When I came home from Washington, D.C. recently, there was a bouquet of flowers sitting on the kitchen counter for me. Fabgrandpa had missed me so much that he wanted to make sure I knew he was happy to see me. I’m glad I took a picture of them, because I go back and look at it almost every day. That simple gesture of him buying me flowers still makes me feel happy! [Read more…] about I Love These Flowers
As soon as the company left, I got out the sewing projects. Five projects have been cut and made ready to sew, so today I sat down at the machine and got this much done:
It will be finished tomorrow, and is going to be so freaking cute! I can’t wait to see the finished product.
Last week our friend, Richard, came to visit. He has been one of my co-workers at the Grand Canyon for the last three years, and is a native of Michigan. He has been traveling since mid-February, first to see his daughter in Kansas and then his son in Texas. He dropped by to see us on his way home. I have to say that Richard is one of those people who you just like from the get go! He’s lots of fun to hang out with, whether it’s on the job or not.
He cam bearing gifts, too! He remembered that my maiden name is Stroud, so when he visited Stroud’s Restaurant in Kansas City, he bought me a t-shirt:
We took him around to the points of interest in Haralson County and surrounding areas including the West Georgia Museum and the Lock & Dam park up near Rome. But mostly, we just sat around and talked and ate and laughed. It was a great visit!
As soon as Richard left, our dear friend, Terry, who lives in Tennessee, arrived. She and Richard probably passed each other on the road. Terry stayed a couple of nights, and we took her out to eat at the Backwoods Steakhouse. She is also one of those people who makes us laugh. My face still hurts from smiling and laughing while she was here.
We are expecting to see my son and his family next week, and that should be good company too. They are opting to stay in a motel in town because we don’t have furniture or hot water in the house yet. But we’ll see them for the better part of three days while they’re here, and I’ll get to hug and squeeze the grandchildren before I have to go west to go to work.
What have you been up to?
We have been waiting for our official dates for returning to work at the North Rim, and just heard from the boss. We’ll be heading out sooner than we thought! Fabgrandpa needs to be on the job April 22! That is less than a month away.
I’ll be spending today and tomorrow planning our trip to Arizona, and deciding which campgrounds to stay at along the way. We know for sure we’ll be at the Sallisaw KOA in Sallisaw, Oklahoma. We’ll also be staying at least two nights, maybe three, at the KOA in Flagstaff, Arizona. We always stay a couple of nights in Flagstaff, stocking up on groceries and other supplies before heading up to the job. I’m excited to be on the road again, but frantic as well because I thought I had more time to get ready! I’ll also be talking about my roadtrip in the KOA Campfire Community each night after we get set up.
I have to finish cleaning out cabinets and closets in the trailer, something I do every spring and fall, tossing out foods that haven’t been eaten, clothing that has stains or tears, and other “junk” that accumulated over the past few months. When I get done with all that, then it’s time to decide what I need to put back in the trailer of the items that I took into the house. You know, like my sewing machine, sewing supplies, and at least some of the fabric! I don’t think I could get through the summer without that stuff!
Come and join me at the KOA Campfire! There are a lot of good discussions going on right now. I’ll be glad to see you there.
‘
While our friend, Richard, was visiting, we decided to go to the West Georgia Museum in Tallapoosa. We saw it a couple of days ago when we went to the library, and talked about going there someday.
I was really impressed with this museum. It has quite a few displays depicting early life in the west Georgia area, including arrowheads and other native American artifacts; birds and animals that were native to the area; and life sized replicas of dinosaurs that may have lived here.
A local resident created a miniature replica of the town of Tallapoosa as it looked in the late 1800’s, using an old map as a guide. Each building is labled with the name of the business or family name who occupied the house.
There are several display rooms showing typical tools of the trade for professions such as shoemaker, doctor, and dentist from the late 1800’s.Each of those rooms has a doorbell to “ring” that plays an audio telling what you are seeing in the room. My favorite was the one showing an old telephone operator’s cord board, because I used to be an operator and actually used one of those cord boards on the job!
I also loved seeing the general store display, especially the dry goods section with fabric and sewing notions:
The West Georgia Museum of Tallapoosa is located at 185 Main Street, behind the library. They are open Tuesday thru Friday 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Saturdays 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m, and closed on Sunday and Monday. Call 770-574-3125 for tours and information. Admission is $2.00 for adults and $1.00 for children.
The good folks over at Jambu sent me a pair of their pretty and comfortable Coconut sling back shoes from their spring lineup. I have been a fan of their shoes for a while now. This pair is really comfortable–my feet don’t hurt after wearing them all day long. [Read more…] about Jambu Shoes For Spring
The voting for Favorite Grandparent Blog 2012 in the Reader’s Choice Awards ended last night, but the winner won’t be announced until March 30th. Whether I win or not, I FEEL like a winner to have had such wonderful support from my family and friends in the blogosphere, on Facebook and Twitter. I planked you already for your votes, but there is that little matter of a “campaign promise” of posting a pic of me standing on my head if I won. Because I FEEL like a winner, here it is: (remember, there are some things you can’t unsee)
The other four nominees were all good at their respective blogs. I had only known of one of them before this, Grandma’s Briefs. I read her blog and love it. Grampy’s Little Acre, Painting for Hailey, and Googie’s Attic rounded out the list.
It was a month of begging for votes everywhere I could think of, and no matter how or what I tried, the poll results showed me and Googie’s Attic trading places for first place every day. I said on several occasions that she was a formidable opponent, so I did what anyone would do: I googled her.
Googie is also known as Debbie Noland. She’s a writer from Sedalia, Missouri and author of “The Legacy of Plywood U: A History of State Fair Community College 1966-2002.” Noland taught writing for 29 years at State Fair Community college. She also wrote a column for the Democrat (a Sedalia newspaper) called “About Town.” And she has published a children’s book, “Sweet Dreams: A Bedtime Rhyme.”
A very formidable opponent indeed, considering I didn’t graduate high school because I failed ninth grade English four times. I got my GED when I was in my thirties, though, and went on to Mercer University where I aced English Lit 101, which made my head swell with pride.
Thank you all again for your support!
Because March is National Craft Month, I thought I would take a minute to tell you about all the different kinds of crafts that I do. I mostly talk about sewing and quilting, but I also make jewelry and soap, and crochet. I am one of those people who loves to create things and am happiest if my hands are busy doing something.
When we lived in our last house back in 2000, I had a craft room, where I had plenty of workspace and places to store craft supplies. There were several stores nearby that sold the supplies I needed. But, since we started living in the RV and moving around frequently, there haven’t been many places where I could buy things I needed to complete a project, and I don’t have much room to store things. Because of that, I naturally started looking online for for a large variety of craft supplies.
FactoryDirectCraft.com is one of those places where I can usually find just what I need for any project I am working on. I especially like their selection of pattern books, and just looking at their online catalog sometimes gives me ideas for things to do.
What crafts do you do? Do you have a favorite online supply store? What are you making for National Craft Month?
