Rain...dead things...new dishes

I think we are about to float away. In the past 3 days we have had over 5" of rain. I'm not complaining but there was a river between my house and my neighbor's. There is more water standing than dry ground in my neighborhood. I hope it has helped in the drought situation. I know the rainy season is suppose to be drawing to a close so I am sure we will be missing this rain soon.

I have learned over the years I am not good with house plants. I ALWAYS kill them, usually by watering them too much. Once again I have killed plants. My mother in law tried to help me, but apparently she was too little too late, because they are DEAD. Man! Why didn't I get my dad's green thumb? He could throw a plant out in the yard bare roots and all, and in a few weeks they would be blooming and beautiful, honest. He has always been so successful with growing things, me, not so much.

Today we went to Kohl's and found my new dishes. I am so cheap I only looked at the clearance dishes. See the plate in the back of the picture? That is the dinner plate. Then I also chose the small bowl on the right as the dessert/soup bowl. I want to then add Fiesta in coordinating colors to fill out the place setting.

My new kitchen has white cabinets and a red back splash and a neutral counter top so this will be just the thing. I have had the same dishes since we married so it is time for some color!

Later tater,

Diane

Home sweet home...

I'mmmmm baaaccckkkkkk

It only took 2 frappuccinos and 2 VERY large cokes and needless to say many rest stops to get me home, but I made it.

By the time I made it home I was so wired from all the caffeine I couldn't stop talking, but Ray and Joseph seemed happy to see me so they listened.

The retreat was GREAT fun.

The class we took was working with striped fabric. It was kind of like kaleidoscope and stack and whack but without the precision needed. Perfect for a retreat!

wanna see more?

This looks like flowers but it was actually dear, how neat is that?

This was not made at the retreat, it was a mystery that I taught a couple of years ago and Lamoyn brought it to show me how it turned out. Looks great doesn't it?

More later....I need a nap!

Diane

Retreat...

Do you remember the line in To Kill A Mockingbird where the kids were just attacked in the woods and Boo rescued them and Scout says, "It's OK, you can pet him...if he was awake you couldn't..." If Joanne didn't love me I couldn't put this picture on my blog. Just anyone couldn't put this on their blog, but...she loves me.

I LOVE THIS GROUP!!!!!

I am having so much fun. So much that my head is POUNDING and my stomach aches and I am having a HUGE sugar rush. Ain't life good?

Later,

Diane

One more linus top

Actually this was typed and posted last evening, but for some reason Blogspot didn't get it posted and I had to go and repost this morning. I am headed to Alabama!!

I have another one made! WOO HOO! So far my goal for the year of making a Linus quilt for each month of the year is going well. Yes, yes I know I have made all eight of them in the last month, but it still averages out to one a month! Now when I get back from the retreat I will have to work quickly to get any more made before we move. I know I will have a hard time getting any made for a while after the move.

I have a question...how many quilts do you have to make before you notice a dent in your stash? I know not everyone has a stash as big as mine and many have stashes much larger than mine so that is a relative question. In the past month I have made 8 count them EIGHT Linus tops plus a couch quilt (fully finished) for my youngest so I have sewn a LOT but can I see any reduction in the stash? NOPE! Not even a reduction in the bright fabric which I own the least. I am amazed!

I was telling Judy L. from Patchwork Times that I think some funny business is going on in there! Honestly I wonder if my son or husband is playing tricks on me by putting fabric on my shelves after I leave the room.

HMMMMM.....

I am packing tonight so I can leave in the morning. I don't know if I am just tired from today or what but I am not so excited. I am sure I will be all excited again in the morning.

Today I spent most of the day in the doctor's office with Ray. Then we had to have an Xray, then go pick up the rental car, then arrange for lunches to be delivered for some meetings he is in charge of next week. Now I am home and need to cook dinner but am just too tired so I have been on here. Sounds like a solid reason to avoid work huh?

Ok, I MUST do something...pack or cook...cook or pack....maybe a bit of TV first.

Later,

Diane

A day to get out and about

Normally I don't go out much. I like to stay close to home. Usually I end up going to the grocery store on Friday's when Ray is off work and we run all errands on that day. That is just about it. I know, I know I am getting to be a real homebody in my old age, but I am happier than I have been in years. I find my life is peaceful and I am very content to stay here and take care of the house.
Today though, I needed to get out for a bit. I think it was because I have had the new house on my mind and wanted to look at new "stuff" for the new place. I need new living room furniture and a dining table and chairs. I have not had a new dining table and chairs since I married 28 years ago and then it was a little kitchen table and 4 chairs that cost less than $100. I definitely have got my moneys worth from it, but it is time to buy something new. My living room furniture has been with us for about 11 years. Eleven years of kids jumping, eating, wallering,(good southern word) and terrorizing the dog on.

So I left the house headed to the furniture store. I ended up at Lowes...
I looked at plants, ceiling fans, rugs and door knobs and drawer pulls. I bought a book on Florida gardening.

I left there and went to an antique shop that had a great secretary the last time I was there. I found a quilt from the 1930's. I left without it, but I plan on taking Ray with me in the morning to look at it because as I walked out the door I saw a sign that read "everything 20% off". I looked at the quilt the last time I was there and it looked like there was only one block that had the slightest bit of damage to the fabric. I think it would be well worth $80 to cover one of the beds.

As I drove past Wal-Mart I remembered that George Strait's new album Twang was released Tuesday and so I wheeled right in.

I stopped at the library and borrowed some cook books to help with our heart healthy cooking, and a couple of gardening/landscaping books. I LOVE the library.

Later,
Diane

Another finish!

I made the blocks last night and then got up today and put them together and the border. Really cute! I think some boy will really like this!

Diane

Once again,

Ray is out of town and what is my norm when he is gone? I don't sleep! What do I do when I can't sleep? I sew! This is what I made this time.
I like it.
I do believe I will need a nap today,

Diane

And now we wait...

We just heard back from the real estate agent, and the gentleman agreed to the contract. Only 24 hours after it expired! Goodness I hope this is not a sign of things to come.

So now we wait. We wait on the mortgage company to do all the stuff they do. We are already approved for the mortgage, but they have to do stuff that I don't know all the details and don't really want to know.

I will start packing up the rooms we don't use on a daily basis. One thing I learned from the last move was to have everything that belongs in a room packed together. It makes it SO much easier to unpack. Before we left Mobile I had a sewing house, meaning I had sewing stuff in EVERY room of the house. I worked hard to get everything organized before the move, but we all know you never get everything done. But I have continued the organizing thing the whole time we have been in this lease home. I pretty much have everything in the rooms they belong in and in their correct place so when we pack we can label them by where they go and what they are for. Since we are doing the moving ourselves I hope I can keep it that way.

You know how movers are, they just want to fill a box. I had stuff from the bathroom put in with kid's room stuff because they space. I hope to not do that this time.

Ray had to make a fast trip back to Mobile unexpectedly. Last night he came home and said his boss was going to Mobile, I asked if Ray was going with him and he said no. This morning I get a call saying throw me some stuff in a suitcase I have to go with my boss. UGH! Normally that wouldn't be a problem, but I had not been to the pharmacy to fill his new medications. We had been using the samples so if he had a reaction (Dr. said he could) we would not have spent tons of money on Crestor. So I rushed to the pharmacy, waited in line, waited in line, waited in line ...do you understand where I am coming from?

Finally I get the meds and head back to the house to find Ray REPACKING his suitcase I had so meticulously packed. UGH!

I fix his lunch since we all know there is no place you can eat fast that is heart healthy. I shove him out the door....AHHHHH!

Now I am in the sewing room and I refuse to come out until I am stress free!!! LOL

Maybe I can get another Linus top made. I hope so!

Later,

Diane

Mr. Fixit?

Here is the latest top I made for Linus. WOO HOO! I think it turned out nice. Very easy, nothing special, but nice.

My mother in law went home yesterday evening and it is kind of quiet around here. She doesn't talk a lot but between the two of us we kept the house kind of lively. Now it is just me (and my son, but we all know how a much 19 year old son talks with his mom) in the daytime.

I mentioned we made an offer on the house. Well the man countered (I hate playing games, we offered what we wanted to pay!!) and he wants two months to move out of his house. Needless to say I did not like that at all! Ray decided we could move up on the price by a bit (tiny bit!) and also give the man an extra two weeks. I told he could do what he wanted but I will not be moving out of this house and into another with just a weekend of time. I know some do it but I am not some. I need time to clean that house before things get moved in and then clean this one before we hand over the keys. Both houses are pretty large and I know I need a whole day in each for just a quick clean.

Anyway, we counter offered and he hasn't replied yet. He has until 5pm so I am sure he will take the whole time. He told his agent he didn't know the house would sell so fast and he wasn't prepared to get rid of his wife's things yet. His wife died a year ago and he is moving into an apartment. I really do feel bad that he is still grieving, I can't imagine how bad it hurts. But why didn't he start taking care of some of this BEFORE he put the for sale sign up? Just a question.

So today I am in the sewing room trying to keep my mind off of the house. I think I will start getting my stuff rounded up for the retreat I am going to attend. I am always worried I will leave something important at home so this will give me time to think it though. Yea sure!

Plus this year we are having Secret Quilt Pal. I have a few things I have bought for her and a few things I want to get from my own stash that I need to get together. Nothing too expensive. We were told nothing that costs more than $10 each and not too many of those. But I have some stuff I found at Tuesday Mornings on the cheap, actually useful stuff not just stuff to fill a basket.

Ok, off to the sewing room,

Diane

Maybe?

For the past several months I have been looking for a house as I have lamented before. I have decided I do not like looking for a house. I have looked at well over a hundred homes in person and probably a thousand online since May. I have fussed and cried and never walked into that house that made me feel that feeling of "my home". That is until last Thursday. The first house of the day and I walked in and instantly thought, I might be home. The more I walked around the the more that feeling grew. We (the agent and I) left and looked at four more homes and I just kept comparing all of them to the first house of the day.

I called Ray and asked if he could go look at the house the next day. As a matter of fact we went and saw all of the homes I had seen the day before as really all of them were potentially good buys. We left the house and both agreed that might be the house. Finally Ray looks at the price of the home and says, "Oh, but it cost a lot more than we wanted to spend". Ray has had it to the penny how much we could spend. With the money from the house in Alabama we knew exactly how much we could afford and this house was out of our budget. RATS!

After looking at all of the homes the agent drives us back home and we are talking in the car. Ray mentions about how much we have to spend and how we have exactly enough money to pay all of the closing costs and agent's fees when our agent says "you don't pay all of those fees, the buyer pays this fee and this fee and you only pay this fee". Ray asked her to repeat herself...I knew then. She tells him again in detail what she said. I turned around in the seat and looked at Ray and he said..."We will call you in a few minutes".
Off she goes to show more houses to another client.

Ray and I go in the house. He gets online and on the phone to our mortgage company. He confirms what she just told him. He gets the calculator. He calls the insurance agent. He gets the calculator. He starts a spreadsheet, with the calculator in hand.
He calls me into the room and says, "Do you like the house?"
Me: "DUH!"
Ray:"You wanna make an offer?"
Me: "DUH!"

So long story longer (as my friend says) we made an offer on a house!!!!!
Now we are hoping the owner accepts it.

Later,
Diane

Newest top

I finished this top today. I was so pleased.

I seems I haven't gotten in my sewing room much in the past several weeks. With my mother in law visiting, house hunting, Ray's gout, and me having to relearn to cook everything I have ever cooked in my life all I seem to do is stand in the kitchen or go to the grocery store. UGH!

My stove finally got fixed...yeah!

Ray's gout is no better...thanks doc!

Ray's diet and therefore my cooking lessons are going fine, just slow.

I have burned a whole tank of gas going back and forth to the store over the past week.

:^(

But I got in the sewing room today :^) and I finished the top and started pulling fabric for another.

Diane

Look what I brought home

Friday we went to the doctor's office to get Ray's blood work results. They were not good. The doctor said just dieting would not do enough to help him (us). She suggested Wii Fit. She said it was fun. Both Ray and I just rolled our eyes. LOL Neither of us has EVER thought exercise as fun.

Well after talking about how I really want him around and healthy he decided to go buy a Wii Fit.

Tonight we hooked it up and let me tell you it is not just a game!

I can honestly say there was some of it that was fun.

I ran a beginner race and loved how everyone cheered me on and was so happy for me to finish. Kinda of strange but encouragement does seem to help even if it is from a character on a screen.

I did yoga; that is HARD! But I did it.

I did step aerobics...I'm really not so good at that. I quit to come back another day.

I hoola hooped and I am GOOD at that! I was doing three at a time! Now in real life I can't hoop one. But fake hoops I am amazing!

LOL!

Ray is still hurting with his gout so he has only bowled (it came with the Wii console) and did quite well, and he played some baseball. Hopefully his gout will go down soon and he can start doing more.

Later,

Diane

PS...did you know when you make your Wii Mii (your Wii person) and you weigh yourself, your Mii gets bigger to match your weight. I was not pleased to see that part. Also when you first start and you get up on the Wii Fit Board it sounds like it groans. Not very encouraging! LOL

Sleep...it hardly ever comes easy

Yesterday I went to the doctor for my six month check up. I actually lost a tad of weight! Yea me!

She asked me how I was doing and I told her the good news. I am no longer taking my pain meds or muscle relaxers on a regular basis. WOOT WOOT! I am regularly in the pool doing low impact exercises (when the daily thunderstorms allow). My up days out number my down days by far, so I am pretty happy.

She was pleased and then asked the one question I am sick of answering. She asked how I was sleeping. My answer was "I don't!"

I am doing all the right things, eating mostly right. I am down to two cokes a day and none at night. I am exercising (in the pool) way more than I ever have and still have a hard time getting a good nights sleep.

Her answer was a pill...I told her I have done the Lunesta thing and they didn't even phase it. She said she had another pill that would help me stay asleep.

I was awake and asleep worse than if I had not taken it. It seemed like ever ten minutes I was awake. The I was jolted out of bed with a charlie horse. The WORST one ever. So bad my husband came running in from the shower dripping over me. Oh man!

Oh well, life goes on.

Now I have to go shopping. Not fun.

Later

Diane