Archive for November, 2005
Nov
This year…
This year I am thankful for having a wonderful husband of two years and my family and friends for all their love, laughter and support, often from far away via phone, emails and instant messages. I am thankful for a decent job with funny and interesting co-workers and for the housing market in south Texas that allows me to have a great house (even if it needs painting). I am thankful for having a hobby that I love and the thought that maybe one day it might not pay the bills but at least pay for itself. I am thankful for authors who entertain me, enlighten me, and soothe me almost every evening. There are a million things that I am thankful for and just think of all of them can make you dizzy.
I did make Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans and rolls. And for dessert? I got to cross something off my list…I made pie! Peach pie. And despite the soupiness of it, it was pretty good. We debated about painting this weekend, but Tim is getting over a head cold and it is damp outside and supposed to rain all night tonight and tomorrow. So instead, we got out our Christmas decorations, played on the computers, and movie watched. I also did a little sewing…finished the quilt top for the one quilt I am making for christmas. Later…reading and book cataloging. It is amazing how many books we have and what they are worth.
Hope everyone else is having a nice holiday weekend!
Nov
The Librarian in Me
Tim thinks that is is supremely geeky that I am really excited about this software that catalogs your home book library. But a)who is he to talk, and b)he should have known this was in me when he agreed to this whole marriage thing. I am the daughter of librarians, I am related to librarians and have many librarian friends, one who recommended the software to me. I am still trying out my 100 book, 30 day trial, but it is looking good. And I mean, he loves books, and it is a database, so I am thinking that once he uses it, he will be hooked. Mixing technology with books, how can you go wrong? Well, especially in this household.
Amy and Mitch were out here visiting from LA…it was great to catch up with them. We did a lot of talking, drinking, eating, talking about books, drinking, shopping for books, some more eating and drinking, and a little driving around. There are pictures up already, thankfully none of the late nights here at the house. Oh! And Amy can confirm the roly poly burial ground…she saw the evidence first hand. I tried to take pictures, but it was hard, and they didn’t really turn out.
Can’t believe it is almost Thanksgiving, though we are staying here we may be busy with a house project. I am trying to finish up some holiday knitting and shopping. Also have the one cowboy quilt left. Even though I went to the quilt festival in Houston and left inspired, I haven’t started any other projects. Maybe I am just saving up all my sewing to get to work on finishing the block of the month quilt for Andrew this winter. I have one block to go, and then there is all the sashing, borders, etc, not to mention the quilting. I am actually thinking of sending the quilt out to be professionally quilted. Should probably start looking into that, but tonight might be knitting and cataloging software!
Nov
Roly Poly
Living in south Texas means three things, it is hothothot in the summer, people eat tacos and Big Red for breakfast, and it is the land of the bugs. There are huge thumb sized white grubs in our garden, spiders, HUGE stink bugs (because of which I didn’t go out into the garden for a MONTH as they took over near the okra), ladybugs, waterbugs (or more accurately roaches though they don’t like to call them that here and are my least favorite), mosquitoes, millipedes, crickets, dirt bugs, june bugs, july bugs, flies, wasps, hornets, more spiders, outside bugs, inside bugs, and the loveable roly polys.
When we bought this house, we were new to the whole real estate thing, and we didn’t know exactly what questions to ask. And overall, we love our house and feel lucky to be homeowners. However, one thing that should have been made known to us upon purchase is that this house is built upon the ancient burial ground for all known roly polys in the universe. I am convinced that roly polys come from near and far to our house to live their last days and then die. That is the only thing that can explain it. We sweep out piles of roly polys out of the garage constantly. And I just got done vacuuming them out of the window sills. They flock to the back porch, the front porch, the side yard, the garage (they love the garage), around the tree in the back and at night? Our front of the house is COVERED with them, not yet dead. But maybe crawling up the garage door and brick to make some last dusk will, some last dance with fate, or to perform the ancient roly poly death rite before they crawl back into the garage to die.
So the next time you see a roly poly, wish it luck on its trip to a warm garage somewhere deep in the heart of Texas because I’m sure it will end up here, where I will end up sweeping it out of the garage after it has curled up, blanched in a pile with its brothers and sisters.
Nov
Naughty
I can’t believe that Halloween went by and I didn’t even carve pumpkins! Fortunately for my jack-o-lantern-empty soul, there were three carved pumpkins at Steve and Laurie’s house where we went last night. AND they even roasted the seeds, which is one of my favorite parts of the whole jack-o-lantern mess/pain. Lots of kids in their neighborhood, and we did visit a house down the street where Tim (dressed as a goth) got some ideas for lawn decoration next year. Though I may have to nix the professional fog machine.
Last Friday I drove myself out to Houston to go to the International Quilt Festival. It was crazy busy and loads of fun. It was really interesting to see what is considered a world caliber quilt, and to see what was for sale. Since we have decent quilt stores here in town, and I am a big online shopper, I didn’t do too much buying. Pictures are up of both some of the quilts and the stuff I did end up buying. There were a few quilts at the IQF that were hanging in sections where photography wasn’t allowed. Of course some of my favorites were in this section. And some of the photos that I did take are nothing compared to how cool they really were in real life. I’m glad I went, AND it totally counts as #5 on my list, visit a fair or festival out of town.
I must update the book list too as I have recently finished both Will in the World and We Wish to Inform You. It took me a really long time to get through We Wish to Inform You, but I didn’t give up and finally finished this weekend. Am waiting for some holds to come through as to what I will be reading next…
