The Weekend Getaway

We have had very few get aways this year so hubby and 

I thought we would sneak off to Shipshewana to a B & B for the night on Friday. 

Morton Street B & B

We left early Friday morning and it turned out to be a surprisingly beautiful, and kinda warm day.  

We hit the usual haunts, Jo-Jo-s Pretzels, one of our favorites!

Amish Buggies

 Yoders, one of my favorites. 

 Some of these 4 came home with me!

I even got this teal pair of shoes, although technically they are for Christmas. 

 No I have not worn them yet.

We ate dinner at the Blue Gate and they had this fabulous tree outside, all lit up!

Sorry the photo does NOT do it justice, and the colors rotated.

It was a wonderful day and we had the B & B all to ourselves! 

 The owner made us an amazing breakfast too.  

They own the bakery next door!!  

The down side?  

When we woke up it was to a blizzard.  

We had to drive to see my dad that day too.  

This is what our drive looked like most of the way there.

We checked out my dad's house.  It was after the estate sale and all the "stuff" was cleared out!  

Here are some after pics. 

 In the basement.

In the basement looking the other way

On the other side of the basement.

Almost everything is cleared out, YEAH!!!  

The estate sale is over and now we just need to clean up and list the house.

  I just heard from the social worker today that they 

want to move my dad back to his apt on Christmas eve. 

 WELL OF COURSE THEY DO!!  

Because that is so easy for me to be there, right?

Sorry I am feeling majorly stressed right now over all of this.  

I just got my tree up on Monday and it is not decorated yet and the house is a mess and DD2 is flying in on Thursday night and, and, and.  

OK deep breath. 

 I will just keep plugging away. 

 Still have one Christmas present to bind!!

I have to run, so more later!!

~XOP~

Friday Drive By

I don't have a lot of time but had a few quick things to share with you.

A friend managed to snap a couple of photos of the gigantic yo-yo quilt I found at my dad's house.

I thought you might like to see them too.

Most of the yo-yo's were in good shape.  Looks like a few need to be repaired.  

Interestingly the pink yo-yo's appear to be made from 2 different pink fabrics.  

We had a textile expert at the meeting and she was able to date some of the fabrics in the quilt.

There were some from the 20"s, 30's, 40's and maybe the 50's.

I am pretty sure my mother's mother made this one.

Even if you are not a fan of yo-yo's you have to appreciate all the work that went into this quilt.

We did a mug rug swap at out AAMQG meeting and this little beauty came home with me!

Made by another Pam.

I just love the aqua and the orange together!

Thanks to Stephanie for making one for me so I could participate too!

You're the BEST, Steph!

JIC you might be wondering about my dad and the man that ripped off his car. 

 I found a link to an article about him.  

He pleaded guilty to 2 different felonies and may be spending life in jail.  

This is not the first time he has ripped people off.  

If you are interested, here is the article.  

If you learn anything from this, please dear friends, remind the elderly in your life not to talk to people that knock on their doors!  

I found out from the police, these scam artists love to go into older neighborhoods and 

look for signs that an elderly/disabled person lives there (like a ramp to the house). 

 Never give them money and never believe their stories no matter how friendly they appear!

OK off my soap box now!

We have my dad's car back.

We had to pay for a new title, registration and license plate though.

So even though he didn't commit a crime we still had to pay the money to fix it.

Have a wonderful day!

~XOP~

Some Great Finds And My Sincere Thanks

First I want to send out a HUGE thank you to everyone that has stopped by on my day of the 

Quilt maker's 100 Blocks Blog Tour. 

 You left such nice comments!  

I have not had the time to respond to all of them, you completely overwhelmed me!  

It was so nice to know that the block and quilt were so well received, thank you for your kindness.

I will be drawing a name for the magazine on Friday.  

Anyone that left a comment with a contact email address will be in the drawing!

Now on to some new stuff.  

You all know that I have been cleaning out my dad's house and getting it ready to sell. 

 I found a few things I thought I would share with all of you.  

There are more things but no photos of those yet!  

I have come to realize that my maternal grandmother was a quilter. 

 I found this gigantic yo-yo quilt while cleaning in the basement that I am assuming was made by her.  Each yo-yo is about the size of a quarter and there are thousands of them.  

I need to spread it out and get a better photo but you get the idea.

Then I found this amazing old cookie jar that is a cat head. 

 I love it!  

A good friend suggested I put it in my sewing room and keep my buttons in it. 

 I don't think I have enough buttons, but maybe thread!

I also found this old wooden puzzle that my uncle made for us when we were kids. 

 I guess I liked making quilt designs even as a child!

WQ (wooden quilts) for the technologically challenged? maybe?

I still have a little bit of work to do going though all the boxes we brought home, 

but I am making progress.  

This is what my living room looks like right now.

But it's ok because I have cats like Aiden here that love me unconditionally!

Have a wonderful day!

~XOP~

Cleaning At My Dad's or An Inside View Of A Horder's House

I feel like my life is in limbo right now.  

With all the things I have to do for my dad and sisters I feel like my entire life is on hold. 

 I was in GR on Monday to take my sister to the Social Security office 

to get some stuff straightened out, which we did.  

I paid my dad's rent, 

then went to the rehab place to meet with dad and the lawyer to get his trust finished up.  

He has a UTI so his rehab is on hold a bit, but he is progressing, which is good news.  

We will be there on Friday too.

Because going once a week was clearly not good enough!

Last Friday we did some more cleaning. 

 I thought I would share some of the cleaning and sorting and treasures we found.  

You can see what it looked like in the beginning here.

When we first started the entire basement looked like a version of horders.  

This basement is HUGE. 

 It is completely under a ranch upstairs so it is a long rectangle. 

 There is a divider almost down the long center and one half is where all the "stuff" is 

and the other is laundry and workshop.  

We were working in the "stuff" side.  

Think about 4 bedrooms worth of area on that side, about 10 x 10 foot rooms.  

You can see in this picture we have sorted through about 3 rooms of stuff 

and have condensed it into one room.  

That is all stuff slated for the estate sale.  

We have kept very little, maybe a few boxes of personal things.  

This picture is facing one end of the basement.

Now when I turn around you can see the rest of the basement on the "stuff" side.  

YEAH us, we have it almost all cleared out!!!  

Just behind those cabinets 

and to the right of them is about the equivalent of one more rooms worth to still go through.

We are leaving the cabinets and filling them with more "stuff" for the estate sale.  

They will go through all the stuff we leave and sort and price it all.  

Thank goodness we don't have to do that.  

And Yes, that vacuum you see is ours.  

It was moldy and there were spilled potted plants so lots of dirt that we had to vacuum up.  

I did find a few treasures though. 

 Here are a few things I found in the basement.  

I found my old baby doll, Pat-A-Burp and she still burps!  

I found this Christmas tree made out of egg cartons and tinsel.  

My mom used to make these.

One of many creepy baby dolls.  

And yes, those are gloves I am wearing, everything was covered in dust and mold dust, YUCK!

Now upstairs in my mom's cedar chest I found some really neat things.  

Many old dolls. 

 My favorite one when I was a kid was the third one on the left, the one in gold. 

You can also see a quilt on top, in the center of the chest.  

I was thrilled to find that but forgot to take another photo of it.  

My mom's mom was a quilter. 

 She died when I was only 2 so I never knew her.  

My mom sewed but did not quilt.  

Maybe it skips a generation?

I found my mom's wedding dress and left over fabric with the pattern used to make the dress. 

 I knew her dress was in the cedar chest but did not know about the pattern.  

I tried it on when I was going to be married but my chest was too big and my hips too small.  

HA, wish I could say that now!!  

I was also kind of a brat and wanted my own dress, my mom and I did NOT get along very well 

and I didn't want anything to do with her wedding stuff.  

The dress really was beautiful though, made out of satin.  

I have to say 1948 satin is much nicer than 2013 satin!  

Maybe I can use it for a baptismal gown or first communion dress someday?

Found this doll too. 

 I thought it might be a Madame Alexander but I don't think it is, 

or at least it did not say so on the box or the doll.

I found this amazing Japanese tea set. 

 It is for a children's tea party.  

I am guessing it either came from my mom and dad's friends from Japan 

or my Great Aunt that did a lot of traveling.  

My parents were friends with a couple named John and Mei.  

They actually introduced my parents.  

I am named after Mei. 

 My middle name is Mei.  

I hated it growing up and made my mom use it for my younger sister's middle name too. 

 I actually like it now, Pamela Mei.  

I guess it's grown on me!

I also found some glass, plates and stemware but I can't seem to be able to identify it.  

Anyone happen to know what this pattern is?

I had to go to my sister's place and the trees were so beautiful last weekend. 

 Fall in Michigan is amazingly gorgeous!

I do have something really exciting to share with all of you but I won't be able to share it until November 11th.  I do hope you will stop back.  There will be a giveaway associated with it!

Have a great day!

~XOP~

We Are One Quarter Of The Way Done

We went to Grand Rapids again on Friday morning. 

 I brought the cat back to my dad and she hid under his bed! 

 Apparently she is still hiding.  

After we left the cat we drove to my dad's house and the dumpster, 

yes I said dumpster, 

was just being delivered. 

 It was a 20 yard dumpster and could hold 5000 pounds.  

It was about noon and we began in the basement. 

 It looked something like this.

I figure the video gives you the full effect. 

 Here are some regular photos too. 

 That multi colored wall is the fireplace. 

 Before we started you could not even see the floor as you can now.

Here is some more of the basement

At this point we had put in 1 sleeper sofa, a few chairs and one rooms worth of rolled up carpet. 

 Along with 4 mattresses.

Then we found this brown chair. 

 Or we thought it was brown, but when we took off the cushion we realized it really was aqua!!!  EWWWWW!!

This is looking down at the other end.  

I wish I could say we got that area all cleaned out. 

We did make a dent though.

Some of the amazing finds included this kitty on a pillow. 

 It was a pajama keeper. 

 It is now so dirty I think it is beyond claiming, sad.

 Upstairs I found this amazing chicken boy. 

 Awesome! 

 Anyone remember painting these?

We found this bunny boy too.   

Just a couple of amazing ceramic finds.

Now I need to find that old ceramic Christmas tree.

We spent the night at a hotel and we were beat!

When we finished on Saturday we had completely filled this dumpster.

One sleeper sofa

7 arm/recliner chairs

5 TV stands

4 mattresses

2 full rooms of rolled up nasty carpet

and too many garbage bags of stuff to count.

We piled some things we thought might sell in an estate sale in one of the bedrooms

We filled 3 or 4 boxes of things to bring home and sort through.

We brought some boxes home of stuff we thought the kids might like.

We managed to get about 1/4 of the basement cleared out.

Still have the shed and garage to do.

We cleaned out 2 of the 3 bedrooms, both bathrooms and half of the family room.

Still need to do the kitchen and the living room and one bedroom and part of the family room.

I called the dumpster people to tell them to come and get this one and bring another one.

We will go back on Saturday.

My dad wanted to know if we were all finished?

Yeah dad, we are all finished.

In my dreams!!

~XOP~

How Do You Prepare?

How do you help your dad prepare for such a life changing event as moving from his home of 49 years, a home he built with his wife, into a retirement community?  

This has been my monumental undertaking over the last year and a half.  

Cleaning, organizing, purging and helping.  

The big move happens on Saturday October 5th. 

 I will be driving to Grand Rapids on Friday to help with a few of the last minute details before the movers show up at 8:30 Saturday morning.  

We bought our oldest daughter with us last weekend for a much needed distraction.  

You can get a LOT more done when he is not all up in your business, LOL.  

She brought her newest baby peacock, Gizmo.  

Who is super adorable!

This picture is my favorite.  

Grandpa and Gizmo checking each other out!

He was eating a doughnut and everything is that crazy bird's business!

As long as he had a bird on his shoulder he stayed put and out of the cleaning frenzy.

Eventually though, we had to have him go into his room and help decide what he is taking 

and what he is getting rid of.  

This is the room all cleaned out of stuff.  

All the papers and photos from the tall dresser are in the top of the closet and in the boxes.  

They can be gone though later.  

All we are doing is packing what is moving with him for right now, for him to function.

 I don't think he realized how many pairs of sox he actually had!  

The funniest thing we heard from the other room was our daughter shouting at him

 (he is pretty deaf and won't wear his hearing aids)  

"How many heads do you have grandpa?"  

LOL  

There were some funny moments.

This is the house I grew up in.  

My mom and dad planned it and built it.  

We moved there when I was 5 years old.  

It is sad, but it is time for the next phase of life.  

He is no longer able to take care of that big house by himself and we are too far away to do it.

 He is not safe there.  

The cons have marked him and he is a target. 

 No one lives there but him and his cat and she can't call 911 if he falls, and he does fall.

I was cleaning in the bathroom and got the linen closet completely emptied.  

There was so much stuff in there!

My mom's favorite color was purple and you can see the purple foil wall paper and the lavender tub (and sink) and used to be toilet, which is now white since I replaced it.

We had cleaned out my old room, which was my younger sister's room more recently 

and used that as a staging/storage area as we worked.  

My daughter had begun painting dragons on the walls for her.  

We moved my sister out the beginning of August.  

I knew this day was coming for dad and had to get her settled too.  

She has Cerebral Palsy.  

She needed to be in a place of her own before I could move him.  

He needed to see her settled.

Now there is just the rest of the house to clear away and clean and pack what is moving.  

There is a LOT of work ahead of us. 

A dumpster is being delivered Oct 11th.

It's just me and my hubby to do the work.

The once cleaned table is now a packing hot spot.  

Dad and Chris talk about what to take from his desk and pack up. 

 He has a huge amount of old 8mm movies to bring with him.

This is the face of one really good sport!  

I could not get through this part of my life without the love and support of my amazing husband. 

 He has put up with more than one person should have to!

Thanks for your love and for listening to all dad's stories, again.  

Do you still love that car?  

I love my dad and I am very glad I have had him to myself for the last year and a half.   

Even though it has been extremely challenging to run three households, manage 2 handicapped sisters and my dad all while working full time, and taking care of my own family, 

I would not trade the time I have had with my dad for anything. 

 Please keep us in your prayers during the upcoming weekend as we 

move him into his new home at Villa Maria.  

It is a beautiful place and I think he is going to love it there.

A new adventure awaits him, beginning on Saturday.  

With God's help it will be a wonderful time for him!

~XOP~