Beautiful Sunday

The sky is blue, it's warm-ish out, and the snow is gone! Of course the last time the weather was this nice, we got 6 inches of snow the next day.

I'm having a nice lazy weekend. Yesterday we went to the diner for breakfast, then to the Amish market for chicken croquettes, twice baked potatoes, broccoli salad, pasta salad and rice pudding- enough for all weekend. Today Ralph is Mom-sitting, so I went to Target and did laundry.

Tonight we're going to Frank and Charlotte's for cake for Frank's birthday, which is March 1. Mom's is March 3, and Big Mike's is March 31.

I just had a nice phone chat with my girlfriend Pat, who lives in Florida. We only talk once every couple of months, but we always pick up right where we left off. Our conversations range from who in our family is making us crazy, to what we're reading, to our jobs, and everything in between.

I'm working on an afghan in shades of blue and cream, which is coming along nicely. I still have a lot of green yarn, but I had to switch colors or go insane. I was visiting quilt shops online, as part of the fab-shop-hop, and I ordered some springy charm packs.

Manda and Ben were in Florida for the final launch of The Discovery, and they spent some time with John. They hadn't seen him since the wedding. They've been married 7 months already! She's back to knitting, with the assistance of Kitten. She finished the second sock!

And now it's time to put the laundry away.
And the beat goes on!

Holly

President's Day

Last week we had a party. Ralph and Miss Millie had to rest up after cleaning up the house for company. When they were done, we could see the dining room table!
Julianna will be 4 on March 3, and they came up for a long weekend, so we had her party. It was hard to get a picture, because MacKenzie never stops moving! They loved the princess crowns.
When Mackenzie ran off to play outside, her Mom Sharon decided to be a princess.
Steph couldn't be at the party because she had class, but she picked up the cakes for me.
March 3 is also Grandmom Mary Jane's birthday, but she didn't feel up to coming out. We has the party on my birthday, so it was one big party! The chocolate cake had a filling of banana and strawberry.
Grandmom Florence was able to come to the party, and she looked wonderful. Julie needed some help to blow out the candles, and the 5 little boys were happy to help her.
Princess gifts are always a hit!
After the party, Miss Millie and Ralph were playing around.
I took saved Christmas and Birthday money and got myself an Accuquilt. Joann's Fabric had it for the cheapest I've seen it. I've been wanting one since last fall.
It folds up really nice, so I can store it under the sewing machine table. I do love my gadgets!
Here it is opened out. It uses a die system to cut fabric to specific shapes. It came with one die, and I have to order the ones that I'll use a lot. As with most things, Amazon has the best prices. What did we ever do before Amazon?
I cut the fabric for the ABC swap I'm in . I chose the letter "P" for Peace Symbol. I have to get the squares packed up and mailed to the swap hostess. There are always swaps going on at the HGTV quilting boards, but I only participate in the ABC swaps.

We just had the news on, the the midwest is getting terrible blizzards. Even NYC is getting snow. Here, the sky is threatening, and we got some drizzle. The 60's weather last week was just Mother Nature's tease.

Yesterday I met Steph at Joann's Fabric, and she picked out fleece. A friend of hers at work wants to give his wife a snuggli, and she asked if I'd make it. A snuggli takes 3 yards of fleece, which we got on sale 50% off. It takes less than an hour, and it makes a wonderful snuggli- the commercial ones can't compare. Then she took me to lunch for a birthday gift. We went to an Italian place in Voorhees, and it was really good. I got fettucine, and had so much left that Ralph had it for dinner.

It's nice to be off work today. It's the last holiday til Good Friday, which is late in April. Luckily I haven't used my personal days, so I can take a long weekend somewhere in there.

I read a fun book by A.E. Hotchner called "Paul and Me". It's about the author's life long friendship with Paul Newman, and how they started the Newman's Own products, and how every cent of profit goes to charity. Then I read "Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind" by Ann B. Ross. Miss Julia is a 60-some lady from NC who was widowed when her husband had a heart attack. She discovers that she is now rich, and the slimy minister from her church tries to get her money. And a young woman and a child show up, and the child is the spitting image of her late husband. The book is the first of a series, and I may read some others in the series- the library has them all.

I finished another afghan, in shades of green. This one will be a shower gift for a friend of Steph's who is getting married. Steph and Kate are being grooms-women, since they and Jay have been best friends for years and years.

I was scheduled for jury duty next week. The walk from the parking to the courthouse is long and not paved, and would hurt my knee, so my doctor wrote me a note, which was accepted, so I'm excused. Uneven ground is really hard for me to walk on, so I'm relieved.

And the beat goes on!
Holly

Flowers!

When I got home from work today, I had a lovely surprise- Ralph got me roses! They're not quite open, and they smell wonderful! Some yellow, some pink, and some red.

I was so surprised, because my birthday isn't until Sunday, and of course Valentine's Day isn't until Monday. And he made dinner- cheese ravioli. And he vacuumed up, and started raking off the dining room table.

Weather permitting, Heather, Ed, Eddie and Julianna are coming up for the weekend, so we're having a Dora party for Julianna's 4th and Mom's 81st birthdays. Originally they predicted bad weather, but now it's supposed to be nice. Unfortunately, Steph has an all day class on Saturday, followed by a concert, so she can't attend. The grand-dogs are coming over Friday night to stay the weekend.

I had been having some issues with my front teeth, so yesterday I went to the dentist. Turned out that the bonds on my lower 2 teeth were crumbling, and he recommended caps for both. Good thing I have dental insurance, and it still cost $700. But it should solve the problem for good. He also did some gum work, and I don't want to know what that means. He said the area may ache for a few days, and it sure does. It was worse today than yesterday. I can't bite down onto anything.

And the beat goes on!
Holly