Bits and Pieces

I thought today I'd just talk about the bits and pieces of things going on in my little world here in Sacramento, so grab yourself a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, and let's chat.

I'm getting kinda tired of quilting my monster quilt. Okay, a lot tired! I still have quite a way to go though. Of course, I have gotten quite a bit done too, so at least I'm seeing progress. Maybe I'll get a photo of my progress in the next few days so I can show you how it's coming along.

I've got my next applique block designed for the Americana quilt. I need to draw up a clean copy and once I do, I'll get a photo of that to show you too. This one has an apple theme. Remember I mentioned I was thinking about apples and apple pie? What could be more American?! LOL!

7/7/07 wasn't such a great day for me in some ways. If you haven't been reading my blog for very long, I'll give you a quick recap. If you have, just skip ahead. Back in March, a couple weeks after I started this blog, my parents were in an auto versus tree single-car accident when my dad became confused and couldn't move his foot from the gas onto the brake pedal. My mom had the worst injuries with broken ribs and other problems, but my dad developed a bleed in his brain and passed away about a month later.

Since my dad's death, my brother and I have been helping my mom out with all the necessary arrangements and financial matters, and as of Mother's Day, my mom told us she wanted to stay in their mobile home for a year before making any decisions. About two weeks later, she sold it and nearly all its contents without talking to me or my brother. We're still not sure exactly what made her change her mind, but she's moving at the end of the month down to Salinas to live with her childhood best friend who is also a widow. I'm pretty sure they're going to drive each other nuts, and then what will my mom do? She really has no plan beyond this and all she has besides her monthly Social Security check is the money from the sale of her home.

Personally, I'm sure my mom's getting ripped off on this deal. She won't say exactly how much she's getting for all her furnishings and we're trying not to push, but it's apparently something in the range of $1,000 to $4,000. Yesterday, my husband and I went up to Oroville to get a few of the things she didn't sell in the deal. It practically broke my heart to look around at all the furniture and wonderful things she's had all my life and know that they belong to someone else at a fraction of their worth. It's hard to put a realistic price on everything, but I have to guess it would be somewhere around $50,000 because she has some very nice quality furnishings as well as some vintage pieces of this and that that would be in high demand on eBay or anywhere else.

As if that weren't upsetting enough, while we were there loading these few things that my mom did keep for me into my husband's van, a neighbor from across the street came hurrying over to make sure my mom wasn't letting us take anything that was part of the sale--turns out his brother is the one buying the mobile home. That was a needlessly unpleasant experience at a difficult time!

There are things that have been sold that my brother and I would like to have had passed down to us given the opportunity, but it's too late now. My mom did keep a few things out of the sale for us that she knew we wanted, and we have our choice of other items that the new owners didn't want. As my husband and I keep reminding ourselves, the mobile home and all my mom's possessions are hers to do whatever she wants with--I just wish she had gotten some impartial advice and/or at least talked it over with my brother and me before making such a big decision.

In any event, I was able to get two of my mom's paintings. That, in itself, is a whole other long story, but I'll sum it up by saying that for some reason, my mom seems perfectly happy to give her paintings to everyone but me, so ending up with two of them was quite a feat. And I am, by the way, grateful and pleased with the things I was able to bring home with me yesterday, so the day wasn't too bad, all things considered.

The painting that's been my favorite since my mom painted it in my teens is one of the two I brought home with me, and it's now hanging in my livingroom. Here's a photo--sorry about the bit of glare:

The other one she pulled out of the closet as an afterthought. It looks great in my daughter's former room, although I need to have it reframed. Here's a photo of that one:

My mom's artistic period was short-lived; just about all of her pieces were painted in a span of about ten years during my pre-teen and teenage years. She claims that my dad didn't want her to paint anymore; I think, though, that she just got caught up in her alcoholism and lost interest. For Mother's Day, I bought her some art supplies so she can get back into sketching but I'm not sure she ever will.

Besides the two paintings, I brought home a little sewing cabinet that was my grandmother's. It's not very old as these things go--probably from the 1950s or early 1960s--but it was something I remember my grandmother keeping close by her chair in the living room for doing her mending, so it has sentimental value to me. If you push on the right side of the top "drawer," it spins out to reveal pegs to hold spools of thread.

I also brought home some of my grandmother's linens, and I got those washed and folded today. I know many people like to starch and iron their linens before putting them away, but I prefer to do that when I know I'm going to be using them. I understand that bugs are attracted to and will eat starch, so besides not wanting to stand around ironing for hours and hours, I figure it's best that they aren't starched ahead of time anyway. Any input on that? I'm curious about whether I'm the only one breaking tradition!

Two other pieces I brought home were a somewhat large, round end table and a tea cart. The round table fits perfectly between two chairs in my living room. The tea cart is wooden with colonial style spoked wheels, so I think it was probably made in the 1950s. Although it's solid wood, the top and folding sides were made from strips of wood rather than a solid piece, and those strips are cracking at the seams. I'd like to get that repaired one of these days. In the meantime, I gave all the wooden pieces a good washing with Murphy's Oil Soap and then I used a good wood food/wax on them, hoping to restore a little bit of the moisture to the wood.

Remember my post from a few days ago about that wonderful book by Susan Branch, The Summer Book? Last night I tried out the lemon linguini recipe and it was absolutely WONDERFUL! She has a basic recipe using linguini, lemon zest, lemon juice, parmesan, green onions, parsley, and olive oil. Then she gives several suggestions for additions to that recipe. I used one of her suggestions and added chopped tomato, slivered fresh basil, and toasted pine nuts. I swear it's to die for and well worth the price of the book for that recipe alone! I'm going to toss some of the leftovers with some cold grilled chicken breast and romaine for a nice dinner salad tomorrow night, I think.

Today, I've mostly worked on the monster quilt. For dinner, I made a pot of Mimi's corn chowder soup--yum! Now we have meals already made--or close to it--for another few nights.

Oh, and I wanted to mention in connection with yesterday's post about Uncle Charlie. A couple of you commented on my weird family. While I certainly DO have a weird family, Uncle Charlie wasn't one of them. Lisa is a very close friend--she and my sister-in-law might as well be the sisters I never had, although I'm not related to Lisa by blood--just by heart. I can just about always count on Lisa to either do or say something pretty entertaining when we get together. Sometimes I can share those things with you, and sometimes . . . well, maybe not! Although Lisa doesn't normally read my blog, she didn't seem to mind me telling you about Uncle Charlie when I mentioned the idea to her. I did tell her, though, that if she ever decides to run for President of the US, none of you would hold any of these stories against her or tell anyone else, right?!

I hope you've all had a wonderful weekend!

The Tale of Uncle Charlie

"Did I tell you about how we had to keep Uncle Charlie warm after he died?"

The four of us, Lisa and her husband and me and my husband, were sitting outside Starbucks one recent, warm Saturday evening after a dinner out. As we settled back into our seats, sipping our iced coffee drinks, Lisa told us the story of her uncle's death a few months before.

Uncle Charlie had been ill for years with one thing or another but always managed to fight off death. Now he was in the ICU, hooked up to monitors, IVs, and a breathing tube, and the end was near.

The family gathered--children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews. Only his grandson was missing when Uncle Charlie was disconnected from all of the medical miracles that had been keeping him alive. Long into the night the family sat vigil as Uncle Charlie's vital signs continued steady. Finally they decided to go home, get a few hours of rest, and return in the morning.

The next day, after a couple hours of sleep, one by one, the family returned to the hospital to gather again at Uncle Charlie's bedside. His grandson still had not arrived but was on his way when Uncle Charlie's breathing changed and his vital signs showed that the end was imminent. Lisa's cousin called her son--he was still about 20 minutes away. Uncle Charlie couldn't wait.

A nurse was called, and after checking Uncle Charlie and assuring herself that he had indeed passed away, she turned off the monitors and left the family to say their final goodbyes.

As the minutes passed, Lisa was struck by the thought that Uncle Charlie's grandson would arrive, kiss his grandfather for the last time, and find him cold and dead. Suddenly, she knew she couldn't let that happen. Wildly, Lisa looked around the room and spotted some cloth gloves lying on a table--she had a plan! She turned to the boy's mother and said, "We have to keep Uncle Charlie warm. If we put the gloves on and keep rubbing his face, the friction will keep his skin warm."

So rub they did. And rub, and rub, and rub. Picture, if you will, two crazed middle aged women, wearing gloves, furiously rubbing the face of a dead man. Got that in your mind? Because that's precisely what any of the ICU nurses would have seen had they been watching the closed circuit monitors. And were any of the nurses watching or had they turned those monitors off too? Well, we'll never know, but after several minutes of furiously rubbing Uncle Charlie, Lisa looked up and realized the monitors were there.

Uncle Charlie's grandson arrived a few minutes later and, as Lisa anticipated, walked up to his grandfather and kissed him on the cheek. "How long ago did he die?", the boy asked. "He still feels warm!"

Lisa's own father passed away several years ago. As she tells it, she's sure he was sitting up beside Uncle Charlie in Heaven (or whatever place is beyond death) watching the goings on. She can almost hear her dad exclaim, "What in the Hell are those two crazy girls doing NOW?!"

Lament of a Quilter

I just needed a spool of YLI thread for the monster quilt. A varigated green thread to be specific. If you're a quilter, I probably don't have to tell you just how that spool of thread ended up costing me something like $75 before I left the quilt shop, do I?

Maybe I was just feeling sorry for myself because of the heat. Maybe I was crazy-out-of-my-mind with the heat! Yeah, that's the ticket! I was suffering heat insanity! It should be reimburseable as a medical expense, don't you agree? At least a medical tax deduction!

Anyway, by the time my lunch hour was just about over, I ended up with a bag containing (1) my spool of thread, (2) a Fons & Porter magazine, (3) two charm packs, two yards of border fabric, and a yard and a half of another fabric from the line, (4) two different panels of a bunny kid-type/Easter-type print fabric, and (5) a panel of fabric from the Peas & Carrots line. It's kind of a mystery to me why I bought the bunny fabric and the Peas & Carrots fabric. Yes, it's cute but I don't have any little kiddles running around, needing quilts. That's why I'm thinking it was heat insanity.

The charm packs and lengths of fabric are understandable and completely in character though. I still need another large piece in the cream print I have on the top of one of the charm packs below--I'll look on line for that one. I'm not sure what specifically I'll make from these goodies, but I'm sure I'll make something. Someday.

The fabric is from "A Very Berry Christmas" by Sentimental Studios for Moda. I think I was yearning for Christmas and cooler temps. The power of positive thinking.

As I came in the door tonight, my husband asked me what I bought. "I needed a spool of thread," I told him. I think he knows better than to ask why I was carrying such a large bag!

Firecracker Hot!

Can I just whine for a minute? If you live out here in the western US, you know it's just a tad warmish, right? And if you don't, you may have seen news about the heat. Yep, it's warm. 107 degrees farenheit today in Sacramento. We like to say "but it's a dry heat," like that makes a whole lot of difference, but then maybe if the whole mind-over-matter theory is correct, perhaps it does. Maybe I just need to THINK cool to BE cool. Nope, not working.

Our low tonight is supposed to be 67 degrees. That's barely worth the trouble of turning off the air conditioner and opening the windows. Besides, it won't drop to 67 until about 4 a.m., so I guess we'll sleep with the air conditioning on tonight. On a much more positive note, it's supposed to drop down all the way to 102 degrees tomorrow--something to look forward to!

There's something wrong with our air conditioning at work too, but they don't seem real anxious to do anything about it. It's working, sort of, but not very well. If I had to guess, I'd say it's probably around 80 or so degrees in there, and for the last week or two, I've felt like I'm living in a constant state of dampness. I'm sure one of these days, I'll find I'm growing moss or mold somewhere on my body. I'm kind of afraid to look too closely though. Of course, denial is much simpler when you reach the age of 40-something and the eyesight begins to go.

I also just wanted to mention that we had a nice, quiet 4th of July here yesterday. My sister-in-law Kathy came over for part of the day and had dinner with us. I thought I was going to spend the day quilting on my monster quilt, but as it turned out, I was only able to get a few hours in. It seemed like I spent a whole lot of time in the kitchen cooking this and that instead.

There was one really cool thing I made that I wanted to share with you--too bad the photo didn't come out quite as well as I was hoping but I think you can see it somewhat:

Do you have a Trader Joe's near you anywhere? If so and if you like salsa, pick up one of these salsa kits. It's packed with a couple cloves of garlic, a shallot, a jalapeno pepper, a lime, and three Roma tomatoes. You can whip of a batch of fresh salsa in no time without buying a bunch of extra "stuff" that will sit in the refrigerator and rot. (Or is it just me that does that?) Here's what it looked like when I got done, and as it sat a bit, it got much juicier.

This is obviously a better photo. My husband was kind of bugging me when I took the first one--he's really never read my blog and doesn't understand why I need to take photos of things. Just wait until I post a photo of him snoring or something! He'll never know and we can just giggle and poke fun among ourselves!

Tonight I'm fixing the two of us salads made with some leftover steak and a spicy orange broccoli salad from yesterday. I'll toss in some cold corkscrew pasta and some kind of lettuce. I also have a few slices of crusty French bread and brie. Oh, and I already put out the leftover salsa, so I suspect that's gone by now.

I guess I'd better go fix that salad before my husband gets his knickers in a twist. Like I said, he just doesn't really understand this blog thing, especially when his stomach's growling.

A Word of Warning on the 4th of July!

No matter how patriotic you're feeling or how much you've had to drink at the 4th of July barbecue today, DON'T stick glow in the dark adhesive stars on your nipples. Taking them off hurts. A lot.

Have a safe and sane--or safe insane?--holiday!

Cell Phones

With the release of the new iPhone this week and all the news it's generated, I'm reminded again of how I don't like cell phones very much. Don't get me wrong--from what I've seen, the iPhone looks pretty cool, and if someone wants to gift me with one and pay the monthly fees, I sure won't say no! But I don't think cell phones and driving are a real good multi-tasking combination.

I work in an office. With phones. I talk on phones. A lot. I know there have been many, many times when I've tried to get the attention of someone else who was talking on the phone, and I swear to God I could rip my blouse off and that person wouldn't notice. Kind of makes you wonder about someone who's talking on the phone and driving, doesn't it? Well, it definitely makes me wonder.

I'm not exactly a patient driver. Nearly always I get in a car for the sole purpose of getting from point A to point B in as quick a time as is (mostly) legally possible. And, usually, that's either to work--when I'm invariably running late--or home from work--when I'm invariably running late and/or extremely anxious to leave the insanity of the office behind and settle into my nest of fabrics and quilting. Nothing is guaranteed to drive me nuts quicker than dumb drivers, and I'd be willing to bet that talking on a cell phone drops the average driver's IQ at least 50 points!

I used to have a cell phone. About once every week or two, I'd use it to call my husband as I was leaving work and ask him to put the frozen lasagna in the oven or call Round Table Pizza and order dinner. Then my daughter got her driver's license and a car, and I thought she needed it more than I did--for my own peace of mind, of course. The other thing is that I really (REALLY!) don't like talking on the phone, and if my husband isn't home to answer it, usually I'll just let the answering machine pick up. Yep, if you ever want to reach me, you're better off sending me an e-mail.

Driving home from work tonight, though, it occurred to me that there's a very positive side to talking on the phone while driving. Now if I want to sing along with the radio at the top of my lungs or talk to myself like a crazy woman, all I need to do is wrap something around my ear, and anyone seeing me will just assume I'm talking on the phone. I think maybe an old Hot Wheels car might be about the right size, attached to a rubber band. So, if you're ever driving through Sacramento and see a woman in a green Maxima, look closely--if she's got a toy Corvette stuck on her ear, that will be me!

New Book!

Okay, it's new to me, but it's been out for quite awhile. Like 12 years?! Remember my burger-challenged buddy from yesterday's post? Who knew that she had such good taste in cookbooks? (And, of course, the illustrations and little stories are wonderful too!) Well, actually I have no idea if she has this book or any of Susan Branch's other cookbooks, but she does have a link to Branch's website on her blog, so I clicked over there one day and was checking things out.

Susan Branch isn't totally unknown to me. In fact, the owner of our local quilt shop often reads little pieces of Branch's Girlfriends Forever book at our Jo's Little Women Club meetings. But I hadn't taken the time to really look at her books until now, and I decided I NEEDED this one since it's summer. (Oh, yeah, and there were three others that I NEEDED just as much, for various other reasons, but they haven't arrived yet.)

So, anyway, The Summer Book arrived in my mailbox on Saturday, and I read through it Saturday night. I had already been to the grocery store on Saturday, but after looking at the book, I had to go shopping again. Today--Monday--I went to Trader Joe's and then back to the grocery store. I think with one more stop at a health food store, I'll have everything I need to whip up quite a few of the recipes I've picked out to try first. (Sure would have been simpler if I had gotten the book several months ago and actually PLANTED a lot of what I needed, but nope, that didn't happen.)

Now, what I want to know from my Blogland friends out there: Do you have this book? If so, what recipes do you love? What recipes didn't work out so well for you? Do you have any of Susan Branch's other books that you wouldn't want to live without? Please leave me a comment or e-mail me (you can click on the e-mail link from my profile). I'd love to get your input!

P.S.: If you click the link under my current reads box over there on the right, it will take you to Amazon where you can look at a few of the pages of the book--just in case I'm not the only one who hasn't looked at it before!

Blogger-vention

I have a burger-challenged Blogland buddy. The other day, I was reading blogs and came across hers where she talked about barbecuing frozen hamburger patties, for goodness sake! Knowing her a bit, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that she had gotten caught up in a sale at Nordstrom's with no time to make "real" burgers, but even so, making a good burger shouldn't take very long.

Well, since then I've been thinking a bit about burgers, and with the nice barbecue weather we're enjoying here in California, I thought today was a perfect day to barbecue and pass on to all of you (and my burger-challenged friend) my recipe--these burgers are simple but really excellent!

Here's what you'll need:



1 pound ground beef
2 tablespoons finely diced jalapeno
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons diced onion
1/2 package taco seasoning mix
salt and pepper to taste (not shown)

I'm not sure what it is, but the diced jalapeno gives the burgers flavor but doesn't seem to make them too hot and spicy. You can buy the jalapenos diced in the small cans, but I got tired of wasting most of the can, so I bought a jar of sliced nacho jalapenos, and I just dice them up as needed.

Using your hands, mix the ingredients together in a bowl.

Divide the mix into four balls and pat into patties.

You can add whatever you like to top these burgers: cheese, bacon, avocado or guacamole, lettuce, tomato, and onion are a few suggestions. We kept them simple tonight with cheese, lettuce, and tomato. Summer time is great for fresh fruit, so I mixed up peaches, raspberries, blackberries, and pitted cherries. Corn on the cob was a natural choice as well. Yum!

So, no more frozen hamburger patties, right? Yeah, you know who you are! Next time, I'm sending the burger police! LOL!

Casa de Kim

Just had to tell you all the excellent news! My husband went out this morning and got his hair cut! Short. No mullet. No divorce. Well, let me qualify that. No divorce unless he continues to have issues about me collecting dishes!

Yesterday was my husband's birthday, and he had a wonderful day. Me? Not quite so wonderful, but it ended up just fine. I woke up in the middle of the night on Thursday not feeling well and called in sick to work yesterday. After sleeping most of the day and doing a little bit of quilting, we went to Terry and Lisa's house for a barbecue to celebrate my husband's birthday. Kath (my sister-in-law) was there as was my son, his girlfriend, and his best buddy Johnnie.

I know that some of you are facing the prospect of an empty nest with dread--teenagers growing up, going away to college, leaving home for good. Well, I have to say that I think having mostly grown up children is a lot more fun than when they were still in the throws of the growing up part. No longer are you responsible for every little thing they do, although you'll always worry about them, of course. At this point, it's a little like watching a seed you planted grow into a whole, productive, mature plant. In other words, it's a lot of fun--at least that's my experience so far with my son, who is now 26 years old.

The BBQ was something of a potluck. Lisa provided the steaks, pasta salad, garlic bread, and munchies. Kath brought a green salad. We picked up a couple pies from Marie Callender's (yum!). My son's girlfriend brought a Mexican 7 layer dip. And my son brought a Mediterranean salad with fresh mozzarella balls, artichoke hearts, sausage, Calamata olives, and cherry tomatoes all in a balsamic vinagrette dressing. The kid can cook! Yes, I've known that for quite awhile, but it amazes and tickles me each and every time I see evidence of it. That's one of the fun parts I mentioned.

Our evening was relaxing with the most strenuous activities revolving around eating--mostly the part where we moved from the patio to the dining room and back. The weather was wonderful--even slightly chilly by around 11 p.m.--and, for the most part, we sat out on the patio telling stories, joking, and laughing. Eating and drinking. Enjoying the company of close friends and family--perfect!

Today we met my in-laws for lunch at Chili's around mid-afternoon, and I've spent the time before and after quilting. No dinner to cook tonight since we're still full from lunch and have some leftovers if the munchies strike (not to mention the remains of two pies in our refrigerator).

I'm thinking about going out and renting a movie or two and starting another applique block tonight. Remember this project? (Unfortunately, Patty decided to shut down her blog, so you can't click over to see what she had to say about it.) I haven't talked to Patty lately, but both of us have had things going on this spring that derailed our applique project. The only block I've made so far is this one:

Time, I think, to take a break from quilting the "monster" and design another applique block. For this "Americana" themed quilt, I have thoughts of apple pie floating around my head, so we'll see what I come up with.

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend!

Collecting

My "new" teapot from eBay arrived on my doorstep today, and it's just as cute in person as it was in the photos! My husband even agreed that it's pretty sweet, although he did say a little bit later that he thought I should either collect teapots or collect plates; not both. Yeah, sure honey!

I've been a book collector for most of my life--I just can't stand to get rid of the books I've enjoyed, and I have bookshelves all around the house as well as a few boxes of books stored in the garage. I DO try to part with the older books that are no longer my taste or style, but it's hard! Do I read them again? No, not really, but I enjoy seeing them around me. Probably a little silly, but I think they're my "security blanket."

Fabric--yep, we all know I collect that. Had my husband suggested I stop collecting fabric, he'd probably be wrapped up in some old cotton poly fabric I no longer wanted and buried in the backyard. Smart man--he knows better than to suggest anything THAT drastic!

Teapots and plates though. Collecting both of these is a recent interest of mine that's developed over the past few years. I like teapots that are simple in style and decoration. Although I appreciate the feminity of rose covered teapots and the idea of wearing large hats in a shady garden amid snow white lacy tablecloths, dining on light sandwiches and cakes, if I'm given a choice, I prefer the more homey, honest, country feel of the simpler designs, like Fiestaware and Hall.

As far as plates, I have a passion for Johnson Brothers transferware. Johnson Brothers has been manufacturing transferware plates in England for about a hundred years. The earlier transferware has handpainted accents, so each plate is a bit different.

A few years back, I went in search of plates for my Thanksgiving table, and that's when I discovered Johnson Brothers. I ended up with eight dinner plates in a pattern called Frozen Up from their Historic America line. Then I NEEDED Christmas plates, so I bought some more Johnson Brothers transferware plates. And what do you do when it's winter but not Thanksgiving or Christmas? Well then, of course, you need dishes from the Friendly Village line. Blue and white plates are perfect for summer, so I felt compelled to buy more Johnson Brothers dishes and other pieces from their Coaching Scenes line. Yes, I'm hopeless! But I have restrained myself from buying full sets of all of these things--buying dinner plates, salad plates, and bowls from the Snow White Regency line meant I could mix and match. So what did my mail person bring me a few days ago? Luncheon/salad plates from the Friendly Village line that will go with the Friendly Village dinner plates and would also go fairly well with my Frozen Up Thanksgiving plates. (Frozen Up is on the left; the new plates are on the right. Not a perfect match, but I think that's just fine!)

Cute, aren't they? I figure I don't collect shoes as some women do and I don't collect clothes (although I DO collect a lot of stray threads ON my clothes!). So, honey? Do you think it would be okay if I keep collecting plates AND teapots? I'll tell you what, hon--I'll give up collecting cabana boys and hunky gardeners if I can just buy another plate or two. Okay?

(The plate on the left is from the Friendly Village line.)