Ode to Frank Mills

If there was one album that took me back through the years of my life it would be Frank Mills Sunday Morning Suite. I have very scattered memories... From doing chores to the music when I was little, to listening to it constantly when I was a young teenager on a Walkman. Most times the cassette tape would get lost and wouldn't be found for awhile... I'm sure it was just it's defense against being played to death! :~) But whenever we could find it, it generally got played at least once... Mostly by me, cause I loved it! I've been looking for that album for the last year and a half... Hoping to find it so I can listen and be taken back every now and then, also so I can share it with my kids. Yesterday Jamey went to a new thrift store and found it! :~D It's a record, so I can play it on Jamey's new record player (which I'm doing right now!). Someday soon hopefully Jamey will be able to put it on a CD so I won't wear out the record! :~}

Well, last time I wrote it was before my birthday! I had a really great birthday... Jamey got me balloons and he made me do a scavenger hunt for my presents! :~) That had to be the most fun. Other than the shopping of course! ;~) He made me a chocolate cake and gave me some candy... But the biggest present came in the form of a video camera! I love it! It's a small one and it's so cute, if such things can be called cute! I've used it a couple times, but the most it will get used is when we go and see family! After the presents were opened I got to go shopping and couldn't find a pair of trouser jeans anywhere until I went to Target. Those ones are nice... Then I went to Kohl's and found some. So now I have a couple pair... They're nice cause they look like straight leg jeans on me. After all my shopping we had a lovely dinner at Olive Garden. We had a gift card and decided to use it on my birthday.

I also got some fabric at Hancock's. It's a beautiful purple plaid and I made it into a jumper... However, when I wore it I stressed the seams! :~o So before I wear it again I'll have to take out the seams and add a strip of fabric to it so it won't rip on me! :~) I don't have a pic of it right now, but when I get done fixing it I'll be sure to take one.

Oh, if you want to see some of the cutest pics of the most adorable nephew... (I know, I'm bad) Just go to my sister's blog. There are too many now to be able to copy and paste onto my blog! :~) Not that I'm complaining about all the pics! :~)

Last Saturday we had a yard sale... Not a normal yard sale, it was in front of one of the local Wal-marts! Yep, Wal-mart and the Children's Health Network were selling spots in front of Wal-mart for whatever you wanted to put out there... We did a yard sale. There were a few spots that were just selling things they made and there was also a Pampered Chef table. They had food there too, the proceeds from that also went to the charity. It was pretty neat cause we had so many people stop and look around... I mean who doesn't go to Wal-mart? Sure it was kinda cloudy and drizzly, but we had quite a few people buy our stuff. Jamey sold all his stuff and I sold some of mine... Mine was all clothes anyway. What we didn't sell we took over to Goodwill. It was fun, we had to take Shorty with us and he got most of the attention!

This Sunday is Jamey's birthday. However, we will be doing stuff on Saturday so he can just chill. I tried hard to find the lemon cake mix for his cake... I don't know why stores don't have at least some sugar-free cake mixes! I was able to find it last year at a drug store, but this year I couldn't find it anywhere. I called every place I could think of that might have it, but no luck. Ordering it on-line would have cost a lot! Finally, I remembered one of the members at church makes the greatest cakes and sugar-free stuff you've ever had! So I called and asked if she had a sugar-free lemon cake recipe. She did and she gave it to me on Wednesday! YAY!!!! :~) I was so afraid that I wouldn't be able to make Jamey his Lemonade cake. Now I don't have to worry about finding a lemon cake mix ever again! Oh, and for those of you who have tried to make a cake sugar-free from a cake recipe that has sugar in it... Add 1/2 cup dry milk and 1/2 tsp baking soda for every cup of Splenda used and the cake will turn out fluffy. If you want anymore tips you can visit the Splenda site.

New Blog...

This will kinda be short and sweet cause we have church in about 5 minutes. Jamey has a new blog that is dedicated to being a Bible based blog. It's called Biblical Ramblings. I think it's really good, course I'm not biased at all! :~) I plan on writing more once all the crazy calms down... We've been having a lot going on since my birthday and will continue to be busy until at least next Monday! :~o

The end of my sewing binge... For now! :~}

Yeah, until I get more fabric... Which I plan on getting for my birthday. And then I have to get back into the mood. The shirt I made using some leftover fabric from another shirt I made last year... It was a really easy pattern to make and I was done in a couple hours. The dress on the other hand was a little more difficult. It is a little like nylon in the fact that it gets runs in it very easy. I had to replace the front midriff in the middle of sewing the dress cause of a run in it... I wasn't that pleased about it but I managed to do it so it looked good. :~)

I was thinking about my piano and what the name on it is about... It's a Hobart M. Cable piano which I learned are known to be really good in the way of tune, also they are known to be incredibly heavy! Course Jamey already knows that! :~) I looked at the serial number and apparently this piano was made sometime in 1953! :~) I like to know about the things I have... Like where they came from and how old they are.

I'm starting to look forward to Monday... I wasn't too keen on having my birthday, but now I want to see my presents that Jamey got me! :~) This weekend we are going to a lectureship on Friday and on Saturday we are going to go sing at camp. Then Sunday we are having a couple from church over for dinner. So that means that I'm going to have to clean this house tomorrow! :~)

Piano!!!! :~D

The title really says it all... I just got a piano! :~) Some church members were kind enough to give us their piano that they didn't use. I'm very grateful! :~) I wrote a couple of posts ago that Jamey was looking to get me a piano... He mentioned that he was looking for one to this church member and they said that we could have theirs! :~) I've already played quite a few pieces on it... It's in tune! It weighs a LOT... So Jamey got some men from church to help him bring it here. Here are some pics of my new piano! :~) I got it all clean and bathed it in furniture polish so it shines!

Yesterday we thought that we would go get the piano, but didn't have the dolly to get it. Anyway, we had the guy that was going to help over for supper... I figured that was the least we could do. We had tacos! :~p I made the meat, rice and corn to go with it... I also made my own tortillas. My family came across a Mexican woman in Ohio that made her own and she showed us how to do it. It's not that hard... The only hard part is rolling them so they actually resemble a circle! Mine always end up looking like large amoebas! :~} Jamey really likes them! :~)

I sewed a little today, too. This fabric was easier to sew and it is thicker so I didn't have to line it. It looks like it's a velvet, but it's not... It's got a neat feel, but it's not like velvet. I still want to sew some more so I'll keep you posted on that. However, it'll be hard to concentrate on sewing for a few days cause I'll be playing my piano! :~)

Two shirts and a dress...

Here are a few pics of the stuff I've been working on this past week...












These two shirts are from the same pattern, but with different sleeves. The green one was easier to make cause the fabric wasn't as stretchy. If you look close you'll see that the gray one has little dots the color of the ribbon on it. Both top fabrics were very see through so I lined them with a corresponding color underneath. If you think sewing two stretchy fabrics together for a seam is hard... Try four! Yeah, I live on the edge!! :~)

Now, don't look directly at it... ;~} This is the best pic I could get of it... It actually looks better in person than in this picture. It has a cowl neck and a bow in the back. I joke I look like a giant polka dot! :~) Jamey said I don't look like a giant polka dot... I look like a lot of little polka dots! :~) As soon as it gets cooler I'll test it at church. I wore the green shirt to church tonight... I finished it today, so I was wearing it anyway! :~)

I plan on doing a little more sewing this next week. Two more shirts and another dress. I found this pretty purple fabric at Wal-mart and couldn't leave it... I love the Wal-marts here cause they still have the fabric section! :~) It's a nice heavier fabric, so I won't have to put something under it.

The rest of this week I'll spend cleaning. Trust me, my house needs it! :~) Then I plan on being busy on Saturday and having roast on Sunday!! :~p