Birthdays and updates

Hard to believe the year is half over.  I need to review the "list" and see where I stand and what things I need to start working on.

First - here are things that I'm doing okay with -- working on:

3.  Finish my WIPs (Grinch, Nate's Quilt, Quilt-along, ...) --

I finished the baby clothes quilt and am just about done quilting Nate's Quilt.  Next I'll probably work on the Grinch quilt. 

13.  Blog twice a week : doing okay with this.
14.  Send Birthday cards to my children and grandchildren -- on track so far!
16.  Try something new/different each month : not doing great with this. I need to come up with things that I really want to do.
18.  Birthday blog posts : not always on time, but I'm doing them.
24.  1SE  (one second everyday) project : getting most days.  (though there are a lot of cat pictures to fill it)
25. Work on decluttering : I need to get back to this.
32. 1400 Fitbit miles
40.  Put money in emergency fund : working on this, but I'll need to use it if I don't get a job.

The following are things I'm thinking I might be able to accomplish this summer.

5.  Knit a blanket for grandchild #5
8.  Travel to Arizona
9.  StoryCorps interviews with grandsons
10.  Complete "Couch to 5K" (at least once)
11.  Get headboards for beds.
17.  Replace grill and hubcaps on my car
20.  Make a dessert souffle
23.  Road trip
28.  Go to Nevada with Nevada??
34.  Make pillowcases for me
36.  Make malted waffles
37.  Make doughnuts
38.  Organize sewing room
39.  Cover living room pillows
43.  Go to the beach

So, we've almost made it through the grandchildren birthday season.  There's one more in July (on Bastille Day) and then we get a break, but of course, my children have birthdays: first my OD's birthday is in August and then there are five from Oct 1 to November 5... and then the holiday season.is in full force.

Where does the time go?

Report Cards .. from 1899

I don't remember if I mentioned it, but my one of my cousins recently sent me some letters between my grandparents during the war.  I assumed WWII but was wrong -- they are from WWI.  I guess I should have known -- my grandfather was in the army in WWI. 

Anyway, back to the story.  I have this shoe box of old letters that I'm slowly going through and scanning.  I'll put them on my other blog, or somewhere, in case anyone wants to read them.

There are also some other random items in this box.  Among the random items I found these:

My grandfather's report cards from 1st through 9th grades. He started first grade in 1899.  Isn't it crazy that they had to get parent signatures on the report cards even back then.  and how cool is it to have my great-grandparents signatures on those report cards.

If I were doing a "Favorite Things Friday", this would be it.

Happy Birthday, A.R.!

So, my grandson, A.R., had his 8th birthday yesterday.  He is growing up so fast!

School pictures are so much better than they used to be ...

They are in Arizona so we didn't get to spend the day with them or celebrate in any way -- though we did facetime.  That makes me sad.  We're hoping to visit sometime this summer.

Gotta love snapchat!

N.S. Quilt - Coming Together

So, I've been working on the back for the quilt for N.S.  I'm using up a lot of my leftover flannel.  I think it looks pretty cute.  I think I'll go ahead and use batting -- I'll have to use scraps for that, but once it's quilted you can't tell.

I've got it pinned and ready to quilt.  This weekend. Hopefully.

Baby, I'm Finally Done

Finally, finished the baby clothes quilt.  Hooray!  I think I was working on it for almost two years (I need to check when I first got the clothes).

I finished it on Wednesday night so I didn't get any outside pictures.  Here's a picture of it in use --

and the back too.

Here's the binding I used for it -- baseball-ish.  I think either a red or yellow would have been optimal, but wanted to finish so I went with what I had.  Maybe not my best decision, but it's done.

I made the binding 2.5 inches wide (rather than the normal 2.25); but when I sewed it to the quilt, I sewed the seam at .5 rather than .25.  I ended up trimming the edge of the quilt so the binding could fold over properly, and then I just enough thread to finish it.

In My Life ...

There are places I'll remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places had their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
(lyrics by Lennon & McCartney)

 

I spoke earlier today with a friend that I met last summer in Eagle Harbor.  She and her husband were at the Lake Breeze when we were and we hit it off.  Kindred spirits right from the start.  She called to see if we were going to Eagle Harbor this summer; and, if we were, they were going to try and come up when we were there.

Unfortunately, it isn't in the plans this year, what with the job change and all that.  But maybe next year or in the fall or sometime. It was great to re-connect and I hope we can get together the next time we are there.

May Update / June Goals

So, without even looking at what my goals were this month, I know I didn't get very far, but here's the list anyway ...

1. Finish baby clothes quilt - not finished -- though it is quilted and ready for binding.

2. Send birthday cards to my sister and CS -- got 50% of this done (missed sending a card to my sister).

3. Delete Angry Birds (target date 5/15) - Done. 

4. Sew more / watch less TV - not an easily quantifiable goal.  I guess I need to be more specific.

5. Run at least one morning / week - total bust. (To be fair we had a lot of stuff going on and I don't feel guilty at all.)

Now for June:

1. FINISH baby clothes quilt.
2. Sew 4 out of 7 days each week.
3. Walk/exercise 15 minutes each day.

I also want to try and get NS's quilt done.  We'll see how that works -- I need to get batting and backing -- though for the backing I may use some that I already have -- and since they live in Arizona I may not want to add batting to keep the quilt thinner and more usable.

Guess that's all I'm going to aim for.  If things are looking up by mid-month, I may decide to add more goals.

Memorial Day 2018

After spending Sunday at the races, we went to Livermore to see some WWII planes on display.  It wasn't as cool as it was last time, but that might have been the weather (very hot 95 degrees) ...

We went through one of the planes

 My attempt at an artsy photo.

Me and my husband in front of the propeller (I really need to practice posing).

A MASH era jeep ...

and a WWII jeep.

After viewing the planes, we went to Cuda Ridge for a wine tasting .. then a late lunch at Sauced.  All in all, a very nice day ...

A Day at the Races

So today, after church we went with my YD and SIL to Golden Gate Fields for $1 day.  Admission was $1/each and you could get tokens for hotdogs, beer, sodas, and mimosas, all for $1.

Me, sipping my mimosa (actually I think I was just posing for the selfie)  .. and my YD ...

and the horses .. we stayed through 7 races, won a little money -- mostly lost, but it was fun!

It was a beautiful day and a great distraction from the drama of my life ..

Happy Birthday, C.S.!!

So today my #3 grandson turns 6.  So hard to believe he's that old already.  Here's his school picture.

and here are some much older pics of him.

Happy Birthday, Rachel!

Happy Birthday to my big sister!  Here's a picture of us -- I'm the grumpy one with the baby doll...

here's a more recent picture of her with our cousin Steve ...

Anyway .. hope she's having a great day!