Playing with Paper and Glue for the Red White and Blue

First, I want to apologize to everyone who has left comments lately.  My computer's been giving me a fit for nearly a week now and it takes me forever just to get a post up.  Hopefully by tomorrow we might be back on track.  I appreciate all of you and your comments so much, it breaks my heart not to be able to let you know individually.  Danged computer, I barely even have any hair left. LOL.
I finally grew up and now I get to play with paper and glue.  So I  made this to hang in my MIL's nursing home room,to celebrate our nations 235 birthday!  I finally played with my Cricut too and made the little flowers and leaves.  I can't wait to do more with it.  Go America!!!

When I was little we had an old craft book that belonged to my sister Joni or maybe it was just the families.  It was the early 1960's but I'm sure the book was from the 50's.  I loved that book it was black and white but to me, it was the most interesting book we had.  I looked at that old tattered book all the time.  I know my mother would be saying not again as she saw me heading her way with that book.  I was forever asking her if we could do some of those projects.  The answer was always the same, maybe tomorrow.  I'm sure mama had no clue that it was so important to me and that I would grow up loving to craft.

Mama never did care much for crafting that was more fun than it was practical.  Mama wasn't old fashion by any means. She always was interested in learning more.  I still remember her taking a high school night class on accounting.  It wasn't something she needed to do, she was a stay at home mom, she just wanted to.  She worked when she was younger and even for a short while when she first married.  Mom loved to play bridge, crochet, do needlepoint, cross stitch, crochet and knit.  She had more patience and coordination than I did.  But oh' how Mama could sew.  She was a seamstress extroidinaire.  Again, not craft sewing but clothing.  She was so good at sewing tailored clothing.  Something she only did for her and her girls and maybe a friend or two.   She learned from her mother just as most girls did in the 30's when it was so important and so neccessary. Maybe that's why she didn't care for quilting like my grandma.  Maybe she had seen too much of that done out of neccesity.  But later she still took more classes to learn the finer art of tailored slit pockets and things of that sort.  She had a very Jaqueline Kennedy, (mom's name was even Jackie) or Chanel Coco sort of style.  Simple was more. 

I can remember Grandma occasionally sewing on her old treadle singer sewing machine. I'm so proud to be the owner of that old sewing machine of Grandma's now.  Mama had a singer too, which I learned to sew on.  Thank goodness it was an electric machine.  I've had several sewing machines since then and none have been as good as that one was.  And none have certainly lasted as long.  That was way back when they were American made and made to last and last.  Most items were made that way back then.  It only seemed practical to make a product that would stand the test of time.  Later as business dynamics changed.  Companies came to the conclusion, that for a business model, that may not be the most profitable plan.  And so started the long or short road to the throw away society.

I love America and to me America means the history of our ancestors.  The strength that it took for them to fight for such a young country, to believe totally in it's purpose through good times and bad.  To be proud to call America home in the worst of times.  Always banning together for the common good when it truly mattered.  For the great sacrafices that families endured in times of war and how they still continued to love and believe in this great country of ours.  A country built on freedom, liberty and justice for all. 

I'm sure every country believes they are doing whats best.  And it's citizens are proud and have undying love for their country but as an American I know that our forefathers left their homes and came to this unknown land to make a better life for future generations. 

I've seen our society go through a ME generation and I believe we're seeing what was reaped from that now.  If anything positive has come from the economic crisis our country has recently faced, it's the coming together again.  The equal suffering of the rich and poor.  Oh' there will always be ones who are still spending what we as middle class could never even concieve.  They bank accounts may have even taken a hit but it's not like their daily lives will ever feel it.  But for the most part neighbors are more empathatic of others because they have been touched in some way by this shift in money.  Maybe there's something to be grateful for in that.

Thank God I live in America, The Land of the Free!!!

Have a wonderful and safe holiday weekend. 

XOXO's....Tracy :)

My New Old Cabinet After Summer Scrapes and Cuts

We all know summer is full of scrapes and cuts but isn't it usually the kids?  They're all home for the summer, outside playing, having the time of their little lives.  

I wasn't having fun and believe me I'm way past school age.  Last week I could only be described as klutzy.  At the first of the week I was walking through the dining room with a smile on my face saying good morning to everyone.  The next thing I know my feet are as high in the air as my knees should be and with the sound of an overloaded dump truck I was laying on the floor.  The tile floor.  Not a lot of give there.  Ouch!!!!  My elbow seemed to take the brunt of it.  My MIL's our cat Pumpkin was in the middle of the floor and has the poof-est cotton hair.  It's like stepping on silk threads.  I'm not kidding I didn't just slip and fall forward catching myself, my feet went totally to the right and my body went totally to the left where I prominently hit the floor.  Lived through it for better times to come.  

Well by Saturday better times had come, not for me but for the evil mojo that keep me on the ground.  We have some cinder (cement) blocks on the other side of the wraparound porch and silly me stepped on them, fell, scrapping myself all the way down.  Much bigger ouch!!!  Such an attractive look for shorts season.  


My sinus' are the only thing playing with me.  And this is not my idea of summer fun.

On a much brighter note take a look at what I found.  A sewing cabinet!  Solid wood, no it can't be!   When I first saw the cabinet at GW, it was marked $39.95 cheap enough but not today.  No it's not the prettiest but it has lots of potential with great bones and I've wanted one for YEARS.

I went back the next week OMG it's only $29.95.  I asked the manager about it.  Is it going to be marked down again do you think?  The sweet surfer dude manager said it's been here awhile.  Why don't you come back Monday and if it's still here I'll mark it down and you can also get the 10% senior discount.  Hiding my err. for the senior comment I went home with dreams of a new cabinet dancing in my head.  I tell my sister that I hope the age eligible for a senior discount is under 55 since I'm only 50.  By now she is on the other end of the phone cackling with laughter. 

Monday morning came and things kept getting in my way.  Hate that.  I sneak away by 4:00.  Entering the store with a combination of hope and doubt and my necking stretching like a giraffes I spot it.  Way in the back.  It's still there.  
 
Heart pounding I rush  to the managers office and remind him.  He comes back minutes later and tells me the new tag's on it.  I couldn't snatch that baby off fast enough.  I grab a precious little side table marked $3.99 and head to the front.  When I tell her I get the seniors discount she looks at me with shock  (thank you Ms. cashier) and says you can't be 65.  SIXTY-FIVE..........It's still ringing in my ears.  Surfer boy thinks I'm SIXTY-FIVE?  Say it ain't so.........  I prefer to think he was just being generous with his discounts but he made no effort to assure me of that, but I tell her what he said, and we both have a good laugh.  Thank you again Ms Cashier for trying to ease the pain.  None the less she gave me my 10% discount (for being sweet and not 65 I hope).  I left paying only 10.66 for my new sewing cabinet.

Boy, what humiliation a thrifter will suffer all in the name of a deal.  So last week I took a beating both physically and mentally but I got my sewing table and my deal that I'd been dreaming of.

This little table's going to need a lot of work but I think it could turn in to a real cutie.

So now after all that I had a 2 day migraine and now a sinus head cold, but it was so worth it.  Now I have the redo to dread look forward too.

Hope you're all having a fun Summer week!  xxoo's....Grandma Tracy :)