A fight...A Grace Frame...A portrait of a marriage...

Okay, here's the dealio. I quilt. Lots. I love it more then I can say. The part I hate??? I hate quilting all three layers into a quilt. It pains me. I love putting on the binding...hate the quilting. I send my quilts out to Ms. Karen. She is fab-u-lus!! She has made some of my tops into wonderful masterpieces of love.
For the last couple of years I have had my eye on a quilt frame. I love them. I want one. I mean I want one like the girl in Willie Wonka who yells out " Daddeeee I want it now!!" My husband?? Does not want one. He does not understand the expense. He would rather I quilt them myself. I mean people...does he EVEN KNOW ME ANYMORE???
Since the big 4-0 is in a couple of days I came up with the perfect idea....have my two older kids pitch in...the hubby pitch in...and wallah!!! I could get a quilt frame. It would have to be one of the smaller ones as there is no way in "you know where " he would spend a bunch of money due to the economy...and trying to be debt free...and being all responsible-ish. The Grace Frame was in my sights. I've gone on that website every night for a year and yearned. I had yearning in my heart Int-netz. Much yearning. I made my family look at the site til they would run whenever I opened up the computer.
When I brought the subject up with the family about pitching in to get me the greatest present int he history of presents they seemed to go with the idea. Even the hubby seemed like he was going to be okay with everything. I was so excited I haven't slept in days. I've been dreaming of the quilts that I would make and the awards I would win at the Houston Quilt Show. And how Alex Anderson would want to be BFF's. Then last night happened. I mentioned that if I ordered the frame today that it would be here for my birthday. The hubby wanted to know things. Like where was I going to put it...how big was it....what were the dimensions....he wanted to know responsible-ish things. What did I do while we were having this conversation??? I started to cry and say "Why are you being mean to me?????" and some of "No one really wants this for me!! I always want stuff for you guys!!!"
Then he says to me..."Dee stop being all woe is me."
OH NO HE DI-NT!!!
I told him....in between sniffs cause he needed to know my feeeeelings were hurt by his questioning me...I told him we could put it in the dining room. Next to the table. Where I could look at it and call it my pressssssssious. Int-netz he vetoed the idea!!! Told me it didn't make sense to put it in there and the house isn't all that big and did I really think this through.
My heart broke in 287 little pieces all over the bedroom. I asked him why he had to talk to me in such a tone and if our situation was reversed I would be thinking of all the places we could put his wanted thing. He gave me a long suffering sigh!!!! Then I rolled over and felt very sorry for myself at his insensitivity and told myself that I couldn't believe that I could be married to someone so hurtful and if I got hit by a bus and developed pneumonia wouldn't he be sorry then!!!
And then ladies do you know what he did??????? HE. FELL. ASLEEP!!!!!! In the middle of our fight/discussion. Then I felt all the more sorry for myself and told myself that if I was married to Robert Pattinson he would totally buy me a quilt frame for my birthday. hmph!
I acidentally coughkickedcough his leg and he woke back up. We then decided the quilt frame would go in the sewing room and I would have to put all my fabric back in bins...and clean out a closet to put the bins in....and make sure I measured so that it would fit........and maybe be his love slave called Serena for the next month. We then fell asleep. Conflict resolved.
This morning I still felt a little tender-feelingish and I am ashamed to admit my passive aggressive side came out. The hubby hates for anyone else to use his towel. He is a girl about such things. Guess who used his just out of the dryer -smelling like fabric softener towel this morning?? heeheeheehee Guess who laughed when she saw her husbands face when he realized she used his just out of the dryer- smelling like fabric softener towel?? Guess who yelled out "FREEDOM!" in such a way that Mel Gibson wiped a tear of pride off of his cheek while she ran out of the bathroom waving the towel wildly??? That would be the woman who ordered her Grace Frame this morning.

It shall be delivered Friday. Please all, hence forth, refer to me as Serena...Love Goddess.

DANGFLANGIT...CARNSTARSIT!!!

So you guys remember me telling you about the jerk/kid who threw a roof tile at my baby's face and scared her for life?? Well yesterday, while she was at the corner store, I get a phone call from her. She was all wavery voiced and told me the kid was there and that he pointed his finger at her...yelled "That's bull#$%^!" and OH MY GOD SOMEONE HOLD ME BACK IF I EVER SEE HIS MOTHER OUT THERE IN THE WORLD I WILL NOW HAVE TO BEAT HER UP....he threw another roof tile at her. Not at her face but at the wall next to her.



I will now let that germinate with all the mothers out there. Also?? I will be in the kitchen fixing myself a very strong cosmopolitan whilst I contemplate life.



I am back. Ready for the rest of the story?? The Boo-Bear goes to her friends house so they can go over every wrong done to them their entire life and embellish things and be all screamy with each other while I await The Capt. We were to have a date last night with wine and crab legs and maybe some BOWCHICKAWOW-WOW. He walked in the door, all happy with life. Whistlin' a tune and smiled at me. I, in turn, hit him with this "THAT BOY THREW SOMETHING AT OUR DAUGHTER AGAIN AND YOU GO FIND HIS FATHER AND KICK HIS ASS!!!! GO NOW!!! WHY ARE YOU STILL STANDING THERE??????? GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The Capt looked at me, never said a word, turned around and left. I sat on the couch thinking that maybe I could have handled that a little bit better and lit a candle for the father of "The Boy." Half an hour later my man comes home with the Po-Po's in tow. My hubby had contacted them, told them of our leetle sit-ee-ation and asked them what we could do. What we could do is fill out a mass of paperwork because the "Head Po-Po" was gonna hit the boy with attempted assault charges. HECK YEAH!! The cops went to the boys house and talked with the...unbeknownst to us...the brand new step father of the boy. He was very surprised over the whole thing because his new wife had never informed him of the first little mis-hap. You know.... WHEN HER SPAWN GAVE MY BABY A FIVE INCH SCAR!!!!

By 10 o'clock everyone left. Papers were signed. Reports were given. Witnesses were called and statements were taken down. Now we wait to see what happens next. Ahhhh life...when you are expecting wine, romance and song you get the Po-Po's in your living room.

Color me done.

Our little Boo-Bear had her Advanced Band Concert last night. Oh my gosh the cuteness was everywhere!!! She did really good considering she just started playing the Sax in October.

We had to make a run to Kohl's the night before to get a black and white outfit. sigh...why do they need so many outfits for all the extra curriculars???






Here she is right before they started, looking around for her dad. He was in the second row and clapping loudly. Dad's are the best.











This is just a shot of the back of her hair...her hair that took me an hour to do what with all the blow drying....straightening and then the re-curling. The new hole in the ozone?? Yeah sorry about that...it was me. Hairspray was used abundantly.










This is the picture she made me take out front. Why out front you ask?? Cause the little boy in the house a couple of doors down from ours was outside and she wanted him to see her in all her glory. :) Ahhhhh young love.

It was a good night. We were all really proud of her. She thinks she is going to be the next Sheila E...but with the Sax...and not the drums...and not the whole Prince infatuation.

Such is life....

Last night while watching American Idol with the family I decided to play with the dog. She hadn't been feeling well yesterday. I think I took her outside every hour on the hour so she could eat grass and look sad. During a commercial break I had the kids take her out for her last "business" of the day. She came in much happier hence my idea to play with her. As she was running around like a loon and I was laughing I noticed something on the floor. It was pretty small and since the kids had just come in from outside I figured it was a small mud clump. I grabbed it with my fingers and then stopped. I said to myself "self, I do not think this is mud." Then, in front of my family who were all staring at me in rapt attention, I sniffed it. Nope, not mud. The dog came over to see why I had stopped playing with her and was laying on the floor gagging while my family laughed so hard they were choking and I noticed she had a piece of grass sticking out where grass does not grow. I looked at my hubby to see if he would catch her and pull it out. No, no he wouldn't but thanks for asking. I washed my hands and then chased my dog. I grabbed her. I pulled. I washed my hands and then washed them again.
I swear my family should pay me for all the amusement they got out of that. Let this be a lesson to all the little children...sometimes mud is not mud. Sometimes it is poop!

I'm off to wash my hands again.....and again...annnnnnnnnnnnnd maybe again. sigh

Regular ole Tuesday with the hubby...

Yesterday the hubby took a day off from work...(why oh why is Blogger underlining everything I write?? AUGH!!) so we decided to head to Yellow Springs. He wanted to sit in this really cool coffee shop that's on the main strip and share a muffin. Never one to turn down coffee and a muffin I hopped in the car before he could say "Hey, ya wanna..."
Yellow Springs is an interesting town. It is like all the people from the 60's settled there. Free love of all sorts reigns free. There are even two bookstores on one street devoted solely to the practice of Wicca. I love it there cause you never know what you're going to see. The coffee shop we like has pictures of fairies...witches on broomsticks with long flowy hair....small children were doing yoga...a group of older gentlemen were laughing and discussing movies. I helped them figure out the Tom Hanks movie The Davinci Code and got a huge hand clap. Yep, love it there.
So anyway, we had finished our muffin and coffee and decided to look in some of the smaller shops we hadn't been in yet. Guess who was standing outside of the coffee shop????
Dave Chappell!!!

Yeah, this guy!!! He was just hanging out on the main street chatting with the townspeople. We went over and shook his hand and my hubby wished him much continued success then we walked on like we see famous people ever day of the week. IT WAS AWESOME!!!! The hubby was all nonchalant and very mature. Me?? I was giggly and not so very mature. :)
After Dave Chappell we went into a store that sold alot of incense and medallions and body art stuff. The owner came out and told us how Woody Harrelsons lawyer stole 6 of his ideas for movies and how the Government is one big conspiracy and how our toothbrushes are made of plastic so that is why we all have cancer and are all gonna die. When we walked out of there I looked at my husband and said "Fa-Reek!!" We laughed and marked the store in our brains so there would be no chance of going in there again!
As we drove home we saw a Native American riding a horse down a highway(the horse had no name...get it???! heehee) with two dogs following him. He stopped to chat with someone in a van for awhile. Why was he on the highway you ask??? Who the heck knows!!! It was just that kind of day.

Yellow Springs
Dave Chappell
Conspiracy theorist
Native American on horse on highway.....

What a day!

Best Birthday Present EVER!!!

My 40th birthday is coming up...April 11th I will be the big 4-0. Yep world....I will be 40. I must admit that a couple of weeks ago I was feeling just a little sorry for myself that I was going to be hitting a big birthday without any girlfriends to share it with. Then I get a phone call from my girl Leigh. She was feeling my pity party all the way in her part of the world and decided enough was enough and....wait for it......BOUGHT A PLANE TICKET FOR ME TO COME AND VISIT HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SQUEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I leave April 12th and get to see both her and Jen. I am beyond excited. We are going to laugh...and talk...and laugh some more....maybe have a couple of cocktails and tell stories. More importantly we are going to hit IKEA!! :) I cannot wait. I am going to relish every single second with them before I come back home.

Girlfriends.
Nothing better.

Cake Pops!!

Remember how I showed you the two cakes I made the other day?? This is what I made with them!! Bakerella has tons of neat stuff to make on her blog. This is the first thing I've tried and I gotta say it was a lot of fun!
It's cake and some frosting mixed into balls on a stick covered in chocolate and sprinkles. What's not to love??? Goes great with coffee too. How do I know this?? Observe..




See this poor little cake pop disaster?? Since it fell down the stick I thought I should take a bite with my coffee just now.....











Oh yeah! It is good!!! Yummy yummy cake-laty goodness. heehee

No, I will not tell you how many little cake pop disasters I had to try with my morning coffee. Let me just say that I am so hyped with sugar and caffeine that I could leap tall buildings in a single bound!
Next week I am going to be making her peanut butter balls....and working out double time on the treadmill. :)

Happy eating everyone!!

Yesterday I told you that I felt the "Call of Duty." The call is what you hear when your country needs you. Our country is having some economic issues. I felt that as an American I should goeth outeth there and stimulate it a little bit...the economy that is not this bit of juicy-ness right chere'...sigh Robert Oh Robert you had me at "Say it! Say what I am" and then I giggled and looked into your golden brown eyes and said "Vampire!!" Ahem...sorry about that...hubby is gone again. Now where was I?? Oh yeah, I stimulated the economy. I stimulated that economy so good it needed a cigarette.

Here is the haul...I got a few of these little luscious things. Goodness gracious!! Purple!!

Then I got a bit of this....

A big ole' pack of fab-u-lous fat quarters and some buttons for my BOM. Look at them...yummmmmmmmmmmmmmm

See! I had to get them right????? No matter that my husband thinks I have a problem with fabric. It neeeeeeded me and I oh so neeeeeeded it back.

Oh. My. Goodness. Look at these. They grabbed me by the hand when I was walking by and said "howyoudoin!!" I saw the pattern that went with all that wonderful-ness and couldn't resist.

Houses! I have such a weakness for houses.

All of my fabric is now put away. I lovingly took it out of the bags (sigh, yes bags - plural) and then hugged it to me. I whispered "welcome home my precccccccious." Then I put them all away in designated shelves. Please Lord help me. The hubby will be home soon and he knows my I spent enough to keep a small country in rice for the next millennium face. He knows Int-net!! He knowssssssssssss. To make up for my shameful behavior I shall fill him up with tasty things when he walks in the door. Wanna see what I made him?? Here is some cake. This is stage one. What do you think I'm making???? Hmmmmm?? Stay tuned!! :)

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm Cake!

Motivated...

I'm sitting here watching the news this morning. I've got my cup of coffee aka java to my soul, right by my side. The Today show is promising doom and gloom with the economy. As I sit here I have come to a major decision.

I need to go out and stimulate the economy today. As an American I need to go out there and do my part. I feel a trip to the quilt store is in my best interest. If you think about it I really shouldn't shirk my duties as, like I said, an American.

Yep, I've decided. Today I will shop. I may even go to Starbucks and help them out. I don't think their stock is doing good either. I am sure my one cup of coffee will lift them back where they belong on the DOW.

No no no...keep your thanks. I am doing what any person would do in these times. If we must spend to help out our fellow Americans then spend is what I shall do.

Plus the Capt is off doing important Capt-ish things in another State so he isn't here to stop me.
*insert maniacal giggle*
Pictures to follow tomorrow. :)

Friday....

I've told you all how I sleep downstairs on the couch, every vigilant, when my hubby is away.
He has been gone off and on since we've moved here quite a bit. Lately my 16 year old has been making me a cup of coffee and bringing it to me with a cheery "Morning Mom!"

I really like it.

Then we chat for a couple of minutes before she has to leave for school. It's a very nice way to start the day. Being a military spouse can at times be a lonely. Your spouse can be gone a lot. Either in another country or, like mine, different States every couple of days. You move every couple of years. You are far from family. Many times you do birthdays...holidays...aniversarys...parent/teacher conferences....bills....ER visits with kids....all those things you usually end up doing alone. You can go days at a time without hearing from your spouse. There have been times lately I've asked my hubby "Now where are you again??"
All of this can be challenging to say the least. And did I mention lonely??

It's been during these past couple of months, since we moved here, that I've realized how much my kids become company for me. Someone to talk to. Someone to laugh with.

While I was enjoying the coffee my daughter made for me and we were laughing about something that happened to her at work last night I had a thought ...I thought this is a memory. A really nice memory I can take out later and think about. When she is older and living in her own home. It made me feel all warm inside. These are the things a military spouse holds onto when life is a little less then you want it to be. We learn to find the blessings in the everyday.

My hubby comes home this afternoon and it will be so nice to have him back where he belongs. The Boo-Bear is spending the night at a friends house and the other two have plans of their own. It will be just the two of us. :) I plan on making a nice dinner and cracking open a bottle of wine.
It will be another nice memory I can take out later and I think that's what life is all about. If you're lucky. :)
So today I challenge you. Take a step back and find the little things that make you smile. Realize your everyday blessings. Make an effort to feel thankful. And have a great Friday everyone!!
hugs

Can I just say that you guys ROCK!!! for leaving comments on my post the other day!!! I read all the comments to my Boo-Bear. She sat there very quietly and listened. Then she smiled. Then she said "wow, those people wrote about me??" Then I grabbed her poor little bruised face for the umpteenth time and poured Neosporin all over her.....and I may have kissed her poor little bruised cheek til she said I had kissed her enough.

Thanks you guys out there...you're pretty awesome.

Anyone out there had to track down the Po-Po's today?? Hmmmm?? For those of you that don't have an 11 year old who regularly says "word to your mothuh" and "Peace out my homies" the Po-Po's are police officers.

And why would I be tracking down the Po-Po's at 7:50 in the morning??? This is why....

Yes, that is my baby's face. HER FLIPPIN FACE PEOPLE!!!!!! Last night I was quilting away...happily...minding my own business...when The Boo-Bear came in the house crying hysterically. I got up to see what was wrong and when she turned around to throw herself into my arms I saw her face. With blood streaming down it. I said "Oh my God" and held her til she could calm down enough to fill me in. Seems there was an older boy picking on some of the younger kids at the playground. My baby walked over with one of her friends to tell him to leave the young kids alone and HE CHUCKED A ROOF TILE AT HER FACE. HER FACE!!!!! Let me show you the picture again so you can understand the red hot rage that entered my soul.......

Oh yeah I took pictures. This kid was going down. I looked for him for 20 minutes. No kid and none of the other kids knew his last name or where he lived. They did know where he caught the bus in the morning so early today the Capt and I got up, got dressed, got The Boo-Bear (who OH MY GOODNESS!!! her face is so bruised and her eye is almost shut from all the swelling) and we piled in the car to find him and get his address so we could talk to the parents. At the bus stop the Po-Po's were trying to catch speeders so we walked over to ask them their advice as to how to handle this. It wasn't just your every day random scrap you get on the play ground. This had the cops wincing and asking if we wanted to press charges. I said no. I mean, I really only wanted him to apologize and for his parents to be aware of what happened. The cops talked to the boy and since he lived right next to the bus stop they walked over to his house while we waited outside. When your hubby is a Capt there is chain of command and all that stuff so we wanted to do things the right way. The boys mom was really nice. She invited us in....I felt so bad for her cause it was so early and what a way to start the day....she looked at The Boo-Bears face and gasped then apologized. The cops asked us again if we wanted to press charges and again we said no we just wanted to talk about it and then let it go. We talked like grown ups for about 10 minutes. The boy apologized and you could tell he felt really bad. Then we all shook hands and left. The hubby asked me if I was satisfied with the outcome. I was. I was also glad he is the kind of father who would take time out of his day (you have no idea at the amount of work he has on the agenda) to make sure his daughter is taken care of and looked after.

My daughter didn't want to miss school so I loaded her up with Motrin, wrote a note to her teacher and then her father and I gave her a hug and told her to be brave little soldier. Moms...we do more before 9am then most people do all day.

Monday........

Ahhhhhhh Monday. This morning I opened up my eyes and heard my house give this maniacal giggle. I asked the hubby if he heard anything and he just mumbled "no" and turned back over. Then I heard this noise....it sounded like a cat hacking up a huge hairball. I went downstairs to investigate and guess what it was??? It was my house. My house threw up. It is a mess. I don't know what happens between my Friday cleaning and Monday but jeez-louise it is ugly. It is a two cup of coffee morning. No lie. I sent the girls off to school and mah-men to work as I poured my second cup. My house thinks it has won. Hmph. I told it that by the time I put head to pillow it would be clean.

Pray for me.

What about you out there?? Anyone else cleaning???

whimper.

I had no idea it had been so long since I had posted anything to the blog. I got a couple of emails....thanks you guys!!...from my homies checking to make sure that my cold had not turned into the plague. Nope. That Netti Pot worked it's magic and I was right as rain in two days. I guess things have been kinda quiet here. No bank robberies (we are up to two by the way) no demon seeing crazy woman. Nada. Nothing.
So what have I been up to?? I have been sewing.
Sewing my happy little heart out! I started this block of the month. It is called The Be Attitudes by Nancy Halvorsen.







Crap!!! Why is it that you ALWAYS see mistakes when you put something online??? My "Be" looks wonky. sigh. But isn't the Santa cute?!!! I still need to do his eyes and add a button on his hat. Other then that he is done.










These blocks go together so fast and they are perfect to do on the couch at night time while the family is watching TV.













The eyes on the owl come with buttons. My quilt store didn't have the buttons in yet. As soon as they do I will add them.












I love how quilt stores have finished quilts hanging all around. It just inspires me and makes my fingers itch to sew.












When I was in the store the other day ,helping the economy, I saw this quilt hanging on the wall. I may have drooled. It is just glorious! It is called Baltimore County Fair by Kay Gentry. This one is soooooo cool. The pieces come already cut out with the sticky stuff on the back. You cut your block out, position the pieces and then iron down. Another thing I can work on while sitting with my family at night.






This block was finished the other night. :)

















This one is ironed down and I'll start working on it tonight.

Last but not least is this quilt. I got the pattern from the Moda web site. I had some of the Moda charm squares called Crayons. I had planned on using them to make The Boo-Bears favorite teacher an end of year quilt. This little baby only took a couple of hours to do. I have a quilt at the quilters. As soon as I get that one back this one will go.

That's pretty much all that's been going on. Just sewing.....running on the treadmill.....watching Leverage (my new favorite show!) and cooking big dinners. Yeah, not very exciting! hahahaha

Thanks again to everyone who sent an email checking to make sure I was still alive and kicking!! You guys rock!!!