Goin’ off the hook…

for a few days.

Does anyone still have a corded phone they use?  

Hopefully, when I return, I’ll have some fun pictures to share.

 

5:30 am

A few weeks ago I was taking sunrise pictures at 5:30am.  Now this is what I see when I get out of bed.  Fall is most definitely upon us with it’s shorter days.

Wow, is it ever hard to get up when it’s still dark outside. [yawn]

Temperature challenged

We’re at that point in the year here in Northwest Illinois where most days are still a nice temperature (60’s – 70’s) but it also gets pretty chilly at night (30’s – 50’s). In fact the last couple of nights we’ve had frost.  I’ve had to return to letting my car warm up in the morning to get the frost off the windshield (gasp).

We don’t typically turn our heat on this early and have been holding off this year as well by using a small electric heater in the bathroom and elsewhere as needed.  The rest of the house is “cool” or if you’re my daughter-in-law it’s “flat cold!”  

I still have the summer bedding on the bed…cotton sheets and only a light quilt.  I’ve been trying to decide the last couple of chilly nights, do I put the flannel sheets and electric blanket on or wait it out?  You see, if you put it on it might be too warm (think  middle of the night hot flashes) but I don’t want to be cold either (think the chills directly after a middle of the night hot flash). 

• So what do the rest of you northerners do? 
  (I’m not intentionally leaving my southern friends out but am assuming it’s not as much of a decision for you. ;) )
• When do you changeover your bedding to warmer fare? 
• When do you turn your heat on?  as needed or do you have a date you absolutely won’t turn it on before? 
  I have a friend who says November 1st no matter how cold it gets before then. 

Inquiring minds need to know!  :)

Road Trip

I had a couple of appointments in Madison the end of last week.  Instead of making the 1-1/2 hour trip twice in two days, my friend, Joyce went with me and we spent the time in between appointments checking out a few of the area quilt shops.  What fun we had!

We went to…

    Stitchers Crossing in Madison – an decent shop with a little bit of everything that has anything to do with stitching from quilting fabric to needlepoint.  I didn’t buy anything here but my friend did.

Mill House Quilts in Waunakee – Love this place - a great atmosphere in an old mill (hence the name in case you missed it) and tons of fabric.  I bought fabric here for an upcoming birthday project.

JJ Stitches in Sun Prairie – a neat setting for a shop with tons of wool.  Someday I want to learn wool appliqué.  I bought a small project here that I hope to get done for Christmas.  How many more days is it??

Supper Thursday night was at Quaker Steak & Lube.  Such a fun place decorated like a garage.  They even have a car up on a hoist and motorcycles suspended from the ceiling.  My friend, Joyce commented as we walked in that this was such a “Miller place”!  :)  Now, what do you suppose that means?

On Friday after my appointment, we headed west out of Madison to a little town called Black Earth.  I forgot to take a picture but if you’re ever in the area and need shoes, a stop at The Shoe Box is a must!    The Shoe Box is one of the largest independently owned shoe stores in the US carrying over 100 brands and their customer service is out of the box. 

After leaving the Shoe Box, we stopped on the way through Mount Horeb at the Grumpy Troll for lunch on DH’s recommendation.  I ordered the Grump burger and Grump chips(home-made seasoned potato chips).  Amazing!  Definitely on the list to “stop back by”.

We made one more quilt shop stop on the way home in Monticello at the Quilters Compass.  The Compass is a recently opened shop with not a lot of fabric but they’re new yet.  I think it has future potential but frankly, by the time we stopped here, I was quilt shopped out.  Is that even possible?? We made two more stops in Monroe at the Alp & Dell Cheese Store and Brennan’s Market and finally headed home.  Brennan’s is always full of things to sample.  They know how to market that’s for sure.  Once a person tastes it, they’ll probably buy it.  I bought some great Cranberry Chardonnay cheese spread I’m sure i would have never purchased if I hadn’t tried it first.

It’s so much fun to take a road trip but it’s nice to return home too.    In fact we may do a little bit of both of those the end of this week.  More on that topic to come.  :) 

 

Somebody’s 4

Miss Ava turned 4 years old this week.  Her party was tonight.  It just seem possible that it’s been four years ago already that Ava, our first grandchild, let alone a granddaughter, after having 3 boys was born.  I can’t begin to express how much joy she has brought to her Grandpa and I.  She is such a happy, loving child.  It so makes my heart melt when she comes running towards us for a hug when we see each her.   

I hadn’t talked about her gift here yet for two reasons,
1)I didn’t want her to know what the gift was before tonight (actually, I wanted it to be a surprise for Mommy too and Mommy is the one who reads me here) and
2) I didn’t have it completely finished until this afternoon!  I am usually not a procrastinator but life has just plain gotten in the way of alot of things lately.

I found the idea for her gift here @ Pie Plate patterns.  It’s called LuLu’s Yo-Yo’s.  I called my version Ava’s Flower Garden as I didn’t follow the pattern closely plus I wanted to personalize it for our Ava.  If you want to download the pattern, it’s FREE!  How fun is that?

This was also my first attempt at free-motion quilting.  So far not a fan but I understand it’s a practice makes almost perfect thing.  I will need alot of practice if this quilt is any indication.  ARGH!  I can’t believe I have hair left!

Here is my version of LuLu’s Yo-Yo’s – Ava’s Flower Garden.

Miss Ava loves her American Girl dolls so I made her a matching quilt for her doll as well. 
Ava didn’t have a bed for her dolls.  I happened to mention in conversation to my friend, Shelly that I was possibly looking for a doll bed.  I hadn’t found one I liked and thought it would have to come at a later time.  But, lo and behold, this past Monday, Shelly called and offered me the one she had when she was a little girl!  Wow, I was dumbfounded!  We went to work on it with a saw, paint and new bedding.  In rather quick order -- wallah, we have a bed for Ava’s dolls too!  You rock Shelly! 

Here’s praying you & your dollies sleep tight tonight!  We love you sweetpea!

 

25th day of Home Schooling

Do I home school?  No.  Did I?  No. It’s something that I honestly never even considered.  It just wouldn’t have been my gig, so to speak.  But I sure take my hat off to those of you who do or did!  Way to take control of your children's education! 

So what has this got to do with my blog then you might ask?

I’ve spent a fair amount of time this last week in waiting rooms, not really by choice but because of things that needed to be dealt with.  That being said, Friday  morning as DH & I were sitting in yet another waiting room…we watched a Mom and her four children, ages ranging from 5 – 13 (guessing) walk in the building.  They headed straight for us with huge smiles on their faces like they thought we were sitting there waiting for them.  They didn’t look at anyone else and there were at least a dozen others sitting in the same area.  It was almost like they were obeying a homing device that led them directly to us.

They said Good Morning and that they were celebrating their 25th day of homeschooling by committing random acts of kindness. 

They handed me this envelope.

  On the back it said this…..

Inside was “Smiles to me”…

and other random quotes the Mom said the children picked out. Each card they were passing out was different.

As well as these clever little gifts.

They didn’t hand one to anyone else in that waiting area.  How did they know that this was just what I needed to brighten my otherwise not so great day dealing with things I didn’t want to deal with?

We chatted a few minutes but never got their names.  I like to believe our meeting was God-ordained.  God knew that I and maybe even they needed this chance meeting on a typical Friday  morning.

 

Whacks & bruises

“He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to walk humbly with your God.”
Micah 6:8

Our ladies small group has been working our way through the book “Seeking Him – Experiencing the Joy of Personal Revival” by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. 

I would highly recommend it.  Every week has been a proverbial whack upside the head and this last week left a bruise or two (literally).

Last week’s lesson was on humility.  I’ve never considered myself haughty, arrogant or prideful.  But then maybe the first problem was that I didn’t think of myself that way.  Pride isn’t just an arrogance.  It’s so much more. 

There were many things that didn’t apply to me but my, oh my, were there some that did.

A few of the head-whacks I got were …

looking at others faults with a microscope and your own with a telescope – WHACK!  Why do we rate sins?  A sin is a sin is a sin but we tend to categorize them. 

being self-protective of my time – WHACK! (why do I think I can manage my time better than God?)

keeping others at arms length & not being transparent – WHACK!  I tend to not share what’s really going on inside.  You wouldn’t think that someone who has a blog would be a private person but there are just some areas of my being and thoughts that are off limits.   What might people think if I shared that???

finding it difficult to share spiritual needs with others – WHACK! (see above – what might people think?)

are self conscious – WHACK! (again see above – what might people think?)

and the biggest whack of all –
having an independent, self-sufficient spirit – HUGE WHACK & bruises to show for it!  
What’s wrong with being self-sufficient you ask?   It can be a good thing but I tend to take it a little far and am a tad bit of a control freak.  “I can handle it.  I can do it myself.”  I don’t outwardly say I don’t need God but many times my actions loudly speak it.  I much prefer to serve others than humble myself and let them serve me. 
The biggest realization is if I’m self-sufficient then I’m not relying on God to control my life.  There were a couple of events over this past weekend that brought this point home to me in ways I could have never imagined.   Life is not under my control and timing, it’s under God’s.    God is my sovereign Lord and Savior and has my life in His hands and I want to yield to that, really I do.  But unfortunately, sometimes I need a reminder or that proverbial whack to bring it to my attention again.  I am a work in progress for sure.   I just wish those whacks didn’t bruise so darn bad!

 

A few scenes from last weekend’s ride

We’ve been trying to get as much riding in as we can as we know the days are getting shorter and nearer to having to put the motorcycle in the shed for winter. 

Last Sunday was a gorgeous sunny day.  We met J&H and the Grands at a local park for a picnic lunch as an early birthday celebration for DH.  Before we left and went our separate ways, Grandpa DH gave the grands each a ride around the park. It was less than 1/4 mile but they sure seemed to enjoy it.

Miss A, being the big girl she is and almost 4, was big enough to hold on to Grandpa by herself. 

Wow, I can’t believe she’s going to be 4 years old in a couple of weeks.  Time truly flies!

We weren’t so sure about Mr. O holding on by himself so he sat between the two of us and grinned from ear to ear.  

The fields are turning brown. 
Some are even being picked already.

Loved this sign at the end of a farm lane. :)

I wonder if they use this old corn crib yet. 

Most corn nowadays is stored in a bin similar to this one.

We rode along this stream and bluffs for at least a mile.  We could see evidence where it had been out of it’s bank when we many areas flooded back in July.

We’ve been past this old abandoned house many times and I’ve always wanted to stop and explore.  But it’s on a curve along a major highway and there isn’t a good place to pull over and not get killed in the process so I guess I’ll have to settle for a quick snapshot.

Just another pretty NW Illinois backroad.    

Happy riding where ever you may be headed this weekend!

 

A few glimpses of fall weather

Fall is starting to show itself here in Northern Illinois.  The days are warm yet but the nights cool down and make for some wonderful sleeping weather.

The other night I left our patio door to the deck open in the bedroom.  As I was laying in bed I could hear the wind rattling through the drying leaves on the cornstalks in the field behind the house.  I wish I had a way to tape that noise and play it for you here.  It’s one of my favorite noises ever and a true sign that Autumn is on the way!

The corn stalks are turning brown.

The soybeans are drying.

Boys are playing in the dirt during plowing days.

The sunflowers are blooming.  Isn’t there something about a sunflower that just screams “Happy!”? and slowly but surely Fall decorations are starting to appear.

I love this time of year.  In fact, Fall is my favorite season.  It seems too short lived to me especially when that nasty white stuff follows it.  But for now, I shall enjoy!

Labor Day weekend craziness – Part II

Not like we walked enough over the weekend with setting up for the wedding and reception, we walked with a friend in a local Labor Day parade.

 Our friend Judy who is fighting Stage 4 breast cancer had a CanAm Spyder painted pink and is riding it in local parades and car shows to raise awareness for breast cancer and early detection.  She rode while we walked and passed out goodies.   Most of us who were walking with her are on our Hope for Hooters Relay for Life team.

We passed out hot pink fly swatters that said “Aiming for the Cure.”  Cute!
Here I am giving swatters to my grands.  They were only supposed to go to ladies but I made an exception in this case.  :)
See that man reaching for one?  I couldn’t believe the grabby, rude people, some literally demanding one.  Of course, me being my wonderful, kind self made darn good and sure that I conveniently didn’t hear or see those particular people. :)

Even DH got in the act as he and his brother carried the banner for her.  I never thought I’d see my husband wearing a hot pink t-shirt.  Amazing!

What a fun weekend!