What are they thinking?

I wish the makers of all the froo-froo gels, bath salts, shampoos, and related stuff would give a thought to those of us who, ah, shall we say, are a bit impaired in the eyesight? I fall into the bracket (female, mother, grandmother, co-worker, friend, whatever) that I can pretty well count on receiving at least one froo-froo item over the course of the year. Mother's Day, birthday, Christmas, what-have-you.


The labels often have a small font, with a few swirlies thrown in. I don't know about you, but when I'm in the shower in the early morning hours, without my glasses, I have a heck of a time distinguishing what is what. And not only do they do the swirly small font, they tell you what it is in French as well as English. So then after I work to focus, I still can't read it! My solution? Limited froo-froos in the shower. I get the combination shampoo/conditioner so I don't have to try and figure out which is which. Right now I only have 2 other items on the shelf, each of a shape that I can distinguish them pretty easy. Good thing, because I sure couldn't read what they are.

I guess another solution would be to take a marks-a-lot and write what it is in big bold letters. But then that wouldn't be as froo-frooie, would it?

making a difference

I'm fortunate enough that my work allows us to participate in Meals on Wheels. It doesn't involve a lot of time, really only one morning a month, and my day happens to be the fourth Friday. I've been involved with this several years, and quite a few of the clients have been on the delivery route most of the time, and others maybe there just awhile before they drop off the list for whatever reason.

One sweet little lady, Effie, is probably close to 90 years old. Independent, she is usually sitting in her recliner by the front door, reading the newspaper with her magnifying glass. Occasionally a visiting home-health care giver is there, but not this time. Effie forgot to unlock the front door this morning, so it took her a few minutes to get there, wheeling herself along, then reaching out with gnarled hands to hold onto the arm of the recliner to stand enough to open the door. I took the food into the kitchen, helped her back into her wheelchair, and rolled her to the table. She unfolded her hands, revealing some pills she needed to take. Rather than take them before letting me in, she just held onto them. "I didn't want to keep you waiting, dear." Sweet, sweet lady.

And you realize some of the people need a bit of conversation as well as the meal. My list was shorter today, allowing me a bit more time. This one particular client is from another country, but I couldn't place where. "Italy," said with a lilting emphasis and more than a touch of pride. She shared with me how to make meatballs, using a "little" bit of garlic. I hope to be able to tell her when I see her again that I've given it a try. She also told me she really liked my haircut (she's said this before). When I got back to the office, I told Kathy how talkative this woman was today, and she's glad of the outside contact. Kathy told me, "yeah, she always tells me she likes the color of my hair". Hey, if this works to be a good conversation starter for her, I'm all for another compliment!

We don't have to do a whole lot to make a difference to someone, do we? And you know, I think in turn we're making a difference in ourselves.

whew! busy weekend

Yes, it was a busy weekend, but a good one.

I got to spend the day Saturday with Rhett and Ashlynn. Angela had an out-of-town funeral to attend (her cousin passed away) so I was able to give R & A some quality Grams time. We played this little piggy went to market (they love it!) and ride-a-horsey (this is bouncing on my foot, not riding on my back), as well as singing about twinkle twinkle little star and the wheels on the bus going round and round. They're so much fun.

And the grand-dogs got a bit of attention too. Elizabeth and David celebrated their first anniversary (does it seem possible???), so I helped on the feeding duties while they were gone. Well, not the whole weekend, but a couple of times anyway. Lucy has grown by leaps and bounds...really, leaps and bounds. I would say they were so glad to see me, but I think it was more a matter of them being happy for feeding time!

I also went into my Susie Homemaker role, and had John and Bonnie over for lunch. They may be on to me now, this is the second time in a row they've been over that I've tried a new recipe on them. This one was a meatloaf sent by Kraft Foods. I'm on their mailing list and get newsletters every week or two, filled with mouth-watering pictures. Anyhow, meatloaf just conjured up warmth and comfort. I've not had a definite recipe, and haven't made it in ages, so thought I'd give it a try. Results? It was good, and I will probably make it again. Though I won't need to anytime soon, it made enough that I froze about 3 or 4 individual servings. J & B seemed to like it fine. Nolene and Joe were invited too, but couldn't make it...or maybe they had their suspicions I'd be experimenting again! What was the first new-to-me recipe I made for them, you ask? It was a roast in the crock pot, with sweet potatoes, and came out quite good. The recipe I linked to is very similar, just couldn't find the web link for the exact one I used.

That's it for now, it's almost time to be off to work. Have a good week, all.

Will there be another OKC quilt show????

I got my Prairie Quilts Inc newsletter today. (They've put on the Oklahoma City quilt show for several years.) One little sentence caught my eye...she's retiring as the show's promoter.

Well. That got my curiosity up, so I emailed Randa (no, I don't know her personally) and asked if there would be a 2010 OKC quilt show. She said it depends if anyone buys it or not, that she's not actively pursuing a buyer at this point.

I can't even imagine the amount of time and money it takes to put on a show like that. I mean, you're talking about renting a convention center, lining up sponsors and vendors and judges and exhibits and volunteers and publicity and I'm sure there's a ton more that I can't even fathom right this minute. And of course there are always potential weather issues when you have an event in the middle of winter. That's why I didn't go in '08, when the weather was really bad. I wasn't able to make it this year either, thinking, I'll make sure I go next year.

Sigh. Let's keep our fingers crossed that there will be an OKC quilt show next year.

Carol Burnett at the Bass

I got out on the town tonite to see Carol Burnett at the Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth. Bonnie came up with the idea several months ago, and we got our tickets early enough to have great seats. Her friend Carlene joined us, so it was a girls night out.

I didn't know what to expect for a performance, but the newspaper gave a hint this weekend when it suggested we might want to bring our zany questions. As it turns out, it was an evening of remembering (I can't spell reminiscing!) as she talked about and showed clips of her tv series, interspersed with questions from the audience. One of the questions asked about any new projects she might be working on...lo and behold, she's writing a book of anecdotes from those days gone by, and some of it will come from questions she gets on this tour. So there you have it...we pay to see her to give her material to write a book! But that's ok...it was a fun evening, and we got to see a living legend.

crazy baby steps

One of the things I've told myself I will do this year is to try a few new things, crazy quilting being one of them. To that end, here are my first efforts towards cq-ing. The first two I pieced kind of haphazardly, using some instructions as a guideline. The third (the one done in Christmas prints), I actually followed the instructions. Amazing what a difference it makes, go figure.

This is just the first step. The next will be to add embellishments. I don't have a problem with the embroidery, and think that will go smoothly. I can probably find a button or two that will work. But I've not done any of the "fancy" stuff, i.e. silk ribbon embroidery, lacework, and beading. That's the part where I'll be stepping out of my comfort zone. I'll keep you posted, and think it will be fun. Wish me luck...

Edited to add: as I look at it more, I think it's too busy for the embellishments. Probably will work fine in an overall crazy quilt, but these aren't right for the pretty little intricate cq-ing. I continue on.