Chairs, Trees, Michael

Chairs
I started to notice that  Mike was slowly sinking toward the floor while sitting at the kitchen table.  This didn't happen all at once but over a course of several days.  I asked him if he noticed he was sinking and he hadn't. I had him sit in my chair and he could tell there was a difference.  The front chair in this photo is Mike's chair.  When he was actually sitting in it, the chair was a lot lower than the other one. I guess he was bending the metal. One morning as I was heading out to a huge benefit sale, I told him to not be surprised if I came home with new used kitchen table chairs.

Mary and I had a great time at the sale. It is held twice a year and I usually come home with a car load of things we don't really need, although I always find a use for everything.  As we walked in, a volunteer asked if I was looking for something in particular and when I mentioned dining chairs she got excited and told me there were many and directed me to the table and chair area.  I found the perfect chairs but they had a sold sign on them. I then saw five chairs that looked pretty sturdy but the sign said table and chairs $38.  I didn't need the table and it didn't even look like it matched the chairs. I had also decided I would have to re-upholster the fabric part.  I moved on and didn't find anything else I liked. I went back to the sturdy chairs and sat in one when another volunteer came over. I explained I didn't need the table and she called an older guy over to see if I could just buy the chairs. He said yes, I asked how much, he thought for a minute. I told him there were only five chairs but everyone quickly stated there was one more under a pile of things.  He decided all six chairs for $12.  My heart raced but I had to stay calm, and slowly said....." Hmmmm, I guess I will take them".  I rushed to the check out to pay before anyone could change their mind on the price!

When I got home Mike made his usual face when I told him my car was full of furniture. We pulled the chairs into the living room to put felt on the bottoms when I started thinking about all the chairs we have in the house.  I went around each room and counted. We have 42 chairs not counting the two folded up on the basement porch. I remember when we first moved to Georgia, our friends really didn't like to come over to our place because we didn't have enough seating. That is not an issue now and maybe that is why I have a chair problem.

After we put the new used chairs at the table, I realized I really didn't have to re-upholster them because they match our decor.  They just need a little more padding!

I finally am finishing up the chair upholstering I started over a year ago.

Trees
I saw an ad for a scherenschnitte (scissor cuts or paper cutting) class being held at the German Heritage Center in downtown Davenport. I thought this would be something really fun for Mary and I to do.  I called to reserve our spots but the 2-D snowflake class was already filled.  I decided to sign us up for the 3-D Christmas Tree class.  It was weeks away and I couldn't hardly wait! I was so excited to cut paper for some reason.  The day finally came and we headed to the fourth floor of the center. This is where Mom used to spend her Saturday mornings practicing Zither.  We entered to find tables full of ladies with paper and scissors (no rocks).  The instructor Keith, had us sit down, gave us scissors, gave us around 10 pieces of paper, and then gave us a very quick tutorial. Thank goodness Mary was there so we could use both of our brains and help each other out when we didn't know what we were doing.  The nice lady next to me was more than willing to help us out.  As we got started, I asked Keith if everyone knew who he was because we were new and would like to hear the story in how he got started with scherenschnitte.  Of course I can't remember the whole story he told because I was concentrating on folding and cutting, but there was something about his daughter not being able to walk until they found the right chiropractor. They were left with tons of medical bills and during this stressful time he got out his scissors and started designing snowflakes. He ended up on the Martha Stewart show many years ago and people started requesting paper cuts for special occasions. He wrote books and sold calendars. Eventually he was debt free. He now teaches others and sells his patterns and also teaches Spanish at the high school. I bought the Winter Wonderland pattern so Molly, Maggie, and I could  scherenschnitte during the holidays.  After we folded, cut, pulled, and built our tree many people couldn't believe this was our first class. Why would we take a 14 paper layer class our first time? I didn't know any better. Now we will be experts for the Valentines scherenschnitte class in February.

This was our view as we scherenschnitted.

Michael

I came home from working St. Ambrose University's graduation ceremony this past Saturday. When I got home I couldn't find Mike and figured he probably was next door hanging out with our neighbor which he does often . About an hour later, I finally saw his note that stated he went out with Eric, the neighbor.  To me, this meant they went out to have lunch because they are always going out to eat.  Hours later I started to get a little worried but, he finally came home.  He was so excited to tell me that he did this.....

The last time he was on a horse was 48 years ago.

He was still excited on Sunday which made him drop and step on his glasses.  This reminded him of the time he placed his very expensive, really cool, new spectacles on top of the car and then drove off for them to never be seen again.  He had to use my readers this morning.

Luckily, he found a place in town that fixed his glasses.

The Orange Barrel

Mom always worried about the creek in the back yard and how it was meandering differently and would soon take down one of her favorite trees.  The neighbor eventually cut the tree down for Mom and Dad, so she wouldn't have to worry about it falling into the creek.  After we moved in, I noticed the drainage pipe from the street to the creek had broken off at the creek. I had a feeling this was the cause of the changing creek path.  Look closely at the lower left of the next two pictures and you can see where the drain pipe had broken off.

The following pictures are where Mom had her favorite tree. Instead of the tree falling in, Mike fell in head first when I wasn't home.  The neighbor had to come help muddy Mike out of the creek. I told Mike he wasn't allowed near the creek alone ever again, but he didn't listen to me.

I called our alderman who quickly sent out a crew to take a look at our issue.  The city crew took many pictures. The man in charge told me it would be an easy fix as the other guy placed an orange barrel at the edge of the creek.  He said they would have to wait until freezing weather so the equipment they would have to drive to our backyard, wouldn't tear up our yard.  We waited, and so did the barrel.

During the first freeze, we thought for sure they would be out to fix the pipe. Every once in awhile a city truck would come out and we would get excited but it was usually just a crew coming to look and plan. One time they even said we were next on the list!  How exciting. But then a snowstorm came and it seemed the pot holes in the streets were more important.

We waited and waited. Soon our first winter was over and still no city guys to come fix the pipe,  but we still had the orange barrel. We thought it looked nice with our Naked Lady flowers.

The flowers were long gone and the orange barrel was alone.

I emailed the alderman and explained that we had been waiting a year for the fix.  Again, a crew quickly came out to look.  Since I am now working, Mike would have to be in communication with the city. He found out the guy in charge who I had talked with that first time, no longer worked for Davenport. Our work order had been pushed to the bottom.  Again, we would have to wait until a freeze. 
Finally our day came. They were here to dig up the ground, connect the pipe and put in some rock.

They cemented the pieces together and would be back the next day, after the cement dried, to fill in the rock and dirt.  Then this happened.

It took a couple of days for the guys to come back to finish the job.  They did tear up the side of the yard as well as the front yard. We will have to repair.

The job is finished and we no longer have our beautiful, colorful, orange barrel. It sat in our yard for over a year.

We will now look forward to planting grass seed in the spring.

Craft Fair and Small World Stories

I have always wanted to sell at a craft fair. I make things here and there and  wondered if people would be interested in buying my wares.  I almost tried several times in Georgia but couldn't find anyone to do it with me. I didn't think I had enough variety.  Last year I found out our Church holds an annual craft fair so Mary and I went to check it out.  I thought this would be a nice, small place to try out a craft fair.  So, this past year I have been making things and messing up the house with all of my supplies. Can you find the cat?

All of my spare time these last few months have been making things.  After Church one Sunday, a member came up to me and asked if I could come over to her house to meet someone. All I could think about was getting home to sew pot holders. She said she was having a visitor that she believed was a relative of mine.  She mentioned that my Mom and her started talking one day about this visitor and that she lived in Arizona but came to Iowa once or twice a year. She and her husband still own a farm in Delhi, which is near Earlville where my mom is from.  I told the Church member maybe next time, but then I thought maybe I had better find out who this was.  I went to her house and sure enough, I met a family member I didn't even know existed. She is my Grandmother's brother's granddaughter.  We had such a good time talking about our family!  Turns out her husband grew up with the Church member's husband.  We plan to invite her to  our cousins lunch next time she is in Iowa so my sisters can meet her too.

A few weekends ago, Mike and I headed up to Black Earth, Wisconsin to pick pears and pick up Sherry's pot people for the craft fair.

Mike, Brice, and I had to fight the sleet and rain to get the pears.  Brice was surprised that I would put on an animal hat. I told him I was okay with that because I wouldn't be eating it. This hat was extremely warm. My head was sweating.

Sherry mentioned the Church across the street was having their Lutefisk festival and we should go try it out. When I heard this was white fish soaked in lye, I decided if we did go, I would just eat the potatoes.  We went, not to eat, but to see what it was all about.

Sherry introduced me to some friends and we stood and watched the eating fun. I was ready to go but one of the servers wanted us to meet her daughter so we stood a little longer. I mention this because of the timing.   When we walked up from the basement, I saw a woman heading up another flight of stairs with a Georgia sweatshirt.  I couldn't let her get away so I yelled " Is that a Georgia sweatshirt"?
It was and she came back down the steps. She just graduated from the University of Georgia.  She lives in Madison, Wisconsin but spent six years in Athens. We were so excited to meet each other. Remember, this is a very small church in the middle of nowhere. What small world fun!

One time this past week at work, I received a phone call from a student who wondered if all of her transcripts were here. I looked and found she had gone to Kennesaw State University in Georgia.  I told her I moved up here from Athens and she said her brother is going to UGA right now. We had fun with that.

Another day at work I was walking across campus and passed a student who had a Topsail sweatshirt on. Again, I couldn't let this one go and yelled " Is that a Topsail sweatshirt you have on"?  It was. Topsail, NC  is where my niece Meredith's at that time boyfriend but now husband, lived for a few years.  It was a beautiful place on the island where you could see the ocean and the inlet waters from his back deck.  This student's boyfriend is stationed near  there. I told her my Topsail sweatshirt was in my office and that I wear it everyday while walking during my lunch hour. We talked a little but she wasn't as excited as I was and looked like she was in a hurry.

Then I received an email from a student's mom who said her daughter was planning on coming home for the summer and needed a letter of good standing so she could apply to the school in Georgia.  I emailed back and told her I wasn't sure what school her daughter planned to go to but I had worked at the University of Georgia for 21 years.  She email back to tell me they are from Iowa but moved to Dalton Georgia (carpet capital of the world).  I returned saying she did what we did, moved far away while a daughter was still in college and I mentioned Young Harris College.  She then replied saying her Mom's friend owns a house in Hayesville NC and drove through Young Harris last September. Hayesville is 10 minutes away from YHC and where we stayed last May while Maggie graduated. I blogged about it. Anyway, we became email friends.

When Sherry delivered the plants to my house, she helped me sew some pot holders. You will see the big pot cat, which didn't make it to the sale because Mike liked it too much.

This past Saturday was the craft fair.  Mary helped me and thank goodness she did. We were busy. People were attracted to our table because we had so many things to look at. I don't know how many times we told people that Mary, Jo, and I go garage sale-ing and thrifting to find the pots for Sherry to put her plants in. They thought that was the coolest thing. This photo is actually in our living room, to see how we should set up the tables.

 People were very interested in Molly's paintings, especially when I told them the story about Mom teaching piano for 65-70 years, accumulating a lot of music and then Molly, her granddaughter, wanting to preserve them by painting on them.

I had several people ask how I was going to make money if I only charged $2 for pillows and $1 for pot holders.  I told them I needed to get rid of fabric. What I was really thinking was price low, sell a lot, make money.

These photos are from the actual craft fair. Can you find Mary?

The photo below shows my pot holders, which I sold out of.  Doesn't everyone sell pot holders at a craft sale? Yes, but mine had heat resistant batting and I was only asking $1 each.  I sold out and now have a request for more.

Unloading a packed car, selling, and then loading a less packed car, and then unloading at home, exhausted me. When I was able to relax with a glass of wine, I instantly fell asleep in my chair at 7:30pm.  I got an excellent night's rest and then called Mary Sunday morning at 9am to tell her I planned to go to Church and to call me to let me know if she was still planning on going.  She didn't call back and I was headed out the door at 9:40am.  I thought I would call her one more time, to see if I should pick her up and that's when she asked if I had set my clocks back.  Mike and I  had forgotten, even though we talked about it all week. I think that is the first time that has ever happened.  So, I had an extra hour to clean up the craft fair mess in the house.   I have a clock at work that is always confusing on the Monday after the time changes.  This is not a mirrored image.

35 Years

October 1, 2018,  our 35th Anniversary.

Dating...

The wedding in 1983....

My friend and roommate at the time Kathy, became engaged when we did.  Kathy and I  were at the mall one day and she showed me the wedding dress she wanted to buy but it was too expensive, $180.  Weeks later, mom came to visit me in Dubuque to go dress shopping. We went to the mall and the dress Kathy wanted was still on the rack.  I loved it too and figured if it was still there, Kathy didn't want it.  I tried it on and bought it right away.  If I remember correctly, it was the only dress I tried on.  Of course when I saw Kathy again, she told me she went to buy the dress and it was gone. I felt terrible and told her I had bought it. She was okay with it because she found an ivory one that she liked just as well.

I still have the pattern my sister used for making her dress as well as Sandy's.  I made my veil which you can tell by looking at the beading. 

My parents paid big money to preserve my dress so it wouldn't turn yellow.  One time I almost took it out so the girls could try it on. That was when we would watch "Say Yes to the Dress" non stop for days.  As I was about to open it, the girls convinced me not to open it.  I think it is because they didn't want to try it on because there may have been a chance I would push them to keep it for their wedding some day.  I really can't believe I still have this after our move to Davenport. We sold just about everything we owned when we moved up here but my dress made it on the list of things to keep.

 The paper on top of the box is the hand written list of guests and their addresses.

IT LOOKS YELLOW!

Our first house we rented was in Fort Dodge, Iowa where I got a job as Assistant Manager of Woolworth.  I loved this house because it was so different on the inside.  It had a very unique layout and it had the most beautiful 70's carpet in the kitchen!  It didn't have any insulation and we froze every winter.

We rented a duplex when we moved to Athens, Georgia in 1985.

We rented a brick house in five points in Athens. I couldn't find a photo in time for this story. We stayed there for two years until we found a house.

Our house we bought in 1989.....

Painting the house with my Dad. That is Mike on the roof.

After we painted it....

Our house when we sold it in 2017.  New siding, new windows and new metal roof throughout the years.



We waited nine years before starting a family in 1992 (Molly) and 1995 (Maggie). 

Our family now...   (we didn't plan to be in the same order, it just turned out that way)

Then and now......

35 more years to go!