Wet

Today was a good day for ducks.  Ivy and I didn't let that deter us this morning though, the fresh air is too good for us.  And it really didn't rain on us much as our route was mostly under trees.  I had to check the pond to see if it really was raining.

Every time I stepped back to take her picture, Ivy, in her eagerness to please, kept hopping up to sit right at my feet.  She finally cooperated before we took too many steps backwards towards home!

We took the greenway trail which is mostly very quiet.  We just happened to be there at the same time as two barking and growling Boxers pulling at their owner, and a large German Shepherd wearing an impressive muzzle.  I'm sure glad the owner stepped way off the greenway so we could pass!  Just one of the reasons I don't walk Ngaire by myself.  She's too strong and too high-strung.

Later on in the day we had some real storms.  I caught this moment of black sky and sun around 3pm.  Very ominous.  (Heh.  Note the black Saturn Sky under the black sky. :-))

I finished and delivered two quilt tops to Julianne.  :-)

I was soooo sleepy this afternoon and fell asleep in my wing chair in the living room for almost two hours!  Must be the weather.  Lucky I didn't wake up with a terrible crick in my neck.  But I got my act together this evening and finished the quilt top for The Viking.

The colors are soft and don't photograph well.

ED and LZF love their dogs so I'm betting they'll enjoy it.  This is the pattern.

The Sailor Son ran his first 5K on Saturday.  Love those sunglasses!  I hope he saves his shirts for a t-shirt quilt.  :-)

Mushy brains

It's been pretty stressful around here lately (hence the mushy brain) and one of the sensible ways to deal with it is getting out and getting some fresh air and exercise.  The dogs aren't complaining!

The weather has been cool and comfortable and I can't resist stopping to capture the moods of the pond.

Breezy...

Calm....

And sometimes misty.

I'm also enjoying all the communications about grandchildren.  The Viking, one week old.  To my mind he's looking very much like his dad.  :-)

A picture of Grand #3 in the new sweatshirt his talented mum made for him!

We've also been heavy on comfort food lately.   We were very tired today from working at the other house, so tonight's dinner was something quick and easy, and I had to laugh when I saw how very much it reflected our different tastes.  The Tramp had his steak with Bombay Potatoes and Madras Lentils.  Not only does he like them but they are only 90 seconds from microwave to plate.  I can't complain about that.  But I caught myself shuddering as he poured them onto his plate and without thinking said, "Ewwww!"  lol

But then again, I had spinach (yum!) on my plate which The Tramp won't touch with a ten-foot pole.   As far as he's concerned, the cow ate the green stuff for him.   So I guess we're pretty even in the yuck department.  :-)

The cooler weather also means I'm out of flip flops and back to fighting cold feet.  The boots have been dug out of the back of the closet!

Despite the brain mush, one and a half t-shirt quilts are done, just the borders to do on the second one tomorrow morning.  I also got all the blocks done and sewn into rows on The Viking's first quilt.  A satisfying end to the weekend.  Onward to Monday!

New things

New pictures keep coming in from the hospital in New Jersey.  Isn't our Viking the cutest new thing?  :-)

Mama certainly thinks so.

And Daddy is already wrapped around that tiny little finger.

We had another video chat yesterday evening and ED reminded me that she'd asked me to make some Pee-pee Teepees.  Oh for heaven's sake.  What will they think of next?   But I found various tutorials online for pee-pee teepees, wee-wee wigwams, wee-wee tents and the cutest - wizz-ard hats, and cranked out a few this morning so I could go to the post office (in the pouring rain) to send off a box of baby goodies.  Oh yeah.  The post office is closed today.  Oops.  

First though, I went to have lunch with Mom and Dad and their friends and showed them my little fabric cones.  At the lunch table Dad gave us all a good chuckle with a story from his time in the Royal Canadian Airforce during WW II.  Apparently another young man had brought in his wife and new baby boy to show off and during a diaper change the infant let loose.  The dad snatched off his uniform hat and used it to catch the flow!  (one of those narrow hats that come to a point in the front and back)  Too funny!  

In The Sandbox.....after changing to dry clothes and turning the heat on (brrrrr today!).....I finished cutting out The Viking's first quilt.

Also new today is a Little Green Machine.  We have a large carpet cleaning machine but it's such a pain to drag out for little spots.  I did a round of the upstairs and now there are towel covered clean spots all over the place.  :-)  Yay!  It works!

And as an extra bonus, it fits on the awkward shelf in the closet under the attic stairs like the space was made for it.  One of those small happenstances that can make your day.  Ya know?

The Viking

The last memory quilt in this series of four is finished and out of my house.  Yay!  Sewing has been put aside for the moment as our other house is now empty of tenants and we are concentrating on getting it ready for sale or new tenants.  Of course no one takes care of your house like you would, but geez.  After a couple of weeks not eating or sleeping properly because of the stress and worry, I've put on my big girl panties and we're dealing with it.  Enough said.

Much excitement this morning as Grand #6, The Viking, arrived just a bit early.  He upset his mama by requiring a caesarian, but all is well and we had a wonderful video chat this evening.  Ain't technology wonderful!  :-)

The hallways at this house finally have their second coat of paint.  We've cleaned up the mess and I'll get the final coats on the woodwork between other projects.  It's all a bit "hospital," with white on white on white, but we are really liking it.  (Of course there's no black dog hair clinging to it yet.)  The powder room looks good too, in the palest, almost white, lavender.  Note to self - must put a daylight bulb in that fixture asap.

The fall weather has been very pleasant though the mosquitoes are very busy having their last fling.  Sigh.  As usual for me, even sitting on the screen porch is risky.  But it's nice to have lunch out there when the house is full of painting mess.   The dogs, though they forget regularly, aren't allowed to pester us while we're eating.  Maisy is looking all squinty-eyed waiting while I eat my lunch.  Ivy is at my feet and Ngaire is sitting next to me quietly drooling.  :-)

Who's funny looking?  This is my Mona Lisa smile.

Could you eat a little faster?  I'm tired of holding the pose.

Sigh.  I'm still waiting.  My ears have collapsed!

Hey!  What's going on?

Oh wow.  Is more food coming???

And so it goes.....

White!

 The weather has been cool enough this week for us to be waking up to mist on the pond.

I put the borders on the #3 memory quilt.

And finally finished #4, the wonky triangles.  What a job!  It wasn't a particularly fun process and since it was the fourth quilt I was getting heartily sick of working with the same clothing and fabrics.  We chose the royal blue (on the left) for the border and I still have to sew it on.  No matter what I think about the process I'm sure our client will be very pleased.  I hope the quilts evoke good memories.

Today it rained, rained again, and rained some more.  The pond was very full at dinnertime.

So there was no excuse not to get on with the painting.  I've got the primer on all the trim and doors (phew), and The Tramp got the first coat of white on the walls.

I'm sure it doesn't look like much in the photo, but the white is wonderful.  We can't get over how much brighter these dark spaces are!  I smile every time I see it.  :-)

I am a tad sick of the mess, but it hasn't fazed the dogs at all.  They seem to enjoy charging up and down the upstairs hallway on the noisy drop cloths.  :-)  I was hoping to do the caulking this evening but the first tube I tried to use (bought yesterday) just squirted all over the place and I couldn't get it to stop.  Yikes!  So those two caulk tubes went back to Home Depot.  I bought two of another brand, brought them home, and discovered those two were hard inside!  One was even previously opened and the seal broken inside.  SIGH.  Typical. Home Depot (and Lowes) regularly put used and broken items back on the shelf to sell to the next victim.  Even when we insist on store clerks opening boxes and checking things before we buy we still find missing, broken or nonfunctioning parts when we get home.  I don't know how these stores stay in business.  I really don't.  Or maybe it's just me?  For all I know it says, "Sucker Here!" on my forehead when I cross their threshold.  :-)

We did buy me a new book at Home Depot, called Square Foot Gardening.  It seems to have all it's pages (!), so I'm going to curl up in bed with it now and rest up for a long day of caulking (I hope!) and painting tomorrow.  Sweet dreams.

On needing my head examined......

It's been a busy weekend, in and out of The Sandbox.  Block #2 of the wool applique BOM is almost finished.

Blocks #3 are fused and waiting to be stitched.

I'm still working on the set of four memory quilts.  Two are done and delivered to Julianne.  The blue/pink/grey one.

And the green one.

The third one, in "boy colors," just needs it's borders.

And number four is slowly coming together on the design wall.  I have to make 50 of those large wonky triangles so it's taking a while.

So it's still chaos in here with clothing draped all over.  :-)

On Friday morning at the crack of dawn we had an early appointment for our flu shots.  We also opted for the Tdap (tetanus/pertussis) vaccine which meant two sore arms each.  The rest of Friday was pleasant enough (if you don't count the sore arms!).  :-)

Saturday morning started early with a sick dog.  Poor Ngaire.  And began a day of cleaning of carpet, floor and stairs.  Ugh.  She looked so sick I was afraid to leave her alone.  So we cooked up a big batch of rice and eggs for her and hoped for the best.  I'm pleased to report that today is a sooo much better day for her, and for us!  Yesterday was also baking day and while I was mixing up g-f breads I suddenly got the hair-brained idea that right now was the time for us to paint the powder room and hallways.  To my mind, the color is a very sickly yellow and it's hugely depressing for both of us.  The Tramp, to his peril, agreed.

Apparently other family members had the same idea this week.  I wish Stardust had been here to choose our colors!  :-)

Of course deciding to paint the walls means deciding to paint the evil yellowed popcorn ceiling.  Then since we hate the orangey stained woodwork it seemed smart to just do that too.  So the simple painting of walls got much more complicated.  It's the way I roll!  (Send The Tramp a sympathy card.) 

The powder room walls (shudder) can't wait to be painted!

The dogs, due to illness, and our desire not to get black dog hair all over the new paint, were stuck hanging out with Charlie in the kitchen and on the porch.

I'm usually a pretty good painter but I just couldn't get it together yesterday.  Almost first thing, I stepped off the stool into the paint tray which flipped it and splashed paint down my leg, all over my feet and flip flops, on the baseboard and worse...a sizable puddle on the wood floor.  Yikes!  How do you get down the hall and across the kitchen to the sink with dripping painted feet?  Very quickly!  Haul each foot up into the sink to wash it and wipe the side of my jeans, all the while worrying about the floor.  Grab the closest (pink plastic popcorn) bowl for water and the closest (dish) sponge and wipe my way back to the puddle.  It took four big bowls of water but I got the paint up.  Phew!  And dragged the canvas drop cloth with it's big puddle of paint outside and lay it out to dry.  The poor Tramp.  He came home from a trip to buy more drop cloths (how ironic) and found me sitting on the front porch trying not to cry.

Today was much better.  I only spilled milk this morning at breakfast.  :-)  Painting always goes better with M&Ms.  I should have remembered that sooner!

We are painting everything white.  The ugly job of painting the popcorn ceilings is done.  Some of the first coat of wall paint and first coat of primer on the woodwork is done.  We are already excited by how much brighter the hallway is.

Still much to do.  Belatedly, I realized I have nine doors to paint.  The front door, three closet doors, three bedroom doors and two bathroom doors, one of them both sides.  Groan.  I'm so glad we had previously removed the kitchen, laundry and bonus room doors.  And I should be grateful there are no windows this time around!  :-)

We have to keep reminding ourselves the bannister is not there!

I suspect I'd really rather be in the park playing with Stardust in the woodchips.

Or even watching TV with the dogs.

C'est la vie.  :-)