A Cold Windy Day

On Wednesdays Mom and I usually do a little shopping and go out to lunch. Unfortunately this Wednesday was bitter cold, 12 degrees with a 1 degree wind chill, so I picked up some deli sandwiches and we ate at her place. Mom missed going out. She kept going to the window where the sun was shining in and said, "It dosen't look that bad." We did spend a delicious afternoon talking. I worked on my "City Fish" cross stitch and we talked. She told me what was new with her lady friends in the complex. I feel like I know them well. We talked about the political campaign. She is a well informed independent voter. We talked about religion, about eternity, about my children and their religion and how we responded to their different ideas. We talked about the books we had read and eventually she talked about her things that she would be leaving behind. I assured her that my brother and I would not fight about anything (unless he wanted her cedar chest or her cut class fruit bowl) but we wanted those things she valued because we treasured them too. Mom keeps reminding me that she is 90 and she won't last forever but I don't want to think about ever losing her. This picture was taken at her 90th birthday party.

The Ice Cream War

My Hubby and Daughter are at war. My Hubby likes to buy coffee ice cream, specifically Starbucks coffee ice cream. My daughter dosen't like coffee and won't eat it. She goes to the store and buys ice cream with stuff in it like peanut butter cups or cookies. Hubby won't eat ice cream with stuff in it. It really is a power play, he who has the money wins. They could buy black cherry or caramel swirl which they both like but that's not the way war works. Now I don't go near the kitchen or the grocery store for that matter so I am not a combatant in this war. I probably could be called an instigator because I love coffee ice cream and peanut butter cup ice cream and I definitely get my spoon out to share in the spoils.

Savannah

Savannah is the kitten pictured on my blog about quilting frames. Savannah has grown and is now a fat cat, food is the driving force in Savannah's life, but a smart cat. Last September something happened to her, she couldn't walk. The vet thought maybe she had injured herself or it could even be a spinal problem. He gave her some medicine and said wait and see. Two weeks later with no improvement she was taken into the vets to be be put down. When she got there she walked across the office. A Smart cat! She was brought home again. About a month later I was sitting knitting and I said to hubby. "She's having a lot of trouble with the stairs to the basement litter box and dosen't always make it all the way. Maybe we should put her down." Savannah stood up on her one good leg and playfully batted at my knitting needle. She is a smart cat. She can now go up and down the basement stairs and even goes up to the second floor and squeezes through the cat door to sleep in our room at night. The one leg still dosen't work. During the Christmas holiday with all the children and grandchildren here, she lay in the middle of the kitchen floor. She likes to be where the action is. Every morning at 8 AM and evening at 5:30PM she howls something fierce until you feed her. Food is still the driving force in Savannah's life. She is a smart cat.

On Schedule

I said early that I love Excel. I have an Excel spreadsheet that calculates when I should finish a quilt based on my progress at any particular time. I count the squares in a quilt and the equivalent number of squares for assemblingthe quilt and the border and binding the quilt. I then choose a date that I would like to have the quilt completed. As I finish the squares I list the total completed and the program fiqures out if I will finish on time at that rate of completion and if not when will I finish the quilt.

I am a task finisher. A coworker of mine told me I obcess on finishing a task. She would have to come and tell me it was lunch time because I would get so focussed on the job at hand. She said I even ate quickly because I considered it the latest job. The only things I might not finish are clothing I make or a really disappointing book. When you go shopping for clothes a lot of things you see on the rack look good until you try them on. Unfortunately when you sew you have invested a lot of time and money before you get to that try on stage. Clothes sewing is my least favorite type of sewing. My daughter in law gave me a book"She Came Undone" by Wally Lamb and although it was written well, it was so depressing I stopped reading it. I found the same thing with "The Blind Assasin" by Margaret Atwood.

I Remember the Face

Last week, or when ever it was that Michigan had its primary election, I saw a familiar face as I was going into the polls. The woman immediately said "Peggy, how are you?" We talked a few minutes and then I finally said. "I'm sorry I don't remember your name." I thought that was embarrassing enough but this morning it sort of happened again. We had stopped for breakfast at the local grill after church and on the way out I saw another familiar face. Only this time I knew who it was. I thought I did. I introduced her to my husband and then she said she wasn't that person. She was the person who had lived next door to me for ten years. Of course she moved away twenty years ago. Now the question is, is it more embarrassing to not have any idea what a person's name is or guess the wrong one? I think I should work on my Brain Age Program more.

A Night Out

Last night Hubby and I went to hear the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Hubby looked so sexy all dressed up in his suit. We had wonderful seats just 8 rows from the front on the main floor. Before hand we had dinner at the restaurant in Orchestra Hall. It was good, nothing to rave about and certainly not worth the price. The orchestra played two incredible selections. The first was a piano concerto for the left hand only by Maurice Ravel. By the end the pianist was holding on to the piano with his right hand because his left hand needed so much strength and indurance. The second selection was Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique. That is such a fun piece especially when the guillotine cuts his head off and you can hear it bounce, followed by the Witches Sabbath movement. In that movement they use the "Dies Irae" theme from the old Catholic Requiem Mass. Most young people who have never been to an old Latin Catholic Requem Mass don't know what scary is. The priests vestments were black, the coffin was covered in black surrounded by big orange beeswax candles. The choir would sing this mournful Gregorian chant which meant Day of Wrath. Anyway it was a fun evening.

Cross Stitching

I make lots of quilts (23 not counting baby quilts) and I love doing them but cross stitching is my favorite kind of needlework. There is always someone waiting for me to finish a quilt and then there is the pressure of having a quilting frame taking up space in your family room or bedroom. No one waits on my counted cross stitch, I do it at my own pace, just for me. My cross stitch is not perfect. In fact I didn't realize how bad it was until I saw a sample of my daughter-in-laws stitching. I guess I never took lessons, just picked up a kit and started. The one drawback to embroidery is "What are you going to do with it?" Almost every room in my house has some cross stitch displayed, except for those rooms that hubby hasn't finished the frames for them. These pictures shown here are in my guest room and bath. John gave me the perfect cross stitch pattern for Cristmas last year. It is called "City Fish" and the pattern takes 15 pages. I am struggling to do 3 pages a year so it will take me 5 years to complete. That solves the problem of having too much to display.