Finished Quilt for Kids...Finally!

I finally finished the Quilt For Kids quilt. It is in the dryer right now. As you can tell from the picture, the border on the sides is smaller than the border on the top and bottom. I do not know what I was thinking when I went to trim the backing and batting. I just merrily lopped off half of the border! What an idiot... At any rate, I just did the same to the other side and called it good.

The quilting on it is fairly simple. Just straight lines in a criss cross pattern and diagonally through the green squares. I will get it sent off tomorrow.

I'm thinking that when I have things that I MUST sew, I just shut down and don't sew anything. This is something I need to learn to get past, especially if I am going to want to do other people's quilts on a longarm someday!

Everett has had a terrible cold for 9 days. He coughs constantly. At the very beginning, when he would try to sleep his breathing would be so labored, I woke him up to try and get him to go to the e.r. I was afraid he would stop breathing. I have been sleeping in the living room the past few nights, trying to get some kind of night's sleep. If he doesn't show some improvement in the next couple of days he is going to have to go to the doctor.

The Olympics are almost over. The closing ceremonies are on television right now. This is the first time I can say that I really enjoyed watching them alot.

Today I filed mine and Ev's Federal and State taxes. I promised the kids that I would get their taxes filed this week. That is always such a chore and I'm always relieved when it's finished. My dad gets real tense and psyched our when tax season rolls around.

We had a fellow come out and give us an estimate for new windows. It's well past time we do something about them. When the wind blows the curtains actually move in front of the windows!

Our hot water heater sprung a leak. Tomorrow I have to call around and see if we can get someone to replace it. If the cost isn't too much for installation, we will just have someone do it, otherwise Everett will have to tackle it. I would prefer to have someone else do it, someone that does it for a living, since it has that gas connection.

We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner tonight. Dad's birthday was Friday and that whole side of the family went out to eat. It was a good time, but I really blew it with points! I'll be back on track tomorrow!

Flat tires and tofu

Last night I asked my son if he needed to get gas for his drive to school today. He did and went out to go get it. Well, Nick got two blocks and realized he had a flat tire. Oh joy. So rather than fiddling with it himself I called our roadside assistance program that we pay for through our cell phone plan to change it. They came and put the donut on the car and I took it to work this morning and to the shop where the valve stem was repaired.

Tonight for dinner I made myself a blt sandwich. I made Everett some salisbury steak and egg noodles. And for Nicholas I made tofu stroganoff. Tofu really doesn't do much for me....

Last night I made some veggie burgers from scratch that were really really good. Don't want to lose that recipe! And they are low fat, which is really good. So far I have lost 18 pounds. 59 to go!

I'm sorry I haven't posted anything quilt related for a while. I have misplaced my mojo. I think once the Olympics are over (I'm sleep deprived from watching them!) and then once I have done our taxes, I will be able to find the groove again. I'm not pushing myself. Some days I have to use all my energy to keep on track with my weight loss. And I hope that subject isn't driving anyone to distraction. I apologize if it is.

Rotisserie be gone!

I have had an electric rotisserie for several years. It was a gift from a friend. I loved the way food cooked in it. I did not love the prep work it took to get it to work properly. Balancing the food was always a big challenge.

Today I wanted to make a rotisserie chicken. I had a nice size bird all ready and a good rub to put on it. For 45 minutes or more I strung up that chicken seven ways til Sunday and it still wouldn't balance! Then, without ceremony, I disassembled the rotisserie parts from the chicken, took the parts of the rotisserie and the actual rotisserie itself and threw it in the garbage! Asked Everett to take it to the trash, which he did.

Done. Over. Finished. I rubbed the chicken with the seasonings and put it in the oven to roast. It turned out really well. I also made twice baked potatoes and brussel sprouts. Ev and I had a very good dinner.

So far I have lost 17 pounds. It feels really good!

Still haven't done much sewing. I have some St. Patrick's material to make bags for the kids all ready to roll.

Why are children so difficult?

Sometimes I feel like my kids do things just to get on my nerves. This is something so stupidly simple that's bugging me, but I can't help it. Let me explain...

Both kids attend the same college. There are texted alerts from the college when the campus is closed, for whatever reason. I had the phone number to text to be my cell number. This was done last year and we all pretty much forgot about it. Well, we have had some alerts and I have forwarded them to both kids. Johanna decided she needed them to come to her phone. Fine. The college only allows one phone number per student for alerts. Since she doesn't stay at home anymore, I won't know when the alerts come. Soooo, and here is the part that makes me realize why some species eat their young.....I suggested to Nick that he sign up for the alerts because I would no longer be getting them. This is not a big deal to do. Three minutes tops on the computer. The kid is on the computer for hours upon hours at a time. When I suggest this he shrugs it off. Why can't he just do it? Why does it have to be a major, Mom nagging, deal? I'm so dang tempted to not say another word to him and then when classes are canceled let him drive down there for nothing.

Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday. Nick and I went to church at 7 tonight. I was pleased that he went with me.

I have now lost a total of 15 pounds and am at 205. I will be really really happy to lose the next 6 pounds so I am into the 100's, even if it's just at 199! My goal is 148 right now, so I have a long way to go, but I'm determined to get there, or at least really close. I'm hoping this change in diet and weight loss has benefited my health.

Bye bye birdie...

Okay, I'll admit it...I have a deep fear of birds. There. It's out. Although it really isn't any secret to anyone who knows me. I don't know why I have this fear and for years I thought I was the only person in the world that did. There is a real name for this phobia and probably lots of doctors who would take my money to cure me of it, but I'm not really that worried about it. I just don't go into the bird house at the zoo. I like to see pretty birds in trees as long as they are far enough away that they can't fly at me.

After that paragraph of psycho babble, the reason I mentioned it is because this morning there was a bird in my house. I was going to the basement to get towels out of the dryer and a bird as big as an African Condor flew towards the basement steps. Okay, it was just a blackbird but it did have a huge beak... After hearing me scream, my husband and son rushed to my rescue. They trapped it in part of the basement and after unsuccessfully attempting to catch it in towels, they resorted to shooting it with the bb gun.

Although no funeral rites were performed, Nick did tell me he was going to have trouble going back to sleep because he just had to kill something. Ev just took the garbage bag unceremoniously out to the trash... I did tell both the men in my house that they were my heroes.

Getting to sew today might happen if Nick really can't go back to sleep, but I seriously think he will overcome his guilt and I'll have to wait until afternoon to get to the sewing room. We got about 5 inches of snow overnight so college classes were canceled. That doesn't happen very often, but why does it have to happen on one of my days off? sigh.

I'm looking forward to watching the Westminster dog show tonight and tomorrow night. Got the t.v. warming up already...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Came home from Mom's early this morning. Glad I got off the road because it is really snowing tonight. We may get up to five inches.

I made two more bags for Valentine's Day. I had made Johanna's and Nick's, but hadn't made one for Ben or Johnathon yet. I put a pair of house slippers in Johnathon's bag. His grandma said he didn't have a pair of them at Ben's house, so that should keep his tootsie's warm.

Johanna said her and Ben went ice skating yesterday.

Nick is uptown playing music tonight. Ev's going up soon. I'm going to bed.

Been watching the Olympics. They are pretty interesting and exciting, really.

Visiting Mom

My thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the Luge Olympian who died today before the opening ceremony in Vancouver, Canada.

I'm at my mom's visiting family up here. Since I had a four day weekend and there were things from Gram's house she wanted, I drove up here. The drive wasn't that bad, really. Weather was okay. I listened to a book on tape all the way up.

Cold and snowy day

We have very cold weather. It's windy and snowy. We have about 4" of snow on the ground.

Tonight I made thin pork chops in a gravy of cream of celery soup, beef broth, and sliced onions. This was a loose translation of a recipe from Campbell's. I made egg noodles and stewed tomatoes to go with them. It was pretty good. I'm finding I don't need larger portions to satisfy me right now. I saved enough on points to have half a cup of ice cream tonight, too.

I was on the treadmill for 20 minutes.

Monday, Monday

Here's a picture of the hoscah after it came out
of the oven. It is really tasty. I cut the smaller
loaf in half and took half to my great uncle here
in town and mailed the other half to my uncle in
California. My great uncle's mother, my great
grandmother, is who taught me to make hoscah.
It is an egg bread with raisins in it that is braided.

I love this bread. It was a staple at home when I was growing up in my great grandparent's home. Mammy, my great grandmother, made it every week. Grandpa always said "who needs cake when we have hoscah?". I believe that his mother may have made this for decades also. I do feel a real sense of accomplishment in being able to make this bread. It's something from Mammy, and that's important to me.

She is the woman we named our daughter, Johanna, after. I really wish my husband could have met her. She died before I met him. He did meet Grandpa (my great grandfather, but I just called him Grandpa). They were hard working, good, solid people. My husband is a very thin man and I always told him Mammy would have made it a point to try and fatten him up!

While I'm on a roll here about why I named her Johanna, I might as well explain why we named our son Nicholas. When I was young I always wanted to have a baby boy born near Christmas and name him after St. Nicholas. Well, our son was born within a few days of the holiday, so I got my wish!

Yesterday I sewed, yay! I made two red bags out of the homespun I picked up at Wal Mart for 61 cents a yard, I might add. I do not intend to use that material for anything other than bags, because the weave is pretty loose. It would not be good for quilts.

I also started to quilt the baby quilt for charity. I was going to do some free motion quilting on it, but kept putting off starting, out of fear that I would mess it up, I guess. So I chickened out and am just doing a grid. I'm such a wimp...

Made tacos for dinner tonight. They are a great meal for me when I'm on a diet because I can do a veggie one for myself and really load it up. So far I have lost 14 pounds! This is a big big big deal to me and I'm feeling great about it.

Almost noon and the kids are sleeping....what a surprise!

Both kids are home this morning and both are still sleeping! That's no surprise, although I thought Johanna would be up because she did get up and take a shower. Then went back to bed! Nick has to work at 2:30 so he probably won't roll out of bed until 1:45. or later...

The hoscah is rising on the counter. The next step is to braid it and let it rise again. Then into the oven for yummy goodness!

I've got some red material all ready to make Valentine's bags for the kids. Here are a couple of goodies that are going to go into each of them. I'll pick up some other little stuff as the week progresses.

And of course, since the kids are asleep upstairs, I'm being a nice mommy and am going to set up my sewing machine on the kitchen table. So this is a picture of two of my favorite things - the computer and the sewing machine!

Superbowl Sunday Morning

I'm up before everyone else, although I don't know why. Actually haven't really slept since about 2a.m. Thinking about putting together some hoscah (a sweet bread with raisins in it). It's lots of work, but it's so worth it!

Got on the scale this morning and my weight loss now totals 13 pounds! woohoo! I know I'm going to hit a plateau, but until I do, I'm really enjoying seeing that kind of progress.

Haven't sewn yet this weekend. If everyone is still asleep when I'm done putting the hoscah together I think I'll bring the machine downstairs and do something. Anything. I just have to get back into the groove!

Kit cut

I finished cutting the pieces for the mystery quilt this morning. I put everything in a big plastic bag as a kit, so it's ready for me to sew when I want to. I was going to make another kit up tonight, but fizzed out on that

Ev's working tonight. Nick's on the computer playing games. I made spaghetti for myself for dinner and some chili mac for Nick. Made two rueben sandwiches for Ev when he gets home.

Cutting pieces and making pizza

I finally got off my duff and started cutting on a mystery quilt I intended to start weeks ago. I even said to the group doing the mystery I would be starting it, then lost my mojo somewhere! I think it may be returning, at least I hope so! On the kitchen table are the tools and material to be cut. I have my different sized baggies all ready to be filled with precut pieces.

On the counter I have the makings for a homemade pizza. The crust isn't pictured, but it was from the artisan bread recipe. It was another successful pizza and I really really liked it.

I have lost 12 pounds! I know it's not going to contiunue to come off this fast, but it sure feels good.

Ev is working tomorrow. Nick went to his friend's an hour away. I've got tonight all to myself and probably most of tomorrow too. Next weekend I'm planning to go to my mother's for a couple days. It's a four day weekend for me with a holiday on Friday and a holiday on Monday.

Since Nick is staying gone all night, if I want to get up and sew early tomorrow morning I won't be disturbing him, since he has been sleeping in the sewing room lately.

Possible snow coming

The weather folks are predicting a snowstorm for tonight and tomorrow. I sure wouldn't mind a nice blanket of new snow.

I made myself a plate of spaghetti for supper. Made Ev some Italian Sausages and some buttered noodles. Nick picked up two sub sandwiches before he went to work. One for himself and one for Ev to take to work. Actually, Ev's was supposed to be for his supper but he ended up taking it to work! I wasn't planning on cooking tonight, but that's okay. The sausages weren't difficult or time consuming.

I have lost 11 pounds so far. I am so very pleased with this! Getting on the treadmill is a big help, I think.

Tomorrow I am going to the funeral for my great aunt. She was my paternal grandmother's sister in law. I didn't know her very well.

Totally Tuesday

I received my w2 in the mail yesterday. You know what that means? Yes, now I get to do our taxes. Ugh. I'm sure Ev's w2 is on the internet, just haven't checked yet. Last year was the first year I did our taxes and I'm a little nervous about doing them again this year.

I made chili tonight for dinner. I figured up the points for it and had a cup of it for dinner with cheese and crackers. It was a good dinner. Looking forward to having a cup of ice cream later. or sooner... Nick is making a version of his vegetarian chili for himself.

Mondays are not my favorite days

Well, I guess I have proven, once again, that I do not work well with deadlines. I thought if I challenged myself to just make one block a week this year I would be able to follow through. Not so. I blew it. I didn't finish a block last week. I didn't even go into the sewing room! So, after one month, I have decided to drop this challenge to myself in the hopes that now the pressure is off, I will start sewing again! Maybe I need to seriously rethink having a longarm business when I roadblock myself when there are deadlines.

I am doing well on my weight loss. I did not exercise last night because my back was hurting. It continued to hurt all night and all day, but I was determined to exercise tonight at least for 20 minutes. I walked the treadmill at a slow pace for that amount of time and feel good about it. It actually seemed to make my back feel a little better to walk a bit. I think maybe when I walked the dog the other day I might have over done it.

For dinner I made grilled turkey and blue cheese sandwiches. Yes, this was okay for my diet! That is the great thing about losing weight this way...I can eat anything I want really. I counted all the points for the sandwich and even had some baked homemade fries. I even saved a point to have some ice cream if I want it later.