Week 35

Went to Eric and Rhonda's house to hang out and float the Okatoma. Moe went on the creek with us and had a good time. He didn't whine and fuss, he did freak a little at the standing waves and rough water, but other than that did OK. Steve and I both got flung out of the boat in one spot, leaving Moe riding in the canoe by himself. I bet it was pretty funny for those watching from the sidelines.

Eric boiled shrimp and lobster for us, it was really yummy. Ricky and his kids came, but Danielle and Bailey stayed home (I was kinda hoping that Moe was going to get to meet and play with Bailey, but instead he did get to play with Dixie a little bit, he really enjoyed her stuffed toys, so I'm going to get him some soon)

Mike and Brenna came down as well, so it was very nice to see them again. Brenna suggested an author to me Sherrilyn Kenyon. Paranormal Erotic Fantasy novels... She has mailed me the copies she had at the house. So I'm going to take a couple with me this weekend.

We are going to Dragon Con this weekend. We just decided to do it on the spur of the moment last week... Happened upon a hotel room and are looking forward to it. Neither of us have been to a con in a long time. It is our anniversary too... So that is what we've used as an excuse to spend the money :)

Reading: Bones would rain from the sky by Suzanne Clothier. I got it from ILL, it came very highly recommended from folks online.

I am working on the summer memories challenge for the quilt guild meeting next week. I'm going to get it done, come hell or high water. I'm having issues with skippin stitches due to the fusible, but I'm hoping that it will help trying a different needle.

I went by the salvation army today, and they had most of a shelf of Destroyer novels... Steve teased about getting all of them from PBS once upon a time... So I asked about a price and she sold me ALL of them for $4. (its like a dime a piece) I'm looking forward to surprising him with them when I get home.

Week 34

Spent the weekend camping out at Lake Lurleen over in Alabama. Will and Erin went with us and Moe of course. We took the popup and the canoe and a book each. We paddled around in the canoe with Moe (he actually seemed to enjoy himself eventually) and read our books in the shade for the rest of the day.

Sunday was crazy for Steve... First day of classes in the new building. He spent 11 hours up at McCool trying to make sure that everything was going to run smoothly on Monday. (luckily it did)

I spent Monday and Tuesday in a class taught by Ann Fahl on machine quilting. She was a very good teacher and I thoroughly enjoyed the class. I took my harmonic conversion top in as the sample to work on the second day (the first day was just solid fabric). One of her best lessons was how to properly block and baste a quilt. I think this might be one of the missing parts of my puzzle of getting quilts finished.

Tuesday I went to the quilt guild meeting in Starkville, but because she has lost most of her classroom area, it was decided to move the meetings time and location. So that will happen next month. They are looking for officers for the guild, and I really don't want to be obligated to do it, but feel like I should help out in some way. *grumble*

Finally finished the Protectors War. I liked it, and really want to get the last one now.
Reading: an erotic romance fire in starlight or something... it's not very good, but it's short. :)

week 33

Another sad weekend here... We moved Benji and Peyton's stuff out of their house and into a U-Haul truck for them to drive down to Clinton. Unfortunatly they had to move it all into a storage building until they can actually get into the house in 2 weeks. :(

We did have a nice lunch of pizza delivery and cold beer sitting in the middle of their big empty living room when we got done. And they came out for supper that evening. Raven and Karen were there helping out and it was nice to see them again. Since they cut back on their SCAing we don't see too much of them anymore.

Since then B&P have kinda had a hard time of it. They were supposed to close on the house in Starkville on Wednesday. But when they dropped off a trailer at our house Wednesday night, the woman who is supposed to be buying their house hadn't gotten everything done and so they were having to postpone the closing to "maybe" Friday. So Peyton was starting to try to figure out how to afford their house in Clinton if the sale of this one falls through.

They canceled out quilt day for this coming Saturday :( And I was really looking forward to it. So now we are planning on just going over to Lake Lurleen in AL for the weekend. Camping out and taking the canoe to see if Moe can find his "sea-legs" before next weekend.

Reading: Still working on the Protector's War (it seems slower than the first one was, but it is a big book in my defense) I also got the Dog Listener out of the library and read that (all about pack leadership and such) and sped through The Secret Life of Bees on Mrs. C's recommendation. (Plus someone put in a request for it on PBS from me... so I went ahead and read it before shipping it out)

Mom and Dad should be coming in on Sunday for our class on Monday and Tuesday. I hope that this class is going to be useful to me in getting some of these quilts tops knocked out and finished into real quilts.

Moe is still settling in ... he is finding things occasionally to chew on, but he gives them back pretty readily. We are doing pretty well on the daily walks, even if we have to wait until late due to the heat (It's been over 100 for the last 2 weeks), and he usually sits and downs when I ask him to. I still think he is going to be a very good dog for us.

Week 32

We went to Steve's folks house this weekend. We had a good time, but I think Moe had an excellent time. Lots of places to run around and explore. He did ride with us on the golf cart, but not on the boat. We didn't press the issue, he just hung out at the house while we were out on the boat and waited for us to get back. Mr. C caught a really big catfish at the little pond and we did catch about 4 white perch out on the boat. He also did really well on the long car ride. :)

My birthday was Wednesday. We took off at 3:30 and went to the matinee showing of The Simpson's movie. Then met everyone out for supper at Mugshots. Lots of fun. When we got home Steve and Lynne called me and sang Happy Birthday. A very good day!

Reading: The Protector's War by SM Stirling. It's the second in a series that I've borrowed from Eric. The first one was a very good book, and this one is continuing the story very nicely. I also read the Curious incident of the dog in the night. I'm not sure what all the fuss was about that book. Granted it was a little wierdly written, and I guess it was good, just not worth all the talk it prompted in my opinion.

We have to move Benji and Peyton out of their house this weekend. They have purchased a house in Clinton, and will move into it in the next couple of weeks. :(

I finally got the beach pictures up...

http://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=ratpatch&P=&AID=4733461&CID=1215690&T=1&E=Y&ILD=3619110

week 31

We spent the weekend moving steve and lynne out of their house... it was pretty hard work. 26 foot long truck just full as could be, but the hardest part was knowing they weren't going to be around anymore.

They apparently had 15 folks to help them unload when they made it to Conway. You just gotta love the SCA sometimes.

Work week was really slow for me, most of the bosses gone recruiting so out of my hair. I didn't get my challenge quilt worked on as much as I'd wanted to though. But I did talk Lou Ann into doing the program at quilt guild for me next week. :)

We are going to Steve's folks house this weekend so I'm reading a book she loaned me called the Book Thief. Its a fast read set in Nazi Germany. But I'm not as impressed by it as she was.

Steve did come back into town on Thursday to take his final exam for his last class he'd been taking this summer. So we packed the last few things into his truck and strapped his Canoe on top for the trip back to Conway.

Luther and Becky had their baby Tiberius Alexander Ziemer (TAZ?) everyone was healthy from that, which is a fine thing. Tommy and Paula had a little boy last week, and Courtney from our Aerobics class is due on Tuesday next week. It is a serious time for babies I guess.