The One Where I Went Rappelling

The difference between a mountain and a molehill is your perspective. –Al Neuharth.

Saturday, May 11, 2014
7:00 am: Why do all adventures have to start so early?

7:52 am: Why am I always late? I was supposed to be there 7 minutes ago. It's a good thing we all run on Mormon Standard Time.

8:16 am: I wasn't the only one who was late. But we are on our way. It is a 2½-ish hour drive. Good thing I took my Dramamine and brought a project to stitch on. And I'm so glad I'm not driving.

{The blue star is our starting point and the blue dot is the destination — Black Dragon Canyon in the San Rafael Swell}

10:48 am: Rest stop. One thing I really dislike about Nature is the lack of flushing toilets. But an outhouse is better than going behind a bush. I guess I'll take it.

I've been working on the labels for my patriotic sampler and have made a lot of progress. I would like to get this quilt finished in time to display this year, but it will be July before we know it.

11:13 am: Girls Camp isn't until June, but we're here to fill the High Adventure certification for the 4^th year girls {age 15}. The activity is for all the 4^th years in the stake, and arranged by the Stake Young Women leaders, but I thought it was important to come and show support to my girls. I'll admit that I was a little hesitant to give up an entire Saturday to go rappelling. I'm not a big fan of dirt. Or heights. Or non-flushing portable toilets {although I have to admit that the set up here is nicer than the pit toilet we stopped at earlier. The girls had some funny name for it, but I can't remember it now}. But it really is beautiful here and I am glad I came.

A kind, grandfatherly gentleman is our host for the day. Oliver has been teaching the girls in our stake to rappel for years. The basics are these: the ropes are certified up to 9000 lbs. but don't step on them, and don't drop the carabiners and figure eights.

This is where we are rappelling from. It's only about 140 feet. No biggie.

11:27 am: In order to get to the rappelling point, we have to scale an only slightly less steep incline than the face we will be rappelling from. I *huff* am *puff* so *wheeze* out *huff* of *wheeze* shape *huff*.

11:49 am: Surely the elevation up here isn't that different from where we were standing on the ground, but I'm feeling a little light-headed. I'm not so sure this is such a good idea.

The girls are starting to gear up. Oliver's granddaughter is helping them get their harnesses on correctly.

12:03 pm: The ropes are tied to hardware anchored in the rock. Oliver's son and grandson are harnessed and the ropes pass through a figure eight attached to their harnesses by carabiners. They serve as a back-up should the anchors fail. At the bottom of each rope is someone on belay who only has to exert about 10 lbs. of pressure to stop your progress down the rope. Good to know.

12:19 pm: These are my girls. Aren't they beautiful?

{Top left: Serina
Middle left: Kali and Oliver
Bottom left: A cactus patch growing in the middle of the sandstone
Bottom center: Kristina
Bottom right: Jehni
Group shot: Kristina, Kali, Serina and Jehni}

12:42 pm: Quote of the day from Cami, a girl from one of the other wards, to Oliver and his family: "you guys do this for fun?"

1:19 pm: It is my turn. I can see what Cami was talking about.

I've been watching Oliver coach each of the girls in turn. Keep your legs straight, keep your feet shoulder-width apart, lean back into the harness, keep your eyes on your feet and where your next step will be but don't look down, breathe, yell "help" if you get into trouble and the men on belay at the bottom will stop you.

Oh, look. There are grooves in the figure eight where the rope passes through. Interesting.

Time to go. *Deep breath* I can do this.

This is what it looks like after you go over the edge. It's really not so bad. Just put one foot behind the other, don't bend your knees, trust the equipment and don't look down. My partner, Lizzie, is from another ward, but I adopted her for the day.

1:31 pm: That was fantastic! What an amazing experience. I'm so glad I didn't chicken out. The hardest part was kicking off the rock as it curved back and letting myself dangle in open space. But when I turned around and looked around, it was awesome. I live in some of God's most beautiful country.

Now for some lunch. I had a hard time deciding what to bring. Eating gluten and diary free on-the-go is a hassle. In the end, I decided on a Jimmy John's unwich. It is a little bit soggy, but not bad.

2:27 pm: Oliver said that you should go twice, because the second time was more fun. It was pretty fun the first time. Maybe I should go again.

2:51 pm: That hill is a doozy to climb. I'm not sure that going a second time is such a good idea. I'm tired. What if I drop myself? They guys on belay at the bottom will stop me, of course, but still. I could get scratched up pretty badly.

3:13 pm: The second time was not as much fun for me. I was too tired. And I looked down. I'll remember that for next year.

3:26 pm: The girls are having so much fun. Jehni has been six or seven times. She rappels down and runs right back up to the top to go again.

4:18 pm: The wind has really picked up. I have sand in between my eyelashes. We're going to pack up and go up the canyon a little further, where there is shelter from the wind to eat.

5:05 pm: Oliver talked for a little bit on his experiences over the years and drew some parallels between having faith in God and having a safe rappelling experience. He gave each of us a carabiner and a bookmark with the comparisons he made on it.
Be Strong
Stay firmly anchored to the mountain (gospel).
Tie the right knots (good friends and family).
Remember, your life hangs in the balance (eternal life).
Only use the best equipment (scriptures and prayer).
Never step on your rope (sacred things).
Go with faith (in the Lord).

5:45 pm: Dinner was good and now we're on our way home.

8:11 pm: It got too dark to work on my stitching project about an hour ago. I have sand in my ears. I am so ready to be done. The drive up didn't seem this long. Just a few more minutes until we are home.

8:21 pm: That last 10 minutes nearly killed me. I can't wait to hit the showers!

The One Where The Not-So-Little-Bugs Go Back To School

The calm and balanced mind is the strong and great mind; the hurried and agitated mind is the weak one. –Wallace D. Wattles

Yesterday was the first day back to school for the Not-So-Little Bugs. I wrote this post all day in my head yesterday, but there just wasn't a minute to squeeze in actually typing it out. The moment has almost passed and this post is almost irrelevant, but I wanted to capture at least a little of what I was thinking of yesterday, because I'm still thinking some of it today.

This is Grasshopper. Yesterday was his first day of 8^th grade. I remember being in 8^th grade. I can hardly believe I have an 8^th grader.

This is LadyBug. Yesterday was her first day of 6^th grade. I can remember being in 6^th grade too.

And this is me on my first day of being the mother of a 6^th grader and an 8^th grader. {Sidebar: I didn't decide we were taking milestone photos until after Mr. Bug had left for work yesterday and he didn't get/ignored my text requesting that he snap a selfie and e-mail it to me.}

I never was one to get teary when my kids went to school. In years past I may not have been excited about it, but the reason for that is that we had to get back on a regular schedule with early mornings, strict bedtimes and homework. Leading up to the start of school this year, I was ambivalent. Staying on top of homework was at the top of my list of anxieties. In the perks column, with school back in I get to sleep in between thirty minutes and an hour every morning and I'm so over a 9:00 pm bedtime. {Sidebar: I considered keeping an earlier schedule in order to have a little sewing time in the morning, but I know myself and I would never be content with the amount of time available and would be grumpy to have to put away my project to go to work. Work first, then play seems to work best for me.}. And now that school has started and I've had two guilt-free work-days in a row now where I haven't had to worry about the Not-So-Little Bugs being alone, trying to mediate disputes or meet needs over the phone, and making it home well before they get out of school so that I can have a bit of time to decompress after work has been a huge relief. And that trumps tricky homework schedules any day.

If there hadn't been a need for it, I don't think I would have ever chosen to go back to work when my kids were this young. It has been hard, but it has also been good. My hours at work kind of grew to more than I expected, though, which was very stressful where the balancing act is concerned. At the beginning of the summer I asked to reduce my hours back to what I'd been hired for. I hoped that I could keep them steady at that level even after summer, and it looks like it is going to work out on both ends. A coworker who is a single mom needs more hours in order to qualify for health benefits so she has been picking up the slack for me. And the reduction in wages that accompanies fewer work hours hasn't pinched our budget too much. Finding the right balance has been hard for me over the last several years. At the risk of jinxing myself, I think I've maybe got it. At any rate, I'm glad the kids are back in school.

Speaking of which, they should be home any minute now and I want to hear all about their days.

The One Where My Blog Post Was Rescued

Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day. –Sally Koch

Blogger ate my post. It was unretrievable from my end. I sent up a flare for help. In less than 30 minutes there was a response and in just over an hour, I had my post back, complete with font formatting and hyperlinks in tact. Amazing. And also a little scary. What you put out there on the internet is forever, so be careful.

Sheesh. I'm starting to sound like my dad.

The reason I lost my post was because there were some questions about the vodka in the Magic Starch recipe and I went back to clarify. I think I replied to everyone who left a question in the comment via e-mail. But just in case, I know absolutely nothing about vodka. I don't drink, which, I must confess is more of a reason for having never made my own batch of Magic Starch than having to run all over town to get the ingredients. I wouldn't want anyone I know to see me at a liquor store. Then again, if I ran into anyone I know at the liquor store, I'm sure they wouldn't want me to see them there either. However, after having tried the Magic Starch I'm afraid I'll be making that trip when I run out of my supply. It is really great stuff.

But I digress. I did a little homework on the ingredients. Alcohol enhances the smell of the essential oil and also is a preservative for the mixture. Vodka is the recommended means of adding alcohol to the mix over rubbing alcohol. There are pros and cons to each side. In the pros column for vodka, it has no additives and dries quicker than rubbing alcohol. And drinking the leftover vodka can be either a pro or a con, depending on if you're a teetotaler or not.

Because of the lavender, Magic Starch and/or linen water {recipe without the liquid starch} has a really pleasant smell, which is part of the reason you'd want to use it. Rubbing alcohol has a really potent and unpleasant smell. I've never tried making it with rubbing alcohol, so I don't know if the smell would overpower the lavender. It is also toxic, which is another con, but then again, liquid starch is probably toxic too so you wouldn't want to drink it regardless of the type of alcohol in it. It seems to me that it is a judgement call. If you try it with rubbing alcohol, let me know how it works.

Back to the subject of this post, thank you to my blog post rescuers. You know who you are. It means a lot.

Piece, out. –E

The One Where Blogger Ate My Post

Three things are certain:
Death, taxes, and lost data.
Guess which has occurred.
–David Dixon

Blogger ate my post. My post from yesterday. The one that took me 1½ hours to write and edit. There were questions about the vodka in the Magic Starch so I went back in to add a few notes and when I re-published, blogger ate the text.

This has happened before. I get a post all typed up, publish it and nothing but the title shows up. It happened last Wednesday during my week of giveaways. I wrote the post the night before and scheduled it to publish at midnight. The title of the post but no actual post was up for about 18 hours before I could add the text and 12 people entered to win the giveaway without knowing the details. I hadn't save a copy of that post, but reproducing it was easy. It was mostly copy, paste and tweak a few details. Yesterday's post? Not so much?

Since this has happened before, I usually check to make sure that the text made it into my post. I open my blog in a new tab to see if what I typed appears. If it didn't, I go back to the tab I published in, hit the back button to get to the composing page and the information is still there. I copy it, close the post and go back to the list of posts, edit the post so I can paste the contents back into it because it is now empty and then publish. A little time consuming/frustrating/annoying, but no harm done because my post is still there.

Today, when I went to view my post to make sure the changes came up, the page wouldn't load. My computer is stupid sometimes and takes forever to load a page. So, I closed the tab and opened my blog from another tab. No post. No way to hit the back button. It wasn't in the history. I checked Facebook, where I have it set up so that when I post there the first paragraph of my post shows up and there's a link back to my blog. But the whole post isn't there. I don't have a copy of it anywhere. And I don't really have the heart to re-write it. I'm not making much sense now, trying to describe to you the ways that I can't find my post.

So, the big question, does anyone have my post from yesterday still open in a tab on their computer? Or am I the only one who keeps multiple tabs open at once? Does anyone get my posts via e-mail and still has yesterday's post? Even if it is just the text, I can add back in photos and silly videos from YouTube.

Any help would be appreciated!

The One Where Elizabeth Gets A New Phone

As a teenager you are at the last stage in your life when you will be happy to hear that the phone is for you. –Fran Lebowitz, Social Studies

I have been fairly conservative when it comes to cell phones. It really wasn't a high priority for me to have all the whistles and bells. I just wanted something cute {read pink} that would get me out of a jam, like when I got all the way to the grocery store and realized I forgot my list. I kept my plan conservative with 300 minutes and texting not included. I texted so rarely that an extra 20₵ here and there wasn't a big deal.

When Mr. Bug got his job, I texted everyone I know and it was kind of a hassle trying to type out my excitement using the number pad. Luckily, I at least knew how to send to multiple recipients and use a recent message in a new one, so that I only had to type it out once. But then there were tons of replies and my replies to them and I realized that I really needed wanted a new phone. And a new plan, because I kind of forgot that it was 20₵ for outgoing AND incoming texts .

After we got the news of Mr. Bug's new job, we went out to dinner to celebrate with our favorite double-date couple, who not only are really good friends, but are family; Mr. Bug's cousin and his wife. They were married just a few months before we were and through the years we've formed a great friendship and love to go out with this great couple. At dinner we got talking about cell phones and they told us that they only pay $25 a month for 300 talk minutes, and unlimited texting and data. On top of that, there is no contract. I was intrigued {read ready to jump ship on my current provider because their plan was $12 a month cheaper and included lots more than mine}. They told us that their provider is Virgin Mobile, and you do have to buy the phone, but that they haven't had any problems with their service and their bill really is $25 a month. Every month. I was sold. {No, I'm not getting paid to advertise for Virgin Mobile, but we all know how much I love a good deal so I have to share.}

Enter Elizabeth's new phone:

{Samsung Intercept
with Paisley Blues & Greens Skin}

Whereas I mostly kept my old phone in my purse {where it would sometimes run out of battery because I'd forget it was in there and leave it for days}, I carry my new phone around with me everywhere because I don't want to miss when it does its magic. I keep wishing more people would call me so I can play with my new toy use my new phone.

I've started calling it my Precious. Talk about whistles and bells. It has a touch screen and cool ringtones. I use the alarm on it to wake up in the mornings. There are several other features that I haven't even played around with yet. But my favorite is the slide-out keyboard for easy texting ! I've texted more in the last eight days than I have in my entire life. I'm really tempted to give out my number here just so y'all can text me and I can text back . But I won't do that because then I'd be in trouble with my dad. Sheesh! I really am like a teenager with a new toy!

The One Where Elizabeth Does Machine Quilting and Binding for Hire

We are closer to the ants than to the butterflies. Very few people can endure much leisure. –Gerald Brenan, Thoughts in a Dry Season

My cute friend, Annelise, made the most adorable baby quilt for a friend of hers and asked if I would machine quilt it for her. I was kind of excited about it for a couple of reasons. First, it was a good opportunity for a little practice. I'm getting the hang of machine quilting, I think. At least I can do a passable meander. Second, it was flattering to have her think I would be good enough to get the job done. And third, her quilt is SO darling. It was fun to have something to cute in the house for a few days. I just love the Riley Blake fabrics she used.

Look at the cute patchwork strip she put on the back. So fun!

She also asked if I would do the machine part of the binding for her, which I was only to happy to do especially considering it was such a cute stripey fabric.

She did such a great job with this fun quilt and I'm excited that I can count it as a finish for this month.

Today's post brought to you by:

The One Where Elizabeth Works A Really Lot and Doesn't Have Much Time For Sewing or Blogging

LOST: Husband, kids and sewing machine. Reward for sewing machine. –Seen at a Local Quilt Shop

Did you know that the place were I work is a mere 2½ blocks from a quilt shop — one of my favorite quilt shops, as a matter of fact? It is the shop where I bought Grace. They always have a lovely selection of fabrics, an excellent clearance section and they give out some pretty decent coupons. In all the time I've been working just 2½ short blocks from a fabric mecca, I have not stopped in once. On the days when I'm out running errands for the BossMan {which are much less frequent now that I'm more Accounts Receivable and less Executive Assistant} I very often feel the urge to skive off work and spend an hour or two petting the pretty fabrics and dreaming of creative things to make with them. But not once at the end of my work day have I felt like stopping in at the quilt shop. There are always more pressing matters at home that I need to get to.

It was kind of that way this week with my blog and all my sewing projects. I thought of them longingly while I was balancing accounts and doing invoices, but when my work-day was done, I had more pressing matters like getting dinner on and wrangling homework out of the Little Bugs. You see, my 20-hour a week job has turned into a 30-hour a week job most of the time. This last week was a 40-hour week and I'm really surprised how much brain power all that number crunching took. By the time the kids were in bed, about the only thing I wanted to do was fall in a heap on the couch and watch TV. My apologies to the three people who read my Bradbury 13 posts. I'll be back next week at the regularly scheduled time. And I sincerely applaud those of you who work full-time and manage to get anything creative done at all.

When Friday came, the prospect of a whole weekend ahead of me brought back some of the creative mojo. I decided to ignore the housework and cram as much sewing in as possible. That's not uncommon for me — ignoring the housework in favor of something creative {although this time, I might regret it when I have to go starkers to work on Monday}. I decided to start with something fast and fun so that I would feel immediately successful and want to keep going. I made a couple of fleece baby blankets with satin edges. I've lost track of how many of these I've made; it's somewhere between 18 and 20. They make fun, inexpensive, easy baby gifts.

JoAnn's is great to keep me stocked with 40% and 50% off coupons, so I always make sure to use one for the satin blanket binding. And I love it when they put their fleece on sale because everyone buys a ton of it. When they are done buying their yardage, if there is anything under 1½ yards left, it gets made into a remnant because it won't stay wrapped nicely on the bolt. That's where I come in. If you buy a remnant while the fabric is on sale, they start at the sale price and then deduct 50%. I've gotten some really great deals that way. The polka-dot fleece above was big enough to make two blankets and I paid $3.94 for it. The total cost for that blanket was $5.71. The beautiful turquoise plaid below was a total of $4.75.

I'm really happy to have two February finishes {no matter how small}. Now I can move on to the apron that Joyce won from me two weeks ago . I was supposed to do that on Tuesday, but, well, you know. It was a long day at work. It is a good thing that thread is 50% off at JoAnn's right now, because I used up the rest of the green that I was going to use on the apron on the polka-dotted blanket.

Oh, I almost forgot. I'll be back on Monday with not one, but THREE fabulous sponsored giveaways! Get ready to be inspired!

Today's post brought to you by:

The One Where Elizabeth Makes Adult Bibs

We should give as we would receive, cheerfully, quickly, and without hesitation; for there is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers. –Seneca

Mid-summer Mr. Bug's parents, who are currently serving an LDS mission, called and asked if I would make them bibs. My mother-in-law's birthday is at the end of August and she wanted me to do them as birthday gifts. As politely as I could, I asked if perhaps they might prefer aprons {of course, I was thinking of the fancy ones for my mother-in-law but something a little more butch for my father-in-law}, but they insisted that they wanted bibs. When I told Mr. Bug, we were both like, um, seriously?

In a completely separate, but related incident, my mom passed along word from my Grandpa {who is 83, legally blind and lives in an assisted living facility} requesting that I make him some bibs. Three, to be exact. Of course, he makes a better case for it. But when it comes down to it, Mr. Bug's dad is only just 10 years younger than my grandpa. In any case, I found this task a bit boggling to my imagination. I really couldn't picture it and to be honest, I just didn't want to do it . Yes. My attitude about it was pretty bad.

A few weeks before Thanksgiving, my mother-in-law's father passed away. Mr. Bug's parents obtained permission to come home for the funeral. They stayed for a week and spent time visiting with all of their kids and grandkids. While they visited with us, they told us about the apartment they are living in while on their mission. They don't have an in-house washer and dryer. They have to tote their laundry across the courtyard to the laundromat. On top of that, they are wearing nice, dressy clothes most of the time, some of which require dry cleaning. And so their request for bibs started to make a little more sense. Or at least had a little more merit and I began to feel like the schmuck that I am for not getting on the ball and getting them finished. I decided that I would make them bibs for Christmas. Better late than never, right?

The thing about Christmas is that there is never enough time to do everything that I want to. That is partly because I have a huge list and like to make something for everyone on it, but also partly because I procrastinate all that crafting. This year, my procrastination skills were in top form, as I barely finished the shopping on the 23^rd and was still finishing up a few things 10 minutes before we were supposed to leave for our party on the 24^th. I won't even tell you how late I was up wrapping presents for the Little Bugs after we got home that night. And I didn't get the bibs finished. I didn't even get the bibs started.

Fast forward to the week after Christmas. I had high hopes for lots of time spent sewing. But my work hours increased by 50% {I even had to work New Year's Eve and New Year's Day} and so there was much less time and energy for sewing. Then I got hit with that nasty stomach bug that is going around and still had to maintain my work hours {lucky for me — or maybe it was them — that I got to work from home on Monday and Tuesday}. And even though I knew I needed to get these bibs finished, my heart just wasn't in it. So, here they are, five adult bibs that I hope are just a little bit classier than they sound {yeah, I probably still need an attitude adjustment}.

I decided to use terry cloth on the front and homespun on the back. Grandpa requested white 'toweling' with green 'piping' around the edges. So, I headed to my local JoAnn's, armed with my trusty 50% off coupons {you know I love a good deal}. I got white terry cloth for Grandpa and picked a pretty cream colored terry for the in-laws. I decided that I'd use the same homespun fabric for both men and that 2½ yards would be plenty. Then I came home and made up my pattern and realized exactly how big they were going to be. Grandpa requested that his be 30" long from the neck down. That seemed really long to me — excessively long. I talked with my mom and she said that my grandpa had estimated in the length. So I shortened it a bit and then a bit more and it ended up at 25" from the neck down.

Having Grandpa's be so big, I didn't have enough of the green homespun left for my father-in-law, so I rounded up some more 50% off coupons and headed back to the JoAnn's. I found a lovely navy blue homespun that went really well with the homespun I had for my mother-in-law's already. I'd bought it quite a while ago with something else in mind, but I loved the colors in it and thought she might like the pretty print. I made theirs even a little bit shorter than the bibs I made for my Grandpa and I like the length on theirs better. I think it will be just right.

I wasn't quite sure how to put these together, whether I should put batting between the layers and how I should quilt them. I decided not to put batting in, using only the homespun on the back and the terry on the front, but I think if I ever did these again, I'd probably put a layer of flannel between them. I quilted the fabrics together using straight lines 2" apart on the 45˚ diagonal. I used painter's tape to mark it and discovered that I don't like that very much. If you're not careful, it puckers the fabric a little underneath it. I did the quilting before I cut the bibs out. I thought there would be less distortion that way. My terry cloth pieces were bigger than the homespun pieces, so I quilted everything from the back {homespun side up}. After I cut the bibs out, I bound them the same way I would a quilt. Then I appliquéd a little monogram on each, using my free-motion foot and a little messy outline stitching ala Little Miss Shabby {scroll down to see her cute birds} and put velcro on at the neck {my least favorite part — I hate sewing velcro on, but I used my free motion foot this time and it was a lot easier that way}.

I think that the total cost for each bib was around $4 , plus about four hours each. As soon as I finished them tonight, I made a special trip to the post office that has a 10:00 pm pick-up and an automated postage machine so that they'd be on their way to their lucky new owners. And that makes five finishes for me in January!

Today's post brought to you by:

The One Where Elizabeth Almost Hit a Deer

I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because it's such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive, but I have photographs of her. –Ellen DeGeneres

We live in a sleepy little hamlet nestled up against the Rocky Mountains. Evidence of deer in town {in the form of droppings in your yard followed by the lack of tulips in your spring gardens, where once there were tulips} is not uncommon and sometimes you even catch a glimpse of them. I myself have only spotted them a few times in our neighborhood, because most often they come into town on cold winter nights when food in the mountains is scarce and I tend to stay indoors when it is cold and dark outside.

The other day I was heading out to run some errands. I was about half-way between my house and the stop sign at the corner, when I caught some movement in my peripheral vision. I moved my foot to the brake to slow down and turned to see what it was. I saw a deer coming into the road, running flat out as he had just passed through a large, open church parking lot. The moment became surreal; it was incredible how many things passed through my mind in only a few short seconds. I counted four points on each of the buck's horns {so does that make him a four-point or an eight-point deer?}. I was awed by the beauty and grace and determination of this amazing creature as it refused to alter its course. And I was horrified at the possibility of not being able to stop in time. Instinct kicked in and I slammed on the brakes. I jerked to a stop just as the deer passed in front of me. After the panic had passed and my heart rate slowed, relief flooded my mind and I I felt like Someone had been watching out for me.

The One Where Elizabeth Does Machine Quilting for Hire And Decides To Make A Last-Minute Gift

The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play. –Arnold Toynbee

I have this cute friend, Pink. Pink's father-in-law passed away very unexpectedly last spring and so Pink gathered up all of his clothes and began cutting them up to make quilts {and the most adorable stuffed animals} to remember him by, as gifts for his family members. She started with a lovely quilt for her husband for his birthday. And she just finished two more quilt tops for Christmas; one for her husband's sister and one for her husband's brother. She asked me if I would machine quilt them for her. I had to stop and think about that. My sewing time is my 'therapy' time. I've done sewing for hire before and when I'm on someone else's deadline it loses all its fun-ness and becomes work and I hate it. But I decided that a little extra money for Christmas might be a good thing, so I agreed to it.

And then I procrastinated for a whole week after I got the quilts from Pink. I think I was afraid of messing them up, or possibly having it take so long that the hourly rate would be laughable {we agreed on a price per inch, like they do it at the quilt shops }. But finally the time came where I could no longer procrastinate, because if I did, then Pink wouldn't have time to get them bound and wrapped up for Christmas. Nothing like a deadline to motivate me . So Monday night, I got all set up and started quilting. It was marvelous. I was on a roll. And then my free motion foot cracked {it is a combination of plastic and metal} beyond repair, putting a serious crimp in my style. I was able to get a new foot on Tuesday, but had so many other things to do that I only got to the ¾-mark before I had to leave off for the night. I finished it up on Wednesday afternoon and am so happy with how it turned out.

I was enjoying myself so much that after I finished the first quilt, I got the second quilt basted and about ⅔ of the quilting finished on it before going to bed {admittedly a bit late} last night. I was up early this morning and had the quilting all finished by 9:15 am. And that makes two December finishes for me .

As I worked, and the crisscross pattern emerged in this second quilt, an idea began forming in my mind. I loved the thoughtfulness of the memory quilts that Pink had made for her family and was inspired by another blogger, Mary, who decided 12 days before Christmas that she was going to make a t-shirt quilt for her husband . She posted yesterday to report her progress and she'll have that quilt finished by the weekend. I started thinking about a pile of old t-shirts and sweatshirts from Mr. Bug's Navy days that I came across while I was straightening the shelves in our closet a few months ago. There was a t-shirt quilt at the quilt show in town this summer and when I found Mr. Bug's shirts, I thought to myself, hmmmmm, these might make a neat t-shirt quilt . . . someday . . .

The tangibility of Pink's memory quilts and the quick progress of Mary's t-shirt quilt collided in my head and an insane idea for a quilt for Mr. Bug began to take shape. I knew I'd seen some US Navy themed fabric at Wal-Mart and so I went straight there {after work} today to get it. Only in my head, the print was opposite — the background was navy blue {because it is the Navy, after all} and the circles were red. And that threw off my plan. There were about eight yards left on the bolt, so I figured it would be safe for me to leave it and do a little shopping around and then come back, if necessary. Because who would decide to make a quilt {or use up those eight yards in some other way} with only nine days until Christmas? That is just plain crazy. I came home and clickety-clicked until I found the most fantastic Navy fabric ever. It was even on sale {if you think $8.89 a yard is a deal }, so I ordered up 4½ yards of it. I'm crossing my fingers that they ship it tomorrow {their FAQ's said same-day, but I ordered after hours} and that the postal workers just know that I need that package on Monday, because this quilt is not going to be a gift for Mr. Bug for Christmas. It is going to be a gift for Mr. Bug's birthday, which is two days before Christmas .

You see, Mr. Bug has gotten the shaft on his last five birthdays. I'm always running around like a crazy person trying to get the last-minute Christmas things finished and he doesn't get much attention on his birthday. Besides that, I never know what to get Mr. Bug. He likes fancy video cards and mother boards and stuff like that and he likes to pick them out. That kind of takes me out of the whole gift giving process. I always get him a new pair of jeans {which I usually have to return because he doesn't like the cut or something} and a shirt or a sweater. But after 15 years, that gets kind of old. This year, I want to do something special. I only wish I would have thought of it, um, like, four months ago!

Today I got his shirts rough-cut and figured out the layout. I'll stop in at JoAnn's tomorrow to get some woven interfacing so that I can get that fused to the blocks and get them cut to exact size. Then I'll cross my fingers some more and hold my breath and hope that the fabric comes on Monday so that I can get the top put together. I want to quilt on Tuesday and bind and wash on Wednesday. Is it possible to get this {and the sixty-eleven other things I need to do before Christmas} done? Yes. Is it likely? Let's just say that I might be wrapping up a partially-finished quilt for his birthday this year. And I'll have plenty of time to finish it for his next birthday .

P.S. Santa, if you're reading this, I would really love to find a long-arm quilting machine {and a room added onto my house to fit it in} under my tree this year. xo –El

The One Where Elizabeth Gets A Job

If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.
–Napolean Hill

Since the downsizing and elimination of Mr. Bug's job at the end of March, the budget at Bug Cottage has been exceedingly tight. Mr. Bug has ventured out into the business world, but the revenue from his business has been less than 2% of our expenses over the last eight months. As our savings have dipped lower and lower I have become more and more anxious. And I finally decided it was time for me to stop lounging about and help with more than just spending the finances.

Of course, not just any job could lure me out of my comfy stay-at-home-mom gig. It had to be the perfect job. So, this summer I thought I'd give Weed Farmer* a try. I'm fond of gardening, weeds seem to grow well and it was something I could do in my own backyard. But as it turns out, that doesn't pay very well and the overalls made my butt look big. Royal Food Tester didn't pan out either; there was some fuss over me not being a naturalized British citizen and refusing to drink the tea. Jim Morrison won't return my phone calls, so Rockstar Developer is out. And there was simply too much paperwork involved in Celebrity Divorcee.

So I decided to go with Executive Assistant. For a job that practically fell into my lap without me really trying, it is pretty perfect. The hours are great, the company is growing, the staff is very nice and the dress-code is casual. And what does the Executive Assistant do there? Whatever the BossMan needs doing. My first official task was to turn up the heat. Only it was one of those digital, programmable thermostats that require 12 hours of on-site training to master. I hope the office isn't a hot house tomorrow morning. After that, the BossMan handed me an ugly yellow notepad and outlined the things he needed for me to do for him that day. It was interesting, to say the least and involved a trip to the bank, collecting contract hours for payroll, vacuuming {I take it back; a Kirby is not just a vacuum}, software training, and a phone call to the actual IRS {most of which was spent on hold}.

And the ugly yellow notepad? Well, apparently everyone has one. But that will never do for the Executive Assistant. I needed something pink. And a little bit sparkly. With an 'E' for Executive. Or Elizabeth. Whichever.

[*Editor's Note: It has been brought to my attention that I was trying to grow the wrong kind of weed(s). No wonder no one wanted to buy them. I suppose I should read the fine print before just diving in.]