A Special Project…

Last summer I spent many evenings and weekends sorting through and cleaning out my grandparent’s old store building, preparing all of their life-worth collection of stuff for an auction. My grandfather had been an antiques dealer, gun dealer and repairman, chainsaw sharpening and repairman, grocery store owner and construction worker, and had amassed an entire building full of stuff. Through all the sorting and treasure finding, one thing stuck out – an old trunk. The trunk was up on a shelf and badly damaged from moisture and mildew, as many of the items in the building were. Grandma said it was from her relatives, but because it was so damaged, thought I should throw it.

I didn’t.

Instead, I snuck it home and for the next almost-a-year aired it out in the sunshine, cleaned it up and repaired it’s broken parts. Once it was sturdy and didn’t smell like basement anymore, I decided to try a technique I’d found on Pinterest to bring some beauty back to it again. The technique is modge podge and fabric. The trunk used to have a paper on the outside of it that had a floral design (very little of it was left on), and so I found a fabric that had a similar design and looked “old”.

First I removed all of the trim pieces, metal pieces and accents, bringing the trunk down to just the frame. I covered the trunk with modge podge, cutting pieces of fabric to fit as I went, and then smoothed the fabric over the modge-podged sections. I then sealed up the edges with more modge podge and went over the top of the fabric with a very light, watered-down coat of modge podge.

While that was drying and curing, I primed then painted and distressed the wood pieces, as well as the rusted metal trim pieces.

After a day and a half I was able to put all the trim and accessories back on.

I painted the inside of the trunk, but used the same fabric from the outside for just the bottom of the inside. (I was running out of modge podge! It took almost the entire bottle.)

I also added some very small “bun feet” to the bottom, just because the bottom was warped so it didn’t sit straight on it’s own (plus, they added a little extra cuteness factor).

The original trunk had wood handles, but they were pretty much rotted out, so I fashioned new handles for the sides of the trunk (with a little help from hubby) out of a belt.

Here was the end result (minus the handles – I forgot to take a picture after we put the handles on)

A closer view of the detail

Grandma was definitely surprised and very pleased with her old/new trunk!

A Work In Progress – Thinking About Design in a Different Way

Usually when I succumb to the urge to redecorate a room, I have an “inspiration room”. Whether from a magazine, a blog, or a televised decorating show, I usually see a room and think to myself, “There’s something about that room that strikes me.” From that room I will gather ideas to create my own version of whatever inspired me about it in my own home. Recently, I knew I wanted to re-decorate the kitchen and dining room….only, I didn’t see any room anywhere that had the “feel” I wanted for these two (attached) rooms.

One day I sat on the dining room floor and closed my eyes and thought long and hard about what I wanted out of these rooms. Here’s kind of a scattered list I wrote myself at the end of that meditation:

1. Peace and Tranquility – life is too HECTIC lately.

2. This is where the family gathers at least once every day. It should be soothing and warm.

3. Earth and Sea – a combination of effective feelings of both while not being “overdone”.

Then I began a list of what things bring me peace.

1. Walks in wooded areas.

2. Sitting on the lake shore watching the water move in the light.

3. warm blankets on sleepy cold mornings.

Okay, so it wasn’t a long list, but in effect I wanted to achieve those “senses” from those things without overdoing a theme. Understated. Shortly thereafter I began recklessly pitching away all of my old decor items in a box for Goodwill.

So here’s kind of the “before” of the room (which isn’t totally done yet, I just decided I couldn’t wait to start this blog). As you can see, I had kind of a REALLY (I say “kind of” in a snickering way, p.s.) bright yellow room. Not sure what I was thinking…. I guess I started out with a kind of bohemian idea that turned very, very bad…

So when I started out with thoughts for wall color, I decided that since overcast days are my most relaxed, creative days, I’d go for an “overcast sky” wall color, combined with white trim. The ceiling color in the whole of the dining room and kitchen is a lighter shade of gray. Kitchen walls are the lighter shade, and dining room walls a darker shade. This gets a little complicated in some areas since my layout for those two rooms is like this:

…Due to that, I had to choose some “defining areas” to begin/end the wall colors (more on that in a post at the end of this project).

Anyway, rather than collecting items that had any kind of “theme” to decorate, I decided just to make a hodge podge of things I loved. This turned out to be an okay idea because a lot of those things were natural elements, and what wasn’t meshed well with the natural elements – nature and architecture together is a design scheme all it’s own. Here are some pictures of the things I have done thus far to give you an idea of that combination…

And then, of course, there’s just some fun things like this little guy – our “guard dog” in the corner of the room…

In the kitchen, I repainted the cupboards all a nice, stark white. I haven’t been able to replace them yet (they’re metal) but this will do for the time being…

I also ordered some vinyl accents for the door of the closet in the kitchen…

Much of the kitchen work isn’t done yet because I’ve also chosen to try out one of the kitchen countertop transformation kits (paint) rather than replacing the countertop, opting to save countertop for a time when cupboards are replaced also. Of course, it has to be a certain temperature for a certain amount of time to be able to use the kit, and it hasn’t been yet. Soon, though.
In the meantime, I’m taking my time working on the dining room… which still has a lot left to do. I’m currently painting my Craigslist find table and chair set and still need to add some glaze to the desk and hutch, as well as find one more large element for wall decor in the room… I’m also painting the wood chest in the room and making some throw pillows for the top of that as well… for now here’s the “thus far” progress comparisson…


Until next time!
~Jesi

A Sad Story Turns Happy…

When my Grandmother graduated from High School, her mother was a waitress at the old “Falls Café” in Granite Falls. Her mother purchased a watch as a gift for her graduation, having made payments on it for some time. She had the watch engraved with Grandma’s name on the back. Grandma’s mother passed away when I was very young.

Whenever Grandma dresses up or “goes to town” she still wears this watch. A number of years ago, for Grandma and Grandpa’s wedding anniversary, their children had the band on her watch replaced.

Then last week, Grandma and Grandpa went “to town” on a shopping trip. As they were driving home, Grandma realized her watch was missing. It wasn’t in their van. She had only been to two stores. She was so upset. She told my children about what had happened to her, and when I was in “town” shopping the next night, my son told me how much his heart hurt for Grandma because she lost her watch while shopping. I called Grandma to confirm, and she said yes indeed, she’d lost the watch somewhere between the Stuff-Mart and the Grocery Store. I checked both stores lost-and-found departments that evening with no luck. When I got home, I posted an advertisement on a local classified site. The next day, I went to town again and checked the lost-and-found departments yet again, and then went as far as to walk through the parking lots of both stores, scouring the ground, looking under cars. Then went into the stores and looked up and down every aisle under the shelves. Still nothing. The next day, again and still nothing. It was now Sunday and I was assuming, having heard nothing by then, we probably never would. My heart ached for Grandma. She was so distraught about this watch. “When I realized it was gone it was just like I lost my mother all over again,” she said. I would have done anything to get that watch back to her.

That night, just as the kids were sitting down to supper, my phone rang. Somehow I knew I needed to run to the phone – I wasn’t expecting any calls. It turned out it was a police officer from the “in town” police department. He explained his story – someone actually found the watch the day she lost it in the Stuff-Mart parking lot. The person who found the watch brought it across town to the police department. From there, the officer attempted to locate the owner based on the name inscribed on the back. The problem was, the name was my grandmother’s maiden name. Not being able to locate the owner, he made no more calls. Then, he happened to be browsing the online classifieds site and saw my ad!

I was so excited, I could hardly breathe. I left my husband and kids sitting around the dinner table and rushed over to Grandma’s house. “Do you want to go with me to Marshall?” I asked. “Why would I want to go to Marshall at this time of night?” she seemed confused. “To get your watch!” I nearly yelled.

When we got to town and the officer walked into the lobby holding it she nearly screamed “That’s it!” (I think he jumped a little). There was a lot of talking and laughing while we did the appropriate paperwork for her to take her watch. The watch had only suffered the damage of a broken clasp, which is what had caused the watch to escape her wrist in the first place. It had managed to make it through it’s time in the parking lot without being run over.

On the way home, she was still talking excitedly. “I don’t even think I’ll be able to sleep tonight! I was just so sure it was gone! I was just so sure I’d never see it again!”

It blew my mind how someone actually took the time, on finding the watch, to bring it across town to the police station. Many times I’ve watched people walk past something in a parking lot, glance at it and keep going. There was a thought while it was missing, also, that someone could have perhaps found it and kept it or sold it, due to its age. I’ve found things before, and always made a point to bring them in to the store’s lost and found, but come to think about it – in a case like this, it’s doubtful the store would have even looked for her and had she been many places, she may not have remembered about where it was lost….

Sometimes it seems like people in general more and more lose their compassion for others or an ability to sympathize or empathize with others. When something like this happens, you know there are those out there willing to go out of their way for a stranger. It’s a good thing to keep in mind.

 

I have a terrible time being serious…

I like to joke around… often… and I’m often rather sarcastic. Sometimes this is to cover up being “uncomfortable” in a situation, but mostly that’s just who I am.

One of those “uncomfortable” situations for me is being in front of the camera. We’re all our own best critics they say, and that’s certainly true for me. I’d rather just avoid the camera. So when it comes about that I must be in a photo for any reason, I have a hard time being serious. Rather… an impossible time being serious.

One of my friends makes a line of mineral make-up. I recently purchased a bunch of new colors of eyeshadow and lipstick as well as some other foundations, hilighters, etc. She mentioned that I should take a photo of the new lipstick on after talking about how much I loved it.

“Er, okay….”

Well I don’t even actually have a Facebook profile picture. What I have, is a photo my co-worker made for me one day …..

 

It's very fitting that I'm really quite tall in this photo cause it's not real far off from the truth...

But I decided to give it a shot anyway.
What happens, about ten seconds into any photo taking attempt, is that I get all distracted and find it much more fun to make silly faces at the camera…. in the end I have twelve photos to upload… and they’re all rather…. not appropriate for posting on a business page to advertise their “wares”…

What I ended up with was this:

Along with a couple of pictures of the ceiling and a picture of an ugly old dead bug that was in the windowsill.

After another attempt, things didn’t get much better.
Thank goodness for cropping, because this was the best I could come up with:

Fortunately, my snarky face lips once cropped almost look like a very unfortunate attempt at a Victoria’s Secret model pouty lip look. Ha ha hahhahaha.

In all seriousness. I do love this darling woman’s products. And if my contorted twisty face photos didn’t stop you from reading the rest of this post, and you’re interested in her “wares” (and possibly even considering how you could do your own photo shoot so this woman can have some GOOD customer photos)… you can find her Facebook page here:

http://www.facebook.com/NessasNaturals

The neighborhood I’ve always dreamed about…

Last weekend, I decided we needed to get out of the house and out of the local area for some much needed R&R. For quite some time, I’ve been eyeballing the store Hunt & Gather on Facebook.
. Shortly after arriving in the cities, and after a quick lunch at Bubba Gumps at the MOA, we were on our way to find this much coveted store.

We programmed the address into the GPS and convinced the kids that they would behave in exchange for fun for them later (Fun for mom first, then fun for kids… always makes fun for mom time easier). As we neared the location according to the GPS on Xerxes Ave in downtown Minneapolis, my heart nearly skipped a beat. All around were shops with the word “Vintage” on their windows, on their signs, on signs in front of the streets. Oh my goodness, it was a whole neighborhood. I was so excited, I nearly peed a little. (Gross, I know).

One of the first things I saw entering the Hunt & Gather neighborhood....

We started with Hunt & Gather. Walking through that store, I could hardly contain my excitement. Oh geez – rooms and rooms (on two levels!) of junk. (Or as some would say “junque”.) It was perfect, it was wonderful…. If I was rich, that place would now be nearly empty.

Well, hello, love!

One of the first things I saw entering the Hunt & Gather neighborhood….

Well, hello, love!

Baby surrounded by stuff!

…more stuff

Stuff…. everywhere…..

Giant marquee letters, and pillows, and chairs, oh my…..

Drawers full of all kinds of funky little things….

This photo sums up my family so well…..

Jazz Band at Hell’s Kitchen

So then of course, I had to check out all the shops around there. I tell you I HAD to.
One of the first was a new place called 75% Salvaged

which can also be found here:

http://www.75percentsalvaged.com/

Where I found the most beautiful bird cage ever. It had to come home with me (It’s on the outside of the building in the picture… and now it’s currently on my dining room table waiting patiently for me to make the space for it in the living room)….
And we even had the opportunity to visit with the owner, Allison, who is a lovely lady.

After all of that excitement in the “vintage” neighborhood, it was off to meet my cousins at Hell’s Kitchen in downtown Minneapolis (9th St). This restaurant is not affiliated with the Hell’s Kitchen television reality show. This is, however, a pretty neat place. Extremely themed, and even the kid menu said “Heck’s Kitchen”. Plus, everything on the menu is “different” from the normal fare, right down to the handmade yellow tomato ketchup on the table…

This photo sums up my family so well.....

Jazz Band at Hell's Kitchen

So of course, after all of that, I owed the kids a full day of kid time – Children’s Museum, Winter Carnival, Shopping for fun Kid Stuff, swimming in the swimming pool. We did it all.

Then we got to come home (with the Taj Mahal of Bird Houses) (among many, many other things…)

And because they were so good, we topped off the entire weekend with a MOVIE NIGHT after we finished unpacking.

Scrap Sweater Quilt Tutorial

I love the idea of a heavy, super cozy blanket. There are those who are against the idea of sleeping under something heavy and there are those who are in love with sleeping under a heavy warm quilt in the winter. I am of the “love with” category. There’s nothing better than waking up on a lazy winter weekend nestled under a heavy, warm quilt. It’s like getting a hug… all night long.

So when Christmas was approaching, and my mother-in-law had not been feeling well for some time, I decided the best thing I could make for her Christmas gift was a really heavy, warm blanket she could snuggle under all winter long. I decided when I made the handmade Christmas pledge this year that all of the handmade items I made myself were to be made with as many recycled/upcycled materials as I could manage. With this line of thinking, to accomplish a heavy warm blanket I came up with recycled sweaters. I’m kind of a sweater junkie. I realized recently my closet needed a re-vamp – mostly being browns and blacks and mostly being heavy, bulky sweaters and not much of anything else. I managed to pull 12 sweaters from my wardrobe I wouldn’t miss and all of those ended up being in the colors blue and brown (big surprise, my wardrobe wasn’t very colorful).

What I came up with was a simple squares pattern. In fact, I have a quilter’s square that was just the right size, so I used that as a template for cutting the squares. As I cut each sweater to pieces, I also saved the arms to turn into leg warmers for next winter season, as well as the “scraps” to use to make wrapped flower buds (sweater flowers – yahhhh!).

Two sweaters down, ten more to go....

After all the cutting was done, I laid out all the squares on the floor in the pattern I wanted them to be in. Now, I didn’t have even numbers of all the squares, so I just did my best to make sure two “same” colors weren’t next to each other and re-arranged a couple of times until I felt the pattern had enough visual interest….

Many re-arrangings later....

After the pattern was arranged how I wanted it, I pinned all the squares together. From there I began sewing all the rows together. As you go, your row gets heavier and so you have to sew on a large table so that you can pile the completed row close to your machine or the sweater squares will stretch and that will cause problems when you start to sew the rows together. (Trust me, I had to take out two rows stitching because of this). Once each of the rows were sewn, I began sewing the rows together. As you go, you will discover the finished parts of the quilt get heavier and heavier. This is good – just keep piling it on the table so it doesn’t “pull” and stretch.

Oh and also – if you happen to have a two year old present, the two year old will probably want to help, so it’s a good idea to keep some of those scraps handy to occupy said two year old….

She's so creative, she made herself a hood out of a sweater shoulder....

Once you’ve got your top sewn you’ll probably still have to go back around the edges and do some trimming, as no matter how much effort you put into keeping things from stretching and pulling, it happens… y’know… even if you really, really try hard. (Which I did on the first 3/4 before I started to get antsy to get the whole thing done.)

After all the edges are trimmed, you can work on the backing. For the backing on this quilt I decided to use an existing felt blanket. I originally wanted to use wool and blanket stitch the edge of the quilt, but then I couldn’t find any “good shape” wool blankets to use, so the one that I had which happened to be a blue fleece blanket made an excellent choice anyway. The blanket I made was set up to be a queen size, but the felt queen size blanket I had was just a little bit too long, so I just trimmed off the two inches left-over at the bottom.

I placed the quilt top face down on the backing and pinned. Pinning is important because otherwise, remember, those sweaters stretch really easily! I then machine stitched all around the edging with a 1/4 inch seam and because some of the sweaters on the edges were cable-knit with some wide openings, I used a tight zig-zag stitch to make sure it held. (It’s HEAVY so it’s a good idea.) I left a six inch opening along the bottom to flip the quilt right side out. After that, I hand stitched the opening.

I laid the quilt out along the floor again and spent a couple of hours kneeling over the quilt to “tie” it. For this you use a curved needle and some thick thread and just make sure the needle goes through both the top and the bottom layer. Oh wait – you may be asking yourself right now … “What about the batting?” This quilt is so heavy and warm already I decided I didn’t even need to put batting or lining inside. It worked out fine. Promise…

SO anyway, tying the quilt… make a short stitch through top and bottom layers, leave a half inch of thread on each end of the stitch and tie that together on the top of the quilt. I did this every other square because, well, again… it was a heavy blanket and would probably “shift” around alot if I didn’t.

The end result looked like this

Oh so cozy...

And my mother in law loved it. Double bonus. So in the end, this particular project made an excellent gift and was also a perfect re-use of the items that very much needed to come out of my wardrobe!

I used to be a writer…

I used to be a writer. (I mean, I used to write.) These days, I write in the Associated Press style (AP) news articles, local sports and county board stories…. But I used to write for release, to empty my head of thoughts or bothers…

Recently I received an email from EditRed telling me that they were shutting their website down, and all of the writings posted on the online portfolio would be erased. I quickly signed in to retrieve some of my work, as that was the only place I’d stored a lot of it. Reading through those old writings, I realized… I USED to be a writer.

Here are a few “samples” from those works:

My subconscious is a pre-cog
This morning I thought, “Gosh, self – there’s a lot of things you’re just not getting done. Why does it seem you’re doing more and getting less done?” Well, my self didn’t answer. Instead, it looked over at the coffee pot on the desk next to my actual desk in my tiny little office and noted that the one inch of coffee left on the bottom of the pot was covered in two inches of mold. Note to self: “Clean Coffee Pot”.

My house is a bit on the spooky side. Perhaps it’s my recent watching of too many horror films in honor of the upcoming Halloween holiday that’s got me on high alert, but the dog seems to think so too. Yes, every morning at about 1 a.m. the dog goes nuts barking at the staircase. The metal letters that make up part of the word HOPE on the shelf too high for me to reach uprighted without anyone in the house wanting to claim responsibility for having climbed atop something and uprighted them. Then there’s my subconscious.

My subconscious, (Ethel) was making mental notes as I walked through the house. It noted that the candle should be blown out. Then as I turned to do so, I noted the candle was smoking. It had already gone out. Of course, given the current high alert status, this was also creepy.

Anyway, so Ethel told me this morning that I shouldn’t get out of bed because it was going to be “one of those days”. I’ve been having “one of those days” a lot lately. I like to refer to it commonly as kicking the dead horse. It happens rather frequently this time of year. Businesses start to run out of advertising budget funds and everyone gets worked up for the holidays and forgets about the paper. People are busy or the weather (which is usually cooler and rainy as of late in this area this time of year) gets everybody into a crab-assy mindset. So you see, I spend my days as of late “kicking the dead horse” trying to dredge up some final business for the last couple of months of 2007 while preparing all of the paper work to jump into 2008 with a bang while the advertising budgets are huge.

This makes both Ethel and I crabby. Neither one of us enjoys the world of “advertising” as such. We’d much rather be writing. Well, I would write – Ethel just hangs around and inserts an idea here and there and makes sure we remember to get up and use the potty every once in awhile

Well there’s another thing. My use of the word “potty”. It seems that on occassions such as this I end up speaking as if my children are present at all times. They’re not. It’s not a “potty” room. Damnit. Cuss. Cuss. Cuss.

And again – it’s raining. It’s day number…. five? of this and I grow tired of it. I hear tomorrow’s supposed to be nice. Well, shucks – I’ll be on a trip where I likely won’t see much of the outdoors anyway. No sunlight for me. Or Ethel, but then she’s used to it.

Random Jot #7
Wait; for words have power. Life begins with words and ends with words. All that is in between is pages of a book. Hours pass in moments. Words appear and disappear. At times our words touch, overlap, dance seductively around each other.

Random Jot #18
Walls fall around me, soft thuds rather than the familiar thundering crash. Something is wrapping ’round me, warming cold skin – places forgotten.

The unplanned occurrence can be the salvation of what you’ve become… I’m awake again.

Random Jot #77
A nurse enters, sticks an needle in his I.V. She explains that she is giving him a sedative as he has just had a panic attack. A lump rises in my throat at the same time a rock drops through my stomach. My eyes burn and threaten to spill over. She leaves and we sit in silence a bit more. He starts to talk, but his voice is weak. His deep booming voice that has helped to change laws that have made our lives better today. His deep booming voice that sang my praises and got me where I am today, now barely above a whisper. He tells me what they’ve been doing with him in the hospital and what the diagnosis is. He tells me how he will go see the specialist. I am unable to answer or even shake my head, as the motion might make the tears spill over. I sit staring at his hands. Those large strong hands are now weak and frail, two flat white rags laid over his stomach motionless, stuck with I.V. needles. I’d always been fascinated by Curt’s hands, as they are the one thing that remained untouched by polio and old age. No matter how shrunken his legs got over time in the wheel chair, no matter how slouched his shoulders, his hands stayed large and strong… to remind everyone that this was a man that before polio stood almost seven feet tall with broad shoulders and your typical football player build. A man of power. And there lay his hands, weak and nearly useless across his stomach filled with cancer.

Random Jot #92
His black eyebrows are caterpillars, now set low to his green eyes. His nose straight and strong, the hair on his face unshaven for two days now, making a dark pattern across the bottom half. His skin smooth and pale. He is smiling. He rarely smiles. He takes life too seriously. He is so beautiful when he smiles.

Random Jot #94
Arms, legs, hands and feet felt like they were not my own, pressing my hands to my the ground felt like anchoring. I wiggled my bare toes against the stones, a pebble pressing the bottom of the big toe on my left foot with each downward motion. Room service has long since delivered the life supporting caffeinated goodness and I lift my cup from the stone and let the steam tickle my nostrils for a bit before pressing the hot ceramic to my lip. The heat feels good. It is cool enough to see your breath and this is a feeling I rather enjoy. All is good in life.

Time to break out the pointy toed shoes…

Because my 9-5 job is as the editor of the local newspaper, that means my volunteering opportunities are somewhat limited. In order not to show any bias to any group or organization, I don’t get involved in a lot of things. However, there is one thing I do annually.

Years ago, I befriended a gentleman who, in the winter months, goes by the name “Santa Claus”. This fellow never goes out of character, either. My kids think this is fantastic. Their mother personally knows, and works with Santa Claus. Santa Claus has BBQ’s at the beach with us and comes to our house for dinner.

Eventually, Santa Claus asked me to help with some of the holiday events. Certainly, volunteering my time to be Santa’s Elf doesn’t break any of the News Editor rules. So each year, I don my striped hat, my elf ears, and whatever other kinds of elf-like things I can put together and I become Santa’s Elf.

Mind you, being Santa’s Elf is a pretty serious job. It’s not easy work. Most kids have the same reaction upon seeing Santa for the first time… that reaction is FEAR. I’ve found my “magic jingle bell” necklace helps with this. I let them hold the “magic jingle bell” and while they clutch it like their lives depend on it, they are somehow able to tell Santa just what it is they want. Babies like to watch the “magic jingle bell” and give smiles for the camera. Still, some kids are too terrified of Santa to ever end up telling him what they want. More than a couple of times, I (the elf) have had to take over Santa’s “throne” and have the child tell me what they want because they’d rather do that than talk to Santa, and then Santa sneaks his way into the picture for the parents.

It can be hectic, and it can be exhausting, and I have great admiration for those portly, bearded men that don the hot, stuffy suit and spend their evenings and weekends in malls surrounded by lots of noisy and rambunctious children all in the name of helping make Christmas… well… Christmas. As long as there are Santa’s out there to bring cheer to the holiday, and as long as I’m asked, I’ll keep donning my ridiculous elf suit (much to the amusement of my adult relatives) and putting on my happy face during the holiday season.

And on a side note, I think this year, since I’ve had the same costume for a number of years, I’m going to have to work out something a little more fabulous…. Halloween draws near, so lots of bright green wigs and striped stockings are to be found!

The Camper/Playhouse Housewarming Party!

Sunday afternoon, we held the much anticipated camper/playhouse housewarming party. We woke that morning to find that it had rained! The rain was much needed here, as the latter part of summer/early fall has been so lacking in rain that much dust surrounds our area. The rainfall over night was just enough to keep the dirt in the yard on the ground where it belonged, rather than kicked up in the air where it could bother us. Soon enough, the sun popped out and the air warmed up. It was a beautiful autumn day!

My eleven year old helped in the kitchen while the two little girls wandered off to play until it was time for the party. He decided it was time he learned to bake, and offered to make the cookies himself. I instructed him on what to do while I worked on the apple crisp and pumpkin crunch cake. We also made “Mississippi Sin” dip to serve on french bread. Here are the recipe links:
Mississippi Sin Dip:

Pumpkin Crunch Cake:

(I didn’t bother including a recipe for apple crisp, because it’s just apples, oats, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and flour. Crumble all the dry ingredients in a bowl, add butter, smash with fork until crumbly…. pour over top of sliced apples in a greased cake pan)

We also served apple slices coated in chocolate, apple cider with cherries, and we had made (but forgot to set out!) toasted pumpkin seeds.

The guests began arriving right on time, greeted at the front of the house by our sign, referring them to the back yard. Many who arrived didn’t know what to expect, as I’d only told most that it was a camper we turned into a playhouse, and left any further description out of it.

As they walked around the house they got their first view of what it really was.

The first guests to arrive were siblings the two older children are both friends with, along with their mother, and friend of mine, with the most clever gift I think I’ve ever seen.

And this is why we make good friends! I think we both found this equally amusing!

Soon, the rest of the guests arrived, and the next couple of hours were filled with many conversations between the adults over coffee and cider, while the children ran amuck…. just kidding… though they did do a lot of running around, and playing in the playhouse and much enjoying the sunshine and fresh air.

Of course, the children opened some of the gifts they received as well, which included snacks for their playhouse, and this bird feeder and bird feed



All afternoon the party went on. By evening we were all ready for a rest!
That’s all for now!

An Inspiration to Many

My Grandmother’s uncle and aunt recently passed away, and my grandmother requested that I go on the internet and find their obituary to print copies for her and her siblings since they were unable to make it to the services. When I googled their names, what I found astounded me. Across the internet, their love story and the story of their death was posted – EVERYWHERE. Their love story, and how they passed together, holding hands, had become an inspiration to so many. What a beautiful tribute to this couple. Grab a hankie – the story is here: (Source – ABCNews.com – http://abcnews.go.com/US/iowa-couple-married-72-years-dies-holding-hands/story?id=14771029)

Iowa Couple Married 72 Years Dies Holding Hands, an Hour Apart
By CHRISTINA NG
Oct. 19, 2011 —

A devoted Iowa couple married for 72 years died holding hands in the hospital last week, exactly one hour apart.

The passing reflected the nature of their marriage, where, “As a rule, everything was done together,” said the couple’s daughter Donna Sheets, 71.

Gordon Yeager, 94, and his wife Norma, 90, left their small town of State Center, Iowa, on Wednesday to go into town, but never made it. A car accident sent the couple to the emergency room and intensive care unit with broken bones and other injuries. But, even in the hospital, their concerns were each other.

“She was saying her chest hurt and what’s wrong with Dad? Even laying there like that, she was worried about Dad,” said the couple’s son, Dennis Yeager, 52. “And his back was hurting and he was asking about Mom.”

When it became clear that their conditions were not improving, the couple was moved into a room together in beds side-by-side where they could hold hands.

“They joined hands; his right hand, her left hand,” Sheets said.

Gordon Yeager died at 3:38 p.m. He was no longer breathing, but the family was surprised by what his monitor showed.

“Someone in there said, ‘Why, then, when we look at the monitor is the heart still beating?’” Sheets recalled. “The nurse said Dad was picking up Mom’s heartbeat through Mom’s hand.”

“And we thought, ‘Oh my gosh, Mom’s heart is beating through him,’” Dennis Yeager said.

Norma Yeager died exactly an hour later.

“Dad used to say that a woman is always worth waiting for,” Dennis Yeager said. “Dad waited an hour for her and held the door for her.”

The inseparable couple was engaged and married within 12 hours in 1939 on the day Norma Yeager graduated from high school.

“She graduated from high school on May 26, 1939, at about 10 a.m., and at about 10 p.m. that night she was married to my dad at his sister’s house,” Sheets said.

The vibrant duo had a “very, very full life.”

They worked as a team. They traveled together, they were in a bridge club together and they worked in a Chevrolet dealership, creamery and other businesses together.

“They always did everything together,” Sheets said. “They weren’t apart. They just weren’t.”

Dennis Yeager described his father as an “outgoing” and “hyper” man who was still working on the roof of his house and sitting cross-legged with no problem at age 90.

“The party didn’t start until he showed up,” he said. “He was the outgoing one and she supported him by being the giver. She supported Dad in everything. And he would’ve been lost without her.”

Dennis Yeager said it is strange today to go into his parents’ home and see the “two chairs side-by-side that they sat in all the time,” empty. He said it was in those chairs that his parents cheered on the Arizona sports teams they loved and rarely missed an episode of “Wheel of Fortune” and “The Price Is Right.”

According to their obituary, besides their children, the Yeagers are survived by her sister, Virginia Kell, and his brother, Roger Yeager, as well as 14 grandchildren, 29 great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.

Their grandson Randy Yeager said he has been inspired in his own 13-year marriage by his grandparents’ loving and lasting marriage.

“Grandpa and I were talking this summer about all of the people getting divorced for this reason or that and he mentioned that nobody stays together anymore,” Randy Yeager wrote to ABCNews.com in an email. “I told [him] that my wife Mara and I would never be getting a divorce and he said, ‘That’s because you’re old school, like me!’

“That was one of the greatest compliments I could have ever received and one I will strive to live up to for the rest of my life,” Randy Yeager said.

The couple were put in a casket together holding hands for their funeral this week, but are being cremated and will have their ashes mixed before burial.

“All their life has been together,” Sheets said. “So, when it came to the funeral home, the family asked, ‘Can we have them put in the casket together holding hands?’ Because that’s the way their life was.”