Let’s start with the most important news first.

We had another grand-baby in September. The trip out to Colorado was quick, but full of wonderful memories. Baby Luke Alan Fillmer was born on September 17, 2011, at 10:07 am, in Longmont, Colorado. His hats and socks fit him reasonably well, but his momma and daddy really like the sleep sack that I made for him. He is in it constantly and it keeps him so warm. Important thing to have in Colorado in the Fall.  Here are the four Fillmer Boys (3 generations) within an hour or so of the birth.

Last time I posted, Scott was in Uganda on his first mission trip.  He has since gone back there again and the two trips could not have been more different.  Our church does mission work in such a unique way.  The focus is a personal connection with individuals, not church planting.  Therefore, the last trip Scott went on was an all male, soccer oriented trip.  The guys connected with individuals and, more importantly, the community, by going over and “hanging out” or spending time with those who shared the same interests.  Through this connection, the guys were able to share the love of Christ with many from the community who might not have been touched otherwise.

This second trip had nine members (4 guys and 5 gals) and was all about clean water and the kids.  The story of the trip can be found here: http://www.scottfillmer.com and the photos, as always, are astonishing!  Here are a couple of my favorites.

There are so many awesome photos from this trip that it is worth a jump over to Scott’s blog just to look at the photos.

Ok, SERIOUSLY?  I have to take a minor break here….my computer just bit the dust and the hard drive is DEAD, so this post will be continued when I am back up and running…stay tuned…

In addition to casting on a couple more Christmas gifts, the big accomplishment for the week was completing the new rabbit outfits for Mom’s four rabbits.  I think they turned out so awesome!  Unfortunately, I cannot show you the surprise that is on two of them since they are gifts (it’s covered up in the photo, no peeking).  But, I think the recipients will really like having a part of mom’s past in their home.  When I was redressing the two smaller, older rabbits, I found my signature on the backside and the date “1990.”  That means that the two oldest rabbits are 21 years old.  Gracious!

So, all in all, it was a very productive week here at the house and a truly amazing week over in Buloba, Uganda.  Scott was able to post a few times to his blog and the photos are amazing.  Please wander over there and have a look.  It is truly amazing what a common interest can do to bring people together.  People who don’t speak the same language or that live on the opposite side of the world from each other can come together and fellowship around a shared interest in a game.  I am so in awe of what the team accomplished over there on this trip and am really ready for him to be back home.

Quote of the week: “The rules of soccer are very simple, basically it is this: if it moves, kick it. If it doesn’t move, kick it until it does.” ~ Phil Woosman

While the kids were at Disney, I had the opportunity to make my son a kilt, which I did not get a photo of…darn it!  I also was able to put the borders on a quilt that William’s Mimi and I are collaborating on.  His Mimi is doing the cross stitch and I am doing the borders and putting the quilt together.

This week I was able to get back to Christmas knitting and completed this uber cute hat for someone special.  The hat pattern is Dead or Alive? by Knitty.  It was a really quick knit and is modeled below by my niece, Martha.  After modeling for these photos, she announced that she would like an octopus hat.  Oh boy…

The Flower Power test sock knit is no more.  Although I really liked the pattern, the socks were not turning out as I had hoped, so frogged they are.  I am using the yarn from the socks for another Christmas present, though, a pair of gloves, and they are turning out much more to my liking.  Photos when they are done.

Finally, Scott was able to take some wonderful photos of Sara, Bryan, William and Baby Luke while they were here.  Below is a sample, but you can see more from the shoot here.

On a fun side note, we (the family when they were here), got to talking about old, favorite movies and who would have them on disc.  I have always wanted to secure a copy of a cheesy movie made in 1981 called Excalibur.  We checked out the local Hastings and sure enough, they had it.  Awesome!

That is about it for now.  We are headed out to the Auburn 4th of July fireworks tonight.  Scott should get some awesome photos of them, as he does every year!  I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July!!

Quote of the week: “It is a lonely life, the way of the necromancer… oh, yes. Lacrimae Mundi – the tears of the world.” ~ Merlin, Excalibur (1981)

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)

The iPad 2 is SO much more useful to me than the generation one was. With the camera feature, I am able to journal everyday about anything and everything, then include photos with my entries in the journal. The video feature is amazing, and the ability to use Facetime is super fantastic. I can pretty much do anything computer related on this device I can think of, except text messaging and phone calling, which are actually cellular activities anyway.   If I could do those two things on my iPad 2, I would totally ditch my phone!

This week was slow at work (everyone is on Spring Break), so I was able to attempt the Facebook thing again. It is a little more understandable, but still confusing. I think the problem I have is that I am not “friends” with a lot of the people on there. I have no desire to connect with blasts from the past, or keep up with people who cross my path from time to time. Getting past the “friend” label and what it means to me compared to what it means on Facebook is probably my biggest hangup about using it. But, in an effort to keep up with my son and his family, I am giving it a go.

Our grandson. William, sent his friend Flat Stanley to us for an adventure. Scott and I took him into town for the tour of the Auburn sites and then he took a ride on the John Deere back at the farm.

The kitchen adventure began this week with the creation of St. Patrick’s Day candies for the people Scott works with at the church. I used some new candy molds I bought recently with green, yellow, and chocolate melting wafers for the candy. This is the easiest candy to make, takes the least amount of time, and produces an impressive result because of the candy molds. The tall ones in the box have pretzels as their “lollipop” sticks and the round ones are chocolate covered mint flavored Oreos.

The cooking continued with the frying of rosettes, something that I have always wanted to do, but just never made time for. I grew up eating these light, airy pastries and have had a rosette iron in the drawer for years. I just never made them before.

The third “candy” item I made this week was chocolate caramels. These are so delicious, but I think I could have let them boil a tiny bit longer, as they are softer than I would have liked. Oh well, this is why I am making these things in the first place, practice.

Finally, March Madness started this week and it has been fantastic! So many close games and with the job I now have I am able to watch all the games! Not only can I watch them from my television, but I can also catch every game on my iPad 2.  Yes, I am a geek.   Friday I went with Scott to Best Buy and while we were walking around the store, I fired up my MiFi and the iPad 2, and watched the live feed of the game on NCAA.com.  Oh yes, I did!   It was really funny.

Back at home, while waiting for Sock Madness 5 to start, I started on a surprise gift for the new baby.

The official name of the team that I was placed on for Sock Madness is “Sock Madness and the Sock of Secrets.” It is a take on Harry Potter, of course, and I like it so much better than the other three team names. Now, the ultimate madness is that I am just waiting (and constantly checking my email) for the round 2 pattern to be released! AAAAHHHH….

Today’s basketball game is Auburn vs. Alabama.  We pretty much make every home game, as it is a great venue for knitting and we both enjoy watching the game.  This particular game is extra sweet because Alabama will be handing over the Iron Bowl trophy and singing the Auburn Fight Song at half time.  Did I mention that we won the Iron Bowl?  War Eagle!  Oh yes, and the BCS National Championship Trophy will also be in the house for all to admire (ogle/covet).  I suppose I should mention, for those who don’t know, we won that too!  War Damn Eagle!!

On the crafting front this week, I finished my Remembrance Ring and made great progress on the cross stitch I started when I got home from the hospital.  Hopefully, the cross stitch will be completed next week.  Here are some photos of the ring.  I just love it and it was so easy!  What do you think?

Ebby and me at the Mississippi border.

Closeup of the Chihuahua with an attitude!

Ebby and me at the Louisiana Border

Ebby and me at the Texas border.

The trip back was another story.  There were three of us, Me, Scott, and our three year old grandson William in the front cab of our little truck for the 14 hour trip back home.  Ebby lived in my lap the entire ride back.  All is well though.  We made it home without incident, unless you count the first hour in the truck when William turned to me and basically lost all his orange juice he had taken in before we left.  It was a mess, but we survived.

This year my dad and I competed in the King and Queen Dance again.  There were 21 couples competing this year and we didn’t even make it past the first cut.  We had fun though and the couple who won were far superior dancers and will represent the festival well in the year to come.

Pardon the No Smoking sign, the moment was right so the photo was taken.

It is so wonderful for a daughter to be able to dance with her father!

Are we having fun yet? or Will this song ever end?

My Daddy and Me!

All the contestants are positioned around the dance floor.

Here is the video of our 2009, meager attempt at stardom…

On Saturday, we went to the parade as usual, but the parade was a huge disappointment this year.  Not only did it start about an hour late because of an inadvertently parked train across the intersection, but there were bands included in the floats that had absolutely NOTHING with Czech heritage, except perhaps that the members were residents of the greater Ennis area.  These bands were beyond metal in flavor and there was not a polka to be found.  Sad, really.  If Ennis wants to do something to promote the Polka Festival in the future they might want to try updating the website and begin thinking “nationally” again.  They are, after all, the National Polka Festival.  Ok, rant is over…  The best part of the parade for me was seeing Ebby all decked out in her costume.  She is truly a Czech/Mex dog!  Ha Ha

This is why the parade is late!!

Am I handsome or what?

Nana, William, Bryan (my son), Sara (his wife), and Ebby waiting for the parade

We will not be attending this festival next year (or probably for a few years to come), mainly because we want to go visit some other festivals in other parts of the country.  Now that I have my supply of costumes, we can dance in style throughout Wisconsin, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Ohio, to name a few.  Stay tuned here for updates on our adventures to a polka festival near you.

Hopefully, if I can find time, I will post again with photos of my sand castle building and ocean swimming adventure…stay tuned…

William