OK ...

I had a couple requests to again put the instructions on how to make the hooked or prodded lapel pins back up here. So I have decided to add it in "Pages", just over to your right. Please let me know if this is working for you who requested it.

Thanks for your interest! And have fun ...

Ta da (again) ...

Finished another row tonight ... since I mowed this afternoon and cleaned this a.m. this is a miracle!

But I was very close to begin with.....

Yeah!

The weekend ...

It was an enjoyable and eventful weekend. We left Friday a.m. for Bluffton for the family Reunion. Stayed in one of the cottages at River Terrace the night before the reunion because we didn't want to get up when the rooster crows at home. (It's a 4-hour drive.) Told Wendell that if the place had a 2-car garage I could live in something that size. But not in Bluffton ... LOL! I cannot put into words the way I feel about that drive between my home and Bluffton ... (actually I just tried but deleted it).

I had a super good time seeing all of the cousins! Some I hadn't seen for a few years. River Terrace has a nice building we were allowed to use and it was very convenient for Mom. The food was excellent and we enjoyed taking pictures of each other, eating, exchanging email addresses and sitting around just catching up! We decided we need to do this more often (like every other year instead of every 5-10 years!). My cousin Phyl and brother Don worked to put it together but Carl started the ball rolling. Group think! Our person-who-traveled-the-greatest-distance award went to nephew John who lives in CA and was in town for his 10-year class reunion. Brother Gale and Mad were only able to drop by to say 'hi' because they were in Bluffton for Mad's 50th class reunion! (Hope they had a great day.) It was just an all-around good day.

The highlight for me was picking up some new recipes ... no, not from the wonderful food brought to this event but special sandwich combinations involving peanut butter. Sister Teresa mentioned peanut butter with bananas (ala' Elvis). Not to be topped, Buck said he was partial to peanut butter (smooth) with EGG SALAD! Then the piece de' resistance was Carl's peanut butter and tomato sandwich -- and when he's feeling daring he TOPS it (only on the top) with potato chips! WOW! I am maybe willing to try one of these ... Hey, it sure was fun! Then we made that drive back home ... :-(

Sunday started early because I had to take ham to the breakfast at church (8:30!). It was a really good breakfast though because Cassie made pancakes! Yum! Had trouble staying awake through the sermon ... I'm used to the same old bowl of cereal with fruit! LOL! Afternoon was spent hooking; I'm close to finishing another row of that dreaded runner rug.

Wendell left late in the afternoon for the Colts/Steelers game, meeting Jeff for dinner before the game. It was a late start -- 8:20 p.m. About midnight he called to say Jeff had car trouble and he would be taking him to Kokomo and sleeping on his couch. Few minutes later Jeff called and I got online to look up 24-hour tow services; gave him 3 phone numbers -- he decided to have the car towed back to Kokomo. (Did I mention it was pouring rain in Indy and it's Sunday and it's after midnight? I felt so sorry for them.) So I went back to sleep ... about 4:30 (!!) Wendell was getting in bed! Wow! (Guess they had to wait a while for the tow to arrive.) What a night for the guys! They finally located a tow service ... the three #s I found online didn't pan out (moral of that story is forget the internet and use the Yellow Pages). I believe a AAA membership would be a good gift idea for Jeff for Christmas. I think he took Monday off! I know Wendell did ... he was supposed to be in Bloomington at 9:30 a.m. so I called and cancelled that appointment so he could sleep.

Did I mention the Colts lost?

So ... yesterday was productive. Had sewing day at a friend's house. It was good to have devoted sewing time AND spend that time with friends. Got half of Mystery Quilt #1 together! Today I think I have to make up for all of this fun by mowing ... before it rains again. That's life.

Six more rows to go!!! ...

Just a quick post to put up this picture of progress on my runner rug.













Going out and cut down and pull up some flowers after lunch. Will dry some celosia for next year's seeds. Gotta cut down the asparagus bed and pull out the worst of the weeds there. Yesterday I pulled out the zinnias by the front door and will replace with ornamental cabbages so it will look good for a few weeks. I love this time of year but I know it will soon be cold hands and feet weather ...

Got my hair cut yesterday ... am spiky again! Did several errands in Bloomington as well as the dreaded grocery shopping. Bought some more yarn and crocheted another washcloth last night. Soon I must progress beyond sc and try something like a hat (all I've made so far are scarves, washcloths and coasters).

Getting ready for a family reunion this weekend. Should be fun re-connecting with cousins and nephews I haven't seen in ages.

Next week I begin autumn for real. Life goes on ...

Another row, another week ...

While hooking I drape the rug over a spare chair
to keep the weight off of the stand. Works pretty well ...





















Finished another row on this runner rug after several weeks "off". Moving it back to the house was the thing ... Just 7 rows to go!

Also, my work room is now in a small mess due to replacement of a window. So I won't be able to work over there for a while anyway ... The window needed replacing, plus the new window will be bigger [ = more light for me :-) ] My friend Teresa was over yesterday and I cleaned off a table up there so we could look at rug hooking books. Alas we had no luck finding what we were looking for, but we did have a wonderful visit. Plus a cup of tea later! Teresa brought the best banana bread to go with it ... thanks God for friends.

Today is gloomy and overcast but I won't complain ... we need all of the rain we can get. Got some round steak out of the freezer and think I'll make baked steak with dressing tonight. Seems like the kind of weather for such a meal. We're doing some normal house cleaning today ... about time! When I hook in here the dust bunnies multiply. Perhaps I'll have time to start another row (?) .......

Friendship last week ...

Just some of the reenacter camps at Friendship, IN.















Inside a typical tent where they stayed for the week.
















My newest heroine! She was some shooter and just about my age.
And of course she loaded her own.

Wendell & I went to Madison for three days last week and enjoyed the time away. The weather was just ideal -- typical wonderful fall-like Indiana weather. We stayed at the Clifty Falls State Park Inn and the only downer was that due to lack of rain recently there was no water going over the falls. No problem! One day was spent in the town of Madison where we visited shops and enjoyed a couple of restaurants.

One day we drove out to Friendship to the NMLRA event there; it's all about muzzle loaders. We enjoyed watching shooting with modern muzzle-loaded long guns, hand guns, and antique weapons. They were shooting at targets, clays, etc. Also there were bow/arrow shooting, hatchet and long knife throwing, and in the primitive area there were people in period costume shooting antique muzzle loaders at targets. I got a kick out of one target; a red-coat! Also there was a huge area for reenacters. It was fun walking from tent to tent, looking at how they live there for the week. I know a lot of time and effort went into making each encampment as authentic as possible.

There was a great Indian fry bread tent and you could have anything on fry bread! Savory or sweet! It was a great place for lunch. We met a few really nice people at lunch and enjoyed hearing about how they enjoy this as a hobby, how they got interested, how long they've been doing it, etc.

There were two large flea market areas in addition to permanent booths on the main grounds selling everything related to muzzle loaders, reenacters, and beyond, and since we put the "marketing" off until the end of the day we only hit one of the two flea market areas. We were tired!

The drive home was good but we hated to end our little vacation. We took highway 250 west and it is a twisty, turny highway and very scenic. Just our kind of road.

Saturday night we were pleased to visit some friends' new home ... lovely! It was a great way to end a good week. Sunday I stayed home from the Colts game and hooked and am almost done with another row of my runner rug! YEAH! The Colts, not so much 'yeah' ...

Crocheting ...

Today has been weird! It is so cold here I can't believe it. Right now my toes and hands are as cold as if it were winter. Looks like rain (which we need) but we don't get any.

Tomorrow I work at the antique steam & tractor show in Elnora. My hooking guild always used to demonstrate rug hooking there but for some reason this year they decided not to do it. (I don't understand.) So I volunteered to take tickets at one of the gates in the a.m. instead. That should be fun; I like to meet people. I'll dress warm! Then I will be free to look at everything when my shift is over! In the past I didn't get to visit the entire show like I will be able to this year, so I guess not demonstrating rug hooking has some advantages. I think it is just hard to get people to commit to anything anymore, don't you? ... Just my opinion.

Today while I had some time to myself I crocheted some more. I've attached a picture of three scraves I've made recently, red white & blue ... I'm in a 9/11 mood I guess. Also hooked a little on my lady with the wild socks rug ... I should take a picture of it too to show you, but I'm ashamed to say I have not accomplished anything on that runner rug, so I'm not going to take pictures of ANY of my hooking until I get back on track!

I read recently where you shouldn't use caps or exclamation marks so much in your writing on the computer. Forget that! That is how I express myself! LOL!

Funny thing happened on the way home from seeing the kids (Michigan) Sunday. We got into a traffic jam on US31 south out of South Bend. We couldn't figure out what was going on. People were out in their yards like they were waiting for a parade or something and they kept looking to the north. This went on until we reached highway 6; it took us 45 minutes to make those few miles! Awful. Well, anyway, at one point we were sitting, stopped, in two lanes of traffic as far as you could see in front of you and behind you (just the southbound lanes); there was a person sitting on his porch and we were stopped right there. I rolled down my window and asked 'what are we waiting for?' He said (I thought ...) "the NBA ride". (National Basketball Association I thought ???) Actually I didn't reply because I was still trying to figure this out and just as I rolled up the window he added 'don't get your undies in a twist'. Wendell said, 'what did he say!?' and I just didn't respond because I didn't want conflict. So we moved along ... Finally I figured out, duh ... Labor Day weekend ... Jerry Lewis ... MDA telethon! We found out later it was a motorcycle ride starting somewhere in South Bend and it was BEHIND us ... go figure ... WHY the traffic was tied up in FRONT of a motorcycle ride? Who knows ...

It's good to be home.

I've added a few more old pictures to the bottom of the blog. Enjoy.

A blast from the past ...

I'm pasting some old pictures I found today at the bottom of this blog ... been strolling down Memory Lane.

Like I said earlier here, it's all about me (LOL!). Enjoy ... and no smart remarks!


[In front of Wendell's house, leaning on his car, about 16 or 17 (?)]

Catch up day ...

Today I'm getting loose ends tied up so we can go see the 'kids' ... it is really nice to have a day with just little things to do and nothing major! I actually read some this a.m. and started another crocheted scarf.

This picture is of the cock's comb (celosia) at the edge of our vegetable garden. As you might see in the background, all that's left in the way of vegies is okra and tomatoes. Wendell is still picking okra and we're both giving it away. We haven't stooped to leaving it on door steps and running away yet, but ...

Jane & I went to Margo's for a nice day of hooking this week. Wonderful lunch, great company, beautiful surroundings! Just a great day. [Thanks Margo!] I hadn't hooked for a couple weeks; worked on the rug depicting the woman with striped socks. Changed her "hair" into a hat ... it looks great that way! Next week I will do more on that runner rug, too. Finally woke up and moved my hooking 'stuff' back to the house. When it's right here it's easier to sit down and pull a few loops than having to walk over to my work room ....... DUH!

Wendell & I went to Terre Haute yesterday and looked at condos again. We don't know ... do we really want to live in Terre Haute, Indiana???!!! I don't even know if I want to live in Indiana for the rest of my life! Why not try some place entirely different?! We did like Texas but have you been hearing about how HOT it is there this year? (I don't do 'hot' ...) But it's definitely a buyer's market right now ... we should make some sort of decision soon. This place is definitely getting too much for us to maintain. We do love it here, this is our dream house, but we need to face reality pretty soon.

Been working on a memory book for my 50th high school class reunion which will be next spring. It's been fun looking through my old pictures! I'll have to post some here ... As I have been planning this book, I've been looking up events that happened the year I graduated (1962) to include and was surprised to see that both Wal-Mart and Kmart were launched that year. The top 10 songs brought back memories and I've been listening to some of them online! Fun!

Have a great Labor Day! I will pray that everyone who wants to work can find a job.

P.S. Soon I'm going to remove the directions on how to make the pins at the bottom of this blog and replace with pictures from LONG, LONG AGO ...