Wednesday, May 26, 2010

mission, accomplished


Lily dressed
and decided to take out the trash










Lily
you are a
treasure!!

Monday, May 24, 2010

debut of a quilt

I figure I spent about 15 1/2 lovely hours
and about 1/2 not-so-lovely hour
on my California Dreamin' quilt

Lexi loves it almost as much as I do

you know I can't leave the back alone;
I've got to add a little surprise

I entered this in the Spring Bloggers' Quilt Festival
if you want to see a few more pictures

babysitting the boy

Today is Luke and Lana's 2nd anniversary
so we got to keep Aiden for a few hours


The boy is an eater!!
Green veggies? Bring 'em on!!
What else you got for me??

Of course,
he was well taken care of by his aunts

which he tolerated like a trooper.....
and yes - Lily and Aiden both had wardrobe changes.
Lily's was just cause that's what Lily does;
Aiden's was because
well
Aiden peed on Poppa and got it all over himself, too

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Corporate Family Day 2010











look what I found

on the camera....

The boys told me they had taken some 'great' pictures of the kitties.
Normally
their 'great pictures'
aren't.
Fortunately
Alice doesn't mind them playing with her babies.



Thursday, May 20, 2010

Las Vegas, of all places



Lana's main b-day gift from us this year
was two tickets to see Sharon Randall again.
She picked me to go with her!
We found her every bit as delightful as last time.


I'm a bit out of my league, though
standing there with two published, paid authors....
~
love you, Baby Girl!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Tips for Tony


As a way to help Tony become successful in his new job,
Tyler solicited advice
aka
'Tips for Tony'
from his coworkers.
He gave away prizes
- okay, a buck each -
to the top ten tipsters.

We blocked out the name of the contributors
and I read through them all
marking out all duplicate suggestions.
Several ideas led to further discussions...
Then I read through the submissions again
and noted the ones I thought were most valuable.
I'd marked twelve.

We talked some more
and from those twelve, Tony chose his top ten:
I've taken the liberty of changing some of the tips
slightly, as per our discussions

10.
Make sure guests have everything they'll need
before their food arrives;
no one likes to wait on a condiment.

9.
Nobody likes to pay good money
for a steak that wasn't prepared to their liking.
Make it easy for guests to let you know
if their's wasn't
even if, when they first checked, it appeared to be.

8.
Don't forget the kids when it comes to refills;
ask them if they need more drink.
Usually, kid cups are opaque,
so you can't gauge their beverage needs just by looking.

7.
Make certain that salads are dressed 'perfectly'

I like a lot of dressing on my salad.
Probably part of why I'm fat.
If it really needs more, I'll ask
but often, I would prefer more, but it's palatable as is
so I won't ask for more.
However, if a server were to ask
if I had the perfect amount of dressing,
it would make it easy for me to say, "Actually, I could use a bit more."
~
We're going for an awesome meal, not mediocre.

6.
Have personal knowledge of the food so you can offer suggestions.

Tony is on a pretty tight budget.
Just 'cause he's suddenly making a bunch of money
doesn't mean he's got a bunch of money to spend.
We've worked on his spending / saving plan together
and will tweak it as needed
but one of the things we built into the budget
was a fairly generous amount
to enable him to try several dishes
so he would be better equipped to do his job.

5.
Never let a drink glass get empty.
'specially water and tea.

I
for one
hate to be without water;
I'll still tip if I run out, but I'll do it begrudgingly.
Not every one feels the same, though;
this tipster said, "An empty glass could mean an empty tip jar!"

4.
As much as it is possible
meet guests needs before they have to ask.

3.
Suggest coffee when a guest orders dessert.

Just last night,
Tyler & I went out to eat.
We went to vote,
and figured we'd just make it a date :-)
Anyways.
we'd ordered this 2 for $20 deal
and I imagine the waitress thought
she had no opportunity to increase the ticket total
because an appetizer and dessert
(measly portions, I might add) were included.
BUT
I would have ordered coffee if she'd offered....

2.
Be happy to be at work and serve your customers cheerfully.
Bare minimum service often yields bare minimum tips.

1.
Send a message to your guests that they can relax,
that you are there to take care of anything they might need
while they are with you and they are free to enjoy their evening

and
Tyler and I came up with a bonus tip last night.
Rather than asking, "Can I get you anything else?"
which puts the burden of asking for something on the guest,
ask, "What can I bring you?"
This lets the customer know that you would like to bring them
something to make their visit more enjoyable,
they need only let you know what that something might be.
And if there's absolutely nothing that can be brought
well, then
they are probably thoroughly enjoying their evening / day
which is
precisely
the goal.

~
Many thanks to Tyler's friends for caring enough
to take the time and effort to offer Tips for Tony!!



getting there



I misjudged (shocker!) how long my prep work would take
and Lexi didn't go to bed till after 12:30
so
I stayed up waaayy too late last night
getting my quilt pin-basted.

It's been quite some time since I've done any quilting
so I put together a fat quarter sandwich
and practiced a bit this morning.
I love the look of stippling
but I think I like the drapiness
(spell check doesn't like my word. hmm)
of a looser meandering stitch a bit better
so I'm going with that.


Josiah has been itching to sew lately
and he needed a wallet
so
Brandon helped him make one

check out those stitches!!

There is a pocket for bills
a pocket for change,
both velcro shut
and
a magnetic snap
so when he folds it in half
it stays put.
~
great job, guys!

Tony is a full-fledged waiter now
having finished up his (extensive) training on Monday.
Lexi wasn't real happy for him to head out the door....

We are so proud of you, Bud!

Sunday, May 16, 2010

a little piece of heaven

Some young friends had a baby last night,
Olivia.
After church
I rushed home
and instead of making lunch,
I made a tiny tutu and a flower headband.
We had PB & J for lunch.
Tyler and I headed to St. Edwards
after getting the girls down for their naps.
Olivia is on oxygen
so I wasn't sure we'd get to see her;
I was hoping for a peek through the glass.
As we were walking to their room,
her parents were heading down the hall to go see her.
Her daddy let me take his spot in the NICU!
(can you hear me squealing??)
I helped change her diaper
and then
I got to pick her up from the bed
and pass her to her momma.
I must confess
I passed her awfully slowly....
I couldn't help it.
I held her fresh-from-the-womb cheek against mine
and breathed her in.
perfection
~
thank you, Lord
for allowing me to be at the right place at just the right time!

Saturday, May 15, 2010

multi-tasking


the new gathering spot

'course
who could resist??


Once the 2nd baby arrived
(which was about 3 hours after the first)
Alice finally started being a good mama.

I'm a little concerned about the white one;
he's the smallest
his little tummy isn't nearly as round as his siblings'
and
his body temp is low

Friday, May 14, 2010

kangaroo care?


So far
I'm not impressed
with Alice's mothering skills.
Hopefully
instincts will kick in here pretty soon!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

reading circle

I love the movement
and their facial expressions
as they're nearing the climax


Tuesday, May 11, 2010

alrighty then

I'm just coming out of a very dark season
a very l o n g dark season.
Never mind the gory details.
One
of the good things though,
that came from this,
is that I have let go of pretty much
all
of my perfectionism.
~
take these completely non-matched up seams

I am ok with them.
really.
I am.

little miss lex'


only woke up one time last night!!!

we're pretty tickled about that

Friday, May 7, 2010

m-day gifts

I always tell the kids
I don't want them to get me anything
for Mother's Day.
And it's true;
I really don't want them spending any money on me
but
they like to anyways.
Often Tyler has a Papa Shop
they can purchase from
for a very sick price.
It seems the Papa Shop isn't very well stocked this year.
So
just in case
anybody really wants to buy me something
here's what I've been eyeballin':

From Yeagers:
8" forever and ever hydrangea
if it's forever & ever - surely I won't kill it ~ right?

a new porch swing
Yeager's has one for $44, probably isn't super comfy
but it'd work.
Our swing broke the day after
Gramma & Grampa were here for a visit.
Gramma Joyce and I had spent a good bit of time
visiting on that there swing;
I am so glad it didn't break when she was on it!!

Harbor Freight finally put their letter stamping sets on sale
I've been watching for for that for about a year!

Just so it's not weird that what I want
comes from the hardware store,
I've also been whining for a tortilla keeper
ever since we left a tortilla in ours right before Lana's wedding
and found it a few weeks later.
Remember
we make our own tortillas
out of freshly ground flour.
with no preservatives.
The tortilla keeper was half full of nasty green fur.
I was so disgusted
I threw the whole thing away!
Had I known Walmart no longer sold them for $5
I would have bleached the darn thing.
Right after somebody snatched it up
we saw one at a yard sale a few weeks ago for a buck.
She didn't have a clue what it was for!
I should've offered her $5 for it

I also want a french curve someday

and then
there are always books....


Thursday, May 6, 2010

playin' with Lex'

Thursday evenings
it's just the two of us;
everyone else is at Riverwalk.

Somebody was grouchy
so we headed outside
and I grabbed the camera to play a bit.

she still isn't entirely sure she wants to cooperate

but
maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea

yeah
this could be fun

okay, Momma, I'll play

but these shoes are buggin' me a little

but
I'm cool with them now
I can't believe I am posting this!
no makeup, whatsoever
except that little bit of yesterday's mascara
smeared all over the place
I guess I don't have to add the disclaimer
that this photo is untouched...
but
Lexi liked the picture
and
hey
this is me...

yep, Momma, that is you

hmm, what do we have here?
more shoe trouble??

nah
just a little rest

whoops
looks like we're done now