I didn't know it was coming....


Somewhere around eighteen years ago, some gals from Marinette decided to have a quilting group.
Like a bee. Martha and Roxanne and Ann knew how to sew. As I remember it, Martha was the only one already making quilts at the time.

We met at Roxanne's house that first week. I remember it so well.

We were acquaintances at the beginning, but when I moved away in 2001....I left my best friends.

That happens when you meet once a week for eight years.
Sharing stitches, sharing coffee cake, sharing lives.


This bag was the first thing Martha taught us to make.



I learned how to use all the new tools of the day; the mats and sharpsharpsharp rotary cutters.
I learned how to sew a 1/4 in seam. Straight.
I learned how to use batting and how to assemble.




I fell in love with quilting and quilted my brains out for the next nine years.

Fast forward to last month....
Cindy came for a visit.

We walked the Orange Chair 1 K.
She tried on Sconnie gear.
We had a great weekend!

But Cindy came bearing gifts. Keith (Sue's husband) wanted to give some of Suzies purses away to the sisters.
Cindy brought them all in to the house on Thursday night but we didn't look in the bag until Sunday morning.

It was awkward to be looking thru Sue's things.
Out of the bag, Cindy pulled two very nice Brighton bags. Sue was a Brighton girl.
I liked them both, but knew they might mean more to someone else....
So Cindy kept pulling the purses out, one by one.

Until she pulled out a bag that took my breath away.



It was the bag that was meant for me.

"It was you, Ray, it was you."

I shopped with Suzy to buy this fabric and I taught her how to make this bag.
She was so quick and talented. Anything she tried she did with excellence.
I can remember explaining something really confusing to her over the phone...and she got it.
She was the amazing Suzie Q.


I had forgotten about this bag.

The moment I saw it....

I knew instantly,

it was meant for me.



Love you.
Mean it.

Donna

Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow.
The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.
- Abraham Lincoln





When Katie is not around....








I wander around our yard looking for something beautiful.







"Well, I - I think that it - it wasn't enough to just want to see Uncle Henry and Auntie Em - and it's that - if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard."
~Dorothy



I am content in my quite little world,
95% of the time.

That 5% of discontent is painful.

I am thankful.
This is my life.


I will not even look at that discontent today.
I turn my back on it.

I will be thankful. I will remember my many blessings.
I have so much to be thankful for.




Encourage one another,
Donna

I can not take it any longer.

I must speak.

I know I am preaching to the choir here....
but

Please Hollywood!!!

BACK AWAY FROM THE BOTOX AND THE FILLERS AND THE EXCESSIVE PLASTIC SURGERY.

YOU ARE CREEPING ME OUT!


The housewives of Beverly Hills look just awful. To these Midwest eyes...you are freaks.

Marie Osmond is on Oprah today, talking about the saddest thing in the whole wide world.
My heart breaks for her.

but she looks really weird.

I'm sorry, I loves ya Marie, but stop drinking the West Coast Kool-aid. Stop it now.
I know your brother gets the botox too. I could tell the exact week he would get it when he was on dancing with the stars.

It stupefies me.

YOU ALL LOOK MUCH WORSE WITH THE BOTOX.


What is so darn terrible with a few wrinkles? Wrinkles are prettier than the weird frozen upper lip.

At the beginning of the season of Cougar Town this year, Courtney looked nice. With the Halloween episode, I noticed a HUGE difference in her face. It was gross. Her costar Cristina Miller has been botoxing it up big time since the beginning.
I seriously have to look away!

Why don't they leave their faces alone?
Don't they know they look unnatural and creepy?


If it made them look better. I would understand. Do it.

But it is NOT better. It is distracting and horrible.


(ah hem...meg ryan....)

****


Here is how we roll in the real world. The lucky ones who have not been influenced.
(I have to say, it is NOT all California. I have some lovely, normal friends from the Golden St. who are natural beauties.)


Beautiful. Intelligent. Loving. Natural.

























Natural.
Beautiful.

Not one teeny bit freaky.





SAY NO to the Joker Mask look.
SAY NO to the botox.










We like you just the way you are....






photograph by Brigitte Lancombe


Show em how it's done Meryl.


“To try to stop the time, to look young—it’s such a futile, absurd way to look at life in general,” Lacombe says.

Yeah.

And it doesn't work.


There. I said it.
I just needed to get that off of my chest.


With Love.
Donna

p.s. I thought it was only fair to include a picture of myself.
But as chubby and saggy and old as I am....I still think I look better than those with botox.

Well...at least less freaky.

Morning!

Do you want to know what the Most Common Passwords are?

Here they are:

1. 123456
2. 12345
3. 13456789
4. password
5. iloveyou
6. princess
7. rockyou
8. 1234567
9. 12345678
10. abc123
11. Nicole
12. Daniel
13. babygirl
14. monkey
15. Jessica
16. lovely
17. Michael
18. Ashley
19. 654321
20. qwerty

People who hack, know this. They try them all.

Be careful.

(The words that surprised me the most were princess, monkey and baby girl.)


****





I was telling a friend the other day, how much I like pictures with the eyes closed.

I feel all peaceful when I look at a picture like this.

It feels like a gentle sigh to me.






and sometimes my camera takes a picture when I am not looking....






and I always love them....

my camera is a dreamer I think.



*****

Last Night's highlight.



Is this song a remake? Gosh it sounds familiar.

I like it.


YUP. It's a remake.






I knows my Motown.



Have a wonderful Wednesday!
It's another beautiful day in our neighborhood.

I am thankful.


Encourage one another,
Donna

Favorites




This picture represents more than just ingredients.

Here stands Donna's crock pot.
It is old.
It is grimy.
It is small.

But it is my favorite way to cook.

It is my favorite way to cook because in ten minutes I have assembled a meal.
At 5:30 tonight when someone asks me, "what's for dinner?", I know. I can look over at the crock pot and know what is for dinner.

That is my favorite answer to my least favorite question.

We have come home from a vacation at four in the afternoon and someone, without fail, asks me, "What's for dinner?"

They think I am Houdini.

When I was about 21 I was babysitting for a little boy,
he asked me about my parents. I told him they died.

He said to me with big eyes, "Who feeds you?"

And I told him about my crock pot.

NO! Not really.



Let's see.

Where was I?

The picture and my favorite things.

Sue and Cindy came up with this recipe. My other favorite thing is family.

The crock pot and my family.

In that order.

Not.

But when I ate this Italian beef I feel madly in love with it.

I've mentioned at least four times before how much I love the Italian Beef from Carm's in Chicago.
This recipe comes remarkably close to Carm's.

It's not that often I can replicate a favorite store bought dish and that makes this my favorite.




Dear Sue and Cindy's Recipe that is made in my crock pot,

You are my favorite.

Love,
Donna




Encourage one another,
Donna


p.s. The nurse suggested I feed Katie yogurt every day. She is doing better already.
p.p.s. At my two month weight in this morning, I have lost a total of ten pounds.
p.p.p.s. woo

Three o'clock is the new 7:30.

*****

Katie is not feeling well lately. I think I will be calling the doctor today.
But first, I want to ask the 'peanut gallery' if they have ever heard of this strange condition.

Katie has been burping and it smells like sulfur.
We are all startled and weirded out by this.

I have googled and don't see anything that really makes sense.

She is a very light eater. Doesn't eat much protein. Not eating eggs when this happens.
She has tummy aches.

If you have ever had this or one of your children has had this strange ailment,
I'd love to know what it was.

Thanks!


****


We had a blast watching the Packers win against the Cowboys last night.

Clay Matthews grabbing that deflected pass and running for a touchdown was the best!
I love it when those big linemen get to make touchdowns.

Matthew's is fantastic to watch. He is fast and fierce.

Watch #52. Clay Matthews.



That's how to get it done!


Go Pack Go!


The injuries on the Packers have nearly crippled us...but this team is tough and highly motivated.
Aaron Rogers had a stellar game too.
So fun to watch!!!


****


I don't know what rabbit trail I followed to find this quilt. But I saw it. Liked it.
Lost it. Googled it. Googled it again. And re-found it.

Yay for my fab googling skills. I think I wrote 'tab quilt' and didn't find it.
Then I wrote 'quilt with the pieces sewn on the top'.
Score.

My scraps from Katie's quilt would be adorable made into the Tiny Ticker Tape quilt.


Sew Mama Sew: Ticker Tape Quilt



****


"Knit on, with confidence and hope, through all crises."
— Elizabeth Zimmerman




Methinks it is a token of healthy and gentle characteristics, when women of high thoughts and accomplishments love to sew; especially as they are never more at home with their own hearts than while so occupied.
~Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun, 1859



Encourage one another,
Donna

Watch PS22





....skip Glee.



Thank you.


****

The big volleyball tournament for Katie's team is this morning.

Cross your fingers for a win.

The are 0-10 this year. It would be a little boost to win one game today.






Go Friars.

Go! Fight! Win!



Encourage one another,
Donna

Go thou and maketh a calendar!



Really cute calendar designs at Minted.com



******


A parade of self striping yarn thru the years:

Self striping yarn is made to stripe all by itself. You do not have to cut and join the new colors.
It's my most favorite kind of yarn to knit with.






Can you believe we can NOT find these socks!!!?

Julia Vesper @ Knitterly Things hand dyes these wonderful yarns.
They are hard to get as she is a one woman shop and they sell out in just two or three hours.
Really. I don't even want to tell you about her.

So forget what I just said.

Thanks.




Here is a little stocking ornament I made with a bit of self-striping yarn.




This is Noro Kureyon.



This is the first picture I ever put on my blog. Seven years ago.

I don't think I took it, but I made this felted bag with this exact yarn. I didn't even have a digital camera yet!




More Noro.

I love Noro.

You can find it anywhere. It is perfect for hats and mittens.





These look super complicated don't they? They are not. Some genius figured out how to die the yarn so it just goes like this all by itself.




Love these super fun colors.




No. Cindy.

These are not my legs.




My favorite mittens I ever knit.

This yarn is from Sunshine yarns. She does not make the stripes so much any more.

I hope I have not lost these mittens.
It is very easy to lose your mittens.





Lest you think I have always know what I was doing...well...here is the proof.

My first attempt to knit socks was within the last seven years. I know because I was blogging and I remember showing my big Frankenstein sock.

Yes. That big sock was my first attempt.

Holy cow! I got off to a rough start but I kept at it.
Now I love to knit socks now. They are the perfect little project.


*****



Wishing you a great end to your week.


The heat it running.
The crows are cawing.
I have a few sips of my Chai left.

It's a good life.



Encourage one another,
Donna

When I am with her, I don't really realize how beautiful her skin is....but it really is gorgeous.
Her hair and her eyes, these are the first things you notice....and her spunky personality.

She's the kind of four year old who helps coach the volleyball team,
and carries all the balls in a sack over her shoulder.








*****


When I take Katie to school in the morning the sun is rising. It is the most lovely time of day.
I Oo and Ah the whole way to school, pointing out the colors to Katie.

It is fleeting. Really. By the time I drop her off and head back home the colors have lightened, the sun has risen.
Twenty minutes of pink tinged, orange streaked skies a day.

I'll take it.

I'll remember it.

I'll treasure it.


*****

My friend Karen L. knit this darling hat for Asher.
Thankyouthankyouthankyou!!



Perfect for a snooze....

Karen, would you please share which pattern you used and the yarn?
Is it self striping? I love self striping yarn.

I need to make a few of these hats.

I feel some snowflakes coming on.



Wishing you warm memories and beautiful sunrises on this November day.



Encourage one another,
Donna


p.s. Anyone watching Survivor?
p.p.s. How do you write Oo? I don't what to say Oh. I want to say Oo.

How could I forget?
Well. I was in a big hurry when I posted the videos this morning.

Thank you so much for going over to Patrick Jr's blog and leaving such informed and interesting comments!

You made this blogger proud.

Of course we all know the Quiet Life readers and commenters are kind and wise....
but who knew you all knew so much about sports!

Well done ladies.

Thank you for encouraging my big boy!!!

Love
Donna



now...on to the show....

If you are feeling blue....

watch somebody....





DANCE








(the under appreciated sluefoot)

The hold at :52 is too cool.
The lift at 1:33 is ....oh wow.....


And then watch this....it is the sweetest most lovely little song...

How charming is Grace Kelly?




Now watch for the hilarious Bikers dance to Bieber commercial for the American Music Awards....it is super cute and funny.

(I would put that video right here if I could. I just can't find it yet.)


I love to watch people dance...
It doesn't hurt to get up and boogie...





Donna

After two months of adjusting to life on earth, babies start to get the hang of it.
They start making eye contact and they start to coo.

It's fascinating to me that they want to copy us. That they want to move their little mouths and makes noises like we make noises.
Isn't that amazing?

And the sounds. Oh the sounds babies make. To me, those sounds are more wonderful than just about any other sounds in the world.



I can't think of one that I like more.






This mouth slays me.



******



Katie got lots of candy.
I didn't eat any of it.

I hear the San Francisco Giants won the World Series.

My son writes a sports blog. No one reads it but me.

I like reading his blog.

He is coming home for Christmas. It is going to be a GREAT Christmas this year!






Sports Plus

Check out Patrick's blog. Surprise him with a comment :o)



Anyone else out there freezing?
Burr. Better turn on the heat or get a sweater asap!


Love ya!

Donna

This was the most beautiful day to visit the largest pumpkin patch in the world.



Asher slept.



Melinda loves motherhood. She handles it all with such ease.

I was a nut case with my first child. So uptight.

So sorry to everyone who knew me then.




We all enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and fresh air.




And the hayrack ride.











Matthew is so casual and comfortable with Asher. It's a beautiful sight to see your boy with his boy.





precious
precious
baby
boy





Encourage one another,
Donna