Hello Again!

A six week break should be enough to re-new the old blogging mojo.  I'm not sure if it was, but the guilt of not updating has drawn me back here.

The short version of the events of the past few months.

 1.  The week after Thanksgiving we took our little RV to Florida for a few days.  We stayed at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park and loved the place. (The sunset photo in my blog header was taken on the beach there) But we had been thinking that we would like more space, so....

 2.  We traded for a  new to us (and much bigger!) RV on the way home!  We've only had a couple nights in it but are looking forward to taking a trip sometime soon.  A guided tour will follow!

 3.  Christmas was very nice.  Our son and his little boys from St. Louis, our daughter from Chicago and D's dad and step mom from Arkansas all visited over the holidays.  Of course our other daughter, son-in-law and grandson that live nearby helped to entertain everyone too!

 4.  I had been fighting a cold since before Thanksgiving that chose Christmas week to explode into bronchitis.  Then D came down with a sinus infection at the same time.  Bad timing, but we eventually recovered.

 5.  The little gym where I've been going to Pilates closed.  So I joined a new one where I've been trying to go regularly to a "Group Power" class.  Some days it makes me feel really OLD but since several of my friends from the old gym are there too, it's not so bad.  But I wish someone would explain why exercising to keep relatively fit seems like such a "job"?

 6.  I made my first purchase from The Home Shopping Network, the Singer 160th Anniversary Edition Sewing Machine!  If we ever take an extended trip in the RV, I thought this machine might be a good one to take along. I haven't used it much yet so can't give a true review.  It definitely doesn't compare to my Viking Designer II but I think it will serve the purpose.  It does look pretty though!

 7.  I've been working on several different sewing and crafting projects.  Since the three grandsons are growing up and are moving up to big boy beds, I decided this year I would try to get three twin size quilts done in time for Christmas 2012.  One is pieced and at the quilter already - unfortunately I forgot to take a photo first.   There's been a couple other little sewing projects and I've been crocheting quite a bit too.  After some time spent re-organizing my too small craft closet, I've decided I am entirely "too" crafty!  I've got too many hobbies that involve thread, yarn, fabric, beads, paper and all the books and magazines that try to teach me what to do with those things!

 8.  I thank (blame?) daughter B for getting me back in the mood to read "real" books.  The kindle app on my iPad is wonderful, but there's something about holding a book in your hands that feels so right.  She loaned me her Hunger Games series books and I read them all within a week.  Now I'm looking forward to the movie when it comes out next month!

9.  Even though I've been ignoring this blog, I still manage to keep up with several others.  One of my favorites is From The Strawberry Patch by Mrs. Goodneedle.   She recently hosted a "giveaway" as many bloggers do.  And guess what?  I WON!  I never win anything so this was a wonderful surprise.  My prize was the new Elm Creek Quilts Novel by Jennifer Chiavernini, Sonoma Rose. Thank you so very much Mrs. G!  I'm looking forward to turning that first page!

10. Now I have covered most everything I should have been blogging about these past few weeks, it wasn't really that hard. Thank you for your patience and I hope you will be back again for the next post!

A Weekend at the Homestead

I treated myself to flowers this week. I think white tulips are going to be my new favorite flower for this spring.

It has been a pretty nice weekend here in our neck of the woods. Although temps have been in the low fifties yesterday and today, we've barely been outside of the house. D has been working on the kitchen project, in between he's been online "researching" possible modifications to the motorcycle. We did actually get out and take a short bike ride (no photos) today. I needed a few things from the grocery, so we expanded a two mile trip into a twenty mile trip. We came home with what I needed for homemade pizza. It turned out pretty good in spite of the whole wheat pizza crust.

We are sitting here in front of the television watching the Superbowl. (Don't you just love HD!)Though we don't really have a favorite this year, it might be nice to see Peyton's little brother end Tom Brady's winning streak. Doubt that will happen but in the meantime I've been trying to determine my favorite commercial this year. So far, I like the Sobe Life Water ad with the lizards dancing to Thriller. There was another water ad too, at least I think it was for a vitamin water, with Shaq riding a race horse that was pretty funny. Sometimes the commercials are entertaining, but then you can't even remember what the ad was for. Maybe the water ads are the new beer ads this year.

While D has been in the workshop, I've been at the sewing machine. I've about got the rag quilt done. Just need to snip the exposed seams and fluff it in the dryer for a few minutes. I'm sure that's going to make quite a mess. When B made hers, she said it really made a lot of fuzzies. Beamer was in a curious mood today as I was trying to get a shot of it.

Avoiding the procrastination fever, I also completed my Block of the Month. I'm not sure what the name of this pattern is. I wish they would put the names on them for us junior quilters. I suppose I could look it up on one of the many quilt blogs I've started reading. By the way, did you know that February is Quilting Month? I found the quilt month widget(?) on Sew Mama Sew blog. There is lots of information and links to tutorials on her site.
Here's some of what D worked on today. As usual, Beamer had to check it out too. Can you guess what these objects are?
(They are faceframes)

Sort of an uneventful weekend here at the homestead. But we (or at least D) did accomplish a few things toward the progress of the "project". The football game is over and congratulations to the Giants! I bet Mr. and Mrs. Manning are darn proud of their boys!

Tomorrow I'm going to drag myself back to the new cardio class that I tried last week at Total Fitness followed by my Pilates reformer class with Kyla. That will probably be about all I'll accomplish as I'll be wiped out after that. I'm in the mood for a shopping trip across the river to my favorite quilt shop and Macy's. E saw a quilted sleeve for a laptop that she'd like for me to try to replicate. Guess her new Mac is getting cold up north! I'll save that trip for another day I suppose. Book club was moved to this Thursday so I have that to look forward to. Stormy Weather by Paulette Jiles was our book for last month. Right now I'm reading a book that sister K loaned to me. It is The Pulpwood Queen's Tiara Wearing, Book Sharing Guide to Life by Kathy L. Patrick. The link actually for the Pulpwood Queen's Book Club website. The author attended the same university that I did in Kansas, tho I don't think our paths ever crossed. She tells about her beauty shop/book store and the outrageous book club that she founded. It could be a good reference for our little book club because she has lists and lists of interesting book selections. I think they'd would enjoy reading it too.

That's all for tonight folks! Have a good week.

On the Road - to the Mall !!

Many of you know I love to shop. I'm not a power shopper but I do enjoy a good day at the mall. The best malls near here are about 30 minutes away over in Louisville so I don't go over there just on a whim. I don't go near as often as I used to. Moving to our new home a couple of years ago made me realize that we have too much stuff anyway. But I do enjoy having a shopping partner and usually my friend C or daughter B can be easily convinced to ride along and don't get me wrong, having a shopping companion is truly one of my favorite things. However, sometimes it is just as enjoyable to venture out on y0ur own, when you can set your own timetable, skip lunch or graze in the food court, spend as little or as much time making a decision as you wish, and just browse an interesting display. Plus, Dennis was out of town today, so I really had no itinerary or time frame !

So here are my purchases for today. A new pair of jeans (Nine West, on sale and best of all, one size down - I think they run big), a top to wear with the new jeans (on sale also), SHOES (yes honey, I need another pair), exercise pants, and Yankee Candles ( I had a coupon !)

After the mall, I stopped at Whole Foods . I wish we had one of these great grocery stores on the Indiana side of the river. I probably would buy more there if it were closer. Today, I made the mistake of not eating lunch, so I wanted to stuff my cart ( and my mouth at the sample tables !) They have great bulk foods there so I picked up some roasted mixed nuts for my absent husband. I also bought low fat Bear Naked granola, a Spinach-Tomato Amy's pizza for my supper (yummy - I almost ate it all !), other miscellaneous but boring stuff, and this beautiful mini fruit tart for my dessert. Their bakery is awesome, as is the deli, the meat department, the fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers and the selection of cheeses.

Tomorrow night is dinner with my book club. When we first began a few years ago, we read a book almost every month, but lately, everyone's schedules are so full that we decided to just meet and enjoy the companionship and conversation and maybe we'll read a book every season or so. Our current selection is Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen. I hope we aren't planning on discussing it until next month because I haven't started it yet. I'm still trying to finish The House of Spirits Isabel Allende. I might be able to do that tonight when I get done here. Has anyone else read either of these? You might have noticed the I-35 Book Club blog on my sidebar. This was just started by my neice and I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you check it out. So far, all I've done is purchase the book but haven't started that one either. I guess my blogging hobby is beginning to take away from my reading time.

Thanks for stopping by. Come shopping with me sometime!