Let the vacation begin

We were off to a good start this morning at 8:00 AM. Max went to the Donut Wheel for donuts and we stopped at Starbucks for coffee. We had a good trip and stopped along the way at two Fly Fishing stores! We had lunch in Weed and arrived in Bend about 6:30 PM for our nights stay. We are planning on making a trip to Fred Myers and then just relaxing and getting a good nights sleep for our arrival in Idaho tomorrow. We are staying at the Holiday Inn Express and they have wireless connections in all the rooms.

Later . . .








Retrieved the camera from the car after going to Fred Myers, so thought I would add a couple of pictures Max took.

Home Safely

I arrived home safe and sound this afternoon around 3:30 PM. The trip home was smooth and the traffic was not bad at all. I was greated with a very warm welcome from Max and the dogs. After we unpacked the car of all the boxes, suitcase and sewing machines, Max and I ran out to get something for Kathy (she had gall bladder surgery on Friday). Max took me out for a excellent Italian dinner and we picked up Cold Stone on the way home.

The beds for the dogs came in and we presented them with their new presents. We are both hoping this will keep Kodi from rolling under the bed!

Later . . .

Great day

Today turned out to be a very successful day. I finished my quilt and I did a pretty good job on it. I learned how to do corners, which turned out really well. I am very pleased with the finished product and I totally love the fabric and the backing. After the fact, I learned a couple some sewing basics that would have made things easier, but progress not perfection. I just have not sewed enough to know all the ins and outs of my machine and how to measure and place my stuff to get a consistent straight stitch. I did my first placemat and it turned out great. I was soooooo pleased with myself! Joy says I am doing an excellent job for a beginner (that is what big sisters are supposed to say). Joy and I spent all day at our sewing machines. She is about to finish my bathrobe, but I want to do some embroidery on the pockets before she sews them on. We got out the serger and I learned how to do a rolled hem. Now I can make my own placements and matching napkins. Tomorrow is the day we go to Joy’s sewing class and we are going to make some fleece scarves that I plan on doing some embroidery on and sending to Ireland. The whole week has been very productive, but I have been somewhat of a slave driver – let’s get to the sewing room and TEACH me. Watch out world – a sewer has been born.

The week is going by quickly, but it certainly has been productive and FUN!

Later . . .

Productive day

Joy and I had a productive day today. She sewed a cover for my serger that matches the VERY cool one she made for my sewing machine. I pinned and sewed my quilt project and I must say quilting is not an easy thing. I really like putting together squares and making quilt tops, but trying to quilt on a regular sewing machine is a bit of a hassle. Nonetheless, I enjoyed myself and was actually quite proud when I was finished. The lesson for tomorrow will be to square up the quilt and then make and affix the binding. Joy made me a bathrobe that we have to do button holes and hem the sleeves. We are then going to work on making place mats and napkins. If time permits, she is going to show me how to make the top that she has previously been sewing for me. I forgot to take pictures of the placemats and napkins she made for me before I arrived (they are REALLY cool). She also made a totally cool apron (it felt like Christmas in October). She also made some stuff for Debby that I am not going to post pictures of in case Debby checks the blog.

Still hot around here, but at least we are not getting smoke and ashes from the fires around us. Yesterday there was a heavy smoke smell in the air and the day before there were actually ashes falling. It all depends on the wind and they put out alerts to only run your air in the car on re-circulate and to keep all the windows in your house closed and don't go outside if you don't have to.

Later . . .

Safe arrival

The trip to Ventura was pretty smooth, once I corrected the wrong freeway mistake. I am so accustomed to going to the grandkid's house that after I gased up this morning I headed out Highway 580 instead of the correct Highway 680. Once I was sailing down the road, I thought about going through San Jose and realized 580 would NOT take me anywhere near San Jose. I had to cut over to 101 via 152, which added some time to the trip, but it was nonetheless a nice drive and I listened to my new Christina Aguelera CD. I stopped to have lunch and a nice visit with brother Don and then headed on arriving in Ventura around 4:30. Joy and I don't see each other often so we have soooooo much to catch up on consisting of "show and tell". I am pretty excited to do some sewing and I will take some pictures tomorrow of the VERY cool sewing machine cover she made me.

I am tired and going to try to get some sleep (it is much hotter here than I expected - it is the coast - it is suppose to be cool).

Later . . .

Yet more embriodery

I decided to make a trip to Ventura to visit my sister, Joy. I have not seen her in a while and with all the vacations we have coming up along with my knee surgery and then the Holidays I figured now would be the time to make the trip. I will be going down on Monday and coming back on Saturday. She is going to help me with quilting matters and since she has sewn soooooooo many things for me, I wanted to do some embriodery on a shirt for her and this is the finished product (I hope she does not check the blog tonight or tomorrow before I arrive). I have been messing around with small embriodery on the cuffs and I think it adds some charm to the shirt. Here are some shots of the actual embriodery.









I will try to do blog entries while I am in Ventura, but no promises.

Later . . .

Keeping busy . . .

Since we have decided to sell the Quads, we decided to check them out and get everything organized. Kind of sad, but we just don't have the place to ride them and the places we do have a gazillion other people ride there at the same time - not really what I call fun. It will be nice to open up the space in the garage (and try not to fill it real soon, but I am thinking longarm quilting machine).








I messed around with my embroidery most of the day yesterday and was pleased with the results. I have been wanting to try the quilt patch for signing quits and decided to do one to see how it looks - Nice. I did a small embroidery on the cuff of one of my shirts (actually on both cuffs) that turned out well. I did the fly with "bite me" on a t-shirt to see how it would look and feel - nice. I did the fly with "bite me" and a Moose with "Clark Fork, Idaho to see how they would look - nice. I want to do a couple of shirts for Wanda and Don to take to them when we visit the end of September.









All I can really say is it is really nice to have energy again and the ability to actually do things that I enjoy. I must pass on the information that I am STILL suffering "video thumb" and I am going to have to knock of playing for a while. I can see me in the doctor's office having to explain to the doctor that my thumb is all messed up because of the contoller on my PS2!

Later . . .

Working on embriodery

I have been having some fun now that I have my sewing room in workable order. I started to put my celtic circles together and decided I wanted to do embroidery. I figured since Max and Paul are immersed in fly fishing it would be appropriate to do something along those lines. I purchased the design online for $2.99 and it turned out really well. My goal is to get good at this and perhaps be able to sell some of my work.

Nonetheless, I am having fun!

Later . . .

Kodi trouble

I know that Kodi is a reless sleeper, but I do NOT know how he manages to get himself all the way under the bed! This has been going on for several days and I think it might be the result of throwing out their dog beds and not being able to replace them. They are on order and hopefully we will have new beds by tomorrow! However he manages to get under the bed he has not figured out how to get himself back out. He wants to belly crawl and his massive shoulders will NOT fit. I have to get him to roll over on his side and then pull him out from under the bed. This is NOT something I am enjoying in the middle of the night. The first time this happened I heard him crying, but I could not find him. The first time was funny, the second time was amusing and now it is a pain!

Later . . .

Nothing much . . .

Not a whole lot going on around here right now. The weather has turned hot again and Kodi and I are not very happy. Speaking of Kodi not being happy, last night that huge mutt ran full force, head-on into our sliding glass door. Thank God it would appear all he got from the incident was a bloody nose and one heck of a headache. Needless to say it knocked him silly (thank goodness he has a REALLY hard head and that he did NOT break the glass). I did keep a check on him through the night by waking him up and this morning he gave one of “those” looks so I have been leaving him alone today and he is fine (unless he has something that will pop up later).

We still have a rodent in the back and are trying to catch it. It is either the mother or father and “IF” it is the mother we need to reunite her with her family before she finds a replace male! Someone is definitely there because of the dog’s behavior. Also Max and Debby saw it run out of the tomato plants up and over the fence.

The birds are accustomed to the bird bath and are having parties on a daily basis. They are really fun to watch bathe the on sale $15 purchase was completely worth it).

Later . . .

Where does the time go?

Wow – where does the time go????? I don’t even think I have taken many pictures. I have continued to work on my sewing room and it is pretty well organized with things were “I think” they should be. Unfortunately no matter how well I organize the room does not get bigger. I am ready to put my Celtic circles together and proceed with making quilts (even though I don’t know what to do next).

Max is feeling much better these days, but not fully recovered (cramps). However, she is very excited about tying flies and getting ready for our Idaho trip. I am looking forward to the Idaho trip myself, but I don’t get THAT excited about fishing. Max and Paul are really looking forward to doing some river fishing – not my thing since I don’t fly fish and loose every lure I throw into a river.

A very disappointing thing happened with our order of Hatch chilies. They have been having unusually bad weather in New Mexico and have had a lot of hail. When our box arrived and Max got ready to roast, she found the MAJORITY were spoiled. The company said that with the hail they cannot see the bruises on the chilies when they pick, but they show up later. They were very nice and offered to refund our money, but we would rather have the chilies if they can get a good pick. According to the weather reports for that area it is not looking good.

Later . . .

Fly Tying

The fly tying turned into a “family” affair. Max and Paul spent several days tying flies while Max was recuperating. The whole procedure is actually quite fascinating, also very tedious in nature. Hopefully they will both be able to catch a fish on one of the flies they tied! Once again Max used Kodi hair for one of the tails on a fly. It will be interesting to see how it works and if it attracts a fish!

Later . . .

Sewing again

I have my sewing room pretty well arranged as far as placement of objects, but I still need to sort through all my drawers. I was able to do some embroidery today. I downloaded a free design from the new site I found to check out the quality of the designs. I must say I am impressed with the design (especially the price). I did download a couple of other designs that cost $2.99 each and will have to see how they turn out.

I am anxious to try some designs and to do some more things for the kids. I found an adorable design that has two unicorns and has printed over the unicorns “I am the big sister”. Then they have the same design that says “I am the little sister”. I thought they would be really cute for Desirae and Deanna. I found some really cool dragons for Devin. There is pretty much anything you want out there.

Later . . .

The "RAT" project

I guess I did not previously address the “Rat” issue in a blog. This adventure all began when we put up the bird feeders (they are messy little eaters). We first spotted a “creature” munching away on the bird food that was on the ground. We tired to get a close look and it did not appear to be a rat – perhaps a large mouse. Actually it did the cutest little hop when it ran away and we enjoyed watching it. Unfortunately when we spotted TWO little creatures munching away at the bird food we instantly went to BABIES! We did not want to kill them, so we purchased a small animal trap. Well much to our surprise the wire openings did not keep the critters in. The trap was snapped, the food was gone, but the cage was empty.

Max bought some smaller wire and wrapped the entire cage (which was not easy considering the spring mechanism had to be free to work). Needless to say I was completely surprised when I checked the cage last night and found a FAMILY of five! We took them out in the hills and let them go. They were very happy little rats considering this morning there was a very hungry looking large cat sitting on the fence staring at them thinking about the possibility of a gourmet breakfast.

We will put the cage out again and see if there are any more critters to be caught. The critters drive Kodi crazy. He can be dead asleep and either smell them or hear them, but he is up like a shot and going into a frenzy before anyone can get to the door to open it for him.

Later . . .

A better day

Today was a MUCH better day. Max was able to get some sleep last night and is making a good recovery. It is amazing what medication that actually works can do. She is convinced she will be up and around tomorrow (which is probably true, but taking it easy). She is looking forward to doing some tying of flies. Kathy and Paul are bringing dinner over tomorrow night and Max and Paul plan to work on flies for our Idaho trip. I am hopeful that I will get busy on my sewing room tomorrow and get it up and running.

I found a new web site for embroidery designs and they really have some beautiful designs at reasonable prices. I want to at least download one to check it out and see how they look (of course pictures to come).

Later . . .

Max had her procedure

Max had her procedure today and I am very glad I did not have my knee surgery yesterday. I did not have any doubts about the pain factor involved with having one’s uterus filled with 194 degree water; however, the doctors seemed to think it was not a big deal. They sent Max home with vicodin and ibuprofen AND some serious PAIN! That combination proved not to win the battle with the pain she was feeling. I know you are not suppose to share medications, but thankfully I had some medication left over from my breast surgery that allowed her to actually bring down the pain level – not enough, but at least it became bearable. With better medication she will be able to get some sleep and hopefully tomorrow will be a better day!

Later . . .

Sorting through the chaos

I decided to clean and rearrange my sewing room today. Whew – I may never finish this project! Actually all I really need to do is change a few things and get stuff put back in new locations. I need to do some serious weeding out of things that I DO NOT need (which seems to be a hard thing for me to accomplish). What I am trying to accomplish is to be a bit more organized with the things that I use all the time. The stack of denim jeans really needs to be cut into squares (would be MUCH easier to store that way). I finally painted the new thread holders that I found at the thrift store and I am expecting 90 spools of rayon thread (1100 yds each) to arrive in the mail any day now I really want to start doing some embroidery and I like using the rayon thread (it makes for more beautiful/colorful designs). Hopefully I will find a place for everything to live tomorrow! Pictures to come of the finished room WHEN it happens.

Later . . .

Knee surgery cancelled

Since I basically sniveled most of the weekend about having ANOTHER surgery, I guess "someone" up above decided to give me a break. I received a call from my doctor’s scheduling nurse this morning to tell me my doctor was very ill and had to postpone my surgery. Since I was trying to get this done with enough time to be recovered for our trip to Idaho, I am now scheduled for knee surgery on October 12th. I actually think it was a relief to have it cancelled. I will not have to worry about doing something wrong while on vacation to mess up the surgery and interfere with my recovery. At least if I do something to mess it up I will be coming home to surgery and have it fixed. I am beginning to get some energy back and it will be nice to be able to do some things before I am down again.

Later . . .

Embroidery on T-shirts

This was my first attempt to embroidery with my machine on t-shirts and it came out very nice. I had denim shirts for the kids while they were here, but did not have the energy to deal with the whole embroidery thing (doing squares is much easier than doing work on clothing). I finished the denim shirts with a dragon and swords for Devin and unicorns for Desirae. I had purchased a couple of t-shirts a while back to try some embroidery and decided I would try to get everything done so I could package them up with the videos I forgot to return and get them in the mail. No doubt you can guess which shirt is for which child.
I had a really good night of sleep last night, which made working on these projects a pleasure; however, it is 8:00 PM and my eyes are drooping and the bed is calling me.

Later . . .

Return of the Grandkids

It was difficult to return the kids to their parents, but it was worth it to get to have cuddles with Deanna. We had a great weekend even though all the adults, except Gene, seemed to be having some type of back problem combined with low energy. It was fun meeting Gene (Denise's brother). We missed Brad when he was out due to my radiation treatments.

It was great to get to go with Duane to the kids school to check out their teachers and classrooms (Denise's back was hurting and Gene stayed home with her). I had never actually seen the school or where it was located (very large layout and a long way for Devin to walk to his class).

Watching Deanna celebrate her 1st birthday was a real pleasure. She is so adorable and was covered with cake and frosting. She seemed to get the paper tearing idea with with the presents, but the whole thing was a bit overwhelming for her. It was hard to leave the kids (as well as Duane and Denise) behind, but we had to make the trip home early on Sunday. I have doctors appointments during the week getting ready for my knee surgery on the 29th.

Later . . .