A tough Birthday for any mother...

 Its official...I no longer have any "children".  My youngest turned 18 today.  The older child is 20.  Where did the time go?  Where did that beard come from?  What happened to the little guy with silky blond curls who followed me around and was a devoted companion for so many years? 
Well, he has moved in with is sister so they can be closer to the University that they will now both be attending in about a month. 
This momma made it through the day, the family party, and seeing the kids off before the tears came.  My husband doesn't understand the tears because he feels proud of the kids and loves to see them developing into delightful and responsible people.  I love all of that as well but it is so hard to not have babies any more.  How can you not lament the loss? 
They use to need me. Now they do stuff on their own. They use to love to be with me.  Now its friends before boring old mom.  I use to be able to kiss their hurts away.  It doesn't work that way anymore.  All I can ask is that the world be kind to them and hope that I have equipped them to be able to grow and handle what gets thrown at them.  And I will have to be happy with the few texts I get through the week and the weekly- I hope- dinners that I will have with them through the college years.  They only live 30 minutes away but I am afraid its going to seem like a huge distance. 

This handsome young man has a promising future ahead of him, a nice academic scholarship, and a promising future in Engineering.  So proud of you!
Happy Birthday!

Don't want to get moving today...

I do not want to get moving today.  Mostly because I have a lot to do but would rather stay home and sew.  I have to go back to work on Monday and won't have much opportunity once we get back into the swing of the school year.  SIGH!

I have got to venture out and attack the list.  We are hosting a family pool party tomorrow.  Not our pool but we are hosting- providing the food and the like.  It will be a lot of fun but it requires some work.  

Below, you see one of my newest goals.  Our hedgie is not a new family member but I have to admit he has been somewhat neglected lately which makes him a grumpy boy.  He has not been handled much this Spring and Summer so he doesn't like it at all.  My husband and I tried to trim his nails the other night and got one foot done before he drew blood- with his quills, he has NEVER bitten any of us which I hear can be nasty.  So, back to the beginning stages of socialization where I make sure he is handled at least 30 minutes a day EVERY DAY!  He will be back to his gentle self soon.  

On a plus note, I ran into work for a few minutes yesterday to find that my office has finally been painted.  I was thinking I was going to end up doing it myself but have been spared that.  Not sure I am crazy about the salmon/beige they used-it matches the 20 year old paint colors from when the school was new but it could have been worse so I am going with it.  

I have some Harry Potter quilts to finish, a quote from Dumbledore and a few other things to go with the theme.  I will post pictures if I ever get it finished.  I haven't even started one of the quilts and the other is the Project of Doom from Fandom in Stitches.  I am about half way done with the blocks.  That will become my focus once I get these twin graduation quilts finished.  One is halfway bound and the other needs the binding sewn on.  

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend of stitching and family fun!

A day with the kids

Yesterday I met my kids at the Aquarium/Botanical Gardens.  We were anxious to see the new river otters that have finally been put on exhibit.  The kids were only 45 minutes late meeting me.  Let's keep our fingers crossed that they get better at the time management thing before school starts in August. 

I tried really hard, while I was there, to pretend I was on a tropical vacation.  You know, since I haven't been anywhere in forever! 

Chaos and Mayhem were a very pleasant couple of girls to watch.  I am sure we will be visiting them often since my daughter LOVES the aquarium and LOVES otters! 

Not much quilting has happened in the last week but I am hoping to get one quilted today after the visit to the vet with 3 fur babies.  If I can get it done, and two bindings completed, I can gift them on Saturday.  Wish me luck but I see the finish of these two happening later next week. 

I ran this morning and it was like dragging myself through mud.  My legs had no umph.  Things have got to get better soon!  It was only 73 degrees when I returned home so I can't really blame it on the heat.  I am supposed to do 8-9 miles later this week.  I am trying to get psyched up for it.  Praying to the running gods to let me feel like I am making improvements.  I miss the feeling of loving running that I had 2 years ago.  That's what I get for getting too busy and lazy to keep going then. 

Hope everyone has a happy hump day.  I wish you good stitching and good living!

Greetings

Hello friends, fellow runners and quilters,
Thanks so much for stopping by.  I am a quilter of more than 20 years, an on again off again runner who hopes to make it a consistent lifestyle now that my nest is empty and I have no legitimate excuse, a High School Librarian-former World History Teacher, who happens, today, to be celebrating my 23rd anniversary of being married to my best friend and supporter.
I have blogged in a few other places, listed in the side bar as soon as I get around to it, and have decided that I want to corral it all here.  I hope you will join me in my adventures.
You will see quilting, running, family stuff, book reviews, poodles and other pets, and the quest to downsize our 2500 square foot home.  I hope to see new and familiar faces as I journey through this next phase of my life.  Please join me.  I will try to make it interesting and informative.  I try to offer free patterns and tutorials on occasion and will also be setting up a little etsy shop for some of the more involved patterns I create. 
I have a serious quest to use up the 20 + years worth of fabric stash that I have been collecting and curating.  The goal is to only purchase fabrics that are absolutely necessary to help me use up what I already have. 

  

Here is one of the latest UFOs that I have pulled out.  It is the littlemissshabby rainbow row along located at http://corianderquilts.com/rainbow-row-along/ .  It was started by my quilt group a few years ago and I have most recently added two rows and then realized that I did not have near enough of that fabric to continue so, luckily, I found one fat quarter set that I was able to order.  It will hopefully arrive soon so that my enthusiasm for finishing it does not dwindle.  I have mostly followed the pattern up to this point but will be making a few rows of my own in order to finish up.  Its really not even half finished yet.  

This is a quilt I have recently started for my daughter.  It is my own design.  Again, I ran out of the background fabric with just a few more blocks to cut, ordered more.  When it arrived, the ink was brown instead of the grey I had already started using so I ordered again.  Hopefully it will be here in a few days as well.  

I created some jar blocks but was not that impressed with them so they have gone into the closet to await more inspiration or a decision to donate them to the guild.  We will see.  

The most recent long run was 5.5 miles.  My first trail run.  Bear Canyon is actually right on the edge of town and runs between neighborhoods in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains.  There is no shade, it is mostly cactus with plenty of scrub brush, but it was a very pleasant hike/run.  The way up is actually a deceptively challenging climb which I mostly hiked.  The way back down is a very pleasant run where I did not come close to my max heart rate.  I am looking forward to our next trail run in a few weeks.  I am supposed to run 9 miles with the group on Saturday but have a family pool party so will be on my own to do it Friday or Sunday.  I will have to think about where that 9 miles is going to take place.