Out of the Closet!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in the USA! Happy Thursday to the rest of you, unless you live in Australia or some such place where it is a completely different day for you as I post this, but I’m sure you are used to the recalculating of dates by now!

I’ve spent the morning reaming out a closet in the guest room.

Last night about 9pm we got the call from Jeff that things to his room mate had come to a head and he just had to get out of there and couldn’t take it anymore. I thought it should wait til morning, but no. DH thought that we should just hook up the trailer to the pickup, drive 3 hours down there, load him up, turn right around and drive 3 hours back, get it done, stop worrying about it and get it over with.

And we did. We got home about 3am this morning…and I slept til 8 or so, but it’s a complete zombie day today, so I am so glad that I am NOT cooking!

So back to the closet.

The past 5 months since Jeff has been gone, I’ve been using his room as the trunk show storage unit. And it was working rather well. I had quilts stacked in categories ((refolded differently every time I’d restack them for those of you concerned—)) and covered with sheets to keep the dust away. And the cat off….if she happened to find the door open, which we tried our best to keep shut tight at all times.

With Jeff coming back home --- my quilts were going to have to go somewhere else! And that “BEFORE” the move “somewhere else” meant there was a stack here, a stack there, some over here, some in the other closet, anywhere I could find a space. I was not going back to this! And believe me, when you have to keep your class samples and book quilts at least until you retire ---this many quilts can take up an awful lot of SPACE!

Fast forward to the guest room closet. It’s a walk-in closet and it really has a lot of space in there, but I had WAY too many clothes taking up all that space. All those denim jumpers and school teacher jumpers from my jumper fetish years? Still in there. Just how many denim jumpers does one girl need? It’s not like they are in fashion anymore…it needed to go. I could whittle it down to being manageable and donate everything else. I’ve got HUGE piles of dresses and skirts and jumpers and jackets and sweaters all ready to be donated. Of course, I know this is going to expand to other closets too, because who wants to make more than one trip? :c/

You will never guess what I found in that closet!

My long lost Ipod!! Oh I have mourned the loss of this guy..it holds EVERYTHING --- it’s got 160 gig of memory and they don’t even MAKE these anymore.

As I was clearing out purses and bags putting them in the donation pile, I found it in the bottom of a travel bag I remember using when I went to Idaho for Mother’s Day in May of 2009! It’s been in that closet the whole time. And here I was worried I’d left it on a plane, or it had been stolen out of my car, or….worse…buried in fabric somewhere in a box of scraps in the OTHER closet. ((We are not talking about that closet, I’ll deal with it later!))

I am SO happy to have this thing back!

And I’m still cleaning up the mess from taking everything OUT of the closet, though the quilts are all in their new home in stacks by category, back to being covered by sheets, and I need to remember to close that closet door or Emmy Lou will find many new comfy spots to leave her fur.

While cleaning out the closet, I came across 3 or 4 tubs that held antique tops, block parts, vintage quilts, etc. What am I doing with all this stuff?

I’m thinking of having “Yard Sale Saturday” here on the blog for the next little while. I’ll post a pic of a vintage item I want to sell with the price…the first person to contact me gets it, as is. ((I’ll photograph and disclose everything well)) Just like ebay, this will be a “no return” kind of item. I don’t want it back, and I only want to ship stuff once! The actual shipping cost will be added to the bill. All transactions via paypal.

Sound good? If you don’t like paypal, or can’t work with it, then I’m sorry ---these items might not be for you then!

I also found some of my early, early quilts. Oh boy. Some of these are pretty embarrassing! But I think they might be good to share them with you too. What do you think? If I did a post on first quilts with a linky thing, would you join in and post yours? Not sure when I’m thinking of that, but it would be a fun way to let our first attempts ALSO out of the closet…and you can marvel in how far you’ve come, baby! And you won’t feel alone if you are ashamed that your first border waved like a ruffle, or that your binding was as lumpy as a summer string bean left on the vine way too long ----let me know your thoughts!

And with that, I’m back to cleaning the closet….be looking for the first item or items to be posted on Saturday!

We are headed out to our Thanksgiving dinner, the THREE of us --- in a few hours. On this day, I’m grateful to be THREE instead of TWO --- and wish the FOURTH one, left back in Columbia, SC were here to round out the family.

Pumpkin pie is a food group! Remember that!

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Turkey Day Eve ----

And I was stupid enough to venture out into the the “dreaded” shopping area of Winston Salem’s Hanes Mall Boulevard.

I know every biggish city in America has this same spread of stores…..It’s near the MALL ((other wise known as the M.A.U.L. in my book, and we don’t go there!!)) and as soon as you exit the freeway you can see Chilis, Applebees, Best Buy, Sam’s Club, Costco is across the street---Home Depot --- Lowes is Across the street—There is every retail chain from Target to Kohls to EVERYTHING on this one stretch of road, probably in the same layout as every other city in America. Welcome to Chain Store USA.

When people go traveling to other cities and go “SHOPPING” I always wonder why they bother? It’s the same dang stuff they can find at home, and now they have to CARRY IT!

But I digress…I have been waiting for this massage appointment for over a week. My hamstrings are all locked up and I just can’t STRETCH them out any better…it feels like there are tennis balls in the middle of my muscles. SO. I went for my massage, thinking I’d left the house early enough to get there….but when I hit the exit off the interstate, and start waiting at the red lights --- and traffic is a madhouse --- I discover that it takes me as long to get from the exit to the massage place, as it did for me to drive from Wallburg to Winston Salem in the first place. And then it dawned on me. PEOPLE ARE TRAVELING?! But it’s Wednesday! Oh…yeah…Thanksgiving is TOMORROW!

I better get a pie!! :cD

I’m not baking this year. I’m not cooking this year. We are putting it off because in a week or so we’ve got to go down and get Jeff and his stuff and move him back up here. We are not making two trips because both Jeff and Jason are working different hours and having Thanksgiving down there just isn’t going to work. Jeff especially, he is working on Thanksgiving. And we’ve no place to stay --- Jason can’t fit us in his 1 bedroom, and I don’t want to do a hotel on a holiday weekend anyway.

And my pet sitter is out of town for her own holiday --- so ----

We are going out! Do I care about not having leftovers? Not this year. This year is NO STRESS ALLOWED!

After my massage I did end up at Sam’s club which was a big mistake….they had just about every check stand open and the lines were half way through the store. I picked up my pumpkin pie, a bag of honey crisp apples ((My fave!)) a bag of clementines, and some bananas. It was all I needed.

And then I spotted these:

Oh. My. Goodness. They just jumped straight into my cart, I swear! And the only way they could be ANY better was if they were dipped in chocolate!

Wait – has anyone tried that? Cuz if so, I’m in serious danger!

I hope if you are cooking you are enjoying yourself. If family is traveling to you, I hope they arrive safely and the reunion is extra sweet! If you are the one traveling --- I hope your DH is driving and you can do handwork! :c)

I’m going to sew! Gosh it feels good to be home to be able to do this….I’m up to the borders on a project I’ve been working on….and I need to start on a baby quilt for a nephew who will be making his debut around my birthday, toward the end of January!

And yes, there is still endless binding to be seen to, I’m hoping for some movie marathons this Holiday weekend, feet up in the recliner, all is good!

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A Day in Labadee, Haiti!

It was unanimous!

There would be NO crazy bike excursions on our last port of call, Labadee, Haiti!

Of course this could be because no bike tours were offered ----

But really, this was our last port before starting our return journey home, we’d had 3 previous days in a row of pedal to the metal ((Literally!)) cycling tours. This was our day to VEG OUT!

Labadee is not a Haitian village --- it’s more like a private resort island owned by Royal Caribbean. Their description?

“On the north coast of Hispaniola, surrounded by beautiful mountain slopes and exotic foliage, sits Labadee®, Royal Caribbean's private paradise. This exclusive destination offers pristine beaches, breathtaking scenery and spectacular water activities…”

No town to go to, no skinny dogs to rip my heart out over, no locals fitting 6 people on a motorcycle ---- All we wanted to do was find a shady beach chair and NAP!

PERFECT SPOT!! We quickly moved these chairs over under the shade of a tree, planning on spending a few hours just watching the waves. And the ZIP LINE!! Though you can’t see them, there are several wire lines just above the photo ----waiting to watch people do THIS:

HOLY MOLY! We’d considered it, but it was about $80 for a 40 second ride…..No thanks! The beach chair would do me just fine!

Can you see the “fly specks” on this photo? Those are people flying down the zip line! I was wishing we had our Olympics score cards --- “8.5 with good form!” One lady didn’t pay attention to the “rules” and sat up, killing her momentum, and they had to come drag her in….DEFINITELY needed a score card for that one! LOL!

We were served a BBQ lunch on shore ---burgers, ribs, chicken, salads, desserts ----I LOVED the fruit on this cruise. The pineapple especially was to die for.

Ahhhhh! What a view! I read a little, napped a bit --- we only had until early afternoon to enjoy this day, as THIS was the day we had to make an early exit to avoid that storm coming off Bermuda.

Don’t you think this photo should be our Christmas card this year? ULTIMATE relaxation has been reached!

It’s amazing how the blue of the water fades into the blue of the distant mountains and into the blue of the sky.

This was our view as we pulled up to the pier on arrival….that dock used to NOT be there, it’s a recent addition, and most welcome! MILES of concrete.

On our way back to the ship, I just had to snap this beautiful picture. It was a GREAT cruise and I hope it isn’t my last by a long shot!

I have to say that even though Labadee is not a “real” village --- it employs many local villagers from just a ways away, on the mainland. The people we talked to LOVE working on the island, there are cruise ships coming and going all the time. Steady employment is helping so many families.

Spending time in these struggling countries really has opened my eyes so much --- and at Thanksgiving time it is something to really think about. Some of us are worried about how to cook and serve our turkey. People in other countries don’t even have a turkey to put on the table and may be living off of bananas and coconuts and having to heat their stoves with coconut hulls.

One thing we did every day was hit the ship's dining room for breakfast, where they seat you with random strangers until the table is full. We like this because it gives us a chance to meet and get to know others.

The morning we docked at Labadee, which was the day AFTER the Dominican Republic – by far the most destitute living circumstances for many of the people – I sat next to a woman who must have been quite wealthy by the way she talked and looked. Her fingers were dripping with jewels as were her ears, and the diamond necklace around her neck was huge. ((This means nothing, I’m just setting the stage here –)) and her comments were so interesting.

“I wish the cruise lines wouldn’t take us to such dirty poor places. I get tired of being approached to buy this and buy that……I am so tired of saying NO!”

I thought of the woman I had met just the day before, taking her machete to coconuts for $1 each to earn her living for her family. I thought of the man who had the bikes in his little shack of a house, trying to make a living by providing a service to tourists. I thought of the vendor that I bought a necklace and earring set from ((It was all of $25.00!)) in order to put food on the table for his family.

We have so much. My heart was so full. And I couldn’t take it anymore, and I opened my mouth and said something to this stranger that I wouldn’t have if she was someone I would ever run into again! ((Isn’t it amazing what you will say when you know your paths won’t cross further?!?))

“If someone wanted a HOMOGENIZED vacation, why not go to Hawaii, or Key West, or any number of other places, instead of choosing to come to countries like this where you know people are struggling? “

I just felt that someone should KNOW, that things are not so up to the par WE have set as our accepted "normal" in these places. How could someone look so down on these people? She booked the cruise, she knew the itinerary. This was NOT Club Med ---and I was dumbfounded.

Our being there WAS helping these people. The tourism industry is an important part of helping these people get on their feet and providing many of them with means for a living……and it’s not hard to say no if you don’t want to buy something.

I never felt pushed, prodded or otherwise coerced into buying something that I didn’t want. I enjoyed the people. I’ll remember the faces and the smiles and the attempts at crossing language barriers. I’ll remember the little girl in the Dominican Republic who ran out to hand us flowers as we cycled by. These people are full of so much joy and so much LIFE, even with the little they have.

And I know it’s kind of a rant, but one that has stuck with me, and I’ve been home for way over a week now!

I don’t want a Homogenized Existence. I want to experience what LIFE is like in other places – the good, the bad, the heartbreak, the joy --- we are all in this world together, and there is so much we can learn from each other.

Thanksgiving in the states is tomorrow, yet I’ve been so grateful for EVERYTHING since we returned home. I’d like to keep this going year round. Things are just things. The most important things in life are NOT things --- it’s people.

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Afternoon Edition! Free Kindle Book!

There comes a time when you have to give in to the holiday fervor building and just go with it!

I’m not saying that I’m into playing Christmas music 24/7 --- even on Christmas Eve that is too much holiday for me, but I have to even admit that yesterday, while sewing on a binding….sitting at the machine, zoning out in that zen-of-machine-stitching fashion that always hits me….I found I was humming along to a Christmas song that was on the radio, without even consciously thinking about it!

WHAT?! I was so glad I was not in a public place, because I am generally the ultimate Scrooge about turning my nose up when it comes to Christmas music before Thanksgiving.

But..as they say, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em! Just don’t let them see you doing it in public! :cD

I do love humor, and this freebie sounded too good to pass up for holiday reading..Twas the Night is free today in the Kindle Store.

Book Description:

“Christmas or Bust!”What do a Blue Angels pilot, a bounty hunter and an ex-NFL football player have in common? The three bad-boy bachelors of Snowdon, Maine have to make a friend’s Christmas Eve wedding on time or die trying!

They’re willing to risk anything to make that happen—even dashing through the snow in the goofiest bus on Earth, bright red and filled with a bunch of merry, meddling senior citizens known as the Santa Brigade.

All too soon, these men will have met their matches in three special women: a woman from their past, a forest ranger so hot she ought to be declared a fire hazard, and a woman on the run. Ho, ho, OH!While serving up holiday cheer with the Santa Brigade, the guys will discover ‘tis the season for good will and folly.

Wise men or not, they are well and truly caught, which means these roguish St. Nicks are willing to jingle a few bells along the way if that’s what it takes to find what they truly want for Christmas nestled in their beds after the stockings are stuffed and the gifts placed under the tree.

Check before clicking to purchase that it is STILL free. I have no clue if this contains content “too illicit” for my liking or not --- but wiling to give it a shot knowing I can delete it if I find it too stupid for my tastes! :cD

I got the call that my desk top computer is ready for pick up. The diagnosis? Conflict with Itunes. I KNOW THIS! This is why I brought it to you!? Problem unresolved….I guess my phone will just have to be updated from my laptop from now on.

And for the rest of the day? I think I’ll SEW! Does that surprise you?!

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