Making plans

 Work was weird today.   I got a lot done and the one programming project that I thought I was going to sweat over today, turned out to be nothing I needed to deal with!  At least not yet.  I've put it on my "3 months down the road" todo list now.  *Thanks God!  You love to answer prayers!!*

I worked from my old office quite a bit today.  Ooops  - just realized I left the light on out there.  Eh - I'll turn it off in a bit.

My office still smells like cat.  It's more faint than it used to so there's that.  I've got little odor eater thingies set here and there.  It'll be a work in process.  And I probably won't work out there again for a few months.  You never know.

Since Leon and I missed our Kwik Star slushy lemonades last week on the cheap day, I took him today after I picked him up from school.  It was nice hearing about his latest expensive obsession.  He wants a 75 gallon tank in his bedroom that has a complete eco system with axolotls, crabs and a few other creatures that you pretty much put a lid on and it takes care of itself.  REALLY?!  I'm guessing there could be stagnant water in his room. again.  He's checking into the need for a bubbler.

But since it's still in the investigative stages, no one's forking over money yet.  He's starting baseball soon, so we need to invest in sporting gear this week.

There were children in the house today with Jen.  Some coughing, some rashes, fevers, etc.  I hope things calm down and the house is empty tomorrow.  Wouldn't THAT be nice!

The next quiet day, I'm going to dance around the house and sing.

I'll turn off the security cameras briefly. :)

Sewing and Mullets

 I was in the Dollar Tree on Sunday and came across these!!!  My sister-in-law uses these to make darling bags and I made 3 myself for Christmas gifts.  The pics are below.

They didn't have them when I needed them, or I was looking in entirely the wrong place, but you repurpose the zippers from them to make bags with the drying mats from the kitchen department!  I just used zippers that I had in my stash.

Here's the video if you want to make them yourself!  VIDEO

Maddy's

Meri's - Meri was with me so she got first pick of dryer mats.

Then a few weeks ago, the girls and I went thrifting and I found a men's coat for $1!  I needed something halfway professional for my business trip this week so I bought it.  I looked like a football player in it until I altered the shoulders.  I brought it in an inch or two on each shoulder and it fits so much better now.

I've been agonizing over what to wear for the business stuff and think I've got a good selection of outfits.  Oh well.  It is what it is.

Anyway, I'm heading out on the road in a couple hours and will try to remember to post on Friday.  My sister has a Taco Tuesday night planned and I'll also get to meet up with another sister tomorrow night!  

So business during the day, party at night!  A regular "mullet" kind of week!

Have a good one!

Happenings of the Month

 Ok, it's been a while...  I've been spending most of my free time thinking that I need to get some sewing done...  and I do.  TODAY'S THE DAY!!!  At least that's what I'm telling myself.

Let's see... what's been going on?

Working out with the girls is sporadic.  It really depends on each of our moods.  If one wants to sleep in, the other two kind of think, eh... maybe not today.  And one day when we were all pumped for it, I was in charge of calling the girls to wake them up and I accidentally set my alarm for 5:45am instead of 4:45am...  AND my cell phone sound was off so they couldn't call me.  So the girls called each other and fearing the worst, Meri got up and was in my driveway ready to come in before I woke up and noticed I'd missed some calls.  WHOOPS!  I was even awake at 4 but tried to get back to sleep and blew that morning.

I've been stepping up my steps, trying to complete this 500 mile virtual walk around the northern part of Scotland.  As of today, I'm 23 miles from completing it.  Meri is on the team too, but hasn't participated so it's all ME baby!!!  I'll wear the medal with pride!  Check out Conqueror webpage for other virtual walks around the world.  I also joined a Widows FB group for women who are walking through their loss.  And yesterday was on a Live call with several of them as I walked out to the cemetery.  Of course I knew about this walk all day but I was on conference calls all afternoon for work and did I plug my phone in? nope.  My phone died as soon as I got to Robb's grave.  Oh well, it was a quiet walk back and peace/quiet is always welcome.

So over a month ago, Ryan made Robb's closet into a sound proof recording studio for his Dark Souls game videos.  Click here for his latest video.  He's very proud of them and I'm proud of him!

But anyway, with my blessing, he had heaped all of Robb's clothes and things from that closet into Robb's bath tub.  I don't have a pic of that but it was horrendously heaped!  Besides some of his hung up clothes, there was a portacrib, an old screen for a window that no longer exists and tons of miscellaneous stuff.  I finally got sick of living around a heaped up tub for more than a month and decided to do something about it.  Plus I was really in the mood for a good long soak...  haven't done it yet, but know that I can at any time now!  I made room in my closet and hung up Robb's things there, sorted out 3 bags of old towels to give to a vet hospital for bathing dogs, a bag of misc for donations and a few bags of garbage.  

Here it is halfway through.

and here it is mostly done.  

The tub still needs to be washed down, but at least it's usable now.  I felt accomplished.  AND I put an angel on the window ledge.  It has a broken arm...  I felt it was appropriate.  I think my guardian angel very well might too.

When these wedding clothes get completed, I'll do the same overhaul in my sewing room.

Leon has been super interested in mushrooms.  He still won't eat any but he is fascinated by them.  So for his birthday, he was given a grow your own mushrooms kit.  It was growing a wee bit when he went to his mom's and while he was gone it exploded!  Ryan and Jen took pics every day and sent them to him.  When he saw the pic below he said "they're not babies anymore!  They're men!" then in a low gutteral voice, "my men..." lol!  We might have to get another one of these kits when this one dies out.  Who knows how long it will survive?!  

Oh!  my boss sent me a new computer screen, thinking I'll be more productive with more things on my screen.  And I'm sure I am!  Look at me, I'm actually blogging again! :)  

The screen is super wide and doesn't hook up to my computer in my office because my computer is super old and doesn't have an hdmi cable connection. :\  So I ordered the cable convertor.  It didn't work.  So I ordered another one in the style that I need (live and learn) and it'll be here later this week.

But in the meanwhile, Iowa got slammed with a big storm this past weekend and when I went to turn on my ancient computer, it wouldn't turn on.  I could hear it WANTING to turn on but it didn't.  sigh...  Ryan opened it up and tried his hand at maybe replacing the power supply but once it was open, nothing looked like he was used to.  It's THAT old...  I don't remember when I got it!  But the computer from before that is still sitting on my desk too and covered with dust.  It wasn't working right either.  So I'm working from my laptop, which has the new wide monitor hooked up to it.  Kind of tricky because I had to cover my laptop screen so it won't distract me while I'm typing on the big wide one up top.

Robb's old co-workers allowed me to bring my computer in and they're taking a look to see if they can fix it.  I'm so blessed to have them close by and helpful!

I did mention it to my boss but I don't want him to think I'm fishing for a new computer when I just got the new monitor.  Oh and I have to wear my old readers to see the new screen as my bifocals give me a headache on this screen.  THAT'S ok!  I just need to remember to switch when walking away from my desk because not only do I have to hold my phone out a good Covid distance to read it, it's just eww.

OH!  And then yesterday I found out that my bank account was hacked and someone in California made 4 withdrawals from it for $50 each and a big mac...  I found it just before 5 and was able to contact my bank immediately.  They've shut off my card for the moment and I need to go in and sign some dispute form today.  Can you believe they got $100 at Taco Bell and $100 at McDonalds.  They obviously don't KNOW me at ALL!  McDonalds was on the "don't go there list because of an experience Robb had there" and I grew up calling Taco Bell, Taco Hell.  Only because I was on team Taco Johns.  I have NOTHING against Taco Hell Bell personally because I did eventually grow to love their food when Ryan worked at one.  But $200 worth of fast food??!!!  and 2000 miles away from me? sigh...  I'm changing all my passwords today...

Last night, Meri needed to do inventory at her store and only one employee was available to help, only after mentioning that there would be 3 Taco John's 6 pack and a pound available for helpers.  Maddy, Matthew, Ryan (bf) and I came and after eating and getting a quick tutorial on their inventory app, got to work counting all the various items around the store and in the storeroom.  It took us about an hour and a half and then Meri needed to do the rest as manager.  She had to run the numbers past what the computer thought it had in stock and then go recount all the discrepancies.  She texted me (I didn't see it until this morning) at 11ish last night when she finally got done.  Good thing we cancelled today's workout!

Ok, today I need to complete at least 1 of the sample bridesmaid dresses.  When I cut out all the pieces this weekend, for some reason I felt like I needed the linings for everything and clip all the seams and iron the ribbons JUST so...  when really I just need to put together the bare minimum for sizing purposes.  I'll be seeing the two girls that these are for in 1.5 weeks so they need to get done for that.  I had tons of fabric in my stash to do this with and we're waiting on some samples of fabric that I found at Big Z Fabrics in California for the final products.  If Big Z pans out, I'll be ordering the satin and organza for the wedding dress from them too.  The prices are amazing!

Big Z is in California... you don't suppose?...  Nah - that transaction was paid with via paypal.  But weird...  I don't know what happened but it's under control now.

At least I hope so.  Have a good safe day!

And change your passwords.

Mental Housekeeping

 I don't know if this happens to you...

But... I had some diet coke late in the afternoon on Sunday while I was sewing.  Kept drinking it most of the evening while I sewed. NO PROBLEM!

I was able to get to sleep without any issues, but my brain woke up around 1:30 and wouldn't shut up until at least 3.  In my mind, while I lay there with brain racing, I thought about housework that needed to get done.  I went through each housekeeping task in my head, as if that would do it. Made sense at the time.  So I cleaned my whole house top to bottom, "in my mind..." and frankly by Monday morning, I was exhausted!  Housework will do that to you.

Even if I'm only mental...

So then comes last night.  I got to bed at a decent hour even!!  SO ready for a good night's sleep.  Texted with Meri a little confirming our workout time in the morning and I was just drifting off when my phone beeped again.  I figured it was Meri but it was a work call.  uggggghhhh..  So I pulled on a robe and camped out in the living room trying to solve a problem that only happens randomly at night for these people.  But I was determined to figure out the issue this time so it won't interfere with my sleep again.  I even got my boss involved a few times, especially when I accidentally, singlehandedly brought their system to a screeching halt by accidentally moving some major files into a hidden folder...  whoops!  Boy was I hyperventilating!  Had to call my boss again to share and he was suddenly awake with heart palpitations too...  Good thing there was only 1 person in the lab and he didn't notice.  I worked and worked and finally got the issue resolved around 2:30am.  uggggghhhhh....

My boss gave me permission to come into work late today. umm was planning on it anyway! :)

But I woke up only an hour or so later than usual and even though every movement was sluggish, I was only late to work by an hour.  My boss had already warned my co-workers to be nice to me today. :)  It makes a difference!  So minimal sleep last night and no workout this morning, makes for a cranky woman.  I even had a double shot of my cappuccino as well as two big cups of hot tea and a whole bag of pork rinds so far.  There's some cold caffeine waiting for me when I get around to it.

What a day!

Oh, this is Leon's plate of ice that he was able to carefully carve around and clean off.  He winged it into the house wall shortly following this pic.  I had shared with him that when I was a girl, I'd sit in the snow and carve out my own china set for tea out of the ice layers on top of the snow.

Oh, Leon has discovered the Connect 4 game and he's developing his own strategy on beating Grandma.  It's basically keeping a watch on me and if I suddenly look nervous or happy about where he's going to drop his little plastic disc, he looks closer to see who might win.  I don't think it's a valid rule, but APPARENTLY this is called a "regret move".  If you drop a disc in and see that you might suddenly lose, you can back it out. He's gotten good at it, but his dad caught him doing it yesterday during our game and told him to knock it off.  I didn't care, but someone his own age would punch him in the nose.

For one game, he wanted to do a checkerboard pattern and I can see several wins on both sides here. Luckily we wouldn't playing "blackout" so it was just for fun.

And that's my Star Wars puzzle from New Years.  I'll get it done eventually.  I find 3 or 4 pieces in it each day.  At 1500 pieces, I'll have it done by next Christmas.

Whew... the day is halfway done!!  good.  However Robb and I are helping someone move tonight.  

I won't make the mistake of drinking caffeine after 5 again though!...

Even though I may really really really need it.

Eh - what'll it hurt?

I've got some housework that needs to get done.

Getting Meri into trouble

I went to see Meri at her job this morning after Leon got on the bus.  Of course, as soon as I arrived I got an emergency call from work, so I worked from their parking lot for almost an hour.  yikes!

For future reference, I should probably park closer in order to use their internet better.   The connection was so slow that I forgot what I was doing while I waited for the backspace key to go.

MOVE!!!  

So I stuck my cell phone on hotspot and got the issue resolved.

The store is HUGE!  

This is a photo I ripped off of FB about our actual store before they started the interior work.  

It looks MUCH different now...

But eventually I found what I was looking for and went to the checkout area.  Meri was there in her smock and smile and she seemed to think I'd come down her aisle.  Ummm  when I was a bank teller, I wasn't allowed to do transactions for family...  But she and the girl next to her said, "Nobody has told us anything like that!"  So okey dokey!  

I went to use the restroom right afterwards and accidentally forgot a bag with Meri.  She knew where I was and met me as I was leaving the store.  AND she found out.  She's not supposed to check out relatives.  THOUGHT SO!  

So the first and only time she'll check me out.  I feel honored!

Then got lost trying to find the lumber that I'd purchased.  I hadn't been sure of the height of our fence so I just got a few boards to get going on it.  Now that I know where it is and if the fence project turns out, then I'll know where to get more of it.

Also stopped at our phone place to get Ryan's phone replaced.  He dropped it...  So a new one is on it's way now.  It's the pits when you can't contact him.  

I hope to get a shirt or two cut out over lunch.  We'll see.  It's a beautiful day out, but then again, I read on the weed and feed bag that I bought that you need to spread it first thing in the morning when the dew is on the grass.  I'll check the weather and figure out when...  

I'm going to have dinner with an old friend tonight!  Haven't seen her since forever.  We've been friends since my oldest and her oldest were babies and we took them on long stroller rides together.  She's been through a big year or three so it will be good to catch up.

Well, there is my day so far...  Kind of blah but I've gotten SOME things done.

Break a Leg or a Foot

Picture this.

Meri's 2nd day on the job, working for a brand new, large, home improvement store.  They don't open for a couple weeks, so Meri's primary job right now is stocking shelves.

She and a close friend that got hired at the same time left for lunch.  They got into Meri's car, but it wouldn't start. 

It did once, sputtered, then stopped and then wouldn't start again.

Fine.  She would ride with Jessica instead, so they got out to run to J's car on the far side of the parking lot.  Time was awastin'.  

The median, just in front of Meri's car was covered with landscaping fabric, as workers were getting ready to plant trees, etc.  The girls looked for any sign that they shouldn't walk across it and didn't see any, so they did.  Meri ran a bit and stepped through the landscaping fabric, into a hole where she said she didn't know where the bottom was.  It shook her up a bit, but she pulled herself out and they ran the rest of the way to the car.  She was embarrassed and hoped no one had seen.

When they got to the car, she said that her foot hurt a bit.  They arrived at Subway and Meri couldn't put weight on it without hurting a lot more, so they went through a drive through instead and Meri called me.

"umm Mom?..."

I advised her to go to Urgent care so they went to the Express Care instead.  It's in a grocery store, so Meri hobbled to a motorized shopping cart for the disabled and drove right up to the window.  

"Um,, I think I hurt my foot."  

"We can't help you.  We don't have the right equipment.  Go to Urgent care."

So they hobbled her back out to the car and off they drove to Urgent care where they x-rayed her foot and found that a bone had gotten the corner chipped off of it.  Yikes! 

So she's in a classy boot and icing it constantly.  She's off from work today with it up.  

Anyway, after work, Robb and I went down to check on her car.  We couldn't get it started either and none of our usual tricks were working.  So while Meri and I talked with her boss and then with the Urgent care people, Robb had it towed to our car guy a couple miles away then met us for supper at our fave Chinese restaurant.  

I couldn't have sewed last night if I'd tried.

Time is running out!

The other big gift that I started yesterday is mostly done.  I just need a nice cover.  I'll, for sure, be taking pictures of them before I wrap them up.

Remember the Linux miracle I pulled off last week?  Yeah, it screwed something up.  But while in the process of the major cleanup this morning, I fixed what was wrong and it's working like a dream now!  Beauty out of ashes... ;)

Today, I have another gift to complete.  I'm trying to do one major one a day.  Time is running short...

Why did I wait until December to start on my sewing project gifts???

Or to get any Christmas gifts purchased?...

What projects are you making for gifts this year?  

Go on, you can tell me.  Your family and friends don't read this blog.

Needing a miracle

Work was busy yesterday!  I'm trying to solve a linux scripting problem and in desperation, asked my question on a scripting forum.  I thought I was quite clear in my question, but the first response, which was pretty fast, answered that they needed an example.  Um.. I did, but I gave it to them again.

The next answer was from a different guy who said, "How hard is it to give us a sample! Just lay it out like this? I|am|a|sample"

Wow... I didn't think I needed to dumb it down so much.  And I thought they were rude.

I was probably the first girl to post ever and they treat me like this...

They'll never find a spouse!

(That's what we say when the kids slurp their spaghetti into their mouths too...)

(or don't put butter on the edge of the plate first...)

(this was mostly to tease my MIL as these were her words once...)

Reminded me of when Robb, Maddy, her roommate and I went into a game shop in her college town to look for a game.  Some young men were playing D&D in one corner of the shop.  They looked up as if they were the first girls they'd seen that year and suddenly got real quiet.  

But at least they weren't rude!

Anyway, I'm figuring out the problem myself.  I went and asked an old co-worker and he just didn't work with that kind of thing before.  So I ended up asking a current co-worker for some assistance.  I didn't want to as he's super busy all the time.  BUT I made a little progress thanks to that, but I'm breaking ground where we haven't gone before.

I guess I need a miracle.

THEN my laptop gave me this message.  UGGGG...  It got to 100% and then hung.  I forced the reboot and was able to get back to work.  I guess I know what I want for Christmas...  A new laptop.

And just when you think you'll get a new car or diamonds!

I worked with Leon on his spelling this morning.  He was on a roll until I asked him how to spell wage.  After all the -dge words, he was insisting needed a "d".  I guess the order tripped him up!  We'll keep at it.

  

A college friend is going to be staying with us tonight!  He is interviewing in the town near us today so he can at least be back in the same state as his parents.  He's been in Wisconsin and Chicago for the last 20 or more years.  Dave used to live close to my sister and her husband in a suburb of Chicago and even did a train show with my BIL for a few years on a local access channel.  We would see him at my sister's kid's weddings or if we visited them there.  

He's at the mic.

So anyway, back to the old grind.  Gotta solve that programming miracle today!  Have a good one!

The Odd Night

As I sit here with not-a-lot-a-sleep, I'm reminded of nights I stayed up because of a kid, either baby, preteen, teenager or adult.  Tonight was because of work, but even after I went back to bed, I lay awake and my mind wandered. 

I was reminded of nights with ear infections, 

wet beds, 

a missed curfew, 

a bright light being left on, 

a bad dream, 

an argument with a kid, 

a call from authorities.

 As soon as I fell asleep (it seems) this morning, the phone rang again with the same work issue... 

I'm glad it's just work stuff, but I have a feeling it's going to be a long day.

Eyeing a good Weekend

Leon doesn't need glasses!  Woohoo!!!  He did great for his dad at the eye appointment and he was able to tell the doctor all the letters on the chart without missing a single one.

Smart boy!

After all the fitting on the machine that goes click click click, he was ready to just cuddle with me.  

I love that kid...

Then Robb took him down to his mom's and I took Ryan to work.  My lunch break was over and I still had just over an hour left of work, so I took my laptop into the pub where he works and finished up there.  The hotspot internet device in my purse.  I've never been able to figure out the free wifi that they supposedly have there.

I got a full pot of peach/apricot tea to polish off and about half way through thought I'd better have something else with it.  There was a chemical imbalance in my mouth...

Oh yesssssss...  deep fried mushrooms?  Yes please!

So when you're telecommuting in a strange place, you feel judged by people who sit around you.  I looked my screen more closely and actually got a lot more than usual done.  Stayed off FB for the most part, only checking when my siblings put something witty in our personal facebook chats or when I wanted to post this.

Don't know if you can see him, but my boy is back behind the bar.

That was my equivalent of a water cooler break.

I am SO glad it's Friday!!!  

Have a GREAT weekend!!!!

State Fair Telecommuting

This is my view this morning!  

At least until the sun hits my bench...  OR my battery starts running out on my laptop or my internet device...  

Then I'll scout around for a new place to sit.  

Preferably with an outlet...

Meri is performing this morning in the tent to the left.  It's not a grand stage but it will give her more performance experience getting ready for the Bill Riley stage tomorrow.  She's got her sparkly silver dress in a bag by my feet and I have no idea where she is.  She and Perla are either setting up the keyboard that we had to haul into the fairgrounds or wandering about seeing the sights.  

I hope she checks in with me soon.  I'd like a pop please.

Trying to get home

What a weird week.  I'm doing a lot of chauffeuring and last night, Leon and I waited for Ryan to get off work.  We spent some time in the restaurant.  He counted all the ducks they have hidden around the place.  Well, except for two, but I'm supposed to shut my mouth about that.

We sat at the bar and he almost fell to his death sixteen times from the tall stools.  He almost pulled a tall table over but I caught it before any of the sauces could fall off.  That's about the time I finally finished my breaded mushrooms and he, his milk.  

So I took him outside to play in the castle.  How many bars/restaurants do YOU know that have a castle in their parking lot yard?  Pretty cool... it had a climbing wall on it and he is a monkey.

BUT it was getting chill and as I was corralling him back to the car, his dad came out of the building. YAY!  Let's go home... :)

Band/Bond Girl

Got to attend one of Meri's concerts last night!  

It consisted of concert band, vocal groups and jazz band.  Meri is involved in ALL of them, except the boy's Bass choir group, because that would just be weird.

Leon wasn't able to attend but that's ok.  It was a long one and he wouldn't sit still for that long without yelling to Meri to sing faster.

and one of their peppiest jazz pieces because it'll take more than caffeine to keep me going today!
and I know some of you guys appreciate a little jazz.

I've got two wedding showers to attend this weekend for Maddy.  It's going to be fun!  The first one is being thrown by church people, so it will be big.  The second will be for her close college friends and that will be smaller.  Meri, as MOH, is throwing that one.  There are about 5 bags of supplies on the dining room table for that one.  Who knew you needed that much stuff for a shower??

I've got two gifts ready to roll and hopefully I can show you on Monday.  I'm really pleased with one of them especially!

It's been a long day already... After waking up at 4am and not really getting much sleep after that, I finally got a call from my boss and had to go into work early.  

Crisis Galore this week.  

If I was a Bond girl, that would SO be my name...  I hope these crisis are done because if they last throughout the weekend I might take back some things I told my boss..  

Things have calmed down a bit since then, but yikes.  I may go to bed at 7:30pm...  Would that be bad?  Probably not if you know what I've got planned for tomorrow!  And I'll tell you that next week.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Batting out fires

Well, all hell broke loose at a client's site and my boss is onsite, so that def takes priority!  I haven't even thought about posting today until now...

It was a good weekend.  Busy, but good.  Meri was sick a lot but still had tons planned.  We had to put a kibosh on her going to a movie on Saturday night.  She wasn't happy about it.  SLEEP GIRL!!!!  She's actually home sick today too.  I'm making her sleep all day.  I hope she gets over it soon.

I got a LOT of sewing done this weekend and even worked on a wearable muslin for my outfit for the wedding.  Well, kind of for the wedding.  I have other plans for the wearable one so it doesn't look like I only have one pattern...  and the style didn't really fit for the fabric I yanked from my stash.

My camera has rested on the counter and I don't think I took a single photo all weekend.  And LEON was even here for the whole weekend!

Robb made this for supper last night and oh my yum...  

He already has a variation of it planned for the next time we buy a roast.

He and I scoped out some wedding food and cake ideas for the kids and I have a frozen sample pack of cake samples in the deep freeze.  It may or may not get to her depending on how hungry I get today... ;)

Gotta run.  Crisis fires left and right to bat out. 

The Awkward Life

Wow!  It got busy this morning and I forgot about my post!  Not that I have much to say anyway...  

Life is cruising right along and it's been a rush with Leon being in preschool now.  I usually hang out with him a little in the mornings, working on the living room computer until Ryan gets up.

Meetings are a hoot...  While I was in a conference call this morning and since Leon woke up wet, my MIL came upstairs and exclaimed "Why are you NEKID?!"  I'm hoping my headphones have cancelling out capabilities but I suspect they don't...  judging from the awkward silence that followed.

There is only so much loud finger snapping I can do while on the phone.

While looking for a photo of awkwardness,

this one made me laugh for more than six reasons.

Anywho, Leon just got on the preschool bus and the house will be quiet for a few hours.  

I'm buried in my office with paperwork that may or may not be important, todo lists with vital or non-vital information on them...  A meeting that I dread has been cancelled for the afternoon, so WOOHOO!!!  I'll still try and get my part done before they ask for stuff.

Looking forward to the weekend with a gusto that is only felt when you know that you've got sewing on the plate...  

Tuesday night, I traced out a shorts pattern to my measurements, basted it together and tried them on, using the aisle runner fabric.  Pretty sad when the size you thought you were is actually not.  Will work on that more tonight and this weekend, unless something better comes along.  Or unless it snows.  Then what good are shorts in the winter time?  

The fabric I chose for them doesn't have enough for a full pair of pants, so shorts it is!

Anyway, back to work.  Thanks for the interlude!!!

Waxing Mr. Magoo

The weekend...  what on earth have I done?  I burned a couple cds...

Friday night, we went to see my bestie because I didn't have a car on Thursday when I had wanted to go...  That situation has been resolved, thankfully since!  So after our visit, I took the boy home and let him play games while I worked for a couple hours on worky stuff for work.  Earlier on Friday, I was "cleaning" up a folder and removing copies of programs in order to move the scripts to a new client that was going to use them.  I accidentally removed the programs...  

with...no...backups...of...them...

Luckily they're still in the testing mode so no one was using them, but yikes!!!  Those were complicated!  So I spent two hours on a Friday night trying to recreate 2D barcode labels to print correctly on a pdf report...  What are 2D labels you ask?  

Pure hell.

On Saturday, I was determined NOT to worry about the labels for the rest of the weekend.  That'll come today.  I did a garbage run, picked up a few things I bought on the local FB swap page and had a great visit with one of them.  We have SO much in common, it's crazy... And both her little boys, who were around Leon's age were running around the house in their undies.  Too cute!  I bought a bunch of antique-y type things from her for Meri and my booth at the antique mall... where she used to work...  and she sews...  and has a fabric stash that she's loath to get rid of...  

See what I mean about things in common?  Too crazy.  I invited her to the next sewing meeting.

I also picked up a mini-microwave for $10 for Maddy's dorm this fall.  Hey Mabs!!! It's adorable!!!  And actually I haven't tried it out yet to see if it works.  The guy SAID it does...

Got my back cracked at the chiropractor, stopped to visit with Robb briefly while he helped a friend load a moving van and then headed home to sew.  I sewed and sewed and sewed on that wedding dress so I'd have something for the bride to try on on Sunday.  I did take a pic of the lacy bodice part but can't find the camera this morning...  I probably laid some fabric on top of it...  Oh well.  I'll show you eventually.

Understitched the bodice lining, put the lacey overlay tunic-y type blouse together but left the side seams undone for fitting purposes.  Did 6 french seams on the floor length chiffon skirt layers and attached them to the satin bodice.  

Got sick of 70s music and sewing around 4:30pm.  Went downstairs and made a boatload of pizzas.  Four.  Even looked up online for some new styles to try and decided to try my hand at a meatball pizza.  I should have made that in a small personal pan kind because no one else tried it.  It wasn't terrible...  and I did put Rotel on it to jazz it up a bit.  I think it helped.

I also made hamburger bacon with onions, chicken alfredo with bacon on half and a cheese burger pizza in a personal pan size for Meri because she requested it.  I did NOT make a pepperoni pizza because there was still leftover Casey's pepperoni pizza in the fridge that Leon could eat.  He opted for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich anyway.  And Ryan left with him.  So really... I made 4 pizzas for 3 people.  There are a lot of leftovers in the fridge...

Oh and while I was up to my elbows in pizza sauce, Robb got home from the moving adventure with steaks.  REALLY?...  ToNIGHT was super secret steak night?  

Someone should have dropped me a clue!!  

We had that on Sunday night instead.

After dinner, Meri and I ran to do a little grocery shopping at a store that's closed on Sundays and I accidentally almost ran into a guy with my cart.  He was acting gracious and held out his arm to let us go in first.  I said Thank you!! and went.  Meri later told me that he wasn't happy about me almost hitting him and was angry at us.  I felt like Mr. Magoo because I hadn't noticed....  

We hung back because Meri was embarrassed and didn't want to run into him again while we shopped.  

I took Meri to the DQ for Moolattes, yum!!  While we were parked in the drive through, we noticed Ryan's car at the business next door.  We saw him, Jen and Leon inside the building.  So Meri texted both of them "I see you."  Neither of them looked at their phones...  It was kind of a creeper move to be watching them while they shopped so we confessed when they came out to the car at the same time we got to the DQ window.

Sunday, after church, Robb and I took Leon down to his mom's then Robb had a buy one, get one free coupon for HuHot!  Yay!  I saw someone in line that I recognized but couldn't place where.

Robb saw that I saw her but didn't say anything.  So while we're waiting around the grill for our food too cook, I couldn't hold back any longer and had to ask.  "How do I know you???  4H??  Preschool??"

She touched my arm and said, "I go to your church..."

...

How embarrassing!!!  Well, if she'd had her kids with her, I'd SO put two and two together!!

Oh, I had the fitting for the wedding gown somewhere in there and have a laundry list of adjustments that need to be done, but all in all, she's loving it so far!

I spent a couple hours that afternoon sewing again.  I mended a pair of pants for Robb, a dress of mine and made Robb a Dopp Kit.  I haven't waxed it yet but plan to do that today.

Well, that was lengthy...  What did you do this weekend?

A Different View

Today Meri is going on a road trip to see Maddy at college for the weekend.  What an adventure for her!  I have a cooler ready for ice sitting on the porch for her to grab as soon as she gets home from school.  You just can't have too many little pops, Gatorade or water bottles for a three hour trip.

I mean... Look at Gilligan's Island!  I think they could have benefited from a stocked cooler.

3 hour tour my foot...

Yesterday...  Leon went to a babysitter in the morning because I had a few too many meetings and it was going to be busy.  Then I had him for the afternoon.

We went on a short walk and he found a golf tee on the sidewalk!  

S.weet...

So we took it home, found his putter and a ping pong ball and gave him a lesson on the lawn.

After his nap, I took a laptop and worked from the porch.  I'm a lot slower with just a mouse pad...  and spoiled with my mouse...  BUT I got the work done that I needed to and Leon golfed.  

Then got bored with it.  But he's growing up because it took almost 20 minutes.

The sandbox called his name.  So I moved my set up out into the shaded part of the driveway and worked there until Robb got home.  

Working from home is good, but changing the view every once in a while is even better.

After work, Leon and I went to visit with Ada at the nursing home and he snuggled into her bed...  I hope the sand was off his feet and butt by this time.  

So this morning, he watched the last ten minutes of Midsomer Murders with me and I covered his eyes as the killer vividly described how they did it via sub-captions.  I had the sound off.  

As I shut it down, I asked Leon what he wanted to be when he grew up.

An Ostrich.

NO wait!

A fish.

A different view point can be so refreshing.

May your weekend be filled with different view points.

2 Gallons of Broth & a Bat

I got paged for work 3 times, a hour apart throughout last night...  Starting at 11:30.  So I'm dragging today.  Productivity is running low but I still got some things done this morning before work.

I had two large crock pots running all night on low and about 10 pounds of chicken.  

This morning, I had another hot soupy mess, but this time I didn't spill... much...  

and it could actually pass for soup.  

I pulled out the chicken and it's cooling in the fridge, waiting for me to debone it this afternoon. 

Looks gross, huh?  Trust me... It looks better in black and white.

 The broth is roughly 2 gallons and I strained it and the liquidy goodness is cooling in the fridge until I can skim the grease off easily.  Then I'll freeze it in smaller portions.

Meri has the day off from school, so I'm taking the afternoon off from work.  After Leon gets home from preschool and a nap, we're going to see a movie.  I'm hoping Hotel Transylvania 2, as I really want to see that.  Meri does too.  Unfortunately Ryan already took Leon to see it, so I'm going to have to talk Leon into seeing HT2 again.

Here are some of my techniques.

"I really want to see that vampire baby!  Does it fly"

"no."

"But wait!  I saw a preview where the Grandpa tosses the baby from a tower to teach it to fly!  Are you sure it doesn't fly?  Does the baby hit the ground??!"

"no."

So you see, it's a work in progress.  And I think I may have killed the movie for you.  or Leon is just lying to me so I will want to go see Peanuts instead.  I wouldn't mind that, except Ryan wants to take him to that next week...

I've got a lot of stuff lined to do this weekend.  Here's hoping I can fit a nap in.

Wow, a nap would be good...

Hurry up and wait

Just waiting for a client's computer to reboot...

It was a long weekend.  I got paged a bunch.  Lost all the inspiration I gained at the sewing meeting on Saturday because of work...  After each crisis, I crashed on the couch and watched the world go by for about 15 minutes until I was called back to my desk.

I did gain a dress that needs to be hemmed tonight!  I'm just going to do a serged hem on it.  A friend's son is getting married Saturday and I haven't gotten him a gift yet!  Plus it's about 150 miles away so I won't be attending anyhow.  But Julie has been a friend since her son and my son were babies.  She saw me walking Ryan around the block when I was on maternity leave and we met then.  She used to live just across the alley from me.  She and her husband were the butt of a lot of our pranks back then!  Click here to read that.  She's a character!  And I love her.

 Favorite prank...  We're mean!

She stopped by last night with a gorgeous dress!  I'll try and take a pic of it before I give it back to her. 

Sparkles and black, long gown with a slight train that she didn't even know was there.  We're going to leave the train but make it so she won't trip in those sky high heels she bought to go with it.

Gotta run.  Day is heating up!  Have a great day!  Hopefully tomorrow I can show you photos of Leon at the preschool thing.

Jealous with Kleenex

I have a cold.  You know how they say a cold can last up to ten days?  My colds generally follow that regimen. 

Each days symptoms lessen a little, then take on the new one.

I'm on about day 4.
Day 1 was the scratchy hairy throat.
Day 2 was the sneezing
Day 3 was the watery eyes and plugged up snout.
Day 4 (this is where I'm at...) mostly lost voice, LOTS of nose blowing.

Tomorrow will be the day that my nose runs like a sieve.  Fun times ahead!!!  I finally broke down and asked Robb if we had any meds in the house.  I tend to steer away from certain ones because they make me loopy.  I just took a 12 hour Pseudofed, so here's hoping!!  It's the REAL stuff that you have to sign your life away whenever you want to buy it at a pharmacy...  So it better work and not make me make stupid decisions at work.  Like tell anyone off!

Other than the cold...  We had a couple super powered thunderstorms plow through here Monday and our town and the one right next to us were out of power for an hour or so Tuesday morning.  Not entirely sure why the delay... but YUCK!

I had to move my work to one of the girls laptops that had some charge in it and use my hot spot for the internet.  The battery on the laptop started to die and I was within minutes of taking off out the door to go the NEXT town about 20 minutes away to work in a Panera restaurant, which would hopefully have both electricity AND wifi.

Found out later, they were out too...  But as luck would have it, our house power popped back on and I was able to move my operation back to my desk.  WHEW! 

So today, looks good weather-wise, although a bit chill.  Power and internet are on, so crossing my fingers!

I got paged at 5:58am today.  Two minutes before the alarm would have gone off.  sigh.

The dogs got out and roamed the neighborhood for an hour before I'd realized it.  Meri and I, on separate modes of transportation drove around town looking for them and finally found them a block away from home playing with a neighbor dog.  They broke a gate...  So she and I will hammer some things back together on my break so the dogs will be able to take a lunch potty break.

They're worn out.  
Good!

Too bad I can't take a nap too...