Country Cow, City Cow

We went to Blairsville for Thanksgiving this year.  Loaded up the car with all the necessities, the dog, the toddler, took off and didn’t look back. I don’t mind the drive up when we take the “easy” route up 575/515. This time we went through Dawsonville – yeah, decided to hit the outlets for a little early shopping  – which means we have to go over Blood Mountain to get to my parents. I tend to get a bit woozy going over the mountain and so does Sean. Actually, he gets a lot woozy so we find the easy route better for everyone because it doesn’t result in him puking all over the back seat. Nice.  Plus the easy route means there are lots of little towns to stop in if we need a bite to eat, a bathroom break or have a stinky diaper to change.

The ride over the mountain does, however, give us the opportunity to enjoy more of the “country” scenery.  Think abandoned double wides, yard art* , tractors with Christmas lights*, barns, horses and cows. Yep, lots and lots of cows.

Sean finds cows particularly interesting. I don’t know if it’s because he loves the Chick-Fil-A cows, if he likes to say “moo” or if it’s just because he’s a toddler and right now cows strike his fancy.  Or maybe it’s because he likes it when I roll the windows down and we yell “moo” at the cows.  Whatever sparks his imagination is fine with me.

As we were making our way through extreme rural White County, Michael spotted a pasture with many cows. He told Sean it was a cow party, which we explained was not to be confused with a cow patty. hehehe.  Every time from then on Sean calls a herd of cows a cow party. It’s quite adorable.

We all had a bit of cabin fever on Friday so we went looking for trouble. First we went to the new Dollar General***, then we had lunch at the new deli, Steve’s ****, followed by a quick trip to the TrackRock Stables to look at horses where one horse seemed particularly eager to eat Sean, then to Alexander’s General Store. Alexander’s is in all sense of the word a general store. They sell men and women’s wear,  appliances, furniture and guns. They have some candy and other random things too. I’ve only been there a handful of times and it’s a fun diversion for a bit. The clientele is unique and often backwards.  I don’t think I’ve ever been in such a small space with as many interesting mountain folk. Ever. And I’ve spent more than my fair share of time in the North Georgia and North Carolina mountains.

We walked out of Alexander’s and Sean stopped DEAD in his tracks. Across the street was a cow party. He proceeded to yell “COWS!” at the top of his lungs, followed by “MOO” at the top of his lungs. We found it tremendously entertaining and once all the local flavor realized what he was yelling at they chuckled as well. Yep, we’re not from around here, folks!  The closest thing Sean has been to a cow is the Chick-Fil-A cow and even then he hasn’t been all that close. But he likes them.

* old, rusty cars that have died in someones front yard

** usually out year round though I am not certain why. Really, are you that busy?

*** yep. we know how to party. We did find Sean some mittens and the joy of purchasing them at the Dollar General is that I won’t care when he loses them.

**** great place for sandwiches and my reuben was outstanding! It’s new in town and all the meats are from Amish Country in Ohio. yum!

We’re going bananas!

My sister-in-law came in town this weekend with her kids. We took them to Zoo Atlanta (www.zooatlanta.org) on Sunday morning. It was chilly, but the animals were active, making the experience much better for the kids.

First stop: Simba, the lion.

He was perfectly perched on the rocks and roaring up a storm. Everyone in the zoo dashed over to see him. Beth and Sean were particularly enamored with Simba, or, maybe with each other.

Next stop: Gorillas.

Nate was his cute, charming self and Caleb, self-proclaimed picture hater, even let his dear Aunt get a photo of him.

We ran around the zoo for a while longer and saw the leopard and tiger. On our way out, the zoo was flying an owl. We had to stand back – the owl was looking a bit irritate – but we were able to see him fly. It was pretty cool.

We checked out the Naked Mole Rats, then the kids played on the playground for a bit.

Pandas

petting zoo

carousels

then the highlight of the day: the TRAIN!!! Or, as they are known in my house. CHOOOOOO!!!

Lunch out at Six Feet Under was the perfect ending to our day.  The kids were exhausted, and exhilarated. We all had a blast!

Peek-a-boo…where are you?

Or more to the point….where have I been? December and January were busy for us. December was full of birthdays, Christmas, then ringing in the New Year, which we happily did at home after whirlwind trips to Blairsville and Pigeon Forge.

I love Christmas with my parents. It’s filled with traditions from my childhood. Every Christmas Eve. Mom, Laura and I would make a pull apart cake for Christmas morning then we’d sit down for a nice dinner. After dinner we’d all get ready for Midnight Mass then we each got to open one present. Usually we’d hang out for a bit, then drive around to look at Christmas lights, eventually ending at church so we could get a seat and enjoy the candlelight caroling.  I loved church on Christmas Eve.  The overhead lights were off and the church had a perfect amber glow from the candles.  Everyone was always smiling, and singing. I love Christmas carols – Silent Night, O Come All Ye Faithful…they’re beautiful and I often get teary singing them. I’m such a sucker!

Christmas morning when I was a child often came at 5 am. Way to early. My grandparents thought it was cute. My parents did not. Eventually my sister and I started to sleep in, and for a few years, our parents actually had to wake us!

We’d go downstairs, put the breakfast casserole we’d made the day before in the oven, eat cake and drink coffee. Oh yeah, and somewhere in there we opened gifts!

This year we we visited my parents for Christmas. My parents gave Sean an Elmo Live for Christmas. It was a hit with him right from the start.

We’re big Elmo fans at the Murphy household, but from time to time,  Elmo can be a bit much. He stays in Sean’s room. We like that. A lot.

Sean was inundated with new toys. Too many, in fact, but it’s alright for grandparents to spoil him.

One of his other favorite games over the holidays was to chase the ball with Uncle Jeremy.

It was really cute watching the two of them run around the house chasing that red ball!  Sean thought it was the greatest game ever, and Uncle Jeremy seemed to get a kick out of it too!

After a few busy days in Blairsvegas, the three of us packed up and headed to Pigeon Forge. We went through National Forest the majority of the way there, and it was beautiful.

Sean slept, well mostly, and I even got to see an old haunt – Cherokee, NC. I spent a good bit of time there while attending camp in Cullowhee, NC. It hadn’t changed much. Brought back memories, like seeing Unto These Hills THREE times.

Our trip to Pigeon Forge was to celebrate Claire’s 60th birthday!  We stayed in a beautiful house way up on a mountain in Wear’s Valley. It was large enough to accommodate all ten of us. We celebrated Christmas with the Murphy’s and took a trip to Dollywood, as well. No trip to Pigeon Forge is complete without it! I’d never been to Pigeon Forge. It is Tennessee’s response to Daytona Beach. Loud. Bright. Neon. It was wild and not at all what I expected.

Dollywood was what I expected. Sean had a blast!  He wasn’t quite big enough to go on a lot of the rides. He did enjoy the carousel and the train was a BIG hit! Pure joy on the train!

A tank of gas to Pigeon Forge: $30

A ticket to Dollywood: $50

Taking Sean for his first ride on a train: Priceless

Shine on little shoes, shine on

My girlfriend, Marnie, has four year old twins. One of twins, Alex, is a purse girl. She loves shoes, clothes, purses, you name it. Recently she found some bejeweled Converse shoes that were outrageously priced. Marnie called me to see if I could reproduce the shoes.

Of course I’ll do anything for her and her children, so few Swarowski crystals, ribbon and glue did the trick. I took the shoes to Alex on Sunday. The twins’ birthday party was a blast and Alex chose her outfit based on what would go with the shoes. Is that cute or what?!

The shoes are on top of some receiving blankets I made for my cousin. She’s having a baby girl in January. Allison asked me what some of my favorite things were when I had a newborn. I had to say that one of my favorite gifts were some receiving blankets a quilter friend made for me. The blankets were larger than those you get at the baby superstore so swaddling was easier because I could wrap the daylights out of Sean. I called it making him a taco.

Allison is decorating the nursery in bright pink, orange and green so I thought the flannel I chose would work nicely for her. Now if I can just get the darn blankets in the mail!

Halloween in the Hood

I love Halloween in my neighborhood. So many houses really get into the spirit, and it’s fun for children and adults. I was on a walk the other day and able to quickly snap a photo of this house.

Halloween in Little 5 Points is ALWAYS a big deal. There’s a parade, floats and marching bands. It’s quite the event.Every year we walk into L5P to watch. It’s a blast! The people watching is jaw dropping!

We took Sean last year, but he was too young to remember. We didn’t dress him up this year, but did put him in his cute Halloween shirt. Figure he may as well get as much use out of it as he possibly can!

Sean wasn’t so into watching the parade, but did enjoy sitting on the bottom step at the Bass Lofts watching everyone. He was very proud of himself

Not sure what was going by here, but something caught his eye. Maybe the enormous skeletons??

We had a quick dinner at The Albert, then home. Sean was pooped, and we knew he had a big day on Sunday. Izzy’s first birthday party! We did dress him up for Izzy’s party. He was an alligator.

And Iz was a pumpkin! Is she adorable or what?!

The party started at 1, which is Sean’s normal nap time. We took him down for about an hour. He started to get wobbly, and fussy, so we brought him in for his afternoon siesta.

R.I.P. Green Crayon – Part Deux

It occurred to me that the title of my last post didn’t quite make sense. Well, it does, IF you understand there was a whole point to me naming the post after the crayon and I completely forgot to go into it. DUH!

Previously on “Paco and the Tomato”…. I was watching Cade for the night about a week ago. He is a short napper. I was fully prepared for that, knowing Sean would zonk out for two and a half to three hours and Cade would be McShorty.  I had things prepared to pass the time. We could paint with water, a favorite activity of Sean, color, play ball, etc.  Sean has a gigantic coloring book and crayons. The book is big because, well, let’s face it, toddlers aren’t exactly into fine detail work. The crayons have a triangular shape, making it easier for little hands to hold them.

I put Cade down with the crayons and coloring book. He found that tremendously interesting. And, as it turns out, he found the crayons particularly tasty!  Now, Sean isn’t a crayon eater, so I wasn’t prepared to find Cade and my deck covered in green crayon. There is a reason that the fine people at the Crayola company mark the boxes NON_TOXIC!! Guess there is also a reason they are marked 24+ months!

The crayon must have been a delicious treat because Cade darn near ate the entire thing!  I stripped him down, doused his shirt in Shout, and we went on our merry way. Without a shirt, and sadly, without the ability to color. No crayons for Cade. At least not while he enjoys them as an appetizer. Or until he turns 2.

R.I.P. Green Crayon

My cousin Julie is an actress and model. Tall. Thin. Blonde hair and blue eyes. She’s gorgeous! The kind of woman you see and think, “She’s probably a self centered witch.” to make yourself feel better, but of course, she isn’t. Julie is a lovely person, inside and out. She’s talented, funny, artistic. The kind of person that you know you are truly blessed to have in your life. She makes everyone around her feel great. You WANT to spend time with her.

I am five years older than Julie. We weren’t super close growing up because of the age difference. And we lived eight hours apart. Eighteen and going to college is much different than thirteen and starting high school. Now, post college graduation, all these things start to matter much less. Life experiences become the same, or similar, and your similarities start to outweigh your differences. Soon, the ties that bring you together are more than just family lines. You not only embrace that you are cousins, you learn to love one another as friends. Good friends. Really good friends.

Julie moved to Los Angeles after she graduated college. She was there for five years. She and her husband, Matt, moved back east to Atlanta when she was pregnant with her first, and thus far only, son, Cade. Cade is four months older than Sean. The two boys have, for all intensive purposes, grown up together, minus a few months on either end while they were in utero.

When Julie and I were pregnant we talked about letting the boys have spend the nights. We thought each of us could let the other go on a “proper date”. You know, the kind that includes alcohol, a late night and general over indulgence. At the time a date with ones spouse seemed like a novel concept, particularly because we were fat, tired, whiny pregnant women. Finally, it’s coming to fruition. Of course, neither of the spend the nights have actually yielded a proper date. My night out allowed me to spend time that the Crawford Long ER with Michael, and Julie’s night out was because she was working.

Cade was with us last Friday. He and Sean ran themselves ragged! It was hysterical to watch them. I take this, no you take that, no I’ll take that again. Too much toddler chaos!

One highlight of the day was watching the train go by the house. I think Cade was trying to call his parents to let them know how much fun he was having! Notice the phone in his right hand.

Amidst the chaos, Sean, my little lover, was giving kisses to Cade. Julie laughs at me and tells me that there is one in every class. He’s mine!

Much more playing and insanity, then dinner. After both boys COVERED themselves in Chef Boyardee, Michael and I wisked them off to the bath.

I think they both had a good time!

Michael and I loved every minute with both boys, but were certainly ready for bed time that night.

Maybe next time we have a spend the night, Julie and I will actually be able to have “proper” dates with our husbands! Wish us luck!

DC or Bust!

We just returned from a week long trip to Washington, D.C to visit Grand Dad Rick and KK.  We enjoyed our trip and were happy to spend Rick’s 60th with him. Sean really had a blast. Peek-a-boo in the garden gate was among his favorite activities with GrandDad Rick.

Are they cute or what?

In addition to playing in the garden Sean and Rick had a good time chasing each other around the center of the house.

Gotcha!!!

Rick was a champ at dinner too. Sean is at an age where he won’t sit still. We did dinner out most nights, and it was tough. Someone was with Sean, or chasing Sean, around the restaurant or sidewalk outside our dining locale. There were many pick me up’s then put me down’s along with the occasional grunt, scream or shriek.  We learned that it is not fun to dine with a toddler and cooking in is our modus operindi until he can once again sit still.  He’d much rather run around and play with doors instead of eat.

Eating is for wimps. Until KK played “I’m gonna eat all your applesauce!” with Sean. He found this quite silly and fun. And, lucky for us, he also ate his applesauce. Funny how that works!

A trip to DC, well, anywhere really, is not a trip for Michael Murphy without a visit to a local museum. I was grateful not to have to join in this vacation tradition this year.  Generally speaking I enjoy visiting museums, but all boats and planes look mostly the same to me, so I don’t get the fascination.  Mike thinks all quilts look the same. I think all planes look the same. Guess we’re even!

Michael, Sean and Rick spent one afternoon at the Air and Space Museum. It looks like a pretty cool building, and there were many, many planes for the boys to see.

The Murphy boys had a good time, but I was happier to visit my favorite shops at Tyson’s Corner instead of looking at planes. Banana Republic and Nordstrom are my idea of shopping heaven! Top it off the following day with a trip to G Street Fabrics and a cup o’ joe and my vacation couldn’t get any better!

Our trip home wasn’t complete without making a stop in Richmond to see Laura and Jeremy.

Not pictured: Jeremy

The stop was brief, but enjoyable.  Laura and Jeremy grilled supper, then took us to Cold Stone for dessert. YUMMY!

An eight hour drive home was too much for Sean. At the NC/SC welcome center, Sean started to melt down. He wanted to stretch his legs, and we were happy to oblige for a half hour, then it was time to go.   Sean thought it was all fun and games that Daddy was chasing him around and playing with him until he realized that Michael was coming to get him to put him in the car.

Uh-oh!

Lady was glad to see us. I was glad to see the house, and a good night’s sleep in my own bed was delish!

Sean is like a Visa card….everywhere I want to be

Sean is a like  Visa card. He’s EVERYWHERE I want to be…

on a chair, the cabinet under the sink, the refrigerator, you get the idea…

wherever I want to be!

He certainly keeps me busy. I am surprised that I somehow find time to do anything.

Today I made Rice Krispie treats AND cleaned the house. Okay, well only the downstairs, but nonetheless, it’s still clean. Except for the desk. And that’s Mike’s space, even though you wouldn’t quite know it. I have managed to take over a corner or two.

A friend of mine had a little girl a few weeks ago. I haven’t met Ashley yet, but get to next week. I made her what I consider the easiest quilt in the world. A lot of bang for something so easy.

I have a few other projects that I am eager to start.  Don’t I always?

For the past three years I have made a  quilt for LifeLink of Georgia,

http://www.lifelinkfound.org/georgia.cfm

LifeLink is an independent, non-profit organ and tissue recovery organization dedicated to serving patients in need of transplant therapy and their families. I think that organ donation is such an important cause, and though I often find myself in tears while making the quilt, I am glad I do.

LifeLink has a ceremony each year and the quilt is presented to families that lost a loved one. Each family, or a family member, makes a block, then I assemble the quilt.  I couldn’t find a photo of any of the last few I’ve made. It’s entirely possible that I didn’t snap a picture. Silly me! I’ll be sure to do that this year. Quilt will hopefully be finished in a few weeks.

I am currently putting the binding on another quilt, too. Will tell you more about that one later.

Where the wild things grow

Kids grow like weeds.

Or peppers.

A group of us started a community garden a few months ago and we have our first bell pepper. I’m very proud of this little pepper. The whole garden really. And, it’s been great for the kids in the neighborhood too! Nolan, my neighbor Amy’s youngest son, found our first pepper! He was quick to point it out and I think the first pepper should go to him once it’s ready.

It’s really a glorious thing to watch something you love grow right before your eyes. Pepper or person.

A year ago Sean was a spikey-haried blob, and now he’s walking, talking, and letting his will be known.

He has a friend down the street, Izzy and they like to play together. Well, as much as children their age play together. More like, play in the same space. She’s five months younger than Sean. Izzy’s dad keeps telling Sean he can be her prom date, but I worry about what dad really thinks about letting his daughter go out with anyone. Even a “safe” date! Lucky for all of us that’s still a few years away!

Izzy and Sean were introduced to sidewalk chalk the other day. Sean thought it was tremendous fun to write on the sidewalk, the mailboxes. ME!!  I was covered in chalk! And little Iz had blue teeth! We tried to keep her from eating it, but she found chalk to be tasty. Or just different. Or both. At least she could wash it down with a swig of Sean’s water!

I’m almost finished with my latest quilt. I am quilting the borders right now. I have one side finished. Three to go! Once that’s finished I can start quilting my Sea Urchins quilt. I know what I want to do, now I need to find the time to quilt it. Hmmm. Maybe at the October retreat.  Maybe in my spare time. Maybe never.