On her way Home (and a SURPRISE!)

4 Season Swap - (Spring) is all done and on her way to her new home......and there's another one being born even as I write. I couldn't let her go, you know? I just had to make another one to keep. I had a blast with the quilting on this - in lots of colors and lots of glitter.

And lot's of headaches!!! What is it about working on something for someone else, specifically (not in the abstract) that makes me crazy? I had a ton of problems on this - constant thread breakage then a horrible stretch of needle breakage!

I broke 4 needles in about 30 minutes! Gaack!! I finally took the needle plate off and could see where the needle was hitting it. When I put it back on I scooched it as far forward as the screws would allow and that seemed to fix it. What a pain! - But, I'm tickled with how it turned out.

At long last The Commish was delivered and the check nestled into my bank account and now I can forget about it, right? WRONG!!!!! I sent it with DH to work because The Guy works with Hunny and I didn't particularly need to see him. I folded it carefully and safety pinned a note to the outside explaining quilt care and hanging and washing instructions. I also wrote a little note to The Guy saying that I had folded the quilt in an exact way so there wouldn't be any fold lines going thru any of the picture transfers. So this evening over the Greek/Italian chopped salad with olives, goat cheese and creamy balsamic dressing I asked DH if The Guy had ever said anything about liking the quilt or not? Anything? Nope - get this - HE NEVER EVEN LOOKED AT IT!!!!! huh??? really?? are you kiddin me??!!! The Guy simply put it into a box and wrapped it up!!! As I was choking on my macadamian nut crusted halibut with lemongrass sauce, Hunny said "He was afraid he wouldn't be able to fold it back the right way" Holy cow - can you imagine??? I nearly dropped my sauteed baby bok choys into the grilled polenta. I had to take a huge swig of my mango-lime martini before I could breathe again. Oh well.......to each his own I guess. At least I enjoyed my dinner!!!!
On the job front, word has gotten around. Some of the newer, younger staff were told that I am retiring and it's no big deal to them. Our Medical Director was very sad - I worked with him in his private practice years and years ago so we've been together almost 20 years. Last week we had our new Regional Director and new Vice President visiting and neither of them said a single word, but the next day I was adjusting something in one of the staffs' timesheets and I happened to notice that I magically got a big fat raise. Hmmmm...... and without a word - how ODD, ya think? This morning I received an invitation to a luncheon in my honor to be held in Old Sacramento 2 days before I'm done. Old Sac is only about 4 hours from here!!!! I have to laugh, why not? Heck, I told my work buddy she has to come too, and we'll hit some quilt shops in the Big City while we're wasting a day. Kim? Any ideas? What's in Old Sac?
Also today I got a call from the director of a rival dialysis corporation 50 miles south of us, a lady I knew way back when, when I was in the private practice and she was in my position at the local dialysis clinic. She visited a bit then asked if I would be interested in coming to work for them -- LOL!!! I thanked her politely and said what a compliment, blah blah blah, and inside my head was screaming - "O hell no!!!!" Nice to be asked tho, huh?
And so my final duty to wrap up now is gather up all the Guild membership stuff and hand that over this weekend then I'm almost a free agent. I feel 10 years younger already. At this rate, by this time next month I should be about, oh, 25!!! ROFL!

PS - I almost forgot!!! I hit post number 200! You know what that means, right? A giveaway! Yaaa!!! Leave a comment on this post and I'll draw a name on May 10th, for these cuties:

Good Luck!

Happy Weekend!

One week down, 4 more to go as a short-timer. **titter**
Remember this little bitty that I thought might be a Spring Swap quiltlet? It measured out at 24 1/2" by 20 1/2 and the original idea was that I'd put some kind of fanciful flowers on the larger rectangular patches.

Once again, a 3 am playdate struck and it might have been something I ate, because I came up with a very "un-like me" idea. You might call it a wild hair - or psychedelic flashback maybe. (I saw a show on the Biography channel about the Monkees - that could explain it!) At any rate, when I came to later that day, look what I found!

ROLF - and I love it! This picture looks darker than it really is, those colors are POPPIN I tell you! And it was a ball to do! Now to quilt it with a bunch of fun crazy threads - metallics and glitters and shiny things. **giggle** it makes me laugh just to look at it. Will my swap partner like it?
I got some quilts loaded into the china cabinet and it does look great - maybe a bit of re-arranging and some more quilts. Neat display case - I love the look.

This is going to be a busy weekend - I have 3 yards of cocoa mulch waiting to spread in my flowerbeds, (smells heavenly!) and final stitches on the Commish, which is STILL hanging over my head. When I am un-employed I will finish all these UFO and make some more. Right? RIGHT??? And sleep till noon and paint the deck and clean out the storage sheds and and and.........

3 Weeks???

Really? BAD, BAD blogger - gee, what a slacker! Actually, it's been a hairy 3 weeks, and like Mama always said - "If you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all" So I haven't.
Fortunately the cranky has lifted and I'm human again.
I took on an outdoor project last weekend that seemed like an quick easy fun day. It was not.

Love me some adirondack chairs, huh? Sooo comfortable, and big arms to set drinks and pincushions on - they're great. But mine, as you can see, are looking a bit tatty and aged. So in the best tradition of adirondacks I decided to paint them with high gloss enamel in a nice bright color. Like Tijuana Taxi yellow! LOL! Great idea, huh? Don't be fooled, not for a minute. My former standard for comparison for rotten jobs was to say, "I'd rather change the sheets on built-in bunk beds" But now if it's a crummy job and I don't want to do it, I'll say "I'd rather put 6 coats of paint on an adirondack chair" AArrrgghhhh!!!! What a PITA!!!! One coat of primer and 5, count 'em, FIVE coats of paint 'cos that yellow high gloss paint doesn't cover worth a damn! And do you have any idea how many odd angles and nooks and crannies these babies have? I'll tell you --- 8,426.

Good thing it came out looking good because that's the only thing that will get the other one painted. That and the new paint sprayer that I intend to buy before tackling the second one.
In more fun news, WAAAY more fun, check out this picture of my 10 month old grandson Jayden flying high:

How cute is that? I got several great pictures of him in mid-air squealing like crazy - what a blast. Having these guys around makes everything OK, no matter how awful things get. I officially gave my notice at work so now I'm a short timer. My last day there will be May 23rd which is 31 days away. Then I am a free woman till July 1st!!! Can you believe it? Five weeks of not working - wow! All I have to do is survive those last 31 days, and it's going to be rough. Oh well -- I can do it. After that, I won't have any obligations at all because (get this!) I got fired from my position of Membership Chair at guild! LOL!! Too funny - because of my job! Our Prez thinks it would be better served by someone who doesn't have job responsibilities that could interfere with guild duties. Besides, someone else wanted it. Oh well. Worser things have happened and the world still wags and now I don't have to be at guild early to set up and don't have to juggle all those membership forms and stuff. I'm really going to be a freebird!! In the meantime, the Commish is on the quilting table. From this picture what you don't see is the HAPPY BIRTHDAY 2008 in the center square, but otherwise I'm calling this one DONE and you won't see any more of it. And neither will I. I expect it to be in the arms of it's new owner by Weds and good riddance.

As soon as that's gone I can get busy on fun stuff! I have so many huge plans for what I want to do while I'm off work that I really need about 5 months to do it all. Quilt quilt quilt till I drop, for starters! And work out in the yard, and lounge around reading, and lay in bed while DH gets ready for work, whining "Can you turn off that light? I'm trying to sleep in!" ROFL!! I want to clean out all the cuboards and closets and have a yard sale. I want to paint the entire back deck, all 2 acres of it. (no, not Tijuana Taxi yellow!) My former SIL gave me a pool, one of those soft sided things that's 15 feet across and 5 feet deep so I intend to spend an inordinate amount of time submerged. And I plan to go have lunch with friends!!! I've not been able to do that because my lunch "hours" are actually 30 minutes, and that's not enough time to actually leave the building. Now I can! Also, my two granddaughters are already scheming to come spend a few days here so we can make cupcakes and eat them for breakfast. (?!?) I want to make a pond or some kind or water feature near the French doors in our bedroom so we can listen to it at night. I just saw on TV a pond pump that runs on solar power and heaven knows we have a lot of solar in these parts. ***sigh*** This is the Life!