Homecoming!!

Since that last post was slightly depressing I thought that I should counter that with a fun event. Last night was the Homecoming dance at Court's high school and he asked a cute girl named Amy to go with him. They went to dinner at the Olive Garden and then to the Homecoming game on Friday night.
Saturday evening they had a mexican dinner made by one of the guys dad. Court said it was so good!! I think that they had a great time.

This is Court with his snazzy monochromatic blue tie that Alyssa helped him pick out to match Amy's dress.

Court and Amy when he went to pick her up.

The 2nd Scariest Friday Ever!!

Friday morning had all the promises of a wonderful day. The weather was fantastic, Court had late start at school so we all got to sleep in a bit, basically, things were going well.
As Court was eating breakfast before leaving for school he said to me that he had bad news. "I think my granuloma is coming back." I looked at him and asked why he would say that. (Note: Court had a string of calcification in his neck when in 5th grade that needed surgery to be removed and was diagnosed as granuloma.)
He said that he had a lump under his chin. I walked over and felt under his chin and there was a marble sized lump. Needless to say, I freaked out. I went upstairs and told Boyd and he told me to call the doctor. NOW. I got an appointment and then went through every scenario in my mind: cat scans, MRI's, chemotherapy, etc. I had thought of everything but death and burial.
At the doctor's office we explained the symptoms to the doctor and he asked a few qualifying questions. Then he asked if Court had had a cold sore. Yes, he had. Hmmm. Then he told us that just yesterday a girl had come in with the exact same symptoms, a cold sore and an enlarged lymph node under her chin. He thought that it was most likely a secondary infection that Court has and put him on a strong dose of antibiotics to see if it will shrink in size.
We took Court to lunch at Red Robin as we were all in need of some sustenance after our trauma. To say the least, it took me all the rest of the day to recover.

Look closely under Court's chin and you will see his lymph node.

No, that is NOT an Adam's Apple. That is a grossly enlarged lymph node!

Molly Canning Queen

I understand that this is probably the most boring post ever to be put on anyone's blog in the USA but really, this is what I do in the fall. I do a little canning. I love my own pears, peaches and tomatoes. That is pretty much the extent of what I do. I buy most everything else.

These peaches are from Willard. My mom and I go up there every year and buy them from a fellow named Facer. He grows a variety called Angelus. I'm telling you, you might kill someone for one of these peaches. They are the BEST ever!


These tomatoes were in our garden this morning. What do you do with tons of tomatoes and peppers? I guess you pick them and put them in a bottle. I only had 2 bottles BREAK!! (That is very unusual, you might want to know.)

Bang-a-langs

Alyssa took a giant leap on Friday and had our hairdresser cut her bangs to her eyebrows. Her inspirations for bangs were Jennifer Garner and Reese Witherspoon. We all love her "new" look!

Jon's House

Saturday morning Boyd, Rose and I went up to Jon's house to help him finish laying sod. It was like putting a jigsaw puzzle together trying to fit all the grass pieces in the allotted space. We laid the sod in the front of the house and by the driveway on both sides. It was a fun project.

This is one of the places we laid the sod.

This is the side of the house that you see from the road. Jon built the entire house himself.

Late Summer in K-town

I walked outside yesterday to throw some stuff in the garbage and this is what I saw: cute Jenny and cute Alyssa sitting on the van seat with Jenny's huge umbrella enjoying the rain. I had to take a picture and put it on my blog. Ahh the joy of youth............
p.s. The van seats were out of the van because we had picked up a dresser for a neighbor and we needed to take the seats out.
p.p.s. Do you like Alyssa's haircut? She had our hairdresser cut her bangs to her eyebrows and got an overall trim. Those bangs just frame Alyssa's chocolate chip brown eyes.

Turning 20 in Shangrila

This entry is specifically for Mary and Carolyn although I want everyone to enjoy. Do you both remember the fabric that you gave me last year for my birthday? Well, I was able to purchase a few more prints in the Shangrila collection and decided to do a Turning 20 quilt. This is the final project and...........the most amazing thing of all, I AM KEEPING THIS QUILT!! It is so beautiful that I have put it on my day bed in the basement bedroom. That way, I can look at it everytime I go downstairs to do projects.

Thanks to both of you!!!

Home improvements? or am I just creating more work?

I have been on a home improvement kick. Moments like this happen to me infrequently so when it happens, I start doing stuff. Below you can see the main 3 projects that I decided to tackle. I don't know if it is worth the effort. I love the way fresh paint looks and so I am a little psychotic about paint jobs. I slaved over the front door trying to give it a hammered metal look with the paint and it looked fabulous until I put in the door knob. The instructions given for installation were less than complete and I finally had to just finish the job without it being perfect and wait for someone a little brighter than myself to help me. The key hole is upside down and nothing I do will change that. I created a lovely bump on the wall where the screw for the dead bolt came too close to the sheet rock and as you read below, you will notice that I need to fix the stools. I have to say, however, that the hallway was fairly noneventful and turned out well.
I should just keep my little mitts out of projects and stick with something I can do like........sewing!!


Our upstairs hallway. It used to have light mauvy pink walls which clashed with the rest of the house. I finally got the bee in my bonnet to paint the hall. It was actually the least complicated of my projects!!

The inside of our front door. Notice the dead bolt and door knob. Our original one stopped working, thus necessitating purchasing a new front door knob. I thought I would tear my hair out before that door knob was installed. It is still not right!! I now need to call my brother, Jon, who can do and fix anything, to come and rescue me.

The outside of our front door......it already has a scratch on it that needs to be repaired.

This is the way our stools looked before we sanded and sprayed them. They are scratched and don't really match anything.

These stools were completed........I thought. Then one morning after the children were done eating breakfast, I noticed marks on the seat of the stool. They were imprints of the fabric of the kids levi's. Oh well, back to the sander and sprayer!

Rosalie Olsen

Little Rosalie, named after the vampire, entered the world on September 2, 2008. Here are some pictures taken by my mom, Beryl, the great-grandma!

Proud daddy, Steven, my nephew.

Amanda with all 3 children!!!

Big Brother, Porter, with his new Thomas the train.

Miss Lydia, 18 months old, with her grandpa's blue eyes.

Little Rosalie, 6 lbs, 8 oz and 19 1/2 inches long.

My sister, Carolyn, grandma of Rosalie.

Proud great-grandma holding little Rosalie.