Desserts for Sweet Charity, visit with Al & Lynn

Michael was out of the house before 8 AM on Saturday (9/29) and I hopped up to start baking for the SWEET CHARITY fund raising event for Volunteers.  I got 30 individual Cookies & Cream Cheesecakes done, 

and then 60 Baklava Cookies.  

That took several hours and I was grateful to get back to the coolness of my studio by the time they were all done.  

I got a few more rows done on my quilt of valor, 

as well as a few embroideries for the newest baby quilt:  

Aren’t those just the cutest elephants ever?  Of course, not as cute as this little pumpkin, sleeping away while I was slaving over hot sewing machines:

Guess I always have to leave a quilt on the to-be-bound pile!

Michael came home with an 81 and THREE birdies!!!  And after he updated his golfing stats, he helped me to deliver all of the desserts.  

By then it was time to get cleaned up for our visit with Al and Lynn.  

Al & Lynn are our financial planners, as well as being good friends.  We met for 2 hours to go over all of our stuff (yes, we can still afford to live here for another 30 years  :~) and sign about a billion pieces of paper before heading out to THE FISH MARKET at Baxter Village.  

Our meal was INCREDIBLE!!!  It started with chocolate/raspberry martinis, 

continued on with she crab soup and shrimp cocktail, 

got serious with scallops and bacon risotto, 

shrimp pasta 

and  lemon/garlic shrimp with crab hash:

before finally finishing with a plethora of desserts!  

We got FABULOUS news during dinner; Al & Lynn and their respective spouses are moving to Carolina Orchards!!!!  Only 30 minutes away….it will be terrific to have them so close!!!  We rolled out to the car and said our good-byes, and came home to read for an hour or so before bed.

***MMR – Michael’s Movie Reviews***

A SIMPLE FAVOR – this mystery thriller has more twists and turns than a Carrowinds roller coaster.  The story revolves around 2 different women who, at first glance, couldn’t be more different.  But in the end, they’re more alike than you can imagine.  The favor is “will you watch my son for a few hours?”  It turns into days and into a mysterious disappearance.  Is it murder?  Is the victim really dead?  Love, hate, who did what to whom?  It will all come out in the end, but what a ride to get there.  I give it 4 fat quarters out of 5.

newest baby top totally done, colors for eye doc baby quilt

After a quick breakfast on Friday (9/28) 

we left for a long list of errands.  We left the house at 8:30 and finally got back home at 2 PM.  First stop was the chiro for both of us, then eye appointments for both of us in Pineville.  After that it was my favorite – personal pan pizza at Pizza Hut (I LOVE the crust), before heading to JC Penny to pick up some shorts for Michael that I ordered on line.  After that it was WALMART for more baking groceries…I need to make 60 desserts by Saturday at 3 PM for the SWEET CHARITY auction for Volunteers.Then we hit the LCNGA (Lancaster County Natural Gas Association).  I have a PSA (Public Service Announcement) about what Michael and I are working towards.  I’m sure when we first moved here, we did the ‘divide and conquer’ thing with utilities…you know….you take those ones and get us set up and I’ll take these ones and do the same.  That means that our utilities are in EITHER Michael’s name or my name.  This doesn’t usually matter until somebody dies.  I’m not trying to be morbid here, just practical.  It matters because if the utility is in the deceased spouses name only, the remaining spouse may (definitely will in the case of the natural gas company) be charged to change the service over to surviving spouse’s name.  Not to mention they won’t even want to talk to you since the utility isn’t in your name.  At a time when you definitely don’t need any extra grief…..you’re having to deal with this stuff.  So, if you are a married couple (or any other legally joined couple), and your bills do not have BOTH of your names on them; please think about having that done.  It probably means both of you going in person (that’s what happened with the gas company) with your driver’s licenses and filling out forms.  After a final stop for gas, we headed home.  

This weekend is the Ryder Cup, so Michael is glued to the TV.  I read my book for a couple of hours before heading down to my studio.  I worked until 9 PM and got the newest baby top totally finished: 

here's where it was

auditioning fabric

just like a nicely wrapped pachage....all done!

and pulled out colors to hopefully make one for the eye doctor (who's having a boy):

SHQ show & tell

Thursday (9/27) was the first day of our 2 day retreat at Scrap Happy Quilters.  I left the house at 8:45 and stopped at Harris Teeter to buy fruit for the retreat, then headed on down.  There were 24 people signed up and we had a wonderful (if tiring) first day.  I think I got lots down, and there was beautiful show and tell as well: 

love the arrangement of blue down the side and red across the top

I really wish I liked to do applique becuase I LOVE it anytime I see it on a quilt!

Mary Ann found this digging through a bin in some quilt show....it's an antique quilt made with flour sacks:

some day I need to do a bear paw too!

another 'Loree' quilt

finished during the hurricane

And June's incredible big dream panel that she was blocking during the retreat:

After a quick stop at the library, I was home before 4:30, and Michael and I sat and talked for quite a bit before I headed downstairs to clean up some emails and see what I was going to sew on next.  I did get a bit of pressing done on the newest baby quilt.  

Michael left before 6 PM to go to a Town Hall meeting about increases coming to out HOA dues at the end of the year, and when we got home we watched TV while I continued to knit on a UFO.

I have lots of ladylocks filling left, but only a few shells, I need to get working on baking more shells:

kitties, Inez heads home, baby quilt progresses

Michael headed out for golf in Lancaster Wednesday morning (9/26), not entirely sure that he could play.  He has been having back spasms, and after a trip to the chiro on Tuesday, Dr Broyles told him to be gentle with his swing and to stop if he were in pain.  

After Inez finished packing (with the help of my furry babies):

we headed to Mary Jo’s in the morning to get her help to fix one of Inez’s necklaces…..so we had to forgo our pancake breakfast, but otherwise we thought we did a pretty fair job on our baking goals for the week:  

We left at 11 AM for the airport…it was sad to say goodbye:  

but I certainly had a great time visiting.  I did hear from Inez later in the day and she indicated that her loaf of cinnamon bread made it home (we were both afraid it would be confiscated :~).

When I got home from the airport I spent many hours on the internet, getting caught up on emails and reading various articles I had set aside.  I never want to spend much time doing that when I have company…I’d rather talk to them!  Michael came home (with 2 birdies and a total score of 78….he said his short game today was amazing!!)  and while we were both downstairs, the kitties came down to sleep as well:  

I got a bit of sewing done and put more sections of the baby quilt up:

here's what I had

I'm adding the final sections

before Michael had dinner ready (leftover ruebenwiches and macaroni salad).  We ate dinner and watched a bit of TV before I SKYPE’d with Janice at 7 PM.  After that it was another bit of TV before bed.

Shannon & baby quilt, Anne, Loree & Inez, lunch at the Greenway

Michael headed out to Triple A on Tuesday morning (9/25) to drop off the baby quilt for Shannon:

She loved the quilt, and went crazy over the soft back (I used fleece for the back).  I think she's due in early November, so I'm glad we got this to her in plenty of time.  Two baby quilts down, one to go  :~).

Inez & I had a relaxing morning on Tuesday before leaving around 10:30 to pick up Loree & Anne to head into Charlotte for lunch at the Greenway.  We were seated at our table:  

Anne

Loree

Inez

and given menus.  

We all ordered, then dug into the bread basket 

and slathered everything with the honey/chive butter (the honey is from their own beehives!)  

We started with soup, some had Manhattan Seafood Chowder 

and some had lentil: 

before our main course.  Loree & Inez had the pork:  

Anne had the scallops: 

while I had the chicken:  

Everything was excellent, but the chocolate layer cake with a cherry glaze in the middle and buttercream frosting was outstanding!  

One of the best parts of the lunch was as we left, we were given a jar of the honey they produce from their own hives:  

Once Inez and I were home again, I made up 2 loaves of cinnamon bread:  

It wasn’t the traditional bread where you roll out the dough and layer on butter and cinnamon and sugar, but another recipe where I put cinnamon chips in the batter.  We all had some when it came out of the oven and it was yummy.  

Anne came over at 6 PM for dinner and cards and we had a good time playing SCREWED, sometimes with money and sometimes not.  It was a wonderful evening and it’s been a terrific week with Inez, but it went by VERY quickly  :~(.