Random Recommendations

Here's a few recommendations for a Sunday afternoon. This is going to have to be one of those quick posts since we are going to someone's house for dinner tonight and I have to bring bread and an appetizer, neither of which I've started.
1. Slum Dog Millionaire- We went to see it last night as an outing for DH's birthday which was yesterday. We really enjoyed it, it was eye-opening, had a little humor, and really a great story with a feel-good ending. I saw a little bit of a piece on CBS Sunday Morning that said that is the type of movie that will be successful when times are hard. Everyone wants to see the poor and down-trodden triumph over adversity and maybe bring the high and mighty down a peg in the process.
2. Google Maps Streetview- If you haven't tried it, check it out. I've been using the birds-eye maps for quite awhile, but this is really something. You put in the address of the place you want to see and you are instantly on the street looking at an actual view of the house or building or whatever. I tried it out for the couple's house we are going to tonight. I know that they live on the south side of the street in a dark brown rambler and have a two story next door. I looked up and down the street in both directions, so I will know exactly where I am when I get there. I also checked out my house and my son's college dorm. It's a little creepy in a way, but cool too. Incidentally, it's not available for everywhere.
3. Brownie Pizza- A great substitute for birthday cake and something I make for DH every year. You bake a brownie mix on a pizza pan, when its done sprinkle on mini marshmallows and M&M's and put it back in the oven for a few more minutes. Then drizzle with caramel syrup. You could also add nuts or coconut or other candies, but this is the way we like it best. Yum!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Quilt Rack

Here's a couple of shots of the quilt rack DH made for me. It's kind of a prototype for the ones he's making for the silent auction at church. I really like how it turned out. It has a notch in the shelf on top, so I could put some plates or what-not up there to display. I've asked my friends for dimensions of quilt racks they might like to bid on. If they wanted one anyway, I thought the money just as well go for a good cause. Several of the kids from church, mine included are raising fund for a trip to a national youth gathering for our church that will be held in New Orleans in July. DH is going along as a chaperone, so that will leave me home alone. Providing of course that CS finds himself a summer job. It's a rather expensive trip, so I hope that this auction will be a success. Looking at this picture, it reminds me that you should sew a straight seam when attaching borders!

Iowa...it's flat and brown

I made a trip to Iowa over the weekend to visit my mother in the hospital. She was doing a lot better and was able to come home on Monday while my sister and I were still there. We got her medications set up, made some calls to her doctor, and have her set up to receive visits from a Home Health nurse, so I hope she will continue to do well. She was definitely anxious to get out of the hospital after 10 days. On my trip down, I went directly to the hospital using a road I hadn't been on before. It was little traveled and not near any towns. Every time I return to the area where I grew up, I am astounded by it's flatness. You can see for miles in every direction, seeing water towers and grain elevators for towns that are 10 or 15 miles away. I snapped this picture in the direction of my hometown; it's out there somewhere. This time of year, everything looks pretty bleak; fields of various shades of brown and black, bare trees, dirty snow in the ditches. I wish I had taken the time to get some better pictures, but I wasn't very inspired I guess. Interestingly enough, before I left Minnesota, I saw a flock of robins in my neighborhood. It's nice and sunny today, so I'll tell myself that Spring is just around the corner.

Tide Stemmed and Quilt Finished!

The stream of water in the basement has mostly stopped. DH tore apart the wall yesterday to reveal a large floor to ceiling crack. Why we never did this before is a good question, but it's done now. He plans to chisel out the crack and fill it with a special cement patch and hopefully that will remedy the situation without having to dig up my bushes and the sidewalk outside. He assures me that he won't cause the entire wall to cave in!

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I finished the wall hanging that I'm planning to donate to the silent auction for this Friday night. I'm making another one just like it to have for myself, but I still have all of the quilting and binding to do on that one. I still hope to have it done by Valentine's day. This auction is to support some walkers for a breast cancer event. Then in March there are silent auctions for our church youth and the marching band, so I'll be busy with projects. DH has also made one quilt rack and plans to make some more, so I'll post a picture of that too.

Not the Best Week Ever.

This week is getting off to a bad start. My mom is back in the hospital for a couple of problems, one of which may require surgery if it doesn't resolve. She had just started driving again after her broken hip last year and drove herself to the hospital on Saturday. It's sad to see this happen when she was doing so well.

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It's been great to have some warmer weather and we're getting rid of a lot of snow, unfortunately some of it is coming into our basement. DH and I took turns getting up all night to sop up the water so it wouldn't get into the carpet. This happens every so often when we have a lot of rain, but usually not so early in the season. DH is going to tear into the wall this afternoon to see what's going on. I have this dream of having the problem resolved and new carpet before SD's graduation this spring, but that would take money.

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Money...enough said!

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We're having a meeting after school today to find out how the school board is going to cut about 9 million from the budget for next year. I don't think my job is too much in danger, but I could lose hours which would hardly make it worth keeping.

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If all this weren't enough for one week I also have a cold that's leaving me feeling pretty miserable. On a brighter note, I have some fun quilt projects going. I'm on a deadline for one of them so I hope to get a picture posted of it tomorrow.

Strip Twist Quilt

Here's the Strip Twist quilt I have been working on. I got the pattern from Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville site. She mentioned this quilt on her blog (Jan. 29th) as a Superbowl project. I watched the Superbowl, but worked on it earlier in the week and I had it about finished by game time. It went together really easily and it was fun to play around with the squares to get them in a way I liked. It was a little outside the box for me, but I really like how it turned out. I stayed away from colors I don't usually like in quilts-yellow, orange, and purple-and concentrated on the reds, blues, and greens I have the most of. By the end I ran out of light prints to use, so I could use some more of that in my stash. I was thinking about donating it to the silent auction at church, but when I got done it had so many pieces from quilts I've made in the past that I don't think I can part with it. It will be kind of a memory quilt. Tomorrow when we have our block of the month class, I'm going to pick out something for a strip of border about 5 inches all the way around. I'm thinking about a dark Kansas Troubles print. I still haven't gotten the outside border done on last year's block of the month, so I should get going on that too.

My Attention Span

I've been having a few issues with my attention span lately, usually while blogging. The other night while perusing some of my favorite blogs, I smelled popcorn. "Mmmm, popcorn" I was thinking, "I'd like to have some". About that time my brain kicked in and I remembered that I had just put a bag in the microwave. A snack sized bag at that! That puts my current attention span at less than 1 minute and 45 seconds.

Belated Happy Groundhog Day!

There's something I like about Groundhog Day. It's a little strange I know, but I get a little excited about it. DH and I watched the "Groundhog Day" movie last night, it's one of my favorites too. Maybe it has something to do with the feeling that even though we will always have at least 6 more weeks of winter, at least it seems like Spring is getting closer. We had some nicer weather this last weekend with sunshine and temps above freezing for the first time this year. Today, however, it was back to the deep freeze with windchills in the -20 range. Anyway, I'm starting to feel like the worst is over where winter is concerned. I know I've been dwelling on the weather a bit lately, but it has been soooo bad this year that I can't help it.

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I decided that it's New Year's resolution update time. I admit that I've failed in all or in part in all of my resolutions. Why do I even bother? Looking back I realized that sewing more wasn't even one of my resolutions. That I've been doing a lot better on. I completed another quilt top this week and just have to add the outer sashing. I promise to post a picture soon.

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It was a pretty busy day today with a training at work this morning, my regular hours this afternoon, a school board input session after work and an orchestra concert tonight. At work this afternoon, a little guy I often work with told me I looked sick and asked if I slept well the night before. I admitted I wasn't feeling the greatest and went to check my temp in the nurse's office out of curiosity. I was 100.5, so I took some ibuprofen and I hope I'll be able to fight off whatever it was. I must have looked pretty bad today for a third grader to notice, I'll have to spend a little more time on hair and make-up tomorrow. :)