GOOD GRIEF - I'VE BEEN TAGGED!!!

Well, I was tagged with the infamous 7x7 meme by Nutmeg, from the blog, Life in a Nutshell - http://lastthingonmymind.blogspot.com/ ....only it was too difficult to do. Sorry, Nutmeg. I must be a terribly boring, non-introspective, non-active person, because I can't come up with 7 answers to any of the questions! What a dullard! (Okay, I came back to say that I DID actually manage to get 7 answers for some of them.) Here are the questions:

Seven things to do before I die:
Is it weird that I can't come up with answers to this? It's not that I am 'through' with my life, but I don't have the burning desire to really DO anything in particular before I die. I WOULD like to loose weight, but 'before I die' has little to do with it. I mean if I knew I was going to die, why would I care to drop the pounds? *wink* Okay, I know that is not the way it is meant, but really that is about the only thing I can come up with. Taking a restful but interesting vacation with the whole extended family would be nice. So that can be my second item. Traveling somewhere? Maybe. Ah - I know! My clutter problem. Yes, I would like to get this house decluttered before I die. Preferably LONG before I die.

Seven things I cannot do:
Well, drive a vehicle with manual transmission is one. The rest... well, it is a fine line between 'cannot' and 'won't', unless I want to get absurd and list 2. herd cattle 3. ride bulls (for more than 1 second, anyway) 4. fix mechanical problems in cars 5. swing from the flying trapeze etc. The question seems to imply that one has TRIED to do something and despite the desire, has been unable to do it. Hmm.... I'm sure there are things, but I can't think of them right now.

Seven things that attract me to my other half:
Okay - He is well employed, generous, loves dogs, kind to animals, cooks!, has red hair, and is good with the grandchildren.

Seven things I say:
I refuse to list the baby talk that I often use with the dogs. That leaves out 3 items right off the top. Other than that... does 'LOL' count????

Seven books I love:
1. Father Elijah - Michael D. O'Brien
2. A Cry of Stone - Michael D. O'Brien
3. Strangers and Sojourners - Michael D.0'Brien
4. Plague Journal - ditto
5. Eclipse of the Sun - ditto
6. Sophia House - ditto
7. The Bible

Seven movies I love: Seven??? I am not that much of a movie aficionado. There are few movies I care enough about to see, and the ones I do see are mostly movies I take the grandchildren to. How about...
1. The Passion of the Christ
2. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
3. Napolean Dynomite
4. Mi Familia/My Family
5. The Village (M. Night Shyamalan)
6. Secret Window
7. It's a Wonderful Life

Seven people to meme:
I can't in good conscience tag anyone since I made a mess out of this, but if anyone reading this is so inclined, consider yourself tagged.

CROCHETED SOCKS FINISHED

Nothing but my new crocheted socks stand between Grug and Krunk and a bad-tempered Godzilla. I needed photos for each step of the socks for the yahoo crochet group I'm involved in, but you know me. I can't keep from adding 'interest' to photos.

Mass and classes went smoothly this morning. I gave the presentation about the parish family quilt project. Hopefully that will go smoothly and fairly quickly too. We'd like to have the quilt completely finished by the first of October. The first step is for people to make their individual block and turn it in. I didn't do it this week, but next week I need to make the presentation again to the Saturday evening Mass group.

I took a nap this afternoon and woke up barely remembering a weird dream I had. I've been having dreams lately, but they just start evaporating almost before I am awake. This one had parts of tv show references in it. In part of the dream, my sister and I were driving on our way to join family members in renting a cottage at a vintage vacation spot. On the way, we were passed on the highway by Mrs. Weaver and one of her daughters (from The Amazing Race). Then when we were all at the vacation spot, I saw a model on a runway,(as in Project Runway), that featured a design made from two dishcloths for a vest-like bodice and a vintage tablecloth in shades of orange as the full skirt. Do you think maybe I watch too much reality TV? ...Nah. Oh, and MAJOR highway construction figured in our trip too, just like in real life in our town, currently.

That's it for tonight. I have to get my 'creepy clown' photo sent to the blog, Swapatorium. I had Zach help me today with retakes. The contest deadline is tomorrow.

MY SISTER'S VISIT

Jan went home yesterday.I sure wish she could have stayed longer. We were lucky to have a couple of days together, but there were so many things we wanted to do that we just didn't have time for. We visited an elderly relative and soaked up some family history and old stories, and drove around the area, and our little town looking at old homes and sites where homes used to be. We ate out a couple of times, did some shopping and thrifting, watched the Olympics and our other favorite shows (American Idol, Project Runway, Survivor, etc.) and talked, laughed and talked some more. Strangely enough, over the 2-3 shopping outings, I only came back with the junk you see above, plus a quilting magazine. And the things in the photo were bought at one store on the first trip. I think getting it home and realizing what crap it actually is, scared me into being more discerning on subsequent trips.

1. The distressed vintage print of San Ysidro. I thought I'd use it in an assemblage of some kind. Especially good since it is already aged and distressed. Only, I'd have to find a 'box' of some kind for the assemblage and gather or find other elements to go into it, and I'm really not in the mood.

2. The wooden recipe box. Very sturdy and well made. I find it hard to resist these types of things. I got it to decopage, and I might actually get it done, although not real soon.

3. The bust of Don Pedrito. Ummm... It's old and 'funky' in a strange kind of way. Things like this intrigue me, although I also have an aversion to them. On the one hand they are part of our South Texas Mexican heritage and folklore, but on the other hand they (to me) exude superstition and misdirected religiousity. I thought to use it in another assemblage and sell it on eBay, but.... having second thoughts.

4. A tiny plastic picture frame that will be perfect for The Wandettes' house.

5. The Asian vase. Have you ever seen a blonde geisha? Me neither. It is old, but cheap. See those faded silk flowers stuck in the vase part? They cover a good sized chip and crack. I didn't check before I bought it, so I guess I'll have to keep some fluffy flowers covering that part. I hesitate to say I collect vintage Asian figurines, but I do have a few. This is barely worthy of being in the grouping with the others, but too late now.

6. The two vintage (50's) children's books. I remember my grandmother having one of these when I was little, and the other one is so cute too. I think both will go on eBay if I ever get motivated to put them up for auction.

So, you can see why I was especially cautious on later shopping excursions about buying anything after I'd bought these things and then wondered what in the world I was thinking. Actually, if I had it to do over, I'd only buy the wooden box and the tiny frame.

Jan faired better. She got several items for gifts at The Artisan's Mall (no, not that bizarre lamp from a previous entry), and some kitchen items at one thrift store and a cute bandana for her granddog, Phred, at another.

SWISS, MUSHROOMS, ONIONS, SOURDOUGH GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH

I finally got around to trying Big Girlfeet's recipe. We had them for dinner tonight, and loved them. Mine didn't look as good as the one pictured on her blog, but they really were delicious!
My sister, Jan, is here for a few days. We stayed up late talking. It's nearly 3 am, so I am cutting this short and going to bed.

EBAY AND GOODWILL

I got two of my eBay auction items today - the My Friend Becky doll(1980) and the book, "5500 Quilt Block Designs". The other books in the photo are ones that I got at the Goodwill Store today - one about Johnny Appleseed and one historical volume about Sam Houston, both for Zach, one about Sojourner Truth, for Shabree. The others were for me - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Maggie Now, both by Betty Smith. I read them years ago, and loved them. I don't know when or if I will get around to rereading these books, but I hope it doesn't turn out like so many books that I thought were wonderful, until I reread them years later and wondered what in the world I was thinking.

Sasha Cohen is ahead in women's figure skating after the short program. I hope she ends up with the gold medal.

SOCK OR BONNET?

It's so cold here. But at least we are getting a little rain too. I hope that keeps up, but the 'bitter' (yeah, I know...) cold I can do without. After Mass, the religious education students had a really good breakfast - sausages in crescent rolls, apple and orange slices and orange juice, this morning.
Then when I got home, Chuck was cooking pork chops, minute steaks and eggs. Zachary was here too, so we all had a good breakfast.
This afternoon I went to the Rosary for the last of my aunts and uncles on the McFall side of the family. Aunt Elizabeth died of cancer. It was really sad, but it was good for all of us to get together again.
The photos are of the progress I've made on one sock for the crochetalong on the yahoo group. I kept making the cuff smaller and smaller, but it's still loose. The foot part isn't finished yet, but it looks like it's going to be loose and bulky too. It makes a better bonnet for Coconut than it does a sock. Oh, well... Tomorrow I need to get some more yarn. Actually, the same pattern (unfinished, as it is) could be used as a dog sweater. If I shortened the 'turtleneck' and made the rest of it bigger around, it would fit Coconut.

MARLENE EXPLAINS CROCHET

I have started crocheting my 'not striped' socks. I finally decided to join the crochetalong on the sock group at Yahoo. The photo is of my very tiny start - the test square to test gauge. Those in the crochetalong are supposed to post photos for each step, but I couldn't see just posting a photo of a 1 inch crocheted square, so I 'dolled' mine up a little, with one of the Wandettes - Marlene - explaining crochet to two of the children of Wandetteville. For those into that sort of thing, notice the homemade vintage jumpsuit Marlene is wearing. Currently I am haunting eBay for more homemade vintage doll clothes.
Not a lot going on that is noteworthy for blogging lately... I went to a specially called parish council meeting last night. Tonight Zachary and Mathieu came over to stay for dinner while Reagan and Amy went to Swinney Switch to get a gooood hamburger. We played rummy, as we did last night when Zach was here.

FINISHED MY QUILT BLOCK

I was so glad to finish my quilt block today. Last night I cut out and sewed the block, and today I embroidered our name on it. It's for our parish family quilt project at church. It was Lydia's idea, but Sunday I'm supposed to introduce the project and talk about it. I needed some examples, so that's why I'm glad to have mine finished. That, and I am just glad to have at least one pending task completed. The idea is for everyone to make a quilt block representing their family. Then we'll sew them together, quilt it, and raffle it.

I've been obsessed with hand knit striped socks lately. It started when I saw Dances in Garden's blog photo of her daughter's feet modeling some great looking striped socks that Dances had made for her. I don't knit, but I do crochet, so looked up a simple pattern online, for plain crocheted striped socks, that are thin enough to be worn with shoes. All I needed was some decent (non-pastel) colors of baby yarn. But Walmart didn't have any except pastels, and I didnt feel like driving to Hobby Lobby at Five Points today just for yarn. So I got a skein - tiny! - of cotton yarn in varigated blue, to try that. They didn't have any decent colors in that kind of yarn either. I don't know... it's not like I haven't got lots of pending art work that needs to be completed and mailed out in the next few weeks. I should just skip the blue verigated yarn and wait until I try Hobby Lobby. Because I know I am not going to want to make more than one pair of socks, and I really, REALLY want some nice striped ones.

Then the William Wegman book, Little Red Riding Hood, that I won off of eBay arrived today. I love those Wegman books. I can't wait to read it to Mathieu.

Tonight was Survivor and the Olympic Men's Figure Skating finals. I really like Pleshenko, so was glad that he won. But I wish Johnny Weir would have made it to the podium too.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

This is the 'card' I made for Zachary and Mathieu. The words on the candy bars fit in the sentences. I intended it to be prettier, but - oh, well. They liked it. Zach thought it was very clever, and Mathieu, who is a candyaholic was thrilled with the plethora of candies. No, Mathieu is not crying. He was squealing 'YeeeeHaw!'
Not much got done today. I went to town to get a few things done, and that was about it. Walmart is finally getting in some more trees, and I got three arborvitaes. I'll probably get some more in a day or two. I did remember to wear my new Valentine socks. And I got Chuck to take some photos of Carl, Coconut and I for Bernie Berlin's 'Valentine Pet Portrait Tuesday' at Tales from The Zoo, but they didn't turn out that great.
I inattentively let two eBay auctions get by me today, (a 20" vintage, vinyl, molded hair doll and a large lot of really cute vintage doll clothes) and was just sick about it when I remembered, hours later. I really wanted both, and they went for way less than I would have bid.

RAG DOLL TWINS

Saturday, Annie had asked me to help serve food at an after-funeral dinner today and I gave her a strong 'maybe'. The truth is, I hate working with food. I'd rather do almost anything else. So when Lydia called and asked me to come help her in the parish office, I was glad to go. After we finished, we went for lunch at The Chisholm Trail. Back home, I started working on the Valentine for Zachary and Mathieu. It took a lot longer than I thought it would, and also looks a lot less snazzy than I thought it would. Photo tomorrow, hopefully.
Tonight's photo is of a pair of vintage cloth dolls I bought several years ago. I got them out a couple of weeks ago, dusted them off and sat them on the telephone cabinet. I wish I could find some old fabric of the exact same kind the boy doll's overalls are made of, so I could make a matching dress for the girl doll.

VINTAGE VINYL DOLLS

The two home sewn vintage doll dresses that I won in an eBay auction arrived a couple of days ago. I carefully hand washed them, then starched and ironed them before trying them on my Margie... uh...Debbie... uh, I mean MARGIE doll. That's her in the middle wearing my favorite of the two. After ironing them tonight, I got out the suitcase that held the rest of my vintage vinyl dolls and posed them together. Besides Margie, I think my other favorite is the Black little girl in the blue dress. One thing I realized after getting them out after so many years, is that I really need some better fitting clothes. Back to eBay, I guess. Although The Artisan's Mall did have one old doll skirt and top set the other day. But, on second thought, it would be Margie's size and she is the one that doesn't need more clothes so badly. The others only have the tacky or ill-fitting (in some cases) clothes on their backs.

HORRENDOUS LAMP

I think this is the most bizarre lamp I have ever seen. I was in Beeville this afternoon, and since I had some time before I had to pick Andrew up from the collage, I stopped in at a vintage type store to look for clowns for Swapatorium's Creepy Clown Contest. I did find one clown doll - and as (bad) luck would have it, only noticed that it had a broken foot after Andrew pointed it out to me on the way to Corpus. But what was MUCH creepier than that clown doll was this doll-head lamp. I wish I would have looked at the price tag, but didn't think of it at the time. I can't imagine that anyone would buy it, except as an unsettling gag gift. *shudder*

When Andrew and I got to Corpus Christi, we stopped at EyeMart first to get him another pair of glasses. As (bad, again) luck would have it, when they checked his records the 1 year replacement guarentee had ended yesterday. But (good luck, this time) they went ahead and honored it anyway and he got them replaced free of charge.

While they were getting his new glasses done, we went to Half-Price Books and then to eat at Macaroni Grill. Any restaurant that encourages patrons to draw and color on their tablecloths is tops with me. They only gave us blue, purple and red. I needed orange and green too. Oh, well. After that we went to Codi's and I hit the motherlode of potentially creepy clowns. And I didn't even have time to look through the whole store. It was hard deciding, but I bought two and then we drove back to EyeMart. I waited in the pick-up and continued reading about Indian captives, something that I had started earlier in the day while waiting for Andrew in the college parking lot.

SURVIVOR IS TONIGHT!...AND BLOG CHALLANGES

Look what I found when I started digging through my rubbermaid tubs of fabric - the very same Little Red Riding Hood fabric that I had planned to bid on, on eBay. I love it. So I posed my Madame Alexander-McDonald's Happy Meal toy, two of my little gnomes and a 'Grandmother's cabin' with it. Hmmm...I should have tried to find a wicked wolf, but I didn't think of it at the time.

Today I finally went to the grocery store. Coconut had to have her chicken gizzards, at least. And I needed more Diet Cokes...and I got the strong smelling Gain detergent that's been advertized on TV lately...and the new lipstick that is supposed to poof your lips out like Angelina's (we'll see), and the facial stuff recommended by my Cozy Den internet friends....and some other less interesting items - like food. Goodwill still had nothing of interest to me today. I thought about stopping by the Artisan's Mall, but decided to save that for another day.

I let several internet/blog contests get by me - the Dollar Store Gourmet Meal Challange (at The Felt Mouse), and the Best of the Worst Thrift Store Painting Contest, but now there is one for the Creepiest Clown. It's at Swapatorium, the same blog that held the Worst Painting contest. The rules are that you have to either already have it, or find it at a thrift type store. Also it can't have been intentionally made to look scarey. It has to have been made to be a cute or funny clown and only unintentionally appear scarey. It can be a clown doll, a piece of art, a figurine - anything. Frankly, it will be difficult to beat the one posted on Swapatorium to illustrate the contest. CREEPY!

VALENTINES

I got valentines made for Shabree, Ashlyn and Alyson today and put them in their packages and got them mailed. They got various things = socks, coloring books, Valentine pencils, frou-frou pens, stickers, etc.

It was cold this morning...in the 60's, and I had to turn on the heat. I haven't been blogging lately, because I like to do it at night after the day's activities have passed, but for the last few days, I have just been too sleepy to do it. But then after a few days pass, I have forgotten what I was going to say anyway. I'm about to crash tonight too, but am managing to write a little bit.

Yesterday Andrew came over and brought Buddha. Coconut was really happy to see him, and Carl was okay with it too. He even initiated a little play with him outside, once or twice. Coconut played with him in the house, but outside, when Andrew and I went out there so the dogs could run around awhile, Coconut stayed in my lap mostly, because Buddha was just much too excited and rough, knocking her down every chance he got.

I've just not wanted to get out lately at all. Inertia, I guess. But I did go to Beeville yesterday afternoon...nothing interesting... Walmart (Valentine candy, a desk lamp, and some odds and ends) and Goodwill (nothing at all). I should have stopped at the supermarket too, but didn't want to tackle it at arsenic hour.

Gosh, I live a dull life lately.

WHICH IS WHICH?

Okay, I think you can tell which is Lenny Kravitz and which is Garrett, but this is the closest photo I have in which he is in roughly the same pose as the photo of L.K.
It is Super Bowl Sunday, but I'm not much of a sports fan. Chuck is in the living room watching.
Zach and Mathieu both spent the night last night. We went to Mass this morning, but then Mathieu opted not to stay for class. He was missing his parents, so Chuck took him home right after Mass.
Back home, after classes, Chuck cooked Zachary and I a 'cowboy breakfast'. Zach hurt his shoulder yesterday when he took a tumble horseback riding. He and Trigger were going down the pond 'hill' when Trigger spooked at something and she and Zach parted ways. Chuck said that he, Zach, Amy, Reagan and Mathieu all spent half an hour looking for his glasses afterwards. Thankfully, they finally found them, and they weren't broken.

DISAPPOINTMENT

Zachary did not do well with his goats today at the county show. He was bitterly disappointed, since he worked so hard and put so much into researching every aspect of goat care, and getting expert advice every chance he got.. The thing is, that most of the kids do that same thing, and so competition is very stiff. So he ended up getting one third place in breeding goats, I think it was, and then honorable mention in showmanship. He didn't place at all in the other catagories, and not at all with his best goat, either. That goat's back hooves weren't uniform, or something like that, the judge said. So... it's a disappointing finish for this year.
Meanwhile, Mathieu stayed here with me this afternoon. Thatis him sitting under the table singing 'The Strawberry Roan'.

SURVIVOR TONIGHT!

Tonight is the first of this season's Survivor episodes. I can't wait! I think the division of the group into four teams by age and sex is going to be a very interesting twist....as long as the younger men don't clobber the younger women, older men and older women tribes right off the bat. Hopefully the challanges won't be slanted quite so heavily as usual towards physical strength this time.

Yesterday was a busy day. I had a lot of paperwork that I got done, and then there was the parish council meeting last night. It ran longer than usual due to all the upcoming projects and activities.

Big family news: Mathieu (3) can ride his big boy bike now, all by himself. Sure it has training wheels, but he is riding all around the teardrop driveway on his own.

The county homemaking and livestock show is underway. Zachary didn't place in the county with his leather photo album, sewn goat blanket or cake, but he did get a 1st place, 4th place, and 6th place ribbon. He has his hopes set on winning or placing very well in the goat division tomorrow. His goats look GOOD, and he has been working very hard with them all along. I really hope he does well with them. He did real well showing a pig today at the show. Sarah, a cute little distant cousin on my side of the family, had two pigs showing in the same division, so asked Zach to show one for her.

Today I went to Beeville, picked up Andrew for lunch, and ran a few errands. He has a lot going on his his life, so it was really interesting to talk with him. Among other things his band, 'Up From Ashes'...or 'Risen From Ashes'...? got a recording contract. He says it is no big deal - strictly small time, but still, it is a good thing. The photo above is of him and his dog, Buddha that I took when I dropped him off afterwards. Yes, those are the shadows of Christmas lights still up on Feb. 2.

QUILT BLOCKS

Annie called this morning to talk about quilt blocks and remind me about the parish council meeting tomorrow night. I'll have to make the presentation to the congregation, probably this coming Sunday, explaining about the parish family quilt project. Lydia had come up with this fundraising idea before Christmas, and she and Annie told me about it then. The idea is for each family who wants to, to make a 12" quilt block, representing their family. Then these blocks will be assembled into a quilt top, then made into a quilt, which will be raffled off. It will be quite a bit of work, but should be a real treasure when completed. But for now, I need to find some different examples of quilt blocks from my boxes of quilt blocks and fabrics, to show as examples at tomorrow night's meeting. Hopefully, I won't have to make any to show, because I have a lot to do between now and tomorrow night, as it is. I also need to look through some of my quilt books and magazines and decide what block I want to make for my contribution. Not that I would (or could) make anything complicated, anyway, but I do want to look at options and get some ideas. Yesterday at JoAnn's I bought some shamrock fabric with this goal in mind, but then, looking through the boxes this morning, I found some other fabric that would be good too, which naturally doesn't go with the shamrock fabric, so I don't know... (Sidenote: why are 4 leaf clovers becoming so prominent as Irish 'icons', and shamrocks becoming so much harder to find?! A four leaf clover is NOT a good substitute for a shamrock.) Then again, I did buy some sock monkey fabric yesterday as well. ;) I was considering some embroidery on a block too, possibly. Annie is probably going to embroider hers, she said. Mine will be pieced, but may have some embroidery on it somewhere, besides the name.

In the meantime, I need to get working on the letters to the Religious Ed. families, which should have been done yesterday. And I also have 13 deco booklets, 6 artist trading cards, an art postcard and a reproduction/INTERPRETATION of a vintage pincushhion doll that need to be made for swaps, exchanges and challanges as soon as possible.

And Reagan just called and asked me to keep Mathieu from about 3-6, so I'd better get busy. He wants me to keep him most of Saturday too.