Doggie Death

Yesterday we had to put our dog, Bucket, to sleep. It was a hard day.

One of those weeks

Yeah...one of those. Busy, busy.

I am an aunt again. My youngest sister Sheila had her first baby last Thursday...Charmaine Ann . Born 8/9, weighing in at 8 lbs 9 oz...and she is the 9th grandchild on my side. I now have 11 nieces and nephews.

Finally a redhead!!!! I am so jealous! I am the oldest of 5, 4 of which are redheads (sister Kate was the blonde like my divas). Sheila and I shared the same golden red, though hers was curly. (Weird thing, as we got older, we started looking so alike that you might call us twins. We are 5 1/2 years apart...but the resemblance is so bizarre.) Anyway, in our family, cousins included, the redheads do not have redheaded children, the non-redheads do, and this goes back through a few generations, on both sides of the family! But Sheila has finally bucked the trend! My mom says Charmaine's hair looks to be like Sheila's and mine. Very cool.

And another cool thing...the baby looks just like my dad who died in March 2003. Spitting image. He would have been so proud...maybe he is. I miss him terribly right now.

This is my sister Bernie with Charmaine. I envy her right now, getting "new baby" cooties... big sigh.


This is my mother with Bernie's daughter Annie, named for my mom, Ann (like me).

This is Bernie's husband Alberto...with son Thomas there in the corner (named for my father).

Here is nephew Berto (Alberto Jr.).

Niece Annie. So beautiful!

Nephew Thomas.

Niece Charmaine.

Welcome to the family!

One of those weeks, Part Deux

So, besides babies being born...

Divas Maggie and Saskia had a blast together this past week. Before Saskia's family moved, being the strong, though sweet, personalities that they are, there always came a time Maggie and Saskia needed a break, so they would fight, separate, get over it, and then get on with it. Well, they did not fight this whole week that they were together...until about 90 minutes before Saskia was to leave. Saskia was MAD, and she had every right to be. Maggie knew she screwed up. But, at 45 minutes to blast off, they were still giving each other the silent treatment. So, I explained that they would feel really bad if they parted like that, and left them alone. Whew...they got over it and the goodbyes lasted 10 minutes as they could not disengage themselves...they walked to the car with arms wrapped around each other. Got a bit teary-eyed myself as we watched Saskia and Martin dive away. It was a good visit.

Working away on the newest solo. Fascinating color combination for the fabrics...which is giving me fits trying to get the thread colors right!!! Might have more test pieces here than I ever have because I am testing colors and fooling with the digitizing. Thought this one would be easier now that I have ALL of this experience, but oh no...have to screw things up by trying new things and getting unnecessarily creative. There is something to be said for repeating oneself when it comes to process...it may be less interesting for said "artiste" but it is definitely more efficient time-wise. Pain in the butt, this need I have to experiment...

This weekend the whole family went to the county fair...woo-hoo and YEEEEEHAAAWWW!!! What a freaking trip!

I have not been to a county fair since...I don't know when. In the 14 years we have lived in this area, I have never been to ours. But, Michael decided it would be a fun thing to do, and even I went. The kids were a bit surprised that I wanted to go since it involved so much walking AND it was hot (I hate, HATE hot), but go I did and we had a blast.

We did wait until the late afternoon to go...still hot, but manageable. And going later made sense since we wanted to see the rodeo and the fair is not SO big that you can effectively waste 6 hours without spending the kind of money that gives me a bleeding ulcer. Turned out just fine.

Molly has been to this county fair with a friend of hers in years past. so this was not new to her, but the other two divas and Saskia (diva #4) were amazed by it all. Meave looked at me and asked, "Are you REALLY going to let us ride these rides?"

"Yeeeaaaahhhh...I.....am."

"REEEAAALLLY? Really, TRUUUUUULY?!!!!"

See, every time there is a parking lot carnival in our town, I explain to the girls how dangerous they are and how I will NEVER let them on one of those rides. But how can I deny them when I have taken them into the chaos myself?

We walked for a bit first, though. Went to all the livestock barns. We all got a kick out of that. The goats crack me up. We all stood and watched this interesting dance that two goats were doing...swaying their heads side-to-side before wacking each other between the eyes. Reminded me of me and Michael...but that is another story. But guess where we spent the most time...yep, the pigs. I had to endure the divas' comments that ranged from "Aren't they cute, Mama?" to "Aren't they smart, Mama?" to "See how clean they are, Mama?" to "Can't we just sneak one into our house, Mama?" They stopped when I pointed out how MASSIVE these "cute pigs" were and asked who was going to share their bed? Still, they were pretty amazing, coming up to sit quietly so the divas could scratch them and rub their noses. There was one, though, who took advantage of his pen-mates need for attention and he parked himself next to the trough, sat back on his haunches, and literally buried his snout in the food and proceeded to chow down. At one point, he laid down over his front legs so that his mouth was really buried. Standing up put him too far from the food! What a hoot!

The rides...we paid for the unlimited ride bracelet for everyone except me...I don't "DO" rides. As we initially walked through the fairgrounds, I found it interesting that the divas were not clamoring to go on the rides. I took that as a sign that I had done my parental duty well...they were very circumspect about the rides that looked dangerous. The first ride they agreed to go on was the ferris wheel. So they stood in line, which was not that long, but as I was standing off to the side in a bit of shade, I had enough time to decide that I wanted to do this one with them. Off I went to get a few tickets, and then into line I went. The divas were thrilled. Gotta like it when you hear, "Mama's coming, Mama's coming!" and they aren't scrambling to hide something, eh?! It was great fun.

We were ready for the rodeo when it was time. We got a big ol' turkey leg, some ribs and lemonade after I said no to the corn dogs (I so don't trust carnival dogs) and off we went. We were all so psyched for the RODEO...and it was such a dragging disappointment!! As we watched small children try to ride "wild" sheep and then race astride wooden horsies, fat men throw themselves from horses onto "steers" that weighed less than the men assaulting them, a woman billed as "the best rodeo act in America" fall off of her horses, and calves run right out of the lassoes thrown over them, we became the quintessential bored American family. When Maggie yelled over at me that she did not understand the point of ANY of this, we decided the rides were more fun and joined the exodus out of the rodeo pavilion. It was all so ridiculous that Michael and I had a good giggle.

One of the highlights for me was hanging with Molly. It has dawned on me recently that I truly enjoy hanging out with her as she has grown into a young adult with a great sense of humor. She always has the best come backs. But this day, she was a little bit clueless, so I was getting a big kick out of yanking her chain by saying all sorts of rather bizarre things about the whole county fair experience. It started when I said something as we walked in that came from my older point of view... I assumed she would understand it to be a joke. She did not and instead gave me her whole puffed up "MAMA!" reaction. Opportunity! The rest of the day was spent getting the best reactions out of my daughter. I was the "diva" and she was the PC monitor. Near the end of the night, after a doozy of a comment that almost caused her to faint, I told her that I was testing her limits. She was visibly relieved that I was teasing her, that I was not truly revealing myself to be an awful person...have to admit that when I teased her about her lack of faith in me, I was a bit serious. However, she is still young enough to believe that everything out of my mouth might be true, and I have to cherish that belief in me...because it won't last much longer! I hope our connection lasts our lifetime.

Near the end of the night, when it was finally dark, we all went on the ferris wheel one more time. It was glorious looking at the whole fair all lit up. The ride went on and on and we were quite the happy bunch...until the freaking wheel stopped with us at the VERY TOP!!!! AND STARTED SWAYING...AND JERKING...AND SWAYING!!! I am so done with ferris wheels. So is Meave...poor kid might need therapy after that...

Maggie & Saskia

(I thought it was about time that I put some pics up as I am sure that Mama Susi is chomping at the bit...)

Maggie's best friend, Saskia, has come to visit for a week. The two girls are in heaven. So happy to see each other...and in a very short period of time, it is as if Saskia never moved away!

Saskia arrived on Tuesday. Maggie was up at the crack of dawn...baking. She and Saskia were apart for Saskia's 13th birthday (on opposite sides of the country, actually), so Mags was determined to have another party for her. She came banging up the stairs to tell me we did not have eggs...so Molly and I ran out for eggs. After I get home, she rushes into the room to tell me we did not have any butter. I tell her to go ask a neighbor...she rushes off with 2 eggs in her hand to barter some butter. I saw my neighbor later and she told me that she really did not need the eggs but Maggie would not take no for an answer and shoved the eggs into her hand. She may be small but she is not to be messed with.

So she baked a cake and 2 dozen cupcakes. Here's the cake.

And here are the BFFs.

Opening belated birthday cards and presents. (Miss Meave was as excited as Maggie, I think.)


As you can see here, Saskia is QUITE a bit taller than Maggie. She is 3 years younger than Molly but she is less than 1 inch shorter...I was quite stunned by how tall she has gotten in 1 year, Susi!!!


Saskia brought Maggie a gift also.


Posing with the presents! (I also gave Saskia a pair of dangly flower earrings.)


Ready to sing. (They are both wearing their new earrings. Also notice the light colored bracelets...Saskia made those and they are trying to set a world record for simultaneously keeping them on for YEARS!)


Ok, so you know how diva Maggie is into making faces? Guess what her best friend likes to do...


make faces! Made for each other.




Here's Saskia's dad, Martin. Here is where her height comes from.


Today we took Saskia to get her hair cut per her mother's request. I had Molly take some pics when we got home, but Saskia did not like them and made me remove them from the blog. I asked Molly to take her outside and take BETTER pics...here are the results and the hair-do.














Can't keep them down.


















Beautiful. Such a treat having her here. We wish it included the rest of you!