A SLOW WEEK.....

It is somewhat late in the afternoon on Friday July 14th but I decided to try and put up a quick post before too much time goes by.  I continue to struggle keeping up this blog.  I am just too stubborn I think to throw in the towel altogether, so I will just keep doing the best I can to not fall behind.

I went through my usual struggle after Melody left and we finished up with our visit to Jeff's dad out in Kingman Arizona last Sat.  It was a really nice day.  Melody and her little family had taken their boat to the river for a couple of days, and then made the drive over to meet us there.  I think the boys were a little surprised to see us (they got there a couple of hours before we did!) there.  Little Luke said just as excited as he could be, "I didn't know YOU were coming grandma!"  He was soo pleased, lol.  Did my heart good I can tell ya.  I had brought along the game Candyland, all of their favorite books, and the little plastic dogs (that belonged to Melody when she was young) for them to play with while we were there.  I knew there wouldn't be much for them to do there, and it would be WAY too hot at 118 to go outside, lol.  They were very easily entertained with me reading and playing Candyland with them, and that left the rest of them to talk and enjoy each other.  Claire was a little fussy as she had missed her nap, and after all she had a LONG week and she is only just turned 2! But she enjoyed the little dogs for a little while and Melody tried unsuccessfully to get her to sleep, but it just never did happen.  They left in the late afternoon and hubby and I then stayed for dinner and the rest of the evening.  His dad continues to do soo well at 88, and we are both so grateful.  I've missed them all for sure, but I am spent most of this week not doing a whole lot and it was just kind of nice.

MELODY'S FAMILY WITH JEFF'S DAD JACK....THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME THE KIDS MET THEIR GREAT GRANDFATHER.  I WAS SOO GLAD THIS HAPPENED.  YOU CAN SEE HOW SLEEPY CLAIRE WAS.  POOR BABY!

I STOLE THIS OFF OF MELODY'S FACEBOOK TAKEN WHILE THEY WERE OUT OF THEIR BOAT...DOES LUKE'S FACE SAY IT ALL OR WHAT?  THAT LITTLE GUY'S ENTHUSIASM FOR LIFE IS JUST SOO CONTAGIOUS!   

I CAME ACROSS THIS PIC JUST NOW AND HAD TO SHARE IT, LOL.  LITTLE CLAIRE HAD WONDERED INTO OUR BATHROOM AND FOUND HERSELF GRANDMA'S MAKE UP DRAWER.  SHE WAS JUST SOO PLEASED WITH HERSELF, LOL

We are going to start ANOTHER large project tomorrow!  I know....the other one is hardly behind us.  But we have been talking about doing a few things for a while, and summertime just seems like the time to be on it.  We are going to paint our kitchen cabinets!  I KNOW!  Big job!  I have been researching and watching tutorials on how to best go about this for a few weeks now, and I think I have got it down.  Not that I will be doing most of the actual work of course, lol, but I do have my roles.  And deciding on the color of the paint seems like an important one.  Honestly I have been all over the place.  From a beautiful shade of blue, to a light olive green, to a white white and then also a pretty shade of linen.   I got little samples of all of these colors and after preparing the inside of one of the doors and painting a little of it I have deliberated and pondered on it.  I did send pictures to my daughter and niece and sisters and they have all given me their opinion as well.  I have settled on....LINEN.  It just goes best with all of my other colors and things, and at the same time remains more neutral which seems important for some reason, lol.  Anyway, we will get started tomorrow.  It will no doubt take a few week-ends to finish up as there are a few steps involved.  I can't wait to see it.  I will take before and after pictures and share as we go along.  I do have to say I LOVE  a good home improvement project, and besides the floors we haven't been on any in years.  There are a few more lined up behind this one, lol, but first things first.

I did begin work this week FINALLY on a project from one of my favorite online quilt stores that I bought last January.  I just never seemed to get around to it.  It is a quilted wall hanging calendar that you change out each month.  It was a little more work then I intended, and considering of course there are 12 months it might take me a while.  I only bought January's to see if I was even going to want to do it, but I think the answer is yes.  lol.  So I bought August and September's for now and hope to get them made as soon as I can..  Meanwhile I need to get started on my Christmas sewing too.  I know it seems early, but if you have followed me for long you know I always get started in summertime as I have SOOO much Christmas sewing what with gifts etc.  I haven't decided what I am going to do yet which is part of my dilemma.  I am looking through the shops trying to decide. I also came up with a BRILLIANT idea of how to make myself a new top, but I will tell you more about that later when then fabric I ordered comes and I make it up.  Let me just say this....IF this plan works I have a feeling making these tops for myself will start taking quite a bit of my time too, lol. Sooo let me show you the calendar....

I STILL HAVE TO MAKE THE BINDING AND ATTACH IT, BUT EVERYTHING ELSE IS DONE.  THIS CAME AS A KIT AND HONESTLY WAS PRETTY SIMPLE, BUT A LITTLE MORE TIME CONSUMING THEN I HOPED FOR.  IT HAD SOME HAND EMBROIDERY ON IT WHICH I HAVEN'T DONE IN YEARS!  I USED TO DO IT ALOT, BUT HONESTLY IT HAS PROBABLY BEEN 25 YEARS!  A QUICK VIDEO TUTORIAL BROUGHT ME BACK UP TO SPEED, BUT HONESTLY IT'S NOT ALL THAT GREAT, LOL.  IT'S OK.  THIS IS JUST FOR ME TO ENJOY, AND I FIND MYSELF A LOT LESS PICKY WHEN IT IS!

MY X'S FOR HIS SMILE ARE DOWNRIGHT COMICAL, BUT I AM NOT GOING TO DO THEM OVER LOL!  I WILL ADMIT I DID NOT ENJOY STITCHING DOWN ALL THE APPLIQUE PIECES....WAY TOO FIDDLY.  BUT IT HONESTLY WENT PRETTY QUICKLY.  I ONLY HAD TO BUY ONE SPOOL OF THREAD TO DO IT WITH TOO WHICH WAS NICE AS THREAD IS SOO PRICEY ANYMORE.

My sister Diane came over yesterday and we spent the day together.  We went out to my favorite quilt store and shopped for quite a while, then we stopped and had lunch, and then spent the rest of the afternoon working on our embroidery projects.  I really wish we could spent more time together doing things like this, but she is soo busy homeschooling her grandkids during the year that it has become quite the unusual event for her to have the time.  Hope you all have a good week-end.  I have tried to get around to visit, but I will do better next week I promise!  Blessings to you all!  Debbie