Chat

I’m having a nice busy break, but there’s not much on the crafting front to report. BigDaddy has been a BadDaddy this week. On his regular visit to his Dr. on Thursday, he mentioned that he’d been having a little bit of chest pain. (When BigDaddy speaks of chest pain, doctors listen. He’s had two quadruple bypass operations, and a mild heart attack!) So, the Dr. decided to put him in the hospital overnight to run a few tests.

Me: BigDaddy, did you happen to mention to the Dr. that you’ve been playing Paul Bunyan again?

BigDaddy: Um, well, no.

That’s what I thought. BigDaddy had a few BIG trees blow down a few weeks ago and last week he whipped out the chainsaw and proceeded to cut up those trees and then haul those big logs all over his lot (because Babe the Blue Ox was apparently unavailable for the hauling.) BigDaddy has chest pain. Hmmph. The rest of us would all have had heart attacks over that much work. BigDaddy, don’t make us take your chainsaw away! There will be more tests next week and hopefully he’ll only need some medication adjustments.

While the nurses were checking under BigDaddy’s frock, I took MeMum and her FloridaFriend to JoAnn’s for a quick visit. I picked up this issue of Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Crafts.

I’ve always loved the BH&G family of magazines.  (American Patchwork and Quilting is my favorite quilting magazine.)  They’re usually full of lots of inspiration.  But the past few years, the Holiday Crafts issue hasn’t held much of interest for me.

This year, however, I was pleasantly surprised.  I saw several projects that I’d like to try.  Especially the paper mache (hmm, I wish I knew how to make the little hash mark over the “e” in mache) items.

I hope you’re all having beautiful weather like we are.  I’ve finished my yardwork today — our weather is spectacular — a wonderful unofficial end to summer.  Now, I’m off to decide which sewing project to work on.  There are many choices, but I’ll have to wait on the one I really want to start.  Holly if you’re reading, throw more peanuts to your hardworking squirrels on their treadmills.  I ordered your champagne dots for the wedding quilt and they’re on backorder!  And speaking of Holly, did you notice that cute little “coming soon” button in my sidebar?  Busy little Holly has a fun surprise up her sleeve, so stay tuned!
XOXO,
Anna

P.S.  To you all of you blogspot bloggers:  I think I figured out why my e-mail wasn’t appearing when I commented to you.  It was an ugly fix.  I comment under a google username that has no blogspot blog associated with it (apparently a typepad or wordpress blog aren’t good enough for a google account.)  I ended up creating a fake blogspot blog and hopefully that will solve the problem.  I know you’re getting comments from other people whose e-mail addresses don’t show up and perhaps they have a similar problem.  Lack of e-mail addresses in comments was my biggest complaint with my old blogspot blog, so you have my sympathy!

WooHoo! Yesterday, the mailman delivered the second package from my blog contest winning streak. The very kind and generous Joni had a contest to name her adorable little doll (whom I named Frizzy Lizzy.) I won, and Joni sent me a goodie. Look how sweetly she wrapped it up:

She sent me a cool Amy Butler kit to make a little hanging paper basket. I’ve never seen one of these and it looks really fun. I love paper crafts and I love baskets — a perfect match! I ripped into the wrapped package and look what I found:

A fabulous set of note cards with a quilt pattern on the front. Just look at those beautiful colors. And you can’t see it, but the paper is textured a little bit. You can rub your hand over the blocks and almost feel them. I LOVE note cards and stationary. Joni, f I didn’t know better, I’d think we’d been friends for years — you’ve picked gifts that are just perfect for me. Thank You Very Much — I love them both! Your thoughtfulness and attention to detail is wonderful — and VERY much appreciated.

It’s a good thing I’m giving away Red Bunny tomorrow — it makes me feel a little less guilty that I’ve been on the receiving end of such fabulous gifts. What a lucky girl I am! We’ve spent our last Friday night with Red Bunny. We had a cookout with a few of the boy’s friends and then took Red Bunny and the kids to Cold Stone for a little treat — the first we’ve managed to have this summer. Um-mm good!

And finally, I managed to visit MeMum’s and watch the latest Big Love. (I think I’ve mentioned that we don’t have HBO, so MeMum records it for me.)  I’m glued to Big Love this summer and I can’t believe there are only four episodes left.  (It’s going to be an unbearably long haul until February and the return of Sawyer!)  In order to quell my Red Bunny separation anxiety, I’ve been playing the “Find Out Which Sister-Wife You Are” game on the HBO website.

Dang it!  I knew I wasn’t that little trollop Margene, but I was sure I was a Barb!  I guess that shooting the Mountain Dew cans off the porch did me in.  ;-)  Which Sister-Wife are YOU???

See you tomorrow night!
XOXO,
Anna