Lots (Still) Going On!

After a nice nap yesterday and then sleeping in again this morning (sorry, Pepper and Tammo!) I think I am all caught up on my sleep and feel much more like myself. And as I said, I have a lot to share from the past few days.

I promised I would begin with the April Give Away.

The first winner!

And the second winner! Thanks to all who entered. Didn't win? There will be another Give Away in May so stay 'tooned!

I thought you might be interested in seeing how our family NCAA Basketball Tournament ended up.

It's Pony Pal Cambria for the win! And in second place is Cowpoke Titan who spent most of the tourney down in last place. Pony Pal Susie placed third.

The highest placed adults were Lisa and Craig who tied at fourth, and I dropped down to tenth place after the championship game. 

As you might imagine, the kids are very excited to have done so well against the adults. Mountain Mama Jessica shared that Cambria also won the 50-entry bracket at Andrew's office. Maybe next year I should ask her for some help in picking my teams!

Despite the lovely weather outside, I am spending a lot of time in the sewing room.

With so much new horsey fabric in stock, I am preparing for the Indy Blooms swap meet and the Midwest Mini Mayhem show. I've got six XLTs (Extra Long Traditionals) cut, pinned, and partially stitched and have begun adding velcro closures.

I should be able to finish these today

and then I plan to cut some more haversacks out of these new fabrics. I'm not sure if I will make XLTs or Traditionals from these yet.

Here is a peek at the four newest fabrics in my stash.

 

Hunt Scene on Green.

Foals & Dandelion Fluff (I love how the dandelion fluff is blowing!

 

I don't even know what to name this fabric, there is so much going on in it!

Foals & Flowers on a blue background (my favorite shade of blue.)

Frank and Eva head home to North Carolina today so last night we had one last family gathering, this time at Lisa's home.

Vanessa took this video of Lukie and Eva having fun with some bouncy cubes in Lisa's front yard.

Lisa and Frank had put together several charcuterie boards in the kitchen and we nibbled and chatted while we played games together. 

Frank set up video games for the kids, too.

It was a lovely gathering, but a little sad, too, since we would not see each other for a while. My heart lifted, though, when Eva told me that she really didn't want to go home but would rather stay here with us. Thank you, sweetie. We wish you could stay, too.

On the docket for today? Errands and the barn this morning, sewing more haversacks this afternoon. I hope to pack up and pop those inkwells into the mail today, too.

Lots going on - good thing I am retired!

On to the Championship Game!

First Post of the Day

Purdue did it! We beat North Carolina State and are headed to the NCAA Championship game Monday night!

It was a good game and I was pleased that North Carolina State played a pretty clean game, especially the NCS players who were assigned to guard Zach Edey. Often he ends a game covered in bloody cuts and scratches from the opposing team's players who played dirty to stop him. This game, he was not. I respect a team that plays clean in such a high stakes game, so kudos to North Carolina State.

I don't have a lot of Purdue gear, but I dug around in my closet and found this 2013 Purdue Mom tee that Curt had given me. That was before I lost 100 lbs so I swam in it quite a bit, but that didn't matter. 

Kathy was ready for the big game, too, and sent me this picture of her with Tate in his Boilermaker gear.

When Purdue won, the students on campus came outside in droves and police closed the main street through campus to all traffic so they could safely enjoy celebrating Purdue's big win.

State Street did not reopen until after midnight!

As for the family bracket, perennial last placer Titan is now in fourth place and Cambria in third! Lisa and Craig are tied for first place and I am in a respectable eighth.

We play UConn for the championship and if they win, then Cambria will win this year's bracket and Titan will be second. But if Purdue wins, Lisa and Craig will have to do a tie-breaker to determine the family champion. (When you enter a bracket, you also guess the total amount of points in the championship game in case there is a tie for first place in the bracket at the end. If that tie happens, then whoever has the best guess is then declared the winner.)

Both the eclipse and the championship game are on Monday. That's going to be a very long and a very exciting day.

---

Today is the last day to enter the give away! Comment on any blog post that's been published Friday, Saturday, and today to enter. Commenting ends at 11:59 Eastern time tonight.

Springtime in Indiana

It's Spring in Indiana! At last. And even though we had a very mild Winter, "at last" seems like an appropriate comment - this past Winter consisted of endless cold, grey days for weeks at a time. It's so nice to have some sunshine and warmer weather.

Despite the fact that I plopped my Abby stone right where my daffodils were slumbering last Fall, they have come up around her stone. It's hard adding new stones to the stepping stone garden - this isn't the first time I've done that.

A short but sturdy pink hyacinth has been accommodating Cowpoke Braden's stone since 2017.

 

And a purple hyacinth since 2019! It is always interesting how plants maneuver around obstacles to reach the sunlight. (Hmmm, seems like there may be a lesson in that.)

This isn't in my stepping stone garden - it's a manhole cover from Jacksonville, Florida.

Beach Son Kyle thought I might appreciate seeing it and snapped a picture of it for me. There is a part of me that wishes I could get one of these for my stepping stone garden - wouldn't that be cool and a nice connection to my Florida family?

Not only are flowers blooming, but look what else is, too, around our neighborhood.

Odd circles are greening up all over the place.

At people's homes (a second one has since popped up in this yard)

and in the park by the lake. I count five in this picture. (I climbed up to the top of the kids' play structure to snap that picture - go, me!)

Coming on the heels of the blog posts about UFOs earlier this month,

these turf circles make me smile. And, they make me wonder. They are spread out around the neighborhood - what has caused them all? It's been fun to observe them as more pop up and to wonder about their origins.

Our neighborhood is doing some Spring sprucing up - we have new street signs.

I love our jumping horse logo.

When we were looking for a new home back in 2006, we drove past the Arbor Chase neighborhood and laughed because the entrance sign had a jumping horse. "That's where you will want to live!" Craig joked at the time.

Well, we happened to find the perfect home for us in Arbor Chase and eighteen years later, we are still here!

Schools are on a much needed Spring Break this week. Teacher Daughter Lisa is enjoying a week off from teaching to recoup some energy and rest, and Local Son Curt and his family are traveling. Here they are with one of Curt's best friends from middle school on into adulthood, Adam J. and his family. (Adam is in the orange jacket.)

I have to share this story about Adam, Curt, and their friend Ian. (Sadly Ian passed away; Curt's son Ian is named after him.) I was driving the guys to a high school soccer practice and the conversation in the back seat got very interesting. I perked my ears up when Adam and Ian began giving Curt laundry tips. 

Their best one?

"All you need, Curt, is a bottle of Febreze. Just spray your clothes when they get stinky and you don't have to wash them. You can go a long time without ever having to do laundry if you do!"

Oh. My. Goodness.

Needless to say, I had a chat later with Curt about the difference between getting rid of dirt and getting rid of smell when it came to laundry! And I think of that story whenever I see Adam.

Love is in the air this Spring.

Our grandson JC and his fiancé Jayci (go figure on those names!) have sent out save the date cards. We will be heading out to Utah for the wedding and guess who will be performing the marriage?

Craig! What a thrill that is for him and so very special to JC to have his Boompa marry him to his love, Jayci. The rest of the family is pretty excited, too.

Finally, it would not be Spring in Indiana without following the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament. And of course, my family has a bracket going, just as we did for the Super Bowl.

I have my hometown school, Purdue, winning it all. And then I have my alma mater, Illinois, playing Purdue in the championship game. Those are actually two reasonable, probable picks - so glad that two teams I love have had such good seasons!

Poor Cowpoke Titan has been at #16 since the tournament began. And Pony Pal Kate has been flirting with #1 during the same time. Me, I am in the middle of the pack at #7, but I am ahead of some family members (Curt, Todd, and Andrew) who know basketball far better than me, so I'm happy.

Strong winds, maybe severe weather, is due tonight. Ask me tomorrow as to how happy I am that it is Spring! Hah!

Stay 'tooned!