The Fast Lane

Since my last post about Mark…. life here has hit the FAST lane, well that is how it seems. Sure there has been down time… but not enough to do much with and certainly, nothing to write on the blog about, and the time thieves (those little things that eat up the time… but you can’t remember). Of course it doesn’t help when we are waiting for “The DATE”. I don’t think I have mentioned here on the blog…. that we will be returning to the states. 1 year before our tour is up, and a bit earlier than the 5 year plan we came with. The DH has been offered a new position, and of course he accepted. We will be returning to the DC area!!! Of course all the headaches that come with a move are now showing up. But more about those as they become more of a reality…. Once we have a date, it should move really fast.

One of the time thieves -one of my co workers was moving… and needed some assistance. She had some scheduling conflicts… so I volunteered to sit with the movers while they packed her belongings. The next week I took her to a medical test…. and picked her up later in the day. The other was Axel, since we have been here… his allergy thing has been much easier than in the states, but for some reason he has had 3 subcutaneous cysts burst. The most recent one was on his neck…. can we just say oh YUCK!!!! The physical part is easy, but it’s the twice a day meds that take up the time… and energy.

In the quilting department (and finally some pictures)… I have completed 2 more Birthday blocks for my friends and took my turn hosting the ladies. I nearly forgot that my date for hosting was at the end of June…. whew… I made Baked Ziti for dinner and strawberry short cake for dessert. It was delicious.

At the beginning of June we celebrated Corriannes birthday. She selected birdhouses for her blocks and provided a black background and a color swatch…. we could make any size of block…. She wanted ‘bright’ primary colors.

In the middle of the month we celebrated Laetitias birthday. Her block was very specific in size and background, which she provided. She has a plan and wanted a flower. If she had provided more background I would have made another!!!! Somehow I let that block out of the house without a picture!

The small group, belongs to the larger group, the Jacaranda Quilters Guild of Pretoria. Each small group was asked to make a block to represent their small/home group. This was our block. We have all participated in the building of the block in some way. I did the quilting!!!

I also finished the last of the baby boy quilts. I was planning to ship it, but I don’t think I can squish it down enough to fit in the size box I can ship from here, (10” x 8” x 2”).

I also had to put a sleeve on the black, white & bright quilt, so it could be hung at a small show. So I spent a morning playing with a little Embroidery machine, a Brother, I bought before we left the states…. WoW how much fun can they be? I put the name of the quilt on the Sleeve, playing with several fonts and thread colors. I can see how and why some have the ‘super duper’ embroidery machines.

In between these few quilty things…. I have entered a baking contest at the Embassy 4th of July Party. And I won! THE Category (Brownie/Blondie), THE Extra Ingredient (macadamia nuts) and THE Overall Best Dessert!!! I submitted the Blondies and the Decadent Chocolate Brownie. Woo Hoo! I have sort of established myself as a baker here. I usually make something for the bake sale table and for the quilters, I take the dessert to the hostess. Sometimes its extravagant, like cheesecake, but sometimes as simple as snicker doodle cookies.