sooner or later

I've been spending a lot of time on the computer lately but it's not something you'll notice here. About four years ago, we became the keeper of a box of family photos and I sorted some and scanned some right away and then got distracted. Now we have to take the box back and so I have been madly scanning. Staying up till all hours and my eyes are bleary but I have over 200 scans done. I was picky - only scanning the ones that appealed to me either in quality of photo or importance of the subject. I have come to realize that my husband's grandfather had a wonderful camera and took amazing photos that were printed in a quality lab. His photos are clear, sharp and very high resolution. He framed the shots beautifully. Wish I knew more about him.

This photo is of my father-in-law about 1928 in the Arizona desert.

My big gift this year was a new printer. I sent a link to one I was interested in and the grill king got it at a good price. At least for the initial investment. I've printed less than 50 pages and it has slurped up at least $50 dollars worth of ink. Time to look for deals on ink refills. The quality is wonderful. We will keep the old one on the network for the odd printout of a receipt.

Christmas 1961

While the new printer has been churning out photo album pages, I've been scanning family photos that have been waiting for four or five years to be done. Suddenly that is priority and it's taking me away from other fun stuff. But I'm glad to have most of it done. One or two more nights of the midnight oil and I'll have everything I want and be able to return the box when we drive north next weekend.

Hoping for sunny skies like we've had for past weekend.

Sometimes in a frenzy, sometimes in awe, we opened our presents on Christmas Eve. Many of them handmade with love and thoughtfulness. The store bought ones selected carefully to please the recipient no end.

My English muffins from scratch turned out great. The grill king did his magic in the evening. We toured the neighborhood to see the lights. The travelers are off today on visits to family in other states. The weather here is beautiful and crisp. We are quietly getting to know our new toys today and enjoying the sweet goodies leftover from yesterday. Later I'll try another new recipe, crab cakes with wasabi mayo and we may even go to the movies.

I've been emptying a bobbin every day at the loom and feeling very virtuous about it. Also, finished off the coffee cup cuff that J started yesterday. One last gift for the coffee enthusiast in Fort Worth. I also got a little time at my work table. All in all, I'm enjoying the long weekend and not looking forward to going back in to the office. At least, things are at a stand still because everyone else in the world is taking long vacations and no business other than retailing is taking place. The phones will be quiet. Hopefully, no crisis will occur until 2008.

All day at work, the suitcase was on my mind. Flew to the store after working till past 9 pm, walked in when someone walked out - I'm sure the doors were already locked. Went directly to MY bag, did not pass GO, then to the case register and charged it. The cashier was laughing to see me again buying the bigger green case. She said she was glad I came back to get it before it was gone! People in the line ahead of me admired my good taste. I was wearing a lime green shirt. Another lady in line was also dressed in lime and we chatted about green. Me gusta mucho cosas verdes! What a sweetie.

I have no idea where I will store this one. It's big enough to live in. I could be a bag lady on the street. A very fashionable bag lady with all my frogs in my green luggage on wheels. No stolen shopping cart for me.

For now, it's beside the Christmas Tree - too big to fit under it. Merry Christmas to me! Thank you to everyone who commented.

Thick fog blanketed our neighborhood this morning as I followed the little truck to our favorite mechanic's shop. My mini-van this time. Electrical problems. Old age, hardening of the circuitry, no doubt.
We rented a car over the weekend to drive up north to see the grill king's mom in her new digs. Nice place, a little smaller than the last one, feels more like a care facility. There's a person at the front desk and aides come in to refill her water glass and dole out her medicine. But she is doing well by all indications. We visited a long time on Saturday and almost took her out for brunch yesterday, but she decided it would not be a wise choice for her.
I worked on my July journal quilt, stitching on squares and rectangles of fabric I had selected before our cruise. All red, white and blue. I was planning to place a red sparkly net over the top and FMQ it but the net makes the white parts go pinkish - not what I was going for at all. I may try for a gold net now that I'm at home. Anyway the squares are all down, raw edged and handstitched in bold embroidery thread. I want to put some foiling on it, too.
While we were driving, we listened to a sci-fi fantasy book on CD and took a back way into the big city. Pleasant drive. A stop for kolaches in West, Texas on the way north and a stop at Dairy Queen for a shake on the way home. Road trip traditions.
I crocheted a goddess figure. I have to finish her arms - tiny little arms and then stuff her and decide what else she needs. So I started two new projects!

Cozumel

We're home from our cruise to Cozumel and Progresso. Click on the photo above to see the photo album. These are about a fifth of the photos I took and, of course, there are the photos we bought from Carnival and from the excursion operators. The trip is well documented. We had a great time. We'll maybe do this again sometime.

Me and the rabbit are late, we're late for a very important date, no time to wait, we're late, we're late, we're late.

I am dawdling. Doing laundry, thinking about making a list so I can check it twice. No time for that. Mending things, buying locks, almost bought a new suitcase, is that nuts? Yes, it was. I'll just carry three smaller ones. Packed my beading project - seeing stars now. Should I take bottled water? Am I that cheap? Watercolor paper, brushes, crayons, glue. Do I have time to do a journal quilt? Maybe. An extra camera battery and another 2gig of storage? If I spend enough money and carry enough stuff along, will I have a good time?

Can I just buy the postcards and skip the whole thing?

The 50th anniversary party was great fun. A family reunion of sorts. Great oldies band with a full dance floor including the honorees.

Amy & Clint can really cut a rug. I'm exhausted from the trip and I didn't even try to keep with the old geezers dancing the night away. Slept in a room with a snake - my nephew's - who was molting - the snake, not my nephew. Although the nephew was sporting a new shorter haircut, so you could say he had shed quite a bit of hair.
Caught up on all the news from near and far. Heard stories about relatives. My grand niece was married recently - didn't know, have to warp the loom for a gift.
I experimented with my new smaller camera. I like almost everything about it. I have to try more things and work out some lighting issues. It has very good menus. Took some unblurred photos through the car window as we raced along at breakneck speed. The only problem there was dirty windows.
On the end leg of my flight, I chatted with another happy grandma going to visit her newest grandson in Texas. She's a quilter and has a neighbor with a long arm machine. Her mother and her grandmother were weavers and so she has things from them. She crochets and I was working on a making a tiny ball and other things just to pass the time. That's how we starting talking. I recommended she go to The Painted Pony in LaPorte - my favorite quilting shop and that she needs to think about coming to the International Quilt Festival as an excuse to see the grandkids again.
It was good to pass the time quickly as the flight had left late and I was late getting home and then the grill king had been sick all weekend so he was in bed early and feeling miserable. He cooked for the kids on Saturday and evidently they had a good time as lots of things are in new places around the house, evidence of the defense against the ground level attack of the toddler.
I finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns which is an excellent book by the author of The Kite Runner. I probably wouldn't have taken the time to read it if I hadn't had a plane flight. As it was, I was glad I also brought along a ball of crochet cotton because it led to a delightful chat with Nancy on the plane.

You never know when opportunity will smack you in the face. Wow, a new vehicle, a new job, the open road, I'm a very experienced driver ... exciting to think about.
You know I'd like to own a new vehicle and my loom would certainly fit in the back of this truck. Wish I could read that phone number....

We had brunch this morning with my daughter and the grandkids at a new place in Richmond and it was pretty good. We went early and the kids ate well and behaved nicely. Almost no food landed on the floor.

There was a really interesting old building out back. Looks like a journal quilt about to happen.


And what are these? They were in the yard behind the restaurant.

My daughter is in a sewing phase and I off loaded a lot of stuff, thread, zippers, interfacing, fabrics and doodahs so she can keep going without spending any money on supplies. Her new year’s resolution. My stuff is already paid for and gathering dust. She may as well use it and possibly sell the products at the sale in a couple of months.

Typing that just gave me heartburn… what am I going to be selling? Only a couple of months away! Aaaak. Too busy focusing on the day-to-day finishing of little projects, I haven’t thought about my own handwoven items for the sale.

I had lunch with Livia from North Texas on Friday. She was in town with her grandkids and we met up at Joe’s Crab Shack. She brought me the next round robin book (it's about Time, no she wasn't late bringing it... it's about TIME!) and we chatted about all kinds of things. She gave me sage advice and a few tidbits of information about how most people gain 40 pounds while on a cruise. Delightful. Doom and gloom setting in - must not let this happen to me. I am mesmerized by food. I think I gained weight when I went to see Like Water for Chocolate. I know I felt full when I left the theater after Waitress and actually burped after we saw Ratatouille. I should maybe plan to take a suitcase full of crafts supplies and just hide out on our balcony with an ipod and a camera. Eat only what the grill king brings back hidden in his beard.

By the way, you missed some great steaks on Saturday night. The grill king leaves mine without any spicy rub and I really like them with just the amount that rubs off when he stacks them on the plate to bring to the table. The perfect amount of salt and seasoning.

We really need a high chair at our house. The tiny tank was desperately unhappy with any arrangement we tried for feeding him. Didn’t want to sit on anyone’s lap, didn’t want to be in the playpen right beside the table. He is really independent and wants to feed himself. And he wants to be part of the action – at the table, reaching for everything within two feet of him.