Once Upon a Time

The busy day....Kids all excited Monday to do the promised house.

After much 7th grade whining...

 We see a slight smile with pride, as our Evan shows off the present he made for his math teacher.
The teacher loves dogs..This is a plastic bag holder...
Can you see the cute dogs with a close up??

We are trying to teach here the spirit of giving to others for Christmas.

Giving from the heart...as in homemade.

In learning a task, walking through the fire to get to the other side.

In this project, Evan learned a few new steps...eg threading the elastic, and sewing a strap.

He so did not like the learning process...but was pleased with the result..

Monday night we enjoyed this Susan Branch recipe from her blog..
I had the soup all ready for an easy dinner before we did the Gingerbread house.

The ALS article I posted last time, was about folks in the service.
Athletes are also at risk...My man was an athlete with a severe head injury from a hurling stick....when he was in his late teens.
Yet, no one really knows what causes ALS...still
It is so awful.
So is the American health care system for catastrophic illness.
Most folks do not know this.
They have not been through it.
Their healthcare votes do not address the problem accurately .

Needing here to write more for my book...ha ha...so I can remember it all as I age.

My bro was suppose to come for Thanksgiving...I was so excited.
Alas, a change of plans.
Their old van will not make it from New York to Charlotte.
Since they live in their van, if it breaks down, they will be in big trouble,
It was 22 degrees the other night, he said...and living without the van would be dreadful.
He and his wife  have been upset that one of their cats died last week.
They have 14 left...down from 21..All the cats would not be happy in 22 degree temperature, either.
Kinda sad and kinda funky..
That is my family...gotta love them anyway.

Remember that day that I misread the school calendar and had the children stay home.
The symbol was end of quarter, not teacher workday..
...We all slept in...Well, .not all of us.......
Some were climbing trees in the back yard, while Grandma snoozed..

One is now so tearful and sorry She just happened to have borrowed Grandma's I-Pad.
to watch her favorite Bake-It U-Tube channel,
It dropped -somehow from the tree she was climbing onto the scooter below.
It must have been the wind.
It is smashed to smithereens....
She had hidden it in the garage for 10 days...hoping I would not notice.

She is so sorry.  So very sorry.
She knows that climbing a tree with Grandma's I-Pad was wrong.
I told her I forgave her and was happy for the truth.

Restitution for an 8 year old??? ..Folding my fabric.....!!!.
She promised to do it all week.
No, said Grandma O'Quilts..
You can fold my fabric for the rest of your life!!!

And just when I was counting Christmas pennies.

Ms Stephanie is sick....all activities on hold.
Sunday night, I was stressing with a dirty house and quilting friends coming.
Evan made an entire cake for me...from beginning to end.  It was perfect.
I am so proud.
He also cut all the carrots and celery, and peeled the potatoes for the chowder.
How proud is this grandmother???
So proud.
xo

Stories and Stuff

FYI, I lost my heart to a black haired, blue eyed, Galway man....OMG

Galway Girl
I love that the charlotte modern quilt guild  has this placemat outreach.
It is fun to take someone else's orphan blocks and make them into something else

When I had Kristen babysitting, she organized my scraps for me.
Of course I could never USE something so organized.
I found them tonight to finish off the above placemat tops.  Fun

STORIES:
Friday, I asked God for the strength to get off some of this widow's weight.
By one am, I was busy in the loo with a stomach bug..
No, no, no I said...God, you..misunderstood...Alas..............

Last night I read a daily reading about listening to my inner spirit.
So I did.
It said go to bed silly.
So I did.

Dylan is 6.  He whispered to me the other day..
Aunt Emily is getting married.
Do you know what they do there??
Whisper.....giggle giggle.
They kiss and I am going to watch.
Snarles his older sister, age 7..
Grandma will never let you watch that!!!

Evan, almost 11...Grandma..I am not like you.  I am like me.
I have different tastes than you.  Did  you realize that people are different in that way??
You like raisins and tuna and cheese and chicken.
I like normal food, says Evan...like chips and ice cream and cookies!

Evan..The way it goes at school Grandma is that ....a girl tells you that she likes  you and asks  you to be her boyfriend.  That happened to me yesterday.  That is why I had to go to Walmart with my allowance and buy 2 large bags of candy, come home and wrap them up in a cute bag with tissue paper and sneak it all into her bookbag today.  She was surprised and happy which made me happy...
Just thought  you all would like to know how things are done in fifth grade here in Charlotte, NC

   I have no energy today.  If my love were here I would whine to the poor soul

I do not know why I am so weak.

He would say..you still have some of that virus in you.

I would disagree...why do you think I am so weak...ha ha.

Alas, he is not here so I am telling you..more ha ha.

Then he would say go sew...

Which I did.

I am looking everywhere for child size thimbles to teach my grands hand sewing.
I ordered some on Ebay...they came...Giant size thimbles with pictures of children painted on them.
That is what they advertised as Child's/Children's thimbles.
So disappointed...
If anyone knows where to get small thimbles for a 6, 7 and 10 year old. please let me know.