Week In Review

Have you ever had one of those weeks when you just feel like all you are doing is "going through the motions"? I think I've felt that way over the past two weeks. I'm hoping it's just the transition from summer to fall. Maybe it's just the "calm before the storm", the holidays are right around the corner. What ever you want to call it I'm trying to just go with the flow. I'm very glad that I have this little blog. You can not imagine all of the pictures that I take. Well, maybe you can. What you should know is that I don't even show you half of them. I take pictures of some of the most boring, regular, every day things. I never know which ones I'm going to share. It all depends on what I feel like talking about. The best thing about all of this picture taking is that I can actually go back and see what was going on during any particular week. Sometimes it's a bit much and sometimes it reassures me, that even though I feel like I'm "going through the motions", I actually am accomplishing things along the way. They might be very small things, that don't really matter to anyone else, but they are accomplishments just the same. Here are some pictures from the past week...

 Hope you have wonderful plans for the long holiday weekend. All of our plans sort of fell apart due to the cat and crazy weather so I'm hoping we might get around to a little basement cleaning/organizing. Sounds like fun. Alan keeps reminding me that football starts this weekend. Basement cleaning/football watching.....
Sally

Crazy Weather

As soon as it was clear that Tropical Storm Isaac was going to become a hurricane and wreck havoc on the Gulf Coast I started getting that yucking feeling in my stomach. I think that if you have ever lived in a hurricane prone location and had to experience boarding up your house, sand bagging and then evacuating that feeling never goes away.

Even though it's been years now since we lived in South Carolina, every August when everyone else is stocking up on school supplies, I think it's time to stock up on bottled water and canned foods. Crazy, I know.

We have so many friends and relatives that are having to deal with the effects of Hurricane Isaac right this very minute. My thoughts and prayers are with them all. What makes the whole thing even crazier is that it's going to be an absolutely beautiful day here in Louisville. The sun is shining and there is not a drop of rain in sight. They say we may get some of the leftovers of Isaac over the weekend, but the way our luck with rain has been going, I kind of have to see it to believe it.

Mother Nature is just so unpredictable.
Sally

Yesterday

Remember how Alan turned 50 in July? Well, yesterday he survived his first colonoscopy with flying colors.
He was given a "clean" colon bill of health and doesn't need to have another one for 10 years. Needless to say, we had a pretty low key weekend while he prepared for the event. Only being able to eat jello and broth can leave a fellow feeling a little weak. He couldn't wait to eat lunch after it was all over. You may be wondering what his meal of choice was. A Wendy's double hamburger, fries, coke and a frosty. He said it was DELICIOUS!

I know that he's glad it's all over, now we can get on with the rest of our week.
Have a great Tuesday,
Sally

Just Another Week

If it's not the kids, it's the dog. If it's not the dog, it's the cat. George gave us quite the scare this past week. He started acting "funny" the day after Grace left for school. At first we thought he was just missing her, but then it became pretty clear that something else was going on. He spent a night at the vet and really all they could come up with was that he had a very high fever possibly the result of an infected toe or an enlarged heart. An enlarged heart sounds pretty serious doesn't it? To make this very long story a little shorter. They can't do anything about the toe until they figure out what's going on with the heart. His temperature is back to normal and next week when the cat radiologist is back from vacation George will have an Echo-cardiogram. Don't even ask how much all of this is going to cost. He's part of the family..... In the mean time I've been doing a little quilting. It feels great to get back to sewing. The time just flies. I finished all 34 hexagon flowers, now I just need to sew them all together.

 I have also been finishing up a quilt that I started in January. I got the kit when I went to Iowa for the Common Threads Sew In.The whole thing has gone together so well. I'm hoping to finish it up this weekend. I'm going to straight line quilt it on my machine. We shall see how that goes. A very sick George peeking out from behind the quilt. Poor little guy.

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.
Sally

Grace's First Apartment

Grace spent most of last week packing her stuff. She's heading back to the University of Kentucky in Lexington. It's hard to believe that she will be a junior. Freshman year was "freshman year", last year she spent in Spain and this year she has a car and her very own apartment. Things just keep on looking up.

She's going to be living in the Newtown Crossing apartment complex, very near to campus. I'm guessing that ALL of the residents are college students. The place has a "fancy" dorm feel to it. Her apartment is adorable and will hopefully be her "home away from home" for a while.

Alan and I helped her move in yesterday and I have to tell you, she is pretty excited and looking forward to a new adventure

  







So I guess for us the summer is officially over. Both kids are back in school, the house is feeling a little empty and quiet. I'm enjoying the feeling for the moment. I'm not saying that I don't miss them, I'm just saying empty and quiet is kind of nice.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend.

Sally                                                                                                           

Back on the Wheel

I knew it would happen. Grace came home from Spain and reclaimed her spinning wheel. She is a great little spinner and she spun a ton of fiber over the summer. She will be moving into her own apartment next weekend and she is going to take her wheel with her. What am I going to do?

Thankfully she let me have one more go at it over the weekend. I spun up this beautiful fiber and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of spinning time. I guess I'm going to have to get my own wheel now. Good thing my birthday is just around the corner.

Sally

Not Mom of the Year

Sometimes the truth is hard to accept. You be the judge. David was home visiting over the past 2 weeks and I didn't take a single picture of him. I can't believe it either. I guess that makes me a terrible mom. What makes it even worse is that I did take pictures of his homemade beer, I know....just crazy. What was I thinking. Cute 24 year old boy ~ bottle of beer. It is what it is and that's all I can say.

I might be an awful mom, but David's beer was actually pretty darn tasty. He brewed it in his tiny apartment in Norfolk and I think even he was surprised how well it turned out. I don't really understand the label. He says it's an inside joke with his Iowa buddies.

Pretty fun hobby. I have to admit that I'm secretly proud that maybe he inherited some of my love for cooking and crafts after all.

Sally

Quilting Along

Here I am with my wonderful friend Barb. I mentioned last week that Barb and Jorge came for a visit. They were our backyard neighbors in Iowa and we miss them very much. We had such a great weekend doing lots of the things that we used to do together.

Barb talked me into learning how to quilt several years ago. She is my bestest quilting buddy. We have taken classes together and participated in workshops together and mastered the long arm quilting machine together. While they were in Louisville I talked her into going on a quilt shop hop with me. It just worked out that the "Jingle Bell Hop" was going on the same weekend that they were here. We visited 4 of the 5 shops on the "Hop" and ended up with quite a few goodies.

I can't wait to get started on some of these projects. Hopefully I'll have some cute quilted items to show you soon.

One purchase that I have used already and am most excited about is this little stick on thimble thing. I've tried every thimble ever made and have never been able to find one that I can keep on my finger, until now! I love this thing and so does my finger. No more jabs with the needle and it's helping my hexagon flower making to go so much faster.  It also speeds up the process when you can get a friend to make one of your flowers for you.

Barb made this one. I think she might be hooked on hexagons.

What a great way to use up all of those scraps that she saves.

You can do it Barb!

Sally

Sometimes I Wish I Was A Cat

George spends the day seeking out small patches of sunshine. Once he finds the perfect sunny spot he takes a nap. When the sun moves so does George. Not a bad life if you ask me. He gets a little cranky on cloudy days and tends to hang out in the darkest place he can find. Very interesting behavior. Cat's are just strange like that.

Speaking of cats, I came across the most wonderful website a couple of weeks ago. Click HERE
and you can play with shelter cats over the Internet? It’s completely addictive and wonderful.


”Humane Society of Dallas County/Dog & Kitty City has partnered with KONG of Golden CO, the makers of that classic red rubber dog toy.

Kong selected six shelters throughout the U.S. and they have installed robotic toys and cameras in the shelter so people can control the toys over the Internet and watch the cats play. The charitable campaign is designed to raise awareness about shelter cats and hopefully boost cat adoptions.

You can access the virtual play system and remotely control robotic toys for the cats to play with and can view the action via streaming web cams.”

I wish that all cats could be as happy and content as George. Make yourself smile and make a cat's day.
Sally

Meet Chuck

This is Chuck

Our brand new Rav4

I love it!

This car is exactly like our last car

except...

It's brand new

It's blue

and it has a fancy blue tooth phone system which I have not figured out how to use yet.

I hung up on someone this morning.

Oops

If it was you, I'm sorry

please call me back

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend,

Sally

The Weekend

This past weekend flew by as weekends tend to do

when filled with so much goodness:

~ More Company, thanks for the great visit  Barb and Jorge

~ Early morning walk at the zoo

~ The Jingle Bell Hop (quilt shop hopping in July)

~ Watching the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics

~ Playing lots, and lots, of bridge (and having one really good hand)

~ Eating yummy  "healthy" food

I can't believe that it's already August. Where has the summer gone?

Sally