Rewind

Let's go back in time a bit. Not an entire century, but about two weeks to get caught up on what's been going on around here. Not that you people are out there hanging on my every word, waiting for the constant stream of boring gymnastics stories and endless pet photos. Well, here it goes anyway. I think I left off around mid September. Right before the wind sotrm we had some lovely weather and I was able to complete a few nice doll outfits, including this one. It is from a series of amazing books by Susan Sirkis called "Wish Booklets". It has truly been my wish to own one of these books. I was lucky enough to find two of them at Amazon at a pretty good price. They are hard to come by as they have been out of print for over 20 years. The patterns are amazing and it took very little "fiddling" to get them to fit my 16" Alex doll. This one is from the 1900 Fashion book. The other book I got was Jane Austen style, 1806-1810. Can't wait to make some more dresses.

Then the wind storm/hurricane hit. 70 mile an hour winds with gust up to 85 miles per hour! It took this huge tree limb down on the side of our house, narrowly missing the roof and the kitchen window. Clean-up was slow, but the weather before, during and after the storm was bright and sunny. We did a lot of raking, burning and even split up a little wood for the fire this Winter. As I mentioned before, the electric was out for over a week and here you see Elliot worshipping the generator as well as the bin of Bud's food.

The following week I got my crafty/stitchy stuff together and set up a table at a craft bazaar as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations at the gym. It was $10 for a table space and I made over $150.00!! I was stunned, as I didn't expect to make a penny. This was more of a fitness fair/kid's festival and I wasn't sure how many serious shoppers would be there. The most popular items were my doll clothes, displayed on the rack at the far right of the photo.

Last night we went to a neighborhood fish-fry party at the famous "party house" on our street, the home of our friends Roy and Sharee. Sharee is also the local "Queen of Halloween" and later today I will be helping her decorate her porch and barn. The inside of her house is already spectacularly done-up! They will be hosting the huge annual Halloween party on 24 October. It will be a short party for me because our fist gymnastics competition is the next day. A 5am trip 2 hours north of here for a "gymnastics marathon" lasting about 14 hours (not including the 2 hour trip back home). I am hoping my back, shoulder and collar bone cooperate on that day. That would be an awfully long time to sit around in pain....plus all the spotting kids, setting of equipment, moving of springboards etc. Thank you for the wonderful and encouraging comments I have gotten regarding this injury. I really appreciate all the advice. I am not one to complain much of physical pain. I usually don't let it effect me. As a gymnast I had plenty of painful injuries and just learned to "work through it". I am one much more affected by emotional pain or seeing pain in others.