Always smilin'

 John's Feast...

This is John and he's 15 years old going on... I'd say about... 5.   He's just such a big kid.  Literally and figuratively.  He's the tallest in the family, so far.  The fact that he weighed nearly 11 pounds and was 23" long at birth shoulda clued us in.  As the fifth son, he doesn't let anyone else tell, intimidate, imply or force him into being someone he's not.  John is the epitome of practicality and doesn't even consider what anyone else might think of his quirky ways.  If it works, it works and that's the end of it.  What little sense of decorum he has, he overcomes quite easily.  He's confident.  John's extremely easy to please and excite.  He's the resident inventor and all-around visionary.  I'm thinking that he needs to get busy with that one brilliant invention that's gonna support us for the rest of our days... he made a Leiden jar the other day.  What's that?  Well, it collects and stores stray static and then you can release it with a pretty sizable electrical jolt.  Nothing heart stopping- might should avoid it if ya have a pacemaker.  His materials for the project were a sour cream container, some foil and tape with a couple pieces of wire.  Funny thing about John... there's really nothing he considers outside his ability to make.  I think that's where the "5 years old" part comes in.  A whole lot of times it doesn't turn out as he plans... but he doesn't seem to get discouraged.  Just revamps the plan or trashes the idea as too much trouble or not enough raw material.  A really fun guy... and we love him to pieces.
     

objects in picture are every bit as big as they appear

John prepared a very nice feast.  For an appetizer, he had chocolate stuffed croissants and honey roasted peanuts.  There was homemade hot cocoa- with french vanilla marshmallows- and an assortment of pop for his drinks.  The main meal was poppy seed chicken and these honkin' huge rolls.  With John, bigger is always better.  He used an entire 5lbs of flour in those rolls. He served them with cinnamon butter.  He had candy bar cake for dessert but, oddly enough, no one had any...wonder why?  That's OK, they all agreed the cake made a mighty fine breakfast!  His gifts were matchbox cars- the classic type, and the girls got little sun catchers they could paint themselves.  His table was decorated very tastefully with fresh pine and candles.  Kinda different from last year's "Alien Invasion" theme... Maybe he's more like 15 than 5 after all...

Tip your head sideways... Sorry, but it was too cute not to share.

Mundane Monday...

Not exactly. I've been busy.  In a good way.

Eva just finished her first hunting season.  12 years old is the traditional age.  She didn't get a deer, but I know she enjoyed her daddy time.  The season is over and there's meat in the freezer.  Will harvested a roadkill, last night.  Now, don't shudder!  If it's fresh, it's perfectly kosher and it would be such a waste of it's life- and death- to lay there by the side of the road until... well, then we can shudder. 



Now it's time to box up the hunting supplies so that my guestroom doesn't look like a camouflage monster has moved in.

the infamous ladder

'Tis the season to be jolly!  Love this time of year!  Always have.  I made some curtains for my window over the kitchen sink.  With the serger that the-man-who-loves-me got me for my birthday, last summer, it only took me about 20 minutes.  How's that?  The fabric was free, so it's a win-win. Aren't they merry?  Yeah, there are dishes in the drainer, and dishes on the sideboard... what did you expect? It is what it is, my friend.  I'm here to say, we all have our parts to play.  I'm here to make you feel better about your so-called mess.  I'm pretty sure that there's only a 5 minute window, each day, where there aren't dishes in the sink. I guess I could have made the effort to pick up a little... but how would that make you feel better?  And it's all about making you feel better.

    

Bought some "old fashioned' candy the other day.  I'm looking at the box and I'm looking at the bag... tryin' the find some common ground.  Maybe that one red and green striped one- which happens to be made in Columbia.  Says right there on the box, red and green striped candy made in Columbia.  the rest are made in the USA.  OK, that's a mystery in and of itself.  I just can't figure that one.  Wonder what that conversation sounded like?  But what a disappointment the candy was.  My Grandma used to have a dish of candy out at Christmas time and I was all hopeful this would be a lot like that.  Ya know, but not really.  It fell way short.  So I'll continue to search.

 

This is a toilet seat cover- complete with floor mat.  I...I... I just don't know what to say about that one... 

 Feast Days!!!

The moment we've all been waiting for has arrived.  How thrilling!  For those of you who may not be familiar with our feast day tradition...

Quite a few years ago we decided that the season was filled with too much "Give me, Give me!"  So we came up with the Feast Days as a way to encourage the "Serve you, serve you!" that needs to be in all our hearts.  We drew upon the example of Queen Ester and how, by serving meals to her King and also her enemy, she changed the fate of an entire nation.

At the end of each November, the children draw a number from a bowl to determine the order of their feast- we have about two feasts per week leading up to Christmas.  Each child meets with me, individually, and we secretly plan a special meal to serve to the family.  They give special attention in choosing foods they know the other children love. On the day prior to their feast, the two of us go out for lunch together and then shop for their feast ingredients.  They choose simple, inexpensive gifts and decorations- spending no more than $12, usually. Everything is hidden and, on their big day, the kitchen and dining room is curtained off and the cooking and decorating begins.  (The children tend to choose a theme for their feast to simplify the meal planning and the decorating.)  When all is ready, they invite their guests into the feast with great ceremony.  Will reads some scripture and after a prayer, the child goes around serving each person the meal. Clean-up is their responsibility, also.  It's a real treat for all of us. So without more ado...

Eva's feast...

My, how she's grown!  Eva is 12 years old.  I find describing the children, as they get older, more of a challenge.  They get more complex, you know?  Or maybe I just notice more of their complexities. Eva has a simple way about her.  What you see is pretty much who she is.  She's tends to be direct- in the most kind way.  Some people are brutal at this, but it's not in her heart.  Eva is easy to please and flexible. She has a very strong sense of what's right and wrong- much to her younger sister's annoyance. She's extremely friendly and, as with all our children, has an incredible imagination.  You should hear the stories she and Bekah make up!  They spend hours curled up in their bed concocting the most amazing story lines- full of twists and turns and some humor thrown in- "just to break the mood."  Eva is a happy worker and never complains or pouts. Thoughtful of others and their feelings. A real joy to us and we love her to pieces.  

    

rockin' out

 Her feast had a rock theme.  At first, I thought she meant "rock" as mineral, but no, she meant rock as in rock stars and all that.  She wanted to surprise the kids and do something they wouldn't expect her to do.  She accomplished that!  She hung CD's from the ceiling and put laser-shot Mylar on the table- along with tinsel and some blue lights- it looks fantastic, doesn't it?  Isn't she just hamming it up?  (Her oldest brother, Joe, is laughing as he's looking at this picture, I'm sure.  Dan is rolling his eyes, but grinning- we so wish they could be here!)  She had some music jamming nice and loud when she invited her guests in.  She found sunglasses at the dollar store as her gifts and the kids all agreed to pose for a picture- rock star style.  There were grapefruit halves for the appetizer- pre-sectioned. She had buffalo wings, boneless bbq bites, and potato wedges for her main meal. Sparkling grape juice was her beverage and the dessert was chocolate cupcakes with mohawks in multicolored icing. As usual, everyone was smiling as they rolled away from the table. Thank you Eva!
 
  

My Mundane Monday...

Shew!  I've been parked in the quilting room for two solid days.  I think I needed that.  The past two weeks have been kinda busy and hectic with some stress thrown in. It's nice to have some down time.

Put a couple borders on these two wallhangings- measuring about 38" each.  Tried to keep it simple- my kind of borders.  (I snagged a picture off one of my fellow quilt bloggers for the inspiration for the one with the leaf border- when I finished it and wanted to give the original quilter credit- I couldn't find the blog.  I feel so bad about that!  She posted her wallhanging sometime in October, I think.  It was orange- no doubt that got my attention- sound familiar to anyone?  If I'm plagiarizing your work, feel free to give me a shout-out!  They say imitation is the sincerest for of flattery, right?)

Got this checkerboard border on before bed.  Got me kinda riled up.  If you don't quilt, you can just skip down to the next paragraph 'cause this is gonna get ugly.  I've noticed a trend with quilt patterns, lately.  When it's time to put on borders, there's this gaping black hole in the instructions and it goes something like this:  "Measure across the middle of the quilt and cut the borders to fit.  Sew on borders."  This is my cue to start growling.  I bought a pattern so that I don't have to do the measuring- that's your job as the quilt designer.  You don't think so?  OK, that might work for a solid border.  Now it's time for the pieced border.  The length of the border necessitates the size of the quilt be of the same length.  There's no room for some vague measurement here.  Yeah, I could get out my calculator and figure in the size of each sub-unit in the border, subtracting the seam allowances and come up with the exact measurement that the side of the quilt center needs to be in order for the border to fit... but I DON"T WANT TO!!  That's why I bought a pattern!  Honestly, I can't figure out why a pattern would apply this method when it's time to add a border-  laziness, sloppiness or a lack of calculators in their sewing room.  You can see that I do have a calculator and I do know how to use one.  I'm just irritated that I had to.  There was a third border in the pattern for this quilt- but at this point, I was stubbornly holding my breath- out of sheer orneriness, stamping my foot and refusing to budge one more inch.

Proof positive that fleece jackets and sewing rooms are not compatible!  Well, I've never aspired to be a fashion plate, so I'll continue to collect threads.  After three days of constant high winds and rain, I needed a little extra warmth.  But look!  Something new in the weather!

I think it's finally sinking in...winter is here.  And I like it. 

John doing his grandfather impersonation- fixing things and wearing my reading glasses!  He wasn't too happy about my taking his picture, but it was just soooo Grandfather!

While doing a little decorating, I beaned myself on the head with a hammer.  I set my hammer down on the top to the highest rung on the ladder- climbed down to survey my handiwork, promptly forgot about the precarious position of said hammer and moved the ladder... kerthump!  I saw brown.  Why?  I have no idea- there were no stars or fireworks.  Just brown- along with a lot of echoing, 'cause I must not have a brain to have done something that stupid.  I guess the kids heard the crash of the hammer landing on the floor and the consequent groaning.  Rushing to investigate, John commented on the fact that there's a reason for the caution about placing items on the top of the ladder- printed right there on the ladder!  In two languages.  Split my noggin' open pretty good.  Figure I had it coming.  Left a couple goose-eggs, a crashing headache- no pun intended, and a very small puddle of blood, but all seems to be fine, today. 

Got some fun things planned for my evening to compensate for the scab growing on my head.  Just some more sewing, but it makes my heart go pitty-pat.  Have fun and if you plan to use a ladder for your holiday decorating- do be careful.

Told ya I could do it!

And it's only 12:30.  That big queen size Hawaiian one was a real wrestling match- might need some lineament on my shoulders, but I prevailed as champion.  The other two were a breeze.  I guess I was in the mood- too bad I don't have more to bind, 'cause it feels mighty good to have these done. Well, I do have one- bias binding and by hand... think that can wait for another day.

Joe- the handy man.  Fixed my leaky fridge, cleaned out the garage and the cellar and installed a sump pump.  Nothing like an older brother to "motivate" the younger ones

Laurie- aka the Pied Piper

Daniel- always a joy to have at home- even tried some Black Friday shopping out of love for his Dad- don't think that will be happening again is his lifetime

loved ones...

Had all of the children under our roof sometime during the past couple of weeks.  Not simultaneously, but that's OK- hoping to catch them all at the dinner table late next month.

Gonna get three quilts bound, today.  Oh yes I am!  Our nephew and niece called Thanksgiving day with the very happy news that they are expecting a baby in July. I was playing around with quilting a baby quilt- my Dad tweaked the quilting machine during his visit. Figure the new baby should get that quilt.  Just an everyday kind of one. The other two are seasonal and it would be awfully nice to finish those out for this season instead of next year's.  So I'm off!