Down Memory Lane on a Sunday afternoon

I had been looking forward to Sunday... A day just to myself and my own family with no extra people. Sometimes when I've been around a lot of people for a long time, I need some serious recharging time, preferrably alone.

You can imagine my dismay when Darling Man announced that his other son and granddaughter would be coming to spend the afternoon. I made my plans for escape.

There are certain businesses around town that I always want to stop into to just spend a little time poking around. Badcock Furniture is one. Joann Fabrics is another. But I never seem to have those few minutes to do that, and I drive by glancing longingly at the storefront as I go to wherever I'm supposed to be next.

Sunday, I decided to go to Joann's.

I'm not sure why I have this sudden fascination with sewing. My mom taught me how when I was pretty young, so I know the rudiments. But the passion for it never caught fire in me. I've always had a sewing machine, but it's mostly been used for making curtains and fixing ripped seams, potential unrealized. Then my mom's best friend gave me her sewing cabinet. It needs a little work. The spring mechanism is missing that lifts the machine up to use height. But it's got nooks and crannies for supplies and a flip-out leaf that you can use for long projects that you don't want dragging the floor when you sew it.

The final factor in my new interest is that I hate the clothes that are being sold these days. They never fit right. Clothing manufacturers believe somehow that larger ladies still have toothpick arms. And there's never enough fabric to let it out. Add to that, all the clothes I see seem to come from Hookers-R-Us factories. They're clingy, show of bits I'd rather keep covered and are absolutely inappropriate for work or anything else (besides walking the street).

I pushed open the door to a library-like hush. Women (and a couple of men) silently roamed the aisles, examining buttons or embroidery threads or flipping through huge books full of patterns.

I joined the pattern-lookers and began looking at clothes. THIS was more like it! Pleasing shapes, modest lines, versatile looks - I loved it!

BANG! One of the books dropped to the floor and a youngish mommy hissed, "If you don't sit down and be quiet, I will never bring you here again!" A beligerant little boy and girl looked right back at her and said "GOOD! We don't like it here!"

I had to stifle a giggle. Suddenly I was back in my own childhood, being dragged to the fabric store by a determined Mom. Brothers in tow. We spent a lot of time there, as my mother sewed most of our clothes, curtains, slipcovers - if it could be sewn, she made it. I didn't appreciate it at the time, but she was a very accomplished seamstress. Some of my favorite dresses were ones she made.

But the process was excrutiating to a young child. I spent way too many hours roaming around between tables of fabric and thumbing through pattern books without really looking at them. Gilberg's was the stuff my childhood was made of.

I miss this place now. Joann's is really the only fabric store in town. There are a couple of others with specialty fabrics or upholstery material, but for general sewing, Joann's is it. I roamed the fabric tables after thumbing the patterns, and felt the material. Stiff, silky, stretchy, broadcloth, velvet, chambray. Oriental silks. A world of wonder for your fingertips!

Now I hear that Joann's may also be going out of business. When/if it goes, we will be stuck with the expensive specialty shops or the tiny selection of Wal-Mart. Dad suggested that if it went, there was always online - but doing it that way... there's no way to FEEL if the fabric is right. If I am to get started sewing again, I'd better do it now, while I still have options!

Fun Monday - 4th of July!

Grace, MamaRehema herself, is hosting this patriotic Fun Monday... and this is what she wants to know:

July 4th is US Independence day, for Fun Monday, please tell how you spend your Independence Day either this year or in the past. Do you have a July 4th funny story you would like to share? Do you have a family tradition for this day? For those who are not US residents, please tell us when your country’s independence day is and share with us how you celebrate/spend it. We would love some pictures too, you can share your stories in pictures too.

The fourth of July was spent with Darling Man's family. His brother Joe lives here in town, and his brother Mark and his family lives in South Florida. They drove up Friday. In addition to them, one of Joe's daughters and her family were here from Texas. And of course the MIL and FIL were there as well. It was quite the crowd!

We gathered at Joe's house for wonderful food - grilled ribs, shrimp, potato salad, grilled asparagus, corn on the cob... with key lime/mango pie and banana pudding for dessert. Oh, was I full!!!! Unfortunately, I left home without my camera, so I have no pictures of the first part of the day. Lots of swimming, paintball shooting, eating and visiting. I had never met Joe's two girl grandchildren - they were 5 and 7 and I really wish Kylee had been there to play with them. They would have had the best time!

Darling Man had to work the night shift at the TV station, so he left around 2:30. Long about 6, I realized that the dogs needed second supper and to have their water replenished, so I left ZBoy behind and went home to take care of the dogs. And when I came back, I brought my CAMERA!

The guys had obviously been playing a lot. Mark was trying to teach ZBoy how to throw a football. Z was throwing it pretty well by the time they finished.

After the sun went down a bit, there was more swimming.

And once it was dark enough, it was time for fireworks. The municiple display might be big and beautiful, but it's so crowded and loud that I haven't been to one since I was a kid and they had just moved them from Lake Ella to the Fairgrounds. Of course, we had our own. Mark bought them from a roadside stand down around Gainesville. Nothing too big, but some were quite showy and loud.

Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to shoot fireworks, so they pretty much look like ghosts in my pictures. This was the best one. Sad, huh?

The kids had a blast though. The little kids picked out which ones would go next, and the big kids set them up and lit them. We did it in the street with plenty of room between us and the bangs.

ZBoy has always been a big fan in theory, but in reality, the fireworks are a bit loud and scary to him. It doesn't help knowing that his Uncle Matt lost an eye to home fireworks. He's still got the eye, but it's blind. So Z always keeps a very safe distance and a worried look on his face.

Finally, around 10pm, we said our goodbyes and headed for home.

Our eyes shut as soon as our heads hit our pillows. It was a long, tiring day, but a great celebration!!!

Go visit Mama Rehema to see how the other FM participants spent their 4th of July... and keep an eye out for Janis' assignment for Monday, July 13th!

All's Quiet on the Home Front

Summer is one month under our belt, and it's not going at all the way I thought it would. I shouldn't be surprised - life rarely goes the way I think it should or the way I plan it. Luckily, I'm pretty good at rolling with it.

We re-upped our membership at the Tallahassee Museum. I really should investigate whether or not there's a lifetime membership rather than doing this renewing thing every year. That way I could do it once and not worry about it anymore. ZBoy went to camp there last year and had a marvelous time. We couldn't do camp this year (our "spare" money was required elsewhere), but we can still visit as often as we want. Z developed a special relationship with Carmella the Cow last year, and so we went to visit her.

I love cows, but you really need to be able to shower afterwards. Cows like to lick salt and humans are FULL of salt in the summer. Their tongues are large, muscular and rough - kind of like being licked by a gigantic cat. But they are also quite slobbery, like a lot of dogs. You walk away from the experience feeling like you've had dermabrasion and very wet. Ah... cow love!

We then walked the nature trail, checking out the red wolves, otters (though one seems to be missing), bobcats, skunks, white squirrels and Florida Panthers. The panther cracked me up - looked like it was sitting in the corner... actually, she was waiting for lunch, which was being served while we were there.



The nature trail features lots of boardwalk, since much of it is built in the swamp. After years of little or no water in the swamp, we were grateful for the boardwalks this year as the water was almost up to the underside! They also have these lovely benches built in where you can sit down, take a load off and enjoy the peace and quiet of being in the middle of the swamp.

At least you can try.


In other news, I had my first pedicure ever, courtesy of my friend Jennifer. I'd spent a day helping her get her house ready for a family visit, cleaning and painting. The kitchen was in the midst of renovation, and there wasn't much we could do about that, but the family would understand about renovations... but the dust that comes from it can wreak havoc on a father with allergies. So we concentrated on cleaning and painted the hallway for fun. And she gave me pampered feet a week or so later.

I don't recall ever having polish on my toes before, so I went with a fairly neutral color. But the polish wasn't the thing for me... it was having my feet washed, buffed and massaged. I don't pay much attention to my feet. They are not pretty so I look at them as a rather utilitarian appendage. But I have to tell you, they really appreciated the love.


After much hemming and hawing, Darling Man decided he wanted to revive the pool. After watching one of our co-workers struggle with putting his own above-ground pool together, we decided (since we don't know much about it) to hire a couple of pool guys to do it for us. They ordered the liner and when it came in, made short work of removing the old, regrading the bottom, and installing the new one. Two days afterwards, we had a pool full of water (THAT took the most time) and a delicious way to cool off.

We are lovin' it!


Doesn't she look all innocent? This is Tottie - the embodiment of "dumb blonde". She has suddenly (after nearly three years) decided that she is our cat. She snuggles up to you, asks for pets, sits on your lap... and turns the bedroom into a circus tent after the lights go out. She's jumping on chairs and racing around under the bed. It does disrupt the sleep a little, but after she wears herself out, she's a lovely sleeping companion.

On the nights she decides to stay outside overnight, I get marvelous sleep. When she decides to stay in, it takes a while to get there.


I do have a few gardening projects in the works. The pool revival changed some of my plans, but as I've said before, I'm flexible. I will take pictures of what I've been doing gardening-wise and share later.

We are also going to redo ZBoy's room. It's a dark hunter green at the moment, and honestly, it's just too dark. He says he just doesn't know what he was thinking when he picked that color. He then decided he wanted a yellow room. Yesterday, when we were buying him some new sheets, he admitted that he wanted to recreate his room from Wakulla County. That's going to take a little more effort, but will be well worth it when it's all done. Again, will share more later!

In between all of this, I still need to get 40 hours of work done. I'm working at home in the mornings and in the office in the afternoons. It's a great compromise for summer, but difficult in a way - because when I'm home, I think about work constantly. I feel like I'm never off the clock. This holiday weekend will be a bit of a challenge for me. I will try very hard to NOT work or even think about work. We have family coming into town for the fourth, so I'll be otherwise engaged for at least one day!!!

Hope you're all having a great summer!