A landscape and sky for my agenda cover

OH shoot -- I goofed on the one-sided paper acronym. It's GOOSe, which stands for "good on one side, EH!" Anyway, I found a lot more GOOSe yesterday, and it's been added to the pile for printing.  

I finally got through that pile of receipts, and I did keep a few that I'll sort through later. But the majority of it is gone. More on that in a minute. DH had the gall to ask why I didn't just dump it without sorting. He hasn't learned that I have to do things MY way or it ...

 So it wasn't quite the productive day that I wanted it to be, but I did OK. 

I swear this Patterned Concrete company is the most efficient company I've ever seen. They have teams that do specific jobs and don't waste a second. 

The first crew was here before I finished the blog yesterday. This was the cutting crew. Their job was to remove the plastic sheeting from the driveway. I love how they randomly parked the truck practically in the middle of the street. 

The cutting crew arrives

Seriously? Fireworks because of a full moon? At 11 PM? I would have run to the park and yelled at them if I was decent. No one needs to have fireworks on a full moon. Although, based on history, I guess fireworks are pretty tame for a full moon evening. Actually, I think it was a super moon, so of course, that justifies the fireworks. Thankfully, it was only for a minute, but I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was woken up. 

WAIT -- I sleep with the windows open rather than rely on the air conditioner ...

 I seem to be taking my sweet time to unpack everything from the retreat. It's SUMMER, and I'm in summer mode -- slow, and I'm OK with that. 

They are making progress in leaps and bounds in the front yard, and the girls and I christened the patio last night. 

The new front patio

They still have some stuff to plant, but the three "big" trees are in. Let's not forget my little patch of grass has to go in. I don't want it; the landscaper does. I'll let him win, but then, I might ...

 OK -- a much better sleep last night. I HATE those sleepless nights - like what a waste of time!

I spent most of yesterday attempting to unpack the bags I took to the retreat. I wanted to ensure that I actioned what needed to be done and not just put it back, where it would be useless for the next retreat or to finish it. Slow and steady -- that's my motto. 

Well, I never found a picture of the car when Dede and I were packed, but I found one I took after I packed my HALF of the vehicle ...

For me, every day used to be a good day. But since I got home from that trip, I never know, and it drives me crazy! Some days I wake up feeling like the dead even though I've had a good sleep, and I've been known to have a nap before 9 AM. Good grief -- what is happening to me? I think I best make a trip to the doctor to get some bloodwork done to ensure things are OK. And that darn vertigo keeps popping up from time to time. 

After I had my early morning nap ...

Happy Canada Day!!

It already looks dull and dark outside, and it's only July 1, a mere 10 days after the Summer Solstice. But it's overcast and no sun! I hope everyone is enjoying the weather, as it's been glorious here the last couple of days. 

So I did something a bit different yesterday. I've been walking for all my errands within a couple of KM of the house. I had to pick up meds for the dogs, which is a bit too far for me to walk. I had two choices - I could get in ...

 OK -- I am JEALOUS of Elle. She keeps going through her stuff and getting rid of everything. I wonder what her house looks like? I bet there's not much there, and that gives me HOPE. I will get there - I just need to get over this last hurdle (the office). Then going back to the beginning and doing it all over again! 

At least the amount of stuff I will have to go through the second time will be about half of what I had to deal with when I started, and my mindset is also entirely different. I ...

Thanks for all the comments on the blog yesterday. To answer them --- YES -- I know that hoarding is a symptom or is related to mental illness. That took many years for me to wrap my head around. I feel grateful for all the awareness in the last years to elevate that fact for me. I admit that for many years, I was very embarrassed about that situation and thought that it was totally intentional. While sometimes, her behavior is hard for me to accept, I now realize it for what it is, while my older brother is still having difficulties ...

I'm as cozy as a clam in my hotel this morning. I've got the AC off, so it's quiet and a beautiful temperature! I got a quilt on the bed, and I'm listening to my home radio station! How cool is that!!!!

Have you ever been so exhausted that everything hurt? That was last evening. And then you finally get to check into your hotel room at 10:30 PM, and typically the first thing I do is turn off the AC; well, I didn't even do that. I crawled into bed and fell asleep. But not before I put my Mom's quilt on the bed to keep me warm. 

I have tried to turn off that stupid thing this morning, as it's like an ice box in here! And noisy to boot. I MUST figure it out - at ...

Here is a free Barn Quilt pattern to make with quilting fabric and take on your next road trip as you look for barn quilts of the wooden kind! Wait till you see the fabrics on this bright and bold quilt…

Barn Quilts

I designed the pattern “Barn Quilts” for the amazing Landscape Stripes collection by Timeless Treasures. The quilt measures 50″ x 62″ and the blocks finish at 12″. It uses very simple paper piecing with the stripes of each fabric adding dimension and texture to each block.

If you are new to paper piecing, or need a refresher ...

Welcome! Challenge 11.6 of Project Quilting is due in less than an hour and I am frantically writing up my post. The challenge was "Vibrant & Vivacious". It took me 5 days to think about it and 1 full day to make the quilt. It's one of my favourites to date. I hope you like it.

Le petit oiseau de toutes les couleurs

If you're wondering what's up with the French title, it's because this small bird of all colours is based on a song by Gilbert Bécaud (1927 - 2001), a song writer extraordinaire from France ...