What a weekend

Well ... my beautiful daughter's birthday was on Friday and it was a great start to my weekend!  

She turned 19 (that's my baby ... yikes!); we celebrated with dinner at PF Changs (one of my most favorite places!  Have you tried their Flaming Red Wontons????  Delicious!) and then yummy gluten free, sugar free brownies.  Umm ... they are not as bad as they sound, but not as good as a real brownie ... after all it was her birthday and her choice!

Saturday seemed promising ... got some things done around the house, and then off to run a couple errands with hubby.  He was dropping me at the quilt store so I could do some measuring and figuring for a quilt I had made.  No sooner did he leave then I got a call from my mailman, Eddie.  Remember Eddie?  I've told you about him before ... he is awesome ... whenever I get a package I get a text from Eddie so I know it's at my gate.  I had a feeling this conversation was NOT going to be about a package:

Eddie:  Hi Colleen ... did you guys get another dog?
Me:  Yep ... long story, but yes we have a beagle we are "fostering."
Eddie:  Well he is out ...
Me:  Where is he?
Eddie:  In the middle of the street ... oh, and your little dog is outside the gate too.
Me:  Ok ... great ... thanks Eddie!

No sooner did I hang up with him then my son, who is living in Michigan remember, texts me to tell me the neighbor called him and left a message that the dog is out.  For some reason his cell phone was the only number she could find.  Then my son tells me to deal with it ... what????!!!  I know he didn't mean it to come out that way, and you can't see someone's face when you are texting, but I did not take too kindly to that text, so I shot him a little reply.  Then talked to hubby who went home to put the culprits into the house.  Our nice neighbors were standing in our driveway with the dogs, making sure they didn't run away.  They have three boys and those boys are very sweet ... they love our dogs and sometimes I wonder why ... since all Charlie does is bark at them whenever he sees them going off into the park!  We think Todd is climbing up on a pile of firewood and jumping the fence.  So hubby moved some of the wood and we'll see if that does the trick.  Did I mention that Todd somehow removed his collar last week and buried it in the yard?  I can't find it and it has his identification tags on there.  Off I went to Petco yesterday in the midst of my errands to get him another tag so if someone finds him they know who he belongs to.  Would it be terrible to say that I considered NOT replacing his dog tag?!

Decided we would try and take all three dogs to a local park and hit the trails with them.  Todd hasn't been in the car since we brought him home from the airport.  We aren't two minutes down the road and he is drooling everywhere.  The trip is about 15 minutes ... we have towels on the seat and hubby has to keep wiping his drool ... gross ... on the window, the side of the door, disgusting!  Get there take them for a walk ... walk is successful!  On the way home more drooling, and I keep thinking he's going to toss his cookies .... 5 minutes from home, yep he does!  After we get home I spend about 1/2 hour washing down the inside of the car and outside windows where there was drool, and then clean the carpet that got the tossed cookies.  Don't think Todd will be going on a ride anytime soon!

Did you make it this far?  I know that part was not about quilting, but the majority of my life these days is ... not about quilting!  I did get to finish putting my flying geese and half square triangles together; picked my background fabric for my turkeys and pumpkins, and have everything stacked and ready to go for class next Saturday.  

It is a three part class, and next week is part two.  

These are all backgrounds for the turkey and pumpkin applique blocks.  the only thing I have to do is pick fabric for the turkeys and pumpkins.  I am NEVER ready ahead of time, so am wondering if lightening is going to strike, or something!  ha, ha

And here is what makes everything worth it ...

Wednesday already?

How does this happen?  Well I will say I feel like I'm getting a lot done at least ... great news!  Okay, I just have to brag (and maybe motivate you) a little ... I went to the gym Monday and today ... and yesterday I did a small work out at home.  It makes me feel better, it really does ... and it is really so easy!  Why do I consistently talk myself out of it?  I joined a gym that's only about 5 minutes from my house; I did that years ago because I knew if it wasn't in my "path" I wouldn't go!  Now there was a time not too many years ago where I would go to the gym for two hours at a time ... an hour of cardio and an hour of weight training.  I also worked out with a trainer for YEARS ... it was something I did for myself, and I loved it, loved it!  I got to the point where I felt like working with the trainer was getting redundant, and I could spend that money elsewhere.  Fast forward a little bit and I decided that as much as I love the body I have when I'm working out two hours a day, five days a week, I am not willing to put in that amount of time anymore.  My life has changed and as long as I get to the gym three days a week, I am really happy with that.  But I haven't been ... I've been out of the habit and no matter how many years I have been exercising, it's never the first thing I think of doing during my day!!  Ha, ha ...
Okay, I promised you some pictures of the quilt I just finished for Judy ... here they are

The quilting design is a pantograph - Butterfly Swirls by Debra Geissler

Glide thread in top and bottom - the color is called Vegas Gold (love that name!)

Okay now something else really weird has been going on around here ... we have a moth invasion ... last week I found a GIGANTIC moth that was wounded in the garage it had beautiful wings, and I couldn't bear for Sophie to kill it, so I moved it to a part of the yard -- eewww ... I actually had to touch it!  We keep having these small little moths buzzing around, okay, I can deal with that.  But today when I came home from the gym there is a BIG (not gigantic) moth that just landed on the kitchen counter -- I scooped him up in a glass with a piece of paper on top of it and threw him outside.  Please stay out of my house!  What is going on around here?  I don't ever remember so many moths this time of year ... maybe all the rain we've been having has produced more -- Nala (the cat), at least got a little exercise -- and believe me when I tell you she needs exercise -- chasing a moth this morning ... it's funny to see a cat that should weigh about 6 pounds and weighs 12 pounds, jumping across the floor trying to catch this moth.  And just for the record so you don't think I'm a terrible pet owner ... Nala is on a very restricted diet because she will eat EVERYONE'S food ... she must be binging at night when I'm not looking because she is ginormous!  Okay ... off to pin another quilt on my frame ... I'm on a role!