Party Time!!

Austin will be 7 years old on the 10th and Sabrina and Brian were having his party Sunday. Steve was not going to be able to attend so we went to see Austin Saturday to give him his birthday present. I stopped by the store and picked up a small birthday cake and some decorations along with some ice cream to have a mini party for him. He loves to fish so we gave him a real fishing pole, tackle box and all the good stuff to get serious with fishing.





(NOTE: The cigarette light was not part of his gifts)

Saturday night he had 7 little boys stay over night. Then his birthday party Sunday was a swimming party for the kids along with family.
Austin's Aunt Angie made his cake as she has every year since he was born. Angie always lets Austin pick what kind of cake he wants and this year it was an Air Force Cake. He says he wants to fly jets when he gets big. So here's the Air Force cake. Such great detail.

A Closeup of the patches. Angie made those out of icing.

Sabrina had the dog tags made with Austin's name on them.

An here's the birthday boy.





He had such a great time. With him having an August birthday, I may never get a picture of him with a shirt on. Oh well! He's such a cutie.
Until next time.
Deana

Don't Laugh! Ok, Go Ahead!

This morning I get up and get ready for work leaving Steve sound asleep in bed with our black out blinds up so he could sleep. Right before I leave for work I go into our bedroom, quietly slip on my shoes, leave for work and as I'm walking across the parking lot at work, I look down and I have two different shoes on. I couldn't even tell they didn't match when I had them on. They didn't feel any different until I noticed they weren't the same. And what's worse, one was a clog and one was a sandal. Am I not a ding dong or what? So, what am I going to do? I get back in the car to run home. No, I don't have time to run home and be back at work on time. If I go in the employee entrance there are people standing around, I don't want to be seen. They'll think I can't dress myself. Which is apparently true, but that's beside the point. So I decide to go in the front entrance. Hurry behind my desk, call Steve's cell to bring me a matching clog. No answer. Call home. No answer. Call his cell again. No answer. Ok, now I have to tell someone so I can run home. I call a coworker that covers me at lunch to come to my desk. When she gets there, she has this concerned look on her face and said, "What's wrong?" I start explaining what's going on and when she looked down at my shoes she started laughing so hard. So thanks,Amber for covering me, and no one would even know. Yah Right!. When I got back to work, the more we thought about it, the funnier it got. So now a few others know as well.
Until next time,
Deana
PS: From now on, you can bet I check my shoes before leaving home.

Have you ever been this tired?

I've been wanting to show this to you all for some time now but keep forgetting. Austin was playing with his sidewalk chalk during a busy weekend in early July when he just couldn't go any longer. Mom looked outside to check on him when she saw him asleep on the driveway. After a quick picture, she carried him inside.

My knee is getting better with the physical therapy so I spent the day trying to play catch up with the house. It has been so neglected for the last couple of months that if I didn't get the dust off the funiture, I was going to have to start weeding it.
I woke up this morning to the strangest thing! Wet drops of clear liquid falling from the sky. Not a lot, but the grass and flowers seemed to enjoy it.
Now the sun is out and the humidity is just lovely.
Steve and I went to Columbia the other day and I bought this quilting book I've been wanting. The Civil War Sewing Circle by Kathleen Tracy.

It has some of the neatest projects in it.
Also, the weekend we went camping we visited the flea markets and antique shops in the area. Here's some of the things I came home with.

All was just $1.00 a yard. And the dark fabric has 6 yards. I think the smallest piece was 2 yards.

And these great antique buttons. I can't wait to add them to something. But I don't even have anything in mind yet. I do know it will be something from The Civil War Sewing Circle book.
And last but not least, here's the latest on the current stitching projects.

House #8 is almost finished. Now I'm just filling in the house.


And here's what I have so far with flowers for Grandmothers Flower Garden.
66 total now complete along with several of the single green hexagons. I'm figuring I need 189 flowers total to make it large enough for our bed.
I need to go now and watch the Nascar Nationwide race. GO CARL!!
Until next time,
Deana

First off, I want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my baby girl,SABRINA. She's a big 31 today. I can't believe my girls are 31 and almost 35. I remember being that age. I didn't seem so long ago was it? I just turned 55 July 7th. That seemed so old when I was their age.
Not much going on, just trying to stay cool in our triple digit heat index. Above 100degrees all this week is expected. I'll be going outside just long enough to get to and from work and watering my poor flowers.
At least if I stay inside where it's cool I should get lots of stitching done.
I've been working away on my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. I now have 60 flowers made and a few of the single green border pieces. Here I was playing around with the layout of them.

It's been so much fun working on it.
I've also been stitching on Yellow House Sampler again. It hasn't been alot of fun stitching on it but it is coming out really pretty. Also I'm slowing moving long on Houses of Hawk Run Hollow. My camera battery is dead and recharging so I'll post pics next time.
I've spent alot of time lately reading quilting and cross stitch blogs too. I look at all the progress everyone is making and wonder what I'm doing wrong. I love looking at what everyone is working on or just finished making. It's really inspiring to see all the great ideas. Makes me want to start more projects but I must control myself. I keep telling myself "I must finish some before starting more."
We did go camping a couple of weekends ago. We were really lazy and didn't do much other than hit the local antique shops and flea markets in the area. I did purchase several pieces of fabric for just $1.00 yd. I like those prices. I also bought some antique buttons that I couldn't pass up.
My knee is still on the fritz. I got a steroid injection on the 7th (yes,on my birthday) and I'm going to physical therapy twice a week but I'm not seeing any improvement. It still hurts just as bad as ever and has now started swelling alot more.
Steve teases me that he got me an injection in my knee for my birthday and I had already gave him 2 new knees for our anniversary back in April....We're such great gift givers.
I think I am going to go do some stitching now so until next time,
Deana

So, Here's the update on my bum knee/lower back problem. Doctors appt yesterday to remove stitches from my knee and that doctor has now referred me to the back specialist that I saw back in Aug. and Dec. last year for the injection.
I saw him today and he gave me another injection in my back. Last time it numbed me up for a couple of hours but this time I can't even tell I received it. I am off work until I get a nerve study on the 28th.
Enough with that!!!

Back in May Angie our oldest daughter received her masters degree in Business Administration. We're very proud of her. She has worked hard for it.

Angie and Sabrina

Angie and Darrell

Angie and Austin


Angie and us


We had not one but two graduations this spring.
Austin graduated from Kindergarten

A very proud little boy

Our two graduates

A proud Mom and Dad

Austin with his teacher. He made her a book about their year in kindergarten

A proud Papa and Aunt Angie

Austin Celebrates with a party with family

Austin's cake specially made by Aunt Angie (AKA "Flour Power Baking Company)

That's all for today.
I'm sure I will be posting more often in the next two weeks since I spending so much time at home.
Until next time,
Keep stitching
Deana

Here it is Saturday and my knee surgery was Wednesday. As they say, I have Good News and Bad News. The good news is everything went well. The bad news is they could not find a torn meniscus or Bakers Cyst.The doctor said he could not find anything that would be causing me to have so much leg and knee pain. He went in thru 4 places in my knee and everything looked fine. As the doctor said, "There has to be something going on to cause me this much pain but they aren't sure what it could be. I'm still barely able to get around. Even after sitting around with ice the last several days I see absolutely no improvement. In fact, I think it's worse but is it surgery pain or the orginial pain I had that is getting worse? I have another doctor appt. Wed. to see what the next step is. They mentioned it could be coming from my back, which I have lower back problems anyway. Since Wed. I have set around and iced my knee as much as I can. I'm hoping to go to work Monday but we will have to see when Monday comes. I'm starting to get aggravated with it. If you know me personally, I am not a good "sitter". That's why stitching is good for me. If I have to sit around and do nothing, it would drive me nuts. I have to be doing something. TV is not interesting to me unless it's Nascar. And that's only on the weekends. So I've been cross stitching on Houses of Hawk Run Hollow again, piecing my Grandmother's Flower Garden and reading but I'm getting tired doing it all the time.
Will post an update later this week.
Have a good weekend.
Deana

It's been so long since my last post. It seems like I just can't get the time to sit down and write. I have been reading some of my favorites, but it takes me a lot more time when I have to sit and think what to write about.
A couple weeks ago, my family met at mom's house to get some things we wanted. I got some useful things, but these two are my favorites of Mom and Dad's.

I had forgotten about Dad's shoe shine kit until I ran onto it. It really brings back memories of seeing Dad polishing his shoes and boots. He even polished his work boots. I bet not too many people do that. But he was one for looking nice and taking good care of what he had. The boots are mine since I didn't have a pair of his to take the picture.

I also got Mom's rolling pin and a pie plate of hers. She must have made hundreds of pies over her lifetime. She would always make 4 or 5 at a time. Cherry, Peach but mostly apple. She'd bake them and then call us to tell us to stop by and pick one up.
When we were at mom's it was funny, Mom had a VERY OLD, bread box. Scratched paint and rusted and she just kept on using it. Anyway, Angie, Sabrina and I were in the kitchen when Angie said "Oh, I remember that! That's where Grandma always kept the Ding Dongs when we were little." Do you all know what they are? Their little chocolate cakes with cream filling. They were individually wrapped in foil. I don't know if they still make them or not. Funny how seeing things bring back memories of things long forgotten.

We have been invaded by the 13 year Cicada. I guess a large part of the United States is dealing with them. If you are not familiar with them, they are these nasty flying insects that hatch every 13 years. They burrow up from the ground, mate, and die. Here's a picture of one I took on the BBQ grill cover.

When they come up out of the ground they look very different from this picture. They have a shell on them that they kind of peel out of. Here's a pic of an empty shell.

This last week they have been driving us nuts. Their extremely loud, we can hear them even with the house closed up and the air conditioner on. I have tried to go sit out on our deck three different times this week and they are EVERYWHERE!!! I spent about 15 min total this week outside. They're loud, they fly into you and get on your clothes, and if that's not bad enough, THEY STINK!!!! Steve was mowing the other day and I went outside and OMG! So needless to say,I have been staying inside.I heard they're suppose to be around about 6 weeks. YA!
Now with thousands of these bugs,Here's a picture of the shells around one of our trees. You can not walk anywhere that you would not step on them.

And lastly, the little dogs have been banned from outside. They have to use their potty pad. They go outside and imeditatly go into a feeding frenzy. And after Sage has gotten sick twice, she now goes out with a muzzle on. We bought it thinking she couldn't get them in her mouth but OH,NO! She could still open her mouth enough to get the nasty little things in. So then I came up with the mesh and stitched it across the end of the muzzle. She didn't like it at first but now she really doesn't act like it matters. She still thinks she can eat them, so when she goes out it's really funny because she jumps at them and tries to bite them.She roots around in the grass trying to get them. Here she is after an outing with and empty shell stuck to her muzzle.

An lastly, before I go, Steve is doing very well with his knee replacements. He has not been release to return to work yet, and still has a ways to go before he will be back to normal. So now I get to have my turn. I have to have surgery for a torn meniscus, and a Baker's Cyst on Wed. While at the State Fire Convention I took a stumble from our camper steps and I guess I did it then. I didn't have any trouble for a couple of weeks, but once it started, I have not had any relief from the pain.
It continues to worsen, last night, it was bad enough I couldn't put any weight on it. This morning, still not any better so I had to take off work today. The doctor's office told me to "baby" it, ice it and wait until Wed. Guess that's about it for the latest going on in my life.
Until next time, take time to stitch.
Deana