Inspiration Friday

Thought I would try to get a quick blog entry before I leave to go scrapbook until midnight. Hope everyone is having a great Inspiration Friday and they're ready with all that inspiration to do something tomorrow. I'll be sewing. The aprons for the servers at next weekend's wedding have to be done, well you guessed it before next weekend. So I'll be sewing, sewing, sewing. That is once I get the dust cleaned off and out of my sewing machine. Here's a picture of a quilt I did a couple of years ago. It hangs in the dining room. It was a mystery quilt class I taught at the quilt shop my friends owned. It was so much fun. I love embroidery and quilting. I just don't have much time for it. I did find time today to blog though. Summer must be getting close because there isn't as much home schooling stuff to do.



Everyone have a great weekend. Hope you're inspired to create something this weekend.
Amanda

Seth's creations or twice is nice

Okay, so it's nice to have some quiet time to myself. Grandma is napping and not needing assistance. Soooo, I'll post again today. Normally I'd be fighting the kids for computer air time. I'd like to share some things that Seth has made in woodshop this year. He's getting pretty good with those woodworking tools. I'll share next week the cute skirts that Tina has been creating with the neighborhood girls. She's pretty busy lately though with the play. She and Seth are in a production of Romeo and Winifred. Tina has two parts, narrator and Versaci. Seth is playing Romeo. It's a parody of Romeo and Juliet. Should be funny.
This is probably one of the first birdhouses Seth made me. The oil lamp beside it is a family heirloom.
He made this cute bookcase not too long ago and I promptly claimed it.
This is the adirondack chair he made this spring. It took him quite a few workshops to complete this and it turned out gorgeous. (By the way, Seth checks the blog probably as much or more than I do. He's always tickled to see the comments.)
This was originally a plate rack that he made last fall. He was pretty disappointed when my plates didn't fit. I said no big deal, take it back, cut out the dowels and add a shelf. I needed a cute little shelf just for this spot and Seth accomplished that quite nicely. The lady in the picture is my husband's paternal grandmother. The white teacups and saucers are R.A.D. (Regional Adult something or another). Goodwill is too expensive here. I'd much rather shop R.A.D. Anyways they had been crying out for a home for a couple of weeks. I finally broke down and brought them home with me. The cups on the left are some of my husband's great grandmother's or something. The ones on the left are my orphan teacups. They got that way because my hubby likes to play ball in the house!!! or run into my shelves and knock the contents off of them. My kids rarely break anything. Just gotta watch out for the hubby. At least he's always sorry enough to go buy me another. :-)
This is Seth.

Well gotta run. Promised Grandma I would order some clothes online that she wants.
Only 2 and a half weeks left of school. Yipppeeeee!!!!!! I know that most of you mothers are groaning out there, but I'm really ready to send your darlings back to you for a much needed ten week break and battery revival. Take care.

Inspiration Saturday

Okay, seems like everyone is doing the really neat "Inspiration Friday". But Friday is my least available day. Even if I do have an available day. But it's great to see what everyone is inspired by. Funny thing is I have a lot of the same magazine pages tore out and saved in my binder also. Great minds think alike!
I finally got it!!! The digital camera that is. The hubby and kiddos gave it to me early as they've gone out of town until Sunday evening. Someone has to stay with Grandma and man the washer. They're enjoying a much needed Christian retreat not far from home. They'll be home Sunday to take all the moms (Neil's mom, my mom and me) out to Black Angus for dinner. Yippee!!
Well I guess I've got to share some of my first photos from my new camera. Hope you enjoy.

This is our patio and backyard. No, you may not see the rest of the backyard as it's really bad. The construction crew just ruined it last year during the remodel. I'm still digging dumped cement out of the flower beds and wondering when I'll get the lawn leveled. It was beautiful at one time. I'll share older photos on another day.
This is the front of the house. Much improved since the remodel,
but still needing work, like more flowers.
I did manage to save a few things before the construction crew went landscape destruction happy. The lavendar (the tall shrub) is an antique that my husband's great grandmother planted at the ranch. When we moved I dug it up and brought it with me. I'm glad I did. The new owner of the ranch ripped out most of the old shrubs and trees.
This is another angle of the front yard. The bench is one that my
son built in woodshop. The woodshop team usually builds something like this that is raffled off at the end of the school year. The proceeds purchase new tools and wood for the next school year. I was so thrilled to win 2 years ago. I really miss my iceburg roses (which were to the right of the bench a year ago). Maybe next year I'll get to plant some more.
Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Back on the web

Wow! It feels like we fell off the face of the earth. Our computer blew it's power board or something like that and has been in the shop for a week. I've been having blog withdrawals. I don't always get around to writing on my own blog everyday, but I almost always get around to visiting those other blogs that I really enjoy. So now I have a lot of catching up to do. I've only got a few minutes so I want to say I've missed everyone. There's a wedding shower here at my house tomorrow and of course I'm not ready. Seems likes there's always too many irons in the fire at this house. The hubby and the kiddos will be out of town next week so I should have unlimited access to the computer. I'm not sure who rushed to get to the computer first when it came back, me or the kiddos. How did we become so dependent on a machine?

Visiting Collierville

Our heart and prayers go out to those who have lost someone in the Virginia Tech incident.

It's been awhile since we've blogged. We've been doing things around the house and getting things done for school. The days just fly by. I was "visiting" Southern Heart's blogspot the other day and saw her Collierville, TN pictures. Which reminded me of our trip to Collierville in October, 2001. My daughter and I had taken the train out to Mississippi to visit my mother. Collierville was one of the places we visited. So I thought I would share our pictures of Collierville.
We had a great time in this little city and a wonderful time visiting my mother. We hadn't seen each other in 4 years. We had moved to California from Virginia and it was a lot further to travel.
Here's the log cabin and Kristina sitting on the log cabin's porch. She was so little then.

Neat Gazebo in the square. Or do you call it something else?

The entire square was decorated for fall. It was so nice being some place that actually gets Fall. Living in Southern California we don't get that kind of weather and the leaves changing color, etc. I think I miss Fall the most. We had beautiful autumns in Virginia.

Okay, enough about Collierville. I really enjoyed my time in the South. I'd move back in a heartbeat. Though California does have its advantages. Like fresh fruit right off the tree/vine. Got our first strawberries this past weekend from the local grower and the blueberries and blackberries will be ready in about a month. Citrus hasn't been that good this winter because of all the record cold temperatures we've had here.
Spring break was wonderful and we did manage to get a few things done. Got the pantry painted and installed. The cabinet maker hadn't installed it so that it would be easier to paint. Also got the doors to the cabinets put up. There's a rumor going around that I might get a digital camera for mother's day, but we'll see what happens. I'd probably rather have a new side door for the kitchen. There's always something needing money. We hope to have the door widened in June. I want to wait until school is out. Well gotta run to work. Okay, I'll walk. Hope everyone has a good day.

Yes We Love Our Animals

This is Charley and Cocoa in my mom and dad's room. This is two of our three cats. They're enjoying a pleasant afternoon on my parent's bed. They're always together.

Cocoa is our newest member to the family. She's very skittish as she was found a stray. She doesn't like you sneaking up on her or touching her without her permission, but when she wants to be loved she's very demanding. She's very fluffy and has a tail like pampus grass. She walks and runs with it standing straight up so it looks pretty funny.
This is Miss Kitty. She's hiding in a quilt that my mom made. She thinks that mom made it for her. My mom had it in her lap while she was binding it and she crawled right in. She has a prissy attitude and has earned the nickname "miss priss". She thinks the house belongs to her and she's merely letting us stay here. Of course it probably helps that we feed her. Miss Kitty is a munchkin. She has short stubby front legs and longer back legs. Earning her my little nickname of "miss hotrod." She loves to do this ferret stance where she sits up on her back legs and looks out the window or french doors. Usually a sure sign that she wants out or in. She has a very distinct meow which can always be heard. She reminds us of a meer cat when she runs because her tail is always sticking up.






This is Grandma with Charley. He is our most cuddly cat. He hardly ever purrs or meows but loves attention constantly. He's recently gotten over an "affair" with a different family who lives behind us. Charley was also a stray, but is not skittish at all. He's our cool joe cat. His favorite pasttime is running up and down the hall at night with Cocoa and fishing in the fish tank. We even got a sign for the fish tank that says "no fishing", but I guess he doesn't read it.



This is Rascal. Our 9 year old Jack Russell terrier. He's very protective and thinks the whole street belongs to him. He barks at anything that moves on it, but if you come through the gate he's your best friend. Some guard dog. He's getting old and enjoys sleeping in everyone's bed.

This is a rare picture. Miss Kitty must have been asleep when Charley got in the chair with her. She doesn't like other animals sleeping with her, especially Charley. They weren't always enemies.
Just thought I'd show off the other "members" of the family. As soon as I get pictures I'll show you my tarantula, Harry:-)

Seth

Ladybug quilt

I've been looking around at the blog sites and realizing what talented women are out there. So I thought I would share a quilt that I made last winter. It was for a friend who was expecting her third child, first girl. The theme was ladybugs and she likes really bright colors. The hard part was having all my quilting stuff packed away in storage. We had just begun our major remodel. All my quilt patterns, etc were not accessible. So I just drew a ladybug and blew her up on the copier. Then did simple pinwheels. The recipient just loved it. Neither picture scanned too well so hopefully you can get an idea what it looked like. That's me behind the quilt and I'm standing in the living room. The palladium window looks out on our front yard.
Well I hope everyone had a better weekend than I had. I didn't even get my pantry painted. I came down sick on Saturday morning and proceeded to get worse all weekend. That's what I get for forgetting my water all last week and drinking out of the faucet in the library. I've hardly been sick this past school year and now I have to blow it this close to Spring break. I'd better get well before then. Went to the doctor today and she gave me a prescription. So hopefully I'll be on the mend this week. I've got way too much to do to be down sick. I want to get the cupboard doors painted over Spring break and some of the walls. Guess I'll also be adding the pantry to that list. Hope everyone has a great week.