JUST DRIVE

I've been putting this post off for a couple of weeks or so.....

Let me start by saying this.....

A couple of weeks ago I was out with a friend, I was driving, and I switched lanes. 

I did NOT see the car behind me that honked his horn. 

He was in my blind spot. 

Lucky for me I did not hit him. 

When he pulled up beside me, I rolled down my window and apologized profusely.  

We've all done it. 

Sometimes we don't even know it.  I remember last summer I was driving down the street and a police officer turned around right in the middle of the road, right beside me, flipped on his siren,  and forced me into another lane instantly, or we would have collided.  Lucky for me there wasn't anyone in the other lane.  And he never even knew he did it. 

BUT

IT SEEMS THAT NO ONE PAYS ATTENTION DRIVING ANYMORE

And it has affected our family tremendously.

We all think it won't happen to us.

On August 5, the night I was out with my sister celebrating at Wolfies,

in a town nearby, my cousin's daughter was killed. 

Of course we didn't know it at the time.

I got a text from my dear cousin Gloria,  in the middle of the night.

The beautiful lady that was killed was Gloria's sister's daughter. 

Pam's daughter, Missy, and her husband, Kris were on a motorcycle.

A van pulled out in front of them.

Missy was killed, almost instantly.

You can't stop a motorcycle on a dime.

Kris is still in the hospital and will be for a long time.

I have lost count of how many surgeries he has had.

They waited three weeks to hold Missy's funeral and Kris still was not permitted to attend.

Missy was 40 years old.

She has a daughter starting her senior year in high school, and a son that is 21 and engaged.

This all sounds like a nightmare that no one thinks will ever happen to them.

No one does something like this on purpose. 

ACCIDENTS HAPPEN

I imagine the driver of that van has wished and what iffed a million times since that night.  He has probably asked a million times, "why didn't I see that motorcycle?"  Alcohol was not involved.  I don't know if a phone was involved. 

This one instant changed the life of so many people.  

I wish I could end this post here,

but I cannot.

Two weeks later my niece was crossing the road to get the mail.  On her way back across the road,  she was struck by a car. 

The woman driving was single, has two children born in the United States, but she is illegal, no drivers license, no insurance, no valid plates, and she was out driving the next day.

(and please don't get political on me here, this is not a political post)

This is my niece.

This is where her head hit the windshield

She has a broken foot, stitches in her arm, and was being watched for a concussion.

If she were smaller she probably would have been killed.

I wasn't going to post pictures, but I think pictures make it real. 

So why not make it real.

It is to our family.  

PLEASE

When you are driving, pay attention, and

JUST DRIVE.

Nothing else.

JUST DRIVE

Cindy

Kay's Scrubbies

 K did it again! 

A couple of weeks ago, we came to crochet group and received a kit from K.

And whether you crochet or not, I'm sure you know about these scrubbies.

I showed you a picture in the last post of my sister holding them.  I gave mine to her for her birthday.

I'm visualizing my mother-in-law smiling down on us from heaven, because she used to make these all the time!

I think these kits make Cheryl all nervous!  Looks like she has a drink and a cigarette!

So funny...because she cannot even be around smoke.  It was just one of 'those moments' when you take a picture and it turns out unexpected.

When K makes up these kits she spends a lot of her time showing us how to do the project.

Bless her heart.

These two (below) did not make scrubbies.  They just pretended.

I have no idea what I did here, but whatever it was Debbie quickly picked up my phone and took a picture.  I think I probably broke the netting.  The pattern for these scrubbies is easy, but working with this netting is another story.  You have to do a lot of finagling.

And I seriously did not get one picture of Debbie!  

She must have just sat quietly and crocheted (probably not)

So here they are, the finished project!

 And Kay said I could share the pattern, so here you go!  

Enjoy...

Cindy

PS.  I have been having internet problems again.  Pretty much since February.  This post took three days to download pictures.  Yep, it's worse than dial-up.  Our internet shuts off intermittently, all the time.  It makes blogging, and reading blogs, very difficult so please bear with me.

Cocktail Party

Last  Friday I met a friend for a latte'...

 That evening, another friend came over while I baked "Starbucks Lemon Loaf!"  It was a recipe that I think came from Facebook or something like that...

 So, I made two of them.  One for us and one for my sister, who loves Starbucks lemon loaf.

 I also made her some scrubbies....that is a story for tomorrow.

 Then we went to the "cocktail" party that we made reservations for at Harmony Winery in Fishers, IN.

 It was very fun.  Of course, I never remember to take pictures of the food BEFORE it gets all cut up, but they had all of these desserts and they made cocktails with the wine that they make.  And we got a recipe book to make the cocktails at home.

 So I think my next gathering shall consist of wine cocktails!

 What sis didn't know is I called the day before to have them sing Happy Birthday!

 Here is our group of party-goers.  Don't tell anyone, but the two on the other end...they told their husbands they were going to Sam's Club! shhhh  They said they had a bag of onions from Sam's in the car for proof!!  HA HA

This party was from 1:00 - 3:00 during the day.

 Apparently, wineries are popping up everywhere.  In Westfield, IN, not far from Fishers at all, there is another new winery.  You can pick any three or more appy's from the list.  We picked bread (of course - because we LOVE bread - just like Oprah!) We shared a tasting and enjoyed the music.  They had a guy playing music that sounded just like Gordon Lightfoot!  70's music!!!!

The 70's are alive!!!!

Cindy

Birthday Celebrations at Wolfies!

Last Friday evening, my sister invited me to come hang with her and her friends, and celebrate their brithdays.  Her and Christy have been friends forever and they celebrate their birthdays the entire month of August.  And come to think of it, it wasn't even August yet!

 They were at Wolfie's Bar & Grill listening to a really good band called The Bishops.

 Wolfie's is right on a lake and it was a PERFECT evening.

The Celebration!

Here you can see them holding their bags that I brought to them, into the bar, for their birthday surprise!

Cheers!

 hmmm...what did you get?

I don't know what did you get?

 "Wow...a 70's macrame' pot hanger....just what I always wanted."  You can see the excitement on her face!

 LOL!!!!

(OH my gosh I am laughing so hard right now looking at this picture!)

 I'm eleven years older than my sister.  I'm a 70's girl.  These two are 80's kids.

They were not groovy! 

I was, still am, and try to show them how 'far out' 70's people are!

Hope you both have Groovy Birthdays!

Cindy

PS.  This was actually LAST Friday (not last night).  Last night my friend Teresa came over and hung out.  Fun Friday's is what we are calling them.  Well, neither one of us have our rooms finished yet, but we are working on them!

Thursday and FriDAY still on faux' vacay

Thursday evening I went out with the parents.

 Or actually, the parents took us out, and I drove.  They wanted to buy our dinner (sans alcoholic beverages, we had to pay for those on our own) for doing a couple of favors for them.  NICE!  So, my sisters family took us to "the beach club" which I LOVED!

The food was good but I LOVED the atmosphere.  So relaxing.  A big room to eat in with a bar in the center, a pool right outside, and a lake right in front of the pool.   Felt like I was on REAL vacay for a couple of hours.  Why can't my town have something like this?

 On Friday, My friend Teresa (faux' vacay partner) and I had planned on shopping.  Well....after going to Noblesville (45 minutes away) Thursday evening, and was going back to Noblesville Friday evening, I didn't want to drive out of town again that day.  We both decided that staying in town was fine. We both had a list of places we wanted to go to get some things for our rooms that we worked on.

But we decided to go to a garage sale first!  The one we donated stuff to during the week!

Oh...My....Word!

 We found our donations in that big mess!!!!

 (I even found one of Mom's donations! teehee)

 No way...could it be....a macrame' plant hanger!  I need gifts for my sister and her friend for their birthdays!!!

 So, we did all of our "errands" did some FUN shopping too, and felt very accomplished by Friday.  We both still have our rooms to work on, but it's stuff we can do when time allows and on our own.

(FUN shopping at the grocery even)

Faux' vacay was over, but I can't wait to show you my sister and her friend when they got their gifts!Their faces!

Does your town have a beach club?

I seriously need one.

Cindy

Wednesday, Faux' vacay

I couldn't even get a picture of this chicken pot pie before my Shug started eating it.  Not my thing, but he loves it and since I was going to be at my friends the entire day Wednesday, I decided it was a good time for cpp.  And I could make it the evening before.

So, I left off on Tuesday, with faux' vacay.  On Wednesday, I went to my friends house to help her with a room.  Remember, we traded work.  She helped me Monday, I helped her Wednesday.

I  could  not  believe  her  yard!

Would you look at this?

 Even the back yard is like this...

 And there is a lot of outside cuteness going on at her place.

 She has been working VERY hard outside this year...

But the room inside....well....not so cute!
However, I'm not posting a before pic until I can show you the after pic.

I will show you this YUMMY salad we had for lunch.

 More cuteness!

We dug this table out of our pole barn on Monday, and she took it home to use as a place to pot plants at her house. 

Perfect!

 My DOVE candy that day said to learn something new with an old friend.

  I learned she has a thing for boxes!  

On Thursday morning I went to crochet...

and I saw this bag on this lady.

I, of course, would need a bigger bag, because...well....I have a thing for bags.

I loved the colors though.

More faux' vacay tomorrow......

Cindy