Houses & Schools & Christmas Cards, Oh My!

Harvest Sun

As I type, it’s nearly 7:00 p.m., and the last load is in the dryer, after having washed clothes since 10:00 a.m.  This particular load is comprised of the Harvest Sun quilt, and it’s on its second go-around in the dryer, as it didn’t get dry the first time.  I’ll probably have to re-wad it and send it through at least one more time before it’s totally dry.  I’m eating craisins (dried cranberries) and sliced almonds, and sipping Hazelnut Crème coffee, and that will be dessert.

I just got an email from a friend, and she signed off with, “Have a pleasant, peaceful day.”

Flannel Log Cabin

So I replied, “Pleasant, all right.  But peaceful?  Peaceful??!!!  There are only 11 days until Christmas, for crying out loud!!!!!!

And I signed my name, “ ,,,>^..^<,,,     Sarah Lynn, pleasantly     ,,,>^..^<,,, “

Speaking of Christmas, I told several of the kids, “Please don’t spend lots of money on us; we don’t need a thing.  Except lots of money.  heh!!!”

Last Tuesday afternoon, I went to get the little Jackson kiddos from school.  Here’s the new Fellowship Hall and school:

There were only four children to pick up, because Lyle was sick.  Jeffrey climbed in, and scrambled into the third seat.

Josiah then explained very thoroughly that he didn’t need to do that, because Lyle was sick, so there was plenty of room in the middle seat. 

“It’s all right,” I told him, “he’s already back there, and it doesn’t matter.”

“It doesn’t?!” he asked in seeming astonishment, which made Ethan grin, and Emma giggle.

“No, Josiah,” she informed him knowledgeably, “It doesn’t.”    “’Cuz Grandma said so.”

“Oh,” said Josiah, and subsided. 

I think one of the fun (and funny) things about children is how various things, whether big or little in our eyes, are such matters of importance to them.  (And also how they love to listen to Grandma’s stories; but I won’t mention that, for fear of sounding conceited.) 

When our children were little, they’d sit beside me on the piano bench as I played away.  Now, this game I am about to relate all got started when one of them turned a page in the hymnbook to pick a new song for me to play.  The thing was, I hadn’t even been playing from the book at all, and the kids knew that.  But as soon as the child turned the page, I stumbled and crashed around on the keyboard, as if I couldn’t play at all without the book being open. 

The child – I think it was Teddy – looked surprised and quickly propped the book back open to the page it had been on.  I resumed playing properly.  He looked at the page.  Looked at me.  It wasn’t the same song, up there in the book, as the one I was playing, down there on the keyboard.  I carefully kept a blank face.

He gave me another glance, and then his eyes got twinkly.  He was little, but he was a quick study!  He reached up and flipped to a new page.

I crashed and clashed and stuttered about on the keys. 

Now the children were starting to giggle.  Teddy turned back to the original page – and I went on playing decently and in order.

The song stopped... someone requested another... I started playing.  One of the children turned a page in the book.  I clobbered up the song.  They turned quickly back to the right page... I played nicely and with dignity.  Someone turned a page... my playing fell to pieces.

By now, the children were all laughing uproariously.

And so a new game was born.

I was running behind last week, on account of our trip to Oklahoma.  I didn’t get my journal finished until Wednesday.  I’ve made good use of the last few days, however, and am beginning to think I just might get everything done, maybe.  Gotta get my cards done... my pictures labeled (thank goodness for computers, printers, and stick-on labels)... the photo/music DVDs for my friends done... the Christmas tree skirt done... the presents wrapped... oh me, oh my, how shall I do it all? 

Every year after Christmas I check into getting a DVD copier that does multiples at once, instead of just one, and every year after Christmas I decide that I don’t need to waste the money, and every year *before* Christmas, I wonder what ailed me, that I didn’t get one already??

Whoooooaaaa.  Get a load of this one:

But if I hurry and get it put together, there’s still time, still time, still time, still time, tick tock tick tock tick tock...

Good thing I love Christmas time, eh?  (Not that your name is ‘Eh’.)

Tuesday evening, a U-joint broke on Larry’s boom truck as he was trying to pull out of a muddy jobsite in Norfolk.  He came home in other crew members’ truck, and spent a good part of Wednesday working on the truck.  Once it was fixed, he had the job of extracting truck and pup from the mud.

Wednesday, Amy sent me a picture of a big, ‘new’ van – a Ford Transit Wagon – sitting in their driveway.  They’ve been looking at similar vehicles for a while now, but they aren’t cheap.  This one, however, had a much better price tag on it – because it has been wrecked.  Not too badly, though, and it shouldn’t be too awfully difficult to repair.  The previous owners had only driven it 236 miles before they had a crash.  The inside still looks brand-spankin’-new, other than the glass that needs to be vacuumed up.  It’s spacious and nice, with more than enough bucket seats for all of them.  The seats fold down to make it easy to haul cargo.

Their Suburban has a few problems; let’s hope it keeps percolating until the new van is up and running!

I have belonged to a few online quilting groups for a number of years.  We often discuss our current projects; sometimes, we talk about our lives in days gone by.  What interesting lives many of my online friends have led!  I enjoy reading their stories.

When we get to picturing somebody sitting in their little chair behind their little sewing machine, piecing their little quilt, and think that’s where they’ve always been all their live-long life, well, ... we picture wrong, don’t we? 

Because he was in Norfolk Wednesday working on his truck, Larry didn’t get home in time for church.  He still wasn’t home when Kurt and Victoria, Caleb and Maria, Jared, and Robin came visiting.  Caleb and Maria brought their cute little puppy, Sadie.  Teensy and Tabby are not particularly impressed, but they seem to understand that this is, indeed, only a puppy, and the puppy is only curious, and means them no harm.

Victoria’s friend Robin took the picture of Victoria and Kurt.

Larry got the truck put back together, and then spent a while getting truck and trailer out of the mud lolly in which it was stuck fast.  He had to unhitch from the pup, unload several cradles full of forms, take the truck back at a different angle, and use the outriggers to get it aligned with the hitch again.  It was almost ten by the time he left Norfolk.  By the time he got back to the shop, parked the truck, and then came home, it was well past 11:00 p.m.

I got up Thursday morning, as I do every morning lately, thinking, I have to do this, that, and the other thing today, and there isn’t enough time in the day to get it all done.  So I tell myself, One step at a time, one step at a time.  Trying to do otherwise makes this saying true:  ‘The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get!’

I saw on a cross-stitched plaque in an embroidery store somewhere that read, “A multi-tasker is someone who does a whole lot of things at once — poorly.”

This ‘one-step-at-a-time’ business entails bath, shampoo, dry and curl (so as not to scare the local fauna), and reading whilst eating breakfast.  And then I’m ready to begin.  Important things first (I get to decide what they are)... one after the other, until I run out of steam that night, and I save something computerish (Victoria’s word) to do as I sit in my recliner, heating pad behind my back.  Ahhhh...

And that’s another day.  Enjoyable, when it’s a combination of doing what I like to do, doing what I need to do, doing a thing or two for someone else, and maybe even learning something, into the bargain.  Larry had an elderly aunt who used to say, “Never go to bed without learning something!” 

About this time of year, despite all the above blarney about ‘one thing at a time,’ I get into a state of ‘quiet desperation’, as Henry Thoreau wrote.  No, that’s not quite true.  With me, it’s LOUD desperation.  I like to involve as many people as possible, on the off chance that someone will take pity and, oh, maybe, wash a dish or something. 

And in fact, it just occurred to me, Larry washed a load of clothes Wednesday night and dried them Thursday morning.  Hmmmm.  There must’ve been something objectionable about Wednesday’s clothes, and he thought it best to do it himself; ’cuz I’d gotten all the laundry done just a couple of days earlier, so he certainly wasn’t running low just yet.

That ol’ Trumpety-Trump!  In reading the news that morning, I saw that he had canceled his trip to Israel ‘until after he is president’.  Both Jews and Arabs are celebrating; neither wanted him to come.  One Israeli in government remarked, “We’d rather he wasn’t on our soil when he makes his next ill-advised comment.” 

Here’s one of Trump’s famous quotes:  “I’m the most successful person to ever run for the presidency, by far.”  Keep that in mind, and now consider his self-appointed Secret Service name:  “Humble.”  HAHAHA

A few of my quilting friends were discussing patterns, and how to change sizes of patterns by utilizing math formulas. 

“I love math!” exclaimed one lady.

So do I!  J  I was delighted, at about age 12 or 13, to realize that all that fun with fractions, geometry, algebra, and suchlike was going to stand me in good stead in that other thing I loved to do:  Sewing!  Wheeeee...  Later, I found that it was a great help in cooking and baking, too – especially when I had to increase proportions by large amounts.

This quote is from Jeffrey Rosenthal in The Magical Mathematics of Music:

• The astronomer Galileo Galilei observed in 1623 that the entire universe “is written in the language of mathematics”, and indeed it is remarkable the extent to which science and society are governed by mathematical ideas.  It is perhaps even more surprising that music, with all its passion and emotion, is also based upon mathematical relationships.  Such musical notions as octaves, chords, scales, and keys can all be demystified and understood logically using simple mathematics.

The lady who wrote that she loved math added, “One of the things in mathematics that truly intrigues me is the theory of fractals and that they are infinite.  Reminds me that God is infinite!”

Here’s a good book on the subject, first published in 1921:  Number in Scripture

The grandchildren kept reminding me – and I finally remembered – to bring my camera when I came to school to pick them up, so we could go home via Shady Lake Road, and I could get photos of Jeremy and Lydia’s house.  Jeremy is working hard to get the outside of the house done so that they can work on the inside through the bad-weather days.  Here’s one of the shots I got: 

I sent it to Lydia and commented, “I hadn’t driven by your house for a few days... and then when I did... Wowzer, kerzower!  It’s done sprouted!  Isn’t it exciting, to see it growing and already looking like this?”

She wrote back, telling me how glad Jacob was when they got home that day, to find so much had happened while he was at school.  There had only been three windows in on the other side of the house; they’d added the rest that day. 

“It looks like a real house now!” he exclaimed happily.

This new house/addition building has been a bit traumatic for both little guys.  They’ve had water leaks in their room, in the living room, and in the kitchen, though that’s all fixed now.  Mice (aka.... bunnies, according to Jonathan) got into their bedroom.  There’s plywood in place of the window they always looked out, and small holes in the ceiling in a couple of places in their room and in the kitchen. 

But they appreciate such things as Loren taking them water [he brings them bottled water, because their well water is not good].  One evening when Jacob was praying, he prayed for Uncle Loren and was thankful for him bringing water.

One day they were at Wal-Mart, and Lydia got a box of cereal, one of the big family-sized boxes.  She handed it to Jonathan.  He, spotting a man’s picture on the back of the box, was sure it was a picture of his Uncle Loren, and proceeded wrap his arms around the box and kiss the picture, telling Lydia, “It’s Uncle Loren!  It’s Uncle Loren!” 

“Looked hilarious,” said Lydia, laughing.

Of course I had to tell Loren these stories, and of course he was quite touched.  He really loves his little nieces and nephews, which explains why they in turn love him.

Loren couldn’t wait any longer, and just had to give me a Christmas present Friday evening when I took him some supper.  I told him he was just like my kids – and besides, he’d already had a box of pears, nuts, and cheese delivered to our house from Harry & David.  The gift was a vintage two-quart lidded casserole dish that used to be our mother’s.  She got it, along with other matching pieces, from the Jewel Tea Company.  The brand name is ‘Hall’s Superior’, and the pattern is ‘Autumn Leaf’.

Well, I had a feeling...  so I came home, stood on tiptoes, and looked atop my refrigerator.  Yep!  Sho’ ’nuff!  I have the pitcher – and it, too, was our mother’s.

Hall’s Autumn Leaf was made for the Jewel Tea Company from 1933 to 1978.  Mama started getting these dishes when she and my three elder siblings lived with her family in North Dakota while Daddy was in the Navy during World War II.  And I remember her adding to the set, one piece at a time, when I was little, back in the 60s.

I called to tell Loren that I have the matching pitcher, and he was pleased, because I was pleased.

Walkers had a job just south of the South Dakota line, near Yankton, about 100 miles to our north, and Larry was to haul the forms there.  He headed there Thursday afternoon, and would not be home until Saturday afternoon.

Do you dream?  I dream all the time.  Uh, that is, when I’m sleeping, I dream; not so much when I’m awake.  ;-)  Sometimes the dreams are ridiculous, senseless, goofy... sometimes scary and strange.  More than dreams, nightmares.  Sometimes I pop wide awake suddenly, and know exactly what a dream is about – but the more I try to think about it, the more rapidly it fades in oblivion, until all that’s left is a general impression of absurdity. 

Friday evening, I was talking with Lydia on speaker phone.  She had gotten a Sizzix Electronic Cutter for a good price from somebody who had decided to sell it before even getting it completely out of the box.  She had gotten a pattern she wanted to cut in order to make little soldier boxes, but the cutter wasn’t communicating with the computer.  Later, she would discover that it needed another cord – and she happened to have the right one, fortunately.  Little Jonathan kept trotting up to Lydia’s phone and saying, “Hi!  Hi, hi, Grandma!” 

‘Grandma’ is a nice word, you know that?

I got a note from Hannah, telling me that Aaron had broken a finger at school that day, catching a ball during a soccer baseball game.

Ugh, here’s Caleb in a walking boot, and here’s Aaron with a finger splint!  Poor kids.

Hannah wrote another note:  “Good news, it won’t hinder his eating,” quickly followed by a second email:  “Bad news, it will hinder his schoolwork.  (He still eats with his left hand, while writing with his right.)”

I replied, “Well, food is more important than schoolwork anyway.  :-\  Poor finger.”

Kurt and Victoria and their friend Robin arrived and set about wrapping gifts.  They make ‘joyful noises’ wherever they go.  :-D 

My Christmas letter was done and I needed to print it; but I didn’t want to go downstairs and miss out on the fun.  So I instead worked on pictures for the photo/music DVD.

The gift wrapping continued... the cats came to see if they could be of any assistance...  Here’s something of note:  Teensy, who only likes ‘his’ people, and makes himself scarce when other company comes, after acting somewhat offended that Victoria was bestowing her attentions on Kurt (as opposed to himself), has evidently decided, “If you can’t like ’em, join ’em,” and scrambled right onto Kurt’s lap, much to everyone’s surprise. 

When the company departed, I headed downstairs to print my Christmas letter.  I ran out of ink with just one copy to go – or so I thought.  Later, when I put the letters into the envelopes, I discovered that there were exactly enough.  (I wonder who inadvertently got left out?)

There was still enough black ink to print Loren’s signature for his cards on small stickers, so I did that, tucked his cards into envelopes, and then dropped in the Ten Commandments bookmarks I got for him to give people. 

I put stickers with names and ages on backs of pictures until I ran out of stickers.  It was 2:30 a.m. when I headed to bed.

Yeah, I’m a night owl.  I tell Larry, who’s just the opposite, “Well, everyone knows owls are lots smarter than chickens!”  Makes him sputter.  If he doesn’t fall asleep first.

I do have to get up early against my will, quite regularly. 

Saturday morning as I was curling my hair, I had the bathroom window open.  I heard a great rushing ruckus, looked out, and there were a couple of the young squirrels chasing each other madly through the heaps of fallen leaves, while another sat up high on the deck railing and watched the show.  They’re so funny.

Loren thought about putting up his Christmas tree last year, but he couldn’t find the one he and Janice used, and gave up on the notion.  This year he really wanted to, but he’s been so busy he hasn’t had time to go through some of the bins and totes that are stored out in a disconnected garage behind his house.  Since we are using the one Victoria brought home from Earl May, I asked Loren if he’d like to borrow our other one, and if he’d like Kurt and Victoria to help him set it up.

Yes, yes, he would!  He very much would.  So when Victoria got off work, they came and got the tree, and off they went to Loren’s house, carrying along a few containers of food, too.

They thought perhaps they would just put the top half of the tree up, as Janice used to do, because his living room is a bit crowded, what with all the furniture and whatnot.  But they couldn’t make the thing stand up straight.  They were trying to stand it in a bucket of dirt, hee hee.  They gave up, picked a spot, and just made the whole tree fit after all.  Loren was pleased... and happy to have company.  He gets lonesome.

He works hard at keeping his house clean and orderly.  It’s a fairly new split level.  He and Janice got new furniture when they moved in, and a new couch just a year or two before she passed away.  Have you ever noticed that, when you pick out a nice leather couch at a huge big furniture store (Nebraska Furniture Mart, in this case), the couch that doesn’t look all that big in the store grows to some gargantuan size the moment the movers bring it in your small-by-comparison living room?!  And when Mama died, they got our parents’ grandfather clock, too.

So that’s why they wound up with no overabundance of space for a Christmas tree.

Remember the little Christmas tree that beat Victoria down the stairs last week?  It is now in her room, adorned prettily with some little decorations that match her room – silver and dusky rose. 

As for the 7-foot tree Victoria’s manager from Earl May loaned her on account of the broken base, he heard from the Corporate office (in Iowa) that he could let Victoria have it ----- for only $50.  It’s a $500 tree!  (She said $700 at first, but that’s the ‘full’ tree; this is the ‘slender’ tree.)  I think she plans to pay for it herself, and keep it for her own house someday. 

A friend sent me a link to a funny video of cats playing with Christmas tree decorations, destroying wrapping paper, and, all in all, having a jolly ol’ time. 

I wrote back, “Thanks for the cute video...  I think.  I see that the man who published this clip has 197 videos.  And I have 197,000 things to do!”

Larry got home, and we had leftover pizza for supper.  There was enough for two slices each.  Larry finished his, and watched me still working my way through the first slice.  “Are you going to eat all of that?” he asked.

“Well, of course I am!”  (Or at least I thought I would.  I always do, when I’m still hungry.  I don’t share until I don’t want it anymore.  Heh!)

I tell Larry that these were the vows I took, way back when:  “What’s yours is mine, and what’s mine is mine too.” 

And then I got full and gave him three-quarters of my last slice.

Sunday afternoon, Kurt and Victoria were invited, along with Caleb and Maria, to Maria’s family’s home for dinner.  After they ate, Victoria took their pictures for Christmas, using her Canon PowerShot SX40.  She really likes that little camera.  I’m glad I gave it to her!

By ten ’til six last night, I was ready for church; we would be leaving in 20 minutes.  It was 37°, the wind was blowing at 20 mph with gusts up to 40 mph, and there was a windchill of 28°.  It was raining – and expected to turn to freezing rain at midnight.  Fun, fun, fun!

Kurt and Victoria went to his house last night after church, especially because Kurt’s little brother Brett has really been missing him.

Meanwhile, Larry and I had pulled pork on the little 12-grain loaves from Schwans, baked and fresh out of the oven.  Yummy.  We had a bowl of Raspberry Rumble ice cream for dessert.

We had rain and freezing rain all through the night, and high winds, too, which makes it leak in the kitchen.  Aarrgghh. 

I’m doing laundry today, including washing the bedding, and I’m replacing summer bedding with winter.  I’ve put the flannel log cabin quilt on the bed; we haven’t used it for at least two years, maybe three.

It will now get much warmer than usual for the month of December.

Had I left the summer bedclothes on, it would then have snowed six feet.

The indoor flowers are all watered.  The livestock is fed (two cats), and the bird feeders are full.  I got the Christmas cards, letters, and photos that I send through USPS mailed last night.  That means... I’ll soon start receiving Christmas cards in return!

It’s 34°, but with the wind blowing steadily at 24 mph and gusting up to 35 mph, the wind chill is 23°.  Of the dozen locations in the U.S., including Alaska, and a couple in other countries that I have listed in my weather app, my very own spot on the globe is most often the windiest of them all.  Do I look windblown to you?? 

We had rain and freezing rain last night, and more is expected tonight, with a possibility of snow. 

My stomach just growled.  It’s a good thing we are equipped with these audible warning systems, because I often forget to eat breakfast, which is odd, since breakfast generally consists of my favorite foods of the day!

Our QDOD (Question/Discussion of the Day) on one of the quilting groups recently was ‘What is your favorite part of making a quilt?’

Hmmm...  I most enjoy ... whatever I am working on at the moment.  But if I absolutely must pick just one part... then I would say it’s choosing the fabrics and preparing to start.

On another group, the question was, “What do you plan for 2016?”

Here is my list: 

1. Finish Victoria’s tumbling-blocks quilt.  It’s pink and green.  She was making it for her sister’s new baby (who will be 2 in three days) – but Lydia had the audacity to have a boy.  Unfinished projects bother me.  Therefore, I shall finish hers. 
2. Put together the very old Sunbonnet Sue blocks that were appliquéd by my great-grandmother, grandmother, several aunts and great-aunts, and some of their schoolteachers, friends, and neighbors.
3. Sew the flannel quilt kit my sister-in-law gave me about 3 years ago.
4. Continue my appliqué BOM, Buoyant Blossoms, and turn it into a quilt.  The size is still a question... maybe I’ll keep going until it’s king or queen-sized, but give options for wall-hanging, personal throw, crib, and twin sizes, too.  Maybe.
5. AND! – I hope to start the Feathered Fan quilt:  Feathered Fan Pattern

I intend to make it in WOW (white on white) fans on a COC (cream on cream) background, with Venice and Cluny laces and silk ribbon embroidery.  I’ll dye the silk ribbon; that’ll be the only color.  Or at least that’s the idea floating in my brain at the moment.

We’ll see, we’ll see.

I just ate one of the Harry & David pears Loren gave us.  Today, they are ripe and totally scrumptious – and the sad thing is, we ate three when they were not yet ripe.  There are only two left now.

Ethan just came to the door with an envelope for me, and I regaled him with a quick tale about the funny bunnies I saw charging around a blue spruce in the front yard, one after the other, until one reversed direction, and when they met up on the opposite side, both going full blast, they startled each other out of their respective wits, and both sprang three feet in the air, and then, once alighting, they both sprang two feet straight up again, just for good measure – and then, having listened to this tale, complete with animated gestures and enthusiastic expression, away he went again to rejoin the populace in the Suburban.

And with that, having done Charles Dickens proud, I shall sign my name, complete with sentiments.

,,,>^..^<,,,     Sarah Lynn     ,,,>^..^<,,,