What Happens When You're Not Home

We were only in Minnesota for four days and we came home to the trees blooming!  Many of our neighbors have these trees almost every yard so it is just a cloud of white, love it!  We may have to plant one as well.

Hugs,
Tania

A little catch up time

Since our last visit which was last July it looks like.   We took a week vacation to Vermont.  On the way home we had to drive a couple of hours out of our way to avoid the hurricane which was caused flooding in North Carolina and other east coast states.  Yup we drove.  We wanted the freedom to make stops along the way and not worry about big purchases if we found something fun to bring home.  Also we wanted to drive along the coast and collect shells which we did not.

We love to travel to the New England states and plan on doing it many more times.

The holidays we spent with our daughter, granddaughter and Erica's boyfriend. 

My quilt retreat was in February and this year I left a day early due to my arthritis was acting up.  Not fun to be in pain and try to sew or even be good company.

Our oldest daughter Candi gave birth to our grandson, Gage Richard who made his appearance thee weeks early.  He was born on my sister's birthday!  

We just visited him last week end, now three weeks old.  He is so sweet and such a good baby, and wonderful to hold.

We hope to see this little guy again soon before he gets too big. 

I have been busy creating, I made Gage his first quilt and afghan. 

Gage's daddy, Hans likes Batman (good thing he is my favorite super hero as well)  This will go very nicely in his nursery which is all batman out!

I also was crocheting myself a snowflake afghan which became Mr. Man's, and finished a quilt top of a block of the month we had done in my quilting group.  Along with some other small crochet projects I was playing around with.

We had some bad news this year.  Our back/side yard and basement flooded in August, the sewer system wasn't keeping up which we have two big drains in our yard one in the back and one on the side.  The city came out and their legal said they weren't at fault.  Then we flooded again Christmas Eve, not a fun day for Mr. Man to be cleaning out the basement once again.  The city came out again apparently their system wasn't working they had a huge project in our neighborhood to fix it but still won't work with us, at this point they won't even return phone calls.  We need to get legal involved in this.  

Even tho' they fixed their problem our drains are still not pulling out the water, they guy from the city said when they replaced the pipe it is too small for what it should be doing. 

We lost a lot.  Not only flooring, walls furniture and doors but other things you don't think about that you set on the floor like luggage and some items we had in cardboard boxes.  We mostly have plastic bins but sadly there were some we were working on that came from both our parents homes that were destroyed.

Not to leave on a sad note...The weather is warming up, the windows are open and school is just about coming to a close which means I get to spend more time with my grand daughter!

My plan is to come back and start blogging again.  Hope you will come back and continue to read about my little piece of my world.

Hugs,
Tania

Happy Birthday Mr. Man

Mr. Man had another birthday yesterday (Monday) I surprised him with a lemon brownie with a lemon glaze topping and I took a taste test of the glaze and said out loud to myself, he is going to really love me!

Two things, Mr. Man loves lemon or lime anything and if you know and follow me you will know I can't bake.  But I saw this recipe on Pinterest and it looked so easy also you use real lemon which I always have on hand so why not?

Yep it's a keeper!  Even I will eat it and I don't eat desserts and I don't eat what I bake but I would love to eat the entire pan!  Oh and he liked it too!

 We don't do much for birthdays other than a nice meal and sometimes a dessert or just ice cream.  

I made Mr. Man one of his favs that I make it's a ham and scallop potato...it's one of my favs too.  And he had gifts to open as well.

In this picture he is showing one of the two gifts from our daughter Candi and her husband Hans, it's a very nice pocket watch.

I have tried several recipes from Pinterest some are great and some I wasted ingredients. But the ones I made and liked I have a board on Pinterest labeled Pinned it & did it!

I am in a baking mood this week.  Today I am making our youngest daughter, Erica my mom's recipe for zucchini bread.  She swears I make it like mom and it's good, I won't eat it because I think It falls short of my mom's.  But since she likes it and I want to bake why not?

Thanks for the visit!

Hugs,
Tania

Surprise Revealed

Our daughter Erica asked us over a month ago to keep this past weekend open for her because she had a surprise for us.

She was very good at keeping the secret, I know because I tried to break her. (wink, wink)  

Sunday morning it was all revealed to us as we drove into a parking lot for Top Golf.  She treated us to two hours of hitting golf balls for fun.  It is a very large state of the arts golf entertainment complex.  It's all computerized, the golf balls are chipped so it will tell you how far you hit the ball and where it landed it in the hole if it did and points are added.

Mickey

At first looks I was very intimidated, not a golfer first off then this complex is huge and we were on the top level!  I'm afraid of heights and there is no barrier but a net if you were to fall off.  I kept worrying about Mickey getting too close but she stayed on the green and also did very well.

Erica

Erica won our first round and surprisingly I won the second.  I say surprisingly because this is the second time that I have hit a golf ball also I have sore muscles over my rib cage that are pulled from last weekend so I was being very gentle on myself on the way I moved.

Tommy

But winning didn't matter to any of us, we just had a lot of family fun and good apps to eat.

Mr. Man

What a wonderful surprise and we look forward to doing this again.

Me

Thanks for stopping by I know it has been awhile.  (I apologize for the photos, I didn't edit them before blogging.)

Hugs,
Tania

Unplugged

About three or four weeks ago I decided to close my facebook account...for now, maybe forever!   Haven't you ever just wanted to unplug?

The last time I did was 2001.  I was working at GE ITS and part of our dept was being moved to India and the other to Kentucky.  I got laid off, not without an offer of advancement which I didn't take...hind sight is 20/20.  Anyway I was on unemployment and we decided to cut back in some places until I got another job.  I offered to shut off my cell phone.  Which back then wasn't so hard to do since it was fairly new to us, but it was handy.

I love it!  I even said after I got another job I didn't want another cell but Mr. Man said I needed one.  (I'm not a phone person for those that don't know me)

Any way back to facebook, recently I find myself so annoyed with the posts people put on there.  The drama, political opinions, any strong opinions, and family throwing family under the bus..  I like to read the fun and funny stuff am I the only one?  I like to go on fb to see what others are doing with their families, pictures of the family, things like that.  

Since I have been off I have a lot more time!  I also played games on fb, what a time waster!  I do miss things that my closest family and friends are posting like pictures but some are being pretty good about texting me pictures and emails so I don't miss out completely.  

It's been wonderful so far!  I am just shutting down fb.  I am still using my cell since now that is my only phone I no longer have a land line.  I am blogging sometimes as you can see and I have posted pictures to instagram which I am liking much more.

I am taking the summer off and I will think about it again come fall, but I am hoping I really enjoy being disconnected from all that other stuff and don't want to return...at least for now.  Never say never!

Please leave me a comment if you have ever unplugged from something and tell me how it went for you.

Hugs,
Tania

Yard work and More

 It's been busy around here for me.  Many doctor appointments

And working on quilts one of my favorite things to do.

This one is a summer quilt with many colorful flip flops on the front.

And ladies bathing suits on the back.

Erica and Mickey came over one weekend in May to rake for us.  Mr Man and I did help as well.  It took all day Saturday and the morning on Sunday to get the back and front yards raked.  We have some large trees, which took 29 lawn bags an a huge pile of branches to see our lawn once again.

Since then I got sick that Monday with a sinus cold I'm sure is from all the leaves, pollen and dust.  Then I lost my voice which lead to a very quiet Memorial Day weekend.  

Today (5/28/15) I am starting to feel some what myself for the first time in almost two weeks. 

I am looking forward to working in the yard again, not raking but cleaning out flower gardens and planting.

Hugs,
Tania

What's On Your Counter

This is what's on my counter...Mr. Man takes an apple a day to work.  I love having apples on the counter because I am more likely to grab one for a snack and we like the green apples with a zing.

Also Halo's in the grocers now, they are so easy to peel even my 5 year old grand daughter can do it.

Then I have my citrus fruits.  Two oranges are for an orange pound cake in the near future, limes and some of those apples will go into my green juice and the lemons I use those on everything, fish, chicken but almost every day in place of salad dressing!

Also it's really colorful and pretty don't you think?

Hugs,
Tania

Wordless Wednesday

I Forgot My Password!

It has been so long since I blogged I forgot my password!  That has never happened!

I have been reading blogs but have not posted anything in a while and it was a nice break.  But also I didn't have too much news.

I have been quilting quite a bit.  The quilt top in the picture above I recently quilted and bind.  I made this quilt top three years ago.  It was a couple of months after my mom had passed and also my quilt retreat.  They had a mystery quilting project for us to do and all I knew was to buy a jelly roll (yes quilters like to name precuts after sweet food items) I wanted something happy since I was feeling so sad.  I never buy bright color fabric so this was totally out of my comfort zone.

Today it is finished and on the back of my couch.  I also made another eye spy quilt which will go up on my Etsy shop as well as a neutral I put together but still needs to be quilted.

I also finished a block of the month I did about 4 years ago when I worked at the quilt shop.  This one will go to Candi for her big 30.  If and when she reads this she will know she is getting a quilt but not which one...

She would have gotten it if it was any other birthday, or day it just happens to be done around this birthday.  (wink, wink)

We really haven't had much news.  Our truck has been in a couple of times.  When your truck is13 year old who has traveled the USA more than any other domestic vehicle it may need some maintenance once in a while.  But I tell ya my Ford Escape runs just as well if not better today then when we bought it brand new!  

Mr. Man asked me about 8 years ago if I wanted to trade it in for a new Ford Escape. I said no way she runs great and I don't like car payments, well as you tell I'm not good with change either, that is really my issue.  

I like tried and true and live by it.  I don't need anything fancy ever as long as it works I don't need anything more.  

As you know in my past blogs I have been fancying a Buick Encore.  Well recently I told Mr. Man ya know when we are ready I think I want another Ford Escape.  I'm not crazy about the new body shape but I do like how well it has held up for me.

Anyway, I took a good spill a couple of weeks ago.  I could hardly move for two days afterwards.  I sure felt my age when I fell.  Which is kinda scary now for me since I was diagnosed with osteoporosis this fall.

I had a physical after the fall and the doc looked over my chest/breast bone and he thinks I may have fractured it but without an xray we don't know for sure.  I asked him if I had an xray and saw it was fractured is there anything we can do about it?  He said no then I said I don't see the point.   I have chest xrays due to meds every couple of years so I will have them check it then.

Like I said not much news here.  But I am hoping to blog a bit more again.

Thanks for the visit!
Hugs,
Tania

MIA

I guess I took a little unplanned break from blogland.  I think this has been my longest time between posts ever! ?

Well you really haven't missed much.  Valentines day came and went, pretty uneventful.  We did our usual seafood dinner which is always a treat...even tho' we do it often really but we make it more special on Valentines Day.

I have had some pretty bad flares from my rheumatoid arthritis, in my hands.  I'm sure it's due to weather and a lot of prep for my then upcoming quilt retreat.  

Our weather has been so strange this winter, warm, cold, rain, snow and ice.

This past weekend I went to my annual quilt retreat up in the north Georgia mountains, Hiawassee to be exact.  It was kind of sketchy this year as there was snow, ice and mountain driving.  Which some took the interstate and I did not.  I took the mountains. 
I'm a Minnesota girl I can drive it right?  I mean we don't have mountains in MN but we do get snow and ice.  Which it is dangerous to have those conditions in the mountains, but I gotta tell ya it's one of my favorite things about this weekend is driving through the mountains, alone and taking in the pure beauty!

The higher I got the foggier it got or should I say clouder...it was clouds actually I was driving into.

It was our 5th year of our quilt retreat and I have been to all 5!  Jennie our fearless leader out did herself!  She does a wonderful job making a fun and different experience each year.  She works hard all year on this and it shows.

Our theme this year was at the movies.  We had many prizes, games,  a dance and song show and awards, along with a surprise speaker!

 We each received a the smaller popcorn bucket with treats at check in...I don't know about you but I still get so excited to get the little things!

 I just had to show you that I am famous as well...see my name on the clap board?  Janet and I usually take photos for our group and post them on our snapfish account.

 One of the many games we play.

 I had gotten a flare up in my right hand on Friday night so I just sat, visited and gave my opinion on quilt lay outs, like the one Ana is working on.

 Some of the quilt goodies to purchase from our surprise speaker.

 Our surprise speaker is Jennifer Jangles.  She has the cutest things!  Love her fun colors, they are so happy!

 A very and fun talented group of ladies who put on a little song and dance to the music of Shake it off but with their own lyrics about quilting.  It was great!

The Sassy Stitchers, 5 years strong, a fun loving group of friends!

P. S.  
This group of ladies are so much fun that they took advantage of the snow early Friday morning and made a Sassy Stitcher Snowlady to great us upon arrival.

Hugs,
Tania