November adventures - shopping birthday party and visitors Yahoo

October went by quickly but then I was off at quilt retreat twice and I had fun within a week of each other.  I told David when I got home from the last retreat we needed to plan a trip to Minneola because I saw several antique shops that looked inviting. Like "Come, let us take your money" LOL.  Sounds like a trip to me anyway. Now November is rushing by. Dang.

After my gym workout and getting coffee I drove a couple blocks down the road to a park to check it out. As soon as I pulled up these 3 honkers came waddling towards the car. I'm sure they thought I had bread or something but sorry to disappoint them.  I only had coffee.

The pups wanted their furless Dad's attention so as soon as he sat down they jumped up right next to him. Got comfy and went to sleep. Sadie raised her head to see what I was doing. LOL

I haven't gone to the Houston International Quilt Show in in a couple years. My Knee wasn't happy after the last time with all that walking and this year I just didn't feel it. I'd been on two quilt retreats in October so I figured that was a enough. Two of my besties, Donna & Sandy went though. They tried to convince to come but I declined. I saw many of my other friends made it too. Maybe next year. We'll see. The knee should be up to it now for sure.

I used to make mailable quilted postcards all the time but got busy making baby quilts but this year I wanted to make special Thank You Cards for the ladies in my retreat group for the 10 year anniversary of retreating together, door prize donations and a wind chime in honor of my Mom. Plus I had others that had sent me wind chimes in Memory of my Mom plus a Lazy Susan from our Kennedy friends, etc

So I started making my quilted postcards with embroidery and some with other embellishments.  I make them like a postcard size, then I take them to the post office, get the stamp and have them hand cancel the stamp and then put them in a clear envelope as shown here and send them on their way....  Well not this time so much. The first 7 I mailed they charged me extra for the embellishments that would fit through the template they have. The post office clerk said they most likely won't make it. As far as I know all 7 have made it in the clear envelope but with the extra postage for the embellishment. 

The next 7, I still had to pay the extra postage but they would not let me mail in the clear envelope because it covered the stamp that they were going to hand cancel.  They said it was like taping a stamp on your envelope and the post office doesn't allow that. Good grief but I wasn't going to argue. I paid the extra postage for the embellishment where the stamp says not machineable then sealed in a white envelope and stamped.  

And the finally few I mailed last week I put in an envelope and if my embellishment was fairly flat I put a first class stamp on it and if the button sticked up a bit more I used the nonmachinable stamp on it.  Guess what I think they've all made it.   

Friday (11/3) on my way home from the gym I snapped a picture of one of our favorite views.  But the picture didn't do it justice so I didn't share it but you can see forever and usually there's a large herd of cattle roaming around. And I saw two huge herds of feral pigs. These things are mean and they tear up property. I texted our friend Kelli and told her the one herd had 2-3 white and black spotted pigs. Maybe it was one of Patsy Cline's. Patsy Cline was her pot bellied pig that got out while they were gone and got pregnant by feral pigs. One of the little piggies was spotted. 

      

Thursday the 9th was the G3 book club meeting. We discussed our latest book the Lost Village by Camila Sten. The setting is in an abandon town Silvertjarn. When the mining company shut down the town started dwindling but then one day everyone disappeared and the only people found was one dead woman tied to a pole and a live baby girl.  Where did everyone go? That is what Alice and her friends set out to determine and create a documentary of their findings. But they didn't expect what they did find and the erie feelings of the past. It was a good read. And of course they let me forget to take a picture before we split up. This was a very lively meeting with lots of conversation and laughter.

My great niece Whitney Rose was with her Grandma having coffee. LOL. Isn't she a cutie?

As I mentioned in a previous post David bought a Harley Davidson to have some fun. He went to Temple Raceway and actually got runner up. He's standing next to the guy on the left next to the orange bike. He left the track not realizing he actually won some money. What a goober but he will get it eventually.

This is after my workout. I look fabulous right?  Cough Cough. Not

Thursday (11/9) I woke up early and went outside with David and the pups while they ate their breakfast and captured a couple of pictures of them.  The gash on top of Sadie's head is healing up nicely and Bruno guards his furless Dad.

   

Sadie is wanting to play but Bruno is ready to rest but she eventually get her way.

I have to share my new Halloween Door Wreath. Isn't it cute? Pamela's future mother in law Tori made it for me. Didn't get it in time to put it up this year but it will go out next year for sure. So sweet of her. Love it.

Saturday (11/11) Kaleb and the boys came up to spend the day with David. They were supposed to go to the big truck races but they got rained out. So instead they hung out at the farm and fed Jerry carrots while us girls went to Houston to shop for bridesmaid and mother dresses.

Killian and Braxton got to get on Gpa's motorcycle.  Cute pictures. They were ready to race.

When they got hungry Gpa took them to Tex Miller's in Cameron for burgers. All three boys enjoyed and finished off the hamburgers with no problem.  Well 4 boys because I know David enjoys the burgers from Tex Miller's too. 

Like I said Pamela and I met a couple of the bridesmaids in Houston to look at dresses. Pamela's bridesmaids are all over. 3 in Houston, 2 in College Station and 1 in Ft Worth area. She's slowly but surely getting them asked.  We started off the day at Ventura's and then ended at David's Bridal. So many dresses. Nothing has been decided yet. Except the color for the bridesmaid dresses that will be burgundy/wine depending on the designer. The grooms will be in navy.  Mother of the groom can pick something in a shade of blue. Whatever coordinates with navy or even navy itself and me, well Pamela is thinking a sparkly dusty rose or maybe even an eggplant color.  We'll see what happens when the new lines come out in December.

In between appointments we went the State Fair restaurant on I-10 and Gessner. Very tasty. I got the Monte Cristo. I was only able to eat a fourth of it since it was so big. I worked on the rest for lunch the next 3 days. LOL  It was tasty but I don't think I'd get it again. It was more bread than meat and it needed more jam on it to get the sweet and savory going but it was tasty. 

By the time we finished at the David's Bridal it was nearly 5:30 and we had to drop off one of the girls that we picked up on our way in and still had to drive back to Pamela's. It was nearly 7ish by the time we got back to Bryan. The plan was to pick up Bri and head up to the farm. Everyone was going to spend the night so I could take Family pictures of Kaleb, Pamela and the boys on Sunday. 

That night when it was time for bed our two jumped in their kennels and Bri laid down right beside Bruno's cage. She's never done that. I guess with the loss of Sophie she wanted to be near Bruno and Sadie.

Well the weather didn't cooperate Sunday so the game plan had to change.  It was misty and sometimes rainy.

So I called my neighbor Jamie and asked if I could bring the boys over to see her brand new baby goats.. They are so cute. She said Yes and boys were so excited.

The black & white Momma had the two little black and white ones and the Black Momma had three little black ones.

Listen to this little one squeal for it's Momma

The boys were very quiet at first but as they got more acquainted, they enjoyed the experience. Even Pamela got to hold a baby goat.

Each of the boys took a turn at holding one. Braxton then Killian

 

On Friday 11/17 we had visitors from Missouri arrive. My sister Barbara and Cresia. It had been 18 years since Barbara had visited us and Cresia's first. It was great having them here. Friday was a day of visiting and catching up but Saturday they were in for a treat.

We went to a birthday party for the twins Braxton & Killian who will be turning 4. Pamela and Kaleb had the birthday party at Jumping World. 

These two crazy girls jump into the pit knowing all too well it might not be easy getting out of.  LOL and it wasn't.

I won't post the pictures of them trying to jump. They hurt the next day.  I missed them playing dodgeball and Cresia running into a wall. No alcohol was involved.  This was a kids party. LOL

Killian could do flips. I missed getting it in a video. I would cringe because he'd land more on his head but he was actually tumbling not so much a flip but he was good at it.

Cookie time for the stars of the show. Everyone had rosy cheeks.

Everyone jumped and played till their heart was content. Well till 3pm when the party ended.  We headed to dinner at Los Cucos with Kaleb's parents, his sister and fiance', and aunt, couple of cousins, 2 new great aunts and us. The boys were moving slowly but when the food got there they ate well. After dinner we tood the presents back to Pamela and Kaleb's for the boys to open.  

It was like Christmas. The boys tore through the gifts in no time.  Their Aunt Sarah helped maintain order with the trash and gifts.  It took the boys a while to settle down.  We left to head home but drove by the hospital where Pamela works so Barb and Cresia could see and I realized I had left my purse at the house.   We stopped back by and the boys had had their bath and in their jammies.  Grabbed my purse and we headed home.

Got home and did some more visiting before bed. Tomorrow we're gonna take them through the country side.

Until then.... You don't choose your family.  They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. ~Desmond Tutu

A Bucket List Quilt Retreat.... and new friends

So as I ended my last blog.. Wednesday morning rolled around and I rolled out around 8:20am to head to Quitman, TX for a bonus quilt retreat at Stitchin' Heaven. This place was on my bucket list. Can't thank my friend Sandy Y. enough for thinking of me and asking if one of my/our other friends might come too.  It was actually an easy drive. Just a couple of turns and I arrived in 3 hours and a few minutes.  

Stitchin' Heaven is a quilt shop and has a beautiful retreat house and cabins if there's an overflow of retreaters or a person could rent just the cabin but they wouldn't have access to the work room. When I walked in they had it set up for 40 retreaters but there's only 21 of us. Once everyone got a spot some tables were pushed around. We each had a 4'x2' table with a side table that was 4' x 18". I've already been thinking of how to arrange the runner tables to give us more space when I go back with my gals. Yes I will be booking a retreat here myself. I was told we couldn't move the main 4' tables but we can move the side tables however we want them. 

It looked really tight but it's amazing we made it work until we could spread the tables a bit more. 

And the outside area was relaxing and beautiful. Of course the rain made so we couldn't go down to the pond but hey we were sewing.

There were 2 blue and 2 green chairs on the other side.

Our rooms were spacious and comfy with luggage stands. Two to a room with it's own bath. I'm spoiled.

Plus there was a lounge area if you wanted to relax and not sew.

We walked over to the quilt shop to browse around (cough cough) You know we did more than browse. There were quilts hanging in the retreat house and all around the shop, the offices, classroom, etc.  While there our Liaison Anna Marie took the small group of us on a tour of the entire building.

 And of course we had to take a picture with Gus the Longhorn

 

We got to see everything. from the business offices, to where they laser cut the fabric for the BOM and kits, to where they plan the BOM, where they pack the kits and BOM, and shrink wrap the fabric bundles, and where they plan the cruises, the classroom and the warehouse. This place is huge and everyone was friendly and helpful.

Here's a few quilt tops that the ladies were working on. This one was done by Lisa. Wow. A lot of work went into this one and she finished this top and started another with birds in the next picture. She's good.

Here's the top Sandy Y. was working on and finished. And this one of the churn dash inside a churn dash was by her friend Gloria. 

Not sure which of the ladies was working on this one across the room but I love the bright colors.  The next one was being worked on by a gal named Tammie. It made for a perfect photo shoot frame. 

 

Now do  you see anything wrong here? Nope, the only thing wrong here was Jim used the wrong color. He had tossed it in the trash. What! Lisa dug out the several he had thrown away. LOL He then started taking them to her as he messed them up. Oh and did I mention that we had a husband and wife there. Jim was the quilter and his wife Barbara did needlework. Both were very nice. 

This is Charlene. She is the one organized the retreat for her quilt guild and Donna and I got lucky and filled the spots for two ladies that couldn't make it. Donna Marie said Charlene and I must be soul mates. We do a lot of the same things. Like taking pictures. Charlene was a lot of fun. Can't thank her enough for letting us crash their retreat. It was kinda nice not being the one in charge for once.      Donna Marie decided to get even with me while I wasn't paying attention and snapped a picture of me sewing. LOL 

Another cool thing Stitchin' Heaven does is provides us with a liaison. She came in every morning to check on us, back again mid-day and then checked on us that evening before she left for the day. Anna Marie was awesome. 

Here's me, Donna Marie and Sandy Y.  We all worked at CyFair school district. Well Donna Marie still does but Sandy and I are living the life in the country. 

And here's a picture a 3 of the cottages that you can rent or they use for an overflow from the main retreat house. They sleep 4. Cute.

Here's a cute bag that Donna Marie made. I sat my cup next to it to give you and idea of the size. I was the benefactor of one of these bags a few retreats ago when she gave me a gift in it. 

Saturday 10/28,,,And before I knew it, it was time to pack up and head home. My new friends Charlene and Tracey. Fun ladies.

Sad to leave but I plan on coming back. Bye bye Stitchin' Heaven for now.

The drive home was nice but a little wet. Found out what the big body of water was that we crossed going to Quitman. It's Lake Palestine. Big..

Somewhere outside Jewett I saw this cool log cabin sitting back off the road.

Because of the rain I didn't get to take pictures of some of the various animals/statues/figures around the town of Jewett but I got a couple. A unique little town.

     

So I get home and unload the car. Then I tell David about the retreat and the ladies. Somewhere in there I might have closed my eyes for a bit. But before I knew it John and Kelli were at the door and we were off to The Brown's Halloween Party. I should have taken some pictures of the     costumes. I mean Dolly was there and she was scared by this really tall   pumpkin creature. It was funny. There were witches, nuns, and a priest etc.   Fun evening. The moon was supernatural looking and they even built a big   bonfire.

There were no sacrifices, well not while we were there....bah haha

Nice party by Dendy and Jamie. Thanks for the invite.

That's it for now.. More adventures just waiting....

Until next blog... The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common                                       things.   ~  Henry Ward Beecher