Category: What Now?

Today may have been perfect if not for this.

Crazy Quilt Crap

~ JodiLea

For those new to Not Pretending, you may not know that I am often the victim of life’s improbable and sometimes ridiculous events. In other words, the craziest crap happens to me.  Sometimes the crap is humorous. Sometimes it’s caused by my clumsiness or stupid thinking.  Occasionally, there are outside forces at work against me. Like today.

I got a “kit” to make an easy level crib quilt and I decided my beginner skills could handle it. All I had to do was sew two borders around a solid panel, then find a fabric for the backing and some batting for the in-between layer. Then I could quilt it and finish it.  Piece of cake.

What I forgot to factor into this venture, was that I was the one doing it.

The first thing I did was open the kit and look at the fabric. The Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore panel, that was 90% of the quilt, was cut out crooked. At first I blamed the quilting store. Then, I noticed the pattern of little holes running down the sides of the panel. Someone had attempted to make the quilt before I got the kit.  Mmmm…

Probably the same person who cut the panel half-assed, I told myself. I will just trim the edges and make it square up. 35 minutes later it was as good as it was gonna get. On to cutting the fabric for the borders!

The border fabric was cut crooked as well – what a surprise!  Now to sew the 1st border fabric to the panel. First I ironed the pieces, then I lined the right sides together and pinned the fabrics where I wanted them to be when I sewed. This took up a lot of time. I used my rulers and marking pencil, as I was taught and still I had somehow cut the border pieces a bit “off”.

Oh well, I said. The outside borders would make up for it, and I plundered on.

HA!  Ignorance is NOT bliss. The outer border matched up even worse. Now I had a mess so obvious that I would have to start over.

This is what happened to the quilter before me. After ripping out all the stitches, she packed up the kit and returned it to the store. I am on to you, lady. You ruined my happy sewing day.

I’ll start over tomorrow. I’m in the middle of a good book. The book at least has squared up corners  😉

PoohQuilt
Looks good from a distance
QuiltCorner
The worst corner

Snow Math: 6-inches In Sonora = 1-foot in Arnold

~ JodiLea

We had an unplanned trip down the mountain to Sonora today,  so I ended up watching the snowstorm hit through the ophthalmologist’s office windows. Oh man, it was awesome. Huge flakes and small flakes poured from the sky, as if the angels were having a marathon pillow fight.

The snow did not stop coming down the entire 2-hours I sat there. I was already nervous about my hubby’s condition, and now I worried we wouldn’t get home. If it was snowing down here at 2,000 feet, Lord only knew what was happening in Arnold at 4000 feet .

When we left the doctor’s office there was 6-inches piled up. The roads were passable, if you could get around the stuck cars. It was also getting dark quickly. It took and an hour and a half to get to Parrots Ferry road, and another 40 minutes to highway 4. The snow plows had been at work so the highway was snow free. Now we could go 25-miles per hour!

It was scary because the snow was already filling in the scraped pavement as we went up the mountain. That, and on-coming traffic lights blinded hubby and I was in charge of keeping us on the road. That drive seemed to drag on forever.

When we finally got to Arnold, the roads seemed chosen at random whether to be plowed or not.  Our street was not one of the chosen. Hubby, of course, had his big-assed truck (Ford F-150) with 4-wheel drive, so we were able to make it up our twisty road.  Thank God a large truck  turned around at the dead-end, otherwise we would have had no sign of where the street even was. There was over a foot of snow blanketing the roads and drop-offs equally.

Now sitting in a chair by the wood-burning stove, talking to you guys, I can relax. Maybe. My nerves were strung tighter than a hooker’s dress for 5-hours. It’s too dark to take pictures, so I’m going to bed now. Good-Night & Sleep Not-so-tight,

BTW – Hubby’s eye is doing better now – the surgeon said he had a small retinal detachment that was causing his blurry and poor vision in his right eye. We refer to this eye as his “good” eye because the left one has undergone several retinal repairs, which we call his “bad” eye.   Hubby had a minor laser surgery to “weld” the retina back in place. On his right “formerly good” eye.

It’s Like The Oscars… But Not.

~ JodiLea ~ 5 Comments

On Sunday, January 13th, someone went temporarily insane and nominated me for a blogger’s award!  The Liebster award is recognition for bloggers who are “up and coming” – meaning they have less than 200 followers, or have recently published their blog.

wpid-liebsterAward

Not to be confused with the WordPress.com sponsored blog awards, the Liebster is a blogger generated award that provides links to new bloggers, a chance for your readers to know you better, and increase publicity for your blog.

Susan Mae Detera, author of  Gasm Travels – a wonderful and witty photography & travel blog, included Not Pretending (to be sane) as one of her nominees – Thank you so much, Susan. It is an honor that you deemed my blog worthy!  🙂

Upon receiving the nomination, you are required to do the following:

a. Tell 11 things about yourself

b. Answer 11 questions asked by the nominating blogger

c. Nominate 11 new bloggers

d. Ask 11 questions to the bloggers you nominated

e. Inform the bloggers you choose

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Sounds easy doesn’t it?  Well… I may be taking this thing way too seriously, because it has taken days for me to respond. This is my very first award nomination and I don’t want to screw it up 😉

11 Things About Me You May Not Know:

  1. I was a “candy striper” when I was a teen. Not to be confused with “stripper”, BTW.
  2. I began my career as a call girl (switchboard operator)
  3. I not only have a fear of heights, but I can’t stand to see anyone else high up either.
  4. In my 20’s I was in the Army, my rank was military wife. I was not happy, nor was I all that I could be.
  5. I have an AS degree in computer science. I graduated with honors – automatically raising my status to GEEK.
  6. I fell in love with my husband’s sexy voice a year before I met him.
  7. I am a smart-ass. (This you may already know)
  8. I LOVE watching the Academy Awards. Even all the red carpet hullabaloo. Last year, me, my daughter, and granddaughters dressed up all glamorous and walked down our own red carpet on Oscar Night. There are photos.
  9. I am desperately searching for a Bernese Mountain Dog to adopt.  You know you need a dog when you go to your friends (who has a dog) house to get a “fix”.
  10. When I was a little girl I was terrified of butterflies. There was no mercy. Only people telling me “you’re being ridiculous!”  Guess what, people? That sucked!
  11. I have a life-time membership in Ladies of Harley.

11 Questions Asked by Susan, From Gasm Travels:

1. What is the most rewarding experience you have had and what made it so? I’ve been blessed with so many, so it’s tough to choose.  The most recent one is being a grandma, which is deja vu of being a mom, but much more fun!

2. If you had the chance to go back in time for 24 hours, where and when would you go? Kaiser Hospital, Walnut Creek, CA. on August 12th, 2002. To kick some serious ass and change the course of history.

3. What’s something you know you do differently than most people? I play solitaire with real cards.

4. If you could have sex with any superhero, who would you choose and why?  Thor. Why? Because he’s the God of Thunder-Period.  He doesn’t change back into a wimpy mortal like  other super heroes do.  Not to mention, the dude is incredibly HOT.

5. If you could choose to stay a certain age forever, what age would it be and why? My current age because I like being retired and a grandma. My body however, should go a couple of decades back in time or more.

6. If you had to work on only one project for this year, what would it be?  I’d love to be able to complete the research my mother was doing on our family history, and write a book based on the skeletons I dig up. I’m pretty sure there are some doozies.

7. If you had 1 million dollars, what would you do with it?  I would spend the winters in the Caribbean, and start trust funds for our grand-kids to use for college. That will probably use it all up, the way costs are going up for 4-year colleges.

8. Looking back on your life, what do you regret?  Being too timid and afraid to try new things and believe in myself. I am improving the older I get. I should be a force to reckon with when I’m 90.

9. If you had to move to a state or country besides the one you currently live in, where would you move and why?  Missouri – I have a lot of family there that I like and who are already used to me.

10. What is the nastiest trick you played on a friend? On April Fools Day I called a friend and told him I was at the airport and needed a ride to come visit him. I was not even close to California, but in my college dorm at Southeast Missouri State. He was so excited, he was practically out the door before I said “April Fools”.  Boy, was he mad.  Just think how mad he would have been if I let him go to the airport. I felt so awful, that I never pulled anything like that again.

11. If your life were a motion picture, what would the title be?  The Unbalanced

My 11 Nominees Are:

  1. The Amazing MJ
  2. The Daily Informant
  3. It’s Ames
  4. Life is Funny
  5. The Matticus Kingdom
  6. NYC Round2
  7. PissyKittysLitterBox
  8. Raising 5 kids with Disabilities
  9. Random Reasoning
  10. We’re Jumpin’
  11. Writing and Recovering

11 Questions for my Nominees:

  1. As a kid (or older) when you pretended to be someone else, who were you and why did you want to be them?
  2. Have you had your “15-minutes of fame” yet? How did it happen? (If it hasn’t happened, how would you like it to happen?)
  3. If you could change one thing about your personality – what would it be and why?
  4. What was the last novel you read? Would you recommend it?
  5. Who was/is your favorite teacher, and why?
  6. Besides writing, tell us about one of your other talents.
  7. Where were you when President Kennedy was shot?
  8. You wrote a novel about your life growing up, and now Hollywood is making a movie based on that novel. Which actor/actress would you want to play you, and why?
  9. What was your favorite TV show when you were in grade school?  What about now?
  10. What are your top 3 pet peeves?
  11. Do you like your first name? If not, what would you change it to?