Tuesday Tidbits

I am not going to start quilting.

I'm just saying.

Tuesday Tidbits

My mom and her sister are due to arrive any time. The two have been wandering from Kansas to North Carolina. My apologies to any of you in Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina that may have encountered these two gray haired ladies in a white Oldsmobile.

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Last month I turned fifty. This month I received an invitation to join AARP. Are you a senior citizen at fifty?

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Last week, Hubs had his semi-annual appointment with his urologist. Two years ago he was diagnosed with prostrate cancer. It was caught very early due to his annual digital exam and annual blood work to check his PSA (prostate-specific antigen) level.
Following his prostatectomy, his PSA has been less than 0.1 - very good!

According to WebMD, prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in men in the United States. This disease does not present any early symptoms, so the PSA is SO important.

I know that most of my readers are female. So I ask you, is your husband over 50? Do you know his PSA? If not, maybe it is time to insist he see his doctor.

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My mom and her sister arrived around 7:00 p.m. After showing them around our house, feeding them dinner, and enjoying a little conversation, they are tucked in bed. The eastern half of the United States is safe once again.

Tuesday Tidbits - Studio Redone and Another Prize

It was called to my attention that I had not shared the efforts of the redecorating of my studio. Here are some pictures of the before. The wall color was actually darker than in these pictures. Truly a dreary place.
Notice the bare bulb hanging from the ceiling. Lovely ambiance.
Now the redone room. A bright, cheery room in which to sew, craft or work at my desk.

It is so nice in this room now, Ashley is always hanging with me.

No more bare bulb. Instead, a ceiling fan.

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Julie of Jane's Apron had a giveaway. I love blog giveaways. She created a zippered pouch from a place mat. How cool is that? If you are interested in how to make this pouch, go here for a tutorial. It is really simple.

She filled the bag with some wonderful goodies.



Julie has a cool shop on Etsy. Check out the items she has to sell here.

Thanks for a great giveaway, Julie.

Tuesday Tidbits - Bye Bye Birdie

Last week, I shared pictures of the Squatters, Winnie, Will and their babies, living in our back porch. It has been such a delight to watch these hard working parents take care of their young. Like all creatures, the time comes when they must make their own way in the world. For the Squatters, yesterday was that day.

Winnie and Will began pulling pieces out of their nest early in the morning. (NOTE TO HUMANS - Make the nest as uncomfortable as possible if you want your young adults to leave.)
Before long, the young were exploring just outside their nest.

Then they got a little braver and sat just outside the nest. Before long, we had babies all over our back porch testing their wings and exploring the big world.


All too soon, they found their way off the porch and into the cover of the azaleas and day lilies bordering the side of the house. From my kitchen window, I could see Will and Winnie flitting and fluttering over these shrubs keeping a close eye on the youngsters. I observed the young ones climb their way to the top of the azaleas, then shove off to give their wings a test. From the kitchen window, I saw one get great height and distance until, PLUNK! it flew into one of the pillars on our porch. I had to laugh.

Late in the afternoon, I saw Will back at the nest chattering up a storm. Then he moved to the back of one of the chairs on our porch and continued to chatter at the nest. Before long, I saw a little head pop over the side of the nest. With the encouragement of Will, the little one finally took the leap to the porch floor then followed Will into the bushes.

This morning, I sit on my back porch missing all the activity and noise from these tiny little creatures. I worry about the babies. Every now and then, I will hear a small chirp that sounds like one of the nestlings. Then I look to the nest and remember it is empty. Truly, the empty nest syndrome.

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Several months ago, I was one of the lucky winners of the "Not a Contest" that EllynAnne of Apron Memories had. Due to some delivery problems, I finally got my prize package. Even though I knew what it would contain, it was such a delight to open the box and touch the wonderful items within.

There were all three of EllynAnne's books.

There was this cute pouch made from tea towels and embroidered with a vintage pattern from Aunt Martha's transfers.

A peek inside the pouch...

...that contained six tea towels...

...and all of these embroidery items.

Thank you to EllynAnne and Chris Price of Colonial Patterns for such a fabulous treat.

*NOTE - Clicking on the pictures will enlarge them.

Tuesday Tidbits - Clutter

Does it seem like Monday to you? Pa-Pa and I had a busy weekend. We picked up the grandson on Friday evening. Lots of time was spent outside the entire weekend. There were lots of squirrels and birds to chase. Long walks to take with the dogs. Trees to climb.

All of that makes one thirsty.

And tired!

Do you have a place in your house that just seems to "attract" clutter? Ours is a kitchen counter right at the back door. I know this doesn't look too cluttered compared to what it can look like.
Kelly at (un)Deniably Domestic has her office to clean. I have a room upstairs that I call "The Storage Room". It should be the second guest room but before the painting and redecorating can begin, all that is stored there needs to be put away/donated/recycled/trashed. Kelly and I are talking about challenging each other with our cluttered rooms. Do you have a room that needs decluttered? Care to join us in this challenge?

Tuesday Tidbits - Bumblebee and Award

It rained almost every day while we were in Kansas. Since returning, the temperatures have been cool to down right COLD last night. Our heat kicked on. The wet and cool weather has been great for all the things growing in our yard.

Last summer, Hubs gave me another "bee" gift. He gave me two iris rhizomes and said they were Bumblebee iris. They went in the ground with a lot of other bulbs and rhizomes last fall. While on a walk around the yard this weekend, I was delighted to find this bloom.

It was a tiny bloom and didn't last but a couple of days. The lower petals are a dark purple. Wish I had an entire bouquet of them.

My blog was visited by Annie of "Annie's Home" and she gave me this award.

Thank you, Annie!

The rules for accepting this award are:

1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.

2) Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

This was the perfect challenge for me as I have been wanting to do a little traveling around the blogsphere to see some new sites. These are some of the places I landed and really enjoyed while visiting. Check them out as you may find some one new to read.

Anna @ Boogers, Bibs, Books & Bubbles
Michele @ Country Vintage
Whoopsiedaisiesgal @ Whoopsie Daisies Days
Julie Thompson @ Jane's Apron
Cammy @ Freckled Farm
Pat @ Back Porch Musings
Dana and Daisy @ A Cat in My Lap
Jemm @ Jemm in the Flint Hills
Bella Della @ Bella Della Farm
Big Hair Envy @ Big Hair Envy
Busy Bee Suz @ Day by Day...My Life as a Busy Bee
Karen @ Karen's Korner
If Sew: @ If Sew:
Jenny B @ Allsorts
Nanette @ Freda's Hive

Tuesday Tidbits - I Lied and Contest Entry

Is that a face only a grandmother could love? That is our cute grandson, Mr. Porter Pants.

I've been looking for one image to use for my Tuesday Tidbits. Last week I had the pineapples, which reminds me of tidbits...pineapple tidbits. This week I wanted to share this picture as it reminds me of tidbits...all over his face! Maybe I will just use different pictures each week...

I lied. My last post was that I was taking a blog vacation as I'm going back *home* for a week. But, I made the mistake of checking email and my blog roll and read about this giveaway. How could I not enter! Click on the Apronista button to see the giveaway.

Yesterday afternoon, I visited with my 86 year old neighbor, Anne. She never throws anything away. Really. She saves everything. When I left her house yesterday, I had four bags full of vintage goodies and a vintage toaster. I'll have to share those with all my Vintage Thursday pals once I return.

Now, I must TURN OFF my computer and get packing. Literally!

Now I'm taking a

See you next week!

Tuesday Tidbits - Grumpy Grumblings

Every time I have to make a trip to our local post office, I get grumbly. It can't be that there is no parking. Lots of parking spaces as every one parks in the "NO PARKING FIRE LANE". It could be all the trouble I have trying to get my SUV backed out of the parking space without hitting all those cars parked behind me in the "NO PARKING FIRE LANE".

Since our front porch is under construction, we have had to have our mail held at the post office. Last week when I went in, I talked to one of the postal clerks about the fact that our porch was not done and the thirty day hold was about to expire. She told me I could place another thirty day hold. Great!

Yesterday I went in to extend the hold. Another postal clerk told me I couldn't do that. What about moving our mailbox off the porch? Nope. Mailbox has to be attached to the house. The solution is that we had to get a post office box.

I had to come back home to get Hubs as they have to verify that you are who you say you are with two forms of ID with your correct address. Then we had to make a change of address. The clerk informed us that the mail would come to our local post office, then be rerouted back to the regional office where they would change the address, then send it back to our local post office. GOOD GRIEF!

Now I have to make MORE trips to the post office. OH, YEA! Hmmm? Maybe since I will just be "running in and out" I can park...

After the post office stop(s), the next thing on my list was to go shopping for a dress to wear to Daughter P and son in law's wedding reception. Shopping therapy...IF I didn't detest clothes shopping for myself. The selection was very disappointing but I managed to find five dresses that would be "okay". One fit and didn't make me look like an old lady or an old lady trying to look twenty years younger. And I managed to find a pair of shoes in the same store...which is not easy being a skinny foot in a wide foot world.

The warm weather has brought out the termite swarms. Yesterday they invaded Hubs' office. Today they invaded our bedroom. I know they can't harm me, but it is just GROSS having them swarm over my bed.

Speaking of warm weather, why is it that two college educated, computer literate people can not figure out how to program our HVAC thermostat? It can't be rocket science, can it?

Tuesday Tidbits - TUSAL is Not a Misspelled City in Oklahoma

If you spend any time in the blogosphere, you have probably found that lots of crafters, quilters, stitchers and sewers (Hmmm? Maybe I should say “people who sew”) have blogs. They often come together in SALs, Stitch Alongs, to compete with one another in completing a project. The hostess of the SAL sets the rules and people interested in that particular activity may join. Everyone seems to have a lot of fun.

Since I am a *flitter*, working on this project then moving to another project and another before anything else is complete, I wouldn’t do well in most of these competitions. I’m also too humble and too much of a perfectionist to think that any of my work would be good enough to pass along to someone else.

However, one of my bloggy friends, threeundertwo at "Lit and Laundry", led me to the TUSAL, Totally Useless Stitch Along at "Dragon My Needle". I can so do this! No worry about perfection or completing something in a given time frame. For the rules of the TUSAL, go here.

Here is my TUSAL so far.


Three containers? What can I say? I've always been an overachiever. But here is why I have three containers:

This vase holds the tidbits from the embroidery and crocheting I do while watching television in the evening.

This vase sits beside my sewing machine. It gets all the tidbits from the starts of seams, seams I have to rip out, basting stitches, etc.

This vase sits beside the ironing board. It gets scraps of fabric too small to go in my scrap basket, selvages trimmed from fabric, and other bits of fabric "debris". May need to get a bigger container for this one. Check back at the next new moon to see how I am progressing with my TUSAL.

The azaleas are in full bloom in North Carolina. They are gorgeous. I think they have more blooms than last year. Ann, our 86 year old neighbor, says, “If you come to North Carolina when the azaleas are in bloom, you will never want to leave.”

Here are some pictures of the azaleas in our yard.

Most of the red buds have leafed already, but the dogwoods are in full flower. I’m anxious to see what our magnolia tree looks like this year.A couple weeks ago, I put out the hummingbird feeders. To my delight, I have seen a couple scouts feeding from them this week. I fed three or four pairs last summer. Hopefully, I will have that many and more this year.

The wrap around porch reconstruction has been stalled waiting for a mason to replace the brick foundation. He was here today for a bit and will be back tomorrow. Now maybe things will move along quickly.

The city did come by and picked up most of the old porch that could not be salvaged.

Saturday, Hubs, daughter K, grandson Boogie and I took a day trip to the Crystal Coast of NC. The purpose was to look at some vacation properties for our upcoming family vacation in September. We found this place. It is absolutely perfect for our family of five kids, spouses, and two grandsons. This is a picture from the beach side of the house. To see picture of the inside, click here.



Hubs is like a kid waiting for Christmas. So I’ve added the countdown clock to my left sidebar just for him. Lots of time left but lots of projects and plans in between that will make time pass quickly.