Musings of My Mind
Observations
of the world around me and as I see it.
If you feel like you'd like to make a comment or suggestion, please feel free to email me.
All emails are subject to publication at any time without prior or further notice to the writer,
unless you specify that your be held as confidential.
July
1, 2010If you feel like you'd like to make a comment or suggestion, please feel free to email me.
All emails are subject to publication at any time without prior or further notice to the writer,
unless you specify that your be held as confidential.
To be fair . . .
I'm not reading any more than I'm posting . . . at least, not on the Daynotes or Netwidows sites, anyway. I'm kinda doing other stuff . . . like making beads, sorting through quilt patterns (I've got SOOOOO many!!), sewing clothes, working, walking, etc. Many things that don't lend themselves to finishing up the day (or starting it out, for that matter) but writing something here on any regular basis. Sorry but life is like that sometimes.
A three day weekend looms and I'll be sewing-- I've got some outfits that I want to make for summer and, since it is here, it would be good if I did that, don't ya think?
I'm going to go review my language disks-- for all the good it will do me! College French has long since left my brain!!
June 23, 2010
I've been busy . . .
What can I say? At least I finally have some pictures to share . . .
Kaden's Nursery
Karen's Friend's Quilt
May 15, 2010
I suppose I should, eh?
Well, I didn't realize that it had been THAT long since I'd written here. Okay, well, some updates are due then, eh? Let's see what I can remember . . .
April 30 - Surgery went fine with the exception of the bone drilling of my femur due to a "pothole" in the surface. (More on this later . . . )
May 1 - The surgeon calls me at 6:45am (thankfully, I was awake) to see how things are going. At this time, things are going well but an hour later . . . Food is not staying down. I feel sorry for Brian because he has to deal with me since I can't take care of myself because of my stupid knee. The anesthesiologist on call called back although there isn't much she can do. The surgeon also called back after I left him a voicemail on his wife's cell phone (that's the number he called me from-- not my fault!). Suggests a couple of things and then, after vomiting a third time, I call him again but this time he tells me to go to the emergency room. Because I'm border-line pre-diabetic, not keeping food down isn't a good thing. Of course, their first assessment (from a non-medical person) is the flu which doesn't work because my temperature is BELOW normal and I have no other symptoms. At 5pm I'm seen by a Nurse Practitioner and, by 6pm we're on the road home. Whew!!
May 2 - Things are quiet on the home front . . . food is staying where it's supposed to be and Brian can go mow the lawn so the dog's can get outside-- because he had to stay with me on Saturday and because we've had some rain, it was starting to get as high as the snow in February!!
May 3 - Day off-- I wasn't expecting to not be back to work on Monday but because of the ER, I was behind a day on my healing and decided to take it off. HUGE flower arrangement from co-workers arrives-- BEAUTIFUL!!
May 4 - Back to work!
May 5 - Stitches out and PT order given to me. We asked questions and got the answers and went on home.
May 7 - First PT appointment (I set it up the week before, knowing that I'd have to have it). Vacation starts at COB.
May 8 - Cleaned, sorted, and organized sewing room.
May 9 - Cleaned, sorted, and organized sewing room. Started folding fabric onto "bolts" to eliminate folds becoming permanent and to organize my fabrics so that I can see them.
May 10 - Cleaned, sorted, and organized sewing room. Started folding fabric onto "bolts" to eliminate folds becoming permanent and to organize my fabrics so that I can see them. Physical Therapy which really wears me out! I'm always tired after this workout!!
May 11 - Cleaned, sorted, and organized sewing room. Started folding fabric onto "bolts" to eliminate folds becoming permanent and to organize my fabrics so that I can see them. I went to Bible study on Tuesday night-- the first semi-social thing I'd done in what seems like weeks!!
May 12 - Finished cleaning, sorting and organizing-- I GET TO SEW!!!
May 13 - SEWING. Physical Therapy which really wears me out! I'm always tired after this workout!! And MORE sewing!! (I do love to sew, ya know?)
May 14 - Shopping for furniture and SEWING
May 15 - A couple of the girls in the Sunday School class I teach (and a lot of people from my church) are involved with Baton Twirling. I went to their State tournament today-- really impressive!! When I was a kid, I never could figure out what it was that made the baton go around. Some of these kids are so little, it's really amazing!!
It has been a fun week off-- I got to touch all of my fabric again (well, most of it anyway). I got the quilt that I'm making for my sister's friend finished. I also pieced a simple (really simple) chevron quilt out of Lucy's grooming kerchiefs. I'm going to quilt that later but I am PUTTING TOGETHER, the quilt that I started for Brian and I MANY years ago!! FINALLY!! We picked out the pattern together in our 2002 visit to Ashland, Oregon and bought some of the fabrics together, as well. FINALLY, I'm getting around to almost being finished with it-- _*that*_ is really exciting!!
Well, that's my last two weeks time-- back to work on Monday followed by Physical Therapy, a meeting at church, work, Bible study, massage, Physical Therapy and then, FRIDAY!! Thank Goodness!!
April 29, 2010
Crowded around here . . .
I've been remiss in posting here but that's because there's a couple of things on my plate, not the least of which is my surgery tomorrow. This will be my FOURTH arthroscopic knee procedure and while that gets to be "old hat" and standard procedure around here, I'd appreciate a prayer or two on my behalf . . . thanks.
I'll update as I can after surgery and hopefully be a bit more talkative, as well.
April 25, 2010
Back from Paducah!!
Fun was had by all even though my knee hurt really bad the first day-- then again, we've never stayed the WHOLE day at the convention before on the first day so it was logical that it would hurt. Got lots of new ideas, though and I'm eager to try them out! In the interim, I'll finish the quilt I'm working on for my sister, have some surgery next week and get ready for more exciting times to come!!
April 17, 2010
Full Week-- I think??
It must've been if I can't remember it, right? I know today was a full day: I finished the quilt top I've been working on since February (lots of embroidery designs and blocks being pieced), finished the quilt back (embroidered the name on it and sewed it together), bought the batting (and am letting it breathe as I write this), organized my spring/summer clothes in my closet, cleaned out my sock drawer, went shopping for new socks, and last but not least, got a pedicure. I needed that after today but the only problem is that I'm now very tired!!
Ah, well-- I've been reading a series of books recommended by my mother-in-law. They're mysteries based in Paris by Cara Black and I'm really enjoying the series! Thanks, Mom!!
April 9, 2010
I know-- I've been BAD!!
But life is busy sometimes!! Lexi is trying and Molly is nervous, anxious and needy and then there's work and then there's sewing and then there's church (beautiful service on Easter Sunday!) and then there's . . . all of the rest that life brings us!!
I've got a surgery date which is good-- arthroscopic surgeries seem to work well on me and while I've had more than my share as far as family history is concerned, it is only an outpatient surgery and that's better than full-out knee replacement if it can be put off for awhile longer. It will happen eventually (my sisters were my age or younger when theirs were put in) but if I can put it off for five or ten years, I'm good with that!!
Pictures have been sorted to start posting some of the things that I've missed being able to show you-- my niece's baby's nursery, the clothes for the two little girls at my church, etc., and of course, Molly and Lexi!!-- and I'll get to putting them all together soon . . . I hope.
March 30, 2010
Lexi!!
Lexi is . . . a ball of fire, the Energizer Bunny and a tornado all rolled into one or at least, that's what Molly seems to think. Wow, this dog has really got energy!! We are having a fun time training this little spitfire, let me tell you-- she is learning to understand the meaning of "NO". She's smart but she's stubborn at the same time and when I tell her that NOW is not the time for her to be on my lap, she thinks I don't mean it so we have a contest of wills to see if she can jump/levitate into my lap more than I can stop her from jumping/ levitating into my lap. I usually win, I have to tell you.
Eventually, Alexis Kay (named for my sister Nancy who is just older than me, thus carrying on that tradition), will have her own webpage but as with human babies, the more kids you have the fewer pictures you take. She hears even the slightest sound so trying to "sneak" a picture doesn't work very well.
Other than that, I had an MRI on my right knee yesterday. It hurts more and goes out more so I have to get something done about it sooner rather than later. I hope to hear in the next day or two what the doc has to say about it.
March 24, 2010
Lovely
I'm getting yet another cold. Simply lovely.
I also got fed up with my knee going out on me and called the doctor's office to get a MRI set up. That's scheduled for Monday; I know what's wrong with this knee-- it needs a good surgeon!! Hopefully he'll see that and set up the surgery date ASAP!! I can always use a cane in Paducah-- no biggie there, if I need it at all!!
Other than that, sewing, reading and churching have taken up my time. I'm looking forward to sewing tonight as a matter of fact-- I'm going to try to put a couple of hours in, barring my cold kicking into high gear.
I have tried to upload the pictures for my sewing and fabric room relocation to the basement. Click here to see them but let me know if they do not show up, okay?
March 19, 2010
Long Week!!
Wow-- I'm tired!! This silly time change really messed me up this year! On Tuesday and Wednesday, I managed to mess up my daytime/nighttime prescriptions and vitamin supplements and that really messed with ME, big time!! Tomorrow will be a day spent at church SEWING! Quilter's Bible Study (henceforth to be known as "QBS" if discussed herein) is having a Saturday session since Sunday the Fellowship Hall is being used by the church. Rather than get food on our fabric, we're going to be sewing on Saturday and running it from 9 to 3 (or so).
After that, I'm thinking I'm going to get a pedicure-- I need one and it's getting to be SPRING as evidenced by the fact that I could actually take a walk at lunch. That's important for two reasons: 1) I did a mile in right around 20-25 minutes and 2) my knee didn't cave in on me ONCE!! YAYYY!!! I was careful and pretty much had my right quad muscle "engaged" the whole walk so I have some pretty good quads at this point, let me tell you!! No walking or cycling tomorrow though since my knee does now hurt a bit-- more like an ache, really.
I'm reading a Monica Ferris book in her "Needlecraft Mysteries" series. Really quite good and fast moving plots. I met her at Malice the one time I went-- sweet lady with LOTS of hats!!
March 17, 2010
Bored!!
There's not much I can do these days-- the weather is getting warmer but I can't walk any major distances safely (that is definitely a key word!) that I'm sure I can get back from without being in too much pain and agony if I mess something up MORE while I'm walking! <Sigh>
After work, I made dinner and then went down to sew some but since I have a full day of sewing to be done this Saturday when the Quilters Bible Study is getting together, I'm not rushing myself on it. I'll probably get all of the blocks finished Saturday with the whole top being finished on Sunday. I was going to go to a local quilt show but decided that probably wouldn't be very smart either. <Sigh>
With the time change, I haven't been sleeping right and as a result, I messed up my daytime and nighttime medications-- I have already taken Thursday's daytime meds and last night, I found out that I hadn't taken my Monday night meds. I'm really looking forward to getting adjusted to the time change, needless to say. I've only got one medication that I can't skip entirely so I'll be taking that one tomorrow even if I do take a pass on the others.
March 11, 2010
An Acquired Taste
My friend, Barbara Thompson, loves Anne Perry's Thomas & Charlotte Pitt series and has encouraged me on more than one occasion to pick up the series. The last time we were in Winston Salem, I did just that . . . to my regret. I just can't get into them! It seems like I read one of the books (I couldn't begin to tell you which one) and I enjoyed it but now, I just don't like them.
Conversely, there's another book that Anne Perry wrote that is called "No Graves as Yet" which was exceedingly well written, with beautiful descriptions and story play BUT, it was annoyingly slow moving with 362 pages to get to the resolution of the "mystery". ARGH!! I kept wishing it would move on but it didn't . . . it kept it's own pace and I was too suckered into it to give up on it. What can I say?
I have read a number of books over the past weeks, none of which I've told you about but, I'm not one for doing book reviews anyway. I can tell you that Laura Lippman's "Life Sentences" is disappointing. Nothing like her usual novels of mystery/suspense. Linda Barnes work continues to be riveting and fast-moving. Marie Bostwick's latest work is on order and, the complaint to the editor/proof reader has been submitted and responded. Apparently the last editor was replaced-- thank goodness!!
March 9, 2010
Not Yet . . .
No surgery needed yet but he's not guaranteeing anything for the future-- my knee doctor is good. He does tend to err on the side of caution but, he probably has to do that due to the litigious society we live in. "We're" going to watch the pain level and see if it heels itself-- if its a piece of knee cap, the pain will go away. If its the meniscus, there's plenty of time to do the surgery before a planned vacation later this summer. So we're going to check it again in April and see what happens then with an MRI and cortizone shot to get me through the next few months and then we'll go from there.
Fair 'nuf . . . I guess. Hopefully the pain does go away and the inflammation goes away and . . . cross your fingers, think good and happy thoughts and say LOTS of prayers, okay?
March 8, 2010
I'm R-e-l-a-x-e-d!!
I just had a massage, in my bedroom by a professional!! There's a woman in my church who is certified and brings her own table to do massage in your home for a reasonable price!! YAYYY!!! Boy did I enjoy that!! It'll help with the circulation issues that I'm fighting as well as just plain feeling good-- Thanks, Nancy!!
As Brian has already told you, I've blown through one of my tissue-paper knees again. This time it's my right knee. I stood up. Yep, that's all I did-- apparently, I stood up crookedly, however because otherwise I wouldn't have a problem.
I've got an appointment tomorrow to see my usual orthopedic doctor-- I was about due for a visit anyway! ;>) We'll get him to confirm it (it is a textbook meniscus tear though, I can tell you!) and then, it's off to surgerize it. Hopefully SOONER rather than LATER!! I've got too many things to do this spring and summer to be down because of this knee!! ARGH!!! Paducah and the quilt show is only six weeks away!!
March 5, 2010
End of Busy Week
Thank Goodness!! WOW!! That was a wild one-- too much to do and not enough time to do it in, as usual!! But, now the weekend is here which means QUILTING!! I'm really excited about it, actually-- I'll get to cut and piece some blocks which I feel like I haven't done in awhile.
I've got a massage scheduled for Monday night but may need to schedule with her real office to have it covered by insurance and/or flex benefits. The joy is taken out of so many things!
I will catch up the photos you haven't seen over the weekend some time-- I'll post them here so you'll know that they're caught up, obviously.
March 2, 2010
It must be busy!!
I have finished everything to do with the church wall hanging (pictures are on Facebook until I get a better writing program), i.e., the mantle for the pulpit and the table runner for the communion table so I'm moving on to other things! Next on the agenda is finishing a quilt started several months back for my sister to give someone as she retires from teaching after more than 40 years. Then on to some t-shirts to run embroidery designs on for my brother and then, on to some clothes for me.
Last night I taste-tested (okay, it was more than a taste!) the Moroccan Chicken Stew that I made in the crock pot-- NUMMY!!!! WOW, it was really good!! Not that I'm diabetic but I do make a lot of things from "Diabetic Cooking" magazine and this is one of them-- boy, it was good!! Thankfully, I've got leftovers to cover most of my lunches this week, too-- MORE NUMMIES!!!
Dinners are salads with chicken or tuna in them-- that takes less time and allows me more time for sewing.
February 23, 2010
Busy Times!!
Sorry-- it's been busy around here. I was able to finish and hang the wall hanging at church tonight. I'll have pictures on Facebook since I still don't have a way to publish here. That's about all I've been concentrating on lately-- there I go not being entertaining again! Sorry!!
February 20. 2010
Long Week
Lots happening-- wall hanging is almost finished. I'll have it at the church, finished, on Tuesday evening. I spent today at a seminar in one of the local churches learning to "Rethink Church" and we all got some good ideas. We have an old church that doesn't like change but needs to change-- lots of fun to move into, eh? Yeah, not so much.
February 14, 2010
Happy Valentine's Day!!
Hope you've all felt the love all day!! My husband, as usual, went overboard on Valentine's gifts-- roses VERY long-stemmed roses, a humongous orchid plant (that we can hopefully keep alive!!), and what looks like an antique pin from our favorite kitsch store in Old Town Bowie. How did I get so lucky??
Tomorrow's gonna be a sleep-in day for me-- I'm taking the day off . . . for no particular reason. Brian has it as a holiday but I don't. Hopefully, I'm not going to lose complete patience with my long arm machine and be able to start quilting the quilt for the church. The machine is still causing a few problems but none so serious that I can't deal with it and a lot of re-threading of the machine. I've got an email in to the people from whom we bought the machine but it is Sunday so I've not received a response yet.
Linda Rose came over for a scruptuous dinner and some laughs-- we hadn't seen her in a couple of weeks because of the snow so we commiserated and laughed and had a good time, as usual.
Quilting-- what else is new? It's what I do.
February 12, 2010
What is there to say?
Snow and more snow. Done. Period.
I keep seeing pick-up trucks with snow in the back of their pick-up? Where are they moving it to? Do they have some insight that the rest of us have missed?
February 9, 2010
Cabin Fever?
Well, since I hadn't been out of the house since . . . Friday of last week (???), I went with Brian to the grocery store for a few things last night. It was amazing to see all of the piles of snow and, of course, we have more on the way. Lucky us.
So other than going <ALMOST> stir crazy, nothing else is new and exciting. I'm sewing tonight although I took last night "off" from it. Bible Study was cancelled for obvious reasons.
The snow has started (approximately 4:15pm EST).
February 6, 2010
AWESOME!!
The last time I saw this much snow was when I decided to move to California from Grand Rapids-- that was 1987 or 88!! It really is pretty and there are pictures on both Brian's regular site and on both of our Facebook pages. (I'd post them here but you wouldn't be able to see them anyway.)
Molly and I went for a walk at one point because she needed to pee but couldn't get off the deck because it had snowed in the path that Brian had cleared for her. I had to pull on snow boots (Columbia) and my parka (Sears) and hat and gloves and scarf before putting on her harness and letting her take me for a drag up the street. Tons of fun, really-- she even didn't seem to mind it too much except for the stuff that was making her feet cold.
I spent a good deal of time sewing today and have almost finished piecing the wall hanging. Unfortunately, I'm not as far along as I'd hope to be because I've managed to come down with something of a bug. Lucky me!! I took a nap this afternoon and felt better enough to have some dinner but now I'm not feeling well again. Oh, bother!
February 5, 2010
I mean, REALLY!!
Do you really want to know how many 3" patches I sewed together? I didn't think so!! Okay, so I worked on the wall hanging for church a couple of hours last night and today, I didn't work on it at all. That's because I'm fairly confident that I'll be practicing my long arm skills by Sunday in preparation for quilting the quilt over the next couple of weeks. It is really turning out gorgeous-- I'm so pleased with the look of it!
Today, it is SNOWING-- huge, tons of snow-- I love it!! It is so pretty outside but then, I'm all nice and warm inside so . . . that makes a big difference, I'm sure.
I saved my company $311,000.00 today-- yes, it was a good day at work.
I'm currently reading "A Thread of Truth" by Marie Bostwick. It is the second book in the series that she's written elegantly. (By the way, it is not a mystery!) Plots flow well, characters are personable and real-feeling but, the only problem is that she needs to find a new editor. There are MANY typographical errors which make it difficult to read but the stories are so endearing it <almost> makes up for it. I am going to write to her about it when I finish the current book I'm reading and enjoying, despite the typos. It's just really annoying.
February 3, 2010
Whoops!!
Oh, well-- I've had a bit of a lapse here because of activity elsewhere. Monday night and tonight, I worked for a couple of hours on both a quilt that I'm making for my sister and on the church wall hanging. I'm really liking the way that the wall hanging is coming together. It is stunning!!
Just as I thought that I was finished with the design on the quilt for my sister, I ran the new fabrics, etc. past her and she vetoed them-- that's okay. She's paying for it so she gets to do that. I've still got the original fabrics that she and I talked about so it'll work with my new design, too. There are two more designs that I have to run out of the "topical" embroidery and two of the artsy designs. It'll be great when it comes together and, of course, there's plenty of time since the end of May/June is her time frame. I always like having EXTRA time, ya know?
Last night was Bible Study and it was my turn to feed the group. Out of the 9 of us that attend, only six were there last night so we've got plenty of beef stew leftovers. We'll get another meal out of it tomorrow night and then I'll freezer the rest so that we don't tired of it completely.
The dilation of my eyes on Tuesday took longer than I expected -- 2-1/2 hours!! The doctor had to check my computer glasses, dilate my eyes and, then check me out. However, she had two people that were booked at the same time so there were three of us to check out glasses on, dilate and then check out the inside of the eyes. The computer program she uses for appointment making messed up-- it's new and it triple booked her and got the appointments out of order. Not good for anyone's schedule!! I made it back to work but had a hard time focusing-- literally-- the rest of the afternoon. I'll get my new daily lenses next week some time and the new computer glasses in April, when I can be without my glasses for a week because of vacation. I can deal with that delay-- it'll be worth it in the long run.
I finished another Tim Downs suspense novel today-- I do so enjoy his work! I haven't decided what to read yet but I've got a Barbara Kingsolver ("The Lacuna") on my To Be Read shelf-- I haven't read anything by her in a number of years! I think I'll give it a try.
January 31, 2010
Okay, so the problem is . . .
The editing tool that I use for this space is SeaMonkey and that isn't working with what I'm using for photos (or something) like that so nothing I publish pictorially is going to show up until Brian finds me some new kind of posting tool to use. I can still write-- and will, of course, be continuing to do so-- but, pictures won't be published for a bit.
I've been working on a quilt for my sister, Karen, and have come to a cross roads where I have to decide how to design the actual quilt, as opposed to running the embroidery designs. I pulled the fabrics together and I sorta liked them. I showed them to Brian and he hated them. Oh, well . . . we started throwing ideas around and, yes, he did help me design the quilt that I'm going to make now. I'm changing all of the fabrics that I was going to use but it will still be along the same themes, with just a bit of a different look. This is not the first time he's helped with quilting. Often Brian helps choose fabrics, colors, and coordinating styles of things-- it comes fairly natural to him because he's an engineer in his brain. The hard part comes in getting him to speak "People" to me, instead of "computerese" or "engineerese". :>)
Sunday morning was church and then home to work on the stew. Again Brian helped-- he had a different way of doing it but, since I didn't get it all together until 2pm, it wasn't ready for dinner but it will be ready for my Bible study class on Tuesday. It needs to steep and brew together in order to get the potatoes to break down a bit and the stew meat to tenderize. A woman in my Bible study is allergic to onions (poor thing!) so I can't put them in the majority of the stew until everything blends together. Then I'll take out a generous portion for her and put onions in the stew for the rest of us.
Tomorrow it's back to work and I'm good with that-- I think I've finally caught up with my lack of sleep from last weekend because Molly let us sleep in yesterday and today, I read while I ran embroidery designs. In order to get at my design wall, I shifted some of the plastic thread rolling carts around in my sewing room. I'll need the design wall by tomorrow night in order to get started on the Lent wall hanging.
January 30, 2010
Snow . . . AGAIN?!?!?
Wow-- It snowed again today . . . quite a bit actually. I managed to drive in it for a change because I had an eye doctor appointment. I'd already postponed it once waiting until I had my A1C number to tell the optha-- ophthalma-- the eye doctor (she's an MD) so I didn't want to postpone it again. As it is, because I chose not to have my eyes dialated today (because I didn't think it would be smart to drive that way), I have to go back on Tuesday. My eyes have changed which will mean new lenses-- I have to wait on the frames but I'm okay with that for another year.
The biggest deal about it was that I haven't actually DRIVEN in snow for about five years-- I work from home and don't get out much, ya know? That leaves for limited exposure to snow-driving . . . well, truth be told, driving in general (nearly 3 year old car has a little over 13,000 miles on it!). It was fun to drive in the snow and see what I remembered from when I was a teenager and early-20 year old about snow-driving. You know: things like steering into a skid, pumping your brakes (although these days there's the downshift gear that's built into my car which eliminates the need to pump brakes), and generally driving like a "granny". The only problem was the SUVs on the road that thought they should go fast and ride mere inches from my trunk. Didn't like them too much, needless to say.
Hopefully it'll be clear enough tomorrow that church won't be cancelled and then it's my turn to call my sister, Sue, in Brasil. Then, more embroidery to be run in the sewing room. I have cut out the strips and squares for the Lent wall hanging that I'm going to make for the church. It's a cool concept if it works out the way I'd like it to when it's finished.
And NO, I still haven't figured out why my pictures don't publish. One of these days . . .
January 29, 2010
I coulda swore!!
I was certain I put something up here last night-- sorry about that! Now I can't think of what I would've written but, I suppose that's not at issue anymore any way.
Ready for the weekend and my share of sewing/embroidering. I can hardly wait but of course, there are errands to do first. Then the rest of the time is mine-- I hope.
January 27, 2010
Getting ready for the weekend!
I've just gotten back my Designer Ones (both of them) and the 936 Serger from getting cleaned last week; after that, I immediately left for the retreat so I had no time to play! BUT, now that both machines are cleaned up and pretty looking, both of the D1s are going to be put to work this weekend, actually starting today. I've got embroidery designs to run for a quilt for Karen and t-shirts that I'm making for my brother's business. Both machines will definitely be burning through Schmetz needles by the end of the weekend!!
On a lighter note, after many recommendations, I finally picked up a Dana Stabenow "Kate Shugak" book or two while we were in North Carolina at Thanksgiving. Barbara Thompson heavily recommends her work and with good reason-- I'm thoroughly enjoying the book "Killing Grounds" with well-written scenery descriptions and dialog. Definitely recommend these books, too!!
Other than that and work, I've been busy but I can't remember why half the time. The other half of the time, I can't remember why either so it all evens out, right? Oh, yeah!
January 26, 2010
Catching Up
I'm catching up on my sleep it seems. I was actually awake until a decent hour-- 10:something last night. There is a light at the end of the tunnel!! YAYY!!!
I've noticed that, since our recycling picker-uppers gave the neighborhood a bigger container for recycling stuff, people are recycling MORE stuff-- that's GOOD!! I always bring recycleables home if there isn't a specific place to put the containers when I'm out and about. If I just throw them in the trash, I feel guilty. I used to live in California and that's what that does to you! It's okay, as there are worse habits that I have broken since leaving there.
I continued embroidery work on a quilt that I'm making for my sister last night. I've also sorted, washed and dried the fabrics I'm going to use for a wall hanging for church that I've been asked to sew. I asked the members of my Quilter's Bible Study to help with the sewing but there may not be time for that as Lent comes early this year. I can piece and quilt the wall hanging and run the designs for my sister's quilt at the same time so that helps. It's still January and I'm already over-committed!!
January 25, 2010
I Survived ROCK!!
As I suspected, the teens in my room were not the ones who kept me awake-- it was the other adult!! Because of anticipation, I didn't sleep well on Thursday night and then Friday night, we were kept up late by Katie. Saturday night ran late and, frankly, my head hit the pillow and that's all I remember until someone was trying to wake me up-- unwilling as I was to WAKE up!!
The reason we ran late on Saturday night was because they split the men/boys from the women/girls and then split the women from the girls. Soooo, us adult women went to a separate room and talked about how the night went for us.
My Saturday night didn't start out so great. The reason that I went to the retreat in the first place is because one of the girls wanted me to "bond" (her word) with the group so that they would let me be a part of their group. At the session Saturday night, I had an empty seat on each side of me-- so much for bonding, eh? I invited several of the girls to sit with me-- I invited several of the guys to sit with me but they all had folks that they wanted to sit with OTHER than me.
If you don't want to believe in the devil or Satan, that's fine but let me tell you . . . he was there and he was trying to work in me that night. My thoughts were all negative-- Why am I here? So I could bond? Bond with WHO? They won't let me!! This is a waste of time!! When we get back from here, I'll subtly drop out of Sunday School for the youth and I'll drop from the Youth Group and since I've only just been invited to join the Youth Council, I'm pretty sure they won't miss me if I don't go to the next meeting-- I haven't been to any of the meetings so far anyway.
THEN, I realized what was happening. No. No. No. Noooo. Nooooooooo. NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I fought the devil and I won because when they asked who wants to renew their faith in Jesus Christ, I stood and then we were asked to reach out to someone else who was standing. I reached out to a teen from our group who was standing in front of me. At the same time, the woman to the right of me and the woman to the left of me, reached out FOR ME!!!! I knew right then that I, Marcia Bilbrey, had defeated Satan that night!!!!! He was not going to win at getting me out of the youth activities at my church! I have something to offer to the kids and I'm going to STAY with them and help them and nurture them in their love and faith in Jesus.
Satan tried to make me feel like I was alone and no one cared about me but people DID care and the kids who reached out to hug me and have me hug them after the session was over cared. It's Satan who doesn't care because Jesus is LOVE and He LOVES me and the other adults and teens-- more than 6,000 strong from Maryland-- that were at that conference this weekend.
Let your light shine
Whoa
Let your light shine
Whoa
Let Your light shine and
let Jesus shine through you
January 21, 2010
Okay, so I'm off . . .
Tomorrow afternoon after work I leave for a weekend retreat centered around the young people (ages 12-18) of our church. Even in all of my years growing up and as an adult, I never went to a retreat so that experience will be new and, the exciting part, is being one of a dozen or so chaperones. This will definitely be the stuff that test's my fortitude, strength, and belief system.
I'll let you know when I get back how it all goes--
January 20, 2010
That's not good!!
I tripped on my way up the stairs just now-- jammed my elbow onto the steps in front of me and spilled water all over the place. <Sigh> Well, at least it was only water . . . Of course, in addition to my elbow and forearm feeling the rug burn from the carpet on the steps but my shoulder is feeling a bit jammed up, too. Lovely.
I went to the doctor yesterday and had my hopes shattered. Instead of my A1C number going down, it went up!! Yeah, I wasn't pleased about that either. We're going to check my blood again in 2 months and then start talking about getting me off of the medication that turns to poison in my system with the wrong combination of things. Yeesh!! This just isn't fair!!
Hair trimmed tonight and another perm on the schedule for April, right before my trip to Paducah-- gotta have care free hair for Paducah, don'tcha know?
January 19, 2010
Not so much . . .
Yesterday was not so much a holiday for me . . . not at all, as a matter of fact. My company takes no holidays between New Years' Day until Memorial Day. Frankly, that's too long for anyone to go without a break and although some things are less generous now, they are more generous on floating holidays and "PTO" than they used to be so I'll be taking a break long about Presidents' Day . . . for no apparent reason whatsoever, okay? Yes, I've also got a break in April (I mentioned that last week) but even that's a long time to wait.
This weekend, I'm going to go on a retreat with the teens from our church, joining together apparently with a number of state-wide churches, in Ocean City, Maryland. The kids from my church are, for the most part, great kids and I like working with them. My sister Sue and I spent the better part of ten or fifteen minutes trying to remember what our "Young People's Society" at the church we grew up in did during our tenure. Neither of us could remember. I don't want the Youth Group and Sunday School from my church to feel the same way when they're our age so I want to make it memorable for them, along with being a learning experience.
Brian and I didn't have time to do anything about the picture links this past weekend and I won't be here for working on it this coming weekend but it will get caught up, okay? Plus, I've got pictures of the girls' clothes so I'm determined to show you pictures-- eventually. We will work on it!!
January 17, 2010
I don't know why . . .
Sundays are harder than other days when it comes to missing my little Lucy Mae. She would wait for me at the doors to the master bath when I took my shower or outside the shower stall in the morning. Then, when I came home from church, usually she was waiting for me at the back door. Then, we'd spend the day together, she and I, me walking with her following, never letting me far from her sight line.
There's almost something every day that reminds me of her but Sundays are . . .
January 16, 2010
Saturday went fast!!
I went to a "Leadership Meeting" at church today-- I thought I was going because of the Quilter's Bible Study that I lead but it turns out that I was invited because of my involvement with the Youth Group. Whatever! It was time well spent, even though we went longer than the meeting was intended to run.
After that ended my friend, Mary Grace, helped me deliver the clothes to the mother of the two girls for whom I was doing the clothing (and yes, pictures for that will be forthcoming). She was surprised at how many items there were but, when you're doing sewing like that and you buy one type of fabric that can be spread over a number of outfits, you end up with more. It was fun to sew the girly-things!! Bethany, one of the little girls (she's 6 years old) LOVED her clothes!! She gave me huge hugs!!
When I got home, Brian and I left to pick out the paint for the guest room and to get a couple of fire extinguishers for the basement sewing and fabric rooms. Not that I expect any fires to start but, between the number of appliances I have running at any one time and the fabric, I don't want things to go up in smoke!! I'd much rather be prepared and stop anything from starting and taking off!
While I was there earlier in the day, I dug out the fabric for the curtains that will go in the new guest bedroom. I'll need to measure and see how I want to put them together soonish so I wanted to dig them out while I was thinking of it.
I guess that's about all for now!
January 15, 2010
Or not . . .
Apparently the publishing isn't working and you still can't see pictures-- maybe we'll get to that this weekend?? Sure, anything's worth a try!!
My sewing/serger machines are still in for repair/cleaning but I'll use this weekend, after a meeting at church on Saturday morning, to run some errands (dropping off the clothes for the little girls, included) and then spend the balance of Saturday and Sunday organizing my quilt/embroidery/sewing binders. That'll be a task and then some!
Threw a book in the pile to be resold last night-- I don't even know (or care) how it ends. Laura Childs writes a series about her protagonist who runs a tea shop. There's so much internal dialog (by multiple characters) that I just got bored with the silly thing!! There's nothing worse than superfluous wording for the second of word count! I had bought it used from one of the two used bookstores we stopped in at in Winston-Salem and to them, it will be returned for resale to someone who can tolerate that nothingness known as "Lack of Plot" (similar to "lackluster").
January 13, 2010
And thus begins anew . . .
I've had a rough month so far so you'll forgive me for being tardy in my arrival for the new year. I'm trying to see how publishing things are going and testing here and there and not having much success. Tell me if you can see a "Dutch girl" wearing a yellow skirt to the left, okay? Also, let me know if you can see the pictures on this page-- it's the new Sewing and Fabric Rooms that have been relocated to the basement. When I go to view it, I don't see the pictures so let me know if you do or don't, okay? If I can get this figured out, then I can move on to other things . . . hopefully. (If the links don't work, let me know and Brian will help me figure out what I've messed up!)
The whole moving-the-sewing-and-fabric-rooms to the basement didn't go to badly. Intelligent as he is, Brian wouldn't let me do a lot of the running up and down the stairs. Certainly I would injure my knee with little or not effort on my part-- I'm that way, as you all well know.
After finishing some little girls' clothes for two sisters at my church (pictures will follow this weekend and/or whenever I get the publishing thing fixed), I hauled my serger (Sergio) and both Designer Ones (DeOne and DeTwo) to get cleaned and serviced for the year. I need to make a quilt for my sister (a paying gig-- how about that?!?) so as soon as they get back, I'll get started on that.
The new digs allow me to concentrate on sewing-- I was always terribly distracted by my personal computer and checking email and whatever during the course of a Saturday or Sunday sewing and now I don't do that. Yes, I have a computer there but the purpose is not for surfing the 'Net but to work on my designs. I find that I am much less susceptible to surfing the net when I'm not within close proximity to my email.
Work is . . . plans for going to Paducah to the American Quilt Show are firmed up. I'm going to meet my cousin Barb in Champaign, Illinois and will drive with her and a friend the rest of the way. It saves over $100 on airfare and, it'll be fun driving with them. Return trip will work out, as well so all-in-all, a good plan will come into focus in April. I'm really excited since I haven't been there since 2007; I don't need fabric but I will look for new techniques, patterns and interests to be piqued at/during the show.
More to come . . . Happy New Year.
This journal was started many
(more than ten-- that's "many", right?) years ago.
The opinions stated herein are my own,
much to the chagrin of my husband, at times.
(more than ten-- that's "many", right?) years ago.
The opinions stated herein are my own,
much to the chagrin of my husband, at times.