Holy Cow! Where'd the time go?

It's been over two months since I last posted. Where'd the time go? What have I been doing that I was so busy that I didn't have time to post?? Oh ... I know ... I've been working. Yeah, that darned job takes all my time. OK, that's not really true. It's not a darned job. It's a wonderful job and I'm so happy to have it. And it doesn't take all my time, just 35 hours a week (some weeks a little more). I guess I've just been busy ... being busy.

I originally started this blog so I could talk about quilting. And I don't think I've said a thing about quilting. This must be rectified!!

Martha June and I are going to pick up two quilts from the quilter tomorrow. One is for CaveMan's birthday. And just in case he stumbles across my blog, I'll wait until after his birthday to describe it or post any pictures. The other quilt is one I'm very proud of. It is one that I designed and was commissioned to make for a former co-worker who is retiring. And this quilt has motivated and inspired me to start designing quilt patterns. I'm getting lots of advice and what to do and what not to do, and have gotten lots of volunteers to test my patterns. I'll leave this up to my internet quilting posse, whom I've been friends with for 10 years. But basically, I'll be designing patterns for someone like ... me. The skill level will be for advanced beginner to intermediate. I'll use traditional blocks and maybe throw in a little applique from time to time. I'll start with a focus fabric and throw in 3 or 4 extra fabrics. And they won't have a bajillion little half-square triangles. I've gotten 4 or 5 designs started, but only one actually finished and sewn out. The design part is fun. The finishing part ... not as much fun. But then, I'm like that with quilting. I love to start a quilt, but get bored with it before it's finished. I wish I had more "stick-to-it-tive-ness" with my hobby. I love finishing projects at work. I love putting that little check mark next to an item on my list of "things to do". Hmmm ... I think I'll go make a list of everything I've already done today just so I can put a bunch of little check marks on it.

The Dreaded Phone Call

"Mom, I've been in a wreck," was how CaveMan started the phone call. He immediately followed it by telling me that he was OK, but the truck was not driveable. Once I remembered to breathe and swallowed my heart which had somehow jumped up into my throat, I remembered to ask him where he was at. He was on his way home for Christmas vacation from college. I had been excited all day just knowing he'd be home when I got there. The phone call was NOT what I had been expecting.

But CaveMan was fine ... and the other two people in the accident were fine. And while it was true that his truck wasn't driveable, it's only because the front bumper got pushed back just close enough to his tire that the wheel couldn't turn. We have good insurance, in case the other drivers don't.

My baby is home. And maybe the best gift he'll get this Christmas is not what he finds wrapped under the tree on Christmas morning, but rather what he learned tonight.

Deer + bumper = depleted checking account

HotShot and I were coming home on Saturday night from a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday at the farm when Bambi decided to commit suicide and used my front bumper to do it. I was distraught. I haven't been able to eat meat for 3 days. My oldest son, whom we'll call CaveMan, was thrilled at the thought of fresh venison. He was following in his truck about 10 miles behind me. I called him on his cell phone to tell him what happened and he was more concerned about getting the exact location of the carcass so he could recover it than he was about the welfare of his brother and me. Thanks, CaveMan. Don't forget I was in labor for 31 hours with you.

CaveMan is the hunter/fisher type. He's a great person -- I'm very proud of him. And even though we raise cattle and I know what happens to them eventually, I don't have to see them after they've been killed. But CaveMan is giddy with the thought of hunting and/or fishing for his food and then preparing it and eating it. Whereas I'm giddy at the thought of someone else obtaining my food and then preparing it for me to eat.

So, anyway ... part of my Christmas money will go towards repairing my front bumper. Yes, I have insurance. And it's very good insurance. But I'll still have to pay the deductible. Drats! There goes that big diamond ring I was hoping for under the tree.

He loves me ... He really, really loves me!

I have a 14 y/o son that I'll call HotShot. There was a play at this school tonight (he's a freshman in high school) and I volunteered to sell tickets. Normally HotShot prefers for his friends to think he hatched from under a rock ... or at least that's the way he makes his dad and I feel. But tonight when we were walking into school, he was holding my hand. And ... after he showed me where I was supposed to go, he KISSED me goodbye. He loves me ... he really, really loves me. I think we may have turned a corner tonight. I think maybe he's not embarrased to have parents, anymore. It's a miracle!

The "C" Word

I decided when I started this blog that I would change the names of those I talked about to protect the innocent. I'm going to break my rule. I'm going to talk about one of my best friends, Connie. She's fought a good fight and she deserves to have her story told.

Connie is what I call a 'Modern Day Job'. I wonder how so much could happen to one person and yet she never loses her faith. Two years ago her husband, whom she had just recently separated from, committed suicide. A year after that, Connie was diagnosed with Ductile Carcenoma, or in simpler terms -- breast cancer. Because she had a very aggressive form of this horrible disease with a high rate of recurrence, and because she was then the single parent of a teenaged daughter, Connie chose to have a double mastectomy followed by aggresive chemotherapy. Connie's course of chemo wasn't even over and she had to deal with the sudden death of her father. And now ... only 8 months after she finished her chemo, the cancer is back and in her spine. She started radiation treatments today, but the doctor has only given her a 33% chance of living past a year.

Why does it seem like God takes all the good people young? I know He doesn't, but sometimes it seems that way. He took my mom when she was only 52. Connie is 43.

When it's time for Connie to go Home, the world will have lost a beautiful and incredible woman. And I will have lost one of my best friends.

Retail Therapy and Best Friends

I went shopping with one of my best friends today. We'll call her ... Martha June. Why does it feel so good emotionally to go shopping with your girlfriend? Part of the fun is the stuff I bought. We went to TWO quilt stores and then a large, fabric, chain store. So after shopping (and getting some good bargains because one of the quilt store is going out of business), I then came home, pulled on my jammies, crawled in bed with my spoiled pup, and looked over all my goodies.

What I really liked the most, though, was just being with Martha June. I crave being with my friends, just like I crave my Starbucks Frappucino every morning. I can be myself in ways that I can't be myself with anyone else. We share laughs and we share tears, and we can be silly, little girls with one another. For just a little while I can step away from the responsibility of being a mother and the obligations of being a wife.

I love my friends and have been blessed with so many. My mom was one of my best friends. My husband is one of my best friends, now. But my girlfriends ... I collect those like some people collect stamps. When I was a young girl and in Girl Scouts, there was a song that we'd sing that went something like, "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold." And that's exactly how I feel ... my girlfriends are priceless!

Random Thoughts from a Scattered Mind

Normally, I hate grocery shopping. That's because normally, I go to the store on my way home from work ... and I'm tired ... and I'm hungry ... so I pick up a bunch of pre-packaged, pre-cooked foods that I can just throw together and nuke in the microwave. I walk out of the store with two little bags and about $100 less in my checking account. And people are not nice at 5:30 in the afternoon. I guess they're all like me ... tired and hungry.

But today was a joyous day at the grocery!! Today is Friday and I'm off work today. So I sat down and actually looked at some cookbooks and made out a list. I marched into the store with a smile on my face and a song in my ear. Well, technically the sound was coming out over the PA of the grocery store, but it was a nice song so I hummed along.

And because I had a plan ... and bought food to actually prepare and cook ... I walked out of the store with SEVEN bags and $100 less in my checking account. Hmmm ... there might be a lesson to learn here.

So ... what am I cooking? (I knew you were wondering -- isn't it amazing that I can read your mind?) I've got broccoli-cheese soup in the crock pot. I'm browning ground turkey for my Lazy Lasagna (uses egg noodles instead of the long, lasagna ones). And I've got the 'fixin's (did I tell you I live in Tennessee??) for chicken and dressing casserole, ham and hash brown casserole, and kielbasa and white beans. Mmmmm. I plan on cooking everything this afternoon and freezing it so that next week when I'm tired and hungry after working all day, I can just pop a frozen, homemade dinner in the oven, toss a salad and heat up some veggies, and wah-lah!! Dinner is done!

Time to go stir the ground turkey ....