Summer's Over!

Yes, summer is over.  Today is the first day of DD's senior year of college at Missouri S&T!  We are also hosting the teacher meetings at the community center where I work today.  So, summer is OVER!  And, I'm ready.  It hasn't been the greatest of summers.  

It started with the root canal I had in the middle of May that created constant pain in my right jaw and side of my face.  I can honestly say that I have not been without Tylenol, Ibuprofen, or Aleve for the entire summer.  It took multiple trips to the dentist to get the crown on (due to some mistakes in the molding process.............yes, they broke the mold on me!).  I just want to spend a long period of time without anyone putting their hands in my mouth to let my jaw heal.  I even postponed my regular teeth cleaning appointment until November.  I'm just happy that I have finally weened myself down to just one Aleve in the morning and a couple of Tylenol at bedtime.  Sometimes, you just don't realize how much not feeling good affects you.

Then, remember that wonderful Longarm Avante quilting machine I purchased (used)?  Well, I just wasn't having much success with it keeping the tension the same.  Some real frustration with quilting set in, and I was going to just totally quit altogether.  It didn't help that no one I contacted seemed to really want to help solve my issues.  I made an appointment with one quilt shop that seemed like they might help, but had one of the worst experiences of my life there.  So I cleaned up the longarm, and Bitsy, my featherweight, and Lizzy, my 201, (somehow, purging was going to make things better) took great photos of them, and listed them for sale on Craig's List.  Believe it or not, I sold Bitsy (for more than what I had paid for her), and I sold the longarm (for what I had paid for it).  So, I decided to keep Lizzy.  She's still in the basement and I did some more sewing on her last night.

The worst thing of all this summer was that last Wednesday morning, DD had to have Jason 2.0, her best buddy cat friend, put to sleep - the day before she was heading back to school.  He had some bladder blockage issues which might have been solved (only a 50% chance) by some expensive surgery, but in the end, she decided not to put him through that.  Believe it or not, we all really miss the obnoxious beast.

The Hubs and I had just gotten used to both DD and Jason being around and now they are both gone again.  I think even Cici misses them.

Here he is helping to hold down my main UFO project for this year.  With his help, I was able to get the binding on and it's ready to go for the September guild meeting.  

 My friend Mary kindly quilted it for me.  We are donating it to the Tiny Homes for Veterans project in Kansas City.  This is one of my guild's charity projects for the year.

And this is the last photo I took of Jason 2.0.  He was hanging out on DD's bed the week she was gone to Utah.  

So, with school starting and summer ending, I hope to feel better and be more positive about everything.  I am also going to try to do more regular blogging.  I know I've said that before, probably as part of some New Year's resolution, but now I'm doing it as part of the New School Year's resolutions!  And, we are coming up to fall, my favorite season of the year.............leaves turning, air crisp and cool, combines running, football games.........life is looking better!

Christi