Happy New Year

Well another year has come and gone. A year older, a little grayer and a few pounds lighter..more to loose.

I'm going to try and write a little more this year and not just when quilting. After all it does say "Emma's World".

We, Ethan and I brought in the new year last night. Cassie crapped out about 10:30 or so and Ben went to a midnight run to bring in the new year. Ethan and I watched Chances Are, then the only thing we could find was the Back to the Future trilogy they have been showing all week. We both like the western one which started at 11. We switched to the ball and watched it drop then because we didn't want to listen to any of the music went back to the movie.

I think Ethan made it about a half hour into the movie and fell asleep. I finished watching the movie and was into the 1st one again when Ben pulled up at 1:50am.. He came in 8th overall and 1st in his age group. He said it started sleeting about 15 minutes before the run so keeping from sliding on frozen ground was an extra bonus... It was about 27 when he left the house at 10:30.

What's really silly is he got up a little before 8 and was off to the day run that started at 10. He should be home about noon...probably frozen. Lucky for him it doesn't seem to have done any raining this morning so at least he didn't get wet while running.

I'm fixing spaghetti and meatballs for dinner but will set out the usual cheese, meat (hickory farms beef stick) and crackers. We put out cheese spreads to have with the crackers too. But this year I'm fixing my bosses Artichoke & cheese dip. She brought it for a second year to our company holiday party and everyone just loved it. Decided to make it for Christmas eve and they all loved it and asked for it again. It is so easy to make...just throw it all into a slow cooker, cook on high for an hour then serve with bread for dipping..

Well, I have the rest of today and Sunday to rest up before going back to slave away. The next day off is the 17th then the 19th when Ben and I drive up to Portland, weather & roads permitting, to go to a dog show. Dawn is suppose to have Ticket at the show and several of Paris' pups from her summer litter. If all goes well, we should have a Dobie puppy by the end of June.
I'm really excited about that.

With Ethan off to college next fall the house will be so empty. Chase & Tootsie don't need me except to let them out to potty and feed them. Ben still works late most nights so a new puppy will be just the thing and I've wanted another Dobie for years.

Well I think that's about it for today. Hope everyone brought in the new year with friends and family and have set goals for the new year.. later

Time off

Just before Thanksgiving my boss did our evaluations. I work for a non profit organization and it's been pretty slim donations so I was asked to voluntarily reduce my hours. They wanted my room partner and I to reduce our hours so Tony took another 2 off and I lost 4. He suggested leaving early on Friday or coming in late on Monday.. Coming in late would make me not want to go to work at all but leaving early sounded okay. So the beginning of Dec. I went from 40 to 36 hours. It's not much but when you put out $355 for insurance the $120 I'm loosing could be tough when Ben has slow days.

Last week my boss talked to me about my hours and my vacation and said if it got to bad for me we could go back to 40. The reduced hours is only suppose to be temporary for a couple months.

So far I haven't been able to enjoy my Friday afternoon..have had errands for Christmas but I'm sure they will be nice next month. I would like to take the afternoon and maybe see a movie. I like going to the movie with the kids and Ben but it takes a couple hours out of my day and I sometimes feel guilty but on Friday it's free time so taking a couple hours for a movie would make it sort of a special day for me. We'll see how long it really lasts.

Christmas at our house...

Can you believe another year has almost passed us by again... How did you spend your holiday? This is how we spent ours.

Christmas Eve at our place is pretty strange. My husband and kids go bowling at noon. While they are gone I get eats ready. What we usually do is have crackers, cheese, Hickory farms summer sausage, dips and Christmas cookies. this year I made little smokies w/BBQ, carrots & celery and added artichoke & cheese dip. My boss made if for our Holiday party and it was super so decided to give it a try. It's very rich but they all seemed to love it.
They are usually gone a couple hours so when they come back and we just end of snacking for the next couple hours, & finish wrapping presents. When it gets dark, usually about 5:30 or so we go out Christmas light looking for an hour or so then come home, put National Lampoons Christmas vacation and open presents. All in front of a roaring fire.
Santa comes in the morning with a couple small gifts for all.

I received a new mouse for my laptop. this one stays plugged in all the time and is really out of the way. The connection doesn't stick way out..very cool. I also received a 365 day Maxine calendar, a couple packages of Moose Munch, choc covered cherries (all from harry & Davids), new kitchen towels both for hand and dish drying. a polar bear that poops jelly beans (from hubby), a stuffed moose called Peppermint which came with a little case of peppermint candy , a new kitchen timer, can of Creme brule almonds (again hubby) and then together the kids gave us a gift card to The Electric station, a very nice restaurant.

We sort of stretch out the gift opening, mainly because we also give gifts to the girls. I got them a ball & bone out of lambskin, a toy made out fire hose and a rope made into a knot with legs. The rope they've had before but not the others. They go crazy ripping the paper off and we laugh hysterically..so funny. Unfortunately the ball didn't last long once Chase got a hold of it and the supposedly indestructible fire hose toy didn't either. She is not a destructable dog except for some toys. the bone is the only one that made it through the night and Tootsie took it over form Chase. She chewes on the rope toys too but this was funny to see her almost sucking on the toy. Chase does that on her bed which is sort of the same lambskin material..but first time for Tootsie.

By the time we get done it close to 10 and time to clean up for bed and Santa.

I got up this morning and made cinnamon rolls. We put The Family Stone in to eat breakfast and open presents from Santa. Santa gave me a new faucet for my kitchen sink. We have a super deep & wide sink that has a small shallow side w/the disposal and the faucet we have doesn't stick out that much and I'm always worried about breaking my bowls when I rinse them out. I want a new sink someday that doesn't have the divider and isn't quite as deep but for now having a longer faucet will be great. Maybe I can even get him to put it together on Sunday or Monday while he's still off.

the kids seemed happy with their gifts. We make them do a Christmas Wish list of movies, music, books or whatever. Nothing is ever really expensive but at almost 18 & 28 it's really tough to get what they want.

Cassie just made a Pumpkin Cream Pie and we just took the sweet potatoes out of the oven. Now to get the sweet potatoes in the food processor; potatoes peeled and on the stove; the fruit salad made and in the fridge for a bit and the ham out and some in the oven to warm. We did Honey Baked ham this year that way not to much left over and everyone likes it.

Well I'm off until the 30th where I'll go absolutely nuts trying to catch up because we then have a three day week end where I then come back for the 1st of the month... I will enjoy my long weekend/vacation until my next time off.

Hope you all had a great holiday with your family and friends.

It's almost Halloween

Well, it's almost Halloween and the end of October.. Thought I'd share a wall hanging I did last year for the season.. Boy the year has gone by so quick. I can't believe it's only two months until Christmas from today and I have no clue as what to get anyone.

I've been so lazy the last couple weeks. I didn't work on anything after the pillow and started feeling guilty. I pinned all the inner sashing to the rows and then sewed them on. Then they sat on my table until this last weekend when I pressed the sashing and pinned the rows together two at a time so I have three sets to sew. I finally folded the dark and white cloths from last weekends wash. Told you I was feeling lazy.

I was thinking I might work on them after dinner tonight. Once the row sets are stitched then I need to stitch the three sets together and then decide what I'll do for the next border. I thought I might continue with the green strip with the lavender corners for the outside border. Then maybe a lavender border. Still not sure if that will be all or not. Because of the block designs you really can't put any print border. It would really take away the inner design.

Getting that wild hair again, I think to finish it off I'll have to do some stitching on the block itself to hold it in place besides the stitching at the sashing edge. Otherwise when my sister washes it, it will all pull and become distorted. Putting the quilt together is a lot of work but nothing compaired to cross stitching 30 blocks. I think she'd be a little ticked if it came apart in the wash. This part will take a little while. Maybe a couple weekends. That way I will have plenty of light to see the printed lines.

well maybe next time I'll have more pictures to show of the quilt and my running husband and dog...

Another memory project.

Well this has not been a good summer for some of my computer friends. 3 months ago we lost Lucy, who just turned 10, to what they think was a heart attack. Very sad and heart wrenching for her owner, Silas (her canine brother) and family. Picture in an earlier post.

Then we have Gretchen, who was 13. She had cancer and it was really rough on her and even rougher for my friend. Seeing her suffer just trying to walk with out falling was getting more and more difficult. There wasn't much else they could do so after a long and lengthy discussion, they decide to have the Vet come to the house and give the shot there. Like humans not wanting to die in a sterile hospital, it's probably the same for for our pets. They know about going to the doctors and it isn't always pleasant so by having the Vet come to the house she would be a little more relaxed and would be around her mom & dad and her canine brother. To me it had to have been the hardest decision they would ever make and once done hold your baby while she closed her eyes and took her last breath .

I remembered Lynn talking about Gretchen getting up on the bed and resting next to her while she read so I thought a pillow would be the right gift. After roaming through the local quilt show the 2nd, I found a couple pieces of doggie fabric that I thought would work just right.

It took me a couple days to put it together and I sent it out the 15. Living on the opposite coast they said ti would take a week to reach her. I was really surprised last night when I read she got it yesterday and she loved it.

Gretchen's canine brother, Wolfgang (don't you just love that name for a Doberman) was having his 3rd birthday this Saturday so my package arrived just in time. I knew he loved stuffed animals so I found this really cute hedgehog to include in the box. It rattles, squeaks and makes a farting sound.... what's funny about that is he's deaf and can't hear but can feel the little vibration the toy makes.. She says he gets really goofy when playing with the toys because since he can't hear the noise doesn't know what they are laughing at so he just keeps going.

I was really glad to hear she liked my gift and so did Wolfgang. I really have loved making the gifts for both friends but no more... they make me so sad because that's all I can do...

Sisters blocks continued...

Well I was back at my sister's quilt again this weekend. I've had a couple small projects and tired body the last couple weekends so haven't done anything.

I decided instead of making one long strip pieced together that I'd make corner blocks. She had said she liked pale green or lavender and the green was all we could find that really matched, so that's what will seperate all the blocks. Then yesterday I went out and found pale lavendar, really the bolt end said it was orcid. but I took a strip with me to make sure they were the same pale colors and the worked together. I may even put a small border around the outside to sort of break up the green.

Now that I have the strips all cut, I need to cut them into block size. I think that takes the longest...the prep time. Sewing the strips together and then onto the blocks is quick. Well if it was a quick process, more people would be doing it.

next picture will be the rows with the new sashings...

Surviving Pansies

Can you believe it but these were transplanted from a flower box we inherited when we bought the house. They left two planter boxes on the front porch and we moved them to the back yard. At the end of the first summer these pitiful little pansies showed up amongst the few weeds. It was nice to see them florish so I just left them. Ethan pulled the weeds so it was just a few pansies in this lonely box. A little bunch has bloomed each summer.

Then this summer we decided to use the box for our tomatos so Ben transplanted them to the front yard next to my little carnation plants, which by the way have a couple flowers on all three plants. There were only 3 or 4 flowers and they looked pretty pathetic the first few weeks. Of course it started to get warm so the watering dried up pretty fast. I'm really weird because I look at my plants every morning when I go to work. Mainly because I'm so amazed that they are still alive and florishing. Imagine my amazement when what seemed like overnight they just went wild and there were twice as many flowers.. it wasn't long before this little bunch grew into what you see in the picture.

Here it is the 3rd of October and they are so full and thriving.. Guess they were a lot hardier than I thought. It will be really interesting to see if they come back next year after a long winter.