Tuesday, February 24, 2009

In Memoriam

Yesterday we lost our Fuzzy the cat. She was born in spring of 1980 on Blane's bed in Unalaska, Alaska in the Aleutian Islands. She lived in Alaska, Washington and Minnesota. She didn't like to go outside beyond the decks but she did enjoy a little sun. She was a little bit crazy and was best friends with Alex the dog and Pete the bird-both deceased. She wasn't much for the new generation of pets and she let them know it. For a while, she refused to walk on the floor and jumped from tables to countertops. After she got too old to jump we made steps with the milking stool and bar stool so she could get up on the counter to eat. Up until the end she was always the first to the cat dish.

At age 19, she lapsed into kidney failure and we provided palliative treatment and hospice care. Yesterday I took her to the vet and she was euthanized. I thought she would die at home but she held on even though she was miserable.

So here are some pictures of our old friend. Rest in Peace.

Fuzzy, about 10 weeks old at the cabana where she was born


Fuzzy takes in the deck in Seward AK

She loved the flowers.

Fuzzy (aka Pud) and me taking in the sun

Fuzzy posing for the Oldest Cat contest (she didn't win but she should have)

See ya someday old Pud. I hope you are young again and enjoying the sun, flowers, and fresh spring air where ever you might be.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Birthday Lists

I know! Two posts in one day-
I have been meaning to get this one out for a while as it is extremely important and time sensitive material

THE BIRTHDAY LIST!

I figure that since this is a golden birthday it is ok to blog my birthday list out to the world-
so here goes:

The doable list:
Diffuser (the one I had ran out of oil-preferebly a sea or outdoor scent)
Shuffle iPod
Electric Pencil Sharpener for work (provide my own, budget cuts and all)
Yarn Swift
Straight needle set (not DPN) Harmony needles from KnitPicks
Electric Tea Kettle (also for work-I need my afternoon tea)
Clothes
Photoshop program for my computer (I really need to photoshop some of you people)
Gold Chain
Portable Digital Camera

This list may be edited and added to. I'll note it if I do.

Ok, here is the impossible list
Bernina Editor Software (seriously, like $800-can you believe it? I got the whole microsoft office for $10 plus shipping)
New computer/laptop (I would love to have both and can't decide which-this computer occasionally gives me the blue screen of death-I am thinking it is terminal but somehow we keep going)

So there.

More and More Babies

Well, we have seen the new baby Chase. He is very cute and has reddish hair.

My Blane had reddish hair too when he was born, and a kind of a mohawk going on, but I digress.

Anyway, we have viewed babies, alone and in pairs-this is what we saw:

This is Chase. He is about 2 weeks old now. He was very tired this day.

Remember Cora? She is GIANT! She is about 6 weeks and she has grown.

Look, here they are-I decided on this view so you could see all that hair.

Here's our sweet Patty with little Chase. Patty and I are from the mean mom school and both let our children cry without picking them up. It is true. We put them to bed in their own rooms and let them cry sometimes so they could figure out how to comfort themselves. Patty talks of putting headphones on but I haven't heard the whole story about that. We also have low tolerance for drama. Ahh, it is grand that I sit next to Patty at work. We are thinking of putting a little confessional window in our wall so we can just make our short but sweet comments without having to get up or yell them out. She has been known to make me laugh out loud and get in trouble at work. She looks great in my picture.

And last but not least, mothers and babies. Holy Cow but I am glad that is over. Now the fun can really begin!

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Finishing Up

I finished up a couple of things things in the past week. Well, maybe the last couple of weeks.

First of all is the Block of the Month #3-



Seriously, sick of cables.
And a mystery quilt-





Can you see a problem in photographing this?





Well, hopefully you can sort of the quilt pattern. Around the cat.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Baby Showers

Last week we had a baby shower for Angie and Cora Rae. She was a very good baby throughout and didn't even mind being held by a dozen women. Here's some pics of the day.

We had some serious food.


And of course, Cake-delicious cake. Isn't that cute? Wanda (our supervisor) decorated by hand. A woman of many talents, we decided.


Patty did the decorations. She is a party planner extrodinaire. I asked her why she doesn't do this professionally and she says because she would want to be organizing the partygoers even after the party started. In otherwords, she thinks she would be a buzzkill. But I think she would be great.

There were lots of presents too.

And many guests



Oh, and one other thing.

Cora and Angie came too! (That's Angie above with the interpreters Hannah and Yasmine who are mad because they don't think they look good. Or perhaps Angie looks so good she is making everyone think they look bad!)

Cora Rae, thinking about life and a clean diaper.

Angie and Cora.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

It's still a Mystery

Guess what I forgot last weekend at Superbowl Sunday Mystery Quilt IV? Yep, my camera. Gosh was I ever mad about that. It was the funnest thing though, and the quilt was so surprising.

I'll show you.

First we cut out strips like this


Then we sewed them together thusly


After that I pressed them open so it looked like this

I took a strip of the background fabric (the lighter brown print in this picture) and attached these strips to either side of the background strip. The strips had to be facing opposite ways-and that block looked like this-



So, can you guess what the blocks make? I couldn't either-it's amazing. When you put 4 together they look like this:



And that is another Mystery Quilt, Superbowl Style.