NEAL FAMILY WEEKEND O8 IS IN THE BOOKS AND (separate and apart) A NEW QUILTING GUILD IS BORN

A very fun weekend has come and gone. It was very hot -- inside and out-- and still is so in case anyone is interested, I'm having my cooling system checked tomorrow. I've been in three houses today -- none of them new construction and they were all reasonably cool. My thermostat is set on 79 and the temp is regstering 86. But, that's all another story.

All fams with kids got bedrooms and Brian chose to sleep here so he got the couch and I went across my neighbors yard and slept at the Ballards. It's nice to have friends two doors down:) Thanks Buddy and Carolyn. Our guests arrived between eleven and eleven thirty on Friday night. we all went to bed around 12:15. I woke up about 6:30 am and went back to sleep -- was sleeping the sleep of the dead when all of a sudden these sweet little voices were saying wake up grams wake up! And I did! Then there was jumping on the bed and on me until I got up because everyone wanted to go to the pancake place for breakfast. After breakfast it was swimming at the Stiles. At 12:30 we got home and had lunch and then it was naptime for the little ones. Suzannah, Molly Beth and Aunt Stacey went to visit Kristen and Aunt Donna. The rest of us kind of laid around and were lazy.

We cooked grilled chicken and burgers to go with potato salad and baked beans for supper. Then Michael, Stace, and I kept the Jack, Molly B and Katy while the others went to the Student Center to eat homemade icecream and and visit at the church's game night. We bathed the little ones and had them all ready for bed when the parents got home and then the older ones got baths and all went to bed. We played Scattergories for a little while and then visited and we all went to bed a little after 11.

Sunday meant church and lunch at Grandmother's. She was fixing a "small" meal -- just ham, chicken, squash casserole, field peas, cheesy carrots, pink fluffy salad(?), macaroni and cheese, sliced tomatoes, rolls and tea. Makes you wonder what a normal meal would consist of doesn't it :) It was, of course, delicious. We had an early birthday party for Vail with carmel cake that had 3 1" diameter candles on top and some ice cream. It was great. After that it was time to play outside for a little while while we put the food away and dishes in the dishwasher. Then a few fam pictures and it was time to head north and south. Toby slept from three yesterday until this morning without waking up!! Just kidding but he did sleep a lot:)

Here are a few pictures from the weekend.
















I almost forgot about the quilt guild. A friend called me at lunch time and said a group who was interested in forming a quilt guild was meeting tonight so I went with her. There were about 10 of us there. Some of them brought quilts to share. It was fun. We are going to meet on the fourth Tuesday of each month. Next meeting we are bringing our favorite "tools" and "gadgets" that we use when making our creations and any projects we might want to share. I think it will be fun. Well, that's all for now folks except to tell my kids(that includes you too Stacey and Matty) how much I enjoyed having you and how proud I am of each and every one of you as you raise your familys. You are doing such good jobs and teaching Brian all the good tricks for when he has a family too. I love all of you and your kiddos very much.

Things are hoppin' around my house. Brian and I are trying to paint my DR and Kitchen and still be ready for a house full of people this weekend. We'll make it -- I think :)

It was great to get him home and to enjoy Avery's Bday in Nashvegas before coming back to cleveland. You can check Jen's blog for a longer narrative but here are some pics from my camera.


Can you see him ????






























Oh Yeah --- my kid can hold her breath for five minutes while walking on her hands underwater-- can your kid do that????

Brian's HOME!!

Here is Brian at the airport with his Barqs and his ham sandwich as requested (except we did forget the mustard :))








And, here is Brian about four hours later. I'm thinkin he was tired after all that traveling!










We don't see pics of Michael and Avery very often and I thought this was really good so I'm posting it. It's from when we ate at SaltGrass last night -- good food!!

COMING SOON!!

Got an email from Brian --- he's in Hong Kong so he won't get in trouble with his visa. He will be home tomorrow (July 10) on the same flight. He was rerouted through Chicago -apparently the route he would have been on to arrive today no longer exists???-- so he had to pay an extra $143. Guess that makes sense if you work for the airlines. Anyway, just 24 hours. Can't wait!!

BUMMER!!

For any who know that Brian is due home tomorrow -- thanks to the Chinese driver getting lost several time taking him to the airport in Xi'an and then the people there not knowing where he was supposed to check in and sending him all over the airport, he missed his flight to Hong Kong. Supposedly he'll be on all the same flights once he gets to Hong Kong only it will 24 hours later. But, I'm off to NashVegas after awhile anyway and will enjoy Avery's birthday tomorrow and then hit the airport on Thursday. (I hope :))

More later

LATE NIGHT SEWING

Why is it I always get the urge to sew after 9pm. It's not like I drink coffee at that hour. I just seem to get a second wind. So here is the result of doing just that. I had to rip out two seams before I even started because
the two strips I sewed the other day, were backwards. Not the first two I took a picture of but the next two. After doing that, I pinned and sewed the six strips I had left to the two that were already together.

My resident observer who had been slacking off on his bed in the back finally came and laid in the doorway.
He kept asking me to please turn off the sewing machine and Jack Bauer and come to bed. To which I replied "Not yet!"

The finished top being inspected by my resident observer. He gave it a thumb's up and so, we are off to bed. Has an interesting design I think. All for now.

IT'S A HOLIDAY

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY EVERYBODY!!!
Have a great day and don't forget to remember what this holiday represents to all of us.

12 SQUARES, SHOES FROM ZAPPOS,DOGS WATCHING TV AND WHO KNOWS WHAT ELSE....

I have 12 of the 48 log cabin squares joined so my quilt top is 1/4 complete. You can kind of see a pattern emerging. I actually did that yesterday -- haven't gotten around to sewing today. I spent a good part of the morning at school helping my boss with a project and then going to the grocery after which I took Lucy home. (She helps me clean -- actually, she does the work and I just appreciate it). Then this afternoon I spent most of my time putting this weeks bulletin together and makng out the list of those who will be serving all through July so that putting the other bulletins together will go faster.

I ordered two pair of shoes from Zappos late yesterday afternoon and guess when they arrived -- today around 5:30. Not bad for free shipping! After supper - just before dark, I put on my new Asics and took Toby for a walk. Like walking on air. They were very comfortable. My new sandals are pretty comfy too.

Toby was all relaxed and enjoying season 4 of NCIS with me but I personally enjoy a good crime show a lot more when watchinig it right side up. Him -- not so much. Makes me wonder if he's really paying attention. I just love that show -- way better than CSI. It always has a good story and a little comedy thrown into the mix. Plus, it makes our guys look like good guys instead of dopes.

Tomorrow, more quilt squares, another pair of "jeans-into-capris" and some cooking.
All for now...

Comfortable Old Jeans

I've spent the last 3 hours trying to balance my bank account. It normally takes 20 minutes. I don't even know what I did because when I finally walked away for awhile and then came back and started over -- it took -- about 20 minutes. But, it's done, the bills are paid and I'm good to go for another month. I'm debating on planting another tree in the backyard and feeding it miracle grow to see if money really does grow on trees. Let me know if you've had any success in that area.

This morning I took my oldest raggediest jeans that I love to wear and turned them into capris. They are cooler to wear and soooooo comfie. They were just too raggedy around the bottom. I also patched the hole by the pocket where if you were interested in looking you could see my brightly colored cotton undies. (Sorry if that's TMI but at least its covered now) I also finished the ends of the ribbon on the pillowcase dresses and went to the dollar store and found some storage baskets to help me organize my kitchen cabinets a little better.

I might have some surprise company Friday night. Actually, it won't be a surprise since they called me today. Michael and one of his friends are thinking about coming to the delta to play golf on the fourth. If they do, they will come here afterward and spend the night. I hope they do. I always love it when my kiddos come even if just for a few hours. I tried to sweeten the deal by saying we could cook some steaks on the grill!! Hope it works.

Tonight is going to be an earlier night for me so I'm off to bed at 10:30. Tomorrow is "put together my quilttop day" (the log cabin) and I'm excited about it. I'm also planning a quick trip to town to get material for two more pillowcase dresses.(for my sweet TX granddaughters). I'm thinking some mixture of blue and brown or maybe pink and brown. I'll have to see what they have.

Here is a picture I found of a "Wonky" Log Cabin quilt. If you look closely you'll see that the strips are cut so that the give an off-kilter effect. I love how it looks and can't wait to try one - of course it is at the end of my project list -- honest it is.

If anyone knows what to do when your pictures start showing up as html in the compose window and you can't see the actual picture, let me know. It started doing that a couple of posts ago and I don't know what I changed.

51st Post

I just realized that my last post was number 50. Guess that is some sort of milestone in the blogosphere.

I've finished the dress I started LAST year for Vail and am now hoping
it will fit Katy. I've only the handwork left to do. It will have two bttons int he back - a green one and an orange. I thought that would be a fun thing to do.

These are the pillowcase dresses I made. They have a matching ribbon that has the red from all three dresses and then some yellow and green that goes with the flowers. I think they turned out really cute.