Here’s a video of a light show to the music of Amazing Grace. Beautiful!!  http://www.flixxy.com/best-christmas-lights-display.htm

Hubby and I took a trip to KC to see the son and DIL’s new house. They’ve been waiting for it to get built for several months, had to stay in an apartment with two kids and a cat, and made more than a few trips to watch their house go up from the ground to living quarters. Son has kept us up-to-the minute with videos of tours as the work progressed.

Finally, they got to move in just a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving. DIL hosted Thanksgiving for her relatives in their new house. I’m sure they were very proud to show it off to everyone. We’ve been so anxious to see it, so last week we made the trek.

What a trek! We were unfamiliar with the location of their house in addition to being unfamiliar with KC, so we went with a map from Mapquest. The directions looked pretty simple. We’ve always had good results with Mapquest. We didn’t factor in the road work, however. We got to our turn-off to the road we were supposed to take, but the intersection was closed for updates. We had to go quite a way for the detour but finally got on track again. No problem now. The directions told us to turn onto this little back road, but there was a sign at the entrance that said the bridge was out. Ok. Maybe we’ll turn off before we get to the bridge. We drove and drove. The farther we got, the narrower the road got. It was so narrow and woodsy all around us, I was becoming a little skeptical. I told Hubby that this just didn’t look like KC at all. This is what you call the boon docks. But we had high hopes that it would get better because we could actually see, through the trees, what looked like a subdivision with lots of houses. Then I saw it. The barricade. The bridge was not only out, but gone! They were going to build a new one but it didn’t even look like it was started yet. Well, that’s that.

We called Son but didn’t get him, so we called DIL. It’s a good thing because she knows KC. She’s lived there all her life and knows her way around. She told us another way to come. When Son called us back, he gave us totally different directions. Hubby said that we would just follow her directions and hope for the best. We had to turn around, go back through the woods, (and the sun was starting to go down), make it back through the detour of the intersection and get back on the highway. We did pretty good until we got to the turn off she told us to take. We missed it. We had the sun in our eyes, quite literally, there was rush hour going on now, we weren’t familiar with where we were and we missed the sign. So we wound up in another little town about 20 miles away before we could turn around to come back.

This time we saw the sign, got off the highway, and found their new house without any more incidents. I  just felt like kissing the ground when I got out of the car! I didn’t get a pic of the house because it was getting pretty dark by now. But I got a few of the inside. Son took us on a tour of the house. It’s very, very nice! And big! I’m so happy for them to finally be in their new house.

The kitchen

Out the back door, their patio and back yard

The pretty railing on the stairway

One of the bathrooms

It had a special little room just for the stool!

The living room where we were all watching “Christmas Vacation”

The Christmas tree is up, and

“The stockings were hung by the chimney with care”…

The little one loved the popcorn we fixed to enjoy with the movie

They have a guest room now so we got to spend the night with them. The next morning we took everyone out for breakfast.

The older grandson had to go to school for a few hours, so he missed out on going with us.  But he joined us at the end and got some breakfast too.

We had to say our good-byes then and leave, but we’ll see them again at Christmas when they’ll be coming to our house. 

PS. I might add that we got back home without taking any more wrong turns!

I hope everyone had a wonderful, thankful, and “foodful” Thanksgiving Day. All of our children and grandchildren had other plans with their extended families this year, so Hubby and I did something else also.

We spent the day with Hubby’s sisters and their parents at the home of one of the sisters. We wondered if the outing would fare well with my MIL. She has Alzheimer’s and hasn’t been on an outing in quite a while. But she did pretty good. She actually remembered me and even said my name. I guess she remembered my dark hair (it’s gray now) because she asked me if I colored my hair. I told her that it was natural, that I was just getting old! Of course she didn’t understand but she said, “Oh”.

We were the last ones to arrive. There were about 14 of us, so it was a nice gathering. I don’t see some of these relatives often enough and there was a grand-niece I’d never seen! She just celebrated her first birthday. Isn’t she a doll?

Momma feeding the baby. I think she was getting sleepy. (The baby, that is!)

Here’s our hostess and a nephew

Hubby and his mother

These nephews and nieces are growing up so fast, I can’t keep track of them!

We had a really nice day. There was lots of food (very good food!) and lots of conversation. I’m thankful we have holidays like Thanksgiving so family can get together. But we should do this more often, holiday or not!

This “yarn bombing” is really taking off, it seems. Here’s a link to the site of the person who started it all.

http://www.knittaplease.com/index.html

Be sure to check it out. I thought it was crazy at first. But the more I see of it, the more I’m coming to admire the concept.

I have yarn. Lots and lots of yarn. I’m a yarn addict. I could start my own yarn shop. I love yarn. Especially the yarn that’s become available to the public within the last several years. What colors! What textures! I can’t resist yarn sales. So yes, I have yarn.

To add to all this yarn I have, my sister’s stash somehow became mine when she passed away several years ago.  She almost had as big a stash as mine.   I’ve made a lot of afghans, scarves, toys, gift items, etc. from the combination of these stashes. I have enough yarn to last me a looong time.  And yet — people who have yarn to get rid of want to give it to me.

I have a friend at work who wanted to give me yarn. I tried to talk her out of it. I offered suggestions to places she could donate her yarn. But she wanted me to have it. She said that I did beautiful work with yarn. She wanted me to work it up into an afghan or scarves or whatever and then donate it to a good cause. Because I do such beautiful work with yarn. Yes, she repeated that several times.

Well, what could I say. So I took her yarn.

There are lots of pretty colors. Partial skeins. Full skeins. And a surprise. There were about 20 of these little granny square starts.

I started playing  and this is what I came up with.

I had to add the white because she didn’t have enough white to do all the squares. I’ve just about used all the little granny square starts. When I get all of these squares sewed together I’ll see what I have. I may make it bigger into a full size afghan. Or it might stay smaller and be just the right size for a lap afghan. We’ll see. . . . .

First, let me apologize for not writing lately. I’ve been a little under the weather. I either ate something or caught a little stomach bug last week. I was up pretty much all night running to the bathroom and being sick. It was the night before I had to go to work at 4 am, so needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep that night. I was up at 2:00 to get ready for work, and it wasn’t a pretty sight. All my body wanted to do was go back to bed. I really think it was something I ate and that I would feel better as the day went on. Which is exactly what happened. But no sleep is not a good thing especially when my job is using my brain. (Oh no!) But I eventually got better. It took several days to get my sleep in and my appetite back but I’m as good as ever now.

Now to my blog story…..

My two friends from K.C. came down last week, picked me up, and we all headed to Branson to shop. Of course the first stop was Lambert’s in Ozark. You don’t leave this place being hungry! Just look at the salad that my friend ordered!

I think we all three could have eaten from it and still not eat it all. Plus, they come around constantly offering fried potatoes, okra, black-eyed peas, and of course, their infamous “throwed rolls”.

It was a beautiful day for shopping at the Branson Landing. We did a lot of window shopping,

and a lot of in-store shopping as well.

We had a lot of fun trying on clothes, laughing, and catching up on news with what’s been going on in our lives. Last year when they came for their visit, I didn’t get home till midnight. But they’re aware of the hours I keep, so we were heading back by eight. After showing Hubby the goodies that I bought, I was off to bed.

I met them at their motel the next morning. Their room was amazing!

It was actually a suite. It’s not that they can afford to stay there, but the husband of one of them travels a lot and he builds up points to stay at certain motels. So they were using up some of his points. Look at this “room”. . . . .

We went to the mall

and spent most of the morning together doing what we love the most — shopping!  We got a few more goodies, then I had to say my good-byes and head home. Hubby and I had some running and errands to do before I had to go back to work the next day. I think they headed home soon after I left anyway.

I soooo look forward to their visit every year. In fact, we’ve already started planning a trip to Osage Beach for March or April next year to shop at the huge Mall there. I can’t wait!

Ok, finally here’s the pics of my booth:

I took these yesterday morning before the customers started coming. I sold several things yesterday, but today was a little better. We had an almost contant stream of people all day. They still weren’t buying much, however. The last few customers I had bought several of my higher-priced items, which made the amount  I made today a little more than I made yesterday. I gave a few items away to some of my fellow vendors and their children. And, most importantly, I came home with a couple of empty boxes! That’s good! Now I have room to store more items that I will be able to make now. 

It was another nice day and we had a lot of fun talking and visiting with the customers as well as the other vendors. Hubby came down and sit with me again almost all day. We were allowed to shut down at 3:00 this afternoon so we didn’t have to load our cars and drive home in the dark. They had a drawing for a door prize among the vendors and guess who won? My favorite hubby!! The prize was a cookbook full of recipes by the ladies of the church. They were selling them at the Fair and I almost bought one. They were $8.00, and I really have way too many cookbooks already. But I like small local cookbooks like this because the recipes are the favorites of the ladies who contributed them. Just good ‘o fashion cookin’. Needless to say, I was tickled when I saw that Hubby had won the prize!

At one point in the day yesterday, the nice lady in charge of the Fair came by and took our pic at our booth. Today she came by again and gave us the pic. Here’s the pic she took,

Pretty nice, huh? They are the nicest people and so friendly! I signed up and paid for a booth again next year. Now I’m all hyped up to start working on crafts for next year.

One more thing to mention. Hubby’s niece got married today at 4:00. We knew we wouldn’t have time or the energy to try to make it to the wedding after tearing my booth down and getting everything home. It just happened that the church she was getting married in was just about a mile from where the Craft Fair was going on. So Hubby took a break and run up there for a few minutes. He took the gift that we got her and was able to visit with his brother for a little while. I’m sure the wedding was beautiful (how could it not be on a beautiful day like this!) I was a little sad that we had to miss it, but the important thing is that she had a good wedding, their parents were able to be there and now they can start the rest of their lives together. Congratulations Ashley and Matt!

Well, guess what? I forgot to bring the camera home! It’s still at the church. I did take some pics of the booth this morning. But, alas, I can’t show them to you. This was also the day that I had to take my quilt block-of-the-month to Merrily’s to pick up my next and last block for the year. I had to be there at 5 pm and the craft show wasn’t over until 6 pm. Sooo, Hubby pitch hit for me at the craft booth while I left to go to Merrily’s. What a guy! I left in a hurry, took the cell phone with me, (duh!) and left my camera. I couldn’t call him to bring it home with him, so it’s still there.

It was a very quiet day. We didn’t have nearly as many customers as we’ve had in the past. We suspect it had to do with the road construction down the street from the church. They’re widening the road and had the intersection so torn up that people weren’t allowed to turn one direction at all and the other directions were down to one lane. What a mess! Of course the absence of customers might have been due to the beautiful day. In the 70’s and sunny, people! In November! Of course it might have had to do with the economy being really tight and people not having jobs and money to spend on luxuries like crafts. But, whatever the reason, there wasn’t very many customers. The other vendors, including myself, were customers also. I sold a few things to other vendors and I probably spent as much as I made. It was fun, though, and nobody is as friendly as other crafters. We had a good time.

I actually sold a few things. I sold several pieces of painting, a crocheted scarf, and some small items including some Christmas decorations. Nobody seemed interested in the little candleholders that I spent the last minute making. Well, you never know what people will be interested in. Besides, we still have another day, so we’ll see what happens tomorrow. . . . . . . . .

Here’s some of the new crafts I’ve been making for the craft booth:

These are real Christmas light bulbs that I bought on clearance after Christmas one year. I’ve had them for several years. There’s four different designs painted on them; a gingerbread boy, a lamb with a star up above him, a house in the woods, and a snowman in the snow. It took a while to get them all done but they were fun to paint.

These little candle holders are made with the smaller clay pots. I used two for the candle holder by turning one upside down and glueing the other one on top of it. After I got them painted, I glued the raffia and greenery on them. Quite pretty, I think. I saw this idea in a  magazine several years ago. I changed how they’re made just a little. I used what I had on hand. I also painted the pots because the directions  just used them as is and I think they look a lot more festive painted. I have two more painted and ready to decorate with the greenery but I think I’ll see if these sell first.

Hubby went with me to the church to help with all my shelving, the screen for hanging some of the items, and all the crafts. We got it all set up, everything priced, and a list of some things I forgot to bring, which are in the car ready to be taken tomorrow morning. Oh, and I forgot to take the camera, so you’ll have to wait until tomorrow night to see the booth all set up. Sorry about that, but you’ll have something to look forward to seeing tomorrow. I can let you know how the first day goes too!  So, until then. . . . . .

It’s the time of year for our little church festival full of craft booths, food, and fun. This will be my third year to be in this craft fair. I’ve met some really nice people the last couple of years and am excited to get to see them again. I have the next four days off from work. Today and tomorrow are my regular days off, then I got the weekend off to be in the sale. I’ll be going through crafts, getting everything ready to take to the church today. Tomorrow we’ll take everything down there and set up my booth.  Fri., bright and early, we’ll go open up our booth at 8 am and be ready for everyone to start visiting us by 9.

Here’s the info about the fair in case you’re in the neighborhood and have a couple of free hours to run by to see all the neat crafts and taste some delicious goodies.

I’ve been working on a few new crafts to add to last year’s crafts that I had left-over. That doesn’t sound too exciting — left-overs! But everyone has them, I suppose. I’m going to mark the left-overs down a little more this year so, hopefully I’ll be able to sell them to make room for new crafts. It takes a lot of room to make crafts and store them! I give a lot of items away, too! It’s times like this that I realize how much I actually make.  But I can’t help it — I was born to make things!

I’ll post some pics of my booth after I get it all set up. I’m soooo excited! Hope you all can come by!