Busy Saturday

Saturday was a bit of a whirlwind…

I was headed south to our daughter Kayla’s baby shower but I needed to make MANY stops along the way.  Kalissa and the boys were with me in an effort to make the trip a little more fun.

We left early at 8am…we had a two hour drive and needed to be there by 1pm.  We had a packed day that looked like this…

Pick up quilts from my friend Carla at Longarm Quilting Inspirations.  She had quilted four quilts for my blog reader friend Jean.  I told you about Jean, she stopped and visited one day during childcare.

Well Jean broke her hip in a fall and wasn’t going to be able to get the quilts.  I offered that I could drop them off on my way to the baby shower as Jean’s house is along the way.  So first stop…get the quilts.

The next stop was to Sandra’s in Hazelton.  She is a charity quilter and I often give her fabric.  She lives right next to the Fontana County Park wear they have a animal exhibit.  I dropped Kalissa and Carver off there.  Even though is was terribly cold, Carver enjoyed it and it gave him a break from his carseat.

I had planned to visit with Sandra for a few minutes but I missed her.  I ended up leaving the goodies on the step hoping she would find them.

Then I went back to the park.  It was so cold but I braved the outdoor primitive bathroom while Carver and Kalissa checked out the bison.

It’s really a lovely park and I highly recommend it.  I want to meet up with all of the kids next year and have a family day here.

From there is was onto the Farmer’s Market in Independence.  I was hoping they might have tomatoes still.  Supermarket tomatoes are okay but they are not fresh tomatoes.  With one more week on the diet, I really wanted fresh tomatoes.  I eat cherry tomatoes like most people eat grapes.  A bowl on the kitchen is a great thing as I pop one in my mouth whenever I want.  Happily I found tomatoes.

I got a jar of honey…Carver loves honey on bread and I was about out.  We found another lady giving out samples of this…Oh it looks yummy.

She had four different ones to sample.  Kalissa looked at me, said, “Sorry Mom” and tried them all…which was fine with me as she got the recipes too!!

You can bet that I’ll be making at least one of these once I’m off the diet.

We were going to buy a pumpkin but the lady was sold out of pumpkins.  It was only about 9:30 in the morning too.  I love down home earthy comfort food.

Next stop…Jean’s in Manchester.  Jean was up and around and doing marvelously.  She has a long way to go but wow, she was doing well.  She pulled out a her quilts and Kalissa snapped a couple pictures.

Check this one out…it’s all food!  I have the lady that comes in during childcare and does Farm to Table with the kiddos.  Kalissa immediately said, “Mom, you need to make one for Vicki”.  She was so right.  That’s when Jean said, “I have extras, so you want a set?”  Oh my…see why I say she’s so sweet.  I wanted to say yes but I knew I shouldn’t.  But I knew Vicki would LOVE it.

Jean ended up showing us all of her quilts…oh how fun.  I loved this one too.

It’s even better in person.  It’s for her daughter and her husband.  I’m sure it will be treasured by them.

While I was at Jean’s house I realized my shoe had broken.  The whole side of my good leather shoes had ripped out.  UGH.  WEIRD.

Jean’s house was awesome.  It’s a split level.  My brother had a split level house and I’ve been in several since.  I’ve thought them to be dated…but oh my.  Not Jean’s.  It was beautiful.  She has an eye for decorating for sure.  It made me want to go home and spruce up the house.

On our way to Jean’s house we had passed the Manchester Public Library.  I have a library card from there and that is how I use Hoopla, one of the online libraries I use to listen to audio books.  There’s lots more to get than audiobooks though.  I mentioned to Kalissa that maybe she wanted to stop and get a library card so she could get Hoopla too.  She said yes…so we stopped.

Once we got in, the lady at the library desk said we should go down for story hour.  I ended up taking Carver down while Kalissa got her card.  We read “Where the Wild Things Are” and “Go Away Big Green Monster”….two of my favorites.

While we were there, Kalissa used the bathroom to freshen Gannon up.  Then she came and got us.  We didn’t stay for the craft as we wanted to get to Kayla’s but as we were walking out Kalissa asked if I have peaked into the children’s library.  I hadn’t as story hour was in a meeting room.

So, we stuck our head in.  What a lovely children’s library.  We started talking to the lady at the desk and she asked, “Are you Kalissa Friedman?”  Kalissa looked at her and said, “Yes.”  Then she handed Kalissa her debit card.  Someone found it in the bathroom.  It had fallen out of her pocket.

From there we thought we’d stop at Wal-Mart and see if I could find a different pair of shoes…and Kalissa needed a couple things.

I ended up finding a pair that would work but in the end, didn’t wear them.  I didn’t want to waste money on something I didn’t love.

We headed south again towards Kayla’s but stopped at a little thrift store along the way.  I found a few 100% cotton shirts.  Shirts are a $1 each here so I always look.  They had more but I tried to stay focused and only get colors that I was collecting.  Oranges for the Oregon or Bust quilt and the stripe for what I call my Linda quilt…it’s black and white.

We finally got to the shower…Kelli was already there with Georgia.

Lora came later with Lucy….

They played an “identify the baby food game”.  I opted out just in case something was added to the food that wasn’t “legal” for me to eat.

Carver was his usual rambunctious self…Lucy her shy self and the babies…well babies.

Kayla got so many lovely gifts that really were “her”.  Crocheted items…wooden toys…vintage books.  Everything was perfectly Kayla.  One of the gals brought a present and we commented on the wrapping.  This present…..

The gal said that she orders gifts from Amazon and gets everything “wrapped”.  This is how it comes.  CUTE.  No hassle to wrap and it looks nice.  She said it costs $3.

Then it was time for some more formal pictures…we don’t do that very well.  Here’s Kayla and I.  We were all telling her to show her bump but she was a little hesitant so I tickled her.

Then is was a grandma picture.  That’s Julie, Spencer’s mom.

Kayla is finally looking pregnant.  She’s due in January.

Then a cousin picture….
Left to right:
Lora with Lucy, Kelli with a sleeping Georgia, Kayla, the Kalissa with Carver and Gannon.

Then I snuck in for the Kramer picture.

Shortly it was time to go home.  Kayla has done a lovely job with her house.  She, like me, is hesitant to decorate.  We don’t like “to much”.  We feel unsure so we just don’t do it.  She has finally gotten over it and hung things.  It was so sweet and very “Kayla”.  I’m proud of her.  She’s making a nice home for her family.

Our trip home was fast.  No stops at all.  Kalissa had a wedding to get to.

So at 5:30 I made it home.  I took my shoes off to give my shoe a really good look….ick.  These are surely going to the garbage.

What started out as a smaller hole at Jean’s house, turned into a HUGE blow out by the end of the day.

When I finally sat down and ate some supper I looked at my phone.  There was a message from Jean.  She had spent the afternoon organizing the fruit quilt extras for me.

She had it packaged up and ready for the mail.  Oh my…what a whirlwind of a day!!

I have to say…I’m thrilled that Jean is treating me with the fabrics.  I just know it will be the perfect thing for Vicki!!

Lots of family…lots of errands done…lots of friends…all good things that made it the perfect of Saturdays.