Friday, January 26, 2007

Learning to Quilt

We have a number of ladies at our church who meet every Wednesday to quilt. They've invited me a number of times to come over for their weekly potluck lunch and of course I accept! I love going over there to look at the latest quilt they're working on. They're all so beautiful. We have so many talented quilters around here. One of them is Roxy. Roxy has tried for the last couple of years to get me to start quilting, and I'd always put her off. I didn't have time, didn't want to start a new hobby, couldn't afford it, it was too complicated, already had too many scrapbooking supplies, etc.

Well, *hanging my head*....last December, several of the ladies dragged me into the Quilt store. Of course, I didn't put up too much of a fight. I love looking at all those beautiful fabrics. And I was smart! (Or so I thought). I left my wallet, checkbook and credit cards at home! I knew I didn't want to get started on a new project. So...what do I find when I'm in there?! The most PERFECT material ever! *happy dance* I've been searching for years for the "perfect" comforter/bedspread for our bed. And there it was, in a bundle of 6 fat quarters in the quilt shop. I just about died. And Roxy knew that she'd finally hooked me!! Of course, I dragged my husband back the very next weekend to show him the colors (get his approval, since it is his bed too), and to pick out the borders for the quilt. My husband indulges me so much and just kind of rolled his eyes when I told him I wanted to make a quilt. "But Roxy's gonna help me!" I said. *giggle*

So, today, I went over to Roxy's house and she gave me my first lesson. I learned how to measure & cut the pieces, and then actually sewed the first 2 rows of 8 for the top. I am SO excited. The colors are gorgeous! And it really is easier than I thought it would be. Though, I'm not sure I could replicate anything I did today on my own!

Roxy has a nify computer program where she can plug in the pattern and colors and print it on on her printer. The program does all sorts of nifty things with quilt patterns and I can see I'm going to need to add another room onto my house for this new hobby (cuz it won't fit in the room with all my scrapping supplies!)! Here's a computer generated drawing of my quilt. The real colors are similar, but not exact. The colors in my quilt are more foresty/green/deep purple colors, with a few lighter colors to offset the darks. I can't wait to get it done. I'll try to get a pic of it when it's done!

Sunday, January 21, 2007

All it takes is a little confidence

My son started wrestling when he was a freshman. Most of the kids on his team and those he's wrestled against have wrestled since they were little kids. He's a pretty good wrestler...knows all the moves...but just doesn't have the confidence to win a match because he feels so inexperienced. Until yesterday! Yesterday, he finally put it all together and realized that he DOES know all the right moves, and he went out like a bulldog and put this guy down. Pinned him in the first round. I was SO proud of him!
(Cory is the guy on the left). I know this isn't the greatest pic, but it's the only one I've got of the match.

I never thought I'd like wrestling, but after you watch a few matches, it's hard not to admire these kids. The strength, stamina & agility they've got to have to engage in this sport is amazing. My son plays on the varisty football team and runs on the track team as well, but it's wrestling that really challenges him to push himself. These kids are STRONG and atheletic and agile. It really is an amazing sport to watch!

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Snow Day!

I've mentioned before that we live close to the coast, right? We're about 15' above sea level, and rarely do we see snow here. Occasionally, we'll see it in the hills around us, but not down in the valley. This morning I woke up to this!
The weather reports predicted a sprinkling of snow, but what we got was 1/2" of the most perfect snowball making kind of snow! Unfortunately, the only one I could lure out of the house this morning was the dog! She wasn't interested in the snow! She just wanted to play ball! It's funny, though, at the first sign of snow, the whole county cancelled school!
I love this picture! We collect froggy lawn ornaments and this jolly old fellow sits under our flowering plum tree. A friend asked me, after reading this post (so of course I had to come back to edit), how long we've collected froggies. We've never really purposely collected frogs. It's just happened. I lovingly call my husband a ~toad~, so over the years I've purchased him a toad or two.

Here are a few more snow pics! One is of a snowman the kids made. He's only about a foot tall. Kids on the coast just don't know how to make a "real" snowman! *lol* His name was Pierre, until we realized that he looked more like a woman with that pink scarf. So he was renamed to Louisa. Hopefully, she won't have an identity crisis.


This one is of my son & his girlfriend.
He's a junior in High School and she's a senior. Cute, aren't they? Today is their 1 year anniversary.

The last one is of my daughter & her friend tasting snowflakes. They were so excited that school was cancelled!!




Friday, January 5, 2007

When do I have time?

Since I started blogging (what 3 or 4 days ago?), I've shared my spot on the net with a few friends. The question I get asked the most is, "When do you have time to do that?!"

My first thought was, "While the internet slows to a snail's pace and I'm waiting for pages to load...that's when I start composing what I'm going to blog about!" While that's the truth, I want to make it clear to everyone...even though I am a busy woman, I do get a few moments to myself!! I know, it's hard to believe, but there is a special time in the evening when everyone is asleep, but me, and I have a few quiet moments. (I guess the secret is out now!) :)

For those that know me, they may find that hard to believe. Let me tell you why. I have 2 teenagers. That should be enough for any parent right there! But no, I have 2 very ACTIVE teens. And I go to as many of their activities as I can (band concerts, football games, volleyball games, wrestling meets, track meets, piano recitals, youth group activities, etc.). I am also part of the leadership team for our church's Jr & Sr High youth group, and a Girl Scout leader. Last year I had 2 Girl Scout troops, but was able to pass one troop to another mom (thank goodness!) Until the end of January, I was a City Councilor. I chose not to run for re-election because I wanted to reprioritize the activities in my life. I am also on our local School Board. (yes, City Councilor & School Board at the same time...you read that right). With all that going on, it's hard to believe that there is any time in the day for anything else! Some days I feel like that, too!

For a lion's share of last year, I had meetings or activities every night of the week. I love being busy and supporting my kids, but let me tell you...it was a wee bit exhausting at times. On top of all that, I was recovering from not one, but two knee surgeries last year. Not fun. I managed to maintain my sanity, though. With a little help from my friends and family!

This year, I've reprioritized my life and dropped a couple of activities. Though I'm still busy, I find that I have a few more nights at home to relax!

Even today, while the kids were at school and my darling husband was off doing whatever he was doing...I had a day to work on my favorite hobby...... scrapbooking! I haven't felt inspired to scrap in a very long time, and it felt good to get into it again today! I will try to scan my pages and post them here soon, but please understand that I am technologically challenged. I have a scanner here at home, but 2 days after we bought it the cat thought it was a great place to sleep, and knocked it off the desk. It doesn't work anymore. I have the use of a scanner at work, but only feel free to use that when I'm not busy at work....so it may be awhile before it gets done! (Got to find the time...*lol*)

Wednesday, January 3, 2007

A Day in the Life...

Here's a typical day (actually what I did today)...

Get up at 6:45am. Take a shower. Get dressed. Drive my son to school (it's way too dark for him to walk, and at 16 1/2 he STILL doesn't have his driver's license). Come back home. Get my stuff ready for work. Drive daughter to school (she goes to school 10 miles away). Come back to town and go to work. Work like a madwoman for 7 hours (no lunch break), then drive 10 miles to pick up daughter from school. From this point, my day usually varies a bit, but today we came back into town and I went back to work. Only this time to finish getting ready for a Girl Scout meeting, while my daughter worked on her homework. Stayed at the office until Girl Scouts, then had Girl Scouts for 1 1/2 hours. Stopped by my friend, Tonya's house afterwards. Helped her move her new treadmill into her house. Came home. Said hello to my son. Then he went to bed. 10 minutes later my husband comes home from Boy Scouts (he's the Scout master). Talk to him for 5 minutes before he goes to bed. Daughter soon follows, and here I am at 10:30pm...typing away in my blog. I saw my son for a total of 15 minutes today. My husband about 10 minutes and my daughter a bit more because she was at Girl Scouts with me. What a day!

Tuesday, January 2, 2007

Technology woes...

Living in a small town means you have to learn to accept that there are some things you just have to live without. There isn't a compromise. You just have to do without.

Unfortunately, one of those things we must live without in this two cow town is high speed internet. No DSL, no cable modem, no satellite service. Nada, nothing, zip. We have dial-up. Plain & simple. On a good day, I can connect at 32.1 Kbps. Most days I connect at 28.8. It's odd, though, at work I can connect at 52.1. I'm not sure why that is. Probably just another small town mystery.

Dial-up stinks. I mean, my service provider is ok. They are rarely down, and the customer service people are easy to deal with. But dial-up just stinks. Loading pages with graphics takes FORever. Try to open two pages at once and you can just about FORget it!

I like to play board games & card games at www.pogo.com (you'll find me there under the same nickname). I could walk around the block...TWICE...before some games will load. I also like to visit websites that are dedicated to my favorite hobby...scrapbooking. My new home is www.scrapthatmoment.com . I love this place. The ladies are wonderful and their artwork is GORGEOUS! I'm stunned when I look at their galleries. If you need to be inspired, that is the place to go. Anyway, when I try to go through the galleries (mind you they are full of GRAPHICS, and blinky bits, and swirly things, and stuff that fades off & on), guess what happens?! Yes, my connection slows down to a crawl. And once in awhile I think it just can't take it anymore and gives it all up by disconnecting from the net! Then I have to start all over again! *sigh*

I was on the City Council here for 4 years (my term just ended and I didn't run for re-election...more on that another day), and one of the things we tried to do was to convince the biggies (like Verizon or Charter Communications) to light the fiber optic string that runs through town. But they're not interested because it's not "cost effective" for them. (Can you hear the itty bit of sarcasm I have in my voice?) Why would whoever it was, pay all that money to install fiber optics and then NOT light them. *snort* Unbelievable!

So until we get something that crawls faster than a snail, I'll just have to learn to accept and to live without some of the modern conveniences of life! At least we have electricity & running water! :)

Monday, January 1, 2007

And so it begins...

A new day, a new year and a new blog. I was challenged by my scrapping buddies over at www.scrapthatmoment.com to start blogging. "What in the world is a blog?" I said. "What in the world will I ever have to say that is interesting and meaningful?" And then, "Where in the world do I get one?"

So here I am. A newbie to the blogging world.

Life in a two cow town is really not that interesting, by big city standards. We do have our fun times though, and I hope to share some of our adventures (or misadventures) with anyone that cares to take a peek. We live in a small town (2400 people), where the number of cows & sheep out number the number of people. I call it a two cow town because of the lifestyle here. Very laid back and kinda red neck-ish. We are an agriculture/logging community, though logging has become a remnant of the past. We live 15 minutes from the coast, as the crow flies, but it takes 40 minutes to drive there. We're about 2.5 hours from the nearest "big" city...where there is any decent shopping. In our little town, we have 2 grocery stores, 3 banks, a gas station, 2 hardware stores...that's about it. We have to drive 40 minutes to get to all the "Mart" stores...Walmart, Kmart, Bi-mart, and Fred Meyers (which I call Fredmart). Pretty slim pickings when it comes to shopping variety.Today, my good friend Tonya came back home. She & her daughter, Dani left on a high adventure in August. They packed their SUV and drove from Oregon to New Hampshire in a week. Stayed with friends, then travelled to Florida for a month, and then headed home again. My daughter, Megan, and Dani are best friends, so it was hard for them to be away from each other. That meant almost daily phone calls (how can you keep teens away from the phone?!), and several times a day checking emails! And lots of tears when they couldn't get ahold of each other!The girls are in hog heaven right now, basking in the glow of renewed friendships. I'm glad they're home.Today is the day we pack up Christmas decorations. The house is a wreck. My darling husband is slaving away over boxes of decorations while I'm attempting my first blog. *lol* Poor guy.

I suppose I should go and help him....and so it begins....