Mish Mosh Time!

Time for a mish mosh post - I have lots of snippets to share but nothing that is really an entire blog post in and of itself. 

More from Miss Mila

I'm back in the sewing room and working on a custom order. Yesterday I picked up a stack of fabrics and found another note from Mila stashed underneath them.

Certainly the gift that keeps on giving!

I have put all her notes in an envelope and will save them with my most special treasures.

An Eddie Emergency

You may remember that I said that there was an emergency at Kalamazoo the second day of the event and so our packing up was haphazard and as fast as we could go. That emergency was actually for Leslie and Rick.

Their vet had called and said that their dog Eddie had a temperature of 106 and was very, very sick. Leslie dropped everything and headed home, while Rick stayed in Kalamazoo to pack their trailer and truck for home.

Over a week later, Eddie is still sick and has been hospitalized three times. An abscess that began under his chin, ran down his neck, and then curved to the middle of his chest turned out to be the culprit.

Once that was discovered, drained, and cleaned, he did a remarkable bounce back.

He even came out to play for a bit during the family Easter egg hunt.

Eddie is not out of the woods yet. The abscess refilled yesterday and had to be surgically drained, but this time it was mostly water and not infectious material. His temperature has remained low and antibiotics are taking care of the infection. 

Keep your fingers crossed, say a prayer, wish for good karma, or whatever you feel most comfortable with for Eddie.  It would be very much appreciated.

 

The Family Easter Egg Hunt

An annual tradition, we always gather at Leslie and Rick's farm for an Easter egg hunt and dinner. This year, due to Eddie's health, we still held the egg hunt but then ate at our home.

There is an Over 18 and an Under 18 division and the winner of each gets a golden egg with a prize inside.  The Under 18 was full of candy, while the Over 18's gift didn't fit inside the egg.

There are some T-Rex fans among the adults in my family, so when I found this T-Rex wind chime, I bought it even though I knew it was too big to fit in the egg.

Mila won the Under 18 egg,

and Craig the Over 18 egg. (His face when he discovered it was empty! But then I handed him the box the T-Rex was in and all was right in his world. LOL)

We all piled into cars and headed back to our home for a midafternoon snack of Hershey pie, cheesecake,

cake pops,

assorted candy,

and Chex Mix.

We hung out the rest of the day, playing games, and watching the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

More KZoo Pics

People are still posting their pictures from Kalamazoo on social media. Here are the last of them. (I think...)

This family had stopped and asked about the pockets I have for sale. I am sharing the story behind them and how the earliest pockets were tied around the waist and not incorporated into the garment itself like they are now.

A nice photo of Rick at his booth. Taken before the emergency call about Eddie that upended the day for us.

My travel buddy Gretchen talking to the man whose wife makes my maple cakes. Gretchen is wearing a bedgown and I recognized the fabric because I had it in my stash. Turns out that my mother had made it for her.

Puppies at the Park

We are dodging raindrops now instead of snow and ice, but when we can, we take Pepper and Tammo across the street to the park.

Lined up and ready for their frisbees to fly.

"Here comes mine!!"

"Oh, never mind the frisbees."

"There is nothing like fresh spring grass for a good roll."

Have a good day, all!

A Beautiful Easter

Did you know that dogs like cake? And that your normally well behaved dog might just cave while you are at Church and do some counter surfing? Which culminates in a text like this? 

"Sorry, we are going to be late to dinner. Gus ate the cake while we were at Church and Vanessa is making another one."

Gus is a Standard Poodle and the tallest dog of all of the family dogs. He's sweet and there is nothing he would rather do than play ball. (Here he has set one on the kitchen table in the hopes that someone will toss it for him.) As tall as he is, counter surfing isn't difficult but he is well trained and the food is safe. Usually.

Having said that, the carrot cake that Vanessa had left cooling on the kitchen counter proved to be too much for him and he caved, leaving only remnants for the rest of us. (I really can't blame him; Vanessa is an excellent cook!)

Luckily Vanessa was able to get another cake baked (lemon this time) before we met at Leslie's farm in Brookston for Easter dinner.

It did not take long for the usual family shenanigans to begin.

Such as Les being caught eating the crunchy onions that were supposed to go on the green bean casserole. 

AND, not sharing them with her sisters when she did.

Our nephew, Eric, who often is in Europe for work, was able to join us. He is leaving to go back in a week so we were glad to have him with us.

During dinner, it came to light that Lukie likes butter. 

Like, REALLY.

Directed by Mama Vanessa to cut it down to a more reasonable size, it wobbled off the roll and onto the floor, but no harm done.

Ian and Lisa.

After dinner, we all gathered outside for an Easter egg hunt that Leslie and I put together.

I bought and filled the eggs; she hid them around the farm.

The farm is nine acres, but we limited it to the three fenced acres around the house.

The kids were given 30 seconds to hunt before the adults were allowed to join in.

It was rumored that the kids had scoped the place out a bit first; had some of the adults, too? Curt and Vanessa sure were casual and confident as they began! (Hah!! I just spied a pink egg hidden in the arm of the clothesline!)

It was a lovely day for our hunt.

Those eggs were hidden well - we did not find them all!

But finally we called it quits and walked back up to the house for prizes.

Mila won a golden egg as did Eric,

while Lukie and Ian shared a giant chocolate T-Rex. (Which Leslie coveted - she loves T-Rexes, but since she'd hidden the eggs, she could not win any prizes.)

Mila opened her golden egg and consolidated all her candy into it.

Then it was back into the house for the final event of the day - eating Hershey pie, lemon cake, and watching Purdue beat Tennessee in their Elite Eight game and make it to the Final Four of the NCAA tournament!

We are off to Phoenix next weekend! (Cartoon by Dave Sattler and shared on social media.)***

The team celebrating after their win yesterday.

Boiler up and hammer down!!

*** Dave is a long time friend of mine. I'll write about him another time, but one of my most treasured of all his drawings is one he gifted me as a surprise. It is framed and hangs in our bedroom.

He even included his cat, Boo, knowing that I was very fond of that cat.