Looking back Through The Week

Well, it's now Sunday morning. And I haven't made any entries since Tuesday night.

Looking back, I think about what has occurred this past week. The things seem minute. But, they happened none-the-less.

Wednesday I had planned on working further on my quilt project - the one with the 2008 MN Quilt Shop Hop material. I started out the day with a shower and breakfast. I realized, after breakfast, that I left my phone upstairs. So, I went to retrieve it, finding that I missed a call. Upon some minor detective work, I found the call came from the GFW Middle School. Since I'm a substitute paraprofessional, I returned the call (they had not left a message). Laura, the secretary, let me know that indeed, they did need a sub-para. So I filled the position, arriving at 9:30 a.m. and finishing at the end of the school day, shortly after 3 p.m. Ka-ching. A couple extra bucks in my pocket, with little effort. Most of the times I've subbed, the teachers haven't demanded much from me. Thus, the "little effort" for the bucks. (Don't tell them! :)) (I guess the main reason I'm there is to provide support when they need it - and I do fulfill that. So, I guess ...)

After getting back from "the job", I relaxed a bit, had a bite to eat, then monkeyed a bit more on my quilt. (I passed on my daily walk this day.)

When Russ called me on Wednesday night, he informed me that he filled the foreman position that day. Since there had been a snowstorm on Tuesday, the regular foreman and the one who normally fills in when the regular one is gone must have been snowed in. Russ has filled that position once before on a Saturday when those two were both busy doing family things. I had asked him how the others on his crew felt about him being chosen to be the foreman. Only one of the others had any issues, feeling he should have been the one chosen. But, Russ knowing this guy, realizes why that guy wasn't chosen. All the rest were fine with Russ filling in.

On Thursday I continued working on the quilt. I also took a walk, picking up the mail and putting in a few extra steps for my heart. Russ' call came in in the evening as usual. Not much happened out of the norm for him. The foreman was back on the job and Russ was back to his regular position.

On Friday I started the day cooking. I had purchases a whole bunch of bananas, knowing that I wouldn't be able to eat them all before they became over ripe for regular munching. So, it was time to use up those bananas. I started by making a dozen banana muffins. Then I made Verna's banana bread recipe that uses yogurt. Then I made a recipe that comes from one of my favorite Betty Crocker books - it uses buttermilk. After those three recipes, I still had some mashed bananas left! So, I made a banana cake that also comes from Miss B.C. (the muffins recipe came from her too.) Since there's no way I can eat all that without it spoiling and me ballooning out, after they all cooled, I packaged them up and froze them.

I'm planning on bringing the muffins to D&S on Monday. Duane called on Wednesday or Thursday (can't remember which) asking if I could assist Steph with some things on Monday. Daycare is closed and Nicholas will be home. So, I said, Sure. I'll be there.

In the afternoon, after all the baking was done, I worked some more on the quilt. To my relief, I finished it! - That is I finished piecing the top. The time must have been 4, 4:30 p.m. when I finished. So, I called Mom to let her know. She wants to use some of my fabric. Also, I wanted to get some ideas of what I should use for the backing. So, she let me know she'd have time for me to come on down to her place on Saturday (yesterday).

After that phone call and my daily walk and getting the mail, I got my daily call from Russ. Other than him working on Saturday, not much else was going on for him either.

Saturday rolled around and I headed down to Mom's for a good visit. I actually remembered to bring everything along that I planned on bringing too! Mom had asked Russ for a couple fluorescent bulbs for her kitchen light fixture many months ago. Since my florescent light fixture in the laundry room needed new bulbs last weekend, Russ got and replaced bulbs for mine. And since Mom's and my fixtures use the same size bulbs, Russ got Mom's too. (Russ has a bunch of bulbs left over from when he was in business and has them stored in the barn. Since he was the one who organized the inventory, I figured it would be much easier for him than me to find the bulbs.) So, I managed to remember to bring those bulbs and my material along. I also needed to go grocery shopping, so I even remember to bring our gallon water jugs. (Since Russ gets a gut ache when he drinks our well water, we've gone to buying water.)

After arriving at Mom's we replaced those bulbs right away, so we'd have that task out of the way. Then Mom asked me to look at some paper work that had been baffling her. Although I was able to help her some with it, I wasn't able to answer all her questions. (The paper work pertained to Medicare). Well, Medicare sometimes can be so confusing (not necessarily complicated - at least not in this paperwork, but confusing)! So, I had to resign and have she'll have to call her agent about it.

Kurt called while I was trying to assist Mom with the paperwork. Kurt and Mom had a good chat. After that, we took our time to look over our 2008 Quilt Shop Hop quilts. I showed Mom how I had adjusted the pattern from a 60 x 60 wall hanging into a queen size quilt. Then she showed me how the Thimble Box gals had her alter hers. All mom needed was a little more material from my stash in order for her to finish. As for me, I needed some from her stash so I'd have enough to make the backing for mine - without having to buy more material. That all sounds simple enough. But, it took some brain storming and some math skills to figure out how we wanted to finish our quilts. Mom had originally thought she'd need more material for her backing to make it large enough. But after utilizing our math skills, we found she'd be fine without the extra material.

By the time we were done with that, it was time for dinner. So, dinner we made and ate. After dinner, Mom showed me a couple emails. The one I remember best is the one that Carrie sent to her. Carrie has made a book of some of her photos - for a class. She has it for sale. The email had a link to a website that gives one a chance to view a few of her pages. I was impressed! Now, if only Carrie would share that with us all!

After some more chatting, I parted ways with Mom and headed to New Ulm. I needed some groceries. And I also wanted to pick up some more material for finishing another quilt that I've started. This one is the 2008 Thangles project. I hadn't been in the Thimble Box in quite some time. So, I brought my 2008 Quilt Shop Hop quilt along so I could show Brenda (the owner) and any other interested parties. I had a great time sharing it and talking to Brenda. We also had a great time picking out the material for the Thangle project. She even showed me a couple of other Thangles projects that she and one of her helpers had finished. These were welcome sights. It's always nice to see other peoples' work. It helps with the brain storming.

After my stop at the Thimble Box, I headed to the grocery store and got those necessities. Then on home I went. It was about 5 p.m. when I arrived home. After getting the supplies out of the car, not much light was left. So, I passed on taking my daily walk. That was alright. I might have missed Russ' call OR had to take it while walking in the cold - I hate that!

Russ called earlier than normal. He called at 6:30 p.m. and his normal time is around 7:30 p.m. on working days, which it was. His call came earlier because he wanted to go to the local bar and grill for their weekly special - Prime Rib! (He normally calls after he's done for the evening, including supper.) This is the bar and grill that also hosts Bingo. It was about 7 p.m. when I said I'd better let him go. He mentioned that, yeah, Bingo has already started. I said if I let him go pretty quick he could get a couple games in yet. But, his concern wasn't the Bingo, but the Prime Rib. He didn't want it to be all gone! So, since I was just rambling anyways (as you can see, I do that often), I let him go.

After the call, I monkeyed with preparing the fabric for the backing of the Quilt Shop Hop quilt. And that was about it.

As for today, I've started it with continuing with preparing that fabric and starting some laundry. And of course, catching up on my blog and browsing Facebook a bit.

So goes it.