Chickens!

This weekend I finished the chickens I was making for myself, Mary and my neighbor. I think they came out pretty good. They still need eyes, but that will take just a few minutes. I just couldn't find my eyes for them. Heres some pictures:

Tardy is up and eating, but the owners have decided to put him down this week. We don't want to see another episode like yesterday's and its just not fair to him. I feel so bad, but I also don't want to see him suffer. He's lived a long and good life, its for the best.

In other news, today has been kinda yucky with rain on and off. Its also colder here, been in the 30's about all day. I did complete 6 minutes on the elliptical this morning and did a two mile walk (on DVD) this afternoon. I am down another 3 pounds (117) since Monday. My goal would be be to maintain 115 and build muscle up. I can't believe its been almost 9 weeks since surgery! I don't want to get to thin, but I want to build up some more muscle. The kids and Rich have been playing playstation most of the day. I actually was up before all the kids this morning. That's a change - usually they are waking us up!

Right now I am reading "The Piped Piper" by Ridley Pearson. It is a mystery type about someone who is stealing babies. I am only about 100 pages into it. I just started it last night. Before that I read Unspeakable by Sandra Brown. Its about two brothers that were blamed for a murder they didn't commit and they escape from jail to come back and get revenge on their step father. It was good, but I don't think it was one of her best works.

I am going to sew a little longer and then I am off to read. I think dinner tonight is going to be fend for yourself! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Sad News

Today the 33 year old Standardbred (Tardy) that has boarded with us since 1988 went to roll in the padock and then got stuck down. He was down for about 2 hours. Maybe a little more. Rich and the boys went out to try and help him up and he just couldn't do it. Then I went down with TJ & T to be with him. Rich was calling the owners and the vet. Luckily when I went down he got up within two tries. He knows my voice and I think he responded to my voice. He has what we think is a tumor on his face and is just old and has arthritis. He has been down before, but has always managed to get up. Once he got up, Rich talked to his owners and they decided that we would just keep an eye on him and then either Monday or Tuesday have the vet out. That is going to be a horrible. day. J is VERY attached to Tardy and so am I, J more so than I, but we were both crying. I was so happy when he got up, but his time is near and we really weren't sure he was going to make it through this winter. He is such a good horse and we hate to see him suffer. When he is actually put down this week it is going to be very traumatic.

Meandering

Rich bought me a new sewing machine for Christmas (rather than fix my old one!) and it came with a quilting foot, walking foot and about 5 other feet. Its computerized which makes it nice (my old one wasn't!) So I'm so excited. I tried meandering quilting on two blocks for chickens last night. It was great and sew easy!! I love it. I have never done this before and my sister loves it, kept telling me to try it so I finally had something that was ready to quilt. I am going to use it on EVERYTHING! I love the way it looks and I love how easy it is to do. Of course, I showed Rich and he was like totally indifferent "Great honey" I believe were his words, with little excitement. Now J on the other had thought it totally rocked!

Here's some pictures, the left block is the one I did first:

Today, it is supposed to rain but its not yet. I also don't get how the high can be 39 and its 42 right now. It does feel warmer than 42 though, since I just went out to do chores. If it doesn't rain I may clean out my rock garden and see where that takes me. And I am definately finishing up 2 of my 3 chickens today!

In other news: T's rec league basketball team lost last night (Again!). They are so bad. But they did win one game. It happened to be a game that the coach wasn't at and the assistant coach and Rich were coaching. Hmmm....maybe that says something about the coach.

Last night J and I had a 4-H meeting. He decided in school to do a speech on rabbit health so we worked on refining it when his homework was done. He did a great job and I'm proud of him for taking the initiative, most of the kids don't. We decided on our theme for our stalls at fair this year. I have a lot of good ideas that I am going to have to jot down. The other 3 advisors and I decided on high points for the horse show and I get to ring master the first half of the day. I prefer that since I can't be in the ring when my kids are and the first half is all English and Walk-Trot.

They have both filled out the paperwork for next years schedules at school, I can't believe they are both going to be in Jr. High. They are both taking advanced math and T is taking advanced english. Both are also taking choir and J is taking band too. He's really good at music, now if I could just get him to practice!

Otherwise, There is nothing new. The drs say I can ride by May 1st, but I am hoping sooner if it ever gets nice. Its supposed to snow tomorrow. Hopefully it won't. I am meeting my friend Krissi for lunch so that will be wonderful! I haven't seen her in forever. She was at the 4-H meeting last night, but I really didn't get to talk to her. I can't wait! Ok, I'm off to make chickens!

Two Tops Finished

Well, in less than 24 hours I finished two quilt tops. I finished the yellow quilt and the appliqued heart quilt tops.

The yellow quilt is one that I just picked some fat quarters and matching fabrics and put together. There is no rhyme or reason to the squares, they are 4 inch squares and the border is 2.5 by 5 inch rectangles with 5 inch squares in the corners. I love the colors in it. Here is a picture of the finished quilt top and a close up of a corner. This one may be going to Rich's niece for her birthday, but I am not

completely sure yet if that is what I want to do.

The appliqued heart quilt was started by my mom many years ago, and I finished up the applique this winter. Then I added muslin between the panels for sashing. I like how it seperates the hearts. Each background is some type of blue material and the hearts are either blue or beige. Mom is going to back it in flannel and then it after quilting it will be done. Its a nice size for a quilt on a coach to curl up underneath.

In other news, we are supposed to get an Alberta Clipper this weekend. More snow, just what we want. I am going out to lunch tomorrow with my long time friend Krissi (I've known her since we were 8) so that should be fun. Sunday is dinner at my sisters and Monday I have a drs appointment. This weekend I am going to make more chickens and begin my quilt for Project Linus.

Have a safe and Happy Easter!

Snow AGAIN!!!

Well, Monday was nice, somewhat sunny, Tuesday was rain, Today was rain and then it turned to snow! I am so sick of snow!! No more! I want spring to come. I have tulips poking up by the front walk. I thought this was a sign of spring! Its so wet and cold out that I can't go outside! Ok, I'm done now.


One would think that I would finish some of my UFO's rather than start something new, but I didn't. I started something new. I am making this:








Part of it is a fat quarter bundle that I bought and then I added some other materials to get a large lap quilt/crib size. I like the colors in it. I still have to put the border and bind/back it, but it should be done by the weekend. I would also like to get the sashing in the heart quilt and I will have to see where that takes me. Everyone will be home on Friday, but it will be quiet here over the weekend with the kids at their moms and Rich having to work. I love these weekends!





Currently I am reading Brick Lane by Monica Ali. I am about halfway through and it is slow going right now. I hope it gets better soon. I enjoyed the first part but am kinda bored with it now. Rich is on a playstation kick so I read at night while he plays playstation. I don't normally sew after 9:00 because I don't like to keep the boys up and 9:00 is when they start getting ready for bed. By the time they are ready (they procrastinate!!) its usaully 10:00.





My dear hubby at naptime:

Quick and Simple

This weekend, while it went by somewhat fast, was relatively lazy. We didn't do much at all!
I cleaned the house on Saturday morning, and then Rich and I went to the grocery store. T helped me clean the house while J and TJ cleaned stalls and Rich went to get feed and shavings. Then all the boys (Rich, T, J, TJ and JR) played playstation and ate pizza all night.
Today Rich and I snuggled in bed till way past normal talking. Sometimes its the only quiet time we get! The boys were playing playstation. Rich made suasage gravy and biscuits for brunch. The J and I went to check out the newly opened main library here in Medina. WOW! is all I can say. Its really nice and really fancy. J kept saying "That looks expensive!" It's really much bigger and much nicer than the old one. But I still think I prefer our little one that is less than 10 minutes away. Plus I don't have a problem requesting books to be shipped to our local Buckeye branch. While we were there I picked up 4 quilt books and 2 memoirs. Otherwise there wasn't much I wanted. I have plenty of books here to read so I didn't spend too much time in the Adult Fiction. We stopped at the petstore to pick up lizard litter for chickens and then we came home to Rich and T still playing playstation, so we joined in and that is pretty much it for the night. Its now 8:45 and the kids are packing their lunches for school tomorrow.
That is it here.

Snow and Quilts

These pictures were taken at about the same time on Saturday and Sunday. No, the picture on the left is not blurry - its just snowing that hard. Rich brought his big work truck with the snow plow on it to do our driveway when he was out this way plowing one of the water pump stations. The drifts were 4 feet tall and our snow mounds after he plowed were over 6 feet. Needless to say, I didn't go outside all weekend and he plowed 3 times before the weekend was over. We easily got 2 feet of snow. Now its warm (36) and all starting to melt off, so hopefully that was the last snow storm we are going to get.

Wouldn't you love it if this were blooming in your flower bed right now? I would. I received a basket of fresh flowers today that they have been "trying" to deliver for over a week. Must not have been trying very hard since I am home everyday for the most part. But it is a beautiful arrangement and I so wish that I could plant these and have them in my garden this summer.

Since I was snowed in all weekend I spent it making blocks for the top, Kansas City Star. These blocks were something that we picked up back in 2000 and just never finished. It was a series that the local quilt shop did and had a contest for the finished top, but we obviously didn't compete in the contest since I am just now finishing them. I have finished 10 of the 12 blocks, and am going to have to enlist the help of my sister for the 12. Its scares me, I have never done curved seams before. LOL!

The only other exciting news is that T beat his entire school in the Geography Bee. He took the test to go to the state competition and was selected to compete so April 4th he will be competing in the state Geography Bee. Let's hope he does well. We are still proud that he made it. Now if only we could get that Science grade up!

Sara

Snowing and Blowing

Well, we got it. The huge storm they said we were going to get is here. I am literally snowed in. Not going anywhere, and don't really want to. There is easily a foot of snow already and it is still snowing. Its also blowing pretty good, creating some big drifts. They said we could get 1-2 feet and I believe it. Its also blowing out of the north, which means we will get some lake effect snow due to being in the secondary snowbelt. Its a good day to stay inside and quilt or read, which is what I am doing today. I also have homemade beef stew in the crock pot, which is smelling really good right now!

This is the red white and blue quilt that my mom, sister and I did many years ago. I never finished putting all the blocks together back then (neither did they!) and we are finally getting it done. Kris is supposed to be bringing me the border and backing for it tomorrow, but I am not holding my breath on that. I would be surprised if they can make it up here with this weather. That's fine, because I have plenty of other projects to work on. I have about half of the blocks completed for the Piecing the Trail to Kansas that mom got years ago, and there are always chickens to make for Mary, and myself since I never made on for myself. Also other little projects to be done, and some big ones.

Right now I am reading two books actually. I put one down because I decided I didn't want to read it at night. I started I Am Legend and its all about vampires. I am a big chicken so I figured it wasn't something I wanted to read at night. So I picked up More Than You Know by Beth Gutchen (I believe). I'm not very far into either book, but I am sure I will have one of them finished by the weekend.

The kids are at their mom's for the weekend, and Rich is at work. Its quiet, pretty outside and I am snuggled in for the weekend under my big comfy quilt and sewing away.

Prayers for Corey

I am going to post more later tonight or tomorrow, but I had my 5 week check-up today and Cory is still in the hospital.

Rich met Cory's parent's while we were in ICU. He came in the day before I did. He is a 17 year old who is waiting on his third heart. His body is rejecting his second. The meds they gave him to help him keep his second heart gave him leukemia. He is currently in remission from the leukemia, but obviously he needs prayers. He has been in the hospital almost 6 weeks, 4 of them in ICU. He crashed twice the first 5 days he was there. He is getting stronger and they are talking of putting a pump in till they can get him another heart.

Everytime I think of how bad I have it, I think of Cory and how he has it worse. Please send up a quick prayer for him.

65 degrees

Yesterday we had a beautiful day, it was 65 degrees and partly sunny. There also was a bit of a breeze but not enough to make it seem colder. It was wonderful. Of course today we have freezing rain and 32. I love those days when its warm but then reality sets in. We are in the beginning of March and it won't really get nice till the end. But I did get to go outside and walk up and down the driveway. It was wonderful. Then Rich had J go do the chores even though it was a little early so that I could see my horse. I miss my horse! I can't open our barn door yet, it probably weighs about 75 pounds. Its 12x20 and has insulation and plywood on it to help keep the barn warm in the winter.

I got to see my horse. He couldn't have cared less, he was like "Where's my food?" My horse is a 6 year old Quarter Horse whose name is Heza Tuff Mr Tee. He could win a standing still contest. He doesn't move fast, he doesn't like to move and he is very lazy. Very Lazy. We show the Central Ohio Circuit (COSCA) and Elyria Saddle Club Shows in Western Equitation and Western Pleasure. Tee is really a big baby and nothing fazes him. Rich used to be a full time trainer and had his own stable training horses. Tee and I have learned a lot together with Rich being on personal trainer. Its kinda nice having a professional trainer who only works with you. This is a horrible picture, you really can't see us, but that is Tee and I in Sept at a Wellington show.

J shows too and he shows a 7 year old Quarter Horse, named Imp Tee Impression (who happens to be fully trained unlike Tee) in Western also. This year he is going to try reining at the fair. His horse can do it - the question is can J get over his nerves? This picture is of J after one of his classes. He did really well at Wellington this year, receiving a high point in Western Pleasure and second overall in Western Equitation. He also surprised us when he said he didn't want to go in the first year canter class at the fair this year because he wanted to try to make it to the championship show. He didn't make the championship show, but he did really well, placing 4th & 5th and we were very proud of him for making that leap and being in the tougher class with kids that had been cantering longer than he had.

After seeing my horse and doing all that walking I was ready for a nap, but that was not happening. We had a hippology (study of horses) meeting last night which I am the advisor for and I wanted to see all my kids since I hadn't seen them in a month. T also had a basketball game so poor Rich was driving around dropping off and picking up. Only 2 more weeks and I will be able to drive again so that will make a huge difference. Rich won't have to cart me around anymore! Plus I will be able to go back to work which will help break up the monotony.

Now I am going to work on my red, white and blue quilt that mom, Kris and I started years ago. I only have two more blocks and it will be ready to be sashed, quilted and binded. I have to get some more red material to finish the last block so hopefully I will do that tomorrow if the weather is not too bad and mom can come get me. Otherwise I will have to find another project to work on - maybe the piecing the trail to Kansas since I have all those - they just need to be cut and sewed.