I had a lovely conversation with my friend, Shelly Tucker, this afternoon! She reminded me of her Rule of Tens. Whenever you are faced with things you really don’t want to do, do ten things you don’t want to do, and then treat yourself to something you would rather be doing.
You can do ten minutes of a chore that you HAVE to finish, and then do ten minutes of something that’s more fun.
She said that there is a caveat. If you choose to do ten really simple things, like, picking up a paperclip that has been lying on the floor, you are obligated to do 10 times 10! It makes it worth doing the tougher stuff, don’t you think?
I love her approach to getting things done. I need to apply it to my life.
Thanks, Shelly, for the visit, your friendship, and for such good advice!
Monthly Archives: September 2011
An Exceptional Weekend
This past weekend was just exceptional! Actually, it started on Thursday. Dear Husband and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary. I have to admit that I didn’t realize it was our anniversary until the UPS man delivered flowers.
“Flowers?” “Wait, what date is it…?” And then I realized I’d almost forgotten our anniversary. The flowers were from my sister, Frankie, who sent them by way of thanks for nine thank you notes I sent her. I was only nine months late in getting out Christmas thanks, and five months late in doing Easter thanks, but she rewarded me for my hand written efforts with the most beautiful bouquet of coral roses with a lime green foliage and golden rod. The flowers are just exceptional!
So, I sailed into the weekend on a high, having gone to dinner with DH Thursday night, just a laid back meal at a local Mexican place, and then a trip to visit one of his job sites. *G*
Saturday, very early, DH went off to sail and I got ready for family and friends to join us for dinner. Frankie and her husband and their wonder dog Sydney arrived close to 1:00, and a friend of theirs from Wisconsin found his way to us shortly after that. Frankie helped me in the kitchen, getting things underway to make eggplant Parmesan. She also took over the work on the silk flower arrangement on the foyer table. I had flowers I wanted to work with, but couldn’t get the ratio of flower and container right. I’ll take a picture of it and post it later.
Our oldest sister, My-Sister-The-Nurse, brought her husband and one of her 20-something grandsons to the house shortly after 4:00, and she set up a fabulous appetizer layout for us to nosh on. We continued to pull things together for dinner so that the eight of us were ready to eat on the stroke of six!
Eggplant and Chicken Parmesan, Vermicelli with red sauce, green salad, foccacia and pugliese breads, followed by pumpkin pie. I was going to offer more desserts, but we figured everyone would be stuffed with dinner. I had two-thirds of a pan of the eggplant left, and that’s what we had for dinner tonight!
The conversation and laughter at the table was fabulous. We talked about television humor today and what was on when we were kids. Our youngest family member, who has spent most of his growing years in London or Perth, Australia, didn’t know the names: Jack Benny, Burns and Allen, Bill Cosby or Jackie Gleason. We were trying to decide what was missing in what they call “comedy” today, and along the way a lot of silly jokes were tossed around.
All of Saturday was in preparation for our attending the dedication of a tree at church in Mother’s memory. We attended church, and were blessed with sunshine just before we stepped out for the dedication. Mother’s best friend brought red ribbons for us to tie on the branches. Mother’s favorite color was red. She would have loved it!
And, the Empty Nesters invited us to join them in their monthly pot luck. I took a raspberry pretzel salad, coleslaw and broccoli slaw to share. Those ladies know how to put on a yummy meal. I need to get the recipe for the fruit salsa!
It was just a great weekend. That feeling has continued today despite the rain. I’m coasting on the joy of spending time with family and friends and just having a darned good time! I hope putting together Thanksgiving will be this much fun!
The Old Fogey
Yes, let it be heard here: I AM AN OLD FOGEY!
Part of my extended family attended church at my Mother’s church this Sunday. My oldest sister and two of her children, my youngest sister and her husband, and a friend of theirs from Wisconsin, Dear Husband and I attended the contemporary service. I have tried to “go with the flow” and just worship and not be critical, but the contemporary service is not for me.
I studied music and music education. Along the way I realized that my way of worshiping was going to involve music. “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!” And I did, and have. But, at this particular church, for the contemporary service, they post the lyrics on the screens at the front of the church and have two (or more) people at the front of the church leading the hymns. There is no written music to read. It is extremely difficult to sing out (and make a joyful noise), if you don’t know the music.
Okay, perhaps if they sang the same songs over time, you might begin to learn the music, but as a visitor I am muffled and can’t encourage those around me to sing with me. It defeats my worship, and leaves me feeling cranky.
I understand the reasons for what’s being done. The church is saving on the cost of hymnals, and the cost of royalties to project the music on the screens. Perhaps many younger people have not learned to read music, so the hymnal is wasted on them. And the modern music is more in line with what younger people hear and like.
I miss the traditional hymns and the traditional parts of the Protestant services. I miss being able to harmonize and lift my voice in worship. Clearly, I will have to attend the earlier service in the future.
The old fogey has spoken!
Scraps on a Mission, Sept. 2011
I’ve been a busy bee, working on quilts for a charity group called Scraps on a Mission. I’ve finished two lap quilt sized quilt for this group using my new sewing machine. One is quilted with random loops. and the second was finished by stitching “in the ditch” with the dual feel system.
I have several other quilts in the works, but I thought I’d post pictures of the first two to be finished:
All the fabric has been donated, and five women have been working on these quilts. As of this writing, sixteen lap-size quilts have been completed since June of this year.
Thanks to these ladies, my knowledge of machine quilting has grown by leaps and bounds. I’m so glad that I have been able to participate in this endeavor. In November, the quilts will be given to a local hospital and to a rehab and nursing center.
The Kliban Cup
Many moons ago, more than twenty five of them, perhaps as many as thirty five of them, there were two nieces and two nephews who went shopping for their aunt. At the time the Kliban Cat with the red sneakers was very popular. These four wonderful children purchased a desk set, two pillow cases and a mug that all were decorated with the red-sneakered cat.
Over time, the desk set has been packed away or lost, but the remaining pieces, the pillow cases and the mug were still seeing regular use. Unfortunately, this week, the mug slipped from my hands and the handle broke!
I was tempted to keep the body of the mug, because I’ve had so many years of enjoyment from it, but I’m at the time of my life when it’s time to simplify, so I bit the bullet and set it out in the garbage.
Thank you, Lynn, Andy, Terri and Steve for a gift that lasted for ages!
And thanks for the grins! Whenever I want to get a rise from your uncle, I put the cat pillow cases on our pillows! *G*
Labor Day 2011
And I am laboring! Saturday and Sunday I spent a good part of each day in my quilting studio, working on pieces of five different quilts. I made binding for one baby quilt and sewed the binding on to two others. I cut out the sashing strips for a quilt that will go to Scraps on a Mission, and assembled all of the horizontal rows of a 6 x 6 block quilt. Yesterday afternoon I sewed the first three rows of that quilt together, and hope to finish it tomorrow.
I was in the kitchen, making the first zucchini bread of fall when the back door opened and in walked Dear Husband. He came home from the lake a full day earlier than I had expected, and told me that wind and waves forecast for today were going to make it too unpleasant to stay on the boat, even moored in the harbor. He also said his stomach was a little on the fritz. I hate to sail. My stomach is ALWAYS on the fritz when I am on a boat, so I just figured the weather was really whipping up and didn’t give the comment about the upset tummy much attention.
Well, it seems he has the flu. Until the past year or two I would have told you that Dear Husband NEVER gets sick, but now that he’s in his mid-sixties he picks up little bugs now and then. Or, perhaps he was just more stoic about them before and hid them well. At any rate, he’s home for the day, taking it easy, reading a science magazine.
I got up early this morning, intending to go out to weed as soon as the sun was up, but I stalled. It was about 56 when I checked the temperature at the NOAA site. DH and I had breakfast together and we talked about meals for this week and next. I checked to see what we needed from the store.
Usually the first thing I do when I go out to work on the gardens is to feed the birds. I was working on that when I realized the mice and chipmunks had made a mess on the shelving above the seed bins. I cleaned that up, mixed up more seed, filled the bird feeders and then headed out with the weedeater. I got the area at the front of the house finished and then pulled the spent day lily stalks. I had the chance to look over the beds and plan my attack over the next few days.
The budlea that I thought would never amount to anything is suddenly a blooming shrub. My sister, Frankie, has warned me that it will grow out of hand, and that I may regret having planted it where it is. I’m pretty sure she’s right 🙁 (But, it’s a really pretty plant!)
Later today, I’m going to use the weedeater in the back, around the herb garden and finish potting up some mums for the front of the house. I’m eager to make the front of the house more inviting for fall. Maybe it’s time to pull out the tomato plant that’s creeping across the sidewalk! *G*
Happy Labor Day to you all!
Friday Doings
My day started with the last session of exercise before the Labor Day weekend. I’ll have to exercise at home for the next four days because I’ll be leading the class on Wednesday and Friday. It’s not a good idea to have too much time off between the sessions when you are going to be leading them.
I had to make a visit to the dermatologist. I’ve had a growing problem with infection on four of my fingers below the nails, with four more fingers looking as though they wanted to join the fun. I really let this go too long, mostly because I thought I could get it cleared up on my own, and partly because the doc is only available to me Tuesday and Friday. When she saw my fingers, she was horrified, and gave me a shot of cortisone. I’m already seeing some improvement, and am glad that I got the help.
I stopped at the title company to pick up a check, got the car gassed up, and headed for the grocery store. Dear Husband asked for old fashioned tuna noodle casserole for dinner. At first I said, “No.” The first Friday of the month is when my quilting bee meets, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to spend the time in the kitchen when I needed to be getting ready for them. Ultimately, I changed my mind, and made a big salad and the casserole. It was a small thing to do for DH, who asks for so little.
Tomorrow, I have a few errands to run, and then I can piece and quilt ALL DAY! YEA!!!
I hope that you all have had a good start to the holiday weekend, and that you have plenty of fun things lined up for the next few days. Have a great weekend!