Lets Go Driving in an Automobile

It seems like we have a very excited driver on our hands these days.  She wants to practice practice practice every time we go someplace.  I know this will make her a better driver.  This song came to mind while thinking about it today.  Sesame Street and I go waaaaaay back.  It was my most favorite show in the entire world as a child.  I remember watching it when I was probably three years old or so.  Those songs have stuck in my head all these years.

Do you remember Mr. Hooper and Mr. Hooper's store?  Remember Big Bird used to go there and buy his birdseed?  Oh....I loved that show.

A Quilting I Will Go.....

I thought I would show you the fabrics that I choose for my "mystery quilt."  I have absolutely no idea what on earth this quilt is going to look like when it is finished.  That is the "mystery" part.

My quilting buddy Kathy and I are off for our big adventure.  I have been waiting for this day for a very long time.  I am sure there will be laughter and gnashing of teeth and diet coke and gnashing of teeth and laughter.  The laughter will be from Kathy.  The teeth thing and diet coke will be me.   I will show you how far I get when I return.  Prayers would be very much appreciated...for me that is.  :)

Quilting Buddies

I have been frantically lazily enjoying cutting out my fabric for the "Mystery Quilt Class" I am attending this weekend.  I am trying to enjoy the process of the cutting.  So far, I am not doing so well.  I like to get things done.  I tend to focus on the end instead of enjoying the beginning and the middle.  Sigh....  I am working on it though.  While working on my fabric cutting, I looked around this morning and this is what I saw. 

Pup dog at my feet.  She did not even care that my fabric was on top of her.

And, my fuzzy kitty.  He always likes to be where I am.  Even in the middle of my cutting table.  Kind of dangerous with that tail and my rotary cutter.  Eeks!  :)  I have to move him out of my way all the time.  He just loves to get that chocolate brown fur all over whatever it is I am making.  No quilt is complete with out blood, sweat, tears and cat hair.  Right?  (This one already has all four of those ingredients in it.)

And yes...in my world....M & M's can be your quilting buddy. 

Funny Sign

While out practicing driving with my daughter at our closest large empty parking lot (a church) ....I looked up and saw this sign.  I laughed and laughed.  Very appropriate for a church, don't you think?  :)

And away we go.....

Well, I am officially the mother of a daughter who is taking drivers training.  I can not believe I have a daughter that is driving.  I think I am in shock.  :)  She started on Monday of this week.  And today, she traveled on a couple of our most busiest streets in town.  Her very first time behind the wheel of an actual vehicle and not a go cart.  HA!  I hear she did fantastic.  She drove this fun little box on wheels.

We followed the cones to her first day of class.  What a clever idea to use cones to direct us. 

Tonight she begged her daddy and I to take her someplace to practice.  When we agreed to go, you should of seen that girl get those dinner dishes done so we could leave.  She went out and started the car.  And waited for us.  It was so cute.  She backed out of the driveway then I got in and drove to a church parking lot that was empty for her to practice.  Here she is all smiles ready to go.

She got in at the church and did a fantastic job!  Only a couple times did my head go forward quickly then backwards quickly.  :)  She apologized each time.  Very thoughtful of her. 

She knew which way to turn the turn signal on and we practiced parking and backing up.  She just drove round and round the empty lot.  I am thankful that the church was empty.  We let her drive for about 30 minutes then it was time to go home.  Only so much you can do in a parking lot.  The doggie went with us and little sister.  Who was offering her driving advice from the backseat.  You know...since a twelve year old has all the answers.  :)

We saw all these little fellows in the parking lot with us.  I believe they enjoyed the show.

Turkeys are such very unattractive birds.  They can run so quickly though.  It makes me laugh every time I see one sprinting away.   But I do enjoy the ones that end up on my table each Thanksgiving.  Just saying.  ;)

Fun in the Sun

We had some of our most favorite people come up this weekend again to visit us.  We had big plans this weekend.  We were taking ourselves to the beach!  My sissy has sand in her blood and she simply had to go at least one time this summer.  We both had been watching the forecast for days to see what the weather was going to do.  We could not of asked for a better day!  The sun was warm, there was a nice breeze blowing and the clouds were few.  How perfect!  Thank you Lord for that!!  We packed beach towels, cool refreshing drinks, sunscreen, sand toys, magazines to read and a picnic lunch and headed out.

Here is our spot.

 

A little later in the day more people came in.  It was so fun looking down the shore and seeing all the colored umbrellas in the white sand.  We definitely are going to invest in one of those for our next trip. 

 

It was fun watching the sailboats go by.  It still blows my mind that this is a lake!  I would just swear it was the ocean minus the sea shells.

 

Daddy and daughter taking a little dip.  The water was so nice!

 

I had to snap this photo of my sis and I.

 

The two younger ones were very busy making sand castles.  My nephew is a pro!  He got rocks and made a little moat for his castle.  Look at the waves coming in behind them.  The sounds the waves made were so relaxing. 

 

We did have some little visitors come by our beach blankets.  Especially when we were eating. 

 

Piggies covered with sand.

 

On our way home, we stopped by a U-Pick blueberry farm.  It was our first time picking our own but my sis and nephew had done it before.  We had a lot of fun doing it.

 

Can you see the berries on the bushes?  I think the people should of weighed us before we went into the patch and then again as we were leaving and charged us for the ones that "accidentally" got into our tummies while picking.  :)

 

What we brought home....ready to be frozen for cobblers, pies and muffins.  Yum!

 

She was a pro blueberry picker.  :)

 

After the berry farm, we stopped at a famous place for ice cream.  The blue cow greeted us from the road.  We really do love this place. 

 

No trip to the water is complete without driving by our most favorite house and dreaming that we could live there.  Her hydrangea bushes are absolutely breathtaking!  The colors and size are beyond what I could describe.  We had plans in the car to all move into that house together and combine our incomes.  We think it could work!  Except, my sis does not have a job up here and the house is not for sale.  Oh well......we sure had fun dreaming about it.

 

The pup who was so happy for us to return home to him.  Do you see my sisters knees?  They got so burnt!  She put sunscreen on but I am not quite sure what happened to it.  They were pretty sore.  Next time we go....more sunscreen!  :)

 

And lastly, my sis made me this little gift for me with her paper addiction love.  She sells her cute bingo cards in her Etsy shop.  She said it would remind me of our time together at the beach and how much fun we had together as a family.  And that we did.

 

Oh Deer!!

I was so excited to come home from our long weekend and find my sunflowers that my daughter and I had planted had grown about six inches taller than when I left and the leaves were huge and I just knew they would be beautiful when they bloomed.  Well....I woke up and looked out the window the next morning and all the leaves were gone.  Hum....what happened!!  I was so upset!  Upon further investigation, I went out and almost all the leaves were chewed off my sunflowers!  Drat!

In the mulch, I found these.  Did not look like doggie prints to me.  I believe those are hoofs!!  And, I don't believe it is time for Santa's sleigh.

Humph!  I guess I planted something that the deer thought looked like a salad bar and they helped themselves.  Lovely.

What's a girl to do when her backyard looks like this.  I would like to live here too if I were a deer I suppose.  Sigh.....