Home Sweet Home

As much fun as vacation is, coming home again is always so much better.  We were so lucky to have reserved a cabin for our camping trip or we would have been home much sooner.  Flash flood and tornado warnings are a bit more than I am willing to subject the kids to in a tent.  There was lots of good family time.  Even though it turned a little bit chilly, hiking and fishing were still crowd pleasers and the kids were all brave enough to try out swimming in the springs.  They weren't hot springs unfortunately.  Best of all, spring break is only half over so there is plenty time to relax before heading back to school for the final stretch.
I am way behind on blog reading and e-mail, but hope to work my way through it while watching a movie with the kids tonight.  I did get a bit of sewing room time in today and spent it catching up on scrap cutting.  Tackling one color at a time makes it seem less overwhelming somehow.  

Weekend Washed Away

I'm not sure why I thought I could do camporee, a quilt show, pink scrap sewing and all the usual weekend work done all during the same day.  Yesterday was a beautiful day for Camporee, a tiny bit hot and sticky, but sunny and gorgeous.  I tried to talk Sydney in to letting me leave as her troop had plenty of adult supervision, but she really wanted me with her all day.  I got her home and took time to shower and have dinner before heading back for the night shift with Anna's troop.  Things started off well enough, we did the campfire and DJ followed by inflatable fun.  Trying to settle the girls down to sleep was a bit difficult, but we finally got them to quiet down around midnight.  It was 1 a.m. when the rain started.  Shouldn't have been a big deal, but I was in a very leaky tent and spent most of the night trying to dodge falling drops and move my sleeping bag out of puddles.  By dawn I was sitting up on a pile of damp sleeping bag soaked to the bone without a stitch of dry clothing to be found.  I grabbed Anna and abandoned all hope, heading for home.  I feel really bad about abandoning the rest of the troop, but I did head back later to find them all gone as well.  The campsite was a submerged mess of partially collapsed tents and abandoned camping gear.  We grabbed what we could and another family from the troop was nice enough to pack all the tents up and deliver them after the rain had died down.  We've all been a bit wiped out since then, catching up on laundry and taking turns napping.  Not exactly the productive weekend I had hoped for, but tomorrow is another day. 

Best Camping Weekend Ever

I really wanted to skip camping this weekend.  I've been sick all week and could have happily studied the inside of my eyelids for several days. My good friend Meisje was planning the event though, and I've been trying to help her out a little along the way.  So I went to the drug store and asked for the good stuff that they keep hidden in the back and packed up my box of tissues and my happy face.

Meisje was driving and we did an amazing job of loading up five people and two families along with the regular camping stuff like tents and food and the event stuff like craft and game supplies.  The weather was perfect, the campground was beautiful, the people were friendly and helpful.  There wasn't much that could have made it a better weekend. 

Meisje and I were sharing a site which was adjacent to our friends Sue and Ashlyn.  We all took turns cooking meals and had lots of tasty food without a lot of effort. We all have 11 year old daughters and they enjoyed spending some time together. 

Friday evening was arrival and unpacking.  The girls made team flags to mark their campsites and then went trick-or-treating for trail mix.   We then had a campfire with delicious s'mores and jiffy pop.  There were giant marshmallows that were sinfully delicious.  Sue cooked hard and soft tacos.  Food always tastes so much better when it is eaten outside next to a campfire. 

Saturday morning Ashyln cooked pancakes and bacon and then we went on a nature walk with a ranger in the morning and learned about the native vegetation.  The girls chewed on teeth tree which is used to make Novocaine and nibbled on salt pickle and sea wart. 

After that there was a presentatation on local animal life followed by games and crafts. I didn't get many pictures after that because I was helping out. 

That afternoon Sue and Ashlyn took the older girls to Ripley's Believe it or Not while Sydney and I stayed back to set up for the campfire and dinner.  Dinner was catered by a local barbeque place and was delicious!  It is so nice to camp with a group of Girl Scout leaders because everyone is always so ready to lend a hand.  Every time we turned around, someone was finishing what we had started or putting away the pieces.  The big group campfire and sing along followed, and the girls got team prizes for chips that they had earned doing good deeds. 

March Madness

It's been two weekends since my last post. (Sounds like the Catholic thing where they say it's been two weeks since my last confession) Last weekend was the big camporee for the Girl Scouts. That required quite a bit of planning and work on my part, and quilting took a back seat for a while. So did house and yard work, so that has taken of bit of catch up and recovery work. It was a nice weekend though, and I think the girls enjoyed themselves. This weekend was the camporee for the Boy Scouts, which was Kurt's job, leaving me home to work on the catching up. It was finally nice enough to venture out into the yard, and I spent 8 solid hours out there cutting out the dead foliage. This winter took a big toll on our landscaping, I can already see some of what is lost, but I think some of it will come back with a little patience. I'm exhausted now, with lots of sore muscles to remind me of my hard work.
Last week at school was our big accreditation visit, so there was a bit of effort needed there as well. That seems to have gone well, though it was a bit stressful for everyone to have lots of visitors traipsing about. There is only a week left until spring break, and that includes half a day on Friday as well as all of the 1oth graders gone on a college visit for one of the days. Not many teaching days amongst all of that, but I'll get as much in as I can.
There are two ladies at work getting ready to have babies any minute, so I decided to take some time this weekend to work on baby quilts. One is going to be girl, so I chose pink and green for that. I based it on a stripy quilt that I designed for the Girl Scout nursing home project a couple of years ago. I think it is soft and feminine, though Kurt thinks it looks like something for a little old lady. (Sometimes I wonder why I keep asking him what he thinks -- he can be brutal). The other is based on a pattern that I saw in Quiltmaker magazine and uses strip sets and four patches surrounding squares of novelty fabrics. I used 2 inch strips instead of the 2.5 inches in the pattern, and increased the size of the center squares as well. I think I changed the corners a bit too, though I don't have the pattern here to check. Looking at the photo, I'm thinking I could have made them a bit larger still to be equal in size to the total size of the 16 patches formed where all the corner squares meet. I've got the blocks put together now, though they aren't in the pictures. Now I've just got to find something for the back and get them all layered up. They aren't large, so it should take long to get them quilted and bound.

Camping

This weekend was the annual Girl Scout Leader Daughter camping trip. Both girls went with me and we had some serious mother daughter bonding time. Sydney stuck pretty close to me most of the time, but Anna had two friends along who were her own age. I haven't managed to find my camera yet in all of the unpacking, so instead I stole this from my friend Ashyln's facebook page. I was lucky enough to be able to have two of my own friends along this year, so much fun was had by all. I even got to carpool with my friend Meisje, so we got caught up on all the things we've missed discussing since I became a lazy bum and stopped running with her.
It was a bit cold and rainy on Saturday, and we were ready to call it quits after dinner if the campfire wasn't going to happen. We were lucky enough to be "camping" in heated cabins, but it still wasn't quite as much fun after most of the outdoor activities had been rained out. It did clear up though in time for s'mores and campfire songs all around. We were home on Sunday in time to sell some more Girl Scout cookies and get ready for our OM meeting.
OM is next weekend, followed by Girl Scout Camporee the weekend after. I think the next one is Cub Scout camping and pinewood derby. We might be clear after that, although now that I add up the weeks, that might bring us up to Spring Break. My mom is planning to come and visit, I hope that all works out because otherwise we had been planning a trip up to see her.
I didn't do much sewing this weekend, although I did push through some more of the star blocks. I got them all ironed and trimmed tonight, so I can put the blocks together the next time I get a chance.

Camporee

Not a lot of sewing went on this week. I did finish the block for buttons and bowties and got several more happy blocks put together. Most of the week was spent getting ready for Camporee. Our troop took 8 girls for one night of camping and a full day of outdoor fun. We started the day with canoeing followed by crafts, track and field events, archery and engineering (building things with spaghetti and marshmallows). The day ended with outdoor cooking, a dance party and the obligatory campfire songs.

Sydney's Daisy troop came for the day, and because she was on the same rotation as our troop, I got to at least see her events as well. She really wants to camp out, but it wouldn't be fair to our troop to have siblings tagging along. We'll have to try a family camping trip soon so she can sleep in a real tent in the woods.

The girls have been doing this for three years now and are getting pretty good at it. They know how to set up a tent, organize a campsite and practice "leave no trace" camping. Our new skills this year included using matches, outdoor cooking and washing dishes outside. We even made an outdoor hand washing station out of an old laundry detergent bottle, a pantyhose leg and a bar of soap.

They badly wanted to spend two nights camping, but I'm not sure we are quite ready yet. Miss Sheila was a true godsend. The mom who had volunteered to help out was busy for most of the day and there was no way I could have handled it all alone. She is so patient with the girls, and always ready to offer a solution or a helping hand.

Everyone went home on Sunday filthy dirty and exhausted, but after a long hot shower and a nice long nap, all was well again. I keep telling myself how good it is for the girls to learn these skills and gain independence and self confidence. It is such a small window of time that they are interested and willing to participate. By the time they get to junior high and high school most of them will want to move on. I am glad I get to have them now while they are still eager and willing.

Today was back to work again. We're studying solutions in Chemistry and blood spatter patterns in Forensic Science. They managed somehow to spatter fake blood all over the room and still leave it shiny clean at the end of the period. I was amazed! I found out I'll be teaching Anatomy, Chemistry and Biology next year. Best of all -- for the first time in 6 years, I'll have my own classroom! I'm so excited! I will be able to unpack my cart and settle in. I'm going to get a stapler and a roll of tape and have a proper in-basket. For once, when someone asks to sharpen a pencil, I'll know where to send them. I'm a little sad to loose the Forensic Science, but I think it will come back again later.
I hope everyone had a good weekend. I'm sure lots of good quilty fun happened while I was playing in the dirt.

Camping and Such

I worried a lot about the weather being too cold to camp this weekend. Although it did get a little chilly at night, it was quite nice during the day. This was the weekend for the annual leader daughter camping trip hosted by our Girl Scout Service Unit. I took both girls for the first time this year as it is Sydney's first year as a Daisy Scout. Much camping fun was had by all, from geo-caching and fishing to s'mores and campfire songs. We found two caches in our first try with the GPS, but didn't manage to catch any fish. I'm pretty happy about that 'cause I didn't bring anything to clean or cook the fish with if we had caught any. Honestly, I forgot to bring the bait, but Girls Scouts are always prepared and everyone else seemed to have plenty to share.

Sydney took a little power nap in the afternoon while Anna was off to do a mail-box trail with her friend Meredith. The day ended with the required campfire songs and s'more roasting session. I'm always amazed at how readily we hand sharp pointy stick over to young kids and sent them over to a roaring blaze with only a hat or bandana for protection.

Ryan was pretty excited to have all of us girls out of the house and had all sorts of "boy time" planned for the men folk at home. They were both a little sad that there was no football on TV, but they still managed to have some quality time together.

Most of the weekend was booked, but I did manage to lay out my Old Hurricane Road quilt on Sunday afternoon while everyone else was busy with an Odysey of the Mind practice. This is my UFO of the month for January, and I'm running out of time to get it finished up. I got a few rows quilted before dinner tonight, and I think it will finish up pretty quickly. I'm going to put some palm frond like shapes in the dark colored rectangles and some sort of circular hurricane type shape in the pinwheel areas. I'm tying it all in to my theme of "Florida in the Fall". I'm hoping by the time I get this one finished up I'll have come up with some inspiration for my Double Delight border.

Not Enough Hours in the Day

I'm sitting here watching inauguration coverage on TV, thinking about all the things that I should be doing. The list goes on in a never ending cycle and changes little over time. However, some moments are bigger than the present, and I am not going to miss the inauguration because I needed to fold a load of laundry. Instead I worked on the quilt that I've been turning over in my mind since election night. It took me a couple of hours this afternoon to put the letters together, and maybe this evening I can decide what I am going to do with them. The finished quilt will be a wall hanging that can hang in the foyer.
I was still at school during the swearing in ceremony, so some of us gathered and watched together. My school is strongly conservative and my students, for the most part, are not happy to see a democratic administration coming in. I cautioned them all that we would not watch any of the coverage if they could not contain their negative comments. I'm thrilled to see a change coming and am full of optimism and hope that we will all see some real change in the future.

It was a crazy weekend, and I'll be playing catch up all week. I think I mentioned on Friday that I was going to be learning how to camp this weekend. The weather was not exactly ideal, but I made it through all of the required training without any frostbite. I must admit that I was feeling pretty sorry for myself after shivering through all of Saturday and thought about bailing when they started warning us about hypothermia as the day ended. I stuck it out though, and by Sunday it had started to warm enough that a few brave souls started to shed their outer layers. My lips slowly turned from purple back to pink and I started to feel better about life. I am now literate in 6 types of outdoor cooking (stick cookery, one pot, propane, dutch oven, box oven and advance stick cookery) and a wide variety of camping tools and paraphanelia. We were back about dinner time, tired and smelly, and I spent the rest of the evening unpacking and such. I was so hoping to come back to a clean house and neatly folded laundry, but the rest of the family was frantically busy all weekend with ice skating and OM and birthday parties. All the usual weekend fun. The house never does well with the usual weekend fun, so I spent my time on Monday afternoon putting it all back together.
We were off yesterday for MLK day and I took advantage of having an extra day to get in one more long run. I was still feeling horrible about bailing on my last run and wanted to get in just one more. Meisje was kind enough to bring her son to babysit, and we took off from here to get in 24 miles. We took two Gatorade breaks and one break to deliver Anna home from a sleepover, meaning the whole run took about 5 hours, but the running time was 4 hours and 16 minutes which made me pretty happy. I think it's only three more weeks until the marathon now, so I get to start enjoying the taper. I don't have any time goals in mind for this marathon, I just want to run a nice steady race and not lose time in the second half.
No nice afternoon nap followed the long run, instead I was getting ready for last nights Girl Scout meeting. Kurt scheduled his Cub Scout meeting for the same time, so we made it a combination meeting, his boys were learning about fun and games and my girls were practicing leadership skills. By the time we ushered all of them out at 8:05 last night, I was just about ready to collapse.

I'm off to a leader meeting tonight, cookie orders are due or I'd think about skipping out entirely. Next weekend is leader daughter camping and I am hoping hoping hoping that it warms up before then. Sydney has never been camping and I am not going to take her out into the bitter cold to freeze. The poor kid would never want to camp again.

Border Options

I snuck out of the house today on the excuse of needing to mark papers for school and had a lovely lunch at Jason's Deli and visited Joann's in search of some border fabric. I found a nice green and some more of the gold for the border I had in my mind. They are having a HUGE sale right now, and everything was 50% off! Then I came home and started playing with options. I started by setting some extra 9 patches on the diagonal with different combinations of blue and green. I thought it was nice, but Kurt thought it was too busy. He always thinks that a pieced border is too busy, always for the same reason, "the middle is already too busy". I liked the way that the blue looked and started messing around with an applique border. I'm pondering making some little flower blobs out of more pink 9 patches and connecting them with some green leaves and bias vines. No decsisions yet, I'll let it simmer. As much as I'd love to jump in and get it all finished up, I've got to pack for camping in the morning. It's still really cold here, so I'm trying to find lots of warm clothes. I think I found a pair of gloves, but they don't match, and Anna has a purple scarf I can steal. We used to have warm clothes, but they get worn so rarely that it seemed like a waste of space to keep them on. We're off school on Monday, so I can use that time to try to catch up on all of my normal weekend things like laundry and cleaning.

Done

It's not "Done Done", because I still need to make some border decisions, but the top for Double Delight is to the flimsy stage (Insert Big Woohoo Here)! I'm thinking of a 1.5 inch gold border and then a 3.5 inch in the blue or the green. I don't have any of those fabrics, but that's still what I'm thinking. Tomorrow is Friday, so maybe I'll have time to sneak out to Joann's after school and pick something out. I should inventory my backing stash at the same time and see what I can cobble together. I still have Old Hurricane Road all layered and ready to go, so I'll have to have a basting party very soon. and then get ready to go crazy with some quilting. I'd love to be able to do it this weekend, but I have to go to camping training. I've been camping with for years. Camping in college when we were too poor for a hotel, camping with my family on holidays, camping with my troop. I'm not a professional camper, but I'd say I'm at least competent. The Girl Scouts like training though, so I'm going to a camping training weekend with Sheila, my co-leader. I realized on Wednesday that I had missed a Team Meeting on Monday, so I'm feeling like a slacker all around. Cookies are underway already, so I won't be able to slack too much and still get it all done.

I'm still figuring out the new computer, I don't have all the right software on it yet to edit the pictures the way I'm used to, so for now, I'm just uploading them HUGE. It's always the little things you get stuck on when you have to switch over to a new machine. I got a new desktop at work last summer and I still can't find the exact right version of my favorite test generator program so that I can open up all of my old tests. Fortunately, my old laptop is still hobbling along, so I keep going back and forth when I need to find something old. So many issues our ancestors never had to deal with!

Oh, I almost forgot the weather update. Everyone is posting snow pictures on their blog and going on about how cold it is up north. We've had the same cold front come through down here and it almost got to FREEZING last night. I don't think it really did freeze, the hibiscus is very sensitive to frost and it looks fine, but still, ALMOST. I had to wear a jacket and gloves when I went out running this morning. BRRR. I tried hard to see my breath, but maybe it had warmed up by then. Even worse, I actually caved and turned on the heat this afternoon. I always hate to do that. Mostly 'cause I like to say, "the heat, no I haven't turned that on in years!) now it's all blown and I'll have to fess up. It may not seem all that harsh to those of you up north who have insulation in their houses, and own winter coats, but we're just not equipped to deal with it down here.