Box Elder Bugs I Hate You!

Box Elder bugs

Really I do not like them at all.

Those things come like clock work every year. 

So here's the facts Mack.

The boxelder bug:

• likes to bask in the sun
• feeds on seed-bearing female boxelder trees, but also like maple and ash trees
• lays eggs on the trunks of these trees
• seeks shelter in cracks and crevices on buildings to survive winter seasons
• emerges in spring once temperatures are warmer, but will occasionally emerge earlier on sunny days
• choose the south and west sides of buildings to swarm to because they're the sunniest and warmest
• population is most abundant during hot, dry summers.
• poop on the windowsills inside of the house.
• crawl all over the floor and get stepped on and squished in the throw rugs. 
• fly around and land on the innocent and scare them to death. 

So what's the answer?

1. We need to close all cracks and crevices in our homes.

Oh OK, that will be easy.

2. Chop down all Box Elder trees and Maple trees in our yards. 

Oh OK, I'll do that tomorrow. 

3. Re-insulate our houses with TAP.

TAP is Thermal Acoustical Pest Control insulation is 

nothing short of awesome. 

 For areas in your house that you don't go 

into very often, like your attic, 

TAP will do the work for you.

Perfect because since it installs itself and 

works all by itself I'm set. 

Love, Grammy T. 

UFO - Did you say UFO?

  

 This is a UFO. It means Unfinished Object. Quilters have a tendency to see a lot of beautiful things they want to quilt and they don't finish everything they started. 

The rule for a UFO challenge at my quilt guild is that it has to be 
something in your stash and you don't need to buy anything for to finish. 

Or something like that. 

This is one of three UFO's I have to finish before Novembers meeting. 

I washed it so it would turn out old fashioned looking. 

And because it's a grandma quilt. 

I started with a pile of scrapes and just sewed a lot of 
pieces together until I had a 

12 1/2 by 12 1/2 block. 

Then I sewed all the blocks together to make a quilt top. 

I then layered the back which was popcorn minky 
and the batting 
which I pieced together from leftovers 
and then I put the quilt top on. 

I pinned it together. 

I will show you how I do that with the binder Clips 

on one of my next blog posts.

With these Frixion pens, that I ordered from Amazon, 

I marked the quilt top with designs.

They iron off with a warm steam iron. 

After I had the free motion quilting done I put on the binding. 
This is the walking foot that I use to do that. 


See the little blade on this walking foot, I  love it. 
It keeps me on the straight and narrow.


This is the stitching on the front of the quilt.

This picture shows you how the stitching shows up on that minky. 

The minky is really cute and cuddly. 

Here it is when I got the binding done and before I washed it. 

BTW, The Frixion pen washed out completely.

I'm not that good and I am a humble quilter but 
I love it.

Love, 
Grammy T.

I want the Lord to know I was really here ~ Marjory Hinckley

I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails.


I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp.

I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children.

I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden.

I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder.

I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived.”

~ Marjory Pay Hinckley



Sister Hinckley was the cutest little lady wasn't she. 
I loved her to pieces, her parenting ideas and her ways were so special. 

Her kids were hers and nobody else had the right to keep them after school etc., she wanted them home with her. One time she marched to the school and told the teacher exactly that when one of her kids had been kept after school and she was missing them. 

She believed that her children should have time to lie on their backs and look at the clouds in the summer too. 

She would have been such a fun mom to have. 

Love, Grammy T. 

What fun memories do you have of being little and just having fun? Tell us below in the comments. 

I Hate Little Chicken Pens

I borrowed this picture from one of my favorite blogs,  Old Picture of the Day

 Yes, I hate little chicken pens because they are cruel. 
Yes, I said cruel. 

How would you like to live in such a tiny space. 

If I was a chicken and I was let out everyday to roam that would be one thing but 
to live in one of those tiny ones 24-7 is not happy. 

So here is a picture of a chicken pen as I remember them back in the day. 
You notice the size. 

My Nana and Papa Pillsbury, who lived in Sutter Creek CA. had a big pen except their pen was taller and had chicken wire on the top so the red tail hawks couldn't sweep down and get themselves a cheap chicken dinner. 

I loved walking barefoot in the pen because the soil felt so soft on my bare feet. It was soft because it was the ashes from my Papa's wood burning stove that was kept on his enclosed back porch. He would sit their and read the newspaper and relax. He needed to relax because he worked so hard for PG and E as an electrician. You know climbing poles, fixing downed lines and getting up at 2 in the morning when the storms took the power out. 

Anyway it was one of my favorite things to walk in that pen. Nana decided it could be dangerous to do because I could get a splinter from the unburned wood in my foot so I had to wear shoes in the pen.  

I loved her very much and she wasn't a wimpy, bossy kind of Nazi Grandma 
so I didn't argue a bit, out loud. 

But I still think it was the funnest thing ever to walk barefoot in those ashes. 

Chicken poop?
Who thought of chicken poop in those days.

There are lots of really cute chicken coops now days but make a bigger pen OK.  
 Don't be cruel. 

Love, Grammy T.

Life Is Like A Box Of Chocolates

REALLY?

That would be just too predictable 
and you could order your box 

just how you like it. 

Did you ever take a bite out of the prettiest one 

and then hurry and stick it back in the box 

and take another one to only find that it 

had that creamy stuff too?


And nobody wanted your old pieces, 

the one's you had taken a bite out of.

So then you learned to just order a 
box of the Nuts and Chews.

Yep.... It's a cute saying but 
not at all like 
real life. 


Love,
Grammy T.

It's Great To See Better!

Boswella Tree

Hi all, I have had Wet Macular Degeneration for a few years that was caused by using Advair. I had shots in my eye to help it but that didn't help very much at all and I was allergic to the shots. I was taking Frankincense internally for arthritis and when I went to my eye doctor again to get another shot for the WMD he said, "you don't need a shot, your WMD is going away." I asked him what I had done and he said there was nothing I could have done to make the change and to come back in two months and he would check me again. When I got in the car I told my husband that it must have been the frankincense that I was taking in capsules that had started to clear my eye.

It hadn't fully cleared up and I had stopped taking the frankincense daily thinking I didn't need it for the arthritis. Since then I came up with another concoction for my capsules that has frankincense, clove, orange, sandalwood and lavender oils for another condition. Guess what? After taking that for three days I can read with my right eye this morning. Wow!! Ask me how I love essential oils. :)

I've had cancer twice and I really don't want to get it again so I am using preventive measures. I had breast cancer in 1986 and thyroid cancer in 2007 with the operations and treatments that went with them. If you research frankincense and cancer on Google you will come up with the studies.

Did I tell you that I have developed an allergy for almost all prescriptions? Well I have. It's crazy so therefore I am constantly studying other means of healing.

Melissa is another essential oil I take in a capsule daily. It is wonderful. Expensive but so worth it. I cut all the oils with fractionated coconut oil before I put them in the capsule. Study Melissa too. It is so good and can mellow you right out. I call it my Happy Pill. It's good for a restful nights sleep too and at my age that is a wonder to behold. :) 

So long until we meet again. 

Adios.

Love,
Grammy T.

How To Reboot iphone With Power Button Broken

On my iphone 3G my sleep/wake button doesn't respond and 

I found a fix so I wanted to share with you. 

See the solution below:

If your phone is not frozen, you can turn on "digital" versions 

of your hardware keys without erasing network settings. 

Go to settings, general, accessibility; 
assistive touch  "on". 

A small white dot will show up on your screen, 

which you can move wherever you'd like to keep it. 

Tap the dot, 

tap device, 

and there is your lock screen button, 

which if you hold down 

will bring up 

the power off

red arrow. 

You can use these buttons the same way you would 

the "real" button.

That worked and it was booted off. 

Then - Oh, oh I couldn't  figure out 

how to turn it back on without 

that power button that is on 

the top right of the phone 

because it is broke.

I looked until I found a very easy peasy fix. 

Do you want to know what it is? 

OK, I'll tell you. 

 When you plug the phone or ipad into the wall 

as if you were charging the device and 

it will power on. 

Yep, that easy and it worked. 

I thought I was going to have to get 

a new phone 

or have it taken apart but nope, 

just plug it in to charge it 

and walaaah! 

It is fine. 

Love, 
Grammy T.

DIY Gypsy Jewelry Box from The Dollar Tree

Pillbox from The Dollar Tree

When I travel I usually put my earrings and necklaces 

together in a eyeglass case. 

But they would get all tangled up.

I saw this cute little pillbox yesterday at
The Dollar Tree and it
works perfectly.

No tangles now.

Pillbox with earrings and necklaces

Now I have a very cute, inexpensive 

Gypsy Jewelry Box.

Love, Grammy T. 

It's All About Having A Possitive Attitude

Or as Maya Angelou so eloquently stated, 
(doesn't she always).
  
"You may not control all the events that happen to you, 

but you can decide not to be reduced by them. 

Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud. 

Do not complain. 

Make every effort to change things you do not like.

If you cannot make a change, change the way you have been thinking. 

You might find a new solution." 

Love,
Grammy T.

I Love Carmel By The Sea

Lillie's and laughter

After our trip to Carmel I decided to check and see how all of these 

darling houses came into existence. 

Carmel By The Sea is a darling village in fairy tale style 

and has been one of our favorites 

for years. 

Here is the answer:

Hansel

How Arthur Rackham and Hugh Comstock are linked...

Hugh Comstock was very familiar with Rackham's illustrations and when his wife asked him to build her a showroom for her handmade rag dolls “Otsy-Totsys”, the first time builder looked to Arthur Rackman's illustrations and built his wife a Rackham-inspired cottage, called Hansel. Hugh found his life's calling in the building of the cottage and proceeded to build twenty one more, all of which can still be found in Carmel today. Comstock was certainly not the only one influenced by Rackham's drawings, Walt Disney told his illustrator's to study Rackham's style before illustrating Disney's first full length animation, 'Snow White'.* And Peter Jackson's 'Ent's were most certainly derived from Rackham's frequent depictions of Ent-like beings.

Tuck Box

Hugh Comstock's Tuck Box built as Hugh's office or as a home in 1928, but became a restaurant in the early 1930s and has remained one ever since. Photo by Linda Hartong.talesfromcarmel.com

If you haven't been to Carmel you need to go. 

It is wonderful and enchanting and you 

won't be sorry. 

Just to see pictures of it make my heart 
go Awwwwe!

Love,
Grammy T.

Spicy Roasted Chicken Legs.

Spicy Roasted Chicken Legs by The Pioneer Women

When I am sewing and quilting I love to watch cooking shows. 

They get me excited to try new recipes so it is a win in situation for everybody. 

One day The Pioneer Women, Ree Drummond did her 

Spicy Roasted Chicken Legs. 

I tried them and they were great!!! 

My family loved them. 

You will love them too.

Go to her web page above for all of the pictures. 

Yum!!

How To Be A Good Public Speaker

Happy Day After The Super Bowl. I guess there can be no question as to who won that game yesterday. The Seahawks. 

So what's with this video? This is shaking Marshawn Lynch wearing his ski mask being coached by his teammate Michael Robinson. Marshawn Lynch is extremely camera shy. He has been fined $50,000 by the NFL for not speaking to the media. 

I was curious about the two players so I checked out their stories. Marshawn is nicknamed "Beast Mode" and is an all American running back. He played football for the University of California, Berkeley where he became the schools all time career rusher. He went to high school at Oakland Tech where he played football, basketball and ran track. 

Michael Robinson is known as being "Well Rounded and Well Grounded". He went to Varina High School in Richmand Virginia. And he went to Penn State and played football under Joe Paterno as a quarter back and more. He has two degrees in three years and is 12 credits away from having his masters degree. His degrees are in advertising and public relations. He also says that he has a lot of on camera experience and it shows. 

It was a miracle that Michael Robinson could play in the winning game against the Denver Bronco's because he had an adverse reaction to the anti inflammatory "Indocin" and was in the hospital in August after thinking he only had a bug. He lost 30 pounds but came back to play this season.

One teacher who has a blog, "I'm Lovin Lit"  divised a lesson from this video. 

So mom's and teachers out there 

here is a great chart to help teach children about 

speaking in public. 

Marshawn could have used this. 

Maybe he will see these blog posts
and practice. 

*Because practice makes perfect...Right?*

My Protectors

Remember the time I came home from a date and found my Papa King and my dad on the front lawn with their shot guns? That was a bit shocking to say the least. My Nana King had died and Papa was living with us and he was sleeping in front bedroom of our house in Fair Oaks.

A board like Kenny made to save me.

I was out on a date with the boy who has been my husband for 52 years and I guess that someone knew I was out and wanted to surprise me when I got home because he tried to get into our front door. Papa King heard him and got my dad and the guns. Candy our little dog heard him too thank goodness. I guess that guy didn't know that my Papa had been a CHP and police chief for 40 years. But he should have known that Candy wouldn't put up with that kind of stuff. 

On another night I had just come home from a date and I was washing my face in the bathroom. The window was open because it was a hot summer night. I felt someone watching me and turned to look and I saw a persons chest. Yikes! I walked over and closed the cranked open window, dried my face and went and got Candy. I should have let her out the front door but I was a little afraid to do that. The next day Kenny my little brother checked the flower beds and found bare feet foot prints. He then proceeded to make planks of wood with nails in it like the one above and and buried them with the nails pointing up so that my admirer would get a big surprise if he went peeking around my windows.  

Eventually Papa, Danny, Kenny and my dad organized a stakeout. The only person they saw while in hiding was a neighbor boy that came up to our property and turned around and went away. I guess he could tell that there was going to be trouble if he came up peeking in my windows again. 

But Kenny left the boards with nails in the flower beds for a long time. My dad and papa talked to the boys folks about it.

Because that's what dads and grandpa's do. 

Be Careful With Buddy Burners

Doomsday Prepping Family Night: DIY Buddy Burners

But the Winner of the most views on my blog is;

"I love my Buddy Burners" 

It tells me that a lot of people, at least 1165, care about how to have a cooking tool for ruffing it. 

And there are some wonderful instructive pages out there on the internet for help in making a Buddy Burner. 

I love the blog post that was done by The Hepworth's.

I am including the picture of their project with this post. 

I really like the starter tab that they included on the top of the little burner can. 

In my post you will see me helping the children,  Matilda and Sarah Sullivan with neighbor friend Morgan Ivie, cooking eggs, toast and hash-browns. 

What you didn't see is that a little fire started on the wood chips in the landscaping. 

And you didn't see Sarah dashing water on the flames and you didn't see the little explosion that erupted, blew up in my face and singed my hair. 

That really did happen and even though I saved tuna cans and home-storage cans for months to make more we didn't cook outside with them again because of the extreme fire danger that was present in our area. 

When I was little I used my Buddy Burner on a picnic table on my patio in my backyard, not on wood-chips. 

You do have to be careful when using any fire source for cooking. 

And pouring water on burning wax is not being careful as Sarah learned. 

Salt, that's what should have been used. 

Yes SALT.

Love,
Grammy T.