Thanksgiving is Coming!

First Post of the Day

Thanksgiving is one week away from today - one week! And my kids and their families are all arriving this coming Saturday.

Needless to say, I have a lot to do to get ready. 

One of the first things I did was to record a message for them. I discovered that I had a Thanksgiving piano roll that I'd never played before, and it had two of our family's favorite Thanksgiving songs on it! (Naturally, one of those songs has a horse in it.)

So I grabbed some decorations that were close to my kids' hearts, loaded the roll, and played it for them. It was very well received by my family and I hope that you enjoyed it, too.

A little over a year ago, Craig and I finally cried uncle about housecleaning. I'd just begun using a walker, and I simply could no longer clean like I used to. (Cleaning is something I actually enjoy.) Craig, too, was struggling with his own pain and our house was getting dirtier and dirtier. (Dog hair anyone?)

My friend Kathy suggested I try her housecleaner and so we took the plunge and hired Olivia. She's been cleaning for us for over a year now and not only does my home look wonderful, she has become a good friend. 

Olivia working on my blinds this week.

For the Thanksgiving holiday, she is doing heavy duty cleaning stretching over two days. She did the downstairs Monday and is doing the upstairs today. I am so grateful that my home will be clean for everyone who is staying with us.

An interesting thing about Olivia - her hobby is skating on a Roller Derby team! That's her kneeling on the bottom right.

Because Olivia is doing the upstairs (sans roller-skates, of course) I had to finish my sewing projects by today as once that room is cleaned and prepared for overnight guests, I don't want to use it.

Mountain Mama Jessie had asked me to make her kids banners like the ones I made for Julie, Kate, and Titan, and I was happy to do so. I just needed to finish them before Olivia came to clean that room.

Because Jessie's family lives in the Rocky Mountains, there are tons of places to go and see, well beyond the National and State Parks.

This is just a list of one summer's places that their family went!

So, instead of using Junior Ranger patches, I found an embroidery design that would cover all that they do. And then I began experimenting with colors, trying to incorporate red and black for Titan and pink and green for Cambria.

That took a lot of experimenting, but at last I was happy with two of the designs and got started embroidering on the banners.

I ran into a big problem - this set of banners that I'd ordered (yes, from Amazon) was off in its measurements. See how the point of the banner pulls to the left?

The point of the banner on both banners was too far over to one side.

When I was measuring and placing the designs, I had wondered what the problem was - I knew I was measuring correctly but still I could not seem to center the designs.

It was when I compared them to the banners from the first set I'd made, I could see the problem - whoever made these banners was off on their measurements. When they'd hemmed the bottom edges, they did not get the hem stitching centered. Somehow it passed QC and was then sold to me.

It's too late to fix them, but if Cambria and Titan want, I can get new banners and make another set. As it is, just looking at the list of places they'd visited in one summer makes me think I will need to make second banners to hold all their badges, patches, pins, and stickers! 

Tick! Tick! Tick! (Where's that fast clock video?? LOL)

Two more days before folks begin arriving! And I cannot wait.