Looking Back, Moving Forward

Winter

2012-01-23T10:27:00.000-08:00

Here is Ethan out enjoying our first snowfall of the winter. This was almost a week ago, and while our roads are now clear, I still have a pure white yard. Except for the debris of tree branches all over as a result of the wind!!

Luckily we did not lose our power. Well, the house didn't lose power. I seemed to have lost mine though.

My week had been scheduled with FUN!
I had planned to go south on Monday evening to watch Kyle's team play, then head further south to spend a few days with Carol. And then to a 4 day retreat with quilting friends. Being away seems to be the only time I really get much done with my quilting projects.
Anyway, because of the weather I ended up house bound, as Lynn needed the truck to be able to get to work. You would have thought, well gosh, a whole week to just sew if I wanted to!! But it doesn't ever seem to work that way. I got into the sewing room, in little spurts, but had to make myself get in there.
I didn't even play in the kitchen. Just rolled myself into a little pity party.

Today, Lynn took his car to work and I have my wheels back. So I am off to the gym!! Going to have a 30 minute cardio session, and do some light lifting. I know that being physical is the best way to get my energy back.

Then after a shower and a bit of time in the sewing room, I'm heading into town to watch a movie. Lynn has his annual meeting tonight, so he will be late, which means dinner on my own. Thai? Sushi?

End the evening with another Republican debate, which really is reality TV.

Happy Monday!

More photos, just wanted to share...

2012-01-13T11:35:00.000-08:00

I came across these photos today too. My beautiful clematis and dark iris....I hope they come back even stronger this year!!

Sunset's in Lynden

2012-01-13T11:29:00.000-08:00

beautiful

Life is More Interesting With Cats

2012-01-13T11:18:00.000-08:00

Some things I can just never do alone......

He must think I wanted a photo of HIM!!

There might have been some catnip planted in that square....

Cruising...

2012-01-13T11:13:00.000-08:00

Looking through some old photos (another thing I LOVE to spend my time doing) and found this classic shot of sister Nancy and I. This was in the fall of 2000. Right after I moved from King county to Whatcom county. Nancy and Carol were booked for an Alaskan cruise out of Vancouver BC. They were planning to spend the night at my house before driving into Canada to board, and somehow I got invited to go along and it all worked out! I got the hide a bed. My first cruise and a super sister time. This was at some port, we were heading out for a whale watching trip. So great to see how much fun we were having!!

This is me with sister Carol (at her skinniest!!! ) when she joined me for a trip to Hawaii!!! Lynn had a conference on the big island and so Carol was able to book her vacation and experience hawaii.

She prefers the Caribbean...

Well Worth The Wait!!

2012-01-11T20:50:00.000-08:00

Some of you may remember my adventure into making moonshine, with my rhubarb last summer. I believe I showed the photos of it when it was strained and ready to rest in the pantry. Well, I poured it into a couple of mason jars and plunked them in the freezer.
Pulled this one out the other night, and I was SO amazed by how yummy this is!! It is like a refreshing wonderful rhubarb granita......
I raked it out of the jar with a fork, plopped it into my glass, grabbed a spoon and enjoyed.

One word of caution if you should embark on this adventure in the future....do not leave the spoon in the glass while you are uploading your photos so you can put them on your blog, and then put the spoon in your mouth...
YIKES!!! Nearly pulled my lip right off....

2012-01-10T15:36:00.001-08:00

The best thing about the past year was the end when I was able to surround myself by all the kids, partners and grands for several hours.

Special guests, my sister Nancy and her husband Terry, who came for a couple of days, and they were able to get a few photos of us all together.

I'm hoping this is the LAST time I have such an ummmm......huge middle myself....more on that later.

Here is a photo of my sister Nancy and her husband Terry. Nancy is 3 years younger than me and the stories I could tell!! For another post....(that ought to keep her checking back!) Neither of her children were available for Christmas so I felt honored to have her and Terry come up to share it with us. Terry has a brother who lives not far from me, so the 2 hour drive enables them to visit both sides of the family.

We were all thrilled to have Eva join us as Todd's "friend". They grew up together down south, and recently reconnected.

She went to school with Kyle and Jeff as well, so they all had a grand time catching up and going through old school photos from their days lost past.

Made my heart sing when the kids went to my closet and pulled out boxes of old photos. Reminded me of the times my siblings and I would request my parents to put on the old home movies.

And now an attempt to get all four of these grands on the couch, looking foward at the same time.

Think it will happen?

Doesn't look like it. Ethan had to get the tongue out and Henry is not at all interested.

Better....notice the bare feet on Carter and Henry? I have to say, the sound of those toddling bare feet on my kitchen floor is just about the best sound ever.

This was as good as I was going to get on this day to having all four at least face front.

I'll take it!!!

I have some photos of the four for the times we've had them all together, need to print them up and make a collage photo for the wall.

Of course, this is on the never ending, always growing lists of things I want, need, should, could do....

Borrowed

2011-12-21T01:59:00.001-08:00

The Shortest Day

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.

- Susan Cooper
Author of The Dark is Rising novels

Looking Forward

2011-12-21T01:37:00.000-08:00

Ah yes, once again it is time for "reflection". 2012 already has a few things on the family calendar. I'm excited to be heading for a retreat in mid January. I just get so much sewing done while away and totally focused. Another is on the calendar for March and one in April with my Runaway Quilter buddies. In the fall I will happily go back to Anna Lena's great retreat down south.
Also in May Lynn and I are going to his conference in Southern California. Then he is going to take a week or so of vacation and we will do some coastal driving. I might have him convinced to drive down instead of flying.
The BIG trip for me is a 2 week Caribbean cruise in late October, early November with sister Carol. It has been at least 4 years since I have cruised and already I can hardly wait!! We are both working on losing some major poundage. Well working on it might be used a bit loosely here.....
I've been processing some other ideas for projects for 2012. Mostly involved in the kitchen and in cooking. Right now I'm twirling around ideas regarding certain cookbooks and learning or mastering some cooking/baking techniques.
I think I will have a separate blog for this adventure, but I will keep any of my followers here who might be interested updated on that.
It's interesting to me that when I really get involved with the art of cooking, I really don't eat very much of it. I tend to savor. The joy is in the prep and any appreciation from whoever might be eating it. I want to work with some foods new to me. New veggies, fruits. More fresh herbs and some international dishes. And to make full use of the tools and appliances that I have accumulated over the last few years.
There are some great websites that show enough crock pot dishes that you could use it everyday!! For any meal! I want to be using it at least once a week. And to enjoy more non meat meals.
Anyway, just wanted to get a note up. Still things to do to prepare for Christmas Sunday with the kids and grands.

A Nice Holiday Memory

2011-12-16T13:54:00.000-08:00

A couple of years ago I think the cats felt like they needed to contribute something to the Christmas decorating.
As I recall Lynn and I were quietly involved in something, probably reading (what did you think???) and I heard that tell tale sound of some prey the cats had brought in. Bunnies are the worst!!! But it wasn't the right time of year for that!
As we started looking for the cat and the victim, something whizzed by us! A bird, and survived well enough to fly!!!
Now to find him. He did fly down the hall so I ran after it trying to close bedroom/bathroom/laundry room doors. Lynn was herding cats and throwing them outside so they wouldn't capture the poor creature. Back down the hall the bird flew toward the main living area and we lost track of him as he flew through the kitchen. We knew he had to be in the living room somewhere. So we rattled the Christmas tree, and looked behind couches with no luck. As I turned towards the fire, and looked up at the wreath, sure enough there he was. Looking like an ornament.

Luckily my camera was nearby. I gave him some time to recover then gently got him and released him out the front door. Fly away, fly away home......

looking back

2011-12-11T12:19:00.000-08:00

Something about black and white photos.....I love that you can take photos today all digital and print them black and white.

Anyway, this is me and my younger sister Nancy and the best dog ever Skipper. I think I recognize that as a first grade hairdo, braids. I still fight with my bangs. And Jeff and Jillian can see where their ears came from and I'll forever be sorry about that.

Nancy was very, very blonde as a kiddo. And what is with that dress!!! Pretty sure it was one of Mom's creations. She used to make most of our clothes. If I could get away with wearing a jumper at my age and size, I would!! Loved pinafores.

Part of my tasks for 2012 will be to scan photos into the computer one day each month. It is such a great place to store and share them with family. It would be fun to then create a book, using a variety of sites! I will probably start with Costco since it seems pretty user friendly.

Absolutely one of my very favorite photos. Again with the blonde Nancy, and my Mom!! I have many photos of her in those plaid pants. She seemed to have liked plaid in those days, plus it could show off her sewing skills!!!

I think this was taken at LaPush on the Washington coast. We would go down there with some cousins and the adults would dig clams.

And here is my little sister Carol. Oh dear, and me with the perm my Mom thought she would try.

This is probably as involved as I was with Carol until she was older....like in her 20's......LOL!!

Yep, I can see it was taken in 1958, so it must have been in the Kennewick house.

She is still cranky about the fact that she was too young to go on the big Disneyland trip and had to stay with some friends of Mom and Dad's....She's been going to Disneyland as often as possible ever since, just to rub it in.

And finally (for today anyway) is one of my favorite photos with my older brother Steven. He is 5 years older than I and had about as much use for me, as I did for Carol....

Don't you love his hat??? And my bonnet?
Now he lives in Georgia with his family and I hardly every get to see him. He recently joined Facebook (with most of the rest of us....YELLING AT NANCY!!). It is fun to be able to have some political banter with him, as we are pretty much polar opposites. He is living in the south, so guess which polar he represents....

I'm guessing this photo was taken at my Candy Gramma's house in Silverdale. I loved that place. Slanted floors and all. But that is for another day.

Circle of Friends Christmas Lunch Treat!

2011-12-10T15:56:00.000-08:00

This week our group of 12 got together for our annual Christmas luncheon. Most of us have been meeting monthly to share our love of all things quilting for over 10 years. More about them in a future blog.

We each bring something to share for the lunch, and I made these cool little brownie santa hats!! I actually got this photo (and the idea!!) from Pinterest (another of my online obsessions....) and thanks to Cindy J, I figured out how to transfer the photo!! Since I forgot to get a photo of the ones I made.

Mine were a little bit different. I didn't have anything appropriate to make those little circle cuts of the finished brownies, so I used my tart tins and just baked the brownies in those - worked great!!

And I didn't make the marscapone frosting, but used a spray can of cream cheese frosting and they turned out even cuter than these. Big hit!! Easy and fun. I didn't realize how yummy chocolate brownies and strawberries were together.

Yesterday when the kids and I went to Bellewood Acres to get apples, I picked up this jar of Pickled Red Beets. They are these little bitty whole baby beets and I could easily eat the whole jar in one sitting!!!

I have never grown, purchased or prepared fresh beets. I don't know why not....I might have to look out for these baby beets when they are in season and pickle them.

Did learn a lesson about them when they are on a salad bar....they are really heavy...so if you are paying per pound for your salad, don't load up!!

End of the Day, End of the Week, End of......other stuff

2011-12-09T23:38:00.000-08:00

Here is a lovely photo of Jillian and Ethan with their school principal (remember, he is your PAL) and the music director at Isom Elementary school. Today was the kids last day at the only school they have known.
Granted, Ethan has only been there for a year of kindergarten, which was limited days, and 3 1/2 months of first grade. Jillian is into 4th grade and very enmeshed in school activities as you would know from previous postings of her doings.
They each wrote their teachers 'thank you and farewell' notes last night before going to bed.
Ethan drew many pictures, and lots of tic-tac-toe boards (?) and was pretty matter of fact. Thanks, see ya.
Jillian used her best penmanship and wrote a thoughtful letter to her teacher and when she was finished she truly did have tears running down her cheeks. We talked a bit about how hard it can be to say goodbye, and to have big changes happening.
I went to the school a little early to pick them up and got some photos in Jillians class with her classmates.

She is standing next to her teacher and reading her goodbye letter to her class.

They each wrote her individual letters and read
them to her throughout the day.
Sweet....

Jillian and her BFF's. They have all exchanged email addresses and phone numbers.

A nice group of classmates.

And one more group photo from her class.

I caught Ethan's class as they were leaving the gym. His class never leaves the classroom at the end of the day. It's either PE, music, computer lab or library, so I didn't get much time to get more photos of his friends...
He was pretty stoic until he got to me for a hug and then got misty eyed, and told me it was hard to say goodbye to his friends....

Once we all got into the truck, Jillian and I sat and went through several tissues, before we left the school for the last time.

I wanted to pick up our spirits so we drove to Bellewood Acres, which is a wonderful apple farm just a few miles up the road. Kids each got to buy a cookie, I bought a box of Jonagold apples, some caramel to dip them in, and some honey roasted peanut butter that Lynn likes to dip them in.

Hoping to use my new small pie maker this weekend! But mostly we are helping Jeff and Krista get moved into their new house. Kids will start at their new school, in a new town, in a new school district on Monday. Instead of riding the bus, or me picking them up, they will be walkers!! That is going to be very different. Krista has Monday off, so she can walk with them, then I will go over on Tuesday.

They have been in their little old farm house renting for over 8 years. Never having any neighborhood, or nearby friends to play with. Their bikes and scooters were only used here, but we will be taking them to the new house this weekend too.

Yep, the end of something special. And the beginning of a new adventure....

Oh What a Beautiful Morning.......

2011-11-30T11:28:00.000-08:00

Perfect weather to go out and do some outdoor Christmas decorating!! It was even nice enough to walk up to the clinic to get my blood drawn. Which starts me off on a quest of
MOVE MORE, EAT LESS!!!
Yes I know, we've all heard it all before. However, now, I have to do this. My blood sugar is way too high, as well as my weight. I really, really, really, really do not want to get the diabetes diagnosis. I know what needs to be done. And it will be hard. But, no more excuses.
And no more waiting.
My mission for week one.....UP before 9, which means in bed by midnight.
Breakfast every day before 10 (which didn't work out today, because I chose to walk to the clinic, and needed a fasting blood draw)
Nothing more to eat after 8 pm.
At least a 30 minute walk everyday, weather permitting.
No fast food.
Sister Carol and I are booked for a two week cruise in 11 months. We pledged to lose (at least) 52 pounds in the 52 weeks before the cruise. I'm a few weeks behind already, but full speed ahead!!
Now to go fix my oatmeal....

.........few hours later......
walked back to the clinic to meet with my doc. She is awesome. Good news, my fasting blood sugar was only 121, which is so much better than the two readings I got at home a week ago. Waiting now for a couple of other lab results to come back to determine what I might need to do MEDICALLY. She totally supports my plan to get my health under control. In fact she said it was so refreshing to hear, rather than most who say, just give me the medication.

Had my oatmeal which was yummy!!! And now some leftover turkey and peppers with cheese. And then out to attack more lights!

Anne of Green Gables

2011-11-26T15:42:00.000-08:00

I love this movie. This is the book our book club is reading for this month. I have all the books, found them in a used book store in Olympia a few years ago. But I do love watching this production. Colleen Dewhurst was always a favorite actress and she is missed. And the setting, clothings, all of it.
It makes me want to make doll clothes of that era. And to put Jillian in a straw hat with ribbons in her hair.
I'm sure that all movies with 13 year old girls make that time much more romantic and amazing. Sure there were problems at the time, but to most girls that age, life was probably pretty romantic and amazing.

Thanksgiving Thursday

2011-11-24T21:39:00.000-08:00

Ah yes....once again it is Thanksgiving Thursday. Due to working schedules, coaching duties, Kyle, Genie Carter and Henry were unable to join us. My sweet moppets Jillian and Ethan were here with Jeff and Krista, and Todd was here with my grand dog Layla. Once again it is nice to have a dog around when things happen to spill in the kitchen.

The wonderful tip I learned of this year was to line the cavity of the turkey with cheesecloth and then stuff the dressing in. So I was able to clip the string around the legs, and pull it out all intact, then stir it together with the stuffing that didn't make it into the bird!! Very tidy, I'll definitely do that always.

Also the brining step is a MUST. After watching Alton Brown do a segment of Good Eats all about turkey, I pulled out a small cooler and put the bird in there with the water, salt, brown sugar and fresh thyme and rosemary. Then packed it with ice, put it outside on the patio table with a big block on top to keep any critters out!!

Unfortunately, I overslept a bit this morning, so the bird got in about an hour late, so we ate a bit late, but this bird was amazing. Plump, moist and tender. YUMM.

After doing all the dinner prep and enjoying the meal, the boys did all the clean up and dishes. How sweet is that????

I'm scheduled to work tomorrow from 11 a to 7 p, will see if they actually use me. They did call today looking for help so maybe so.

The photo of the casserole dish.....when I was looking for something else in the garage I came across this covered dish. This was actually a wedding present from a co worker way back in April 1974. It has a bit of a divit, or chip but I cleaned it up and used it for our mashed potatoes. Really a lovely dish.

Hope all my friends had as nice and comfortable Thanksgiving as I did.

Tuesday Thoughts....

2011-11-08T14:15:00.000-08:00

I love this photo. I took it last winter while retreating at Lake Cavanaugh. It feels very serene and hopeful.

Tuesday thoughts....

Herman Cain is a dunce and surrounds himself with people who make him appear truly intelligent...

I am really going to miss seeing Jillian and Ethan almost everyday. Their move is really going to happen before Thanksgiving.

If I would spend as much time actually preparing food, as I do thinking about, reading about, watching about food I would be a master chef.

I truly am blessed to have a husband who provides for his family without complaint and loves us each and every day.

I really do want to get another dog......

New Layout!!!

2011-11-03T14:32:00.000-07:00

WOW! Just clicked on some of the new options for the blogspot layouts and decided to give this one a try. I like being able to see my photos from past posts. Will give it a shot for a few posts, and see how I (and you, if you would be so kind to comment) might like it.
Happy Thursday, off to pick the kids up at school. Then back to hunting for my camera....Jo, it's not in the truck.....darn it!

Being Organized

2011-11-03T01:40:00.000-07:00

First, I still haven't found my digital camera!!! I looked a bit deeper into my quilting stuff, but haven't turned everything inside out yet. So I went through some of my older photos to find one I could use!
Day two of my meal prep is done. I did go to the dairy today and spent $20.82, on milk, cream, eggs and butter. All necessary things. Made the potatoes with the sausages and it was really yummy.
One of the two books I ordered last week, Cooks Illustrated, will soon become a favorite. I used their method to make the scalloped potatoes and it was great!
For tomorrow (well, actually today, I'm up TOO LATE again!) I have a pork shoulder roast that will go into the crock pot and cook the day away.
Now that I've found I'm going south for another weekend, Lynn will have potatoes and pork to eat while I'm gone. Also tomorrow, planning to make a couple of cookie dough batches. Will take some and do some baking with Carter, which hopefully will be fun!!
I came across a couple more blogs that I loved reading tonight. One of them had a great recipe for a fruit crumble. And I discovered how much I really like writing out a recipe! Seems so many things get printed directly from the source, that I don't write them very often anymore. I do need to start a new hand written cookbook, so I'll be looking for a blank book to start that in. Another way I'm turning into my Mom.....
OH! I also made some great cookies tonight. Graham crackers, butter, brown sugar and nuts. I had them while at the retreat, and they were super easy to make and so yummy. Will post the instructions and some photos......once I find that camera!

A New Challenge

2011-11-02T00:40:00.000-07:00

November is upon us already!! The year is almost over and I feel like I haven't accomplished nearly enough. And yet it has been a year of many events and changes.
Every so often I like to challenge myself to use stuff up and to not spend money!! So this month, I will be using up the stuff that has accummulated in my freezer and pantry. And to see how little money I can spend at the grocery store.
Thanksgiving doesn't count!!!
And as of today, I haven't spent a thing!! So far, so good. For dinner tonight, I had taken some sausages from the freezer and planned to make a scalloped potato/sausage dish, but I had to dash out unexpectantly at 4, and couldn't get it done by the time I returned, so thankfully, I had a bag of spaghetti sauce in the freezer, so out it came, and was yummy for dinner. And the sausages will be cooked up tomorrow.
Also will inventory what's in the freezer! And planning to do some sorting in the garage.
I completely missed out on doing any fall decorating, other than some quilts, but now that I am hosting my small quilting group next week, I'll put some of the non Halloween stuff out so we will have a flavor of fall at least.
I sure hate not having a photo to share....my camera got tucked away when I was packing up AT the retreat over the weekend, and I haven't come across it yet.
Anyway.....will be popping in every day this month to keep track of my progress.....plus some reviews and photos from the retreat and other daily happenings....

Running Away to Quilt

2011-10-27T13:14:00.000-07:00

I'm in a cycle again of getting to go on more quilting retreats with lots of great friends. Lynn is pretty okay with me going for a few days at a time, a few times a ......quarter! Sometimes I go two whole quarters without going at all, so it probably balances out to about every other month, I get away for a few days.

We have been married since 1974. You learn a lot about a person in that amount of time, and a lot about yourself. I've done some pretty funny things to Lynn. Stories for another post.

This time, I thought I'd share. One of my little idiosyncrasies (gotta love spell check!) is that I tend to leave my shoes where ever I took them off. About two weeks ago he made a comment, I think he was actually addressing the cat, about how I seem to need shoes in every room. Which is NOT TRUE! But I thought just for fun, I would leave a pair of shoes, in every room, for him to find when he comes home from work today, and I'm long down the freeway.

Above is a pair of shoes in the living room. He stops there everyday to put his keys and wallet away.

Here they are in the kitchen

in the dining room

in front of my TV watching chair

next to the computer

in the entry

down the hall (in front of the quilting studio)

doing some laundry


in the guest room

in the master ( I KNOW the quilt has no binding yet....it works just fine!)


my favorite, taking a shower

My first Pickle Pot!!

2011-10-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

Yes, Pinterest has become my latest obsession. I glanced at it several weeks ago, but didn't really "get" it.
Had a bit of time and started clicking there and not I am really hooked.

This was one of the things I came across and I have been wanting to do some kind of pickles for a long time, and so now I have.

It will go into the refrigerator for at least two weeks, then I'll give you a review.

Now I'm going back to the kitchen to make some pumpkin bars....maybe pack them to take to the retreat I'm heading out for tomorrow.

Quilt in a Day

2011-10-25T17:08:00.000-07:00

At the last retreat I attended, which was last month, I did actually make this top in about 6 hours. I had been carrying this collection of fabric around for many, many retreats, never really doing anything with it. I remember when I bought it, I was so drawn to the whole collection, and it is really not in my usual color palette. I even offered the whole lot up for sale to my small group, but no one wanted it, at the time.
Finally I came across a pattern that would allow me to keep the integrity of the beautiful big poppies and enjoy the companion pieces as well.
If you click on the photo and enlarge it you will see the small dots on the background. Now this quilt will head off to Carol for the long arm quilting portion. I will share it once again, when it returns. I'm so happy something came of it!!

I also had taken this long ago finished stitchery project. I love redwork, alphabets and Christmas, so this pattern had it all wrapped together. I worked on the stitchery for several years. I can remember working on it while flying, and I haven't flown for quite a while! So I tucked it away when finished with no particular plans of how to finish it;.
The squares around the edge are from a collection of holiday fabrics that I had also been carrying around with a pattern for a table runner. Turns out the pattern was a PITA. While looking at them at the retreat, and coming across the tucked away stitchery block, I thought - PUT them together!!! And so......I did!!

And just last night I finished this stitchery. Pretty bland as is, but I do like it. So I'll be pulling some color and holiday appropriate fabrics and make something happen around this!

I have to start packing stuff up for the retreat this weekend. I'm going to really TRY to take precut, preplanned projects and not drag along all the boxes of fabric that seem to find a way into my truck when I'm heading out.

This is another new venue so it will be exciting to check it out. Also will get some sister time, and some time with Carter, Henry, Kyle and Genie. Back home for Halloween, and hopefully be helping Jeff and Krista get moved into their new home.

Goodness my split pea soup is smelling just luscious......

Design Wall Monday

2011-10-24T13:38:00.000-07:00

Ah.....Finally I have this much of my small quilting groups annual group lotto quilt done. Each year the 12 of us decide on a pattern and each make a block. When the quilt is finished we have a drawing amongst ourselves to win it. If you have won in the past, you still get to be in the drawing! If you choose to take the new one, the one you won in the past goes to the next name drawn.
This year we chose to do the embroidery baskets. Then it was my job to put it together. Now I will add a small green stopper and then a border of the same floral. Once it is quilted, another member is going to do a scalloped edge and binding. Don't you wish you were in the drawing????

Fun Shopping Treasures!

2011-10-24T13:25:00.000-07:00

Ooohhhh....it's been a while since I've brought any new fabric into my studio and added it to my INVENTORY!! I do not call it a stash anymore. Stash has an interesting history, don't you think????

I'd rather think of it as my inventory that I go through when in my creative mode. The Stonehenge collection is the center is a line of fabric that somehow I have missed in the past. I started in my fabric collection with those pretty fat quarter stacks that retailers would place around the store. Now it is strips like these or jelly roll packs....marketing!

I also picked up a few new patterns, books and individual at a nice shop in Mount Vernon. These were all on clearance....except for the Halloween embroidery. Carter, my 3 year old grandson is quite enamored with Halloween, as is his Mom, so I thought this might make a nice quilt/wall hanging to make for them for NEXT year, since it isn't going to be done THIS Halloween. I am finishing a black stitch witch small piece though. Photo of that when all done.

After the retreat I attended down south a few weeks ago, I got bitten by the Superior Thread bug! Cruised their website and put in an order. Very excited to use the fusible thread this weekend at another retreat, with a friend Judy, who is the queen of quilt bling! So I'll be embellishing and doing some applique while there

The packets are for silk embroidery.

I bought myself a new present a few weeks ago. A floor model Ott light with an attached magnifying glass and clip to hold a pattern. Figured it would really help, especially in the evenings of the fall and winter, to work on those handwork projects.

It was on sale, but still pretty spendy. I brought it home, put it together. Turned it on, and everything worked just great. Then I went off on a couple of retreats, and get a ways. A few nights ago, I gathered my current embroidery project and a cuppa tea and sat to stitch. Reached up to turn on the lamp and nothing.....checked the bulb, tried another outlet.....still nothing. Ugh....No, I don't have the receipt or the box, because when I put it together, it worked.

So I called Ottlite and a nice woman asked me a series of questions, and determined that it is indeed under warranty and they would be sending me a new lamp. However, I had to perform a bit of surgery.

Can you see???? I had to CUT THE CORD, to make sure this lamp would never work. And email the photo to her to prove it. I guess then you dispose of the lamp....but I'm thinking I'll keep the bulb, just in case it is still good. and I wonder if the magnifying glass could be attached to something else? Or even just keep it on the stand to use elsewhere.

I'm thrilled to not have to return the lamp to the store, and excited they are sending me a new lamp, though I have to pay $9.75 for the warranty....worth it, don't you think?

Rhubarb Liquor ready to rest

2011-10-22T15:19:00.000-07:00

My gosh this is a gorgeous color! Months ago, I saw a blog showing someone making rhubarb liquor. I believe I blogged about it at the time, and posted a photo showing the chopped fresh rhubarb bathing happily in the Everclear grain alcohol. The directions were to put it in the pantry and leave it alone for 2 - 4 weeks. Don't you know, I sort of forgot about them. When I came upon them in August I pulled them from the pantry and put them on the counter to remind myself to go to the second step.
And there they sat for a week or more, then they got moved into another cupboard. At least now it was some where that I would see it more often so surely I would get it done, right? NOT! Finally today months after I started, I did the next step. I was so surprised and delighted when as it was straining, this beautiful color appeared. The directions said to taste it after adding the sugar syrup and adjust for sweetness, but to beware it would have a "harsh" flavor. Well, maybe marinating for 3 months helps because it already tastes wonderful!!
But I did get it poured into these two jars. One is four cups, the other is eight. So I have 12 cups of this moonshine! I mean rhubarb liquor.....
Maybe is some people are lucky they might get a nice little container of a bit for Christmas.
Since it is supposed to sit now again for at least a month, I'm planning to bring it out for Thanksgiving and give it a toast.
Anyone still with me out here?? I'm feeling a blast of posts coming out of here in the next few days.

2011-10-09T13:25:00.000-07:00

FINALLY!! I made this top several Halloween's ago....I pulled it out each fall, still needing to be quilted and finished and then ended up folding it back up to be finished some other time, since quilting is NOT my favorite thing to do, and it was too small to send to my friend with the longarm.
Lucky me, got to attend two retreats, back to back last week and this project went with me. And got to be finished! Actually I had some fun doing some decorative stitching on it, and will probably do more, over time.
This Halloween, it is up on the wall and being enjoyed!

First Day of School. 8/30/2011

2011-09-08T21:17:00.000-07:00

First Day of School.

Turn around you guys!!!

The bus arrives, right on time


And off they go.....

I have been lucky to be able to be there on the first day of school each year, since Jillian started in kindergarten. This is a big year because Ethan is now in school - 1st Grade - so he goes every day, for the full day. Jillian is in the 4th Grade now.

It seems like not very long ago when Krista pulled into the driveway that July afternoon, and 20 month old Jillian toddled up the driveway and said "Hi Geema!" That was when Jeff, Krista and Jillian moved up to Lynden, from Tacoma where I could help them with childcare. A year and a half later Ethan was born, right here in my home. And after having one or both of them with me for several days a week, now they are off to school.

What am I going to do........

Freshening Up

2011-09-07T13:59:00.000-07:00

This is one of my fall quilts. Actually this is one that I have used to teach a beginning quilting class. It was good because it taught the basics of measuring and cutting accurately and then making Nine Patch blocks and bi-color blocks. Once people can master those, they have a good foundation, IMHO.
Anyway, freshening up! You may notice my blog looks a bit different. I'm not sure how I feel about the new way to work through the layout, but I'll learn more as I go.
One of the new features that I can access has to do with traffic. And I'm wondering who in the heck is viewing my blog from Germany and North Korea....isn't that weird?

The kids are now in school, so my life will be very different. I actually signed up for a few shifts at work, and have been called off for the first two. I'm planning to get back into a nice gym, workout routine, but because of my surgery next week, I won't be able to do any exercise for two weeks following that, so it will be a few weeks before that happens.

Fear not, there are many things for me to DO! In fact, I'm heading into my sewing room now to finish up the quilt I'm working on for my small group's Christmas quilt. I'll be back here soon, and finally do my Back to School post.

Nesting

2011-09-06T21:17:00.000-07:00

Here to the right is the result of my Darling Husband unloading the dishwasher and putting the plastic ware away. I can hear you now, how lucky I am that he even unloads the dishwasher!
We have had a long standing arrangement, that I do the cooking and he does the clean up. It works for us. But I don't think men are ever taught the home ec class theory of nesting.
So the second photo is the same drawer with the same exact stuff in it, nested.

I don't know why this is such a complicated task....

Too much Fear

2011-08-31T18:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my book club met. The book this month was To Kill A Mockingbird. Unfortunately I didn't read the book, but not for lack of trying. Did you know that this is one of those books that you can't download or order from Amazon, even in actual book form? Now, don't start telling me about the library - I KNOW!!!
If you know me at all.......
Anyway, I did order the book from Barnes & Noble 3 weeks ahead of time, and it didn't arrive until the day OF the meeting, and my mail comes late in the day. I will read it. I actually only saw the movie about a year ago for the first time. It was a lively discussion, which lead to people chatting about home break in's, robberies and onto security issues in general. Then talk of how scary it is to be online. How it is very dangerous to post even photos online, because people can find out exactly where the photo was taken!!
Funny how all these same people are perfectly fine carrying and using their cell phones everywhere with them. Since that is probably a much easier way for someone to find you.
One of the well meaning members forwarded me a video that a news team somewhere had about the photos and finding you stuff. I'm thinking she sent it because I spouted off that if someone wants to find me that badly, they are going to find me. I sleep with my window open. How foolish they say!!! Someone could be walking by and see an open window and take that to be an invitation to come in and do me some harm. I said "whatever"....if they want IN my house they are going to find a way in.
So after watching the video, I sent the following message to this person, explaining why I don't worry about such things anymore. And after reading it, I thought it would be a good thing for my poor lonely, unattended blog....so here it is.

I lived with fear for many, many, many years. The earliest I can remember (other than being forgotten at VBS!) was when I was around 12. I started having trouble sleeping. Kept hearing noises in the night. My poor brother who slept in the room downstairs next to me, was forced awake every so often so he could check the basement and make sure we were secure. I used to get up in the night and check all the doors and windows.

My Mom started restricting me from watching any kind of scary television. At the time it was the Twilight Zone and Outer Limits - LOL!

I used to feel like people were watching me or following me. There was never any reason I have been able to discover. I've never lived in a house that has been broken into. Never been around anyone who suffered from a violent crime. My family members have all lived normal lives and normal deaths. Even after I married, if my husband was not home at night for some reason, I could not sleep. I had to stay awake and listen for danger.

Once I birthed my children, my worries just multiplied a thousand times with each of them. Afraid of everything from SIDS to kidnapping. All three boys have had a scary moment. Kyle nearly choked to death on a gumball at age 5. Thank goodness the neighbor who was a nurse (I wasn't at the time) was home and knew the Heimlich maneuver. Not so good, that she was the one who had given him the gumball.....Jeff at age 5 was playing in the front yard when the garbage truck came up the road. He turned the huge thing around in our driveway, and Jeff, thinking he was then going to drive back the way he came, ran behind the truck at which point the guy started to back up.....I happened to be watching from a bedroom window and screamed at him in time for him to run. Todd was about 4, when he opened the car door in the back seat, after he had gotten himself out of the seat belt, and I was going 60 mph on the freeway.

It was pretty scary to be diagnosed and treated for breast cancer at age 32 with three boys under age 6 at home.

So, about 10 years ago, I somehow came to a point of acceptance of life. And I refused to live with such constant fear all the time. Then came my first grandchild!!! I will admit my fears returned but to a much smaller degree. Now though, I watch my oldest son, with his two sons, living in fear, just as I did. I'm trying to help him through it.

I know there is a difference between being afraid and being aware. Between being foolish, and being smart. Between being careless and being careful.

I can only do what I can do. I can't control the actions, thoughts, intentions of another. And I have chosen to live each day being aware, smart, careful and not afraid.

Thankful Thursdays

2011-07-28T15:58:00.000-07:00

1. That I have perfect and wonderful grandchildren in my life. Happy, Happy First Birthday to sweet Henry Jefferson Templeton. This is Kyle's youngest. He has such a wonderful Templeton sparkle in his eyes.
Not quite walking yet, but will be any day now.
His birthday party was on a beautiful sunny day when everyone got to enjoy a backyard party.

It's very fun to watch his big brother Carter (who will be celebrating his Third Birthday in September) play with his cousins and friends.

It is very sad for me that I am not able to have more time with these two. A two hour drive may as well be a ten hour drive, in reality.

We got to play together on another day this week and it was great.

2. Two new books suggested to me by Barb, my hairdresser. Had my kindle with me at my appointment (for that under the dryer while color is processing, HIDE THAT GREY!) so I was able to read a sample of each of them, and did indeed order them both up, right on the spot!!
The first is Still Alice, and the second is The Glass Castle.

3. A surprise meeting with an old friend, her daughter who had the child I was present at the birth for and her newest addition. Pure happenstance. One of those things that makes you shake you head and wonder. If I had left the salon a minute earlier or later, I would not have seen them, and gotten reconnected.

4. Finding a couple of new Low Carb Bookbooks, by my favorite LC author - Dana Carpender.
Even while being gone have FUN! with my sister for a few days, I was able to maintain my low carb eating. I did miss my bike riding and will back to that tonight, if I get called off of work, or tomorrow if I don't.

5. My little used in ground sprinkler system!! Nice to be able to hit a button and get the lawn a nice drink of water. Mostly nice that it NEEDS it, finally......

The Kitchen Window Sill

2011-07-22T13:01:00.000-07:00

It's often said the heart of the home is in the kitchen. And I think the windowsill is a major part OF the kitchen. For many it is a refrigerator, with the surface area covered with photos, notes, coupons, magnets. My Aunt Mary always had the most covered fridge ever. It was one of those treats when we would visit that I would see what she had added.
When I birthed my first child, I arrived with excitement and anticipation on that first visit to her home and sure enough, the photo I had sent her was proudly displayed.

Her kitchen was very special. It was NEVER tidy, but never seemed messy. Just very busy. Here is my very favorite photo of my Aunt Mary and Uncle Dan. On the back of the April Ann, my Grandfathers boat.

I switched to the stainless appliances when I upgraded my kitchen, so magnets don't work. It really changed the whole flavor in the kitchen. One I hadn't anticipated.
Anyway, back to the windowsill. It was a last minute decision to change the wood to granite when I had the countertops done, and one I have never regretted.
So what is on there? On the right is some fresh mint, pulled from my garden, roots and all, that I pick from to add to salads and iced teas. Kind of silly, since I could walk out to the garden and grab it there, but I keep telling myself that I'm going out there to pull most of the invading bugger OUT of my garden...just haven't done it yet.
I have a small candle with a cute cover on it. Then the pottery piece that collects my quarters that I find in my pockets or purse.
Center stage is my living basil. From Trader Joes. The first time I bought one of these it lasted me months! Sometimes I just put my face right smack into it, inhale and smile. Pick a few leaves and cut them up to throw on ANYTHING! Lately, (in the lcl - low carb life) adding some to fresh cut tomatoes and a teeny sprinkle of white balsamic vinegar is the BEST thing EVER!!
Then I have another little pottery set that nickles, dimes and pennies go into.
And finally I have my precious begonia.

I bought this over a year ago in full bloom. Once it was done, I just kept it on the windowsill, pinched it once in a while and watered and what a GREAT surprise when I spotted some buds on there!

Even though purple is my favorite color, I have to say this apricot is my favorite color of flower.

Isn't that just the most glorious flower?

Oh dear, that bird feeder hanging outside the window is empty once again.
I best go fill it up before they start tapping on the window at me.....

Ethan helps in the kitchen!

2011-07-21T23:13:00.000-07:00

I still giggle looking at this photo. I should have made him put a shirt back on! The two jars you see are some sugar free ketchup that we made together today.
For my low carb lifestyle as well as his parents we made this up today. It was easy and fun. He added all the ingredients to the blender and got to use the measuring cups and spoons. When he was rinsing out the tomato paste cans before taking them to the recycle bin, his shirt got wet.

Lynn has been asking me why I save these kinds of jars and lids, and now I can show him! I find myself attracted to jars, and bowls...not sure why. Could be worse, it could be jewelry or shoes!!

Had my annual eval today. And signed up for a couple of 4 hour shifts next week, while the kids are at daycamp. Figured I should keep my working options open a bit longer. Both kids will be in school full time starting late August, and I don't know what I might find to do! So maybe working a bit more is in the cards.

Low carb day 3 is all good. I am trying a few different recipes this time around, and I made baked eggs with cream and cheese today and they were fantastic!! I'm having a "thing" with Gruyere cheese. I actually first discovered this tempting tasty treat when I was low carbing in the past. It wasn't as easily available at the time, but lucky me, Costco has it most the time.

My bike ride tonight was further than yesterdays. That will be my goal, to go at least a bit further each day I am able to ride. I say able since I am going to be away from my bike for a day or two. Anyway, when I came back today my legs were so wobbly! A good thing! I also used my headset today, with some good music, not too loud so I can still hear the occasional car that may come along.

Off to bed.

Day Two

2011-07-20T21:53:00.000-07:00

Of what?, you might ask......
First of all, aren't those radishes so pretty? I've always liked them. And celery.
So it is day 2 of Biking! I brought by beautiful new bike home yesterday and introduced her to you.

And even though it was late, 8:30 pm, I made sure I put on my helmet and went out for a ride. I went a bit further than yesterday. Learning to use my 7 speeds. I did make it up my hill today, so already that is progress!!

It is also Day Two of Living a Low Carb Life. Yes, I know. Been there, done that. In fact I came across a photo of that time long ago that I was eating low carb successfully, trimmer, happier.

This was taken at a retreat. I was in the process of designing this quilt which became a gift for a friend of ours. He still has it and uses it. I am thinking it was just over 9 years ago.

It will be "harder" this time, but only if I consider it to be a diet. I've reread my books, gone over my cook books and done some grocery shopping. Hence the radishes!

Krista and Jeff are eating this way now too, so that is helpful. Nice to have others doing the same, and having them to share fresh veggies with once we've shopped at Costco!

Also Day Two of living WITHOUT FarmTown. So far, so good!
Will keep you up to date.

My New Ride

2011-07-19T19:26:00.000-07:00

Isn't she pretty??? I've been contemplating a bike for many, many months. Lynn and I bought some second hand bikes about 7 or 8 years ago at an auction. We actually rode them together only a few times, as his idea of "riding" and mine are totally different. He meanders and I RIDE!
As my size increased over the next several years, the bike became more uncomfortable and less practical. When Ethan was riding his teeny, tiny bike with the training wheels, he wanted me to ride with him. So I was out there in ALL my glory, riding the bike with skinny tires, which seriously needed major air. I was a few yards ahead of him when he announced to me, and the whole neighborhood, in his sweet little 4 year old voice "HEY GEEMA!" I said WHAT? He said "YOUR BUTT IS SO BIG!!!" I said "YOU'RE RIGHT"....and on we went. And we sold the bikes at a garage sale that summer.
I've seen more women of "size" out riding bikes. And I was really attracted to those big handlebars. If they can do it, I can do it, right?
I was very athletic in my youth. I've always liked bike riding. So after a fair amount of research and quandary, I took the plunge and stopped into Jack's Bike Shop in Bellingham while spending time with my sister, who was up here for a visit. I hadn't really intended to buy a bike, but it seemed to just happen. I would have chosen a purple bike, but that wasn't an option....
Adding the basket was fun, and you can't see it, but there is a cool bell on the handle bars too.
So with the kids on their bikes, off we went for a ride today. No yelling came from behind me. That was a relief.
Now the task of really using this bike, and getting some much needed physical exercise.
To get me started, I eliminated my biggest time wasting addiction. FarmTown on Facebook.
That was 5 hours ago....no big signs of withdrawal yet.....though here I am, updating my blog!!
Be prepared to hear from me a LOT!
Off for another ride.

Some Family Time...

2011-07-08T12:29:00.000-07:00

Here are my three sons....as someone pointed out to me, as usual the oldest two are supervising, while the youngest does the work!!!

I was excited to finally find a time that I could have all three boys, along with their families together for a few days. We went to Lake Cavanaugh, one of my very favorite places to go with my quilting friends. This is a private home, right on the lake.

We went on July 3rd, which was Lynn's 60th birthday!! Jeff, Krista, Jillian and Ethan came that day. Big surprise for us all was that because so many residents of the lake are only part time, there was a HUGE fireworks display on the night of the 3rd, since many people had to travel home on the 4th to work on the 5th. So it was loud and gorgeous to watch all these fireworks happening around the lake.

It had been a rainy day, but the sun broke through in the afternoon, so Jillian and Ethan did spend some time in the lake. And they all went out for a canoe ride, which I wish I had taken photos of. Jeff was the firebuilder that first night, and battling wet wood, and limited newspaper he was a trouper, and got it going! S'mores were enjoyed by all of us.

The 4th started early with Kyle, Genie, Carter and Henry arriving very early in the day. The weather was perfect and they all had a great time in the sun

Yes, Kyle is one of the whitest men in America and it looks like Carter is going to suffer from the same issue....

I thought this was a great shot, I assure you Kyle was right outside the photo!!

Carter loved his little boat and thanked his Auntie Krista for bringing it for him.

When they weren't in the water, the grands had a great time with tons of brio train set

It's not often these guys get to play together, so the time they had was precious to me.

Todd and Jessica and their two dogs arrived the afternoon of the 4th. They brought dry wood for a fire and Todd set out to build quite the bonfire for our evening time on the beach. I told him it was looking like something he would need a permit for.

Jeff is putting some final touches on it. This is built right on the beach, no pit or anything.

We were all quite stunned when Lynn left the beach, came back in his swim suit, threw a towel in my lap and ran down the dock and leaped into the water!!! Said he could feel the 60 year old placque breaking up in his arteries!!! And no, I didn't have my camera ready for that.

I also wish I had gotten some shots of Cosmo, Jeff's border collie mix dog. I think he had the best time of everyone. It was his first experience in water, and he loved it. I think he would have chased those balls and sticks into the water until labor day....

Another night of loud and colorful fireworks, which unfortunately led to not a good sleeping night for Carter, Henry and therefore Kyle and Genie, so they headed home much earlier than planned, which was sad for all of us. I had hoped to get more photos, and spend more time with them all together. Best laid plans, as they say.

Jillian and Ethan said it was their second best vacation ever (their only other vacation having been a weekend to the Great Wolfe Lodge, go figure!) and they want us to go back again. In fact, Ethan announced he wanted to LIVE there!! I know just how he feels.

A New Project

2011-07-06T13:04:00.000-07:00

Thank you to Melissa for the link to a blog of a woman who made a rhubarb infused alcohol. This is my lovely rhubarb patch, courtesy of another friend Bea who actually mailed the roots to me! I've been harvesting and enjoying it for several years now. I'm noticing this year I'm getting A LOT of regrowth so when I saw the idea of setting up my own moonshine business I thought why not!!!

I plucked about 20 stalks, and separated them from their beautiful big leaves. I do get annoyed at times when recipes give directions with a WEIGHT of something rather than measurement. Yes, I do have a digital food scale, just not sure where I stashed it.

This is my bowl with all those stalks chopped up. Next into the food processor for a bit of a whirl.
The directions say that gives more surface area of the fruit to be able to infuse it's yummy goodness into the grain alcohol.

These are the two jars, all filled with fruit and Everclear. Yes, you can get it in Washington State at the Liquor store. It is 151 proof, not 190. Maybe I could have gotten that in Canada, but it wasn't worth the wait at the border!!

Now these two jars will sit happily in my pantry for at least a month. It's going to be great!!

Things I Learned This Week

2011-05-01T14:46:00.000-07:00

1. Grandkids are the best invention EVER. (post to follow with more Easter photos)

2. The GPS system on my phone is wonderful. If I could just figure out how to turn her volume down.

3. There is no "Love Pantry" or any other such store in Bellevue.

4. The Love Zone in Greenwood will let you try on their lingerie in their fitting rooms, and have all manner of "items" that make you raise your eyebrows or even blush a bit, but they will not let you use their restroom.

5. Sushi on the conveyor belt is wonderful. (another post to follow with great photos)

6. Whole Foods is a glorious store.

7. Being married for 37 years is a pretty good gig.

8. I love Royal Weddings. Yes, even the hats!

9. Donald Trump is an embarrassment and a buffoon. Doesn't he have anyone in his family or close friends who can be honest with him?

10. The Sun Will Come Out Again Eventually.

Cooking With the Kiddos

2011-03-09T12:14:00.000-08:00

Jillian and Ethan are starting to learn some hands on cooking things with me these days. We did start with toast! Jillian makes her family "the best hotdogs ever" according to her brother. She makes them in the microwave. She also makes her own lunch - because she wants to! And often makes Ethan's lunch too.
So on this day we made our first batch of Rice Krispy Treats!! The lesson involved the differences of electric stoves and gas stoves, which mine is. Ethan is on a stool, btw.
I had Jillian read the entire recipe and get all the tools and ingredients together before we started cooking. The first photo shows them melting the marshmallows in the butter.
It's hard to tell, but they have plastic bags on their hands, which I sprayed with non stick Pam and they are patting the mixture down into the pan. It was a fun lesson. Next time we are going to try adding maybe some mini chocolate chips and maybe some dried cranberries. And then we might try using Cocoa Krispies!!
I tell them, if you can read you can cook. And if you cook what you like, you will become a really good cook!
Our next lesson will be eggs.

A Recipe From Old

2011-03-07T00:03:00.000-08:00

Nothing new here, but always a winner, and every bit is eaten. My Aunt Kay has a big family gathering every summer and that is where I first had this salad probably close to 20 years ago.
Not an exact recipe, but this is how it goes.

Chop small bite size

fresh tomatoes - I do seed them

cucumber - 1 english

red onion - I smallish, chop this a bit smaller

package pasta - my fave is vermicelli. angel

hair is too fine. spaghetti would be 2nd choice

good seasons zesty italian dressing - the packet

I used to use the bottle kind, but making it

from the packet really is better

Johnny's Salad Elegance - liberal amount!

I keep about 1/3 of the prepared dressing, and add it just before serving, unless I am serving it right after having made it. The pasta absorbs dressing as it sits.

Have you found Anna and Kristina's Shopping Bag on Oprah's new network yet??? I'm still loving it, though it can be hard to find. After their reviews I have ordered a few new cookbooks. Do you think my cupboard has room??? Lynn let me know that one of the clubs is having a fund raiser, selling gently loved cookbooks!!! So I was able to clear out about a dozen books to make room for the new ones...
One if from Jaimie Oliver, a basic book and I'm enjoying just reading it. Really good info. I also ordered another Indian cookbook online tonight (dang having that Amazon prime account!!) which I read about in an old Sunset magazine I was going through this weekend. I'll let you know when it comes how it is.

For some bizzarro reason, my long standing wooden cutting boards decided to try to turn into a boat or something! I came out one morning and it was so NOT FLAT anymore!!! It was just sitting on the counter! Why in the world would that happen? So now I will be shopping for new cutting board. Poor me....
I am going to start eliminating some of the tools and not much used pots, bowls from my kitchen and make it more functional. One of the things I love watching cooking shows is how organized and uncluttered their work space is.

Chat with you again SOON!

Shepherd's Salad

2011-02-20T14:40:00.000-08:00

Here is a second recipe from this great vegetarian cookbook. This reminded me very much of a greek/chopped salad. I have really gotten into loving homemade salad dressings. They really are so simple, and good. Fresh ingredients and having everything on hand makes such a difference. My newest resolution is to not buy store dressing anymore!

Here is the dressing for this salad.

4-5 coriander seeds, crushed, or 1/2 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp salt

1 tsp dried mint (hmm....I will probably try this with fresh in the spring/summer when I

can pick it from my garden!)

1/2 tsp dried dill weed (same with this one)

3 TBSP olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

Mix it all together in a small bowl or shaker. Pour over salad, toss gently and serve.

The basic veggies for this salad are exact:

1 green pepper, thinly sliced

1 onion, thinly sliced

3 tomatoes, cut into thin wedges

4 radishes, thinly sliced

1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

2 TBSP finely chopped parsley

As recommended I did add greek olives and crumbled feta cheese. I also added a couple of pepperochini's sliced. There are some other alterations recommended in the book.

In my photo you may notice my mandolin. I do love it for slicing things that need to be uniform and thin. I actually like chopping and slicing most of the time, but my mandolin gets used a lot. I did spend a fair amount of time at Bed, Bath and Beyond looking at all the different options they had and decided on that one. It's easy to clean and does a great job. I probably should be better at using the safety guard provided.

Planning, planning, planning is what seems to help me the very most in the kitchen. My next big hurdle is to make meals for 2 people and not 4-6. Not that Krista minds taking leftovers home, but I just really ought to start making less.

And Away We Go.....

2011-02-16T18:09:00.000-08:00

I've been pondering doing some kitchen/cooking things in my blog, and so here we are. I mentioned yesterday how much I am enjoying a new show I found where they review cookbooks. I thought I would do the same, and share actual recipes, with my modifications. I did learn that you can't copyright a recipe....and I'm not copying it verbatim, so I'm not worried about legal issues. I hope I peak your interest in maybe trying something new!

First up is this AWESOME book that my dear friend Jan turned me onto. http://www.amazon.com/Vegetarian-Dishes-Across-Middle-East/dp/161519004X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1297909250&sr=1-1

Jan made one of the recipes in here while we were at a quilting retreat last December, which will be the first one I share here, with my modifications. I've made this rice pilaf probably 5 times since late December, and it has never disappointed.

Rice and Zucchini Pilaf

1 lb small zucchini (they are nice a small at the store these days, I do two of them)

1/2 C (4 oz) long-grained rice, washed thoroughly under cold water and drained

I've used brown rice and had equal success.

1 1/2 tsp salt

4 TBSP (2 oz) butter (pick your chin up!)

1 onion, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup currents (I've always used golden raisins)

1/2 tsp black pepper

Top and tail the zucchini and rinse them well (oops). Cut into 1/4 inch rounds. If the zucchini are quite plump, cut them in half lengthways before slicing crossways.

Bring about 2 1/2 C water to a boil in a saucepan and add 1/2 tsp of the salt, and the rice. Boil for 8-10 minutes (no lid), then drain and set aside.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the onion and fry, stirring frequently, until soft and turning golden. Add the zucchini slices and fry for 2-3 minutes, occasionally turning carefully.

Add the rice, raisins, the rest of the salt and the pepper and stir carefully. Cover and cook over a low heat for about 10 minutes, or until the rice and zucchini are tender. Set aside to rest for 10-15 minutes

Often I add some chopped mushrooms. I put them in after the onion and before the zucchini.

I even took a photo to show you my mise en place.....

I have learned lately to definitely get everything chopped and ready before starting to cook anything. You can see the page of this book is already well splashed upon. Sign of a much used recipe.

Let me know if you are out there. If you try the recipe and what you think!!

Following my Looking Back, Moving Forward theme, I will be doing old family recipes as well. I know everyone needs to remember how to make the famous tuna/potato chip casserole.....

New TV

2011-02-15T12:10:00.000-08:00

I've always been a TV girl. When I was little, I even watched Lawrence Welk on Saturday nights. My parents would have people over to play cards once in a while and the kids would get the family room, close the door, watch TV.

Saturday morning cartoons, with my cereal in my plastic bowl. It was such a liberating feeling to be able to get my cereal and turn on the TV all by myself. A little later my day was planned around American Bandstand!!

Shindig, Hullabaloo, Ed Sullivan. Yes, I watched in awe as the Beatles made their appearance. I remember watching bowling for petes sake. And some Saturdays even watching some college football games. I thought I would grow up and go to Purdue, because I liked their snippets about the college during the games.

My Mom had to restrict me from watching Outer Limits and Twilight Zone because I would have scary dreams and wake her, or my older brother up to check the house because I was sure there was someone in there that didn't belong!!!

She also said I couldn't watch Peyton Place because it was too racy!!!

My younger sisters got into the Dark Shadows. Never my thing.

Once I married and had children, I fell into the soap opera abyss. Channel 4. From noon to 3. All My Children, One Life to Live and General Hospital. There was a short addition of Ryan's Hope, but I didn't stick with it very long. One day Jeff and Todd were napping and Kyle who was maybe 5 at the time, stood in front of the TV that I was viewing while laying on the couch, and he said "talk to me Mommy"....and I turned off the TV and never watched any of those soaps again.

When reality TV came into view, I wasn't going to bite! The first season of Survivor I refused to watch, read, hear anything to do with it! Sounded completely stupid to me. Then when the second season started I was visiting with sister Carol down in Medford and she MADE me watch the first episode. That was it. I don't think I have missed more than one or two episodes since then. I also really like So You Think You Can Dance (American AND Canadian versions), The Amazing Race, Top Chef and yes, the Bachelor/Bachelorette series.

Cooking shows have become the very new fave. And a new one has come into sight on the Oprah network, called Anna and Christina's Grocery Bag. Couple of Canadian women who review cookbooks, demonstrate their attempts to create a few recipes from them and also review kitchen tools and cookware. Love it.

The DVR has made my TV viewing much more efficient. I don't think I watch anything live anymore. And my tolerance for commercials is about zero!!!

I have two friends who don't own, or watch TV. I admire them both for their ability to keep busy and informed without it!!! We have a TV in every room of our house, except for the bathrooms. Yes there are days I don't turn it on at all. Kind of refreshing. I will put my iPod in the dock and listen to music, or get my headset for it and listen to a current audio book. Hardly ever do I have no audio stimulation. I wonder why that is......

Out Of Shape

2011-01-26T16:50:00.000-08:00

Holey Moley......I put in my Biggest Loser game into the Wii today and barely made it through the very beginner 18 minute workout. When is the last time any of you did jumping jacks? How many did you do? How many can you do right now? Go ahead, I'll wait.....

Okay I did 15. There is just no excuse for me to be this out of shape. And it was certainly a shocker when that nice Wii balance board let me know my current weight.

I think my obsession with Farming on FB is waning, so that is good. I need to be spending that time doing something active. I know I can do it.

Off to work tonight again for my 4+ hour shift. Covering for someone the first part of her 12 hour shift. Tomorrow I have a staff meeting at 5:30 pm. And I'm happy to be heading south for the weekend to spend some Carter, Henry, Genie and Kyle time. And some time with sister Carol. Maybe we can get Sister Nancy to join us for something.

Going to do 15 more jumping jacks and then get into the shower.

It's What I Love to Do

2011-01-26T01:42:00.000-08:00

This was a photo I was able to put my hands on fairly easily as I thought about this post. It was probably taken about 12+ years ago. My goodness a perm and GIANT glasses....

I worked this past weekend. Three nights in a row - don't feel too bad for me, they were only 4 1/2 hour shifts. The first two nights I was actually blessed to be the primary nurse for birthing women. For those of you who don't know me well, this is what I do in my professional life. I am an OB RN. Have been for almost 21 years. For the first 10 years I worked 9 of them in a major hospital. I learned so much there. I also had the opportunity to begin working with expecting couples teaching classes on the birthing process. That developed into a fabulous job where I worked for a Doc who built and opened a free standing birthing center and basically had my own business. Best Beginnings. It was glorious.

When Lynn was recruited to move to Whatcom County and be the county CEO for the Boy's and Girl's Clubs it was a great opportunity for him, and I figured since we had been married over 25 years I probably should go with him. But it was back to an in hospital birthing environment. So I decided to just work very part time....keep my hand in. It has been a stressful 10 years. Technology continues to be the order of the day. Women are no longer encouraged, educated or expected to give birth without a multitude of medical intervention. Nurses are taught to monitor and maintain equipment, rather than working with women.

Many, many, many days I have wanted to just say "thanks, but no thanks" to the hospital. But then I have an experience like I did this weekend.

My assignment was for a wonderful couple, having their first baby. It had been a very long exhausting day already for them. Even though she had an epidural in place, it never gave her relief from the incredible pressure she felt. When I entered the room, introduced myself, and actually placed my hands on her as I coached her through a contraction everything just felt right with the world. She and her husband were willing to try some different positions and comfort techniques and we made good progress. Soon we were working on pushing this baby out. She was amazing. Strong, dedicated, powerful. And sure enough she soon had her precious baby boy in her arms. Lots of tears. After 20 years I still cry, mostly when the Dad's cry. It's always a miracle. It's always a blessing. It's a belief in a future that can still happen.

The family was wonderfully thankful for my input and involvement. It's so nice to be appreciated. The next night, when I came back to work again with another patient, they sought me out, offered me a slice of birthday cake and again told me how much they appreciated all I did. I told them it was all the Mom.....she was a warrior and I was so proud of her. I told them they are the reason I still come to work, once in a while! She will always remember her first birthing experience as being very positive and powerful.

If only every night I worked could be so rewarding. I love what I do. I'm very good at what I do. But I get so darned frustrated working in an environment that focus's all the attention on the medical, technical, legal possibilities rather than the life changing, positive, personal experience childbirth truly is.

The Vegas Getaway

2011-01-23T12:29:00.000-08:00

It always seems odd to me to do a post without a photo. I haven't yet figured out how to find "clipart" that might work and get it here. Can anyone help me with that?

For Christmas Lynn arranged a weekend trip to Vegas for us. This was amazing on many levels, most being that he HATES to travel and has no interest at all in gaming, okay gambling. But he had seen an interview with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the spouses of George Harrison and John Lennon talking about the Cirque de Solelil show "Love". We are both big Beatles fans so that was the basis of the trip.

It was my first time flying on Allegiant out of Bellingham. Was a very nice experience. And what a treat to fly direct from here and not have to stop in Seattle. I was only sorry that a woman I work with at the hospital wasn't flying that day, as she is an attendant for Allegiant part time. We left on time and arrived on time. And for the first time ever, our luggage was actually already on the carousel when we got to the baggage claim area!!

Part of our package was taking the shuttle to the hotel. It was prepaid, and we followed the directions, got our tickets and went to the assigned waiting area. And wait we did. And wait. And wait. I kindly explained to him that when sister Carol and I make this trip (and it was been WAY TOO LONG since the sisters have done this) we usually get a cab. It was about half an hour of waiting. Then stopping at 3 other hotels before getting to ours had Lynn threatening to just get out and walk until I reminded him our luggage was in the back somewhere.

The Mirage is HUGE. Getting in the door was like trying to part the seas. Then dragging your bag to the hotel check in was hard until then you had to drag it through the casino and past the restaurants to get to the elevators. Our room was very nice though. And the sheets!!! OMG! A friend had posted on FB about how awful the sheets were at some 5 star hotel, and I thought that was pretty funny. But these sheets were like Heaven. I kept saying that first night to Lynn, "aren't these sheets amazing?" He just shook his head and turned over. But every time I would change position I would say again to myself how awesome the sheets were.

Friday night in Vegas. The place was a madhouse. I wasn't able to get on a table game, but I found some fun slot machines and enjoyed a drink or two. People watching is part of the fun and I did plenty of that. Saturday was the show. It was overwhelming. We had seen the Blue Man group many years before and I LOVED it. This was different. Theater in the round and the floor kept rising and lowering and people were above us coming and going. Always something different to look at. The music, in my opinion, is the Star. I thought the production was an A-. The acrobatics were an A+. But the dancing was about a C+. I know these performers do this show 2 times a night 6 nights a week. But this is the only time I'll be seeing it, and we paid $300+ for the tickets so it would have been nice if it looked like they cared. Many of them seemed to be just going through the motions.

The food was really good. The first night we hate at the buffet. It was wonderful. So many choices and everything was really good. I got to have sushi and kimchee and things I liked while Lynn had his choices and really enjoyed a sugar free cherry pie for his dessert.

Second night we ate at the steak house. The steaks were done perfectly, I just wish I could have eaten more of it. The last night we went to the Italian restaurant and it was the best meal I have had in a very long time. Osso bucco.....done perfectly with some risotto on the side. Started with my fave salad of tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil and balsamic vinegar. Had dessert which was a scoop of ice cream with a shot of espresso poured over the top.

I was able to play some pai gow one night. I love it when people are astonished when I tell them yes, I am a Grandmother. Playing for a couple of hours at the same table, chatter often happens amongst others sitting that long. One girl playing was so cute and sweet. She was the spitting image of Kate Hudson. When I told her that, she said that yeah, she hears that from time to time. And when she left she put out her hand and asked my name. I told her and she said her name was Katie then sauntered off.

We did take a cab back to the airport. Flight home was again uneventful, though we did have to wait a little bit for our luggage.

Vegas is for younger people. It was so chaotic and crowded that I really had no interest in walking down the strip at night. I'd done that in the past, and I'd been in several of the casinos before so I didn't feel any strong desire to go visit any others. We did take a walk outside each evening to get some air and a bit of exercise, but mostly just a walk around the block. The temperature was comfortable, no need for a jacket, so that was nice.

A nice weekend over all. I really appreciate that it was a gift and we had a good time spending the time together. Next time I'd rather go to Reno, with my sisters, who like to play games, okay gamble......

Red Sky at Night

2011-01-22T14:34:00.000-08:00

Or so the saying goes.

I do love these kinds of photo opportunities.

Happy 2011 to all my blog friends. It's the 22nd day of the first month of the year. The saying goes that it takes 21 days to develop a new habit. How are you doing???

I'm doing pretty good at cleaning out the refrigerator and freezer and have done some kitchen cupboard purging. Planning to have them all done by the end of the month. Then for February it will be all the closets.

We brought the treadmill home from Jeff's house and I have been on it once, yesterday. It's amazing to me how out of shape I am. I also worked last night, 4 1/2 hour shift and I can tell there too how much I have got to get more physicalness into my day.

Moving forward on my bladder lift. Waiting to hear back about the date to have it done. Looks now like it will be early to mid March. Last night I was able to read over my scans. Some of you know how good it feels to hear that your internal organs (especially that very scary pancreas) all look "unremarkable".

Seems my coughing is indeed improved. So reflux.....interesting. I always thought of reflux as associated with heartburn which I haven't had issues with for years. The other key is not eating at night. That has been the hardest part.

I'm going to cruise through my favorite blogs now. My next post will be my Vegas review. I know you just can't wait.....

Done!

2010-12-15T23:35:00.000-08:00

Okay, it is finished. I have it up on my design wall, that I see needs to be vacuumed. If you click on the photo you can see the bells I put on the tree and some of the other stitching detail. I certainly hope my secret sister likes it.

I have this lovely tin that is filled with buttons.

I've been throwing buttons in there for about 15 years. I knew I had some cute stuff in there and thought I would see what might work on this piece. So I grabbed the tin out of the cupboard and reached to put it on the table and well......I missed....

I will say, I probably wouldn't have found those tiny little bells if this hadn't happened!!

Now I need to finish up my gifties for my quilting friends in my small group. Last year at Christmas time I asked them what their favorite Christmas carole's were. And if they had a loved version of it. So I took my list and spent some time on iTunes and found all these lovely songs. And now there is a CD with everyones choices on it, so we can all enjoy them. Just need to do the labels and wrap them up.

Happy Wednesday!

A New Phone!

2010-12-15T00:25:00.001-08:00

When I was away with my BQF's for the weekend (best quilting friends) I was terribly jealous when they were all doing all kinds of cool things with their phones!! So I thought, WTF (fa la la la la), and drove into town and bought myself a new phone!!!

One of the reasons was because I could download a FREE Kindle app! Eileen had it on her phone and that was the factor that made me decide. Yes, I still had to pay just under $10 for the book, but I LOVE it! My screen is showing you the book I downloaded. I had been pondering a actual Kindle ever since they came out, and they were becoming more affordable, so this at least gives me a chance to see if I would like reading a book with this format. Will let you know.

Here is my center block for the secret sister project I have been working on for my small group. The party/exchange is day after tomorrow, and I still need to create the pieced border around it. So I probably ought to get to it!!

We did put our Christmas tree in the stand and got it watered, but it will be bare until Friday at least.....maybe even Sunday.

Tomorrow evening we have a dinner to attend and Friday we are heading south for the weekend.

I'm still feeling just about 0 "Holiday Spirit" this year.....

A Look Back - Cooperstown!!

2010-12-14T12:10:00.000-08:00

Every time I look at these photos, I remind myself that I haven't yet posted about this part of our big New York trip that we took last spring. So here it is!!

This is the Inn where we stayed for our Cooperstown visit. Last time we were on the east coast we visited this wonderful town and were thrilled to return. The first time we stayed a bit out of town so it was great to be right in the middle of it this time around. Our room was the three windows on the top right.

These pots of tulips were outside all the big buildings in town.

So beautiful I had to take two photos....

This is the top of the staircase outside our room.

This is the staircase heading up. The desk to the left is where we checked in.

And a view looking down!!

This is the dining area where breakfast was served.

And here is a shot of the sitting room area.

This is Doubleday Field. The place they filmed A League of Their Own.

In the stands

I loved taking this photo....a view out onto the field of play

the score board

from the right field area

Cute, cute, cute diner where we liked to get a bite.

this is the inside of the diner....really small. But good food!!

this is the library

across the street from our Inn

and around the corner

I spotted this house that is actually built INTO the hillside on our way into town. Had to go back and get some photos of it.

Amazing place....I sure hope you enjoyed my little tour of Cooperstown. Yes, Lynn spent another day at the Hall of Fame, is now even more grateful to get to see Dave Niehaus honor being there. If you ever get a chance to visit this spot, we highly recommend it.

Catching Up

2010-12-14T00:37:00.000-08:00

It is well after midnight here. So much has happened in the last couple of weeks. I will be playing some catch up here, some looking back and some planning ahead.
I just had a wonderful long weekend with my three favorite quilting friends. We went to a new place in Poulsbo and spent three days visiting, laughing, eating, sewing and planning our next few get togethers. I've been having trouble using the generic battery charger for my camera, so I didn't take my camera to get any photos, but I certainly will next time. I noticed that Sony finally charged my account today for the charger I ordered, so hopefully it will arrive soon. I have a bit of charge left and will get some current photos up here soon. In the meantime, here are two of my favorites I have on my media card.

This was taken in the summer at my Uncle Robin's place way out in the back forty! My Mom is on the left and her older sister Adele is on the right. Just a couple of sisters. This is an annual gathering for the family that has been going on for about 35 years. We used to get together the Saturday before Christmas. Some of my very best memories are of the party at Adele's every December.

These two are only about 18 months apart. It was fun at this gathering hearing them talk about being "girls" and how they would test each other on trivia at night when they shared a bed.

Those of you who share Facebook with me have seen this next photo. Thought I would share it here, it's so fun.

I took this a few Sunday's ago. Lynn had spent a lot of time in the yard, raking, mowing and puttering. After a nice shower and the sun going down, he decided to lounge on the couch for a nap. Next time I checked I found that Dutch had decided to join him!! Talk about dedication.

Hope you are all well, and enjoying the Holiday Season.

Heading for School

2010-11-29T13:10:00.000-08:00

Last night Jeff and Krista went to see a show at the Mount Baker theater so Jillian and Ethan came to spend the night, on a school night which doesn't happen very often.

So getting up with two kids to get ready to go to school also doesn't happen very often!!! As you all know by now, I was blessed with birthing only boys, so I never had the little girl prep stuff as a young mother. So Jillian, bless her heart, let me play with her hair!

We did four fairly tight braids last night before she went to bed, and unfortunately they didn't dry all the way this morning, so we whipped out a curling iron and had fun creating some curls!! She has a cute little barrette clipped onto her headband.

Jeff likes to keep Ethan's hair cut pretty close. He is so darling any which way, I was just beginning to enjoy him having some hair until his Daddy took the shears to him yesterday!!

Once we looked at the first photo we decided to try again. I got a couple of smiles this time, but oh my, does Jillian look like ME in this one!!

Wednesday is my day to get my fall quilts down and put up the Christmas decorations. Will probably put up the trees this weekend.

End of the Holiday Weekend

2010-11-28T23:45:00.000-08:00

It was a very different one for us around here. It was great having all my boys and their families here for Thanksgiving dinner festivities, but on Sunday. This allowed for Kyle, Genie Carter and Henry to drive up on Saturday and spend a little bit more time. My sister Nancy and her husband Terry came as well, along with my niece Kelli. Traditional food, I forgot to put out the cranberries, and nobody even noticed.

I know I've been away from my dear blog quite a bit lately, always with a promise to return more regularly. Funny how life doesn't seem to want to remain in any kind of regular pattern.

But I do think about you, dear blog, nearly everyday and write such wonderful posts in my head. I'll probably have quite a few postings in the next several days, as I clean out my media card from my camera, and prepare for holidays and a great quilting retreat coming up in two weeks.

For now, I'll leave you with more photo, of the dear Grands, then head off to bed.

Kids are here overnight, and I'll be up at the crack of dawn getting them ready and off to school.

Rainy Night in Lynden

2010-11-06T20:48:00.000-07:00

Boy, does Rocco know how to relax!!! I actually had to watch for a minute to make sure he was actually breathing....

I did get the family room, hallway and master bedroom carpets all cleaned today. It's amazing that as old as this carpet is ( I think about 17 years old and it is beige) it sure cleans well.

While watching another UW Husky debacle on TV. It's so hard to watch this team continue to suffer with transitions.

It was a perfect day for making some chicken soup with dumplings. Here is my chicken in the pot with it's veggie friends and some fresh herbs from the garden. It makes me feel so "Martha" like to snip fresh herbs.

I'm surely missing my daily contacts with sister Carol. Her cruise ship is on it's way back to Fort Lauderdale and she will be back home on Monday I think. I was hoping she would have better access to internet updates, but that didn't seem to happen.

Looking forward to a nice long day of sewing tomorrow. Lynn has a rotary event all day. I downloaded a couple of new books onto my iPod so will have a grand time of it. What are You planning to do?

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-05T16:08:00.000-07:00

Krista did such a great job making these costumes for Jillian and Ethan this year. Jillian is Amy Hedgehog and Ethan is Sonic. They go into Bellingham and trick or treat with some other little friends and this was taken after that so they were pretty wiped out.

I live in a small town that is extremely right wing/conservative and with Halloween falling on Sunday that was virtually no trick or treaters that night, we only had one other than Jillian and Ethan. On Saturday night we had about a dozen.

Thankfully Lynn took the leftover candy into work and got rid of it there.

Preparing to Runaway!

2010-10-27T21:39:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited to be preparing to Runaway with some quilting friends next week. I haven't been to a retreat since April, and my stack of things to get quilted surely shows that. I just got another quilt back from Carol, here is a photo.

This was a top I made many years ago. I wanted something that would have "wintery" feel to it, and with my love of blocks and scraps this is what developed.

The border is actually made of nine patch blocks that are cut on the diagonal.

This was a pretty low priority top to get quilted, and now that it is done I really, really like it. I washed it, as I always do, and can you believe that some blue ran!!! I've only had a bleeding problem once before, and thankfully I still had my nice bottle of Synthapol, so I washed it again with that and the bleed off disappeared and left my quilt as you see it.

I am so NOT a prewasher!

Will be posting as I prep for my retreat. Hope you are all well.

More quilts back

2010-10-21T23:58:00.000-07:00

My dear friend Carol, who does my long arm quilting has given me back three quilts in the last week. So more to add to my pile for binding!
It is amazing that I have almost nothing left ready to give her. I've gotten so many quilted this year, it must be time to finish up some more projects. I've only attended one retreat this year and I'm sure that is why stuff isn't done. So I'm so glad to be finally planning another retreat for the first week of November!! Only a handful of us going, but we are heading back to the very first retreat site I attended.
Tomorrow a few of us are taking a road trip to visit an online quilting store. She runs it from a huge barn on her property. A bit of a challenge shopping through bolts that way, but we always find good treasures, and a wonderful time being away together.
Off to bed, early!!

A Change is Gonna Come

2010-10-21T01:15:00.000-07:00

Just so you know, I just yesterday opened any of that candy I showed you that I bought when I was excessively blue....
So I VOW that today was the LAST day I am giving to FarmTown.....those of you who know me, know that I have a bit of an addictive personality. It's good though that these things don't last too, too long, and they haven't been damaging. There have been many over the years. Tupperware, gardening, teaching, working with birthing families, parenting, grandparenting, cooking, gardening, reading, eating, quilting, blogging (remember those 100 days in a row????) even a spell of excessive exercise.
FarmTown was the latest and I could continue to do it daily, but I have got to stop. There is just so much more I could be doing, want to be doing, should be doing. So today was the end of obsession. If only I could find a way to balance all the things I like to do rather than being overwhelmed with one thing.

Depression Candy

2010-10-08T20:17:00.001-07:00

Do you have a particular type of treat that really calls to you when you are feeling down and out, blue, out of sorts, depressed, tired, lethargic, cranky or just sad? I'm not really much of a sweets lover. Carbs with salt are my drug of choice. But the last few weeks I have felt at least all of those things. Bronchitis is the physical cause I believe but I'm pretty sure there are some emotional virus's running around in me too.

At least this time I didn't wait for my congestion to make it all the way to pneumonia. But I've gone through my antibiotic, prescription cough syrup and way too much Mucinex and still I am coughing. Granted it is not as bad. But now I get to add on a UTI (bladder infection). So now I have another antibiotic to take. No wonder I feel so bad.

So this is what came home from the store with me tonight.
At least they were on sale....

it's a RANT!!!

2010-09-21T20:00:00.000-07:00

GRRRRRRR!!! Nothing frustrates me more than poor customer service. And once you treat me poorly, I don't come back. I haven't been in an Albertson's store now for about 14 years. I'm sure they don't miss me.
We have a few local businesses here in Lynden that I have frequented almost weekly since I moved here 10 years ago. One of them lost my business tonight.
For months their reader board has advertised hours of Open 8 - 9. This was a big deal because previously they had closed at 6:30. It's a small dairy. I have bought my eggs, milk, cream and butter here every week for almost 10 years. Their high school aged counter girls over all those years have changed, but their attitudes never have. They never say a word. Not a greeting, not a thank you, nothing. Nada....most of the time. I've tried smiling, saying hello. Sometimes I would get a response, most often not.
This dairy serves a HUGE Canadian population. It is about half a mile from the border crossing and the Indian community in Vancouver is enormous and they buy gallons and gallons of milk.
Anyway, I've put up with these anti social counter people because I like their product, and I like to shop local, if possible.
Tonight, I arranged to meet Jeff at the dairy and he could get the kids there. I pulled in at 7:29. There was a girl standing in the door and when I opened my car door, she shook her head and said no, they were closed. I was stunned!! There was still a family checking out. Then I saw a sign on the door that said their new hours were 8 - 7:30. My clock said 7:29. She said hers said 7:30 so I was out of luck. I was amazed. I said "are you kidding?" She crossed her arms and said no she was not. I pointed to the fact that there were still customers in the store. In the meantime another car pulled up and a guy walked up and she turned him away as well.
This is not a big store. I would say maybe 14 x 24. So it's not like going into a big grocery store or department store and wandering around. I just wanted milk, cream and eggs.
Why weren't their new hours advertised on their big reader board as they had been before?
This place is only convenient to me when I am taking the kids home, or picking them up. I go out there to give them my business.
But not anymore. I stopped at Food Pavilion on the way home and got my eggs, milk and cream.
I'm pretty sure they won't miss me at the Dairy. I'm pretty sure they never even noticed I have been there nearly every week for the last 10 years.....
What happened to customer service?

Book Stuff

2010-09-20T23:21:00.000-07:00

I always have several books going at a time. Audio, go to sleep, and bathroom.....
Just finished listening to The Friday Night Knitting Club. I have this book in print, and had tried to read it a year or so ago, and just didn't get into it. Then sister Carol mentioned she had listened to it, and I had an audible.com credit, so I got it, and LIKED it!! So now I'm listening to the sequel, called Knit Two.
For my "go to sleep" book, I have two going. The Lost Quilter, by Jennifer Chiavarini and On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. Neither has really captured me, but I will finish them both.
In the "library", I am reading The Family which is about the origins of the conservative right wing residence in DC called "C Street". Very, very interesting.
My book club selection this month is The Help. I listened to it earlier in the year, and just loved it. I still miss those lovely southern voices coming from my car speakers.....
What are YOU reading?????

Bird Feeder?

2010-09-18T16:39:00.000-07:00

I have three suet feeders in the back yard. One in particular seemed to be empty much quicker than the others. And finally I caught sight of the culprit!!! He leaps from the shrubs in the back onto the shepherds hook!! Buggar!!!

He needs to beware though, since Rocco has decided he can just catch his own food, and I have found two squirrel tails (ewwwwww.......) near the front door, which seems to be Rocco's favorite feasting spot. One day it was the whole bottom half of a squirrel.

So maybe it's a cat feeder, actually......

First Trip on the School Bus!

2010-09-17T20:29:00.000-07:00

Getting up at 7:30 in the morning is pretty unusual for me! But I HAD to do it to get photos of Ethan's first day to ride the school bus. I had done this with Jillian and intend to even be where Carter and Henry are when they have their first days of school.

This first photo is the two of them waiting for the bus. I love how "big sister" like Jillian is and how Ethan is looking up at her. They are such good friends.

And right on time, the bus arrives!!! They are one of the first kids on the route and so therefore, the last kids OFF the bus at the end of the day, so it makes for a long day. The bus arrives at 8:15 and school doesn't start until 9:10. They get out at 3:10 and the bus arrives back at their house at 4:55.

More often then not either Krista or I pick them up after school.

Once they got on the bus, Krista and I got in my car, went to the local Starbuck's and got a coffee to go, then proceeded to the school so we could catch him...
getting OFF the bus at school.

He was all smiles!! Jillian walked him to his classroom and through the outside window we could see her help him get his coat hung up and into his room, before she ran off to her class.

Krista and I could have stood there all day and watched him through the window.....

Another big milestone, and another wonderful memory....

Rock On!

2010-09-16T18:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, my friends. I'm gonna be back, even if it's just a thought of the day. I've been so tired lately. Completely unmotivated. In fact, getting out of bed has even been a drag. I've worked quite a bit in the last two weeks, which has been mostly a good thing. The "plan" is that I will be working at least a couple of short shifts each pay period. What I really need is to get back into an exercise routine. How many times am I going to say, post, think, dream, hope, plan to do this before it actually happens? So, I thought that maybe getting back into my blogging routine might actually be a good place to start.
Isn't this pretty? My friend Jackie came by to show it to me before she finishes and gifts it to her daughter in law. This was created from the blocks that I designed and taught in a block of the month program last year. The students had a choice of 4 different color ways to create their quilt. I called this one "romance". I have mine from the same fabrics ready to go to the quilter.

There is a photo of it somewhere back in my 100 photos I did that began at the first of the year. Jackie loved the floral print so much, she got the large scale print to make a beautiful backing.

That silly Rocco thought he needed to be part of the picture I see.

It's almost as satisfying seeing a quilt I designed get finished as it is to finish one myself.

The binding on Kyle's quilt will be on either tonight or tomorrow so I can bring it down to him on Sunday, when we go south for the day to celebrate Carters second birthday. I'll snap a photo of it before it goes.

Hope all is well with whoever is out there in blogland......

School Starts Tomorrow

2010-09-01T00:57:00.000-07:00

Today, I was honored with taking Jillian and Ethan to the school so they could officially meet their new teachers and check out their classrooms. First we went down to the kindergarten section and found Ethan's room.

It's going to be interesting to see how he does. He has Mrs. Hoekstra as his teacher. This is the "other" kindergarten teacher as Jillian had Mrs. Anker. They are both fabulous and it will be fun to work with her. Ethan acted a bit shy while we were there, but he did sit at his desk, and check out his "cubby"...with the help of big sister, of course.

You can see a bit of anxiety on his adorable little face.....

Then down the hall we went, all the way to the other end of the building in fact to meet Jillian's teacher Mrs. Van Dyken and see the classroom

This teacher just discovered that she was going to have the third grade class last week. There was some shuffling round the district at the last minute and she was reassigned from 1st grade to 3rd. But she originally was a 3rd grade teacher and is thrilled to return to them. She and Jillian had a pretty quick connection!

A big moment too for Jillian to get to have the big kids desk, that opens up. She immediately put all her supplies very neatly away into her desk.

It was great getting to watch her in action when she got to see friends, and big hugs when they discovered they were in the same class this year.

Once we left the school we hit the grocery store and got our last few ingredients and came home to make our mondo batch of Geema's special back to school cookies. I think they are also known as ranger cookies.....LOL!

It's going to be a great year for us all.

A Lovely Weekend

2010-08-30T17:14:00.000-07:00

It was a rare treat that I got to visit with BOTH of my dear sisters this weekend. Sister Carol (the young one) came up on Thursday and we had a few days of sister time. Besides our regular casino "fun".....we got pedicures and went to the movies. I love when she visits too, because she always appreciates whatever I cook for her. We weren't very close friends as we were growing up. Not until we were in our 20's did we start to share friendly activities. We both have strong "gaming" genes, and share a bit of competitive spirit. Back in the early days of video games we used to meet at a little house, that had once been the water department office in Boulevard Park, that had video games like Pac Man, Ms Pac Man, Frogger, Centipede and we discovered a great game called The Nibbler.

And sister Nancy ( the middle one ) was in Bellingham for not quite such a great reason. Her brother in law had been seriously injured while felling a tree on his property and it hit him in the head. He is in the ICU. It appears right now like he has neurological function, but is still basically comatose. So Nancy and her husband Terry drove up to get more details and spend some time with his family.

They were able then to come out to Lynden and have a bit of a visit.

We usually only get to be all three together on holidays. I am the oldest, and since we are each 3 years older than the next, we didn't ever get to go to school together. But it is now, as we are getting older, that I so appreciate having Sisters. I want to find one of those merry go rounds like the one in the photo above and take a current picture of the three of us. Because as the world goes round, and round, and round and round...it's nice to have sisters to share the ride with.

I love you both so much...

In My Mail today!!

2010-08-26T17:56:00.000-07:00

AWESOME!! It took a little investigative work to find out it came from Kyle, Genie, Carter and Henry for my birthday. This is a HUGE book, like an old Sears catalog. And filled with lots of great info about spices, and tons of recipes.

Can't wait to dive in and choose something to make first.

Speaking of the Sears catalog.....do any of you remember those days when the catalog would come in the mail? I could spend hours turning page after page after page. Sometimes one sister or the other would sit with me and whoever was on the left side got everything on the left side of the catalog. We would snicker and giggle over the ladies underthings section. Most of my school clothes up until about 8th grade were ordered out of the catalog. OH! And when the Christmas catalog came it was like a holiday all in itself!!

On the occasion we would actually load into the car and go to Sears in Seattle, it was a major adventure. We always parked in the back, and got a bag of popcorn as we came in the back door. By the shoes....

One of my first "real" jobs was working for Sears. My Dad loved it because he could go into the employee discount store.

It is still a bit sad when I pass by on I-5 and look over and it doesn't say SEARS on the top of that building anymore....almost as sad as not seeing the Rainier beer logo.....gosh I loved those commercials! What a rambling post today...

Concerts

2010-08-25T13:48:00.001-07:00

Cleaning up my camera file, I found these photos of Mary Chapin Carpenter. This was the outdoor concert at the Woodland Park Zoo that I attended with Lynn earlier this month. She performed here with her good friend Shawn Colvin. I do have one of Shawn's CD as well, and during the concert realized that I do love her crystal clear voice. Much like Jewel.

You can tell that these two have been friends for quite a long time.

This singer/songwriter style is my very favorite to listen to. One of the reasons I love So You Think You Can Dance on TV is for the new artists I discover, that they dance to. The latest is a guy named Ron Pope. If you are a music lover and haven't discovered iTunes yet....go NOW!

We attended a concert about 25 years ago at this same venue. It was Karla Bonoff. Another one of those gems....I used to listen to TAPES of hers in my car long ago, and was thrilled to get a nice collection of her stuff, again on iTunes.....anyway! This time around I didn't care for the venue much at all. About 1/2 of the people attending, were there for the concert and the other half were there for the outdoor picnic with some background music provided. TONS of little kids running everywhere, people wandering and chatting. I thought it was rude to the performers and also to those of us who paid our $30 to hear the music.

The winery in Woodinville has a similar set up, but not the little kid factor. When you are there you just have to deal with people who drank too much wine!! We buy the tickets so we sit in the grass, bringing along a quilt, and a couple of low, low, low chairs. They even have a notice posted that if the back of your chair is higher than 20" (or whatever it is), than you must sit in the HIGH BACK chair section, so you don't block the view of those of us who complied with the regulation. One time they even walked amongst the patrons with a yardstick and measured chairs and made people either move to the appropriate section, or fold their chair up. I LOVED it when they did that. However, the concert was a rockin one and many of those people in front of us chose to STAND UP! Does that make sense?????

When we were younger we attended many concerts. When I was a teen I was lucky enough to get to see the Beatles at the Seattle Center. I remember sneaking out with Susie Price and we went downtown to see The Dave Clark Five! Pat O'Day used to sponsor a Teen Fair every summer and yes, that was me in the group during the dance contest in the white boots....

Lynn and I were talking about all the bands we have seen. Of course, he holds the record of having seen the Beach Boys (or some combination of) over 50 times. In fact, he attended the latest concert in the rain at the Snoqualmie casino in June....I think the band I have seen the most often is Chicago. I hope music will always be a part of our lives together. But I'm not sure how much longer we'll be sitting in the grass to watch......

Design Wall Monday...August 23rd

2010-08-23T02:45:00.000-07:00

Hooray, one more little border to put on the bottom and my quilting small group row quilt project will be ready for the quilter.

We each chose a theme. Mine was to make an old fashioned block with a current floral fabric. I think the girls did a great job!

Two of the other women got their projects done, and entered them into the Northwest Washington Fair and each one a blue ribbon, so I feel like I did indeed win a couple of blue ribbons, since each had a row from me in them. I should have snapped some photos, will try to get a couple of shots at our next meeting to share. It's nice to be back in the sewing room again.

Okay, I Admit It!!

2010-08-22T12:49:00.000-07:00

I'm a Food Network fiend!! I love the Sunday morning line up starting with Bobby Flay, who is making a pork tenderloin on the grill, which is perfect since that is what I have planned for dinner tonight! His marinade has fresh oregano, but I'll be using fresh thyme from my garden.

The premiere is today of Aarti Party which features this season's winner of Next Food Network Star. She shows how to add Indian spices to everyday food. I LOVE good spice in food, I think I could eat thai everyday.

One night this past week, I had NO idea what I was going to make for dinner at about 3:00. A tour of the freezer and fridge led me to a great meal. Found in the freezer was a package of yakisoba noodles. In the fridge, the remains of a roasted chicken, some green and yellow pepper slices, about a quarter of an onion......looks good so far....

Into the condiment section in the door of the fridge, some remains of some kind of asian sauce I had bought at Trader Joes, and about half a cup of a gyoza dipping sauce.

Into my wonderful large cast iron skillet went some EVOO, a bit of butter......added some chopped garlic and give it a stir, then the veggies all went in...smells GREAT!! Then the chicken I picked off the bones went into the mix, some S & P....And finally the thawed yakisoba noodles and the sauces. OMG!! A touch of sesame oil over all, and then a couple of sprinkles of some toasted sesame seeds. It was amazing. Even the kids loved it!

I feel so accomplished somehow when I am able to create a meal after having a scavenger hunt.
Next time I'll take a photo to share.

I'd love to know what YOU create from your pantry/fridge/freezer. Especially with leftover tortillas....ideas?

An Amazing Project

2010-08-21T12:48:00.000-07:00

Be sure to click on the photo and take a good look at this quilt. This is being made by a friend of mine, Neta. She is so creative and does amazing work. This is her own creation, to depict an underwater scene. You can see some of the kelp being added on the right there. The thing I love about it are all those 3 inch blocks!!! Neta is big on making templates for a lot of those blocks. The next time I go to her Inn for a retreat I'll get some photos of some of her other works to show you more. Such an inspiration. In fact....I'm going to head into my sewing room right now!!

Welcome Oh Henry!!

2010-08-20T19:34:00.000-07:00

On July 27th we welcomed another wonderful Templeton to the family. Genie's due date was the 29th, and when she saw her doctor on the 27th, the decision was made to give her a bit of a nudge to start labor and get that baby birthed. Carter was a big boy at birth (and still is!!) at 9 # 3 ozs and Genie had quite a long pushing phase. So they figured this baby would be plenty big enough!

I was glad to have gotten the call before the induction started, had my bag already packed and after filling my truck with gas, I hit the road about 2:00 that afternoon. The labor had progressed very nicely and she was already 6 cm when I arrived. Soon thereafter she was ready to push and after only a bit more than an hour, Henry Jefferson Templeton arrived. His shoulder was hung up on the exit for a short time, which was pretty stressful for Kyle and Genie, but all came out just fine.

You can see such a sense of relief for Genie in that photo!!

And you can see that he is starting out an ounce bigger than his "big" brother!!!

A full head of nice dark hair and a very calm demeanor. Carter is SO blonde, but Henry looks like maybe he will stay on the darker side, like his Mommy.

This hospital stay was much shorter and less eventful than Carter's birth and they were all able to go home the next day, where Henry got to meet some of his cousins and his big brother.

It's so amazing to watch this family of three become a family of four.

A kiss for baby brother...

It will be fun to watch them grow. Their age spacing is almost exactly the same as Kyle and Jeff. Let's see if another little baby comes along in about 18 months - LOL!!!

Just So Much Going On!!

2010-08-19T13:35:00.000-07:00

The first meeting of the grandkids happened this week!! I will have a whole blog about Henry's birth soon. It was such a treat to have Kyle, Genie, Carter and Henry come for a quick visit. And I actually got Carter, Jillian and Ethan to sit still long enough for a photo, thanks to Carter holding his new baby brother!!

Since Carter was a baby, and he came for his first visit I have taken a photo of him on the corner of this couch every time he comes up. So now I have started this with brother Henry as well. I'll do the progression photos near Carter's birthday in September. In the meantime here is his current addition to the collage, as well as the first for Henry.

We are on the second half of the week of the Northwest Washington Fair that goes on across the street from us, one week a year. For 51 weeks, I live in a beautiful, quiet neighborhood. This one week, I live in controlled chaos!! Attendance so far has been down, we are guessing because it has been so bloody hot up here! Yesterday cooled down and today is actually overcast and breezy. I love it...
I went to the fair on Monday with Kyle, Genie, Carter and Henry. Genie just loves the Dutch treat sold during this fair called Poffertjies.

What a funny photo with Carter's little legs hanging out of the baby carrier on Genies chest!!

And yesterday I did the fair with Krista, Jillian and Ethan. They love the carnival of course and get the all day wrist bands so they can ride everything!

And ride they did!!!

Krista stayed and enjoyed the Kenny Rogers concert with Lynn. Every year they pick a concert to attend together. Jillian and Ethan walked back home with me and declared it to be the "best day ever!!"

One more photo to share. I was so happy that Todd had a chance to stop by and meet his new nephew. The kids all call him Uncle Tito....never say never, but I'm not expecting this child #3 of mine to provide any grandchildren....but he sure enjoys playing with his niece and nephews!

Lots to do. Lynn is home sick today, terrible head cold. Krista ended up staying home from work as well, feeling like she was coming down with it too. Jillian is over her pneumonia, but Ethan is coughing a lot, and may end up with his own X-ray....

Will do my best to visit more often...

Another Day in New York City

2010-07-25T23:53:00.000-07:00

Did that grab your attention - LOL!! Yes, this was an actual real place on the south side.

We were lucky both days of our tour that we had pretty darned good weather. I did get on the bus without a hat, and jumped off quickly at the first stop and bought a hat from a sidewalk vendor. Pink, and it says New York Princess.

This is a wall that is a memorial to all the children killed during the 9/11 attack. All these photos and cards and mementos. Was really very moving.

See that window next to the "feel" word on the banner? I think that is where Keith does his broadcast for MSNBC! My political resource idol.

We actually got off the bus here and went into the building. Didn't take a tour, but did go through the gift shop where I bought myself a Countdown coffee mug and a Top Chef apron.

I turned around after taking that photo and got this photo of Rockefeller Center. Where those tables and umbrellas are is where the ice skating happens in the winter. And straight ahead between those buildings is the huge lighted tree.

The only "famous" person we saw was Anne Curry. She is very tiny!

Connie and I had the most amazing lunch at a Cuban restaurant that day. She had a sandwich with a pulled pork and pickles, grilled like a panini. I had a great pork dish with an amazing cuban rice and bean side dish. Just awesome.
Coming up this week will be some wonderful photos of our trip up to Cooperstown. It was our second visit to this little town and we would definitely go again.

What I'm hoping to be writing about in the next day or two is the arrival of the new Templeton!! Full moon tonight, and Genie was having contractions still about 10 minutes apart about an hour ago. Guess I better try to get some sleep, in case my phone rings in the night!!

A Partial Tour of New York City

2010-07-24T14:37:00.000-07:00

I love taking the open air bus tours in cities I visit. The first day Connie and I took the bus to the south end and then the north on the second day. This is the MOMA which was near the end of the second day. I really would have loved about 3 more days in the city to explore things a bit closer.
Did I tell you about the horse biting me???

this is a shot of it actually happening!! Stupid me! At least I had my hand open. It really was just a bit of a "love nibble"...I learned a lesson here though. These officers and animals are there to do a really, really important job, not be photo ops for the tourists. I also wish I could figure out how to crop these photos before posting them so I can eliminate some of the belly!

This is my friend Connie choosing some fashionable attire at the Macy's in Times Square. It's the Macy's anchor store and largest in the company. I thought it had a very confusing layout. The sales people were real New Yorkers....didn't really care much about customer service. Sorry if that is a generality but there it is. The coolest thing about the store was the upper floors that still maintain their old wooden escalators

I was surprised I left this store without buying anything! Oh wait, that's not true. I bought some face wash from the Origins counter.

In the fashion district is this very cool statue. Being a bit of a sewing person, it was quite touching.

And down about two blocks on the other side is
THIS

Being the Project Runway fan that I am I was thrilled to see it. I never did get to Mood though, but I surely will my next visit to NYC.

See ya soon with more of my tour!

Life with a Dog in the House

2010-07-24T14:29:00.001-07:00

I had forgotten what it was like to have a dog in the house. Everywhere I go, there he is! My new best friend. He really is a very good dog. Loves to chase the ball, or anything else we throw for him.

Jillian had a temp of 103 today....wondering if it really was just too much sun at the waterslides yesterday. Also a headache. Lots of water, cool cloth to the head and some kids ibuprofen seems to have it under control, but we are going to hang out and chill today, just to be careful.

Up and Running Again

2010-07-23T23:59:00.000-07:00

A pledge....to get on the blogging role again. Thanks so much for those of you who pop in and leave me a note, it means a lot.
Many, many things have gone on since I was posting regularly. It's now almost the end of July, and we are awaiting the phone call of the arrival of the newest baby Templeton!!! The due date is actually the 29th, and Carter arrived a week past due, but we are all thinking it could be this weekend. I was able to go down for a bit of a visit last weekend, after helping sister Carol with her garage sale.
And there is the photo of a couple of sleepy guys!! I had fun playing with Carter for a couple of hours while Genie was able to get some rest. I remember those days being so very pregnant!! They have settled into their new MUCH larger house and will be enjoying bringing baby boy Henry home in just a short time, I'm sure.

My garden is so far behind!! Maybe tomorrow I'll get myself out there to clean up the herb garden anyway. Jillian and Ethan and dog Cosmo are her for the weekend, while their parents enjoy their wedding anniversary away for a couple of days.

I did get a quilt done (okay, no binding yet) and it is on my guest bed, over the kids!
This is a quilt I started about 3 or 4 years ago, using the tri rec rulers. I love how the circular look comes about.

My small group had an extra sew day this month and we were able to put together two oversized lap quilts for the husbands of two of our members husbands. One has been recently diagnosed with an advanced cancer, and has begun a chemotherapy regime and the other has been suffering with age related health issues for quite some time. Two of our other members husbands are dealing with Alzheimer's, so we are thinking they all need some extra hugs these days.....

I am still planning to post my photos and share some stories from my New York trip, so stay tuned for that!! Be back soon. Really. Truly...I mean it!

July and not sure if it's summer yet!

2010-07-05T20:01:00.000-07:00

Our weather has been down right odd.....I was even tempted to turn my furnace on yesterday morning to take the chill off in here. Today, was pretty darned nice though.

Here is my latest new start. I am trying a different method of counted cross stitch where you do a 10 x 10 square block at a time, and you "park" your leftover thread. I've done two blocks, one of top of the other and now moving to the lower right block. I'll post photos as I go along. This is 16 count cloth, which I've discovered is really the smallest I can work on. Can you tell what it is so far????

We had the adventure of the missing kitty last week. Rocco, who loves to be outside in the evening hours didn't come in on Monday night. His curfew is 10 and he's pretty good about it, though when the mousing is good he sometimes isn't in until 12 or 1. He has been gone overnight once before. This time about the third night, I accepted that he was "gone" either to be some coyote or eagles late night snack or something equally horrible to imagine. We were looking and calling, checking the roads. He has a microchip so we thought if the city had picked him up they would have called. Then Saturday morning, on Lynn's 59th birthday, he sauntered in the door like "ho hum, what' s up?" No sign of injury or starvation. I'm guessing somewhere, someone invited him in and he thought he'd just stay a few days.

His big brother Dutch was even happy to see him, spent a few minutes licking Rocco's face and ears. And that day he actually kind of followed him around. Very sweet.

Tonight I am cooking the never done ribs on the grill. I did Emeril's dry rub, then put them on for the 2 1/2 hours. It has now been 3 1/2 hours, Lynn is starving and they still aren't done.....GRRRRRR . Once in a while I make great ribs, and then these things happen.

Will let you know how they come out!

Summer Time.....

2010-06-24T15:10:00.000-07:00

Looking WAY back here. This must have been about 1958 0r 59. That's me on the right, topless. We lived in Kennewick. That is my older brother and two friends in the pool as well. My question is
WHAT is with that WATER???

I'm starting to think that summer has arrived up here in the Pacific Northwest. I actually moved the fan in from the garage and had doors and windows open yesterday and today. Mid 70's, just the right temperature for me.

My sister Nancy is having a birthday next month and I want to take these old photos I got put on disc and make her a special one featuring her!!! Plus some music. I'm wondering if any of you have a program you like to use to create such things.

For my quilting buddies out there.....here is my design wall currently. The rows were created by members of my small group. We each picked a theme, mine was old fashioned blocks in new pretty florals. Now trying to figure out how to put them all together. I think I'm going with these assorted floral strips that read med/dark.

See the block tot he right? That is one I did with crayons. I think I'm going to do some embroidery around the colors and make it a pillow. Put it on the chair on my porch.

Off to the gym now, day two!! In a row!!

A Moving Forward kind of day

2010-06-23T14:20:00.000-07:00

The hardest step of changing your life is the first step, right??? So my gym shoes are on and I am taking that step out the door and heading to the gym!!

Which means I am stepping away from the computer!!! Proof as you can see.

I pulled my gym bag out of the closet, shook off the dust, figured out my combination lock and added two vital things to my bag. Plus a packet of the green tea that I like to add to my refill of water.

Okay, supplies in hand lets make a break for it!!

Oh my, it's such a nice day. Maybe I'll work in the yard instead. Water some of the things I planted recently. Throw down some of the cosmo and bachelor button seeds I bought......NO!!! Get in the car!!

I'm currently listening to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Took me a bit of time to get into it, but now it has definitely hooked me. I have two books to download via audible.com....maybe I should just run back in and do that while I'm thinking about it.

NO NO NO!!! I am not going back into that chair!!! PUT keys in ignition and GO!!

Alright I'm on my way now! Oh! It's the first day of the Shop Hop!! The tent is up at Tangled Threads, the greatest shop in the county!! I could just run in, say hello, see the shop hop quilt......

NO! NO! NO! The shop hop goes through the weekend. I can stop another time. Yeah, I'm here! See the sign? Fitness Center. Going down the stairs to the center is no problem, coming up them when I am done can be a challenge!!!

Since I have been here last, they have put in new machines, new carpet and paint. My mission today is 15 minutes on the treadmill and 15 on the elliptical. No speed or range parameters, just get the time in. With some stretches in between the two.

It certainly smells better in here than it did!!! This is a pretty good time of day, the mega Mom's are done and gone home and the after work fitness monsters are still at work!!

Was a really good workout, I met my goals, now to race home to be there for the kids so Krista can get to work on time. Let's plan on this being a regular deal again, exercise....priceless.

Kindergarten orientation

2010-06-22T21:06:00.000-07:00

It was an exciting evening for Ethan to have his kindergarten orientation!! After meeting in the cafeteria and hearing a few words from the principal the kids all walked down to spend a bit of time in the classroom. Jillian escorted him in and sat him down. Then the siblings and adults were invited to go to the library and leave the new students for about half an hour. As I was going, I took another peak back at him and got this great shot of him expressing his true feelings!!! What a lip! And he had no idea I was there with the camera. Jillian really had more trouble leaving him in there than Krista or I - LOL!!
When we went back down to pick him up, he was in the center of the group enjoying a story and having a great time. I'm sure when he starts in the Fall, he'll do just fine.

More exciting school news....Jillian was the school's second grade spelling bee champion!! We were all so proud of her. It's the first year to "compete". Tears came to my eyes at the end, when she spelled her word correctly, and her first reaction was to turn and give a big hug to her friend who came in second place.

School is out now for the summer. She had another great year.

The next school year will be very different for me too. Ethan will be going full day, two days one week and then three days the next. With the newest baby in the family due this summer, I'm sure I'll find myself driving down to see him often. Right now I think they are sticking to the name choice of Henry. Big brother Carter is going to have a very rude awakening very soon.....

So glad to report that I was able to purchase a new battery charger for my digital camera. I'll definitely be snapping lots of photos again, but I will be posting the photos I have, here in the next several days. Need to be back on the blogging track.

And then......

2010-06-11T18:10:00.000-07:00

I have been searching and searching and wondering, and turning things over, and cleaning out drawers, and searching for
MY CAMERA BATTERY CHARGER!!! GRRRR!!!
I know where it was the last time I used it, but I haven't been able to locate it since I came home from New York. And I feel so naked somehow posting here and not having a photo.
Enough searching. I'll go online and try to order a new charger and in the meantime I'm going to start posting photos that are ON my memory card and go from there.

Falling in Love, Again....

2010-05-28T22:44:00.000-07:00

Corny title, I know.
I love music. I am moved by music. It makes me smile. It makes me dance. It lets me cry.
I've always loved it. As early as I can remember I've had a radio. When transistor radios came out I had to have one. When I was a young teen I had this boxy ugly radio that I listened to every single night as I went to sleep. And every night my Dad would come downstairs and turn it off after I fell asleep.
I used to spend my precious babysitting dollars ($.50 an hour) on new 45's. My sister Carol still has some of them in a shoe box on a shelf in her study. I had a record player that always seemed to have some amount of coinage taped on the arm because I never seemed to remember to buy a new needle, or couldn't find a new one when I wanted it.
I bought albums.....I still have many of them. One of the most played albums I ever had was Tapestry by Carol King. Just a couple of weeks ago Lynn took me to see Carol King along with James Taylor at Key Arena in Seattle. The seats were unbelievably uncomfortable. I think they designed them with jockey's in mind. It made me feel better every time a person of "average" size would squeeze into one near me and complain.
The concert was amazing. So many memories. They were both such graceful, gracious performers. Lynn has always had an incredible music memory. He can tell you who played in what band whenever. He was talking about some of the people playing with Carol and James and he mentioned the drummer. Since I had my handy dandy iPod Touch with me, I googled the guy. Yep, he had played with several bands we had seen in the past. It was kind of fun doing this search so I googled some other artists. For some unknown reason, I plugged in Nicolette Larson. Turns out she was married to the drummer on the stage. Okay, that was weird.
In our 40 years of coupleness we have seen many, many concerts. Sharing a love of music has been a strong bond for us.
Which brings me to this post. I have always loved Mary Chapin Carpenter. We have seen her many times in concert and I have bought everything she has recorded. Then she kind of disappeared about a year or so ago. Turns out she had a pulmonary embolism. She is recovered now and just released a new CD. To iTunes I went and downloaded it. It is GREAT!!!! While I was listening to it, I cruised through some other names in music that I really like. Up popped Chris Young. He is amazing. He won Nashville Star a couple of years ago. And he had a 3 track CD available, which I immediately downloaded. And I have been listening to two of them over and over and over...and falling in love with his voice, again.

More things I've learned, while waiting.....

2010-05-19T07:26:00.000-07:00

In Chicago. Well, at least I am in the airport in Chicago. Lynn is going via Detroit and will get into Bellingham a few hours before me. If my flight into Seattle is on time, and his flight to Bellingham is at all delayed (which seems to happen quite frequently on Horizon), then I might try to squeeze onto his flight. And those of you who know me, know that "squeezing" onto anything could be a struggle. The American Eagle jet I flew here on had one seat, an aisle and then two seats. I had the window seat assigned on the two seat side. When I boarded there was a couple in that row, she in the single seat and he next to my seat. Now, wouldn't you think they would offer me the single seat and she sit next to him? They spoke a foreign language and had a bit of a discussion, of which I'm quite sure my "size" was a part of. Of course when I get my nails done in a salon where they only speak Korean, I always think they are talking about me too - it's always about me......LOL. Anyway once the plane was in the air, the gentleman moved to the empty two seat row behind us, so we were all comfortable enough. I slept most of the way, so I guess we were comfortable.
I get to lounge into first class for the next leg - YEAH!
I'm really having to learn about internet access while traveling. When I was in SeaTac, it was a free access. In the hotel in New York it was $16.95 PER DAY to have access in the room. In Cooperstown it was free, in Syracuse it was free, and now at this airport I had to subscribe to some service for $9.95 a month, though I can quit anytime. It said this was the server that Starbucks uses, so I will be checking out access from there.
It will be so great to be home, into my own bed, my own shower, my kitties and of course my grandkids! I hope my iris that were on the verge of blooming before I left, still have some style to them.
I need to start preparing for my quilt lecture and trunk show I am doing in two weeks. I'm actually looking forward to getting back into the sewing room to prepare. So hopefully I will again have some photos to share with you all.
Catch up with you all when I'm back on the west coast.

Things I've Learned

2010-05-16T11:46:00.000-07:00

This Week

1) No matter the state, every Subway shop you walk into, they all smell the same....kinda comforting.

2) Doing your laundry in a laundromat isn't so bad.

3) Our country has areas that are amazingly beautiful ( I sort of knew this, but nice to have it reaffirmed)

4) After sharing a king sized bed for a couple of years, sharing a queen may be nice for sharing but not too nice for sleeping.

5) Cars that start by pushing a button instead of a key are weird.

6) Cuban good is sooooooo good.

7) The original Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute is round (more on this in a future blog)

8) Harlem is very clean

Good Morning from Cooperstown New York!!

2010-05-16T07:27:00.000-07:00

I always feel like a blog entry is somehow incomplete without a photo, but I wanted to touch base with those of you still following along here.
Yep, I'm in upstate New York and it is gorgeous. Beautiful, green, lush, charming. We are staying at the Cooper Inn which was a private residence when built in 1812. We have a wonderful room in the front corner, lots of windows, just lovely. Our drive up from the city was so easy with the GPS in the rental car. I would have enjoyed maybe two more days there. My friend Connie and I bought a two day bus pass and traveled around the sound end one day and then the north end the next. If I did have another day I would have gone back up to Central Park and rented a bike to travel through the park that way. I would have liked to spend a couple of hours sitting at Rockefeller Center just watching the people coming and going, especially since the sun was out. We didn't see any "shows" but what my friends spent going to 3 shows is what we paid to rent the car to come up here, and I am sure I'm getting more out of this!
Today Lynn is spending the day at the Baseball Hall of Fame, and I'm going to do some laundry and drive around a bit. See if I can find that quilt shop I remember from last time we were here. And if I recall there was a nice yarn shop somewhere nearby.
Yes, I'm taking lots of photos to be posted after I get home. Which is Wednesday evening.
I will be popping in here again while here, so thanks for stopping by!!

Some Random Thoughts

2010-04-30T11:15:00.000-07:00

I appreciate the lovely comments left here, and on Facebook and my email from everyone regarding my anniversary post. It means so much to me that someone out there is reading!

We are starting to prepare for the big trip to New York in just about 11 days. The airlines are being pretty persnickity about luggage. I've actually give some thought to preparing a "box" of stuff and shipping it to the hotel, and it can be there when we arrive! Might be cheaper than checking another suitcase. I'll have to call the hotel (The Marquis Marriott!!) and see if that is actually doable.

As I was going through the closet, which needs another serious overhaul and cleansing, and I remembered there was a post I wanted to do about shoes....
I pretty much live in my mocs around the house and slip on shoes when we go out or I go to work. We had a wedding to attend and neither of these options was going to work. So I muscled my way to the back of my closet to find some shoes to go with the light pants I intended to wear, thinking surely there is a pair of shoes that will do!!

And I pulled these 4 out! Wishing I had a full length mirror, or one like they have in the shoe store I decided to just try them on and take a photo!

so which ones do you think I chose? Good thing I had had a pedicure that week!!

Lynn is celebrating his 40th anniversary of working for the Boys' and Girls' Clubs tomorrow. He worked for 30 years down south, between Des Moines, Federal Way, Seattle, and Tacoma. After retiring and working in the private sector for about 8 months, he was recruited to come up to Whatcom County. He started here 10 years ago tomorrow. Amazing....He has done such a wonderful job, and is truly looking forward to retiring!! I don't know what in the world I will do with him then!

April 27, 2010

2010-04-27T21:37:00.000-07:00

36 years ago today we were wed. We dated for about 3 years before the wedding, and even dated for a spell in high school. We discovered that we both attended the same summer daycamp program when we were kids. We recalled certain events but didn't remember each other.

The first day of high school when I was a sophomore, Lynn was a junior, I was walking across the gym to get to the locker room for PE and he was sitting on the stage with a friend. I was wearing a red plaid jumper with a white shirt, white kneesocks and a red headband. He remembers that day, maybe even more clearly than I did.

Being the shy guy that he was, he didn't approach me, until the second semester when I signed up to be on the newspaper (Avalanche) staff. We were assigned one day to go out and sell ads, along with a friend Tim, (whom I had a HUGE crush on!). I ofcourse closed more sales than either of them, they both claimed it was the mini skirt!

In May, Lynn said that his Mom had been laid off from Boeing and they were going to move to Boston, where her family was. So in June, when I gave him my annual to sign, I was a bit sad that he was leaving. I told him that he should write something nice, even though I knew he hated me, for selling more ads (I was vote biggest flirt in my senior class, BTW). I didn't happen to read through my annual until a few days after school was out, and I came across his note. After he signed his name he wrote
PS I don't hate you, I love you........

And off to Boston he moved, feeling pretty safe!! However his Mom didn't find a job there either so they moved BACK!!! My junior year, he appears in the cafeteria about the 3rd week of school!!! I taunted him terribly! In those days, the juniors were in charge of organizing the senior prom and I was on the the committee (anyone surprised?). So I kept teasing him about "are you going to the prom?" About 3 weeks before the event, again I caught him in the hall and said ARE YOU GOING? He said yes. I asked who he was taking and he said "You, of course!". So we went to the prom.

This photo was in an album that was
damaged and I had trouble getting it out. I remember buying this dress. I got it at Nordstroms in downtown Seattle. It was $65 which was an atrocious amount of money at the time. But I sure wish I still had it!!
How about those legs!! Too bad you can't see the shoes, which were dyed to match the dress, which also happened to match my eyes.....

My gosh every time I look at Lynn in this photo I see all three boys!

Anyway, he graduated and went onto Highline College. I enjoyed my senior year. And when I registered to go to Highline I signed up for the newspaper knowing he was there. First day of classes, I got a ride with a friend, walked into the class where Lynn was, told him I needed a ride home, and that was it......

We have had some great times in all these years. We have had some struggles. But I think we are over the hump and in it for the long run. He really is my very best friend. We can finish each others sentences, say a phrase and know exactly what the other is referring to. We birthed, raised, loved three boys and love having 3 (soon to be 4) beautiful grandchildren. It is such a blessing watching our children be great parents, and still all be good friends.

I really am looking forward to the next 36.

QT #4

2010-04-25T14:14:00.001-07:00

This was a panel I found which was fun because I have a print of the snow ladies that I had enjoyed putting up for a few years during the holiday. I love that they are quilting. So I did a very easy finish on this and now it just needs to be quilted.

I watched a guy a few years ago on TV talking about his "Square Foot Gardening". I bought the book, built the squares and have used them in my small veggie garden space for about 3 years. This year I decided to concentrate on herbs, and a couple of tomato plants.

At Costco, they had a combination of herbs that I bought, and when I was planting them last weekend, I discovered they had a catnip start. So I thought, why not and planted it.

While enjoying my coffee this morning, I watched with some wondering as Dutch was making his way to the herbs....two nights ago he brought a baby mouse in the house to play with, so my first concern was that he was on the hunt!!!

Still creeping along ever so slowly, poor little target he might be stalking......
Turns out THIS is what he was stalking! Under Rocco is the catnip plant.....I wondered why this cat had been absolutely sacked out on the couch the last few days....now I know! It's kitty POT!!!
Looks like we might have a bit of a struggle over the stash!!!
Thankfully in the end I think they were both two stoned to really care......

Life really is more interesting with cats...

QT #3 and some catch up

2010-04-24T15:38:00.000-07:00

Talk about being and obsessive compulsive quilter/piecer!! These blocks were actually rather fun to do. I had taken a big stack of 8" squares of fabric to a retreat and created these two blocks, put them together and said YEAH! Then it sat for a long time as I tried to decide how to finish it. At some point I guess I made a decision and started adding the green strip and border. The top border isn't even sewn! It was hung on it's hanger with the pins in it! So I guess I best find the other two border pieces and get this puppy done. Manic scrappy it could be called!

Last Saturday I went to the Bellingham farmers market and had hoped to go again today, but the day got away from me. But I thought if I shared a few photos from last week, I could feel like I went again today.

I thought this was pretty clever. You ride the bike which powers the blender so you can make your own smoothie!!

And right next door to that was this
Some amazing cupcakes!!! I'm glad I'm not a sweets person. I did plan to have lunch there and I had a WORLD of options

I love Thai food, but there was no empty places to sit and eat so I thought I'd keep looking.....

I have no idea what Ethiopian food even is...it smelled pretty good, but lets keep looking....

The salads they were making here looking amazing.
Again, looks interesting, but looks like something that requires a place to sit...maybe next time.
Brandywine kitchen had some lovely things, which required the use of silverware. Such smelled goood.

Ah yes, a gyro could be carried and eaten!! But too juicy, I'd get drips on my shirt for sure. Keep going..

Can you believe after all that I ended up with a hot dog from Hemplers!!! LOL! My time was up and I had to get to the car and drive to Fairhaven so I could see the speaker at the book store. They wrapped my dog so I could carry it to the car, where I ate it while I was driving.....and dripped mustard on my shirt......

Have you missed me yet?

2010-04-19T13:58:00.000-07:00

LOL! I know Sister Carol has, which is so sweet! I've been having some pretty good days. The photo of me, with my big brother Steven (it has always been Steven, never, ever Steve) kind of shows you how I am feeling! I just about want to burst! But it is all good stuff.

I think a big part is that my shoulder is no longer hurting. I still can't quite tie my apron strings, but I can do everything else and I don't have that chronic pain, which a very big deal.

I've done a few awesome things in the last few days. For the first time in the 10 years since I moved up here, I found my way to the Bellingham Farmers market. And I do mean found! I got what I thought was a lucky parking spot, grabbed my shopping bags and headed up the street. There are some great shops in downtown Bellingham that deserve more exploration. But after window shopping about 4 blocks, I realized that the market was NOT where I was expecting it to be. I called Lynn and he just kept telling me to look for the Bellingham Herald building, which would be fine if I wasn't surrounded by other buildings. So I turned around, headed back towards my car. A happy couple was walking towards me, each with a bag of kettle korn. I figured they must have gotten it at the market, but didn't want to say "where is the farmers market?" so I asked "where did you find kettle korn?" and they kindly pointed me in the direction behind them and said "at the market of course!" so I passed my car and kept walking. Another 4 blocks that direction and VOILA!

It was great! I'm planning to be a regular visitor. I took some great photos and will post them here in the next few days. I was watching my time very closely because I was heading to Fairhaven (our "University District") to Village Books for a presentation by an author I have always enjoyed. Again, I have noticed in the newspaper that other authors I like have been there, but I never actually made it, but this time I was determined! Jennifer Chiaverini writes a series of books about a group of quilters who open a lovely quilting retreat. She has written 16 books connected to this theme and I have enjoyed them all. She was a great speaker, and I felt a bit embarassed that I was one of only about a dozen people who was there. And two of those were her Mom and Grandmom! I did buy the newest book and had her sign it for me. Those of you who know me, know that I NEVER pay full price for a book, but this time I did. Another first for me - LOL!

Then I wandered up the street and went into the Wool Station and got a new book, some lovely yarn and the beginning of a new project. I'll show you more of that as I get it started!

That's it for now! I'm using some of my bursting out energy cleaning carpets today!

And now for something totally different

2010-04-16T14:17:00.000-07:00

I'll be counting down rather than counting up for a brief period.....I have 26, TWENTY SIX, days until I fly to New York for 4 days, followed by a nice drive upstate New York and 3 days in Cooperstown. After much contemplation, consideration, complaining, compensating, coercing, I absolutely, positively have got to lose a few pounds and get in better shape for walking around and enjoying my trip. Not to mention making the flying part a bit more comfortable, for those few short commuter flights where I'm not in first class.
So today, I went to the gym...yep! Did some cardio and some lower body weight training. Came home exhausted, and with jelly legs. Those of you who have experienced that know just what I mean! And then after a couple of hours at home, I popped in the Biggest Loser Quick Start DVD and did 10 minutes of cardio with that. No excuses, no more delay. Sister Carol has been going to the fitness center at the hospital where she works and has been pretty diligent about going every other day. She jokes about the generic work out buddies, who regardless of having to have an oxygen tank with them, are still working out!
Please bear with me here, as I take this flying leap off the computer chair!! I'll keep you posted as I find the energy to do so.

QT #2 - along with other tidbits

2010-04-16T12:44:00.000-07:00

Definitely a work in progress. I had made all these blocks, and then played with them until I came up with this layout. I am going to finish off the half blocks on the outside and then contemplate any kind of border. Love using up some novelty print squares.

Last night was Jillian's second grade music concert. I love that they learn and perform old folk tunes. Kind of like learning all those old Christmas carols...they need to stick around forever, IMHO. Ethan wasn't so sure he was going to participate next year when he is in kindergarten....oh my, is he going to be shy? I don't know how I will handle that!
This is a flowering almond. It was a "free" item at a nursery about 6 years ago. Not much more than a stick, but it was free, so I stuck it in the ground! I've had a blossom or two in years past, and then I cut it off and this year I was rewarded with an odd shaped, though pretty little burst of pink!

It's so nice to see this tree next to the garage recover. About 5 years ago, our 80 some year old neighbor asked Lynn is he would cut this tree down, as he (the neighbor) didn't like when those pesky blossoms landed in his yard. Lynn asked me about it and I said absolutely not!!! I LOVE that tree, and the blossoms are easy, they blow away, or can be raked or vacuumed, which I was willing to do if they were so troublesome for him. The next year, just as the tree was ready to bloom, my son happened by and found neighbor octogenarian up on a ladder cutting branches that were hanging over the property line. The good news was that he didn't fall, the bad news was that my tree was so misformed I just cried. The headscratching part was, did he really think the rest of the blossoms were going to learn their lesson and not dare fall into his yard???? The neighbor has since moved to assisted living, and actually passed away two years ago. The house still sits vacant. But my tree is recovering...

And the winner is.......

2010-04-14T19:37:00.001-07:00

Robin in Leavenworth!!!! Send me your land address and I'll get your prize off to you ASAP.
Thank you all again for playing along.

QT #1

2010-04-14T18:12:00.000-07:00

Did you miss me yesterday? Shocker that my sister who is NOT a quilter called me this morning a bit concerned that I didn't post yesterday. I thought that after 100, I would take a day off and recalibrate. So today I am starting with QT#1. So this is a quilt top. These will be in varying states of finishedness.....(sounds better than a UFO). This one is quite holiday like, so I'm waiting to find just the perfect border. I like the asymmetrical look. Pretty simple, but will be fun to practice my new free motion quilting skills on!

I will still keep my quilts coming in the same sequential order, just FYI. The drawing for the winner of a table runner will be done tonight after Lynn gets home. I've put all the names down and numbered them and he will pick a number and that will be our winner!! Thank you all so much for coming along on my quilting/photo journey.

Speaking of my sister.....this is sister Carol. When I went to visit for her birthday last month, I finally taught her the basics of knitting. Her dog Megan isn't so sure she likes this idea.....

I came across another bag that I had knit and felted a couple of years ago. This one still needs to have handles, just haven't decided what kind I would like to use. This was a great project to use up some bits of a lovely wool, along with some novelties.

Isn't that fun? I'm just about done with my current bag and hope to felt it this weekend. I'll show some before/after photos of that process.

It's Wednesday night, who is going home on AI tonight? I'm guessing/hoping Andrew and Katie. Crystal is my fave with Lee right behind her. Yes, I'm an Idol fan.....

April 12th - #100 - WOW!!

2010-04-12T17:47:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe that I am up to quilt photo #100. To celebrate, I'm having a giveaway, a drawing for one of my table runners, similar to the one on yesterday's post. Thank you to the girls who have commented, you will be in the drawing, as well as anyone who comments today, or becomes a follower, or recommends my blog to a friend who becomes a follower.

This quilt is one that I finished at the retreat I just attended. The body of this quilt was done about 3 years ago, and then it all sat in a large ziplock bag with the red and blue for the border. So I just needed to create and attach the border. Isn't it cool???? I love the things that come from the tri rec rulers. This one moved to the top of the list of things to have quilted.

The retreat was splendid! I didn't take as many photos as I always intend to. But I got a few. First I want to show you the view from my seat.

Isn't that amazing? We had quite a windstorm the first night, and I always sleep with my window open. At one point of the night I thought I was hearing the waves. Hearing it crash in and go out, in and go out, then it came in, went out and didn't come back in!!! I thought OMG, it's a sunami!!! And then I realized it was probably just the wind in the trees. Funny how your mind plays those tricks on you...

We had a wonderful visitor one day

My son brought Carter over for a visit, and run around the field. He loved this room that had all that brilliant fabric in it, from a vendor who brought it for us to shop from! It was great watching him fondle some of the fabric.

Thank you again, for stopping by. And don't forget to leave a message or send me an email if you would like to be in my giveaway drawing.

April 11th - #99 AND Giveaway details

2010-04-11T12:20:00.000-07:00

Surprise!!! Another one of these! this time in Christmas prints.

Today I am on my way home after my great retreat time away. And tomorrow is my 100th day of posting quilting photos.

My GIVEAWAY will be one of these great table runners, since I know you have seen it so many times, you would love to have one! The "theme" will be a suprise.

How to enter? Tomorrow, on my 100th day, leave a note for me on the blog and you will get one chance. Have a friend join the "followers" group for my blog and you will get two more chances. Just have them leave a note, telling me You sent them, and they will get a chance too.

If we get 10 new followers I'll give away two of them!! This should be fun.

April 10th - #98

2010-04-10T12:08:00.000-07:00

LOL! I know this looks familiar, but it is using different prints than the last one I showed. This is the April piece that is out on the chair on my front porch. Why just tell you when I can show you????

I found those old wooden folding chairs at a garden shop several years ago and I've never regretted buying them! I love finding outside stuff to add to the yard and garden.

One of my favorite movie characters was the Aunt on Twister. She had a very eclectic collection of yard art and spinning things! I'm pretty bad already, I have to sneak in a new wind chime when I find one. A few weeks ago I found this cute little wagon wind chime at a restaurant gift shop in Centralia. Isn't it cute????

By the time you read this post, I'll have been on my retreat for 3+ days. I wonder what I will have accomplished....hopefully lots of laughs! And maybe a bit of sewing!

April 9th - #97

2010-04-09T11:02:00.000-07:00

This was another one of my "fractured, blended, mended" pieces. One of the nice things about this kind of project is that you get to practice all kinds of free motion quilting. In fact, I taught a quilting class with this project to encourage women to "let go and let it flow" in trying free motion quilting on their small projects. I used a variegated thread on this one and each square has a different stitch.

This was fun too, as you zigzag the blocks together and the project is done.

This one will go over the porch chair for the month of July.