My Newest Creative Fad

For the past couple of weeks, I've been resurrecting an old fad - beaded/crocheted jewelry. I don't know what exactly set off this current binge of making necklaces and bracelets, but I've completed two necklaces and three bracelets so far, and I have three more necklaces in the works. This type of jewelry was first popular back in the 70s and there were some pretty spectacular pieces made up. The ones I'm making right now aren't anything really special, just simple ropes with beads winding up the sides. I have a cyber-friend who has the patterns for some of the more difficult floral pieces that she is going to send to me soon. Once I get those patterns, I will be moving onto the more complex pieces.

In the meantime, I am happily crocheting my little lariats and bracelets. I will be taking them with me this week to the Momence Farmers' Market in hope of a few quick sales. The Momence market will be held every Wednesday afternoon from 3 to 6 starting this week and running through October. They are trying to expand the market to include arts and crafts this year. As a result, they are offering spaces to crafters/artisans for free this year. If we can get a big enough turnout due to the crafts, next year we may have to pay for the space, but for now, since it's free, I'm going to try it out. I'll be taking my jewelry, some baby things and my table linens, to start. I hope to add things as time goes on.

Anyway, because I'd decided to do the farmers' market, I needed to expand my jewelry inventory. That is why I started making the crocheted jewelry. I'm hoping that it's still popular enough to generate some sales.  Here's a photo of one of my bracelets.  It's made of multi-colored E beads on a purple crochet thread.  I just made a simple tube and sewed it into a ring.  There is no clasp.  It simply has enough stretch to slip on and off over your hand.

I'm also working on a 1-1/2 inch wide peyote stitch bracelet made of aqua colored glass E beads, a half inch dark purple peyote bracelet, a white rope necklace with lavendar seed beads, a white lariat with white pearls and a green lariat with green seed beads.  If I'm a good little girl, I should have almost all of them finished before the farmers' market.  And if I'm going to actually do that, I have to get off the computer now.  I'll let you know how it all turns out in my next post.

Today is the First Day of Spring?!

Today is the officially the first day of spring - on the calendar, that is. I'm not really sure if Mother Nature agrees, though. While our forecast here in Illinois is for temps in the low 60's with a lot of clouds, there is also a winter storm front just to the west of us that is predicted to drop another load of snow. So for now, I am cautiously optimistic that spring has indeed come. At the end of my entry last August, I mentioned that the squirrels' tails were getting really bushy, which meant a long, hard winter with a lot of snow. Looks like Grandpa was right again. After that major snow storm we had in February, I think this past winter qualifies as long and hard. The only really good thing that came from all of that snow is that the fields will be plenty moist for the spring planting. Hopefully, the farmers will have better crop yields this year after the horrible heat and dryness of last year. Anyway, enough about the weather. Let's talk crafting!

I found out last week that there will be a Fairy Fest at Pilcher Park again this year. Our Head Fairy Darla, though, will not be with us anymore. She took a new job and has left the organization of the FF to the rest of the staff at the Nature Center. Since I know early enough that there will be an FF, I have already started making my beaded/beribboned fairy headbands. I want to make sure that I have a lot more of them this year than I had in 2010. I went to last year's FF with about three dozen headbands, two dozen flower and star wands, and about 50 pieces of Fairy Bling (jewelry made using beads and stretchy cord), and I sold out of everything but one wand and a couple of bracelets by noon. Unfortunately, the FF lasts until 2:00, so I had to pack up early and go home.

Don't get me wrong. Last year's FF was a huge financial success. It's just that I could have sold a whole lot more if I had made more stock. So this year, I'm starting early. At this writing, I have already made five headband bases. I need to do a run to Michaels for some supplies, though. I need more 1/4" dowels for my wands, some sparkle felt for the stars, and I used up most of my ribbon supply last year, so I have to replenish that, too. I should be able to get everything I need for about $30. I'll make that back easily. Nothing on my table is marked more than $4, and I think that's why I sell so much. The headbands, wands and Fairy Bling are shiny enough to attract the attention of the little girls and priced low enough that the parents/grandparents don't mind spending a few dollars at my table.

Anyway, the FF will be my first craft show of 2011 and I am really looking forward to it. I also am working with my class reunion committee. The Central High Class of 65 (along with the classes of 66 and 67) will be holding their 45th class reunions in July. We started doing the joint reunions five years ago. It seems that none of our classes can get enough folks to come in order to make it financially feasible. Joining the other two classes lets us enjoy the company of people who were at school with us, while keeping the overall costs down, which in turn gets more folks to come. That will be something to look forward to during the summer and I can't wait to see everyone. But in the meantime, I'll be here working on my Fairy Bling for the Fairy Fest in May. Happy crafting, everyone!

Bad Start to a New Year

It's been a while since I posted anything here. Primarily because I had a really bad December and January. You see, I caught a cold right after Thanksgiving and it hung on for a while. I was starting to feel a lot better by Christmas, but that changed really quickly the last week of the year.

It was a very cold Monday and I got dressed and went to the post office for the mail. I was wearing my hat, gloves, and winter coat. I didn't realize just how cold the air was or I would have also added my scarf. But I didn't have it on, and my first breath in of the frigid, icy air started my sinuses dripping big time. It was like someone had turned the faucet on high and I was not only constantly blowing my nose, but I was always coughing, too. I had a miserable Monday and when I got up on Tuesday, my temperature was over 100. I took whatever cold meds I had in the house and hunkered down to try to get rid of what I believed at the time was a major cold.

New Year's Eve came and went, and I was still running a high fever. I was only eating soup and some bread and jelly once in a while. I felt so bad. I went out on Friday to get more OTC cold meds and cough syrup and drops as well as more tissues (I had gone through two full boxes in four days). I also stopped to pick up a few groceries and headed back home. I was coughing so hard that I started getting traces of blood in my phlegm.

On January 4, I called my doctor and told them what was happening, or at least I was trying to tell them. By that time, I had lost my voice and was barely able to say anything. Anyway, the doctor called in a script for an antibiotic for me and, for the first time in 2011, I left my house and went to Walgreen's to pick up the medicine. The doctor also wanted to see me the following week as a follow-up. I called Walgreen's two hours after the doctor's office called in the script, but it wasn't ready yet. They told me it would be another 20 to 30 minutes. I told them that I would be there.

I got dressed and drove the 12 miles to the Walgreen's. I waited in line for about 5 minutes and got to the window and asked for my script. Guess what? It wasn't ready. I croaked out that I had been told that it would be ready in about 30 minutes and that had been an hour earlier. I asked them to please get it done soon and went to sit down. At first, the lady said it would probably be another hour, and since I couldn't yell because of my throat, I started to cry. I told her that I didn't think I could last an hour and they had already promised it to me earlier, so she should push the pharmacist to get it done quickly. After all, I was running a temperature and was very contagious. So I sat there coughing and coughing and coughing. No one would come near me and I'm sure that a few folks complained to the pharmacy staff about me sitting there. The result was that they had my script ready in 15 minutes and I was finally able to head back home.

The doctor had given me Clindamyacin which I started taking twice a day as soon as I got home. I was still going through a lot of cough medicine and tissue. At one point, I pulled out a roll of toilet paper to use for tissue since I was once again out of the tissue. Anyway, the antibiotic did help a little during that week and on the following Monday, the 11th, I went out of my house for only the second time that month and headed for the doctor's office. My appointment was late in the afternoon and I was late getting there, so they made me wait until everyone else was taken care of before they got around to me. I just sat there in a corner of the office, coughing and blowing. At one point, I was coughing so hard that I couldn't catch my breath, but eventually it eased up, and I was finally taken to an examine room.

They did the usual routine - took my weight, did my blood pressure and asked me if there were any changes in my medication. They also asked what brought me in to see the doctor. I just looked at the nurse and started coughing and blowing my nose and croaked, "I have this really bad cold which I think has gone into bronchitis and my left ear is now blocked and I'm having trouble hearing." She said, "I'm sorry, I can't understand you." I just shook my head and looked at her. She was a pissy little bitch and was set on teaching me a lesson because I had been late. I let it go 'cause I was just too sick to really care. Anyway, she left me alone in the room and said that the doctor would be right in.

Forty-five minutes later, I opened the door and asked one of the nurses if I had been forgotten. She seemed to be surprised to see me, but said that doctor would be with me shortly, and he was there within 5 minutes. I can't prove it, but I think PLB put me in the room and failed to let the doctor know that I was there. If I could prove it, I'd have her fired. Anyway, the doctor came in and checked me out. He said that he didn't think I had a cold, but that is was a severe sinus infection. He changed the antibiotic to one he thought would be better (bactrim ds) and referred me to an ENT for the ear problem. His office couldn't set up an appointment for me with the ENT right then since they had kept me until after 5:30 and the ENT's office was closed. So they called the next day and set me up with an appointment that Friday with the ENT's audiologist.

I went into the ENT's office on Friday, where they tested my hearing and made me repeat words (I still had no real voice) for 30 minutes. The audiologist said that the doctor would have to see me, so she took me to an exam room where I waited for almost an hour (55 minutes) for the doctor to come in. My original appointment started at 8:45 and the doctor finally came in to see me at 10:55. He told me that he was going to put a spray in both nostrils to numb them and then he would be able to use a camera through the nostril to examine my throat. When the numbing agent was put into my nose, I started having a panic attack 'cause it was also numbing my vocal chords and throat. It took me about 5 minutes or so to get myself back under control and the doctor was able to feed the camera up and see my vocal chords. The upshot was that all of the coughing had indeed done some damage. He gave me some aerosol saline to shoot up my nose several times a day and told me to buy a 12-hour Afrin, too. He wanted to see me back in two weeks. It was almost noon when I left his office (three hour appointment).

I headed over to the Walgreens to pick up the second antibiotic and the Afrin, more tissue, cough syrup and cough drops. Then it was back home for more sleep and some food, and, of course, more meds. The following morning, Saturday, I got up for the first time in three weeks without a temperature. Of course, it went up during the day and was back over 100 by the time I went to bed that night, but I felt that I had finally turned the corner. The saline spray seemed to be helping a lot and the Afrin was drying up the sinuses nicely. Once I stopped the sinuses, I didn't cough as much and that led to my throat feeling better. By the time I returned to see the ENT on Feb. 4, I was pretty much over the worst and on my way to finally getting better. That appointment was only the 4th time this year that I had been out of the house.

I am now pretty much back to normal and have made it a priority to get out of the house three or four times a week. I'm working with my high shool reunion committee and that has given me a reason to really get moving again. It is surprising how much muscle tone you can lose when you don't get out of the house and move for a month. Here's hoping that the rest of the year continues in a much better vein than January. I really do have to look into moving somewhere with warmer winters. It's apparent that my body will no longer tolerate those sub-zero temperatures without rebelling. Maybe next year.

Living in a Tea Party America

I just finished reading an article about a small town in Western Tennessee. It seems that an elderly man in the rural area who had not sent in his $75 fire protection fee (the charge for folks who don't live within the town limits) had a fire at his home. His grandson was burning trash and the wind blew embers on top of the trailer home and set it on fire. The man called 911 and pleaded with them to come help save his home and his four pets. He even offered to pay double the fee. The fire department came, alright, but only to protect his neighbor's house (who had paid the $75). They made no effort whatsoever to save the man's home or his pets. The firemen just stood their and watched the home burn to the ground, killing the three dogs and one cat. Their excuses - we have to follow the rules, he didn't pay the $75 and we aren't allowed to help him. What a heartless bunch of crap!

I cannot believe that not one of the dozen or so firemen who came out to protect the neighbor's property had the guts to stand up for what is right and try to save that man's house. The article says that the whole town is outraged by their inactions. I wonder if those firemen can even look their own family and neighbors in the face after what they did not do.

Later in the day, the man's grandson went into town to discuss what had happened and ended up punching out the Fire Chief, giving him a black eye. The grandson was arrested and charged with aggravated felony assault. It seems to me that it should have been the Fire Chief and his boss, the Town Manager, who should have been arrested. The Town Manager is still defending the non-action of the fire department and the ridiculous $75 fee for fire protection services. I wonder how much of that fee goes straight into his pocket.

Here's an idea - fire the Town Manager and use his salary to cover the fire protection service fees of all of the rural homeowners. I'd bet you would even have enough left over to pay for a new trailer for that poor man. As it is, if that family is smart (and I'm pretty sure they will be), the town is going to have to pay a whole lot more by the time the lawsuits are finished. I cannot believe that any judge or jury would find in favor of the Town Manager and the Fire Department.

Is this what life in America is going to be like from now on? Are essential services only going to be given to those who can afford to pay? I hope not since I am on a very limited budget and, if I were in the same circumstance as that man in Tennessee, would probably not be able to pay the fee either. And while I don't own a house, I would be very afraid that if I had a medical emergency, the EMTs wouldn't come to help me if I hadn't paid some fee that I couldn't afford in the first place.

As the members of the Great Generation and the Baby Boomers start dying out, and the power for change is handed to the Me Generation and the GenX crowd, I worry greatly about the disappearing social safety nets that were put in place all those years ago. Can it be that we've actually raised a couple of generations of people who don't have a social conscience? I hope not. If we have, then we'll start seeing many more stories like the one above. There will be a whole lot of younger people just standing around and doing nothing while the lives of others are being destroyed. And that's really un-American.

The Heat of Summer

I am sitting here this morning with the door open, enjoying an infrequent, cool morning. The temperature outside is a mere 70. I'm sure that it will be going up later, but for now, it is just right. I just wish we had had more mornings like this during the summer. Instead, we have been in an oven since late June.

My last post prayed for the end of winter and the beginning, finally, of spring. It seems that Mother Nature forgot to have spring this year. We went from the rainy misery of April and May straight into the blast furnaces of June, July and August. I'm not sure, but if I had to guess, I'd say that we had a record number of days over 90 this summer. And here we are, at the end of August, still having to run the air conditioner due to the excessive heat.

These horrible heat waves (and there have been a couple of breaks, so it is plural) have severely limited my outdoor activity. Some days, the air conditioner has gone on at 10am and stayed on until after 10pm. A couple of days, I haven't turned it on and simply sweated through temperatures in the high 80s. When the temperature is so high with the amount of humidity that we get here in Illinois, it is extremely hard to draw a full breath outside of an air-conditioned environment. Short trips to the post office and to get groceries (by car) and walks across my parking lot to the garbage dumpster have been about it. And that's a shame because I finally have a doctor who has found the correct medication to help my arthritis and I would have been capable of doing a lot more, if it hadn't been so darn hot!

Anyway, school started here yesterday, and that is usually a harbinger of cooler weather. Unfortunately, it appears that the little break in the weather that we're experiencing this week (mid 80s instead of mid 90s) is only that - a little break. The forecasts have the temperature climbing back up into the high 80s and mid 90s again next week, and staying there for a couple of more weeks, at least.

Ah, well, I'm sure that in a few months, we will all be wishing for some of this hot weather to warm us up. One thing that I've noticed in my lifetime is that every really hot summer is usually followed by a really long, cold, snowy winter (have you noticed the tails on the squirrels lately?). So, I'm going to sit back and continue to enjoy this lovely cool morning while I can. By the way, in the time it took me to write this entry (about ten minutes), the temperature has risen to 74.

Will Spring Ever Really Come?!

Here it is, May 12, and the temperature outside is 55 degrees - still. We had some really nice weather a few weeks ago, but since then, it has been cold and damp and dreary. I've been spending most of my time indoors getting rid of a cold. In one way, it has been driving me nuts being so house-bound. But, in another way, it has been a productive time. I have actually been working hard on my county fair entries during this time.

So far, I have managed to work on four crochet projects, all of which are in different stages of doneness (is that a word). I am almost finished with a shawl that I'm crocheting using a bamboo blend yarn (very soft and eco-friendly). I have a baby afghan that is about half-way done and I've designed a table runner from cotton yarn that should be done soon, too. The big item (actually, the smallest but most technical) is a pair of crochet socks. I've never crocheted socks before, but I was intrigued by the pattern (they have two cables down the front), and I really love the feel of sock yarn. The socks start by making the toe sections. Easy-peasy. Then I started working on the foot of the sock.

I have been working on the first sock for four days now and am finally getting to the heel gusset. The reason for that is that last night (very late last night) I realized that I had been doing the cable pattern incorrectly, which is why the cable didn't look like one. So, at 11 pm I ripped out everything that I had done, back to the first cable switch and re-worked the entire foot back to where I had ended earlier. I then added two more sets of the pattern to take it to the length it needs to be to start the foot gusset before I finally went to bed - at 5 am this morning. It now sits there waiting for me to begin the next section, which I'll probably do some time this afternoon. I've been reading the pattern, trying to make sure that I actually understand what the next step is. I don't want to rip anything out again if I can help it. And to think that when this sock is finished, I have to finish the second one, too.

I have also been working on a counted cross stitch project for the past few weeks, too. I've also finished the top for a new lap quilt. Since I've picked out 27 items that I want to enter into the fair, I really need to keep working on them now. Don't want to be rushing to finish everything the weekend before the fair judging. (LOL - I'm always rushing to finish things at the last minute. It's when I do my best work.) I actually have started on 10 of the 27 items and have chosen the designs for another 10, so far. If I can keep up this pace, I should have all of the entries in the works by June 1. Of course, the real problem is getting them all finished by the end of July. We'll see. I may have to pare down my list of entries.

In the mean time, I will keep working away on the projects I have started, all the while wishing that the weather will finally warm up and I can get out of the house more. Or at least, open the door to let fresh air in without freezing!

Getting Closer to Spring

Since my last post, we have made great progress towards spring. Although the temperatures this week are back on the low side, last week we had several days in the mid-60s and it felt great. The weatherman promises that the temps will go back up again by early next week, and I think that we just might have a pretty Easter this year. Of course, I'm not sure yet where Easter will be. We've got two people who want to host it, so no decision yet. I'm sure we'll figure it all out this week-end. In the meantime, I'll just go ahead and make my Easter projects for the greats.

I love my fellow crafters on-line. They always manage to find me some really great ideas. Take this year's Easter project for the greats. I usually fill a couple of dozen eggs with money and candy for the Easter Egg Hunt, but this year, I've decided to give each of the kids a carrot for Easter. Yes, I said a carrot. Thanks to one of my cyber-sisters, I found the instructions for making Easter carrots a few weeks ago. I won't explain the process here except to say that they are really cute. I'm making a couple of moderations to mine, but here's the link to the original posting for those who want to see what I'm talking about: http://www.allfreecrafts.com/easter/jelly-bean-carrots.shtml It's a really cute craft for Easter.

Speaking of crafts, in my last post, I was lamenting about my lack of crafting ambition. Well, I must have sparked my crafting muse, 'cause since then I've done a bunch of stuff. I did more work on the quilt that I talked about, made 5 new pieces of jewelry (including finishing a beaded cabuchon broach and a white pearl bridal necklace), and started a simple sweater for myself out of sock yarn. I had bought 3 balls of the yarn to try to make myself a pair of socks, but I didn't really have the patience to figure out the sock pattern. Instead, while watching a needlework program on TV, I was inspired to create a simple, block-type of sweater using the yarn. Of course, I had to go back and buy more yarn in order to finish it, but I am happy with how it is turning out and it will be a nice little topper for spring. I hope to have it finished for Easter.

I also went through the premium book for the Kankakee County Fair, which is scheldule for the first weekend in August, and made a list of the items that I'd like to enter. I came up with 27 of them. Based on projects that I currently have working and others that I've wanted to try for a while, I'm pretty confident that I can get most of them finished in time. But only if I keep crafting, so I'd better get back to it. The sweater is my first priority. Maybe I'll be able to post some pics later. Until then, I hope all are well and happy. Later.

So, Enough with Winter, Already!

Here it is, February 4, and we're expecting another 1-2 inches of snow today. The temperature is in the low 20's and it has been overcast for days. I have no motivation to do anything, whatsoever. These mid-winter blahs are just getting me down.

Not that I don't have some creative ideas. I do. It's just that the weather is causing me pain in my hands and it's hard to force myself to work when they hurt so much. I've got pain medicine that helps, but it's so strong that I end up in a fuzzy state for most of the day. (Case in point, I took a pill about 30 minutes ago and it's starting to kick in. I'm trying to finish this entry and my breakfast before the fogginess kicks in.) Fuzzy states are not really conducive to being productive.

And I really have some great things that I want to work on. I took one of my "jelly rolls" of Moda fabric (a wonderful group of colors called "Allspice Tapestry") and have designed a simple, but unique, quilt top. The first step of the process is sewing four strips together before cutting them into blocks. I have the fabrics all sorted and put into groups, but I have only managed to get one group sewn together so far. I'm going to try to get the other nine finished today, then I can iron the seam allowances and cut the blocks and arrange them. The pattern is a simple "Warm Wishes" type with a slight design change and, if I wasn't feeling so blah, I probably could have had it finished in a day. But here I am, a week later, and no closer to being finished than I was the day I started it. UGH!

I've also laid out the designs for a couple of wedding jewelry sets. I know that I have all of the materials that I need to make them, but every time I think about starting them, I rub my hands and think of what all that fine workmanship will do to the pain level in them. So, there sit the idea layouts, just waiting for me to get to the motivation to actually make them.

I've also started thinking about what I want to enter into this year's county fair. It's only five months away, so I need to get started on those projects now in order to have them done in time. And while I'm pretty sure about what I want to make, I just haven't been able to make myself get started. Knowing me, though, I won't really get into production on those items until May, which means that I'll have to work like a demon to get everthing ready before the deadline. Ah, well.

Like I said, I've just got those mid-winter blues and I sure wish the sun would show up soon. Even opening the living room blinds doesn't make it any brighter in the house. It just let's me see just how miserable it is outside. SIGH! I really hate winter.

New Great-Niece

I'm a great-aunt again! The baby girl was born at 12:26am on December 30, 2009. She weighed in at 8 pounds 8 ounces and was 20 inches long. And is she ever cute! (I'm posting her picture so you can see that I'm telling the truth.) She is my sister, Diana's eighth grandchild, and was welcomed by dad Darin, mom Jill, and big sister Zoe'.

We were beginning to think that she was never going to put in an appearance. At Christmas, Jill was nicely huge, in that beautiful pregnant way. She had hoped that the baby would have come before then, but no such luck. Jill went to see her doctor on her due date, December 28th. He told her that he wouldn't induce until she was five days past her due date. Luckily for Jill, she only had to wait another day and a half before her labor started in earnest.

And the result was this beautiful little girl who's name is Jade Katherine Bowers. Welcome to the family, Jade.

Oh, How I Hate The Cold

Well, winter is really, really here. The temperature outside, according to WeatherBug is -2 right now. -2!. I had gotten up early, planning on going to church, but I decided to find out what the temperature was just to be on the safe side. I'm glad I did. No going out yet for me. You see, I have two titanium knees, and they don't like the cold at all.

One of the admonitions that my doctors had give me after my knee replacement surgeries many years ago was to avoid frigid temperatures whenever possible. I didn't really pay too much attention to that during the first two years after my knees were replaced because the winters had been mild ones. Only a day or two during each of those winters had dipped into the single digits, temperature wise. And then it happened. My third winter with my new knees, I had driven over to the train station in the morning to head downtown to work. The temperature was in the low twenties. During the day, however, a cold(er) front moved in, and by the time I got home that evening, the temperature was only about four degrees above zero.

I hurried from the station to where my car was parked. Since I was able to park in the "Handicap" section, my car was about 150 feet from the door of the station. I got to the car, opened the door, and went to sit down in the car. A strange thing happened. My left knee would not bend. I had to manually force the knee into a bent position to get it into the car. After letting the car warm up for a few minutes, I drove the eight blocks home and pulled into the garage. I opened the car door and had to use the leg of my slacks to pull my left leg out of the car. I was panicked.

Once I got inside, I immediately called my doctor's service. He called me back a few minutes later and asked what was wrong. I told him about my left leg. He said, "Are you nuts? What were you doing outside in these kind of temperatures?" He then reminded me that I had been warned by both him and my orthopaedic surgeon to avoid extremely cold weather. He told me that once the knee joint warmed up I would be fine, but that I should never, never, never go out in the cold if the temperature was below ten degrees. It seems that titanium doesn't really like the cold very much.

I have, of course, gone out when the temperature was below 10, but I always make sure that I have extra covering over my knees. I wear tights under my slacks and I alse wear my long winter coat instead of the more stylish short jacket. After all, I was still working until last year, and I couldn't afford to take off every time the temperature dropped too low. I have to admit, though, that it is nice not to have to get so dressed up to go out in such cold weather. As the years have gone by, my joints have all come to dislike the cold as much as my knes, which brings me to this morning.

I had planned on going to church this morning, but after seeing what the temperature is, I have decided to stay put in my apartment until the mercury starts to rise. It's supposed to get up to 15 by this afternoon and I'll try to go out then. I haven't been out of my apartment since last Monday due to the cold, and I need to pick up some groceries. In the meantime, I will continue to dress in layers and layers to keep warm. I hope you all are keeping warm, too.

The Difference Between Big City and Rural Life

Something very nice just happened. There was a knock at my door, and when I opened it, the two little girls from upstairs were standing there. They asked my permission to clean the snow off my car. I said sure, "How much do you want?" They just looked at me with strange expressions on their faces. I said, don't you want any money to do it, and they said no, we just want to clean off the snow. I said, okay, just be careful. And right now, they are working diligently cleaning off the almost four inches of snow piled on my car.

And therein is the difference between life in a small rural town compared to life in a big city. When I owned my house in a rather large suburb of Chicago, I would have youngsters come knock on my door and offer to shovel my sidewalk and driveway, too, but for a price. I usually took them up on their offers as long as they weren't too expensive since snow shoveling is not one of my favorite things to do. Having arthritis in my joints, my body does not really like the cold, so I try to stay as warm as possible during the winter. Having someone else shovel the snow and clear my walks and driveway was an absolute must.

Anyway, my point to this post is that here in the small rural town where I live now, these two young ladies not only aren't charging me for cleaning off my car (they are almost finished as I write this), they even came to my door to ask my permission before they did it. And I think that is a very nice thing for them to do. Hmmm, I just might have to fire up the oven and bake some cookies this afternoon, since they wouldn't take any money. After all, one good turn deserves another!

Merry Christmas to All

I had a wonderful evening with my family yesterday. The new baby was there, but still inside of her mom. She's reluctant to put in an appearance for some reason. All but one of my twelve other "greats" were there, too. Unfortunately, poor Michael had to stay home with his dad Mike 'cause, as his big sister Hannah put it, he had "green snot". I'm not sure exactly what that is, but it sounded pretty bad and his mom didn't want to take the chance that he would infect the rest of the kids.

The rest of us, though, had a very pleasant dinner followed by a modified gift exchange. We used to make a huge production over Christmas Eve dinner, but this year we took a more laid-back approach. There was fried chicken (from J.R.'s), lasagne (from GFS), and a couple of salads, along with desserts (pies by Marie Callender and cheesecake by Eli's). The order of the day was EASY. We also told the nieces and nephews that they didn't have to bring anything. I brought the two pies, my brother and his wife brought the cheesecake. Two of my sisters, Karen and Diana, split the cost of the chicken and the third sister, Janis, bought the lasagne. A couple of the kids did bring things like cookies and candies and a cheese tray, but nothing complicated. As a result, we were all able to sit down to dinner without too much fuss.

After dessert,the gifts were handed out. We had decided that only the aunts and uncles would buy for only the greats instead of the whole family exchange that we used to do. We didn't want any of the nieces and nephews to feel bad because they couldn't afford to buy for everyone. Afterall, the recession has hit us just like it has everyone else. So, the rule was nothing excessive. I sewed a little goodie bag for each kid that I put a toy, a baggie of cookies and candy, and a marshmallow lollipop in. Someone else gave each of them a puzzle, someone else had given them socks, another gave another little toy, and Uncle Mike was the big hit when he gave each of the kids a little case that contained a $15 universal gift card.

We all sat around chatting for a while and telling stories of Christmases past. Everyone went back to the dessert table for seconds (thankfully). Then we started packing up and heading for home. We had spent almost three hours together without anyone having to stress out over a big to-do with a big dinner and tons of presents (trust me, when there are 30 family members exchanging gifts, it is a very big to-do and a whole lot of presents). I think that this was one of the best Christmas Eve get-togethers that we've ever had.

This morning when I first got up, I put a loaf of whole wheat bread into the oven to bake. Once it was done, I headed to Christmas morning mass with Karen, Diana and Ken (Diana's husband). Janis and her family had gone to the 4:30 mass yesterday before the dinner and had gone to Indiana for Christmas with her daughter-in-law's family early this morning, and Mike and Dawn (my only s-i-l) were on their way to dinner with their daughter, who had to work last night. After mass, we went to Karen's house for coffee and Christmas cookies. Karen's husband, Hap, had to work today. He went in for 8am and is scheduled to work until 11pm. Karen was going down to her daughter's for dinner today and Ken and Diana were headed for their daughter's house to see what Santa had brought the kids.

I headed back home, fixed myself a nice ham salad sandwich with my fresh baked bread. Then I sat down in my recliner and watched a couple of Christmas movies on television. I had turned on my Christmas tree lights and just enjoyed the feeling of not having to do anything or go anywhere. And I am very glad that I didn't have to drive anywhere since the rain that was coming down this morning, turned to snow by about 2pm. And, it is very windy out there. Better to stay in my nice, warm apartment. My friends had invited me to come to their house which is about 20 miles away, but I had told them that I was worried about what the weather was going to do. Looks like I was right. I'll just try to get out to see them sometime in the next few days.

In the meantime, I hope everyone had a really good Christmas, too. I also hope that Santa was good to you all, and not just with gifts. I hope that he brought all of you the true gift of this season, too. Merry Christmas, everyone!

My Little Tree

Yesterday, I decided to put up a Christmas tree. I haven’t done that in a few years (too little time when I was working, no motivation since I retired, etc), but I decided that it was time to do it again. I started by placing a wooden tray table in front of the window, next to an outlet. The placement would allow the tree to be seen from outside while letting me enjoy seeing it inside without blocking the view of the television. I covered the table with a snowman themed runner.

I then went to the hall closet where all of my Christmas stuff is stored. I took out a swag and rigged it up so that I could hang it outside my door. Conveniently, there is already a hook there, so all I had to do was hang the swag on it. Then, I chose one of my small trees (yes, trees, plural) and took it out of the box. I chose a 3-foot Norway pine that I got on sale at Hobby Lobby a few years ago. I paid $4.99 for it.

It took about 15 minutes of work to get the branches spread out and looking okay. Oh, and did I mention that this tree was pre-lit. It has 35 mini lights already twined within the branches. So, once the branches were to my liking, I set the tree on the table and plugged it in. The Christmasy feeling started to bubble inside me.

Next, I had to decide on ornaments and decorations. Since this is a fairly small tree, I couldn’t really go overboard. And then I remembered some vintage ornaments that I had bought last year from the White Elephant table at a craft show. There were about 15 of them and they would be just what my tree needed. Total cost of the ornaments: $1.75. I got out the ornament hangers and began to place the balls on the tree.

There were two clear glass ornies that had been be-ribboned and hand painted with snowflakes, three dark blue and gold papier mache ornies and 10 of the old-fashioned glass ornies in pale greens and pinks. They gave the little tree a very Victorian feel. I had some glistening mylar snowflakes left over from a craft project that I scattered around the tree, too. I topped it off with a $.99 frosted pearl garland (it looks like little snowballs) and wrapped the end of a small white feather boa around the base.

The tree looked a little lonely standing on the table by itself, so I added a set of fabric-covered boxes (another White Elephant find for $1.00). There are three boxes, each covered with green and white fabric with a pink fabric top. They each have a candy cane on the front and the lids are embroidered with “sugar,” “spice,” “everything nice”. I stacked them at an angle and the colors really match the ornies on the tree.

Then, following the “less is more” approach, I decided that I pronounced the tree finished. Total cost of tree and decorations: $8.75. I opened my blinds so that the outside world can see my tree and it stayed lit until I went to bed. This morning, I took a picture of my tree, which is attached here. The boxes are on the other side, so not too visible in this photo, but they are there. It is absolutely amazing how having that little tree has put me into a very Christmasy mind-set.

Today, I am going to put together my little gifts for my great nieces and nephews (twelve right now, but number thirteen may be here by Christmas Eve). Tomorrow, I’ll bake my cookies and make some candy (I’m going to try my dad’s fudge recipe). Then, on Christmas Eve, I’ll bake one pie and thaw the other (thank you, Marie Callender) and head for my sister’s house for dinner with the family. And when I come home, my little tree will be here to greet me with its light and help to make the season truly bright.

I'm 63 Today

Hey, today is my birthday!  I almost forgot it was coming this week.  I am now 63.  Not that the number really means anything to me anymore.  With arthritis churning through my body, many days feel like I'm in my 90's.  Today, however, was not one of those.  The weather is a little warmer, so my joints aren't quite so achy, so I'm actually typing up a new post for my blog.  I promised myself a few weeks ago that I am going to post more often and this is me keeping the promise.

Speaking of blogs, one of the ladies over on the HGTV message boards started a thread a couple of weeks ago asking people to post their blog links.  And are there some really talented crafting and quilting folks out there with their own blogs.  I have been adding them to my favorites list as I find them and now I have a list of over 20 blogs that I can (and do) check in on periodically.  They are from all over the place, including one from Russia that I had Google translate into English for me.  It is amazing what you can find out from other folks who are interested in the same things you are.  These blogs have some really wonderful things in them.  Everything from holiday recipes to free templates for tags and labels, to unique projects that you can do.  I love them all.

What I love most, though, is that there are all of these wonderful people out there just trying to connect with other folks and who are willing to offer their help whenever needed.  I know that there are a lot of people who say that you should be really careful when surfing the web and going to unknown websites, and I am careful, but I really love being able to see what others are doing and to read about their lifes.  It puts mine in perspective.

So, birthdays can come and go, as far as I'm concerned.  I'll just keep plugging along doing my thing until the good Lord calls me home.  Until then, I plan on having as much fun every day as I can.  Happy Birthday to Me!

Craft Show Season is Almost Over

Well, another year of craft shows is coming to an end. I have my last show this Friday and Saturday. It's a "Santa Shop" at an elementary school and geared towards kids. It runs for three hours on Friday night (6-9pm) and three hours on Saturday morning (9am-12pm). We set up starting at 4 on Friday. I've decided that I'm only going to take my low dollar things to this show since it's aimed at kids. I will, hopefully, maximize my sales that way. And believe me, in this economy, I have to do as much as possible to do that.

The past two years have not been good ones for craft show vendors. The recession hit us pretty hard. With so many people being out of work, there just aren't the buyers out there for our crafts. Last year, of the six shows that I did, I only made back my table fee at two of them. This year I've only done only four shows, but I've managed to make back table at each, so far. At my big show this past weekend, I actually made some money! Hopefully, I'll make some this weekend, too. At least it's a short show. And I only have to drive 20 miles!

My show last weekend was at my former parish in Chicago. It was my 19th year as a vendor at this particular Holiday Bazaar. The bazaar, itself, has been going on almost 25 years. I love going back as, besides being a good money-making show for me, it's also a chance to catch up with some old friends and neighbors. And, I get to see how much the kids have changed in the past year. Some of the youngsters that I know pretty well were just infants when I started attending this event. Now, they are in college and a couple are even married and parents already. Talk about feeling old!

The only bad thing about this show, however, is that now that I've retired and moved down home again, it is an hour plus drive each way to get there and back. And I have to do it two days in a row. I told the organizers that if I'm still able to do this show again next year, I'm going to get a hotel room up there so that I don't have to drive two days in a row. That way, I can arrange to have dinner with friends on Saturday night and not have to get up at 5:30am on Sunday to get to the show. Maybe then I won't be so worn out that it takes another full day to recuperate!

I've also decided that I'm going to work really hard this coming winter, designing and creating new things to sell. I have lots and lots of fabric, thread, and a new sewing machine to play with. I've been giving serious thought to going back to my doll making. I keep wanting to create something fantastical and beautiful, so I think that I'm going to try and do just that. Then I'll be all ready for next year's craft show season.

Computer Crashes

Well, this sucks. For the second time in the past six months, my computer has crashed and I have had to recover my original programming. Of course, that means that everything that I had saved on my computer got wiped out and I've had to start over locating things - like my blog - from scratch TWICE. It's not that I mind having to spend the time recreating my Favorites or re-loading all of my program files so much as it is the fact that as I get older, it's harder to remember what I lost.

Oh, I remember the big things, like my Christmas card list, and the websites that I visit every day. I talking about the crafts projects that I had been marking that marking that I wanted to try one day, and the patterns that I've been accumulating along the way. Now I have to start over again to find the ones that I want to use. I suppose it will be a good brain exercise for me to remember all of the things that I want.

Ah, well, it could be worse. It could be my brain that lost the memory instead of my computer. As long as I can still remember what it is that I want to look for, I guess that I'll be okay. I'm sure that I'll find the patterns that I want again eventually. And just think about all of the new things I'll find while surfing the web for the ones I've lost. So here's to a fresh start and the thrill of the hunt!

A New Craft Selling Site

Okay, today I was pointed to a new site for selling hand-crafted items. I went over to it to check things out and ended up signing up for it and listing three of my necklaces for sale. There are no insertion fees to list items (at least, not at this time) and only a 3% of the selling price fee once you sell something. The site is Crobbies.com (stands for Crafts and Hobbies). Unlike Etsy, there are not a whole lot of items listed currently, so the stuff I posted today is still up on the feature page. When I posted on Etsy, by the time I finished listing eight pieces, they had all been moved off of the first page and were buried among a group of approximately 1200 jewelry pieces that had been listed during the same time that I was listing. It took me 30 minutes to finally find my stuff in the general sales area! Of course, they were all readily available on my home page, but no one knew that address yet, so hardly anyone saw my things during the three months that they were there.

Oh, you say that items on Etsy are supposed to be on for four months? Correct, but my credit card info needed to be updated and since I was moving, but the time I got back to Etsy to give them the updated info, they had removed my items from the website and even after I gave them the correct info, they wouldn't put them back up. They wanted me to re-list them and pay the insertion fees again! So, no more Etsy for me. I have been selling some of my collectibles on eBay with success, but I just cannot bring myself to list my handcrafted jewelry pieces for auction for $.99 or $1.99. If they were to sell for an opening bid, I would be losing a lot of money as those bids would not even cover the cost of my materials. So, I will continue to take my things to the local craft shows, and now I have Crobbies.com, too.

If you read about this site, I hope you'll click on the link and check out all of the beautiful handcrafted items there. Thanks for reading!

Craft Show Season Has Arrived!

Wow, it's finally time for my craft shows to start. Actually, I did a show the first weekend in September, so that counts as my first show of the year. It was at the Aroma Park Two Rivers Festival, an outdoor event that's held in Riggs Grove right at the junction of the the Kankakee and Iroquois rivers. The show time was set for 10am to 6pm, with set up beginning at 8am. It was a long, long day.

I got there about 8:30 and was able to drive up to my spot to unload everything. Since it's an outdoor show, I had to bring my own table and chair as well as all of my crafts. Once the car was unloaded, I parked the car over in the designated area and went back to set up my display. I had brought my sweater coat with me that morning 'cause it was a little chilly that early. I was sure that I would soon shed it, and I did while I was setting up. I got everything set up in about 45 minutes and went to get my free coffee and donut, but there wasn't anyone manning the concession stand. This guy who was starting up the grills behind the stand got my breakfast for me and I asked him where everyone was. After all, they had made an announcement to the vendors that the coffee and donuts were there for us. He told me that everyone had headed downtown for the parade.

The parade. It started at 11am in downtown Aroma Park, about 1/2 mile from the festival site. And even though all of the vendors had to be set up for the 10am start, it looked like there were not going to be any customers until after the parade - about noon. So, we all just wandered around checking out everyone else's stuff. There were a couple of other people who were selling jewelry, several home decor vendors, a lady selling the cutest jeans bags and kids clothes as well as a few folks who had typical farmers market and flea market stuff. All in all, a pretty good mix of crafts and junk.

We could tell when the parade was over, because it ended right outside the festival site. The band led the way and the customers followed. We have a pretty steady stream of folks for the rest of the afternoon. The organizers had set up a kid's games area just beyond the vendor area and we had good traffic all day long. I had a lot of folks stopping to admire my work. I actually sold one of my expensive Swarovski component bracelets, as well as a few other things. I ended the day selling about $50 over my table cost, and that's what I like. (Any show that I make table fee times two or three is a really good show.) Oh, and that sweater coat that I brought - I put it back on about 2:30. You see, we were in a totally shady area under these towering aspen trees and there was a pretty stiff breeze off the rivers, so it was pretty cool out there. Glad I brought the sweater coat.

At about 5:15, I started putting my jewelry back in its little bags, but left the bags on the table. We were supposed to stay until 6, but I didn't want to wait until then to start packing up. I was afraid it would get too dark if I waited. Once I had all of the jewelry back in its bags, I was able to grab it pretty quickly and put it into it's little pink bag. Most of the other vendors started shutting down at about 5:40, so I started folding and packing my stuff, too. Once I had everything packed up, I went and got my car and pulled it up next to my space. I packed up the car and was out of there by 6:15. I was home before 7 and was really happy to take off my shoes and sit down. The next day, though, I could barely walk (all that standing and walking around on muddy, uneven ground on Saturday), so I spent the day just lazing around the house.

Anyway, that was the start of my craft show season. And now I'm working on my inventory for the next show, which is on October 19/20. This one is an indoor show and I'm looking forward to it. I've been making these little dolls, which were originally created by a lady as a swap with her friends. My dolls are a take-off of that idea, but instead of just having a ribbon hanger on them, I plan on adding a lobster claw clasp so that they can be snapped onto a purse pull or a cell phone. I'm hoping the tweens and teens will like them. Each doll is made from one 5" charm square, and since I'm adding the clasp, I'm thinking of calling them "Charm Dolls". My goal is to have two dozen of these ready for the show. I'm also working on some 9" and 10" ankle bracelets. I had a couple of folks ask me for them at the last show and one lady is planning on coming to the next show to see if I actually got them made. I want to have about a dozen of those ready, and I hope that lady shows up and buys a couple of them. I will also have my Halloween Trick-or-Treat bags at that show, and I hope they sell. People at the last show thought they were cute, but I think it was too far out from Halloween for them to buy them.

After the October show, I have shows on November 8 and November 15, followed by my traditional season ending two-day event at St. Gertrude's Church in Chicago. I have been doing that show for almost 20 years, and I already have orders for a couple of extra long table runners. I'm hoping to have a bunch of the Charm Dolls as well as more of my jewelry, holiday table runners, tree skirts, stockings and ornaments. By the time St. Gert's gets here, I will probably be ready for a nice break from crafting, but you know, I have seen some really, really cute things over the past few months and I think that I can actually make money with some of them. So, I might not be taking such a long crafting break after all.

Happybird's Crafting Haven

I love the internet. You can find some of the best information about all kinds of things. Since I'm a crafter, I am always on the lookout for good craft sites - and I found a really good one. The lady's moniker is Happybird and her website is Happybird's Crafting Haven. I've posted the link to her site here. Happybird loves to share her joy of crafting with everyone and acts as a clearing house of information. Her blog is what I hope mine evolves into one day. In the meantime, I'll just keep popping into hers every once in a while to see what's new. Do yourself a favor and check her site out, but I've got to warn you. Once you start checking out her site, it is really hard to stop.

Happy Crafting!

Family Reunion

A couple of weeks ago, the Mathy Family got together for one of its reunions (we have them about every five years). We gathered in Clifton, Illinois on June 28-29 for two days of food, photos, and remembrances. There were two books handed out at this reunion. The first was the family directory, which lists all of the descendants of Edward and Mary (Riordan) Mathy - my grandparents - and current addresses, emails and phone numbers. The directory shows that there are 405 family members (including stepfamily members). Subtracting the deceased members (25), we have a total of 380 living family members. There were approximately 350 family members at this reunion. The second book handed out is titled "Recipes & Remembrances - The Mathy Family Cookbook". It is a compilation of 349 recipes passed on from five generations of family. I can't wait to try some of them. Of course, there are a few from our branch of the family that I'm already familiar with, but there are still a lot of others that I want to experiment with.

The weekend started with a hotdog/hamburger cookout on Saturday afternoon. We ended up with about 180 folks there. This meal was originally put together to deal with all of the out-of-town family who came in on Saturday for the main reunion on Sunday. When you bring that many folks into our little towns, it puts a real strain on the local restaurants, so we started having a Saturday night meal for all of those family members. That way, they didn't have to worry about getting everybody dressed up to go to a restaurant. It also helped cut down on the cost!

On Sunday, there was a mass at Sts. Mary & Joseph Catholic Church in Chebanse, the town just north of Clifton. That church is bigger than the one in Clifton, and since a lot of the family are members there anyway, we use that church for mass. Each family wears a different colored teeshirt, so mass was a brightly colored affair that Sunday morning. It was easy to tell who the Mathys were - they were all in teeshirts! We started using the colored teeshirts at our first big reunion in 1989. It has become the way to tell which family the kids belong to. There have been some color changes over the years, but not many, so you know that if you see someone in a green teeshirt, they're from Duane and Jennie's family, and if they're in blue, Russ and Rosie's. We used to take a big panoramic photo of the family, but we've gotten so big that this time we just took pictures of the individual families. Even those took a while to get set up (one family is over 75 and another over 60). Getting all those folks to sit still for five minutes can be a real pain. I'm going to post a photo of my family (Duane and Jennie's) here. Hope it works.

In case you're wondering how you feed a group of over 300, here's how we did it. Each family brings a meat dish (lots of fried chicken, some meatloaf, ham and roast pork loin), vegetables, salads and desserts - enough to feed their own family. Of course, everyone thinks they need to make just a little more than usual, so we end up with enough food to feed three times as many as show up. This year was no exception. We had enough food left over to feed at least another 300 people. There were at least six huge containers of fried chicken, on top of the other meats. We had potatoes of every sort (mashed, cheesed, fried, hashed) as well as green bean casseroles, broccoli rice, mostaccoli, spinach, corn souffles and Italian style vegetables. Not to mention potato salad, cole slaw, fruit salads and jello salads galore. Then there were the desserts - three 8foot tables full! If anybody went away from that day hungry, it was their own fault.

We shared old photos and old stories. The older generation (there are only six of them left now) told us about the day their brother Donald's body was returned from Denmark after WWII. He had been killed in action in Germany in 1945, just before the end of the war and was buried in Denmark until 1947, when his body was returned with a full honor guard. Uncle Donald had been awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star (for meritorious conduct) posthumously. A lot of the third generation family members had never heard the story, so Aunt Dorothy, Uncle Ed, Aunt Marilyn and Aunt MaryAnn related the events of the day Uncle Donald came home. There were many tears as we heard of his heroism in the face of enemy fire and about the honor guard of officers who brought him to his final rest.

The day continued with card games and visiting. The youngsters went swimming at the pool next door and the older folks sat in groups talking and catching up with others. Late in the afternoon, ice cream was served. It was store-bought, since there were so many of us, but it did bring out the stories of how we used to have Sunday dinner at the farm with Grandma and Granpa, and how, after dinner, Grandma would mix up a batch of her homemade vanilla ice cream and us kids would be put to work cranking the old-fashioned ice cream maker. No electricity was used back then. Just good old-fashioned kid power! And if the season was right, we'd have fresh strawberries from Grandma's patch to go with it. Ah, that was great ice cream.

It started clouding up around 5:30 on Sunday, so folks started packing up. Food was wrapped up and sent home with everyone. Chairs and tables were folded up and the hall was swept up. The ladies cleaned up the kitchen and the men cleared off the pavilion, and one by one, the families started leaving amid many hugs and kisses. And suddenly, after months and months of planning and organizing, the reunion was over. We won't be getting together again, except for weddings and funerals, for six years. At that time, it will be Ed and Mary's 100th anniversary. By that time, we may have lost a few more of the older generation, but I'll bet we'll have gained a lot more of the younger ones. Who knows, by 2014 we may be over 500.