Little Blue Dress

I picked out this lovely blue fabric, I think, at Joann's Fabric a couple months ago.  It may have been at Walmart.  When I saw the fabric I thought of youngest granddaughter, Dixie-Lee, but daughter in law Jess liked it so much it was earmarked for her daughter Lilly (middle granddaughter).

Thursday I finally decided on a pattern for the fabric.  McCall's Express Yourself pattern 4042 in size 2.  It was a thrift store find I made at the Goodwill store in Bedford, PA about a year or two ago.  It was a really easy pattern.  I had the fabric cut out and the dress together in about three hours.  I think it turned out beautifully and hope that Jess will wear it on Lilly.

Phil and I spent the day at Warriorsmark yesterday.  He training dogs and me cutting out fabric on the tables in the office.  I cut out fabric for two outfits for Lilly and Dixie-Lee.  Jassmine has gotten the bulk of the homemade outfits over the years.  It's time for the other two girls to reap the benefits of having a Grandma who loves to sew for them!

Jassie's 5th Birthday Party

Jassie's birthday party was today at 3 p.m.  I didn't get there until 3:30.  I hate being late.  We had hot dogs, burgers and beans then birthday cake and she opened her presents.  Later the kids played in the pool and I left at 5:40 and got home at 6:10.  I'm exhausted but still up at 11:51 p.m.  I wanted to post a photo of Jassie in the cherry dress I made for her yesterday.  She loved it and it fit!  Yay!

Sat-er-day ...

Remember that song, "Saturday in the park ....?" 

I was on the internet late last night (way early this morning) trying to upload a photo of Jassie's cherry dress on Pinterest.  Dang, I don't know what was going on but it was h o u r s  until it worked.  Got up with Phil at 5 a.m.  Went to the kennel to check on Bella and the puppies.  Little girl (I'm going to call her Giada) doesn't seem to be able to nurse well.  After an hour of trying to get her to latch on to the teat I decided to go back to the house and heat up a baby bottle of goat's milk.  No, not our goats.  I drove to Tractor Supply yesterday and bought goat's milk Esbilac in liquid form and also milk replacer in powder.  I distracted Bella with cooked liver and gave Giada the formula.  She finally got the hang of it.  Boy puppy is fat.  No need to bottle feed him.  I saw him not long after he was born and he was nursing then!

I'm so happy I finished Jassie's dress last night.  Her birthday party is this afternoon.  I hope the weather is good for it.  I bought her a Dora coloring book and Dora dominoes.  I did see on FB last night where Jess posted that she and Ralph were invited to Jassie's party.  Glad for that.  Wish everyone got along better.  I pray for my sons and their families every day.

Did I mention Phil is on vacation this week and part of the following week?  How cool is that?

I'm getting tired.  Going to lay back down for a little bit.

Tough Week

Bella is our first GSP.  She's eight years old.  We bred her once.  That was five years ago.  We wanted to breed her again but it's been tough because she comes in season just bout once a year.  Most of the times she came in season it interfered with testing events.  Both she and Opal came in season within three weeks of each other.  We bred Opal in February but she had a miss.  We bred Bella in March.  She carried six pups but only two survived; a male and a female.  We had intended to sell pups to finance the remainder of the kennel completion.  At this point we're not sure we'll sell either of them.

Today, in between checking on Bella and the pups, I cut out a pattern and fabric to make a dress for Jassmine.  Her birthday was on Tuesday.  In fact, she called me in the morning to let me know it was her birthday.  :)

For the dress I used a McCall's pattern (MP464) that I bought a while back.  I only picked out the fabric on Monday before I went in to work.  I loved the cherry fabric and thought the contrasting pink would go nicely.  The pattern was difficult to work with.  I like the end product but felt the dress could be put together more easily than the steps the pattern took to get me there.  I also don't like using zippers in childrens wear.

Stuff

This past week was so busy!  I cleaned the club house and bought groceries for the West Penn winners stakes held at the beagle club over the weekend.  Friday and Saturday I drove to Pittsburgh to attend state conference for the PSSDAR.  I gave my report on Saturday and handed out an award certificate to the Shikelimo chapter for best outstanding program by a chapter. 

I also received an award for first place for my essay (on colon cancer) in the women's issues contest.  My entry came in second place in the eastern division.  I was very excited but really glad I didn't have to read my essay.  Sunday I cooked breakfast and lunch at the beagle club.  Today I feel so tired.
Randy asked me to come in to work tomorrow.  I don't have anything planned for Wednesday or Thursday.  Friday I pick up Jassie.  She's going to stay the weekend with us.  We have a youth day event at Keystone State Park on Sunday with the bird dog club.

Really enjoyed state conference this year.  I drove back and forth each day.  I didn't mind the drive too much although the first day I almost got run off the road by two cars from Michigan as I was coming across the Fort Duquesne bridge into the tunnels.

The veterans and junior membership luncheons were very well done.  Kudos to Debra Kohr Sheppard and her group, Susan Gillette Meer and her group.  I enjoyed both very much.  I'm thinking of taking Jassie to the western district junior membership luncheon on May 19.  I think she would enjoy the drive in to Pittsburgh and eating at the country club where the lunch is held.  I can't believe she's turning five soon!

Here's me accepting my award.

Weekend with Family

My parents are coming up tomorrow.  It will be great to see them.  We haven't been together since I was at their house right before Christmas.

Phil's been working hard on the aluminum boat so he and the guys can go fishing.  Later on it'll be just me and him fishing.  :)  He repaired a small tear in the bottom of the boat where it skidded across gravel during a wind storm.  He then tore out all of the green indoor/outdoor carpeting which was so disgusting.  He painted something called Herculiner on the interior which also made it slip resistant.  He replaced the wood boards and then reinstalled the seats.  He's planning on painting it in camo but that's another weekend project.

I worked at the office yesterday.  Once I got in the door I decided to bring Bella and Opal outdoors and hooked them up to cables in the yard.  I brought out all of the dog crates just as Phil was pulling up in the driveway.  We took the crates down to the kennel building and then took Bella and Opal down there where they spent the night.  I think Bella was a little scared because she howled a good long time.  Opal was in there with her puppies and remembered being there.  This morning as I was taking each of them out to potty Opal went back over to the spot where she and the puppies were (where the whelping rooms are now) and peed right on the floor.  What can I say?

I washed clothes today and have sheets hanging on the clothes line.  It's not quite warm enough outside to sit in the sun but it's warm, sunny and breezy enough for clothes to dry.

So I'm supposed to be cleaning the house in anticipation for my parents arrival tomorrow.  I keep getting side tracked by phone calls, projects, computer, blogs, Pinterest.  haha

Making spaghetti for dinner tonight.  Hopefully I can get the downstairs bathroom cleaned and clean sheets put on the bed for their room.  Have to run around moving things around.  Like toys, dolls, Phil's dress shirts which need to be ironed, etc.  Oh, and vacuuming!  They'll be here around noon.  I may have to get up early.

Memorial Service

My dear Aunt Barbara's sister Louise passed away on Good Friday.  She had a wonderful day with family.  She did a little shopping, had dinner out and even spent time at The Meadows casino.  Today we attended the memorial service at her church.  While we are sad that we'll no longer see her here on Earth, there were many of her friends in attendance to honor her memory.  I'm sure she was laughing as she listened to the stories of remembrance being told about her at the service.

I can't remember the first time I met her.  It was probably the first time my parents traveled to PA to visit my aunt and uncle.  We spent a week with them every summer.  Usually one day of the visit was spent at an amusement park.  We visited the White Swan, Kennywood Park and Idlewild.  Louise usually accompanied Mom and Aunt Barb to help keep us kids under control.  I remember she would give each of us kids a roll of dimes to spend on anything we wanted and would say come back and see her when we ran out of money!  I remember someone saying she was the last of the red hot spenders. 

Oh and she was so funny!  The stories she would tell!  She loved to travel and spent a lot of time at casinos.  I remember she visited Atlantic City and Las Vegas every year.  There were probably other places, too.

She was a great lady; very generous with her money, her time and her skill as a nurse.  She will certainly be missed.