Arriba World!

I tried to post this pic in a reply to Bette's comments about Mamaw's hot sauce and alas I FAILED! I'm not worried though, because I have delicious carrot infused hot sauce to comfort me:)

Summer

Well, school is out! As tradition would have it, I have a long to do list for the summer. My list includes some traveling, sewing and knitting, and of course cleaning and organizing. What my list doesnot include that I find myself missing is: going to the lake with our people. You know, not the blood relatives but the ones we chose to be famil, working in the garden (I miss this a lot less than the lake), and eating fresh vegetables. When I was younger, summer lasted longer and didn't seem to be so hot. Watermelons were also sweeter. I think maybe we should all have a slice of watermelon and sit in the sprinkler. And then I will start that to do list.

The Twins get a little older.

Can you believe it!? The twins will be 14 tomorrow. I can not believe it. They had their birthday with friends this weekend. Aspen had friends over Friday night. They cooked pizza on Girl Scout can stoves. Then they wrote on t-shirts with glue. When it dries we will dye them with Rit then wash then to dissolve the glue. Aspen saw it on Pinterest.

Next they put on Strawberry Chocolate face mask and set in the hot tub. When they came in they each had a eye mask that lit up with glow sticks. Those are the pictures that I put on facebook. They also had white balloons that they put glow sticks in.They slept in the tent.

When they got up they made pancakes on their Girl Scout stoves. They topped them with berries, syrup and whip cream. At noon the boys arrived. Bruce took the boys to eat at the cafe. Cotton took the girls and met them. They all went to the draw to trap shoot. None of the other kids had ever shot a gun. The boys say they "won", the girls say they "won". Who knows.

The girls went home when they got back to town. The boys stayed to play x-box. They cooked on the Girl Scout stoves. They were all excited about it. After they finished cooking their pizzas I ask one of them what they thought, he told me it tasted like butt as he finished it up. Oh my! He had burned his really bad.

They wanted to sit in the hot tub too and decided to sleep in the tent. They wanted to put glow sticks in balloons and play. They were funny. They may be 14, but they are still little.

Well there was one Redneck Birthday they won't forget.

Now they want to know when they get to have their Family vacation. :)

Got to love them.

As usual, I'm the latest of us all...

Hello All! Hope everyone is doing well. I am enjoying a couple of days off (finally). I thought of you all as I made fried chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner. I didn't get the ability to sew like Mom but I sure can make her fried chicken. Needless to say, Keaton, Rod and I made ourselves sick eating. But it was just too good to stop.

As Mother's Day & May 11 rolled around I too found myself thinking of our ol' Mamma Jamma. I use to love to call her and pretend I was a telemarketer. She would get so "flusterated". Bahahaha!

Love to all!

I am even later than Shana - but Happy Birthday Mom! Yes, she did have to share her birthday with Mother's Day. However, Mom met every holiday with the same saying - "As long as we have each other and something to eat, that is all that matters." Oh how true those words are today!

How about -
Do you want me to stop this car and pull my shoe off?
As fast a horse as you ride, no one will notice.
Don't start anything on a Friday you can't finish or you will never finish it.
If a frog had wings, it wouldn't hit its --- well you know:)

As I sit here typing this, I have to laugh at the stack of papers, magazines, mail and books here beside me. Yes, I too am my Mother. I personally think that is not such a bad thing.

Momasita Rosarita

In true Gibson form, I am a day late. Why mess with tradition right? Yesterday was mom's birthday. I always felt bad that her birthday was so close to Mother's day. That has to stink in so many ways. She always had to celebrate Mother's Day and her birthday together. Not fair. You should get two times to celebrate, but we were lame.

So to honor mom this weekend here are a few things that were just so Mom.

I never understood how she could:
- Cut up everything perfect in her hand no cutting board needed
- Run on three hours of sleep
- Know how to make anything taste wonderful
- Be so creative

Momisms:
- Stop crying before I give you something to cry about
- How did I get so dumb in my ___ years and you get so smart in your ___
- Spit in one hand and wish in the other and see which one gets full the fastest
- Everyone needs a little walking around money

Mom's was always best:
- Fried chicken
- Hugs
- Vinegar cobbler
- Laundry

Those are a few of mine. What are your's?

You know you are getting old when....

You know how there are just times that you really feel old. I don't mean the aches and pains that we always complain about, I mean you look over and realize, Wow, how can I ... I'm not that old! I have been having those a lot lately. Maybe it has to do with the fact that in less than a month Cotton will be a Senior! Maybe it is because in less than a month the twins will be in the 8th grade. (How did that happen? I just took them to Preschool at NCA in August?) However it has happened, it is happening too often.

So this morning I am making my 2nd run to school to drop off Aspen. When I drop her off I always turn there in front of the church and head back toward Main street. So there I sit in my caddy SUV (that Cotton swears is a station wagon) waiting to turn onto Main when Jeff Procter, aka Little Jeff, turns in front of me to go take his daughter to school. He is in a light blue Mini Van. Really? When did this happen? It was just last weekend that I was driving the Chevette and he was driving his old Pickup and we were passing each other on Main street because we were all down there dragging Main! I did laugh a little. Kind of one of those - if we had know then moments., It also made me a little sad.

It is official - I am way old!! Maybe I should go lie down and take a nap!

:} Love you all,
Shana

Sew... Here we go!!

I have a really good friend who is having a baby boy in September! Inspired by my "this took two years/12 days of Christmas quilt" (no really it took two years and the combined efforts of my mom and aunt), I am moving on to a quilt that has a much more definitive timeframe. A few months ago I was at the world's greatest quilting shop, aka The Cabbage Rose, and I saw a pattern for a block quilt. This pattern boasts that it is suitable for beginners (that would be me) and so I figured I would give it a try:)


Recap of the pros and cons:
1. Simpler quilt than the 12 days of Christmas quilt
2. Quilt needs to be completed by September


According to my calculations I have approximately 135 days during which I can gaze adoringly at my beautiful fabric (pictured below), 4 days of gathering and regathering supplies, 3 days of actual frantic sewing, 1 day of making multiple repeated trips to Joann's and Hobby Lobby to purchase the supplies I actually needed AND 22 hours of phone time with my mom ahead!! Sounds like a plan to me:-)


Sew.... here we go!!

Wish me luck! 

Julie