My Sweet Girls

Just a quick blog about my nieces......

Kiersten put this sign on her front door when we went to Texas last week.


Kiersten, Tarra & Jason halfway through their forced march through Hitchcock Woods in Aiken, SC. I would've put the picture of them & me, but they weren't so happy with me at the moment. Because I wouldn't let them bitch & moan about the 2 hour hike, uphill and downhill and sidehill in sand and horse poop while they had to go to the bathroom. What a mean aunt!

I'm not sure if this one was in Georgia or South Carolina. You can't see it in this picture, but Tarra is wearing a camouglage skirt. They got all dressed up to play in the mud!

Doing what little girls do best.....putting salt on slugs.....

Tarra is 11, and Kiersten is 8. They are best friends and as close as sisters. And they are my preciouses. :)

I love Panera!

I think Kimberly and I eat at Panera about once a week, and since we started sitting in the front near the doors (instead of in the back in the unsociable corner) we've been seeing some unique people.

Last week, for instance, a nice looking man came in. Wearing a camouflage shirt with a v-neck in the front and back. His pants were paint splattered, pleated, tapered- somewhere Baryshnikov is missing a pair just like them. And to complete the look, Hot Stuff had on a pair of dance shoes that looked like this.

Today there was a woman wearing a navy blue cropped hoodie, long white t-shirt, gray cropped cargo pants, hot pink ankle socks, and black & cream tweedy ballet flats. Nice.

Notes to self.....Look in mirror before leaving house. Make sure clothes are from the current decade. Never wear socks with ballet flats. Eat at Panera more often.

Meli Wants to Know: What the Heck is a "Tat"?

Well, sister, a "tat" is a tattoo. "Tatting" is a needlecraft. I would consider it a lost art. About 2 years ago, Jason, Mom, & I took a tatting class. Jason took to it like a duck to water. I wish I could say that we've been tatting up a storm since then, but......We're not really sure what to make. An edging for a shirt collar? That would be great for our guest appearances on "Golden Girls." A lace table cloth? That's not our style.

Soooooo...a few of Philip's buddies mentioned to him Saturday night that they're not sure why Jason & I are together. (Who says things like that?!) Obviously they really didn't get to know us. (Jason was the DD and Official Keeper of the Purses, so he didn't get to socialize much.) Here are a few of the reasons I love my husband.

1. He screams like a girl.




2. He makes me laugh till I cry and/or pee my pants.




3. He can handle my bad moods.




4. He cooks.




5. He's my best friend.




6. He can tat!

Here are a few of the reasons he loves me. (I swear this is from his lips to this blog!)

1. I make him laugh.




2. I'm trusting.




3. I'm supportive of his computer geekness.




4. He digs my gnomes.




5. I make him happy.




6. I knit him warm things.

Where's Your Camouflage Kilt?

Last weekend Mom, Jeanne & I went to the Kentucky Scottish Festival in Carrolton. It was a chilly day, started out at about 52 degrees. I love the festivals because you never know what you will see.

Like this guy.

After four hours of festival, we headed a little bit north, a little bit west, and across the Ohio River to Madison, IN. I bought some more self-striping sock yarn before I remembered that I'm on a yarn diet. (Some people, like the man I married, consider my yarn stash out of control. It is perfectly contolled. It's only taken over 6 rooms.....)

In Madison, we went to a sweet shop/yarn shop (where I didn't buy more yarn, but did buy candy). It's owned by a man, who is retired Navy, and his wife, who was in the Navy for 10 years. I love this guy! He was crocheting a sweater when we walked into the shop. He also knits and tats. He showed Mom and me how to needle tat. It looks a lot easier than shuttle tatting.

I finished a pair of socks this past week. I turned the heel and finished the gusset decrease during lunch the other day at work. I posed the sock with my cube gnome, Dale.

I decided to give the socks to Jason, but I think he will only wear them at home. Sure, I admit that they aren't very manly looking, but how many of his coworkers get handknit socks from their wives? Zip. Nada. None.

Last night we went to Lexington for an Armed Forces Day dinner. We sat at a table with some Army Reserve soldiers. They were all very nice, and I adopted one of them, S, as a sister. She's from Texas and doesn't have any family up here and came to dinner alone. My parents sat with my newest "brother." Lester is from Texas, too. For some reason he insists on calling it God's country. But everyone knows that God's country is Kentucky...

Here are some pics from last night.

Sadly there were no camouflage kilts last night.......

Queenzmadams & Bedswervers

It was a slightly rainy day last Saturday so there was fog in the mountains in Tennessee.

We stopped at the Georgia Winery on the way down. Where else can you buy Bulldog Red and Southern Blush? Their wines are all made from concord grapes and/or muscadine. If you like communion wine, you'll love it there. Also, you get to taste the wine out of little plastic cups that are smaller than Dixie cups but larger than communion cups. There's at least 30 wines, and you get to taste them all. For free. I may have stumbled to the car...... (Oh yeah, there's a Bible verse printed on the bottle lables.)

There have been a lot of changes in Atlanta since Jason & I lived in the area. The one that gets to me the most right now is that all of the Mick's restaurants closed. Mick's Bennett St, where Meli & I worked first in Atlanta and where Lara & I met, has been replaced with a restaurant called Vita. We didn't go in, but we could see through the windows that they took out the booths. The booths were always soooo popular.




After a quick, successful, and budget-approved trip to IKEA, we met up with Lara and Matt at Felini's on Howell Mill & Collier. Yummy, yummy pizza. With garlic. Mmmmm.... Then we headed to Lara's parents house. Sadly, Tim & Mary were out of town for the weekend so we didn't get to see them.

Here is a picture of Matt & Lara in the backyard.





We worked hard in the basement, going through boxes of Lara's stuff. She made a huge pile for Goodwill (good girl!) and packed two suitcases to go back to Las Vegas. I am the proud babysitter of her HUGE wine cork corkboard. I'll have to take a picture of it once I hang it up. (Yes, Lara, I know I don't get to keep it forever! Thanks for the bags of corks to get Delayna & me started on our own!) Just when we needed a break, Kim & Justin came over for fun, Balderdash (hence the blog title), and Scattergories. Although it was very difficult to separate Justin from the Stitch n Bitch book (he's holding it in the pic). I think he may be a knitter someday!

Kim is due on June 17th. Kandice the Gnome & I are rooting for the 15th since it's my birthday. It's on Father's Day this year, too, so that would be really neat for Justin- his first baby born on his first father's day.





Kandice enjoyed a soak in the hot tub. Just kidding. He only got to hang out for the picture, and then he had to go inside. He may be water friendly, but I'm not sure Tim would be excited about a gnome in his hot tub. I'll ask next time I see him.

Here's Lara & me with Kenna. Kenna is very, very old now, but I'm sure she knew who I was. I once took her on the road with me when I was dog sitting. She was a great roadtrip buddy. We went to Warner Robbins, GA for the weekend, and she was great with my then-baby cousins. The next weekend we went to Hot Springs Village, AR, and she actually got along with my great-aunt's dog-hating, yippy schnauzers. I have pictures somewhere to prove it, too. I love Kenna!

This is Jinx. She's telling Jason, "Don't take a picture; pet me!"

On Sunday we stopped by our old neighborhood before heading back to Kentucky. This is the best neighbor ever, Sabrina. You can see my old house in the background. See that getting-to-be-huge silver oak in the background? I picked it out when it was a wee little thing, and Jason planted it.




That's all for the weekend. Much fun. I'll try to post the picture of the corkboard soon. Saturday we're going to the Scottish festival at Carrolton!

Is That A Banana In Your Pocket?

The answer is yes. This morning Jason put a banana in his back pocket and forgot about it. Until he got in the car to go to work. Amazingly he didn't get mashed fruit on his pants.

He's also very lucky that he sat on a soft item. I was once in a hurry to get to work and meant to pitch my knitting bag onto the passenger seat of my car. In my haste I failed to notice that the bag didn't quite make it past the driver's seat. So I stabbed myself in the tush with a size 10 aluminum knitting needle. My butt was sore, a little bit bruised, but it was in better shape than the needle. I kinda bent it. I still knit with it, though.



Last night we ate dinner at the Stone Hearth. It was a Navy League thing. VADM Robinson was the guest of honor. He's from Louisville so I can proudly say that the Surgeon General of the Navy is a Kentuckian! He was really nice, and I think he got a little tickled when I asked his permission to put our picture on my blog. Or maybe it was because I told him that I only have two readers? Hmm..



(I would like to quietly point out the two giant zits which appeared on my chin just in time for the dinner. Moving on....)

VADM Robinson spoke about a lot of different things, but I will share with you the points that stuck out in my mind.

1. Preventative healthcare is very important for the military and civilians. I hope I don't have to elaborate on that. We all know it. Now we all need to do it!
2. Civilians need to be asking more often "What can I do to serve my country?" We (most civilians) recognize what the military & military spouses do for our country, but we fail to realize that we too can do something. Anything. It's our responsibilty as good citizens.
3. We need to have a long term view when it comes to medical care for our veterans. We need to think about now, but also look down the road 10, 20, 50 years. Our advances in medicine have created some unique challenges in healthcare.

So during our upcoming drive to Atlanta, Jason & I will have a lot to talk about!