An early Mother's Day for me . . . . .

Dear Hubby and I will be traveling to see his mother this weekend.  Since I won't be with my own kids, they decided to have Mother's Day last weekend.

They brought over KFC (I hate when they mess up my kitchen cooking!).  And lots of plants and gifts!

Then surprised me with a trip to one of my favorite places . . . . Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens. 

The picture above is from a trip that Dear Hubby and I took to Daniel Stowe back during Easter week.  It has filled in a lot since then.

There is an orchid house.

The peonies were in full bloom . . . .

As were the bearded iris . . . .

We had a wonderful day!

And if you happened to be going to the famous Mary Jo's, the botanical gardens are just 20 minutes down the road.

Hope you all have as wonderful a Mother's Day as I did!

Blessings, Cathi

Goodbye, Dear Father-In-Law.....

Just to let you know that Dear Hubby's father passed away last Friday.  Not that you knew him or would have ever heard of him but it is the reason I haven't been around for the last week.  Dear Hubby and I scooted down the road a piece (that's 4 hours in Southern-ese) last Wednesday afternoon, spent 36 hours in ICU waiting room and the last 5 hours of FIL's life with him.  What a touching but heart-wrenching moment.  One I hope to never have to repeat.

 Father-In-Law       Grandfather-In-Law         Dear Hubby

circa 1974

I had limited access to the internet.........just long enough to check emails and the bank account.  I may or may not get a chance to catch up on the blog reading/responding but I'll give it a shot.  And thank you all for your sweet comments about my kids.  Yes, they are very special.

Blessings, Cathi

Pay Attention, Kids.....

Dear Hubby and I are blessed with 4 wonderful kids (and a son-in-law).  Oh, they try our nerves from time to time and we often wonder if we have done everything we possibly could.  Well, this past weekend, all our fears were put to rest.

We wanted to get away again since it was a 3 day weekend.  Since Black Monday (the day I was laid off) happened, we figured it would probably be best NOT to spend the money.  DSK (Dear Sweet Kids) got together and gave us a large gift basket (sorry, no picture....Dear Hubby attacked the chocolate right away and put the champagne in the fridge) filled with champagne, chocolates, cheeses, crackers, sausages, etc. along with this gift certificate.

First thing Saturday morning, the Wild One and the Computer Geek (both of whom are still living at home) took "the boys" and drove to the Married One's house in Charlotte.  Later that afternoon, the Wild One put another gift basket on the front porch filled with Panera Breads and breakfast rolls. Dear Hubby and I had a wonderful weekend alone without kids, without dogs and without having to wake up first thing in the morning!

So pay attention, kids ........ Parents, feel free to share this post with whomever you feel appropriate.

Blessings, Cathi

Talk about out of my BOX.....

So I've been MIA for a week.  What are the odds of getting the flu even though you have had a flu shot?  Something like 50%?  I don't know but I did get it anyway.  I want my money back!

One of my latest projects that "jumped" in line is this quilt that is SSSOOO out of my box.  The Married One volunteered me to make it.  The baby is due November 22 so I HAD to finish it.  I wouldn't let myself work on anything else quilty or crafty until it was done.  What a struggle!  Why is it so hard to make myself sit down and work on something I really don't like?  I guess we have all been there.

Regardless of how I feel about it, the mother-to-be absolutely loved it.  I have washed it once so it should be good to go for the new baby.  It really went together quite easily. 

Last week before I got sick, I had two big things to do.  First was finish the above quilt by Saturday because Saturday was The Married One's big 30th birthday party.  The mom-to-be was at the party and I wanted to get it to her (and out of my house).  Son-in-law was handling the party himself.  I felt kind of sorry for him.  He was so out of his element!  So along with finishing the quilt, I did all the decorations for the party and all the desserts and a couple of side dishes.

Here is a picture of The Married One 30 years ago last week.  What a sweet, little girl she was (is)!

Now that I am amongst the living again, I plan on catching up with blogging and quilting.  I have so much to finish and share!

Blessings, Cathi

A Day in the Park.....

4 of my 5 kids (including the son-in-law) have birthdays within 6 weeks of each other.  We usually have a big picnic to celebrate them all.  We cook LOTS of food, decorate with lots of pumpkins and other fall decorations and invite a lot of their friends.  This year, with the new boys at the house, we thought it might be better to skip it this year and wait until Nelson has grown out of the puppy stage!

So instead, we decided to go to Kings Mountain State Park which is located on the opposite end of the county from where we live.  It was really miserable out as far as weather goes but we had a good time anyway.  We took a lot of pictures but here is the best of them all.

 

The Wild One, TurfBoy, Dear Hubby, me, Computer Geek, and The Married One

There are some other really good pictures that The Married One took but she hasn't emailed them to me yet. Her significant other took this picture.

Then after a quick trip to two different pumpkin patches, we headed back to the house and LOTS of food with some football thrown in.  We are a big football family so it killed them to leave the house and miss the 12:00 games.  But I made up for it with all the food I had cooked ahead of time!

Some more pictures of the day.....

 

 

 

And finally......... all my boys!

Blessings, Cathi

Half-Pint and Me.....

Didn't want you to think I was totally uncrafty this week. I finished stitching my Petites Lettres Rouges that Blackbird Designs first came out with WAY back in April. Not too far behind, am I? I've narrowed down the way I want to finish it. Still thinking.....


So Arline Clause in the stitchery is my paternal grandmother.....or more affectionately known around our house as HALF-PINT. She was rather vertically challenged......but she is the one that taught me handwork. She did amazing work. She could knit, crochet, cross-stitch, needlepoint, even dye wool and hook rugs. I don't remember her quilting, though.

Funny story about her name. I was named after her, at least my middle name was. When Dad filled out the paperwork at the hospital for my birth certificate, he inadvertently misspelled it. Hers was Arline with an "i" and mine was spelled Arlene, with an "e". When she found out that her own son didn't know how to spell her name.....well let's just say I think he was left off the Christmas card list that year!


She was born and raised in Staten Island at the turn of the last century in a very proper, fairly wealthy, Victorian-era house.....hence the handwork. She had a married sister and two spinster sisters and one lone brother. This is a picture of Half-Pint and my grandfather at Metedeconk River, NJ sometime in the 1930's I think.



And here they are again in Ocean City, New Jersey in 1980. I had never seen two people so in love in my entire life. Grandpa always called her "my bride". Grandpa died in 1983 and Half-Pint a few years later......I think of a broken heart.


Blessings, Cathi

Obligatory list of excuses.....

Last month I had a pretty good list of why I hadn't finished my challenge projects for the Charming Girls Quilt Club but this month I think I have it topped!

And here they are.....


We got these two...uhhmm...cuties two weeks ago tomorrow with very short notice. As in 24 hours notice. A co-worker's wife's co-worker (are ya still with me?) had to downsize her home unexpectedly. I found out about them on a Monday, Dear Hubby and I decided YES on Monday evening and we had them in our possession by Tuesday evening.

I was hoping to get them that weekend so we would have time to prep the house but the owner was so upset about having to give them up, that she asked us to "rip the band-aid off" and take them right away.




This is Dear Hubby and Reagan. Reagan is the father of the other one and is on the right in the picture at the top. He is a registered Chocolate lab, 3 years old and pretty daggum lazy. He LOVES to have his head rubbed behind his ears. His second favorite hobby is eating......everything. We just don't let him so it's not a very productive hobby.




Dear Hubby and Nelson.....the son.... He isn't registered but he is a pure-bred. He is 11 months old and all puppy! He's taller than his daddy and much quicker. His favorite pasttime is eating his toys and tormenting the PIA cat, Tinker. They don't exactly get along yet. Tinker is pretty mad at us for letting her go from Queen of the castle to dog snack. She'll get over it, though. As soon as Nelson grows up....if he ever grows up.



The family they were living with had three pre-teens that apparently let the dogs do what they wanted when mom and dad weren't around. But "the boys" have come a long way in two weeks as far as discipline is concerned. They don't jump up anymore, they sit and wait for their leashes to be put on and pretty much pee and poop in the same place. (Didn't want to know that, did ya?!)

So please forgive me if I only have one of my two challenges finished for this month. I was working on a much larger commitment!

Blessings, Cathi

And they lived happily ever after.....

30 years today.....

And it just keeps getting better and better!

Love ya, babe, mean it!

The reason for my Happy Mother's Day.....

I thought I would show you why I always have a wonderful Mother's Day.

The first one is the "Married One" and her husband of 5 years.

Here is "The Wild One". She won't mind me calling her that.....she is and she knows it. But I love her!!

Then there is "Turf Boy". He graduated from Clemson in Turfgrass Management 2 years ago.

He'll never call me on Mother's Day again if I put just the mohawk picture on here so here is the serious graduation picture.

And finally, "The Computer Geek". Also known as the "King of Warcraft". He sure is handy, though, with html issues!

And finally a picture of them all last September.

Happy Mother's Day to all!!


Blessings, Cathi