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After two days of working at a wonderful sewing event, I'm left to my own devices today. I worked really hard last week to get my sewing projects for others finished before the event.
So today, I got to choose. I started with squaring the blocks on a lap quilt but after that decided to clean around the baseboards and here and there around the storage items that collect in the sewing area. Above is what I found, not counting numerous pins and bits of fabric and paper. And dust. Lots and lots of dust.
Of course, sewing feet are treasures to me, and I was happiest to see the clear foot in the bottom of the picture. The 5/8" seam guide foot. One of my favorites (I know, I always say that.) For a quilter like me, this foot is wonderful for those times when I garment sew with a pattern. One quarter inch seems natural to me, 5/8" does not. This little foot is a joy.
Why I have two bendable lights, I'm not sure. The little hair scrunchies are for putting around spools of embroidery thread.
It was a day off school for the grands, and we headed to Scene 75 in Milford for some fun. That place is huge, lots of arcade games, go carts, laser tag. Obviously it wasn't a day off school there, and the kids had the place pretty much to themselves. The kids loved the air hockey, which would periodically dump a bunch of pucks on the table.
Aaron won at the jackpot game, just in the right place at the right time. The tickets were automatically loaded on the game card, very nice. The favorite game was pitching balls at the fuzzy cats or clowns. The kids got lots of tickets for that and played numerous times.
And at the end, choices. It wasn't cheap entertainment, but we hadn't been out in awhile and the kids had the best time. Thumbs up.
And then, in the evening, I was watching the kids, chick sitting, as they decided to call it, while Steph and Mike went to a Halloween party. Except that those chicks weren't home, they were at a birthday party of their own for much of the time. I went to Target for a book and some yogurt, to KFC for slaw, mashed potatoes, and green beans. The others had cheese pizza, but I'm doing well on my eating plan to reduce cholesterol and was happy with my choices.
Sarah introduced me to unsweetened cashew milk and I've found that I don't mind drinking it. I know that the calcium is added, but I figure that if I drink it at a time other than when I'm taking my multi-vitamin with calcium I should do ok with absorbing it. I had thought I was doing ok with my diet, but it turns out not. And so, I adjust.
At the zoo again today, perfect weather for it. I hadn't seen Nora in a couple of weeks and she looked so different. Glasses - she's just the smallest bit nearsided. And, she was sick ALL last week with the virus that's going around and has lost a pound or two.
It was good to see her looking healthy and happy today. I've stayed clear of visiting the grands this past week because I don't want that bug. Aaron has been struggling with it too. His day at the zoo may come next weekend.
It was fun to see the little ones in costumes, trick or treating at different stations. Steph and I were remembering the year at the zoo when Aaron was Darth Vador and had a light saber duel with another Darth Vador.
Nora and her friend weren't in costume but decided to trick or treat too.
Since I was in the neighborhood, and since it's a good place to walk, I went to the zoo. It was a perfect day for it and the baby strollers abounded. It's hard to see, but there is a second baby giraffe in front of the tree island, resting in the shade.
A zoo pass is a wonderful thing, giving free parking and access most days of the year. The botanical part of the Cincinnati Zoo is a joy, and the plants are marked, which I appreciate.
I feel like I've had, for the first time in forever, a real Artist Date, per Julia Cameron.
The reason I was in the neighborhood was to complete a lab test at UC, and this one turned out as it should.
A couple of years ago I taught a class in using paper piecing to make a large Christmas tree wall hanging. One of the ladies who took the class asked me to piece a couple of the smaller version wall hangings for her this month. Not something I'd normally do, so don't ask, but just this once . . .
A Little Bit Shorter Tall Tree by Cindi Edgerton.
I had my dreaded physical yesterday, and my blood work shows that I need to clean up my diet and exercise. Thing is, I thought I was doing well, although when I review the past few months I can tell that I've been slipping.
I am SO exercise lazy, definitely exercise by the clock, watching to see how much time is left before I can stop. I have lots of Leslie Sansone DVD's, trying to keep things interesting, but I'm never really interested. I need an attitude change, need to feel grateful that I CAN exercise. Finally, finally, it's cooled down enough for walking outside, which I do enjoy.
Following my cousin's visitation at the church on Friday night, my family and I ate at the Mustard Seed Cafe at the Depot. After a day of travel and emotion, it was a time to just sit and be in a restaurant that was open late.
Once upon a time, one of our relatives had an antique/furniture restoration business there. And of course, before that, it was a train depot.
It isn't a large space, more like a cozy space. Little lights and pictures hanging from the ceiling. An easy place to order for the family vegetarians.
I knew, of course, that there is now alcohol served at a couple of restaurants in town, but this was my first time actually experiencing it. Surely it was controversial at the time it was implemented. I wonder, did it take more than one vote to get it through? Was there a vote or did it happen some other way?
At any rate, I enjoyed the pumpkin flight, four seasonal beers, all of them good, a nice touch with my vegetarian flatbread.
In Bluffton, Ohio, this weekend for the memorial of a wonderful cousin. And as close a family reunion as it gets these days.
My daughter, my niece, and my brother in my brother's barn.
My other daughter, me, and my brother at the university baseball field. Our cousin did the bronze casting for the 2008 memorial Touching Home to honor the Bluffton University baseball students killed in the 2007 bus crash.
Part of the casting, made with the cleats of the players.
The signature of the artist, who died last week. He will be missed on many levels by so many people.
