So long, Eugene - December 12, 2024

The Grandson called Friday afternoon, wanting to know if he could spend the weekend with us.  He is 17.  While I love it that he wanted to come over, I suspected ulterior motives.  

He has his driver's license but does not yet have a vehicle (the truck his dad is fixing up for him is still not fixed up).  He needs a vehicle for some school activities but has not had a lot of driving experience.  The Husband and I suspected that he wanted to borrow one of our vehicles until his dad gets his truck running.

Sure enough, that's what he wanted.

You may remember that when he was 6 years old, I promised to give him my Wrangler, if I still had it when he turned 16.  I still have it.  A few years ago, I even bought myself another vehicle in order to save wear and tear on the Wrangler in anticipation of giving it to him when he came of age.  

He left here in the Wrangler today, headed to a friend's house.  In the front seat was a never-used, still-in-the-box 10-disc CD changer that I'd bought for The Husband years ago but was never installed. He and his buddy are going to replace the roached-out CD changer that came with the Wrangler when I bought it 20 years ago (it has been wet a few times over the years) and see if they can fix the radio that suddenly quit playing a couple of month ago.

Watching him drive away was tough.  He hasn't had nearly as much driving experience as he needed.  We let him drive a lot this weekend.  Teenage boy that he is, with his big size 12 feet, he "punches it" a little harder than I think he should.

Before he left, I told him, "Do not wreck the Wrangler.  I don't want either of you hurt."

When he got to his friend's house, he texted The Husband that he had arrived safe at his destination and had hit only one pedestrian in the process.  Smart-ass kid.  ;)

Pray with me that this wasn't a mistake.

  

T'was the Friday before Christmas - December 20, 2024

...and all through the house, gifts were stashed all over the place.

I've been picking up Christmas loot for the past couple of months.  Since there's not any place in my house that is off-limits to The Grandchildren, I had to do some creative hiding.  In the process, I ended up hiding stuff from myself.

Don't pretend you haven't done this.  

The Husband has gone out Christmas shopping.  Before he left, he went over his list with me.  When he got to The Great-Nephew, I said, "Wait!  I got him a Hot Wheels Car Wash!"  I'd completely forgotten about it.

The hunt started.

When I found it, I discovered that I'd also bought the same toy for the LRB.  

These gifts will probably get both of them in trouble before Christmas Day is over, since they involve water.  But I probably won't be around to witness it, so . . . .   ;)

This morning, I wrapped almost everything I bought.  

Now that The Husband is out of the house for a while, I will wrap his stuff. 

If I can find it.

Announcements - December 19, 2024

1.  I have decided to retire.  Got a meeting with The Chief next week to work out the details.   

2. It is time to "get down to the nut-cuttin'" on Granddaughter #3's quilt.

    All of the 20 pre-stamped blocks are embroidered and ready to be made into a quilt.   I have chosen the quilt-as-you-go method of quilting because I didn't want to fool with frames.)  I chose to do it by hand because I like the feel of a hand-quilted quilt, plus I wanted to do it in my recliner.  

    Ten of the 20 blocks have been made into quilt sandwiches - block, batting, and backing, machine-basted together.  I've ready quilted 8 of the ten sandwich blocks.  Every block has a stamped seam line, 1/2" from the edge of the block. The finished size, assuming I can still sew a straight seam, will be 17" square.  Without sashing or borders, the finished size would be 56" x 73".  These measurements are skimpier than most full bed quilts.  The size could be increased with sashing, but I'm not sure I want any sashing.  Probably will add a border of some sort.

    I will have to sew the blocks together and then sew the borders on it without any seams showing.  Somehow.

    I probably will also have to trim down the batting to reduce bulk in the seams WITHOUT cutting the top or the backing.

    At this stage, it would probably be a good idea to try putting two blocks together to see if I've got the skills to do it!

  

Ewww... - December 17, 2024

Yesterday morning, I unloaded two boxes of records from my car and took them to the kitchen table to begin alphabetizing them.  The boxes have been wet at some point, and one of them collapsed as I was on my way through the living room.  Papers went everywhere.  I gathered them up and proceeded to the kitchen.  

About 1/4 of the way through the first box, I pulled out a folder that was moldy.  I didn't want to even touch it.  The records inside it were stuck together, and as I began to peel them apart, I started sneezing.  It occurred to me that this was probably not helping my cold.  I stopped peeling the pages apart, put them back in the moldy folder, and put them back in the box.  The next folder was moldy, too.

By this time, I'd already sorted a lot of the records into piles on the kitchen table.  I should either put the records back in their original folders or finish alphabetizing them all, but I did not want to proceed, at least not now, while I'm sick, and not on my kitchen table.  I gathered up all the records I'd already sorted, stuffed them back in the box, and took the boxes back to the car.  I will deal with them later, when I feel better, and the weather warms up enough for me to tolerate the cold, nasty workroom.

For the next few hours, I watched some videos about archiving.  It has been two or three weeks since I've checked in with The Boss to see if he's located space for the planned county archive.  At that time, he'd not had any success, so even if I knew everything there is to know about archiving, there's no place for me to get started.  I'm in limbo in that regard.

Mid-afternoon, I started thinking about what to fix for supper and decided to make a meatloaf.  Took some ground beef out of the freezer and put it in the sink to thaw.  It was ready to use by the time I needed to start supper.  The meatloaf came out of the oven just about the time The Husband was due home from work.  It was only when he was about 30 minutes late that I remembered he had a board meeting that night and would not be home for supper.  I also remembered that he had a work trip planned for today and Wednesday and would not be home for supper either of those nights.  

I would not have made a meatloaf just for me.  

When it cooled enough, I wrapped it up, put it in the refrigerator, and made myself some toast for dinner.  When The Husband finally came home, I learned that he'd cancelled the work trip.

At least I won't have to cook tonight.

Under the weather - December 16, 2024

Was it just last week that we went on the road trip across the state?  It seems like weeks ago.  

I came down with a sore throat and a seriously snotty nose while we were away.  I worried that it was strep throat.  Thursday, as we were on our way home, I called my doctor and asked that he call my pharmacy with a prescription for some antibiotics.  We stopped by the pharmacy on our way home and I popped the first pill in the car.  Been taking them faithfully ever since, but I'm not feeling much better.  Can't do anything without having to stop to blow my nose.  I spent most of the weekend reading or quilting in my recliner.  

The leather thimbles that I ordered before we left on our trip arrived while we were away.  By the time we got home, I'd punctured most of my fingers (sometimes with the dull end of the needle!).  The middle finger on my left hand - the "underneath hand" - is absolutely mangled, for I can't make any progress wearing a thimble or a pad on that finger.  I need to feel the needle coming through the back side of the quilt block to make sure it pierces all of the layers.  There are a few specks of blood on the back side of some of the blocks.

Still, the quilting is coming along, sore fingers notwithstanding.  Since I've had so much "down time" - in the car, in the hotel lobby, in the recliner - I've made good progress.  Almost finished the 7th block (out of 20) last night.  But it's back to work this week, so my progress will likely decline.  

There are four boxes of records in the back of my car, waiting to be alphabetized.  

I really, really do not want to work on them today.

But I probably will.

Dollywood - December 13, 2024

We're back, safe and somewhat sound, from The Husband's work trip to east Tennessee.  I say "somewhat" sound because I came down with a cold and a sore throat while we were there.

The meeting was supposed to occur in Ashville, NC, but - well, the flood.  The organizers were able to book last-minute accommodations at the HeartSong lodge at Dollywood.  It was a nice place, beautifully decorated for Christmas.  It was easy to get there.  The staff was friendly and helpful.  There was live music (a soloist) in the lobby every night that we were there.  The restaurant food was good.  No complaints at all, except that our room wasn't comfortable for sitting (there were nicer suites that had sitting room).  I spent a lot of time in the lobby lounge, working on my quilt blocks beside the windows, which faced a big patio with fire pits.

We got free passes to Dollywood for Tuesday.  Of course, The Husband was in meetings all day, and there was a group dinner that night, so we'd planned to go to Dollywood after dinner.  However, it was raining and nobody wanted to go.  Wednesday morning, while I was sewing by the windows, it started snowing.  It didn't stick - the high temperature on Tuesday was 70 - but it was nice to watch it falling.  After lunch, I ran into one of the other wives who said the lodge would give us a raincheck on our tickets, so when the conference finally ended Wednesday afternoon, The Husband and I bundled up and took the shuttle to the park.  It was all lit up.  Some of the rides were operating, but it was too cold for this old broad to be on a rollercoaster.  We walked around, listened to a choir sing Christmas hymns in front of an old-timey church building, hit a few shops (I so wanted a Dolly bobblehead for my "heroes" collection, but there was none to be found), and got frozen to the bone.  The place was a maze in the dark, and we finally had to ask for directions to the exit.  Thank goodness there was a hotel shuttle, warm and waiting, in the lot outside the gates. 

We hit the road early and got home in time to go to Granddaughter #2's Christmas concert.  The band started with "Sleigh Ride," and it gave me chills that had nothing to do with cold (the gym was an OVEN).

Dolly, if this gets back to you, make us a bobblehead.  The kid version of you in a coat of many colors would be awesome.  :)

'

I'm packed and ready to hit the road.  In my tote bag (which stays within reach in the car) are watercolor painting supplies, several quilt blocks, and a Kindle.  Good to go.  Waiting on The Husband

Yesterday, I went across the road to see if I could help with the renovation work.  Before I could get involved in anything, the Little Rotten Baby waylaid me, pushing a tiny shopping cart filled with tiny porcelain dolls.  "Grandmama, will you play dolls with me?"  I said I'd play for a minute.

There's no furniture in the house yet.  She asked, "Can you sit on the floor?"  I told her I could probably get down but might need help getting back up.  She said, "It's easy, Grandmama!" and flopped herself down on the floor then sprang back up to her feet to demonstrate.  I managed to sit, and asked her what game we were going to play with these dolls.

There were 12 of them, one for each month, dressed to the nines.  I'd given the girls these dolls a couple of years ago after we cleaned out Aunt M's apartment after her death.  At some point, prior to the LRB's memory, her mama had boxed them up for storage, and she'd found them again while packing to move.  The LRB was enthralled with them.  Her favorite was a dark-haired beauty, bejeweled and decked out in a frilly red dress.

The game was to line the dolls up on the floor, cover your eyes, and try to pick your favorite out of the bunch.  The LRB cheated like a big dog, peeking beneath her hand.  At one point, I tricked her by swapping the doll she was reaching for with another doll.  She pulled the same trick on me when it was my turn.

Rotten kid.  ;)

Road trip tomorrow, going all the way across the state.  There are dozens of things that I should be doing that are more important than writing this post.  But here I am.

In my defense, I'm all but packed for the trip.  Two days in the passenger seat and two days at the hotel don't require much of a wardrobe.  The catch is that there's a big dinner one night, and folks break out their party clothes for that, so I have to take something besides jeans and t-shirts so as not to embarrass The Husband.  ;)

I'm taking a couple of blocks to quilt during the drive.  The weather is going to be cold and yucky, and the town is going to be a madhouse to drive in, so I probably won't leave the hotel unless it's necessary.  I'm taking blank Christmas cards and watercolor supplies for the days I'm trapped in the room.

Son #2 is across the road, working on floors.  I should go help him.

A Night Out - December 7, 2007

We had tickets to see Billy Strings perform last night.  He is awesome.

I picked up The Brother-in-Law and Sister-in-Law early in the evening.  We met up with The Husband and Son #1 and his wife for dinner, then we went to the concert.  I was ashamed of myself for not getting tickets for Son #1, but I didn't, so we bought him a cool t-shirt at the concert.  

All of the pickers in the Billy Strings band are awesome.  

The only thing about concerts is that people in front of you will not sit their asses down.  I got tickets in a spot where I thought we might have minimal sight blockage, but I was wrong.  The whole place was on its feet.  I finally pecked the guy in front of me and asked him to move over a little bit so I could see better.  He might've moved two inches.  Not long after that, a friend joined him.  The friend seemed already about three sheets to the wind, and whatever he put up his nose a few minutes later made him seriously unsteady.  At one point, I was afraid he was going to fall backwards over the seat.

But, except for the rude people who would not sit down, it was a great concert.  

Hand Quilting - December 5, 2024

It's been a long time since I've hand-quilted anything.  When I started to quilt this first block for Granddaughter #3's quilt, I remembered why I wanted a quilting machine.  Hand quilting is hard.

It's hard to find the right needle.  There's a pile of them - all shapes and sizes - under that green bowl.  They're either sharp enough to draw blood on your "underneath hand" or too dull to pierce through all the layers while maintaining a reasonably small stitch.    

And dealing with thimbles....  OMG.  In all these years, I've never had a thimble that would stay on my finger.  I spend more time digging for it in the cushions than I do wearing it.  After working on this first block, I got online and ordered one of every kind of thimble I don't already have.  

But it's going better than I expected, so far.  

I used temporary adhesive to make the "sandwich," and then machine-basted the layers together, all the way around the square.  As you can see, the quilting is puckering the fabric a little.  This puckering may release when/if I take out the basting threads.  I suppose the block will need squaring later.

The quilting is going much faster than the embroidery.  It took anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks to embroider each of the blocks.  I quilted 80% of this first block last evening.  

Clean Slate - November 4, 2024

Looky here:

I am cleaning off my sewing room table in preparation for a NEW PROJECT!  :)

On top of that table is a very large, very dirty cutting mat.  It has seen better days, and I would get another one if I could find one.  It is splotched with all kinds of paint.  It is warped, having been subjected to irons, heat guns, and heat presses.  It has dust-encrusted rectangles of tape residue all over it (though how it ever got dusty under the pile of crap that's usually piled on top is something of a mystery).  I've squirted it down and scraped off the paint and goo.  It's got to be clean, because my new project is white.

This new project is going to be a quilt for Granddaughter #3.  I've hand-embroidered 20 very large blocks with hearts and flowers.  I want to quilt it by hand (if my hand will hold up to the job), but I don't want to set up a big quilt frame, so I'm going to try to quilt it in blocks and then set them together.  Somehow.

Next week, we're going on a long road trip.  This will be my travel project.  I'll put together a few "quilt sandwiches" before we leave, and quilt them in the car.  The quilting ought to be easy, as the blocks are already stamped with a pretty quilting design.  It's the putting them together that worries me.

Yes, I've watched videos.  

Wish me luck.

Coats - December 4, 2024

Here it is, the middle of the week, already.  I've been alphabetizing records on my kitchen table for the past two days.  Today, I need to take these records back where they belong and pick up another year's worth of records.  

It's been colder than a well digger's butt for the past few days, and I dread lugging boxes of records in and out of the car.  I do not have the right clothes for this type of weather.  And since I left my one warm coat at Cousin Gus's house on Thanksgiving, I'm really in a fix.  The Husband has about 100 coats, for some reason, so I'll borrow one of his for today, and if I can catch Cousin Gus at home on my way back from town, I'll stop and get my coat.

My old coat really needs to be thrown away, but it's the warmest coat I've ever had.  Jacket length, black, knit fabric, washable.  It's too big, which is great.  But it has tiny (but steadily enlarging) holes in the left shoulder, where I've worn decorative pins that have gotten larger and heavier over the years (to cover up the holes).

Before Friday, I need to shop for another coat and some long johns.  Friday night, we are going to a Billy Strings concert and will be out in the cold going to and from the venue.  Next week, The Husband has a work trip that will include a "drone show" one night.  We'd both like to see that, if we can cope with the cold.  

Son #2's renovation project is coming along, despite a bunch of nasty surprises.  He's finally laying flooring; it's going down fast.  I think that as soon as the flooring is done, they will move in before the rest of the renovations are complete.  

 

Saturday morning, when I went across the street to help with the flooring job at Son #2's house, I discovered that it was not "flooring day" but "dump day."  In the front yard was a pile of debris from the renovation project that had grown about as tall as I am, and #2 and his wife were loading it, piece by piece, onto a trailer.  I put my gloves on and joined the party.  Every board in the pile had nails in it, and I tore my crepe-y old skin right off the bat.  It took five trailer loads to clear the pile. When the last load pulled away, there was still a load of bricks to be dealt with.  The Husband got out the tractor.  We put all the bricks in the tractor bucket, shoveled up the chunks, and he dumped them in a ditch at the edge of the bean field to help stem the erosion.  

In between dump trips, I came home and stirred up some chili in the crock pot.  When the renovation work stopped for the day, Son #2 and family came over for chili dogs.  Everybody was pooped.

Yesterday, The Husband and I could not offer much help with the renovation work.  #2 was doing some wiring work (he's an electrician by trade) and needed only one helper.  Since it was cold outside, I mostly spent the day reading in my recliner.  Left-over chili made a quick supper.

This morning, I have to run some errands, then I've got to come home and sort papers.  Such a fun day ahead.  ;)