Tolentreasures

  Or Striving for OUR Normal. Whatever that might be.   The last few months have not been normal. Well, actually the last few years have not been normal, although we came to think of them as "our" normal.   January was wild, out of control, not normal at all. JWS made the comment, "What if this is the NEW normal?"   It can't be!!!   I need some calm in my life.    Our son-in-law, Travis gave us prophetic words that we re quote often, we just embellish them a little.   He had just purchased his first house   I thought that the garage was   incredibly spotless and pristine.   I remember saying to him, "Well at least you shouldn't have to clean the garage."   He said, "Well, every body's clean is different."   To paraphrase that to our life, "Well every body's normal is different."   So, in an effort to make things back to our...

See this face? That about sums up January for me! This is Garren's excited face.  Mine looks the same, but maybe not for the same emotion.   I always look forward to January. Slow at work, lots of days to come home early. Lots of big projects to complete. Well, let's just say, January didn't quite shape up that way.    I had high hopes of getting lots of stockings finished for next year, some painting orders done, and some rest.   Instead... I got a lot of these done.   Quick and easy. Instant gratification. Not a whole lot of thought.   Projects anyway. Welcomed this new little boy.   Did a little thrift shopping. Spent some quality time with Kendall   So did Papaw. A little more thrift shopping....   And even managed to make curtains for Kendall's room. (Well, Mom made the pinwheels, I just sewed them together)   All in all...

Kamden Dean 7 pounds, 5 ounces 19 1/2 inches long.   Kendall, of course, keeps calling him Tree Tree.   We haven't got to the bottom of that one yet.  

  Yesterday, we returned dishes, visited and rode around in the snow.   The top picture is the view across the backyard when we returned home. A Deer in someone's yard. An Amish farm,   with laundry on the porch.   Sort of makes one thankful for a dryer. Another deer. This is what most of the roads we were on looked like, but then, we sort of chose the back roads.   Although, I am not a huge fan of winter, it was a really pretty day.   

  That this would have helped leg cramps.     That's right, folks, you never know what you are going to get here.    Yesterday, I got one of those cramps between my toes that would just not quit. Over an hour, I walked, massaged, hobbled, everything trying to get rid of that cramp.   Finally, my mother said that her friend's husband eats a teaspoon of mustard.   Really?    But then, it couldn't hurt any more, right?   So I did.   Within less than two minutes, that cramp was gone.   Skeptical?   http://www.ehow.com/way_5495235_mustard-leg-cramp-relief.html   Read the link above or google it yourself.    I am going to find those little packets of mustard and keep them in my purse, in my car, on my nightstand.     Way more essential than gum and Advil!   And now on to the funny stories. ...

Shawnee has been suggesting these for awhile.   The other day when I told her that I couldn't get into anything, she suggested these again. and then the text suggestions started coming.   Patterns, pins, videos.   Lots of suggestions.   I took some ideas and went on my own.   Other than a YouTube video on broomstick lace.   Well, probably five or six videos until I found one that I understood.     But once I got started....   I just kept going and going   and going and even knitted one after I found several of these buckles in my button stash.     Blurry pics....not sure why...   So football is essentially over at my house, we aren't hockey fans... so you would think that we would watch something interesting.   Storage Wars, Call of the Wild and Duck Dynasty aside... Two of those I don't mind, one I leave the ...