Busy Saturday

Tomorrow it is supposed to start raining and keep going all week. I really want to get this garden going this year and really am lazy. I had the bags of manure in the backyard and the dog had helped me by tearing some of them open, so I told myself that I would work out there for 5 minutes and at least dump some of them where I want the garden to be. I had called two different rototiller ads in the paper this week to see if I could hire someone to come out and do the work for me. The first guy never called me back. I guess he is either too busy or doesn't want to do such a small job. The other guy called me right back and quoted me $200 to till in the ground with the weeds there, or $300 if he took the weeds out first. This is for a 10 x 40 foot piece of land. I just laughed and said, "No, thanks." My friend and I were going to rent a tiller for $150 and split the price and do the work ourselves, but we don't have a trailer hitch to haul the thing to our houses.

So, I think what I will end up doing is use my pitchfork digging thingy and make some holes and then put some weed cloth over it and plant through that. I did that in the front yard when I had the garden out there and it worked just fine. I haven't had any weeds come up out there where the weed cloth is for 4 years now. Of course, where I didn't put weed cloth, the weeds are growing like weeds. I guess that is a good thing. If they were growing like anything else, I would start to worry.

So, I worked for about 20 minutes and the dog helped me by digging in the freshly dumped poo. When I moved the bags of manure, there were about a zillion earthworms under each bag. That was exciting to see.

Then, I came in and rested up a bit and quilted a quilt.

I fixed the poles on the quilting machine. I have the Handi Quilter frame and it has telescoping poles that you can extend to 10 feet. I have it set at about 7 feet right now and the poles warp when I pull the quilt tight to quilt it. So, I was doing some some thinking and researching and someone online said to get some metal poles used for the top rails on chain link fences. I was at the hardware store today, going to buy more poo for the garden, and looked at these top rails. They were about $11 each and were very heavy and big. I would have had to drill into them and do a lot of work to make them fit the quilting frame. So, I walked around and around the store, looking for other ideas.

I came across some electrical conduit that is 1/2 inch in size. It was only $1.39 for 10 feet. It is rigid, but lightweight. I bought two of those and cut them with a hacksaw and taped those to the first and last poles of the quilting frame. Now, I can quilt away without it bending and warping on me. I think I will get another one for the middle pole, later. It took about an hour to undo the leader fabric, tape everything together and put the fabric back on. I had to cut and sew a new piece for the front bar because the fabric on the front was so twisted and warped from being stretched. But after 100 quilts, I guess that is ok.

It worked very well and I am happy with the results. Now I can really get back into quilting again!

Here are some pictures of other projects I've been up to this week. You thought I was just sleeping all week, didn't you. These are burp cloths I made for my very pregnant friend. She is due in about 2 1/2 weeks and very excited to be having this baby. I don't think she will make it to her due date. I hope she does, because I'm taking over one of her classes, which will make my day even longer :)

And also a picture of the quilts I got bound last Sunday.

Stitches West

I need your opinion please. I'm trying to talk myself into making a decision about this weekend's plans and I can't decide if I should stay or go to the Stitches West convention in Santa Clara. It is about 1 1/2 hours from here, so a good drive for me. I enjoy the time away from the kids and the time with yarn and fiber and looking at all of the books and things made with wonderful yarns. I went a few years ago and met Lily Chin, the world's fastest crocheter. I wanted to be her one day and can almost beat her record, when I am at home on the couch. She was very nice and very encouraging. I hunted her down after one of her classes and went right up to her and introduced myself. She even invited me to come up to her hotel room to get her autograph on her latest book, but I just bought it right there, so she could autograph it for me. I didn't get a picture with her because they didn't allow cameras in the auditorium. From what I've read, she isn't going to be there this year.

So, it would be fun to go, but I really don't have the money to spend on yarn this year, and I could save the 3 hours of driving and just go to the local yarn shop and buy some yarn if that is what it is all about. I would be supporting the local economy too, and have more time for quilting.

I think the allure is in the massive exposure to all that is out there. The books, patterns, yarn, people...overstimulation of the senses. I would come home with new enthusiam and new projects that would never get completed.

Or, I could stay home and actually work on something that needs to be done.

How many of you love to go to conventions, either quilting or fiber and get excited when they come to your area? How many of you go on the March Quilt Shop Hop? I think that is coming up quickly too. I haven't done that one either, but I know there are busses you can take that will drive you over 1/2 the state of California from one shop to another. I just can't see the thrill of that one. Most of the quilt shops I've been in have the same fabrics and books, arranged differently maybe. Some are bigger than others, but I couldn't imagine going from one quilt shop to another all day long on a bus with other people. Maybe if they had a class on the bus while you were driving?

Has anyone done this? Was it fun?

Here's a link to the Stitches West and other Stitches events throughout the US.
http://www.knittinguniverse.com/flash/events.php
Maybe there is one where you live and you can go for me and tell me how fun it was. I think I will just stay home and have a virtual Stitches convention in my own sewing room. I can pull out my buckets of yarn and set up a 'shop' and pick out a new project to work on.

Of course, it is only Wednesday, so I may change my mind 3 times before Saturday.

Plant a Row

http://www.gardenwriters.org/gwa.php?p=par/index.html

Have you heard about this grass roots effort to end hunger in the US? It's called Plant a Row for the Hungry. There are over 70 million gardeners in the US and this group encourages each one to plant an extra row and donate the extra food to a food bank or even your neighbors to help feed the hungry in our own communities.

I'm tired of everyone complaining about how bad the economy is now and I plan to do a little bit to help where I can. I have a big backyard that is overtaken by weeds. The first two years we were here, I planted two small gardens. They were 10 x 10 feet and I planted mostly tomatoes. I had tomatoes coming out of my ears. I gave away a lot of tomatoes because my kids don't really like tomatoes. My daughter likes them and my youngest will eat them if they are the cherry kind, but for the most part, I was eating 4 or 5 a day and then what? I was actually driving to people's houses and leaving them on their doorsteps early in the morning! Last year I didn't have a garden and I really missed it. I had a giant weed patch in the backyard.

So, this year, I've decided I need a garden again. But, I have a lot of work ahead of me. With all of the rain we have had, there is a giant mud pit out there where the garden is going to go. Yesterday I got 10 bags of steer manure, 3 bags of chicken poop and 3 bags sand. My friend and I were going to rent a rototiller but it is just too muddy still to actually do anything with it so that will have to wait.

I'm hoping the garden can be 40 x 10 or so this year. That sounds really big to me and I know I can grow a lot of things in it. Stop laughing dad. He has seen my gardens in the past. The tomato plants had to fight the bermuda grass for sunlight. I have visions of being a great farmer, but not really the skills or work ethic. It takes a lot of work--hard, back breaking work, to have a really good garden. I'm lazy. Really lazy. But this year will be different. I really want a great garden. I really want to go out there and be proud of it and have a whole bunch of great food that I can share with my neighbors and that I can feed to my family.

Another story I can share about gardening is when we first moved into this house, we were going to put a tennis court in the backyard, so I decided to have the garden in the front yard. We don't have a neighbor on the one side of the house, so I planted a garden on that side. We are at the end of the court and I thought, how nice it would be to drive up and see a garden there. I had tomatoes and corn and potatoes and beans and all sorts of things. Well, one day I was out working in the garden and the neighbor lady from across the street came up. She had never talked to me before and I was excited that she was coming over to welcome me to the neighborhood. She comes over and says "your house is not conducive to the neighborhood. Nobody puts a garden in the front yard." Wow, was I shocked! When I looked at her front yard, which only had weeds, she started making excuses that they hadn't gotten to their front yard yet and they were working on fixing up the house and ... Well, let's just say we don't talk and I have never shared vegetables with her EVER! She is a crabby old lady who is a busy body and still only has weeds in her front yard after 4 years. I have since moved the garden to the back yard and changed the front yard to flowers and I bet it makes her mad :)

I have been busy

You see, I had to help my kids make videos today, so not much sewing got done. One needed to finish a project for school about healthy living and how to eat right and the other had an audition for band for next year. I'm not the video expert by any means and making a video takes 27 times longer than I ever expected. There is still editing to do tomorrow.

Grading weekend

Grrr. I won't be able to play as much as I want this weekend. It is a grading weekend because progress reports have to go out next week. Ick. I'm not happy. But, I do love having a job so I can afford to play.

The baby shower gifts were a hit and I had people ask if I quilted for pay. I told them no. Then one friend said she was going to have a baby so she could get a quilt. She is older than me and not married and isn't in the market so she wasn't serious, but she really wants a quilt, so I will add her to my "one day, when I don't have any more quilts to make" list. Or, maybe I could get her to grade all of my papers and then I could quilt and have fun. I bet she would actually go for that trade. She loves to work. Now, I'm starting to think.

I want to get some more quilts bound so I can get them to church on Sunday and out of the house. I love getting quilts out of the house to make room for more quilts. That is always a good feeling. And I love seeing the numbers change on the 'where are the quilts' list.

Baby shower gifts

Sunday and Monday were spent working on gifts for the baby shower that is on Thursday. I also spent a good portion of the day yesterday taking my youngest to the doctor for pink eye. I miss my regular doctor. He knows that with 4 kids, I know what pink eye looks like. But, he wasn't working yesterday and the new guy didn't trust that I knew what I was talking about and he made me bring the little guy in and expose everyone out there only to be told, yeah, he has pink eye, now take him home and give him these eye drops. Really? Do you know how frustrating that is? I didn't even get to see the doctor I talked to on the phone so I could tell him how frustrated I was with him. He made me see a different doctor who was wondering why I brought the little one in, since I knew what pink eye was and had 4 kids. Oh, well, at least it is a treatable disease and he can go to school today on the medicine.

Enough complaining.

I made the quilt simple, this is what the mother wanted and it turned out really cute. She bought the fabric and I just put it together. I love the funky monkey fabric and think I will get some for my oldest daughter who also loves sock monkeys.

The diaper bag was so easy to make and has 4 inside pockets. http://www.quiltingartstv.com/projects_index.php

You have to log in to get the pattern. It is from project 107. You make a quilt, fold in flaps, sew a square in the middle, fold over the outer flaps to make the casing for the handles and you are done. I added the little funkey monkey fabric as an embelishment. I will never buy another shower gift again!

The funny thing is, the quilt and diaper bag took as much time to make as the little hat and booties. The hat took 2 hours and the booties took an hour and a half. Crazy! I want to be one of those little grannies who can knit like the wind and make a pair of booties in 15 minutes. I had better practice more because my knitting is so slow compared to my crocheting. Of course, I have a few years before becoming a granny, so I have plenty of time...

I'm working on a crochet hat and booties set, but not sure if those will get done.

Of course, I waited until 7pm to start grading 5 sets of tests and didn't get through one set before going to bed last night. We don't have another break until April 10 so I was going to enjoy my time off. There will be time to grade some papers today I think. If not, there is always tonight.

burning eyes means...

Pink eye. Duh...
I guess I wasn't getting the flu after all. My little one woke up this morning with his right eye glued shut and mine are itching and buring. I guess that hot feeling in the back of my eyes was the beginning of pink eye.

Maybe I should have eaten 4 donuts to get rid of pink eye. Next time I'll know. I'm waiting for the doctor to call in the prescription. I didn't want to drive 20 miles to be told, yeah, your kid has pink eye and then another 20 miles to get the medicine, so I'm hoping they can trust me on this one. I've seen it enough times to know what it looks like. I found some meds in the cabinet from a couple of months ago and the last round and it doesn't expire until 2010 so just in case...

Need I say more?

I'll let you know if it works.

The flu?

Last night my eyeballs were hurting in the back, like they were burning up and I had a temp of 99. I know, not much, but I think I might be getting the flu. I need donuts. I believe that is the cure for the flu. I took NyQuil and went to bed early and feel good this morning, but just to be sure that all is well, I think I had better get donuts and lay low today so that I don't get sick. Really, donuts work wonders. Or, maybe chocolate cake. But it is raining outside. I asked my 11 year old son if he would go get them for me and he offered to watch his younger brother. Isn't he nice? I wish they delivered donuts, like they deliver pizza. Then I would weigh 300 pounds.

In college, I used to eat 6 donuts for breakfast every morning. Seriously. Every morning. They were good. And I didn't gain my Freshmen 15. I didn't gain 1 pound in college. I didn't gain weight until after having children. I've recently been losing weight like crazy. I plan to talk to the doctor about it, but until then, I need donuts. Chocolate donuts. I will let you know if the urge passes, or if I decide to brave the storm and get some.

more bound

Well, the rain changes plans and going with the changes makes for a happier day. I didn't end up going to the tennis match because the tennis lesson got pushed back due to a big storm cloud going right overhead and dropping rain for about an hour. So instead, I came home and did some crocheting and then got two more quilts bound. I really need to work on the baby quilt for the shower this week, but can't seem to get started on it. Maybe because I don't have a clean work space to cut the fabric, or maybe because I like to work under pressure, or maybe because I'm crazy. Whatever reason, I think I will at least cut it out tonight, after dinner--or tomorrow at the latest. I also found a pattern at the Quilting Arts website--you have to sign up to view it--and will make a diaper bag as well. But, the quilt must come first.

Holding pattern

Well, today is Valentine's day. Whooptie! Yeah, I actually like the day after better, because then all of the chocolate goes on sale for 1/2 price and I buy it all up and make myself sick eating it all. My husband and I never got into the whole spend all of your money on cards and expensive gifts on the commercialized day. If we need something, we buy it ourselves so I actually forgot that it was Valentine's Day until this morning. The kids had their school parties on Thursday because we were out of school yesterday. I made pancakes this morning to celebrate and you would think I was mother of the year for doing that :)

I had plans to get lots done this morning, but things are on hold right now. There are rain showers today, so I'm waiting for one to pass before taking daughter #2 for a tennis lesson. In the meantime I'm racing the clock to see how many quilts I can get bound. So far I have two done.

I also want to go watch my daughter's boyfriend's tennis team play in a match this afternoon, but not sure if that will happen with the rain. It isn't supposed to really start to rain until 3 or 4 and they play at 1, so not sure if they will cancel, postpone, or actually play. The other team is coming from about 2 hours away, so I have no idea how the whole college tennis stuff works. With the high school juniors, they would go down and sit for hours before cancelling a match. I would be gone all day without ever getting to watch my daughter play anything. I got a lot of knitting and crocheting done.

very productive day

Well, I made a list this morning of all of the things I wanted to get done this four day weekend and have made quite the dent. I won't share the list because I have no idea how much will actually get done, but here's what got done so far.

I got 5 quilts bound

I got one top pieced

I got one baby sewn together and made the hat for its head

and I got 4 loads of laundry washed, folded and put away. I will NOT show you pictures of that :)

I also did two loads of dishes and spot cleaned the carpet where the little dogs decided to pee. Yeah, that was super fun. Want to come over next weekend and help me? Didn't think so. In addition, I vacuumed the stairs and the living room and picked up because "Not Me" was here again this week making a mess of the place. He brought his friend "I Didn't Do It". They must have come over when the kids weren't home because nobody saw them this time. Of course the kids helped me with the picking up. And those two dirty scoundrels left behind buckets of dirty clothes. I have no idea how such small children can make so many piles of dirty clothes in such a short amount of time, but they manage. At least I have a washer and dryer in the house. It rained pretty hard today.

I had to go out this morning before it rained and when I came home, for some reason the door to the car didn't shut well and hubby found it wide open when he came home and the car was getting all wet inside. I didn't want to go out and see the damage. I have a feeling all of my tests that need grading are soaked. Oh, well, I guess everyone got an A on that test. I bet the kids will all cry when they find out. Bummer.

I also found another friend on Facebook from elementary school. I just joined because of my brother and now have found two old friends. One just had her first baby. My first baby just graduated high school and this friend is just getting started. When did I get old? Please

don't answer that.

weekend plans on a Thursday?

Yes! It is the weekend! A nice, long 4 day weekend. Thank you Washington and Lincoln :)

I have lots of plans for this weekend, including starting a new quilt a long hosted by Judy. You can check it out on her blog. http://www.patchworktimes.com/ This is the fabric I plan to use for it. I'm going to make it for my daughter's room mate. She is a music major, or hopes to be, or at least likes to sing and dance. I have had these fabrics picked out and wasn't sure which pattern to use them on and then this challenge came up and now I know just what to do with them. I will need a little more of the burgundy fabric and will have to go digging through the stash some more as I cut into it because I'm not sure just how I will be using it, but I like this color combination. This quilt will be a challenge for me because I'm still scared of the half square triangles and the quilt I started on New Year's Eve is still sitting half way done because of those silly triangles. Maybe I will dig that out and work some more on it before I lose all of the pieces.

Another project that must be completed this weekend is the baby quilt for my friend who is having her shower on Thursday next week. Yikes! I have to make a crib sheet too, but that should take 5 minutes :) The quilt she wants will also take about 5 minutes to put together. At least I hope so.

I was hoping to work in the garden, but the weather forcast says rain for the next 10 days at least, so that is out. I guess that means I have to do the laundry and vacuum. Ick. Oh, well, my carpets will thank me.

I also have a string quilt that has been on my design wall for about a month now and I really need that wall for something else, so I had better put that top together and put some other blocks up there. I love looking at the blocks when I'm sitting at the computer. I would also like to get at least 3 quilts bound each day of the vacation--that's 12 quilts bound in 4 days. Not sure I could do that, but it's a goal. If I start early tomorrow, I might just have the energy to keep going. I find that lately after work all I want to do is sit on the computer and veg. It is getting really bad.

Renewed Vision

Last night we had a prayer meeting with the missionaries from Kazakhstan who were home for the holidays. They shared their vision for the future in Kazakhstan and we prayed for them as well as for the quilting ministry I started last year. I left last night with renewed energy and excitement for making quilts. This year's focus will be on making quilts for all of the missionary families that are serving in Kazakhstan as it can get pretty lonely over there and these hugs from home will be physical reminders of the prayers and support from the United States churches that are praying for them. We will continue to send quilts to the orphanages that are over there, as there are several more orphanages that are 'not fit for dogs to live in' and that could really use quilts for the kids as well.

I feel really called to continue this ministry of taking a little fabric and a little time and the talents the Lord has given me to make hugs for hurting children. Getting to see pictures of children who received quilts really inspired me to get back to work.

Continue to pray for my migraines to stop. I had another one today and they really drain my energy.

Ovarian Cancer Research

Today we worked measuring and marking fabric for the upcoming sale to benefit the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition. The sale will be Saturday and Sunday, March 28 and 29, 2009 from 8:30-4pm at the John Muir Medical Center, 2540 East St, Concord, California Conf. Rms 1&2 If you would like more information about it, call Dottie at 707-448-7929. She will be accepting donations of fabric, books, notions, etc through the end of this month. 100% of the proceeds from the sale go directly to the research as all of the workers are volunteers and there are no overhead costs.

When I found out this morning that she didn't have enough fabric donated to keep my ladies busy, I dug through my stash and pulled out about 200 yards of fabric and brought it along. I couldn't have people just sitting around with nothing to do since they had planned to come out and help and I don't even thing you could tell that I had pulled anything from my stash. I have to say that I did have second thoughts with some of the fabrics that I brought, once I saw them in better light, but now that they are gone, I'm glad that they went to help raise money for a good cause. Who knows, maybe I will buy them back at the sale?

All of the fabric at the sale is $2 a yard. They don't cut anything, so you have to buy the whole piece. I did end up spending $30 today and got one big piece of green and a really big piece of stars for a backing and some smaller pieces that just had to come home with me. She also gave me all of the patriotic fabrics for the Quilts of Valor project and three quilt tops that were finished, but not quilted yet. A lady in her guild passed away and had quite the collection of QOV things and she wanted them to go on to the QOV program. They will be going to Colorado soon.

I also collected quite a few blankets, but didn't count them yet

thank you

I'm feeling much better today. Thank you for your prayers that my migraine would end.

Here's some pictures from the last couple of days. This first one is of my little guy. They had International Day at preschool. Each child had to pick a country of their ancestors and dress up like those people. My family comes from all over, so he picked Poland. I was going to have him wear his clothes backward (Polock joke) but instead got him this nice suit to wear. I have no idea if this is what people in Poland wear, but he was happy to get all dressed up. The kids colored flags from their country and had a parade around the school. It rained on their parade, but they were as happy as could be. The local newspaper even came out and took a picture (which wasn't very good if you ask me--my kid wasn't in it :)

Then, they had a feast with everyone bringing something from their chosen country. We brought sauerkraut and little sausages. I heard that the sauerkraut wasn't touched, but the sausages were a bit hit. Good thing I got 4 packages!

Here is the little project I worked on yesterday morning. It is a gift for my friend I've never met, Mary. She designed the stripie pattern that the ladies at my church can't get enough of. They refuse to make any other quilt. We have made at least 50 quilts from her pattern and when she asked on her blog for one (or 5) of these how could I not honor her request. I had some troubles with the binding because I'm not used to using 2 1/4 inch binding strips so Mary, don't look too closely at the back, but this project turned out pretty cute and I have 5 more of them cut out.

Today is Binky Sunday and I am hoping to remember to bring my camera. We are measuring and marking fabric for a sale to benefit ovarian cancer research. We also have the chance to purchase any of the fabric at $2 a yard. I am hoping to not come home with all of the fabric I touch. I do need some solid color fabric for bindings though. I have a lot of quilts that need to be bound and was looking through my fabrics and didn't find anything last night. So I NEED some more fabric for that :)

frustration

Today's migraine was worse than yesterday and left me on the couch most of the day. I did manage to get some crocheting done and a small project this morning, but the sun was out and I wanted to go outside and enjoy it. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain and the day is supposed to be a full one with many activities planned. Pray for my headache to be gone by then.

weekend plans

Yesterday was a waste. I had a terrible migraine that wiped me out. I don't have a doctor's appointent until March 7 because my doctor only works 2 days a week now. He is getting older and has started working part time in administration and less time as a physician. I just can't seem to make a switch to a different doctor because I just love this guy so much. He delivered all 4 of my kids and helped me through both of my miscarriages. He is the brother of my pastor and they look very much alike. My youngest son thinks they are the same person and is a little afraid that he will get a shot when we go to church :) The scariest thing is, if you close your eyes, you can't tell them apart. Their voices sound exactly the same.

I'm feeling much better this morning, although my head hurts a little. I think I will try to take it easy today because tomorrow is going to be a busy day. It is Binky Sunday as well as the day the missionaries from Kazakhstan are coming to the prayer meeting to talk about their missions trip and share their vision for the future.

Did I tell you that I ran into them at the airport when I took my daughter back to college? I was just walking along and I heard someone yell my name. I thought they must be calling someone else, but looked over, because I don't have a common name and here, sitting on the bench, was the missionary from Kazakhstan waiting to get her bags. Of all the places in the world at all the times in the day, she was sitting at the exact same spot I happened to be walking past. It was very cool.

pray for Anthony

I woke up this morning around 2am crying. I had a bad dream about the 'brother' of a former student who asked me to pray for Anthony. I don't even know if Anthony has a brother, but in the dream, this brother told me that Anthony was in trouble and he needed prayers. Anthony was in my class for a couple of years--didn't do so well the first time around. I can't remember if it was 2 years ago or 3 which would make him around 18 or 19 years old and why that name is coming back now, I have no idea, but I believe he needs prayers. So, if you could say a prayer for Anthony today, I would appreciate it.
thanks

quilting

With the quilting machine in the house, where it is warm, it is nice to be able to pin a quilt in the morning and then quilt it in the evening after work. I'm trying to work through the bucket of quilts that are ready to go to make room for more that need backs. It doesn't take long to do the meandering on these quilts that will go to kids who need a hug. This top was a cheater. The fabric came already pieced and I have a couple more like it I think, one is green/blues and another one like this, but smaller. I just added the border.

she loved it

I gave the crib bumper to my friend today and she loved it. She was so surprised that I had it done. I'm hoping for pictures of it on the crib soon. She even gave me a huge hug and kept saying how great it looked. Makes me happy to share my talents with others. Now to work on the crib sheet and quilt. The shower is on the 19th.

crib bumper is done

Here is the crib bumper. I'm bound and determined to beat this baby! He is due March 19 and I was reminded again today that time is running out. Only 6 weeks left until his due date. I made his mother promise not to go into labor early because I'm taking over one of her classes, which means an extra class to teach, on top of the work I'm already doing. I will get paid extra for it, which will be nice, but I know that it means more lab books to grade and more student names to learn.

And this picture proves that I need a new ironing board cover. Ew...I tried to buy one at WalMart, but either my ironing board is non standard, or they don't make them like this anymore. Ok, so it is 20 years old, but have ironing boards really changed in 20 years? Really? Do I really have to make my own cover? I wanted to be lazy and just buy one. The one I bought is about 6 inches too short. Grrr. I hate taking things back to the store.

couldn't sleep last night

I woke up around 2:30am and couldn't get back to sleep. Too many things to think about and my mind kep jumping from one to another. Nothing really important, lots of students to pray for and a new teacher who is having a really hard time. I hate feeling helpless, not knowing what to say or do to help out. I should have just gotten up and started my day, but instead, I lay there, hoping to go back to sleep. I probably fell asleep around 4 and the alarm went off at 5. Now, I'm tired.

Oh, how I'd love to stay home today and take a nap and do some quilting, but I stayed home on Friday to take my daughter to the airport and two of my students decided to try and kill each other in the middle of class. Knocked over tables and other students in the process. I've never had a fight break out in class when I was there. Sure, yelling and threatening, but never an actual fight. Either the kids are afraid of me, or they respect me. I'd like to think the second one is true. Most of my teacher friends have had kids actually fight in their classes.

Thankfully, one of the students jumped in the middle of the fight and broke it up and then all of the campus monitors came over and took the boys away. But it will be a while before I take another day off. So, I hope they like a tired and grumpy teacher today.

purple and green

I did manage to do some quilting yesterday, inbetween waiting for the internet email to start working again. This one will go to one of my daughter's friends in college. Not sure which one yet, but hope to get it finished up and shipped out this week. It is bigger, more than 48 inches wide and long and I had to cut and piece the batting too.

I also worked on the crib bumper and just need to add the ties. There is a baby coming soon and I had better get working on the quilt for that little guy before he beats me!

Grrr...who said change was good?

SO I am a comcast customer and the decided that changing everything to this new SmartZone was a great idea. Did they bother to ask me? NO! I just got used to the last change they made.

Well, the email went down yesterday afternoon and I couldn't get to it still today, so I went on their live chat and finally they sent me to a really lame site that allowed me to see the email, but it was so archaic and slow that it wasn't worth the effort. Then, this afternoon, finally, my primary account became available.

Tonight I am back on trying to get all of my secondary accounts working. The guy is on there now, trying to figure out what the trouble is. Of course, that means hours away from what I really want to be doing.

Hey, he just fixed it! Hooray.

Now, I can get back to the 'real world of emails