Still Here

I've been catching up on my blog reading.  You have certainly been busy making all sorts of beautiful things that I need to add to my to-do list.  Eventually I finally figured out that I wasn't going to be able to get to that to-do list if I didn't get off the computer.  I've managed to get some sewing done, but I figure I should finish a block or a quilt before I show you progress.

Did you notice that the truck is hanging in mid air in this picture?  I'm not sure what that is all about, but it certainly interesting!

I found these pretty ribbons in a gift shop. They even sold some fabric in the shop.  They packaged everything up really prettily.

Melon Pan Part Two

The double work (sometimes triple and quadruple and whatever comes after that) continues to go on in my attempt to whittle down the to-do list. The pharmacy and the doctor still haven't figured out the last prescription, the oil change place had a computer glitch that doubled up all their appointments, etc.

Even the baking had to get done twice.  My daughter wanted to make melon pan.  It's a Japanese dish.  It is a bread with a cookie on top of it.  Since she hasn't cooked from scratch very much, and this is a complicated recipe with both bread and cookie, I told her that we needed to make it together.  She resented the implication that she couldn't follow a recipe, but in my experience, things always go wrong, and I thought it would be a good group activity.  For several days, she didn't make it at all.

Then finally she relented.  But she decided to use me as a helper to do things, but would not listen to any advice.  The recipe called for very precise measurements, 7/8 cup of water (I think they're converting from Japanese to American measurements) and then said ("you'll probably have to add some more flour").  I told her to add less water, but with a precise measurement, she wanted to follow the recipe.  The trouble was the "some more flour" wasn't a tablespoon here or there, it was almost the amount that was originally put in.  As a result, it tasted very flour-y.  I tasted it, and it was fine.  I would have eaten it as bread, with butter or jelly.  But the Teflon coating on our cookie sheet also decided to come off on these delicacies, so pretty much the (double) batch was ruined.  And the fact that I'm allergic to wheat, so I can't eat them with or without the Teflon coating.

She tried again yesterday, by herself, with a brand new cookie sheet, now that she knew to adjust the water instead of adjusting the flour.  She also used a little more sugar.  She also made them bigger, now that she knew that they don't rise very much.  They look great. She was going to share them with her friends, but now she might have to make another batch, because she says they taste great too.

Come Back

As I have told you before, I have a to-do list that has been piling up, and I finally am getting a chance to whittle it down.  I've been getting reminder notices about my failure to meet my deadlines.  This is not normal for me.  I like to get things done early, not just on time, or way past the deadline.

The problem is, everything I do is taking twice as long as I thought it would.  The plumber doesn't have a part and has to come back the next day, the dentist says I have a cavity so I need to come back, the pharmacy needs to consult with the doctor, so I need to come back.  Again and again, everything on the list has to be done at least twice.

But it is okay, the list is getting smaller, and eventually it is getting to be at a manageable level.  And on my to-do list is quilting. The Quilts for Kids are back out again, and I get to finish them.  I don't have to save quilting for after the list is done.  The picture is of the quilt I finished a while ago.  Just have to add to the pile and ship off.

Book Review: Same Kind of Different as Me

This is a true story about a homeless drifter, Denver Moore, who was a sharecropper, and a wealthy man, Ron Hall, who became an art dealer. They met through a woman named Debbie and wrote this book together. This one doesn't have the editing problems that the other book had. The book alternates talking about each of the two main characters, and goes through the history of their lives. There is a third main character - "the unlikely woman who bound them together", and although she was discussed in passing in the first fifteen chapters, she didn't seem all that unlikely.

The history is interesting enough, but it seems like there is only one suspense here, and that is, when do they meet and what they have in common? Maybe it is just my antsy mood this summer, but frankly, after fifteen chapters, I got tired of waiting, and decided that what they might have in common wasn't all that compelling. There are pictures in the back of the book, which told me the answer, and it is what I expected. This is a New York times bestseller, and supposed to be a really inspirational story, and maybe it is for some people. but I think it is one of those things that get so hyped up - a NYT bestseller and Barbara Bush even liked the book - that it can't live up to the hype, at least not for me.

I got this book from Thomas Nelson in exchange of my review.

Book Review: An American Bride

I haven't been able to post positive reviews for the books I have received so far from Dorrance. The books are okay, but these are small authors who haven't been published before, and for the most part, the books haven't been edited very well. I chose this book because it was one of their more popular books, and because it seems like an interesting story. It is about a young Saudi who travels to America for his education, and attempts to escape the overbearing culturally and religiously strict father. He meets a Christian woman he wants to marry.

Just like the Amish story, it is written by someone who isn't a part of the culture. The author, Fidelia Moore Parker,  is a Christian who lived in a predominantly Moslem community in Nigeria, but writes about Saudi Arabia and America.

This book has a few grammatical and typographical errors, and the writing was very awkward. I didn't enjoy reading it, and I decided to not to finish it. It explained things more than showed it, especially the bad treatment of women. Here's a quote I found especially humorous.

"Well, that ain't what I've seen. Get your dirty tobacco foul breath and your loser buddies off my premises before I have y'all picked up for trespassing. Y'all aren't my customers here. For starters, y'all got no money, and second of all y'all are harassing my customers. So, y'all better be be gone before you wish y'all were never here. Be gone like bugs be gone, before I blink my eyes go on."

I got this book from Dorrance Publishing, Inc. in exchange for this review.

Quilting Content!

This is an old picture.  The half blocks have been replaced by another row of checkerboard for a while.

I know, it's been a while since I've picked up needle or thread.  First, I stored it all away to make it look to our guest that we know how to clean.  Then I was afraid to open up the treasure box, because I still had lots of cleaning and fixing up around the house to do.  As long as that box stays closed, the to-do list stays smaller.  The quilts stay as one line item, instead of each quilt getting its own line.  It is like that expand button on the computer - better to not hit that triangle so it looks like a small list.

I've been trying to catch up on my blog reading, which always makes me dream of new projects, which always reminds me of unfinished projects.  I want to make the Strawberry Fields Lori made way back in May, and its already month two of the stay at home round robin Kate has going on.  When I thought about pulling fabric for those, I felt guilty about all the stuff that has already been started. 

So yesterday, I finally relented, and opened up the treasure box, and my first reaction was uggh, really these are the things I have to finish.  It didn't seem like a treasure at all.  I apparently have been itching to do some hand stitching, so I have picked up the Moldy Crackers quilt and am now working on doing the hand quilting.  It is a start, a very slow start at that, but the treasure box has been opened, and hopefully that means that there will be more quilty content on my blog in the future.

Door Knob

One of the pesky things that has been bugging me has been this old door knob. It was very hard to lock and unlock. I thought about adding this to the list of things and calling a handyman, but the first handyman I called said they charge $90 for the first hour and $75 for each hour after that.  And I recently read an old article written by a handyman while I was cleaning out old paper. It encouraged us to try to do things ourselves, and changing a door knob was one of the things he mentioned.

Not willing to pay $90 for something that I can do myself, I decided to take his advice, and watched a You Tube video to be sure I understood how to do it, and replaced it myself. The installation was very easy. Taking out the old rusted screws weren't as easy, especially in the heat, but I managed after a few tries. I'm sure it took me longer than it would have taken an experienced person, but now I can say I did it myself.

I'll use the money I saved to fix something else.