I Promised Pictures

I promised pictures so here they are.

We had some jewelry appraised and this was the table that the appraiser used for such things. See all of those "things"? They are diamonds....lol....small, insignifcant diamonds. Not worth anything supposedly, but used in "pave" and fillers for rings, etc. He told us he had to change out the carpet every 4 or 5 years because it got so full of them. Isn't that wild?

Aud studying the paperwork etc on the new car.

Our salesman, aka Coach. He was so nice and so patient with us, and we had a good time. Finally the sales manager came over to join us because we were laughing so much.

And here is our new car. It is a Toyota Venza, and I just love it! Drives like a dream, has a wonderful stereo in it and bluetooth, keyless entry, etc. Such a fun car!

This was taken at the hospital while we were waiting for our car. This little boy in the corner looks just like I felt at the time. Really "p******d" at the world.

Taken on March 28 when it had finished snowing. My poor azaleas. Today however they appear to be ok.

Iphone...the only thing pleasant that came out of the "changing my telephone" experience. It is such fun and I have downloaded some apps so I can play Tetris, do Yoga, build bridges, etc. I also downloaded 2 dictionaries, a thesaurus, and some books from my Kindle because I can read them on this phone. Love it, love it, love it!!

New drinks that don't have a lot of calories, taste good, and don't appear to be full of sugar. Come in lots of flavors.

Coconut cupcakes. The recipe was on here and it is wonderful. Aud and I almost fought over them. Thank you Kim for posting this recipe.

Aud's new haircut. Doesn't she look younger?

Joe B is Still Hanging Around

Joe B is still hanging around this month. Since no one else wanted to entertain him, he decided to stay here.

Since the first of March I have had continuous problems with my computer and AT&T. Unreal. If you heard screaming about the 15th of this month, it was me yelling at the Tech Department of AT&T. Talk about a horrible customer service experience and a worse technical help experience. I still get mad when I think about it. My internet has been intermittent....that should read practically non-exsistence....

I did get an IPhone through AT&T for my mobile phone. It is so much fun and I am using it for everything. I can even download books from my Kindle to read on it. I had my land line disconnected and only have the IPhone to worry with. I am not getting all the gimme calls and surveys now, YEA!!!

Then we decided to buy a car, which was interesting. We ended up buying a Toyota Venza and it has been so much fun to drive. I need to take a picture of it to share, but it is dirty now and needs to be washed, lol.

Then my doctor informed me I needed to get some weight off and eat better so I have joined the Silver Sneakers at Pacers, which is attached to one of the hospitals here. For all of you senior citizens who have AARP Supplemental Insurance this should be a service offered to you through AARP at no cost. It is a great program.

I was screened and all of my vitals recorded plus the sterling numbers of strength I am capable of, not! Programs were suggested and I will try to go at least 3 times a week.

So far I have tried several things and today I tried Pilates. I have hamstrings that have been sleeping for 15 years! They are screaming!! I don't think I have used some of these muscles in forever!

I am feeling much better and have started back to sewing on Wednesdays at a local quilt store. Maybe I will finally get some sewing done. I have some pictures to share, but that is going to have to wait a day or two.

Aud is doing ok, but her blood pressure is 20 points higher than usual, so we are going to have to really watch her diet. She had a doctor's appointment today and he is not happy about it. Tomorrow a dietician is going to come see her and put her on a strict diet. Not looking forward to that for sure. I think she is concerned, but hopefully we will get her back on task. She is still on coumidin and that is going well. He did increase her diuretics. She is in good spirits.

Aud had her hair cut and I took a picture. I swear she looks younger with it cut, lol.

JudyL has kindly donated a quilt to be raffled off for Cystic Fibrosis this year. I am waiting on my daughter to give me all of the details for those of you interested in buying tickets. It is a gorgeous quilt and a worthy cause. More on that as soon as possible I hope.

I think that catches me up. Thanks for all of the messages. It is wonderful to have blogger friends who keep up with you and encourage you to do things. I will try to get back on this week with quilty pictures.

Anybody Seen my Lost Brain Matter?

I am not sure where our spring went, but it has been cold here this week. Of course, not as cold as other places, and next week I will be gripping because it is supposed to get to 80 degrees.

Aud is doing OK I guess. She just seems to be struggling to get better and it worries me some. She doesn't feel like getting out, and I haven't gotten out much either.

Katy's "bone" problems have been weighing pretty heavy on my mind; I think it has finally bought home the reality that so far there is no cure for Cystic Fibrosis and that is a very sobering thought.

On a lighter note, my ex daughter-in-law and husband are expecting a daughter early in July so I need to get something pink sewn up for this child. I hope they call her Emily rather than Zoe; a good old fashioned American name would be wonderful I think. Please don't post that this thinking is un-American, lol, because I really don't care. I just want this child to have a nice peaceful sounding name I can relate to.

On to other things. I did get a little quilting done. When I picked up my BOM for the Posies quilt (haven't started it yet) I could not get past this pattern at Oklahoma Quiltworks. I just love it. So, it came home with me along with the Perle Cotton. Not a real good picture but you will get the idea from the closeups below.


The next 3 photos are of the area across the top of the quilt. I have prepared the fabric and am ready to go on it. Of course, as usual, I don't always have all of my brain together so there is a funny story to go along with this.

I was talking to one of my friends there about this pattern and she has made the one previous to this that was a winter scene with black and brown flying geese. She was telling me that rather than hand stitch a backing down she ironed wonder under on her fabric.

Ok, I can do that. I prepped this much of the fabric the other night and ironed on the wonder under, and I am thinking, hmmm, have to take the paper off. So I take the paper off, and, I am thinking to myself, this is sticky. I cut the pieces of fabric, get out my light box, lay the pattern on it and start tracing it all off. The whole time I am doing this I am really concerned about sewing on this sticky stuff.

Are you laughing yet? About the time I get through drawing the pattern on, it dawns on me....idiot, you have to iron the muslin on the back side of the wonder under....lol....ooops! That's your laugh for today!

I have been doing the button hole stitchwork on my Gatsy quilt. All 88 squares (I think...somewhere in that vicinity anyway). This takes a long time and is boring!!!!! I want to get this stitching finished up so I can get it put together and to the quilter. It has been a whole year since I have finished a quilt and I want a new quilt for my bed!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

It's Bernina Time!

I finally came to my senses and quit fooling around with other sewing machines and bought another Bernina!

JudyL had a discussion on her blog last week about sewing machines, and which one she liked to sew on, etc. Well, I have been thinking about that and have come to the conclusion that I was making better looking quilts with less trouble and all of my seams matched when I was sewing with a Bernina.

I had an Bernina 830 for years and when I started quilting I traded it in ( I know, don't fuss at me, lol) for a 150 Quilter's Edition. Never did like that one. For some reason it was never comfortable for me but I did sew some pretty quilts on it. I sold it last summer because it was just too heavy and I had sewed through my finger with it one day..scared the you know what out of me...and never was able to feel totally at ease with it after that. Besides, did I really need it with the Janome and the Pfaff I had, why no, of course not, lol.

Then I sold the Janome Gold that I had to a friend of mine for her daughter to use to learn to quilt on. I wasn't using it, seemed like the thing to do at the time, lol. Two weeks later I started going out to sew once a week and realized I had goofed.

I had heard so much about how great the Pfaff was with the IDF foot, so I bought a 2046 (I think that is the number) of those several years ago, it gave me a lot of trouble, and I finally traded it back to the store and got a 2056 when the came out. It sewed pretty well for maybe 3 months and ever since then I have had so many problems with it. I have had it looked at, etc, and finally, a lady told me what was probably wrong with it but I would have to take it to Enid to have it fixed. That is a lot of trouble. Plus, I don't think the quality is there.

I bought a Babylock Quilter Pro (only does straight stitching) to do machine quilting with 3 years ago. So far I have sewn on it twice and both times had problems with the tension. I don't have patience for stuff like that. One of these days when I make something small and have to quilt it, I will figure it out maybe. IF I can remember what I figure out...that is always a problem.

I bought a Janome Diamond (I think that is the name of it) last year, it is the small machine and just perfect for classes and a joy to sew on. You can't hurt it, BUT, I can't get a scant quarter inch and as a result have to rip a lot.

If I want to do a blanket stitch, that is a nightmare on either one of them. So I finally set down and thought about this problem and decided to bite the bullet and go back to what I know sews well and sews like I like.

I did not buy an expensive Bernina....I told the lady I wanted a good quarter inch, a good blanket stitch and a satin stitch I could make wider or more narrow as I stitched, and that is exactly what I got. Even with my eyes bothering me, my stitches are straighter and my seams are scant quarters, and even the blanket stitch looks good. I am a happy camper! And to top it all off, it is pretty lite as far as weight is concerned, so I can lug it around.

I still have my little Janome for a backup and the Pfaff for whatever. I never thought the day would come that I would own 4 sewing machines, but that isn't many from what I can tell for someone that quilts, lol. I do not intend to buy another one anytime soon. I just want to be able to sew a block without having to take out the stitching all the time.

I am as happy as a pig in sunshine, lol.......and just about as fat!

She Did It Again!

My poor grandaughter! Katy, the youngest grandchild has cystic fibrosis. One of the problems that these children can have is "brittle bones". Normally this is a condition that they have sometime in their lives, but not at 5 years old, which is how old Katy is.

Well, her mother just called me from the hospital. She has broken her left forearm in two places! They had to sedate her but have it set and this time did not have to put a pin in. For those who are new to my blog, this is the third time she has broken her arm in approximately 1 year. The other two times were on her upper arms and I believe she has a pin in both of them.

In case you are wondering, she broke the first one while she was playing with the neighbor children and a bee was buzzing around and she fell off of a picnic table. The next one happened when one of the neighbor girls and she were printing off something on the printer and she was standing up in an office chair and jumped out...oops!! This afternoon she was sliding down a slide at school with a friend and fell off I guess. Dana didn't give me all the details.

As I told Dana, Katy doesn't seem to have be afraid of anything. We are all ready to wrap her in bubble wrap or sedate her until she is 18, lol.

I know Dana and Mark (her parents) are in a state of shock....I am for sure. Tests were scheduled tomorrow for some other CF problems she is having. Those have been cancelled for now but I am sure the problem with the brittle bones will be one of the ones that get addressed fast. Hopefully there will be something that will help this condition.

The past two years during the fund raisers that happen in May and June for CF I have had a quilt available for chances. Two years ago I made one and last year Cindy made one. Dana and I had talked a couple of weeks ago and decided not to do it this year. Her job is just too busy right now and I don't have a quilt made for it. Anyway, what I am getting at is remember CF when you want to donate to a charity. These kids really need all of the help they can get. There is no cure for CF as of yet.

On a better note, Aud went for doctor's followup and she is doing much better. He is well pleased with her progress.

Star BOM

I am so excited! I am finally caught up with JudyL and the Star BOM she has been hosting for the last several months. I am very pleased with the way my blocks have turned out. Only one more block to go, and then we get to put it all together.

This is block 4; I was not happy with the first one I did, so I remade it this week and it goes much better with the other ones.

Update on Aud

Thanks so much for all the good wishes and helpful comments about my mother, (I call her Aud). We have managed to get through a few days of this and seem to be getting in a groove of sorts.

Aud is feeling much better, even though all of her bruises are itching and they are driving her batty, lol. I told her she didn't have far to go.

I know she is feeling better because she got on to me about throwing something in the recycle bin that shouldn't be in there, lol. Oh well, that means things are getting back to normal.

I am looking forward to a little quiet time today I hope. I have my blocks caught up for the Star BOM I am doing with JudyL so I get to work on something else for a change.

Here's hoping we all have a great week ahead of us!

Star Block 12

This is Star Block 12 I am doing with JudyL.

Another Lost Week or More

Well, I could not tell any of you what has happened to this month so far. It is almost over and I have nothing to show for it except some BOMS I am trying to catch up on. They are in individual posts below this one.

I had to put Audrey in the hospital last Thursday and everything has been a blur since. She had a blood clot in her groin and they finally let her come home yesterday. They also put her on cumiden which distresses me. That stuff is really bad. It thins your blood and you have to be very careful what you do and what you eat. The blood clot will hopefully dissolve soon.

She has some hideous bruises on her stomach and her arm where some idiot lab technician that didn't know what they were doing tried to give her a shot and tried to draw blood. I have filed a complaint about them, which I am sure will do no good. However, hopefully somewhere down the line it will show up in her records and they will be more careful.

She is on a low sodium and restrictive potassium diet which is rather stringent. We have decided the best thing to do is buy her some TV dinners that meet those requirements because she is eating like a bird, and doesn't really eat enough to make it worthwhile cooking for. Both of us eat cereal for breakfast and peanut butter and crackers for lunch, so that is only one meal, which won't be too bad.

I am still having trouble with bronchitis which doesn't help the situation either, lol.

So, here we are, puttering around the house, and trying to come to terms with the new diet and restrictions placed upon her. She is ticked off to say the least, her words are......this is not my body! It doesn't act this way!!

I think she will be fine, she just has some adjusting to do, as do I. Hope all is good in your world, and your week is going well.

Catching up with BOMS

This is Block 5 of the Simply Sophisticated BOM. I have to keep these caught up because Vicky and Fat Quarter Shop have this thing going where you can win a $25.oo Gift Certificate every month. That is a good incentive I think, lol. Thank you Vicky for hosting this, and thank you Kimberly for providing the gift certificate.

This is Block nine of the Designer BOM I have been doing.

Star BOM Block 11

This is Star block #11 I am doing with JudyL

Star BOM Block 10

This is block 10 of the BOM I am doing with JudyL

Star BOM Block 9

Month 9 of the BOM I am doing with JudyL

Star BOM Block 8

This is Block 8 of the Star BOM I am doing with JudyL.

Star BOM Block 7

This is Block 7 of the Star BOM I am doing with JudyL. I am behind as usual, lol

Anybody Want a Visitor?

Remember Joe Bfstplk from Little Abner? Well he has been staying here for the last 2 weeks and I am ready for him to go somewhere else. If you want some company let me know and I will send him your way.

I took Aud to the doctor last week for her 3 month visit and the waiting room was full of people coughing etc, and sure enough, I came down with bronchitis last Thursday evening. Aud is fine...she always is when we go to the doctor....and she won't let me go in with her so I can't tell the doctor what is really wrong with her.

Anyway, Wednesday we decided we needed to buy a new car....not my idea....but, that was besides the point. Aud spent the evening reading the newspapers and looking up cars online etc.

Thursday I went to the Dermatologist for the year's checkup for the place she removed on my cheek. This wonderful dermatogist is a young absolutely gorgeous tall lanky blonde. She walks in....how's your face...oh it looks terrific, I can't even see you...gee.... your skin is just beautiful....hmmm, I see a little place in your eyebrow, we need to take that off...oh, there's an age spot beside it...want me to remove that also?.....

The whole time she is doing this she has touched my hands and face and arms, etc.......and apologizes for touching me everywhere....I am always looking for places that shouldn't be there...how about that place on your chest, is it bothering you? ....yes, a little.....ok.....wait right here...and off she goes.

A couple of minutes later she is back with the "magic can", and proceeds to freeze the two places on my face and the one on my chest.

I have my kindle with me and we talk about them for a little bit and I am sure she is going to by her mother and mil one. Then it's .....ok, see you in a year unless you have problems and if you do, call me.

I make my appt for next year, make Aud one for the first week in February, because she has some spots she wants the doc to look at, and I am out of there.

I go home and get Aud and take her to have her hair done. Then we go look at cars at a couple of places and decide we want either a Chevy Impala or a Buick Lucerne. It is dark by now and I am feeling crappy from the bronchitis which is rearing it's ugly head, so we go home and figure we will go look on Friday.

Friday comes along and I am really sick and the weather is getting crummy, so we don't go anywhere. Spent Saturday in bed. Sunday I get a few things from the grocery store because we are due some ice on Monday.

By Tuesday we have decided not to buy a car, just don't want to fool with looking for one and the two old cars will last a while longer. Besides that, if I back one of the cars out of the driveway I won't be able to get it back in because it faces north and is in the shade, and on an incline and I can't get up the incline unless I take a flying leap at it from the driveway across the street from us...lol...and the way my luck is running right now, I figured if I did that I would not be able to stop in time to keep from running into the house. Still feeling awful anyway. Can't get to the doc with the roads like they are.

We still have ice in our driveway....even though it was 60 today, and I am still sick and feel like you know what. I finally called my daughter yesterday and got her to pick up a prescription and some milk and bread.

Today is Friday, I couldn't sleep last night so I read until 7 this morning, and didn't get up until 4 this afternoon. The minute my feet hit the floor Aud informs me she has fallen in the kitchen against the counter top and hurt her ribs.

Why didn't you wake me up? Well, I know you aren't feeling good either....
Are they broken??...no, I can take a deep breath...do we need to go to the ER and let them check them?...no, I will be fine but I am sure I will be black and blue tomorrow. She has basically stayed on a hotpad since it happened .

I have dreaded something like this happening, and it finally has. Hopefully she will be a little more careful and walk with her cane all of the time. The doc has told her to do that.

I have done nothing, nada, zilch, the past 2 weeks.....so I have nothing else to say other than please invite Joe to your house, lol

Humanoids and Quilting

The dictionary defines Humaniod as "having human characteristics or form";

Opposable is defined as "capable of being placed opposite to something else: the opposable thumb of primates."

I bring these two words to your attention because Aud has informed me that the reason we aren't as brainy as we used to be is because of the arthritis in our thumbs that won't allow them to be opposable. In plain English, our thumbs don't work like they are supposed to anymore, lol.

The reason we know we have lost some of our brains is because neither one of us could figure out what 2.65 percent of 100,ooo was, and what yield that translated into for 5 months. At one time both of us would have known the answer immediately, but even with pencil and paper we couldn't figure it out. We finally had to get the calculator out to do it. The horrifying thing about this is Aud was an accountant for a government agency when she worked, and I was a bookkeeper for a land company in one of my lifes, lol. We have giggled over that one for the last two days.

The item below is a recorder for groceries. It was a Christmas present to the two of us from ourselves so we could push a button and speak the name of the item we wanted added to a grocery list. When it comes time to go buy groceries all you have to do is push a button and it spits out the alphabetical list on paper. Neat little gadget, but there is only one problem. It doesn't understand either one of us when we speak and evidently we eat things this technical genius doesn't know about. Supposedly you can program items into it, but, you guessed it, Aud has no idea where she put the instructions. So it sticks on the side of the refrigerator with the rest of the magnets and junk. Maybe one of these days she will run across it.

These are the latest blocks in the Designer Block of the Month. Yea, caught up again with these.


This is a picture of the quilt called Posies in The Valley from the Blackbird Designs book In Full Bloom. This quilt is being offered as a BOM through my local quilt store and of course I had to sign up for it. I just love this quilt and this will be the only way I will ever do it. A closeup of the sample. I am going to do machine applique on it and have started cutting out the templates for it. I picked up the first month and I am sure I will not be through with it before the second month comes out, but that's life in the fast lane.
Remember seeing some of this last year? It has been languishing in the bushes due to one thing and another. I finally got it out and have the applique applied to the blocks. Now to get it all appliquied. Of course I made it larger so it is going to take some time to get it all done.
This is the sewing corner I fixed for myself in the kitchen. I have this machine set up to applique and hopefully will be able to do some of it when I have to be in the kitchen cooking. Since I set this up I have added a small shelf against the wall to hold "things"...lol....
Now if I can just get back to doing some regular quilting for a least an hour every day I might get some quilts finished.

Update on the leak in the fireplace, the plumber has been out here and of course had to chip out the mortar etc, and the gas company came out again this morning and it was still leaking a bit, but now that is fixed and the cosmetic work has to be done on the hole. And then we will need to paint the hearth. It had been painted a cream color and with all of the work the plumber has had to do, it now needs to be painted aain. I don't do painting, and even though Aud says she can paint it I know if she starts it I will end up having to finish it so I am discouraging her from even starting it.

The dark quilt I made last year from the toiles was for one of my sils and he was tickled to death with it. It fits him to a tee. Hmm, maybe I can con him into painting the hearth this summer while school is not in session.

Hope everyone's week is going well.

Life is Changing

My life is like everyone elses, it seems to be divided into "lifes" (and I don't mean lives), each one separate from the one before and yet continuous.

I feel that I am entering into a new "continuation". Aud is 92 and she is getting a little "dotty" (lol) in spots. She doesn't have a lot of energy because she has so many little picky things wrong with her and can't exercise, and I think there is a short circuit sometimes. The podiatrist that she went to two week ago for her foot problems told her her maintenance agreement had run out, lol.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am not downing my mother. She is a most precious person to me and I love her dearly. Mainly I am concerned about her and I spend a lot of time worrying about her and sometimes I just want to wring her neck. I think this is normal when any 2 or more people live together for any length of time and we have lived in the same house for the last 15 years.

I am an only child and spoiled rotten to the core. I will admit that. I also pay for being spoiled rotten to the core, lol. I owe her a lot for everything she has done for me in my life, and now it is time for payback, so to speak.

I don't know what I would have done the last 7 years if she hadn't been around. With all of the sickness and surgeries etc I have had and things that have gone wrong, she has always been there for me. And I really don't know what I would have done before that for the 4years my husband was so very ill before he passed away.

Right now we are in the middle of a cooking game she and I play. She has always done the cooking since we have lived together. Ever so often she decides she is tired of cooking, so I try to take over the cooking duties and in 2 days she can't stand it, so she takes over the cooking again, lol. This has gone on since I retired 2 years ago.

A couple of weeks ago when she burned her hand and couldn't get it in water and her foot was too sore to walk on it I figured the time had come to really take over the kitchen. We talked about it and I now have a spot in the kitchen eating area that I have tucked a sewing machine into and I can at least do something productive while I am cooking.

I used to be an excellent cook but not having much memory anymore I can't remember lots of the little secrets I learned about cooking. I am having to relearn a lot of it. I also cook different types of food than Audrey does, and that presents a problem, lol.

She doesn't like cream sauces, or cream soups or pasta, etc. I love all of those things. I love spinach salad, or the "salad grass" as Aud calls it, and to her the green for a salad is iceberg lettuce, period. She is a great cook when it comes to pies and cakes, but as far as regular food she has certain things she cooks period, lol.

So we are kind of struggling right now with our meals. If we have a doctor's appt or have to go out, we usually eat out that day. That is also a problem because we don't like to eat at the same places. Luby's is Aud's favorite, and I will not eat there. I like Pei Wei, (Chinese), and she won't eat there. You get the picture. There are only 6 places at the moment that suit the two of us, and I am really tired of them.

Of course I don't get to bed until 4 or so in the mornings because I can't sleep. I don't get up until at least noon and that causes us to eat later than we used to. I can't seem to get myself turned back around. I think mainly it is because it is so nice and quiet at night when all of the extraneous noise is gone.

Life is never dull around here now, that's for sure. I got up one day last week and when I walked into the living room the fireplace was roaring and I smelled gas. Aud....I smell gas....no you don't...yes I do...well, I don't.....end of story. I turned the gas down a little and let it go. My nose is always stopped up and I figured she was right. Ok, two days pass, and I get up, walk toward the kitchen, and smell gas again. Aud...I smell gas...I am calling the gas company...well, there is no gas leaking, I don't smell it....I don't care...I am calling Enogex.

Guess what, we have a gas leak in the turn on fixture of the gas for the firesplace. Duh! The technician that came out was really surprised that I could smell it. Anyway, we turned off the fireplace and the plumber will be here tomorrow to install a new pipe or turn on or whatever he has to do.

She also fell in the bathroom the other day when she stood up to take a shower. Her foot was bandaged from the visit to the podiatrist and I had set up the bathtub with a bench type chair that we have from when she had her knee surgery and we have the hand held shower sprays in all the bathrooms so that was accessible. Why she decided to stand up is beyond me, but she did. You should see the bruise from that one.

Every day is a new adventure, some are good, some are a little scary, and some are just plain awful, but at least we have them. That is what counts.

What are You?

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz...

You Are an Ingrid!

You are an Ingrid -- "I am unique"

Ingrids have sensitive feelings and are warm and perceptive.

How to Get Along with Me

• * Give me plenty of compliments. They mean a lot to me.


• * Be a supportive friend or partner. Help me to learn to love and value myself.


• * Respect me for my special gifts of intuition and vision.


• * Though I don't always want to be cheered up when I'm feeling melancholy, I sometimes like to have someone lighten me up a little.


• * Don't tell me I'm too sensitive or that I'm overreacting!

What I Like About Being an Ingrid

• * my ability to find meaning in life and to experience feeling at a deep level


• * my ability to establish warm connections with people


• * admiring what is noble, truthful, and beautiful in life


• * my creativity, intuition, and sense of humor


• * being unique and being seen as unique by others


• * having aesthetic sensibilities


• * being able to easily pick up the feelings of people around me

What's Hard About Being an Ingrid

• * experiencing dark moods of emptiness and despair


• * feelings of self-hatred and shame; believing I don't deserve to be loved


• * feeling guilty when I disappoint people


• * feeling hurt or attacked when someone misundertands me


• * expecting too much from myself and life


• * fearing being abandoned


• * obsessing over resentments


• * longing for what I don't have

Ingrids as Children Often

• * have active imaginations: play creatively alone or organize playmates in original games


• * are very sensitive


• * feel that they don't fit in


• * believe they are missing something that other people have


• * attach themselves to idealized teachers, heroes, artists, etc.


• * become antiauthoritarian or rebellious when criticized or not understood


• * feel lonely or abandoned (perhaps as a result of a death or their parents' divorce)

Ingrids as Parents

• * help their children become who they really are


• * support their children's creativity and originality


• * are good at helping their children get in touch with their feelings


• * are sometimes overly critical or overly protective


• * are usually very good with children if not too self-absorbed

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz at HelloQuizzy

A Little Quilting Going on Here!

I finally have accomplished something quilting wise. Not much to show for a month, but better than nothing.

This is a diamond in the rough block. I took a class in this block in November and finally have finished the main blocks for my quilt. I am using my stash for this one. I did have to buy some background fabric, but the rest of it is all Thimbleberries.

Here are all of the blocks I have made. The original pattern is by Debbie Caffrey called Diamond in the Rough and is set on point. Since I have to make mine bigger, I decided to set it straight. I am going to use the background for my sashing and put conerstones in. Not sure what I will do at that point, but I am leaning toward a small border of a dark color, then squares of all of the fabrics used in the quilt, another small border of dark, and then a larger border. This will give me basically a queen size quilt. There are lots of pieces in these blocks, lol.

And I am finally caught up with the Simply Sophisticated BOM from Fat Quarter Shop.

Here are the first 6 blocks finished from the Designer BOM from Fat Quarter Shop .

Now I need to catch up with my Star BOM that I am doing with JudyL. That is what I was going to work on last week in during her Quiltathon and ended up too dizzy to do anything. Love this Oklahoma weather when the wind blows, lol.

So Much for Efficiency

I had such high hopes for today. JudyL is having a Quiltathon this weekend and I intended to join it. I even went to the grocery store Friday night with a list of ingredients I needed to make crock pot meals for both Saturday and Sunday. Of course I lost the list before I ever got to the store, lol, but I did remember to get everything that was on it. I called Aud and she looked for it and couldn't find it and she did remember a couple of things. Then when I got to the car with the groceries there it was on the car seat.

I came home, cooked some chicken and rice for dinner, and it was really good. I am trying to cook small amounts because I hate leftovers.

Aud hears something on the radio that scares her enough about her hand that she decides she needs to go to the emergency room, so after dinner I take her to the ER. They give her a couple of prescriptions, one antibiotic to take by mouth and a cream.

While waiting for the pharmacy to fill the prescription, we go to Target so I can get another a smaller crockpot...I find a 3 1/2 quart, yea! We go to pick up the prescriptions and they don't have one of them....standard procedure for us it seems. However, she did have the cream at home so I didn't have to go get it this morning...good thing as it turned out.

I want to cook both of these crock pot meals today and, in order to do that, I needed two crockpots. In that regard, Judy is a bad influence (I think she has at least 4, lol), but at least this only gives me two (I think). Aud says we have a very small one in the garage. (I didn't go look for it.)

I went to bed at 3 this morning, set the alarm for 11 and at 5 was still awake. However, I must have gone to sleep shortly after that. I get up with the alarm and when my feet hit the floor I am so dizzy I can hardly walk.

I know I have to get at least 1 of these meals going so I stumble into the kitchen to put together the Chicken Pot Pie that I am going to cook. I don't like dark meat so I have bought chicken tenders for this dish. I get everything ready to put in the crockpot; the recipe calls for chicken gravy, which I didn't find at the grocery store, so I made my own. I don't like canned gravy anyway. I am sure they had it, but going to the grocery store always makes me mad because I can never find anything and all the labels are different anymore.

I get the chicken out, realize if I use the whole package we will be eating pot pie for decades, and decide I will cut this recipe down to a 1 meal dish for 2 people. I am putting this in a 4 1/2 quart crockpot....lol......oh, by the way, I never cook a dish exactly like it says, like my quilting, I always put my own spin on it. So, I end up with about an inch and a half of area covered (it is an oval pot) and turn it on low, put the cooking things I have used in a pan of hot water, and stumble back to my room, lay back in my chair, and the next thing I know it is 4 o'clock.

Wow, so much for sewing this afternoon. I am now up and my head is a little better. We are having very high winds and when the wind blows in OK my head goes bananas. I go in the kitchen to check on my chicken, and, you guessed it, I didn't turn the *&^&* pot on!!! I guess we will eat at midnight, lol.

And my head is still twirling, so I guess I will take an "anti-dizzy" pill and hope it quits eventually.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!!

I Did Some Shopping During the Holidays

and bought some neat fabric. These were some batiks and a good neutral for my Sweet Romance collection when I get around to making a quilt out of it.

Here is a black and white with some red mixed in. Had to have it for a black and white quilt I have been collecting fabric for for several years, lol.
This is a new collection called Nine from Sanae. Think I will make an Irish Chain with it. Will be on the lookout for a good neutral to use for the background.

Here is Kashmir 3, luscious deep colors. No idea what I am going to do with it at the moment.

Of course I had to visit Fat Quarter Shop during their sale. This is Woodland Bloom. Isn't it gorgeous? I know I bought specific yardage but don't remember offhand what pattern I was planning on, lol.

I also picked up Fresh Paint from Fat Quarter Shop. Here again I bought specific yardage more or less for a pattern. Sure don't know which one, though. At the prices these were available I just couldn't pass them up. Thank you Kimberly for having the great sale you had. Hope to see it again next year!

And then I made the mistake of buying the Country Garden Quilts book by Kaffe Fassett, and one night when I was just too tired to do anything I was looking through this book and found this quilt. It is called Chintz Quilt. I fell in love with it, so I got on the internet and found all of the fabric that this quilt called for, and

lo and behold, it has appeared in my mailbox and here it is in all it's glory. Love it!!!

Now I am on a fabric diet (I hope). So far so good for this year. And it is already the 8th of the month, lol. Good start, huh. My fabric closet is bulging, and I can't find some things I have been looking for for another quilt I am doing, lol. Oh, well. I have actually been doing a little sewing and trying to get caught up. Hopefully will have some actual quilting things to show soon.

Have a good weekend everyone!

We Lost Again!

Well, we lost again. Poor Sooners, and poor Bob Stoops. They just can't seem to win the BCS games, but, at least they always get there. Maybe next year, lol. It will take that long for my nerves to be ready for another year of football. Congratulations to you Gator fans. They are a real good team.

Life at the Funny Farm

Aud and I both have a Nintendo DS and we like some of the games. I bought her Slingo and Solitaire for Christmas and she plays them continuously, lol. I finally bought myself my own Solitaire game....it has a lot of different ones on it and is pretty good.

It has been a little wild around here the last 3 weeks. My oldest grandson, who is a freshman at OU, has stayed with us part of each of the last 3 weeks, and will be here the first part of next week. His dorm is closed for the holidays and since he doesn't live in OKC, he chose to stay with us rather than drive back and forth from his house. This is because he works at one of the malls 3 days a week.


He is in his vegetarian stage and it is a little hard to find something for him to eat that we eat, lol. We have taken him to some of the good restaurants for seafood, etc. I have cooked pinto beans and homemade mac and cheese for him and salads and other things, and he eats it all. You would think he had been on a desert island for months with no food. I have forgotten what a bottomless pit teenage boys can be, lol. I even made some breakfast muffins that are delicious and some pumpkin muffins that I will not make again, lol.


He is also a Starbucks person, lol, so we have been visitors there quite often. It has been a pleasant interlude to have him around. Aud and I have had a giggle or two at his expense, and have threatened to go on vacation during springbreak, lol. I told his mother that he didn't eat the rafters, thank goodness, so we still had a place to live. We also watched a few movies and he read some of Harry Potter, which he does every Christmas.


Of course, Aud and I have not escaped unscathed. She burned her hand last Friday and didn't bother to say anything about it so by Sunday it was not a happy camper. I made her soak it in epsom salts and threatened to take her to the ER, but of course, she wouldn't go. We have finally gotten it in pretty good shape I think. She is worse than a kid about soaking anything, but I swear by epsom salts for infected toes and hands. I think she also used a whole bottle of hydrogen peroxide.


Today I took her to the podiatrist. She has a problem with her right heel...the one everyone eventually seems to have that I can't remember the name of or how to spell it. He gave her a cortizone shot and taped her foot so she couldn't move it and she has to go back in two weeks.

When she came out of the doc's office, I told her to wait a minute and let me get the car tag out so I didn't have to dig for it when we got to the parking valet. So I looked for 20 minutes, seriously, for that you-know-what tag and never did find it. I ended up pouring everything out of my purse, and it was really funny. Not only the ordinary things, but 3 pair of glass cases, my Kindle, my DS, 2 purse calendars, and lots of coupons from JoAnn's and Best Buy, and I mustn't forget all of the Kleenex, lol. The man setting close by was laughing his head off. I was wadding up stuff that had collected in my purse for the last couple of weeks and as he remarked..... well, at least you are cleaning out your purse!......lol

Anyway, never did find it, but the kid that parked the car remembered us, thank goodness, so getting the car was no problem.

Then we went to Bravo's for our salads and flatbread and shrimp appetizers. We took their tiramasu home with us for later because all of a sudden the cortizone shot kicked in and Aud was hurting pretty bad. She has some oxycotin (sp) but it is out of date so she is taking tylenol and her arthritis medicine for pain. Of course her regular doctor will not be in the office tomorrow so not sure what I will do about her pain tomorrow. Hopefully she will feel better; I know when I had a cortizone shot for my heel, it didn't hurt much at all, but I went to a different doctor.

Tomorrow night OU plays for the BCS championship against the Florida Gators. Am hoping we beat them; we are the underdog, but if OU plays like they did the last 6 games of the regular season and in the Big 12 championship game, we will win. Keep your fingers crossed!!!

Surprise!

Hello, blogland. I finally ventured out to see everyone. I have been fairly lazy I think. I know that Sharon will probably never send me anything again. I haven't even thanked her publicly for the wonderful Christmas gift she sent me. So Publicly "Thank You"!!! I love it! I believe this is the first time I have ever had peeps. They are good, lol.

And speaking of Sharon, you need to check her blog tomorrow. You should see a picture of Hunka wearing his OU Sooner's shirt that he has to wear because he lost a bet with me on the Big 12 Championship!!

I am going to try to start posting more, but I am going to have to do it in shorter bursts. By the time I get all of my pictures lined up and ready to go, I am disgusted at how long it has taken. So there may be more than one on some days. I think that works better for me.

Hope everyone's year has started off well!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

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

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.

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.

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.........

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.