Doin' Nothin'

Well I have spent all day doin' nothin'. Except.

I did spend about 2 hours this morning in the computer catching up on 3 days worth of emails. And, I string-pieced together a block that I am going to use as my top 2 setting corners on a Challenge quilt I am doing. It is a monochromatic quilt in shades of, are you ready for this? Orange.

I cleaned up a mountain in my room, down to bare wall and had the boys rearrange the room for me. We put my little lampstand-slash-bookshelf where Richard's dresser has been, because it takes up less room there than the dresser did and that means we can actually open the closet door all the way. We put Richard's dresser where Beverly's crib was. And the whole reason for this change-around, we put Beverly's crib where my lampstand-slash-bookshelf table was, against the narrow wall between our bedroom door and the closet.

Richard said that the crib was against an outer wall of the house and Beverly would get too cold at night. Which is true, she did. She seems to like her crib where it is, and I guess I will get used to it there. It is easier to get to her if she should need me at night... she is just about 6 feet away and parallel to our bed. But before, it was a straight shot from my side of the bed to the bathroom and now I will have to detour a couple feet around the end of the crib. But at least she will be warm.

I finished another baby bootee and a little bitty hat. I don't know this baby at all. My SIL works with this man, and his wife had their long-desired baby at only 25 weeks, the day before Christmas. He weighed only a pound, but he apparently is a little fighter and is hanging in there. My daughter Desiree is making the baby a little quilt. More than 20 years ago, when I was pregnant for Desiree, I went into labor at 25 weeks too. Back then a baby born that early wouldn't have survived. So we lived through 12 weeks of bedrest, medications that made me sick to my stomach, and tests, and ended up with Des. That girl has been worth her weight in gold, a blessing through and through.

So I want to write a letter to the parents and tell them to hang in there, keep the faith, and this little boy will be a blessing to them no matter what the outcome is. And send him a little hat, bootees, and mitts to keep him warm there in the hospital. In fact I might make 2 hats, one for when his head gets a LEETLE bigger. This one would fit a small apricot.

Oh, and I made Oatmeal White Chocolate Chip jumbo muffins so I could use them to take pics of some stainless-steel food-grade display boxes I want to sell. We had to eat the muffins afterward. Too bad, so sad.

I still have a stack of jeans to put away off my bed, and a stack of recycleable sweaters to find a home for, so I have to go. Goodnight!

Away But Not Idle

Alright, I have been away since Friday. Saturday Des and Tony and the babies were here most of the day. The guys went to lay flooring in some more of the back porch. If you could see my back porch, you would know this is no small task. This house has no attic or garage or basement, so everything we owned that wouldn't fit INSIDE the house and still be able to put the people in it, went on the back porch. And a lot of things that I wanted to leave behind in that condemned shell of a house for someone else to have to Dumpster, but my packrat DH brought here anyway. That house was 2,980 sq. ft. with almost as much storage. And this one is 1450 sq. ft. So imagine.

So the guys had to jostle and move stuff, and I brought a BUNCH of boxes into the house to go through. Found an entire box of my bath towels that were missing since we moved 2 years ago! And some stuff to sell on Craigslist.

Sat. night we had to work the nursery at church, but for the late service, no one showed up. We did church Sun. morning as a family and spent several hours running to a few stores, then my BIL came to help try to fix the broken spindle on the Ramvan. They had to give up after a while because it was so dang cold. He came back today and got most of it done but still needs ONE part from the junk yard so will get it tomorrow and come again to work on it.

Over the weekend I started a lil' bitty project of knitting some bootees, mitts, and a hat for a baby. I got one bootee done while sitting in church Sunday morning. Don't gasp. I am kinesthetic, which means I learn while using my hands. So I often knit while listening or watching, because doing something actually helps me remember.

Meanwhile I did the Sat/Sun Snowball block. The calendar showed a stupid snowman in the middle. I did chickens instead. They are both what is called "needle-turn" applique, but one is my own goofy design and one is what is known as Broderie Perse... which is when one cuts a motif (flower or other design) out of a fabric and appliques it on another block or piece of fabric. So here are the girls from the weekend. Cute huh?

And here is my other ugly 9-patch, which is today's block. Tomorrow there is not a block listed. But I am in a challenge, and one of the things I need for it are four setting-triangle blocks. I am going to make two large blocks and halve them diagonally. So tomorrow I will make at least one of those, so I have something to do for the day. Because we can all tell I have nothing to do.

While I was at it, I also did 4 new yarns in honor of the inauguration: Hopes and Promises, Winds of Change, Malia Obama, Sasha Obama, and renamed and relisted a yarn in honor of Michelle Obama. I also have Obama-rama up to sell. LoL. Whether I agree politically with our presidential choice is immaterial. Every inauguration is a new beginning.

I have the first half of Spiderman Meets Obama done, skeined, washed, and the twist set. Hopefully I can finish the rest tomorrow... too tired tonight to do it, and my back is hurting. But I may wait until Wednesday to list it, because that is the date the comic debuts.

Gotta go get Richie from work. Goodnight!

Does It Have To Be Everyday?

So last evening, after I had already written in my blog for the evening, Richard goes in to put the handles on our shower faucets. You know the shower he has been working on putting in, for 8 months. This week he finally cut the hole big enough to patch the drywall, and last night he had just cut the piece of drywall, so I can get to tiling the bathroom. I am supposed to return the borrowed tile saw on Saturday. Sure.

He goes in there, and I hear him yell, Help! Help! and he says, "Tell Artemas to go out to the street and turn the water off to the house!"

OY.

I go in there and he is standing in the tub, drenched from head to foot. And there is a DELUGE of water pouring out of the HOT water pipe where the handle should be, and he is trying to stop it up with a towel, which is soaked and pouring water down into the wall.

I took over for him, so he could go out and see if Artemas was turning it off right. mind, it was 28 degrees outside. I figured the towel was just complicating things, so I threw it in the tub and deflected the water down into the tub with the palm of my hand until it stopped running. He was only out for a minute, but he was chilled already when he came in. and I was soaked too, because when I first went in the bathroom and the water was spraying and he was trying to stop it up with the towel, it was spraying EVERYWHERE.

Only place he didn't get was on the far side of the door where I have a primitive ladder for towels (same wall as the pipes only about 10 feet away) and the back wall behind the toilet, which is 12 feet away.

The handle had just BLOWN apart. So he spent the rest of the evening trying to figure out the schematic for putting it back together, and we spent the night with the water turned off to the house. Which made a grocery-shopping expedition this morning look welcome, even if I did have to take 3 of the kids with me.

We put a heater/blower in there this morning and it is dry, so he can drywall it. I am so glad, because I am totally allergic to mold since I lost one of the babies (the loss damaged my immune system so badly) and I told him, no way can we seal that wall up if there is any moisture in it.

Before sealing the wall up, he gets the big idea to fill all the wall-holes he has made with Great Stuff to help insulate the walls, because that is one COLD bathroom. I mean with the holes in the walls and the outside temps lately, I am really reluctant to sit down in there. So he starts to use the stuff, and the end blows right off one of the cans (and down into the wall, of course). He tries another can. It is supposed to come out looking like a fat maggoty worm, then swell up greatly. No. It came out and stayed, just like that. Fat maggoty worms of Great Stuff in the wall.

What the heck? I mean, can't some of these things happen to somebody else? Does it have to be something EVERY day? My life is so WEIRD.

Ok, on a maybe just slightly
less weird note, Marvel Comics is going to feature Mr. Obama in a Spiderman episode. News story here: Spiderman Meets Obama. So in honor of just such a momentous occasion, I am making a handspun yarn by that same name. I am so proud of myself, I have only been spinning about 3 months, and this is SOCK weight yarn, and very even, about 15 WPI. I am going to make it available in my Etsy shop for purchase.

And, there really wasn't a block for today on our quilting calendars. But the quilt pictured is only over the next two days. It is a 2-block quilt that is a Snowball and 9-patch. So I made a couple random 9-patches. Never hurts to have some of them lying around anyway. And, here is a picture of one. It is UGLY. Today must have been Make Ugly Quilt Pieces Day, because my oldest daughter made an Ugly quilt top too.

What Vacation?

Richie has been on vacation this week. Typically, a vacation for him is not a vacation for me.

Usually, when we go on vacation, I make reservations at the campground, or motel on those rare occasions. Though we don't do a motel very often, because they make us have 2 rooms because of all the kids. That gets expensive pretty fast.

I map out a route. I make lists of what we will need for food (in the car and cooler and camping, if we are), lists of what each person needs for clothing, grocery shopping lists, what needs to go in the car (especially if we are camping).

Then I shop, do laundry, pack a food box, mark refrigerator food for the trip, pack duffel bags, clean out the car, pack the car in a reasonable manner so that we have feet room and can reach the cooler, food box, coloring/puzzle book bin, pillows, towels (in case of spills or someone throwing up). The day of the trip we get up early, I make sure the kids are dressed, everyone uses the bathroom, and nothing is left out of the car. Richard goes around turning off lights.

Then we get in the car and drive 600 miles. While we are driving we magically have food to eat and stuff to drink and books to read. And when we get there, Richard magically has all his clothes.

While we are gone, I make sure everybody keeps their things together, has all their shoes, puts wet clothes in a special bag, cook (if we are camping), and at some point go do a load or two of laundry. We drive home and Richard magically has clean clothes to go back to work.

Having him on vacation at home is not much different, with the exception that I didn't have to pack a small version of all our belongings into the car and go somewhere else to use them.

~~ sigh~~

Anyway this week he is working on finishing the shower in our bathroom, and on cleaning out the back porch. Or not. In four days, he goes back to work.

Today I made 2 new yarns for my my7kids recycled yarn shop at etsy. And, I made the block of the day, which is called something I can't remember on the calendar page which I can't find, but I know the block to be called Swamp Angel. It is a modified Ohio Star, with Half-Square Triangles (HSTs) in the corners.

And chickens, if you are lucky.

Alone, All Alone

This evening my dh left to take 2 of the kids to Youth Group. He took 2 younger kids with him just for the ride. One of our children is at my sister's house (dh will be picking him up). And the 6th one was working, but is going to stop by my sister's and then go pick up the 2 that are at Youth Group for us. So I am alone. Alone. ALONE.

I don't know whether to go have a LONG shower, take a nap, or do other stuff. So I elected the other stuff. I have dyed a skein of yarn for my7kids.etsy.com and have made a pair of very gothic, felted lace, black angora fingerless mitts for HeartFeltFun.

And, I finished my block for the day. This is the 2nd yellow and purple block for one of the healing quilts, and my 4th and last for those. Friday I will be able to mail them off. This one is called Harlequin Star. It is very striking and not boring. My daughter put hers together wrong, and I like it even better. LoL.

It is COLD here today. Supposed to be cold again tomorrow too, with a chance for snow. Everybody around here will be wiping out the grocery stores from bread, milk, and eggs. Because if there are FIVE fluffy, floating flakes of snow, these people panic that they are going to be snowed in. And of course if you are snowed in, you need staples, like bread, milk, and eggs. People actually call in to work saying they can't get there because of the snow! Wow, what would they do if they lived where I grew up in Ohio. Guess they would knuckle under and starve.

I am down 4 pounds since New Year's Eve. I think I must have shivered it off. LoL.

Ok that's all the news I have for now. Wow. I am ALONE. Think I will go have that long, hot shower after all.

Oh, So You Want the Recipe for Lentil Soup!

Ok, here it is. Very cheap soup to make for as nutritious as it is. Very yummy for a cold winter night too. Delicious with homemade wheat bread, or go ahead and cheat and get a loaf of Italian bread from the bakery. LoL.

Lentil Soup

one bag lentils (12 oz. or 1#, red or brown doesn't matter)

water

3-4 cloves garlic

one bay leaf

scrap meat of the hammy variety (smoked sausage will do, as will ham, cooked crumbled bacon, turkey smoked sausage, or even turkey. any ol' thing)

a couple carrots, shredded

one chopped onion

salt and pepper to taste

a can (14-16 oz.) of chopped tomatoes if you want them in there

Additionally, you will need:

large soup pot

colander

Start this early in the day or the night before. Put the Lentils in the colander and rinse them. Dump them in the soup pot with enough water to cover them twice their original depth and cook them a little while. Half hour is fine. Turn them off and let them sit a while, a couple hours is fine for this too. Or put them in the fridge overnight and finish cooking them tomorrow after work.

After the lentils have set a while and are looking plump and comfortable, turn the heat back on under them. Throw a couple cloves of crushed garlic in the pot, along with a bay leaf, the shredded carrot, and meat of some sort. Add a little water if the soup is too thick to stir.

Saute the onion in a skillet until it is waxy looking, then add it to the pot of lentils. Cook the stew a little while (maybe half an hour) until it is hot through and rather thick. Just before serving add salt (about 2 teaspoons should be enough), pepper, and chopped canned tomatoes if you want them.

Enjoy!

Rain, and Boring Blocks

It rained during the night last night. (It is Tennessee Winter, who is surprised?) I woke up this morning needing to take a ride. I know that may seem weird to some of you. But I grew up on a motorcycle and it is like defrag for my soul. If I am nervous or upset, even if it is something I can't put my finger on, taking a ride works all my kinks out and I feel better.

Betsy woke up sleepy. She came out to where I was at the computer, wanted to nurse, then slid down to the floor, lay on the rug, pulled the notebook I was using over under her head, and started to snore. I covered her with a quilt and she slept another hour and a half. Wish I had done the same. Richard is on vacation and it was still raining.

I mailed some orders today, made a new yarn to put up, then went to Des' house for the evening. We had some really good Lentil Soup. She hardly ever gets to eat it anymore because Tony won't eat it, because it is brown (go figure, I think that is the only thing the man won't put in his mouth, LoL). Made today's block while I was there. When we got home I made a new cell phone cozy for my HeartFeltFun shop.

Today's block was called Sawtooth Star on the calendar. It is NOT a Sawtooth Star. A Sawtooth Star has little tiny points marching up and down all the big points of the star. Though Quilter's Cache lists *yesterday's* block as Sawtooth Star, and a block known as Variable Star as Sawtooth Square. So. Anyway. This is actually a Diamond in a Star block. That's the right name, and I am sticking to it. This block goes with the one I did yesterday, to the same Healing quilt, and it is boring. Life is too short to make boring quilts.
-- sigh --

Not getting to take a ride makes me cagey and mean feeling. They are predicting drier weather tomorrow, but a 15-degree drop in temp, putting it down in the even-too-cold-for-me-to-ride category. I spent all day waiting for the rain to stop, and it never did.

Better Day

Better day today. By staying relatively at home, we managed not to have any accidents. And at home, no buildings fell on us, no cars ran into the house, and the bank didn't call to say we were overdrawn $628. So, all in all, a good day. LoL

The quilt block of the day to day is Pinwheel Star. I did mine in pale green, sage, and blue/purple marbled. Four of the first week's blocks are going to healing quilts, two to a purple and yellow quilt and two to a blue, purple, and green quilt. So if there doesn't seem to be any "theme" to my blocks for a little while, that explains it. Here is a pic of today's block. The block is straight and square and exactly the right size, but for the life of me I can't get the picture to reflect that. ~~ sigh ~~

Tonight I had a Cheesy Bacon Gordita Crunch. I remember one of the times I was pregnant I absolutely craved Cheesy Gordita Crunches and ate one nearly every day. That pregnancy didn't work out, and it turned out that the baby had stopped developing at 5 weeks. I didn't know that until 11 weeks and lost the baby a week later. So for several weeks all those pregnancy hormones were there, cravings and nausea and all, but all those Cheesy Gorditas were going just to me. Sixteen pounds to lose when it was over, from one trimester. Okay that part was sad but these new Cheesy Gorditas with bacon are some good. If you can't have sex, go have a Cheesy Bacon Gordita. It's not *quite* as good but it'll do. ROFLOL

Something fun for today, it's been going around and around the e-mail but I thought I'd post it here with my answers:

SCATTERGORIES!
o Hit Forward (or copy and paste into a new e-mail/comment)
o Erase my answers
o Enter yours
o Send it on to 10 people including the one that sent this to you.
o Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following.
o They have to be real places, names, things.... nothing made up!
o Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial.
o You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question

What is your name? - Nikki
Four letter word - Nice
Boy's Name - Noah
Girl's Name - Naya
Occupation - Nanny
A car - Neon
A color - Nectarine Blush
Something you wear - Naughty underpants
Beverage - Nog (egg or otherwise)
Food - Nachos (with jalapenos!)
Something in the Bathroom - Nozzle
A Place - Naples, Italy
Reason for Being Late - No transportation

I'm Not Really A Day Behind

I posted the Jan. 2 block on Jan. 3 only because I am a night person and finished the block just before midnight Jan. 2. By the time I loaded the pic and posted, it was after midnight. Anyway on the calendar yesterday (Jan. 3) and today (Jan. 4) were combined with the Courthouse Steps block. Since that is a variant of Log Cabin, I decided to to one block of each, one for yesterday and one for today. So here they are. Tada!
Now in other news...
Yesterday I went to Victoria's Secret with my oldest daughter. I have never owned anything from there. Their underpants and things are nice, but really I don't see the sense in paying $16 for a pair of panties with 20 grams of material, or $48 for a bra. But she had a coupon for a free pair of basic black, white, beige, or pink panties (any basic style) and she said I could have them. So off we went, and I got a very sexy pair also in maroon on sale for $6. I guess that is a bargain, but I couldn't help thinking I usually pay the same money for 6 pairs of underwear. --sigh-- Richard liked them a lot, but I didn't even get a chance to model them, because I immediately got a visit from Mother Nature (who could learn a LOT about timing, LoL).

I got a call at 6:39 this morning, from my dh who was supposed to be on the way to work. He didn't wake me to put his contacts in, and he got 2 miles from home on Adesa Parkway (a very curvy road with separator islands in the middle), hit the curb of an island in the dark and VERY heavy fog and took out our front left tire on the Tow'n'cou. He sees fine with contacts in but without them, he is freekin' Mr. Magoo. Add dark and fog, and it's a wonder he made it out of the driveway.

The phone woke Beverly, so I had to wake Artemas to put her back to sleep so I could go. Couldn't find my keys so I woke the girls to ask them were they were (they didn't know of course). Woke Allen to ask him for his keys. I figured when I got home, I would nab Allen and the jack and go change to the spare tire, he could go on to work, I would come home. I went and rescued Richard, took him to work, and put his eyes in... stopped next door for donuts for the kids for breakfast, because I planned on going back to bed when I got home, for like a week.

I get back to where the car is on my way past to go home, and there is a "plain" police officer. So I stopped to tell him the plan, and he says, you have to tell the officer behind me. My phone rings and it is Richard, who says, hey, we have AAA, just call them to tow the car home. I go to tell the 2nd officer that, just as a 3rd officer pulls up. Hey, it is a small town and nothing is going on at 7 on a Sunday morning. The officer says, "In the dark and fog, the car is a danger in the median. I will call Moneymakers to get the tow started, and hurry back because we have to stay with the car til you get back."

Home, get Allen up again, out the driveway we go with a donut and Mtn. Dew each (a person needs sustenance, LoL). Meanwhile I call AAA and whoever put the number in the phone put the wrong number (not ME). They are not listed in the phone book. I can't find my card. So I tell the tow driver, they looked it up by my name last time. He calls dispatch and then tells me, fine, it will have to be a Cash tow and you get reimbursed by AAA.

I said, I'll just go home and get the jack and change the tire. The cop says, well you have to pay for the service call for the tow truck since he came out, and it is the same price as the tow to your house. ARRRGGH!! And when he says Cash Tow, he means CASH tow (no checks, visa, MC, debit). There is a reason the company is called Moneymakers. I told him to load it up, I would go to an ATM and meet him at the High School (on the way back to my house).

So now I have TWO vans in my driveway that have been towed home by Moneymakers in the last month. The Ramvan, Richard hit a chuck hole last month down by the dump and broke the front right spindle. No money in December to get it fixed, not to mention the Car Guys in the family all live 25-30 miles away and it has been Tennessee Winter, 46 degrees and raining almost every day.

And here is the funny part, the Tow'n'cou has a bad tire, but not the one he ruined this morning. ROFLOL!

And here is something even funnier! I called AAA and my membership expired on Dec. 31st. ROFLOL hysterically!

Here are some things to be thankful for:
-- My body is still cranking along like it should, even though I am almost 47 years old.
-- My dh liked my pretty undies. Sometime I will get a chance to find out how MUCH he liked them.
-- Richard didn't roll the car when he hit that curb.
-- I actually had 50 bucks in the bank.
-- We have another car.
-- We had donuts for breakfast.

Nikki, trying to look on the bright side, instead of saying, my life is Crap and I want a new one!!

Not Quite a Block a Day, but...

In 2008 my oldest daughter found and followed a blog where the lady had a 365 Quilt Blocks A Year calendar. She made and posted a block according to her calendar, every day of the year. So we said, wouldn't that be fun? I found some kind of quilt a day calendar at Sam's and bought each of us one. Turns out there aren't 365 blocks. There is a picture of a quilt on a day, then the several days following are the blocks to make that quilt. Then it starts over with another quilt. Also Saturday and Sunday are combined on the calendar, so if there is a block, it is ONE block for that TWO days. ...sigh... leave it to me to get the WRONG quilt calendar. But hey, I tried. Anyway yesterday was just a quilt picture. Today was a block, Ohio Star. I happen to like Ohio Star blocks. I even was from Ohio once, a lifetime ago, so here is my block for the day!

Also my 13 yod Diantha (here she is, isn't she gorgeous?) decided on Wednesday to up and learn to spin. She picked up a Batt Crazy I had just bought and proceeded to spin it up. It was a 1-oz (30 gram) batt of all different fibers, threads, etc. She got 46 (or 56? I forgot) yards of wonderful lumpy, bumpy, fun yarn. I have a picture of the skein and a closeup. We haven't yet decided whether to have her knit it up as an accent in something, or to get some more Batt Crazies and let her spin them until she can knit up something altogether in relatively the same yarn.









We had a good New Year, and stayed home. Des and Tony came down and stayed til Midnight. We spun some yarn and just generally fooled around. The guys crawled around under the house working on plumbing some more and started the pergo-type flooring in the back porch. Good times.

I have another couple pics to share. Diantha took Beverly (whom we affectionately call Betsy) in to have a bath tonight. Of course she couldn't resist doing something weird with her hair.


Afterward, this is what we get. Betsy's hair is a barometer. If the weather is dry, it is straight as a poker, fine baby hair. If it is raining outside, her hair is a riot of curls. When we get up in the morning, we can just about tell the weather by looking at her hair. I think it is cute, so here it is for everyone else to enjoy.