Archive of Marcia's Musings May 12-18, 2003Sunday, May 18, 2003
Quite Done In
By the way, I did it again: Got up, had breakfast (including black, strong coffee), came upstairs and read some email and started to fall asleep at my computer. I went back to bed and slept for another hour and a half. I suppose it only figures that with one of us having to "escort" Sally downstairs, I would try to stay up if it were "My Turn" (not that we take turns). I really thought I'd be up and stay up for the day but, such was not the case.
After we got home from the usual grocery store run, we started on our respective "jobs" for the guest room fix up and, of course, my brilliant husband fixed the toilet. I swear there is nothing he can't fix!! I am constantly surprised by him. He never does anything half-way either-- its always perfect and rock solid after he's finished with whatever repair or build project he's done. My dad would really like him a lot!!
Anyway, I got the bed made and, as I suspected, decided not to put the quilt guild quilt on the bed afterall. It looks nice in there without it so I just have to get good with using it at some point in the future.
After I finished that, I came upstairs and had Brian move my sewing table-- it weighs about 50 pounds (or more) so I couldn't move it!! Once he had it moved, I spent some time re-arranging things and, tomorrow evening, I'll post the pictures. Just too . . . done in to post them tonight. Its probably the neatest you'll ever see this room so I thought I should memorialize it on the internet. I know-- so little to thrill me.
Anyway, I'm outta here-- gotta feed Sally her dinner so I'll catch you tomorrow night.
Have a great evening!
Saturday, May 17, 2003Frightening!!
The day I had was extremely, frighteningly productive!! Yeesh!! I finally had to stop sewing to keep the machine from over-heating!! Well, okay that's a bit of an exaggeration-- I don't think its capable of over-heating but, you get my point. I came close to finishing Pat's quilt-- that too is truly frightening, eh? ;>) It will be finished tomorrow!!! Then, I worked on my nephew's tablecloth-- my sister's oldest son, I believe I've mentioned, is getting married in August and I'm making them a tablecloth for a bridal shower gift. It is a holiday tablecloth and, following the "recipe" for the tablecloth, it is actually very thick and quite heavy. I think its really pretty but it is down to some hand-sewing so it isn't quite finished yet. The "quilting" part of it comes in with the hand-sewing.
After a late nap, Brian and I had some Mexican take-out and I made a stop at the fabric store to buy what I needed to finish Pat's quilt. Of course, I happened to find a full bolt of some fabric that I need to make a dress (or part of the dress) for the above-mentioned nephew's wedding. Of course, it then had to jump in my cart along with matching fabric for the "under dress" that is a part of the pattern style. The good news is that both were on sale at the store so I didn't pay the price that was on the website. Pretty cool, huh?
Hopeful
Tomorrow, we're going to hopefully re-arrange my office slightly. The sewing table needs to be moved down away from the wall by about two feet. Then, I can restuff everything underneath the table and go about my business. As I said before, I'm going to try to do all of the sewing and serging up here with only the fabric cut-outs happening downstairs. That way, the mess is a little more limited in the main part of the house.
I'm also going to put the guest room together-- it hasn't been put together since the last time that we had guests . . . September? I've decided that I need to make it look nice because that room's door will now start being opened to circulate the air conditioning throughout the house (we don't heat it in the winter unless there's a guest in there, of course). I'm not sure if I'm going to put the quilt guild bedspread on the bed yet-- I might but I may wait until we have someone actually coming for a visit. That way, it won't get exposed to elements and dust and it may preserve it a little longer. Or at least, that's what I'm thinking-- agreed? Good!!
Sally's bugging me to pay attention to her so I'm going to go do that-- take care and have a great night!
Friday, May 16, 2003Spoiled Californian!!
Okay, so I wasn't born there-- sue me!! Man, is this rain EVER going to STOP?????????? Someone needs to be building the ark, I know that much-- we've gotta be going onto the 23rd day (or something like that) of rain. This is getting to be really annoying and/or depressing.
Ya know all of the songs that say things like "it doesn't rain in California in the summer time"? Yeah, well, they're not lying!!! It rains three or four months out of the year and that's it-- the rest of the time, things just curl up and go brown. In California, the rain does EVENTUALLY stop but, I'm beginning to believe that that is not the case for Maryland. Good GRIEF!!!
Make it STOP!!!
Oh, and when it does stop, it'll just be humidity will be in the air instead of falling from the air from what I'm told-- yippee!! From one form of prescipitation to another. I do NOT want to hear the word "drought" this year!!!!!
Casual Remark
I just made a casual but honest remark: "I do not remember sewing ever being this much fun." That was said to Brian as I finished my third pair of wrap-around pants. I have one in a toile, a rayon and a crepe-- it is an extremely flattering cut on the pattern which is why I've made up three of these pants-- so far. There may be more-- its the good!
Having finished up that pair, including sewing the buttons on in less than 2 minutes by machine, I moved on to one of tomorrow's projects: making the vinyl cover for the bar-b-que. We had one that we bought with the bar-b-que last summer but, after the winter we had, its pretty much shredded. I caught some vinyl on sale at the fabric store (the color of which matches our lawn furniture cushions/umbrella) so I'm going to make up a new cover for it. I tried out needles and thread tonight-- I don't feel like getting started tonight.
Also on tomorrow's agenda, probably before the vinyl cover, is finishing up the accessories for Pat's quilt, taking some final pictures and getting my nephew's tablecloth finished up. That way I've got some hand-sewing to do over the next few weeks which is always a nice thing to have to fall back on in the evenings.
I bought a pattern last week for a dress that was in style 30 years ago-- the wrap-around pants are an example of how these styles are coming back around. I'm hoping to get that made up soon-ish as it is going to be the dress that I wear for my nephew's wedding in August. I'm hoping to find fabric in the same colors that were in his parents' wedding-- yellow and lavender-- which I think would be quite a sentimental gesture for them.
That said, I'm going to have a cuddle with Sally. Take care, thanks for stopping by and have a great evening!
Thursday, May 15, 2003A Bit Better
I wore one of those back-heat-patch-thingys today and that seemed to help my back a bit. That's a good thing, let me tell ya! My knee is still swollen but not as bad as it was yesterday. I did come home from work early and, of course, ended up sleeping so that may be part of what helped my back, too.
All The Way Around
Work was a bit busier today, too-- I'm covering for the attorney that handles the northeast (she's on vacation in Hawaii) so that, along with my regular day, made for a full day. I had a bad negotiation call with an attorney who doesn't understand software toolkits so that's always fun, too-- NOT!!
Good Laughs
I got an email from my cousin the other day-- it was a long one-- and I just couldn't see typing a response to her email when I could just as easily pick up the phone and call her. All winter she's been in Florida and on her cell phone with electrical towers and whatever get in the way. (Yes, we often felt like the guy in the commercial-- Can you hear me now? No!!) Anyway, they (her new husband and she) are back in Michigan now so we had a nice conversation without static. That's always good for a few laughs-- she's tons-o-fun!
Speaking of fun, I'm going to try to get a bit of sewing in tonight-- I've got a few things left to work on, as usual.
Take care, thanks for stopping by and have a great evening!
Wednesday, May 14, 2003Best Intentions
So, I wasn't supposed to be here tonight. Yeah, well-- I'd rather not be. This morning, when I was looking for the phone line to plug my computer into (I have a dial-up connection for my office), I twisted and screwed up my back. Back pain is not conducive to sitting in folding chairs for a couple of hours so . . . no more quilt guild. Oh, well. I'll live and I'm sure that they will, too.
Other than that . . .
My plan of going to the dentist (did that) and working from home (did that, too) and then going to physical therapy (did that-- you bet) did work to a degree. I iced my back earlier this afternoon and did some work but there wasn't much to do. I think that turned out to be a blessing in disguise since I messed up my back.
I'm going to do my best to keep this flare-up at a minimum. They can't do anything about it at physical therapy because that's not why I'm being seen. I'm only supposed to be getting therapy for my knee-- not my back.
Oh, well-- I'll live.
*****
And, back by popular demand . . . I've updated Sally's page with a few photos. One has the pedal of my stationary bike in it but, you get the point yet (pardon the pun).Thanks for stopping by and have a good evening!
Tuesday, May 13, 2003We're Getting There!!
Well, one of my readers (this one from Canada) has offered the following with regard to "Idle Hands":
IDLE HANDS ARE THE DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND---Ray (1678). "An idle brain is the devils workshop." R. Kingston (1709). Adoph. Curiosa. "An idle person tempts the devil to tempt him." Vulldf (1732). "If the devil catch a man idle, he'll set him at work."Now, that seems plausible, doesn't it? It came from a website on Geocities which hasn't been updated in two years-- because it hasn't been updated, maybe its more accurate? Anyway, thanks Peter!!I've got an English reader that's written me saying that he's going to go check the library and get back to me-- imagine that? Brick-n-mortar! Yowza-- thanks, David!!
Well, somehow, we'll get this defined, won't we? That's the fun about this web stuff!!
Continuity is a Good Thing
I am constantly trying to keep my office/sewing room clean or get it organized or SOMETHING-- that's why "Continuity is a Good Thing". Well, I'm back at it tonight. I'd like to get some more room -around- the sewing table that Brian made me for my serger so that all I have to do downstairs is cut the fabric out. That way, the dining room will stay a little neater or at least, not be cluttered because of my serger.
Speaking of which, I'm going to get back to it-- tomorrow night is a physical therapy session and quilt guild so I'm not likely to be able to post much of anything. Be prepared but I will keep you updated if we get a full idiom definition!!
Thanks and take care of yourselves-- have a good evening!
Monday, May 12, 2003More of the Same
Nothing major to report tonight. Work was work and there's a rumor in the works of another trip to California. Oh, joy. I can hardly wait. This one would be a quicker in-and-out trip though-- less than 5 days all together. We'll see how that pans out-- we were supposed to go to the U.K. but that isn't happening.
Speaking of the U.K.
The silence is deafening!! From my readers in the U.K. I have heard nothing with regard to the question of the idiom from yesterday. I'm pretty surprised at that actually-- they're usually very talkative. Hmmm, let's try again, okay? Let me know the original author, guys-- thanks!
Sewing and More Sewing
I think another sewing weekend is on the rise-- I went shopping on my way home from work. Most people buy clothes but I buy fabric and patterns to make clothes. Interesting indeed.
Tonight I'm working on Pat's quilt-- it really is almost finished. Then I'll be able to send it out later this week depending on when I finish the accessories. Hmm, could it finally be on its way? Who knows!!
I am . . . on my way, that is. On to other things-- have a great evening!
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