Feet Friday

Hospital Time

I’m up at my Dad’s to help him out while my step mom is out of town. Dad had surgery today to fix a torn Achilles. He did fine and will soon be walking normally.

Isn’t he so cute? “I’m ready to go…let’s roll!”

I’ve never been in a hospital with anyone who needed surgery before….a new experience for me. Have you ever seen these “blankets” before? They pump warm air into them…toasty. That’s what Dad had in admitting.



Dad’s “baby”. Passion is pouting. I just don’t measure up to the man in her life.

Hiking

Today hubby and I went for a hike in the woods nearby one of our county lakes. Its an area we just recently learned about and we were excited to try out the trails. It was a perfect northwest autumn day for it. I think there are about 3 miles of trails around the lake...we probably hiked about 2.5 of them.

Us on a platform overlooking a 17 acre pond. Notice the gorgeous blue skies! It doesn't always rain the NW. :)

Lots of these little dragonflies buzzing around the pond. They were about 2.5 inches in length. Red. Anyone recognize it? We'd like to know what kind it is. I couldn't find it on my own when I googled.

They were very friendly...not only with each other.....LOL....but with us. I usually had two or three on me.

We'll definitely be visiting these trails again.

Learning

I'm so excited! I learned a new thing skill today! Can you tell guess what it is? Tink, are you seeing this? I'm so happy thrilled.
I know this is not a big deal for you seasoned bloggers who know a tidbit or two about html but I've wanted to know how to do that strikethrough thing from the day I started blogging. Now I can. Who knows if I'll even try use it much but its enough for me to know I know.
I LOVE learning.

Feet Friday

Hubby in his ghillies

Hubby and I first took a Scottish Country Dance class in April 2001. The local parks department was holding an introductory class and it was cheap. We loved Scotland (both can claim Scottish ancestry…albeit distant) and were looking for some pastime we could do together. We had no clue what this Country dancing was but heck, why not give it a shot. If we didn’t like it we could just quit. 7 years later we are still dancing and loving it! It’s fun. I t’s great exercise for the body and the brain. In fact, hubby now teaches our local class. :)

Mosaic of Me

Months ago when I was first reading blogs I saw a “Mosaic of Me” post. I thought it was a fun idea so I bookmarked the site where you create the mosaic and wrote down the questions to answer. One day, I told myself, I’d start blogging and do a post on it. Well, that day is now. I know there is some kind of blog etiquette about linking to the blog where I saw it….unfortunately I didn’t bookmark that! Nor did I write down any credits to the photos…another no-no, I’m sure. But since it took me a while to do the mosaic I’m posting anyway. I'm still learning about this blog world....hopefully the “blog police” are not looking. : )

This is how it works. You write down the answers to each question. Then you go to Flickr and type in your answer to the first question in the search box. Then pick one picture from that first page of photo’s to best represent your answer….only the first page, folks! You copy/paste that photo link into the Mosaic Maker. Do for each question. Voila! A visual slice of you. Give it a try even if you have no interest in making the mosaic. It’s fun. A bit silly. A bit addicting.

Questions below (my answers in parenthesis):
1. What is your first name? (Cindy)
2. What is your favorite food? (bread)
3. What high school did you attend (Bozeman Senior High)
4. What is your favorite color? (royal blue)
5. Who is your secret celebrity crush? (The Rock…hee, hee)
6. What is your favorite drink? (coffee…love my latte’s)
7. Where would you go on your dream vacation? (Costa Rica)
8. What is your favorite dessert? (brownies)
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? (alive)
10. What do you love most in life? (hubby)
11. One word to describe you. (loyal)
12. Your Flickr name. (nothing, don't have one)

Fabric, fabric, fabric!

After the postcard class today, Tink and I went to one of our local quilt stores to "look around". Yeah, right....look! Many dollars later I walked out with this stash of fabric. Its the new Christmas line from In The Beginning fabrics called Wintergraphix. I bought a bunch from the red colorway and Tink bought the blue colorway.

We are both going to make the same quilt. The pattern is called "Taxi", put out by Timeless Treasures. The pattern allows for big chunks of fabric to be seen.

It'll be fun to see how our quilts end up looking. I know both of us will alter the pattern in some way.......always happens. Here's to hoping we actually get our tops done by Christmas...this year!

Fabric Postcards

Today I had some ladies over for a little class of making fabric postcards. These gals have been asking me for a year to show them how to make postcards and I kept putting it off. Last week at Bunco one of them pushed me to pick a day! Lord knows I often need lots of pushing! :)

There are plenty of good sites online that show how to make these little beauties, so I won’t take the time to explain. Red Shoe Ramblings has one of my favorite tutorials, if you get the itch to give postcards a try.

As always, I enjoyed watching creativity flow. I never tire of that. Here are some pics of the ladies hard at work:

These are the two cards I made with leftover motifs I had cut out for a collage class I took with Heidi Lund. I still have to put an edging on them. Aren’t they cute?

And these are a few of the cards that were made. A couple of gals had left before I was able to get a picture taken so their cards aren’t in the shot.

Fun day.

Doughnut Rewards

Note to self: Do not do Tink’s new exercise routine at Yaya day for the fun of it when one’s grandsons are over for a visit. Your arms can’t handle it! Seriously. Be real.

I read in this months Fitness magazine that “walk, holding a baby” for an hour and 5 minutes burns off 243 calories! That’s one whole doughnut folks! I think I earned at least two doughnuts this weekend. Wait, baby weighs 16 pounds…maybe its more like three doughnuts.

Doughnuts will definitely help my arms to not hurt.

Definitely.

Excuses

I haven't blogged in a while and boy do I have some excuses! LOL! First I was gone for a week at my Dad's. It was a wonderful visit...lots of alone time with my Daddy. Discovered some more ways that we are alike....all good.
Hubby, kids and grandsons came up for dinner one night which gave Great Grandpa his first visit with David

Coming home meant meeting up with an old "friend" that I don't like very much! Had to deal with that for a couple of days which made me totally not want to blog or talk to anyone...in fact, moving away to a cabin in the mountains sounded like a great idea! I visited 3 of the 4 rooms!

Yaya day which takes me away all day for much needed laughter, good food, hugs...and maybe a cocktail or two! Never a time when I don't welcome a day with my Yaya's!

And finally, my grandsons are over for a visit. What Nana has time to blog when her jewels are in the house?

Feet Friday

You can tell where I took this photo, can't you?   Hee, hee.  But can you guess who the feet belong to?

Quilts at the Zoo

Last Saturday we spent the day at the Woodland Park Zoo for our daughters’ birthday. Our 3 ½ year old grandson zipped around enjoying not only the animals but all the stuff he could climb on…lots of fences and rocks and sculpture. And despite the cold I still had, it was a fun day for me too with all the family together.

But what about the quilts, you ask. No, there were not real ones….just the kind that exist in my head! How can a quilter not see future quilts at every turn in a place that is full of texture and color and beauty?


Nature is always a feast for the eyes and fodder for the creative mind. Being able to view creatures and plants that I don’t see normally was very inspiring. I was especially moved by color. I loved seeing combinations that would be fun to try…like the reds, brown, blacks and “pop” of yellow in this spider.

Or how about in this bird? I love the “pop” of red in his eye.

And wow, the vibrant colors in this Toucan’s beak were amazing. They'd look so great against a black background!
I probably won’t get around to most of the quilts that live in my head. Not near enough time in my life span. But, it sure is fun to be inspired!

Togetherness

Tink and I have been best friends for nearly 20 years. We have done so many things in those years. She loves life with exuberance and I can count on her for trying new things…especially if it involves togetherness! She loves togetherness.

Several years ago I wanted to try a sprint triathlon. It’s a shortened version of the one you are probably thinking about. Only ¼ mile swim, 12 miles on the bike and a 3 mile run. Hubby graciously agreed to go with me and keep me company. It was a leisurely day for him as I didn’t really train and spent most of my time in the back of the pack. Heck, I was in it for the experience not the competition. We finished and enjoyed the weekend at Lake Chelan. We had a great time. Cross that off life’s “to-do” list.


But hubby was curious about what his time would have been if he had not stayed with me. Let’s try it again. But I needed something to be different the second time around, so I asked Tink if she and her man wanted to go with us. She agreed.

Occasionally during the year of our non-training training, Tink would comment that she didn’t know how to swim. Really?...I didn’t think she means that she can’t swim….just that she’s not good at it…I mean, who agrees to a triathlon if they can’t swim? (that would be one of the things I do that frustrates my dear bff…not believing her words!) Oh, but I forgot Tink’s love of togetherness…of relationship….of creating new and meaningful memories.

We won’t go into any details but Tink swears she nearly drowned! All I know for sure is that I had an awesome time racing side by side with my best friend that year, hubby was able to race for his own time (cut off over on hour), the four of us had fun at the lake and we have a great story to add to the memory books.

Feet Friday

I'm sick today. So my little feet are staying warm in my fuzzy socks...I'm not getting out of my jammies or robe...and I'm hanging on the couch all day!

Daily Demise of Red Dog

I got a new kitty last year and he is quite the character. Finnian is the first cat I’ve ever had who plays catch. He likes to bat at rolled up paper thrown to him as if he were playing baseball. I play hide-n-seek with him…really!
One day I was sitting in my red chair reading when he comes running by with this red thing in his mouth. Hum…what was that? I go check and find that he has nabbed the Beanie Baby red dog that was in our grandsons crib. I take it away from him, tell him naughty kitty and then put it back. 5 minutes later…..flash of red comes running by….I put it back….5 minutes later….well, you get the picture.
Hunting Red Dog has now become a regular activity for Finnian. And we have turned this hunting into a game. We hide Red Dog all over the house.

When Finn walks by and sees Red Dog he immediately stops what he’s doing to attack.



Some times its just to throw the dog to the floor and then he saunters off with his tail held high in victory…other times he plays with it just as if it were a mouse. And when we leave Finnian alone for too long I find other Beanie Baby “kills” all over the place! But Red Dog is the only one he hunts on a daily basis. Silly cat.

Then and Now

THEN: Tired Mommy with first baby in cozy red recliner rocker with feline friend!



NOW: Tired Nana with first grandchild in a different but still red cozy recliner rocker with another feline friend!

THEN: Proud parents of first child, happy and excited, young and energetic!

NOW: Proud grandparents, happy and excited, not so young and not so energetic!