July 4th is one of the special days in my family--not just because it's the birthday of our country, but also because it's the birthday of our daddy. Gordy Ramey, my daddy, would be 102 today. He passed away in 1977, much too young, and we miss him. So if at all possible, we all gather on his birthday each year to eat and have fun, and tell Gordy stories.
Here's a little mini-quilt I made yesterday to help deck the house for the 4th. I got the pattern and the little hanger from one of the vendor's booths at the quilt show.
We'll be gathering at my house tomorrow, so today I have to spruce things up and cook a bit. I've already started with the sprucing. I have to make a trip to the grocery store before I start the cooking. I'm going to get the meat from one of the terrific barbecue restaurants nearby. When one lives in or near Birmingham, Alabama, there's no need ever to cook barbecue. Here's the menu:
BBQ Beef and Pork
Rolls
Baked Beans
Slaw
Salad
Chips
Cracker Barrel Double Fudge Coca Cola Cake & Vanilla Ice Cream
This will be my first time to make the Cracker Barrel cake. Jesse and I are crazy about it, and I have a feeling, if all goes well, it just might be the hit of the feast. I'm omitting the pecans though. Every recipe I can find on the internet for this has pecans, but our Cracker Barrel doesn't have pecans in its version, and I want it to be just like theirs. I'll report back how it goes.
I redid my bedroom just a bit. I took the basket quilt that was hanging behind the bed and put it on the bed. And I hung my Scottish Starts quilt behind the bed. Lots of blue and yellow, with hints of pink and green.
My patriotic corner cabinet.
Mama and I made the pineapple pincushions years ago for a book I was working on. Mama did the crochet work, and I put it all together and did the ribbon work.
Tiny cup collection
Quilts, etc.
I'm not finished with the quilt show pictures--just taking a break for now. There are plenty more to come.
HAPPY 4th to All My Friends.
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On 07/03/2013, dmoore38@yahoo.com said ...
So pretty. Thank you for sharing.
On 07/03/2013, Barbara Anne said ...
What wonderful decorations to celebrate your Daddy's birthday and the 4th!! Love the little flag quilt and it's hanger that you made yesterday and all all of the delightful red, white, and blue touches that mean so much to you. The blue pincushion is so sweet as is its link to your dear mother.
Love the look of your bedroom, too, and applaud your bravery in changing the hanging quilt!
I have a couple of red, white, and blue quilts hanging and those colors on the coffee table, too, but that's the extent of my decor. The flag will be flying tomorrow, of course.
My daddy would have been 103 on July 13.
Thanks for the divine looking recipe!
Hugs!
On 07/03/2013, Linda said ...
I've been lurking lately, keeping tabs on you, but had to tell you how glad I am you are feeling better. I love your sprucing, and your quilts and decorations are beautiful. Did you get a bigger bed? I was going to suggest you get an airbed and let the animals have your bed. It's all about the pets, you know. ;) I'm eager to hear how you like the cake. I have not tried Cracker Barrel's version but my stomach is growling at 10:40pm, just reading the recipe, and I'm not even hungry. Have a happy and fun Fourth!
On 07/04/2013, Kai said ...
Okay - I have TWO complaints about your house: (1) I'm not IN it, and (2) I don't get to 'help' you eat that yummy-sounding meal. Sigh. LOL! I came over to wish you a VERY happy 4th of July! Also to tell you how much I love you, Susan! I'm wishing your daddy a happy 103rd because I KNOW he is with you always!
On 07/05/2013, Linda said ...
OK I made the cake, and we loved it. I went ahead with pecans in the icing, because that's the way we roll. ;) As I was finishing my huge piece, I said "OK that's all I need, my craving is now satisfied", and now, a day later, I can hardly wait to eat it again.
On 07/09/2013, Ellen in Oregon said ...
Sue - I have just been trying to catch-up on all your lifes' ups & downs. Life sure does seem to operate at extremes sometimes doesn't it. Myself, I am fine when life holds steady in the middle of the scale. I really do hope that the epidural helps your pain. I recently had a morphone pain pump implanted and it has taken a few months to transition off the pills and get the dosage in the pump at the right dose. The pump is controlling the back pain much better than the pills. The best part is that the pump dosage of pain med is hundreds of times less than what I was taking orally, so no more feeling drugged all the time and no more break through pain between pills. I am still crossing my fingers, because it was a last resort.
I know what you mean when you felt better and so immediately overdid it. I think it is easy to forget that when you stop a lot of activities because of the pain, our muscles atrophy and all the connective tissue loses much of its' strength & ability to support our spine adequately. I would think that eventually doing some safe strengthening exercises might help you gently regain the strength in your back as well as increase indurance. Our spine is only as good as the muscles/ligaments that support it. A good surgeon pointed this out to me a long time ago & it does make a lot of sense.
While I was confined to bed this Spring I read Joe Hill's latest novel "The Horns". Strange concept as usual, but I enjoyed it. I liked it even more than "Heart Shaped Box".
I know you didn't like King's Colorado Kid and I agree-it was bad. I could not read any of that Dark Tower series. I wondered if you ever watched the TV series called Haven on ScFy Channel which is loosely based on the CK? It is a really good show which will start its' 4th season on Sept. 13th. If you ever get a chance to watch the earlier seasons & get caught up, I think you would really like it.
I really enjoyed Kings' The Dome and I read that the new TV series got more viewers than any show since 1973. So far the show barely resembles the book. Kind of silly to take a ginormous novel with hundreds of characters & subplots and try to make it work as a weekly series. It has been OK to watch, but I think I would like it more if I had not read the book. I have yet to see a movie based on one of Kinds' books that did justice to his writing. The one exception may be the original Shining. His characters are always better in my imagination than when a bad actor attempts to portray them. I guess there are a lot of things in life that are better in our imagination than they are in real life.
I love your snazzy glasses, even though you could easily pull-off any frames that Penelope would wear. She is such an intresting character. I must have missed an episode of CM, because I don't know why she broke up with her techy boyfriend last season.
I very much like the basket quilt you put on your bed. Is that your Gathering pattern? I purchased the pattern on eBay and when it arrived I was so suprised to see it was your design. The blues & yellows are wonderful. I have been collecting lots of yellows this year just so I could make it without repeating any fabrics. Have you finished your granny square top or the one you were making out of your husband's shirts? They were coming along great when I last saw them.
It was good to see that all the furry ones are doing well. The photo of Taco warming his paws on Sophie's tummy made me laugh, especially when I think back to all your apprehension about the dogs introduction to the cats. To look at them, you'd think they had been together all their lives.
Don't bother getting a bigger bed in hopes of sleeping better. I did that and I still end up with them on me or rolled up against me while 3/4 of the bed is never used.I feel like the leader of a wolf pack with everyone sleeping on top of one another. I am now considering getting a heated matress pad in the Fall. Maybe if everyone has a heated place to sleep, they won't need to sleep on top of me to get heated up. I doubt anything will change our bad sleep habits at this point, but I feel challenged to see if anything will work so I can get a decent nights sleep. I would be happy if I could just get up to the bathroom without having to worry who I might be throwing onto the floor in my haste.
Please take care of yourself so the epidural has a chance of providing some relief. My sister had the same nerve block for a ruptured disc and she got good relief for over a year now, so I have hope yours will be helpful too. Will we ever get it though our heads that we can't go full steam ahead the second the pain starts to diminish? Probably not, but unfortunately there comes a time when we might actually need to proceed cautiously when we begin to feel better. We like being the hare even though we have been turtles for some time. Getting older with a bad back stinks - especially when we want to do things our way & we highly value our independence.
Hang in there Kid & I'll keep my fingers and toes crossed that you get some relief.
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