Having no computer is no excuse!!!

My home computer is toast, thanks to an electrical blink 4 weeks ago. John is trying to fix it and it's taking an eternity! Add to that, my computer at work is also toast, thanks for a software glitch that crashed my hard drive. Someone mentioned they might be ordering me a plastic bubble to live in if another computer goes south. Needless to say, I'm gunshy around electronic things this week! I'm at work, at the front desk, and they are trusting me to use the computer there....hah! Silly people!

Fall has fallen here in the Ozarks. John and I were looking out the window toward our grove of trees on the north this morning...what should calmly walk out but two male deer with beautiful antlers (albeit small ones). First time I've seen antlers on the deer on our property.

Gilligan is now a gentleman! He had his surgery yesterday and is walking a bit drunkenly and gingerly but at least he gets to live inside for the next 5 days. He currently lives in our bathroom and bedroom...sleeping during the day on the dogs' pillows near our bed...drives Carson nuts to smell a cat on his pillow at night...not sure where that cat is! Haha - cat is sleeping in our bathroom, behind that closed door!

Happy Thanksgiving to all our family and friends. We miss you all! Hugs,
Sally, John, Carson, Briscoe, Gilligan, Ruby, Tippy, and Huevo!

Knit a Tit!

Saturday was the most wonderful day. We had about 35 folks show up to knit tits! So far we have around 50 boobs to donate to the American Cancer Society. And more are coming in. One ball of yarn will knit 4 boobs and some of the ladies took leftover yarn home to finish knitting. We are so blessed here in the Ozarks (and frankly, everywhere I've lived) to have such giving folks. Thanks to everyone who participated. Our T-Shirts said "Save Second Base". Appropirate, don't you think? Lisa (the owner of One City Market, my local yarn shop and favorite hangout) said she never wants to do another fund-raiser like this again....but until they find a cure for breast cancer, she will do this each year. I told her I'm with her! I've donated several Longaberger® baskets for door prizes and will do so again next year.

Back home again!

I'm back home again. That is such a great feeling. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my grandchildren and my mom and my kids. The trip to Utah was wonderful and I'd do it again....after I wait 3 months to nap and regain my strength! In the meantime, home is where I want to be.

I'm frantically knitting some things for the grandkids for Christmas...obviously, I won't tell here what they are cause their parents read this blog. But I will say that the things I'm knitting are neat!

I keep a list of the things that I want to make for the Utah family....mostly quilted or knitted items. Jill occasionally adds something to the list. My list was down to a measly 3 things before I left for Utah. Now it's up to 10. Emily even added something - a smaller version of the purse I made for Jill a couple of months ago. Even Jill's neighbor got into the act...she's in line for a purse as well. I'm absolutely NOT complaining. Isn't it wonderful to have folks value you and your skills so much that they clambor to be the next in line to receive something you've made? I love it!!!!!

I'm participating in a fundraiser for Breast Cancer this weekend. It's called Knit-A-Tit. My favorite yarn shop is sponsoring it. We will be knitting breast prostheses for women who have undergone mastectomies and are unable to afford the prostheses. These are knitted ones. They are so cool! I've done several and have been designated a Tit Tutor for the event. We have prizes for the most knitted during the event, a Booboku Puzzle, food, drink, music, neat t-shirts....it should be a wonderful event. I'll post pictures if I get a chance to take some.

Thank you to everyone who reads this silly little blog. I wish I could remember to post more often, not that I have anything to say!

Reading as a family

It seems one never gets too tired to be read to, or to read out loud. Emily is off-track for this week and the following 2 weeks but is required to read at home each night. She spent the weekend at her dad's house so didn't get a lot of reading done. So, Nana instituted nightly reading. Most of the time, Emily reads to my Mom for 30 minutes while I am getting the two younger ones ready for bed. Last night we all sat down so Charlotte could read to us. Notice Will is enthralled! We are having a wonderful time with them. Charlotte is a typical 2 year old and Emily is 7 going on 30 and Will is a wise old soul! John and I are truly blessed!

I'm Sleeping

Well, I arrived in Utah on Friday, Mom was already there. Jill and the two youngest grandchildren met us at the airport. It will be a full week taking care of them while John and Jill are in Hawaii. By the time we get the baby down after his final feeding of the evening, we are both ready for bed! Today, both of the younger ones were down for a nap and Emily was on the floor coloring with my mom. Evidently I fell asleep in the chair and this is what Emily (with my Mom's encouragement and help) came up with. The sign says: "Go away, I'm sleeping and I'm grumpy! " and then under it says Emily made this with Grama Betty! They were giggling so hard it woke me up! That 10 minutes sure did revive me. NOT! Anyway, Mom and I are having a terrific time with the kids. They are delightful. John and Jill have done a wonderful job of raising these children! We are so proud! More later.

Cosmic Accord

My friend, Peggy, and I worked from February to November last year to complete a quilt for a competition in the Fons & Porter Challenge. We sent our entry in and, I'm sure this is due to a judging error , we did not win! Neither of us were used to working with anyone on a project and the year proved a wonderful stretch for both of us...we planned and sewed and frog stitched and sewed some more until finally we had something that we both could be proud of. Folks, here we have.....Cosmic Accord. It's 27" by 27". Each block is 3" finished. I asked Peggy if she minded if I entered the quilt into another competition. This time, I entered it into the New England Images 2007. This show is a juried show (They used to accept 300 quilts and this year they only accepted 130 quilts!) While we were accepted into the show, we didn't win anything. It's an honor to be accepted into this prestigious competition and we couldn't be prouder!

On another topic, I taught a quilt class in Cathedral Windows this weekend. For those of you who are not quilters, this pattern looks like little stained-glass windows and is traditionally done by hand. There are those who have figured out how to do it by machine but I learned from a very nice young woman (who learned from her grandmother) how to make this by hand and that's the way I teach it. I had 8 students, all who wondered if they would be able to complete the class project. I guaranteed to them that they would. I had 2 students who completed the entire project (4 windows) and the rest had at least one window done by the time class was over and we needed to vacate since the store was closing for the day. I am so proud of them! For some reason this class is quite popular at Merrily We Quilt Along and often asked for. I never fail to have a full class.

I often get questions regarding quilting here at the library ( the people I work with consider me the Quilting Queen). I also get questions regarding the military, and I'm always being called up to the front to interpret for the deaf folks who come in. Of course, the computer classes are always full, as well as the lectures on eBay. They are always sending folks back to my office who want to know about eBay!

I'm off to Wichita on Sunday the 16th to hear the Yarn Harlot! I simply can't believe how lucky I am! Lisa from One City Market (my favorite yarn shop in the world!) is going and has room in her car for 5 more...I'm one of them. I'll let you know how it went when I get back.

In the meantime, have a great week. Watch out for the bad guys, keep your stick on the ice, and buckle up!

Pig Heaven

Pigs eat like, well.....pigs! Over the course of 146 days, 6 pigs ate a total of 5000 pounds of grains. Yes, 5000 (thousand) pounds of grain. No more! Last Monday John and our neighbor took 6 pigs to the butcher. Two of them were ours! We now have almost 400 pounds of lovely pork in the freezer. And that isn't even the smoked portion! That should be coming in another week or so. Admittedly, about half of that is going to our son and his family when we visit them later this year. And, how does it taste, you ask? It tastes so delicious! We have roasts, cutlets, ribs, chops, tenderloins, and sausage. And soon, we'll have hams, ham steaks, and bacon! We've got two guestrooms and lots of pork! And John just loves to cook and BBQ!