Too much

Yesterday e and I went shopping.  We parked in front of Trader Joe's then walked to the fabric store.  e walked beside me, stopping to admire the bits of blue glass set in some blocks of pavement, pausing to check out the workers pushing big bins of cardboard, looking at other shoppers.  At Beverly's we found the Velcro display, and while I looked for what I needed to replace the snaps on Jack and Missy's clothes e found a display of thread within her reach.  After I returned a couple of spools to their place I picked up e and made my selection.  Who would have guessed Velcro came in so many permutations!

Then it was on to Trader Joe's for eggs, milk, and a couple other items.  The checker gave e a strip of stickers which she enjoyed on the drive home.  I unloaded the groceries, leaving e in her car seat, then went to Safeway.  After a bit e indicated she was ready to get down from the shopping cart, but alas, I wasn't done yet.  Eventually, though, we finished and I unbuckled her from the cart, only to put her in the car seat.  A cheese stick helped ease her frustration.  I guess that much time buckled in to a seat was just too much.  Maybe next week we will go shopping on two separate days.

Last night I found 22 purple fabrics for the quilt; I need two more so I'll check a couple bins for scraps.

What did I do?

Sometimes I wish I could remember more about our life thirty years ago when our children were toddlers.  How did I spend my days?  Did I spend as much one-on-one time with Liz as I do with e?  I probably did, I just don't recall what a typical day was like.  I know I put her in the stroller and we walked to South Shore occasionally.  We had just one car, so if I needed it for a doctor's appointment or something, I had to take Randy to work in San Leandro then pick him up at the end of the day.  Sometimes Liz and I took him for a picnic lunch at a park near his office.  Carol and I took the children to the park and other places.  But I don't remember day-to-day details.  I did have piano students most of those early years, with a teen sitter coming in to watch Liz.  I did not quilt much, though I did work on cross-stitch projects as a I sat in a chair out front watching the girls play on the grass with neighbor children.


Yesterday I cut out the turquoise pieces for the Soul-Searching quilt.  The red, pink, yellow and orange are already cut, as are some of the white and black pieces.  Still to cut are blue, green, purple and dark (black? brown? gray?  not sure yet) and lots more of the white/neutral pieces.  The white pieces will link the colored shapes that remind me of Christmas ornaments.  My goal is 24 different fabrics in each color without buying anything new.

Fun!

Watching e run, hearing her talk, seeing her use a spoon to eat her yogurt (then switching to her fingers), listening to her announce her preferences, all are signs of her growth, and it is a lot of fun.  She seems quite at home here, especially since she has a bigger crib now; the old porta-a-crib was just too small for her.  Next week will be a test for all of us, as E returns to Phoenix by herself for a week.  Days won't be much different because I will watch e.  But K will have bedtime duties by himself, and middle of the night wake-up calls, if any.

E and K took me to see the new Star Trek movie Saturday, leaving Grandpa Randy to feed e and put her down for a nap.  They did fine together, though as we left the house she was very unhappy.  Later that day Randy and I went to an A's game with a group from church.  The game was not particularly thrilling until the end.  The A's came to bat in the bottom of the ninth down 1-3, then proceeded to get a hit, then two home runs, thus winning the game against the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3.  We left before the fireworks show.

Vacation, part 4

Monday we ate lunch at Mission BBQ, and I got a big surprise.  I ordered a pulled pork sandwich.  On the table was a little carton with six bottles of different sauces, so I decided to add a little Memphis Belle sauce to the dry pork.  I squirted a bit on the meat, replaced the top of the bun, and took a bite, maybe two.  Suddenly my throat felt like it was closing up.  I could breathe OK and talk, but it was a strange and scary sensation.  I ate some French fries, drank some sweet tea, and assured Randy and Liz that the sensation was passing.  I don't remember ever experiencing anything like that before.  Randy thought perhaps it was a response to whatever was used to give the sauce a smoky flavor.  So I took off the top of the bun with the meat stuck to it by the sauce and cautiously ate the rest, with no further consequences.  The whole thing was probably way less than five minutes, but it felt much longer.  A lot of soldiers were lunching at this restaurant, located near Fort Bragg.

After we ate we drove a few minutes to the Cape Fear Botanical Garden, where we strolled along dirt paths enjoying the various types of trees along the Cape Fear River.  Some plants were blooming, but mostly it was a green walk.  While in the shade I didn't mind the heat, but out in direct sun I was quite warm.  The coolest thing we saw was the Patrick Dougherty Stickwork Sculpture.  "Maple and sweet gum saplings were cut, collected by the truckloads and stripped of their leaves, then woven together to create this amazing addition to the Garden.  With doors, windows, skylights and curving passageways, you're encouraged to get inside this monumental artwork and explore."

Liz made fish tacos for supper, then we watched "The Rocket," a film about a young Laotian boy who entered a rocket building contest.  The movie provided a poignant look at the society and culture of this poor area.

Tuesday we flew home via Nashville,  E picked us up at the airport, then we went out to supper with E, K, e, K's brother and girlfriend.  And now we're home again.

Vacation, part 3

What fun!  I attended a yin yoga class with Liz and enjoyed it.  While quiet string music played in the background the young instructor led us through various stretches, usually in a seated or prone position.  Nothing fancy, just gentle movements and deep breathing.  When I did Jazzercise several years ago we spent time stretching but each pose was only a few seconds; these were one or two minutes each.  So quiet music instead of rock, a small group of people instead of thirty or forty, longer stretches...quite a change for me.  But I enjoyed it a lot.  After class we shopped for groceries at HarrisTeeter then stopped by a friend's apartment to feed her cat before coming home for lunch.

While we were out, Sean and Randy decided to install a new timer switch for a living room light fixture and enjoyed a trip to Lowe's for tools.  Alas, the switch was not suitable for this particular case, but they each learned something during the process.

Liz and I played a game of Scrabble with the score pretty even till the very end, when I went out and she still had the Q and a V.  Sean grilled hamburgers for supper, then we watched "State of Play," a movie with Ben Affleck as a congressman investigating a private security company and Russell Crowe as a newspaper reporter investigating the death of Affleck's mistress.  Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren, Jeff Daniels, several well-known actors played parts.  It was tense!

E, K and e arrived in Alameda last night.  I wish I had been there to welcome them, but I'm sure they were fine.  After all, E used to live there and K has visited numerous times.  Even e may remember the layout from her visits.  We will see them tomorrow night.

Vacation, part two

We did visit the Southern Pines Brewing Company yesterday, where the others shared a flight of beers and a couple more, and I was the designated driver.  A food truck arrived, and we ordered four different grilled cheese sandwiches, each one cut into fourths so we could sample each variety.  No pizza after that, but we did finish Sean's birthday cakes with ice cream, followed by pop corn as we watched Guy Fiori on the Food Network explore barbecue restaurants and burger places.  A strong thunderstorm passed through, with heavy rain and wind. Randy watched from the front porch.

This morning I will go to yoga with Liz.

Vacation

Wednesday's flight was smooth and just a couple of minutes late arriving in Raleigh-Durham.  We connected easily with Liz and enjoyed the 90-minute drive to their home, where Sean had supper waiting for us.  Thursday we toured the Airborne & Special Operations Museum and learned about the role the U.S. Army Airborne and Special Operations units played from World War II to the present.  When we returned home I began working a Charles Wysocki puzzle titled "Whaler's Bay."  Randy read and napped.

Friday morning Liz went to a yoga class, and I continued working on the puzzle.  After lunch we watched three episodes of "Outlander."  It's easy to see why this is a popular story and series.  Liz made a good dinner (pasta with asparagus, peas, mushrooms and pancetta) followed by a special dessert, hot chocolate fudge cakes, which have a gooey center surrounded by cake.  Delicious!

This morning Randy accompanied Liz and Sean to their running course, but I stayed here to do laundry, finish the puzzle and blog.  I think there's a brewery visit in store later and dinner at a barbecue place.

The adventure begins

Monday night K arrived, and so we begin this next period in our lives.  The rooms are ready for their new occupants though I imagine things will change.  My view of what is needed may not match theirs.  A lot of the things that were moved out of the two rooms ended up in our bedroom, so when we return from visiting Liz and Sean we will tackle that, as well as shopping for a new bed.

Almost done

We're almost done!  Thursday night we went to the nearby Chinese restaurant for supper so we wouldn't have to cook then clean up, and thus were able to start our work a little sooner.  We've spent a couple of hours each night this week moving furniture around.  Randy is great at figuring out how best to move things, using a hand truck, blanket and tarps to save our backs as much as possible.  He plans ahead:  "If we turn the chest like this and put this side down, then it will be easier to maneuver around the corner," and he's almost always right.  Years ago he created to-scale floor plans for some rooms, with little icons of the beds and such; these have helped immensely as we considered how to rearrange these rooms.  Every time a piece leaves the spot it has stood for years it exposes the carpet and baseboard, so I vacuum there.  Last night we baked a frozen pizza, another easy supper so we could get to the next step of moving the beds.  Beds are now in place, though sheets need washing before they're ready for sleeping.  We ended up switching some chests we'd already moved, tedious but I think the result is worth it.

This morning after practicing organ I plan a visit to Target for a couple of things I missed when I went on Tuesday.  We will put the recliner in the blue room, the rocking chair in the green room, move the desk E will use, then work on finding places for the little things displaced in all of this.  I don't think the house will be perfect but it will be comfortable, and we will tweak things as needed in the coming weeks.

Up and down the stairs

Randy and I have been moving furniture around, something we hardly ever do.  Chests that have stood in front of the living room windows for many years are now separated, with two upstairs and two over by the big desk.  The TV is now in the living room, as is the sofabed (what a challenge THAT was to get down the stairs) so we'll have more seating available; both of these items had been in the green room and had to be moved so the queen bed can be placed there for E and K.

One of my biggest tasks has been sorting through VHS tapes.  Some are ready to be taken to the recycling center, others are in a box to donate to the Friends of the Library for their big book sale, and some are waiting to see if I can dub them onto DVDs.  Some we will replace with new DVDs, like "Switching Channels" and "Sneakers."  Right now the living room is cluttered with tapes!  I keep thinking I would like to watch some of the old "NYPD Blue" or "La Femme Nikita" episodes I recorded, but is that the best use of my time?  No.  Will I ever take the time to watch them?  That's a good question.

A friend is coming by this morning to take our donation (several boxes and odds and ends) to the Oakland Museum's White Elephant Sale.  The group operates a large warehouse and accepts donations year-round in preparation for their winter sale.

So, things are moving around here, and soon our life will change with the addition of two adults, one toddler, and a cat.

Making space

Yesterday in the green room I took down two boxes from the closet shelf.  Each had held toys left from some thirty years ago, and now they were nearly empty since I had taken things out for e to use.  Some of the remaining toys are for children a bit older than e so I will keep them.  I found and recycled old Happy Meal boxes; why did I ever think someone would want to do the puzzles on the boxes?  A couple of dolls jumped into the White Elephant Sale donation bag.  There's one more box with toys in another closet; perhaps today I'll get to that one.  And maybe I'll end up with just one box instead of three!

I also worked on photo albums.  For many years when my friend Carol and I attended quilt shows one or both of us would photograph the quilts we liked then print the pictures, often getting double prints to share with each other.  Thus I filled five albums.  While I used to flip through these photo galleries for inspiration, I haven't pulled them out in years.  So I called Lynn to see if her quilting
group would enjoy looking at them and even taking them off my hands.  "Yes," she said.  The albums with mostly appliqued projects go to her on Tuesday for her group meeting the next day.  The albums with pieced projects stay with me, unless I change my mind and send those as well.

In the process of examining these albums, I discovered that one had a lot of pictures of the black-crowned night heron.  I reorganized those, tossing poor prints and cropping some to better fit the album pockets.  For several years now I have observed these birds on my walks along the lagoon.

Which brings up an interesting question:  should I continue to print pictures?  I haven't printed any in quite a while, just uploaded them to the computer.  They look good there, nice and big, good color.  But I can't look at them if I'm not sitting at my desk.  I think of all the pictures of e on my iPad; I enjoy swiping through them and haven't printed many.  But I'm running out of memory.  In order to continue taking new pictures and videos with the device, some of the old pictures have to be deleted to make space.  If I want to look at them wherever I am, I guess some prints are called for!

Halfway point

July begins today; the first half of 2016 is done.  What will the second half bring?

This seems like a good time to report on my goals for the year.

1.  I finished one quilt and started another.
2.  Blogging continues!
3.  I visited Phoenix in early June, reaching the goal of one visit each quarter.
4.  We fly to North Carolina this month to see Liz and Sean.
5.  Visit Sarah---accomplished
6.  Visit Dad---accomplished
7.  This week I did more work in my closet, discarding empty boxes, sorting patterns, clearing off a shelf.  But I haven't yet gone through all the clothes.
8.  Eat less?  No.  Walk 4 times a week?  I walked just 14 days in June, not walking while I was in Phoenix.
9.  Spending time with friends?  Yes, an A's game, dinner, walk at Arrowhead Marsh, and more.

All in all, I'm pleased with my progress.  If only I could change my eating habits.