I always love the scrappy blocks, so when I made the half log cabins for do.Good Stitches I decided to make a bunch more for a baby quilt. The baby is coming this week, so of course, I'm behind per usual. I'm just impressed that I actually got some sewing done at all.
With all of the craziness around here, I got behind on my blocks for this year. I didn't complete January's blocks until this week. The next day I completed February blocks.
January - Half Log Cabins using fussy cuts and your choice of thickness for the outer layers.
I was so excited when they finally came on Tuesday to get rid of the hole in our ceiling. Wahoo...um, nope. The guy put up the sheet rock then realized he forgot to put in the insulation, so he has to come back and redo it. Sigh. We're still waiting to hear when he's returning. Boo.
We get a report of our son's usage on his school chrome book each week. We can see any website Little Man's been to, what he's searched on Google, and any Youtube videos that he's watched. This week's search made me laugh out loud. Apparently he's not a fan of our parenting style:
(They're also studying the Civil War in Social Studies right now). Oh, to be 12 and think you know more than your parents. Joel sat down with him and Little Man confessed he's angry that we limit his electronic device usage when his friends don't have similar restrictions. We had another discussion about addiction to electronics and also about the real possibility of exposure to pornography without any restrictions. He wasn't all that happy, but he admitted that he could understand why parents would not give free access to electronics. Sigh. The misunderstood teen angst is already in full force with this one.
I saw this on Facebook and it made me chuckle:
January issues continue to drag on. Our home still isn't repaired from the flood at the beginning of December. Our insurance and the restoration company are squabbling over the last $148 and can't seem to come to an agreement. It doesn't help that the guy over our restoration project has gone radio silent, and no one can get a hold of him. Sigh. It's frustrating. Meanwhile, we had someone come out to repair the rear windshield on Wednesday, but there was a hiccup. The black seal around the glass is a custom size for our car, so the glass people need to order it from the manufacturer. He had the glass, but not the right sized seal. He cleaned up the broken windshield and saran wrapped the opening, but now we have to wait for the seal to come in. We haven't driven it, because it's been so cold, and honestly, I don't really want my husband flying down the highway with only saran wrap on the back of his car. We're crossing our fingers that the seal will be here by Tuesday of next week, so they can finally fix it.
Back in the Fall we had a tree trimming company give us an estimate on cutting back the tree in our front yard. It had branches right on up the roof, and we were concerned it would damage the roof with a good wind storm. I had no idea trimming trees was so expensive, but I suppose it makes sense since it's 2 stories high. We approved it and then never heard anything.
After a couple of months we forgot about it until today! I got a phone call saying they would be there in 20 minutes to trim our tree. I was completely shocked. I think we assumed they had forgotten and we would have to schedule it again in the Spring. It makes me laugh, because timing seems to always be just slightly off. I had just done the budget and paid all the bills 24 hours earlier. I wish I would have known 24 hours earlier about the tree trimming. Aw well. Such is life. It's good that it's trimmed even if it was an unexpected January expense.
This year's ornaments didn't actually get put up on the tree, because of our kitty-Christmas tree-light-eating fiasco.
The kiddos all chose their own ornament this year:
Little Guy wanted a violin since he started taking violin lessons this year.
BB wanted an ornament of a boy singing since he started taking voice lessons this year.
Little Lady wanted a Hermione Granger ornament since she loves all things Harry Potter and it was her costume for Halloween this year.
Little Man has been loving Mandarin Chinese. He's on his second year of learning the language in school and it has really made him love China. He got his very own Chinese dragon ornament.
Other ornaments of interest: Their cousins, Anna and KK, made them a hat. KVC also gave us an ornament for being a foster family this year. The cats got in the bag and bit off the ribbon for it before I even got it out of the bag. Sigh. Stinkin' cats! Maybe next year we'll actually get to put real ornaments up on the tree.
I've lost track of the number of years I've been doing a cookie exchange. I was sad we couldn't have one last year, so it felt extra special to get together this year. I have one picture of all the cookies and that's about it. I made Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake cookies and holiday shortbread cookies that have pistachios, craisins, and white chocolate chips in them.
My friend was sweet and sent some pictures after the party. My friend, Jackie, brought decorations, because she has a gift for making her surroundings beautiful.
