Family Reunion

We had the family reunion yesterday at a local park. This lovely bug was waiting for us in the grass when we got there. At first we thought he was dead, but then he started to move, so obviously he wasn't. He must've just been scared or something.
Jake was too wussy to see if it hurts when he pinches you with his pincers, so he tried to get it to pinch a stick instead. The bug was too smart, and would have none of that.
Lola, and her baby, Turtle, and daughter, Tallulah-bell.
Scott, Mike, and their dad. They were talking about scuba diving and other fun things they want to do.

It was really hot, but it was fun to see everyone. Pretty much everyone had a great time! (Marshy didn't, he was hot and grumpy most of the time.)

UGH!

This is EXACTLY how I feel right now! As you can see, Marshy fell asleep sitting in his porta-high chair on the floor at his daddy's feet. We had family reunion today. I will post pictures tomorrow, if I have the strength. We'll see. Anyway, here is Marshy, sleeping away at Aunt Karen's. Now I am going to finish checking my email and crawl into bed. Mmmmm.....sleep! So nice! Goodnight!

What am I doing?

It is well after midnight here, and I find myself hurriedly making No Bake Chocolate Cookies for the family reunion tomorrow afternoon. Yes, I sure did put it off. I totally forgot we were supposed to bring a dessert to share until around 6:30 tonight when someone mentioned that they didn't have anything they needed. I was going to make chocolate chip cookies, but that involves using an oven and a timer, and since it was after midnight when I started, I figured I should do a "no bake" option.

Why didn't I just make it in the morning? you ask. Well, because my local brand spanking new fabric shop is having a small sale in front of their store at 8 AM. Select fabrics are only $3.00 a yard! What a steal! I need 3 yards of fabric for my Very Hungry Caterpillar quilt, and I thought to myself "Self, you can't get it any cheaper at Jo-Ann's, so you might as well go check it out." Of course, I HAVE to get there early before all the good fabrics are gone!

So, here I sit patiently waiting for the cookies on the Silpat to cool enough that I can put them in the refrigerator until tomorrow morning. Hopefully they end up tasting good. I licked the spoon, and it was delightful, but you never know with these things....they might be nasty after they've hardened. Or maybe I'll just tell everyone they turned out bad and eat them all myself!!!

Quilt 4 is underway!!

So, I really think I've just totally freaked myself out about the whole finishing 5 quilts by the end of the month thing. I'm pretty sure I can do it now!! Why? you ask. Well, I will tell you!

Mike discovered today that he could purchase the cd key for Diablo 2 and its expansion pack for $5.00 from Blizzard, and download the software for free from their website. He usually plays a game called Dungeon Runners, but lately has been totally excited because they just announced Diablo 3 will be coming out sometime in the distant future. To some of you this might not make any sense, but I grew up with a little brother who LOVED Diablo 2 and Starcraft and is currently a HUGE World of Warcraft fan, so I am totally used to the excitement that comes from a new Blizzard game. Anyway! Mike bought the cd key and was downloading Diablo 2. It took over 5 hours! And of course, all of the websites that I wanted to go to were javascript so I would've slowed down the already slow download speed, which meant that I couldn't use the internet until the download was completed. Then Mike had to play the first quest. Of course!

Well, while he was busy downloading and playing his new game, I started working on Quilt 4. There are 7 rows, and I finished the first 4 today. I am really excited. It took about 4 hours to get as much done today as I did, and most of the first 2 rows were already done! It's a very difficult pattern though, so I'm sure that's why. It has nothing to do with the fact that I am slow, because I'm not. I actually sew pretty quickly. One year at Deer Valley I did 4 quilt tops....in just a week! It is a personal record.

Anyway, so while I was totally freaking out this morning about not being able to get my 5 quilts done, plus the 4 that I have for clients, and the possibility of 3 more for a client, I have now calmed down a lot. I think that if I just put in a couple of long days with the Gammill, then I'll be able to get it done. And, I am quite confident that I can get it done! I'm really good at quilting, at least I think I am....and I'm pretty quick. Usually Marshy is really good about it, too. He watches movies and listens to my music with me and everything. He is such a good boy. And very patient.

Anyway, I will definitely keep you updated on my progress of Quilt 4. I didn't take any pictures, because I want to wait until it's done. It doesn't really make sense right now, but it will once it's squared off and has its borders on.

Quilt 5

After about an hour of sewing today, I finished the Very Hungry Caterpillar quilt. YAY! I still need to buy some cute backing fabric though.
Aren't the bright colors just great?? The pictures don't show them off the best, but they really are bright and beautiful!

Now I can focus on finishing Quilt 4...or I quess we could call it Quilt 5 now. I'm hoping to get a lot of work done on it before vacation so I don't have to worry about all of the little pieces of fabric getting lost.

Quilt 5...but will it get finished in time??

Once there was a young mother who saw the latest issue of Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting on her local magazine stand. Being the kind of person who loves quilting, and especially this publication, she opened it and saw several quilts she wanted to make.

Among them were this one: The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
She went to several quilt fabric websites and priced out the fabric she would need for the project. Her total before shipping was over $100!! She knew her husband would never allow her to spend that much just for a quilt for their little boy, so she decided to order the kit from the magazine instead....even though it said that fabrics in kits would be similar to the ones shown in the magazine. The kit was on backorder, and she had completely forgotten about it. UNTIL.....

The company charged her credit card. She received no notification or email, however, so didn't know when to expect her package. Today when she arrived home from a long and very HOT day at work, she discovered a small package tucked in the corner of the doorway.

She went inside and opened it and much to her surprise, this is what she found:

Her kit had arrived. She was so excited. She laid out all the fabrics and was so happy to see they were all from the Very Hungry Caterpillar collection!!
Aren't they so fun and bright??
She even started cutting out the pieces to put the quilt together. She has decided that this will be quilt 5 for the Finish 5 by end of July challenge. It should be fairly easy to piece together, and she can't wait to get it done!

Okay, I'm done referring to myself in the third person. I've used the backspace bar so much throughout this post...replacing "I" with "she" that I'm tired of using my brain! So, I'm really happy it's finally here, and tomorrow I'm staying home to quilt (and clean).

As for the challenge...I'm a little concerned I might not get all 5 quilted by the end of the month. I had a client bring me 2 quilts today that she is going to show at a local quilt show, and I have to have them done before we go on vacation on the 19th. Yikes! I also have another quilt for a family friend that I need to do. Then, I got a call from a potential client, and she might or might not want me to do 3 runners for her. Plus, I still have one of Mike's aunt Karen's quilts (which probably could wait, except that it's been there for over 1 year!). So, hopefully I can get everything done in time to give me some time to quilt my own things this month. There are a few quilts that I could probably do on my machine while I'm on vacation....but we'll see how well that goes. I've only ever used a long-arm, so I'm not sure how I'll do on smaller one. I will definitely be keeping ya'all posted with my progress!

I go to the professionals for THIS??

I got my oil changed about 9 days ago, at a local Jiffy Lube. I have never had a problem with Jiffy Lube. I used to go to Wal-mart, but they put the wrong kind of oil in once, and they cost the same as Jiffy Lube, so I switched. Plus, Jiffy Lube supposedly vacuums your carpets.....I have yet to have my carpets vacuumed, but they claim they do it.

Anyway, the other night Mike and I saw a commercial for KFC's new sauceless spicy chicken wings. They come in a bucket of 20 for $9.99. We decided to get some, so while Mike stayed home and tried to get Marshy to sleep, I ran out to get some chicken.

My car has been making some weird noises....noises like it makes when it's low on oil. So, while I waited for them to make my wings, I popped the hood to check the oil. This is what I saw:

Yes, that is where you put the oil in. Yes there is no cap. Want to know where the cap was? So did I. Fortunately, I found it. This is where I found it:
Yes, it is wedged down between one of the belts and the engine. Not really a good place for your oil cap to be. Now, the first thing that came to mind was "Oh no they didn't!" Then, I recalled my visit......

{flashback about 9 days ago, it was a very slow day at the Jiffy Lube as I was their only customer}

tech: now, your oil wasn't registering on your dipstick, so we recommend the engine flush. It's $50.

me: Sorry, didn't budget for that this month.

tech gives me the "you don't take good care of your car" stare. I hate that stare!

me: But I'll try to budget for it next time?

tech: Ok. Also, it looks like you need a radiator flush. It's $50.

me: Well, I just had my radiator replaced a few months ago, so they did that for me.

tech: We could tell. Everything looks good up there.

me: {then why were you trying to sell me a flush??? Grrr!}

tech: Also, you need a new air filter, $14, and a new pcv valve, $7.

me: I replaced my pcv valve last winter, and my husband will take care of the air filter.

tech: {gives me the stare again.} The air filter is really dirty, but ....I guess we won't worry about those then. {Again gives me the stare}

Well....$45 later, an oil change and a new license plate light bulb later (which I later found out would've only cost me like $2 at the parts store) I was ready to go. They gave me my receipt and I drove off.

{flash forward to the other day}

I decided to review my receipt. First of all, they said they gave me a new sticker. I checked....I still have the same sticker that says my oil change was due in January or when I reached 105,000 miles. Well, I just reached the mileage, so I went in. But now I don't have a new reminder sticker, so how am I supposed to remember when I need to go in?

Secondly, the receipt said I was 1/2 quart low when I got there. If I was a 1/2 quart low then I would have registered on the dip stick. So, if I was registering, why did they tell me I didn't? And why did the try to sell me the flush? Probably because they wanted all of my money!!

Thirdly, they said they had performed a quality inspection on the vehicle. If they performed a quality inspection, then doncha think they would've found the missing oil cap?? I'm thinking that even though it was a slow day, and they got me in and out within 10 minutes, they weren't doing a good enough job if they missed something major like that!

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to make a call. I'm not usually one to actually call. I usually just complain for a day or so and then forget about it. But this was bad. Putting the cap back on is the simplest of tasks, and yet they failed to do it. Plus, I am now low on oil. This shouldn't happen after only 9 days....And I know I don't have an oil leak. Hopefully they will learn from their errors and this won't happen to anyone else.