Productive Night

I have had a very productive night.  

I finished my Shadowbox quilt top. It is very special to me because Kyle was the one who laid out the final design before he moved to Pensacola to start his life as a professional dancer.

I also started the table runners for our church bazaar.  I have an order for 10, but, since most of those are pre-ordered, I may end up doing more. I still need to buy buttons to finish putting on the finishing touches.

Settling In

I am settling into my fall routine.  Still too muggy to sit out on the porch swing at night, or open the sliding door, but that will come soon I hope.

It feels odd to wake up and not have a child to rouse out of bed.  I would usually wake the youngest as I was leaving for work so he could start on his daily chores.  

Ah, the daily chores.  I am now reminding myself that the dishwasher needs emptying, tomorrow is trash night, and to do laundry.  

The plus side is I was able to come home tonight and turn on the Rolling Stones to full volume while I emptied the dishwasher and worked on some quilt borders.  I was also able to shower with the door open this morning so the bathroom didn't get all steamy and I could listen to Van Morrison from the stereo in the living room.

I hope the youngest is settling in to his apartment with this brother and that they both have a good week.  

At least the youngest will be home for Labor Day weekend.  The oldest will not.  Plus, I am sure Loni and I will be heading to campus to feed the youngest one night this week.

Empty Nest ~ Again

As of about three minutes ago my nest is empty again.

The youngest loaded his car and headed off to the apartment he will share with his brother. An Oscar and Felix situation for sure.

This is truly the end of summer for me.  All the boys have moved on to their "real" lives.

My oldest starts graduate school and his position as a TA (Teaching Assistant). Not that he is around much any way, but we did see a little bit more of him over than summer than we do during the school year.

The youngest begins his junior year of college.  His class schedule is very challenging and he is sure to be stressed.  It is a lot for an 18 year old.  If he stays on this track he will graduate college two years younger than his dad, his brother, or I did.  Should prove interesting.

The dancer, and one of my favs, has moved to Pensacola, FL.  He will be dancing for a living which is what he really wants to do for as long as he can.

Army boy is in Korea for two years.

Redhead is working and engaged to get married in 315 days if I subtract one from the days his fiancee told me last night.

Redhead's brother is going to start his freshman year of college.  (He is a great friend of the youngest and my fav of that age group.)

The nest is even empty of the adopted girls this weekend as they are on one of their road trips.  

Don't be sad for me though.  I have plans for the day and evening.  I have just been waiting for the youngest to get out the door so I can start on my own little adventures for the day.  

All is good, just quiet.  Well, quiet until I crank up my music. :)

I Expect it to Work

I totally understand companies updating their websites and adding features, ads, etc., it is the way of the world and I respect everyone trying to keep up and not stagnant.  I do not understand when the new website is not user friendly and does not work as well as the old one.  

My bank just introduced a totally new website and for some reason I can no long access my checking account.  I am just a little frustrated because I pay almost every bill online and have for at least eight years, maybe more. 

I have a message into the bank, but their technical support does not open until later in the day.  

In addition to not being able to use my bill pay, their new website is very busy and not as user friendly as the old one.  That is not a snap judgment. I navigated through their new website for about 20 minutes last night and have been on there for about 20 minutes this morning, which is longer than I ever spent on the old one.  I have read all the help segments, answered all their questions, changed my password, reset my timeout, etc., and I hate this new website.  

I could live with hating the new website, if I could access my money!  Isn't accessing my money, making deposits, and paying bills one of the main functions of a online banking bill pay system?

The Way I Start My Day

 

Looking at the above collection of artwork and a common necessity is how I start each morning.  The artwork above my commode is there for a reason.  The outhouse photo reminds my of my paternal grandmother and the hardships she encountered everyday.  She had an outhouse up until I was 9 years old.  Unfortunately, by the time she got indoor plumbing she was too ill to actually use the bathroom.  In fact, I don't think I ever got to use the indoor plumbing at her house.  When I see the picture of the outhouse, it reminds me of how easy I have had it in my life, and that I have nothing to complain about when it comes to the comforts I have enjoyed.  

The artwork above the outhouse says "Just Put On Your Big Girl Panties On and Deal With It!" It just gives me a little incentive to go out in the world and deal with what happens, because once again I am blessed in my life and, in the big picture of things, I have have no complaints.

Productive Weekend

I was commissioned to make a Thanksgiving/Fall 10 Minute Table Runner for a birthday tomorrow, so I made three this weekend. Two fit the order and I will give them the choice of which one they want to give, the green one is for me.  

I also made a reversible tote, mainly because I wanted to try the pattern.  It is just the right size to take my lunch to work.  

"Love Hurts"

When you do what you believe to be the right moral thing. When you do your very best to minimize the damage done, no matter what it does to you:

"Love hurts, love scars, love wounds and marks
Any heart not tough or strong enough
To take a lot of pain, take a lot of pain"

I think my heart is no longer strong enough.

I Actually Did Something Right

Yesterday my youngest and I spent time with my financial planner.  I like to take the youngest with me because I want to make sure one of the boys knows about how things were set up when Raymond died and the oldest is never available when the reviews take place.

After the planning session, we went to lunch and had some great conversation. My favorite part of the lunch was when the youngest told me he admired how I dealt with finances, and he had learned a lot from watching me.  

I often feel like I did not teach the boys how to deal with the world, so it is nice to know I actually did something right.

Breakfast of Family

I think today was the first family of four breakfast since Alaska. The oldest, youngest, Loni and I gathered for an 8:30 a.m. breakfast of the youngest's pancakes.  He mixes, I cook, everyone cleans up.

There were a lot of snide comments and laughs.  Just what I am used to when we get together.  I loved every second of it.

He is So Me!

The youngest was telling me today that he would like an alarm clock with the following song for the apartment he is moving in with his brother, because it would annoy his brother every morning.  (BEWARE the song gets stuck in your head.)

He is so ME!

Huge Sigh of Relief

It is official now.  My oldest is a TA at UTD and his name is on the scholarship list so graduate school is taken care of for this semester.  YEAH!

What a Happy Night

This was a very happy night. 

It started off with my usual Friday night dinner date with Loni at Los Charros and we were blessed with Mina and Stan's company tonight.  

After dinner it was home because Kyle, our Butler Grad/Professional Dancer, was home to finish packing before moving to Pensacola, FL on Sunday and he was to come to Mama's for an evening with the the gang.  Now I will admit he is one of my favs because I am just closer to him.  He had I have shared some very special conversations and he will always be in my heart.  So I was looking forward to my hug tonight.

Before Kyle arrived, Stewart and Sarah arrived for the evening and brought me a special gift, Stewart's brother Casey.  He is another one of my special boys and I have not seen him all summer, which meant he had to hug me extra tonight.  I love that kid.  He is looking good and will be starting college on the 27th.  

Sarah settled in with Loni and me to work on her quilt.  Loni is in the process of doing some Christmas knitting which includes a black scarf for me.  I was working on ten minute table runners as I had one commissioned for Monday.    As we all worked on our different projects we watched Music and Lyrics.  While the boys played Civilization in the Man Cave.

It was a very happy night for the Mama.  

I will miss my dancer boy something fierce, but I am very happy for him.  

Not sure how Loni and I will deal with the depression come August 26 when everyone has moved back to campus,.  It sure will be quiet around here.

A Little Shaken

I must say I am a little shaken tonight.  

Randy called this afternoon because he was worried when he read about the spraying for West Nile Virus. He was afraid it was in my area and he was concerned about what it meant for my wildlife, pool and me.  

He only had a couple of minutes to talk, but in that time he informed me he had a heart attack last Friday.  He said he was okay and will still be playing in the concert tomorrow night with his band, but it was a surprise to me.

I have to say it shook me up a little. I wasn't expecting such news, and he seems to be taking it okay, but considering his family history this is not good.  

I hope he will take care of himself.  I also hope they have a very successful concert.

 

KY Men

Through FB  I have reconnected with a lot of male friends from my high school/college years back in KY.  I find it fascinating how different they are from the men I know here in TX. 

Now I understand the backgrounds of my KY (Kentucky) men and why they are the way they are, but it still amuses and frustrates me at every turn.

My KY men seem to think I am incapable of making being responsible for my own actions or taking care of myself. Yet, if you ask them what they remember about me and most of them pretty much answer that I was my own person, independent and stubborn.  Go figure.

Then there is my KY friend that has lived in TX since 1980. I moved here in 1982.  He, unlike the men who never left KY, is always contacting me and asking me for my opinion on different things because he says he respects my opinion and honors our history.  

Some of the conversations with the KY men can be very interesting.  The other day one of them asked me a question about why I was no longer in contact with a mutual friend.  I told him that our mutual friend had mistreated me and when I called him on it he ended the friendship.  The response was why hadn't I informed him earlier of what had happened, as if he needed to take care of it for me.  I told him I saw no reason to involve him as I had handled it on my own.  

Tonight a KY man told me he felt responsible for me.  I let him know that I was the only person responsible for me and that he could let go of that burden.

I am perfectly capable of fighting my own battles. Paperwork and laundry are battles I might choose to let others handle, but personal battles I handle.  I do not need my KY men to come riding in on white horses.  

Baloney Moon

Saturday night Loni, Kathleen, Brenda and I went to see Baloney Moon at Banter in Denton, TX.  My oldest and his girlfriend met us there.  

Cindy Maloney is one of Kathleen's friends and the lead singer.  Cindy can belt out a song.  They sang mostly their own songs, but there were some old favs in there too.  Van Morrison's Moondance, one of my happy songs, and Chain of Fools (Aretha made it famous, but I like Cocker's version).

It was a fun evening.  I would definitely go see Baloney Moon again.

Hear Baloney Moon:

The Bridge
 The Bridge

Unwound

 Unwound

Hope Springs ~ Movie

As part of Mina's birthday, we had a girls' day today starting with a movie and then lunch.  The movie was Hope Springs with Tommy Lee Jones and Meryl Streep, two of my favs.



It was a good movie and Steve Carrell was excellent in his role.

As much as I enjoyed the movie, it made me very sad.  It brought up regrets about things I didn't ever get to say or do with Raymond. It reminded me of what ifs, and missed opportunities in other parts of my life.

It also reminded me of a friend's ex-husband and what an ass he is, and how happy I am that she has such great possibilities for happiness now.

I think a lot of people could benefit from this movie.

Plano Quilt Show and 10 Minute Table Runner

The Plano Quilt Show in Plano, Texas was yesterday and today. I went yesterday for my first go around and then back today to get the things I wish I had purchased and didn't.

A vendor new to the show this year was Desperate Quilters from Keller Texas. What a great group of women. The were so friendly and patient with me. They taught me how to make a 10 minute table runner using the Utah State pattern and a reversible tote bag from Allpeoplequilt. I purchased some fabric from them to make the table runner, and then went back today to get buttons. They had red paisley's to match my fabric! I made the table runner up at midnight last night in less than 10 minutes.

Crooked Creek Quilt Shop had wonderful stencils, and they were great about explaining how to look within your stencil to find even more ways to use it and get the most out of the stencil, and the best way to get rid of the blue pen stencil marks.

Just Jennifer is always one of my favorite stops. She had a great turtle pin cushion and some little turtle pins this year that came home with me.

Fat Quarter Cafe had some great coordinating fabrics for my stash to make the reversible totes I am going to try, and some great advise on a pattern I purchased.

And the boys will not need to do any Christmas shopping this year as their adopted Tia Loni bought a kit I wanted from the Material Girl Fabrics booth and presented them with the bill, but she told them they could pay on an installment plan.

There were some other little gadgets purchased here and there, but the ones above were my favorites.

I am going to make up 10 Minute Table Runners for the church bazaar in Thanksgiving and Christmas colors.

Family Birthdays

August brings us Stan's and Mina's birthdays, which we celebrated together on Sunday at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants.  Both of my boys were able to join us so that made it extra special for me.

My youngest picked out a funny card for Stan, all pink and sparkly, an odd thing to give a Marine, but it tickled my youngest a lot to get it.

I made Mina a little gift card holder and the boys and I made sure she could have fun shopping.  Stan received gift cards from the boys and cash from me, but I also made him some pillowcases.

Marine Pillowcases

It was the first time the entire family had been together since Alaska, and I enjoyed having everyone together very much.

One Down

Army boy's leave is over.  He leaves at noon today.  He was here until 4:30 A.M. this morning.  I didn't last that long, but I was up listening to them all laugh until 2:00 A.M.

He will be in Korea for 2 years.  We are hoping he will be here for the redhead's wedding next summer.

I will miss his stealthy self.  I was getting used to the nightly scare when I would turn around in the kitchen to find him getting water out of the fridge.  That boy never makes a sound.

Yes, I know that at 22 he is really a man.  But they will always be boys to me.  

My Guys

Not the greatest pics, but trying to get these four/five guys to behave for a picture is almost impossible.  First we had to get one to come out from under the table, and then when he did he kept moving so most of the pics are blurry.  The next challenge was to get them all with their eyes open since they kept laughing and the red headed one almost always closes his eyes when he laughs. 

No matter what, they are my guys and I love each and every one of them.

One is under the table

Aww, we got him to come out

The 4 Amigos, All College Grads, All Employed

Finding Me - Scary Stuff

This finding me year is scary stuff.  

One of the problems I have with finding me is that I never see myself as others do, and I am always surprised by what they have to say, usually pleasantly. I know it is because I have a bad self-image.  Something I have battled all my life, and don't see myself getting over any time soon.

Tonight the boys all asked me to play Citadels with them, so I went into the Man Cave and played a game.  During the game we were all talking about a project I have been working on, and all the advice I have been getting regarding said project. I mentioned to the boys that someone suggested I show my skill sets during this project, but that I was not sure I had any skill sets to show off.  The boys immediately started talking about how my skill set was that I was a people person.  The youngest said it was obvious by how strangers came up to me in stores to ask for help and/or tell me their problems or life story.  It was nice to hear what the boys thought. It was nice that they even notice.  

I will continue on this path of finding me, but I will do so with shaking knees and an upset stomach most of the time.