Sunday, September 22, 2013

Sewing Month?! And Kinky........

I am by no means or even pretend to know what I'm doing when it comes to quilting but I was asked to come give guidance to a friend mine (Cindy C.) on how to piece a quilt together. She had called me one day saying she had found some blocks in a relatives closet and would like to put them in a quilt for each of her kids as a remembrance. I told her to hit one of the quilt shops for help with fabric. I had told her where the 2 closest shops were and she hit Quilt Works on 290. She called to tell me they were a great help with picking out fabric and even showed her a quick simple way of putting it all together but told her to call me before cutting. WHAT!? Are they crazy? Wait until I get hold of those ladies. LOL
Okay so maybe I know a little but it's enough to get me in trouble and now Cindy. I went by her home to lend her my advice of sorts. She said I helped clear up some of her questions. I figured I had probably confused her even more. I need to be sure and have her show me her finished product.

I was reading Just Let Me Quilt Blog recently and found out that in September 1982 that Ronald Reagan declared it National Sewing Month. 
Interesting. I guess I better make the best of what's left of the month. So many projects. What, Where do I begin. All this is or has be slated for specific quilts and are in various stages of the quilting game. I must work faster. I get side tracked toooo easily. As I've gotten older I seriously think I've developed ADHD.
For something crafty here's a picture of mine and Pamela's Red Neck Wine glasses we made one weekend when she was home.
Oh darn I'll have to drink this all by myself since she's not home when I'm taking the picture.

Saturday night we went to Main Street Crossing and saw Kinky Freidman. What a hoot! Mom and Joe joined us. This was a first.
David found his album Lasso from El Paso and took it with us to get Kinky to sign it. 
Kinky looked at that album and said whoa that is old. LOL! David got the album back in 1974 or 75. 

A majority of the songs he sang last night were from that album like everyone's favorite.... Ben Lucas.. Well okay maybe not favorite but definitely funny.

Haven't heard this one well the main
 chorus line is "Ole Ben Lucas had a lota mucas...." According to Kinky he wrote it back when he was 10 or 11. Sounds about right. And the songs go on. We never laughed so hard so much. 





One of the last things he did was read out of a book he wrote called Heroes of a Texas Childhood: Kinky Friedman, Kinky wrote about his childhood heroes like Barbara Jordan and Willie Nelson etc. The passage he read was about his father Tom Freidman the navigator.Very nice tribute to his dad. I was gonna buy the book but my mom did and said she'd pass it on to me when she finished. 


Oh and did you know he has his own Tequila called "Man in Black" Only sold in Texas and portions of the proceeds go to help benefit the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch.







May have to try some since I do like my margarita's and I also already like my salt and lime... All I need is the Tequila shots.

And coffee.. he has his own line of coffee. We find it at the American Man Cave now located in Brenham. Bruce aka Cave Man closed the Bellville store.

Kinky came down and shook our hands and said howdy at the end of the show before heading over to the table with his CD's, Tshirts and book. Loved his show with his stories, songs and jokes. I might have to vote for him if he runs for governor again. ;o)

I know this is a real shocker but I'm actually posting something that is recent and not a week old or more.

Remember my 4 little baby bunnies that were born in my back yard well one stayed. I've named it Mopsie. 
It lives in our side flower beds inside the fence. 


It came out tonight while David's sister and a friend stopped in for a visit.
Isn't he cute?




So the evening ends on a beautiful note and Monday is not far away. Grrrrr.








So until next blog......................






                       Carla


Sunday, September 15, 2013

Look Out Magnolia

Look out Magnolia there's a new Chef in the town. 
Jeff Wetzel took over the Montgomery County Grill. Soon the name will be The Old Yellow House Cafe. 
Meet Jeff the new owner and chef.
He plans on bringing new tastes to the area and a new style.

David and I stopped here the a week ago Saturday evening on a whim. Had no clue if the food was gonna be any good or what they served. As walking in this couple were walking out and they told us the food was delicious. Okay sounds like we might have hit the jack pot. 

It's not a big place but it was packed with fresh, homemade tasty goodness.  While waiting to order the chef came out and talked with us for a while. He told us everything on the menu is made from scratch. We don't normally get appetizers but he was describing his fried mozzarella sticks and David decided we'd try them. So yummy. We decided to go for the special... 16oz Rib-eye with 2 sides and a salad. All this for $16.99. The steak was delicious and so were the sides. We're ready to go back and try this place again. In fact I think I'll try to go at lunch one Saturday when my mom and I are wanting something different.
You'll find this place one block just off 1774 and Nichols Sawmill Rd.
Actual address is
308 Commerce Street.

If you're in the area this place is a must try.




Until Next Blog...Complaints to the Cook…can be hazardous to your health !
Carla

Monday, September 9, 2013

¸.•.♪♫•Music, Get Away and Drum Roll please¸.•.♪♫•

Crazy! David woke up Wednesday the 28th after running a fever of 101.5 the night before and felt fine. He said he wasn't a 100% but he was fine. While I figured we'd stay home and not go out but he surprised me and said "Let's Go". 
So we hit up one of our favorite music venues that Wednesday night to see Thomas Michael Riley and Davin James. Davin hosts a different artist every Wednesday night at Puffabelly's. Love Davin James. Just watching him perform is a treat in it's self. 
This was the first time for us to really hear Thomas Michael Riley. He has a deep rich voice and his songs always tell a story. We only stayed until the break but before we left David got his CD and we listened to it driving home and it's really good. I was a good girl and only drank ice tea all evening. Yep Just plain ole ice tea. And no Shirley it was not Long Island Ice Tea. LOL

Then Thursday(29th) night we went to Main Street Crossing to see Drew Kennedy and Matt Davis. No relation to Drew. Drew is really very funny. He and Matt said they should have warned people to take their meds for depression because after their set you will be depressed if you weren't. 99.9% of their songs were sad.  The sound was good if you didn't think about the actual lyrics. 

Then Friday we got up and headed to Ft Worth for a quick trip.
Normally we head to the Hill Country for our Anniversary but tried something different this year. 







We were getting pretty hungry by the time we got to the Stock Yards so we stopped in at Cooper's across from Billy Bobs and had some BBQ. Lot's of BBQ and it was good but not as good as David's.


Check out the ride we found parked in front.

 Only in Texas
We spent the entire afternoon at the Stock Yards shopping and sweating. 


Holy cow..103. I'm melting. 


Got to see the White Elephant Saloon where Davin James plays but not this weekend. We still haven't seen him and his whole band play yet. One day.






We stopped and had a Margarita at one of the restaurants before heading on out to find our hotel that we had booked last year thru Livingsocials for a great deal but had no idea where the hotel was really located. Didn't get to use the deal last year the deal because David was working so many hours. The money was still good but not the deal. 
Ended up the hotel was across the street from the Texas Motor Speedway and nothing else. Notice in the picture the lack of buildings or houses. Yep we're in the boon docks. I will say the Speedway was impressive.


We were told about a restaurant called Esparza so I pulled it up on the good ole iphone and got directions. It was in Grapevine which was a short enough drive. The food was delicious and the Margarita's were awesome. Yep that was plural on the Margaritas.
Oh did I mention that not a single road in the Ft Worth area was free of construction. Every road we took was under major construction. Major! I thought Houston road construction was bad.
I had hoped to squeeze in a visit to couple of friends in the area but that didn't happen. We needed a longer time to do everything.
On that Saturday we went to McKinney to shop at the square and do some more sweating. 104 on this day. We hadn't had breakfast yet and it was almost 11 so we found this restaurant called The Pantry and ate lunch. 
Prices were reasonable and we received ample tasty food. 
We wanted to hit Billy Bob's that evening after shopping but we were both so tired we ate and had drinks at the hotel. We weren't disappointed with food or drinks. We're such party animals we were back in the room and in bed  asleep by 10:30.  
Got up Sunday and went Billy Bob's so we could at least say we've been there and shopped in the gift shop for a couple souvenirs. Our last stop before coming home was Rio's. Wish we had money because you need it to shop there for the furniture. The furniture was beautiful but the prices weren't but I did walk out with a picture I've been wanting since I saw it back in 2006. David bought a picture of cowboy boots for me to hang in the guest room....      Time to head home.
Got home and went to dinner at the Taste of Texas. Pamela was home for the weekend watching the house and loving on the little guy. So she joined us for dinner. Can you say YUM? Taste of Texas has an awesome salad bar and the steaks are Delicious!
We got up Labor Day and ran a couple of errands and Pamela headed back College Station. Thinking we were eating at home I ran to the store to get some items to have with our chicken only when it was time to start cooking David decided we needed to go out to eat since Labor Day the 2nd was our actual anniversary. So we decided to go to Gringos for dinner and margarita's. 
Nice way to end the celebration I think and to start another year of marriage.
Now here's where the drum roll comes in.......wait for it.... wait
Okay I finished a quilt and the recipient has already received it. And Thank Goodness she liked it! Whew!
I thought what better back drop for my quilt was my neighbors horses. Only Decker was not cooperating here. He kept his head down. I should have brought a bribe. My error. Then Bianca came out but she stayed in the back ground
.
Then I thought of the old John Deere. This is the best kind my dad says. Rusted. He only likes Red. Anyway I was out at the wrong time of day like it was really bright and I didn't have my polarized filter but I guess it works. One of these days I'll get the hang of this photography stuff and faster on the quilt making. I rented time on a mid-arm machine to free style quilt this little quilt for Harrison. He's one of the Quad Squad.  
It was my first time to use something other than my Viking. I wonder if he'll find his name and the other two words I quilted in it. I have 3 more to finish plus a few more. Yikes  


 Until next Blog..A family is a patchwork of Love
Carla

Monday, September 2, 2013

35 YEARS!!

Just think it all began with a honk from an El Camino, a holler over the CB speaker, an evening spent talking and me being brave enough to invite David to my sorority formal..........
Phi Mu Fraternity Formal February 1977.  
and many dates to follow
 Then Sealed with a Kiss
There's been ups, there's been downs
There's been smiles, there's been tears
We were blessed with a beautiful daughter
And each year we decide to renew that contract we entered 35 years ago today!


Marriage is like quilting, it takes some work but is worth it.

(¯`v´¯)
`*.¸.*´¸.•
´ ¸.•*¨)¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´(¸.• (¸.•´¸¸.•¨¯`•.¸¸.Happy Anniversary David•.¸¸.
Carla