Top 5 Ugly Vehicles

LOL Kar started the list...starting with those boxy looking automobiles. I don't know if they are cars, minivans, SUVs, or what. So my 2010 Top 5 Ugly Vehicles are those ugly shoe boxes on wheels.

In no particular order.
Honda Element
Kia Soul
Scion xB
Nissan Cube
Dodge Nitro
et al

P.S.
No relatives' feelings were harmed with the posting of this opinion. ;o)

Five Ugliest Vehicles in USA

Way back when...about 2000 or 2001 or so, I had a list of what I thought were the Five Ugliest Vehicles on the Road. I thought about it Thursday on my way back from the car rental business the other day. And I had to laugh out loud.
1. Pontiac Aztec - I thought this was butt ugly. Then I saw the front and my suspicion was confirmed. This was one uuugleee (pronounced you-glee) car!

2. GM Avalanche - This made my list because it was and still is just one stupid idea.

3. Ford Focus - Just not a pretty car

4. Brown Ford Focus - If I thought any other color was bad, the brown Ford Focus looked like a dog turd on wheels. (So sorry, kinda, if I hurt anyone's sensibilities. Nor do I want to slander any dog's doo by comparing it with a Ford Focus.)

5. I can't believe I forgot car #5. I also can't believe that I remember numbers 1 - 4.

By the time you've read this far, I'm sure you've got it figured out. I am just sooooo glad that #1 There's been a body change and #2 It's not brown!
I would make a new list of 2010 ugly vehicles, but I'm afraid that there's a relative or two that I might offend. ;o)

Further Escapades

From the quilt retreat...
Jean/Jayardi's Show 'n' Tell Jayardi put made this top pretty much from beginning to end.

Jayardi also tats! I thought this was needle tatting, but she corrected me. She shuttle tats like first hubby's grandmother did. This is one needlework art I have not tackled...yet.

LisaTX made a dress for one of her daughters, a matching dress for a doll, and a fairy skirt. ;o) She hung this yo-yo quilt for Show 'n' Tell.

I machine quilted a table runner.

Got the binding on it at home.

Kathy/Shawkl taught a lace dying class...furnishing the dyes and the laces! I've got to find my MIA CQ blocks...they are in a really, REALLY safe place. eyeroll

Visit http://www.shawkldesigns.com/.

I also assembled 2 1/2 Grandmother Flower Garden blocks...completing the third block yesterday.

I am doing the English Paper Piecing method. Long story short...here's how I do it.

I cut butcher paper (the paper with one coated side) to fit my printer. Then I put it under my cutting mat to flatter and take the roll out. After a while, I print off pages of hexagons. The most tedious part is cutting the hexes apart. Using a paper punch, I punch a hole for easier removal after the stitching.

Press a piece of fabric. Arrange the individual hexagons on the wrong side of the fabric, coated side down. You want the paper to stick to the fabric...not your iron! ;o( Make sure to leave enough room around the hexes for the seam allowance. Cut about 1/4" from the hexagon. This does not have to be precise.
Take some waste thread...thread from old projects. I'm probably doing a no-no because I'm using poly/cotton blends from my garment making days. Getting rid of that stuff. This stitching is not structural...so no biggie. Finger press the fabric over the edge of the paper on two sides making a tuck. Tack the tuck with a couple of stitches. Don't tie off, knot, or break the thread, just fold the fabric and move along to the next 'corner.' At the final tuck, take an extra stitch. Clip thread.

Start with the center...add a second patch face to face. Whipstitch the edges. Build around, then add the next row. Once a hex patch is completely surrounded, you can remove those paper templates and reuse them.

I added my three new blocks to my GFG stack. I think I counted 22.

The 4-Runner is at a body shop in Sherman. I pretty much stripped the inside of all personal stuff. Except this morning I realized that I'd left my spare office key and another incidental set in a small cubby hole. Sigh.

We should hear the verdict in a day or two.

Couldn't get a rental car yesterday, so hope to get one today. I'm in Sam's pickup. As long as it doesn't rain, he'll be okay on his Harley. My insurance will not fully cover the cost of the rental. I'm hoping the property owner's insurance will pick up the balance.

EventFUL Weekend

Had a great time at a quilt retreat in Tomball Texas. We ate really, really good food! We furnished our own food and drinks. Don't you think THAT was a GREAT idea?!We furnished our own projects. Shared tips, hints, and how-tos.

I think this is Susan's/~~TX~~Wildflower...Got to bed at horribly late times...or early depending on whether you consider it "last night" or "this morning." ;o) This is Carol/Needlecrazy's...Worked up a tutorial on a sewing implement caddy (the red/white caddy was given to me last year by Wenonah/Jackie). The base is a photo frame. Mine is one of those acrylic frames. The Friday shoppers found five similar frames but they were metal. A tutorial has been worked up. Once it has been edited and perfected, it will be shared (with Wenonah's blessings). WillQuiltForChocolate/Jill made the Jack-O-Lantern caddy. We took loads of photos for the tutorial.Then...the tree limb broke Saturday evening. And fell...30-40 feet...see that naked limb sticking almost straight up on the left side near the top center of the photo? The limb was just below that. The leaves are green...not dead! Quite a bit of damage. To MY 4-Runner!! I'm insured...the tree owner is insured. No traffic accident. No one injured. No livestock killed. (I hit a bull in the middle of the highway one dark night in 1995 so had to put in that disclaimer.)Margarita time! Quilters autographing my car. "What happens at the cabin, stays at the cabin." "Quilter aboard." "Quilters use duct tape too." "P.S. The light does not work." LOLHere we are. From Wisconsin, Alabama, and Texas. (The lone man is Tom Russell. A quilt artist who shared his newest projects with us Saturday evening.)

The trip home was almost uneventful. The car handled just fine. I was on interstate only 10 or so miles. State highways the rest of the time. With no left brake/signal light (BUT the brake light bar on the 'spoiler' over the rear window...what was once the rear window...did work), I was very careful about lane changes and left hand turns...remembering the old-timey hand signals that I learned when I started driving a 1951 Chevy 2-door coupe when I was 16 years old. I'd roll the window down and stick my arm out to signal left hand turns and lane changes. Of course, the younger drivers had no idea what I was doing!!

Coming into Henderson from the south, a little black car with a light bar on top pulled right up to my bumper. I had my fingertips on the turn signal lever to start the right hand pullover. As 259 merged with the Jacksonville highway, I made my turn and stayed in the right-hand lane. A car coming from Jacksonville whipped right behind me...and in front of the trooper. He/she crossed a thick solid white line...which is illegal in Texas. (Well, sorta illegal: http://www.texashighwayman.com/laws.shtml )

I saw the bubble gum lights come on and watched as the little white car pulled off the road. With the trooper right behind it! YES!!!

I think that the trooper probably pulled so close to my bumper so that he could read the inscriptions written on the plastic!

Clarification

Lani commented on my beginning time on the elliptical machine. I'm telling ya! It's a killer! The 30 seconds is the truth and nothing but the truth. However, it was after 20 minutes on the treadmill, a series of arm weight machine exercises, and 20 minutes on the exercise bike. After 30 seconds, my legs were like jelly. I was trying to 'step up' the exercising. But not that way!

The elliptical is giving me more of a workout than the treadmill, so I've dropped the treadmill for the elliptical. (16 1/2 minutes yesterday!) Then I do the arm exercises...then the exercise bike (I take a book to read while on the bike).

I took a real age test yesterday.
http://www.sonnyradio.com/realage3.swf

I scored 13 years younger than I actually am. To top it off...my life expectancy is 91.1 years! I'm not sure I want to live to be that old. Perhaps I need start smoking. Naahh. I'll just go eat more chocolate! ;o)

Won A Blog Prize!!!

Yippee and thank you Kelly at I Have a Notion. http://ihaveanotion.blogspot.com/ I have won an autographed copy of Pat Sloan's Quilt the Seasons, Book 2. I am sooo excited. Isn't that a gorgeous quilt on the cover or what?
I realized that I didn't give an exercise/weight loss report yesterday. I meant to but got carried away with other things. Looks as if I've lost NINE pounds. I never dreamed that I would have exercised for six weeks and have not lost ten pounds yet. Sigh. But that's the way it is. I need to take a photo of my exercise outfit. You'll laugh. But waiting in the wings. Waiting for that "official" ten pound loss, I have a reward. I've purchased another outfit. Getting rid of those XL men's shorts and XL t-shirt. The new outfit is ONLY a large.

I have ditched the treadmill for the elliptical. Groan! Back in the dark ages when implements of torture were kept in the dungeon. Masks with spikes. The rack. Shudder. If you'd been there back then, between those two devices of horror was the horror of horrors. Yes. You guessed it. An elliptical exercise machine. Bwahahaha.

I have accomplished the miracle of miracles. Yes. I have worked up from 30 seconds to --- drum roll please --- FIFTEEN MINUTES.

Oh. How sweet. Y'all did the wave for me. Bless your little hearts.

Weekly Report

The last two times Jonathan has visited, he's been eyeballing the small covered crocks on the top of my wall cabinets. He wants one for his sourdough starter. I have nine-feet tall ceilings and a space above the cabinets. I REFUSED to cover the top of the wall cabinets with silk leaves and flowers or even baskets. Everything up there can be taken down and washed. And everything really, really needs to be taken down and washed...but that's for another day. ;o)

I found this at an antique/junk store in Longview. I think it's perfect! No one has to climb a ladder and then stand on my countertop either. What say ye, Jonathan?Guess what I did yesterday? Yep! LOL Got the car washed. After the gym, I watered some trees. I've got a crepe myrtle that's really heat distressed. I carried two buckets down to that tree three times...about 10-15 gallons. Then, I gathered pears. I felt something crawling on my left shin. I looked down. A RED WASP was crawling up my leg. ARRRGGGGHHHHH! What to do?! This is the second time a wasp has landed on me! First time was in a restaurant. Sam thumped it off my shoulder then stomped it.

This time? What to do? Nearly frozen, I looked around. Saaaammmmm. Where are you? Hmmm...In the shop. In my left hand, I held a bag filled with pears? Nope. A broken twig on the pear tree? Hmmm? I broke the end off the twig, took a deep breath, swiped the wasp off my shin. It landed on the ground. Hallelujah! I ground the wasp into the ground. And felt not one bit of remorse!

No Surgery Required!

Yippee! The October surgery finally healed correctly. The surgeon is turning Mama over to a pain management specialist in his clinic... (Texas Spine & Joint Hospital in Tyler) ... There's just going to be a certain amount of pain because...her back is older than her. Dr. Danielson compares her to a classic car. ;o) On the last visit back in May ( http://keepyouinstitches.blogspot.com/2010/05/long-day.html), he looked at me and said, "Your mother is one tough lady."

If you remember, back then, I asked you to pray for a miracle. Thank you!

It was however, a looooooong day!

Monday I walked the three blocks from the office to the post office. I always do my walking errands in 'downtown' between 10:30 and 11:00 a.m. That's when the food has been prepared at Blessings, the senior diner. It's prepared that early to be packaged and sent on its way for Meals on Wheels. Mama wants to get there while the food is hot and not held over an hour. So...I check for her car and if it's there, stop in for my hug. Monday, we made arrangements for Tuesday. I thought the x-ray appointment was 1:30 and the doctor's appointment at 2:30. She said that the appointments were 12:30 and 1:30.

Tuesday morning (after the gym and shower) I was at her house about 9:45. On the way to Tyler, she opened the appointment reminder letter. Guess what. We were going to be an hour early. ;o( I was correct. Once we got to Tyler, we found a restaurant at 11:30 and had a leisurely lunch at Cafe Ole. When we finished the fajitas that we shared, the waitress brought us over complimentary sherbets! So we lingered longer. Still got to the x-ray appointment early...but they got her in pretty quickly.

The doctor's appointment was another matter entirely. The nurse finally called her name at 5:30!!! If he wasn't such a great doctor/surgeon...AND caring!!! ... When he came into the examination room and apologized...I asked him if Mama was his last appointment. He said no, and he still had to go see his patients in the hospital section. (Great place to be!! Doctors' offices and hospital in the same building!) I told him that if she had been the last appointment that he would have to take us to dinner! LOL He looked a bit shocked for a moment then smiled and said that he'd have to take a van for all of us! LOL

We stopped at the Dairy Queen in Gilmer for a light snack. I finally got home about 8:15. Only 45 minutes shy of being gone for 12 hours!!!

Mama called just a few minutes ago. Her appointment with the pain management doctor is September 3. She said she slept fine and didn't feel any worse after yesterday's sitting and waiting and riding in the car!

Too Much Exercising!

I forgot to change the photo in my banner last month! June stayed up for two months and into August. August is there now. Here's the one you missed.I've taken off work tomorrow. Mama has an appointment in Tyler with her back surgeon. It breaks my heart that she may be facing yet another surgery.

I'll get up in the morning most likely at my regular time and go to the gym then come home and shower. We'll leave town about 9:30 or 10 a.m. We'll hit Tyler in time to have an early lunch. X-rays are scheduled for 12:30...the doctor's appointment follows in 30 minutes to an hour...I don't think she told me. But it doesn't matter...we'll sit and wait until they call her name.

The really good thing about my job...the directors are very lenient with time off for just about any reason. Next week I'm taking Thursday off. (Office is closed Fridays.) I'll be driving Tomball to a quilting retreat. Yeah! Of course it helps that one of the directors is a quilter too! She wants to see photos.

Pears...OH MY! Texas Size!!

Finally! Sam severely pruned (as in cut ALL the limbs off!!) our two pears trees a few years back. After a few years of no pears...then one or two pears. WE GOT PEARS! TEXAS SIZE PEARS! And some little ones too. These are not the mellow eating pears but are 'hard' pears. They make the best pear preserves ever. But, yes we do eat them. They are so crunchy, sweet, juicy, absolutely delicious! We got not only pears today but a bit of rain. Just a bit. Hmmm...this photos barely shows it, but here's where it splattered on the porch. I stole...er, I mean...borrowed this photo off Facebook. This was the second place I worked. If I've posted it before...sorry. The first place was Pic-A-Rib. Dang! How'd you guess a barbeque place? You must all be psychics. ;o) The owners of Pic-A-Rib next started running F & F Root Beer. We kept thick glass mugs in the freezer and filled them with fountain root beer. Root beer ice would form inside the mug. It was soooo good.

I started working for the Fletchers when I was 14 and worked up through most of my senior year. By that time they had moved on and some self-important big shot came to town and purchased the business. After a few months of work, constantly listening to his illusions of grandeur, he split leaving us with two weeks worth of bounced payroll checks. His sister or cousin or whatever she was came in to run the place, but not with most of the staff he had shafted.