Veteran's Day

We live in the land of the free, because of the brave.

There are a lot of Veterans in my family. Ralph's Dad, Rocco, was a Marine in WWII. Ed's Dad Ed was also a Marine, as was Sam's husband Lou. My grandfather, dad and Ralph were all Navy. My cousin George is retired Army. Jay's brother and Bonk are currently in the service and have been overseas. My friend Jean's son Jim is Navy SeaBees and has been overseas and is going again. One of our security officers at work, Mr. R. is Army Reserves.

My family has been fortunate that no one has been killed in action. One of our town's families had a 20 year old KIA early in this war. and the entire town mourned with them.

"If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you're reading this in English, thank a soldier."

To al the Veterans, thank you.

Holly

Monday, Monday

Miss Millie wanted to have a quiet weekend curled up in a blanket on the floor. Toast couldn't figure out why Millie didn't want Toast to cuddle.
Steph and Whiskey came to visit. Whiskey wanted to investigate Miss Millie, and got smacked by her. She didn't want to be friendes.
Later, Toast snuggled in a blanket on the couch.
I finished Heather's table runner. It was a quilt as you go, and is reversible. This is the winter side. It's 22 x 44 inches.
Here's a closeup of the blocks on the winter side.
This is the fall side. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
Here's a closeup of the blocks of the ball side. Each block finished at 7 inches square. I used the pattern from Reversible Quilts by Sharon Pederson. One of the first quilts I made, Autumn Garden for my mom, is the same pattern, but with bigger blocks. And I made a queen sized one called Winter Forest for Steph from this pattern.

It was so nice having the 4 days off! I felt like I got a lot done, including taking a car load to Goodwill, of mostly Steph's discarded but still like new clothes and shoes. And this week we're off Wednesday for Veteran's Day.

Steph pointed out that there are only 2+ weeks til Thanksgiving, and Manda and Ben are coming for that long weekend, so the whole house has to be raked out- I mean cleaned. And before it can be cleaned, it has to be decluttered. That means Ralph has to take all his tools out of the dining room and put them away! Since he has the entire basement and garage to house said tools, I don't think that's unreasonable.

Toast is still here, and Steph and Whiskey are still getting to know each other. Steph's goal is to take Toast home the week after Thanksgiving.

And the beat goes on!

Holly

November is here!

Trying to take pictures of these two was so funny! Toast would sit real nice, but Whiskey wanted to help me or run around. This was the night that we babysat Whiskey. I think Toast was happy when he went home- he kept jumping on the couch and landing on her!
Little Mike graduated from Motorcycle Repair Institute in Orlando, and he's home. Of course there was a party, and Big Mike toasted him. Mikey says he's never leaving home again, which makes Jake very happy.
Grandmom Terri got him this great cake!
We're all happy that he's home, and Donna says she's never going to Florida again, til it's time to take her grandchildren to Disney.
This was my favorite quilt at the Berry Baskets quilt show. The card said the quilter got the pattern at a Western Washington Shop Hop, so I came home and googled "Sage Country Christmas Tree quilt" which gave me the designer's website. That led me to her distributors, so I called one, and the pattern is now on my kitchen table!
This is a kit that I bought. A center panel, with borders. I took a picture, so I know how to put it together.

We were off Tuesday for Elec. Day, so I celebrated and went to the dentist. We were off yesterday and today for NJEA Convention. Yesterday Steph and I went to Christmas Tree Shoppe and got some good buys, then to Bed, Bath and Beyond. Today I'm going to lunch with Ralph and his mom, then they're going to the movies and I'm coming home to quilt!

I have all the square made-18- for Heather's table runner. I have to square them up, and put the binding on. It's a quilt as you go, and is fall on one side, and winter on the other.

Novemeber birthdays! Kevin is 35 today! We also have Joseph turning 23, and sisters in law Donna and Morgan both have birthdays. And Manda and Ben got their plane tickets- they'll fly out of Houston at 0600 on Thanksgiving morning, and leave early Monday morning.

And the beat goes on!

Happy Halloween!

I had 7 trick or treaters! All in one day! That's more than I've had in the last few years put together!
I finally got to meet Steph's friend Brad. Steph is dressed as Ralph when he was in the SeaBees. This afternoon she brought over a gold thermal shirt and a picture of Captain Kirk, and asked me to transform the shirt into a Star Trek uniform.
I did the neckline the same way I would bind a quilt, and then did the triangular area. Steph did a freehand drawing of the badge, and I cut it out of light fabric and satin stitched it on. Steph drew the star in the middle. She got gold braid, and I slit the sleeves so I could sew the braid on, then re-stitched the seam.
Not bad, if I do say so myself!
So tonight Steph and Brad are at Jay's for a Halloween/birthday party, and we're babysitting for Whiskey. Toast isn't sure she wants anything to do with him. He's a lot more active than she is- he occasionally sits and snuggles, but has also been exploring. Miss Millie wants nothing to do with him, of course.
It felt good to do some sewing. I started cutting scrap batting into 7.5 inch squares for Heather's table runner.

And so it goes!

Another week survived!

Sunday night we were up half the night with poor Toast itching. Monday I drove to work, and wasn't on all cylinders- I was watching some little kids, and went a little too close to the post on the driveway at work, and scraped the side of my car. My poor car!

Ralph took Toast to the vet, who gave her a spray for her back end, and said keep her on the benedryl. The diagnosis was that she's allergic to the flea bites. Whiskey has to go back to the vet Friday- he's still having issues. He's doing much better with the crate, to Steph's relief.

Today we had CPR recert after work, so I'm good for another 2 years. Personally, I think it should be a 10 year certification, since the basics never change, just the ratios, which they change constantly.

Little Mike graduates from Motorcycle Repair School tomorrow, and immediately heads home, and swears he's never leaving again. Mike and Donna are having a family graduation dinner for him on Sunday. I'm making kielbasa, hot dogs and sauerkraut, and Joseph's Trifle.

Manda and Ben are planning to come home for Thanksgiving! It'll be the first time she's been home at Thanksgiving since 1998, so we're really excited. Unfortunately, Heather and Ed can't come up- darn hospital schedules.

I got the new Transsiberian Orchestra CD from amazon. It's as good as all their others! I just finished a really good book- Swornn to Silence by Linda Castillo. A mystery, of course.

And the beat goes on!

Fleas!

Poor Toast has had the worst week! Somewhere, either at Whiskey's foster home or in our yard, she picked up fleas. Poor thing was so itchy! Ralph put on some flea stuff that didn't work, then got some natural citrus spray that also didn't work, then we tried an oatmeal flea bath which worked for a few hours.

Finally I called the vet and went and got Frontline, which worked. Then she got this red icky rash that Sam diagnosed as flea bite dermatitis. So I started giving her benedryl and using anti itch spray, and kind of holding her so she couldn't scratch, and it looks better today.

Yesterday Ralph was working, and I was going out, and Steph had a wedding to go to, so Sam kept Whiskey. She and Lou fell in love with him, and he gets along with her little dogs. Steph slept over here last night and picked up Whisey this morning and took him home.

Steph and I went to the Berry Baskets Quilting Guild Quilt Show today. She put Whiskey in the crate, and the little stinker digs as the bottom tray til it slides, then he can get out the wide mesh of the bottom! He was looking out her sliders when we got back! She wanted me to walk him a bit so she could vaccuum, and he was pretty anxious- he kept scratching at her door to get back in!

The quilt show was nice- it was about 100 quilts, and a dozen or so vendors. We admired the quilts, and I bought a couple panels and kits. I really do have to get out of my funk and back to quilting!

It's a beautiful day out, about 60, blue sky, and the leaves are yellow and red. Very pretty!
And so it goes!

Holly

The week that went on forever!

It's finally Friday night- I thought it would never come. What a week! Two weeks worth of stuff going on at work- I'm finally almost caught up on the paperwork.

Toast came home from Whiskey's foster home with fleas. Meds, several fleabaths later, I went to the vet and got Frontline. The poor thing has been so upset all week- she'd be fine right after a flea bath, and back to being bit the next morning. I gave her an oatmeal fleabath this afternoon, and she was itchy right after, so that's when I went and got the Frontline. She's already somewhat better.

Whiskey had his trip to the vet's. Steph changed his food, which was a big improvement. He's going to go visit Aunt Sam for the weekend, since Steph has plans (a life!) and Ralph is working, and I have somewhere to go. Aunt Sam has housetrained a million or so dogs, so she's going to work with him.

I'm reading Sworn to Silence, by Linda Castillo, which is fabulous. Gory in places, but a very well written mystery. And I just ordered TSO's new CD from Amazon- it comes out soon.

The last few days were gorgeous, in the 70's. Today was in the 40's and drizzley, and I think it's supposed to rain over the weekend.

Mike, Donna and Jake fly to Florida tomorrow. Mikey graduates from Harley repair school on Friday, and they have to pack up and clean his apartment. Donna and Jake will fly home, and Mike is driiving up with Mikey. Mikey has been so homesick the entire 18 months, and he just can't wait to get home.

Heather and Ed have livestock- 3 chickens for eggs and a duck because Ed likes ducks. Big Ed and Jeanne are going down this week to visit- it'll be the first they've seen the new house.

No sewing or quilting- I haven't had the urge to even go sit and crochet all week. Manda has her second knitting lesson tomorrow- she's very excited about knitting.

And so it goes!