Antique Doll Bed Pillows, etc.

My mil had a gorgeous wood doll bed, which was passed on to her daughter, and now will belong to her great-grand daughters. My sil asked me if I could make a removable pad cover, pillows, and pillow covers. She also asked if I could embroider the girl's names on the pillowcases. One pillow will go at one end of the doll bed and the other on the opposite end. I thought that I would share some pictures with you.

Red Skeleton Pledge of Allegiance

Holiday Safety Tips

HOLIDAY SAFETY TIPS … DON’T BE AN EASY TARGET!




With the holiday season upon us and the shopping frenzy in full swing, the Altadena Sheriff’s Station would like everyone to take extra precautions while out shopping, and also around your home or business during this festive time of year. Suspicious activity should always be reported immediately, whether you are at home or away, and people are strongly encouraged to practice the following safety tips that may prevent you from becoming a victim:

While shopping:

¨ Place all gifts and packages in your trunk or out of sight
¨ Be aware of your surroundings at all times and walk with confidence
¨ Park in well-lighted areas
¨ Avoid shopping alone; there is safety in numbers
¨ Try to use credit or debit cards for purchases to avoid carrying large amounts of cash
¨ Keep your car doors locked and windows closed
¨ If you carry a purse or bag, carry it up close to your body
¨ Have your car key in your hand prior to getting to your vehicle
¨ Always report suspicious activity immediately to on-site security or the police department

Suggestions in and around your home:

¨ Keep gifts in areas that cannot be seen from doorways or windows
¨ Install motion sensor lighting in a location that it cannot be easily tampered with
¨ Keep bushes and shrubbery trimmed down and thinned out to eliminate places for thieves to hide
¨ If traveling, postpone your mail and newspaper deliveries so your home doesn’t look deserted
¨ Do not store gifts in vehicles or unsecured areas
¨ Always report suspicious activity immediately to your local sheriff’s station or police department

If you operate a business, some of these tips may be helpful:

¨ Lock unused doors as long as you are not in violation of the Fire Code
¨ Keep only necessary cash in the register and vary the schedule and route for your bank deposits each day
¨ Make sure your cash register is clearly visible to passers-by
¨ Advertise your security alarm system with signs in visible locations
¨ Develop a mutual aid system among stores on your block or close to you

Time Out And A Time To Reflect

I know that I don't have many visitors to my blog, and I honestly don't know why. Lately, I haven't been able to post or go to other blogs. Life is hectic and very busy. For now, I am taking a break and thinking on how I can change and improve things.

Blogging for me will begin again after the new year, unless I have something exciting happen. I am worn out for now. So, if you read this blog, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Solar Eagle

My son was part of an Earth Art Event in downtown Los Angeles. They spent the morning laying out thin solar panels and copper strips to form an outline of the solar eagle. Here below are some images from the event. It was a challenge due to the winds. Everything had to be down before the satellite and the helicopter flew over to take the picture. The helicopter started filming for 45 minutes.

















Courtesy DigitalGlobe

Here We Go Again-Refrigerator Woes

In case you didn't know it,late last month, our refrigerator stopped cooling down. There was water all over the floor and the refrigerator was over 50 degrees. With a good repair, a new part (took a week to get), the refrigerator was on its way to being back to normal.

But wait! Two weeks of pleasant temperatures, frozen ice, and a cool refrigerator had quickly come to an end. It is odd because it was exactly two weeks after getting a new compressor that the refrigerator decided to do the exact same thing. With a new phone call and a quick analysis, everything was fixed once again. This time it was a clogged tube-the tube that carried the refrigerant. Everything is fine once again.

But wait! This relief lasted only two days. We think that everything was fine so we start to put groceries back in the refrigerator, but soon discover that the refrigerator is warm once again. This time, the temperature fluctuates from 34.1 up to 55 degrees. With a phone call, the same tech is back at the house. This time the refrigerator is back down to a normal temperature and stays that way. Well, the tech can't fix something that isn't broken. So, dh brings home the groceries from their storage place, only to discover that the process has started all over again. We kept a log just as the tech wanted us to, which indicated the temperatures and the noise level. The temperature slowly rises up to 57.1 degrees then it begins once again at the bottom and climbs again.

So....today they will hear from us once again. This isn't good with a holiday coming around the corner. We are using a small refrigerator. You know one of those mini refrigerators that you can barely fit anything in. Sigh......

The thing that we liked about the refrigerator is that there are four sections that are individually controlled. The bottom left drawer can be used as a freezer or as a refrigerator.

Annual Turkey Tussle Football Game

To truly understand the meaning of the Turkey Tussle, this is a must see video.



It is a HUGE thing around here that two schools look forward to each year. It is the annual Turkey Tussle Football game between two rival high schools: John Muir High School and Pasadena High School. I attended my first Turkey Tussle football game when my youngest son played in the John Muir marching band. It has been a long time since I have been inside the football stadium at the Rose Bowl and I forgot how challenging it was for tall people to sit in the seats.

Last night was the game that all the current students and past students geared up for, when the winner would covet the victory bell for another year. It is an entire year where the winner has bragging rites of the other rival team. John Muir has been a winner over the Pasadena High School football team and this year was a landslide victory. We won 66-6.

Song by Amy Grant

I heard this song for the first time today. Great song by Amy Grant. I would put the video up on my blog, but I don't know how to do it, so that is why I linked it.

Project Linus-Great Organizaton

As many of you know, I do a lot of sewing. I especially make a lot of aprons, meaning that I usually have a lot of fabric scraps. I used to have a source of women who wanted me to send them the scraps, but the downside was that it cost to ship and usually they paid for the shipping. They were happy to pay for the shipping because of the large variety of quality fabrics that were shipped.

I found another source, since these ladies are up to their ears in scraps. The organization is called "Project Linus." I was fortunate to find a local chapter to donate the scraps and fabric yardage to. Arriving at the meeting place today, I was flabbergasted. In the large room there were so many sewing many sewing machines, and there were not only women sewing quilts, but women crocheting blankets. There must have been at least 100 women there sewing. I could be wrong on this since I am poor at calculating, but besides the large room, there was another room filled with women as well.

Since the Project Linus organization began in 1995, they have made over 3 million blankets for children in need. This is absolutely amazing to me. If you sew, crochet, or knit, I urge you to check out the Linus Project, and if you have spare time, maybe you can donate your time making blankets for such a worth cause.

Unwelcomed Home Invader

My husband and oldest son were just sitting watching television this evening. My husband said, "What is that crawling on the floor." When I first saw the ugly insect, I thought that it was a potato bug, but how did it get in the house? My son did some research on the Internet and that ugly insect that I thought that was a potato bug was actually called a Jerusalem Crickets Ugliest thing I ever saw. Of course our dog was very interested.


This isn't the actual Jerusalem Cricket that was in the house. My son wants to take a picture. Go Figure! We have lived in this home for 25 years and I never have seen anything like this before. I am still curious how it got inside our house. What we found out that it is native to the Western United States and that the early rains are drawing them out of their burrows. There have been a lot sightings since our recent rains.

CERT Training

For the last week, my husband and I have been in an Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training class. It was grueling with us giving up two Saturdays (8 hours each Saturday), and 3 nights of not watching our favorite shows on television, but it was worth it. We are now certified if needed for emergencies in our town. Last Saturday was the final. When I first heard FINAL, it brought me back to the good old school days. I wasn't really big on tests. I was nervous then as I was for this final.

We had 2 groups to begin with, where we worked on cribbing (raising a heavy object-platform off of a victim (no victims underneath or no dummies used), and then we had to pair up to put out a small fire. Putting out the fire was fun because I have always seen it on tv, but never had the opportunity to really put out a small fire.

The next part was the actual final. We had 3 groups of 6 people, but somehow during the last scenario, we had 9 people. The first scenario was a bus accident. There was an earthquake and the school bus hit a telephone pole and wound up in a trench. Of course there was no real trench for us, just an empty parking lot. I was assigned to the task of taking the injured victims off of the school but, but somehow, others just took over. Go figure. Anyways, one of the victims was a young girl. She was place on the yellow tarp, which called for monitoring. I was standing by the bus, and happened to look over at the treatment area. The girl got up and started walking towards the bus. The medical person didn't notice her walking away, so I just put my arm around her shoulder and led her back to the tarp. The next thing I noticed that the young man on the red tarp (immediate or more serious victims) had his eyes closed. When I got closer, he was repeating the same phrase over and over again, which was a sign of shock. I asked the questions that we were told, but he didn't respond (sign of shock), so I covered him up with what I could find.

I had asked my husband what his role was in the bus incident, and he said that he was search and rescue. There was a man place at the back of the bus. This man had a red tag on him and a brief description of what was wrong. While the others were treating the minor injuries (not to be done on the bus, but in the treatment area), the man;s airway became obstructed. My husband noticed the man and climbed over the other victims and followed the procedure for opening up the airway. He did this twice, and the man was taken out to the red tarp to be monitored. The instructor said, "You are not supposed to be out here. You are dead!" The man replied, "He (pointing to my husband) opened up my airway."


Our oldest son could only attend a couple of the classes as he was getting ready to leave for a geology trip to Santa Cruz Island. He was the cook for the group.

Partly Clear, Partly Cloudy

No, I am not talking about the weather. It is raining here, and we are expecting rain all week long. My purchased one windshield wiper during the last rain. He was told that the left wiper was 24" and the right side is 21" We still haven't found a 21" wiper, so the driver side view through the windshield is clear, but the passenger side view is foggy or cloudy looking. We have had our Honda Odyssey for about 3 o4 4 years now, and never knew that the sizes were different.

Refrigerator Our Of Commission

We have had this refrigerator for almost 3 years now, and like it very much, but the troubles began. I noticed water on the floor, but thought that the water pipe was leaking in the back again. My oldest so noticed the water running out of the freezer (melted ice). OMG! How can something be wrong so soon. We used to buy extended warranties, but thought that it wasn't necessary this time.



So.....thank goodness there are 3 refrigerators at dh's workplace. We loaded up the perishables. The sad thing is that I just bought some chicken. I guess that if a refrigerator breaks that it would be on the day when you just loaded it up with fresh items. Updates to come

update: they ruined the refrigerator. Never found out what was wrong with the Samsung refrigerator.

That Some Kinda of Pizza

My son has me hooked on Big Mamma & Big Pappa's Pizza.



The first time he brought home a pizza, I was shocked. It was huge, but only to find out that there is another larger sizes(36"). They hand toss the dough. I watched the man do this with the 28 inch pizza dough. Amazing.

Apple Harvest Cake

I am going to make this Apple Cake




courtesy of my friend Bev from Bee Haven Acres

I can't wait to make and of course eat the cake. Thanks Bev.

New Cobbler Aprons At Country N' More

I have added a lot of new aprons at my online store. There are new Fall and Harvest theme, Christmas/Winter theme, country, and floral theme aprons. More new aprons to
come.

Cobbler aprons are made from pre-shrunk 100 percent cotton fabric.
You get two aprons in one.
Cobbler aprons fit waits up to 50 inches.
There are two large pockets on each side of the cobbler apron.
All edges are top=stitched.

http://www.countrynmore.com/cobbler-aprons-70/

Vintage Apron For Theater Production

I thought that I would share a picture of the apron that I made for a theater production up in northern California. It really did turn out cute and worth the struggle that I had with the bodice.

A Man And His Hot Sauce-Homemade That Is

My son likes his hot chile peppers and especially hot sauce. The hotter the peppers are and the hotter the hot sauce is the better it is. My son has been growing chile peppers for several years now, and has recently grown Carribean Red Chili Peppers. The plant is producing large amounts of Carribean Red chile peppers, which makes him very happy.





The Carribean Red Chile Red pepper 300,000 - 475,000 Scovilles. The Carribean red habanero is about twice as hot as a regular habanero. This extremely hot pepper, originally from the Yucatn peninsula in Mexico, is now also cultivated in the Carribean and around North America.


This is the recipe that he made up for his homemade hot sauce:

Homemade Hot sauce
makes one quart

3 cups coarsely chopped peppers (stems removed)
2 cups white vinegar
1 tablespoons salt

Put all the ingredients in a blender or food processor; blend until smooth.

You can preserve your sauce by canning it in sterilized pint jars in a hot water bath for 35 minutes. For serving, pour into saved and cleaned bottles with a sprinkler top.

These are the same chili peppers that he used in a dish, that literally made me cough from breathing in the hot pepper smell.

Could Use Some ZZZZ....

The last time that I felt this miserable was almost a year ago, when I had walking pneumonia. This time is different, but miserable I am. It is so hard when my body wants some ZZZzzzz....





It is hard that when I need some ZZZzzz...every one around me is sound asleep.

What do you do when you feel miserable to pass the time? No use in trying to go to sleep again for now. Maybe, the chance will come that I can finally get some shut-eye.

I Have Met My Match

I have finally met my match. Sometimes, I don't mind a challenge, but this time the vintage apron pattern won. Looks can be deceiving. Before taking on the project of making this vintage apron for a theater production, I thought no problem. I was wrong. I feel like I am just learning to sew again. So frustrating.

I feel like I am back in junior high and that I am just beginning to learn to sew. Sigh.....

The apron is now ready to be fitted, so now it is just waiting and seeing. The apron is not completely finished, but I will finish it after it is brought back from the fitting.