Scherenschnittes, The Ugly Curtains Replaced, and What's The Big Deal About a Hotdog!

Thanks to Gwen I found out that the paper cutting I've been doing is really called Scherenschnittes. This is a combination of a Swiss and German art form. I looked it up and found several websites that feature this type of art. All I know is that I am having fun with it. I would like to keep practicing until I'm good enough to frame some and maybe even sell them. I don't know if anyone would buy these, but I know I have seen paper cuttings in gift shops, etc.... Who knows? For now it's just fun and something I can do in the evenings while watching tv with my husband. I need to find a better glue that won't be so messy. Right now I'm having trouble trying not to get the glue on the front of the cuttings.





My husband has been wanting me to make or buy new curtains for this sliding door that leads out to our deck from our family room. I wonder why he thought we needed new ones? Lol! First of all, I washed them not too long ago and they shrunk so they don't cover the doors anymore. Second of all, they are just ugly. But, the main reason he wanted new ones is that we do have neighbors on the other side of the woods that edge the back of our property. Now, we can't see their house, but at night sometimes we can see a light on in their house through the trees. If we can see their light, they can see ours, so we need to black out this door. My main reason is that new curtains may help hold the heat in during the winter and keep us cooler in the summer.

This is the far end of the room. You can see that I like green. It's hard to tell, but the walls are kind of a khaki green kind of color. My cousin made that gorgeous quilted wall hanging. Those are pictures of my daughters when they were little. On the table are photos of some of the grands. The dark green chair is actually my mom's. It is one of those motorized lift chairs. It really takes up more room than I would like, but the few times she's been able to come to the house since she's been in the nursing home, it has come in handy. The tan chair is my husband's favorite.

This love seat actually sits across from the door that needs curtains. You can see my brother-in-law's grandmother's treadle sewing machine in the corner to the left. Behind the love seat is a small little desk that is my mom's. The ladder back chairs are my mom's too. My kitchen is in the background. You really can't see it in this photo.

This is the fabric that I found to make the curtains from. This is really the backside of the fabric. When the lady was cutting it for me, she asked which side I would use. I really meant to use the other side, but it is really dark, and I decided that this side matched the love seat, walls, and other chairs better anyway.

Here's the after photo. Those pictures on the wall are my girls' senior casual pictures. I blurred their faces because I didn't ask permission to show these. I didn't blur their little girl pictures because they don't look like those anymore. My husband hasn't been home to see the curtains, yet. I hope he likes them. I do not like to make curtains!!!

Now, for the hotdog story. I was at the nursing home today at lunch time. I go at lunch or dinner time every day to feed my mom. Today they were having hotdogs. My mother loves hotdogs so she was excited. I mean, when you are in a nursing home and you can't sit up, stand up, walk, or really do anything by yourself, there's not much to get excited about. So, when she saw the hotdogs she really was happy. A few months ago I asked if they could start chopping some of Mother's meat up somewhat because she was having trouble chewing it. She does not have trouble chewing a hotdog, however. I knew that when they brought hers to her it would be all ground up, though, so I asked them to please be sure she got a whole hotdog. The girl who is over the food department came out to tell me she wasn't allowed to give Mother a whole hotdog because she might choke on it. I told her that Mother didn't have problems with choking, just chewing tough meat. But, when they brought Mother's it was ground up. I asked Mother if that was ok and she yelled, "No, but I want a hotdog!" LOL!!! They had offered her a substitution. So, I went to find the girl in charge of the food again, and she told me she was sorry that this was just the way it was. I told her that, no, this wasn't the way it was and that I would take full responsibility of Mother choking, if indeed she did, which, of course, I knew she wouldn't. Anyway, I had to get pretty ugly before Mother got her whole hotdog. But, she did get it, and no, she didn't choke. Come to find out there was a regional food person at the nursing home today, and the girl in charge was afraid she would get in trouble of she let Mother have the hotdog. She wanted to call the doctor to ask permission. I told her that would take a couple of hours and Mother's lunch was already late. I told her that I was sorry, but that I would do whatever I had to do to take up for my mom, even if it was over "just a hotdog!" Mother has been having more and more days of really bad confusion, and on those days she wouldn't know the difference, but this was a good day with clear thinking. I was not going to let this happen. My cousin was there and he was offering to go get her something else to eat at his restaurant, which was really sweet. He's great. But, by this time it was the principle of the situation that mattered, not what she ate. I didn't get really ugly, but I was about to when they gave in and brought her the hotdog. I know this is a long story and rather rambling, but I wanted to tell it to make me feel better, and I do!