Friday, July 24th, I love the theater

Candice is an Arts Administration intern for Hope Summer Repertory Theatre in Holland, Michigan this summer. It doesn't pay much, but it has been such a great experience for her and she is making some great friends. She gets some complimentary tickets for each show and we went tonight.
First of all, this was probably my favorite story growing up. I must have read it every summer along with "Jo's boys", "The Five Little Peppers", "Bobsy Twins", etc. So, even though I knew what was going to happen, I cried for the last 5 minutes of the first act and all the way through the second act. Good thing I never had time to put any make up on today.
All I had in my purse was two very cheaply made stiff napkins. I shredded them!!
Candice and her daddy. Notice her head shot and bio on the wall behind them.
Candice and her "special" friend, Alex, whom we met for the first time. He spent the last 5 months in Chili and just got home Sunday night. Aren't they sweet together?? I wish I would have looked better for our first meeting. The traffic on the way up was so bad with multiple areas of construction that I didn't have time to shower or fix myself up.

Thursday, July 23rd, That's entertainment!!

Summertime and TV is not always the best. Since all of my regular shows are either over or in reruns, I don't watch a whole lot during this season. But, this summer, I have one show I am taping and watching avidly. Evan on "So you think you can dance" is my best friend, Celia's, son's roommate at Illinois Wesleyan. He is so adorable and so great.. and he's doing really well.

Wednesday, July 22nd, Staving off Alzheimer's

Everyday, I do two puzzles in the paper. I heard somewhere that this is good to keep brain atrophy from setting in. Now, can someone tell me why I can't remember why I went upstairs??? I think that happens no less than 15 times per day....

Tuesday, July 21st, A six kleenex job!!

Today, I finished the Harry Potter series on audio. It was extremely entertaining and I loved every moment. I have laughed and cried. At the end of book 7, I was sobbing. Chuck continually reminded me that it is only a story. If you have the chance, listen to it instead of reading it. The reader is Jim Dale and he is a phenom!!

Monday, July 20th, Summer in Chicago

There are two seasons in Chicago: pothole season and construction season. Let's just say that both are high on the frustration meter!!!

Sunday, July 19th, Boutique items

I signed up to be a boutiquer at the guild show in September. Not that I have anything else to do, and the full impact of all I have to do before then hit me really hard in this past week. I decided to make the big bag for carrying quilts, or whatever...in fact, one of my co-workers wants one for a beach bag. The prequilted fabric has been 30% off at JoAnne's for the past two weeks and with my Quilter's Club of America discount, it has actually been 40% off. So, I have purchased enough to make 20 bags. I have set my price and started the cutting process. On to the sewing.....
This bag is so popular, that I think I will sell them all and make enough money to cover Christmas expenses. That is my plan.....but first I had to lay out a good deal of money for supplies for 20 bags!!!
After the committee meeting last week, the chairman of the boutique committee asked me to make something else I had shown at our initial meeting. If I plan my time appropriately, I can do it all. That means I need to get off of the computer on down to the machine!!!

Saturday, July 18th, Lookin' out my back door.

I have spent a huge amount of time in the yard this year; moving plants, mulching, weeding, trimming....mostly because it was sorely neglected last year as I wasn't home and poor Chuck usually doesn't know the difference between a weed and a flower. The hard work is starting to pay off and we are benefiting from a show.....Enjoy.

The price of annuals this year was staggering, so I just bought a few different ones and stuck them in pots on the patio. The large green ones are starting to bloom again. They are white and daisy like with a purple center.

The large yellow flower is called a false sunflower, but I wanted you to notice the purple flower. Those were given to me by my friend Diane and they are balloon flowers. The bud actually looks like a balloon about to pop.This is the "problem" bed directly behind the back door. Right now the Coreopsis, Shasta Daisies, Bee Balm, Purple Cone Flowers, False Sun Flowers, Balloon Flowers, Hostas, Lilies, and Bachelor Buttons are all in bloom. I needed to spend a lot of time in this bed as it was sorely overgrown and needed weeding. We have an invasion of Chokeberries, which are very hard to pull, so I have to get out there frequently to eradicate them.
I so wish I had more time for gardening. I would be out there every day in the summer. I love the smell of dirt and the results of hard work. Soon I will show you the front of the house.

Friday, July 17th, Matthew Owen Greer

Tonight, I made dinner for our friends, the Greer's as Matthew was born on July 5th. What a precious bundle of love. I got to hold him for a while, which was pure joy!!!

Thursday, July 16th, Glad I caught this one early on

Our guild show is September 25 and 26th and I am submitting about 9 quilts for exhibition. My friend Enid is cataloging all of the quilts and she needs them by the 31st of July. Even though this quilt is not quilted yet, I sent her a picture so she can better plan the display. After I took the picture and sent it to her, I really looked at it and there is a glaring mistake. I am so glad I caught it before I made my quilt sandwich and started quilting it. My seam ripper is one of my best friends and it is never far from my hand.
Sometimes, I wish I had Harry's wand and could just point at it and shout "REPAIRO!!!".

Wednesday, July 15th, Summer is wedding time

When Celia and I went to Cantigny on Saturday, there must have been no less than a dozen wedding parties there taking photos. I think that it must be the place to go for outdoor photos if you live in the Western suburbs. Here in Lake County, that would be one of the forest preserves, probably Independence Grove. At Cantigny, it is only $5.00 to park and the parking lot looked like a convention of stretch limos:
When we were driving in, we saw a stretch Hummer that was so huge, the side doors lifted up like the hatches on a small aircraft. I wish I could have gotten that picture!! They are so long, I have no idea how the middle could be supported.
There was the constant fluffing of lace, organza and tulle:
There was the purple wedding party:The orange wedding party: (same orange as a soft orange sherbet)
We also saw an ice blue, black (one of the bridesmaid's had pink hair, like a hot pink highlighter), sage green, and on and on and on. We continually said to each other, "There's another one...and another one" Of course we also made comments on how she chose the wrong dresses, or wrong styles and "couldn't she have gone to a natural color hair for the wedding, it can't be that hard".
But the real kicker for me was this orange wedding party:
Those dresses were flame orange with lots of spangles and sparkles. Not at all my taste. The maid or matron of honor had the same dress, but in gold lame. I was extremely judgemental, but Celia reminded me that the brides choose what they like and they didn't do it to please me. OK, I'll try to be more understanding. Just a warning for my girls: pick what you can look at in a wedding album in 30 years!!!

Tuesday, July 14th, The thinker

Today, I cleaned our bedroom really well. This meant washing the window, the curtains, vacuuming walls, and moving furniture. Every time I clean our room, I marvel at the amount of stuff Chuck has on his bedside table.
The top:
Several pens
A highlighter
His reading Glasses
A Hankie
Candy
Something to drink, usually soda or water
A light
The drawer:
Mementos from the girls and I over the years
The bottom:
Alarm clock/radio
A notepad
Church directory
Many books presently including:
The Evangelical Dictionary to Theology
St. Augustine's confessions
New Testament: Greek intralinear Translation
Two Bibles: NIV and New Living Translation
The Complete works of Sherlock Holmes, Volume II

So, I hope that dispels the notion that Civil Servants are big dumb oafs. Chuck is probably the most well read person I know. He probably listens to 3-4 books a month on his Zune and is reading 1-2 books at a time. I wish I could keep up with him!!!

Monday, July 13th, Finally complete!

Tonight, I finished the last Jo Morton project from last year. The quilting was very challenging for me and pushed me way out of my comfort zone!! It's not perfect or professional looking but I did it all myself!!

Sunday, July 12th, another day out in the sunshine

After church, we met the Stratman's at Independence Grove and rode about 8 miles down to Route 60 and then turned around. This was only my second time on my bike all year and I was so proud of the fact that I did the whole ride, 16 miles, without once getting off to ride the hills. Guess my strength training is paying off!!!
We did reward ourselves with two stops at Culver's. Once for lunch and the second time for a cool treat. It was totally worth it to chuck the diet for the carb loading!!
I was totally worn out at 9 tonight!

Saturday, July 11th, What a beautiful day!!!

Today, Celia and I moved the raffle quilt from a shop in Northbrook to a shop in Winfield. I spent too much money and we had a blast!!!
We ended the day at Cantigny park in Wheaton. We had a family reunion there last summer and I fell in love with the place. The gardens were in their glory the weather was absolutely perfect!!!
The roses are almost done, but I did manage to find a few fresh blooms.The bees were a buzzin'.
The kid's garden is so whimsical and cute. See the giant monster??
They pay tribute to all of the big 10 schools with a pot decorated in the school's colors every year.

We came home to steaks on the grill by my lovely husband. Just a great day to be outside and enjoy.

Friday, July 10th, Aloha

Tonight was Bunco and Marcy planned a Luau theme. We had a blast and for the first time in many, many months, we actually had 16 players, which makes for lots of laughter and fun. I haven't played since February due to travel and a myriad of other reasons. What a night!!

Thursday, July 9th, A thing of ginormous beauty

As a quilt guild member, I have started small moves to get involved. We have a show planned for the last weekend of September, and an event of this size needs a ton of pre-planning and many hands. This is the primary money maker for the guild so we can rent the space to meet and most importantly, get the caliber of speakers that I have enjoyed thus far.
There is a raffle quilt for every show and a small army plans the quilts and puts it together. Then, for the 3-4 months prior to the show, it travels to quilt shops in the area to advertise the show and to sell the raffle tickets. I am on the "travel" committee, so I have gotten to touch and really enjoy it. They had it appraised by a professional and it is worth $7500.00. It is hard to say if the piecing, the prairie points or the machine quilting on it are my favorite parts.

Wednesday, July 8th, Black eyes in the garden

This week, my Black Eyed Susans started blooming on the south side of the house. Last summer, I was gone to Mom and Dad's for the majority of the garden's blooms, so I am really enjoying it this year. But a year of neglect has made the back breaking labor this summer all the harder. This is the third year for some of the plants, so they are really blooming well, but unfortunately, so are the weeds. We have spread 36 bags of mulch so far and need 20-40 more.

Tuesday, July 7th, New kid in the 'hood

I posted a picture of some of the neighbors at the fireworks and there was a very pregnant Jaimie in one of them.
Well, next day, she went into labor and had the baby!! Guess the walk and all of the noise got things going!!

Monday, July 6th, The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out...

We have had a stench in our house for a few days and it was getting worse. The worst odor was when we got to the bottom of the basement steps, so we figured there was a dead mouse behind the wall where my sewing table is.
Last night, we finally found it:
That's Chip....so badly decomposed that there were maggots and worms all over him. (one down, about 3,000 to go) If you look closely there is a worm having a feast in the bag. How gross!!! I burned candles for about 5 hours tonight. Thankfully, he wasn't in the house!!!

Sunday, July 5th, Water for the thirsty crowd

Today, 26 volunteers from church worked the Mundelein Days parade route for an hour prior to the start of the parade to give out free water to the on lookers. It was such a blessing!!
John, our pastor (in the dark blue shirt) giving instructions to the volunteers before heading out.
One of three vans loaded and ready to go.That's me shoveling my salad in before the start.
Chuck drove our van with Tim in the back handing out the water.
We met John coming from the other way.
Some of the grateful, thankful crowd. We had a few people ask us where we were from and why we were doing it. What a great way to show the love of Jesus!!
Part of the hard working team!!Couldn't resist these beautiful twin girls I saw along the way.
What a busy day, I collapsed in bed at 9:30 after church, water distribution, Sam's, gardening til 7....I was just dead!!!

Saturday, July 4th, Celebrating our wonderful country!!

Tonight we had a great picnic/cookout at the Stratman's house, and then a few people came to our place and walked over to the fireworks. Chuck hates fireworks and was content to stay home and browse on the computer, remote in hand. I have learned not to be upset by this and was happy to be with friends.
The Fireworks are shot off about 4 blocks from the house, so parking is easy. When we got there, we found our neighbors right away:
These are our across the street neighbors Matt and Marie with Marie's mom. The guy with the Puma shirt and the very pregnant gal are Jaimie and Aaron Taylor, new neighbors within the past 4 weeks. Jaimie went to the hospital to have her baby on Sunday morning, so the walk did her good!!!
Rich and Robin, my next door neighbors with Chad and Gavin Sheets, two houses down, sitting behind them.
Quinna Sheets, munching on chips and being her silly self. Notice the glow band on her arm!!! She was so proud of that....
Melody, Celia's daughter and her best friend Kat are home for about a week. Had such a blast with them today!!
They had sparklers and got busted by 3 cops who said they couldn't have them. Three???? That was slightly over the top.....
Celia and Ken with his parents sitting behind them. I was reminded that our fireworks aren't nearly as grand as Mundelein's.....Oh well.....Maybe next year, we'll do Mundelein's and compare!!!
Celia's latest quilt...a patriotic one perfect for this time....Mine is still in a plastic bag needing piecing. Maybe I'll have it done for this time next year!!!
I hope your day was as great as ours was.....be thankful for this great country of ours!!!