400th post?

wow, that's a lot of posts.

I finally have something to show. I worked on this quilt on Wednesday and plan to get it quilted this weekend. It is for a friend's cousin who was wounded in the Iraq war.

Tomorrow, son #1 has a lego robotics tournament, so I don't think I will get anything done, but maybe Sunday???

so proud

Today was the final day of high school tennis for the season. My daughter #2 plays #6 on the team. She is only a freshman and has had a great season. She won 19 matches and lost only 3. Today she had the toughest match of the season and came out victorious. The girl she played was tough, but her mom was the hardest part. Her mom was the coach and should have known better, but because her daughter was losing, would clap on mistakes my daughter made. It really started to get me angry. I just wish people could let kids play sports without trying to live through them. This lady also said some really mean things to her daughter about my child, in front of my husband because she didn't know that it was his kid! He confronted her and she said, oh, well, I was just trying to get my daughter pumped up. Wow, putting someone down to make your child feel better? And you are the coach? I'm so glad that my daughter isn't on your team!

I'm glad my husband was there, because he had a really cool head and was able to diffuse the situation. I was just going to pop her one (not really, but I could have) and he had everyone laughing when it was all done. It still upsets me that they called my kid names because they lost, but it's really sad that another person is being raised to think that this is an acceptable way to live and treat other people.

I was just so proud of my daughter for keeping her cool under pressure and not letting this girl, her mother and the other team get the best of her. I learned a thing or two from her today.

It's Friday

So many possibilities for the weekend ahead. I am finally starting to feel better and get my energy back. I have been sick for over a month. If this wasn't swine flu, I never want this again! I am hoping to have some fun this weekend to play with fabric, finish a quilt or two and get outside to work in the garden. Today we had a little rain. Fall is here!

today might be the day

I think I might be feeling better and may get some sewing time today. Woo Hoo. You have no idea how excited that makes me. I have been sick for most of this month. I got sick around the 8th and have been feeling mighty weak and tired since then. The doctor did a whole mess of blood work, chest x-rays and urine test and came back with nothing much. One of the blood tests came back with the results as possibly cancer, pneumonia or pregnant. Yeah, what a combination! So, the x-ray ruled out the pneumonia and I'm not pregnant, so he wants to do a mamogram to rule out the cancer. I'm not worried because I know that breast cancer does not make you cough and run a fever for 2 weeks, but I do not look forward to the test anyways.

So, this morning I'm off to the fabric store to find a pattern and fabric to make a Daphne dress for my #2 daughter. We can't seem to decide on any costume until the last second. She is going to a friend's for a sleepover tonight and everyone is going to be a different Scooby Doo character. Since she already has the red hair, it was a simple choice. Now, just to figure out how to put a zipper in...

Hoping to keep feeling better and be posting more often again!

Goodbye Tiger

My cat

of almost 16 years died yesterday. I found out 3 weeks ago that she had cancer and there wasn't much the vet could do. He wanted to do surgery and remove the tumor, but I'm sure it had already spread because she was losing weight and not moving around much anymore. It was a very sad end to a very bad weekend.

I'm still feeling weak from being sick for so long. I got sick the day I found out she had cancer and can't seem to shake whatever is making me sick. I got tested for the flu/swine flu and the test came back negative. Today the doctor wants to do a chest x-ray, bloodwork and urinalysis to see what else is going on. This weekend, I slept 15 hours on Saturday and then Saturday night slept 12 hours more. I tried to vacuum the hallway upstairs and had to take a nap because I was so tired.

I feel better this morning, maybe the stress of the sick cat was getting to me and I didn't realize it.

Tiger was not the best cat in the world. She would pee on clothes if you left them out and scratched up the couch, but she went through a lot with me. I got her when I had my first miscarriage. I had to drive all over the world to find her because there weren't any kittens around at the time I wanted one. I finally found her at a pet store in Sacramento, near the zoo. She was about 3 or 4 months old at the time. I paid $35 for her for the adoption fee . They put her in a cardboard box for me to take home and on the way home, she got out and was running all around the car when I was driving on the freeway. I almost named her Trickster. The first few months were rough because she wanted to play at night and would keep my daughter awake by jumping on her face in the middle of the night. I had to lock her in the bathroom at night and then she would meow. She has always been 100% indoors and was so afraid to go outside. You could leave the doors wide open and she would never go out. Sometimes, if she wasn't feeling well, she would sneak out and get a bite of grass and come in and throw up in the middle of the floor, but she was always so afraid to be outside.

She didn't like to be held, or petted too much. She would meow and hiss at you if you scratched her in the wrong place, but she never bit anyone. I think she just liked to talk a good talk and scare people.

I will miss you Tiger.

swine flu is kicking my butt

I have been sick for about 10 days now. I got tested yesterday and hope to have the results sometime this weekend. This thing is not fun, whatever it is.

happy Saturday

It is Saturday again and a happy day! I have plans to make a quilt today for my pastor. It was his birthday this week and I am hoping to get the quilt done today so I can bring it to church tomorrow. It is supposed to be 105 degrees today so what better to do than stay inside and sew? I also plan to make some brownies and get them in the mail to my daughter. I had better get out to the grocery store early this morning before my tires melt in the heat :)

I sent her some cookies last week. Now that she has a car, she doesn't need me to send anything else because she can just drive to WalMart and pick up whatever she needs, but she doesn't have access to an oven, so home made baked goods still remind her to call home every once in a while.

Hope to be back later with something to show for the day.

Things have been busy with grading papers all week long. I'm still trying to figure out how to get more work done in the same amount of time without going crazy. So far, it isn't working :)

something different

today we did something different. My older son is really into his music. He plays the trombone for the band and is in 7th grade. He loves the trombone and playing music and the high school jazz band was going to be playing at the local outlet stores this afternoon so we decided to go down and listen to them play. I took all of the kids and made a fun afternoon of listening to the band play, watching and playing with my little guy on the playground stuff and getting some Jamba Juice. We also got some Jelly Bellys (a local factory makes them). It was really fun and a great way to take my mind off my headache. Just getting out of the house and playing was fun. I'm hot and tired and could use a nap, so I think I will sleep well tonight.

Here's a link to what my oldest is up to in college. She is back to playing tennis again and having lots of fun. Wish I could be there to watch her. I just found out that she got a job teaching tennis to kids who are home schooled and having fun doing that. She has always been really good with younger kids.

http://goyeo.com/index.aspx?tab=tennis2&path=wten

another weekend

wow, what a week. I've had a migraine for 5 days now. I've been working all week with it but it drains the energy out of me and I haven't been able to do anything fun to show here on the blog. Bummer.

We had back to school night this week too. Just more added stress and longer day. But there was a really good turnout of parents and that helps explain why I have such great kids this year.

I'm hoping to get some quality quilting time this weekend and some time to unwind and relax. The weather is very strange. It was over 100 degrees yesterday and this morning looks like it could rain. We had rain las weekend too. Strange!

Quilting progress

Yes, I have been quilting since school started, just not keeping up well with the numbers or posting pictures on the blog. Too many things to do, too little time.

I just finished grading all of the tests the kids took on Friday and now have a few minutes to post the pictures of the quilts I have worked on since school started 3 weeks ago.

I also got a little nap in there. I was trying to watch football with my husband while grading papers. I don't know how people watch football and stay awake. Every time he watches sports, I fall asleep. Doesn't matter which sport it is, football, baseball, golf (that one gets me after 5 minutes) but maybe it is the announcer's voice, or the buzz of the crowd, but something about the sport and I'm in dreamland.

A quick nap and I had the energy to plow through the rest of the tests and now I can play again for the rest of the day. Well, there is laundry to do and dinner to cook, but inbetween doing those things :)

Today I quilted two quilts. I may get a third one in tonight. I started on it, but ran out of bobbin thread and decided to take a break.

I love having lots and lots of the backing fabric already loaded on the frame so all I have to do is throw another quilt top on and pin and away I go. Seriously 20 minutes and I have a quilt quilted. My pile of quilted quilts is getting bigger. I think it is time to call my binding buddy Rhoda and see if she is up for more work. I'll talk to Carla this week and see if she can make the transfer.

This next batch of quilts will go to a local foster organization and into the hands of kids who are taken from their homes by Child Protective Services. Those kids need hugs too. I've tried to get them quilts before, but they asked me how much they cost and were very suspicious of me. Now, I have a contact that knows the people and can bring the quilts and get them where they need to go. (Hear that Wendy--they are coming to you :)