It's done! I think.

After spending the greater part of this day working on financial matters all of the paper work relating to Larry's passing is finished (please the gods there will be no more.) It feels good to have that behind me! (Unfortunately it doesn't count as a finish for OPAM!) I have reduce the mass of my mess to a pile of receipts still to be entered and figures to take to my Edward Jones guy next week. Not fun but not more than a couple of more hours total! I'm really have a tough time with this, just putting it back into my schedule is hard. You'd think that being a stay-at-home I wouldn't have that problem but no matter what you do you never have a enough time!

Today, I received the North Pole cottage I ordered earlier--a light house! I'm putting them up on Saturday so I'll take a pic and put it on the blog (using the old point and shoot!) then.

Picked up the backing for Kolby's fleece blanket on Wednesday and got lucky--Hobby Lobby carries Robert Kaufmann solids, so I got a different blue for my Irish Chain! It's all washed, not ironed but it will soon be ready to cut and sew! Can't wait, but I must.

Tomorrow, I'm off to Christmas shop. The hard stuf--stocking stuffers.

Tuesday at home

I returned home on Sunday after spending the Thanksgiving holiday with Bri's parents in St Louis. We had a wonderful meal of all things Thanksgiving-y for Up-state New York. Which isn't entirely like our more southern traditions. I had my very first taste of rutabaga--now I won't be afraid of recipes which call for one! I wonder if they sell them here? The Lennon's are a fun bunch, Scott got very lucky! I also reconnected with a Mizzou friend, Lynda and hubby Max. I seem to manage to see them every few years so we stay relatively connected. Scott and I took in the sites in old town St Charles, very neat, lots of specialty shops inculding one carrying candies etc from Great Britian. We had Chocolates! Yummy, much better than a Hershey bar. It was a great time spent with him just meandering.

I have been feeling dull and boring lately, think maybe Larry's passing is catching up with me again. Ah well, this too shall pass. I haven't begun any new projects and can't seen to get into any of the old ones so tomorrow will force myself. I did order fabric for my Irish Chain quilt, didn't do too well matching colors on the internet (no local shops carried the solids I needed) so now I have to decide if these colors will work or if I need to try again. Urgh. I also got some cute fleece with construction equipment for Kolby a blanket, that's an easy make, maybe I should start there? Still plowing thru all the paper work. Just made a decision to finish that this week and have it behind me. Plus the holiday shopping, I did a bit on line today but stockings are not filling up very fast! Like I said dull and boring!

Happy Thanksgiving!

So here we are in St Louis for Thanksgiving with the Lennons. It's a lot different from what we usually do. I think the last time we were gone from home on Thanksgiving was 24 years ago, when Scott was a baby, he's 24 now. I can't remember when I didn't cook the meal, sometime before 2000. I think I'll be totally spoiled! Missing the California kids but otherwise we are all here. I am staying until Sunday but the others are headed home later today as both Tanya and Lucas have to work tomorrow. A real bummer for all.

I' ve been unusually quiet on the blog front as I've been PAINTING trim again. I've finally finished until Rob and Tanya change locations! Which won't be until after the first of the year. I still have finishing touches to add throughout the house but I get a breather!

I ordered the fabric for the quilt for my bed. Finally decided to do a Double Irish Chain, the chain will be in blues and the large solid block in the Hill Country Spring. With a 6" (or maybe larger) block I should get a big pop of the fabric. I have now declared a moratorium on ordering fabric! I may be followed home from St Louis buy a few pieces. Hoping I'll get to sew a bunch now that I have all that painting done.

Again, wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! If you don't live in the US just be grateful and eat a whole lot!

Pelicans

On my trip to San Diego we ate lunch at Port Loma Seafood Company, yum-o crab cake sandwich! There were so many pelicans flying about, I had never seen one up close. These guys and gals were hanging out on the dock. I thnk Steve said these were this years hatch, thus the white head instead of the all brown of California pelicans. I thought they were cool.

Miss Nora

There seems to be issues with getting these photos on! First, I couldn't get them off the memory card, then using Larry's computer the program that automatically opened wouldn't let me save them to any other program or external memory device (URGH!) After burning them to a cd I can't get blogger to take more than one! I am assuming the files are too large. I'm learning but it's going to be slow! First thing I learned was to take my really old point and shoot digital along for blog photos!

Home, again

So, I got home from San Diego last night after 4 days with my darling granddaughter, Nora. She has her Daddy's eyes and his gorgeous long fingers and otherwise looks like her Mom. She's altogether wonderful, sure to be brilliant, etc, etc. I'm only slightly biased:) As soon as I can figure out how to get the photos off the camera I'll be showing her off! I had a very nice time visiting with them, eating out (I'm still full) and visiting quilt shops etc. Flying has always been enjoyable for me but this trip was not very comfortable so I'm less than thrilled with doing it again. I will but I think I may dread it, a little. I'm glad to be home again even though it means I have to deal with the fallen leaves, again.

Cross-stitch update

I haven't posted my progress on this stocking in quite a while. It's the only sewing I'm getting done right now but I have made really good progress on it. I have only a bit more in the heel and some half stitches then the backstitching. Perhaps I'll finish it before Christmas? I have four more stockings to do after this one so I hope I can move on soon. Trying to decide what pattern to use for my bed quilt. I'm leaning towards a triple Irish chain or hexies--The Irish chain I could machine piece and so would finish sooner. Very indecisive at this point so I'll keep thinking.

I am stiff this evening from raking leaves, I should have started a couple of weeks ago but with the rain I've had to wait so there were too many to mow. I am really out of shape! Next week I'll do it again. Every week until Thanksgiving or longer. The soft maples have completely lost their leaves, but the sycamore, gum and oaks all have a long ways before they are naked. This is the only time I actively wish for snow!

The day after tomorrow I go to see Nora (and of course her Mommy and Daddy!) I'm excited. I will have pictures to share!