More photos from the week of April 20th will be coming, as soon as I figure this out!

Spring Gathering

We had a great visit last week from the Texas Branch of the family. Heidi's work required her to travel to Muncie and Joe and the kids came along. It was great for all the cousin to get to play and swim together. We were even all at the same place at the same time for a hurried photo shoot. I'm getting much less fussy about the photography and am merely thankful to have the event documented. Not everyone has to be smiling...it's just nice that they are there! Jame's friend Holly was missing. Everyone got to meet her at a Fazoli's outing. We hit on family night complete with Clowns and balloon animals.

I had a previous committment to the American Quilt Show in Paducah Kentucky so I left the group in the middle of the week for 2 ½ days. They got along fine and Dennis got to play host. I kept my economic stimulus as low as I possibly could but with 50,000 yards of fabric being sold per day, it's hard not to join the ruckus. I only purchased 3 quilts-worth of fabrics and 6 patterns. Merely a drop in the bucket.

The weather was almost winter at the beginning of the week, but as verified above it was nice by the end. Dennis and I tried to do a motorcycle escort to the Indianapolis Airport on the Saturday that Joe/Heidi/kids flew out, but it was so windy that we had to turn back. They had no delays this time (see Heidi's blog at http://www.londt.com/) so they didn't need us to run interference in the terminal.

It's so tempting to try and pack all kinds of events in when everyone is together. It's a good year when it's 4 times that we gather, but we purposely tried this time not to over book. They didn't leave Muncie and except for me, neither did we.

I have one more week and then will graduate with a Masters in Adult, Higher and Community Education and Executive Development. It's hard to believe that this degree is already completed. My undergrad took so long. James is in the final push for the EMT certification and also a Certified Nurses Assistant.

Dennis has spent the later half of this week with his brother Ed in northern Indiana hot on the trail of the elusive Morel Sponge Mushroom. So far they've been "skunked" but we haven't heard much from either of them so we're thinking that no news is good news. Chewy seems to be suffering from his under the table human food feedings. He is one spoiled rotten dog.

Projects continue to be done here. Joe's Round-the-World-Really Quilt is completed and was presented to him last week. It needs to be photographed and then sent to Texas. A mountie hat for Joey was also assembled and looks pretty good. I have a neighbor who is coming over to learn to sew. That's been a good thing. She sews and I make a valant attempt to clean up my studio enough for two people.

I'm so thankful for the children I have who live close and for those who come back. It such a blessed time for me when we can all be in the same place!

Still completing projects

March was one jam-packed month. It didn't go swooping by, but it is already well into April. I didn't blog in March because I was lying about munching on bon-bons, but because I was hit with a pretty hard dose of March Spring Cleaning Madness!! Hurrah for that, some years it doesn't hit, but this year was a different story. A good friend of Kelly's has already had 3 garage sales, so that bumps up the clean-it-out meter at our house, getting ready for the neighborhood sale in late May early June.



Aaron spent his spring break helping me retrofit a bathroom on Royal Oak. I traded him childcare for construction labor and we got along well. The project only needs vinyl cove glued on and one more coat of grout sealant and it can be added to the "completed" list! Hurrah!



Also finished a bride's dress and after wedding dress, have started to hit the mend-this-will-yah pile. Made James an emergency scrub the late night before his first Certified Medical Assistant class and finally got some window treatments on two of the rooms at Royal Oak. That all feels very good. I drug my sewing machine, a bunch of fabric, patterns, etc to Walnut Creek Ohio for a 3 day workshop. During the day, I studied to earn a Trained Sewing Instructor certificate and by night I finally got started on a wardrobe update for myself. James recently commented that most of the things in my closet I've had since before he was born (it's painfully true), so let the update begin. I finished a nightgown (because I forgot to pack one), a couple of comfy knit shirts and a pattern and two pair of work trousers. That along with learning the operating system on a notebook pc and planning a sewing lesson with pre-assembled examples was all I got accomplished on the trip. (well with a good sized chunk of Amish cooking and quilt show browsing...thinking "I can make that"). It was good to be away and good to get the certificate and good to finally start on the personal wardrobe.



I also did something I truly hate....cold call selling. I worked on a business plan at the workshop and applied it to the M-U-M division of StudioPro31. I coined the phrase "Personal Historic Preservation" in the shower one morning and want to make that available with digital publishing, hard bound publishing, storytelling quilts and surprisingly ...with scrapbooking binder covers. This last option came about during the dreaded cold call when I was told that my prices were too low, the quality was too high and I wasn't ready for prime time or to franchise (I mean....sheesh....I just want to make a living ...not become rich or stressed to the max-- but that's an entire story all of it's own). Anyway, that may be on the horizon....the binder covers. Interesting...



I'm one month away from a Masters degree and so far on schedule to get the work done. Graduation is May 9th, so that may have contributed to the spring clean frenzy. We have a house guest at the present time that is making for an interesting dynamic. We'll give this another month before sharing more. All the kids and grandkids are well and not in a static situation. Dennis is coming out of the winter funk that held him glued to his recliner for these past months. He's starting to tell a few jokes and has actually joined in some on the general clean up/fix it up around the house. He's starting to look at want-ads but we're still not sure he'll ever work again. So many systems were strained by the dialysis and diabetes. We're just glad for the health he's gotten back...sign those donor cards! It's the ultimate "green" experience.



I am at the present, avoiding starting a book report and a 25 page paper. Avoidance tasks are some of my most productive times. I can get more done trying to avoid paying the bills or starting a really nagging project than at any other time. Some of the drawers and closets are currently at museum quality just from avoidance time spent in them. It's called "mouse milking" you work very, very hard and have very little to show for it. The funny thing is that it's still a very productive time and a good precursor to that awful task you are dreading...I've found that when on "mm" duty, I still can mentally process what I'm avoiding and may have actually thought of an easier or faster way to go at it while milking the little guys. Ah the life of a dairy farmer.



Until next time....look for the great little details in life. Some of the best times are just a few seconds spent appreciating something tiny. Kendall (2 year old) was going on and on in a jabbery way about daddielions. Finally she asked where the mommielions were? She was looking hard for the details.

The theme for the year is "Completion" and February was ripe with it. The tax documents were compiled in a weekend in which much "avoidance cleaning" was completed. This is the cleaning or whatever mundane, not necessarily important or earth shattering task you do to AVOID doing what really, really must be done, but you just can't bring yourself to doing. Also known as mouse milking. You work like crazy but have very little to show for it. My AC activities were confined to cleaning the garage, moving boxes and bags to the attic that have stacked and waiting since the last garage sale, sorting through boxes of old financial files and SHREDDING. There is something very therapeutic about shredding. Two garbage cans full of stuff that has been stored, retrieved, reviewed and found to be unworthy of further storage. It's the physical act of feeding the papers through the machine, the sound and feel of the blades and knowing that even if you desperately need this information at a later time, IT IS DONE. Somehow the formal closure is comforting not to mention the ability to see the garage floor and to walk through this room where ("Mom...did you know that some people actually put their cars into that big junk room that we have on the end of our house") much can happen and projects can be finished. (see theme for the year)

Things finished in February (in no particular order)
•Taxes
•Machine quilt taken from the frame (last worked on in December)
•M-U-M website launched. http://home.comcast.net/~m-u-m/site/ A whooping 42 hits! That's more than 1 per day.
•First Retail t-shirt quilt order secured.
•Started invoice system for the year
•Sewing client's 5/6 projects finished. (last one slated for tonight and tomorrow)
•Actually ahead on hours worked at my graduate assistantship (will be used during the crazy month of April)
•PJ's for Kenzer and Kendall
•Embroidery completed on Cole's quilt top
•One box of crap fabric used and thrown away from garage
•Started photographing patterns for entry in database
•Gray desk cleaned off and usable in Garage
•Art counter cleaned off and ready for project finishing
•Front porch/entry cleaned
•Christmas decorations sorted, labeled and put in attic (didn't get done at all last year)
•Current with or actually a little ahead on school assignments
•Registered for TSI (trained sewing instructor) course in March in Ohio
•Black fuzzy hat knitted
•Purple shirt reworked and ready to sell
•Closet rod nearly empty of pending sewing jobs
•Helped James clean and organize his room (at his initiation)
•Hung shelf above library computer station
•Started reorganization/sort of library shelves
•Put away all of the groceries from Dorothy's basement
•Started first garage sale of the year box
•Attended Joey's first birthday party virtually through Skype.
•Had Kenzer or Kendall spend the night every week but one!
•Survived the lean times one more month
•Spontaneously visited a friend
•Made major head way on the clean/sort of dining room
•Attended an opera, ballet, concert, Oscar Wilder play, a webinar and two quilters meetings
•Had a more positive month than January....

Until next month...I hope winter is actually about over and that this drive to complete things continues.

Snowy Morn

2009. The year has already had a small dose of drama. Den woke up @ 4:00 am on New Year's Day with a roaring, moaning, staggering case of the flu. After 36 hours of that we went to a very busy ER for fluids, pain pills, and nausea management. He still isn't 100% but he's a whole bunch better. Monday past Kendal was cast for a fractured left forearm. She's such a rough and tumble kid that they are not even sure on which "spill" it happened. She's getting along well with her "band aid" though and doesn't seem the worse for wear. Texas Londt's have upgraded their hardware and now have teleconference capability. This is a dream come true for me, being the visual learner that I am...now I (we) can actually see them for news and communication. It really is almost like being there. James starts EMT training next week. He is excited to get it underway. Kristen had a much needed job interview yesterday...so here's hoping on that opportunity. I am dedicating 2009 to finishing things. I've got a fair amount of UFO's lying about and it is my intention to find the stimulation necessary for area 25 of my brain to end my procrastinating ways and to start hacking through my lists of projects in a random, creative and enjoyable fashion. Just got word that Kristen got her job! Praise God! My reporting starts now...shirts have been constructed, major headway made on a handsewn Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt, and Genesis has been heard on audio cd! A good dent on the mountain of tasks that lay ahead. How is it that one eats an elephant?...one spoonful at time!. I have the silverware laid out and am ready to start the banquet! (this entry composed on my new phone from the luxuary of my bed...a.great.way for a slow riser to attach the day!Off to the mall to introduce Den to the delights of Mall Walking...that's another project to separate him from his recliner...they are joined at the hip!