Our Friend Rosie

You might remember I promised after Quilt Market to introduce you to my new friend Rosie? Well, Rosie looks something like this picture, and is owned by my friend Vicki. Rosie came in very handy the entire weekend, especially since my driving while reading the mapquest directions tended to make my passengers nervous! Rosie got us safely to our hotel, to Market, to the warehouse Saturday evening, and told us where every Starbucks for 100 miles was located! I gotta get me one those!

It was on the way home that Rosie failed us, but only because we confused her. We were pretty sure we remembered how we'd come, so when we turned off the Interstate to head toward Kennewick we were surprised when Rosie quickly became irritated with us, telling us to "Turn Left," and then "Turn Left in .1 miles," sending us back the way we'd come, right back onto the freeway.
We spend the next few miles discussing how we were so sure we'd come that way before, while Vicki tried to reconfigure Rosie and make sure we were going the right way. "Why does she say we won't be getting home until 4am?" we wondered, since we were quite sure we should be home around 10pm.
Only after Vicki discovered that Rosie mistakenly thought we lived in Boise, instead of Deary, did we realize that we had been right all along. With a few quick entries, Rosie corrected us, sending us off the freeway, then left, and "Sharply Left!" (She was quite irritated with us by this time) and back again the way we'd come. We made a 20 mile circle, and it ended up we'd turned correctly the first time all along!
Seriously, we loved having our own private driving director. If you've never used a GPS, you'd be surprised how useful they are. Rosie gave perfect directions (as long as we told her correctly where we wanted to go.) Type in any location, any restaurant or business name, and get voice commands, turn by turn. If only we would have asked her, I'm sure Rosie would have told us we'd driven by the last gas station leaving Portland for 50 miles, saving us that harrowing retracing of our steps with the gas light on! I am seriously getting one soon!

Fab Shop Hop: Round 2, Ding!

I got brave and signed up for the June Fab Shop Hop. Remember what happened last time? Well, I'm back for more!

This time, I'm starting the month with a totally obvious hint, right at the top of my home page. In my opinion, hints totally spoil the fun of the hunt, but I think I'm in the minority here, so I'll cave. Can't get any easier unless I just come right out and post a link to that darn bunny, right? I guess I'll find out soon enough!

Pictures to Smile At

Here are some pics from the last couple days. The first I've titled "Deceivingly Peaceful." It shows my son and my nephew. Too bad they fell asleep right before I had to take them out of the car to run errands, instead of right after I'd already ran my errands!
This next one is called "Frustration." This is my shop vacuum, and that black cord coming out of the bottom is attached to my iron. Have I mentioned my office is also my storage room/playroom/TV room/break room/ironing room? This is what happens when my mom gets overzealous with the vacuum! She left it for me to fix this morning, her nice way of telling me my back room is too cluttered.

Moda University Madness

Madness-that's what it's like more and more the last week of the month around here! I've spent the morning making copies, cutting mystery block kits, and addressing envelopes, while Will watches Alvin and the Chipmunks for the 100th time, and makes general chaos out of my storage room/office/tv room. So, if you get your Moda U mailing this month, and it's missing a page, or a fabric, or has 2 of something, please, take pity on me!

The last quarter of the Mystery Quilt is beautiful, possibly my favorite blocks of the entire quilt! I can't wait to see the finished projects. Unfortunately, mine won't be among them, but this definately goes into the "someday" pile. (OK, the someday mountain)

I'm off to town this afternoon to make major copies for tomorrow's meeting, and exchange a shirt I bought last weekend for Kylee. It's a High School Musical shirt and she's been dying to wear it, even though it was too small.

If I'm lucky, I'll get home in time to finish up the quilting on the Red, White, and Bold quilt. It's really nice, and will make a great table cloth for the Summer.

I'll also try to post a picture of my flower bed, now finished and looking beautiful. I need to hurry, because you know plants at my house don't stay green for long! If I don't get a picture quick, I'll be posting a picture of beautiful planters with dry, dead, crackling plants hanging from them!

Pumpkin Spice is Oh So Nice

Have you seen the newest fabric line from The Buggy Barn? Check out Pumpkin Spice, scheduled to arrive soon! This was my favortie Fall line this year, even beating out all of Moda's designers. This will make lovely fall quilts and wallhangings. For some beautiful quilts using these fabrics, try their new book, Celebrated Craziness.

Ax the Ax Men, Please!

Please, put me out of my misery. It's bad enough that The History Channel decided to create a show about loggers, and now my husband totally thinks he's a rock star. (Look, honey, I do that. Did you see that? Oh, I can do it way better than that......and on, and on, and on) Seriously, the dramatization of logging on Ax Men is over the top! As a logger wife for nearly 10 years, I think I know a little bit about it. For example, the last time I and my 3 kids were up before dawn, dressed, and cheery eyed, to make my husband's coffee, kiss him goodbye, and wish him well at work, was.....well......let me think.......NEVER! Someone should tell those wives that they now make coffee makers with automatic timers, and no one wants to kiss you with morning breath, anyways.

I can't even stand to be in the same room when Monte watches Ax Men, and since we have TiVo, he never misses an episode. (Well, unless it mysteriously disappears from the list because it was "automatically" deleted. Darn that TiVo, anyways.) First of all, there are more "bleeps" than actual dialog. And yes, for the most part, that's how they talk. That part, at least, is realistic, but seriously annoying to listen to. Furthermore, everything is a tragedy. A storm's on the way, the market slumps, Leland hurts his back, and on, and on, and on. Somebody should have told me Monte's job was so exciting, because in all this time, I never realized it was the stuff soap operas are made of.

What isn't realistic is how the focus is on the danger of the job. Of course, it isn't the safest job in the world. We know this all too well. But phuleeeeeeeeze, spare me the drama. If we focused on it as much as they do on the show, we'd all be insane. For example, just after kissing his wife goodbye (who is fully dressed and smiling before dawn-yeah, right), one of the loggers describes how dangerous driving to work is. The way the scenes are cut make it seem as if the driving is as dangerous as the job itself. The scene implies that the loggers could be killed on the road to work at any moment.
In every episode I've been forced to watch, every other statement is about how "risky" and "dangerous" the job is, as if that's all there is to it. Sure, that's part of it. But come on, just driving to work??? Maybe after he purchases one of those fancy automatic coffee makers, this guy could go out and get himself a CB radio. Granted, logging roads are not for the weak at heart. Still, I venture out on them from time to time during the Summer, and the closest I've ever come to death was when one of the bosses didn't hear me on the CB because he was busy listening to the Bob and Tom radio show.

For once, I'm advocating more documentary, less drama. Actually, I'm begging. My sanity depends on it. (Unless our TiVo malfunctions, which could be arranged)