6/26/08

When I stopped workin "outside the home" thought I would have all the time in the world to knit and quilt and read and just enjoy life. I had NO IDEA, just how busy I would be. Looking after my parent's (whose house is on the market, so requires a lot of cleaning), feeding them since we aren't allowing them to cook in the clean house. Fetching and toting my nephews, one playing baseball all-stars and one on a swim team. With 5 practices a week and 2 swim meets a week, this takes a lot of fetching and toting and the baseball games haven't even started yet!!!

Occasionally, I do get to sit and stitch. I will have some pictures soon. The Noro socks are done and the Lacy Little Top is finished. I am working on my ripple afghan right now because it is easy to pick up and drop quickly.

I am getting some reading done sitting at practices. I finally finished The Host. It was good, but my least favorite of Stephanie Meyers books so far. Her new vampire book is due in August. Hopefully that will get back to her really good stuff. I am now reading Septimus Heap: Physik
this is the third in a series similar to Harry Potter. Easy reading, great for sitting by the pool.

We have really started training for the September bike ride. The smoke from the dismal swamp fires is slowing us down. I don't think we should be out exerting ourselves in visible smoke. Plus it is supposed to be 99 degrees today!!! ;-( Walking and prepping for the half marathon is slow. I have a muscle problem that is causing pain if I go over 5 miles. I have stetching, strengthening exercises to work on that, but don't know whether I will be able to do the walk or not. Time will tell.

Well off to finish preps for the stitching weekend at my house this weekend. Oh, I forgot to mention that I have 14 people coming to my house all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday to stitch and bitch. It will be loads of fun, but this house cleaning thing is for the birds!!!

Puppies are all fine. They don't get to see me enough, though

Chat later
Susan

6/09/08

The main thing I have to report is that it is HOT!!!!! We are at almost a week of almost 100 or over 100 degree days. In this time frame, I have spent a day at Busch Gardens, one day at Kings Dominion and the heat of a day at a little league ball game. And I had one day that the air conditioning didn't work, of course, one of the days I was home. It was 96 in the house by the time it was fixed. I feel very well cooked!!! Spots of my body have a nice tan. Of course, it is a farmer's tan and mostly on the front of my body. You look a little foolish laying on your stomach at a little league game!!! Today, I have swim meet to go to. That is another 4+ hours in the heat, starting at 4:45PM, so the heat of the day!!! ;-(

I have gotten a little knitting and reading done, but haven't finished anything!! I am trying real hard to finish the knitting projects I have started instead of starting new ones right now. I am planning to use UFO's for my Tour de France and Knitting Olympics projects. If I could finish what I have started in that 2 month period I would be thrilled. Then I could start all new stuff!!!

The dogs are hating this weather too. They keep reminding me that they have to wear fur coats, that they can't take off!!!

Hopefully by next week, I will have finished a book or a knitting project or something!! I am feeling very unproductive.

Chat later
Susan

5/28/08

I didn't post a puppy picture yesterday, so thought I would upload this one of Mack, aka Captain Mackie!!! He has such a hard time getting comfortable. I am amazed he ever gets any sleep!!! NOT!!!

Chat later

Susan

5/27/08

I really haven't dropped off the face of the earth, even though it seems that way.

We have cleaned out my parent's house, had a yard sale and put the house on the market. Two pack rats really shouldn't live together for almost 60 years. We found some real treasures, but some real junk too. They even kept broken stuff too!!! My sister is adding an in-laws suite to her house, so they are going there. They just aren't able to look after this large a house and yard anymore. So now the house is on the market, we just have to hope it doesn't take forever to sell.

I also spent a week on the Outer Banks. Great stitching time. Not much sunning time, it again rained at least half the time I was there and it was chilly. But I did get a lot of applique done.

The center blocks of Dear Jane are done. These are the blocks that haven't been pictured before. Now I have the borders and all the sashing. I still have the 169 blocks to square-up so I can sash them. Not fun!!!

I haven't been knitting a whole lot recently. The only thing I have done is turn the heel on my travel socks. I have been working on them since January. Just the cuff left to go.

I have been renewing my addiction to applique. I took the Charming Leaves class and have been working on it incessantly. In this picture there are seven blocks. I now have 15 of them done. There are 25 in all. Then the dog tooth border. I am loving it. It is such easy, mindless applique. I think I am in an easy, mindless phase of my life. There are too many other things going on to work on a hard project.

After the dogs stayed home with DH for a week, they were programed to get up at 4:30AM. Which is when he gets up. If they didn't eat before he left they were hungry. I am still trying to reprogram them. I like to get up between 6:30 and 7:00AM, NOT 4:30!!! We are making progress. We slept until 6 this morning. But it is nice to be home with them. I can talk to DH on the phone while I am at the beach, but I can't do that with the puppies. I miss them.

I have been having a ball, e-mailing with http://pennysanford.typepad.com/penny_sanford_porcelains_/2008/05/guest-blog-major-mackie-special-forces.html

She has a Westie named Mackie. (She actually has a whole pack of westies she has rescued) I have a Westie named Mackie!!! Her's is Major Mackie, mine is Captain Mackie. It is fun talking about the Westie Special Forces!!!

The exercise update is easy. NONE!!!! I really have got to work on this, but with all the manual labor of cleaning out the house, there hasn't been much energy left for "dedicated" exercise.

We saw two movies this weekend. The new Indiana Jones movie. Good, not nearly as good as the old ones. I would have liked to see more about the stories that surround the crystal skulls, but they are almost secondary to the action. We also saw the new Narnia movie. I didn't really care for that at all. I thought is was very slow, then a lot of fighting. Just couldn't get into it.

I have gotten a fair amount of reading done. Messed up my back, so spent a lot of time not moving much. I read Last Jihad, by Joel Rosenberg. Good political thriller. It is classed as Christian lit, but I didn't see it. I just saw a political thriller. I have ordered the next book in the series, hopefully it is as good as the first one. I also read Swine Not, by Jimmy Buffett. How can Buffett do anything bad. It is hysterical. It is about a family that lives in a NYC hotel with a pet pig. The story is written mostly from the PIG'S perspective. Quick read, well worth the few hours it took. Last night I started The Host by Stephanie Meyer. I loved her young adults series about the teenage vampires. I haven't read enough of this one to get into it yet. But based on her other writing, I will love it. I'll let you know.

Last, but not least, my orchid is in bloom. I started with nine. I have two left alive. "This one is blooming. This is the first one I have ever had bloom under my care.

I will try to not be gone so long next time.

Chat later

Susan

4/25/08

Sorry no pictures yet. Look at the bright side, when I get the camera working again, I will have a lot to show you. Since I don't have a reliable laptop, I have been doing a lot of stitching. Working on Dear Jane, and my new project Charming Leaves. Haven't had knitting needles in my hands in over a week, just applique and sewing.

I finished all seven books of the Women's Murder Club series by James Patterson. They are good light reading. I very much enjoyed them. I like his writing style. Very short chapters so you don't have to stop in the middle of a long one. I don't like to stop in the middle. I am now reading the Blue Zone by Andrew Gross. He co-wrote several of Pattersons books. Very good. Heavier then Women's Murder Club, but very good.

I have been walking, trying to get ready for walking the half marathon. I do hope my hips hold out. They don't hurt while I walk, but after they are miserable. Not sure how this is going to work out. I also have to start riding my bike. Nephew and I are doing a 25 or 50 mile bike ride in September. Hopefully my hips will do better on the bike!!!

Laptop is doing better. Adding software slowly. Windows has been reloaded 3 times, as we add software, it dies again. So doing it very slowly this time. Hopefully in a few days I will have the camera back.

Chat later
Susan

4/19/08

Haven't forgoten you!!! My laptop has died, so no camera link until that is fixed. Also, my internet connection STINKS. The last week or more has been horrible. I can't stay logged in long enough to write a post.

See you when the technical issues are solved.

Chat later
Susan

4/6/08

Wow, where have I been? I had no idea that it had been so long since I posted. T, you usually remind me to post. Where have you been?

I have been working on Dear Jane. Here are another 21 blocks. I now have 120 of 169 center blocks done. I started it last May. I had hoped to finish the center in a year, then a year for the border. Don't think I will make the first deadline.

I am blogging from the Outer Banks so have been getting a lot of stitching time since it has been raining and cold the whole time I have been here. We got 4 1/2 inches of rain yesterday!!! I have 2 more blocks of Nature's Chorus done and am working on the next block of Expressions of Morris. No pictures, I didn' t think to grab the camera when I was packing. I had taken this picture earlier and uploaded it, that is the only reason I have that one.

Had a quilting weekend last weekend at a LQS. Had a great time. It was wonderful to have one of those that I wasn't in charge. I got to enjoy and shop instead of being the hostess. We hope to have one a quarter. I really got a lot done. That is when I finished 10 of the DJ blocks and started one of the Nature's Chorus blocks.

I finished the Hemlock Ring Throw I was knitting with my personally hand spun yarn. It needs blocking really badly. I hope it looks better after that. Right now it looks like a pile of mess. I started a Cabled Pleated skirt. Hope it is big enough it looks awfully small. I need to get enough knit so I can try it on. It is knit top down so at least I can try it on.

I am up to the 5th book in the Women's Murder Club series by James Patterson. These are really quick reads with short chapters. I am enjoying them. I had hoped to sit in the porch swing while at the beach and finishing the series of 7. The weather is not cooperating. It is supposed to be 54 and windy today. Not really porch swing weather. So not nearly so much reading getting done.

Exercise is also suffering because of the weather. I don't do rain!!! And I don't have a treadmill here. Weather needs to improve so I can train. Not sure what I am going to do if it rains the day of the half marathon!!!

Soapbox time: I am pissed with Paypal. I have had an account since 2002. They are now requiring that I get verified. Problem is, my husband also has an account with them. Our checking account is tied to his Paypal account, so they won't let me tie to the same account. We only have the one account, so I can't have a Paypal account. Seems pretty crappy. Why doesn't my 6 years of being a good customer mean anything? I get through life without Walmart, so I guess I can do without Paypal, but so many vendors will only deal with Paypal!!! ;-(

Well off to the showers, so I can get to stitching and reading and housecleaning. Not much of that last one, I assure you.

No puppy pictures, they are home with husband-unit. They miss me though. I know that.

Chat later
Susan