An old friend

I have a friend. I call her Louisa May. We used to play all the time. Then I grew up a little, and didn't have time for her.

Recently I began to read again. I read Stephenie Meyer (Twilight series), Ann Rinaldi (Time Enough for Drums, The Last Silk Dress), Patricia Clapp (Constance), and Joan Lowry Nixon (The Ellis Island trilogy). Finding myself enjoying reading very much, and wanting to read some more, I returned to my old friend: Louisa May Alcott. I read Eight Cousins. I had read it many years ago, but for the life of me didn't really remember anything about the story, except that Mac almost went blind. Then I read the sequel, A Rose in Bloom. Again, didn't remember much about this one, except for the fate of poor Charlie. Now I am reading An Old-Fashioned Girl. I apparently have read my copy of the book several times, as it is quite worn out, but I cannot for the life of me remember anything about the story! I feel like I am discovering it for the first time. It is so splendid. Next, I want to go to the library and check out the Little Women books. And then I want to watch the movie. You know, the one with Winona Ryder and Christian Bale (oh how I love to watch him in movies, particularly this one...and Newsies...and Batman)?

Anyway, I have rediscovered an old friend, and thought I would share. Who are some of your favorite authors? What books are you reading, or have you read that you go back to time and time again? As I have recently rediscovered the joy of reading, I hope that at some point this holiday season you all can find some small time to yourself to read and enjoy a good book too!

Have you heard??

What?! You haven't heard?! Then you need to watch this clip and become enlightened! :)

Hope you are all successfully recovering from Turkey day and Black Friday shopping!

What happens when you impulse shop on Black Friday in the Little Car

We went to McDonald's for lunch. Mike thought "we've already eaten, so let's go walk around Sam's Club for a bit and see if we can see Elmo!" Of course, Elmo was sold out. Fortunately, we already bought one. And of course, they had Kota the Triceratops on display. Oh how cool was he! Marsh loved him. Mike pulled him out of the cart and let him play with it.
We bought him. He was over half off (a better deal than anywhere else, including Amazon). It was an awesome deal. We got him out to the Saturn (a 2 door sports coupe. yeah.) and moved things around 50 different ways. He didn't fit. I put him back in the cart, and stood over next to the building while Mike and Marsh went home to get the trailblazer. They came back about 30 minutes later, and still Kota didn't fit in the car. What the heck?! Mike had to take all of his stuff out of the back of the car, put it in the front by me and Marsh, and then open the back hatch window so we could fit Kota in.

It's no wonder Kota didn't fit in! The box is almost 30 inches tall! It says some assembly required, so we didn't think to take it out of the box. When we got him home, we took him out to assemble him for Christmas and found that, except for his tail, Kota was totally put together! DUH! We so could have just pulled him out of the box and put him in the Trailblazer!

Well, we learned our lesson at least. Now we know to always take the trailblazer when there is a chance we could be impulse shopping! :)

A Happy Thanksgiving

We had such a happy Thanksgiving yesterday. After eating lots and LOTS and LOTS of food, we all disperesed for various activities.

The kids colored Christmas ornaments, and Marshy played with Magnetix pieces.

The boys and girls gathered around the computer for some pre-Black Friday window-shopping. Some of the other boys gathered around the TV to watch the Seattle/Dallas game. Some of the others went into the basement to watch WALL-E on the home theater system.

Gabby colored a really pretty angel for their Christmas tree.

When it was time for pie, Marshy quietly sat in his chair drinking his "Coke" (it's really root beer) with his Phant and puppy. He loved the Snickers pie the best. Pumpkin was not so much a favorite.

Soon the newspaper was pulled out, and the ads spread around to everyone.

And of course, pie was present.

And what kind of Peterson family party would it be without some form or wrestling? If it isn't UFC style, then of course it better be TICKLE WRESTLING!

After the pie, families started to depart for 2nd Thanksgivings. We didn't have to go up to my parents', becase we went on Sunday, for which we were indeed thankful because we could hardly move.

Sparky was so tired he was falling asleep on Nana's lap.

Marshy, tired and grumpy, still had fun playing with his Lightning McQueen lego car.

And Sparky eventually fell asleep. It was a long, fun day, but we were glad to get home so we could pass out on the couch and watch a RedBox movie (we had a free rental code from McDonald's).

Elephant Man

Sunday, in honor of Mike's birthday, we went to the zoo. It was fun. Except that Marshy wouldn't let us put his jacket on. He fought us so hard that we decided we wanted to keep our stomachs and shins and let him have his way. We discovered that we are bigger wusses than he is! We were so cold that we ran into the monkey house, where we spent a lot of time because the monkey came right up to the window! (below)

He was so cute, and followed us across the room. When we turned to look at him, he'd act all shy and hid in the other corner, and then slowly creep back over when we weren't looking. It was funny.

After the monkeys, we went to the elephants. Big mistake. We should have saved it for last! Marsh just loves the elephants, and shouted "Phant! Phant!" the whole time. Then, when we got too cold to stand there watching them eat, we turned to go into the ape house. Marsh got so mad. He cried and cried for the "phants". He wanted nothing to do with the apes. So we went back outside into the cold to see the elephants again.

Then we decided to go to the other monkey house. Again, Marsh cried and cried, and wanted nothing to do with the Mandrill and the Lemurs. We thought maybe the bears would cheer him up, so we walked over in their direction, being quite far away from the elephants at this point. He didn't like the bears. We ran down to the giraffes, knowing they would be inside, and it would be warm and hoping he would like the giraffes.

Unfortunately, they have a large sign posted on the door saying "Please no screaming or loud noises". Well, that counted us out. So we ran up to the Asian Highlands to look at the cats. Marsh didn't want to look at the cats. He wanted the "phants" and was still yelling for us to go back. "PHANT! PHANT! PHANT!" People were looking at us strangely. Probably because sometimes phant sounds not quite right.

We went into the reptile house to get warm. Marsh hated it. We did get to see the porcupines trying to get it on. That was quite comical. Then, they realized the Meerkats, who shared their pen, were asleep and went over to wake them up. We hurried through the reptile house and rushed back over to the elephants one last time before we left the zoo.

Marsh was so happy! He sat there in awe, goosebumps and all, watching the elephants eat their hay. He was so sad when we went to the car, but luckily he has a stuffed elephant, and it was waiting for him.

Marsh had Goodnight Moon in the car, and there is an elephant in the pictures, and he can point it out to you and tell you what it is and what noise it makes. He did this most of the way to my parents' house, where we were eating lunch. He is my sweet little "Elephant Man". :)

Sunday Praises

Since it is Sunday, I thought I would share this worship-tastic video. This is one of my favorite Christian rock songs. I think the puppet is a cute idea. Enjoy!!

Remember this?

Probably not, because I don't think I ever actually posted a picture of this quilt progress on here. Anyway, this is the progress so far on Grandma M's quilt. It is massive! There are 10 rows, and I have only sewn on 2. Then of course there are the borders. And the backing. The 8 yards of backing. Oh! But good news regarding that! I found a store online that sells the 108" wide fabric from the same collection, and it is only $13.49 a yard, and I would only need 3 yards of it. I can't decide between blue or pink, but once I do, I am totally buying it! $40 is a lot easier on the wallet than $72.
Wanna know how it is hanging on my door? Yes, that is my front door. Yes, it is magnetic. Remember those car door advertising magnets I ordered that don't work on my car because Saturn uses fiberglass instead of metal? Yeah, they have been stuck to my door since then, and I have now found a wonderful use for them!

This is the pattern. I'm doing the middle size, so not quite as big as the whole picture shows. But still pretty big. I can only hope I can find the time to get it quilted and bound!! Eek! I keep getting quilts, not that that is a bad thing. It's a good thing. But then I wonder when I will have time to do my quilts. All three of them. I guess what I'll have to do is start easing them into the line. I'm going to have to hurry and get them done because Christmas is coming so soon!

A little Pre-Game song

I am a Utah man sir, and I live across the green. Our gang, it is the jolliest that you have ever seen. Our coeds are the fairest and each one's a shining star. Our yell, you hear it ringing through the mountains near and far.

Who am I, sir? A Utah Man am I. A Utah Man, sir, and will be 'til I die; Ki-yi! We're up to snuff; we never bluff, we're game for any fuss, no other gang of college men dare meet us in the muss. So fill your lungs and sing it out and shout it to the sky, we'll fight for dear old Crimson, for a Utah Man am I.

And when we prom the avenue, all lined up in a row, and arm in arm and step in time as down the street we go. No matter if a freshman green, or in a senior's gown, the people all admit we are the warmest gang in town.

Who am I, sir? A Utah Man am I. A Utah Man, sir, and will be 'til I die; Ki-yi! We're up to snuff; we never bluff, we're game for any fuss, no other gang of college men dare meet us in the muss. So fill your lungs and sing it out and shout it to the sky, we'll fight for dear old Crimson, for a Utah Man am I.

We may not live forever on this jolly good old sphere, but while we do we'll live a life of merriment and cheer. And when our college days are o'er and night is drawing nigh, with parting breath we'll sing that song: "A Utah Man Am I."

GO UTES!

Just thought I'd spread a little red school spirit on the {very} early morning before the BIG GAME! While I most likely will be unable to view the game (I'll be working) I am wishing them all the best of luck against the Cougars. Go team Go!

Evenin' Folks

Blakely over at Rockin' Smockin' had a GREAT! idea, and I stole it! hehe Tonight we are having Papa John's pizza, and will probably watch National Treasure 2, or something equally fabulous I'm sure. Maybe there will be a little Fable 2 on the XBOX thrown into the mix. It will be nice to have a nice relaxing night.

Kind of like the calm before the storm. Tomorrow is Mike's birthday. YAY! Of course, it is also the BYU-Utah game at Utah (GO UTES!), I have to finish huge, massive, heavily quilted quilt, and find some time to study anatomy.

Speaking of storms......The storm has arrived!! We have been waiting for the storm to arrive for quite some time now, and Mike is so happy it is here. He ordered his today, but because he is an employee, he won't get his until the customer demand for it has been met. It's a pretty cool phone.

Good News!

First of all, thanks to everyone who offered to look for that "special" batting for me! I totally appreciate it! :) After a long night, I resolved to take a look at the hole this morning. It is reparable! YAY! I might have to patch in some excess batting from other places, but at least I can fix it. Plus, I realized that she wants it super quilted, so nothing is going to really pop up in big sections, so I don't have to worry about the seam showing as much. I actually started quilting it today (I was so scared because I'm trying some new things) and it is turning out so cute! Remember I said our computer was overheating? Found out why this morning. Mike took the case off, and blew it out with the canned air, and there was so much DUST it was disgusting! Not that our house is dirty or dusty or anything. It is because our condo complex is next to the train tracks that are next to the gravel pit that is next to the freeway (and this is the house that Jack built). The gravel pits seem to be in operation at all ungodly hours of the night.....like 6 AM and 11 PM and then of course the trains I don't need to get into. But, in the 8 months that we have lived here, the gravel pits have gone from having no piles, to having piles almost as tall as our building. SERIOUSLY.

I mentioned crappy internet connections yesterday, too. Well, Mike realized this morning that it was because XBOX Live relaunched in a super cool new form, with Netflix integrated, and so everyone and their dog was trying to get on to watch a movie or play on XBOX Live. Stupid people! Now Harry and the Hendersons is gone, and we'll have to rent it. I hate having to wait for movies to come in the mail....especially since I haven't seen the 3 we currently have because our player went out (it should be here tomorrow! YAY!)

Twilight started tonight at midnight. I didn't get to go. :( But, I don't think that my friends went either, so it's okay. I'm hoping maybe we can all go like early next week or something. That would be fun. But not after Thanksgiving. I do not want to have to go to the mall with the Black Friday crowd.

Now for some happy recollections:

This will be my third Black Friday in a row that I haven't had to work. I'd like to thank my husband for making this possible by having an awesome job that allows me to not have to work at the mall anymore. One of my nieces was saying the other day how much fun she had working at Shopko last year on Black Friday. All I could think about was working at Deb, in the mall, and having to be there at 6 AM to redo all the signage because we weren't allowed to do it on Wednesday night, and having to move things around and get everything set up for the mobs of people. And then having to make sure that no silly girls were trying to steal the panties...or try them on.... And having to deal with all of the cranky people who were standing in line waiting to be rung up because the other people ringing weren't as fast, and I was the only one who was on a register that could do returns.

(Comic found here)

But, I think my favorite was that at some point during the day a lady (who worked at Penneys, and eventually became an AM at Deb...go figure) walked into my store carrying a pair of soaking wet pants, and plopped them down on my counter wanting to return them. She hadn't read the washing instructions, which were plastered all over the pants in stickers and tags, and had thrown the specially dyed jeans in with some other clothes of non-like colors. The pants bled. Go figure! She even had the tags and stickers with her. I told her I couldn't return them in the state they were in. She got really upset and yelled at me. I held my ground. The people behind her were trying not to laugh out loud. It was quite comical. After I left that evening, she came back and tried to return them again, once she had dried them in her dryer, but my assistant (who had been standing next to me trying not to burst into tears from laughing so hard when the incident happened) told her that she couldn't take them back, and then cited reasons I had explained to the girl earlier. Oh the joys of working at the mall during the holidays.

I'm going to leave you with this, while I am still happy, because in a few moments I am seriously going to go kick a trains ..... *&$%. For those of you who need a laugh, I found this gem here. Doesn't it sound like a great game?? :) Oh, and lets take a poll. Who does their holiday shopping online, and who preferes to go to the store? Leave your answers in the comments. This should be fun! :)

"I had a bad day again"

That Fuel song could totally be my theme song for the day! Oh boy!

The day actually started off pretty good. I didn't wake up with a headache, like I normally do, and I was totally going to get a lot of work done today.

Well, we got to the shop, and I didn't really start on anything until after lunch (we didn't get there until around 11). It took me a while to put this quilt on for one of my clients, because I swear it is the biggest quilt I have done. Well, not the top, just the back. The whole thing has taken up all of my pins. Yes, all of them! I got the quilt on, and decided that I needed to plan how to quilt the thing.

Marshy was playing nicely in his play pen in my quilting area, so I carefully picked up the quilt top and the batting and laid it over the quilting table so it would not be a temptation for little fingers to try to touch, or for someone needing the compressor to accidentally step on.

About 15 minutes, maybe 20, later I got up from the other room where I was drawing to get something I needed. I was totally shocked to find that Marshy had managed to move his playpen, with him still in it, close enough to pull the quilt batting back off the back of the quilting table, and had been ripping GIANT CHUNKS out of my client's batting!! I screamed. Then I spanked him. We have had this discussion with Marsh several times before. Try fifty.

mom: Marsh honey, we don't eat mommy's batting. It's yucky. Blech! (as I dig batting from my own personal batting stash out of his mouth)
Marsh: just smiles and laughs.

This has happened quite often. This is why I deliberately put the batting up out of reach. The funny thing is that I didn't hear him move the playpen, and he has to jump and lean in order to get it to move. There isn't a wall between the area he was in and the area I was in, just a few cupboards making a barrier.

Marshy got put in time out in his stroller. He was not happy. He kicked me so hard in the stomach. He got an even longer time out.

I jumped in the car to go buy some batting from the local quilt shop. As I was driving toward the town, I thought to myself "mmm....I wonder if Jo-Ann's carries it?" So I called them. No. "Well if they don't carry it I'd better check with the shop." No. Nor the shop in the next town over, or the town after that. I turned around. By this time I was screaming to myself in the car to help me get rid of all of the anger and frustration before I got back to work. It didn't help much. I was really mad.

I got back to the shop, and pulled out the phone book. I proceeded to call just about every fabric store on their list. Finally a girl at one said she thought they might carry it. (Apparently this is a hard to find batting?) She went back and looked on the shelf, and came back to the phone.

her: "yeah, we carry that."
me: prepackaged or on a roll?
her: prepackaged
me: do you have a queen size?
her: I don't know. Hold on.

she goes and checks.

her: yeah, we have a few.
me: how much are they?
her: I don't know. Hold on.

she goes and checks. At this point I am seriously thinking, "Why didn't she look at the price while she was back there? Good heck! If I'm calling about a product, I might want to know what you charge!"

her: ty-two ninety-nine. (someone in our shop was vacuuming, and I couldn't hear to save my life)
me: seventy two ninety nine?
her: no. ty-two nintey nine
me: what?
her. ty-two ninety nine.
me: WHAT?! SORRY I CAN'T HEAR, SOMEONE'S VACUUMING!
her: twen-ty-two-nine-ty-nine.
me: Okay, great thanks!

So, since this shop was close to my house, we went home and I dropped the family off and went over to get it. I got there, and do you think they had the batting? If you guessed yes, you are sorely mistaken.

I couldn't find it anywhere on their shelves, so I went to the counter to ask for help. I swear it was the same girl I talked to on the phone. She walked me back there and showed me their collection.

her: Here it is.
me: But there isn't the kind I need. Do you not have it?
her: Oh, I guess not.
me: Well when I called they told me you have it. I drove clear up here from ____ tonight because they told me you had it.
her: Well I don't see what the big deal is. What's the difference?
me: It quilts differently.
her: So?
me: It matters.

I then proceeded to call the remaining stores in that city. No one has it. I went home and called stores as far north as the county border, but to no avail.

There is one store that I was told might have it, but that they would be closed so I need to call them in the morning. If no one has it, I am seriously up poop creek without a paddle. I will try to repair the hole, maybe flip it around so that it is more towards the bottom, where there is a lot more excess batting. Maybe it won't even matter once I flip it! Oh wouldn't that be so nice?!

Oh, and also, yesterday we had a power surge in our building. Well, it was either a brown out or a power surge. Not sure, but it caused everything in the house to turn off. Well today, our brand new computer as of a few months ago, started to overheat. What the heck?! We bought the best cooling system to avoid this problem! So, in addition to the batting problem, I have to worry about how much I do on the computer because it could overheat and die.

And, our internet was streaming video super fast earlier today in really good quality, and now all of a sudden we can't watch anything online at all. It says our internet connection is so slow that we would not be able to watch the movie (Harry and the Hendersons on Netflix) without having constant pausing and buffering. Also, it won't even really let us utilize XBOX live on our XBOX. Mike tried to add my gamertag as a friend, and it made him do it several times before the internet actually let him do it. UGH! Electronics!! (Our PS3 is on its way home to us though, so we are happy to have a DVD and Blu-ray player again. Now we are hoping it doesn't go out a second time!) *fingers crossed*

Twilight is coming to theaters tomorrow....well, technically Friday morning at 12 AM, but do you think I get to go see it? Probably not. I'm so sad! I have seriously been waiting for this movie for forever (since I read the books) and I have read interviews, articles, watched online clips, watched music videos and trailers, etc. getting ready for this show. I was so excited. Now I'm just kind of sad. :(

Okay, enough of my venting and pity-party. I am going to be upbeat and cheerful tomorrow, even if I have to staple my mouth into a smile!!

Besides, it's the BYU-Utah game this weekend, at Utah, and I just have one fabulous thing to say:

LET'S GO UTES!!

WAHOO!!

(I went there for 3 years....I feel like they are still my team.)

300 POSTS!!!

Wow!! I cannot believe I have made it to 300 posts! And I only started blogging in January!!

I've posted a whole bunch of newly finished quilts here. Go check them out! Here is just a sampling:

These are only 2 of the quilts I posted about. To see more pictures of these, and the other quilts, go here now.

Today we had Colton's Angels. It was a fun night. We learned how to make this really yummy, easy bread. I can't wait to try it out for myself and have Mike say "WOW! This is good stuff!" That would make me so happy. :)

Today we also decided what we are getting for Christmas. Ready for it?......COOKBOOKS!!! YAY! And not just any lame-o cookbooks, but really good ones. There are 6 we are trying to decide between. We are getting 4 of them. When I find out which 4 Mike orders, I'll let you know. Marshy is getting a Black & Decker tool playest, complete with "working" drill press, vicegrips, circular saw, and jigsaw. We put it together the other night. It is cool! We even played with it a little before we put it away. He is also getting Elmo Live! He loves Elmo, and, thankfully, isn't afraid of him everytime we pass him in the store. He has a few books with Elmo's picture in it, and he will open them up and say "Melmo! There he is!" It's really quite cute. Marshy will also be recieving 2 quilts, if I can get them done in time! 1 needs to be bound, and one needs to be quilted. Yikes!

I finally finished my grammar section of my schoolwork, and am now moving on to all the fun medical stuff. Right now I'm studying anatomy. I'm a little nervous, because I know that the patella is the knee cap, and I'm pretty sure that the tibia and fibia are in the leg, but then where does the ulna go? Is it in the arm? (See why I'm nervous?)

Well, there's my 300th post. Not to exciting, I know. Sorry. I think I'm really just more proud of myself for actually making it to 300 posts. I honestly didn't think I would enjoy blogging as much as I have. I am so lucky to have you great readers, and blog friends. It's nice to have friends, and I appreciate all of your comments. And if there are any lurkers out there, I'm glad to have you too!

Cool New Blog - Go check it out!!

For the Scuba diver inside, go check out this great new site. It is not only great because it has cool things you would need as a Scuba diver, but because my DH and BIL (mostly the BIL, although scubud was DH's idea) have been working on it.

I am not a Scuba diver....yet. I want to be one. I have a couple of obstacles I need to overcome first, though.

A) I have 2 yr old. Who will watch him while I am out diving or in a class?

B) I have no money to spend on Scuba diving right now, let alone the class to get certified. I have to buy 8 yards of backing fabric for Grandma's quilt for Christmas. Do you know how expensive that will be?! 8 YARDS!!!

C) Everytime I have money to take the class, I end up getting sick or have some weird ear problem. You can't dive when you have congestion. That would be bad. Very bad.

D) I don't have my basic gear set yet. I really want this cool baby pink colored mask, fin, snorkel set, but I can't find it anywhere in the USA. I have been able to find it in the UK, but then I have to pay for shipping to the US, and it's way expensive anyway.

But this doesn't stop me from at least looking at the cool new Scuba Gadget website and drooling over some of the things on there. (Like the dive caddy that compresses all of your stuff into a backpack. Totally cool!)

Oh, and yeah, my 300th post is coming up in like two posts. Not sure yet what I'll do for it. Have any suggestions? I am totally open!! :)

Procrastination

It's one of those nights. I really should be studying. But I don't really feel like it tonight. I think it's because I recently discovered that the Career Step training program outlines all of the modules for the course, and not just Part 1 like I had thought. So, here I have been sitting, freaking out thinking that I had to study 50+ hours a week to complete everything listed by January 31st so I could take the final and start Part 2 in February. I have been staying up until 3 or 4 AM sitting in front of my TV screen (because my computer is hooked up to the tv and I don't have a computer monitor) on a very uncomfortable folding chair with the keyboard on my lap because if I move too far away from the sensor it stops recognizing all the important letters like the h in the and the n in and, or random letters that I have to type in for my spelling tests.

Well, anyway, I discovered last night that the Career Step training program outlines all of the modules, so, I really only have to study like 30 hours a week or so to finish the whole program by the end of March. That is sounding a whole lot better to me. Of course, I think I have until May or June or something like that, but the sooner I finish, the sooner I can start working! :)

Of course, this would be just a part time night job that I do from home in my "spare" time. Wait, what spare time is that? Oh yeah, the time right now, late at night when my family is asleep and I have peace and quiet and no constant shouting from a little man named Marsh.

Which reminds me.....Marsh has been so good about me working all day and studying all night, and then sleeping in mornings. He is also so good to remind me to get up by politely yelling from the kitchen, where he has been sitting in his high chair for about 40 minutes eating breakfast and watching Dora, "Mommy! Where are you?!" This is my cue to wake up and stay awake. He is such a good boy to help take care of his mommy.

Well, I guess I've procrastinated enough....although Fable 2 for XBOX 360 is calling my name....maybe I'll play a little. NO! I have to study at least 1 hour tonight!! I promised 1 hour minimum a day. That shouldn't be too hard, right? *sigh*

I wish.....

Sometimes I wish that I could take a day off from work. Then I get paid and I remember how nice it is to actually have money. Not like it stays in my possession for very long. Usually it heads right out of the account to pay bills or something. At least it was mine for a minute though, right? So I guess sometimes I wish I had more money, too.

Sometimes I wish I had more time. Sometimes I wish I had less time. For whatever reason, having a deadline and being in "crunch time" mode really gets me going fast. Of course, I do have a baby who can only stand me working so much. He is really good though. And he is so cute when we get home after a long day. He gets so excited about dinner! It is the funniest thing!

Sometimes I wish people would let me get caught up with my work before they brought me more work. Like today, I thought I only had 2 panel quilts. Well, turned out there were 3, and one more is on its way to me tomorrow. Don't get me wrong, I totally love having all the business. But, sometimes it is a little overwhelming to get 6 quilts in 1 day, especially when you aren't used to that.

Sometimes I wish my batting supplier was closer than they are. I need more batting, and now I have to plan in a trip up to Sandy to get it. Great! A whole 3 hours of my time totally wasted in driving. Maybe I can convince Mike to pick me up some on Thursday after work. That would be so nice of him.

This is what I accomplished today, in spite of all of my wishing. After almost a complete week's worth of work, this quilt is finally finished. Go here and look at the rest of the pictures....especially the back. The back is the coolest!

I also did 2 of these panels. Remember, I'm getting one more tomorrow? Close ups are located here.
I had kind of a conundrum about these quilts today. First of all, I am the type of person who would rather have my panels outlined. That's just me. My client wanted a design done over the top of the panel. That's her style. So this wasn't my favorite project, but I am really quite pleased with how cute it turned out. I was worried the thread I used would detract from the images on the panel, but it actually blends in really nicely, and you notice the pictures more than the quilting.

Then, after I did the first two (both on the same piece of backing fabric) I had to decide whether or not to put the next set on or do something else. Remember, I only have 1 of the 2 for the next set. I have to get the 2nd one tomorrow. So, I thought well maybe I'll put on "M"'s next quilt. She has brought me 2 more. One is huge and one is "small". Well I think that small is actually more like in between throw and twin size, because it isn't very small to me. It is cute, and has a minkee back, but she wants it quilted quite tightly, which is time consuming.

As I stood there contemplating "M", panel, or go home, Marshy woke up from his nap. That solved my problem for me! YAY! So now all I need to do is to pick up the other panel in the morning and hurry and get the other 2 done so that my client's set of 4 are finished. Then I think I will start on "M"'s minkee-backed quilt. Hopefully I can get a lot done tomorrow. That would be nice, especially since I have 9 rather good-sized quilts awaiting my services.

Preview

I'm sure I mentioned it in an earlier post, but in case I didn't:

I got a quilt from one of my clients, "Joy", and she wanted it quilted just like the picture on the pattern....or as closely as I could match it. I put the quilt on last Wednesday. I have spent all day Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, half the day Saturday, and all day today (Monday) working on the sets of 3 diagonal lines, all 1/4 inch apart, that go across the quilt. Finally, at about 3:45 this afternoon I finished the lines. *insert choir of angels singing praises here* Now it is time to get to work on the feathering. I was very nervous about this part. I have drawn it out many times on paper, but never at a true diagonal, like it will be on the quilt. Also, I have drawn them various sizes, so I wasn't sure how big they would actually turn out.

I chalked the first set lightly onto the quilt, so lightly I could barely see! Then I took a deep breath, anchored my thread, and pushed the "go" button. Oh I was so scared!! I didn't want to mess it up, because unpicking at this point would definitely not be a pleasant task. The first one turned out PERFECT! HOORAY!! I was feeling a little better about it. I did the next few on the row, and rolled the quilt down. (Normally I roll up, but I have to feather from the bottom up due to spacing concerns). I did the second row. No problems. I did the third row... all was going fine. Then I ran out of bobbin. So now I'm here blogging about this quilt. I took a picture with my camera phone. It's a little blurry, because the camera isn't all that great, but you get the gist of the pattern.

There you go! Your sneak peek preview! I can't wait to finish it! Every other row goes up. The other rows go down. Since I can't do this upside down and backwards (I'm not like Ginger Rogers who can do everything backwards in high heels!) I have to do the whole quilt one direction, take it off and flip it around to finish it. I'm hoping to finish the one direction right now, and flip it tonight. Then, hopefully I can get this sucker finished tomorrow. Oh that would be so nice!

Well, stay tuned! I will have more and better pictures later this week! :)

Why that baby is running around NAKED

This morning was not a good morning. I was rudely awakened by Marsh who was screaming "MOMMY! MOMMY! DADDY! MOMMY! MOMMY!" and clearly jumping up and down in his crib. I rolled over in bed and said to Mike "He called for you." He smiled and said, "He wanted you first." Ugh.

So I got out of bed and went into his room. Yep, he was jumping alright. Didn't stop until I pulled him out of bed. We went into the living room, and he started playing with his cars. I went to go get ready for church.

Apparently Saturday morning I had put the shower curtain, and all of our towels into the washing machine. Apparently I had totally forgotten about them, and they had soured overnight. I had to rewash everything. Ugh.

So I found some old, barely larger than hand towels, and took a shower in Marshy's bathroom, since our shower didn't have a curtain. Then I stumbled upon a nice, normal size towel. Where was it? In Marshy's room of all places! So Mike took a shower with a nice, big, normal size towel in Marshy's bathroom. Then I filled Marshy's tub up with water and put him in it for bathtime. He had three little cars, his set of stacking cups, and a Little People boat that actually floats! I walked out into the living room for 2 seconds. Seriously, I wasn't gone all that long. All noise in the bathroom ceases and all I can hear is "Ehhhhh. Huh Huh. Ehhh." CRAP!

I ran into the bathroom, but couldn't see anything floating. I picked up his hair washing cup and started dumping water on his hair. "We're gonna hurry and get you clean before you poop in the tub again!" I vowed. Well, I spoke a little too soon because that's when I saw the floaters. EWWW!!!

I pulled Marsh out of the tub and ran down the hall, through our room and into the bathroom with him at arms length, yelling for Mike to bring me his towel. I put Marsh in our shower, the one without the shower curtain, and turned the water on. The water was too hot, then too cold, then it wouldn't switch over to just the detachable head. I was soaked. Marsh was screaming. Mike was trying to help me keep the bathroom dry. Then Marsh calmed down a little. He decided he liked the shower. In fact, he liked it so much that I actually was able to let go of his arm while I got the shampoo ready for him. Of course, I had to do everything one-handed because I was holding the shower head over him to keep him from freezing, but at least he wasn't fighting to get out.

I wrapped him in his towel and took him in the other bathroom where his clothes were. I managed to get his diaper on before he started screaming for all of his toys from the bath. Yeah, they were yucky, I wasn't giving them to him. *cringe* He wouldn't let me put his pants on. Or his shirt. Just his socks and his diaper. Then he started into the hysterics.

This is my almost naked boy hiding from me and his pants. He wanted nothing to do with his clothes. Nothing.

See? He is trying to tell me to go away while hiding from the evil mom who wouldn't give him his pooped-on toys (which went immediately into the washing machine for a heavy-duty super hot wash). Eventually he gave in to the clothes, but it still took me and Mike holding him down to get the pants on! And, the toys are all cleaned, and the bathroom is poop-free once more. Hooray!

Refrigerator

Remember this lovely? Well, for those of you who are just now discovering my blog, this is a refrigerator lock that I installed in August to keep Marsh out of the fridge. Well, it's done a pretty good job....... until recently.

I discovered this morning that Marsh not only know how the lock works, but he knows how to get around the lock. Yep, that's right. He is that smart.

First he tried to push the button in while pulling on the door. Fortunately our little 2 year old isn't strong enough yet. Then he decided that the easiest way would be to push up on the long side lock part until the latch was free. Oh yeah, he can easily do that. GREAT! The fridge popped open, and before I knew it he was trying to hoist a brand new gallon of milk out of the door!

THE DOOR!! He would have succeeded too, if it hadn't been for us meddlin' parents! I can't even imagine having to clean up that mess. Oh I don't want to think about it! This just means I'm going to have to pay more attention to the fridge again.

Oh, and Mike thought it would be a good idea to take the door knob covers off of Marsh's bedroom door. Umm....yeah, that's all fine and good until I take the front off the crib and turn it into a day bed. Yeah, then we'll have a little one running around the house, and either pounding on our door or trying to climb up on Mike's side of the bed (depending on whether the door is open or closed). Not sure if I really want that.

Maybe I'll hold off on the whole daybed thing. How long did you guys all wait before putting your kids in a "big boy" or "big girl" bed instead of a crib? My mom thinks we should wait until we have another baby, but at the rate that is happening Marsh will be 5...or at least 4-ish. I'm thinking that it's getting close to being time for the front to come off, but Mike isn't sure.

Marsh usually doesn't take a nap during the day anymore, so he goes to bed around 7, and usually sleeps all night unless I get him up to change him before I go to bed. But then there are those nights where he fights and kicks and screams and cries and cries and cries until we let him fall asleep on the couch watching Spongebob or Cars or Ratatouille or Baby Einstein videos. (Those aren't my favorite nights!)

Playing Catch up

Firstly, I mentioned in a post earlier today that I was going back to school for Medical Transcription. Well, when I got home today my books were waiting for me!! (and my foot pedal, but I think I'm the only one excited about that...Mike thought it was wierd I was so excited about it).
Note how big the bottom book is compared to my average-sized thumb? yeah, HUGE!

I think I was most excited about this book though, my Illustrated Medical Dictionary. Woah, it is so heavy! The box weighed almost 14 lbs, and I think I know why!!

Secondly, I think I mentioned before that I am making quilts for Christmas this year. Well, this is Grandma H's quilt, blocks all pieced, laid out waiting to be sewn into a top.

And this is Grandma H's quilt top! YAY!

And this is my favorite block out of all of them, I think. Ooh I love this fabric! Cotton Blossoms by BONNIE OLAVESON AND CAMILLE ROSKELLEY FOR MODA FABRICS. (sorry that's all in caps, I copied and pasted, and it wound up that way. Oops!) There are two different color lines, but I bought them both and combined them into one quilt, and I think it turned out a lot better than I thought it would!

I want to back this one in Minkee, but I'm not sure. It's 60 x 60, so as far as I can figure out I would have to buy 4 yards of that stuff, and it isn't the cheapest fabric ever made. But, it would make this an even lovlier, and snugglier, gift. Doncha think? Still not sure, but I'm thinking we might splurge a little on it, since all we did last year was flowers for G-ma.

I also finished these three quilts for a client, "M", and this cute quilt for another client. Right now I am working on this really cute quilt for my client, "Joy". She wants diagonal lines quilted across the thing in sets of 3, 1/4 in apart. HOLY COW! It is turning out to be a chore, but it will definitely be worth it. I have only done about half the lines, but it is already looking so dang cute!! I am so excited to share pictures. Hopefully I can get it done this weekend. *fingers crossed* I've only been working on it since Tuesday!! It isn't that big a quilt, but ruler work is a lot more time consuming than I would have thought.

Well, I'd better get back to studying before I hit the hay! Got goals to keep up with after all! :)

Back to School! :)

I have recently gone back to school. I know, I am already so busy, what was I thinking?! Well, I was thinking that having a job that starts at $20,000 a year is better for getting a building loan than a job that gets "Sometimes $800 a month, sometimes more or less". So, I decided to go back to school. Not actually on a campus though, just online school.

The school I am going to is Fayetteville Technical Community College in, you guessed it, Fayetteville NC. I am taking the medical transcription course. I should be done by May or June with both parts. YAY!

FTCC has partnered with Career Step to offer this course. So far I am enjoying it. They have this "study plan" tool that lets you put in your desired completion date and then it tells you how many hours you need to study a week, when you have to have each module done, and it shows your progress so far. It's pretty cool. I want to finish part 1 by Jan. 31st, so I have to study around 40 hours a week. Yeah!

I have been doing most of my studying at home at night. Last night, I was working on the keyboard kinetics module, which is full of typing tests and stuff, and I was so into it that before I knew it it was 4 AM! What the heck? 4 hours sure does go by fast!! :) Oh, and without practicing I got 100 WPM on my first test! I'm pretty proud about that one.

There is a downside to going to school though, and that is that you actually have to study. I have forgotten how much studying is involved in school work. I think that's why I haven't ever gone back after I left the U of U (GO UTES!). This isn't boring studying like before, though. This is actually really fun. I am pleasantly surprised. Now if I can just stay on the roll I'm on, and finish by my goal. That would be awesome!

My Take:

This post might make some people angry. However, I am entitled to my own opinion, as is everyone else. I have been hearing things said that make me think: "Gosh, I'm pretty sure we've all forgotten how our great nation works". This is my personal take on things. Remember, this is just my own opinion. I'm not making you think what I think is how you should think.

One that I have heard is "Our new president-elect is going to change the Constitution...."
a. Do you know how hard it is to change the Constitution? It is hard enough that there are only 27 amendments, and the last successful amendment passed was in 1992, limiting Congressional pay raises. There are 2 steps to passing an amendment to the Constitution. First, the amendment must be proposed by a 2/3 majority vote in BOTH houses of Congress. This is why many amendments don't make it very far: one house will approve, the other won't. Second, the amendment must be ratified by 3/4 majority of the states in the Union. (source: Wikipedia)

What does this mean? This means that even if President-elect Obama wanted to change the Constitution, he would have to have Congress successfully propose the amendment and then 3/4 of the 50 states (37.5 states) would have to also want the proposed amendment and then vote to ratify it. If you would like to see a list of all of the failed amendments, you can go here.

b. Fortunately we live in a Democracy. Not a monarchy or a theocracy or an Oligarchy or anything else. We have representation in our government. We get to vote, without pressure from any person or organization, for those we wish to represent us. There are also 3 branches of government to make sure that the other branches stay in check: The Executive (the President) the Legislative (Congress) and the Judicial (the Supreme Court and other court systems). That is the brilliance behind our governmental system. Props to the Founding Fathers!

".... and he's going to take away our guns!"
a. I grew up in a home where my dad hunted. We had loads of guns. They were hidden in the closets, in desk drawers, the glove box in the car (he had a permit, don't worry), and in a locked safe in the garage. We were, like many kids are, taught that if we ever stumbled upon one of these weapons that we were under NO CIRCUMSTANCE to touch said weapon. This being said, I understand that a lot of people like to hunt or shoot skeet or have a gun because it is "cool". I also understand that having a gun provides a sense of protection. But so does a really big knife....or a sword (both of which could be recently purchased at our local mall).... or even a cast iron frying pan can get the job done. I don't own a gun, or a cast iron frying pan, but my husband does have a few ornamental swords that are still quite sharp, and just as deadly. I'm sure if I had to use them for protection, I probably could.

b. Look at the number accidental shootings. It makes me so sad! Earlier this year we did funeral pieces for a young man who was accidentally shot while hunting with his 10-ish year old
nephew. I can't even fathom the pain that that young boy must experience every day.

c. Maybe a little more weapon control isn't a bad thing. Firstly, you don't have to hunt to survive like you used to. Now, hunting is a sport...kind of a sad one. I know several people who have family members who hunt, bring home the meat, eat it a few times, freeze it and forget about it until the next year when hunting season rolls around. What a terrible waste!

d. What if the weapon control was really just a raise in the prices of ammunition? Do you think that people would rush out and spend $200 on a box of bullets if they were upset because they got fired? I think that maybe if ammo was more expensive, people would think twice about buying it, especially in this economy. My favorite is Chris Rock's take on this topic (he does, unfortunately, use some unchoice language, so watch using your own discretion).

"....and he's going to socialize healthcare!"
a. According to this bi-partisan website, he wants to "promote affordable, accessible and high quality healthcare." Also, he wants to make sure that every child in America has health care coverage.

b. Do you know how expensive health care is today? Mike's employer recently had its yearly Open Enrollment period. We found out that our insurance plan had gone up $300 for next year. Now, while we are given a non-smoker discount, this still would put us paying around $200 more next year. So we looked at switching to another plan. The next cheaper plan was significantly less, but where our current plan has a $15 copay every time we go to the doctor, this one had a family deductible of $1500 that would have to be met before the insurance would pay anything. Doesn't seem like a whole lot, at first. But, then we remembered how much it costs to actually go to the doctor.

(Note: I am actually looking at an explanation of benefits here. I am not making these numbers up. Wish I was, but I'm not) At Marshy's last well-child visit, it was $150.00 to see the doctor. He had 4 shots: $25.00, $76.00, $15.00, and $25.00. That makes the total for us to take him to our doctor $291.00. What did I pay? My $15 copay. That is it. Now, if we were to switch to the other plan, I would have to pay almost $300 out of pocket. And if he gets sick in between well-child visits? Well, that would be another $150 until the deductible was met. I have to admit that if I had to pay that much just to see a doctor, I surely would be toughing out everything. And if we had been on that insurance when Marshy had his seizure in February, and we had to take an ambulance to the hospital, we wouldn't have had enough money to move into our new place. It was that expensive! ($500 for the ambulance, $800 for the ER, if I remember correctly, plus the cost of antibiotics).

c. Had McCain won, I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't be worrying the way they are, but only until his healthcare plan came to fruition. He wanted to make it so that companies weren't required to provide insurance. In exchange, he would give every family $5000 to go buy their own.

The plan we are currently on (and are sticking with, despite the rise in cost to us) is around $16,000. We don't pay that much. Mike's employer pays most of it. We figured it out and we pay roughly $200 a month, or somewhere around that, for our entire family. Now, under McCain's proposed plan we would get a free $5000. That is nice, but we would still need to come up with $11,000 to pay for the rest of the plan.

I know that free money sounds nice, but you have to look at it like this. A lot of people forget that their employer is paying a large chunk of the insurance premium. Some people might say "Oh, well we only pay $3000 a year on insurance, so that gives us extra money." Sorry, not so my friends.

d. I'm pretty sure that while health insurance is important to our President-elect, it isn't right up there at the top of the list. There are more pressing matters that need to be dealt with like the economy and two wars that need to be ended somehow.

I have heard people say "What's the hype about having a bi-racial president?" or "Well they only voted for him because he is black." Firstly, the "hype" is that in a nation that is still, unfortunately, extremely racist (whether it be against Hispanics, African Americans, Jews, or other demographics) we were able to elect an African American man to the highest office in our government, and 3 of the states he won were states that were in the Confederacy during the Civil War. I think that that is a pretty big deal. Secondly, while President-elect Obama is in fact bi-racial, having a white mother and an African father, that is not why many people voted for him. A lot of people see him as just another person trying to make a difference in the world the best way he can.

To those of you who still say "Well, I still don't get why everyone is saying that history is being made" all I have to say is: WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? Not only did we elect our first non-white president, paving the way for women and people of other races to perhaps become elected to office in the future, we had the biggest voter turn out in years! Sounds like history being made to me.

Well, that's my take on things. Like I said before, you don't have to agree with me on any of this. I'm just merely making my opinion known, like many of you have on your own blogs or myspace or facebook pages or wherever else you happen to be using your right to freedom of speech. Feel free to discuss or comment or whatever, but please keep in mind that I do have one rule, courtesy of Thumper's mother:

"If you can't say something nice, please don't say anything at all!"

Thanks for reading! :)

Comparisons

I was cleaning out my email inbox tonight and stumbled across some pictures I had totally forgotten about. They were taken last summer. I can't believe how much has changed in a year!!

THEN: Marsh enjoying the swings in Payson
NOW: Marsh enjoying the swings in Sp. Fork. I swear he's grown, maybe it's just the swings, but it doesn't look like he's much taller in them, does he?

THEN: Marsh enjoying some rest time in his crib with Puppy.

NOW: Marsh enjoying some rest time on the couch with puppy, bear, and baba (Dad is in the picture too, but I promised I wouldn't put that one up here)
I can't believe how big he has gotten in a year! It all just seems so gradual to me, I guess. Well, until I try to pick him up and I strain under the 36 lbs of dead weight! :)