Movie Trivia Answer 9/27

Wow, I was surprised that so many of our younger readers got this one! Just goes to show this was a classic, huh?


Yes, the movie was "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."


And the line was said by Etta Place (Katherine Ross) who was supposed to be Sundance's girlfriend, but after that bicycle scene with Butch, shifted alliances somewhat.


I gotta tell you though, good-looking as Paul Newman was, it was Robert Redford who gave me palpitations;


That man could eat crackers in my bed anytime.


For October I'll be featuring Chillers and Thrillers, so even though you won't participate, Libby, you can still come visit! lol

New question on Saturday!

Vacation Progress--or Lack Thereof

Well, I did learn a little bit on this vacation--it's not enough to have a list of things to do, I need a plan.

Last week I accomplished precious little on my list. I didn't just goof off ALL the time, and I did do some things that needed to be done and weren't on the list, but I have found if I don't decide the day before what I'm going to do when I get up...not much gets done.

I fix my coffee and sit down at the computer and the next thing I know I've been here 3 hours, what with reading blogs and chasing rabbits and then playing spider solitaire while "watching"/listening to whatever J-Man recorded the night before. Then I still need to eat breakfast, take a shower, and by then it's almost noon and half my day is gone.

We did get the carpet cleaned last Thursday. Tandi freaked at the furniture all being in the kitchen or on the back porch, and a strange van in her driveway. Bless her heart, she needs her routines, and this was meltdown territory. I had to lie in the hammock outside with her close by for about 4 hours that day, til the carpet dried. It was a real sacrifice, lying under a light afghan, reading this book by Jodi Piccoult, and drinking a Diet Coke until I dozed off. But nothing's too good for my little cocker.

I did clean out the pantry and fridge, sort through some books and tapes before putting them back on the shelves, and got the bird feeders cleaned and filled. (I took some photos of my little hummingbird friend gorging himself, but oddly, I can't find the camera right now.)

So today I decided to run errands--first time I've driven my truck in a week. Thanks to some really nice people in East Tennessee who have diverted some gasoline our way, I was able to fill up my tank--the first gas I've bought since before Ike. It was $3.99/gallon for regular at the BP station, but I didn't know how long it'd last or if I'd find gas elsewhere, so I squeezed as much as I could into my truck. Then went a mile down the road, and Enmark had regular gas for $3.73/gallon. Can we say price gouging???? I was so ticked.

But I made it to two quilt shops, dropped off 2 boxes of books and tapes at a donation center, got my oil changed, vacuumed out my car, got Tandi's Heartguard medicine from the vet, bought her dog food and treats at the pet supply, and bought groceries. Just didn't make it to Lowe's or Staples. Still have oodles of things to do, but these were priorities.

Especially the quilt shops.

Tomorrow (oops, today now) I will clean out the garage and find the set of dishes to post on freecycle, as well as dig out and clean up the fall items to put around the house.

That's my plan, anyway.

Hope you all have a great Tuesday!

Saturday at the Movies

I guess everyone knows by now that Paul Newman died yesterday. I didn't even know he had cancer, but did anyone? I never heard much about him and Joanne Woodward, except for that amazingly long Hollywood marriage they had, even though she was not his first wife.

And though I was never a major fan of his, he was in a couple of movies I really liked.

This is a quote from one of them:

SHE said: "I'm 26, and I'm single, and a school teacher, and that's the bottom of the pit. And the only excitement I've known is here with me now. I'll go with you, and I won't whine, and I'll sew your socks, and I'll stitch you when you're wounded, and I'll do anything you ask of me except one thing. I won't watch you die. I'll miss that scene if you don't mind."


Answer on Tuesday, hint on Monday if no correct guesses by then!

Local Weather Report

Well, it's 9:30 in the morning here and look what the thermometer reads outside:


And this is what it reads inside:

Notice it's still on "cool" mode?

Wow. Time to turn the heat on. I guess it is autumn, isn't it?

And the high tomorrow is supposed to be 59 degrees, with a 70% chance of badly needed rain. Hallelujah!

We decided not to go to the beach after all, what with the lack of gas being so worrisome--don't want to get stuck somewhere. And the weather for that area isn't looking very appealing, so it will be, as Libby puts it, a "stay-cation."


Hmmm, I've got 2 more weeks of vacation, the promise of rain and a room full of fabric.

Does it get any better?

Reminder to self: Christmas is 3 months from today!

Movie Trivia Answer 9/20

Oh, yeah, it's Tuesday isn't it? You know how it is on vacation--you lose track of time, can't remember diddlum-squat.

(That was for Audrey's benefit [evil snicker])

I knew that last trivia question was too easy, but it was the best I could come up with on short notice. So yes, it was that she could hold her lipstick in her bosom and apply it--no hands! I will refrain from editorial comments on bra sizes here.



Since I'm ON VACATION, I have lots of time to think up a really good stumper for this Saturday.

If I can remember to post it on the correct day.






Okay, Audrey, I'll lay off now. lol

Vacation--Day Two

I was going to sleep in this morning, just because it's vacation and I can, but then I think of all this glorious time and how can I waste it sleeping? So I have spent the last two hours catching up on blog posts instead. Such an accomplishment!

I filled an entire spiral notebook page, front and back, and started a second page of things I need to do while on vacation. Some are simple, like go buy Tandi's next 6 months of HeartGuard and schedule my mammogram, and others are more complex--like paint the front porch and clean out the garage. The carpet cleaner is coming Thursday--if he is able to get gas and keep working--so I need to start boxing up the living room and dining room things so furniture can be moved.

And I pulled out a couple of small projects that don't lack much being finished--including some fall items. The nights are getting nippy and I'm ready to put out the fall decorations.

The other morning, when I got home from work, I was tired, so I sat in the truck for a few minutes and just enjoyed the view of leaves turning red on the little tree in front of the driveway. All of a sudden, a little hummingbird hovered right outside my window--maybe attracted by the red scrub top I was wearing. He was so close, if the window had been open, I could have put my hand up and touched him. And yesterday, while I was sewing, I swear the same little bird hovered outside my sewing room window. It must be migration time, and this little guy is asking for breakfast. So I added it to the pages of tasks to be done.

But today, that list looks too much like work. Today, I might just drift around the house and yard and do what strikes me at the moment. Maybe I'll start catching up on Grey's Anatomy. Maybe I'll lie in the hammock and read. Or maybe I'll just lie in the hammock and be still.

After I fill the feeders, that is.

Finished and Delivered!

Hallelujah, let the rejoicing commence!

I didn't get called in last night, so was able to sleep and get up about 0600 and get started on my day. Karen's suggestion led me to my final decision--and that was to turn the quilt to the backside and quilt from there. If you remember my version of Judy Laquidara's Labor Day Challenge, you know I'm a bit anal retentive--the kind of child who always colored within the lines--so trying to think of motifs to fit the modified rail fence pattern had me at a stall.
(In my defense, though, I think part of the trouble I had with the LD challenge was using a striped fabric as the wonky center. If I'd used an allover pattern, I think I would have been less disturbed.)
I always underestimate how much time things are going to take, so I didn't finish sewing until 4:30pm--and the baby shower at work was at 3:00 pm. So I went ahead and tossed it in the washer and dryer, took a shower myself, and just met her at 7pm at the end of her shift.

I wasn't real happy with the quilting; I'm still such a beginner at free motion and the fabric gets stuck, then releases, and then I have all these huge stitches, or a bite out of the heart. Here are a couple of close-ups:



The quilting seemed too far apart in some places, and to tie it all together, I quilted loops and circles to get from one object to another, but I think the variegated pink thread was too light and showed too many mistakes.
But hey, I wasn't starting over, nosirree!


And wouldn't you know it?--Jenny's a quilter! I almost snatched it back right then and there. I would rather an uneducated eye look it over, but she's a fairly new quilter herself, and could appreciate all the hard work I put into those mistakes. Seems she made her older child a Yellow Brick Road quilt and has made one for the baby-to-be who is still Nameless.

So we talked quilts all the way to her car as we carried all her gifts down. It'll probably be a couple of months before I see her again, because her due date is 10/8 and did I mention I'M ON VACATION?!! for the next 18 days! Woohooo!!

Sometime during this vacation we were supposed to go to our timeshare in Myrtle Beach for a few days, but folks, we have no gasoline in our little town. Seriously. Some places haven't had any since just before Ike, but an Exxon station I passed on the way to the hospital tonight had about 40 cars in line, and when I came home 2 hours later--no more gas. I'm down to 1/4 of a tank, because I filled up just a day or two before the Ike rush, and haven't been able to fill up since. We have a full 1-gallon container and a full 5-gallon container in the garage--and that's it.

So this may well turn out to be a stay-at-home vacation. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I haven't seen the ocean in 2 years and I've been looking forward to getting away. My list of things to do around here is pretty long, and I can always make a dent in the UFOs, but I did yearn for a little ocean breeze, and some fresh seafood.

Ah well, I still have 18 nights of NO WORK!

Pass the kahlua!

Stuck

Tomorrow is Jenny's baby shower at work, and I've been trying to get this quilt finished, but I've been running into all kinds of obstacles, not the least of which was me. At any rate, I have it pieced and sandwiched (which is always a challenge) and don't know what to do about the quilting.

Here's the quilt:


I only have a Bernina 1130, not a longarm nor one of those with a wide space, and I've only done straight lines, echo, or played with free motion quilting before. I have never marked a quilt pattern, either, so not sure I can do that. I was thinking along the lines of hearts, something simple, but with it being a modified rail fence, the hearts would be confined to the wider parts, and then what would I do with the narrower rectangles? And the hearts would be all different directions--no continuity.

My husband named the quilt "Butterfly Kisses", and the backing is the same as the butterfly print in some of the large rectangles.


I was put on call from work tonight, which means I could get called in any time between now and about 6am. So I'm going on to bed early, because if I don't get called in, I can get up about 0600 and start quilting and hopefully get it finished, bound, washed and dried in time to get it over to the shower at 3pm. (Yeah, sure.)

And if the unit decides they just can't function without one more nurse, at least I'll have an extra nap in so maybe I can stay up when I get home. (Ditto.)

Any ideas?

TIA,

Saturday (okay, Sunday) at the Movies

Didn't get this in before going to work last night, so this will probably be an easy one for you.

In the movie, The Breakfast Club, what trick did Molly Ringwald's character learn at summer camp that she demonstrated for the other detainees?


Answer on Tuesday!

Mothers and Daughters

Jenny, one of the nurses on day shift, is pregnant with her second child, a little girl. She has a 2-year-old son, and this baby is due Oct. 8, though no one believes she'll go that long. She hasn't worked with us long--only 4 or 5 months--and though I don't know her well, working the night shift as I do, I decided to go through my patterns and stash and see if I could whip up a baby quilt for her.

As I've been choosing fabrics and layouts, I found myself thinking about my own baby shower (30 years ago, how can that BE?) and remembering how excited I was and how everything was in blue, because I was sure it was a boy, and how having a daughter was not part of "my plan", but was right in line with God's plan for us.

And then my thoughts wandered to my two "other daughters" and their mothers. The four of us mother/daughter pairs span a wide range of ages: Jenny's soon-to-be newborn, Aduri in Bangladesh will be 9 next month, Dalia in El Salvador is 15, and my daughter is 30. And yet, those of you who are moms know we never stop worrying about our daughters. We want them to be healthy and happy, to love and be loved, to feel their own self-worth, to have opportunities we never had.

My biological daughter and Jenny's daughter are blessed to be born in the greatest country in the world. Don't get me wrong, I am not among the die-hard feminist ranks, but think about this past year: we've had a woman run for president and one run for vice-president. It's amazing. There are female CEOs and surgeons and judges and engineers and professors and scientists everywhere, and no one thinks anything about it anymore. My daughter is an attorney. These opportunities weren't available 50 years ago. Now, in our country, and increasingly in other countries, women can make even more of a difference every day in their lives and the lives of those around them.

But what about Dalia's mom? Dalia's dad never married her, and she has 3 sons who may follow his example. Drugs are a big problem in El Salvador, and street gangs. Dalia is a teenager, that wonderful period in which parents are dismissed as being out of touch, behind the times, only interested in holding their children back. Teendom, that age of insecurity, of wanting to be like everyone else, yet wanting to be your own person, making your own decisions.


And Aduri's mom? She has 3 other children, also--one a teenage son, and the other 2 are younger daughters. She worries about putting food in their tummies. Aduri tells me her favorite foods are fish and rice. The information packet Compassion sent me tells me those are the ONLY foods most people in her region have to eat. She's probably never tasted an orange, never had a chunk of cheese, and who knows if she will ever taste chocolate? How do you feed a family of 6 on $18.00/month? In Bangladesh, children are in danger of being sold into slavery, and I have to wonder if sometimes the parents are the sellers.


Jenny's daughter and my daughter will never know these same hardships. They will have their own challenges, but thankfully, neither Jenny nor I worry about them being sold into slavery. We have strong men in our lives who give our daughters positive feedback, who make them feel valuable and loved.

Our heavenly Father can give my sponsored daughters much more, because Compassion is out there in the world, ministering to them and their families, teaching them a better way of living, enveloping them in God's love. I can't be there to hug my girls, but I send hugs and love through the mail. I remind them they are special beings, they are important, they matter in this world.

You can do this, too. You can make a difference in the life of someone you may never meet in this world. Here is a link to children who have been waiting for over 6 months for a sponsor, unable to understand how someone in a faraway land could care what happens to them. This was Aduri's story 9 months ago.

Maybe you just can't afford to be the sole sponsor right now. With gas prices rising, and foreclosures occurring right and left, health care costs skyrocketing, it's not easy to raise a family these days. It isn't always easy to squeeze another $32.00/month out of a tight budget. Maybe you can split the cost of sponsorship with a friend. Maybe your Sunday School class can take it on, or your quilting group. We are creative people--there are ways to get this done.

If you are already someone's sponsor, you know how it feels to get that "message from your sponsored child" envelope in the mail, with its crude drawing of sun and clouds and birds and laboriously written/translated sentences. You know the challenge of sending only paper gifts through the mail, and making the envelope no more than 1/8 " thick, when you want to send a whole box of items to make their lives easier. You know what it means to be more attuned to the name of their country when it's in the news, and wondering what effect that news might have on your child's life.

I'd love for you to tell me about your experiences, your sponsored daughter (or son!) in your comments or your blog. I hope you'll share these with me and whomever happens to wander this way. And if you haven't yet experienced this, please consider taking one of these children under your wings, be their long distance mom. The right words in these childrens' ears can give them hope, can lighten their loads a bit, can make a difference in their futures.

And isn't that what mothers the world over want for their children?

Movie Trivia Answer 9/13

Can you say "Working Girl" Apparently so! And I thought I was the only one who liked that goofy, almost believable, Cinderella-type story.

Like Pinky, I am not much of a Melanie Griffith fan, but I think she did a pretty good job in this movie.


The "boney-a$$ed" Sigourney Weaver did an even better job.



And I usually love Harrison Ford in most anything. But this time?


Not so much.



New movie trivia question on Saturday!

Saturday at the Movies

Thinking back....

"I have head for business and a bod for sin."

Who said this, and in what movie?

Answer on Tuesday!

Collecting the Props

Well, I couldn't find anything for the Mad Scientist's Laboratory at the flea market last Saturday (except a bag full of books on tape which I will listen to when I sew), but a trip to Goodwill was pretty productive.

First, these are the jars and containers I found for the laboratory specimens.
I like this one, not only because it has a lid, but for the writing on it:



It's hard to tell, but this is the size of a fishbowl:

Maybe it was a fishbowl.

This is a candleholder and frame I found at a yard sale earlier in the summer and have left it out to rust. I had thought to use it as a large test tube holder.


Then, at Goodwill, I found the perfect container to sit in the candleholder part itself:


Don't you just love this carafe-type thingie? I think a small can of sterno will fit underneath it, so I can fill it with colored liquid and maybe it'll steam.


I bought this tall jar earlier in the summer for spaghetti noodles, but then found the smaller one at Goodwill. AND, look what I found at an Etsy shop--a disembodied tongue in a very tiny replica of the larger jars:




I thought this candleholder looked a bit mysterious, too.


Here are some books for the mad scientist's bookshelf:



Some of them need to be aged a bit, but one of the books is yielding some great pictures so far:





Most of the items will be donated back to some thrift store afterwards, so I think I might photocopy the pictures so as not to ruin the books. Then I can dusty them up, maybe sear the edges and put them in old frames. Or assemble them into a "journal" of sorts.

I scored a ripped, unusable hospital gown from work, and found a lab coat at Goodwill today, but it wasn't in poor enough condition--so I'm going to have to rip and stain it. Maybe I should save it for one of those frustrating times when a little wanton destruction can be productive as well as rewarding.

I'm starting to get excited...

Never Forget

Movie Trivia Answer for 9/6

Well, we had a winner! Lori, the Dakota City Quilter, got it: Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. I've never been able to hear that hymn without envisioning that movie.



Robert Mitchum, who also played in the original "Cape Fear", once said Harry Powell was his favorite role. It's bizarre that he had to direct the children in this film, as the true director, Charles Laughton, had a personal dislike of all children.

Makes you wonder what it did to those kids' psyche doesn't it?

Oh, and to creep you all out even more, this story was loosely based on a real person: Harry Powers of Virginia.

New question on Saturday!

Saturday at the Movies

I'd like to say I took a break from the Movie Trivia game last Saturday because it was Labor Day Weekend, but the truth is--I forgot until at work that night, and then it was too late to do anything about it.

But let's resume tonight.

One of my favorite chillers is the black and white film, Night of the Hunter, with Robert Mitchum. I remember seeing this as a young girl, and it really creeped me out, especially the scene where the exhausted children are sleeping in the barn, and Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) is seen in silhouette riding through the night, relentlessly pursuing John and Pearl.




What is the hymn he sings?




Answer on Tuesday.