I need to take a break from blogging, due to life. Nothing serious, just lots of other commitments.
I will be back to blogging on April 1, 2013. No fooling!
Check out my etsy store here:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/MABELandJEAN
Don’t you just hate it when life gets in the middle of your fun!
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This weekend was cold, dreary and busy. Randy had his LAST Home Show EVER. He always enjoys the show and is always relieved when it is behind him. Our youngest son, Patrick, came home Saturday afternoon. I had asked (maybe begged) him to come be an assistant bag maker. He obliged and we treated him to yummy barbeque from Albert G’s. I think we both thought it was worth the effort. Here are some pictures from our “BAG MAKING EXTRAVAGANZA”:
Leather Choices
Hanging around with leather
Patrick rockin the rivet!
And TADA – Leather Bags!
Bag Assorment
And more bags!
This week will start off busy. I am taking a sewing class as I am enamored by serging. We also are having inspections on both houses, which means Randy will be making a very quick trip to Fayetteville. The windows will also be delivered while he is there. Wow! Hopefully they can get the house finished in the next 8 weeks. No pressure John and Brandy! Okay, maybe a small amount of pressure.
Well, everyone have a wonderful week. Let me know if you have any grand plans this week. I live vicariously through you!
6 CommentsWell, it has been a wonderful weekend. Friday night we went to the Natureworks’ Art Show and Sale. We think this is roughly the 30th year or so that we have been. We always see people that we never get to see in our everyday life! Besides old friends, we also got to see one of our favorite artist, Matthew Higginbotham. You can see his work here. We are fortunate to own two of his pieces and wish we had room for more! If we did, I might have to go for this one!
High Desert Grasslands
Matthew Higginbotham
Natureworks is a great organization and can be found here. Annually, the NatureWorks Monuments Program has made it possible for NatureWorks to donate a heroic-sized, realistic bronze wildlife monument to the City of Tulsa. This is such a great program and more information can be found here. Below is the one that is featured for this year:
Natureworks Monument 2013
Moving along, we went to Fayetteville. Along with great food all over town, we spent time with Mary Jean and Ray. We ate at the new Fayetteville location of Table Mesa. It is a stone’s thrown (remember, I am a geologist) from the house. We went to see Shawn Colvin and Mary Chapin Carpenter in concert at the Walton Arts Center. We sat in the 3rd row and it was just a great show. Shawn Colvin cracked us up and the music was excellent. Here is the link for the tour and dates. Check out the concert if they come to your town.
Tomorrow is a full day of picking out tile, cabinets, lights, fans and a fireplace for the house! Whew, we are going to be whipped by the time we get all that accomplished. Hopefully, next time we come over, the house will look a little further along. Here are the latest pictures:
New Carport from back
Back room is gone and new foundation is in.
Pony walls between living and dining room
Kitchen with back room removed.
Well, that is all I have for today. Wish us luck tomorrow and check back soon to see some of our choices! Hopefully, the windows will be delivered soon.
I always enjoy comments, so leave one! Please, pretty please!
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Well, this is the last week of employment for me. If you didn’t know, my job is moving to Houston and I am not going with it! So, I have been attempting to corral 8 years of stuff from my office and move it home! Luckily, for me, I am a minimalist and did not have much more than books and rocks. While going through files on my computer, I found a few pictures. I did not keep much personal stuff on my office computer, but these pictures were either emailed to me or uploaded there.
To start with, here is a picture of my department from around 2006 or so:
The GANG
I think we had gone to lunch for Christmas. One of the ladies shown is also still there, but otherwise, long gone!
And here is a picture, from a past Christmas office party, of Randy and me:
Cathy and Randy
Moving on, here are some pictures of Emily in Syria and Jordan:
Mount Nebo
Dead Sea Sunset
And then I have pictures taken by Patrick’s friend Hunter. Hunter took pictures of Layne modeling my bags and several of John, Layne and Patrick scouting out locations:
John, Layne and Patrick
John, Layne and Patrick
Cute, sweet couple
Layne and Patrick
Patrick setting up picture
And the final two pictures from my office computer:
James photobomb!
Absolutely love that fireplace and James!
James and Randy
2007 Mr. Hornet Ceremony
Gosh, all these pictures make me wish I had a million more. I had forgotten about so many of these. James, remember our wonderful trip to Mexico? How about another Mom-Son car trip but this time to Washington D.C.? I would love it. AND, we can take pictures!
Well, it has certainly been a time of reflecting on work, kids and former co-workers, but as Jeff T always says “it is ALL good”.
Check out my new bags on Etsy! Still have some bags to photograph and post and many to make. I sold three bags today! WooHoo.
That is it for me. Please post comments!
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Well, well, well it is Monday and all I have for you are some bits of information, some pieces of data and some problems with my idioms! Why yes, you can leave now. My feelings will not be hurt. Okay, for those of you that stayed, here is a house update:
Carport in progress
This is the only new picture of the house. Apparently the carport is being built and it looks good. In other house news, we should have the windows delivered this week! They are Brick RED and I am very excited.
I have 9 working days left before I retire. Do not know how I feel about the retirement part yet, but ready to leave the empty workplace behind. The only good thing about the last few weeks has been the abundance of parking in the garage. My sleep has been disturbed, however, by waking up with solutions to problems that only my subconscious knew about. Who knew that I was concerned about how to get a tax ID number for Arkansas? Apparently only my brain knew.
Now, let’s move to idioms. I am going to start by defining the term so we will ALL be on the same page.
A group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words (e.g., raining cats and…)
Additionally, you can find some interesting information on idioms from other countries here.
Now here is the reason that idioms have been on my (overtaxed) brain. The POPE resigned. Back in the day I would say that something would happen when “it snowed in July”. Well, when I lived in Wyoming it did in fact snow on July 4th. Needing to find a new signature** idiom I moved on to “When the POPE resigns”. I mean seriously, it had been 700 years so I figured I was safe. Well, no. So now I need a new idiom to use. I have crossed off “When hell freezes over” because it just might if I say it. I crossed off “When pigs fly” because with my luck there would be a flying pig in my backyard tomorrow. So, would you please pick a new one for me? That way I won’t be responsible for the “month of Sundays” which will happen if I do it. Sheesh, my brain sure is cluttered.
Changing directions, Randy and I both celebrated birthdays recently. The exciting thing about that is we went out for wonderful restaurant meals that included desert. We are so spoiled!
I had planned a weekend of bag cutting and sewing but it did not happen. The living room and dining room looked so beautiful without all my bag making clutter. I just could not bring myself to mess that up. Perhaps later this week or next weekend I will pull out all the machines, cutters, leather, magnets etc, but for now, it is still put away.
Other things on my mind include:
Okay that is enough rambling for one person until “money grows on trees“!!!!
Leave comments if you like me!
Wait, wait maybe my new saying could be “when Randy leaves a comment on my blog” ????
**A SIGNATURE idiom is similar to a signature cocktail at a wedding!
5 CommentsWell hello, this was a weekend of intimidation as I took a 3+ day sewing retreat with Louise Cutting of Cutting Line Designs.
Louise Cutting after 3 days of teaching me.
You can read her impressive bio here. It was a wonderful retreat and a bit intimidating as I have not sewn clothes for 20 years! There is a back story to this participation in the retreat. About 10 days before the retreat, I received an email that mentioned there was a space left. Randy and an old friend were going to go to the OU-KU basketball game in Norman, so I thought “what the heck”. Well let me tell you that I did not realize that Louise is a famous teacher and women wait years to be able to take her classes. We had people in the class from towns 2 or more hours away AND they knew how to sew. I signed up because I live 1 mile away and had a free weekend! I went to the Thursday evening Trunk Show. By the time the evening was finished, I was ready to run away or mysteriously fall ill. The Trunk Show was lovely. The ladies that own The Cloth Merchants know how to throw a party. We had fabulous fashion married to very great food and drink.
Nancy and Debbie
“The Cloth Merchants”
Photo from “The Cloth Merchants”
With trepidation, I went back the next morning. Now, I have never, ever used a computerized sewing machine or a serger! I had to have help filling the bobbin and threading the “idiot proof” machine. I can thread a standard machine and industrial machines in my sleep, but these new fangled ones about did me in. Though once I got the hang of it, I loved them. Don’t tell Randy though, as I may need to buy new machines to go with my 4 other machines!
I started out with a pattern for a cowl neck tunic and gorgeous fabric. This is the one done for the show:
Back View
I do not know why the pictures are blurry. Sure need to work on my photography skills. Here is my unfinished version:
Cathy’s Version
This took me 1.75 days to get to this point. Then it was time to change gears. Louise has a new pant pattern and generously brought copies for everyone. THEN, she custom fitted the pattern to each of us, one at a time. It was an amazing thing to participate in as I have never had a custom fitted anything! So, I left Saturday evening with fabric for my custom pants and brought it all home to cut them out. Sunday was spent fitting the pants and finishing them. It was a successful day. Here are my pants!
My Custom Pants
The women at the retreat and the women from The Cloth Merchants were all so nice and helpful. I could not have completed anything without all the help. Judy, Barbara, Nancy and Diane hosted a lovely retreat. The food was absolutely wonderful. They served us 3 delicious lunches, lots of snacks and plenty of coffee. All the details they added to the retreat were beyond my expectations and I was very appreciative of their efforts.
Here are a few more pictures of the retreat:
Retreat Setup
Nancy, still smiling!
Happy Classmate
Rack of Beautiful Clothes
If you find ready made pants just don’t fit you, please go to a retreat with Louise. I was simply amazed at her methods and abilities. Design work fascinates me and Louise is well versed in all aspects of pattern making, pattern alteration, fabric and so much more. Her sense of humor was very helpful also. She never, ever made me feel stupid or unworthy and that is saying a lot considering. So, all in all, my spur of the moment retreat was beyond anything I could have imagined. I will never be a talented seamstress, but feel I could whip up a pair of pants if I need to.
The coming change of retirement is allowing me to step out of my comfort zone and I seem to enjoy it. Louise is having another retreat this spring in Eureka Springs. I might have to attend. After all, I now have the most expensive pants I will ever own and might need to branch out to blouses! How was your weekend? Talk soon.
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Okay, this is pretty exciting. Here are some new pictures of the house in the before state and some in the during state:
The one and only bathroom
The one and only bathroom during….
I think the above pictures speak very loudly to what the whole house looks like now. Good thing I have VISION or I might be very, very scared.
Dining into Kitchen
And here is what it looks like now. I do not know if vision is enough, but I trust the process!
Living room towards dining and kitchen
Notice in the above picture that the kitchen is GONE…
I really do not want a kitchen going forward, but I hear that all the “cool” kids have one. You can read about my kitchen thoughts here.
Dining Room towards Living Room
And how it looks now:
Looking towards the front door
Moving on to the the master bedroom!
Master before
Notice in this during picture below, the closets are gone! Who does that? We do!
Well, this is the end until we get further along in the process. Please, please wish us luck!
Here is a great picture to leave you with:
DECK
There will be further updates as we move along. At this point I am both excited and frightened. Have you ever felt that way during a remodel? If so, could you give me some confidence?
Our trip to Fayetteville was very short. However, we had a wonderful time and were able to go out to lunch with family. My sister and brother-in-law and my brother and niece joined us for lunch at Hugo’s. We also got to show them around the “undone” house. It was fun. I heard a rumor that another sister was in town, but she didn’t join us in our revelry. At least I heard the Razorbacks won, so that is good.
Well, in the words of Cathy… “do we know what in the world we are doing?” I sure hope so.
Comments are always appreciated.
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Hey all, so nice to see you. Things are kind of disquieting in my world. But what the heck, let’s go with the good stuff, shall we? I celebrated my blank birthday yesterday. The partying actually happened over the weekend. My sister and sister-in-law came to Tulsa to visit us. We had a great time eating, drinking, talking, laughing and crying. I love those kind of weekends.
The ladies came calling with gifts for all. Here are two of my favorites:
Completely Devoured the Christopher Elbow Toffee
Rookwood MUG
There was also wonderful smoked salmon and maple cookies from Emily and ginger cookies from MJ. We also made sure to grab some barbeque for one meal and chinese for another. I just mentioned the food highlights, but there might also have been chili and guacomole. Oh the decadence was fabulous.
Moving on, I read the other day that we are all guilty of “wretched excess”. I can’t speak for the whole world, but I can tell you that my weekend had excesses but not much in the wretched department!
Okay, let’s examine a bit of the metamorphosis of my life. No really, it will be fun. Below is a picture of my mom as a bride. Can we all say “ahhhh”?
Patsy’s Wedding Day
Fast forward 10 months and this is my mom with her first child, my oldest brother:
Mom and first born child
Love the dress she is wearing in the picture. Too bad she wasn’t a packrat. Now, some of you may recognize my mom as “Mabel” from the header picture. Mabel was her mother-in-law and my mom was Patsy. I am just trying to confuse you now. Stick with me for a few years and it will all become clear.
Fast forward 10 years, 5 babies later and you have:
Cathy’s First Birthday
You have to admit Patsy had BEAUTIFUL children. Why no, I am not biased, why do you ask? Anyway, you will notice, in black and white, that 1st birthday parties have evolved. I use evolve because
But looky there, my three siblings appear very happy and I look befuddled. This might have been the beginning of the Dirt Hippie or Earth Mother debate. And it is possible that mom and dad were drinking the special cocktail! Check out this wonderful blog post on a birthday party for a current day affair. The party theme was “Bright as the sun, our sweet little Finley is turning one”. I love that idea! I am certain that my party was meant to be just like that, but probably in black and white.
Well, I am going to leave you with a question. Have you ever been guilty of throwing a party that might be described as a “wretched excess” ? If so, was I invited? Okay, that was two questions instead of one. I will let it pass since it was my birthday.
Hang in there with me, more to come soon.
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Monday was inauguration day in Washington D.C. and I must admit that I was at work and missed most of it. Now before I go further, I need to let you know that I am a republican from one of the reddest states. I also have never been known to be a Beyonce fan. That said, this is what I think was over reported and not very important:
Beyonce either sang or lip synced the national anthem. I happened to catch it at lunchtime on the radio. Two things crossed my mind after listening to her performance:
Since she was singing for a crowd of 800,000 people, she might have recorded it earlier.
Doesn’t matter to me if she did or did not sing it live, it was fabulous. We all know that it is a very difficult song to sing and I think she nailed it. Thank you Beyonce.
The other story I think we could have done without is whether Michelle Obama rolled her eyes at something John Boehner said. I ask you “Who hasn’t rolled their eyes at something John Boehner has said”? Remember, I am a republican. Seriously with all the problems in this world, I am surprised more people don’t roll their eyes anytime someone in congress speaks.
Okay, this will probably be the only political post I will ever have here on Mabel&Jean.
Take a look at this crowd picture.
Do you see my daughter in the crowd? I don’t see her but I know she was there. According to this picture, she had a great vantage point.
I am glad to be a citizen of this nation. Sometimes it just takes the national anthem to remind me of how good I have it.
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Well, I am trying to become an interesting person on this blog, but dagnabit, it just isn’t happening. Chains refer to the bag handles I made this weekend and change is inevitable. Let’s start with chains:
Black and Blue Bag
I love making bags and despise making handles. They just never behave the way I want them to. I think it is an operator (me) error but they drive me crazy. For several of my recent bags I went to chains. What do you think?
Here is another one:
Black and Gold Bag
Until I run out of chain, I might use it on some more bags. Would you buy them? Do you hate them? Love them? Hopefully, I will have these on ETSY as soon as I can, but you can holler at me before that if you NEED one sooner.
Moving to change, I have some mixed feelings going on in my head. Here are a few items that are causing me some consternation:
Okay, if these are my biggest concerns, I think I will survive. I am not a worrier. My father was the biggest worrier in the world. The thing I learned from him was that worry never affected the outcome. Once in a while worry starts niggling at my brain and I try to remember some of these words below:
Now let’s pretend I am a “local” newscaster. You know how sometimes they report news and you just think to yourself “And they think I care about this why?”. Well here is the news from our part of the world that you can react to in that fashion:
Emily is going to the inauguration and is very excited. She mentioned that D.C. was swarming with people this weekend. The boys have a holiday from school in honor of Martin Luther King day. Let’s see, they went to school 5 days and get an extra day off. What is the world coming to? I do not get the day off, do you? In other news, a cold front came through and our temperature dropped from in the 60’s Sunday to the 40’s today.
Well, goodbye from the news desk and have a great tomorrow. As always, I love comments.
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