What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

My uncle’s chihuahua, Bandit, passed away this week but the whole story about the last half (or more) of Bandit’s life is pretty interesting. Both my aunt and uncle were/are dog lovers. My aunt, Dorothy, passed away six years ago. Bandit was a rescue dog and I think they had him five years before we...

 I didn't sleep the best, but I did get a good night's sleep. My arm pit and boob hurt. It's not the funniest thing in the world. 

Of all days, today is Patrick's Birthday! He even had a dentist appointment for his Birthday! UGH

I pretty much had my Tylenol and Ibuprofen trading places all day. I tried not to take it but every 6 hours. Don't want to depend on drugs to get me through this pain. I also had ice packs under my arm off and on all day. I'm going to ...

This is the kind of message that makes this grandma happy! Last night I got that from Chad. Addie wants me to make a Corgi quilt with her! I’m going to tell her that I’ll be glad to make it with her but she is going to have to be a participant and not a...

Oscar and Cooper wake up full of energy. I think both of them would sleep later if I would sleep later but most mornings, they wake up when I get up. I take them out, feed them and then they play . . I guess/hope it’s playing because they chase each other and roll around...

This is what Cooper does every night. Same spot. Same position. Rita does not like to be held . . not at all. We carry her outside to go to the bathroom and she’s wiggling and squirming and grunting the entire time trying to get down. She’s never wanted to sit with me . ....

We have a central vac but I don’t use it in the sewing room. At a previous house, I used it in the sewing room and pins poked holes in the vacuum hose and . . those things were a bit pricey and Vince was not happy so since then, I’ve had an inexpensive vacuum...

These two dachshunds play so hard! Up until this week, I was constantly supervising. I wouldn’t even try to stitch until they were napping or Vince was down in the basement with me to help watch them. They play so rough but a couple of days ago, I figured . . Cooper is six months...

Here at the house, our cell service only works on wifi except if I stand at the dining room window. When the power went out, my first thought was to let Chad know we didn’t have power (he knows about our cell service) because I didn’t want him to try to call, us not answer,...

Our dogs have never stated in the crate much but I’ve always wanted the to be comfortable in their crates. Because Oscar is so destructive, if I’m leaving the room for 1 minute, he goes into the crate. Cooper still isn’t 100% trustworthy with his bathroom manners so he goes into the crate if I’m...

Kayla messaged me late on Thursday saying that her family wanted to come for a visit. She’d get here Friday for supper, stay over, and leave at naptime on Saturday. I said sure but she’d have to pick up supper along the way as I would be working and would be home until 5:30 pm …

A Family Weekend Read More »

All the things in one jam-packed year.

Sunrise on the ridge

All the stuff we experienced this year may not seem like much to many, but the sensory overload after 2.5 years of isolation was a lot…for us.  

Because it wasn’t just about building a house — it was a lot about family. 

In our extended family, we lost 4 members; two expected, two completely unexpected.  The unexpected always hurts the most, doesn’t it?  You don’t see it coming and WHAM, it hits you.  My Godbrother and my cousin died; I’ve known both their entire ...

We've moved on to Napier to spend several days just relaxing.  But….. needs must, and we desperately needed to go to the laundromat.  There was one close by, and at the NZMCA camp we are staying, there was a huge clothesline to hang it all out.  There’s nothing better than laundry drying in the warm sunshine, is there?  Holiday or not, there’s always plenty of washing to do.

Round and round it goes

Not too far from the camp is the Filter Room which makes cider and beer.  There is also a restaurant attached and we took ...

Oscar is like a spoiled child sometimes. When the grass is damp outside, he ends up with ear issues because as he’s snooping around outside with his nose to the ground, his ears are like little scoops getting all that dampness inside. As you’ve probably figured out by now, it doesn’t matter what I’m doing...

Generally, we spend New Year fairly quietly, but we had a family birthday celebrate.  This year we spent a very wet New Year’s Eve with my nephew Shane who was turning 60.  Shane is the eldest grandchild on the maternal side, the first child of my late sister Kathleen and hubby Dennis.   It is a tradition in this family to prepare and cook a hangi for special occasions, and this Shane did with a little help.  Not a “hole in the ground” traditional hangi, but rather one cooked in a stainless steel container, heated with gas, but still using ...

 I've had a nice week at home with my shop closed all last week. I got our laundry room repainted after we had the ceiling in that room repaired and retextured. I also got some touch-up painting done in our main bathroom after we had some work done to one spot on the wall and the entire ceiling.

Our new family member, Sheba, has been busy all week too.

We put up our Christmas tree without any ornaments. Then we were gifted a few ornaments. Since Sheba had been leaving the tree alone we put them on the tree ...

 Since I had a cold on Christmas Day, we couldn't have mom over. If she caught the cold or even ended up with pneumonia, then it would be a game changer for her. So, she went to a dear friends house for Christmas Eve. She didn't want me to know who.  I'm just glad she was able to go somewhere. She did say it was the first time she had been alone for Christmas. That was a surprise to me. I was alone about 3 times in my lifetime. 

I slept most of the day. Patrick and ...

We celebrated Christmas Saturday evening, which is not our normal—our family was together thanks to FaceTime, and I’m grateful; this was our first in-person (for most of us) Christmas gathering in 4 years. Having it on Christmas Eve was more about convenience for everyone.  As a result, I got to spend a quiet Christmas day with the Hubs and even got to sew a bit, in addition to doing laundry.

While savoring my coffee Christmas morning, I thought about some things from the evening before that reminded me how easily distracted I have been ...

We have moved on from the family small holding after four very pleasant and relaxed days.  Before we arrived, I was a little worried about the family dog and how he would react to a strange cat on his property.  Noodle would come and look at Gemma through the closed screen door.  Then one morning Robin had the screen door open, Gemma was on her lead, and the two met nose to nose!  I was amazed that nothing untoward happened.  It may well have been a different story if Gemma was outside the safety of the caravan door.

First meeting ...

Good morning, my friends! It's been a while since we've chatted. Yesterday's post was my "Best of," and so we haven't had a chance to catch up on current events for a while. You're probably going to want to fill your coffee cup for this because I have lots to show you. I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. We've just about run the bases on 2023. I'm ready for a new year, aren't you? So, let's have at it. What's been going on here at the Three Cats Ranch ...

Good morning, my friends! It's been a while since we've chatted. Yesterday's post was my "Best of," and so we haven't had a chance to catch up on current events for a while. You're probably going to want to fill your coffee cup for this because I have lots to show you. I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. We've just about run the bases on 2023. I'm ready for a new year, aren't you? So, let's have at it. What's been going on here at the Three Cats Ranch ...