OTR, Lake Run and Volleyball update

I finished ironing all 184 4-patch and 8 half-block-corner-thingies (REALLLLLY---I don't know why I can't EVER remember what those are called!!!!). Laying them out last night, I just played and shot this pic. I used the men's plaid shirts that I picked up at some garage sales earlier this summer. I'm kinda hoping they will fit the bill, afterall, *I* think they are "fall-ish" colors. I haven't started part 2, nor will be able to until Monday night at the earliest. So, for the rest of you piecing away, have fun and enjoy!

Today started out waking at 6:00 for some oatmeal and coffee in order to "energize" for the 15K. But after 3 bites of oatmeal, I was done---I just wasn't hungry, nor was it tasting all that great. I did finish up my cup of coffee, though :0)
The morning was BEAUTIFUL!!!! Temps were FORTY-SIX at 6:00!!!!! LOVELY cool weather!!!!! By race start (8:00), it may have warmed up to upper 60's, low 70's, but the LOW humidity really helped make the race tolerable. The sky was cloudless, full sun, and by mid-race, the temps were picking up. However, much of the course is bordered by woods, so there was adequate shade for about 70% of the race. I wanted to make 9:30's (9:30 min/miles), and finished just off that mark, averaging 9:43's. I came in at 1:30:42, and I'm okay with that. I finished at 9:30, allowed myself 15 minutes of cool-down, and then I was literally off and running again to the volleyball courts half a mile away. Vball started at 10:00 and went on until about 5:00, with high temps reaching mid-80's. We had a nice schedule where we had a game's rest inbetween most of our matches, so we never really got to a point of extreme "over-heating." However, I knew I was getting into a little trouble around 3:00 when a wave of nausea hit me. I REALLLLY did try to stay hydrated, polishing off 3 bottles of gatorade and 4-5 bottles of water, but I just couldn't keep up with the amount of sweat I was losing. I jumped on the scale tonight just to see how bad it was, and I dropped 5 pounds since this AM----NOT GOOD! So, I pumped some more gatorade in since I've been home, and have been sipping water inbetween sentences :0) We finished 3rd, which is right where we knew we would. The top 2 teams were teams from our Wednesday night leagues, and they TRULY are awesome and consistent! We walked away with $100 and were happy :0)

Tomorrow AM, DH and I are off to the farm. We'll spend the rest of the Holiday weekend up there, and bring the girls back sometime on Monday---hopefully not too late, though. So, happy weekend to all of you!!!

Old Tobacco Road Mystery; and other updates...

I'm sitting here, watching "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton." Quite the silly "chick-flick" right now; I know it's been out forever, but this is the first time I've seen it. And, of COURSE, I had intentions of being downstairs piecing tonight---I guess that won't happen until 9:00 now. And by THAT time, I'll have to start getting my clothes ready for tomorrow's athletic-packed agenda; 9K race @ 8:00; Volleyball tournament @ 10:00 - ???. So, I might NOT get downstairs, afterall.

Okay...so what have I been doing downstairs?? Last night, I FINALLY was able to get down there again---the first since Monday night, I think! Yeah, yeah....when I finished Masha's Wonky Nines. Anyway, so I pulled out the camoflauge fabric and started cutting 3.5" strips for Scot's quilt. I haven't come up with a name yet----I suppose I'll just call it Scot's Camo Leavenworth, after the pattern of the block. I pieced one full block before calling it a night. Then, today, I went to school for a few hours, stopped at the bank, the pharmacy, and the post office to send off Angela's package *wink*, and then headed home to start working on the OTR mystery. Woo-hoo.

HOWEVER, on the way home, I did a "U-eee" back to a garage sale that had a bunk-bed out front----This photo isn't one that I took; I just found a pic on the internet that showed a bunk set that is exactly like the ONE I BOUGHT for the girls. The lady had a CRAZY price tag on it, and I offered her HALF what she wanted. She pondered for a while, then took my offer. Wooo-hoooo! When DH got home from work tonight, we went to pick it up; and then spent the next hour cleaning out Candace's and Caitlyn's rooms (removing the twin beds and putting them downstairs) and set up the Bunk. HOWEVER, guess where all the "old" twin beds are being stored right now/?!?!? Yup---downstairs DIRECTLY on my carpet area where I lay out of my "quilts-in-progess." SO......sometime SOON, I'll have to spend a day cleaning and rearranging things downstairs so I can have my carpet back.

Okay, anyway, after I got home, I grabbed some lunch (something better than JUST a candybar at a gas station *wink*) and then headed downstairs to work on the Part 1 of OTR. By 3:30, I finished up the 184 4-blocks; YET to be ironed, though. I haven't made the 8 half-corner-thingies (I can NEVER remember what those little corner blocks are called!) I haven't really pulled any fabrics together for the 3.5" strips that Bonnie has recommended; and I ended up using my plaid men's shirts I purchased earlier this summer for my 4-patch blocks. Oh---and my "lights" were very controlled----ALL WHITE! Quite simple, huh? I'll get pics up on here by Monday night, but I doubt if it'll happen before then.

Okay, well the movie just ended. I think I'm going to get my clothes together quick and then head downstairs for JUST a wee-little bit tonight! After tomorrow's running and vball day, we are heading up to the farm. The girls are already up there with BOTH sets of G'parents, so we need to go up to get them AND spend some time relaxing on Sunday.

Okay, okay----Night all!

And the winner is......

FIRST, PLEASE don't shoot me for drawing 30 minutes early!!! We were home earlier from Volleyball than expected, and I'm ready to hit the hay as to get up bright and early tomorrow for a run.......

Anyway----on with it, right........

As emails/comments were coming in, I tracked them on an excel spreadsheet; 1-entry for a comment and a 2nd-entry for a link to the photo (or blog containing photo). My favorite number is "4," so I decided that the FOURTH random number that was generated (using Mathgoodies.com) would be deemed the winner. ( I kept track of the first three numbers, too, if you are wondering what they were.......56, 29, 41).....and then the fourth was #2.

And.........believe it or not......#2 pointed out Angela (Soscrappy) as the winner!!!! Yeah, yeah, yeah! Angela was the very first to comment on the giveaway, and her post to her quilt memory became the 2nd entry on the spreadsheet.





FYI---behind the scenes, Angela also shared the following (sorry for any mis-quotes---I have already deleted the email):

I look at the quilt and have sometimes struggled with having cut up my beloved race shirts, but the quilt is such a memory of the road to the marathons that it was worth it.

I must admit that the latest comments from tonight have not all been looked at, but I PROMISE to view them and respond to each of your beautiful memories! There were some absolute Jaw-dropping moments viewing these comments. And I just HAVE to share this one posted by "T" of her most impressive quilt. How ABSOLUTELY beautiful-----and I could NOT imagine having the sincere patience to accomplish such a masterpiece!


This has been a truly, truly INSPIRING week of reading and looking over all your quilts. Thank you so much for playing, and PLEASE do not be so humble about the love and heart and passion that you have put into your quilts!

Happy Quilting!

Mashas Wonky Nines--top complete

I really did NOT have intentions tonight of finishing this top---honest! In fact, when I went downstairs earlier, I didn't really even feel like sewing (again). So, at first, I putzed some by tackling the scrap pile a bit more---cut a few more 1.5", 2", 2.5" strips AND squares. Then, I sifted through the fabric and found this quarter-yard piece of awesome striped pink fabric that I thought would be PERFECT for the inner border of Masha's quilt----so off I went.

Unfortunately, I measured ONCE (instead of twice), and cut and sewed....... Actually, I misread the pattern and ended up being about HALF A STRIP TOO SHORT!!! (The MAIN pattern is a crib size and asks for quarter-yard, but I've been following the twin-size alternative, and IT asks for 3/8 yard -----DUH!!!!) By this time, however, I had already sewed the two side borders on the quilt and I wasn't ABOUT to rip them out.........*pondering, pondering*. Well, heck....this baby is so "crazy" with all the colors ANYWAY, who would really notice or pay any mind to a slight scrappy inner border???? So, I grabbed another striped pink (horizontal, though) and pieced it in with the "too-short" strip. (See bottom inner border in picture). And, golly.....since I'd gone THAT far, I might as well cut the purple and sew those borders on too, right???? So, at 10:30, I finished laying out the finished top, grabbed the camera for some quick pics, and came upstairs, planted my butt in the glider, and logged on. And v'iola----here I am :0)

This top will be folded and set aside for now---no intentions of quilting it just yet. So, I'm ready for the mystery of Bonnie's. (as well as another off the C'mas quilt list!) I'll probably tackle Scot's (DH's boss) next-----the pattern I chose (Leavenworth Nine Patch) looks rather simple, and I'm excited to see how the camoflauge fabric looks with it. Hmmmm.......I didn't even realize until just now, typing the name, that it's another nine-patch of sorts. Hmpf....coincidence?

I really need to get my butt to bed-----first day of inservice tomorrow. I HAD intentions of running (literally RUNNING) in to school in the morning and then running home afterwards BUT I forgot Caitlyn has 4K (preschool) orientation tomorrow, so I won't have TIME to run home after school. *sigh* Hence, I'll need to drive in so I can drive back home to pick her up after inservice in time for orientation. Ugh! I was SO looking forward to logging 10 miles tomorrow!!! Oh well, I'll have to settle on 4 or 5 tomorrow night once we get back from orientation.

Happy quilting!

It's arrived! 100th post...

For those of my frequent readers, you know I've been counting down to my 100th post, and after my pesky allergy post this morning, I have now reached ONE HUNDRED.

As tradition goes, a give-away is planned. Included in this give-away:

• 3 fat-eighths
  
• 6 fat-quarters
  
• 18 piece 6" charm pack
  
• 1 half-yard
  
• Dresden pillow pannel
  
• Cute, bright bag to use for whatever...(JUST finished 30 minutes ago, using left-overs from one I had made earlier this summer)
  

Some individuals have had stipulations with their give-aways. I've been thinking about this, and have my own idea in mind....

My stipulation: I'd LOVE to hear from all of you about your favorite quilt, whether made by yourself or given to you from someone else.

1. Comment left sharing favorite quilt memory = 1 entry
   
2. Within comment: A link created to photo (or blog entry) of your favorite quilt mentioned = a 2nd entry added
   

As always, please be sure to give permission for others to read your profile so that I can access your email in the event you are a winner. Or, if you would rather, you can also simply include your email within your comment.

Give-away drawing date: Wednesday, August 27, 11:00 PM USA Central time (12:00 PM Thursday for Beijing, China---I'm sure we all know our own time compared to Beijing by now :0) )

My goal is to hear from the winner by MY Thursday or Friday so I can get the package shipped out. School starts the following week, so getting to the Post Office will be much more difficult.

Happy quilting.

M-I-S-E-R-A-B-L-E -!-!-!

How invincible does one think she can be? I mean, come on, how can one tiny little plant defeat the strong, mindful (senseless) individual that suffers from allergies only ONE time a year. Having never been diagnosed with exactly which allergen is the culprit, docs and I have narrowed it down to "Common Ragweed," which comes into "bloom" in late summer (aka: usually mid-August thru early October once the first freeze comes).

The journey of allergy symptoms started around Monday this week with just a little itchy eye---nothing serious. Having been outside running on and off all week, with very little allergy problems, I figured I was "okay" to mow a little of the lawn yesterday. After an hour, and only a little sneezing while on the mower, I finished up the section I had set out to mow (mainly the front part with the girls' play area, and along the driveway). I then headed back inside to see how supper plans were coming (DH was making meatloaf and mashed potatoes). AND then....

BAM! Onslaught!!!!
Itchy eyes-----and I'm talking "can't-stop-itching-long-enough-to-see-what-food-is-going-into-my-mouth." I'm talking "running-to-the-bathroom-grabbing-a-cold-wash-cloth-inbetween-men's-marathon-commercials-and-peeking-at-the-race-every-few-seconds-because-I-don't-want-to-remove-the-cooling-refreshing-cloth-from-my-eyes." I'm talking "watery-eyes-making-it-look-like-I-was-watching-the-end-of-"Titanic"-when-Jack-disappears-under-the-water-and-Rose-is-repeating-"I'll-never-let-you-go,-Jack" I'm talking "runny-nose-taking-over-control--using-up-an-entire-kleenex-box-within-an-hour."

And the next morning???? I'm talking "matted-eyes-and-caked-nose-from-continued-onslaught-during-a-toss-n-turn-packed-night-of-attempted-sleep!"

Oh, did I fail to say that that one tiny little plant has now completely taken over our entire lawn?!?!?!?---ONLY now knowing this because I've done a google for what it looks like! Seriously, there was a HUGE batch of it along the edge of our driveway----I remember distinctly because I thought..."hmmm....weeds have really taken over here and I don't remember seeing this weed before." DUH!!!!!!!!

Upon googling the weed, I came across another fellow who clearly suffers from the same allergen. Steven's post from last season says it all.....

OK, the rain has finally fallen in Lees Summit, settling enough of the ragweed pollen to allow me to emerge from my Benadryl induced coma to resume writing on my blogs.

And I'm here to say the first presidential candidate that promises me to wipe Ragweed from the face of the earth, and means it, will have my vote. Even if it is Ron Paul or even Hillary Clinton. I'll even volunteer to pay my share of increased taxes to see it happen.

I know it's not PC to advocate the total destruction of a poor defenseless plant, but I say ragweed is far from defenseless, if it was defenseless it would have been wiped out long ago.

No, I'm not alone in my suffering, Millions of people, everywhere suffer from it's form of biological warfare, and I think that it gets worse each and every year. I dare a single environmentalists to do an ecological study and tell me what possible good ragweed does for humans, animals or even other plants.

I say we create a genetically engineered bug that will feed exclusively on ragweed plant, then release it to devastate the earths ragweed population. Once ragweed is wiped out, think of how much money will stop flowing into the coffers of the evil drug companies, doctors and klennex manufactures.

Thats right, destroying ragweed will save trees, far fewer klennex, maybe even help save the world from Global Warming. If we can cure cancer we can wipe out ragweed and end its biological war on us poor semi-defenseless humans.

Sorry everyone---I really only wanted to put in a key paragraph of his post, but I couldn't pick just one little bit. And if anyone else suffers from this ANNOYING, TROUBLESOME, BLASTED plant, then I'm sure you share mine (and Steven's) opinion!!


One final thought
Dare I say that DH warned me before hand????? As if I'm not suffering enough now, but he had to rub it in with "I told you so!."
*sigh* *grin*
I guess he's allowed to be right at least once a year :0)

I won!

Not to rub it in, folks, but....

I won
I won
I won

Wooo-hooooo! Amanda's 100th post give-away drawing came and went, with ME being chosen as the random winner. Amanda still is keeping it a mystery, not even posting a picture of it on her blog yet until it arrives. *oooo----the excitement builds*

I hope Amanda doesn't mind me sharing a comment from her email to me.....

"It was lovely to meet new people who came to visit when they heard about the give away, but I was so pleased that the winner was someone I knew."

I feel the same, Amanda, and still find it so amazing that we've met each other and keep tabs on each other half a world away from each other. We are so blessed with this amazing technology!!! I also can't wait to see all the comments that will come flying into my lil 'ol blog in a couple of days when I reach 100. This is officially post #98, so only two more to go.

Ooooooooo----------on a different note: I've been kicking back, logged in, and watching a replay of the USA vs. Brazil Women's VBall gold medal game. Tis sad the USA lost, but Brazil dominated brilliantly. BUT----I can't wait for another hour and a half-----MEN'S MARATHON!!!!! It goes without saying that I would love to see nothing other than Ryan Hall bring home the gold, however this is a terrific field of athletes!




Speaking of running, I didn't make it out the door yesterday for my 4 miles---it was CRAZILY WINDY around here!!! However, I did hit the road this morning for a 13.9 miler (22.37km). It wiped me out, to say the least. Running that far is ONE thing, but the HILLLLLLLS that are on that course are beasts! So, why not choose an easier course? Good question----but I have a hilly race coming up in 4 weeks, so it's great preparation. My total climb over the run was 1441 ft

So, with that note, I am going to head outside to see what #1 and #2 are up to. They've been outside all afternoon, while #3 and DH have been napping since 2:00 (a-hem....it's 5:00 right now and both are STILL "napping").....hmmm....is it REALLY still considered "napping" if it's been THREE HOURS?!?!?!? *grin*

Procrastinating????

Dare I say that I've been procrastinating with my posts this week because I know that 100th post is right around the corner?!?!? *chuckle*. This is Post #97, but this week has been full and crazy and getting back to what "normal" is going to be soon once school starts.

Monday consisted of sewing and quilting! (duh, right!) I have put together all of blocks needed for Masha's Wonky nines; I'm not keen on the 5x8 layout, though, BUT I'm trusting the pattern. (FYI--I would set this up as 6x7, specially since I have 45 total blocks made, but I've already put 4 of the extra blocks together to make a pillow case). The colors are bright, and hopefully she'll enjoy. It'll end up being a twin, with each block being 10" finished.

Tuesday consisted of picking up the house AND I needed to put some finishing touches on Julie's quilt I made last year. I hadn't quilted it much last year and I wanted to ensure it wouldn't come apart in the future, so I "traded" my OC with her for the time being so I could put some quilting on it. However, I wimped out and simply tied the quilt instead of doing any machine quilting on it. It's SO BIG that I just didn't have the heart to schlep and fight that thing under my machine. I put a tie in each of the yellow sashing corner squares and called it done.

Tuesday evening, I also helped lead the 7th Grade Orientation, since our new Principal's first day wouldn't be until today (Thursday). We have a Junior High still (7th and 8th grade) instead of a Middle School (6-8), so we always have a special orientation for our incoming 7th graders; talk through expectations, hand out schedules, and have them try out their locker combinations. You wouldn't BELIEVE the amount of students that can't open their lockers, even by the end of week 1!!! This transition is very difficult for some...

Wednesday found me in school all day. I spent 3 hours in the morning just putzing in my room; hanging new posters, cleaning out my storage, getting books and binders ready for Math 7 and Pre-Calc, etc. Then I spent Noon-3:00 in a technology meeting to learn our new student-information system so that I can be a "teacher-leader" for other staff during the school year. Quite intense, a lot of info crammed into 3 hours, but fun and exciting things coming for the year-to-come!

Finally, today was a "field-trip" to the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN, for those of you not familiar with our nickname of the two cities). We spent the day visiting Julie since she was off of work. AMAZINGLY we actually hit the road at my goal time of 8:00 am and we arrived at Julie's by 10:00, and headed directly to the Como Zoo. The day was muggy, but thankfully the full sun decided to take the day off. The sky was 50/50 cloudy/sunny, but was more cloudy than sunny for most of the morning hours.

We saw the entire lot: Primates, aquatics, cats, "african hooved" animals (aka: giraffes and zebras) *chuckle*. By FAR, the hilight was the big cats, although most of them were lounging and sleeping in their shaded areas. Also, a baby orangutang (OMGoodness-HOW do you spell that??!?!?) was absolutely precious and adorable!!!!

By 12:00, we had seen the zoo and were ready to find our own shade and plop down for the picnic lunch I packed. Then, the rest of the afternoon was spent at a beach Julie had heard about from a friend. Very nice beach!!! I didn't realize how much Caitlyn LOVED the water! Holy Buckets! When I finally said it was time to leave, I almost had to drag her from the lake! Actually, I reverted to good-ol-fashion bribery----McDonalds was promised!!! Yeah, yeah---shoot me! :0)

So now, I'm kicking back, posting, and icing my shins. Yup, Yup.....I almost forgot! My Garmin Forerunner 305 arrived on Tuesday, so I used it right away Tuesday night after the 7th Orientation by running home from school. (Sadly, I had always though it was 5 miles, but ended up being only 4.75 miles, according to my lovely Garmin!) Without a doubt, the feature I love the BEST is the elevation mapping once I upload my runs to my computer. I live in a rather hilly area, so just about every run of mine could be considered a hill workout. I've really upped my mileage this week; probably too fast considering the standard rule of 10% increase MAX per week. I haven't really looked at my numbers, but I feel like I've upped my running quite a bit over the past week just because I am MOTIVATED again. Yeah........ But the bad thing about increasing mileage too quickly is injuries, and right now my shins are thanking me for two days off!!! I'll be back out tomorrow though for a simple 4 miles (and a goal of 14 miles on Saturday). Then off again on Sunday.

Well folks, I think that's a pretty good update, huh? Plans aren't definite for this weekend, yet, but I think my arm is going to be twisted by three lil' girls to head up to the farm to see Gma and Gpa. (I don't think they need to twist too hard, though, because it actually sounds like a good idea to me, too). DH will hang back here and get some work done for a client.

To close, Amanda HAS reached her 100th post and will be drawing on Friday for her give-away. Three more posts to my 100th give-away. I THINK I almost have the give-away put together, too :0)

Happy quilting
Happy weekend
Happy closing ceremonies of the Olympics

*10:30pm EDIT*
Okay folks----I was letting the girls unwind from the day's events by watching a movie in our bedroom---that was a little after 9:00. I don't even know how long they lasted, but I do recall things getting rather quiet around 9:45......