Spooky, my cat

Here is a pic of Spooky who I have mentioned a few times.

THE HOLIDAYS by Lois Valentin republished from 2011

THE HOLIDAYS by Lois  Valentin     Originally published 30 Sept., 2011.

For most people, this time of the year is Halloween. I have memories of Halloween. Decades ago when my children were small, I made some of their costumes. There were  frog, candle bar, spider, clowns, etc I also made my own costumes to dress up and walk around with them. I was either a clown or my favorite- a gorilla.

Now my extent of Halloween is to try and make some extra money by sewing costumes. This has been very rare lately.

Thanksgiving used to be driving with my children and whoever else wanted to come along a distance of 70 miles to my mother's. 

When I was President of a local low income tenant council for 8+ years, I would get donations to supply about 50-100 families with complete turkey dinners. I did that for Christmas , too.  The last year, I decided to end that after some of the people actually chased me for a turkey, etc. 

Then as my children became adults, I would go to my son's. Now I stay home, while everyone else goes elsewhere. Quiet at last!

My favorite holiday is Christmas- both religious and commercial. When I went to church, I would sometimes help with the Christmas pageant by organizing or sewing the costumes.

As a child my Christmas's had their ups and downs.

Aprox. 1960 I had my tonsils out in Dec. I caught whooping cough while at the hospital so I was told. I was so sick. Dec - Feb I was out of school. I went back for 1 day , became sicker in school and had to stay out another month. The doc made numerous house calls to give me medicine. I overheard him say to my mom that there was nothing more he could do. 

But that Christmas I received a letter from Santa Claus saying he would get me a toy dog Gaylord, a walking basset hound.after Christmas.  He did. I proudly walked that dog . I also had kept that letter for the longest time.

When my children were small I enjoyed Santa's visits as much as they did. , We marched in parades. We made things for the neighbors. Once, when I was working ,  I bought a pool table off my brother by selling stuffed Christmas decorations I made to my colleagues at work.

We also drove the distance to my moms. One time I dressed up at Santa Claus in a suit that I made  and drove the 70 miles just to knock on her door as well as visit her neighbors. Throughout the years I also visited nursing homes in my Santa suit with gifts that were pre-supplied by nursing home staff. 

When my children got older, I made quilts as gifts. Now life is different. Being a great grandmother on a super fixed income  vs. health issues vs. the economy vs the wants vs the needs is a major part of my life. Probably many people are in the same boat.  But this year, I  have decided to help myself get through Christmas despite the obstacles.

I will be sharing with you some of my creative works and ideas. I am hoping to post daily .  Until Christmas I will be blogging with creative things made from recycled materials. Here is the start of  some of my ideas.

1. Make a list of people. I created a database using spread sheet. Columns are name, wants, got, wrapped yes or no and location of gift after wrapping.  I added the last two columns this year as I got tired of trying to remember where I put everything.  I often forgot where I put things.

2. Handmade coupons with or without expiration dates are great.  My children used to make these for me for errands, chores, etc. One time I kept a coupon in my wallet for many years. I finally cashed it in. Much to the chagrin of my teenager almost adult who balked at it but as I pointed out- there was no expiration date written in so it was still good.

# 3 will come in a later post. I wonder how many ideas I can come up with to take us to Christmas.

Until next time.

Lois

A Day of Fun by Lois M Valentin 2000

I now have a working camera so will be doing a lot of posting of things I have made throughout the years. Many of you know I am into all sorts of crafts. You have seen some of my sewing, read some of my chiklren's  stories, now here is some art work. Here is a pic of a picture I painted in 2000.

Until next time.

Lois

STAYING WITH THE OLD PLUS IN WITH THE NEW- COLD RAINY DAY FOOD

STAYING WITH THE OLD  PLUS IN WITH THE NEW

Yesterday I got  a bag of small potatoes and a large bag of carrots. I cut   them,  seasoned with Adobo, and boiled  all in a large turkey pan.  Although I love to cook I hate cooking day after day. It's too painful sometimes and way too time consuming.

I took a small portion of the veggies and added it to a can of beef stew for yesterday's meals.

Today I recooked the potatoes and carrots. Since I saved the leftover from yesterday's beef stew, I added it to the veggies. Beef stew flavored veggies!

Another dish.
 Put oil into another pan, I put in a panful of cut up onions, 3 heaping tablespoons of minced garlic. Cooked until onions were done, Defrosted stuffed green peppers in sauce. Added that to the onion and garlic. Cooked until flavors melded.

If there are any leftovers, it's going to be combined tomorrow.

Until next time.

Lois

END OF SUMMER + BACK TO SCHOOL = HOMEWORK- THEIRS AND MINE

END OF SUMMER + BACK TO SCHOOL = HOMEWORK

Homework ! Yes, theirs and mine. 

During the day my grandchildren  are at school . I have but a few hours to research genealogy  , sew or write or whatever comes along like laundry. I keep an eye and ear out for my grandbaby as they are no longer here to be with him. Whereas before he was with them most of the day, now he is hardly with them. School , after school activities, mandatory after school activities , and homework create a whole new time schedule and gas usage ie transportation.

 My grandchildren range from 1 yr - 11 yrs with my great grandchild in between.

 Learning needs goes from learning to speak and recognize letters and numbers  to complex math  to the world and beyond. What? There's life beyond their video games? 

I am an email away from my grandchildren who do not live close by. They also might need help with homework.  Here I have set up an art area/homework center in a corner of my office.  It's pretty quiet and away from their computer or tv. 

Besides the hallway of learning where I posted learning charts, I have gathered my old books and supplies to help get through the year. I have to bone up on many things that I have tossed aside like division with fractions.  Now when was the last time I used that?

History I have lived through is now part of their history books. Geography has changed so many times with new countries, divided countries or countries no longer in existence.  Science is always changing.  After drilling it into my head for decades about planets, they now decide to  take one away.

Although I will be helping  them, they also will be reteaching me on the updated status of new fangled things in life. I am now into Facebook. Before , that meant I fell asleep while reading.

Now I have my own homework as I just finished writing a children's book. Illustrations come next. Followed by the trail to copyright and publishing. This I do in the middle of the night when no one needs my help.  Spooky helps by giving me a nudge  and playing Words With Friends at the same time keeps me focused. 

Now I just have to figure out how to use the old digital camera.

Until next time.

Lois

Repurposing and recycling ; Curtain to walker apron. Fan blades to flowers.

Today I took apart an old pink with small white designs curtain.  It is now going to be a walker apron with pockets  for my friend's mom who is now in a nursing home.

My grandson's fan no longer works . I had Lee take it apart so I can have the fan blade. I washed it. Lee put a hole in one of the blades. or whatever they are called.  It is now going to be turned into a flower- a big flower.

I had a smaller purple fan that my grandson was using in the meantime until it croaked as well.  Did the same thing. It also will be turned into a flower.

Pics later.
Until next time,

Lois

THE PURPLENESS

Here is my grandchild in purple outfit that I put together and  previously blogged about.

Lois