Today's visitor

My visitor

Today I looked out the window and and to my surprise there was a cardinal on the pine tree in the back yard. I have not seen one all winter. Last fall I had several pair. I could here him singing this morning. We all say when we see the cardinals that Grandma and Grandma Retz are visiting. I guess Grandpa was here for a visit today. That's good I was thinking about him today. He hung around for about an hour or so. Sure hope he comes back again for a visit.

Having some lunch

Resting his tummy

I took these looking out window that is what the glare is from. I was afraid if I went out the back door I would scare him away. Cole and I watched for a long time.

I have Cole on Monday's sometime and every Friday in the afternoon for a couple hours. Tanya goes to the local technical college. That's what Gramma's are for. Today he helped clean out the toy box. He is a great helper. I also have cut up paper all over the living room. He loves to use the paper cutter I use for card making. Plus he loves to use the hole punch. It's a clean mess.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Primmed up Tissue Box

My "prim" daughter Tina put in a special order for her tissue boxes. Puffs box covers with a "crow tag primmed"!! Imagine that! Even though I had my whole sewing room in a disarray (trying to clean & organize). I hand did these for her. I finished them up last night while watching some tv. I sure hope she likes them.


"Special order for Justina!"

I whipped up these cute stockings also.

Not sure what my next project will be. I got the sewing room done. I think my clothes closet. The local clothing center needs donations so I want to get my closets cleaned out. They charge $1 per bag for what people take. They will take anything from clothes & shoes to household items.The local food shelf is located there also. I used their services when my kids were younger so if I can help out a single mom in need it gives me great pleasure. I certainly know what that is like.

I have to get something made for my "Valentine Swap" yet. I wonder who got my name?? It will be fun to see.

Have a great weekend. Nothing planned with us.

Felted Wool Candle Wraps

Dress up your jar candles!!

Candle wraps are made from a wool coat that has been washed and machine dried. I used scraps of fabric to trim them up. Crotchet thread and embroidery floss to stitch them up. Wraps will fit over a 20 oz. jar candle (I got these at Micheal's). Made to slide over the top of the jar. They are available to you for $12.oo including shipping. I interested contact me at garagegramma@yahoo.com. I will let you know how to order (jar candles not included). I have only one of each.

1. Simplify 2. Red Plaid Star 3. Black heart & red star

4. Crow 5. Black star 6. Faith

7. Black plaid & red heart 8. Black sheep 9. Crow tag/star

10. Star/crows 11. Sheep

Family Fun Pictures

Elsie with her birthday gifts. I made the hat from a sweater.

Waiting for our food! And visiting.

Kids playing a game

Greg & Andy in the "hot tub"!!!!

Carla, Kari, Dennis, Amanda & Elsie

Jabin, Tina, Evan, Amaya behind the ball

Alex in front

Kari & Alma

Greg & Evan

Tina & Amaya

Jabin & Andy

Amanda's birthday gifts.

Retz Family Get-Together Fun

Over the weekend my family met in Tomah at the Cranberry Country Lodge to have some family fun. There were twenty-one of us all together. Tina, Nicci, and Amaya. Andy, Greg, Evan and Jabin. My two sisters Sue and her husband Don, Carla and her husband Dennis, their two boys Andy and Alex. My niece Kari and two girls Elsie and Alma. Kari’s in-laws June and Dudley. Of course me, Ted and Amanda. Tina and the girls shared a room with us. We let the kids swim until after ten thirty that night.

Saturday after everyone ate breakfast the swimming began! Tina, Amanda, Nicci and & I ventured around Tomah while Grandpa Ted swam with Amaya . We were gone about three hours and they were still in the pool when we got back! Tomah has a lot of cute shops to check out. (We need to make a girls weekend sometime to check them out more).

After lunch and naps of course there was more swimming to be done. The motel provided us a meeting room to get together in so we ordered food from Pizza Hut and had a chance for us all to visit. We celebrated Andy, Amanda, and Elsie’s birthdays with chocolate cupcakes. Kari (my Niece) brought Mad Libs so we made up some pretty funny stories. After everyone went back to their rooms, of course we weren’t tired so Tina, Nicci, Amanda and I went to Kari’s room for some girl talk and a few beverages. Good thing our rooms were right next to each other!!

After breakfast on Sunday the kids swam some more until it was time to head home. What a fun time that was. We will have to do it again sometime. Grandma and Grandpa Retz were with us all in spirit.

Fun at Andy's

Yesterday I brought Cole to play with Evan & Jabin. They rode bikes in the basement for awhile. We had lunch and then went outside to play. Greg made an awesome sliding path for the kids. They flew down the hill. There is a huge bump at the end and they go airborne for a brief second. After sliding they had hot chocolate and watched a movie. It was then time for me to bring Cole back to my house. What fun they had.

Evan and Jabin at the bottom of the hill.

Cole at the bottom of the hill. Jabin on his way up.

Cole coming up the hill.

Andy giving Evan a push!!

When I arrived Andy handed me a bag and in it was a pair of her pants that needed mending. Evan's PJ's that needed buttons. Two bath towels that she wanted me to make hair wraps out of them. Guess I had some projects to do. (By the way they are completed already).

Hair wraps and bus bags.

The boys ride the bus to and from school and have bus buddies. These are older kids that sit and read to them during their bus ride. Andy asked me to make a couple bags so she could fill them with goodies. So I got that accomplished also.

Today I went and had lunch with a friend that I haven't seen for awhile. It was good to see her again. She is layed off her job so she was glad to get out and visit.

Recycling of a leather coat

Tanya (my stepdaughter) is having a birthday on Tuesday. She had seen some of the purses that I made and hinted she needed one. Well, she is not a print kind of girl. Racking my brain trying to think of something I could use, I remembered I had a long leather coat that I haven't worn in years. So after ripping out seams I cut out my purse. The hem of the coat worked perfectly for the top and I used the coat lining to line the bag. Cut come long lengths for straps and stitched it up. I also made a pouch for her to put small items inside.

Tanya's bag. I gave it to her this morning when she dropped off Cole. She loved it!

Today I am going to Andy's house so Cole can play with Evan & Jabin. It is warm out so they can play outside.

The Temps are Rising!

It has been well below zero now for over "80" hours. Yesterday it was-25 and today it was -27 with windchills in the -40 range. Schools have been closed the last two days. It has been record breaking cold. Tonight the temp is 5 above. Whoo-hoo!!! Anyway it has been just plain cold.

I did a bit of sewing this week. I made a couple pillows. Today I experimented on some headbands. Quite simple. A good thing for all the small pieces of material I have. I did make Amanda's birthday present. I will see her next weekend and give it to her then. Will post that later.

Next weekend my family is having a get together at the Cranberry Country Lodge in Tomah, WI. There will be around twenty five of us there. That is about half way for us to meet my sister Carla and her family. They live in Waukesha, WI. There will be six kids under the age of six. We decided last summer it would be fun to get together at a motel so the kids could swim. Thanks Kari (my niece) for making arrangements. I know the little ones are excited to see their cousins.

Sewing projects.

Not much else new here this week. Kind of quiet for me. Stay warm.

Stitchin's

Stitchin' Fun

Here are the finished goods. I made three little pillows and a wall hanging.

We got close to four inches of fresh snow yesterday. It was the light fluffy kind. It is kind of pretty. Today it is just plain cold.

Don't forget to enter the Valentine Swap.

Valentine Swap

Go to Tina's blog (pepercreekgatherings) and join the Valentine Swap. Sounds like fun. The Valentine shown here is from old Valentines I found that were my Aunt Mabel's from when she was a school teacher at Pine Grove School in Boyceville, Wisconsin. It was a one room school house. Both my parents went their. In fact Aunt Mabel taught my mother. My older sister Sue went there also. It is no longer there. I have a chunk (small) of the black board that was on the wall. Also a couple old school books from there.

Today is "catch" up day. I have to get caught up on some much needed housework I didn't get done with Amaya here. I started some stitcheries and need to finish them up too. This morning I made some "bath cookies". I will let you now how they work. It is supposed to get really cold this week not getting above zero. I'm not liking that. Stay warm and have a pleasant week.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMANDA

Today is Amanda's birthday. Hope she has a good one. I won't see her for a couple weeks so she will have to wait for her present. I have to make it yet!!!

All quiet now with Amaya back to her mom. Here is a picture of Amaya and Tina with the presents.

Not much else new today. Just going to hang out and maybe do some stitcing today. It's trying to snow and cloudy so it makes for a good couch day!!!

Camp Gramma comes to an end:(

Friday was the last day for Amaya to spend the night. I made her the other skirt out of material she had brought. I added some lace to the bottom that I had from my mother's collection of stuff. She put it on with her swimming suit and pretended she was a dancer and an ice skater. Evan and Jabin came over for awhile and we had pizza, "two" bags of popcorn and watched a movie. I can't believe the week is over.

I got a text at around 4:45 am from Tina. They just got home. They drove all the way home in 24 hours. Crazy Crazy Crazy!!! We will bring Amaya back this afternoon. The plan is to meet them at the ice races at Lake Magnor close to their house.

Amaya with her skirt.

The kids on the "majic" couch! I had to make a gingerbread puppet for Evan. He brought some red ricrac for me to put on it. I let Amaya sleep on it on her last night. They all think it's really cool to sleep on.
Here are the stitchings I made this week. Can you guess which one is for Amaya's Mom?

Andy and Greg came to pick up the boy's around nine. Amaya came out with marker all over her face. She was being a "tiger. Good thing it was washable and not a sharpie!!!

Andy took this picture of them. Amaya was upset because she thought she was in trouble. But is washed right off.

Cute ha!!

It sure will be quiet around here when Amaya is gone. It was alot of fun.

Gotta go and get Amaya's stuff all packed up and make some pancakes for breakfast.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Thursday tidbits

Here is a quick look at our Thursday's activities. Amaya played school for hours. She had the table set up with the "kids" and her teacher desk. The kids were the snowmen I made at Christmas time. She played play dough for along time also. We made a present for her mom. I'll post that at a later date. It has to be a surprise. Tanya and Cole came last night so the kids got to play. All in all a pretty quiet day.

Amaya playing school. Notice the snowmen on the chairs.

Amaya and some of her kids.

I made this sign and have it hanging in the kitchen. How appropriate!!

Tonight Evan and Jabin are coming. Not sure if they are staying over night yet. Amaya wants pizza and a movie. I guess we need to go get some. We are having pancakes for breakfast Saturday morning. Cole is coming in the afternoon to play also. No rest for Gramma quite yet (jk). My girls keep reminding me how much time they would spend at the farm with Grandma and Grandpa Retz. They always tell me paybacks!!! I'm just glad I can be able to do it. It will be kind of quiet around here when Amaya goes home. I'll miss her.

A look at Amaya's Day Three at Gramma's

It was kind of a quiet day. Amaya's dad dropped her off a little after seven in the morning. She cuddled up on the couch with a blanket and watched some tv for awhile. I decided to bake some "cake mix" cookies. So easy to make and yummy! See recipe below. Amaya helped moosh them down. We also made some little sheep. I painted mine and she used markers to color hers. She also reminded me that we forgot to "cook" them. She watches her mother bake everything. Mostly she just hung out and played. It was jammies all day for her. I think she has a bit of a cold because she's been coughing. So before she went to bed I did the old gramma thing by greasing her up with Vick's. I had read to put it on the bottoms of feet and put socks over. Hey, it worked she didn't cough all night!

Cole and Tanya didn't come over to play because Tanya was a bit under the weather also. They might come today after Cole gets done with school. If they do we might take the kids to the indoor playground that just went in. Kind of interesting to check that out.

That's about it. Here are a couple pictures from our day. Check out Tina's blog to see some pictures from her trip. They start home today and should be her to get Amaya sometime on Saturday.

Amaya "mooshing" the cookeis.

Our sheep.

Cake Mix Cookies

1 box cake mix

Add only the eggs and oil

I use my small melon scoop and dip the glass in suger before pressing them down.

Bake in 350degree oven for 10-12 minutes.

I used just a plain yellow cake and put icing on them.

Powdered sugar, butter and milk

You can add chips or sprinkles or whatever but we like them just plain.

Try them out. Great to make with the kids.

HAPPY COOKIE BAKING!

Day Two at Camp Gramma

After sleeping until almost ten Amaya got up , had breakfast and took a bath. That kept her busy for awhile. We then cut out some puppets and I stitched them up. I made four more. She wanted on to be a boy. In the meantime her dad called and asked if he could take her to McDonald's for lunch. While she was gone I made some clothes for her puppets. It was nice out so we decided to go outside for awhile. We made a fort out of the big chunks of snow and I dug a big hole in the snowbank so she could have a cave. We were out for about an hour. It was hot chocolate time when we came in. I also had her put the faces on her puppets. She asked me if I could make her a skirt, so I did. I guess we are making another one. Her fabric is all picked out. She spent the night at her dad's. Gramma got some rest!!!

Amaya's fort

Amaya in the fort

The "cave"

Puppets

The new skirt. What a lovely out fit she has on. Notice the new monkey socks. She was just trying on her skirt to see how it fit. We really didn't have a shirt to match. She can wear it for play if nothing else.

Wow what a busy day we had.

Monday with Amaya

Well Amaya sure did keep Gramma busy. I had gotten a foamie craft project on clearance at Micheal's so she made those. I made play dough and also sticthed up a puppet she drew on. Her dad stopped in for a visit last night on his way home from work. Andy also stopped to pick up her sunglasses she forgot here the other day. Her and Greg were on their way to Ikea and spend the day together for her birthday. Hope you had fun. Tina called Amaya from New Mexico to check up on her. Tanya and Cole came for a visit also. They are going to come over on Wednesday so the kids can play. Not sure what today will bring. Whatever it does I'm sure I will be tired at the end of the day!! I am so not used to keeping a five year old entertained!! It is fun though.

Amaya working on foamie crafts.

Amaya with play dough.

Amaya with her puppet.

It's nice out today so I think we will go outside for awhile. Check back tomorrow to see what happened today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDY!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDYIt's Andy's birthday today. Hope it's a good one. How old are you now???

Here is her present I made. She needed a replacement for the Christmas one I made for her entry wall.





Saturday we took a drive to the campground. Wow is there a lot of snow there. We didn't stay overnight. There was freezing rain and snow on the way so it's a good thing we came home. Here a few pictures of what it looks like up there. BRRRRR........

Next time we will bring a shovel. Plus it hopefully will be warmer.

Stay warm. It's -15 degrees this morning. That's not including the windchill.