New Motivation

I made a new dress for myself. It is a long dress made of very soft corduroy. I wanted it for lounging. It turned out so pretty and would look pretty on me if I lost, maybe 10 pounds. I did lose 10 pounds last fall but put it back on during the cruise and Christmas. I am going to have to get serious. I hung the dress on my dress form so that I am reminded to "stick to it."

Studying Spanish

Hubby and I are taking a Spanish course through Community Education. This is the fifth class we have taken besides buying the Rosetta software. We are learning but very slowly. We spend about 20 hours a week studying Spanish! I am waiting for "the light to go on" so that I make some real progress. Mom signed up for a memory class. Maybe that would help.

Team Trivia

Hubby and I have always loved team trivia and have played it on our cruises. Last night we went to a team trivia tournament to benefit Penrickton school for the blind. We had a ball. For $20 we got supper (tacos, nachos and stuff, pop and snacks) and played team trivia. Such fun! We went with four other Lions and can hardly wait to do it again.

Video Cam

This weekend Hubby worked on my computer to get the video cam working. It was kind of fun to talk to Amy and see the kitten, Zeke and Blueberry. The picture is a little fuzzy but not bad. Because it is digital if you move fast everything blurs. I am not sure yet how the calling works or how to know if someone is calling you.

Learning to Run

My daughter, Mary, would like me to run with her on the first of May in a 5K run close to home here. I have done the 5K run-walks but never a run. I walk a mile on the treadmill. So I decided to up my speed. I walk at 3.5 for half a lap, run at 5.0 for a quarter lap, drop to 3.0 for a quarter lap to catch my breath, and then repeat. Hubby say "you only run for a quarter lap!" I am an old lady who has never run before! Today I got a leg cramp and walked the last lap and am limping a little because it still hurts.

Cameo Quilt Club

I went to my quilt club tonight. The speaker was Gwen Marston who spoke on art quilts made with solid colors. She was spectacular, very funny too. I know just what kind of quilt to make for Amy.
I haven't been blogging because Hubby was having trouble getting my computer to talk to the Internet since he changed to Windows 7. But now I am all set up. It really works very well and I like it much better than Vista.
I have been busy working on my sampler quilt. I only have one more block to do and then I have to assemble and make the border. At the quilt meeting tonight people were talking about their UFOs (Unfinished projects). Some people have as many as 30 unfinished projects. I must be weird. I am working on this quilt since the beginning of January. I have Martha's quilt which I have about 75% of the blocks done, but it's a queen size and she doesn't have a queen size bed so there is no hurry. I also have a Jacob's Ladder quilt, my only true UFO. I started it for Jim when he was going to college and he didn't like it. So it is not finished but every once in a while I do work on it. The quilt club is a non-profit group and is required to give quilts to charity. Someday I will finish it and maybe give it away.

Snowed In

Yesterday we had quite a snow storm and, wouldn't you know it, I got a phone call that a dear friend's mother had died and the funeral service was last night. We drove up to New Baltimore and it took us 2 hours to get there. I am glad we went though. The woman was only 65 years old. Boy, that is young to die!
Today I am still trying to clean my house after Christmas, mopping floors and finding Christmas chocolate wrappers under the furniture. Someone gave Kameren some candy that was like little beads and I am finding them everywhere and they are too heavy for the vacuum cleaner to pick up.
Hubby is installing Windows 7 on my computer and now my computer cannot find the modem so I have to use his to get on the Internet. Nothing is simple.

The Christmas Tree is Down

I took down the Christmas tree today. My tree is an artificial one that I bought 20 years ago when I first got my divorce. I paid $99 for it. A lot of people think it is real because it kind of looks scraggly like a real tree can. I guess an artificial tree is really the green thing to do as for 20 years I haven't cut down a real tree. It probably isn't 20 years because it probably took a little while for the tree farms to realize I wasn't going to buy a tree. Really the first year I had an artificial tree I bought a real one for the family room, but that year a home in Warren burnt down from the Christmas tree and so we were afraid to light it. I worked with a girl who had an artificial tree that she decorated and then at the end of the season moved the whole tree to a closet. It made it a lot easier to put up and take down the tree. The hardest part for me this year was going into the attic to get the boxes for the tree and ornaments. It was awfully cold in the attic.

New Year, New Projects

With the new year, I started a quilt for my best friend's 40th wedding anniversary. (She doesn't read my blog so there is no danger in ruining the surprise.) The quilt is a sampler quilt. I have always wanted to make one and I know she will appreciate the effort. It is surprising how difficult some squares can be to assemble. I also started embroidering a tablecloth. I will have to speed it up a little because over the holidays I spilled a glass of red wine on my lace tablecloth and the just threw it in the washing machine. It is stained. I will try bleaching it but I am not hopeful and after Hubby's seasickness on the last cruise, I don't think I can talk him into a cruise to the Virgin Islands to buy another.

Happy New Year

Gretel left this morning so we are back to normal. I think Arnold was relieved when he saw all the suitcases that we were not leaving. I usually take the tree down on New Years Day but today I worked a little on a new quilt, played the piano and opened up the Rosetta Stone software. I will probably go to bed early. I did make a new spreadsheet for my New Year resolutions. They are pretty much the same, lose weight, read more, exercise more and I added study Spanish regularly.