Happy Thanksgiving

Lucilu has been to the dog spa so she is smelling good........

The beds are made up and feeling soft and warm...........

The table is set with a new quilted table runner and the turkey is thawing..........

Now if John, Annie, Jake and Emerson would hurry up and get here, I'd be so content and happy. It would be better if Ray could come in from Jacksonville, but I know the career is more important right now. When he gets to the top of the heap, he can take the whole weekend off maybe.

You know you are getting old when it takes you two days to clean a two bedroom apartment!!! Course when I had hardwood floors I didn't have to clean carpet but heaven forbid my grandbabies' socks get black!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day no matter how you spend it and know that all of us have so much to be thankful for - I couldn't even begin to make a list.

Birthday parties use to be a lot more fun!!! Of course, when this picture was taken I didn't know I would live to be old enough for social security. I earned my social security but I don't receive my social security. That's another rant for another day!! Teacher retirement is nice too!

I can hear you singing "Happy Birthday to you..." or "Happy, happy birthday, baby...." or Sixteen Candles, make a lovely light......"

However, you have celebrated birthdays with me before, thank you. Lucilu does a wonderful job of "WOOF, WOOF, WOOF, WOOF..........."

Question authority, and when authority answers - arch one eyebrow and say, "Is that so?"

The week so far!

This week has been sooooooooooooo cold. How cold is it? It is sooooooooooo cold that even Lucilu had to wear a coat! Sorry, I tried to get a picture of Prissy this morning in her pink coat and my batteries were exhausted. The camera's batteries, not mine. Don't you love all the words the technos have come up with for all our gadgets?

Back many years ago, tonight would have been a special night. Why - cause it's Friday night and there would probably be a football or basketball game - cause we knew if we survive three more days of school we got several days off? No, cause it would have been a perfect night for a slumber party. Yes, a slumber party to celebrate Vicki's birthday. My best memory was Ferdinand scaring us with stuff from the funeral home. I can still smell the formaldehyde. And Vi would wake us up with cinnamon toast and bacon. What good memories! There's nothing like sleep-overs to get to know your friends. You knew who would cry to go home in the middle of the night, who would want to spend all their time with the adults, who looked better without the makeup and hair done up, who had a vicious temper, who could pull off the practical jokes, who you better not do the practical jokes on! Those nights you could separate the wheat from the chaff although I didn't know at the time that's what I was doing.

These are my projects for the week. I made a table runner for Christmas. I loved the teapot theme. A theme that you don't see too often on Christmas material but fits the season splendidly. I usually don't look at the name of the pattern or whose design it is on the selvage edge. But this time I did. Imagine my surprise when the name was Debbie Mumm. She's a designer that Frieda just introduced me to a few weeks ago. Glad I noticed her name because I certainly like her material.

I made this Dancing Labyrinth Lady lap labyrinth for a friend of mine Mary. I have been interested in labyrinths for several years and this past summer Mary had taken a class on being a labyrinth guide from a world-class teacher. My discussions with Mary helped me understand more about how labyrinths would help expand one's spiritual journey.
And this is the beautiful table Lily set for a dinner party. Our friends, Karen and Bonnie, came to share dinner with us and play some Mexican Train dominoes. We had so many good laughs. Spending time with friends makes life worthwhile.

Speaking of good food, Tuesday night Lily, Ric, Sam and I went to Tousey House in Burlington to celebrate Sam's and my November birthdays. It was a beautiful building and some very good food. Thanks guys for a good time.

One more night out this week. Tonight Cordelia is having a Silpada party to raise money for their missionary trip to Kenya next year. So, again, I will get out in the cold, dark night and be an obliging guest. My social calendar has been full this week.

Wednesday we had a meeting of the Licking Valley Quilters. I took my Thanksgiving and Christmas wall hangings to share. I enjoyed the time there. Those meetings remind me of my faculty meeting days. I've attended enough now to know who won't like anything that is said, who will always have corrections to the minutes as read, who will question every penny the treasurer says was spent, who will talk during the presentation (to their neighbor, not the presenter), who will huff off in a snip, who will quarrel about what happened but won't speak up. I'm just glad I'm not the one up front taking the crap! Those days are over - I don't have to say - "Research says..." My staff at McRoberts caught on to that and started making me quote the researchers before they would believe me!

Enjoy your weekend.

There is no problem we cannot ignore, confront, plot against, drown in chocolate sauce, or run over with the car.

Best Day of the Week

When I was working Friday was the best day of the week because I would stay busy finishing all the jobs I hadn't completed or hadn't wanted to do for whatever reason and the day would pass by fast; it was payday every other Friday; after work, I could go to Lowe's or Walmart, get a cart to lean on and browse around without any rush; Ray and John usually had something to do and no one expected anything fancy for supper; the housekeeper had come that day and my house smelled of Clorox and Old English furniture polish. Friday was the best day of the week.
Today it is the best day of the week because of the weather. The sun is shining and the temps are in the 60s. Lucilu took advantage of that to lay/lie in the sun.

I took advantage of that by dragging out the ladder. I put plastic on the windows for the cold, wet weather headed this way. I cleaned the overhead fans that had velvet growing on them - you don't know that until you stop them to change the directions. I drug out the clothes hampers overflowing and started laundry. If I had a clothesline, I would hang them out on the line - it smells that good outside.
Now that I am retired, I get to do this all on Friday instead of Saturday.

Now what will I do on Saturday? Retirement means you get to choose what you do each day - or what you put off until tomorrow! Maybe I'll clean up the winter shoes, maybe I'll put away some summer clothes, maybe I'll go shopping, maybe I'll cook, maybe I'll read a book, maybe I'll sew some, maybe I'll use the remote and surf channels, maybe I'll do absolutely nothing.

Christmas is when?

I have been told I have some "issues"! And a blog is not the place to air those "issues".
Should I just stick to quilting?
I have been hand sewing on the Christmas Wallhanging. I added beading, gold thread and ribbon to make this birdhouse look Christmas-y.
So now I can start on the table runners, placemats and purple quilt.
I did design the purple quilt. I wish I had the software for designing quilts but I don't think that is in the near future. So I just use draw in MS Office.



The weather is very "November-y" Grey, drizzly, windy, cold. I hope the snow flurries/showers they are predicting for the weekend at least make it pretty. The kind of weather that makes you want hot spiced tea, a soft quilt to bundle up in, a candle burning, a fireplace going, and a good book to read or a good movie to watch while it gets very quiet outside and the snow flutters down outside.

Lucilu is patiently waiting for me to quit paying attention to the computer and play with her. That is her favorite toy she has brought to play with - I bought it for her when she first came to live with me. So I gotta go.

The next morning

I had to stop going to the auctions at Isom way back when. I would wake up the next morning and think, "Oh, Lord, what have I done!" I would get carried away by the excitement of the bidding and wind up with "stuff" I didn't need.
I wonder if Michelle and Barack woke up this morning - with the excitement waning - and think, "Oh, Lord, what have I done! This was just a fluke - I just went to Iowa to get my message out. I just wanted to see if the people would take a black candidate serious. What happened over these 21 months? What will we do about all these serious things? They really expect me to make their lives better. How do I do that? How to get out of the middle East? How to boost the economy? How to give them all health insurance? How to make the sun come up every morning? How to make the weather perfect for everyone with just enough rain to be perfect? To keep the wind down and the seas calm? To figure out the perfect puppy for the girls? To have the right clothes, the right words, the right facial expressions. Oh, Lord, Michelle, what have we done?"

Life is simple for some of us!!!

Have a good one,
Char

Lunch on a beautiful fall day

Sunday we did the parade through Villa Hills for Cordelia's campaign. Here we all pitched in to decorate the cars

but, alas, she didn't win. But she is still a good politician!

Today Ric and Sam drove Lily and I up to Maysville for lunch since the weather was so beautiful. We ate at Caproni's as you can see which is beside the Maysville depot and between the river and the floodwall so we watched pleasure boats and barges go up and down the river while we ate. It was beautiful.

After lunch we came back on the Ohio side so we could stop at the Easy Spirit outlet at Ripley. And you know, I have a weakness for shoes and when they are $14.99 for $79 shoes, who can resist!! Lily had a hard time finding the narrow ones but, since my foot is normal, I had no problems finding several pairs I wanted.

Still working on my Christmas wallhanging. The background looks like blue sky with snow falling and I quilted it first - with 2 inch blocks. I think the Lord makes me do quilting to try to learn patience - which is a virtue I know - but which I lack most of. I'm like Larry the Cable Guy - just get 'er done!!! But I did it and did a good job on it. So now I am working on the applique.

So, I have no quilt pictures to show this time, just be patient.

Indian Summer Day

I feel proud to be the Nana for such a cool guy!!

And a Spiderman!

And a beautiful princess

who started out as a skunk!

I know I said I was tired of Halloween but these pictures show my thoughts change when they are my grandbabies!

After church today, we had breakfast at Bob Evans and then went to Hancocks to get fusible web so I can start on the applique for the Christmas wall hanging and the boxed square quilt. Mid-afternoon we went over to Villa Hills to campaign for Cordelia for city council for Villa Hills. It was a beautiful day for a campaign parade and it was fun! Go, Cordy, be the fiscal watchdog for Villa Hills.

November is Here!

I finished the cat lap quilt. I don't know if you can click on the center one and see all the funny notes the cat has left for the master but they are hilarious.

And I finished the purple lap quilt. I hope to get it washed and in the mail this week. It is getting cold in Florida!! Can you see the decorative stitching I used to quilt this one?

Thank goodness Halloween is over. I hate television the month of October. There is nothing on but scary movies and I do not do scary movies. Never have, never will. And hopefully, Wednesday we will have no more campaign ads. They are on so often it makes one want to not vote just to protest all the campaigning that has been going on. But do go vote!! Otherwise you can't complain about who wins and what they do after taking office!

The weather is absolutely gorgeous. Makes me want to take a train trip through the Northeast to see all the beautiful colors. But I'll just stick to the Ohio river bank I guess. Which is where we took the dogs this morning. After suffering through very cool (almost cold) mornings this week, I went to Walmart and got some hunting socks and underwear. I think my blood is getting thinner or something because this week I couldn't warm up. And to think, with the time change, it will be even earlier next week. Nate (the boys' babysitter) use to say - "My mules don't know daylight savings time - they get hungry the same time every morning no matter what the clock says!" That's how I feel about Lucilu now - she can't tell time; she just knows when it is time to go for her constitutional!!!

Have a good weekend and let me know what you think about my quilting!!