Calendar Girl

Earlier tonight JB called down to me from the office, saying gravely, "April, you'd better come up here. There's an email that you need to see."

"What is it?" I called back.

"You're not going to like it."

I was quite baffled about what bad email he could receive that I wouldn't like, so I hurried to the computer to read the message.

It said, "hello April,

we have chosen to use your photo that is looking from shore out into a bay."

JB is such a trickster!

It was an email from the Clark Twp Rec Committee (where Cedarville is, in the U.P.), saying that they chose my photo for their 2010 calendar. How cool is that?? I'm sure there weren't scads of entries as it is a very rural area, and considering the lack of grammar consideration in the man's email, I don't know how professional the contest is, but it's still fun to be picked!

Obsession

It's all Marian's fault.

Since becoming unemployed I picked up my old pasttime of quilting. I originally intended to make Olivia a twin bed quilt before she was born, to put on the bed in her room. Haha. I never even started it. Here's the fabric I have for it. It's going to be a dutch windmills design, as Olivia is part Dutch:



But now that I have more free time (but not much, mind you, as you stay at home moms know!) I have resurrected this project. Marian has been helping me with my quilting aspirations and now things have gotten a little out of control.

We went to Smith Own fabrics to shop around and we were very restrained and only bought like 10 different fabrics. I spent almost all of my "fun money" that I had been saving. After we paid, Marian said, "Now let's get out of here before we buy anything else." So we did. But then the next day I made JB take me back. There was one fabric that I had forgotten to purchase and I NEEDED it. I don't know WHAT I need it for, but I was desperate to own it because it's so beautiful:



I also picked up a few more things. Fun money = spent:


Last night I was telling JB that I had been looking on the internet for more 30's reproduction fabrics for the Sunbonnet Sue quilt that I want to make.

"You're going to make another quilt?" he asked, incredulous. I guess he thought that Olivia's quilt was enough. And the quilt that I'm making for Krystal.

I told him that I had plans for many quilts, but I did not list them off, as he would think that I am crazy. I did admit to him that I am regularly tempted to go back to the fabric store and just buy whatever I want and put it on our credit card. He forbade me. This was a smart move.

If Marian wasn't such a quilting fanatic I may have stopped at Olivia's quilt. At least for the time being. But she has been teaching me tricks about sewing and planning and my confidence is growing. She has told me about women who will do the quilting part of your project (sewing the top to the inside batting and the bottom fabric) if my quilt is too big for me to do at home. She shows me her quilting magazines. She shows me her massive fabric stashes. She goes with me to various fabric stores.

I am a Jane-of-all-Trades in that I like everything and do lots of things. But I think that the buck may stop at quilting. Or, at least, collecting beautiful fabric. Not sure which is more fun.

Mid-week, April and I were fighting about something that was pretty stupid, but was really just a catalyst for a different bigger issue. I was angry, maybe even enraged, and then April cried. My response?

"April, when you cry it neuters my rage."

Tears made my blustering look just... dumb.

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Friday, I walked into Best Buy to pick up something I had to special order. As I approached the service desk the young lady working uncapped a thick black marker and took a deep whiff.

"Smells like knowledge." She stated ever so sagely.

Naturally I laughed in her face.

"Smells like dying brain cells", I replied.

"Maybe." She smiled and took another hit of the marker. "Nope, smells like knowledge."

The crazy thing is, I know what she meant.

1.) "Once upon a time I was shopping at the mall with Annie.
And this was last Tuesday."

This was the start of a story that I was relaying to JB last night. He told me to post this on the blog.

2.) Dog sitting is over. Uneventful! Well, except that Maggie is so old that our hardwood stairs are tough for her, so JB had to carry her up at night for bed. Lucy was unnerved by this and barked loudly at JB when he picked Maggie up once, so he punted Lucy (don't worry, she's fine). She didn't bark at him again.





3.) Sister Annie has moved back home. Boo! She got a job as a store manager at Macy's in Port Huron, so that's good, but this means that she's gone, and we miss her.



4.) Since Spring is coming, along with a muddy yard, Chewba got a haircut. She looks like a puppy again! She is also feeling just as energetic as a puppy and yesterday when Marian, Olivia, the dogs and I went for a walk in the old orchard, Lucy raced around like a little jackrabbit. Run, run, run!!! Both Lucy and I were quite muddy after the walk, because even though it's only 20 degrees outside, the sun was making the path muddy. Marian washed Lucy's muddy paws before we got in the car, but my jeans would have to wait until I got home. A few minutes into the car ride I smelled it. Poop. Agh! The car STANK! Since Lucy's paws had been washed I assumed it was me. It was almost unbearable. At first I thought it was dog poop. But it had this "woodsy" feel to it. So I decided it was deer poop. No, that wasn't it... Hmm...

I considered just what kind of feces was making me feel so nauseous as I drove down Burton with Lucy sitting happily in my lap, a big adventure behind her. Then it hit me.

I wasn't smelling poop at all.

It was dead animal.

And it was all rubbed into Lucy's back, which was 6 inches from my face.

Agh!!!

"You stink, Baby Lu!" I told her. She did not react. I think she was too busy dreaming about the Drama Clean shampoo waiting for her at home. :)

Bird Update II

All right, folks, I'm closing in on having more blog time. I just finished Annie's crocheted blanket, which was her Christmas present, delivered 2 months late. Eee! I'm glad it's done, and I think she is, too.

We're dog sitting this week. Dogs, dogs, everywhere.

Okay, so all I have to share today is that Olivia went to the doctor on Friday and we learned that she is the length of a 10-month-old (28 inches) and she's not even five months! No wonder why nothing fits her anymore! It felt really strange to put her in 12-month clothes, but it makes sense now.

As Olivia has gotten older, she is starting to look a little more like me. Her hair color is still a bit of a mystery, but I'm leaning towards coppery. Even though JB has beautiful dark red hair, his was orange when he was a baby, so I'm not sure whose hair she really has. Both sides of JB's family have red heads, and the Teagues do, too.

What IS for certain, is where the Bird gets her elf ears! It dawned on me the other day so I fished this photo out of the family archives for proof. She gets them from her Great-Grandpa Teague--Dad's dad, Carl, don't you think? (He's the one on the left):