It's Too HOT!!

Usually this time of year it might be 100 - 104 now with lows in the low 70's. Saturday it was 115 and Sunday morning when I got up at 4:30 it was 84 out. This is our middle of July thru August temps. Hopefully it will cool off a bit again. Maybe? Needless to say we are really looking forward to our vacation to visit Sam in Little Rock in a couple of weeks. No matter what it is like there it will be a nice break for us.

Since I'm conserving gas and spending more time at home, I am staying busy by reading a lot and quilting. I joined a quilt club that meets on Monday nights and I've learned a lot from the women there. They are so good to help if I have questions. They also make quilts to donate to children that are taken from their homes and put into foster care. The children get to keep these and hopefully they give a little comfort in a stressful time. When my choir practices start up again in the fall, I will miss this group. To that end, I am also working on picking the music for the tree program. The guy who programs the lights on the tree keeps bugging me for the music. You might think it's kind of early for this, but it takes a lot of time to put this together. I've previewed a lot of music and I haven't found the right one yet. I'm beginning to think I might have to cut and paste to get what I want. I like a couple of songs in one, one in another, etc. Then I'd have to rewrite the narration to make it all flow right. This is the first year something hasn't just jumped out at me. I usually have this done by the 1st of July!

I guess I'll go work on the Christmas quilt I'm making. Maybe it will inspire me.

I need a job!

Wow! I think I need a paying job. Our gas bill for my car and John's truck was $700 last month. Add to that how much everything else has gone up and I can only be thankful we aren't trying to feed a big family now. My favorite bread is now $4.32 a loaf. :( I've switched to a different kind. We purchased our airline tickets for our summer trips several months ago, thank goodness. Now I just have to figure out how to go on vacation with one suitcase. That's a problem for me. I am never sure what to take. Will it be hot, too cold, do I need a dress, what shoes....etc. Oh my, what about a coat! You know, when you come from Yuma, you are cold when it is 75 degrees out. I guess if I traveled more I would be better at it. For the past 25 years I traveled in an RV so I could take anything I wanted. That had it's definite advantages but I don't regret getting rid of it. Especially with the price of gas now. How do people go treking all over europe with just a backpack? Maybe I need to take a class on how to pack a suitcase. Is there such a thing? Oh, here's a thought .... I could UPS my stuff to my destination and just fly with my carry-on. Now this has possibilities! That way I could make room for whatever purchases I make during my travels. Oh, this is brilliant. I am going to go ponder this.

The neighborhood

Man, things are really quiet in the neighborhood. There's not too many people here although, there are more than last year. I guess with the price of gas people aren't taking the big trips. A lot of my winter friends left their RV's here and just went north in their cars. I'm sure glad we don't have ours anymore. I'd hate to fill the tank now. It got a whopping 6 miles to the gallon when towing a vehicle. Gas has hit $4.00 here now and I am really cutting back on my running around. We live 15 miles from town and I used to just flit back and forth and think nothing much about it. I remember when noone would have considered living more than 7 miles from where they worked. Look at us now. People in major cities think nothing of spending and hour and a half commuting each way. In their Hummer. I'm thinking horses were a good mode of transportation. They could mow the lawn, fertilize the garden, and get you to the church on time. I'm surprised the tree huggers aren't trying to get legislation passed to abolish cars and bring back livestock. I guess they are too busy making their plane reservations so they can get in the most protests possible. I wonder if they will rethink their position on expanding drilling in this country when they can't afford to heat their homes next winter.

Does anybody sleep?

The older I get, the less I sleep. I wonder why that is. My friends all seem to have the same problem. It doesn't help that my husband gets up at 4:30am every day. The dogs are "trained" to get up that early so even on the weekend they get me up. Good wife that I am, I get up with them and close the bedroom door so John can sleep in. It's kind of like having small children, forever! Thor, my maltese, gets me up between 2 and 3 in the morning EVERY day to go out with him to pee. There's a doggy door they all use at will, but apparently Thor doesn't want to go out in the dark alone. Just a theory. Actually, you can probably see who the one that's well trained around here really is. John and I both have trouble staying awake after 9 pm. Thanks to TIVO we record any TV programs we want to watch. In July I am going to have my 60th birthday. Never thought I'd be so old. At the rate I'm going, I figure by the time I'm 70, I will no longer sleep at all. What do I do with all those hours in the middle of the night? I read, sew, play computer games, pray, worry, etc. Maybe I should get a night job. Employers take note, instead of hiring young people for the night shift, hire seniors. They are awake anyway, and they know how to work!

I'm Refreshed

We had a great vacation with my brother and his wife. After they spent a couple of days here with us, we all went over to San Diego for a few days of fun. We had a great time at Sea World. John and I love to go to Sea World, so much that we have and annual pass! As we were pulling in the parking lot, my brother Paul saw a roller coaster kind of ride and said he wanted to do that. Pat, his wife, said it wasn't for her. Hmm...I love roller coasters! Must run in the family. It was a beautiful day, not hot with a slight breeze. Now remember, to me, the Yuman, 80 is cool. Well, after lunch, we strolled over to the ride and discovered it was kind of a combination coaster, water ride. Brrr..Paul says, come on it's not that bad. Well, I walked over and watched for a few minutes and the people didn't seem to be getting drenched or anything so what the heck, I'm up for it. John and Pat stayed behind as Paul and I joined the line. Let me tell you, we got drenched!! I mean soaked from head to foot, wet stringy hair, no dry spots. I tried to duck in the gift shop at the end of the ride, thought I needed a Sea World beach towel. Paul yanked me out and made me keep moving. Now that light breeze felt like an arctic wind. Pat got a picture of us looking like drowned rats, said she is going to email it out to all the family. Nice. So, I managed to convince the others that a trip through the polar bear exhibit could wait till later. We did however, have a good time together and made plans for our trip up to Seattle in August. John and I also enjoyed having a vacation, the first one since Labor Day. We spent Friday at Coronado Island. I love Coronado Island, it makes me feel kind of like I'm in Hawaii. Now we are looking forward to our next vacation with everyone in Arkansas.

You gotta watch this!

http://www.youtube.com/v/_LHoyB81LnE&hl=en">

Goodbyes are hard

It is that time of the year here when my friends leave to spend their summers in a cooler climate. Sunday the Easter choir will give two performances and they sound wonderful. The music is great. Jean and Judy and I will sing a special during the offering and it will be our last time to sing as a trio this year since they too go north. I miss my friends when they go but I look forward to their return in the fall. After a busy winter, for me it brings a season of more relaxing activities. With only one church service on Sunday John and I will get to go out for breakfast after church again. I love that. :) I get to look forward to vacations this summer to visit all of our family. John and I cherish that time with everyone. Noone ever wants to come to our house for the 4th of July?! Hmmm..maybe if we put in a pool. I pray you all have a blessed Easter.

There's a dog on my quilt

That's the title of this pattern ~ "There's a dog on my quilt." I made this for the back of John's chair and since it is a small throw, I machine quilted it myself. I think it's pretty cute. :)

The days are TOO SHORT

Wow! Easter is so early this year. We only have 2 practices left for the Easter musical performance by the choir. Monday night after practice, John Krueger ( who runs the sound ) asked if I was going to have some power point photos to run with the program. Rats! I need to get that together. Then Tuesday morning someone at the women's Bible study asked me about the tickets for Women of Faith in November. Rats! I need to get those arrangements finalized. So ....what am I doing? Typing this instead of doing what I need to be doing. :) On the plus side of things, we have our air reservations for Little Rock. Laundry ~ I have to do laundry!

Cheap airfares?

I have been pricing airfares to Littlerock from Yuma. We used to just have United flying in here but as of the first of the year Delta does too. They had all this hype about the great fares we can get with Delta. Well ...if we fly out of Yuma on Delta, it will cost us about $600 each! Maybe we could just fly to Salt lake (their hub) and then get a cheaper flight with someone else the rest of the way. Nope! It is $340 RT Yuma to Salt Lake, each. Hmmm....I guess we'll fly out of Phoenix, as usual. Maybe some of you can tell me if I'm missing something here.

More Quilts!

Here are pictures of the two throws I just finished. The Bottom picture of the one laying across the sofa was the first quilt I made.

I want to talk to Jack

Yesterday I popped in to Jack in the Box for a quick lunch. That was my first mistake. They aren't quick. I perused the menu board and ordered the number 8. It said "jumbo cheeseburger combo". Yep, that was for me, a jumbo CHEESE burger. A burger isn't complete without cheese, in my book. I'm patient, I took my book and sat at a table and read for a while. Finally they call a name that I was pretty sure was supposed to be me. These places never get my name right, even spelled right the person calling the name on the order thought it had to be wrong, so she changed it. So....I looked around and when "Marvin" didn't get up, I went up and sure enough, it was me. I looked at the slip and the person who took my order had written very clearly MAVIS. Oh well. I took my tray and returned to my table. I unwrapped my jumbo cheese burger and surprise, surprise, no cheese. I took it back up to the person who took my order. "There is no cheese on the burger". "Did you ask for cheese?" "I asked for a number 8" "Well you have to tell us if you want cheese, some people don't want it." HUH?? I looked back up at the board more closely to see if I had made a mistake. Nope. It very boldy says JUMBO CHEESEBURGER.. I pointed to the board and told her to look, she did, then she said well on her computer screen there are two choices, cheese or not. I asked how in the world was I supposed to know that! It says number 8 I ordered number 8 and I want my cheese. She grumpily took the burger back and put some cheese on it. So here's your lesson for the day.....regardless of what the menu says......if you want cheese, tell them you want cheese. Remember, they hire people who can't read.

I love it!

I finished the top of the quilt for the queen bed in our guest room. I am very pleased with it. It still has to have the batting, backing, and be machine quilted but you can see how it will look. I have really improved since that first throw I made. This one came out the exact size I wanted and I got all the points just right. :)

Vacation's over

I've just sort of kicked back since Christmas. Took a couple of weeks and relaxed a little. In my relaxation mode I read 4 books and made 3 quilts. How fun! I got a new sewing machine for Christmas so I HAD to sew! I made another throw so now I have one for the sofa and one for the love seat. I sent those to my aunt in Oregon to machine quilt for me. She called today and said they are done and she is mailing them back on Tuesday. I can't wait to see them. When I get them back I just have to sew on the binding on them and they will be done. I also made a small table topper of Christmas fabrics and I took a class in machine quilting and quilted that one myself, since it was small. It turned out very nice. And...just today, I finished piecing together the top for a queen sized comforter for the bed in our guest room. I need to sew on the borders and send it to Cecilia to quilt for me. It is way too big for me to do on my machine. With each one I've done, I've gotten better at it and I am surprised (as is the rest of my family) that I love doing it. I guess that is because I love doing puzzles and putting a quilt together is like doing a puzzle. It is fun to watch the patten come together. When I get the two back from my aunt, I will post pictures of them.

So...back to work. The choir has come back together and we are working on our Easter musical. It is a smaller group than was in the tree choir but that is OK.. I don't need 80 for this. I have 40 and I might hit 50 but that is a good sized group for and indoor choir. We will sing the program for 2 service on Easter.

We will be having quite a bit of company for the next couple of months. Different people coming and going but a fun time to spend with friends and family. It is the peak of the tourist season here so it is very busy. My brother and his wife are coming for a visit in April and I am very excited about that!

Check this out

http://www.howmanyofme.com This is kind of fun. I did it and there are 19 of us out there with the name Mavis Ellis. I thought I was probably the one and only!

2008!!

Wow! That sounds so futuristic. It's amazing how the older you get, the faster the time seems to go by. We celebrated last night with friends and since we were at a club, we managed to all actually stay awake until midnight. We had a good time dancing and I especially found it interesting to watch people. I haven't been to a "club" in a very long time. Let me just say that young people are way less inhibited than we were at their age. As I sat there and watched some of them doing what they were doing in their enebriated state, it should not surprise any of them if they find themselves on You Tube some time in the future. There were digital cameras everywhere and those who didn't have a camera, had their camera phone. After toasting the new year in we came home and were in bed by 1 am. I had just gotten to sleep when the phone rings. OMG who calls someone at 1:30 am?! Someone must have died! I answer it and it's Lucas. "Mom, I didn't wake you up did I?" He and Angel and my brother and his wife went on a dinner cruise on Lake Union and watched the fireworks in Seattle from the boat. How fun. They were all calling from the boat. Maybe next year we'll go to Seattle for New Years and do that. Hmmm.

I haven't made any resolutions. I never keep them anyway so this way I don't have to worry about failing at them. I am looking forward to this next year. I am on my 3rd quilt now, got a new sewing machine for Christmas, and I'm signed up for some classes. I'm having fun with it and can't wait to start the classes.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and the the New year brings you endless blessings.

A new choir member?!

La La La La La La La!

It was great!!

Last night was our last concert and it was the best!! We had a big crowd, one of the tv stations was there, and the whole program came off great. What a lot of fun the whole thing was. I was blessed to have such a wonderful group of people to work with. They all worked hard and put a lot into it and at the same time we laughed a lot and had fun. It doesn't get much better than that. For any of you reading this, God bless you and have a wonderful Christmas.

Choir on tree

Here's a picture of the tree during a performance. I just got home from this evening's program. It is going very well. The weather is perfect and all the electronics are cooperating. I have quite a few members out sick with bad colds. John missed a couple of days work this week from the bug and I'm just praying I don't get it. Still have 3 performances to go.

Trying to post a video

You gotta watch this video if I did this right. Makes me want to shovel snow!