Progress Report - 01-27-15

Yup!  Still fluffy!

Sigh!  Would love to talk about how good I am about dieting!  (Yup - sure would love to talk about that!)

Would love to talk about how hard I am exercising!  (would rather NOT talk - or even think about how hard I am exercising! My poor body is letting me know plenty about exercising - so I don't need to talk about it to remind myself!)

And I've been on again - off again!  NOT giving up!  Just trying to realize that there is more to life than dieting and exercising!  I did join some online groups.  Have left some online groups (the same ones!)  I don't like a lot of diet groups.  Or really anything that talks about dieting.  Makes me hungry!

I'd rather copy all those Facebook pictures and recipes of foods and post to my page.  That's usually about how far it gets!  Then I go back to the kitchen and get an orange.  Or an apple!  I must say though, my FB page is getting quite full of recipes though!
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I've been spending a lot of time  planning my garden for this year.  Which is great and good exercise, etc.  Would be nice though to have more sunlight! And better soil!  and Money so that I could hire someone to design it for me!  Yup - would be nice!  But since those things aren't happening - at least right now - I'm planning it the best way I can!  Am also trying to update the garden pages too!
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What happened to my Design Wall and my Stash report pages?  Well, I am WAY behind!  I've been babysitting quite a bit with the most beautiful grandson in the world (not that anyone else's grandson is not beautiful - it is just that my grandson is the most beautiful! and precious!  and has VERY strong lungs!)  to say that he is spoiled - nah!  It is just that he has me (and his parents) trained now to hold him in the way HE wants to be held (vertically), walk quickly and repeatedly around the dining room table (this one doesn't work with me - my body says NO to that much walking!), dancing and waltzing with him (OK - this one I do!) and sitting up to watch Curious George on Netflix TV.  Serious - he's barely 3 months and truly does love to be in a sitting up position to watch TV.  He also loves to pretend like he's standing (with someone holding him up).  So we may have an early walker here - which truly does NOT surprise me (Wendy - walked by herself - actually ran - on tippy toes - at a bit more than 7 months, couldn't sit by herself though until after she was standing - and fell into sitting position - which is how she did it for a LONG time - at about 6-7 months as well! She was in the walker from 4 months on.)  (Nathan - walking definitely at 7 months - actually running.  Sitting - ummm - maybe at 5 months, maybe slightly earlier - hard to say - he loved to be in the baby walker from time he got up until naptime or time to eat!  Walker at 3.5 months)
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Back to design Wall - I'm ALMOST done with piecing Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion Mystery.  Almost done quilting some things too!  Machine however is now at repair shop.  Ugh!  Definitely will be glad once it is back!

For this Weekend...........Stashbuster retreat

FIRST of all - Open Sew tonight! (see previous post!)

Then finish up this one..............

Celtic Solstice!  Want to finish this one UP! and get it ready to QUILT!

Underground Railroad - I want to finish up blocks, sashing and get the flimsy done this week!  Then try for a chance to win free quilting!

Wendy - Look at what we're sending you!!! :P

Raspberry patch and part of the garden - winter 2014
(I keep cutting the mulberry tree in the middle of the raspberry patch to the ground -
it keeps growing anyway!)

My Wheels - I think!  Hard to tell underneath all that white stuff!

On the Street where I live!

And MORE is expected!!!  I know the ski resorts have been anxiously awaiting it!  HOWEVER - it would be nice if the resorts got the snow - and the rest wouldn't settle on the streets, roads, my car, nor my sidewalks!

Design Wall for Monday, Week 51 -

This is Step 2 of Celtic Solstice - which I did complete last week!
THIS week I have 4 patches (which I may have completed - and which only need pressing and proofing!)
and to finish up step 3 - all pieces of which have been cut and 100 HSTs have been sewn together!

I still want to get this cute fabric set up - probably as a table runner with something in the border going around it!

ALSO have some other Christmas fabrics - which I would seriously like to work on (Pfefferneuse?  or Peppermint twist - which I DO want to do - just haven't completed 2 oldies yet!)

Re oldies - I've re-joined the UFO challenge on Stashbusters - and found that while LAST year  I listed all I had - and had 64 UFOs and even though I finished up several quilts - I have a GAIN or another 14 quilts!  :(

NOT listed are the Christmas table runner begun today - nor the Holy Toledo Quilt.  So I may work on those and see if I can get them finished! IF I get done with the above stuff!

OR

I can get a couple of oldies and goodies worked on  and READY to be finished in the new year - which is very possible!  Hmmm!  Have to think on this Monday while I finish up the Step 3!

REGARDLESS - I will have next Wednesday and Thursday to quilt -  with my dd!  which is great!  Not all day (she is also a writer and has some stuff to do there - as I do as well!

Goals for WB 11-10-13 - WB Sunday

I'm not sure you can tell - this is a clock tower in the meridian (is that the right word?)  I'm not sure whether this is an old one re-positioned from a demolished building when they were building the other bridge - or whether it is a new one set there to look nice!  Regardless - I like it!  (Again, picture taken from my car with a hopefully aim and click of the camera - as I drove past - slowly - and with traffic car horns going behind me going full blast!)

GO AND DO

• DONE Post Office
• DONE Library (books and DVDs return)
• DONE Menues
• DONE Veterans day - day off!
• DONE - we went out for dinner! Nathan's birthday on the 16th!
• DONE Walmart
• DONE Grocery store

HOUSE - 

• ZONE 1
• Front porch 
• DONE WHB
• Entrance
• DONE WHB
• * Side Porch
• Declutter - super fling
• WHB
• * Back Stairs
• DONE WHB
• ZONE 2 - 
• Kitchen
• * Zone 
• DONE Pantry straighten up
• DONE Broom and mop sweep up!
• nope - had new - then old DW sitting in the middle of it!  hopefully will EVENTUALLY get N. to move that OUTSIDE! Dining Area
• WHB on Thurs
• ZONE 3 
• * Bath
• Zone - 
• DONE Fingerprint patrol
• DONE Bathroom vanity 
• DONE Inventory list
• DONE Baseboards and floor
• DONE WHB
• * Laundry Room
• DONE 5 minute rescue - room patrol
• DONE WHB
• Sewing Room
• DONE 5 minutes room rescue
• DONE WHB
• * Study
• DONE Declutter 5 minute room rescue
• Home office area - 5 minute room rescue
• Super fling
• ZONE 4 
• BR -
•  DONE WHB
• ZONE 5 
• LR -  
•  DONE WHB 

GARDEN

STUDIES - nope - didn't happen!  would LIKE to say it was because of this stupid cold (I HATE colds!) which is still hanging in there! - but the reality is - uh, I didn't wanna!

KITCHEN

• DEHYDRATE
• some cut for stir fry collards/ cole greens
• SOUPS (serving kept out for Monday - freeze the rest - portions)
• DONE MAKE MENUES for the week (do Monday)

QUILT

• DONE STASH REPORT (do Sunday)
• DONE but scheduled to post on Monday! DESIGN WALL (do Monday)
• PIECE 
• all pieces cut for #1 placemat - and ready for applique Improv - applique
• Step 4 completed and MOST of step 5 is done! Back to Square One
• * worked on it a bit - missing one piece though - grrrr!  Runnermania - Thanksgiving table runner - class
• SWAPS
• * library visit done - BUT will need to hand draw - blast it! - Paperpiece Christmas Block Swap
• DONE Southhampton quilts 4-patch?
• SEWING
• KNITTING (Friday!!!)
• I knit - and reknit and re-re-reknit - and ripped out everything I had knit! Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief

Monday - Day 2 - and BACK to work! AGAIN! WAIWO 10-14-13

Yup!  I forgot all about Columbus day until last night! And, of course, this explains why I kept hearing parade music.  Thought I was losing my marbles - or at any rate, what's left of them!

(Imaginary picture here - of Bonnie Hunter's Holy Toledo Quilt!  I have the LARGE HST's done!  See?  Aren't they pretty????_

Regardless - I've got a bunch of things to do - and hope like crazy to get at least MOST of them done!  More later as I go through my day!

Also - quilted with Wendy for a while.  Had MAJOR problems with Skype sound!!!!

GO AND DO

HOUSE - 

GARDEN

STUDIES - Will be posted on Sunday - or later today - whichever!

• RELIGION
• Rosh Hodesh
• SCIENCE
• WOP (World of plants)
• THE EARTH
• Thread of Life (TOL)
• MATH
• LIFE SKILLS
• Tasks
•  OY 
• CREATIVE WRITING 
• RUSSIAN
• Lesson 17
• DONE M
• ART - 
• MUSIC

KITCHEN

QUILT

• DONE DESIGN WALL (do Monday)
• DONE STASH REPORT
• SLICE AND DICE DAY (Monday)
• DONE Greens bag
• DONE Any greens I find in the bin!
• PIECE 
• DONE - the HSTs that is! Holy toledo (mine - NEW one!!!!)
• SWAPS

Odds and Ends and a Carpenter Star to boot!

Ugh! I was going to post a picture of the project I'm currently working on (finishing up my Carpenter Star - only 3 years overdue!!!) but it would certainly help if I could find my camera! Definitely will be doing some picture posting this week - AFTER I find my camera - and AFTER I figure out HOW!!! Am excited.

The quilt wasn't really as far along as I had thought - but now I have to connect my rows together - tried some - but while I was "in the groove" yesterday - that sure isn't the case today! So - am working on the apartment - and doing laundry - which is really a good thing since I think there may be a ban on my showing up at work in just skin! At the least I know it would take a long time for my boss as well as CT to recover from the shock of it all!

Other stuff - Re-watched DaVinci code which I find interesting - but may decide to re-home the DVD - haven't decided. Not really my cup of tea!

Nathan is here today - and working on the second coat of paint in the bathroom - YAY!!!!

Made some Pasta Fagioli - VERY good - except I like mine spicy hot - and, of course, discovered at the last minute I'm out of hot peppers! I would say I will add those later - but the soup isn't going to last that long! I really hate to say how many cups I inhaled for lunch today!

Garden wise - still weedy - we had a really ominous looking thunderstorm - so no weeding - BUT - I harvested tomatoes (4), a few potatoes (um, a bit late - they were sprouting already!), and one of my eggplants - which are the long skinny kind! And I REALLY want some for supper - AND sooooooo..............

YAY - have reduced BP meds! Go Me! AND I lost 8.5 pounds since June!!! Yeehaw!

Wendy and I played work for 15/play for 45 yesterday and today - was GREAT! Mostly I focused on cleaning up my sewing room - which I did NOT finish - but it is better - a LOT better! YAY!

Two POSTS - what AM I thinking of.....

What! This is some kind of record here! TWO posts in one month! Maybe I should get a reward or something!

I miss Wendy and Vince something awful. I miss Nathan and Lynn too! (Wendy and Vince - back in Canada - relaxing after the visit last weekend - and having company this one! Nathan - in Canada on business - VERY late time getting home Fri night - and on call this weekend! Talked briefly to Lynn on Friday - which is when I found out about Nathan's hours! Short phone call so she could get some rest before picking him up)

Saw Dr. on Fri - and - YAY - I have PT prescribed for me now! Maybe with that my shoulder can give me a bit of relief! (and yes - he did offer me pain shots - No! that particular med is NASTY on the kidneys! and mine may need all the help we can get!)

Also made appt for cystoscopy in Sept. - It's during work rush season again - but I screwed up the last appt - don't dare miss this one! God willing it won't be anything major. But if it is - well, then, it is - and I will deal with it then!

All on hold in the adoption dept until I finish clearing up the remodeling aftermath and get some shelving up (so I can get stuff put AWAY!) and the cystoscopy is done.

Am de-cluttering like a fiend! Well - decluttering anyway! This is of EVERYTHING!

Still haven't worked on quilty stuff for a while - but I'm really getting itchy about it! AND I want to work on my fall wardrobe too!

Oh yeah - I have TOMATOES!!!! RED ones! And POTATOES (from volunteers!) BIG ones!

More later!

....And Now... It's AUGUST!!!! (Ta-da-da-dum! - drum roll here!)

aargh! And now I remember why it is usually a good thing to save my posts as drafts!!!

This particular post last week I tried to post 3 different times! And - my computer got them all!!!! Ugh!

Basically - I wanted to post about seeing my daughter Wendy - which was absolutely delightful! My work gave me the day off. So I had no really uptight time schedule!

We met Kathleen from Liberated Quilters - and then all of us went for pizza slices at the Pizza brick oven place in Simsbury! Was delicious! I will say though that I was really proud of myself for resisting the gorgeous batiks at the fabric shop there~

Wendy and Vince followed me home to my apartment - where we divided up the fabrics galore from Carole! (I still think Wendy came out short!) and then we all journeyed to Nathan and Lynn's where we all ate dinner and spent the night - and talked until fairly late! Next morning I headed back to work from there - and Wendy and Vince headed to Canada.

Friday we had a closing on the other apartment house! Exciting! (I saw the interior for the first time on Thurs night - Nathan had seen it before). Really liked it - and the lot is HUGE!

That's about it for now~

How does putrid green sound???

Feel like yuck today. Called in sick. Although I know it isn't - it FEELS like my face is alternating between a putrid green and a grayish beige. Yuck!

Saw Wendy did some quilting today - looks wonderful - as always! She is so talented - and this is not only her mom speaking!

Actually I'm very fortunate - both my kids are fantastic young people and I'm very very proud of both of them! Not so much because of what they do - although that too, but just for being themselves. I count myself very fortunate!

ok - off to beddy bye - which seems to be the place I've spent the most time this past weekend (when I had planned a LOT of delightful things to do!)

Okay - who fast forwarded my calendar to May???!!!!

Geez - it seems like April just STARTED!!!!!

This month my challenge is #9. Hmmm - there is ANOTHER stars and stripes thing - this time my kaleidoscope!!!

The monochromatic challenge according to Judy is Red! Good! That is something I CAN do!!!

Swaps I'm in - Charm around (just this week caught up!) Row by row (mine has to be mailed out! - Monday is THE date - though not when it was SUPPOSED to be mailed out! sigh!) AND I've already got the next row by row - and keep envisioning blocks to go into it! I know I shoulda written it all down - because now I've forgotten!

Oh yes - other swaps (see how I keep sidetracking???) - Jacob's ladder - which I HOPE will be in different colors! An advance block - Twinkling star which is NOT twinkling terribly well for me at this point bt had better best be by Tues or Wed when I'm mailing it out! Also a 4 patch ladder which I think wold be cute and fun and may use p some more scraps!

I found out about a quilt retreat this week - which sounds WONDERFUL - in New Hampshire no less! They retreat twice a year - once in May and once in November - this is a ski lodge, btw - so it should be fantabulous!!! Hoping to find a way to go!

More later.....

Just got back from dinner out with son and his girlfriend (who I like a LOT!) It was fun and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

At any rate Lynn and Nathan (son) had just gotten back from a painting party at my house in W. I'm so excited - but neither will let me see the renovations until they are DONE! - this means paint, cabinets - the whole enchilada! I'm very excited to see it - although the moving back in aspect does NOT thrill me - but then, I'll get over that!

Re shoulder - saw the ER doc - and trying to make an appointment with the regular doc re my shoulder. ER doc thinks it could be an injury to or torn muscles with the scapula. Oh joy! This however would explain the pain, that I can't lift my arm above shoulder height, the pain, and so on. I need physical therapy for this arm for sure! and lots of painkillers!

Oh yes - the big thing - my life has now returned to almost normal - that is, normal for me! No more extended hours, wierd schedule - at least until next month!

More next time!

I am in so much trouble! ......

I am in so much trouble! I talked to my dd this AM - who gave me 2 delightful recipes - and some possibilities for variation (Strawberry-spinach salad) - MARVELOUS! This girl would rival most chefs with her cooking skills and her creativity!

Then - I made the mistake of going to both Allrecipes.com as well as to the Spark People chef site. I like Wendy's salad better - a LOT better! BUT while I was there at the other two sites - I fell in love with some additional recipes for items I have on hand (it isn't payday week so I like to actually use what I have on hand!) I swear I gained 5 thousand pounds just looking at all the stuff! I even started to plot what I was going to eat when on my menu plan (menu plan GOOD - using what my eyes and salivary glands see online - NOT so good!)

Now I know better than to do this! The last time I did this I spent double what I usually do when I went to the store - and that for only a week's worth (most of which is left over - but that's another story and has to do with starving myself from Mon eve to Wed eve - a whole other adventure in messed up hospital schedules for a procedure!) This time, my saving grace is that I have most if not almost all, the ingredients on hand. So - I will make these items. And freeze the leftovers for NEXT week! If possible. And if I can get them packed for the freezer as soon as the items are done and my day's portion is out.

I am actually looking forward to lunch time this week - neat salads, neat pita sandwiches, neat soups. Yup! all there! Now to keep from eating the items when the 8 PM munchies hit me! (Hmmm - maybe I need to plan for that one as well - so far it has been fruit - which I eat - and then want MORE - and don't really care WHAT more I want either!)

Wendy has been ill - sounds awful - and she's supposedly on the mend. I hate it when my kids are sick - even if my kids are fully grown and have been for some time.
Still I worry.

Oh yes, - Nathan was right about seed starting/planting dates hereabouts - and he was really nice enough (so far) about it when I admitted he was right (I looked at the Old Farmer's Almanac online! Plugged in the addy for Westfield - where I live - and again for Sturbridge where he lives. His plants start a little more than a week later than mine - still earlier than he thought it would.

Mine are not ready yet - BUT I need to have a whole bunch of stuff planted by March 15. That's 2 days from now. First though I need to brush the snow off......

Actually I will get stuff in the ground - just as soon as possible. If I do the beds (not made up yet, of course) then it will be sooner. Otherwise it will be as I can. Stuff that needs to be transplanted - well, most was to be started Feb 28 - but if I get it in the flats tomorrow eve - that will be great! Just don't know where I'll put the flats! And I am not crazy about bringing them here to Sturbridge - however that may be what I need to do - we'll see. I wonder if the flats have lids - that may be the only thing to keep McB away from eating the tender little plants! NEXT year - my side porch will turn into a sort of greenhouse - which I think will work just fine. Greenhouse for early spring and summer/fall sitting place and winter veggie/greens raising place - MAYBE.

Otherwise - today - I am sorting papers - and sewing. Mostly sewing since paperwork is NOT my favorite thing to do! Hopefully will almost finish the Underground RR quilt that I didn't work on during the last week. Think I will declare ANOTHER retreat for this week. Maybe I will actually get some work done!

Of storms and things.....

This is so weird! Last night we had a THUNDERSTORM - in February, no less!!!! Definitely didn't expect that! And Nathan's (son's) house is really neat in thunderstorms!

This morning - did my daily/weekly chores - and will be sewing most of the day. Which is great! Do miss talking with dd though! Miss that a lot!

Projects for today.... Sewing - Nathan's quilt (I am DETERMINED to finish that!), the Underground railroad quilt. Gardening - getting seed orders ready. Paperwork - processing any and all paperwork I have with me. - all of which means that this day had best be at least 2 - 3 days long! LOL

It's February!!!!! (Already!!!!)

Yeehaw - another snow day!!! LOVE that! However to be honest - I DID try to go into work this AM - all the way up to where I realized that while I could see the car ahead of me - the one ahead of THAT (not that far away) I could barely see the outline (yes, my eyes are bad - but not THAT bad!) and that the snow was coming down REALLY hard! Add to that roads which were slippery - and egads - NOTHING is worth braving that and taking my life in my hands! Particularly when the farther south I went - the worse it got! So I called my boss. Anyway - she relayed that they will be dismissing work early because of the weather - so I feel better about that!

Have been playing Flylady Bingo this AM - LOVE doing that - makes my daily chores go SO fast - and it's fun! 3 15-minute sessions of different chores (I draw up a list - assigning numbers - and someone calls out a number and that's my next chore) followed by a 15 minute break! Works for me!

I found out that Judy Laquidara has chosen Violet or purple for the next monochromatic color - for the month of Feb. While I have LOTS of violet - I'm not sure if I have any strings that color and I really would like to focus on strings. That being said - a particular quilt pattern I want to call Lilacs in bloom calls me - something I'm kind of creating along the way. More later on this!

She (Judy) also chose #10 for the next UFO quilt item - which for me is...My Underground Railroad - which is hilarious considering that I was contemplating doing a square in different ones of those LAST month as I worked on son's sampler - which BTW is NOT completed yet - but which I really hope will be further along this week! Hopefully even to the point where I can ship it off to Wendy - much less post pictures of it!

I may do some string blocks anyway - hmmm - last month was golds or yellow - so maybe golds and brown strings???? with either solids between the string blocks - OR set the strings up as a sort of medallion - with other things around...... hmmmm - thinking on this one! Esp since Wendy (Inky Threads) mentioned something about quilts still definitely being needed for Haiti.

More later

And more to add-on......

ok - add-on's here.....

Son really REALLY wants to get the kitchen remodeled this January - was supposed to happen in December - but funding just plain not there. Since I find myself now in the over committed state of having committed that money 3 times over so far - it should be interesting.....

At any rate - with us doing the major part of the remodeling (excluding what Denis and his team do while hacking up the place)it shouldn't be too bad - hopefully!

Also have some definite whether or not and regardless plans for spending quite a bit of money - which now entails me getting off my duff and earning extra! Not sure how this will work. - HAD envisioned teaching piano to earn extra - however piano's and plaster dust demolition does NOT work out well! Still - should be able to do that come April - however - the timing is really loused up (as in - when isn't it!!!!)

Also have tentative plans to get my sw license re-issued - this will involve me taking the blasted tests all over again - and they are TOUGH!!! Son wants me to go on and work on my Master's - mmmm - probably not at this time - although it depends..

At work - I have been working in a different department - we won't discuss the many ways I've discovered to mess up! Fortunately I'm still in learning stats when in that department! (TG!!!!) Also - have some ideas for our team to work on - don't know if it will work or not - but certainly worth a try!

Oh yeah - I joined the (don't laugh! you CAN commiserate however....) Lemon team for the Biggest Loser in the Winter Meltdown 2010. Not sure how many are on the team - however - am very interested in keeping me accountable for my actions (and for what I eat!) We officially begin December 1. Am EXCITED!!!! I outlined my goals, will have MY info automatically go to Facebook (not sure I want to do THAT part though!), told my dd, was too chicken to tell my son, set up my rewards (a very pretty fabric to turn into a lovely vest to go with a top I already have!) My goal is to lose 2 pounds a week, exercise 6 days a week (3 strength, 3 sorta cardio - I'm including remodeling and intense housework on this), NOT eat out (and THAT one is the tough one!), drink 8 glasses water daily, and take one med at ugly hours of 3 and 4 AM - and the rest later! (that one is a thyroid med)

All I can say with all I have outlined is... ummmmm - pray!

It is GORGEOUS out!!!!!!!

Good morning (yes, it is still morning here in MA!)!!!

It's a lovely overcast, cool and rainy day outside.

Now where did the lovely come from? Probably came from getting within eyesight of finishing a flimsy I've been playing around with this last year or so! Yes, I found my Flying Geese directions AND the ruler (at the same time - they are both now in their "home") - and have finished MOST of my flying Geese (I only have 12 more to go - actually less since I did the beginning stages on 2 sets of 4 last night) Then off to trimming and stitching the flying geese and log cabins up in rows, attaching the setting triangles and stitching the whole thing together!!!! THEN I get to send the whole thing to Wendy!

DID occur to me - as I'm doing my Leaders and Enders that I COULD work on my next quilt! So I STARTED with these really cute churn dash blocks (a favorite of mine!) that I dressed up into flower gardens - then discovered entirely too soon that (1)

I needed to cut up a LOT more of fabric for more of these - and while searching through my blocks and strips - got wonderfully sidetracked onto what had to be a gazillion rectangular blocks of various widths that I had trimmed from some blocks that a friend gave me (she got tired of working with them) and that I had sized down considerably so as to get something remotely like a uniform size (those blocks are also ESSENTIALLY stitched together - BUT am missing one vital color currently). It occurred to me that one quilt I have wanted to try for years was a very simple basket weave! So - with that in mind I have my new and current L&E project, keeping in mind that I do tend to hyperfocus - and the add-on project all too often becomes the major project!

Now - this morning it occurs to me that since I want to tie BOTH quilts with blue yarn (I want the pom-pom effect) - that maybe I want to combine them - as in putting all the big blocks in the center and basket weave a border all around! Maybe/maybe not - have to think on this more - but mostly =- have to get both finished as far as I can go!

Did have a wonderful time yesterday though digging in all that fabric - sorted (sorta) out my block bin - and discovered I REALLY do NOT like sizing the blocks - PLUS - the block bin is NOT my scrap willy-nilly bin for odds and ends I don't want to size down. Attended to this yesterday - so that is somewhat straight. It was amazing though - that the block bin - for being as full as it was - after I pulled all the blocks for the project I started with - and then after I pulled all the blocks for the blocks for the basket weave - is a LOT LOT LOT smaller! Actually almost reasonable again!

Then I really made history (at least in my family) I actually PUT EVERYTHING AWAY where it goes! Yay! Go me! So this morning was NOT a horrifically frightening mess to walk into! AND I have lot of blocks that I sewed on yesterday that have to be pressed (hence my "running away" for a few!)

At any rate - today - am finishing up writing on a couple of modules, cleaning my house, doing my poor laundry, and cooking up a storm for this week (soups, bread). If I have time today - still have to do some garden work - won't get it all done - but will definitely get SOME done! And am having to think about WHEN I'm going to diet - and HOW I'm going to diet with my crazy schedule and all.

Did talk to - and actually visited with Nathan yesterday for a short time - he came to pick up his mail - and arrived before I had finished sorting it all out. We talked and he also did some fixits on the dryer outlets. Sadly though I will have to get a new dryer - the one here is ancient - plus does NOT fit any of the plugins for current day 220.

Also chatted briefly with Wendy this AM - will talk more with her later today hopefully! I called early - mostly because I really hate to interrupt their family time in the PM. But had forgotten that they had company this week! My bad!

That's it for now - more later!

Whoa - it just turned lovely and sunny with a tiny breeze mixed in! Just gorgeous out! Now I want to go out and play in the garden!

This and that.........

Egads! It has been a while!!!

Glanced over my last post and noticed I talked about my ARCHITECTURE module for learning! Geez! No~ I MEANT to say my archaeological module for learning! Or rather some of the items that I feel would give me (or any child) a fairly good idea of what archaeology is all about!

This for starters. And this study of archaeology would continue throughout history as well.

At any rate - I have the basic module set up on that - complete with experiential activities, etc. for a variety of ages. And am studying as well - while currently designing learning modules for different eras here on earth - starting with the Archaean era or Pre-Cambrian era. [Evolution, infinite variety of life (1)/First day – Precambrian, cyanophytes, stromatolites, primitive bacteria (2)/Paleozoic – Cambrian (1) and Ordovician (1) = 5 weeks]

Also am working on my Russian - starting again (I should be REALLY good on Chapter 1 by now! LOL)

Wendy and Vince visited here July 23 - was so neat to see them both! And I miss Wendy! She called on Sunday - and we played a bit - at least until my headache caught up with me (has to do with a pinched nerve because I slept "funny") Sure hope next year she and Vince can spend a lot longer! Also would love it if Nathan could go up there and visit a bit as well. Preferably with me tagging along - but at least to visit with his sister a bit!

Wendy brought me a copy of her newest book - this one photography! Was really neat! and I can understand why it keeps selling out!

Associate Satisfaction week was last week - when the company I work for rewards all the Associates with all kinds of fun activities - and the Focus team I was on was responsible for ALL the activities of the whole week. True - we farmed out 2 days for some of the entertainment - but still maintained the focus for fun activities and for food events as well as the 3 days that were exclusively ours! Busy - busy busy!

Had a lot of fun though - and the last day - we had dancers in from the Ethnic Dance Company in Hartford. And of course we had to do the Limbo - which I dearly love and which I USED to do quite well (of course this was - ahem - a LOT of pounds ago!) It WOULD have helped a lot if I had remembered just how long ago that was and how much less I weighed then than now!

Now I'm - uh - let's just say I am NOT top heavy! if you know what I mean! At any rate while trying to bounce under this stick held by coworkers - I bounced a little too hard and sat down very suddenly - on my - um - sit-down place. VERY hard! which did not help any headache I had either! However - it was a great lot of fun - as was the whole week - and today the management rewarded EVERYONE with an any flavor at all ice cream cone - which was just a lot of fun! (I had a chocolate sundae thingy! Yum!)

Tomorrow - I am looking forward to a lecture by Breast Cancer survivors group - and Wednesday I have both a meeting as well as a training session - which makes for a very easy day as well. So - when do I work? Yeah - trust me, I do - and very hard. It is just that right now our volume is way down - and so it is a very good time to do all this other stuff. I do like the idea of receiving training time during working hours though.

I do know one thing for sure with all the food I've eaten this last month - I'm lucky I can still walk in the door - instead of rolling my way in!!!