Earlier this month, I finished a book called The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Let me just say...this is a FANTASTIC book!
The story is based upon a futuristic world where there is a central Capital that acts as the governing body for 13 Districts. At one point in time, the Districts rebelled against the Capital and fought amongst themselves for various resources. As a means to end the fighting, the Capital took control and obliterated one of the districts...District 13. This was to prove a point to the remaining districts that the Capital was powerful and if they didn't do what the Capital said they, too, would be destroyed.
In order to "remind" the districts of the pointless fighting the Capital devised The Hunger Games. The whole point of the Hunger Games is for children from each district to be placed in an arena and fight to the death. The last one standing wins the Games for that year. Each year, the remaining 12 Districts would hold a reaping to select a single boy and a single girl from each district to participate in The Hunger Games. The names are selected from a bin where everyone in a certain age range are required to put their names in at least once. If your family was poor and didn't have enough to eat, you could put your name in more times in exchange for additional food/goods.
In this particular story, the focus is on a young girl name Katniss. Her father was killed in a mining accident has she has been illegally hunting with her friend, Gale, in order to provide food for Gale's family and for Katniss's mother and younger sister, Prim. Katniss has done everything she possibly can to provide for her family and has tried to keep her younger sister's name out of the reaping selection. In this fateful year, even though Katniss' name has been placed in the reaping multiple times, her younger sister, who's name is entered just once, was selected. Katniss did what an older sister does, and willingly took Prim's place in the reaping.
So now, Katniss is off to the Capital to join the other Tributes to fight to the death in the arena. She and her fellow Tribute from District 12, Peeta, don't know quite what to make of the Games. They know they are going to their deaths and yet they are unwilling to just give up and let the other Tributes, or the Capital, win.
This is truly an excellent book and its EXTREMELY hard to put down once you start reading it. I highly recommend picking it up from your local bookstore or library and setting aside a weekend to read it. ;-)
Monday, October 18, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
The Albatross Lives :-(
We were all geared up for getting the contracts signed for selling the house....then got a call from the person who was going to buy the house. Not only did he find out Friday that his pension would be cut by 20%, but he also found out that his cancer was back. :-( We felt awful for the guy.
Obviously, they will not be buying the house, unless some other miracle comes along. They were worried that they were "messing" things up for us by not buying the house. We assured them that they were not messing anything up and all they should be concerned about is getting healthy. Hopefully the cancer will be treatable and isn't an aggressive form of cancer.
So.....anyone interested in a house? ;-)
Obviously, they will not be buying the house, unless some other miracle comes along. They were worried that they were "messing" things up for us by not buying the house. We assured them that they were not messing anything up and all they should be concerned about is getting healthy. Hopefully the cancer will be treatable and isn't an aggressive form of cancer.
So.....anyone interested in a house? ;-)
Friday, October 8, 2010
It's Happening.....!
After the abysmal attempts to sell our house with real estate agents, Rich and I put the house up for sale ourselves. A few weeks ago we got a call that someone was interested in the house. We did a showing for that person, and they came back with an offer. We weren't happen with the offer, so we countered and they said they had to think about it. On Wednesday, they called us back and gave us a better offer...
AND WE ACCEPTED!
So we are closing the deal on the house on October 21st. A little too soon for us to move out you think? :-) The new owners are going to rent us the house until May of next year, which is when our new home is supposed to be done.
We won't have to move out of our current house at all before moving into the next house, which is WAY more convenient. All in all, we're pretty darn lucky. The people came up a bit in price, not quite as much as we would have liked, but with the ability to rent the house until our new house is built....it was too good to pass up.
Keep your fingers crossed that all the final paperwork goes through properly. :-)
AND WE ACCEPTED!
So we are closing the deal on the house on October 21st. A little too soon for us to move out you think? :-) The new owners are going to rent us the house until May of next year, which is when our new home is supposed to be done.
We won't have to move out of our current house at all before moving into the next house, which is WAY more convenient. All in all, we're pretty darn lucky. The people came up a bit in price, not quite as much as we would have liked, but with the ability to rent the house until our new house is built....it was too good to pass up.
Keep your fingers crossed that all the final paperwork goes through properly. :-)
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Weekend & Tea
Last week was a very busy week for us. On Monday and Tuesday nights, we met one of my co-workers up at our lot to give him some wood. We thought he was just going to cut the wood that was already in the pile and take that away, but instead he wanted to help us drop a few trees and cut them up (in exchange for the wood). So we were up there cutting trees until 7:30 at night.
Then on Friday night, we met my manager up at the lot for more wood. He heats his entire house with wood, so he's up for "free" wood whenever he can get it. So we were up there again until 7:30 at night. Then Saturday morning, Rich and his dad went to the lot to cut down some trees and my co-worker AND manager went there, too, to get wood. They dropped a tree that we weren't sure how to drop, so at least that's down on the ground now.
As for me....on Saturday, instead of working on the lot, I had to do laundry and a bunch of errands because I'm traveling this week. I also met a great friend for tea on Saturday. We had a great time. We didn't spend as much time there as last time, but we were still there for 2 hours and had a bunch to talk about.
This week, I'm down near NYC for a training class for work. I'm hoping it will be good, but its a little nerve-wracking. Its not that the class will be hard....its just that I don't really like traveling. I like being home....plain and simple. I'm sure the week will go by quickly and then I'll be happy to be home again.
Another bit of good news.....we ended the contract with our real estate agent earlier this month and put the house up for sale by ourselves. We got a cheap "burner" phone at Walmart so that we didn't have to put our personal phone number up on the sign. We had 15 flyers taken in the past week or so, and this morning we actually got a call! Someone wants to come see the house tomorrow. Rich will show the house since I'm not home, but we're pretty excited. These people are retired and they have family in our area. Plus, they don't need to sell their house in order to buy our house....so no waiting! :-)
Anyway - I think I'm going to get ready for bed and read for a while. There's not much else to do here. Too bad I didn't think to bring some sewing with me to at least work on tonight.
Then on Friday night, we met my manager up at the lot for more wood. He heats his entire house with wood, so he's up for "free" wood whenever he can get it. So we were up there again until 7:30 at night. Then Saturday morning, Rich and his dad went to the lot to cut down some trees and my co-worker AND manager went there, too, to get wood. They dropped a tree that we weren't sure how to drop, so at least that's down on the ground now.
As for me....on Saturday, instead of working on the lot, I had to do laundry and a bunch of errands because I'm traveling this week. I also met a great friend for tea on Saturday. We had a great time. We didn't spend as much time there as last time, but we were still there for 2 hours and had a bunch to talk about.
This week, I'm down near NYC for a training class for work. I'm hoping it will be good, but its a little nerve-wracking. Its not that the class will be hard....its just that I don't really like traveling. I like being home....plain and simple. I'm sure the week will go by quickly and then I'll be happy to be home again.
Another bit of good news.....we ended the contract with our real estate agent earlier this month and put the house up for sale by ourselves. We got a cheap "burner" phone at Walmart so that we didn't have to put our personal phone number up on the sign. We had 15 flyers taken in the past week or so, and this morning we actually got a call! Someone wants to come see the house tomorrow. Rich will show the house since I'm not home, but we're pretty excited. These people are retired and they have family in our area. Plus, they don't need to sell their house in order to buy our house....so no waiting! :-)
Anyway - I think I'm going to get ready for bed and read for a while. There's not much else to do here. Too bad I didn't think to bring some sewing with me to at least work on tonight.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Books - "A Woman's Place" by Lynn Austin
Earlier this summer, I read a fantastic book by Lynn Austin. I've really gotten hooked on her books lately. While I'm not usually one to read Christian novels, Ms. Austin's writing has a great balance between telling the story and mixing in Christian principles without being "preachy". Here's the write-up for "A Woman's Place" from Amazon:
In an engrossing read, three-time Christy Award–winner Austin explores the lives of four women in smalltown Michigan during WWII. The unlikely quartet of heroines—a mouthy Italian, a farm girl desperate to go to college, a spinster schoolteacher who's inherited a fortune, and a bored housewife—meet and become fast friends when they take Rosie the Riveter jobs at a local factory. On one level, the novel is simply about the bonds that form among the principals, recalling Whitney Otto's How to Make an American Quilt and Lynne Hinton's Friendship Cake. But the subtext, as the title suggests, is about gender roles. Can and should women defy their husbands? What does the Bible say about wifely obedience? Such questions present themselves urgently to each of the four protagonists (and, one imagines, to many of Austin's female evangelical readers). Austin sprinkles some lovely images throughout—a newborn's fingernails "like drops of candle wax"—and a humorous depiction of inadvertently tipsy church ladies will have readers in stitches. All in all, Austin offers a very enjoyable journey to an earlier wartime America.
The entire storyline revolved around 4 women during WWII. As most people are aware, during WWII the majority of the US male population was sent to the front lines to fight, which left a huge hole in the US production environment. With all the men gone (and women not typically working outside the home), there were very few people left to work in the factories to make the supplies that the men on the front lines needed. The women of America stepped up to the plate and joined into industries that were always male dominated. The four women depicted in the novel have their own individual problems and worries at taking a job outside their home. It was definitely a good book to read.
I think part of the reason I was really drawn to this novel is the fact that even though we're 60+ years after WWII, we still have women fighting for our rights to work in a male dominated world. While women are definitely prevalent in the working society, there are still certain professions where there are very few of us. Engineering is definitely one of those fields.
Throughout college, I was one of maybe 2 females in my upper-level classes of 30 people. I learned to live in a male-oriented world, which has had its own affects on me. Even now as I hold a very good engineering position, I am the only female in our group of engineers and drafters. We have two females in our global sites, but I am the only female based here in the US. While most of the time it doesn't really bother me, there are times when I feel like the odd person out simply because everyone else is male. It does make things a little more "challenging".
All I can say is for the mothers out there with young daughters....encourage them to get into math and science. Teach them that just because an industry is mainly male doesn't mean that they can't do it! Set the foundation right when they are in grade school and middle school and they will do well in today's society.
In an engrossing read, three-time Christy Award–winner Austin explores the lives of four women in smalltown Michigan during WWII. The unlikely quartet of heroines—a mouthy Italian, a farm girl desperate to go to college, a spinster schoolteacher who's inherited a fortune, and a bored housewife—meet and become fast friends when they take Rosie the Riveter jobs at a local factory. On one level, the novel is simply about the bonds that form among the principals, recalling Whitney Otto's How to Make an American Quilt and Lynne Hinton's Friendship Cake. But the subtext, as the title suggests, is about gender roles. Can and should women defy their husbands? What does the Bible say about wifely obedience? Such questions present themselves urgently to each of the four protagonists (and, one imagines, to many of Austin's female evangelical readers). Austin sprinkles some lovely images throughout—a newborn's fingernails "like drops of candle wax"—and a humorous depiction of inadvertently tipsy church ladies will have readers in stitches. All in all, Austin offers a very enjoyable journey to an earlier wartime America.
The entire storyline revolved around 4 women during WWII. As most people are aware, during WWII the majority of the US male population was sent to the front lines to fight, which left a huge hole in the US production environment. With all the men gone (and women not typically working outside the home), there were very few people left to work in the factories to make the supplies that the men on the front lines needed. The women of America stepped up to the plate and joined into industries that were always male dominated. The four women depicted in the novel have their own individual problems and worries at taking a job outside their home. It was definitely a good book to read.
I think part of the reason I was really drawn to this novel is the fact that even though we're 60+ years after WWII, we still have women fighting for our rights to work in a male dominated world. While women are definitely prevalent in the working society, there are still certain professions where there are very few of us. Engineering is definitely one of those fields.
Throughout college, I was one of maybe 2 females in my upper-level classes of 30 people. I learned to live in a male-oriented world, which has had its own affects on me. Even now as I hold a very good engineering position, I am the only female in our group of engineers and drafters. We have two females in our global sites, but I am the only female based here in the US. While most of the time it doesn't really bother me, there are times when I feel like the odd person out simply because everyone else is male. It does make things a little more "challenging".
All I can say is for the mothers out there with young daughters....encourage them to get into math and science. Teach them that just because an industry is mainly male doesn't mean that they can't do it! Set the foundation right when they are in grade school and middle school and they will do well in today's society.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Quilt for Sale on Etsy
I finally did it! I listed my first quilt onto Etsy's website. :-) Now that its on there, I feel a little nervous. I think its kind of like the fear of rejection. What if no one likes my quilt? What if no one wants to buy my quilt? I hope that someone will like it and purchase it. It will be somewhat weird once it does sell and I have to ship it off. All of my quilts so far are either here in my home or given to family or friends. It will be kind of strange shipping the quilt off to a complete strange.
If anyone here is interested....here's the listing for the quilt: http://www.etsy.com/listing/54900087/a-star-is-born-boy-or-girl-crib-quilt
If anyone here is interested....here's the listing for the quilt: http://www.etsy.com/listing/54900087/a-star-is-born-boy-or-girl-crib-quilt
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Things that make you go "huh?"....
Being the dutiful wife, Sunday I washed all the clothes, towels and other things for the week. After drying the dark load of wash, I started folding it and came across this:
I have no idea how that happened! Those are both the exact same socks (I only have one pair that have the little purple squares). How the heck did one get to be 5 inches longer than the other??!!! I think the only thing that didn't get stretched out are the diamond shapes.
The other week we had a showing for the house (yes - we're STILL trying to the Albatross). In cleaning up, we found a bag that had a bottle of Clorox2 tipped over in it. Neither of us had noticed that it had fallen over (or we would have picked it up). A feeling of dread went through me when I realized that the bag was wet as I picked it up.....the bottle had leaked.....right on the hardwood floors.
Since we were scrambling to clean the place for a showing the next morning (during the work week), we didn't really have time to figure out a "proper" fix. This was my husband's solution:
"What is he doing?" you may ask....why he's coloring the floor! He decided the "quick fix" would be to take the colored pencils and color the grooves where the Clorox2 bleached the floor.
We were tempted to call his sister and have her bring her 2-year-old down and help, but we didn't think she'd appreciate us teaching Allie how to color on the floor.
Surprsingly, the colored pencils did the job and you can't tell that the wood in the grooves between the boards is a little different in color. Thankfully, its not in a highly traveled area (especially since the Clorox2 took some of the finish off the floor). Now we just have to keep trying to sell the house.
I have no idea how that happened! Those are both the exact same socks (I only have one pair that have the little purple squares). How the heck did one get to be 5 inches longer than the other??!!! I think the only thing that didn't get stretched out are the diamond shapes.
The other week we had a showing for the house (yes - we're STILL trying to the Albatross). In cleaning up, we found a bag that had a bottle of Clorox2 tipped over in it. Neither of us had noticed that it had fallen over (or we would have picked it up). A feeling of dread went through me when I realized that the bag was wet as I picked it up.....the bottle had leaked.....right on the hardwood floors.
Since we were scrambling to clean the place for a showing the next morning (during the work week), we didn't really have time to figure out a "proper" fix. This was my husband's solution:
"What is he doing?" you may ask....why he's coloring the floor! He decided the "quick fix" would be to take the colored pencils and color the grooves where the Clorox2 bleached the floor.
We were tempted to call his sister and have her bring her 2-year-old down and help, but we didn't think she'd appreciate us teaching Allie how to color on the floor.
Surprsingly, the colored pencils did the job and you can't tell that the wood in the grooves between the boards is a little different in color. Thankfully, its not in a highly traveled area (especially since the Clorox2 took some of the finish off the floor). Now we just have to keep trying to sell the house.
Shine on Bayou Cane Quilt - Progress Update
This past weekend, Rich and I pretty much just relaxed the entire weekend. We did a few errands on Saturday and did grocery shopping/laundry on Sunday, but the rest of the weekend was free. With Rich's hand still healing, we didn't want to work up at the lot cutting down trees. Plus, since it rained all day Sunday there wasn't a whole lot to do outside.
I finished up all the blocks for Shine on Bayou Cane from Judy L's book "Weekend Quilts". I actually have them sewn into vertical columns with light green sashing between them, but I don't have a picture of that.
I think the blocks came out pretty well. My corners and star points aren't perfect, but they are much better than the last time I tried to do QST's. I'm hoping with more practice that I'll get better at it. I always seem to have more trouble because of the seam allowances. Its hard to press these blocks when you have all the layers coming together at the middle of the block. The seams just don't want to lay flat...even when I use spray starch. Maybe next time I'll try pressing the seams open and maybe that will alleviate the problem.
On another quilty topic, I did get fabric ordered, washed and pressed for a baby quilt. Its a boy...can you tell? ;-)
I've already cut the yellow-ish fabric and the light blue fabric to the left of the yellow fabric. I still have a lot more to cut though. From the yellow fabric alone, I needed 192 2" squares! From the other fabrics, I'll have another 192 2" squares. I also have a bunch of 4" squares to make HSTs in the design.
I finished up all the blocks for Shine on Bayou Cane from Judy L's book "Weekend Quilts". I actually have them sewn into vertical columns with light green sashing between them, but I don't have a picture of that.
I think the blocks came out pretty well. My corners and star points aren't perfect, but they are much better than the last time I tried to do QST's. I'm hoping with more practice that I'll get better at it. I always seem to have more trouble because of the seam allowances. Its hard to press these blocks when you have all the layers coming together at the middle of the block. The seams just don't want to lay flat...even when I use spray starch. Maybe next time I'll try pressing the seams open and maybe that will alleviate the problem.
On another quilty topic, I did get fabric ordered, washed and pressed for a baby quilt. Its a boy...can you tell? ;-)
I've already cut the yellow-ish fabric and the light blue fabric to the left of the yellow fabric. I still have a lot more to cut though. From the yellow fabric alone, I needed 192 2" squares! From the other fabrics, I'll have another 192 2" squares. I also have a bunch of 4" squares to make HSTs in the design.
This fabric should have been added to a stash busting post, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I think I'll have it add it in this weekend.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Shine on Bayou Cane Quilt & Stuff
I've been slowly making progress on my "Shine on Bayou Cane" quilt from Judy's book "Weekend Quilts". I bought the fabric last year (when Judy had the pattern as a Quilt-for-an-hour quilt) and had intended to make it last year. Work and life got in the way, as it usually does, and here I am more than a year later finally making progress on it.
These pictures are a little old at this point, but since I don't have anything else uploaded right now...this is what you get. ;-)
The pieces in the above picture are now all assembled into the actual 9.5" blocks for the main portion of the quilt. I finished up the last of the blocks last night and I just need to press them.
I've also been pressing fabric for another baby quilt. One of our friends is expecting a baby boy this fall (they already have two girls...twins...from their first pregnancy). I'm hoping to get the fabric cut out this weekend, but we'll see what life has in store for us.
Last weekend, my husband decided to go for a bike ride with his sister while we were visiting their parents. He got 90% done with the bike ride and decided to forget that the bike he was on slipped gears sometimes when you changed them. As he stood up on a pedal to put force on it, the gear slipped and there was absolutely no resistance on the pedal. He went head first over the handle bars and managed to bang himself up pretty well. We thought he may have even broken his hand. We waited until Monday to get x-rays because we didn't really want to fork over the cash to go to the emergency room and we didn't think it was broken...possibly fractured though. Thankfully, no fractures or broken bones, so just a very bad sprain. So besides his hand now turning lovely bruise colors, he has road rash on his knee and something kind of like rug burn on his shoulder. He landed hard on his shoulder when he fell, but the shirt kept the road from really doing damage, but it essentially caused a huge rug burn. We've been bandaging it and putting neosporin on it. At this point, its not oozing anymore, which is good, and it doesn't have to be bandaged but it hurts like a really bad sunburn. The skin is really tight from the "rug" burn, too. I'm going to try to convince him to put some heavy duty lotion (without any alcohol) on it to see if it will help.
Its just another bump in the road to recovery from all the other aches and pains hubby has had this year. It gets pretty discouraging when you're hurting all the time for 8 months straight. Hopefully this is the end of the stupid things happening.
These pictures are a little old at this point, but since I don't have anything else uploaded right now...this is what you get. ;-)
The pieces in the above picture are now all assembled into the actual 9.5" blocks for the main portion of the quilt. I finished up the last of the blocks last night and I just need to press them.
I've also been pressing fabric for another baby quilt. One of our friends is expecting a baby boy this fall (they already have two girls...twins...from their first pregnancy). I'm hoping to get the fabric cut out this weekend, but we'll see what life has in store for us.
Last weekend, my husband decided to go for a bike ride with his sister while we were visiting their parents. He got 90% done with the bike ride and decided to forget that the bike he was on slipped gears sometimes when you changed them. As he stood up on a pedal to put force on it, the gear slipped and there was absolutely no resistance on the pedal. He went head first over the handle bars and managed to bang himself up pretty well. We thought he may have even broken his hand. We waited until Monday to get x-rays because we didn't really want to fork over the cash to go to the emergency room and we didn't think it was broken...possibly fractured though. Thankfully, no fractures or broken bones, so just a very bad sprain. So besides his hand now turning lovely bruise colors, he has road rash on his knee and something kind of like rug burn on his shoulder. He landed hard on his shoulder when he fell, but the shirt kept the road from really doing damage, but it essentially caused a huge rug burn. We've been bandaging it and putting neosporin on it. At this point, its not oozing anymore, which is good, and it doesn't have to be bandaged but it hurts like a really bad sunburn. The skin is really tight from the "rug" burn, too. I'm going to try to convince him to put some heavy duty lotion (without any alcohol) on it to see if it will help.
Its just another bump in the road to recovery from all the other aches and pains hubby has had this year. It gets pretty discouraging when you're hurting all the time for 8 months straight. Hopefully this is the end of the stupid things happening.
Friday, August 6, 2010
August Book Finish #1
Earlier this month, I finished reading a booked called "Under the Lemon Trees" by Bhira Backhaus. The book initially looked intriguing, but I think in the end it just wasn't me. The reviews on Amazon for this book are all good, but I honestly found it rather boring. Here's the info from Amazon:
"Backhaus's debut novel explores love, loss and the tangled web of family in the matriarchal Oak Grove, Calif., Sikh community of 1976. Teenage narrator Jeeto is already caught between two worlds, the college-bound crowd of her American classmates and the traditional marriage, arranged by her mother, to an unknown young man from India. Through Jeeto's conflict, Backhaus explores the tension between the traditional and the new in her sister, relatives and neighbors. Uncle Avtar, who fled India for a life of opportunity, loses his heart to an American waitress, but finds his loyalty to the Sikh community pulling him back into the fold. Jeeto's sister, Neelam, in love with a young man of undesirable parentage, passively accepts her arranged marriage to a stranger, while Jeeto's friend Surinder openly rebels against community mores. Intertwined, their stories of loss, connection and the search for identity create a rich, sensuous portrait of a culture in transition; unfortunately, her myriad cast is populated largely by stock characters, keeping Backhaus's world from coming fully alive."
I found it very hard to follow the story in the book and it took a long time for me to actually finish the book. I think part of it was just the fact that being an independent woman growing up in the US, I just can't fathom being forced to follow cultural traditions. I'm American and I have a lot of Irish in me, but that doesn't make me follow every little tradition that the Irish have. My father in-law is 100% Italian, but he doesn't follow every Italian tradition.
Maybe its part of the Indian culture though. It bothers me when I hear of women having to marry someone they've never met and have never spoken to. You're going to live with that person for the next 50 years, you should at least know what type of person they are. I guess I just don't understand a culture where your family would dis-own you for going against their wishes. Sure, my parents were unhappy with my sister for a while because she eloped instead of marrying in a church, but they came around and even though they weren't happy about how she got married, they were happy for her. They held a reception for her and her husband the next time they were here to visit. Just because someone doesn't do something the way YOU would do it doesn't mean that its completely wrong and that you should shut that person out forever. Cultures that require ultimatims are things of the past and in order for that culture to grow it needs to give its people some freedom.
"Backhaus's debut novel explores love, loss and the tangled web of family in the matriarchal Oak Grove, Calif., Sikh community of 1976. Teenage narrator Jeeto is already caught between two worlds, the college-bound crowd of her American classmates and the traditional marriage, arranged by her mother, to an unknown young man from India. Through Jeeto's conflict, Backhaus explores the tension between the traditional and the new in her sister, relatives and neighbors. Uncle Avtar, who fled India for a life of opportunity, loses his heart to an American waitress, but finds his loyalty to the Sikh community pulling him back into the fold. Jeeto's sister, Neelam, in love with a young man of undesirable parentage, passively accepts her arranged marriage to a stranger, while Jeeto's friend Surinder openly rebels against community mores. Intertwined, their stories of loss, connection and the search for identity create a rich, sensuous portrait of a culture in transition; unfortunately, her myriad cast is populated largely by stock characters, keeping Backhaus's world from coming fully alive."
I found it very hard to follow the story in the book and it took a long time for me to actually finish the book. I think part of it was just the fact that being an independent woman growing up in the US, I just can't fathom being forced to follow cultural traditions. I'm American and I have a lot of Irish in me, but that doesn't make me follow every little tradition that the Irish have. My father in-law is 100% Italian, but he doesn't follow every Italian tradition.
Maybe its part of the Indian culture though. It bothers me when I hear of women having to marry someone they've never met and have never spoken to. You're going to live with that person for the next 50 years, you should at least know what type of person they are. I guess I just don't understand a culture where your family would dis-own you for going against their wishes. Sure, my parents were unhappy with my sister for a while because she eloped instead of marrying in a church, but they came around and even though they weren't happy about how she got married, they were happy for her. They held a reception for her and her husband the next time they were here to visit. Just because someone doesn't do something the way YOU would do it doesn't mean that its completely wrong and that you should shut that person out forever. Cultures that require ultimatims are things of the past and in order for that culture to grow it needs to give its people some freedom.
Needlepoint - Starry Night
Over the past few months, I haven't had a lot of energy to do quilting. Partially because I've been lazy at home and partially due to trying to sell the house. Since we were having a lot of open houses and showings, for a long time this spring it was difficult to get into quilting because as soon as I would get stuff out I would have to put it away again for a showing. So instead...I was able to get a lot of progress done on my needlepoint.
The pattern I have is a huge pattern. I believe the end size of the needlepoint will be somewhere around 25" wide and about 15" tall....that's a lot of stitches. Below are two pictures from this past year for the needlepoint. With the pictures right next to each other, its pretty neat to see the progress that has been made.
Starry Night from February 23, 2010.
Starry Night from July 29, 2010.
In the second picture, where the section is about 30-40% filled in, that's about 80% filled in now and its only been about a week since I took that picture. I guess I make a lot of progress when I don't feel like doing anything else in the heat. ;-)
The pattern I have is a huge pattern. I believe the end size of the needlepoint will be somewhere around 25" wide and about 15" tall....that's a lot of stitches. Below are two pictures from this past year for the needlepoint. With the pictures right next to each other, its pretty neat to see the progress that has been made.
Starry Night from February 23, 2010.
Starry Night from July 29, 2010.
In the second picture, where the section is about 30-40% filled in, that's about 80% filled in now and its only been about a week since I took that picture. I guess I make a lot of progress when I don't feel like doing anything else in the heat. ;-)
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
August Goals - Post #1
Since I seemed to do pretty well last month with my goals, I'm trying it again this month. I've added a tab at the top of my blog for "Goals & To Do List". This will be where I keep the running progress of my goals, but I'll also post here for the larger updates to it. So here's what I plan to accomplish in August:
- Post weekly on blog. -- I'm currently at post #2 for this month.
- Assemble all 30 blocks for "Shine on Bayou Cane" quilt.
- Read 3 books. -- I'm currently reading "Gods & Kings" by Lynn Austin.
- Finish page 11 on "Starry Night" needlepoint.
- Assemble "Patches & Pinwheels" for Tim & Liz's baby boy.
Monday, August 2, 2010
July Goals - Completed
For the 6 goals that I set out to complete in July....I actually got them all done! :-) The last one got finished up on July 30th, so I actually finished with 1 day to spare.
- Post at least weekly on blog -- I posted every week and sometimes multiple times per week. In all, I had 11 posts.
- Finish pressing and trimming all QSTs for Shine on Bayou Cane quilt -- I finished up the last of the QSTs on Friday evening. So I have a total of 120 HSTs and 120 QSTs made for the quilt. This next month, my goal is to get them all sewn into blocks.
- Upload pictures from England -- This got finished up fairly early in the month.
- Read 3 books -- I actually finished 4 books, so I excelled on this one. ;-)
- Finish up page 10 on Starry Night needlepoint -- this also got finished early in the month. I've been doing quite a bit of needlepoint lately. I haven't felt the energy after work to get the sewing machine out, so the needlepoint has been getting a lot of attention. I'm probably about 50-60% done with the next page.
- Get together with friends for tea -- this was finished up just last weekend (7/24).
Friday, July 30, 2010
House/Land Progress
Ever since we closed on our property on July 2nd, Rich and I have been going up there on weekends to clear out trees and other brush from where the house and yard will be. You don't really notice how much things have changed until you start to look at the photographs.
In the photo below, you can just barely see the stone well (where the sun light is at the bottom 1/3 of the photo).
Also, you can see the wood pile on the left in the picture below.
Here are some new pictures of the property. Now when I say these are "new", they are after only a week of clearing. I haven't taken my camera up to the property the last few times. So the pictures above are from July 2nd, and the pictures below are from July 10th. There's quite a bit of difference from just that week. Of course, we were on vacation that week and spent it working on the lot, so a lot of progress was made that first week.
One of the neatest things is that we saw a bunch of tadpoles in the creek at the back of the property. They were getting pretty big then and I'm sure they are now full-grown frogs.
We're supposed to be up at the property working this weekend, so I hope to take some new pictures to show the difference we've made.
In the photo below, you can just barely see the stone well (where the sun light is at the bottom 1/3 of the photo).
Also, you can see the wood pile on the left in the picture below.
Here are some new pictures of the property. Now when I say these are "new", they are after only a week of clearing. I haven't taken my camera up to the property the last few times. So the pictures above are from July 2nd, and the pictures below are from July 10th. There's quite a bit of difference from just that week. Of course, we were on vacation that week and spent it working on the lot, so a lot of progress was made that first week.
One of the neatest things is that we saw a bunch of tadpoles in the creek at the back of the property. They were getting pretty big then and I'm sure they are now full-grown frogs.
We're supposed to be up at the property working this weekend, so I hope to take some new pictures to show the difference we've made.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
July Book Reading
One of the pretty good authors I have gotten hooked on recently was Lynn Austin. She writes some good womens' interest novels that do have a bit of a religious swing to them. I think the reason I like them is that they are what one could consider "wholesome" but the religious aspect of them is very understated. The characters are typically very Christian, but its not like the author is trying to preach Christianity through her novels.
Anyway, the most recent one I read is called "A Proper Pursuit". Here's the description from Amazon:
The great strength of this novel comes from the first-person narrator's charming voice: 20-year-old Violet Hayes is distressed to learn that her father is remarrying-and that her mother, whom Violet believed lay recovering from a mysterious illness in a sanitarium somewhere, had in fact simply abandoned her family and filed for divorce. To escape a stepmother-to-be she can't stand, Violet heads to Chicago to stay with her grandmother and great-aunts. Although she's recently graduated from a genteel school for young ladies, it's in Chicago that Violet's real education begins. One great-aunt tries to persuade her to join the suffrage movement, while another introduces Violet to elite society and urges her to catch a wealthy husband. Her grandmother, who takes her cues from Jane Addams, introduces Violet to the world of revivalist Christianity and inner-city good works, prompting Violet to re-examine her own faith. Two questions drive the plot: will Violet find her mother, and will she encounter true love? Readers will enjoy accompanying Violet as she discovers the answers, her calling and her adult self.
The book truly has a good story in it and its a quick summer read. As with most of Lynn Austin's books, the main character interacts with several other supporting characters that have totally different views of how the world should be. Its really interesting to see the conflicts that Violet goes through when trying to make all of her relatives happy.
In the end it really comes down to the fact that you have to choose how YOU want to live your life to make you feel happy and that you're doing the right thing. While you can listen to the advice of those around you, its not necessarily in your best interest to model yourself after any one person. You have to do what will make you feel good and right about your own life.
Anyway, the most recent one I read is called "A Proper Pursuit". Here's the description from Amazon:
The great strength of this novel comes from the first-person narrator's charming voice: 20-year-old Violet Hayes is distressed to learn that her father is remarrying-and that her mother, whom Violet believed lay recovering from a mysterious illness in a sanitarium somewhere, had in fact simply abandoned her family and filed for divorce. To escape a stepmother-to-be she can't stand, Violet heads to Chicago to stay with her grandmother and great-aunts. Although she's recently graduated from a genteel school for young ladies, it's in Chicago that Violet's real education begins. One great-aunt tries to persuade her to join the suffrage movement, while another introduces Violet to elite society and urges her to catch a wealthy husband. Her grandmother, who takes her cues from Jane Addams, introduces Violet to the world of revivalist Christianity and inner-city good works, prompting Violet to re-examine her own faith. Two questions drive the plot: will Violet find her mother, and will she encounter true love? Readers will enjoy accompanying Violet as she discovers the answers, her calling and her adult self.
The book truly has a good story in it and its a quick summer read. As with most of Lynn Austin's books, the main character interacts with several other supporting characters that have totally different views of how the world should be. Its really interesting to see the conflicts that Violet goes through when trying to make all of her relatives happy.
In the end it really comes down to the fact that you have to choose how YOU want to live your life to make you feel happy and that you're doing the right thing. While you can listen to the advice of those around you, its not necessarily in your best interest to model yourself after any one person. You have to do what will make you feel good and right about your own life.
July Goals - Progress Update #2
So I've actually made progress on the goals for this month, and I think I've pretty much gotten them all done with the exception of the final trimming of the QSTs for "Shine on Bayou Cane".
- Post at least weekly on blog. DONE! - I've posted every week this month with a total of 9 posts.
- Finish pressing and trimming all QSTs for Shine on Bayou Cane quilt. I've sewn all the QSTs and pressed them. I just have to trim them to the finished size and then this will be done. I trimmed 20 of the 60 last night, so I'm already 1/3 of the way there.
- Upload pictures from England. DONE!
- Read 3 books. DONE! - two Harry Potter books, "A Proper Pursuit" by Lynn Austin, and almost done with "Under the Lemon Trees" by Bhira Backhaus.
- Finish up page 10 on Starry Night needlepoint. DONE! I'm not about 30-35% done with page 11. Only 14 more to go. ;-)
- Get together with friends for TEA. DONE! I posted about it here.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Tea & England
Saturday afternoon I was finally able to get together with a friend for tea. We had a great time! There's a little tea shop in the area that serves some pretty good food and tea. Now I'm partial to Harney & Son's tean, but this place was fairly decent. I had a Peach Blossom White tea, which was very good for a warm summer afternoon. I also had one of their berry crepes...and let me tell you...its probably a good thing I don't go there too often or else I'd be a lot bigger than I am right now. :-)
We apparently had more to talk about than we originally thought considering we didn't get to talk about books at all and we talked for nearly 4 hours! We'll definitely have to do it again soon.
On the way home from the tea shop, I started thinking again about the trip to England. My friend and her husband had made a trip there last year and loved it. I think I would like to go again with my husband just as a nice vacation instead of a work trip. On the drive home, I did happen to recall all the "odd" things in England:
Anyway, hope everyone is having a good week. My week at work will be very hectic with most people out on vacation. I'm essentially doing another person's job this week by checking their drawings and getting none of my own work done. It will probably take me another 3 weeks to dig out of the hole once that person comes back. Of all the weeks for him to take vacation!
I'll post on some quilting progress later this week! :-)
We apparently had more to talk about than we originally thought considering we didn't get to talk about books at all and we talked for nearly 4 hours! We'll definitely have to do it again soon.
On the way home from the tea shop, I started thinking again about the trip to England. My friend and her husband had made a trip there last year and loved it. I think I would like to go again with my husband just as a nice vacation instead of a work trip. On the drive home, I did happen to recall all the "odd" things in England:
- Public Restrooms - in the US, pretty much wherever you go there's a public restroom available...free of charge. Now, most of the restrooms aren't exactly "clean" but in a pinch, you can use the bathroom. In England at the train station, you had to pay to use the restroom. Now it wasn't a whole lot (I think maybe 15 or 25 pence), but I thought it was really weird to have to pay to use a bathroom. This is especially the case when the bathroom isn't really that clean. I've seen gas station bathrooms that are cleaner than this one at the train station and that's saying a lot considering most gas station bathrooms are pretty disgusting. One would expect that if you had to pay to use the bathroom, it would at least by clean.
- All bathrooms - so the other weird thing..while still on the dirty topic of bathrooms. The toilets in England were DEFINITELY not water savers. When you flushed the toilet, I think the water came from the ceiling and about 10 gallons filled the bowl then washed away. You got used to after a while, but the first few flushes really catch you off guard.
- Friendly people - onto a better topic.... ;-) One of the great things while we were traveling around was how nice other people were. We didn't have many maps with us and the roads over in England don't typically have street names, which made things even more confusing, so we got lost a few times. However, people in both London and Durham were always very nice and helpful in giving us directions. In the US, people would just as soon not talk to you or give you the wrong directions and then laugh when you went off in the opposite direction of where you should have been going. It was refreshing to have so many people willing to help you.
- Walking - I completely understand now why so many British are thinner than Americans....they walk EVERYWHERE. The oddest thing was that even though they would walk miles to various places, all the women wore fancy little shoes with high heels. One day I wore my work boots (dress boots) to class where we had to walk 1-1.5 miles. My feet were killing me that day and I ended up wearing sneakers the rest of the week. I don't understand how these women walk so much in such little shoes that have no cushioning and no support.
Anyway, hope everyone is having a good week. My week at work will be very hectic with most people out on vacation. I'm essentially doing another person's job this week by checking their drawings and getting none of my own work done. It will probably take me another 3 weeks to dig out of the hole once that person comes back. Of all the weeks for him to take vacation!
I'll post on some quilting progress later this week! :-)
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
New House - Property
On July 2nd, we finally closed on the property that we were trying to buy. We had the septic tests completed earlier this summer and paid to have a well dug. Thankfully, the well proved to be a good producer and we have clean, potable water at 9 gallons per minute (local code is 3 gallons per minute for a residential home). We're so excited to finally have our land that we're going to put our house onto!
Before we did anything with the land, our first stop was to Lowe's to get some No Trespassing signs. We've seen deer stands on the property along with lots of deer footprints. We know that people hunt there during hunting season, but now that we own it....we don't want ANYONE hunting on our property. For starters we just put signs up in the front, but later this summer (before hunting season in the fall) we'll put up signs in the back so that people know its private property.
The piece of property is in Charlton, NY which is about 20 minutes west of Albany and a little bit north. Its a very pretty area and most of it is agricultural (no - we don't mind the smell of farm animals). The property is just over 16 acres and its all wooded. The majority of the trees in the front 1000 ft of the lot are Cherry, with some maple and birch mixed in. Towards the back of the lot, the trees are more pine trees, but there's still some hardwoods back there. There's also a stream/creek that flows through the back of the property.
There's a "road" that goes into the property mainly from us getting the well truck in there. We had to have our builder put a culvert over a wet area to make sure that the well truck wouldn't get stuck. There was a cleared "path" before, which we think was from when the logged the property MANY years ago. So here's the views as you walk into the property:
Before we did anything with the land, our first stop was to Lowe's to get some No Trespassing signs. We've seen deer stands on the property along with lots of deer footprints. We know that people hunt there during hunting season, but now that we own it....we don't want ANYONE hunting on our property. For starters we just put signs up in the front, but later this summer (before hunting season in the fall) we'll put up signs in the back so that people know its private property.
The piece of property is in Charlton, NY which is about 20 minutes west of Albany and a little bit north. Its a very pretty area and most of it is agricultural (no - we don't mind the smell of farm animals). The property is just over 16 acres and its all wooded. The majority of the trees in the front 1000 ft of the lot are Cherry, with some maple and birch mixed in. Towards the back of the lot, the trees are more pine trees, but there's still some hardwoods back there. There's also a stream/creek that flows through the back of the property.
There's a "road" that goes into the property mainly from us getting the well truck in there. We had to have our builder put a culvert over a wet area to make sure that the well truck wouldn't get stuck. There was a cleared "path" before, which we think was from when the logged the property MANY years ago. So here's the views as you walk into the property:
Walking in right at the front
About 50 feet in
About 100 ft in
About 200 ft in
About 350 ft in
Our nice little well :-)
Looking down the final curve to the house area
You can barely see the stone wall (where the sun peaks through). That's where the front of the cleared area will start. The house is about 30-40 feet back from the wall.
Standing at the wall looking in towards where the house will be. Unfortunately, that nice big tree in the front will have to be taken down.
See that wood pile on the left....that's now completely moved. A bunch of the trees are taken down, too. That whole area is bathed in sunlight most of the day now.
More of the wood pile ;-)
The happy lot owners! ;-) Sorry about the picture being fuzzy - I didn't let the camera focus long enough. I didn't know how long Rich would sit still for the photo.
And the stream at the back of the lot. This is with very little rain. Once we get more rain (and in the spring time) there is a lot of water in the streambed.
July Goals - Progress Update #2
I've made a little bit of progress on my goals this month, though not nearly what I would have like so far. Here we go:
- Post at least weekly on blog. So far I've posted 7 times (including this one), so I'm well on my way to meeting this goal.
- Finish pressing and trimming all QSTs for Shine on Bayou Cane quilt. Haven't made much progress here. I did get all the HSTs pressed, but I now have to trim half of them, and then re-sew the two halfs into QSTs.
- Upload pictures from England. DONE!
- Read 3 books. DONE! I've finished two Harry Potter books and "A Proper Pursuit" by Lynn Austin. I'm now working on "Under the Lemon Trees" by Bhira Backhaus.
- Finish up page 10 on Starry Night needlepoint. DONE! I'm now about 10-15% done with page 11 (only 14 more to go). ;-)
- Get together with friends for TEA. Haven't made much progress on this one. It seems like our schedules are pretty full, so its been tough to find a good time to meet. Two more weeks to get this done! ;-)
Monday, July 19, 2010
England - Final Night
By the time Friday evening rolled around while I was in England, I was definitely ready to go home. While it was really nice being there, there truly is nothing else like home. So Friday's class finished up early since many of us had to leave to catch trains back to London. Our train left Durham at 6:30pm, which put us back in London around 9:30pm. Thankfully our hotel was within walking distance of Paddington Station, so we just had a quick trip on the Underground that night and then to the hotel. After checking in, we went out to grab dinner and didn't get back to the hotel until close to midnight.
Now, the hotel.... that's a weird situation. We got a really good deal on the hotel in Durham -- a group rate of 97 pounds per night and it was a really nice hotel. My guess is that normally it was close to 200 pounds per night. So the hotel we stayed at in London that final evening...we tried to get a place with a similar rate of 97 pounds per night. Let me tell you....that gets a clean, but REALLY SMALL room! I couldn't help myself but take some pictures of it because it was so small. To be honest, I don't know how any large people would be able to stay in this hotel since the bathroom was so small. I'm a relatively small person and my elbows hit the sides of the shower when I showered the next morning. However they did have the all important necessities...a teapot in the room. ;-)
As I said.... a REALLY small bathroom!
So the trip was uneventful and overall I had a good time. Next time I would much rather travel there with Rich and be able to enjoy the trip.
Now, the hotel.... that's a weird situation. We got a really good deal on the hotel in Durham -- a group rate of 97 pounds per night and it was a really nice hotel. My guess is that normally it was close to 200 pounds per night. So the hotel we stayed at in London that final evening...we tried to get a place with a similar rate of 97 pounds per night. Let me tell you....that gets a clean, but REALLY SMALL room! I couldn't help myself but take some pictures of it because it was so small. To be honest, I don't know how any large people would be able to stay in this hotel since the bathroom was so small. I'm a relatively small person and my elbows hit the sides of the shower when I showered the next morning. However they did have the all important necessities...a teapot in the room. ;-)
As I said.... a REALLY small bathroom!
So the trip was uneventful and overall I had a good time. Next time I would much rather travel there with Rich and be able to enjoy the trip.
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