Not my strong strait. I try but seems I never get it right. I have a friend whose daily routine is so organized she does the same thing at the same time every morning and most of the day. The only change to her routine is if she goes shopping etc. The clock strikes 10 and she is off to bed, every night. I'd never be able to rule my life in this manner. I never do the same thing every morning or any other time of the day. The closest I came to that was when I worked and had to be at work at a specific time - and had trouble doing that.
I never get up at the same time, and definitely never go to bed at the same time. My bedtime ranges from 9:00 pm to 4:00 am. I seem to have developed as I age my Mother's sleep problems. I remember that she slept very little at night when she was older and napped during the day. She slept for several short periods rather than one long restful sleep at night. She loved to read and if she got a new novel or 2 she'd read day and night until she finished the book. I used to laugh at her reading method for a new book. She read the last few pages - couldn't wait to see how it ended, then a few in the middle, then read the book front cover to back.
I find I have nights when I just don't go to sleep no matter how hard I try. So rather than waste the time rolling in bed, I get up and do something. If I'm home I watch TV and sew or watch TV and work on the computer. I'm always doing at least 2 things at the same time.
I've tried recently to get some of my things more organized. I have made a log on my computer to keep track of all the Block of The Month (BOM) blocks I'm receiving every month. To keep the progress of blocks in work and finished. I've got plastic shoe boxes to house each quilts set of block BOM. I've got a large plastic storage box with lid to house the gallon sized zip-lock bags with my Unfinished Projects (UFO) inside. I have all my EdMar threads in a large bag, and I have all my DMC embroidery thread on bobbins in plastic boxes made for this purpose.
Since retirement in 2000 I've been somewhat of a gypsy and moved and done for the most part what I wanted to. I moved to Yorktown to be near my youngest daughter. Shortly after that she changed jobs and didn't have the time off she'd had before. I found the people in Yorktown to be stuffy and cliquish. I'd tried unsuccessfully for a number of years to get training on computers, so checked into this at a school in Victoria. They said they provided it but I had to take an advanced electronics course to get it. The computer training was supposed to be included in the curriculum for that course. I say supposed to be, because when I got to the computer part at most it was 6 weeks, the entire course was around 14 months more or less a couple of months. I was very disgusted. I'd asked questions and more questions only to be told I had to complete the electronic part. Never really getting good answers as to what the computer training entailed. When getting there I realized it was just tacked on to get more students and that the instructor wasn't versed very well on computers. He taught what was before him but didn't know his subject.
I'd moved to Victoria from Yorktown and was staying with my Granddaughter, Cassie while going to school. Yorktown was about 40 miles one way from Victoria and with gas costs beginning to raise it was financially impossible for me to drive back and forth 5 days a week.
Graduated in June, Cassie's lease was up in Sep or Oct she was moving and I did also. I'd put all my household items in storage. So added the things I'd had at her apartment to storage and stayed with Carlene for a short time. I checked schools in San Antonio - I still wanted to learn about computers - and found one that offered and intensive course on computers. It also contained a lot of electronic training - but they gave me credit for that part from the school I'd just attended. The computer training was 8 months - much more what I should have gotten in Victoria. So I found a small efficiency apartment near the school, packed enough furniture and belongings to survive and moved to San Antonio. I got my diploma in May the following year. When my lease was up in June, I'd decided to move back to the Temple area and live near a person I'd worked with at the VA Hospital in Temple.
Since my retirement in 2000 and her retirement in 2001 we'd become close friends enjoyed a lot of the same things. She lived alone as did I and when I asked her what she thought she said how soon can you get here. Told her needed to put what I had in the apartment in storage, go to the doctor as I'd become extremely weak, and then I'd be there. Well after a lot of struggling I got things out of the apartment and in a storage unit. Kept the doctor appointment and found I was very low on potassium. In 1999 I had gallbladder surgery and tests showed then I was extremely low on potassium. I'd thought that it was caused by the infection I had in my gallbladder. But seems it is a trait that I inherited from my Father's side of the family. I remember my Father complaining of foot and leg cramps - but taken as a nuisance then and never investigated medically. And, I'm not sure then they would have suspected potassium levels as a cause. Recently I reconnected with a cousin, descent of my Father's oldest brother. She too suffers from low potassium.
I now watch my potassium level and take over the counter pills (when I remember to) and try to eat on a regular basis foods rich in postassium.
I stayed with my friend, found a house across the street from her and lived there a year. I was subjected to the landlord witch from hell. she was unreasonable, and made life miserable. She decided I wanted to buy the place but would never give me a price or terms and said after another couple of months she'd discuss it. At end of lease I moved. At the time I was working for a Realtor and rented a house he managed (Huge Mistake). He told me the owner wouldn't be back for at least 3 years. She arrived back less than 30 days after signing the lease and wanted her house back. I fought to stay in the house, after all I'd just moved and had partially unpacked, I didn't feel like house hunting, repacking and moving again so soon. I finally got tired of her harrassment and the fact she wouldn't fix things that broke. The multimeter box was faulty and was a fire hazard and she wouldn't fix it - so I put everything back in storage and stayed with my friend again.
I will hopefully move ONCE more and then stay put - at least that is my desire. I forsee no reason to chase after a course as I did with my computer training. No other friends that I want to live near, now I am at the point I want to find a place (maybe buy) and stay put.
Then I can get things organized, and get projects finished, find new ones and finish them. Sounds like a plan now to make it work.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
My Other Passion - My Family
I grew up with one brother 5 years younger. For years I was my father's shadow. I loved to go with him to the fields, fishing, hunting, to town, where ever he went. I didn't enjoy housework, but was always willing to clean from top to bottom before my date arrived when I was older. We had a large living/dining room with vinyl tile flooring. I mopped it weekly and then on my hands and knees waxed it. None of this pour on wax and apply with a mop. Nope it was paste floor wax applied by hand.
I loved playing with dolls and my brother was my first live doll. As I got older my Aunts and Uncles provided me many to play with when we visited or they came to see us. Mother's brothers Uncle Joe and Uncle Chink each had 4, all younger. Her other brothers and sister had children older than I.
I married just a few months shy of 16 and had my first child in November, just after I was 17 in July. I was thrilled I now had my own live doll. He was a good baby, we were living in New Jersey as his father was in the service and stationed there. He was born the day after Thanksgiving. He was transferred to Virginia and then discharged after serving 2 years. We moved back home to Texas where he resumed his government job that he left when drafted into the Army.
We had 3 more children, daughter, son, daughter and I enjoyed being a mother and homemaker. I worked some but was mostly a stay at home Mom until my last child was born and I too was hired to work at Kelly AFB in San Antonio.
I loved to sew and made many if not most of the clothes my children wore, most of mine and all of my mothers. As children grew and we could we'd travel with their dad to places he was going to work. We'd do things in the evenings and on weekends. We had a 1957 Chevy we bought brand new. He always said I could pack more in that car and still have room for us and the kidoes than most could pack in a pickup.
We enjoyed fishing and going to the coast and camping. Later we got a boat and would go fishing every chance we got. Since we lived about 150 miles from the coast we'd go down after work on Friday and back on Sunday eve. The Texas gulf coast has many nice places to fish. I felt as I was partially raised there from the time I spent there with my father.
My grandmother lived between Fulton and Rockport on the Texas Gulf Coast. I spent many weekends there fishing with my father and brother every chance he got. For some reason he would never get in a boat to fish. He always waded, fished from the piers or the rock jetties.
You have to know that my father had an obsessional fear of calamity. His fears were to the point we couldn't ride a Ferris Wheell - it might fall, when I flew to be with James in New Jersey, the plane might crash, etc. In fact when we went to get the ticket he did his best to convince me to take the train - or the bus. Learning that they both took a number of days and nights to get there, plus food, and no place to sleep he relented and I flew. Mother said his mother was always very fearful of injury or calamity. There were 6 children born to John Lisha and Lina Frances Henry Hearn, 3 boys, 3 girls. Only one daughter still lived. Her oldest daughter died shortly after the birth of her daughter. Her second daughter died before she turned two. I'm told she died after putting a flower (crowpoision) in her mouth or chewing on it. Uncle Julious who was older at the time said she starved to death. And this might have been the result of the poison in that she couldn't keep food on her stomach. This was some 60 years ago and the medical knowlege wasn't all that great then.
I seem when I talk about family to bounce from one point in time to another. When talking about one I remember another. So you will find that this is much that way. Thoughts of my life and my family as I think of them.
Someone taught Daddy to make fishing rods. He made several and today none are left that I know of. He ordered special cane poles, bought ferrels and special threads and varnish to wrap and attach the ferrels and the varnish to finish it. When James was stationed in NJ, we were a short walking distance from the ocean, and he loved to fish. Daddy made a wooden box to ship the cane fishing rod Daddy had made him to NJ. When we left we had no way to take it and James gave it to our landlord Joe Fierro.
They were great landlords. Joe and Mary were Italian and she was an excellant cook. She was also superstitious and would not let me turn down food for fear my baby would be marked. They planted their entire back yard in garden. She fired squash blossoms and they are good. Joe made wine and had a large (Karo Syrup bottle of wine with his evening meals). When they bought the house there were two barrels of wine in the cellar and I think he added a barrel or so each year. I didn't drink and never went down in the cellar.
I am so very proud of my family, they are all doing well, have good families and are doing great. They have given me 11 fantastic grandchildren who in turn are supplying continuing generations of great grandchildren. My Dad was a great and fantastic Grandfather (PawPaw) and loved his grandchildren deeply. Anytime James and I wanted to go out, he was always there ready and willing to babysit. No matter how tired he was, nor how bad he felt, he never told us no. If Mother implied she didn't feel like it or that he was to tired, he'd say "hush Marie they are no trouble." and she say "ok".
My children were lucky to have doting grandparents - not all childlren are as lucky. I had one grandparent and one step granddad. My Mother's Dad was alive but lived so far away we seldom saw him, and I really never knew him. Daddy's mother and daddy died before I was born.
I loved playing with dolls and my brother was my first live doll. As I got older my Aunts and Uncles provided me many to play with when we visited or they came to see us. Mother's brothers Uncle Joe and Uncle Chink each had 4, all younger. Her other brothers and sister had children older than I.
I married just a few months shy of 16 and had my first child in November, just after I was 17 in July. I was thrilled I now had my own live doll. He was a good baby, we were living in New Jersey as his father was in the service and stationed there. He was born the day after Thanksgiving. He was transferred to Virginia and then discharged after serving 2 years. We moved back home to Texas where he resumed his government job that he left when drafted into the Army.
We had 3 more children, daughter, son, daughter and I enjoyed being a mother and homemaker. I worked some but was mostly a stay at home Mom until my last child was born and I too was hired to work at Kelly AFB in San Antonio.
I loved to sew and made many if not most of the clothes my children wore, most of mine and all of my mothers. As children grew and we could we'd travel with their dad to places he was going to work. We'd do things in the evenings and on weekends. We had a 1957 Chevy we bought brand new. He always said I could pack more in that car and still have room for us and the kidoes than most could pack in a pickup.
We enjoyed fishing and going to the coast and camping. Later we got a boat and would go fishing every chance we got. Since we lived about 150 miles from the coast we'd go down after work on Friday and back on Sunday eve. The Texas gulf coast has many nice places to fish. I felt as I was partially raised there from the time I spent there with my father.
My grandmother lived between Fulton and Rockport on the Texas Gulf Coast. I spent many weekends there fishing with my father and brother every chance he got. For some reason he would never get in a boat to fish. He always waded, fished from the piers or the rock jetties.
You have to know that my father had an obsessional fear of calamity. His fears were to the point we couldn't ride a Ferris Wheell - it might fall, when I flew to be with James in New Jersey, the plane might crash, etc. In fact when we went to get the ticket he did his best to convince me to take the train - or the bus. Learning that they both took a number of days and nights to get there, plus food, and no place to sleep he relented and I flew. Mother said his mother was always very fearful of injury or calamity. There were 6 children born to John Lisha and Lina Frances Henry Hearn, 3 boys, 3 girls. Only one daughter still lived. Her oldest daughter died shortly after the birth of her daughter. Her second daughter died before she turned two. I'm told she died after putting a flower (crowpoision) in her mouth or chewing on it. Uncle Julious who was older at the time said she starved to death. And this might have been the result of the poison in that she couldn't keep food on her stomach. This was some 60 years ago and the medical knowlege wasn't all that great then.
I seem when I talk about family to bounce from one point in time to another. When talking about one I remember another. So you will find that this is much that way. Thoughts of my life and my family as I think of them.
Someone taught Daddy to make fishing rods. He made several and today none are left that I know of. He ordered special cane poles, bought ferrels and special threads and varnish to wrap and attach the ferrels and the varnish to finish it. When James was stationed in NJ, we were a short walking distance from the ocean, and he loved to fish. Daddy made a wooden box to ship the cane fishing rod Daddy had made him to NJ. When we left we had no way to take it and James gave it to our landlord Joe Fierro.
They were great landlords. Joe and Mary were Italian and she was an excellant cook. She was also superstitious and would not let me turn down food for fear my baby would be marked. They planted their entire back yard in garden. She fired squash blossoms and they are good. Joe made wine and had a large (Karo Syrup bottle of wine with his evening meals). When they bought the house there were two barrels of wine in the cellar and I think he added a barrel or so each year. I didn't drink and never went down in the cellar.
I am so very proud of my family, they are all doing well, have good families and are doing great. They have given me 11 fantastic grandchildren who in turn are supplying continuing generations of great grandchildren. My Dad was a great and fantastic Grandfather (PawPaw) and loved his grandchildren deeply. Anytime James and I wanted to go out, he was always there ready and willing to babysit. No matter how tired he was, nor how bad he felt, he never told us no. If Mother implied she didn't feel like it or that he was to tired, he'd say "hush Marie they are no trouble." and she say "ok".
My children were lucky to have doting grandparents - not all childlren are as lucky. I had one grandparent and one step granddad. My Mother's Dad was alive but lived so far away we seldom saw him, and I really never knew him. Daddy's mother and daddy died before I was born.
My Quilting
I have seen lots of Blogs by other people and have decided to start one of my own. I love to share and help others and have a couple of Yahoo Groups one for Bonnet Girls and another for BE (Brazilian Dimensional embroidery).
I had these groups before but lost access to my email account through a glich in the system when I was processing a change to my password. It seems things got scrambled, and now according to Yahoo I don't know where I was born. LOL
With my large family I'm trying desperately to get each at least a quilt top finished. Once I've accomplished this I will then work towards getting them quilted. 4 children, 11 grandchildren and at last count 6 great grandchildren. Total 21 quilts - then I have some extra that I like and want to make - guess they'll grace my beds.
I like the art quilts - the ones that look like a photo, and applique over pieced quilts. At the moment I've chosen to make art quilts for children and grandchildren and pieced quilts for great grandchildren. Some I've chosen are just hand applique, some are fusible machine applique and others combine the two.
I learned several years back that shopping to collect all the fabric, even just purchasing fat quarters was time consuming and expensive. Since you only need small amounts of fabric, but you need many different colors, textures and patterns. If you are lucky to live in a town with more than one quilt store and/or fabric shop you fare better. If not then you have to travel and normally most shops wouldn't have all the fabric selection you need, so that means shopping at more than one store. When I started this project, gas was much much cheaper, but time was still 24 hours a day. I learned quickly that the expense of shopping for fabrics added up quickly.
Learning about BOMs I soon realized that even those costs per block seemed high, they were in fact very cost effective. Then I started my search online to find the quilts I wanted to make offered as BOM. I've been lucky and found most.
I have a number of the Calendar Quilt patterns by Piecemakers. Along with several from Maggie Walker, Carimae Simmons and McKenna Ryan. There are a few others that I like from other designers, and at the moment can't remember their names. The name Carimae Simmons may not be a recognizable name to you as she is a local Texas designer and I have a number of her quilts. I have all the blocks of one completed and together with the first border attached (my first quilt - other than a few quilted panel baby quilts I made for grandchildren). The outside border of this quilt has an appliqued vine running from each corner to center of border and I'm working on this. I have 6 of 12 blocks appliqued for another of her quilts, and several other BOM & kits for probably 4 of the designs by Carimae Simmons.
Right now I'm collecting BOM for the following quilts: Country Journal, Summer's End, Forgotten Barns, Spring is in The Air, In Full Bloom, Storybrook Farm, and Vintage Valentine.
I have the blocks for Vintage Valentine and have 6 of them stitched.
I did a calculation recently that if I made 3 blocks a week I could finish the quilts I need to make in a little over a year. But, with life as it happens at my house don't think that is possible - so, if
I make one a week I should be able to complete the tops in 4-5 years - hmmmm that is doable, if I can keep on schedule. Also think the fusible machine applique will move faster than the hand applique (at least I hope) so that should help me make my goal.
I had these groups before but lost access to my email account through a glich in the system when I was processing a change to my password. It seems things got scrambled, and now according to Yahoo I don't know where I was born. LOL
With my large family I'm trying desperately to get each at least a quilt top finished. Once I've accomplished this I will then work towards getting them quilted. 4 children, 11 grandchildren and at last count 6 great grandchildren. Total 21 quilts - then I have some extra that I like and want to make - guess they'll grace my beds.
I like the art quilts - the ones that look like a photo, and applique over pieced quilts. At the moment I've chosen to make art quilts for children and grandchildren and pieced quilts for great grandchildren. Some I've chosen are just hand applique, some are fusible machine applique and others combine the two.
I learned several years back that shopping to collect all the fabric, even just purchasing fat quarters was time consuming and expensive. Since you only need small amounts of fabric, but you need many different colors, textures and patterns. If you are lucky to live in a town with more than one quilt store and/or fabric shop you fare better. If not then you have to travel and normally most shops wouldn't have all the fabric selection you need, so that means shopping at more than one store. When I started this project, gas was much much cheaper, but time was still 24 hours a day. I learned quickly that the expense of shopping for fabrics added up quickly.
Learning about BOMs I soon realized that even those costs per block seemed high, they were in fact very cost effective. Then I started my search online to find the quilts I wanted to make offered as BOM. I've been lucky and found most.
I have a number of the Calendar Quilt patterns by Piecemakers. Along with several from Maggie Walker, Carimae Simmons and McKenna Ryan. There are a few others that I like from other designers, and at the moment can't remember their names. The name Carimae Simmons may not be a recognizable name to you as she is a local Texas designer and I have a number of her quilts. I have all the blocks of one completed and together with the first border attached (my first quilt - other than a few quilted panel baby quilts I made for grandchildren). The outside border of this quilt has an appliqued vine running from each corner to center of border and I'm working on this. I have 6 of 12 blocks appliqued for another of her quilts, and several other BOM & kits for probably 4 of the designs by Carimae Simmons.
Right now I'm collecting BOM for the following quilts: Country Journal, Summer's End, Forgotten Barns, Spring is in The Air, In Full Bloom, Storybrook Farm, and Vintage Valentine.
I have the blocks for Vintage Valentine and have 6 of them stitched.
I did a calculation recently that if I made 3 blocks a week I could finish the quilts I need to make in a little over a year. But, with life as it happens at my house don't think that is possible - so, if
I make one a week I should be able to complete the tops in 4-5 years - hmmmm that is doable, if I can keep on schedule. Also think the fusible machine applique will move faster than the hand applique (at least I hope) so that should help me make my goal.
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