Weekend Review

I had a great weekend!

Friday and Saturday were spent at Quilt Retreat. My sisters and I go every fall on the opening weekend of deer hunting. It is very fun to catch up with all kinds of friends and eat tons of treats. Oh, and quilt some, too.

This was my fourth year. I had little things that I needed to finish on each of the quilts I had made the previous years, so I just took them all and worked on finishing them up.

This is the first quilt I ever made. I didn't really do much to it this weekend other than add the binding that now needs to be finished.

I finished the binding on this next quilt that I made for my sister who is a doctor. You can't see it well, but there are band-aids and stuff on it.

I also finished the binding on a quilt I made for my other sister who is a nurse. Again, it is hard to see, but the panels on this one are of sassy nurses.

The next quilt is my all-time-favorite-that-I've-ever-made. I started to work on the binding this weekend.

This last quilt I barely started last year, but really hadn't gotten that far. I did quite a bit on it this weekend, but I was being really sloppy. It still needs all the "b"s: borders, batting, backing, and binding.

You can't tell from the picture, but that is definitely what I call a "quilt with character". There are a ton of mistakes (it for sure would never win a ribbon at the Fair)! But I still think it looks pretty good from a distance, so I'm okay with it. I really got a lot done this weekend amidst all my chatting.

So.....would it be odd to write about quilting and football in the same post? Because I'm about to.

I have diverse interests, to say the least.

We finished off our weekend by going to the Vikings/Packers game at the dome. And the Vikes WON! In thrilling fashion, nonetheless. The Packers could have won the game with a field goal with less than 30 seconds left in the game, but they missed! The dome was SO LOUD! It was a very fun game to watch - you hardly ever see a safety in a game, and there were two yesterday. Crazy. We hadn't beaten the Packers in the last five meetings, so it was definitely time to do so. Mom, Dad, my sisters, my aunt and I all went, and we really had a great time.

I am exhausted, but the weekend was more than worth it!

Stir It Up, Lord

My philosophy on winter: if it's going to be cold, there might as well be three feet of snow on the ground so at least it's pretty.

One of my favorite songs at this time of year is Real Good Storm by Peter Mayer.

The lyrics are so great. I LOVE winter days where you are stuck inside and forced to spend the whole day in your pajamas playing board games, reading books, watching DVDs, and then ending the day with a romp in the fresh snow followed with a hot cup of cocoa.

I say "Stir it up, Lord! Send us a real good storm!"

Here are the lyrics:

This winter, please, dear Lord

Send us a real good storm

One where we’re all snowed in

That makes people neighbors wave and grin

Stranded in our own yards

We might as well play cards

And get out game boards

So send us a real good storm

We who get so uptight

Need a good snowball fight

And should be forced to ski

To rent a DVD

So heap it up to the window sill

Make the mad world stand still

Bury us Lord

Under a real good storm

We’ll pile onto the old wood sled

Scream when we see a tree ahead

Make a man with a carrot nose

Then come back in and have hot cocoa

We’ll cheer when the radio

Says that our school is closed

We’ll make a big snow pile

Dig it out and crawl inside

Decorate it with Christmas lights

Laugh and sing songs all night

And we’ll stay warm

Inside of that real good storm

So stir it up, Lord

Send us a real good storm

Blog Stalker

So.....I follow a lot of blogs.

Like, over-100-a-lot.

You'd be right if you said that not all of them are worth following, so I really only skim most of them. Don't worry, I really don't think I have an official "problem". I do try to limit my time and not become obsessive.

So anyway. If you also follow blogs, you probably use something like Bloglines or Google Reader. I wanted to tell you that I made the switch this week from Bloglines to Google Reader and I am LOVING it. Here are the top reasons I like Google Reader over Bloglines:

• Google Reader loads faster. Sometimes Bloglines wouldn't import new posts for a LONG time. Google Reader gets them there in minutes.
• In my opinion, the format of Google Reader is more aesthetically pleasing.
• You can see previews of all the new posts on your home page of Google Reader
• Not only can you keep posts that you have read as unread, you can star items and keep all your favorite posts in one place, no matter what site it was from.
• Overall I have found that Google Reader is more user friendly. I am not a computer whiz, so I know there is much more I can do with Google Reader, but I was able to pick up on basic (and very useful) features very easily.

If you have no idea what I am talking about and would like to know more, check out this informative post.

Great News!

I was a bit blubbery today.

Dad called this morning to say that his PET scan results came back with great news – the intermediate level of his cancer is GONE!

WOO HOO!!!

Tearing up just thinking about it.

The last five months have dragged on and on. I can hardly believe that Dad has reached this point. I wondered when it would come and how it would feel.

Well, it feels AWESOME!

Cancer sends you on and emotional roller coaster, to say the least.

I’ll never forget the moment Dad called (Friday, May 30) to say that his doctor was fairly certain he had cancer. More tests were needed, but cancer was the only thing the doctor thought would turn up. I pulled off to the side of Highway 52 and screamed and cried.

The next few weeks were hard – a lot of waiting and praying and crying.

When you first find out about cancer, it feels overwhelming. It feels terminal – even if it isn’t. It feels like the world stops spinning. When it feels like the world didn’t stop spinning, you wished it would. You want things to do – anything – just to keep busy. You want nothing to do – nothing at all – just so you can lie in bed and cry. I knew in my mind that hope was there – hope in Christ – but my heart didn’t always feel that.

Today feels like an amazing relief. I was just telling a friend a few days ago that I had gotten to the point where thinking about Dad’s cancer doesn’t “dominate” me anymore. I still think about it daily and pray about it a lot, but it used to feel all consuming. I had moved past that point to a point where it felt more manageable. I didn’t feel like I was grieving anymore, like I had felt at the beginning. Now I feel like it is time to celebrate!

Of course, with cancer, there is a caveat. Dad has more tests next week for his bone marrow, where he had a low grade form of his cancer. He may need radiation, too, but those things are greatly overshadowed by the great news from the PET scan.

I’ve learned a lot in five months: about cancer, about myself, about my family, about my friends, and about my God. I can’t really put much of it into words because….it’s all….messy. So that means I’m still learning about all of it. And I always will be, I hope.

But if I could stop learning about cancer, that would be just fine with me!

What I Did With My Vote

I got free coffee and ice cream!

Starbucks and Ben and Jerry's were giving out free coffee and free ice cream to voters today. There was a LONG line for ice cream, but I LOVE ICE CREAM, so I stood in line to get my Sweat Cream and Cookies. YUM.

Apparently I didn't actually have to vote to get the freebies, though. According to law, there can be no monetary incentive for someone to vote, including getting free food items. I guess it prevents partisan groups from bribing people to vote with food and other goodies. It doesn't really matter to me. I was going to vote either way, but the free ice cream was an added treat for the day.

So I hope you all went out and voted! And possibly enjoyed some treats as well. I think I will head over to watch the returns with the most politically active couple I know. Should be an interesting evening. Even if the Presidential election is decided early on, the Senate race in MN might go down to the wire.

Money Challenge

Becca has inspired me (along with some sermons at church and the financial class I am taking). I decided that for the month of November I am going to spend as little money as possible. In Becca's challenge, her goal was to spend less than $125 in an entire month for her family of four. I thought about what dollar amount I might challenge myself to, but I couldn't come up with a good number, so I'm just going to see how it goes...sort of shooting to be under $100 for the month (not including regular bills).

November is a good month to do the challenge, seeing as I won't need to buy any clothes due to the fact that I practically bought an entire new wardrobe in October (not really, but close. Oops). Also, I imagine that December will see me spending all kinds of money on gifts, so I am going to try to abstain from gift-buying this month (plus, most of my friends are done gestating, so I don't anticipate spending $200 on baby gifts like I did in October).

I haven't been to the grocery store in over three weeks, so I literally have no food in the cupboards. In other words, I will be spending a little money on food this week. To make up for stocking the shelves, I am going to avoid eating out as much as I can. I also am going to take advantage of my new CVS card where I can shop for some food items and other everyday "stuff". If you don't know about how to save money at CVS, read this very informative post that I discovered thanks to Becca.

I got myself a card and I've already started saving. I bought Vitamin D, which was the extra-special-coupon-creator-deal-of-the-month in October (and ironically, the exact vitamin that a doctor told me might help my sleeping problem). Then I got two boxes of my favorite cereal for buy one, get one free. Using the coupons I earned with those purchases, I got milk and coffee for a total of $3 (normally $7.50)!

Sorry to bore with my grocery list! I do have more to buy, but I need to go to an actual grocery store for the rest.

But you get the idea. Trying to be frugal this month. I really don't need a lot of what I think I need. Not that it will be easy. I only really decided to do this on Saturday and - sure enough - I saw a friend at church today with the CUTEST top from my FAVORITE store and she said it is on MAJOR SALE. Ugh. Normally I would run out and buy it, but I don't really need it. Really.

Really.

So, I'll keep you updated (not that anyone is all that interested...more for my own accountability, I suppose). BUT if you see me in a REALLY cute new denim top with short sleeves and buttons and snaps and buckles and total CUTENESS.....don't give me "the look".

Fall Colors

Took the dog on a walk on one of our GORGEOUS fall days this week.

Here are the leaves I collected on the walk:

I dried them (easiest way: put them all in the microwave between two paper towels and nuke them for about a minute, or until nice and crispy) and made a little center piece for the dining room table. I love fall and the colors, and the season never seems to last long enough! I hadn't been on a walk in a long time, so I was glad to get out to enjoy the glorious day and wonderful colors!

Another way our neighborhood has gotten more colorful is through some new murals on a model train museum across the street. The museum used to have a white exterior which would be graffitied now and then, but now the neighborhood association came together to improve the building with some train murals. Residents were given sketches to paint and the finished projects were hung last week, after the building was painted an awesome green. Here is the mural my roommate painted:

Pretty awesome, huh!?!

Another pic of the workers hanging the murals:

The building looks really great. Just add it to the list of little things I love about where I live!