With the WNBA finals in progress, I had to move into Major League Baseball because I always need a sport to follow. Nothing with compare to cheering for Caitlin but each season brings another sport and now I’m going to start cheering for the Mets – I haven’t watched a single baseball game all summer and I don’t know one player on the team but the Mets are going to be my team. I have turned into my mother – who watched ballgames all the time.
Reader photos
Our church was so packed this morning you’d have thought it was Christmas Eve! Around 50 kids came up for childrens sermon.
I covered the geraniums for another night and maybe two – then it’s going to be nice again.
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Exercise helps you with decision making. It’s true. I went for a run this morning and decided I’m never going again.
What’s new with everybody?
No, not the Mets! How about the Yankees instead?
Much cooler yesterday & today, rainy & windy, just yukki! Made some crockpot soup! Got my lawn mowed Saturday for the last time I think! Got my plants inside my kids helped me get my furniture off the porch. Tomorrow I have to have a root canal done, not looking forward to that.
Joyce – not a root canal!!! Ick!
Hi Mary,
I’ve turned to sports more and more as an antidote to the news. Our baseball team, the Nationals have not done well, but looks like we might finally have a football team worth watching for the first time in twenty years. After wNBA and Caitlin, My usual go to is tennis but my favorite player, Rafael Nadal, is retiring next month. Like so much with getting older, all the places, sports stars, movie actors we’ve relied on for years are fading away. Loved Canoli. Don’t often get to see pictures of cute guinea pigs. I’m starting a baby quilt for my grandnephew’s soon to be born daughter in Taiwan. I looked for the simplest pattern I could find. It has five wide strips with a box’ pattern offset in each strip, Other family members are going to visit them in December so I have to get it to them to take along. It’s gotten chilly here in Maryland as well but I think we are going to avoid a freeze for the moment.
Karen C. In MD
Karen – yup, I skip the news and go straight to sports! We’ll love to see a picture of the baby quilt!
Mary – I love seeing all those kids at your church. That is where we are lacking at our church as others have said. I wanted to ask you if you sing hymns at your church, and do they sing from a book or a screen? We still sing from hymnals at our church.
I am going to cover my flowers tonight and tomorrow night. Will see what the forecast is after that. My hanging basket flowers are doing so well I hate to think about losing them. The fertilizer really perked them up.
Thanks to everyone for the pictures again today. Always enjoy all of them.
Jeanine – we sing from both screen and hymnal -newer hymns are screen and sometimes the words are printed on a bulletin insert. I prefer the hymnal or another contemporary hymnal we have because it’s hard to play the music if the words don’t match. One small distraction and I’ll forget how many times I’ve played it and the words aren’t there. A church pianist’s nightmare.
I am working on my new embroidery project from Missouri Star, Enchanted Christmas (on black velveteen) and I am really enjoying it because I can relax in my lounge chair and do it while watching TV. The Stick and Stitch stuff is new to me and works great. I rescued a quilt top for $16 dollars (Christmas colors) looks like a jelly roll project. Amazing how it is fun to work on someone else’s abandoned projects. I washed it by hand, hung outside on the line, then ironed it. Now it feels more like mine. My son just got a Ninja Food Cooker Pro. It’s supposed to take the place of 14 appliances. ( slo cooker, cast iron skillet, steamer, dutch oven and bread maker to name a few). He made chicken soup and said he really likes it. Think I’ll check it out online. Might be good for us. I made beef stew the other day in my Instant Pot. So good and so easy. Love this Fall weather, I’m not a Summer girl. I read all the comments and thoroughly enjoy it. Blessings to you all! Linda in Colorado
Linda – I can’t stand what Rick watches on tv so I can’t sit in my easy chair and sew unless he’s watching sports.
I have to say too, that I enjoy a full church of children. I remember when I was young- way back- there were 20 plus kids in each grade. My kids had maybe 10. Now if we have 2-3 or less we are lucky. My husband and I joke we are almost the youngest members, in our 70’s! We too put our garden/ plants to bed for winter on Saturday. The mums will be pampered until the end.
I enjoyed today’s post and comments I’ve read. My morning started with an early morning walk – so glad I can do that again. I’ve watched more games – baseball, football and basketball – in the last three years than I ever have, I think. I keep track of football and basketball for five colleges – 3 in Iowa, ASU and one in California from which my son-in-law graduated. Usually I’ll be doing some other things at the same time. Iowa State is having a great season!
Have a productive day, all!
Jan
There are a lot of good pictures today. I’m not much for Halloween quilts, but the one with the toothy pumpkins is sure cute.
Patti in Florida, you do stay busy with all the quilts. I continue to think about all affected by the storms. A friend in Tampa just had a lot of yard debris to pick up.
Mary, I’m again impressed by all the young people in your church. Not just small children, but the older ones also.
Beryl BC – I am also thrilled with all the kids in church! Read another answer I wrote about the high school kids.
Thank you for the comment about my pumpkin quilt! It’s called ‘Things That Grin In The Night’ by Kim Diehl from her book Simple Seasons. I just had to make it and it was so much fun.
Mary,
My Tigers just couldn’t stop the Cleveland Guardians but boy our season ended in a great way and next spring will be something to look forward to. My game now is football though I am watching baseball too! I would like to see a dodgers and Yankees series.
Our weather has really cooled. Only in the low 50s today but it’s great garden cleanup weather.
Loved the quilt photos and pet pics today. My pediatric dentist niece would love the grinning pumpkin wall hanging! And the Wicked Witch quilt was great. I saw that production on Broadway and it was amazing!!
Just returned from a walk with Biscuit and he’s snoozing by my chair while I eat my oatmeal. We stopped in at the Ace Hardware store we pass on our daily walks and he got a doggy treat and tons of love from the two lady cashiers we’ve come to know. Have a great day everyone! 🌻
I finished taking in plants yesterday. 32 this morning in SW Iowa. I trimmed a bush that had sprung out these branches 12″ taller than the nicely trimmed bush from last year. Did all that after a nice walk in perfect temps. Then I tackled the cleaning of the sewing room. The hardest part was taking project boxes off a shelving unit so I could move the unit out to clean behind it. I did not move everything off so it was a test of what little strength I have left. Since my cedar chest was sitting empty and was just being used for the flat top, I decided my backings would go in it. I had them in the closet in about 3 different totes far from the long arm. So rearranging and cleaning up and out–out because I broke down two projects that I decided I would never do. So almost one wall got done. Finish up today. It’s the outside wall so worse than the rest. Progress and needs to be done.
Patti in FL sure has been busy! I admire your dedication to charity. I am enjoying being home for a couple weeks but no sewing for me since retreat. But I did ready some EPP I have been wanting to start for the past two months.
Mary you asked what we were up to and there you have it. I enjoy reading others’ comments too as much as I enjoy the blog.
Fran – moving all that just to clean behind it? Fran!! Now that’s something I wouldn’t do. But don’t you just love that feeling of accomplishment when you’re done? I lost my wonderful cleaning lady as she took a full time job – it ruined my day.
oh no, i know how disappointed you must be. maybe someone else? patti in florida
Well, 26 degrees this morning! The forecast is 4 mornings of this below freezing and then warm some. But, our trees will be bare! I just finished listening to some of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. I thought it would be fun to listen to while I was sewing. It’s been a LONG time since I read them. The last one I listened to is The Long Winter. It made me think of the year 1962 when I was a 7th grader. We didn’t have school for 6 weeks! But, we did not almost starve like they did.
I do think we all somehow become our mother….heehee. The saying ‘you open your mouth and your mother comes out’. I sure do miss her. I am thankful my mother and grandmother liked to sew and embroidery and knit and crochet.
I put the furnace on for a bit to take the chill out!
Loved all th pictures!
Have a good day!
Joy – since Rick is always so cold our furnace has been on for several weeks – yes, weeks!! Sometimes Im in a tshirt and he’s sitting with his coat on – circulation problems make a person cold evidently. Rick and I remember the winter of 1962!!!
Good grief I hate autocorrect 😡 I meant to type I’m rooting for the Guardians!
Absolutely love the Mother photo! And little Canoli is just too sweet. I’m from. N.E. Ohio something for the Cleveland Guardians in baseball. The last two games in the first series had me in the edge of my seat but they pulled out winds over Detroit to advance. My new word is “tenseful!” 🤣 I just love reading all the comments – this may sound silly but it makes me feel not so alone. Great to see all the kids in church! Everyone have a good day!
Kelli – the comments mean everything to me, too! When there are no comments for a time I get very discouraged because so many readers just “lurk” and don’t join in. Thanks you for being one of those joining in the conversation. I appreciate you.
I appreciate YOU 🥰 you boost so many of us each day – reading your blog is the bright spot in my morning! Thanks for all you do to make us smile and I love your rants – makes me feel like I’m not losing my mind when I have similar situations 🤯
Kelli – my rants are eased by the fact that I can write them down here and you readers are nearly forced to listen! Haha! Hardly fair, is it? I think it’s my age that presents so many rants – shopping brings on a multitude of irritations so I order most everything from Amazon. And bad drivers! They’re another breed all together and don’t get me started. 🤨
Here in central Indiana it has cooled off and I hope we’ll get a little rain today. Some of the trees are finally showing some color. We went to the Bloomington quilt guild show last weekend and decided to drive over to Nashville on Saturday. Brown County and the state park are famous for fall colors—thousands go there every fall. There was no color at all! And may not be much, according to the weather person—lack of rain and persistent warm temperatures. The thousands were shopping the cute little shops in Nashville. I only shopped at the Yellow Door Quilt store—only one other lady in there.
Mary, I was finally able to see my friend Cindy, who saved the Caitlin front page for me. She went out of town and just got back. I have a big Manila envelope ready to go! I’ll put it in the mail this morning.
Sue – oh, how fun to wander thru the shops! I haven’t done any of that since my Quilt Market days. Yes, not much color here either – just dried up leaves on the ground. I’m worried about my hydrangeas – I wonder if I should run the hose on them before it freezes. Can’t wait for my big envelope! Thank you and thank Cindy! This was really so unnecessary to anybody else except a Caitlin fan! Can’t wait to get it!!
What a blessing to have a full church. And so many children.
Cute card about turning into our mothers. My mom loved to read and I inherited that from her. I wish I had half the interest in cooking that she did. It’s hard sometimes to cook for myself! One thing I do like is having meals prepped and in my freezer.
And I’ve lost all interest in yard work. I don’t know how you do it, Mary.
My sport is football. Sad loss to Oregon for Ohio State. That was a crazy game!!!
Good one about exercise! My daughter was right. Getting a dog sure helps me get out the door and walking.
Carolyn – I have somehow forgotten your dog – send me a picture. Your daughter was right – dogs keep you active and are such great company. Wasn’t that a game – the Ohio State game? The yard work is just part of living in the country and if I didn’t love it I’d move to a condo which I would lose my mind in. It would feel like mail to me. I have to have it all done before my surgery. Getting the plants inside was a huge project.
It finally rained in my world. It started yesterday afternoon and rained all night. It also got quite chilly so I had to change the furnace filter and thermostat. I made a second trip to the basement because the furnace didn’t start up so with a prayer and an off and on of the power it fired up. Don sits all the time so he has already complained of being cold so he will be warm and I will sweat.
I have to work on toilets and the bath tub today. The chain on the flusher in Don’s bath is getting caught again and I found the toilet ran all night for the second night in a row. I dare don’t complain because Don is trying to get up all the time to use the toilet rather than the urinal I empty.
The toilet upstairs has a problem too. I put a clorox tablet in the tank and I believe, since it isn’t used or flushed daily the stem from the flush handle to the chain has oxidized horribly and will not work. I think I will try a scrubby pad with a bit of WD40 to try removing the oxidation and hopefully toilet 2 will be fine. No matter how simple, I hate changing hardware because something always gets messed up and it takes more time that it should. The tub upstairs is draining slow so I will begin that task by cleaning out the drain, hoping the resistance is close to the drain plug.
Didn’t get to the feed store or locksmith Friday so those are errands I must do today. Everyone have a fabulous day!
Linda – are we all having repair and maintenance issues? I hate it! And it’s just little stuff really but I don’t want to do it. I’m never going back to emptying the urinal – if he uses it, he empties it!!
the mother reflection look alike would be a welcome one. She was so beautiful and sadly only m y hands look like hers.
ah, change of sports. you change to baseball and i’m antsy for the first game of the orlando magic (nba basketball). we are a young team. i did have to laugh really hard at the ‘mother’ cartoon. my mother watched football especially the dallas cowboys.
is that a pencil cactus you have on your cart? there is a really large one at my mother’s and i want to bring cuttings back when i finally get out there.
i finished the last of the kennel quilts, one yesterday and two today. looks like i forgot to send a pic of #3. making the binding all at once surely made a difference. i don’t figure the kitties will care that the stitching on the binding wasn’t perfect or didn’t blend in. they only care about comfort. will send #3 again. now i’ll be off to do something else.
i really need to clean off my work area in the bedroom. there is no room to work. i pulled out so many scraps to work on those kennel quilts and there is still a ton there. do i pitch some of the smaller things or just corral them better? it’s been a dilemma for quite some time. just can’t decide. i guess i truly believe i’ll live to be 387 years old.
son called today and asked if it would help if i had help to handle the weight of the quilts. would be nice but would require entirely too much training. i miss him and grandson dearly but nothing would get done. i would still have the issue of getting upstairs and the energy to actually run the machine. i am anxious to try out the magnet system i put in (name escapes me at the moment).
florida will be dealing with flooding for quite some time. one of our major rivers, the St. Johns, runs south to north and is super slow. it is filling up from all the run-off and places are having major problems. the lineman are working so hard to get power back. we so appreciate all the help. our county finally got declared a fema disaster so that will help so many people get help with food. they keep showing pictures on tv of residential roads that have turned into rivers. the weather has turned a mite cooler – mid to upper 80s instead of high 90s.
love the halloween and fall quilts. just love them. the animals are all so cute. the cute little white dog in the truck waiting for mom.
it was truly inspiring seeing the children in the front of the church for the sermon. if only it could be that way again in all the churches. prayer works wonders.
off to resend photo and then hit the sack. the restless leg thing has kept me up for several nights and i’m trying to get to sleep before it hits. hugs to all, patti in florida
Patti – we are so lucky to have all those little kids plus there are younger toddlers and babies an then the older kids and confirmation kids – when they get into high school I think we lose them. You’ve heard that old joke – how do we as a church get the bats out of the bell tower? Confirm them and they’ll never be back! Sad but true.
red snappers. that is what the magnetic system for the longarm is called. whew! patti in florida
Patti, we found something that really helps restless leg. Heat! we use our rice filled bags heated in the microwave, and move it to different parts of the leg. 1 tylenol and heat! both my huband and I have it. Try it, it works!
thanks, linda. i will try that. usually as a last resort, i’ve been drinking some pickle juice. seems truly strange but it does work. i don’t know why i wait to do it. will try your way. patti in florida
Patti – I have so many pencil cacti! They’re so easy to start and grow so fast, they’re very fun BUT when I post the pictures you’ll see how many I have and I’ve given away probably a dozen last summer.
Like you, really love my pencil cacti and it will have to come into my apartment this winter. May have to start another one and give this one to someone with more space. Have big jade plants as well and limited overwinter space. Just plain love to grow plants, have done so all of my adult life.
Carolyn Howard
Hi Mary, Catalonia is cute, would love to see a photo of her pig and dog siblings! My eyes lids,top and bottom, are so full of fluid l had to go to doctor for drops and spray, hope it clears up soon.Some lucky dogs are going to get cosy blankets thanks to Patti, what size are they? Bella likes to sleep on whatever quilt l am working on,they always get a wash when l have finished them. Take care everyone, best wishes from Sandy
sandy , the kennel quilts finish at 12″ x 16″ as requested by the shelters. these will leave this week. they have to be softer than the metal bars and cold bottom of cages/kennels. thanks. patti in florida
Penny, Lucy and Canoli are adorable. Love all the quilt pictures. Mary, you must feel great having all the house plants indoors for the winter.
We had a beautiful weekend; yesterday’s high was 83, and today’s high was only 68!
Thanks, Mary
Jeanie – earlier this evening I covered all those hanging geraniums and then tonight after the weather forecast I hauled them all in – full of leaves and all so tomorrow is the day to clean and move 16 hanging geraniums! A few will stay in the front room and the rest will go to the basement.
I loved seeing all those kids in your church! Our attendance is down so much! Kids are the future! I can’t run!! I had a mole taken off the arch of my foot and it is painful! My doctor tried to warn me, but I thought I was tougher than that! Now I’m hobbling around and my husband has been a good sport about walking both of the beagles!
Jill – oh, your poor foot! And of course the beagles still needed to get out! I’m going to take a wild guess and say that our church is the envy of all the Garner churches. If some kids go to a certain church that brings more kids and families and we are blessed to have Pastor Brian. I’ve gone to this church since the early 80’s and it is a joyful feeling for me to sit at the front of the sanctuary and look out from the piano bench to see a very full church.
jill, i’m sorry about your foot. i’ve noticed as i get older that i ‘think’ i can take more pain than i can. hoping it heals quickly for you. i remember meeting you in paducah at the aqs show in 2003. have lots of your patterns pulled with fabric but have not gotten to them yet. classic story for me. patti in florida
Patti -better tell me what patterns are Jill’s – what have I missed?
almost every one of them has half square triangles – which i love. she’ll have to remind us of the company name because it escapes me at the moment. several of the ones i have she made in 30s prints – which is not my favorite thing but i still like the quilts. – name might be ‘american jane’? maybe, jill, please help out here, patti in florida
Patti – I wonder if Sandi Klop is her mom. Jill?
Hahaha, I did laugh at the decision exercise.
The children at church looks like a beautiful group. They’re paying attention, nobody pickin their nose!
The last two weeks have been very trying for me. Everything I touched needed to be fixed. The car, deck, longarm job. I finished the week going to a short retreat. We passed many miles of burned pasture, trees and prairie. They reported the big fires are 33% contained. Great news. My wonderful neighbors took care of Loretta. They reported she did great.
I’m back to reality now.
Good luck, Mary, on your plants and team.
Jo in Wyoming – we’re having some of the same issues – the softener, the thermostat, the backup camera in my van – you name it.
I love all the pictures but especially the Guinea pig! I had Guinea pigs when I was growing up and have a soft place for them in my heart. I’m watching ballgames too, Mary, but my mother didn’t watch them so I’m not like her that way’. Ha!
Paula – Canoli lives with her sister pig Eunice in Florida – along with a dog brother named Casey.
Hi Mary,
As a former New Yorker, and now Wisconsinite, I’m hoping for a Subway Series ( Mets Vs Yankees) but I’m still annoyed the Mets beat our Brewers. And I’ll be rooting for the Yankees!
I went hiking a few hours north of here this weekend, the leaves are gorgeous!!
Mary did Nancy send you the same Caitlin Collector Card that I sent you? Wow!
NO!!! I got you mixed up!! And I was typing from memory. I’m sorry – I will correct my mistake in the next post. Ugh.