It's a Dog's World

Allergies are annoying. I've been plagued with them my entire life and I have used more Puffs than a person should ever have to use. But what's worse than my allergies are my dog's allergies. The poor guy has eaten himself raw in some places. We're careful about feeding him food with preservatives so we're not sure what's the cause of his allergies. Maybe he's like me and things are in the air that just don't agree with him. Yesterday we finally got him some relief and took him to the Vet to get a steroid shot. I'm not big on injecting him with steroids, but it's only his third shot in his 11 years so I think he's okay. He felt relief immediately and I kept apologizing to him for him hurting so badly. It was painful to watch so I know it was painful for him. Today he is eating again and is a bit more spry. His eyes are clearing up and he has a spring in his step again. Poor guy.

Today was an exciting day. At lunch time I went through my International Quilt Festival catalog and made a wish list of the classes I'd like to take. When all was said and done the total was $740. Whoa!! I had to back off a little and narrow that list down. I ended up signing up for four classes (way less than $740!) and I won't know for about four weeks whether I got in to any of them. I hope I didn't wait too long to register. I'm totally excited about going now. My reference number is 22000+ so I'm not sure if that means 22,000 plus people have already registered or not. Hope not! I don't think I'll have much of a shot at getting any classes if 22,000 people have already signed up. Live and learn.

The calf muscle is almost healed. At least that's what I keep telling myself. I discovered this morning that the directions for the "Icy/Hot" that I was using say not to use more than four days. Therefore I wasn't able to slather on the stuff this morning and get my big fix of that delightful wintergreen smell. Aah!!! My day just wasn't the same!

Big Girl Panties

Yesterday I had to chuckle. I was reading my longarm digest and the thread was about one of the longarmers and her potential new customer that just wasn't going to become a reality. The longarmer didn't want to turn the new business away, but she knew that if she accepted the assignment it would be bad news from the get-go. One of the other longarmers wrote in and said "Put on your big girl panties and deal with it".... Made me laugh.

Fortunately I don't deal with customers (although sometimes I think it would be nice to have the extra income!) so I don't have much confrontation to do in my quilting world. I have a bit in my tax world, but that's another story and now I know it's going to take my big girl panties to deal with it!!

I finished my quilt yesterday evening and took it off the longarm machine. I now have to trim it up and bind it and then add it to the pile! It turned out really nice and I like the way I pieced the back together. B likes Side B better than side A!!

Every Little Thing

My calf muscle is still aching and I'm still limping. Now that I'm committed to running a half marathon with my brother my leg starts acting up. Great! In the meantime, I am doing the Wii EA Active Sports 30 day challenge. I have to uncheck all of the running exercises, but then I supplement them with tennis drills and boxing. I hope my arms get nice and toned! I hope that I will be able to run this weekend. I'm getting a little antsy.

The quilt is almost finished. Hopefully I will finish it tonight and take it off the longarm machine. It's turning out nicely considering that I haven't put a quilt on the machine in awhile now. The stitching on the back is perfect. It's an art form getting the tension right, but I'm not going to fret over it too much. Life's too short. I'm ready to start working on a colorful quilt now. Too much brown recently.

The International Quilt Festival catalog came last week and I am marking pages and getting ready to sign up for classes. I'm so lucky that I live in Houston. If I had to travel here every year to see the show, I would probably stress over the trip and not enjoy it as much. It's so much easier that I live here and can go to the show every day.

Well, it's off to do my Wii challenge and then get the longarm fired up. Happy Quilting!

Run Like the Wind

So today is July 4th and I did another 5k this morning. I thought I would have a good race this morning as I did a mind meld with my dog! He told me to think of him and run faster!!! That didn't happen. It was another hot one, but at least there was shade for most of the route. I posted yet another horrible time, but hey, I'll get there. I'm not deterred. My brother, J, called me this morning because he remembered I had a run and so he went out running at the same time. He's a much better runner than me, but we've made a plan to train for the Houston 1/2 marathon that will be run in January 2010. Please God let me learn how to run and survive 13+ miles!!! I CAN do it!!!

Yesterday I spent part of the day sewing and working on the scrap pieces. I think it's going to end up being part of my backing for the last quilt I pieced. I haven't taken any pictures yet, but I'll post some soon. It's a pretty quilt, but it's another brown (fall color) quilt and I'm ready to do something in color now. I think I'll work with blues on my next quilt. Just looking at blue, how could one not be happy?!

Cool as a Cucumber

So today's high was only 99 degrees. Yippee! It was like a cold front blew into town! I made the mistake of going out to lunch and walking a good distance to the cafe. By the time I made it back to the office I'm sure I was smelling rather ripe and it took me a couple hours to cool down and get the clothes back to a non-wet condition! There's a reason I take my lunch most days. Lesson learned.

Tomorrow is my last day of work for this week. I spent the entire day working on a very frustrating tax return. Luckily by the end of the day I had figured out the problems and until the next change is made, it's working fine.

No sewing tonight. I did listen to a couple podcasts today and here is my suggestion to those few quilters who podcast. I'm not sure why I like listening to quilting podcasts so this could just be my problem, but I wish that the personal stuff was edited out and that the podcasters stayed on topic. I usually like the ones where there is an actual interview, but sometimes those, too, seem to go awry. And please, please leave the political comments out. Just my opinion (which should only matter to me) so don't take offense.

Summer Fun!

Let me just say that if you're a person who likes to take summer vacations, then being a tax accountant is not for you! It's the hardest part of the year for me as the consolidated tax return is due by September 15 and along with getting that puppy ready there are also a million other projects that have to get done. Like audits (federal and state) and an idiotic bunch of lawyers writing new legislation with due dates that are totally unreasonable (e.g., new cost sharing agreements regulations). It's a tough life and one that is a lot more enjoyable when a person is young and has the energy to stand up to the crap and push through. Now, I've been doing this for 20 plus years and I'm tired and wish that somehow thinking creative thoughts would put money in the bank! Ever the eternal optimist! Instead I set my projects aside until the weekends and then I savor them. There is sheer joy in turning on the sewing machine and putting pieces of fabric together. I realize that every time I complete a new quilt, I have all these scrap pieces of which I must then make a quilt. It's enjoyable to watch the new quilt take shape with the same fabrics and yet be totally different. Most of the time the coordinating scrap quilt is harder to make because I'm using odd pieces and trying to get the most bang for my buck. So, I guess I'm trying to say that I have my new pile of scraps that are ready for me and when the weekend gets here, I will probably either piece them for the back of the quilt I just finished, or I will start an entirely new quilt. If I wasn't so tired, I'd go take a photo of the fabrics and post it, but maybe later. It's time now to switch back to the left brain, or actually it's time to go brain dead and get some sleep.

Another Scorcher!

Oh my goodness. This morning's run was tough. We started in front of the Wortham Theatre and ran down Memorial Drive and then turned around and ran back on the other side of the road. The only problem was there was no shade and it was HOT! I'm not saying it was HOT because I'm a wimp, it really was HOT!! B and I got there at 7:30. My 5k didn't start until 8:30 a.m. so we walked around and then waited until it was time to run. At 7:30 a.m. it was 79 degrees. When I finished the race it was 91 degrees. It was uncomfortable but when it was all over I must admit that I was glad I did it and I wish that my time was better and that I had received my first medal. It wasn't to be though. There were 5 other people in my age category that finished in front of me. I have no idea how many finished behind me, but I don't think it was many. It was the 1st annual Tortoise and Hair 5k in Houston. The charity was the Alopecia Areata foundation and it was a good crowd. I think there were about 450 people this morning so I'm sure next year will be a bigger crowd. My suggestion is to have the race in the fall or at 6:30 in the morning. My two cents . . . !!

So, B and I went out for our post race breakfast at La Madeleine. I had the French toast this morning and it was delicious!!! All that fruit masking the richness of the toast. I hope it wasn't too fattening! Yummy!

Well, it's off to the sewing machine now. I've had my post race nap and now I must get moving again. Oh, maybe I better seek out my July run while I'm still on the computer. Okay, until next time my feet hit the pavement I'm still dreaming that I run with ease and the medals are stacking up. Hey, I can dream, can't I??!!

Big Day

Tomorrow is my June 5k race day. I'll be the one wearing #9 (which is Mia Hamm's number if anyone cares). I'm hoping it will bring me good karma and I will survive the heat and humidity unscathed! Again, I have to say "Yikes!"; it's going to be a hot one. We've been having 100 degree days this week. Wish me luck.

Hopefully tomorrow is also a big sewing day and I will finish my new quilt and get it loaded onto the longarm machine. I did more investigating this week on opening up a store/sewing studio and my enthusiasm is high, but my trepidation is also high. I guess I will wait until after tax season before I make any decisions. October is Quilt Market and Festival and hopefully I'll get in and buy more fabric (or at least see how expensive it's going to be to buy fabric in bulk). I'm looking forward to that shopping trip!

Well, I must go get my rest before the big day!

Changes

Recently I've been invesigating setting up a crafting/sewing/quilting studio. It's very exciting and nerve wracking. I wish that I were younger and had no assets at stake. Even so, I'm tempted to jump in and pursue this dream. Should I take the chance? I will still have to work at my day job. Will I have any energy left to run a studio and will it make enough money for me to cover my costs? It'd be nice to have a crystal ball!

I am currently piecing another quilt. It's coming along nicely and if I hadn't been sidetracked with my dreaming of opening up my own store, it would probably have been finished and put on the longarm and quilted by now. Oh, well.

This weekend I will be doing my June 5k. It's scheduled to be run at 8:30 a.m. and it's going to be a scorcher! Yikes! This is the 1st annual run for the Alopecia Areata foundation and it is being run without chips and apparently we are to bring our own after run snacks! That e-mail made me chuckle. B and I have our tradition of eating at La Madeleine's after each run, so I think we will probably do that instead of bringing our own snacks! Here's to running the race without suffering heatstroke!! I'll keep you posted.

If It's June, It Must be Tax Season

In the midst of all the festivities this Spring (i.e., 80th birthday party for Mom, 2 weddings, 1 great nephew birth), I have been lacking in my quilting. I have finished the camp quilt and have sewn the binding on the brown couch quilt (which is now earmarked for the bed). I am in the process of burying the threads on that puppy and then it will go into the finished pile. I still need to sew the binding on the coordinating smaller couch quilt and then that, too, will be done. This past Monday I opened up my scrap drawer (it's not like I don't have bolts and bolts of fabric!) and started piecing a scrap quilt. This one, however, has a design to it and I am unsure if it is a design someone else has already created or if this one is my own. I'm sure someone will let me know at some point.

So far this year, I have run my 5k's each month except February. I could not find a 5k to run in February so I skipped that month. I will be running my June run next weekend. The bad thing about that is that the adult 5k is scheduled for 9 a.m. That is so CRAZY!!! It's like 90 degrees at 9 a.m. here in Houston. Oh, well. If my time is bad . . . that's all I'm saying!!! I'm enjoying these runs if only for the celebration breakfast at La Madeleine after each run and the scrapbook pages that I'm creating. I'm happy to say that I am up to date on my scrapbooking for these runs.

For my birthday I ordered three books from Amazon.com. They are all creative type books and right now I am reading "The Creative Entrepreneur" by Lisa Sonora Beam. I don't have time to actually sit down and do the exercises, but I'm enjoying the reading. This is tax season for me so I'll be busy for awhile now.

Well, speaking of that, I better get back to my tasks at hand. Until next time . . .