Merry Christmas to All. . .

I'm a very happy girl tonight.  It's Christmas night, and Kaleigh and I have had a perfectly LOVELY Christmas.  We ended up having our family Christmas party at our house--Mom just wasn't ready for that kind of crazy yet--and it turned out very nice. 

My big girl got married on Friday, December 21.  She looked gorgeous.  I wish I could have been there, but I can't dwell on that too much.  Brett and her dad were there, so that's good, I guess.  And Bianca, who spent the day telling her how pretty she looked.  I'm so proud of her. 

I still have a week off work, and I'm going to do some serious purging and organizing.  Maybe a room a day.  Tomorrow is my bathroom.  I really need to pare down the amount of makeup I hoard... I mean keep on my counter.  It's kind of ridick.  I also need to weed out my old yucky towels and maybe I'll go crazy and buy some nice new ones. 

I'm also going to wash my new flannel sheets that my mom (a woman after my heart) got me for Christmas and get my nice, clean, fresh-smelling new ones on my bed.  Yea! 

Last year was the year of embracing the Amie, what will next year be?  What will be different?  What do I want to keep doing?  I've been thinking about this, but the thoughts just roll around.  I can't make them gel.  I guess I still have a few days to think and process my ideas. 

Creative Satisfaction and Being Thankful. . .

I can't believe it's been a month since I posted.  Forgive me.  I have lots to say about Kaleigh and her trials and tribulations, but not today. 

It's the end of Thanksgiving weekend, and my lovely week off from work ( and it was LOVELY!), and I'm ready to get back to my regular life. 

This week didn't really work out the way I intended, I started out by ALLOWING MYSELF to get all stressed about Christmas and what I DON'T have (an unlimited amount of money) instead of what I DO have (a huge stockpile of fabric, quilt tops, yarn and general craft know-how).  I was unhappy that I couldn't go out and shop on Black Friday, of all things.  I do this to myself every year, stress over the gifts and how I can't visit my ducklings, etc., and every year I swear this year will be different.  So I was very disappointed with myself for letting myself do this and not putting a stop to it earlier. This is not what Thanksgiving and Christmas should be about.   

So around Tuesday or so I decided that I needed an attitude adjustment, and I would spend some time in my sewing room making things for presents.  MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!  I'm feeling so much better--let me give you a run-down of all that I have piled in front of me here.  I'm not a materialistic person, so I don't know why the holidays stress me this way, but it's stopping now. 

I've already been knitting stockings (smallish ones for my work study students), and I will add spa things to them.  (My idea is fluffy socks, nail polish, bath teas, and maybe some peppermint foot scrub.)  They are pink and sparkly at the top--truly fabulous.  My camera isn't really working right now, I think I need a new battery so I will try to take some pictures tomorrow at work and put them on here then.  The bath teas are already made with herbs--lavender and rosemary--that I dried earlier in the season (with no idea what I would use them for), and sewn into little fabric pocket bags.  You just throw them into the bath and take them out when you are finished. 

I kept knitting the stockings since they are so easy and now I have a whole set for my nieces and nephews to fill with dollar store stuff--they will be thrilled.  

While my mom was sick, I've been working on a quilt for her, it's hearts and snowballs, and it just needs to be quilted, and it's ready.  She swears she's hosting the Christmas Eve party as per usual, so I will have it ready then.  No picture until quilted.

I had already made some fabric alphabet letter sets for my grandchildren, so I will send those out along with a few little other things for them. 

Hillarie requested a Christmas tree skirt in 30's fabrics, so I whipped one up for her with a pink ruffle as requested.  It's truly gorgeous.  I asked daughter in law if she had a nice tree skirt and she said she had a cheap store-bought one, which will never do.  They all (Brett's family, Hillarie's family and Tristan) already have quilted stockings from me from last year, so I am making her a tree skirt with plaids.  The top is done, I just need to quilt it.  This one will be so much easier since it has no ruffle (I HATE RUFFLES!). 

I found a crap-ton of antique quilt blocks that I am really never going to use, and a few other not-so-antique blocks so I decided to make potholders out of them.  They are so cute.  I will give these to my friends, my assistant and my sister, along with some homemade treats that Kaleigh and I like to make and maybe a small cookbook or kitchen towels.   

In addition, I have a bunch of bags that I made from vintage (not sure about the statute of limitations on vintage, I'm using the term more for descriptive purposes) pillowcases that I've found at Goodwill.  They are adorable. 

I promised my oldest grandson a gift card from Barnes & Noble for Christmas after he told me how much he likes to read--far be it for me to argue with that! 

I am also working on knitting some market bags for gifts, but I need to figure out how to finish them--they are pretty cute, if I do say so myself.  Below is a partially knitted bag.

So I'm feeling pretty good tonight, I will continue to work on little things, and I'd like to find something that I can make for Kaleigh, but she wants so little that I can't come up with anything--maybe pajamas.

My house smells awesome, I'm making turkey stock with the turkey carcass (such a lovely word) and a ton of vegetables, and I have some of William Sonoma scent simmering on the stove too.  The tree is up, and Christmas music is playing quietly in the background.  Am I a lucky girl or what?   Now THAT, my friends, is an attitude adjustment.  I think I'll go knit for awhile, and think about how thankful I am that I didn't have to go out on Black Friday.   

A Saturday All Alone. . . a wonderful thing.

Again, Super-K is staying with a friend this weekend, and I know it probably seems like she's always gone, we pretty much alternate weekends with her and her best friend.  Our house one weekend, their house the next.  And I know it might seem like I would get lonely after having a houseful all my adult life--after all, I did raise FOUR kids!-- I adore having the house and my time to myself sometimes.  I can cook whatever I want, which usually means not cooking.  I like to eat raw vegetables, fruit and cheese when I'm alone.  And read.  And on occasion, drink a glass of wine.  It's not that I can't do these things with K. here, I just don't. 

Last night Hurricane Sandy visited us and all night the trees outside were banging on my house.  No damage or anything, just some branches that look a little beat up.  I want to see if any large ones are around in my yard or the neighbors' yard so I can build a big weaving loom for our playground.  I think it can lean against a tree.  The kids can then weave anything they find on the playground in there, and I might donate some pretty colorful yarn to add in too.  Once it's finished, I want to display it in my classroom.  I saw it during one of my "research" modes on Pinterest.  Yea me!

Actually I'm not alone all day, I'm going over to stay with my mom today so Joe can go and take care of some stuff at their other house in Leesburg, I will be there at least a few hours, I don't know how long exactly so I need to pack a bag of stuff to do.  It's hard to be around my mom because she's so confused and gets mad at me when I "don't believe her".  For example, she thinks Joe did something to the house while she's been sick, making it a two-story house.  She is very  upset by this, and INSISTS that there are two bedrooms upstairs with beds in them.  She even invited me to come and stay with her.  When I remind her that she's lived in this house for 22 years and there is no upstairs, she gets mad and tries to get up and prove it to me.  And every time she gets up she falls and hurts herself.  I'll just do my best.  Maybe we can watch a movie or something.

Not much else to report.  Everyone is doing fine, and I talked to my Brett last night for a long time. I'm so glad that all my kids are so funny!  They just crack me up. 

I have come to a stunning conclusion.  Although I'm not somebody who cares about having a lot of money, I have decided that doing whatever I can so that I can keep MORE of my money for fun stuff is a good idea.  It's not that I haven't had this idea before, but I just didn't think about it enough to make any changes to help it happen.  Kaleigh and I have been cooking almost everything from scratch lately, which is nice to spend that time together, and we do save a lot of money on food.  This also means buying more raw ingredients, so I am feeling better too.  I looked up my electric company's peak usage hours, and I have deemed that we will no longer be washing clothes or using the dishwasher during those times, which doesn't turn out to be too hard after all--the peak times are 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.  Weekends are fine anytime, but I could stick to that anyway.  I will also make a point to push my thermostat up when the dryer or dishwasher is running.  This means that my electric bill WILL GO DOWN.   Yea me, again!  I also set up my drying racks in a corner of my living room and will start to use those again--probably not for everything, but for my clothes at least.  And my sheets.  Every little bit helps. 

This week has been a lot better for me in terms of my classroom.  I think I'm just going to have to be more structured in the way we teach things this year because of the mix of children we have.  For example, Friday I set up specific stations and granted, we had a LOT of help, but I think that can work on a smaller scale daily.  My goal is now to figure out some good attention-getters, change the cleanup song to something people can't dance to, and work our way into more formal groupings by the Christmas break.  I can do it, I have superpowers!  Yea for me THRICE!  (Do you like the way I worked thrice into my post?)

More on Compost (Didn't think there was so much to say on the subject, huh?)

I'm taking tomorrow off (from my responsibilities).  I'm going to do nothing but rest my foot and maybe take a bath in the huge bathtub that I don't use nearly enough, and maybe stir up my compost.  Maybe. 

Today my school went on a field trip to Leu Gardens--what a beautiful day for such a thing--it was cool and sunny, and just perfect.  I always enjoy field trips with my families, I think it's interesting to see them in different setting.

Yesterday, I took Kaleigh to the dump (I call it that to mortify her, of course, it's really the landfill) to get four huge bins full of compost FOR FREE!!  Yea!  Now I have a lovely pile of finished compost next to my very slow-working compost bin.  Have I mentioned how much I love compost?  I think so.  Anyway, I made Kaleigh go with me, which was a fate worse than death to her, and she sat and glared at me while I shoveled four huge bins of compost into my car, smiling the whole time.  She told me that she doesn't think she should have to go to the dump with me at all, since it's disgusting.  I pointed out that the compost is NOWHERE near any garbage, and it's a nice grassy area with a pile of dirt on it.  She remains unconvinced.  Maybe I'll make her go again tomorrow. 

Does rotted garbage make everyone this happy? 

I'm going to read tonight and just relax.  My foot hurts from walking, and think I will work on a few small Christmas presents for my grandkids tonight.  Maybe knitting or sewing. 

Dirt Therapy. . .

I sit here at my computer this morning feeling sweaty and super-duper awesome, which is nice for a change.  My week has been rough.  Not awful, just not satisfying.  My class feels chaotic and out of control, I'm not feeling like I'm getting things done at home much, I've had a terrible gout attack this week, and I just feel a little out of it.  Not Amie at all.

So last night when I got home (Super-K is spending the weekend with a friend so I can be as self-centered as I want for a couple of days) I went out into the "garden" (it's really just a tiny part of my yard, so I was considering not calling it a garden anymore, but I changed my mind--more on that later) and started weeding, which led to watering and when I went over to turn on the water, I noticed some old concrete garden borders --not sure if that's what they are called-- behind some bushes that I've never paid any attention to.  I started pulling them out, and I remembered that I stored some more of the same kind behind the compost bin when I built that and I pulled them out too.  A disgusting job, since bugs were all over the bottom of them and they were partially buried in the dirt.  I hosed them off and they look just fine, even though one was broken, I gorilla-glued it back together.  I was feeling very resourceful at that point, so I laid them out at the end of my front walkway where there is an awkward square turn, and dug out a little area, partially buried them, and added compost and planting medium into the little bed.  Mind you, it's only about 24" x 12" in a half-moon shape, but it looks so cute.  

I've been reading a lot of homesteading and permaculture blogs (RESEARCH, PEOPLE!) and one that I read--sorry, I don't remember which one--said that if you wait for the perfect situation, you will never do anything--"start where you are".  

So I started thinking, I am lucky enough to live in a house that my parents own, so I can pretty much plant what I want, dig where I want, and I'm pretty secure in staying here awhile, if not forever, so why not just go ahead and do what I can now.  Meaning, I've been waiting until I can afford to build "several" (no specific number here) raised beds to start my little experiment, while working with the two beds and several pots I have going now, but why not plant some stuff in the ground now.  By the way, the raised beds aren't expensive, it's the planting mix that I make that is, but it will last a lifetime, all I have to do is add compost when I pull something out and replant, according to Mel Bartholomew (sp?) of Square Foot Gardening fame.  

Again with the theme of the year, "Never Underestimate the Power of Humans to Complicate Simple Things".  Plants have been growing in the ground for millions of years (no specific number on that either).  So I've been planning on building a raised bed just for herbs, but this little spot--the half moon--is so cute, all I could think of was a bunch of herbs growing there and seeing them and smelling them every time I come home and walk up to the door.  What is wrong with me?  Why do I get so hung up on how I want things to be "ideally" that I can't see what's right in front of my face?  So I have been rooting some adorable herbs in water on my kitchen window, and I'm planting them there.  There were also some little tiny basil plants that came from my old plant when it went to seed earlier than I anticipated, so I transplanted those in there.  

"Start where you are."  Valuable advice. 

So I came in last night, feeling a lot better about life in general, and this morning I decided to go out and work a little more.  Two hours later my compost bin is full of stuff that has been just hanging out waiting for me to put it in there, the coffee grounds that I get from Starbucks is spread into the garden and the compost bin, the invasive vine that my neighbors love so much and grows into my side yard like a tidal wave is cut back to their fence, I raked a crap-ton of leaves from under the oak tree and mulched the tomatoes, beans and cucumbers, and dug into my compost bin to see how my compost is doing.  This always makes me feel better.  Weird, I know.  I have also been "planning" (which I think we all know means looking at pretty pictures on the internet) to lay down layers of newspaper next to my raised beds and mulching over them for pretty paths (I guess technically that would be A PATH since my beds sit next to each other and are next to the front steps).  I picked a space where I want my potting bench to be--next to the compost bin--and dug out all the stuff that was there, and it's kind of where I've been throwing large sticks that I don't want to put into the compost bin, so it was kind of a mess.  I pulled out the sticks and stuff, cut the plants and vines back, layered on a bunch (at least 10 sheets deep) of newspaper, and covered all of it with free mulch, which is the leaves from the oak tree out front.  Looks pretty good, if I do say so myself.  I wet everything down and walked around on it a little to compress it and I think it will stay put.  The area is not big--maybe 6' x 6', but it looks pretty good, and I have a place to put my potting table when I get it built. 

Which brings me to why I am sitting at my computer blogging while I'm still sweaty and dirty.  This all felt so good to me, getting out there and DOING SOMETHING, even though it didn't really change what is going on in my life right now, I feel better.  So in the spirit of starting where I am, I decided that my little garden is a garden, and I'm calling it that.  Now I have an herb garden too.  And a compost pile,  and a place for a potting bench.  I'm official.  I've planted stuff from seeds. which is my personal definition of official.  I'm sweaty, and happy and dirty.  (Although I will take a shower as soon as I finish writing this)

In doing my "research" last night, I found out that I can get free compost at the landfill, which isn't very far from where I live.  I'm going to empty out a couple of big bins that I have, and head over there with a shovel.  I wish I had a truck.  I also found out that some people around the corner raise rabbits for meat and give away free rabbit manure, so I'm going to try to connect with them too.  Good for the garden. 

I'm embracing my inner hippie.  Peace, love, and compost. 

Everything Rots Eventually, and other life lessons.

So much to say, so little time. . . . 

My plants are looking so happy out in the garden, the beans have reached the fence and are starting to grow UP it now.  The lettuce looks cute, and the tomatoes are okay, I guess.  There are a bunch of baby tomatoes on there, I guess I can't really expect them to perform like summer tomatoes. 

Last night I was reading a homesteading blog, and I decided to take another go at sourdough starter.  Kaleigh and I are making bread pretty regularly now, so I want to give it another try.  After reading this particular book and recipe, I realized I was trying to do too complicated a process.  It's kind of like compost.  Once I got over the idea that it had to be complicated, I had a revelation--EVERYTHING ROTS EVENTUALLY.  Without my help.  This is a fundamental truth of the universe.  So pile crap up in a corner of the yard and it will happen.  And guess what?  It happened.  Without my help.  Never underestimate a human's capacity for making something natural complicated.  But I digress.  My point is, all I REALLY have to do is mix flour and warm water and feed it every day, and wait.  It will happen.  Without my help. 

Last night our cable went out for what I assume was most of the evening, and I had to resort to figuring something else out to do.  I think it was the last straw in the cable's back, so to speak.  I had such a pleasant evening after I figured out what to do.  AND I GOT A LOT DONE.  Figures.  I think the time has come for me to part ways with cable.  I will miss Sons of Anarchy, though.  I ended up taking out the remainder of the English paper piecing hexagons out of the back of my Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt.  It's ready to hand quilt.  I think I will machine baste it this weekend, and start hand quilting it.  It will definitely be gorgeous when it's finished.  Picture below. 

No comments about my name over my bed, please.  Unless you absolutely have to tell me how much you love it.  My bedroom is very self-centric these days.  I spent a lot of years with a bedroom that I hated in muted non-gender-specific colors, so I like a little me in there now.  Sue me.  I'm embracing the Amie. 

I also spent a lot of time reading last night, which I enjoyed so much that I am going to do it again tonight.  I got a new book called "A Homemade Life", which is a woman's story about how food and her life are intertwined and everything good in her life happens with food around.  Her life story with food.  And it has recipes.  Looking forward to it. 



The stupid dog threw herself through a window on Monday, which really pisses me off since she doesn't have a checkbook to reimburse me for the $130.00 I'm out now to fix it.  Bitch.  i also had to take Tuesday off since nobody could come fix it until then, so I decided I could spend the day crying--again--or I could do something productive.  So I opened up my etsy shop.  Nothing has come of it yet, but somebody marked me as their favorite.  That's awesome.  Considering that I kind of feel worthwhile when people re-pin my pins on Pinterest, this is like the holy grail.  (Geek Reference).

A Little of This and That. . .

I finally remembered to cut a bunch of herbs from the school garden and bring them home to root.  I have had success rooting lavender and rosemary in water, so I got those, and lemon balm and tarragon.  I'm not sure if this is going to work with those, since they aren't woody stems, but I'll try.  They are now happily relaxing on my kitchen window sill.  I've been referring to them as "the girls".  I'm not sure why.  My goal this week is to bring some of my worm compost from school and add it to my seedlings' dirt.

I need a theme song.  I started doing this when the show Ally McBeal was on and she always had a theme song, so I started doing it.  I haven't had one in awhile, so I'm trying to think of what a good one might be.  Hmm. . .  I'll think a little about it today and get back to you (all three of my readers).

Yesterday I went out into the garden (which I feel I may have over-glorified in my descriptions, it's really only two raised beds and a bunch of pots right now), and dug around a little bit, watered the seedlings, and I SAW WORMS IN MY DIRT!!!  A LOT of worms.  Yea Me!!  That means my dirt is healthy and doing exactly what it's supposed to be doing.  Makes me happy.  Amazing how what makes me happy has changed over the years.

When I got home from work last night I washed my sheets and put clean, lovely smelling sheets on my bed.  (Not that my previous sheets smelled bad, lol).  There is nothing better than that.  I watched a couple of DVR'd shows and read a little.  Nice to get enough sleep. 

  

 

Another Sunday. . .

I feel like I accomplished NOTHING this weekend.  How can that be?  I start out with such good intentions.  Yesterday I had lunch with two of my favorite people in the world, and a little shopping ensued.  After I got home, K. had a friend spend the night.  I cleaned the kitchen and got some laundry done, but no major progress is any of my big projects.  This is a sadness. 

Today I have no excuse.  I took K. and two of her friends out to play today (they mini-golfed and shopped and I ran errands).  Of course, this was in the middle of the day so by the time we got home and I played around online a little, took her friends home, had dinner and did some grocery shopping, it's pretty much time to go to bed. 

When I write it out, I guess I did get some stuff done, just nothing about any of my big projects.  When will I feel like I have a life?

Research--my new normal.

I've been reading a lot of blogs about sustainability in central Florida, and I'm actually learning a lot.  Yesterday I stopped at a couple of nurseries and bought a few tomatoes and cucumber plants for the beds.  They look really good, and the beans I planted last weekend are a couple of inches tall already thanks to some weird rain we've been having this week.  The lettuce is just starting to come up and also looks good.  I will get the tomatoes and cucumbers in later today. 

I visited my mom at the hospital yesterday, which was a little upsetting.  She is very confused and has been combative, although she wasn't yesterday while I was there.  She did introduce me as Mary Kay several times, so she has a little hospital dementia. 

Kaleigh and I have started the massive organizing project of our house.  I am doing SOMETHING towards this every day.  This weekend I'm going to get in the sewing room and try to get it together.  I'm trying to find a way to sell the antique bedroom set--I adore it, but nobody else likes it and if I'm not going to use the spare room as a guest room, there is no good place to put it.  My next big project is going to be organizing the laundry closet.  There's a lot of stuff in there that could go, and I want it to look nicer.  Reinforcing the shelves is going to be important too.

More later.  Gotta go have lunch with two of my favorite people in the world.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday.

I got out in the yard today after doing some more research about what to plant for a Florida Fall Garden, and planted some pole bean seeds and some lettuce seeds that I've had good luck with  in the past.  I will get some tomatoes, cucumbers and herbs next week.  I don't really want to plant those from seeds.  I've never had much luck with beans but I think I've been trying to plant them too late in the spring so it gets too hot for them pretty fast.  Who knew.   I am going to go online and order some seed catalogs tonight to peruse. 

Kaleigh and I are going to put together two more raised beds, one for herbs (a small one), and one for tomatoes.  It's just laziness that we haven't done it yet. 

My pots of lavendar and basil are looking a little wilty and stemmy, but I'm going to try to cut them back and see if that helps any. 

Mom is back in the hospital again, I am having some really awful anxiety about it.  How much can a body take?  (I'm talking about mom's body.)

I puttered around the house, did a little laundry, washed dishes, organized a few things, but did little else today.  I really needed that.  Cari called this morning and said that her mom said Kaleigh can come over today, which truly irritated me.  I'm doing all the driving (two trips each time one of them wants to go to the other's house), and HER mom says it's okay.  Isn't that nice of her?  Who asked me?  I want to do things I WANT TO DO sometimes. 

I think I'll go read and make dinner.

Embracing the Amie. . .

At the beginning of the year, I made a commitment to embrace the Amie.  To stop fighting who I am and be more accepting of myself.  How am I doing?  Well. . . I"m not.  It's fall, a new school year, and I'm thinking a lot lately that I'm not doing a very good job of it, which is making me a stressed out, unsatisfied, restless person.  I feel a little overwhelmed by the enormity of doing this, so I'm doing nothing, which is very stressfull to me.

So I have decided to embrace my mid-life crisis (my sustainability obsession), and just accept it.  I've already made a lot of changes, so I will continue to do those, and add small things until I feel I'm there.  So to start off my new attitude, I'm going to make a little list of the things I've already done.

• I made raised beds and planted a small garden
• Made a compost bin and started REALLY composting
• Made reusable lunch bags (to replace plastic zip-lock bags)
• Recycled men's shirts to make plaid quilts
• Made cloth napkins
• Turned the airconditioning up a few degrees (saving me substantially on my electric bill)
• Line dry laundry (sometimes--not really consistently)
• Make laundry detergent
• Make dishwasher soap
• Make salad dressing (more for taste than anything else)
• Make brownie mix
• Make makeup remover

I've also decided that I need to do ONE SMALL THING at a time, and when I get a handle on that, then I can do another small thing.  Hopefully this will keep me from feeling so overwhelmed with the work of it, since I really only have to work on one thing at a time. 

On that note, my one small thing for now is going to be making sure to use reusable bags, although I need to find a pattern and MAKE some fabric bags.  I'm not sure the reusable bags (that are plastic) from the store are much better than the cheapy plastic bags. 

And. . . because I'm an overachiever, I'm going to  be working on my next small thing too, which is going to be planting a fall garden.  More tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and herbs.  Right now I'm doing research (mostly consisting of looking pretty gardens up on Pinterest--lol), so I really won't work on that for a week or two yet. 

Will check in again soon.

I'm Back. . .

Well, I'm back.  My life has been crazy chaos for a few months, but things are going to settle down now, so I will make a commitment to write more.  It means a lot to me to write, it certainly has gotten me through some difficult times in my life as well as documented how I felt during great times, so I will make a real effort.

I have decided to re-start my quilting business, but I feel myself being pulled into more environmentally friendly practices (my hippie-ness rears it's head again!).  For example, I bought several men's plaid shirts at Goodwill, washed them (of course!), and cut them up to make baby quilts.  Out of the six shirts I bought (for a total of less than $7), I have so far made three adorable baby quilts in different patterns, two of them are pictured below.  

Of course, they aren't quilted yet, but they will be soon.  I've been doing a lot of projects lately--reusable lunch bags, lots of quilts, baby doll diapers for my classroom, and I've made a couple of sets of really nice cloth napkins from large tablecloths that I found at Goodwill also.  I really like the idea of upcycling stuff. 

Kaleigh gets home from her vacation this morning--I'm going to pick her up at the airport in about 40 minutes.  I've really missed her, and I know Lucy has too.  Here she is looking forlornly out the window, waiting for her mommy to come home. 

I really enjoyed my daughter in law's visit with my granddaughters--it was lovely. 

Aren't they gorgeous?  I wish I had some makeup on, but oh well.  I love the picture of Bianca, she doesn't look at all possessed in this picture (not that she IS possessed, but she usually looks like it in pictures).  She is definitely gorgeous. 

I've been super-busy getting my classroom ready for the new year, my assistant and I have made a lot of changes this year, and hopefully they will help things settle down a little--this year's group seems so YOUNG!  

Well, I better go pick up my baby from the airport--will check back in soon. 





Business and Dropping My Basket. . .

Kaleigh and I have been tossing around an idea to re-start my quilting business.  She could be a big help for me and we could do well, I think.  I'm not sure that she fully understands how much work it will be, but I'm embracing the idea.  We need to think about changing our sewing room arrangement to make things a little easier. 

Today I spent a lovely (no sarcasm) three hours at the bookstore while Kaleigh and her friend Cari went to the mall and shopped.  I thought three hours was going to be a VERY long time, but I was actually a few minutes late in picking them up.  I walked around the bookstore and found a bunch of books about omesteadng and sustainability, and several quilting magazines, went into the cafe and bought myself a $1.50 cup of coffee and sat and read for 2 1/2 hours.  It was lovely.  I took notes whenever I thought of something i wanted to blog about, or do in my classroom, or quilt, or anything I thought of to tell K about for the business.  Apparently I needed that.

I've been in a weird state of anxiety for the last few days.  Financially, I am having a rough time, and I've been trying to make a plan to resolve the issue, so I made some phone calls yesterday, and things are looking better.  I always love a plan of action.  I kind of call this anxiety "dropping my basket".  Where I'm not nutty enough to need mental help, but just enough to make me a little uncomfortable.  Anyway, I'm glad it's over, now I'm having another idea spurt. 

I've been working like crazy on my Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt, and the top is almost done.  I only have to add a blue row to the bottom, then the borders, then I'm ready to start the hand quilting.  REALLY looking forward to that!  I have missed hand quilting.  It used to be my best friend.  Hand piecing the top has provided me wonderful side effect that I will ned for the hand quilting.  A quilter's callous.  Now I don't have to do dishes anymore because I need that callous to hand quilt.  It's ugly, but there's nothing more fabulous to a quilter. 

I have plans to make another raised bed for herbs.  I have them in pots right now, but I want to let them get bigger, so I want to move them into a bed.  I also want to plant some more cherry tomatoes and maybe even some plum tomatoes.  We had some nachos last night--made by Kaleigh--with some of our heirloom Mr. Stripey tomatoes.  They were so good!  They are green and orange, with red stripes through the inside.  Yummy!  Can't wait to get more.

Holiday Weekends. . .

Holiday weekends--who doesn't love them?  There is just nothing like having an extra day to do whatever you want.  Kaleigh has been at a friends for two nights, so I've had some really quiet "me time".  I think I needed it.  I ran a few errands, and worked on my quilt, made some plans,and just generally sat with my thoughts for awhile.  Very nice.  I've been thinking about some changes I want to make in my life, and this is difficult for me.  Last night I made some roasted vegetables for my dinner, they were really good, I think I should eat that kind of thing more often. 

I've decided to move some things around the house, mainly in my bedroom.  I need to clean out my closet, and move a chair in there.  Get rid of some clothes, and generally organize stuff.  Wow, I'm even boring myself. 

I think I'll cook a nice meatloaf and mashed potatoes today for Kaleigh and me.  Also, I need to go to the fabric store and get some yellow 30's reproduction fabric for my quilt.  Kaleigh will want to go with me to get that, and maybe we can stop at the bookstore for a frappe. 

Musings on Friday. . . and Books

I know, I know.  Weird for me to blog on Friday, but I'm feeling it, and I'm not one to go against my feelings.  It's rest time in my classroom, and the Winnie the Pooh theme is playing in the background (one of my all-time favorites), and I'm just inspired. 

I've finished a couple of books over the last few weeks and I want to talk about them.  the first is called The Dirty Life, by Kristin Kimball, about a big city writer who was writing an article (and thinking about a book) about sustainable living, and she goes to meet an organic farmer, falls in love with him, and moves to the country to help him run his organic, whole food farming co-op.  VERY interesting.  I highly recommend it--it's very entertaining, and real.  A true story. 

I'm now reading the new Sookie Stackhouse book, which is not very good.  I keep forgetting who the characters are, and it seems like a lot of nothing going on.  Not a true story.

I'm also reading a new sustainability book called Little House in the Suburbs by Deanna Caswell and Daisy Siskins.  I AM LOVING THIS BOOK!  Just what I want to read.  They are living a sustainable (within reason) life in the suburbs, and are full of practical advice on how to do it.  If you have any interest in this subject, I think this is a super-worthwhile book.  I am just never going to go "off the grid" and live without electricity or have a huge farm or anything like that, so this is exactly what I want to know.  A true story.

This weekend I'm going to relax.  Maybe clean my closet out.  Who knows.

My assistant, Mrs. Jones was out for a week, and I don't think I was EVER so glad to see anybody in my whole life.  My class was out of sorts the whole week.  We are back to our regular routine. 

Working diligently on my quilt.  I think I have about seven blocks completed, and several started--it looks AWESOME!! 

I took the posterboard "bodies" down from the wall in my classroom this week, always a sad day for me.  My classroom looks naked now.  Will work on ideas to fill up my big board this weekend. 

Playing with an idea. . .

I am seriously thinking of opening up my blog to the universe--how can I know if I have anything of interest to say for the masses if they never see it?  The one thing that stops me is... let's face it, we all know my stalker will be all over this.  I have so enjoyed the abjurring (sp?) that I'm finding it hard to think of opening myself up to this.  Of course, I know she monitors my facebook account carefully, but that is different, as this is so PERSONAL.

I've been destressing (which is not easy these days) by hand piecing a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt.  So far I have four completed blocks put together, and several partial blocks.  Pictures below.  Not sure if this is really helping my stress, but I enjoy it.  It will probably take me a year to finish.

Whenever my life feels a little out of control, I kind of return to simple, quiet things that I love to settle myself down.  Quilting, reading, working in my garden, etc. always work.  The sale of my quilting machine apparently is not going to go through, after screwing around with this woman since January!  JANUARY!  This is May, for god's sake.  Financially, this is bad for me, and Kaleigh and I have been planning what to do with this extra room, so that's out the window too.  Maybe I should just start up my quilting business again.  Will think about this. 

Work is crazy, as usual.  I keep asking myself if I'm EVER going to feel like I've got it all together.  Like I can relax.  Add to that, I have to start thinking about going back and finishing my Master's Degree, and I'm having trouble with that, since it doesn't really mean a raise or promotion or anything.  It will make me more marketable somewhere else if my life comes to that.  I really can't imagine adding one more thing to my day, though.

Tomorrow is Mother's Day.  I guess I'll go to bed early and read awhile, and get up early and putter around for awhile before we go have dinner with Mom and the fam.  I need to go to the store tonight and get the stuff I need to cook for tomorrow. 

This Week in Review. . .

This past week was kind of a bust up until yesterday.  My foot started hurting on Monday--I have gout, which is an OLD MAN'S disease, for god's sake--90% of cases are in men--why do I have to be so special?  Anyway, it flares up every now and then, and I'm still trying to figure out what is causing it to happen.  I don't really eat the things that they say cause it, but I know I don't drink enough water because it's hard for me to always be leaving my classroom to pee.  Anyway, it just got worse and worse, and on Friday, I mostly stayed off it.  Also, on Friday, my two work study girls, who are two of my favorite people in the world, got really upset with me, and I would NEVER do anything on purpose to hurt their feelings, so that was super-unpleasant.  We had a tear-fest in my classroom on Friday.

My identity has been stolen AGAIN.  This time someone used my debit card numbers (not the actual card) to charge $700, which caused a bunch of my own charges to overdraw my account.  It will get sorted out, but it takes time, and meanwhile I have no cash, and no access to cash.  Sucks.

Yesterday (Saturday), my class planned a field trip to Leu Gardens, which was wonderful, and we will definitely plan another one next year. It was so gorgeous there, and reasonably priced.

This is a picture of the vegetable garden.  I immediately threated to squat (by that, I mean move into) in the garden house, and just live with that garden in my front yard.  Then I thought, wait a minute, I HAVE a front yard--couldn't I just do that in my front yard, and save all the packing?  It was all I could do to refrain from picking the cucumbers, tomatoes, and squash.  The only thing that stopped me was the little sign that said that they donate all the vegetables to local food banks, so I couldn't feel good about picking things.  The herb garden was pretty spectacular too.  And. . . look at that beautiful composter next to the porch.  Need I say more?

***TANGENT ALERT***   Okay, so I'm at Leu Gardens and I'm really considering this vegetable garden, and we all know I have hippie tendencies as I'm "maturing", so I'm really thinking about having a garden like this.  Can I do it?  It's a lot of work, and I'm intrinsically lazy, but this is really PULLING me.  And most of the work is up front.  Some of you know that my dream is a to live on a hobby farm, and this would be an interesting start.  Living a sustainable life (within reason) really appeals to me.  Of course, if I did do this, I would need to get a really bitching rocking chair (or two) so I can sit outside and look at my work.  ****Thank you for attending this tangent--it's now over.***

My gorgeous work study girls came on Saturday too, and Mrs. Jones so we took this picture together.  I am so going to miss Rachel, who is on the right, she is graduating.  Of course, I'll miss Trina too, but she will at least still be with us in the fall.  I can't believe how emotional I am over this.  It's kind of stupid.

Naturally, my foot took a beating walking all over Leu Gardens, so I'm in a lot of pain again today, but it was totally worth it.  Kaleigh and I will be visiting Leu Gardens again.  Maybe even volunteering there would be good.

I'm sitting at my computer listening to my dumb dog snore on the couch.  She misses Kaleigh so much when she spends the night with a friend.  My coffee this morning is really good, which is weird for me because my coffee usually sucks.  I'm using the word sucks a lot lately. 

This is a picture of Kaleigh on a bench at the gardens.  She looks so cute!  I am so proud of my kids.  Not sure if I've said that lately.  They are all such amazing people, and not just because they are mine.  I include my beautiful daughter-in-law in the group too.  I wish I could spend more time in the same room with them. 

Last night I had a little anxiety, probably over my bank account, but I was thinking about a lot of things. I did get a good night's sleep, and I have a very relaxing day planned, so I'm feeling better this morning.



Monday Night. . . late. On Writing.

It's late (as if that wasn't clear from my post title), and I can't sleep.  What's wrong with me?  My mind is stewing, brewing, and percolating an idea.  This is my real curse.  Once I start to think about something, and I mean REALLY think about something. . . plan it, embrace it, internalize it. . . then I can't let it go.  My mind works with it until it becomes something--sometimes what I envisioned, sometimes something really different, but something--and I dream it, and taste it, and roll it around in my mind until it does. 

I've been thinking about an article I want to write for an early childhood education magazine about connecting outdoor learning and play to the curriculum, and yesterday I went out to lunch by myself and the outline sprung from my head almost exactly the way I want it.  And tonight I sat down and wrote the darn proposal.  Again, it sprung from my head, almost complete.  I've never known anyone else who does this kind of thing--should I be troubled by it?  To be honest, it does trouble me, mostly when the idea is stewing, because it seems like I am procrastinating and I'm NOT a procrastinator, and I don't want to be seen as one, but the stewing time is necessary.  I guess I don't mind the work springing from my mind full-grown though.  Tomorrow I will share it with my coworker, and see if there's anything she wants to add or edit.  Rereading it might not be a bad idea, but I know my mind, and when this happens, I'm always happy with the result.

I love an idea burst.  Sometimes I have those, and they are pretty amazing.  It's like a switch in my mind turns on for a period of time (usually weeks) and I have all these amazing ideas, and I can barely keep up with them.  I keep a notebook in my purse, so I can write them all down, and actually be able to find them later when I need them.  When I was quilting (as a business) they used to last a long time, but I don't get them as much anymore, or maybe I just don't notice them as much, because I'm so busy. 

Well, I better go to bed, 4:50  a.m. comes really early.

Books, etc.

It's Sunday, which has become my unofficial blogging day, I guess.  This weekend has been absolutely nuts, so tonight I am going to take it easy, make a nice dinner for my daughter, niece, and nephew, maybe read a little bit, and just relax.  Dinner is actually already made (lasagne, salad from our garden, homemade salad dressing, garlic bread), and ready to throw in the oven, so no work there.  Lesson plans done for this week, laundry done and outfits laid out ready to go for the week. 

I am working on an article for an early childhood magazine about the importance of outdoor play, connecting curriculum with outdoor play, and how our school does this now.  I'm not usually a procrastinator, but I do need to stew about stuff for awhile before it gels in my head, so I've been thinking for awhile about it.  Wrote a kick-ass outline today at lunch.  Inspiration struck over tableside guac at Amigos--what can I say?

This week is the Week of the Young Child, so we have a lot of special activities going on at school.  We also had our Spring Carnival on Friday, and I won two prizes--admission for four to Congo River Mini-Golf, and a $25 gift certificate for Outback Steakhouse.  Yea Me!  I haven't won ANYTHING in 8 years, so I was due.  And as we all know, I am cursed with a competitiveness that defies reason, so I always feel a need to win.  Something. 

I bought two books today at the bookstore--A Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, and The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball.  I think I will love them both.  Book reviews to come. 

I read a book a while back that was really interesting to me, and I keep meaning to share it, but it hasn't seemed like the right time, but since we are discussing books, here you go.  The book is  The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  For a year, she did all the things that are rumored to make you happy, i.e. make more money, take time to smell the roses, and anything else she heard about.  She then analyzed if these things actually do make a person happier.  Interesting concept.  The book itself is very interesting, and the methods she used to keep track of what she was doing and how it made her feel are fascinating. 

About me. . .

I was thinking about blogging (I know, I do a lot of THINKING and not a lot of DOING), and I decided I would just blog about myself and my own interests today.  So here we go. 

I collect miniature crackle glass pitchers.  Love those little babies, I even have a purple one which is pretty rare.  They are reasonable to buy and are really pretty on a windowsill or on the quilt rack that used to hang over my couch.  I've been collecting those for about 15 years.  I don't really buy them anymore, unless I see something really unusual, but I do love them. 

I also collect milkglass, especially hobnail.  It's the most common of all the milkglass, and I just can't resist it when I see it at a yardsale.  I don't even know how many hobnail milkglass lamps I have in this house, even though they ALL have to be rewired because they get too hot.  I just adore them.  I found two at a yardsale not too long ago, that the woman at the house told me that she got when she turned 16 (50 years ago) and she redecorated her bedroom.  Her mom bought them with greenstamps.  (I LOVED GREENSTAMPS!)  I knew that they were meant to be mine.  True story.

I never intended to collect these, but I also have a collection of paperweights.  They are really pretty, and sometimes I rearrange them.  It started when I was in Hawaii, and I went somewhere touristy, and wanted to buy my ex-husband a gift, and couldn't find anything manly, so I got him a small paperweight with tropical fish in it (we used to have a salt water tank in Hawaii), and then I saw them everywhere, and people got them for me for gifts too.  ( And yes, I was petty enough to take the original one with me when I left the DB).

I also have a little collection of rocks.  All colors and shapes, but I am especially fond of heart-shaped stones.  Mostly crystals. 

I think henna (on hands) is beautiful.  I would like to learn to do it one day. 

I don't know what my favorite food is.  There have been a lot of different favorites, but I do love chocolate. 

I have some quirks.  I know this about myself.  For one thing, and I've discussed this before, I have a THING about my bed.  Love clean sheets.  If I didn't think it was crazy, I would wash my sheets every day.  I'm not exaggerating, EVERY DAY.  I love nightgowns.  Cotton nightgowns, not the t-shirt kind of cotton.  I love shoes, especially red shoes.  This only occured to me recently (thank you Mary Beth), but I'm glad I know it now.  I also like purses a lot.  Particularly satchel type purses.  Small is best.  I hate to sleep with socks on. 

Sunday Thoughts. . .

I made a commitment this week that I absolutely would blog this weekend, so here I am.  A lot has been going on--hence my absence.  The sale of my quilting machine is finally going through; the crate is in my driveway, I'm just waiting for cash in hand, then the truck will come and pick it up.  I will miss my old friend--I used to call her Hildy for some reason.  I did decide to use the machine to quilt Bridgette's quilt, and it looks awesome.  It's all finished, and ready to send out.  Anyway, this means that I will  have a whole room to do whatever I want to with.  Kaleigh and I have been throwing some ideas around, but maybe we'll just live with it empty until we can make up our minds.  The two of us aren't terribly decisive on a lot of subjects. 

I've been super-duper busy at work for the last couple of weeks--with assessments, and conferences coming up, parent meetings, and all the other stuff going on.  I need to do some research today for an article that Shonda and I are working on.  Also my laundry is not going to do itself.  The house is a mess, which I need to take care of, and the garden needs watering.  Such is my life.

Let's see, what earth shattering ideas and thoughts can I write about today. . . I got nothin'.  Maybe I'll just ramble awhile, and see what comes up.  I had lunch with my friend Marybeth and her son Taylor yesterday--one of my FAVORITE things to do!  We had mexican, the guacamole was fabulous, as always.  The girls at the table talked a lot--Taylor mostly looked around in confusion--I think we kind of baffle him.  I also went to the bookstore and browsed around a little--I may do that again today, who knows.  I got a book with the idea that after I read it, I will pass it on to my mom to read during her treatments, but she's already read it--the stinker.  I went to see her last night, and she really didn't want me to see her (or anyone to) but I insisted, and she looks pretty bruised up on her face, but not bad at all.  She is in pain, but we watched a movie and she laughed at it a lot, so. . . not sure where I'm going with that sentence.  I guess I'm relieved, I'm pretty squeamish and it wasn't bad at all.  (not that I intend to make this about me)   

I'm thinking about taking a little road trip this summer with Kaleigh up to see Brett and fam, as well as Hillarie and the baby--I think Kaleigh and I could use some time to bond a little better.  She's very stressed with everything going on in her life, and I think it would be good to have a little time away with her.  She's seventeen now, there won't be many more of these chances where she wants to spend time with me.  I am always struggling with preparing Kaleigh for the world versus letting her stay her optimistic, immature self.  I like her the way she is, but she is in NO WAY ready for real life.  Sigh. 

I've made up my mind--today I am just going to take it easy and relax.  Not exactly relax, as I will be working around the house, but I'm not going anywhere and I'm just going to do laundry, straighten up my bedroom, vacuum and maybe quilt a little bit.  Make a nice chicken dinner.  With gravy.  Sounds like a great day.  Maybe a nap.  Sounding better all the time. 

Vacation and Disappointment.

I've been on vacation this week, which has been lovely, but I'm not sure I'm a good vacationer.  I love the idea of vacation, but I never seem to enjoy it as much as other people seem to, and I just end up anxious to get back to my regular routine.  That being said (which is a horrible phrase really, and one of my pet peeves), this week has definitely been relaxing.  Mostly I did nothing, a lot of reading, some puttering around my house (my favorite), swimming, sleeping, watching movies, and I visited my sister at her resort near Disney and lounged in the lazy river pool all day.  I'm sun-kissed and happy.  So I guess it was a good vaca. 

I've been thinking a lot about disappointment this week as well.  Kaleigh did something (which I won't go into, but let's just say it's nothing I haven't done in my misspent youth), and I was feeling so disappointed in her and in her idea of appropriate choices that I responded harshly to the situation.  Then my mom called and told me that she has cancer again--this time in her throat.  We knew she was having a biopsy and that she had colon cancer a year ago, and this is not good news.  Suddenly, disappointment meant something different.  What was I so angry with Kaleigh about?  Making mistakes?  Not understanding the consequences of certain actions?  Choosing to take a risk while she is at home and able to get support if necessary?  Isn't that what being seventeen is about?  What is wrong with me?  So I called off her grounding, asked her what she learned, and changed my own attitude.  Growing up is hard (for me).  Sigh.

I'm working on blocks for my new granddaughter's baby quilt--it's gorgeous if I do say so myself.  Brightly colored bow-ties laid out in a love ring pattern.  Picture below.  I'm kind of thinking hand quilting, but I may change my mind.  It just makes me happy to work on the blocks.  I'm taking my time, without pressure of time quilting is such a pleasure to me.  It's been a long time since I worked without the pressure of time, or without money all tied up in it, and I'm really enjoying it.  A few blocks every couple of days and I smile the whole time. 

I have to run some errands today, and I'm dropping K. off at a friend's to spend the night, so I'm free tonight too, I think I will finish quilting the class quilt and get the binding on tonight.  I will surely be glad to get that finished. 

Enough for today, maybe I will write a little about my garden tomorrow. 

I know I haven't blogged in awhile, I've been sick and also, I've never seen any sense in writing just to put words down.  I like to have something to say (NOT necessarily something important). 

Over the last couple of weeks, some things have been going on that are not really earth shattering, but are life-shifting at the least.  Will get to those in a minute.  I'm feeling a little better today after a nasty bout with the flu, it really knocked me off my feet.  I'm still really weak but I feel worlds better. 

My mom called last week when I was sick and asked me if I wanted to go see Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks in August for my birthday--I actually thought I was delirious until last night when she called and said she got the tickets.  I do love me some Rod Stewart, and Stevie Nicks. . . well, do I even need to say it?  She has the right mix of hippie and cool.  My mom kind of rocks.  And when I was seventeen, my life plan was to quit school, go on the road and marry Rod Stewart--I still think it could happen.  Maybe this summer is my opportunity.

The sale of my quilting machine almost fell through, but it looks like it's going to happen after all.  This has almost been too much of an up and down emotional roller coaster for me.  Anyway, things are looking good. 

The other thing is more of an attitude shift (not sure that's the right word), but I've thought since my divorce--no, really it was earlier than that--that I would not get married again.  I really have felt that it's not for me, and it was just not something I would ever do again.  This is even to the point of not being open to the possibility at all.  I just felt like I could never trust another person that way again after what happened.  Well, I find myself being a little more open to the idea again.  This is pretty much out of the blue as I am not seeing anybody at this time or anything like that, but the idea isn't making me nauseated.  That's definite improvement. 

I forgot to write about the results of my dryer-less month.  I went the entire billing month of January without using my dryer for any laundry--I hung everything up, which was a little inconvenient, but not nearly as much as you would think.  So at the end of the month, I compared the bill with last January's bill and the year before that, and I saved over $70.  Some of that may be due to the mild winter, the heat wasn't on much at all this year, but I really feel that at least $60 of that was due to not using the dryer.  So, I have gone back to a modified dryer usage, with the idea that if I decide I need to cut back, that is do-able.  I only dry towels, sheets and things I need quickly.  (I know, not exactly an earth-friendly attitude, but I'm human!)

So, it looks like this weekend I will be preparing my machine for it's trip across country.  And cashing my huge check.

This Week in Review. . .

I am just plain worn out this week.  I decided to take the weekend off and just stay home and do very little this weekend, and it was exactly what I needed.  I like my routine and this week has been one change after the next, no going home on time from work, no consistent days, and different workshops for me and my assistant every day so we've both been in and out of the classroom.  Anyway, this weekend has been good for me.  Kaleigh and I mostly stayed home (we did make one trip to the craft store for batting for my class quilt) and we cooked together, watched a few movies, and rested a lot.  It was nice.  This week should be a lot easier. 

I finally remebered to take a picture of the homemade detergent that I make.  This batch is pink, but if I use Fels Naptha soap it's yellow.  I love the pink-ness of this batch though.

Isn't it pretty?



We planted our veggies and herbs this week, and they are looking happy in their raised beds.  Pictures to come when the plants fill out a little bit. 

I really need to get my hiney off of Pinterest and do some projects.  I found a really cool one using the bottom of plastic water bottles cut into the shape of flowers, and hung from string, and I think I'm going to try that .  I have a couple of flowers cut out, but not enough for anything yet. 

I have chicken marinating and my sister and her kids are coming for dinner.  I love when they come here for dinner--it seems so homey and busy.  I am missing my own kids and grandkids and having the house full helps a little.  Plus, my sister is a fabulous cook.  That doesn't hurt either.

My lesson plan is done for this week, and I've added some really cool art projects for this week.  We are going to drip food coloring onto paper towels for some art for the art show.  I experimented with this today (picture below) and was really happy with the results.  I think the kids will love it.  Although they will find some way to do something different and amaze me, I'm sure. 

I'm going to go to bed early tonight and do some reading.  I haven't been reading much for pleasure and I'm missing it.  I've felt too busy, but I'm realizing that the times that I feel too busy to do what I love is when I REALLY need to do what I love.  Like quilting and reading.  I always feel calm and zen when I've made time to do those things.  This weekend I put together my class quilt and it looks really good.  I might pin baste it tonight or maybe even throw it on the machine to get it done quickly before it gets picked up.  That sounds good.  I really enjoyed working on that quilt.  Picture below.  It's not finished yet, but it will be soon.



Have a lovely Sunday evening. 

A Brand New, Fat, Bald Granddaughter! Yay!!!

Well, little Bridgette Dianne was born today--all 9 pounds and 15 ounces of her!  She's huge, which I love in a baby, and bald, which I also love in a baby.  She's absolutely gorgeous, and clearly has a mind of her own.  I really need to start a quilt for her.  I'm kind of thinking blue.  I don't know if I've mentioned how much I love my grandchildren, but I love them as much as the sky and the roads and the space shuttle.

Look at those cheeks!!  And below is her big sister Bianca, super-gorgeous herself.

My other two little punkins are both boys, and both my daughter Hillarie's babies.   Pictures below.

Aren't they all adorable.  Our family sure does make beautiful babies--do you think every family thinks that?  LOL!