Oops!

"Maile, do you ever use Olay Body lotion? I tried it

and don't like it. It stays sticky!" "Sure, Mom, I've

used it before. It was fine." "Okay, I'll give it to you."

As I'm handing it to her a few hours later, she says,

"Mom, this is body wash!" Oops!

Although I love being retired, I decided to get a part-time job to earn enough money to buy a new embroidery machine.

I found a little Baptist church that needed someone to create their bulletin and PowerPt for their services each week. Yea! I love doing both of those jobs! I met with the office manager briefly and a few days later was called in to meet with the pastor. We had a great visit. He was very excited and told me he would have the office manager call me the next day to set up my start date, etc. Whooppee!! Unfortunately, my phone never rang!?!? I waited almost a week and called them, but there was no answer. I left a message on the pastor's voicemail stating that I was disappointed that the promised phone call never came and that I hoped the office manager wasn't still sick. I never heard a word from them! I guess I'm not supposed to have the job!?!?

Next option: Sell my car. Maxey's 2006 Matrix just like mine is parked in the garage. There's no reason to keep an extra car...especially since we need some money. So, we decided to sell my Matrix with 32,000 miles and keep the one with 8,000 miles. So, late last night we put a For Sale sign on the car. This morning I drove it to church for Bible Study and Livewire Choir. Of course, I parked strategically where the car and FOR SALE sign could be seen from the busy street next to the church. When I came out of choir practice, a man was waiting for me. We went for a test drive; and he bought my car! Wow!!

So...Good Bye Matrix


Hello Embroidery Machine!

Goodbye Dear Friend

My dear embroidery machine died! I miss it terribly!! We had so many good times together in the past 12 years...and, as with true friendships, a "few" frustrating moments through the years.

Tears come to my eyes just typing this...

Just another part of the "journey".

Crafty Fun!

My friend, Diane Venegoni, came to spend a couple of days with me. We had a wonderful, wonderful time. When we get together, we usually "create" something. This time we decided to make matching tote bags in the style of Vera Bradley. (Of course, ours are better than anything Vera Bradley ever created!!)

Thanks for visiting, Diane. I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with you!!!!!

Learning to Love

Life is full of imperfect things...and imperfect people. That's just how it is!

My prayer this year has been that God would help me learn to love people. I'm not as mature and Christ-like as I want to be, but what I'm finally understanding (with God's guidance) is that learning to accept each other's faults -- and choosing to celebrate each other's differences -- is one of the most important keys to creating healthy, growing, and lasting relationships.

I thank God constantly for my wonderful husband, my fantastic children and their amazing families, and my many, many friends! Each and everyone of you is a blessing in my life!!

Golf Marathon

Maxey's golfing friends, Jimmy McAnarney and James Reeves, were here the past eight days...GOLFING!

And boy, were they golfing! They played 54 holes some days. They would leave by 6am each morning, golf all day, then literally drag in about 7pm. It sure didn't matter what I served them for supper. They were too tired to protest!

Gotta love the game!!

The last 3 days of the week, they attended The Colonial in the afternoons. They left after just one round of golf on Sunday, so I got to go to The Colonial with Maxey. I had never been before. It was an enjoyable experience.

I think they've already made plans to repeat the adventure next year! What fun!! I know one thing for sure...We thoroughly enjoyed their visit!

Our Latest Trip to Amarillo

We just returned from a visit in Amarillo. We needed to meet little Laney Kate Black, born April 21, 2010 to Kit and Ashley and big brother, Foster. She's the most active baby I've ever seen. She's always moving! Isn't she adorable?




Foster is busy, busy. We played and played and played. He is so cute! He and his mom, Ashley, decorated cupcakes one afternoon. (I was the designated photographer.) He carefully got his cupcake decorated JUST RIGHT, then immediately went to the table and ate all the decorations off the top. Of course, he had his napkin on the ready. Cute, cute, cute!




A couple of Christmases ago, I had given Kit and Ashley digital cameras. They didn't perform too well and ended up in a drawer. Foster got one out while I was there and played with it for hours. He took a lot of photos of his eye! The flash didn't seem to bother him. I would have been seeing spots for days!! We went through 3 sets of AA batteries, but we had a wonderful time. By the end of the day, he was "looking in the little window" and taking some pretty good photos.


Kit found my old keyboard in a closet and Foster has been playing with it. He performed quite a while, but I was lucky enough to get part of one song on video:


We had a wonderful visit!

Maxey played in a golf tournament with his friend, Mel, and came in 7th...in the money.

So that we wouldn't be in Kit and Ashley's way with all the busyness involved in having a new baby at home, we stayed with Jimmy and Judy McAnarney each evening. We thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent with them! We ate wonderful meals and played lots of Wii. Playing Wii was a new experience for Maxey and me. That is an amazing game. What technology!! And what fun!!

Sunday, we visited our old church for the first time since we moved away. Wow! It was overwhelming the welcome we received. It still brings tears to my eyes when I think about it.

God is SO GOOD! We had a wonderful trip!

I haven't been able to "BLOG" for a while. I have been "under the weather" most of this year. Oh well...maybe this is how it's going to be. I seem to have developed allergies. Since I've never had an allergy in my life, I guess I'm having 55 years worth all at once!!

Maxey and I just got back from a week's vacation in Conroe, TX. We have a timeshare there. This was our first year to get to use it.

Last year, I was in a style show during our scheduled week, so we had to "bank" our week. That worked out really well, because James Jeremiah Srader (our grandson) came into the world on Friday of that same week. I was really glad we were in town!

Here are a few photos of the resort:

 

We had a wonderful time. Maxey played 4 or 5 rounds of golf. I rode with him one day and took these photos:

The wildflowers were in full bloom! Thank you, God, for creating the flowers for our enjoyment!!

I was asked to create a crib set for a lady's new granddaughter. Her daughter and a friend picked out the fabics. I wasn't too excited about it because the materials were a little challenging, but it turned out to be adorable! It's reversible and one side is just as cute as the other. Here are the photos:

Look at the cute little gift bags I've been making. What fun!