MARGAUX, I LOVE IT

Margaux is a china pattern made by Mikasa, however it's... out of print, so to speak.  We bought a set of this china back in the 1980s.  I love this china and have never gotten tired of it.  I recently purchased a set of white Mikasa china that is lovely, but I just don't love it like I do the Margaux.

My Margaux is beginning to look it's age, chips on several of the dinner plates, a huge chip out of one of the cereal bowls and a chip of two on the salad plates.  A couple of years ago I found several of the cereal bowls on Craig's list at a very reasonable price.

Yesterday I was checking out Craig's List.  I always check for Mikasa china.  First thing listed was a set of Margaux for...are you ready...$35.00.  I gasped.  This was an eight-place setting.  I immediately ran down to the workshop, where Hubby spends most of his time lately working on a hutch.  I opened the door and said, "remember how we went to Marietta to purchase that gas grill you found on Craig's List?"  His answer was a reluctant, "yes."  I excitedly said, "Well, I've found a set of our dished in Marietta, do you want to go with me to look at them?"  Hubby said, "Sure."  So off we went.

Y'all I got that set of dishes for $35.00!  After we got home I checked Replacements, Ltd.  That same set is $829.95!   I love a good bargain.  This tops me finding a Whitney Point blanket for 50 cents at a yard sale. 

Now I have to figure out how I'm going to get another set of dishes in my kitchen cabinets.  This is going to be like trying to put ten pounds of lard in a five pound bucket.

A PHOTO/PICTURE CAN BE WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

We went to the firing range.  Our friend kept badgering me to shoot his new .40 caliber pistol, so I did.    This is my target.  He can't hit the side of a barn with his own pistol.  I don't understand why, all you have to do is line those three little dots up on the pistol and fire away.   I've threatened to post it on the back door.  Do you think it would a deterrent to enter my home uninvited? 

HOTLANTA LIVING UP TO ITS NAME

This was the temperature on our porch late yesterday afternoon.  I was shocked!


We are staying inside and we are so very thankful for air conditioning.  We are also thankful our downstairs unit died several weeks ago when it wasn't so hot, rather than the last couple of days.


So for now we are right here in front of the fan just cooling it.

DRESS A GIRL

Recently, I have gotten involved with a group of ladies at my church that have been making dresses for girls around the world.  It is part of a nationwide movement, "Dress a Girl Around the World."  to make simple, colorful dresses for girls around the world.  The ladies that I've joined have already made hundreds of dresses and they have been taken to India, Guatemala, Germany and Russia.   The little dresses going to cooler climates require the addition of a tea shirt to wear under the dress.  As we make more dresses they will be taken to other countries when we have teams going on mission trips. 

There are groups of ladies all over the country sewing these little dresses.  They are so cute!  They are commonly called pillow case dresses.

Working on another dress.

Cute dresses to dress a little girl some where in the world.

They are simple to make with only one seam up the back with elastic across the front and back and double bias tape to bind the arm holes.   I was able to make five last week.  I have five more waiting in my sewing room calling my name and fabric for three or four more that must be cut out before I can get started on those.  

The ladies group at church meet every other Tuesday, we take our sewing machines, ironing boards, irons, surgers and sewing notions we know we will need and sew all day long.   Not all the ladies can sew, but they are out official pressing team and putting the elastic in the front and back casements before the arm holes are bound.   It is a lot of fun and a very worthwhile project.  Check out the link for more information about this project.  There is a button at this website for the patterns for the dresses.

                                            http://www.dressagirlaroundtheworld.com/ 
   

ROOM WITH A VIEW

Skyline of Atlanta

It's been eight weeks since we were ushered into the room, from the Emergency Room, with this view.  We spend two nights here after Hubby fell coming out of the attic of  his work shop and sustained a compression fracture of his L1 vertebra.  The injury has been very painful, but he was so fortunate that his injuries weren't worse, but it has been a l-o-n-g eight weeks, especially for some that is always moving and working and doing something.  Now the physical therapy starts, which should be lots of fun.  I call them physical terrorists.   

 We also had a bird's eye view of the landing pad for the medical helicopters.  We decided they must be delivering or picking up body parts (we were at a level 1 trauma center) for transplant purposes, because the helicopters were too small to be delivering patients with severe injuries.  Our friend, Jason, gave me a complete narrative of what was happening on the ground, when a helicopter flew in, during his visit.  

It is really scary when your beloved hubby has to be transported to the emergency room via ambulance.  I can't say enough good things about the EMTs that responded to my 911 call.  They were here in less than five minutes.  When they decided they were taking him to a level 1 trauma center I knew we might have some real problems.  They were so kind to me and allowed me to trail them down the interstate to the hospital.  When we arrived at the ER I was able to park and walk right in with them.  However, when we got inside my heart sank, there was a very long line of stretchers in the hallway.  I just knew we would be out there for hours.  Not so.  A nurse came up to us and said it would be a minute before a room was ready and in less than five minutes we were in a room and Hubby was receiving medical attention.  Oh yeah, our county sent us a bill for $790 for that ride.  I just pray our insurance will cover that cost.  

It's my prayer we never have to be in any hospital room again, even one with a view.  

FOUR GENERATIONS

L to R:

Mama Kate
Grandee
Liz
Baby Kady






















On February 22, 2012, my niece, Liz, gave birth to baby Kady. She weighed in at 8 lbs. 13 oz. and was 21" long.

The great-grandmother, Mama Kate wanted to meet Kady, so we made a trip down to see my niece and baby. We were all thrilled to meet little Kady. She looks just like my niece when she was born.

This is the first girl born in our family in almost 28 years. We are excited. I don't why she is wearing blue, maybe she has already outgrown her small clothing.



Guess who was really interested in the new baby? Fat Kitty.

Oh yeah, the Great Dane has already put his seal of approval on the baby, a lick on the back of her head.

AND THE WINNER IS...

MAMA (AKA: Mama Kate)!!!! This is unbelievable because she is legally blind.

My niece had a baby shower and one of the games was to estimate how big around she is at almost nine months pregnant.

Before the party began one of the ladies took a yellow roll of tape (without inches) and measured her. So, the tape was passed around and everyone measured off the distance they thought it was around Liz's belly. When it got my Mom I asked her how much tape she wanted measured off. She said, "give me the tape." She took the tape and measured a length from the tip of her nose to the end of her out-stretched arm and told me to add eight inches.

If you extend your arm out full-length it is approximately 36 inches from the tip of your nose to the end of your finger. My grandmother always measured fabric and string this way because she didn't have a yard stick.

Back to my point. So the lady started comparing every one's tape to the tape measured around Liz. Most people had over estimated the measurement by as much as a foot. When they got to my Mom, who is the great-grandmother, her tape was only 1/4 of an inch short of the actual measurement of my niece. She won the prize!