Present Time and it's not even Christmas yet!

When my buds and I met to see Mary's Chilhuly quilts this week, it was also time to celebrate Mary's Birthday!  No, I forgot to take a picture of the birthday gal but I did take pictures of some of the gifts WE all received that day!   First one was a birthday gift!

First off, I saw on FaceBook a post by Ami Simms on this really cool light for your sewing machine.  Now a lot of you in Michigan, as well as other states, know Ami from her quilting/teaching days.  She's now retired from teaching but still posts on FB.  I saw her comment on the Razon Sewing Light.

 I trust if Ami thought this was a great tool to have that I'd purchase one!  And with Mary's BD approaching I ordered one for her too! 

This was Mary's present...in fact, this is Mary's machine with the light already attached!  I have to admit I haven't been in my sewing room to even put mine on yet!

You can see how bright the light is!  It's reflecting on her acrylic sewing extension.   I hope to get in my room sometime this weekend......

Next up, our bud, Carol (who I've also posted about!), made these beautiful note cards.  Carol gave each of us a group of the cards! 

Carol taught herself to make them and is now working with her Friends of the Library group to make them  for selling.  How cool is that!  The cards are stenciled onto book pages then once dry covered with a watercolor type dye/paint, dried and glued to card fronts.  They really are beautiful....almost too pretty to use!!!  Thank you, Carol!!!

And another present from our bud, Lois Ann (another friend who I also have blogged about) gave us each a bag of Ghirardelli candy and just by luck I received my favorite!!!!!  Dark chocolate/salted caramel!  I love these!!!!!  And it was just the luck of the draw!!!  Each bag was different!  It's funny because LA usually gives us chocolate covered cherries, which I love and only get at Christmas from her!  But thanks, Lois Ann!!!!  I love Ghirardelli dark chocolate candy.












 

Before I forget, when the kids were leaving on Sunday, MaryJo gave me this towel!  Is this cute or what!!!  I love it!!!!





It's beginning to feel like Christmas around here!!!!! 

A friends exhibit!

I have posted before on my friend, Mary.  She has made some wonderful art pieces over the years.  One of my favorites is her series on representing Chihuly in quilts.  Click here to see the post I did on Mary exhibiting in Lapeer, Michigan back in 2010!

This past week, Mary was invited to display her quilts at the Grafted Root Eatery in Grand Blanc.  My other buds and I (LoisAnn, & Carol) met up with Mary to see her quilts on display.  Aren't these wonderful!!!!

Mary captures both nature and Chihuly in this piece.

Now these really look like Chihuly's glass!

This is one of my favorites...although, it is really hard to pick just one!

If I remember correctly, Mary and some of her relatives drove out west years ago to see some of Chihuly's work in person.  Mary took a lot of pictures and was so impressed with his work. 






I think the display was hung very well to show off Mary's work.








Of course we had to stay for lunch at the Eatery!!!   There were so many  sandwich choices  we had to have a glass of wine to help us decide which we wanted! 



 Congrats, Mary!  So great folks in the area will get to see your wonderful work!

Just a walk in the park!

Kids came up on Thanksgiving afternoon and we started in on our three days of eating!  Turkey dinner turned out good and everyone seemed to like it.  Next we had dessert of pumpkin pie and lemon pie!  So we were stuffed....Friday with Bob's birthday celebration we had one whole family tray of lasagna and one family tray of mostaccioli; bread sticks with garlic cream cheese and three different pizza's!  Of course, we had to have dessert again - 3 birthday cakes! 

By Saturday, I was feeling kinda full and almost tired of eating...MaryJo walked 3 miles on our treadmill in the a.m. and I just did a short walk with the girls.  I had mentioned that we now have a county park in Goodrich (Atlas County Park) and how I've been wanting to walk there.  So, we took a 'walk in the park' Saturday afternoon!!!

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We left our marijuana at home!  HA  I just thought that was an interesting sign!  The alcohol I could see...my mind just doesn't ever think about marijuana!  I am old I guess!

I didn't see this map before we entered...just too excited to get started on our walk!


At one point, we weren't sure which way to go so we just kept following trails...I did have my Endomondo app on, which showed us where we left and where we were heading!!!  Whew!  MaryJo has a better sense of direction than I do..ha

The trail is a two track road and wasn't bad at all.  Lots of leaves covering the ground.

Several swamp/water areas...

Actually, it wasn't all that cold with the exception of one spot where the wind was blowing.  Otherwise, it was a great walk!  It took us 53 minutes to walk 2.41 miles (11:56 min miles, which Ian said was pretty good!).  And we burned 267 calories, which worked out perfect for us to have a Moscow Mule (for MaryJo) and a glass of wine for me!

  I'm really anxious now to walk there in the spring/summer/fall!!!  I've seen posts on the butterflies and wild flowers, so I'm sure it will be a great place to walk!  

Of course the guys were at the house watching their Michigan/Ohio State game!  By this picture, I'm sure you can tell who Bob and Ron were rooting for!!!  And you can guess who Ian was hoping to win...and who did win!!!!

My football hero's!

I love this picture of Ron, MaryJo and Ian!!!  They are such a wonderful family.  I'm lucky to have them as my 'bonus' kids!!!

Another Surprise BD celebration!

MaryJo worked at putting up BD decorations!

 Hubby turns 80 in December, but with his son and family coming for Thanksgiving and the weekend, what better time to have a pre birthday surprise party for Bob!!!  Bob hates surprise parties so why wouldn't we do this! 

Kalee was helping put up the crepe paper decorations!  She's not really good at it!











MaryJo and I did some local shopping Friday afternoon, then stopped to pick up lasagna and mostaccioli, which we kept hidden in the oven!   My kids/family came up Friday for dinner,  picking up pizza on the way from our local restaurant, John's Steakhouse and Pizza.  (Diane, Bob's daughter, and hubby were at their lodge in Maggie Valley and  couldn't attend.   Fortunately, Ian (grandson), Ron (Bob's son) and Bob were in the downstairs family room watching, what else! but football!   When 'the boys' came upstairs, my kids, MaryJo and I were  there to say surprise! 

We had three cakes!  I bought this one at Kroger - it wasn't bad!

And my daughter made this apple cider cake, which I thought was quite good.  And it was really good warmed up for breakfast the next day!!! 

I made Bob's favorite chocolate cake but I forgot to take a picture of it, but, you can see the leftover on the right!

No candles on Bob's cake but we did sing!  I know he just loved that part!  HA

Amber helped Grandpa with his presents and cards!

Bob, Amber, Darrin, Ron and MJ. 
I have to start getting better at taking more pictures...or at least better pictures..paying closer attention to which subjects and why I'm taking pictures.  We need more family shots!

Ron, MaryJo and Ian...who was checking on the football stats (since the TV wasn't on football!).  HA

Kalee was SO happy to see Amber again!  In fact, she was so happy to have company in the house.  She loves everyone and Gigi was a doll. 

It was so much fun to sit with everyone...we had lots of laughs, thanks mainly to my SIL, Jeff (my daughter's hubby!).  Jeff is a hoot and has a dry sense of humor.  He always puts a smile on our face when family gets together!  Sorry I didn't get a picture of him! 

What do you get the man who has everything?  His favorite spicy nuts my daughter makes; his favorite Lindor dark chocolate truffles from his son's family (Ron, MJ and Ian) and his Moscow Mule and Tito's Vodka from my son's family (Darrin, Kris, Nick and Amber). 

So sweet of the kids to even think of gifts for Bob!!!

Bob got the best cards!!!  Just a hoot...the dog card was from Ian.  The inside says "Do I smell old people?"  Bob thought that was a real hoot!!!
It was so nice having everyone here to celebrate!!!  I know deep down Bob was happy but he'll never admit it.  I know because he wasn't upset that I pulled this off and he has 'expressed' himself before when I did a surprise party on how I "shouldn't do that ever again".  Well, I never promised!

Reconnecting with family!

This past weekend I headed off to Pennsylvania with my daughter, Dawn, to attend a surprise BD party for our 90 yr old cousin!!  I haven't seen 'Tootie' since the early 90's when Bob and I made a trip to PA.

 Only bad part of the trip was my sister and Nancy left Florida @ 6:00a.m. and didn't arrive in PA/hotel until almost 8 p.m.!!!  It was a very long day for them due to scheduling crew issues!  Our flight was a piece of cake going and coming home!  WHEW!

Me, David, Leigh, Dawn, Erin & Jordan

While we waited for my sister and Nancy to arrive, Dawn and I met up with my niece, Leigh, her hubby, David, my other niece Erin and her daughter, Jordan and Jordan's friend, Maddie on Friday night!  We had a delicious dinner at the Bistecca Restaurant on top of the Casino located in our hotel. Maddie took this picture for us.

My sister, me, Dawn, Nancy, Nieces - Leigh, Erin and Great niece, Jordan!

On Saturday, after a quick breakfast,  we all met to do a little retail therapy at an outdoor shopping mall (no David didn't join us).  Once again Maddie was our photographer! 

After shopping, it was time to head out for the birthday party!  We had to arrive before the guest!












My daughter spotted this sign on the Ladies Room door and said "you and MaryAnn should take your picture there!".  How cute is this!

My great niece Jordan & Maddie

It's only fair to show you our other photographer, Maddie!  Now I just hope I'm spelling her name correctly!  Dawn was our photographer at the party for us! 



It was a wonderful weekend to be part of this surprise and to see this lady who my sister and I have always loved.  She was such an important part of our life...she acted as a mother, sister and friend and will always have a special place in our heart!

Tootie was a  little surprised!!

Tootie was also surprised to see us!!! 

My sister lived close to Tootie before they moved to Florida and would see Tootie frequently.  My niece Leigh and David built their home almost across from Tootie's house and didn't realize until their home was in the process of being built.  After their home was built, Tootie was a regular visitor for a glass of wine and talking!!!

No, she didn't have to blow out 90 candles!

The first time you meet Tootie you think you've know her all of your life!!!  She is one of the kindest, sweetest and genuine people I know.  She'll tell you how she feels even if you may not want to hear it!  But that also makes her special!

I spent many a summer and holiday on Tootie's farm and was included as one of the family.  Tootie's daughter, Elaine, and I used to pretend we were sisters and would dress alike and spend every day together during the summers. This was Easter and we had matching purses!  I'm on the left..I was 3 years older than Elaine. 

 On weekends, Tootie & Bub (her hubby) would take us to the 4-H fairs to show horses, allowed to ride horses  most every day (they always made sure I had a horse to ride in the summer).  We would  go to horse pulling contests where Bub entered his work horses in pulling events and fairs. Bub had several teams he used to work the farm with.  Years later his daughter, Elaine, actually beat him with her own team! 

We helped on the farm when and if able; picking strawberries, veggies for canning, helping in the hay field, feeding animals...everything they did on the farm to sustain their life, we helped out as much as we could or would!  HA.  I learned how to cook 3 meals a day (see that's where I get that housewife duty from!), bake cookies or have ice cream for dessert every night, work hard doing our best and to be happy and enjoy life! 

How cool is this picture grouping they made!

 I'm so glad I made the trip to see Tootie and help celebrate her 90th!  Wynna,  Daniel and his better half, Chelsea, did a wonderful job putting together this surprise celebration!  Getting all of Tootie's friends and family together wasn't an easy job, I'm sure!  Tootie has so many of both! 

 My sister and I got to see some relatives we haven't seen in over 50 years!!!  I even got to see my nieces and great niece and my sister and Nancy again!  My daughter was able to meet some of those same relatives!  I was so proud to introduce Dawn to them. 

AND Dawn was so great at being my/our personal travel agent, Uber driver, photographer and all around 'go to gal'!  She was fantastic at keeping us in line.  I was glad she got to visit with her cousins,  Leigh (left) and Erin.  They haven't seen each other for many years and it was fun to hear them tell stories of their childhood and some of the trouble they got into and out of!  My sister and I are so lucky to have such wonderful daughters/sons (my sister has one more daughter (in Florida) and a son in Tenn.). 

Tootie, Wynna and Daniel

 

 For some reason, I didn't get a picture of Tootie, Daniel and Chelsea at the party!!! I found this one on Facebook of Tootie, Wynna and Daniel.  Sorry, Chelsea, I don't have one of you!

A special thank you all for inviting us to be part of this special day!!!

Packing up!!

I have been silent this past week but I've not been idle!  I finished (finally!) my daughter's table topper and will give it to her this weekend.  I think it's more for spring but that's for her to decide...now I just hope it fits her table!

A few more beads have been added to Mr. Woodpecker.....

Also, getting ready to knit the top part of the pinafore jumper.  I love the way the yarn creates these cute little flowers!  This too will be on hold until after Thanksgiving...kids are coming  from Indy next Thursday evening until Sunday so I'm playing Betty Crocker, which I love to do!


And...yep, this gal is packing a suitcase to head to Pennsylvania for the weekend with my daughter!  My sister and Nancy are also flying in to meet us...a quick weekend (Friday thru Sunday) but we'll get a chance to see each other!  My only issue is it's so hard for me to leave home!  OK, to be honest, it's so hard to leave the girls!!  But they'll keep Bob company!