Laughter Is The Best Medicine

I had a nice chat with an old friend today. It was just what I needed. I haven't laughed that hard in a looong time. I wish we got to chat more often but that 7 hour time difference is a bummer.

What's For Supper???

It's five o'clock and I have no clue what is for supper...

I got nothing done today that was on my original list...

The living room is clean though... as in C L E A N... thanks to Hyde and some horrible exploding diarrhea... I know TMI!!

I get to pick up my car tomorrow and then baby Zoey is coming over for the day.

Life got in the way of my giveaway so I'm postponing it until I get back from vacation... oh that's right I'm a mom, I don't get vacation... It will have to wait until I get back from my mom and dad's. Look for info around March 14th... Until then you can wonder...

Well I'm off to pick up the bathroom, switch over laundry, mop the kitchen, and take stock of the pantry... I might just have to run to town for supper...

Have you ever had one of those days where nothing goes right? This morning was good until we got home from town... I was stranded here with no car. I don't do well with no car. We'll just compare it to closterphobia. The little dogs were especially yappy this afternoon, Mason had acouple of accidents. Not like he just didn't want to go to the bathroom but like running to the bathroompee dribbling down his leg... so although my washer and dryer ran all day the laundry pile is the same size. I figured while I had this whole day stuck at home that I would get some work done on my to-do pile... Ha! Right! Today my best frenemy was the seam ripper! I finally just gave up around 4. When Austin got home we had to run a tractor rim over to his dad and from there we just went to the store... without a list... with a hungry husband... and cranky child... it was just so much fun... One hundred dollars plus and we finally headed home... there is a very good reaon I usually go to the store by myself... And now that the house is quiet I'm heading to bed. I'm really hoping tomorrow goes better.

Oh Monday I Used To Love You

It's 7:18am and I'm laying here in bed awake...

It is freezing outside... Seriously freezing... The temp might say 28 but add a 14mph wind and that takes the windchill to a whopping 17...

I have to get up, get myself dressed, get Mason dressed and follow my husband into town so we can drop my car off at the repair shop... Yep... transmission is still leaking but it is a sensor on the side of the transmission this time... AWESOME...

I'll be posting more later... You know after I'm awake...

It's A Good Thing

I love my husbands style of writing!! He has a new post up over at Neck Deep In Chaos... I had no clue he was posting this one so it was a total surprise when I opened my google reader and saw it. I love how he 'stole' my picture!! I don't know if he got it off facebook or if he stole it right out of my phone... I'll have to ask him when he gets up. You know with it being Saturday and all he gets to sleep in... I think it is bullsh!t! Anyways Happy Saturday I'm off to sew.

Don't forget to be watching for my giveaway early next week!

Are We Sure It Isn't A New Furnace???

We might as well have bought a new furnace... The repair was going okay until the very end when we had to add another hundred dollars on to the already high bill when the thermostat decided to quit on us... Awesome. And the furnace guy, Josh, hadn't even touched it yet...

After Josh left I got started on supper. Our friends Joe and Jess and their 3 kiddos came down for supper. We don't generally entertain on weeknights but Jess had come down earlier in the afternoon to drop off my comforter (thanks Jess) and our two boys begged to stay together to play. Since I couldn't convince Jess to take Mason I kept V here. It just worked out perfect for them to come to supper.

Jess made V the cutest little dinosaur jacket!! I'm gonna have to do that for Mason now.

Today was a lot calmer. That doesn't mean I got too much done. I did get some more camera straps ready to sew together. I even have the pockets all lined up and pinned on just perfect so that the patterns match up. My husband is all confused as to why I made so many at one time but I figure a camera strap cover is kinda like a purse... or shoes... Just another cute accessory! It isn't as though I'm going out and buying 30 dollar strap covers. I figured it up and each one cost me around 3 bucks in materials.

I'll post pictures once I get over the raw file aggravation...

Oh and my iron decided to stop working correctly this afternoon. Not real surprising after everything else that has broken or gone wrong lately... I never mess with the heat setting and the minky will melt if you try to iron on the wrong side. I was putting the iron on fusible interfacing on and I touch the iron to the side that is okay to iron on and it just melt. OMG! that iron was hot! So now before I can finish my last 3 strap covers I need to run to town and buy a new iron. I'm thinking once I get those covers done I will make a couple of lens baggies out of matching fabric. I know I'm crazy!

If I feel up to it I might even do a giveaway next week... I know something unusual for me. I am feeling generous though. After everything else that has gone wrong for me these last 2 weeks my sister and brother-in-law got wonderful news at the doctor on Tuesday. They have a date for his next transplant. March 30th! We are all so excited!! Please keep Jesse and his little family in your thoughts and prayers. He will go into the hospital around March 24th and won't get out until around April 25th (his son Hunter's 6th birthday). After that they have to be within 20 minutes of UNMC (University of Nebraska Medical Center) for something like 70 days. Instead of imposing on family (no privacy) or renting an apartment (germs) they are gonna rent a camping spot for their camper and just camp. Good thing they LOVE camping! We are all hoping that this is the last time we have to watch Jesse fight this fight. Our hope is that this transplant is successful and this horrible cancer never comes back.

On that note I'm gonna go say my bedtime prayers and go to sleep. I am just exhausted and I didn't even do anything today...

Never ending Monday

It has been a busy week. We'll start at Monday... Monday I had to get up early. I hate getting up while my husband is still home. He tends to think that I should stay out of the way while he is getting ready for work. I tend to think that my going pee shouldn't be considered 'getting in his way'. So anyways, I had to get up early because I had to call the furnace guy so he could come and look at my furnace. Then I had to call the repair shop so they could come and get my car. Yep you read that right. I had to have my poor little car towed because we didn't want to drive it in and potentially mess up the transmission. Then my sweet Zoey baby came for the day... early... on a day I wasn't expecting her.

The furnace guy, Josh, got here and promptly told me that I needed a new blower motor and burners. Sweet! Not a big deal. He said we were okay to use the furnace until the new ones came in. Mind you that was Monday and today is Wednesday and I woke up to a furnace that was blowing cold air and the thermostat is reading 60. Thankfully it is to be in the low 50's today. I called Josh this morning and he said that my parts had just come in and he would be out later this morning to get it going again. Good thing because I am freezing. Well maybe not really but I am darn cold.

Kim from Redling Repair was the next to show up. I used to work for Kim for several years while Austin was in College so after we gossiped for an hour and a half my little car was on the way to the repair shop. At that point the fate of my poor little car was still unknown but I am happy to report that I got my car back yesterday. It ended up being a torn transmission pan gasket problem. They said it looked like something had grabbed a hold of it and tore it. I'm so thankful I didn't drive it in. Losing that much fluid would have destroyed that transmission. Best yet I got about half the bill back because we have towing on our insurance policy. I was also very excited that Kim gave me a discount. I haven't worked for him for 5 years but he still gives me the employee discount on parts. No labor discount though because his mechanics work on commission. For quality service, though, I will gladly pay the full labor amount! They also repaired, well not really, they remounted two tires because those damn aluminum rims get flaky on the inside and so the new tires I had put on before Christmas didn't seal leaked. Ya... Oh and they replaced the valve stems because when I bought them they were out of the short valve stem and the long ones that were on there were a pain in the butt since I was having to air up my tires every couple of days. 

Last night on the way home from Redling Repair I might have opened it up a little bit and plugged in the radar detector but that is all I'm admitting to...

And now we are Wednesday and the furnace repair guy, Josh, is at work in my basement. I'm not real excited to see how much that bill will be... Although I'm sure it won't be as much as say a new furnace so we'll survive.

Discouraged...

I've had a tough week...

First. The comforter debacle. (the office is NOT an acceptable spot to store my comforters... cough, cough...)

Second. My version of Photoshop Elements will not open my raw files from my D7000. While I do have software that will open said files it is just so much easier if photoshop will do it. I do 99% of my editing in RAW! I can't go back to just jpg files after having so much control! So I had to learn how to create actions in elements... It will work for now but I hope to update soon. Which brings me to number Three...

Third. The blower motor on my furnace started making a loud annoying noise night before last. It only makes this noise right when the blower motor starts up and ends when the burners fire. The burners also need replaced.

And then the big one... The hugestest of the huge...

Fourth. My poor little car has to go to the shop. I don't know what happened to her but she started leaking transmission fluid. Not a little fluid but like a lot of fluid. Enough fluid that I am not driving it the 20 miles into the repair shop. Instead they are going to come and pick her up on the flat bed tow truck. I suffer from no-car-a-phobia so we have borrowed my in laws truck for me to use while we wait to see what is wrong with my car. I'm assuming it is the transmission because it seems to be a pretty common malady of the 300c around 130K. The transmission is around 3500 with 1200 in labor and another 200 for misc is basically the value of the car, well, at least the trade in value, anyways. I don't know about any of you but I sure don't want to spend that kind of money on a car that isn't 4wd out here in the boonies. We'll have to see what my mechanics, Kim and Matt (father/son duo), have to say. It might end up that we fix it well enough to drive to the dealership and trade it off. While it would be nice to drive something 4wd I sure don't want the payment that goes along with it.

So back to the point of this little post... This little blog will have to wait until later next week for some photos. I just don't have the patience to mess with them. Instead I've been sewing but those photos will have to wait because of this vicious little circle. I'm just gonna go pick out my fabric for my camera straps. You read that right strap(s). If I'm gonna make one I might as well make several in an assembly line set up. Well, that and I just couldn't decide on a fabric.

Who knows I might feel up to loading some photos tomorrow... I have tons of cute ones to show off!

Actions

I've come to the conclusion that I need to learn how to make actions in PSE... I'm off to Goog.le how to... If you don't hear from me in the next couple of days please notify mental health professionals of my search overload... I'm hoping it is easier than I think it is... Any helpful tips would be greatly appreciated.

I got my new memory cards in the mail today!! I love the packaging!!

Where Did They All Go???

So last night as I was getting ready to go to bed my husband yells down the stairs, "Do we have any clean comforters?". My response was, "Of course we do! Have you seen any in the laundry lately?" I was instantly pissed off. In all the years we have been married I haven't seen him wash any bedding and yet he knows we have several comforters... I go upstairs and go to where I keep said comforters and there are none. I might have been alarmed. I mean we have 6 or so. So where are they? I don't know! I searched our room and can not find any. Naturally it was around 11 and so I didn't have time to search Mason's room or anything but I'm still confused as to where they could be. I don't remember moving any of them.

So for the sake of prosperity and to confirm I'm not going really crazy, I'll list all my comforters and where I saw them last.

1. The quilt that just came off our bed. In the washer.
2. The red white and blue stripped comforter. In Jess's durango. Hey, Jess, I forgot to get it out. Please drop it off next time your near my house. Thanks!
3. My wedding ring quilt. Last seen in my hope chest.
4. Tan comforter. Last seen in my hope chest.
5. Second Tan comforter. Gave to dogs outside.
6. King size red, blue and tan plaid. Last seen in hope chest.
7. Snowman quilt. Last seen in hall closet in storage vacuum bag.

Did you notice the trend of  'last seen in hope chest'? Do you want to know what is actually in my hope chest? My husbands shirts and misc other crap not belonging to me!!! I am blaming all this on my husband. I sure didn't put his crap in MY hope chest. My cedar hope chest. Perfect for holding bedding...

When asked about this change he said he moved the sheets to my dresser... My dresser... You can tell how often I get in my dresser... So where did all my comforters go? Not a clue but you can be sure I am looking all over this house for where he put them!! I know your thinking 'why not just ask him?' I did and he said 'There weren't any in there. Just a bunch of sheets and such... Talk about aggravating!

I know I probably should have noticed a long time ago but I like the comforter that was on the bed so I've just been taking it off in the morning of bedding laundry day, washing, drying, and putting it back on. I haven't had to get in the hope chest to do anything and I sure never thought my husband would take it over.

And all of this because some little dog decided to throw up on my bed... Anyone want a little minpin or two?

I really need to get on here and pretty this little blog up...
It is so sad and lonely looking...

Busy and Sick

My husband came home early on Monday... So much for my favorite day of the week...

We both didn't feel good and yet I ended up doing everything for him... So totally wrong I know. Tuesday he stayed home from work and decided to 'work' from home. HA! He is so dilusional!! Like he would actually get anything done.

So while he was 'working' in the living room I was in the dining room actually getting something done. I now have both full size baby blankets and two doll blankets ready to sew along with 2 burp cloths of each fabric choice. Some 300 pins, 4 pricks, and 2 remeasures later that is. It really shouldn't take longer than an hour to get everything finished and ready to mail.

The next item on my 'sew'-to-do list is a new camera strap cover. I need something cute to cover that ugly Nikon strap... and this something cute will have a lens cap pocket because since using the new camera I have lost 2 lens caps... I seriously thought about just switching over the strap cover from the old camera but if I do that then I know I won't get a new one made anytime soon. We'll just call that bare ugly strap motivation.

And now that my head is pounding again I think it is time to just go to bed. I'm really hoping I feel better in the morning.

Happy Monday!

I just LOVE Mondays!

Today I'm dusting off the sewing machine and getting busy making a couple of baby blankets with doll blankets and burp rags to match... After I get them done I will be able to finish my sew along quilt. Even though the sew along is officially over I still need to get it finished. Especially if I want my Aunt Bob to help me with the finishing processes while Austin is out of the country. I figured if I was just going to be at my mom and dads that Coin isn't that far away. And I know I'll need a day of escape from my family... lol...

I do have all my strip sets cut up into 2.5 in sections... I just have to lay out my blocks and get them sewn together. Then I have to figure out my layout for my blocks and sew the top together. I'm itching to get back at it but the baby blankets have to be done by next week and I can't keep procrastinating. So I better get to it. Thankfully all my flannels have already been washed...

Mason

I'm listening to Mason in the kitchen watching Mickey Mouse Club House on DVD. Too cute! I think he has forgotten that I'm in here and I really have to pee but I can hold it... I sure don't want to have to watch with him... I know MOM OF THE YEAR right here.

My Day

I should have cleaned today. I had better things to do though. You know, like, lose against Mason playing Mario Kart, watch Curious George, and Toy Story 2, give Mason a bath, and kiss boo boos. Real important stuff! I didn't even get to play with my camera. So basically I did nothing on my to-do list for today. I take that back!!! I did get some bedding washed... Woo Hoo clean sheets for me!!

Today is my mother-in-laws birthday so we are meeting her at 4:30 and going into town to eat supper with the man of my dreams, my husband. We are eating at my favorite restaurant, The Mandarin, in Ames. Yum, Chinese!

Hopefully by the time we are done eating and running the errands on my list that my husband doesn't even know about yet my cousin Jessica will be here. I love when Jessie comes to visit! We do nothing but eat junk food and watch movies all day. I'm really hoping she makes it all the way here... I know I make it sound like Council Bluffs is so far. Lord knows I've made the drive enough times in the last 10 years!

Oh, and I made the ever important call to get my camera insured this morning. Now I don't have to be afraid something will happen to it when we leave the house. Truly it leaves me with such a feeling of security to know that it is covered past my back door should anything happen. You know like my son stepping on it in the car or me dropping it while taking pictures. I even splurged and insured my lenses! And best yet is that my policy covers international travel so I don't have to be nervous when my husband takes my old camera and a couple of lenses with him to Germany and Slovakia later this month because, lets admit it, he won't be taking care of it as carefully as I would.

I also got two memory cards ordered this afternoon. I have had a rash of corrupted cards so the news ones will go in my camera and the old ones Austin can use. I'll order another battery in a couple of weeks after I see just how long one battery will last. It never fails though that I forget to charge it and then I'm just out of luck until it gets done charging. I was spoiled with my last camera because the kit I ordered it in came a second battery.

And now that I've rambled enough I have a ton of stuff to do in not that big of a time period... will I ever learn not to procrastinate... Probably not! HA!

Nikon D7K

My new camera finally came today!! There used to be a time where it would take 3 days or better to dig out from a blizzard. Thank God we have improved things since then!!

My favorite man, aka The UPS guy, showed up right on time this afternoon. I was so excited!! I didn't even get to play with it right away. I was in the middle of making supper so all I got to do was get the battery and battery charger out of the box. I guess it worked out pretty good that by the time supper was done and over with my battery was ready to go.

I have to say I am in LOVE with this camera!! It feels good in my hands, all the buttons are with in easy reach, every action is button controlled so there is no menu searching. I'll post a full review in a couple of days.

Hello...

Just a continuation of the old blog. I don't think there is a reason to rehash...