Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Cabin In The Woods

Here we are on another little fishing trip in Blue Ridge Georgia! I just had to show you this gorgeous cabin and my big fish that I caught. Just don't look at the hair. The wind was blowing so hard!!! This fish is a blue gill and the picture does not do it justice. It is huge for its species. My sweet hubby says that I am becoming a pretty good fisherwoman!!! I think that is a compliment! Life is good. Pictures are below.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Third Visit With Granny Last Week

Here is Granny with walking cane in one hand and broom in the other.

She sets the walking cane down to sweep her porch.
Her sweet little sink where she spends a lot of time.

She caught me taking pictures of her.
But I got there right in time before she
tried to sweep the steps herself.
Here she is looking at the blueberries that I brought her
from my blueberry bushes. She calls them huckleberries.
She was so tickled to get them.
Well, that is all of my Granny visits last week. I will go see her once this week like usual.
I will miss all those early mornings with her. I usually visit in the afternoon but went early
to pick beans before it got too hot.
It was very special to see what all she does during the early morning.


Saturday, June 27, 2009

Happy Birthday Alyssa!!

My Special Little Angel

9 Years Old!
This picture if a little fuzzy but I just had to show you her little toenails.
So pretty.



Here she is with us. This little girl is a special one.
She loves pretty dresses & shoes!
She is all girl!

Here she is holding her little cousin.
She is the most organized little girl.
If her Mom loses her keys or anything else, all she has to do is ask her
and she will know right where they are.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALYSSA!
WE LOVE YOU!
GRANNY & PAWPAW

Special Note: Alyssa was born on her Mom & Dads anniversary. I will never forget how we celebrated their anniversary in the labor room 9 years ago. They received the most awesome gift..............Alyssa!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY SHANNON & BRYAN!

Friday, June 26, 2009

My Second Visit With GRANNY This Week

When I went to visit Granny on Thursday morning this is where I found her.
I couldn't believe it when I saw a quilt that was different than her usual quilts.
I asked her if she made it and she told me that "aunt Pearl" made it for her years and years ago. She was just mending some places on it that had came apart.
I still don't know who "Aunt Pearl" is.
I asked but Granny didn't have her hearing aid in so she never heard my question real good.

Granny said this is the quilt that she puts on her bed for the summer.
She says it is a cool & light weight quilt.
I was sitting there and would see another place to mend and she told me to quit finding those places. She said she was tired and had green beans on the stove.
She has had this pan for about 30 years I was told.
That is a big pot of beans, isn't it?

Here she is carrying this quilt to put it on her bed.
She had already told me that she didn't even have her bed made yet.
It was about 8 a.m.- I told her mine was not made either.
She said she always makes hers first thing when she gets up but she wanted to
put "Aunt Pearl's" quilt on her bed today.

So me and my Daddy & Granny put the quilt on her bed.
Now Granny was happy. She gets something in her head that needs to be done and
she doesn't quit until it is finished.

I took this picture as I was pulling out of her driveway.
I just think her little home is so neat and peaceful looking.
I just love to visit Granny. I usually only get to visit once a week
but they needed help picking green beans this week so I have been able to see her 3 times this week.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Several Visits With Granny This Week - Visit 1

I found Granny washing the gasket on her refrigerator when
I came in on Tuesday. She likes things clean. I walked in the back door and yelled for her but she didn't have her hearing aid in so I had to get right over at her for her to realize that
I was there. I had 3 of my grandchildren with me and she was thrilled to see us.
I have been wanting to show the grandchildren this cabinet. When I was a little girl, this slide out cabinet was always full of flour. Now it just has a bowl of flour,her sifter and a rolling pin in it.
I was explaining to the grandchildren how she used to make so many biscuits and she used so much flour that she would buy it in bulk and pour it in. I don't guess they make cabinets like this anymore. You can tell that she still makes biscuits everyday by looking at the sifter. This woman never ceases to amaze me.

Granny is showing us the 17 quarts of green beans that her and my dad put in the freezer on Monday. She was so proud. She said she was exhausted. She said when the garden is coming in that it is hard to find the time to quilt. She said she got so tired while putting up the beans that she just had to go and sit on the front porch and rest. She whispered and told me that she was ready to quilt.

Well, I knew when I saw the food on the table that I had to do one of two things......
either sit down and eat or go ahead and leave. When it gets around 11:30 a.m. at Granny's house it is time to eat
whether you are hungry or not. Now if it had just been me, I would have stayed because those green beans and cornbread sure looked & smelled good but the grandchildren wanted taco bell!
Taco Bell vs. Granny's Cornbread & Beans????

Here she is getting her little cup of milk that she drinks with her meal and waving goodbye to us. There will be more posts about Granny this week because I am helping pick veges out of her garden. Isn't she just so precious? Did I tell you about the day that my camera died. Well she was so happy because she says she don't like her picture took. I actually think she does like it though. Anyway, I didn't realize when I said that my camera died she took me literally. The next time I came and started taking pictures like I always do she said, "You told me a story. You told me that thing died and here you are using it again." I could not help but laugh as I explained to her how you can charge the batteries and make it work again. She is so funny.




Wednesday, June 24, 2009

My Grandaughter made an Annie Doll

Remember a few weeks back when I was in an Annie Doll Swap?
Well, my 14 year old grandaughter started cutting one out and the next thing I knew she had her stuffed and put together.
I just showed her the basics. She picked out her own fabric.
I showed her how to do the yarn on her head for hair and she took
her home and brought her back and she was beautiful.
Tuesday she decided to paint the face. She told me she was very nervous about doing this.
I told her to just use her imagination and have fun.
Well, she did it.
This is showing the back of her.
Check those cute socks & shoes out!

This is the front of her. I just had to show you the panties she painted on her.
And she even has a belly button!!! Isn't that cute?
See the white paint on her right leg. That was an accident. Tris was upset about it
and I told her that is the thing with Annies. They don't have to be perfect.
She said that can be her birthmark. I thought that was pretty good at using her imagination.

I did not help her hardly at all. I have only made that one so I am sure not an expert.
She made the dress and everything herself. I can't wait until we do another one. I think she did a great job, don't you?
I am so proud of her.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

A Great Weekend

This past weekend we stayed at my husbands, brother's lake house. We had the best time. Their place is on Watts Bar Lake and the view from their place is beautiful. We didn't even put our boat in the lake though. We fished the Tennesee River which is 3 minutes from their house. We also went to the Clinch River which is about 30 minutes away from the house. We are also about an hour and half away from Gatlinburg. We have a favorite breakfast place there and we almost drove to eat in Gatlinburg one morning but slept too late! This picture was took as it was getting dark from our boat. We love to fish in the afternoons up until dark or after. We are not early risers so this works out great for us. It is way too hot during middle of the day to be out on a boat so we take advantage of this time to eat some good meals and relax. I love this kind of fishing! We eat at good restaurants and then are blessed to stay at their lake house. What more would you want?

This fish that Randy is holding is what we are after. It is a Striper. The only thing is....we want his daddy! 13 years ago Randy caught a 40 lb. & a 36 lb. Striper on the Clinch River. We have them on our wall. So we were anxious to go back. Now you talk about fun! These fish are fighters! But this one is just a baby!
Now look what I found......no, not a striper but a 7 lb Drum.
This was so much fun to catch. He was so big! I was the Drum Queen this weekend and Randy was the Catfish King! I caught the biggest fish and he caught the most.

He caught this drum after I caught mine. His weighed about 6 lbs.
We are having so much fun fishing. There is not any sewing going on right now but I am having a ball with my sweet honey! We love to get away from all of the work here at home and get away from the phones. We had so much fun this weekend. Fishing was fun but we actually got some much needed rest too. Sunday we did get up early and fish in the morning. When we got back we just relaxed the whole afternoon. We didn't even leave until about 9 p.m. Neither of us wanted to leave! Their lakehouse is so nice and peaceful. It meant a lot to us to have a place to stay that you know is nice and clean. Thank you so much to my Brother in law & Sister in law!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

The Good Life

Now this is the way I like to babysit my grandchildren.
The only thing that would have been better is if I had wore a bathing suit!
It was so hot! I don't know what I was thinking.
That's Alyssa coming off the slide!
My daughter joined this country club here in town
so the kids would have a nice place to swim this summer.
It sure does make our days more fun!
Tris said it was cold when she first got in but it was in the 90's!
They have a nice little snack bar and we had hot dogs, chicken fingers and fries
for lunch at the pool. What a life!
Tris is so good with her little brother & sister!
Next time I will be out in that water with them!

There is Brother jumping in!
They never stopped. They were the energizer bunnies! We stayed about 4 hours.
Now this is the way I like to keep my grandchildren.

The next day we went and had lunch with my daughter, Mandy and "Little D" and then brought him home with us for the afternoon. He was so good. He is almost 6 months old and has grown so much. I don't know why I didn't get any pictures. That is just not like me. I must have been busy with 4 kids! They were all so good!

I have always kept my grandchildren in the summer but this year I am only keeping them a couple of days in the week. It used to seem more like a job and now it is fun! I am looking forward to many more fun days with them this summer!

Me & my "sweet honey" & our little bass tracker
are leaving to go out of town fishing for the weekend.
We are so excited. We have worked so hard here around our house to get ready to go, so we deserve it. We are hoping for some rest, relaxation, good food & lots of fishing!

A Very Special Happy Fathers Day to my
"sweet honey", my Dad, & both of my Son in Laws!

Monday, June 15, 2009

Feisty Granny

Granny's daughter had given her a permanent
and Granny asked me to comb it out for her.
Look at her little apron she had on ?
She was making homemade soup out of the garden veges.
I wish I could explain so that she understood that she is the
star of my blog. She has a great mind but the Internet is a little much.

She made this quilt last week.
I went last Friday to visit her. You remember that is "wash day"?
Well I made the mistake of saying,"Granny, did you get your laundry done today"?
She said, "I don't launder". She said she has 2 things that she gets someone to iron for her.
She said laundering is too hard. I asked her if laundering meant ironing and she said yes.
Washing is washing and laundering is ironing.
Interesting, huh?
This is the scrappy top I showed you a while back.
She finally found enough scraps to make it the size she wanted
and it is finished now.

Here she is sitting with both of those quilts.
She was a feisty little Granny that day.
I looked up the word feisty and here is the definition:
full of animation, energy, or courage; spirited; spunky
Yep, that was Granny!!!

I had her cross her hands in her lap because she was sitting like that earlier and as I was taking this picture she said, are you taking a picture of my hands folded? I am telling you she was a wild thing this day! Anyway, I said yes. I told her that her hands were beautiful. She said it looked like she was dead! I said, "Granny"! I told her just to think what all her little hands had done. Then she laughed and said that she was thankful for her hands, feet, eyes, and ears. Even when she is feisty, she is always thankful to the Lord about something. She is precious.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

What Can We Say???

We started our afternoon by going to one of our favorite places to eat. Macaroni Grill. The food is normally wonderful but today it was not real hot. We asked them to rewarm it and when we left they gave us our meal free. They really know how to treat their customers. The bread there is delicious. Then we headed on up to the Tennessee River fishing yesterday afternoon.(about 30 minutes from home)
It was so nice and we always catch a few just average size fish.

I had just told Randy that I would love to catch something besides catfish.
Sweet Hubby always catches bass and I never do but today was the day!
We found a honey hole and we were tickled when we were catching fish just like these top two pictures. We think we caught at least 25 or so. They were just average size. We were loving it.
Then it happened......
Pictures are actually out of order.....
I caught mine first...... And then he caught his!
He caught a 5 1/2 pound Smallmouth Bass!
He said he has never really caught many Small Mouth's and
for sure not this big. But right before he caught his.....
I caught mine!

I caught this 5 pounder! It is also a smallmouth!
Sweet hubby could not believe it when I caught mine.
He was so excited so we were really surprised when
he had one too! While I was reeling this in and he saw it, he told me that this will go on our wall.
I was so excited because I have never had a fish mounted that I caught.
The World Record for a Smallmouth Bass is 11 lbs. 15 oz. and it was caught in Tennessee. The record for Georgia is 7 lbs. 2 oz. so you can see why we are so excited. Sweet honey told me that this was his best fishing trip ever. We caught so many fish and they were all good size and then we caught these monsters! Today we have not been worth anything. We slept late and did nothing today. We are so worn out. We could not have stood much more. I can't wait to go again in a few days. We don't normally keep any fish but these are keepers!
So both fish are going on our wall.
He is going to get them mounted on a piece of driftwood and have them both together. I told him it could be "His & Hers!" Honestly we both had so much fun. I have always loved fishing but now I really love it!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Me & Mom Went To A Machine Quilting Class

This is my beautiful Mom pinning her fabric after sandwiching together.

Here I am doing the same thing.

You can see a flower in the middle. She did that so we could sew around it and learn to "echo".
I can't wait to try this.
She used basting spray to put the flower on.

I really needed to do something quilty this week.
Life has been so busy.

Here is the teacher showing my Mom how to
start her machine quilting.

My Mother & I signed up for a Machine Quilting Class #101 at our favorite quilt store in Chattanooga. It was just a 1 night class. We had to get 2 yards of muslin and some Warm & Natural batting (crib size) and take the basics such as pins, sewing machine and so on. I really think this was too basic for us. This teacher showed us several things we did not know but we never got to the machine quilting. So I was a little disappointed. We took the 2 pieces of muslin and sandwiched it together just like a quilt. Then she took chalk and marked it just like quilt squares. In each square there is something different to work on. She said that she used to do just one block and she said when you moved it around that it was not like moving a big quilt. She showed us how to bring the bobbin thread to the top which I didn't know how. She also showed us several things such as different kinds of chalk and basting spray and quilt pounce. She showed us how to roll a quilt which I have already learned from my Granny. But I had never heard of bicycle clips. So I learned a lot. We just didn't get to the hands on part and that isthe part I like. But we will take the next class up in a few weeks when we have time to practice on this piece and we will be ready to learn more. The best part was spending time with my Sweet Mother!