Early Thursday

Well, it's about 8 a.m. and my day lies ahead.  I was going to start right in on photo sorting on my computer and work on some genealogy files but I think I'll hold off until a little later in the morning.  I've been struggling with applique techniques the last few days and am getting a tad frustrated that it's not moving along quicker than I thought it would.  So often my sewing projects are learn-as-I-go and man oh man, that is certainly the case this week.

I've really wanted to tackle applique wall hangings and sooner or later, I'm going to fall into the system I'm most comfortable with.  After trying to turn under the applique piece by ironing it and then by needle pushing it, I was getting no where so I went back to try the freezer paper method again. It's a lot of work but at least I'm sitting down.  Ha!  I found a fairly simple animal project I wanted to do.  I traced the design of each animal using tracing paper and copying it from the book. Then I used carbon paper to take that traced design and transfer it to a piece of plastic and/or cardboard like material. I cut that out and traced around it onto the freezer paper. Then you put the shiny side down of the freezer paper onto the wrong side of the piece of material that animal is going to be.  You iron it and then cut around the design leaving a quarter inch margin all the way around.  This next part was kind of tricky as I had problems with the various glues I was using.  Finally settled on this stuff I squeezed onto a piece of tinfoil and spread along the edges of the material with a toothpick. Not handy but my tube of cloth glue wasn't working.

After getting the animal piece glued all around, I pinned the piece to the background square of material I intended to sew on by hand.  I'm not good at hand sewing and figured I needed the practice. I cut out a dozen animals and settled in on my recliner last night to start on my turtle.  Even using a thimble, the going was way too slow as it was hard to push through the freezer paper underneath.  The directions said you can remove the paper but not until you've sewn the piece onto the background square.

I gave up after two hours and decided I was going to machine sew these critters in the morning.  I need practice with that, as well.  Meanwhile, after sitting there that long to do this tedious cutting and gluing and sewing, I found I was sore and uncomfortable.  I don't get up and move around like you're supposed to so it's my own fault!

Part of the reason I got so involved is the audio book I was listening to. Dean Koontz' "Life Expectancy."  Really good!  More funny than scary but fabulous story line.

By the time I left the sewing room, I was too tired to think about dinner so I tossed a Marie Callendar turkey pot pie in the microwave and decided I'd cook the chicken pieces I'd cut up today.  Need to pull out my cookbooks and do some studying too.  Dinner menus continue to leave me bored and not wanting to bother.

Fed-X brought me a package in the afternoon. A tune-up kit for my lawnmower that Hunter ordered for me online.  He's going to tune up my mower and sharpen the blades as it's running really bad.  I decided to bite the bullet and go get my sewing scissors sharpened.  I couldn't find the business downtown (after circling the block several times and going down alleys) and when I called them, they told me they had moved up to my neighborhood. The next day I drove over there and they were closed. Sigh...  Tried again yesterday and finally got it done. Cost me $3 for each pair (only had two) but I doubt I'll go to the trouble again as I don't think they cut worth a darn.  Better at the tips but not better overall. Probably should invest in a new pair but I'll try sharpening them with tinfoil and sandpaper first.

Tuesday I went for the MRI on my low back.  Decided I was tired of not being able to do anything and needed to find out exactly what is wrong.  Have already decided that I don't want to walk down the surgery road. My hope is a nice shot will do the trick.  And losing weight, of course. There's always THAT! I had to take a couple of "chill pills" to get past the claustrophobia but surprisingly, it wasn't that bad at all.  Course I got home at 3:30 and was drowsy so I went to bed and slept until 10 pm.  Then I woke up refreshed but knew I had to get back on schedule. Forced myself to stay in bed and slept until 8 hours.  I knew I was tired.

I wrote a short Town Kid blog on the Leader yesterday but once I'm out of material from the family memory book I'm using for subjects, I'm not sure what I'll talk about. I'll think of something, though. I don't have anything planned for the rest of the month. Mary, Andy, and Jake are coming the last weekend of this month to do odds and ends around the yard that need fixing. Will be fun to see what I can find to keep Jake occupied.  They're in the middle of potty training right now and like bedtime, he's testing them both to the limit.  He's a smart little kid, though, and Mary feels he's real close at success.  Figures all it will take is one time and he'll be onboard.

Well, I just had a half hour phone visit with Mary so now I'm back.  They sure have a busy traveling menu lined up.  Rochester, NY; Las Vegas, Seaside, SF...I forget what else.

Sat down with a few of my solar yard lights the other day to clean them up and add fresh batteries. I moved them to the pots on my deck so even though my yard is crummy with dandelions and moss, I have nice night lights. Ha!

Here's another picture of "nice people"....

                  One coffee shop lets stray dogs sleep inside every night after customers leave

And here's the "Looking Back" photo that was in the Leader this week.  1958-59? photo of the high school baseball team.

in bus: Cecil Muggy, Bill Hendricks,Bruce Chesterfield,Bruce Huybers,Ron Kenney,Mike Martin,Bob Baker, Rick Judy, Dave Brown. In front: George Brown, coach; Jim Wilson,Jim Logue,Bill Cable, Jim Wallace, Mike McMahon,Joe Thacker,Don Mitton,Tom Dieu,Don Waters, Ron Mitton.

(Candy Roffler "thought" it might be her dad but Ron says it is him so I'm going with Ron on this one)