One of My Beautiful Grandaughters

Meet the girl that made me a grandmother. She will soon turn 18 and I cannot tell you where the years have gone. She was born on December 21st, so she became our wonderful Christmas gift that year and she has been a treasure ever since.

Not only is she beautiful, tall and blond, she has the most wonderful sense of humor and loves to make all of us smile with her wit. She always has a hug ready for all of her family.

We are so proud of her. She is set for a full-ride, 4 year scholarship and plans to go to NAU to work towards her goal of becoming a teacher. This girl will be the best teacher that any child could want.

I love you Sonic Granddaughter and know that you can achieve anything you want.

Planning Thanksgiving Day 4

Note to self-no cowboy recipes this year!

Day 3-Preparing for Thanksgiving

Who needs Martha!

Preparing for Thanksgiving part 2

And you thought I had an attitude!

Maxine is my hero!!!

Does any one ever really buy anything from Billy Mays-the extremely loud huckster on those obnoxious TV commercials?

Do you know how much I hate to pack? Hate to move? Hate to unpack? In fact, I think there is a suitcase in my closet that still has clothes from my last trip to Vernon. Oh well, I guess that is less I have to pack, huh!

I think I need to get in a good mood soon or my family is going to shoot me. Part of my frustration is my inability to complete any of my many quilt projects. I think I have only sewn 2 or 3 days since August and that was to start something new-each time. My sewing room is overflowing with unfinished projects and they keep calling my name. If I take an extra Aleve before I go to bed, then I don't hear the voices of my undone work.

All this leads me to one of the big, really big reasons I hate about moving. It's that the unfinished projects get packed up and buried (as opposed to being part of the elephant that lives in the corners and closets of my sewing room.)

And then because I do this all the time, I see another quilt, bag, Christmas gift or whatever that I want to make, so getting back to the packed-up ufos gets harder and harder each passing day.

Have you seen through this diatrabe yet? You're right. I already have a new project that my hands are really itching to start and I can't do it now because of the water is over the levee in current projects. Do you want to see what I want to make now? I saw this bag on another blog several months ago and absolutely fell in love with it. Here it is.


Isn't this absolutely wonderful. I have started collecting fabrics for it and it will be on top of the box and the first thing I open after the move. I promise.

I also promise to finish at least 3 unfinished projects by Christmas. I wonder if a 60+ can live on 3 - 4 hours of sleep? Maybe I should unplug my computer-oh yeah, it can work without the plug.

My head hurts. I'm going to bed and plug my ears.

A friend sent this email to me last month. It is one of those emails that circle the world several times but I thought it was really interesting so I'm passing it on. Whether it is 100% accurate-only history can tell but it makes sense to me.

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s: Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water..

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying . It's raining cats and dogs.

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, Dirt poor. The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance way. Hence the saying a thresh hold. (Getting quite an education, aren't you?)
In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas> porridge in the pot nine days old.

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, bring home the bacon. They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat.

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.



Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, saved by the bell or was considered a ...dead ringer..

And that's the truth...Now, whoever said History was> boring ! ! !> > Educate someone. Share these facts.