November 30, 2012
my mother turned 85 this month and we all went down and celebrated her birthday with her. the nursing home that she's in has a really wonderful craft fair every year and this year it was the day before her birthday. the food that they were selling was outstanding! huge whoopie pies and homemade bread to name a few things. most of the people you see in the pictures have worked in the nursing home the whole time my mother has been there (12 years). it is amazing to me that in those 12 years i have only good things to say about the nursing home and the employees. they are so caring and add little touches to the residents lives that make them feel like they have a home. i am so grateful to them for that.
this picture is of me, my son andrew and my mom. it is thanksgiving day and the mister and I and andrew always go to dinner at the home with my mom. it is such a great meal and for some reason i don't have any pictures of it. i know i took some! they set up round tables with nice tablecloths and placetags (we buy tickets) and volunteers serve us our beverages and desserts. it is buffet style and the chefs stand at the buffet table carving nice slices of turkey and ham and wonderful mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and about 5 different veggies. at the end of the meal they go around with trays of different types of homemade pies. my mother had two pieces! she is well known for her sweet tooth and they happily gave her what she wanted. it was a nice time. after that meal we go to the mister's brother's house and have another thanksgiving meal. he is an outstanding cook and he and his wife always put on a wonderful meal. its quite a festive day for us!
i do have to add that as we started out on thanksgiving day and came to the end of our street i always look for the chickens that are at the farm we pass. (i want chickens some day). that day they were in the middle of their large pen. i said to the mister, "huh, all the chickens are huddled together in the middle of the pen." he replied absolutely straight faced without missing a beat, "oh, they're probably holding services for their departed friends". i was still laughing miles down the road. the mister is a very funny man!
I think i have mentioned that my favorite quilts to make are I SPY quilts. every child that i have a special place in my heart for, has one. when the mister & I went to our good friends' daughter's wedding, their twin grandgirls were there (and in the wedding looking soooo adorable). they are 4 now and i realized on the long ride home that i had never mailed them the I SPY quilts that i had made them last winter!!! our house was so unfinished and unorganized that i'm surprised i got them done! well, i cleaned off the nora jean cat hairs and mailed them off that week! i've made so many of them that they are easy & fun for me to do. I love fussy cutting the squares and do that when i need some quiet and calming time. i have boxes of fussy cut shapes that i pull out when i'm in the mood to put an I SPY quilt together. it is also fun to look for interesting material that i can use in the quilts. i can usually get 5-10 different hexagons out of a piece of material. these quilts are so much fun for young children. i have two "grandma" quilts that i keep at the house and the grands still sleep under them when they stay over. when they were little, before they would go to sleep i would play games with them using the quilts.....who can find a monkey first? who can find a picture that matches the other quilt? can you find a picture that doesn't match any others? they are 13 & 11 now so they don't play with them much but they do sleep under them.....sigh.....all grown up almost!
another thing i finished this month was a sweatshirt for my sister. i bought a sweatshirt from a thrift shop and trimmed it and added a zipper and pockets. i made one for my mother for her birthday (again that would be with the missing thanksgiving pictures) and my sister talked about how she still wore the one my mother made her many years ago. these are so comfortable and great for wearing around the house. while i was working on it i could not keep nora jean from laying on it. when it was finished i dehaired it thoroughly and draped it over the back of the kitchen chair so that she couldn't lay on it again. i went off to do something and when i came back she was on the table leaning against the chair with her tail draped over the sweater. i mailed it to my sister with my apologies for the cat hairs. i told her that nora wanted to put as much love into the sweater as i had because she really does love her "aunt beth". i mailed that yesterday and she should receive it tomorrow. i am counting on her not reading my blog until after it arrives! it's a surprise!
i am quite proud of myself for solving a problem we had with blue jays. they had taken over our feeder, not letting all the little guys in. i put my feather duster in the window and spent a morning shaking it every time they went to the feeder (there were 4 of them and they were big!). the nuthatches, chickadees and finches weren't bothered in the least by the feather duster. it has been 2 weeks and i see them in the trees but they haven't been near the window! i think the (color at least) reminds me & them? of the barred owl that we have in our back yard. oh, btw, we saw our piliated woodpecker for the first time in a year! it was nice to see that he's still around! nora jean jumped on the table and posed for me while i was taking the pictures. she takes her jobs in this house very seriously!well, i'm off to sew in my "studio". the last item on my "have to do list" are some curtains for my french doors. i'll take pictures when i'm done. even though i make nice curtains, i really do hate to make them. they are a pain in the neck but i have to say they come out looking really nice and will last for at least 10 years and longer if i can help it!
lately i've been thankful for everything that i have. sometimes i forget all the things i have and concentrate on all that i want or don't have. i have all of the important things and i hope you do too.
i'll be blogging again really soon in honor of my son andrew's birthday.
until then, hugs and good thoughts, nancyb
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