Solutions

Thank you to those who sent emails and offered suggestions for my MIL's Christmas present. I ended up calling Joe at work on Friday and gave him a few of the suggestions. This is what we gave her:




A basket of goodies, wrapped in cellophane with a red organdy ribbon. We filled it with German cookies, candies, preserves, cake (or whatever that stuff is), tissue pouch, my handmade soap, and Bath & Body Works air freshener (Black Raspberry Vanilla). Joe stopped at the PX and picked up all the German stuff. Joe's father is retired Army and they spent many years in Germany. So the German treats were a nostalgic treat for his mother.

And the new bag for my mother (after something went awry with the other bag):

I finally braved it and cut into my Amy Butler fabric stash. I was afraid to do it at first, but I figured "she's my mother ... if I can't cut it for her, who can I cut it for?" I'm so happy that I did. It is lined with chocolate-brown corduroy. (I tried to make the handles in the corduroy but my sewing machine flat-out refused to sew through four layers of corduroy. Even with a heavy-duty needle. I did it for another bag without incident. Hmm.)

And for the cemetery:

forever my sister

forever in my mind

forever in my heart

These past few days we've been busy building Lego things. Avatar fortresses (still in progress), Spongebob's Krusty Krab (still in progress, especially since it "fell" apart), and some Star Wars "things." We've also been busy playing Connect Four. So busy doing these things, in fact, that I have brush-burns on my elbows. It's all good.

Please note: I have upgraded blogger and I may be editing old posts with labels/categories. If you see older, updated posts on bloglines, please just ignore. Sorry if it is annoying. (Also, sorry about the erratic line spacing in my posts -- it is the new blogger, not me. Well, it could be me, too!)