Memorial Day

Honoring the Memory of those who served and died, whether on the battlefield or from illness connected to their service.

Fines
Larry L
MSGT USAF
VN  PG
AFAM  AFCM
1949-2009

Blessed Be.

Yellow Scrappy.

It is very hot and sticky here, so inside things took over today.  We did do a bit of work on the wall I began last year, it's going to be a slow go unless it cools off some.  

When I came in I took the walking foot off the machine and stitched up this months scrappy blocks.  Yellow this month.  So here they are.

 And next to the other months blocks.  I think it will be a happy quilt!

I didn't make any blocks last month as the color was "neutrals" and I don't have many.  Didn't want to go buy any either so 24 blocks total.

I also went to the cemetery to visit Larry and stopped off after at the Quilt shop.  I bought some fat quarters for this scrappy project-I have no orange, purple or bright blue.  Odd, I joined this to use up fabric and am buying more, do I see a trend here?

Since I had to drag the iron and ironing board out for the yellow blocks, I've been ironing the pastel blocks of my leader and ender project as well.  I also put the walking foot back on to work on flannel blocks.  I really should be finished, just can't seem to Do it!

Thunder! Rain!

It began raining last night about 8, just as Quinn and I were headed out for a walk around the neighborhood.  We haven't had any rain for a couple of weeks so cracks are forming in the ground and I've been watering flower gardens and baby grass so I'm glad to see it's raining and that it's coming down slow enough to soak into the ground not run across it!  I'll try and get some photos when the rain stops, while most of the flowering is over (this has been an unusually early spring!) the front garden looks like a vibrant green jungle!  Sort of a short one but that's okay.  I've added a few "tweaks" this spring and will add more as I go.  Having the two trees taken out means the garden is in the sun a great deal more so I need some plants that like more sun and bloom more.  Gardens are always a work in progress I think.

Quinn has spent the morning running out into the rain.  She is now very damp.

Internet issues

We have had internet issues off and on for the past week.  It all began with Rob's need for a higher speed connection.  (for work although it'll be great for other things, like opening photo heavy blogs :)  After some on line research to determine what is available here and talking to different people we opted for Comcast.  That meant we had to leave AT&T-there is nothing that you do with AT&T that is easy or quick.  The day I called them I was transfered three times, once to the automated options so I was on that mess three times as well.  Oh, and I was reminded multiple times that I could do most things on the internet.  Well duh, if I could have done it on the internet I wouldn't be calling!  Also we did not want to leave Dish TV, so yet another phone call with a series of automated voice options.  Comcast I could set up on line.  Last Friday came, the Comcast installer came early (there's a shocker) but. . . .  First, he didn't know how to set up our Apple Airport so no WiFi until Rob came home (sometime after 10pm) and fixed it.  (We bow to the god of WiFi, aka Rob!)  And. . . while the new service was much faster it wasn't as fast at the plan that I ordered.  Call number 1 to Comcast, more voice prompts.  No resolution, very nice but it's not fixed.  Tuesday, Call number 2 to Comcast, more voice prompts set up appointment for Wednesday between 2 and 4-he's a no show.  Call number 3 to Comcast, more voice prompts--turns out he went to the wrong address (we live on the Terr not St although the house numbers are the same!)   I am pretty sure I know my address and I typed it onto the Comcast site, we are all really careful as we are always getting mail delivered to the wrong place--it's so bad even the UPS driver can tell you the address is "Messed up" so their system did something.  Rob was home this time and he is the god of WiFi here so he talked to the tech, only to determine that their installer had installed the wrong modem!  I picked up the proper one up today.  So, basically Rob set up the WiFi three times and we spent two days without internet.  It's really amazing how much you miss it when it's not available!  It's no wonder I resist changing any of this stuff!  I must say, it really is much faster!

Haven't been up to much else.  Quilting a few flannel blocks for the rag quilt, cutting a few piece for the Scrap challenge, cleaning house that sort of thing.  It has gotten hot (90F) and I am not ready for it.  Wait, I'm never ready for it!  Quinn likes to bark at the air conditioning-any time it comes on she races to the door, takes and immediate right to the deck rail and barks!  She slips and slides on the bamboo flooring in the kitchen on her way to the door. It would all be terribly funny except she comes right back in the house only to do it over (and over and over) in two minutes!  She loves playing with the hand waterer and she gets her face just dripping wet but she keeps going back.  That is funny!

Hope things at your place are quiet and cool!

1 Hour Housework

I'm trying a new idea.  I am only going to do one hour of housework a day.  Then some days, like today, I probably won't do any.  I think I can stand keeping house if I know that when the timer goes off I get to quit!  Anyway, I'm going to give it a whirl.

Quinn and I went for a long walk yesterday evening at a new, to us, place.  We walked for about 50 minutes (between 2 and 3 miles) on the Little Blue Trace.  A many miles long walking/biking trail along the little blue river.  We saw a deer and a great blue heron along the way.  I really love the herons-I might have mentioned that before-they are a study in patience.  We're headed back tonight, we have to drive to get there but it's worth it.

I did some much needed shopping today, groceries-as always, some plants which will go in the ground tomorrow, that sort of yucky shopping!  Then Tanya and I went to Brayden's Kindergarten graduation.  It was super cute and he smiled (in the past public performances have caused him such fright he's thrown up or looked like he was about to.)  He was officially promoted by the principal to First-grader!

All in all a good day.

Evaporating Time.

The days have evaporated on me again, sigh.  I had quite a bit of yard work to do, not nearly finished but the existing gardens are tidy and new grass is up in SOME of the bare spots.  Yet to be finished are seeding the former veggie bed spots and completing the wall in the back.  It'll get done, sometime.

I spent Saturday and Sunday at Scott and Bri's house in Columbia.  Rob and Tanya came down on Saturday as well, then Beth, Lucas and the boys joined us on Sunday.  Had a great time and a terrific Mother's Day,  I am now the happy owner of a Pandora charm bracelet and seven charms!  They are so good to me!  Quinn had a blast playing with Coco and Max on Saturday--jumping on all the furniture (which she never does at home and hasn't done since we got back!)  Then on Sunday Zoe (Beth's golden) joined the mix and the four dogs had a blast.  Quinn was very tired when we got home on Sunday night.  I must have been as well, yesterday was spent sleeping off a headache!  (After I let out the inner B---h on ATT, enough said there.)

I haven't done any stitching to speak of and am behind on all the self-imposed deadlines for project finishes.  Just haven't felt the desire to do any of that.  On top of that I've gained back a couple of pounds as walking has been irregular the past couple of weeks (too many softball games in the park) So I need to get back on tract there and find another place to walk Quinn in the evenings, we can still do the mornings and she does love running free at least part of the time.

This is for Jilly, if you're still reading blogs.  I'm sorry to see that you have shut down your blog and your email.  I hope that I was not in any way responsible for that decision.  I enjoyed reading your blogs and "chatting back and forth in emails" and would so very much enjoy meeting you and Mr Wonderful some time.  Blessed Be.

Thunder-more rain, enough already!

Just last week I was waxing lyrical about the rain, now I'm ready for it to stop!  This past week in addition to the rain we have had temperatures in the high 80's and low 90's.  The humidity has been so high that we had to turn on the air conditioning.  About a month sooner than normal.  A cool front is to come through with this storm and I hope I can open up the house again.  For some reason I suffer more from "cabin fever" when the air conditioning in on than I do when there's snow on the ground!  I guess I don't care about going out in the winter but when I look out the windows and everything is green I don't want to be inside.  I don't do well in the heat, don't like it at all.  Oh well, the thing about Missouri weather is that it's changeable!

I had a busier than usual week just past.  Lunch with a friend, a college graduation and lunch, grandparents open house with Brayden--I'm not usually that much of a gad about!  I enjoyed it all though.  Today we had Das and his family for dinner.  It was so enjoyable to talk to his mother about their home in India and her work!  She wants me to come and visit, I added it to the list but it's a very long list--of places I'd like to go.

Not much sewing being done.  Working on the flannel blocks-quilting them which means the quilting foot is on the machine and a bit of a pain to take off so until that's finished I doubt I work on anything else.  I can see the beauty of two sewing machines at times like this, but most of the time the second one would just sit around and gather dust!