Wrapping Up 2010

Many, many things have happened since last I wrote. Many chapters in my life have come to an end, and I’m not certain of the next chapters that are beginning. It’s an interesting time right now.

I graduated from Illinois State University on December 18 with my MBA. My husband, an assistant professor, handed me my diploma. My daughter watched this event, along with my sister, father and my good friend (and partner in crime) Tracy . It was incredible. It was an achievement. It also marked the end of a chapter in my life. But during this chapter, I worked hard and played hard and made some friends. I started the FNSC (Friday Night Supper Club), which meets on the second Friday of every month. There are 7 of us in total, all women, ranging in age from 25 to 50+. We are all at different stations in life, with different family compositions, opinions and lifestyles. It is good to have friends. It is even better to have friends who like to eat! Amy hosts for January, in her new apartment. It will be fun!

A large project at work came to an end. I actually finished the very last component this morning. It was a project I had expressed interest in almost 2 years ago, to be told I was actually being placed in a leadership role for another project in which I had also expressed interest. Eventually, due to various factors coming into play, including people directly asking for me to be on the team, I made it on to the team for the last 9 months of the project. The project was a resounding success and the last 6 weeks have been handling clean-up. And now it is done.

OK, that is really only 2 big things, but it feels like a lot more. Anyway, I’m kind of floating around a bit rudderless right now, as I really have nothing pressing going on.

I have spent some time working on quilting. And planning some quilting. And resting. And cooking.

For the past few days, I have been working on both Bonnie Hunter’s RRCB and Dorothy Young’s Hugs and Kisses. I had been keeping up to date with RRCB, but when step 3 and those string blocks came, it sent me for a loop. I am not a huge fan of string blocks. But I went ahead and bought some doodle pads at the dollar store. And over this holiday I sat down and started making them.

I thought for sure I didn’t have any neutral strings. I even went so far as to buy some 4” and 2.5” neutral strips for Keepsake Quilting.

Boy was I wrong. I have been going through my various scrap ziploc bags (there must be 15 if there’s one) and I have found enough strings for 15 blocks, and I’m not done going through the bags.

A pleasant breakthrough happened when I figured out a way to do string blocks that doesn’t piss me off. I actually sew a leader/ender in between each one and now my life is so much more sane. I did clue 2 of H&K this way and I’m starting Clue 3. My goal would be to keep on sewing H&K with the RRCB strip blocks as something else to do.

I’ve also printed off part one of Bonnie’s Christmas Lights. I want to use a lot of blue in it and call it “There’s always that one blue house,” referring to the one house in the neighborhood that always has blue lights on it. While blue lights are more popular now, when I was a kid, they were really cheesy. Now I’m the blue light lady, at least in my mind.

So OK, I’ve started a bunch more quilts. What about all of those UFOs?

My goal for 2011 is to complete one crafty thing per week. It could be quilty, it could be sewing, it could be knitting, it could be candle-making. It just needs to be complete and a craft. If I achieve 40 things, I will consider it a success. But I have many things in process and I need many things finished.

I’m also hopefully going back to the idea of the 2-part week. The first part is from Monday until my weekend begins, which is usually Friday afternoon. The second part is Friday afternoon through Sunday. It sounds odd, but I have different expectations of each type of time period.

So to start off, my goals between now and Friday, which I actually have off due to the holiday, are:

Get Carolyn’s quilt to the hand binding stage
Finish blue GFG flower
Hugs and Kisses – as far as possible
RRCB – as far as possible

And yes, I’ve thought about January. I can’t number my UFOs like Judy and go with the random number. I have to know what I’m working on. It’s how I function best.

My goals for finishes in January include:
Carolyn’s quilt
WB quilt
XO blue quilt
GS banner quilt thing
Christmas BRB
Second hand clothes in pink – for a co-worker who is having a girl – not even started

My goals for milestones in January include:
Hugs and Kisses – completed top
BOM – months 1 and 2 complete; month 6 started
D9P – next 20 blocks
D9P – machine quilt one section
RRCB – completed top
Xmas Lights – completed top

Thanksgiving

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm home alone, since yesterday at noon. My family went to KS without me, as I've been recovering from a fever. They will be home Saturday night. They will unload, put the right people in the right cars for the next leg of the journey and me, Ted and Renee will head north to Brookfield on Saturday night. We have Bears tickets for Sunday.

But even more annoying is that my sister became violently ill overnight and basically Thanksgiving was canceled at her house. I suggested that we have something on Sunday before the game (now since it's a 3.15 game); maybe that will work.

So what have I been doing while I've been home? Some resting, some cleaning, some cooking and some quilting.

I completed:

BOM blocks, months 3 and 4
Roll Roll Cotton Boll step 1
Hemming of a lot of sweatpants!

And that's just what I've done today. I hope to get some more stuff done Friday and Saturday. My only requirement is that I complete a research paper for class that is currently in draft form.

Oh, and as a point of clarification, my BOM is not just one block, it's 7 blocks - 4 in the dark colorway and 3 in the light colorway and then all 7 of those need to be sashed so the points float. It's involved.

On to November

A few weeks have passed since I’ve posted here – sorry about that. I can say that last night I gave my last presentation of my MBA degree and it is done. I still have work to do in both of my classes, but it is more manageable and hopefully I can work ahead a bit so that I don’t feel quite so overwhelmed at the end.

Anyway, here’s where I am. So, hi!

I hope to sew all of the time now, except for Tuesday the 23rd through Sunday the 28th, due to things like Thanksgiving travels and the Bears game. Even then, I will be doing handwork on the road, so all is not lost.

When last I wrote, I was listing tasks and hoping to achieve 5 of them, one to represent each non-class day. Here’s my new list, and it’s quite long.

Cut GS stocking fabs for another troop
Finish GS banner
Cut and sub cut 30 yards for the 2011 30 yard dash
BOM – Month 1 – fix and finish blocks
BOM – Month 2 – finish blocks
BOM – Month 3 – finish blocks
BOM – Month 4 – finish blocks
Cut stockings
Pink quilt done
Next 20 D9P
Finish WB quilt
GFG – Build T-giving kit
Hem 4 of Renee’s sweatpants
Hem 4 of Renee’s sweatpants

Only 14 things – HA!

OK, here are the things that must be done this weekend without fail: the GS stocking fabrics and hemming 4 of Renee’s sweatpants. Anything and everything else is up to me!

Now that the presentation is over, I really need to take some time to clean my house. My upstairs guest room and my daughter’s bathroom are really just a sight. While normally I can close my eyes to the mess, it’s really bugging me and also I have guests coming for Thanksgiving that need to use those rooms. So I really just need to clean them out. For the bedroom, it’s the clutter. For the bathroom, it’s just dirty (eek).

Trying to Quilt

Well, on Monday I did finish up the first 20 D9P blocks for my super-king quilt and I did finish the BOM blocks. Then on Tuesday and Wednesday I had class, which meant no sewing happened at all.

However on Wednesday morning we received word that our co-worker had lost her battle with cancer. So this weekend will be consumed with those rituals that go with celebrating her life and guiding ourselves as her co-workers through the grief process. I have no idea how much sewing will get done. I can say that I should sew as a therapeutic exercise.

So I will list my 5 tasks (actually 7 and I try to do 5), in hopes that I get to them:

Finish GS banner
All papers out of GFG and T-giving kit built
Pink quilt done
BOM delivered
Next 20 D9P
Cut Stockings
Finish WB quilt
Mark white border of blue quilt

(OK, that’s really 8.) (That GS one snuck up on me again.)

I do know that I will get up to Peddler’s Way for the BOM because I will do that Saturday morning before the funeral to ensure I get it in.

This was written on Friday afternoon. I have indeed made up it to Peddler's Way for the BOM, and the sun shone as we laid my co-worker to rest (despite a morning of torrential rain). So tonight I will try to do some homework, and some handwork.

Baby Steps

I'm now halfway through my final term of grad school. I cannot believe it and I couldn't be happier. Anyway, since the midterms are over and the workload has been planned, I can start to integrate my quilty pursuits back into my life.

So this weekend I made a super-short list of things to do. I wanted to get the badges on Renee's GS vest, weave in the yarn ends of my two fashion scarves, make my BOM blocks, sew 3 flowers of my GFG together, cut out 10 Christmas stockings in muslin and finish a baby quilt. Everything but the last two did get done.

It's good to be back in the swing of things, but that 10 page paper won't write itself, so I will continue with baby steps for a while more.

Nothing New

At least on the quilting end of things. I'm still working on GFG flowers at lunch, so something quilty is going on.

Yesterday we went to Rader Family Farms and did the whole pumpkin patch - corn maze thing. A wonderful way to spend an Indian summer day.

Today we got ready for winter. I always think that Columbus Day weekend is a great time to make sure the yard is ready for winter, so we emptied out 2 of our tomato plant containers, as well as our 2 flower boxes. Another tomato plant that we overwintered last year is still producing and so is the green pepper plant. The producing tomato plant gave us the tomatoes for our tomato sauce this evening! One of the flower boxes grew basil and there were a few small leaves still in there, so they too went into the sauce.

Ted then went through and dug out 2 inches of crabgrass in our front sidewalk section. Not fun work, but necessary. Now we just need to buy some dirt and some bulbs, both of which are frankly FUN compared to digging out crabgrass, and we will be all set. Since Renee is in Garden Club now, she's all about getting those bulbs planted. So since she's off tomorrow, it's possible they will get that done while I'm at work. I can hope.

So no real crafty type work. I have a midterm on Tuesday night and then I must get ready for the BOM, so that's what I'll work on next. Right now I'm glad when my head is above water. Work's been super-busy and that is A-OK as well; I like to be busy. So tomorrow night, since there's a midterm, Tracy will come over for pot roast and studying. Hopefully we will pull each other through this; we each got A's on the other class' midterm.

Meanwhile, I realized that I have a turkey in my deep freeze, so we're thinking of invited some friends over for a game night and a turkey feast!

Whatcha Gonna Do About It?

So I started a new quilt. Again. I know, I know.

We have a king sized bed and frankly we are not small people. The quilt that is on the bed now is 7.5 feet by 9 feet. (5 x 6 blocks - with 18" blocks) While we have the 9 feet going across us, it still is not wide enough with two people twisting and turning all night long. We really need a wider quilt.

Meanwhile, I had to look in nickels bin last weekend. My bin is a 6" cube that a gift came in one time. Anyway, it is full of nickels and frankly the stack is about 10" tall. So I knew it was time to pare it down. I have charm packs in there, nickels I had cut, traded nickels, everything.

So last night, as I was cleaning up my space and trying to get organized to complete the Girl Scout quilt started last weekend, I decided to hell with it all and those nickels are going in this quilt and there's no time like the present!

So I am making a Disappearing 9 Patch (D9P) that will be 10.5 blocks across and 10.5 blocks down (yes a half block is possible). That will give us a quilt that is about 140" square - nearly 12 feet. Yes!

So I started making 20 9 patches last night and my goal this weekend is to finish the 20 blocks, cut them up and put each of the 4 pieces in its own baggie. Then I'll keep making sets of 20, putting them in baggies and at some point I will have enough randomness to go ahead and start putting the final blocks together. I will put the top together in 9 pieces and do QAYG. There is no other way for a quilt this size.

My other goals this weekend are to remember to bring another GFG flower kit to work, cut out 10 stockings from muslin, and finish the GS quilt. Anything else will be gravy.

Oh, and homework too.

On Turning 40

What a whirlwind week! There is a very valid reason why I did not update at all this week.

I turned 40 on Wednesday.

Now, before you think I have inserted far too much drama into the big day, I didn’t. It was a big birthday and my family does birthdays big. But it fell on a Wednesday, Ted was at a conference out of town and I had a mid-term. So it was pretty low key.

Except for the part where my sister came down on Sunday to take me shopping. That was a surprise, but a fun one. I’m glad she came on down.

This weekend, I need to get a Girl Scout banner accomplished. I also hope to work a bit on some other projects, but if all I do is clean my sewing area and get the banner done, I will have achieved quite a bit!

Do Over (and over again)

So THIS Friday, I again got off work early. This time it was for the Homecoming Parade for the high school. They just dismiss everyone, so everyone can go. I took Renee and we had a nice time and she got a ton of candy. Please note that the junior high band can march or play but not both at the same time.

So after the parade, we sped up to Washington to the LQS for the BOM. My block was done. I was good to go. I had my birthday coupon and everything! We get there, buy fabrics for a dresser mat, some fun yarns on sale, a Dresden rule and the BOMs. And then we went off to Holland's Mercantile, which is ice cream, old school penny candy and unique toys. And we then drove home.

So I then get online once we get home to start the stalking process for the matching Kansas Troubles fabrics I will need. Except the BOM packets are nowhere to be found. ARGH!

So this morning, after dropping off some supplies at a Girl Scout thing, I went yet again to the LQS and got it all squared away. And this evening, I found 3 fabrics that I needed and found the SKU numbers for the other two. I'm trying to keep my KT supplemental purchased to about $20 per month, so it can wait another month. Plus the shop I like to use for such purchases is out of these old KT fabrics.

Whew.

Ambition

Laura Ingalls Wilder once wrote that ambition is a fine servant but a poor master. I don't care what she wrote; all I know for sure is that my ambition has left the building. I think this is a condition known as senioritis.

My friend Tracy and I have a debate due on Tuesday and pretty much by her sheer will (and lots of adrenaline on both our parts), we will get it done. WE worked on it for the better part of 4 hours already today and no doubt she and I will work on it more this evening. This is my penultimate presentation in grad school.

My sewing ambition went out the window along with my power outage on Friday. I still have not sewn my BOM block. I hope to sew it this week and run up to the shop either on Friday or Saturday. I plan on taking this Friday afternoon off so that I can take DD to the homecoming parade for the high school. They are dismissing the entire district for it, so I figured why not.

All is not lost. Bernina has put out some fun pink yarns for this year's pink month in October. I bought a ball of Chick, which is a bubblegum pink eyelash yarn and I knit a fashion scarf during our roadtrip yesterday. It's longer than I am tall, but it does what I need. So something creative has been accomplished.

The Best Laid Plans....

OF course, this has to happen today.

I got off work at 2.45 this afternoon. I planned to come home, sew the BOM block for the month (it's one of those Thangles Buck A Block ones), and drive out to the LQS and do my BOM thing. The LQS closes at 5 and they are 45 minutes away.

I start at 3:30. It will take 15 minutes to sew this thing together.

At 3:35 the power goes out. For 45 minutes.

So there went that idea.....

What I did on the first half of my summer vacation

The following items have happened, thus making this summer nutso.

I got diverticulitis again. This requires 2 antibiotics at once and is incredibly draining. Why quilt when you can sleep? It seriously is as draining as mono. I was advised to take 2 to 3 days off of work. I took 5 hours. I’m stupid. I know.

My sister held a graduation party for a student and we combined Father’s Day with it. While my sister provided the house for the party, 2 other teachers did the food. They so complained about my sister’s tiny, cramped kitchen, they forced our entire family (Dad, Kim, Erick, Jack, me, Ted and Renee) all on the front porch to hide.

My sister had a birthday, I sent an Edible Arrangement and she thoroughly enjoyed it. The next day, she flash-flooded, as did everyone on her block. I was stressed by proxy.

My uncle died. This was a very sad event and it required us to travel and stay overnight and manage many rituals and traditions. This hit many of us very hard, although my uncle was sick and this was not too big of a surprise.

Renee went off to sleep-away camp for a week. I did finish 2 blue quilt tops, each about 50 inches square. To say I’m behind in baby quilt gift giving is an understatement. But getting the quilt tops done is a start. Ted and I also went out for Indian food and to the local microbrewery, all decidedly non-Renee-friendly places.

My dad turned 75, complete with a party, relatives flying in, additional family events, etc. The weirdest moment is when someone asked where my mother was. She’s been dead for 18 years.

We took tons of pictures, had lots of laughs and tears and introduced my aunt and cousin to many great nieces that she has never met.

Lastly, there were bacon pancakes.

Reckoning

Over the past week, there has been some reckoning. I mean a lot of reckoning. Serious deep thoughts. Actually more like serious deep pain which led to some straightforward thoughts.

Last week, I was once again diagnosed with diverticulitis. This is the second time in a year; the last time was last May and it was when my CSA started up for the year with Farmer Henry (read all about Henry at www.henrysfarm.com). It seems that when I add good, wholesome food back into my diet en masse, my body revolts. So while I take 2 antibiotics at once and suffer from exhaustion and lethargy (yes, I should be home – no, I’m not going to), not to mention pain, I decided to go back to Weight Watchers.

We have a WW at work program and I asked someone to come and take me and he did. I wrote out my huge check and I’m off. The program remains the same in some aspects but more realistic in other aspects. For example, my first goal is only 5%, which I’m here to tell you is no small goal at all for me. I have paid for 12 weeks, so I’m in for quite a while. Here’s hoping that I can commit to it; I know it works when I do it.

Needless to say, all of my best laid plans of action are just toast. I can’t get anything done. So I’ve reset my vision. My tasks for this week are items that do not require physical exertion and/or a lot of time. I can’t do much. I’m deciding to follow my body’s very strong message that I need to change things and get some serious rest. I have to remind myself that one thing at a time will still help me get a lot done.

One thing I’ve been trying to work on is some ‘homeschooling’ plans. No, I’m not getting on the homeschooling bandwagon; my child does just fine in the regular school environment. But there are 3 areas that need some attention. She needs to work on math; lazy is the word that has been used by me and her teacher to describe her knowledge. Christian Formation (religion) is a class that I had from 11:30-12 each day; she does to a public school. So I need to work on that. And no, Sunday School is not an option. At our old church, her Sunday School was Montessori-style and wonderful. Our current church has Sunday School as a more conventional class and that does not fly with her. I can’t blame her either. The last area, and probably the most fun, is her scouting work. She loves scouts and I can use her desire to work on a badge as an incentive to work on the other two.

For the math requirement, I did order the third grade skills book from school, much to her dismay. So I’ve been hemming and hawing about setting up a calendar to get this started. So last night I decided to open up the workbook to take a look, and lo and behold, they already had a calendar. Fantastic! A crisis solved! For scouting, I did go through and pick out 15 badges that seem do-able here in the summer and fall. She needs to complete 6 items for each badge, so there’s plenty of variety. Religion is the last thing. I have a plan that encompasses a year and so I need to see if that will fit. This remains the open item. So overall, I hope to get started next week. When maybe I’ll have energy.

And one day, I will quilt again.

16 hours

I’m really just horrible about updating this blog! Bad Kathleen, bad!

I’m actually still quilting away. Not as fast as I’d like, but still going at it. I wanted to have 10 quilts ready for the craft show; it will be more like 4 or 5. Still, that’s a lot more quilting and finishing than I’ve done in a really long time. It’s also helping me stay sane in a class that is not necessarily known for calm and serenity.

Where am I at? Well, one quilt is done. Another needs the binding attached, a third needs its last prequilted column attached, then binding, the fourth needs part 4 attached and quilted and part three seems to need some love, and then the binding and the fifth one is just a top.

Whew. That’s a lot to get done this weekend. And I have no idea how I will hand bind 4 quilts in one week. I’ve decided I will do the most marketable first and work my way down. I don’t know what else to do!

I have a fair amount of homework this weekend as well, so I’m not sure how it’s all going to get done. I will get as far as I get and that’s that.

NQD Eve

Well, it’s been nearly 2 weeks and I still haven’t sewn. I spent spring break being sick! Not very fun, but if I had to be sick, that was the week to do it.

Tomorrow is National Quilting Day. I’ve cleared off my calendar. I’m quilting as much as I can this weekend – caution to the wind! Sadly, I will need to spend 4 hours driving to and from my dealer to get Ruby out of the shop, but since she is a sewing machine, it’s part of the theme.

Here’s my list:

1. Chiclets quilt
2. baby boy LCRR
3. baby girl LCRR
4. m&m’s LCRR
5. Easter egg LCRR
6. courthouse steps LCRR
7. peach LCRR
8. peach LCRR (yes there are two)
9. fence rail blocks
10. the one on the living room floor

Only one is to the hand binding stage (#1). I had hoped to get more done, but it did not happen. So this weekend’s goal is to get 3 to the hand binding stage. I plan to work on #10 and #4 for sure, as they are started and so they would be easiest to finish. #5 was the other one I was thinking of doing.

If I achieve this, then 4 will be ready to hand bind. Off I go!

Relay for Life

I know, I know. I haven’t updated for an age, as Treebeard would say. I know, I know.

I’m on spring break right now. When you’re my age, spring break means 2 weeks to do homework instead of one and also cleaning up and making sense of all those little piles all over the house. Not real glamorous!

I’m on Relay for Life again this year. I have a co-worker within my department who is fighting the cancer battle and she’s actually the team captain (she has more energy with cancer than I do without – sad, but true). Our RFL is huge around here and so we are having a craft fair on April 18. I’ve decided to throw all caution to the wind and clean out some really old UFOs.

At the beginning of the last decade, the 00s, I hosted a lot of log cabin round robins (LCRRs). Each block had 17 logs. Each person started her block with 3 logs, and everyone added 3 logs and the last person added the last two, very long logs. And the blocks would come home, 20 per set. I did a jillion sets, and many of them I used for gifts. Many more were sets I never fell in love with, or by now, I’ve fallen out of love with.

So I spent this past Friday night tearing apart my stash, looking for block sets and backs. I found 10 items that I could finish up for the sale:

1. Chiclets quilt
2. baby boy LCRR
3. baby girl LCRR
4. m&m’s LCRR
5. Easter egg LCRR
6. courthouse steps LCRR
7. peach LCRR
8. peach LCRR (yes there are two)
9. fence rail blocks
10. the one on the living room floor

All of these have their blocks complete. The time consuming piece is done. I plan to do as much quilt as you go on all of these and get these out of my house. If I do, I will have busted something like 75 yards from stash and hopefully they will all sell at Relay for Life.

And they won’t be hanging over my head any more, making me nuts.

And then I can return to my UFO list over there on the right.

So the goal is to get all 10 quilts to the hand stitching stage by April 1. At that point, I will determine if I will machine stitch those bindings down or if I will hand stitch them and kill a lot of tivo. Meanwhile, #1 has its binding already on, #4 has been QAYG started, as has #10 (Why it’s on the living room floor).

Stay tuned.

Busy-ness

I like to be busy. There’s really no two ways around it. I can really juggle a lot of things if I really like them and somehow it all works out.

Yes, I do overextend myself, and sometimes I have to extract myself from that predicament. Recently, I had 4 things going on: church committee, Market Day chairperson, grad school and Girl Scout leader. I was officially feeling overwhelmed, and Ted even commented on it. So I was quite relieved when my church commitment ended at year end. Then the nominating committee for the PTA asked me if I wanted to continue as Market Day chair. I talked with Ted about it and he was gentle but clear, it was time for me to be done.

Now I’m down to 2 items: grad school and troop leader. While I am taking 2 classes this term, and always have, this is wearing on me, and this will be the last time I do so. I will go down to 1 class per term until I finish; at least that is the goal as of this writing. So grad school is 15 more months at most. I really can’t stop being a troop leader; as long as my kid is in it, I will be as well. But that’s OK; it is a good investment of my time.

But back to being busy. I have the craziest February on record going on this month. It’s just a lot of things in a short span of time. Lots to do for all aspects of my life, and work is really busy as well.

And I’m thriving under it all.

I am getting so much done. It’s rejuvenating for me. I live off the rush.

So of course, I also want to get a ton of quilting done. Part of me wishes to record no finishes per se in February, just so I can get a whole ton of hand sewing done for spring break, which is when I pretty much watch tivo non-stop for like 10 days. Part of me wants to finish stuff like there’s no tomorrow. Part of me wants to start new projects. That part of me is being ignored (OMG, I have so many UFOs!).

So let’s see where this goes. I made my to-do list in my January wrap-up post, so hopefully I can make a dent in it this weekend as we watch the SuperBowl.

January Stash Report

Well, it's January 31. Where am I quilting-wise?

Here's the to-do list:
Christmas BRB
Little watermelon quilt
3 squares for denim quilt
4 squares for log cabin
1 row of reversible LCRR blocks together
1 GFG flower

Um, yeah.

This is what got done:
The little watermelon quilt. It used a half yard. I bought nothing new.
I also quilted a top I had lying around and got the binding on.
I also made 2 baby buntings for my DD's American Girl dolls. I haven't taken exact measurements, but I'll say it was a yard total.
So 1.5 yards used - 98.5 to go for the year.
Oh, and I did get that row of reversible LCRR blocks together. Just progress.

February goals:
The Random Number Generator said 11, which is the Advent Calendar
I personally pick 18, which is the blue baby quilt. This needs to get to Guam, STAT.
Binding on the aforementioned top I had lying around (superbowl handwork)
4 denim squares - 3 for February + 1 for January
8 log cabin squares - 4 Feb, 4 Jan
1 row of reversible LCRR blocks together and joined to the existing row
1 GFG flower, attached twice
Christmas BRB quilted and binding attached

What's left from January:
2 denim squares

I know I need to update my sidebar over on the right regarding the 100 Yard Dash from Stash, but MQM 485 is 13 business cases in 15 weeks. No rest for the wicked.

check in

I must be the worst blogger out there, but Bonnie Hunter over at Quiltville is feeling just about as guilty as I am!

Things are going along. I started class again this week – I’m 2/3 of the way done, so 1/3 to go. I’ll get half of that 1/3 done this term, so although it will be crazy, it will be progress towards the finish. So of course that means the homework has started. Lucky me.

Right now, Ted is in Boston attending ALA. Renee and I are two girls on a mission not to spend any money while Ted is gone. This means that our meals and entertainment will need to be free or at home.

Last night, we hosted my friend Tracy for dinner and a dessert tea. Tracy is a single woman who admittedly doesn’t cook. She is also an avid tea drinker. She came and spent about 2 and a half hours with us. It was fun.

Tonight, we plan on running to Target. Renee has gotten taller, so she needs some sweatpants here for the remainder of winter. This does not count toward our ‘free’ weekend; this is just a convenient time to get this done. Renee also received a Target gift card for Christmas, so she can buy herself a toy or something. Then we plan on coming home and doing dinner and a movie. I’m making bean soup in the crockpot and I’ll whip up some mac and cheese for her. The movie selection is Julie & Julia. Renee insists she’ll hate; I’m pretty sure she will enjoy it.

I just reserved the movie at a redbox and man, that was a nice little process. Coolio – I will swing by and pick it up tonight, return it tomorrow morning and it’s a buck. While it’s not quite Netflix, for the busy grad student, it appears to be the way to go.

Tomorrow and Sunday hold equally interesting plans, including more tea parties, some sewing, some quilting, some cleaning, some fudge and some swimming.

Did you know that the Patchwork Penguin blogger is also having her UFO challenge? Her number this month is 4, which for me is the kitchen aid cover. Which I will attempt.

I did unearth the Christmas BRB and part of the already-washed backing. I also finished the mini watermelon quilt – one UFO down and 23 to go! The mini quilt is entitled Watermelon Seed. The big one will be called Watermelon Slice.

It's January

I went to random.org and did the random number generator thing.

This month's UFO is 16! Which if you count down the list on the right, is the BRB.

The Blue Ridge Beauty is a pattern by our own Bonnie Hunter. I did mine in alternating diamonds of red and green for Christmas. The top is done and it just needs to be sandwiched and quilted. I bet that can be accomplished this month.

In order to get all 24 UFOs done, I technically need to pick another one to work on. I'm going to go with 13 - little watermelon quilt. The top is done and it's sandwiched. I even started a bit of quilting on it.

I'm also working on a few other not-listed UFOs, such as the big watermelon quilt, a chiclets quilt and some leaders and enders.

I did read Proverbs 1 today.

Resolutions

I actually believe in resolutions, if and only if you only have a few and you truly resolve to strive to achieve them.

So it is about that time. I need to figure out my resolutions for 2010. I think I have a few.

1. Read a chapter from Proverbs each day.
2. Pay off Ted’s student loan.
3. Participate in the Town and Gown 5k walk/run/whatever at Homecoming this October at ISU.
4. Lose xx pounds. Trust me, I know the number are will report in my % progress.
5. Do at least one of the Relay for Life craft Fairs.
6. Do 4 CPCU courses.
7. Bust 100 yards from my fabric stash.
8. Finish the project list. I actually went through a part of one of my myriad sewing spaces in my house and wrote down the first 25 projects I saw
9. Finish up cross-stitch projects during lunch.
10. Sew 6 hexes for my big quilt.

2010, bring it on.

Also, although many people are reporting that the first decade of this new century was abysmal, it was actually pretty good for me on a personal level. Let’s just start with DD arriving here….

OK, it’s only been 9 days since I updated. Only 9. Not too bad.

OK, that’s a lie. That’s pretty bad. I’m a neglectful blog owner.

Now down to updates and business.

School: Yes I am on break. And yes, by God’s great mercy and the powers of rounding (89.5% in one class and 89.8% in another) I received A’s in both of my classes. My group work in Marketing pulled me through – we received an A on that big, ugly project. I’m off until Tuesday, January 12. I have already ordered my textbook for one class. The other class is a simulation and that is not ready for purchase yet. So now I sit and chill.

Work: Work is going well. I am on projects that are interesting, challenging and are topics I have a passion for. While many people are off these next 2 weeks, I’m hopefully going to be able to meet with small groups to get details wrapped up on various odds ‘n ends. I also plan to get 8 chapters studied for my next insurance exam. Yes, when I am not in school I take insurance exams for work. One year I did both at the same time. My boss thinks I’m nuts. And then he signs off on every tuition request and exam fee I have. And laughs.

Quilting: That has been back in full swing. I have completed the Bricks and Stepping Stones top, added (wavy) borders, sandwiched it, and quilted the body. I need to quilt the borders, trim and attach the binding tonight. The quilt is to be delivered as a housewarming present tomorrow at 5, so any stitching on the binding I can get done tonight is a welcome help.

Sunday, Renee and I are making stockings. I have an idea for mine and also for hers, but we’ll see if her idea and mine clash. I do not have an idea for Ted’s. Hopefully we can figure one out. I did go ahead and paid a ransom for quick shipping to get brass stocking holders from Lillian Vernon, so now I gotta make the stockings.

My goals between now and the end of the year are to make a denim square, clean up the denim scraps that are on all 3 floors of my house, rotate out the cross stitch project bag, start (if not finish) a reversible log cabin quilt (blocks are done – just quilting and finishing to be done), do the Dorothy Young mystery, and whatever else strikes my fancy. Come January 1, it’s random number generator time.

Resolutions: I’ve been thinking about these. One I believe I will try is to read a chapter of Proverbs each day. It has 31 chapters and lends itself to the daily read.

Cleaning: I have 2 major efforts this winter break. One is to make a stockpile list of food, etc, in case we get snowed/iced/frozen inside for 6 days straight again. Another is a list of 20 projects that need to get done. Some are very small and will take 15 minutes. Some will take an hour. Some will take a while. I need to get this list accomplished so that I can start the new term of school with these things done.

Christmas: OK, the hype behind this holiday makes me nuts. That said, the decorations inside are pretty much done, but my house is a mess for us to function in. I only need to bake for Sunday the 27th, so I have time on that. Presents are purchased, but stocking stuffers are not. So in every area, I’m like halfway there.

Tomorrow we celebrate the Schwitzner Sibling Christmas. That gets 4 of the 6 nephews done. We celebrate with my family on Sunday the 27th, which takes care of the last 2 nephews. I still do not know when Renee will see her grandmother. I still haven’t done Christmas cards. I need to grocery shop.

As you can see, I’m a bit scatter-brained. Marketing does that to a person.

Winter Has Arrived

Today (actually yesterday afternoon) started with this nasty level of weather. In some ways, central IL is nicer than Chicagoland. In some ways, it’s not. This falls in the NOT column.


I like winter. The weather gives me a reason to stay in and quilt. It also has less sunlight and no heat, both of which are triggers for my migraines. So basically I can stay home, do my thing and be fine.


I do hate driving in winter weather. It basically is 10 really bad one way commutes. This statistic has not changed from northeastern IL to central IL.


HOWEVER, the weather has changed. We’ve moved just enough south so that instead of just getting the danged snow and dealing with it (with much better public transportation options), we get ice, or slick spots or blowing and drifting nuttiness. That is 10 times worse than just the snow. You can’t see ice. You don’t know until you are upon it or you see some unfortunate motorist in front of you attempt to navigate it. I am not a fan of ice/slick spots.



Today was one of those days. Yesterday afternoon, I had to take Renee to the dentist for her first filling, which went just fine. It was 34* when we got to the dentist and raining. When we left it was still 34* and raining. I was so grateful to be home and not having to go to my GS meeting that night – 2 other moms went instead. So I quilted during the evening.



This morning, we were spared the snow, but it was slick. Got Renee to school OK and drove on a main thoroughfare in front of a subdivision – that was horrible. Made a left onto another major 4 lane road and that was horrible. Made a right onto yet another 4 lane road and that one was manageable. Got to work a few minutes late, but with the weather, it’s understandable.



The problem down here is that the land is flat and has no buildings or trees. Absolutely nothing to break the wind. In Chicago , known as the Windy City because of the bluster of the politicians and not the weather, there are buildings that break the wind and make the weather manageable. Down here however, there is nothing but flat land as far as the eye can see.



I did get 45 more matchstick blocks done on my Bricks and Stepping Stones quilt. That brings me up to 145 and I need 200, just to be safe. I hope to knock those out by the weekend.



Sewing goals:

Pincushion done for swap on Saturday

200 matchstick blocks done

Top put together

Backing found

Backing found for BRB

Randomness

My scheduled apicoectomy never happened. Believe it or not, the dentist called in sick. They asked if I wanted to reschedule for the next day. Instead of being a responsible adult and saying “yes,” I reacted like a kid who just got a “Get out of Jail Free!” card and said “no.” So yes, I still have mouth pain, and no, I don’t care. It’s really just a dull ache that comes and goes. I am saving up to get it done with all cash, which will make me happier anyway.

Thanksgiving in KS went well – far better than I anticipated. New insights in interpersonal dynamics were revealed, which usually happens when 4 generations get together to break bread. That, and people have no problem ordering up a storm on someone else’s tab. And Renee lost a tooth on Thanksgiving at the restaurant. And I shopped at Penzey’s Spices in Overland Park. And then when I came home, I organized my spices. Don’t laugh. I have 77 different spices, and yes, they all get used.

On this trip, I actually used both of my Vera Bradley bags. Yes, I’m into Vera. I used my Pink Elephants mini hipster for things like the children’s museum and rest stops and the big purse came just in case. Anyway, I’m trying fervently to go back down to one purse. So I’m emptying the contents of both purses and now I’m wondering why there is a mini binder clip in my large Vera.

I now have only 1 final examination to complete and this joy of a term is finally, blessedly over. I do actually need to study for it however, so we shall see how that goes. I’m looking forward to the 4 weeks off and am making a list of things I want to get done that are making me nutso.

Quilting continues onward. I have started Bonnie’s bricks and stepping stones and I can do about 20 matchsticks in an hour. I need 190 matchsticks to get the size I want, so I have to really kick it until high gear. My mini goal is to have the top pieced sans borders by Sunday night.

Dishes

After 146 pages, 25,000 words and nearly 11MB, it’s done.

Our marketing group finished the paper last night. Our print shop here at work bound it for us for free, because well, here in the country, people are kind like that. And there’s a matching PowerPoint to go with it. I did that piece. I actually did a little bit of the paper, but the other 3 ladies in my group made that thing happen.

And at 6pm tonight we turn in this behemoth paper and present the PowerPoint. By 7:15, we have our lives back.

And while writing right now sounds like the absolute worse thing to do ever, I am taking time to write this. Because I’m happy it’s done. And I have great ladies on my team. And we’re all coming back next term to get through the capstone course together. We figured if we did well this time, why not go for the repeat?

So when I get home from class tonight, I’ll get on Facebook and check my farm and do all of that. And then tomorrow I’ll come to work and manage all the piles on my desk. I very well may just make a bunch of to-do lists for each project. I know there are lots of little odds and ends I need to accomplish. Tomorrow night will be heavenly. I have some things I need to get done, but I’m not even stressing about it. Saturday we have NOTHING on the agenda. Wow.

This means I’m going to have to do dishes, doesn’t it?

nothing special

Just a quick post to say that life is good, today is good and marketing is over on Thursday at 7pm, when our presentation is done.

Sleep and time offer fresh perspectives on things. And that always helps.

That and a clean kitchen.

and one more...

Oh, yeah, there’s one more crisis. The garage door opener broke. Gave up the ghost.

It’s OK. They were broken at our last 2 houses and we didn’t care. People here all ask so when will you have it fixed?

My answer is always in 3 years.

They just don’t get it down here!

updates

First of all, I scheduled my apicoectomy for Monday the 23rd at 1pm. I start my day in Chicago and end it in the dentist chair. What fun. I decided to pay for it by not paying any bills this pay period. While this does not make me happy, neither does tooth pain. Somewhere in there, I will make sense of the money situation.


I could schedule the dreaded apcioectomy because next week holds 4 presentations – 2 for work and 2 for class. There’s one more on November 30 and that is all. But all of the ones next week are officially a big deal, so to have them out of the way will be nice.

One crisis solved.

Since I made the executive decision to not do the final case for my marketing class, I have felt a huge burden lift from my shoulders. It was even better when the rough draft of our group project was returned to us last night. We were afraid that we had headed woefully down the wrong path. Instead, we are very much on the right path. Everyone is relieved, assignments have been doled out and now it’s crunch time. We can see the end of this nightmare. We’re the first group to present and we are elated to be done!

Second crisis solved.

I finally was able to talk to my sister on the phone uninterrupted for an hour this week. We’re all caught up and have solved all the world’s problems. She’s Republican. I’m a Democrat. We work well together, just as long as she never has to touch raw turkey.

It was good to talk to Kim about various things. We used to live 4 blocks apart. Now we live 2 hours apart, but through the miracle of the internet, I can still read the local papers and keep up on that stuff. So I still know all about the school board and the latest library news and all of that jazz. While technically not a crisis, it was good for my soul.

So, third crisis solved.

I did rearrange my schedule this week to make it to an H1N1 clinic. I have now received both my regular flu shot and my H1N1. My arm is sore. I got Renee her first round of H1N1 – she still needs another one of those and then a regular one as well. Lucky her. Ted is unprotected. Gotta fix that.

So one crisis sorta solved.

Speaking of sewing, none has happened, but that sounds like a plan tonight. I need to sew for my mental health. Yes, I know my house is cluttered and that this next week will be crazy with school and that people are coming to stay overnight before the big trip to Kansas . I need to sew. Sew be it.

A fifth crisis to be solved.

And a few to-do’s:

Roast some pumpkins and their seeds.
Mail that baby gift!!!
BBM that check.

I lead such an exciting life.

more plodding

It’s another day in the life. I didn’t get any sewing done this weekend, except for marking up those denim circles. I was just overcome with that tired feeling and I went with it.

I’m having an exceedingly hard time in one of my grad school classes. Last Thursday the prof announced that if a student was satisfied with their grade prior to the final, they did not have to take the final, which is a very large business case. The points in the class are divided 50-50 between individual performance and group performance. Group work brings my grade up and individual work brings my grade way, way down. So I have made the executive decision to end my grade once the last coursework is turned in. If I try the final case, I will no doubt bring my grade down. I don’t know if I will end up with a C or a B, but as long as it’s at least a C, I’m OK. My math has my grade at a very low B.

And so that is my executive decision. Now to finish off my part of the group work, which will be all complete by about 7:30pm on 11/19. (But who’s counting?)

general stuff

It’s now the weekend and I am happy to report that I have gotten many wonderful hours of restful sleep because Ted is home. No one can make me feel more relaxed than him. It’s been this way since Day 1. So I’m doing pretty good after 2 nights of 11 hours of sleep each. I then promptly went to breakfast with some friends and that also did this body good.

I’ve figured out with my tooth that if I medicate with over the counter pain medicine BEFORE I start eating for the day, I can cope much better. Once the jaw starts working, it’s not fun until the pain meds kick in. If I can keep this regimen up after the antibiotics cease, then I can buy myself some time.

I also have put up 7 cups of parsnips and turnips for stews this winter. I still have 4 pumpkins to put up. Lucky me.

I have decided that the next step is working on the denim quilt. I went ahead and cut a bunch more circles out this week while Ted was gone. Then while the move Akeelah and the Bee was being rerun on Disney this afternoon (probably the only time that I actually condone watching Disney), I went ahead and put the squares on 50 circles. That will make 2 denim blocks. I need 25 and I think I have 3 done already. Slowly but surely.

For my next quilting project off of my UFO list, I will work on one of my reversible items. I’m not sure which one, but it will be one of them.

As long as the calendar says 2009, I get to pick my UFOs. Once the calendar rolls over, then the random number generator is involved.

Plodding

Today is yet another day in tooth purgatory. Today my sister told me that her two front teeth (one of the front ones and the one to the side) are definitely dead after the she fell and faceplanted in July on her hardwood kitchen floor. My tooth is giving me a dull ache. I’m on Aleve and antibiotics. Such is life. She and I are singlehandedly putting endodontists’ children through college.

Last night, our local Schlotzsky’s hosted our Brownies troop – all 22 girls and the 4 moms. They really understood how to give a tour and we all made our own pizzas. It was a wonderful way to get dinner, have the troop do some fun activities and for everyone to socialize. Not everyone is willing to take a troop as large as ours, but they did it right.

Ted’s gone on another business trip today, so it’s girl power over at my house. Tonight we have a riveting installment of Market Day pickup and then we are coming home to pork chops in the crock pot. It’s nice to know that one aspect of my life is under control and that is making dinner.

I haven’t done any more quilting since I finished the binding on the curtain panels. (They are neatly folding, waiting in the living room to be hung up.) I have, however, kept my main floor clean, which has brought me much peace in this time of inner tumult.

Maybe I’ll work on my denim quilt. Cutting circles out of jeans may be about my speed for a while.

God has a sense of humor

“God has a sense of humor, Kathleen!” my co-worker Ann once said. Ann is (I’m assuming here – we’ve lost touch) a loving Christian. She’s also a stealth Christian – no one knows until she reveals it. Many think she’s just this quirky lady in accounts receivable – nice and fun, but quirky. But work with her, especially through adversity (any installation of Oracle Financials counts), and you learn quickly that Ann believes in the power of prayer. And God’s sense of humor. And fantastically airbrushed nails.

It is times like these with my stupid tooth that I remind myself that God has a sense of humor. Which always reminds me of Ann, but that’s besides the point. The point is that in times like this, with a recovering sick child, a husband leaving on a business trip, a car that desperately needs an oil change and an ailing tooth, I need to remind myself that God has a sense of humor.

Now if I could only figure it out.

That’s the struggle I’m having now. I get there’s a joke in there somewhere. I just can’t figure it out. I’m pretty clear that some of it, if not all of it, is a huge plot for SILENCE and STILLNESS. My life has gotten too busy. I realize this and have started to say no to things – at least I am not making it worse. However, my body is choosing to revolt against me and force some silence and stillness. If I can’t move, then I must force myself to be silent and still. More than once this weekend (I stayed home sick on Friday) I was so worn that I count not even do any hand binding while watching TV. I just sat and watched The Closer a lot.

Meanwhile, December 10 cannot come quick enough. That evening is when my last final is due. It’s a take home case that we will have like 2 weeks to work on. I’m doing downright horrible in this class – I just don’t get it. This is not helping my mood. My other class makes sense, but we are on a project for which I am not in control, which is fine, but the person in control has lost control. (Ann reference – she’d pull her hair back into a ponytail at this point. If we all had our hair back in ponytails, programmers ran for cover. We meant business.) I cannot plan for this tooth procedure until I can determine when all of my class deliverables are. Once I can determine when everything is due and what I need to do to make them due, I can then think about silence and stillness.

I need to be silent and still. I need it badly. I also need money for my tooth.

So right now I pray. I pray for silence and stillness around me. I pray for wisdom. I pray for plans to be revealed. I pray.

More Toothiness

I could just cry. And this time, it’s not from the pain.

I just came back from the dentist. For the record, I really like this dentist. He caters to cowards. Even crazy middle-aged women who are terrified of needles and just want to go to sleep and wake up when it’s all done. See why we get along?

Recently, he did yet another root canal and crown thing. Each one of these is pretty pricey, because I need $1,000 of sedation (seriously – 4 appointments’ worth). I cannot be awake. I seriously can’t. I’ve tried and he’s stopped and rescheduled because I tried and I’m not making it up when I say I can’t. Sedation is my friend. (He told me I was really brave for trying.)

Well, we got through this last root canal and the world was golden! I could eat again! Yippee ki yay! I was so happy!

And then Thursday morning the pain started in an unbelievable way. By Thursday night I was on antibiotics and vicodin.

It is now Monday morning and the pain is not necessarily when I bite, but it’s all over the place. In the upper gums. Feels like the sinuses. Whee. So at this morning’s appointment, he poked and prodded and percussed and asked a lot of questions. Took some x-rays. Asked some more questions. And then he explained things to me.

I need an apicoectomy. The root canal I had is really a misnomer. I had a nerve removal. The roots are just cleaned out; they’re still there. And the roots in some people are porous and those porous pockets can hold a lot of infection. He needs to cut open my gum and snip off the bad root parts. This happens in 3 to 4 % of the population. It’s a genetic mutation.

Hi! Guess who’s a genetic mutant?

While I don’t mind being a genetic mutant, it is expensive. Like ANOTHER $1,300. Um, yeah, where am I gonna find that?

All I want for Christmas is pain-free teeth.

Sickness Sucks

Well, it's been fun since my last post.

My tooth pain has been moving around into my gums, but it has also started to subside, as the anitbiotics have kicked in. So that my portion of the weekend.

However, Renee has the worst time of it. By Thursday at 4pm, she had over a 100 degree fever and she had that seal bark of a cough. After many harrowing incidents this weekend, including getting all dressed to head to the ER, her bronchitis has subsided and her fever has broken. Like it or not, she returns to school tomorrow.

Meanwhile, her parents are exhausted. It's been non stop laundry, cleaning and disinfecting. We've also been sleeping a lot - all 3 of us.

On a quilty note, the 2 curtain panels are DONE. 11.02 yards busted from stash! YAY!

Teeth

I really hate tooth pain. HATE HATE HATE.

I have 5 bad teeth from childhood. Don’t ask about they whys and wherefores – just trust me that I have problems to fix from my childhood regarding my teeth.

Teeth 1 and 2 cost me a small fortune and are fine. They were in the upper left back part of my mouth. $3,000, including 4 sedations. Yes, my childhood dental experiences now require that I have sedation. These teeth were done in 2008.

Tooth 3 was done this autumn. I went in July for my 6 month checkup and we figured out that this was the next one, based on the idea that a pocket of nastiness on the x-ray was on its way to the root. I was not in any pain at this point. This tooth was to cost about $1,700.

So I started the appointments in August. The first one revealed that the pocket of nastiness was really a pocket of raging infection and when they opened the tooth, it all just ran out.

Appointment 2 was finishing the root canal and determining that I had recovered, without antibiotics, from the infection.

Appointment 3 was making the post, molding the perm crown and putting on the temp crown.

Appointment 4 was last week, and it was to put on the new tooth.

And today at 8am, the tooth, which has NO NERVE and thus should have NO PAIN, is KILLING ME. And there is no professional dentist in the office until Monday to help me.

Tylenol ain’t cutting it, people.

UPDATE: The theory is that there is infection in there. An Rx has been called in for both antibiotics and pain relief.

Lists

Lists, lists, I love lists. So did my mother. And so does my sister. Which means it’s pretty much a learned life skill.

I have a lot of lists, especially for my quilting. Because you see, I love to start quilts and I love when quilts are done, but I do not quite make sure that process always fully happens. I have a lot of unfinished objects. I mean, a lot. Like probably over 100+ if I thought really long and hard about it. Which I don’t do because it will drive me to paralysis.

So of course I went downstairs into my sewing space and tried to make some sense of it recently. This was no easy task, but no sewing was happening because it was driving me nuts. So clearly something had to be done. So I headed down there and cleaned up all of the batting scraps (yes, I save them) that someone small who shall remain nameless had strewn about everywhere. I then put away fabric pieces in their color bins and scraps in the scrap baggie. I made sure the cutting table was clear. I made sure the floor was clear. I made sure the ironing board was clear.

I can now cope.

So I then decided to make a list of UFOs that I really should just finish because hey, I need some space. The UFOs I planned to take on my trip to Patsy’s are still on my stairs, so that is where I started. I also cleaned out a drawer in a cabinet and took a bunch of block sets out of there (no, the drawer is not empty – sad but true). So by the time I was done thinking and writing, I had 24 UFOs to finish. Some are farther than others. The farthest anything is is the sandwiched stage. The worst that anything is is not all the blocks are done. So there’s some piecing in there.

Clearly, based on where things are, I like to piece lots and not so much on that other stuff. But things must get done. So this is my goal – get through those 24 in 2010. I’ve seen one blogger who just uses a random number generator to pull out the number of the one she’s working on that month. I plan to do that for 1 UFO and pick the other one. I gotta have some say or I’ll lose it!

So here I am, going happily along working on my UFO’s because anything I can get down before 2010 will make me feel all accomplished, and it hits me.

My SIL has moved and she doesn’t have a quilt. (Her kids do.) OK, can I get that done by 12/13? Yes, I can, through the miracle of Bonnie Hunter. Judy Laquidara over at Patchwork Times is going to do a quilt in an hour quilt that is to DIE for. Can I do that too? Sure, why not? Who will I make it for? Oh, some friends have a child that is in her big girl bed now – she can use it. (Today the parents confessed to me that the moment the baby quilt was too small for the child they stole it and hung it as art in their bedroom. Cracks me up!)

OMG, I’m just hopeless! I’m trying to get rid of 2 dozen UFOs and all I can think about is making 2 more quilts!

Tami is the Crazy Dog Lady

My co-worker Tami is the crazy dog lady. I just want to let you all know that.

The city of Peoria is having budget issues (OK, what city isn’t? Oh, yes, Bloomington , who found $4 million lying around. I want their problem.), and Peoria is threatening to close PAWS, the no-kill animal shelter.

Which prompted Tami to announce that she must single-handedly must save them all.

Tami is the crazy dog lady. Just sayin.

I don't wanna play today

I think that was the motto for the weekend. I really just didn’t want to participate in anything. But of course, sometimes one just must participate. So I did.

I slept for 11 hours both weekend nights. That was really super nice. It also made it incredibly difficult to get up this morning, especially since Ted and Renee were sleeping in, as she has the day off. (Don’t feel sorry for them – they’re getting flu shots today.) But I managed to get myself to work today, so all is not lost.

I was able to meet one friend for homework on Saturday morning and then attend a child’s birthday party where parents were invited. I also made it to group work on Sunday, although I did not do anything. No fear – neither had anyone else. MKT 430 is the most overwhelming class known to man. I’m pretty sure of this fact, so go with me on it.

Today holds 2 meetings, but it also holds finishing chapter 8, writing up a log for chapter 8, and writing 2 ad-hoc memos. Plus reading 2 more chapters, and starting research. And class. Let’s not forget about class tonight.

Less Worse

Another week has past and this one can best be described as the Week from Heck, which is a slight upgrade from last week.

This week’s events:

Good:

Ted comes home today!

Got my last round robin out the door – no more deadline sewing

Got an 87% on the midterm from last week

Ted has amazing friends who helped him when the car broke down

I had to bank by mail to my other account and everything made it and I didn’t get overdrawn

We had a food day for my birthday here at work

My friends came over for study group and brought food (it was during the labyrinthitis)

Bad:

Ted’s car broke down on the way to his conference - $400

I had my marketing midterm, which was 5 essays and 4,000 words

I experienced a not so fun bout of labyrinthitis

I am still really tired

I had stupid people forget their Market Day

For the next 2 weeks, there are some seriously intense projects due for my marketing class. Then we have 4 weeks until anything else is due in that class. So we are just trying to cope. I have no idea what is going on in the other class; I’m waiting for the project manager to tell me the next steps. Any time now buddy would be helpful.

Meanwhile, my sewing area is a disaster. I have not quite figured out how to attack it. I have to quilt 2 panels (one’s started) that will become my winter curtains for my sliding glass doors. I’m thinking of just concentrating on that because the need is coming. I want to get them hung when the clocks change.

Sleeping also sounds like a plan…..

Yes, It Got Worse

OK, for the record, my life just got worse.

In a week that could be described as the Week from Hell by a Thousand Little Slights, it has officially just gotten worse. Let us list the slights, shall we?

It was my birthday and everyone at work forgot
The food day this week was for a wedding
I had a 100 degree fever for 2 days, one of them being my birthday and I had to work
I had a midterm
The midterm had questions with ‘for option d – a and b are correct and option e – all are correct’
My dog died (seriously - she was put down on Wednesday)
I’m out of PTO
I have a Brownie mom who refuses to volunteer
I am exhausted
I got a C on my marketing case

And lastly, the icing on the cake…

The MBA program has gotten rid of the one class I wanted to take – Accountants as ITS Professionals. Totally up my alley. Totally me. Totally justifies my degree to my job. Well, now it’s gone.

And so I have to take another semester to find another elective that will not kill me, like let’s say derivatives or financial planning or international marketing.

Revised graduation date is 05/11. I will still be 40.

There are 2 good things that came out of this process of reviewing the MBA tentative 4 year class schedule. One is that since I really had to review every elective available to determine my options, I have found a class that I think will be meaningful. The other is that my last year will be 1 class at a time, which is a significantly less stressful load.

Excuse me while I go assume the fetal position now.

Oh Thank God

I just got home from class, which means that this post was all ready to be a melancholy one about how I got a C on my individual case and I'm all blue.

Then I check my email here at home. And now this is a drastically different post.

The Chicago Tribune sent me an alert that indicated that an arrest had been made in the slayings of 5 family members here in central IL. This story has gripped this area of IL for the past 2 weeks.

Ever read "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote? Well, if you haven't go google a synopsis of it. I'll wait.

The murders that happened here in a very small town of only a few hundred people rocked us to the core. How could 5 members of a family, 2 parents and 3 kids, be so brutally, violently, horribly murdered? How, in our safe little hamlet, where corn grows and the church only holds 80 people? Where the extended members of the family live on the same block? Why this house, why this family? It has been so shocking, we were advised to lock our doors, which in rural central IL is quite the statement. When we heard of it, "In Cold Blood" were the first words out of our mouths.

Well, it appears that the killer is the son-in-law of the dad in the family. It's a blended family - he's got kids and she's got kids and they have kids together. Well, his oldest child was/is married to this killer. Police have not confirmed it, but that is what the local townsfolk are indicating.

We can all rest a bit easier.

Also, there was one lone survivor. The couple's 3 year old daughter has pulled through. She has been under police guard at a major children's hospital in the area since this happened. She has lost nearly everyone, but we are all pulling for her.

We Closed the Place...

Oh, my, it has been quite I while since I updated this blog of mine. Sorry about that.

Yesterday, Team Girl Power (which is what I call the 4 of us ladies who are trudging our way through grad school and doing absolutely every group project together that we possibly can) delivered an absolutely riveting hour long presentation on the marketing qualms of Amazon.com and their cloud computing offering. If you don’t know what cloud computing is, that’s OK. Neither did one of the group members and half of the class we presented to.

We were so good, class was declared over. We rock! And then went out for dinner.

Anyway, that whole few paragraphs were to point out that I’ve been super-busy with my marketing class. The class has been described as a tidal wave each week. But it’s interesting (however, I have zero retention of the subject whatsoever) class, with a good prof who is actually a band Dad and knows a co-worker of mine who is a band Mom for the same high school band.

But on to quilty things. I did in fact complete Ute’s round robin and I dropped it off at Julie K’s house. I only have 2 more quilty deadlines – something for the 4th Annual Taste of Brookfield @ Your Library and Julie G’s round robin.

The Taste item is an Advent calendar. 12 blocks are completed. 12 are halfway completed. Then they need to be set, sandwiched, quilted and bound. Considering the entire quilt is 2 feet by 3 feet, I hope to complete everything but the handstitching of the binding tonight. I’ll do the handstitching on the way down to St. Louis to enjoy the Rams-Packers game.

Julie’s RR will require some math. Let’s just leave it at that. But I have all the components and I plan to do this quilt in the next 7 days. If I put my nose to the grindstone, it is do-able.

Except I have my MIL and her other 2 grandchildren coming down Saturday night and staying Sunday so Ted and I can go to the Ram-Packers game. Which means I need to clean my house. Not because my MIL is one of these white glove people – heavens no. Not in the least. It’s because since she’s been retired, she’s retired from domestic duty. I have to have all meals prepared and in Tupperwares for heat and eat purposes. DD has volunteered to show Grandma how things are done.

But most importantly, the other 2 grandchildren that will invade my home are coming. They don’t do anything wrong, as much as I know where my shit is and if they so much as breathe on it, I get cranky. And it’s not them. This goes from my side of the family as well, who not only breathe on it, but also make snarky comments about it.

So for my mental health, I have to clean. Boo.

weekend update

Now it’s time to get down to business.

Labor Day weekend is over. It was nice that it was so late this year; it’s a shorter time until my birthday and another week of the school term got accomplished (my term, not hers – she’s on her own). We stayed in all weekend and, more importantly, ate in all weekend. I‘m pretty sure we singlehandedly accomplished the goal of 9 meatless meals after having eggplant parmesan 2 weekends in a row.

I did get some things done, like homework and quilting. I did not get the one cleaning thing down that qualifies as the Item that Makes You Nuts. I was planning on doing it while my MIL swung through on her way back from KS, but that return has been delayed because Grandma Mary wanted Karen to go to the banks, etc with her today. So my MIL will be swinging through on a different day in the next week. Since I have class on Thursday, I may or may not see her.

So now I have to get this annoying task done. I hope to spend 15 minutes on it tonight. I just have to do it; it’s making me crazy. Ted and I made a deal that we would both try to get an Item that Makes You Nuts done before Thanksgiving. This task is a small part of mine.

Sewing-wise, my foot pedal has died. A sad day indeed.

I did get the Christmas potholders done and also one of the RR’s. Another goal for tonight is to get those things ready for the post office. I have 1 more RR to do and a Miche shell for a friend and the donation for the Friends of the Brookfield Public Library’s 4^th Annual Taste of Brookfield @ Your Library. I was going to make a large quilt, but switched to a small wallhanging. Less pressure.

I also worked on some other sewing items that I have broken down into manageable tasks. My goal is to get through the list once a week and over time, many things will get done. I love to piece, but once there are blocks, the process massively slows down. So I’m trying to break the backlog by breaking into tiny pieces.

Here’s my current list:

A small project – Miche shell, the wallhanging and potholders are on this list

1 denim square – using the fake cathedral windows pattern for denim circles, I’m committed (I need to be committed after this one) to a 5 by 5 square each week

Quilt 1 column on my curtain panels

A Round Robin or Swap – only one RR left

Pre-sash 6 blue blocks

So far for this week, I have completed a small projects (the Xmas potholders), did a denim square, and did a RR. I need to pre-sash some blue blocks and quilt a column. I continue to work on the wallhanging because it has a lot of small parts and appliqué and a little each day really does add up. I also hope to start part of the next RR, because it also has a lot of little parts.

Oh, and I should really do some homework. Details. I only have a 14 page case analysis on Intel due next week. Yawn.

Hope

OK, those Gutsy Gals over at (in)courage are asking for posts about Hope. So here goes.

Hope to me is a lot of things. It is having a president from my home county (much less from my state!) who is all about courage and hope. It is interesting to hear how the Kennedy family viewed Obama as having the same effect as JFK did 50 years ago. It is wonderful to hear people who took a moment from their lives in November and/or January and blogged about how they again felt hope.

(But you did not come here to read about how I am a bleeding heart pinko Cook County Democrat who does politics via the Chicago Way. I digress. Sorry.)

Hope for me is blonde. And eight-and-a-half. And in third grade. Yes, this is my child.

Bereaved parents walk among you. We do not have a mark on our foreheads indicating that we are bereaved parents; we usually never even mention this fact. But we all carry this fact in our hearts and souls – the fact that bad things happen to little children.

I myself have been pregnant 4 times. I have suffered one medically uneventful miscarriage, one adverse diagnosis pregnancy with fetal surgery, 6 amnios and a delivery at 29 weeks. He lived 35 minutes. My third pregnancy resulted in my daughter that I mention above. My fourth pregnancy ended in a miscarriage that nearly cost me my life. I was never so happy to turn 32 in my life (it happened the week before).

That above paragraph is something I can recite emotionless to anyone who asks. It’s the medical version; the cliff notes. I can elaborate, usually without incident, when asked. Other times, not so much. People tell me that I really have it together on this topic. I have it no more or less together than anyone else; but I do have hope.

I am lucky. One of my kids made it so I can be with her. She is hope personified, in Polly Pockets and Pokemon, in chocolate and Hannah Montana. She reminds me and my husband daily why we bother with this journey called life. She reminds us that our proper perspective is not on promotions or paychecks, it’s on learning multiplication tables and the names of all the presidents, not just the two (technically, four, I know, but work with me on this) from Illinois. She reminds us to enjoy life in all of its facets and not just on those we enjoy or are comfortable with. Without this kid, I would never be a Brownies leader or the Market Day mom for the school. I certainly would not know what a zhu zhu pet is or find it a very funny toy that is hypoallergenic!

So, Hope, thy name is Renee. Which means reborn. Which is what we were after she arrived, after so much heartache and pain.

Errata: For the courage post, I wrote about my collegiate parking pass. It was not red this year, nor was it shaped like the state of Illinois. This year it’s green and a boring rectangle. (They said they needed the rectangle to put the swipe stripe on a flat edge. Hello? Illinois’ border with Indiana is also a flat edge for a while. Get creative, people!)

Sorry, Grad School is getting in the way

Whoa, it has been a bit since I posted. Can’t you all see that I am now in the throes of grad school?

One theme running around a certain part of blogland is the idea that God may close a door, but He always opens a window. While this is true on the really big important things in life (like MckMama’s almost-house burning down the day BEFORE they were to close), it did happen with the sweet corn. I was gypped at the festival, but a co-worker gave me 4 ears, the farmer gave me 14 more, I had 2 from the previous week and I took 5 more from the exchange table. I ended up freezing 100 ounces of corn, which for our little family of 3 will last me a year. OK, it’s a little thing, but never fear – I will not be wanting for corn this winter.

I have been in squirrel survival mode, stockpiling for the winter. I have put up 3 types of fruit, the corn, and have started to buy a lot of flour, sugar, etc. Last winter, I overbought on the flour and sugar at Christmas, but it was OK because it did get me through a December and January that were either a sheet of ice (Ted literally had to throw me a towline once to get me to walk up the driveway) or bitterly cold (like -22 degrees F – don’t even ask in C). So I’m a bit paranoid about the winter weather being super nasty (more time for quilting!) and making sure we have enough supplies laid in. I’m not sure what I’ plan on stockpiling next, but meat seems like a logical next choice.

Meanwhile back to quilting. I have to get some things done and this 3 day weekend is just the ticket. Besides church, I have nothing else on the agenda, so I should be able to stay in and sew-sew-sew. There are some other things I do want to tackle around the house – things that are driving me nuts and will make my mental health feel better. And sewing is one of them!

Plus I cannot open the package from Nancy for the Miss Mellie swap until I get my deliverables done. And that package is singing its siren song to me from my kitchen table.

Gypped!

The good news was that Ted was able to purchase a Normal Cornbelters hat. They are our new minor league baseball team, due to start play in the spring.

The bad news was that the Sweet Corn Fest was OUT OF CORN.

Grrr....

A Saturday in the Life of a Married Grad Student....

...or alternatively titled, "It's ALL About the Corn."

This weekend is the Sweet Corn Fest where I live. It's like the Hinsdale Sidewalk Sale and Taste of (insert your town name here) all rolled into one. Except the only food product for sale is corn. They steam it in some antique doohickey and people swear by it. Plus they offer a dozen ears for $3 for putting up purposes.

So this morning, as I was making chocolate mousse in the crockpot (I am not kidding) and making fresh bread, Ted ran to the bank and also ran by to buy 3 dozen ears for me to put up. (If you don't know, 'putting up' is the farmer term for preserving food, either via canning or freezing. I only freeze.) Except he went to the drive through corn pickup and no one was there.

So back out we'll go today, in search of corn. And no doubt, we'll have an ear or two, right then and there. After all, it's only 50 cents an ear!

...For These Thy Gifts...

This is our second year with Henry Brockman's CSA. Henry was selected as Illinois' Sustainable Ag Farmer of the Year today; quite the honor. In tonight's box, we have 7 ears of corn, tomatillos, a muskmelon, summer squash, basil, green beans, an eggplant and carrots.

The tomatillos are already made into salsa, using tomatoes from the container tomato plant that I got from Henry's sister Teresa (there are 6 in Henry's family; 4 of them farm). The muskmelon will be prepped tomorrow, and the basil is already made into frozen pesto. I plan on making crockpot stew on Thursday, using many of these things. I'm hoping to make ratatouille with the eggplant.

It was a requirement for me when we moved here (to Godforsaken middle of nowhere) that if we live in the farmland, we eat from the farmland. I'm a localvore about 6 months of the year. And I also got my eggs from the egg CSA. They're Henry's neighbors.

I'm a Wuss and an Avoider...So Here Goes

For the record, I made it through the dentist. A full root canal was required, since when they opened up the tooth, infection ran out. Evidently the infection ran into the root as well, so they did what they had to do. I personally don’t care, as I was sedated. Out cold.

Yes, I am a wuss and get completely sedated for anything more than the 6 month check up. This is how I roll. I have 2 teeth done, #3 is in process and #4 and #5 will be done next spring, which is when I can afford it. This assumes that the last 2 teeth will cooperate with me and not bug me between now and then.

Anyway, now I await the dentist phone call to schedule the follow-up. And to see if it’s really OK that I’m going without antibiotics. I’m OK with no antibiotics, but if I need them to avoid further issues, then by all means, let’s get the show on the road.

We shall see.

Meanwhile on the quilting front…..I have to finish the Mellie swap this weekend without fail. I need to make 120 9-patches by Monday and mail them. I have 80 made. So tonight, I hope to get the swap all ready to be mailed and then handle that tomorrow morning. Too bad I can’t use the Uptown post office due to construction. So off to the main post office I will go.

I also did complete 2 more jeans potholders. This got (rid of) used up 4 log cabin blocks I found and realized they weren’t done because, well, they’re (nasty) homely. So now they’re the fronts and backs of 2 nice potholders that reside in my kitchen.

As you can see, I’m avoiding the QBW topic. Well, let’s just get to it. Today starts Week 34. And because I didn’t make it to Patsy’s my quilty life is all screwed up. And school starts on Monday. So here are my goals, knowing full well that life officially becomes really crazy now.

Mellie swap done
Swap giftie done
Blue quilt squares done (they are being pre-sashed, to use a Dorothy Young term)
Start working on the KitchenAid cover
Quilt curtain panels – at least one

That’s plenty, considering all that needs to be done.

eBay update

The Monopoly chart arrived today. It is for a full scale model of the board. I *cannot* wait to start it.

My friend has a dad who is a woodworker. I would love for Mr. D to make the table for the cross-stitch to go in. That would be fantastic.

Parking Pass Red

There are several blogs that I read. And one that I write. Anyway, some of my newer blogs have been of the ‘mommy blog’ variety, and those usually have been of the bereaved mommy blog variety, because, well, I’m a member of that club. Well, some of these women have come together and made the site (in)courage, which is to nourish the hearts and souls of women. They are more in touch with their faith than I am, so that is what I hope to get out of it. Anyway, head on over to (in)courage now and fill your internal cup until it runneth over.

Meanwhile, they are looking for examples of courage made manifest in the lives of the online women blogging community. I admit that I’m taking the format directly from the blog as far as my courage goes. Please note that this is the last week of summer vacation and classes for me begin Monday the 17th.

I’m nearly thirty-nine and courage is parking pass red. I go to the Office of Parking and Transportation and buy my $77 parking pass for the College of Business. I’m the oldest woman in nearly every class, and the only mom. But I have a goal, which is just a dream with a deadline, of getting my MBA by the time I’m 40. And so I park my minivan in the lot, grab my pink backpack and head into class.

I have a lot of people ask me why I have returned to school. They are expecting the answer of job promotion, greater marketability and the like. My answer is always “for me.” Only one person has ever understood that answer; their response was that it was the best reason of all to go. We are a house of learning. My husband has 2 master’s degrees and I am working on this one, right along with doing Brownies and Market Day, being a wife and a mother to a third grader. Somehow, as a family, we make it happen, around crock pots and drive-thru’s, parent-teacher conferences and business trips.

I do not have any illusions of grandeur about this degree. This is solely for me. What I wanted to do and because I could do it. To learn different things. To enjoy learning at my own pace, and with the benefit of workplace experience. To keep my mind active. (Quilting can do a lot, but not everything.) To show my daughter that learning is life-long.

eBay score

OK, it was a complete impulse purchase, but I saw a picture of a cross-stitcher's project of doing the Monopoly board. It's a retired leaflet and let's just say one should observe the First Amendment on this one.

So $23 later (including shipping), I am the proud owner of someone else's leaflet. I love Monopoly and I can't wait to stitch a board.

Squee!

Messy

My cube at work is so messy, I don’t even know where to begin. (For the record, my quilty life is not a whole lot better, so at least I’m consistent.)

To start with, I am a systems analyst for the accountants at my work. Currently, I am on 3 projects. One project I am leading. This is my Big, Shining Moment. Another 2 are low levels of effort for me. And I backfill on some accounting that needs to be done.

Meanwhile, we have a not so great economy here in Central IL. The rest of the USA has a truly horrible economy. We only have not so great; we’re blessedly recession-insulated. Here at my company, we’re not hiring a lot and we’re trying to move people around to backfill when someone retires. One department here has lost of its people due to promotion and maternity leaves and so someone from our department is moving over there.

So the accounting that I backfill is going to someone else, so I’m now backfilling the work that the departed department member did. So things are coming my way all the time. “Here’s the key to file cabinet.” “Don’t forget to schedule training.” And now my cube looks like a disaster.

Time to dig out.

What happened?

And where were we?

Believe it or not, it has only been a week since my crazy life (please note that my life was crazy BEFORE all of this started…) took an even crazier turn. And so much for going to Patsy’s.

To make a really long story short, I received a phone call at work last Tuesday morning stating that my sister was in the hospital with a pulmonary embolism. Well, that pretty much made my day. After meeting Ted for lunch to go over logistical things, I headed up north.

It turns out she did not have that problem, but she did pass out nonetheless and bashed in her teeth and misaligned her jaw. So I spend half of Tuesday and all of Wednesday and Thursday up there, arriving back home on Thursday afternoon with my 12 year old nephew in tow. So much for going to Patsy’s.

I had all my projects stacked up on my basement stairs. I was going to make a lot of tops and also take block sets and make them into pieced backs for the tops, because, well, I have no idea what to do with that many block sets. DD was going to finally get a bed-sized quilt. The Brookfield Public Library’s fundraising quilt was going to have the top done. The swap I am in was going to get all done. Same with RR’s I’m in.

We’re going to Patsy’s next year. C’est la vie.

Somewhere in all of this, my motivation to study for my next insurance exam for my job left the building. So this morning, I checked the testing schedule for this testing window and I can still take the exam in this window, but like a month, and not in 2 weeks. This is a huge load off my mind. I also found the study guide, which is an easier read than the text, and I actually put it in my bag. I should attempt to read it.

Meanwhile, Ted is travelling this week and DD and / or I have something every afternoon / evening this week. Monday, it was karate. Tuesday (today), it was the dentist for DD (her first cavity). Wednesday, it’s swim lessons. Thursday is third grade registration. And Friday, I plan on collapsing in a heap. Seriously. Actually, I hope to shop for the Mellie swap on Friday afternoon.

And I am on the very last strip for the barnyard GFG flower. I am so hoping to show those to you!

Pictures!

I thought I'd give pictures a try. Here's one of me, Ted and our fantabulous DD. She's 8 and really shouldn't be carried any more, but every once in a while, Daddy will oblige her.

Now that I know I don't need to use Flickr to show pics, we're off to the races!

This was taken at my Dad's 74th.

Week 30 done - week 31 abbreviated

07/27/09 – It’s now the beginning of Week 31. On a side note, I certainly hope that all of you have seen the highlights of the fantastic PERFECT game thrown by Buehrle of the White Sox. If you haven’t go read about it right now. I’ll wait.

And now for my progress:

Sandwich curtain panels – I got one long column quilted. It’s a start.
For the barnyard GFG flower, I got the 4th strip on and have started on the fifth.
For the 2 books goal, I did start Walden. Like only 3 pages, but I started.
No meatless meals this week.
Wannabees RR – Ute – Nothing done.
Wannabees RR – Julie – Halfway done. I have tried to progress twice and screwed up twice.
60 Mellie blocks – I have 40 done and am working on the next 10. I need to buy some more fabrics.

Since I am headed up to Patsy’s this Thursday, I’m cutting off Week 31 on Thursday morning. Week 31 goals:

Quilt one curtain panel.
Pack for Patsy’s.
Start DH’s 401k – Go through the big basket of paperwork and find what I need.
Pass CPCU 530 – Study through chapter 7.
Use up 100 yards in 2009 – There’s some yardage in the sandwiched pile. See if the Christmas BRB can be sandwiched this week as well.
Communicate with my DH’s grandma once a month – When I’m going through that big basket of paperwork, I will also pull out all of Renee’s school photos so that I can get those mailers ready as well.
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.
Wannabees RR – Ute – started
Wannabees RR – Julie – mailed
60 Mellie blocks – 40 done – get to 60 done