Wednesday, January 28th, a snowglobe day

It snowed here most of the day yesterday and through the night but with very little accumulation because it was soft and fluffy, like little feathers. I thought it looked like someone had shook up a snowglobe and all of the stuff was slowly floating down:
I love watching this kind of a day, and usually position myself by a window to see the beauty that only Mother Nature can produce.
I will be taking a break for a few days as I will be leaving for my annual quilt retreat tomorrow morning.....stay tuned for lots of fun.

Tuesday, January 27th, getting over my fears

Was it FDR or Churchill that said "there is nothing to fear, but fear itself"? Well, I have been very fearful of printing photos here at home, or of using Photoshop. First I thought the pictures printed here would be horrible and professional places like Wal-mart or Walgreen's would do so much better. (hah, was I proved wrong!!!) Also, anything technical has always intimidated me, so I have steered clear of Photoshop. I even signed up for a free on line tutorial, but was too scared to walk through it step-by-step. Catie really has never had the patience to show me and when Chuck would start, I would get all glassy eyed. I think it took a neutral party to show me and that was Celia on Friday night. I started with printing some photos on Tuesday with Chuck's help and then I was willing to print more on Friday.
So there, HP printer and Photoshop, we are enemies no more and may even be able to share a work space.....
(by the way, the above photo and all of the photos from PADS night were edited through Photoshop.....next I probably should work on my photog skills....one thing at a time, my friend)

Monday, January 26th, PADS night

Last night, our small group served our local homeless shelter. The way it works in Lake County is that there is a central location in Waukegan and the people are bused from one location to another every night of the week. That way, the burden isn't too great on any one area. It is a service available for the 7 cold months of the year and the other 5 months, the people are on the street. My heart broke last night as I know we only saw a small glimpse of what is actually a huge problem, not only in this county, but around our nation.
The Lutheran church in Grayslake has been a PADS (Public Action to Deliver Shelter) location for a few years and Jean Hackbert in our small group has been active for quite some time.
Talk about a heart of compassion!!! We should all aspire to be a servant like Jean. She works at PADS 3-4 Monday nights per month on the 11pm-3am shift.
This is Ardy, the Shepherd of the Lakes site coordinator. She gave us a little orientation time.
Shepherd of the Lakes turns their sanctuary into a large dorm room on Monday nights.

They have a clothing closet, a nurse and physician on hand for medical concerns, a Bible study, an AA meeting, movies, games..you name it, they have tried to make these outcasts from society feel like they are taken care of and loved.

Last night our group purchased, prepared and cleaned up after dinner. It was quite an undertaking, but I have to tell you, it was just like a fine oiled machine.Angie, learning the finer points of Koolaid making. It was a totally new experience for her!!
There were quite a few teens there to serve the food and other tasks. While the meal was being served, there were about 5 of us continually doing dishes. We served Italian Beef, steamed vegetables, fruit salad, soup, tossed salad, pie and ice cream. The Italian Beef was donated to the Northern Illinois Food bank from Portillo's. Evidently they cut off the ends of the beef and give it to them and then we purchased 40 pounds of it for $7.20. Then Angie and Jean shopped for the rest last week.
My big roaster has come in handy on more than one occasion. Last night we served the Italian Beef out of it.Thank God for people who serve, like Jean, Ardy, Jon and Dave. They told us specifically that these people were our guests and to treat them as such. And with that in mind, our gals willingly became the hands and feet of Jesus. Above are the ladies that served last night...not pictured is Robin, who helped set up the sanctuary but left early because it was Erin's (gulp) 18th birthday. Marcy was also down with the flu.

Every time my judgemental nature welled up inside of me last night when I felt like someone was too demanding or came back for second and thirds on food, I remembered to whom Jesus specifically ministered. It was the outcasts, the downtrodden, the abused, and the misunderstood. Yes there are reasons that these people are homeless. They have substance abuse issues, they are ex-cons, they are mentally ill, or they have lost jobs, but it was an honor to have pruney hands for a night. It made me so thankful for what God has blessed our family with and to realize that in an instant, it could all be taken away.

Sunday, January 25th

Felling better today, but so weak. I called work this morning to let them know that I will have to see how today goes and if I feel like working tonight. She said that they were overstaffed and she was going to cancel people anyway, so she just wrote me down as a sick call in. I am grateful for that because I only can do a little bit and then I am too wiped out. I did manage to take a shower and put on clean jammies, but that is probably the extent of anything I can do today. I was able to eat oatmeal and a banana for breakfast.
Chuck got home around 11 last night and brought me a sweet surprise:
These are the stamp sets I ordered from my sister-in-law from her Stampin' up party. It is sometimes hard to find sacred Christmas stamps and I just love these. Looking forward to designing tags and cards for this year's Christmas.
Off for another nap...

Saturday, January 24th....the flu

I woke up this morning at 6 feeling really crappy, and then it got worse. I haven't kept anything but liquids down all day and my whole body aches. Unfortunately, that means I can't work tonight. Chuck is on his caving trip, so there hasn't been anyone here to take care of me. I have gone from the couch in the family room to my bed and have spent mucho nonquality time in the bathroom.
I attempted the BRAT diet when I felt like I could put something in after so much had come out. That is Bananas, Rice, Applesauce and Toast. Since I didn't have the energy to make rice, here is what I have tried today and the only thing that has stayed down is water and Propel.
When I called this morning to let them know I couldn't work tonight, they said it has been sweeping through the unit.
It's bad.....

Friday, January 23rd

There are times when all the planets a-line....Monday night after my small group left, I spent about 3 hours in cyberspace looking for this fabric. With help from my friend Deb, who still has her 15 inches of fabric with more info on it than I had, I finally found it. The gal who sent it is so efficient. She had it in the mail the next day and when I got up, there it was on the counter!!! Oh the smell and feel of new fabric!!!

Thursday, January 22nd

Ugh....work was miserable last night. I got home at 9:15 and to bed at 10:30.
When my sweet, sweet husband gets home from work, he gets the coffee pot all ready and as soon as he hears me flush the toilet after I get up, he starts the wonderful nectar of all true night shift workers. With my coffee, my laptop and my family room sofa, I can face another night at work.

Wednesday, January 21st

Because I worked on Wednesday night, I hung around the house til nap time and looked for projects to finish or start. There is never a shortage of that around here ! !! Most of the time, my mind needs to focus on the project at hand and not think about the next one I can start...
Hence, I finished one that has been lurking around in the laundry room since October or November:
This very kitchy milk can from the farm was stenciled by me in the 80's. Since my goal is to update the look of the kitchen, I decided it needed a face lift:
After carefully masking the red that I had done back in October, I finished it. I just need some fabric for the lid and done.....done is good. That means the pile of painting supplies from the laundry room is finally put away after sitting there for eons.

Tuesday, January 20th, laying low

I am mostly staying in today, working on organization for retreat, enjoying the sunshine, maybe running some errands. One thing I will not be doing is turning on any of the coverage of the inauguration. I will pray for our next president, but I am not caught up in the fever sweeping this nation that he is the next "messiah" and will fix all of our woes. He has many, many promises to live up to...let's see...what were some of them? I remember....change and um.....change.... oh and there is always.....change.....
We will see.....
To George and Laura, may God bless you in the next phase of your lives together.

Monday, January 19th

Today, I totally filled my day with cleaning, reading, laundry and still getting things ready for Quilt retreat next weekend.
I decided to finish my project day quilt and make the quilt sandwich to ready it for quilting. My plan is to take three quilts to machine or hand quilt and three piecing projects. I have pared down my list quite a bit.
So after a couple of hours of finish up, I was ready for the final border. I purchased the fabric back in November and now I don't like the combination. I love the fabric but who doesn't love a Batik?
I just don't like it with this. You know what would be awesome?
Yep, the focus fabric, but alas,
That little piece in my hand is all that I have left. Kathy bought it in Idaho and I haven't seen it anywhere. The little piece I have says "ster fabric designs". My friend Colleen said it is probably Red Rooster or Three Sisters, and I have searched their sites to no avail. Has anyone out there in cyberspace seen this elusive fabric and know where I can get about 4 yards of it?
By the way, I decided to get behind the camera for a change.

January 17th and 18th, Saturday and Sunday

Yesterday, Chuck was able to take advantage of the slightly warmer temperatures and go cross country skiing with Kathy and Tim. Even though it was still in the teens, he sweated through all three layers of clothing, but had a great time.
This was his investment from last winter:
Meanwhile, I stayed home and got ready for work last night.
I will not be in church for the next two Sundays and always miss it when I am out for that long.
On our way out of church this morning, Kenny pointed out the ice formation coming out of our "rapture tube" and I think it looks slightly like the Methodist symbol of the cross and the flame:
You kind of have to use your imagination or maybe cross your eyes, but in a weird, abstract way I can see it.
This morning during the sermon, right at a crucial point that John was making, I think something about the power of God, a whole sheet of ice slid off of the roof and made this huge rumbling sound. If he planned it, it couldn't have been more effective. Good job with the non- CGI, John.

Friday, January 16th, dinner and a movie

Last night, I went over to Celia's house with Julie and Margaret and we ate Chili and watched Momma Mia with the subtitles on for the songs. We sang like we were auditioning for a Broadway show!!! We were too tired to get up and dance, but we tried to reenact one of the scenes from the movie.
It's from Dancing Queen when the ladies slide down the banister. However, none of these gals was willing for me to snap them from the rear.....why is that????

Thursday, January 15th, My toes is froze....

After quite a bit of snow, we have been hit with below freezing temperatures. I have been working, but would be so easy to be a big old grizzly bear and stay in my little den. This morning, my fingers never warmed up and I still saw my breath 20 minutes into the drive home. My bed was so cozy today.....

Wednesday, January 14th

Chuck has been in the midst of installing the new sink, which on the surface looks completed, but the pipe and connecting stuff has been a nightmare for him.
Here is the old sink, which I feel like I have to apologize for:
Pretty ugly, huh??
Here is the man of the hour who has been in this position for the past two days, when he isn't at work or sleeping:
And here is the new sink, which can't be used quite yet. The dishes are piling up, but I am confident that my very handy husband will figure it out:
The cool thing about this sink is that it is an over mount or an under mount. So, when we can afford new counter tops, it will become an under mount.
I love the 10 inch deep left side sink and the extra big capacity. Will be so much easier to fill stock pots and clean them.
And just look at this beautiful new faucet with removable sprayer. I can't wait to use my new toy.

January 13th, Tuesday

I struggled with what to post for today. I have been up since 7:30 and actually sat in my queen chair for three hours, updating my blog, reading my Bible, catching up on e-mails and reading the paper. I also started working on a Shutterfly scrapbook for our family vacation from 2006. I felt pretty sluggish after that.
Then, I decided to try to organize my stuff for quilt retreat at the end of the month. I know, it is 2 weeks from this weekend, but I have so many potential projects, I have to make decisions about what to do:
The three small quilts on the wall are only 1/2 of the projects for the Jo Morton club for 2008.
This is pieced, but not quilted. Today, I decided how I was going to quilt it, but before it goes to retreat, I have to make a quilt sandwich and mark it. That's a project for the weekend.
This is one of the 4 or 5 projects from Thimbleberries club 2007, which I actually pieced at retreat last year. I decided today how to quilt it, and ordered the stencils on-line. So, this also needs to be sandwiched, basted and marked.
Now lest I be bored only quilting, I have some piecing projects I can work on:
The kit on the left I purchased at "A touch of Amish" last July at their sidewalk sale. The kit in the middle was the Summer shop hop quilt that was 30% off recently and I had been eyeing it for months. The bin on the right is the eventual summer quilt for our bed, with 12 blocks finished and I only need 25 more!! With what you see here, I don't need to purchase anything to make them, I only need to start.
So that's 7 potential projects.....wait, that's how many I took last year....it's a sickness I tell you....a sickness.....

Monday, January 12th.

Well, yesterday turned out to be a very busy day!! I have a travel voucher from American Airlines that expires on the 15th, so I had to drive to O'Hare to cash it in on tickets. Celia and I are visiting our friend Mindy in May. It turned out to be the tiniest bit of a hassle, but in the end, we are only spending 90.00 each on our ticket. The price that was quoted me was 117.00 and that's what we paid, but there was tax and a ticketing fee because I went to the airport to do it. I parked in the 2.00 garage, meaning that if you are only there for an hour, you pay 2.00. Well, the last thing I did was to use the bathroom, so when I paid for parking, I was 3 minutes over an hour and had to pay 4.00. If only I hadn't used the restroom!!! I guess it is worth it to see our friend, who we sorely miss. (by the way, the above picture was an inspiration from Becky Higgins, my scrap booking superhero, but the set up of this shot was very tricky because the camera is at a different angle than what I can see in the mirror. Don't worry, I was stopped at a red light while doing it)
The other thing about yesterday is that it was my hubby's birthday!!! I really wanted to have people over for dinner on Sunday night, but he likes a very quiet birthday, with no fanfare. Heck, can we be any more opposite? I want bells whistles and a 60 piece orchestra!!!
I made a favorite of ours from way back. This was our traditional Christmas Eve meal when we were first married, but after having kids and their hatred of seafood, it fell by the wayside.
I splurged and made scallops, fresh green beans and spinach salad. Boy did that bring back memories. Yummy!!
Then he opened his gift from me, because the girl's gifts haven't arrived yet:
(yes, that is his best attempt at a smile. He told me last night that he regrets buying this camera for me, because I am always taking his picture)
Well, he was pretty shocked. I bought him the start of an HO train set, which he has talked about for years. He had a board meeting at church last night so didn't get to play with it, but as soon as he got home, he completely unwrapped it and looked at it. He is like a little boy right now!!
His next step is to clean out the garage and the basement to start to make room for a table. I know he is going to enjoy this new hobby, because he loves to build things.
After he left for his meeting, I did some playing of my own. Michael's has all of their scrap booking storage at 40% off right now and I have been looking at it. If the supplies are right in front of me, I know I will be more inspired:
I loaded it with my punches, my stamp pads and a little (emphasis on little) of my ribbon. I also added glitter to give it a little glitz.
Today, I have to clean the house and then I am off to work for three nights in a row.

January 10th and 11th, Saturday and Sunday

I taught my big bag class at the quilt shop on Saturday. I have always loved teaching people new things, at work, with my girls, in crafting, whatever. Recently I have seriously been thinking about going back to get my Master's to teach nursing. One of the profs from Oakton Community College has been challenging me to do that as she has given me two different second semester students to work with me in the past two years. She says I have a gift for it. More formal education is frightening though, with the cost so high. There is tuition reimbursement now that Condell is part of Advocate, but to get the full benefit of that, I would have to go full time, which Chuck isn't crazy about. We will have to wait and see.
In the meantime, on a less serious education note:

We had much fun doing this class. The participants were enthusiastic and I enjoyed chatting with them. Since the shop owner also took the class, I was able to take my sample home with me. It always amazes me when people are doing the exact same project, how the fabrics are different depending on their personal likes and preferences.
This is Shelly, the shop owner and she picked this gorgeous batik quilted fabric and I picked the purple binding for her. She name the bag, the "super, ginormous bag".
I know Enid from quilt retreat and from guild, so we happily chatted the entire time. I almost have her talked into coming with us on Thursday for the retreat.

This is the first time I have ever met Shiela, but she is a nurse, so we also had many things to discuss.
My dear husband worked on the driveway for hours:
I worked Saturday night and was in the nursery for church and then we did many errands Sunday afternoon.
One of the errands was to buy a new kitchen sink. Our sink is original to the house and is in such bad shape that I can't make the stains go away any more. We spent what seemed like hours in Home Depot making a choice and finally came home with something that is just beautiful. Will show you when it is installed, which may be tomorrow.
I did gobs of laundry yesterday and took a brief nap on the couch, talked to my sister for a very long time and we ordered a pizza.
It's right in the neighbor hood and we just love this pizza. It aint' no Nancy's, but it is a very close second. Because we pick it up, we get a little piece of a pizza magnet and when we have 8, we get a free pizza and lookee what we did last night!!!
Then we lazed around and I was so tired, I fell asleep on the couch. Then suddenly, POP,
all of the lights went out and the entire neighborhood was black. Oodles of emergency vehicles were flying down the road behind us and then the road was closed.
Chuck and I were looking out of Catie's window and the shadows on the show were breathtaking. There was a full moon out and without the light pollution, the snow looked like diamonds.
We were in bed by 9 pm and were fully expecting to not have power or lights all night, but Chuck said that Com Ed had us up and running by 10 p.m.
This morning while searching the Internet, I found out what happened:
I am just sick about it. I can't imagine losing a child so tragically. While driving home from errands, I slowed my car, put on my emergency lights and prayed over the sight of the crash:
This pole was replace, but had been snapped off. My thoughts go out to the families of these victims.