AND THE WINNER IS ~ ~ ~

FINALLY!!  The day is here!!!  The winner is picked!  I used Random Number Generator and I deleted my comment regarding how you might go about commenting  ~ so the ending number was 108 rather than the 109 comments shown.  I didn't think it fair to count mine in there and then throw off the counter!!! 

Here is the photo of the actual pick!!  And  the winner is LELOOPS!!!!!  So LELOOPS, please email me at gfraizer@neo.rr.com with your name and address and I will get this off to you!!!  I'm going to include a few extra goodies ~ just to make it fun!

If you have a chance, read through the comments ~ so many interesting reasons why you all love rug hooking!  Mentioned many times is the friends we make ~ that has to be one of the big bonuses of learning this art of ours!  I have met so many great gals and a couple of fellows ~ friendships I would never have if it weren't for our common bond!  One comment was that she couldn't paint or knit or other things but that she could HOOK!!  It gives us all a wonderful creative outlet and opens a whole world to people who didn't know they were creative!

So ~ special thanks to  Heavens to Betsy for giving me the opportunity to share this wool with you!  And thanks to each of you for leaving your comments ~ this drawing had a great response ~ everybody loves a giveaway!!! 


Alice

FUN WEEKEND ~ ~ ~

 Another sunrise!  This morning at 5:30, this was the view out our patio doors!!  Too beautiful not to share! We were able to spend another 3-day weekend up in P.C. and it was great!

 Saturday, we walked from town out to the City Park ~ about 3 miles round trip ~ and found this antique hand-carved fish at a flea market that was going on in the park!!  It really is beautiful and smooth from all the years that it's been touched and polished ~ the lady said a man made it for her dad many years ago ~ we were happy to give it a new home where the art of it will be valued  much more than the $3 we paid for it!!

Beach glass hunting!  We love to do that on the little beaches near us!  The picture isn't the best but it shows off our finds from this morning's walk!  Red is very rare and this little bit of red glass is shaped like a heart ~ I'm happy to have it!  Sonny also found a fossil and three lucky stones  ~ the lucky stones are on the bottom left ~ supposedly the cheekbones from sheephead fish ~ click on the picture and you can see the natural 'L' that is indented in the stone!  I have a bracelet made with lucky stones and just saw a pendant necklace this weekend!

Saturday, friends from home joined us for the day ~ we had a little lunch, sat on the rocks with our lake friends, took them on a tour of some of Kenny's old haunts from his teenage years,  went to a little marina bar for a bite and a beverage and ended up being invited to an impromptu birthday party for a mutual friend of ours from here at home!  It was at a the NorEaster Club ~ very nice and glad to be able to share in their fun!

Sunday, we went to Kelley's Island to meet with friends that Sonny will work for over there!  We took the ferry from Marblehead ~ a beautiful ride over and back!  Our friends took us to the Island House ~ and we had the most WONDERFUL New England Lobster Roll with drawn butter and DUCK FAT FRIES!!!  Have you ever heard of them?  Oh my word!!!  Talk about scrumptious!!!  Topped off with a peanut butter martini ~ I was one happy woman!!!  And I wonder why I don't have the figure of my youth!!  I know the answer but I'm telling you ~ if you get to Kelley's Island this summer, you have to treat yourself to some Island House fare!

So ~ back to reality ~ work awaits ~ but it's easier to tackle the tasks at hand when we've had a fun relaxing weekend!  Hope yours was the same!!
Alice

P.S.  There's still time to get in on the Wool Giveaway ~ check my last post and leave a comment!

SWEET TREAT ~ ~ ~

CRACKER TOFFEE

1 pkg. saltine crackers
1 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar
1  12 oz. pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 c. chopped walnuts or pecans


Line a sheet pan with foil. Cover the entire surface with crackers. Bring butter and sugar to a boil. Pour over the crackers. Bake at 400 deg. for 5-6 minutes until bubbly. Remove from oven and sprinkle evenly with choc. chips and spread the chocolate as it melts. Sprinkle the top with nuts ~ place in fridge to set up and cut into squares.  This truly is a sweet treat!!

Last Thursday, Luke and Luci came to spend the afternoon ~ school is out so I thought they might like to come hang out!  We made the recipe above ~ a big hit ~ you should try it! 

Then, Luke spied some avocado pits that I had been saving so I decided to show them how I was going to use them.  I boiled 4 pits in a pot of water ~ added some salt ~ and 1/4 yard of wool!! When the color seemed right, I also poured in a glug of vinegar to set it!

 And this is what we got!  The white is what went in the pot and this lovely peachy flesh color is the result!  It was kind of interesting for the kids and for me, too.  I saw it on The Crescent Lane blog a while back and I like the result!  It's hard to find a good flesh color ~ I think this might be it!!

Friday night, we went to Miss Luci's All Star game!

She was one of two local girls chosen for the area 8 year old team and a good choice it was!  She got up to bat 5 times and hit every time!!  I'd say that's a pretty good average ~ our boys will all be jealous!!   

Just as her game ended, we got a hellacious storm ~ by the time we got to our house, it was a hellacious hail storm!  This is the deck ~ we were so glad the game was over and we were almost back in the driveway when this hit! 

Today is Father's Day and we're having all the kids over for a wiener roast later on.  The kids love to do that and marshmallows ~ it doesn't take a lot to entertain them right now!  We stayed home this weekend for a variety of reasons ~ one of them was going to dinner at son Teddy's house last evening ~ the 'grillmaster' made wonderful grilled pork chops and asparagus and Miki did her oven-browned potatoes and onions ~ I made a new 'warm bean salad' (recipe to follow soon) and Sonny baked his scrumptious Rhubarb Custard pie!  It was a feast for sure!
 
Another good reason for staying in town this weekend was the hook-in at Kingwood Center yesterday!  That will be the subject of my next blog post ~ a great time, of course!!!!!! 

I hope you're all having a great Father's Day with friends and family ~ we've had a good weekend for sure ~ enjoy your day! 
Alice

6TH GRADE GRADUATION ~ ~ ~

We'll try this once again ~ the blog that I lost ~ different words this time, I'm sure! 

Last Thursday morning, Grandpa and I went to 'moving up' ceremonies for  grandsons, Jakob (left) and Luke (right) (friend Foster showed up in the photo, too) in the high school auditorium!  There were over 200 6th graders and it was a wonderful ceremony ~ the principal gave a very encouraging talk to them with the recurring theme of living their lives in service to others ~ that life isn't all about them ~ but of  how we can help and grow our own character by serving mankind and serving our community!  We thought it was a very inspiring way to send off these young people to junior high in the fall!  Then we all went back to their home school for cookies and punch ~ the 200 + students ~ all their parents and grandparents ~ it was a zoo of happy kids and happy relatives!  A fun day for sure!  My great fear is that the 6 years from now to their high school graduation will fly by in the blink of an eye!! 

On that same evening, we went to a fundraiser for our daughter-in-laws, Miki and Cheryl, and friend, Beth who are all walking the Susan G. Komen 3-Day walk for breast cancer research.  Their walk is the end of July in Cleveland and they each must earn a substantial amount of donations before their big weekend ~ they walk 60 miles in three days ~ yikes!  The Happy Grape wine bar in our little town hosted the affair and it was a great evening of giving and sharing with lots of people we know and some new friends that we met!  The highlight of the evening was a wine auction and then some added things to bid on like massages (those certificates came home with me!) and golf outings and salon packages, etc.  The most expensive item was a bottle of Rothschild wine that brought $600 ~ woo hoo ~  that didn't come home with us!!  There were wonderful appetizers, lots of fruit of the vine, live music ~ a very classy little gathering here in smalltown USA!!  I'm very proud of all of them for taking on this challenge and also, my Seattle daughter-in-law, Coni, who will be walking this fall in her fourth walk!  You go girls ~ mama will be watching from the sidelines!!

 Yesterday morning, I was so glad to be awake and see this beautiful sunrise ~ 5:15 a.m. ~ there's lots of black looking Lake Erie under the sunny horizon but it was just so pretty to me ~ I thought you might like to see ~ because I know a lot of you are still sleeping at that early hour!! 

We had a nice lake weekend ~ Teddy and family stayed Friday and Saturday nights ~ they went to Cedar Point all day Saturday  ~ they were tired puppies when they got home!! Our friends, Adeline and Peter were in town from Florida and we were invited to dinner at their friends' home on Catawba ~ very nice evening ~ lots of laughs!  Sunday, they came to visit us and spend the afternoon ~ we wined 'em and dined 'em and took them to the Moose club ~ hope they had fun!!!  It was so nice to spend Monday up there ~ the first of Sonny's long weekends ~ we'll see how that goes ~ we took a 3.5 mile walk yesterday and a long walk on Saturday, too!  It was a great way to begin our week!  Now back to reality ~ and back to life!! 

Have a happy day, everybody ~ and let's hope blogger saves this post ~ here we go!!!!
Alice

FURIOUS ~ ~ ~

I just spent the last 45 minutes posting about fun things and it's gone ~ blogger is making my hair turn gray!!

BOB'S CAT ~ ~ ~

The other evening, I went with Sonny out to cabinetmaker Bob's house ~ he grows annuals from seed and had some to share with us for our garden ~ very generous fellow!  This is his kitty cat!!  BeeBalm is his name ~ a 30# plus kitty cat!!  I just had to show you ~ we visited him last year and I swear he's grown even more!  There was a new cat on the property, Freeloader is his name and he was just as big and soooooo lovable.  BeeBalm took off to hide under the hostas as soon as Bob put him down ~ a very big hosta, by the way!  Isn't he just a great cat?

Nothing much going on here ~ planting and weeding and trying to make sense out of the gardens.  Still no hooking.  Lots of nice hot weather ~ I can say that because I can stay inside if I want.  Going out for supper tonite with friends/customers ~ that will be fun!  I'm starved already!  I have to go to the doctor today and have blood work taken so I'm fasting and appointment isn't until later ~ I will be ready to eat everything on the menu by the time we go out tonite!!!!!

One bit of good news is that I'm out walking again!  I've been at it a week and a half now ~ trying to be dedicated ~ wearing my wrist pedometer and trying to get in 10,000 steps a day.  So far today ~ 9475!!  Woo hoo ~ and I have more than half the day ahead of me!!!!!!!!  The 10,000 step program falls into line with the Surgeon General's recommendation ~ that being that level of activity will  help reduce disease and lead to longer and healthier lives for us all!  It equates with 5 miles a day ~ and it says that a sedentary person walks 500-3000 steps a day ~ so by adding a 2 or 3 mile walk along with our normal activities, it's a do-able thing!!  I'll let you know folks!!!!

It's going to be mid 90's here today ~ I'm headed out to water and then put some order to my hooking room!  Have a good day ~ stay cool ~ and take a walk!!!  Ta ta for now!
Alice

WHERE HAVE I BEEN ~ ~ ~

I wish I knew the answer!!  I decided to post tonite sans pictures ~ just so you'd know I was still kicking!  Last week was a quiet one for me ~ I was home most everyday ~ working in the office ~ doing laundry ~ going to the kids games.  It was a great week for me ~ no pressure  ~ no deadlines.  It's probably how many people live their lives.  It felt good!! 

Saturday, we went to the Cleveland area to a baby shower for my friend's daughter ~ that was fun ~ saw their new grandson who was born a week or so ago ~ saw our lake friends ~ it was nice.  Then came home to go to a gathering of Sonny's classmates last evening.  They get together once a year for dinner and chatter and next year will be his 50th reunion!!  Woo hoo!!!  We're getting up there!!!

Today, was a gardening day ~ when I finally got out there.  We did have a fun Memorial Day weekend ~ I kind of forgot about that!  We had a surprise cocktail party for one of our friend's from here at home and then all went out to dinner on Friday night.  On Saturday, we went to Put-in-Bay ~ it was kind of uneventful ~ good grief, I hope we're not losing our touch!  Sunday we had an impromptu feast of shrimp, left from our Friday night soiree and artichoke dip that Karen brought and margaritas   ~ you know the kind you buy in a bucket and add tequila and freeze?  Not too bad ~ it rained on our party, so we moved it onto the patio under the deck and it was fun!  All of our neighbors squeezed into a small area with our lawn chairs and buckets of juice!!!

I hope everyone is doing well ~ enjoying their summer ~ and I'll try to post more often!  I still have not hooked a loop on my Rooster Pair ~ I'm kind of coasting right now.  Talk to you soon ~
Alice