Have you ever heard of the Tug Fest? Pobably not!!

       It is here!! My home town we have a party every year!! OK If you can picture this a GIANT rope strung accross the Mississippi river (between Port Byron, IL and LeClaire, IA) and they play tug of war!! No really that is what it is all centered around!! This year is the 25th annual Tug fest!! Someone saw this in a smaller scale in Michigan and decided it would be worth it! Was of course me with resistance! The rope 2,400 feet had to be specialy cut and spliced to work!! There was talk about not continuing in 2006 when the rope had to be replaced, but I think there would have been a rumble beside the river if that had happened!!
       OK so every year there are Fireworks on Friday night, although I thought they used to be on Saturday. it used to be a rumble over the river and a battle between the two sides. They have since pooled money and let them off from a barge out on the river!! And I just have to say, they are the most spectacular fireworks I have ever seen! They last an hour and the finally is usually 15-20 min of non stop fireworks!! These two towns are VERY small (I grew up on the main drag in Port Byron) and for them to come together like this is just awsome!
       On Saturday is the Tug itself!! There are teams for each side and rules as to how many people and how much weight can be on each team! I do have to admit I have not gone to the tug since I was young. Every year it is a battle between the sides to see who will be victor! As it stands right now IL-14, IA-10! It is an even like none you have ever seen!! These people have official judges to determine if the rope has gone far enough and it is a BRUTAL undertaking!
       They also have street games (of course there is beer or as some fo us call it 'Chugfest') they have dances and the streets of Port Byron and LeClair pack in more people than they were evern intended to hold! It is a blast!! Oh, Did I forget the Kids Tug... Well the rope is WAY to much for them to handle, so they tug over a kiddie pool! It is great fun!!
On Sunday there is a Run (5K I think but not sure) and there is also a Golf Tournament! It is just something for everyone! If you would like pics sorry I do not have them, but visit the link for the tug fest!
Tonight I will be home! Get ready for me Port Byron!!
J

A little bit of this and a little bit of that!

OK so I have so many things going through my head right now! First I love summer because I am never really all that aware of what day it is or the date or even the time of day! My job is...well flexible and with Honeyman at the staion 24 on 48 off we really have no set anything!! I was doing something on the computer this morning and it hit me. Today is Aug 9th. My Mother would have been 64 today. Wow that just does not even seem right! I don't think of her as an old woman (not that I think 64 is old because it is not) but wow! I will not dwell on that. I know I do bring her up a lot and I thank people for indulging me.
Hey, have you read any good books today?? I am not a big reader. I am dyslexic and reading takes me a VERY long time. I do LOVE John Saul and have gotten through TWO of his books this summer. I like Allison Brennan and finished up one of her trilogies, I think that is why I like her! The books are 'related' but can each stand alone. You get a little bit more attatched to the charachters I think.

OK but my surprise read of the summer i guess has been the Hunger Games trilogy. I do not know when these came out. I only know my (ready to follow this) Husbands cousin told my Daughter and Mother-in-law to read them. Granny Kim (my MIL) bought them, read them passed them on to the Brat who insisted I read them. Now my ONLY problem is that they are in present tense and I have a very difficult time processing that. But They are FAST reads. I got through the first one in three days! That is like some kind of record for me (Brat had to point out that it only took her a matter of a few hours)! the first book is simply The Hunger Games, the second is Catching Fire, and the third is Mockingjay. I am half way through the second book and I just started it yesterday! Honeyman was on shift so I sat outside till 10:30 reading! I have also learned they have movie (movies?) in the make! They have Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci, and Donald Sutherland. Most of the other names I do not know, but they have quite a list on IMDB. I cannot wait! Some of the charachters I do hope they can do justice! Oh, I think this kind of reminds me of a more indepth kind of a Running Man, If you know what I am talking about! Read it and see!!!

Burried Treasures!!

Ok So I am gonna hit you hard and fast with LOTS and LOTS of pics! I was so sad to walk into my Mother's sewing room. I would not bring myself to take a pic because it was such a mess. But that works to my advantage because my Sister will NEVER know that there are things missing! I made sure I kept my treasures to things I knew my mother had purchased or made!
OK ready set...

Mom was not a Quilter, she was a seamstress. She only ever finished three full sized quilts. A dinosaur one for my oldest daughter. A green one that was on her bed (and is now destroyed because my sister took it to the basement to wash it and left it down there and it mildewed and fell apart) and this one!! This one she made for my Lillian with Kitty Cucumber material!! I was with her when she bought the material but till I was going through her sewing room I did not realize she had completed it!!  It was probably the best treasure of all a gift for my Lillian! However my son (who is holding the quilt up for me) was not as lucky. I found the bag with the material she had begun to purchase to make his quilt. Nothing had been cut and she was not finished finding just the right material. I guess I will have my work cut out for me to live up to what Mom would have done!!

There is probably 6 or 7 yards of the yellow material. And who knows there may have been another coordinating bag somewhere else! But if I know my Mother they would have all been together. She may not have been ALL together, but she did keep projects in one bag or box (but usually bags!!)

OK have to be honest and tell you I have no clue what this was for, but it was in a bag with some of the leftover Kitty Cucumber so I took it! There is a good amount of it and I think I like it! Although it does not really look like something Mom would have gotten! I might find a use for it!

I do however know these! The Yellow one is a feed sack from my Grandmother's house! I have a Bag made out of the only other large feedsack we took from there! And I am the one who snagged them up for her!! I just loved these fabrics! THEY remind me of her!!

Mom love two holidays Christmas and Halloween!! I wish that these four materials had showed up better, but they are to cute! There are three black prints the one on top came out OK the other two have ghosts like the white one and cobwebs, but they are in a rainbow metalic! Pretty cool! Oh and I will just let the Christmas speak for itself!! I only took a little!!

And finally in the bag with Darien's material there was a VERY LARGE piece of material! I figured it was just a big piece with maybe a few others rolled in the middle! BOY was I surprised!!

 The Cat print in the back has enough material for probably a queen sized quilt! That was the bulk of it! There were the other two materilas here (the dark one on the side is kind of a batic looking material but did not photo well). So then I pull out directions in my Mother's handwriting and there were a few other papers with it on construction. and in the bottom it looked like there was jsut a piece of musiln. Now I did not pull these things out till I got home! I had very limited time (and it was HOT up there)

There were all six of them that she had mapped out. finished! One has a small stain on the fabric, but I am hoping that with a little elbow grease and fancy cutting I can work around that!! And I just have to say I had to flip them over a couple of times to figure out what was the front and what was the back! Oh the craftsmanship!! She had such a wonderful hand!! I do think the cats look a little crosseyed but My Honeyman says it adds to the charachter of the cat!!

Crosseyed Kitty!!

I have stowed them away in a safe place so Hagatha will not find them if she comes over to my house! I know it sounds horrible, but I also know they are in a better place!!
Hope you find treasures, too!!
J

Runion weekend!!

So my weekend has been very busy and I was having computer problems so what should have been three days worth of blogs...I will do them in two however because the second will have LOTS of pics!!
This weekend was my Glasier Family reunion! That was my Great grandparents. My grandmother would have been 100 years old this year. She was one of six children and the only one of them NOT living! We lost her in 1982 (but it might have been 83)! Anyway! My Great Aunt Margory turned 99 this year and dispite failing eyesight and hearing she is smart as they come and very quick to let you know it!! I forget how old my Great aunts Irene and Reva are, but Great aunt Lillian will turn 90 at the end of this month and wow is she a spry woman with at whitty sence of humor!! My Great Uncle George (and wife Ramona) bring up the end at 81 young years!! They were our honorees at the Reunion with a special table with flowers for each of them!! I am just in aw of each and every one of them! Sometimes I am a little jelouse that I was only five when I lost my own (and only grandparent) Grandmother (Marie). But I have a HUGE family and there is a LOT of love there!! I did not take may pics at the reunion! Well there is one I have to take! My Lillian with her Great Great Aunt Lillian!!

My Lillian (11) and her Great Great Aunt Lillian (90)

My other AAHHHHH am I really ready for this... Yesterday Baby Ellie Jo started!! Am I getting to old to sit newborns?? LOL not sure but I was rather worn yesterday!  Ellie Jo is six weeks old and was born to my Friend Liz. I cave her a tough time and told her she would find a way to name that baby after me ( my full given name is Joelle) And My mother's maiden name was Conner, Liz's son is Connor!! She just can't get away from us if she tried!!
OK the next blog here is a teaser... I picked my Dad up at his house for our family reunion...My sister (the gatekeeper, the troll guarding the bridge, you know the one) was out of town!! Well I came home with treasures and she will never realize they are gone! OK onto the next blog because I can go on forever!!
I do so love family!!
J

But I'm not that old...

She hates this pic!! That's why I used it!!

So yesterday was my sister's birthday! (you may remember her as the troll guarding the bridge to my Mother's sewing room) Anyway! I left a Happy Birthday on her FB and was floored when a few hours laster my Aunt Judy posted happy 40th on there! I exclaimed WHAT!! My sister cannot be fourty!! That would mean that I am going to be... no not even!! You see I am only 26 3/4! Just ask any of my friends they will tell you! And I have stuck to that for about 4 years now! When asked when my b-day is I will tell them it is in three months and at that time I will turn you guessed it 26 3/4!! So I am always chasing my birthday and never quite really get there!!

This is the ONLY pic I could find of the two of us together in the past 10 years!!

I occures to me that she and I are never really in the same place at the same time accept when my band plays! The pic above is at one of my gigs! The guy in the back with the very puzzled look is my Honeyman and the guy in the front is Mike Sweeny (our bass player) he is another funny story! She is 'friends' with some of the other band members and feels like if it weren't for her I would not be in the band! Well to be truthfull my Baby Brother was acctually friends with the group first! And he is the one that said when they were still doing music at church well my Sister... Shhhh we will let her think she is the Bomb!! HEHE humor the old woman!
A lot of people say she and I look alike! I say WHAAAAA!! She looks JUST like our Mother and always has. I look in the mirror and more and more every day (and the rounder my face gets) my Father is looking back at me!! I jsut don't get it! My Baby Brother is like the perfect mix of Mom and Dad!
Family!! What do you do! You just wish them a Happy Birthday and remind them that you will never be as old as they are!! LOL
Have a great day!!
J

Pics galore of my new camper!!

Honeyman and Lillian chillin at the camper!!

Outdoor kitchen!!

 I just have to say I have the hardest time getting the pics in the right place and the words where they should be and I am writing this paragraph last and whew!! I hope you like my new toy! WE LOVE IT!! Thanks for spending time with me today!
Happy Monday!!
J

All in one!

TV is nicer than at home!

We spent a long weekend in the camper!! I do so love this new toy!! Some of the things I love kind of sound silly!! The outside kitchen is new to campers I think in 2010. (ours is a 2011) It has a sink, a fridge, cupboard and drawer space and under the flap there is a 2 burner stove, I percolated (oh, just found out how to spell that and I was going to put a 'u' instead of an 'o' and if you look that up it would have been a COMPLETELY different thing) my coffee on every morning! Anyway!! The other thing campers have begun to do is put the comode in the same room with the shower and sink! I know if you have never been in a camper you might be scratching your heads, but it has always been that the comode sits in this crazy narrow little room all by its little lonesome and the shower and sink are kind of hanging out in the 'hallway' between the master bedroom and the living room! Go check them out! But someone got smart and put them all together!!

Love the U shaped Dinette

And where to the doors go....

There is so much room inside to sit! The Dinette and the couch both fold into full sized beds!! The fridge inside is bigger than our last one and if you can see next to the fridge there are HUGE cupboards for food/pans/kitchen stuff! The top one is empty! LOL And where might those TWO doors go...

Pardon my mess!

 The one on the left is a big closet! It has washer/dryer hookups (if you camp that way) but there are great shelves inside!! I am just agasp at how much room this thing has! OK the other door is the kids galore room so prepare yourself!!

The very bottom left pic is the 'bunk' up over the outdoor kitchen! It has a dresser area under it and an area for a TV to hook up! I am not a fan of the TV's in the camper, but I think Honeyman is kind of leaning to a combined 'Christmas' gift for the kids! Not sure yet! That lump up on the bed is my 16 year old enjoying a little quiet time and trying to avoid my camera!!

 The very bottom right photo is the other two bed in that room all folded out ready for sleeping!! The bottom one is a couch just like in the living room and my Lillian is loveing that it is so big! The bunk above it (which is where the boy gets to crash) folds up when not in use so they can chill out on the couch and watch TV! There really is a lot of floor space when the bed is not in the way!!

I can stand up in our bedroom and not hit my head!!

Halway goin to the bathroom and 'master' bedroom.

Kaelynn's getaway!!

All made up and ready to sleep in!!