Good to the Last Selvage

Fusions Selvages for Organizing

I have a confession.  I adore seeing what other quilters have done with their fabric selvages.  It's a secret hobby of mine.  I've been following Karen at Selvage Blog for years!  At first I collected my selvages for a fellow quilter, but now I keep them for myself.  I always figured I'd like to make a spider web quilt some day.  Perhaps like this one.  Yet recently my serger has been working over time dumping thread bits all over my lap as I sew.  Sure I could be more careful about being tidy, but instead I've been lusting for my own Serger Thread Collection Bag.  The more I looked, the more dull and boring I thought they all were.  Really, why use a single fabric when instead I could make it to would showcase something I really love?

I started on this little sewing machine organizer yesterday using the selvages from the blue Fusions fabrics my friend Vicki gave me when I first took over my spare bedroom and made it a sewing studio.  A sewing room warming gift if you will.  Most of those fabrics were made into the waves of my Children of the Sea Quilt but I quietly kept the selvages, knowing someday I'd use them.

Selvage Sewing Machine Organizer and Thread Catcher

Vicki is always a wonderful inspiration to me when I'm dreaming up new projects - or trying to figure out how to quilt them so perhaps I should place the phone in one of those pockets?

Thanks for stopping by!

Welcome to Our Mad Hatter Tea Party

Now, now, you mustn't lurk in door ways!  

Oh wait Wrong Movie!

March Hare: (in an encouraging tone) Have some wine.

Alice: (looking down the table) I don't see any wine...

March Hare: There isn't any. And you're too young.

Alice: Then it wasn't very kind of you to offer it!

March Hare: It wasn't very kind of YOU to sit down without an invitation! This is a PRIVATE soirée...

Alice: Well, I know it wasn't polite to barge in when I know I wasn't invited. But the table was laid out for a great many people.

  Now I've gotten it, shall we get on with our party?

Who needs caught up?  Here we go.

Remember when I was like this?

Then I came up with the beautiful scrolling border for the Lone Star it felt like I'd discovered a whole new world.

And when I finished the last glow block and felt more like this!

Now Drum Roll Please - Oh wait, we forgot to pass out the TEA!!!!

I have cups for everyone!  Grab yours before the Cat gets it!

One for you.

Here's another!

No grabbing, I'm getting to you! 

Now see you weren't patient and the cat got yours.

Do you have one yet?

Nope?  Guess we'll have to share.  (leaning back in over sized lime green chair and crossing legs)  Now the way I see it is this, if you've made it this far it's either because you adore me, or you want to see the Lone Star center all put together.  Or I suppose you're a huge Alice in Wonderland fan and Google dumped you here on accident as that does happen.  No matter we must get on with our party.

Remember now this is just my star, I haven't purchased the fabric for the scrolling border yet, so we might have to have another party...  Ta Da!

Now leave a comment, and by all means, whatever you do, don't tell the governness you were here!

All products made and produced by the exclusively by and for the Walt Disney Company and can be purchased on their website.  And in case you were wondering they had nothing to do with this post.

Foto Finish: Where you want to Live

Today the Foto Finish theme is Where you live, but the theme is optional so I thought I'd apply that to be "Where you want to live".  And thereby share a bit about my favorite place in the entire world.

This is the Belleview Biltmore located in Belleair, Florida.  It was built in 1897 from Florida Lighter Wood Heart Pine.  This lovely resort joined the U.S. National Register of Historical Places in 1979 and was given a historical preservation ordinance by the City of Belleair in 2005.  Yet this hotel is not safe.  It's very future is in the balance as the current owners have submitted a request for a demolition permit as they desire to tear it down and replace it with Condos, like Florida needs more empty condos.

Since our first visit to the Biltmore the night of our wedding, my DH and I have always talked about how great it would be to own this wonderful hotel.  It was always a far off and nebulous dream, but a dream all the same.  The thought that investors would be so callous as to destroy this wonderful soul fulfilling national landmark fills me with tears each time I read about its current state.

I have stood on those grounds, I have listened to the stories, and heard the echos of the past in those halls.  So you know what I say?  If I won the lottery I would buy this beautiful Lady of the Gulf, returning her to her former glory and give thanks everyday that this hotel could stand for future generations to love as I do.  To many people get caught up in the here and now.  If this hotel is razed it will never come back.  It will indeed be gone forever.  Yes, famous people have stayed here, but that isn't what it at stake.  If the Beautiful Belleview Biltmore is demolished, the community, state, country, and perhaps even the world will lose a piece of ourselves.  A piece we might never have known was there will be lost forever, leaving us with a void we can never fill.

So I stand up and say I love this Hotel, I love everything about it, be she bright and beautiful, or tired and worn desperate once again for a loving owner to fill the void left by a decade of loveless owners.  I love this place and I will do everything I can to keep her safe.  For more information please visit http://www.savethebiltmore.com/.

Half a Lone Star

Half of a Lone Star

Is half a Lone Star a really Lonely Star?  Honestly, I don't see how it could be as I've been working at sewing my strips together steadily.  So here we are at the halfway point of my Lone Star.  As I will likely be creating a secondary design on my background fabrics; half way is a bit misleading, but I'm going to take it and enjoy it.  Look half my star!!!

At this point I am loving the way the brown and teal fabric is running around as the final "circle".  What do you think?  Anything you're liking?

Now for my confession as a serial blogger, I'd like to announce I have created over 700 posts since I started blogging in 2008.  Therefore, I am on my last 6 MG of free blogger space.  When I mentioned it to DH he miss understood at first.  Yes, I said 6 mere megabytes.  I remember when a kb would get you an email, but those days are gone.  I explained that I can have 20 GB of additional space for $5 a year.  For me that means my little hobby will suddenly be costing me money, abet not much but all the same...  DH thought it was no big deal and said I should have told him sooner (aka before I deleted my two test sites to go from 3 MG avail, to 6 MG).  Do you have any thoughts?  Have you maxed out your available free space?  Have you given it any thought?

Foto Finish: Holiday Decor

Today's theme for Photo Finish is Holiday Decor.  I made during one of the 2010 Christmas Quilt-a-long days last year for my cousin Giovanna.  It took all day.  Inset lace, and all kinds of heirloom stuff.  It's not what I'd normally make but I made it because it spoke to me about who she was.  My husband built a handmade poplar box and lined it with felt to keep it in and then we mailed it off.  Boy oh boy did we hear about that, don't do that again - you spent to much to mail it.  And so on.  But still it warmed my heart because I knew we'd made that for her.  She passed away this past summer and I'm glad we made those things and gave them to her and her husband last year.

Raising the Artistic Child

It's times like these I think my blog should say something like this post's title "Raising The Artistic Child".  Or how to go crazy in five easy steps.

On my good days this spring I've been going around the house and opening curtains and windows each morning.  For the most part this applies to DD's room, and let's just say sometimes it's better if I don't go in there...  So this morning, I make her bed and putter around a bit when I find this:

Each time I think maybe I'm done dealing with art everywhere all over my house.  Something else happens.  I recall being a youngster and I did some mild things like this, and then the day came, when I was five, that I took nail polish (the peal off kind" and painted it all over my room.  I thought it was beautiful, though I was disappointed that it didn't work like real paint to give me more than a touch of coverage.  When my mother saw she made me clean it all up all by my self.  There was one spot on my dresser that I was never able to fully get off and it stayed there all through my middle school and high school years until after I moved out and mother refinished the dresser.

Never again did I color on walls.  Never again did I put my art to anything other than paper.  Until I was older and added a touch to a mirror and then later glass...  That was the end of my "little kid" art.  When I was a little bit older I wanted desperately to grow up and be an artist, but of course that idea was squashed flatter that a dollar bill because artist doesn't make money and thereby can't self support.  I was in 1st grade when that happened.

Did you happen to notice what that artwork on that door said? Take a Closer look right here.  Yep.  Guess I'm going to let that one be.

Spring Has Sprung

For the past month or so my Magnolia tree has been looking rather pathetic, I kept telling myself it was because the buds that loose a leaf as they come into bloom, but still the tree was a sad sight.  Earlier this week I noticed a bloom had opened up but it was to high for me to photograph, and the next day when I thought I'd give it a try anyway the flower was already fading.

Don't you just love a Magnolia Tree in the Spring?

Let me take a minute and tell you about my Magnolia tree, when we were closing on the house we have now DH and I drove past a nursery vendor with a trailer full of plans set up on the side of the road.  Now we are a "drive by couple" and we will slow down and look at things like that as well as yard sales and so on.  If something catches our eye we will stop and if not we just keep going.  We were completely past the turn, when I spot the Magnolia Tree.  I holler and we drive around the block and head back.  Now I can tell you for a fact these trees are normally quite expensive, upwards of $100 for the size of this lone tree.  But what does the man tell us?  A mere $25!  I was so floored all of my bargaining instincts flew right out the window.  Yes please!  Here's the money!

So we closed on the house and within a month or two settled our tree in the front yard.  Magnolia trees grow very slowly and I'm not certain how old it was when we purchased it but it was about 6 feet tall at the time. It's been in the ground here for 8 years now.  It didn't bloom it's first couple of years because the children in the neighborhood would come up into our yard and steal it's leaves off!  But now we have a nice picket fence and the tree has been blooming every year since.  I call the blooms dinner plate size, pie plate size also comes to mind.  Surprisingly my neighbor has the same exact subspecies and her tree has been in the ground for about 20 years.  They are no match for the Beauties you see in Walt Disney World, but they are pretty and very Florida in their own right.

What does Spring make you want to do?  Perhaps you're a Spring Cleaner?  I think we all are to some extent.  For me I want to root up the flower beds and plant something lovely.  It's so hot here in the summer flower choices have to be carefully selected or else they wont make it through the summer, which is the case with many of the beautiful spring flowers in our nurseries right now.

Tropical Waves: Front Center

Tropical Waves Details

Yesterday was a mess of events and to be rather honest I'm surprised I finished this top, I didn't have the extra strips to remake the rest of the blocks so I finished unpicking those that I'd made.  LOL and that was just the beginning of my unpicking, but that's okay here it is.

Right now the quilt measures 41" x 80"  so borders are a must to make this into a nice sized twin, what comes to mind for you?  I don't have any of the Mermaid fabric left, but I do have all of the others.  This pattern was more than generous with some of my requirements.  I noticed that if it required me to cut the 2.5" size I was told almost double what I'd need, but if I needed more like a 6.5" the extra was very little or 10.5" measurement with it's non existent extra. I suppose those that write patterns constantly struggle with this, but had I bought the fabric solely for this quilt I'd be in a snit over my extras right now.  Instead I'm happily exploring my border options with you, while daydreaming about the back.

Country Lanes - Tropical Waves

My friend Heather is back to her regular self expression questions, and I've been choosing to post my replies over on her blog.  But this one I thought you might get a kick out of.
What little thing makes you crazy?  For me it's a quilt hanging on the floor.  I want to make a quilt big enough that it covers whomever is in the bed, but I don't want it on the floor.  My DD loves to play in my bed so the covers are constantly -even on a made bed- are always at war with gravity.  I mostly pretend not to notice, but some of my more generous quilts end up sitting with square feet of quilt resting on the floor.  That makes me a little crazy.  After all if I wanted to spend that much time making something to sit on the floor I would have made a rug, instead I made a quilt - that should rest on the bed.  So that's my silly little thing.  What about you?  Do you have one?

The Spiral

Just a small break today from the Dresden Plates, while I wait for the blue silk thread I ordered to arrive.  I took this free time as an opportunity to finish the back of the "What would you look like if you were a Quilt", aka Snake Quilt, aka more recently The Meerkat Quilt.

The back of this quilt is entirely blue and red blender snuggle flannel.  This is a single huge quilt block that I scaled up called "Monkey Wrench" and even as I type that I know it has been known by many other names, none of which come to mind right this moment.

I selected the royal blue because that represents my heart, my soul, and my inner calm.  The red is the pain, the hurt.  Note no matter how twisted up and turned around I get I'm still me.  No matter how far you go down the spiral - the me that is me is always there.  It's just hard to hear in the whirl wind sometimes.

Monkey Wrench Spiral Quilt Back

These pictures would have come out better had I not found a cat sleeping where I wanted to take my images.  Of course she only wanted to play in the quilt for a little bit and now she's at my elbow as if to say it wasn't me she was running from.

This project has taken three trips to the store for fabric.  The first time and then two oh cruds I don't have enough.  This most recent time had me so filled with dread I wouldn't even prewash the fabric to match what I'd already sewn until last week.  I actually bought fabric from the 3rd I don't have enough fabric issue back in November!  I was certain I'd only purchased 18" and I was afraid it would shrink to much.  Well come to find out I'd purchased 2/3rd of yard so that was a bunch of worry over nothing.

The Front of the Me Quilt Pre-Quilting

Then when I was cutting the pieces I was missing I had trouble with the pattern as you know, and thought I'd have to purchase 45" more inches of red and blue.  But I dug in anyway, I told myself I'd sew the middle and see.  Lucky me this time, hard to believe I know what I'm doing even when I'm second guessing myself!  When I finished sewing together all the pieces I had I started to reach for the tape measure but I reached for the quilt top instead.  After all who remembers a the dimensions of a quilt top they haven't worked on in months. Okay me, but that's not what we're talking about. So there's a nice amount of extra, just right for quilting and basting.

The last time I took a picture of this top it read a lot of yellow, but of course that's just the lights so I retook the image for you.  See no yellow.  Funny now I need to order thread and batting.  Gotta love quilts there's always something to shop for!

When is the Love Cooked in?

I didn't sew yesterday.  I know it's a great travesty, but I was thinking about all of you anyway.  I wish you could smell the delicious chili I have in the crock pot.  I soaked the beans last night and started cooking before it was even bright this morning.  It's only 10 am and already the smell has my mouth watering.  It reminds me of a conversation I had with my daughter the other day while we were making dinner.

DD:  Mommy when do you add the love in?
Me:  ???
DD:  Everything is cooked with love so when do out the love in?

How would you answer that?  I think I told her I add it each time I add something and I add extra when I check on what I'm making.  But my answer doesn't hold a candle to her question.  I think the same applies to a quilt.  When do you sew the love in?  Is it when you're rethreading the machine for the thousandth time?  Or Perhaps when you add the label?  What about when your quilting it?  Or piecing it - perhaps dreaming of how you will quilt it?

For me I've been lucky enough to know the destiny of all the quilts I was giving away from the moment I started piecing the fabrics (sometimes sooner).  The love starts then.  Thinking about the person while cutting the fabric.  Selecting the proper thread and envisioning their face when you give them their quilt.  While piecing my quilts I feel most in touch with the fabrics involved.  It's then that I can see the quilting materialize as I work.  The hard quilts are the ones that wont talk.  :-)  Those get extra love in the form of the naughty words I call them in my head.  Oh you don't do that?  Of course.

May your quilts always have love sewn in.

I just wrote a letter to Santa!

I just wrote a letter to Santa!
What do you tell the man in the red suit? What do you say when your daughter wants you to write a letter too?
Just like last year Macy's is giving away $1 to the Make a Wish Foundation for each letter recieved and they are only about a quarter of the way now, so no matter what you write why not drop a note? Don't forget they need a stamp.


For every letter received, Macy's will donate $1 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, up to $1,000,000. Help make wishes come true by writing your own letter to Santa!

Boot Straps

I guess I've been in a bit of a quilting funk lately.  The Red quilt is coming along just as I'd hoped and I'm in the process of quilting it, the tutorial will follow it's completion.  The weather has turned colder here and that has me in the mood for Christmas shopping. 

Do you know how hard it is to Christmas shop only to come up against a shipping cost total to put your entire purchase on hold?  I know it seems so strange but it's okay to pay $30 something but it's not okay to pay $40 something for the same items.  My family comes from all walks of life so not even Amazon or ebay or Kmart can be my one stop shop.

So I gave up on looking for a while to dwell.  When I dwell I clean.  It's a nasty trait I picked up from my mother during my childhood.  I remember the days of look out mom's cleaning - oh so very well.  Lucky for my family I was home alone at the time.

Because of my disability I clean while sitting on the floor.  I start by cleaning a patch to sit and then sitting there while I clean outward from that spot (and you wonder why my DH doesn't like me to clean?) it works for me but when I'm already a bit sad about what I can and can't do being on the floor makes the perfect place to get down in the dumps and really start feeling sorry for myself.  The "I hates" started in my head started when I was nearly done in the kitchen.  I then made my unhappy way with the vac down the hallway and by the time I got to the bathroom door I'd pulled myself out of my funk.  Thankfully!  It's easy when you come to the end of a lintany and say to yourself  "So what are you going to do about it?" and that's when I decided. 

Oh now I'm nearly teary to admit what I did.  I listed all of my quilts that are finished that don't have owners on Ebay!  I know!  It's sad, but isn't living hidden away in a box sad too?  Isn't it sad that four quilts selling at $25 could help my Christmas?  I listed them and I stand by my listings. 

In case you're wondering my ebay name is jcelestesewingmom; that's "J Celeste Sewing Mom" all smushed together.  The quilts I listed are Christmas Hodgepodge, Patchwork Swirl, Feathered Star and Buckeye Beauty.  I hope they sell well for I'm going to use every last penny earned on our Christmas.  LOL, sort of makes me wish they were bigger! 

The First Act: The Pain

This is the quilt I was working on for the "What would you look like if you were a quilt?"  Yes, clearly I missed the deadline.  But somewhere along the lines this challenge became more than a challenge and thereby more than fabric, thread, and a deadline.  After all it's the quilt of me and thereby no matter how deep the river once you start to swim you must continue.

The Red of this quilt is my chronic pain.  As you can see it infiltrates through everything I say do and touch.  But while a part of me it is not me and thereby the red and the blues never blend only intertwine.

The Dark blues are my core the deepest part of me and yes I feel pain there too, but just like an ocean current I move through it living with it as it ebbs and flows.

That's all for now future acts will include The Snake, and The Meerkat.  Did you think maybe for a second my pain was over this border?!?!  Oh yes!  I counted all of the pieces before starting (hundreds) and my husband color coated the "segments" so I could make them "block style", man oh man flannel is not seam ripper friendly!  Thankfully I put the sides together first and then moved on to the more complicated top and bottom, can't imagine if I'd started there.

If anyone is looking for updates on the Red Star Extension I'm waiting on the fabric and plan to be starting that within the week.

Scuffy

When I was in high school (and I'm not saying how long ago that was)....  I had an amazing teacher.  My graduating class nicknamed her Scuffy (and I'm not telling you why either).  She to this day, so I hear, teaching with a passion that one would hope to ignite even the most electronically inundated mind.  I adored her and in the history of all of my teachers she was by far my favorite. 

Today I am Scuffy, not because I inspire classrooms full of children (though hopefully I'll be doing a bit of that this November for the Great American Teach-In but more about my plans for that another day), but because I twisted my good foot so now even my normal limp is out of range and I have been sort of "scuffing" along since Tuesday. 

Let me see here, what have I been up to since blogging last?  Oh yes I made a wall hanging, it's a little thing barely bigger than 1' square, but I hope the person I made it for will like it.  All I have left to do with that is make and add the binding.  Who would have thought it would take so much work to talk myself into making a yard and a half of binding?  Good Grief.  Do you have times like that?  It seems like such a paint to get everything out for such a little thing.  Perhaps I'd be quicker if I commited myself to making the binding for something else too...  Hmmm, like maybe the Patisserie Quilt...

People that work all the time amaze me.  Sometimes I just want to curl up with a book, or something else quiet.  Like now, the only noise in the room is the slight hum of the computer and the click of the keys.  I love that peace and tranquility.  I'm certain a love of things quiet comes from parenthood as I didn't care one way or the other for it growing up.  Shoot in those days I could read through just about anything.  Hu, I guess I still can; as when I was sick over the weekend I was reading on the couch while my daughter watched Sponge-bob, what is it with that show anyway?  DH and I used to comment that simply having it on makes our IQs drop.  These days it must have plummeted low enough for us to stop mentioning it.  Perhaps it's like a big mess that you hope will go away if you ignore it. 

Does anyone know how to make a Giant Spiral?  I need one, something like 8"-10" out to about 30", well I'm off to go see what I can find on the Internet, wish me luck.

All Pups Great and Small

While I'd intended this to be a quickie project it got stalled for a while in the handyman department.  Now it's out of there and ready to be hung within reach of my sewing machine.

I collect straight pins; I have some that are over 100 years old at well as other more modern ones. I have added them all to a large bit of embroidery I made over a year ago now I think. It's really interesting to see where we've come from with quilting pins. From metal pressed flat and then folded upwards to make a pinhead, to flat head pins dipped to make a larger round head, to now having my personal favorites - our flat head pins.

Yet with all of these I still have the simple harder worker crystal head pins on my shopping list. Why? Well those are the ones that can go under an iron! We're not going to talk about the plastic ones I accidentally melted...

When I was little I used to call my mother's pins circus pins. They were all the colors of the big top and always reminded me of a party. These were short 1 1/4" pins. Aren't you glad we have longer pins to work with now?

What do you collect? That's a question often found on getting to know you lists. I feel like straight pins aren't something most people can relate to. Lucky for me there is always some thing else wanting to collect dust in my house, then of course are those things - the ones someone else thinks I should collect.

Never Met

Last night I dreamed I'd never met my husband. It was one of those dreams where you don't know it's not real until you wake up. While I was dreaming I was okay, but when I woke up before I opened my eyes I was filled with loneliness. Thank heavens when I did that mad reach towards the other side of the bed he was there, leaving the dream to fade away.

Odd that I would dream I'd never met him. I met my husband in 1996. My best friend was with me and every time I would mention him she would scream "TO MUCH BAGGAGE!" and "Leave it be!" Being smart I listened to her and off we went.

In 2000 we met again. Are you guessing fireworks? Because if you were you'd be wrong, instead we were acquaintances for over a year, before becoming friends. It was our friendship that grew and spread like wildfire and we've been together ever since.

So was my best friend right? Did he have baggage? Are you kidding? He has a truckload, but I have my own semi truck too. We carry the load together and surprisingly it isn't heavy anymore.

Spouse Q&A

It seems fellow bloggers have a Q&A going around, and you know me I had to participate.

♥ What are your middle names
Ann & Edward

♥ How long have you been together?
8 years

♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating?
We were introduced in 1996 and worked together from July 2000 through Sept 2001 before thinking about dating.

♥ Who asked who out
Offically I did.

♥ How old are each of you?
29 and 39

♥ Whose siblings do/did you see the most?
mine

♥ Do you have any children together?
yes, 1

♥ What about pets?
two cats two birds and a slew of fish

♥ Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
I have no idea maybe it was the Hurricanes in '04, or unemployment from  in '07-'08, or maybe it's my disability.  In retrospect as long as we have each other the hard parts slip away.

♥ Did you go to the same school?
nope

♥ Are you from the same home town?
Where I lived as a baby was a block from where DH lived as a child.

♥ Who is the smartest?
Mathwise and Science is DH, English Language is me

♥ Who is the most sensitive?
Rob

♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple?
Caposey's

♥ Who has the worst temper?
Rob

♥ Who does the cooking?
Me.

♥ Who is more social?
Oddly Rob

♥ Who is the neat-freak?
me

♥ Who is the more stubborn?
Rob

♥ Who hogs the bed?
Me

♥ Who wakes up earlier?
Rob

♥Where was your first date?
Officially Melting Pot, unoffically Chili's

♥ Who has the bigger family?
Me

♥ Do you get flowers often?
Isn't that what my Rose Garden is for?

♥ How do you spend the holidays?
Together, once we ran away with Jessica to our favorite hotel for Thanksgiving.

♥ Who is more jealous?
LOL!  Neither

♥ How long did it take to get serious?
Second date?

♥ Who eats more?
Rob

♥ Who does/did the laundry?
I think it's split 60% me - 40% Rob

♥ Who’s better with the computer?
Me but he's more patient

Good Blogger, Bad Blogger

Seriously what makes good bloggers vs. bad bloggers? Is it our ability to stick to whatever subject that our blog is about? Because if that's the case I'd still be talking about my 2 year old and not quilting at all. Thank goodness I'm a bad blogger. Because I really like what comes out of my sewing machine. Not to mention I love it when others share a bit about themselves while sharing their choosen medium.

What sets us apart? Is it great photos? (because you're not getting any today I feel like my allergies hit me right on my honker) Is it how often we blog? Our giveaways? When I don't blog for a while I think gee "bad blogger me", yet it's our lives that make our blogs interesting...

Or perhaps it's just that it's an outlet for others like us to find each other in our own creative environments? If that's the case then I'm as happy as a lark.

I have an opps of the week. I'm certain if it was a contest I'd win this week. The Student Council at Jessica's school is having their first bake sale. I wanted to contribute (and baking sounded like fun) so I pulled out the best Sugar Cookie Recipe I have (I've perfected dozens and dozens of cookie batches - believe me or not). This time I made three batches. I was certain all of my cookies would be gone as they were especially cute pumpkins, ghosts, and leaves. Then when I was 90% baking all of them I tasted one of the first. Something was not right at all.

Jessica loved them and ate 4 the first day... But still I couldn't quite put my finger on what was wrong with them. Around dinner time it hit me. I FORGOT to put sugar in. Oh yes the only sugar in them is the sugar on top of them. So much for that. Rob is out buying nuts so we can make cashew clusters and peanut brittle as I'm burned out on cookies for the time being.  At least Jessica thinks they're great.

Magic Seeds Grow a Magic Cactus

Earlier this afternoon my daughter said something that I just had to share.  She told me that if we had magic beans we could grow a magic cactus that would reach all the way up into the clouds and then we climb it all the way up to heaven.

The top photo is what our cactus looks like now.  Not really Magic, but it does grow pretty fast.  This second photo is of the "trunk".  The entire plant could have fit into this photograph when we first bought our house.

While Jessica's creative mind is a bit different than what is traditional, there are times I very much wish I could climb a cactus if only for a visit.  Our cactus is pretty much thorn free with the tiny "2mm" thorns mostly only found on the new growth, but I still wouldn't let Jessica touch it for the photo.

Ask Me No Questions, I'll tell you no lies

Heather over at Miracles Momma Designs provided the following questions, and just for fun I thought I'd fill it in. Feel free to fill it out and post it on your blog as well, just leave a note so I can read yours too.

***********FOODOLOGY***************

What is your salad dressing of choice?
Blue Cheese

What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?
Gringos

What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of?
Pizza

What are your pizza toppings of choice?
Pepperoni & Sausage

What do you like to put on your toast?
Butter

***********TECHNOLOGY***************

How many televisions are in your house?
3, bet you think one is Jessica's, but it's really the bathroom's...

What color is your cellphone?
I don't have one.

Do you have an iPod?
Nope

***************BIOLOGY******************

Are you right-handed or left-handed?
Right

Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
From my lower right leg, The anterior muscle compartment, the lateral muscle compartment, and part of my posterior muscle compartment. That means that I can't point my toes to my nose nor can I move my foot left to right. My Fibula was also removed during that time, that's the little bone in your lower leg. But hey I traded for a nice titanium plate.

What is the last heavy item you lifted?
33 pound pre-kindergartner

Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
Yes, a car going 55mph will do that to a pedestrian

************BULLOLOGY**************

If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
Sure why not, might be nice to plan.

If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
I wouldn't change mine.

Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1,000?
oh no, my pepper allergy and I would not allow me to spend that much time in the bathroom.

**************FAVORITOLOGY****************

Season?
Summer

Holiday?
Thanksgiving

Day of the week?
Whatever day my husband is home

Month?
July

***********CURRENTOLOGY*****************

Missing someone?
My grandparents, I always miss them.

Mood?
Revitalized

What are you listening to?
Ni Hao Kai Lan, and the rain

Current worry?
own mortality

***************RANDOMOLOGY*****************

First place you went this morning?
the toilet

What’s the last movie you saw?
The Wedding Date It was quite good

***************OTHER-OLOGY*****************

How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
None, didn't you read that list of missing muscles?

Last time you had a run-in with the cops?
2005

Last person you talked to?
Jessica

Last person you hugged?
Jessica

Do you always answer your phone?
No.

It’s four in the morning and you get a text message, who is it?
Umm, remember no cell phone?

If you could change your eye color what would it be?
Ice Blue

What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic?
ewwww none

Do you own a digital camera?
Yes

Have you ever had a pet fish?
Yes, even now

Favorite Christmas song(s)?
The First Noel, that was hard Heather's was Mary Did You Know? Which promptly stopped up my ability to remember mine!

What’s on your wish list for your birthday?
A Pup's Membership at Friends of the Kalahari Meerkat Project, I got fabric instead

Can you do push ups?
Umm, here we go again, some crazy strong man might be able to do that with one foot, but my bad foot does not like to be mistreated like that.

Can you do a split?
I could them in high school, does that count?

Does the future make you more nervous or excited?
neither, worried is closer.

Do you have any saved texts?
Texts... Hmmm, I have some textbooks that I saved.... hahaha

Have you ever been in a car accident?
YES

Do you have an accent?
Yes, it's a Melting Pot American one. Mostly it's Floridian, but sometimes I word my sentences in the way of the Ozarks and every now and then I'll use a "Northern" word.

What is the last movie to make you cry?
Gilmore Girls made me cry this afternoon, but I don't recall the last movie.

Plans tonight?
watching tv with dh

Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom?
No, there's always something that could be worse.

Name 3 things you bought yesterday?
Nothing. I stayed home all day.

Have you ever been given roses?
Yes

Met someone who changed your life?
Yes, my sister Ashley was the first one to do that.

How will you bring in the New Year?
Sleeping

What song represents you?
A Dozen Red Roses by Tammy Graham

Would you go back in time if you were given the chance?
I'd time travel but not turn back time

Do you have any tattoos/piercings?
Two in my left ear and one in my right ear.

Does anyone love you?
Yes, lucky me.

Would you be a pirate?
Yes.

What songs do you sing in the shower?’
hehe I haven't done that since I was a kid

Ever had someone sing to you?
Oh yes, some were wonderful and others not so much...

Do you like to cuddle?
Sometimes

Have you held hands with anyone today?
Yes

Who was the last person you took a picture of?
Jessica

Are most of the friends in your life new or old?
A bit of both.

Do you like pulpy orange juice?
It depends on whose making it. Homemade oh yes, store bought not so much.

What is something your friends make fun of you for?
Only my husband knows that, because I was stupid and told him.