Wrestling a Bear by Jerzie

I was a Grandmas house just laying on the floor blowing raspberries and playing with my toys when this big white bear comes up from behind me. The next thing I know he's right on top of me. Boy, was I scared!
Didn't take long before he was right in my face! He had me pinned right down on the floor.

Well, I poked him one and gave his snout a push.
Luckily, I caught him off guard so I could push him off me
Now I had him! He was on his back and I had him pinned!
Before I knew what was happening the bear was up and on top of me again.
It was then that I realized that all he wanted was a hug!

Now we are friends and we played together all day.

Sometimes things that look scary aren't after all.

Baby book part 2

Mom's first "journey" was to a small town (about 20 minutes away now) on December 23. I'm surprised they took her out so young. Older ladies I talk to now think it's terrible how people drag their babies all over. It was the Christmas season and both parents families lived around the town they went to.
I love these pictures. My granddaughter loves to pull hair. That sure hasn't changed!

She took her first steps at 13 1/2 months. This is the first page that has the name change although she isn't referred to by name on the other pages. Emaline was baptized in June.Don't you love this Christmas tree? Gifts were a doll, bonnet, 4 pair stockings,3 dresses, a chair, shoes and a knife, spoon and fork set. I wish Grandma described the chair. There is a beautiful small rocker that belonged to my Mom. It had been painted several times so I had it stripped and gave it to my daughter for her 18th birthday. It has a high back and a lot of carved detail.
One of her first playmates was a cousin. I don't recognize the other 2 names. There is no record of when the hand was traced but it looks pretty big to me.
I hope you have enjoyed this baby book as much as I have. Please feel free to "borrow" some of the pictures if that is possible. Just e-mail me and I'll sent them to you if you'd like.

Don't judge a (baby) book by it's cover

I was going thru some stuff today and came across my Mom's baby book. The cover looks pretty nasty but inside? Absolutely wonderful!

The colored pictures and drawings are all beautiful!
Mom was born December 3,1922. On this first page her name is listed as Anne Louise. I can remember Mom telling me that she had a different name at birth but I don't remember how long it was before they changed her name to Emeline Louise which became "Emmy Lou" for the rest of her life.( Except by her father who always called her Emeline.)I don't know who is holding her but this is not my Grandma.
Aren't these pictures precious? It says here that she didn't have her first "tub bath" until she was 3 1/2 months old
She got her first toy for Christmas. It was a roly poly rattle. Does anyone know what that is?

This ribbon and piece of hair were in the book on this page. She got her first shoes in May from Aunt Cecil (my Grandmothers sister). They were white kid size 0.

The book says that Mom had the measles when she was 5 months old.

What fun it is to have such a great record of the first year of my Mom's life. Too bad we don't have books like this for every year! I do have a lot of her graduation stuff and her wedding book. I'll show you the rest of her baby book tomorrow.

PS You can see my quilts in the Feb8 post now.

I'm seeing red....

...Xs where a picture should be! No sense blogging if the pictures don't come up! I've had this problem on several sites. Sometimes it works to refresh a time or two, sometimes not. Sometimes 1 or 2 come up but another won't. I can't get any of my last post pictures to come up and I know others can't either. Does anyone know how to contact Blogger to report the problem? I've tried looking on the help page but just end up more confused.

Give this a try. It's Tic Tac Toe with a trivia twist!

http://www.animaxinteractive.com/banana/Games/tictactoe.html

Quilts

This picture I painted several years ago hangs in my upstairs hallway. I do love old quilts although I only have three.

I've shown this one before. It was made by my Grandfathers Grandmother. Click here for more pictures and history.

I'm not sure who made the other 2 but they are from my mothers family, too. I love the border on this one.

These birds are across the top. There are different colored birds too but the material on them has rotted. You can see a part of one on the left.

I'm guessing that this one is newer because of the bright material.

There are roses quilted into all the corners of the blocks and leaves on the pink parts.

There is even a flower quilted in the center of each flower.

All three quilts and hand done. I am as fascinated with the back as the front. I can't imagine the time that went into each of these quilts. I wish I new more about them and I'm sure I was told at some point but have forgotten. Now that everyone is gone who can answer my questions I realize that I should have listened better and written everything down.If you have family things remember to ask questions and record everything!

We're in double digits!!!! It's 14 degrees. It's a HEAT WAVE!!!!

Rabbit trouble

I had to go out this morning to shovel the steps to the beauty shop and these were everywhere.
The poor rabbits are trying hard to find food.
Their tracks are the only ones on the stairs. Looks like a whole herd of them! I hope they aren't eating too much or I won't have any plants left.
This isn't the first trouble I've had with rabbits. Check this out. What do you think?

Enough cold talk!

Alright, it is time to move on! No more cold talk, even tho it is noon and the temp finally went above 0 (it's 1) and I did brave the unheated upstairs to get pictures of a bedroom up there just for you all.This bed was my Grandparents. It's the first thing they bought when they got married. I got it because I am the oldest Granddaughter. I love this bed but when I moved my computer into my bedroom I switched it for an old 3/4 bed because of room. The dressers that go with it are in my room downstairs.
Most of the pictures and bedclothes in this room were in my room before I got tired of it and switched to purple.
This needlepoint chair was my Great grandmothers. I have another one with a different design, too. The slip from my Grandfathers baptism is hanging on the chair.
The night shirt with the red trim was my Great grandfathers. I mentioned it here. The other stuff I bought at sales.
This washstand belonged to a very dear friend of ours. I talked a little about her and her husband here. She actually had it in her house as a child. I love it but wish I had room for it downstairs. So much stuff, so little room!
I bought this christening dress at a sale on my street. There was a note on it that said "lovingly made by Grandma". It broke my heart that no one in the family wanted it so I had to adopt it.
The walls are in real bad shape in this room so I painted over the wallpaper as it is all that is holding up the old horsehair plaster. As long as I don't use or heat the upstairs there is no use (taking out another mortgage) fixing it up. I told my kids it would only give them or a nursing home more money and they already have more than I do!

It's so cold...

.... that there is frost on the inside of my front door! Can you see the layer of frost on the deadbolt knob? The temp is up to 3 but with the wind chill it is about -17 ! A lot of our kids walk to school so the schools are closed again. We didn't get too much snow but they did all around us. Most schools in the county are closed.
I have an entry so I'm glad to say there is another door before the living room. Obviously the entry isn't heated!
Even the hinges are frosty! Do you have an "It's so cold that"...or a "It's colder than"...that you have heard your whole life? Leave me a comment and tell me what it is. The ones I remember are R rated, I'm afraid!
Jerzie and I are nice and cozy tho and having a fun day! I love the way her fingers curl around her nose when she sucks her thumb.She loves the feel of a blanket (or soft green stuffed puppy) on her face and will rub her face with the blanket when she's going to sleep.

I hope you are all warm and cozy and having a good day!

Update : Our electricity went out for about a half hour around 6 tonight. My daughter lives a few blocks away and hers was out too. Then my son called and his was out! He lives across town. He has an electric oven so wouldn't have any heat. By the time I found the oil lamps, changed the oil from citrenella to regular, found the battery operated radio and the batteries, the electric was back on. Pretty scary when it's this cold!

Akiane

I don't know if I'm the only person on the planet who hasn't heard of this artist or not but I wanted to make sure that anyone who doesn't know finds out! This is an amazing young artist ! Her pictures are fabulous and her story is amazing! Please, watch this video to be totally blown away!
To see more of her art click here.

I also want to thank you for your loving encouragement (?) over my reality check, especially from my daughter, Pea and Dawn! No thanks to you 3 I am slowly recovering! And remember your day will come!

Reality check!

I got a phone call yesterday that really shocked me into reality! A friend from high school called to ask if I would help with our 40th class reunion! How could I have been out of school for 40 years? I guess when our age just climbs up slowly year by year we don't pay much attention.I know that I'm 57 and I don't usually think about it but out of school 40 years! That's a reality that I really don't like to think about! I grew up in a small town that is about 15 minutes from where I live now. There were 57 in my graduating class and most of them I went to kindergarten with. "The burg" was a very good place for our family to be. As I talked about here my father died at an early age and my brother was crippled. My grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins all lived in the same area and they all looked out for us and helped my Mom out.

I literally knew almost everyone in town and even if I didn't know them, they knew me and my brother. There didn't seem to be any "class" division back then. Mosatly our class was all friends. Some closer friends at times but still all friends. I still can't believe that was 40 years ago!

I hope to get over this 40 years ago stuff in a day or two so, please, bear with me.This might actually be fun! I'll keep you posted!

Socks!

This post is for all you gals (and guys) that love to do laundry and just don't have enough to do! Do you love folding socks?

Do you love looking for the ones the washer ate?

Do you love looking for mates?
This is for you!

Here it is!! The ultimate computer waste of time!

Neat! Folding socks in real life should be so much fun! Try it!
(hint - you can pull them out one at a time and leave them hanging in
the air till you find the mate!!!)

Click here: http://www.tomslighthouse.net/special/Socks.swf

If the socks match, they will go together. Drag the socks out of the
bundle and match them and watch what happens!!!.

February

Time to flip the page on the calendar Laurie made me for Christmas. Another beautiful winter picture! Can you stand one more recipe? This one is a very easy cake that is everyones favorite.
Just mix together:

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. soda

can of crushed pineapple with juice

I don't even use a mixer.

Put into greased 9 by 13 pan

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes

Frosting:

8 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup margarine

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 to 3 cups confectionery sugar

This cake stays moist for several days.