a bit puzzled

I've rearranged my sewing room, and in the process of trying to make a very big decision, we've ordered a new table for my large Janome sewing machine and my Bernina serger. We placed the order the evening of the 26th; it was processed on the 27th from Maryland, and the next listing was around noon on the 28th...in GEORGIA!!!  Not just GA, but south of Atlanta.  I think whoever is in charge of this company's shipping department needs to learn some geography. 

So it leaves Maryland by truck, passes through VA, then NC, then SC, and arrives in GA.  We could have had this table yesterday!!! As my husband reminds me, it may be that everything has to be processed through Home Depot's warehouse or something, but it makes absolutely no sense. Sometimes I think modern technology that is supposed to track our packages makes things worse because we see things that make no sense whatsoever. 

And for the record, Home Depot said from the getgo that my package would arrive between Feb 3-7 and it is currently slated for pick up here in NC on February 3rd. So they'll most likely meet the deadline.  But why they had to drive this delivery 10 hours south of the pickup point is beyond me.

Restaurants

Bobby mentioned tonight at supper that a local paper had published the 50 best restaurants in our area. He said we had only eaten at one of them. They were ranked by category and not number. Somehow I think if I published my list of our favorite restaurants, most people wouldn't be too impressed. But I'm going to do it anyway. :)

Best chicken sandwich: Zaxby's TLC  ...hands down.
Best chocolate chip cookie: Chik-fil-A
Best chicken biscuit: Hardee's
Best country-style steak: Toot-N-Tell
Most convenient/choices: Bojangles
Best breakfast: Angie's
Best afterhours/oddhours/travel place: Waffle House (This one is our election night supper staple since I don't get off until after 9pm or later; my faves on their menu are hashbrown bowl, BLT, ham and cheese sandwich, waffle with pecans and chocolate chips. When our church met at KidsRKids Daycare on Hwy 70 in Clayton we ate there quite a bit. Due to sugar levels we now only eat there when traveling on holidays and election nights.)
Best sit-down restaurant: Relish
Best vegetable choices: Grandsons
Best hamburger: Five Guys
Best barbeque: Red Neck BBQ Lab
Best travel sit down restaurant: Lizard's Thicket
Best large salad: Logan's Roadhouse (followed by Zaxby's)
Best small salad: McDonald's side salad






IHOP and Cracker Barrel used to be on my all time favorites list, but since I've been semi-watching my sugar intake, those have almost dropped off my list. We still eat out way too much, but nowhere near as much as we used to.

marching on...

It seems like yesterday we were celebrating Bobby's birthday and I was thinking how the middle of the month wasn't too far away, and tonight I finally get to sit down and see the calendar and realize it has already passed!  (If I were typing this on Facebook, I would insert the face emojy with the mouth wide open here.)

Taught my third class this afternoon. While I'm feeling more comfortable with the material and I think I did a better job tonight in fitting most of the talking points in, I'm still struggling to get everything in time wise. So before my next class I need to go through and evaluate what examples and such I can omit. As my assistant and fellow trainer reminded me tonight, we did have twelve people who were totally new to Help Table so it was a little more important to explain every little thing. But it still makes me laugh that people will come in 2-3 minutes before class starts and be surprised that there are no aisle seats available. Back row and aisle seats always fill up first, and there will always be 1-2 people in the classroom when I arrive, and I have to be there thirty minutes early! And the more I do this job, the more I appreciate the people who actually work at the Board of Elections. Their jobs are not easy, and they put in an insane amount of hours 3-4 months before every election and the week or two afterwards.

My sister and her husband closed on their house yesterday. It seems strange not to be able to go and help them move, but there's simply no way we can put it in our schedule right now. Bobby thinks I'm a little crazy for even thinking about driving to TN to help them, but our family has always helped out family members during moving times. And yes, I know our family all lived within a 2-3 hour driving distance, but nevertheless, moving time seems like it should be family time.

I'm ready for ice cream and the beach...but cold weather (okay, our normal winter weather, which is not cold by standards in other places) is finally here after several nice spring-like days. Granted, I would experience ice cream and the beach even in winter, but not everyone else in my family feels that way. :)

And speaking of family, a few mornings ago Bobby wasn't quite himself. I asked him if he was lightheaded. He hesitated before replying, "No, but I'm not exactly heavy-headed, either."

Heavy-headed. I get exactly what he was saying, but it's not how I would use the phrase. Heavy-headed is how I would describe myself when I want a nap or on mornings when I have to get up way before I'm ready. Thinking of my very literal husband use that expression still makes me smile.

birthday fun

Bobby told me to surprise him for his birthday. So I tried.

Not only did we manage to get one of his nieces and her kids and one nephew and his family over for supper with his Mom (with a Bryan family staple...hot dogs, with chili and slaw, and Grandma Jean's chocolate cake recipe), but the same kids plus 4 more came over for play time this afternoon. I am tired.  I am tired of hearing my name. I do not know how my sister-in-law does it day in day out five-six days a week.

But we had fun. We made memories. We had an outdoor scavenger hunt. We made a mess inside. We cleaned up. One or two of the kids pouted when it was time to leave. And I think Uncle Bobby was not only surprised, but enjoyed his time with his family.

And "Dillie" blew out the candles before Uncle Bobby could lean over far enough to the cake...HA!  I had the wrong lens on my camera so the pictures were blurry, which is a bit of a disappointment since we don't get to be with them that often.

half the great nieces and nephews (Bobby, Dylan, Jacob, Faith, Ansley, Brantley, Sophia, Ellie)

and the boys reinacting the candles being blown out

trying new things

I belong to two quilt groups. One of them meets at a quilt shop once a month and pieces for 3.5 hours. This year we chose the book Extraordinary Log Cabins and everyone is making a quilt from one of the patterns in the book.

Log cabin blocks are created with a square, then the rest of the block is created by sewing rectangles to that square. It sounds bland, but if you have a pattern it can produce stunning results. Since all the rectangles for this book are 1.5" in width, to say there is a lot of cutting is an understatement. A group of us met for a cutting party. Two of the ladies have machines called acuquilt go that will cut multiple layers of fabric at one time. (Think die cuts).  I was amazed at how quickly the machines cut the strips (and accurately, too!).  In less than 2 hours, all my fabric was cut into 1.5 inch strips and I had already started subcutting into the rectangles. They also introduced me to a Creative Grids ruler that allows you to cut multiple strips without ever having to move the ruler, which helps eliminate the fabric shifting and getting an improper cut. Using that ruler, I was able to cut 1,000 squares in about twenty minutes. Granted, that's only because the strips were already cut and ready to go, but I'm still amazed at how much time one ruler saved.

4th-6th graders

For years, the children's section of our church was boy heavy. As in the boys outnumbered the girls at least two to one. Some years it was more than that. And I learned that 4th-6th grade boys, much like American high school boys, love to talk. A lot. One classroom management strategy that seemed to work like a charm was making them sit boy-girl. Unlike high schoolers, at that age boys and girls don't interact except to pester each other, and the thought of sitting beside a member of the opposite sex is true punishment. It worked great, so much so that when they started begging for a trial Sunday of sitting beside their friends, we decided to let them try it, with the understanding that they would get one reminder and the second offense was to be moved beside a girl. The first Sunday they were as good as gold. The second Sunday they needed one reminder. The third Sunday was the same. The last Sunday of the month I moved one of the talkers beside a girl who was very quiet. She looked up at me with tears welling up in her eyes and said "But what did I do wrong?"  I quickly replied "Nothing" but the more I thought on it later the more I realized how she probably did view it as punishment for good behavior.

The last two years we've had the exact opposite situation - almost all girls (and sometimes only girls). And they are QUIET. So quiet that we've almost quit planning games or activities with the lesson because they don't want to participate. They'll sit terrified or quietly giggle.

But the last four months, that has changed. The boys actually cheered last Sunday because one girl was out and they outnumbered the girls by one. As the new teachers rotated in for their month of teaching today, I gave them a heads up about the change in classroom dynamics. Afterwards one of the teachers mentioned they almost went to the dreaded boy/girl seating arrangement, and all the girls protested. I laughed, not realizing other teachers had used the same technique, but am also sobered realizing the girls view this is as punishment even more than the guys (for they are NOT the ones talking).

So I guess part of my agenda this next month will be to talk with elementary/middle school teachers for this age and ask for classroom management suggestions. I want them to enjoy class, but I also want them to learn. And I am totally baffled why girls have the stereotype of being the most talkative gender.

Packing up

 I've enjoyed the tree lights the past few nights. Power was off and on from 7:30 last night through ten this morning, so I didn't have the lights on as long as I had planned last night. And I could have done without the 7 phone calls throughout the night from Duke Energy telling us every time the power went out and when they thought it might be restored. If next week wasn't busy, I think I might leave the decorations out another week.

But the census is over, and Bethlehem looks like a ghost town. Even the streets have rolled up! 

My husband likes for Christmas to go up after Thanksgiving, but sometimes I'm sorely tempted to decorate November 1st. Either way, it's all heading back to the closet for another 11 months.

Ryan's Case for Smiles

The Southern Wake Quilter's Guild meets once a month from August - May. During our meetings we have a guest speaker, hear updates from the charities we support, have a show and tell of what members have currently completed, and then discuss any business. Every year the President has a challenge. Last year's challenge was to submit a list of unfinished projects and see who could complete the most. I didn't participate in that one, as my schedule was a bit crazy. This year we are supposed to complete something for each of the charities our guild supports.

Ryan's Case for Smiles - 2 pillowcases
Scrap Happy Quilters - 1 full quilt
Quilts for Kids - one crib size quilt
Quilts of Valor - one twin size quilt

Ryan's Case for Smiles makes pillowcases for the childrens oncology ward of local hospitals. There is a pillowcase method called "hot dog" or "burrito" that is very simple. Videos can be found on youtube and patterns can be downloaded at various sites.

Since I was trying to use up some small pieces of fabric I had leftover from other projects, I made more than the two required. There's three more I hope to make, but I'm going to wait until I finish a few other projects before I tackle them. With my serger I was able to eliminate the french seams and finish two cases in an hour (disclaimer: the fabric was already cut and ready to roll).

 The first Pooh case is plain...cream case with yellow Pooh accent, but the others are colorful. I have a grey accent ready to put with a case, but haven't decided what color would make it pop. That one will have to wait with the Spiderman fabric. One challenge down!

January projects

January 2020

Bible study...
Lifeway Christian Bookstores closed all their brick and mortar stores, so I stocked up on several Bible studies. I have a few books that our women's group at church have done over the years that I never totally finished, so I'm going to start with one in January. Many of them have 6-8 weeks worth of lessons, so I'm hoping to do 6-8 studies this year. Up first is Fight Back with Joy by Margaret Feinberg.
 
Quilting...
Yesterday I showed  how out of control my craft room has become. My goal is to quilt at least one quilt top a month, as well as bind and label it. For January I'm going to tackle a Christmas quilt I pieced a year ago.
 
Hobby...
The Southern Wake Quilters Guild has a president's challenge every year. This year the challenge is to do something for each of the 4 charities the guild supports. I've already completed the one for Ryan's Case for Smiles (hope to show those tomorrow). For this month, my goal is to make the kids size quilt for Quilts for Kids.
 
House project....
Finish painting our bathroom. I started that project back during the summer but for various reasons could not finish the same weekend I started. Then after my fall in September it's not been safe for me to climb up and down the ladder. My knee is still not well, but it's well enough that I can conquer the last parts of the bathroom now. No more excuses!!

Reading...
Over the last several years I've purchased books at sales that are out of my normal genres of reading. Several of them I've actually started! This year I want to add them to my "books read" list. Since I don't read non-fiction with the same zeal as fiction, for January my goal is to actually read half of one of these books. No Soap, No Pay, Diarrhea, Dysentery & Desertion, edited by Jeff Toalson, is one of my six historical books to read this year.

Cleaning...
Finish cracking pecans. I know that doesn't sound like cleaning, but I've been trying to eliminate the bushel basket of pecans from last year (so I can start this years!). I came to close to finished the bushel basket today, and there's about a peck bucket beside it, then 2018 pecans will be done. Since every other year is the larger harvest, we don't have as many for this year (about a peck total). It's ambitious but reasonable to think I can have all of them cracked and bagged by the end of the month.