Judi's Puppet Repair!

 We are Puppet coaches at our church.  The kid have a competition coming up soon, and the kids have noticed some of our puppets need repairs.  Imagine!  Most of the puppets are only 15-20 years old!  They are the same puppets that Jay and Jenni used in high school, only older!  Making repairs to the body is not hard.  Just need a sewing machine or a needle and thread.  Been there, done that many times.

However, most of the puppets need new hair.  I have never done that before.  So I googled how to make puppet hair, to no avail.  How to use craft fur for puppet hair, nothing out there.  I took a good look at my puppet's hair.

                 

Just some simple stitching all around the wig.
















Just how hard could this be?  Anything would be an improvement!  So I dug in.  First step....remove the current head of hair.  Not hard at all.  Just a simple hemming stitch all around.  Now I have a bald puppet!

And he actually looks better bald than with his matted hair!  It was tempting to stop here.

Next step, make a pattern using the old hair.  That was simple enough, but I wanted this puppet to have "bangs".  So I actually had to make TWO patterns, one for the front and one for the back.  The front was easy.  I just used his original hair for the pattern.  The back I drew out on the remaining craft fur.  I have not sewn in a long time.  I could not find my marking chalk.  Good thing Ava has crayons here!  White crayon to the rescue!

             

The thing I did not know about craft fur -- it sheds like crazy.  The bottom was literally coming apart.  So, I drug out the sewing machine and stitched some very small stitches around the bottom.

Craft fur seems to run only one direction. I was not confident I could comb it the other direction.  This is why I made my project harder than it probably needed to be!  I had two pieces to sew on the head...one for the back of the head, and one for the front of the head.  This time I remembered to stitch the craft fur BEFORE I cut it.  Much easier.

The stitching was tedious, but so easy to do!  And below is the finished project:

                         

This puppet has a much different personality with his new hair!  Now I know how Stacy and Clinton feel!

And maybe I will figure out a better way to do this before long.

I am not stopping here.  Most of what I found on the internet for puppet wigs was about making doll hair out of yarn.  Since our girl puppets all have pig tails, I think they would look better with yarn hair than with craft fur hair.  Today I was covered in craft fur.  Tomorrow, it will be yarn!

I would never have had the time or the energy to do this if I were still employed.  I am so grateful that I was able to retire early!

"Create in me a clean heart, O God.

Renew a loyal spirit within me."

Psalm 51:10

Birthday and Jammies at Grammy's

It has been a month since I have posted.  Since then, blogger has changed a few things.  I need to add to the blog more often so I am not so surprised when it is different!  However, they could not fool me!  I managed to navigate to the New Post section all by myself!  I am sure there was something for me to read when I first signed on....but I grew up hearing the phrase--"If all else fails, read the directions!"  And I put it into practice at a very early age!

Now on to the more interesting stuff!  February was Rod's birthday month!  It felt like it took us forever to be able to all get together for a meal to celebrate.  Rod chose Cheddar's -- a family favorite.  Afterwards we all went to Rod and Jenni's for cake.  Glorious cake!  I love cake!

It has been a tradition this year that Ava helps us blow out our candles.  For Rod's birthday, she wore a Princess crown while she helped!  Those colored squiggly things are the candles.  Ava arranged those, too!

Ava and Eli get to come to Grammy and Pop's on Fridays sometimes.  Sometimes they are here late enough to change into jammies.  We keep extra sets here just for them.  Last week Eli got to wear his new Elmo jammies for the first time.  They are a size 18 month, and they look like they fit pretty well!  Ava has on Cupcake jammies.

Above is the picture of about the cutest little boy I have ever known!   Oh, and you will notice the Christmas tree is still up in the background.  We took all the ornaments off, just could not seem to find the time or the energy to take the tree apart and put it back in the box!  It is a new tree.  All our others have been very complicated and did not fit back in the box.  Hence, the procrastination.  Not that we EVER need an excuse to procrastinate at our house!  Jay suggested we just decorate it for ALL the seasons.  Sounded fun, but to our surprise, the tree was easy to take down AND it fit back in its original box without a problem!!

The Big Elmo actually belongs to Ava, a gift from Rod.  He found it at Goodwill.  It is still one of her favorite toys.

One of Eli's favorite things to do is to climb under our end table and have a seat.  I managed to get a photo of him doing this today.

I have resolved to take more pictures when we are with the kids!  They are just too cute!

"So I concluded that there is nothing better

than to be happy

and enjoy ourselves

as long as we can."

Ecclesiastes 3:12

Retirement and January Fun!

Yes, finally, I am retired!  The first month has gone by really quickly!  Folks at work hosted a retirement luncheon for me at a local tearoom.  Good food, Good friends, Good times remembered.  I have been a Registered Nurse for 40 years now.  I have worked at Texas Health HEB Hospital for almost 27 years, the last 11 were in the Outpatient Surgery Department.  I miss the people, the patients, the work.  But I do not miss getting up early or going to work when it is icy or bad weather!  My present in the picture is a wonderful book about Nursing.    Fun to look at, enjoyable to read.


Aaah, but more fun awaits me!  Ava can now spend the night almost any time she wants or needs to!
Below you see some of the fun we have had.  She likes to take her Melissa and Doug blocks and make "cakes" out of them using my cork coasters.  These were actually cupcakes.  The shoelaces were the icing for the cupcakes.

Lately she has taken to wanting to watch Cinderella on the computer in the den.  The desktop computer, not the huge TV in the living room!  Not that she actually sits still in that chair for the whole movie!  I am supposed to sit in the comfy leather arm chair and watch her watch Cinderella.
When she needs a break, she pushes off and rolls the chair to me.  She wants to sit in the chair and have me spin her around.  She can spin a long time!  I get dizzy before she does!  And Eli loves to spin, too.  Sometimes they are both in there spinning.

I now have a new camera that so far does not delete pictures at random.  Hopefully more pictures to come as I get used to using it.

"My help comes from the LORD,

who made heaven and earth!

He will not let you stumble;

The One who watches over you will not slumber.

Indeed, he who watches over Israel 

never slumbers or sleeps.

The LORD himself watches over you!

The LORD stands beside you

as your protective shade.

The sun will not harm you by day,

nor the moon at night.

The LORD keeps you from all harm

and watches over your life.

The LORD keeps watch over you as you come and go,

both now and forever."

Psalm 121

December Fun!

Beware!  This is a very long post!

December was a very eventful month for the Worley gang.  We had THREE birthdays, Breakfast with Santa, Christmas, New Years, and a family dinner with my sister.  And the biggest event went by very quietly - my retirement.

It all started with Breakfast with Santa on December 3.  A bit early this year!  This event was held at our usual Breakfast hangout, Texas Star in Euless.  We had fun, a neither kid cried on Santa's lap!  How often doe that happen?  There was reindeer food to make, cookies to decorate and eat, yummy breakfast, etc.

Next was Jay's birthday, December 5.  We won't speak of his age.  It is tradition now for all of us to go to Jay's house where Sarah has lovingly prepared Jay's favorite meal...well actually it is a Worley favorite as well...Beans and Cornbread.  YUM!

Jay and Sarah already had their tree up.  Kids changed into their jammies and went to bed before we left. Ava dressed up her outfit.

Next event was Eli's birthday!  His FIRST Birthday!  There was a cake for all of us, and a "Smash" cake for Eli.  As you can see, he really got into smashing and eating his cake!

Then comes Christmas.  We had such fun opening presents that I really did not take too many!  And, my camera has been deleting photos at random, so it is also possible that some are just "gone"!
We always have Mike's famous Monkey Bread, and Sarah's Excellent Sausage Balls, and make a grand mess as we unwrap the presents.  No picture of the mess!

We did manage to take a family picture, but also BEFORE we unwrapped anything.  We managed to get a picture with Mike's eyes open, although I had to enlarge the picture to tell that!

Jenni's birthday is right after Christmas, December 28th.  Her birthday was on a Wednesday this year, and there happened to be a fellowship at church.  So we surprised her with a cake at church.

And of course, there was a birthday dinner with the rest of the family on Thursday.  We Worleys do love to get together over food!  We went back to Jay and Sarah's house to have cake.  Ava became Rapunzel and helped to blow out the candles!

And the last major event we had, again without pictures, was The Palmer Girls Family Christmas Dinner.  Every single one of us were there!  And all I have is one picture of the littlest ones!  We put in all the leaves in the kitchen table -- which happens to be my Mother's dining room table, and we all managed to squeeze around.  Now, once you were seated, you really did not dare move!  It was crowded!  This was the first year we have had it at our house.  Should we ever manage to all get together at the same time again, we will make the living room the dining room!  We might be able to walk around the table!

We put the cousins at a card table in the living room, and they watched Tangled while we ate.  Ava is in the back, Lucas in to the left, Ayden in on the right, and Emyle is in the front.  You can just barely see the kitchen table in the background.

It was quite an eventful month!  And I know we must have crammed more fun in there somewhere!

Now it is 2012 and I am just now having time to play with all of this!  I hope to be more organized this year!  Maybe make a picture book out of the whole year!  That has always been a goal for me.

"Seek the Kingdom of God above all else,

and He will give you

everything you need."

Luke 12:31

Phone Photos

My camera keeps deleting pictures from the s/d card before I can put them in my computer!  So, I am resorting to phone photos!  Ava received a lot of dress up clothes for her birthday.  Sarah sent me this shot of her in her new Cinderella dress.

This is Ava in her Thanksgiving hat she made at preschool.

And Ava now has moved up to a big bed at Grammy's!  This is in what used to be Jenni's room.  Ava likes to sleep in "Jenni's bed."  It is a queen size, which is a lot bigger than her twin size at home.  She wanted the pillows beside her so she would not fall out of bed.  I am spoiling her rotten -- we watch "Olivia", or sometimes "Tangled" in her room before she goes to sleep.  Fun Times!

This is precious Eli supporting his teams!  I am amazed he actually kept his hat on.  Is that a guy thing?

Speaking of "guy" things -- this picture definitely is not!  Ava loves to play dress up, and now she has her own little person to dress up!  Poor Eli!  Does not look like he minds right now, though!  And he absolutely adores Ava.  They were both playing on the floor at our house last week.  Ava started emptying the drawers in the TV console, moving the DVD's from one drawer to the one below it.  Eli just sat there and laughed and laughed at her!  This lasted several minutes, while I wished I could capture it on film.  By the time I found the camera, the moment was over.  But Eli has a wonderful laugh.

Mike's birthday was this month.  We went to dinner at the Raven to celebrate, and took the cake along. Ava put the candles in, Jenni lit them for her.  It was also the day before Rod and Jenni's friend Renzo's birthday.  So we celebrated both birthdays.

Ava helped Mike and Renzo blow out the candles.  Good cake, too!

Ava does not like cake!  But she really loves icing.  Sorry this looks like she is gagging, but she is eating a big lump of icing off her finger!  She did actually take a bite of cake just to please me.  Said she liked it, but went right back to eating the icing instead of the cake!

Thanksgiving is over, and not one picture did I take!  We had breakfast at Jay and Sarah's.  Wonderful Monkey bread, egg casserole, sausage balls, and cinnabon creamer with our coffee.  Thanksgiving was spent with my sister's family.   A great day of eating!

What would Thanksgiving be without the Texas/ Texas A&M game?  Well, I guess we will be finding out!  The game was not in Austin, so we gathered around the TV.  What an exciting game!  Jenni and Rod came over and helped us cheer.  What a way to win it at the last minute with a field goal!  Jenni practically fell off the couch laughing at the UT Field Goal kicker -- he appeared to be running away from his team; they had to chase him down to envelope him!

Looking forward to the end of the year.  Mike and I decided that I will retire at the end of the year.  I am looking forward to a little rest the first of the year -- maybe a trip?  I am not worried I will be bored...this family is too busy for that to happen!  Oh, and I asked Santa for a new camera for Christmas!

"Come, let's sing joyfully to the Lord.

Let's shout happily to the rock of our salvation.

Let's come together into his presence 

with a song of Thanksgiving.

Let's shout happily to him in psalms."

Psalm 95:1-2

Ava Turns Four!

Our baby girl turned 4 in September!  Can hardly believe how grown-up she is!  We started her birthday party day at our family Saturday breakfast spot.  Sarah was at home preparing for the party!

The theme for the day was:  BALLET!  Ava loves taking ballet!  And she loves wearing tutus!  And what little girl doesn't?  The door was decorated with Sarah's Ballet shoes!  Cute!!

And the color for the day was PINK!  Surprised, aren't you!  Ava wanted chocolate cupcakes with pink icing.  Her party favors were pink, and of course, the Ballet Slipper Pinata (I don't know how to put the little sign over the "n", but you can figure it out) was pink!

Cousin Bella

Ruthie

Of course the little girls wore ballet outfits
and Tutus!  I only managed to get a picture
of two of them.  Cute!

Then came the whacking of the Pinata!

Ava got the first whack.
And it took a lot of whacking to break it open!

Once properly whacked open, the gathering of the goodies began!

Of course, there were presents to be opened and cupcakes to be eaten.

All in all, it was a very fun day, very fun to watch.  Ava changes from year to year.  She was really interested in the actual present this year, and very thankful for her gifts.  She gave each person a big hug.  She is also much better at blowing out candles!

I will end with a picture of her "Cupcake Icing" Face!  She really does not like the cake, just the icing.

"Let your roots grow down into Him,

and let your lives be built on Him.

Then your faith will grow strong 

in the truth you were taught,

and you will overflow with thankfulness."

Colossians 2:7

On Having Rotator Cuff Surgery

I am the proud graduate of a 5 month round of Physical Therapy after having had my left rotator cuff repaired on April 7, 2011.  Those are the weights I now use as I continue the rehab process at home.  Please don't laugh!  Those of you who work out will recognize these are only 1 lb and 2 lb weights!  But believe me, when I first started, these were very heavy!  In fact, there were no weights when I first started rehab!

Rotator Cuff Surgery was quite an experience!  Something I had not planned to ever experience.  I take care of patients with this surgery -- I am not supposed to NEED this surgery, right?  It was an amazing learning experience!  I really can now counsel patients having this surgery with a lot more information!

I wish I could say I had this injury from some wonderful physical activity experience...you know, like a sports injury.  But no, I had bone spurs in my shoulder that severed my rotator cuff from the bone.  I had no choice but to have surgery if I wanted to use my arm normally the rest of my life.

The surgery part was easy!  The doctor and the anesthesiologist had the hard part! It was a little rough on Mike, too.  I got to take a long nap!  The block they gave me took away all the shoulder pain for almost 24 hours.  My first Physical Therapy appt was the next morning for a dressing change and home exercises to learn.  No pain for that was nice!

The hardest part was the Physical Therapy.  It seemed to get more intense every week.  But I always left feeling better!  It has now been 6 months.  I am told it takes an entire year to recover fully.  Meanwhile, I continue to do exercises at home.  I have started on a program with our fitness center to increase strength.

Things I have learned from this experience (not in any order, except the first one):
1. My Husband is the most awesome husband ever!  He changed dressings, he helped me shower, he helped me dress, he fed me, he drove me places, he became an expert at setting up the ice machine...He was just Awesome!  And of course, still is!
2.  I can wash my hair with one hand.
3.  If my hair is cut short enough, I can blow dry it with one hand, too.
4.  I am very grateful that I have naturally curly hair!  Mike was not good with a curling iron!  And I was dangerous with one!
5.  Working out can be fun. Really!
6.  I can arrange pillows in such a way as to be comfortable when sleeping sitting up on the couch.
7.  I have great friends.  They fed us and encouraged me a lot!
8.  I have a wonderful family!  They were the ones who really had to put up with me!
9.  I have the sweetest granddaughter!  She really worried about my shoulder!  And she was so excited when I could pick her up again!  It was a long 4 months!
10. I can drive my car with one hand, too.  
11.  I know all the best channels to watch during the middle of the night when I could not sleep.
12.  Ice machines are a wonderful invention!  Ice water flows through a little half vest type thing that you strap on.  Deliciously cold!  Very helpful!  I often went to sleep with it on!
13.  I am claustrophobic.  Did not know this until they strapped me in an MRI machine.
14.  I can overcome being claustrophobic in an MRI.  Put a cloth over my eyes!  And I did a lot of counting.  If the series was 2 minutes, I counted to 120.  I had to be in the machine about 30 minutes.

I had a great Orthopedic Doctor, a great Anesthesia Doctor, a great Physical Therapy team, a Super Great Husband, and most of all, a Great God watching over me.

"The LORD is my strength and shield.

I trust Him with all my heart.

He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy.

I burst out in songs of Thanksgiving."

Psalm 28:7