Toby's 1st anniversary pressie

Meet Timothy...Timmy. Right now, Baby Timmy. He is an itty bitty kitty. The tiniest of the litter and very loving. This is his first picture (Well on my camera. Big sister Heather took one on her cell.) Unfortunately, this was NOT an action photo. LOL The way I potty train, is I basically will not let them out of the litter box until something happens. This lil one thought we were throwing him a beach party however! Frolicing in the "sand" was big fun for him. Toby was much happier to see the Timmy, than Timmy was to see Toby. For something so tiny, lots of spit and spat. They are going through an adjustment period. Timmy is staying on THIS side of the pet gate and Toby is just gonna have to whine about it. Then there is Miss Lydia. She is soooo not impressed with Toby or his pressie. I keep telling her she is my baby girl and they are just boys. But she isn't too impressed with me either. The Persian Princess will be 16 in October. She is hissing at anything that moves right now. Hopefully everyone will settle down soon.




And did I tell you I have had hives? Like everywhere! Sheesh.

"We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best thing for us, we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be." C.S. Lewis

Me likey!

Sugarfree gelatin and squirt topping is my new favorite treat. The gelatin is a 12 pack of assorted flavors at WalMart for $2.50. The XCREAMY whips is 20 calories for 2 tablespoons and is only $1.89 at WalMart. A bargain snack that is cool and same as no calories.

Thank you for all the sweet comments on my flower garden pics. These were from the backyard. The front yard is still pretty good too. The heat is a downer on happy flowers though. Man it is HOT and humid here in Indiana right now. It just happened overnight it seems.

About my website....yep it is down. Honestly, I just was not able to make the yearly host fee when it was due. The domain is secure though. Hopefuly I will be back up soon. The about is not large, but my resources were spent on meds and other needfuls. Soon though I hope. Soon.

Backyard pics

Love my flower beds. They are a constant work in progress. This lil chippy painted goose was just gifted to me. I have wanted one for a long time. I am thinking on not repainting her. Just leaving her all worn out like me. LOL The white flowers beside her we have always called Goosie Lucy. The real name is Gooseneck something or other. :o) Like our name better.

This is post 295. Getting closer to that 300th post and give-a-way!

I liked this book...maybe you will too.

"Prayers for Sale" by Sandra Dallas. The setting is Colorado, in 1936. If you get a chance, give it a try. Let me know if you do.

We have had a crazy heat advisory here in southern Indiana. Blech on THAT! And I was putzing around in the kitchen making a decent meal and food for the weekend. (First time since surgery and I pick the hottest day. Yep I am the smart one. LOL) The central air has not shut off all day. Here is a silly trick I did. We are having Father's Day at my folk's tomorrow. I am taking among other things, deviled eggs and brownies. So I made my eggies and kept out 3 for the brownies. Then as I was cleaning the kitchen a bit, I thought to make Mark some potato salad. Now you gotta know, I haven't made him this but perhaps twice in our 16 years. Yep you guessed it, boiled up my last 3 eggs. Now I will be making brownies tomorrow after he makes a grocery run AND heating the house up again. He was in for the night and I just wasn't up to it at that point. I hate doing such crazy things. This time, I blamed it on the heat. Next time....well we will see what I come up with. What am I saying? I do something crazy everyday! hahaha This time I just took it harder. :o)

Hope you are cool wherever you are. Have a great weekend.

Purdy flowers

My sweet friend Laura in MN had these delivered last week. They smelt sooo good. Very sweet with roses and the mini carnations and all the special little flowers tucked around. All nestled into a keepable china tea cup. Thank you again honey! I kept them right by my bed on the dresser the whole time. The doll in the pic is an old Boyd Bear doll. She has an embroidery hoop, a small bunny and bear with embroidery floss tangled up on them. Mark bought me a few of this line of dolls several years ago. I love her glasses.

And thank you all for the sweet comments and emails. That each meant alot to me!

I am feeling better. Still being a bum and sleeping alot. I just got through telling Penny, enough already! And she reminded me it hadn't even been 2 weeks yet. Having a devil of a time keeping Toby boy from jumping up onto my tummy. He is used to me picking him up, big ole doggie that he is and that is what he does to let me know he "wants me". A quick pounce and then the puppy dog eye thing. Mark told me to take a pillow and use some fabric to tie it around my waist. I may just have to!

I am behind in my blog reading. So I am off to live my crafting/sewing through you all! :o)) My next post will be 294. That means a Give-A-Way at 300!!! I love doing them.

Operation...and not the game. LOL

Had a bit of surgery here last Friday. My gal bladder, icky sicky thing that it was, is no more. My liver is a lobe smaller and my belly button hernia is tucked under and down where it belongs. Just a bit of surgery. LOL Sheesh. I feel like I have been out of touch with life for a month, not a bare week. Penny has been a huge blessing...thank you Penny. Took some time off this week to babysit me and Toby. So glad she loves the lil brat. Toby not me. LOL Ok maybe both of us are a bit bratty. But we both love her. The surgeon told me today it would be 3-4 months before my liver area would feel normal. And the fatigue the same if not longer. So my summer plans, are being a bum.

Loving me some ricketyrack.

A simple table mat for my kitchen counter. And my first ricketyrack project, other than doll clothes. Love the way it turned out. Just a bit of "pop". I am thinking to make placemats later and add it to them. I paper pieced the 4-inch Square in a Square blocks. I do love to paper piece. (Everything is square and aligned correct. Just not my photography!) I used the white shirting fabric for the backing.

About those baby quilts

I received a couple emails asking me about donations. YES! If you cannot find a local need, I will gladly accept any preemie, baby or toddler quilts. Or even unquilted tops. A few years ago I was very active in making over 50 a year. But then life and laziness got in the way. I am being honest here. The need in our community is great so I would like to help in my small way. Just write me if you have any questions. Again, I donate to the Problem Pregnancy Center, the local hospital and the local main fire department. The Red Cross also accepts quilts and they are used locally.

The weather is gorgeous here today. A sweet cool breeze and sunny skies! God is good.

Last of Retreat...

This is the cutest purse from Michelle C. It has a zipper on the outside at the top AND one on the inside, plus pockets. I love it!

Last night I completed this mini top. I started the baskets at Retreat. It measures 12 x 15-inches. Blue shirting is the background. The border fabric is not quite as dark as it shows up, navy with tiny stars. These are 3-inch paper piece blocks. I am thinking Christmas pressies right now, so perhaps???

More from Retreat

Getting this one ready to quilt and bind. Very pink!

At Retreat everyone brings or donates locally, a cradle quilt for the local Problem Pregnancy Center. There is a huge need for these. Last week I spoke to someone in their office and made my appointment to drop off our collection. The lady on the phone was so excited. Said they were in great need of all sizes. But they also needed special ones for preemies. Smaller than normal size, very soft and no batting (because the weight would be too much for the tiny babies). I hurried and whipped up 2 with Minkee centers over the weekend. And she also told me of another need. This one broke my heart. The local hospital needs bereavement blankies for babies born too early. This is the last picture above. They need something tiny to wrap the wee babies in. I used what Minkee I had, which was all pink and made 10 1/2-inch squares. Sewed them together and bagged them out. Did a simple straight stitch around to hold the front and back together. Will be picking up white and blue Minkee when I can. I made 6 of the pink ones. This is the softest fabric and I couldn't help thinking of the babies skin being even softer. The parents will have something to keep.

Goodies I collected at Retreat! Peanut from Robin, the sewing angel from Connie and my mini quilt I won in the draw from Liz.

Fabric basket from Liz (I loaded it up quickly.) and woolfelt pincushion from Peggy. I still have more to post. Not everything was in my playhouse for the photo op. LOL

A bit of eye candy for ya

Miss Jaidyn looking like a cutie with her lil puppy dog ears. She is so funny.

Hope it is prettier weather where you are! It is a rainy dreary day here. But perfect nap weather....yawwwwwwwwn.

Bloggers glitches over with.

So glad that has passed. No pics of retreat goodies yet. Have been resting and had a treatment on Thursday. Family was over yesterday for an indoor picnic. Gotta love rain on a picnic planned day! NOT. Loved the family being here though. Shayla corralling plum wore me out though! She was Miss Sassy and needed alot of attention. She loves baby Jaidyn, but is a bit insecure at the same time. So more resting today, like ALLLL day. Which is funny, cause I have felt so restless. But I have been wanting to catch up with my blog reading and was sad I kept getting the error message the past couple of days.

Be sure to head on over to Conni's blog for "the rest of the story". And see her sweet new ride!

Retreats rock!

My Retreat buddies...(starting from the front l to r) Michelle, Robin, Liz, Lori, Nancy, Patti, Conni, Connie, Sherrie, Penny, Me, Peggy, Vickie, Laura and Michelle. My sister Debbie didn't make it into the pic, she left a bit early. Friends from Canada, NJ, CA, NC, WI, MO, IN, NY, TX, MN and ID. Two sets of sisters. What a great time we had. I forgot my camera gosh darn it. But hop through their blogs for tons of pics.

We played from midday Wednesday til breakfast on Sunday. Started missing them as soon as we all parted. One of the best retreats I have hosted honestly. It just worked. An amazing, loving group of ladies.

On the very first night a good ole Indiana storm blew through. The bottom line is that Conni's car got hit by a fallen tree and totalled out. This happened right outside the sewing room and about 20 minutes after the girls had just came in from a food run. The tree could have just as easily smashed through the building and landed on the girls. At the very least, busted out the windows behind where several were sitting. God had His protective hand on us that is for positive!!!

I am excited about sewing again. The retreat really motivated me. This has been a rough winter for me and I have just not been up to much sewing/crafting. Just did a ton of crocheting from my chair. At retreat I completed 2 twin size disappearing 9patch quilt tops, a wallhanging/table topper and a couple of small items. This was huge for me. So yayaya for me!

I will post pics of my retreat projects and goodies as soon as I get photos taken. I will be needing this week to recoup. But it is a good worn out. :o))

Girls....love you all! Thank you for an amazing time.

I am just sayin'...

A person should be able to have company, even out of COUNTRY company without practically ripping their house apart to clean. I should have dropped the "practically", cause this house has been torn apart. It was horrible!!! Ssure it would be expected to spruce things up. But not digging through what I have been! EEWWWIE! Where does all this dust/dirt come from? I know my dh changes the furnace filter. I told him tonight that Michelle needs to come more than once a year (What is UP with THAT anyways??? You used to come lots more. Saving this discussion for in person bytheby...). At least then maybe the house would be cleaned twice a year! Poor Toby, I think he has dust allergies also. He has been sneezing all week. I cannot believe we have lived this way! No wonder I am sick huh??? I am just sayin'...

Oh and my friends are coming to Indiana next week for our annual Backporch Friends Retreat! Cannot wait to see them all. It starts on Wednesday. Will try to take a bunch of picks. Many of the girls have blogs I can link to. Stay tuned!