Minion fun!

The minions were bored. They were tired of my excuses for not being in the shop, (grandchildren, broken glasses, houseguests, etc.). They found out that I went to have my eyes examined (no, not my head...) and heard about the new pink and purple glasses I ordered. When they found out they won't be ready until May 3rd, there was a heavy group sigh and they all plopped down for a nap. Since I was going to the chiropractor this morning...(uh, oh, the skellies just heard that...,) I decided to pick up a surprise for the minions. I was looking around in Michael's, with my coupon of course, and found just the thing. Four of them jumped on right away and they were laughing and yelling and having a great time.

Of course the inspectors had to come by to make sure it was safe and to chase the Cro-minions off the track.

I think these guys have a death wish!

A crowd started forming and they all patiently waited for their turns...

yeah right! LOL! After I broke up a few fights and made a chart of who can ride when, things settled down for a bit so I left them to it.

I went back in the shop a couple of hours later and they were all over at Buns & Roses having banana donuts and banana daquiris...I didn't even know the bakery got their liquor license....I really need to get that church done. But when I looked over at the new ride, I found my broken glasses temporarily fixed with some very colorful tape.

They do like me after all..😉 Now I don't have one lens touching my eye...have a great day!

Another cool tool...

Since Dear Hubby is on his way home, thought I would make this a quick one. Wouldn't you know I broke my glasses the other day and am limping along with an old pair. I have to look through the bifocal part to see distance and close up is a bit dicey, so it has hampered my work in the shop. A bright spot though is that the cool tool I picked up in Harbor Freight fits these glasses. The broken glasses had such small side pieces that the clip on wouldn't stay put. So that is going to definitly affect my choice for new frames. "Okay Debra, that's enough blather, are you going to show this thing to us or not?!" I originally thought this would be a fun steampunk item, but it really works well...

It clips on the side of your glasses and the magnifiers swing down in front of the lens to give a really great close look at what you're working on. Of course, I had to model them for you too...

Maybe I should just pick one up for the other side and I can walk around like that until I get my new glasses! LOL! Also got the hair trimmed; a little short, but it will grow. I sure am enjoying spring in Tennessee! Have a great day!

Lacy, Lace, Lace....

When I was last at my sister-in-law's house, she showed me a beautiful dress she had made for a baby doll. I asked her if she could use some lace and she said, "Sure!" I have a box of lace that was given to me but it has been sitting around for a few years now and someone may as well get some use out of it. So when I got home, I started searching for it. You guessed it, it's in that black and white file box in back of everything.

But that's okay; turns out the big green bin had hardly anything in it and everything was quickly moved out of the way. Once I opened the box, all of the lace was a tangled mass,

so I went out to the kitchen to get my box of ziploc snack bags and sat down to sort through everything.

If it was about a yard or more, I coiled it up and bagged it. Some of it was really pretty, something that's a little harder to find now.

I set aside the ones I use for dollhouse curtains which were only short pieces anyway and then searched for a bag to put it all in. All ready to go!

On a side note, we found a few things that were left behind when my daughter and son-in-law and their 7 children visited. One thing we just could not find though was Asher's orange water bottle. We searched the house and the yard, the shop and even dug through the bushes in the front with no luck. Bill went to get the white buckets out of the shed to use and guess what he found between the 2 buckets....Ta da!

So that was mailed off to Wyoming along with the other things we found and we are anxiously awaiting to hear if they can move here near us. Please be in prayer for that and have a great day!

The Pastor came by.....

I had just come home from Lowe's where I got a special deal. If you like Boston ferns, Lowe's has them on sale for Easter weekend 2 for $10 instead of 11.98 each. I grabbed 5 of them for my front porch.

I've done flowers in the past, but they can't seem to take the summer heat, so as they say, "When in Rome......" all the locals have ferns on their porches, so I guess they do pretty well. When I came in from hanging them up, I heard very small voices singing in my shop. It was the minion choir.

When I went in, the Pastor motioned for them to take a break and he said he wanted to talk to me.

Uh, oh. He commended me on cleaning up my shop

and even shared a poem with me,

but.....he was concerned about the sorry state of the minion church.

He was disappointed that the church wouldn't be done in time for Easter. He asked how I had been spending my time. He understood the time with grandchildren, but pointed out that I had had quite a few weeks to finish since I had come back from the bicycle trip back in September. I explained that I had lost my groove and that when my sister-in-law talked about wanting a tea shop and then I wanted to add a quilt shop to it too that I was inspired once again.

I promised that the church would be the next thing on the list and he was content with that so guess I skated by this time! ;) (I guess the fairy village will have to wait.....)  Oh, I almost forgot to show you the nice notes the kids wrote to Bill before they left.

He had to leave for work early on Monday, so didn't get to say good-bye. He read them all and wants to leave them on the fridge for awhile so he can see them every day. Happy Easter everyone and have a great day.

This is the way we wash the bedding...

Today I washed all the bedding that we used for our guests. Now I have to remember where I pulled it all out from!

We had a variety of weather while the grandchildren were here, so we used every afghan, quilt, sleeping bag, and comforter in the place. I'm washing the kitchen rugs while I write this, then all the laundry will be done. My daughter's children know how to clean, do laundry, and even cook...I'm so proud of them for being such a big help to their mom and dad. I found a few things left behind,

but Asher's orange water bottle is being very difficult to find. Today I took a flashlight outside to look all through the bushes out front. They had tiny flowers and smelled delightful, but alas, no water bottle. We shall not give up the search! Had enough time to touch up my hair and smell the flowers....

still haven't cleaned off the little handprints though. Have a great day!

The Cleanup Begins!

Yesterday my daughter and son-in-law and the 7 grandchildren left for home. 😡 Buuut....they found a house here that they like!! So the search for financing and jumping through hoops begins for them and we are all praying that it can become a reality. 1/2 hour away instead of three days would be awesome! We were all still sad to see each other go, but have the hope that soon they will be close by. We went to lunch to celebrate my daughter's birthday on Sunday and she got a selfie with all of us in it.  (Check out the bunny ears...;)

Then we went to Watauga Lake and got some great family pictures.

So today the laundry begins.

Tomorrow, I'll be putting furniture back where it goes and clearing out the shop so work can begin on the Quilt Shop again.

I think I'll be leaving the little handprints on the windows for awhile....

Have a great day!

Not as young as I used to be!!

Taking a breather to share with you all some of the things we've done with our six grandchildren over the last few days. So far, the all time favorite has been "Backyard Terrors" in Bluff City here in Tennessee. It's in someone's backyard and he builds all the dinosaurs. Here are just a few of the pics.

We saw Bristol Motor Speedway, had pizza, and then the kids worked in the woodshop with Bill.

Bill's sister and her husband came over and we all had fun with a few fireworks.

The next day was beautiful and they all enjoyed playing with frisbees, corn hole games and finding a baby bunny!

The baby bunny was carefully put under the shed where he had hopped from. We came in and I made some homemade play-doh, this guy was very serious about making this snake.

We have been enjoying their company very much and my daughter and her husband started looking at houses here! It would be so fun to have them close by! Gotta go watch "Bob the Builder"! Have a great day!