Black Friday

First I'll back up to Thanksgiving...
I am so thankful for the fact that we are surrounded by friends and family members that we love. We, Chris and I, decided not to travel to visit my family this year to keep Taylor at home, but it was hard not seeing my family! I hope they know how much we miss them and look forward to seeing them soon.(sooner than we thought, keep reading) Taylor had a great first Thanksgiving and was crashed out for the short ride from Chris' parents house to ours.

A short nap in her crib and then she was ready to start playing again.

Now that she's got crawling down, it's on to pulling herself up onto EVERYTHING!!!

So we ended our Thanksgiving evening by relaxing at home watching the second season on Weeds and watching Taylor pull herself up on everything.

After reviewing the ads, I decided that I would get up early Friday morning and try to get some of the flannel fabric that was on sale at Joann's. I have seen several rag quilts on blogs that I liked and thought I would attempt to make Taylor one. I can stamp, scrapbook, cross-stitch, knit, and crochet, but I struggle with the sewing machine. I want so badly to be better at sewing so I keep attempting more and more projects hoping that I will get better one day. So I will keep you updated on my adventures at making a rag quilt. So I set my alarm Thursday night to be at Joann's at 6 am for cute(cheap) flannel for Taylor's quilt. Alarm went off way too early and snooze was much better. After a few hits on the snooze button I got myself out of bed and figured I would sneak out of the house before Taylor got up, leaving Chris to the morning routine today. Then the phone rang...

it was my mom. Not wondering why I wasn't already at Joann's beating the little old ladies off for my few yards of cute flannel fabric(more on that in a minute), but to let me know that my grandfather passed away early this morning. Now I know some of you may be wondering why I'm blog about this. I find my blog to be like my journal. Most of the time my world is filled with all the wonderful things that surround having a baby girl, but every once in a while our world is turned the other way. My grandfather was such a sweet and wonderful man. The past 10 years he has battled Parkinson's, but I will always remember him as the active man he was. He and my grandmother would spend any chance they could outdoors. Whether it was fishing, hunting, or gardening, they loved it and did it together. I even got to reap the rewards of their fishing or gardening on many an occasion when my grandmother would fry up some fresh fish or create a veggie dinner all straight from the garden. Many times the cherry tomatoes went straight from the vine to my mouth! I am so thankful that I was able to see my grandfather a few weeks ago when I went home. I know that Taylor won't remember him, but I will show her pictures and remind her of who her great-grandfather was. This is a picture from that weekend and of Taylor giving him a high-five. If you know anything about Parkinson's, then you will know how huge it was for him to open his hand and that combined with Taylor's actual completion of a high-five was highlight of my day.


So there I was all set to go shopping for fabric and then the news. After some tears and hugs from Chris, I wasn't sure what was going through my mind or I was truly thinking in my right mind, but something inside me pushed on with current objective. I gathered my stuff back up and headed on for the store. Still thinking, 'Did that really just happen?' and 'Most people are going to be at Joann's for the Christmas decor and I should still be able to find cute fabric' both at the same time. I pull up to Joann's head in for cute girly fabric. Well here's a warning to all my fellow not-so-often sewers, do not attempt to hang with the pro-sewers on fabric sale day. The aisle of flannel probably held over 400 different bolts when the store opened at 6am. I got there around 7:30 and you could still find lots of solids, but the cute patterned flannel was only found in high piled carts of the pros. And don't bother asking if they are going to buy the whole bolt because these ladies are serious and their mother never taught them to share. I found myself stalking the flannel aisle in hopes of a yard or two being returned after someone like me only needed a little off the bolt. I drooled over the adorable patterns in other shopping carts and settled with a simple ladybug print and a few solids to go with it. I may use this as my trial quilt and then just spend the money on full priced fabric(with coupon) and get the fabric I really want. It's sad when you stand waiting your turn for the cutting counter and can't figure out if you are about to cry because a)your grandfather just died, b) the lady in front of you has TWO carts full of flannel and just snapped at you for asking if you have a yard of her cute fabric, c)you wonder why you even bothered to come to Joann's when something like this could wait, or d) a combo of A and C. Yes I know it's odd that I went shopping anyways, but I just can't explain why I did. I've spent yesterday and today just trying to follow my normal routine and prepare for our trip home for the funeral. Normally my day of Thanksgiving is a day of excitement as I get down the Christmas decorations and start putting up the tree. I love decorating for Christmas!!! But this year Black Friday took on a whole new meaning and for some reason I can't fully get into the decorating spirit. I am going to try some Christmas carols tomorrow and hope that helps get in the holiday spirit. I even have Christmas presents calling my name to be wrapped and put under the tree! I have some pictures of our home being transformed into a Christmas wonderful, but those will wait until tomorrow. Until then goodnight.

~Wendy

ps. GO TECH!(it was not a good first half, but they came through after all) Too bad OSU couldn't beat OU and guarantee us the Big 12 South Title, but we'll see tomorrow what happens.