So-So and Sew!

 Well .... it's a deep subject ..... here we are at the end of another month that was six days long.  Maybe I should do absolutely nothing all day so they would last a little longer!!  It feels like we are at peregrine falcon speed diving for a fishy dinner!!  240 mph!

It was a dark overcast day once again, with rain off and on.  We've got two more days of this scheduled, which is okay with me since I love the "cool".  The breezes got a little carried away yesterday, but for the most part, it was stellar.

I started yet another quilt on the machine.  This is really more fun than sewing the quilts together.  There was a glitch when I discovered I only had one roll of thread.  You need two ... one from which to wrap bobbins for the bottom thread, and one to sit on the machine for the top thread.  Things didn't go according to plan, and I had to unwrap about 300 yards of thread.  Oh yeah, that was fun!!

About two hours later I realized I wasn't hearing Jeeves any more.  Truly, I was surprised that he came on at all after the last time I kicked him out from under that chair.  This time he died before he could get back to his house.  Yes, his name changes depending on how good he does his job.  He's not stuck on the carpet, he's just dead.

I could hear the funeral dearth as I carried him back to his house, but amazingly, two hours later, he was back at it.  Good boy Jeeves.  He does a so-so job, so I think I'll run him more often.

I still have some weed spraying to do, so thought I'd show you what is involved.  This is my back yard horse corrals.  Quite the expanse and full to the brim with weeds and grass.

When I had horses, they took care of this for me.  There was never even a tiny piece of green.  Not so much now.  It grows like ..... well ..... weeds.  It takes three pictures to show how big it is.

I really wouldn't care about the weeds, I would just let them grow and die.  BUT I have stupid neighbors all around that think it's fun to shoot fireworks ... the big ones ... off in their back yard, aimed directly at MY back yard.  It's a huge fire hazard in June/July ... and so I spray mucho gallons across both corrals.  NOT my favorite pastime.

By noon I had completed another quilting job on this quilt.  Cooper approved yet again.  This one is for an Air Force Vet.  It's a good thing poodles don't shed!!

I was trying to rest up after overeating that huge meal and standing in high heels for seven hours, but my brain said get that one finished.  So a sewing I did go, finishing off the binding.  It's ready to be approved at Bingo tomorrow.  If the Veterans Chairman likes it, I will get the assembly line going.  Of course now I have no place to STORE them, so that will be one of today's quests.

By 5:00 I realized I had not eaten all day.  How did THAT happen?  I'm usually at the fridge door 38 times.  Strange that I'm not craving SOMETHING.  If I could keep that up I might just squeeze into my tuxedo a little easier!!

The sun went down, faster than usual I'm sure, as little drops came down from the sky yet again.  It's now Monday ... the day I hate because of that four letter word WORK.  Oh wait ..... I'M RETIRED!!  It's COUCH TIME!!

Pomp and Pose!

 Tap tap tap tap tap .... that's the rain hitting the bottom of the downspout 5 feet from the head of my bed.  Mother Nature is having one last winter blast.  At least I HOPE it's the last one!  Yessiree ... it's raining.  She just can't decide whether to smile or cry.  It makes me smile though because the sprinklers are still OFF.  Oh yes, here we go with another summer of sprinkler angst.

Here's another big smile that happens every day, all day long.  My body guard keeping a watchful eye out for intruders.  Yes, he's sleeping because it's his break time.  Being the Watch Pup is a hard job.

I spent an hour in the morning quilting the latest of the Vets quilts, now ready for binding.  I love this panel, and hope the Vet that receives it does too.  Today I'll be working on the next two ready for the longarm.  

Very early in the afternoon ... like 2:00 ... I was headed off to the Elks Lodge once again.  Truly, I feel like I live there, I just can't throw stuff around on the furniture.  It is the end of the year and a new set of officers is going to take over.  It would be so much easier if the same person stayed in the head position.  Changing them out every year means most everything is run differently.  

I've luckily made friends again with several couples who don't mind a single gal in their midst.  We sat in the bar, waiting for the entourage to land on the back steps.  It was so noisy that I ghosted the entire event and hung out with our oldest member ... 95 year old Floyd.  What a great guy!!

How can I describe the installation.  Those new officers have to take an oath of office and are walked around the room while lots of clapping ensues.  You'd have to be there to experience the racket.  There are two stops for pictures, followed by seating them at their appointed chair. 

I'm included in the group since I'm back to First Year Trustee, having been here WAY too long.  Yes, I volunteered once again because none of the other four trustees have ANY accounting experience ... and that's their job.  So this "walk" is all pomp and circumstance.  

I on the other hand, am not a fan of the pomp part, so when I was escorted to the picture spot, I held up my hand .... wait ... WAIT ... I have to pose for this ... doing my best model impression.  The crowd broke into laughter.  So much for the circumstance part.  From then on everyone was laughing and posing for every picture.  It certainly made it a LOT more fun!!

After that, we all headed downstairs for dinner.  There was a little panic there since I was probably the only one in the building who did NOT buy a ticket.  My plan was to head straight home.  I sat down where the Secretary told me to, but there was a big mixup in the seating arrangement.  Luckily it wasn't because I was there.  You could cut the tension with a knife.  Thankfully, someone didn't show up at the table next door and we were saved.

THIS was dinner.  A buffet affair with the best roasted veggies I've had in ages, salad, little red potatoes with parmesan cheese and a big honking piece of BEEF.  Prime rib to be exact.  Just wow!  This is the best piece of prime rib I've seen in forever.  Cooked perfectly and very little fat ... melt in your mouth goodness.  All for $30.00, which I will pay for first thing Tuesday.  I think the officers got off scott free, but that's not my nature.

That was followed up by our famous peach cobbler with ice cream.  No kidding ... people come from lodges all across California just to eat our peach cobbler.  

Of course I brought half the beef home for the Guard Pup, but he may have to share.  Today I'll be back at the longarm quilting the next two quilts and resting up from eating WAY too much food.  And thankfully, I'll be watching the rain from INSIDE the house since I get to stay home all day long!!!

LET'S EAT CAKE!!!

 It's interesting to me that our weather forecasts never seem to materialize.  Though we were scheduled for seven days of rain, our first epic day only resulted in clouds.  They started out dark and ominous but ended up sunny and warm.  Never let the weatherman suggest your clothing options for the day.

First things first, I hit the morning running at a fast pace, hoping to get three quilts quilted before heading out to the latest dinner donation.  I love this quilt pattern and think I will make one for the lodge, to hang over the stage.  It's amazing how the fabric looks folded and wrinkled here, but in actuality, it's perfectly flat while I quilt.

Never far away, Mr. Cooper waits patiently until I'm done so he can christen it with his little feet while I take a picture.  Not quite yet however, since I have company.  That delayed quilting for the rest of the day.

In the afternoon, I went one way and she went another.  Sadly, I didn't have any extra dinner tickets for the event I was attending.  This is Love INC (Love in the name of Christ) ... the biggest and best organization in our local area.  They have an entire crew that works every day helping people get their lives together.  They have classes on budgeting, saving money, how to balance a checkbook, how to get a job, how to get a place to live ... and anything else they need, all for free.  You ask, they give.

It's one of the Elks favorite donation projects.  This once a year dinner is the biggest around, including several auctions, silent and LOUD!!  It's a major task to put on this event ... and they do an amazing job.

The building was packed to the brim, a full size basketball court and then some, filled with 55 tables.  We should take lessons!  We started out with an appetizer bar that was HUGE, with nacho containers you could fill to the brim.  When everyone was seated, the entire building was fed in less than 30 minutes.  Salad, tri tip beef, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans with tomatoes and garlic bread.  It was so loud we were actually texting each other.

Then came the dessert dash!!  My favorite!  You write on the envelope how much money you want to spend.  They pick them up and put them in amount order.  As they call your table number by order of how much you bid, you run up to the long tables and pick which dessert you want.  I think we were the fifth number called. 

We paid $450 for this amazing coffee chocolate cake.  It was probably the best I'ver ever eaten.  The Elks and I split this donation.  I like what this organization does and donate all I can.  All of the extra furniture I brought back from Arizona went to them also.  

Next up was their BED auction.  So many people around here cannot afford furniture for their apartments, including one lady with 11 ... that's ELEVEN children.  They found a donor who bought bunk beds that this group hauled to the house, put together and plunked mattresses on top so the kids didn't have to sleep on the floor.  And so they ask for donations of $100 each to buy beds and mattresses.  They collected 40 donations, plus even larger donations for bed and dressers.  It kind of makes you proud to know there are this many folks willing to help this organization.

Their latest project is the purchase of two big showers on a trailer.  I think they have two trailers now.  They haul these around to the areas where homeless hang out and offer them a free shower.  That's a first.  

At any rate, we demolished the cake since we had 16 Elks attend and left plenty of donation money at the counter.  I headed home to find my company's car in the driveway, so I quietly snuck in and turned the alarm on.  In no time I was out like a light.  

But my phone kept buzzing and waking me up.  In disgust, I finally got up to see what it was.  Company wasn't home after all, but was on their way.  It would not have ended well if she tried to come in the back door with the alarm on!!!

There's no rest today since the installation of new Elks Officers will be held starting at 2:00.  Ugh ... there's no time to rest.  I'll be gathering up my penguin suit.  

Death and Taxes

 What a beautiful day THAT was!  Warm and sunny until it turned cold and dark.  I thought the rains would fall any second.  Even got a warning or two on my phone about an "event", whatever that was, but like me, it ghosted the crowd and went home.  They say the same will happen today.  It amazes me how many times they are incorrect around here.  It's okay though ... that's one less day of rain.

My roses think it's lovely.  They are covered with buds and beginning to blossom.  Weird roses ... they have the color and the thorns, but just don't look like roses to me.   

We didn't spend much time outside however ... there was sewing to be done.  When I'm on a roll, I try to keep going.  Otherwise I'll stop in the middle and procrastinate!!

This one for an Air Force Vet is ready for the longarm.  Gee ... only nine of these to go!  

These on the other hand, not only take longer, but take a lot more calculating.  Turns out the center squares are not square.  For example, 17-1/2 inches wide and 17 inches tall, or 18" wide and 18-3/4" tall.  That means lots of math trying to figure out exactly how big to make the squares before cutting and sewing.  I could make them really big and just cut them down, but that wastes expensive fabric.  

I hope to have five of these quilts with names, places and rank embroidered on them ... if I can find someone to embroider.  At this point, they may end up generic because so far I haven't found anyone for that task.

So much to do ... so little time.  Return to Walmart, return to Home Depot, company coming, drivers license renewal, none of which got done on this day.  Oh and groceries.  Seems every time I look in the fridge I'm out of food!

To make my day, I got my tax returns back from the accountant.  Though I wish I could do it myself, I have these investments from 30 years ago that are overseas.  I suppose the good news is they have always made money.  The bad news is I have to pay taxes on money I never see.  I'm taking withdrawals, but for some reason I always seem to have to pay MORE tax on it.  

I admit, I have a good retirement.  Bought and paid for by 58 years of hard work in a time when you didn't get paid the BIG bucks, but the benefits made up for it.  The trouble is, the more you make, the more you pay.  It makes me really happy that much of those government money laundering schemes are being killed off by DOGE.  I'm all for helping out people in OUR country, but it seems we've been helping out people in other countries more than ourselves.  I won't even get into that part.

Even writing off my little quilting business gets me nothing.  I suppose I should be thankful I have enough to buy food, make my house payment and buy diesel at the end of the day.  Single people have to pay for everything by themselves and still pay all the taxes with fewer deductions.  

Elva says I should get one of my single friends to marry me on paper, NOT live together, and see how much taxes I could save.  That just might be an idea worth investigating!!!   I won't say how much I have to pay, but I could easily buy a car with it.... or TWO longarms!!  Sadly for the folks doing my job today, they receive basically NO benefits and get paid less for the same work.

Anyway ... death and taxes are inevitable I guess.  After stitching up two more quilts, they are ready for quilting.  This one is loaded and will be done this morning.  As for the other two ...  company called and needed a place to stay, so I don't know how much I will actually get done.

My poor scroungy kid slept like a baby next to me for the remainder of the night.  He's such a snuggle bunny ... but only when he wants to be!!  

Just for fun, I put the game camera out last night to see who has been coming around.  Mr. Cooper thinks someone is trespassing on HIS property.  There are WAY too many smells on his backyard route.  Maybe we'll find out who it is today.  In the meantime, I have a 4:00 function to attend ... which will include good food and a dessert auction!!  OH YEAH!!!

Changing It Up

 If you don't like the weather, just wait a few days.  At 5:00 this morning it was 57 degrees.  Uh oh ... it's going to be a toasty one.  I may have to actually turn my AC on.  Not for long however, because Mother Nature isn't going to let us get away that easily ... it's supposed to rain for the next six days straight.  So much for laying out in the sun!

Mr. Cooper and I were off before the sun came up.  

That didn't last long however since it wasn't windy or even breezy.  That meant it was a good day to spray weeds.  I have called the usual company twice, but they keep telling me it's too early.  By the time they think it's perfect, I'll have a five foot tall jungle in my back yard.  No kidding, the weeds are almost up to an elephant's eye!

This is definitely not my favorite "man" job.  The shoulder straps on this thing are too wide, so it constantly slips off my shoulders.  It doesn't spray enough either, like my old one did.  It works, but takes much longer.  Yes, it's really heavy too ... but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.  It took about an hour to empty it out.

Then I pulled a bunch of weeds in the garden, and admired this beauty.  I had three of these pretty gazanias, but only 1-1/2 remain.  They looked great until winter came.  Maybe it's too cold for them here.  This one made my day!

With that all done, I was off to the fabric shop.  I got a couple of ideas from the Elks crowd and an OK on the new panels.  But first ... I needed fuel.  I always check around town, but no one ever beats the price 15 miles down the road.  It's always jammed with cars and big trucks, mostly because it's $1.00 cheaper than any other station within 50 miles.  So if they can have cheaper fuel, why can't everyone else?  $4.45 today for diesel, down from $5.50 a couple of months ago ... and this is CALIFORNIA.  Land of BIG taxes and trains to nowhere.  

By the way, to get the train from L.A. to San Francisco, about 380 miles, the original price was $33 billion So far they have some bridges completed, hoping to get it just 160 miles from Merced to Bakersfield, which at this point has cost $128 BILLION.  Is that $800 million dollars per MILE?  Too bad they haven't bought any train CARS, or have high speed tracks down yet. Oh but wait .... he needs $100 BILLION MORE to finish it.  I think that would end up costing us $600 million per mile.  Maybe someone should check my math.  

On the other hand, Newsom now has a new $9.1 million dollar mansion to live in on the coast.  Thank goodness the Federal Government said NO MORE MONEY.  Oh, and that's not counting the $3.4 billion he's begging for to replace the Medical money he spent on illegal aliens.  You know, the money California CITIZENS need for THEIR medical care?  Okay, enough of that.

Happy about the reduction in fuel prices, at least a little, I was off to the fabric shop.  I wanted to pick up some solid colors to tone down the "busy-ness" of the quilt panel.  Fabric isn't cheap ... this is $200 worth ... but at least it hasn't gone up in over a year.  

In no time my sewing room was a disaster!!  I tried to get a little organized since I now know I need ten anonymous quilts and ten designated for specific people.  

Here's what I've got so far.  Since those little squares from each branch are now considered antiques, the only ones I could find with a specific branch i.d. were these.  Way down at the bottom you can hardly see Air Force.  See what I mean by busy?  Believe me, it's worse in person.

I thought the best thing I could do was just add several borders to make it the 40 x 50 size required.  

I tried the plain border above, but liked this one a little better.  It adds a little pizzaz to it.  I've now got two complete and two ready to quilt.  Hopefully two more will be added to that pile today.  These go pretty fast.

In the meantime, I am again out of Cooper food.  That kid eats more than I do, so I'll be cooking up a storm today, sewing in between.  Then I'm going outside to watch the weeds die.  How fun is that???

Hot Ball and Change

 Wow ... there was a big change in temperature around here.  We are at an almost WARM 55 degrees this morning, heading right on up the pike to a lovely 75.  I think spring just might have sprung overnight.  It makes for a much more comfortable day when you don't have to don boots and jackets.

It's Bingo day, so let's get to it!

This was just weird ... we started out the day yesterday with fog.  Even thicker than the camera shows.  It wasn't cold, but there was so much water on the lawn it looked like it had rained.  Cooper was not impressed!

The first order of the day was to head out to our favorite restaurant for some Mexican fare.  I don't know what happened, but they now have a new menu with MUCH higher prices.  The cheapest thing was $9.99.  Three taquitos with rice and beans on the smallest plate I've ever seen.  You know how the rice and beans always run together?  Not on this plate.

I wish I had taken a picture.  There was less than 1/4 cup rice in one corner and even less beans in the other.  Our regular fare, one enchilada and one taco, came to a whopping $16.00, on the same tiny plate, miniaturized to fit.  I guess we won't be going back THERE!  We do have other choices, but they are all Mexican food.  

We laughed at the thought we've held since we were kids.  There was one stop sign on Hwy 99 heading North ... and everyone coming up from the border stopped there and set up housekeeping.  I'm actually pretty happy about that because I LOVE Mexican food!

I raced home to take care of Cooper before heading back to the lodge and grabbing a couple of those quilt panels to show the Veterans group.  Sadly, I forgot my phone when I headed back.  How did we become so attached to those things?  I felt OFF all night long.  

I started out in panic mode because the infernal machine did not have any paper to print out receipts.  I found this problem two weeks ago, but nothing got ordered.  The only thing we had was the wrong size.  This is a big problem .... BIG!  I raced upstairs to find the person who orders things was not in.  OH NO!  I'm in trouble now!!

Alas, she had gone to drop off something at the supply store, but I had no phone to contact her.  Lucky for me, she came back with two rolls, enough to get me through the night.  Hopefully more will be ordered before I am drawn and quartered by the peasants of the Kingdom.

It was slow, to say the least.  This is the last game of the month, and everyone is now broke.  They have smashed every piggy bank and brought in ziploc bags full of change.  No kidding, we are down to counting pennies, nickels and dimes.  

Did I ever mention how they can't count very well?  It's never the correct amount, mostly because they always seem to count nickels as quarters.  That means a mad dash back to their table to plead for more change from their neighbors.  No one else has any cash left either, so they don't come back to my table.

It's so sad to see them using their EBT cards, but use them they do.  They say "I have $26 left, I'll pay the rest in change".  Those should be coded somehow so they cannot purchase anything but food.  

The same goes for hotball, which is another of our money games.  They pay $2.00 extra every week for a stamp on their hand.  If they win any bingo game with the posted hotball number of the night, they win OUR jackpot AND the hot ball jackpot, which can be as high as $1199.  Why $1199?  Because if it is $1200, you have to notify IRS.  Yup I was counting all THAT change also.

At this time however, the hotball was down to $103 which means fewer players also.  Oh yes, they all know exactly how much it is on any given night.  It's a catch 22 because fewer players also means there's less money for me to pay out.  Peasants don't show up if there's not a big pot to win.

Very surprisingly, they were civil on this night, with only a few cat calls to the newest caller who forgot to say the letter before the number.  You know, like calling 6 instead of B6.  The grumbling began low and slow, but rose to a crescendo in no time.  In a flash, they were on their feet ... calling for his head.  That is always a reminder to me to NEVER volunteer to call the numbers.  

The infernal machine took pity on me this night and balanced to all but the 39 cents.  I quickly ate my chili cheese dog without the bun, giving me heartburn for the night.  I do have a choice ... heartburn from that or heartburn from chicken tenders, or heartburn from the hamburger.  We are equal opportunity heartburn specialists!!

The good news is I got a little direction on the Veteran quilts.  Some will be generic for the big Veterans Day giveaway, and some will be more direct for our member giveaway around the same time.

And so I better get to sewing!!!

Lots of Sewing Going On

 It took awhile to get motivated on a Monday.  Gorgeous temperatures showed up unexpectedly and I planned on just laying out under the warm sunny rays.  Too bad my get-'er-done personality wouldn't let me.  Maybe tomorrow!

I'm stuck on some of these Veteran quilts ... and hope you can help me.  I just don't remember these colors being that of Marines.  Maybe I'm stuck in the days of Desert Storm and camo!  I know the Air Force had light blue uniforms, the Navy had navy blue.  What about the Marines, the Coast Guard and the Army?  Any suggestions on the colors for these quilts?  Or should I just make them all red, white and blue.

Having found that the above center panels are now extinct, or at the very least considered "antiques", I've been looking for something else to use.  A few years ago I made this one that I thought maybe I could duplicate.  Those piano keys down the side, though, they are SO hard to figure out the size depending on the size of the panel, I just don't want to go there again.  

I knew I had this panel stuck somewhere in my sewing room, so I spent over an hour looking for it.  I also went online to see if I could find more of them, but alas ... only six could be found.  Apparently these too have become almost extinct.  This one is done and ready to quilt.

Lucky for me, Arrowhead Gramma mentioned an online store yesterday.  They have a few new panels that I think will work.  I hate for them all to be the same, but manufacturers are not making much patriotic stuff these days.  Too bad.

I finished this one that was already put together when I got the box of fabric.  I quilted it and bound the edges, resulting in very oweey fingers on my right hand.  Too much hand sewing I think.  

I still have maybe ten of these small panels left, so I started this one for the Air Force.  I guess another trip to the fabric store will be coming up soon.  I've run out of red and navy blue.  Just for fun, I figured out these 40 x 50 quilts will cost between $50 and $60 each, not counting my machine time and thread.  I sure hope they like them!!

I almost missed dinner, which didn't set well with Mr. Cooper.  He's very good at reminding me with a wet nose to nose confrontation.  We ate outside on the patio, admiring the few clouds that were overhead.

It got really pretty for a minute there, but was fleeting at best.  

Ten minutes later, guess who was fast asleep.  

It's that time again ... no, not Howdy Doody time, it's BINGO time.  But first, I'm scheduled for a Mexican lunch in town, after which I will race home to feed my kid before putting on my armor.  I'm hoping tonight will be pitchfork free.

PARTY ON!!!

 It was time to recover on Sunday.  That being said, it was actually a gorgeous day.  Not too cold and not too hot.  That's why Mr. Cooper and I went for a walk.  Walks are getting shorter in his old age ... or maybe in MINE!

This is a gorgeous tree my neighbor has, but I'm thinking it's the cause of my morning bout with sneezing.  I'm up to the count of twelve every time!  I guess it's a sure sign that Spring has arrived in style.

Back to Saturday night ... as I mentioned, this is the King of the Magic Castle.  He and his wife went on a trip to France to have a look see, and he came home with a French beret.  I have no clue where the beer came from.  Wife Deb is great at decorating ideas.  

On every table was a fake beer, one of his favorite hats (clean ones she said) and a picture that matches the fabric tablecloths she made.  One for travel, one for Bingo, one for the Los Angeles Dodgers ... you get the picture.

There was an open bar which soon had us wearing crazy hats, feather boas and faces not our own.

Needless to say, the King turned 75 years old.  Just a young-un the older folks said!!  Did I mention this group is a big part of Bingo?  In fact, there ended up being THREE tables full of Bingo Knights and Ladies.  You can tell because pretty much NONE of us dressed up for this party!  Neither did the King, so we were safe.

Here's the cake ... fire extinguisher at the ready.  No kidding, this cake has 75 candles on it, all attached with an ignitable line so they will light within seconds.  That's so the first candle won't melt completely before the last one is lit.

And light up it did!  The bad news is our building is so old, there are no fire sprinklers or alarms to set off ... thus the fire extinguisher close at hand.  This is a BIG cake on a BIG metal cart!!  The King had a pretty hard time trying to blow them all out.  It took three breaths to do it!!

You can read the writing ... Call the Fire Department before lighting!!  We ate almost all of TWO cakes, along with some vanilla bean ice cream.  That after all those chicken wings, mushrooms, meatballs and miscellaneous appetizers, filled us to the brim.  It was a GREAT party, celebrating a GREAT friend.  

And so on Sunday, I recovered from eating too much before hitting the sewing room to finish up another quilt top.  Since the fabric panels are no longer in existence, I ordered a couple new ones which arrived on Sunday.  That was surprising.  

Also surprising is that I don't like them one bit.  They are all camouflage material and dark.  I'll take them to Bingo and let the guys decide if it's what they want.  We may be out of luck other than just making plain red white and blue quilts.  I rather like those that designate a branch of the service.  

Lunch was quick and easy ... the last of the turkey pot pie without the pie crust part.  I sprinkled parmesan on this time, but that was a mistake.  I ate it anyway.

If I can get my act together today, I'll return those pants I bought at Walmart ... you know the ones ... the impulsive buy that never fits.  It's pretty sad when the best clothing store you have in your town is Walmart!!

In the meantime ... let's all PARTY ON .........