Where are all the days & weeks going???

September? Really, September already?? How is this possible?

The days just keep flying by. Kids are getting older & taller, Tim & I are just getting older - maybe a teensy tiny bit shorter even.

Everything is good though. Ellen started high school this fall, and likes it a lot. A boy even asked her to "Be his girlfriend" - guess that's the equivelent of "going together" for us old folks. He sounds like a nice fellow, and I have a few mom friends checking for info behind the scenes at school (gotta love it when you know folks that work at the school!) She's been marching with band and doing well. The band is much smaller than when I was there, but still a dedicated group. She already missed 4 days of school (UGH!) and her grades took a hit, but by mid-term time they were getting back up where they belong. Her room is a pit, but she was actually working on it last night, and even *GASP* threw stuff away!!! Dear me, what is the world coming to??

Max has to get a "Senior Project" done (OMG - I almost typed "Weiner Project"!!!! ROTFLMAO!) He plans to make a video of the Archetectural tour at the Visitor's center. I think he has bitten off way more than he knows, but that will be good for him. I'm sure there will be lots of angst and drama over this project before it's presented in May - so stay tuned. Grade-wise, he's doing ok. Getting A's in his two blow-off classes (that account for 4 mods of his day) and a C or D in Spanish, B's in english and enconomics. He has worked for the Lykins' several times in the tobacco field, topping, cutting and hanging. Although he has decided that he is not getting paid enough to cut and hang, so he's not going to do that anymore ;0) Still hasn't taken his driver's lisence test, but all he needs to practice is regular and parallel parking again. So hopefully soooooon! Mom is getting really, really tired of getting up on Sunday morning to get him to work by 8am!

Marci just tried out and made the cheerleading squad again at Rockcreek so she is excited. Although, this year's coaches each have daughters on the squad and Marci is getting peeved about them favoring their daughters. I told her she's allowed to whine about it for 15 minutes each day but that's all, cause the topic is getting old, and it's not like we can change the situation. Her grades are great and she continues to be super-responsible about her school work, which is awesome.

I've been busy of late getting ready for the Quilt Show in October. I'm doing Publicity, after being "encouraged" to step down from Chariman of the Show. Hopefully the show will be great and tons of people will come. Mostly, I just really really hope that I can get my wholecloth quilt done - it will be so beautiful and might bring in some new customers too!! I'd say it is 1/5 of the way done - and gee, only 7 days till it has to be turned in, nothing like procrastinating, eh?

Tim tried something new over the summer for the pain in his shoulder and numbness in his arm & leg. It was a steroid shot in his spine, but unfortunately, it didn't work. So, we have an appointment on Oct. 18th to see Dr. Chambers and we'll probably start talking about surgery again, *sigh* poor guy. The kids keep talking about what a grouch he is all the time and I try to remind them that he is probably in pain all the time, and that will get to you. I usually try to bring this up when they have an ouchie or big boo boo of some sort, so that they can really relate and get an idea of what it might be like to be hurting all the time.

On the homefront, not much has changed, been fixed, or gotten done - bummer! We do have a washing machine that will be meeting a repairman on Friday, but all other things are at least humming along normally. Someday, we'll get some remodeling and "pretty-ing up" done, but I just don't know when. For now, I'd really be content if I could get the house to stay tidy and presentable on a daily basis. Gee, I'd probably be better off trying to find the cure for cancer huh?

Again, I disappear for months - but I'm baaaaaaack!

Not sure why I fall off the face of the earth "blog-wise" for months at a time, probably because I'm a mom, and secretary, and small business owner and flock mistress to a herd of chickens, and . . ... on and on.

But school's out, summer vacation started today, and I'm finally caught up on the quilting - YEAH! So, I feel like I can sit a moment and catch up on other, less pressing things . . . . like the ole' bloggy.

All the kids made it through the year. Marci's a little ticked at a B+ that prevented her from making Gold Honor Roll (reminds me of her Godmother!) Ellen had her first marching band practice last night and seemed to like it. So that bodes well for her summer, which is full of band. We also wrangled a carpool with a Senior - so less driving for me, YEAH! And, on a side note that only I will appreciate, her band director is a Drum Corps Alum! Too Cool. He marched with Star of Indiana. I was asking questions about the DCI finals, and he finally said, why such interest in Drum Corps? I said, that I was a former member. He says that in 20 years of teaching, I'm only the third other alum he's met. Of course, he's the first for me, LOL!

Max is working at the radio and also the HS auditorium. But not working on school work too much. He did get C's in all classes but two. One is a blowoff class that he SHOULD have aced, and did. The other is his english class that looks like a nice solid D right now, to average with his pretty D- from last 9 weeks ------ looks like he'll have to take it over if he wants to raise the GPA and get the tech. honors diploma. We'll see.

Tim & I got new bikes. Really nice ones, from the real bike store (translation: expensive!) And his is a trike - like an old person's three wheel bike. I told him he might as well get one because with all the spine and balance issues, he'd need one soon enough. He agreed ;0)

The chickens are all good. 7 Hens, 4 little chicks from spring, and 10 polish chicks that are only 2 weeks old (gee, I don't even have any pix, THAT'S how busy I've been!) AND, 5 meat chickens. The key with the meat chicks is, don't name them and don't get attached - it's hard to eat them once you do that!

All for now, peace out and purring - kat

Remember me?

Yeah, well. . . . . as it turns out I didn't fall of the edge of the world. Just had a worser-than-usual bout with my depression. You know, it was a perfect storm kinda thing too -- as my body is betraying me by succumbing to this chemical imbalance that is Depression, my life gets complicated and crazy adding to the imbalance and increasing the Depression! Sheesh!

So, all that matters is that I got to my Dr., spewed out honestly what was going on & where I was at with my symptoms, added what complications were currently in my life and VOILA! He changed my meds. The new combo is working very well, and I am pleased with it. I always expect winter to be a little worse due to the reduction in sunshine, but this went beyond that. I'm even a little hopeful that as the sunshine returns I might even feel great soon, wouldn't that be cool?

So as for life . . . . I have a quilt loaded on the frame, and have fielded 4 phone calls in the last 1 1/2 weeks -- yippee! I met with a customer Sunday and the other three are T-shirt quilts that should be ready to come in March and April. The quilt on the frame is a really ugly (I know, "There are no ugly quilts" but this thing is UGLY!) double wedding ring. It's from a garage sale I think and I got it through my dear MIL. The best part is, since it's mine, and it's ugly, there is like -- totally no pressure to "do a great job" LOL! Anything I add to this quilt will be a help. It's going okay, although a bulky seam tripped me up last night and I have to re-time when I get home today. Hopefully that will go smoothly.

Also tonight is a basketball game, Marci is cheering this year so I've been going to all the games. MAN! Basketball is way more violent than I even knew!!! We've had a girl get a broken arm by being stepped on during a game, a boy knocked completely out of bounds into the bleachers, and numerous scuffles for the ball that really look more like playground fights between 2nd graders than a basketball game! One of the guys here at work-church printed off a summery of the rules for me, since I'm clueless about how (and why!) the game is played. I'm really good at watching the center line and seeing if they get the ball across in the 10 seconds, and if they bring it back across (a big no-no). She only has a couple more games and then a big Cheer Day thing for all the elementary teams left, but she has really had a blast with this. I'm sure she'll try out again next year, and maybe even in Jr High.

Max . . . . . . . .uuuuuuuuggggggghhhhh! Still trying to get him to turn in homework and to care about school work and his life. I looked today and he had a 6 out of 50 on a homework worksheet. I'm guessing he only did one or two questions and turned it in. So, on one hand - you want to rail on him for not getting his homework done, but on the other hand, at least he turned it in - in the past he'd have skipped that step and had a big fat ZERO! Although, really, how much better is SIX than ZERO??

Ellen is still the quiet in the middle girl. I did clean her room just before Christmas. She had an overnight with a friend so I took her & dropped her off. When I got back home I went to her room and started in ----- 12 hours and 16 bags of trash later it was beautiful! It's stayed pretty good too, and I've hounded her each day. Friends went into a retirement home and asked us to take their long haired Siamese cat (he's soooooo gorgeous!!) so he is living in her room at the moment because he's too skittish to let outside. After 2 weeks we are opening her door at night when the dog is closed in my room and letting Smokey out to investigate the house. Other than these middle of the night treks, he lives under her bed and lets no one near him.

Tim turned 45 yesterday - wow, that sounds old when you put it like that! He went around the house singing made up "It's my Birthday" songs! It was funny. I thought it would stop after a few, but hours later he walked into the kitchen for something and started singing a new one, LOL!! It drove Ellen NUTS! The rest of us just laughed. Poor fella has been working 7 days a week for almost a month now. No end in sight either. His body is not happy - arthritis appreciates rest and gentleness -- not hard factory work all the time!

So, my bloggy blog - you are caught up and hopefully we'll chat more frequently. If you notice my extended absence - come find me this time!

And another one's gone . . . . . .

Well, seems like the kitty I was expecting to bury soon, has also gone to kitty heaven. I can't find him anywhere though -- here's hoping he crawled off under a neighbor's bush to die, not somewhere here on my property -- BTDT! This one was Inky. He was funny because we (and by we, I mean Tim this time) had just buried a cat, bringing the herd down to the 3 that were actually our pets - no strays - at the time. That afternoon he says "Now don't drag home anymore cats! We have all we need" or some such crap. I said that I don't drag them home, they just show up, people dump them.

Not 3 hours later, I kid you not! This small, scrawny, long haired black cat crawls out from under the deck! I saw that and just laughed. Turns out God has a sense of humor too ;0) Inky was never really robust or healthy. I kinda knew it wasn't going to be a long and happy life with us, but you hate to see them go anyway.

So now we have Rascal & Georgie, brother and sister; and Little Bitty or Tigger as the kids call him, a runt that showed up on our porch one day. I need to take him to the cheap vet and get him fixed, then all of ours are taken care of. . . . . . . 'till the next one gets dumped . . . . .and you KNOW it will happen, it always does!

Maggie Goes Swimming!

We had the most fun last weekend, and I'm just now getting a chance to post pix! When it gets to the end of the summer, Donner Pool let's it go to the dogs -- literally ;0) On the last day of the pool season, there is a special session in the evening for folks to bring their dogs to swim in the pool.

There were lots of dogs, and some were REALLLLLYYYYY big! Most stayed in the shallow end, but not Maggie. She went for the deep end. I did have to push her in the first two times, and then I had to tell her that this water experience wasn't about a bath or getting clean, just having fun. After a bit she caught on and got to where she would jump full out and make a big splash! She was so worn out after an hour and a half of that, bless her heart. When we drove home she was asleep in no time -- her face was smooshed up against the arm rest and she was snoring a little too, LOL!

RIP Shadow :(

We've lost our cat Matriarch, Shadow. She went missing for a few days, and I found her under the stairs to the deck. Which I must say, is a very tight, tricky spot to try to manuver a shovel into. And, it's been over 90 degreees for a couple of days. Needless to say, it wasn't very dignified, or respectful trying to get her out of there -- all in one piece, LITERALLY! But it got done and she is buried. We started a new place, the apple tree was getting a little full. So, she is just a few feet away from the chicken's run. Thought she'd enjoy keeping an eye on the girls and being out near the bunnies and such.

We rescued Shadow from beside Hwy. 9 on the day we took Marci to school for her Kindergarten evaluation. She was the only one left from a batch someone dumped. Tim grudgingly liked Shadow - she would kill stuff and drag it back to the cave, he likes a cat that earns its keep and stays out from under his feet. Not a lot to ask, and she's the only one of them to do it. Although, she's also the only one who could climb a tree and jump onto the roof of the house. In nice weather that would garner her a free pass into the house. Since we have no screens on the second story windows, she just padded around up there till she came to an open window and then PRESTO! She was in like flynn! Tim hated her doing that, so he'd saw off a branch, or in most cases a whole freaking limb from the tree. She'd just climb a little higher and jump a little farther - and here she was again, in the house. Sometimes I'd make it easy on her. I could always hear when she'd land on the balcony, so sometimes at night (if Tim was at work) I'd get up and open the door to let her in. She was a good snuggler! Although, she was more than a little suprised to discover that darn dog on my bed recently! She thought that was Her spot!

Shadow with Rascal, Georgie & Mittens as tiny kittens, summer of '06. In the top pix, they were just a day old, awwww she's such a good momma.

So, we'll miss her. And now the herd is down to 4. But no worries, the cat Gods seem to know when we drop below their pre-determined quota. Something will show up, it always does!

End of summer already?

Wow, the summer is slipping right past me. The kids go back to school Friday and Ellen had her open house last night. Marci's is tonight. Such a busy week with schedule pick-ups, last minute supply lists from teachers, open houses, regular work and errands - sheesh! Makes me worn out just to type it.

This time of year always seems so ripe with possibilities - the new school year is like a second chance at a clean slate. By now all remenants of New Year's resolutions are long gone, so it is a good time to try again. And the school year always makes me think of structure and organization anyway, so it's the perfect time to attempt to make new routines and big changes. I'm thrilled to say that the chore list we started using at the end of last year is still working. It fell by the wayside for a few busy weeks in the summer, but is back and going as strong as ever! It takes a lot more work on my part, but the results are worth it. Max even did his chores yesterday and today on his own. He called me early at work both days to confirm his choices from the list and make sure he was doing what was needed -- WOW!

He got his school schedule early this week and has only 4 classes. He plans to see his couselor early Friday to add History which is missing, and to fill in some blanks with another class or two. WOW again! I didn't even get a chance to tell him what to do . . . . . . could it be the beginning of some responsibility?? I'm so excited!!!

Ellen is sad that her two best friends aren't in her classes, on her team or sharing her lunch hour. Maybe she'll discover that old fashioned thing hanging on the wall at home . . . . .the real telephone! Of course, if she does, then we'll have to set a timer, LOL.

At her open house we discovered that she has the same teacher for Language arts that I had in 7th grade! He was also our Drama Club leader. That year we did "The Canterville Ghost" and it was my first play to try out for. We did a musical too, but I don't remember the name, I'm sure it'll come to me later! The funny thing is that 28 years ago, Mr. Johnson was slim, energetic and really had fun interacting with the students. This guy last night was stern, chubby, very white haired and seems to have misplaced any sense of humor or fun. Guess 28 years of Jr. High teaching might do that to ya!

On the homefront I have been doing lots of canning. I took an inventory last night and we're up to 20 quarts of corn in the freezer; 9 quarts of canned beans; 11 pints of canned beans; 2 quarts and 1 pint of canned V8 juice; 5 quarts of canned tomato juice; 10 pints of canned zuchinnin relish (plus 12 more pints that didn't set up, I'm thinking we'll experiment with some sort of soup or cassarole to put them in); and 3 half-pints of peach butter -- not bad for a first time canner! Carol and I still have peach juice and blackberry juice in the freezer to make jelly too. I'd like to put up 20 more quarts of corn, 20 quarts of beans, 40 or 50 pints of salsa, and maybe some fruits (peaches, apples, and maybe berries). And I have to find some more recipes to use up the huge pepper crop that Tim planted!

I'm pondering planting some fall veggies (peas, broccoli, spinich?) and already thinking ahead to what we'll plant next year. It's been really fun, time consuming, but really fun!

The herd is all doing well. If you saw Maggie, you'd swear we'd had a dog forever! It's funny really. I will even go so far as to say, I honestly beleive that even my dad would have liked her - she's just that sweet and wonderful!! The two youngest chickens should start laying eggs in the next month or so -- can't wait to see what color ;) We do have a new puppy in the neighborhood - Jack, an energetic (read: likes to get into puppy mischief!) beagle. He chased the chickens last night while I had them out free-ranging and it was close to bedtime. Four scampered back to the run, but Hazel was no where to be found. She wouldn't come out of hiding so I figured she settled in to roost somewhere & left the door to the run open, but closed the coop up good and snug like usual. Sure enough, when Max went out to open the coop this morning, Hazel was in the run. Apparently she was standing about a foot from the coop door, just staring at it. The door is never closed, poor thing didn't know what to do, LOL!

Four of the cats are great, the black long-haired one, Inky, isn't so good. He's rail thin and I caught him wheeezing a few days ago. He almost sounded like Mittens when he had that pariacartal (??) infection. So, I imagine He'll be joining the angel herd around the apple tree before Halloween. He's never been all that healthy, and as a stray, you just never know. I had planned to take him and Little Bitty to be fixed once school started so maybe when we do that the Dr. can tell me more.

Secretery work is fine, same as usual. The church's budget continues to be tight and I imagine there will be yet another cut in my hours at the first of the year. The picnic is this Sunday and it will be nice to hang out with everyone and catch up!

Quilting work has stopped this summer. I finished the last quilt at the end of May and had only one customer quilt in house when Grandma came to stay. I let that customer know it might be awhile and she was fine with it. Then I painted, put in some new shelves and rearranged some. I still need to finish a patch of ceiling, paint the crown molding at the ceiling and some trim down low -- oh, and the fireplace bump out. The new color is nice though, and not seeing the stained, dingy walls is wonderful! I did do a quilt for the fair and what I got done of it was nice. I'd like to make it again, but this time finish the outer 6 inches of McTavishing. It will set it off much better and make for a smoother binding. Also, since the LQS closed, I need to get down to the Seymour shop and see if they'll set out my cards. They have one gal who works there and LA's, but maybe she's busy enough to share customers ;0) Also, I need to get going on next year's quilt show - already things to do, even though it's a year and some months away!

So, as summer ends, fall rolls in and the busy-ness just keeps going!