October 12 on December 1, 2006

Thanks to Nancy, NP and Ms. Jan, for continuing this meme. I actually haven't followed the rules to the letter.

The Rules:

1) Go to Wikipedia

2) In the search box, type your birth month and day but not the year.

3) List three events that happened on your birthday

4) List two important birthdays and one death

5) One holiday or observance (if any)

. . . .

Okay, here goes

Events

• 1492 - Christopher Columbus's expedition makes landfall in the Caribbean, specifically in The Bahamas. The explorer believes he has reached East Asia
• 1938 - Filming starts on The Wizard of Oz
• 1970 - Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas

Births

• 1537-King Edward VI of England (d.1553)
• 1558-Archduke Maximilian III of Austria (d.1618)
  
• 1935-Luciano Pavarotti, Italian tenor

Deaths

• 1576 - Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1527)
• 1870 - Robert E. Lee, American Confederate general (b. 1807)
• 1997 - John Denver, American singer (b. 1943)

Holidays and observances

October 12th is the feast day of the following Roman Catholic Saints:

• Columbus Day (traditionally) - United States.

AUNT MARY COMES TO VISIT

On October 7th and 8th, 2006, when Keaton was 5 days old, Mary, Gramma Karrin's younger sister came to visit. We all had fun visiting, and Aunt Mary brought some dress up clothes for Kyleigh, a hat for Jaeger and nice presents for Karrin, whose birthday was the following week.













I had asked Jaeger about what he is going to be for Halloween (a cowboy)
and he took this pose, as how a cowboy stands, with no prompting from me.








Kyleigh dressed up in a bunch of items Aunt Mary brought, and developed an ingenious way of taking care of the slip straps being too long, but cinching them up with small hair rubber bands.

At one point this night, little Keaton had his meal, and then while sitting on my lap, proceeded to spew it all over Gramma, and himself. Kristen had not brought any extra clothes, so was going to go home, while Gramma held the baby wrapped in a blanket. My sister Mary, having never seen Kristen's house wanted to go with her.

After they left, knowing that Kristen had just had the baby earlier in the week, and had only been home 3 days, asked Kyleigh what their house looked like. Kyleigh said her room wasn't too bad, a little messy. I asked what Jaeger's room looked like and she stated it looked like a pig sty. Jaeger, who had been busy playing with the Lego pirate set on the floor, and whom I didn't think was listening to our conversation, all of a sudden started oinking. It was so funny, it still makes me smile to think about it.

BABY, OH BABY PART II, THE BIG DAY

On October 2nd, approximately 1:55 a.m., Kristen called me and told me it was time, her water had broke and that she thought she was in labor, and had been for about an hour. She had called Katie, to see if she would come stay with Kyleigh and Jaeger, and had not woken Jeff yet. I told her to call me when they were headed to the hospital. She called about 40 minutes later, and we all headed to Sutter Roseville Medical Center, arriving at 3 a.m. to the birthing center.

They finally got her into a room, and gowned, and got the monitors set up, and finally ended up checking how far along she was about 3:40, and she was 6 cm dilated. About 10 minutes later the doctor arrived, and said she was 8. He broke the remaining water, and everything went pretty fast after that. Right at the point we could see the little head, Kristen said she was tired of pushing, and she hurt. After some coaxing, and not much more time, little Keaton Charles Walter Boatwright made his presence known in this world at 4:26 a.m. He did not like the nasty drops they put in his eyes, he did not like them carting him around and weighing him naked, but he calmed down pretty quick, and has been a sweetheart ever since.

He is adored by his big brother and sister, and Jaeger told me today, when Keaton and Jaeger came to visit, that Keaton when he is upset, likes to hear singing. And Jaeger burst into the A,B,C song, and he did quiet right down. even though he was starving to death!





He weighed in at 8 pounds, 9 ounces, 21 inches long.

TWO THINGS I'VE LEARNED/ACCOMPLISHED

The past two weeks have been learning experiences for me. First, John recently got a flat screen for his computer. I really wanted one, but cannot afford it right now. Second, my desk had my work computer on it, with a flat screen plus my own person PC, with a huge computer monitor, that took up a third of the rolltop desk. John mentioned I could get a switch to use the same monitor between both computers. I got one, and I love it. I found this also enables me to share the keyboard and mouse and speakers. I love having 12 of my desk free to be able to work on!

This past weekend we had Katie and her boyfriend John here, we invited them to dinner. I got under the sink for some reason, and discovered there was a puddle of water under there again, with slugs having a little party. I have no idea where the slugs came from, in the middle of the house. This was the sink we had just had fixed several months ago, and were hoping it wasn't the new mucho $$$ pipes that were leaking. We had dinner, and after the kids had left, I took everything out AGAIN, and I determined that it was the disposal, that was about 3 years old, that had water leaking out the side. I told John, since he has such a hard time with his tall frame getting under that sink, I would do what needed to be done. The next day we went and purchased a new super dooper disposal. It seems amazing that our first one lasted 24 years and the second 3 years. Anyway, I took all the hardware off under the sink. and we got the old one down. John put the old cord on the new disposal (they don't come with cords), and after I had installed the new hardware we were trying to put it up together. You just hook it on the bracket and turn this metal piece and it is installed. Well, finally I told him I would try myself, and go away. I got it installed. Previous to this, he told me he didn't need the instructions. So we did the first load
of the dishwasher which had been out of commision for 3 days because everything was unhooked.

John called me out to the kitchen and told me that something was wrong, the water for the dishwasher was coming out the overflow section on top of the sink. I told him that I hooked everything up just like it came off. He then said there must be a plug to punch out for the dishwasher hookup (this was in the instructions he didn't need to read). We punched it out, and low and behold that was the problem. I had little leakage up at the top, so he asked me what way I turned the metal piece, and I told him right. He didn't think that was correct, and did it the other way. (I looked at the directions and it said turn to the right, so I fixed it again).

Anyway, I learned I can have 1 monitor for two computers. I learned how to install a disposal.

BUSY FRIDAY

Last Friday, September 15th, I had been invited to the retirement party of one of my physicians that I have transcribed for the past 20 years. He is retiring from neurology after 40 years of practice. It was sort of a bittersweet experience, I am happy for him and his retirement, but sad for myself for the loss of income. It was good to see his old office manager, and my old friends from their previous office. Him and his partners had recently merged with the Sutter Neuroscience Group in Sacramento, and while their old personnel mostly works there too, it is such a huge office, I rarely see them. The party was at the Sterling Hotel in Sacramento, and it was a nice party.

On Wednesday, Kristen had called and asked what I was doing on Friday night. I explained that John and I were attending the retirement party, but it was over at 6:30. She asked if I wanted to go to an Elton John concert at 8. After talking with John, and determining he did not want to attend, I happily agreed. It seems a friend of ours had purchased tickets, and found they were up in the higher seats, and then purchased closer seats on the floor of Arco Arena. So Kristen, Robin, her friend, and I attended the Elton John concert.

So John rushed me home from the retirement party, and I went over and joined Kristen and Robin for the ride back to Sacramento. The concert was excellent. Elton played almost 3 straight hours, some of the songs were longer versions of the usual, and we loved it. It was quite an exciting experience, and such a surprise. Kristen ended up purchasing the tickets and told me mine was for my birthday in October.

BABY, OH BABY

Saturday, September 9th, Kristen's friend Kymberly gave Kristen a baby shower brunch. The food was great, and the games fun, including the guess what kind of baby food is in the jar. I think you have to be a recent mother to figure these out. I only got 4 right out of about 12. They have new combinations and flavors than we had when my girls were little.




I actually did get Keaton's quilt done before the shower:

While at the shower, I saw a friend of Kristen's I have not seen since they were in high school, Becky, and she is pregnant with a boy, and due about 3 weeks after Kristen. I told her I would make her a baby quilt too, similar to Kristen's. Becky's shower was September 17th, a week and a day after Kristen's, which we attended, and I did have the top done, and brought it home to quilt.





This picture to the right is of Kristen, Kyleigh's godmother Curly, Jeff's grandmother Carm, and Katie.














And this is Becky, and another pregnant friend, Nancy.



Yesterday, when we attended Becky's shower, I was able to get a picture of the two together. Becky didn't want to take the quilt top out of the tissue paper, afraid it would get ruined. I told her it was OK, she was treating it like it was something precious.

But I feel pretty good about myself. I made 2 quilt tops in 3 weeks, and have one quilted.

HAPPY 27TH BIRTHDAY KATIE!

Today, August 24th, 2006, is my baby's BD. As you can see by the picture, she has aways liked to "get right into" her chocolate cake.She used to get her hands all messy eating, and then wipe them off in her hair, so I almost had to bathe her afterwards



I remember the day she was born, I was having a planned second C-section. John's mom and dad were visiting to help out with 18 month old Kristen. I was supposed to have an amniocentesis on Monday, and then they were going to do the C-section. But there was no way they could get fluid because Katie was in front. So my doctor sent me home to go into labor. I had never been in labor before, as Kristen had been delivered via emergency C-section. So I went home, and waited, and waited. The thing was, my in-laws were leaving the next Monday because they had appointments the next week.

And I waited, and waited, and people were calling to find out what the baby was, because they knew I was supposed to have the surgery on Monday. I was getting some wierd twinges, so on Thursday, John took me to the doctor, and he said I was not dilated, to go back home and wait. I burst into tears, and the doctor looked at John and said maybe they should do the surgery on Friday.

So I had my surgery on Friday, came home on Sunday, and John's parents left on Monday, and I had two babies, just had surgery, and no one to really help, as John worked nights. But we made it, and here it is 27 years later. Katie was a very happy baby, as long she was fed, and has always been, and still is a good sleeper.

Katie this year has managed to buy her own car, and has a job working for some personal injury lawyer as a secretary. She is very artistic, and for all major holidays, birthdays, she generally paints us a special card. In addition she has painted me a number of small flowers that she frames. I am very proud of what she has accomplished. Love you Kates!

This is me and my girls on 4th of July at Kristen's house. Katie is on the end with her hand on her hip, Kristen is the pregnant one, and I am on the other end.

This weekend we will be having our family dinner for both Katie and Kyleigh. I love our family get togethers.

PLACES I HAVE BEEN:

Thanks DesertSky for this link:



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

GREAT WEEKEND

All in all it was a pretty great weekend. I had a chance to finish Kyleigh's BD dress, and she was thrilled. I even made a little matching purse with the same fairy embroidered on it that is on the dress. The zipper has a minor problem that needs fixed, but the dress fits good.






A couple of weeks ago, Kristen asked John to make Jaeger a toybox. This is the idea that John came up with, a boat toybox. He even told Jaeger maybe he could sit in it to watch TV. Jaeger was on cloud 9 with the whole boat idea. Jaeger had specified how he wanted a blue stripe on the side too, and blue curtains (sails) but Papa told him a toybox does not need sails.



Jaeger and I had a special day today, him enjoying is new boat toybox, and we also put together a new lighthouse that goes with his pirate ship and treasure island set.

Then John seeing how I was tired after the Kristen came and got Jaeger, offered to buy me dinner at our favorite Mexican place.

Kyleigh's 6th Birthday, August 17, 2006

Today is Kyleigh's 6th birthday, and tonight we are going to enjoy ice cream at local ice cream parlor. She said the thing she wanted most in the world was an American Girl doll, so I found one "Just Like Me", along with some outfits. Next week, when we have our own family dinner for the August birthdays (with Aunt Katie aka Sissy), I plan to give her the orange dress I made, with the fairy embroidered on the front, and hopefully this weekend, will have time to make the new doll an orange dress too, maybe a little matching purse.






Last week we attended the awards ceremony at the California State Fair. These were Kyleigh's
cat and toucan which is a watercolor and sort of hard to see, that won 1st place.







These are the three that placed second, her sea turtle, giraffe and kangaroo. We are very proud that she did so well, for her first time. The kids were ready to go on the rides that night, but unfortunately the fair didn't start until the next day.

ARTY DAY

Long before I began quilting, I loved to do watercolors. I used to go to a night class, and our teacher would have a picture she had done that she showed us the technique and we copied it. She did a lot of florals, and while I love flowers, I always felt my floral designs left something to be desired. Yesterday my daughter Kristen called and asked if I could watch Kyleigh and Jaeger while she went to have a discussion with one of her employers. (Kristen does transcription like I do from her home). I said to bring them over. The kids got here, and Kyleigh told me Jaeger had decided they wanted to do watercolors and Play Doh. We got the watercolors out first, and while Kyleigh and I used watercolor paper, Jaeger had his Elmo color book, and proceeded to mix all his colors together and make a muddy Elmo. He soon got distracted and went off to play with Papa, and then his pirate Lego ship.

Kyleigh and I kept on watercoloring. I showed her a few techniques, like how to make bark on a tree, and how to make dramatic skies. I then showed her some of my hanging watercolors. I then got out my UFO watercolor portfolio. And I discovered my florals were not that bad. Kyleigh found one she loved. The one above.

I then found one for Jaeger, a sailboat. My original thought was to give it to John, but when I showed it to him at the time, sailor that he is, told me the sails were configured wrong, (I copied the teacher's picture) so I never gave it to him. So I gave this to Jaeger last night to hang in his room.



Then I found another floral, that was almost finished, I finished up the details last night, and am giving it to Kristen. It is really hard to see, but it has traces of purple and yellow in it that Kristen loves. It felt good to get my paints out and paint again. I found several others, that I had started in class, that just need some detail work on them, and they will be done.



Last, but not least, yesterday Kristen got notification in the mail about what the 5th of Kyleigh's entries placed in the fair. She won another 1st place and the Best of Show in her division (5 yr olds). Can't want for the award's ceremony next week. I am one proud gramma to be sure.

As the kids were leaving last night Kyleigh reminded me that I promised her orange dress (I did the embroidery on it last year for her birthday in a few weeks. Jaeger reminded me his new brother needs a quilt. Guess Gramma better get busy!

GRAMMA'S SPECIAL LITTLE PEOPLE

Thought I would post the newest pictures of my special little people.

Kyleigh Grayce Boatwright will be 6 years old August 17th. She is quite the artist.

She goes to art classes one day a week, has since she was 3 years old. You can see her art posted on the web at:


http://www.artsonia.com/museum/art.asp?id=355116&project=932&gallery=y


The big thing is, this year she was old enough to enter some things in the fair. Kristen entered 5 of Kyleigh's art pieces she had done in class. She apparently got a first, 3 seconds, and we don't know yet about the 5th one. I get to attend the special ceremony in a couple of weeks for this. Last week she attended art camp called art of Africa, and she had some outstanding pieces, I am going to post below.

Jaeger Montie John Boatwright is 3-1/2 and still in love with trains, cars, and pirates. He loves the Lego pirate ship at Gramma's house, and the Treasure Island, although he has taken a bunch of it apart again, and Gramma is going to have to get the instructions back out to put it together. He tells everyone "Gramma's my special boy", meaning he is Gramma's special boy. Last week, Kristen and I were trying to get them out of the house, as I had to get John's dinner served before he went to work, and Kristen and Jeff were going to pick up Jeff's BD bike, and the kids were thinking of every reason not to leave. I finally told them "I have to feed Papa dinner". Jaeger came up with "Are you going to feed Papa like a little baby". It was so funny at the time, that he came up with this.

The beginning of October or end of September we will be seeing our newest little Boatwright, Keaton, and Jaeger is ready to share his room with his brother.

ALMOST BACK TO NORMAL
John has been finishing up on the floor this week, and putting down the new molding, which he created from using a molding and another strip of wood at the bottom. It is so night to have my furniture back in place, along with my dolls and pictures out again. The deacon's bench, directly in front, is where I store a lot of my quilts.







The antique cherry floors look great against the blue walls. I was even able to change my quilts on the walls, now that all the dust is not flying around.

We have also decided to stain the bifold doors that go into the family room the same cherry stain he stained the molding around the floors. We have 1 door stained, and the other door hasn't been so far.

This is a picture of the entry floor before we put the furniture back in.

I am a Canna What Flower Are You?

I haven't had much time to post recently. Have been learning the ropes of a new company to do transcription for, and actually work on three different hospital accounts all over the country. It is a full time job, plus have been doing my own work on the side. Haven't had time to sew or quilt either. Maybe it is having the extra furniture in there from the floor project below that makes me feel claustrophobic right now.

The new floor project is winding up thankfully, after four months. John started laying the Pergo in the entry last week, got the entry done, the one hall going to one spare bedroom, and the laundry room done,
and is working on the hallway by our bedroom, my office and sewing room. It is an antique cherry and I love it. It looks so wonderful. I guess this weekend he will be staining up some samples on wood to see what
color I want the new baseboards. I will get a picture of the entry/front room floor after work today, and I get the empty boxes picked up. I can't wait to get my house back together and all my pictures, dolls out again.
What will be a trick is moving the heavy deacon's bench, and piano back in the front room without messing up the floor.

MEMORIES

Last week I decided to have a quick, easy dinner, and stopped by the Tortilla Factory in Roseville. We have been going to this place ever since we moved here almost 28 years ago. What you can buy us carnitas (roasted pork) by the pound, get some beans, avocado, salsa fresca and tortillas and make great burritos. When I go pick up the carnitas meat, which is already done, I have had a tendency to pick off pieces and eat it on the way home, and then cover it up like I have never been nibbling at it.



What I remembered last week, was that about the time this picture was taken of our girls when they were small.
I had discovered a lump in one of my breasts. I went to the doctor and she scheduled a biopsy with a surgeon.
It was supposed to be a day procedure, and I would go home in the afternoon. The surgery schedule that day got messed up with emergencies, and mine got postponed until late afternoon. Meanwhile they premedicated me with
two things, one of which made me itch. This was an especially hard time for me, because my girls were small, and John's mother had just had a mastectomy a year or two earlier, and undergone treatment.

I finally got my biopsy done, which was thankfully a benign adenoma, but I had to stay that night because it was done that late. The next day, John came to pick me up, with both girls, and had stopped by Tortilla Factory on the way to the hospital so I would have a good lunch.

OH HAPPY DAYS!

The beginning of this week was terrible. It began last weekend on my discovering the dishwasher was not operating properly. John first told me to take a look and see if the trap was clogged up (it wasn't). I discovered it went through a whole cycle with no water coming out. I looked under the kitchen sink and discovered a leak in the pipe connections. John came in and examined the dishwasher, juggled a bobbly thing on the bottom around a while and got the water going again. The kitchen pipe problem has been a problem off and on for years, and had caused the floor to sink in the middle it has been waterlogged so often. John has fixed it off and on and gotten it to stop. But this time he couldn't. He worked on it for 3 days, which is hard for him because he is a big guy and has to lay down on the floor and work overhead. It really frustrated him and made him mad this time. Finally Tuesday, he called a plumber to come out and he replaced all the pipes, and put in two traps to cut down on problems. He also fixed an outside faucet that has been leaking for years, but we had it wrapped up pretty good with duct tape, and when he took that off it sprayed water all over. It was such a relief to get those two problems taken care of.

After the kitchen sink was fixed, I broached the subject with John of putting in a new floor under the cabinet. I told him I would take the old one out myself, if he would replace it. Finally, I have an even floor, with no leaks in there.

This was how ugly it was after I ripped up the sodden particle board floor, and my new pipes.










And this is how it looks with my new floor in, topped with linoleum that matches the kitchen floor:








That was the first good thing that happened this week. The second was that got my sewing room cleaned up so I can work in there again. After having 3 weekends of company, two sets for 4 days each, I just kept tossing things and tossing things in my sewing room. It was so bad, I could barely walk around in there. But I finished it up. This is about as good as it gets. I would have to have a room about 2-3 times this size to get everything off the cabinet tops. I am thrilled. I have a place to sew, and a place to cut things. I can get to the closet again relatively easily.


This is the view with the doorway into my sewing room, the lighthouse lamp John made me, the dry sink he made me a long time ago, the quilter's
tower is on the left, that spins on a lazy daisy device, and has drawers on all four sides.







View of closet and all the drawers of fabric.









Another wall, with the cabinet that John built me and I painted in a patriotic theme, with Lady Liberty on the front.








View of my sewing space/cutting area. All the bins underneath are part of my Civil War Fabrics and the giant ones under my sewing machine are red, white and blue.

A NEW DAY, almost new month

I have decided to try my hand at blogging. This is my last Christmas picture of me and my grandchildren, Jaeger 3-1/2 and Kyleigh almost 6. This Christmas, we will have baby Keaton, who is due to be born the first part of December.

I am a quilter, crazy quilter, gardener, painter, scrapbooker,
wife, mother, and grandmother.

I recently had the priviledge to spend 4 days with Judith Baker Montano at Asilomar for a crazy quilt landscaping class. While I had to leave a day and a half early because of medical issues, I do have a partial completed project, below. It really looks good in the picture Judith took and send us all of our projects. I hope to go to her under the sea class next year.

I had a great time with this class, and Asilomar is one of my
favorite places, right next to the ocean. When I am there, I feel like it is home almost.