Cross your fingers for me

I have to call at 11:00 this morning to find out if I have to report for jury duty at 12:45. How crazy is that? They don't want me on a jury; they really don't. I guess I'll have to see if I learned anything from listening to voir dire for 25 years.

And cross your fingers that Matt can come out tonight or tomorrow night to clean up my computer. Nasty pop-ups have invaded me. I think I made it worse by trying to clean it up myself.

I picked up the fixed portable DVD player from Best Buy last night. For once I've glad I bought that fix-it plan. I missed my little friend. Maybe I'll sit at the sewing table now that she's back to entertain me.

Gratitudes:

~ A good night's sleep
~ Daisy waiting patiently to go out while I type this
~ Reading blogs for a minute here and there; there really is quilting going on!
~ And for my friend -- :) :) :)

This time it's my fault!

I can't get that stupid Hokey-Pokey song out of my head!

I've been ironing and cutting fabric for the blasted giterdun quilt. You heard it right. It's getting done. I just set the ironing board up in the living room in front of the TV, loaded up DVDs and started ironing. I thought that would distract me from the song, but, noooooooo, I caught myself doing the Hokey-Pokey while I was ironing! You should see me shaking it all about! ROFLOL. Daisy was cocking her head sideways just looking at me. I could picture a balloon over her head with "Mommy's been sniffing too much fabric sizing" in it.

Gratitude:

Downey Wrinkle Release. I'm on the second bottle of it today!

It's all Shelina's fault!

I've been sitting here giggling ever since I read her blog this morning. Shelina's blog made me laugh out loud at 5:15 a.m.!

I need to set the stage a bit here. My elementary school was right behind my house. Dad put a gate in our fence, so I could walk right onto the school grounds. Mom was a nurse, and her days off were usually during the week. Now, on to the story.

One day my first grade teacher took us outside on a beautiful spring day to exercise a bit. We were all in a big circle. She was teaching us to sing and dance a song, the Hokey-Pokey! I was having fun with it. "You put your right hand in. You put your right hand out. You put your right hand in and shake it all about." (Sorry if this ditty gets stuck in your head today.)

Now it's time for the other hand. "You put your left hand in. You put your left hand out ......." OMG, a bird flew over and bird poop fell right in the palm of my hand!!!

I screamed and all the little boys in the class started laughing and pointing at me. I started crying and took off running across the school grounds towards home. I ran through the gate and into the house crying and holding my hand out. Mom was standing at the kitchen sink.

Her version of the story: She looked up and saw me tearing across the back yard and into the house. Behind me were 20 kids all running at full speed and the teacher in close pursuit. All of a sudden her kitchen was stuffed with a classroom full of kids all talking at the top of their voices. The teacher comes running in huffing and puffing and apologizing for the escape of her class.

Mom took control of the situation and did what she did best. She got my hands clean, and proceeded to line everyone up at the kitchen sink to wash their hands also. Then she sat us all down on the living room floor with a cup of milk and a bag of store-bought cookies. The teacher then marched us through the back yard, out the gate and across the school grounds back to class.

My Dad was howling that night when he heard the story. From that day forward, every time he saw me sad or moping about, he'd break out into the Hokey-Pokey song and dance! Talk about smile factor! This 6'4 man dancing about and shaking his hips .... ROFLOL.

The night of Dad's funeral, Mom and I were sitting in the living room and talking about this wonderful man. My always very serious Mother suddenly stood up and started doing the Hokey-Pokey. Ah, laughter through tears ....

Gratitudes:

~ Memories of a wonderful childhood
~ Still laughing about this silly incident 50 years later
~ Hearing the birds starting to chirp outside. I think I woke them up!

P.S.: A huge THANK YOU to Katja who emailed me instructions on how to do the link!

It's all Nancy's fault!

This was my first sewing room that had to double as a guest room. Like anyone could get to that daybed in there! I remember when I posted this on Alex's message board back in 2003. You wouldn't believe the comments! Well, maybe you can. I thought it was funny. Guess no one has my warped sense of humor!

Nancy, you asked for it. See? It happens to all of us!! But, boy, did I create some beauties in that little room!

One more thing, Nancy. Since you did such a bang-up job as the official count-downer on the August no-buy month, can we hope that you'll do it again for us (me) in May?

Okay, who's next?

Gratitudes:

~ A Jane fix tonight!
~ My second copy of 'Southern Lady' in the mail tonight. Huge thanks to my friend who gifted me with that subscription!

It's all Judy's fault!

Yes, it is! Ever since I read her blog this morning, I've been thinking about the twists and turns of my life.

I believe the decisions we make in life, informed or not, are meant to be dealt with and made the most of. I feel comfortable I have done that. But the failures are looming out there for me to ponder on, and I can't help but wonder that perhaps if I had done something differently .... well, I can't ponder that too long or I'll go nuts.

I'm comfortable that I've been successful in both my careers. I worked really hard at being a good court reporter. I challenged myself constantly, read, researched, took classes, and I think all the effort paid off. Do I miss that career? Someone asked me that today. No, I don't miss the drudgery of reporting - taking testimony, churning out transcripts, falling asleep with proofreading in my lap every night. But I do miss the legal community and the attorneys and judges that I came to know very well during those 25 years. I learned so much about a lot of different things. Some of the things I learned I still use to this day.

Then there came THE move. I can't even relate how hard it was to move from everything and everyone I had ever known. I sold three houses, sold my business, said goodbye to family and friends, and headed off west on I-10. It took me three or four months to complete my transcripts when I got here, so I was still involved with the folks back home to some extent.

After only about a month of living with my new husband, I realized that his version of reality was much different than mine. At the two-month mark I began job searching. I sent out three resumes, got three interviews, three job offers, and I chose the one closest to where I was living. May 14th will be 13 years at this job. I was determined to succeed. I think I have.

My failures mostly stem from trusting too much and giving too much of myself. I get burned and it hurts like hell. But I've learned from those failures. I just don't want to turn cynical in my old age. I'm trying really hard not to be that way. For the last year I've had people tell me that I seem happier than I have been in a very long time. I think that has come from removing from my life the people or things that made me unhappy.

Regrets are what haunt me the most. I regret that I didn't try harder, that I didn't say "I love you" more, that I didn't stand up for myself when it could have made a difference. But despite all of that, I feel so blessed with loving family and friends, and a life in which I am comfortable.

I'm going to be 56 in a few months. I feel so much older than that, probably because of the medical problems. But I still think like a 30 year old. And that's what is most important! LOL. I don't feel there's anything I can't do if I try really hard -- well, except for getting up off the floor! And fitting into all those size six clothes that are hanging in the back of my closet! And wearing a 32B bra! (sigh)

Maybe I've been pondering today so much because my most difficult month of the year is nearing an end.

Gratitudes:

~ Every single day that I wake up healthy and happy
~ That good feeling you get when you know you've done an excellent job
~ Decluttering
~ My friends who really do keep me sane
~ As ever, my Daisy dog

Well, all I can say ....

All I can say is that I'm sure glad May is a no-buy month for me because ... well, enough said. :)

On the quilty front, I've been too exhausted at night to do much - and last weekend was spent doing more stuff in the house. This dejunking thing is working. But, aack, the garage is next! All those half unpacked boxes from two years ago will finally get finished!

I have been unquilting a quilt that I blogged about a while back. I'm about halfway done, and I was seriously considering just tossing the whole kit and caboodle. But then again, it's perfectly good fabric, so I'm going to forge ahead. But I'll never do this again!

Oh, I picked up a quilt book tonight while visiting Jane at the shop. Okay, okay, I know I said no more books, but this one I had to have. It's "Colorful Quilts" by Cynthia LeBlanc Regone. She's from Lafayette, Louisiana. I mean, how cool is that! It has some cute quilts in it. I actually might make a couple of them! Gasp! Yep, I'm actually going to make a quilt from one of those 70hundred books I own!

Figuring out the camera is a MUST for this weekend. A MUST!

Happy Easter

Easter always has me thinking of growing up. As a kid, it was just as exciting as Christmastime. The anticipation of that Easter basket was almost too much to bear!

I've always been an early riser. My Dad was making coffee at 4:00 every morning, and I wandered out of bed shortly thereafter. Looking back, that hour with him before Mom joined us was magical. Even as a little kid Dad and I would have real grown-up conversations. I always felt so comfortable talking to him about anything. I'm sure as I grew older those early morning talks had a lot to do with his hair sprouting some gray!

The Easter morning that kept Mom and Dad in stitches until the day they died was when I was about six years old. Don and I both were told every Easter morning that we had to stay in bed until 5:00, because if we got up too early and caught the Easter Bunny leaving our baskets, that he might not want to come back to visit us. So I would lay there and lay there until I heard Mom get up. Then it was time!

This particular Easter Sunday I thought I heard her. So I hauled it out of bed, and when I rounded the corner into the living room, in the dim light I saw this HUGE white bunny standing by the coffee table. OMG, I had caught the Easter bunny!!

You've never heard such shrieking in your life! I ran down the hallway to my bedroom screaming at the top of my lungs! I jumped back in my bed and hid under the covers. Of course, all the commotion brought Mom and Dad running to see what was the matter. I was crying and sobbing. When they got me settled down a bit, enough to tell them the problem, I told them I had caught the Easter Bunny leaving my basket. Dad started laughing - his wonderful laugh that started deep in his belly and sort of rolled out of his mouth. He was laughing so hard that he couldn't speak. Then Mom, who was trying to console me, started laughing. They both had their heads back, tears running down their faces, and were just howling with laughter. I was crying, they were laughing - the more I cried, the more they laughed - and laughed and laughed. Of course, my crying ceased as I was watching them. They would just about get composed, and Mom would start giggling and off they would go again!

Laughter didn't come easily to Mom. (Note to self: Remember to blog that picture of Mom when she was pregnant with me. She actually looks ticked off! LOL) She was very serious about life, and had little, if any, sense of humor. My Dad, on the other hand, although very quiet, had a fabulous sense of humor, and loved to pick on Mom when she got too serious. Thank goodness Don and I both take after him in that regard! Well, not the "quiet" part, for sure! Watching her laugh that day with uncontrolled mirth is something I will never forget!

Oh, the rest of the story! As it turns out, the Easter Bunny left me a giant stuffed bunny that was too big to sit on the coffee table by my basket. So he left it standing on the side of the coffee table. That white stuffed bunny is what I saw, not the real Easter bunny! But you can bet that every Easter after that, I would go into their bedroom to get Mom before I ventured out into the living room!

I want to wish everyone in Bloggerland a most joyous Easter Sunday. I know not everyone is a Christian, but it's the JOY of this day, regardless of your religion or belief, that I would like to share. I hope that everyone gets to laugh today, or even smile just the teeniest bit. That's my wish for everyone!

Nothing Special

I still haven't figured out the problem with the camera card reader yet. Until then, at least here's a picture, albeit a bad one, of Miss Daisy.

On the spring cleaning front, I've made great headway in decluttering this joint. Still a long way to go, but at least it looks better. I actually enjoyed this weekend. I had a spurt of energy for some reason. Saturday I spent mostly cleaning carpets and hauling stuff up to the stash room. Sunday was running endless errands, and getting my taxes done. Even with the work schedule this month, I'm hoping to have everything tidy and in order for the big sewing month of May! Yes, sewing! I'm going to bond with my Bernina. I don't know how much I'll get done, but I'm going to enjoy it!

One of the things I'm going to do this month is go through all the old quilting magazines and pull out things that appeal to me and toss the rest of the magazine. That will free up a couple of shelves for books. Just need to get a three ring binder, or a couple of them, to store the projects that I want to keep.

My boss' black lab, Magic, won another field trial last weekend. That's four wins this season so far. But on a sad note, another of his labs, Bronco, was bitten by a snake. He is down in Texas with a dog trainer, and was bitten on Saturday. He's been with a vet since then but is not doing very well. So today they were going to transfer him to Texas A&M Vet School. Not sure what kind of snake it was, but apparently not a rattler or he'd already be gone. Bronco is a beautiful dog, about a year and a half. We're anxiously awaiting the updates a couple of times a day. The prognosis doesn't look good, and that's just so sad.

Gratitudes:

~ Extra special hugs for Daisy each night.

~ Roses and daylilies blooming everywhere! Gorgeous!

~ Wool floss order arriving. I'm anxious to try this.

~ Realizing that I'm plumb happy these days!