My....OH MY!

Well, it seems that my impending birthday has had a profound affect on me. I'm running down the hill towards the next decade! Am I really bothered by it??? I suppose not. Am I proving that? NO WAY! I've lost weight, am having my hair cut and colored today (not anything unusual for me.... but still), I've been exercising, listening to music again (I have been listening to books on tape only for years. I've even begun to use the mp3 player DH bought me and then promptly began using himself), bought new shoes (heels!) and last week was obsessed with this fabric and making purses. It was raining cats and dogs...a deluge... and I forced my friend to drive with me 45 mins. away to buy this fabric. I then made furious trips to all the craft stores for the proper handles. It was worth it!!!!!

The large bag...frontBack........................

The small bag.....Front
Back....................

The cowboy bags are mine.

The medium bag.....I made one for each of my girls....

Now I don't know if it is a warped sick mind that designed this fabric or a warp sick mind has spent and entire weekend creating purses from it!!!!!!!

My girls reply to their new purses with hunky construction workers on the outside and leopard print inside? "MMMMMOMMMMM!"

To answer questions.....Does DH mind me carrying these? No. He said that everyone will just understand that he was the inspiration for the fabric.....He does have a great sense of humor! Is it hard to carry a purse with a hunky, half naked guy on it? Yes! I'm just a bit uptight and it is almost out of my comfort zone but I'm going with it! Does carrying a purse with a hunky, half naked guy make one on the downside of a decade feel better........Hmmm........In an odd, warped, weird way, Yes!

One obsession down.....

I finally finished all of my fruits and vegetables. If you look back here you can see the beginning of the obsession...Well, after three sets of placemats, two watermelons (pictured in the linked post), and the following, I think I've finally worked through this obsession. It all started with the carrot.

Last year the Quilts N' More magazine had this carrot table runner. I fell in love and imagined all the other vegis that could be made. Time got in the way and I never made the carrot let alone everything else in my head. This year the magazine came out with the watermelon. Again my imagination ran wild. But instead of just thinking, I actually pulled out the fabric and went to town, First I made the watermelons. Then I sized down the pattern and made placemats....3 sets! After the placemats I had to make the carrot.

Then the parsnip...

Again I sized down the pattern and this time made a radish. I am calling this a radish. It looks like a strawberry but in my mind.....it's a radish!

But could I stop there???? No! I made a turnip next.

I think that just possibly I'm finished! I don't want to hear the suggestions that I make a round pattern and make a tomato, onion or any other vegi!!!!! I've moved on to purses..........Stay tuned! They are dooseys!

Beauty

Beauty, physical good looks that it, is such a strange thing. In the eye of the beholder, individual, unique. Isn't it odd how when it comes to beauty in people, even the oddest looking person becomes quite attractive once you know their personality. Many, many years ago a "friend" told someone that my then fiance' was "ugly." I on the other hand thought he was quite handsome. Our inside person somehow projects outward to influence our physical being. (No my husband is not odd looking. The sentences just followed one another!) How many times have you met an outwardly attractive person only to discover that their physical beauty fades once you know the inside person....and visa versa. Maybe if we all believed that we were beautiful and stopped getting caught up in the physical; hair, nails, body size, we could more readily project our inner beauty. But more importantly, when we might believe in our inner beauty and let the outside shine!

Nature on the other hand lucky. Beauty just is. A vase of blooming flowers. (No, DH is not being romantic! Heaven forbid! LOL! These are from a student.)

Fresh tomatoes? Beautiful! Tomatoes that taste sweet and luscious. A dear friend gave me these yesterday and mmmm......I haven't had fresh tomatoes since living in Ohio.

Mango's growing bigger daily. Just a gorgeous sight. The promise of the sweet fruit. Hopefully they won't all fall off the tree during the bad weather that is projected to be here this weekend.

Beauty has been on my mind quite a bit lately. Inside and outside, physical vs. internal beauty. No conclusions, no profound findings. Just that you have to believe that you are beautiful to actually BE beautiful.

SCHOOOOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER!

Ah! I'm as bad as the kids! It feels great yet sad to be done with this year. This was my last year as a teacher with a single class. Next year I start a new chapter in my life. I will be running the Judaic program in our school. Instead of having one class, I will see every child in the school. I'm so worried. I'm not afraid that I can't do it. It's just going to be very different. More on these anxieties over the summer!!!

The assistants in our building are very young. Last week I told one of them that I was going to go home and listen to Alice Cooper (School's Out for Summer. I wasn't really going to listen to Alice Cooper, I was just trying to reference to the song!) She said, "Who's Alice Cooper?" AHHH! I nearly died. I did something that only a mom, dad, grandma or someone much older can do! I made a reference to something that was way before her time! I told her to Google the answer! Luckily my own children, who are the same age as the assistants, knew who Alice Cooper was, what he did for a living a the song I was referencing! I felt somewhat mollified but with my birthday being next week, I was feeling extremely old!

It WORKED!!!!

Sheesh! It was so simple. A matter of putting http://www.google.com/ in my internet options! I was there a million times but didn't realize what webpage to enter! Thanks to Amy,Floribunda, & Pam for simultaneously sending me the answer. It is so much nicer to not have to log in each and every time!

Here's a picture of Ms. A! Does she look happy or what!?

(I could have beaned her. She forgot to order all the paraphernalia that was supposed to go around her neck. Yes, I'm bragging....she worked nearly full time, had no family around her, was in two wrecks, a terrible relationship and still managed a 3.9 GPA!) She had a job interview today and called me. "Mom, I think I got a job." What do you mean "think" I ask. "Well, he gave me a W4." Yup child. You got a job! Actually, it's a second job. She will be interpreting for two services. Interpreting for the Deaf that is. She is still uncertified but hopefully she has pass her English proficiency test and will then be able to take her certification test. For all of you with teenagers that are wondering if it will ever end....it does. They come to their senses and all is well in the world.

School is out tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finished! : ) Wish I was Finished! : (

I finished my guild challenge! I made it over sized and then trimmed it down after quilting. I was a bit disappointed because I then lost all the quilting!! The size you ask? 3"X4"! The challenge was to make a finished quilt that fits into a name tag! I lost my tag so I called the organizer of the challenge. She measured the empty tag and told me 3"X4." After I finished the tag, quilted, cut and bound the thing to the exact measurement I found my little plastic name tag thingy. Guess what??!! It IS 3X4 on the outside. In order to fit a quilt inside it needed to be 2 7/8 X 3 7/8. Oh it fits inside the tag but the tag doesn't lie flat.

I figure that the rules never said anything about it needing to be flat. It just needed to be inside the tag! I would love to win!

I wish I were finished with nightmares. I have what I call nightmares. They can happen in the daytime or nighttime. Mostly it's just a thought. It's always the same. It can be so bad that I refuse to go back to sleep. During the day I nearly hyperventilate if the thoughts cross my mind. I'm not going to go into what it is that sets me off into overdrive because this is not the forum. But, I wish I could just sleep at night without waking up so scared and ready to scream! It's the most difficult when DH isn't home and I wake up nearly hysterical. Although I rarely wake him up if he's home, I know he's here. But when I'm alone it is just that much harder to re-gain control. It wakes me up from a perfectly good sleep to haunt me. Usually that's when I get into trouble and eat. If I'm sleeping well, I can lose weight so much faster! So, it's 3:30 and tomorrow (or today), is our end of the year party. I must clean my room and get it almost completely shut down before I leave school, be nice to parents as they will be at the party and have slept 2 hours! Plus I look so lovely after 2 or 3 hours sleep. Fun!

I'm gonna hit publish post and try to sleep just a bit longer. If I can sleep, two more hours can't hurt.

Sunday Morning Stuff

I've tried and tried to figure out how to stay logged in to blogger. I can't seem to find what the problem is. I cleared my history and cookies and set the computer to accept them...didn't work. I searched the blogger help...didn't work. Any more ideas? I find it so cumbersome to need to log in 3 times a day. If I close the internet, I need to log back into blogger. It is very, very annoying. This is the main reason why I don't always comment. I just read a blog or two and go back to my work. Problem is I don't remain logged in so.........no comments.

School is out on Tues. and I've been crazy trying to get everything finished. Not much quilty or computer wise going on. I did get upset about something at school and went to Joanns to "drown my sorrows" in fabric. Much more satisfying then drowning my sorrows in alcohol! It worked too. I bought 20 great fat quarters and the world is a much better place. Let me finish this school year and then I'll be back and "a postin!" Two more days!

Mother's Day

I really don't like Mother's Day. It was always the one holiday that was so filled with stress and anxiety. I mean I was a mom but always spent the day shuttling between DH's mom and mine. Where was my mother's day {whine, whine}. Plus the added stress of staying 5 minutes too long at one parent's house vs. the others. Both of our parents are/were normal reasonable adults until it came to holidays. They then reverted to the pack animal/survival of the fittest mentality. For the past 11 yrs. we've been away from our parents. That means Mothers Day is all mine. I still feel like Mother's Day is a bunch of hype. I mean if you love me, you'll show me all the time, not just one day out of the year. But recognition is a nice thing so I concede to the masses. I don't want diamonds from my husband, he is not my child. I don't want diamonds from my children, that's just absurd. A nice card, a quiet afternoon, all suit me just fine. Well, this year was the best Mothers Day ever. My girls sent me flowers! To some that may seem passe' but I am thrilled. No help from Dad. No prompting. Just flowers for mom with a wonderful card that brought tears to my eyes. Mrs. S then rented a movie and spent the afternoon at our house. We saw Ms. A last week as she graduated, as she put it, "from the first leg of her educational journey." It was a thrill for all of us.

On a quilty note, I have nearly finished my obsession with root vegetables! I have the carrot, parsnip, turnip and radish table runners nearly complete. What am I going to do with them you ask? Why decorate my classroom next year during Sukkot , (this link was the easiest explaination to understand). Plus, I finished two more sets of fruit slice placemats. I think this obssession has finally run it's course. I'll post pictures as soon as they are all done.

Questions, questions, questions.

First, I would like help. I just love the header some of you have. I have tried to follow directions to do my own and can't seem to get it to work. Can someone p-l-e-a-s-e help.

Second. Why do you use Picasa in conjunction with blogger?

Third. How do you get that really cool flickr thing in the side bar? I do have webshots and it doesn't play nicely with blogger. I would love to have something that would link my blog and photos.

Fourth. Well, I think one two and three reveal enough ignorance for one day.

Fifth. I need to make a name tag that is 3"X4". It must have borders, be quilted and finished. A reeeeel challenge. Any ideas? I can't find a pattern online that fits the criteria. I want to WIN this challenge. One girl has already hand pieced a single grandmothers flower garden block. Everything I find requires multiple blocks to make a pattern appear. All this agony and the prize is a $10.00 gift certificate to Cracker Barrel!

One more question/comment. If my little weather pixie strips down to such a sexy, rexy swimsuit when the temp is 84 degrees, what in the world does she have in her closet for 95 degrees??? I laugh every time I see her in her white swimsuit...it looks like undies!

My weekend haul

Gotta Love Half Price Books. It's one of those things I would miss if I moved out of Texas. They may be in other places but I know they are concentrated in Texas and college towns. Half Price is a huge used book store. They also must buy poor sellers or last runs or something because they also have a large selection of new books at reduced prices...well, half price. I love it when someone cleans out their closet and then I get to buy the books for next to nothing. The magazines are old but they were .50 each so I don't mind. The books are great . I love the Judy Hopkins book. How many times do you want to size something up or down. This book has directions for cutting many multiple sizes of the same block. There are directions for hundreds of blocks in the book. The strips and borders book is okay but it does give a few ideas. By far my favorite is the fat quarters book. How can you pass up a book that has this quilt ...

.......and this.....I bought all of those books for less than the cover price of one of them! Add to that my teacher discount and I am happy, happy, happy! Now I only need to finish the 57 things in front of these projects. I really need to quit work so I have more time to sew.

BLOGGER!

Why can't we actually sign in on the comment page? All of the correct information is there! They ask for all the info. But it doesn't work! Why is there a "remember me" box? Hmmmm....!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I find it so irritating! Am I too stupid to understand how to sign in? You wonder why people don't leave comments. Well it can be so irritating to sign in over and over again in a day. Sometimes it is just too much of a bother to sign in and comments have to wait. I hate to rant about a free product but if something is unavailable, don't advertise it! Tirade over.

Six Month old pictures

I realized that I never posted pictures of my Mrs. S's wedding. It was a simple, lovely day. It is hard to believe that she has been an old married woman for 6 months now.Left to right are Ms. A, Me (thought it was about time to post a picture of myself) Mrs. S, Mr. Fancypants (he got his name after he found my blog, with no information, in about 3.2 seconds!), and DH.

Is this a happy bride or what. This is the face that convinced me that getting married was the right thing for this child to be doing. I've never seen her glow like this before. It was magical !

I just found this photo and love it. It is so hard to let go of our children. She said that she wasn't nervous or anything until we left her at the end of the aisle. You can see that I am holding her visibly, but her dad is holding her too. He is still holding her hand. Just like us. Mom, loud, visible, holding tight. Dad, quiet, steady, solid and always there. Not nearly as visible but every bit as necessary and balancing. Lovely shot. (If you look at Mr. Fancypants head you can see one of the million kippot that we made. They match the chuppah.)

I used to wonder what in the world I would do with my children once they were no longer toddlers. I've found that I love "having adults." Once in a while they revert back to children and I go back to being Mom, but for the most part they are...gulp...my friends. I enjoy being with them and the strangest thing is they enjoy being with me!! Strange, wonderful, delightful feeling. Mrs. S. and I watch silly American Idol every Tues. and Weds. It's where we bond! We talk on the phone after every performance; critiquing, making fun, praising...then quickly hang up and listen to the next singer. Sometimes the performance is so fantastic or horrible that we don't even make it through the song before the phone is ringing again. One week neither one of us called the other until half way through the show. I finally called her and she said, "Gosh, I thought you were mad at me for something! Why didn't you call?" I love being friends with my girls. It is a part of parenthood that I never considered or expected. I never thought beyond their childhood. That was probably why I had such a difficult time with my empty nest! Now that I've discovered that my nest just has annexes...all is well!

Clarification

Just wanted to clarify that the group we started is a part of the Heartstrings quilt project. I re-read my post and it read like I created this group. NOT! We are just doing our little part. Click on the Heartstrings logo for more info.

Heartstrings

We have been talking and planning. We started a group called Strips and Strings- A Heartstrings Project. We've actually met once or twice but still didn't finished a thing! We meet once a month at the Jewish Community Center to work on charity string quilts. We decided to work on one quilt at a time. As the quilts are finished they are assigned to a member and she has the choice of where to donate it. She is also in charge of the backing, batting and quilting. After many delays and slow starts we finished our first top today. WHoo HOo! Since it is mine, noone may see it until it is quilted! Because we are being housed at the JCC I needed to abide by some of the suggestions made by the director. She wondered if we could open it up to crochet and knitting enthusiasts. I told her of course as long as they commit to donating their project to a worthy cause. So far the only ones participating are my own friends but hopefully the community will come out and help us to create and donate quilts. I'm looking forward to practicing machine quilting on this quilt! First I need to finish the bazzillion fruit slice table runners and placemats that I've started.

I managed to get pictures of two ....cutting and ironing. The sewers were working too hard to take time out for a photo!

The fence is nearly finished. I took a picture looking through the patio to the saw horses. I wanted to show "work in progress" but the guys kept walking back and forth. I had to jump into the doorway really quick to snap a picture. Sometimes we look like nuts getting just the right shot for our blog!!!! Those pickets are the last of them (along with the open space) to be attached. It looks great and hopefully they will finish tonight! HEE HAA! No more broken teeth fencing!

What a Beauty!

It's hard to see but this is the prettiest bird I have ever seen in my yard. I pulled into the drive and it was on the ground. Naturally just as the camera was about to click it flew into the tree. These are the best shots and blow ups I can get. I'm told it is a male painted bunting. I wish it would come back. It was beautiful.

Like it or not we are getting a fence

We live in Texas, aka suburbia filled with fences. Everyone here has a fence around their backyard. I find it annoying but at the same time practical. We live on postage stamp sized lots and so it helps us avoid seeing the neighbors in their undies! One day a few years ago both my left and right side neighbors told me (at separate times) that our fence needed replacing. How is it our fence. Does Mr. Leftside not keep his fancy dogs in because it? But, Mr. Leftside Neighbor followed that comment with "I'd be willing to go in half." Fair enough. Mrs. Rightside Neighbor had a different theory. It's just a bit cockamamie but here goes.....She said that when they moved in (they were one of the first houses in the area), there was a fence on the left side and back but not the right. The builder told her that if she wanted a fence she would need to put it in herself. She did. That led her to the theory that everyone owns the fence on their right side. Never mind that there is a fence in the back. Who knows who pays for that!. So, we replaced the fence with Mr. Leftside. We approached Ms. Backdoor Neighbor and she agreed to split the cost. In the time it took me to hire someone (lots of time passed) she hired a company to do the work. When we saw that she was replacing the fence we offered to pay half. We do share it after all. That only leaves Mrs. Rightside.

It has been two years since the fence needed replacing! For the past 6-8 months it has been supported by a rope to the tree, various poles, concrete blocks and a bit of good luck. We've had some halacious winds and I keep expecting to see the thing in the middle of the street but as DH says, " It'll last another two years!" However, the truth of the matter is that we need to replace it before hurricane season. Over the past two years DH has been determined to patch, tie up, prop and generally keep the eyesore standing. However, I approached Mrs. Rightside again and asked if she wanted to share the cost of the fence. She said "If you want someone to help you pay for your fence, go to Mr. Leftside neighbor! " She was getting mad as a hatter as we talked. I decided it wasn't worth fighting over but there was no way we were running to replace the thing. We don't look at it....she does. (Oh btw, we aren't total crums. We've had every intention of replacing it but just allowed other expenses to come first. If she had been a mensch we may have acted differently. In all fairness she did say we could "Take the THING DOWN if we wanted! It made no difference to her. Sure! She also threw the pieces that fell off the thing into our yard. I mean threw! If she had even once been nice about the whole thing we would have understood. But she came out barking from the beginning conversation. Well, it is now more than an eyesore, it is a hazard. If we would really have a hurricane there would be a million projectiles and then really big trouble. So we are replacing the fence this weekend.

I went to her yesterday to tell her that the tree that is overhanging into our yard will need to be trimmed either by her or us, so that it will not be damaged while they put in the fence or lay on the fence after it is up. It turns out it is a mango tree and has loads of baby fruit on it. She said, and I quote, " Oh I was going to tell you, any of the fruit that falls into your backyard you can have!" I just wanted to sit down in the grass and roar with laughter. How magnanimous! If it falls into our yard, it's ours! Hmm...was she expecting me to heave them over the fence as she does the fallen pieces???

This is how it looks. Angle #1, looking toward the back.

See that rope through the knot in the wood. Well one particularly windy storm sent that panel and the one next to it to the ground. What's a girl to do? DH was out of town so I called in the troops, we lifted the thing up, wove the rope in and around and tied it to the Mesquite tree! It looked hilarious. See the plank at the bottom supporting the thing?

This is angle #2. Looking toward the front. Notice the two panels completely GONE! We have a cut through to Mrs. Rightsides backyard! Notice also the new front gate she added!! Complete with a separate post so she is totally independent of our fence! Hmmmm....if it's our fence why does she need a gate?????

This is a particularly nice looking view of the shared Ms. Backdoor and Mr. Leftsides fences. (My yard is a) not as big as it appears and b) not as lush as this picture depicts. I sure wish the camera made me look as good as this!) If you look close you can see the rope hanging from the poor tree.

We are not mean people. I just get so annoyed when others can't share. I spend my entire day trying to teach children to share, play fair and be kind. Then in the grown up world, the rules change. Don't tell me that she doesn't use the fence as much as we do....no matter who's property line it is on. I have no idea if it straddles the line on or is on one side or another. Actually, I don't care. All four of us, Mr. Leftside, Ms. Backdoor and Mrs. Rightside benefit equally from the fence. It makes no sense to me to be so ugly. If she just couldn't afford it, I would have understood. I'm not convinced that that is the case.

On the plus side, I am so excited because I can fix up that side of the yard to look nicer now. I'm going to plant some peppers and a few bushes on that side of the house and forget that Mrs. Rightside lives there....until she ties her trees up to the fence! She had better think twice!

I must be having fun

I must be having fun. I can't stop making these things!!! Fun, fast and easy!! I made the size smaller and made placemats. They were so much fun that last night 2 watermelon table runners. I may or may not free motion some seeds. I don't want to use buttons because I like to put things on my table runners. I really think I will make these for Mothers Day for my grandma and MIL. I'm off tonight to make lemon, lime and orange table runners. They are from the Quilts and More Magazine.

So many bloggers seem to post about what they are reading. Well I must be in a classic kind of mood. Last month I read, (listened to actually) To Kill a Mockingbird by J.D. Salinger.

and this month I am listening to Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.I didn't realize that Uncle Tom's Cabin was written in the 1852. (The book in this picture is copyright 1880 and selling for $1400.00!) Call me a simpleton but I'm having a great time with the classics. The classic writers are amazing. The idea that we still find the messages, humor, sadness appealing to us today is incredible. Makes ya' understand high school English teachers! We had to read boring Old Man in the Sea! I tried to listen to The Last of the Mohican's but just couldn't get past the stylized writing. If you are looking for a great read Cecelia Ahern "If You Could See Me Now" was wonderful. All I will tell is it is about an imaginary friend and an adult that can see him. I loved it. If you have never listened to books on tape or had a hard time sticking with the storyline, just try again. Sometimes you just need to get used to the reader. Sometimes you need to find the book that appeals to you. All I know is I can clean, cook, drive, quilt and listen to a good book at the same time. Great for multi tasking!

General goings on

Finished placemats that I started a week ago. Yoo Hoo for me. World record timing. I'll post pictures tomorrow.

The week in review. I was a good citizen! I had jury duty on Monday. I spent the entire day in total boredom during the preliminary jury selection. Oh, did I mention that I was #48 of 48!? I knew that there was no way they would get all the way to me. But somehow I was privileged enough to be allowed to sit through ALL of the questions posed to the other candidates. When they got to me they had no questions! Then we were given the delightful news that we needed to return to the court the next day because they eliminated so many potential jurors, there weren't enough to actually select the jury!! When we returned the next day, we were dismissed! Urgh! I have no problem serving on a jury. I just question the system that lets 48 adults run through hoops for 8 or nine hours and then sends them home. On the plus side, I finished binding the above placemats!

Tuesday, after I left the courthouse, I PAID my taxes. Notice I didn't say submitted my refund.

Wednesday, spent way too much time beginning the shut down procedures on my classroom. I am taking a new job next school year. I not only need to shut my room down for this year, but need to purge my personal items, files ect., from the ones the school owns.

Thursday, play day! The girls came over and we played with fabric.

Friday, made Shabbat dinner but as usual Mrs. S. cancelled. We enjoyed it without them.

So there you have my dull and boring but very productive week. I know I've gone on about how everyday life is worth posting about but I may have to rethink my stand!

Done!

I always feel like a boulder has been lifted from my shoulders when I finish a quilt. I finished the soduko quilt. Yeah! (can you find the mistake??) It quilted, bound, labeled, washed and my girlfriend snuggled with it last night. I machine quilted it and honestly don't understand the fear behind machine quilting. It takes practice, education (as in understanding your machine, threads and needles), not being afraid to move your tension and time. My machine meandering or free style quilting has become very acceptable. Not perfect but I impressed myself. LOL!!! My piecing accuracy on the other hand...........Quilting in a set stenciled pattern is much more difficult. However, I've only done it once and therefore have practiced very little. Meandering and following stencils have completely different stress levels attached!

This picture was taken outside and shows the fabrics in a much better light. It was wayyyyy toooo windy to take a picture outside.

Quilting from the front.......

From the back........................

On to the next project..........................................

What's with my Weather Pixie???

Good gravy, I thought she was in her undies!!!! Trust me it is warm here but not that warm!!! If only I looked like her...or like that in a swim suit........

Not sad. Just Life.

Today is/was/should be my mom's birthday. She died in 1995 from complications of diabetes. She was 54 years old and had been living with diabetes for 51 yrs.

She missed so many life cycle events: my girls b'nai mitzvah (they had their bat mitzvahs together), Mrs. H's wedding, the births of both my niece and nephew and so many other meaningful moments. I've been sitting here writing and re-writing what I'm trying to say. I've written and written and deleted and deleted. All of the stuff I wrote was too personal, too sad. If you have lost a parent, you understand. If you haven't, my wish for you is that you go well into adulthood before you understand. I had a good cry and the bottom line is that I miss her. I just wasn't through with her yet. Selfish but true. I just wasn't ready to give her up or live without her. I still need her guidance and example of dignity and strength. So now I'm the mom. I'm the one giving the guidance and setting the example. I only hope that I am doing my job as well as she did hers.

Memories that I typed but don't want to delete.......
- When I went off to college (I'm the oldest) my mom went into my room and sprayed some of the perfume I left behind just because she missed me. I was obviously touched by this knowledge because I still remember her face when she told me.
-Our moving to Texas was very difficult for both my children and parents. We were the first (actually only in our extended family) to move away. When my mom and dad came for their first (and only visit), they arrived before my girls were out of school. My mom was so excited to go pick them up. We were waiting by the van and my mom was anxiously scanning the children pouring out of the school. She kept saying, "Where are they? Where are they?" Mrs. S. (then Ms. S) burst out the door of the school. They caught sight of each other at the same moment and like a movie first walked and then began running towards one another. They met in the middle of the street and my mom just couldn't stop hugging Mrs. S. It is a memory burned into my heart.

Good memories.

I'm a bum

I have discovered that left to my own devices, I sleep 8 hours a night. No matter what time I go to bed I don't wake up until 8 hours have passed. It is a lucky thing that alarm clocks have been invented. For the last number of nights, I've been unable to sleep. Consequently, I fall asleep around 1 or 2. It is a good thing that I haven't gone to work because 1:30 + 8 hrs. = 9:30 in the morning! What a bum!!! For the last 3 days I have not woken up until at least 9:30! I feel like a crum! Half of the day is gone. Today is the last day of Passover and a holy day. It is a day that you go to synagogue. While you are there you say a special prayer for the dead. Am I there? No. I was sleeping. What a CRUM! I have no choice now, it's too late to get dressed and get there but sheesh. I thought I set my alarm.........

Last night I went to my guild meeting and won a door prize. I'm very excited about it because it is something that I have always been to cheap

to buy. It's a quilting calendar. It's one of those things that are nice to receive as a gift but you can't justify to buy for yourself. It's a silly thing but it makes me happy.

Getting there, getting there

Ahhhh....I am nearly finished with the quilt from hell. This silly soduko quilt has been the bane of my existence. I sew together a soduko quilt as well as I solve a soduko puzzle. I have pieced, ripped, ripped, pieced until I am blue in the face. Don't ask why in the world I had so much trouble getting it right but.....even after all that ripping....even after all that checking....there is STILL a mistake in the thing! URGH! Because my rule of not showing something until it is finished can be so annoying, I decided to bend the rule and show it in the process of being quilted. I was quilting away w-h-i-r, w-h-i-r, and wondering why it was taking so long. Then I remembered that I bought this fancy schmancy machine that flys. I put the pedal to the medal and wwwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Off I went.
I still am only 1/2 done but will try to finish it tomorrow. If I must say so myself, I really like the quilting on it.

Prep Work

Horseradish

BEFORE........... AFTER...........................
I forgot to take the picture of the in between stage. I don't know what it is about horseradish over the past few years but it is definitely not as hot as it once was. Although I needed to open the door and point the fan outside for a few minutes and I felt as though my nose would explode when I opened the food processor (it probably would have helped if I'd not had my head over the bowl), the final product is not really hot. It stings but not that nose frying, sweat producing short burn I really like.

The prune bowl

This bowl was a wedding present of my parents. My mom always used it for prunes & oranges at Passover. Other then prunes, I never remember anything else ever going into this bowl. Until one Thanksgiving when I walked in the door and there in the bowl were mashed potatoes. When I asked my mom how she could dare to put mashed potatoes in the prune bowl, she got all indignant and said it was NOT a prune bowl. My sister walked in and I asked her "what goes in this bowl?" "Prunes." My brother walked in, "What goes in this bowl?" "Prunes." From that day forth it became known as the prune bowl. After my mom died I took the bowl and use it every Passover to hold...Prunes!

Soup a simmering

The soup is in the fridge, the matzo balls sitting in the bowl next to them. The gefilte fish has been doctored and is cooling, the chicken is seasoned, the brisket sliced. The vegetables are waiting to be cleaned and cooked. The tables are almost finished and Ms. A is on her way home. I'm tired, very tired. My wrist is killing me and my back is threatening to boycott. But tomorrow night my family will gather, tell the story of Passover, sing songs, eat, laugh, tell stories and be together. 24 hours of bliss until Ms. A needs to go back home, DH gets on a plane for Anchorage and quiet descends again. Tired...who cares. Being together during the holidays is worth it all. Life is good.

A little oops

I went back and couldn't find my explaination for why this is called fat quarters. Maybe that's why you use tags.......

When I was trying to come up with a catchy name for this blog, DH was watching tv. He sat in his chair and quietly listened as I whining and muttered about a name. I had also been whining about how fat I'd become (I'd lost a significant amount of weight a few years ago and gained it back). After whining and whining ( I do this alot) I hear from the other room, "How about Fat Quarters?" Well, I about died of laughter. Just about the time you think they are not listening, have no idea what is going on in your life,, they come out with proof that they get it! I had no idea he even knew what a fat quarter was! Too FUNNY!