Finished at last!

Here's the front.
The back with it's little label. Okay, so it's not little, but it's still cute.
I finished it on Thursday. I really hope the recipient likes it and more than anything I want her to let the kiddo use it. I'd love to see it in four or five years with the binding worn plumb off and faded from repeated washing.

Okay, I've got to go pack and finish up some laundry. For some reason DH thinks he needs socks for this trip. Men!

Thankful Thursday

I remembered!

This Thursday I'm thankful that I'm finally finished with the baby quilt. I'll post pictures tomorrow.

I'm also thankful that this is the last trip to NM until December.

Happy, Happy Birthday Baby

My baby sister is 24 years old today.

From a little squirt that would laugh at the drop of a hat...
to a bigger little squirt with curls. Would ya' look at those curls!
Now she's all grown up, going to culinary school and working in a fancy restaurant 1800 miles away.
Duck confit, anyone?
She's miles away and I miss the little squirt.

Happy Birthday, from you meanest big sister. I love you.

How flat thou art

Eastern New Mexico has it's own special beauty.
You can see for absolutely miles.
On a good day on the way to Roswell, you can see the Capitan mountains. They're still a long, long way away.
A little bit of that New Mexico sunset everyone seems to love.
See how different the dirt color is compared to Oklahoma. Really it's just sand and will be gone and replaced in the next big wind.
This is peanut farming country. I love to see the peanut trailers lined up.
You don't see many trees around here.
This old building is on the way to Roswell.
Flat, flat, flat.
This is the Burlington Northern Santa Fe rail line. I can remember when it was just the Santa Fe and they still used a caboose on the trains.
This is also dairy country. Every where you look there's a dairy, sucking up what little water there is. There are enough dairies to support a cheese plant.
Dry, dry, dry. The average yearly precipitation is 17.17 inches.I've lived in Oklahoma almost four years and daily I'm reminded of how blessed I am to have this opportunity. I love the trees, the water, and the landscape. Every bit of it in sharp contrast to what I lived with for 14 years.

Would I ever move back to NM? Not willingly. I really think it's a nice place to be from and a visit every now and again isn't too bad, but Oklahoma is my home now.

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful that the wind isn't blowing at the moment, that the weather has cooled off, and for the rain we got the other morning even though the thunder scared the snot out of me. I'm also thankful I have the opportunity to live in Oklahoma.

Mom and I are headed to New Mexico tomorrow afternoon. I'll try to take pictures so you can see how flat it is where I came from. Once you see it you'll understand my love of Oklahoma.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. See you Sunday.

Frustration, thy name is....baby quilt

Finally, I've got the top done. Here it is before the final border.
And then with the final border.
I've had nightmares with this silly thing. Step-daughter declared, "NO pink!". When I asked her what colors she did want, well, she didn't really know. I still don't know what colors she's using. Pffft!

Son-in-law told us absolutely no pastel colors. Of course this came down after I'd already bought fabric. They're just lucky I'm not doing it in barf green and turd brown.

It's not the most gorgeous baby quilt I could have ever dreamed up, but I'll bet there's not another kid on the playground with one just like it.

Dreaming about our remodel

We have three rooms left in our remodel (living room, dining room, and kitchen). Of course they're the big three and will be a complete upheaval while going on. One of these days I'll let you know what we're going to have to do and then you can all start praying for us and taking up donations.

The other night I woke up after dreaming DH had gotten disgusted with the whole mess and checked into a hotel. I was supposed to call him when I got done so he could come home. I got done and never called him. I wonder what that's telling me? Of course I also dreamed we did all three rooms for the ridiculously low price of $2000.

I know DH hates living in the middle of a remodel, but I love it. I can tinker around and get tons of stuff done in little spurts.

This is what I want in my dining room on two walls. I want these enough that I ordered the plans and video for DH. On sale of course.Picture shamelessly stolen from my good friend Norm over at The New Yankee Workshop. Imagine this with double windows and of course a longer window seat.

Right now it's still just a dream, but I'm working on making it happen. DH needs to put those power tools his dad gave him to good use and I think turning my dining room into a dining room/library is the perfect thing.

Trifoliate orange

Have you ever seen one?Mom and I spotted a funny little tree with gobs of orange fruit next to an abandoned house a few weeks ago and our curiosity was piqued.

Also known as the Chinese Bitter Orange (Poncirus trifoliata), the fruit smells heavenly. It's a little on the citrusy side, but spicy too. The skin is kind of fuzzy, but not like a peach. The inside is segmented like an orange, but the seeds are more scattered. Taste, oh my word. Stick your finger in your ear and then in your mouth. I'm talking bitter. By the way, I don't recommend the whole finger/ear/mouth thing, but honest to goodness, that's what it tastes like. The juice is sticky like glue. It took 437 Wet Wipes to get the gunk off my fingers and out from under my fingernails.

Supposedly you can make marmalade out of these, but their use as rootstock is more common since they appear to be hardy to zone 5.

Okay, horticultural lesson over.

Nothing much is going on around Aunt Jo's house. I'm studying for a test tomorrow in physics. Fun stuff.

I did a little surfing and decided this is what we're having for dinner. I love sauerkraut. DH will probably turn up his little Irish nose and complain, but der hausfrau says suck it up and give it a try.

In thrifty news, I bought a package of old hankies for $2 at the thrift store. Thrift Shop Romantic hit the mother load of old hankies. Check it out.

Have a great week and I'll be by to see everyone soon.

Wow! Time flies when you're avoiding your blog. I haven't really been avoiding it, but I sure haven't had a lot to say.

Let's see. I went on a two week reading binge and read 27 library books. I think I'm all read-out so maybe they won't need to take my library card away from me.

Then I kind of got sucked into watching television. I was doing so good too. I normally only watched two shows a week and the rest of the time I was busy doing stuff. Now I'm finding myself sitting on my tush glued to the tube. Bad stuff. I'm working on it. Right after the Project Runway finale tonight. Yep. That's my story.

Other than that, absolutely nothing fun is going on.

DH went deer hunting and didn't have any luck. Part of me is really glad because it makes more work for me and part is sad because I know he enjoys it. He's going back this weekend and trying it again before muzzle load and rifle seasons start.

The rest of the year is going to be busy. I'm a homebody and don't like being gone much. That said, I'm going to NM in two weeks with Mom, once in November with DH for the baby shower, and once in December for the family Christmas. I really kind of dread the November and December trips just because of family stuff right now.

The weather has turned off cooler and I love it. It's officially snuggling weather. We've had rain the last three days and it's been delightful. I think I'm ready for winter weather.

Like almost every other household I can think of, the economy and government shenanigans have me worried. I thought I had my presidential candidate picked out, but the longer it goes the less I like the candidates. And that's as political as it's going to get here, from me, on this date.

Okay, I guess that's it. I've got to go get dinner started. I hope everyone is enjoying the weather and is doing well.

Bits and pieces of Autumn

Mom and I worked on my front porch Thursday and still didn't get done. Well, she did, but I didn't. I still have pillows to make.

Here are a few things. Unfortunately, the wind is blowing 30 mph right now and stuff is flying everywhere. I've had to bring in two mums and my native grasses. No telling what else will fly before this is over.

An old milk can holding a mum.
This is the folding chair I found by a dumpster. I have a hat with a sunflower to hang on the back. I've rescued it from the street once so until the wind stops it's in the house.
Mom fixed my old rake up with Indian corn and a silk leaf garland. I'm still debating about whether or not to add a big old raffia bow to the handle.

Happy October!

Shh! I think I'm back in action.

I've decided I can't let my FIL run/ruin my life because he wants to be unhappy in his last years. That's what it all boils down to. He's unhappy and he wants the rest of us to join in his misery. NO THANKS!

Tomorrow I'm decorating the front porch. It's time we got a little Autumn spirit going on around this joint. I have a brand-new old leaf rake, some pumpkins, an old chair, and bronze mums. I'll bet I can scrounge up some more junk if I need it.

After two years of the life-size scarecrow scaring my mail lady, I'm doing something different. Sadly, Uncle Albert bit the dust in the garage over the winter. I think I ran over part of him. Whoops!

I hope everyone is off to a great start in October. I'm sure giving it a shot.