closer and closer

Went to eye doctor  today because  it is getting harder and harder to read up close.  Can't read on either bottle  "shampoo" or "conditioner" but I can still see my toes.   Noticed I'm sitting farther away from my sewing machine than comfortable.  Thought my arms weren't long enough last Sunday.  Now I know why:  I can't see up close again.  Its been two years since I went to eye doctor.  2 pairs of classes $600+ dollars.  What is insurance paying for?  I walked out w/ no glasses.  Going to have to find a cheap place and buy 4th rate lenses.  Got to fill out the 2014-2015 intent form today.  Yup.  I wrote      " Miller.  retire.                      YIPEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!  "     10 weeks, 69 calendar days and 49 school days.     I honestly  can't wait until weeks , days and days are below 15.

zippers and fingers

Been trying to teach myself how to put a zipper in a bag.  Bought these flippin patterns.  great directions on how to make handles:  but:  "attach zipper"  is all I get.  Bought a book on how to make bags:  again :attach zipper.  Watched tutorials.  Forget that.  I can figure out how to attach zipper without handles.  Went to a quilt show after Sat.  school.  This women gave me a tutorial.  Lord!! we practiced and practiced.  My fingers hurt.   Forget dinner.  Forget cleaning.  Came and put a zipper in.  Lord have mercy I forgot the frickin handles.  Made a bag today w/ zipper.  8 tries.  Forgot the stablizer.  Have to rip and do again.  Got the handles in after a bazillion tries.  My fingers are so sore
If you haven't seen movie Two Brothers yet:  it really is good.  Only 5000 tigers left in wild.  Can't believe they sell tigers on the market.  The way the press has gone after "puppy mills:  I learned a in Missouri that they have tiger mills.  So sad.  The zoos are full.

Babies from Oklahoma

                                         Tiger lives in Dallas

                                  Missouri cat:  "tiger mill" sanctuary

                       printed and soon to be a bag.

140 posts to date

 Can't believe it once was 140 days to retirement.

 I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

70 calendar days left and 140 posts.  Have to work Sat. School tomorrow.  Teaching reading.  Do you remember inference and your poetry?  Oh joy.  But, wait!  I saw 7 deer this morning and getting ready to work on the puppy quilt.  In 70 days next time I see them I will park my car and follow.

dentist today

Yippee.  1/2 day.  Lunch and then errands.  Amazing how many people don't work.  Or were they all on 1/2 day to.  Drill and kill.  Wait that's my math kids.  Getting fractions and long division.  They work so hard.  Me?  I'm going nuts.  7 kids all with different missing skills.  Called in library aide to help the 3 slowest.  Drill and clean.  In and out of dentist in 36 min.  Not my  best record but good enough.  Truly a bazzarr sensation having spit again.  The medicine I had been on created dry mouth: no spit.  Sometimes I find myself drooling.  But in spite of me and everything else.  10 weeks 1 day and I'm off to a new adventure.

Who would have thought

George and I will have been married 11 years.  Who would have thought I would settle down.  Sitting at my sewing table w/ 2 laptops.  One for real stuff the other for Netflix.  Darn computer.  I forgot to plug it in.   Been without TV 3 years.  I never thought I would survive.  Taught all over the world but spent 7 years here in Wichita Falls.  Never thought I would make it.  73 days left and I take quilt class from David Taylor:



hand applique by David Taylor.

cruel and unusual punishment

 I would kill my friend Alan if he did this.  I would murder GEorge and cut him up in 20 pieces if he even thought of this.

 watching horses at a creek : waiting for turkeys and sunset

temp:  dropping to the 40's :  no sweater

 standing at the roadside:  looking at my feet.  I can't.  I just can't.

 pick up a rock and drop it off the bridge and into the creek.

 OMG.  the horses took off running away from monsters.

 stopped to look:  "bitch"

I live in Wichita Falls, and went to the Wichitas in Oklahoma

  I live in Wichita Falls, and went to the Wichitas in Oklahoma

                                                               Waited 7 years to see the elk up close and personal

time

16 days and I will be heading to San Antonio.  Can't wait to drool over Henry Winkler, James Patterson and Shamu.  Darn!!  they are all getting old.

   I just can't wait to get up Monday morning at 6 am

ouch! reading

George and my dad are the only people I know who read manuals.  Ouch!  I hate reading manuals.  I think I read my first camera manual once.  I am proud to say I am a skimmer.  Kind of like supper.  If it can't get from freezer to my belly in 20 min.  It won't get fixed.  I hate to read patterns. All this week I have  used tools.  I can't believe I even used a ruler with the bindings.  I wonder if I'm using the tools correctly.  Can't find instructions anymore.  We are having cream of tomato soup tonight read the recipe on-line.  Made chicken broth this week.  Don't like canned.  Way too much salt.  Made myself wake-up at 7:45 today.  Spring Break has sprung.  Started reading Hemingway's "To have or have not"  Holy Toledo! (yup! I was there Toledo, Spain.  Spent the nite on Mediterranean Sea.)  Holy Moly it is good.  Language rough and a murder at start.  Need to watch the Bogie movie again.  But,  can't.  Have to go  back to work Monday and have many more UFO's to finish now that I'm getting my health back.  Hair coming back.  Energy back.  Released from Doc. :  won't go back for 6  mos.  Finally after 3 1/2 years.  Crazy pills.  Falling. Poisoned. burned. Steroids, etc.  Now, he said I'm fat.  Yes I know I'm fat.  I can't wear my sweaters anymore.  What a great motivator:  tell your loved ones.  Tell your friends.  Ladies,  especially menopausal women:  Estrogen is stored in fat cells.  Bodies continually make estrogen throughout life.  Breast cancer cells feed off  estrogen.  Darn it!!  I was just starting to enjoy: chips, fries, eating out, pot pies, true coke, :  Now I have to change my taste buds back to brocolli.  Now I know why they used to leave us old farts on the Tundra during hard times.

                                                           Hand painted, quilted  and now done.

 

                                        Ironing board made by shop kids.  Big enough for 6 foot quilt and cat.

                                                         hand-painted animals.  quilted and ready for binding.

                                                                 bag with zip

                                                                       redid his eyes.

Binding and done.  Came out lovely.  Can't wait 11 weeks.  New things to add to my webpage.   Clean-up web page in 11 weeks. 

To Read or not to Read.

America.  We all go to school.  We all have the same opportunity.  Some take advantage of this opportunity.  Others never learn to read or keep a job.  Is it environmental or is it genetic?  Some kids from the same family will become independent and successful as other siblings will be dependent on someone or something for life.   It's not about material things or college degrees.  It's about success and how you raise your children.  It's how you value education.  An American hero is a dad who gets up and goes to work every  single day and stays involved in your life.  Some heroes have to work two jobs to make sure you get supper every night. My dad was an American Hero.  My grandmothers never went to school, but, they worked hard in a foreign country.  I remember my parents always reading.  They never received college degrees. I was given books but no one read to me.   I hated school.  I dropped out several times.  I flunked my first semester of college.  I did not want to go to college.  In America you get to screw up and disappoint your dad several times.  But, the opportunities never stop.  I have a college degree and a Masters in Environmental Studies.  I have worked all over the world.  I have taught hundreds of children to read.   I never worked hard. I hope my great grandparents are proud of me and proud of my parents for making me value reading and education.  America the home of second chances.   Here are some UFO's (unfinished objects)

                                                         binding today

                                                     finished painting.  Ready to place in bag.

                                             79 days and will begin to make pattern for quilt

                                             I wish George would look at me like this.

                                                 block 6 of foot quilt

                                   Look what I found.  12 UFO's.   Embroidered and Ready to place in quilt. 
                                                            Cleaning can discover new things.
Had to get up 8 today.  Spring Break over on Monday.  Guess I will get dressed and shoes.  YUCK!  But wait!  only 56 school days left.

education never enough

Took a class in my holy jeans and shirt.  Oh my!  I learned so much.  How to use 3 more presser feet. Software to paint, software for cutwork etc   Cleaned my drawers around my sewing machine.  Now I know why they call it spring cleaning.   Yuck!  gross.  I have a Bernina nothing purrs like a Bernina.  My class was on my laptop on a Bernina webinar.  Whatever machine you have,  author you like or idea you need to teach...find the websites and sign-up!  technology is so amazing:  did I say that...Yeah!  I had 2 frickin trojans (nasty virus) on my brand new machine.  A billion dollars at the computer store to get her fixed.  But i have George.  I can now print and download my.  Photos from my spring clean in my studio

my studio

                                                        hand-dyes folded

                                                               a clean ironing board I share w/ cat

                                                                fabrics happy

                                                                        made it to my sewing machine!!!

                                                                    binders put back
                                                                

                                                                     toys dusted   

oh! oh!  my cutting board w/ my UFO's.  I see my cowboy quilt.

Education is so darn important

I can't imagine life not able to read and never worrying about the law or signing contracts.  I tutor an older gentleman.  He can't read.  I looked up my ancestors in the 1870's ish:  boys went to school for 6 hours, girls went 2.  I wonder if my grandparents could read and write.  They all owned businesses.  My grandmother came over at age 12, started as a seamstress and by age 16 was a machinist and living alone. Married at 17. How difficult it must have been coming to America and not speaking English.  When I lived overseas I never had to worry.  American Culture was so dominate.  I would learn a few verbs.  Memorize how to find my way home:  Learn in host language"  American teacher @ American School" and all was real.  The host country had enough American English/movie English that I never felt totally lost.  Japan was the hardest, but my friend wrote her address down in both English and Japanese.  The third time, I was brave enough to take train from airport through Tokyo alone.

Life is grand today

46 degrees a little overcast but I can't breathe.  High winds, dust and mites all over the place.  Cooking in crock pot:  get a cheap hunk of beef.  Throw a coke on it.  Let cook until falls apart.  Then throw barbecue sauce on it.  great meal.  But at last weeks dog show:  (i bought a jar of homemade sauce:  do I hear jealous);  they made us these soft tacos on a grill w/ melted Mexican cheese, green onions and the sauce.  Oh my:  just delicious.  Lazy day today.  Yes!  My sewing room is clean.  Everything back in its place.  Fabric(yes) folded and separated by color:  wools, cottons and hand-dyed.  Threads are back in cases.  Ribbons in drawers, art supplies on shelves.  Finished Cres: Have to say good-bye to the Lunar Chronicles.   Someday I hope we can visit the moon.  Finished watching Season 2 of Copper.  It's a BBC show about New York 5 points.  I hate greed and corruption but America would not be America without it.  Finished Hemingway:  war is empty: life becomes empty  nobody ever wins. "farewell to arms". A great read: but I hated it. Things we do for students.   My docs from Ancestry haven't come.  Just found out my grandfather stayed w/ his maternal uncle in New York before heading to Iowa  and:   I can't find a darn thing now but I can see my cutting table.

a perfect day today.

Lots of slow rain.  Now I don't have to worry about my trees dieing for another 6 wks.  I really don't want to go into stage 5 water restrictions.  Gonna have to figure out how to haul water w/out a truck.  Went to library to use ancestry.com.   1000's more records have been down loaded since last year.  Sent myself some copies of records darn it.  They didn't come.  I guess that's what I get for using it free.  You get bumped off after 2 hours.  Took me hour to figure out how to use library version.  My grandmother came over at age 14 (12) as a servant to a family.  Everyone was so poor and we Americans just take everything for granted.  People who get nails done, have cell phones and a billion videos are not poor.  Shame on us.

integrity and priority

I will drop $14 on a pair of socks but won't spend $11.00 on a magazine.  I can spend $50 at a quilt shop but won't spend $30 on a battery so I can download photos w/out waiting to charge a flippin battery over nite. Looking into a better cell phone.  Increases my bill by $31/ month.  Will spend $17.00 on fajitas but it aggravates me that I have to buy a coke for $1.25 at school. Taught my 14 year olds how to divide.  Took a week.  they were able to smile and keep up w/ me now that they know their times tables.  Shame on us for not teaching these skills.  They will never forget me.  I taught them how to use a calculator.  Long division and to multiply.  Next week AFTER spring break we work on multiplying 3 digit numbers. There are not enough school days in a year.  Oh Lord :  did I say that.  Strike me dead.

                                                   pregnant

                                                               going to another dog show

                                                  a perfect photo

                                                   soon to be a quilt.  will start in 10 weeks.

books!

I have never been one to read more than one book at a time.  So how the hell am I reading 3?  I just want to live in the Lunar Chronicles.  Lord!  I just love Cres.  I confess!  I do.  My heart goes pittar patter every time they talk about the prince.  It's only 500 pages of intense, intense. Then I started that:  war is hell book by Hemingway.  Man!  I hate bludgeoning women and I detest womanizers even more. I love Hemingway but I'm just to old to like shallow women and the men who make them shallow.  I just can't endure romance novels.  I have 200 pages left of a 500 page semi-nonfiction book:  did I say semi??? Its historical fiction based on real life.  During an obscure battle during the civil war 15,000 men died.  That was a time before soldiers had dog tags and could be identified.  This woman and her slave:  took it upon themselves to re-bury and mark the graves of these soldiers.  The plantation has become a national park.  It's the only adult book I've read in years but, Cres was released and I have 3 teachers waiting for it.  $18.00 for a kid book.  Just plain unreasonable.  Not one but 2 I bought for the library. 

                                                         finished and mounted

                                                          doggie bow ties

                                                      soon to be quilts:  feet and tails

                                                              definately waiting to be quilted