Back to the Sewing Machine, well, at least ONE of them...

Hi. Did you miss me? I've been missing myself lately. We just got back from our yearly jount to FLA. This year we opted to stay at Grandma Hunnybunny's and just go to the beach. We were going to go more than one day, but alas, the dreaded yellow flag was up on the second day. Things have changed with Grandma Hunnybunny; her cast of characters has changed from Aunt Hunnybunny (Hunnybunny's sister) to Mother Hunnybunny, (Hunnybunny's mother). Aunt Hunnybunny has a new little Hunnybunny of her own named Tyler. He is so sweet, and he snuggled me!            

We picked up Hollywood for a few weeks this summer. He made the trip to Florida without being too bored.




And he turned sweet 16! His party of sorts was a couple of friends, along with She who must be Obeyed  and Jerricho! I had fun with her as She is now almost 11! What did we do for kicks? We sorted fabric! That kid was always organizing so I gave her the opportunity to help me cut down my fabric hoard of scraps.  She thought it was great! My kind of kid! 

This week, I've been fairly selfish. While I have been working on The Legal Adult's quilt, I took out a little time to cut myself out a dress. Here's the pattern:

I don't even own a dress besides my wedding dress and if I ever had a special occasion, I'd be in trouble. My friend Robin told me long ago and far away to find a simple pattern and start with that, so that's what I did. I also got my little orphan machine fixed.

 

It was in storage as I used it to make those stitches you see, but then it didn't work at all. I took it back to the Nameless Fix-It shop here in town, and he wanted me to throw more money at it.  I took it to a place where I usually just get fabric, but they had fixed my Pfaff Hobby so wonderfully that I decided to see if they could make this little machine stitch again. It's called the Quilter's Square and they totally rock!

I think I'm too old to go camping......

So, we try again with the camping. This time, no moody teen to tell us how boring it is, and why we shouldn't have come. We went south, way south. Away from the oil spill, cell phone coverage, and problems. We went to St. George Island State Park. However, it was not without problems, as most vacations can attest to.

First, there was the drive. From Kentucky to The Forgotten Coast was approximately 590 miles. This trip, while we did not have the moody teen, we did have a new puppy, "Snips".  We adopted him from a shelter that had a display at Petsmart. Knowing we were going to have to leave, we asked if we could pay his fees and pick him up after. Of course, they were terrified that the little guy wouldn't be picked up, so they said they couldn't do it. After a few pitiful attempts at names that would go along with Fiona, we settled on "Snips" because he was always 'snipping' at our heels.

Because the poor little guy had been locked up in the shelter, I just could shove him in a kennel for vacation. So, that's why we took him with us. He did very well on the trip. We arrived at St. George Island in the late afternoon and set up the tent. At 9:30 P.M. was 88 degrees! With the humidity, it felt like 95.  After we spent some time on the beach the next morning, by noon, it was already 92 degrees but the heat index made it feel like 106. I just couldn't take it. My knee had started to swell and I just wasn't fit to be around. We packed it up and headed for Grandma Hunnybunny's. I did get to visit with Hollywood on our way back through Tennessee. He seems to be doing well. Looks like he grew a foot. I don't think his voice was that deep when he left. Time does march on.

Single Parenting at an end

And I for one am very grateful it is. I had forgotten just how much harder it is with one parent.

My Hunnybunny went to NAB,(National Association of Broadcasters show) in Vegas this past week. For anybody NOT in the media world, and that's most of the nice people that read this blog, the NAB is essentially the world's largest electronic media show. And for my Hunnybunny being in the video biz, it's like the Superbowl for him. Every new gadget that has been invented to bring you entertainment, news, etc. is featured at this show. Hunnybunny spent the week on his feet, showing stuff to clients and also, getting shown stuff by vendors. It was not without it's perks as the vendors want him to push their products, so he ate rather well. Sleeping, not so well as the time difference did catch up to him. He stayed at the Flamingo, one of the older hotels. The weird contrast was that you could go to a 'burlesque show' and see Donny and Marie all in the same place! He said that no one looks happy there, and it was interesting watching the night life. Apparently, the "ladies of the night" came in the casinos after work and spent most of their earnings. They call that 'low tide'. And no,he didn't gamble. But his comrades did, and lost. The second picture he took to show that he had a television in his BATHROOM. His very pink bathroom at that.
This week reminded me of seven years ago when I was a single parent with a toddler and a pre-teen. While the age difference is a little better, I promise you the drama was the same. Single parents have my heart for theirs is the toughest job ever.

Spring Break: By the numbers

I had this great idea for Spring Break this year. "Let's save money and go camping!" Don't ever let anyone tell you how "cheap" it would be to go camping. They are totally misinformed. We went to Cumberland Falls State Park. The concept was grand: we would camp, save money, and enjoy family time together. Uh, yeah...that's in that perfect world where I'm still not a resident. We got to the site, (that we reserved online months ago) and there was no grass. Pure rocks, pebbles, and mud. Sigh...then there was the setting up of the tent. It went fairly flawless. The Pickle went wild with all the trees and mud to get into. The skies were cloudy with the forecast, of course, for rain. Picture a listless teenager with no electronics, whining because he couldn't take his flatiron. Don't ask.
Here is a list of our expenses on this so-called, "cheap" trip:
1. Large tent, bought on sale at a sporting goods shop, $130.00.
2. Sleeping bag, bought for me after the first night of sharing with my Hunnybunny. Sharing being figurative. $15.00.
3. Camp grill with cylinders- $26.00.
4. Fleece liner for top of inflatable bed, $10.00. (Temps dropped into the 30's at night!)

5. Camping reservation for 5 days-$69.00
6. Camping cookware- $30.oo.
7. Groceries, tolietries, paper products, etc. -$100.00
8. Boarding for Fiona, (Probably the best money I spent!) $80.00.
9. House sitting-$50.00









10. Tickets to the Louisville Zoo after we came back early from camping-$45.00
11. Eating at the Zoo-$26.00(There's The Pickle tormenting a peacock!)
12. Doctor's visit for the Pickle after we found ticks on him and one broke off in his skin! --undetermined yet.
Total as best I can figure it: $581!

Time flies when you're .....having fun?

Our dear friend Bill Engvall would say, "Here's your sign!" if he looked at this. I've been with the Hunnybunny family this past week as Grandmas (Great and Daughter of Great) came to see us. It would have been a good time if not for a family crises, (not our immediate family) and extreme cold temps. Poor Great Grandma Hunnybunny nearly froze her hiney off as she is from Miami. Wouldn't you know it, Kentucky had the coldest temps in 5 years the ENTIRE time they were here!
Oh, and I ended up going to the doctor before they got here. Turns out that the barking cough that I conjured up WASN'T normal. They put me on an inhaler and Advair so I could get the inflammation down. And the doctor suggested that asthma might be the culprit. She correlated the dates on my chart and noticed a pattern. Every November, seems like I come down with some type of barking cough.
"But aren't I a little old for that, Doc? I thought little kids got diagnosed with it." Turns out there is a thing called a "seasonal asthma". Who'd a thunk it? To the left is my RX for myself.

That being said, I'll be by to see you this week. Hope you'll forgive me for not being around as much. But you were always on my mind.:)

It's a girls' night out.......

....and honey, there ain't no doubt....blah, blah, blah. Wasn't that a Judd's song? It's not really a girl's night out as much as it's a LONG weekend for me. I'm going to see my best buddy, Robin, down in Chattanooga because I'm drowning in the testosterone ocean at my house. I'm hoping to get a little shopping done for those guys since they won't be around.

I was inspired by my friend,Katie, over at My Sandbox to take a look at Craig's List and just see what I could find. I've always dreamed of owning a treadle. My Grandma Gussie had a treadle in her sewing closet and always told me someday she'd teach me. Well, she passed in 1985, so that didn't happen. Anyway...here's what I found:
This dear lady had this Minnesota "C" and it was on her porch. I nearly had a hard attack! She obviously wasn't a collector.















She threw in the ORIGINAL AD from the Sears and Roebuck catalog from 1904 as well as the pristine attachments still encased in their original, velvet-lined, metal box!





I always look at old machines like Linus did Charlie Brown's Christmas tree..."All it needs is a little love..". And sewing machine oil, and maybe some WD40.



Here she is, all cleaned up. Guess how much I paid?
$10!

Up to Hoosierville, U.S.A.

We headed north this past weekend. This was due to HB's new job which is based out of Indiana. We were attending the Christmas party, and it was the first time I had met his new comrades. I say new job, but he's been at it awhile now. Basically, he works from our bedroom. He has a business line, laptop, fax machine, the whole works. And he is in sales now. He loves it because he used to do all the research for the equipment he is selling now. We've seen him more in 3 months than in two years. While he loved working at the church doing media for them, the hours got to be too much on our family. So, God is good...all the time.
I guess it's confession time for me. I've been married to Hunnybunny since 2002. This past weekend was our FIRST weekend away without the boys. Wild, huh? If we had the time, we had no money. And vice-versa.
Christmas came early for me this year as Hunnybunny found a Sony store and bought me this Cybershot Digital camera. So, you know me: I went kind of camera happy. Sorry these are taken from the car.












This is the
Soldiers and Sailors Monument in the heart of Indianapolis. It was pretty cool looking. It was only 15 feet shorter than the Statue of Liberty.








I wish I could tell you something cool about this church, but I couldn't find anything online. Of course, we were driving through town on GAME DAY! It was a miracle that we could tool around at all.

Thanksgiving By The Numbers

1440 miles NOT driven by me as Hunnybunny wanted to drive.

2 different hotel stays: one down, one up. HoJo's isn't as bad as it used to be. Go and price on Hotels.com. Saved us a bundle!
1 visit with a blogging buddy in Marietta, GA. Deborah is so cool!
25 cups of coffee and/or lattes during that week.
2 Older sons not with me this year....one staying at my house because I had heat, one with his dad in Tennessee.

2 turkey dinners and both were righteous. I even learned to like dressing without cornbread in it.

4 viewings of WALL-E on Hunnybunny's laptop by the Pickle on the way down.

25 or more times asked, "Are we in Florida, yet?" by the Pickle.

3 yards of Beatle fabric (You seriously didn't think I was going to make a trip and not buy fabric, did you?) purchased at Wal-Mart in Hunnybunny's hometown.

7 extra pounds of weight due to the way I ate while gone. Diet went totally out the window.

7 copies of Women's Day read cover-to-cover as Grandma Hunnybunny keeps them until I come to town.

45-15 Florida vs. Florida State, in the pouring rain, no less. Now, that was priceless!

Another year of not making with the bird....

We are headed to the Emerald Coast, (well, close to it, anyway) for Thanksgiving. Yet another year of dodging the bullet on making a turkey. Oh, I've done my time on that, I assure you. Since I was a newlywed (the first time) back in '84, I've been getting up at 5:00 AM and putting the turkey in the oven. Only one person that reads this blog (Hey, Karen!) can remember that fiasco of my first Thanksgiving. I had to have the directions read to me as I worked on the turkey. I think we had 20 people in that tiny little apartment. And I was preggers with Jesse, so sick to my stomach that I didn't want any part of eating it. Every year, I always invited those without family to join us. Thanksgiving at my house growing up meant that my stepdad would get up at 3:00 AM to put the turkey in the smoker. He and Mom would actually start drinking then, so by the time we ate, they were definitely feeling no pain. And no hunger. My brothers and I ate by ourselves most of the time. So, the whole concept of a family Thanksgiving was lost on me until I married into this family. It blew me away that folks could cook without the inspiration of alcohol. I dreaded each and every holiday as it would start off like this, and end very badly.

Grandma Hunnybunny will be making the turkey, and the rest of us will be taking orders from her. Suits me just fine. Actually, I mentioned to HB that we could go out for Thanksgiving so we could spend more time together. To me, the holiday is about being together, not the food, although that's nice. Of course he pounded his alfa-male chest and said no way. Tradition is tradition. Well, I'm grateful to God that some traditions can be broken. Like the traditions I grew up with.

In search of the Great Pumpkin

I spent many an hour waiting for this to come on CBS when I was young. "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" was probably the coolest thing I had ever seen. Linus always did march to the beat of a different drummer, and maybe that's where I relate.
In all the years that followed, I never made it to a pumpkin patch. The Diva's mother invited The Pickle and I to go and it made for a great outing! Of course, we picked the worst possible weekend to go as the infamous Court Days were going on in the middle of town. But with the help of a local judge, (Diva's mother had interviewed him) we found our way to Two Sisters Pumpkin Patch in Mt. Sterling, KY. (Sorry the link is so pitiful. You actually have to scroll down and search for Two Sisters just to find the address and phone number. I told the owners it would be easier if they had a web page!)
They just made it through the corn maze. I barely did, by the way.

The hayride was a big hit! It had been years for me, and a first for the kids.

And there was pumpkin painting. Diva loved this part.
A pickle in a cornfield! He loved trying to hide from us.
And the old married couple themselves. The way they quibble, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if they ended up together. There was also a petting zoo of sorts and they got to pet goats and mules.
More pictures to the right on flickr.com.

"Stars Fell on Alabama " Top Finished

Sorry for the fuzzy picture, y'all... seems my picture-taking teen broke the zoom button, so I'm stuck with crummy pictures until Christmas. Anyway...

I probably wouldn't have chosen the blue border, but Grandma Hunnybunny did, so she can definitely have what she wants.

I picked up backing material tonight. Nothing special, just white, Wal-mart variety fabric. And of course, I forgot to pick up batting, so hi-ho, hi-ho, it's back to the store I go.

The goal is to get-r-done BEFORE Thanksgiving. We're making the bi-annual Mecca down to the Emerald Coast to see her. Sort of early Christmas for her.

Beautiful Boy

The Dyl Pickle graduated today from preschool. I thought I'd be the only mother in the room NOT crying as I've been to this rodeo 2 other times. My past experience didn't help me one iota. And still, many hours later, I can't hardly talk about it. Let's let a picture say a thousand words...I'm tired of boo-hooing.

Spring Break.....By the Numbers

We took spring break down to the Emerald Coast. It was chilly the first day, but better the second. More pics in my flickr.com box to your right.





Spring Break .....by the numbers.





1. Rode 625 miles from here to the Panhandle with two kids in the back seat.



2. Ate off the value menu at McD's at least 5 times on the road.



3. Drove no more than 200 miles on a 1,700 mile trip.


4. Was waited on by my Sister-in-law at least 50 times. I think I'd really like to have a wife....





5. Broke up at least 20 squabbles by the siblings in the back seat.









6. Reunited one family. Meet The Hunnybunnies!

7. Went to ONE quilt store on the coast. Bought 3 fat quarters



8. Lost 6 pounds on this trip, McD's and home cooking, too!





9. Outran one tornado.







10. Made 3 quilt blocks.


11. Made one Great Grandma Hunnybunny happy....priceless!

Is it true that long-distance relationships can work out?

Because I'm about to find out. My 22 year old baby is moving to Arizona.Sorry I've not been a good blogger since we've come back from vacation. We ended up going from Kentucky, to Nashville, down to Tallahassee, across the state to Jacksonville, and then up to Nashville, and finally back to Kentucky. Total mileage on this trip was 1808 miles!

In between recuping from the trip, I've heard from the Legal Adult. He's leaving. He went to Phoenix about 4 years ago and now he's going back. It's just hard to let them go sometimes. I'm driving him to the Louisville Airport tomorrow, and he connects in Philly. Then, straight through to Phoenix.

I know it's time. He kinda followed me up here from Tennessee and always loved it out west. Think of me tomorrow....I'll most likely be sad.

You say, "Mummies, I say, "Mommys...."

You know, the whole potato, potatoe....thing. This week, I'm officially on VACATION. Usually, that means you go somewhere. But, with the cost of gas, if we go somewhere, it'll be local. However, our vacation has begun with a bang, as our youngest, the Pickle, has been pretty sick. He got his very first ear infection at almost 4 years old. That's not a bad record. Unfortunately, he also got Pink Eye, which has been awful to get drops in his eyes. Bless his heart, getting sick the week of the fourth. So to cope we've let him watch TV.

He's decided he likes "The Mommies" movie.
"What,Pickle?" I asked him.
"The Mommies, Mommy."
Then it occurred to me: we watched The Mummy on USA this weekend. To me, that's a scream! He just thinks it's grand, and oh, so gross!

His new obsession is reading. That's a great obsession, but he wants to do it before Mommy and Daddy have had coffee. What's that in his hand? That would be "Toothbrush". We sleep with "Toothbrush", eat with "Toothbrush", play Spiderman and Venom with "Toothbrush". I have no idea why he uses a toothbrush as an action figure, but he does.

Maybe I'll get him this book: it's about a baby in a museum who thinks the Mummy is Mommy.

Spring Break in the Tennessee Valley

The Boy Scout decided to visit our friends in Chattanooga for Spring Break this year, so we made the trek down to our ole stompin' grounds. This is a pic of his buddy Kate, who he spends the most time with. She's always been his best friend, since they were little. (We had her up here last summer and went to King's Island.)
We had moved here when the Pickle was just 8 months old, so he never got to experience the tourist traps in Chattanooga. Here are some pictures of my favorite tourist trap, Coolidge Park. It's situated on the Tennessee River, has a carousel, big area for picnics and walking, and a huge fountain for the kids. As you can see, Pickle had an awesome time.

Unfortunately, he didn't want to get out. Which led to many,many tears.
This is the first time he's been able to get in the water without a swimming diaper, so maybe that hurdle is over. We can only hope and pray.

Always clowning for the camera, Pickle appears to be blowing Mommy kisses. Other than almost turning blue, he had a great time. I wish we had one of these fountains up here.