Reclamation - It's About Time!

I decided it's high time to RECLAIM some portions of my life, so to that end, I signed up for a couple of artsy-fartsy-craftsy classes just for fun.

The first is a series of four evenings at a local store, Always in Stitches.  They have counted cross stitch, knitting, and crochet stuff, but their main focus is quilting.  I attended a quilt show this past October and I got inspired.  I just HAD to try it.

I sew, but I've never attempted quilting.  It has been a revelation!  We're making a crib-size, six-block quilt.  After two classes, here are my blocks:

I actually did the first two classes in one long afternoon/evening session.  I wasn't able to attend the first class because of  water heater issues (stay tuned for more about that at a later date), and the instructor allowed me to catch up (thanks, Kathy!).

I've discovered quilting requires oceans of patience and attention to detail.  I'll have to get some. 

And quilting's not cheap!  The classes are fairly reasonable, and I already had a sewing machine, shears, pins, a rotary cutter, and a cutting mat, but I still had to buy fabric, thread, and batting, plus special rulers, marking pens, and presser feet for my sewing machine.  I could easily get lost down that rabbit hole.
Anyway, five blocks, down, one to go!  I've already learned a LOT,  but then we have to put it all together.  That should prove interesting!  I'll post progress reports following the other two classes.

The other class was a quick, FREE class at the local library - kind of like Wine and Canvas, but on heavy paper instead of canvas, and no wine (what the heck?).  Our assignment was to paint a monochromatic landscape.  I only worked with black, white, and blue paint.  All the colors I mixed included blue (only the best color in the whole wide world!).  Once we got our instructions and saw a couple of quick demonstrations, we were turned loose with our imaginations for an hour.  Here's mine:

Not bad for an hour of paint-y goodness!  Messy, messy, messy, but too much fun, and what a price!  Yes, I'd do it again.

On another note, I've been working at decluttering at home - some closets, the garage, and the pantry, for starters.  I keep my less-used appliances in the small linen closet next to the first floor bathroom, and it has become a jumble.  But behold!  Behind the large crock pot and the turkey-sized oven bags, I found...TURKEY TIMERS (see related post).  The ones I was sure I had, but couldn't find, at Thanksgiving.  Heavy sigh.  Reclamation, indeed.

Snow!

The first snow this winter fell at night.  I left the blinds open and watched it fall, thick and fast, as I drifted off to sleep, buried under the quilt.  I woke up later to the sweet scrape of a snow plow barreling down our street - one of the coziest sounds EVER.

Since just after Christmas, we've had snow on the ground until a couple of days ago.  Amazing!!!  Of course, the snow couldn't go anywhere because the temperatures were in the single and low double digits (positive AND negative) most of that time, so what snow fell, stayed.  Unusual for central Indiana, where winters are generally cold and wet and gray and UGLY.  If there is snow, it melts during the day and freezes at night, leaving the streets glazed with ice.  

UGH.

But this year, for something completely different, we've had several snows - nothing earth shaking, just an inch or two or three at a time.  The deal is, it hasn't melted in between, until earlier this week. 

Today, the high approached 60 degrees - downright balmy - with rain.  Tomorrow's forecast is a high around 20, and snow all morning, after rain all night.  Sounds like a recipe for rush hour disaster.

We will see what we see when we see it.

I Saw the (Christmas) Light

When I was a kid, there were no planned light displays.  People just decorated their houses, some more elaborately than others.  In Indianapolis, we made a point to drive up and down North Meridian Street and gawk at the beautiful houses with ornate decorations and lights.  Then the Energy Crisis hit (way back in the DARK ages - HA! - the 1980s), and everyone put away their lights.  It was almost unAmerican to put up lights.  Bah!  Humbug!

Things have since turned around, and this year seems to have become The Christmas of Light Displays.





The World's Largest Christmas Tree (Monument Circle) has new LED lights this year.








I got a discounted ticket to drive through the Lights at the Brickyard display at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the Indy 500 and the Brickyard 400.






A group of friends got together to walk the lights display at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.




and on another night, the Chinese Lantern Festival at the State Fairgrounds.







I was in downtown Noblesville on the First Friday night when area Girl Scouts lit luminarias on the Courthouse Square.







I drove through the impressive lights display at the local John Deere dealership in Fishers.







I drove around looking for neighborhood light displays.

It just wouldn't be Christmas without lights.

I think this year, I may have gotten my allotted fix!

How That Man Saved Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and I am thankful...that it's done!

No, really, I love Thanksgiving.  We invite a bunch of relatives, I cook up a storm, we eat, we talk, That Man takes pictures, we study the Black Friday sale ads...  It's fun!

But sometimes our Thanksgivings are, um, eventful.

One year, long ago, when That Boy was two, and That Girl wasn't at all, he had chicken pox.  Needless to say, we didn't have any company for the holiday, and we didn't go anywhere.  I prepared a private feast for the three of us.  I had baked yeast rolls, my timing wasn't the best, they came out of the oven before everything else was ready, so I put them on one of the stove burners, turned on super low.

When That Man took the first bite of a roll, he said, "These rolls are burned."  I picked one up, turned it over and over, examined a couple more, and pronounced, "No they aren't.  Just look at them."  He swore they were and challenged me to eat one.  I took a bite.

Oh,  My.  Gosh.  They were TERRIBLE.  No apparent burning, but the interior was definitely smoke-damaged!

This event became a running joke - "Don't burn the rolls!"

That was the worst Thanksgiving for a LONG time.  But the past two years, I've managed to have stove top fires, from things boiling over and going up in flames.

So the new running joke became, "Be sure to invite the Fire Department!"

I'm pleased to report we had no fires this year!

However...

There are always floods.

Oh me.

That Girl and The Grands arrived Tuesday evening.  While I pumped up the inflatable kid bed, the Girl Grand watched The Spongebob Movie on TV.  Suddenly, sound, but no picture!  "Turn it back on, Grandma!" she demaned, loudly (several times), as I tried to troubleshoot the problem.

No luck.

After the bed was arranged and the child installed, I alerted That Man.  He volunteered to buy a replacement the following day.

Yes, please!  Saved!!!

I follow a written Thanksgiving schedule I made several years ago so everything gets done on time and I don't have to figure it all out every year, so most of the things that could be made before The Day were made.

Wednesday came, That Man went shopping for the new TV, and That Girl and I got busy.  We made a cranberry gelatin salad and pumpkin pies.  We had bean soup and cornbread for lunch.  We boiled eggs.  I worked on the last minute cleaning.  It was going so well.

We REALLY like deviled eggs, so we decided to cook TWO dozen eggs instead of one, and after I peeled all those eggs, I put the shells down the garbage disposer, instead of into the trash.  That smell.  Down they went, but after I turned off the disposer, water started backing up into the sink.

NO-O-O-O-O-O-O-O!

I trudged upstairs where That Man was connecting the new TV.  I confessed my transgression ("You're going to kill me, but...").  He sighed and said he'd have a look.  That Girl, The Grands, and I made a dash to The Colonel's for a bucket of chicken.

Well.

When we returned, the kitchen looked like he had detonated a bomb!  Everything that had been under the sink was out on the floor or on the counter.  Water and wet towels were everywhere.

That Man, bless his heart, had tried to clear the drain with a plunger.  He produced enough pressure to blow a pipe joint apart, spewing water and bits of egg shell all over the kitchen and into the adjacent carousel base cabinet.  He cleaned up the worst of the flood, unclogged the drain, and reassembled the drain before we reappeared bearing fried chicken.

Saved again!!!  You just can't do Thanksgiving without a functional kitchen sink.

After chicken, I sent That Man, That Girl, and The Grands to bed, took over, and started cleaning.  I washed, dried, and replaced all the stuff from the cabinets, sopped up the rest of the water on the floor, and mopped, and mopped, and mopped.

It took HOURS.  Ugh.

Thursday, THE day, dawned.  I got up, showered, and started work on the turkey.  I always buy the cheapest turkey I can find, and they usually come with a pop-up timer.  I cut off the netting and the bag, pulled out the bag of giblets and the neck, and...where the heck was the pop-up timer?  I checked the packaging - yes, it said it had a pop-up timer.  There was a hole where it obviously HAD been, but, alas, no timer.

Several years ago, I had bought some pop-up timers (yes, you can actually buy them in the store!), just in case I got stuck with a turkey without one.  So I rummaged through the junk drawer, but they were apparently either previously used or AWOL.  So, That Man came to my rescue again!  He ran out to the nearest grocery store and bought a couple of packages of pop-up timers.  I stuck a timer in the hole, and got the turkey into the oven.  Big sigh of relief!

Saved yet AGAIN!!!  What would I do without him?

From that point on, I sailed through the day fairly smoothly.  The pop-up timer did its job, all the food was good, and everyone enjoyed themselves.  I didn't start putting food away and cleaning up until the extra people had gone.  I was almost done cleaning up the sink, turned on the garbage disposer, and...what's that terrible racket???

Turned off the disposer, stuck my hand into its ravenous maw, and pulled out...the missing pop-up timer!