Quilt for Care's Sister

My friend Care (who is amazing) has this sister (also amazing) who is turning fifty next week. For her birthday Care is collecting 50 quilts for her sister to give to charity (since she doesn't like to be fussed over herself). I had this quilt top that I put together a while ago using 1930 reproduction fabrics and I kind of didn't like anymore. I finished it yesterday and it turned out to be really beautiful! OK, it is a bit bunchy but I am OK with that. I have such a backlog of unfinished projects it is nice to get this one finished. Next, Sydney's quilts!

The month of June in review

So apparently the only thing more boring than my regular life is my regular life plus one unemployed husband. I didn't realize how much having him going to and from work was part of my routine until he was here all the time. I feel a little bad because he is around and even if I just walk by it is like my very appearance is saying "so, how is the job search going?". I am sure this make him cranky but the only other option is for me to avoid him (and I can't avoid my house, I live here). On the other hand it is kind of great that I can just pop out to the store in the middle of the day and not have to bring the kids.

My new class is going fine. It is a lot of review at the moment. I will see how hard it actually is after the first test on Monday.

Des has (finally) finished his resume and has been applying to local biotech jobs. He wants to get a job in a slightly different area of expertise so we are figuring out how best to do that. I signed up for COBRA today and holy crap health care is expensive! But at least we will be covered.

I can declare a tentative victory in Collin's kindergarten assignment. I stood my ground and they have realized the futility of arguing with me. His teacher told me that "they will have another meeting, they will say that they still think that the special day class is the best idea, [I] will say 'tough luck, I want him mainstreamed' and they will relent and we will sign the papers". He says that he will support my decision. The meeting should be next week sometime so we will see how it goes. If only I knew then what I know now. If I had known then that putting him in the SEEC preschool was essentially signing him up for a special day class track indefinitely I would have never agreed to it. I would given the bare minimum of information during the evaluations so there wouldn't have been anything in his file making him appear nuttier than absolutely necessary to get services. I certainly wouldn't have given out copies of outside evaluations so freely. It is really sad that I feel this way now but the process has left me jaded. In the beginning I was desperate, trusting and uniformed. Now I am slightly more informed, much more guarded and very cautious. End of rant.

Here is a picture of my adorable kids playing outside and not fighting at all! It is rare but it happens.

Ta-Da!

I did actually manage to get my clothes line put in. Here it is with three, yes three, loads of laundry on it (and line to spare!). It is really fabulous and it even spins around so I don't even have to move my basket when I hang my laundry.

Here is the thing though. It took a long time to dig the hole and five batches of concrete to fill it. The concrete part took an extra long time because it is really hard to stir concrete in a bucket with a stick. So a few days later my back still looks like this:

Honestly, we put sunblock on our arms and face and wear a hat but how many of us think to put sunblock on our backs where our shirt comes up a little when we bend over? Not me apparently. So my advice about digging holes and pouring concrete: put sunblock on your lower back and butt before you start because I haven't been burnt this bad since high school and it hurts.

So to take that last image out of your mind here are some pictures of my really cute kids.

Happy Birthday Des!

Des had his Birthday last week. Happy birthday Des, we love you!