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Checking in…

No, I haven’t died this time either….just distracted by summer!   I had thought that if I didn’t schedule anything for most of August, I’d be OK.  Wrong…..  here’s the list:

  • clean up messes from making Be Inspired
  • send entry to Houston
  • send quilts to AQS for photography
  • do all final edits on book, send to AQS
  • paint plywood piece that serves as a coffee table top on the back porch
  • calculate yardage to make cushion covers for back porch settee and 2 rockers, but decide not enough disposable income yet to pay for the fabric….
  • exchange sometimes five e-mails a day with editor (by the way, things are going very well!)
  • prepare entries for local gallery show (and got accepted!)
  • exercise regularly and continue to diet
  • go on a ten mile bike ride–the longest since before I was pregnant with Eli who is now 11–and it wasn’t bad!!!! Reward:  ice cream! (SMALL cone)
  • pay bills
  • order supplies / items to sell when teaching in Houston
  • help Joshua make a totebag/purse for his girlfriend…it was HIS idea!  (pictures and blogpost to come I hope)
  • take Eli to buy binders etc. on school supply list
  • take Joshua, Eli and J’s girlfriend to an amusement park (UGH) that is 2 1/2+ hours drive south of us; the good news:  it was SO HOT that after 3 hours, looking at looming thunderclouds, the kids asked “mom, can we leave and go to the Mall and do school clothes shopping instead.”  So we did… air conditioning, and three long road-trips (the only really big, really good mall in Maine–which would qualify as an average everday mall in the DC suburbs where I used to live–is near Portland and a 2+ hour drive from our house) turned into just one!
  • prepare for dyeing fabric day with Frayed Edges (pictures and blogpost to come)
  • have dyeing day with Frayed Edges and celebrate Kath’s birthday, dye shirts with Joshua and his girlfriend
  • next day:  more fabric dyeing, including tie-dye with the teens and Eli
  • massive house cleaning, including dragooning the entire family into the process.  House is somewhat less cat- and dog-hairy.  Sigh.
  • start prepping kits for teaching classes in Houston
  • start thinking about a few new samples for teaching in Houston
  • prepare invoices for wholesale pattern sales to local store and for Middle school / Be Inspired quilt
  • meeting with Middle School principal, who fortunately LOVES the Be Inspired, Panel 1, and is now all excited about fundraising again for the project, and (from previous efforts) can pay me some of the price on the first panel….hooray!  What a concept…getting paid!
  • do all the paperwork (well, it was online but it is still paperwork) to be able to accept credit cards in Houston when I teach, order knucklebasher machine and credit card slips and metal imprint plate
  • eat lunch with mom every week; she is still in assisted living, but her confusion grows weekly.  She is having an increasingly difficult time recalling names of things (including my kids…but she still asks about them every time…. sometimes every five minutes….), so sometimes it is a challenge to sit for an entire lunch that repeats the same few minutes of   conversation / answers to questions every few minutes, again and again.  I just remind myself the questions are new to her, even though she just asked them.  She can’t help it if she doesn’t remember…..I PRAY I take after my dad instead….
  • take some time for myself, read Melanie Testa’s Inspired to Quilt (hope that will be a blogpost/review too)… it is excellent!
  • try to keep up on e-mail; accept that I will never read all the blogs I would like to, or keep up with the news as well as I would like
  • Revise “resources” section of the book
  • List subjects for an index to the book

And that’s just the past two weeks or so….so that’s my excuse for no new blogposts!!!! Anyone wanna take a nap with me?

To do SOON:

  • write next article for Machine Quilting Unlimited (www.mqumag.com) on Color / thread color
  • prep more kits
  • finish kids’ school clothes shopping, mostly locally
  • prepare entry for Mancuso / PIQF show
  • prepare entry for the Eye of the Quilter, a photography exhibit at Quilt Festival in Houston
  • contact MORE magazines to see if they will accept an article proposal that will help promote the book
  • think about book promotion… it should be out in late October/early November
  • today:  lunch with Ma, grocery shopping, take Eli to Game Stop and WalMart, buy assorted stuff for house (like light bulbs and toilet paper!!!!!)
  • clean house, again
  • maybe another long bike ride when the heat wave breaks later this week…..
  • get Nourish pattern prepped for printing, contact printer (hi Barbara!), and all that stuff so it is ready to take to Houston
  • start some “slide show” stuff to use for class demonstrations for Houston classes
  • prep more samples for Bindings class
  • make pattern out of Little Brown Bird…send to Kay T. for testing, use for kits for Chunk and Jigsaw class in Houston….
  • another nap sounds good; sipping a cup of tea and reading a novel sounds even better…sitting   on the settee on the back porch

7 Responses to “Checking in…”

  1. Debby, in NC Says:

    I have to go take a nap just from reading everything you’ve done! I’ll have to wait until after the nap to read what’s on your “To Do” list!
    You’re getting so much more accomplished than I ever could! Great job!

  2. Jacquie Says:

    I knew you were busy but this list is insane! How DO you get yourself into such a situation! Right — you actually believe that you have two heads and six hands! 😉

    Lazily —

    jq

  3. Maggie in E. Central Illinois Says:

    I was hoping that you were on vacation relaxing somewhere…..YIKES! You are one busy lady!

  4. Melly Testa Says:

    This list rivals my own! Girl! don’t sleep!

  5. Kathy Schmidt Says:

    Wow! Just…Wow! Keep up your strength by making some time to rest and rejuvenate. That’s just as important as the tasks and deadlines!

    Kathy S

  6. Candy Tucker Says:

    Sara, you sound too busy to even stop and take a breath. I hope you’re taking a few minutes daily just for you.

    I know how your lunches with your mom feel. My mom is getting the same way. It’s frustrating and scary too. I pray daily that I will take after my dad as well. My mom is living in my house, so the questions and weird comments come day and night. Hang in there.

  7. Grace Says:

    Oh…My…Goodness….Gracious!
    I thought my to-do list was long and arduous. I don’t have the nerve to write down ALL the things I have yet to do….brave woman you are indeed.