nearing the end

It's startling to look at the calendar and realize how long it's been since I posted as well as how little time is left in the month.

Training classes for the primary election are now over. I still need to sit down and read through my manual and make a phone call to a few Chief Judges before the big day, but no more driving into Raleigh until the weekend before the election. And while I miss the extra money that comes from working early voting and the excitement of assisting people vote, I am enjoying being at home these next two weeks.

I printed out a sample ballot for us. I thought I could glance over it, research a candidate or two, then we'd be ready to head to early voting. I was quite shocked when I didn't recognize but one or two names on the ballot!! So I'm now about halfway through reading up on the all the candidates.

Finally finished painting our bathroom. It's not professional, but it looks way better and it is done. Now to finish cleaning it!

After many, many months of thinking, pondering, worrying, debating, researching, deciding no, getting an email and starting the process all over again, which involved rearranging my sewing room, I finally  made a decision...I have ordered a longarm quilting machine. I still don't have all the space I would like for it, but am fairly confident I won't feel so overcrowded that I hate being in the room. It was a huge decision and one I'm still a little nervous that I made, but mostly I am excited. I still have some cleaning to do in my sewing room before it comes the first of next month, but I'm already debating which quilt top I'm going to load on it first. :)  And I've already named it, even though it's not here yet. Bobby thinks that crazy.

But in the midst of cleaning out my sewing room, I've actually completed three quilt tops and started two more. Three of them are for the guild, but are using up scraps/fabric I already had. I did manage to empty one small shoebox of fabric and have put a small dent in another bag. (Sadly it's not the half off a bag I was hoping to see!)

My nephew was injured Friday at work. While unloading empty oil barrels the pile toppled  (not uncommon) and one hit him in the back at an angle. It messed up a lower muscle in his back and he could possibly have a fractured vertebrae. It was a rough weekend for him, but he sounded good on the phone Sunday afternoon.  I didn't talk to him yesterday to see how his first day back went.

We also had three chicks hatch on the 8th of this month - one pale yellow with stripes; one light brown with stripes, and one black one with a white belly and one white spot. Other than them not being able to get back into the hen house at night and it being low 40's and upper 30's, meaning they'll freeze if not under their Mom or a heat lamp) and me having to crawl in the mud under the hen house to attempt to get them two nights in a row, they are doing well. It's not exactly the right time of year for a hen to hatch out chicks, but I guess the springlike weather in January had her in the mood.
We also took 3 of the 5 that hatched last fall to the butcher since they were roosters and were starting to cause problems. I hated it, as one of them was very pretty, but I'm not going to have them fighting to the death.

And life keeps moving on!

Happy Groundhogs Day!

Bobby is still running a fever, so I took his Mom to Germanton, NC this morning to see her great-great-grandson make public his faith through baptism. Due to many things outside of my control (and a few minor things within my control) we left late. Thankfully traffic was light, and we made it to the church at 11:11. The youth choir was singing. I was so relieved. We quickly used the restroom and went inside at the end of the song. Two hymns, offering, children's sermon, another youth choir song, then the sermon...where the pastor referenced Luke's earlier baptism.  We were eleven minutes late...and we missed it. But it was a good service and we were able to spend a little bit of time with family at lunch before heading back.

January projects...pecans are still not totally shelled, but they have downsized from the bushel basket plus one more to half of a gallon-sized bucket.  So that's progress. Maybe by the end of February I will have them totally finished.

I'm not totally finished with the quilt for the guild, but I do have the squares done. They just need to be ironed, pieced, bound, then quilted. Nor did I get the Christmas quilt completed, but I have totally rearranged my sewing room with a little more work to go, finished 2/3 of another project and quilted a QOV quilt plus spent one day at a QOV sew-in where another lady and I tag-teamed to make a quilt top. So a lot has been done in this area, even it if is not what I had envisioned. So for February I hope to finish organizing my sewing room, including making a decision about whether or not I can fit a longarm quilting machine into the room. If all goes well, the new sewing table goes in Tuesday night.

Bible study is progressing, though a little slower than I thought, and I'm actually ahead in reading the non-fiction book. I'll continue both of those through February.

The bathroom has still not been painted, but I did get 2/3 of the garden annex raked and prepared. I need to purchase more ant killer before I can finish the last 1/3. So hopefully the bathroom will get painted, the garden readied, and the grapevines trimmed this month. Hahaha! A little ambitious for such a short and busy month, but there is always a chance it will all get done.

This week will also be my last week of teaching training classes. Then I think the remainder of my work days are assisting in classes through the next two weeks. This Saturday will be the last training class I have to take. Early voting, which I am not working this year, begins on the 13th. While I've struggled to get everything into my time slot this go around, it has not been a difficult or demanding schedule. I'm very thankful for that. The downside is that the staff thinks the likelihood of a second primary in the spring seems very likely. I really truly hope not. Second primaries/run-offs are never well attended by voters and are eternally long days.

So February is here and rolling, even though I'm not exactly ready for it.