Pears

Pears....ripe Bartlett Pears....sweet, juicy, drippy down your chin....nearly perfect fruit. OK...I shamelessly stole this picture from Ami Sims' blog (http://amisimms.wordpress.com/). She rambles on about bean soup, pears and Rome when she was a child.
What I want to say about pears is that a few weeks ago, Laura Meglemre brought in a couple of bags of pears from her backyard garden....uummmm good! They were a bit beat-up, but so perfectly ripe. Great. I think Liz made some pear sauce, like apple sauce.
The day before yesterday Beka and I took the kids to Target. SUPER Target. In Eureka we just have Target, Little Target, I guess. Super Target, for those who don't know, has a full grocery store attached. A great Deli and a bakery which gives all good little children (or at least that's what Beka told Jakob!) a cookie. He didn't even share his warm peanut butter cookie with grandma! Target had Pears.....beautiful Bartlett Pears. We got a bunch of them. I ate one for lunch yesterday and one for breakfast today. I think they need to be a bit bunged up to really be fabulous. The aroma, ah the aroma. Sniff deeply of the perfume, it's part of the experience. Someone talked about making a pear tart or a pear pie. I think pears are perfect just as they are.....kind of like YOU.

Check Out Our New Website!

For the past several months our daughters, Liz and Beka have been working behind the scenes on our new Scottie Dog Quilts website. Our old site was outdated and difficult for us to add to. We had had such great plans for it.....well, after many, many hours of blood, sweat and tears it is now up and running. You can view it at: www.scottiedogquilts.com It will continue to grow as more things are added to it. I can't wait until all our classes have color pictures to go with them...be patient, that is only around the corner.
You'll be able to read my blog from there too. We've already had some very positive comments about it....some of my employees even found things on the website they didn't know we had in the store! Soon your family and friends can even buy you Scottie Dog Quilts Gift Certificates on-line too! So be sure to tell them when they ask what you might like for Christmas or your Birthday!!

Little House on the Prairie: The Musical!

A couple of months ago I got a phone call from Jason, my son-in-law. He wanted to know if by chance Bill and I would want to go see a play with them when we were here in Minn. Beka's birthday wasn't until November, but the play was happening earlier and he wanted to surprise her. He thought it odd that anyone might want to go--but Beka was a fan of the books. Guess where she got that???? Her mom is a HUGE fan of Laura Ingals Wilder!!!!!
Last night was Beka's early Birthday night. A friend came to babysit and off we went to Red Lobster. Beka didn't know where we were going....until in the middle of dinner. I'm not sure any of us were prepared for what lay ahead. We had a wonderful dinner at Red Lobster.....Those who live in Eureka can understand the excitement of eating at the big chain restaurants....McDonalds, Marie Callendars & Applebees is all we have at home. Beka was excited to learn we were going to Little House on the Prairie at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis as she hadn't heard about it yet. Oh, and one more thing.....guess who starred as Ma? Melissa Gilbert....Laura of the TV series fame! Here's Beka and Jason with their tickets...are they a lovely couple! I think so.
Jason had been trying to get the tickets for 2 months. At first he only had 4 separate tickets. This show has been sold out since it began in July through Oct. 11 the last day. Calling nearly every day he was finally able to get two sets of two tickets. The sets were simple but amazing and the musical told the story according to the books beginning with Little House on the Prairie through These Happy Golden Years. The music was lively and the songs snappy. The character of Nellie was perfect but more lovable that the one on TV. There were quilts---I noticed those of course! The Guthrie Theatre is a fantastic place--two main theatres and one small stage so actually there were three productions going on all at once. There were some children at our performance....including two 7-9 year old girls wearing their prairie costumes complete with sunbonnets. Melissa Gilbert did herself proud. While I know she is not known for her singing ability she was able to make a great showing for the group songs and held her own for her solo about Laura, her wild child. What a great time we had! I certainly hope that other theatre groups put the production on....I loved it and it's great entertainment for the whole family even if you never heard of Laura Ingals Wilder.

A New Bathroom

As you know, Mr. Scottie Dog has been building me a beautiful new bathroom in Eureka. The 13" tiles are slowly making their way up the walls of the new showers (one large room with two showering "stations," one for me and one for him). But now that we are in Minnesota visiting Beka, Jason and the grandbabies he is busy building a new bathroom in their basement. First came the demo work (as in demolition). Beka and Jason helped cut the rug and pull up the rug and padding and scrape off the adhesive. Then the ceiling came down, the sheetrock off one wall and more. Lots of dirt, dust, trash and man/woman power. Here's a picture of me holding Sadie as Jakob hands the broom to Mr. Scottie Dog aka, Gandpa. This was yesterday. Today where I am standing is a bathtub/shower unit and the walls are going up. Bill's been busy with the plumbing and electrical and waiting for the inspector.
Jakob and I made brownies today. He loves to crack the eggs. Oh, and lick the spoon. He's great at that!

Savage, Minnesota

We're here! No pictures today because I need a cord for my camera, but I thought I'd post anyway. Jakob is happily sleeping with his new quilt from Grandma! Sadie happily puts her arms up for me to pick her up. Grandpa is busy with the new bathroom. Demolition is complete and almost all of the supplies are purchased. OOPS! No one thought to measure the door first, but, WHEW! the one piece tub/shower unit will fit through the doorway. Today Mr. Scottie Dog is doing the plumbing and Grandma and Beka might go shopping or visiting.

Jakob and I baked Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies this morning....like Sydney he loves to crack the eggs. I think that Grandmas have more patience when it comes to cooking with the little ones. I don't remember doing it with my own so young. He is sooo very proud of the cookies he made and can't wait for Daddy to come home to try them.

Beka had said the weather was still warm....so I brought mostly Capri pants and short sleeves. Hmmm...weather is more like Eureka, but I'm comfortable. Fall is coming quickly to Minn. I'm hoping to get some sightings of colorful Fall Leaves.

Technology is a funny thing. We are almost ready to debut our new website (don't worry....same address: www.ScottieDogQuilts.com) and Beka (in Minn.) has done most of the prep work. Liz (in Eureka, CA) has been busy the past few days loading in stock (books, patterns, etc.) and I've had the job of writing the staff biographies and other text while I've been here in Minn. Amazing that the three of us can be working on the same thing (often at the same time). The phones have been burning up the airwaves back and forth too.

Hopefully tomorrow we'll have the pictures up. Having a ball with the grandbabies!

What's a Grandma to do?

Saturday Mr. Scottie Dog and I will fly off to the Land of 10,000 Lakes [although anyone who lives in Minnesota will be quick to point out that there are lots and lots more than 10,000 lakes in the state. I guess they settled on 10,000 because it sounded good, kind of like Heinz 57 slogan was picked out of a hat and Wonder Bread "builds strong bodies 12 ways." White, spongy Wonder Bread is a high sugar & carb nightmare. South Beach Diet says you are better off eating a cup of ice cream once in a while than eating white sandwich bread!]. Back to flying off to the Land of 10,000 Lakes....on Saturday morning for 3 weeks with the Minnesota kids and GRANDBABIES! This means Sydney has been trying to sort out the trip.

GRANDMA: "I'll be at Jakob & Sadie's house for awhile, but you can talk to me on the computer."
SYDNEY: "But why can't you talk to THEM on the computer at YOUR house?
G: "Because I have to do that now. When I go visit them I can hug them on my lap and kiss them."
S: "But I want you to be with me."
G: "I love to be with you and take you to the zoo and read you stories, but Jakob lives far away and I need to go to his house to see him for awhile."
S: "Why don't you take me to the zoo?"

So today we went to the zoo after I picked her up from Pre-School. I'm busy trying to tie up all the loose ends before I go. We went for ice cream after the zoo---after all, I need to leave her with special memories for while I'm gone. Tomorrow we will do a craft project at the store (I will be making the same Fall Leaf Window Clings with Jakob next week) and on Saturday when Liz and Sydney drive us to the airport I'll give her a little Hello Kitty tote bag with some fun goodies (new socks, hair clips, glitter pens, magnets, etc) for her to have while I'm gone.

When Daddy came to pick up Syd at the store to take her nap she hugged me and said, "Fanks for the ice cream Gwamma. You got me ice cream because you love me!" Yes, Sydney, I love you.

What's a Grandma to do when she has grandbabies in two so very far apart cities? She splits her time. I'll probably cry when we take off, saying good bye to Sydney....but Jakob is waiting for Grandma and Grandpa. Sadie doesn't know much about it all yet, but when I see her in the WebCam, she smiles and lights up when she sees me. I can't wait to snuggle with this 9 month old...I'll even be glad to change some diapers. Jakob and I will walk to one of the 10,000 lakes of Minnesota just 1 1/2 blocks away from home, we'll go to the zoo and we'll probably even go out for ice cream....These are the things Grandmas do.