Finished projects

Like I mentioned last week, I spent most of the day on Friday at a sewing get-together with a couple of friends. We take our sewing machines and supplies over to our church where we can spread out, work part of the day, go for lunch, and come back and finish up without having to worry about leaving everything out. I worked on what I'm calling the Cardinal Quilt the entire day. I had worked on it a lot before Christmas, but it took me the whole day to cut and sew the last two rows of blocks and the dark purple border. On Saturday I finished up the borders and pieced the back, so it's ready to be quilted once I get it put together with the batting. Last night I made the table runner. It was a fun pattern I saw online. I used a charm square pack, sewed into two nine patch blocks and then cut in half from top to bottom and side to side. I ended up with 8 smaller blocks to randomly sew together. I was complaining Friday that I'm not good at "random". My cardinal quilt was supposed to have the printed blocks in a random pattern, but I ended up with three in a row down the middle, but I'm hoping no one but me will notice. The cardinal quilt is for CS, so his bed looks nice when he's not home. Ha. It turned out pretty large for a twin bed, so I think he'll be able to use it for a larger bed too. Hopefully he'll appreciate it some day. The runner is for a silent auction we're having at church. It's to raise funds for the summer youth trip my younger two and my husband are going on in July. My idea with naming my blog "Sew Many Days" was that I would have projects like this to show quite often. Hopefully it won't be so long before the next one.

Mid-Winter Nothingness

Here's a few random thoughts, not a lot different from most of my posts, but at least you're forewarned. I keep thinking I need to work on being able to do a 5-minute post. I think too much about what I'm writing, processing as I go along, which is great sometimes, but sometimes I just need to get it out there and move on. I like it when my posts are pretty, well thought out, and perhaps even meaningful, but like they say about quilting, "done is better than perfect". I don't think I'm alone in feeling that my blog posts are like my journal. I've been known to look back to check on dates things happened to reinforce my poor memory. Perhaps that's why I feel that I should be posting more frequently, it's certainly not the public clamoring for my every word. I do really appreciate my readers and the comments I get however.

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I really enjoyed watching so much of the inauguration festivities on Tuesday. I'm not a very political person, so it's not that, but there are several reasons I liked it. Seeing so many people gathered peacefully in one place and thinking about those gathered in many, many other places around the country and the world really meant something to me. I realize there are a lot of dissenters, but I think the majority of those watching felt hope and pride in our country for the first time in a long time, the first time ever for some. It was profound to think of the dream of Martin Luther King coming true in one aspect anyway. I admit that I liked the pageantry also; the words, the music, the parade, the coming together of past leaders and their families, our new and past leaders showing respect towards one another. The other thing is the feeling that despite obvious differences, the Obamas are more like me than any other first family in the past. We're practically contemporaries age-wise, we're parents of school age children, we're not from a background of privilege and wealth. I think others identify with them also. I'm going to give them a chance anyway, something not everyone is willing to do unfortunately. I definitely have the hope that my family will be better off in four years than we are now, but I'm willing to accept that it will probably get worse before it gets better.

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Speaking of getting worse, I'm not going to be at all surprised if I lose my job at the end of this school year. My school district is planning to cut nearly 15 million dollars from the budget in the next year. It's really unfortunate and I know many will lose jobs, many necessary programs will be cut, and the educational quality for the students can't help but be adversely affected. I hate to say it, but I'm glad my kids are nearly done with high school if this is going to be what it's like.

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Today was the last day of the semester for school, we're halfway done. We have the day off tomorrow. The kids have a ski trip with the church youth and I'm getting together with a bunch of friends to sew all day. Yeah!! Poor DH is working all day, but he found out unexpectedly that he has Saturday off, so that will be nice.

My Long Weekend

The weekend sure flew by and here it is Monday already. We don't have school today for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, so I'll be trying to tie up the loose ends from my weekend as I do most Mondays. Do you ever notice how so many things never get done because of all the mundane things that we feel must be done first? I don't think I ever really get done with the house cleaning, dishes, laundry, etc. and I have the mind-set that I need to before I do the fun stuff like sewing and going through photographs. It's funny how I find time for blogging and drinking coffee.

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One of the highlights of the weekend was going out with friends to see Gran Torino and have dinner out afterward. It was a great movie, both funny and touching, really the kind of movie where you laugh and cry. Clint Eastwood played the lead, a recently widowed retired Detroit autoworker who still lives in the old neighborhood. The neighborhood has vastly changed, becoming home to many immigrants, mostly Hmong, and the movie follows his relationship with the family next door. Their son, Thao is the other main character. He's a young man trying to find his way without a lot of opportunity except for the local gang trying to recruit and initiate him. It had a lot of themes, but mostly had to do with the racism of Clint's character and his enlightenment as the movie went on. I think most people can relate to it and probably know older people in their family very similar to him. Even without all of the racial epithets, there are a lot of people out there with the same kind of racism born from ignorance and lack of opportunity to experience diversity. Of course there are plenty of others who are taught to be racist and pursue it with a vengeance. Naming their child Adolf Hitler comes to mind. It will be an exciting day tomorrow with the inauguration. I believe that it's a great sign, but there is still a long way to go where racism is concerned in this country. In reading blogs before the election, I was appalled at some of the anti-Obama entries. Not all of them were coming from a racist perspective, but many were. Sweet little ladies who suddenly had this voracious interest in politics and would never have admitted that it had anything to do with racism. Anyway, I would highly recommend this movie, there was complete silence and many people in tears when it was over, attesting to its' powerful message.(Edited: I decided that I had better put in a cautionary note that this movie is rated "R", has a significant amount of foul language, violence, and racial epithets. I know that it is not everyone's cup of tea, however, I saw many older folks in the audience, really a cross section of (white) society.)

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The rest of the weekend was quickly consumed by painting the basement floor (pictures another day), taking CS back to college, bringing Quicken up to date, laundry, cleaning, etc. Oh yeah, and watching the Gopher hockey team sweep St. Cloud. I hope to get some sewing done today, but first I have to clean up the cat barf on the carpet and wash the dishes.

Super Weekend!!!

Who'd have expected that my weekend would begin at 4:00 pm on Wednesday? A benefit of the ridiculously cold weather we've been having is that school was canceled today and they've already canceled it for tomorrow. Monday is Martin Luther King Day, so there you have it...a super long weekend!! I finally got my Christmas tree put away on Tuesday, so I've been gradually cleaning the house, doing and redoing laundry, cooking meals, etc. as usual. I think a couple of extra days calls for something out of the ordinary. I haven't been down in my sewing room for well over a week. Our basement floor project is still half done. I haven't started on my photo organizing project yet. No excuses now, I'll have to get to each of those. We've also got plans to get together with friends for a matinee of "Grand Torino" and dinner on Saturday. We'll be taking CS back to school on Sunday. I think he's ready to go back and get away from me bugging him about getting a summer job.

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We got a new load of firewood this afternoon, so we're staying snug and warm despite the bitter cold outside. The actual temp this morning was -24 with a windchill of -49. I helped TB with his route yesterday and just about froze my fingers; I made CS help him today. Hope you're keeping warm wherever you are, be glad you're not here!

Phone Flashback

As I mentioned on Saturday, it was TB's 16th birthday on Saturday and like any 16 yr. old, his own cell phone was his fondest wish. We're able to add him on to our plan for $9.99 a month, so that's what we did and told him he could pick from any of the "free" phones they are offering right now. As it turned out, DH and I both decided to upgrade our phones at the same time as it was "free"and we had both been having a couple of issues with the ones we had. We paid for insurance on all three phones so if they get dropped in the toilet or left at a baseball field somewhere we can get them replaced hence the "not really free" part. I wrapped the phone above, one DH had back in the 90's, to give him as his birthday present. All three of the kids laughed about it and DH's story about how he had chosen it because it was so small and how he wore it on his belt at work. I'll say one thing for it, it was sturdy. That old phone was simply a phone, but seemed quite amazing at the time. Our new one is also a camera, MP3 player, radio, calculator, alarm clock, and can synch with my computer to carry my calendar with all of my appointments intact and can also transfer pictures and music quite easily. I took the picture above with it. It's surprising how much the technology has advanced in just a few years. I guess there's a lot of money driving it. It shows that with enough money amazing innovations, those thought unbelievable a few years ago, are possible. I guess there has been innovation everywhere, but it's too bad we don't see a similar advancement in fuel economy or cancer treatment. That is advancements that are affordable for everyone to access.

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I can't stop myself from mentioning the weather again. Our actual temp. this morning was -18, not fit for man nor beast. Another big storm is on the way for tonight, it would be nice to get a snow day out of the deal, but I doubt it.

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I've joined my first group blog called A Place for Everything. It's topic is conquering clutter and each of us will blog about a particular area, things we're working on, etc. My main area is photographs. Check it out when you have a chance.

Minnesota Heat Wave

The sun is finally shining brightly here today and when the sun is out and the temps get into the high teens, it really is like a heat wave here in Minnesota. I was out this morning and helped TB with his paper route. It was so nice to be out in the sun, but it really was slippery in many places. Now the ice on the streets is melting thanks to salt and sand the city has spread out. Later I went to get groceries and a couple of sights prompted my post. A man in the parking lot on his way to go shopping had left his coat behind and was wearing a T-shirt. Later when I drove alongside a park on my way home, there was a group of about 20 young men out in the snow playing Ultimate Football or some such game without coats. I suspect they were members of our local amateur hockey team. Yesterday I saw a couple of high school kids jogging wearing shorts. I still stay bundled up myself, but it sure is nice to see the sun.

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We have a birthday at our house tomorrow. TB, the baby of the family, will be 16. The fact that the baby is 6'5" and will soon be driving on his own makes me feel a little old. My kids will be 16,17, and 19 for a few months and it always makes me remember how busy I was when they were little. Teenagers have a few challenges also, but for the most part, mine give me very little trouble, so I'm very thankful for that. TB has no interest in being mentioned in my blog and has forbidden pictures, but maybe I'll ask again tomorrow.

The Miraculous Heating Pad

My week has been going along pretty well despite my misgivings on Sunday night. I think I had a little case of PMS going there. I've been substituting for the secretary at school all week, so I've been working full days. It's kind of drag getting going so early in the morning, but the extra money on this month's check will be nice. An extra benefit is that I haven't had to do recess duty all week. The other benefit, hence the title of my post, is that she keeps a heating pad plugged in under her desk. There is often a cold draft from the door, so she holds it on her lap to keep warm. I have kept it on the back of my chair all week and it has done wonders for my sore back. I can finally take a deep breath or sneeze without sharp stabs of pain. Nice!!

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My diet has been going pretty well for the most part. My only cheating was on a birthday treat from one of my favorite little guys. His dad is a pastry chef and had made cream puffs in the shape of a swan for everyone. They looked a lot like this picture I found online. I let it sit on my desk for awhile and finally succumbed and ate it. It was pretty tasty, but it looked prettier. I don't think I'll post much about my diet here. I know I kind of find it boring to read about someone's weight loss when I don't know them or what they look like. I'll make it a rule to only mention it when I have crossed a 10 lb. line. If you are interested, we're doing a version of the South Beach diet where you cut out all of the bad carbs but can still have vegetables, fruit, etc. Oh yeah and the occasional glass of red wine. :)

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It looks like we're getting closer on the Clutter Blog. I'll be posting a link in my side-bar when it is up and running.

The End...Crabbiness Alert!

I guess this post should be titled "A New Beginning", but today I feel more like "the end". I go back to work at school tomorrow after a 17 day break. It's going to be cold, the kids will be out of any semblance of a routine, the teachers may also be a little crabby and I'm not looking forward to it. DH and I are also planning to start our diet tomorrow. So no eating cookies, chips, candy, bread, etc. for the foreseeable future. Add to it all of the things I didn't accomplish over break and it really puts me in a funk. Oh well, we're having one last big meal, ham and sweet potatoes, etc. and I'll be eating the last of the Christmas cookies and probably a glass of wine later to try to eke some enjoyment out of my last day of freedom.

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We did have a great time at the hockey game last night even though the driving was horrible both ways. We saw several cars in the ditch and dealt with a lot of freezing rain and snow before we made it home safely. Probably not the smartest trip we ever made, but for free tickets, it was totally worth it. We had a nice meal at Applebee's before the game and it was close enough that we could park, eat, and walk to the arena. They won the game in overtime. Our seats were amazing, 4th row behind one of the goals. The only complaint I have is the cheerleaders who stationed themselves in our section for the 3rd period. I don't like cheerleaders anyway, but these were particularly annoying. Anyway...here's a couple of camera phone pictures I took. They're a little blurry, but it gives you an idea how great our seats were. They got the winning goal right in front of us only a couple of minutes into the overtime period and the crowd went insane. M-I-N-N-E-S-O-T-A Minnesota, Minnesota, Yaaaay Gophers!!!

A Hockey Game

DH and I have been given tickets for the Gopher Hockey game tonight. They are playing in the championship game of their holiday tournament at Mariucci Arena at the U of M. I started following Gopher hockey last year when one of my co-worker's sons started playing for the team. I enjoy watching the games on tv, but we've never seen them play in person, so it will be kind of exciting. I hope that the weather will cooperate for our trip to the cities and back, it sounds like there may be some snow. We watched their game last night after we got back from our final holiday gathering of the year. We had a pot-luck meal at some friends house with a white elephant gift exhange. I really should post a picture of the gift I got, perhaps another day.

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I'm considering joining my first group blog. It has to do with clutter removal and each person in the group chooses an area they need to work on and posts information they have learned to conquer the particular area. My area will be photographs, both regular and digital. I need to get all of that stuff organized before SD's graduation this spring so that I can make her a nice photo display board and maybe even an album. I'll leave a link once it gets off the ground.

Our Fabulous New Year's Eve Dinner Party!

We had a great time at our New Year's Eve party last night. We followed a concept one of our friends had found in Minnesota Monthly magazine. There were five couples and each provided a course for the meal and an accompanying beverage. We had fairly small portions for each course, so at the end of the evening, we weren't over full on either food or drink. We did get a ride home, incidentally, something I highly recommend. Here's what we had:
Appetizer #1- bacon wrapped dates with reduced apple cider sauce and Cava (a Spanish sparkling wine)
Appetizer #2- Baked brie infused with brandy and wrapped in phyllo dough served on either sourdough bread or apple slices. Served with a selection of beers, Asti, or Reisling.
Entree#1-Lemon chive fettuccine with Greek shrimp served with Pomelo Sauvignon blanc.
Entree #2-Tenderloin Roast stuffed with mushrooms and onions with béarnaise sauce and asparagus served with a Shiraz.
Dessert- Flourless chocolate torte served with vanilla ice cream and caramel topping with coffee with Kahlua and Bailey's Irish Cream.

Everything was as delicious as it sounds and although it may sound like we were drinking a lot, we had small glasses. Each course lasted quite awhile and the rest of us would sit around and visit while whoever was in charge of the next course prepared it. Anyway, it was a wonderful evening spent with good friends and a great way to ring in the New Year.