Here is Barbara's quilt. It's still very much in process, but I wanted to show the "bones" to all my quilting pals! She will love the pictures of her dogs, and the center ones especially, as he passed over the Rainbow Bridge last fall. She loves orange primarily, and yellows, and asked for greens as her new room has green in it. This is the center panel, it will have 5 blocks on each side, with a "block" being 4 mini blocks. My goal is to have time to have the entire top together before Easter, and then start quilting it, to have the entire project done before September.

Okay, here's the "self portrait" ... I'm just learning how to use the new camera ... could you tell? ! Someday I'll make sure I'm centered in the photo before I snap the shot, and make sure the lighting is great and all the rest! But for now here I am, and really this is kinda how I am in real life...it looks just like I'm ready to tip over or trip over or, as my family knows so well!

cold as...

Brrrr, it's a brisk one out there again today. It is freezing and I'm tired of it. It's been a very mild winter, really. A giant snowstorm two weeks ago and the snow disappeared 4 days later with rain and warm temps...but we are paying for it now. I so want warm weather to return! I want to walk the dog in the early morning before most people are up and stirring...except for the skunk. Yeah, she is living under the shed. At least I think it's a she...perhaps not. Whatever, last week's warmer weather certainly stirrred her juices and she was spraying under the shed several times during the day...ugh! I sure hope my bike doesn't permanently smell of skunk.

Skunk is my totem, which is funny because I am really afraid of them...well, and bears too, but I have a much less chance of an encounter with a bear in my central Mass home, than the skunk who lives under the shed! It's been a few years since the dog was sprayed, so I'm feeling that we're due any time now, mores the pity. Oh, I have my vinegar douche saved from the last time. Forget about the tomato juice thing...doesn't do much except make your dog smell like skunk spaghetti sauce, which I don't recommend.

The diet is going well, it's not really a diet ...well, it is but it's real life food. Nothing prepackaged, nothing hard, just good wholesome foods...brown rice, beans, veggies, lots of fruit...even the occasional cookie or treat. And I've now lost 3 pounds in just under 2 weeks, which is the biggest yay of all!

Well it's off to the races...this is a running day. A friend posted a bumper sticker that read "If I'm a stay at home mom, why am I always in the car?" which perfectly describes today!

How do you eat an elephant?

Well, the answer is; one bite at a time, of course, unless you are dieting, wherein you must weigh and measure every bite, portioning it correctly into your foods for the day, and saving the rest for your unsuspecting family. "What are we having for dinner, Mom" they ask. "Um, something mumblemumble from the fridge".

Anyway, the diet *is* going well, I think in part because it is so damned cold here in New England that I've shiverrrrrred off at least another pound.

Spring is coming, spring is coming ... if I keep repeating it, Mom Nature will have to comply just to shut me up....spring is coming spring is coming spring is....