I promised to keep it real....

....and blog about what's bouncing around in my head. Well, pretty much all I've been able to think about for the last few days is the special election in MA this week. I am so totally obsessed! Who's gonna win? Martha Coakely or Scott Brown? We shall see!!

Its a Green Smoothie Giveaway!

If you've ever had any questions about my green smoothie habit. Now's the time to head over to my smoothie blog because I'm celebrating having reached 100 fans on the facebook page with a fabulous giveaway! Hurry over!!

Remember when I was twitching the other day? This top is the reason why. I made this top over two years ago. I was still a new quilter and didn't know anything! I had originally planned to donate this quilt (once finished) to the Ami Simms Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative. However, she has ceased taking large quilts and now only accepts small ones. So, this quilt has sat in my closet since Dec '07.

So, what's the big deal with this quilt, anyway? My husband's grandfather passed away of Alzheimer's right before our first son was born. He had been declining for years and the death wasn't unexpected, but it did send shock waves through the family. So, I made this quilt in honor of Barney (Barnes Everett Mauk). I made three additional blocks and have them framed individually. One for Jason, one for his father and one for his aunt.

See, Barney loved plaid. He loved to dress in the most obnoxious way he could find. He mixed plaid with everything. Every.Thing. The tackier the better. So, I stumbled upon some funky plaid wrapping paper and knew that was what I had to use. That's also why I used so many different plaids in the quilt top.

I didn't get the quilt top done that year as I had hoped and then (as mentioned above) Ami stopped accepting large quilts. I wasn't sure what to do with it at that time, so I did nothing. I thought about selling it and donating the money to Ami's project, but that just didn't feel right. In the end, I decided to gift the finished quilt to my husband and send a donation to Ami. And it became a permanent UFO. Well, its on the top of my list for 2010.

So what's with the twitching? Remember I said I didn't know what I was doing, right? I pulled this quilt top out the other day, pieced the back and went about to press & baste it. I'm not sure I pressed a single seam in the entire top when I made this thing. So many seams have been flipped and turned by cross seams, its all homespun fabric, so they are unravelling at the speed of light. This quilt top had more strings than a piece of wilty celery. So, I spent several hours trimming up the strings and pressing each block and each seam individually. Then I was sick of looking at it so I folded it up and set in on my sewing table. Which means when I pull it out this afternoon, I'll probably have to repress it. AGAIN! (I'm thinking just a quick quilt in the ditch, the top is so busy anything else would be lost, what do you think?) But I want it finished for my husband. It means a lot to him as he was very close to his grandfather growing up. My only regret is that I didnt' meet this amazing man until the disease had already taken control of his mind and body. The stories my father in law tell about his father could fill volumes. This one's for you, Barney.

Blogging is hard when you don't have a camera. I shall return soon. We've decided to use our Costco rebate this year to purchase a new one. Stay tuned, my friends. Stay tuned.

Twitch....twitch....

The next time I decide to make a whole quilt out of homespun fabrics hit me. Hard. In the head. With a frying pan.

I'll explain later, when I'm done twitching.

Rockin' Out

Crrreeeeepppyyy

Do you remember that Haley Joel Osmet movie, The Sixth Sense? Remember that line, "I see dead people."

Imagine him saying that line, but with my face. And my voice. And with the words "I collect bed sheets." *shivers* I KNOW! Its totally creepy, right? It gives me nightmares.

I do. I collect them. Vintage ones. Puuuuurrrty Ones. Percale blend ones. Mmmmmm, percale. Anyhoo, does anyone else collect them?

I've been thinking its probably time I do something with them. Because I'm drowning. I can't stop buying them. I have a huge plastic tub filled with them. And I just bought three more yesterday. Its a sickness. So, I have a pattern in mind. Does anyone want to quilt a long with me? Its a quick and easy pattern I designed several years ago. Its a simple one block pattern. The blocks are 10" and there is no secondary design, so you can make as many or as few blocks as you like. Of course, you don't have to use bed sheets, but then your quilt won't look as pretty as mine. (I'm kidding!). This quilt looks great scrappy, or with a fat quarter pack of a single fabric line. Or you could just go nuts. I'm known for doing that occasionally. So anyway, do you want to play along? Leave a comment, link here on your blog, tell your mom, rent a plane with one of those flaggy message thingy's. Shout it from your rooftops. Oh, sorry, I got a little carried away. If you want to play along just let me know. It will probably be at least another week or two before I get started. Go sit and fondle your stash (you know you want to) and find a good selection of fabrics and then come back here and tell me you want to play. Because otherwise I might cry.

It died.

The camera, that is. Our camera is dead. It bit. the. dust. Or rather, maybe hit. the. floor. is a little more accurate. Either way, it really put a damper on a post I had planned for this week. I wanted to do a "day in our life" post about our homeschool. It was going to be awesome. I mean balloons, streamers, fireworks....ok, not really. But I mean we're an average, suburban family who homeschools their children. What person wouldn't be fascinated by reading that post? HA!

Oh, and here's a funny story with which to leave you. Its no secret that we're cheap. We prefer frugal, but come on. Its time to call a duck a duck, right? We're cheap. Anyhoo, my family totally thinks we're all of bunch of crazy people. They do. Its true. My brother even commented about it on my very first blog post. So anyway, we don't have cable because we don't want to spend the money and I know if we did, I'd sit and watch Food Network all day and make everything Paula Deen can dream up. And we all know that's not a good idea! We also happen to have DSL for our internet service. We're on a desktop because the dog killed the laptop a few years ago. We just haven't gotten around to upgrading yet. So how did you like my funny story? Just kidding. I haven't gotten to the funny part yet. My mom comes out to visit for each of the boys' birthdays. Its very convenient that they are exactly six months apart. A co worker asked her if she was going to bring her laptop so she could answer work emails and my mom said "No, I'm visiting my daughter and they don't have cable, they don't have wireless, they don't get a newspaper and they homeschool their children!!!" Jason says "Wow, that's when I realized we were 'those people'!!" Ok, that's the funny part. I'm sorry, but I just think that's hilarious. Is it only me? Maybe. Humor me, ok? ; )

DOH!

**smacks forehead with heel of hand**

I totally didn't sync up my email and comments when I switched blogs. I had been a little disappointed that I wasn't getting any comments. at all. And then I was just looking around on my blog and moving some things and I saw "4 comments" and "2 comments". Hhhmm, and so I read them (imagine that!).

To answer some questions about my smoothies:

• they taste awesome
• its not really a "weightloss drink"
• its spinach and fruit and other good stuff blended up
• I've challenged myself to drink one quart of it. Everyday. For 365 days.

I have a whole other blog to journal that adventure. I know, I know. But its all about my smoothies. Life happens here. Smoothies happen there. If you are interested, click here to read all about The Year of Green Smoothies Challenge. You can also become a fan on Facebook.

So there you have it. Sorry I didn't get back to any of you about your comments. I'm usually really good about answering them.

Rebound, anyone?

Jason's aunt & uncle are very into health and wellness. They own a really cool online store and are currently working on getting their products into several national retailers. They sent us a Needak Rebounder for Christmas and we finally got the time to get it out of the box and built yesterday. The boys and I have been bouncing ever since. Its a lot of fun and more of a workout than you would expect. Oh, and let me just tell you. Rebounding can really stimulate the bowels. I'm just sayin'. You've been warned!