2012 - Week One - Let's Do This2012 - Week One - Let's Do This I'm starting off 2012 with a positive surge of energy and eagerness because I know this is going to be a great year!  This year, although I don't set new year's goals or resolutions, I am looking forward...

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Week Fifty - GiftsWeek Fifty - Gifts This week's post is all about gifts.  First I'll start with the gift of an amazing husband who cares for me way more than I could ever deserve.  This past week, my laptop that I use for doing my job...

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Week Fourty Nine - Lessons LearnedWeek Fourty Nine - Lessons Learned One of the things I have learned about blogging over the past years, is that the very thing that you most want to write about generally keeps you from writing. That thing is called life. When I get busy,...

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Week Thirty - Rabbits Reborn and Sharing the Game of SoccerWeek Thirty - Rabbits Reborn and Sharing the Game of... This week has been a long one.  Scott has been in Africa all week and does not get back until Wednesday.  Although I have missed him greatly, I have been able to accomplish much with the quiet house...

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Week Twenty Nine - Missions and MittensWeek Twenty Nine - Missions and Mittens Scott left for Uganda yesterday on his first mission trip, ever.  He will be gone for 10 days and is part of an all male (testosterone rich) group of coaches and active guys.  He was excited, nervous,...

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Week Twenty Four – Family Visit and Pulling Teeth

Category : Featured, Journal

This past week was hectic, but wonderful.  Our son brought his family to visit us for a few days on their way to Disney World.  As family visits usually go, this one was like a whirlwind that blew in spun around for a few days and then dissipated.  William had a blast playing with his cousins and hanging out with his Nana and Popo.  He is still terrified of water (wouldn’t wade past his ankles into the pool), but he is making progress when it comes to food.  Five year-olds are so funny.

Bryan was so excited about a present that he has had for me for a month or so.  He said that I would never guess what it was and then he shipped it to me to have it arrive here at the same time they did.  I opened the box and was so excited.  While cleaning out the in-law’s cabin in Colorado, Bryan found this OLD (that is a relative term) sewing machine and he cleaned it up and saved it for me. From what I understand, it was going to be thrown out with the garbage.

I believe the machine works and will be checking it out in the next few weeks.  The best thing about the surprise was that my son thought enough about me to know what would mean so much to me.  When someone knows enough about you to give you a gift that you will cherish, rather than a gift that they would like, it means so much.  But that is fodder for another post entirely.  This week, with my current modern machine,  I will be making Bryan’s kilt, putting a border on William’s quilt, and fixing a few items that the kids needed fixed (hemming a dress and sock repair) before they come back through here on their way home.  So far, the sock is fixed and the kilt is almost finished.

Finally, the visit to the oral surgeon went swimmingly.  The nurse stated, when the tooth was extracted, “I would have bled more than that!”  LOL  The extraction was pretty simple and the hardest thing about it all is having to keep this flipper thing in my mouth.  I will get used to it, I know, but it is so foreign right now that I feel like I have a permanent tootsie roll attached to the roof of my mouth and the spot where the tooth was extracted hurts (boo).  When I have it in you cannot tell which teeth are mine and which are not.  That is the nice part.  That is it for the dental work for a while, save a filling coming up in a few weeks.  Thank goodness!  I will be happy to stay away from doctors for a while now.

Quote of the week:

“Why are you so petrified of silence
Here can you handle this?

Did you think about your bills, your ex, your deadlines
Or when you think you’re gonna die
Or did you long for the next distraction” ~ Alanis Morrissette (All I Really Want)

Week Twenty Three – Test Knitting

Category : Featured, Fiber Arts, Health, Journal

This week I started test knitting the Flower Power Socks I mentioned last week.  I love the way the flowers are turning out.  Test knitting is fun, but can also be a challenge.  You get the pattern for free, which is a plus, but you also get to be the one to find all the errors as you work through it on a deadline, a definite minus.  This designer has done an excellent job at writing the pattern the first go around, so there are not many true errors in the pattern.

I also realized that the holiday knitting I have started was going to have to remain a secret until Christmas.  This just won’t do.  I have to share what I am working on, or else, why blog?  LOL  So, I figured out that if I just show them on my blog without any specific recipient details, it may keep those potential recipients who read my blog from knowing who they are for.  This is the best solution I could come up with for this dilemma.  Of course, the baby and kid items are going to be obvious, but the socks, mittens, etc. shouldn’t be so obvious.

On the health front, my doctor, called me on Thursday and wanted to know why the oral surgeon had me come to his (my doctor’s) office for blood work.  Without my requesting it, he said I shouldn’t need a transfusion before I have the tooth extracted and said he would contact the oral surgeon on Monday to let him know.  I am thrilled to report that they hashed it out and I will not have to have a transfusion before the tooth extraction.  I do have to agree that if it looks like I am about to bleed to death that I will go to the ER for platelets right away…duhhhhhh….  I love my doctor!  He just made my Christmas gift list!!

This week, the kids come to visit us on their way to Disney World.  It will be great to see them and spend some time with them without being in the hospital.  I am really looking forward to that!

Quote of the day: “The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.”  ~Voltaire

Week Twenty-One – Exit Stage Left

Category : Journal, Travel

The National Polka Festival (NPF) in Ennis, Texas has been in existence for as long as I have, 45 years.  This has always made the event seem even more special to me and has been one of the many reasons I have tried so hard to return to the festival of the celebration of my heritage every year.  Slowly, over time, the many reasons for making the trek back to Dallas have dwindled down to just a handful.  I still love the music of my childhood and don’t think I will ever tire of dancing and singing the Czech tunes.

This year, the visit to Dallas was different in a lot of ways.  For the first time, I took a good look at the reasons for visiting this particular festival.  When I was growing up, we went to the NPF to visit with family and friends.  As any good Czech, Catholic family would be, my extended family was (is) huge.  I can remember many cousins, god-parents, grand-parents, aunts and uncles, all visiting and enjoying the atmosphere that felt so familiar complete with the food, beer, music, and dancing.  As time has gone by, many of the cousins have moved on.  Some of my grand-parents have passed away and some of them don’t care to come anymore.  My mother, the 100% Czech part of the family, has passed on and my God-mother, who was always the anchor of the dancing part of my family had a stroke a few years back and is in a home, not doing well, from what I’ve been told.

This year, the festival was fun, as it always is.  However, that is the interesting thing, this year, Scott and I realized that the NPF is always the same.  We always arrive the same day, go to the same venues, see the same art vendors downtown and the same bands in the halls.  The parade never changes and the menu at the dance-halls, although contains some authentic Czech fare, has not changed in at least 10 years.  Seriously, the menu consists of Barbeque Beef & Klobase, Parsley Potatoes, Green Beans (not sure what is Czech about that), Sauerkraut (German?), and Czech Pastries (Kolaches).  If you stay until Sunday, you get Pork Roast and Dumplings (Knedliky).  The tunes played are now 50% Czech and 50% Country and Western.  The one new thing the festival did this year was bring in a magician, yes, that is right, a magician, to entertain.  I think it was this last development that actually sealed our decision (see below).  Although we had a good time, we will not be attending the NPF for several years to come.  Perhaps absence will make the heart grow fonder.

Don’t get me wrong here, I am actually impressed and pleased that the folks in Ennis can still keep a folk festival alive in today’s culture and society.  I know it is insanely difficult to reach the younger generation and I applaud them for trying to do things each year that will draw the younger crowd.  See this post for more information on how the NPF folks could better reach the younger crowd.  The beef I have with the management of this festival is that the young are being reached at the expense of the purity of the culture.  My question is this: WHAT IS CZECH ABOUT A MAGICIAN??

My reasons for taking my money and time elsewhere are not only due to the festival changing, but due to out growing this festival and a desire to see how other Czechs hold their festivals in other parts of this country and beyond.  Therefore, next year we will be heading for the Wilber Czech Festival in Wilber, Nebraska.  In an effort to start a new tradition with the younger folks in our family and to try to carry on the Czech heritage, we have asked our kids and grand-kids to join us in Wilber, as well as my parents.  All have agreed to wear costumes for the event.  I will be making those and posting progress photos throughout the next year on this blog.  It is nice to be excited again about attending a Czech festival.  I am sure the festival in Wilber has many of the same issues, namely, familiarity to those who attend every year, but it will be new to us and we are looking forward to it.

Finally, I leave you with photos from this year’s festival.  I do have a video of Scott and I dancing, but am working out a deal for cash to keep it from being posted.  HaHa!  As I said, we did have a good time, but also a reflective one.  Enjoy ~ až později

The trip to the festival:

The King and Queen Competition:

Czech Musicians (one of these is my cousin:

Random photos of fun:

 

Week Twenty – Hodge Podge

Category : Fiber Arts, Journal

Nothing exactly concrete to show for this week.  I have gathered together all the costumes, ironed and cleaned up the frills.  I even added more bling to my red skirt in hopes that the swirling and sparkle might catch the judges eyes and we might have a shot at winning this year.  Ha, not!  Anyway, here is a question, have you ever tried to iron a petticoat?  Not an activity that I would want to do often!

I did receive an awesome new t-shirt that I bought last week.

And, also in the mail, a fabulously decorated tatting shuttle that I won from entering a contest on the Lace Lovin Librarian’s blog.  Not only did she send the shuttle, but she included two balls of thread.  Cool!  If you are interested in tatting, I recommend following her blog.  She does great work and makes pretty shuttles, too.

That is about all for this week.  Next week’s post should be a big one from the Polka Festival.  Have a great Memorial Day!

In lieu of a quote of the day, I leave you with my favorite cartoon of all time:

 

 

Week Nineteen – The Weather Is Here…

Category : Fiber Arts, Journal

I wish you were beautiful…Ah, yes, Jimmy Buffet lives on…

This is the third week of May and it was in the mid 40s last night.  For the past three days we have had rain, wind, and huge clouds covering the sun.  It is Alabama in May, it should be approaching 100+.  Strange!!

With the weather like this, I have had lots of creative time with my knitting needles and my sewing machine.  This week I made a new hat for Luke.

 

While doing this hat, I confirmed that I really like to do colorwork and so you will probably see lots more colorwork socks in the days to come.

I also found a free pattern on the internet for a very simple zippered travel pouch.  Here is a link to several: http://tipnut.com/makeup-bags/.  The one I used is one of these, but I forget which one.  The other day I realized that since I will never have just one project going at a time, I should come up with a way to grab a particular project and go…  This travel pouch is perfect for sock knitting.  I can put the yarn, needles, completed sock #1 and sock in progress #2 all in the bag.  Having lots of awesome prints in my stash from my quilting days makes the choices of fabrics for the bags endless!  Here are two of them…

Saturday, May 14, 2011, was my 45th birthday.  My mother-in-law made a quilt for me and surprised me with it at dinner.  The most wonderful thing about this gift is that it is a quilt.  Since I have been a national quilting teacher and am able to create virtually every type of quilt out there today, everyone just assumes that I would have lots of quilts lying around my house.  I have none.  The ones I made were either never finished, or given away as gifts.  Funny, the last thing you really want to do after working on teaching quilting all day, is go home and quilt.  So, I now have a beautiful quilt to call my own.  Awesome!  Photos to come later, though, since she has not quilted it yet…Boo

Finally, this week, our little blue truck, the one we got from David when mom passed, has died.  On a bright note, we still sold it for a nice sum and the buyer had it shipped to Indiana.  Who knew that we had an enthusiasts vehicle in our possession?  We are back down to one car for a few weeks.  Ah well, life goes on…

Quote of the Week: “Do not use a cannon to kill a mosquito” Confucius (551-478 BC)