in like a lion

I survived my 19 hr day yesterday (with only 5.5 hrs of sleep from the night before).  I strongly believe in our electoral process, so I think such days are worth it. Granted, I was rejoicing this morning that Bobby is retired so we could crash this morning, and I was constantly reminding myself that many of my coworkers got up early this morning and headed into their regular jobs. I guess that makes me spoiled that I was able to sleep until I woke up today. 

So much of the last two weeks have been trying to get ready for the next thing that I've enjoyed resting today. I know tomorrow is back to schedule and routines, but I so needed a day of rest today.

Updated my project list for March. I'm only carrying over two from February...the cleaning list (I cleaned light fixtures and deep cleaned most of one bathroom instead of doing what was on my list in February) and my Bible study. I have learned some very helpful and insightful things as I trod through this study, but it's heavy on group work and homework and hands on lessons, which is not really my thing.  So on the one hand I'm moving through lessons a lot faster because I'm not doing 1/2 of it, but I'm also not going to it as much because it's just not appealing. I've thought about giving up on it altogether, but I think I'll give it one more month before throwing in the towel.

Middle Tennessee was hit by tornadoes Monday night. We heard a little bit about on the news while I was getting ready Tuesday morning, but dawn had not yet arrived and little was known. Between precincts I kept hearing reports from workers or voters about the increasing death count. I finally stopped and texted my sister-in-law and sister to make sure they were all okay. As I suspected from reports, everything was south of them, but a lot of heartbreak among people they know. Several students at my alma mater, Welch College (and where my sister and brother-in-law work) lost their homes. One of the Christian schools where some of the students do their student teaching lost the building for the elementary school and the ballfield was destroyed. One of the first graders told his Dad after seeing the mess that if it had been 1pm instead of 1am when the storm hit, he would have been crushed but would finally see what Jesus really looked like. One of our Free Will Baptist pastors lost everything. After the storm passed he and his wife found themselves beside their bed on a concrete slab. He found one pair of dress pants in the rubble and had a jacket in his truck. He was able to shake out all the glass (from all the windows). His wife was able to find clothes and a neighbor gave them socks. She said she had never been so thankful for used socks before. Another neighbor down the street had shoes they both could wear.  The bathroom where they normally went during storms was totally gone; not even debris there. The family next to them, a young couple with an infant, all died. This area has been through so much through the years - the flooding, a round of tornadoes that changed so many lives, and now another tornado that gave them no warning but altered so many lives in the blink of an eye. I'm so thankful for the body of Christ and how it stretches out its hand to those in need.

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.

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