Quilt square making

I've been in a quilt square making mood since we had the blizzard. I watched a tutorial on the computer and thought "I can make that" and I have enough squares made now for a pretty good sized quilt. Now the hard part is putting them together. I finished the Christmas wall hanging and need to get it quilted--I'll take it to someone who machine quilts. The new fabric shop in Tipton will be doing machine quilting after the 1st of March. The new quilt I am working on is not paper pieced which was a big step out of my comfort zone. Some of the squares are not perfectly square but I'll see how it goes together!

Saturday night was the Legion's beef supper, always a big night with a lot of preparation for Bill to help with. I helped with carry-outs and we fixed up 164 carry-outs including 25 home deliveries (one for Grandma). It was a fun night and hopefully they made some money.

Can't wait to see what Vicki has for the little ones to do for Valentine's Day this morning. No one got to the library last week for story hour because of the storm so this week should be fun and there should be lots and lots of books for me to shelve today. School was fun and busy Monday--the teachers's (I learned about plural and singular possessives in 4th grade this week) schedules were all skewed because of missing 2 days and a late start and an early dismissal. Listening to kindergarden students read to me is always fun--they learn so much so early!

Our search committee at church has received 8 ministerial profiles already and we have a meeting tomorrow night. It will be interesting to see if we agree on whether we want to pursue any of them.

They said we were going to have a Blizzard

And we did! The snow drift between my front door and the picnic table must be at least 10 feet tall. All the east windows are covered in snow. I have lived here all my life and can't remember when the bathroom window was completely full of snow between the window and screen. Since the wind is from the west this morning I have closed the shades and curtains on the west side of the house (oh how I miss my big trees) and the house is like a dungeon with the east windows full of snow! Bill is out with the snowblower on the tractor now--do you think he wants to go to town to play cards?

Card club was held here Saturday night. It was Ann's birthday also so we sang to her as she blew out a candle on the birthday cupcake Sue Deerberg brought for her. She was also lucky in cards and won a prize. It was a fun night. Sunday we ate spaghetti at the Lowden Lion's dinner at the Amvet's Hall. Monday I went to school and had a busy day doing everything from matching little pictures to beginning 1st letters to cutting laminated "waves" to having 1st graders read their vocabulary words to me. Always interesting is sitting in the teachers lounge during lunch.

Jenny & Josh Horman are expecting their first baby in July. That will make 3 grandchildren for Randy and Sandra. Jenny is a teacher at school and was eating pickles for lunch!

Hope everybody is safe and warm.

Classic Cruisers meet

We went to our first Classic Cruisers dinner Saturday night with Rick & Deb. It was at the Moose Hall in Iowa City. We were there early, had to wait an hour to eat--but we were the first table to go through the line! They served baked chicken, roast beef, corn, mashed potatoes & gravy, squash and an array of breads. After they picked up our dirty dishes they brought dishes of ice cream and a cookie for dessert. The program was a lady from Limeville, which is south of Des Moines on the Missouri border. She sang old country songs, told stories and played the spoons. I can't remember her name, I think Sadie, who said she had opened for Tanya Tucker at one time. She probably was a really good entertainer in her time--she still had a good voice. Rick won a door prize so all in all it was a good night.

At school Monday I did a variety of things from counting out sets of 100 Fruit Loops to put in bags so the Pre-K can make Fruit Loop necklaces for 100th day which is tomorrow. Then the kindergarden teacher made me think how to divide a length of 18 inch paper into 10 spaces by making 9 lines on the paper. Now that was difficult. Finally she said they don't all have to be even (or straight) which they weren't. They were going to use that for 100th day also. I corrected tests and helped 1st graders make corrections on their papers (that half hour always goes so fast and I never get enough done). Today I volunteer at the library and then we are going to Davenport to pick up the chair I ordered way before Christmas. Finally.

Yesterday the plastic lid for my crock pot broke. Does anyone know where I can buy just the lid?

Bedroom painted!

The bedroom got painted Saturday. Mike called about 7:30 and said he was coming to paint. I ran upstairs and got the woodwork washed again and the walls dusted down. How dirty could they be in the month that they had last been worked on? Anyway, the painting is done and although it smells a little (from the woodwork paint I think) it looks nice. Now new curtains? The ones I have seem to get shorter each time I wash them. Bill says I can't get carpeting until the snow is gone, but I think I should get the rooms measured and the carpet ordered anyway. Carpet store in Lowden is only open Saturday mornings and Thursday nights. I better get going on that. Maybe someday it will all be done. At least we can put our clothes in the closet now.

We didn't have school yesterday, but not because of the weather. It was a planned day off. We didn't have Circle last night because of the weather however. When Jan called before noon it was really snowing and my south windows were full of ice. We decided just to cancel the meeting. I suppose by 7:00 p.m. we could have had the meeting; but a bunch of old ladies don't need to be out on nights like last night.

Rick and Deb came for lunch Sunday and stayed to play games. They taught us a new card came and we taught them Farkle, Sequence and Aggravation. We had a good time, why don't we do that more often?

Serving

Friday night was the Legion's fish fry in Lowden. I volunteered to help serve and Bill was delegated to serve the 2nd's of the "all you can eat" fish. The crowd was bigger than it had ever been. The gas ran out that fired the fryers. People came through the line with applesauce, coleslaw and potatoes and NO fish. People sitting at the tables were (mostly patiently) waiting for their 2nds. Bill was sweating--the temperature in the kitchen was at least 30 degrees higher than elsewhere. I couldn't remember where I got the empty tarter sauce dish to replace it with a full one. After the fryers got going again everything worked great, the fish was really good as was the coleslaw. Waitress--I'm not!

Yesterday morning I got to work on my waitressing skills again as we worked the funeral luncheon for Dorothy Gade. Florence, Donna, Phyllis, Marlene Fox and I served only about 35 people. Had lots of food (about 5 cakes!) and I didn't have to remember anything; just carry trays and keep coffee cups full. More my speed.

Monday I helped at school which I just love. Well, the working with the kids part. I don't much care for tracing things for the pre-K to cut and use in their projects. I did some filing for kindergarden, stapled papers together for the reading teacher, stapled and taped Polar Express train parts on the hall walls, corrected math papers, checked spelling papers, worked with 1st graders on reading and helped a 3rd grader finish his project on Indians. Busy day and for the most part I don't think I forgot anything.

Finally a ring again

A few things were accomplished lately. I got my new ring back from the jewelers and wore it for the first time last night. We finished our church profile at the search committee meeting last night. Thanks to Aaron Horman and Sue Boedeker Monson who did some awesome writing (as I am related to both of them I wonder why I don't have that talent!). My Christmas decorations are down and put away (almost). The floors finally got vacumned and I started a new quilt.

Took Mother to her chiro appointment yesterday. She wanted me to take her to Lowden Plumbing and Heating when we got back to town and she proceeded to go in and ask Donnie (Tillie) why they hadn't been up to fix her furnace, if her furnace blew up she was going to move in with him! Seriously! Maybe they would be good for each other. It was so funny to see his face when she said that.

Wonderful to see Caleb and Vanessa again. Vanessa went back home yesterday and Caleb leaves Saturday. He is anxious to go to Afghanastan. He told about what the living conditions would be while there when out on a mission--digging a hole big enough for 8; eating C-rations and no bathing. Won't the enemy be able to smell them?