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Friday, January 16, 2009

Baby It's Cold outside!

Nostrils freezing with every breath, car tires crunching the snow, whiteness has enveloped everything. At first light in the morning, the earth has an erethral, glistening quality to it, seeming to shroud all life with it's spirit. It seems magical, but Brrrrr! Baby it's cold outside. The temp read -28 degrees farenheit this am.

That being said, I am so happy to be travelling to visit my Mom down in Florida. DH and I are leaving Monday! Yippee! The funniest thing though occurred when we were purchasing our airline tickets at the ticket booth in the airport terminal.

Me: We'd like to purchase round trip tickets to Florida leave on Monday and return in February. (Of course I gave the specific dates).

Ticket Agent: Okay, yes it's available for 2 adults, price going down is $79.00 and the return trip is $29.00 each (I knew this, because we checked out the best prices on the internet before we went there).

Me; Great, we'll take them

TA: Seats are $15 - $25.00, where do you want to sit?

ME: Your kidding, (I was discreetly looking around thinking there was a hidden camera somewhere) Could I look at the schematics of the plane, then I'll let you know?

TA: We don't do that, just let me know if there is any where specifically that you'd like to sit.

ME: Well, we would like the emergency exit seat to have leg room (I broke my ankle a couple of years ago and being long legged, I truly love to be able to stretch out my legs for a 3+ hour ride especially).

TA: Okay, that'll be $25.00 each, for each direction. (By this piont, I'm laughing, I can't believe that when you buy a ticket, you then have to by a "seat".) Are you bringing any luggage?

ME: Yes, we'll have 2.

TA: Okay that's $30.00 per piece of luggage, what about him (as she directs her attention to my DH)?

Me: Yes he'll have luggage too, but we each will have 1 bag to check and 1 bag as a carryon. I'm still chuckling, I can't believe all the add ons)

This rapport continued in this vein with several other items. Sufficit to say, the total came close to $400.00 for 2 people with round trip tickets and having SEATS as well as carrying luggage. Hehe! I still find humor in it. It really isn't a bad price, but what a racket. Why don't they just charge a fair price and call it that without all the extras that need to be added.

So, with the trip coming up so quickly, I've been setting all up, travel arrangements, car rentals, travelers checks, prescriptions with over-rides, etc..... Next on my list is cleaning my house. I love travelling, but I also love to come home to a clean house, including fresh sheets. So tomorrow, paper work, house work, recycleables returned and make a soup out of the leftover vegetables in the fridge, besides watching a 1 month old grandson in am. Sunday, will take care of the laundry, make lemon poppy seed muffins for my read and bead group which meets in the afternoon, need to make 2 valentine postcards and send out some mail to friends as well as my penalty squares for buying fabric when I was on the No-Buy Challenge list in Stashbusters. Leaving the packing and changing the sheets on Monday before we leave. Ooooh, I love being organized! Sunshine state, here we come! Stay Well and Warm!

Jane

Monday, January 5, 2009

Happy New Year 2009!

Have been feeling really good about finishing some UFO's that I've been concentrating on. I just finished my 12th Redwork Santa. Yippee!
I've carried these embroideries all over the country as we have vacationed and even on the back deck. The plan is to create a Christmas Quilt with them since DH collects Santas. Besides the red and white in the santa blocks, I'll be using a black and a yellow-orange fabric in the quilt too. EQ5 helped me to create a quilt that appeals to me. Now that the embroideries are done, I'll be working on the rest of the top shortly. Need to finish some other UFO's that are already on the sewing cabinet first.
Another finish is a counted cross stitch bread cloth. I think this was started about 10 years ago and was put aside for some reason. Can't remember now why! When I pulled it out, it only needed about 3 more hours of work and it was finished. Another WhoooHoooo! I think I'll be giving this to a friend that does alot of baking.

One other finish is the jungle print fleece throw that I hand stitched the hem on the edge of using a DMC#8 thread for my new grandson, here I lovingly call him PGS#3. It is about 1.25 yards by 60" wide, so really too large for an infant, but while checking with my daughter on what size she wanted me to make it, this is what she requested. TaDah.....DONE!


Currently, I'm working on a Noah's Ark Embroidery. I'm on the 3rd block. Have all the patterns except for the last two that Lynette Anderson has shared. The other two will be coming out in the next month or two, so am hoiping that I'll catch up now that the Santas are done.

The following quilt is a kit and that my friend Catherine from Montreal did. It is a beauty. Her colors are fantastic! The quilter, I call "a sister, from another Mother, from another Country" which is our own personal joke when we reconnect, she's a treasure. If I don't call her this first, then she calls me by that name too. What a hoot.

I love the connectedness of the internet. I'm inspired by many crafty and talented quilters. When contemplating what resolutions I would have for 2009 I realised that I am spending too much time on the computer.....so my plan is to limit my computer time. Perhaps to only 1/2 hour a day. If alot of mail, maybe another 1/2 hour after DH retires. He's usually in bed by 7:00pm and I'm awake until 11-12. so I try to be quiet. Read. watch TV, hand sew....
Besides that, I need to reassert myself with my movements. With the hospital events last month between DH, our daughter and myself, my fitness plan was shelved. DH was sick for a week starting at Christmas time and then he passed the "flu" to me. I feel okay but I sound like a barking seal while coughing. It seems to have slid into my lungs and botheing my asthma, so will be contacting the Dr's tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to be seen while in town for my hair appointment.

Stay well and create,
Jane


PS: Adding this on March 1, 2009:
Realizing I need to clean up the front page of this blog journal, so I need ot list the completed projects done in 2008.
They are:

Beaded counted cross stitch candy dish
5/4 apron
Halloween Sweatshirt
Flying chicken pincushion
Autumn Song Quilt
Stippling Skillbuilder POstage Stamp Basket Table Topper
Dance Bag for PG#1
Simpson's Pillow case for PGS#2
Beaded set; necklace and matching earrings
Wove basket for quilts in Living Room (Also doubles as a doll basinet)
Wove Basket for ongoing knit projects
The Professional Tote

There probably is more, but with starting the blog in the fall and reading what I had listed, this is all I can truly remember. We'll see if 2009 is more productive, I hope so. Stay Well and CREATE!