Three mornings in a row

The alarm cat has gone off faithfully three mornings in a row now, even though I had planned to sleep in this morning.  He was on the bed in my face at 7:35 this morning, and even though I hit snooze, pushed him off the bed, he didn’t give me five more but jumped right back.

 Unlike the other mornings when John was already long gone from the house, this morning the alarm cat didn’t go back to sleep himself… no he bothered John until he was up also.  Now Mufasa is on hummingbird watch.  He's "hiding" behind the lamp so they don't see him.  Those little birds are smart, most of them realize he can't get them, and just ignore him. 

I’m still not sewing, but oh boy have I gotten a few good ideas to share with the mysteries group and retreaters this fall.  As soon as it cools down some I have two more great ideas to make samples for.  Best of all, these ideas came with patterns already written…. New uses for old patterns!

PS

So what does Mufasa do after he gets me up?

Takes a cat nap of course.

My Alarm

My alarm is set for 7:30 and I turn it on every night before I go to bed. Sometimes I can sleep all day, so the alarm reminds me it is time to get up and moving. Last night for some reason I did not turn the alarm on. I guess I decided it would be OK to over sleep this morning after the night before.

The cat had different ideas. I was sleeping peacefully when all of a sudden there was a loud “MEOW” in my face. I forced open an eye, and right was Mufasa. He was so happy to see my one eye that he rubbed his head on it… but it went away… so he meowed again. This time both eyes opened, but I wasn’t looking at him… I looked at the clock.

7:31 Guess he didn’t want me to over sleep.

My sleepless night

I was tired at ten last night, so I went to bed. I was almost asleep when my DH (and in this case I don’t mean dear) asked me to turn the ceiling fan down. Problem was, it was as low as it could go, next speed was off. So I turned it off and came in here to the living room for a while. Why… MY problem, not his. He can’t sleep (yea right) with the fan on, and I can’t sleep without it. That man can and has slept through a lot more noise than the ceiling fan.

I went back to bed when I heard him snoring and turned the fan on… on medium too! Did he hear it, heck no… which I knew. I was soon fast asleep…

Until 3 AM when something woke me up. I wasn’t sure what and it wasn’t the cat, he was looking at me like I had bothered him. So I went back to bed and to sleep. Little bit later, same thing. This time the cat didn’t hear it…and as hard as I tried to stay awake to hear the noise again… I couldn’t.

Until 4AM when I distinctly heard a beep beep beep noise. Like a phone that saying its battery was low. So I got up and looked for his cell phone… I knew it wasn’t mine because mine also lights up when it beeps and it wasn’t lit. I looked all over for his cell… and waited for it to beep again… until my last nerve got to me and I picked up the house phone and called ….

Which woke him up since his cell phone was on his bedside table. But guess what, it wasn’t his cell.. it was his pager which was in his backpack. He changed the battery, plugged in his cell, just incase, and went back to bed and right back to sleep.

Me… wide awake until a little after 6AM. Then awake again at 6:30 when his alarm went off. And again when John left for work and again when my alarm went off…

I will sleep tonight, with the fan on, you can take my word for it!

Another cat quilt…

This cat has only been here a month now, and he’s already claimed two quilts for himself. I showed way back when he arrived how he’d try to claim the quilt chair… well I pulled the quilts I did not want him to sit on off that chair and left green green on there, and he loves it. I keep telling myself cat hair washes off, so he can have it for now.

Now he has claimed our sofa quilt as his play thing…. It is really quite funny to watch. The quit usually is on the back of the sofa, but since Mufasa’s arrival I’ve kept it on the arm of the sofa as a sort of protector. (That arm is the way to the window and the humming birds, so it needed protecting) Several times I came into the living room to find the quilt on the floor, and wasn’t exactly sure how it got there.

Over the weekend I found out….

By jumping on the arm of the sofa he’d discovered that quilt moved, so he helped it drape down more, and it became a great hiding place. He either hides from his toys so he can attack them, or he hides his toys in there and then attacks it. It is funny to walk into the living room and see the quilt twitching in attack mode.

I have a feeling one of these quilts will have to go home with Mufasa when he is finally reunited with his parents…. I just hope they will be ready for him.

Do not call?

All of a sudden we have been overwhelmed with spam phone calls. It seems in the last few weeks there has been ten or more every single day. I knew I had put all of our phone numbers on the Do Not Call list, but all of a sudden…

So I checked, and guess what. When I first registered all of our phone numbers back in 2005 it was ONLY for FIVE years! That meant that I had to reregister all those numbers again! And I did just that.

At least now I won’t have to ever do it again, unless we change phone numbers, which I do not plan to do. Do-Not-Call Improvement Act of 2007 guarantees that 30 days after you register you should not receive any phone spam. So I only have to put up with those calls for another 29 days…. I hope.

But there are all those exceptions… politicians can bother us all they want to. Right now I dare any politician to call me, I have a thing or two to tell them. Grrrrrr…

Now, don’t you wish there was a Do Not Email registry to get rid of all the spam we get via email? I sure do!

Three days?

No Bonnie, I only missed two days! I do think today is Monday, right? But since so many have emailed me let me answer some questions here so everyone else doesn’t email me, LOL!

Bonnie asked if we got the trailer cleaned out… yes the guys got it cleaned out on Saturday, despite the 101 temperature (heat index 118) I felt so bad for them doing all the physical work and felt so hopeless since I couldn’t help. But they got it done, well most of it. John says there is just a little bit left to clean out and that when it cools down he and I can take care of it.


Kathy asked what I was working on… I hate to admit it, but nothing. I am not doing any sewing at all lately. I have a quilt that needs just the hand work on the binding done, several quilts that need bindings and all those UFOs and all that stash… and I am not doing any sewing at all. Today I went up to the hot sewing room to pull a pattern for the mail, and looked at all my stash and UFOs and nothing screamed at me to do… so I came downstairs with just the pattern.


Jill asked me when my next mystery would be… the summer mystery continues, just a few more clues to be posted. Sometime in September I will be giving the Mysteries For Relay group a non-mystery pattern. It’s not a mystery this time because there are too many choices to be made and I couldn’t figure how to make it a mystery.


Lynn asked “How is the kitty?” Mufasa is just fine and very much at home here. He is behaving nicely and I even get to sleep through the night now. Either I have gotten used to his noises, or he is respecting our night time more and not carrying on in the early AM hours. He amuses us with his antics and we are enjoying him. And yes, we will miss him when he leaves.


Grace asked “where did your grandmother live?” Gram lived on the Parkway on Ventnor Avenue in Margate NJ. I spent most of my childhood summers on the beaches of Absecon Island and loved it.


Pam asked what I’ve been reading. I have been doing a lot of reading this summer… so far I’ve read A Husband For Margaret by Ruth Ann Nordin, A Time to Love by Barbara Cameron, Hide In Plain Site by Marta Perry, Life’s a Beach by Claire Cook, A Cottage by the Sea by Ciji Ware and most recently I read all four of the Brides of Culdee Creek series by Kathleen Morgan. I’m sure there were a few more too, short stories.. Which ones would I recommend.. all of them! I really enjoyed each one of them. My next book l will be #14 in the Benni Harper series, State Fair.

So now I think I’ve answered everyone questions and now I think I’ll get to that book!


Whoops, I forgot to add that I have an opening in the November Retreat for two quilters....  I've been through the waiting list and no takers so now I am offering the space to anyone who is interested. 

7PM and still hotter than

At 7PM it is still over 100… although the weather site says it’s only 99… my outdoor thermometer says it is 103 on my back deck, and that is in the shade.


Whatever you are doing and where ever you are doing it… stay cool! I’m doing some serious summer reading, staying cool under the ceiling fan and in the AC… thank God for AC.

Hot again

Do you remember way back when you were growing up being hot? Ever? I don’t. Summers were great fun for me and I don’t ever remember being hot.

When I was at “home” we had a nice yard with several huge willows which kept the yard cool. I can remember running around and having a great time, taking a drink from the hose when we got thirsty.

When I was at my old home, I would sit for hours and read, either inside or out. Cooling off there was a dip in the river, the Mullica River which flowed behind our house. It was very swift where I lived, but I could handle it. I use to love walking up the river through the woods, jumping in, and floating down to our back yard.

When I was at my Grandmother’s there was the ocean, always cooler than the air around me, and always refreshing. I spent millions of hours on the beach when I was growing up, and don’t ever remember being hot… there was instant cool waiting for me in the Atlantic.

I don’t think hot was ever an issue to me… wish it wasn’t now!

Yippee!!

SOLD!  We have a ratified contract and everything is go… all we have to do now is empty the trailer and go to settlement. Apparently the buyers are in a hurry and we very well could go to settlement before the end of the month. That’s OK by me, one month’s less rent to pay.

This is a huge relief to all of us, although Mike and Kelly are a wee bit sad too. That was their first “home” together and their place at the beach. However I know the money they get will come in handy for the wedding and what comes after it.

The guys were concerned that we’d spent so much money fixing it up. If they had been paying rent on a two bedroom house it would have cost them a lot more. And if they had stayed here… their mother (aka me) would probably be living in a loony bin. I love them dearly, but love my peace and quiet even more.

And after settlement I get my new dishwasher, been without one since February, and I will get to replenish my quilting budget. I spent what I had at the beginning of the year, and have quite a few needing quilting, after a trip to Lancaster for backings that is!

Hummer watch

I love watching the hummers at the living room window and now I have company. He's much more interested in them than I am, even going as far as chasing them as they fly away. Thankfully they are outside and he isn't, LOL!

Too hot!

Pathetic when 93 is cool, isn’t it? I know there are a lot of you out there who would love to see 93. I wish I could share it with you too.

I’m staying inside where it is cooler and taking it easy. I’m reading, doing a lot of that this summer. Never did get to the handwork yesterday…. And probably won’t today either. Just being lazy, that’s all!

I did do some design work. A pattern on TV caught my eye last night, and I played with it in EQ today. Possible mystery there, but I have to try it in fabric first.

Sunday and Monday

Sunday was pretty much of a bust for me… I had one of those “couldn’t sleep” nights. I took a sleeping pill at 10 and another one at 2 and I was still wide awake when I went to bed at 4:30 AM. I was up again at 8:30 and took a short one hour nap in the afternoon. But I was pretty much a walking zombie most of the day.

I went to sleep at 9:30 last night and was up at 7:30 this morning. After my morning chat and coffee I went downstate to take care of some business, including picking up another order of T-shirts. Fortunately I got it done before the heat hit, and now I am home where it is nice and cool. I might… maybe…. do a binding today, or I might just read a book. Still recovering from my sleepless night I think.

I survived

Today was the bridal shower for my son’s sweetheart. I went and I survived. It was the first “party” I’ve been to in years. At times the noise level got to me and I just got up and took a walk to the ladies room. Thankfully the ladies room was quiet and not nearly as crowded as the party area was.

The bride enjoyed herself, I think, and that’s all that counted.

Although...  I now have an extra gift… seems the mother of the bride and the mother of the groom bought the same gift…. Only the mother of the bride gave her’s first, so now I have an extra…. Oh well, grandkids will be coming sooner or later and it will come in handy then.

Google problems?

My list of blogs is missing tonight, so I can’t see what everyone else was up to today.


As for myself, I can happily report my mother of the groom dress is pretty much ready for the wedding. Just a tad bit of hand work to do on the shoulders.  I’m loving it!

Here’s my next project

The wedding is two months away from Sunday, and I have a dress to alter… mine not the brides.  (Some history… the bride had asked me to hem her dress, something I could do.  Then she lost a lot of weight, and the dress needed major alterations, something I could not do so she found someone who could.)

My dress was ordered in late May, and I knew it would need some fixing to make me happy with it.  For one thing it was so long I was walking on it and for another, it was sleeveless.  I have not gone sleeveless for 30 some years.  When I ordered it they said that it would come in sometime in the middle of August. 

The other day they called and my dress was in and I rushed over to pick it up.  Of course I had to try it on, and it was just as I thought it would be, too long and still sleeveless… didn’t they hear me wishing they would put sleeves on? 

So I brought it home and started taking it apart… I found if I took out one of the many tiers in the length, it would be almost perfect.  Then I took the straps apart and this morning I added a small capped sleeve.  Almost perfect, but not good enough.  Those sleeves need the sheer covering to make them the exact same color as the rest of the dress. 

Fortunately the dress came with a sheer jacket… what good is a sheer jacket?  Well it’s good enough to cut up and make sleeves with, so that’s what I am doing today.  (the photo is the sheer jacket, before I cut it up… )

I think I will have my dress ready in plenty of time… whew!

Another mother job?

Since I never really had a mother, I am still learning this mother job. Tonight I did something new I’ve never done before…. I booked a honeymoon for my child…. Sigh…. my baby even. I wonder what else is in the mothering folder I have to look forward to?

WOW

Thanks to everyone who jumped in and purchased one of our new fundraising T-shirts. The initial order of 40 shirts is SOLD out already.

A second order was placed to fill orders AND I have just placed another order which should be in early next week. And I’ve added PURPLE to the colors available.

I will continue to take orders and ship them out as soon as they come in.

Hot off the press!

Here they are, the Delaware Quilts Relay For Life team’s newest fundraiser. 

The idea came to me while talking to a friend who is fighting cancer.  She had such stamina and strength and the will power that nothing was going to slow her down, not even cancer.  I told her I admired that in her and she said to me “Screw cancer!” 

I laughed but the idea was planted, and this was the design I came up with.  I shared it with a few team members, and it took off from there.  I had an initial order of a dozen which quickly climbed to over 40, and I am working on the third order already.

If you would like one of these, they are $20 regardless of size, plus postage.  I currently have sizes medium to X-Large in stock in Navy and Red.  And I will be placing a second order soon!  Click here to order. 

What a delightful day!

I was up early this morning for an 8:30 eye doctor’s appointment “down state”…. Well it’s down state to me so that’s what I call it. Because I am on the prednisone and because of the polymyalgia rheumatica they had to check the eyes carefully so I had to be dilated…. Of course it’s a bright sunny day out, which didn’t help matters either. Even sitting in the office ordering the new glasses was painful, and before long I had a raging headache. Thankfully I had some Tylenol in my purse and it was soon under control.

After the eye Doc I picked up a new fundraiser, and was thrilled to find out the retreat prizes had come in and would be ready while I was down there. And I had plans to stay down there a while, people to see and gabbing to be done. I picked up Denny at her summer place and we headed over to Joan’s where we had a great visit. Admittedly only Denny did any sewing, my eyes just weren’t up to it. And Joan was busy showing us all the projects she wanted to do.

Soon we got hungry so went out for a yummy lunch, then picked up the retreat prizes on the way to the newly opened brand new Serendipity Quilt Shop where I was lucky to run into a few friends. The shop is beautiful and it was packed with locals and tourists shopping.

All things must come to an end, and so did our adventure. Denny went back to her vacation and Joan was going to take a nap before work this evening, and I drove the leisurely drive back home via ocean drive with all the tourists. It was a long but purely delightful day!

Thanks to Denny and Joan for being such great friends!

Sewing progress

Yesterday I decided to take a different path and sewed a quickie quilt for a change.  This was something simple, no pattern, just blocks and an almost instant quilt.  I finished it and now I think I’m going to attempt to quilt it myself.  It’s small enough I shouldn’t have any problems…. but quilting isn’t my favorite thing to do.  I prefer just making the quilts and letting the pros quilt them. 

I’ve had quite a few emails about my summer visitor, Mufasa.  Yes I will admit I will miss him when he is gone, but he isn’t our cat and he belongs with Mike and Kelly.  I understand why they can’t have him now, but am really hoping they will be able to give him a permanent home in September.

He’s been good with listening to us, understand what “NO” means very well, and “DOWN” too.  We’ve trained him that the kitchen table is not his viewing table, and he hasn’t been caught on there in a while.  About the only time he forgets is when John gets home from work, and Mufasa is so excited to see him he jumps up on the table for a pet….  One NO or DOWN and he climbs down into a chair and waits for the petting. 

This is a picture of him this morning while I was chatting with a friend on line.  He’s claimed that table as his viewing table, and lounges on there until something comes along in the yard he needs to check on.  Then he’s off to which ever window gives him the best view of what it is he wants to see. 

How I spent my Saturday

Well not all of it… but I just spent the last 45 minutes watching Mufasa chase the ring from the top of the milk jug all over the house.  I tossed it to him when I opened the new milk, thinking he might play with it for a few minutes.  Then I sat and laughed myself silly watching him.  He threw it up, caught it, tossed it, chased it, pounced on it, chewed on it, threw it up again and started the cycle all over.  It went from the kitchen to the living room, back into the kitchen, down the hallway and back again. 

I had to stop watching, my sides were hurting from laughing, so I went back to my sewing.  Then the meowing started… he’d lost his toy.  My guess it’s under the frig and it will stay there.  He’ll have to wait till we get another gallon of milk next week for a new toy.

Sorry, no photos, he was moving too fast!

 

Too hot to sew

I’ve been working in the summer sewing room all morning, and am just drenched in sweat.  I can’t believe how hot it is in here today.  It must be a scorcher outside.  I wouldn’t know because I haven’t gone out yet, and I don’t think I will. 

I finished the sample I was working on yesterday and have started another one already.  I’m using some cute children’s fabrics I found and they are working into cute little quilts.  Luckily I have colors to coordinate with them, so I’m doing some major stash busting too. 

But it’s just too hot to keep working back here, so I’m closing up shop.  I have some other work I can do in the house, a few phone calls to take care of and I have a good book waiting for me.   First, a shower to cool off!

 

I thought I posted

Honest, I swear I posted something yesterday… but I guess it’s another one of those things I never got around to.  Or the day before apparently… Summer seems to be catching up with me and I’m getting blog lazy.  OK… I will admit it, I’m just plain getting lazy.

I’ve been sewing, working on another sample for the fall retreats.  All will be charity quilts I think, although maybe not all.  I might save a few for baby gifts. 

I’ve been reading.  I downloaded Fools Rush In by Janice Thompson for my Nook Reader and was hooked.  When I finished that one I downloaded the next one, and since it was available, the one after that too.  I love the style of writing, and am really enjoying the stories. 

I’ve been entertaining Mufasa Kitty… apparently it is a cool thing to play peek-a-boo when someone is sitting on the throne in the bathroom.   He will peek around the corner at me, then hide, then peek and when I stand up, he takes off like someone set a rocket on his back.  He really tickles my funny bone.  Although last night at 3AM I forgot about that game and he scared me half to death, good thing I had already sat, LOL! 

Lastly, I have been checking my retreat lists, making sure I will be ready when they roll around.  The first one is less than 100 days away and something had to be ordered to arrive in time.  I won’t say what, but they are ordered now! 

I’ll try to be a better blogger, but hey… it’s summer!

4th tradition

For years one of our 4th of July traditions has been to watch A Capitol Fourth. It’s on right now and I am enjoying it tremendously. Steve Martin is on and I am surprised at how much he has aged. Oh no, not his actions, he’s still as lively as ever… but his appearance is remarkably older. ONLY his appearance, he is at young at heart as he has always been!

Where has time gone?

I have my fingers crossed that they play the 1812 Overture, my favorite piece of music to go with fireworks!

Rainy Sunday

That is kind of contradictory isn’t it?  But it is, and we need it, a lot more than we are getting.  The only place grass is green is over the septic field, even under the trees it’s turning brown. 

Mufasa report, he is very much at home here, and I am very thankful for that.  However, he is very much at home here and is going here what he did to Mike and Kelly… like the early AM wake up noise, and now clearing off surfaces.  Last night before we went to bed he sat on my side table and slowly and methodically cleared everything off, one at a time.  Which is in a way a good thing for me, I do tend to make piles on my tables, and having him here will keep me neater… maybe.

So far he’s been good in the sewing area.  He stays off the table, and except for the one time the other day, has stayed off the sewing machine table too.  He has no interest in it at all while I am sewing. 

And I have been sewing.  I have two rows finished on my fall retreats sample and blocks waiting to be added.  I’m having way too much fun with this project, I hope the retreat ladies like it as much as I do.

TGIF?

Yes, Friday already, and mine started way to early thanks to a certain kitty.  This morning’s exercises started at 4:30, he did a marathon I think, running all over the house including across our sleeping bodies.  Fortunately he took a nap after the first few laps, and I went right back to sleep. 

Unfortunately he wasn’t finished yet, and at 5:30 he was exploring places he hadn’t visited yet this stay, like the top of our bureaus.  Anything he didn’t think belonged there he took off with a swift knock of the paw… I got up just in time to rescue John’s beeper from flying on to the floor.  Once I convinced Mufasa that there was nothing up there for him to play with, he decided he needed to inspect my closet and scratched on the door until I sprayed him with the water bottle.  I noticed when I was ironing yesterday that either the noise of the spray bottle or the mist spooked him, so it’s become my way of getting back at him.  One spritz and he was out of the bedroom, and I went back to sleep.

When John left for work Mufasa decided I needed to be up, and jumped all over the bed until I was.  So my day started early.  And it looks like I’ll have a helper today.  He can’t decide if he should play with the blocks, or the empty bobbins stacked on the spool pin…. guess better put them away before he does.