H is for HaHa on me

Today my sister retrieved the two baby quilts to me and took me out to a nice lunch. It's funny passing a quilt to another in a public place. Everyone just assumes you bought it. They'd never imagine someone made it, let alone the person sitting right there. Just look at that bright blue sky isn't it beautiful?
Then off to home. Today is the day the Maple Tree came down, okay it's nearly down (still around 12' right now) and I'm inside having a bit of rest while Jessica naps. With my bad food on ice. How did I get to this point? Well when we arrived home, Jessica wanted to play outside, of course this lead to me clearing and cleaning off the back porch (someday it will look great). Before to long the neighbor came over with his chainsaw to help take the tree down. Watching them is like watching a comedy of errors, don't get me wrong though I am so grateful for the help! I personally have never used a chainsaw, but I have been around them many many times. As a child growing up in the Ozarks hauling wood was a weekend chore. We always went for the dead fall pulling it out of the wooded areas of our 120 acre property. Hauling in the heat isn't to bad, but hauling in the cold, when your hands and feet hurt so badly... That sucks. Sunny the diggiest cat.
A couple of days ago I asked DH to make a pile of wood from the medium to big size stuff that fell out of the tree when the tornado hit two weeks ago. He did just like I asked. Of course he's a city boy... Yep, those of us who know about hauling wood know right where this is headed. I knew he had a pile waiting to be added to the pile, so I went over to help just a bit. I know, I know, I'm supposed to be off my foot as much as possible, truly I never dreamed what I had gotten myself into. Short, long, tiny, fat, all piled catty-whomp-us. Some even where going crosswise (on the bottom). Oh how he must love me. Well I couldn't help it. I had to tear the thing apart and build it up again. After doing that for a couple of hours I'm more than ready to put a sign out "Free Maple Firewood U-HAUL" LOL! But I'm picky too. Don't leave me with the ones not cut right, or the y's ect. Take from the top and respect the pile. There is a certain order to things that occur when you stack wood. It's like a puzzle and if you don't put it together right, the entire thing will fall over, especially as it gets higher. There is a rhythm and order to the process. While stacking I remembered the races to pile the wood faster and faster, thunk, thunk...thunk, thunk...The repetition and the sound clears your head. I thought living here meant no more hauling, oh well haha on me.

My current thought for a replacement tree is something along the lines of a dwarf cherry, a tree that will grow to around 10'. The Old maple was easily 60' before the storm. 10' feels safe to me.

The Nun Orchid Capsules are doing great, Troy tells me they need anywhere from 180 to 330 days to ripen on the plant, so it will be a while yet.

G is for Go for Another

Yep I did it. I made a receiving blanket to match. It was the joy of the two to make. Went nice and easy and the fabric really is nice to work with. In the Applique Heart it says "Little One". That is my favorite part. It took all my scraps to make it, but I felt full filled when I finished, which is more than I can say for the ABC one, as I was so dog tired when I finished it.

I do hope everyone has had a good weekend. DH has been hard at work taking the Maple Tree down one huge branch at a time. It's quite sad really. The tree has been with us since we bought the house and while we most likely would have bought the house without the tree, it has been a wonderful addition to our home. I am currently researching dwarf fruit trees perhaps something will be able to replace it.

F is for Finshed

I'm so glad to have wrapped up the baby quilt today. It have some kind of disease or something. It's got to be some quilt infection! Just when I thought I was nearly done and the quilt just needed quilted... I go and decide to make the back nice too. A bit of a double sized number. Man on man was I feeling the heat around noon and I was still working on the back. All is well that ends well, the quilting was a breeze with the s curve stitch that I like and it matched the quilt too. As you know the top photo was the front, and this lower one is the back. Not bad for something I hadn't even given a bit of thought to until today. The photo is a bit dark so if you were wondering the block on either side of the star are blue on green hearts.

I am not thrilled with the extreme rotation of the letters, but I suppose it's to be excepted, and I did know, I just didn't full visualize it. The blue flannel is a snuggle flannel and feels amazing, even though the overall size of the quilt is 60" x 70", it is has the perfect nap to be a "Binky" I'd like to think this quilt will be loved for a long time to come. Just for the sake of a good book here is the lastest ones we've been reading to Jessica.

E is for Energy

Of which I have none.

After pushing myself all day, the top is done. I'll be posting photos of it later, so be on the lookout for those. I'm planning on quilting it tomorrow, so hopefully a good night's rest will have me ready to dig back in. Thanks to everyone for your kind and supportive comments, I hope to have time to check in at your blogs this weekend.

Take care.

D is for Do it Already

I was so proud of myself getting down to block making first thing this morning. Okay so it was after a long morning cuddle and some coffee with Jessica. Without booting up the computer (or checking the quilt layout). I plowed in using my sketches. Yep uh hu.... In the best effort of stash busting, I went through my yellow first and found a swap fabric I had gotten covered in words you'd love for you child to grow up knowing and feeling, charity, love, etc, but there wasn't enough to make the trapezoids with that so I switched to an Ohio star. Not enough for that either by I can get through.

Now, white on white because it will look like the white of the alpha letters, right? Wrong. I see now my plan last night had been to offset the stars on blue. Oh well. I was so proud of myself I used scraps from the Butterfly Bouquet Quilt and had exactly enough to make for the background of the stars.

Of course now those are done I have moved on to the light of day "facts and figures". My brain is miss-wired somehow. I think, okay a 50"X 60" baby quilt. I wont need a whole lot of fabric, right? LOL! I'm short at least a yard and a half of the green! ACK! The more cuts and more pieces mean the more fabric you need.

Wrap up post data: The blocks are 5", the smallest I've ever put this much effort into making (I have made 2.5" Ohio Stars but I wasn't nearly so careful them), with the white strips at the top and bottom bringing the unfinished size up to 5.5"x7" the same as the alpha blocks. Next I will move on the the green for the tilt.

C is for Current

Here is the current layout for the ABC Baby Quilt. What do you think? Keeping in mind, of course, that the letters are already embroidered.

B is for Battle

UGH! Today was one of those awful days you wish you'd just stayed in bed all day. When you figure out how to do that let me know. My arms ache because I was trying to keep Jessica's dress down while we had a visit with the neighbor and she acted crazy. Normally she insists on wearing shorts under her dresses, but not today. It "Minnie Bottoms" all over everywhere.

After arriving home I decided to start dinner. I make this veggie steak thing, where the veggies cook down with the steak. No not pot roast. More like veggie puree (it cooks into a really yummy gravy and you can't tell it ever was made from veggies), I chop them up in the food processor and then cook them a while. I was planning on serving the whole thing with a side of broccoli and puffy white rice. I burned the rice! I haven't burnt rice in years. I still can't believe it. Then when I started a new pot of rice and put the butter in I thought the wrapper of the butter went in as well, so I was digging through the rice water trying to find the wrapper. When I couldn't find it I dug the butter wrapper from the trash and sure enough the entire thing was there. It's okay go ahead and laugh. I would if it was you.

I mulched the mini rose bush bed. I'll have to do it later after everything settles, but it already looks way better. One of my other flowers beds I think I'd like to completely redo with draught resistant flowers. We'll have to see what my research turns up.

I'm mourning my Maple Tree. Everyday that goes by makes it more obvious that it needs to come down. My property will be so different without that towering tree. I'm thinking perhaps a Mulberry or a Sycamore.

My DH told everyone in the neighborhood to bring over any downed brush from the storm and he'll turn it into mulch, so a certain one of my neighbors proceeds to trim the daylights out of all his trees and brings all of the refuse over here. Don't you just hate it when someone takes advantage of your spouse? I know it gets under my skin.

All day long Jessica has been on me. In fact this has been the only time today that she hasn't been hanging on me. She doesn't want me to hold her, she just wants to constantly touch me. I know, I know, this time in her life will be gone before I know it, but a tiny break would sure be nice. I have been her mom for 1371 days, that's 32,904 hours. Today feels like a really long time, even if it is only a blink.

Oh I nearly forgot there are Questions of the Day today!

Question 1: What noise soothes you? Rain on the roof. When I was growing up in a very rural area rain always meant good things, so I love the rain, the smell, the freshness, and yes the sound.

Question Two: What bores you? Okay I'm embarrassed to say this, but cars bore me. I like car auctions, races, antiques, hot rods, the whole nine yards. But I hate hearing about what is wrong with a car, and I hate even more listening so someone drone on about what they had to do to fix it. Even if the person doing the droning is my very own DH! It bores me to tears. I don't bore easily, but I trance out when someone goes on and on about cars. I used to tell my DH that he gets 5 minutes a week which I will listen to that drone and after that I can't help it my mind wont focus anymore, and sure enough 5 minutes is my limit everytime.

A is for Awful Wonky

I bit the bullet and went ahead and cut out all the embroidery for the ABC baby quilt. EEEEEgads, I feel like that's all there is to say. Instead of high contrast for my offset squares it will be "white background" baby print all the way. We can save bright for the BACK! I am so glad to see the last of this fabric so off to the scrap pile. There was only one piece left big enough to use if I need to redo a letter, so here's to keeping my fingers crossed against that! Today's book updates are here. While I've found I can channel her a bit in what we read, for this I'm letting her choose whatever she would like.

Spring Quilt Festival 2009

A bit of blogging this morning had me finding out about http://parkcitygirl.blogspot.com/2009/04/quilt-festival-spring-2009.html It looked like so much fun I just had to join in. You're more than welcome as well! Check out the link above for the details. My favorite quilt, is my very first one. I drew up the pattern I would use before I even knew a thing about quilt blocks or seam allowances. I made it from my daughter's baby clothes. The cut off points don't matter, for me it's about all the memories, both of the past and of the future. In this quilt I found a part of myself that I had been missing for my entire life, and yet never knew. Sitting at the sewing machine allows me to reach through the generations to touch the people who having lovingly made quilts before me. Touching all of those fabrics, some outfits had been hand-me-downs and some not allowed me remember all of the joy of my daughter's babyhood and to peak into the lives of the wonderful women who had shared their children's things with me. I am blessed to have made this quilt. Working with bias square triangles and knits at the same time showed me how limitless quilting can be. When I started I was certain I would send it to a longarmer yet, when the time came, circumstances prevented it. Taking a deep breath I started machine quilting in my little Elna which has only a 6" throat, and you know what? It wasn't so bad! To this day that machine is still my favorite for quilting! Jessica playing peak-a-boo with her quilt.

April's Row for the Row Robin

IS DONE! Hooray! I'm glad to be sending this one off to Amber. All I have left to do is sign the label and pack it up. OH! The theme is General Christmas and it's Margie's quilt top.
I started to take a photo of the "in works pile" but Jessica really wanted the photo of her taken instead. To be honest I'm a bit embarrassed by the "in works pile". I've never had this many projects going at once. Yuck. It's not fun. I've already told myself it needs to be cleared out and done by New Year's, which worked out great for last year... Something tells me I'll be making a push on those soon.

Just enough

I made it, with just enough fabric and just enough thread for the ABC embroidery for the baby quilt I'm working on. It's even cat approved. Tiny our dear one just had to check it. As for the thread... The dark purple-blue you see is about how full my spool was when I started, and the teal of course is all that is left. I figure that means I'm on the right track and it's "meant to be".

This quilt is headed for baby boy TJ, who hasn't even been born yet. He will be the first child born to one of the teachers my sister worked with last year at the elementary school.

I'm planning to space out the ABC's with a "filler" fabric, something nice hopefully with a blend of blue and teal. I'm guessing before the border is added it will be about 50"X60". A nice sized baby quilt. So don't worry about the upside down letters, they will all be cut apart soon anyway. Embroidery Tip: It's easier to embroider on bigger peices than smaller ones. So when you're doing a project like this cut the fabric after you embroider. As a bonus that way you only have to "true up" once as well.

Another Baby Quilt

Yes, you read that correctly. I'm working on another baby quilt. This one will have the entire alphabet embroidered out on it. I just love the greenish-teal on the white. The white fabric from my neighbors scrap/leftover pile. It's about 1/2 a yard of apparel fabric. It feels rather like minki, though I very seriously hope I wont have that much trouble with it.

In spite choosing nearly a full spool of polyneon to embroider these 5.5" letters with I'm still running quite row. With 10 letters left to go I am certain I will need another spool. Madeira thread isn't available locally so that will be a post haste order going out hopefully this weekend. At least the company I like to order from it has my color (1888) available in cones as well as the spools. I don't want to have a run like this again. It's crazy how fast those little spools can go. Not to mention going faster as it gets closer to the center. But you already knew that didn't you?

My pain levels have been quite high even waking me up last night out of a blissful sleep. I suppose it must be the stress of all that has been happening lately. At first I was delighted to learn a chipper rental would only be $140, but then there are fees, rental insurance in case it it stolen from your property, deposit, etc. It all adds up very quickly. So I'm not certain how that will work out.

I hope you all are enjoying spring and living stress free, why not take a minute and tell me about it? The good, the bad? It's always nice to know someone is listening.

Trees and Fabric

Here are the three blocks I had already completed for the second row in the replacement top. The mailman finally showed up with the top, so I can stop working on it now. Seems it was a zip code error. You've really got to double check those suckers.

I'm thinking I might like these three blocks paired with the carpenters wheel. I think the blue and green will really set of the purple already on the quilt. Sometime soon I'll be playing with blocks again. Hopefully all will be fun there. DH worked a good part of yesterday afternoon to get the windows fixed, the holes in the roof are patched, and the tree no longer laying on the house. There is still a huge amount of work to be done, but feels like home again. There are more big branches around the other side as well. DH and I talked last night about renting a chipper to clean up the rest of this stuff. After all I did need to buy mulch this spring.

I've begun wondering when I woke up this morning... Since DH needs a new mower anyway maybe it would be better to just buy a mower combo thing. Then we'd have it for when we needed it. I don't know I'll have to call around for rental quotes. BLECK!

Easter, and a couple of Pet Safe Tips Too

Jessica'e Ukulele was a huge hit. She sits and plays it no matter what she is doing, it's kind of cute, and the high notes of the Soprano Uke aren't nearly as high as I'd feared, it's really okay. I do worry she will overtighten the strings and it will pop back on her, but I suppose all parents have to worry about something. Jessica had a great time collecting the eggs the Easter Bunny had hidden around the house. Just like in years gone by we use paper grass (you can buy all different colors at Joanns, Micheal's ect.) They are cheapest now, which is why I have four spare bags put up. It doesn't need replacing as much as I thought it would.

Did you know the Easter bunny knows to cover the bowl of chocolate left on the table with shrink wrap to keep the cats out? I thought it was ingenious. Somehow he even managed to get a good seal on it. Something I sure can't do. Must be an Easter Bunny thing. Sunny went outside with us after lunch to help look for the plastic eggs. The ones mom and dad hide never have anything in them, just plain plastic, and my husband would you believe counts the plastic eggs to be sure they all get found? DH can make any living thing adore him. Just look at this lizard laying on his back!

First row done.

I just wrapped up the first row for the Row Robin replacement. Okay so I did it earlier and this is the first break I took. I also have three blocks of the following row down as well leaving me with only 4 left to do. Don't get excited one of those is a 12" Carpenter's Wheel. Do you know what I think of that one? EEGGGGADS! I'll tell you something about that Lori. I sew, but she is a master. I'm more like the kid in the sand box. "But..." You say! I can hear you thinking it. Didn't I make a Carpenter's Wheel already? Oh yes, I did. It's one of the works in progress. But it started as a 24" not a 12", yes I added an extra go round and brought it up to 36" but those are nice big pieces. All those pieces only SMALLER. There is time enough tomorrow.

It's a Parent Thing

Today I worked on the replacement row. It's turning out quite pretty if I do say so myself. I really like the fabrics I picked, they feel nice as I work with them. Of course it's always nice that the colors look good too. That of course had very little to do with me, mostly to do with Amber who picked the colors to begin with. I have five of the first 7 blocks one. The goal is to spell PEACE. I started with the P, and then moved on to the E. Anyone who has quilted before knows there it's easier to make two blocks that are the same at the same time, so I made both the first "E" and the last one as well. The hearts were the last two I did and while a different heart block than I am used to, it still sewed together easily. Little did I realize my day's worth of sewing had spelled out, yep you read it here ladies and gentlemen.

It has got to be a parent thing! We really want PEACE! But all we get is PEE!

From my home to yours I wish you a very peaceful Easter Holiday. May your chocolate be milky, your babies be happy, and most of all your heart filled with love.

Row Robin Fix

I have washed all of the fabrics I purchased to remake the rows. $20 worth! Since it was the first time I'd been to the fabric store since before Christmas it must be okay. I don't recommend going that long. It's torture! It's inhumane treatment of a quilter! I bought six different fabrics for a total of 5 1/2 yards added to my stash. Right now my darling daughter is curled up on my lap watching a butterfly emerge from it's chrysalis. It's enchanting to me because we saved a chrysalis about this time last year. The stem it had attached itself had broken off. We put the entire thing in the bug box with the best of intentions of watching it emerge and letting it go. We never expected it would emerge that evening! Of course we released it when we discovered it was ready. In case you were wondering this is a Gulf Fritillary Butterfly emerging from it's chrysalis.

ATTN: Missing Row

Currently one of the quilt tops from the large Christmas Row Robin Group is missing. I am going to attempt to recreate it as best I can as quickly as I can. Part of me is still hoping it will turn up, but I don't want anyone left out in the snow. I have made the composite above of what the row currently looks like. It was shipped on March 27, 2009. An alternative view can be seen below. Please keep this project in your hearts as we progress through the month.

What a week!

I'm only just getting around to washing the getaway laundry as it's Spring Break so it's been kid central lately. It's quiet for the moment as one is playing Animal Crossing and two are eating rice krisies treats (the special Easter ones with Chocolate and Sprinkles). Oh before I forget they taste better if you only dip them in the chocolate and skip the sprinkles.

My allergies are going crazy and I fear I'm allergic to one of the pretty girlie things I picked up from Basin and White. It's bad enough today I want to hide it all away.

I played with quilt blocks last night. The cats look awesome lined up on either side of the quilt. But still no layout. I even rounded up all the block sampler blocks as well as all of my orphan blocks, but still nothing. I have to keep the cats for myself as the button eyes are choking hazards. All but two kitties came with the eyes already on which is really cool. It's nice to see how different people can express themselves with a simple thing like buttons.

Before I left I packed up the sewing machine. It's always my fear that Sunny will have a dunce moment and end up forcing it off the kitchen table and onto the floor. So far that hasn't happened, but... The poor machine has now been packed away for a week! Eeegads no wonder I feel like a tea bag in a batch of over brewed tea (yuck).

The good news is that the fire has not flared up or smoked since before I left, so at least the house is safe for now.

Have you been feeling the cold snap? We certainly have. Right about the time it was so hot I wanted the ac on (the day I arrived home) snap cold. Some parts of Florida even had freeze warnings. Not sure how that worked out for them.

Squishy Mail Goodies

The top I'm to add my row to for April arrived yesterday. This is what I'll be adding my row to. Not sure quite where I'll go with it, I'm thinking maybe a Christmas tree pattern I have... We'll see. These arrived today. These are my "Wildcats" from the Block Challenge Swap I participated in last year. It's interesting to me to see that most of them are in the cream to red and brown spectrum, almost like they are all supposed to look like Sunny.

Stop!!!

Who R U?

I am a handicapped, mother. Now let's stop right there. Handicapped is listed first. It is always listed first, seemingly no matter who you talk to. WHY?!?! Being handicapped defines my limitations. It does not define me. While a part of who I am, I am not a chair, a cane, or a walker. With that word first you draw whatever conclusions you'd wish.

That second word. Mother, that can evoke many images. Dark sinister ugly thoughts, or warming happy comforting ones. It's really all up to your perception. Mother defines all that I do. If you ask a mother something - there is a seemingly instant connection between the question and my child. How will my decisions in this moment influence said child if at all?

I am a quilter. It delights me define creative side in this way. I just past my one year quilting anniversary. Everyone gains skill and advances at different rates, especially when you consider we all have different amounts of time to spare for things we really enjoy. New and different things excite me, I feel I'm in a constant state of improving my skills. My love for color, fabric, and thread are all encompassing. I even use my background knowledge in drafting to expand my skills further.

I am a wife. My husband is my compliment, my counter balance, yet at the same time he is very much like me. I do not feel that he is "my other half". He completes me, when he is away part of me is missing, still the world turns and the days move past. He takes care of me in many ways others would never begin to dream of, I love him body, mind, and soul.

I am many other things to, but at this time I'm going to stop and ask you. Who R U? What defines you? Take a moment, maybe you'll surprise even yourself.

Aloha!

The last evening of our getaway we visited 'Ohana. This was a great time. The steak was excellent, and later I will look and see if I can find the recipes for the pineapple bread and the lime salad dressing. Sounds odd doesn't it? I promise it's great. There were pork dumplings (yum), broccoli and carrots (more yum), wings (fall off the bone great), also from the huge grill area came chicken and pork, not so good, but it was easy to lose those two in the sea of great.

The entertainment wasn't what I'd expected as the kids only did one lap around with the coconuts. They also did one lap around collecting others to hula with them, two laps around with the maracas (Jessica had such amazing smiles), and two laps around for a limbo which everyone was a winner. It was really nice because as other diners came and left they could join in or not, and a child that didn't get up on the first go around could easily get up for the next. Oh and I nearly forgot they also taught basic beginning hula. Anyone that participated in any of the little "events" received a lei, Jessica and my sister earned two. If Jessica had gotten a lei for everything she did I doubt we could have seen her head at all. At 37" she was certainly one of the smaller children to join in, but by no means the only one of her size. Afterwards we rode the Monorail to the Grand Floridian to shop at Basin and White, if you haven't been there yet I highly recommend a quick visit. This time around I picked up a "Life's a Beach" soap bar for the bathroom. As well as 6 bath bombs. I'd thought for months that I would purchase the $20 tube they sell (you can pack it as full as you can with bath bombs just so long as they can get the lid on). But the sale they were running when you bought three of the same size turned out to be a much better deal. So instead of a tube for the bathroom I have a slew of little pretty tied baggies. LOL! Have you seen the Monorail lately? Even the monorails are celebrating you and your special days. The monorails are covered in balloons. I just had to take a photo to show.

Shopping, Shopping, Shopping, Keep those Shoppers Shopping Away

We visited the Premium Orlando Outlet but there are many other great ones in the area. We had amazing VIP coupons for Addias. Oshkosh was great, and the Stride Right set us up with shoes that will see Jessica through into VPK. No coupons for the last store though.

The Gymboree outlet was disappointing. They only had one pair of pants in my daughter's size in the entire store, it would have cost me more than their current sale prices (at a regular Gymboree) and it didn't have the adjustable waist band. Trust me, dd has a 19" waist I have to have those things! Unlike normal outlets where the items are overstocks or slightly imperfect. Gymboree makes a special line for their "outlet".

The Disney Outlet is oh my goodness amazing! A huge portion of the items are marked down from standard Disney rates, the standard markdown for "non-dated" items was 50% and more on "past dates". What do I mean by that? Certainly I'm not talking about food. I'm talking about the 2008 red mug I couldn't afford last trip was $3.99 this trip! I got a really cool blue 07 Disney t-shirt for $2.99, I could have had an '08 one in green but the blue one was prettier. The classic Mickey and Minnie shirt with no dates I paid $13, but I did see a Grand Floridian shirt that had been $80+ marked down to $30. All of the original tags are there so you can clearly see the deal you're getting. I couldn't find Jessica's name in the mickey bracelets, so I bought two to take apart and spell out her name. I thought for the money, it wasn't a bad arrangement. My only lament is they had a horse drawn Cinderella carriage that I really wish I'd picked up, but didn't know how to get it out of the store without her knowing (it was huge) or how to merely let her have something that big, even if it was only $15.

Oh and lastly I found these really pretty pink castle ribbons. I'm planning on using them to hang nylon butterflies from Jessica's canopy bed after her birthday.

The Bold and the Beautiful

ORLANDO? Yep! We had a great time. We kicked off our mini vacation with dinner and Villa De Flora in Gaylord Palms. The food was good, all you can eat prime rib as well as a create your own pasta bowl. My group wasn't thrilled with the Alfredo at all but the prime rib gathered joy from every corner of our table. The tomato soup was not as good as I'd remembered, but the Sangria! Oh YUM! I'd never had Sangria before, but let me tell you what a nice blend. As one of the members of our party said "doesn't taste like wine and doesn't taste like a "girlie fru-fru drink".

The best shop by far is one selling Vera Bradley, Paradies Shops. They have an amazing collection including some I know for certain to be retired. Don't go here looking for Vera Bradley discount mark downs though you wont find them. The shopper in you will be thrilled to see that they do have a nice Clearance section for some of their other items.

Gaylord Palms now has gators. I don't remember that from before but they did have feeding times posted, while I'm certain some would really enjoy that Jessica tensed as soon as she saw them and didn't relax until we were on our way.

The top photo is the front door stright from valet, and as we left we made a point stop and take a look.
One last word before I leave you. If visiting for dinner merely for dinner use the valet. After using the valet you will be handed a ticket. If stamped at the resturant the price of valet (it's normally $20) with a dinner stamp it's dropped down to $8 (don't forget to leave a tip!) that's cheaper and easier than the self parking at $12. (rates as of April 2009)

The Bad, The Nasty, and The Ugly

First I'm starting off my weekend review by clearing the air, because it's gross and maybe if I get it out of my system I will feel relieved enough to share all the great things that happened on my girls getaway.

For anyone that didn't know or guess we went to Orlando. We stayed in our previously favorite hotel the Double Tree Castle. Why previously favorite you ask? Well it started with the big screen TV. Looks like a nice beautiful innocent tv, right? WRONG! That tv replaced our in room fridge. My sister and I love a bit of juice in the morning and we had one bag packed full of juice awaiting the fridge that wasn't there. "I'm sorry mam, the room was upgraded and now the fridge is $15 per day," Now when we booked the room that mini fridge was listed as an amenity...

Think I'm over reacting? Well just wait. Now that is a high def tv. But of course it doesn't have a high definition feed running to it (except possibly for pay-per-view) so we had a lovely tv and the picture was garbage.

You know the little courtesy bottles of shampoo, conditioner, ect... The Shampoo bottle had been USED, sitting there next to the other bottles as if it was new! I bet Neatrogenia would love to hear about how gross that was.

Next there was no luggage rack. Maybe there never was a luggage rack, I don't rightly recall from past visits, but it's really hard for me, a handicapped woman, to function in a hotel room without a luggage rack. Not to mention my suitcase was down on the dirty carpet.

Dirty carpet you say? Oh yes I say. It had huge stains on it. Ironic for an "upgraded room", but whatever I never expected the place to be "new". Don't worry I have more to back up the dirty carpet. Nearly as soon as we arrived my three year old began bringing me candy. Candy I didn't buy her that she found on the floor. Most children I know would have simply eaten the candy. Luckily, not my daughter. The first piece I can forgive though now I’m not certain why... Then she found two more... By the next morning she had found 6 pieces of candy. I couldn't take it anymore it was to gross for me, so I called the front desk.

"So sorry mam, that's not up to our standard here, can I buy you breakfast tomorrow?" No I don't really want your nasty breakfast that was rated one out of five stars, but I understand throwing the dog a bone when I see it. Fine. "We'll send someone up right away to clean the room for you mam". After about forty five minutes we left, no one had come to the room.

Upon returning to the room we can see right away that the cleaning was still only half heartedly cleaned. Complete with little bits of stuff missed by the vacuum here and there. Even the strange "sticky" thing that had stuck to my sister's foot that she had picked off had been missed...

Before to long my daughter shows up with another piece of candy. This was after they had come in to "clean" and after I left a $5 tip for housekeeping. Yeah, uh hu. Would you believe by the time we left my daughter and I had collected THIRTEEN PIECES OF candy out of that dirty hotel room... Here is the photo I took before the last one was found.
Later that evening while getting ready for bed my daughter finds something else in the doorway leading to the bathroom. She offers it to me. I'm so grossed out I could vomit, it looks like a old nasty muffin. But she's my darling girl and I have to take it from her. When I discover it is not a nasty old muffin. Merely a USED coffee disk thing. You know there is a HUGE problem when someone’s old nasty single serving coffee disk gives you relief.

Other general complaints were that you could hear the family in the next room talking, yelling, watching tv, and in general doing things you don't want to hear while you’re trying to sleep. Furthermore every time anything happened in the hallway the vibrations would conduct into the walls where the headboards were mounted so your head was shaken with every door slam, and while I could hear people above me seeming to boot stomp all over the room above us, I perhaps could have forgiven that too...

The ceiling had odd mismatched painted spots that while you couldn't see them part of the time - they became very clear at night, and there was something spilled on the bed skirt on one of the beds. Generally a very gross couple of nights in a hotel I dearly hope never to spend a night in again.

So now it's after midnight and not having gotten much sleep the past couple of days, the good bits of my review will have to wait until tomorrow. I have submitted the 2000 character version of this to the Hilton, perhaps they will have something to say for themselves.

Let them Eat!

I know how to clean foam shoes! The foam shoes you can pick up just about anywhere are great. They look nice, they feel okay and if you're exceptional your feet never stink. If you're like the rest of us you know better. After a month or more those wonderful comfy shoes begin to show wear. They clean off okay at first but eventually you're looking at those shoes thinking okay it's time to go to Walmart for another pair. But they still fit and you're not really ready to shell out more cash even if they are inexpensive.

Here's the answer. Simply wet the shoes as you normally would to rinse them off. Now apply a bit of hand soap or dish soap (they seem to work equally well) rub the soap over the shoe but don't create a lather, instead merely lubricate the shoe. Now using a Magic Eraser rub those wear spots, rub any discolored area and you will find in just a minute or two they are back to looking good again. Allow to dry and you're good to go. I hope you enjoyed the tip.

April is here and I'm glad to see it. My passion vines are covered in caterpillars and I'm thrilled about it. Back when the vine was in a pot it was a constant battle with these little bugs, but at the advice of a good friend I planted the plant in the ground and now the passion vine and the caterpillars have a nice co-relationship going on. The caterpillars will turn into Gulf Frivolities, which are a joy and a wonder to have around so we let them be. Number like these you see will soon have my hard filled with butterflies. Personally I'm amazed with as many caterpillars nearly ready to cocoon as there are that you can't see any damage to the passion vine, (except close up like this) I suppose it just goes to show nature knows best.

My nun orchids also known as Phaius tankervilliae are in full bloom now. I attempted pollination today. I'll let you know how that goes as any viable pods will be donated to Meyer's Conservatory, and of course they sell flasks so those will be available to anyone interested. I'll pass word along as I recieve it.

While outside Jessica noticed a little ladybug. I just love her hand pointing to it. You can click on the photo to see it bigger if you can't see the ladybug. This particular lady is more orange than red. I like the look of her little hand in the photo. (and those dirty foam shoes, oh well they're clean now!)

Every single girl getaway I go on without my husband I break the camera. As a family we're on camera number three. I figure that makes this as good a time as any to figure out some of the extra doodads and other features. This frame reminded me of the movie insignia and I couldn't help but to frame it in with Sunny in the middle. Who knows if I keep at it maybe next time I can catch him in a yawn!

From all of us to each one of you get out and enjoy the beauty of the moment and have a great weekend.