Michael was up at 6 and gone by 7 on Friday (7/29).  I got up at 7 and proceeded to clean the rest of the fridge…you know, wash all of the drawers and shelves and wipe down everything else.  How DOES all of that dust and dirt get in there in the first place???  I was hoping the charity would come to pick up the fridge by 8, but they didn’t show up until 11, and then couldn’t take it anyway because the fridge was supposed to be outside or in the garage for them to pick up!  It would have been great if someone had told me that….I would have reversed the order of old one going and new one coming!  Anyway, the new fridge people came around 1:30 and carried the old one out to garage and put new one in.  They could not hook up the water line because (again!) no one at the store told us that we had to have a new, stainless steel water line in order for them to hook it up!!  So…I hooked up the old one (with a small wrench they had) and Michael will go out to get an upgraded one over the weekend.  Michael was so great, but the time we got everything squared away, he went begging for ice at the neighbors so that we could have something cold to drink.  The fridge took 2 hours to come up to temperature and then Michael proceeded to drag all of the stuff from our neighbor’s fridge back to ours.  We had mater sammiches for dinner and just watched a bunch of our TV shows in the evening.

Quilting got cancelled on Thursday (7/28) which was good because I felt like I already had a 100 things to do!  Michael started to clean out our fridge and freezer (new fridge comes tomorrow!!) and I was helping with that until 10 when I left to pick up Jan.  My sewing machine was all done and I am hoping to sew over the weekend, so we went to pick it up.  Eighty bucks later it was safely ensconced in the back of my car (or so I thought….if fell over and rolled around during the rest of our trip) and we zoomed over to COSTCO.  Luckily we only needed a few things and so were in and out in a flash.  We zoomed home, I kicked Jan out and raced to pick up Nancy.  I took her to her eye doctor’s appointment.  The good news is that the problem with her retina is fixed…the bad news is, it will still be a month or more before the trauma to her eye is fully healed…and then she will probably need cataract surgery…BUT…her eye will be fine and that is the important thing!  I got home in time from the doctor to get cleaned up a bit and then head on over to a neighbor’s for dinner and then on to a baseball game.  The Charlotte Knights were playing the Indianapolis Indians (triple A farm team for the Pirates)….so I was roundly boo’ed when I cheered for the opposing team….but who cares…the Indians won 2 to 1!!!!  We got home at 10 and Michael popped off to bed since he had an early tee time on Friday…and I got a bit of the fridge washed out before heading for bed myself.

Wednesday (7/27) we were home by lunchtime.  We had a great time at Lake Lure, the men golfed Monday and Tuesday (this is the view of hole # 3 from the front of our condo).  Michael golfing, Phil golfing and one I like to call “playing to the crowd”!

 and the women talked and talked and talked!  I think the thing I liked best about it was that Gale and I got to know each other a bit better.  I got a lot of knitting done on a new scarf…and we all took a terrific pontoon boat ride around the lake.  This is where they filmed DIRTY DANCING and although an arsonist burnt down all of the buildings some time after the movie was filmed, Michael did get a great picture of the staircase that Baby comes dancing down while she is trying to learn the routines (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, rent the movie…..it’s a good one!)

 We had many great meals while we were there:

I think it was an enjoyable (3 day) trip for everyone.

 We unpacked when we got home, played with our furry pumpkins (who seemed to survive with our neighbors just fine) and took another picture of the GIANT sunflowers, which have finally bloomed. 

I took a nap in the afternoon and finally got moving enough to change clothes and head up to the Lake House for a square dancing dance (instead of just a lesson).  We had a mix of beginners and intermediates and we all had a great time…although my feet and hips were really feeling it after 2 hours of dancing.  We came home at 9 and relaxed a bit before heading to bed.

Sunday morning (7/24) was another hot and humid one.  We ate breakfast and Michael left to hit some balls and I stayed home to do laundry and make some finger food for a memorial service in the afternoon.  A good friend of mine died about a year and a ½ ago, and her husband passed away on Thursday.  I’ve organized meals for the visiting family for over the weekend and got someone to sit at the house during the service, but they also needed some finger food for after the service.  I made a new recipe, wonton appetizers:

Jan and I spent the afternoon at the service, and Jan dropped me off on the way home to relieve the person I had watching their house.  I finally got home around 5:30.  Floy stopped by for a bit to discuss some embroidery that I will be doing for her and by the time she left we were finally ready for dinner.  Michael spent the afternoon at the children’s theatre production for Fort Mill.  We finally ate dinner, packed for our trip and watched TV in the evening.

Happy Birthday to me!  Our day started with a quick trip to the grocery store, then home for mimosas and breakfast!  Michael left at 11 to drop off my sewing machine for repair, and Connie (former knitting student) stopped by for a visit.  She brought tons of her yarn to discuss projects and ALL of it was gorgeous!  After Connie left I headed downstairs to set up my portable machine so that I could continue sewing…and also started perusing my yarns to pick out something to take on vacation.  By then it was lunchtime and my honey made me an incredible grilled cheese and tomato sandwich (he makes the BEST!!!)  Nancy and Jen stopped by for a quick visit and finally Michael came down and finished his picture to video program.  We had champagne and puffy things for dinner and relaxed and watched TV in the evening.  It really was a perfect day.

Michael left before 7 for golf and I got up and took Chloe up to the groomer’s for a bath and cut.  I had time to come home, have breakfast, and make pasta dough before heading back to pick up Chloe….she looks so cute with her summer ‘do’! 

I made up some of my hand/face/body cream (because I was really getting low and I’m getting new customers all the time  J) and by then Michael was home.  His golfing score was much like the heat….HIGH!  He helped me get the pasta all rolled and cut and it was SO MUCH EASIER with his help.  We got to relax for a bit, then he headed for the shower and I headed downstairs to work on the basket a bit more.  I got the binding put on by 3 PM….headed upstairs to mix up herbed roll dough, then came back down and secured the handles.  It is all done and I am glad I have at least one thing to sell at the fair!

Gale and Phil arrived at 6 PM for the pasta with sage butter sauce, fresh tomatoes with basil and parmesan and rosemary/parsley rolls.  We gave Gale and Phil the set of holiday placemats to thank them for all of the stuff they do for us…and I think Gale was very pleased!  We talked for a bit about our golfing trip which starts on Monday, then they left for home and Michael and I read for a bit, watched TV for a bit and finally headed to bed.

Thursday morning I got all of my supplies together and Jan picked me up at 9 AM for quilting.  I was teaching a purse class and I was very nervous.  I guess all of my prep work paid off because the class went off without a hitch and I think everyone was VERY pleased with their finished purses!!!  Jan and I left around 2 and headed over to PVK (the local knitting store).  She bought a pattern and we looked at a few things for her granddaughter who is coming to visit in a few months.  Jan wants me to teach her granddaughter how to knit, so we discussed a few patterns and yarns.  I got home by 3 and was glad to relax and talk to Michael.  He spent all day working on a picture video presentation and was glad to get up and stretch his back,  We watched a bit of TV, had leftovers for dinner and visited Wendy’s for dessert (this being National Ice Cream month and all!!!) And I finished sewing the body of my rope tote.  I just have to put on the binding and straps and it will be done.

Wednesday morning Michael left for golfing and around 9 I rode my bike up to the farmer’s market.  I helped Sheila out at her stand for about an hour, then picked up some tomatoes, peaches and a cantaloupe.  I continued on to CVS to pick up a prescription, and got home just in time to get a phone call from Nancy.  Nancy had surgery on her eye on Monday and was finally feeling well enough for a visit.  I finished my breakfast and headed on over there.  We had a wonderful visit and I got to check out her new IPAD….the technology is AMAZING!!!!!  I sewed all afternoon, once I got home.  Michael got home from golfing around 1:30 with another great score of 86…he has been super consistent lately.  We shared that enormous piece of chocolate cake as an afternoon snack (way too much caffeine to eat after dinner!) and as a result, weren’t very hungry when dinner rolled around.  We both shared my leftovers from the restaurant for dinner…leaving the mysterious tin foil package until Thursday.  It's funny, Nancy asked me what tin foil meant to me and I replied that in my feezer, it usually meant something that was already cooked.  Sure enough, the tin foil holds 3 cooked chicken enchiladas that I am really looking forward to eating!  At 7 PM, 3 other square dancing couples arrived to practice a bit in our basement.  We bought one of Tim’s calling records and thought we’d give it a whirl.  The only thing that REALLY got a workout was our stomachs, as we were all laughing so hard as we continually messed up!  Anyway, we had a really good time for a couple of hours, although I don’t know that our square dancing improved any  J.

Tuesday morning we jumped up and took everything out of our garage freezer and took it over to Howard and Dee’s old fridge/freezer which is in their garage.  We unplugged ours, loaded up the bottom with chamois and took off the chiropractor’s.   By the time we came home (after a stop at Lowe’s) the freezer was defrosted.  I spent a bit of time mopping up all of the water and then turned the freezer back on.

We got all of the food put back (after it was cold) and I now have an up to date list on the freezer of what is in it!  There was only one casualty….I package wrapped in tin foil that I have NO IDEA what is in it.  It’s thawing in the fridge and we are having it for dinner on Wednesday night, no matter what it is! 

I sewed most of the afternoon on my basket while Michael worked on a picture video.  Joanne and Larry picked us up at 6 and we headed off to dinner.  This is restaurant week in our area and the many participating restaurants put on special menus.  We went ti MICKEY & MOOCH’s and our dinners were awesome.  Both couples got the same appetizers: mini-crab cakes and she crab soup, and then we shared.  Everyone else had the filet mignon for their main course (with either Yukon gold mashed potatoes or blue cheese coleslaw for their side), but I had pork chop saltimbocca with a side of alfredo pasta.  The pork chop was great…but the alfredo was OUT OF THIS WORLD.  I ate 1/2 of everything and then asked for my obscenely large piece of chocolate layer cake:

to go (I just KNOW Michael is going to want to ‘share’ it with me when I eventually eat it!)  The other desserts ordered were: crème brulee (my honey ALWAYS gets that when it is offered), a creamsicle cheesecake and a white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake.  We all rolled out to the car afterwards, saying that dinner was definitely worth it, even though we were all stuffed!  We were home by 9 and Michael read for a bit and I tried to do a SUDOKU before finally heading to bed.

The sticky buns on Monday (7/18) were awesome:

I called Anne (our neighbor) to come over and get 2 so there would be fewer for us to eat!!  After breakfast, Michael left for golf, and I spent a couple of hours on my desk (paperwork….boo  J) before leaving on my bike for the volunteer meeting at 10:30.  I hit the grocery store after the meeting and thanks to Michael bungee-cording a milk carton to the back of my bike, I could bring home: 1/2 gallon of milk, 5 bananas, 5 tubes of Colgate toothpaste (at 61 cents a tube to be donated!!!) and a bag of Doritos.  I ate another ‘mater sammich for lunch and called Jan to come over and finish her purse.  Michael arrived home from another hot day on the course (it was 92) with another hot score: 83.  Jan went home around 4 with her purse 98% completed…she just had to top stitch around the top and close up the lining and she was done!!!  Michael and I had ruebenwich for dinner (out of the freezer) and then he watched a movie upstairs while I got to start another rope basket downstairs.

Sunday morning (7/17), Susan C. came over to share in the pecan and blueberry waffle breakfast and to tell us all about her trip to the Caymans.  After that Michael settled in to watch the British Open final round and I headed to the basement to organize a bit of stuff.  I was feeling at loose ends in the afternoon and decided to put together 2 pans of Killer Pecan Sticky Buns.  I bought an elliptical machine on Craig’s list a couple of months ago and one of my quilting friends and her husband helped me transport it to our basement.  I’ve wanted to make sticky buns to thank them ever since then…but just never found the time…so today was it!  Michael and I delivered the unbaked buns around 5 (they rise overnight in the fridge and then bake in the morning), and then came home and put together a pizza for our dinner.  We had a Netflix movie THE BOX that we watched during and after dinner….WHEW…it was SCARY!!!!  So we followed it up with  HOT IN CLEVELAND before heading to bed.

Friday morning (7/15) Michael left for horseshoes, and I got the ice cream churned (from the pudding mixture I made last night after the concert) and pasta dough (for our dinner tonight!)  

Jan showed up at 11, just as I finished cutting the pasta into noodles.  We spent the afternoon working on her purse, and I also got another cuddle blanket done.

 

In retrospect, the dino eggs look like big baked potatoes….guess I won’t use that brown again!  Anyway, once Jan left I put together dough for herb rolls for dinner, and got to read my book a bit.  Sally and Jimmy arrived at 6 for PASTA WITH SAGE BUTTER SAUCE, rolls and marinated tomatoes.  Everyone was VERY complimentary about the dinner….guess we have a hit on our hands!  We sat around and talked for awhile, then broke for dessert….Sally brought a scrumptious bundt cake, which we served with chocolate ice cream.  We sat out on the deck for a bit after that, then Sally and Jimmy left for home.  I got the waffle batter put together for Sunday breakfast, then Michael and I watched a bit of TV before heading to bed.

Michael jumped up after only 6 hours of sleep for another day of golf on Friday (7/15).  He said he hoped he was just tired enough to be relaxed on the course…..guess it kind of worked…when he got home just after 12, he had shot an 87!  I did a few things around the house in the morning, then headed downstairs to continue working on the new placemats.  Ironing them right side out takes the longest because you have to pull out all of the edges, but I got that done and all of the top stitching before Nancy showed up at 3!  They are ready to be given as gifts.  I picked the fabric to reflect Easter, patriotic (which I love 'cause you get to use for Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor day!) fall/Thanksgiving and Christmas/winter. (don't forget, you can click on the picture to make it bigger).

Nancy and I had a nice chat until after 5, when she left and Michael and I had ‘mater sandwiches for dinner again and then headed to the Lake House for a choral concert of Broadway favorites.  It was a great show and we got home early enough to read for a bit, then watch TV before heading to bed.

Thursday morning (7/14) I jumped up early to try to pull all of my stuff together for quilting, and left at 9:30.  I worked on a wall hanging and got all of the sleeves sewn down on the back of the quilt.  When I got home, Michael and I went over to our friend’s house to check on her cat again.  We made a quick stop at the grocery store on the way home and then relaxed for a few hours before dinner.  I had another ‘mater sandwich (it was SO GOOD!!!) and Michael had his crab salad and corn.  He headed out at 8:15 PM to play nighttime golf with Susan (across the street neighbor).  I finally went to bed at 11, but couldn’t sleep very well…and he finally got home at mid-night!

Michael left super early for golfing on Wednesday (7/13) …yesterday it was 99 degrees and today is supposed to be equally hot, so he had a very early tee time to try to beat the heat.  I threw in some laundry and headed up to the farmer’s market.  I picked up cantaloupe, tomatoes, corn and blueberries.  When I got home, I called Jan to come over, but she seems to be coming down with a cold.  She thinks she caught something on the plane on the way home…so she is staying home and resting.  I headed downstairs to figure out what to work on today (at 10 AM is it already 90 degrees here…yuck!)  I had ironed all of the interfacing onto the fabric for a new set of 4-in-1 placemats, so I thought I’d get those cut out and sewn together.  I really thought I could get the sewing done in one day.  Janice called in the afternoon with perfect timing and we got to have a long and satisfying chat on the phone!  Then I left at 3 to get my hair done.  When I was coming home at 5:30, I floored the golf cart because the dark clouds were rolling in.  I got home about 15 minutes ahead of the storm and it was a doozy.  Michael and I had just been discussing when we were going to have dinner when the electricity went out.  Good thing we had decided on ‘mater sandwiches….and they were LUSCIOUS!!!!!   We had big, fat, juicy red, red ripe ‘maters from the farmer’s market….on potato bread with mayonnaise….YUM!!!!  We ate by candlelight.    The worst of the storm passed over with an hour, and we moved out onto the porch to read our books.  The power came on around 8:30…..too late to continue sewing, so I knit while we watched TV.

I jumped up early Tuesday (7/12) morning so that I could get some stuff done before leaving for platelet donation at 9 AM.  It turned out to be MUCH faster than last time…last time it took 2 hours and 12 minutes….this time 1 hour and 20 minutes….I was THRILLED it was so much faster (must have been all of the dark chocolate I ate on Monday….that’s one of the foods that’s supposed to increase platelets).  Anyway, I made it to knitting club just a tiny bit late and got to see a bunch of friends.  When I got home I read my book for awhile, then took off for Connie’s house to play 500 bid.  There is a group of women who play every week, and I occasionally sub.  I ended up being to the high scorer of the night (STRICTLY luck I assure you!) and came home with a whopping $5.50 in prize money!  While I was gone, Michael went to see the movie BAD TEACHER.  He said it was an okay movie…..and that it certainly brought back memories of his 32 teaching years.

Michael left early Monday (7/11) to (hopefully) finally get his passport sent off at the post office, make it to his hearing aid appointment, and then get to play some golf.  I got to stay home, do dishes and then SEW ALL DAY!!!!  I worked on the purse that I am teaching next week at quilting and by dinnertime the purse was done and so were the instructions I needed to type up!!! 

I was VERY glad to get that finished.  I drove over to Jan’s to drop off the beginning instructions.  She’s going to test what I have asked people to complete BEFORE they come to the first class, and then she’s coming over on Wednesday to complete testing of the rest of the instructions.  We went on a few errands after dinner and only batted .300…first to the bank with our ATM (we haven’t used an ATM in 4-1/2 years…and we didn’t authorize the card first, so that was out), then to CVS for some sodas on sale (all out) and finally to Wendy’s for a caramel shake and a root beer float (those we managed to get!)  I spent the rest of the evening getting a new set of 4-in-1 placemats started.

We decided to go out to breakfast Sunday (7/10) morning and enjoyed THE BIG VIEW while reading the paper.  We got home around 10 and Michael took off for some golf practice and I headed to the sewing room to continue on my purse.  I also read my emails and Mary Jo was on at the same time….so she gave me a call and we had a nice long chat.  She is coming to visit at the end of Nov, and BG is coming in October, and I get to visit Ginny in 8 weeks….lots of good things to look forward to!

When Michael got home from golfing, I took another picture of him with his sunflower.  Remember this picture from a week ago??? 

Well…here’s the sunflower now!  It is SO HUGE...in just a week!!!!! 

it may finally be finished growing and may be forming a flower at the top…we hope to know in another week. 

I threw together a new pizza dough recipe and then we buzzed over to Susan C’s to meet her cat and pick up a key to her house.  She is going on vacation and asked us to watch the cat.  By the time we got home, I had a BIG mushroom cloud that was my pizza dough... totally over the top of the bowl!!!  I got it punched down and made 2 margarita-type pizzas (basil leaves, fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, cheddar and Parmesan cheese) and put them in the oven to rise.  Jan and Walt and Bob and Eileen

arrived at 6 PM and Michael fired up the grill.  The pizzas were AWESOME

…and we also had corn on the cob.  We played Mexican train for a bit, then Jan and Walt left for home since they are still recovering from their cruise, and we proceeded to teach Bob and Eileen how to play SCREWED.  We finally quit at 10 and said goodnight.  Michael and I straightened up for just a few minutes then headed off to bed.

We took an early morning bike ride on Saturday (7/9) then ate breakfast out on the deck even though it was sweltering.  I was downstairs working on stuff by 10:30.  I am teaching a class the 3^rd Thursday of July.  The class is for my Margo purse and I wanted to make a second one and take good notes to hopefully make it easier on my students.  This purse took me 2 full days when I originally made it and I have no idea how long it will take all of the quilters to complete it.  I took a break from NOON until 2 to go and visit Jan (home from her 2 week cruise).  When I got home I got a bit more done on my purse, and started to type up directions.  Dee and Howard picked us up after 6, to head out to dinner and a comedy club.  They treated us to thank us for stuff we do while they are on their trips.  The dinner was nice….but the comedy club was hysterical!  Both Michael and I realized 1/2 way through the 3 comics that our faces hurt from smiling and laughing so much.  It was a very enjoyable evening and we were home by 10:30.

Michael left very early for golf on Friday (7/8) and I managed to get the almond ice cream made and packed away before Joanne picked me up at 8:30.  We hit Michael’s, Hobby Lobby, and Hancock’s, then stopped for lunch at Panera before heading home.  I was home by 1 with flannel for the back of the red/blue quilt and some polymer clay to get started leaning about it.  I also picked up some more beads for the wall handing, since I was totally out of silver.  I spent the afternoon in my sewing room, breaking only to make wonton soup for dinner.  Michael pronounced the wontons A+, but the chicken broth needs a bit of work.  We had almond ice cream for dessert (it was scrumptious!) and watched TV the rest of the night.

Michael left at 7 for golf on Wednesday (7/6) and I ran through my emails in the morning, then headed up to the farmer’s market.  I got sweet potatoes, tomatoes, corn, a cantaloupe and peaches and stayed for about an hour to help out Sheila (one of the vendors).  Once I got home, I had breakfast and then put together 40 wontons.  They seemed labor intensive, but it only took me about a minute a wonton, so I don’t really think it was that bad!  

I cleaned up the kitchen and headed downstairs to continue working on my wall hanging.  I got the binding all put on one side, and got another cuddle blanket done:
 

I went upstairs around 3 to get out the pizza dough to let it rest and warm up for an hour.  Michael was home from golf with another GREAT score of 83!!!  I read while I was waiting for the dough to warm up, and at 4, put together the dough, pesto, fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and a bit of parmesan.  Gale and Phil arrived at 6 and the guys got the grill going and shucked corn.  The pizza tasted really terrific and by the time we finished the corn everyone was stuffed.  Gale and Phil stayed and talked for a bit, but they left by 8.  I got dough put together for buns for Thursday and threw it in the fridge, then I went back to sewing while Michael watched TV.  I got the binding all done on the wall hanging I am beading and also got another cuddle blanket done:

Michael and I had leftover blueberry pancakes for breakfast on Tuesday (7/5).  Then we were supposed to tackle a LARGE number of errands….yuck….as my friend MJ in CT will tell you…I can talk myself out of going anywhere (including the grocery store)…and have now corrupted her too  J.  Anyway, my blessed husband said he would tackle the list all by himself…I just LOVE that man!  He left around 10 and I headed downstairs to watch MURDER SHE WROTE and continue beading on the new wall hanging for the living room.  I have a second block done (don’t forget to click on the picture if you want it enlarged):

At NOON I headed over to Mary Lu’s and bonded a bit more with Ellie and Summer.  I had a just a bit of time when I got home, so I put together the filling for wontons.  Michael loves wonton soup, and I found a recipe to make your own soup with your own homemade wontons, so we’re going to try it.  Joanne picked me up at 1 to head up to Stitch & Chat.  Unfortunately, I forgot to put more yarn in my basket, and I ran out by 1:15….so I just chatted for the rest of the 2 hours!  I was home by 3:30 and Mary Lu came for a visit to talk about her mini-vacation and the dogs (aren’t they beautiful?): 

 

After Marilu left, Michael had a couple of deviled eggs for dinner and then left to see a movie (Green Lantern) and I stayed home and continued to watch TV and sew.

Michael and I are taking care of Marylu’s (neighbor) dogs over the 4^th, so at 6 AM this morning, after I took care of Chloe, I wandered on over to ML’s house in my bathrobe and fed and played with and let out her 2 cocker spaniels.  She has a black and white named Ellie.  Ellie is just like the queen: very calm, very regal.  Summer is ML’s newest addition, she is buff colored and more like Fergie: fast, fun and frolick-y!  ML has a pet door, so we don’t have to worry about that, but I want to go over a few times today just to play with them since they are not used to being alone (and besides…I LOVE to play with them!)  When I got home, I shaped the hamburger bun dough I made on Sunday and left it to rise while I went downstairs to do some dreaded paperwork!  Michael left for golf around 8, and I came upstairs around 9:30 and got the rolls baked and also made deviled eggs.  I read my book for a bit and at 11 AM headed back to ML’s to play with the dogs a bit.  At 1 PM I headed to Dee and Howard’s (with eggs and buns) for a 4^th of July cookout.  Michael got home from golf shortly afterwards and joined us, along with Anne and Bryce.  Dee and Howard had burgers and dogs and corn and these great seasoned potatoes and all the fixin’s.  Around 2 PM, another bunch of neighbors started to show up and surprise Dee for her birthday …yep…she’s a 4^th of July baby!  Anne made a strawberry cake and brought chocolate and vanilla ice cream and everything was just scrumptious.  We stayed for quite a while and got to talk to everyone but finally came home around 4.  We went over to feed the dogs around 5:30 and then came home to relax.  We were so full from the party that we never did eat any dinner.  We haven’t seen any of “our shows” for awhile, so we spent the night snuggling on the couch, watching ROCKFORD FILES, MARY TYLER MOORE, and AS TIME GOES BY.

for sale

I was up early on Sunday (7/3) to get my polar fleece into the dryer.  One of the things I did on Saturday was to get a bolt of yellow polar fleece cut into cuddle blankets.  I put them in the washer when we went to bed, and into the dryer first thing Sunday morning.  Joanne wanted to stop by to watch my machine do the embroidery, and she didn’t want to miss the start of Wimbledon, so she came over at 9 AM.  Luckily Michael and I were done with our breakfast of blueberry pancakes by then!  I got one cuddle blanket done:

 

 and she took it with her to put in the display case.  After she left, I finally got the whole top pieced of the quilt Michael put up on the design wall:
 

If you’re thinking that this quilt top look familiar, you are right!  It was created out of the “left-over” 1/2 square triangles from Marc and Kate’s wedding quilt.

 And, I got another cuddle quilt done before dinner:

 

We had pizza on the grill for dinner!!!  It was a little more brown on the bottom than we wanted….but the texture of the crust was terrific and the taste was great!  Michael watched a movie in the evening (CARZY HEART), and I knit and tried to clear off my all of my taped shows….there’s an 18 hour marathon on Monday of MURDER SHE WROTE and I think I’m taping all of them  J.

After breakfast on Saturday (7/2) Michael left to play horseshoes, while I tried to get some paperwork organized.  When he got home, we went over to MaryLu’s to get instructions for her dogs.  She is going away tomorrow and returning Tuesday and we’re taking care of the dogs.  After we got home, we went out and took another picture of Michael’s sun flowers…I swear they grow 6 inches a day! 

Afterwards, we called BEST BUY and ordered our new refrigerator (French doors, freezer on the bottom), to be delivered on July 29^th.  We also tried to call a roofing guy (yes, we need a new roof, new gutters and one piece of new siding due to a horrific hail storm about a month ago), but his mailbox was full so, not accepting any new calls.  Guess we’ll have to leave that until Tuesday.  In the afternoon I continued to work on the quilt on the design wall, and also did the finishing work on a hat and scarf set.  Awhile ago, someone donated quite a bit of yarn to the knitting club.  I took 6 skeins, figuring out that we could make 3 hat-and-scarf sets out of it.  The first set is done….Michael knit the hat and I knit the scarf:

In the evening we watched this really interesting TV show about the ‘skywalk’ that was built out over the Grand Canyon….definitely someplace we hope to visit in the future.

for sale cuddle blankets

I had a bit of insomnia Thursday night, so I was in the living room, reading a new book until well after mid-night.  So… even though Michael left early for golf on Friday (7/1), I didn’t get up until 9.  I spent an hour on the computer, and then picked a ton of basil and made pesto.  By the time I got that all cleaned up, dead headed all of our rose bushes and had a bite to eat, it was lunchtime and Michael was home from golf with a sizzling 84!!!  He has really been HOT lately (oh yeah….and getting good golf scores too  J).  After he had a shower and a little lunch, we headed out to the post office and BEST BUY.  The post office was closed (they closed at 2 PM on Friday) and heaven only knows what time they open on Tuesday because the posted hours on all 4 doors had the opening time carefully erased!!!  Anyway, on the way home we made another stop at Best Buy to re-look at a refrigerator, stopped at the bank to see if our deposits are going to our new bank yet (we are cautiously optimistic), and made a quick stop at the grocery store.  We were home around 4 and treated ourselves to chips and French onion dip (a once a year guilty pleasure!) and then I went back to sewing while Michael got to watch a little golf.  We had BLT’s for dinner and spent the rest of the evening knitting, sewing and watching TV.  Here’s the 4^th cuddle blanket I finished:

So….I got a comment from anonymous about the chicken in the crockpot.  I had about 7 pounds of chicken in 6 big 1/2 breast pieces with bone and skin.  I layered then in a dry, 6 quart crockpot and put on low for 7 hours.  I took them out, separated out, weighed and froze the meat…and also got a quantity of chicken stock (about 2 cups).

 

I got banana bread baked first thing Thursday (6/30) morning, then Michael and I took off on a bike ride.  Once home, I took a quick shower and packed up the car and took off for quilting.  I took along the wall hanging and started to bead another block.  I stayed until just after lunch, then came home to sew a bit in the basement.  We left for square dancing at 3 and I took along one of the loaves of banana bread for our caller.  We had a good time dancing…this was our last lesson, but Tim (the caller) promised we would have lots of dances over the summer.  We had leftover crab salad for dinner and watched TV and knitting the rest of the evening.