ten little fingers...

Really it's hard to describe the happiness and relief at the arrival of a little grandchild. It's one of those life moments that's rare and beautiful.

Little Emmett Scott Grewe was born to Becky and Pitt last evening at 8:01 p.m. He weighed exactly 8 lbs. He is the cutest little guy - bringing constant, beautiful smiles to both his mommy and daddy. All four grandparents and Aunt Aimee were pacing the hall together waiting for his arrival. It didn't take long before we got to welcome him to the world with loves and a barrage of camera flashes. Because of flu precautions we had to space out our visits - only one of us at a time in the room.

One word - precious.

cookbooks make great gifts!

Here are two COOKBOOKS that I can personally recommend! Either one is a great gift idea. Maya Angelou's book is part recipes and part memoir. I love her writing, so I enjoyed her essays at the beginning of each chapter. The recipes are probably good, however I haven't felt a need to cook from this book. But to sink into my favorite reading chair and read about Maya cooking - now, that's pure pleasure. Non-fattening too. This book is on clearance everywhere right now.

Here's what a reviewer said about the book: "Maya Angelou is renowned in her wide and generous circle of friends as a marvelous chef. Her kitchen is a social center. From fried meat pies, chicken livers, and beef Wellington to caramel cake, bread pudding, and chocolate éclairs, the one hundred-plus recipes included here are all tried and true, and come from Angelou’s heart and her home. Hallelujah! The Welcome Table is a stunning collaboration between the two things Angelou loves best: writing and cooking."

The best thing about this book is the pictures! Every recipe has a great photo. Of course the recipes are great too. With Paula Deen as their mom, these boys couldn't help but have a collection of recipes for hearty, everyone-loves food.

Just order a book or two - right now, for Christmas - they'll come in handy as a gift for someone special. Maybe you can even slip one into your own Christmas stocking.

++ quick cookies ++

I made cookies today - and nearly, but not quite, burned the first batch. Wait a minute - it's usually the last batch that I forget and leave in the oven too long. Anyway, putting cookie sheets in and out of the oven for an hour made me remember some very good advice I picked up this past summer.
Scott and I were riding our bikes (something we really loved doing this summer) - it was in July - and we stopped at his brother's house for a quick visit. It was a Sunday evening and Melanie was just pulling some Chocolate Chip Bar Cookies out of the oven. Talk about timing! Oh yummm - I still remember how good they were, hot and buttery/chocolatey sweet.
I love being around Melanie because she's always full of good ideas that I take as advice from a very wise person. She told me that she gave up making chocolate chip cookies in favor of making 'blondies.' She figured out that the bar cookies taste very similar to regular cookies and for much less effort you get the same effect - hot, yummy cookies.
I think she's right - the only problem is the 'all or nothing' factor. If you're going to burn them, you burn the whole bunch. (My photos are from July when I went right home and practiced. I sat by the oven so I'd take them out right on time. (yummmmmmm)

scott's VEGAS photos

I just have to share the photos Scott took of "Vegas scenes." We had two free hours before our plane departed. I chose to run through the Fashion Show mall, stopping briefly at my favorite "looking" stores - Bloomingdales Home, Talbots, The Body Shop, and of course the pause to refresh with a Magic Bar and Diet Coke at the Nordstrom cafe. Meanwhile, Scott had been wanting to ride the monorail, so he took off to do that - I'm so glad he had his camera with him. I love Scott's eye for the beautiful and unique.

While I reported that the department stores and chain stores in the big mall were busy and people seemed to be buying lots of stuff, Scott said that the designer boutiques where he went were virtually empty. And he took several photos to prove it.

my kind of pumpkin walk - lol

There are pumpkin walks and then THERE ARE PUMPKIN WALKS. And walking through the fabulous fall displays at the Venetian and Bellagio hotels in Las Vegas gave new meaning to the word pumpkin walk! (I have to add that I also love our local pumpkin walk.) Of course, these photos don't do justice to the sheer size of these hotel displays - just think BIG - like as tall as people and as round as Cinderella's coach!

[ October in Vegas ]

October in Las Vegas is absolutely beautiful. We're here visiting our daughter Suzie and her husband Winston - and there's no question, this is THE time to come to Vegas. Perfect temperature, beautiful fall decorations in the hotels and stores, and delicious dinner choices everywhere - but that's not just an October thing, I know. We're not "gourmet foodies," so we enjoy more affordable eateries, like the fabulous, but not over-the-top Grand Luc Cafe in the new Palazzo wing of the Venetian. Oh, that WAS good.

It's always fun to be at Suzie's house. She is inspiring in her organization and lack of clutter...and her house is always decorated cute for the season.


I love how Suzie combined a berry wreath with a wood painted decoration to make an extra-cute wreath on her door.


I pulled her away from pancake cooking to get a pic of her with her pretty table runner and matching decorations.


I'm grabbing a minute of computer time to check my email and download my photos.


Meanwhile Scott and Winston are happy to surf today's many football games on TV.


Last night we had the fabulous chance to go to the Cirque de Soleil production of the Beatles LOVE at the Mirage. I can't begin to describe how wondrous it was. The theater-in-the-round with 2000 people watching from every side had incredible sets for each song - aerial swings, trampolines, skate half-pipes, flying trapezes, rolling ladders, I can't remember everything because it was just one scene after another. Also incredible were the big-screen graphics and videos, the choreography (blew Suzie away), the costumes, symbolism, movement, variety, the classic Cirque format - exquisite and eye popping, and, of course, the music. I can't even begin to describe it. We walked out of the 7 p.m. show and wanted to go right back in at 9.


There was the usual post-show frenzy in the gift shop - including a Beatles Guitar Hero all set up for anyone to join. Winston played guitar while Suzie rocked out to All You Need is Love.

::: six things I love and one I hate :::

One thing I love (of course) is my son Mike - and the help that he gives us. It's a beautiful fall afternoon and he's outside cleaning up the yard from all the debris that covered our lawn in a wind storm last week. Meanwhile I'm inside cleaning up my messy house after a big scrapbooking binge. Oh, and I'm posting those pics - but don't tell him.

I love Scott's far-away photos of the sky and sunsets. He likes to take pictures of clouds - I think it's the artist in him.

And he likes to zoom in to get pictures of everyday beauty - close-up. These little berries filling the cracks of the sidewalk are just sweet. Sweet little nature.

I love my Warren Kimble Folkart Landscapes calendar from Lang. I'm so relieved because I just Googled it, and there is a similar calendar for 2010. Each month has a folkart barn or schoolhouse - big and graphic, not cutesy. I like that. And Kimble uses a lot of blue so the pictures look good on my wall.


Yup - here's the 2010 version. I need to order it today. Right now, the calendar companies are offering things like free shipping and 20% off. Believe me, I've studied this for years as I've taught Cut the Crazy out of Christmas, and the deals (on most everything) are better in October and early November. If you think you'll save money by waiting until the the last few weeks of December, you won't. The stores creep the prices back up the closer they get to Christmas. And in December it will be snowing and you'll wish you could be home watching Project Runway or baking cookies or reading Christmas stories like Skipping Christmas by John Grisham. GO SHOP NOW. Oops, that's off the subject.

I love my plate that combines my favorite blue colors with the beautiful oranges and greens of fall. This plate belonged to Scott's mother, and it is a treasure.

I HATE this cover of the Sept. Country Living Magazine. I mean, come on editors. This is SO NOT CLASSY. You can do better than this. There are beautiful autumn images everywhere. I know, spiders are part of Halloween now, but this is a woman's magazine, not a horror show. I hate spiders, and if you know me, you know why I hate them - it was passed on to me from my mother who literally gets sick when she sees one. I just feel for her that she even has to look at these images all through October. The spider on this cake is particularly tasteless in my humble opinion.

DESSERT TABLE

FROM TWIG&THISTLE.COM/BLOG - Many of you have undoubtedly seen the works of Amy Atlas, the genius behind Amy Atlas Events and the Sweet Designs Blog. Her stunning dessert tables have been flooding magazines and blogs lately and for good reason. Her work is profoundly delectable and so well put together; almost too good to eat! I love the use of color and cohesive design aesthetic. It’s no surprise that Amy’s Halloween table would be beyond fantastic! Above is a sneak peak from Celebrate Magazine. This picture got me really excited about Halloween this year and I can’t wait to pick up a copy. Find out where to buy the magazine and see more picture from her feature here.

iN AWE of QuiLteRs

This first increcible picture is a photo of the original civil-war era Dear Jane quilt which I will talk about below. It's in a museum in Vermont.

I'm doing a little catch-up blogging. This was last week - or was it the week before??? Doesn't matter - I loved the day I spent at the Utah Quilt Guild Convention. The one-hour drive to Layton couldn't have been more beautiful. The sky was the bluest I've ever seen, the leaves were starting to turn, and the sun was shining. It took me extra time to make the drive because I kept pulling over to take photos and write notes about everything I was thinking about. (I don't allow myself to write while driving anymore - I used to do that sometimes, but I'm trying really hard to not be a distracted driver.


I went to the quilt show because I love quilting and quilts, but mainly because my dear next-door-neighbor Carol Armstrong was in charge of the quilt contest and exhibit and was teaching a class. Carol, impressively, puts her heart into anything she does. The quilt contest had all sorts of quilts, but it featured about 10 quilts that are called Baby Jane quilts. In honor of the featured quilt, Carol made her own version and donated it to the quilt show raffle.

This is a quilt that Carol made. Yes, she made every bit of it - from designing to cutting to piecing to appliqueing to machine quilting to sewing. And then she gave the quilt away. Can you believe it?? She is amazing and amazingly generous.

The quilt is called a Baby Jane quilt. It is a replica of the original quilt which is called the Dear Jane quilt. The original was by a woman named Jane Stickle who made this quilt during the CIVIL WAR out of the tiniest scraps of material imaginable. The finished quilt has over 5,000 pieces.

Here is Carol presenting her lecture about the ways that quilting has grown and changed in the past 25 years. It was a fascinating lecture with great pictures and definitely a walk down memory lane....gingham tied quilts, polyester quilts, the first rotary cutters and mats, the quilt as you go blocks with puffy batting, the revolution that machine quilting brought to the quilt world. Carol made it interesting with photos and little stories

This last photo is a quilting teacher named Cody Mazuran. She was in Carol's class.