Three Weeks into Retirement

For readers who haven't heard me exulting all the way from central Texas, I retired at the end of May, after a long career in education.  I began as an elementary school teacher back in 1975 -- here I am with my very first class.

In between, my husband and I earned our doctorates at the University of Georgia, then worked at FSU for 11 years and LSU for eight, then spent the last 17 years at Baylor University. Primarily, I was an administrator, but I also taught one class -- Sociology of Education -- each semester.  Here I am with students from my very last class -- on Portfolio and Pizza Day.

Immediately after my exit interview on my last afternoon at work, my husband whisked me away for a week at the beach with our children and grandchildren.  Our daughter found a great house to rent at Surfside (west of Galveston), and we all had a fabulous time together, with lots of beach time, games, cooking, etc.  Here's a photo my older granddaughter took from the deck.

Here's my youngest grandchild enjoying the beach.

The house had a very well-equipped kitchen, and we made cookies twice and brownies once.

After the week at the beach, we returned home, where I wrote a to-do list about a mile long, then got busy.  I have been going through drawers and cabinets, culling items for a neighborhood garage sale in August, and I was also in a sewing mood.  I made a new cover for my sewing machine, a dress for my granddaughter (can you tell I love piping?), and -- by her special request -- a baseball uniform for her doll.

I have also resumed daily morning walks with my husband, and the late afternoons are spent with him, relaxing in our pool.  I've also gone to lunch with friends -- a special "perk" of retirement -- and renewed my library card!  I have some big projects planned for later this summer -- painting a couple of rooms and possibly even -- gulp -- upholstery.  Thanks to all my Blogland friends for continually inspiring me with your ambitious projects! Keep 'em coming!

My Latest Obsession

To indulge my creative side, I have embraced a variety of needlework over the years.  As a girl, I learned to embroider on "Days of the Week" tea towels and to sew clothes for myself, as my mother made many of our clothes. As a newlywed, I was into crocheting, making Christmas stockings for my husband and myself and a tree skirt, then baby items when our daughter came along.  Next came counted cross-stitch, and I made a number of samplers and a Christmas stocking for our son, as well as more baby items for shower gifts.  Then the smocking craze hit, and I smocked many outfits for both children, until my son -- at age 4 -- told me he wanted a suit and tie for Easter, NOT the cute little smocked shirts with button-on knee pants I loved to make for him.  Fast forward a few years, and my sister got me re-interested in knitting, which I had learned as a child from my grandmother.  I knit many hats and scarves and a few socks, then a grandchild born in the Frozen North had me knitting adorable baby sweaters.  I still love to knit -- more about that in another post, maybe -- but in the past few months I have been entertaining myself by sewing doll dresses.

This spring I sewed several sundresses for my youngest grandchild, and for fun, I made matching dresses for her American Girl-style doll.  Here's one example:

Then, I discovered the wonderful dollmaker of Phoebe & Egg.  In addition to Lisa's amazing handmade dolls, she generously shares free patterns for clothing for her dolls, as well as American Girl and Waldorf dolls.  Her blog features some of her creations, and she sells them in her Etsy shop, too.  I quickly signed up for her newsletter and downloaded the patterns.  They are easy and fun to sew, adding various features and trims to make them even cuter.  Now my idea of a lovely weekend is spending a morning sewing a new doll dress!  My older granddaughter even loaned me her American Girl dolls to use as models.  Here are some of my favorites:
 

Lisa is introducing a new historic collection with dress designs from the 1940s.  That's a little before my time, but it started me thinking about some of my favorite dresses when I was a child.  The one below was my favorite dress in third grade in the early 1960s (before color school photos, obviously!).  It was a blue floral print, trimmed with black rickrack and tiny black buttons, and I loved wearing it. So, I decided to use that dress as inspiration for a doll dress, and I'm pleased with the way it turned out.


Then, just for fun, I made another "dark cotton" as we called the school dresses worn when the summer heat was still evident, but fall clothes were desired. I have learned a LOT about sewing with baby rick rack, not to mention sewing tiny collars and pockets!

Do you think sewing for dolls is a sign I'm entering a second childhood?  Or should I only worry if I find myself actually playing with the dolls -- without a grandchild present?!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a quick post to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving!  We will be just three around the table this year, as our children are celebrating with in-laws, but a lovely relaxed day is one of my favorite things.  My table features my Grandma Rachel's wedding china, Heinrich H&C's Admiral with colors perfect for the season.  Bronze and burgundy mums add a late fall touch before our thoughts turn to Christmas decorating.

On the menu:  stuffed turkey rolls (from boned thighs), cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, green beans, yeast rolls, and a new-to-us cranberry compote that includes BACON! (How bad can it BE?)  For dessert, I've made a browned-butter pecan pie and mini chocolate chess pies, with lots of whipped cream available.

Enjoy your day and count your blessings!

Easter 2015

We had a lovely Easter this year, with both our offspring visiting with their families for the weekend.  The weather cooperated, with sunshine and comfortably cool temperatures for lots of backyard play and patio sitting.

My older granddaughter loves to cook, so we made desserts together.  One fun project was making chocolate-dipped strawberry "carrots" to garnish pots of chocolate mousse. Her younger cousin enjoyed watching the process.

The "carrots" turned out really cute! And the mousse, topped with chocolate cookie crumb "dirt," was delicious, too.

Of course, we also needed to dye some eggs for hunting!

There was also some cute cousin cuddling time on the patio.

Sunday morning the grandchildren donned their Easter outfits.

After church, four generations sat down for Easter dinner in the dining room.  The table was set with my Castleton Gloria china, and each plate was topped with gingham napkins from Pier 1 last year and Lindt chocolate carrots.  Yellow tulips and silver dishes filled with candy eggs were the centerpiece.

Our menu was traditional -- ham, macaroni and cheese, green beans, rolls -- but we tried a new dessert, Emeril's banana cream pie. It was spectacular!

Learning to Sew

Do you remember when you learned to sew?  I think the first time I was allowed to use a sewing machine was when I was about seven and visiting my grandmother for a week.  She "helped" me sew a dress from white cotton printed with red and blue stars.  I'm sure I only sewed the long, straight seams and Grandma did everything else, but I was still proud of that dress! 

As I mentioned in my last post, I brought home quite a few old dress patterns that I found at my mother's house last year.  One pattern I didn't find, but sought out with the help of Google, was the one I used to sew a dress for my eighth grade home economics course.  As I recall, we girls (only girls -- the boys took "shop") were instructed to purchase a How-to-Sew pattern chosen from a short list of teacher-approved patterns, along with the fabric of our choice and required notions.  I chose this pattern, the sleeveless version, and I selected a cotton pique printed with flowers and strawberries.

It took us most of the semester to finish our dresses to Miss Blodgett's satisfaction.  I still remember having to rip out my offending armhole facings more than once and re-sew them properly.  Finally, we all finished our dresses, but part of our grade depended on actually wearing the dresses to school and modeling them in a fashion show!  By that point, most of us were sick of our dresses, but we had to comply.  I think that was the only time I ever wore mine! 

Looking back, now I wonder how on earth Miss Blodgett maintained her sanity while helping more than two dozen thirteen-year-old girls learn to sew! 

In Your Easter Bonnet

Will you have a new outfit for Easter this year? Was a new outfit an exciting part of your childhood Easters?

While visiting my parents last year, I found a treasure trove of patterns (now vintage!) that my mother had saved after sewing clothes for me throughout my childhood. One of my all-time favorites was this dress with coordinating coat, which I wore for Easter when I was 12 or 13. Mama made the coat in a pink and white floral, and the dress and coat collar in solid pink, both from linen-like fabric. The coat had covered buttons with fabric loops, which must have required a lot of extra time!  I wore it with pink slingback flats (and possibly white gloves -- were we still wearing gloves in the mid-1960s?) and felt very special and elegant.

To go WAY back, here I am in my Easter finery at age three and a half. Mama didn't make this dress -- my baby sister was 11 days old that Easter, so she was a little busy!  I have to wonder how much attention I paid in Sunday School, wearing that stiff petticoat, hat, gloves, and no-doubt-new shoes.

I continued the tradition, sewing for my children, especially their Sunday and special occasion outfits.  I was into smocking back then, and here are their Easter outfits in the late 1980s.  Our son looked adorable in smocked outfits until he was four, when he insisted he wanted to wear a suit for Easter!

And now there's another generation to sew for! Here's an Easter dress I made for my oldest grandchild a few years ago. I have sewed a few things for her and my grandson, but I haven't yet sewn anything for my youngest grandchild.  I HAVE knitted her a few things, but she's two now, so I need to get back to my sewing machine!

Books Read in 2014

After reading several bloggers' lists of books read in 2014, I decided to add my list.  Since most of my reading is done on my iPad with the Kindle app, it was easy to reconstruct the list.  Also, in 2014 I finally learned to use the Overdrive app to borrow e-books from our local library.  Easy, and best of all, free!

Here's my list.  You'll notice that when I find an author I like, I read as many of his/hers as I can get my hands on!  The titles in blue text were probably my favorites last year.  Which of these books have you read and liked/disliked? 

Simple Genius (King & Maxwell)	David Baldacci
First Family (King & Maxwell)	David Baldacci
Two Mrs. Abbotts (Miss Buncle)	D.E. Stevenson
Six Years	Harlen Coben
Still Life with Bread Crumbs	Anna Quindlen
Why Shoot a Butler?	Georgette Heyer
Bruno, Chief of Police	Martin Walker
The House on First Street	Julia Reed
Death of an Old Git (Falconer Files 1)	Andrea Frazer
The Wives of Los Alamos	TaraShea Nesbit
While We Were Watching Downton Abbey	Wendy Wax
The Back Door Man	Dave Buschi
Ten Beach Road	Wendy Wax
Ocean Beach	Wendy Wax
Magnolia Wednesdays	Wendy Wax
Christmas at the Beach	Wendy Wax
The Dressmaker	Kate Alcott
Circle of Three	Patricia Gaffney
The Apprentice (Rizzoli & Isles)	Tess Gerritsen
Ice Cold (Rizzoli & Isles)	Tess Gerritsen
Presumed Guilty	Tess Gerritsen
The Silent Girl	Tess Gerritsen
Absolute Power	David Baldacci
The Camel Club	David Baldacci
Ten Tales Told (short stories)	E.L. Smith
The Collectors	David Baldacci
Stone Cold (Camel Club)	David Baldacci
Divine Justice (Camel Club)	David Baldacci
The Whole Truth	David Baldacci
Last Man Standing	David Baldacci
The Forgotten Affairs of Youth (Isabel Dalhousie)	Alex McCall Smith
The Weird Sisters	Eleanor Brown
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake	Aimee Bender
The Cookbook Collector: A Novel	Allegra Goodman
Orphan Train: A Novel	Christina Baker Kline
Heading Out to Wonderful	Robert Goolrick
The Cornish Coast Murder	John Bude
The Pieces We Keep	Kristina McMorris
A Partial History of Lost Causes	Jennifer Dubois
Desert Heat (Joanna Brady series)	J. A. Jance
The Husband's Secret	Liane Moriarty
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet	David Mitchen
A Brewing Storm	Richard Castle
Keeper of the Bride	Tess Gerritsen
The Rosie Project	Graeme Simsion
Started Early, Took My Dog	Kate Atkinson
The Red House	Mark Haddon
I Am Pilgrim	Terry Hayes
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry	Rachel Joyce
The Hit	David Baldacci
The Innocent	David Baldacci
The Target	David Baldacci
Looking for Me	Beth Hoffman
Heat Wave	Richard Castle
The Kashmir Shawl	Rosie Thomas
Heat Rises	Richard Castle
Naked Heat	Richard Castle
Frozen Heat	Richard Castle
31 Days to a Staged Home	Leslie Hoyt
1Q84	Haruki Murakami
Deadly Heat	Richard Castle
Three Wishes	Liane Moriarty
The Long Way Home	Louise Penny
A Year of Biblical Womanhood	Rachel Held Evans
Grandma Gatewood's Walk	Ben Montgomery
The Ladies' Room	Carolyn Brown
The Land of Mango Sunsets	Dorothea Benton Frank
Small Blessings	Martha Woodroof
Color Your Style	David Zyla
The Temporary Wife/Promise of Spring	Mary Balogh
Some Luck	Jane Smiley
A Christmas Bride/Beau	Mary Balogh
To Dwell in Darkness	Deborah Crombie
You Should Have Known	Jean Hanff Korelitz
The Mephisto Club	Tess Gerritsen
Vanish	Tess Gerritsen
The Keepsake	Tess Gerritsen
The Sinner	Tess Gerritsen
The Paying Guests	Sarah Waters
Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up	Marie Kondo
Reign of Error	Diane Ravitch
Life Support	Tess Gerritsen
The Midwife	Jolina Petersheim
The Outcast	Jolina Petersheim
The Tidewater Sisters	Lisa Wingate
Everything I Never Told You	Celeste Ng
Gray Mountain	John Grisham
Helen's Babies	John Habberton
Faithful Place	Tana French
Broken Harbor	Tana French
Last to Die	Tess Gerritsen
Girl Missing	Tess Gerritsen
In Their Footsteps	Tess Gerritsen
Where'd You Go, Bernadette	Maria Semple
Station Eleven	Emily St. John Mandel
Big Little Lies	Liane Moriarty
Die Again (Rizzoli & Isles)	Tess Gerritsen