Wildflowers and Waffles: November 2012

Friday, November 30, 2012

Malaysia? Really?

I noticed today that there are people that aren't my family viewing this blog. People from all over the world.

I've had viewers from Russia, United Arab Emirates, South Africa and the Czech Republic reading what I write.

It's strange to me that anything I write on this blog someone would find interesting at all.

But I've had some non- family viewers and I wonder what they think of my simple life in West Texas.

Posts about what we ate for Thanksgiving or my son going away to college. Is that interesting to anyone else besides my sweet little family?

If you're out there reading this I'd love to know why you stopped on Wildflowers and Waffles to read.

Did you find my blog because you googled wildflowers or waffles and just decided to read?

And when you did was it at all interesting to you?

Just curious.

Oh Simple Christmas Tree.

I've had this little tree for a while now. I got it on clearance years ago. It came with lights on it.

And that's how I displayed it for years.

With the lights.

But when I pulled it out of the Christmas storage the other day I decided the lights just looked silly on that tree.

This is not a tree to be adorned with lights and tinsel.

No, this is a tree that is beautiful on its own.

So I yanked those lights off.

It has the qualities of a real tree in nature that I love. It's not all "glammed" up like trees are at Christmastime.

It's plain and simple. Like trees really are.

A Charlie Brown tree if you will.

And I love it just the way it is.

The Crib Headboard

I bought a Jenny Lind crib for Alexandra 28 years ago. I thought the assembly instructions indicated you could convert the crib into a headboard for a full bed. I have no idea if that's really true or if I made that up. And the instructions are long gone.

Anyway I got the crib out of the attic to try and figure out how to make a headboard out of a crib.

No such luck. I couldn't. I ended up placing the ends of the crib against the guest room wall for the "headboard".

It looks silly.

I think there's a way to remove the side rails and combine the two ends to make one headboard, but I'm not smart enough to figure it out.

Any ideas?

Nap Time for Josh

Josh decided to take a nap in front of the fireplace last weekend.

Jack decided to photo bomb. Again.

Silly Jack.

Turkey Day and Such

Alexandra, Josh and I celebrated turkey day last week. As usual we stuffed ourselves silly with things like turkey and dressing, but also with these yummy little cookies:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oh my goodness! These were cake-like and so delicious. I blame them for my pants feeling tight today.

So cute in the adorable chicken bowl I got in Dallas as few weeks ago.

We also had some yummy breakfast strata that Miss Allie whipped up the next morning.

It was cheesy and wonderful. She is going to make some guy fat one day from the good things she can make in the kitchen.

We did do other things besides eat. We played a game of Monopoly that went on for hours and hours. Really. It did.

But it was a lot of fun and eventually I lost all my money and property and had to end my time at the Monopoly table. Real estate tycoon Alexandra won the game.

We also played Scrabble one night.

And I bothered Josh by taking pictures of his beard.

Then we enjoyed some more deliciousness by indulging in some "Death by Chocolate" bundt cake. You really don't want to know how many calories are in that bad boy. Trust me.

I love playing board games with my family. It's hard for me to understand families that don't spend time doing things like Monopoly or Scrabble when they get together. What do they do?

Friday, November 16, 2012

Pillow Sewing. Again.

I saw this guy while I was in Minnesota.

Yep, that's my big brother. And his sweet, little dog.

Mom and I went to Jim's house for dinner and noticed he had some couch pillows that were in desperate need of an upgrade.

I mean seriously.

Those pillows needed help. And since my mom is such a great seamstress, I thought I would volunteer us to make some replacement covers for Jim's pillows.

Yes, I decided I needed to make MORE pillow covers. Like I haven't been making enough covers at my house. So now I have to drag my poor mother into a pillow cover project.

So mom and I went to a couple stores to find fabric that we thought would be sturdy enough to survive Jim's dogs, but also soft enough for Kurt and Jim to be comfy when they use the pillows.

Then the craziness began. Mom and I were throwing out measurements that we both thought will be perfect for the pillows.

Problem is we both had different numbers.

After much confusion and number crunching we came up with what we decided was the perfect "pattern" and got to sewing.

Well, mom got to sewing. I was supervising the entire operation.

Isn't she a cute seamstress? She's all business behind that machine. An unstoppable force.

This is what we ended up with. It's nice, no?

Fresh, clean pillow covers with out any rips or stains.

I think mom and (cough, cough) I did a magnificent job on our project.

Harry the Watch Bird

Mom had an arrangement with a little bird in it and told me to toss the bird out because she didn't think he was very attractive.

Toss him out? Because he isn't attractive?

I had to remind mom that all creatures are beautiful. Even the homely ones. They deserve to be loved too.

So I decided to name the little guy and make him the sentry for mom's porch door.

Meet Harry.

His job is to keep watch for mom. Day and night Harry will be keeping an eye on things for mom. Kind of like a dog, but you don't need to walk him. And he's very quiet.

And I think he's sweet even though he's not beautiful.

Harry the Watch Bird.

Keep watching Harry.

You are beautiful to me.

Mom, GMa and Sis

Went to help mom after her surgery last week. It's been rough. On my poor mom. But also all of us. Kids, grand kids and her brother.

She looks pretty good in this photo. Just had her hair done. But she is tired. And who wouldn't be tired. She's been through a lot. We all have. After all, she is the anchor for our family.

Without her our ship would be lost a sea.