Simply Quilts

Sorry, the picture is a little fuzzy. I took it with my cell phone. It is absolutely gorgeous. One of the women in class brought it to show us. They do that as soon as they get one finished. Then we can all covet.
Unfortunately, I have 2 quilt tops finished but not quilted. To have one quilted you need a long arm machine. They didn't have one at class before, they do now. I could have taken them to a shop but it is very expensive.
She bought each block with a different bird on it and put borders around them and quilted it. It is beautiful. "I whont that."

Here is another quilt by the same lady. I only wish you could see it in person. The quilt stitching is amazing. She is going to give it to her son. I am sure he will appreciate it, if not, I am sure his wife will.

Just giving you an idea of what my area looks like at class. So many squares and so little time.If only I had my own Bernina at home...that is a hint for my children!

Here is 11 of the 168 blocks I need to make my Grandmothers Apron String Quilt. I started this about 3 years ago when Cecelia and I were taking a quilting class. She moved away and I lost interest. I will give you a little insight as to why quilts are so expensive. They are TIME CONSUMING. Each of the blocks contain four small blocks, and each small block has either two or four tiny squares. This is all done on machine. To think the Amish do it all by hand.
Not to worry, I'm gettin er done.

If you happen to be bored, I added a Pac Man game on my blog. Scroll down a bit, it's on the left. Let's see who gets the best score. I stink at it. Have fun!

Happy 30th. Birthday Corey

Yes, Corey is 30. I can't believe how time has passed. I think my kid's are catching up with me. August 24th. is the actual day. It has taken some time to post this. Life can just get to hectic, especially when you have quilting class two nights a week and made a decision to attend prayer meeting, not to mention I have a full day half pay job.We had a great weekend last week. We celebrated Corey's 30th. birthday. We also included Tom and Jeff's birthday, since their all in August.Everyone arrived Friday evening, which is always exciting for me.Sabbath morning, Kathleen, Lawren, Pa Pa and I went to Sabbath School. It is so enjoyable to watch Lawren participate in the program. At first, she was the only one there, she got to do everything. The theme was Noah's Ark. The classroom was so adorable, someone, with a lot of talent, built a "gianormous" Ark.Teena brought over a cake for Tom. It is suppose to be a golf course, since Tom loves to play golf. I think the sandtraps might be a little larger than normal.Forgetting about Teena telling me she was making a cake, I had gone over to DQ and got this Oreo Cookie Blizzard Cake. Good thing, because Teena's cake was a little on the sweet side. I think she may have read the recipe wrong, instead of a cup of sugar she used the whole 5lb. bag. It was delicious.I fixed Hay Stacks for lunch. That always feeds a multitude. I think it is comparable to Bread and Fish.After lunch everyone decided to cool off in the pool.Uncle Corey and LawrenKeiran and his daddy.Here is Grandpa practicing for the big day. All of the guy's were going golfing Sunday, so Tom wanted to get some practice in hoping that he would have the best score. He didn't, Corey did. Tom didn't practice enough.The kid's played out front for a while. Here Keiran is on his scooter. That is his other Grandma in the background, Ginny.
Lawren on her scooter.Lawren loves everything her cousin does. Keiran was running and jumping on the lawn and she was just sitting there laughing at him. Lawren has helmet hair.
Kathleen called me after they left. She said when they got a few blocks down the road Lawren was saying, "bye grandma, bye papa, bye uncle corey." So precious.

What is Happening?

Today has been another one of those "Cecelia" days. I wasn't able to pick up our other vehicle, due to the fact that I procrastinate, and thought I was going to be able to pick it up this morning. I let Tom take the car thinking I would walk over to the shop and get the truck. Decided to check my account to see if the payment, for my card, went through. It wasn't there. So, I call the company and was informed that they are just like any bank, in fact they are a bank. It takes a 24 hour business day to process, meaning it won't be finished until tonight at midnight.Teena was so gracious to take me to get my car so I could get to work. Before I went to work, Corey and I decided to go to the Mall and look at some basketball shoes. Arrived at work after lunch. Walked into a mess of phone messages. People are getting so demanding and rude. They want something, they want it NOW. What is happening to our society? What happened to "please" and "thank you", where are all of those gentlemen who use to hold doors open for women when you went inside the store? How times have changed. We have so many conveniences now that are suppose to make life easier, all it is doing is making people more impatient and rude. It's making me into more of a confrontational person cuz I am not going to take the attitudes. You all have heard of road rage, well I have a new one, office rage!Anyway, as soon as I finished work, I had to take Corey to the airport. Tom suggested we leave 2 hours early because of traffic. It only took 1 hour, so we found Togo's and had a sandwich. Tomorrow morning the gentleman from the conference is coming to train me on a new program so I have to prepare for that. I just need to get some rest.I still have to post about our weekend.

How Does She Do It?

If any of you, and I know that most of you who read my blog, know Cecelia, or have been around her for a day, wonder how she manages to get so much in in a day. She is the only person I know that you would find in the kitchen canning and freezing fruit and vegetables minutes before she is to go on vacation.
Well, unfortunately, I don't have that kind of energy. In fact, I am one of the world's biggest procrastinators. My motto...why do it now when it can be done later. At times I have put so much stress on myself with that kind of thinking. Today was one of those day's. Knowing that my kid's would be coming to visit for the weekend so we can celebrate some birthdays, I left everything for the last minute. I'll try to make this short and to the point.
We had to put Tom's truck in the shop to get the transmission fixed, leaving us with one means of transportation. He works' a split shift so his hours do not coincide with mine. I have your ordinary mundane schedule...9-5. Sometimes I refer to my job as a full-day-half-pay job. When Ryan and Shelly were living here and worked as substitute teachers, sometimes they worked half day but received full pay. Not me... I have the evenings to get some things done in the house...like, clean the bathroom, change the bedding, sweep and mop the floors, dust...etc.
Well, this week I kept putting it off. I decided to go to my quilting class on Tuesday and Thursday, which is 6:30PM to 9:30PM, oh and I actually went to prayer meeting Wednesday night. So that leaves me with Friday to get everything done. Started the day with getting up at 1:00 AM to take Tom to work, so I could have the car. Went back to bed as soon as I got home. Got up earlier than usual and dusted the furniture, did a load of laundry, had some papers to copy that I needed to fax to the conference, yeah...I am the treasure at church. Got dressed and went to work. After work, I had to make the deposit for the church (that should have been done on Tues. or Wed.) but put it off until today. Had to fill up that gas tank so I had to go by the bank and get some cash. Not using my Chevron card because I don't want to support Dubi so I am using Arco. Was going to drive out to the fruit stand to get some fresh ears of corn for tomorrow's barbeque.I decided to just get while doing my grocery shopping. Stopped by Dairy Queen to purchase the new Oreo Cookie Blizzard Cake for the birthday boys. Got home, unpacked the food, listened to a message on the phone, which was the mechanic telling me the truck was ready. Decided to walk to the shop, which is only 5 or 6 blocks away. It's about 5 PM and still warm outside. Okay, just walk over there, you need the exercise.On my way to pick up the truck, after walking about 3 blocks, I was hot and sweaty,I'm tired and hungry, but there is still so much to do. As I am walking, a car with a couple of young guys pulls up along side of me. I thought to myself, they had better want directions because it is too hot and I am not in the mood for a mugging. I was carrying a big purse on my arm. What could they possibly want? I stopped and stared directly at them, they both looked at me and smiled, I was not smiling. Apparently I was standing in front of the guys yard. I turned and proceeded.
Arrived at the shop, gave the man my credit card, it wouldn't go through. What in the world now? He handed me the phone so I could call customer service. A very pleasant lady answered and when I told her what was going on, she checked into the problem. Apparently I was LATE with my payment, I told you I am a procrastinator, and they would not allow me to use my card until Monday. I sent them a payment but it will finish processing until then. I searched inside my purse but didn't have $2400.00 to give the guy.
So, I have to go back Monday to pick up the truck.Walk back home and change the bedding. Clean the floors and...now Kathleen, Jeff and Lawren arrive. I forgot about being hungry too. I tell them that I have to pick Tom up around 7 or 7:30. Oh yea, Corey called me late last night to tell me that he won't be driving up here, he is flying so can I pick him up at the airport around 9:40? Sure, I will have time.Tom calls around 7, it's only about a 20 minute round trip. I will have plenty of time before I have to leave to pick up Corey. The airport is only about an hour away. I can leave at 8:30 and be there by 9:40.
On my way to pick Tom up, I decide to call Corey and make sure he arrived at the airport on time. When he answered, I asked him where he was, he told me he was boarding the plane. WHY ARE YOU BOARDING THE PLANE SO EARLY, IT'S ONLY AN HOUR FLIGHT TO HERE? He said, I told you last night that I changed my itinerary. Yeah, he called me while I was in a dead sleep, around 11 PM. He asked me where I was and I told him I was on my way to pick his dad up. He thought I was kidding. Nope, not this time. I could detect some anger, or frustration in his voice.I opened my email this morning to get a copy of his itinerary. I noticed he sent it twice, by mistake, so I deleted one. Looked at the time..yep 9:40. Plenty of time.So, now I am jamming. Pick Tom up, drop Tom off. 7:45 heading to the airport in hopes that I can make it in an hour or less. Please God, no traffic or accidents. I noticed a sign on the side of the freeway, "Don't Speed, Save a life and Save Fuel." Thought about it for a second, looked at the speedometer, and hit the peddle. Forget the cost of fuel, the wrath of Corey would be much worse.He only had to wait about 5 or 10 minutes. Not bad ehh!Got home and all is well. After pondering on all that I got accomplished in one day, I can only think of one other person that has day's like this......CECELIA.

Into The Wild

We went camping with Cindy and Michael. We were up past 6000 ft. The weather was cool and the camp area was gorgeous. Cindy and Michael are avid campers.When I was packing for the trip, I told Tom that we needed to stop and buy some plastic forks,he said we have plenty and handed me a box with "forks" in there. When we got to camp and sat down to eat, Cindy had brought a couple, she is an avid camper, and I had only 4 in the box I brought. So, we learned how to eat spaghetti and pancakes with a spoon.This area was so delightful to the eye. CLick on each picture and it should enlarge.There were a few little butterflies along the path.Your not going to believe this but....We went for a walk along the creek Sabbath afternoon. I have a thing for sitting on a rock in water. I think that I might be a Mermaid in my next life. Maybe because Mermaids always look so curvaceous with their long silky hair flowing down their side. As we wondered along the creek, Michael found a large rock out in the middle of the creek. Cindy told me to go out on the rock and she would take my picture. As I scanned the area for a path, I had to crawl up onto a log, okay I can do this, if I fall, well I would hit some rocks, okay that might not be a good idea for a woman-in-my-shape. I can do this..I proceed to climb up onto the log, when I walked a few inches, I noticed there were two more logs to walk across before I reached the rock. I asked Michael if there was a different route on the other side of the rock, he said there was. I wasn't about to walk out on that rock and then have to come back over the 3 logs. So I cautiously turned around and went back up the log to shore. As I was walking around another rock and heading to the other side, Michael thought he would meet me and show me the path. When he jumped down off of the rock he disturbed a Meat Bee nest and they decided to have a snack. He began to run up on shore and was yelling. Cindy thought he was playing a trick. Well, he wasn't. He had several bee bites on his arm and legs. "I want to go home now." So, we turned around and headed back to camp. Okay, so I settled for a picture on a log. When we arrived back at camp, Cindy walked to the Grounds Supervisors trailer to see if they had a first aid kit. Michael had never been stung by a bee so she didn't know if he was going to be allergic to them. The supervisor didn't have any Benadryl or anything for bee stings but she knew of a good remedy. I had read somewhere that a banana peel was good, so he gave that a try. It gave me some relief when I had poison oak. Cindy and they supervisor arrived on a golf cart. She was carrying a paper plate with an unlit cigarette on it. She pulled the filter off took the tobacco out and poured a little water on the tobacco making a paste. She dabbed each bite with a little. Unbelievable, but the next morning you couldn't even see the bite. It did give Michael some relief too. The lady they got the cigarette from walked over, they were camped right across the street from us. We were expressing our unbelief in the remedy and she responded, "hey if they can kill us just think what they will do the bee sting." She had a good point. Sunday morning Cindy and Michael left early to take a shower. You had to drive 7 miles or so to go to the next town where they had a store, showers, laundromat, restrooms. I declined the shower, knowing we would be going home soon. Besides, the price of a 5 minute shower was $3.00.While they were gone I munched on some Pop Tarts, watermelon and peaches. When they returned Cindy asked if I was going to eat breakfast, I told her I was full. So she said she needed to fix Michael some breakfast. All we had to eat was either Pop Tarts, fruit or pancake mix. She decided to fix him some pancakes. I got my griddle out and some Pam, you need Pam because everything sticks to the griddle. She heated up the griddle, poured the mixture on and waited a few minutes. When she was ready to flip the pancakes, she said, "They are sticking!" I asked her if she was certain that she sprayed the griddle, she said "Yes". Well, Michael walked over to the table and, jokingly asked her if she used "this" as he picked up the can of bug spray...guess what...she had. Cindy is an avid camper.A new form of Pam. Problem is, it doesn't work as well.Before we left camp, we wanted to see where you can camp right by the water, so we walked over to "Walk In Camp." You carry your gear to the camp sight but leave your car up on the hill. You have to carry your food back up to your car each evening and then bring it down in the morning. Don't want to attract any bears during the night...right?Picturesque surroundings.Tom, immersing his feet in ice cold water.Here is a picture of the stream as it flows down into Donnell lake.Our last stop, before heading home, was this vista point. Known as Donnell Lake. History Time: John Bidwell was a native of New York. He became a major leader of American settlers to enter California. Looking out over the valley, one wonders how they were able to cross over this rocky, sheer canyon, in covered wagons. I added a video of running water, so sit back, close your eyes and enjoy.

Birthday Boy

Tom had a birthday today. I took him to his favorite restaurant, Tahoe Joe's. We finished the evening with a blizzard from Dairy Queen. See, he is real easy to please. I am pressed for time today. I left work early so we could go to dinner. My quilting class starts tonight and I can't miss it. I would write a lot more about how wonderful he is, but time is not permitting. Oh my goodness, I am pressed for time and my computer decides to shut down and do some configuring. Okay, it's back. Anyway, just think of all the wonderful qualities that could be found in a man and apply them to Tom. He does have one flaw....he forgot our anniversary...grrrrr!

Please....Don't Feed The Bears!

In this case, The Receptionist. For some reason people love to feed me, and I love to eat. Jeff, the guy who delivers our Pathology reports, use to be a Bakery Chef. He loves to bake, and he knows I love to eat. Periodically, he brings us something he has baked. Today was Chocolate...and I can't remember the rest of the name. All I know is it was rich and NOT fat free. Although he told me he was willing to lie and tell me it was if it made a difference. At some point in my life I have to lose some more weight, not today. We put a sign up, it read "Please Don't Feed The Receptionists". At my office, we have to weigh every new patient. I love it, just to see the reaction from people. Everyone is different. The skinny ones hop right on, while the over weight ones tend to hesitate, or have a negative comment. If after their weighed and not happy with the results, I just tell them, "ah don't worry, this scale weighs about 5 lbs. heavy. I always try to make them feel comfortable, before they step on, I just tell them to guess at it and see how close they come, or they can do what I do when I have to be weighed, I just ask the gal who is weighing me to just write down "still fat". I always get a little chuckle out of them and they hop right on the scale. (I don't know what is going on with blogger, but it won't seperate my paragraphs.)Chocolate something loaded with cream, egg, butter, chocolate, choc chips and drizzled with fudge all over the top. There is one piece missing, I devoured one  before I thought to take a pic. I don't even remember what it taste like, all I know is it was missing something, a glass of milk.  This is Melissa, the gal I work with, my partner in crime. She is always telling me that I am a bad influence on her. I asked her why she thought that, she said she has gained 10 lbs. since she started working with me, a year ago. I told her only 10 lbs, that wasn't bad cuz I can do that over a weekend. As soon as Jeff told me he dropped off some cake next door, I had to run over there and see if they were pigging out. Since I have worked in the SAME office for 20 years,next to the SAME doctor, we are well acquainted. Here is Kate, not only ready to dig into the cake, but eating a burrito. That was her breakfast.Well, Tom and I are off tomorrow for a camping trip where they have real bears. Not to worry, I won't feed them, not intentionally. I was told that we needed to put our food in the trunk of our car. Guess I won't be keeping any midnight snacks in my tent.

Sew Crafty

Well, what do you think? This is my first attempt at Embroidery. I love embroidery linen, although I don't have much. I found a book with several ideas and fell in love with this one. Dore', what-would-I-do-without-her, knew how to Embroider. So, I asked her if she would teach me. Well, she gave me the confidence I needed. She made one too. We worked on them together. At times it was like the-blind-leading-the blind, but we did it. There is another one, it will be a Poppy. They are hand towels. I am planning on donating them to Rachael's etsy store. That's if she wants something like this.
Hopefully I will be able to get the other one done soon.

Grandmother's Flower Garden....
These are hand sewn pieces that I have been working on for quite some time. It is known as "Grandmother's Flower Garden." I am sure some of you have seen them. They are very-time-consuming. You have to cut each hexagon out, base stitch the material to the paper pattern (by hand) then hand stitch them together (by hand) to make one flower.It keeps me out of the kitchen and refrigerator. The hardest part is choosing 3 different pieces of material. I have 13 flowers finished. I think I need a total of 32 or more, depending on what size I want. So, it is going to take some time to finish. There is still a lot more squares to cut and sew. But when it is finished, it will be my pride and joy.
Okay, time for a history lesson. Quilts made from hexagons are characteristic of English patchwork.
The patterns were brought to America by early English settlers. Of these patterns, the one most familar to American quilters is Grandmother's Flower Garden, a one patch design made from equilateral hexagons. English quilters call them "honeycomb quilts".

Hopefully it will look similar to this pic.


Dore' and I signed up for a quilting class today. I took a class several years ago and have an unfinished project that I am desiderate to finish.

BTW....Today I was dismissed from 2 1/2 month jury duty. Thank You Jesus!

Rachael's Simple Wishes

Would like all of you to know that Cecelia's daughter, Rachael, has an online store that sells homemade items. It is called the Etsy Store. Rachael's store it known as "Simple Wishes." She has several homemade items listed to sell. The unique thing about her store is all of her proceed's, well 90%, goes to Lopukhinka Orphanage in Russia. A quote from Rachael, "where children took delight in little scraps of plastic toys and the girls gathered round with pleasure to share one donated doll." Some of these children have never had the opportunity to open a gift.
I have listed a link to her store. Scroll down just a little and on the left hand side you will see some items. Natalie, her sister, makes her own pottery and donates them.
If you would like to donate anything to this cause, I know that it would be greatly appreciated.

Happy Birthday Bonti.

Today is my sister's birthday. Mary Yvonne, but we know her as Bonti.
When Corey was learning to talk, he had a hard time pronouncing Aunt Yvonne, Bonti would always come out. So, the name stuck. When I was young, we called her Sissy.
She is my big sister, only by a few years, six to be exact.
She has always been my close friend, mother-at-one-point-in-time, and my buddy. We have such fun together. We can just look at each other and start laughing. Oh the memories I have of us just cracking up over crazy stuff.

She is an animal lover. I don't think I can count how many critters she has had. She is so good with them too.
She is a wife, mother of two sons, grandmother of 10 or 11, I lost count, and a great grandmother of one.
She is the best sister anyone could ever want.
We love you Bonti.

"Happy Birthday" Jeffery

Jeffery's birthday was yesterday. I tried to get this posted the same day, but time did not permit me too. I won't spoil it and tell how old he is. All I can say is he is a lot younger than I am.

Jeffery came into our lives 18 years ago. He is our favorite son-in-law. We only have one. If I had to choose a son for our daughter, and could choose one out of a million guys, I know I would have chose him. He is such a great guy. We have so much fun together.
I know that if we ever needed anything, and I mean anything, he would be there for us.

You are such a blessing to this family. You consummate this family.

You become more special to us with each year that passes by. You know that you are Tom's bestfriend.
Words can't describe how much we really love you.
Love,
Your Favorite Mother-in-law

Flummoxed-Vexed-Nettled.......

This is absolutely rediculous. I can't post a picture or a page element. So frustrating too.Okay, just found a help website. Apparently it is a blog problem, not an individual computer problem. Whew....I was getting vexed.
Did I happen to mention that I have jury duty this Wednesday? Yea, on top of everythign else, I have to go. I called everyday last week and they just had you call the next day. Well, Friday I totally forgot to call and remembered around noon. Quickly made the call and...low-and-behold, I was suppose to appear at 12:30. Yea right, I was going to make that one.
So, got up this morning, thankful that I haven't been arrested, and made the call. I actually spoke to a very pleasant woman. She just said that I could pick which day I wanted to come in, either this Wed. or Thurs. Hmmmm, major decision there, how about sometime next year? NOT...

A Year of Crockpotting.

Those of you who need new, easy ideas for cooking, look no further than here. This lady appeared on the Rachel Ray show. She just happens to be a blogger. There are 365 recipes to look at. So, take a minute and check out her blog. There are vegetarian recipes too!

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/


Sorry, I can't figure out how to get a direct link, so your going to have to copy and paste her blog address. Or, you can just scroll down a little bit and click on her link titled "Crockpotting", under my "Favorite Web Sites".

Tell Me the "Tooth"!

Unbelievable. I have been so excited about Ryan and Shelly getting here. They got in this morning at 5:00 AM. I could hardly sleep last night. I woke up around 3:00 to use the restroom. I called them and they were just two hours away. I finally got myself back to sleep. Well, they finally rolled in and I got out of bed. It felt like my left lower jaw was a little swollen. I went into the bathroom to take a peek, sure enough, it was a little puffy. No pain tho. I lost a filling, in the back, about six months ago, some of the tooth fell off too. It didn't' bother me so I just ignored it. No pain, don't mess with it. I went on about my short visit with the kids, they were tired and wanted to go to bed. I went back to bed too.
Got up around 8 o'clock to get myself ready for work. I figured that I might as well go to work since they would be sleeping all morning. When I got to work I thought I should call an oral surgeon because I figured I would be loosing the tooth and I didn't want to go through the weekend with a toothache.
Was able to get in to see the dentist this morning and he took an xray. He said that there is definitely an abscess but felt that the tooth is savable. He suggested I go to a GD and see if they can do a root canal. Now that sounds real exciting. I think I would rather have the tooth pulled.
Remember my post a few weeks ago when Tom and I slept out in the back yard? Remember the penny I found under the mattress and my first thought was the tooth fairy new something I didn't? She was trying to warn me, I think!