I have returned from the frozen north...

Otherwise known as Wisconsin! I had forgotten what it is like to be cold all the time!

I want to thank all of you for your kind words and your prayers. My paternal grandmother, we called her Mimi, passed away Tuesday morning after suffering from a massive stroke Monday night. She would have been 80 in January. My grandparents celebrated their 62nd anniversary in November. 62 years together! I can't even begin to imagine being together that long. They got married when she was 17 years old and he was a soldier getting ready to be sent off to serve in WWII.

Mimi quilted, but unfortunately I don't have any of her quilts. I do have that box of unfinished blocks that I shared with you a while ago. She used to make me and my sister all kinds of doll clothes, both for barbies and for bigger dolls. Me and my sister had these twin dolls that were almost life sized. My mom has them and all their clothes at her house. It is fun to see our daughters playing with them now and remember Mimi making all the cute clothes for them.

We are all thankful that she died quickly and painlessly. She went into a coma almost right away. She was in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's but she still knew who most people were. I am very glad that she had not gotten to the stage where she did not recognize my grandfather. I think that would have broken his heart.

Even though we were sad to have to make the trip, I was thankful that we got to see several special people along the way. We stopped Tuesday night in Louisville and spent the night with friends. Once we got to Wisconsin we got to see my grandfather, aunts , uncles and cousins, several of whom I hadn't seen in a few years. My whole family was able to stay with my Aunt and Uncle who live in Whitewater. This is an uncle on my mom's side of the family. I have two uncle Larry's - my mom and dad each have a brother named Larry! Kind of a "this is my brother Darryl and this is my other brother Darryl!" Anyway - the aunt and uncle we stayed with are very fun to be with. We call my aunt "Auntie Dimento" because she is so silly! Me and my family stayed in the basement. My sister and her family were in one bedroom and my parents were in the other spare room. Luckily we all like each other - pretty much!

And on the way home, my sweet husband let us stop for lunch with Nina and her DH and three of the kids. We met at the restaurant where me and Nina would go when we would go shopping in Indy. Joe's Crab Shack! Yummy! As Nina said, our visit was WAY too short, but at least I got to see her for a little while. Maddie (my DD) and Eva (her DD) both seemed to enjoy seeing each other again. Maddie is exactly five days older than Eva. Both of our families moved to Muncie when the girls were about 6 months old. Luckily they like to play together as much as me and Nina do!

Nina gave me lots of goodies, which she has already showed you part of! And she returned my HUGE quilt, which she quilted for me. Now to get the binding on! The quilting is beautiful! I will take pictures of it when I get the binding done. I am trying to talk DH into letting me put those cafe curtain clips on the big curtain rod in our living room, so I have a good place to hang huge quilts to photograph. She also gave me some beautiful yellows and blues, half yard cuts. And she gave me a charm bracelet, with an Eiffel Tower charm on it. So cute. Now she has guilted me into getting her Christmas presents finished and in the mail! We both said that seeing each other was the best Christmas gift we could ask for!

Enough of my rambling! I am off to bed! Thanks again for your kind thoughts and prayers.