Celebrate!

We drove the Acura to Longview today and left it. Came home with a certified check and stopped at the credit union to purchase a CD. Oh, and made a stop at the insurance office to drop the car from our policy. So nice to not have to deal with taking the car to town every morning and going back in the evening to bring it home. The phone calls haven't been all that bad considering I put Sam's cell phone number in the ad and he's the one who has been fielding the calls. I know exactly what I do. ;o)

We had the 4-Runner washed at one of those drive through car washes. I had to have the guy wipe the rear hatch again...it was streaked. MOF, the whole car had problems. I spent $15 on a half-a$$ed car wash. I do better myself at the $5 carwash in town and wipe it down myself.

Have you had Zuppa Tuscana at Olive Garden? Isn't it delicious?! I have found a new runner-up for my favorite...Chicken & Gnocchi soup. A while back, Carol and I worked together and came up with this (so as not to infringe on copyright, let's call it):

Italian Potato Soup

1/2 - 1 pound Italian sausage
2 medium potatoes, cut in half lengthwise and then into 1/4" slices
3/4 cup onion, diced
1 clove minced garlic
2 cups kale leaves, sliced
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
1/3 cup heavy cream

If sausage is in links take out of wrapper. Cook until done. Remove from pan. Saute onion in sausage grease until it is translucent. Add garlic and saute another minute. Add chicken broth, water, and potatoes. Simmer until potatoes are done, about 15 minutes. Add chopped kale and cream; simmer only 4 minutes. Serve.

This is good stuff!

Changing gears. On this historic day...how about a few quotes from past presidents...

James Polk: "There is more selfishness and less principle among members of Congress ... than I had any conception of, before I became President of the U.S." (December 16, 1846)

Abraham Lincoln: "You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time."

Rutherford Hayes: "Nothing brings out the lower traits of human nature like office
seeking." (1878)

Grover Cleveland: "A man is known by the company he keeps, and also by the company from which he is kept out."

Theodore Roosevelt: "Actions speak louder than words."
AND
"There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism." (October 12, 1915)

William Taft: "The world is not going to be saved by legislation." (1916)

Harry Truman: "America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand." (January 8, 1947)

Dwight Eisenhower: "America is best described by one word, freedom." (January 9, 1958)

John Kennedy: "There is always inequity in life. . . . Life is unfair." (March 21, 1962)

Ronald Reagan: "Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first." (March 2, 1977)
AND
"In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." (January 20, 1981)

Amazing Man

I don't know how to imbed a video from U-Tube in my post. But you MUST see this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MslbhDZoniY&eurl=http://www.google.com/reader/view/

Quilting All Day

...or so it seems. My neck and shoulders are tired.

I did take a break and cooked dinner (lunch for those of you not from Texas). Then I set out half a pound of butter to soften. While it was softening, I quilted for an hour. The butter? Oh. ;o) Another batch of those Oatmeal-Raisin cookies. Personally I would've preferred something with chocolate. Alas. No chocolate in the house except for Hershey's dark chocolate syrup for my morning milk.

Supper will be leftovers...or cookies and milk.
Sam has been enjoying his new HDTV watching more football. I bet he's watched more football the last two weekends than he watch all year last year.

I read a Barbara Michaels' book this weekend, Stitches in Time. Yes, it is quilt related! How DID you guess? ;o) I found this:

My whole life is in that quilt. All my joys and all my sorrows are stitched into those little pieces. My hopes and fears, my loves and hates. I tremble sometimes when I remember what that quilt knows about me.

I think of all the quilts that I've made that this one probably fulfills that statement for me. I started it while my first husband, Ron, was terminally ill. This Dresden Plate quilt has fabrics left from garment construction. I made Ron's shirts. He was a big man. I worked on a pattern until I got the fit he liked. As an adolescent, Jonathan wore western shirts. I've sewn for him since he was a little kid. I also made quite a bit of my own clothing. So, I had what I then called "scraps." Now, I am a seriously addicted quilter and have a wonderful "stash."




I finished piecing this top at Christ 40 Acres near Honobia Oklahoma - family camp - August 1996. Ron died from liver failure that November. I didn't quilt for a few years until after I remarried and a nephew and wife (Brian and Beth) were going to have their first baby. It is nice to be doing something I enjoy again.

Visit The never ending adventure

Lani has a valentine related giveaway on her blog. Go visit.

http://golanigo.blogspot.com/

Dreary Day

Not much going on. We had some terribly cold nights for a few. One night down around 18 or 19 F. Carol said they had 12 degrees on Wednesday night and Thursday night was even colder. They live only 20 or so miles south of us where you would think they would be a degree or so warmer. Instead, they are almost always colder. It must have to do with the "lay of the land" or something.

Jonathan called. He received his new scrubs and said the top fit much better. Just a couple of alterations on the next one. The pants are a snug fit so the next pair will have to allow for a more "healthy" butt. ;o)

I saw another neat t-shirt today on a teenager:

Attitude

Education

Athletics

At first I thought they were in the wrong order. Sam said that one needed a good attitude before education would work. Made more sense. And, of course, athletics should always be at the bottom.

I have a pot of pinto beans cooking and plan on putting some link sausage in them in a few minutes. That along with a pan of cornbread will be our supper.

Back to the quilting...

Don't Steal

The government doesn't need the competion

I saw this sentiment on a t-shirt in the store today. Isn't that just hilarious? No. On second thought. Not really. It is extremely sad.


I finally found the resolution I want to make for 2009... ;o)

Fireproof

...starring Kirk Cameron and Erin Bethea. What a wonderful movie! This is a must see. No sex. No foul language. A Christian movie. Yet not saccharin sweet. Something like this does happen in real life.

Love is a choice. A choice definitely worth fighting for!

http://www.fireproofthemovie.com/

More Scrubs

I've been quilting! Yay!!! I'm not doing the complicated filler just yet, but am doing all the 1/4" outlining of the blocks of this Double Wedding Ring. Yeah. I cheated. Solid arcs. As long as this baby has been in the frame, it's a good thing I didn't have itty bitty pieces in the arc to quilt around.


I set goals...at the end of each row, I would reward myself with a bit of sewing. And that is exactly what I did yesterday.


Jonathan, I should be able to get these in the mail tomorrow...they are already boxed. Let me know about the fit. The ties on the pants...cut them off to length and tie a knot in the end. Let me know how much you cut off.


The pants waist casing called for part elastic and part ties...I am sure Jonathan will let me know how that worked out too.


I did hear about the American Girl pajamas even though I don't have a photo yet. Carol said they fit perfectly and were so cute. As soon as she delivered the grand-daughters home, Maddie got her doll and dressed her for bed.


Did you see that beautiful moon last night? Had it not been so cold it would have been a perfect night to sit outside and "moon tan." Remember the Adams family and Morticia sitting outside with the metal reflector around her face trying to catch moon rays? LOL Haven't thought about that in ages.


I don't have a pretty shot of the moon, but I did catch this sunrise last Thursday morning:

4 Christmases

What a shame. 75% of this movie was crude.

Like Quilting Only Harder

When Sam and I purchased our new home, it was almost perfect. We had only to repaint the bedrooms and bathrooms to neutral shades instead of blue and yellow. I like a neutral palette...then spice it up with color that I am able to easily change: curtains, quilts, pillows, towels, etc. How was I going to decorate to MY tastes with this?!


Since the house was less than two years old...Sam saw no need in changing anything really. When I told him the powder blue walls in the master bedroom did not coordinate with the funky blue carpet, he pa-shawed me. Then, his best friend's wife, Pat a lover of blue, walked in and said, "I like blue, but this won't do." Thank you, Pat! And since the previous owner's teenage daughter had played rugby in the other two bedrooms (or tennis, or football or something!) I purchased enough paint to cover the yellow in those rooms.


The worst color culprit - next to the funky blue carpet which remains - was the Formica countertops. Had they been an acceptable color to me, it would've been no problem. I found out by researching on the internet that you can paint Formica. I showed Sam. 'No deal. Live with it.'

My ally, turned out to be Sam's son who also did not like the color. For Christmas 2006, he gave us new countertops. He looked at me and said, "Don't go pick out the most expensive thing." ...which turned out to be a beautiful piece of $80 a foot quartz...to die for. I researched granite, quartz, and solid surface. I quickly realized that I did not want granite. Had I had researched longer, I probably would've chosen quartz (at a more conservative price). But with the research that I did at the time, I decided on solid surface. I am completely pleased with it. It is exactly as advertised. I don't treat it any differently than I have any other countertop I've ever had - which I guess has always been Formica.


Thinking that we would want dark, Sam and I started with black and brown samples. When we got them home, I scanned them, then copied and pasted to a document, printed a full page, and auditioned each in the kitchen folding the paper over the edge of the Formica and moving it from above the dishwasher, beside the stovetop, in front of the cabinets. Imagine how surprised we were when we realized that we did not like the dark.


On to medium tones. Sam thought a terra cotta would look good. Armed with several different hues, I went through the same process and auditioned the printed samples in the kitchen. That's when I realized how yellow the oak cabinets are. I was surprised. The whole kitchen looked sick in terra cotta!


Um...how about light? Okay. How about white?! This has little crystal-like pieces in it.

Then, the backsplash. One little note here: the man/men who did the wiring...every single outlet and switch is at a different height. Gentlemen, every quilter knows, measure twice, cut once. What WERE YOU THINKING? I wanted the focal tile - the expensive stuff to go all the way across the backsplash and under the window. A total of five electrical outlets or switches would cut through the higher priced trim had I done that.


Armed with paper taped together the length of the backsplash, I cut out for the window and each electrical/phone service plates. Over the river and through the woods - okay - south on highway 259 to the do-it-yourself store we go. I unrolled my paper template in the aisle in front of boxes and boxes of tiles and trims and played puzzle until I got something that fit, that I liked, and that Sam could live with.


I settled on tumbled marble and two rows of accent. Sam and Elton installed the tile with Elton telling me that if I wanted the one row under the window that he could cut the accent pieces. For what they cost...okay, not THAT expensive, but no unnecessary cutting! Elton also wanted the top row of trim at the very top..."That's the way they do it on HGTV." Well...I am NOT on HGTV. This is MY kitchen. I do not want it to disappear under the upper cabinets. I want to see it when I am in the kitchen working!

Sam and Elton even did the grouting. The only thing I had to do was buff it to a shine and seal it.