Wow! I met EllynAnne Geisel!

That's her! That's me! She signed my books! All three of 'em!

Okay, enough dorky me. Hubby was sweet enough to drive us to Greensboro last night so I could meet and listen to one of my idols!

I thought it started at 7:30 pm. Good thing we were what we thought was early cause it started at 7:00 -DOH! Thankfully, I didn't miss much.

Mrs. Geisel is as adorable as you think she would be! Her story telling is like her writing - exuberant, witty, sweet and full of knowledge. But in the books you don't get to see her replay finding a super item in the bottom of a box in an Antique store! I swear we are related (at least by spirit) cause she, like I, will jump up and down and squeal with delight! Even if people are looking ;)

If you haven't read her books - what are you waiting for!?!?! Apronisms, The Apron Book and The Kitchen Linens Book. Go! Get 'em, Read 'em, Love em!

More nonsense later!
~Becky

Friday Musings

It's Friday. It's almost 1:00 pm. I have been wasting time, er, perusing the internets for ideas and uploading pictures to share with you.

I don't know about you but I get so sucked in to the World on the Internets! Suddenly hours have passed me by and the laundry and dishes are still waiting to be attended to.

Remember the St Patrick's Day tablecloth? Finally ironed it and it's finished. Neatly folded and tucked in to the drawer of Bill's Grandma Daisy's side-board/buffet til next Spring.

Here's sort of a tutorial on how I made it - more like "made it up as I was going!"

Started with some freebie machine embroidery patterns on scrap black velvet and remnant gingham and a big ol piece of shamrock fabric (45" x 45.")



Added an "S" to the Leprechan hat for our last name. Cute, huh?

The velvet squares were about 6" x 6" and the gingham strips were 6" x 45"

I stitched 2 squares to the ends of 2 gingham strips. Stitched those on opposite sides of the shamrock fabric then the remaining strips on the remaining sides. Joined 'em, then put plain white lining fabric right side to right side to the tablecloth. Stitched around leaving a hole for turning. Turned it. Ironed it. Voila!


It's cute I think.

I'm also addicted to knitting. We had a huge power knocking out Ice Storm in the Winter of '02. That's when the addiction began................

More on that later!

Have a great weekend everyone!!!!!!!

I Won! I won! I won!!

Soooooo, I read a few other blogs. These are listed on the left over there.

Yesterday, I received an e-mail from a super creative woman, L'Tanya Durante. She used to publish a fiber arts/knitting magazine from just up the road in Durham, NC. Her news letter was to announce the re-birth of her blog and website, Craftnicity.

This week to celebrate the re-launch she is having a contest a day! The posts are written by guest artists/crafters. I won yesterday! So surprised and so tickled to win Kelee Katillac's book, "Kids' Sacred Places: Rooms for Believing and Belonging."

Kelee's decorating style is anything BUT cookie cutter copy catty. She's all about finding one's own style and spirit and utilizing it to create a comfy and beautiful home.

Scoot on over to L'Tanya's site! There are 4 more days this week to win!

~Becky

Give Away over at a Favorite Blog

One of my favorite places to relax and read - and an inspiration for my own blog - is having a delicious give away. Susan makes the most darling aprons and if you want recipies! OOOH! She has some super fantastic ones. There's the best evah tutorial on biscuit making too! Follow her directions and you'll never have Ellie May Clampett (rock hard) biscuits again.

So mosey on over to Not Quite June Cleaver and check it out!

Bargain shopping!!!!

Howdy,

I'm gonna sound like an info-mercial but bear with me :)

Last Sunday's Raleigh, NC News and Observer had a full page ad for a new store in Cary. Ollie's Bargain Outlet. Never heard of it before. Normally, Bill and I would avoid Cary for many, many reasons. But this place looked like our kind of store. I checked 'em out online http://www.olliesbargainoutlet.com/whoWeAre/history/history.aspx

(Be sure to have the sound on cause the tabs have sound effects - sort of funny the first couple of times.)

On Wednesday, Bill and I headed over there. It was Grand Opening Day. The place was jam packed but everyone was really polite. Probably because they were finding such bargains!

It's like a Big Lots but with (I think) deeper discounts. Lots and lots and lots of books! A few DVDs. A big carpet section, some tile, some wood flooring, tools, foods.

Membership is free and I be'lee you rack up points or somethin.

Here's what we scored:

3 aluminum pie plates .99

Stanley book on Wiring 3.99 (list price 19.99)

Philly cream cheese cookbook with stand 4.99 (list price 17.99)

2 oval/steak plates by Oneida 1.99 each

box of vinyl squares 8.99 (gonna attempt a bathroom floor re-do)

Suet block for birds .99 (typical price but we were there)

Foster Grant reading glasses 2.99 (I have 7 pair in many colors purchased for $1 each at Targhet but these are FG and soooo cool!!!!)

A small fat Pink Panther notebook .69 (I use these little notebooks to keep running lists - helpless with out em)

3 pack of GE compact flourescent bulbs 4.99

4 skeins of Lion Brand Suede yarn 1.99 each (retail is 7.99 They had a whole bunch of Lion Brand close out yarn. Nice colors too)

Keifer Sutherland movie that may suck but it was 2.99 (Small, small movie collection but at 2.99 I can watch it and then trade it on Swaptree.com Another place you should check out!)

35 oz tub of redskin peanuts 4.79

2 boxes of Kix (36 oz total) 3.89 (running about 3.50 -4.50 a box in the grocery stores)

So, there you have it.

Searching through this type of store is an adventure. We have found that if you have a running list of "wants/needs" (here's where the fat, little notebook comes in handy!) you can go up and down every aisle and find a bargain on your list. One would probably be frustrated if you go with a specifics list as the stock is ever changing.