I just love this Youtube.com video clip

I just love this clip from Youtube.com.  It just makes you feel good.

Martin is in a cast

About a week and half ago Martin was playing soccer at the school playground and a sixth grade boy tripped him.  Down Martin went on his arm.  It hurt and I said that we need to wait just a bit to see if it will feel better.  Martin tends to "cry wolf" so I don't want to rush to the ER for every little ouch he gets.  That night it was not feeling any better and I said I would call the doctor.  In the morning he was holding it pretty tight against his body.  I called the doc and he wasn't in yet.  I sent Martin to school and I would call the doc again after they were open.  I planned on picking him up if I could get him in that day.

I called again and they were able to see Martin at 10:40 a.m.  I picked him up and off we went to the doc.  X-rays were taken and Dr. Carlson felt there might be a fracture because he could see the fat pad around the elbow but he wanted a specialist to look at it.  He put it in a half cast and off we went to the specialist.  Actually I had to go to work for the afternoon and my sister took sick leave for the afternoon and took Martin for me.  The good news is that there wasn't a fracture of his arm but apparantly he somewhat squished his growth plate.  He would continue to wear the half cast until he would see the first doc again. 

A few days before the second appointment Martin was playing tether ball at recess and he was losing.  He decided that he needed power so he wacked the ball with his casted arm.  He broke the cast!!!!  When I talked to him about it he said, "But mom, at least I won."  Oy vey!

Back to Dr. Carlson with new x-rays taken and with the compression of the growth plate diminished he was able to discrern a salter fracture which is a fracture in the growth plate of Martin's left elbow.  Now Martin is in a full cast from below his shoulder to his hand.  I sure wish I would have kept his accident insurance policy after I retired!  Remember in June, 2010 he broke his left collarbone!

Happy Birthday to all our May birthdays!

May is a busy birthday month in our home.  It starts with our sister, Judy.  Her birthday was on May 10th.  She's the oldest of us three sisters.  We didn't celebrate her birthday; as she wanted to wait.  I didn't celebrate mine back on Feb. 13th since it was a very busy time with our kiddos and school commitments.  Maybe we'll celebrate both of ours together this summer. 

Margy turned 14 on May 18th.  She seemed to enjoy her day.  She wanted to go to her favorite Chinese restaurant, Golden International, which is what we did.  It was a fun time.  She got got a baritone ukele and an instructional book with a CD, a digital tuner for her uke, some books she's been wanting to read, and a gift certificate to a book store.  She got some smaller items and we all had a good time.

Martin and Hammie both turned 10 on the 18th.  Hammie is three hours older and every now and then reminds Martin that he's the oldest of the boys!  We had a Star Wars lego theme which both boys are very obsessed with right now.  Hammie wanted Cox's guloush for supper and Martin wants Chinese.  Hammie is the oldest so we had Cox's guloush on the 18th.  We're going to Chinese tomorrow after church.  Having the meals on two different days gives the boys each of what they want.  To be honest we didn't have Chinese on the 18th because the girls were volunteering for their school "Relay For Life" on the 18th.  They were busy at the high school until around 8:30 p.m.  I had Cox's Guloush ready when they got home.  Hammie wanted a peanut butter ice cream cake and Martin wanted cheesecake.  We had both.

 Hammie got several pocket knifes, which he went crazy over...he's really into pocket knives right now, along with some Star War lego toys, a portable camping saw along with a portable shovel.  Obviously Hammie is into cutting things down and making new things with the tree pieces.  Martin got the new Wii Nascar game along with a driving wheel to go with it.  He also got a baseball and baseball bat, Star Wars legos, and some smaller items.

We're all pretty tired right now so we're resting a bit now that school is out for the summer.  Give us until after Memorial Day and we'll be ready to tackle all our summer "To Do" list.

Check out this menu organizer

I found this menu organizer from Little Big Girl Studio (http://littlebiggirlstudio.blogspot.com/2010/05/spice-up-your-kitchen-meal-planning.html).  It's got the directions and tells you everything you need to gather in order to make it.  I can use up some fabric pieces I have.  This might make a nice Christmas gift for someone as well.  Here's a picture of it from the Little Big Girl Studio blog.  Go to the blog address listed above to see if it's something you might like to make.

Hot Cross Buns

Happy Easter to all! 

"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.  And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"

                                         -Jesus Christ - John 11:25, 26

 *******************************

Hot-cross buns!

Hot-cross buns!

Hot-cross buns!

One a penny, two a penny,

Hot-cross buns!

If you have no daughters,

Give them to your sons;

One a penny, two a penny,

Hot-cross buns!

        by Mother Goose

(http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/176342)

We had hot-cross buns during our Easter holiday.  They were quite popular and the pan was empty in minutes!  I'm glad everyone enjoyed them.

Easter Basket Liners

Wow, the Easter Bunny must be so busy right now.  It was so nice for the Easter Bunny to make four liners for my kiddos' Easter baskets.  Here are two photos of them.

The Easter Bunny even left directions for me to make oval basket liners if I want to.  It's pretty simple.

Step 1.  Measure the inside depth of the basket from the bottom to the top and measure over as far as you want the basket to drape over the edge.  Add an extra inch for the tube/hem.  This basket gave me a measurement of 10". 

Step 2.  Measure around the outside rim of the basket and add an extra inch for the seam.  This basket gave me a measurement of 46".  If you don't want your liner to drape over your basket you probably could measure around the inside rim, making a tighter liner that you could hot glue to the basket.

Step 3.  Measure around the inside bottom of the oval basket and add 1/2" to this to allow for the seam.

Step 4.  Take the measurements in Step 1 and Step 2 and draw yourself a rectangle.  The Easter Bunny used tissue paper to make a pattern.  Cut it out.

Step 5.  Take the inside oval measurement in Step 3 and draw your oval on the tissue paper.  Cut it out.

Step 6.  In trying a homemade pattern this Easter Bunny (now called EB) always make a trial using old fabric.  On extra fabric the EB pinned the pattern pieces and cut them out.

Step 7. EB laid out the rectangle piece out flat, right side down, and double folded over one long edge about an inch or so.  I didn't measure it but eyed it to make sure I could put a safety pin through it when threading ribbon.  I sewed it near the edge so I had an opening big enough for that safety pin.

Step 8.  Then EB put the rectangle right sides together and matched up the short ends and stitched them together.  Don't forget to leave the tube/hem open...don't sew it shut.

Step 9.  Now take the oval right side up and take the rectangle with the right side facing inward and pin them together at the bottom.  There's two ways to approach this.  You could stitch a gathering line on the long raw end of the rectangle and pull to gather the fabric; then pin the oval bottom to the bottom of the gathered rectangle.  The Easter Bunny (EB) tried that first and it worked but it seemed to take forever. 

What EB ended up doing for the remaining three baskets was to mark the centers of all four sides of the rectangle and oval and pin them together and make some pleats along the way.  No measuring just eyeing it and making pleats to make both pieces fit together.  That took less time then sewing and pulling the thread to gather the fabric.

Step 10.  Sew the pinned bottom to the side.

Step 11.  Run some ribbon or elastic through the top hem.  Put your liner in the basket with the right side of the bottom facing up.  The top of the liner will lie over the basket and you can use the ribbon to tighten it and then tie a bow.

There you've got it.  It sounds harder then it really is. 

Snow, Snow, and More Snow!

I really am ready for the snow to go away.  Last week we had a snow storm that gave us another 14+ inches of new snow over night!  We went to sleep after I spent about an hour outside chopping up ice and snow from the walkway to the garage.  I felt good that I finally got it cleared and that we could walk to and from the garage without having to tramp through slush.  We woke up the next morning to a white out snowstorm!  I couldn't believe it.  It was if bags of fluffy white craft stuffing had been pulled out puff by puff and it had all landed in our yard.

In the following days it snows more but only for little bursts each day.  I am really feeling the pull for spring!

This picture is looking down our road from our garage.  Our Suburban is on the right burried in the snow.  Our Toyota mini-motor home is down the road partially covered and Evie is taking a walk down the road.