late to the party

OK....so I know I'm one of the last ones to finally know this but let me put my two cents in....

OH...MY....GOSH!!!.....GREEK YOGURT IS FANTASTIC!!

I've been reading/hearing about it for ages but never really paid any attention. I mean, how much different could it be from Yoplait or whatever?.....well...WOW! If this is real yogurt, then those other ordinary ones should have to change their name to something else!

I've been using the plain, non-fat from Trader Joes:

Put some in a bowl, drizzle with a little honey, add some cut up fresh fruit and a sprinkle of granola or raw oatmeal and VOILA!! The best thing my mouth has tasted in a long time. I'm pretty sure this is what they'll be serving for breakfast in Heaven.....

this is also fabulous: mash some fresh fruit into some Greek Yogurt (bananas are the best), add a drizzle of honey and a pinch of cinnamon and serve on a toasted sprouted wheat english muffin.

If you haven't ever tried it, don't be late to the party like me......please go get some. It can be a little hard to find and of course costs a little more than those others, but it's so totally worth it!!!

And if fat-free/sugar-free is not an issue for you, then I recommend trying the Honey flavor Greek Yogurt....taste this and I promise you you'll hear Angels singing.......

His & Hers

HIS:

I have a good friend at work who is also the-guy-who-fixes-everything-that-needs-fixing. He walked into my office the other day with this on his arm

I said "HEY! Where did you get that? I need some of those for my sewing pins!"

A few hours later I found these on my desk

($1.99 each at Harbor Freight)

HERS:

Look what I did with them! I prettied them up.......

What a bargain! $1.99 plus a few scraps. These will be perfect for Christmas gifts.....or maybe even the ETSY shop?...(hmmmm....the wheels are turning....)

One for me and 3 for Christmas gifts.

I just love making Christmas gifts in June!!

new family heirloom

At the beginning of May, my sister in Seattle and her two young daughters decided to try making a quilt for the first time. They wrote about it on their blog here.

When Daughter read what her Aunt and Cousins had made, she decided she had to try making a quilt, too. In less than a week she had whipped up this masterpiece! Then a few days later she made this one!

The last few years she has been very supportive and appreciative of all the sewing projects I've made but none of it inspired her to dig out her long-buried sewing machine.....UNTIL NOW!!....THAT GIRL IS ON FIRE!! Boy has she been bitten by the sewing bug big time! By the end of May, only 4 weeks after her first one, she had completed 2 quilts (except for the free-motion quilting, due to being unable to find the right foot for her ancient machine...more on that later), cut out all the pieces for 3 more, and unbeknownst to me....MADE THIS FOR MY BIRTHDAY!!!

Now keep in mind, this was completed only 5 weeks after she decided to "try" making her first quilt!

The theme of this quilt is "Martha's Vineyard", commemorating the trip we took together in April to visit Son/Brother. She used photos from our trip

She found fabric with shells & stones just like the ones we collected on our travels.

She found some with the shellfish that are so plentiful on Cape Cod

And even found this toile, which has actual scenes and places from Martha's Vineyard itself

The back of the quilt is special, too.

This beautiful work of art is now hanging on my bedroom wall where I can look at it every day and be reminded of our wonderful trip together and of what a lovely Daughter I have!

Isn't this going to be the best family heirloom ever?

Rindercella

I had heard that you can find absolutely anything on the internet these days. I now know it's true.....I have proof:

Do you remember "the Gong Show" from the '70's? For those of you too young to remember this HUGELY popular show I'll explain:

The Gong Show was a VERY popular game show/amateur talent show. There were game-show-celebrity judges and if they liked your act they let you finish and then gave you a score of 1-10. If they hated you they would bang a gong and you were done....you'd been "gonged!". The person with the highest score won a prize of $516.32 and a golden gong trophy.

Wellllll.......32 years ago in 1977, my (then) brother-in-law performed a funny act on the show and actually won the prize! He recited a poem in an unusual way. Recently something reminded me about this... I wonder if it would still be funny today in 2009? Hmmmmm.....I wonder if there's any way that clip could be on the internet? .....I sat down at the computer.....I wonder if I could find something about his act. How can I research this? I remember the name of the poem was "Rindercella"......I decided to just try Google first and typed in the words "Gong Show Rindercella"....and BAM!! Guess what was the first thing that popped up from YouTube?!! Yep!! There he was doing his act......time elapsed: 5 SECONDS!!

and WHY? WHY? is this 32 year old Gong Show clip of 2.42 minutes on YouTube? Who put it there? Are all the hundreds of clips from that show on the internet? or just some of them? and why this one? What the heck!!!.....WHY IS THIS CLIP ON THE INTERNET?!!! Oh, wait...I know the answer to that question...

BECAUSE APPARENTLY EVERYTHING IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE UNIVERSE IS ON THE INTERNET! that obviously can be the only explanation......

now go here and watch my brother-in-law doing his act (and yes, it's still funny)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhRdD1OU_nE

For all those manly men.....

Father's Day is almost here. Is the man in your life one of those guys that are really hard to buy a gift for ? Well, let me help you out this year.........I think your Dad/ Husband/ Brother/ Son needs an apron! All men like to BBQ don't they? It brings out that manly, macho thing when they have meat and flames and BBQ tools to take care of.....And if your man just happens to like being in the kitchen, then even better! I'm pretty sure I have something for everyone here:

Does your guy ride a Harley...or wish he did?

Does he have a hobby? fishing or golf?

Does he consider himself a wine connoisseur?

Is he a soldier, currently or in the past?

a baseball fan?

How about Nascar? Dale Earnhardt?

I've got sushi

and even just good old fiery flames.

Trust me, your man needs an apron!

They're all in the ETSY SHOP....

OH NO! I'm an internet addict!

WOOHOO! I have my computer back and all is well with the world again......


If you had asked me a week ago about my computer/internet habits I would have told you that yes, I am often on the computer but not all that much and no, it doesn't get in the way of anything important in my life....of course not!! Not me!...That sounds like one of those people with an internet addiction.....nope, not me!


AND THEN....I got one of those stupid spyware thingys that wouldn't let me do anything at all....no internet, no blogs, no e-mail, NOTHING! I had to make the call and surrender the laptop for a few days.....AAAAAGGGHHH!!!! The Computer Guy had to practically pry it from my hands....

I was out of commission for 5 days and I barely made it! Even though there are two other computers in my household they belong to other people who have their own internet needs so that didn't really help much. I do have internet access at the office but not enough free time there to read all the blogs I absolutely need to read every day. I couldn't stand not knowing what was going on in the lives of all those people whose blogs I read every day even though I've never met them....I felt so out of the loop! Who knew I had a problem! I was desperate for a fix... I can't even count how many times I started to sit at my desk to log on and ended up just sitting there staring at the BIG EMPTY SPACE where a laptop should have been. I actually felt a silly few minutes of mild anxiety a few times: "what if he can't fix it?" "what if the whole thing crashed and I lose everything (even though I have a current back-up)?"
I used up two whole pages in my mini-spiral notebook writing down things I wanted to research/read/search/blog the minute things were back to "normal"........

Well, I've had my laptop back long enough to get caught up on all those blog-lives and cross everything off my spiral notebook list and I'm finally able to be here blog-posting......life is good again!

The silver lining?: I had a lot more time for sewing. I made seven aprons, finished off my mending pile, and cut out several other projects. I also read all the magazines that had piled up on my nightstand and finished two books I'd been trying to find the time to finish....(Noooo, I don't spend too much of my time on the computer...absolutely not!)

It certainly looks like I'll be figuring out some time management priorities around here.....as soon as I'm done here on my computer of course!

By the way, if you live in the Murrieta/Temecula area and are in need of some computer help or repair, I highly recommend Kyle's Computer Repair. Kyle Wilson is a college student studying computer programming and has a computer business on the side. He even picks up and delivers! And his rates are reasonable, too. He only had my laptop for 2 days and it now runs better than it has in a very long time.......THANK YOU KYLE FOR GETTING MY LIFE BACK ON TRACK...