Memorial Day Greetings

Some Gave All

Billy Ray Cyrus

I knew a man called him Sandy Kane
Few folks even knew his name
But a hero was he
Left a boy, came back a man
Still many just don't understand
About the reasons we are free

I can't forget the look in his eyes
Or the tears he cries
As he said these words to me

All gave some and some gave all
And some stood through for the red, white and blue
And some had to fall
And if you ever think of me
Think of all your liberties and recall
Some gave all

Now Sandy Kane is no longer here
But his words are oh so clear
As they echo through out our land
For all his friends who gave us all
Who stood the ground and took the fall
To help their fellow man

Love your country and live with pride
And don't forget those who died America can't you see

All gave some and some gave all
And some stood through for the red, white and blue
And some had to fall
And if you ever think of me
Think of all your liberties and recall
Some gave all

And if you ever think of me
Think of all your liberties and recall, yes recall
Some gave all

Some gave all

Wordless Wednesday

Glad to still be here.

Hello evfurryone,

Well Sat. 6:00 pm - came and went - and the dreaded Doomsday prediction never came true - and I for one was happy to still have time to play upon this good old earth.

Late Sunday things here in the Midwest got a little scary with high winds, bad thunderstorms, and depending where you lived even a tornado or two.

We had some golf ball sized hail and lots of rain - but faired pretty well in spite of the high winds. (No trees fell down this time. Yeah!!!!!!!)

When the severe weather sirens went off - we of course shut down all the computers and other electrical stuff and headed down into the basement - or should I say that Pellie and Sir Knight came down to my apartment. Which was kind of nice, except for the fact that they decided they needed to do some furniture rearranging and stuff to make it more comfortable for them - when they come down to visit.

So yesterday in the light of day and as a way to avoid the hot sticky weather outside - they spent almost the whole day changing things around on me.

It's a good thing - I don't mind change. Actually they did a good job and even cleaned up a lot of stuff that just got brought down and never put away - so now I have more room to roam around.

So what did I do Yesterday you ask?

Well of course I had to snoopervise - but for the most part I just played in my cube. At least till they sat down and took a break - then I'd climb up in a lap and demand to be cuddled and pet.

Have no idea what we have planned for today - I guess I'll just have to play it by ear.

Hope your day is wonderful.

Purrs,

Genghis

Confession is Good for the Soul.

Hello everyone,

Will the world end Tomorrow?

According to Preacher Harold Camping from Oakland California - Jesus will arrive for his second coming tomorrow at 6pm ( Umm Harold is that Pacific time or Eastern Standard? Just wondering!!! )

He maintains that 2% of the worlds population will then be raptured into heaven and the rest will be immediately be sent to the other place.

Now I’m a reasonably good Christian and not one to scoff at the idea of Armageddon - but - just how can he be sure of his facts and his dates. People have been waiting for the coming of the Kingdom of God for some time now. And besides according to the Mayan calendar -Life as we know it - doesn’t end till Dec 21, 2012.

I mean who is right and who is wrong?

No Matter - I figure I better - play it safe and come clean about all my foibles and quirks now - just in case.

I Penelope Plum am an addict - Yes, you heard me right - I am an Addict -

I am addicted to rummaging through other people trash and I don’t care if it’s literally on the curbside during clean up week; or at auctions, estate sales and/or at garage sales. I’m there ready and willing to pick through stuff in order to find that one perfect piece that I just wont be able to live without.

And here is the proof. - This picture show just a hint of the goodies I couldn’t live without this week alone.

I’d tell you that all of this wasn’t for me -but I’d be fibbing if I did that - so I will not tell a lie.

(Especially with the possibility of Judgement Day being so close.)

Do I need all this stuff - well probably not - but I just had to have it. And the price was to good to pass up.

I am no hoarder (although I do have the packrat gene in my DNA strand) - I probably won’t keep everything forever. I’ll happily use some of the items till - I tire of them - then I will either donate what’s left or recycle at a garage sale of my own. But till then it’s all mine. Yipee!

I am also addicted to playing with paper in my craft room/studio/shed. I have been known to disappear in there for hours on end. What’s worse is I have even ignored my need to forage for food just so I could stay elbow deep in glue and paper. (I know ! - - - How strange is that?)

This months Artful Bag Challenge theme was playing with paper. So I wanted to make sure I showed you my cute little spring into summer style paper purse. Yep, even the purse handle is paper. And I was happy as a pig in mud as I worked on this little beauty.

I also am addicted to buying fabric. Even though I am only minimally proficient in my sewing skill, I could wander about in a fabric store for hours and if left unchecked come home with literally tons of fabric - just because I thought they were pretty.

But my biggest addiction which feeds all these other addictions is that I am a Hopeless Romantic who is addicted to Pretty. I love ribbon’s, lace, pink, aquamarine, roses and all things feminine and pretty.

That’s my pre judgment day confession and if by chance we are all still here tomorrow - I’ll probably celebrate by going fabric shopping, since there isn’t an auction this weekend.

Hugs,

Penny

Sticky Note Tuesday

Hello everyone,

Wow It seems funny to be posting again. - I know its only been a week or so since I last posted - but it must have been a real long week.

Anyway - today is Sticky Note Tuesday and since this particular sticky note is about art - I thought it was a great way to share this months ATC Swap items.

The theme for this month was Lets Go to the Movies. And boy that was kind of a tough one - I had so many good movies I wanted to make an ATC about - but which one should I do?

This is the ATC I received from my swap partner Shelly over at Stamping Out SAD. How cool is this? - Sir Knight and I love the Harry Potter Books and Movies. When I ripped open the envelope and saw those three familiar faces I started doing the happy dance and jumping up and down; of course Sir Knight had to come in the room and check on me to make sure I was OK. He saw the card and was impressed. (Of all the cards I've received since I've been swapping this is the first one he want to make a frame for.)

Now here is the cool part - Shelly engineered the card so that when you pulled on the clip -

Only Harry and his monogram shows - along with the words written on the school wall from the Movie "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" That is just so cool.

Shelly also blessed me with two of the most beautiful cards I've seen . Thank you so much Shelly. You made my heart and body jump with joy.

This is the Card I made for Shelly - I started by browsing the web looking for a picture of a Movie Theater with some character. I found this one (which happens to be for sale, if anyone is interested.) I Photoshopped out the for sale information in the Marque and added my Theme words, Let's Go to the Movies. I sized it to fit the required ATC size and printed it out. Applied it to my ATC card and then cut it down the Middle. On the backside of each of those halves I applied some scrapbook paper that to me looked like old fashioned wallpaper. Then I put Movie Posters from my all time favorite movie - Gone with the Wind - one from it's 1939 and 1961 releases.

From one of my digital scrap booking programs I found the theater interior and the film strip.I combined the two together - sized it to business card size - as that was the closest size that particular program had. Scanned in the pictures of my cast and sized them down to fit within the film frames. added my theater insides, to another ATC card covered with the same scrap book paper, to once again look like vintage wallpaper and added the two tickets one for Shelly and one for me. I linked the three pieces together with some gold O rings.

I think it turned out kind of cool.

Hope everyone is having a great week.

Hugs,

Penny

Mancat Monday - Chilling

Hello evfurryone,

Wow It's Monday again already. What happen to last week?

We worked out in the yard everyday last week and I had such a good time playing and snoopervising all the work that was getting done.

We Missed, the Great Blogger Meltdown - and I guess we should be glad we did.

Then came the weekend and our working out in the yard was gravely curtailed. We went from a nice and sunny 93 degrees - to rainy and chilly 63 degrees.

So we worked inside - on some of Pellie's crafty type projects. As long as I stayed in my box - Pellie didn't yell about me being on the table - but just let me step a paw or two out of the box and I was in deep doodoo.

Agh! I'm tired of sitting here watching her cut things out. -

Got to go. Bye.

Hope you all have a great week.

Purrs,

Genghis

Mancat Monday

Hi evfurryone,

Here in my domain we worked through most of another weekend. Sir Knight and one of our grand beans got the garden all turned over and added plenty of stinky horse manure. On Wednesday Pellie and Sir Knight will go get our vegetable plants and figure the garden will be ready for them to plant them right away.

Of course I was busy outside snoopervising -each and every project. Whew!!! That was hard work - believe me.

They also worked on cleaning out the big shed. - they had to drag every thing out - clean all the mold and gunk that for some reason grew all over the walls and then put all the stuff back. They rearranged everything when they put it all back - so it looks like we got lots more room.

( I know it's not my place to say- but I wonder how long it will last all nice and clean and tidy like this)

All that time outside - sure made me sleepy - and I think I need a couple extra naps to catch up on all the naps I missed over the weekend.

Purrs,

Genghis

Happy Mother's Day

My Mom as a young woman

My Family and I

A Mother's Love

Her Love knows how to mend a heart

And how to darn a hurt.

How to paint the flower of praise

For the spirit's dullest days.

Her love cooks up a dozen ways

To help you. If your wise,

You'll run to her with tattered dreams

Which she will patch with fancy seams.

All mothers in their daily schemes

Love's cream forever skim

To feed the happiness of one

They smile upon with their heart's sun.

. . .Lucile Coleman

My Son and I

I hope each and everyone has a very Happy Mother's Day.

Hugs,

Penny

Thoughtful Thursday

"The question is not what you look at,

But what you see" . . . Henry David Thoreau

Hello Everyone,

I know that more than half the day is gone and it really is kind of late to post - but I felt a real need to post anyway. Not that what I have to say is all that important - It's just that Genghis has been such a good boy to keep posting when I unfortunately was super stressed and trying to make my granddaughters George Washington costume.

Thanks Genghis you rock.

Here it is May already (May, the Merry Month of May) and I am glad to see it arrive.

On the first I picked my self-care card that I will concentrate on for the month - and this months card is Nature. The wisdom on the back of the card - says - Take a Walk. Let the beauty of nature feed your soul.

Even though it was still a bit chilly here and the sky threatened rain - I pulled on my sweatshirt and headed out. A winter of limited activity is always hard on me and my Fibromyalgia; so while my walk was not long it was a start.

Today just a block or two - with plans to increase the distance as the days go on.

When I returned home - I got busy working on this years yard clean up. Last year Sir Knight and I kind of took a back seat to yard work - and while the house didn't look that bad - it isn't looking all that good.

During those cold winter months we drew up some cursory plans for changes we need to make to improve the curb appeal. We already have started with the removal of a few eye sores. Filling in the grass with dirt , planting some grass seed patch, and cleaning out all the leaves and trash that blows around the city; from under the bushes. Little baby steps - but it is starting to look better already. I'm hopping to have the front of the house in better shape by the end of day tomorrow.

"Everything is the product of one universal creative effort. There is nothing dead in nature"

. . . Seneca

Look what I received in the mail last week - another great ATC from my partner in the Blissful ATC Swap from April. Isn't that just the greatest card? I felt so special to receive not just the one necessary swap card - but an additional one - under separate cover. Thank you so much rose. It's awesome and I am touched by your generosity.

The Artsy Bag Challenge Card - is another story - Neither my partner or I have received our cards yet and we both mailed early. I never knew it would take nearly a month for mail to get around Australia. I know it will be great when it gets here - but I am an impatient soul.

Maybe the postman got eaten by a Croc or beaten up by a Kangaroo. :@

Heavens!

A couple of you expressed a desire to see the finished costume. So here is the pattern I used. See George hiding near the back.

Well I used material that I already had on hand - from auction purchases - to keep the cost down.

I love my granddaughter - but her mother knows nothing about taking care of things - so this will be a one time use item and probably be thrown in the trash afterward. But I digress.

Here is the whole outfit - The coat has split tails and does go down to past her knees. The pockets are fake and I didn't have real military style buttons - so again we used what we had.

The sleeves really gave me a run for my money so to speak - as I have never made anything in which I has to set in sleeves. All the Renaissance outfits I made for the grandsons; were sleeveless Jerkins (vest) with sleeves that where separate and tied on to the jerkin. There are a few boo-boo's that kind of puckered the sleeve fabric - but as time was running out and I felt it would just have to do.

This is a separate shot of the vest - The vest is a faux vest - made to tie on - kind of like some of the tuxedo type vests and was the easiest thing tho sew up. The dickey and collar that is sewn on to the vest - was the hardest for me to master. The dickey had a rounded neckline and the collar was straight - so I sewed and ripped out many times - before I took a ride to the local quilt shop and got some advise. You need to cut many little groves in the round neck of the dickey and spread it out flat to sew it on the collar. (If they want it flat why not just draw it flat in the pattern????)

For the britches - I played it smart and just bought a pair of jeans - cut them down and added a collar of fabric around the knee. (Not Mentioned anywhere in McCalls - but so much easier for me.)

We delivered the outfit yesterday and today was her class presentation. Don't know if her mom will remember to take a picture of her for us or not.

After sewing this outfit - all the yard work looks so easy peasy.

Hugs,

Penny

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin". . . William Shakesepeare

"In the beauty of nature, lies the spirit of hope" . . . unknown

Fickle on Wordless Wednesday

On the inside - wanting out

On the outside wanting in

Purrs,

Genghis

Mancat Monday

Oh! hello Evfurryone,

I was just sitting here thinking about my life.

Pellie took time out from her sewing project and Her & Sir Knight worked on beautifying the front yard for darn near six hours. They are giving the whole front of the house a face lift - so they where removing stuff that was getting old and falling apart and planting a few new things in pots.

Of course I had to snoopervise everything - but I did manage to play and have fun too.

Today Pellie is back to her sewing and Sir Knight will probably be busy in the garage - working on a few of his many projects - so I get to rest a bit and take life easy today. So like I said earlier I was thinking about life when I get older. Pellie bought me this magnet when she was out shopping someplace and I thought it had some cool ideas on aging.

If you cant read it - It says:

When I Am An Old Cat

When I Am An Old Cat I shall wear
a diamond collar and leave my footprints
on white couches; I shall drink my cream with
a touch of brandy and spit out my vitamins;
I shall sit on the laps of dog people
just to irritate them; I shall nap on top of the
neighbor's petunias and perch on top of
birdbaths and grow charmingly chubby.

But for now I must tolerate the dog
and use my litter box and not sharpen
my claws on the sofa, so no one can doubt
the truth that cats are superior to dogs.

But every once in a while I wonder
if I should be naughty now and then
and nip a few toes, so my humans
won't be too shocked when suddenly
I become an old cat and
start to wear a diamond collar.

Well I need to go out and check my domain - so I guess I better say goodbye for now.

See You Wednesday.

Purrs,

Genghis