Quilts. Lots of quilts.

I love to sew - y'all surely know that - and you may or may not know that I give away pretty much all of my projects. I make a lot of things for specific people, but sometimes I make a project simply because I want to try a new technique or there's a cool fabric line I want to play with. If I don't have a particular recipient in mind, I'll usually just make the top (to be honest, I really don't enjoy 'quilting', I'm more of a designer and piecer) because I have little motivation to go through all the work to finish quilts just to pile them up in the closet. I make a LOT of quilt tops that just sit and wait for the right recipient to come along, and it seems like a waste.

Today I was blessed with a win-win solution.

A gal in my quilt guild - Marilyn - does machine quilting professionally and she's happy to quilt projects for FREE to be donated to hospitals and foster homes and hospices and things. Now I have a place to take all of these projects that just need to be quilted before they get given to folks, and I'm DELIGHTED to make lap quilts for nursing homes and baby quilts for neonatal units and so forth and so on. I'm so excited!! Just need to get batting and backing for this stack of tops! Plus, it gives me more excuses to sew!! Woot!

Not having a very good day

Spent pretty much all of yesterday driving to and from the Iowa City area, with a stop both directions in Dallas Center (about 8+ hours total drive time). Today, we're all kinda cranky. Just one of those things, I suppose, and I didn't even have any Diet Coke (I did, however, have a Sugar Free Sunkist Lemonade, but I really don't think that's the problem). Maybe it's the weather, I dunno. Just can't wait for today to be over and tomorrow to be a better one.

I've sorted down some fabric for future quilting projects. I've cooked lunch (and will soon cook supper) and I've taken a nap. That's pretty much all I've done all day. Sigh.

We're gonna be painted!

The bid from the painters came in today and it was pretty much awesome. After living near Des Moines for so long, we're still shocked at how inexpensive services are out here in the boonies, and that's just fine! :) Still waiting to hear back from the electrician, but it looks like this years remodeling projects will move on forward without too many hitches. Woot!

So. The eyes.

My distance prescription has changed very little, but I am having problems focusing and bifocal lenses are on order to fit into my current frames. We did talk, however, about Lasik and Partial Lens Replacement surgery, and he wants me to see a specialist in South Dakota because of my particular issues to see which procedure might be a better fit for me. Eyes are healthy overall - other than the aging thing, which I knew about already, so that's good.

I just don't know about the surgeries. Lasik would mean that I'd still have to wear reading glasses but the risk is minimal and the price, while, substantial, would be less than the lens replacement. The lens replacement would be a full correction - even stave off the possibility of cataracts - but costs more and has an infection risk since a foreign object is inserted within the eye itself. So, I dunno.

I just don't know.

In the meantime, my new lenses are ordered and should be in next week.

Off to the eye doctor

I've delayed this as long as I can. After pretty much a lifetime of being severely near-sighted, my vision has gone wonky. I've been having problems focusing for months, and the edges of pretty much everything are hazy which makes it difficult to read, sew, or do anything else detailed and close up. I've had a LOT of headaches and twitchy eyes from eye strain and, sometimes, I take my glasses off to thread a needle. The last time I got my eyes checked (last two times, actually) bifocals were mentioned but I was resistant. I don't think I have much choice now.

I really don't want them and it bugs me that I'm so... scared. I have never been bothered with the ever-increasing signs of getting older - the wrinkles, gray hairs, even birthdays. Ever. And it's always perplexed me how so many people - especially women - get all upset over turning 30 or 40 or OMG! a gray hair?!?!

But this sure-to-be-bifocal thing kinda freaks me out.

My eye appointment is today. I'll let y'all know how it goes.

Sleep, headaches, and aluminum foiled neighbors

Since I'm still coming off the Diet Coke crankies (detox leads me into a depressive, headachy spiral) I've spent pretty much the whole, complete, and entire day sleeping. I slept till ten am. Finished the baby quilt top. Returned to bed at noonish, and slept till six. It's now nearly eight and I could so go back to bed again. Don't wanna do nuthin!

I really have to stop drinking that stuff.

So, I'm sleepy and have a poundy headache, but I still have to make supper. Since I an trying to cook healthier, I've chosen Italian Chicken and Peppers for tonight, but me being me, I'll make modifications. Like adding mushrooms and onions. Because we love them so. ;) The recipe calls for foil-lined cookie sheets though, and wouldn't you know it? I totally forgot to buy foil at the store this week and my little 3" strip left on the roll wouldn't cover anything. Dammit.

So I called my neighbor, Janna, who came right over with two kinds of foil! YAY JANNA!!

Good neighbors rock!

My mind wanders in troublesome directions when it's headachy and blue. Tonight, I really would like to know why our government has decided that incandescent lightbulbs must be phased out and replaced with CFLs. Yeah, incandescents take a bit more juice to operate, but they're like totally non toxic, have a 'better light' and are CHEAP. CFL's are rather pricey, their light colors things funny, they take longer to 'warm up' and really illuminate, and lastly, they're full of freaking MERCURY. Isn't it better to spend a bit more on electricity now (which is more and more commonly being created by water and wind energy) than poison the freaking planet for forever?

These are the things I ponder. No wonder I'm depressed all the freaking time.

Cursing the brown elixir

Months and months ago, I cut out Diet Coke. I cut it partly to get off the caffeine and the caffeine-headache/caffeine-high spiral, partly because it's nutrient empty and chemical heavy, and, lastly, because if I start my day with Diet Coke, that'll be all I choose to drink all day, instead of water. Surely none of those things are good for me. But every once in a while - especially if we're having something spicy for supper - I'll let myself have one. Just one. Often I don't finish that one, so it's a treat.

Which is what happened yesterday with the ribs. Was my first Diet Coke in a week.

Since I've removed Diet Coke from the daily routine, I've noticed that when I do drink it, I'm cranky and/or depressed the next day, which makes me want it even less. But it does hit the spot, oh yes! Yummy stuff that Diet Coke. I've never craved chocolate or cake or any of those things women supposedly lust after, just the ol', evil DC.

Anyway, in an effort to combat the crankies I make myself drink a LOT of water, even more than usual, and it does help make the crankies a bit less so - and it helps to know that they're not me, they're the Diet Coke talking. So I *also* drank a LOT of water yesterday. But as evening approached, Laura and I decided to go to the movies and, well, we got popcorn and pop and candy and all that fun stuff since we hadn't been to the movies since Avatar's opening weekend and, well... I had a SECOND Diet Coke. A big 'un, since we got the popcorn/pop/candy combo thing.

And maaaaaaan, am I feeling it today. I didn't finish that Diet Coke at the theater - oooooooh, I wanted to, oh yes - and I did drink some water before going to bed, but I am one cranky, weepy, ticked off, self-flagellating bitch today.

Of all the things in the world to have a problem with, I have to pick Diet goddamn Coke.