Christmas Dress For Baby Girl

I just finished the final touches to this dress for Baby Beanie (my nickname for her) for her first Christmas. I love the print and the border at the bottom of the dress was added after I made it.

I also added little bells to the neck, adjustable buttons.

Here is a closer view of the Santa border. I don't know the name of this fabric, I checked the selvages, but no name on it. I purchased it at JoAnns and will use the borders on other Christmas projects.

This other photo is of the neckline with the miniature bells I firmly sewed on tightly so they won't come off! Of course I added my personal label to it, so everyone would know who Ranny made it just for her!

Calling Arlette and Helene....Please Make Contact With Me

Several days ago, I chose a winner for my international followers and Arlette from Costa Rica was chosen (this was not a part of the final giveaway). I have sent Arlette Email and let a post on her blogsite.

Today, Helene was chosen as a spontaneous winner and I also sent notice to her. Yes, this was another winner chosen as not a part of the final giveaway. (I told you all I was giving things away this month).

I chose Arlette as the winner on November 5th and according to my giveaways, each person has 3 days to contact me with their mailing address or someone else gets chosen. Arlette, you have until tomorrow evening at 6:00 my time to contact me so I can mail these tags out to you. Because Arlette is from Costa Rica, I am posting this in spanish as well:
Arlette por favor me contacta con su dirección de envío, usted es un ganador!

The final giveaway is still only for the mentioned previous countries.

Helene, you have 3 days from today to contact me with a mailing address for your fabric.

Thank you one and all for being a part of my blog!

Sitting Up

The baby has one of those little vibrating and musical bouncers and she has learned how to pull herself up in it. Here, she is not only sitting up but she is teething on the railing. Of course, Ranny had to get some pictures of her new antics.

This little girl is very blessed to have a mommy and a daddy who love her very much and take such good care of her. It is hard to believe they have almost been here 2 weeks and will be leaving in 2 more! Having a baby in the house has brought some joy to the kids lives during the rainy gray days of fall!

Now, if this isn't the poster child for happy babies, I do not know what is. She is just having a blast here, kicking her feet and talking to anyone who would stop and listen to her and it looks like she was waving to me when I took this picture.

Today, she was laying on the blanket on the floor and decided to sit herself up all by herself and of course by the time I got the camera ready, she did a weeble wobble and fell down. We tried to sit her up again, but she was so excited with the camera, all she wanted to do was stand and of course, I took more pictures!

It is so special to have a little one in our home that has two very awesome parents and while they are visiting, I will get all the pictures I can so I can start her a scrapbook of their visit to Washington.

Yesterday, her parents got to see why those of us who live in this wonderful state tell people, 'if you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes and it will change.' We had sun, rain, wind and hail and from all reports 25 foot waves out at the beach, but even this lover of the ocean stays away from the beach with those waves!

Isn't she just a little precious doll baby? She is the center of attention in this house to everyone!

Helene, You Are The Winner

As I said at the beginning of November this month will have some hidden giveaways and today when I woke up, I counted my followers and placed the number in a number generator and Helene came up the winner.

Helene, you will win a mailing envelope of fabric of my choosing. Congratulations and please send me your mailing address!

For the rest of you, please continue to watch until the 15th as I am going to have at least one more hidden or surprise drawing!

My First Ever Speeding Ticket and It Couldn't Have Come At A Worse Time

So, I am 53 years old and have had one ticket in my lifetime in Phoenix for a waste of finite resources which didn't go against my record and the fine was affordable. If I had received a ticket in Arizona, I could go to traffic school and it would go away. However, I live in Washington state and the ticket cost $113 and in order to have it not go on my record, I would have to pay $150 which is out of the question.

The bad thing is, I drive the road I got the ticket on several times a month, I know the speed limit and I was so busy talking to my son and DIL about the area, I wasn't paying attention. Of course being a retired dispatcher, I pulled over the minute I saw the lights, had all my information and admitted I had no reason at all for speeding.

Instead of citing me for the 15 miles over the speed limit, the officer gave me a ticket for 2 over but with me not working due to surgery and taking care of my mom most of October, it may as well have been a million dollar fine.

I am embarrassed and my husband is justifiably upset.

I don't think there is ever any good time to get a ticket, but I feel really red faced and pretty stupid!

International Winner Is...Arlette

While they aren't exactly a prize to write home about, they are the prize I have chosen to give away in my first hidden giveaway for the month of November.

I placed those of you who are from other countries in a hat and my grandson picked out the winner and the winner of these 24 Sea Glass Tag Pad (Etiquetas surtadas) is Arlette of Costa Rica.

While the larger giveaway is only open to residents of the US, UK, Canada and Australia, this little giveaway was open to anyone not in the United States.

Congratulations Arlette and please send me your address in Costa Rica so I can mail these out to you.

For the rest of you, please don't give up, I have a few more surprises up my sleeve so all of you have many chances of winning!

The New Me

I cut my hair today and I think it is probably the shortest it has ever been and I love it very much. The truth of the matter is, it is actually shorter than my hubbies!

You can see my Diva girl in the back, she came running up to me and loves it. The baby on the other hand keeps staring at me as if to say, 'where did you put my Ranny? I hear her, but you are not her!'

I was going to color it however, they cut all the gray out, so now I have a box of hair color and don't need it for the time being. Besides, I don't think I could get an entire bottle on my hair as short as it is!

I also feel it takes a few years off my face!

Just wanted to share!

Holiday Traditions

Wow! There are so many things going on in my life right now, sometimes it is hard for me to register that the holidays are fast approaching! My mom is sick and I want to get back to see her after some physical therapy. My son and his family are here with us until December 2nd. The kids all have dental appointments coming up and I can resume working full-time as my back allows!

This year as last, we will travel to our friend John's home for Thanksgiving and while I relax, the men will do all the cooking :), talk about being spoiled. I prepare the sweets the day or two before and this year I discovered a most delicious recipe I want to try out of the November 2009 Cooking Light Magazine on page 164 called, 'Pumpkin Ice Cream Torte.' It looks like 3 layers of heaven!

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons finely chopped pecans
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Cooking spray
1 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
9 cups vanilla low-fat ice cream (aprx. 1 1/2 cartons), divided
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans, toasted and divided
1/4 cup caramel topping

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Combine first 4 ingredients (mixture will be crumbly). Firmly press crumb mixture into bottom of a 9" springform pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes; cool on a wire rack.
3. Combine pumpkin and the next 4 ingredients (through cloves) in a bowl. Soften 6 cups ice cream; add to pumpkin mixture, stirring to blend. Spoon half of mixture into prepared pan. cover with plastic wrap; freeze 1 hour or until firm. Cover and freeze remaining pumpkin ice cream.
4. Soften remaining 3 cups vanilla ice cream; stir in 3 tablespoons pecans. Spread over pumpkin ice cream layer; freeze 1 hour or until firm. Soften remaining 3 cups pumpkin ice cream; spreak over vanilla ice cream mixture. Cover; freeze 8 hours or until firm. Cut torte into 12 wedges. Place 1 wedge on each of 12 plates. Place topping in micro-wave safe bowl; microwave at HIGH 45 seconds (depends on your micro-wave). Top each serving with 1 tablespoon topping, sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon pecans.

Last year, I discovered a delicious recipe for brussel sprouts with bacon and then during all the activity in the kitchen, totally forgot to make it, but it was a dish I feel would be great repeating.

Some traditions we stick with, but when it comes to the menu, I like to change it around a bit and have some variety. How about you?

My Mom's Journey

My mom is an only child so it goes without saying as a child we had no aunts, uncles or cousins on my moms side....none that I knew.

My grandfather had one brother and they had a falling out at one time or another, so we never met him that I recall and most of my grandmothers family had passed on years before my birth.

It was our grandparents that we did everything with...Disneyland, Sea World, holidays and vacations.

My mom has cancer that has metastasized and as many of you know, I went on an emergency trip to California several weeks ago and fully at the time thought my mom would be gone before we made it to see her. When we did see her, I ran out of the Hospice House she was in and I thought I was prepared for this. I AM NOT!!

I mean honestly, what do you do when your mom passes on? Who do you call when you are sick or in pain? Who do you call when you want to cry or laugh or share something special with? What in the hell do you do on Mothers Day? The picture above is my mom and grandmother on my parents property back in the 70's & 80's.

My mom was closer I believe to my grandfather than my grandmother. Although mom loved both of her parents very very much, I always had the feeling growing up that she really was much closer to grampa than gramma.

This picture is of my mommy with her daddy when grampa was in the skilled nursing facility. You can tell by the picture how much they love each other.

My mom has such a great smile her and her fingers hadn't been ravished by arthritis at this time. Grampa's face just seems to beam. My moms hair never grayed, so the black hair she has here is natural!



My mom had a wonderful childhood full of adventures in ranching, raising and training horses and moving around the United States as my grandparents were horse owners and Harness Horse racers. I do not think I ever heard my mom once complain about having a hard or terrible childhood.



Today, my mom called and she was surprised at how no one had told her how close to death she had come several weeks ago (I guess I thought she knew) until one of her nurses told her today that she was their miracle and that my grandchildren were my moms miracle. After talking to her this evening, I wondered if she even remembers any part of that week??



We cannot fool ourselves, my mom is dying...I do not think they have done any testing to see if she has been miraculously healed, but I know those babies did something for my mom that day and there isn't a doubt in my mind she came back for them! She didn't come back for her husband, me, my siblings or anyone else, she came back for her grandbabies!




This last picture is of my mom as a young girl probably 18 or so with 2 friends of hers. My mom is the tall girl on the left. I had to show this so everyone could see how beautiful she was as a young girl and that her choice of hairstyles over the years didn't seem to change.

Love ya mom!

Yesterdays Visit To Seattle

Nothing quite says Seattle like a Washington state Ferry and we were lucky to get this beautiful picture as we were visiting Pike Place Market yesterday.

This was quite a treat for my daughter in law who had never seen or heard of a ferry and since we didn't get a chance to ride one yesterday (we will before they go back home), is still a bit confused at how you can actually drive and park a vehicle on one.

They day was just amazing as you can see, the skies were a beautiful blue and the sun was shining.

The second picture was as the ferry was coming into the Seattle docks and we were walking around the waterfront when I got this picture. I love ferries and if I could live in an area where I could take the ferry daily, I would be in heaven, it just seems to melt my stress and daily cares away!

The sign on the bottom sits atop of Pike Place Market a wonderful market of beautiful smells, tastes, colors and people.

The first place I always go to is the Pike Place Fish Market, I love to watch the people that work there visit with the crowds and toss fish and my grandchildren were amazed as was my son and daughter in law. How I wish we could have taken some home, but we had to be elsewhere last evening. If you want wonderful fish, you can order some online and they will have it delivered to your front door!

Around the corner from the fish market is the wonderful Daily Dozen Doughnuts which sells these amazing small delicious doughnuts in paper bags while they are still warm and the cinnamon doughnuts are the most amazing things I have ever tasted.

You can also get them in powdered sugar and frosted and I think I remember the cost for a dozen was less than $4.00 and we purchased 2 dozen and with 4 adults and 3 children, they were gone almost instantly!

Then there were the produce stands filled with wonderfully colorful and aromatic fruits and veggies, fresh pasta shop, local honey, nuts, cherries and salsa's as well as vendors selling handmade wares and that was all on just the first floor.

This last picture is of the DIL and son (who turned his back as I was snapping this shot) standing near Rachel, the markets bronze piggy bank that collects money for the foundation. You see, many people only see the vendors and the shops, few know about the foundation which has a child care facility, senior center, foodbank, housing, medical clinic, etc. .

Pikes Market not only takes in money from visitors all over the world, they give back to the local community in so many wonderful ways. Thank you for sharing our day!

My Apologies To All Of You!

My apologies to those of you who were confused about my asking for international bloggers but being totally ignorant to the fact I didn't list what country I am in and assuming you would all know I am in the United States.

Ooops! I didn't realize my mistake until someone brought it to my attention, so please, forgive me for omitting that HUGE detail. That being said, I am extending the international surprise to tomorrow at 9:00 pm Pacific Standard Time (I do not know anything about GMT) to residents outside the United States only.

I do apologize for the confusion to all of my followers and newcomers, usually I don't forget these details!

International Followers Please Advise

Are you a follower of this blog from another country outside the United States? It doesn't matter what country, let me know who you are, how your are following and what country you are following me from. This includes those wonderful people who are military members or military family members in another country.

Let me know by 2100 hours PST and you will all be entered into the first hidden giveaway for a great prize!

Novembers Giveaway

Giant November Giveaway, you will want to share this one with your friends and there are going to be lots of prizes to giveaway and many ways to win.

First of all, a huge and heartfelt thank you to Linda Hazekamp, the owner of Abbi May's Fabric Shop who was the wonderful and generous supplier of a Moda (yes, I said Moda) Vintage Holiday collection that includes the following 5 fabrics:

1-Green Chianti 2-Lt. Green Holiday Angels 3-Green Vintage Holiday Border 4-Green Holiday Homestead and 5- Antique Holiday Border

Linda included generous amounts of each fabric, so this was very generous! and she wrapped it up in this beautiful red satin bow!

The second item up is this wonderful quilting book by Ondori, 80 pages of patchwork and quilting projects and for my readers that come from other parts of the world, the projects are done with metric measurements and they do have the American conversions with them.

If you are not a quilter, I am sure you know someone that is and this would make a great stocking stuffer for a family member or friend even a blogger friend that you feel very close to.

Third item is going to be a large mailing envelope of fabrics, some old and some new, but I am sure you will be able to find a great use for all you will receive, cottons and flannels!

Fourth item is another quilting book: Quilting Up A Storm by Lydia Quigley and it has 78 pages. I do not think this book has ever been used and it is really great for quilters looking for something special!

So, here you are thinking you aren't a quilter and feeling like maybe you should pass on this giveaway? Please don't, here are more items:


Number 5 is this wonderful Womens daily devotional: 'A WOMAN'S Garden of Faith, Hope & Love,' 365 daily devotions for women and I have enjoyed this book over the years and now it is time to pass it on. This book is in excellent brand new condition and would also make a great gift for someone you know!



Can you believe all these wonderful gifts? I am not done yet, there are still more to come...



How about this embroidery floss keeper for item six? It has never been opened and holds 60 floss bobbins on each page and is hole punched for a 3-ring binder!





Our last prize is this little purple gift bag and with it will be a little card of miniature Christmas decorations, so even if you win the last item of the giveaway, you still are receiving something special.

I will also be choosing a few random readers and followers to win unannounced prizes prior to the end of the giveaway, so as you can see, there are many items being given away.


Now for the rules for this fantastic giveaway:

1- Follow me and you receive 5 entries and if you are already a follower and let me know your following ID, you get 5 entries.
2-Go over to Abbi Mays, look around her shop and come back and leave me a post of what is your favorite thing about her shop, you will recieve 10 entries. If you purchase something from her shop and tell her you came via my blog, there is an extra 15 entries for you (so you can earn 25 entries).
3-Twitter about this and you receive 5 entries.
4-FaceBook and you receive 5 entries. Tell your readers to let me know they came via your blog and you recieve an extra 5 entries.
5-Blog about this and send me the link and you get 15 entries. If someone comes and tells me they came via your blog, you get an extra 10 entries.
6-Leave a comment on any new posts on this blog and you get one entry for each.

Giveaway is open to all bloggers and non-bloggers in the United States, Canada, Australia and the UK ONLY!! Giveaway is open from today until November 15th at noon.

YOU MUST leave me a way to contact you if you are the winner and you have 3 days to send me your snail mail address once the contest winners and you are notified. If I DO NOT hear from you within 3 days, someone else will be chosen.

Good Luck to everyone!

Strangest Halloween I Have Ever Seen

Here are our 4 little ones getting ready to go Trick or Treating: a bride, Dark Vader, Wonder Woman and a pink lady bug (who only went to 3 houses and came home). They did the usual trek down our street to friends and were back so quickly, I was shocked!

I wasn't shocked because they came back so quickly, but shocked because we hadn't had a single trick or treater to our home since they had left! Not one! I had my pumpkins out, my lights were all on and not one single trick or treater on the streets.

One indication should have been when I heard our own little ones say about a neighbor, 'they gave me a handful of candy!

The final total of children that came to my door was less than 10. Hubby said almost every home in the neighborhood was shut down tight and the one house the kids went to of friends, the friends were handing out candy because they had already gone out and it was so boring.

I couldn't put my finger on it...the economy, H1N1 scare, world series?? My DIL talked to her family in Arizona and they told her it was the same thing at their house. I can say the kids had a good time and many people gave them more candy than usual, but I was sad to see no one out with the exception of a very few!

Maybe, after hundreds of years, Halloween has finally come to an end?