Writer's Block

I've been in a bit of a blogging slump lately. Now that I think about it, just a plain old slump all the way around. I haven't been sleeping well for whatever reason, getting a late start on the day, and not accomplishing a whole lot. I guess that means its time to go back to work pretty soon. We have a pretty busy week coming up.....moving CS to his dorm and bringing some stuff back home. Starting up with some of the fall/school activities. Getting SD ready to go off to college. The usual stuff like laundry, cleaning, extras like painting and various household tasks. Anyway, I'm not sure if I'll be posting much for awhile. In the meanwhile, I think I'll try to think of some interesting and blog-worthy topics since my day-to-day stuff just isn't cutting it. Stay tuned!!

What's in a name?

I just found out there's a blog called Sew Many Ways. She's having a fabric giveaway that I entered my name in. I guess there are probably a lot of sewing/quilting blogs with the play on the "Sew", but I'd never seen one this close. Anyway, if I mention the giveaway here, I get another entry, so go ahead and follow the link. If you don't sew (I just about said "if you're not a sewer" but that didn't sound good-lol) you can give me the fabric. :)

A Couple of Movie Recommendations

It's been a beautiful day today in Minnesota. Over the weekend we had Iowa-like humidity, wind, and rain. We needed the rain, but it sure made things sticky. I celebrated my birthday on Friday. DH and SD made me homemade beignets (French fried pastries) and chocolate flavored coffee for breakfast. They got the mix for them when they were in New Orleans and had the real thing at Cafe' DuMond. They were pretty tasty, but the deep frying sure made the house stinky for awhile. Then later in the day, DH and I went to a matinee and over to some friends for supper. The girls went and saw "Julie and Julia" and the boys went to "G. I. Joe". My friend and I loved "Julie and Julia" and I would highly recommend it. It was a real feel good movie...a few sad parts, but also a lot of humor and it made me want to go out and get a Julia Child cookbook. I learned a lot about her life; she was quite an interesting lady, and she had a real peach of a husband also.

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The other movie I saw recently on DVD was "Marley and Me". Another good movie, but I'm glad I didn't see it in public because I was practically sobbing by the time it was over. I'm not a big cryer, but this one really got to me. A great story and I don't think you'd have to be a dog owner to appreciate it.

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School is starting in many places, but we're lucky here to not have to go back for three more weeks. My kids and I all start the same day, Sept. 8th, although the college kids have to be on campus sooner than that. The big move in day for them is the 1st, so we'll see how I deal with having two kids in college. Poor TB will be the only one left at home for me to pick on. The poor thing is so tired from football and mowing lawns he probably won't even notice.

Skywatch from Iowa

Here are a couple of shots I took with my cell phone on my trip to Iowa earlier in the week. I live in Minnesota now, but I grew up on a farm in Iowa. It's nice to get down there this time of year when the crops are at their peak. This summer there has been plenty of rain, so the corn and soybeans are thriving and all of the grass is still green with wildflowers blooming in the ditches. Unfortunately though, a bad hail storm went through about 10 miles to the north of where I was driving causing a total loss in some fields. The weather can be friend or enemy to a farmer. These clouds looked like something was brewing and it was interesting to see the formations change as I drove across the countryside for about an hour. I live in town with a lot of trees in my yard, so sometimes I miss the open spaces, seeing the sunsets and being able to see for miles in any direction. Check out the other Skywatch posts for many varying scenery options!

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In other news, TB is at school getting his football gear today. We were surprised at his decision to play football this year and I hope he will continue to enjoy it once two-a-day practices start next week. Budget cuts in our school district forced a down-sizing of the marching band program in our school to the point that he did not want to participate any more. Too bad, but I hope he will continue to play in the concert band.

Block(s) of the Month

I've been a really neglectful blogger lately, for good reasons mostly. Anyway, before starting with the obligatory excuse list, here's my blocks for this month. I had to do two this month since the quilt needs 14 instead of just 12. I've also started on the applique portion that goes in the middle of the quilt. It is a large bunch of flowers tied with a bow. Up until last week, I had only done 2 stems, but I got busy and got the rest of the stems put on and also worked on some of the flowers. I was going to do all turned applique, but after doing the stems that way, I decided to just do the easiest way....iron on fusible web, cut out pattern, iron onto quilt, machine applique. It's still pretty time consuming, but it's turning out okay.

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DH and I just got back from a brief trip to Iowa to check on our parents. They have been in the nursing home this summer and now all but his mom are back home. Hopefully she will be well enough to go home in a week or so. The previous week I had a house guest from Monday afternoon until Thurs. afternoon. Then various other things including another trip to the cities, repeated carpet cleaning, insurance and financial wrangling, and then this trip this week. It all has made August fly by and before I know it, it will be time to move the kids to college and go back to work. Yuk. All in all it has been a pretty stressful summer and I hope things will start to turn around a bit for the fall. I guess I shouldn't complain though as things can always be worse. I'm very thankful lately that my back/sciatica pain has completely gone away after three months. I was starting to think I'd be in pain for the rest of my life, it was no fun, but made me more sympathetic to others that have chronic pain.

Thanks!!

Thanks for visiting my blog! As I mentioned, it's my one year blog anniversary today. I feel like my bulleted posts are very boring and self indulgent, so here's some recent shots of what's blooming in my yard right now to make up for it. First, my Jasmine plant. The little white flowers are so interesting in their design...nature's pin-wheel. Their fragrance on these nice summer days is heavenly.

Then one of my Asian lilies. I got the bulbs from a teacher friend a couple years ago and they have really come up nicely this year. I have several varieties and they all bloom at slightly different times.
Lastly, I think this might be Culver's Root or a variety of Speedwell. Jeanelle had pictures along with a lot of information about something very similar in her blog the other day. Her's were a wildflower and seemed shorter. These grow in a shady part of my yard and are probably close to 5 feet tall. They have quite a nice smell and attract a lot of bees.

Here's a close up, aren't those little balls on the tips cool?

One Year Ago...

I started my blog. I guess that means it's my blogiversary today. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before that word ends up in the dictionary along with frenemy, staycation, and vlog. As an aside, I wonder if the current definition of "sick" includes the way TB uses it- meaning something that is good in a very cool, surprising, or awesome way. Ha When I was watching golf for a while today, the commentator even described Tiger Woods' 33 foot putt as "sick", so I guess it's catching on or the commentator is actually 16. Anyway, I've had fun with my blog and it's been a bit of a creative outlet which is good for everyone to have. It's been a rather eventful week around here; time for the always loved bullets...
*SD left for a pre-college camp called Nature of Life, a requirement for freshmen majoring in Biology. She had a good time up at Lake Itasca. I told her that she has traveled from the beginning to the end of the Mississippi in less than a week and she said she'd already had that thought.
*My mom was finally able to move home from the nursing home and seems to be doing well now that her neck is healed.
*DH's parents had a bit of a set-back when his mom was admitted to the hospital today with pneumonia. His dad is doing real well, but I'm sure this will prevent them from moving home from their nursing home for awhile. DH is down there visiting this weekend.
*TB started football camp. He's never played football, but wanted to give it a try to keep up his conditioning and try to put on some muscle. At 6'6" he only weighs 165, so he'd like to gain some weight. He has been so happy this week that DH and I can't decide if it's the endorphins or if there's a girl he likes. Ha
*I finished summer school on Thursday. It wasn't too bad, but I'm glad it's over since it started so early in the morning. I deleted my rant about getting a new job since I thought it seemed so lame, but I'm still thinking about it nonetheless.
That's about it, thanks for listening!