Block of the Month Gone Bad

Here is the May block of the month. As you might have read before, I agreed to do this block of the month thing with my mom back in January. You buy the first block and if you bring it in on the first Thursday of the month, they give you the next block for free. You then have the option of buying three "completer" blocks to go with your free block. The completer blocks are only seven dollars pattern and fabric included. If you do all four blocks each month, at the end of the year you will have a full sized quilt top.

Sounds good, right? Wrong!!!!

I have lost complete control of my project. I didn't get one of the completer blocks done for March. I didn't get any of the completer blocks done for April. So I am four blocks behind and a new month is here. Last night I cut out the big block for May. I sat down to sew it this morning. Luckily my mom called to see when to come pick me up to go to the quilt store. I said, "Give me about an hour. I have it all cut out and there is only a little bit of applique. It shouldn't take me too long to get it together." She asks, "What applique?" I had cut out the wrong @!#$ quilt pattern. Mamala to the rescue. We sat down and cut it out. Cutting it out is the longest part of the process. Then she pinned and pressed while I sewed. We had it made in two and a half hours.

At this point I have nine quilt blocks to make to get caught up with this project. I also need to make two double wedding ring quilts one for Baby Sister and one for Niece#1. The first needs to be done by September and the other by this time next summer. I have sewn myself into a corner and can't get out.

The pattern pictured above is called "Devil's Claw." That, somehow, seems fitting.

Bunny Update and The Tomato Situation

Two of the babies have their eyes open. One of the white babies is definitely and albino. Its' eyes are very pink. Fat boy has dark eyes like mom and dad. The last one is white and still has its' eyes closed tight.

Now, I wonder, dad is black and white and mom is brown and white. Hum, albino twins? Do rabbits have milk men?

Does anyone else think the media is overreacting to the tomato situation? Apparently, cherry, grape, vine attached varieties are supposed to be okay. Take is seriously, but don't scare people into not eating healthy fruits and vegetables. I am seeing a fantastic trend around here. Several home gardeners are selling their extra produce. These roadside stands consist of nothing more than a card table and an honor cash box. I bought beautiful yellow squash and tomatoes yesterday. I will keep buying like this until my own garden begins producing enough for our family. Maybe I will have some to sell. This is doubtful, as we love our veggies. I also buy our eggs from fellow master gardeners who keep chickens. As I might have whined about before, Manly Man will not let me have even one chicken. Sigh.

Why?

I had to visit a big box store to purchase a replacement water pump for my little half whiskey barrel water garden. At the entrance to the garden center were two shopping carts loaded down with dozens of flats of dead lantana. The flats had not been watered. How long to you have to neglect to water lantana before it dies and dries out? I just don't understand.

Disappearing Corn Snake

Talked to my mom this morning. She was inviting me to share a ride to the grocery store. She told me my younger sister had given her son a corn snake for his birthday and somehow the snake had escaped from its' cage.

I waited a few hours and called the sister for a snake update. She told me the snake was still missing. They had torn the house apart and looked everywhere. Unfortunately, this had to happen while her in-laws are visiting. I am not sure how they feel about snakes. We talked about how to find a snake on the loose and the wisdom of getting a snake for an eleven-year-old. Then she screamed. The snake had reappeared in its' cage. Luckily, she figured out that the log in its' cage had an almost invisible opening in it that the snake could slither into. But wouldn't it have been funny if she didn't figure it out and the snake disappeared and reappeared over and over in the cage. Sorry, I find my siblings hilarious. I wonder if she know that snakes can't have hiccups?

No we are not getting a snake. I am putting my foot down. If a snake got loose in my house I would have a complete nervous breakdown. No snakes.

Taking Out The Trash

I was introduced to a new blog today. The site is trashwatch and has been set up by Sean of Bamboo Geek. The point of the blog is to point out corporations which contribute to this countries horrible, awful, gross, disgusting, nasty, sad litter problem. Not to be all negative, good corporate/environmental citizens will be recognized. Our job, is to help Sean out by taking pictures of trash with corporate logos visible and sending them to him along with location by street and cross street. He will post, per his discretion, these pictures. He then offered to compile our pile of trash pictures and send them on to the companies to raise awareness and maybe a little shame. I can keep him busy just with the crap that gets thrown in the ditches around this place. I love a blog with a purpose and I am ready and willing to help and gripe. At least Sean is doing something. Atta Boy Sean, Atta Boy.

Baby Bunnie Pictures Are Here

Here they are more than a week old and getting some fur. They are really hoppy even though their eyes are still closed. The brown one is a perfect blend of mom's color and dad's markings. We are calling it "Fat Boy." It is bigger than the others.

Middle Monkey found a bifurcated carrot. He fed it to mommy bunny, Starr.

Sunburn

I keep thinking I am going to get more done on the weekends. Then the weekend gets here and our gigantic extended family wants to swim cook out, exchange kids, and generally act like families on the weekend. In the meantime, my garden has gotten totally out of control. What did get put in got put in late and what is in and growing well is covered up in weeds. I have such high hopes for my garden every year, but there never seems to be enough time to make it pretty.

This weekend was no different. Friday I think, I will get up early tomorrow and work in the garden until it gets hot. Then I will come back inside eat a great lunch and take a two hour nap. After I wake from my nap, I will wait until it cools off in the evening and go back outside and work again until it is too dark to see. Sunday, I will do the same thing. Then I get this nagging feeling that I am forgetting something. The something is a recruitment meeting for our master gardener group. Crap. I spend Saturday morning talking to a few people who are interested in becoming master gardeners. I really enjoyed this, but I didn't get anything done in my own garden.

When I arrived home a cousin was here visiting. The next thing I know one of my boys is going with him. I still have to plant some hibiscus in another person's garden. Okay, nothing gets done in my garden.

Sunday morning, I get up before dawn and type an agenda. I went back to bed because it was too dark to work outside. At 10:00 the phone wakes me. It is a cousin, "We are on our way over to go swimming. Do you want us to bring the watermelon?" Here we go, pack up everybody and head to the pool. Still thinking, I can get a lot done this evening. At least something done this evening. We come home in the early afternoon. It is too hot to work outside so I will wait until 6:00 or 7:00. Over the next hour, I develop the sunburn of the decade. Nothing takes the energy and motivation out of me like a sunburn.

I will go outside here in a few minutes, but I don't expect to get much done. I hurt and I am tired. I am going to try to get out of my garden what I need out of it. Peace, quiet, calm, nurture, the smell of dirt and herbs. The goal is not to get something done. The goal is just to be there.

Do you know what is really relaxing? Watching a teenage boy mow the lawn for you.