not, it's an expensive lesson learned.

The New Baby

Here's the old EMP6.  Happy healthy and with a mere 712 hours and over 22 million stitches on it.  Yep this baby has many more miles to go.  I think my goal is to have the numbers so darn high the counter can't go any higher.  Yep, great goal.

I need to put aside some time to see if the new machine will fit next to the old one.  It's a bit inconvenient having a machine on my hooping station.  I'm a little lost when it comes to hooping Zoobies because there's a machine where I usually work.

First day of blog.....

Well, it's the first day of this blog and I can't find my camera.  I was going to take pictures of the almost completed arbors Dave's been working on but that's a no go until I find the Camera.

Instead, I'll post pics of Nuttie.  Ya see, she's trained to go outside and go potty.  Well, lately she's decided the carpet is a much nicer place to go.  It's not only driving me nuts but I'm spending more time than I'd like cleaning carpets.

Now her daughter Nisie is trained to go in a litter box on a puddle pad.  She just walks over to the box and does her business.  Then she stands there and waits for you to reward her with a cookie.  Her brothers are also inside dogs trained to do their duty in a litter box.

The litter box training is a stroke a genius.  There are no mistakes in the house as long as the litter box is available and the dog isn't locked out of the room it's located in.  Winter never affects her potty routine.

I decided I'd retrain Nuttie (3 years old) to go in the litter box.  Now, the pups were fairly easy to train but she is proving a bit difficult.  As you can see by the pictures, she'll either pay with her daughter in the litter box or just lay down and go to sleep in it.

Nuttie can go 4 days without going potty.  She turns into a big fat sausage and refuses to go in the box.  She'll whine and cry to go outside and still refuse to go in the litter box.   I actually had to break down and buy a book on doggie litter box training to see if it has any insight on why she's being so difficult.  That should be here next week.   Guess I know what the reading for that day will be.  LOL!

I've had dachshunds since I was a kid and have to admit this is the most stubborn doxie I've ever owned.  It's turning out to be a battle between Ireland and Germany.  Trust me, Ireland is going to win.  Not only am I smarter and more stubborn but I have the ability to let or not let her out of her cage.  

Gotta go search for the camera now or you'll continuously get to see the dog in the litter box.