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My hubby got me a Netbook for Christmas. I love it. However, yesterday it did manage to piss me off. My little boy had gagedg himself and threw up his scrambled eggs all over his high chair in a matter of 2 minutes. I was dumping a load of laundry in the wash. And I came back to the egg episode. I had my netbook set up to look up a pattern while he & I ate breakfast. So, yes I was looking at that page for a while. Rather than studying the pattern like I planned, I had to clean up, strip the high chair, strip my son, rinse the clothing etc etc etc. You know the drill. I was so annoyed by the netbook that in the prompt line for help, I searched "help cleaning up barf" my search was fruitless. Oh well...I digress...

I've been working on the Playroom. I had an idea in my head to put all our board games on top of the TV armoire. I had in my head the cozy look of a well lived in, well used, much loved family room. You've seen them in movies, and on tv and in magazine articles...what I got was more "stack this up to get it out of the way". I need some suggestions...

 Any suggestions friends would be much appreciated!!

And....I'm Back...

Hi Friends!

It's late, 9ish out here in the Golden State...That being said, I am having a nice cocktail, rather than my normal coffee. I am however, still sitting at my kitchen table.

I've been away from the computer for several weeks, and I'm sure you're wondering what's been keeping my interest these days. I'm going to tell you. I discovered the wonderful world of Craigslist. I'm a bona fide, dyed in the wool addict. While my husband was out of town for work in January (the longest two weeks of my life since The Boy came into our lives), our son took his 1st steps. It wasn't the take off and run I was expecting. He took three steps, looked at me, and went back to crawling. I knew he was going to be in the Boston Marathon by the end of the week. I had my plane ticket booked to Bean Town, my chic clothing picked out...my map of the city, OK. So it was all in my head. A girl can dream right?

Plans had been in the works for several months to turn our useless den/office room into a playroom for our son. I say in the works, but that means, at our home, the talking stage. Discussed randomly over a meal, in bed at night, over a beer at our counter after our boy is in bed...That's the stage it had remained in. I skyped with my husband that evening, after I canceled the plane tickets to Boston, and he said "we need to make a move on the playroom". And that's all it took. I looked at our meager budget, and realized, I can't do a BBQ on this budget. Where am I going to get the money for this room? If you know me, I love to plan and decorate a room. And I'm good at it, in my humble opinion...

Back to my Taco Bell budget. I looked around the house at the mountain of crap we don't use. We have moved 3000+ miles across the country and three houses in the Golden State...Why? Why do I have all this crap? I started to sound like George Carlin...Armed with my pink digital camera, my bff to watch my son, I started picking. You know, American Pickers style. In a matter of five days, I had sold off enough junk to fund the playroom in a very nice fashion.

Let me tell you about Craigslist. I love it. I mentioned that. What I didn't mention is, meeting the people you are buying from or selling to, is half the fun! I love people. I love to people watch, I love to see people interact, I love to talk to people. I'm always getting people's life story (I believe I mentioned the old lady from Nashville, TN at the mani/pedi day, and the two Hell's Angels in the Savemart). Anyhoo, I enjoy Craigslist.

The playroom is still a work in progress. I spent my budget on the important things, have since picked up a set of used tables from a friend for a song, and a TV armoire (yes, that was a Craigslist gem). I have a lot of projects going on right now...I'll update with a new blog and some pics as I go...

What you'll have to look forward to this month: My hand-sewn diaper bag, my throw pillows for my couch, my knitted slipper socks, and the playroom!

Thanks for having a cocktail with me friends...

Talk to you soon!

PS: Has anyone in CA heard the new song Mr Bartender on KJUG? It is ah-mazing. Puts me in the soup kinda like old Conway Twitty does...If your not from the East side of the Ol Mississippi River, then you won't know what I mean by in the soup...

Stitch & Bi*ch

Good Morning Friends!

Do you have your cup of coffee?

As promised, here is a picture of my now famous Lil Granny...

This was Classic Lil Granny...For several reasons. #1, it was Christmas Eve, and Christmas was the pinnacle of her year. She loved to put up the tree, watch the cartoons and other Christmas specials on TV, but most of all, she loved that first week in December when my mother took her Christmas Shopping and then to lunch. Christmas Shopping in this sentence gets a Capitol because it was an all out holiday for her. No one, and I mean No One on this planet loved shopping for Christmas gifts the way she did. Anyway...I've digressed...Here, she is laughing loudly, exchanging gifts, and daintily opening hers. You may or may not depending on her mood, find that gift, re-wrapped and placed under her own Christmas Tree at her apartment later. She liked to savor the moment. As a matter of fact, one of my very own Christmas Decorating Philosophies came from her. Direct Quote, Hand To God, "As far as I'm concerned, you can never have too many twinkle lights."  And as such, I add more strands of twinkle lights to my already pre-lit Christmas tree. I've also developed a penchant for spray glitter, but that story is better saved for another day.

Today, I'm going to tell you about my other Grandma. My Grandma Howard. This would be my father's mother. She too chain smoked and drank so much coffee, I'm still not sure how the woman ever slept. This is the Granny I made quilts with. She had a wonderful sense of humor. I also tend to get my frugality (some call it cheapness) from her.

She taught my friend Heather and I, Quaker's Meeting. And I do not mean to offend any Quakers who may read my blog, it was simply a tool to keep us quiet in Church. It never worked. She knew it wouldn't, and it tickled her too. Secretly, she liked laughing in Church as much as we did. Maybe more...

So, we set out to make a Crazy Quilt and a 9-Patch Lap Quilt one summer. She would spin a yarn while teaching me to sew the pieces together. We used the biggest bolt of white fabric you have ever seen for the backing. It was industrial size. Probably weighed 50 plus pounds. Something I'm sure my grandfather found, and brought home to her, pleasing her to no end with his frugality...Her stories were as memorable as the quilting skills she taught me. Perhaps more considering my 1st solo quilting project was met with some bumps in the road.

So, I'm making a basic 9-patch quilt. I have no idea how big the finished product will be. I started out making a completely different quilt. Didn't measure properly, and had to make some adjustments. OK, so many adjustments that I had to scrap the idea of making the Cheaper by the Half Dozen lap quilt and move onto a basic 9-patch. Which is fine. Except I have no idea how big it will be. Hopefully either big enough for  a place mat, or possible a table runner...if I'm lucky, I'll end up with a hand towel.

I'll post some pictures of my progress tomorrow...

The title of my blog today refers to a specific group, a sewing/quilting group called Stitch & Bitch. Information suggests these groups have been around since the WWII. I have consulted a dear childhood friend (the same one who learned the Quaker's Meeting Rhyme in Church) to help me do some research on the subject. I find it interesting, the social and economic aspects of quilting circles to women. Hopefully I'll have more history to share next time...Till then, "Quaker's meeting has begun, no more laughing no more fun, if you dare to crack a smile, you will have to walk a mile..." Rotten, I know.

Love,
Olivia
My Granny's Attic

My Lil Granny...

Hi Friends!

Do you have your cup of coffee? All comfy at the kitchen table? Good. Let's talk.

One of my fondest memories of my childhood is walking into my grandparents house and seeing my Lil Granny sitting in her spot at the kitchen table. There would, depending on the time of year, be one of several things in front of her. Always, without question, would be a cup of coffee, typically so strong the spoon would stand on it's own, and an ashtray with a cigarette in any stage of smoke...If it was summertime, you could add to this menagerie, a radio playing the Cincinnatti Reds and a steno pad where she kept strict scores of the game. Inning by Inning, run by run, batter by batter.

She would discuss the game (if it were summertime), what she might have read in the local paper, whatever family gossip was brewing, or what programs were on TV she planned to watch that evening.

My Lil Granny got her name for an obvious reason. She was about 5'7" maybe taller, and at her hay day, about 140 pounds. Tall and Skinny! Hence, her name. Lil Granny. She had an insatiable sweet tooth, a love of baseball, Andy Griffith, Judge Wapner, and Elvis. Later in life, she discovered such luxeries as Taco Bell and Kenny Chesney. She loved to mow the lawn, fold laundry, iron clothing, and do the dishes.

I'll add a picture of my sweet Lil Granny who passed on in February 2009. But she left, for me, a love of the kitchen table. In my family, the kitchen table is not just where we take our meals, but where we share our coffee, our gossip, our stories, our news, our successes, our failures, our recipes, our sorrows, our joys, our past and we plan our future. Since I've moved to California, I've come to share these same moments with friends here, for one of my dear friends, it's her comfy living room couch and a cocktail where we share. For another dear friend, it's her swimming pool and a bag of Doritos. The result is the same. Good conversation, fond memories and a relaxing time spent in the company of those I love.

So, in honor of my Lil Granny, here is a picture of my kitchen table, where I sit with my coffee and my friends and my little family and dish. You'll notice the plastic table cloth. You know the kind. With the felt backing. Don't put anything too hot on it. These were a staple at my grandparents house. They would change with the seasons and holidays. But what was the same, was the back drop of my childhood, and later the foundation for my adulthood.

Enjoy your special time, where ever it is...

Love,
Olivia
My Granny's Attic

Let Me Introduce Myself...

Let me start by saying, I never meet a stranger. I've befriended two local Hell's Angel's by chatting about their upcoming bbq in the Savemart check-out line. I met my bff and her two daughters for pedis one Saturday afternoon, and ended up hearing an old TN southern belle's life story. I've managed to adopt a teenage boy when he started coming to wash our cars in our driveway. So trust me, we'll be fast friends, because I never meet a stranger.

The idea for my blog was a simple one really. I had an amazing childhood, and have been blessed to have an amazing adulthood. I have happy, wonderful, fun, fond memories to share. I love all things homebound, home related, homespun, homemade, homecooked, well, you get the idea. I happen to think the American Housewife is something to be celebrated, rather than poked fun at the way our media and entertainment industries do. With the current state of our economy, more people are entertaining at home, taking meals at home, spending quality time at home, more than in recent past.

So, cooking tips, entertaining ideas, crafting notions, book recommendations & disucssions, movie nights, decorating ideas. You name it, we'll dish on it. So, grab a cup of coffee, sit down at your kitchen table and join me...Can't wait to meet you!

Olivia
My Granny's Attic