more hats

 I finally got a new cord for my camera so I'm back in the posting world.  I've been busy making crochet chemo hats and will send them off when I will a flat rate box.  They are only going to Modesto, Ca, which is about 100 miles away, but it is still cheaper to send a whole bunch.

 I hope they bring comfort to women who are going through a difficult time.  I enjoy using my talents to make something useful.  Crocheting is relaxing at the end of a long day and is something I can use to help me unwind from stressful situations.

 Today, the list of nominations for Teacher of the Year was made.  Both my husband and I were nominated.  I asked if we could campaign.  The principal said he wondered how things would be at the Lewis house during the voting period.  I told my daughter that I knew I would win because I have better hair.  She says her dad will win because he has rare, invisible hair.  We are a funny bunch.

 I finally heard some news about my quilting machine.  The repair guy is going to have to rebuild the machine and replace the computer part as well as the electrical part.  I will basically get a brand new quilting machine when he is done.  It is going to cost about $2500.  At least I will be back to quilting in the near future.  That gives me so much hope.  I have missed making quilts like nobody's business!

I got a message on Tuesday that a friend of mine was taking in three of her husband's sister's kids.  Two are babies and one is a six year old.  The parents are unable to care for the kids and so she was called on to take in these three.  She already has three kids of her own so overnight her family doubled.  I loved that I was able to provide quilts for the kids.  I just miss being able to provide for every need that comes my way.  A call recently went out for those displaced by the fires in Tennessee and I don't have quilts on hand to send.

 Hopefully my quilting machine will be fixed soon and I will be back to quilting again so when the next need comes up, I will be ready again.  Plus, I was doing great this summer with cleaning things out around here and then donations started coming in faster then I could get things out and now I'm back to where I was before summer.  My garage is full of fabric again and I will soon be buried if I can't work again.

Another happening in my life is my daughter's car.  Oy, have I learned a hard lesson with that car.  It's a Kia and has a recall on the airbag.  At the end of last school year it started making a squealing noise and the air bag light came on.  Rather than deal with it, I just left it parked in the driveway.  I didn't need it so it has sat for more than 6 months.  Well, cars were built to be driven, not sit and so, when I got the notice that the registration was coming due.  I didn't have time to deal with the car because it wouldn't start.  I figured it needed a jump or new battery.  Well, I got the reminder that I really had to deal with the car and so over the Thanksgiving I got a new battery.

II took the car in to get the smog check and they told me they couldn't smog it because the check engine light was on.  I asked if they could just turn the car off and on because that should fix it.  The guy looked at me like I was crazy, laughed a little and said he would try it.  Of course, it didn't work!

So I took it in to get fixed and it needed a new alternator.  $500 later, I thought my problems were solved.  No such luck.  There was still something not right because two sensor weren't firing right.  I was told to drive the car for a while and start it in the morning when it was cold a few times.

I drove the car for 200 miles over the past week and it is still misfiring one of the sensors.  The repair shop called and said that I can get the car smogged with the one sensor not working because of the age of the car.  Hopefully tomorrow I will have the time to get it in and try it out myself!

trying to find things

I have been working on cancer caps this week while on vacation and have a dozen or so finished.  I mailed out 4 to a lady in Modesto who runs the Crochet for Cancer group.

https://www.facebook.com/CrochetForCancer/?hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE

I took pictures of all of the caps, but now cannot find the cord for my camera to download them all to the computer.  It has to be here somewhere, but when I don't use something daily, it has a tendency to fall into the couch, or under the couch or get put in a safe place to be found sometime next year.

If you have yarn and some time, this is a great project that could use your help.

dog pile

I'm not sure how this happens, but my dogs have figured out how to tell time.  Every morning around 5am, they start to bark to wake me up.  Not bark, bark, bark, like someone is at the door, but one little bark, then wait 2 minutes and then another little bark.  They are telling me that it is time to get up for work.  But what they can't figure out is that there are weekends and vacation days where I don't really need to get up at 5am.  Then, we all come downstairs and I sit on the couch and watch the news, check my email and eat breakfast and they all go back to sleep.  They just want to make sure the day starts right.  They could easily come sleep on the couch by themselves, but for whatever reason, it just isn't as comfortable unless they all pile on top of each other and one of them at least has to be touching me to make it all work.  I'm not sure who is protecting who here.

This is my older son.  He just got done with his interview with the FBI for a summer internship.  He is in the middle of his 2nd year of college, but because of all of the AP (advanced placement) classes he took in high school, he only has one more year left before graduation.  He should hear back from them in a couple of weeks.  I'm proud and scared at the same time.  He wants to go into cyber terrorism-hopefully not being a cyber terrorist, but catching the bad guys and as a mother, that makes me really proud that he wants to serve our country, but I have watched a lot of TV and know that sometimes these guys are the target of shooting.  He will probably have to learn to use a gun and may have to work over seas.  He was just a little kid last week, so all of this is really not ok with me. In my mind, time stands still.

It has been too long

It has been almost 4 months since I've posted and although I have good reasons for abandoning the blog, it's time I came back to the land of the living and documented my life again.

My quilting machine is broken still and I have nothing to show in that area, but I am still alive and kicking and have much to be thankful for!

It looks like the drought here in Northern California is about to be over.  At least at my house.  We are having lots of rain and I need to find someone to fix the gutter above my front door.  The gutter is clean, but the downspout has been clogged for years and when it rains really hard, the water pours over and right in front of the door.  I went into the garage looking for some stuffing for a doll I'm working on and the garage was flooding.  The water was coming in through the wall and into the garage.  Time to move some stuff and get things off the floor.  Luckily it only rained hard for about 15 minutes.