The week that was!

What a week. Spent a couple of afternoons in the Sewing Room working on quilting my "Wild Wild Women" quilt. It is looking pretty good, if I do say so myself. I am proving to myself that I can quilt my smaller quilts myself, on my machine. I am doing this one on Ken....because it had already been started there, and I am not ready to tackle Berni and the BSR yet. I have completed a couple projects on Berni....two cute little bags for two of my nieces.

We got a call Thursday evening that a cousin in Brownwood (about 200 miles from here) had passed away. She had been in a nursing home for several year suffering from Alzeheimers and was in really bad shape. She had lost an enormous amount of weight and could no longer swallow. Really a sad, sad disease, but she did die peacefully, with her family around her. We drove up there Friday and returned after the funeral yesterday (Saturday). A really long way to go for such a short time, but Dad and Mom wanted to get back to their own comfort zones. It was nice to see my two aunts and all the cousins, but isn't it sad that we see each other only at sad times. To make the trip even longer, Mom left her purse at the restaurant where we stopped for dinner last night. I had to drive back up there after church this morning and retrieve it. Luckily, it was only about 50 miles away.

On a happy note, we have a BIG wedding next weekend. My niece (Pam's daughter) is getting married to a really nice young man. They both work in Emergency Management in the Dallas area, so we are praying that no hurricanes pop up (especially since they are honeymooning in the resort areas of Mexico that were just missed by Dean) and no emergencies take place. This will be a happy time that family is together. Can't wait to see Mollie and Megan who are flying in from Maryland.

Playing with Ken

Today was playing with Ken day. My Kenmore sewing machine that is. A group of dear ladies has invited me to join them in their sewing room. They have rented a small space in an office building downtown (you have to remember that Bryan is rather small....downtown is less than 5 miles from my house). They have a huge cutting table, sewing stations, ironing board, etc. etc. Kinda like KK's sewing studio, only not as nice. Anyway...they have invited me to join them, and I moved my extra (since Berni has arrived) machine (a Kenmore) to the sewing room. I can go there any time I want 24/7 and sew to my hearts content. I worked on quilting my "Wild, Wild Women" quilt, since the show in in less than 2 months and I have entered it in the challenge division. There is plenty of space to spread it out, which I don't have at the house, so it is nice to have a place to sew, and a place to escape when I need it.

Erin blew into Texas this week. Lots of rain and flooding in Houston and San Antonio, but luckily for us, just some heavy rains. It has managed to cool us off some, which was so needed. I just don't like those 100+ temps.

Sister Pam is coming over tomorrow so we can shop for an outfit for her daughter's rehersal dinner in 2 weeks. It is going to be a beautiful wedding. Can't wait to see some of the family I haven't seen in a year.

That's all for now....off to play some with Berni.

Playing with Berni

I have a new love in my life! I bit the bullet last week and bought myself a new, fancy "sewing computer," as Bernina is calling their machines. I think it must do everything except cut out the fabric. I have been playing all weekend, discovering new stitches and things the machine will do. I have almost finished two bags. There is so much new they give me 8 hours of free lessons just to learn! My niece bought one too, and her mother (my sister Peggy) will be taking lessons with us. She will probably end up buying one in the future. Just need to clean up my sewing/computer room so that I can do some of the projects that I have planned. (Like a baby quilt for little Lima Bean.)

I have also had the pleasure of sitting for one of my Grand-puppies this weekend. She is an English Coon Hound and is named "Annabelle." And, guess what! I have seen no evidence of 'coons or pack rats in the yard. Could be that we just might have taken care of the problem. I hope so anyway.

Pack rats, snakes and raccoons, oh my!

Those of you who know me, know that I could do without some of God's creatures. Snakes and rodents in particular. Oh, I know, some of them are beneficial, but I could do without them.
I was sitting on the patio the other night talking to my kindred spirit in Tampa when I saw something moving at the edge of the garden. Looking at it from a distance, it looked like a large mouse. (At least that is what I wanted it to be, because they are not quite as bad as rats.) The next morning I looked out the window, and there he was scurrying around under the big pecan tree just outside our kitchen window. Dad decided it must be a pack rat. I must admit it was shorter and rounder than other rats I have seen, but I still don't like it. A dear friend suggested that I put some cheese way down inside some steel wool, and that would take care of it. SO, off to Lowe's I went to get some steel wool. I laid my little trap where I could tell that it had been touched, and sure enough, the next morning the steel wool had been moved, and torn apart. AH HA, I decided that I had done the critter in, but looking closer (out the window, you understand) there he was digging around under the tree again. Ok...the exterminator was due and surely he could help get rid of this critter. He put out a HUGE spring trap and some rat bait, and said that should take care of it.
In the meantime, he was looking at the garden and said there was a snake in there. OH GREAT, I thought, but went to look, so I would know what to look for. It was a green snake with a dark green stripe running the length of it's long body. The exterminator guy said it was the largest garden snake he had ever seen (and I bet he has seen lots of them.) but it was not poisonous. It might bite, but it wasn't poisonous....great news, huh?
So, this morning I just knew that I would have to dispose of a body in the back yard. Great surprise....I looked out the window and the trap had been sprung and the critter was busy under the tree again! If you have any great ideas for getting rid of pack rats, I wish you would share them.
Raccoons? Well, they visit our yard every night. The man across the street has trapped and carried off 60 of them in the last 2 weeks, and the folks next door have trapped several also. I can tolerate the 'coons, except if they become rabid, but I would like to get rid of the other critters. May have to borrow my son's dogs....lol.