Painting - Again

Yes, that's right, I'm painting again.  After doing the bathroom I had no intention of painting again.  I thought I probably deserved a break and would hire a professional to do it the next time.  Then my hubby was fixing a spot near the ceiling and we were discussing what to use to cover it up.  I knew I had bought enough paint to do the living room before I started painting the bedroom then I broke my knee and it never got done.  I just figured before we decided to move to the cabin, I would have someone come in and do the ceiling and walls in the living room.  We debated whether to just touch up the spot with the paint I had, which was just a little different from the original or heaven help us, repaint the walls.  We were definitely not up to the ceiling and I thought as long as I had some help from him, we could do it.  In my younger days doing this all myself would never have been a problem but now the thought of that step stool makes my knees wobble.  I did too much myself yesterday and almost had another incident with the stool so today I handed the high jobs to the hubby and we got the hallway done.  There's a lot of work that goes into painting even before you open the can of paint and that can be hard on anyone with a bum knee.  Now only one wall, with little prepping, and an archway that we can finish by tomorrow.  But for today a little time off to do other things and let our bodies recoup.  And I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm thinking about using the rest of the paint in the family room.

Revelation about Housewives

Yea, here it comes, my revelation about the housewives.  I've been watching these shows and I do mean all the housewives since the second season.  The only one I didn't watch was the first OC and I rented that one on Netflix so I could catch up.  I've been a loyal fan all these years and it even spread to other Bravo shows such as Flipping Out and Project Runway but I've come to a crossroad.  It's kind of like a friend that you're not best friends with but after a few years you know what to expect from that person and it's just not fun anymore.  It's the same old same old.  I first realized it with Bethenny and how this season is all about fighting with Jason.  It can be uncomfortable to say the least.  Sometimes it's about the girls branching out and doing other things such as NeNe on Glee, Theresa on Celebrity Apprentice and Kim on her spin-off.  They are only half there sometimes.  I think it's taking its toll.  Marriages are falling apart and lives are being disrupted by all this.  It doesn't have to be this way but that's what reality tv comes down to.  I still watch these shows but I'm getting involved in other shows and Bravo just doesn't seem as important as it once was.  I still like to talk about these shows so I'm thinking about going to some forums and see what others think.  I realized that I wasn't the only one who disliked the Biggest Loser this year, based on the forums I saw. 

Apprentice Predictions

Time for my predictions as to who will be the finalists on Celebrity Apprentice.  I will try not to pick just the ones that I like but who will pass the interviews to be finalists.  This is very interesting because we have seen these people throughout the season and they are interviewed for a short period of time.  Watching Apprentice for years, I kind of know what or who Trump is looking for.  He wants someone who can be creative, tough but still have a certain charisma or ability to get along with people.  It's funny but sometimes he isn't at all like that, ha, ha.  My favorite on the show has to be Clay Aiken  -  I never would have thought it but it's true.  He's all that above and can be very truthful about people and I think Trump will appreciate that.  Is he enough of a leader  -  time will tell.  I also like Arsenio Hall except for his meltdown a few weeks ago.  That was not his most impressive showing.  Aubrey O'Day is certainly creative but I think Trump and his kids know that she is sneaky and underhanded in her dealings.  I'm not sure that will all come out in the interviews because she has a strong personality that might win them over.  Then there's Lisa Lampenelli  -  a loose cannon if I ever saw one.  Her blow-ups show that when things don't go her way she resorts to foul language and temper tantrums.  I see her not even making it to the interviews but definitely not past those.  I'm very surprised that Theresa has made it this far.  She's managed to stay under the radar and even win a few challenges but like Dayana, she doesn't have the knowledge, backbone, or intelligence to make it to the finale.  At least she was much better than NeNe and I give her a lot of credit for hanging in there like she has.  Good Job, Theresa!  So my picks are Clay, Arsenio and Aubrey but I'm not sure who they will choose, Arsenio or Aubrey.  To make the show more interesting, Aubrey would be the likely candidate but I'm not sure.  Anyway, it's been a good season with lots of drama.  The ultimate factor in the decision might be who comes back to help them.  Keep watching. 

A Different Kind of Season

I'm talking about the TV seasons, even though the weather seasons are certainly different, also.  I have been following the Biggest Loser all season and it has been very unique this time.  They brought in couples as in the past but right off the bat they separated them, which upset some.  Then the second week, Kim got to project what her team would lose based on a challenge she won.  Everyone knows that losses plummet the second week but evidently she missed the memo, so her team lost.  I would have sent her home right then and there but she stayed and is now a finalist.  Through the weeks I've come to dislike Conda and Jeremy, a sister-brother team.  Conda was a real whiner from the start, Jeremy seemed to be there because of his sister, they formed an alliance that roared its ugly head numerous times, and neither were very nice to another team that re-entered the competition.  Their bond was a little strange I thought  -  just saying, not making any assumptions.  Anyway, last week was the mutiny where 2 of the guys decided to quit because they didn't like the fact that the eliminated contestants were given a second chance to get back into the show.  They signed the contract so they knew and I say good riddance.  Boo-Hoo!!!  Anyway Jeremy won back his place in the final three  -  I'm not excited about any of them but that's the way it goes.  Now for the real clincher  -  they come back next week for the finale and get weighed in.  Didn't they just all do that this week?  I always enjoyed watching the show after they had been home 2-3 months to see how far they had come.  This should be no surprise at all, except if they starve themselves which is a distinct possibility.  How else could they lose enough to make a real difference?  So because of all this I am very disappointed in the show.

A Tube of Biscuits

The simple things in life, right?  I have learned over almost 39 years of marriage that my best friend can be a tube of biscuits.  Oh, I can make them from scratch and have a very good recipe but what I've realized about myself is that I need a lot of positive feedback to keep making things from scratch.  I used to buy the 4 tubes to a pkg. back when they were a dollar and make regular biscuits, especially when I had hot dogs and beans, mini pizzas, sloppy joe mini sandwiches and an all time favorite, deep fried donut holes.  Of course that was before I sent my deep fryer to the Goodwill, an act I still feel slightly guilty about knowing how bad it is.  We've progressed to the Grands biscuits and made more things that are baked, but they still tend to be a staple of mine.  This week I made something that always strikes a positive note with my hubby  -  cinnamon rolls in muffin tins.  I've made real cinnamon rolls from scratch, too, and also the frozen ones and tube ones, but these still are great.  Sometimes I feel sad he can't appreciate the scratch recipes that I've made but then the simplicity of these win out every time.   

Trying to Get Back in the Saddle

What I mean is that I'm trying to get back to writing this blog.  Sorry I've been preoccupied.  It's just that I've been busy doing things and haven't wanted to write about them, at least not yet.  One thing i did last week was work on the scrapbook for my daughter's wedding.  I can really get into this sort of thing and am consumed by it.  Things also tend to snowball with this.  I got the pictures copied, from me and the future mil, then set aside last week to do it.  I made a trip to Hobby Lobby (if I knew how to pin this place I would) and stocked up on paper, etc.  In the process I found family tree papers that I thought would be great in the book.  Then I had to look through stuff to find the info and eventually got a 14 day free trial on Ancestry.com.  Now you know where this is going  -  hours looking through census records, newspaper articles, the whole shebang.  Unfortunately, I didn't find much more than others had already found for me.  So I think I can safely end my subscription before my 14 days are up.  I still have some options that I will look into, such as talking to an aunt who's the only one left on my dad's side.  Other than that I'll take a couple more pictures at the upcoming shower and it'll be done. 
Now, this is what I didn't do last week  -  work on my BOM quilt.  This is the first time since I started that I haven't jumped right in to get all that done.  This is a tough one, too, along with being very frustrating for me.  There's 8 blocks but 4 parts to each block.  I have no problem getting each section done except for being totally bored with the same pattern over and over, but it's sewing the units together.  My teacher has pointed out how I'm not being as precise as I should be for the first part.  Then I go to put them together and I'm off, not a lot, but enough to notice.  My other concern is my use of prints and how those are not matching up like I would like them to.  With that comment I'm met with "You shouldn't have been using those anyway".  Dah, if I knew what it would look like I wouldn't have!!!  Anyway, I don't want to get started on that.  So I haven't done anymore blocks or cut out my fabric for next month, but I have looked a few things up online to see what my problem might be.  I've decided it's the paper that's making it hard for me to match things up and someone suggested using paper clips instead of pins.  I'll try that.  I really hate to be so negative this early in the game but I have lost all interest in doing this.  I refuse to beat myself up since I have so many other things to get done right now.

Quilting Update

Thought it was time to give a quilting update for anyone interested.  This week is my BOM class  -  it was moved up 2 weeks because of other things going on in the quilt shop later.  I was not entirely happy with my blocks from last month and hope I'm not totally humiliated in class this week.  This month's block might be even harder.  Anyway, I was off the quilting bandwagon for awhile and working on other things but now I'm back.  I started a new quilt and I'm excited to share.  Years and years ago, when I took a class with a neighbor, I learned how to do the cathedral window block.  I just loved the jewel-like pointed windows on that off-white background and when I retired I vowed to do one of my own.  This is usually a hand stitched quilt done in small pieces and then sewn together to make a quilt but with no batting.  Recently some creative people have developed a machine stitched version and that's what I'm doing.  My magazines only showed 2 versions, one in flannel and the other a table runner but both multi, and I emphasize the word multi, color and print.  Way too much for me because you can't even see the cathedral window itself.  So I scaled it down to 4 colors and made them bigger to make a throw.  Changing the size gets me every time because I always forget the seam allowances, somewhere, but as long as I have enough for a 12 " circle I'm good.  Last night I made the front of the block to get the dimensions of each piece and it looks nice.  I'll keep you posted on the progress and my class.  Wish me luck!