big spender

my garden gloves weren't doing what they're supposed to do ... thistles and thorns were getting through - making me bleed and swear ... i went to squash bugs or slugs and found that their nasty little bodies crunched and oozed their way onto my hands ... and forget about crumpling a dried clod of manure mud - all over the inside and not the outside ...... time to buy a new pair...

my trusty old friends in all their bug-squashing glory ... and The Replacements

why oh why did they stop making working gloves for less-than-manly-sized hands?!? why?!?

but i couldn't find the same brand anywhere ... i need work gloves, not mamby pamby pretty little knitted cotton fluffy things that can't handle bug-squashing and thorny weed-pulling ... those fancy gloves in the picture were as close as i could find to sturdy leather gloves with an extra patch of leather on the palm that didn't swallow my hands ... Auntia found a pair that she thought would work for her ... and she told me that i can have her pink gloves that have never squashed a bug or pulled a thorny weed and are practically brand new and are just like my old blue pair - woo hoo!!!

 

and suddenly it's hot! too hot to mow ... too hot to clean ... too hot to garden ... and way too hot to cook or bake ...  so we've been slopping together sandwiches or frying an egg or two ... and missing comfort food ... and then we stumbled across a farmers' market that had a little tent canopy over some promising looking bread ... and they were offering free samples...

white chocolate lemon bread ... heaven in a loaf, lemmetellya

oh. my. gawd. i didn't even ask how much - i handed over some money and didn't count the change ... Auntia and i waited till everyone was taking a nap before we cut into the loaf because it is too. good. to. share. 

and this week i went to the same farmers' market and bought two loaves ... and they were worth every doggone one of those 1200 pennies, lemmetellya

and then i started getting complaints (mostly from myself) about the toilet seat ... sigh ... in a moment of wanton, willful and reckless disregard for the state of the economy i bought something that other women my age only dream of owning ... a new toilet seat

the falling leeeeeeeaves

drift by the windooooooow

the autumn leeeeeaves ... of red and gooooold

i looked up the lyrics - i always thought it was my window, not the window ... which means i've been messing up the lyrics to yet another song all these years .... yeah ... we won't even talk about desperado

i have been drafting leaves for the awesome quilt that i finally get to start working on cuz i couldn't find a paper-pieced aspen leaf and cuz i didn't want to pay six dollars each for a maple leaf or an oak leaf pattern ... i always tell myself that i have more time than money ... well, i guess i am willing to work for 29 cents an hour cuz that's how long it took to save twelve dollars...my oak leaf
i messed up one of the blades of the oak leaf and had to reverse sew and redraft it - but i think i have it fixed ... i have a pattern for an apple leaf table runner that i was gonna use cuz i have apple trees in my yard and it wouldn't be cheating too much ... but i really wanted to make aspen leaves cuz they are the only gold i've found in colorado ... so i changed the apple leaf block from a triangle to a square, and then messed around with rounding it out...do you recognize the maple leaf's fabric, Thelma?
maple, oak, aspen and acorn ... nothing is ever easy
and i even managed to put petioles that's stems for those of us who are botanically challenged on each of the leaves ... last night's Friday Night Sew-In was all used up by the time i tested out the oak leaf and acorn ... i dunno if i will ever again try to draft a paper-pieced design ... and i have an even greater respect for those who make it look easy cuz it ain't, lemmetellya...

altogether ookey

i love packages from Desperate Quilters

this came in the mail today...the NEW Ghastlies
and this...the OLD Ghastlies
in smoke ... and in natural (for Auntia) ... there was squealing, lemmetellya ... i love those knitting witches ... and the look on the maid's face - she'd like to take that bell and put it where the sun don't shine ... and my favorite little girl with a hammer ... this one is gonna be for me and i think i may have a plan ... and it ISN'T an irish chain...

yo, Amy ... whaddaya think?!? do you have yours yet?


If minutes were kept of a family gathering, they would show that "Members Not Present" and "Subjects Discussed" were one and the same.
Robert Brault

moody blues

tuuuuuuesday aaaaaaafternooooooon

i'm just beginning to seeeeee ... now i'm on my waaaay

oh ... right ... not those Moody Blues ... which should be required listening - i'm just sayin'

the Hot Flashes block for june is moody blues ... but it isn't blue...mine
as a matter of fact, there isn't even one little bit of blue...Auntia's
in any of the three blocks that i have seen...Sheri the Shop Owner's
i dunno what the dealio is - seeing red is blue - but moody blues isn't ... what's up with that?!?

something unusual happened at the meeting ... one of the BOMers intentionally sat by me (this never happens ... i am too rowdy ... and opinionated ... and disruptive) and asked me for my name...

dianne...

we call you the mother and daughter.

we?

all of us who get together ... we were talking about your blue and white quilt ... and we call you the mother and daughter.

oh ... well ... i am dianne ... and this is Melissa ..... but there are three sets of mothers and daughters here...

no way!

way! the EA-Team are mother and daughter, and Hoarse Whisperer and Church Basement Lady* are, too...

i had no idea!

that's cuz they don't make spectacles of themselves ... i'm just sayin' ... is your block pink? my block is pink and i think that Melissa should have changed kits with me cuz hers is periwinkle and she knows that i love periwinkle but she actually hid it from me cuz she didn't trust me to not use the blue and leave her with the pink and it's kinda sad when your own daughter doesn't trust you with a kit, innit? sheesh - and then she made the mistake of actually telling me that she didn't trust me to ... wait ... wait ... where are you going?!?

*i did not say Hoarse Whisperer and Church Basement Lady out loud ... i didn't point, either - i nodded in their directions ... i am not totally asocial

breakfast of champions

if i get any behinder ... well ... i just might catch up with myself

let's see ... where did i leave off ... memorial weekend ... three days off ... what to do ... what to do ... oooo! i know!!!

first, start with a nutritious breakfast...Auntia - in her Pirates of the Caribbean mouse ears - and breakfast - Whoppers and Butterfingers and Dots
and follow it up with a little break...ooooo!!! air conditioning and Hot. Men. inside!!!
stop for a little sight-seeing...Auntia and Captain Jack Sparrow - why do sweet young things always go for the bad boys?!?
and then do it again...Thor ( the movie, not the sewing machine) and Dots and Raisinets - who could ask for more?!?
and when we weren't gorging on candy and gawking at the silver screen, we found time to honor our dead...lives well-lived
and visit the living...Little Nonnie (on one of her better days) and Auntia
and clip some wings...a gazllion flying geese, give or take a dozen or two

i cooked hamburgers and hot dogs with fire and mowed ... Auntia planted and watered ... we cleaned and laundered and weeded ... and laughed a lot and cried a bit and talked ... and laughed some more ... a sip or two of wine ... aaaaaahhhhh!!!

pink or blue?

pink!

look who decided to join us a few days early...a new little dark-haired beauty
being born can make a girl soooo tired
my baby girl holding Earth Science's baby girl
and Auntia is in love all over again...