Marvelous Monday Update 6/4/12

A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE
As children, my siblings and I had an authentic Irish log cabin as our playhouse. My parents rented property from 1967-1979 upon which the log cabin sat. In 1979, my parents moved us to the home they currently live in and the log cabin was donated to a local historical museum.

Front View

Back when it was our playhouse, it didn't have glass windows or a very nice back door. We made do, though. We nailed plastic on over the windows (like we'd seen our Dad do on the house) to keep cold air out (Yes, we played in there even in winter) and nailed old curtains up to make it pretty inside. That was probably my idea, lol. My brothers built bunk beds out of scrap wood in the upper part that was accessed by a *very* steep staircase. Btw, it's not a good idea to try and coax the dog down them, lol. (Don't ask me, how I know) I tried to get a photo of the staircase through the window, but there was too much glare and the windows were too dirty. Believe it or not, my brother and I used to think it was fun jumping out of the upper window in front... Well, that was until his butt landed on the doorstep on the way down, lol. Oak is pretty hard on the bottom side!  I'm sure jumping out the window was my idea, too. I seemed to get into trouble for being "the leader" as my Dad always used to say.

East and Back View

To concur my playhouse story, there's even a blurb about it on the museum's website: "During the decade from 1840 to 1850 Irish immigrants moved into the area... This little cabin made of rough oak logs... The cabin is almost square. It is slightly more than 14 feet in each direction... Over the years it has served its owners in many capacities. Probably it was used as a summer kitchen or cookhouse, for storage and as a playhouse for children."

I scoured my parent's photographs and even found one that has part of the cabin in the background. I was such a little squirt then!

Me and Mom,
circa early-mid 1970's (1974?)

COOKING
I had quite a few requests for the casserole recipe I made last week, so I posted it in the previous post.  To all who try it... enjoy.  With my changes, it really was yummo!


WINNER...WINNER... CHICKEN DINNER
OK, maybe not a chicken dinner but I was a winner!  Not once, but THREE times!!

Last week must've been my lucky week.  First, I received an email from Chris over at Fugue.  She said I was the winner of her recent giveaway!

If you get a chance, take a click over to her blog.  Thank you for hosting such a cute giveaway, Chris!

The very same day, I received an email from Kim at Cupcake Cutie letting me know that I was one of three winners of a chart she designed called Babushka Sampler.  You can see a photo of it HERE.  Kim has a really cute blog and a really cute little boy.  Thank you, Kim!

The next day, I received an email from DMC notifying me that I was the winner of their Easter/Passover celebration giveaway!
 

(Clickable for Larger Image)

CONCERT - CHEAP TRICK
Around these parts, the members of Cheap Trick are considered "hometown boys" as all the band members graduated high school in Rockford, Illinois which isn't too far from where I live. For the BF's birthday, I bought concert tickets.

Rick Nielsen, Robin Zander, Tom Petersson

Robin Zander - Lead Singer

Rick Nielsen

Tom Petersson

I had never seen them in concert, so it was interesting.  I did recognize about four of their songs.  The BF said he recognized all of them except for one.  One thing is for sure, for 60-year old guys, they can still rock the stage.  When the concert let out, all I could hear was a bunch of static noise and voices of other concert-goers I could hear sounded like The Chipmunks!

AIRFEST 2012

The concert was the kick-off to the weekend's Airfest.  It was such a beautiful day... temps in the mid 80's, big billowy clouds in a bright blue sky, and light winds.  Perfect for an air show!

Other AirFest pics can be seen HERE.

STITCHY STUFF
I bet you thought I'd never get to this part, didn't you?!?  I have another finish!!!  I finished Sampler aux Bouquets I and started II.

I decided to join in the Summer Mystery Sampler SAL offered by Donna at By The Bay Needleart.  Each week during the month of June, she will release another part.  Part One was a quick stitch.

I even was able to work on Fleurs et Papillons.  Here's the bit of progress I made:

Until next time,

Marvelous Monday Update 5/31/10

For those of you in the U.S., I hope you're enjoying the Memorial Day weekend. It makes for a 3-day weekend for me. Woo Hoo! If you'd like to see a beautiful Memorial Day tribute, click HERE.


GARDENING
Last summer while driving through the countryside, there were was a sign at the end of a driveway that said, "Perennials, FREE" Bascially, they were roots covered with some dirt. I didn't know what they were but I thought, "What the heck! I'll give it a try." They've been growing and growing and growing. One day I noticed blooms!

Anyone know what they are?
Remember the Hens & Chicks from earlier this spring? (Here and Here) Also this past week, it started blooming!



RAK'd
I received a surprise package from Trecie as a Thank You for sending her a box a yarn a while back. She sent me a knitted washcloth and a stitched kimono. Both turned out really nice. Thank you, Trecie!



WEATHER
The weather has been horribly hot and humid the past couple of weeks. Temps have been in the 80's and 90's. I've felt like a knife cutting through humidity as I walked outside. It's also wreaked havoc on my head (headaches) and lungs (allergies/asthma). To top it off, I'm having to deal with bad hair. Oh what fun!


CONCERT
With all the "excitement" going on last week, I forgot to share! Way back in February, tickets went on sale for a concert. What concert are you wondering? Daughtry, Lifehouse, and Cavo! It was an awesome concert. I was in the upper level but right in front of the stage. Had I known I could've taken my camera, I would've gotten some great pics. :(

Daughtry
Daughtry's light show was fantastic, and I loved the artwork on his backdrop.

Lifehouse
The lead singer of Lifehouse has a really good voice! He did a duet with Daughtry toward the end of Daughtry's set, which was really cool.

Cavo
I'd never heard of this band, but they were really good.




BACK TO BASICS
I have a tiny patch of rhubarb in my backyard. With jelly jars I received from a lady on Freecycle, I tried my hand at canning jam.




Apparently the patch isn't all that small, since I was able to make 12 jars of jam!



STITCHY STUFF
I am sooo close to being done with ABC Lessons. So close that I've started looking for the "perfect" frame for it. Here's what it looks like so far:


I started a new project. (I know... naughty me) In one day, I was able to complete one half of the Tulip Bouquet Biscornu.


I substituted SSS floss for the Gloriana and Needlepoint Silks. I almost had a "disaster moment". I was running low on the SSS Spiced Drop after stitching the first square. I started looking through my SSS stash to see if I could find something close, and viola! I had another partial hank of Spiced Drop. :)

Marvelous Monday Update 12/21/09 - Part One

HEAD-BANGING GOOD(?) TIME
I had an opportunity to attend my first ever rock concert. Heavy metal, head banging music isn't really my thing but I'm always open to new experiences. Three bands played.

Opening was Halestorm. The lead singer's voice grated terribly on my last nerve. Not smooth at all. She's not nearly as attractive in person as she is on their website. The drummer was absolutely entertaining! What cracked me up? During intermission between all the bands, Halestorm had women hawking their CD's. I didn't think it was bad after they did their set, but to keep going after the other bands played... tacky.


Next up was Shinedown. Out of the three bands, this is the one I liked the best. I had even heard a couple of their songs on the radio. Even though most of the songs were of the head-banging type, the vocals were smooth.


The last band to play was Papa Roach. I think you really have to be a huge headbanger to enjoy this band. Aside from the fact I didn't know any of the songs, what really turned me off was the lead singer CONSTANTLY spitting on the stage. At one point he announced (during singing) that he had "snot up in his sh*t". After which, he proceeded to go toward the back of the stage to get a drink of water and then spit it out on the floor on his way back to the front of the stage. He was hacking out spit about every minute, if not less. It really was disgusting! Ended up leaving early because of that.

I really enjoyed the "people watching" aspect. Although most of the concert-goers were in their 20's, there were also a variety of 30's, 40's and yes even 50-somethings at the concert. The variety of "dress" was interesting to see. Most men wore tshirts. Women wore outfits ranging from quite skanky... think bras showing, not just straps but entire frontal of the bras... to mini skirts and boots... to jeans & tshirts. I did wonder where all their coats were since we had sub zero temps!

In case you were wondering.... I did wear earplugs. They made listening to the concert bearable. As each band played, it was louder than the previous. When Papa Roach performed, it was so loud that my eardrums were vibrating even with earplugs in. I can't imagine being those 20-somethings that were down on the floor in front of the stage!