market and other insanity

and so...new cell phone in hand - i'm ready.  everything packed, all counted, bins loaded, suitcases packed...and the phone - which is supposed to have a virtual keyboard (but only when it feels like it) decides to act up once again.  30 days to exchange it - 30 days is next wednesday.  everytime it misbehaves i threaten to take it back to the store.  everytime i threaten - it shows me the horizontal  virtual keyboard.  today i had had enough - had put the phone into time out about 4 times and decided enough was enough.  all the way across town and traded in the phone - he broke the hard case section that goes on the back of my phone - they didn't have any more.  he was supposed to transfer everything over - guess what - somewhere my calendar got lost so i have to recreate that. 

have to remember how to set all of the "stuff" up again because they no longer give out little booklets that you can sit and read - nope - you get a cd and you get to print out the 205 pages of instructions as to how to work your phone...problem is - that it prints right in the middle of the page in the tinest writing you could imagine.  so...here i am - trying to charge the new phone with the empty calendar and no music in it - because even though he seemed to have switched over the memory card - remember - i have to get out the 205 pages to figure out where the flipping music actually is and low and behold - i can't get a horizontal virtual keyboard (see the beginning of this rant).  now i call the store - i get "him" on the phone and his answer to the questions i ask is "well, maybe that's how the phone is supposed to work".  WRONG ANSWER.  he was with a client at the moment and i told him he really didn't want to see my face down there again and i am now waiting for him to call me back and at the same time, writing this and e-mailing with my dearest friend judy bielec in texas - she's trying to calm me down...

am i ready for market - i was until about 2 hours ago.  i actually went and had him destroy my phone, get a new flat iron, get gas in my car and be back in less than an hour - the girls were very impressed...but i still don't have a virtual horizontal keyboard...and he also lost the photo of daisy buchanan when she was a little girl...that was my wallpaper!!

kay has gone off to get us "happy meals" from micky d's...and it probably won't help - but there is nothing like a disgusting french fry to make me feel better.

off to accomplish the rest of my "here" lists before i go home and set the alarm for 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning.

see you all when we get back...grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr - i hate new cell phones :)

isn't it amazing...

what can be done with a plain old spool of mettler 50/3 cotton thread and a straw needle?
just imagine what can be done with a spool of silk machine thread you can buy at the local fabric store.  it's truly a wonder.  top was stitched on 40 count over two, second row was 40 count over one and the third piece is 45 count over two.  yep, that's a #11 straw needle.  i'm off to find a spool  of weeks dye works quilting cotton...that will be fun to work with and it's overdyed so i'll get some terrific color play :)

we call this place "dirtville"

not even anything as remotely charming as "smallsville" - just plain old dirtville.  it rained/thundered/lighteninged over the weekend - totally unheard of the middle of september - and all that accomplished was to strike terror in the heart of poor nicky who absolutely hates anything that goes boom - thunder or fireworks - it makes no nevermind to him - if it booms - he's gone.

mud on the car (dirt/dust and water equals mud) and shakey dogs is not my idea of a good time but that's what we had.  then, tuesday - just for fun - we had both AC and furnace units replaced in our home - they even changed out the wall return in the family room - everything is all brand new - including the return and the thermostats and how anybody could possibly get a footprint (boot print) on the wall about 30 feet up in the family room is beyond me - but guess what - they did.  we won't even discuss the attic opening which is in the master bedroom closet...i do love painting walls - i really do - it could be my life's work if i accepted that job.

we are truly bustling around here getting ready for market next week - we leave on thursday morning at o'dark hundred - annie will be a vegetable until we are almost to the airport and then magically pop alive as i drop kick her to the curb with all the luggage and i go park the car.  we've been doing this for so long together that we don't even have to talk...and if we do - usually it's in shorthand - and i never have to worry about my back - she's always there to cover it...so despite the insanity before we leave i know that all will go smoothly because my annie is there guiding me thru the minefields.

i have at least 2 million more things to get done before leaving...and bruce is heading to orange county on monday evening and gets home about 9 on wednesday night and the alarm goes off at 5 on thursday morning so it's going to be yet another fun filled week and we probably won't hit any sort of calm for at least three weeks after we get back and then woops...it's retreat weekend...but it's all terrific.

and...with all this stuff that takes hours to accomplish  and there is nothing to do but think while doing it all - i have figured out next year's breast cancer piece to be released in mid-september and the designer is all on board and we are just way too excited - i love working with generous, kind and gracious people - they make it so easy to be creative and do good things - just their kindness buoys me along and we've had some amazing designers help us over the years...jackie du plessis, judy bielec, alma allen, barb adams and belinda karls-nace - i am indeed a lucky person to have these people be my friends...i am truly blessed.

so...because i've been here before six thirty every morning this week and because i have a pile of things sitting at home that need to get done before i head for st. louis next week - i'm going to head home - after i finish putting some kits together - try and figure out which lists i want to ignore and which i need to pay serious attention to and see if there is something on the television that will keep me entertained until i fall over. 

enjoy your evening...sleep tight and check back here again before i leave for market - there could be some pretty fun stuff -  just never know what might happen around here :)

boomers abound

good morning...we are having one of those wretchedly humid days - there's a hurricane off some coast somewhere and it is thick and gray and nasty and my husband tells me this is the last day of it and i hope he's right.

thunder and dry lightening strikes on the way in this morning...but, if it does rain - it will split the walnuts and they can start harvesting those.  the dust and dirt is impossible right now...almond harvest is in full production and everything - including all living and breathing things - have a thin (or thick depending on location) layer of dust on them.  the horizon is brown and the only way to see blue sky is to look straight up!!!  driving thru it is equally fun - dust so thick that they put up warning signs as you enter the brown cloud (with all the windows up thank you) and emerge on the other side...it's just all quite amazing.  shaking first then sucking them up with giant machines...there is no hiding from it :)

maybe if we had a little rain it would "settle the dust" or make mud on my car...who knows.

kay and i are working today - trying to get everything in order for shipping next week - it's going to be very busy - and annie is off making the final preparations for a beer pong party that four couples host as a fund raiser for the church.  beer pong party starts at two this afternoon and the designated drivers are all lined up.

think i'd be smart to get off this computer and hit the save button on everything - rather be safe than so terribly sorry.  have a great saturday - i'm gone ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

good day - but be alert at dusk!!!

it seems my little town here in the central valley is right on the migratory flight line between north and south.  the canadian geese have finally headed down south - now that the hurricane on the mexico penninsula is over, the flying will not be quite so bumpy - and fast on their little geese heels came the starlings.  we had the scouts arrive here about two weeks ago...and last night...the first wave of the little darlings appeared enmasse.  now, don't get me wrong, i love birds.  we have some of the dumbest doves i have ever seen in this town.  we actually rescue them all the time - lots of nests in our arbor at home - and we finally convinced them that nesting in the feeders in the trees was not such a good idea - especially when it was time for birdie flight school and most especially when there are at least five kitties watching and praying for that event, but i digress (as usual).

so, back to the starlings.  driving home last night after an errand stop, it's just dusk.  i get to the corner of floyd & oakdale.  everything is good until i look up at the utility wires and there they are!!!!
this is a farming valley - we have a canel system for water that is amazing - we also use that water movement thru the canels to produce our electricity - because of that - there are lots of utility poles and lots of utility wires.  at this particular street corner there are utility wires 4 deep on the poles.  4 deep utility wires means 4 deep starlings and thousands of them.  so many infact that they buckle the wires under all the weight and the utility wires get a sad case of the droops. 

moral of this story...never drive thru 2 million starlings with your moon roof open.  i will leave the rest to your very active imaginations :)  it could have gotten far uglier than it actually was!!!

have a very great weekend.  bruce tells me this is our last very hot day - i'm hoping he's right - am looking for cooler days - we're all just a little tired of the heat by now.  had a conversation with jean lea at attic last week - she thinks we all get just a little bit wonky this time of year - our brains have been fried and our bodies are telling us that it should be getting cooler and we continue to hope for just a little bit cooler days.  i think this year modesto & mesa, arizona kind of stayed in tandem with the temps...

off to do update and try and clear off some more rubble - my life's work it seems!!

okay - we give up

this is how it looks from our viewpoint today :)  anybody care to join us?

full moon and purple things in texas

it's a full harvest moon here tonight - just beyond big and huge...so beautiful but it is definitely making the "tidal" patterns in people's brains just a little bit weird today - whew - really quite something and yet - isn't it always just too weird on the friday before a long weekend?  i think the answer to that is yes.  i think the magic moon is going to be about the same tonight for all of us above the earth's belt - and i can hardly wait until it gets dark. 

still hot - not so humid today thank heavens - which will make it a little bit easier this weekend but they have already started shaking those almond trees and the dirt and dust in the air is going to get worse before it gets any better.

a friend in texas sent me a gorgeous picture of thistles that she took this afternoon - thought i would share - all i can take pictures of is dusty and dirty leaves at the moment - everything is covered in a disgusting brown yuck!!!  we actually have "things" growing on the tiles of our roof at home - that's how much dirt flies thru the air at harvest...we won't go into what grows in the gutters...or the need to hose them out because you can grow corn in them if you don't clean them. 

have to get the chimney sweep out to clean the fireplace - it's always easier before it gets cold - and then we are prepared at a moment's notice to light a fire if the mood strikes.

thanks to ginny for these beautiful purple things...

and just because

they can - the geese are back - all of them - munching in the field last night.  silly geese - i guess they decided against heading south with the hurricane in cabo making flying kind of bad at the moment!!

am working on a wonderful knitted noro blanket with kureyon wool.  my problem is that it's a "big" row - and it takes a bit to get across and last night i was so tired that my eyes started to cross - didn't have to rip - but could have gotten ugly.  am taking one of these to europe next year in the spring - won't have to pack a coat...or so i'm hoping.  4 balls down - 8 to go...and then a second one with more muted colors.

have a ton of stitching to get done too - am doing something for a designer that just is taking me way longer than i suspected...but it's very beautiful and i hope she will be patient with me - and it's beautiful pink on brown linen - very chic!!

twitter is just amazing - it really is...annie is going to help me with my new phone so i can get the tweets there - but it is quite amazing.  mr. bear has my old phone (blackberry) and is having fun learning how to ride that beastie.  daisy buchanan and the boys keep sending him text messages - he can actually get to them and read them...but has informed me he needs a "poker" to send anything back because his fingers are just too big for the keypad.
i think some "real" glasses might help the cause too - but i believe that is like barking in hurricane force winds - nobody can hear me :)

enjoy your day - in early (6:25 again) but i plan on moving at least three mountains today.

ain't it just amazing

how people re-invent themselves into some other kind of creature - just amazes me all the time and makes me wonder how long the charade can possibly last - isn't it hard to pretend to be something you're not?  don't you forget "which" person you are on any particular day?  just questions - don't expect answers to them but it truly can be confusing...
fires are really bad here - the valley is just a giant smoke bowl - a humid and stinking smoke bowl - the hurricane off of cabo is creating the overcast and the fires burning in yosemite, southern california and east of sacramento are just creating smoke filled skies - and this is just the beginning of the fire season here on the west coast and i think fires terrify me more than anything - just because they are so terribly final.  have ridden out a number of earthquakes when we lived in the bay area - did the s.f. earthquake 40 floors up and swayed 15 feet each side of center but fires - they just terrify me beyond all else.

have added a few more favorite spots on the right side of this blog - and will continue to add more.  long day - am punching thru 12 hours so far down here - but we are incredibly busy and the lists just grow continually longer and more complex.  think i'll head home - see the doggers, pet the kitties and settle in for the evening...with the air on - it's over 100 out there right now. 

have a good evening!