I'm a soccer mom.. again

I took Little Bird to his first soccer practice last night.  What a trip.  When my oldest daughter was 8 she started playing soccer on a select team which meant practice twice a week and traveling somewhere nearly every Sunday for a game... indoors during the winter... it never ended.   She played  until her junior year in high school and then she decided to quit because she wanted to spend time with her friends rather then play soccer every day.  WHAT?!?  I was devastated.   What was I to do??.. I was a soccer mom!! (I was also a horse, baseball, football and wrestling mom but that with with other two children)..  I sent her to her room and grounded her for life!  Funny thing is that I was serious at the time.. she and I still laugh about it now but soccer was her (my) life.. she couldn't just decide to stop without consulting me.   Now, I'm there at the field but I'm on the outside.  I'm Little Bird's Grammy so I don't really fit in.  I'm okay with it because I'm here for him not them.. I've had my days of glory when I was part of the "in" crowd.. bringing the snacks, car rides, worked the concession stand.. always had my hand up.   I was watching the new soccer moms more than the kids last night.  They are so proud.. chests puffed out.. look at my little Johnny and Susie..   I remember those days.  Never missed a game or a practice unless I was trying to catch a soccer/baseball/horse show all held at the same time... I raced around town dropping everyone off then raced around trying to catch a little of each sport.. then raced around picking them all up.  I wouldn't have changed a thing but that was 15+ years ago..  this Old Crow is tired.  It does make me sad for Little Bird because even though I am extremely proud of him I know there won't be shared playdates and car rides with the other moms.. I get it..  looking back I remember seeing children at events with their grandparents and I never thought to include them.  I always felt sad for the child but I never looked at the grandparent as a person.  Karma :)   So, I will participate and help where needed but my chest is starting to droop and my feathers aren't as full so for now I'll be sitting on the sidelines under my umbrella cheering on MY Johnny.

Is not telling the whole truth the same as a lie?

If it is.. I have no regrets.. well maybe just a little. I've been making Dr. Pepper chicken for a couple years and my husband loves it so much he often requests it, he only knows it as BBQ chicken. His brother came to town so he asked me if I would make it for them this past Saturday. I love my husband dearly.. we've been married for 32 years so I know him well. Let me give you a little insight of my husband. I believe with all my heart that someone read The Princess and the Pea to him one too many times as a child.. he is one of those guys that can smell an odd smell the second he walks in a room.. can detect anything out of place and will whine if he is the least bit uncomfortable. He hates Dr. Pepper, swears it makes him feel ill just to smell it.. for me Dr. Pepper is manna. Yes.. we are complete opposites in every way. Ok.. back to my story.. I made this wonderful meal for them Saturday night, all homemade.. Dr. Pepper chicken, baked beans, potato salad and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. My brother in law was licking his fingers and going on and on about how good it was and needed the recipe to take home to make for his wife. Now.. my husband is sitting right beside him so I couldn't tell him he has been eating something with Dr. Pepper in it all this time because from this point on every time I make it he will swear he tastes the Dr. Pepper and will drive me crazy until I don't make it anymore so I gave him a simple barbecue chicken recipe that I use to use and is somewhat similar just not as good. Is that wrong? I thought about calling my sister in law and telling her the real recipe but we don't have a close relationship.. it's not bad we just don't communicate at all. Why? I don't know, I talk and text with my brother in law all the time and think of him as my own brother but she and I don't talk at all. I could dwell and try to figure it out but I'm not.. I'm good with it.. lol. Anyway, I started to feel bad after my brother in law left because I know he will think he is doing something wrong when it doesn't taste the same but he tells my husband everything.. and I mean everything... which is what you would expect from a brother but in this case he is NOT MY brother and would take great joy in telling my husband about the secret ingredient... so he cannot be trusted with the truth. Should I tell him so he can enjoy it or leave it alone so we can continue to enjoy it? That is the question..... 

In case you want to try it.. this is the recipe I use
http://www.thirtyhandmadedays.com/2012/04/chicken_recipe/

and this is the oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe. I didn't add the cinnamon. They are awesome!
http://livforcake.com/2015/07/oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

Where oh where did all my friends go....

I noticed most of the blogs I followed when I quit posting on here in 2012 seem to have stopped blogging as well.  Did we all go to FB?  I know I am friends with some of them on there but it seems that in 2012-2013 we all did a mass exodus from blogging.  I'll admit that it is much easier to chat on FB but we never seemed to have the camaraderie that we shared here on the blogs.  This isn't the blog I used most, I had 4 going on different subjects but the one I posted on nearly daily for 3 years seems to have disappeared so this will be my outlet from now on.  Back then I was an empty nester living on a farm in the middle of nowhere.. I was an hour away from all 3 of my children and unless I left our land I wouldn't see a single person so blogging became an outlet when my husband traveled to keep me connected with the outside world.  Now we live in the city where 2 of my children live and we have a 4 year old grandson living with us so I'll be lucky to have the energy to maintain one blog.. lol.

I've started couponing again too.  Back in 2011 when Extreme Couponing came on the scene it totally ruined how the average person could coupon.  When my children were little and we were broke I used coupons.. I would study the ads and make a menu based off the sales and the coupons that I had.   Now you have to buy 32 papers and clear off a shelf and divide your checkout into 14 transactions costing 25 cents each and have a basement full of stock.. then the grocery stores started limiting how many coupons you can use and how many products and how many times you could do it in a day.  I got totally wrapped up in the show and started to stockpile..  I haven't had to buy shampoo/conditioner in 5 years, I finally had to start buying toothpaste and laundry detergent last year but I'm still working on my old stockpile.  No one needs that much.  It was just crazy.. I've moved 3 times and had to move the crap every time.   I think I'll stick with my old ways and just buy what I need and is on sale.  I use to be one of those moms that if I didn't have a coupon you couldn't get it.. but back then it was out of necessity..  if I could afford a pack of Oreos at the end it was a special treat and my husband and I would eat the whole pack on a Saturday night playing Scrabble while the children slept.  Ha..  We still love Oreos because it reminds us of how tough it use to be and could be again with poor planning..  be humble!

I'm back.. again

Well hello there!  So glad you found me.  I drug out my old blog and dusted it off and decided to come back home.   Like many of you I've been posting on Facebook for the past 3 years but I've found that I really miss the interaction I had with my fellow bloggers so as life continues to throw me a few curveballs I've decided to return to blogging and hopefully you can help me learn how to swing :)

It's been a long 3 years for me.. we just went to court yesterday and now are the sole legal guardians for my 4 year old grandson.  I want to dwell.. I want to scream.. I want to pout.. but for him I can't.  I am not going to get into the issues that brought this to be, I might over time but for now I want to move on and just live.  We had joint custody with the maternal grandparents for the last 2 1/2 years and that was a total nightmare for all involved.  I don't know who convinced the court system that sending a child back and forth every week between homes was a good thing but I can guarantee you that they never lived that life.  But...  now that's over.. he lives with us 24/7 and I will admit this is not the life I envisioned for me at this time in my life but for my grandson I will do what I need to help him grow up happy and healthy.

That is where you will come in.  My children were born in the 80's..  I have no idea how to raise a  child in 2016.  There were no computers or iPads, we couldn't even afford cable..  my children ate what I cooked for dinner, I don't think they ever had a chicken nugget until they started going out with friends to eat in high school... I had 3 children that were all under 3 at the same time so they played together..  life and everything in it is so much different this second time around.  I want to just be a Grammy and let him eat whatever and do whatever while he's here but I can't.. I have to be.. I don't know.. Mommy/Grammy.  This world is so much faster and uglier then when my kids were little.  Some of you might be offended with my comment but I didn't grow up with 24/7 news coverage.. I doubt I even knew what was going on in the next town much less on the other side of the world.  I grew up with 3 tv channels so news was at a minimum.  There were times I wasn't even sure where my kids were.. I knew they were in the neighborhood but I didn't have any way to contact them other then calling another mom or just standing outside my door till one of them would whiz by.  Looking back with the world as I know it now I can't believe I allowed them out of my sight but times were different or I didn't know how bad it really was.. I'm not sure.

I want to get back to sharing recipes and craft projects and cultivate friendships.  I hope you will come along with me .. I want to know you too!

Kalee's first quilt....

The day has finally arrived that I have waited for since the first day I had a daughter.. I have 2 now but my youngest daughter called me last week and asked me to help her make some quilts.. umm.. YEAH!  She is getting married in May and she wants to make 3 quilts.. one for her sister the maid of honor and one for each of the mothers.  Since she's never sewn before this will be an experience but I'm so excited to be making it with her.. she is going to start with the grooms mothers quilt...  we decided to make it as easy as possible and I don't want to burn her out or get her so frustrated that she never wants to quilt again so we decided on a snowball quilt..  she has always liked the one I made (pictured below) so it's a great start.. Super easy... as far as quilts go.

  So last night she came over.. I made Chicken Tortilla Soup and we got to cutting.  She got all the center squares cut as we laughed, chatted and ate Hostess cupcakes...  I hear the company may be going bankrupt so we had to do our part to help them out  :)  haha...  I forgot to get a picture of her working on her first quilt but I will amend that when she comes back tomorrow to cut some more..  so far she's not having fun.. lol.. she is her mothers daughter.. I hate cutting out quilt pieces too but once that's done the magic begins.  The one for me she isn't sure what she is going to do because she doesn't want me to see... I guess we can figure that out after she completes the first two.  I really can't tell you how excited I am... I wish my oldest daughter lived closer because I know she would love to be working on this with us but she is so busy being a wife, mother, working full time plus going to nursing school full time..  she is always so tired.  One day hopefully we can all 3 be quilting together...  a mother can dream :)

I'm off to clean and start working on my new sewing room..  I have a whole new motivation now to make a space workable for multiple sewing sessions...  The only issue is that it is across the street in a condo we own that currently is in a condemned building because the top two floors were burned in a fire in September.  The insurance companies are still squabbling over who is paying for the repairs since it started in an individual unit so as of yet not a thing is being done.  The power has been cut until the building can be rewired since they were soaked by the water used to put out the fire, but nothing can be done until the insurance companies figure it out and then the city has to approve the building as habitable before anyone can live in the building..  such a mess.  In the meantime by the light of day I am going to set up my sewing room so when it is finally done..  so am I!

Have a great day my friends!
Stella

Overwhelmed for absolutely no reason...

What a day.. what a day.  I feel overwhelmed but yet I don't really have anything I HAVE to do.  That's pretty sad.. lol.  I do want to share with you a SUPER find I got yesterday off Craigslist.. I am so excited!  I found a Horn sewing cabinet.. I found one new on sale for $1598 and I bought mine for $100  woohoo!  I don't think the girl really knew what she had... her grandmother gave her her "old" sewing cabinet when she quit quilting and she just didn't have room for it.  WHAT???  I would get rid of the couch before I'd get rid of this.. haha..  well.. maybe not but it sure would be a battle!

Here it is in white.. but mine is oak.  It has a few scratches on the top.. but for me.. it's just character lines!  

Have a great day my friends.. I'm off to clean.. blah.. 

Stella

Change of plans.....

Ever have a day totally planned and then the last second it all changes?  That was my day yesterday.  I have been preparing and almost salivating over spending a lazy Sunday sitting behind my sewing machine watching every sappy chick flick I could find.  I had my fabric pressed and folded.. petted it a few times during the week knowing that soon I was going to cut into it and turn it into a new creation.  My husband's brother was coming to town and they were leaving early in the morning to go the Washington Redskins game.. I just couldn't wait for those precious hours of bliss.  And then Saturday happened.. I got the call from my daughter and her sitter is sick.... dun dun dun.....   Well of course I am going to trade my day.. my one Sunday.. the day I had planned for for the last 10 days... for a day with my grandson.  :)  I am trying to not make the mistakes my mother in law did...  when my children were little she never.. ever.. ever.. ever getting back together.....  oh wait... sorry, that's a Taylor Swift song.. hahaha..   she never babysat my children.. not once.  She lived a mile away but she was so busy with her own life that she only saw her grandchildren on their birthdays.. a holiday.. or if a relative was visiting.  Now mind you.. I wasn't looking for a babysitter.. I was a stay at home mom, I couldn't afford daycare for three kids ages 2, 3, and 4.  I just wanted her to spend a little time with them getting to know them.. I remember one time getting into a "discussion" with her about it...  I told her that the kids are little now and they have nothing but time... a day will come when the tables will turn and you will want to spend time with them but they will be too busy.  My neighbors knew more about my kids they she did.  Totally sad.. but the day did come... she would want to visit when they were in high school and I would have to force them to be here to see her... they didn't want to.   They love their grandmother because she's Grandma.. but they know nothing about her.. she has never shared her life with them..  they don't know any old family stories.. not even a family recipe.  I'm not going to fault her.. she is who she is... and that ship has sailed..  but I know that I want my grandchildren to KNOW me and have memories of the days we spent together.. to know about my family... and yes, I'll even give them a family recipe.. hahaha.  Enjoy your family.. and give them memories.. it's all we have to leave when we are gone.

Your friend,
Stella