Bad bad time

I am probably not going to be blogging for about a week.  I don't want to go into details, but we have made the decision to put our dog, Wrigley, to sleep next week.  I'm sick over it, but it has to be done.  We will still have Ivy and will move forward, but until the deed is done, I'll probably just be keeping to myself.  Now that I've posted this, I may end up blogging but I just don't know.

I have also changed my email address.  I apologize to anyone who received spam from my old email.  I got hacked.  When it rains, it pours.  Not a big deal, just an aggravation. 

So, dear readers, please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers.  It's a difficult time, but we have to keep in mind that we are doing the right thing, and that this is about a dog, not a human.  Thank you.

Very busy Saturday

Today it was go, go, go all day long.  It started out early when Lori and I went to breakfast then did some shopping in Litchfield.  We went to Aldi, Dollar Tree, and Wal Mart.  After I got home Ev and I took off for the boot store I heard good things about in Fenton, Missouri.  It was over an hour drive, but it was so very worth it.  The store is huge and has every kind of boot you can think of.  I kind of had to trick Ev to get him to go there.  I didn't actually tell him it was in Fenton until we were in Missouri.  He is such a fuddy duddy sometimes.  He desperately needed new boots for work, but just didn't want to be bothered getting them.  Last week I drug him over to Hamel to check out the Red Wing Boots that the feed store carries.  They didn't have anything he liked in his size, so that was a bust.  This place in Fenton is called Chuck's Boots and Johanna's boyfriend suggested it.  He gets his work boots there.  My friend Barb also recommended it.  Her boys get their boots there, too.  Ev loved the place.  He found a comfortable pair of work books, steel toed, for a reasonable price.  He also checked out the Harley Davidson boots.  I think for his birthday we will go there and get him a pair of Harley boots.  I kinda bribed him with the fact that there was a Harley Davidson dealer on the way that we could stop at and get him a tee shirt from.  He loves to have HD tee shirts from different Harley dealers.  He has them from 6 different ones now.  That isn't many, but it's a good start!

After our running in MO, we called Johanna and Ben to see if they wanted to meet us for gyro's.  They did and we all had dinner together.  Nick was still at home, but since he wouldn't have eaten gyro meat I didn't feel too guilty.  When I got home I made him two cheese quesadillas and he was a happy camper.

I'm so full, really to the point of being uncomfortable.  I shouldn't have eaten so much, but it was such good food!  sigh.

Today was my dad's birthday.  Tomorrow we are going to my brother Gus' for a fish fry to celebrate at noon.  I'm taking the ever famous green bean casserole.  Dad requested it.

Three bowls and some silverware

That was all I had left to do of the dishes.  I ended up finishing them, but I was running out of steam.  I sure hope I'm not getting sick.  Ugh.  My stomach was bothering me at work today.  I did make a big dinner tonight.  Johanna and Ben came by and had supper.  We had meat loaf, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, veggies, lemon cake and cookies.  I ate too much.  Again.

Sleeting outside.  I guess Old Man Winter had to get another blast in to remind us that it's still February.

The washer is leaking down where the hose comes out to go to the drain.  Now I'm going to see if I can find the manual and if it tells where everything is located and maybe figure out what part might need replacing.

I want another cookie

But I'm not going to have one.  I took Uncle Ray to Crossroads tonight for tacos.  Came home and had a cookie, but stopping there because I know I'm over points now.  Not too bad because I just had one taco with a side salad, but still not a healthy dinner.

Ev is working until 3 a.m. again tonight.  I am so glad that Nick is back living at home.  I was always uncomfortable when he worked until 3 and I was home alone until then.

When we got our tax refund I got our bills all caught up.  It has been such a good feeling knowing that things are back on track.  Ev was joking with me today saying he just couldn't take there not being any bills in the mail!  Cracked me up.  I told him he just better get used to it!  haha.

Since Ev is working 12's he doesn't do much at home but sleep, understandably.  I did the dishes when I got home tonight, but I have a lot of laundry that I really should get on tomorrow.  Last night one of the dogs had gotten up on the bed with muddy paws and left chunks of mud all over it.  I had to VACUUM the bed.  Not exactly my favorite household appliance, the vacuum.  Ev usually doesn't allow me to use it.

We had thunder and lightening this evening.  Really odd for February around here.  Tomorrow we are expecting a lot of rain.  That's better than ice, at least.  We did have some ice this morning.

Made Ev a couple of rueben sandwiches for supper tonight when he gets home.  I hope he eats them.  He just is too tired to even eat when he gets home sometimes.

Tired tonight

I'm tired tonight.  Don't think I'm going to do much of anything but watch t.v. and go to bed.


Yesterday I finished sewing the triangles onto the threesie units for the RRCB.  Now I need to press them all.  That shouldn't take too long.  The next steps should go fairly quickly as they are simple assembly of the blocks and border.

I am at my wits end with this puppy.  Well, she's a year now, but I still think of her as a puppy.  She is so smart she figures things out that the other dogs had no interest in.  And the chewing....ugh.  Good thing she's so cute...haha.  She will figure it out, with a little more guidance.

I made a chicken alfredo dish tonight using the cooked chicken from last night, some fettuccini noodles, peas, onions, and that new sauce from Philadelphia Cream Cheese - the Italian herb blend.  It's pretty tasty.

President's Day

I've had a busy day so far.  Got up early and went to Aldi and Wal Mart.  Came home and began cooking.  I made a hamburger casserole with noodles and mushroom soup, a pot of chili, two dozen cookies, and cooked three chicken breasts in the crock pot for chicken alfredo later in the week.  I did up all the dishes up to that point and then had some lunch with Ev before he left for work. 

I also got about a quarter of the pieces of triangles sewn to the threesie units.  It only took me about half an hour, so I'm going to go up again in a bit and try and get at least another quarter of them done.

Do NOT look behind the washing machine...

Ugh.  So I decided to try and figure out where the washer was leaking from.  I took a flashlight and a grabber (one of those thingies that helps you get things off of the top shelf when you feel vertically challenged) and braced myself for what I would find.  Behind the washing machine was a place no person had dared to go before me.  Yuck.  Wet, moldy stuff awaited me.  Eww.  Dirty cardboard, broken glass, and something that looked suspiciously like soggy toilet paper stared back at me from the abyss.  Grateful for the grabber and the fact that I would not need to actually touch any of these things, I started grabbing and throwing away everything behind the washer.  Stuff was quite wet.  Sigh.  Now, I was hoping that it was a loose hose or something simple like that, but I don't think I'm going to be that lucky.  The input hoses are connected very very tightly.  The output hose seems loose, but without pulling the machine away from the corner, I can't really get a good look at it.  I ran a load of wash and went down in mid cycle to find the floor wetter than it was.  I may just have to break down and call Sears.  I do not like the repairperson that our local Sears sends out.  He gives me the creeps.

I don't think that I will mention to whoever comes out the wine glass incident.  Does anyone remember my stupidity?  I'll 'fess up...to you, but not the repairperson...  I had bought some shirts at the thrift store and a couple wine glasses.  The gal at the counter wrapped the glasses in the shirts.  When I got home, I just shoved all the shirts into the washer, and you guessed it, I forgot about the wineglasses being wrapped in them!  This has been a long time ago, but who knows what damage I did internally and is just now surfacing?  I shudder to think about it....  So I'm going to keep using the machine until I get a brainstorm on how to fix it or break down and call Sears.  I do love that washer.  It's a Kenmore front loader and I got it in 2004.

So Dear Son is still sleeping (ha, what a surprise!) and I am chomping at the bit to get into my sewing room.  It's not going to happen anytime soon today, though.  I'm going to wake Nick up in a few minutes so he can get into the shower.  Then at 1:30 he, Ev, and I are all going to Johanna's work to have lunch with her.  Ben and Johnathon are going to be there too, so that will be nice.  Maybe when we get home from lunch I can get some sewing done.  Ev has to work tonight from 11 to 3, so I'm sure he will be taking a nap at some point.  That will give me an excuse to be upstairs.  When we are home on the weekends and he is just sitting around, sometimes I feel like I should be sitting with him because we don't see a lot of each other during the week.

Almost done

I have been doing laundry all day, as predicted, and I'm almost done.  I stripped the bed completely, mattress pad, quilts, etc. and have washed everything off of it, trying to keep from getting Ev's cold.  My throat is a bit sore tonight and I'm really hoping that I'm not going to get it.  Took some tylenol and planning to go to bed early, like in about ten minutes.!

I pressed all those strips of half square triangles for RRCB today, and also pressed some brown material I'm going to use on the border.  Need to cut that material and then I will be getting back to sewing on it.

Oh, the washer is leaking again.  I don't know if it's leaking somewhere in the back that might just need to be tightened, like a hose connection, or what.  Maybe tomorrow I'll get down there and check it out better.  It's not bad, right now.

We went and looked at steel toe boots for Ev but he didn't find a pair that he liked that fit.  Next week he will be on twelve hour shifts all week, and then it won't be long and the shoe truck will be at the plant (in March) so I guess he will just wait until the truck comes.

While blog surfing today I ran across Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times and she was talking about quesadilla's.  So of course that put me in the mood for them.  We ended up having them for supper tonight.  They were pretty good.  I cut some steak up into strips and cooked it, sauteed mushrooms, onions and spinach, and used them for filling along with cheese.

Early a..m.

Just waking up and trying to decide what to do first.  I have so much laundry to catch up on, it's not funny.  If I start now, I might have it all done by midnight!  haha.  Also have to clean the kitchen.  Sounds like a fun day, huh?  Oh well, gotta do what you gotta do...

Wrigley went to the vet for her shots yesterday.  She did very well.  The pooch has lost six pounds since last year!  I'm blaming Ivy for that because she gets Wrigley to run around the yard a lot more than she used to.  She still has that bump on her hip, but Doc says it's probably just a fatty tumor, so I'm not going to worry about it.  If it were to break the skin or seem like it was troubling her to walk because of it we would do something.

Going to try and get Ev to go get some new workboots this morning.  He desperately needs them.  Of course, buying them and getting him to wear them are two different things...  I do not understand him sometimes.

I'm doing horrible on my diet.  Yesterday Lori and I went to DeCamp for pizza and salad.  I just have no discipline or willpower these days for some reason.  I have to get back on track.  But of course today I'm thinking it would be great to get fried chicken from Crossroads for supper....  sigh.

Just a good day all around

I am in a very thankful mood lately.  God has really blessed me and my family, in so very many ways.

Nick is teaching lessons tonight.  I haven't done much sewing but will probably get some done over the upcoming three day weekend.  If I do, great, if I don't, it's okay too.  I crocheted two more dishcloths the last couple nights.  I wish I could find some thinner cotton yarn to make them out of.  If anyone knows where I can get some, please let me know.  Thanks.

I am just going to make Ev some frozen fish patties tonight for dinner.  Not in much of a cooking mood.  I made a big pot of beef stew last night and he hardly touched it.  I froze most of it except for one container for him to take to work.  This morning I got up a little early and made a dozen breakfast sandwiches, 8 with meat and 4 with out, all with egg and cheese on biscuits.  For three days in a row I have had to go to the Ford dealership with three different vehicles for maintenance.  Tuesday it was an oil change in my car.  Wednesday it was tires and an oil change in Ev's truck.  Today it was an oil change and new tire on Nick's car.  When I take a vehicle in for service, I like to take the mechanics something for breakfast.  Tuesday it was just some storebought cookies.  Wednesday I picked up a breakfast pizza.  Today I made the biscuit sandwiches.  Those guys in the shop work hard and they really take care of me and our vehicles. 

Ev's still got that lousy cold.  This is the third week for it and it's getting really long in the tooth.  Tuesday night he started coughing at 3:30 in the morning and didn't stop, so of course I was up from that time on.  Last night I got a head start on sleeping until about 1:30 when he came to bed, but then didn't sleep very well because he was restless.  I'm hoping tonight will be better.

Happy Valentine's Day

As usual, this week is the week of the Westminster Dog Show, so tonight I spent the evening watching the first half of it.  I also picked up my crochet hook for the first time in a very long time.  I received an email from TipNut recently that had crochet dishcloth patterns, so I got a bee in my bonnet about making a couple.  So, I stopped at Wal Mart at lunch and picked up one ball of cotton yarn.  I didn't buy more than one ball because I just didn't know if I was going to get into crocheting again.

While watching the dog show (Ivy's first one, by the way!) I crocheted this cute little dishcloth.  It's not really little, maybe about 9" square, so it might be a little large for a dishrag.  It may end up being a potholder.  Either way, I feel like I accomplished something tonight.  Tomorrow I'm going to pick up a ball of the cotton yarn in a pretty deep pink color I saw today and make another one while watching the rest of the dog show!

I hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day.  My hubby came up for lunch today, even though we went out yesterday.  He's a good bear.

The day in pictures

If you are anywhere near South Central Illinois you have probably heard of the worlds largest catchup bottle water tower.  Here it is!  Ev and I were on our way to our Valentine's Day dinner at Lotawata Creek and passed the catchup bottle.  If you didn't know it was there, and were coming from the West, you would be caught off guard as you came up on it.  Johanna and her friends passed by it one time and the next time they had her convinced it was going to be a mustard bottle, that it had been changed!  We don't let her live that one down...

Here's Ev with a dazed look on his face at Lotawata Creek!  He just asked me how he was going to eat all of that food!  Look at that HUGE sandwich on his plate, and then they have the nerve to add fries to it!  We had a very nice meal there.  I had a chicken sandwich and a salad.  Ev had that monster ribeye sandwich and fries.  We started off with their stuffed, breaded mushrooms.  Oh wow, were they ever good...  We had a lot of food to bring home in doggy bags...

After we ate, we drove over to Target.  It's not one of my favorite stores, and there isn't one close to us (this was an hours drive), but they had one item there I wanted.  I like the Weight Watcher's Smart Ones Vegetable Mini Pizzas.  The WW website says that Target was the closest place to get them, so we went there and bought all four boxes they had...  I'm thinking we should have asked if they had any more in the back....  When we pulled out of the parking lot, we pulled behind this car.  I think it is very odd looking.  It's a Nissan Cube, and I apologize if you own and/or love one, but it just looks strange to me.  It felt like we were going the wrong way because the back end of this vehicle looks like it could be the front end!  I guess we just don't get out enough...

After our adventure, I came home and finished my slippers.  Look at my big dorky feet in them?  Don't they just look cozy?  heeheehee.  Here's the website that I originally found a pattern on:  http://www.homemade-holiday-gifts.com/felted-slippers.html  The only thing was, it didn't suit me.  The bottom of the slipper was fine.  You traced around your foot, added a quarter inch, and cut out a pattern piece.  The top part had a similar piece, but with a rectangle cut out of it to make the sides.  Well, that left the top of my foot too cold and they didn't come up the sides of my feet very far, so I modified it a bit.  I used the same pattern piece as the original, except I did not cut out the rectangle.  I cut straight up the middle of the top about half way.  I purposefully left it a bit smaller so I could adjust the opening once I was finished.  It worked well, and now I have warm and cozy toes!

Blast from the past

My Great Grandpa loved to garden.  He had a huge garden and Mammy would can and freeze food from it.  I can always remember him having the Old Farmer's Almanac laying around.  I don't think he actually used it for anything other than entertaining reading, which it is, but I do remember it being in the house.  I'm sure there were some good tips and tricks in it also.

Just loafing around

Not really doing much today.  Ev has to work at 3.  We went to breakfast then I went to Wal Mart to pick up a few things.  Stopped at Subway and got him and Nick sandwiches for later. 

Tomorrow afternoon we are going to Lotawata for lunch as an early Valentine's treat.  I'm excited about that!

Nick is going to DJ the Valentine Dance at the High School tonight.  Since I'll be all by myself maybe, just maybe I will get some sewing done.  My dad is coming over around 3 to use the internet.  I might get the pieces pressed that I have been stuck on for days while he is doing that.

Random picture of Winter, still Winter...

Yes, it's still Winter.


I went to Gram's house in St. Louis today to wait for the water company.  They had to get in the house for the meter, so Donna and I went down and waited there.  She and I played Gin to pass the time.  The guy came around 10 and was done in half an hour.  We went to Federhoffer's Bakery where I picked up some rolls, a fruit pizza, and a poppyseed stolen for Uncle Ray.  Then we went to eat at the Sport's Bar and Grill.  I had the house salad, cheesy garlic bread, and a half order of toasted ravioli.  It was yummy.  Donna had the pork tenderloin and chips (homemade!) and salad.  We left there stuffed!

There's an offer on the house.  I am so praying that it goes through okay and that the house is sold quickly.

I picked up two wool sweaters at Salvation Army yesterday and felted/fulled them by washing and drying them in high heat.  It cracks me up how they shrink into little miniature garments when you do that.  I found a pattern for wool slippers on the internet and I cut them out.  Stitched up one of them, but I think I'm going to have to make a few changes because it doesn't come up my foot as much as I would like.

Tomorrow is my Friday on Thursday

This will be a short week for me, as we have Friday off for Lincoln's Birthday.  In the morning Friday, I have to go to St. Louis to wait for some workers at Gram's house, but the afternoon will be all mine.  I'm even thinking of taking some projects to cut while waiting at Gram's.  I could easily use my cutting mat on the counter.  Tossing that one around in my little pea brain....

I've also been thinking of making a tumbler quilt.  Not sure how big a project that would be to cut, though.  I've seen those new AccuCut Go die cutters, and they have a tumbler die available.  The thing is, first you have to cut the material into the right size for the die, then you can only cut so many pieces of material at a time, like 8 or something like that.  And the dies are pretty costly, not to mention the machine itself isn't cheap.  I do not think I want one.

Had a little trouble with my Martelli 60mm cutter over the weekend.  The spring got all wonky.  I emailed them and they have sent a replacement.  I got it today.  I sure like that company.  They have really good customer service.  Don't always find that these days.  I will say I think Verizon tops my list for customer service.  Dell is right up there (even though I don't even own a Dell computer right now!) speaking from past experience.  And Nolting.  I have my heart set on that 24" Nolting Pro and every single thing I have read about Nolting as a company and their products has been positive.  I will have my dream machine some day.  Just gonna take a little more blood, sweat, and tears...  sigh.

2 above or 2 below zero temps

I was driving home tonight from work and caught the temp.  It was 2.  I didn't catch if it was below or above zero, but honestly, does it make a difference?  It was TWO.  I've spent most of the evening trying first get warm, and second trying to stay warm!  Took a hot bath and put on my warmest jammies and my heavy robe, plus warm socks and heavy slippers.  My feet are still cold, but I'm hoping Ivy or Wrigley will let me tuck them under them while I'm sleeping. 

Didn't go upstairs to do any sewing tonight.  Just couldn't get myself off the couch!  I've got that ironing to do and I just can't get too excited about it, as that is my least favorite part of sewing.

As the thread tangles

Well, I finally got myself upstairs and did some sewing today.  When I first got upstairs I noticed my brand new, $20 cone of white thread on Nick's bed.  The second thing I noticed was that it was not in it's wrapper.  Ivy had gotten into the sewing room, taken the brand new cone of thread, and proceeded to chew on it.  Agh.  I unwound yards and yards of it to get down to a usable portion, but even that had flaws because of where she had chewed.  I decided the best way to get down to the most usable part was to start winding bobbins with it, and if there was a thread break and the bobbin wasn't fully wound, it wasn't going to be a big deal.  That's what I did and even though there are still a few thread breaks, it's no where near as bad as it was at the beginning of the cone.  It could have been a lot worse, although I do hate that I had to waste so much thread.

I did finish sewing the rows of half square triangle strips of five.  Next I need to press some brown fabric and cut it into triangles to sew onto the border pieces.  I would have cut the strips for them but when I saw the material needed to be pressed I lose my mojo.  I still need to press the sets of squares, too.

Watched the Superbowl yesterday.  I like the commercials.  My favorite was the Budweiser, cowboys and the Elton John song, Tiny Dancer. 

I got our Federal Taxes done Saturday.  It was a relief to get at least the Federal ones done and out of the way. 

Did not sew this weekend....sigh

Well, I was lazy this weekend.  I didn't do any sewing at all.  Just didn't feel like it.  I will get back in the mood soon, I'm sure.  Not going to worry about it or force it.  I know my mojo is here somewhere....just gotta find it again...haha.

Had lots of goodies to eat for the Superbowl.  Shot my diet all to heck.  Oh well.  sigh.  Tomorrow is another day.

Woke up to snow

It's snowing here.  I'd say we have a couple inches on the ground.  Forecast says we may get a couple more.  I don't mind snow at all.

Ev's supposed to work this afternoon.  I'm going to get the taxes done and do some sewing.  Nick's at a LAN party.  I don't know if he will be home tonight or not.

Not in the mood for doing much

Just not in the mood to do much of anything the last couple days.  Not even in the mood to be on the computer.  Finally got Ev's w2 in the mail so tomorrow morning I guess I'll do the taxes.  Now, don't that sound like fun?  haha.

I get the idiot of the day award today

Well, I'm an idiot.  I tried to help Ev push Nick's car out of the driveway and in doing so twisted my back.  So instead of sewing or baking hoscah, I spent the majority of the day on the couch with my two best friends - ibuprofen and the heating pad!  What a dumb thing to do, especially on a day when I could have gotten a lot done.

As a side note, Ev and Nick pushed and I drove the car and we got it unstuck.  Not that he's going anywhere in this mess.

It's a bit chilly

Pretty cold out today.  Supposed to get to 7 below zero tonight.  Wind chill may be 19 below.  I think I will just hunker down and sew....

No work today as our office and the state side of the office are both closed.  Chicago got hit pretty bad with this storm also and everyone at Mom's is snowed in.

I'm thinking of making a couple loaves of hoscah.  I know I promised to put the recipe on the blog a while ago, so if I dig out the recipe to make it today, I'll post it here.

Nick parked his car in the back on Monday night and yesterday, when he tried to move it, he got stuck.  That will be Ev and his project today, to get him unstuck!  ugh.

I have the baby quilt in the dryer.  I want to work on the RRCB mystery some more today, now that I have that baby quilt off my mind.  That was a three day project that I am well pleased with the way it turned out.  I really should make a few baby quilts to have on hand. 

What I got accomplished today..

Here's the baby quilt, all done and ready to go into the washer!  In fact, it's in the wash as I type this.  I'm glad it's done.  It was quick and easy.  I liked the pieced back on it.  I think it gives it character.

Nick doesn't have school tomorrow again and I don't have work.  I want to do some more sewing to take advantage of this time off.  Ev's coming home at 8 tonight, as they are closing the plant because of the weather.  That's never happened since he's worked there before.

We have quite a bit of sleet on the ground.  Haven't gotten the snow they predicted...yet.  Either way, the roads are horrible.  I'm glad I don't have to go to work.

Getting worse, 1 o'clock pictures

Check out the ice on that phone wire!  And see the tree limbs?  That's our old pecan tree and she is a brittle one.  I will be surprised if that tree does not lose a few limbs in this storm.  Again, my hope is that they don't do any damage or take out the phone lines.

They have a blizzard warning in effect right now.  The sleet is really coming down and they are predicting snow to start pretty soon.

Seven a.m.. Pictures

 Here's a few pictures from my little corner of the world.  We have a blizzard warning this morning.  Right now all we have is ice and sleet.  They are predicting a lot of snow today.  Our office is closed so I have a snow day just like the kiddies!

 Not going to be doing much grilling today!  I'm so glad that both the kids' college's canceled classes today.

 I love our big old sweetgum tree, but when it ices up on the branches like this, I worry about losing power.  I also worry about branches coming down on the roof or on the cars.  The cars are usually parked in front of the house under this tree.  Last night Nick and I moved them to the back by the garage.

It doesn't look like much on the ground in this picture but there is ice covering everything.  And I mean everything!

 Here's one of the front bushes, all coated in ice.  I would like to get rid of the two bushes like this in the front of the house, but they do look pretty with that glaze over them.  A lot of birds usually live in them.  And we all know how fond I am of birds...NOT!

Just a shot of the street to the West of the front porch.  The news keeps showing the weather and the roads.  It seems people are actually being fairly smart and staying off the highways.  What a switch!  I sure hope our neighbor stays home today.  That's her little red car across the street.  She's the same age as Johanna and works in the next town over.

So, my internet friends, if you don't hear from me, it's because the ice has either taken down the power lines or the phone (DSL) lines.  Enjoy the weather and please be safe!