My Vacation Kicked My Hiney

FabGrandpa and I went on a little trip to Atlanta last week. Our daughter, Becky, gave us tickets to a concert, and two nights in a swanky hotel downtown. We had lots of fun, but I'm tellin  ya, that trip kicked my butt!  

 

We stayed in our hometown of Douglasville for one night before heading to the Big A. While we were in town, we we stayed at Hotel Palomar. It was fun to be pampered for a couple of days.

I got to go to my favorite place in Atlanta, the Dekalb Farmer's Market, and to Whole Foods, where I found the most divine chocolate bar ever, Mo's Bacon Bar. 

Yes, you are seeing correctly--it IS chocolate covered bacon--food for the gods!

The concert was fun, the whole reason for the trip, Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa. Frank Zappa's son playing his father's music. It was a great concert.

 

But now that I am home,  I am having trouble gettting back into the swing of things. I don't know if it is the blood pressure meds the doctor put me on, or the hectic pace of the trip, but I slept for 14 hours the last night of the trip, and have done nothing but veg out since we got home. 

I am hoping this lethargy will leave me alone soon, because I have so much to do!

It's A Girl!

 

Remember back in the dark ages when we old grandma's were having our babies,and we had to actually wait until we woke up after the delivery to find out if we had a boy or a girl? Sigh...

We found out yesterday that our newest FabGrandchild is going to be a girl. We are all so excited and can hardly wait until May for her to get here. The proud parents, my son and his wife, are still debating names for her.  I'm just calling her Baby Girl until she's named. 

I was so happy to know there is going to be another FabGranddaughter, that I drove 35 miles to Tuscaloosa yesterday to go shopping.  OK, we also had to go get FabGrandpa some new pants, but seriously, I couldn't wait another minute to look at girlie girl baby clothes.

 

Isn't that just the most adorable outfit?

 

And ooooooooo

 

ahhhhhhhhh! cutie cute cute! You know Fabgrandma is going to be sewing for this girlie soon!

FABrics I Love

As you may have noticed, I love to sew. I mostly make quilts and crafts, but have been known to sew a little bit of clothing every now and then. One of the reasons I haven't been sewing a lot since I started living the RV lifestyle, is that I am always in remote locations where there is not a decent fabric store within hundreds of miles.

The internet has come to my fabric rescue! Over the last year or so, I have found quite a few sewing, quilting, and fabric blogs, and I read them every day, and drool over all those fabulous fabrics the writers of them are using in their projects.  One of my favorite fabric blogs, True Up, is hosting a MEME where they want you to show your 10 favorite fabrics of 2009.

Since I didn't get into internet fabrics until last summer, I missed out on some that debuted earlier, so some of the ones I am listing here may be older than 2009, but I still love them.

My most favorite fabric I found this year (but probably came out earlier than that) is the Fairy Tip Toes collection by Tina Givens for Free Spirit Fabrics. When I saw it, I fell in love with it, and searched for three weeks before I found it online to buy. I haven't cut it yet, don't know that I ever will, but I HAVE it and that is what matters most to a fabric-aholic like me!

 

My next favorite is called Large Whimsy from Pillow and Maxfield for Michael Miller Fabrics. I am making myself a quilt using the brown/green/turquoise colorway. I already have the pieces cut and ready to sew.

There are just so many beautiful FABrics out there these days, it makes me wish I had more storage room for it. I have only a wicker trunk to keep it in, though, so I have to be very selective on what I buy. 

And I used two fabrics from the Meadowsweet Collection by Sandi Henderson for Michael Miller to make a dress for my FabGranddaughter, Sarah, for Christmas:

 

 

Here are some things that are in my list to get in the coming year, that is, if something new doesn't come along that I love more!

Echino Fall: for Kokka Fabrics

Far And Away by Heather Ross for Kokka Fabrics

Hushabye:  by Tula Pink for Moda Fabrics

Goodnight Monkey: by Erin Michael for Moda Fabrics

MoMo Odyssea: for Moda Fabrics

Full Bloom: by Bari J. for Windham Fabrics

Brandon Mably: for Westminster Fabrics

Girly Girl: by Patricia Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics

And for reasons I don't have to explain, I love these two cute fabrics:

Travel Trailer: Michael Miller Fabrics

Happy Campers: by American Jane for Moda Fabrics

I don't know how many of these gorgeous FABrics I will actually get this year, but oh, isn't it wonderful to dream about them?? Oh, and I see I have gone fabric crazy again, since they only asked for my favorite 10. Hello. My name is FabGrandma and I am a fabric-aholic.

So The New Year Is Upon Us

 

Now that 2010 is here, I am spending my day making a list of goals for myself.  I don't make resolutions. A "resoulution" is an "act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure..", and what I am doing is by no means a determined course of action. I find that in my life, setting out on a course of action usually leads to something other than what I started out to do. So, if I set goals instead, no matter what course of action leads me to the desired result is ok.

Some of my goals are simple, direct things that accomplish a specific task:

I want to clean up my computer, and by that, I DO NOT mean dusting off the screen. I want to get rid of files no longer needed; bookmarks that lead to pages that make me wonder why I bookmarked them to start with; organize folders in some kind of order that make sense, and put the ones I use the most at the top of the list. If I accomplish that, it will make my days infinitely better and help me save time. 

I want to get organized in my life. I do so many different things that I sometimes just get overwhelmed with the list. I want to make myself a schedule, so that I have an hour a day to write; an hour a day to sew, an hour a day to play, and an hour a day to exercise. (Not that putting the hour a day on my calendar will actually make me do those things...)

 

I want to get a tripod and learn to take better photos. If I had done that last year, this photo of the gorgeous blue moon rising over Payne Lake on New Years Eve would have been better than this:

Other goals may prove to be a little harder for me to do, but not starting to work in that direction will assure me that they won't get done:

I want to move my blog to a hosted website with my own URL. I have some very specific and some other vague goals for myself for this blog, and have already started working towards them. I want it to be the most Fab blog, ever. (Now how is THAT for a goal???)

I want to get my Etsy store up to date, and get all the purty things I sew listed on there for sale. I want procrastination to be a thing of the past.

I have a goal to get all my gluten free recipes sorted out, typed up, and presented in some type of cookbook, whether it is an e-book or a printed one. There are other gluten free cookbooks out there, but I am a southern girl who cooks in a "southern" way. I want other gluten free cooks from the south to feel comfortable in the kitchen, making all those mahvelous southern comfort foods we grew  up on, minus the gluten.

I want to make myself a quilt with these fabrics. I have already started it, by cutting all the pieces. All I have to do now is the sewing (HA! that's easy to say!)  I have a baby quilt to make, and a couple of other big sewing projects that I want to finish by spring, but of all my goals, this one will probably be the easiest for me to accomplish.

So, there it is, out there for public consumption, and public scrutiny. Making these goals public will put me at greater risk of completing them. What are YOUR goals for the year 2010?

Fried Cabbage

Think you don't like cabbage? I didn't like it much when I was growing up, and I don't like it now in most restaurants. It always seems to be soggy and tasteless if I order it when I eat out somewhere. But, I like cabbage when I cook it at home.  This dish is flavorful, inexpensive, and gluten free (though not calorie free).

Fried Cabbage

3-4 slices of bacon OR 3-4 tablespoons bacon grease OR 3-4 tablespoons butter or margarine

1 medium head of cabbage, chopped

salt to taste

4 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped.

2 cups water

Fry the bacon until crisp, set aside. Pour the bacon grease out of the pan, then measure 3-4 tablespoons of it back into it.  Add the chopped cabbage, potatoes and onion.  Toss them all around in the pan several times until they are coated with the bacon grease. Add the water, bring to a boil, then cover the pan with a lid. Turn the heat down to medium low and simmer until all the water has evaporated, about 30 minutes.

 

I watch it closely near the end of cooking to make sure it doesn't stick and burn. If you have fried some bacon, crumble it on top before serving.

This may not be the most healthy cabbage you have ever eaten, but it sure will be good!

Christmas Is Over

 

Sunset on Christmas day.

We had a pleasant, relaxing day. Although we don't give gifts to each other, we do give them to other people--our children and grandchildren. I made all those bags--the girls loved them! The last one was delivered today.  I received an adapter cable for my cellphone, so I can use my Wilson antenna. The cell service way out here is not that good. I only get one bar, and I have been having to put the phone on speakerphone and lay it on the counter and not move it to be able to use it. Having the adapter cable makes it so that I can use the phone anywhere in the trailer. Yay! Someone sent FabGrandpa a new video game, and someone else sent us some gift  cards. 

I cooked a roasted chicken and some potatoes, nothing else, but we were happy with just that. We had the leftover chicken today as chicken a la king with noodles. I was surprised at how good it turned out. To make a gluten free white sauce for a la king, I use corn starch instead of flour.

Gluten Free Chicken A La King

3 tablespoons butter or margarine

salt to taste

1/4 cup corn starch

1 can evaporated milk

1 can water

1/2 of a roasted chicken, deboned and diced

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add salt and corn starch, stirring to prevent burning and sticking. Add the can of water, cook and stir until very thick. Add the evaporated milk, continuing to stir.  Cook on low heat until creamy, smooth, and to desired thickness. Add chicken and cook a couple minutes more. Serve over rice,  gluten free noodles, or toasted gluten free bread.

Remember Whensday

 

This is Emily, Spencer's Mommy,  on Christmas Day, 1983. Who do you think he looks like? 

 

And, because I couldn't decide which photo to use, you get two! Poor old Santa! Me and Becca in 1990, trying our best to be good. 

For more Remember Whensday photos, click here.

SnowPeeps

I had to go to town today. While I was out, I found this: 

 

And guess what? 

 

Gluten free!  Yay!

I've Been Sewing My Brains Out

Since I've been buying so much fabric lately, I figured I better get busy sewing some of it up.  After a trip to the Hobby Lobby in Tuscaloosa, the quilt shop that I found, some online fabric shopping, and then the trip to Joann last weekend I finally have enough fabric to complete several projects. (Did you think I was going to say I had enough fabric? A girl can NEVER have enough fabric.) 

 

A dress for my granddaughter

 

and a blue dotty skirt, too.

 

and another ruffled skirt with horses. (She loves horses.)

 

A zippered bag for my daughter, Becca

 

and a tote bag to match.

 

Pink and green tote for Emily

 

with a matching zippered bag.

 

Becky gets yellow and black

 

and here is her zippered one, I love this one. 

 

Patchwork in aqua, turquois, and purple for my friend Gaelyn.

 

and one for the little girl who lives down the lane. Ha ha ha, not really, but for Emily's niece.

 

And of course she gets a matching zippered bag, too.

  

Brown, pink, green, stripey dots for my daughter-in-law, Sarah.

 

A Christmas apron for my mother

 

Another tote bag for my sister. I have one more little bag to make, and I will be done with gifts. Then I can sew for fun. Yay!

Another Benefit of Volunteering

The Forest Service Resource Manager came by this morning with gifts for us: some real nice Gortex, fleece lined jackets from LL Bean. They have a patch on them that says "Forest Service Volunteer", and are sooooo nice and warm! And they are ours to keep! Gotta love it!.

A Trip To My Hometown

We haven't been "home" in about 18 months, so we were overdue to visit there. Last weekend, we loaded up the truck with computers, suitcase, and sandwiches, and hit the road for the 200 mile trip. 

Our first stop was at the mall, because Fabgrandpa needed a new winter jacket. He melted his old one in a commercial dryer when we were volunteering at Unicoi State Park back in 2007. He didn't need one last winter because we were in a pretty warm place, but, as we have discovered, Alabama is COLD! Oh, and let's just say that planning a quick trip to the mall two weeks before Christmas is BIG mistake.

After we got out of the mall, we drove over to Becky's hair salon to get prettied up. She is the best "hair-doer" I have ever known. We always get our hair done by her when we come to town. (Of course, she IS my daughter, and NO I am not biased in my opinion. he he he).  FabGrandpa went first.

 

Then it was my turn. Becky cut off about two inches, trimmed my bangs, and then styled my hair. I always feel like a pampered princess when I go there. 

Here we are, all dolled up, and FabGrandpa in his new mall jacket.

This is something I DON'T miss on a daily basis: lots of traffic. It was raining, too. And don't think that all this is from Christmas shopping--no, it is like this all the time in Douglasville. 

 

Remember last year when I lost that diamond?  When Becky came to visit us at the Grand Canyon, she took my rings home with her, and had them repaired, complete with a new diamond. The jeweler cleaned and shined them up, so that they look better than ever! She gave them to me when we were at the shop, and I cried like a baby. She is too good to me!

 

From the beauty shop, we drove over to visit my mother. That's her Christmas tree there, and if you look, on the shelves behind the tree is a huge collection of Santas.  We had a nice visit, then left to meet Becky and her true love for dinner.

 

That's the happy bride to be with her guy, Rafe. He is a very nice guy. We'll be proud to call him our son-in-law. The wedding won't be until February, 2011. That's still quite a ways off, but hey, I still haven't bought my mother of the bride dress. I'm still looking. 

 

We finally made to the motel, a Holiday Inn Express. The room was very nice for the money. It even had a big screen TV. But FabGrandpa spent most of his time in the room playing Left 4 Dead. He said there wasn't much on TV to watch, anyway.

 

The next morning, I got up and went back to my Mom's for breakfast. My sister came over, too, still in her pajamas. We spent a couple of hours talking girl talk while FabGrandpa slept in at the motel.  

After having breakfast with them, I went to Cracker Barrell to meet my daughter, Emily and niece, Nikki for another breakfast.  I had not ever met Nikki before, well, except for when she was a tiny baby. My sister "found" her on Myspace a couple of years ago. I have not been in town when she was since then, so we arranged to meet last weekend. It was nice to meet her. She is a gorgeous girl, and smart too, just like my daughters. She spent 6 years in the Air Force and is now in school to be a medical technician. I didn't get a picture, though, I was so busy talking I just forgot!

After the second breakfast (yeah, no wonder I am so fat! But, honestly, I only ate a little bit at both of them), Emily and I went fabric shopping. I spent a LOT of money, but I had specific projects in mind, and still didn't get everything I needed. Yes, yet another fabric trip is in the planning. 

Emily and I decided we did not want to do any other shopping after the fabric store, so we went to her house and just hung out. My grandson, Spencer, thanked me again for his quilt. He is so cute, don't you think?

I made this bag for Emily and gave it to her while I was at her house. She loved it!

 

 It is big enough for her teacher self to tote books and papers and pencils and stuff. I made a matching zippered pouch to go with, which of course I have no picture of.

 

There's Spencer again, trying to figure out how to take my picture.

 

And Emily's Christmas tree, in her living room with her new floors. I love it! She has redone the entire house since I was there the last time. I

 

We left Emily's house and met up with FabGrandpa and Becky at Longhorn Steakhouse, one of our favorite places to eat. I had a salad, no croutons, no dressing, a ribeye medium rare, and a baked sweet potato. No gluten anywhere, and it was delish! There's FabGrandpa with Emily.

 

 And me with Becky
 

And me with my dinner date, Spencer. Spencer's Dad was there too, but he does not want me to show his face, so I won't.  We had such a busy weekend, but it was fun, and we'll do it again, soon.