Wednesday, September 23rd, Sent home early

I was a bit worried about working three nights in a row and then going to set up for the quilt show all day tomorrow. Well, my work schedule was changed on Monday for the week. Tuesday was understaffed and Wednesday was overstaffed. That means I am off tonight. So I will be at the Fairgrounds tomorrow bright eyed and energized to assist in setting up the show. Last night, it was pretty quiet at work, so I volunteered to go home early. I left at 3:30, which is a very lonely time on the road. I drive on a very heavy trafficked 11 mile stretch and I counted the cars between the time I left the hospital and when I got to the house and there were only 40 on the road!!
Yes, at times, I can be a little OCD!

Tuesday, September 22nd, ready to go

There is a bit of a transportation issue for this weekend as Chuck has his annual men's bike trip and is leaving at around 8 on Thursday morning. I am supposed to work Wednesday night and usually don't even get home til around 8:30 if I don't work out. So I am borrowing a friend's van and we are doing an exchange of vehicles at the fairgrounds on Thursday morning. It makes me a little nervous because I have to make sure I have everything ready to go. It is waiting by the door, ready to load!! 19 big bags, 19 curling iron holders, 12 wine gift bags, 11 quilts, a book case, 10 sets of place mats, two step ladders and a 7 foot step ladder.

Monday, September 21st, Have to follow the rules

To submit quilts for the show, they must have a paper label that was given to us at the last meeting. The quilt must be folded, right side in and the label on the lower left hand corner. I was amazed how long it took me to do this, pinning each one at the four corners.

Sunday, September 20th, A benefit of the night shift

Working nights sucks sometimes, but there are mornings when we get this glorious display. This is taken out from patient room window facing east.

Saturday, September 19th, Walking for a cure

October 18th, I will be walking a 5K for the American Cancer Society Making Strides event. I haven't done anything like this since my 5 year anniversary in 2002. I am walking as a member of the Grayslake Curves "Breast Friends" team. Should be fun. I am disappointed that I am missing church that day.

Friday, September 18th, Jimmy John's!!

Usually on Friday nights, Chuck is so exhausted from the week, he doesn't feel like cooking, so we either order a pizza from Italian Ovens, go to Chipotle or hit Jimmy John's which is new to our neighborhood. This is my favorite and usually the only sandwich I order; Turkey with sprouts, avocado and cucumber on their whole wheat bread. Of course, it wouldn't be complete without the salt and vinegar chips.
I absolutely love chips that are highly folded like these gorgeous specimens. The crunch factor is way up and the flavor is doubled. Chuck always gives me the best ones from his bag.

Thursday, September 17th, A new neighbor

I have enjoyed getting to know my new neighbor, Tracy. Way back in April, Alex, (Tracy's landlord) told me about her, and I promptly went home and googled her name. I sent out a howdy e-mail and we have corresponded since. We then met face-to-face a couple of weeks ago. She has played Bunco with us, gone to guild, and tonight she came to quilt group and brought some show and tell. I had to follow Celia around with a kleenex to clean up the drool. Her work is fantastic and at the opposite extreme of what I do. She does everything by hand and uses materials that I wouldn't dream of like silk, burlap, velvet, etc. Maybe hanging around her will push my rules a bit...

Wednesday, September 16th, Last one finished

Just finished the last quilt for the show. It is called Pieceful Travels and was a kit from last year's summer shop hop. I couldn't afford it at the time, but when Shelly bought the shop, she discounted it by 30%. It was complicated and challenging, but I am very pleased with the results. It is a Storm at Sea variation, so I quilted it with all over swirls to imitate rolling waves.

Tuesday, September 15th, A much needed break

Tonight's guild meeting was low in attendance because I think everyone is feeling crunch of the show in just a little over a week. Celia and I both said that we didn't really have time to go , but we are so glad that we did. The speakers were quilters from the Rockford area that have hats that go with their quilts.
Initially, no one wanted to volunteer for the hats, so in my usual fashion, I was first, which hopefully, showed folks that it wasn't scary. Although, some of the hats were kind of embarrassing, and made for lots of laughter.
Celia's first was "The Phantom of the Opera".
This was so funny because this lady says she has a fear of chickens and both hats she wore had to do with poultry!!
They also had quite a few antique quilts. Celia had a pretty red hat for this one.
What a fun night!! No pressure, and Tracy (my new neighbor) joined us which was also a treat. More about her late this week....

Monday, September 14th, A new gadget

Chuck surprised me with this on our anniversary. I just love it, because I actually use my laptop on my lap. With my frequent personal summers, it makes for one sweaty lady. This has a little fan built in to keep both the computer and my lap nice and cool. I plug it in to one of the USB ports during use.

Sunday, September 13th, Church picnic

Today was our "annual" church picnic on the lawn right after the service. The weather was ideal and we had a ball!!
The kids were so content in the bouncy thingy:
The Balloon Man 'aka' Wade had the kiddos and adults happy with his creativity and thankfully, there were no real 'squitos at this affair:
He made these clown noses for some of the kids:
He made one for Allison, but it wouldn't stick, so she tried to lengthen her nose to get it on, which made for so much laughter:Wade even made decor for the ladies:
Now, besides the wonderful food, there were games galore:
And the very creative children's ministry workers had so much for the kids to do:
With prizes for all:
Our pastor was on cloud 9 as he gloated over the Michigan win over Notre Dame yesterday:
One thing I didn't get a picture of was one of the adult games where water balloons were launched over the lawn and in teams of two, we caught them in beach towels. That was so great. Wade caught the close ones in his hat.
What a great bunch of folks!!

Saturday, September 12th, Some bugs are pretty

Every day, I go to the tomato plants and look for red....
Today, there was a pretty red Dragon Fly on the plants, and three ripe tomatoes!!!

Friday, September 11, Where were you?

May we never forget:


I was a manager at the Centre Club in Gurnee which is only about 10 minutes from the house, so I didn't leave until 8:15. At 7:45, I turned on Good Morning America while I was getting ready and saw the smoke from the first plane and then about 30 seconds later, saw the second plane hit. I stood there in horror, thinking they were doing a simulation, but no, it was real. I was late for work because I couldn't turn off the TV. The club that day was totally empty except for the employees and we all walked around doing our jobs like zombies. At about 11, we met in the classroom for a prayer time.
That evening, there was a prayer meeting at church, but I couldn't go because I didn't want to leave the house. Catie's first lesson with a new voice/piano teacher was that night and Chuck took her. He was appalled that the gas station just north of us had inflated the gas prices to 5.00/gallon. We have never gotten gas there again.
It was a day of disaster and at the time, the country was unified in our spirit. 8 short years ago, and what has happened? How soon we forget.....

Thursday, September 10th, Should I condone this behavior?

We have had a holly bush for years and the reason I planted it was for the pretty red berries. We have never had any and my sister told me it was because you have to have both a male and a female bush to have berries. So this spring when they were only 17.00, I bought both a male and a female plant, not knowing which I one I had originally:
Turns out I had a male, so now I have two males and a female. She has some beautiful fruit now.

Wednesday, September 9th, Finally, some ripe ones

Every day, I go to the tomato bushes to find some fruit. Lots of big bright green ones, but no red ones. Today, I got my reward.
It was delicious, thank you!!! I have a feeling they are all going to ripen at the same time and I will have more than I know what to do with....

Tuesday, September 8th, Another boutique item finished

With the scraps left from the big bags, I was able to make another item for the boutique. I tried to make them on my old machine, but I just kept fighting with the many layers. My new machine handled it just fine and I was able to knock out about 6 in a matter of two hours.
They are curling/flat iron holders for travel. I really like the way they turned out. On to the next item. I'm coming down to the wire!!

Monday, September 7th, Space creatures...

As I was looking out the patio door this morning, something orange caught my eye in the flower bed. Sometimes debris blows into the yard, so as I went out to pick it up, I found it wasn't garbage at all, but a beautiful fungus:
I actually posted this for Catie, but Chuck beat me to it. Go to www.flickr.com/katanachuck to see his much more artful photo.

Sunday, September 6th, A little gift for "Crash"

After his bike ride yesterday, Chuck stopped at B & G bike shop for a part and the owner had an early Christmas gift for him.In order to understand this, you have to understand his history. Our bike rack is on top of the van and he has forgotten at least twice that the bikes were mounted there. Hence we have little divits in the siding on the house



and the bikes have been into the shop twice for repairs. It has become a little joke at the shop, so she gave this little reminder for him to avoid a three time disaster. If it is just Chuck and I going, he will take the seats out of the van and put the bikes in the back. Like today, when we biked 22 miles of the Des Plaines River Trail. That's the longest I have ever gone!!! So proud of myself.
I guess I have a dirty mind, because I thought it was a sign like the bumper stickers that say "Bike Naked" or something like that.

Saturday, September 5th, Sweet Savannah

Today, the weather was absolutely idyllic and Celia and I were finding ourselves either golfing or biking widows. So I made lunch for us, which was delicious summer fare!! Then we headed over to the Forest preserve about a mile from the house and we walked the whole 3.6 mile loop. We never run out of things to talk about and we enjoyed each other's company and the mid 70 degree weather.I was so fascinated with the algae on the swamp. It was a brilliant green and the way the sunlight was reflecting off of it, it looked a bit like fabric.
I have to give props to Celia for most of these pics as I wasn't in the proper artistic form...
A thorn among the flowers???
This crane was on the prowl for something to eat and he (or she) was moving his legs so slowly, it looked like it was mechanical.
This pretty baby was right next to us on the path watching us pass.
We are so privileged in Lake County to have so much open space that is owned by the Forest Preserve. I just read in the paper they acquired another huge parcel of land to keep as open space which is much needed in this area of urban sprawl.

Friday, September 4th, My baby is back!!

Last Friday, after I finished the big bags, I thoroughly cleaned my machine using an attachment on the vacuum cleaner to get out all of the heavy lint. When I put it back together, it would only sew backwards!!! I took it apart and put it back together at least 4 times and realized that no matter what I did, it wouldn't run properly. So, I had to take it in for service. It was really hard and I nearly lost it when I was explaining the problem. Since last week, I have been sewing on my old machine and the difference in quality is staggering!!!
But, she's home and well, and I'm on to the next stack of projects.

Thursday, September 3rd, A dreaded task

There are household tasks that I don't mind doing and others that are so awful, I put them off until it is necessary.
I just hate cleaning out the fridge, but it is so sparkly and sweet smelling when it is done. And done is good....until it gets cruddy again!!!

Wednesday, September 2nd, Birthday cake 9 months late

Chuck's favorite cake for his birthday is the Bacardi Rum cake. I have made it for him every year since we got married. Well, his birthday is January 12th and we still have a load of sweets in the house left from Christmas at that time, so I usually put it off until we are out. This year, I forgot and he reminded me this week.
For the past 5 years, I have glazed it a little differently. Someone told me to pour it over the cake right when it gets out of the oven while it is still hot. Makes sense, because the hot cake then takes the entire glaze and absorbs it.
Then when it is completely absorbed, I put it on the cake plate to cool.
A work of art, don't you think?

Tuesday, September 1st, Thought they were all gone

Chuck came home with this Cicada today and was a bit confused because he thought they only came out every 17 years and last year was the year. After a call to my Biologist/Naturalist daughter who is dating a guy crazy for entomology, she said that is only one species of Cicada, but there are others that are always around. Well, learn something everyday!!