City vs Country - language confusion

When we moved from the city to the country we noticed the obvious differences . . . lighter traffic, fewer people, more open spaces. But there are subtle differences also. Some words are different down here.

• In the city it's a street. In the country it's a road.
• In the city it's a driveway. In the country it's a lane.
• In the city you eat lunch at midday and dinner in the evening. In the country you eat dinner at midday and supper in the evening. This one can get you in trouble. If your neighbor says "come over for coffee after dinner" and you don't know about this difference you are likely to be mucking out the horse stalls when your neighbor calls and says "Did you change your mind? The coffee's ready!" Oops.
• In the city your purchases are put in a bag. In the country "would you like a sack?".
• In the city you spend an hour cutting the grass. In the country you spend the afternoon mowing.
• In the city you get a job. In the country you are "helping out" - you are working and are getting paid but you're "helping out".
• In the city "it rained cats and dogs yesterday". In the country "we got 2 3/8" of rain".
• In the city "it drizzled" and in the country "we got 1/8 of an inch of rain".

And a couple of my favorites:

• In the city the store is kitty-corner from the park. In the country the store is katty-wampus from the park.
• In the city if you are driving and slip on the ice you skidded. In the country you whipped a kitty.

And my last one for today . . .
In the city the kids bring a favorite book or a favorite toy for show and tell.

In the country you bring your dad's tractor to school for show and tell.

Star Quilt

I'm keeping this one. It's going on the twin bed in the basement. There's plenty of leftover fabric (because this started out as a king size quilt) so maybe I'll make pillows. The bed will be used more for seating than for sleeping, so LOTS of pillows.

When we had horses and followed the barrel racing circuit, we used to check out all the cool rigs. Big dually diesel pickup trucks and gooseneck horse trailers. Loved the way the trucks sounded as they idled. Now I treasure my sewing machine and quilting frame "rig" and I love the way the machine sounds as I create stars or flowers with thread.

GrRRrrrRR

Good thing the bathroom I like to use doesn't have a window in it or this would be flying out of it (whether it was open or not).

If it's not lying to me, it's mocking me. Of course, if it did go out the window, I'd have to walk outside to retrieve it and that'd use up a calorie or two.

. . . . . . back to the treadmill.

An evening with Cooper

John & Sarah went out for dinner and a movie on Saturday. It was the first time since Cooper has been born! Cooper was so good, not a bit of fussing. This is him right after they left. He saw the camera come out and went into pose mode. Too cute.

Then he showed me his chair. The master of the house usually has their own chair, their territory, not to be shared.

We were at a loss for what to do, since he hardly has any toys . . . .

At one point he thought wearing my sweatshirt would be a fun thing - he ran around in it and was entertained for about 15 min!

We built a few towers with oversize blocks. Cooper showed me that the best way to do that is when you get to the top and want to go higher you carefully select a block from the bottom of the tower. . . .
I don't know if he's not comfortable enough with me to show any crabbiness or stubborness or if he was just in a good mood but it was smooth sailing. Played, ate, bathed and then laid in my arms and fell asleep without a fuss. I love holding a sleeping baby; it just makes your heart swell.

Traffic jam

I don't know where the thread police were.

Happy Birthday Brother Terry

Looks like his logical mind is hard at work, cooking something up, doesn't it?

Hope you have a great day,Ter.

Of course we all know you are working because today ends with a 'y'.

BOM - Now and Forever

This is the February block of Beth Ferrier's newest BOM, Now and Forever . As Beth says "easy peasy" but it's not the pieced blocks that I worry about, it's the flowers. We'll see if I get that far.

Pay It Forward, Part 3

Well, there were only two volunteers for "Pay It Forward" in spite of Karen's encouragement, and everyone knows that when there aren't enough volunteers, then there is a draft. Packages went out today for the two volunteers and also to one draftee! I chose someone that I know "pays it forward" every day just by his/her nature. I am fortunate to know a lot of people like that but I just chose one. Watch your mail!

And could you let me know when your package arrives? You can just leave a comment. Thanks!

Canada Geese are walking back North

I found this to be funny (I don't know why - it just made me laugh). I've seen geese flying and I enjoy the visual even if they are headed South sometimes. I've seen geese on the ground, usually near a body of water. But I've never noticed them in a harvested cornfield. The field hadn't been tilled after harvest so all the stumps were still there and the geese weren't noticeable right away. Then even after I spotted them I realized there were so many more than what I first saw. They spread out in every direction. Then I spotted the backs - geese that had their heads done eating. (Have I mentioned I'm slow?) There were SO many. This picture shows a very small portion of them. All those little brown spots are geese backs. (or is it goose backs? anyone?)

Fabric Greeting Cards

Just made these.

Thanks, Karen, for the idea.

Is this a case of CASE?

Happy Birthday Sarah!

Party on!

Signs of Spring

Forget the groundhog . . . I see signs of Spring. Hurray!

"New MS treatment" or "What's the worst that could happen?"

There's been new research and promising results in the search for a cure for Multiple Sclerosis. Injecting a patient with their own stem cells seems to bring incredible results. This brings hope for many MS people.


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/10/earlyshow/main4789551.shtml


So that was the first promising trial. Next a bigger trial. Then to the FDA for approval. Oh, that sounds like a very long time. I'm not a patient person. I suggested to Scott that we research it on the internet . . . such a wonderful tool . . . and do it ourselves . . . . what's the worst that could happen?



Yes, I'm kidding.

What is wrong with the Cat?!

I really like my morning time. A cup of coffee and some quiet time to read a book or read some blogs. It's probably my favorite time of day. But lately this cat is driving me nuts. He used to think it was quiet time too. Now, after he drinks his milk (which he insists on loudly just in case I might forget to get it for him when I get my coffee), he is quiet for five minutes. That lulls me into thinking we're back to our old routine.

Then it's down the hall to meow loudly outside the bedroom door where a certain someone is still sleeping. (Not everyone is a fan of early morn). So I call "kitty" hoping to not have to get up. "Kitty. I'll pet you." Doesn't work. Put down the coffee, put down the book, walk down the hall, pick up the kitty and deposit him in the living room. We repeat this procedure two or three times.

Quiet time for five minutes.

Next he sits in front of the gate to the dog room (laundry room) and hits the gate. This has a dual purpose. First, it is to let me know that he wants to go through the dog room so he can go in the basement. Second, it gets the dogs wound up. Even the cat multi-tasks. So kitty and I climb over the gate and kitty goes in the basement.

Quiet time for five minutes.

Now kitty is scratching at the basement door. Again, dual purpose. I collect the kitty who must have a drink of water from the dogs' water bowl because of course it tastes better than kitty's water. I wait for kitty and watch Butch who is ready to go on the attack because, OMG, kitty is drinking HIS water! Back over the gate go kitty and I.

Quiet time for five minutes.

Now it's the family room sliding glass door. Kitty wants to go in the yard. At least the kitty paw on glass doesn't make as much noise as the kitty paw on dog gate. That means kitty needs to make noise to get my attention. I never knew cats could be so vocal and so loud. I always thought they just meowed. Quietly. He can't go in the yard - too cold & wet and he won't come in when he gets wet - he'll just cower under a bush and hope to be rescued - it's really kind of pathetic. Finally gives up and has some breakfast.

It's quiet; dare I hope?

This one is going to be fun

I'm making a "match me" quilt. 24 blocks . . . 12 pairs of matching blocks all mixed up in the layout. Fun to make and fun after, too. I like the pink & brown & blue, just not sure about the creme for the sashing(?) . I need to learn to make my own fabric . . . I know in my head what I want but it's not on the shelf at the store!

Wizard of Oz

Last night I was treated to an evening of Oz. It started with dinner at Col & Mike's house, which had been transformed into the "Land of Oz" - she's just so creative. Alyssa's performance in the Wizard of Oz as the TinWoman was great. She has a beautiful voice - I never realized how much singing there was in the Wizard of Oz. And she has quite the stage presence - I would have been shaking in my silver slippers the entire time, not just when the script called for it. Her co-stars were good and numerous! and entertaining. Toto got a reaction from the crowd every time he made an entrance. That might have been due to the fact that he couldn't walk, so when he was to enter, he was thrown on stage. Very funny, especially the first time since we weren't expecting it. Don't worry you aninal lovers - he was stuffed. It was a very enjoyable evening and quite an impressive production for a school play. Great job Alyssa!

Comfort of a touch = Good sleep

Finished Quilt

It really was a pleasure making this one. And so much fun to quilt (as mentioned previously!). And I knew where it was going so that made it more enjoyable to create.

Too much fun

I'm having so much fun!
And to think some people get paid to do this.
Go figure.

Hardworking Pincushion

Thanks for the pincushion, Sarah. I don't know what I did without it.

I used every one of these in Alyssa's costume.

Now every one of them is in a quilt that's on my quilt frame and I had to open a new box. Yikes!

S--I--G--H-H-H-H vs SIGH!

I noticed recently that there are two kinds of sighs.

Yes, I know, I'm slow. So slow that I once spent nearly an hour in Okefenokee Swamp, wandering around, taking pictures of the alligators, taking close-up pictures of the alligators, talking about how animated and life-like they were, how real they looked, before one of my kids finally said "That's because they ARE real." I learned then that I could run backwards very fast. So, yes, I know, I'm slow.

Anyway. There is the long contented sigh. This happens when you sit down after the kids or grandkids are finally asleep. Or when you are starving and you take your first bite of a delicious meal. Or, starving or not, you take a bite of Chocolate Wave dessert. A long contented sigh. When does it happen for you?

Then there is the kind of sigh where you breathe in every bit of air in your zip code and let it out in one big hard rush. For me this happens when I'm frustrated, or aggravated or annoyed. Lots of times I don't even realize I'm doing it until I hear "what's wrong?" from Scott. My response, of course, is "nothing" usually 'cause if I'm sighing about it, it's because I don't actually want to say anything about it. Then it sometimes goes to an argument. You know the kind...
"Well, there must be something wrong if you're sighing about it."
"No, really it's nothing" (sigh)
"There you go again!"
(sigh)

By now whatever frustration, aggravation, or annoyance I was feeling is worse. The sigh didn't help one bit, but made things worse. So I decided I needed to fix that. This became one of my weekly goals. (More on that in another post) That's how I realized there are two kinds of sighs. And that's how I realized there is a huge inhale before that explosive exhale. Now when I take that big huge breath it reminds me what's going to happen next. I've already got all that air in me so I let it out r-e-a-l-l-y s-l-o-w and - wow! - I feel better! A nice little bonus - a habit I don't like is broken (almost) and a side benefit!