Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Time passages..... (posted 12-12-12)

Generations.  There were 4 represented at our Christmas gathering on Sunday.  Me and my siblings (numbering 7) are Generation 1 since our parents have both died. Our children are Generation 2 and are 14 in number. Generation 2 has children (Generation 3) and some are grown with children (Generation 4) of their own.

(My S-I-L's mom dropped by -- it was so good to see her again, wish I could have talked to her more -- which made it 5 generations in my #5sib's family.)

So with 4 generations of our family, I am a great-great-aunt.  My sister is a great-grandmother and my nephew is a grandfather.  My brother is a great-grandfather and my niece is a grandmother.

These people are way too young to be all that!  I'm way too young to be a double great aunt!  In my mind I'm only 17 years old and my great nieces and nephews are running around here looking like their mommas and daddys did at that age.  It's weird, I tell you!  Thinking about my great aunts, seeing them only once in a blue moon and hearing them tell me how much I've grown and look like my momma or my daddy...

I get it now.

I am totally in love with my family.  To be so many generations and to have most of them at home for Christmas was unbelievable.  Who was missing?

  •  #1sib's grandson was in Birmingham studying for exams.
  • #2sib's grandaughter was in Atlanta working.
  • and #2sib's daughter was in New York City working.
  • #5sib's grandson was working (his wife and new baby were there!)
  • #7sib's (this is me) 2 sons were not there - both live in Tennessee
  • #6sib 
Not bad for so many people.  I'll count up the number one day and add to this post.

 gathering of the younguns to open gifts

 fun!!!

Friday, December 7, 2012

Christmas Spirit Abounds!

Here's a unique take on a Christmas tree.  
Look closely!  I was at Gateway this morning
getting some maintenance done on my car.

Monday, December 3, 2012

I miss you





my sweet brother


everyone loves you

I crocheted stars when you were sick

and gave them to our brothers, sister, nephews, nieces and
children to hang on their Christmas trees.

I miss you, Marvin.  Everyday.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

2012 Christmas Ornaments


It'll soon be Christmas and my project this year is to make enough ornaments to give to everyone at our family Christmas gathering the second Sunday in December.  Last minute making, but it's fun.
Cutting and folding paper, I need 12 folded papers like those above
for one ornament.  I love the Houndstooth print I found last year.
Roll Tide!

 
 
I used the bottle and wire to make a drying rack for after I
Mod Podged them


 After spraying with a gloss finish, I use wire and beads to form a hanger and to add a tassel.  The red one is from Christmas 2011.




        
 I spent the afternoon cutting strips of wrapping paper to cut into 4-inch squares later.  I used all the Houndstooth paper and cut 10 strips from each of the two flower patterned ones.


The backside of Hallmark paper is printed with 1-inch squares,
making it easy to cut squares of paper for the origami folding.


This is what I use:  Hallmark heavy-weight gift wrap
"with cutting lines"  :-)  And I'm proud to report that 
Hallmark gift wrap is made in the USA!


See!!  It says so right there on the paper!


I'll let you know how the ornaments turn out.  Besides cutting paper, I've been busy today catching up with the laundry and dishes... mounds and mounds of both.  I'll cut the strips of paper into 4-inch squares tonight before I go to bed.  Good night, all!
  
          

                                                                       

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Getting ready for Holidays!


My friend is making wreaths.  She says it relaxes her.  I know just looking at mine relaxes me!  She has done such a wonderful job and has many different designs and colors.  When I got it last Friday  I could hardly wait to get home to hang it on my door!  When I'm in the kitchen I can enjoy it.

                                                 
Red, White and Blue --
Christmas/Winter and Patriotic, too!

Note the Avon heart I pinned to his scarf!



                                                                                                   

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Fall and Patriotism

No, this post isn't about the fall season.  I had my first "senior" (gah! I wish AARP would quit sending me those enrollment cards, reminding me that I'm getting older) fall today and hopefully my last.  Actually it wasn't exactly senior.  I had run my errands this morning, making several stops after getting out of doctor's office.  I was on my next to last mission back in my little town and had stopped to pay storage rental for November and parked in front of the office. There on the asphalt was a yellow strap used to bind a box for packing.  The strap is plastic and is heat sealed into a band that wraps around a package.  I never thought anything about stepping on it until my swing foot got caught in the band that my stance foot was holding down.  And right now I can't tell you which foot stepped on it and which foot got caught.  The next thing I knew I was flying through the air, trying to get my feet under me to keep me from a great fall. Gravity won, my right knee took the brunt, scraped my right pinkie knuckle and elbow and caught my balance with my left outer palm. My first thought was:  my new jeans!  I just knew I'd torn the knee.  Nope, just a dirty asphalt stain.  Whew.  I'll be alright when my  pride mends.

 Later I noticed that the pavement had scratched my wedding band and engagement ring......sigh.

On a good note, I accomplished all the missions I'd set out to do today, things that I'd been putting off doing until I could take a day off work and just do them (Nike). ha.

Now I don't have to rush next Tuesday.
Yea, me!!!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Sun Dogs

Growing up, my momma would point out sundogs to me if they happened along.  She said it meant a change in weather.  You've probably seen sundogs, maybe you didn't call them that or maybe you didn't know they had a name.  I thought momma just made it up until I happened to see a story on Discovery channel about sundogs.  There is a scientific reason for the halo and sundogs and it was explained.  Basically the information boiled down to a change in weather.  Go ahead, Google it. Momma knew what she was talking about. The ones I saw today were unusually bright.  They made almost a rainbow circle around the sun.  In fact there was a mirror image rainbow above one of the rainbows at the apex of the halo. They were beautiful making rainbow darts in the fall sky. And, I don't remember ever taking a photo of the sun.  Today was a first!









Saturday, June 30, 2012

Pancakes for breakfast

Had a hankering for Pancakes this morning and wanted them to be different.  Here's my thought process regarding ingredients:  Bisquik.  And for moisture, Dannon Plain Greek Yogurt.  Mmmm... Blueberries.  Still too thick. Need a grain:  Ground Flax Seed.  Now for the moisture, some kind of juice maybe... don't want to use skim milk and not the soy or almond milk.  Opened fridge door and saw the container of Pineapple Rings full of juice. (100% juice, no sugar added).  Added enough Pineapple Juice to make the batter thin enough to pour.  Used my griddle and cooked 3 at a time (first batch).  Placed on my Fiesta Plate, opened fridge door for the I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray and saw the  Hormel Real Bacon Bits... hmmm.... love that Smokey Bacon!  Sprayed with the Not Butter Spray and topped with Bacon Bits and covered with Pure Maple Syrup.

Yum, so good!!  What a way to start my first day of VACATION!!!

Saturday, March 17, 2012

My new stretching exercise

This week I felt real dumb when my supervising PT gave instructions in an evaluation of my patient to stretch the patient's iliopsosas muscle.  It's been so long since studying anatomy in school and working in home health with little (here's a potential Raising Hope moment and I'm not about to use a word that sounds close to the word I'm looking for) .....interaction (yeah, that's the word I'm looking for!!) with therapists that  I'd clean forgotten where it is!

Let alone how to stretch it.

So, last night I set about sussing the information on the www and came across some interesting finds.  First, I found a couple of websites that were a plethora of information:  Dynamic Chiropractic had an article with in-depth information, that when I read it I realized I really need to stretch mine (sitting for long periods, scoliosis, spondylolisthesis).  You can find the article, The Psoas Syndrome, there along with some diagrams on performing the stretch.  The other website is Floota Fighting Chronic Pain where I read articles on performing a test to determine if the psoas muscle is tight (after determining the relationship between the two muscles - psoas and iliopsoas - from the first article) and another way to stretch the muscle as well as a great anatomical drawing of the muscles on the skeleton.

Not only did I find information on how to help my patient, I discovered the exercise that completely obliterates the pain in my right low back, albeit for a short period.  But, with continued practice, my posture should improve and the muscle will lengthen, which will be a blessing.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Nest Necklace

My first of (I intend) several necklaces.  I thought these were cute when I found a link to the tutorial on Pinterest.  It wasn't quite as easy as I thought it would be, kind of awkward... seemed that I had too much hand in the way lol.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Pinterest

I've discovered Pinterest.  If you haven't yet, you must.  Addictive it is.... giving me the go-ahead to dream again.  So, dream I do as I scan the photos posted by the people I follow.  Trouble is that it's so much easier to dream than to follow-through so will I ever get around to actually doing some of the things that I admire?  Check out my boards and discover my interests.

Following through on the ideas will be posted later in my blog.  I will set up a new board at Pinterest to house posts of those that I actually have done.  The photos of my version will be posted here in my blog.

Here's to a year of doing!