I Thought Our Time Had Come.....

Yesterday, I wondered if our middle child (8 yr. old boy) had broken his ankle. It got hit really hard by the edge of a metal scooter. He wouldn't walk on it for probably 40 minutes, and I figured it was our turn to head to the emergency room for an x-ray to check it out.

I kept trying to get him to even try and stand on it, and he wouldn't. All I could do was give him some Tylenol and put an ice pack on it. We got Dad on the phone, and he had him do all kinds of goofy stuff. Before I knew it, C was standing on his bad foot/ankle only, with both hands on his head, and bending over at the waist, as if bowing. He started laughing it was so goofy, and we knew he would be alright. I am SO glad it wasn't broken. We've been pretty lucky so far. With 2 boys, both of which can be quite physical and daring at times, I always figured it would happen by now. Thank Goodness it hasn't.

Incidentally, the kids' dad had broken several bones by the time he was 6 yrs. old, and nearly cut his tongue off as well. The accidents didn't stop as he grew up. He cut his thumb off when he was 17, working on the farm, but they were able to reattach it.

Getting Into Show Business

I was informed by hubby recently that we have a couple water trucks going into show business. Okay, I'm getting a little carried away and exaggerating just a wee little bit. But, the truth of the matter is we sold one of our manufactured water trucks to the guys with Ice Road Truckers (this show is on the Discovery Channel, I believe.) They will use our truck to spray water on areas that are getting deep ruts in the ice road, to kind of fill in the uneven places with a build-up of new ice.

We also rented 2 water trucks to a company here locally, and they will be using them in the filming of a TV commercial that Tiger Woods is starring in. Our trucks will not be shown in the commercial, but used to spray water, simulating a rain storm.

We also have a couple trucks employeed with the firefighters to fight forest fires. Our trucks' water cannons can shoot water at least 100 ft. away, which is good since not all deep-woods fire is easily accessible.

I found this amusing. I hope you do too.

Me, Too!!!

Our 4-year old little sister wants her "quilting" sewing pictures on the blog too. She actually started sewing before her big brother, and was in fact his inspiration, but I never posted the pictures.

B is just practicing at this point, on real pieces of scrap fabric, but doing more "free-style" than anything else. She wants to start a quilt now, but I told her she needs a bit more practice first. She can, however, start a new piece of fabric while holding the strings so they don't get pulled underneath. She can be sewing, leave the needle down, and pivot the fabric to make a sharp corner. And she can finish a piece of fabric by clipping the threads with some snips. I will assure you, she is very careful and cautious with all of this. I was more willing to let her sew (as far as safety measures go) than I was the boys.

In one of the pictures below, notice how I had to raise up the foot pedal so she could reach it. I've got silicone hot pads underneath the phone book, as well as on top of it, so things don't slide around.

After All These Years

It took me a long time, about 17 years in fact, but it's finally finished. Here is my college quilt that I started, entirely forgot about, and discovered it in the closet, with about 10 % of the quilt top sewn together already, when I started my butterfly quilt a couple months ago. The colors are so dated, in country blue and mauve! I am pleased it turned out better than I thought it would. It was difficult because I made some mistakes on it (17 yrs. ago) and tried my best to fix things this time around. I didn't want to waste all that fabric by throwing the whole thing away! It amazes me that I cut out the entire thing with regular scissors, not the time-saving, highly accurate gadgets of today: the rotary cutter and mat. Without further introduction, here it is.

Don't you think it will make a nice picnic quilt for the park, or even a snuggle-under throw for our school room, for our family story times? Our school room gets a little chilly sometimes.

Boys Can Quilt Too

Our 8 yr. old son has been sewing the last few weeks, but it has all been for practice. (The picture of him above is from a month ago.) Yesterday was different. I put him on a real project, and he is just thrilled. He has started a quilt. I got some inexpensive fabric, and made a bunch of charms out of them. Charms are usually pre-cut 5 inch squares. These are homemade charms. He's gotten (20) 2-patches sewn up, and he will need (48) 2-patches for his lap quilt. We're doing something a little interesting. He is not pinning anything together. He's using Elmer's glue dabs instead. It's working wonderfully.

Incidentally, I looked into a sewing class for the boys. For just a few hours of class time, a local shop wanted $125.00 plus materials costs, for each boy!! I may not be a fabulous seamstress, but I can certainly teach them enough to get started for that price!

He is so excited and proud of his progress. I'm excited too. Anything that catches his interest, and helps him to keep busy, will keep him from aggravating the rest of us. He has a lot of energy that he sometimes doesn't know what to do with.

I was nervous that my husband would think I was trying to feminize him. But no worries. He thinks it's great. I also mentioned the fact that at the big quilting show/competition in Paducah recently, I heard the top 3 quilts were all made by men.

Wordless Wednesday: Babies ARE Cute, No Matter the Species

Okay, so I mislead you. I am going to say 2 short things about today's pictures, so it's not "Wordless Wednesday" after all. Sorry about that.

• The baby grasshoppers cover the top of both sides of this fence post.
• They each measured about 1/4 inch long, though I did not have a ruler with me to measure them.

Mushrooms, Anyone?

Our family loves mushrooms in any shape or form. No, we don't grow them ourselves, or forage for them in the woods, but they are tasty when obtained from reputable sources. Well, we have a local mushroom farm, near the worm farm we frequent. I purchased some mushrooms from them at wholesale price and made some marinated mushrooms. This was a new undertaking for me, since it entailed canning of sorts. I think I did it right because all the lids are sunken down, not popping up if pressed on with a finger. It was a little time consuming to make them up, but not difficult. The first batch I made produced 5 quart jars full. I bought 10 lbs. of mushrooms for the batch. After giving away a couple jars, and snarfing down the rest, I had to make more. The second time, I purchased 20 lbs. of mushrooms wholesale, and got 10 quart jars. Yes, a little math lesson for you kiddos reading along.

Here is a picture of the first batch before it disappeared overnight. And I have to tell you: the second batch turned out much better than the first. I tweaked the recipe. Now, if only, I can replicate it again when need be. Why do I always do that? I am forever changing a recipe and then forgetting what I did to make it better.

If there is any interest, I will post the recipe. For all you locals, email me behind the scenes, and I will give you the low-down on obtaining the mushrooms at wholesale pricing. It is a mite tricky, but not illegal. I don't want you to be frustrated. And I don't think you want to buy 10# of mushrooms at full-price. It's expensive!

Now I'm off to sneak a few mushrooms under the cover of darkness. I have to take the fly swatter to the sneaky hands of my hubby and kids, or they'll eat them all up in a day or two.