Making cookies

This chopper makes cooking ground beef a delight.

December tree

Eat 'til you hurt day

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all. We had the whole family except Mr. and Mrs. Don't. It was nice to eat with everyone in one room. The "table" was 3 banquet tables lined up end to end. Very feast like. We had a holiday quiz. One of the 5Th grade nephews won. Us grown ups need to slow down and read the entire question and then maybe our answers would be correct. Pardon the lapse in entries. We had to purchase a new computer and I lost my archive of pictures. No worries. I'm not mad or frustrated. Hope you aren't either.

Halloween At School

Every Friday before Halloween, we dress up at school and have a parade. Everyone is invited, even parents and children too young to attend. This year we have a new principal. He dress up as a nerd. Very authentic, with the high water pants and the thick glasses and even some special teeth. He danced a bit and put in a bid for candy. I think his humor was extraordinary, but I am sure it went way over the kid's heads. His wife, a former teacher/boss of mine is the lady in the home made taco outfit. It was a perfect match.

Warmness of Fall

It is amazing to me how warm it can get in October. Thank goodness we didn't have any winds or fires this year. But in the hundreds is still a little warm for me. Bring on fall for crying out loud.

Just Lovely

What a lovely way to use pumpkins after October. Paint them off white, splatter with brown, make the stems gold. Very nice I say.

Smart? Really?

All I could do was laugh.

Change the dressing please

Waiting for the nurse to change the dressing. I will spare you the pictures from under the bandage. They are not that bad really. One small incision about 3 inches long and 3 small "holes" from the arthroscopic instruments. Some swelling. Mostly he is just a grump.

Baaaaahhhhh

My favorite plate.

Saggy Bottom, Boys

When I saw this car at a stop light I thought, what did they do to the Corvette back end? Then I thought, no wait, it's the new Camero. But what is all that stuff hanging from the bottom? Did they loose their bumper? No it's the way it was designed. One must always look to see if ones tail end is as nice as their front end!

New Space

Being placed in a new class was a change that took me a few weeks to get used to. The former occupants of this room are legendary in the district and it felt kind of wrong to change anything. I soon found out that the more I made this space my own the better I felt about coming to work. So how does one replace greatness. Very slowly I am realizing. Trying to take what works and allowing myself to merge into the space. It has been a growing year indeed for me and we are only 35 or so days into the new school year.

Coffee Girls

Every Wednesday morning when we girls emerge from the coffee shop, after the sun has risen and our cups are empty, We see our cars lined up next to the curb. It makes me sad because I know that work will begin soon and close up friendship sharing time is over until next week. I hope the line will get longer but know that it most likely will not. You see, these 3 girls have fewer issues going on than the rest. Some day it will change.

Nature In The Median

My plant is growing thanks to a very rainy day. I wonder how tall it will be when it begins to bloom. I wonder if it will bloom. I wonder what it will be. Will it be a flower or a vegetable? It makes me smile every week when I turn left to go to class.

Surgery

My Haggard Prophet had knee surgery. He had torn his ACL and the meniscus was obstructing things as well. He was full of anxiety for weeks before this. The process was a bit too long for his liking. He made it through with flying colors. It was a long day and we are both glad it's over.

New Lunch Box

I was in need of a new lunch box and found this beauty at Target. I like it because it holds all sizes of containers and keeps them very cold. I have a little box inside to hold my extra stuff, like a toothbrush and a compact and things like that. I don't take a purse to work and this bag is large enough to hold everything I need. It's made by Thermos.

Grow Old With Me

I have been away. Overwhelmed by life and tasks at hand. I will attempt to update this blog and then keep on track until the end of the year. I wont go away forever but maybe in the future I will post at least once a week.

So, the last post was on my anniversary. 28 years with the same man. We have beaten the odds and are in a new place in our relationship. Because of the events over the past 2 years, we have had to redefine who we are. I am happy to say that we are still friends and we have a deeper understanding of each other. I love him and he loves me. Do we need more? Quit possibly, but for now this works. When I think of our vows over 2 decades ago, I am amazed that one line is oh so true. "Grow old with me." That my friends is here and now. I don't feel old until Friday. But other than that, I'm holding steady.

Games Go Bye Bye

My sister came down for a couple of days and we had a wonderful time. She is an enormous help when it comes to organizing and that is just what we did. We got my crafting room in order, once again, and then we dove into the game closet. I now have two empty shelves in my hall closet and it feels great. All of these games are on their way to a garage sale in North County. Don't worry Special K, there are no vintage ones in the pile here. Jr. Clue and Mouse Trap circa 1990's. I did think of you and decided to make sure you didn't gasp in fright when your wifey read the blog. XO

Stupid Computers

My computer is about to die forever and I have had a hard time getting on long enough to check an email, let alone post on the blog. It seems to be having a few good moments for now so this is as good as it gets...

Horse Lovers

I went to coffee twice this week. On our usual Wednesday, one of us couldn't make it. 2 of us sat at the counter and we shared a pumpkin scone. It was delish and helped the coffee go down. When I looked up, I saw this funny sign and it made me think of Mrs. Don't. I snapped the picture and sent it to her right away. There are lots of quirky signs in the shop. Most make me laugh.

Road Side Greenery

When I drive out to Rancho San Diego once a week, I have to stop at a red light almost every time. I have noticed this plant by the sign in the middle of the road. It seems to be growing extra fast. Just 2 weeks ago it was just a sprout with 4 leaves. Now look at it. I wonder what it is? I will try and capture it from time to time and we will discover together what kind of plant it is.

Squared

Tuesday night class and I got 3 squares done. I think I have one row completed...I am having lots of fun putting together different values of black and white. Enjoy the process with me wont you?

Pink John Deere

My friend made every inch of this John Deere costume. It is the cutest little thing I have ever seen. The little girl is the daughter of a potato farmer. Perfect right? Corduroy wheels, all done in foam, light weight, so very original. I can only hope to sculpt things like this in the future.

The Penny Pan

Loaded up the new pan with pork chops. Served mashed spuds and home made applesauce. Very yummy dinner and the new pan worked great. And it only cost me a penny. By the way, I got the small fry pan as well. Out with the old and in with the new.

The First Block

Here is the first block of the quilt I cut out at class on Tuesday. It's going to be mostly blacks and whites with some color thrown in for fun. If you think it looks a little crooked, you are right. I think I like it that way, but may have to redo the block. The idea behind this quilt is random colors around the center block. I don't do well with random. I try but I always seem to establish a pattern. I am working on that too. Should be fun to see it unfold. I will post more blocks as I get them done.

Fall Apples

I took today off and tried to get some chores done before the weekend so I could sew with no guilt. The school is on minimum days this week and work has been crazy and my back is feeling every bit of it. I love fall and apples. I have been buying several every week. Making home made apple sauce to go with pork chops. Eating one every day with lunch. Maybe a pie this weekend. I even have one of those air fresheners in the scent of apple. Thanks to my neighbor at work. She got me hooked. I think it's time to get out the fall decorations.

Peter Rabbit

First Thursday of the month and here we are tying quilts. Someone donated a large amount of quality fabric to the ministry and some of the ladies got right on the task of sewing some quilt tops. This is a Peter Rabbit design. We have one in blues too. There were only 9 of us this time but we managed to tie 4 quilts and sew bindings on and organize the parts and pieces for the craft day at church next weekend. I so enjoy this group of women and the hands on work we do.

Streamline

Getting organized at work, trying to streamline the changing area. It feels great and helps me to take ownership of the class. I have felt like I was just visiting and hesitated to put my touch on anything. It's my classroom too and I need to be a part of it. I have finally settled in and look forward to working with the children.

Cutting Class

Cutting strips and squares so I can sew this weekend. I got a lot done and can't wait to see how this quilt comes out. I have never done one with so many of my ideas as to the placement of the fabrics. Getting over the fear of failure is a big step.

Bug In My Yard

I am greeted every day by my son's latest project. This little bug says hello to me when I pull into the driveway. Maybe some day soon she will have wheels and be able to make it up the drive to the street. It is a rainy day here today and the sky is one big cloud. Love this bug in my yard.

Top 5 Finish

I don't like my weekends any more. They are too short. I would like them to be 3 days long. By Friday, I am exhausted but push on after work to do some chores. Lately it has been grocery shopping. I try to sleep in on Saturday because it's my only day to do so. I'm up by 7 to get a good breakfast and start with some chores. I did laundry and picked up as well as throwing tons of junk mail and expired flyer's away. Putting things away, all the way back to where they belong takes most of the day. I now can see my table top and my side board buffet. Sundays are for church and NASCAR and more chores. All of the floors are free of pet hair and dust bunnies. Stove is clean and dishes are done and put away. Clean sheets on the bed. Tomorrow I get those bathrooms done. I'm pooped. But, back to the race cars...My favorite guy, Smoke, aka, Tony Stewart, lead most of the laps today and finished 4Th. He didn't move in the points standing. Disappointing for such an awesome race today. If you don't get the thrill of turning left for 3 hours, I'm sorry. But it makes me smile and I love it when my guy does well.

Warts and All

I promised myself that when I started this blogging thing that I would try and be as open and honest as I could be. I edit my posts not out of humility but concern for others. Others who read it, are in it, or adversely affected by it. You will never see a post on how I hate my kids...I don't but they read the blog and it would be like yelling at them in public. I wont do it.

So, when I went out to dinner with girls from work, I took a picture and this is what I got. I thought, great, I can't post that. It was supposed to be of all of us sitting at the table with lots of empty dishes. We went to a buffet. Then I thought, remember you said, warts and all for this blog. I like the effects of the moving camera don't you? Oh well, after 9 months of taking pictures with a phone I should know how this all works. When I was a kid the phone didn't even leave the kitchen, where your mom always was, to hear everything. Now I can take pictures with it in a restaurant.

GATOR

Upon arriving at my local grocery store, I spotted this creature and instantly thought of my friend igirl. She lives in Florida now and when I see a gator, I see her. I sent her this picture and told her that California kids pay to play with gators. I miss my igirl. It's been a few weeks and I can no longer pretend that she is out of town or too busy to see at church and other functions. I am thankful for the computer and fancy phones. It makes the pretending easier. That goes for Mr. and Mrs. Don't as well. Happy October everyone. Let Fall Begin...for crying out loud in a bucket...

BOOM...CRACK

Tonight we all went out for dinner. All of us from work. Okay, not all of us, but most of us, okay, not most, seven of us. We sat in the back of a large restaurant and laughed and joked and laughed so hard that we should have been kicked out. It was a crazy weird day at work with the booming thunder and cracking lightning. Kids were crying and every time there was a boom or a crack (tee he) every kid it seemed screamed. It was out of control. Eventually the office was full of cry babies and concerned mothers and frazzled office staff. I got soaked more times than I can count. Not really but every time I needed to leave the classroom, it was pouring. Big fat drops of H2o. It also was hot and humid amongst the rain. This picture is over my fence this morning on my way out to the truck. I was focused on the blue sky. Ha, fooled me.

O'Dark Thirty

On Wednesday mornings at O'dark-thirty, I meet my friend for coffee and a replenishing of positive, uplifting fellowship. We have worked together for a few years and now we are at different schools. We don't see each other on a daily basis any more. I didn't know how much I would miss her until she was gone. Wow, how many people have said that about someone in their life? I am trying to hold on tight to this friendship. But not so tight that I mess it up and I am no longer needed. I am finding many new things about myself as we sit in this little coffee shop on Main street in our cowboy town. I realized that when I talk to her, when we are sitting no more than 2 feet from each other, that I don't look at her when I speak. What's up with that? I find myself looking out the window. I should switch places with her next time. Am I easily distracted? Interesting indeed. I love my time with her. She is wise in ways that I am not. We are the same age, and we both live simple lives. She is a strong woman and yet she is vulnerable too. She has passion in her life and for life. She is taking in all that life can give her. She has awesome stories about her hikes around the county and country. She can make you laugh and cry all in one story. She is wonderful. I am so very blessed to be able to get to share a couple of hours a week talking with her. She fills my heart with love and laughter.

Featherweight

If you sew, or if you quilt, then you know this machine. They make quilting easy I'm told. This machine belongs to a lady in my quilt class. It was made in 1947, the year she was born. So cool and wonderfully vintage. I think I want one real bad. I have an opportunity to maybe buy one and I am so excited. I would cherish it forever and use it always. Hopefully it will work out and I will be sewing on one made in the 1950's...

Washed Clean

Baptisms at church. I tried to get a cool picture of a young girl being baptized. He father is one of the Pastors in the pool with her and her mother is standing in the shadows with a towel, wiping her joyful tears as she hears her daughters testimony.

102

On the way home from church we noticed the temp was 100. As we made our way home, the temperature climbed to 103. In ten minutes it went up 3 degrees. When I got to the house it had lowered to a cool 102. Crazy hot today and it is supposed to get hotter tomorrow.

Boiling A Bird

I have been watching a new program, (for me anyway), called. Mad Hungry. The host is an employee of Martha Stewart and I have seen her do cooking segments on Martha's show. She is an editor for a cooking magazine I think. But enough of the useless and inaccurate information. I saw her show the other day and she just boiled a whole chicken and then made 3 different things with it. I found my little bird for $3.20 and thought "SCORE." I love chicken, my husband only likes the wings and drums...I thought I could boil this girl up and shred the meat and have chicken every day for lunch at work and that way get my fix for fowl. I have been up since 4:40 am and have an enormous amount of energy. I think my new job is getting me in condition to go 100 miles an hour for a good part of the morning. We will see what happens when the outside temperature goes up and I hit the wall.

Egg Cakes

Today was birthday breakfast day for our department at work. We come early so we can visit a little and share some good food and well wishes with this months birthday girls. A standard dish and one we look forward to tasting is Egg Cakes. Its real name is something completely different but this is the one that has stuck. We love Egg Cakes. Next time I will get a picture of it. Maybe even post the recipe. Until then however, Happy Birthday to the ladies of September and to the maker of the Egg Cakes...I say thank you so much.

Fallish

It was trying real hard to be stormy or cloudy or fallish...but the clouds blew away by the time my shift was over. Better luck next time.

Stickers

At my grocery store they give you a sticker for every $10 you spend. I now have enough for the size pan I want. It will only cost me a penny. Next trip to the store I get to get the pan.

Half Square Triangles

Fabric squares ready to be sewn into half-square-triangles. Vintage colors and prints were everywhere this evening as I matched up solids and patterns. I need 90 pairs. I have 11 so far. Looks like it will be slow going. But I will finish this quilt and I am KEEPING this one....yea for me.

Reverse Clouds

I was in charge of helping the kids paint blue. Now mind you, these kids are 3 and 4 years old. Some, I think have never painted before. I protected them with a paint smock and put the paper down in front of them, gave them a paint brush and then I just squirted blue on the page. Dark, lite and a little bit of white. They loved it. Some even used their hands. Some kids painted their hair, their faces, even the table. I was the only one to get paint on my clothes and it was the last kid to paint that did it. 16 kids, one at a time, and we got a reverse cloud effect. These pieces of art have been trimmed and mounted on black paper and hung on the walls of the class. It was and exciting day, this day of "blue."

Beef

Oh what a day. I forgot to take my morning meds and after church I went to lunch with 2 good friends. Little Chicken and a favorite lifer whom I haven't yet given a nic-name too. She has one on a friends blog, but she is not peas to my carrots so I do not want to pinch that name. I feel it is poor etiquette since it is a very personal name. I will however give her one when an idea sparks in my head. Anyway...after our yummy Italian lunch I promptly came home a had a nap. I was not tired at all, it was all of the carbs in my body with medication yet to be ingested. After quit some time I awoke and most of the day was gone. I cooked a flank steak on the grill tonight and it was very delish. Gotta head to bed early tonight to be up and ready for a the week a head of me. Church, by the way was wonderful today. I got a hug from B. It helped to reinforce God's love and that my friends is always nice.

Retrospective and Reprodution

In my new quilting class, we were given a magazine called McCall's Quilting. In it is the pattern for our first project. I don't really want to do the project and was struggling to find the right fabrics for it. The nice lady who sits beside me in class suggested that I do the pattern at the end of the book. I loved that idea. It uses retro fabrics, which are reproductions of fabrics used in the 1930's and 1940's. I have an odd connection to that time in America for some reason. I haven't figured out why as of yet. I have 4 blocks done so far. The project calls for 90. I will let you know how the quilt progresses.

Lumpia

Lumpia! It was the "Rat's" idea. I love it when he helps me decide what to fix for dinner. After the thousands of dinners I have made, I do believe I have run out of ideas for interesting and new ways to prepare food.

Kitchen Sheep

It's been a very rough day for me today. Overwhelmed by work and the tasks at hand have had me at the edge of tears all day. The details only really matter to me. I tried to talk with a friend who knows my job very well. She didn't seem to have the time. It crushed me. Why can I call and ask how she is doing and listen with love and understanding, but when it's my turn, she is not there for me. Usually I don't give extra chances. How long will this friendship last? I told her how it effects me when things like this happen and she told me she is trying to change. All I wanted to do was vent a little and then hear her always wise perspective. It wasn't meant to be today. I told my son I almost cried at work and he seemed unsettled by it but didn't know what to say to his mom. I kept a strong front around the husband. I don't think he would understand. So I sit and quietly weep. Then I read a friends blog about her impending visit with her mom and the flood came. I miss my daughter so very much I can almost quit my job and go live in her town. This picture makes me smile. All things sheep remind me of her. This little guy is in her kitchen at college. I love it.

I think I will relinquish my title as the bad ass in the family. Today the rock crumbled. No amount of glue or spit or duct tape can fix this. Let the pity party begin. When I think of my friends and the walk they are on, mine is not bad at all.

But when you are at the very center of the shit storm, life
stinks....

Tomorrow will be better I am sure. For now, I will find a shovel and
start digging a path towards happiness.

Blood Born Path

Today was a day of information. Every year we as a staff at a public school get an update on blood born pathogens. Someone from the CDC comes out and explains things we already know, such as don't touch someone else blood and don't clean up vomit with your bare hands. Can I just say DUH!!! Enough on this.

New Quilt Project

I have started a new quilting class and this is one of the projects. Doesn't it look yummy? I hope to do one maybe all in patriotic fabrics. I can't wait to start it. This class is not new for me but going by myself is. I know a couple of people there but we don't sit together so I am forced to sit with new people and guess what? I met a very nice lady named Cindy. She is helpful and very creative. I look forward to getting to know her better. I love new beginnings. Don't you?

Franken Shoes

I needed new shoes. I have seen these weird things around town and on TV. Several people at work have them. Everyone of them has given me a great review on their shoes. So I got mine at a local discount store, (I call it the Freak Show), for a reasonable price and decided to give them a try. They are indeed very comfortable. I feel like I have way more shoe than I need, but they feel good and they make me laugh.