Sunday,SundaySunday what a fun day!!!

See I can rhyme somewhat! Had a fitful night. Carl was tossing and turning mostly on me and my daughters cats!

She has three of them. Two decided to sleep with Grammy and Grampy.

Vinnie told her mommy to go on Date night! And that she had to babysit Grammy cause Grammy was sick!!! I about fell over! My baby is a talker! So I was babysat by a two yr old!

I'm beginning to start to feel somewhat human again after a At least I'm verticle and not sleeping 24/7!

I think it might be time to ditch the falling leaves and head south. I might after I see what the Dr. Has to say.

My brother who is three years younger than me had a heart attack Friday. He lives in Rome Georgia. No insurance mooches off of people and has severe diabetes. Has blockage 95 percent in 3 arteries and 100 percent in the 4th. He is having quad cardiac bypass on Monday. I'm surprised he found a doc to preform the surgery with no insurance. I'm sure the hospital will get him in Medicaid. He wants my sister or me to be there. She can't go cause she said its 13 hr drive and she has an infection from her plastic surgery since August. I won't go cause he treats me so bad. He burned my bridge a long time ago. He's a con artist and will milk you till its dry.

Ok I'm off my soap box.

I wish him well. I might put my big girl panties on and go see him if he is alive in my way home. I hate driving they Atlanta.

I know if I go he will ask for money I don't have!

I'll get my decaf coffee later. I need to go buy some. Vinnie and I will go shopping!!

carla

Good morning Carla and my sistas,

Oh, my, Carla! Your life is never uneventful, is it? I think I would steer clear of Atlanta and your brother. YOU have had quite enough to deal with lately. You do not need additional stress. You need to go home and take care of yourself.

We're all moving kinda slow around here this morning. Carrie is still in bed. Mom is up and cooking her breakfast. I got up to let the dogs out, and now I just can't decide where I want to settle. I tried the porch, but it was a little too nippy out there for me. I don't really want to get back in bed either. So here I sit.

I really don't want to do much of anything today. I do have to make another trip to the Good Will today with the last of the garage sale things. And return those table to Wal Mart. Yes, I confess. I did go buy four tables from them and I'm going to return them today. They are still in the original condition with all the original tags, etc. I'm probably going to hell for perpetrating a scam on WM, but so be it.

Anyway, I woke up this morning feeling much lighter in spirit. Having that garage sale was a major item on my never-ending to-do list. Now if I can just push through cleaning out the lake house, I can relax and enjoy the holiday season with my family in November and December. I know that might sound a little odd. Most people dread the first holiday season after losing someone. But you have to remember that Butch worked overseas for years and years. We spent many, many, many Thanksgivings and Christmases 12,000 miles apart. I'm sure I'll have sad moments, but in an odd way, it also feels familiar to have him gone. It's how I get through the everyday things here. It's sad, but I'm used to being on my own and doing things on my own. The girls are used to holidays without Daddy, too. We will manage.

Yesterday, at the garage sale, we saw a Hispanic little girl who is five months old and we all just fell in love with her. Big big brown eyes! We are all wondering what Pita will look like. Baby Daddy (like Eileen says, He-who-will-not-be-named!) is Hispanic with black hair and brown eyes. Carrie is Scots-Irish with red hair and blue eyes. But they are both very attractive people. I'm sure our little Pita is going to beautiful!

I feel so badly for Carrie! Honestly, girls, I have never seen ANYONE suffer so from "morning" sickness. Only with Carrie it's "all day and all night" sickness and it's just awful. I know this is TMI, but last night Carrie was sitting on the potty and all of a sudden--blam! She had to throw up repeatedly in the trash can (fun for me to clean up!). She gets no warning. It just comes over her. Her OB has her on a maintenance dose of anti-nausea medicine, but she still gets sick. She is going on 6 months now. WHEN does it END?

You know, I never had one bit of morning sickness with either one of my pregnancies. No cravings either!

Every night I scroll through Pinterest finding all sorts of adorable baby things to make. I try to only "pin" the ones I truly, truly love and thing I might make. I just want to sew all the time! It's killing me to set it all aside for these few weeks and concentrate on other things. My fingers itch for fabric and frills! LOL!

(You know, I would have loved to have sewn baby things for the boys, but Chris just wouldn't let me. She eschewed homemade clothes. Turned up her nose at the baby patterns I tried to show her. Scorned anything crocheted except a few blankets and booties. Oh, no. Her babies were going to wear couture. REALLY? But, that's how she was. Now she acts jealous that I'm excited about sewing for this new baby girl. I hope and pray she doesn't decide SHE needs to have another baby! It would be just like her. She's always so jealous of anything I do for Carrie, which is dumb! Lord knows, I do more than enough for her and her boys!)

Well, enough of my ramblings this morning. I think I'm going to count the money from yesterday and see if there's enough to pay for the fabric for my new bedroom curtains and duvet cover. The fabric I want is Waverly and a little on the pricey side. It has a big pattern repeat, too, so I'm going to have to buy extra. I sure would love to get my bedroom in order before I have to "move" to Waco after Christmas to be with Carrie. I'm thinking I might take my sewing machine and a small basic sewing kit with me. I'll be there for several weeks and newborns nap all the time. I might get some sewing done there for Baby Pita.

Love you all so very much! Have a wonderful and blessed Sunday!

Vic,

morning sickness is so hard on so many women. I was never sick once with my daughter but when I was pregnant with my son, I hurled from the day after I got pregnant--I knew the exact date because the kids' dad and I were separated and he came to visit my daughter at midnight and wouldn't leave until I...well....I was tired and wanted him to leave so I did it--and the next day, I threw up and the next day and the next. Finally, after two weeks, I went to the doctor and he did the test and called me later that day and said the rabbit died...I cried and cried...who would believe that the one time I had sex with the ex I would get knocked up. I struggled with what to do and all the while I went to work every day and spent half the day in the bathroom throwing up and then around five in the evening, in would start back up. I was hospitalized twice with dehydration and by the eighth month, when I thought I was going to tell the doctor to just take the baby early, one day I woke up and no sickness...so my last four weeks of pregnancy were vomit free. He was born with a head full of blond curly hair (ex has black hair and very curly and I had black hair and very curly) and if my son hadn't looked so much like his dad, I'm sure the entire family would have thought he was from the post man...you know. My mom's sister came to the hospital to see us and she said that she knew I was going to have a baby with thick hair cause that's what morning sickness means....thick, curly hair. How funny. Tell you daughter, though, to make sure she keeps up with how much she hurls versus how much she is drinking. And go get her blood checked often. Bless her heart.

Hello Vickie....you made me laugh about the card tables!! I never thought you would really do that...LOL!!!

I am glad that your garage sale is all behind you now. No wonder you are feeling much lighter in Spirit today!! That was a huge thing to have done.

Poor Carrie...I can't believe she is still sick. I hope it feels better soon. I am so excited waiting for little Pita to arrive!!!

As for Christie, she has no reason to be jealous of Carrie. You have gone above and beyond in helping her out. You still help her taking the boys in and helping her out of financial messes. Carrie is off living on her own and fending mostly for herself. I pray another child isn't the answer for Christie.

I remember sewing clothes for my children. I loved making all those special fun little clothes/ costumes/ pajama's. The girls always got compliments on how pretty they looked. I guess I must have been good at sewing. I sure loved it!! I think clothes made with love are worth way more then store bought clothes.

I can't wait to see the new fabric you have chosen for your bedroom duvet cover and curtains. It sounds wonderful!

I love you my friend...HUGS....connie d

Oh Vickie I Want to come to Texas and sew with you!!! I'll even bring my own machine!!!

My little spitfire and I are going in a Grammy Abe me date today. We are going to Michaeks to get some stuff to make paper pumpkins! We need an art project to do!!!

Daddy has computer work to do and needs a two hr old out if the house!!! Grammy to the rescue!!!

Vinnies mama looked so cute going to work today! She had on a pencil skirt with leggings on. I need to find Vinnie a pencil skirt like mamas so they can be twins!

Its 36 degrees here! Time to go back to Florida! Me don't like the cold!!

Carla who has hot hot coffee even though it's Foldgers in your cup!!! I told Carl to make it very weak!!!!!

Carla,

I have friend who lives in TX and she and I both sew a lot but she is a natural at it; not like me all thumbs. But, I keep telling her that I am loading up my little portable and coming to her house for a weekend of sewing. I think when I make my coat, I will go to her house for the weekend and let her supervise me. She also has the really heavy duty sewing machines...she even makes shoes and purses from leather. I swear, she is so talented.

Maybe in a few months, all of us sewers should rent a cabin and do a retreat. Magazine Mt has the most beautiful cabins and they are four and five bedroom with huge living rooms...we could do some sewing up there....or bird watching...or star gazing.

Hey Carla and Vic,

I am about to get ready and head to my office on campus. Grades are due tomorrow and I really need to get the last of the grades entered. Plus, one of our accounting professors and I have written an article for an accounting journal and I need to go finish my contributions. Her idea and my idea of good writing is very different plus the style of accounting journals is vastly different from the style of writing center and rhetoric comp journals...ha.ha. And, when I have collaborated with others in the past, we actually wrote together as in I am writing this and this and you write that and that but she is well you write and I'll write and then we can put it together. I finally told her that I am not writing until I see what she has and I will fill in the gaps.....that is working for now.

Carla, I agree with Vic. I would not drive through Atlanta. I have a sister who I will never go see and if she dies before me, I will not go to the funeral...she has been nothing but a heart ache to me and my other sisters. She is mentally ill and sometimes I think she uses her mental illness to just be mean. So, I stay the hell away from her. You should take care of you first...and I mean it.

Vic, sewing for little girls is so much fun. I loved sewing receiving blankets, diaper covers, diaper pads, gowns, dresses, bonnets...girl, it was so much fun and easy. I even still love sewing for my granddaughter who is eight years from being that little infant that I sewed like crazy for. My DIL is like your other daughter; she didn't want me sewing for the boys or her daughter but she was so jealous of my sewing for my daughter's kids. She wanted me to spend a fortune on the baby comforter and the carseat covers and the windbreaker for the carrier and I wasn't about to so I made them for her and they were beautiful and she could have shopped the world over and never found the things that I made....but when the youngest boy spilled something on the carseat cover, she took it off and threw it away...I kid you not. My son called and asked would I buy them another and I said, no way...the one I made was washable. Yep, she wants brand names. Baby clothes are so damn expensive and they wear the stuff a minute and it's over. My husband used to get t shirts from his job that we never wore and I used that nice new t shirt fabric to make draw string gowns, changing pad covers, and even diaper inserts for the covers that I made. Plus, when you sew for her, you can use bamboo and other natural fibers that are antibacterial so they don't get diaper rash or rash around their little bellies....I'll stop now. I am going to try and post some of the diapers and blankets that I've made. And there's nothing like a good crocheted blanket, sweater, booties, and bonnet. I still make my grandkids (17, 11, and 7) afghans for Christmas.

Well, I am going to go get me a cup of coffee and jump in the shower before heading to work. Vic, if your daughter decides to use cloth diapers, and if you still have some of Butch's t shirts, use those to make the inserts....Look on line for cloth diaper cover and diaper inserts....I used a pamper to make my pattern and I always made snaps for the diaper covers but a few I used velcro for the middle of the night change when no one wants to fight a snap. There are about three kinds I made, which were all in one (basically you change the entire thing each time and it's like a reusable pamper with a built in cover) the diaper cover which you put absorbent inserts that are shaped like little diapers and when the baby pees or poos, you take it out and wash the poo off in the toilet, and then there are the diapers that are all in ones but they are not made with the water proof outside cover. Joanns has some kits you can buy and they keep the fabric for the covers over near the sewing notions. It's a little expensive but when you think about the savings from buying diapers...it's well worth it. Plus, my granddaughter was so allergic to disposable diapers. And, two of my grandkids got MRSA from the Johnson and Johnson diapers. Apparently the absorbent gel that is inside the diaper is like what they used to put in the tampons that gave all the ladies that terrible staph infection and so since diapers don't go inside, they think it's safe to use but they found that when the baby pees, the gel begins breaking down and can actually get absorbed through the baby's skin and for little girls, it has been found in their little openings. So when we quit the disposable diapers, the baby's skin problems stopped. Plus, the diaper cover patterns are so freaking cute and you can actually bond other material over the covers to make any pattern you want...I make tons of Razorback diaper covers for all the hog fans up here. Okay, enough.

If you decide to try the cloth diapers, holler and I can give you my advice for the best inserts and even the best inside covers.

Oh, and you can make the cutest little bags to carry the soiled diapers in....I know, gross.

Ladies, have a good day today...rest up because tomorrow is Monday.

Hello Jeannie....you really sewed everything haven't you!!! I will look forward to seeing some of the things you have made!!

Sorry you need to go onto campus today. Like you said, it has to be done! I hope you get there and finish quickly so you can be home enjoying what is left of the day!

You are so good and kind to everyone. I love you dearly!

Much love and many hugs....connie d

Good Morning Carla and OFF-

The DISH installer is here installing my new satellite dish and hooking everything up. I'm getting a free year of Netflix so I'm excited about finally catching up on many series that people have talked about.

Its a beautiful day here in Anahuac. nice and cool so I have the windows open and can hear the birds singing. I think today I'll try to clear the kitchen counters of all the stuff I keep unpacking and not putting away because I'm not sure where I want it. I am definately missing the Maine kitchen with pull out shelves and pot drawers!

Carla I agree with everyone else avoid brother at all costs. You're healing and don't need the emotional stress.

Vickie I agree with Jeannie about the diaper covers. I had a young friend who used them for both of her sons. She started with Velcro but that chaffed so she switched to plastic snaps. They were one size fits all because the snaps made them adjustable. I loved looking at laundry day at their house because it was multicolored flags hanging on the line kinda like the flags on Mt, Everest. I actually bought my mother a diaper cover to wear at night because her depends are leaking.

if ya'll have the sewing party I'm in with my portable too! We could make diaper covers for PitA!

Carla glad to know I'm not the only one with a mooch for a brother.

Okay back to the boxes and getting the kitchen counters liberated. Hugs and positive thoughts to everyone.

Cindi B

Hello Cindi...I am totally addicted to NETFLEX. I can watch such a variety of movies and TV series. I just finished 33 episodes of "Call the Midwife". I just loved that program. It sure makes living almost homebound so much nicer.

I am glad you are enjoying the beautiful Texas weather. I would love to be there warming myself in the sun.

You keep unpacking and you will eventually find homes for everything. I always unpacked my kitchen items first and then looked it over and decided where to put it. That is easier then moving things around a second time!

Have a great day....love to you and hugs too....connie d