The itches

For a couple of weeks I have been getting up early and going out to work in the yard while it's cool enough to be outside. That first week it was in the 90's quite a bit, but then it cooled off quite nicely.
I had not gotten out to do the spring clean up of the yard, we just had so much rain and things were just wet and yucky. what, that's a word.  So I was quite pleased that the clean up went so well and the yard was looking really good. But as I stood on the porch to survey the tidy little site, I was disturbed by the mess that remained on the north/west corner of the yard. The trash had been hauled away, and there was a wheel barrow and an old swimming pool that we used for the dogs, but that didn't bother me as much as the 5 ft. high weeds. There were a couple of huge stalky looking things and I just wanted them gone.

So I headed out there to the edge of the yard and just stepped on the bottom of the stalk and pushed it down with my foot. That was pretty easy, so I did the other one. There were some more weeds and such, so I pulled and plucked and before you knew it the whole fence line was looking neat and trim. I felt proud, fulfilled. I needed a cold drink and a nap.

That was about Tuesday, on Friday I began to scratch my ankle a lot, and then I noticed a few little tiny blisters on Saturday. Nothing really,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Sunday was coming out day. I had a huge red patch on both legs above the ankles, my arms, elbow neck and I think I even have it on my head. Poison Ivy. I hate this stuff and since I am diabetic steroids are not a great option. So I have itched all week, and lost considerable sleep, hence my middle of the night blog posts.
I have used caladryl, hydro cortisone cream and a few other 'home remedies. Nothing has helped much, freezing ice cold water running over the itches seems to help the most.
I am so ready to be over this, I hope it's gone in the morning.

What are my chances?

Flowers in my Garden

 It has been a wild spring here in the mid west. Freezing cold, snow, wild winds, hail, and oppressive 90 degree heat. Not all in one day, mind you, but a couple in the same week. We actually put our window A/C units in on Saturday. It was hot and humid. Yuck. Today it is kind of chilly. go figure.


But the yard, though un mowed and full of weeds is pretty with the wild violets. I thought I would take some pictures before the hubby goes out and mows them all down.





Wild Violets



The jonquils really came and went quickly this year. I guess it was because of the wild variation in the temperatures. These are the ones that are left.

These are the only  tulips up so far, out of the dozens I planted. I don't think they appreciate the dogs running all over them. There are more of them than last year. and these are a different color than the ones from last year. I don't know what happens to the flowers. I guess they do what they want.

Sorry

I have been pretty busy lately. I have started some spring house cleaning. I am working diligently on a couple of quilts. But I am mostly trying to get my act together physically. Walking or any other sort of exercise is in great need now.
I have a goal of 3.1 miles on April 2, 2011. I know this does not sound very challenging, but when you haven't been off the couch in months, well, you know how it is. I have found that as I get older it gets harder.
So my blogging has taken a back seat to all other activities. I will get back to it soon.

Any one wanting to join my challenge of a 5K on April 2, please leave me a note. There's a great event in Kansas City called, " Rock the Parkway". I'll enter if you will.

Snow Day

Well, we along with the rest of the country are having a snow day. Wahoo, I love snow, but since I was waiting for a different event, I am pretty much out of groceries, so, we have to go shopping. I don't care about the snowy roads, that's Bill's problem. He made it to the airport, so we surely can make it to the grocery store.
I love the snow, so I took the boys out to the front yard, and we played in it.

I thought this shot showed how much snow we are getting right now. It is really coming down.

 Max and Tucker had a lot of fun playing in the snow, they even got to greet a couple of the neighborhood boys who were out trying to find some work shoveling snow.

Now, I'm going to make some chili and some fresh bread, and enjoy watching it some more, this time from inside, where it's warm.

Yucky

Both of us have colds, it's very yucky around here. But there is no severe illness. That's a praise.

Bill started getting sick on New Year's day.  On Monday, a day I had big plans for taking down some Christmas, I could feel it coming on. So I pushed through to get some of the Santas put away, the Nativities and such. The tree was coming down on Tuesday, but that didn't happen. I guess I'll get to it when I get there. I love Christmas, all the decor and the tree. My snow folk stay out until the middle of February or later and the lights stay up on my china cabinet all year.

We have our sew and share,, Quilt club, on Friday, I don't know if I'm gonna make it. I have a lot of work to do on my new quilts, but we'll see what happens.

Hope every one stays warm, and well.

Well, it's been a while

Where have I been you might ask, well,,,,,,, I have been sewing and sewing, but not really making anything. I have been playing with my sewing machine and testing the stitches which are built into it. I have had this machine since my eldest daughter was in kindergarten or first grade and there are applications I have never used. I think I will use them now that I am becoming a quilting freak.
I bought a walking foot, also and have been playing with this to see exactly how it works and why everyone in quiltingdom says 'you have to have one'.

I have also been trying to figure out how to organize my scrap booking space to minimize a cluttered and just plain trashy look.
So, no I am not away on a trip, just not doing enough interesting things to blog about.

Kitchen

Well, all the stuff is in place in my kitchen. All of the base cabinets have been installed. Dishwasher (haven't had one since 2002) is installed, I have run it twice. Sink is in and functions beautifully, as well as the garbage disposal. We can't seem to get the ice maker to work. It made one batch of hollow ice cubes, but it wouldn't ever dump them into the bin. If I pour water into the little tray it dumps the ice, but that isn't really it doing the work. So we're not sure what's going on just yet. I haven't taken any pics just yet to post, so that will hopefully be later today. I haven't got everything as I want it yet, so I am still playing with set up.

Today I am going with the ladies from our Friday "Sew & Share" on a field trip to Hamilton MO.
We will be visiting the MO Star Quilt Co.  I discovered them on line a few weeks ago, and I am very excited to go and see all the quilt ideas, and tools they have up close and personal.

Hope you have a great day too.

Quilt Day

What a great day this is already. My friend Heather posted pictures of her new son's 100 Good Wishes quilt on her blog. and this is my day to go to meet my friends for quilt day.
Heather's quilt, for her son Jake, is just gorgeous, many people, who know the family, sent 9" quilt squares along with a good wish for Jake, the little one they adopted from China. The quilt lady did all the quilting in red to go along with the Chinese proverb about the invisible red thread that joins people who are destined to be in each other's lives. This always makes me think of the red cord that Rahab, in the Old Testament, place in the window of her home in Jericho, so she and her family would be saved. It represents the red cord that has run down through history symbolizing our salvation in Jesus Christ.
I really love that quilt, it's huge and she posted pics of Jake all wrapped up in it. Cute!

Today is my quilt day, several of the women from my church get together to sew/ share and work on their craft projects, but actually Jan and Barbara are teaching most of us to quilt.

I am so excited, that really seems a little silly, doesn't it? But I love working on my little table topper quilt. It's a Christmas theme and very cute. I started by hand piecing, but I quickly realized that if I have to spend that much time doing this little quilt, I will never finish it, because I bore quickly. So I changed the plan after piecing about one row and some trim by hand, I switched to the good old sewing machine. It's moving along much faster now, even though I only work on it on quilt days.

I guess I enjoy the fellowship of the other women, chatting, going to lunch and just seeing what every one else is working on, it's pretty inspiring.

There is a plan for another scrapbooking/ quilting weekend get-away in the fall. Late September or the first weekend in October is the idea. I think that sounds great. 24 hours (for our group only stays one night) of non-stop scrapbooking. Well OK, we do stop and sleep, and of course we eat, but there is no one asking for meals or any of that junk, we just scrapbook our little brains out. Some ladies bring all their quilting stuff and work on that. I love spending the time scrapbooking.

Well, I am off to work on my Christmas table topper. Oh, I think we are going to go to lunch and JoAnn fabrics too, what a great day.