Out of hibernation

Oh my gosh time just slipped away from me. Seems like I have been hibernating, staying inside snug as a bug whenever possible. January is not a favorite month of mine, it has no sparkle or pizazz or little holidays to make it bright and fun. By now many of us cold weather people have full fledged cabin fever. It is also a really busy month for sewing and stitching on some handwork while we are cooped up inside. I have cut many, many kits this month, keeps me busy and I hope many of you happy and content.
Now, you may have noticed I changed the color of my blog background, just for this weekend.
And why is that? Well you must have guessed it, Super Bowl Sunday is fast approaching and in honor of MY HOMETOWN I have caught STEELER FEVER!

Cleo has her terrible towel out and is ready to cheer her team on.

And look what arrived on my porch from UPS. A big cold packed box from my BIL and SIL in Pittsburgh, cheese & potato stuffed pierogi and stuffed cabbage rolls for the game, OMG!!!! Thank you Steve and Julie, how fun is that!
Even though It has been many, many years since I lived in Pittsburgh, I still have people tell me I have an accent. So I will leave you with a little Pittsburghese talk before I go...... Before the game I will RED up my house and then go WORSH my hair, add some CREAM RINSE to make it nice and soft. I think I'll use GUMBANDS to put it up in ponytails or maybe I could URN it to make it nice and straight like the old days. Next I will make some SAMMICHES for the game and make sure there is plenty of POP and URN CITY in the frig. YUNZ all come back now!
Like what accent? Liar, liar, pants on FAR! LOL, LOL!!!!!!

Cleaning and Vampires!

It has been almost a week since my boy moved out, and gosh it has flown by fast! No time to think about it much, just wading through the aftermath, I have been cleaning....alot:(
Some children leave lots of stuff behind, well maybe yours don't, but mine did and I have been trying to put it all in some sort of order.
By night time I have been ready to just relax and watch a new show or read. I ran in to Target earlier this week for some reason which I've long forgotten, and while there I was in search of a new book. I always need a book on hand. Their selection was awfully disappointing though, same old books, I mean Kite Runner and most of the other book club selections have been there forever and ever and ever. I was ready to give up and head over to Barnes and Noble but really didn't want to as it was getting late plus it was bitter cold outside, like 1 degree cold, and then I saw IT. Twilight, first in the vampire series LOL!

Now I have to tell you this book is REALLY off the beaten path for me. I don't care for mystical creature books, super hero's, things that fly... including vampires! Both my grown daughters read the series and couldn't put it down, so I said well..... I'll just give it a try.
OOOOOOH, I was up late that night reading in bed, Cleo and I were so scared! HA! Actually the book is well written and a fast read. Like the Harry Potter series, it was meant for a much younger group of readers and I haven't decided whether I am hooked enough to buy the next one. I am however wondering if Edward will bite whats-her-name and turn her in to a vampiress, so maybe I'll get sucked into the next book afterall, no pun intended!
I am just itching to get stitching. Lots of ideas on paper, tomorrow I'll browse through my fabric stash and hopefully find what I need to get started.
Enjoy the weekend!

An empty nester..... again!

My clock has been ticking away much too fast this past week, counting down the hours and minutes until my last chick leaves the nest.... again.

We already had this practice run down pat 4 years ago, I should be good at this leaving thing. When Jerry and I moved to Kansas we settled Jon in at Oklahoma State University. Boy, he looks like such a baby here, he was only 17 after all!

Here we all are in his tiny little dorm room. Oh, and just look at that baby, that's my 1st Grandson Alexander, he came dressed in his little OSU shorts to help his Uncle move in too! Nothing like a baby in your dorm room to break the ice LOL. Gosh we all look young, just look at that hairdo Barbie Jo LOL!.

2 years later Jon came back to live with us in KC and attend college here locally.
Now he's off again, today is the big move out day, going to KU for a big finish, and boy oh boy is he ready and excited!

I have had mixed feelings about this day the past few weeks.
Knowing today was the big day a friend at Hallmark said "go home with a happy heart Barbie Jo". And I thought well that's a pretty neat way to look at it, how cool is that!
I'm proud of you Jon, hard to believe you are going to be a Jayhawk! And people you will laugh, its not like he's going to school in Hong Kong, Lawrence (KU) is only 40 minutes away LOL!

A new year!

A Happy New Year to all!

Another Christmas come and gone and here we are beginning a new year already. We have had our fill of Christmas music, cheese balls and eggnog. Time to move forward, this past week has been catch up time for me. Getting my hair cut, taking care of all those little me things I was too busy to do before the holidays. Jerry has been home all week, using up the last of his vacation. He has devoted many hours of his time repainting the guestroom, from red to a much lighter shade called Parmesan... many coats of paint and a little grumbling but its looking good and will be a nice fresh change for our guests this year. In between coats of paint we were able to enjoy dinner out and a movie- The Curious Life Of Benjamin Button.

Our Christmas puzzle provided hours of entertainment throughout the week, I finally put the last pieces in last night.
Today I am packing up Christmas, whisking away all the tinsel, greenery and glitter.
While I pack up Christmas our son Jon is packing up his belongings. He is heading off to KU this semester. Lots going on here as we march in to this New Year. As for me, I am anxious to return to normal and begin sewing once again.
Have a happy weekend!