Friday, June 26, 2009

Week 27

It’s week 27, and here are my goals:

Review Ted’s CD purchases
Pay $120 to the student loan
Sandwich curtain panels
Finish the green GFG flower
Finish strips on the barnyard flower
Find the 2 books I want to read.

And here are some more goals:
Wannabees RR - Ute
Potholders
20 Mellie blocks

And my progress from last week:

I did nothing on my list. I’m not surprised, with class winding down. Actually getting my MBA is on my 101 list, and by finishing this class, I am now halfway done with my MBA, which is an achievement, at least in my book. Tonight is Relay for Life and so part of my weekend is booked, but we’ll figure it out.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

But Who's Counting?

In less than 6 hours, I get my life back!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

36 hours to go

Believe it or not, TOMORROW is my final exam in my accelerated summer class. I absolutely cannot wait. I have a roast in the crock pot and am making Italian Beef with it. One classmate is bringing rolls and cheese and another is going to KFC and buying a bunch of sides. I have a French Silk pie from Market Day in the fridge and we are all good to go for study group tonight. We had a study group the night before the mid-term 3 weeks ago and so we thought we’d do it again tonight. Works well for us.

Ted and DD (well, 99% Ted) cleaned up the main floor of the house so we can have people inside our house. It’s a detail. After work today, I can run home, water the plants (OMG, it’s 102 heat index or something crazy like that), do the last bit of tidying (15 minutes max) and get ready for company.

Unfortunately, I don’t think a lot of things on this week’s 10 in 101 goal list will get done this week, but hey, Friday starts a new week, one without class.

So as Scarlett says, ‘tomorrow is another day.’

Friday, June 19, 2009

Week 26 Goals

I’m going to make my 101 week match my quilting week for sake of my mental health. So for the week that starts 06/19 (week 26), here are my 101 goals:

Review Ted’s CD purchases
Pay $120 to the student loan
Sandwich curtain panels
Finish the green GFG flower - brought it home for the weekend

And here are some more goals:
Wannabees RR
Potholders - started last night
20 Mellie blocks
Finish FIL 440, another class toward the MBA

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

10 in 101

There’s a challenge out here called 101 Things in 1001 Days. It is actually fascinating; list 101 things that you want to do (the bucket list) and/or 101 things that you have been procrastinating on. I’ve started this once before and one of the first things I completed was switching my mortgage from monthly to bi-weekly and I’ve saved like $100,000 in interest or something crazy. Well worth my time. However, 101 is a lot for me to focus on. So some people chop it into smaller pieces. I’ve even seen things like 3 in 30.

With the summer term for me ending in 9 days (but who’s counting?), I’m going to see if there are 10 things I can do in 101 days. Not quite the same as the 101, but more bite-sixed. This would give me 7 items that would be completely done and others that would have progress. Sometimes, that has to be enough.

Start Date: 06/22/09 (my sister’s birthday)
End Date: 09/29/09 (my birthday)
Yes, it’s only 99 days

1. Complete the grandmother's flower garden quilt (progress is plenty, trust me)
Goal: finish the barnyard flower and green flower. Start diamonds process.

24. Work my way through the Alphabet reading a book by authors whose last name begins with each letter. I didn’t mean I have to read in alphabetical order, just that I have to read a book for every letter.
Brown – The da Vinci Code
Moore – The Stupidest Angel
Goal: Read 2 more books.

• 16. make candles just once
Goal: Complete the mission

• 44. climb a rock wall
Goal: A friend’s kids want to come down to our wall, so maybe then.

• 52. start DH’s 401k
Goal: Fix this mess.

D. Finish my CPCU
Goal: Pass CPCU 530 – test date is 08/19/09

K. Pay off Ted’s student loan
Goal: Current balance is 3800 – get to 2000 left

U. Use up 100 yards in 2009
Goal: Get to only 40 yards left in the dash.

• Make some fabric grocery bags and stop using plastic ones
Goal: Just Do It

64. Communicate with my DH’s grandma once a month
Goal: 3 times

• Eat Meatless one night a week for two months
Goal: Just Do It

9. Complete the woods sampler – restarted on smaller canvas.
Goal: Progress. Not sure how best to do this, but some progress would be good.

• 87. Buy 33 new CD’s (like 1 per month) – DH and I are doing this one together.
Genesis – blue box – 6 CDs
Genesis – red box – 10 CDs
Genesis – green box – 13 CDs
Goal: See if Ted’s bought 4 more CDs. Which I bet he has.

• 19. See the movie Crash
Goal: Stalk the Tivo.

Unrelated: Renew CPA Registration!!!! This only comes up once every 3 years and it’s due 09/30/09, so I thought I’d put it on here just in case.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Over Halfway There

Well, it’s technically still Week 24, but besides washing the curtain backing fabric and doing some retail therapy on Saturday, nothing quilty has been accomplished. Such is life for a grad school student.

I have only 5 more classes to go. I just need to get to June 24 at 10pm and then my summer is my own. Well, except for that insurance exam I need to take on August 19….

Sunday, June 07, 2009

100 Yard Dash Update

In my infinite wisdom, I never updated my spreadsheet nor my sidebar over to the right for the completion of the P&P quilt. Based on the Superbowl post below, I had the quilting done by then. So I'm guessing that March first was when it was done. I can guarantee you it's done; it's a fort in the basement right now.

Well, that does help to be 8.25 yards closer.

Sunday Morning Peace

I can tell it's summer - Ted and DD were up until midnight having fun. So of course, I'm the only one up and they are both OUT.

It's a gentle rain this morning in central IL. Right now, I hear an owl whoo-hoo-ing. That is very interesting.

My flowers made it into the ground yesterday, so I am grateful for the rain. We never quite made it to Peoria. We were really slow leaving the house and I told Ted there was nothing urgent, so let the day go as it does. We did make it up to Washington to that quilt shop and I did some damage. (I joined a quilt swap where the quilt is a called "A Quilt for Melanie Wilkes." How can I not join?!?!?!)

So today, there is housework and folding and laundry and homework. And getting ready for camp and tonight's cocktail party and hopefully some quilting.

Sorry for no pics yet - slept away Friday afternoon and did I need it. I had a migraine flirting with me and that kept it at bay.

Friday, June 05, 2009

A Baby Step

Well, I had high hopes for last night. I did cut and wash the curtain panel backing. That makes a lot easier. However, I did not piece anything or look at Ute’s RR. Whoops.

I did, however, talk in depth with Ted about next week’s schedule and DD’s first week at camp. This is a new experience for her and so we are trying to manage the logistics. She also has expressed an interest in taking karate (the first time ever for a sport) (everything else has been our idea) and so we signed her up for those at $2 per lesson. However, they start Monday, so the first day of camp will be craziness.

So while sewing wasn’t accomplished, logistics and family time were, and that is never a bad thing.

So for this afternoon and tonight….

Piece the 2 panels (rows are done – just piece the rows)
Sandwich the 2 curtain panels
Pictures!
Kim’s potholders
Ute’s RR

Plus stuff like…
Menu planning
Grocery list
Dinner
Brownies paperwork all done and filed away
Camp backpack
Dishes, folding, etc.
Call Kim

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Week 24 Goals

So now we’ll try for 2 posts in one day.

I used to post that my quilting week began on Friday, whenever work was done. Using that, tomorrow at 12:15 starts Week 24. Anything I get done tonight, I’m counting towards it.

Thursday night
Cut and wash curtain panel backing
Piece the 2 panels (rows are done – just piece the rows)
Look at Ute’s RR

Friday night
Sandwich the 2 curtain panels
Pictures!
Kim’s potholders
Ute’s RR

The weekend
Finish Ute’s RR
Do the zigzag quilting on the curtain panels and the chiclet quilt

I have no idea what I can get done next week during the week, so we will just manage with this.

I suck

So much for my New Year’s resolution to update this blog. Whoops.

As I mentioned in a January post, I’m in school until essentially the fourth of July. It’s actually the 24th of June at 10pm, but who is keeping exact track?  Last night I had my summer class’ midterm. It seems to have a midterm after only 3 weeks of class, but that is the way it works. My spring classes ended well; I got an A in one (the boring one) and a B in the other. It was my first B in grad school and hopefully my last, but even so, as long as my GPA stays above 3.5 (I’m at 3.81), I continue to qualify for a grad student grant. I need that grant to pay for this whole endeavor!

Anyway, it’s been a dearth of quilting. I have been plagued for the last 4 months with what I describe as annoying illnesses – ear infections, strep, exhaustion and finally diverticulitis, which made me so exhausted, I felt like I did when I had mono. Don’t worry, I don’t have mono! But I have to go a week from tomorrow and have another blood draw done to confirm that I am on the mend and not suffering from thyroid problems or anything else.

So needless to say, quilting has just not been happening. I have suffered a bit from ‘I need to handle this one project before I can face anything else’ syndrome. I also realize that I want to piece, but there’s too much piecing lying around not turning into anything else. I also realize that I have a lot of projects out right now and I am being overwhelmed by them. And Ted’s crap is all over my space right now, and that is not helping things either.

So starting anew, as I am feeling better, the midterm is done and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel:

Goals for June:

Update at least one a week.
Pictures!
2 more potholders for Kim’s birthday on June 22.
Finish Ute’s round robin.
Finish the 2 curtain panels, wash backing, sandwich and zigzag quilt. Attach binding.
Pay Patsy for retreat.
Quilt chiclets quilt.
Sandwich Christmas BRB.

I know there’s more, but let’s just start there.