Thimbleanna

Memes in the Closet with the Skeletons

14 Comments / February 18, 2011 / Chat

Warning: Long Post Ahead!
In the past several weeks, I’ve been tagged for several memes. First off, Joni gave me the You Make Me Smile Award and tagged me for the 6 facts meme.

Thanks Joni! You’re a sweetheart, and you certainly make me smile too. ALOT! In addition, Sarah Jayne tagged me for the four things meme. (And I have this nagging feeling that someone else tagged me during the New York week, but I can’t remember…so if that’s true, I’m sorry that I’ve forgotten!) I’m going to cheat a little and combine the two memes, hoping you can find 6 facts among the 4 things!

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4 jobs I’ve had:

  • Kentucky Fried Chicken.
  • Cheeseborough Ponds Perfume Factory assembly line – I worked on the line putting atomizers in the bottles right after the perfume had been put into the bottles. Sometimes the machines would jam up and perfume would spill on the floor – my shoes, and therefore my closet, smelled great!
  • And engraver in a clock repair shop.
  • A test administrator giving GED and CLEP tests.

4 films I could watch over and over:

  • The Full Monty
  • Top Gun
  • Life is Beautiful
  • Milk Money

4 TV shows I watch:

  • Lost
  • Two and a Half Men
  • Boston Legal
  • Jeopardy

4 places I have lived:

  • Lancaster, California
  • Huntsville, Alabama
  • Hanau, Germany
  • Manti, Utah

4 favorite foods:

  • Kim! Don’t Look! – Mashed Potatoes.
  • Prime Rib.
  • MeMum’s pot roast with carrots and potatoes.
  • MeMum’s three layer chocolate cake.

2 Skeleton 4 favorite colors:

  • Blue
  • Red
  • Purple
  • Everything else! What would our world be without color???

4 places I’d love to be right now:

  • Scotland
  • England
  • Wales
  • Maine

4 names I love but could/would not use for my children:

  • Elizabeth
  • Bronwyn
  • Liam
  • Return – which sounds totally goofy, but it’s a family name. The story goes that my g-g-g-grandfather (Richard) asked my g-g-g-grandmother to marry him and she said no. He moved to another town, but before he left, he told her if she changed her mind, to send him a letter. Before long, he received a note with only two words: Return Richard. So, they named their firstborn Return Richard. And he named his firstborn Return Richard. And he named his firsborn Return LaVar (my grandpa.) Grandpa hated his name and didn’t pass it on. It didn’t occur to me until my boys were older, but I really wish I’d given one of them the name Return for a middle name ‘cause I love family names (and if I’d had a usable maiden name, that would have been used too.) Anyway, my boys are probably breathing a sigh of relief now!

4 people I’d love to tag with this Meme: (I’m tagging people in my Mother’s of Two Boys Club ;-). Except, off hand, I can only think of two, so I’m extending it to mother’s of three boys. If you hate meme’s, please ignore me! ;-) )

3 SkeletonAnd speaking of Rohanknitter, she tagged me for the book meme:

Hardcover or paperback, and why? Hardcover, although the book industry is certainly making some beautiful paperbacks these days.

If I were to own a book shop , I would call it…. Hmmm, it would probably be something corny like “Once Upon a Time…”

My favorite quote from a book (mention the title) is… I don’t know that I really have a “favorite” quote. But while we’re talking about books in the crafy blog world, here’s a quote that I think is funny:

Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking. – Albert Einstein

The author (alive or deceased) I would love to have lunch with would be… Wallace Stegner, Thomas Hardy, The Brontes, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Beatrix Potter, Ayn Rand…in the interest of bedtime, I think I should stop now.

If I was going to a deserted island and could only bring one book, except for the SASsurvival guide, it would be… hmmm, how hard is this one? I think it would be something big that I would like to read but think I’ll never have time – Canterbury Tales? War and Peace???

I would love someone to invent a bookish gadget that… would allow me to read in my sleep. I might actually make it through my booklist before I die!

The smell of an old book reminds me of… Hyde Brothers – the really cool used book store here in town.

If I could be the lead character in a book (mention the title), it would be… gosh, that’s hard. All the heroines I’ve loved have gone through something awful and I don’t think I’d really want that??? E.g., Tess in Tess of the D’Urbervilles. For a non-tragic choice, how ‘bout Dagny in Atlas Shrugged?

The most overestimated book of all times is… ummmm, maybe One Hundred Years of Solitude, or as I fondly call it, One Hundred Years of Hell. I also completely agree with Rohanknitter about The DaVinci Code!

I hate it when a book … again, I’ll agree with Rohanknitter – I hate it when sex scenes are thrown in and they’re not relevant to the story. I’ve had a theory for about 15 years in my book group – when we’re reading a book that has sex scenes that add nothing to the story, it’s almost always written by a man! LOL

And now to tag for the book meme — my source for all things word related, Isabelle. And I’m awarding all five of the ladies I’ve tagged with the You Make Me Smile award because they do make me smile (as do all the blogs I read) and as a reward for tagging them.
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I’ve certainly said enough for now!
XOXO,
Anna

P.S. The skeletons were the pleasant surprise I found when I went downtown this weekend. Who knew they decorated for Halloween???

Vallen’s PotLuck

10 Comments / February 18, 2011 / Recipes

I attended Vallen’s PotLuck last night, and I must tell you, it was fabulous! I couldn’t stay long ’cause I had a prior date with MeMum to do a little quilting. Flea Market Queen did a great job of decorating and the food selection was wonderful with a really nice mix of appetizers, main dishes and desserts. As you can see, I put too much food on my plate!

PotLuck Plate

And did you notice something else? I’m sorry girls, I have a sweet tooth. I had too much of that yummy apple and walnut cake that Vallen brought and I just couldn’t help myself with Darla’s lemon squares — I cut a square that was WAY too big, but it sure was good!

I have a long history of potlucks (not, I’m not Lutheran!) and casseroles in my family, so of course, I brought a casserole. It’s a family favorite that I grew up with — MeMum makes the best casseroles. I marched right up to the buffet table, plopped my casserole dish down and filled up my plate. And did you see that carmel apple cider that Vallen mentioned? OhMyGosh — I love carmel apples, so I have to see if I can find some of that cider in my local store.

Casserole

Beef Stroganoff Casserole

1 lb. ground beef
1 cup chopped onions
1 12-oz. can whole kernal corn, drained
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup dairy sour cream
3 cups medium noodles
Grated Cheese

Boil noodles until tender and drain while preparing the rest of the casserole. Lightly brown the beef. Add chopped onion and cook until tender. Drain excess grease. Add corn, chicken soup, mushroom soup, and sour cream. Salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. Add noodles to hamburger mixture and pour into 2 qt. casserole dish and top with grated cheese. Bake 30 – 35 minutes at 350 degrees.

When I was little MeMum would leave the corn out of the casserole, ’cause MyDadLovesMeBestSister and I were picky little girls, but I was lucky to have hearty-eating little boys, so now I leave the corn in. Here’s a better picture of how this casserole looked the last time I prepared it for TheManoftheHouse. It’s one of his favorites too!

Casserole

Thanks Vallen for hosting the Pot Luck — YumYum! i hope you all have a wonderful weekend — I’ll be cleaning the pigsty!

XOXO,
Anna

Martha!

29 Comments / February 12, 2012 / Peep Days, Travel

I realize that there are some of you out there that don’t like Martha. So, you’ll probably be surprised when I tell you that, in spite of ALL the NYC has to offer, the main reason we went to NYC was to see Martha. The quilty peeps and I joke that Jewels is THE original Martha fan. Considering that, Jewels, you were amazingly well behaved!

Martha was Amazing! Awesome! Absolutely Fabulous! I wasn’t terribly excited about going when I found out the focus of the show would be about aging. I really don’t need aging reminders these days. But, I needn’t have worried — it wouldn’t matter who the guests were, it was just fascinating to watch Martha and her staff at work. I probably sat with my mouth wide open the whole time. And the set is more beautiful that it appears on tv. More beautiful than people say it is. Jaw droppingly beautiful.

MarthaSet

We had incredible seats (thanks Gurney!.) On the floor, second row. Right. In. Front. Of. Martha. During the first segment, they showed a long video about the new center that Martha has opened at Mt. Sinai hospital and it was really fun to watch Martha watch the video. She was just as attentive as if she were seeing it for the first time. Every once in awhile she’d glance up and scan the audience — but never with any acknowledgement — just a brief glance, then back to the video. And I was actually proud of her as she interviewed her guests that day — none of the classic Martha-interrupt-the-guest behavior.

Martha

Between segments, of course, we had Joey to entertain us. He’s very funny and kept the audience pumped up. One thing that really annoyed me though, was that between segments, they play music. High energy music to keep everyone motivated, but also, I suspect to keep the audience from hearing any comments that might be made by the staff as they prepared for the next segment. Ob. Nox. Ious.

Joey

Martha was so impressive, I can’t possibly describe it to you. After our morning live segment, they asked the audience to remain seated while Martha did a 4-5 minute taping for something. They explained that what she said would all be gibberish to most of us. She was taping a highly technical blurb describing the inner workings of the Martha Stewart website. I was stunned that she could read through all those technical words — only stopping one time to check on the correct pronunciation of an acronym. She practically read it like she was reading a first grade storybook. For all I know, she rehearsed the blurb for hours, but I doubt it. Wow — there’s a reason she’s at the top.

After the show, they announced that they had a few extra tickets for the afternoon taping. We briefly debated what to do — NYC shopping beckoned and it was a tough call. We felt a little gyped at the audience gifts — pomegranate juice and a ticket to a yoga class weren’t far off from our joking predictions that we’d probably get prune juice and a month’s discount at a nursing home. We decided to go for it, and we were lucky that we were the first section to be excused. We rushed to the desk and got the last two tickets and positions 1 and 2 for standby for the afternoon show. Then we went to City Quilter and grabbed some lunch before our return to the studio at 1 p.m.

The first hint that we’d made the right decision was in the warm-up room when Joey told us that we’d be getting a few nice prizes and that the morning guests got nothing. (It warmed my heart to see that they considered pomegranate juice a cop-out gift!)  The second show (to be aired today or tomorrow in the states, depending on your market) was a lot more fun and exciting. Sherry Sheppard (the new host on The View) and Martha made children’s halloween costumes. (Sherry was pretty funny — Junie pointed out that she made a funny joke about jail which I missed, so I’m anxious to see the show this week.) We snagged a nice beginner sewing book from those segments. Then, Martha cooked two different chicken dishes with two Itialian chefs. Those segments bagged us a beautiful Italian cookbook! But more than the prizes, I was really glad we went to the second show because that experience was so different from the morning session. A taped show vs. a live show, we sat on the complete opposite side of the studio, and it was just a lot more fun! And during the taping, a cameraman made a mistake and there was a tense moment — would Martha yell “Off with his head”??? Everything remained calm and after a brief embarrassing moment to identify the culprit, taping resumed.

Collage

At the end of the second show, Martha hung around for three or four audience questions. I got to ask one of them. I’ve always loved the big jars that she has on her set (pictured in the middle picture of the top row in the collage above) so I asked her if they’d be available in her Macy’s line. She said all of the products (including those jars) that were in her old Martha Stewart catalog will be available at Macy’s around the fall of ’08. Yipee!

Thanks for a fabulous trip Quilty Peeps! Jewels, thanks for the inspiration to go in the first place; Joni, thanks for making all the arrangements; and Gurney, thanks for getting those awesome Martha tickets. You are all THE VERY BEST EVER Quilty Peeps!!!

XOXO,
Anna

P.S. Vallen is hosting a potluck today! I hope you’ll all join us. I plan to attend, although I have a rather full day, so I’ll probably do an after-potluck report! ;-)

The Quilty Peeps Go To NYC

22 Comments / February 12, 2012 / Peep Days, Travel

Whew! First of all, thank you for all your lovely comments on my last post. The Quilty Peeps and I made it back from NYC and I’m happy to say, none of us needed a wheelchair to get around! We had a fabulous time — we all get along so well, it’s hard not to have fun with the girls. We spent our first day with Martha Stewart — which deserves a post of its own later.

37DayThree

Before we left, the ever-so-sweet Vallen directed me to her very kind friend Rebecca, who gave us some great food recommendations. Thanks for all your great suggestions Rebecca! We made it to Juniors, but the other places eluded us on this trip and were we ever sorry. I can recommend one place NOT to go — and that’s the revolving restaurant at the top of the Marriot at Times Square. Yucky Buffet. Bad Service. Expensive drinks. That said, they were effective drinks and a certain someone was very friendly with the Times Square policemen. We kept hearing “something about men in uniform”??? Don’t worry, certain someone, what happens in NYC, stays in NYC. LOL.

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The rest of our time was spent shopping and double decker bus sight-seeing. We originally thought what a great deal the bus tour would be — a hop-on-hop-off tour, so we could use it to double as transportation around the city. Wrong. It was too slow and inconvenient. Oh well, the tour part was fun, although we ran out of time and missed many of the major sites.

Our best shopping was at all the blogger favorite places in the fashion district and Soho. (The links to all of these places can be found in the wonderful NYC shopping guide by disdressed.) Tinsel Trading was all decked out for the season with their Halloween stuff on display. Lots of glittery goodness.

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We all loved MJ Trim, The Store Across the Street, and City Quilter. Junie and I had fun in Grey Line Linen and Gurney went a little nuts over all the ric rac at Daytona. We took pictures of all of our loot:

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Junie got the most beautiful brown, orange and aqua linens — it’s hard to tell from the picture, but they are really gorgeous! We also shopped a bit in Soho. Of course, we visited both Purl and Purl Patchwork and loved them both.

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Purl has these adorable little sweaters strung across their door:

73DayThree

And of course, being in NYC, we had to partake of the current cupcake obsession. Magnolia came first and by now it had started to rain. We sat in the little park across the street and had a yummy cupcake.

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The next day, we checked out Billy’s.

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It was a scientific experiement, you understand. It was a tough call, but I think we decided that Magnolia edged out Billy’s by a hair. Not that it matters — we’ll gladly take either kind! Our trip went by way too fast. Next time I’ll tell you all about our visit with Martha!
XOXO,
Anna

Honesty

19 Comments / February 18, 2011 / Chat

{Sigh} I’ve been so busy this weekend, I haven’t even had time to read your blogs! Yesterday I mowed and then went to MyDadLovesMeBestSister’s to photograph MeMum’s quilts for a little project I have in mind. Holy Cow, I thought I was in the desert somewhere. It was HOT here this weekend — it felt like July outside and I was dripping wet out there taking pictures. Then I came home to change my shirt and my car died. At least I was at home! Today I made curtains for our admin assistant’s little girl — very glad to get that little task out of the way.

Tonight, TheManoftheHouse and I towed the car to the dealer’s. He said it was my idea to tow it there. Is he NUTS? Yeah, I said “We’ll have to tow it.” Did I mean WE would do it? No-oo. That means call a tow truck. So, when he said ok, and then made plans for us to do it, I just went with the flow. Fortunately, everything went well, unless you count all the times he yelled at me. LOL.

Several of you asked to see the booty from my visit to Clementine’s. Here ’tis:

1clementinestuff

The brown Kaffe Fassett fabric in the foreground is the print that Camilla helped me pick out for the Magoo Monkey pattern. I think it will be cute (if I ever get around to it!) Camilla actually had all three background colors of the Martha Negley cupcakes. I bought the aqua one in the spring and I had to hunt all over the internet for it. I ordered it at one place and they said they were out of it and couldn’t get anymore. I finally found it at another place and she said I got the last of her yardage. (I certainly couldn’t own a fabric shop, ’cause every time I got near the end of the bolt, I’d have to hoard it for myself.) Anyway, if you’ve been hunting that aqua cupcake fabric, Camilla’s your woman!

A week or so ago, both Lucy and Nicollette tagged me for the 8 Honest Things about yourself meme. I’ve been thinking about this all week — it’s been really hard to come up with 8 things and I’ve probably told you about some of them before:

1. I don’t like massages. I know most people love them, but I just hate them. Sometimes I wonder if maybe my skin is sensitive compared to other people or something — I just find them very annoying.
2. I love to eat outside.
3. I love camping.
4. Are you sensing a theme here? My grandfather and great-grandfather were gov’t trappers. They loved the out of doors. That must be where #2 and #3 came from.
5. I’ll always feel very sad that I never had a daughter. There better be granddaughters! LOL.
6. I need to learn how to say no to people who don’t sew. I did say no this week to people who don’t make cupcakes.
7. I looked in the mirror and guess who’s eyes were looking at me? My Grandma’s.
8. Now here’s my really honest confession: I recently had a birthday and didn’t tell you because I’m. Not. Happy. About. It. How dumb is that? Don’t you think we should be happy for every year we get?  I hope I’m over it now. LOL.

And, in honor of #8 and Junie’s recent birthday, the Quilty Peeps and I are celebrating by going to The Big Apple. We’ll be gone all week. And in a VERY IRONIC twist, we’re going to see Martha and her guest is going to be a geriatric physician. We couldn’t have planned that if we tried!

You kids be good while I’m gone.
XOXO,
Anna

P.S. I’m supposed to tag someone for the 8 things meme, but I can’t remember who’s done it. If you haven’t done it, do some soul searching and fess up! Or show us your jugs, whichever you choose!!!