The Last Sunset

Sounds like a movie title, doesn't it? But this is 'the last sunset of 2008', as it appeared just a little while ago.

Enjoy... and have a Happy New Year! May your 2009 be filled with lots of beautiful things!

The Bilibo

Finally Courtney got to open a gift for herself!

At first look she thought it was a ball.

It's a Bilibo! I discovered one on a website somewhere and thought it looked interesting, and the reviews were really good. I haven't heard if she's doing much with it at home yet or not.

The little unwrapper

She was already pretty good at unwrapping gifts a year ago, as show in the little video on this post from last Christmas, but her skills have gotten even better! And such a tireless worker... she helped open every gift.

I love the finger point near the end. :-)

Here comes that bow again

Yep, that pretty red bow got reused!

Did you notice how that big present was only partially wrapped? It seems Courtney got a little over-eager and started unwrapping it at home before bringing it over to Grandma and Grampa's house. :-)

She was more than ready to help finish the job, too.

Actually, she was more impressed with the box itself than what was inside it. She had a great time later playing in it. Unfortunately, Grandma didn't have the camera going at that time. BUT, she did save the box for future play times!

Just a teaser

I took too many pics/videos!!! It's hard to sort and decide how to display and explain them. Here's a cute one to whet your appetite for more (although your appetite seems pretty good as it is). ;-)

It's a present for "Boppa" (translation: Grandpa). Nice bow on top, huh?

Merry Christmas!

"Pretty sad, Grandma... no presents yet."

Never fear, Grandma got 'em all wrapped last night, and they're just waiting to be opened tonight. We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. And let's not forget to take the time to remember what this hectic, crazy holiday season is REALLY about... the birth of Jesus Christ. May He be first in our hearts now and always.

Happy Birthday to someone...

... who's having a BIG one today! You know who you are. :-) Enjoy the "frosty winter photos" from the cozy warmth of your home.

Those were all on my living room windows. I don't know... some of those frosty little swirls look a lot like germy bugs to me!

The photo below was taken just before sunset last night. I think they were the brightest sundogs I've ever seen. I almost needed a wide-angle lens to get them both in there.

(Click photos to enlarge.)

Little queen on her throne

Having her second breakfast on Tuesday.

She does love those Mighty Bites! Especially if she can eat them out of a little bitty container.

Seaweed?

Nope. Just a little more decorating by Jack Frost. He's doing a better job than I am with my Christmas decorations.

(Click to enlarge.)

Decorating help

Yep, I had plenty of help putting lights on the tree last night.

Trouble is, she liked to bite the lights.

This one shirked her duty entirely:

Well, the lights are on. Nothing else yet. Soon, I hope.

Hey, Jess... it's taller than I am, at least! And I bet it smells better than your silver one. ;-)

Little Miss Funny Face is back!

(Click to enlarge.)

For Mark

The poor fellow's stuck out in California and desperately missing Minnesota. Oh, how I wish I could send him some of this weather we've been having the last few days! At least it decorates the windows nicely. :-)

Brrrrrrrrr!

Yesterday morning's sundog. There was another, but it was behind trees.

For Grace

"Frosty winter photos." And these were taken nearly a week ago, before it got REALLY COLD, like it is now! Gonna be a loooong winter, methinks.

Enough, Grace? Or keep 'em coming? :-)

Topless dancer

Yep, once she managed to get the shirt off one time, she thought it was great and had to practice it again later.

Better keep an eye on her, Mommy and Daddy!

Need stocking stuffers?

Jess is having a 50% Off sale on her mousepads and postcards in her Etsy shop today and tomorrow. Go grab some up!

This one's for Dale...

...because he's the provider of the vehicle. But the rest of you can look, too. :-)

Rides it like an ol' pro now, doesn't she? And fully dressed, even. Though Grandma did eventually have to help her get the shirt back on. So near but yet so far, she got in dressing herself. :-)

And then...

What comes off, must go back on. Isn't that how the saying goes? Well, something like that, anyway. ;-)

She tried SOOOO hard to get it back on! Much video footage in between that I won't make you hold your breath through to see if she makes it. But she was also SOOOO patient, just working away, knowing how it was supposed to go, but....

Will she make it???

All a learning experience. ;-)

Notice that her efforts didn't do her hairdo a lot of good. :-)

One thing led to another...

Such a good hiding place

Learns early, doesn't she? ;-)

A Christmas gift suggestion for the person who has everything

How about a lovely furry neck and shoulder warmer?!

Mmmmm.... soooo nice and WARM!

And HEAVY! Good grief, what a big lug! :-) She does love to ride up there... and catches me off guard sometimes when she hops on!

I think this is the first time I've put pics of myself on my blog. Really great, aren't they? ;-D

Mighty little Mouse, Part 3

Will he find his grasshopper???

Mighty little Mouse, Part 2

Hmmm.... he seems to have lost his grasshopper!

For such a time as this

Believe it or not, I am out of new pics and videos! How SAD is that?! Never fear, however... I am digging into the archives for something I've been saving for just such an occasion!

A couple years ago, I noticed a very little mouse right outside our garage, and he was so cute struggling with this big grasshopper, that I just had to run and get the camera (as opposed to squashing him). He was also too young (or too preoccupied?) to be afraid of me. So there I lay, on my stomach on the cement, making movies of a mouse. They're short little clips, because at the time I knew I'd be emailing them, so I had to keep the file size down. There are 6 of them. I'll do 2 per day, so as not to keep you in suspense for too long. ;-)

Without further ado, allow me to present Part 1 of the adventures of a Mighty little Mouse:

Modeling the 'do

I didn't get many pics of Courtney when she was here on Tuesday. I spent more time wiping her poor runny little nose. But we did do a bath, and afterwards I managed to get a couple little braids into her slippery-fine hair while she wiggled. :-) Here she is modeling the braids and the curls, minus the runny nose for the moment.

She models as she eats. But hey, at least she can't run away then! ;-)

The latest

Here's my latest bag, in a fabric you haven't seen yet. I shipped it to Jess today, along with a couple of sunflower ones, one of which is a custom order. They've actually been selling fairly well... at kind of a nice pace that I can keep up with without pushing too hard.

It's also the reason for my slowness at posting... well, the bags... and window washing (I'm DONE - yay!)... not to mention Christmas coming, although I really haven't done much for Christmas yet. Only 3 weeks from tomorrow - yikes!

Look on Jess's blog to see what she did! I love 'em!!

Enough suspense?

Here's the answer. I think. At least, that's all I could see. I actually saw 6 without the camera, but I think I only caught these 5 in the photo. They were running, and I grabbed the camera so fast it's amazing it's focused at all. And then the flash went off, reflecting on the window. So after snapping that, I got it all focused on where I thought they'd come out, for a better shot, but alas, they continued on straight west and I never saw them again. Oh well.... It made for a little guessing fun, anyway.

(Click to enlarge.)

Nice goin', Kim! You were right to look for the white tails. Too bad I don't have another prize for you. Unless you'd like another print... of that blurry photo. Would you like the arrows in it or not? ;-)

Uh Oh.... and... Please?

Uh oh... the ball "fell".

She almost said please, then caught herself. :-)

Poor little girl! ;-)

How many do YOU see?

(Click to enlarge.)

Poll Results PLUS

The results of the poll "If you had the choice of accepting a sweepstakes grand prize of either a trip to an exclusive resort, say in the Virgin Islands, or its cash equivalent, which would you take?" are as follows:

1. The trip! (4 votes)
2. The cash! (2 votes)

Okay, here's the PLUS: Some of you already know this... I DID win a sweepstakes grand prize of a trip to an exclusive resort in the Virgin Islands (plus a year's worth of the vitamins I already take), compliments of the Melaleuca company! What a shocker! :-)

I was glad to see at least a couple people agree with me in preferring the cash over the trip. Though it looks like the dream vacation of a lifetime, it just isn't 'me'. I would much prefer to receive the cash and then maybe use it to take our whole family to a resort somewhere closer sometime (if we could get both father and son away from the dairy at the same time). We shall see what happens. At this point, I haven't heard yet if I even can get the cash equivalent.

Thanks for voting. Due to low voter turnout and lack of time on my part, I'm going to suspend the polls until after Christmas. (I reserve the right to change my mind, however, if I come up with something I just HAVE TO poll about... but for now, my brain is having trouble thinking of poll topics. I'm open to suggestions, BTW!)

Black Friday freebie

See Jess's blog for details.

A Thanksgiving song for you

At least that's what I think it must be. ;-) (Sorry for the blurriness in this first video, but it was too cute to not post.)

I think her hair was tickling her eyes, that's why she was rubbing her face in the book at the beginning. :-)

She is one of the things in my life that I'm most thankful for (as if you didn't already know that).

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to ALL!

Grandma's little cleaning lady

Must've been a real dirty spot under that desk!

Whew! That was a big job! :-)

See what I see!

From our basement window, I kept noticing 'something' way up in a tree south of our driveway.

After several days, I finally remembered when I got upstairs (my memory's pretty short these days) to grab my binoculars and take a closer look.

I do believe it's a baltimore oriole nest! I'd been wanting to find one for a long time, knowing there had to be one around here somewhere, since the orioles are usually here all summer. Sure wish I could see it right up close and see how it's made, but I guess that won't happen unless for some reason the branch falls to the ground. But it's cool to know it's there!

(Click photos to enlarge.)

HELP!

Courtney had the cutest sweatshirt on when she was here Friday. But boy, was it a job to get her to stand still long enough to get a picture of it! Notice I had to corner her. ;-)

I got a better shot with it lying empty on the table. :-)

Who needs a whistle, anyway?

Another baggy post

This is my latest bag, other than one just like another I already posted. I've done a couple of repeats, replacing sold ones or for special requests. The fun part for me is that I get to do so many different combinations.

Jess is having a bit of a dilemma at her house. See her latest blog post. ;-)

Also, she now has ribbons available that match her fabrics! Fun!

Another day at the daycare...

Sometimes the kids can be so frustrating you just don't know what to do with them!

MORE pink

Our favorite little model... in her cute kitty-tormenting outfit. ;-)

Best to not mess with napping kitties!

No claws were engaged. Just scare tactics. ;-)

It did make for some nice cuddle time with Grandma afterwards. :-)

Snow was in the air... and on the ground

Our previous snow is now 99.9% melted (yay!). Though I don't like the thought of getting more, I did enjoy the snowflakes that I noticed on the ground this morning. Hey, they came down about 10 feet apart, so that kind I don't mind so much. ;-) Anyway, I noticed these tiny, perfect snowflakes scattered across the grass. They were only about a quarter inch across, yet kind of thick. Unfortunately, they were so little that it was very hard to get decent pics of them. But here they are, even though the pics don't do them justice. Click to enlarge.

Poll Results

The results of the poll "Have you ever met someone over the internet, corresponded with them, and then eventually met them in person?" are as follows:

1. Yes (1 vote)
2. No (9 votes)

Though I've met and corresponded with a lot of people over the internet, I've never met any of them in person. But I'll bet I know who voted "yes"! It had to be Jess, who met Caroline, the lady she designed fabric for. And then there were a number of others that she met at the Quilt Market... and maybe some design clients, etc. Cool!

Just a little more pink

Willow

"I think I could be a good help here."

"Please?"

"Phooey. She said no. AGAIN."

(BTW, notice how much Willow and the outdoor kitty in the post below look alike?!)

Kitty!

Kitty was pretty patient... but got when the gittin' was good! ;-) And she was saved from further "attention" at the last second... thanks to those precious OJ caps.

How 'bout pink?

What a good helper Grandma has... working so hard to help pull out the dead moss roses!

(Click to enlarge.)