Flash From the Past

"Life is nothing without friendship!" --Marcus Tullius Cicero

My phone just rang and when I checked the called ID expecting yet another political call, I was amazed to see a name I hadn't seen in about 30 years! Thirty years!!!

Thirty years ago, I was at Debbie and Randy's wedding and I haven't really seen them since. Shortly afterward, they moved to the New England area and though I'd hear news about them occasionally at first, I've heard nothing for a very long time. Years passed and now, they've moved back to this area, living only about 40 miles away!

What a flood of memories that phone call brought back! I pulled out an old yearbook to find photos of:

me in the Z-Club, Randy playing basketball and Debbie as pep squad leader. (not to mention notes from some of my girlfriends that indicate I must have had some sort of crush on Randy a couple of years earlier). After high school, we all went to college together for a couple of years and then they left to get married. And then our paths separated.

In a couple of weeks, though, our high school is having its homecoming game. Randy and Debbie are going to come to it and they begged me to meet them there. After recalling people from our old "gang" and their married name, present locations, etc. we decided to try to talk several into coming along. How can I resist a chance to re-connect with such wonderful, old friends??!! I'm kind of nervous about it at the same time---after all, my hair is now peppered with a liberal dose of gray and I've put on quite a few pounds since high school. But, Debbie says she has, too, and Randy insists that he is now bald and ugly.

We exchanged cell phone numbers just in case we have trouble recognizing each other, but somehow I think that all we'll have to do is look for the old people in the stands!

Bend the Rules

This weekend, I worked on assembling the lap quilt for my swap partner. I love the fabric she chose and it's been fun putting it all together. I actually finished the quilt last night and am quite pleased with how it turned out. Here's a sneak peek of what will be in the package I mail to Becca. Wait a minute! Who's that hiding behind the quilt? Emmi is looking for loose threads, I guess (she loves thread and in my house there are always plenty!)

What a way to start the week!

Sunday morning----walking through the kitchen before leaving for church.
What's that?---water on the kitchen floor? There must have been water in that bowl as I loaded it into the dishwasher.
No, wait----there's lots of water on the floor. Is it coming from under the sink and trickling all the way to the frig? No, it's dry under the sink. So, that means it's coming from the frig.

Oh dear----I must have left the freezer door open (although I don't even remember opening it) and now everything is almost thawed out. Well, I've got to clean up what I can, close the door securely and get to Sunday School since I'm teaching. In the morning, I'll throw away the things that I think got too thawed out.

Sunday night---It's been a long, busy day. Let me get a nice, cold Diet Coke out of the frig.
Oh no!! The Coke doesn't feel very cold. In fact, nothing in here feels very cold. I repeat---Oh no!!

Everything in the freezer seems to have thawed out----while there is some sort of noise going on, nothing is obviously working. Let me call Carol's husband, Ron.
Ron looks in, listens and says---"You've got a problem." No kidding.
Okay, so let me find the booklet about the frig. I mean, it's only 4 years old!!
Oh wait! This may be good news! I bought an extended service plan on this thing. I NEVER buy those things (I mean they're supposed to last at least a few years, aren't they?) 5 years!! YAY! I'm going to call them right now.

They can come out in the morning. Okay great, but what about all this food right now. How much can I cook tonight? And, if I cook it, I still need someplace to store it. Okay, so I'll cook enchilada casserole and almond crusted chicken tonight.

Oh dear, Callie and Jordan's wedding cake top!!! I've got to get that down to Carol's house--along with the now-cooked casserole, the chicken and a few assorted half-thawed items.

Monday morning---Pork-roast in the crock-pot today and I wait . . . . and wait . . . for the repair person. Finally she comes and of course has to leave to get parts.

Finally, everything is fixed again Pork-roast for dinner, but I still need a cold, Diet Coke. I wonder how long it would take to cool it down if I put one in the freezer??

When the week starts like this, I wonder what's next?!?!

Swap Fun!

A package awaited me when I got home from work yesterday, and I couldn't wait to open it. A couple of weeks ago, while browsing craft blogs, I ran across Swapdex, where a variety of swaps are listed. Considering my newest sewing passion, the Bend the Rules Lap Quilt Swap sounded like it would be perfect for me. I'd seen the Bend the Rules Sewing book, but had never purchased it, so I made a quick trip to Barnes and Noble to take a look at the project, then sent an email to sign up for the swap. Seeing the package in my carport made me anxious to take a peek at the fabrics I'd be sewing. I'll be sewing for Becca -- look at the great fabrics she sent to me!I love the Amy Butler line of fabrics and these colors are great.

After work today, I stopped by my local fabric store to purchase the fabrics that I want my quilt made of. I bought several of them a couple of weeks ago when I visited Callie, but needed some fabrics to coordinate. I went to Ruston with the idea of picking out some really modern geometric prints, but returned home with much more neutral colors in textures I liked. Here's what I picked out to send to my swap partner, Heather: I can't wait to get my fabrics in the mail and to begin sewing on Becca's quilt. By the way, Becca, I love the projects pictured on your Flickr site!!

Revolve--All Access

This weekend, I chaperoned a group of teenage girls from my church on a trip to Dallas for the REVOLVE Tour. After dropping the girls and a couple of moms off at the door (later than expected), a couple of us parked the vans and walked to the American Airlines Center. We found our group just in time to hear the end of Natalie Grant's last song and hear the announcement that the program was over for the night!

We should have known what kind of trip it was going to be when one of the girls was injured before we'd even left Shreveport. Fortunately, the ER was able to get her fixed up and she came over later that night, but it should have been a signal to all of us that it was going to be one of "those kinds" of weekends.

Despite the injury, unbelievable inconveniences at our hotel and one sick chaperone, we had a pretty good time. Saturday, we saw a show full of singing, drama and speaking. In fact, I think the girls really enjoyed it and that was the most important thing--they liked the music and the speakers were "just right". And of course, they LOVED the t-shirt/souvenir booths!! ^_^

Hellloooo Ike!

Well, here we go again. Hurricane Ike is blowing through Shreveport right now. Last night, the winds began picking up slightly and slowly increased throughout the night. While the sky began to look ominous, you'd never know it from these shots I took this morning. But, anticipating Ike's arrival later today, I made adjustments to my trip over to Ruston to visit Callie. I'd planned to spend the day and help her with some craft projects, but instead I decided I'd better cut my visit short and try to get back before the worst hit Shreveport. Callie and I were able to find a great little quilt store, Hannah's Quilts, in nearby Choudrant. (It was quite a task to find the store and we discovered it was even harder to find our way back to Ruston!--Jana and Rob, thanks again for the GPS!!)

Callie was very patient with me while I selected a few fabrics for future projects. I just can't go in a store like that and not come out with something pretty! We ate at a local Mexican restaurant and then I headed back home. And I made it back just in time! The last few miles were getting pretty messy and the winds really picked up a few hours later. I took a couple of photos of the trees blowing outside while the power was out indoors.The power is back on again now, but since it's flickering all the time, I'll keep my fingers crossed it stays that way.

Mosaic Fun

I found a Mosaic on Shawnee's blog and thought it might be fun to do the same. Here is what to do if you would like to create your own mosaic:

* Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.

* Using only the first page, pick an image.

* Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.fd's mosaic maker: http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php

1. What is your first name? 2. What is your favorite food? 3. What high school did you go to? 4. What is your favorite color? 5. Who is someone you think has talent? 6. Favorite drink? 7. Dream vacation? 8. Favorite dessert? 9. What you want to be when you grow up? 10. What do you love most in life? 11. One Word to describe you. 12. Your flickr name.

1. Linda 2. Shrimp 3. Northwood 4. Blue 5. James Taylor 6. Diet Coke
7. Jackson Hole, WY 8. Carrot Cake 9. Teacher 10. Family 11. Content 12. lindajamar

Gold Rush Fever

Come and listen to a story about a man named Jed, A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed.
Then one day he was shootin at some food, And up through the ground came a bubblin crude.
Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea.
---theme song to "Beverly Hillbillies" by Paul Hemming

Seems that gold rush fever has taken over this area---only this time it's "black gold". With talk of the Haynesville Shale, the topic of oil and gas leases, production, signing bonuses and such have taken over conversations in most households. It's kind of amazing to watch----unlike anything this area has ever experienced for sure. There have been neighborhood meetings and meetings with attorneys to help those of us who are "not in the know" try to figure it all out.

Since I have a pretty small piece of property, I've known that the largest "signing bonus" I'll ever see will most likely buy a new outfit at best, but still it's pretty exciting. I met with a landman today (or should I say landlady since it was a female) about the latest offer for the mineral rights to my property. Sounds good to me, but who knows if a better offer might be right around the corner? After all, last month the offer was almost half as much!

Passing Storm

Well, with the worst of the storm passing through Louisiana now, it seems that I now have a couple of days at home on my hands. Schools are closed through tomorrow, the rain is still pouring down here and it's the perfect day to finish a few projects. While I probably SHOULD be cleaning out closets or just my bedroom in general, for me, it's so much more satisfying to complete a sewing project. Maybe by washing a few loads of laundry and actually putting them away (as opposed to folding them in the laundry basket and living out of it), I won't feel so guilty about my fabric addiction.

In addition, this week's color is "plum". Hmmm, seems I'll really need to be on the lookout for that since I don't regularly have it in my house.

I'll also be thinking about my friend, Valine, down in Prairieville, Louisiana. While New Orleans has so far missed the beating that was expected from Gustav, just a bit northwest took a pounding with heavy winds. Winds in Baton Rouge were reported to be about 93 mph, so I can only imagine how that must have felt. While very accustomed to preparing for hurricanes, that kind of wind velocity is unusual so far inland. Once the winds passed, she was able to send me these pictures via her iPod, since her power is still out.

Her house:

Her daughter's car: (believe it or not, the trees narrowly missed the car!! Previously it had been parked in the driveway where that mass of tree limbs now sit)and her backyard.Thinking of you, Valine, and wishing I could be there to help you clean up.