Another Year Passes

Well, it's New Year's Eve. Remember the times when the plans included wine, song and black-eyed peas at midnight? Well, they no longer include those plans...see pic at right...that's us today...grin

They say there's always room for improvement...and I quite agree. But at the age of almost .....whatever... I have come to the conclusion that well enough is well enough and there will be no New Year's Resolutions this year except one....

I hereby resolve to remember..... It's enough.

A Stormy Night

DH spent the evening last night whisking between the television shows we were watching and the cable weather channel that shows our local radar. The heavy thunder and cloud to ground lightening began early in the evening with one lightening shot close enough to shut down our computers, printers etc... thankfully nothing was damaged except my nerves. Tornado watches were in effect until 8pm and the rain continued into the night. This is not my favorite part of living in Texas.

Round Robin Letter Found!

I was beginning to wonder if there really was such a thing as the Round Robin Letter or if it was just a figment of my imagination! grin It seems to have gotten stuck in the snows of Michigan, but will be on it's way once again soon.

I Love Getting Christmas Cards!

OK...I know I haven't posted for a looong while... The holidays are over now, and the crunch is over. I must say that I have totally enjoyed the time, but the idea of not having my tree up (even if I have been sick!) is not one that I want to repeat any year soon.

Is anyone still getting Christmas cards in the mail? We got 3 more yesterday. Which is great, as far as I'm concerned. I love Christmas cards. Each year I think I will make cards for the year, and then never do. But... I found this at Crochet Dude's place and love the idea. But then I like his ideas most of the time... I may not do them, but they make a really bright spot in my day...grin

Drizzly Foggy Day at Perrin AFB Museum

We got up this morning to gray skies and that cool touch in the air. The thermometer read 62 when we got in the hot tub, but I think it was fooled..grin Felt more like 42. Anyway, as the day has progressed it has become progressively foggy, with the mist and a few droplets of rain beginning to fall. It also seemed that as we neared Perrin AFB, it became more foggy.

It took us about an hour to go through the museum. If a person knew a little more about things than I do, it would take much longer. From the discussions of the retired servicemen who served at Perrin and now are the caretakers of this museum, you can tell it was built and is maintained with pride.

This is one of the things that absolutely bowled me over when I saw it... These are two shell casings that were found when the Americans and Allies freed a prisoner of war camp in France. It seems that the GI's would engrave these shell casings using whatever they could find that would work. The museum caretaker who was escorting me said that the Germans declared that if you gave the Americans enough beer cans and a P38 they would build a plane and fly out of there.

It's a Beta Blogger thing...

Blogger says that if you download Picasa you can blog from there. First let me say I really like Picasa for finding all your photos. Second, let me say that Picasa may think it is dating your photos in your list correctly, but believe me it is not...grin Some of the photos it put in 1997 were not even dreamed of until 2005. Be that as it may, there is a little button on the bottom of the page that says "Blog This"... well, I've blogged twice using that button in the last couple of days... my new posts are circling the block in cyberspace somewhere...they never showed up on my blog. Oh well....

I miss my tree...

Christmas Nostalgia

We were at our son's home a couple of days ago and as I turned toward the door, there on the wall was this cross stitch sampler I had completed for them for the Christmas of 1996.

The most wonderful thing in the world for me is to look around and see memories...

I've Been Memed!

Mariella got me! I've now got meme in my hair and running down my shirt!
So here's the rules...
Each player places the rules on his/her blog, then lists 6 weird things about themselves. They then meme 6 other people, placing their names at the end of the post and leaving a comment on each of their memed friends' blogs telling them they have been "memed"! Then don't forget to go read all of them!

• I snore
• I have a habit of gently squeezing my left hand with my right hand when I am thinking about something.
• Since I quit smoking in August, I have to have something in my hands to do ... crochet, embroidery, naalbinding, knitting... it doesn't matter what it is
• I would love to have met Leonardo da Vinci.
• I have always wanted to meet a leprechan. (Perhaps someday I will under our huge oak tree!)
• I find it a shame that so many arts and crafts are so neglected as to almost become a forgotten art form ... i.e. naalbinding and card weaving.

Now for the meming of the memors from the memee.....

cat of Baumcat, Deb R. of Red Shoe Ramblings , ~firefly of i live on a farm, tomomi of Black Cat, Maureen of Kenmaurs Corner and simple sparrow.

Blah..Blah..Blah...

Did you know...
We spent the day running around ... did some Christmas shopping at the outlet mall with DH and DS.. It's no wonder I stay at home so much. Breaks my heart to go places that 10 years ago were brand new and roaring with customers only to see them today with the entire food court closed down and half the store fronts closed. What happens while I am hibernating in my craft room???

I've decided that I may have to return to my late teen early twenties habit of watching Young and the Restless... You know you're aging when you can tell people... "I saw the very first episode of Young and the Restless...and the next 5 years of it also!" It seems that while my head was stuffed in my sewing machine and yarn stash President Gerald Ford's son has been making a name for himself on the all time favorite daily soap! And I've missed it!

Mariella (of Knitting Nonni) and I were going to get together and actually meet face to face while she was visiting family, but we missed each other. Anyway, in spite of the colds they shared, it seems she enjoyed her visit with her family in Texas and that's all that really matters anyway...

Hand Made Gifts

Wrist warmers on the needles... As I was trying yesterday evening to decide what to do with the luscious blue alpaca, my mind took a side trip back in time about 40 years. But I'll start this saga somewhere else....

Whip Up is one of my favorite blogs and I read it almost every day. This post about the stress of giving at the holidays and that little niggling feeling of guilt at all our "home made" or "hand made" creations really hit home with me this year. I suppose the thoughts this post evoked stayed with me for an 'on again-off again' part of the day, because later in the evening as I cast on the stitches for the wrist warmer my thoughts turned to many years ago in a small living room in the panhandle of Oklahoma when I first learned to cast knit stitches on the needles. It was winter so the wall heater was really warm blowing on me as I sat in the chair beside it... I was really quite excited to be learning how to knit. Abigail had already taught me the basics of crochet, so now it was the basics of knit. She was not a knitter... everything I ever saw her make was crocheted... but she was very gracious in sharing whatever knowledge she had with an eager 17 year old.

Every year, she would spend untold hours quilting a quilt for each of the grandchildren for Christmas... or knitting a sweater on her knitting machine (the only kind of knitting she did)... There were times when the end products did not come out looking professional, but then she always said... "In a hundred years, who will know the difference.. or care!"

I wonder if all her thoughts and care, work and planning were really appreciated.

When I asked her about her home made gifts, she had this to say....

(paraphrased) " I much prefer to get a homemade gift of any kind. When a person spends hours and perhaps days making a homemade gift, he/she is giving those hours and perhaps days of his life with thoughts of the recipient of that gift." I have never forgotten that thought.

So for another year, that little niggling feeling of guilt is once again banished to far away land. It is replaced with the knowledge that the gift of a portion of the time allotted to me for my life is wrapped up in the gifts that I will give my family and friends. This sharing of a portion of my life says "I Love You!" in a way that no other gift can.