Forget the Apple!

There was a time in my life when I could eat absolutely anything I wanted. Chocolate, bread, scotch-a-roos, mashed potatoes and gravy. (After all I grew up in Minnesota - where butter is a spice and gravy is a beverage.)
The really nice thing was I never gained weight.

Then along came Midlife. And she brought her friend Menopause.
Suddenly I could no longer eat anything and everything.




Along about that same time a new coffee shop/restaurant named The Perky Parrot came to town.They have the BEST puppy chow. And the red velvet cupcakes are darn good too, as well as the soups and sandwiches.

I also love their iced tea.

Unfortunately they have the Puppy Chow

setting right next to the checkout.

I can never leave with just my calorie free tea -

I can't help myself -

I always have to get the Puppy Chow too.

They also have bananas right next to the checkout.

However, I have never had an uncontrollable
urge to buy a banana. ????

Soon after the Perky Parrot opened, The Chocolate Season came to town.


Those of you who know me know how very much I LOVE chocolate,
and their Turtles - (or Tuttles as they call them) are to die for.

But it seems that it is not the chocolate that I cannot get enough of -

it's The Chocolate Season's caramel corn.
It is wonderful - just the right amount of ooey - gooey - chewy.

She also serves other scrumptious items.
Today's treats.

Soon I needed bigger jeans. But I have a theory. Once you buy bigger jeans - you will never go back to the smaller size.

I work alone most of the time - and the girls I work with suffer from the same problem.

So, I opted not to buy bigger jeans. Instead I just didn't take off my coat. After all it was winter - in Iowa - a coat is a must. (The same coat I wore ice fishing.)

When I did take it off - at a restaurant - I was sitting - again hiding the fact that my jeans were tight.

Finally along came spring - and I switched to my spring coat.
Now it is summer and a coat really is not an option. (94 degrees here today.)
Soooo I decided to start eating healthy.

I bought some apples.

Instead of having a bag of puppy chow or

caramel corn in the afternoon I would have an apple.
I bought Pink Ladies. (They are a sweet crisp apple.)

The first couple of days

I convinced myself they were almost as good as chocolate.

By the third day I was eating the apple

and just a little bit of puppy chow and or caramel corn.

By the fourth day I ate the apple

and a little bit more puppy chow and or caramel corn.

By the fifth day I ate the apple and

a whole bunch of puppy chow and caramel corn.

On the sixth day I decided to forget the apple

and just eat all of the puppy chow and all of the camel corn.

Hey in my mind I just saved myself 80 calories.

(That's one more handful of puppy chow or caramel corn.)

Now I have another dilemma.
Our son will be getting married on September 4th - THIS September 4th.
I will need to find a wedding outfit.
It is labor day weekend so I know that white is no longer an option.
But is it too early to wear my wool plaid coat…….

Probably.

I better go buy another bag of apples.

Have a sweet day.

From my heart,
Sandy

Therapy

When I'm feeling down. When I'm feeling fat. When I'm bored. I go to my Therapist, endless.com or shoes.com or piperlime.com or zappos.com. The doctor is in 24/7 - no need for an appointment.

This week I received these packages from Endless, they as most of my therapist do, offer free shipping and sometimes free next day air shipping and always free returns. One box had the free next day air shipping shoes and the other had the free 2nd day air shoes - however they both arrived in one day - gotta love it.

Why shoes rock:

• Everyone I know has fat jeans and skinny jeans but nobody has fat shoes and skinny shoes...
No matter what your weight you shoes always fit.

•No matter how ugly the clothes are….
The shoes are always cute.

•Although some colors do not look good against you face…
You can wear most any color on your feet.

•The pants may make your butt look big…
But the shoes will never make you toes look big.

Ten boxes of therapy.

Hey with free shipping why order just a few.

I loved these, however they sent me a 9W

instead of a 6M and they are no longer available in my size. :-(

Okay - but not fond of the gold buckle




I sometimes will sacrifice comfort for cute.

These were boring and not even comfortable





Nothing exciting.




I need a new pair of black sandals.

These did not make the cut.

No cushion on the foot bed.




These are very comfy.

I think I will send them back

and order them in black to replace my shabby black pair.



Don't like the gold eyelets




Very, very cute - in fact my favorite - but too young for me.





For $19.95 how could I pass up these cuties.
Love the polka dot lining.

With such a different but wonderful color combination
how could I pass up these? And only $34.95.

Out of the 10 pair I kept the 2 pair for a total of $54.90. I do believe that is WAY less money then 1 hour in a therapist office.

Shoe therapy - it's the way to go.

Now go do some shoe shopping.

From my heart and my happy feet,

Sandy

My Most Popular Item At Quilt Market

We are just back from market.
So sorry I did not blog during market - just too darn tired.
I'm sure all of you attending market noticed the bags under my eyes.

The ones big enough to sack a weeks worth of groceries.

The whole market is a blur to me.
Our booth went up fairly quickly.
Can you guess which item received the most attention?

Was it this quilt featuring the panel from the Lollipop line?
Abby drew the picture on the easel - just like she drew when she was little.

Was it the quilt using a Lollipop Layer Cake™ with a dimensional flower?

Was it this "leaving the crib going to a big bed" quilt?



Or was it this quilt made with a Lollipop Jelly Roll™?
Look closely - the dresser is made out of cardboard boxes and fabric bolts.

Although there was much interest in these quilts - the question most ask was "where did you get the couch?"

My spiffed up Ikea couch.

It is very easy to do.
You will need.
Ikea couch.
Sandy solids fabrics (I used 6 colors)
Heavy Heat n' Bond
Olfa Circle Cutter
Markers to match you fabrics

Iron big squares of Heat'n Bond onto fabrics.
Using the circle cutter cut circles ranging in size form 4"-2".

Cut out circles.
Iron circles onto couch.
Using the matching markers, draw two circles around each dot.
Done!

Moda was introducing this nifty machine called the Slicer,

demonstrated by Debbie Duckworth.
Wouldn't these shapes be fun ironed on a couch?

Since market was so close to home, the family drove up to view the craziness.

Moda as usual had an awesome booth styled after an antique doll house.
Did I get any pictures - of course not. Falls under the category of sleep deprived.
Liesl from Oliver + S (Moda's newest designer) took some great pictures which are posted on her blog. Check it out.

Are you all wondering where I left my purse this market???

I went to visit Gudrun from GE Designs - right next door to my sister Brenda of Country Stitches

I sat it down in Gudrun's booth and walked away without it.

Sandy's purse left behind - another market now complete.

From my heart,
Sandy

How About a Lollipop?

Market is 3 weeks away and my "to do" list is 4 weeks long. Yikes - I am not sure how this is going to work.
Sleepless nights I am guessing.

My new market line Lollipop arrived last week.


So I called in the troops to whip up the quilts.
Lori, Sandy and Lois, all still in the same positions
that you saw them in when I blogged about the last market.


A sneak peek of the panel.
This line features fun bright colors such as:

Orange and Vanilla

Lime and Cherry

Banana, Chocolate and Blueberry.

Snippets of a few of the quilts that the girls have made using this fabric.

If any of you are going to Sample Spree at market,

Moda will be selling a kit of this quilt.

It is made using a Lollipop Charm Pack™..
The kit will include a

Charm Pack™, pattern, backing and buttons.

It's pretty cute if I do say so myself.

It might just be worth the cuts and bruises

you may receive during the Sample Spree mayhem.

If you are a shop owner, you will be able to view this fabric at the Moda booth. Book you appointment now.
If you are not a shop owner and you like this fabric - please let your shop owner know and she just might buy it for you. This fabric will ship in October.

Looking forward to seeing some of you at market. Market is in Minneapolis this year - 3 hours from here.
Gotta love it. What's the nicest thing about it being so close? No not the short drive.

When I leave my purse someplace (and I will)

the farthest away it could possibly be, would be 3 hours.

With such a short distance one could just drive back and pick it up -

as opposed to leaving it in Oklahoma - 12 hours away.
Yes, nice to have market so close.

See some of you soon - way too soon.

From my heart,
Sandy

Home Sweet Home

After 3 weeks and 1 day in the hospital

my mother was able to go home.
We are thankful - I am not sure she could have stood another day.

I ask - why do they make hospital rooms such depressing colors?
Her room was a cool gray on the bottom with a gray and mauve print on the top.
I myself found it depressing, just the short amount of time I spent in the room.
On Sunday I took her one of my Fresh Squeezed quilts.

I must say it did help to brighten up the room.
#379 Cutup

I would like to thank all of you for your comments, kind words, emails and cards during these past weeks.

To show my appreciation for your kindness, I put all of the comments, emails and card senders names in a bowl and drew 3 winners - although you are ALL winners.

The winners are:
Crafty Mama - Frolic Layer Cake™
Anne O - Frolic Turnover™
Jenny - Frolic Jelly Roll™

Will the winners please email me your addresses so I can send you your prize.

Be thankful for your home sweet home.

From my heart,
Sandy

Shock Followed By Tiny Celebrations

We received a shocking phone call a week ago Tuesday.

My 81 year old mother was diagnosed with colon cancer.

The first hurdle we had to cross was a CT scan to see if the cancer had spread to her liver or lungs.
It has not. Tiny celebration.

Surgery was then scheduled for last Friday to remove the tumor. All went well. Tiny celebration.
Next hurdle was waiting for the pathology report on whether the cancer had penetrated the colon wall or invaded the lymph nodes. We found out yesterday that it had not. Tiny celebration.
Now we are in the healing process. The intestines go into "sleep mode" when they are traumatized such as a reconnect surgery would do.
Hopefully things will start working again soon.

Once that happens and Mom is home and doing well we will have a BIG celebration.

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts, prayer and emails.
Please continue to pray for my mother - Millie.
From my Heart,
Sandy

Celebrations

Here at the Gervais household we have had a lot to celebrate lately.

March 20th: First day of Spring.

Finally after a dreadful, nasty winter.

But we have a more important reason to celebrate March 20th.

It is our dear Abby's birthday.
Happy birthday Abby. (28 already!)

Abby styln' in her cute headband.

We all gathered in Des Moines for a birthday celebration.
Zach (Abby's boyfriend), Abby, Anthony and Deb
We dined at Johnny's Steakhouse in West Glen.
(I highly recommend the skillet potatoes.)

Next event to celebrate: Anthony and Deb's engagement!

He proposed to her in the ice fishing shack. I tried to talk him out of it - not proposing - but doing it in an ice fishing shack. But he and his ice fishing buddy thought proposing in an ice fishing shack was a great idea. When I think of romantic places - an ice fishing shack never comes to mind.

His question was "Deb will you marry me?."
You would think that her reply would be - "Yes I will marry you."
But instead she said "You're doing this now? I'm in snow pants."
- followed by a YES!
(Apparently ice fishing shacks aren't

at the top of Deb's romantic places either.)

Walking back to the cabin - in snow pants - after the proposal.

Congratulations Deb and Anthony!
We are so happy to welcome Deb into our family.

Next reason to celebrate: University of Northern Iowa knocking off first seed Kansas University in the NCAA tournament.

I am not a big sports fan but was told this is a REALLY BIG deal.

Go UNI!

I hope all of you have much to celebrate.

From my heart,
Sandy