On pins and needles

It's been a pins and needles day, but not in the literal sense.  We got an offer on Mom's house this morning and after discussion put in a counter offer and are now in the process of waiting for their response.  It is so sad that we can't get out of the house what is owed on it, not because it is now run down, etc.  Quite the opposite in fact, but because of the economy and slow housing rebound going on.  Our prayer is that Mom will not lose too much on the deal. We're trying to keep as much of her funds as possible to pay for her care. Thankfully God knows the situation and her need.

So, while we wait I have started working on a raccoon piece for my friend Jan.  I have the underpainting done and am beginning the threadwork.

It was either on a blog or Pinterest a few days ago I saw someone using a thread rack and I had a lightbulb moment.

This rack is perfect for putting all the threads for a project on so I don't have to go searching in the various places where I have my thread.  I got the larger cone sized so I can put my variety of sizes and shapes all on one rack. Perfect!  So now back to the thread work as I wait.... and hopefully I don't get poked with those pins! LOL

A bit large for my collection

Today was another open house followed by a showing so DH, Freckles and I had to be gone for about 3 hours.  We decided to take a drive and see the new setting for the Teapot Dome Gas Station in Zillah, WA. I remember this gas station from childhood, when we would go to my aunt and uncle's house. On the wall in the station (at its new home) is a painting of the station for its early years. That is the first picture below. The second one is a picture I took a few years ago, before it was moved to its present location where it is being used as a tourist information center. The third and subsequent pictures were ones I took today. It wasn't open today, but the windows provided great viewing.  To get the history of this station (which is pretty interesting), check out this site: Teapot Dome Service Station

This teapot is a bit large to put into my collection, but wouldn't it make a delightful tea house?

I've Got Mail!

A very special box arrived in the mail this week from my online quilting friend Sharon.  Oh my, the treasures that I found when I opened the box.  I knew one antique quilt would be in the box, but there was so much more!

I can just imagine the warmth those wonderful quilts provided for who knows how many persons over the years. They were definitely used, which is what quilts are to be.  Now to go look more closely at the fun patterns... hmmm, wonder if there will be some Bailey wear from them?

A Summer's Day

We've had several days where we were able to turn off the AC, open the windows and let the breezes bring in fresh air and still keep the house cool.  Temps have risen a bit now, but we can still open up in the mornings and just use the AC in the afternoon and evenings.

A new slice quilt challenge has started. I had some time this week to actually sew (no showings of the house yet this week) and was able to get mine done.  Only showing a snippet of it as some who are doing it follow my blog. It was really fun to do and I'm so pleased with the results.

Our youngest son has had a lot of challenges in his life to deal with. His has not been an easy life, but he has learned and grown through all of it.  He is facing another hurdle, one he is taking on head-on. He is getting some counseling/therapy and discovering that he is bipolar and OCD. They are looking at other possible challenges as well. It will be great to do the things needed to get these under control. He will be so much happier, as will those around him. I'm so proud of him accepting this and doing what needs to be done, instead of denying it and figuring it is everyone else who has problems. He is an amazing young man.

My sister's liver biopsy results were very encouraging. With diet, exercise, etc. the problem can actually be turned around!

It has been quite a week with the shootings in Colorado, the heat continuing to burn up the parched land in many areas, fires in other areas, rain and storms and flooding, the Olympics beginning and all the security needed in hopes of keeping everyone safe there, a missionary in Congo getting the news she has breast cancer.  In all of these things we are not alone. God has not left us nor has he forsaken us. He is here for us. Here to encourage and guide us. Here, just waiting for us to rely on Him. I love the response from an interview with a youth pastor about "why would God let this shooting happen?".  He said that God loves us so much that he gives us free will, He allows us to make choices. Without that we would just be robots. This is love.  As a parent I can relate to that.  We teach and guide our children, hoping that they will make wise choices in their life. As we all know, wrong choices do get made. We are not perfect. What is important is to learn from those wrong choices and grow and grow closer to God.

The birds are singing, the sun is shining, it's a beautiful day in God's creation.

A Lavender kind of day

This morning was another viewing of the house (and they want to come back again tomorrow - woohoo). We didn't get to the Lavender Festival yesterday as originally planned, so that's what we did today. It is a lovely day and a great setting. Although the field of lavender was smaller than I thought it would be, it was delightful and so aromatic.  I also loved the row of sunflowers that were lining the driveway as you exited. Made for a delightful outing.  The bees were very happy too buzzing around in all the lavender and on the sunflowers.

Family Time?

 

Well, kind of, sort of.  My DH's ex-sister-in-law and our niece (her daughter) came for an overnight visit yesterday. (To us, she is family whether we are truly related or not.) We had such a delightful time. It was interesting as we were visiting that DH and I learned about some things about his mother that we had not known about. People are so interesting.

It was so nice catching up on everyone's life. Our niece Casey is doing quite well now. She has health challenges, but she is doing all she can to be as healthy as she can be. She is a Purple Heart recipient from the Iraq War and is going to college with the goal of helping vets with mental health issues. She is an amazing young woman, and her heart is so much into helping other vets deal with the issues they have and to fight for better benefits for vets.

But, the most fun, in a way, was discovering that Marti's favorite pie is a cherry pie. I did not know this before they got here and guess what I had made for our dessert last night?  Yep, a fresh cherry pie! WooHoo!  And by the way, it is so delicious! In fact, DH absolutely loves rhubarb pie and he said this pie has taken its place. Now that is a compliment!

DH and I just enjoyed our second piece, which a nice dollop of whipped cream on top AND we have another piece each to enjoy tomorrow. Ah, life is good. The recipe I found on http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/fresh-cherry-pie-10000001816376/  I used actual pie cherries so I increased the sugar to 1 1/2 cups. I also added some ground almonds to my pastry. Next time I will toast them first, but they made a great addition.

In the Kitchen

Our great niece will soon be turning 6. She is having a 'Fancy Nancy' party.  She also likes to cook with her mom, so I decided she needed a special apron.  The first task was searching to see if there was actual Fancy Nancy fabric available.  I found some on Etsy, for a super price! Once I had the fabric then it was time to shop for trims and accessories for the apron, after all you can't make a plain apron for Fancy Nancy!  Today I was able to sit down and sew it up and add all the baubles to it.  The necklace has lobster clasps on each end that hooks to 'eye' that are hidden under jewel-like buttons. This will make it easy to remove when it is time to launder the apron. Hmmm.... wonder what yummy treats she'll make while wearing her apron?

This morning while reading all the blogs I follow I was especially intrigued with TEA WITH FRIENDS BLOG .  They showed some teacup measuring cups that came from Pier 1 Imports.  My sister and I headed down there mid-morning and found these:

They are not the exact ones from the blog, but I love these and they found their way home with me. They had several different measuring cups, some looked like vegetables, one was a tree trunk and little branches with birds, etc.  I also found a really cute salt and pepper shaker that had a teapot on top of a teacup.  It was tempting, but I did leave it in the store.

Since we were just across the parking lot from TJ Maxx, that was our next stop.  In the clearance aisle I found these plates for just $2.00 each.  We are needing new everyday dinner plates. I've been looking around but hadn't found any that were just right.  Originally I was going to get a mix and match set of plates, but I really like these and for $14.00 we now have 7 new dinner plates. 

I actually have spent some time in the kitchen today too.  We're having company tomorrow night so I made a broccoli salad and then mixed up the meat for Mid Eastern Burgers that we'll grill tomorrow.  In the morning I'll be making a fresh cherry pie.  It's going to be a yummy dinner.

Berry-licious

There were just a few raspberries left from our first harvest this summer. What to do, what to do? I mean you really have to do something special with them... and then it clicked...  grab a bowl and an ice cream scoop. Add a couple "small" scoops of yummy vanilla bean ice cream, drizzle Hershey's Special Dark Syrup on top. Next sprinkle sliced almonds. Last step - add a handful of fresh raspberries. Get s spoon and find a comfy place to sit and then slowly dig in... savoring each bite. Oh my, what a delectable treat this is.  And it is healthy -- you are eating dairy, fruit, nuts, veggies (that cocoa bean gets a lot of mileage for me).

Another 12x12 finished!

This month's 12"x12" for the AlphaDorable 12's was to use the letter N, O, and/or P.  I had a great photo of some Ponderosa Pine branches/needles that I picked out for this month's quilt.  Once again I had my personal challenge of the twist to add to it. (My personal theme for these are Textures from Nature with a Twist).  When the 'aha' went off in my head I was anxious to get started. Using my photo software I turned the color picture into a black and white one then placed it in a film negative frame.  

(hmm... not sure why the program turned it this way, 

but it gives you an idea of the original photo.)

For those in my generation we are very familiar with what a film negative looks like.  It won't be long before this will be an unknown to the majority.  To give mine piece more reality I actually cut out the little squares, just as actual negatives are. I still have to settle on a name for it and do my Smilebox of 'how I made it'.

I'm anxious to get started on the apron for my great niece. She is having a 'Fancy Nancy' birthday party this year (she'll be 6). I found on Etsy some F.N. fabric that will be the base of the apron. Then I shopped for trims and beads and buttons and other items to fancy it up.  It will definitely be a one of a kind apron when it is done. I'm sure she is going to LOVE it.

Stormy Night III

We are in the midst of our third thunder storm this week. This one seems to have started to the east of us and is moving this way. During the biggest one last Sunday our neighbors big tree did a lot of creaking and cracking. Yesterday and today the tree was felled, which is good as I think the wind in tonight's storm could have easily taken it down.

Updates:

Adam will be going back to work on Monday, after being off two weeks because of his knee. Thankfully it was just a badly sprained knee and bruised bones.

Jenna has completed this group of chemo treatments. Hopefully it will be a long time before more is needed.

My sister was in ER this morning with kidney stones. She's home again, on potent pain meds, until it passes.  No word yet on her liver biopsy.

This week has been a lot of good traffic on the house. Five more came through on  today's open house, one was for a second look. There has been several viewings this week, so hopefully it will mean an offer will soon be made.

Mom was talking to my brother last night, telling him I never go to see here. LOL  The mind of one with dementia and no short term memory is quite interesting. She only really knows what is in the moment, and sometimes even that is pushing it.  Her long term memory is there, but she is getting a lot of those mixed up and timelines all mixed up too. The blessing is that she doesn't have pain to deal with.

My thoughts and prayers are with:
Chris and Mitzann
Dot
Morgan
Cindy's daughter
Joyce
Dennis

It's a Dog's Life

Yesterday while we had to be away from the house while a family viewed it we stopped in at Petco, with Freckles, to get him a new Kong.  He ♥ loves ♥ his Kong. Every evening after our dinner DH fills the Kong with a treat.  Freckles has gotten to where he now "tells" DH if he wants to play hide and seek for the Kong, or if he wants to jump for it. It's pretty fun to watch the whole process. If he does hide and seek he will search all over the house for it (even though he knows right away where it is).  He'll lift his nose into the air and sniff all around, trying to find it.

There are times when he jumps for it, if he gets it sooner than he wanted he gives it back so he can jump more. Such fun to watch!

Once Freckles finds his Kong, then he will either crunch it really fast and get his treat and be done in less than a minute, or ... 

he will play with it and work and work and work at it. This has gone on for upwards of 2 hours. Of course that also depends on what kind of treat is inside.

I love watching how he uses his paw to hold his Kong and keep it steady while he diligently works at getting those treats out of it.  It's fun to see how active he continues to be... even at 9 years old (that is if we don't take him for 3 mile walks on pavement).

After the Storm

As the sun was thinking about setting Sunday night the sky became very yellow... everywhere. Then flashes of lightning started happening and the roll of thunder could be heard. The intensity increased as as the sky became it's own show of fireworks and booming thunder the wind started picking up its speed and the rain started falling, faster and faster.  Over the next 30 minutes or so it was quite the show.  We fared quite well from it, only some leaves and twigs on the ground. Our neighbor was not quite as fortunate...

He has a busy weekend ahead.  At the top of the hill I saw a tree that came down, fortunately only onto the parking lot of the church there.  I have only heard of one house that burned down from the storm, but there are many who have been impacted from the storm.  Fortunately the possible repeat last night did not happen.

As I was going out to my car I did find this at the base of the downspout....

Such an interesting design of the maple seedlings that were left after the rains.

Our first crop of raspberries are now done, but in a few weeks the second crop will be ready to pick.  In the meantime I am enjoying the miniature rose plant that my friend Leanne gave me a few weeks ago.

Heating up

Looks like the heat that has been hitting so much of our country has made it's way to the Pacific Northwest. Today we should easily hit the 100 mark. It's 9:30am and already 80 in the shade. We got the lawn mowed and trimmed and now we're giving it a drink of water.

Still getting lots of raspberries. Going to make a crisp with some of them today. Yum yum.

This week I got started on my July 12x12. July's letter are N/O/P.  I'll be using two of them in this design. I checked all our local fabric/quilt shops for black batting for this one.... ended up having to order it online.  www.fabric.com had the smallest piece I could find to order.  It should be here by next Friday.  Then I can continue on with this project.

Mom's wheelchair finally got delivered. Took about a month and more phone calls than I would like to think about, but now she has one (well mostly) that is better for her now that she is mostly confined to it.  The 'well mostly' is that the special seat/cushion is on order. Guess they couldn't get it until they got the prescription okay from the doctor. Oh well. At least we're going in the right direction now.

My sister had a liver biopsy done this week and now we're waiting for the results. She has several health challenges and we're hoping that the results of this test will be encouraging for her.

Adam continues to get PT on his knee. He may need another MRI and possible surgery as it isn't progressing as it should. Hard to look for a new job when you are pretty well confined to home.

Jenna had another chemo treatment this week. Hopefully she's about done with them and that it will be a long time before needing more.

We continue to wait for God's timing with a new job for DH and the house to sell for Mom. There's another open house - praying the right buyer will be there.

So many needs and concerns with the heat wave, the wildfires, the flooding, the power outages, the violence, on top of all those who are out of work, homeless, in ill health, etc.  That said, there is so much to be thankful for. We are so blessed. Satan keeps trying to get me mad at God about things, but how can I be? God supplies my needs and loves me as no-one else can. It's a great day - Thank you God!

Happy 4th!

Pardon me, I'm drooling

Just a few shots from around our yard...

 I love how the raindrops form on leaves and flowers.

                   I think this one looks like a face, maybe a bird with a big yellow bill?

 This afternoon I've been in the kitchen making some salads and a dessert for this week.

A delicious rice/bean/corn salad

Broccoli and pasta salad ... just needs the last minute bacon and pecans 

 And then, from my old (1972) Betty Crocker cookbook --

a Raspberry Glace' Pie.

Can't wait to try this one!