It turns out there is a crack in the molar that was giving me trouble one day earlier this month.  It's fine now, but just in case it starts acting up again the dentist gave me a referral to an "wonderful" endodontist for a possible root canal.  NOT the kind of news I want to hear!

Did get better news when I took my glasses in for repair.  

The fix only took 5 minutes and I'm good as new.

Made it home before noon - when Marilyn and Stubby arrived right on schedule. Stubby's loving the backyard park, though is a little confused by Pokey.  He kept inviting her to play... but she just kept walking.

Tom woke up sick and is feeling quite crappy today.  This afternoon he crawled into bed and slept.  With Wayne arriving on Friday for the big visit it's not a good time to be sick!

Yesterday "morning" I made my usual bathroom run around 2:00 am.  However I was not able to fall back asleep on my own, and finally after 3:00 I took something.  It obviously worked, because the phone woke me up... at 9:00!

At least I didn't sleep through my gym session, a good thing,
since I haven't been since before I left for Tucson.

The workout was a bit tough, and I didn't quite get through all my reps, but Jim assures me I'll be back up to speed after another session or so.  The good news is that I don't feel too achy this morning.

Afterward I headed to Winco, where I dropped a fair bundle
but found everything on the shopping list.

 Took quite a while to check out because the older man in line in front of me (using one of the electric carts) needed a lot of help.  I unloaded his groceries onto the conveyor belt, and then back into his cart, and he also needed help from the cashier, when his very thick accent made him difficult to understand.  The woman in line behind me was also patient, commenting on how nice I was to help him.

Marilyn arrives today with Stubby.  She didn't get quite as far as she had hoped yesterday, only to Wilcox, but should still be here early enough to get Stubby settled in and used to grass. Did some cleaning yesterday; the kitchen floor definitely needed mopping since Teresa never showed last week.



Off to the dentist later this morning for a cleaning and check-up.  Did have an issue with one tooth early this month (and thought I might need to hijack Tom's appointment that he had a couple of weeks ago) but after a day it wasn't an issue.   Happily it hasn't resurfaced, though I will mention it so Dr. Johnson can make sure all is well.

Then I need to get my glasses fixed.

Soaking in the hot tub this morning, I heard a low flying plane (likely headed to Deer Valley airport) and looked up.  Flying right "behind" it was a bird, which soon seemingly overtook the plane.  It's a bird, it's a plane - it's SuperBird!

I went over to Lynn's this morning to get the quilt label printed, and as I thanked her she said, "No problem."  Except that it was.... computers and printers just don't like me!  <g>  

We did eventually get it printed -

and then sat and chatted for a while... 

about politics and religion!

A call to Jessica confirmed that she was in her studio today, so I drove up to Carefree to pick up my UFO wall-hanging for the show.  She did a marvelous job on it, and I'm a  whole lot happier with it than I had been before she worked her magic.  Of course I still need to bind it (and add the sleeve) but in the meantime here's a peek at the back:

  

Going through quilting patterns tonight, trying to get some ideas for my hummingbird panel, I came across documentation for that Row Challenge; it was back in 2011!  But since it wasn't quilted until 2019 it's eligible for this year's show.

   

When Alex got home he hitched up the trailer to his van (for the first time) and we drove over to Patti’s to pick up table/chairs and plant, and I met her sister.  Hard to see the house empty, symbolic of how I will miss her after all these years of friendship.  Sure wish Gary had found a job here in Phoenix!

Mike is sick, so Marcie has quarantined herself.  Of course I've already had the crud, but she doesn't want to be responsible for getting Tom sick "just in case" she is incubating.

Spoke with Mom today, hoping to hear that things had gone well 

on the aide's first day.  They didn't.  

There was a mix-up regarding the address, 

and by then it had gotten so late Mom just cancelled.

Tomorrow is gym day.  Between my quilt class in Tucson and then being sick I haven't been in a couple of weeks.  Expect to hear some complaints from my body afterward.

See the nice, bright addition to the kitchen!  

Thanks to Alex for hanging it.

And another of my quilts made progress today.  

With Marcie's help, I got the shadowed blocks arranged:

Now I 'just' <g> have to sash and sew them...

We had dinner at Alex's tonight, but chicken, not duck.  They cooked that last night in a souve (sp?) and Alex said that was the first time he's really liked duck. 

FYI Alex has a shotgun, not a rifle.

  

Tom and I agreed that tonight's dinner was quite tasty, but very tangy... 

right on the border of being too hot. 

Right after we got there, Taylor stopped by with 7-month-old Presley.  It's the first time I've actually gotten to meet her, though of course I've seen lots of pix, many with her wearing the bib I made her.  However I didn't want to get too close to her 'just in case' there are still some germs in my system.  

Another early morning (not quite 5:00) but I am pretty much sleeping through the night.  While I am still blowing my nose and coughing, it's definitely not nearly as bad as it was!  And it's quite apparent that I am definitely feeling much better, proved by the fact that now I am getting stuff done.

For example, yesterday I got the sleeve attached, 

so now my kitchen quilt is all ready to hang!

Then last evening I made up a star block for the upcoming retreat's Lotto.  

Happy to report that it measures the required 9 1/2 (unfinished) inches.  While I am only entering one (of course the more blocks you enter, the more chances you get to win, so some of the attendees will come with a stack) that's all it took a few years ago to win one batch of spool blocks.  The tan background fabric everyone is required to use to tie all the blocks together is <IMHO> definitely a yucky color, but since everyone's star block is required to use brights for their star that should help.

I started off my morning with the WP Sunday crossword puzzle, doing quite well (hardly any wrong letters once I got stumped and turned on that setting) and then finishing in excellent time.

Then I redid one of my mitered corners of my scrap quilt (at Cindy's "suggestion"... lol) and can now get started on the next row of blocks, meant to "rectangularize" the currently square quilt.  Next I went through my fabrics and pulled out some for the rest of the needed blocks, hoping to get many of them shadowed today.

Once they are all ready, I will need to borrow Marcie's design wall once again for actual placement decisions.  It's been over a year without one of my own, but maybe once I get back from Maryland (still don't know when I'm going, or how long I'm staying) I can remedy that situation and (finally!) cross that off my To-Do List.

When it got late enough this morning I gave Mom a call - and she sounds great.  Of course as usual <g> she couldn't really talk for more than a couple of minutes because she was meeting Mildred for brunch and needed to finish getting ready. 

 But since she mentioned that she expects to be home all afternoon 

I might give her another jingle.  

She had already checked her e-mail, and after just 3 weeks has 1200 to wade through.  Naturally the bulk of them will be junk and advertisements, but it'll still take a considerable amount of time for her to deal with.  

And she mentioned she still needs to pick up her snail mail, 

but that hopefully won't be quite as bad. 

Friday I had called AFW to check on the recliner refund, which had yet to arrive.  They said they had credited it Alex's VISA account after they picked up the recliner two weeks ago, even though I had told them that a new card had been issued in the past year after some hack, and was exactly the reason why they had told me they would issue a check instead (though that would take longer.)  I was somewhat annoyed because I figured it would take an Act of Congress to get the issue straightened out (and we all see how effective - NOT - they are!)  But when Alex checked his 'new' VISA card account, there it was.  Apparently if a new card is issued from the same bank, refunds are no problem. 

Speaking of Alex - he took his new rifle duck hunting yesterday, and snagged two of them.  

Saw him later (via Instagram ) dressing them, and wondering if we're in for a duck dinner in the next day or so before he heads to CA (on Tuesday?) 

Too bad he'll miss Marilyn and 7-month-old Stubby, who are arriving (probably) Wednesday for the big dog show at the AZ State Fairgrounds.  Stubby is entered in a variety of events over a number of days, though 'rumors have it' <g> that he is not expected to do terribly well.  At least it'll be that much more experience for him.

 And Marilyn can load up her vehicle with tonnage of grapefruit to take home!

Many friends have "noticed" that I haven't blogged the past couple of weeks.  (Once I missed a few days I felt really behind, and even less motivated to try and catch up!)  But you're lucky - Susan posted about it on her blog today, which has pix/descriptions of the ranch, plus the class.  I managed to make it into a few shots, and those of you who really know me may even recognize the back of my head during one of her morning lectures.

https://susancarlson.com/2019/01/26/on-the-road-tanque-verde-ranch-tucson-az-2019/

Partly I was tired at the end of each class day in Tucson (it was intensive), partly I was discouraged (apparently after that first day I was not the only one wondering if it had been a mistake to shell out all that money) and partly I was not at my best (woke up with a migraine around 1:30 Tuesday "morning" and was then up for the rest of that day.)  It didn't help that several of the women had taken a class with Susan before, and thus had a pretty good handle on the process, or that many of the others were talented women who taught quilt classes of their own, or had written quilt books, or not only had had their quilts accepted into the Houston show... but had won ribbons there.  So I really am not exaggerating to say I would have had to improve my skills to "just" be at the bottom of the class.  Still, by Thursday I was finally getting the hang of things (even Susan was pleasantly surprised when she got around to me that day) and Echo was starting to look like a real project.  Here she is now.

Did I mention that it was much too large a group (20) for that sort of class, which required one-on-one consultations.  That meant that she really only got around to me once a day... and I definitely needed a lot more help than that!

The good news is that despite worrying about who my roommate would be, and whether I should have shelled out even more big $ for a single occupancy room (turns out she'd had the same thoughts) Barb and I got along quite well and our worries were for naught. It turned out we have a lot in common... both early birds who woke around 5:00, we'd get back to the room after dinner around 7:30, ready to crash and wondering it we could even make it to 9:00, much less our "targeted" 10:00.  Though she was really discouraged Monday night, she was on a real roll starting Tuesday.  Here are her babies Bryan and Vinnie:

They look just like her photo!

We hope to get together sometimes, even though she lives WAY on the other side of town.  She was happy to hear about the wonderful quilting services at The Flying Pig, and we hope to connect when she brings her quilts to Cindy. 

  And I haven't mentioned how absolutely incredible the food was at Rancho Tanque Verde!  Not even going to try, though I will admit that from the HIGH prices (even though meals were included in the fee we paid for our stay we got a zeroed-out bill each meal so we could compute our tips)  they were quite proud of their food.

I left for home early Friday afternoon, knowing I'd be hitting Phoenix during Rush Hour (made worse, if possible, by it being the start of a 3-day, MLK weekend) and there was a lot of stop-and-go.  Not surprisingly it took about 90 minutes longer to get home than it did to get there, but (surprisingly!) I found myself thinking about my next collage project, when I'd have a much better idea of making a pattern (I'd made mine too detailed, thinking along the lines of fusible collage.)

The next morning I was off to the Flying Pig for a day of sewing with Valley of the Sun Quilters, most of whom will be at the Retreat coming up on February 8.  I worked on my scrap quilt started at Jessica Dickenson's Scrap Mountain class from years ago.  (She did a presentation at last year's VOS retreat, and this year is returning to do another presentation and a class, so I'm hoping to get the next row of blocks attached before then to show her.)  The ladies loved the fabrics in it, many of which made it into Echo collage.  I'd also brought along Echo for show-and-tell, and everyone was quite impressed.  Of course they didn't have any of the truly spectacular work from the other 19 ladies in the class to compare it to, which certainly helped.

After seeing some of the realistic projects in the class (like that Scottish cow!) I actually am sorry I didn't do Echo in her real colors.  But most of the work I'd seen from blog posts of Susan's classes were colorful, and I felt like that's what I "should" be doing.  Tom's only comment when I brought her home was that she was the wrong color.

On Sunday afternoon, when Marcie and Latina were over here, Cindy called to say that my fruits and veggies were ready to be picked up, so the 3 of us popped over there.  It did turn out lovely, with the fruit/veggie quilting motif in a bright green, and this past week I got the binding done.  My hang-it-dang-it arrived while I was in Tucson, so once the quilt gets the sleeve on it'll grace that blank wall in the kitchen.

Though I was a little draggy on Sunday, I thought it was just from the busy and intense week I'd had.  Monday I didn't realize how sick I was, and that morning headed over to the Lazy Boy showroom to pick out a new recliner with Marcie's help.  By the time we finished I was ready to be horizontal - and spent that afternoon and all the next day sleeping in front of the TV.  The rest of the week wasn't too much better, horizontal on the couch doing a TCM marathon.   

Watched a lot of old movies for the first time, like 1955's Kismet - when (during a less-than-15-second bit part) I recognized a much younger Jamie Farr... aka Klinger, on M*A*S*H.  (FYI at that time he was acting under the name of Jameel Farah.)  

Of course I had to cancel a lot of things this past week, like the gym (of course!), the chiropractor, picking up my quilt from Jessica Gamez, etc.  I'm really anxious to see what magic she worked on it after I gave her carte blanche.

Quilting Makes the Quilt

Yesterday Paul's tree crew made their second visit, this time working mainly on the olive trees and mulberries, but also having time to deal with the cape honeysuckle hedge and the bottlebrush tree.  Everything looks great, and ready to explode with new growth as soon as our 'spring' season starts... shortly!  We have already had our two weeks of winter, and I really feel for those around the country who have been dealing with record-breaking cold... and yet soon are about to experience an even worse Polar Vortex.

My new recliner was delivered yesterday morning.  It looks lovely in the room, and I'm liking the electronics that allow me to keep it at whatever intermediate "slant" I like.  It also has a handy USB port, which I'm using to keep my iPad charged.  Of course this recliner (literally!) cost 3 times that of the chair that didn't work out, but I'm hoping it turns out to be worth it.  (You probably don't want to be around when Tom gets the Discover bill, though.)

Tom is really hoping NOT to catch the crud I've had all week, but of course there's nothing to done about it since I expect that I was contagious for a couple of days before my symptoms surfaced.   Wayne (Tom's Florida friend with the house in Bimini that he and Alex visited last year for that spectacular trip) is arriving February 2 for a couple of weeks. Tom will take him to Tucson for several days of drooling at the rock show, there will be lots of fire obsidian show-and-tell (and knapping?) here at the house, and various road trips (including ones to the Grand Canyon and Antelope Canyon) are planned.  Tom cannot afford to be sick the first half of February!  If he must get sick, it would help if that happens soon so he's over it by Wayne's arrival.  Jimmy (from Modesto) has been here since Tuesday, and left this morning with a vehicle much heavier than when he arrived.  He is quite the accomplished knapper, and brought Tom a number of stunning points to add to his collection.  The guys had a very successful trip to Tucson on Thursday to pick up more rainbow obsidian, so Jimmy can keep churning out his beautiful points.

Hopefully I will be able to keep up-to-date with my blog now, 

and am ending on a glorious note:

Mom is being released from Rehab this afternoon, heading back to her apartment after her 3-week "vacation" that started in the hospital.  When I spoke with her last evening she (not surprisingly!) was very excited at the prospect!

She also mentioned that while chatting about 6 Degrees of Separation with another "inmate" in Rehab, they discovered that 80 years ago they attended the same Jr. High in the Bronx!

No doubt there are some typos in this - but I'm tired of editing and just anxious to get it posted.