How Times Have Changed

I was at the office supply store today (one of my favorite places in the universe to shop) and I was enjoying looking at the numerous personal journals that were for sale. I was remembering that when I was a freshman in high school, I went out to buy a diary that didn’t say “My Diary” on the front and come with a key. The only plain lined paper book I could find other than a black and white Composition notebook was a red book labeled Journal on the front, that was for recording finances. Seriously, it had the columns and everything, but it was plain lined paper so it filled the bill for what I needed. Today, the choices are all different shapes and sizes with beautiful lined paper and embossed covers in leather or with prints that have amazing color. The sad part is I want them all. I just cleaned off my desk (yes I can see the top again) and I filled a box with empty notebooks I’ve bought. There were at least 8 of them. I’m one of those people who loves the smell of a new textbook and the smell of mimeograph paper. Remember those purple pages coming off the drum. How far we’ve come!

One of my favorite shows is NCIS, and I was reading another person’s blog, and she said she was dismayed to find out that Ducky was also Illya Kuryakin from the series The Man from Uncle in the 1960’s. (She meant she was bummed he was old). I realize her point, and maybe the first week or two felt the same. But I gotta tell you, after a couple of years of watching the show, I love him now just as much. He has a quirky sense of humor and is one of my favorite characters on the show. They even had a show where he had a picture of himself when he was younger at his house and when someone said, “who’s this?” Mark Harmon replies “Illya Kuryakin.” It was so cool. Hey we’re all older, right? I wish I had the Illya scrapbook I made when I was a kid. The one thing I didn’t keep!!

What’s Going On?

I watched the Grammys last night, naturally to see if Hall and Oates won in the duo performance category (they didn’t – Black Eyed Peas won), and am puzzled by this 3D thing. Why would they chose to air a 3D presentation to a world who doesn’t own 3D glasses. It just looked like a blurry song to me. The singers performed well, but why would you do that for television? I thought the worst pairing of the night was Taylor Swift and Stevie Nicks. On their own, both are very good, but together they sounded off key and didn’t mesh at all.

I’ve been unsuccessfully trying to crochet a scrubbie like the one a friend of mine used to make. I can’t get in touch with her and have downloaded several different directions from the internet. None of them are working.

Here’s my first attempt. It doesn’t resemble anything nice and round and flat.

Then my second attempt. Closer to being a circle, but I can’t seem to make it flat.

Then I got about six new sets of instructions and tried combining them all. The result was something that was rounder but still not flat. Pretty funny if you look at it from the side. And I bet it will scrub the hell out of a pot, it’s so thick.

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I just don’t get it. I’m going to go back and review my old crochet book to see if I’m doing the stitches correctly. If anyone knows what I’m doing wrong, please tell me!!

Goals and Resolutions - 2010

Happy New Year everyone! I've asked several people about their New Year's Resolutions and no one has given me even one new resolution for 2010. Why are people so resistant to making a NY resolution? I use it as a time to set goals. My first goal for the new year is to spend less money and concentrate on debt reduction. My second goal is to learn more about photography. I've set myself a goal for the end of the year - there's a job I want to be considered for and that's my end goal. Of course my third goal of the year is to exercise and lose weight. My niece is getting married this year and I'm hoping to wear a pretty fuchsia dress that I bought for the occasion.

I've been immersing myself in self improvement shows. Between shows like The Doctors, Dr. Oz, and The Biggest Loser my head is spinning with ways to have a better diet and exercise program. I think the reason people fall off the diet wagon is because television programs stop talking about losing weight by February. Having all these shows talk at me every single day about diet and exercise is really helpful. I need someone to talk to me like that all year long. Oh, don't get me wrong, I know all the ways I should be eating and how to walk on that treadmill. I just like having someone telling me at least twice a day - "get up and do it, change your life, be healthier, lose weight, exercise, it's good for your heart, blah, blah, blah......."

My other goal for the year is to declutter a little every day. I heard a new quote tonight by Mildred Lisette Norman...."Anything you cannot relinquish when it has outlived its' usefulness possesses you...."

On the quilting front, we had to cancel out quilting circle the first Thursday of the month due to a large snowstorm here in Pittsburgh. I did finish hand quilting the inside (without the borders) of my son's quilt (the 1999 graduation quilt) and was going to do the borders on my quilting machine. Then I decided I have to finish it by hand. Throwing it on the machine at this point would totally change the way it looks. So, a few more months on that. One more goal I have is not to buy any new fabric until I make a new quilt with some of the fabric I have.

Happy Birthday, Mom.

Yikes, no power, now what?

A couple weeks ago, the power went out for a couple hours at my house due to a giant windstorm. There was no TV, no stove, no microwave, no refrigerator. I couldn't use the computer and my cell service was down as well. The only thing still operating was my non-electric land line phone. All those little lights that tell you every device in the house is charging (or just eating up electricity) were off. There were no lights, no stereo, and more importantly no heat.

Our dependence on electrical appliances is staggering. My camera would still work, until my batteries ran out of their electrical charge, and I can't look at the large photos without a computer. I wouldn't be able to use the sewing machine. I can't make a cup of tea or wash the clothes. As I sat there reading in the fading daylight, I realized this was the only thing I could do with no electricity. (I could be hand quilting, but chose reading instead.) There was no hum of electricity or a heater or a TV through out the house. Except for the ticking of the analog clock in my kitchen, the house was dead quiet.

It made me wonder about what people in the old days did with all the quiet? I assume they worked. Hard. They sewed, read to one another, and talked. No wonder they all went to bed at sunset. What else could they do? Thank goodness the plumbing still works even though I had to use a candle to light the bathroom. The house kept getting a little colder and the clock ticking was an annoying reminder of the time passing.

Suddenly 3 hours later, the house blinks awake - and I mean blinks. The clocks are blinking on the TV, the DVR, the microwave, the radio, the stove, and on all the alarm clocks. I heard the flame of the gas heater click on to reassure me that there's heat. The lights are blaring and the TV roars to life, with Dr. Phil giving advice on how to improve our lives. The noise is jarring and for a few moments very unwelcome. For just awhile there, I knew what peacefulness was. I can't say I am not dependent on my appliances. But maybe we should turn them off now and then to drink in the silence and enjoy the life you're living. Read a book. Talk to someone. Eliminate the distractions. Be quiet with your thoughts.

I'm now at the point in this holiday season where it's too late to send Christmas cards and now I feel guilty. To those of you who send me cards and care about me, I want you to know I love getting your photos and your cards. I display them each year on my quilted Christmas tree. (Look here's a picture to prove it - there is actually a quilted tree underneath all the cards!) I really do appreciate your warm thoughts and wishes. I'm writing this so you won't cross me off your Christmas list next year for being totally disorganized and unable to get it together before the holiday to send cards.

I almost feel like I'm writing a Christmas letter, catching you up on the past few weeks. My own life is taking some exciting turns and twists. I've been quilting a few quilts for my friends on my Voyager V17 machine. Frustrating to be sure. I've also been hand quilting my oldest son's high school graduation quilt (from 1999). I wanted to finish it by the end of this year. Whether I meet that deadline remains to be seen.

I sold my first picture at Imagekind - the photo of the Viking Ship, and joined a Pittsburgh group on there as well, a place to share photos of our favorite city. I made less than 10.00, but I was so excited. It's the first time I ever sold anything (ever!).

To all my friends and family and followers, I'm trying to form a tribe. That means if you tell 10 people you trust about my blog, and then they tell 10 people etc, etc, I'll have a tribe of people following me. So to those of you in my tribe already, thank you. Have a Happy New Years celebration and be safe and take care.

I'll see you in the new decade!

Mary Jane

Party Crashers

I'm so sick of the White House party crasher story. Watching that couple walk into the party over and over again makes me want to puke. Seriously, if you were going to crash a party at the White House - is that red dress something you would wear? She looks like something out of the 1960's. I think it's interesting that they seem to have a photo with EVERYONE at the party. How is it that no one said "who are these people?"

Have you used StumbleUpon yet? If you install a stumble toolbar on your browser, you can just click on stumble and it will find sites that are similar to the parameters you typed in. It's great when you're bored and want to find new sites on the internet. I am only searching on quilting at the moment and it finds some awesome sites. If you are searching and find a site you like, you click on the thumbs up symbol and it will save it for you and add it to stumble's cache of sites. (Click on "I like it" for my blog - it will drive more folks here) I found a beautiful quilt on the Purl Bee website yesterday. If you click on that link, it will take you to the quilt. It has my favorite color - fuchsia. It's a wedding quilt she made for some friends. Gorgeous.

I decided that I want to travel more. Of course to do that, I need to have more money, so I'll have to figure that part out. But I want to see Ireland and Scotland and Paris and England. My sister wants to go to Norway, and that would be really cool too. My husband has always wanted to go to Hawaii and I'd love to do that. It's time. I'm going to start setting travel goals for myself. Honestly, I want to photograph some beautiful places in the world.

Black Friday

Well, here it is Black Friday. My family and I spent a nice Thanksgiving at my sister's house and enjoyed a wonderful dinner. We listened to Beatles music most of the day and talked about their influence on us as kids growing up. It was very satisfying to give into the tryptophan urge when I got home and go promptly to sleep (a wonderful restful sleep). This morning it I am so happy I'm snuggled in my house, and not out there shopping with the crowds. I watched the Paul McCartney concert that I taped last night and as much as I love him, I discovered something last night I never knew before. He's a Detroit Red Wings fan!! When he was singing "Yesterday," I noticed a Red Wings sticker on his guitar. Oh, Paul, how could you? Don't you know the Pittsburgh Penguins are the best - the Stanley Cup Champs?

I finished quilting one friend's on my Hinterberg and am getting ready to quilt another friend's quilt. My cousin has asked me to teach her how to make a quilt - she wants to make a memorial quilt for her daughter, who lost her father this year. We're going to start on that next week. I'm actually making some slow progress on my oldest son's graduation quilt (from high school-1999). I think I'll be finished quilting it soon, and may be able to give it to him this year. I'm still hand quilting that one and have let it go much too long. I've decided that I'm going to be all about finishing things right now. I'm going to try not to buy any new fabric for at least 6 months, so I can use some of the fabric I currently own.

The holidays always make me happy and sad at the same time. I cry for the people I miss - my mother and my grandmother, cousins and friends I have lost. Even though Christmas is the happiest time, I still miss them so much. When my grandma died, it was the first time I realized what "heart ache" means. And even through the happiness, I cry, because it's there, the missing, the aching, the what ifs.

Take a moment today and appreciate the joy in your life. The family, the friends, the sunset, the snow. Look around and say, I'm glad it's Friday, because I'm here to enjoy it.

Autumn splendor

I just finished listening to the October episode of Live From Daryl's House with special guest Diane Birch. I had never heard her before and she's a wonderful singer. I thoroughly enjoyed her harmonies with Daryl Hall. She has a very engaging personality and is very sweet (and so young). I was totally inspired by her voice and by her songwriting. I understand she has a new debut album out. She reminds me of a young Carole King - she has that ability to write those songs that just grab you and the vocal chords to back it up.

This has to be one of the most beautiful autumn seasons in Pennsylvania I've ever seen. The colors on the trees have been magnificent and the leaves have lasted far longer than they usually do, thanks to little rain during this fall season. The oranges, yellows and reds have been so vibrant, and have now turned to several shades of brown. The palette of colors I have been witness to is a constant and varying array.

I took some pictures for a friend recently. She wanted to take advantage of the fall foliage to get a photo for her Christmas card with her dog, Cooper. I thought this picture was funny. The photo session was pretty wild. There were 2 additional dogs that a neighbor owned that are related to Cooper. Finally at the end of the trip when Cooper was in the car and ready to go home, I took this shot. It cracks me up every time I look at it.