Thursday, September 6, 2007

catching up

We've been back in school for almost a month now, and things were settling down. However, Tennessee has decided to add a "fitness" program to the public schools. Every school child must receive 90 minutes per week of physical activity, regardless of the courses he is taking. Now remember, I teach high school. We are going to start walking 18 minutes a day, starting Monday. Every student and every teacher in the building will be walking at the same time...all 1200 of us. It'll all work out, and be good for us eventually, but next week may be a bit stressfull. (big grin) Most of the kids seem to be at least willing to go along with the changes in the schedule. We'll see how long that lasts. We've stolen a few minutes here and there, and shortened their "break", but we've reduced the number of kids getting the break at any given time. It should actually work better when we get the kinks out.
I'm still losing inches; I have no clue how many pounds I've lost, but I'm down two sizes from when I started in July '06. There is an incentive at school; the teacher or staff person who loses the largest percentage of his weight will receive $1000 in December. Only about 8 of us registered, but several of the others are very large, so I don't know if I even have a chance, as I'm only looking to lose another 35-40 pounds. I'm into clothes that are only 1-2 sizes larger than I wore at my ideal weight (at 25)! Does anyone know if they're making the clothes larger these days? I've lost another 5 lbs since I weighed at the start of the competition.
I think I have enough blocks made for my mother's quilt; now I need to actually start setting them together.
Heritage Quilters of Huntsville is hosting a quilt show on October 19-21 at the WVB Civic Center. We have a very large guild, and quite a few of us (not including me!) are professionals. It will be a great show if any of you are close enough to come.

Nothing special

Brenda, great to see your post and it sounds like life is smoothing out for you now that you have a purchased home to think about going to in a few years. Where do your daughter's live? Your family 'bash' sounds like great fun. Those are times that grandchildren and grown children never forget and you can dine on as you grow older in memory.

Busy month in September and over the coming week. Guests flew in from Florida, Colorado and Texas last night for the opening of the Taoist Temple just down the road. It should bring thousands of guests to the Centre. They are chanting so needed to be off very early which meant that I was up and putting breakfast out for them in my nightgown this time...all women so it didn't matter. I had the table nicely set, the food out and left the room only to hear...this looks just wonderful, now where is the cutlery..!

I do these things. I'm so overly organized I forget the most important things.

Rosey

checking in

I'm back to work after the summer off. I've been reading the Chat whenever I can but haven't had time to post. I spent a lot of time with my grandkids, bought a house in the city where my daughters live (won't be moving for a few years yet, though), and hosted a 60th birthday celebration for DH at our camp on the Labour Day weekend. Not much time for quilting and not many nights sleeping in my own bed at home. I really enjoyed the summer, but it's good to be back to a regular routine.
I was just thinking fondly the other day of the Michigan quilt retreat we had a couple (few?) years ago, wondering how everyone is doing. That was so much fun.
I want to tell you about the birthday bash. My oldest DD decided that we should have some entertainment for the occasion, so some of the family and friends chipped in to hire a band. The Wild Turkeys are 5 very young, very talented musicians who play old time/bluegrass music. What a great time we had. We cleared out a woodshed attached to our storage shed for a stage and the audience sat in lawn chairs. We really lucked out on the weather. They brought lights, amps and a generator. The audience really got into it, playing spoons, clapping and dancing (some of my serving spoons will never be the same!). I cooked for a week ahead and managed to feed 25 people all weekend and 45 on Sunday with no electricity, running water or decent counter space. Thank goodness for propane and coolers. DH enjoyed it to the max. It was a great end to the summer, and some of the younger family members are talking about making it an annual event. I'm still too tired to get excited about that idea!!
That, and our "new" house were the high points of my summer. I also managed to see my sister 3 times in a month; usually we only manage a couple of times a year. That was great.
Well, enough rambling. Hope you are all having happy Septembers with lots of quilty fun.
Brenda in Nn Ontario

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Simply Quilts

Much to my surprise Alex Anderson was back on HGTV this morning--8:30 Am eastern time. It was an old program and I do not know yet if this will be on going. Just in case anyone else is interested.

Take care
Pat in fLINT

Sunday, September 2, 2007

surprise parties...

I'm pleased to hear that your experience of surprise parties is good Jane. I put one on for friends a few years ago and it back-fired badly. It was their Silver Wedding. We had said we would take them out to dinner as none of their children had made any plans for them. We invited all their friends (and their children), hired a hall, prepared food, picked them up and delivered them there... They burst into tears, eventually enjoying the party but I later heard that their day had been very miserable, thinking that no-one, not even their children, had remembered that it was their special day , and they would have loved the anticipation of the party...... sometimes you can't win !

Good to hear from you Beverley. I was very aware of the floods in England. They have been particularly bad in your area I think. Good to know that it was only your garden that suffered damage..

Congratulations Pat. What a huge effort on your part. You deserve to feel pleased with yourself. Well done.

Spent two hours this morning trying to track the visiting Beagle . She took off through the electric fence, obviously on the track of a hare or rabbit. It was her excited barking that caught my attention. She's a tiny little thing and not easy to see in the long grass of the irrigated paddocks... Her owners were due to collect her. When they arrived they seem very relaxed about the fact that she was missing ! They said she would come back when she was ready ! (it evidently took her 11hrs once...) We scanned the landscape and all walked off in different directions. Eventually she was spotted and, sure enough, she was heading for home. I was very relieved. That's the first time she has taken off from here. She's a regular visitor and is usually happy enough running around with our Beagle. They've got a couple of acres to run around on.

Here's a good one for those of us who are over 21...." Age is a case of mind over matter. If you don't mind it doesn't matter !"

Marion.

Weighing in

Another couple of pounds off, and another inch off my measurements. The clothes I bought this spring are now getting a bit roomy, but still wearable for a few more pounds. From my all-time high weight of a couple of years ago, I'm now down 52 pounds, and from last October 1st when I got serious again about this diet thing, I'm down 40 pounds, so I'm a happy camper right now.

I've been sewing a lot this week on my lovely old Davis Vertical Feed treadle. This is the one that doesn't have any feed dogs. The needle goes down into the fabric, then moves back, taking all the layers with it. It's just a great machine.

Pat in Rockport, TX

USA Heat waves, send some please.

Hi Ladies,
This has been the wettest summer we have ever had since records began. There have been serious floods, and my garden is nothing compared to it's usual colours. Some people have drowned which puts my bedding plants into perspective :(
Haven't read the BBChat for a while. It's nice to see everyone's posts.
Best Wishes to all
Beverley. Stripey Bear.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Rosey, I suspected the earlier reference to a big birthday was meant for you. I know that we are within months of the same age. I made such a big deal out of turning that corner that all my friends knew about it so ended up with a surprise party. We had a wonderful time and I felt truly loved.

The only other surprise party I've ever had given me was when I turned eighteen. The party was put on by my roommate and boyfriend (not the same person). It was in the basement rec room of the dorm at University of Michigan. The room was generously decorated with streamers of toilet paper with birthday wishes written thereon with lipstick. I cried. Sadly I threw pictures taken then away when I split with that boyfriend. What a terrible mistake that was.

Anyway, I hope you have a good day. You now have an excuse not to do anything you don't want to do. That is my mantra from now on. If it isn't fun then don't do it. No more committee chairs. Just tell me when to show up to help out.

Jane