A Moment of Silence, Please

Really, it's not safe to leave me unattended. I always seem to get into trouble. It's been a little crazy today.

First I'll tell you the good part. Then the bad part. Then I'll tell you another good part so you'll feel happy when you're done.

Today was another cleaning day--today it was the master bedroom. Between cleaning stuff, I took breaks in the Sweat Shop and made this little quilt top to coordinate with the other one--you can see them both on the wall; the new one is the one to the left. I had most of those half square triangles left from making the baskets plus the scraps I needed to make a few more, so it was pretty simple. I suspect I'll use the larger one on the kitchen table and the smaller one on the drawers in the kitchen.

See? When it comes to quilting, I'm pretty safe. Cleaning, though, is another story. I think I wasn't meant to clean.

Let me back track a second and explain the cleaning thing. Remember I'm supposed to have surgery on my right wrist/hand? Well, that's scheduled for June 22nd. The Wild Child is moving back home in mid-August to go back to college. I'm not sure how long it will take me to recover from surgery, so I want to get the house super-clean and organized NOW so it will be easier when the Wild Child moves back. Really, that's one of the main reasons behind the crazy cleaning lately.

So today it was the master bedroom, and that included weeding out all the clothes I no longer wear, storing the winter clothes, etc. I also have a large bookshelf of books I haven't read--some of them have been on the shelf for years and years, and I thought it was about time to get rid of the books I'm NEVER going to read. Then, of course, all the book dusting and shelf cleaning, etc. So you can imagine between those two chores and the rest of the cleaning, it took me most of the day and part of the night.

As I was getting near the end of the job--and it was getting rather late at night--I was finally down to the vacuuming. And here's a kind of funny thing. I needed to empty the vacuum "tank" before I started so I took it out to the garbage can which was down at the curb for pick up tomorrow. After I emptied it and turned back to the house, I saw Hubby standing there watching me. When I told him cleaning house wasn't a spectator sport, he said he'd had a sense of catastrophy and thought he'd better see what I was doing. Huh.

Anyway, I hauled the vacuum cleaner to the bedroom and started it up. I was really getting into the job, moving furniture and using all the cleaning attachments, but just as I was reaching the vacuum wand to clean behind a desk, the sound of the motor changed. I turned it off and switched the control over from "cleaning tools" to carpet and turned it back on. It still sounded odd. Then it started to smell bad and white puffy stuff came out from under the vacuum cleaner. Yikes! Of course I turned it off again and hauled it out to the garage for Hubby to look at.

Well, unbeknownst to me, I guess while I was using the vacuum wand, the main part of the vacuum cleaner rolled forward and sucked up a Roo. (These are little purple kangaroos that were given away free with the hairspray I use, and Stitch LOVES to play with them--he has a few.) Poor Roo. Don't look at the carnage if you're sensitive. Can we have a moment of silence for Roo, please?

While Hubby was removing what was left of Roo and hunting down a new vacuum belt, I continued to clean. What happened next was one of those crazy things you never expect to happen. I thought the light bulb in Hubby's bedside lamp needed a quick swipe with the sponge to get the dust off. POP! The bulb exploded and flames shot up. Luckily, though, the flames died when the lamp shorted out. Seriously, the hardest part was trying to convince Hubby it was HIS FAULT since he was the one with the premonition, and he was the one who did nothing to keep me safe. Huh.

Now I'm in serious need of a good soak in the (sparkling clean!) bathtub, but before I go do that, I wanted to start another little giveaway. Again, two Schnibbles patterns that are contained in Carrie Nelson's new Schnibbles book: Hot Cross and Nice Day.

Same rules as last time:

You are eligible to enter the drawing if (1) you are new to Schnibbles; (2) you don't have and don't so far plan to get the new Schnibbles book; and (3) you're able to make up your mind between the two patterns shown above--because when you comment, you have to tell me which drawing you want to be entered in and you can only enter one. A couple other details? Only one entry per person please. I'll draw the winners on Wednesday night and post the names on Thursday's blog post--and you must come back to visit to claim your prize. If either pattern is unclaimed within a week, it will go into another drawing.

Good luck!

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Comments closed--winners to be announced shortly.