Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!  I know this is a day late again, but the hubs was using the computer all evening last night for farm stuff, so I was put on hold.  He spent the day weighing 1200 pigs, so there was a good deal of data to work with last night.

We spent the weekend in Bethany with my family and another family who had lived in Bethany when we were growing up.  They had 4 kids and we all went to the same church and just spent a lot of time together until they moved away.  We hadn't seen them in over 20 years, so it was fun to get together, meet the kids of the kids, and reminisce.  

We were actually gone for 3 days and 2 nights!  I wasn't sure that DD would make it since she had to leave her favorite kitten at home!

Cats and Quilts!

Why do those 2 things just seem to go together?  Cici informed me that her photo didn't make it into last week's blog, so I'm making sure to get her in this week.

Apparently she is keeping this quilt that I was putting binding on from slipping to the floor.  It's so nice that she can help out this way.  Mom made this one and I got it back from being quilted  and put the binding on for her.  She'll get it this next weekend............all finished!

Retreat!!!!

This past weekend was my quilt guild's retreat at Sew Sweet in Brunswick.  It was a Friday-Saturday event, but I was only able to attend on Saturday.  When I carried my stuff in on Saturday morning this was the first thing I noticed on a design wall.........

I immediately asked who was working on this and it was Michelle.  I am working on the same pattern.  It's a Bonnie Hunter mystery from a few years ago and is a free pattern on her website called Old Tobacco Road.

Michelle is obviously a little further along than I am.  I worked on the green/neutral pinwheel blocks.  Now that I've seen hers, I can't wait to get mine to that stage to see it come together.  However, this is supposed to be what I'm using as Leader/Enders, so I'm trying to keep myself in check and work on the other things I need to do.  

Peas!

Notice how the blog titles rhyme!  The hubs planted 6 rows of peas in the garden and did they ever produce........I picked on Wednesday morning and had plenty, so shared with the in-laws.  Finally got to cook them on Friday (had to wait for the hubs to get back home from a trip cuz you can't eat creamed peas and potatoes without him).  They were delicious.......tasted just like spring.  Unfortunately, I had to pick again on Saturday...........more than a five gallon bucket full.  The hubs helped, but he pulled the vines as he picked so that he wouldn't have to pick again.  I spent Saturday afternoon shelling and watching a John Grisham movie marathon.  Finally got them all frozen (or given away) last night, just kept a few in the frig to cook tonight.  

The hubs and DD headed to my parents on Wednesday afternoon (taking that day's cherry picking with them.............yeah!  I didn't have to pit those!)  where they stayed all night and then The Hubs went on to DesMoines to the WORLD PORK EXPO!!!!  I was invited to go along, but have been before, and other than missing some amazing ribs and this delicacy...

Unfortunately for the Hubs, they ran out of the cinnamon bacon ice cream right before they got to him, so went ahead and opened up the chocolate bacon ice cream.  He took photos for Yuliya since it was 2 of her favorite foods!  He didn't really care for it though.  We have a recipe for maple bacon ice cream and it is delicious!

I was content to stay home.  I even volunteered to check the pigs so he wouldn't have to pay someone else to do it.  It's not a huge deal since you just record a couple of temperature and water monitor readings and make sure all the automatic feeders have feed.  The only trick is that in one barn, the pigs tend to get their heads caught under the bottom of the pen bar.  DH told me how to get them "unstuck" just in case.  Wednesday evening I had to free one pig.  As soon as you touch them, they start squealing.  I finally got him to stop moving long enough to slide his ear over his eye and then slip him back through the bar.  Of course, the next morning when I was in a hurry to get to work on time, there were 3 stuck.  Obviously, these aren't the brightest creatures.  However, in the last pen, I do think some of the pig's buddies had tried to help out by lubricating him to enable him to slip out.  Now, they didn't have butter, so you can imagine what substance, readily available, they had used............and, it didn't work!  So, a shower was a definited must for me!  

I have come up with a solution for this problem..........it's caused by the upright nature of their ears.  We need to get some Landrace hogs.  Just google the Landrace breed and you'll see what I mean.  Of course, most of those pigs can't see where they are going as their really big ears just fall over their eyes.

DD and DH made it home Thursday evening after a stop at Ikea to pick up a desk for DD.  Now she can do calculus homework in her room!

And, she noticed that they had posted roommate assignments for the fall, so she's been group messaging with her new suite mates.  She'll still have the same roommate.

This is how Kenzie spends her time when DH goes on a trip.  She mopes on the deck and waits for him to come home.

Saturday I treated myself to a hand and foot reflexology massage.  It had been about a year since I had one, so this was a real treat.  It was at 8 AM, so I was looking forward to starting the day out right.  The therapist commented on how tense my muscles in my arms and hands were and I explained all the peas, cherries, sewing, etc.  I felt wonderful after the massage.  Then I returned home, picked the last of the cherries, the 5 gallon bucket of peas, pitted the cherries, made preserves............

Beautiful!  Did the dishes, shelled peas, and on Sunday, in an effort to make it rain, we washed all the windows.  Then I washed all the peas, blanched and froze them.  I think the affects of my massage are long gone.

I did spend some time in the sewing room this week.  I got a couple of table runners ready to quilt (forgot to take photos), and started organizing my projects to take to retreat this weekend.  I helped my neighbor get started on a quilting project and she is helping me get a pattern to fit DD.  I really hate garment sewing.  I was going to work on a project I had started that included some cat fabrics, but unfortunately, I couldn't get to it.

It's under the actual cat in this basket.  I guess I'll work on it at retreat.  At least Cici seems to be feeling and acting better.  

Also, I sent a quilt top, backing, and batting with DH and DD to drop off at a quilt shop in Chillicothe on the way to my parents to see if they would quilt it.  Very trusting of me......sending The Hubs in to a quilt shop with instructions!  We'll see how this turns out!

Even without rain, the corn is looking wonderful.  This is what I see on all 4 sides of my yard.  The breeze makes the corn "wave" at you as you go by.  It's not quite as high as an elephant's eye yet, but with one good rain, it probably will be!

Christi

Fleas!

No, Cici doesn't have fleas, although she has been out of sorts for a while now.  She hasn't been eating like normal and really hasn't been around to "help (bother)" me when I'm working.  I think she liked being an "only child", and now that DD is home, it's put some stress on her.  I was very happy (can't believe I'm saying this) when she joined me in the middle of the night  to purr next to me the last 2 nights.  I think maybe she is starting to get back to her old self.  

This is her place - the window seat in the dining room!  She loves looking out at everything and is always there watching for us when we come home.

Sewing Blind

It's been an interesting week.  Of course, I worked Monday and Tuesday, then had the day at home Wednesday.  By Wednesday evening, I was breaking out with red welts and swelling on my head, arms, face, ears, and the backs of my legs above the knee.  Imagine all the creases and crevices with red welts.  DD checked my armpit and told me not to even think about shaving for a few days.  By Thursday morning, after a miserable night in which I took Benedryl, and went to bed with ice packs on my ears, my left eye was mostly swollen closed and my right eye was partially closed and my ears were huge and couldn't possibly swell anymore and everything itched, but it all hurt too much to scratch very well.  It was definitely time to see the doctor.  Fortunately DD was available to drive me since I couldn't get my eyes open far enough for contacts and my ears were too swollen to get the glasses over them.

Woopsie! Missed a Week!

I have changed my work schedule and was debating about changing my blog day, but have decided to still keep it on Mondays and try to actually write the blog on the weekend so that it's ready to go..........sounds like a plan, right?  We'll see if it works.

The last couple of weeks have been extremely busy.  I finished my semester at MVC and finished up my piano lessons with my students for the summer.  We are getting together to attend a performance of Beauty and the Beast at the Lyceum in June.  I was privileged to meet the parents of one of my college students.  Gabriel's parents had traveled from Brazil for his graduation.  His mom doesn't speak English and understood very little of the conversation, but likes to do crafts (she did recognize the word Joann's!).  She made this beautiful box and the soap inside.

 She did all the painting on this box!  I could never do that.  And these soaps are definitely too pretty to use!