Meet Alice

We took a road trip today.  For a while now, I've been thinking I needed a dress form.  I checked out my local fabric store, which shall remain nameless because they always disappoint me.  They wanted my whole paycheck plus my firstborn child for the forms they carry, besides the fact that they had only smalls in stock.  Those of you who know me know I haven't been a small since I WAS small!

On to the Internet and my favorite fabric store-Hancock Fabric.  Yes they carry nice forms and only want $99.99 for them.  I found the phone number of the Billings store and called them.  They had a medium in stock and put it on hold for me.  In the meantime Stan got his Harbor Freight ad in the mail and was itching to go to Billings anyway.

We left about 10:00 and met our sisters for a Mexican lunch, then headed out shopping-first at Big Lots where I scored a good deal on a Bissell Spot Shot, then to Harbor Freight where Stan got a ton of guy-type doodads and a big rollaround tool chest.  Then we hit Hancock and got my form, plus some lovely fabrics for tops and some duck cloth to make a couple of bags.  Our last store was Kohl's to check out the competition, since they're building a store in Bozeman right across from the mall and Macy's.

A potty break and coffee to go and we were back home again by 8:35.  The dogs were naughty on my living room rug, so the spot shot is charging and I get to spot clean some carpet in the morning, grrrrr!

 The form is blue, so I have christened her "Alice" after the song, "My Sweet Little Alice-Blue Gown."

Now I can show photos of my creations on a form instead of on a flat old hanger.  Next time I'll drape Alice with something so we don't see her naked blueness through the sheer fabric!

Our Thanksgiving Tradition-With a Twist

My husband's family is very, very close-even down to second and third cousins. We have had a tradition for as long as my husband can remember of renting a big hall and bringing all our food. We can have anywhere from 20 to 70 people. We carve our turkeys-2 or 3-make the gravy and give thanks. It's a great time to catch up on relatives who, even though they mostly live in the area, may not have the time to get together during the rest of the year. After the dishes are washed, we bring out the games-the oldsters play Pitch, the kids do Uno or Apples to Apples, and the rest of us gather around our favorite games.

This is when the important part of the day happens: My sister-in-law brings out her homemade popcorn balls, a tradition started the year they were married and didn't have money to make anything else; I open up my homemade Almond Roca, a required offering-I'm not allowed in the building without it; and the rest of the family sets out various other goodies and nuts. We start our celebration about noon, and we play games and snack all afternoon and into the evening. Then someone decides it's time for "Turkey Buns," turkey cut up into gravy and served over my husband Stan's homemade rolls, topped with a big slice of onion! Nobody's hungry but we know it's a precious tradition, so we all make a valiant effort to eat just a bit more.

Then we clean up the hall (for many years it's been the Belgrade Senior Center) and go out into the cold, hugging and promising to "do this more often!"

Our Thanksgiving is the stuff of legend, and anybody is invited-my son's friend from Brocton calls every year to see if it's still on!

This was the story that I submitted to our local TV station.  They decided I won, and turned it into a skit to broadcast on the Friday Evening News.  This is the revised version of our celebration:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=593209107266&oid=94711736971&comments


Hope you all are on Facebook so you can see this!

Another Road Trip

This time we met up with our son and DIL's church group, Imagine, and spent some time in Virginia City, MT. This is an old mining town that has been lovingly restored and is visited by thousands of tourists each year. They have two theater groups, The Brewery Follies-a bawdy, laugh filled musical revue that plays in the old brewery, and The Virginia City Players, a group that performs period plays from long ago, plus having a variety act. The Players are rated G, the Follies are PG, so since this was a church group with kids along we opted for the Players.

The Players have been holding plays in an old livery barn since the early 1950's-started by director Larry Barsness. Down through the years they have lovingly tried to stick with the original model and quite successfully, I might add. Stan's family started coming in the very beginning, even when money was tight. They would budget enough to get there at least once in the summer. I talked with the present director and he was tickled to know that there were three generations of people present who had kept the tradition alive. If Gram had been there it would have been four, but she was visiting my brother-in-law for the weekend.

About an hour's drive, so enough time for some knitting. I'm making a pair of socks for Grandma for Christmas. I decided, since it's the self-striping yarn, I would more or less work them together so the stripes would match. I got all the way up to the gusset by the time we got home.

Noses pressed to the window. Fascinating stuff for 5 & 6 year olds.

Pastor Randy checking out the weathered buildings. Some of these buildings were slapped up quickly to take advantage of the gold mining boom.

Isaac checking out the "Ye Olde Photo Shoppe."

As we left the Playhouse, we were treated to a bride and groom being carried around in a horse and buggy. We saw two weddings there-this must be something new, but quite a good moneymaker.

And finally and MOST importantly, homemade ice cream-made by a girl in pioneer dress with an old fashioned ice cream freezer.

Bloomers

I got three hanging pots for Mother's Day-one from Hubs, and one each from my oldest and youngest sons. They are flourishing. This is the one I picked out with my sweet hubby.

Firstborn

Happy 41st birthday to my oldest baby. Can't believe he has sons almost 15 years old. It seems like he was just learning to walk.
Now he not only has the big boys, but little kids that love their Daddy!
He also is inventive-here is his redneck candle lighter:

Strolling

Last night was Manhattan's Christmas stroll. There were vendors, open houses at the businesses, a Christmas market, warming fires, and very important, Santa.

He started at the local school library right after school let out, and at 5:00 he was escorted downtown to the local bank by the fire department. There the kids lined up for pictures with the big guy and to give him their requests. Every year the bank takes the pictures, prints them right there, puts them in a nice framed card, and gives them to the families free. What a nice service to the community!

Waiting in the 4 degree cold for Santa to show up.

The firemen delivering their precious cargo.

Out of his mind with excitement that "Poppa" Santa rode the fire truck-his favorite vehicle.

Gingerbread contest-also sponsored by the bank.

The evening ended with fireworks.

The planners were happy with the turnout since the daily lows were -25 F up until last night when it warmed up to +4. I figure people were tired of being cooped up so they bundled up and came out. This is always a nice way to start the Christmas countdown.

Any guesses on who Santa was?

Our Day

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The oldsters played Pitch.


Cousins laughed and played UNO.

I brought the requisite "Marty" Roca.

My sister-in-law brought her candy popcorn, neither one of us were allowed in without these traditional treats.


And "bestest" cousins ate and played board games.

When asked what the best part of Thanksgiving was, Sam (on the right) said, "The banana pie!"

A Boy and His Fish

Stan took some of his boys fishing today. Those boys took three of their boys-Isaac, Sam and Sydney. Sydney caught his first fish-a real nice trout, about 2 1/2 or 3 pounds. That trout is almost as big as Syd is. There's fish for dinner at their house tomorrow!

Our Weekend

We had a very busy weekend. We started off with a barbecue to honor the chili contestants in the state chili cook-off, held in conjunction with the Manhattan Potato Festival. Stan was a contestant. It was pouring rain, so the meal was moved to the senior center. The street dance was bagged because it didn't stop raining until late in the evening. The Festival is held to honor the potato growers in the area. Manhattan area potato farmers grow about 90% of all seed potatoes used in the United States.

Master at chili.

Saturday was the Festival and miracle of miracles, it was sunny. Not really warm but warm enough to get out and have some fun. The parade was fun and full of neat things, and just as the parade started, Air Force One flew over Main Street. Purely accidental, but neat anyway.

Parade loot.

There were booths in the park that runs along Main Street. There were crafts, food, games, and someone was even selling those dumb visors with the fake fur that looks like hair.

Taking in the attractions.

Stan came in third in the cook-off and won a new camp stove, $50, and a pottery chili bowl from Big Sky Carvers.

Big Sky Carvers is a company that manufactures carved wooden bears and ducks, as well as contracting with other factories to make dishes and figurines. The company has their products in stores all over the world. They are probably Manhattan's largest employer. Every year at the Potato Festival they have a huge tent sale and sell their seconds, overstocks and unfinished items for super-reduced prices. People start getting in line the evening before the sale and charge the tents when they open at 6:30 AM. (Yes, AM)

The firemen have their breakfast-their big fundraiser for the year. I think a lot of people become firefighters for one day just to help put on the breakfast. It takes tons of work to pull off, but the food is always good and it's a good opportunity to catch up with friends and neighbors.

After the festival, we went to a friend's funeral. This was a 56 year old man who went before his time. He was a co-worker of Stan's. This was quite a coincidence because the funeral was held in the same church as last Saturday's funeral. It was sad but Stan and I both got to visit with several of the guys he used to work with.

Today was church, a special service-we installed our new pastor. It was really neat-we as the Council got to lay on hands and pray for him. I think he'll be a real blessing and asset to our church.

Then this afternoon we attended a birthday party for our grand niece. I hadn't seen my nephew since their wedding two years ago, and here he is with his one year old daughter! We had good food, great conversation and were entertained by the kids' antics.

Cutie patootie opening gifts.

Now Stan is snoozing in front of the TV and I'm not too far behind him!

Closet Monsters

A few weeks ago we noticed some condensation on an outside wall of our front closet. What had happened was that there was a small section of the wall, the part that overhangs the basement, had not been insulated when the house was built. It got so damp, black mold built up on the sheetrock.

We ripped everything out and got rid of the mold. Then we used that spray foam insulation to fill in the roughly two foot square that had been neglected. In order to do this DH had to drill four holes. It turns out this boxlike section of the closet was divided into two compartments, so he had to have one hole in each to spray the insulation and one to see what he was doing. The second compartment he got a little generous, and over the next 24 hours these monsters grew:

They look like patrons at the Star Wars Cantina. I think I have to paint them and give them faces and identities. We've already named them. The big one is Sully and the little one is Mike, after the closet monsters in Monsters, Inc.