CRITTERS .........

We're dropping down in Central California.  Slowly but surely, the weather is cooling off.  Not that I'm complaining, but soon we will have a high of 65.  Time to finish up all those outdoor chores!

This is what it looks like every morning in my house.  This is rather subdued and quiet.  It's usually very LOUD and DEMANDING!  It's breakfast time and MOM, I'M HUNGRY!!  I may not have to cook for a MAN, but I certainly am at the disposal of Mr. Cooper.  If I waited, the rug would be completely rolled up.

This one is even worse when it comes to attention.  I thought cats were very independent nose-in-the-air critters.  Not so much THIS one.  She talks constantly and spends more time on this arm of the couch than anywhere in the house. 

See what I mean?  She doesn't care to sit in my lap, but she likes to be touching.  POOF!  Instant cat hair everywhere!  Summer isn't going to be fun, I can tell.

Though I got all dressed up to go OUT, it never happened,  I can't tell you how often that occurs.  Part of it is the Cooper-has-to-go-out constantly problem, and part of it is fuel costs at the moment.  Not that I can't afford it ..... I can ..... but my feet stick in the ground when they jump the price up to $6.79 a gallon the day they open up drilling on the California coast.  It SHOULD have gone DOWN, not UP.

Since I was out of Cooper food, I decided to cook for him instead.  Truly, I cook more for him than I ever do myself!  It's just boiled chicken ... his favorite.  He doesn't get a lot, just a sprinkling over his regular dog food.  If you think chicken is expensive, you should see the price on his DRY food.  Two years ago it went from $35 a bag to $65 a bag.  You would think it had fillet mignon in it!!  It's worth it however, not to have to go to the Dog Hospital with pancreatitis.  By the way, he's been fine since back on his regular food.

My plan was to get this quilt quilted, but as you can see, there's a little problem.  Apparently Miss Kitters the blimp decided this was a nice hammock to sleep in overnight.  It stretched the fabric considerably, so I had to remove the entire thing from the longarm and start over again.  Hopefully the fabric will go back to its original shape with a little misting of water.  

There was actually quite a bit of nice sun left in the afternoon, so I laid out for a bit.  It felt so good I almost fell asleep.  At least I will be able to wear shorts this summer and not blind folks when I walk by.  I admit it's not all that comfortable.  It takes a bit to get my back to bend when it's time to stand up.

I'm never alone, outside or inside.  Kitters is always looking for rubs of some sort.  This is her most favorite.  I have seen dogs love this treatment, but never a cat!  She would prefer this spa treatment continue for an hour, but since I'm spitting out kitty hair the entire time, it only goes on for about five minutes.  She absolutely LOVES it!

OH LOOK!!  Almost a full moon.  Just what I needed for the upcoming Bingo games.  March 31 is our next Bingo day, and April 1 will be a full moon.  This is NOT the sun setting ... it's the almost full moon in my back yard this morning at 4:30.  I think the moon rays are what's making the roses bloom like crazy!!

That was it ... a lazy sit around kind of day.  EXCEPT for one thing.  I caught Miss Kitters looking WAY too intently at something in the grass.  Sure enough ... a baby lizard.  I encouraged it to go to the grass roots and covered it with a heavy towel.  Literally five minutes later, the towel was bunched up and there was the tiny little guy laying on my living room floor.  Big sigh!!!

I scooped him up and took him to the front lawn to hide under a nice bush.  DARN CAT!!  Leave those lizards ALONE!!  At least she isn't eating them, but I really don't want dead lizards under my bed or hiding in the corners of my house!!!  I can hear Kitters laughing at me ............

Critters ... It's hard sometimes to live with them, but I can't live without them!!!

That Cake Was HOW MUCH?

 Sometimes I go outside in the mornings, look up at the sky and actually see stars.  It makes me wonder how those astronauts can fly up there and not run into something along the way.  It also makes me wonder just how in the heck the month of March is already GONE!  How can that be when it was February just two days ago??

Our weather Gods have been playing tricks on us this entire time.  Now we are going from 82 one day to 70 the next, followed by 65 degrees.  The expected rain has disappeared, leaving us heading clear down to an overnight low of 48.  Someone is having a great time with the Weather Button!!

This one right here ... she is such a sweet and happy girl.  She talks to me constantly now, and recently let me know the second flap on the doggie door had fallen down and she could not get out.  No kidding ... she ran back and forth to the door four times before I got the message and fixed it.  There were lots of purrs and rubs that followed.  She just craves attention, which I'm good at giving, but only when Mr. Cooper isn't looking!

Breakfast came early.  OH YEAH ... ICE CREAM!  I mixed up a batch the night before and set it to freezing this morning.  There are just as many good things about being single as there are being married.  THIS is one of them.  No one questions me about making ice cream at 6:00 in the morning.  

I get to eat anything I want, any TIME I want, without question.  I can come and go as I please, no asking or worrying about feeding someone when I'm gone.  I ALWAYS get to lick the beaters, never have to fix my hair and makeup if I don't want to, and I can keep the house temperature at whatever I feel like.  

On the OTHER hand, I have to do all the repairs, take out the garbage, fix the toilets and replace the light bulbs in the 12' high ceilings.  I LOVE my high ceilings, but they can be troublesome when a light goes out or the fire alarm beeps for new batteries.

I have two more of those small can lights over my desk.  Though I rarely turn them on, I was now worried about the bulbs putting off too much heat.  

It took some doing to get the old bulbs OUT.  I had to stick a piece of duct tape on it to get it to unscrew.   Finally it came loose and a new LED bulb was installed.  I have six more in this room to replace.  They went crazy with the lights in this house.

One more thing about being single ... YOU GET THE ICE CREAM MACHINE ALL TO YOURSELF!  Oh yeah ... once most of the peanut butter deliciousness is in the freezer, I get to clean the bowl all by myself!!

There was a bit of a pause before the accountant called, which led to an hour on the phone before thinking about the next event.  This is LOVE INC, a local charity group that does great things in our town for people who need help.  Our Elks Lodge Bingo donates quite a bit to this one.  Anyone in need, whether they are homeless or just need help, benefits from this Christian group of local churches.  

Elks buys two tables every year, so that means some of our bingo volunteers get to have dinner.  It was a little different this year.  Instead of the big charcuterie table, we got healthy snacks.  Trouble was, there were only six little sticks of goodies, and EIGHT chairs at the table.  

In no time, our tables were full of volunteers, awaiting that tri-tip and chicken dinner we usually have.

Or NOT!  This year it was raviolis.  WHAT?  Okay, we should be happy with anything.  To my surprise, the chicken ravs were VERY good!  

While we ate, they talked about some of their programs, which includes giving beds to people with children.  It surprises me how many families are sleeping on the floor.  Our Bingo volunteers stepped up and from just our table alone, we bought five beds at $100 each.  The crowd actually donated a total of $20,000 towards the purchase of just beds alone.  Anyone applying for same has to get a background check and their housing situation inspected, but WOW ... we have some wonderful donors in this town.

They had a raffle, a silent auction and a live auction.  I'm pretty sure they made close to $100,000 in this one night.  Local churches also donate their time and money to Homeless Showers (a portable setup) and Job Education programs.

Dessert was another fabulous donation from our table.  They have a Dessert Dash ... place your bid, and if you are the highest, you get to pick first.  Bingo is always the highest.  Only this time our RV Park donated $1,000 and our Park Manager picked the winning cake.  No pictures ... I was zoned in on trying to get 16 slices out of a pretty small cake.  It was DELICIOUS!  

Here's the problem.  They wait until everything is completely over before figuring out how much each bidder owes.  That takes WAY too long when we are all wanting to just pay and get out the door.  I waited in line for 20 minutes and the BANK door did not open.  They definitely need to start adding things up EARLIER.  People who have no intention of bidding on the big things could pay and leave.

My back wasn't happy at all, and standing was only making it worse.  I even had CASH that no one would take.  I walked out the door.  They have all my information and can call any time.  I will be happy to drop it off in their office.  I mean truly, it was worse than waiting for that doctors appointment that takes over an hour!!

And so I returned home, full to the brim.  No ice cream disappeared on this night.

It's going to be a beautiful weekend and the Van needs a workout.  I'm not sure where I will go, but anywhere will help that little battery recharge itself.  Maybe a QUILT store!!

I DID IT!!! WOOHOO!

 Mornings come early around here.  No matter how late I put Mr. Cooper out, he has to go out again at 4:00 am.  It's okay, I'm usually awake anyway!  Two minutes later, he's sleeping sound as a baby while I'm wide awake.  The lower couch setup has been working quite well.  You can see I'm relegated to the ONE cushion at the top.  I would do anything for this little guy.  He's been my faithful companion for MANY years!!

Finally I have a day of rest, only because I declined to go to the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association gathering at the lodge.  I know, shocker, right??  Between getting practically everything delivered and not attending Elks events, I really am becoming a hermit.  And I LIKE it!!

Instead, I decided to try once again to fix this light fixture.  Off I drove to Lowes, looking for parts and pieces.  Home Depot, though closer, doesn't seem to have anything I need, and no one to ask about anything.  Come to find out, Lowes has the same SERVICE problem.

I wandered around the store for 20 minutes before finally finding a body to ask where I might find another one of "these" things.  I even took the fixture with me ... and he had no idea what it was.  It's for an overhead CAN light.  What's that, he said.  I almost walked out.  After five minutes on his phone, he stated Aisle 12. 

Of course I found NOTHING on aisle 12.  I finally located the can lights and stood there for ten minutes looking for anything I thought might work.  At long last, hidden way in the back, was a white HALO box.  I tore open the box to find one similar to mine.  YAY!!  I got TWO, thinking I might have to replace both of them.  It came to $58.00!!!!!

Back home, I crawled up on the bench, then up the ladder to try and insert the new Halo gizzy into the hole.  It took some doing, some squishing of metal and finally beating on it with my fist before it finally went into the hole.  WOOHOO!  I DID IT!!  They are not exactly the same, but close enough!  The weird little LED lightbulb went in like a lightbulb should.  

VOILA!  LET THERE BE LIGHT!!  I did not replace the white metal part on the left side ... it still seemed to be intact.  The bulb on the left needed to be replaced, but didn't want to come out due to its weird shape.  With a little duct tape, I was finally able to get it loose.  In went another LED bulb.  

While Kitters relaxed on the Queens Chair she has adopted, I took down the ladder and replaced all twelve of those boxes full of fabric.  Here's hoping I don't have to do that again.  On the other hand, I roamed around the house looking up, only to find four MORE of those fixtures in the living room office.  I think I'll go get more bulbs and change out those HOT ones for the cooler LED's.  

Feeling accomplished didn't last long.  I laid out in the breezy afternoon sun for an hour before fixing dinner.  This is a diet staple ... hamburger, cabbage and lots of Thai spices.  Except ... wait ... I don't have any sweet chili sauce.  DARN!  I substituted Cajun spice, which didn't really work so well.  Sweet soy sauce and sesame oil just didn't do it either.  I added the tomatoes just because if I didn't, they would end up in the trash.

I wrapped it all up burrito style in a flour tortilla I heated on the gas burner.  First bite ... I burned the HECK out of my mouth.  The too runny sauce ran out the bottom like a waterfall, all over my once clean floor.  Big sigh .... I'll do better next time.

At least today I won't have to cook.  I'll use my longarm to quilt another quilt this morning before heading off to town for the LOVE INC fund raiser.  They do great things for people, like provide beds, small furniture items and classes on how to budget your money and use a checkbook.  You know, stuff they SHOULD be teaching in High School.  

As with many other charities, the Elks Lodge Bingo buys two tables every year.  If you are a volunteer at Bingo, you get to go have a nice dinner and enjoy the evening for free.  Not a volunteer, you do NOT get a ticket.  That's our rule and we stick to it!!  Not only do they auction off lots of stuff, but you can Buy-A-Bed for $100.00.  I explain all of that tomorrow.

Have a GREAT DAY!!!

Morning Til Night

 Spring finally has a good grip on this part of the world.  Overnight lows in the 50's and highs in the 80's do make it difficult to decide what to wear each day.  I start off with flannel shirts and end up in shorts and sandals.  You have to look very close to see just a few stars shining at 4 am.  My internal clock just will NOT cooperate.

Kitters has been spending a little more time outdoors during the day.  Thankfully no more lizards have been deposited on the floor.  At least not that I know of.  Since the last one entered through the doggie door, I should probably check under my bed to see if any ran there for cover.  I know I've said this before, but I just cannot believe the difference in this kitty from when I first saw her.

So innocent ........... NOT!  She's quite the talker, this girl.  She constantly meows, mews and squeaks to me, which of course brings forth pets and food.  Animals can be quite the manipulators!!  It also seems I am quite easily trained.  It's okay though ... I haven't seen any gopher holes on the lawn this year, so apparently she's earning her keep.

This turned into one of those no-sleep epic bookkeeping days.  As I learn more and more about investments, tax credits and write-offs, I am reminded why I'm glad I'm not overloaded with the green stuff.  What a project all this accounting is, including a trip to the bank to find how where that BIG check went.  Just pittance, you know.  With no one doing ANY books for over a year, it's like becoming a detective to find out what, where and when, let alone the tax implications.  Thank goodness for Tax Accountants who are above my pay grade.

Five hours later, I was dragging butt.  A late Bingo night doth make for an exhausting day after.  I finally trudged into the house to find Mr. Cooper fast asleep.  Oh if only I could do the same.  Fifteen minutes on the couch and I was starving, having missed lunch completely!!

I used up the last of the wilty brown salad, because you should not be-ith wasteful ... and added in the last of the shriveled up tomatoes.  I always have grandiose ideas of fabulous dinners that end up sitting in the fridge WAY too long.

I added in the last of the shrimp along with a half of a HUGE avocado.  Quite tasty if I do say so myself.

Mr. Cooper, sweet boy, kept me company by barking LOUDLY for a taste.  For some reason he has decided if "I" am eating, "HE" should be eating the same thing.  He's never done that before, so it must be an old age thing.  How could I resist this face?  Salad is probably not the best for him, nor the chocolate cake I had afterwards.  I did resist this time and he barked at me in epic fashion.

That was it .... Morning til Night.  Not such an exciting day, but I accomplished a lot in the way of bookkeeping.  After all, April 15 is coming up FAST!

The sunset was less than spectacular on this day, but at least I can say my back lawn looks amazing and GREEN.  

I'm still tired after a fitful night's sleep and I still have a laundry list of things to repair.  Maybe I can drum up some energy for a trip to Lowes.  Yeah, that's probably not happening, but it's a nice THOUGHT!!!  Thoughts count, yes???

IT'S BINGO TIME!!

 Somehow I had it in my mind that this would go much better than it did.  I guess attitude has a whole lot to do with it ... and when I found out my fabulous Counting Countess would be gone, my mind went in the tank.  

But FIRST .... Missy La La here ... I can see her thinking just WHAT can I get into TODAY!!  She has taken to hiding inside at night and jumping out attacking my leg first thing in the morning as I walk through the kitchen.  It's not just me ... she pats Mr. Cooper on the butt a few times trying to get him to play.   Yeah ... this is her best INNOCENT impression.

In real life, it looks like THIS!  It's blurry because she's so fast!  But at least she's using the new scratch post.  She comes and goes several times a day now, usually in tune to the crunching sound of food in the automatic feeder.

It's funny that Kitters will not eat ANY people food.  Cooper on the other hand, wants it ALL now, when in the past he wouldn't eat it either.  I took your advice, toasted up a big slab of that blueberry lemon loaf and smothered it in butter.  YUM YUM!!!

In no time whatsoever, it was time to head on off to Bingo.  I knew it would be a madhouse with our crew trying to get the final touches put on the room.  It turned out to be a good idea I went in early, because seriously ... some folks have no idea.

Here's a reminder of the fire .....

And the wall ........

This is what it looks like now.  Pretty amazing, yes??  There was lots of discussion about setting up the tables in this room for bingo, but I said absolutely NOT.  The floor needs to be cleaned and polished and the paint is actually still wet.  We don't need people banging up against the walls.  The crew was working like crazy just to get the food station back in place, along with our Order Machine.  

With that done, they went to cleaning up the food service window while I set up the Bingo Machine.

Here's the outside BEFORE .....

And the after.  This needs one more coat and painting, but you have to give it up for this Contractor.  He did a fabulous job!!

That's when it all went SOUTH!  There I was, pulling 50 bingo balls for the Bonanza game ... and suddenly there were NO MORE!  What?  Someone stole half the balls???  I could not find them anywhere.  This is crazy!  I went to look for the box in the safe that held brand new ones.  

When I came back, the joke was on me!!  The last caller two weeks ago did not hit the button that lets ALL of them fall out of the machine.  They were stuck in the middle out of sight.  Boy did I get razzed for THAT ONE!  Next up, set up six televisions that people have messed with over the last two weeks, making them not work at all.  How frustrating, since a TV pro, I am NOT.

There were a lot more debates about opening up the lunch room, but the King and I agreed to keep it closed.  That meant all 130 peasants had to squish into this ONE room.  I had the kids add more chairs before anyone got there, so most didn't even realize they would be touching elbows!  Until they DID!

There was only one fight, which the King had to referee, leaving me free to count cards for my slowest cashier.  We have a line clear to the far wall, and chit-chatting takes up too much time.  Don't ask if they have a dollar so you can just give them a FIVE in change.  They will search for three minutes.  Even the King came by THREE times and said THE LINE IS CLEAR TO THE WALL!!

It didn't help that she refused to say DEBIT card only (in spite of being reminded), meaning many people ran their credit cards, which require a signature.  Even more time lost!  

Oh my gosh ... it was hard for me to keep my mouth shut.  Don't ask them if they need a dobber ... that takes up even MORE time.  Load em up ... MOVE EM OUT!!  She just did not seem to grasp the importance of getting 130 people through the line BEFORE the games begin!!

To make it worse, the last time the infernal machine was used, it was not cleared out.  When I ran the first tape, it said we had 248 people and $11,000.  Ummmm that's not possible.  I even cleared it out BEFORE we began, and it was STILL off.  IS IT A FULL MOON??  I'm SURE it's a full moon!!

By the end of the night her hands were cramping, and I knew I could no longer hold my tongue ... so I offered to finish up so she could go home.  I closed out as fast as I could and left the building for the nice QUIET of my truck!  And so ended another rousing night of BINGO!!

Today I am back to accounting for tax purposes.  April 15th looms on the horizon!  Have a GREAT day!!!

Stitching and Eating!!!

 Up down, up down.  That's been the weather around here for the last two weeks.  We headed on up to 87 yesterday, down to 77 today, then back up again.  Someone just cannot make up HER mind!  In fact by next week it is supposed to RAIN on our parade.

I suppose it's time to find some cherry tomatoes to plant.  I don't know, as much as I love them, they are a LOT of work!!  That's what I was thinking as I headed out for an early morning walk/run.  You really have to do this activity every single day to keep the aches and pains at bay.  

I have not done that, so by the end of the day, I'm walking rather funny.  The alternative is not walking at all, so I just smile a lot at all the other walkers out there trying to stay upright.

Back home, it took a bit to get up the nerve for the next quilt.  I'm always so happy that the basting function works, which obviously is the easiest thing ever to do.  I take a big deep breath and say a little prayer before I hit the RUN button.  And away we go!!!

More prayer ensued ... and thank the good Lord, they worked.  This will be one given away to a Veteran at our dinner later in the year.  The backing says Marines all over it.  It doesn't exactly match, but some Marine will be happy to receive it!!  Gee only 12 more to make!

Mostly I'm just thrilled my machine is working!!!  I've got two more to go ... one a rather large queen size.  Here's hoping and praying it goes just as well as these small ones did.

Lunch was weird.  I really needed to eat that leftover hash, but had whipped up a broccoli salad.  I love this stuff ... especially when it has lots of bacon.  Unfortunately, it had lots of very strong red onions!  Woohoo!!!  It's a good thing I can only offend Cooper with my breath!  Well there is Kitters, but she stays outside more, now that the weather is nice.  

The little brat went after the lizard again.  I shooed her away twice before finally putting a cage-like thing in that corner so the poor lizard had a safe place to hide.  That's when I noticed my roses are once again blooming like crazy.  

I told the gardener not to prune them any more.  I'm hoping they grow tall enough to block out that new neighbor's house.  

I did make a quick run to the local Mexican grocery store turned Korean/Asian, for garlic.  The plan was to have shrimp scampi for dinner.  Sadly, they did not have the capers.  I did need some honey for another recipe, so I grabbed the most normal looking bottle on the shelf.  OMG!!  Wasn't I surprised when I got home to find that one SMALL bottle was $10.99.  The garlic ... two small clove things ... $4.00.  No more Korean/Asian store for me!!

So shrimp scampi has a little white wine in it.  The only wine I have is an old bottle half full of Barefoot White Zin.  It was okay though, you couldn't taste it with all the butter and parmesan I put on top.  

My theory is if you only have protein for dinner, you get to have sugar for dessert.  OH NO!  I was out of Cool Whip.  So I cut up some of those fabulous (the best I've ever had) strawberries from Costco.  Chocolate and strawberries ... what could be better???

That was it for the day.  I didn't want to overdo it since THIS day involves Bingo.  I've tried to get the word out to everyone, so we shall see if anyone shows up.  Actually I'm hoping for a light crowd since the room with the fire is not really ready for occupancy yet.  That means we will be short about eight tables, forcing players to actually sit closer TOGETHER.  That's a SIN in Bingoland!  I've no doubt there will be flaming torches, spears and knives being wielded right and left.

Wish us luck!!

I'M BACK IN BUSINESS BABY!!

 Ooooohhhhh it's a LOVELY 59 degrees this morning.  Boy am I loving this weather!  It almost makes me want to go outside and work in the yard.  NOT ... I'm way too old for that nonsense!!  It's funny that our family never got into that.  Oh we planted a few veggies here and there, but no one EVER cared about  having a lawn or flowers.  Apparently I inherited that stance.

Mr. Cooper doesn't care either, as long as there's a small patch of green to water.  Sadly, he's not interested in the ball Robot James found under the couch last week.  

This one is looking out into the darkness for that other CAT that keeps meowing!  April Fools .......

It's actually the noise coming from my phone.  This is a hilarious little game I play sometimes, just for her.  When you find the kitties and touch them, they MEOW.  Sometimes a purr, sometimes a MEW and sometimes a big MEOW.  Kitters comes running to see just WHO is in her territory.  

And THEN I find things like THIS!!  I LOVE THESE LIZARDS!  They eat lots of bugs and spiders!  Apparently Kitters harkens back to her starving days and STILL tries to catch them.  I'm sure she brought him in through the doggie door.  

Poor little guy ... I picked him up, sure he was a goner, and set him outside.  A little while later, I found him still laying on the patio.  I gingerly placed him under a wooden step near water and greenery so he could hide.  Away he ran, so MAYBE he will survive.  DARN CAT!!  

Yeah, all innocent looking!!  I can just imagine my house when I'm gone for a week or more.  It's funny that she always wants something to lay her head on.

Anyway, my quest of the day was to get groceries at Costco.  I had a $300 credit to use up, or I could even get cash back.  I was after their chicken breasts and thighs, enough to fill my freezer for Mr. Cooper and I.  I actually did stick to my list.

No I didn't.  I got chicken and a big bowl of shrimp before accidentally walking into the veggie department.  A huge bowl of fruit and a box of strawberries jumped into my cart.  I'm actually trying to lessen the sugar content around here.  I went for broccoli, but only found celery and packages of things too big for moi.  

Pork loin, a chunk-o-ham, ziploc bags (the wrong size, dag nabbit), batteries (always a must) and a gorgeous lemon blueberry loaf that I won't be able to eat in two weeks.  

I got a whole $18.00 cash back!!  BUT the meat products cost less than at Walmart.

I spent the next two hours tearing apart the packages and RE-packaging them in the too large ziploc bags.  Most of it went in the freezer, so full now I can't fit even one cookie in there.  

Yup this was an impulse buy.  And a GOOD ONE!!  Oh man this tastes exactly like their wonderful muffins ... only better!!  Three quarters of it went in the freezer too.

I'm absolute positive it was that lemon loaf that FINALLY motivated me to get back to quilting.  I had so much trouble the last few quilts I worked on, I just didn't want to be stressed out yet again, trying to figure out WHY it was having problems.  I decided it wasn't doing any good just sitting there, and I had all day to be frustrated.  

I started out by trying to level the 10' long machine with a 12" level.  Luckily I have a 4' long yardstick that worked pretty well.  With that done, I turned it all on.  I SWEAR this "repaired" tablet is smaller than the other one.  I started out by basting the top in place.  

Hmmm ... that was working, so I pulled up a pattern and set it up, not forgetting a single step.  WOOHOO!!  I finally hit the RUN button.  AND IT RAN!!!  

I held my breath through the first three rows.  There was one moment when I hit the pause button ... counted to ten and let it go again.  Here we are .... at the END of the last row!  IT DID IT!  I'M BACK IN BUSINESS BABY!!  Maybe, just maybe the expanded battery was causing the RUN problems I was having before.  Who knows ... I'm just happy that it finished the entire quilt!

One down, two more to try today ... here's hoping I have the same good luck.  This may even motivate me to get back to cutting and sewing so I have more things to quilt!!

Here's to yet another gorgeous BLESSED day for all of us!!  Now for a nice BIG chunk of lemon blueberry loaf!!!!