Full Moon Effects

It was a full moon on Cinco de Mayo day.  Boy am I glad that didn't land on the first Tuesday of the month.  Bingo would have been epic!!!

Instead, it's influence has been hanging over my house for two days.  I've lost my hand held vacuum.  Not that that's a real problem in this house, since it's the second most hated piece of equipment I own.  It used to live on what I call the back porch, but has since grown legs and walked off.

If you've ever lived on a ranch, you know the "back porch".  No one ... and I mean NO ONE is allowed in the kitchen door except company.  We were all required to use the back porch where the old washing machine lived.  You know, the scary one that would rip your arm off if you got too close and crush your fingers in the wringer.

There was a sink there where you washed off all the dirt and manure from the day.  The "back porch" still lives in my house today.  So what happened to my vacuum?  It was there when I starting moving stuff around for the plumbers.  Now I can't find it anywhere ... and believe me, I've look EVERYWHERE! 

One more check of the linen closet results in NO vacuum, so I wandered outside to start planting those big bushes.  One was so big I cut it in half, which I'm sure will result in the death of one or both.  These grow amazingly well at my neighbor's house, so maybe they will do the same here.  

While looking for the shovel ... seems lots of stuff is hiding around here ... I again came across the hand painted Japanese dishes.  There is an entire set ... two big bins full.  I've done quite a bit of research on these and found very little.

The stamp says hand painted Japan, with Kutani at the top.  I've found lots of dishes with that name on Ebay, but no SETS of dishes and nothing with a picture similar to this one.  If nothing else, I need to repack them all so nothing gets broken.

Then it was on to putting another border on this quilt.  I like it much better now.  I think this one will become a wall hanging.  

Finally around noon Cooper and I went for a walk, but only at his insistence.  Although he's getting a little old at 14, he loves running through the neighborhood.  Oh yeah ... there's no walking ... he trots or runs the entire way.

Then it was on to the next project.  This pineapple quilt is a big queen size.  No one needs a lesson in binding, but I'm going to tell you about it anyway.  

First you cut up strips and sew them together on an angle ... the hardest kind of sewing to do.  Believe it or not, this is 12 YARDS of binding that then needs to be sewed on to the sides of the quilt.  

Just when you think you are done, you twist the entire thing around to find ONE MORE SIDE!!  Once on the quilt, you fold it over and cover up all the bad stuff you don't want anyone to see and stitch it down.

Some people are lucky and stitch their binding with their quilting machine.  I have to stitch it all by hand.  Oh yeah ... that's hand stitching 12 YARDS of binding around that quilt.  So if someone shows you the quilt they made, be sure to ooh and aah over the binding!!!  

I finally took a break in the evening to try out my latest recipe for Mexican chicken.  It was edible.  It might have been better had I thought to cut the pieces bigger and put it on the grill.  That was my intention until the first two pieces fell into the grease pit below, so it ended up in a frying pan.

More spice and less oil would have made it better, but all in all quite tasty.  A big slug of salsa would have made it better, but alas, I had none.  The good news is I have yet to die from the past dated tortillas.

Cooper and I spent the rest of the night watching Cactus Jacks Extreme Bull Riding.  When 9 out of ten guys get bucked off, there are some pretty good bulls.  At the end of the night, only three had been ridden. I don't know how one guy survived since he got his neck stepped on twice before he crawled out from under the bull.  Scary stuff this bull riding.

Yes I'm still looking for that little vacuum so I can clean the window sills.  When you can't see the corners from the pileup of dust and spider webs, it's time to clean.  Wouldn't it be SO SAD if it was STILL lost to the pull of the full moon??