Life Updates and the Avocado

I confess that I haven't really been sewing. Of course, lots of us don't sew 24/7 because life (and sometimes death) gets in the way. I quite enjoy sewing blogs that give me a glimpse into more facets of the writer's life than just stuff they make. But, if you're only interested in stuff I make, then wait until the next post. Otherwise, read on.

I think I'll start with today and move backwards. Today is Father's Day! Happy Father's Day!

My Dad

Mitch Mayborn, 1936-1991

Father of my 2 Children

 

Roland Behm, still alive and well

Some sad news. This is the death part. Sadly, on June 1, my uncle died. Ward was my dad's younger brother, and he became very ill in March, and never recovered. I feel fortunate that I was able to fly to Dallas and attend the memorial service, and see my aunt, cousins, and the rest of the family. This is a sad day for my cousins.

The Avocado Project

I have this thing with growing avocados. Well, at least attempting to grow them. I successfully grew one a few years ago, that lasted a few years, and then it met with an untimely death. The last one only lasted a few months. I am undeterred though. I started another one on June 1, and I plan to photograph it's progress all scientific-like. If any of y'all have this obsession, or experience, feel free to chime in with any tips.

Finally, future sewing. I do plan to at least attempt the Hummingbird Sew Along. I have pattern and fabric. I've put the button on the side bar. Surely, I'll find 30 minutes!

The Sew Along

Happy 25th Birthday to my Baby Girl!

I think that must be a typo! How can she actually be 25?!!

Happy Birthday, Laura!

Fall 2007

June 5, 2010

July 6, 2012

And, for your listening pleasure, the #1 song September 9, 1987:

A Blogging Drought and Vacation Photos

Well... hi! I haven't been blogging the last couple of weeks. You may or may not have noticed. Let's review where I've been and where I haven't been. The easiest part is to simply say that I haven't been in my sewing studio, except only briefly to unplug my sewing machine during some thunderstorms.


The first week of July, I was on vacation! With many of my in-laws! Fun! Well, mostly. Groups of us went off for various activities when we needed to get away from the pool/beach/heat. Mostly my immediate family. We just like to do stuff on our vacations. Sure, we like the pool and the beach. Just not 24/7. Oh, where were we? In Kill Devil Hills, NC on the Outer Banks. Here I am with daughter and son at the Wright Brothers National Memorial on the 4th of July:

Oh, wait! There was a sewing machine there! The Wright Brothers borrowed their Mom's sewing machine to sew the muslin that covered the wing frames. Of course I took a picture.

Actual sewing machine, replica flying machine.


We also ventured further south, taking the ferry to Ocracoke Island. We popped into the David Williams House Museum, and wow, another sewing machine. They're everywhere!

Here's the group (Thomas, Roland, Laura and me) in a picture snapped by a stranger Thomas coerced into becoming family photographer. He's good at that.

Thus endeth my family vacation photos. That wasn't too bad, was it? But what about last week, or were you lucky enough to have a TWO week vacation at the beach? No. We were back home, up to our eyeballs in avoiding the contractors working on our kitchen renovation. What? This isn't a DIY home blog. The cabinets are in and the end is in sight! When it's all done, I'll show you a pic!


And lo and behold, I did use my sewing machine this weekend. But I made a present, that has not yet been given, so I'll hold off on the post. But in the meantime, I've discovered a wonderful thing that seems to have many, many uses. Mod Podge. Why have I not known about this before? I'll show you what I did with it this coming week, and I may actually cut into some fabric, too.

D.A.L.L.A.S.

Tonight's the premiere of the new old TV series, Dallas. That's not really what this post is about, but I did just get back from a trip to Dallas. I was born and raised in Dallas, and much of my family still lives there, or not too far away from there. The primary reason for the trip was to attend the wedding of my cousin's daughter (does that make her my second cousin)?

It was a beautiful wedding held in East Texas, albeit a bit hot and steamy. I wore a dress that was hot off the sewing machine and as yet unblogged. Stay tuned for that.


Monday, my sister, Susan, drove over from Ft. Worth, and we all met at the Dallas Arboretum to take in the Chihuly Exhibit. With temps approaching 100F, we dressed appropriately and stuck to the shady areas.

Me, Mom, Susan

Roland came too, and he got some fabulous pictures (this one notwithstanding). I'm wearing a new pair of shorts I made and stay tuned for the post tomorrow. It's a combination Kwik Sew and Colette Patterns creation. Have I piqued your interest?


In the meantime, enjoy a few more pictures from the exhibit:

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Mother's Day! My daughter in Virginia called this morning, and I got to have lunch with my husband and son, Kyle at Two Urban Licks (where this delightful duck painting is hanging).

The "Wedding Dress" In Action

Last Friday (11-11-11) I attended the wedding of my niece, and wore the Vogue 1252 Tracy Reese animal print dress. I opted for sheer hose, "caged" platform pumps from Talbots, and bracelets and earrings from 2 of my Etsy friends.


I'll let the pictures do the talking.

with husband, Roland

shoes from Talbots

Leather bangles from Amy Fine Design

Earrings from Kristria Designs

with daughter, Laura, in a Ralph Lauren sequined dress, and Michael Kors leather jacket (all scored with great deals at a Virginia Macy's per Laura)

Laura, me and Channing Brauer, girlfriend of my nephew

my mother-in-law, Carol; sister-in-law, Kim; me; Channing; Laura; Laura's husband, Thomas

Of course, my arms look strange in most of these pictures, but all in all, the dress was really comfortable. I didn't end up tacking any of the gathers, as recommended by the pattern. It just wasn't necessary. Quite an exciting and fun evening!

From Wilma's Recipe Archives -- Porcupine Meatballs

Greetings, porcupines! Never fear, no porcupines were harmed in the making of these meatballs. Porcupine meat is far too difficult to get what with those quills and all. (apologies to Patty, the Snug Bug who does the best critter greetings ever... I just couldn't resist!)


Well, there is clearly a reason it will take me a year and a half to go through all these recipes, as it has been a couple of weeks since I tackled another one. And there are a couple of things you will start to notice about her main dish recipes. One is ample use of canned soup. I think she may have gotten some of her best recipes from the Campbell's soup labels!


To make these meatballs:
1 lb ground beef, lean (I used 1.25 lbs as that was the smallest pack at my grocery, definitely a pet peeve of mine)
1/3 cup rice (used Texmati)
1 tsp salt
Dash of pepper
1/4 small green pepper, chopped
1/4 small onion, chopped
1 egg


Mix together. Shape balls. Brown and add 1 can of tomato soup, 3/4 can water.


Cook for 1-1/2 hours, slowly.

All ready to be mixed up, which I did by hand. I made the meatballs about 1-1/2 inches diameter.

Many of Grandma's recipes have minimal cooking instructions, and I've typed this one exactly as written. I tried to make it just to these instructions, but I ended up only cooking it for about an hour, and did have to add more water. She doesn't mention it, but it should be covered. The long cooking time does make meatballs particularly tender.

I chopped my green pepper and onion with a Pampered Chef chopper.

Food Chopper

I love this tool because it gets things really minced, and I hate big pieces of stuff in my meatballs. Plus, Roland hates green peppers, so this is a good way to disguise them.

Since the rice was in the meatballs, I was a little perplexed as to what to serve with them, but I just made more rice and then opened a can of green beans. Kyle prefers the canned ones, and once he's back in school it will be back to fresh! Roland said they were really good, and he didn't even notice the peppers.

Tonight we're going to have the leftovers with spaghetti.

Thanksgiving Road Trip

I understand for security reasons, many bloggers don't want to let the world know when they're traveling, and I was feeling the same. So, this past week, I was actually not in Georgia, but had flown north to Virginia Beach with husband, son, daughter and son-in-law to celebrate the holiday with Roland's brother and his family.

We tend to be homebodies on Thanksgiving, but this young man,

our nephew, Aaron, is heading to Afghanistan next week. He joined the Marines 2-1/2 years ago, and has already been to Iraq, but this time seems far more dangerous. He wanted everyone that could, to come join the family for Thanksgiving, and a bonus early Christmas celebration, and we were happy to do just that.

We made our flight plans back in early October, way before the current TSA hoopla. I'm happy to report that no one in our group experienced the full body scanners, or the dreaded pat down. In fact, I think we made it through security in Atlanta in record time.

All went great in Virginia Beach, and we consumed massive amounts of turkey, pie, cookies, cinnamon rolls, and real Italian meatballs and spaghetti sauce. Unfortunately, Kyle had a cold which got progressively worse, and last night, after landing in Atlanta, and fighting the traffic at the airport, we found ourselves staring at this:

Yes. That's the kind of thing you see in a hospital. In an ER. Kyle had been having trouble breathing the entire weekend, and we had even visited Urgent Care in Virginia Beach, but as in the past, he got worse instead of better. We finally left about 2:30 in the morning, and we headed straight to the 24 hour McDonalds for cheeseburgers. Yum?

Well, they were yum! And today was all about catching up with mundane household-y kinds of things. Happily we have food in the house now! Tomorrow we might even have clean clothes!

A New Baby

My Etsy friend, Holly Anne, had a beautiful baby boy yesterday, so in honor of her and Cohen, I want to share this fun video. And to my own children, when you have your own babies, this could very well be what I want to do with them.

Origin of Procraftinate

I mentioned this great word in my last post, but failed to really give credit where credit is due. My little sister actually came up with it, and uses it a lot! Hmmmm, does it describe the way she lives her life? Maybe, but if you want to find out more about her and her craftiness, you should really check out her blog, a simple thought or two. I know she'd love to have more followers. Maybe with more followers she would have post more. Hint, hint. Especially about the craftiness, hint, hint.

Mom, me and sister, Susan

at the St. Louis Zoo in January

Work continues on the Lady Grey... I'm to the pad stitching of the lapel. Woohoo!