teeny diapers a dash of jim a massive meatball

Diapers and burial bonnets on their way to Churchill Banner Hospital in Fallon NV February 8th 2012

Diapers and burial bonnets on their way to Mayo Clinic in Eau Claire WI February 8th 2013

Jim with a beard full of pokies…getting the full enjoyment of the facial fuzz until his cheeks get shaved…don’t worry the chin hair and mustache will remain firmly in place February 8th 2013

Shamus full of glare February 8th 2013

Massive meatball, 14 inches long, on his way to be adopted by a family with a much larger tank February 8th 2012

Ask My Mom How She Is

My Mom, she tells a lot of lies,
She never did before.
But from now until she dies,
She’ll tell a whole lot more.

Ask my Mom how she is
And because she can’t explain,
She will tell a little lie
Because she can’t describe the pain.

Ask my Mom how she is,
She’ll say “I’m alright.”
If that’s the truth, then tell me,
why does she cry each night?

Ask my Mom how she is,
She seems to cope so well.
She didn’t have a choice you see,
Nor the strength to yell.

Ask my Mom how she is,
“I’m fine, I’m well, I’m coping.”
For God’s sake Mom, just tell the truth,
Just say your heart is broken.

She’ll love me all her life,
I loved her all of mine.
But if you ask her how she is,
She’ll lie and say she’s fine.

I am Here in Heaven.
I cannot hug from here.
If she lies to you don’t listen,
Hug her and hold her near.

On the day we meet again,
We’ll smile and I’ll be bold.
I’ll say, “You’re lucky to get in here, Mom,
With all the lies you told!”

-Unknown

new year’s adventure in staying home

Preemie sized flannel quilt

made from the charm pack from Heavenly Patchwork…didn’t have quite enough girlie shades so I mixed in a couple scrap squares left over from cutting out diapers.  Threw in 2 borders to square it up.  It’s backed with cupcakes on pink flannel with iron on batting and machine quilted…very cute and snuggly.  All of 20 inches square and already boxed and ready to go to God’s Tiny Angels http://www.godstinyangels.com/ in West Virginia next pay day! Completed the box with 6 preemie sleepers, 4 lollipop head dolls, 21 set of large Teeny Tears diapers and 13 set of small Teeny Tears diapers…Olie helped package the Diapers! January 1^st 2013 great way to start the New Year.

Impromptu jam session…Jim on the acoustic Olie on the electric…no idea what they were playing but it was interesting.  Olie’s newest goal now is to earn a kid sized acoustic guitar…cuteness…December 31^st 2012

Oliver bagging teeny tears diapers…2 teeny diapers 1 card in the cellophane bag then the top is folded into a triangle and taped…quite the little diligent little worker… http://teenytears.blogspot.com/

December 31^st 2012

Tab’s wee little person…cool toddler socks she brought home from Wall Drug in Wall SD…finished wee person turned out to be 4.5 inches tall…wee little felt heart added for additional cuteness! January 1^st 2013

Sewing furiously for the New Year a fabulously hippy group of 10 sets of large Teeny Tears diapershttp://teenytears.blogspot.com/ .  Half will go to God’s Tiny Angels http://www.godstinyangels.com/ in West Virginia the other half will be added to the pile to donate to the next hospital I adopt.  January 1^st 2013

Super ultra teeny diapers I’ll be adding pin backs to…I hope to send some to the wonderful nurses who help all those mommies and send a few with matching sets of teeny diapers as well. January 1^st 2013

what are you thankful for?!?

What are you thankful for? Having merely 26 letters to work with you’ll notice a few have multiples…go figure…I don’t color in the lines either!

http://www.wordle.net/

A is for Autism Awareness

B is for Beauty, see it

C is for Creativity Six Degrees

D is for Dear Ol’ Dad

E is for Employment

F is for Family & Friends

G is for God’s Tiny Angels

H is for Haiti by Hand

I is for Idiosyncrasies

J is for Jazmin & Jim

K is for Kris

L is for Love

M is for Me

N is for Nature

O is for Oliver & Olivia & Operation Sock Monkey

P is for Peace

Q is for QUILTING

R is for Raring to go

S is for Sharing & Shamus

T is for Tabitha & Teeny Tears

U is for Uvula for no other reason than it’s a U

V is for Various abilities

W is for Walking

X is for xiphosuran, wicked cool beastie

Y is for YEAH

Z is for Zealousness

colorful Noms

Just had to take a picture of this colorful meal! Purple fingerling potatoes, fabulous in season acorn squash and baby carrots with a grilled pork chop…mmmmmmm… September 27^th 2012

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Black & White & Red all over chili…

Yummy cheaters dump and run chicken breast chili…feeds a family of 4 two hearty meals!

 

Ingredients:

 

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast cubed

8 ounces fresh sliced mushrooms

1 yellow pepper diced

1 celery heart diced

2 15.5 ounce cans Bushes traditional chili starter, mild

1 can 15 ounce Bushes black beans rinsed

2 cans 14.5 ounce Hunts stewed tomatoes

1 can 14.5 ounce Hunts diced tomatoes

1 12 ounce bottle of V8 tomato juice.

 

Dump everything into the crock pot.  Set on Low for 8+ hours or until all veggies are tender. Stir occasionally so the chili doesn’t scald.

cookie muncher, hairy brows, FABRIC babee

Olivia (9 months)

munching a messy cookie after supper…Shamus loves tidying up the area once she’s done eating! 8-20-12

Shamus in all his hairy glory is usually within inches of Olivia during meals…through those massive eyebrows he can see the merest crumb falling to the floor! 8-20-12

This little peeker trying to get on my lap is why I don’t try to quilt when she’s up…she seems to have elastic man arms and can grab what I’m working on and throw it on the floor before I know what’s happening…I’m usually sitting there just holding the needle looking at those big brown eyes while the dog lays all over what just landed on the floor…they’re in cahoots! 8-20-12

Yummy fabrics from Auntie Rhy in CO! Olie helped make color piles…we see a boy quilt, a baby quilt, the piece lower right I’ll just use as a panel it has a jouster and fun dragon aspects…the purple/lavender will join the Olivia Picked it quilt (a gathering of fabrics Olivia touched when I was going through a pile of fabric, amazingly all girlie). 8-20-12

petting zoos…sigh…very sad!

Carver County Fair in Waconia at the petting zoo…I feel so bad for these beasties no matter the petting zoo…mean children, oblivious parents…sigh…I just want to bring them all home with me…great idea…I live in a trailer smaller than the petting zoo itself…sigh none the less…

Baby giraffe who is obviously quite unhappy to not have a momma, spent the whole time using it’s cage as a pacifier…

Pacing camel who I’m sure would have loved to run free for a bit…

Patagonian Cavy…at least had a room mate so it wasn’t totally lonely…but still…

Ostrich who was thankfully not near the ostrich burger stand…ugh…also had a roommate…probably would have liked to run with the camel in search of the giraffe’s mom…

Kangaroos lounging…these ladies had plenty of company…2 were with Joey…the next generation of the forever caged…sorry my PETA’s hanging out…I think beasties should be free when ever possible…I like seeing them in real life…but I’m perfectly happy seeing them on Nat Geo or Animal Planet if it means they are free…I’ll put my PETA away now…

Dump & Go Beef Crock-Pot Stew

Dump and Go Crock-pot Beef Stew…

Yumminess made with minimal effort…if you can open a can you can make this! Only chopping is the onion and the zucchini!

This recipe is for the larger sized crock-pots…and will feed a family of 4 for at least 2 meals!

 

Ingredients:

 

2 pounds stew meat (you can use less; I just have carnivores in my family!)

1 onion or ¼ cup of dehydrated onions reconstituted)

1 28 oz can of stewed tomatoes, gotta be stewed, you need the chunks

1 12 oz bag of baby carrots

1.5 pounds yellow/red/white baby potatoes washed, leave the skins on

1 pound sliced mushrooms

32 oz beef broth or stock (give or take)

¼ cup frozen spinach

2 wee firm zucchini peeled and chopped

1 jar beef gravy

 

No extra seasoning needed!

 

stir all this yumminess together in your crock-pot and put on low for oh 8 hours or so…the longer it simmers the more tender the meat will be…stir occasionally…other veggies I’ve added before: peas, green beans, kernel corn…

Serve with wee buttered toast squares for a little fiber!

Quilt with a View in the works

A Quilt with a View: three fabulous paper pieced trees from 300 paper pieced quilt block patterns by Carol Doak block # 044 four inches square finished July 27^th 2012

Back of one of the trees for the QWAV art quilt before I removed the paper July 27^th 2012

A Quilt with a View: the House with a heart block from Carol Doak’s book 300 Paper Pieced Block Patterns. Block # 117 enlarged on copier to 10 inches square.  Finished July 28^th 2012

A Quilt with a View: Here comes the Sun block from Carol Doak’s book 300 Paper Pieced Block Patterns. ‘Sun’ = block # 169 (I know it really doesn’t look like a sun, but I think it does the hint of rays quite nicely) 7.5 inches square. I think it will give the impression of the sun in the finished quilt. July 29^th 2012

A Quilt with a View block layout thus far…wow…my carpet is UGLY…think this looks pretty neato so far! All paper pieced blocks from Carol Doak’s book 300 Paper Pieced Block Patterns. July 29^th 2012

Tattoos I’m contemplating

in memory of my dear ol’ Dad…back of one of my calves…they’re both quite beefy do I think this would fit nicely…I’m sure he would TOTALLY disapprove but then again I’ve been a bit of a wild child forever…I can’t remember what dad’s test set looked like, I’ve a feeling it was blue…I found this cool orange one and since I oh so love orange…well there ya go! wicked! Haven’t gotten it priced or anything so I don’t know when exactly I can save up to get it… July 27^th 2012

 

Natalia’s heart tattoo…aiming for left forearm as that’s where all the babies have rested their wee heads…note: band aid on left (broken) side of the heart. HLHS… miss her horrible to this very day…Haven’t gotten it priced or anything so I don’t know when exactly I can save up to get it… July 27th 2012