Thursday, December 25, 2008

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

MERRY CHRISMAS TO EVERYONE!!!!!!!!





Thursday, December 18, 2008

Life at the Funny Farm

Do you see a pattern here? Thursdays seem to be the "adventure day". This might be because this is the day I take Aud to have her hair done and then we run whatever errands need to be done and usually go eat somewhere that has "good food".

I actually thought maybe today would be a good day with no adventures because yesterday I had to run some errands. Pick up prescriptions, mail some mail, make bank deposit, pick up milk, you know, that kind of thing. Well, I picked up the prescriptions, mailed the mail, and stopped at Starbucks to replenish my coffee and tea supply. I opened my purse to get my Starbucks card out of it, and lo and behold, my wallet that has my life in it was not in my purse. Of course I had to come home and get it and go back, and then I was able to get through the rest of the errands without any problems.

So today should have been an adventure free day. It wasn't, and I can't even blame Aud for this one, lol. We went to the hair salon, and then we had the problem of where do we eat. There are only 4 or 5 restaurants that Aud will eat at, and I am tired of most of them. One of her favorite places to eat is Luby's Cafeteria, YUK!!!! It was foggy and I needed to go that way because I wanted to go to Best Buy for a printer cartridge. We don't want to eat fried food. Right

What does Audry order? Fried chicken, lol. Suffice to say the food was it's usual tasteless drivel, and holy cow, have the prices gone up at this cafeteria. Awful!!! Aud paid the bill, thank you Mother, and we went to the health food store.

I run in and grab the products I have to have, get to the checkout counter and I don't have my wallet with me. What!!! So I write a check, which of course I don't have any identification for. They get the manager, she remembers me, and I get my pills. I am so embarrassed!

Then off to Best Buy. Aud loans me the money to get my cartridge and I go in, pick it up and go to the check out lane. It is not short of course, and I am standing in it, and all of a sudden, realize my coat is on wrong side out, lol. I had to laugh as I stand there taking off my coat so I can turn it to the right side.

By now I am just a little bit on the jumpy side so we come on home. My new glasses that I picked up yesterday do allow me to see better when I am driving, even though the bifocal lens is a little higher than I like, at least they are tinted some and the glare isn't bothering me as much. Hmm, being very foggy outside might have helped, lol.

So I have survived another Thursday. I think I will eat some clam dip...it is good soul food.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Thinking about a Green Christmas

I don't want anyone to faint at the fact that I am actually posting, lol. I have been in a funk for the last couple of weeks and I just didn't want to talk to anyone or say anything. I just wanted to sulk.

I think I am on the road to coming out of my funk though. I went to the eye doc the end of last week and she informs me I have eye allergies, and fussed at me for not coming in sooner. I just assumed my eyes were red and hurting from all of the glare and I have been staying in the house and in the dark trying to keep my eyes and my head from hurting. Anyway, she gave me a script for eye drops and I am having my glasses tinted (they aren't back yet) and my eyes have actually felt good enough I have done some sewing the past 2 days. Shock! She also thinks I need to see my regular doctor since I am having severe headaches all the time. I asssumed they were from the eyes also. She thinks I am having migraines. More maintenance needed here. I think I am going to paint a big sign and wear it. It will say "Maintenance in progress, do not disturb", lol.

Oh, well, anyway, what I really want to talk about is the spirit of giving. This year is getting so tough on so many people, my problems feel very minuscule in comparison. Every day on TV there are reports of the shelters for the homeless being overrun due to the economy, and the Food Bank running out of food faster.

It is so bad here that the local Food Bank is actually fixing paper sacks full of milk and nutricious snacks for school children to take home with them on Friday afternoons because that is all they will have to eat for the weekend. Even my grandaughter's 3rd grade class at her school has taken on the Food Bank as their Comunity Service project. They go down there and help get the sacks ready for distribution. Wonderful training for our future citizens.

So, I have decided, since my family and friends are not suffering from this economy at the moment, that, instead of giving presents like I usually do, I am going to go online and donate the money I would normally spend on gifts to the local Food Bank. That will be less junk to fill up the landfills too, so it is a "green" thing to do. If you are wondering at this late date what you can possible get for "such and such", consider doing something of this nature in their name.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Life at the Funny Farm

Well, I knew it wouldn't be quiet around here forever, but I was hoping for a little bit more time before we had another "adventure".

A little background. When my son was 2, he is now 38, I locked my car keys and him in the car when we lived in Baton Rouge. Don't ask me how I did that, I guess I was dingy then too, lol. I remember it was around noon and it was hot as you know what and I was frantic! Anyway I had to call my husband and have him come open the car door. From that time on I have never been without 2 sets of keys. The one I use to drive with and an extra set that I keep in whatever purse I am carrying around. I have never locked my keys in the car since then.

A little more background. After we had Aud's car "all tuned up etc" and agreed we were going to drive her car and give mine to one of the grandkids, Aud had a change of heart, and decided that she didn't want to be without a car. Ok, I can relate to that, no problem. "So just hang both sets of my car keys on the key rack by the door and that way I won't have to bother you for the keys if I need them". Fine. And there the Buick keys reside unless one of us is driving the car. I only drive it when I am taking Aud to an appointment.

So, fast forward to today, first of all, I really didn't want to get up. I had to go to the periodontist for a deep cleaning. If anyone reading this knows about that kind of cleaning, you know I was dreading it. My appt was at one, so I got up at 12, grabbed some cereal, dressed and away I went. Nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof, lol.

When I got there, I said hello at the desk and sat down. A few minutes later the receptionist looks at me and says, are you Judy? No, I'm Perry. Oh, I didn't recognize you without the purple in your hair. What happened? It was supposed to be redone last week but we went out of town so it gets done today after I finish here. And we had a good laugh. Actually, I giggled. Hmm, I may have to start behaving myself.

My teeth were in pretty good shape thanks to a new treatment I have been using for the last 6 weeks, so the cleaning went pretty good. I stop and get a Starbucks on the way home and Aud is ready to go so we go to the beauty salon. It is cold here right now, in the 30's. The wind is blowing and Aud is freezing of course.

I get my hair cut and purpled....by the way, my hair is now standing straight up on top of my head, lol....short and punked! I tried to take a picture, but it didn't turn out very good so you don't get to see it. Aud gets her washed and set.

We leave and head out to a small specialty shoe store we shop at to pick up some shoe inserts for Aud. We get there, she tells me to just run in and pick them up and she will wait in the car. Ok. So, I go in and chat with the "boys" and get the inserts and head out to the car. They have gotten in some German wool houseshoes that are wonderful and I am admiring them. I walk out and get in the car which is right in front of the window, .....look, Aud..aren't those neat houseshoes? Is that what they are? Yes, ....we need some of those, let's go look at them. Out of the car and into the store and we try on houseshoes, each of us get a pair, and we head back out to the car.

Ooops, no keys! Nothing unusual there, I lose them in my purse all the time, but no, they are not there. Of course not, I have left them in the car laying on the console because Aud always wants me to leave her the keys if I get out of the car and leave her in it. AND, the car is locked!
Where are the extra keys! Why, at home of course, hanging on the key rack.

We go back in the store and are trying to decide what to do, and I talk Kevin, the owner, into taking me home to get the other set. It is almost closing time and I know it will take an hour for anyone to come get in the car. He agrees, we only live about 5 miles from the store.

So, we leave Aud at the store and drive to the house to get the other set of keys. Luckily, I had my car keys in my purse and the house key was on them. Oh, no, another problem occurs to me. We live in an old house. The back door is a sliding patio door that does not have an entry lock on it. It has a bar across one side, and the whole bit, lol. The front door has a glass storm door on it and no key lock, so I can't open the front door because of the storm door being locked. Of course I can't get into the garage because the garage door opener is in the car. The only way in is a side door off of the garage, and I am not sure the key I have fits it, lol.

I call my youngest daughter to see if she is still in the city, and yes she is, but she doesn't have her key to our house with her, it is at home. Well, maybe I will get lucky and this one will work. And thank heavens, it does and I am able to get in the house and get the other set of keys. I call Dana and tell her all is ok, and we go back to the shoe store. Meanwhile I have made sure I have gotten in the car with this set of car keys and haven't dropped them. I put them in the side pocket of my purse.

We get almost to the shoe store, and I start looking for the keys. Can't find them anywhere. I finally give up and figured I had dropped them on the floor of the car. Open the car door, not there, ok, let's go in and I will see if I can figure out where I dropped them. I start looking through my purse and finally find the things, they have attached themselves to a magnet, and they are there.

By now I am a nervous wreck. It is dark, I am not seeing well in the dark, and I haven't had anything to eat since noon and it is 6:30. We are both famished. Of course we always go to eat when we are having adventures, so we go to our favorite Mexican restaurant and eat steak tacos...wonderful things.

Then we have to stop at the health food store for pills for Aud and then we go home. I get home without running over anyone and collapse.

The "other set" of Aud's car keys are now in my purse where they will live as long as we have that car. Unreal, lol.

Not leaving the house tomorrow or Saturday for sure, lol. Maybe Sunday.........

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Just a Quick Note

Hi, nothing going on here lately to talk about. Have been flying under the radar and doing some reading and watching TV and dreaming about working on quilts instead of actually doing any sewing.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We went to my oldest daughter's house over the holidays. Had a seafood dinner for Thanksgiving Day because her oldest son is in his "I want to be a vegetarian" stage. I put that in parens because who knows with teenagers how long their "stages" are going to last, lol.

I cooked scallops and angel hair pasta with sauce, Summer cooked barbecued shrimp and Kurt smoked fish on the grill. He also smoked a turkey for thanksgiving eve when we had some dressing etc. Scalloped potatoes, stacked green salad, jello salad, rolls, etc, all of that stuff. Great food.

We also played Mahjong while we were there. That was a lot of fun also.

The Sooners ended up winning the South Big 12 and are scheduled to play Missouri this coming Saturday in Kansas City. Speaking of, Sharon, is our bet still on? If so, then you better be ready to lose, Oklahoma is play pretty tough, lol. I am so excited, they have been playing so well lately it has been a joy to watch them.

Need to do some Christmas sewing, and just not in the mood. Am so far behind on everything. I am blaming my lack of accomplishments on my eyes bothering me bunches, and my hands hurting like the dickens from the RA. I have doc appts next week; hopefully they will have some answers for me. Not whining here, just tired of not feeling like doing anything.

Our weather is getting wintery and I think Aud has hunkered down for the winter. Can't get her out of the house.

Have been ready some very salacious books lately. I skip those parts because the story line is so intriguing I am really enjoying them. Also reading Obama's first book. He is a good writer, just as he is a good speaker. I am hoping that all will be well with our economy with him at the helm. I didn't vote for him but I think he will make an excellent leader.

Hope everyone is doing ok during these stressful days. We just have to have hope that things will be better soon, so hang in there. Hmm, didn't mean to get on a soap box, lol. Guess I have been watching the news too much.

All for now, will try to post more often. It is 4 am here and I am just now going to bed; still having trouble sleeping, so I don't go to bed until around this time, and sleep until noon or one. Absolutely ridiculous I know, but I can't seem to stop.

Oh, well, somewhere it is daylight now, right? lol

Lots of hugs to all.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

A Little Quilting Going on Here!

I have a couple of quilty things to post.....kinda of a poor offering for a funny week, but that's another post....maybe for tomorrow, lol.

Lois of G Gma's Quilts had a giveaway last week and I WON!!!! This is right up my alley, a batik pattern quilt book and some batiks!!! Thank you so much , Lois! This is a great book, and would you believe I don't have any of these batiks you sent? lol
The other thing I won was a gift certificate from The Fat Quarter Shop for having the first month of the Simply Sophisticated BOM finished and posted on LAQuilter. This is what it went toward. Urban Couture by Moda. I just love, love, love it! !!! I think the pattern shown will shown off the patterns in the collection to perfection because the pieces aren't real small.

And, since I have such an "abundant" stash, I decided to use some of it for the quilt I am going to make in a class this Saturday. This is the one I cut out all of those pieces the wrong size, lol. So I did have to buy a little bit of fabric to replace what I miscut. Would you believe I had nothing in my stash that was big enough and "right" to replace it?

Here is a piece of one block. I thought I better try to wrap my head around the construction of this block before I went to class, lol.




This is the fabric I chose for the quilt. It is all Thimbleberries from my stash and I have had it for several years.



It has taken me over a week to get this quilt cut out. Unreal! However, I have been feeling better, thank goodness. I sure hope you'll have been more productive in your quilting than I have. I am afraid at the rate I am going, the Xmas presents I need to make are going to not happen. Oh, well, maybe my Christmas will happen in June next year.
Hugs to all!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Life at the Funny Farm

Actually, it's been pretty quiet this week around here. In retrospect, a couple of instances do come to mind.

We have a cleaning lady that comes every 2 weeks. Aud made this "rum" cake, and I swear she put twice the amount of rum in there that is called for. We ate on it last weekend, and I told her to ether throw it away or give it away. So, we gave it to the cleaning lady. She said it was good. lol. I guess there wasn't much else she could say.

This week I have been cutting out a quilt for a class I am taking next Saturday. I haven't been feeling real good, so it has been a very tedious process. I was on the very last part of it on Friday when Aud interrupted me about ordering something from a catalog. By then I had cut out 88- 3 1/2 inch squares. When I went back to my instructions, I realized I had made a mistake, they should have been 88- 3 1/4 inch squares! So, I very carefully recut them to be 88 =3 1/4 inches. Then I got interrupted again. When I went back to my instructions, I realized that they really SHOULD HAVE BEEN 3 1/2 inches!! And, it seldom happens, but I did not have enough fabric to recut them! Oh, dear, quilt store trip coming up! Saturday I got up before noon, that is definitely a sacrifice!....and went to the quilt store. Picked up 3 yards that will do for a substitute. I figured there was no way I could screw up 3 yards just cutting the 88 squares and some strips, lol. After I got home, I realized the fabric I had bought was not going to go with the setting triangles that I had already cut out. Of course by then the fabric store was closed. I guess I will be heading back there tomorrow. And the fabric that I was using was all from stash!! So much for stash busting!

We watched the football games Saturday afternoon. OU won again, OSU lost to Texas Tech. OU plays Texas Tech in two weeks....that will be some kind of football game.

Also got an email from Best Buy about a private sale Sunday night. And they were going to have a minimum of 30 Wiis available. We have been talking about getting one and the Wii Fit to go with it. Both of us are not getting any exercise and we both really really need it. I am getting to the point where I have "non stamina"!!!! I was reading the paper this afternoon when I finally got up and everybody in town was advertising them. So, I called my local Game Stop which is 5 minutes from here....any chance you have a Wii?....yes.....really?....hold it for me, my name is Perry and I will be there in 5 minutes....ok.....

I get dressed, drive quickly to the store and buy a Wii, a Wii Fit, and an extra controller and numchuk....so exciting!!! Go home, start opening it all up and trying to get it hooked up right....... just read, Aud, to yourself please...now where was I? Of course the #%#% thing won't work, I can't get the menu, so I turn everything off, and we go out to eat.

I order a pizza at one of our favorite restaurants...I usually order scallops but I really wasn't all that hungry...and when it comes it is so hot with pepper I can't eat it...so I send it back and get some spinach and artichoke fromaggio instead. It was ok....

Then, back to the house, reread the manual and finally get the Wii working. We are fiddling around with it trying to get used to it, and Aud is waving her controller around like she is slapping a fly swatter, and we are both hysterical from laughter, lol......We spent a couple of hours playing around and finally decided we were worn out. Havn't tried the Wii Fit yet. I did get the Wii connected to the internet, but couldn't figure out what I was doing...read a manual? who, me?...

I decided to get the Wii and my Nintendo DS registered online. Finally get the Nintendo site up, find the numbers I need for the registration, type them in, and type in today's date and hit submit. Then I try to look for Tetris and "they" tell me I can't buy it because I am not over 13! I have to submit a letter with my parents authorization to buy anthing! LOL.....I can't change the darn date, and of course at midnight nobody is there to talk to, so I am stymied until morning! Bummer!!!!

And that was the sum total of my exciting, non productive week. Hope you all had one and this one will be too!! (productive, that is)

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Maintenance

Thanks to everyone who cheered me up about my health. Not to worry, as the cancer doc says, "It's Just Maintenance from here on out!" lol I will just have good and bad days and now I will have an excuse for not doing something if I don't want to. I think I will also use it as an excuse to not get all of my points straight anymore. For the life of me I cannot understand why I am having so many problems with that, but hopefully, when I grow up, that will disappear.

I have been remiss in thanking Vicky and The Fat Quarter Shop for the Gift Certificate I won for doing my Simply Sophisticated blocks on time for a change! lol. If you haven't joined this one, I think you still can and IF you get them done by some time that Vicky has ascertained you should have done them by each month, you can link to her blog and hope she will pull your name from the hat for a $25.00 gift certificate. On second thought, forget that. I could just win it every month since I keep up so well, lol. Of course I have already spent it, and when my purchase gets here I will share it with you.

I have decided this year I will get some Christmas presents made early. I found this Santa at The Christmas Cloth Store. It is a postcard out of fabric and is 5 x 7 before you add anything to it. I decided to add 3 borders to it, and call it done. Isn't it cute? Check them out. There are several collections available and instructions on using them are included in the package. You can use them in quilts and on postcards. I think your imagination is the only thing that would keep you from doing whatever with them. This one really is straight, it just looks crooked on this stand. I put some batting in it, should have made it stiffer if I wanted to display it this way.


During my funky week I had to get up to go the monthly OK Guild Meeting. There was a class being held the following day, and several of the women I meet with each month were taking it and I decided that would be fun. I forgot my camera, and I can't seem to get the pictures from my phone downloaded, lol. Anyway this is what I made. Super easy and I think it looks great. Now to get it quilted.


Here are my Designer Blocks through month 5. Caught up with those.



Not caught up with this one, but I will get there eventually. I am having lots of problems with points on this one and the Star BOM I am doing. Makes me want to stomp my foot and scream.


And I am now beginning the time consuming task of embellishing my Peace and Plenty Blocks. I don't have them all finished, but am trying to work on them along.


On this one I decided to add another strawberry so the block wouldn't look so wonky. Thinking about putting some black french knots on the strawberries, but haven't done that yet.

And, Aud and I did get to and from the beauty shop and the grocery store without any "adventures", thank goodness. I did get my hair cut too short and the only reason we had no adventures at the grocery store is I went by myself, lol.
On the football scene, OU won, OSU won, and Texas got beat by Texas Tech, who looked awesome. I think OU plays them in a couple of weeks and that is always a nail bitter. This is turning out to be a great football season in the Big 12. And Sharon I don't think you will have to worry about losing a football bet to me, we won't be playing Missouri this year, lol.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Life at The Funny Farm

First of all, I have been in a grand funk for over a week. It all started when I had to go to see a rheumatologist. The bloodtests that were taken during my yearly physical in July showed markers for this stuff. The R doc informed me that I probably have the beginnings of lupus, not too common, but possibly hereditary. Figures, my father had it. Of course there are things that go along with it like dry eyes that itch and burn, and fatigue. Well, that I have definitely had for a while and my thumbs are driving me crazy because they hurt all of the time. I told him there was no way I was taking any more medicine than I was already taking and he said that was fine, drew some blood and said...see you in 6 months. Don't have the blood test results yet.

So, I promptly came home and went to bed and have basically done nothing to speak of but sleep for most of the past week. I did manage to take a short quilting class Friday, but that is all. Made a cute wall hanging which I will show a picture of soon.

Saturday I watched football games all day, played games on the computer, and finally decided to start reading The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. I finished it up tonight. This book was one of Oprah's choices, which means doodley to me, but I did read some of the reviews on it, and thought I would try it. I have a Kindle and it is such a joy to decide you want to read a book, go find it on Amazon, download it and voila, instant gratification. If you don't know about Kindles, just type in Amazon.com and go read about them. Great "inventions"!!! Oprah likes them so much she gave all of one of her studio audiences one and there is a $50 coupon on her site for them. It will be there for a few more days, but not long.

Aud informed me on Monday we needed to return her Ugg boots; they didn't fit right. Ok, fine, we can drop the Buick off to have the a/c fixed.....especially since it is only 58 degrees outside and we might need the a/c....and then we will return the boots. So off we go. She drives the Buick to Smicklaus Chevrolet and then we go to Dilliards. We return the boots, she buys another pair of shoes, we both try on lots of shoes which don't fit, get some cosmetics and then go to a restaurant in the mall that we both like to have "lunch". Of course it is 4 because we didn't get up until noon.

Had a great lunch. Chicken alfredo sandwiches with an olive relish of some sort and a green salad and wonderful raspberry tea. Then I go get the car and drive up close to the door so Aud doesn't have to walk too far. She has packages in her hand, and when she sits her cane down to open the door it falls down. A very nice man stops and picks it up and she thanks them, gets her packages in the car, and off we go.

I want to stop at Staples, I need some glue for a project and Aud wants some colored paper clips. We get to Staples, I walk in and ask the clerk at the register, who isn't busy, where the glue is. I don't know, it's down one of these isles and he starts walking along the front of them.....ok...which one.....I don't know. He looks back toward his register and a woman has approached it so he turns around and heads back. Wait, where are you going, I don't know where it is, ask that woman, and he points toward another clerk who is helping someone on one of the aisles. She is busy, you look it up, you are supposed to know where things are.

He is frantically looking around, I am glaring at him, the woman at the register is looking at us both like we are crazy, and he hollers at another clerk who has shown up down the way and asks him where the glue is. It is on isle 5. Ok, fine, of course it is in the back of the store, but I trudge down there, and they must have 50 kinds of glue, but not the one I am looking for. I wander around and find another clerk coming out of the storeroom and he helps me look and he can't find any either, so I thank him very much and head toward the front. I have decided I am not going to buy the paper clips there, they are too expensive and I am really irritated now!!!

I stop and ask the clerk that knows where the glue was if he is the manager. No, but can I help you? Yes, I don't appreciate the idiot at the front not knowing where the glue is. I thought the purpose of people who work in stores was to know their merchandise and to help people. He did neither, and I think someone needs to get him trained properly. Yes ma'am, and I get another one of "those" looks. As I walk toward the exit, the idiot says, are you ready to check out now, and I give him one of my best "steely" look and tell him I didn't find anything I wanted, and left.

I walk out the door and there is Aud, white as a sheet, standing outside of the car. What's wrong, I have lost my purse. What? You haven't been anywhere, where did you lose it. Now that is a dumb question of course, but one that you always say when something like this happens. I don't know, I must have left it on the curb when I dropped my cane and put my packages in the car. Well it won't be there now, but we'll go back and look. So we head back to the mall. Of course it isn't on the sidewalk, so I drop her off at the entrance and tell her to see if she left it in the restaurant. I get the car turned around and head back so I can pick her up and a few minutes later she comes out with purse in hand.

When she walked in the restaurant the couple that was sitting there said your waiter put it in the back, so Aud retrieves her purse from someone else, our waiter was busy, and comes out to get in the car. Did you give him a tip Aud? No, didn't think about it, well I think he should get one, ok, here, take him this. So, I leave the car running, go in the restaurant, find the waiter, give him a tip, which really pleased him, and we leave.

By now Aud is so stressed she is beside herself and I feel so sorry for her. We did have a laugh, more of relief than anything else. I told her we didn't need to have another adventure so close to the last one, lol. I am so glad she found it; she had all of her credit cards in there and quite a bit of cash. So we go home and crash.

We have been out every day this week and something silly has happened every day. As Aud says this evening when we were coming home from having dinner with my daughter and one of the grandsons, this has been the longest week, and it is only half over. Do you think we will make it through without any more "things" happening? Don't know Aud, tomorrow is hair day, who knows. And I need to buy groceries, oh, I will go with you, ....ok....well, that will probably be the next adventure, it always is when we go buy groceries together, lol.

Hope you are all having a great week. For those of you who read my blog and don't have an email for replies to commments, thank you for stopping by, I always enjoy reading them.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Summer's Last Hurrah

The weather has been so gorgeous this week, and the flowers in the front yard are looking so good I had to share them with you. These are the azaleas blooming above the impatiens, aren't they just gorgeous? They will bloom until the first freeze gets them. Last year it was December before they went away.

As you can tell from this bed the impatiens are taking over.

Here are the periwinkles and caladiums. I had a young man come help me clean up the yard and get it mulched and ready for winter a couple of weeks ago, and it has looked so good since then.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Star BOM Block 5 and 6

Judy at Patchwork Times is doing a Star BOM that I am involved in. Thank you Judy! I am enjoying doing these blocks!

This is Block 6.




This is Block 5



Another Day at the Funny Farm

A little background here. Remember the story about the Buick Reviera? Well I had to take it in after I got back from Kansas because of the leak that was over the right front tire.


"Just a small leak, it is probably nothing. Probably just some oil that dripped down when they worked on it before". right......well, it is going to get checked out.

One day later, a new water pump, sparks plugs etc, and something else I don't remember what now, and a goodly amount of money "it's fixed"!!! I get the van to come get me so I can pick it up and I pay for it, get in the car, start to drive off and the a/c isn't blowing cold air. I back it back into the shop, and they take it off and, as usual, I have not bought any of my "kill time" toys with me, so there I sit twiddling my thumbs. About 30 minutes later it is bought back and a hose had come loose and that was all. Ok, thanks, and off I go.

I get about 20 minutes away and I see a light come on that I assume is the "check engine" light, say a few bad words, and go on home. That will just have to wait. The car hasn't been driven since until Thursday afternoon.

Every Thursday afternoon, most of the time at 3 pm, Aud gets her hair done. Since she has stopped driving supposedly I take her. She has informed me the night before she needs some shoes and some bluejeans so we are going to have to go shopping.

I hate, hate, hate, to go shopping unless I am going to a quilt store. I buy everything I can online. But my sweet mother loves to shop. She doesn't always have the stamina for it anymore so she buys a lot of stuff online too. But about twice a year we venture out on a shopping trip.

Ok, so here we are, we have been to the beauty salon, her hair looks wonderful as usual, and we head off to her favorite shoe store to buy shoes. I have called to make sure they have time to see her. This is one of those very small stores that sells shoes fit to your foot. I tell them we will be there in 10 minutes. I no sooner hang up the phone than lo and behold the Check Engine Soon light comes on. I am at an exit on the turnpike so I head off..."it is nothing", yes it is, I am not going to drive around town with this light on, "well, it won't hurt", I am not doing this, we are going to the auto repair shop. By now, I have called and cancelled our appt at the shoe store.

We get to our favorite place, drive in, Mario, who knows us well by now, comes up and asks what is wrong. Well, Mario, the Check Engine Soon and the A/C needs service lights are on. You two go set down in the waiting room and let me see what I can find out.

We go in the waiting room, sit down in front of this huge Sony TV that is blaring, but we can't see it because the only place you can see it from is 1 seat and it is occupied, and not by us. A man in a suit, his name is Jay, comes up and asks if we need anything.

Yes, if you are going to have a TV blaring the least thing you can do is provide seats where you can see it and have blinds on the window to cut the glare. Well, we can move your chairs over here in front of it. No, then the man that is sitting there who can see it (and looks like he has swallowed a prune) won't be able to. I don't care for tvs anyway, but you could at least have some decent magazines. He laughs, and says there's nothing out there I don't know about, just ask me what do you want to know.

So we are having this off the wall conversation and I don't remember exactly what was said, but he tells us he is 49 years old and has just had a quadruple bypass and a 3 hernia operations. Of course I have to laugh. How can you have 1 hernia, let alone 3, without knowing about it? lol.....he was a delightful soul and Aud and I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with him.

Here comes Mario to tell us that the a/c needs freon in it, and that is why the light has come on. They cannot figure out why the check engine light has come on, so when that happens again drive straight to the shop and don't turn the car off. Now the bad part of this is they no longer make the freon that goes in this car. You have to have a kit to convert the air conditioner to be able to use the new freon. Of course! So what are we looking at? Oh, about 180, but I would wait until next spring, you don't need the a/c now. Well, maybe he doesn't, but he isn't old and harmonal, lol. I will take it in next week.

One of the stops we intended to make was at a Mexican restaurant that we dearly love, and we are starving because we have not eaten since breakfast at 11 am. So we do that, and as usual it was delicious.

Next stop, Dilliard's. I park at the door that is closest to what I hope is the women's clothing. I can always find a parking place at this door. We go in, and go by the shoes, "just in case". Oh my goodness, Aud finds 2 pair of Cole Hahns, and a pair of Ugg boots that she can wear!!! Wonderful!! Please hold these for us and we will come back to get them later.

Upstairs on the escalator, which is always an adventure, since Aud is unsteady and has her cane. We find a wonderful salesclerk called Pural that helps us. 1 pair of bluejeans, and 3 new outfits later, we are through! Ooops, where is the nearest restroom? Oh, across on the other side of the store of course. So we traipse across the store, and sit down in the chairs in the "little girl's room" ro recuperate from our walk.

Well, lets take the elevator down, so we ask where it is, and it is on the side we came from, and I am not walking that far. So I ask one of the salesclerks to help get Aud on the escalator without falling down, and she does, thank heavens. We pick up the shoes, and by now it is dark, so I ask the shoe salesman to watch us walk to our car, because I don't want to go to jail if someone tries to rob us and I accidently kill him, lol. So we all traipse out. I know I have parked in a "crip space" and I know where I have parked the car...but it is not there.

Someone must have taken it. You are just like your Daddy! He use to call me from the Fat Stock Show and tell me someone had stolen the car! And I would ask him where he had parked it and he would tell me, and I would have to go get him and take him to the car. Of course by then he was watching the horses, so it took forever to get back home.

Oh, here comes the lot patrol. I wave him down and ask him if he will see if he can spot it. Sure, so he takes off and starts going up and down the isles and I have decided it has been stolen because I know where I parked it, and that spot is empty!! The lot patrol starts passes us about this time to go down the next isle and it dawns on me we have come out of the wrong door! So I go running down the isle hollering for him to stop and telling him we have come out the wrong door! Mother is standing at the entrance with her cane and part of the packages in her arms, and I have my arms full of clothes, and both of us are exhausted. I ask Keith, by now I feel I have known him forever, lol, if he will take us to our car, as the right entrance is on the other side of the building, lol.

Of course, so we pick up Aud, pile in and he drives us around to our car. I don't think we would have made it if he hadn't, lol. And sure enough, the car is right where it was parked, in the exact parking place I thought it was, just at a different entrance, lol.

SO, Aud and I get out of the patrol car, load our packages into the trunk, thank Keith profusely, climbe in the car, look at each other and just laugh. I cannot believe all of this has happened. I never forget where I park the car, or I should say, never until now. What next I wonder?

Stay tuned, who knows what where out next adventure will be, lol.

Hope everyone has had a great week!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Goodbye Kansas - Hope to see you Next Year!

Well, this adventure is over and it sure was a good one.

These are the batiks I gathered from all of the stores I was in. Mostly I buy third yards, but a couple of these are 1 yard.


These are the backing fabrics that I bought in Yoder for 5.00 a yard. Love it!!! I bought some patterns and some yardage but didn't take any pictures of them and they have been put away. Sorry about that, maybe you will see them made into something one of these days, lol.

To back up a little, when I drove to Kansas, I had a small map that basically told me where Kathy's house was. I am good with maps (hah) and I figured out the most efficient way to get to her house. I turned down this road and figured after about a mile that the street crossing it wasn't in existence so I thought, what the heck, eventually there will be another road going back to the west.
This was my present for persevering down that road. This cemetary is so unique. See how the trees are all bending over? The prevailing winds up there are from the south I think, and these trees all bend to the north.
Very clean and very inviting, if a cemetary can be called that. Kathy assures me there are some very old graves out there, and next time I go to Kansas I intend to investigate.
I got up Monday morning, drank a cup of coffee, and headed out to Oklahoma. I figured I had enough gas to stop at the turnpike restaurant to get gas and eat a donut or something and get some orange juice. I had forgotten to ask where the closet McDonald's was that we had gone through on Saturday morning.
I stopped and got my gas and my stale donut and some oj and headed on down the road. Just after I crossed the OK/Kansas line, which I intended to take a picture of, but I never saw anything that told me that I was in OK until it was too late to take a picture.
Anyway, Sharon ,I have a town named after me too! It is to the east of I-35 not too far from the Kansas border. This town is actually named for an ancestor of mine several generations back. One of these days maybe I will investigate and get all of the particulars.

I made good time and stopped at Starbucks in OKC and went home, unloaded the car, gave Aud a kiss, and took a nap, lol. I am sure Kathy was totally exhausted, poor thing, she had to go to work on Monday. However, it took me about 3 days before I really knew where I was again.
I am hoping to go again next year if I can get some of this stuff I bought made up. Don't place your bets though, I haven't gotten much done since I got home.
Hope you enjoyed this trip if you have been following it. Wish you could have been with us, we had lots of laughs.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Kansas Shop Hop - Part 11

I have this post and the one below it out of order, lol.

On Sunday morning we got up around 9 and had a wonderful breakfast of bacon, eggs, biscuits and gravy and great coffee, thanks to Kim. He is such a dear.

Then we headed out to Derby, which is south and a little east of Wichita on 15. The quilt store is called Sunflower Quilts

Here is Annette, a very sweet lady who answered lots of our questions and cut our fabric for us. When we got there around 11 it wasn't busy as yet and we got lots of attention, lol.


Some discussion of a pattern I believe.


This is pattern that they are going to order for me. It has y seams in it which I do not care for, but the pattern intriqued me very much. Some of it is hidden behind the table.



Check out this sample. Cool, huh? It is a Karen Combs Studio pattern.


I don't remember what this is, but I know it is one of the newer Moda lines.

This is a block of the month I think. I know I have seen it on Vicky's blog. Really pretty quilt.



This sample looks like it was done with batiks, but is really done in cottons. I intend to do it with batiks, and Annette told me I could download the pattern from Hoffman California. Look under their quilt patterns. It is called Savannah Streets and is 67 x 83.

There was a whole room devoted to Kansas Troubles and their patterns. This one is called Wildflower Star Duet. They have it kitted and all of the samples are just beautiful.

A Christmas sample maybe? It is called Block Party and may be a BOM. I have this out of order, it should be before the Kansas Troubles.

Here is another Kansas Troubles pattern. It is called Flower Basket trio. They do have a kit available on this one also. Now that I look at it again, I wish I had bought this one too.
And then we come to this one. I fiddled around and mumbled to myself about buying the kit because I have the majority of this fabric, just not the large runs of the middle pieces. I had to laugh, one of the women in that room that was stamping passports and I were talking about the samples and how wonderful they were, and, as she said, there are some cold winter nights coming up, lol. Okay, fine, so this kit found it's way home with me. It is 90 x 100. It just smacks of home to me.


We paid our way out of this store and headed down the road to Severy. I told Annette and crew I would be back. Great store! I am sure if any of these samples call to you, you can call Annette and get her to mail to you.

Kansas Shop Hop - Part 12

After we left Derby we headed out on Highway 400 going east. It seemed like it took us forever to get to the Needle in a Haystack . I think both of us had about decided it wasn't worth it when all of a sudden, over the "hill" and in the middle of nowhere there appeared this tall "Needle in a Haystack".

We walked in and were kind of standing there when I spotted Nelda sitting there very quietly in a chair and watching all that was going on. She looked lonesome so I sat down and talked to her for a bit. She was with her daughter. They had been to their separate churches that morning and had a bite to eat and then she came to the quilt store with her daughter. She is 83 years young, had lost her husband 2 years ago (I think), lived in Rose Hill (a small town not too far away we had driven through on our way to Severy} and had worked for the Kansas Post Office for 25 years. Such a gentle soul. We talked a little about nothing and then I told her I had to get busy, lol.


This lady was stamping passports and this was the signup table for doorprizes. We didn't win any, drat it.
Lots of samples, some high, some low. This picture is a close up of one in another picture further down.





As you can tell, there were lots of things to choose from, and we found some hand products that we had to have. There were also some "antiques" and craft items in various nooks and crannies. Actually this quilt store looked like I expected all of the quilt stores in Kansas to look like. Kind of jumbled and lots of older fabric as well as newer. Great store for bargains!
Ok, we have now completed the requisite stops at all of the stores involved in the Central Kansas Quilt Shop Hop.
However, being ever curious I had picked up The Country Register at the store in Derby, and it mentioned another store in Severy. Since we were almost there, we thougt why not, and heading east again.
About a mile down the road we came to the "address" listed, but there was nothing there but a filling station and an auto salvage, storage, whatever behind it. So, we pulled in there and tried to decide what to do. Meanwhile a couple of cars had turned south at this intersection in the middle of nowhere and after a block had turned back east. Very strange. Ok, let's see where it goes, lol.. We followed the leader and about a mile later came upon this quilt store in the middle of nowhere called Itchin to Stitch. It doesn't have a website. The building was new and when you walked in the door it was very clean and bright and nicely laid out. No one was there except the owner and one employee. Kathy found some polka dots she had been looking for, but I resisted everything, yea for me!!!

I think this picture must be turned on its side. I did inquire about this and was told that they were sold out of the pattern. No offer to get it for me, so I have no idea of what or who.
This was the only other picture I took in there. I didn't get warm and fuzzy feelings here so I didn't take lots of pictures.
We did ask how far Severy was from there and were told there really isn't a town, it is just a collection of buildings, lol.
So we headed back to Wichita and I took this picture of a wind farm. If you inlarge the picture you can see all of the turbines in the back. Fascinating.

We called our resident chef and decided to meet him at P K Chang's for a late lunch. He called us back about the time we got there and told us he had changed his mind, it was too much trouble. I can relate to that, lol.
We had a drink and a wonderful meal and just set there in shock for a little while before we headed back to Kathy's. We had "run the marathon", and finished. Great great trip.
I have some loose pictures to show and will wrap this up in the next and last post.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Kansas Shop Hop - Part 10

Salina was the farthest store we went to, and when we started back to Wichita we went through Newton to go to Charlotte's Sew Natural.

There were some cute samples in this store and several of the patterns are ones that Charlotte, who is the owner, has crafted. This is a cute table runner that is one of her patterns.
Not sure whose head I cut off here....lol...
Another table runner pattern from Charlotte.


Interesting quilt. You can order her patterns from her web site. As usual everyone was very friendly and I found some batiks in there that I liked, plus some patterns.


It was almost dark when we were leaving and we noticed 3 different colored fire plugs on the streets. Some of them were silver and red, some were silver and black, and some were silver and blue. Have no idea why they were different colors. Didn't appear to be any rhyme or reason.


All day long Kathy had been fretting about the car pulling to the right and talking about it needing to be aligned. I had laughingly ask her if she had checked the tire pressure and of course she hadn't. Well, when we walked out of the Newton store I just happened to look at the tire. It was way low....
Kathy, we have to stop and get some air....as we pass a filling station. Oh there is another one down the road, we will stop there, so we keep on driving and reach the edge of town.
By now Kathy has called Kim to tell him we will be home shortly (I didn't realize she meant less that 30 mintures) and he wanted us to stop and get some green onions.
We do not pass another gas station and I insist that she turn around and find some air. We stop at a local stop and go and air is 75 cents!!! I am flabbergasted, I didn't know you had to pay for air, and 75 cents? Unreal. Of course we don't have any change so she goes into the store and gets change, and finds out the air pump is out of order, lol. Now Kathy, being one of those people who drives a car and never has to tend to it because she has someone to do it for her, says Kim will take care of it when we get home. I, of course, can see us stuck on the darn freeway after dark with a flat. So, I insist we find some air, which we do eventually, and sure enough, it takes quit a bit. Kathy fills the tire, gets in the car and says, hmmm, that's what that light meant. I could have shaken her by then, but all I could do was laugh.
We did not find any store until we got to Wichita, which was about 20 minutes away, and here we are at Dillon's for the green onions. That is Kathy going into the store for the onions, lol.


We got home ok, and the onions were for the cajun talapia that Kim had fixed, along with some dirty rice. Oooh, it was so good!!! How wonderful to be gone all day and have dinner ready when you get home! So we fiddled around and then had the jalepeno dip that I had bought, and went to bed fairly early because we were both just beat. We had been to a total of 6 stores.
That was Saturday. We only had 2 stores left for Sunday, and as it turned out, we found one more open. That will be the next post.
Hope your week is going well!