The things I regret about Hawaii

I do not know why this picture is sideways. It does that every time I upload it to Blogger. It shows up fine on my computer.



In 2007, we (Dad, Mom, Granddad, Grandma, Uncle Mike, Aunt Amy, and myself) went to Hawaii. Looking back now, I can clearly see my 12-year-old self did not appreciate it. Is it wrong to be jealous of...yourself? Your past self, to be more specific. I really wish I had been able to understand and absorb it better when we went. Who knows if we go again.
Now, a list of the things I regret about when we went to Hawaii. Some of them are little silly things, like #3, but some of them are more important things.

1. That I had taken more pictures. Dad and Mom did most of the photography, and I really wish I had done more of it.
2. That I had taken my American Girl doll I brought out onto the beach and taken pictures of her. Beaches are the best places ever to take pictures of dolls because you can get their feet down into the sand so they don't fall over. But I was too nervous that someone would see me and laugh so I didn't. I really regret this.
3. That my hair had not had a big knot in it. I know that sounds silly, but I really would have enjoyed wearing my hair down if it hadn't been for the nice big rat's nest smack dab in the back.
4. That I had felt better. I didn't tell anyone, but I honestly did not feel very good half of the time. I think it was mainly brought on by jet lag. I slept a good deal of the time, which is very strange for me. When we go on vacation to "normal" places, I have so much adrenlaine from the excitement, I can run on that practically all day even with little sleep.
5. That I had sat out on the beach more. I did for a little bit here and there, but not for very long. The crabs kind of freaked me out. Now, it sounds very nice, sitting out there watching the waves and just absorbing it all.
6. That I had tried poi at the luau. Everyone says it's gross, but I would have liked to try it just to say I did.

Those are just a few. I have more. :-/

My Driving Lesson

Well, Mom said over on her blog that I needed to tell the story of my first driving lesson with my pappy, so here goes. It's one of those things it's kind of hard to retell, but I'll do my best.

Pappy drove the truck from their house at the top of their long (and slightly steep) driveway down to my aunt and uncle's house, which is closer to the bottom. I jumped in. He gave me a rundown on what does what, most of which I knew, but it was good to have a refresher. I started up the engine, and he warned me not to let the engine grind after it had started, which I didn't think I had, but I kept my mouth shut. :-P Then I put it into gear and drove down a little bit further to the gate that enters the field. Pappy reminded me I had a lot of pickup behind me so I had to be very careful. He was helpful and told me when to stop so I would get ag ood enough angle to turn in without hitting anything. He also told me to go "Left, left, left!" when I almost hit the right side of the gate since I couldn't see it very well. Then we were in. It was a lot easier than I thought. We drove around in the left side of the field, Pappy forewarning me about holes and ditches which appeared invisible to me. Then after he was happy how I was progressing, he showed me a little hill that you could go up over and a little "trail" that led to another field. He kept telling me to slow down, then speed up, then keep the speed and don't change. It took a couple tries before I got over the hill, then he hollered "Watch out for that log!"
I slammed the brakes.
He glared. "Don't do that!"
I giggled.
We finally made it to the second field and drove around in there. I bumped and waddled my way over several large gopher holes, most of which Pappy gave me a split-second warning about them, which didn't really give me any time to do anything but slow down a tiny bit and kathump my way over the holes.
So after a little bit more of that, we went back becak through the little "traiL" thing, back through the first field, out the gate, up the driveway (where I spun a little gravel by accident). He told me to park behind his RV, but warned me not to hit it (the RV). I snickered, and thought seriously about scaring him, but I didn't, like the nice little granddaughter I am. I didn't turn quite sharp enough so I had to back up and try it again. It was still a little crooked...parking isn't going to be my best talent, I can see it now, but it wasn't too bad.
And that ended my first driving lesson with my grandfather.

Well this ain't no watermelon!

So I was all excited because this giant watermelon grew on our porch from our gigantic plant that is slowely taking over our porch. It looked so yummy, and so I picked it yesterday and left it on the counter.





Later, in the evening, we cut it open, expecting to find yummy pink watermelon.





Well. That didn't go as planned. Turns out it's an unripe pumpkin that would have grown to prizewinner size if I hadn't picked it so soon. _sigh_ oh well. There will be others...the plant is huge. That's the first large one, though.

Fabric shop hop pictures

Majority of the pictures were taken by Mrs. D because we forgot to get our camera out.

Monday night - the swim trip gone awry:


The Fabric Shack:










K outside Big Boy:


Outside Martha's Heirlooms:




All of us inside the last shop.


Some of our goodies:

Fat quarter bundle that we're all going to participate in making a quilt out of:


Squirrel/Buried Treausre pillowcase:


Hot air balloon pillowcase:


My regency dress fabric and buttons:


The doll shoes:


We got more fabric, but this is a sampling.

2010 Mother-Daughter Fabric Shop Hop Trip

Every year (well, last year and this year anyway) we go with some friends of ours on a fabric shop hop around Ohio. We spend 2 days and go to different fabric stores around the mainly southern part of OH. This year we went to five shops...Bunny's in Newark, OH - Hancock Fabrics in Franklin, OH (or thereabouts) - Fabric Shack in Waynesville, OH - and then Martha's Heirlooms somewhere (I don't remember where) and another shop that I don't remember the name of that the lady at Martha's Heirlooms reccomended.
Mom and I got up at 8:30am Monday morning, and left around 9am to head down to Zville to pick up our friends from the D family who go with us... Mrs. D, C, and K. Mrs. D had spent a good deal of the previous night at the E.R. with their oldest son T, who had sprained his ankle, so she hadn't gotten home till 3am, so she was short on sleep and so they weren't ready for us when we got there, but between us all, we managed to get out the door by noon.
We stopped by Bunny's, a fabric store in Newark, which was about 10 minutes from a house that the D family are hoping to buy sometime in the future, Lord willing. We got a few fabrics and then headed off on the 2-hour trip to Franklin, which is nearby Dayton. We drove through Dayton on the way and we "saw" (the sign, anyway) the air force base where my uncle had been stationed a few years ago.
We stopped by Hancock Fabrics and I got a very pretty skirt (they have some premade clothing there) for $12. Mom got some adorable hot air balloon fabric for pillowcases she's making to send to a hospital for kids with cancer. It's very colorful and entertaining. Mom also bought some fabric for me to make another regency dress. It's very pretty, and I can't wait to see it all sewn up.
Then we headed to the hotel, settled in, then went out to eat at Bob Evans. We then went to Walmart to pick up some water for the D's and a swim mask for me since I didn't have one, and we intended to go swimming that night.
We came back, got all suited up to go swimming, went down to the pool, and it was empty earlier, but now there were about 6-10 people in there. Disappointed, we headed back to our rooms and watched a movie. I was too tired to stay up very late and Mom and I went to our room and crashed.
I had a terrible night due to the fact I had an excruciating pain in my left side all night long. I slept for about an hour before waking up. I took some advil, it didn't seem to help, but I was able to go back to sleep. I woke up again around 3am and I think I finally drifted back to sleep. Around 6am I woke up again, still in pain, and soaked in a hot bath which helped, and I was able to doze off and on for another two hours. I was still in a lot of pain all morning and C said that I looked very pale and sickly. I felt very pale and sickly. :-/ Mom and C went to Walmart and got some adhesive heat pack things and I stuck one on my shirt and it felt a lot better. Still a little achy, but not as bad.
Anyway, enough about me.
We then headed to Fabric Shack after we stopped by Walmart. It was about 20 minutes away. We all oohed and ahhed and gasped at the gorgeous fabrics they have. It was delightful. C picked out two vintage 30's prints for a skirt. Mrs. D got a jelly roll. Mom got fabric for 2 more pillowcases and a charm pack. I got owl fabric and some coordinating striped fabric for a knee-length skirt, as well as a 1933 fabrics charm pack for a little quilt. I think that's all we got, but I don't remember for sure. K was a little bored with the whole thing...she liked looking, but got tired of it faster than we did.
We really wanted to walk around the little town...they have some antique shops and old bookstores, and a little cafe we stopped in last year and had some yummy food, but it was 94 degrees out, and Mom needed more sustenance than the little cafe could provide her, so we headed out and found a Big Boy to eat at. Funny, we ate at a Big Boy last year as well.
Anyway, after that, we drove to what we thought was our final stop...Martha's Heirlooms. It wasn't what we expected, but we did find some nice things. They have mainly smocking patterns, it seemed like. They have some nice cotton rickrack, and some 18" doll things. Mom got two pairs of doll shoes and some rickrack. Us three girls (C, K, and I) headed out to the car before the Moms were done because we were all tired and a little bored. We finished watching a movie that we had started before.
And here's a little funny story. In the store, K had found some doll glasses that she really wanted. She had showed them to her mom but Mrs. D had said probably not on buying them. When the moms got back in the car, K curiously pried, "What did you get Mama?"
Mrs. D showed her the things she had bought. You could tell K was rather disappointed to see the glasses were not among them. Then, Mrs. D pulled the glasses out of the bag. K was so excited.
The lady in Martha's Heirlooms said that there was another store we needed to go check out. It wasn't very far, so we headed over there. Very glad we did! The ladies inside were very nice and friendly, and we were able to find some nice fabric. Mom got yardage for a final pillowcase, as well as two little charm packs, and Mrs. D and C found a couple small things as well.
The lady there snapped our picture before we headed out, and then we headed back down to Columbus to meet up with the men of the D family, drop off Mrs. D, C, and K, and headed home ourselves.
We were exhausted and it was very difficult not to fall asleep on the way home, but we didn't, and pulled in at 10:30pm, and fell right into bed. (Well, I did, anyway)

Pictures of Joan

I took all these pictures a couple months ago but I couldn't post them because I was going to put them in a picture book I was creating for my grandmother based on her adventures in the 1950's in Idaho. You can view that book online here - http://www.scrapblog.com/viewer/vw_full.aspx?sbid=2630064

And here are the pictures I've been dying to post:

Jumping rope:




Canning time!


Hanging up the laundry: