Tell All Tuesday--Sleep (or not)

I have probably written about this little idiosyncrasy before, but it is one of my more odd traits, and therefore bears repeating.

I do not sleep very much. 

It is nothing that is intentional,

it is just me.

For as long as I remember I have not

required much sleep.

Just this past weekend,
I did not go to sleep at all on

Saturday night.

I stayed up and got things done that 

I needed to do.

To the contrary of what my Hubs thinks, 

I have no control over my

needing minimal sleep.

He still tells me ALL these years later,

"If you just lay down and close your eyes, you will fall asleep."

HA!!! He could not be more wrong.

I can get by on 

FOUR hours of sleep.

.......at. the. most.

......every.  single. day.

I never have one of those collective moments where

it catches up with me

and I am exhausted.

Unless I got two or more days

without sleep.

Yes. You read that right.

I can do that too.

I know. I know.

It is very, very weird.

You're not telling me anything I don't already know!

I think there are a couple of reasons behind this weirdness.

The first one is that my mind doesn't shut down very easily.

It is going, going, going all the time.

I am always thinking of something, or reading something or writing something.

I have thought about this and tried very hard to let my

brain rest,

but it always seems to be thinking, reflecting, creating, summarizing, planning or just meditating.

The other reason, and the strongest argument for my 

Night Owlness

is that it is genetic.

My sister and brother do this too.

My Dad and (late) Uncle.

My cousins.

My second cousins.

Much of my extended family on my Dad's side.

Frequently on Facebook if I get on and look late at night, 

or in the wee hours of the morning, 

the people that are on-line

are my relatives!

Somewhere in time we were just 

not given the 

sleep gene.

I know it has to be hard for a "I-need-my-sleep-spouse"

to live with a "I-just-need-a-quick-power-nap-spouse". 

But long ago my Hubby and I made peace with that fact.

I use my time in the middle of the night

to get things done, 

to read,

to clean

or to just relax.

When all five children were home that was usually the only 

time I had with true peace and quiet!

I keep thinking as I get older, I will get tired.

Well, not yet.

My Dad is 75 and he is still going without sleep

on a regular basis.

I readily admit it is odd that a person needs no 

more than 4 hours of sleep on a regular basis.

I readily admit it is odd that once (or twice) 

a week

I go without any sleep at all in a 24 hour period.

But it is what it is.

Is there anyone out there (not related to me)

that does this too?

Just wondering....from one Night Owl to another.....

Little Stitches .....

If you read my blog very often, you know that I am a Craigslistaholiclover.

A couple of weeks ago on one of my 

perusing moments I came across an ad for

'Two antique baby quilts'.

Three of those four words interested me immediately.

Two was the only so-so word.

The ad said the quilts were $50 each and 'had a few stains'.

I emailed the owner of the ad, got her address and .....

sent my daughter to check the quilts out.

I knew from the online pictures that one was a 

Sunbonnet Sue quilt 

and the other one

was a child-like farm scene.

Taylor called me from the 

quilt house 

and told me there were a few stains,

but the worse part was that the lady that owned them 

was a smoker.

Ugh.

(Sorry if I offended anyone, but Ugh.)

I told Taylor to offer 

$40.

The lady took it.

Then she gave Taylor a lesson on the quilt.

Each stitch was hand-stitched

in 1930.

They were made by her husband's grandmother,

for him.

He didn't want them any more, so the lady did not either.

I have no idea why I did not buy both of the quilts.

Sometimes I SO aggravate myself!

Taylor brought the quilt home

and it did have a few stains

and smell like smoke.

I was undaunted.

I got out my Tide stain pen and got to work.

I "colored" all over the stains with the Tide pen.

I then scrubbed those spots by hand, setting the Tide in deep.

Then I let it set for several hours.

Then I took the quilt and let it soak in Tide detergent overnight.

The next morning I washed it.

It was instantly better.

But it still needed work.

I repeated the same thing about three more times,

but instead of washing it in Tide I washed it in

Woolite.

Finally, I CAREFULLY used a bleach pen 

on the small remaining stains.

Bingo. The stains were gone.

And more importantly, it smelled wonderful as well.

I added three ribbons at the top for hanging.

Then I wrapped it up for Miss Leightyn's shower.

It is just perfect for Leightyn's room.

It has all the soft baby colors, and better yet,

it is full of farm animals...

just like Leightyn's farmhouse.

The top part has a little girl on a pony 

with the words "giddy-up".

In real life, Leightyn will be able to see 

a real pony from her bedroom window.

It also has chickens, dogs and bunnies...

all at Leightyn's farm.

The girls helped Leightyn's mama

hang it above her baby bed last night.

It is just perfect.

I think they are going to get the letters

LEL as hooks

and hang the quilt from.

But for now, it looks cute-as-can-be!

(Sorry about the pictures in the room, but it was very dark and very late!!!!)

Leightyn's room is painted a soft gray 

and her accessories are pink and blue.

It is very sweet.

Now we are just counting the days

till 

Leightyn makes her appearance

and checks out the new quilt.

Have I convinced any of you to be Craigslisters????

I am linking to Met. Monday.
Tutorials and Tips Party
March Before and After Party
Check out Wow Us Wednesday's with Kim!

Simple Sundays

Upside down goodness

What is a cupcake, but not quite a cupcake?

A miniature pineapple upside down cake.

I needed a little something to take to a friend.

A little pick-me-up. A little "I'm thinking of you". 

I did not want to run out to the store,

because of course I was doing this late at night.

So I used what I had.

I had a yellow cake mix.

Instead of the water, I substituted the

pineapple juice from the 

pineapple ring can.

That gives the cake a true pineapple taste.

I have a pan that looks like

eight mini bundt cakes.

I loaded it up just like I would

when making a regular 

(one-piece) 

pineapple upside down cake.

(Which just happens to be one of my favorite cakes!)

Of course I had to sample one

before I sent them off.

It was quite the sacrifice.

I'm a team player, for sure!

It's the weekend.

Find a small kindness to pass on 

to someone unsuspecting.

I promise you'll get out of it

more than you gave.

(And if you make it a delicious treat...

then you can sample it too!!!)

I am linking to Foodie Friday.

Ode to the Frog on Leap Day

I could not help myself. I just had to make a "Leap" day tablescape with my cute little frog I got two weeks ago. 

There is absolutely nothing about me that is 'froggy'. 

I cannot think of any other frog-anything I have ever owned.

Yet two weeks ago when I was in Kansas at Nell Hill's, 

my friend and I were both drawn to these mossy frogs.

They were all over Nell's.

Well I am smart enough to know if Nell Hill's 

has them all over her store,

then there must be something to it!

So we each bought one to use for our spring decor.

Last night I emailed my Nell's-shopping-friend

and told her I wish I had bought 

several frogs and I could have made a Leap Year tablescape.

Get it?  Frogs leap...Leap Year....

Well, I thought it was kinda cute!!

Then I kept thinking and thinking about it.

So today, after school, I dropped by the fabric store

and asked if they had any frog fabric.

Sure enough, there were several to choose from.

I grabbed the first one I looked at. Literally.

It turned out to be pretty darn cute.

And also the most expensive item on the whole tablescape!

I used a Wal-Mart-at-Christmas-several-years-ago-platter as a charger.

The green plates were from Wally World as well many, many years ago. They were clearanced at $1.

The ironstone is some of my pick-it-up-when-I-see-it collection.

And the green plate on top looked like a lily pad so I used it on top.

I topped it with green napkins that matched my

frog-fabric-runner.

The place mats are from the Dollar Tree, 

the goblets were after-Thanksgiving clearance for less than a dollar ....at Wally World.

It was just the Hubs and I at home,

so I set the table outside for two.

The Hubs did not quite see the 

importance in celebrating Leap Day.

Hello....Doesn't everyone?????

I didn't let that stop me!

I brought out a bouquet of tulips

that brought in some color with all the green.

I don't remember exactly how much the frog was.

I want to say $5ish.

So that makes that 

frog-fabric-turned-runner

at $10 a yard,

the most expensive item on the table!

Who would have thought?

Inside looking out....

I'm here to tell you....

one little item can spark an entire tablescape!

And a tablescape can be set with buying

very little, if anything.

This was one of those tablescapes that came together

very quickly

without any prior planning.

I had the table-for-two

set in less than 15 minutes.

The Hubs relented and came outside to enjoy the

beautiful evening 

on the porch.

Thank you for joining me

with my 

Ode to the Frog

on 

Leap Day.

I am linking with Open House Thursday and Tablescape Thursday.