Spring Is Here! Woo-HOO!

Melting snow!!

Today is the Equinox - the first day of Spring!!

Aren't you excited?

We still have a lot of snow of the ground, and will most likely get more before Spring is over, but that's okay.  Just knowing that it is officially Spring puts a spring in my step.  (boi-oi-oing!)

According to the "day and time" website, the sunrise in Anchorage this morning was at 7:59 am, and the sunset this evening will be 8:15 pm.  Today we gain 5 minutes and 44 seconds of daylight, giving us a total of 12 hours, 16 minutes, and 26 seconds!  We now have more daylight than darkness.  Yay!

So far, our signs of Spring have been almost non-existent, but we've had a few clues to let us know that Spring is on its way.  

For one thing, the cats sense it.

When the sun is shining warmly on the deck, the cats want to go out and feel it.

Unfortunately for Weaners, the snow stops her in her tracks from venturing off the deck.

This is frustrating for a cat who sees birdies out there to play with.

She is one of those kitties that doesn't really fancy the cold too much, so she was having a hard time deciding if she wanted to be in or out.  We got tired of opening the door for her every two minutes, so we just finally left it open a gap.  This made her very happy to get the best of both worlds.

I wanna be out!

No, I wanna be in!

A couple weeks ago, I saw a moose lying in my front yard.

She was just being real lazy.  I have no idea how long she was lying there before I saw her.

After awhile, she finally got up, nibbled on a few of my trees, and rambled off into the neighbor's yard.

Then on the SAME DAY!, I saw these two moose lying in my back yard!

Apparently, my yard was the moose motel that day.

These two moose were hanging around in our neighborhood for a whole week.

I haven't seen them for several days now, so they must've gone off to scope out a different neighborhood.  Maybe they would've stayed longer if I had offered free cable and a continental breakfast.

Another subtle sign that Spring is coming, is all the birds that come around the bird feeder.  You can't see the birds in this picture, but believe me - Bossy surely sees them!

So while I wait for Spring to spring, I've been trying to finish PW's quilt.

Since this picture was taken, I got the border on, got it all sandwiched and pin basted, it's now ready to quilt!

All I need now is a chunk of uninterrupted time.

With the border on, it turned out to be pretty big, about Queen size.

I wasn't too sure about the fabrics she picked, but now that's all together, I guess I like it okay.  It's nicer than it looks in the picture.  The pattern was super super super easy.

While I was sewing, Beanie was helping me keep my garbage strings organized.

She likes that job.

Let's see, what else is there for me to talk about?

Nothing much really.

Oh yeah, I planted my first garden seeds already.

Another sign of spring, yeah?

I wanted to try celery this year, and panicked when I found out it had to be started NOW.

So yesterday I had to go to the store and buy some potting soil.

It's kind of boring to stare at a pot of soil, but I know there's a seed in there and I wanna see it sprout!

Okay, I bid you adieu for now, and does Bossy.

Happy Equinox!

Chilly Willy Day (and some extra stuff)

Last Saturday, we had our annual Chilly Willy Day at church.  It's a fun day for all ages where everyone dresses up like old Western days (if they want to, not everyone dresses for it), and they have a chili cook-off contest, a dessert contest, and games for the kids.  It really is a lot of fun!  

One thing I look forward to is seeing the cute kids dressed up in costume.

And it's fun to see how they creatively decorated.

In case you're wondering, the bank really was in business.  The kids earned coins when they played the games and then they could use their coins to buy stuff at the General Store.

A lot of kids bought these horses.  Someone did a good job making them.

Later, I asked a friend how much she paid for her peanut butter cookie, and she said "three bits".  I wondered at how a cookie could be half the price of a horse! 

We even had a sheriff to make sure all the laws were obeyed.

I enlarged that one to make sure you could read it.

Ignorance is no excuse!

Here is the brave and fearless Sheriff Scott escorting his wife on a romantic stroll around the town square:

For the kids, they had pony rides......

Ya, look at all the snow we got!  Pretty awesome, I say!

They also had a lot of different games set up for them.  I didn't get a picture of all of them, but here are just a few:

Cake Walk

Cattle Drive

Bubble Gum Blowing Contest

Corn on the Cob Eating Contest, no hands allowed!

There was even a bank robbery that took place!  (as usual)

I actually witnessed the bandits running away with the loot, but I didn't recognize what was going on in time for me to take the picture.  However, Sheriff Scott rounded up a posse to hunt them down.

It didn't take very long for the robbers to be found.

They were properly escorted into jail and the town was safe again.

Would you believe our very own preacher was in on it?

For shame!

He even pointed his finger at the little guy and accused him of being the ring leader!

As if.......!!

Anyhoo, after their bail was paid, they finished off with one last contest, well actually four.

Costume Contests for the boys, the girls, the women, and the men.

the boys

the girls, not all them entered the contest

the womenfolk

the menfolk

The way they judged was by introducing them individually, and then whoever got the loudest applause won.  But there was a lot of men in this contest, so they sub-catagorized them into three groups:  The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

The Good

(I had to get two pictures of The Good cuz they wouldn't all fit in my camera lens zoomed in. They got to choose which category they wanted to be in, and apparently a lot of them considered themselves "good".)

The Bad

The Ugly

Hey, wait a minute!  Why is Mike in there twice?  That cheater!

Anyhoo, it was a lot of fun.  Donations went to the missionary fund.

So, here is the "extra stuff" that I had on my camera when I downloaded all my pictures.

We had another beautiful moon on the way to church a couple weeks ago.  I don't normally take my camera with me to church, but the reason I took it that day was because I was SUPPOSED to have my own sink installed that day and I wanted to get a picture of it to show you guys, but it wasn't installed, and I was told it will be another few weeks yet.

Also, notice how light the sky is!  We are no longer driving to church in total darkness on Sunday mornings. But you have to remember, we get there an hour before everyone else so we can get the potluck drinks made.  We try to get them done as early as we can cuz when people start showing up and getting in my way, I get very perturbed.  Chuck and I volunteered to be in charge of the drinks during our annual Lectureship this year - oh dear I wonder what that will be like!

Here is a picture of Beanies Weenies with her chest hair stuck in her mouth.

Her chest hair is so long, this happens all the time.  It's funny watching her try to spit it out.

I hope this doesn't gross you out, but this is a picture of a sore that she has on the back of her neck right now.  It was a bald spot with a big sore on it - the vet shaved some of her hair off so it could air out and get some oxygen to it.  He thinks it's a "hot spot" where a warm moist spot on her skin begins to collect bacteria and then gets infected.  He sees it on dogs all the time, but he doesn't know why she would get that in the winter time.  Anyhoo, he gave her an antibiotic shot, and it already looks better.

Here is Bossy drinking water out of the kitchen faucet.

And lastly, here is a picture of my homemade blueberry ice cream!  I added half a banana to it, so it's actually banana-bluberry ice cream.  Yum!

And I will leave you with that.

Brr! Whew! Brr! Whew!

I know my posts are getting further apart from each other, but that's because there really isn't any excitement going on that's worth writing about.  But just to let you all know that I'm still kicking, I thought I'd write something, even if it puts you to sleep.

(this is the part where you close your eyes and drift into snooze land)

We just over a cold spell.

How exciting is that?  Well, it's not really.  But the temperatures dipped pretty low, and it's been a long time since we've seen them this low.  If we lived in Fairbanks, this would be pretty normal, but thankfully, we do not live in Fairbanks.

So what do I do to stay warm in the cold dark days of January?  Well, for starters, I wear lots of layers.  But of course, since I am a middle-aged female, those layers sometimes gotta be spontaneously peeled off, and stepping outside in the sub-zero temps can feel like a nice cool breeze from heaven on a hot sweltering day in the deep South.

I know you other females know what I'm talking about.

When I'm not desperately trying to cool off, I'm desperately trying to stay warm. Seriously, my fleece jacket that I wear around the house is on - off - on - off - on - off........

I know it sounds crazy, but that's the way it is when your personal inner thermostat goes on the fritz.

So, when I'm trying to stay warm and my fleece jacket is on, a hot bowl of soup is appreciated, and a cup of coffee becomes my best friend.  I'm also going through lots and lots of hot herbal teas (with a dose of Black Cohosh).

Cuddling up on the couch under some blankets with my purring puddy tat is also very nice.

That is, until I get a spontaneous and very desperate need to cool off again.

Then I'm frustrated when I can't whip the blankets off me because there's a calm, peaceful, purring puddy sitting on them. 

I don't like disturbing the special bonding moments with my kitty, so I try to take off my fleece jacket without moving her too much, and I break out into a sweat anyway, because she emits a lot of heat into my legs from her furry little body.

(Oh the joys of the age of transition!)

When Bossy isn't on my lap inducing these "heat waves", she likes to stay warm by the fireplace.

"Who me?"

Speaking of Bossy, she had a hard day yesterday.  I took her to the vet.  The whole experience is always "torturous" for her psychological well-being.  Listening to her howling in the car, you'd think she was going through the worst agony ever.  She makes noises I didn't think was possible for a cat to make. And then to be poked, prodded, and manhandled by a strange man - what an ordeal!

Anyway, she wasn't technically due for a routine checkup yet, but I noticed she was losing weight.  Of course when an animal (or a person) is losing weight with no apparent explanation, the first thing that comes to mind is the "C" word.  

But Bossy wasn't acting sick, nor did she act like she was in pain.  She still plays and has energy (when she's not "chilling" by the fire), so I wanted to know why she was losing weight.

After an expensive blood test, we found out that she has hyperthyroidism.  Luckily, it's something that can be easily managed, but the vet said if we do nothing about it, she will continue to waste away.  So, as long as she's still lovable and enjoyable and easy to live with, she's still a "keeper".

But now I have to get into a new habit.

I have to give her one of these little pink pills twice a day.

How do you make a cat swallow a pill?  Well, it can be done, but if this is going to be a continuous never-ending thing, she will quickly learn to run away from me twice a day if I have to force it down her throat.  So what I do instead is crush it between two spoons and then stir it into a spoonful of soft food.  She gobbles it right down.

Normally we only give her dry food, but sometimes we give her soft food for a "treat".  I guess this means she will start to think she's a really special kind of kitty getting "treats" twice a day.

I hope it doesn't go to her head.

We have to do this for a month and then check her blood again.

Oh yay, another ride to the vet in that "torture chamber" on wheels we call a car!

Anyway, I'm just glad I can still enjoy her for awhile yet.

She's 14-1/2 years old, so I know her time is coming.

But as long as she's not peeing on my couch, she's more than welcome to stay and cuddle with me.

Stay warm, or stay cool! - whichever one fits you at any given moment.

Scrapbooking vs. Quilting vs. Time

Hello All!

I hope the new year is starting out good for everyone!  I am always desiring to keep history in the past while looking forward where lies hope for the better, no matter what kinds of challenges we are currently facing. Even if your life feels like total bliss, c'mon admit it! - you know there's always room for improvement in some area of your life.

"Endevearrrrrrrr to perseveeeerrrrrrrr", says the old indian in the Josie Wales movie.

Anyhoo, that's not the subject I want to get into today.  I haven't blogged for a while now because, now that the holidays are over, everything is back to humdrum normal and I don't have anything to say.

But that's a good thing.

Really, that's a good thing.

Well, actually it depends on what humdrum "normal" means.

But anyway, I finally "finished" my Halloween quilt yesterday.

You can see that I had a lot of help from my feline friend.

It's very hard to sew with an animal sitting on your sewing project, but she just had to make sure all my stray threads were completely and thoroughly dead.  Thank you, Beaner Weaner.

Now that I'm up to the very last step of sewing the binding on, I told PW to start looking through my quilt patterns and pick one she liked because my next project will be for her.

I gave her my whole stack of magazines and books and expected her to take a few days to carefully choose which one she would want.  This a quilt, something specially made for her, something she will hopefully cherish for a long time, so I would think that she'd be excited and really take her time to choose carefully.  But she only looked at the top book, and had one picked out in 5 minutes.

Really?  Are you absolutely SURE you don't wanna browse through the rest and see if you like something else?

She was sure.

Okay, so today we started looking at different fabric ideas.  The pattern calls for 4 pre-cut charm packs OR 1 layer cake, and 2 jellyrolls.  I put her on the Missouri Star Quilt Co. website where I like to buy that stuff from cuz they have SO many choices!  But she wasn't finding anything she liked, so we went to the quilt store just 1/2 a mile down the road from my house.

Here is what we walked out with:

As you can see, they are not charm packs or jelly rolls.  No, that would be too easy.  Instead, I will have to do a lot of cutting before I can do anything.

She started out wanting red, black, and white, which was fine, but then she saw the brown material and liked it.  But it clashed with her black/white/red theme, so she ended up going with browns, greens, grays, and yellows.  I'm not quite fully satisfied with these combinations (yes, that black fabric has ears of corn on it!), but it's her quilt, she picked them.  So we'll see how it goes.  Who knows, I might actually like it when it's all done.

Now the problem is, how am I supposed to work on two different hobbies?  I really want to keep going with my scrap booking, but the quilting is pulling me in the quilting direction.  

For the past couple years I've been trying to get Justin's 1st year baby album done.  It's taking so long to get it done because "life" keeps getting in the way.  I am getting close to the end - he's 10-1/2 months old now!  Just a month and a half to go and his first album will be done!  

But here's another interruption - when he was that age, we took our first trip back home to Wisconsin as a married couple and as a family (this was in the year 1989).  So now I gotta make a Wisconsin album too (on the side of Justin's baby album).

please try to ignore my poofy 80s hair

So, I wish I was a clone so I could be upstairs working on these scrap book pages, while at the same time working on PW's quilt downstairs.

Should I finish the album before I start on the quilt?

That might take awhile  - I can already imagine PW bugging me to get started on her quilt.

Or do I put the scrapbooking on the back burner while I get another quilt made?

Argh.

I am just gonna have take turns!

Isn't that what my mom always used to tell us when we were kids?

The frustrating thing about wanting to do what you wanna do is that it seems like there's never enough time to do everything you wanna do.

But NOT wanting to do anything at all, I think, is even worse.

So, even though I get flustered about having too much to do and too little time, I am glad that I at least have some interests to keep life fun and enjoyable.

And now that I took up the time to write all of this, I have no time left for scrap booking OR quilting today, cuz "life" happens, and in order to keep life going, we gotta eat.

"Time keeps on tickin', tickin', tickin'.....into the future.........."

I don't know how many more years I got left, but I hope it'll be enough to pump out a bunch more quilts and albums.