**sigh** A needed detour????

1:35 pm update from my previous post

Ummmmmmm, it's three and a half hours later, and I still haven't made it downstairs. REALLY, I had FULLLLL intentions, but as I was walking out the living room and stepped on yet ANOTHER toy, ...... I .....HAD......HAD IT!

"G-I-R-L-S-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! G-E-T....I-N....H-E-R-E....N-O-W!"
All electronics were turned off!
Brooms and rags came out!
And the living room was tidied and cleaned!
THEN....as if THAT wasn't enough.....

"G-I-R-L-S! These STEPS are going to kill one of us these days! Time to put EVERYTHING away that is on them! AND, the loft and bedrooms get cleaned before LUNCH!"

{{I wasn't patient anymore}}

As always, I failed to take any before picutes, but the afters.......**sigh**.....I wonder how long it'll stay like this????? My job was a simple one. Bark out commands (mainly for Candace, because she hasn't quite learned to find a little job on her own while cleaning), and organize puzzle pieces to see what's what (that's what's on the living room floor in the pic).

The stairs are ALMOST finished....just a small pile of Caitlyn's left....

Once my puzzles were organized, I headed to the loft.....this is how far I got before needing to make lunch. *I* was getting tired, and crabby and hadn't eaten anything....

Here's what left of the loft (the other side)...

While eating lunch (at 11:30), I literally was drained. Maybe some after-effects of yesterday's day in the sun???? I barely had enough energy to tidy up the kitchen table afterwards. SO....my not-so-forceful-barking-command after lunch was for the girls to head upstairs and slowly continue working on their rooms while I lay down for a nap.

Upon awakening (90 minutes later!!!-YIKES, but OH so nice!), upstairs I snuck....

BUSTED! Although, upon closer inspection, they HAD tidied the book section (a bit!)...

...with a WHOLE LOT MORE to go..... **sigh**

yeah, but mom....how can you be mad at me? I'm reading :0) I just got sidetracked while making Candace's bed....

....SEE! Mine is made...

Sadly, Cassie's room never saw much time....



So, is it bad of me to head downstairs now and let them fend for themselves? Kinda the "I didn't make the mess, so I"m not going to clean it" attitude???

**sigh**

I'm sure I'll be bloggin' later with what I decide....

I've earned it!

I'm heading downstairs. Done deal.

I've been in the garden picking green beans and cucumbers already this AM and it's going to be a WHOPPER of a hot/humid day! Glad that part is done! As for dealing with all the veggies....that'll come later! It's a sunnnnnnny day, and the kitchen will be in full sun until later this afternoon---NOT INTERESTED in literally sweating to death in the kitchen while canning green beans. Later this afternoon works just as well for me; they'll keep that long. As for the cucumbers----yeah, yeah, yeah...I said I was DONE with cucumbers for the year, and I am.......they are for DH's BOSS!!!! HOW did *I* get roped into picking them?!?!?!?!!

You know you're gettin' older when...

...other volleyball players head home to shower and get all dolled up for a night on the town, and you head home to shower and put on the comfy PJ's, prop feet up and turn on a chick flick.

If I were a squirrel, this might just be what I would look like.

I'm really thanking someone that there were ONLY FOUR TEAMS in our bracket. Even after a full Round-Robin seeding play, and a double-elimination tournament, we were finished by 3:30; another bracket had ELEVEN teams; they weren't even out of round-robin yet, so they'll easily be playing until 8:00! Easily! At least they only will be running a single-elim. tournament.

At tournament start (9:00), the weather was really ideal!!! Overcast, muggy (but tolerable), slight threatening chance of rain (but it never did), very little breeze. Really nice! The radar this AM was showing a decent sized cell of severe weather that had a chance to hit us by noon, but???? it must have petered off because by noon, the clouds started breaking up...and by 1:00....it was HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT!!!! I can tell I haven't been very active outside much this summer in the hotter weather; the heat started taking its toll on me. By the time we were in the final game at 3:00 (yeah, we battled for 1st/2nd :0) ), I was starting to get a bit winded and moving slower. Between games (we lost the 1st in a best 2 of 3 matchup), without really thinking of it, I non-chalantly asked ... "has anyone else ever gotten goosebumps when it's extremely hot out?" Two pairs of concerned eyes turn my way instantly and asked me how I was feeling. They informed me that goosebumps on hot, humid, sunny days is a sure early sign of heat exhaustion which could lead to heat stroke. I wasn't feeling very concerned, wasn't feeling dizzy.....just getting run down. SO, going into the last game, I voluntarily sat out (we had an extra girl anyway). I was VERY okay sitting out; I am humble enough to know when I'm not in the best shape, and in all honesty, I really wasn't interested in pushing the possibility of over-doing-it when I needed to be the one in charge of the girls for the rest of the day. We lost the championship, but I'm okay with that. I don't think some of my team members were okay with it, but really.....the other team had two BIG hitters that we just couldn't match up against.

Oh, and the girls! They were SUPER SUPER SUPER! There were so many dogs around and other kids; I BARELY saw hide-or-hair of any of them! When I finally rounded them up, Caitlyn was ready to leave----the heat was getting to her too. Candace pouted because she was having too much fun; Cassie was okay, until I said "NO" to heading over the the carnival section, they she joined Candace in pouting. And I WISH I would have taken pics of them before throwing them in the tub-----they were F-I-L-T-H-Y from playing in the dirt and sand all day.

I needed to stop to gas up on the way home, and all three of them asked if we could stop at McD's. That was a NO-BRAINER! #1) I didn't need to cook, and #2) they really really really really were great today and they earned a McD meal.

So, it's a bit after 5:00, and I'm contemplating if I will head downstairs tonight. I am thinking NOT. Maybe I'll work on typing up the directions for the two Sept. BOM's I pieced yesterday.

Twilight Swap information -- interested in joining???

Per request (and I actually meant to do this in my last post, but forgot...)
I am a member of the Block Swappers Yahoo group - (Stashbuster Swap subgroup). This group is hosting the swap, so if you are interested after reading the Twilight swap directions (8 KB PDF file) (uploaded to my Skattebo Creations website so you can read it), please head over to Block Swappers Yahoo group to sign up to be a member.

There are currenlty 13 ladies signed up for the swap using the following block patterns: "Amish Diamond, Antique Tile, Blackford's Beauty (that's mine), Contrary Wife, Farmer's Wife, Kansas Troubles, Linked Chevron, Mississippi, Nelson's Victory, Sawtooth Star, The Old Red and Blue Block". The swap has now been opened to people to make more than one style of block (one lady has chosen "Nonesuch" IF more people sign up), but until the numbers go up, I won't choose to make another block because I don't want duplicates.

A satisfying day

I wasn't able to spend the entire day downstairs, but I am very satisfied with how my entire day went :0)

7:00 AM--shower, drink coffee, kiss DH goodbye for the weekend :0(
7:45 -- wake girls and go through typical "morning stuff"
9:15 -- Cassie's eye appointment, followed by a few errands (groceries and pharmacy)
11:00 -- arrive home, unload car, start lunch, start laundry
12:00 -- clean up lunch table, put next load of clothes in machine/dryer; head outside to pick green beans
12:45 -- soak green beans in sink; take care of next load of laundry (INCLUDING FOLDING!!!!)
1:00 -- headed downstairs

With so many projects sitting idle, I decided it was time to start my "Twilight" block swap. It isn't due until October, but....well....yeah, you know. Volleyball season is right around the corner; I didn't want to NOT get around to these.
The idea behind the swap is to use the colors that appear on the Twilight saga books: red, black, white, gray. Swappers may choose any 12" block of her liking. My choice: Blackford's Beauty. This is the block that Bonnie used in her Jared Takes a Wife, this is also one of the blocks that I posted for February 2010 BOM. It's definitely one of my favorites! So, to be "in-the-mood" for a Twilight inspired block, I threw the DVD into the machine and sewed for the duration of the movie. This is how far I got....
Fifty-two of these corner units; I'm making 13 blocks (12 for swapping and one for myself).

These are the other fabrics I will be using in the block. I'm taking my time; pressing with spray-starch.

OH! Speaking of which.....DEFINITELY WORTH LOOKING AT! If you haven't already taken a peek at Amanda Jean's homemade spray starch, you simply MUST! I used to be so skimpy with when, where, how much spray starch I used in the past because it was SO expensive! $7.00 a bottle! And when a bottle could be gone within 3 days of serious quilting-----PSHT! I don't think so! Therefore---tried out AmandaJean's "recipe." LOVE IT! LOVE IT! Water = free. Corn starch---psht? $??? always have it on hand. Essential oil: $9.00/bottle, which will last for YEARS!!!!!!! In the last two weeks, I must have refilled my bottle 3 times already---that's a LOT of savings!!!

Anyway---I did take one small break in the movie to take care of another load of laundry (AND FOLDED AGAIN!!!)
So, movie ended around 3:00. As badly as I wanted to keep pluggin' away at the blocks, I had other pressing projects too!

Knowing (again) that Vball season will definitely reduce the amount of machine time I'll have, I HAD to start spending some time on the September (and October) BOM's. So....what movie to put in?????.....
The mask of Zorro -- I figured it was fitting; not knowing who Zorro is....not knowing what the blocks will look like. ??? Yeah, okay....maybe pushing it a little bit.

BUT, by midway through the movie (around 4:15), the first September BOM was finished. {{a lil' peek at the flying geese we'll be using}}

At that point, the movie was paused and dinner preparations took over (after, of course, another load of laundry taken care of). Dinner: BBQ on bun, pickles, mac-n-cheese, baked beans, pink lemonade.
5:00 -- tidy up kitchen, unload dishwasher and reload with supper dishes, take care of ANOTHER load of laundry while drawing a bath for #2 and #3. Bathe girls and tidy up bedroom/bathroom/kitchen all at the same time.
6:00 -- take girls out of bath, trim Candace's hair.......and yup! ANOTHER load of laundry!
6:30 -- head back downstairs, unpause the movie and tackled the 2nd BOM for September...

some more flying geese units....and...umm....a "long" flying geese unit :0)

8:00 -- movie ended; block finished, a small bit of tidying the sewing room. Headed upstairs to shoosh the girls to brush teeth. Take care of the LAST load of laundry (I've lost track, but I think it was 6 total washers full), make Cassie's bed with freshly washed sheets, tuck all three girls into Cass's bed, carry Candace back downstairs to take care of a nasty toenail that was hurting her, wipe away her tears, and tuck her in to Mom's bed. (Yeah....I think that was her game plan all along!) ;0) No biggy----no hubby tonight, and the girls REALLLLLY need to get some sleep tonight. They have a tendency of NOT sleeping until too late when they all sleep together. (go figure, right?)

And now----computer time :0)

Tomorrow will be another long, energy-seeping day. I was asked to play in a Vball tournament a few weeks back and gladly accepted, NOT realizing that DH wasn't going to be AWAY for the majority of the weekend. I don't really want to call a babysitter to watch the girls, even though they would probably LOVE that. Instead, I'll be schlepping them along with me. Last year, the tournament started at 9:00 a.m. and ended at 8:00 p.m. (DH and I were done by 6:00 though because our team lost before the final two rounds of the tournament.) I'm sure they will be perfect lil' angels for me :0) **crossing fingers**

Midget MADNESS for sure!!!!!! I quit!

HA!
I just peeked ahead to blocks #5 and #6....

What insane person invented these blocks??? Or even better----what insane person thought it would be FUN to make these into 4.5" blocks?!?!?!!??

Midget Block #5

Midget Block #6

C
R
A
Z
Y
!
!
!
!

DEFINITELY not in the mood to tackle THOSE tonight!!!!! At least Block #8 will give us a break and will be FAST!!! (rail-fence)

More Midget Madness (3 & 4)

{{wiping sweat from brow}}

Whew-----it was a doosey, but paper-piecing SURE was getting easier by the time I finished THIS block!

Midget Block #3: Wild Goose Chase

And I have to laugh at Angela's comment:
"............I think these must be done in order to avoid skipping to the easy ones..........."
LOL...I SWEAR that is the exact same thing I muttered to myself at one point today, because it would be SO EASY to just skip all the blocks that need paper-piecing...

Midget Block #4: Double X, Ladies Art Company
This is one example of a NON-paper-pieced block. Lickity-split-quick compared to the paper-pieced blocks. BUT, notice how wonky this one is as compared to the block #3 paper-pieced one?

Four done today---that's good enough for now.

Now it's time to work on my Twilight swap block (Blackford's Beauty) before my life gets too chaotic with vball and school.

Midget Madness (1&2)!

Yes, we have Angela to blame for Amy having yet another (most likely) UFO in the making! ;0) Angela posted this site (Midget blocks) the other day and I haven't been there in forever; I'd simply forgotten about it. Then, when I revisited, I saw that only 92 blocks were STILL only posted ..... so I said.... NOPE! Not gonna spend allll that time with these blocks if all 187 aren't going to be posted. But then, Angela informed me that Sentimental Stitches HAS been posting blocks lately---they just haven't been added to the Midget Block page.

So........After a training on paper piecing and a sample...I was ready to tackle my first ever block with Paper piecing!

Midget Block #1: Ohio Star was paper-pieced, while Midget block #2: Indian Star, Kansas City Star wasn't (icky measurements, though.....1 5/8" squares). Both ended up being a smidge smaller than 5" (4.5" finished), so if I continue just being a smidge shy with every block, I'll be just fine....


And then comes block #3....another paper-pieced block...
.............

Okay-----I'm REALLLLLLLY HOLDING BACK MY SCREAM!!!!

You have GOT to be kidding me!!!!!!!!!!!!

Diligently (and SLOWLY), the block WILL see a finish today! But, this is as far as I got---my body needs refueling, so I'm up making some lunch (good ol' classic pizza) and giving my blog an update...