July Journal -- The Last One!

Okay, so I said I would blog every day this month and now it is the last day and I actually accomplished my goal!

Truth be told, I almost forgot I had one more day. I plopped myself in front of the TV tonight to watch the Olympics and got lost in that. Well that, and Pinterest.

I don't have much to say today. Except I do love watching the Olympics. I love when the US wins, and I feel bad for the teams that goofed up and didn't get the gold medal. But I do appreciate the athletes who still show a lot of joy when they get silver or bronze.

Hubby had a question during the Opening Ceremonies. When the different countries parade in, Greece always goes first and the host country last. The rest are alphabetical. But when the Olympics were in Greece in 2004 how did they do that???? Hmmmm.....

So this ends my oh-so-thrilling July Journal.

July Journal -- The Antique Finds

I took a few pictures of some things that Hubby and I found as we were poking around a couple of antique stores lately.

Anyone remember The Imperials?

I used to like them. Not so much anymore.

My son thinks a pair of these giant LEGO Pirate Guys would look awesome on either side of 

a front door. Kinda like those Chinese Lions.

This guy had a $300 price tag on it. 

(The one on the left, not the cutie on the right.)

Has anyone seen one of these? I remember my dad's secretary had one on her desk. 

It's for wetting stamps. Instead of licking each one, you would put a little water in the 

bottom and spin the wheel and wipe the stamp across it.

We don't very often buy things at an antique store, but we love looking.

July Journal -- The Lazy Sunday

We went away to celebrate our anniversary. This morning was just so nice and lazy. Loved every minute of it. Kind of nice to go away and be able to be lazy and not have the "things around the house" to distract.

As we were eating lunch, we mentioned four or five names of people we knew that lived near there. All work for the same company as Hubby and we have met them over the years at the various places we have lived. And wouldn't you know, not five minutes later, one of those families walked in! So we enjoyed a nice lunch together and got caught up on each others lives.

The afternoon and evening was spent with some super good friends. You know, the kind of friends that you pay absolutely no attention to the clock when you are with them? Yep, that's these guys to us. We got to their house about 3:30 and when I finally thought about looking at the clock, it was 8pm!

I'll just keep this brief and say, all in all it was a good way to celebrate our 28 years together.

July Journal -- The 28th Anniversary

Today I am celebrating being married to my hubby for 28 years! That's TWENTY-EIGHT!
Hmmm....
Twenty-eight years on the 28th of July. Does that make this our Golden Anniversary? I think so! :)

The other day when I was listening to Pandora on my phone, I heard this song called, Love is Not a Fight, by Warren Barfield. (I learned this was in the movie, Fireproof, but I don't recall it. Not sure how I missed it.) As I was listening to it, I felt tears rolling down my cheeks and knew I needed to post this today, on our 28th anniversary.

(The words are below)



Love is not a place
To come and go as we please
It's a house we enter in
Then commit to never leave

So lock the door behind you
Throw away the key
We'll work it out together
Let it bring us to our knees

Chorus:
Love is a shelter in a raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
And if we try to leave, may God send angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it's something worth fighting for

To some, love is a word
That they can fall into
But when they're falling out
Keeping that word is hard to do


Chorus:
Love is a shelter in a raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
And if we try to leave, may God send angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it's something worth fighting for

To some, love is a word
That they can fall into
But when they're falling out
Keeping that word is hard to do

Love will come to save us
If we'll only call
He will ask nothing from us
But demand we give our all

Chorus:
Love is a shelter in a raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
And if we try to leave, may God send angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it's something worth fighting for

I will fight for you
Would you fight for me?
It's worth fighting for
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Hubby:
Remember this square dance? I don't think you knew at the time that I was beginning to have a crush on you. I wasn't a fan of square dancing, but I went because I knew you were going to be there. Just like the concert I got a free ticket to just cuz I knew you'd be there (with another girl) and the volleyball game I went to play with our friends. I  never could stand to play volleyball, but I knew you were going to be there. Shameless, I know, but I liked being around you.

(We are the ones in the middle.  I have a purple shirt and Hubby has the almost blonde hair and the navy blue shirt.)

Eventually, I think, you turned around and saw me following you around. Grin.

We began to talk. A lot. You let me vent and let me cry on your shoulder. (Hmmm...some things never change, huh?) You wrote me letters that summer. Every week. Because you said you would and you always do what you say.

We quickly became friends. Best friends. And some where in there we fell in love.

You have always loved me just for me. Something I'll never understand, but am so grateful for.

 I love you so much more and so much more deeply than I did that day 28 years ago when we stood in that church in front of our family and friends. Even thought I am thankful and oh so blessed to be married to you, I don't think I will ever quite comprehend this mystery that is called marriage.

July Journal -- The Birdbath

Hubby gave me a bird-bath for my birthday. In January.  Needless to say, I didn't find a spot for it until the snow all melted. I just love how it looks like a twig. I like how it's not typical.

I told Hubby I wanted to see it from my sewing room. He sat in my chair at my sewing table and found the perfect spot. I have seen a few birds taking a drink in it. So fun to look up from sewing to see this!

July Journal -- The Haircut

Since I complained about getting my hair cut a bit too short yesterday, I thought I'd upload a picture that I use as a demonstration of why I don't like short bangs or too short of hair:::

I'm around 7 years old in this photo. Those bangs....

I'm in the front middle. I'm 4 years old. You can really see my cowlick in that one. And look at how short my sisters' bangs are! Yikes. Someone told me short bangs are coming back. Really? That short? I hope not.

July Journal -- The Six Random Thoughts

Six random thoughts for today:::

1. I am trying to grow my hair out. Trying to get that message across to my hairdresser is another story. She likes to cut hair too much, I think. "Just trim the ends a tiny bit" is not in her realm of understanding. I guess I need to space out my appointments a bit more, but then there is that pesky thing called hair color. Sigh.

2. I don't really mean to complain about my hairdresser. She's done a great job on my hair for the last 11 years. A miracle worker, she is.

3. I totally love the TV show, "The Middle." It's so funny and I love that someone out there can actually write a sitcom that isn't all about inappropriate humor.

4. Last week I finished another quilt top and today I mailed it off to be quilted! This one is for our basement to snuggle under while watching TV. As usual, I want to have it returned quickly so I can see the finished product.

5. Believe it or not, I haven't actually sewn for almost a whole week. I think the twitching will begin soon. Tomorrow will likely find me back in my sewing room.

6. Road construction. Ugh. Even more interesting when you live in a town with some lakes that restrict how you get around town. Oh well, I guess the extra time in the car gives me more time to listen to and sing as loud as I possibly can to the music in my CD player.

The end of today's extremely-random-post-because-I'm quickly-running-out-of-ideas-to-blog-about-for-my-blog-every-day-this-month-self-challenge.

July Journal -- The Purchase

I bought these today:::

I don't know why, except that they are fun.

(My son, maybe, might have, worn off on me a little bit.)

July Journal -- The Sunday Afternoon

I think that perhaps there should be an award for having the longest title ever for yesterday's post. Our internet has been pooping out late in the evening. Mystery. Frustrating when I have forgotten to write a blog post until late. At least the next morning the internet works. I think a conversation with the service provider may happen in the near future.

Yesterday Hubby and I headed off to church. It's a 45 minute drive, so we entertained ourselves with listening to a couple of CDs. Larry Norman. Good stuff. He is called the father of contemporary Christian music. His first album was produced in 1969. That album was banned in most Christian bookstores because no one thought rock & roll and Christianity went together.

Anyway...church was good. Good songs and great sermon. Again. Worth the drive.

After the worship service we did something pretty unusual for us. Well, the going out to eat part wasn't unusual, we've been doing that after church for years. The unusual thing was we dropped in on someone. We have thought that a friend from college lived in a town about an hour away. We haven't seen him for 28 years...since our wedding. Hubby found his address online and we just marched right up to his house.

Well, we hoped it was his house.

And it was!

We had a wonderful visit with Danny and his wife (whom we had never met). They were very gracious to us for dropping in with no announcement. Sure was fun to reconnect, catch up on each others lives, and talk about old friends. We were in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship together.

July Journal -- The Internet That Doesn't Work -- I Won't Have A Post Today Because Our Internet Isn't Working. I Can Only Write In The Title Box On My Phone For Some Reason... Hopefully I Can Post Tomorrow!

July Journal -- The Trip to Iowa

Thursday and Friday I took a little road trip by myself. I drove to Iowa to spend a couple of days with my mom and dad. Those two are a bit hard to find at home. (Kinda like Hubby and me I guess...) Shortly after I arrived, Mom and I took off for a mega shopping trip at Target. Where else? I think it was totally worth the 3 hour drive just to shop at Target, don't you? It's my happy place.

That night we took in a concert put on by the community band down by the river. Here are my folks waiting for the concert. I don't think my dad wanted his picture taken. Hi Dad! :)

A little boy who was about 5 or 6 was passing out Toostie Roll Pops to every one. So cute. My mom said he's been doing that every summer since he was in a stroller. I picked a green one.

I was unnecessarily skeptical about the quality of the music the band would play. The majority of the people in the band are either currently or retired music teachers and band directors. It was really good stuff.

Can you see the man on the saxophone that was the band director when I was in high school? ha. He and his wife are good friends with my parents.

The main reason I decided to spend a couple of day with my folks (aside from just visiting and eating my mom's wonderful potato salad) was to deliver this quilt I made for my mom.

I found the pattern for it on the Moda Bake Shop website. I collected most of these blue and yellow fabrics 10-11 years ago to make a quilt for the guest room. I never did make that quilt because I bought one instead. I cut the 5" squares with the die cutter I rented a couple of months ago from a quilt shop. I decided use those fabrics to make this for my mom. Her favorite colors are blue and yellow, after all.

On the back I added a strip of zig-zags. I love how it turned out! Such a fun surprise when you flip it over.

I sent it to the Missouri Star Quilt Company to have it quilted. They did a terrific job. I will definitely send more quilts to them!

I even made this cute label to attach to the backside. Love how that turned out!

I just had to get a picture of my mom with the quilt. Doesn't it go nicely in their sun-room?

July Journal -- The Sunflower Runner

Ready for some more pictures of one of my projects?

A few months ago I was watching this video tutorial about how to make a Dresden Plate Quilt Block.



As I was watching it, I thought to myself, "I could do that with yellows and make sunflowers."

So, I made this table runner:::

I'm so happy with how it turned out. I mailed it to my daughter-in-law for her birthday. Yesterday she texted me a picture of it on their table. It looked so cute!

I kind of improvised it as I went. I wasn't sure about how to quilt it, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

I also tried a different method of attaching the binding.  I usually sew the binding onto the front, then turn it over the edge to the back and hand stitch it down. With this method I sewed it to the back, turned to the front side and top-stitched it down by machine with a decorative stitch. I like how it turned out.

July Journal -- The Blogs I Read and A Post

I like to read blogs. I guess that's no surprise since I write a blog. I like to read posts that are funny, informative, and sometimes serious and sometimes just newsy. The reasons I write a blog are many. I write to keep family and friends we don't see very often informed on what's going on with us. Sometimes I write to work through some thoughts I'm having or something I'm struggling with.
I write to record memories. (Each new year I have my blog from the previous year published into a book form.) Sometimes I am criticized for bringing up things that have happened in the past, but when my friend who recently passed away left a comment on my blog last December, I decided I will never back off from talking or writing about my memories. She said that she had read in a devotional that nostalgia is good for us. It says it helps us to stay true to ourselves despite huge life changes; it gives us perspective; it boosts our memory.

Anyway...

I thought I'd share links to some of the blogs I go to regularly.

I have several quilting blogs I like to go to for ideas and, let's face it, just to look at all the prettiness.

Moda Bake Shop
Missouri Star Quilt Company
Sew Many Ways
Saltwater Quilts
Diary of a Quilter

Okay, I'll stop. You get the idea.

I also read blogs that friends of mine write:

Acorns For Thought
A Song For Everything
(these are both college friends)

Chinese Neighbors
(friends who live in China, showing God's love to their neighbors)

Swiss Family Olson
(a friend I stumbled upon in the blog world and we have even met in real life!)

 From This Side of The Pond
(a bloggy friend. I don't remember how I stumble upon her blog, but we have so many things in common it's so fun to read her blog. She's funny and insightful. Maybe someday we'll meet in real life.)

I read other blogs that have content that interest me:

Pioneer Woman
(I admit I love reading her blog mostly for the food.)


KeropokMan: Singapore City Photo
(some Singaporean dude who frequently posts pictures of stuff around Singapore)
KeropokMan:Singapura Makan
(same dude who writes about places he eats around Singapore)

Organize and Decorate Everything
(I admit the title just makes me giddy)

Of course there are quite a number of food blogs I love. Here's just a few:

Skinnytaste
Jamie Cooks It Up
The Cheapskate Cook

The other day I came across this post from a link someone posted on Facebook:
http://deeperstory.com/this-for-me-is-enough/
I wanted to stand up and applaud and say, "Amen, Sister!" I know I listed a lot of links here. If you don't look at any others, read this one.

I read a lot more blogs, but I'll stop here.

July Journal -- The Wednesday HodgePodge

Joining up with Joyce today for the Wednesday HodgePodge.

1. The Summer Olympics begin next week and London is playing host. If you had the chance to go in person which (non-Olympic) London site would you most like to visit? 
I'm almost embarrassed to say I don't really know much about London.  
***cringing at the look Joyce has on her face as she reads this***
But, so I won't look like a total dweeb, I'll say watching the Changing of the Guard. Those fluffy hats look cool. :) Or maybe a boat ride on the river. Do they do that?

2. What is something in your life right now that feels like an Olympic event?
Waiting. 

3. What's your favorite supper to prepare and serve when it's too hot to cook? 
I found a pasta dish in a book I read that I just love. The book is called Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Tough and the dish is called Dressy Bow-Tie Pasta Salad. It has chicken (I used a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store), bow-tie pasta (duh), cucumbers, grapes, spinach, a few other things and a fresh yummy lemon/garlic dressing. So easy to throw together, put in the fridge and pull out when it's time to eat! Add some crusty bread warmed in the toaster oven (so you don't heat up the kitchen by turning on the big oven) and YUM!

4. July 18th is National Get Out of the Doghouse Day...when was the last time you were 'in the doghouse'?
It usually happens when I open my mouth when I am angry. Take a deep breath and count to 10, Judy!

5. What television advertisement do you find particularly irritating or inappropriate? You may not answer with 'all of them'. I know some of you were thinking about it.
We mute most commercials around here. Great invention, that mute button! I will say that the commercial advertising 5 Hour Energy just annoys me. Something just rubs me wrong to hear promotion for that product. Seems like a legalized "upper" in some ways.

6. Share one piece of interesting news from the year you were born. 
1961. Just checked Wikepedia... it says it was an "upside-up" year. It looks the same upside-down! Now that's interesting! ;) So there is that, and John F. Kennedy became president that year.

7. What's the best part of your average day?
When my hubby comes home from work! :) Finally someone to talk to! Plus he's just plain cute and fun to look at. :)

8. Insert your own random thought here.
When I was sewing the other night, my bangs were hanging in my face and bugging me. Here's a shot of how I remedied that without going upstairs to find a bobby pin:::

 Let's not talk about how many tries it actually took to get this picture. I am not good at the self-portrait thing.

July Journal -- The Daughter-in-Law

Today is my daughter-in-law's birthday. Happy Birthday, Amanda!

I've thought about how some mothers-in-law resent their daughters-in-law. Not me. When I see how much she loves Jesus, how much she loves my son, how much she makes him happy, how they seem to have fun together and work together as a team, my heart swells with thanksgiving. I prayed for her for over twenty years. I didn't know who my son would marry, but I prayed for her anyway. So amazing how God answered all those prayers.

I love Amanda's sense of humor and her sweet compassionate spirit. She's studying hard to become a doctor and will make such a good doctor.

I am so excited to see what God has in store for Amanda and Caleb!

Happy Birthday, Amanda!

July Journal -- The Quilt That Started It All

In 1998 we moved to Singapore. Sometime in the "spring" of 1999, my friend, Jackie, asked me if I wanted to take a class with her starting the next fall.

(Pause to say here that I put quotes around the word spring, because in Singapore (80 miles north of the equator) the weather never really changes. It is between 75-95 degrees 365 days a year. With humidity. Lots of humidity. Every Day.)

(But the weather in Singapore really isn't the point of this post.)

(Back to the point.)

The class was learning how to quilt. I thought it sounded like a fun thing to do. I had wanted to make a quilt, but had no idea where to start. So that summer when I was in the US, I bought fabrics for the quilt we were going to make.

Here is the very first quilt I ever made:

The quilt  pattern is called Dancing Dollies.

So are you thinking what I'm thinking? Doesn't really look like a beginning quilt? I agree! Except for joining the blocks and rows and borders together, this was constructed all by hand. I just don't know what that instructor was thinking. But I did learn a lot, that's for sure!

I originally had intentions of hand quilting this. Good intentions.

Last October we got to spend a weekend in Chicago with my friend, Jackie and her husband.  (It had been a long time since I had seen her and so good to be together again.) After that weekend I got to thinking about my Dancing Dollies quilt. I still hadn't completed it. I decided to give up my fantasy of hand quilting it. (Jackie's quilt was big enough for a twin size bed. Mine is 60"x75". Jackie made her entire quilt by hand, including the quilting. So impressive!) I searched for someone with a long-arm sewing machine. I found someone about 30 miles away. I took the quilt to her in February and she finished it the end of May. I totally love how she quilted it!

 

  She did something a little different on each "Dolly."

So fun to look at and see all the details.

This was the very first block I made. If you know anything about quilting, you know that triangles are not easy. Most beginning blocks consist of rectangles or squares.

Just some close-ups of some of the blocks. The teacher had patterns for several different blocks that we could choose from. This is definitely a sampler quilt. A little of this, a little of that. Some piecing, some applique.

 

The instructor of the class was from Australia. (Her husband was a pilot for Singapore Airlines.) I think there were five of us in the class. I remember that we all spoke English, but there were four pretty distinct accents. There was Australian, two ladies were from the UK, Jackie and I were Americans from the Midwest, and there was an American who was from North Carolina. So funny to hear us all sitting around talking with our different accents and different sayings. The instructor would walk around the room (we met in her apartment which overlooked the Singapore Straits. It was cool to watch the ships in the ocean), and she would ask, "How're you going?" Sometimes it made me giggle.

I started the class on September 28, 1999. I finished the quilt on June 27, 2012. Almost 13 years.
But it's DONE!

July Journal -- The Worship Service and The Next Quilt

This morning we drove the 50 miles to church. The music was some of my favorite worship songs: In Christ Alone, I Will Rise (and a couple of others that I am just drawing a blank on. Trust me, they were good songs).

The pastors are preaching through some of the Psalms this summer. We feel so refreshed to hear preaching from the Word. This morning was Psalm 13.

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

How long must I wrestle with my thoughts

and every day have sorrow in my heart?

How long will my enemy triumph over me? 

Look on me and answer, O Lord my God. 

Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;

my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”

and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

But I trust in your unfailing love;

my heart rejoices in your salvation.

I will sing to the Lord,

for he has been good to me.

 
Good, good sermon. I have asked God, "How long?" lots and lots (and lots) of times. How cool is it that David felt some of the same struggles and God prompted him to write about it and it's available for me to read and be encouraged? God is awesome like that, you know.

After a great long nap this afternoon (kind of a given for a Sunday afternoon, I think), Hubby and I enjoyed some ice cream at a local ice cream joint.

And since I seem to be on a roll with the whole quilting thing, I thought I'd get going on another project. Here's a sneak peak:::

(That square of fabric in the lower left corner is purple. It looks more blue in this photo.) I cut the pieces when I used the quilt shop's die cutter last month. (Click here to see the post I wrote about it.) The pattern is called "Take 5". There are five different fabrics and five components to the block.

So far it's going together pretty easily. I only had to take out two blocks and re-do them. ha. As I've been sewing, I've been thinking about how to put this together using pre-cuts. (Some fabric companies sell fabrics pre-cut into different sizes like 5" squares, 10" squares, triangles, etc.) It would make the block a little bit bigger and be more of a scrappy look using more than five fabrics. I'll see how this quilt turns out and see if I like the overall pattern.

So, that was my Sunday.

July Journal -- The Summer Meal

This afternoon we bought some sweet corn from a road-side stand. Tonight we had what I think is a classic summer time meal.

Maybe the grill salmon isn't a classic MidWest meal, but it sounded yummy to us tonight.
Do you see the orange-ish colored stuff on the blueberries and peaches? Tang. Yep, Tang! My mom invented that idea. She has put it on her fresh fruit salads for years. I just love it!

Questions:

When you eat sweet-corn-on-the-cob, do you roll the corn in a stick of butter, or spread it on with a knife? (We roll it in a stick of butter here.)

Do you eat the corn in rows or around? (Hubby and I are opposites. I eat around, he eats in rows.)

July Journal -- The Friday Night

Today Hubby had an unexpected day of work at home. It was super nice to have him around all day. We even went out for lunch together. Fun!

Tonight we watched another movie I taped eons ago. Well, I suppose using the word taped is a bit antiquated, now isn't it? Even though it's a word I've only used for probably only 20 years. So let's be a bit more up to date and use the word recorded. Or I could be even more cool and say DVR'd.

A-hem. My point is... we watched a movie.

Tonight's entertainment was State Fair. I thought it was a musical. But this was the 1933 version. (There are two more versions: 1945 and 1962.) Not a musical. Fun movie. And funny because it was made in 1933. I got a kick out of the scene above. They are camping at the State Fair (the Iowa State Fair) and the mother and daughter are washing dishes exactly like we did when I went camping with my family when I was a kid. In basins with boiling hot water.

After the movie, the sun set. (Awesome segue, huh?)

I captured some photos of the sun over the cornfield:

 The color of the sun was so intense!

July Journal -- The Random Post

I couldn't decide what to write about today, so I thought I would post this totally random thing I saw on my cousin's Facebook. Describes how I look at math perfectly. ;)

Happy Thursday!