Update on the Girlz

I guess I'll do an update on Melissa as well....  She has just over three months before high school graduation. This semester she has another easy schedule.  She's still taking a class at the local vo-tech school, then instead of the English class at the high school  she had last semester, this time she has a typing class.  Then she works the rest of the day at the middle school office.  She still really enjoying it.  I've gotten several compliments from teachers and staff there when I run into one around town.  She's doing a really great job it seems.

Just about every Sunday evening you'll find her in front of the computer working on scholarship applications.  She's already been awarded several from Ole Miss based on her ACT score.  These will take care of the out-of-state tuition and a good portion of the tuition.  I'm hoping that she'll win a few more that will give the cash out right to her instead of to the school. That way she can use that money toward books and other living cost.  Most are announced by end of April. 

She has chosen a roommate.  A girl she meet through one of the Ole Miss sites, but has not meet her in person. On paper it looks like a good fit.  I lean toward a stranger makes for a better roommate that a best friend, but time will tell. 

Melissa is planning on attending orientation this summer and we are hoping her roommate will attend the same one, so they can meet.

And, lastly, there's me.  I'm still enjoying my little part-time job.  I'm not getting the hours in that I was promised, but that's okay with me.  More time for sewing!(And reading!)  I done one baby quilt and one lap size quilts done this year. I'm currently working on one for Melissa.  It's got lots of pieces  - meaning it's time consuming! Especially when I mis-cut one type of strip and had to re-cut them.  Urggg.  But it's getting there. This coming Tuesday is a day off for me, and I'm hoping to get several hours in to work on it.  The quilt has two types of blocks.  It takes about three hours to get one type of block sewn.  One set is almost done - just need to iron them.  I'm hoping on Tuesday I'll get the second type block one.

The only other big thing with us is we are looking to replace my mini-van. Last Saturday and again today we went to test drive lots of brands.  I want something smaller than a mini-van.  There's a few cross-over type vehicles I like. We have narrowed it down to about four...but not sure which one we'll go with. We're in no real rush...so...we got time to find a good deal.

I've Tried!

I really have tried to post in the last week or so, but I was using my phone and it was NOT cooperating!  I type several lines and then it closes out the blog app. Very, very annoying.

All in all, my phone annoys me.  The battery only last a few hours now. I've even tried to order a new one and Wal-Mart was the one that didn't cooperate. On-line they cancelled the order and in person they didn't have the right "sim" card.

For right now I'm stuck with a phone that does NOT want to hold a battery charge...or let me use some of my apps...and that freezes...  First world problems, right?

So. Back to what I WAS trying to post!

Ben - high school soccer is alive and well - and keeping us busy. There was talk among the coaches about playing Ben on varsity, but by the time of the first real (not a scrimmage) game they decided to just have him on junior varsity. Which is TOTALLY fine with us.  Being on JV means he play just about the whole game.  Being on varsity means playing only a little.  I do think that IF he plays well, then when the JV season ends he'll be moved up to varsity for the last weeks of it's season (which is about two more weeks).

Melissa - is flying home as I type.  For her 18th b-day she wanted to go sky-diving.  Which for a brief few days, we actually thought about letting her do.  But a friend that was a para-jumper in the Army talked us out of it. I'm sure at some point in her life, she will jump out of a perfectly good airplane. We just want her to be older. And for her to pay for it. As her "cancelation" prize, she got a plane ticket to see her best friend from Guam that now lives in St. Louis.  This was the first time she traveled by herself.  And I think she's enjoyed every bit of it.  I'm so looking forward to hearing all about her trip tonight when she gets home.

William - he's home from college and totally relaxing...sleeping and playing video games to all hours at night.  We supposedly have our internet to turn off at 9:45 pm, but we have a sneaky suspension  that the boys have figured out a way around our limits.

Other happenings...we hosted several dinners in the last weeks.  One for the office - have a great time! One for friend as a baby shower and card game. I did have  good time at that one, too, but was annoyed when people didn't RSVP!! urggg.  I knew they probably won't do that, so I put "regrets only". And still.  People didn't.  So, we have over a dozen baked potatoes left from our bake potato bar which I made into potato casserole Sunday after church.  As Drew said: at least it wasn't some too expensive.

And I've been working on a tee-shirt quilt for a niece.  I'm almost done with the piecing. Today I bought the fabric for the back and the batting.  As I was working on it last week, I misjudged pin placement and the needle went through my finger. Yes, there was blood . And yes, it hurt.  And thankfully, I'm good with my tetanus shot. I did NOT go to the doctor as I was able to pull the tip of the needle out myself....but thought for a moment I would have to bug  a neighbor to help me....

That's life here...we are all looking forward to Thanksgiving with all the family!!

Books, Books, Books!

This summer I have taken a dive in the reading.  In June I came across a new author at my library, Karen E Olson.  I ended up reading her books in reverse order. At the library I found her newest books, Hidden and Shadow. This new series of her is about a computer hacker.  They are very good!!  Then I read her second series about a tattoo artist in  Las Vegas that has a knack for stumbling into murder scenes. I again found this series very entertaining.   I didn't really know a lot about the tattoo world, since I don't have any tattoos or any plans to get one. So, a look into this world  was interesting.  Then I read first series Olson wrote.  Well...hmm...yea.  Not as good as the two newer ones. It was about a forty year old single women who was a newspaper reporter.  I read the first book, but really didn't like the language, but thought it was get better. It didn't.  I started the second book of the series, but within a few pages the language was just as bad.  So, I didn't complete the book nor started the third of the series.

I know myself.  I don't want to say  cuss words, but I know myself.  If I hear them in tv shows or read them in books, they get in my head. If they are in my head, then they WILL come out in my mouth! Because of this, I really try to avoid books and shows with bad language.  Just not worth it .

This summer I have, also, read the Bible through with an on-line group. We started June 1 and finished by the end of August. Yep! That's fast.  We didn't stop and get bogged down by the parts that we didn't totally understand.  We wanted to get the over-arching story of God's redemption plan. This is the fastest I have read through the Bible.  It took about 30-45 minutes every day.  Most days I did my reading in the morning, but there were a few days where I had to read a little at a time through out the day.

In the past week or so I have read a series by Susan May Warren - her Deep Haven series. I found that I read two of the books in the past.  Each of these books can stand on their own in that they don't give away too much of the other story lines. I really think she wrote better as the series went along.  My favorite books were the books 4 (My Foolish Heart), 5 (The Shadow of Your Smile) and 6 (You Don't Know Me).  I had read book 6 several years ago and just realized that it went with this series. (Book 2 Tying the Knot was the other book I had read before.) Warren is a Christian writer and in each of these books, the characters dealt with issues of faith.

Last week I also read the first in a series by Ronie Kendig, also, a Christian writer. This series has military members as a theme. I waiting for the second book to be available through my library.  While the book (Digitalis) was enjoyable, there were a few parts that were just not realistic. Entertaining, but not realistic....sort of like some of the James Bond or Jason Borne movies that are out in the theaters now.

All of this reading means that I have not watched a lot of tv....mainly because, there's not a lot of good new stuff on the tv during the summer.  Also, this summer I worked on a photo album project and a quilt that's almost done. I try to quilt at least an hour most days.  The quilt I working on now just needs the binding added....so...it should be done this week....hopefully....unless I find more books to read!

A Scrappy Quilt

 

A little bit of this fabric....little of that...sew them into strips...and then sew the strips together.  While its not straight at places, I think it turned out nice still.  This one went to a friend who is adopting a foster child.  He'll move in over the Christmas holidays.

William's Quilt

Many years ago I decided I would make a quilt for each child during their senior year of high school. Over the years I even made a point of collecting fabric for the boys. (Fabric that boys would like is hard to come by!) Back in January I started William's with the plan to finish it before my surgery. While a lot of the work is just sitting at my machine, the actual quilting part of very physical. I have to get on the floor and even crawl around on my knees while I tape part of the quilt to the floor and then pin it altogether. 

But then, I broke my machine. Urggggg. I was cleaning it out and forced the bobbin case in a little too hard...apparently while it was crooked....  No sewing got done while I waited for a replacement case, but  after it came in I was able to get the quilting and binding done before the surgery. All that was left was hand sewing the binding closed. Perfect  thing to do while resting and recovering from surgery.  

Here's the quilt. I think he likes it. Can you guess his favorite color??!!

Alive and Well

Yes, it's been awhile since I've posted...we are alive and well.  We really enjoyed our holidays....we really didn't do anything major....just stayed at home and enjoyed family and life. 

I've already posted on how our holiday started: by learning that Melissa earned a 29 on the ACT. She was pretty much on a high from that for all of Christmas break!  Still in - in fact yesterday when she went back to school, she made sure to stop by a few of her teacher's room to let them know. 

My parents came over and spend several nights with us.  My brother and his family came over for several hours Christmas Day.  I have to admit: it was extremely nice not to travel.  We all got to be good and lazy!

We did see several movies.  Drew and I saw Unbroken.  Very good!  But I would say, read the book before you go.  Of course, the book is better, but, also, it explains the change in Louie's life.  He met Jesus and his life was changed. The movie glossed over that...sadly....but not surprising as Hollywood doesn't even want to admit there's a God much less that His name is Jesus.

We, also, saw Night at the Museum Three. I enjoyed it.  We thought the kids would go with us, but they all found some reason not to be seen with their parents in public.  Yes, they are teenagers!  I did take Melissa and a friend to see Into the Woods (but Melissa asked me NOT to sit with them - like a dagger to my heart, I tell ya!!).  I enjoyed it as well - neither of these two movies will probably win any awards, but they were fun to see.

We, also, watched lots of TV...movies....cooking shows....football (but not Ole Miss as they seemed to have NOT SHOWN UP TO PLAY....very, very frustrating!).  Melissa and I did do a little after Christmas shopping but not much...I didn't brave the mall.....too much craziness for me.

The kids seemed happy with their Christmas presents.  William got a video camera, Melissa concert tickets, Ben got some Minecraft stuff , and they all got a small Ping-Pong table.  Of course, the boys are enjoying that more than Melissa!

The other big event is Melissa getting her driving license.  She has had her permit since the summer and as of January 3rd was eligible to get her full license.  Which, of course, she wanted!  My plan was for her and William to share a car for several months to six months before we bought another car.  Well....I got out voted.  Drew bought himself a new Toyota Camry.  It's a very nice car!!  So, that means William got the blue Camry and Melissa got the white little Matrix that William had been driving.  They all are very, very happy!!

And I'm still driving a mini-van.  Oh, well.  A few more years of driving soccer plays and giggly girls around, then I can down-size. 

One of the gifts I was excited about was fabric. Yes,  I got fabric for Christmas and I was very happy with it all.  In the last week I have pieced a quilt together for William.  It's green.  No surprise there for anyone who knows how much that boy likes green.  Today I was able to piece the back together, but not quilt it as I need to get some green thread.  Hopefully, I'll be able to buy that tomorrow and if I don't work on Friday, then get to the actually quilting.  So, now I'm looking at patterns for my next quilt....fun stuff!

Lazy Summer Day

This is a lazy week for me....not too much going on. Yesterday, Melissa and I went shopping for school uniforms. At one of the local 2nd hand places, we were able to get the rest of the bottoms she needed as well as a nice dress for her cousin's wedding. She still needs a few of the uniform pull-over/polos....hopefully, we'll find some she likes soon.  I think both boys are okay.....probably should  check on pants for William....but getting either of the boys to go through their clothes is a major ordeal.  I'm just not up for it yet.  Time is running out though.....maybe tomorrow morning since soccer is cancelled.

Melissa babysat last night for one family and this morning for another family.  She'll keep another family for the rest of the week.  Good thing too...she was down to $9 in cash!  Meanwhile the boys are just hanging out with me at the house....yep, you guess it: playing video games. 

I was able to work on a Bible study project this morning and got some sewing done. I started the day off with a slight headache and, so, was not so motivated to work....got a book finished though!

Hopefully, tomorrow will be more productive!

The Calendar Quilt

For quite a while now, I have wanted to do a quilt based on the months of the year. I probably had about half of the fabric I needed.  A few weeks ago I used my birthday money to buy the rest (as well as some other fabric I "needed" with some notions.) I started the quilt last week, but got side-tracked with a few things like kids and being out of town (and possibly a few books.....).

But this week I made a  point to work on it and last night I finished it.  I probably would have finished it earlier, but Mr. Seam-Ripper and I had (sadly) a few dates.  Uurrggg. I hate ripping out!!  But it needed to be done.  I had gotten a few of the pieces in the wrong place (which is easy to do when the pieces are the same size) and a few months out of order. Also, I wasn't happy with my football fabric (used for September). By the time it cut in to small triangles you could no longer tell it was helmets and footballs. So, I Mr. Seam-Ripper and I ripped out those triangles and I re-cut those parts.  I probably should have gone to the store and bought new fabric with a smaller print, but I felt that I had already spent enough money on this particular project.

I am a little disappointed with the over size of the blocks.....the picture from the pattern just looked bigger...I guess that's just a good photographer at work!  Also, I tried some quilt in some curves on the pinwheels....and I just don't sew curves very well....need to stick with straight lines, I guess.

Hump Day

I started the day off with a walk with my neighbors, Alice and April. Alice and I have been walking most mornings since school let out.  While I don't really like getting out of bed at 6 a.m., I do like an early start to the day and visiting with her.  April usually walks with her husband, but he's out of town, so she joined us today.

Later in the morning I did some errands while Melissa was at her practice driving portion of driver's ed. Yep. Pretty soon we'll have another driver in the family.  I have yet to ride with her as the driver.....I'm still recovering from William driving when we were going to DC in November (that would be when he almost killed us in Atlanta and then later added "character" to my van.)

Anyway - back to Melissa.... She was VERY nervous  the first two days and was not happy with how she drove, but today felt calmer and felt like she did better.  She has one more day of practice driving with her instructor, then she can get her permit.  With this being a holiday weekend, it'll be next week before we're able to do that.

Later in the day I was able to work on my next quilting project....didn't get nearly enough done as I wanted to, but that's how things go in a full house! This project how each block representing a month of the year in a windmill pattern. Very excited about it!

As I posted a few weeks ago, I got off facebook.  But now I'm back on....not sure if I'll stay on....but for now it's fun catching up with friends.

The Scrappy Quilt

About five or six years ago I realized that I had about three boxes of fabric....way too much for a military wife to be carting around. Some had been left-over from my projects....some left-over from a large project I over-saw for the ladies chapel group in Guam....some were given to me....some I liked, some not so much.  So, I set a goal to get the fabric down to one box...to make quilts with what I had.  Now, I did still buy fabric when I wanted to make a special quilt for someone, but I, also, really tried to use what I had.

I can now say I'm down to one box of fabric.  Below is my latest scrappy project....not sure who it will be for....so, it'll be sitting in my craft closet until the Lord tells me who needs a little love.

Another Quilt

Another one done.... My next project is for my friend, Dawn. She has sent me some baby clothes of her oldest child. As of now I'm not sure the exact pattern I'll use....maybe a chevron pattern. 

Books to Read

I haven't read as much in the month of August as I usually do. I have worked on a few quilts, probably watched way too much TV, and  listened to two sermon series by Mark Driscoll. (Each series was about ten hours long.) He's a pastor from the Seattle area with Mars Hill Church - such good stuff!! I started listening to him by my iphone podcast, then looked up the website. There I found several series that was not on the podcast - he knows the WORD!

So. Not much reading around here. But I have read two books. The first was A Little Salty to Cut the Sweet by Sophie Hudson from BooMama blog. Her blog is one of the first blogs I started to read based on a recommendation from my friend Polly (Hey, Polly!! Miss you!!).  She's very funny! Her book tells stories from her Southern family - being Southern as well, I can relate! There were several "laugh out load" moments! A great light-hearted book that tells the love of family and the Lord.

The second book I read this month is the autobiography of the VeggieTales creator, Phil Vischer, Me, Myself, and Bob: A True Story about God, Dreams, and Talking Vegetables.
I, actually, heard about Mr. Vischer's book from his podcast - The Phil Vischer Podcast.
 An excellent read on several levels! He talks about the rise  - and fall - of his Big Idea company....how he produced Larry the Cucumber and Bob the Tomatoe - and how he lost it all. This book as some great business advice...what he did wrong and what he is doing right this time around with his new company, JellyFish Labs. But mainly, he talks about how we  should walk with God....that we should be like jellyfish... As jellyfish flow with the water currents because they have no backbone, we should flow with God's Will with no will of our own...to be totally in God's Will instead of living for ourselves. Good stuff!

While I still have two quilts that need binding and one that needs to be layered and quilted (and a totally different quilt that needs to be started!), I have my eye on another book....John Grisham's Theodore Boone: The Activist.  This is a series aimed at teens, but I have enjoyed it. It's one of the few series that William and I both enjoy. He said this book was not as good as the others in the series...guess I'll have to read to find out if I agree!

This Week...Soccer, of course

Last night was another soccer game for William - and he scored a goal! Actually, he scored three, but only one counted. The school we played we have beat every time we've played, so we were not surprised that we won again.  This is a smaller school - I don't think they have a JV as there were several players smaller than William. He plays again tomorrow night. At least we don't have any games this weekend - last weekend was a tournament - which means we're at the field most of the weekend. They played great - amazing! - on Friday night. Won one game and almost won the 2nd. But they came in Saturday tired. Or something.  Saturday they played horrible - not real energy. So, we lost. William did play in one JV game and scored the only goal for our team. I really didn't want him to stay and play that game, but he wanted to get some play time in since he did not play in the Saturday varsity game.  Good thing we stayed! He - along with the rest of the team - were very glad we at least got on the board. The game ended in a tie - the other team went on to the finals as they scored more goals in earlier games.

We are getting ready for Christmas. I'm just about done with my shopping....just a few minor things to get....  I do have some gifts that I want to make....but that's for next week's to-do list.

Melissa is doing lots of baby-sitting. I was quite proud of her yesterday - she put a good portion of what she made in the bank.  She is not one to save - she is one to spend! But gets a little upset when the boys have more money in the bank..... She's learning.

I haven't subbed last week or this week....I think I'll drop by the school tomorrow to see if I can pick up some days....

I tried to work on a quilting project today, but my machine gave me some trouble.  I just wasn't in the mood for it, so I packed it all back up. Another day I'll argue with it and fix it. And rip out what was sewn today as the thread was looping on the under side.

That To-Do List

A while ago I posted about my to-do list that I will be working on instead of New Year's Resolutions. I'm happy, thrilled, and excited to say it's done. DONE!  All 18 of the original things on that list (along with many other normal day-to-day things that a family of five needs to have done) have been completed and marked off. YEAH!! 

The last two things were items on my list since...well...one since BEFORE I left Guam!  At least I think it's been that long since I've pieced together that blue quilt. But yesterday I refused to "eat the bread of idleness" and just work on the thing. And  I got it all done!! YEAH!!  Ben has said it's his, but I don't think he realizes how small it is. It's more of an over-size baby quilt. But it's done...even if  my sewing machine acted like a very small child when they are oh, so very tired: uncooperative! Part of it was operator error  (blame it on being in a hurry and being blond), but after that was corrected I think my machine is just ornery when it comes to quilts. (Maybe I should talk to Drew about an upgrade....say to a quilting machine instead of just a sewing machine...hmmmm...something to think about it...)

The other project that has been on THE LIST since summer was to update the kids' school photo albums. But that's done as well as of last week.  These albums were intended to chronicle school up to 8th grade.  With William in 9th that means his is done - as in DONE...as in not too much longer and he'll be gone.But as I said in another post, that's how life is suppose to be.

Back to my to-do list....time, now, to sit and think about what projects need to be done...or what project I would like to do.....

On the 12th Day of Janurary...

On the 12th day of January - how are those New Year Resolutions going? I don't make new year resolutions, but I did sit down on the first  and wrote out a list of things that  need to be done  - some sooner than others. 

I stared off with a list of 18 things. Within a few days I did just about half of them. Okay - I'll confess. Drew did two of them.  And I have added several things....just the way to-do list go, I guess.

None of the things were earth shattering....return emails, finish the purple quilt (done), start the blue quilt (so NOT done), do something with the Christmas cards.....just normal things.

Last year I never really did anything with the Christmas cards. I just put them in a bowl on a shelf of an end table and they sat there.....all year long.... This year I was bound and determined to go through both years and put the pictures away in an album.  As I was going through a cabinet a few days ago, I realized that I had not done anything to the Christmas cards from our last Christmas in Guam.....so....that meant I had three Christmas' of cards to put away.  And I soon realized that my album is not big enough for them all....which is probably why I didn't do anything with them last year...or the year before.

But I have I come up with a solution! I will buy a nice photo box and keep them in that. Of course, that means adding "stop by Michael's" to  my to-do list....good thing there's no date of when I need to get it done!

Hump Day

Didn't realize until I logged in just now that it's been almost a week since I posted.  Mainly because the rest of my family has hogged BOTH computers over this last week.  What's a girl to do?

Yep  - Read. Sew.  Good times...until the breaker in the sewing room keeps flipping off. And off. And off - too many times to count. It seems that my iron (you do have a lot of ironing in sew a quilt, by the way), likes to trip the fuse. So. I now will be ironing in a different room.

It's been a crazy week - well, Monday was crazy. Yesterday MUCH calmer! Thank you, Lord. I need a few calm days. 

Not too much going on this morning - meeting with a new friend about a Bible study. I'll be teaching on Thursday mornings and she will teach the same study on Sunday evenings  - both at our  church.  I did not pick out this study, so I'm not too familiar with the author or the material.  Yes, lots of extra studying will be involved.  We'll just have to see how it goes!

This afternoon our crazy Wednesday schedule continues.  Last school year we had piano on Wednesdays just before church - not even time really for a dinner.  I chose to keep  the same day as I know soccer will be on other days, but this time we moved piano lessons up 15 minutes, so this year we have time to actually eat something at a quick pit stop at the house. At least that's the plan.

Melissa and Benjamin are still not 100% sold on piano lessons, but they are surviving. They do love their teacher (even if she made Melissa cry last week - "Feel the music?? How does one feel the music???!!!! - Poor thing. She was so upset!  Hopefully, today the lesson for her will be better.)  William really likes piano - he's at the stage where he's able to play real interesting pieces and see the results of working hard.  But then, he's the one that's always has loved the music. 

I really thought William would jump at the chance to switch to guitar this summer when we gave him the option. But no. He wants to stick with the piano.   I was shocked!! (And admitting upset even.) He had been asking for a guitar for several years.  But I think he doesn't want to go back to simple songs now that he's gotten so far in piano.  

Now Benjamin would love to switch to a new instrument.  And what would that be? The drums.  No surprise really.  Anything that's loud and will give Mom a headache!   But yes, next year, I will say "yes" and let him go into band. For the drums.  I hope the band director lets the students pick the instrument they want....otherwise, it's not going to be a good year.

As the Week Goes By...

This week I finished two books - was not thrilled with either of them.  The first book,  Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, gave me a headache.  Maybe I just needed to wear my bio-facials.....

It started out well, but then every time a new character was introduced we also got a long back story. So many back stories made me forget the current story.  And I was slightly shocked over the not-so-nice language that was spattered throughout the book.

I, also, read 90 Minutes in Heaven. I did love -LOVE- the chapters that actually told of his time in heaven. But that was only about two and half chapters. The rest of the book about his recovery.  Which was a miracle! But still. I guess I was hoping for more.  But would still recommend the book.

This week I, also, was able start a quilt. I am working on Pick-up Sticks which is featured on the cover of Fon's & Porter's Love of Quilting this month. The magazine shows the quilt in browns, but I am doing mine in pinks and purples. 

This pattern is a perfect scrappy quilt. Which is good. Exactly what I need!  When we had about a year left in Guam, my goal was to not buy any more fabric until I had used two of the three boxes of fabric I already had.  Let's just say I'm still working on that goal.  I'm down to two boxes - which is better than three - but still have a ways to go.  I don't think this quilt will make a huge dent in these two boxes, but every little bit helps.

Baby quilt for Kaycee and little tote bag for sister Cheyenne. LOVED this fabric! So stinkin' cute!!