Random Musings

Pictures will come next week. Tonight, I will join classmates of 20 years ago at a reserved section of a football game. I will cheer and clap. But I will go home happy, regardless of the outcome. I'm weird that way. Then tomorrow, we will all meet to talk and catch up, eat dinner, and....watch football. That's what happens when you live in Alabama. Go Blue Devils and Roll Tide!

This time last week we were en route to Alabama for Aunt Margie's funeral. Today we are making the 12 hour drive once again, but this time for a high school reunion.  Bobby semi-joked last week while meeting 3/4 of the White clan that he at least knew a few people, but this week he wouldn't know anyone.) So what do I do on a 12 hour drive? Sleep eat breakfast fix the radio for Bobby sleep restroom/gas break fix the radio for Bobby sleep read talk sew fix the radio threaten to drive sleep lunch read gas/bathroom break sew/and or sleep bathroom break arrive What occupies your time while traveling?

If you visit http://wral.com and scroll down to the bottom of the page where it says "strange news" you will be startled and shocked beyond belief. Seriously.  And for those of you who like warnings: read/see this before you eat and it will help your diet tremendously. Between the non-sense happening here in NC over the gay marriage bill, seeing what is happening in Utah and California makes me say "Come quickly, Lord." But honestly, even if I wasn't a Christian, I would have no desire to run around "au natural".  Just as some men proclaim all babies are ugly, red wrinkled things, I think the naked body makes the saying "Beauty is only skin-deep" laughable. Just saying.

too much on my heart to write...so this will suffice

When I first moved here, the sky wasn't too terribly different from Alabama or China. The stars weren't quite as bright and the sky not quite as dark, but not by much. And then the 40/42 area started building up quite rapidly, adding nightlights around buildings and parking lots, and one corner of the sky became a bit brighter at night. Then the property at White Oak was sold, and now thanks to the White Oak Shopping Center (which I happen to love), a huge section of the sky became bright at night. Saturday morning as we left Alabama very early, I took my time walking to the van with my head titled backwards, glorying in the bright little specks I seldom distinctly see here.  I  must have been dwadling more than usual, for Bobby stopped and looked up and exclaimed "Wow!"  I think he was amazed at the difference. And that's one of the many things I'm looking forward to seeing again this weekend: stars. You wouldn't think that fake light cancels out real ...

The best things in life come in small packages.                         ~ Margie Ingle She was the second-born, but the first to live. She was the shortest child of 8 siblings. I bet the closest she ever came to being 5' was when she wore exceptionally high heels. She was valedictorian of her senior class, but demoted to salutatorian because she was "starting to show". Unwed mothers were not welcomed in society in those days. The principal didn't even want her to graduate. Years later he would apologize. She was positive, no matter what life threw her way. She loved to sew, and was an excellent quilter. She actually preferred piecing, and would send her quilt-tops away to be quilted. She was feisty. Two weeks ago, as hospice came to help, her eldest described her as "a wrinkle in the sheet". Her tiny frame seemed to be shrinking with each failure of the heart, with...

I didn't grow up with cable. PTL and the 700 Club sounded like golf clubs to me the first time I ever heard about them. And tele-evangelists?  They were for people like my Grandma who didn't have a driver's license and was stuck in her apartment, lonely, without a way to church, or for people in nursing homes or hospitals. So suffice it to say I'm not up to par on the television church world. So when a friend sent me a comment, surprised that I hadn't blogged about Pat Robertson's divorce and Alzheimer's comments, I actually had to Google and YouTube it to find out what all the hurrah was about. Here's the link, in case you're like me and are willfully ignorant of such http://youtu.be/vsaqfP87Z58 . My first encounter with Alzheimer's was at the age of 5. A great uncle had it, and we were unable to unlock any door at that house or use any door except the front (and then after a parent unlocked it) because Uncle Silas would wander off. Each doo...

When I was 14, I got very sick at church camp one year.  Sick enough that I was allowed to miss services and all activities.  One afternoon while in and out of sleep, two counselors came in and were talking. They must have checked on me at one point, because I don't remember them coming in, only their low voices. Initially they were discussing the normal pastor wives/mom topics, but then they got on the subject of the future of the church. One of the ladies, whom I greatly admired, said her husband believed (and bear in mind this was almost 25 years ago) that the day was coming when the church would be persecuted in America for its stand on homosexuality, and that the church would have to choose whether or not to remain publicly recognized or go underground. I wasn't even sure what homosexuality was!  When I told my Mom about it a few weeks later,she sighed and said, "No, I don't see that.  I hope not." Today, as I see more and more billboards going up equating ...

Some days, you just don't feel up to snuff.  That's what my Granny used to say. Yesterday was one of those days, and I am so thankful for a loving husband who comes home and doesn't complain about what I didn't get accomplished. I'm thankful to have friends who read my blog, are an e-mail or phone call away, should I decide to call them. I'm thankful my friends aren't "yes people" who only tell me what they think I want to hear. I like the fact they shoot straight with me. Modern appliances...can you imagine how difficult life would be without a washing machine, dryer, electric oven, electric-pump well, car, telephone, computer, or hot water heater?  Blessed, indeed! :) Positive attitudes...my sister who continues to count her blessings even though her life is one big unknown at this point, a high school friend who is praising through pain after burying her mom last week, a church friend who smiles while hurting and watching her mother steadil...

There's nothing worse than ironing the LAST piece of fabric and beginning to pin layers together when you realize that you have THREE pieces in places that you don't think should be. Two clouds side-by-side in rows 2&3 and TWO fox windows in row 3 and TWO night skies in row 3.  Where was my brain?  What was I thinking?  And I actually tape-labeled everything together this time so the pieces would be correct. I double-check my tape, and yep...exactly as I laid them out.  But life goes on.  Whatever bed this quilt winds up on will just have to deal with multiple foxes in the same row.  They do attack more than once in the same night, you know. My former chickens would tell you about it if they could.

I have officially fallen over the edge. I am INSANE.  As of now, I am committed with an invoice and confirmation number to deliver a quilt no later than Oct 10 at 3pm to the NC State Fair.

We're on Day 19 of the egg chart (21 is the latest hatch day and 22 is the extra day added in) and 2 of our 9 eggs are piping and peeping! :)

Well, it's been talked about for years, but this morning it made the news (thanks to NASA releasing new photos).  We've trashed the moon. Not only did we leave behind tracks and crash/landing marks, but astronauts also threw out backpacks and other such items.  Leaving them for the moon people's goodwill perhaps?  Evidently they didn't want them either, for everything is still there. They claim our space trash has become such a problem that it's now a hazard for satellites (the ones that are working and not just aimlessly floating around, that is). So I wonder if garbage companies who are running out of landfill space will attempt to make the moon their next dump site?

It started as a joke. I saw some fabric in a newsletter that I thought was insane. I posted about it on Facebook. A friend made some offhand comment, joking, about how bizarre it would be to see that in a quilt. A month later my brain was still creating ideas. Two months later at a quilt show I found the very same fabric I had made fun of. I bought it. I bought the other fabric in the same series as well. IF I can get the top finished this week, I'll not only start frantically quilting next week, but will also submit two sheets of paper to the Home Furnishings Department of the NC State Fair, obligating me to finish this entire project by October 10. So if you don't hear from me much these next few weeks, you'll know why. It's all Carroll's fault. ;) She's birthed the idea for not only THIS year's quilt, but 2012 and 2013 as well!

With all the UNC football scandal, I've been reminded of one thing: I don't totally "get" football. I think if I were in charge of a school that had a football program, the school would either a) have to cancel the sport or b) pay a lot of fines because I don't think any sport should have so many rules about off-the-court stuff that it would take at least a 3" binder to fill them.  Really people? Granted, I think all these extra-specialized, non-job enhancing departments (one or two classes is okay, but a WHOLE department?) on things such as women's studies, gay studies, African-American studies, angry white male studies (okay, I just made that last one up), are ridiculous and a waste of tax-payers money.  They're not helping our economy nor the sense of unity in our country and therefore don't do a whole lot towards the betterment of individuals or our nation's job force. BUT, having said that, since such departments do exist, I do think t...

In the beginnings of my entrance to the world of quilting, I kept hearing/reading this saying, "If you find a piece of fabric that you REALLY like, buy a yard.  If you LOVE it, buy at least two."  I did that with a piece or two, but then started abstaining.  If I did that every time I saw fabric I liked, we would be both broke and our home would be over-run with fabric. But this week I've thought about that saying. I'm racing a deadline to complete a quilt top (hope to post more on that by the end of the month), and there's a piece of fabric I've seen in the past that would work perfect in two of the blocks. I've been to two stores recently, and neither one of them had it. I don't remember which shop had it, if they still carry it, and don't really have the time or gas money to drive around looking for it. If I had followed the "rule", it wouldn't be an issue. And actually, considering that our ancestors didn't buy fabric for qu...