for sale

Michael left at the crack of dawn Wednesday (6/29)for golfing….my day started a bit later  J.  I hit the farmer’s market at 9 AM for corn on the cob (to go with our BLT’s tonight), some luscious looking peaches, and more tomatoes for pizza over the weekend.  Nancy was here by 9:30 (we couldn’t get together yesterday, so moved it to today instead) and we talked and knitted and embroidered until NOON.  She left to get on with the rest of her day, and I had lunch and continued embroidering.  Our Stitch & Chat group needs to fill 2 display windows for the next 2 months; so I promised Joanne that I would do a few cuddle blankets for her to put in the windows.  Here are my efforts so far (you can always click on any picture to make bigger):

I hope to be selling some of these at the fall craft fair.  They are polar fleece blankets, about 25" by 37 " with a rather large (I've inlcuded a 6" rular in one picture) applique embroidery in one corner.

We ate our BLT’s and corn for dinner and a spectacular dinner it was!!!!  We took a short golf cart ride after dinner to drop off a check and visit the softball fields.  We were too late to see a play off game, but we may try to go down again on Thursday. I came back downstairs to sew for the rest of the evening. 

I’m including a few other pictures today.  Michael planted some sunflower seeds….the bunnies definitely ate the VAST majority of them, but 2 of them are going strong in the backyard and are over 6 feet high so far.

Michael also woke me up earlier this week to show me an absolutely beautiful sun rise….I’m including his pictures for your enjoyment as well:

We left the house early Tuesday morning for a visit to the chiropractor, and then to the dermatologist for our yearly look-see.  Michael has a bit of skin cancer on his arm, and I had 2 moles she didn’t like and wanted biopsied, but it was still a relatively painless experience, unlike our next stop.  We went to Best Buy to look at refrigerators!  There are too many choices!!!!  And they all have these bells and whistles that we don’t want…..we’re still thinking about it…didn’t make any commitments yet.  We hit one post office and they don’t do passports, so they sent us to another…but they don’t do passports either…..we finally have a line on one that supposedly DOES do passports, but it was too far away by then.  We had lunch out and Michael dropped me off at the Lake House on the way home for knitting club.  When I got home after 3, he was still out hitting balls, so I got to sit and read for a bit.  We had some of his terrific crab salad for dinner, then picked up Larry and Joanne and went to see MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, which at least 5 people told us we should go and see.  I think we all enjoyed the movie, but I’m not sure I’d write home about it J.  We were home by 9:30, so we read for a bit before bed.

I ran like crazy Monday morning to get everything done before I left at 9 for platelet donation.  During cards Sunday night, Bryce mentioned that he had a kindle and didn’t know how to use it.  He asked if I wanted to use it for a bit and then teach him how to use it.  I borrowed it this morning, had to recharge it, down loaded a book and took it to the platelet place to see if I could read during donation.  It is hard to hold a book because you have a needle in each arm, but I thought I could do the kindle one handed.  Well, it turns out I couldn’t use it…..and I didn’t get finished giving until 12:45…and my appointment was for 10!!!!!   How boring!!!!  Anyway, I stopped at Hancock’s on the way home for teddy bear fabric and then at a drug store for ingredients for my face/hand/body cream and finally the grocery store for fruit, yoghurt and cereal.  I finally got home before 3….just in time to take a call from Janice in CT…what perfect timing…we chatted for a good long while.  Michael and I had leftovers for dinner, and then I ‘locked’ myself in the basement and sewed and sewed and sewed until my secret project was DONE!!!  I am so happy…..probably no pictures and explanation until next week…but now you have something to look forward to  J.

raspberry chocolate bars

Sunday morning (6/26) it was actually a tiny bit cooler, so we had breakfast on the deck while reading the paper.  Michael watered our front beds after breakfast and then took off on a bike ride.  We have been running so much in June that we feel like we really haven’t seen our neighbors much, so we asked Bryce and Ann and Susan to come over for cards in the evening.  I wasn’t going to make anything, but I was searching for a new lace cookie recipe that didn’t use molasses and I came across an easy recipe for raspberry/chocolate bar cookies, so I whipped those up before heading downstairs to sew (thanks to Marc and Kate’s jar of raspberry preserves from the wedding!)  Michael left around 1:30 to go to a play featuring one of his theatre buddies.  He was home by 4:30 and we had dinner shortly afterwards.  We played cards with our neighbors from 7-9 and then I read for a bit while Michael tried to watch the end of the GHO before bed.

I really love it when Michael has an early tee time, because it gets me going early too!!!  He left on Saturday (6/25) at 7 AM and I leapt up to begin cleaning.  Gale and Phil and Michael and I are going out to dinner tonight and then coming back here to figure out when we are going on a short golfing vacation together.  Gale’s house is ALWAYS immaculate….my house will in no way look like Gale’s, but at least it will be as clean as I need it to be to satisfy Michael and me!  I know it sounds strange, but I really do enjoy tidying up the house because I love how it looks when I’m done.  And I get the added perk that Michael NEVER FAILS to notice how nice the house looks.  He really is a terrific husband about things like that.  He always notices any little thing I do for him or for us, and he comments on it and thanks me for it. ….I am very lucky!  It makes all the difference in how I feel about doing many things.  By NOON I had finished cleaning, making ice cream and running errands (delivering some ice cream, returning some make-up and dropping off a check) on my bike, so I got to settle down and sew a bit.  I went upstairs again at 3:30.  I had made the chocolate decadence ice cream for dessert, but I wanted some kind of small, crunchy cookie to go with it.  I’ve had a recipe for these lace cookies for about 6 months, so I made them up.  Susan came over to visit while they were baking, which was good because it seems like we haven’t seen her in forever!  Phil and Gale picked us up at 5:15 for dinner.  We ate in a pub in Waxhaw (a nearby town) and although the food was good and the prices were also, the noise seemed deafening.  That was a tiny bit disappointing because it just makes it hard to talk or even to enjoy your food.  Michael had a tiny headache when we left…I was ok because I had put in ear plugs!  Anyway, we headed on home to the ice cream and cookies.  Michael ended up not liking the taste of the cookies, because he doesn’t like molasses that much.  Gale and Phil both said they liked them, so I sent a bunch home with them.  We picked out 3 weeks where we could potentially go on this golfing vacation.  Once that is settled, I will be able to schedule a trip to Virginia to visit Ginny!!!

I think I need a tiny bit more structure in my life!  My desk is once again a disaster area….if only I would commit to spending 20 minutes on it once a week, I’m sure it would stay cleaned off.  So, starting this coming Monday, I’m going to designate Mondays as ‘paper day’ and make sure not only my desk papers are filed or in order….but all of the other paper stuff (crap!) that I have all over the house will be tidied up!  I’ve had a problem getting rid of paper pretty much all of my life, so we’ll see if I can master this once a week routine. And for those of you that read this blog…I wouldn’t mind a few questions/comments on Mondays to help me keep up with the program.

Anyway, since I didn’t ride my elliptical Friday (6/24) morning (don’t even ask me why, I got up early, wasn’t tired, had lots of time!?!) I decided I had to ride my bike up to Nancy’s to visit.  She wanted me to stop by to see the progress she is making in several areas of her house, and it all looked lovely!  I stopped at the grocery store on the way home for just a few things, then came home and sat down to have breakfast (I had leftover pizza ‘cause by then it was NOON) and read the morning paper.  Michael got home within minutes to inform me of his golf score……80!!!!!!!  Yep, what a scorching score (matches the weather!)  I think it included 9 pars and 2 birdies!  I got to spend the afternoon sewing on my secret project, after which Michael and I got cleaned up and joined Dee and Howard and Sally and Jimmy at CAFÉ MONTE for our monthly dinner.  The women all had the scallops…heavenly with grilled tomatoes and flavored risotto, while the men had grilled chicken, beef short ribs and Michael had crab crepes with tarragon cream sauce.  Everything was divine and afterwards we ‘rolled’ on over to Sally and Jimmy’s for a lovely cinnamon coffee cake for dessert.  We were home by 9 and read for a bit (and I got pudding made for chocolate ice cream) before heading to bed.

One other thing happened on Friday....Jan and Walt left for their cruise vacation.  Their daughter picked them up at 10:30 AM to head to the airport.  At 12:30 I got a call from jan saying good-bye and telling me that their flight was supposed to leave at 1:30.  At 3:30 I got another call, they had been sitting on the tarmac for TWO HOURS!!!!  Apparently there was very bad weather in Newark and no flights were allowed to come in.  I have no idea what time they finally took off...guess I'll have to wait until she gets home on the 7th to find out!

Quilting was canceled for today (6/23), so instead I got to stay home and get a few things done around the house.  We did have square dancing in the afternoon…so we got our aerobic workout.  Normally square dancing is lots of fun and lots of laughs, but for the past 2 weeks our regular ‘caller’ has been away, so we have had a substitute…the difference is AMAZING…and DEVASTATING!!!  Our regular caller is endlessly patient with us….our new caller seems to think that we never forget anything and that we are in a marathon sprint to get some exercise!  Last week was very tension filled…this week was slightly better, but we will all be glad to get Tim, our regular caller, back next week.  I plan to bake for him and write a note telling him just how much we appreciate him!!!  We had BLT’s for dinner, along with corn on the cob…and it was a spectacular dinner!  I picked up Jan’s newly knitted red shawl on the way home from square dancing and I sewed all of her ends in and anchored them with thread so that she could take it on her cruise.  I got to sew a bit before going to bed and my ‘secret project’ is moving right along!

So, I’m downstairs Wednesday morning (6/22) doing some of my exercises.  Just before I came down, I pointed out to Michael that we had a lone daisy blooming behind one of the blueberry bushes.  So…what do you think happens…..along comes a bunny…up he goes on his hind legs….bites the stem in half so that the ONLY FLOWER WE HAVE IN THE BACK falls to the ground so that he can eat it!!!!  I can’t believe the bunnies this year.  We didn’t plant any vegetables out back because they ate all of them last year…but I thought we’d be safe with flowers!!!  No such luck, they have eaten the flowers in our front bed FOUR TIMES!!!!  Michael finally found this one kind of flower they have not eaten, but really, it’s ridiculous….we need more coyotes! 

Anyway, at 9 AM we went up in the golf cart to the farmer’s market.  We got peaches, corn, and tomatoes.  I noticed that Sheila (one of the vendors) was slammed with customers, so I stayed to help her.  Michael took everything home and packed up the car and came back to get me so that we could begin our marathon errand running!  First up was an appointment with my sleep doctor….he was running an hour late.  Good thing I had knitting and Michael had his book.  Next up was the foot doctor to finally pick up my orthotics (does this sound old fogie or what!)  We hit the dollar store to pick up some disposable tins to use when we are cooking for ailing friends, and then Earth Fare for soy yoghurt and AAA for Michael to begin the process of getting a new passport (his has expired and we are cruising to Mexico next January).  We stopped at the vet’s for 3 sets of pills for Chloe and blew off the rest of our errands since we had been gone for 5-1/2 hours and were both cranky!!  I zipped over to Jan and Walt’s to talk over a few things with them (they leave on their cruise on Friday) while Michael worked on a new photo/music video he is doing.  We had leftovers for dinner and we both watched TV until bedtime.

Here are a few more of the ‘lost’ pictures….these are portions of our front flower bed:

I’ve been a bit irritated lately because I keep coming across recipes that use cooked chicken…and I don’t have any.  So, our local grocery had a good sale on split chicken breasts.  I bought 2 packs and layered them in a dry 6 quart crockpot this morning and put it out on the back deck (where all warm appliances go to cook in the summer months) on low before I left to visit Nancy.  We had a wonderful Tuesday morning (as always) and I got home around 12:30.  Michael was watching TV, but he got up within the hour to shower and change into his suit and go off for another audition.  This time he was supposed to be a doctor performing laser eye surgery…we’ll see what comes of that…he said it was the shortest audition he ever had!  He picked up a pizza on the way home, and we ate an early dinner.  He left around 6 to pick up Larry and go to the movies.  I got the chicken out of the crockpot and the meat just fell off the bone!  I had 3 pounds of cooked breast meat in about 15 minutes…it was so easy I would definitely do that again! I got everything cleaned up and spent the rest of the night in the basement sewing. 

Michael also worked on my computer again and found a bunch of pictures that got ‘lost’ when it got infected by the virus.  Here are some of the party pictures:

Michael and Phil left around 8:30 for their golf tournament on Monday (6/20), and I spent time on the internet looking up new recipes!  I finally got my butt in gear at 9 and went upstairs to dip some oreos for Michael.  I noticed he took the last of the cookies with him to eat while golfing, and it is too hot to bake all this week (temps in mid to high 90’s), so I dipped double stuffed oreos in dark chocolate and filled his cookie jar right up.  I got a load of laundry thrown in before picking up Beth and heading to the Lake House for our volunteer meeting.  We had a speaker from hospice at the meeting, and I reported on our food drive, then Beth and I took off for the grocery store.  I finally got home at 1, and had a few hours to work in the basement before Willa picked me up for quilting.  Willa belongs to a quilt guild in a near-by town and Monday night was their yearly auction.  they had a lot of beautiful things and I bid on a couple, but was outbid….so I came home with just what I took with me!  I got home around 9:30 and we both read for awhile before going to bed.  Michael placed JUST out of the money in the golf tournament, he got an 89 and they only paid out to the 84-85-87 and 88’s.

Father’s Day!!!!   I made whole wheat blueberry waffles while Michael cooked bacon and we got to eat on the deck and read the Sunday paper…a wonderful start to the day!  I spent the afternoon in the basement finishing up the black and silvery shawl for Jan to take on her cruise to the Baltic.  She said she would be HAPPY to model it for me all over Europe!  I hope to see it at the fall craft fair:

While we were there, she modeled another shawl that I finished a couple of weeks ago:

I spent the rest of the afternoon sewing a bit on the quilt on the design wall.  Michael spent the day watching Rory McIlroy break all kinds of records on his way to winning the US Open.  We had tortellini’s for dinner and made a quick trip over to Jan and Walt’s to deliver the shawl and her kindle and my tote bag (which she likes to carry on trips).  We spent the evening watching TV and I continued to work on the wall quilt AND my secret project!

We both had a quick breakfast this morning (Saturday, June 18^th), then Michael took off in the golf cart for horseshoes and I took off on my bike to get garlic at the grocery store.  I hope to get some pesto made today or tomorrow and I am totally out of garlic.  I came back and wove a bit and then Jan called.  She needed a bit of help with her on-line bill pay, so I biked over there (Michael was out playing 9 holes in the golf cart).  It only took 10 minutes to help Jan, so I was home quickly and before dinner I finished weaving the shawl and took if off the loom.  I still have a couple of hours of finishing work, but I am pleased with how it turned out.  Michael and I got cleaned up and went over to Andi and Joe’s just after 5.  Andi and I have known each other for probably 4 years, but have never managed to get together.  She used to come to my sing-a-longs and we talked whenever we ran into each other.  Finally we both had our calendars on us at the same time and booked a date for Saturday night.  We stopped at their home for drinks and appetizers…and what a gorgeous home it was.  There was color EVERYWHERE…techniques on the walls that were just beautiful…and lots and lots of art everywhere.  I really liked the house.  Then they took us downstairs…..Joe is a train aficionado and he had a HUGE set up in the basement…all different kinds of trains and different kinds of cars…and people and buildings and it was just terrific!  I felt like I was back in Buhl Planetarium at Christmas (for those PGH people reading this!)  Anyway, we eventually left for dinner at BONEFISH…and a wonderful dinner it was.  The guy who sold us our house down here was at the next table with his parents, who we also know…so we had a nice little visit before dinner.  Andi and Joe got AHI tuna, I got crab cakes (with a fabulous lobster corn chowder as an appetizer) and Michael got shrimp and scallops.  The only tiny sour note of the evening was that the restaurant was VERY loud, and seemed to get more so as the evening wore on….wait….what a lovely phrase….with your permission….I’ll say it again…as the evening wore on….(that’s for the HARVEY fans among you!)  Anyway, by the time we left, Michael had quite a headache and we all decided to call it a night.  We will definitely get together with them again…it was a delightful evening.  We read a bit once we were home before going to bed.

When we went to pick up grinders for dinner last night, Michael mentioned he might like blueberry pancakes for breakfast, so I ran to the grocery store to pick up buttermilk.  We had them this morning (Friday) out on the deck, with our OWN blueberries and they were terrific!  I jumped up afterwards and got dressed and headed over to pick up Jan.  I wanted to go to a number of places before lunch…but we only made it to the mall.  I got a couple of new bras, and Jan got some new walking shoes for her cruise (she leave a week from today….I don’t know what I’ll do with myself while she’s gone  L).  We got to the restaurant for our ladies luncheon (there were 7 of us) with 5 minutes to spare!  We had lunch, stopped at the grocery store on the way home and I was home by 2:30.  Michael had fixed part of my computer while I was gone and I can now access my embroidery designs  (yea!!!!!!!)  I “watched”  TV and feel asleep until 5:30, when our other friends arrived (Susan and Betty) and we left to meet everyone else at the restaurant (why does it always work out that way…I go out to lunch on the same day that I go out to dinner???)  Anyway, there were 8 of us at dinner and everyone enjoyed what they got.  We left at 7:30 to get to the theatre to see TITLE OF THE SHOW.  This was a play about 2 guys writing an original musical about 2 guys writing an original musical….get it?  It was a true story and it won an OBIE when it hit off Broadway.  I think we all enjoyed the play and we were home by 10:30.

Michael took off to run a bunch of errands on Thursday (6/16) and Nancy picked me up at 9:30 for quilting.  At quilting I continued to bead on my wall hanging and finally got the first block finished.  You probably have to click on the picture to make it bigger to see the beading since it is green on green!

Jan came in around 10:30 and we worked together at a table until we all broke for lunch and then Jan took me home.  Well, she started to take me home, but we ended up at her house so that I could load some books onto her KINDLE.  I loaded 2 books and showed her how to order a case for it and I got home in time to brush my teeth and leave for square dancing.  We had a new caller today and BOY, what a difference that makes.  Most of us were confused most of the time!  Anyway, we picked up grinders for dinner and we watched TV while we ate.  I made the chocolate decadence ice cream and I wove for an hour while it set up in the freezer….it was still INCREDIBLE!!!

We finally got a break in the weather.  When Michael and I came home from the movies Tuesday night (6/15) we opened up the house.  By the time we got up in the morning, the temperature had dropped to 74 (whoo, hoo)!!!!  Since it was so cool for a change, I decided to do some hot kitchen stuff.  I had been reading up in my book of stocks awhile ago and they talked about a ‘found’ stock or free stock.  Basically what you do is save all of the vegetable peelings and onion skins and leftover bits you cut off before you chop up any fresh vegetable.  I had 3 gallon bags in the freezer and I got them all out, covered them with water….added in the few garlic cloves I had left in the pantry and brought it to a boil.  I then simmered it for 1-1/2 hours and ended up with 4 quarts of vegetable stock.  I also made the ‘pudding mix’ again for the chocolate ice cream.  I’d like to make the ice cream tomorrow morning and then put it in the freezer to see the texture after it is frozen.  While stuff was ‘cooking or cooling’ I got everything in our front flower beds watered, and also the boxes on our back deck.  By the time I got everything cleaned up, it was 11:30 and I headed downstairs.  I spent an hour clearing out and straightening up my desk, and then got busy warping up a new shawl.  I have black mohair with just a glint of silver in it.  Jan expressed an interest in taking it on her cruise and I certainly approve of that….good advertising in case someone wants to buy it.  She is leaving a week from this Friday, so I need to get cracking if I hope to have the shawl done by then.  Michael came home from golfing (an 87 today on a course he never saw before!) and went out to pick our daily allotment of blueberries (about 3/4 of a cup today) and Chloe pulled a new one…she started eating the blueberries right off the bush!!!   She’s always been a tomato hound, but now blueberries?!?!  He helped me to wind my warp on the back beam and I spent another 2 hours getting it tied to the front beam.  We had crab salad for dinner and I spent the rest of the evening weaving.

Tuesday morning (6/14) Michael left to run a series of errands.  I was supposed to go to the chiropractor with him, but the computer guy called to say he was coming, so I stayed home.  He had terrible news…..he looked at my computer and said he was STUMPED….yuck….what a horrible thing to hear from the expert!  Anyway, after he left, Nancy arrived and we had our usual wonderful morning and talking and talking and talking and talking.  She had been having a problem with her eye and got some not great news from the doctor.  She was hoping it was going to be a quick fix, but she has a hole in her retina, which will involve not only surgery, by lying on her stomach for 24 – 48 hours.  I have it in my calendar and hope to go over with fun quilting things to read to her!  Anyway, she left around 12 and I had a quick lunch and headed over to Knitting Club.  Jan came in shortly afterwards, and we decided we were both USELESS because neither one of us had glasses in our knitting bags and we couldn’t see what we were doing!  We came home and worked a bit on knitting.  At dinner time, we took Michael’s crab salad over to Jan and Walt’s for dinner…then the 4 of us left to see a movie: THE BRIDESMAIDS.  We all agreed it was pretty funny, but it was very long and we didn’t get home until after 10.

Bev very kindly sent me a picture of the wall hanging she bought from me and here it is...if you click on the picture you can make it bigger:

I haven't posted recently because I have been having problems with my computer  :-(  No pictures until I get it fixed, but at least I can post....enjoy!

Saturday morning we were both up early to get ready for our salad bowl party.  I got a Praline Pecan cheesecake made, along with killer dark chocolate brownies.  I also made an almond trifle (we were providing all of the desserts and drinks).  Michael got everything watered outside while I was working, and took some great pictures of our front flower bed.  Our across-the-street neighbor always comments on how lovely it is so sit at her kitchen table, checking out the view of our flower beds!  Michael also picked our first blueberries of the season!!!  Granted, it was only about 1/2 a cup of berries, but our bushes are loaded!  We finished cooking and cleaning for the party by 2 and got to relax until people showed up at 6:30 PM.  We had wonderful appetizers like rotel and  velveeta, chicken legs, and homemade pimento cheese and everyone seemed to enjoy chowing down!  We split into teams and played salad bowl (which is like password, the $25,000 pyramid and charades all rolled into one) for over an hour, then stopped to enjoy all of the desserts.  Everyone said they had a terrific time.

We were all cleaned up and watching TV within 20 minutes of everyone leaving. 

Sunday was a wonderful, relaxing day.  I spent a lot of time on my loom and got another shawl finished.  the yarn color was called wisteria, and I think the purple and green tones really look beautiful.  We had so many leftover desserts from Saturday night that we invited several neighbors over to share.  I think everyone spent a delightful hour eating and talking, and we were left with only a few brownies.  Michael and I both read in the living room for several hours until bedtime.

Monday was terrific.  Michael and Phil left early for golf and I got to sew a bit in the morning before Jan picked me up.  We had to return a few things and then went to the mall for a sale on polo shirts.  I got 3 shirts for Michael and 1 for me and then we stopped for lunch before heading home.  We had leftovers for dinner, so I didn’t have to worry about that and I just caught on fire in the afternoon and evening while working on my sewing.  I got all of the strips done for a charity quilt and started to cut out the squares; I continued to work on the quilt Michael put on the design wall, and in between I got a teeny bit more done on a secret project!!!

Friday morning Michael left early for golf; unfortunately he was still worried about me and didn’t play very well on the front nine.  But he did better on the back and ended up with an 89 overall.  I felt like I had a million things to do on Friday, and I limped my way through them.  I ran to the bank to get them to fill out and fax papers to have Michael’s pension direct deposited in our new bank, then ran back and picked up Jan.  We hit WALMART, and I got lots of summer tops and a few shorts for dirt cheap since summer clothes have already been out for so long(?????).  Actually, I was lucky to get anything at all….we were checking out and the clerk looked at me and said ‘I’m sorry, your credit card has been denied’!!!  My mouth dropped open in shock, and then I knew what had happened.  I had received a letter from the credit card agency telling me that some of my information had been compromised and that they would be sending me a new credit card.  I got the new one, but just tossed it in my purse until I had time to activate it.  Well….I guess they got tired of waiting for me (I swear, it was only a few days  J) and they shut my old one off.  I was going to write a check, but of course, we’re trying to change banks and I only had the old checks with me….luckily Jan whipped out HER card and said we could both use it!!!  Thanks goodness for good friends.  Believe you me, the minute I got home I activated the new card.  Anyway, then we went to the chiropractor, who definitely made my back feel much better.  We stopped at Cold Water Creek for their 40% off sale, and I had a rather unsettling adventure in the parking lot.  I was driving slowly and made a left hand turn.  I had seen a young boy on a skate board coming up near my car as I made the turn.  After I made it, I started looking for the kid because when I saw a parking space, I was going to turn into it and I didn’t want him between me and the space!  I couldn’t see him anywhere and looked out my rear view window.  You guessed it…he was hanging onto my bumper on his skateboard.  I slammed on the brakes (not as dramatic as it sounds since I was literally going about 2 miles an hour) and rolled down my window and yelled out “I don’t think so”.  He let go of the car!!!  Why are we all like that when we’re young….dumb enough to do a simple stupid thing that could easily get us seriously hurt?  Anyway, Jan got pants and a top at CWC and we were off to Trader Joes for groceries.  Tylenol and Michael’s lumbar pillow helped me to get through all of the driving.  I got home around 2:30 and had time to relax just a bit and take a shower before heading off to our neighbor’s for snacks and cocktails.  We were there around an hour and then 10 of us headed up to the Lake House for THE FABULOUS FOLLIES, a presentation by our local performing arts group.  It was a very nice program, not too long and with many funny bits!  We were home by 8 and Bev followed us home to pick up one of my wall hangings that she bought.  I stupidly didn’t take a picture of it before loading it into her car….so I have asked her to send one.  I’ll post the picture when I get it.  Michael and I watched a bit of TV before heading to bed.

Thursday morning I left for quilting and spent the 2 hours there binding off Jan’s knitted shawl…with 441 stitches it took that long to get it done.  But now, she just has to sew it together and it will be ready for her cruise on June 24^th.  Once home, I had a quick lunch, then packed up stuff for the commercial shoot and we left at 1:30 PM to get there by 3.  We were barely there on time (they gave us the wrong directions once we exited the interstate), and hurried back to the break room to meet up with everyone else.  What a racket this is…..they paid us lots of money to film us for a training video.  I’m sure we were the ‘don’t do this’ employees’!!!  We were done by 6 and decided to eat dinner there to let the work traffic thin out before heading home.  We were home by 8 and relaxed with the TV for the rest of the evening.  I got to weave on my new shawl a bit and have over 50 inches done.

The evening REALLY got interesting after we went to bed…..NOW….get your minds out of the gutter!  Michael had already fallen asleep and after lying there for 45 minutes, I decided I was having one of my insomnia attacks and decided to get up and read a bit.  I got out of bed, and took a step….WHOA….my lower back was killing me….took another step and fell to the floor.  I could NOT move; the pain was so bad.  So, I lay there on the floor for a bit, trying to decide what to do.  I guess for the long drive in the car I didn’t have a seat positioned anywhere near correctly, and was paying for it.  I thought I’d at least better take some Tylenol, but I couldn’t move.  Finally I decided I had no choice but to wake my honey up.  He got up, got me Tylenol, put some icy hot pain patches on my lower back, positioned 2 pillows under me and covered me with an extra blanket.  I was pretty comfortable on the floor and I asked him to go back to sleep because I knew he had an early tee time and there wasn’t anything else he could do!  After about an hour on the floor I could finally get up, but I still wasn’t sleepy.  I sat in the living room for an hour reading and finally went to bed about 2.  I’m moving VERY SLOWLY this morning (Friday), but hope to hit the chiropractor on my round of errands today.

I spent Wednesday morning visiting with Nancy and by the time I got home Michael had restored my computer (hooray!!!)  I spent the afternoon sewing, weaving and watching TV.  Around 3 PM Michael got a call…WHOO HOO, they want him for a LOWE’s commercial tomorrow.  I like that….but  why can’t he become someone like the Progessive gal  J, you know…national commercial….can you say residuals!?!?!??! 

Anyway, Wednesday was the day for the 3^rd and final pizza-on-the-grill test.  While the dough was rising, we got another call ‘can your wife act?’  So….it looks like I’ll be going tomorrow with Michael to the shoot.  I get to play his wife…that should be easy  J.  But back to the pizza……Goldilocks lives….this pizza was JUST RIGHT!!!  Oh my gosh, it was wonderful….I am so glad we can now do pizzas on the grill all summer long….

Michael and Phil left around 8 for their golf tournament on Tuesday and I headed downstairs.  I got a bunch of clothes organized to donate to Salvation Army, and also cleaned out some of my files.  I got to sew before a bit before Beth came over for help on her sweater.  Bob also stopped by and dropped off my computer.  I still can't use it until Michael loads the back up, back on.  Michael came home from the tournament and had time for a quick shower and a quick dinner (my shrimp scampi that takes about 8 minutes and tastes FABULOUS according to Michael) and then he left for an audition for a commercial.  Jan picked me up a short time later and we headed to the sleep clinic to drop off Walt (they are checking him for sleep apnea).  We came home and worked on knitting a bit before Jan left around 10 and Michael and I finally went to bed.

I felt very virtuous Monday morning.  Michael left for golf, and I ran all of my errands on my bike!  I dropped off Beth's sweater, rode to the Lake House to drop off recycling (bottle caps/corks/ batteries/etc), then over to the new bank to make a deposit and tell them that the wrong address was put on our checks, then to CVS to buy a few things.  It took just over an hour and I was glad to get home!  Temps are in the 90's again for all of this week.  Bob stopped over to look at my PC....it start acting funny Sunday night, and he promptly packed it up and left, saying I had a major virus :-( .I spent the afternoon sewing on the leftover squares Michael arranged....it will probably take another 2 weeks to get it all put together.  Jan came over for a bit for help on her knitted wrap.  I can't believe how far she has gotten.  She has over 400 stitches on every row and she has been knitting like a fiend and it is almost done!  We tried pizza on the grill again for dinner and I feel like Goldilocks....the first time was TOO HOT.....this time was TOO COOL....hopefully Wednesday night's dinner will be JUST RIGHT!  We spent the evening watching HARVEY with Jimmy Stewart and we both really enjoyed it...the movie lifted many, many lines exactly from the play.

Jan had a meeting in Pineville on Sunday morning, and I went with her so that I could stop in to Dollar General to pick up a few things.  When I got home, Michael was out practice golfing and I sat down to read the Sunday paper.  I read my book after that, and finally finished  it.  It was the last book in the ‘clan of the cave bear’ series, and I have to agree with the negative reviews written on AMAZON for this book.  Jean Auel’s previous 5 books were also loaded with detail about the Neanderthal time frame that the books covered, but that detail was just a supporting player in the story about the people involved.  The first 5 books were much more than details of the plants and caves and countryside; they talked about the relationships of everyone in the story.  This latest book seems like it could almost have been a reference book about the time, with a few sentences thrown in about the people we have come to know and care about.  It was a VERY disappointing end to the Ayla saga.  I spent a good bit of the afternoon working on our finances.  Our current bank is being taken over by another bank and they have decided to start charging for both checking and savings accounts.  We went shopping last week and found a new bank…but there is a lot of work involved in getting changed over.   Since we pay almost all of our bills on- line, I had to set up all of the accounts in the new bank’s on-line bill pay.  Finally around 3:30 I got to have some fun by going back to my sewing.  I worked on the leftover squares Michael had arranged, but it’s going to take me probably another week to 2 weeks to get the whole thing sewn together.  At 8 PM we moved my loom upstairs so that I could weave while we watched an animated movie that came out awhile ago: ‘cloudy with a chance of meatballs’.

I had a block exchange box to deliver to a friend of mine, so Michael and I tried to take a bike ride first thing Saturday morning (6/4) to drop it off, but Michael couldn’t get one of his tires to stay pumped up…so I took off by myself.  By the time I got back, Michael had everything set up on the deck for us to have a nice relaxing breakfast in the cool morning air.  We finished breakfast and Michael started doing his monthly chores while I came downstairs to pull together some stuff for Joplin, MO.  I don’t know if you read about the tornados through that area, but of the 70 homes that were destroyed, 40 of them were quilters.  They lost everything….so our local quilt guild has offered to mail out any and all donations.  I thought I would take some of the fabric that I have YARDS of, and cut up and make some ‘goodie’ bags for 6 different quilters.  I also have some extra equipment I can send.  I ended up with 1/2 – 3/4 yard pieces of 11 different fabrics.  That took a couple of hours to pull together, after which I started to work on the wall hanging Michael put up of leftover squares.  For lunch, Michael made me (quite possibly) the BEST grilled cheese sandwich I’ve EVER had!!!  We had leftovers for dinner and then Jan and Walt came over for games and homemade ice cream.  We played ‘golf’ for a bit and then made the ice cream….it was terrific.  Very, very rich, each of us only took a small bit.  Jan and Walt left just after 9, and Michael and I read for a bit before going to bed.

Gale/Phil/Bill/Beth

Michael and Phil are playing in a tournament on Tuesday (at a private country club), so they left early Friday morning to play a practice round (just like the pro’s!) 

I know you will find this hard to believe, but I have never owned an ice cream maker (really….I’m not kidding…there ARE still a FEW pieces of kitchen equipment I don’t actually own!)  Anyway, the King Arthur Flour Blog had a recipe for Chocolate Decadence Ice cream (a DARK chocolate flavor) and it sucked me RIGHT in!!!  (and the 97 degree temperatures didn’t hurt either!)  Michael and I both LOVE dark chocolate and the other good thing about it is that it uses milk and not cream, so we could use Michael’s lactaid milk to make it.  So, Michael picked up an ice cream maker (on sale) during his errands on Thursday and I got the chocolate ‘pudding mixture’ made Friday morning before my knitting students arrived.  I had fun helping Jan and Beth and Penny, but once they left at 12:20, it was a whirlwind of activity.  I got onion buns made for the cookout, along with an almond cake and a quinoa salad with lemon, basil and mint flavorings, all from my own garden.  Gale and Phil and Bill and Beth

showed up at 5:30 (you can see the remnants of the cake on the table, wish I had thought to take a picture before we cut it!)….and Gale brought an incredible looking cake for dessert: a layer of cake, then whipped cream, then blueberries and strawberries, then another set of layers.  It was GORGEOUS looking and tasted even better!  So….we didn’t make the ice cream.  We had burgers on the grill as our main ‘dish’  and we sat around and talked for several hours after dinner.  It was a very enjoyable evening.

Thursday morning (6/2) Michael left early to run a bunch of errands and I spent the time at our monthly block exchange at quilting.  I took in the 2 jam/cheese logs I made Wednesday night and baked them at the church.  Everyone thought they smelled heavenly and they were eaten up in a flash.  We did our block exchange, and then had lunch and I got home by 1:30.  I putzed around the sewing room until 3:30 PM when we left for square dancing.  As usual, we had a fun time and were home by 6.  Ann (across the street neighbor) came over to chat for a bit (we haven’t seen her in AGES) and we finally had dinner around 7.  I spent the evening downstairs weaving, while Michael was upstairs watching TV. 

onion holder, beginning of beaded wall hanging

Michael left VERY early for golf on Wednesday (6/1) and Nancy and I had changed our normal Tuesday get-together to Wednesday.  I was supposed to go to her house, but she sent an email asking if I would mind going to Mary Jo’s (cloth store) instead.  WOULD I MIND????  WHAT, IS SHE EVEN CRAZY ENOUGH TO ASK???  Mary Jo’s is mecca for us fiber floozies, so I jumped right on the bandwagon.  I keep a running list by my sewing machine of things to look for ‘the next time I go to Mary Jo’s.’  So we headed out before 10 and stimulated the economy quite a bit (for once, I wasn’t the winner…Nancy was.   You retreat people will certainly understand that statement  J), before heading off to Tony’s for lunch.  I got home around 2 PM and took my time unpacking all of my plunder from Mary Jo’s.  What I immediately started to make was an onion holder out of nylon net!!!  I bought 5 pounds of Vidalia onions from one of my quilting buddies (her grandson was selling as a fund raiser) and now have to store them.  You know how it really helps to keep your onions hanging in an old nylon stocking?  They last much longer.  Well, I decided to make a ‘permanent’ onion holder with a tube out of nylon net, a fabric top that could hang on a hook, and twist ties separating the onions.  Here it is:

 

I had taken a casserole out of the freezer for dinner, so I didn’t have to spend any time cooking in the afternoon.  We put it in the oven on the ‘delayed start’ setting and went over to Susan’s for a happy hour.  When we got home, the house smelled heavenly and Michael and I loved the casserole so much that we had trouble not polishing off the whole thing!  I put together 2 jam/cheese logs to take to quilting on Thursday, and then spent the rest of the evening knitting, while Michael was watching TV.

 Here’s a picture of the wall hanging quilted, but without any beading:

We had an 8 AM appointment at the dentist on Tuesday (5/31) for a teeth cleaning and then hit the chiropractor’s before having breakfast at THE BIG VIEW!  It’ was a scrumptious breakfast (M had blueberry pancakes, potatoes and bacon while I had biscuits and sausage gravy) and we finally got home around 11:30. 

The paper that came today had this ABOVE the mast head:

97        96        95        95        94

showing the temps for the next 5 days!!!  Needless to say, I stayed in the basement all afternoon sewing.  I got the quilting done on the new wall hanging for over the sliders and started to BEAD it!!!  I am VERY excited about the beading…may have to take pictures as I go along!  We had pizza on the grill for dinner (the bottom a little too brown, but we’re getting closer!) and then headed to Jan and Walt’s.  Michael and Walt went the movies, while Jan and I had a very busy evening.  I got her pedometer all set up, showed her how to use her NINJA, printed the insurance cards off the internet for the new car they bought, and then we got to sit and knit and talk.