Oh, yeah...

As Fonda-my-sweet reminded me: there have been a few unexpected expenses towards the end of the year...

1)  I grind me teeth at night (me stressed? Never)...This was discovered a few years ago when I woke with a broken molar.  I got a crown on that molar and a night-guard.  Eventually, I had a root canal under the crown.  Since that time, I have been "nibbling" away at the night guard and the last nibble caused me to ask about a new night-guard...well, a few days later, I broke another molar (opposite side)...this was overnight Tuesday/Wednesday before Thanksgiving...Lucky me, the dentist could fit me in and 3.5 hours/$2500.00 later, I had a new root canal and temporary crown...and an estimate for a new $500.00(+) night-guard.  Three weeks later: permanent crown installed and fitted for said night-guard to be delivered in ~2 more weeks... Let us hope that is the end of *that* drama. (Thank you to Care Credit and 12-months-same-as-cash!)

2)  Webster was starting to have an odor about him...Fonda finally smelled his mouth and figured out that it was coming from there.  To the vet...antibiotics (visit = ~$180) and a date for a dental ($400+)...They extracted three teeth (he had a dental YEARS ago and they extracted most of his teeth then) and cleaned the few that remain.  He is feeling better and seems to be more happy and interacting with us (and Paula, a friend) more - He has decided that Paula is a person he *loves* with head-rubs in her hair.  (Again, thank you to Care Credit and the 18-months-same-as-cash option!).  Please do check your cat's mouths - they may tell you a secret and if you take care of it, they will be happier and healthier and love you back!  >^..^<

3)  Fonda's Honda (1998) stopped working for some unknown reason - blue smoke and high-pitched squeal...time to use the other car (we are very lucky girls).  Finally got back to it and it would crank, but not start...AAA to the rescue and discussion that it might be timing belt (YIKES) - lucky us (again), it was an alternator and was less than half of what was expected as the *minimum* for the timing belt ($500.00).

4)  My Saturn (2000) was making weird brake-sounding noises...It stopped fine, but was a bit crunchy-sounding.  They looked it over and lubed it up - All is well = $35.00.

We are very lucky women.  We are lucky to have each other; we balance each other so well.  We are lucky to have our families that are so awesome.  We are lucky to have friends that like us.  We are lucky to have cats that we love, and love us back (most of the time).  We are lucky to have access to Care Credit (and I am lucky to have Fonda to figure out all the financial-bits!). We are lucky to have found a good mechanic-group.

Overall, I am one lucky fish-girl.  Peace.

Christmas 2014

Here it is Christmas, 2014...We had a lizard on the window yesterday (temps in the 70s) and TONS of rain - at least 3.5"...translated into snow it would have been0: 24.5" - 42" (from dense [read: warm temps] - dry [read: cold temps]) but thankfully, we do not get much down here in SE North Carolina.

The Honda had an issue on 12/12 (squealing and blue smoke...).  We turned it off and left it until Tuesday...We tried to start it, it wouldn't start, but all the belts I could see moved...I had the *worst* feeling that it was a timing belt... AAA came and towed it to the mechanic...they called Wednesday morning and it was only the alternator! YAY!  So, I braved the rain (flooding in low-spots, saw one minivan flooded out and pushed by a tall truck) and exchanged it for the Saturn (front brakes)...Hope that one is as "YAY" as the Honda - smile.

I have a student who is making me crazy by being a self-centered snot ball.  I am really trying to keep my cool with him a self-professed "golf professional" (and I now know is rank and where he works because of a stupid "signature" he put into a bit of communication with me - not an email, where it might be normal to have one, but in a clunky bit of communication software used by our course communication program).  If this student ends up in one of my seated classes, I may have to quit or something. He is a first-class prick and I am grateful that I will only need to deal with him for another week!

It is amazing how *one* person can make *everything* bad just be being stupid and rude.  I need to remember what Dad always says: "Don't let the turkeys get you down."  Thank you, Dad!

Anyway...turkey is in the oven.  Cookies are made.  Nutbread is made.  An "orphan" friend of ours is coming for dinner and all is well.

I wish we could be with family now...I miss them.

I think I want to sew...I have not had a chance to sew at all this last semester and this coming semester I will be, again, teaching at two institutions with two different decisions on timing of breaks - BCC has break the last full week of March, while CFCC has break the first full week of April, and the Thursday and Friday before Easter...I am not sure what they are thinking, but they are messing me up. Ha, ha.  Lucky me they do start and stop at, basically, the same time - at least for me only teaching on Tuesdays and Thursdays...

OK, enough of the whining and Yay-ing - I am going to check on food and then cut my fabric (finally!)

Peace!

Why not post it everywhere? turn the volume DOWN/OFF

so...Franklynn was being really cute yesterday...turn the volume DOWN/OFF - we were watching bad TV and I don't know how to edit out the sound :)  This is the only time he has done this...so far.

Yes, he is getting all four feet into this biscuit-making process...very shortly after this, he decided he was done and headed for the hills.

This was after a long day when everything seemed to go wrong...I think he likes me...I am a lucky girl.

What I did on my summer vacation...2014 version

Well...I was lucky enough to teach this summer, so summer was not the same as it has been in the past...I was busy with school until the last few weeks before classes started on August 18th.

I was still able to make a quilt-top or two...here we go...

I had some 12-ish inch blocks with absolutely nothing in common and they were not really pretty...I really didn't like them much, but now they are a bit better:

so...that was 16 pieces and it became a "disappearing 4-patch" it started as 4 2x2 blocks and those were cut apart and re-sewn.  I am still not 100% with it, but it is better...I will probably add some kind of border and then quilt it and send it to the kitties or out to some other place...someone will love it. (message me if you want it after it is done) it is likely to be about 48 inches-square when finished - like a baby-quilt.

Anyway, I was not really happy with that, but I wanted the fabric to stop being in pieces sitting in the closet.

Then, Fonda and I went to the local quilt show in Wilmington in May, it was a combined show with the NC Symposium...of course, we could not afford to go to the symposium/classes, but we went to the show and venders - our friend Lori was there with fabrics and other things from her store in Washington, NC - about 3 hours from here (we really miss her and her store!!!)...But I also bought a "Jelly roll" (40-2.5 inch by width-of-fabric [about 42 inches]) of aqua/blue/green fabrics from a store in VA...I have been looking at this for quite some time and I got it. 

Then I had to figure out what to do with it...so.  I decided to cut the strips in half and sew the halves together randomly...so each strip got a different partner.  From each paired strip, I got 8 2.5x4.5 rectangles - I paired them so I could get a 4-patch.  So, I ended up with four 4-patches of each color-combo.  Then I put them up randomly on my "design wall" (read: mint-green flannel pinned to the wall - don't laugh too hard, it works [ha, ha!] - you can see it in the background of the photo, above).  I had thought to make it more value-oriented, but really just couldn't do it (it is a lack of patience/understanding of value) and there were more than 600 blocks and it was very intimidating. Anyway, I ended up getting them all put up there and edited a few times to get balance and random.  It is amazing how a photograph can help with placement/rearrangement, of even 1-2 blocks. Of course, I guess I deleted the photos I was using for placemen and sewing.

I was happy with the placement, but it was too AQUA...I had just posted a color-wheel up on the design wall...orange...orange is the complement of aqua...orange.  So...I found some oranges, and I was lucky enough that the orange I had the most of was a great match for this!  I am a lucky girl.  I didn't want this to become an orange-quilt, so I used only 1 inch strips (1/2 inch finished) of orange between the blocks on two sides...progress below:

I added the 1" to the right side (you can see it on the left-side of the photo above) and then added the same orange to the bottom and then sewed them together as I finished each strip...it is 11 blocks by 14.

Progress... you can see both the mint-green design wall and the color chart (thank you, Mom!)

Ok, so now it was done, but it wasn't done...I was happy with the addition of the orange - it helped to diffuse the aqua a bit.  I decided to add a small, same as between the blocks, orange strip.  I also found the absolutely perfect aqua border...alas, there was not enough of it...I tried the original store and people who might have bought some of it and then the store where the jelly roll came from...alas, it is really a pretty fabric and no one had anymore...Sigh. 

So...we ended up going to Ohio to visit Cathy.  

While there, we found some fabric that works...I decided that I would put some of the left-over blocks (there were 5 that did not fit in the original) on the corners...

that works, but it is not quite right...I am not happy with it yet...I lived with it for a while and then had an epiphany!

And this morning I added the small (1/2 inch finished) orange around the blocks at the corners!  Yay - I am 100% happy with it now.  The binding will be the orange just to tie it all together, but I have no clue what will be on the back yet.  This has been a long-time in happening and this has been the main thing I have been working on this summer.  I am happy with the outcome of this.  I hope you enjoy it, too. 

And to finish off, I will end with a photo of Fonda's brother Aaron's dog Toaster/Toby...he is very cute and sweet! Even Fonda liked him (sort of).

Peace.

Visitors...

So...we had visitors last week - I don't want to post too many child-photos (we had a total of seven additional people here - two adults and five children, ranging in age from 16yo to 11.5 months).  That is for Momma to post if she wants, but I want to post some of the other photos I took while they were here...

First I finished a quilt-top before they got here...a disappearing 4-patch

We shall see what happens with this one...

Sera being cute - that belleh!

Franky-baby taking a break from the family to rest on a home-made cat toy-snake : )

Ms. 15.5...She was very quite on the trip, very good all-around.  Beautiful young woman!

Ms. Just Turned 14...Another beautiful young woman

Ms Eight. A sweetie and beautiful!

Mr. Six...A goof-ball par-excellence.  This guy will be a knock-out

This boy... Mr. 11.5 month - he has the most beautiful blue-eyes!

 Franklynn was a sweetie with the Mr. 11.5 month - He walked up to him and gave him a head-bonk...and he was VERY patient with this boy : )
 

A selfie on the ferry...I was just being stupid...But I wanted to be stupid : )

These women were feeding the gulls (on accident) the passenger was trying to feed a grackle and these guys butted in and actually bit her finger...they actually had three gulls on the roof of the car at one point.  I can't believe they didn't bite the driver's hand - she kept rolling her fingers around...

Weird, just weird.

A green moray eel in the large tank at the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher

A turtle in the pond on the way out...there were a dozen or so sunning themselves. I was looking for the alligator, but she was not there in the sun...

A fun fish-cloud on the way home from school : )

See, he was a good boy...She (Ms. Eight) was a very patient girl, too...he was making her too warm, but she didn't know how to get him off her..I had to help.

 We had a really good time...we are happy that they came and happy that they stayed and happy that they got home safely.  We spent quite a bit of time at the beach and the girls got a chance to take a surfing lesson - they had a great time. I am still in the process of putting-back what was rearranged for them to be here...ha, ha.

Five more meetings of summer-school...Then no paycheck for two months...we shall see how this goes...I still want a full-time job...I have been applying, and applying, and applying...I changed the format of my CV, etc. and we shall see if that has any affect on the application process.  I have no idea how that might change it, but if it works, yay...Only time will tell.  Sigh.

Peace

Seeing Equinoxes and Solstices from Space

TOO COOL!!! - I wanted to share this with you-all who choose to look : )  



Seeing Equinoxes and Solstices from Space



Peace.

Yesterday and today

So, yesterday Fonda and I went out to some yard sales and other cool places...

at the first stop, we saw this car, and I thought "cool!, I gotta get a photo" and guess what? I had my camera : )

After that, we went across the river to some other places  - we went to the Castle Hayne-area and on the way, we saw this sign:  and so, we stopped, it was really a yard sale in the grassy area of a bar...there is the Honda in the middle (the only car with working A/C at this time...and it was in the 90s...A/C is a big bonus)

Last night when I was heading to bed, Franklynn decided that he could fit into the box...it actually had the top of the catnip baggie in it...he really doesn't fit, but he thought he did : )

Then today...I *finally* got to work on/finish this quilt.  Mom made the first row of kitties (at least the backs and bodies) and I made the rest - this has been a LONG time in the making.  I just finished the borders (paper-pieced, like the backs and tails of each cat) and I think I need to add another border, because the saw-tooth border is so stretchy, I think it will be pulled weird when it is quilted...I have mixed feelings about the two different colors in the body of the quilt, but it is what I had to do...I ran out of the white-on-white I wanted to use for the main body...then I thought I would have enough for the borders...sigh...I didn't, but it worked out OK. And, if you look really closely, you will see that one of the cats is a Manx...I have *no idea* where the tail is... I will just echo the secondary color with a narrow border all around the outside...Now, I have to figure out how to quilt it...This might be a hand-quilted one - there are instruction for some of the quilting...I might follow instructions, who knows : )...More later, Peace.

Random pictures and thoughts

So, there is this store... and I thought it was weird that there was a woman riding a shrimp... I have no idea if it is a good store or not, but the sign is fun : )

 

This is not a good picture, but this is our 2nd most recent day lily - I got it from a school sale this year - the students do all the planting and the tending and this one is especially pretty - there is another more recent one that is supposed to be "peach" color and then there is our original lily that is a "butterpat" a pale yellow...I plan to share a chunk of it to the school-people.  They said I could pick up some milkweed at some point...and a piece of the tickseed coreopsis, too  : )

This is our hydrangea that I got in Greenville, NC as a fragment (read branch) and this is the first time it has bloomed in about 3 years!  I am so proud that I haven't managed to kill it yet : )

 This is the little boy-kitty (Bjorn/Mr. Jingles/Toby) - he is taking advantage of the coolness of a damp bird bath that we moved off of the middle the bit that sits on top of the septic tank - at the moment, the end is signified by our bird feeder and will be replaced by this stupid bird bath when we leave.  That is our garden at the end of the walk - this is taken out the back door.  To the left is our fringe tree with some purple cone flowers sharing the bucket with a few daffodils, too.

And last, but not least - this is Franklynn (our bully-boy) - he is sitting there being *very* patient waiting for supper - he was looking at Sera, who had just come in to mew at us because it is almost time for supper...

More later...Peace.

and more garden...

 so...of course i "found" two more tomatoes - actually it is my bosses fault...she brought in some baby plants that she couldn't plant at home so now we have a total of four tomato plants...they are still not my favorite, but you would never know it by looking at my garden...and the little orange-booger on the left who likes to sit in the middle of everything...

 the beans are doing great! - can't wait to get some beans - there are 5+ plants here maybe a total of 10 plants.  i can't convince myself to "cull" them...so there are way too many there : )

 the carrots are looking a bit sparse, but i need to cull them a bit and the add some more seeds

 the lettuce that is starting to get in the groove.

the cherry tomatoes are happy ^^^ looks like hundreds are coming on ha, ha...the other tomatoes (back right) are looking happy too, with 3+ coming on - all are green and really looking happy and will probably all become ripe at the same time.

 and then...there is this guy ^^^ (juvenile copperhead-snake) showing up under the day lily - freaked fonda out and bothered me on the second day - haven't seen him since, but i am surely going to be looking a bit closer before i put my feet down off the steps and anywhere in the garden.  i guess these guys have a reputation for striking, but not necessarily injecting venom when they strike - this guy shook his tail at me - very obvious, if you are not deaf...he was very beautiful...

 and last night sera decided to "knead" my foot/slipper and then take a nap.  the litter-box behind her is actually our recycle bin in the craft room...she is a sweet cat.

i'm a winner!!!

so...i was nominated (by me) for the "Excellence in Teaching Award (Adjunct) for 2015."  This is a peer-elected award and there was a full-time and an adjunct award.  Voting was open to all the faculty and staff to vote.  long story short...i won the adjunct award!!!!

 what i didn't know was that it came with a monetary award as well! they gave me a check for $100.00!  yay me!  I am a lucky girl!

this is my school-bestie - zenda ^^ is a good egg : )  she was awarded the excellence in teaching award (adjunct) two years ago and she is the one who got the full-time biology position this spring...as i said, i am sad that i didn't get it, but i am glad *she* did : ) 

this is ben - he is with me as being an adjunct ^^ he is a history major and is struggling, too...we will persevere because we have grit!  (per the graduation speaker).  we had fun and i got to see so many of my students graduate and getting ready to head out into the next chapter of their lives...bitter-sweet : )

peace

photos that go with the last post

 the fringe tree - fringing - it is done now, alas, but we did see a juvenile anole on it today : ) - it was shedding and about half the size of an adult.

the new re-blooming lily, it is red with a yellow throat - more sometime soon

 the first bloom of coreopsis this year - this i one i bought to support the students at UNC-Pembrook last year (i think it is a "mouse ear")

this is the second and third coreopsis bloom, different plant - same origin, this is a native of NC. and the flower is about 3 feet tall.

 this is our second strawberry of the season with another one coming on next to it and a third one on the other side of the plant - taken yesterday

 the "Hawaii 5.0" plant it is very compact and much more blue than it looks in the photo - very sweet plant.


 

our garden on 4/27/14 just after planting the cherry tomato on the left

our garden today 5/4/14 with beans in the center and right, a single nasturtium on the center, left that you really can't see yet and carrots, on the right edge, spinach closest, right holes, and lettuce on the far edge...tomatoes at rear - the cherry on the right and the "regular" on the left.  The diagonal line is the shadow of an overhead line.

two and a half baby bean-plants : )  showing the "seed-leaves" or cotyledons (the part we eat when we eat the bean) : ) they will fall off soon because the true-leaves take over with photosynthesis...(the ones shown at the top of the photo, that look like bean-leaves)...

webster stood on my leg for quite a while to get these foot print impressions!

the sunset across the highway on friday, 5/2/14...pretty with the church steeple in the front.

franklynn taking a nap yesterday- if it fits, it ships : )  just kidding...we think it was a bit hot for him, but i am not 100% sure about that...

peace for now, enjoy the pictures : )