A Mish Mash

Or a little of this and that.  We really need to change locations, I feel the blog has been exceedingly boring lately!!  I started the day out with good intentions—I was going to quilt.  Well, I guess I did quilt a little—for about 10 minutes then I spent a hour ripping out what I had stitched!

The folks who purchased our former home and ranch are here and are doing some maintenance work on the house—they rented a sprayer and re-stained the entire outside of the log home.  Today I went down and taught them how to “chink.”

See the white lines between the logs—that is a substance called chink—it is applied between the logs to seal the cracks.  Chink is a latex and sand mixture which is applied using either a special chink gun or a caulk gun.  A very time consuming process, I chinked the inside and outside of our house in which we now live when it was built.  Joe and Tammy want to chink the outside of their home and needed lessons—teacher Janna to the rescue.  We are invited down for dinner tomorrow evening, I’m anxious to see some of the finished work!

I failed to listen to my intuition the other day—when the UPS Store owner told me it would cost a little over $200 to ship that longarm frame I should have said, “and what have you been smoking???”  The two packages weigh close to 250 pounds and the rails are over 10 feet long.  I explained all this and his reply, “well, I can’t imagine it being more than say $300.”  Today he called me with a quote for $867!!!!  Needless to say we are NOT using his UPS Store for shipping!!  I got a quote from Federal Express Freight for $367—Michael can build a crate for the rails and we will take it to the freight terminal in Billings.  We made a flying trip over to Livingston (60 miles one way!!) this afternoon late to get the frame.  Geez!!  The frustration drove me to have ice cream!!!

A few days ago I read Paulette’s blog in which she wrote about going to get a quilting frame—Rick also wrote about their trip.  Paulette and I emailed back and forth a few times about what kind of sewing machine she should have for this new frame.  I gave Paulette my phone number in case she had any more questions.  Imagine our surprise when the phone rang the other afternoon and it was Rick—with Paulette waiting in the background to talk to me.  It was fun to actually talk to blogging friends.

I think today was our smokiest day so far—miserable, smoky enough to make your eyes burn and your throat hurt.

Long Day, Encouraging News

We left the house early this morning meeting Lonn and LoraLee at Nat’s to drop off Emmi.  It was a day of medical stuff for LoraLee, a very long day but with encouraging news—the new chemo is doing what it is supposed to do—very good news!!

Katie and Michael joined us in Billings and it was good to visit with them.  We spent the day surfing the internet on Lonn and LoraLee’s iPads’, reading and knitting—I managed to knit several rows without mistakes or cussing!  LoraLee knits so I knew I had help in the wings if need be!

LoraLee reminded me today—I haven’t posted photos of Mary’s quilt—so here it is—a beauty!

Whirlwind Day

Several years ago right after purchasing the longarm, I decided to take it south to Arizona that winter using an enclosed trailer as a quilting studio.  Not wanting to pay $3000 for an additional shorter in length frame for the longarm, my handy/dandy husband built one—the machine worked just as well on the home built frame as it did on the factory one.

Quilting in the desert was hard on my machine—way too much dust and we decided not to take the machine south again.  Now I had two frames—I posted the 10 foot table for sale on the APQS quilting forum probably at least a year ago.  A woman called two weeks ago, has a Millennium longarm just like mine—lives in Oklahoma but is living in Texas for a while as her husband is working there.  She needed a shorter table in their place in Texas—she bought my frame.

OK—that was a long explanation for why this was a whirlwind day!   When I went to the airport the other day, I stopped by JoAnn’s and purchased some new canvas for the rollers of the longarm frame.  This morning we hurriedly attached that canvas and loaded the frame in the truck—Nat had a 10:40 eye doctor appointment in Livingston and we were going to take the frame to the UPS store for shipping.  The rails are so long it requires building a crate and shipping via a freight carrier.

Eye appointment and unloading of the frame accomplished—time for lunch—where else but the Rib and Chop in Livingston!  Delicious meal!

Finally we are back home rescuing the home alone Ms. Emmi.  I’ve done some unpacking, laundry, vacuuming and dusting—home alone husband and dog does not make for a clean house! 

Very warm day and very windy—no rain in the forecast for at least a couple weeks.  Our leaves are starting to change color, especially the chokecherry.

Home Again

My flight home today from Kansas City was so pleasant—much better than the flight out!  On time, still packed planes but much more considerate people! 

The party is over but it is very good to be home with Michael and Emmi—I think both of them were very glad to see me.  Kelly picked me up at the hotel around 7:30am and we had a great visit on the way to the airport.  I think she is ready for a little R&R, too!

Alison and Ryan haven’t posted many photos as of yet on Facebook but here are a couple: 

Alison has been taking voice lessons for a long time and is well on her way to being a “known” opera singer—her voice is very powerful!  Once I figure it out I will post a link to the opera she sang for Ryan during the reception.

Still very dry and smoky here in Montana but cooler.  Emmi had a “hot spot” on her back when I got home (I think these spots are stress related—perhaps she didn’t like my being gone for so long??) so I gave her a quick bath and cleaned the area—it’s looking better all ready.

It was a spectacular weekend and wedding—I had so much fun, I, like a lot of people said, “let’s do it again!”

It Is Over

A weekend anticipated by many, the party is over.  Kelly with latte in hand is retrieving me from my hotel shortly and taking me to the airport.  Elaine left bright and early yesterday morning. 

Yesterday too started with Kelly picking me up, we drove to the Marriott Hotel downtown where she was hosting a brunch for the out of town guests, many of which were heading back to Chicago (Bride and Groom live in Chicago). 

Yesterday ended with a pizza party around the pool at Kelly and Tom’s.  It has been wonderful to once again spend time with the family and friends of Kelly and Tom whom I’ve met in the past and to meet new ones.  It was wonderful to finally meet Ryan and to spend time with his bride Alison. 

And now for the bad news—not one bride photo I took turned out—I have “friended” Alison on Facebook so hopefully soon I will post photos of her.  The wedding held in a gorgeous, old Episcopal church in downtown Kansas City was one of the most special I’ve ever attended.  Tears, smiles, laughter, beautiful children performing their duties (grandchildren were flower girls and ring bearer) with aplomb—as the children were going back up the aisle post wedding, they were giving everyone a thumbs up and Philip was waving to everyone—precious!

The reception was held in a one time theater in downtown.  The row seating of this majestic building has been removed and tables for dining had been placed on the tiers.  The lighting and sound system is still there, the stage provided a venue for the toasts, speeches and the most spectacular event at a wedding I’ve ever attended—the bride sang a short opera—you see Alison is a opera singer—she has a voice bigger than big.  There was not a dry eye in the house when she was given a standing ovation!!! 

Me, Trese, Kelly and Elaine Kelly’s friend Joy on the left, Elaine, Kelly’s Dad John, and me.

I’m sad the weekend is over but I’m also ready to go home, I miss Michael and Emmi. 

The Wedding

I’m going to post this short little blog before I go to the wedding—it is gonna be a late evening I am sure!  So, I may or may not post an addition to this little short ramble when I get back to the hotel tonight.  I may just wait until morning, sit down with the camera and post lots of photos. 

Today Elaine and I have been bums—we got up late, dressed, headed off to breakfast, wandered the Plaza, found a hoity-toity optical place which repaired my glasses for free (one of the nose pieces fell off last night and wonder of wonders, I found the little screw which had fallen out) walked the Plaza some more and  had lunch.  We are now back in the hotel leisurely dressing for the 4pm wedding.  I could get used to this!

the Day Before THE DAY

Can you believe I managed to sleep until almost 8am this morning—black out curtains and a cool, quiet room makes a lot of difference!

We were to meet Kelly at the Classic Cup for breakfast/lunch this morning—close enough for a walk from our hotel.

  Kelly is the one sitting beside me, mother of the groom!  We walked around in the Plaza for a while after our delicious breakfast then Kelly was off to do some last minute MOG stuff.  Elaine and I shopped for a while longer before heading back to the hotel, dropping off stuff and heading off again—to Kelly’s.  We only stayed for just a little while before deciding we two ladies needed some “feet up” time.  It was Mimi’s (aka Kelly) grandson’s birthday a few weeks ago and Mimi had planned a little delayed celebration for this afternoon.

Tonight was rehearsal dinner and although Elaine and I had no rehearsing to do we were invited to the grand party and a grand party it was!!  Kelly as usual is the hostess with the most!!  The venue was to die for—cocktails and appetizers on the roof overlooking the Kansas City skyline:

Kelly with her husband Tom.

Trese, Elaine, me and Kelly.

Alison is the beautiful bride—in the red stripe.  And Ryan is the groom—the younger one, sorry Dennis!

The bride and groom live in Chicago, Ryan grew up in Kansas City, the bride in Chicago so tonight we had Chicago hotdogs and Kansas City bar-b-que.  There is a process to eating Chicago hotdogs—bright green relish, little peppers (the name escapes me), NO catsup I’m told by the bride’s father, mustard only and a whole bunch of other things I never ate on a hotdog but evidently is required on a CHICAGO hotdog.  They were good!!!  And so was the bar-b-que!! 

Elaine and I sat at a table with Kelly’s good friend Trese, her husband Dennis, Kelly’s brother John and his wife Bev, and Kelly’s Dad John—we were a rowdy group.  For dessert Kelly had these tiny individual bite size pies served—the first one was pretty good and as the second one was going into my mouth Kelly’s 83 year old Dad says to me, “how many of those have you had?”  WHAT—the pie automatically came out of my mouth and I just died laughing.  I told him that wasn’t a question he should be asking ladies!!

We are two tired, happy ladies tonight—tomorrow is the BIG DAY!!!!