Thankfully November

I love November.  I love it so much I was born in November.  Good planning on my part, eh?  Then my first niece was due on my birthday, but decided to have her own, so her big day is 10 days after mine.

Sally Seam Rip-her with her Pi clock.  Yep, a math geek. And she looks more like me than her Mom, my Sister.

 Then I fell in love with a guy whose birthday is in November.

DH with our grand-nephew who isn't crying.  DH usually puts most babies into screaming fits. This was a first.

 One of my grand nieces, Miss D, was born on my birthday.  Took her a while to grasp the part about we "share" a birthday.

Miss D is pretty much camera shy.  This is one of the few pics I have of her.  She's in the red, on the receiving end of a hug.

Yep, I love November.

Not November, but Oct. 31, 2011.  The only Trick-or-treaters we've ever had.  Sally and her sister Shay, with their kids.  Sally is holding Shay's older son, Lil'Ripper is in the middle, and Shay has her younger giraffe, er son.

If you're one of my fb peeps, you know that every day in November, I (along with lots of other folks) post at least one thing a day for which we are thankful.  Despite all the pains in the buns that come from having kids with special needs, we still have much to be thankful for.  And I count you among them. 

In other news, DD's class was here yesterday and had a nice time.  His trains were a big hit, as usual.  And our Girl's night was loverly, too.  I wish I had a Friday night that we could get together, but that won't happen for a while, because it's time for. . . .

Swanton Area Railroad and Model Club, six track O gauge layout.

Toledo Zoo~~Natural History Museum, turned train station.

DD 3 or 4 years ago.  My little guy.

. . . trains.  Lots and lots of model trains.  This group has been one of DD's fav's and I'd go almost so far as to say, a savior for him.  They accept him as their own.  We all need a group like that.

Anywho, this year the Club will be doing multiple layouts again.  We'll do O-gauge at the Zoo, beginning next Sunday when we haul the modules in, then spend the next 4 days putting up the houses and stuff, and the annual painting of the fence. This display stays up for 8 weeks, and we run trains every night from 4 to 9 or 4 to 10.  Our family covers Tuesdays.

While this is going on, we set up the the Homesprung Holidays at Wildwood Preserve.  That runs for 10 days, from 10 until 8 or 9.

But wait!  There's more!  The HO division (smaller trains = Half O gauge, get it, HO) will set up their stuff for two separate one-day shows in Swanton, and then at the Children's Wonderland in Sylvania, Ohio.  This is the first time to run there.  It's open from around 11 to 8 or something and runs for a couple of weeks, so DD and I will take 2 afternoon shifts.  I already let this teacher know that he'll be 'working' for at least 4 days in the next two months.  One of the other club members will sign his work-study papers, so he won't be counted as absent, we hope.  (It's not like we care about that, though.)

I've been going thru my toys to see what I'll use for my modules this year.  Probably pretty much the same as the past two years, I think.  We'll see.

So to make a short story long, November is a fun month for us.  Yep, the weather usually sucks, like today when it's cold, nasty, and dreary and the days are the shortest, but for us, it's our uber-busy, holiday month.  In December we sit back and enjoy the views, old movies, and family and friends. And resting is what January is for.   Oh.  And of course starting two new quilting block-of-the-month clubs! 

Crafty, Snowy, Birdy Days

First, I need a yard or so of Royal Stewart Tartan in shirt weight. For the life of me, I can't find any in the US this week! I googled it every which way I could and nada, zip, nuthin'. So if you've got some in your stash, I need some a.s.a.p. to finish a quilt for a really-coming-up-quickly wedding. ::begging begging begging:: Fun facts to know and tell: a real tartan has the same stripe pattern in each direction. When tartans are registered, the designer only submits the pattern in one direction. When they don't match, it's a plaid. See what you learn going to a liberal arts college where the mascot is the Scot?

Next, it's snowing again. Between doctors appointments, snow, ice, and Presidents Day, my boys have only been in school for 6 hours this week. Crap. That really puts a dent in my crafty time.

Also spent the afternoon yesterday with the boys' current caseworker and their next caseworker (they change when the kids leave school~~since we're considering pulling them from the glorified babysitting thing they call school now...... ) well, let's just say we're looking at options. More on that later. And if any of you are involved with using Ohio Waivers for your adult kids with disabilities, lemme know how that's working for you.

And birders~~you should see the feeders of NW Ohio this week. We picked up a new feeder bird for us~~Purple Finches. Because our deck is also the bird feeder, it takes some of the birds a while to find our feeders. Lots and lots of folks get Purple Finches (and their infamous twins, House Finches) at their feeders, but this is a first for us at this house. My sis lives 4 miles east of us on the other side of the park. She has a large grassy lot and water-feature mini-pond next to her house, along with 3 more acres of pines, and you should see the cardinals! She can easily have 15 or 20 at a pop. She also had a beautiful little Carolina Wren visiting a suet feeder right up at her window. I suppose if I were to stop reading all of the birder blogs I'd have more birding time.

Today, I'm hoping to get some sewing time in. I suppose if I were to stop reading all of the sewing blogs I'd have more sewing time. Sheesh.

Another Day, Another Party

When DH and I designed our house, we knew we wanted space for parties. We sort of gave up having cozy little spots, but the design has worked out wonderfully otherwise.

Today's party was a social outing for the kids in FTDs class at school. All of the students have special needs, ranging from multiple issues to deafness to Down Syndrome to autism. We planned this as the Cabin Fever party. We had hoped to go out back and get a good ol' roaring fire going and roast hot dogs and marshmallows and have cocoa, but since it didn't go above 15 degrees today we just stayed inside and had sloppy joes and cocoa and ice cream sundaes. The kids played with the Wii and xbox and the grown ups had a chance to just hang out together, not worrying about what other people think of our kids. We don't get many opportunities like that.

FTD thought maybe 5 people were coming~~his teacher, 3 kids, and a parent. So when 18 folks showed up.... complete with walkers, wheel chairs, canes, what ever, it was quite a crowd! And they stayed over an hour and a half later that we thought. FTD doesn't usually do parties--too much unpredictable commotion. But he lasted nearly through to the end. We had plenty of food and a really nice afternoon.

And now I'm pooped.

Tomorrow we're helping a kid in FTD's Scout troop with his Eagle Court of Awards Ceremony, so that will pretty much shoot the day for us. I was hoping to get back to the sewing machine, but since I had to clean yesterday and this morning, and will have to again tomorrow morning, . . . well hells bells. Maybe Monday.