The Road to Texas

I just printed out my boarding pass, and the laundry is washing and drying. I just have to sew down the other half of the binding and label Ben's quilt, and figure how to squish it into a big tote bag- I'm not about to let it out of my sight! I'll get a pic of him with it, and put it up here on the blog.

Ralph just called, he's almost to Chicago on his meandering trip to Houston by train. He's on the top of a double decker, so he can see a lot, and says he's having fun.

I've been to the grocery store already, and got the things Mom needs. Steph will be staying here while we're gone, so she'll be on Grandmom duty if needed. Luckily Mom lives to close by.

Now I guess I better go find the carry-on sized suitcase!

Holly

Quilter's Rock!

I did my first big quilt on the HQ16 today. It's 84x84, and it's for Manda's boyfriend Ben. The top has been done for weeks, and everytime I thought about quilting it, I almost had an anxiety attack. My longarm quilting experience is limited to two classes and a baby quilt, which didn't go well. I finally figured out that the tension issues were me, I didn't have it tight enough thru the tension disk. So I put it off and put it off, but the quilt is going with me to Houston on Thursday, which means it really has to be done.

So I did it! Took about 4 hours, and more bobbins than I anticipated. Nothing fancy, just an all over meander. I'm so proud of it! and of myself! I had to stop halfway thru and sit for awhile, my knee was getting numb and my feet hurt. But it's done- I just have to bind it, which I'll do tonight.

Today was my first day of summer vacation- no work til Sept 2! Tomorrow I have to run around and get ready to leave for Texas on Thursday. Rapid Rover will pick me up at 5.30 a.m. for my 8 am. flight. I'm hoping to sleep for part of the 3 hour, 45 minute flight.

Holly

Another Thursday

This week has been so busy, but is going by soooo slow! On Monday, Ralph and my brother Mike took out the old dining room set, and brought in the new one. Tuesday I put most of the dishes and things into the new china closet and sideboard. Both nights I crocheted for about an hour.

Wednesday was dinner with the nurses. We went to a place called Carolina Blue, which serves a lot of barbecue. It was okay. Came home, and Ralph went to bed early. I was sitting watching TV and crocheting, and Toast appeared! Steph was going to Heather's overnight, so Toast was staying here, and they snuck in and surprised us.

Heather got her eyes done today. She's wanted to do it for years, and she's much braver than I am. She did fine, and now Steph is seriously considering it. I guess I'm a pessimist, but I'm too afraid, since it's not 100% guaranteed to have no side effects.

Two more days of work, then off til Sept 2! And one week til I go to Houston to see Manda! Ralph and I are going at the same time, but he's spending 40+ hours on a train, and I'm spending 4 hours on a plane.

So no quilting done this week- it was easier to just sit down and pick up the crocheting. I have to get Ben's quilt up on the HQ, so I can take it with me to Houston!

And now I'm off to bed.

Holly

What a weekend!

This has been one of those weekends that I need to go to work to recover from! We started the day yesterday by going to a street long yardsale here in town. The first house, the lady was giving away videotapes- she just wanted to get rid of them. We did our share by taking about 20 older movies. Then we moved along. We got a window AC unit for Steph, a wagon for the kids, some brand new Disney store stuffies for Julia, John Deere plaques for Eddie, a portable phone for me for work. We came home, and made breakfast, and Steph and Toast arrived. Steph helped Ralph move her old bedroom furniture to the truck.

We went to Mike and Donna's for Jake's birthday party. We met Heather and Ed and the kids there. They brought their truck, so the guys just slid the furniture from one truck to the other.
As the picture aboove shows, Julianna approved of the cookie/ice cream cake!

We came home, and I looked at a dining room set on Craigslist. It was only in the next town, so we called, went to see it, and went back with the truck and bought it. It's a cream colored wood. We left it in the truck overnight. Today I emptied the china closets, and put everything on the kitchen counters. The china closets are heavy, so Mike will stop by tomorrow and help Ralph get them out to the garage, where they can sit til someone claims them. Ralph unloaded the "new" set into the garage. Steph and I went to Sam's club, then I took a nap while she ran errands. We had a Sam's club chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes and carrots for the Father's Day dinner, then Steph did some blog maintainence for me before she headed home with Toast.

Whew! So at the momemt, the whole place is a wreck. My summer plan is to establish a home for everything, and to try to keep everything in it's home. Maybe I can get the place uncluttered enough so that I can have a cleaning person!

Holly

Hot Hot Hot

It was 100 degrees Monday and Tuesday- schools all over closed half a day, because it was just too hot for the kids. Thunderstorms last night cooled things down all the way to the upper 80's, so today was bearable.

Mom came home from the hospital Friday, and is on a boatload of meds. They want keep her on the meds another 4 weeks before deciding what to do about the afib. She has an appointment in three weeks, so I'll go with her.

I actually got in some quilting time! I finished the top for Ben's Badass Whole Entire Quilt, and hope to quilt it this weekend. I also made the wallhanging that Steph designed- I hope she likes it. When she comes home this weekend, I'll get her to help me (translation: do it for me) put pictures up.

I also finished the afghan I was crocheting, but since it's for a gift, I won't put a pic up yet.

My youngest nephew, Jacob, turned 8 on Monday. Jacob is my brother Mike's youngest son. His big brothers are 23 and 21, and his big sister/cousin is 18, so Jake is well loved without being spoiled. He has the sweetest disposition! Jake and my Dad were real tight. When Dad died, I took all his jeans and flannel shirts and made Jake a quilt. One row is all pockets, which Jake thinks is really cool. The quilt weighs a ton, and will last for about ever. It's the kind of quilt that's meant to be dragged around.

I don't know how much I'll get done the rest of this week. Tomorrow night I go to a retirement dinner right after work, and Friday night is usually Suzy Homemaker night- I do the laundry, tidy up, and go to bed early.

Holly

It's Amanda's Birthday!

27 years ago today, at 9.56 a.m., Amanda Leigh was born to us. She arrived 11 days before her due date, which totally messed up everyone's schedules. She weighed in at 9 lbs 7 oz. Despite her size, she was an easy delivery, and I remember feeling like I could have danced back to the room, I felt so good.

Heather was 6 1/2 years old, and delighted to have a baby sister. We were thrilled to have a second daughter. Amanda was called Manda almost from day one. She didn't talk much, and when she was almost 3 I got worried and consulted our family physician, who laughed at me. He asked why Manda would talk, since she pointed and Heather met her every need and desire. Shortly after that, Manda started to talk, and there are those who say she's never shut up since.

Manda has always been a reader. It was a joke that she couldn't be the navigator on trips, because she had to put the book down and find out where we were on the map. She always tested in the upper 90's in standardized tests. High school was no challenge to her, and most of her classes bored her to tears. When she was 16 I got tired of listening to her complaining, and started her taking night courses at the community college.

Drexel and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University both accepted her, but Embry had the major that she wanted- Engineering Physics. It was so hard to let her go so far away! Luckily my brother John and sister in law Morgan live 100 miles from Embry, which is in Daytona Beach. Manda was able to go visit them for Thanksgiving and short class breaks.

The EP degree got her a job at Boeing in Houston, writing software. She's since moved to Jacob's, and works on site at Johnson Space Center. She's going to the University of Houston for a Master's in Physics.

So my little baby girl who was born 27 years ago today is now a rocket scientist! We're all so proud of her, and love her so much!

Happy Birthday Manda!

Not quite midweek

I didn't even get to write over the weekend! Steph and Toast came home for the weekend- Steph had a barbecue to go to and laundry to do, and Toast missed us. On Sunday, I went with Ralph to see his Uncle Frank, who was just moved from rehab to long term care. He's such a sweet man, and can't care for himself. He's so frustrated, he just wants to go home- who can blame him?

Later, Ralph and I, and Steph and Ralph's Mom went to Olive Garden for dinner. It was nice to just kick back and relax with family. My Mom didn't feel up to going. On Monday right after work, I took Mom to the cardiologist, because she's been feeling so awful. He decided she needed to go back in the hospital for her meds to be adjusted, so we stopped at her house to pack, then off to the ER. Mike met us there, and she was admitted to a tele unit. Today they've changed some of her meds, but she doesn't feel a lot better yet.

We had a short work day because of the primaries, and I was so exhausted that I came home and slept for a couple of hours before going up to Mom's to collect the mail and paper. Then I crocheted for a while. I haven't done any sewing in days, which is frustrating.

Goals for the week:
To get thru it!


Holly