checking in (edited)

Not sure exactly how to start this post as things tend to blur together after awhile.  When I left off last time, Charles and I were going to watch the 4 youngest grandkids so their mom could take their cousin shopping for school clothes.  She will be staying with them this semester and the clothes she brought with her were not meeting the local school dress codes.  Fortunately we had good weather and did take the kids into our town's park to play on the cool slides and stuff there.  Then we scored point by taking them off to Mickey D's for ice cream cones.  Well, there was some grumbling about wanting sundaes but Gramps and I said they all got the same thing this trip.

This past weekend, the "twin-cesses" came for an overnight stay.  I had some helpers for "dough smashing"  (Pride of Iowa cookies call for the dough to be flattened with a glass dipped in granulated sugar).  I sent most of the output home with the kids though.

Emma and I---Araya said to pose this way as the last batch was in the oven

Araya looks like she is doing the pageant wave, LOL

Plans are to have their older brother Zeke come this weekend.  We thought the youngest Abby was going to come Monday evening but at the last minute she decided she would stay with Mama and play outside some more, LOL.   Instant grandmom, that's me!

Charles and I had decided to table several of our household projects until after the wedding.  Mostly those plans consist of painting the master bedroom and putting up some shelving on the wall above the desk.  He hung a blind I had gotten for the bedroom that had been waiting while the bathroom work was completed.  However, Charles had gone out to help his son with a plumbing issue and came home with a closet rod and brackets.    Way back in July 2014 I had posted about the jerry rigged closet rod in the master bedroom and wondered how it had managed to not snap like a twig.  It is fixed now, thanks to Charles.  We could address this before it got too loaded up with stuff now that those 81 quilts were delivered.

We do have plans to paint, re-tile my bathroom with the same tile as the master bath we just did, re-size the mirror, replace the light fixture and toilet to a low flow chair height one.  Just generally update the room a bit.  Again, that needs to wait till after the wedding.  Mom and Dad will be staying here when they come down and people will be in and out.  Better not to have the house all torn up!  I have paint color cards stuck up in both rooms---looking at pretty blue for the bedroom and at first a green for the bathroom.  Now I am leaning towards a butterscotch yellow.  Jury is still out, LOL but I have time to think about this!  I see more trips to Lowe's in our future.  If anyone were to ask what we might need as a wedding gift, the answer would be Lowe's gift cards.

We have not been idle though. He hung a blind I had gotten for the bedroom that had been waiting while the bathroom work was completed.  He turned his attention to the utility shed and I went out there to help decide some of the "stay or go" items.  In this picture from the bush cutting down days, you can see some of that giant mess behind him!  We filled up the trash can rather quickly and had to ask a couple of the the neighbors if they had room in theirs for a couple of things.  I resisted going through the subdivision near us at the dead of night to sneak a bag in some stranger's though, LOL.  As soon as the can was emptied last Friday morning, I had it almost 3/4's full again with the bags we had waiting.

At some point he will run electricity out there but a lot of clearing out needed to be done to gain some floor space.  Using the scrap lumber bits out there, he put up some shelving to get the Christmas decoration boxes up off the floor.  He also re-purposed that old wooden closet rod he just took down in the bedroom and got some chain to hang the ladders from the rafters.  The old door that DJ and I had taken down between the kitchen and laundry room is now a work table hinged to a side wall.  He put some vinyl tile on the top of it yesterday and added some trim and it looks pretty cool!  He moved and re-organized the shelving units and put up a wire shelf unit that DJ had never mounted.  It now holds a couple cord reels and a few more items.  All the weed eaters are mounted on the other side wall too.   There is still some tossing to be done and a surplus of nails found a new home at a friend's house who has a building project coming up but it is looking up!  The cat carrier you see below is only in a temporary home at this point.  We replaced the rickety sawhorses this past weekend when Harbor Freight had them about 40 bucks cheaper than we had priced at Lowe's.  You would not believe how much cleaner and open this space looks like already!

Oh, that yellow roll of batting is out of there now too as I've got it in my car to run down to the church next week.  

He needs to see if the two compressors we have in this heap still work and the old kitchen chair back needs dismantled for parts.

Charles at work organizing the shelves but you can see the ladder things he rigged up in this shot.

Turns out that ours was not the only shed we had to worry about.  This Sunday his son or daughter-in-law called and the hot water heater had been tripping off repeatedly for a 24 hr period.  Also it had been raining quite heavily (windy too) and a roof leak problem had returned.  Charles went out to see if he could fix the problem.  I know he cleaned out the gutters a bit and checked into the breaker situation while he was there.  Being an intermittent problem, they would have to continue to monitor it.

While he was there, a pine tree uprooted and sheared the wiring from Jeff's mechanic shed but hit the other one that he and Charles shared.  I was just grateful that he was not out in it at the time as he was headed that way for some of his electrical supplies.  The one that got hit sort of sits at right angles to other one and the tree went through the left hand third of the building, raising the roof.  It missed his big riding mower and all of his electronic equipment and "toys" but bent the tar out of his shelving.  There is a motorcycle and tiller under all this mess among other things.

 I went out to help clear things out and see what we could selvage.  The insurance adjuster is due out tomorrow morning but he and Jeff were allowed to remove what was not damaged with orders to keep away from the damaged areas.  Charles was able to store several wagon loads of stuff in his old apartment downstairs in the house.  Some stuff got tossed as it was wet or no longer needed.  Some stuff came back here with us as he sets up some shop area here.  That wire shelving unit you see against the wall in one of the pictures of our shed above got mounted and nicely holds his electronic course books.  It is shaping up!

 In between, Wendell dropped off a length of leather for the treadle machine so that is now fixed though I have not had a chance to sit down and try it.  He also started drilling out the bush stumps so they can be treated with Stump-Rid product.  The battery packs both died or he might have gotten a bit further this afternoon, LOL.  

We had the pleasure of meeting his cousin Jim and his wife Rosemary a week ago Wednesday.  They were up from Ocala, FL and doing some geneology work near here but on the Georgia side of the state line.   Jim suggested meeting up in Oxford for lunch near the exchange.  Then we all went out through Cleburne County and a church cemetery where their mutual great-grandfather (or was it their grandfather?)  is buried along with some other relatives.  I believe they plan to come up for the wedding.

We were finally able to meet with the pastor a week ago Sunday and tour the fellowship hall we will be using for the reception, discuss what we wanted to do for vows, etc.  There are several options for the bride dressing rooms and other logistical things explained that will help us get the supplies and such we need.   Charles is afraid to use the linen table cloths so I think we will be making a trip out to Sam's for disposable table cover once we get a linear measurement of the tables after church next Sunday, LOL.

I went shopping yesterday after the Belles meeting for some of the things we will be needing but still need to go for some of the punch ingredients.  Charles' oldest son and daughter-in-law will be helping with the reception and providing the bride and groom's cakes as our wedding gift.  I am thankful for their help!  Melissa and I recently discussed what we wanted to serve with cake and punch and they will prepare/purchase those items or that is the current plan!  I also have a lead on a florist so that is what I need to address next along with some rehearsal dinner details.  At this writing if you don't count today, 30 days to go!

All this excitement is sort of tempered for me this week as I am mindful that Thursday the 26th would have been DJ's and my 18th anniversary.  February 1st marks the 3rd anniversary of his passing. If I don't mark these dates, then I don't know who will and he deserves to be remembered.   He was a good man and loved me as I loved him.  I am deliriously happy with Charles and am looking forward to being his wife but I do honor DJ and our life together for 36 years.  This made me who I am today, taught me what it was to be a wife and in a long term relationship.  I think Charles would thank him for that if they had met.  Charles knows what loss is as well.  We know just how blessed we are to have this 2nd chance at love and marriage and will treasure every day that God grants us.  That we are ready to try again is a testament to our loved ones, don't you think?

Changing course here and looking to the future---------

Of course, it probably goes without saying that I am not sewing.  Who has time??  I barely know my own name, LOL, and after all, it is changing soon!  I do plan on doing the Fat Quarter Shop 2017 Make a Wish quilt.  I purchased the kits and fat quarter stack of Bonnie and Camille Basics with Christmas monies from Charles and my dear Belles.  I want it bigger---I think, LOL.  The first block was just released mid-month.  I will get to it---actually tempted to make the blocks larger than 5 inches and re-size them either 7.5 or 10 inch finished.  Will re-visit that when I can fiddle in EQ a bit----in my free time, HA!

I would love to have the long planned Disappearing 4 patch in blues and white done for the master bedroom and maybe that is where my focus needs to be.  Once the room is painted it would look great in there!  That and on the queen sized headboard/bed frame that we will be hunting for at some point.  Just gathering style ideas at this point.  

And there you have it for this check-in post.  I need to get Oscar into his bed, hit the shower and wind down for the night.  Not sure where this day went but it is about over.   THX for stopping by to see what's up.

home happenings

In my post in late December, I mentioned that Charles was working on a forced bathroom repair situation complete with leaky and leaning toilet and disintegrating particle board in the master bathroom.  The project was finally completed on Friday January 6th--woohoo!  I've got some before and after type pictures to share.

You can see Charles down on his back in the crawl space with the flooring cut away that was under the ruined flooring.  He got it all filled in and then discovered that particle board was just flaking away when the two courses of vinyl flooring were removed.  (DJ had just put one layer down over the existing flooring while my bathroom went down to the bare flooring).  He had to cut out about a 24 x 30 some section total.  Thankfully we had the two varying thicknesses of plywood on hand for the initial placement and no more lumber was required.  Just lots of that mud stuff and sanding.

In order to remove the leaky toilet, the curved counter top over the stool had to be removed.  Here you see the sink's residence while the work was ongoing.

In this picture Charles was getting ready to cut down the existing counter top over the vanity from the top side.  You may be able to see how it narrows where he has his left hand placed.  We were able to salvage the trim for the cutaway and re-use it.  I am not fond of this counter (UGH it is in the kitchen and my bathroom too) but it did save money to NOT replace it.

How it looks now.  New bathroom accessories and door pulls.  The wall paper border we applied to covers the tears to the paper when the counter came out.  Charles idea there so we would not have to strip off the rest of the wall paper or paint. It brightens the room up and matches the existing drape in there.  The vanity also got a new coat of stain to freshen it up.

He also tried to cut down the full size mirror that had been in place.  That didn't work out so well.  A friend saw a comment I had made of facebook and suggested a place near here that can cut hers down and then she used molding and rosettes on the corners to give it new life.  Too late for mine but we are talking about updating mine next.  THX Brenda for the suggestion!  We picked out this mirror from Lowe's---our home away from home lately!!--when the plan did not work out.

Charles is a retired master electrician so it was a piece of cake for him to move the electrical box over a bit to center the new light fixture over the sink.  The problem was that it did make a larger hole.  I thought we would have to get a different fixture with a bar like base but he suggested using a ceiling medallion, painting it and using it behind the round light base.  I didn't get what he wanted me to do with two different colors of spray paint as it was not working to try to spray on the darker color on lightly.   It was either one color or the other.  He finally told me to spray some of the darker paint on paper plate and then daub it on the high spots.  LOL, I finally "got" that he wanted me to use like a stenciling, pouncing technique to sort of antique it.  In person it looks good with the light globes we picked out.  The lighting is much brighter in there now especially with one bulb not hiding behind the medicine cabinet.

Finally the new toilet made it into the house on Friday morning, once the flooring was completed.

And here it is in place along with all new quarter round and the shelving above the stool for a bit more storage space.  We got a chair height one so it is easier on the knees as several of my friend's were suggesting.  One of them asked me the other day what I thought of it and I haven't used it yet!!  I have always thought that one secret to a good relationship is never having to share a bathroom with your spouse or significant other if you can help it!  I bought a baker's dozen more of the tile so we can use what remains in my bathroom down the line.

In between tasks and waiting for glue to dry for the umpteenth time, he put a small ceiling fan up in the laundry room.  I tried to do what I could to help mostly being the ground guy and holding the flashlight, LOL,  That and pick up the stuff that got dropped.

Earlier THIS week he corrected an long time electrical situation in my living room.  For almost 20 years there have been light switches that turned on nothing. From the hallway and the kitchen I had to cross the living room to turn on any light source.  Well, that was like waving a red flag in front of a bull or at least throwing down a challenge to the electrician to solve this mystery.  We picked up some of his electrical tracing equipment from his home shop and he was off and running.  The problem was in the wiring to the ceiling fan and he took the thing down to wire it correctly.  I can turn on the living room ceiling light in three places---hallway, living room and kitchen.  I can turn on the fan on its own switch--not the speed, I still have to reach up on my tiptoes for that part--but off and on works great.  There is one remaining mystery switch in the kitchen and that's challenge for another day, he said.   I have been happily flipping switches since he fixed it.  Woohoo!  Doesn't take much to make ME happy, LOL.

We had some raining and cold weather recently along with some ice and freezing rain/sleet stuff a week ago Friday.  Enough that they preemptively cancelled school on Thursday.  In light of the cold weather he couldn't work out in the shed or set up on the sawhorses on the patio.   I told him he could work on our chain saw here in the house if he protected the table. Here he is working on the primer pump and tubing which had disintegrated out in the shed. ( He took a small engine repair class after he retired.)  It is still not completely fixed but it did take off some limbs on the large crepe myrtle tree yesterday!  He borrowed his son's temperamental chain saw to get the last of the holly bush limbs down.  I helped haul off the sections to the burn pile and did some of the go-fer stuff.

Wedding plans are still in a stall pattern.  That recent ice deal cancelled church on Sunday but mostly it is because of the pastor's wife's continued health concerns (recent transplant).  We went at the appointed time but found a note on the door.  He had lost Charles' phone number and we didn't have his cell number so we were not making connections.  I think that is resolved thanks to one of church members/usher/deacon that was at the church today helping the missus set-up for a baby shower. We'll try again this Sunday.  I should be writing down some of my questions and get my nose back in my Weddings for Dummies book.  At this writing we are 43 days away for the big day---yep, the calendar is marked and we're counting!

I haven't mentioned the critters.  Oscar is back to wearing his belly band as he has been peeing on everything lately but especially since we were gone on that 2nd trip to Gulf Shores.  Charles is always asking him "where is your diaper?" as Oscar shimmies out of it when he crawls under the bed.  Skyler just gets more clingy but especially at night when Oscar has gone to bed.

Guess that is it for now---he is asking me if I am writing a book, LOL.  Maybe but that is what I get for not blogging for over 10 days.  Lots going on but I CAN take a hint.  Tomorrow the grandkids are coming for a bit so Mama can go shopping.  Decent weather means they are all going to the park and burn off some of that energy!  Till next time---------

Quilt Delivery

Bama Belles met earlier in the week and Lois' had recently asked me how many quilts I wanted.   She had 19 that she had been holding that I did not room for at home.  I knew that I needed to get the master bedroom closet emptied out to make room for Charles' things.  There were a bunch in there, some dating back to 2014!  I took my notebook to the meeting along with my camera to work on the numbering and documentation that will be needed for Wrap Them In Love headquarters.

 I kept 4 out for any immediate need and still had 81 quilts, if I counted correctly and then made a call to the Talladega Presbyterian Home for Children to arrange a delivery time.  Charles and I loaded up the van and went down late Wednesday morning to facility's administration office.  LOL, they were watching for us to pull up and three of the women came out to haul these into the conference room.

Here are some of the more recent additions to the 81---I'll add as many as I can but Lois had made 4 Pineapple Blossom quilts and they do look a good bit similar unless you look at the borders and/or binding.

I somehow missed getting two pictures taken and had to have Charles hold two of them up in the hallway.  So this one is wearing tennis shoes and if you look closely a nosy kitty's backside and tail, LOL.

Long time, no post

I know it has been forever and a day since I last posted.  I thought I kept busy before but my life is  proving to be not only busier but so much better with Charles in my life.  With him, everyday is a surprise or adventure.  How blessed I am!

A good bit has been happening.  Over Veteran's Day weekend Charles and I traveled up to central IL so he could meet my family. As I said previously, between winter weather possibilities in late February and the distance away from family I do not expect them to be here for the nuptials.  I felt they needed to at least see and talk to the fellow who has swept me off my feet.   We arrived on Friday evening and Saturday met my sister Diane at Schooner's for king tenderloin sandwiches and those famous onion rings.  I also took him all over Bloomington-Normal to show him all the places I had lived and worked.  Sunday my brother Phil and wife Jen hosted us all at their home.  All but one sister was there and even a few of the nieces as well along with two of the great-granddaughters.  Charles is still talking about what good cooks we have in our family and raving about Karen's (Jen's mom) cherry pies.  Always good to spend time with my family.

Originally we had planned on stopping on the way back at brother Steve's Tennessee home as he was still recuperating from his double major surgeries in October.  As my parents, Charlie and I were visiting Saturday evening, the family room room door opened and there he stood with wife Jan right behind him saying "I hear there is a party going on".   I don't think there was a dry eye in the room.  We had visited him at Vanderbilt in mid-October right before his discharge home but this was so special to have him with the family after we almost lost him--twice.

Thanksgiving was celebrated twice in one day with my instant, soon to be acquired family.  Charlie's youngest sister Penny hosted his family gathering in Lincoln, AL.  Later in the day we had been invited to join his daughter-in-law's family near Lineville, AL, a county or so away.   Below is a picture of us in Penny's back yard.  The two guys are Charles' sons--Brian on his right with his wife Melissa and her two daughters Raleigh and Graclyn. Missing are the oldest daughter and her two sons.  Jeff is on his left with wife Michelle.  Charles is holding Abby, the twincesses Emma and Araya are in front of me and Michelle while Zeke is standing in front of Gramps.  Jeff has an older boy in high school but Trenton lives in Kentucky with his mom.  I have met him though when he visited last summer.

Abby and I--Charlie's two best girls,  I'm told

Right after Thanksgiving my sister Diane and brother-in-law Rick headed down to Gulf Shores from Illinois.  They had rented a condo at Crystal Shores right on beach till the following Saturday and invited Charlie and I to come down while they were there.  However, we left on Sunday November 27th to go visit his sister and brother-in-law near Destin, FL.  She was the only sibling I had not yet met and Gulf Shores was about a two hour drive to the west of there.  It seemed like a good opportunity to visit with them.  Danny and Ellen both work at the Sandestin Resort and took us over there after supper to look at the lights and stroll around the lagoon and park like area.  This oversized chair, below, reminded me of the old "Edith Ann" skit by Lily Tomlin on Laugh-In.  Ellen is such a stitch and I think I laughed until my sides ached!  Their neighbor had come by and he was kind of egging her on.  I was warned that the situation would be similar if Ellen and Gary their brother who is closest to her in age get together.

We got to Gulf Shores Monday afternoon and started the return trip on Thursday December 1st that week. We strolled along the beach trying to avoid the jelly fish--ugh there! I love the water though it was a bit cool and windy.  There were storms coming in so one day we did have some rain.  Charlie and I went souvenir shopping and out to lunch that day so we avoided most of it.  The four of us did a nature walk at the state park one day as well.  Fun times!  Diane and I worked on the wedding invitation/announcement thing we planned to send out and talked about some of the wedding details.  She is going to be my matron of honor, after all.  Diane took this picture after we left, LOL.

We have had the grandkids take turns staying overnight with us though Abby has been here a bit more than the others because she is not in school yet.  She and Gramps are tight though since she was born after he had retired and his wife and mother-in-law had passed away.  We've also been on grandparent detail as Michelle had Christmas shopping to do.   Brian and his family live just down the road from me about a mile or so.  Charlie had been living with his son Jeff and his family about 33 miles from here in a small apartment in their home.  We are usually back and forth from there once or twice a week, sometimes more, especially now that we are gradually moving his things to the house.

I had two Christmas parties on the same day for my two Tuesday quilt groups but missed the JOY meeting due to the return trip from Gulf Shores.  I've gone to see Trolls, Dr. Strange and Rogue One which is more movies in the theaters than I have done for years.  Because the whole family is into the Star Wars series,  I have now seen 3.5, 4, 7 and parts of others on the marathon on TNT that proceeded the release of Rogue One, LOL.  Not too worry about the ones I've missed as the DVD's are on hand along with lots of "Dr. Who".

As expected I have barely even stepped into my sewing room.  That's okay though.  I will--when things settle down a bit around here.  He is encouraging me to do so as he knows it is something that I enjoy.  Smart man!

He's nursed me through family emergencies, tooth issues and a long run of bronchitis.  Recently I've returned the favor---bout of flu and a miserable toothache and subsequent extraction.  Later this week I'll have to suck it up and drive the van back from Birmingham and the VA hospital and the eye doctor appointment.  I hate driving in Birmingham and on I-20 but I'll do it for him.

We finally got the brush burnt off from the 4 holly bushes we are attempting to remove at the end of the lane. Apparently there is still some drought situation on-going but there had been enough rainfall to allow the State of Alabama finally lift the burning ban. (I've heard 17 inches behind on rainfall totals.)  That burning off two large brush piles was an almost an all-day deal especially since we raked up another 4 or 5 wheel barrels full of leaves, brush and twigs on top of that and I dragged in a bunch of dried up stuff from the kudzu bank too.  I know I sort of smelled like a smoked ham by the time I hit the shower--salty and smoky.   We need some parts for the chain saw but are hopeful that the alligator lopper can deal with at least some of the stubby bits of the bushes that remain.  We'll get back to those later.

Right now we are dealing with some plumbing issues in the master bathroom.  I knew that the stool was leaning to the right and the flooring was suspect. Until recently this bathroom was seldom used and in fact, often had the water shut off in there to prevent the stool from self-flushing.  A couple days ago, before the bathroom flooded, we had talked about the need to get this fixed down the line. He also wanted to replace or upgrade the bathroom lighting---well, he is a master electrician and qualified to do so!  Go for it, I said.  It will be addressed but on the back burner for now.   Water was leaking from somewhere--the sink had water dripping a bit near the P-trap but the main deal was cracked tank on toilet.  The master bath had a curved counter that extended over to the stool with a large mirror above.  With a gap of only about 3 inches above the toilet tank, there was no possible way to pull the stool up without dismantling the vanity, counter top, mirror etc.  We have made a couple of scouting expeditions to Lowe's to decide on what we might want for replacement and to pick up needed supplies.  He cut out about a 2 foot x  2 foot section around the stool and rebuilt the flooring---plywood with particle board is not a good choice as pretty much disintegrated.  As he was removing the rest of the flooring (two courses of vinyl flooring) this morning, we found that more of the crappy floor will need to come out but not as much as we feared.

Add in the wedding details--two months away, after all. We both had written down our list of friends and relations but I needed to track down the addresses.  My Wedding Planning for Dummies said the invitations needed to go out about 8 weeks before the wedding.  They hit the mail box on Saturday!  I am thrilled to know that both my sisters are coming to the wedding along with my niece Randi.  Janet said that Randi will either take pictures or video of the wedding as their wedding gift so we will have a keepsake and family members that cannot come can see it.  The best thing is that Diane has arranged for Mom and Dad to fly with her so they will be here too! Dad will give me away--he officiated at my sisters' wedding and if I remember correctly, my brothers walked them down the aisle. I know that Steve and Jan are planning on coming down from Tennessee--they RSVP'd almost as soon as I said I was getting married, LOL.   I think another of my brothers and his wife are coming too based on something Diane emailed me.   I've gone to expecting just my matron of honor to come to a good many of my family members joining us.   Charlie said just because I didn't have my family here the first time or didn't have an engagement ring, etc doesn't mean I can't have those things THIS time.

Charlie and I will meet with the pastor in early January to discuss the ceremony and get some questions answered about the fellowship hall usage.  His daughter-in-law and I have had some discussion about the cake and food for the reception but will have to put our heads together a bit more. Melissa said maybe like this one below but incorporating teal and silver/gray (color of my dress and his suit)  and possibly a traditional topper.  I assume a rehearsal/rehearsal dinner deal will be needed too especially with family members coming in from out of state.  Trying to keep this low-key!  I didn't have to do any of this stuff first time around so what do I know about flowers, etc?

Christmas Day was low key for us.  I told Charlie that he was to take the day off from doing anything in the bathroom though!  Michelle and the grandkids left on the 17th for Kansas as they await the birth of her first blood niece or nephew any day now.  The kids opened their gifts after school let out for break the day before.  We had invited Jeff to come join us for dinner but he was not feeling well and bowed out.  I had prepared what I could on Saturday tracking down a pecan topped sweet potato casserole that Charlie likes.  We expect Jeff this evening after work so I'll pack some of those leftovers for him.  I mentioned making ham balls or ham salad of some of the leftover ham but he says he doesn't care for either of those choices.  I guess maybe I'll explore some other options!  I'm not used to dealing with picky eaters but I'll learn.

It has gotten so warm this past week that I was able to drag the plants back outside again--low 70's and back to wearing shorts again.  Seems so odd after about 5 nights of dripping water from the faucets and opening the cabinet doors to the exterior water source wall.  Meanwhile, the Midwest seems to be going through ice and snow issues.

Guess that is about all I can think of to pass on at this point other than to wish you all the very best in 2017.  You never know what unexpected things may come your way when you least expect it!  I am living and loving my 2016 surprise, after all.

I said "YES!"

So, this happened this past Saturday-------

and because my friend Pam said "Ummm...a picture of that ring on your finger, please!"

If you are Facebook friend, you have already seen the pictures but this IS my blog and news this big needs reporting, don't you think?

Now the rest of the story----
A friend asked me if this was a surprise.  I had asked for some time to be sure we were doing this for all the right reasons when I first learned he wanted to take this all to the next level.  Actually I asked him a leading question when we were talking.  Because of an earlier promise to me, he had to answer honestly.  However, it was not at all how he had planned to bring up the subject.  I felt bad about that but told him he could still do it right-- ask me at some special place in a special way, drop to one knee, whatever when we both were ready.  So no, not entirely surprised.

He had asked if we could get sized for rings a couple weeks ago. While we were there, what styles did I like?  "Simple" since I am a no frills kind of girl and I prefer gold to silver.  I didn't need an engagement ring and he said "why not?"  Just because DJ didn't get me one didn't mean I didn't deserve one.  I pointed out a couple I liked but the rest was up to him.  The last I heard, it would be a couple weeks before it was ready. Turns out they called to say it was ready on Friday.  I had tried it on that evening just to see if it fit properly but handed it back to him.  A real proposal please.

We were all dressed up because unfortunately one of the members of our little Bama game watching group had lost her daughter to a long illness just days before and we had a visitation to attend.  After a quick lunch and an errand for a missing meal ingredient, he asked if I had anything planned for us that afternoon.  Bama had an open date so other than getting said ingredient back home and fixing us supper, no plans.  Off we went down the road but I had no clue where---just 21 South heading towards Talladega.  Ahhh, we were going up to Cheeha State Park but the back way.  I'd always taken the route up from the Heflin end.  Cheeha Mountain is the highest point in all of Alabama at 2407 feet above sea level.  Gorgeous views up there from Bald Rock and near the hotel and restaurant up there.  I had wanted to go out on the boardwalk sometime this fall!

We stopped at the CCC tower and walked through the museum area and then he asked if I wanted to walk up to the top of the tower.  I am a bit afraid of heights so "no" and I was in my dressy shoes so not good walking shoes.  He dropped to one knee and did it right!!  But no ring---he had left it at my house,  LOL.    No cameras either.

We had gotten a text from his son about a family matter and planned to go out to see them anyway. Abby his 3 yr old granddaughter had her mama call him as were heading down the mountain so that clinched it.  We would ask Michelle to take some pictures while we still were dressed up and just stage the ring deal borrowing the ring box from son Jeff.  (It had his master mechanic signet ring in it so Michelle said to turn the box so it would not show up in the picture!)  He DID ask me---again--or I would not be smiling so well.

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I'm getting married!  Who would have thought this was even possible say, in late July when I was so miserable and questioning my place in this world?  Little stories of how this came to be are coming out.  How Paul was sort of nudging us.  How my flirting with him one Saturday afternoon was missed but he was still looking at me with some realization that it might be worth pursuing.......what do you know!?

I have also been asked "where?"  I live in Alabama and will continue to do so, obviously, since I am marrying a Bama boy!  The answer is:   Charlie's church home near here.  We mentioned it briefly to the pastor at services last Sunday but will meet with him after we go up to Illinois so I can introduce him to my family.  I may be cheating them out of another wedding ceremony, just like with DJ, but they have to have at least met Charlie first!!  He wondered if I wanted to get married up there to begin with or do two ceremonies?   I am leaning to renewing our vows up there late spring or early summer so my family can be there and have my dad do the honors if possible.  We will talk about it when we go visit.

The when?  If the church calendar permits, the date will be February 25th. I thought Valentine's Day maybe but that's a Tuesday.  When looking at the calendar for the Saturday dates, I told him my parent's anniversary is the 25th and it has brought them many good years together.  Let's go for it!  I've asked my sister Diane to be my matron of honor.  Our friend Paul will be the best man.  I want Abby to be the flower girl, the twincesses, his almost 7 year old granddaughters, to be bridesmaids and his going on 9 year old grandson to be a groomsman.   He needs another guy up there with him.  I think maybe his older grandson might be a good choice if he can travel down from Kentucky but that is up to him.  Other than that---the suit is ordered, so is my dress.  Beyond that, I am clueless about invitations, announcements, decorations, flowers and all that.  His oldest son's wife Melissa does cakes and told us she and Brian will do that as their gift to us or help in anyway possible.  I so appreciate that!

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After three drive-bys, I finally met his long time friend Bruce on Monday though his wife Cathy was at work.  We have a luncheon date with his brother and his wife on Sunday after church but Charlie thinks more family members will be joining us.  We'll see!  He will have to deal with the mob scene with my group soon enough--only fair, right?

Going to be a busy weekend!  Abby spent the day/overnight with us last night and Zeke is coming tonight after school.  Saturday is the twins birthday with cake, ice cream and a trip to see "Trolls" with the family followed up by Bama-LSU game.  It has already been a busy week since I last posted.  I had the fidget quilt sewing a week ago---still in pieces but what a fun day!  Brenda made three of them and shared at quilt guild yesterday.  Both Carol and Judy's were done.  I did get some sewing done at the Tuesday evening group, more of the framing strips on the one I started at retreat but only got about half through the stack of blocks.  Other than that, the only thing getting done in the sewing room was ironing some pillow cases.  I can't stand those looking like a wrinkled up mess from the dryer.  I still have stuff to put away from the fidget class, for Pete's sake.

Guess that's it for this post.  I've been awake since 3 so at least some of those hours were spent in a useful way!  THX for stopping by------

Meeting day

Yesterday was my quilt meeting(s) day with Belles leading off.  I've got the Halloween quilts up right now so could not hang my recent completions up on the design wall to get pictures.  The meeting spot would work just fine!

You have seen this one--the guild Charming Boxes quilt. The guild members did about 20 some blocks at the spring retreat.  I completed the top, Wendell quilted it and Margarita completed the binding for me with a promise to help with our donation quilts IF I ever get them quilted!!!

This is the Prairie Sticks I completed earlier this summer.  Jennifer quilted it for me along with the No Bake Jolly Bar from the same fabric line.  I plan on sending this one on to one of my great-grand nieces once it is shown at the next guild meeting.  I would have done so LAST month but I had just had that tooth extraction and couldn't drive, etc.

And finally my version of the Good Karma challenge quilt for the recent fall retreat.  The pattern is a take off of Stacey Day's Rubix which came in a mailer from AQS.  She used a controlled palette and I do like that better BUT I had to use each piece of fabric in the charm pack along with some of the aqua stitch yardage.  Those of you who know me will also know how much I tweak patterns.  I did not want to have 4 little squares of the same fabric meeting.  I changed the piecing methods to be framed squares with sashing around them.  Looks the same, sorta, in the end but did NOT go together as Ms. Day's did.  I call mine "Rubix Redux"

I had to laugh at the retreat though as my friend Linda N. came up to me to say how much she loved the gray background I chose. No one else had used it for the challenge but she had used gray in one of her own quilts recently.  I told her that was as much to contrast with the white pieces in the pack but I do happen to like gray.  I mentioned that my mom would probably hate that part as we lived in parsonages that had gray wall paper.  Linda, a pastor's wife (now widowed like me and maybe even a PK too), that I had just hit on the reason she didn't care for white backgrounds.   Everything white at her parsonages!  LOL

Margarita was my tablemate at the retreat and this Twisted Sister was the 2nd of her two projects.  I got her started with one block, and understanding that partial seaming was no big thing, and she was off and running with most all the blocks done by end of retreat.  Last Tuesday they arranged the blocks at the evening group and the top completed in the interim week.  This will be a birthday gift for a family member.  She just wanted to be sure that she had enough backing before passing this on to Jennifer at our guild meeting.

Brenda also had a "show and tell" piece.  I believe she said that this had been a block of the month project from the defunct Heart to Heart Quilt Shop in Trussville (AL).  The binding is in progress.

Lois had brought 5 quilts to pin and I think she said she had 5 more at home!  Bev had a cute baby top to pin as well so she got first dibs at the table.  We had plenty of hands on deck for pinning though with Marilyn, Jane and her guest Valerie who wanted to learn how we did this.  Margarita was getting caught up with her Ashville House Block of the Month stuff with just a little guidance from me.  I love how confident she is becoming at reading patterns and cutting!  Brenda came along a bit later to help.  I probably only got a few stitches in my ancient embroidery project but I don't care.  Some days friendship, fellowship, going where needed and just visiting is the order of the day.

We were having a potluck lunch and she needed to borrow the church's oven to make her yummy contribution.   I don't know if this has a name but you de-crust and flatten white bread with a rolling pin, spread it with softened cream cheese, roll it up, dip it in melted butter and then roll in cinnamon sugar and then bake.  She said she had done this with her grandkids on Sunday and it was a big hit!  Well, it was a big hit with the quilters too!  We also had some yummy butternut squash soup that Lois had made and I've got to get that recipe.  Bev found one that might be similar on her i-pad so just need to ask for the link.  Ham or turkey and cheese sandwiches, blueberry salad as well as mac and cheese rounded out the meal along with some good Bojangles tea.

I had to leave a bit earlier than I would have liked after lunch to meet the bookmobile but also to rest up between meetings.  Donna is working with a couple of the girls on a sampler quilt to teach them various techniques.  Recently we had found a block on Quilter's Cache called Sarah's Choice that had a pinwheel at center and then flying geese for the star points.  She didn't necessarily want to follow the printed directions but then there all kinds of ways to do flying geese. As it turns out, Donna's preferred method is the No Waste 4 at once version but I still ran home to get my Eleanor Burns book and rulers for the girls to use, just in case.  They were going to do them slightly over-sized and trimmed down.

Another of the girls was prepping her stuff for the Fidget Quilt class we are doing to do at Guild on Friday afternoon.  I still need to get in the sewing room and pull some stuff for this like buttons, zippers, rickrack, ribbon, beads and the like sometime between now and then.  My friend Bev and fellow Belle is going to teach us how to do this for Alzheimer's patients.  This one was one she did for an autistic young boy but you get the idea.  I should have kept some of those jeans jumpers for the fabric or see what I can scrounge up at the thrift store for corduroy/textural fabric.

I tried to leave last night once but Aline's husband had just arrived with a couple pizzas for us.  LOL I felt like I had been eating all day after that potluck but it is hard to say "no" to pepperoni.  All and all, a good quilty kind of day--and I love it!

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Charlie and I spent a good bit of the extended weekend together.  Turns out repairs to his van were going to be more than it listed on Blue Book.  The 2017's are coming in though so there were some deals to be made. He wanted me to go look nd weigh in on Thursday and had brought his 3 year old granddaughter along with him.  Abby saw Gramps about to leave and he couldn't leave her home.  She loved Skyler but Oscar not so much even though she has a large dog and even 3 puppies at her house.  I kept Abby entertained (and vice versa) though she wore me out chasing her around one of the cars at the dealership.  They had a truck bed loaded with candy and cookies right by the salesman's desk so some of that might have been sugar overload.  I heard she crashed and burned once she got home!

Friday I drove off to his place as we were off to Bennett Farms Pumpkin Patch for the twin granddaughter's (almost 7) school field trip.  Michelle was going to go with us but had not gotten much sleep as Abby kept her awake a good bit of the night.  We needed to run by the credit union, the insurance place and the dealership plus he had plans to visit with our friend Paul.  I had meal prep to do anyway as I was making Shrimp Pad Thai for our evening meal.

Saturday we went for a drive and thought the kids might want to go as well.  Zeke his 8 (almost 9) yr old grandson had an overnight guest so we didn't.  The kids were all about to watch "Turbo" in 3D.   I had one twin on one leg and one twin on the other as the movie started.  Emma apparently got all settled in as she asked her mama why I had to leave just because Gramps was ready to go.  Michelle said she's his girlfriend and he likes her and started making "kissy faces".  I said "no, He LOVES me"  in a sing-song voice like people do.  Emma looked at me and said "you like him too" We had planned to watch the Bama-Texas A & M game back at my place anyway rather than interrupt their TV viewing.  He even did some of the "honey do" jobs around here and I was free to putter in the kitchen a bit.

Sunday found us trooping through Walmart for groceries etc like an old married couple or something and going for a drive.  Some roads I have been on, some I have not.  He had hoped to introduce me to some long time friends of his but they were not home.  I think he is still missing some phone numbers after his phone accidentally got burnt up while clearing brush this summer.  I guess I meet his brother and sister-in-law a week from Sunday at a local restaurant.  That's set up.

I am truly enjoying our time together.  He does taekwondo with the kids after school during the week so I tend to see him more come the weekend but we keep in touch. Couplehood--gotta love it!  I am oh, so happy, thanks to him in my life.

Okay, I got up with plans to clean the bathroom and maybe mop the kitchen floor today but of course, none of that has happened yet.  I did get a load of wash done but it needs switched over.  I'm dressed, Oscar was walked.  Best get crackin' here as I expect to see my honey this evening!