Welcome back to the land of the living!

Whew, finally I'm feeling better! I quite a bit better yesterday so I ventured out to the grocery store, got home and put it all away, started a chicken and rice soup, cleaned the kitchen, finished my W2s and payroll tax reports and picked up a little. Not one nap all day long rofl! And boy am I paying for it today. I feel wiped out again. So didn't do much today and feel much better tonight. But.............

now Mike is starting to feel yucky. I would feel bad for him, but I don't. yeah I know, that's being just a little bitchy. But not one time did he ask how I was doing or if I needed anything. Granted he did leave me alone, but geez he coulda asked.................

I saved my Tamiflu for him, figured I was on the downhill side and I figured it was only a matter of time till he got sick so I kept them for him. Saintly aren't I?????

For as obnoxious as he sounds he can be quite the wonderful man. Here's a way cool story to prove it :)

Last February Jennifer came home for a long weekend and our LQS (lol I had NO idea what that meant at the time) was having a "Just try it" afternoon. This was a very basic beginner class, she talked about what stages fabric design went thru and explained the difference in cheap and LQS fabric, thread, how to use a rotary cutter (hopefully without cutting off a finger) and we made a little wallhanging sample. I didn't want to go but I was more than willing to pay her way to the class since she's the creative one (it skipped my generation, went from my Mother to my daughter lol) and was wanting to learn to quilt and sew. But she begged. and begged. All I needed was one more thing I didn't have time for. and one more thing to spend money on. Altho at the time I had NO idea how much money :)

So I caved, and went with her. We had a blast! It was so fun and sooooo informative. I have several very old quilts from my Granny and felt her presence the entire time. So needless to say I was hooked, big time. I know, I know, most of you find that hard to believe. Obsessively hooked on quilting???? noooooo

ROFL

So I come home and drag my 28 year old Kenmore out of the back of the closet and take it to have it cleaned. After 10 days I got it back and went back to that LQS and dropped a couple hundred on some great Moda flannel for a rag quilt. (which btw STILL isn't finished!!!) Oh and I had spent the last 2 weeks reading everything I could find on the internet about quilting. I found HGTVs board (great btw), GardenWebs and several other along with thousands of pictures. yesssss I have a "little" problem with OCD :)

It's now Saturday, March 31, and I'm sewing away on my rag quilt squares with my poor old Kenmore and the universal walking foot I bought. It was working very well, altho between the old machine and that walking foot it was making alot of noise. But it was working just fine. Nothing fancy, but good even stitches. At class the Janome rep had brought several machines in for us to use and man were they nice. So after sewing a week with mine I called her and we talked about the different machines. I also went to our Bernina dealer and looked around. But yikes they are a fortune! So I had decided on a Janome, don't remember which one but it was around $750.

Around 2 that afternoon I had to run get more thread and as soon as I get home Mike tells me he has to run to Lowe's for something. ok no problem, I'm sewing, see ya! At 4:20 the phone rings and Mike asks me if I want a machine to quilt with. My answer was, and I quote, "where the hell are you?????" He was at the Bernina dealer.

OMG now I'm worried big time. I KNOW how this man loves to spend money. Only the best and most expensive will do. Me? I wait for a sale and get the reasonable model. Him? Not gonna wait on any damn sale and not going to be reasonable. So when he asked if I wanted a machine to quilt on I was afraid he was looking at their long arms!!! We have no room for that lol. I did get him to tell me that he wasn't looking at that, but he wouldn't tell me anything else. Just want to know if I was serious about learning to quilt and hung up.

An hour later he shows up rolling in these 2 big red suitcases. They were huge! and heavy!!! By this time my head is spinning and I'm starting to hyperventilate and break out in a cold sweat. As I start unpacking I also start shaking. I just keep pulling stuff out. He had come home with a Bernina 730E, which includes the embroidery module and BSR, Designer +5.0 software, suitcases on wheels, megahoop and walking foot.

Took me 2 hours to figure out how to thread the darn thing! And man is it devine!

I'm still blown away by both the great machine and the fact that he snuck out and surprised me with it. So for as big an ass as he has been this past week he does have his moments.

So I guess I will let him have my Tamiflu..................................

Note to self......

GET A FLU SHOT ! ! ! ! ! !

Yep I've got the flu. Fever, chills, sweats, headache, body ache, cough and now I"m starting to wheeze. gggggrrrreeeeeaaaaatttttt

So you can bet your sweet a** I'll be in line this fall for a flu shot. Even tho I feel tons better today the wheezing has got me a little worried (not to mention it drives me NUTS, it's like someone is snoring and I can't reach over and shake him to stop lol). So if it gets worse I'll head on over to Urgent Care if not I'll call doc in the morning. ugghhhhhh

ok now on to more interesting things (hopefully my battery will hold on cuz I'm not getting out of bed to go get the cord lol). Since I can't figure out how to respond directly to those of you who leave comments I'm going to take a bit and answer them here. If someone knows a trick for this would you please let me know???

Pat, it's so nice that you came over and left me a comment :) (if anyone wants to visit a great blog head on over to Back Porch Musings she has some awesome photography, the link is on my sidebar, my head hurts to bad to remember how to link here lol) My DH and DS will be so jealous when they find out you live so close to a Bass Pro Shop!! Thank goodness we don't, we'd be there all the time lol. They didn't have a restaurant in the store, but that's probably because it is connected to the Silverton Casino. We didn't go in there so I'm not sure what they had. You were on HRT for 9 years? wow I'm so glad to hear you're doing well without. I think I am to, lol I'll see after this flu is gone.

Cowboyupphoto - HI! So glad you found me! And yes I'm in Farmington. How cool that your Mom lives in the area. I just started quilting 1 year ago and love it, altho I don't seem to get much done lol. Is you mom a member of the guild here? Does she happen to spend much time at the Bernina store? I spend wayyyyy to much time there :) Thanks for stopping by and commenting!

Sharon - since your not on blogger I've got your email so I'll just say that I'm so glad you take the time to stop in now and then, because gawd I don't know how you find the time. You go like crazy :) Oh and those of you reading again, another great blog "Red Geranium Cottage" (again no link here, look on my sidebar lol). She has the most gorgeous quilts. Makes me just drool and drool.

ok battery held out and I'm pooped so time for a nap.

Another 2 weeks gone.......

Well it's happened again, I've lost another 2 weeks lol. It's like I look up and BAM it's 2-3 weeks later. It's gotten much worse since my doctor took me off my HRT. I hate this feeling and may have to talk to him about going back on it. Maybe.............

We had a good time in Vegas for NYE. Stayed at Red Rock, a gorgeous casino/hotel - but I forgot to take pictures of the casino or room :( Yes I know, I'm a bad bad blogger. What fun is a blog without pics????? I promise I'll do better when we go back in March for the NASCAR races :)

Yep we're going back. Staying at Paris this time and going to the race on Sunday. DH doesn't like the races at all, but the tickets are comped as is the room soooooooo. His DS and BIL will meet us there from Texas, so if we can't get extra tickets DH will be off the hook, SIL and I will go. It will be fun with them and staying on the Strip will be fun also. And maybe this time I can make it to a quilt store that is actually open! We found 2 last time that were closed, I had read so many good things about Quiltville and was sooo excited to go but they were closed. We did find one open but it was only ok. I think I'm spoiled because we have such a great quilt store here.

I'm on a Jelly Roll search, I got this great pattern from Fig Tree at my LQS

But they don't carry very many Jelly Rolls.

We did go see a show while in Vegas, we saw "Le Reve" at Wynn. It was very good, a little odd but that could have been because I never got the "story". I'm sure there was one but I missed it lol! The stage is a big pool of water and they swing high above it.

This is a shot before it started, can't take any pics once it starts. They have fog covering the water. Would have been a really cool shot if this guy would have SAT DOWN! lol

This is the ceiling. It's a really crappy pic but this looked amazing irl. A huge canopy and when the show started they pulled it up and it was very dramatic.

Since the quilt stores were closed we spent HOURS here. This place is HUGE! Mike just wandered and wandered and wandered lol.

See the guy wayyyyyy up there in the black jacket and jeans? That's Mike. He was a little annoyed that I kept trying to get a good picture. I tried taking one while walking and trying to keep up with him, but finally I had to just stop and take a few.

Oh and while we were driving around looking for quilt stores this wonderful woman kept telling me exactly where to turn so I wouldn't get lost. She was sooooo friendly and smart! Mike just fell in love with her ROFL. We rented a Cadillac with navagation and it was soooo cool. So yep, now we are looking at new cars, he wants one that talks to us so we don't get lost.

So we are looking and Cadillac CTS or DTS, a little bubbly Lexus or a BMW X5. The later 2 are little SUV things. And all three talk to you :)

And now it's back to reality lol. And snow............

and cold, really really cold........................

I tried to get a picture of the snow in the backyard last night, it looks so cool out there with the landscape lights on. But it was to cold to actually go out there, so this is from the back door lol

Didn't turn out very well, but trust me there's alot of snow and it looks kewl! :)

Hopefully I'll remember to come back soon!

Happy New Year!

Just want to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

We are leaving in about 10 minutes to fly to Vegas baby!! We will be spending New Years in Las Vegas with 50 gazillion or our closest friends lol!! Wish me luck as I really don't like people, especially in huge amounts..........................

Be safe!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Well it's finally here, the big night. I really miss having little ones around and all the excitement that comes with it this time of year. Maybe that's what part of my problem is right now, my kiddos are all grown up and adult like now. The dogs, altho they act like 2 year olds, just don't "get" the Santa thang lol.


One thing is for sure, I'm not EVER going to not put up a tree again. I was ok with it until last night. It's just way to blahhhhh around here.


Ok here are a couple of things I made for gifts this year.......



You've seen the gift card holders below and then I did a couple of sets of these trivets.



This one is for my Mom

This one is for our friend Lois

Her's didn't show up nearly as well, not enough contrast in the fabrics.

Then here is a big jar shirt I appliqued for her son

Cute huh? It was a little tricky but turned out great.

ok so now it's time to get supper ready. We ALWAYS have tamales on Christmas Eve. So tonight it's homemade tamales (ROFL NOOOOO not by me), queso dip, spanish rice, chalupas and I'll try to get the coconut cream pie done that I forgot to do this afternoon.

Then tomorrow it's ham, sweet potatos, green bean casserole (yeah DH feels the same way yuckkkkk) and brocolli (or however the heck you spell it). Then for sure the coconut pie and my Mom's famous lemon pie.

Merry Christmas to everyone! And I hope no one gets lumps of coal in their stocking!!

Whew!

I finally got my Christmas packages mailed late yesterday afternoon! Nothing like waiting till the last minute. I had a few handmade things that I was just taking forever to finish up. But they did turn out cute, and you'll just have to take my word on that for right now lol. I'll post a pic of some of it in a while, DH is on the other computer and of course that's where the pictures are. But I do have other pics to share......

I went to my first cookie exchange party last week. Such gooooood cookies! And presentation was a big part, altho I didn't realize it, but you just wait till next year! I'll be more prepared. Here are the cookies I made, they are Chocolate Krinkles. Taste just like little brownies




And here is my presentation at the party.

Notice the wonderfully creative blue/penguin Press-n-Seal????????

Here is another of the tables, isn't the cookie boquet cute?



This won Best of Show, we think she cheated............


First place is the botttom corner, it's not a very good picture, hopefully I've got a better one on the other computer. She hand painted 2 goblets and arranged the cookies in them. It was so pretty irl


more pictures to follow later :)

Jazz up Gift Cards

Omgosh Christmas is heading full blast towards me. Just one little teeny problem, there is no way I'll be ready before Valentines Day………………

Yikes, oh well I'll just plod along and hope for the best. For the past several years DSILs and I have decided to give the kids gift cards since they are to big for toys and since they are all spoiled just a tad and want more expensive things. Then last year we decided good ole cash was the way to go. That way they can combine it all and get the video game or cd or whateva. But I hate just putting a check in an envelope and mailing it. Let's face it, opening an envelope on Christmas morning just doesn't have the same charge as a wrapped box. So at class (Bernina Designer Plus V5) a couple of weeks ago we got a handout for little gift card holders. Looked fairly simple……………………..

And they were

After about the 3^rd one! But then I've got menopause-mush-brain right now. But they are kinda cute so onward I trudged.

Here they are just out of the hoop

And a close up – I made snowflakes with the girls names

The boys are getting cutie-patootie snowmen

Here is the backside while in the hoop – while be the inside after folding

**note the obviously NON Christmas fabric on the middle one????? My MIL and FIL's have this inside. We give them cash each year.

Guess where they go with it???????

Here is the finished holder

The straight pins are in there because I still need to go get some Velcro to hold then closed. I'll put just a tiny little piece, just enough to hold it closed.

Cute eh?

Then here they are as they will be opened up to insert/remove the gift card/cash/check

These were fun, but man did I ever spend way to much time on them. I've spent the last week and a half on them, from the digitizing to the stitch out. But it's way cool to actually have something finished that I did from the very beginning. I might actually figure out this digitizing yet J

The next thing on my list is towel wraps. There is the cutest design on the Bernina 75^th Anniversary collection that I want to use. Hopefully they will go together quickly. Then kitchen towels and potholders for a friend. Ughhhhh Valentines Day may come to soon also! Plus I still don't have my tree up, much less all the other decorations I have in storage. I didn't think I wanted to put up a tree, but the closer it gets and the more I see everyone else's I'm finally getting in the spirit. It will only be a tree this year, no villages or other stuff and the tree will most likely be a 4 ½' but that mainly so I can get it away from the taz puppy. She'll eat anything……..

I hope everyone is safe tonight and that if you are in the path of a storm please be careful.