Chat

Warning and Apologies: Long Post!
I’ve apparently cast a spell over two very sweet Kims who read my blog. I’m very honored and humbled and definitely not deserving!

First there’s Kim at Kim’s Big Quilting Adventure who awarded me the “You Make My Day” award. I can’t remember whether I found Kim or she found me, but I think it was sometime last spring and I’m really glad she did. Kim tells great stories and is always working on a fun project (one of her more recent ones that I’d like to make someday is this cool picnic tote.) Like me, Kim works full time outside the home but she amazes me with all the projects that she completes! Now, I’m supposed to nominate up to 10 blogs for this award, and I’ve been thinking all day about it. Who should I nominate. Every time I come up with a list, I think of someone else who just has to be on it, so I start all over again. I just can’t do it. All the blogs I read make my day — that’s why I read them. And that’s why I’m becoming buried under blogs to read — I’ll find a new blog then add it to my bloglines. I really need to pare down my bloglines ’cause I have trouble keeping up with everyone but I just can’t choose. So, lame as it may be, I’m awarding it to all of you!

And second, there’s Kim at Ragged Roses who awarded me the “Amazing Blogger” award. This Kim and I go way back — she’s one of the first bloggers I found. And I instantly fell in love with her adorable little ragged corsages and had to order one. A few months ago I had a little panic attack when I thought I’d lost my corsage but I found it during the big 2007 Christmas CleanUp. It was in my hummel cabinet — clearly among the things I cherish! This award has two parts: to pass the award on to one person (again, I truly have given this a lot of thought, and I just can’t choose — in my defense, I think it’s ’cause I’m a Libra!), and to list 7 random facts about me. I’ve listed random before, but it’s Friday, the end of ReturnToHellAfterChristmasVacation week, and I’m feeling chatty, so….

1. I’m one of those people who put snowmen out in January. Santas for Christmas, Snowmen for Winter. There will be no discussion LOL. (In the grand scheme of turning baby food jars in to little lanterns, we have flags on the 4th of July, pumpkins on Halloween, and snowmen on…Ha! You thought I was going to say Christmas. No. Snowmen in Winter. These are the last of the them — no more lanterns for holidays. The idea came from Rock Creek Emporium.)

2. I would randomly list my favorite food, but Kim hates them, and I’m taking a vow not to mention them. Well, for this post anyway.

3. Diet Pepsi is my preferred morning drink. (Ok, my preferred anytime drink.) While my coworkers are getting coffee from the coffee pot, I’m getting ice from the refrigerator for my drink. A lot of coffee drinkers will comment how weird that is, but when I point out that it’s my source of morning caffeine just like coffee is theirs, they see the light.

4. There are a ton of great New Year’s resolution posts out there. I’ve loved reading them all but especially enjoyed this funny one. With the exception of her first one, it’s exactly how I feel! I don’t make resolutions, but I do make lists. However, after my dismal performance on last year’s list, I’m not even doing that this year. I’ll just let my projects randomly vie for my attention.

5. I have a little blogging fairytale to tell you. Once upon a time, I was seeking shopping advice for the upcoming quilty peep trip to NYC and the adorable Vallen referred me to her good blogging buddy Rebecca who works in Manhattan. During the course of my conversations with Rebecca, she mentioned that she works for company XYZ. Well, that’s weird, I told her, ’cause we used to have one of our house utilities with XYZ and they got bought out by ABC and just this morning I was on the phone with ABC trying to resolve a billing issue involving us and the two companies. So, sweet Rebecca said, well, if you have any more problems, just let me know and I’ll see what I can do. Of course, I’m thinking, there’s no way I’m going to bug her with my piddly problem. BUT, fast forward a few more months and after lots of phone calls and confusion, the last word from ABC was Sorry, we can’t help you — Pay. Up. About then, Rebecca happened to ask, Did you ever get that problem solved? So, I told her the story. And can you believe it? Rebecca fixed our problem! I’m thinking Rebecca is the closet CEO/Miracle Worker of XYZ!!! She’s an angel and I’m deeply indebted. Don’t let it ever be said that blogging, Rebecca and Vallen aren’t awesome! Now, when your spouses raise their eyebrows about all the time you spend on the computer, just tell them this story. You never know what might happen in blogland! (This little snowman is waving to his brother over at Joni’s! And he’s waving his undying love to Rebecca too LOL!)

6. Um, more randomness which I may have told you….we had several cross-country moves when I was a little girl and I didn’t go to the same school for more than 2 years until I was in high school. After two years of high school, I was very upset that we couldn’t move again. It’s been fascinating for me to watch my boys form lifelong friendships as a result of growing up in the same place.

7. Finally, #7. I joined a Valentine Swap over at Lucy Locket’s. You have until Sunday, Jan 13th to sign up — if she hasn’t closed it already — there’ve been an awful lot of sign-ups already! C’mon Quilty Peeps — you don’t have to have a blog and you know you want to!!! (Speaking of quilty peeps, Jewels made this fat little snowman — isn’t he adorable?)

Phew! Sorry, I rambled on so long. Those of you still reading this get a big prize — Mmwah! Thank you, you adorable Kims, for your kind and generous awards. You guys are the best!
XOXO,
Anna

Wow, thanks for all your very nice comments about the boy’s boxers! I was quite surprised yesterday when TheFirstChild appeared wearing those pink boxers– I said “Have you been reading my blog?” That was just too coincidental. He said no, but I think he was just trying to prove me wrong! Oh well, I lost the bet — SweetiePie knows him better than I do — I guess it’s a sign that it’s time for her to become his handler and not me LOL!

Now, time for the bunny drawing. I still do things the old fashioned way, so I printed out everyone’s name and put them in a bowl  (some day I’ll learn how to use those random generator thingies!) And the winner is:

Do we need a close-up???

Congratulations Darlene! Come on Down! Send me your address and I’ll get little Bunnyversary in the mail to you.  Thank you so much to all the rest of you for entering — AND for stopping by here to read over the last year.  I’ve really enjoyed getting to know so many of you!
Now, I have a question for all you quilters. Remember this Christmas tree skirt that I made for MeMum? Well, water from the Christmas tree spilled on it and the colors in that *&(^$@@! red fabric ran! I can’t believe it — in the raging debate over whether to pre-shrink fabric, I ALWAYS say pre-shrink to set the colors. And I ALWAYS pre-wash my fabrics, so this really whizzes me off! So, do any of you quilters have some magic elixir to take care of this problem AFTER the fact? MeMum would really like to wash that tree skirt, but now she’s afraid to do it. She’s pretty upset about the whole thing (’cause after all, I’m the MyMomLovesMeBestDaughter ROFLOL) and would really like a solution. I remember reading somewhere along the line about some sort of dye magnet product. Does anyone know anything about it? Does it really work? And will it work after the fabrics are already put together? I’d really appreciate any suggestions any of you might have.

Well, now I’m off to be grumpy the rest of the day — I have to go back to work tomorrow. BooHoo — I know I should be glad I have a job, but I could sure use a few more weeks of vacation! I hope you’re enjoying YOUR day!
XOXO,
Anna

Just a quick note to check in. I’ve had lots of piddly little things to do this week, but I don’t seem to have accomplished much. I’m even afraid to look at my bloglines — I haven’t had time to check it since Tuesday. I hate it when I get behind on reading all of your blogs. I did get the formatting for my blurb book done and got the order shipped off last night. Yay! And I found out that MyDadLovesMeBestSister is making a book for her hubby too. She’s using Shutterfly or Snapfish so it will be a fun experiment to compare her service with blurb.com’s service.

I’m finally going to get some time at home tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll get some sewing done. I really need to do a little Christmas decorating. What you see to the right is the sum total of my decorating so far. Pretty pitiful, huh? I couldn’t help myself though. I was shopping in Williams Sonoma last week and decided I should treat myself to festive dish and hand soaps. I thought maybe the peppermint smell would take the drudgery out of doing the dishes for the next month.

Am I the only selfish little shopper out there? Have you had a little extravagant purchase while you’ve been Christmas shopping?

XOXO,
Anna

Happy, Happy Birthday to my old friend/quilty peep Gurney! And you know, that’s “old” as in we’ve known each other for a long time, not “old” as in advanced in age LOL. Poor Gurney, I have the hardest time remembering her birthday — it being the holiday time of year and all. We used to always have our friendship quilt group Christmas get-together (say that 5 times quickly!) right around her birthday and that would help me remember. But now, we don’t have that anymore and since I am getting old (as in advanced in age) it’s really hard for me to remember. Anyway, Gurney, I hope you’ve had the BEST of days!!! A special birthday for you this year — your first as a Grandma (marrying at 10 years of age makes you a very young grandma LOL) and with a second new grandchild on the way, what an exciting year you have ahead. My birthday wish for you is that you and hubby will come to your senses and move back to our fair city — this “see each other twice a year” state of affairs is for the birds. I miss you! My other birthday wish is that I hope you have a headache (in the best way), no matter how you got it LOL!!!

There’s been pitifully little crafting or holiday merry making going on around here. I feel like I’m in things-that-must-be-accomplished limbo and I can’t get on to the fun of holiday prep until they’re done. We spent ALL day on Saturday in leaf hell. We raked and mowed until we were half frozen. About 30 minutes before we would have been done, mother nature decided it would be fun to have a little snow storm. We tried to work our way through it for about 15 minutes, but once the snow started to accumulate, we abandoned ship. Have you ever mowed your lawn in the snow? Yeah, I’m sure you’re smarter than we are. Anyway, we got close enough to being done and now the leaves are just waiting to be picked up. In the meantime, I fully expect the wind to come along and blow them back all over the yard again. I figure abundant and troublesome leaves are mother nature’s way of making you thrilled that winter is here. It works for me — I do love winter!

And then on Sunday, I worked on a blurb book for a gift.  What a lot of work that’s turning out to be.  Their tools are fantastic, I’m just having a hard time figuring how I want the book laid out.  Anyway, since there’s no real fun stuff to post about (not counting Gurney’s birthday), I’ll recommend some fun stuff of others:

• The Scottish Lamb has found a really fun knitter’s advent calendar.
• Like many of you, we’ve had the tradition of giving the children an ornament each year with the intention of sending them of into their adult lives with a collection of Christmas ornaments. I LOVE this fabulous ornament box and may have to think about making some after the holidays. This is the year I’ll separate TheFirstChild’s ornaments from ours so that he and SweetiePie can take them off into their new life together and they’ll need a fun container to accompany them. {Sniff}{Sniff}
• How cute is this hat??? I love it!  Stay tuned, he promises to post a pattern when he gets time.

Nighty-Night!
XOXO,
Anna

Just popped in to say I’ve been busy sewing, cooking, cleaning and playing while I’ve been off work this week. Highlights include:

A YUMMY Sunday Dinner — Filet of Beef Bourguignonne thoughtfully provided by Ina Garten. I LURVE Ina — it was awesome, you should try it if you like Beef Burgundy.

Dinner followed up by Black and Whites Cookies. When the Quilty Peeps and I were in NYC, we loved the Black and White cookies that they’re famous for and Junie promptly came home and found the recipe here. They’re surprisingly like the real thing — Thanks Junie!

SweetiePie, MeMum and I went to Waynesville, Ohio today for a little Christmas shopping. Waynesville is full of antique shops and more importantly The Fabric Shack. Holy Cow — I could move in there! They have a great selection of fabric. If you’re anywhere in the vicinity of Dayton, Ohio, Waynesville is more than worth the visit. In one antique shop, I saw a blue and white Christmas tree that I really liked. (And because you bloggers have corrupted me, I just happened to have my camera with me.)

Those little blue bulbs are old flash bulbs that have been “spent”. The whole tree (a 6 – 7 ft. tree?) was covered with these little bulbs. Where on earth did they find so many of them? I don’t know what era they’re from, but it hasn’t been any recent decade! Each little bulb had wire wrapped around its neck to make a hanger. I think this is a really cute idea and would also be fun with the colored old-fashioned Christmas bulbs.

Up tomorrow: Pies! Pumpkin, Pecan, and Apple. Hope you’re having a great week!

XOXO,
Anna