Hello there

Just wanted to let you all know that I am still around. The past month has been one that has taken an emotional toll on me. I have needed to walk away from a few things and spend sometime healing. I have debated on whether to share what is going on with my blog friends, but have decided that right now, I will keep it to myself. I will be back in a couple days. I miss blogging and miss all of my friends - I look forward to showing you all a couple of things I have been up to.

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Mother's Day

Hi everyone, hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day or a wonderful Sunday if you don't celebrate Mother's Day. (I think England already celebrated.)

I had a great day. The Baby made pancakes and eggs for breakfast and then we sat around and chatted for a while. After lunch we went to Clarksburg (next city over) and went to Pier One, Kohls and Coldstone Creamery! They have the best ice cream ever. After that we went to eat Mexican food. Yes, we did eat dessert first, doesn't everyone? Oh yeah, we also went to the craft store. It has been a really nice day.

The Baby gave me a beautiful hummingbird feeder. My feeder from last year did not look so good! This one is glass with painted flowers on it! I can't wait to hang it up. We are having a cold snap here, so I will have to wait a few days to hang it out. We had to cover all of the plants we just got in the ground since it will be in the 30's tonight! Just can't figure out this crazy West Virginia weather!

Again, hope you had a great day. Will talk to you soon!

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Missing Big

My last post was partially talking about missing something. I am missing Big. Big went off for a couple days to play prison games. Once a year people from various law enforcement agencies get together to have classes and a competition on .... not sure what it is called. You know when you watch TV and a SWAT team breaks up a crowd? Well that is what the classes and competition are about. They learn how to take inmates down the legal way. As the law is written, inmates often have more rights than the officers who work at the prisons (same thing with any law enforcement). There are special procedures before, during and after any contact with an inmate. The public never gets to see that part. Anyway, Big went to "play" with the team from her prison. She has always been a part of the team until she became management. She was always the first in a cell or riot because she wanted to protect everyone else. Now she gets to attend classes and observe. Not as exciting as before! She did agree to get tazed today! I certainly wouldn't! She said it was not a good feeling and she would never do it again, but felt she had to do it to support her team. Honestly, I can understand, I mean I did eat vegemite for my peeps! Isn't that the same? Anyway, Big will be home tomorrow and I am glad of it.

Hope you have a great evening doing something enjoyable. I am going to watch Glee with The Baby! We are all "Gleeks"!

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A Few Things I Have Learned

The past few days I have learned a lot of things. Here are a few:

1.) When something is gone from your life, you miss it and think of it, but when it comes back into your life, you realize just how much of a hole was in your life. We picked The Baby up from school on Friday and I have not been able to pull myself away from her. I knew I missed her, but until Friday, I didn't realize how much. I find myself standing in her doorway, staring at her while she sleeps, I haven't done that since she was little. I know this may be our last summer to have her home, she will probably have an internship next year and I am sure it won't be in Buckhannon, WV. After graduation, she wants to go to Peace Corp. and then who knows where she will work and live. I see this summer as possibly our last one together. So I am spending every moment with her. We have been having a good time getting caught up. Life will get back to normal in a day or two and I will be more present in everything I do.

2.) I don't hate free motion quilting as much as I thought I would. The key for me is to keep the needle at a fastish pace while keeping my hands at a slowish pace. I had to quit listening to the needle because my hands wanted to go as fast as the needle was. I am not sure if that just made sense. I also found out that I can't really think about anything else. Free motion quilting is an exercise in being present.

3.) I found out that being thrown into full blown menopause makes a girl just a little cranky. (Big would say different) I also found out that you can use this new found crankiness to your advantage. If you speak of the rage inside you and the want to throw the Waterford crystal (which on a normal day would never happen - I love my stuff) people go out of their way to be on their best behavior so they don't incite the rage. This is especially true if your normal self is very passive and non-ragey (just made that word up). I also found out that you are given the keys to the car with a smile on the givers face if you comment (read complain) enough about the drivers driving. Examples are, "Shouldn't you go slower/faster," "Do you have to ride on the ass of every 18 wheeler on the road?" "Why do you always turn the cruise control on and off and go fast and slow - that is not the definition of cruise." These are a few examples. I was given the keys and allowed to drive a long distance (against what the Dr. said) As I was driving, I apparently got a smile on my face, because Big said, "Are you happy now that you are in control again?" I just have to figure out how much/little to use this new found power. I also have to hope that Big doesn't read this post!

Well, I am off to spend time with The Baby, still can't seem to get enough of her. I have missed blogging and missed all of your comments.

Have a great day!!

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Blah!

I haven't posted in a couple days because I haven't done much of anything. Well, I did make it to Walmart! That was fun! I discovered Paula Deen's Gooey Butter Cake (I think that is what it is called) It is wonderful! If you find it, buy it and eat it. I think I will find the recipe and make a big pan of it!

I am almost finished with the quilting on the second table runner an will post a photo later (I am too lazy to get up and get the camera right now!) I also want to post a photo of some needlework I have been doing for my color theory class.

I have found that you can waste lots of hours looking at people's blogs. I begin by looking at my peep's blogs, then I go to their favorites, then to those peoples favorites and on and on. All of a sudden, 4 hours have gone by and my "Favorites" list has grown. That's how may day was spent yesterday and just before Big got home, I swept the floor and folded some laundry - I didn't want it to seem as if I accomplished nothing!

Well, I better get to my quilting. I have to get these things in the mail tomorrow so they get there by Mother's Day. Don't want the Mom's to think I am not a good daughter!

Have a great day!

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Not Much To Say

I am feeling a bit sorry for myself today. Big went back to work, the baby is in finals week and doesn't have time to call much, so here I sit, all by myself. I didn't realize how nice it was to have someone in the house all day long. Oh well, I will get used to it. The baby will be home next week and Big will be home at the end of the day. I will get back to some sort of routine soon.

My Mother will be coming for a visit soon. The baby has a birthday on May 23rd and my Mom has been present for most of them. We usually go on vacation at that time of the year, but all extra cash is paying for college tuition. Vacations are put on hold for another few years! I sort of miss vacations, but am happy that The Baby is able to go to a really good school - that is way more important. I always tell her she has to do well in life so she can take good care of me when I am old! Speaking of The Baby, she and her old boyfriend are back together. They dated for three years and broke up the summer before she went to college. We always figured they would get back together, but I am glad she had a year in college to learn about herself and make some good friends and do some dating. Here is a photo of my baby, I am not sure if she will be happy with me posting this one. I can't remember if she liked it or not. I think she was ready for a date with The Boyfriend!



This photo was taken in the dining room of our previous house. The house was built in 1902 and I loved it! There was so much history in it. I love old houses and look forward to being able to have another one. Maybe next move! Well, I better get going, all I have managed to do is eat a slice of cold pizza, throw some wash in the dryer, make the bed and look at blogs. Sniff, Sniff ... perhaps I should go shower!

Have a great day!

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Machine Quilting

I have been sitting on the front porch for the past 45 minutes ripping out some machine quilting that I did last night. It was Horrible!!! By it, I mean both the quilting and the ripping. I have learned a few things about machine quilting, 1.) It is harder than it looks, 2.) You should probably not do it when you have had a glass of wine (are you beginning to notice a lot of talk about wine?) 3.) Ripping machine quilting out is harder than ripping a seam out, 4.) Classes on machine quilting should probably be taken or at least have some type of mentor sitting around waiting for your panicked phone call.

I have read with great interest about Lane's machine quilting progress on That Man Quilts. He is doing a wonderful job and I really admire his work. I don't think I am anywhere near that. Trying to get my brains, my hands and my foot to work at the same time is really hard. When I went to Massage School, I thought I would never be able to get my right and left hand to do the same thing at the same time, but I finally did it. I am not so sure about machine quilting. I have gone to the site he refers to, 365 Days of Free Motion Quilting, and watched the videos and I have learned a few things from it. I am going to get some scrap material and practice, but right now, I have to get these table runners finished.

I will continue (last night I had a bit of a fit and then a cry about it), and I will master this too. As you all saw with the Vegemite video, I am someone who follows through with what I start. I really want to give up on these table runners, but I will continue and get them in the mail on time for Mother's Day.

Hope you are having a great weekend.

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