Catching Up and Sit-upons.

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of activity getting ready for school and Girl Scouts and after school activities.  Yes, I know, I am a retired grandmother -- how does this affect me?  Well, when  you are the after school pickup of a suddenly active child, it affects you.

The duty of being an assistant Girl Scout leader has fallen on me as none of the troop mothers could do it.  This is odd for me because I was only a Girl Scout for a short time -- a LONG time ago -- so I am having to wrack my brain to remember much of anything about it.  We were discussing projects and my daughter mentioned the cushions for the girls to sit on.  Back in the deep crevices of my brain I sort of remembered these and when I did a google search I was reminded of the name of them -- sit-upons! So, we decided to gather the goods for the girls to make sit-upons.  While trying to find a photo of one to put here as we haven't done ours yet I discovered a number of new ways to accomplish this task including using extra large ziplock bags.  Using those you simply fill the bag with whatever stuffing you choose (we will be using my daughter's 250 saved plastic grocery bags), zip them up and seal with decorated duct tape.  The girls also decorated a piece of paper with their name and decorations and put it on top of the stuffing so the stuffing didn't really show.  Now, mind you, when I saw this I had already purchased materials to use -- plastic tablecloths and yarn.  I have plans to cut them into 18 inch squares, punch the holes and let the girls lace them shut.  More hands on than just stuffing a bag and more cost effective, too.  I had to laugh at myself for wanting to take the easy way out -- when my mother and our other leader were going through GS training and they wanted them to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together, my mother's friend promptly pulled out her cigarette lighter and started the fire.  They failed fire starting and had to start over and they weren't allowed to go home until the mission was accomplished.  They finally managed to get a spark and were allowed to leave but it was a long, long day.  So, me wanting to just fill ziplock bags reminded me of my mom -- funny the things that jog memories.

Ours are going to be red with white yarn for lacing.  Walmart didn't have a huge selection of plastic tablecloths -- especially when I was looking for the PEVA or EVA options.  Before I cut anything out, though, it has to pass Leader Bri's muster though.  Hmmm....maybe she will like the ziplock bag idea.

Looking for ziplock bag coupons.  I think that idea is a winner.  I will post photos.

Will I Ever Get Tired Of It?

I haven't been feeling all that great the last few days.  Seems allergy season has started early for me -- actually, it never ended LAST allergy season -- seems all my allergy seasons are running together.  The last week-end just about did me in -- a family reunion in Waco on Saturday, family things Sunday and Monday which included meet the teacher day, house hunting, lunch out and a movie.  By the time I got home Monday evening I seriously thought I was going to die I was so exhausted and.....my feet hurt.  So, yesterday was spent trying to recover after my 8 a.m. dental appointment.  I hope I remember to NEVER make another 8 a.m. appointment -- this was my second in a month.  I am not an early morning person anymore, it seems.  Today, however, I was more or less back to my old self so I got some laundry done, managed to actually thaw something for dinner and cook it and I made a couple of cards. 

So, without further adieu -- the cards

The first one was not good.  It didn't have enough "stuff".  So, I improved on it.  I added the bat.

 It still wasn't right so I just did it over again and here is that attempt --

This one was a great improvement so it will be the one to be mailed.  There is a learning curve to this and I am having difficulty remember to pay attention to the small details.  Up to this point I have been putting things together and not paying enough heed to the little things and then the end result is just a bit wonky and I have to think about it.  When I think about it I can discern what is wrong and re-do but I am going to have to be more careful to do that BEFORE the thing is a finished product.

Anyway, that was today.  After a bit of vacuuming tomorrow I will be back at it because for some reason I just can't get enough of this craft.

Family Reunion

I am sorry to say that I am not a "reunion" sort of person -- our family reunions when I was growing up were too fraught with drama for my liking.  My husband's family, however, loves to have reunions and they do so every two years.  And we go.

Now, bear in mind that they just buried my husband's aunt two weeks ago and you would think the mood was not be particularly celebratory but we did  have the reunion today.

My husband's maternal family is Czech from Moravia.  His grandfather, Adolph, immigrated when he was about 6 along with his siblings and his parents.  Adolph's father didn't survive the trip to the United States and his mother, a midwife, passed within the first year of being here.  My husband's grandfather and his siblings were adopted or taken in by a doctor in the Halletsville area who raised them, educated them and helped them with citizenship.

Adolph didn't stay in South Texas but settled in Central Texas -- an area rich in farming with a large Czech community.  He married Marie and had four children.  Marie passed as a young woman and he married Annie, a young widow with two children.  They went on to have five more children together, my mother in law being one of them.  Between the eleven of these children there were many children and grandchildren.

There are only two of the original group left -- my mother in law and her brother.  They are in their mid-nineties. There have been five burials since the last reunion two years ago, the most recent two weeks ago.

Today we had the opportunity to go through boxes of papers and pictures belonging to family members long gone.  We were encouraged to take what we wanted, the cousin who had these in his possession didn't really want to have to take any of it home.  I managed to bring home some meaningful paper work involving the farmland that Adolph acquired when he relocated to Central Texas, some photos of the original "homeplace" as my mother in law calls it, some family portraits -- there was so much stuff -- some of it relevant to my husband's life and some not so much.  It was quite the genealogical find.  It fills a box.  It still strikes me oddly sad that a piece of paper, a bill of sale, a list of purchases at the feed store can outlast people.  These common everyday items seem to have so much meaning.

The next reunion will be in two years.  Is this going to be just a "cousins" reunion with all the old folks gone to glory?  Are we now the old folks? Is it going to be in the country again like it usually is or will it be at the new venue that we were at today.  Changing, changing, things keeps changing. 

Whatever it is, wherever it is -- I am sure we will go. 

Paranoia Strikes Again

Does anybody ever make their blog private?  It seems like such a hassle.  I am beginning to worry about the safety of posting certain things and wonder what you all think.