The ONLY person who'd I EVER let tag me, EXCEPT Erika, lol...tagged me for a MeMe. Randomness is my best attribute!

1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post THE RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

Here are the 7 random facts about me:

1) I've lost 31 lbs. since Christmas...woo-hoo
2) I'm a great starter, a horribly finisher!
3) I'm extremely competitive, but couldn't care less once the game is over.
4) My favorite color is blue. ONLY blue, not turquoise, not aquamarine.
5) I'm most vain about my hair. I have good hair, always. ha!
6) I'm most embarassed about my feet. Post surgical, funky shaped and just plain UGLY.
7) I'm a blog and reading fanatic, I read 300 blogs at least twice a week, and usually finish a book every 7-10 days. Not to mention I'm an auditor, lolol.

So I humbly tag:
Lucy
Dawn
Ruth
Leah
Tanya
Taniwa
Jane Ann

Thanks for indulging me, and learning more than you ever really cared to know!

8^)

It's Coming Along

OK, so I've learned lots!

Today I learned NOT to leave my rug on the frame, it has gotten all lumpy. I trust it will relax way before I do.

I may rework the baby quails, they sort of look like frogs, lol. If I don't, that's OK too, my art is far from perfect.

Sure wish I had a group to join, or a friend who was learning with me, but I think I'm doing OK.

I've got ideas for a door crown and a second rug, it's addicting. I'm enjoying creating some things to decorate our home reminisent of our life here in the desert.

Friday Flashback - The Things the Kids Will Remember

The tiny black computer chip that touts an spooky "ooooOOOOOOOOOOoooooo"
It came from a box of cereal in about 1998. We've hidden it in each other's belongings for soooo long now. Just when you've forgotten it's existance, "ooooooOOOOOOOOooooooo", you get it BACK! It.doesn't.die.

The cereal freebies
Having 3 girls all in 5 years, made sibling rivalry very interesting! Everyone wanted the race car in the Rice Krispies, or the license plate in the Frosted Flakes. The giftie was more important than the cereal. The gifties were ALL placed in a large coffee can and passed out on our first official "snow day" of the season. Living in Ohio, made snow days pretty likely.

The top of the 'fridge
It was the "no man's land" for all things you fought over. The cherised item was plunked up there and promptly forgotten. (By Mom too, lol.)

Paying to "borrow" clothes
Instead of stealing a shirt, one kid would charge another for the wearing rights. They purchased most of their own clothing, it was just the way it was. Hey! Otherwise they fought like CRAZY women!

Being paid to do the family laundry
We had "laundry mountain". 3 kids, each in several sports, 2 working parents...it NEVER was caught up. You earned $1 if you washed, folded and distributed a load. No partials.

Making Mom change her clothes BEFORE she could come into the house
OK so for awhile I sold fish in a retail market. P-U, I don't blame 'em.

Looking up in ANY set of bleachers, and knowin' good ol' Mom would be there, rooting you on like crazy.

Knowing Mom would help with ANYTHING involving helping her kids succeed and not stop until the job was done, the homework was brought up to school, the clean uniforms delivered, the cookies were baked.

So if you're still reading...
I got THE BEST gift today, an early Mother's Day gift. A thank you for all those goofy things I did cuz I love my girls fiercly. I got an IPOD Shuffle. WOW. Thanks Erika, and I do...

LOVE YA, LOVE YOUR SHOW.
She had it inscribed. This was a slogan from a radio station as I would drive them to school (instead of them having to take the school bus).

WOW.

"Bliss"ful Worms & "I'm a HOOKER"

I've had my Bliss wool cutter for about 1.5 years, but it never really got out of the box. I may have hurt my dh's feelings tho, as he had thought I didn't like my birthday present! It was quite the contrary, it took me 3 years to gather all the "parts" so I could begin my wool rug hooking journey.
This nifty little handy handy machine slices and dices...well, not quite, but it DOES slice the wool to the required width, depending on the cutter head. I've begun with a #8 cut which is 1/4" wide.

I'm not exactly a "rule follower", but more of a "wanna be". Was supposed to start in the middle, but the middle of this rug is all background. Background is NOT the most stimulating part of the adventure. I began with Big Daddy Quail first and am lovin' it. I'll behave now and settle in to work on some of the background in the center, lol. OK. So I am a rule follower, but they are MY RULES, dadgumit.

My dh and I have a hard time separating. If I am in my sewing room...eventually he's in there too. If he's outside on the patio...I'm digging up something to work on out there. It's just the way we are. 8^)

Rug Hooking gives me the opportunity to be in the great room WITH dh and hey! I can even watch TV..amazing.

My wool from Wendy arrived in Saturday's mail. Big Daddy Quail was my first day of progress "being a hooker". I had the wool in the washer and dryer faster than you can imagine, and had the worms cut before dinner.

Doin' the happy dance!

Economy? Stock Market?

No.

No.

No.

It's a chart of my weight loss since Christmas. The bottom axis is the month's of persistance, the vertical axis is in 2 pound increments.

I've been chipping away at the bod again. And yes, I'm learning some new stuff along the way. Revelations in fat calories, imagine that. I don't need to drown my salad or baked potato in cardiac coverings!

Dh and I have both lost 25 pounds, and even if I doubled that amount I sadly wouldn't be "done". I just know I'm doing the best thing for me right now, and all I can do is give it my best.

What are YOU doing for YOU right now?

Changing boats in the middle of the stream

I seem to be bouncing around alot lately. First standing on one foot, then boucing to the other. Thankfully dh never says one iota about my sewing room and I try to keep my mess confined. (Yeah, right! Well...I said I tried.)

I'm 3/4 done with a sweater for work. It's now tooooo hot to knit on the bus, I did appreciate the warmth when it was cold. I don't know if I'll get back to it before next winter.

I'm 1/2 done with my piece for Tonya's Winter Class. The background has me a little befuddled and I'm chipping away at it slowly.

I'm 0/0 done with my piece for Tonya's Summer Class. It's still playing tricks with my head.

I am changing boats mid-stream.

I've just received a lovely Ault's wool rug hooking frame and have designed my first rug pattern. This is something I have always wanted to do.

My maternal grandmother and her sister were master's of the craft of rug hooking, I'd like to continue in their honor. They produced lovely rugs with flowers in the middle, I'd love to see one, I believe they are all gone from the family.

Living here in the Sonoran Desert is amazing. One of my favorite things is to watch the Quail families, first the parents, then 5-8 babies appear on the scene. They scurry in long lines along the base of our fence, trying to stay out of harms way. My first rug, measuring 19x25 will capture this memory. Pay no mind to the narrow border penned at the bottom, I've added the additional needed inch where you may see a zig-zag stitching line. Darned freezer paper was only 18" wide and I was too lazy to tape on ONE INCH. The background is Belgium Linen. I'm off to place my wool order,Wendy from The Red Saltbox has been a huge help in wool selection. My order should go out early in the week.

My wonderful dh made Sour Dough English Muffins from scratch this morning. My, the house smells good as he cooks them in the electric skillet like pancakes. I was out planting flowers and he brought me a toasted sample complete with strawberry preserves. What a man.
I'm off to swim in the pool and generally just kick-back this afternoon. It's to get to 85 today, the cacti are starting to blossom and everyone is sniffling because of the Palo Verde trees.

Enjoy your day!

The $85 mistake

Looks innocent enough, right? I live on an outside corner, I was in no vehicular danger. Our driveway is the largest flattest surface to get the new pool cover laid out and cut.

The pool is 10' x 36', with an irregular shape.

10:00am and pretty toasty already, in the 80's.

Yes, I am a quilter. Actually wore clothes to HIGH SCHOOL that I had sewn (was that brave, or what?). Created Halloween costumes, made parade banners, and upholstered vinyl chairs with cording.

I am now humbled. Dang. D'oh. What a dolt.

We cut off the excess, and cut a new corner from what we had left. It works fine. We should be swimming next week (after we finish it's final cleaning).

Please laugh with me, it's hard to be me.

Friday Flashback - "Music, Music, Music!"

Yes, I know. "WOW, a blog entry!" I said it too.

My father was a drummer. While he was in the Air Force during the Korean War, he was the entertainment, or so the story goes. He willed his drum set to the Salvation Army Band. His love for music transferred directly to me, probably in utero. Big Band was his favorite, only logical, I suppose. I still have many of his old 33-1/3 records, very brittle and very heavy. I bought one of those retro radio/phonograph/cassette players and play them once in awhile. I can smell my father's Old Spice when I sit and listen.

A few crusty music memories of my own exist, of about age 6. Spending time in my bedroom listening to my little record player. Similar to the one pictured above, I had a speed selector that would play each type, 16, 33-1/3, 45, 78 (was there a 16, that looks weird!). At 6 years tho, my choice of records was limited to children's records.

My 2 favorite records were vinyl, one was yellow, the other red. I also had one other very special record. It was a storybook record whereas each side had 2 stories. If you played the story and the needle went into one groove track, you'd get one story, the other grove track had a second story. You never would know which one you'd hear. One of the stories was "The Lion and the Bumbershoot," the other title is lost in the abyss.

My sister, 10 years my senior, would sit for hours and play her 45's over and over to pen the lyrics. I know most of the words to those songs too, brainwashed at an impressionable age. "Kathy's Clown" comes to mind.

I went on to learn to play the flute, soprano sax, piano, flirted with trumpet, and my favorite, the piccolo. Learning to play the piccolo part for "The Stars and Stripes" march to play in Detroit's Hudson's Thanksgiving Parade was my biggest challenge. Marching Band and Orchestra were the highlights of my high school years. My biggest accomplishment was of being selected to play in the Children's Orchestra, I guess around the age of 12 or so.

Music is still everpresent. I "plug-in" at work when I'm stressed and need to get major work done. It's my soother, my background, my constant.

I'm always singing a tune in my head, tho the music phrases seem to be shorter these days...and dh questions my selection of words sometimes. Who cares! Sounds good to me!

I last played my flute in 1976 when I solo'd for a wedding, but I think I could still "finger" the piccolo march part. Some things, like riding a bike too, you just don't forget. The flute is long gone, gifted to a budding musician.

Make a cuppa, and lay with me on the floor. Listen to "Moonlight Serenade" or choose something like, "You are My Sunshine". Pick out an early Ella or Frank or Clooney. Maybe a Dorsey or Goodman is your favorite? They're all there.

Psst...It's good to me back. Won't you post your Friday Flashback too?

We Interupt this hiatus...

Please, if don't get one other thing accomplished, please go vote in your primary. Whether it's Super Tuesday, or some other day...let's all get out there and make this our best one yet. Yes, your vote DOES count. It means you care.

Sorry for the long silence.

Dh is sick. *achoo*

I am sick. *snork, hack, lungus interuptus*

Dd#2 is sick. *cookie-tossing flu-like-no-other*
(Okay, she is thousands of miles away, but I'm still counting it!)

Will be back sooner than later!

"Are We There Yet?"

Tonya's Winter Free Piecing class is coming right along. More of us are popping in daily as we finish tucking away Christmas things.

I embroidered, layered, quilted and bound the Christmas sign yesterday. That's quite an accomplishment for me. I'm kinda slow. (Oh hush you, you in the back row snickering!)

Oh Hey! WAIT! I also cooked 2 meals yesterday. How unusual is that? My Dh usually does most of the cooking, yeah, I know, I'm totally spoiled. I do try to do some cooking on the weekends these days. During the week, I'm gone to work 6:20am - 6:00pm, he works 4:00am - 8:30am (and sometimes until noon). He simply just has more time. I wish.

Here's my dilema. I need one more sign representing California. These signs represent states that Dh and I have lived in together..well, sort of. I need a city name in the state of California that represents Christmas. "Angels Camp" does not work for us. I may be forced to make one up if I don't get some help! OK, I'm BEGGING. What can you think of...or make up for that matter?

Arizona...It's not just about the desert!

We moved here in April and quickly set about finding jobs. We didn't do much exploring, preferring to leave it "for when company visits." Now that we have j-o-b-s there isn't any time for company to come to visit! Who has vacation time? Sound familiar?

So we have been here 9 months and finally have our bearings. We're having fun getting to know our area, it's pretty foreign to us midwestern big-city "kids." Desert, washes, open spaces, and even mountains. All for us to discover and enjoy. We'll have to "do" the Grand Canyon when we have TIME!

Saturday, we spent most of the day visiting Mt. Lemmon, which is part of the Catalina Mountains. We should have visited sooner, it was lovely. 8000 feet in elevation, and we got to visit the snow!! I know many of you think that's a dirty word, but my Dh promised that once he took me away from the snow that we could at least "visit" it. That was enough coaxing, I've had enough snow memories to last my lifetime.

Once home, this was our last gift of the day. This is a shot just off our patio. It's clickable if you'd like.

A great day to explore, it was in the 30's and really windy up there, 70 at home. A nice place to visit, but wear layers!

Hopefully today will be full of sewing and I'll have something to show of my efforts soon.

Resolutions and The Orange Lion

My dd#2 said I had to make a resolution before the conclusion of 2007. I couldn't think of one. single.thing. I'm pretty OK dokey these days, albeit a little fluffy. When wasn't I? That's a work-in-progress, and that's OK too. Wait, I take that back. I'm not OK. I'm fantastic. I'm happy, healthy, and have someone(s) who loves me.

One of the top 2008 resolutions made by folks was to "get their finances in order". How can I help you ask? OK, so maybe you didn't, but I'm just sayin'...

Here's something successful that is working for me. Since 2001 in fact. A shamless plug? You betcha. Wish I got something out of it. Oh yeah, I will...YOU might get happy too? *vbg*

And btw, how much interest are you getting on your regular "passbook" savings account at your local bank? If you're lucky, maybe 1%?

In 2001 I decided to save some money. Until that time, that was a strange thing for me. I hadn't had a savings account since childhood. This account I was contemplating was for "travel". My first trip was to Brazil, went, had a wonderful time, have the pictures.

I had been hearing about "an internet savings account" called Ing. Some bank in the east..or west..or maybe only on paper, was touting a huge interest rate for an internet banking savings account.

So I noodled and nosed around a bit and decided I had a little extra to put into this interesting looking account, what did I have to loose? Better than spending my $10 on a lottery ticket, imho.

Fast forward to today. I make 4.1% interest on my little savings account. I still feel like a child at Christmas, "They're giving me MONEY!" They deduct a monthly amount (which you can change, postpone or stop AT ANY TIME) from my checking account and deposit it into my ing savings account. AT ANY TIME I want money transferred back to my checking account, it's easy as a few clicks. Within 3 days, the money is back into my checking for my use. Yeah, that's a delay, but I'll tell you what..if I needed the money that bad, I would have found a quicker way to come up with the cash, lol. Oh, and get this, there are NO service fees, or monthly use fees, or transaction fees. period. I've put money in, taken it out, added my dh to my account, all the things you could do at a walk-up bank.

So here's my point. What do you have to loose? Is there $10 a month that you could part with to save for a rainy day? Yeah, they even do $10/month. And the best part? No one calls, you don't have to get dressed to go to the bank, and only you and your mouse know what you're up to! And won't YOU be the clever one?! Could this be your new Christmas Account? Or your new LONGARM account? (Whew, got your attention there, didn't I?)

Go ahead, save for a rainy day, I double-dog-dare you!

My favorite Christmas ornament and a new postcard

Do you have a favorite Christmas ornament?

When the kids were small, we set out to find the perfect tree topper. We wanted an angel, but the only ones we found had blinky lights, or were just plain unsuitable. What we did find was a beautiful ballerina. Out comes the craft felt and some pearl beads and hot glue, and voila! An angel is born. (Can angels be born?) Our angel got her wings and lights upon our treetop each year thanks to twisty ties.

I had to "hang" her so I could get a picture, I'm w-a-y short!

When I was a little, my brother made a Santa that I just fell in love with. He used brown lunch bags stuffed with cotton. It's long gone now of course, but someday I'll get out a brown sack and try to replicate it.

There was ONE clear green bulb on our tree. As a child, I would lay just under the branches and gaze at that bulb. It was darn 'near a miracle, or so I thought. So clear and bright.

When looking out of our country house's window, 'bout the age of 4..I remember I could see a radio tower that had a blinking beacon. At Christmas, I was just SURE that was Santa and Rudolf. Ah, sweet innocence.

This is a postcard I did today to send to my in-laws. Hope they like it. Yeah, I know, it won't get there on time. I don't do perfection well.

Dh and I are planning to go to the Desert Museum and wander around on Christmas Day. Spend the day with each other, doing what we like to do best-just hang out together.

Please accept my dearest "Merry Christmas" wish, Happy New Year too!!!

Family is here!

We've begun the Christmas season with the visit from my dd#2. Unfortunately, I don't get days off from work so we try to make the best of our weekends and weekday evenings together. Next year I'll have seniority and will have vacation rights!

Sunday we went to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Who knew?! I *ahem* strongly dislike museums, I was prepared for the worst.

My goodness, it was WONDERFUL! Even old dogs CAN be taught new tricks. Don't prejudge for heavens sake.

Look at this big kitty. Hmmm, sorry, maybe a mountain lion? I don't think it's the ocelot, they aren't polka-dotty. They had a WHOLE ZOO. I was so pleasantly surprised.

And here is a photo taken from inside the Aviary. Look at the color of this hummingbird! These guys were buzzing ALL over, and dive-bombing to boot. I just have a cheap-o camera, so you know I was close!

Here's the official plaque, for those who are curious, lol.

We had a wonderful time, we'll definately go back. Loved it SO much we bought an annual membership. Yes, I do adapt well to change!

Please visit this museum if you're ever near Tucson, just a stone's throw from I-10.

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater

I'm a little slower than most in the sewing room...

I'm a little less-confident than many of my blog-sewing friends...

But I come skidding into the room with a Part 1 finish in Tonya's Winter Class!

I will make 3 or 4 of these "signs" and "mount" them on a green (maybe candy-striped) pole. I plan to piece the background free-style. I have two other signs to the flimsy-stage but it's slow-going considering the schedule I'm keeping of late.

Stay tuned, and don't give-up on me. I don't post too often, but I sure "think" about it!!

Getting knee-deep AGAIN!

"Lazygal" Tonya is holding another class, her "Winter Class", and is willing to provide her quilting expertise, love, and advice(including lots of hand-holding), for free. WOO-HOO!

I've gotten a great idea using her tutorial for free-pieced letters, come on over and take a look!!

WIP & Completions!!!

I know you are tired of hearing about how many hours I work and how much I am not getting done. I decided to stop whining, aren't you glad? I gathered my recent finishes, to post on my blog, and realized that I HAVE been getting things accomplished.

I have 17 blocks of my "Realitively Neutral" quilt done. They are paper-pieced and I get about one done each weekend. This will be for my bed. MY BED, can you believe it? Of course I'll need to make a new dust ruffle and make ginormous to fit our CA King bed. Maybe by next "winter" it will be completed. I'm thinking seriously about quilting it with Baptist Fans, what do you think?
Next is the sweater I'm working on. My first attempt at a sweater, and my first attempt with circular needles. It's going ok, I'm just finishing my first skein of yarn, a worsted wool, Lion Brand, in the shade of "mushroom". I literally freeze at work so this will be appreciated. The circulars are a bit freaky, and one has come apart twice despite gluing with gorilla glue. Any other suggestions? I like the bamboo, it's more friendly on my aching hands!

I hadn't shown these before, I call these my "Arizona Socks". The color reminds me of our beautiful sunsets. They are SO comfy! The yarn is Blue Moon, sockweight.

The next pair was my first attempt at changing colors. Um, ok, probably won't do that again, lol. I MADE myself finish these last week before I could start on the sweater. I still have things to spruce up on them, ends to weave, etc., and they've not been washed or blocked. Wonder where I could get some of those sock forms, any ideas?

And for my attempt at humor..."Does this cabinet make my butt look big?" or "Can you see me now?" Mr. Lizard trying to hide today when the big humans disturbed his sun bath. If you click on the pictures you may see his lovely coloring. They don't hurt or bite..just look scarey!

Oh, and I'm sorry about the whining, you know how the kids are when they are tired? Doesn't change just cuz you get OLD.

PIF Received!!

A belated thanks to Leanne from The Stitching Post for her wonderful Pay It Forward "present". Look at this wonderful pin cushion and thread basket that she made for me! She even crocheted a nest to help the bird stay upright, it is SO cute.

I have pressed my gift into heavy service while making the latest Halloween costume, the bird holds the pins nice and upright, and the thread basket is very handy.

I'm very lucky to have received my PIF from Leanne, and am wondering, wondering WHAT I'll do for my folks! Mine will have to wait until after the holidays I'm guessing, the end of overtime and 10-hour days is nowhere in sight.

Have you all done yours? Got any left-over ideas? I'm in need, lol.

Reliving a Childhood Memory

I l-o-v-e making my children's Halloween costumes. Still.

The photo above was marked 10/85 making my oldest 3-1/2 and my then youngest 10 mo. My youngest was sporting a panel that was to be a Trick-or-Treat bag. She's wearing her fuzzy-footed sleeper to keep warm during those cold Ohio Autumn nights.

My oldest was a Smurf, they were all the rage then. She adored Smurfs. Had many stuffed toys depicting Smurfs and collected the little rubber figures and carried them everywhere (including the bathtub!).

I didn't have a pattern but had taken Stretch-n-Sew classes. I used a pants pattern to create white fake-fur pants that continued to flaps which covered her shoes. I used a SnS pattern to make the blue turtleneck and made a white fur hat to boot. (Complete with a jingle bell because I just couldn't resist.)

Oh goodness. My oldest is now 25 and wants Momma to make another costume. Mind you, she lives in Orlando and doesn't own a tape measure. "How big?" "Dunno, I'm skinny." She doesn't buy alot of clothes and asking her what size is just silly. I phoned her 2 younger sisters to get opinions.

This is what we're going for this time...Papa Smurf!

Same thing, this time in red. WOW! It's bright to sew on! And can you say messy? I bought a flannel pants pattern and made the pants (complete with tail!) and hat...hope my kiddo likes it!

Yeah, I know. The tail is obscene. Please remember this is the BACK of the costume. OH! I hope they have a cold snap in Orlando, she's gonna roast in fake-fur, hahahahaha! I left the shirt to her this time, that and the beard. Dh will take it to the Post Office first thing in the morning, party is next Saturday night.

Gotta love it.

Happy Anniversary!

A rare look at moi, look fast, it won't last long, lol.

Today we celebrate our 3rd Anniversary.

Dh proposed before we met. Huh?

He was in CA and I was in Ohio, and we met BECAUSE of the internet. How's that for justification? We were involved with a high school alumni bulletin board, and were both "on staff".

We began instant messaging, then phoning, pretty soon we agreed to meet. It was love at "Hello."

We lived apart the first 6 months of our marriage while I settled things in the midwest. It was what we needed to do to make it work. And it did. And it was hard work.

I moved to CA and found a great job for a small community television station while he finished up working for a medical device company. We then moved to AZ to begin a home together of our own.

Be still my heart. Looking at him still gives me butterflies.

Life is good. Love is better. I am truely happy.