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.