My Hate Hate Relationship With Glasses

In our family of seven, my Dad was the only one who wore glasses. Our family had crooked teeth, good eyes and no sense of rhythm. After many visits to the orthodontist, we ended up with straight teeth and good eyes. The rhythm thing can't be fixed.

I not only had good eyesight, I had great eyesight. It was between 20/10 and 20/15, which means what most people saw clearly at 15 feet, I could see at 20. Old Eagle Eye, that was me, always the first to see the highway sign, but I could still thread a needle with the best of them. I was so ignorant about what was ahead.

In my thirties, I would see my friends in their forties squinting and holding things away from themselves to read. How can that help, wouldn't you want to bring it closer? Little did I know how soon my time would come. I was in my late 30's when it began. Sheesh this print is fine, let me just put it a little further......AAAAHHHH, it's happening. No, it must be the light, yeah, and the print is just really small. Seems to be happening with everything... AAAAHHHH there go my eyes!

So I pushed vanity aside and made the dreaded appointment. With the doctor. The Appointment. To get my arms surgically lengthened so I could read. But stupid Kaiser made me see the eye doctor, apparently arm stretching is considered cosmetic. The eye doc informed me I was far sighted (who knew?) and far sighted people lose their reading eyes early and fast, and in my case the distance is shot too. He gave me the strength of OTC reading glasses to buy. He recommended Zeiss from Costco, still my favorite brand. 

 

This was my first pair from Costco. Very comfy.

These are my Sally Jesse Rafael pair. If you know who she is, you probably will need glasses soon, if you don't already.

These are my drugstore Mr. Potato Head pair. What was I thinking?

Mrs. Potato Head

These are my contacts. I love them. They are mono vision. I read out of the right (your left) and I see far out of the left. Sometimes I put them in the wrong eyes and I can't see anything.

These are my Quick Build safety glasses

These are my Quick Build safety sunglasses

These are my Quick Build safety sunglasses with bifocals!

These I wear with my contacts to read the weird little Romanian thing-a-ma-jigs over the letters.

Another thing-a-ma-jig pair.

My first real pair of glasses. Ernst called them my sexy secretary glasses, but what sexy secretary decides to get Transitions, which never get dark enough to look like sunglasses and never get clear enough to look sexy? I didn't like them and only wore them when contacts were not an option.

These are my sunglasses.

They are broken.

 
These are my 3D glasses I wore to see Dolphin Tale. It made me cry at the end.

 These are my latest pair. Ernst calls them my Sarah Palin glasses. For the longest time I couldn't get used to them, they gave me headaches, they sort of made my stomach feel queezy. It turns out something was really wrong with them, they remade them, but I don't know if I can ever trust them.

This is me without glasses.

Galina, a Chicken Quilt for the Soul

One of my first Moldovan friends was Galina. She is the mother of four girls, who are very spread apart in age. She is so positive and loves to laugh. After being here for quite awhile, her English is about as good (bad) as my Romanian. We lament together on our utter lack of the language gene (and there is one!). But we have loads of fun together while finding a way to communicate.

She was the person to which I said one of my dumber things in Romanian. She asked me about my father. I tried to say my father died, but instead I said with extreme confidence "The Pope is Death." I didn't know then that tata is father, not papa. Papa is pope, but I also messed up the verb tense.

I also used to mix up Galina with găină, the Romanian word for chicken, so the Chicken Quilt is affectionately named Galina. I told her about the quilt, well I tried to, and her daughter Laura ended up translating. She wants to see it. They all hope the quilts named after them will be gorgeous and beautifully elegant, so I hope she isn't offended. This one is rustic and farm themed. 

so chic-k

Her husband Vasile is the resident butcher around here, they say "cutter." If someone needs an animal "cut" he is the expert. Once we stopped by her brother's house, and the kid's pet goats had hopped onto the kitchen table. The goats (and the kitchen) were covered in sugar and butter and were bleeding from the broken glass of the sugar bowl. They had to face Vasile and all enjoyed a Moldovan bar-b-que of roasted goat. I had named them Costal and Penta, and wanted nothing to do with eating them. They were adorable. Moldova was a tough place to live and like the rest of the family, Galina and her husband are intrepid survivors. I'm keeping my chicken quilt away from Vasile.

The sun came out for my photo session

Galina, the Chicken Quilt

What Rhymes with Bob and is Really Hard to Find?

It starts with a J ends with a B and has a big fat O in the middle!

Next month would have been one long year of unemployment, and the official end to my dearly appreciated unemployment checks. I was hoping that all my temp jobs would extend my checks, but they did not. But I don't need an extension, I finally got a job!

Ernst has been bugging me for the longest time to look for work at EdJoin, the site for jobs with school districts. I couldn't believe there would be any jobs there, after all aren't the school districts laying off hundreds? So after getting fed up with Craigslist, I gave it a shot, but I had serious doubts at getting a job at a place that is all about kids.

My lifetime resume of working with children is long and rich, but there is nothing recent to add. "Goo gooed with Adela at the Romanian meeting, played pots and pans with Elliot, charmed a baby at Trader Joe's" is not exactly what they are looking for in a teacher's aid. So I went to the site with a huge load of doubt. But there it was, a job that just screamed out, THIS ONE IS FOR YOU!

There on the site was a job opening at Maintenance and Operations (M&O) for a local school district. It is a substitute position for a dispatcher, the person who gets calls from the schools regarding maintenance issues and vandalism, copper theft, broken stuff etc. Then the dispatcher calls the proper department or authorities. A few years ago I would have just passed this up. Me, a dispatcher? Work at a school district? Video cameras? Alarms? Me? But, that was several years ago, since then...

...my last job at KMM which I loved and where I had the world's greatest boss, was heavily involved with them. We (they) were (are) updating the low voltage systems for all the schools in the district, one of the largest in California. The aging schools are getting much needed new fire alarms, speakers, clocks, bells, and video surveillance systems. I worked with the people from M&O to keep their hard copy records up-to-date as we finished each school. Many times I went to the M&O office, and my boss gave me a tour of all the new video surveillance they have keeping watch over the schools.

I have never felt so comfortable walking into a job interview, I knew where it was. I had met the director, who was leading the process. I have never had such a serious interview either. There were two people conducting it, they had sheets of paper in front of them with little circles to fill in rating how I answered the questions. (Give me a 5, please give me a five, no wait that is upside down, fill in the other one). But you know an interview is on the right track when you spend several minutes talking about how great your last boss was, they agree and say what a great man he is, and you know he is the first person on your list of references! The man who will be my new boss actually asked me, if you get this job would you leave it to go back to your old one? Yikes, was that a trick question or what? He answered it himself, of course you would, they are a great company. I'm glad I let him answer that one.

I had to wait a week to find out, but HR called today to offer me the position. I still don't exactly know what my schedule is, it may be quite erratic and may include the graveyard shift at times. At this point, it doesn't matter. It is a job with the schools, the pay is so much better than anything out there on Craigslist, it is fairly close to my house, and did I mention it starts with a J, ends with a B and has a big O in the middle? After almost a year of looking, I am thrilled. I can't wait to tell all the little kids I know that Jessica will be watching them on hidden cameras!

Goodwill Hunting

The cool name in fabrics right now is Amy Butler. If someone makes a hip and pretty quilt and lists it on Etsy, it most likely has Amy Butler fabric in it. And that name will be in the first sentence of the description and in the title too. She is hot. If you do a search for Amy Butler on Etsy, there are 14,630 items that come up.

Amy Butler Fabric

I thought about talented Amy today as I reached like an orangutan over some ill-placed rolling carts at my local Goodwill. They line them up right in front of the fabric, making my cotton searches unpleasant. (I typed in Goodwill on Etsy and it showed 59 items, but most included the phrase Peace and Goodwill.) Adding to the shoulder injuring gyrations, today there was a crazy lady in a scooter who wanted to talk. I am great at talking with strangers, but not so good at talking to over the top lost their mind and it ain't ever coming back strangers. She kept saying "Thank God I have my health, I don't have no HIV, Thank God". Yes ma'am I am so happy for you, but I am looking at FABRIC here, please don't run over my toes.

There in one of the bins, she sees a baby doll that she must have. I fish it out for her, and we agree it is a nice healthy looking baby, not like those skinny baby dolls they are making these days. Thank God for healthy baby dolls without HIV, that is what I always say. She hugs the doll, starts talking to it and not me (thank you so much little fat baby) and I get to continue reaching over the rolling bins looking for 100% cotton fabric.

I found some cute stuff: some gorgeous white and red toile, some cute bunny fabric for the upcoming so named quilt, a few yards of yellow and blue beach-themed cotton, and a piece that has wheat on it for the chicken quilt. Corn would have been better, but this is the Goodwill, no gluten-free materials are available. I walked up to pay, and of course the gluten fabric had no price. They had to call the manager, which got the toothless lady behind me who was already in a bad mood in an even worse one. (I should have handed her a chubby doll with a clean bill of health.) Amy Butler, I would like to see you beat that shopping experience!

A Quilt for Sulamita

Sulimita, nee Violeta

A new family from Moldova moved into our hall recently. They have an adorable little girl named Mihaela (Mee-HAY-lah) and a little baby named David (Dah-VEED). Some new names, but ones I can remember and say correctly! Mihaela is incredibly animated and speaks like an Italian with lots of gestures. She just talks full speed Moldovește to me, and her face and voice light up and smile the whole time. It took her awhile to figure out I had no idea what she was saying. Now we just hug.

Mihaela's mom is going to have another baby, a girl. Yesterday I asked what the baby's name would be. Sulamita (Soo-lah-MEE-tah), they said, a Bible name. Come again? So we got out the best Romanian/English dictionary there is: the NWT. They turned to Cântarea Cântărilor (Song of Songs, or Song of Solomon) and pointed to Sulamita, the Shulamite girl! They were so proud to show me, and  I understood. Not a typical Romanian or Moldovan name, this family has imagination.

The shower is today but I have no time to make a quilt, in fact I have a temp job so I can't even attend. But I grabbed The Quilt Formerly Known as Violeta off Etsy, and that will have to do. I am freshly laundering it with Downy, and sending it to the shower. This leaves one lone baby blanket on Etsy, which is fine with me. The competition is huge, I think I'll stick to lap throws for grownup and keep the baby ones custom made. This one is so not custom, but I think they will like it for our new little arrival, Sulamita.

O is for October, O is for Organize

is for Organize

At what point did it all come crashing down? Was there an exact day, or was it a series of events that I failed to recognize? Maybe after The Big E's stroke and heart attack, it became less important? Just give me a date so I can know.

When I married Ernst at almost 29 years old, all my worldly possessions fit into the back of a pickup truck. My roommate before that was my sister, and she made more money so she just bought what we needed for our apartment. My kitchen stuff before my bridal showers consisted of a set of 4 dishes, a frying pan and a wooden spoon. My clothes fit in a tiny utility closet that was so shallow I had to use children's hangers. Life was so simple.

Then came the showers, which were so fun. I loved the kitchen gifts. Bowls! Pans! Baking supplies! Stuff! I was finally an adult. I set up my/our new apartment with such care, nice and neat, nice and organized. Then came Ernst. And his stuff. And more stuff. But wait, there was more. After months and months, I worked hard through mono and new marriage to incorporate our two styles: Feng Shui meets Dumpster Dive Depot. It seemed to hold together through six different places and three towns. Our life was more complicated, but still under control.

After wasting another half hour of my life last night looking for something that could not be located, I had a thought. Why own it if you can't find it? Why have it if you don't know where it is? My family went through a one room everything burned up fire when I was younger, so I know the heartache that losing things all at once can cause. But what about those disasters when you have about 20 minutes to get out all the sentimental stuff and legal papers, and then all the other is just gone? Could a garage tornado be arranged? An office tsunami? A closet flood?

October will be for Organizing, that is the plan. If I take one little thing a day: a drawer one night, one shelf the next day; not looking at the house as a whole, but in 31 segments, after the month is over I could make a decent dent. Touch it once, that is the goal. Find a home for it or shred it or donate it or toss it. Where are my cute little letter stamps? Why here they are, right where they belong! Where are those adorable little stickers to add to little kid cards? Well, by George here they are where they belong! Molly's Skunk Be Gone, heart worm meds and flea/tick stuff?  Wow, how cool, they aren't in the kitchen with our food, but with all the other dog stuff. WHERE IS IT? IT IS RIGHT HERE. What a concept! O is for October. O is for Organize. O is for chOcOlate?

Peppering Pecks of Pickles

It was a clean out the refrigerator afternoon. I pride myself in very rarely having to throw out food. I love the challenge of using every last thing and not letting any surprises from the produce drawer reach out and grab me.

Having recently become an apron fan, I slapped that baby on and went to work. I made a fat free pear crisp, which is basically sliced pears drizzled with maple syrup, sprinkled with cinnamon, covered with oatmeal and baked. It smells like fall around here. Ernst will be thrilled; he is a cobbler kind of guy, even if now that means the vegan variety.

Pickled peppers (and carrots, zucchini and cucumbers)

Next I made Spicy Zucchini Pickles, plus some regular kind with cucumbers and some pickled carrots and pickled peppers, no joke. If it came from the earth, it was fair game. I found this easy refrigerator method of making them, using zucchini spears. They are super easy, super yummy and you can make them in no time. The recipe starts spicy, so either cut down on the hot pepper flakes, or have a beer handy. I also put in fresh dill instead of the seed, and left out the mustard seed and forgot the garlic another time. Basically you need the vinegar and salt, the rest is mix, match and mess up.

Last, I juiced the remaining veggies in the house. I used carrots, celery, cabbage, ginger, some zucchini that got left from the pickle process and an apple. When I first started juicing, I needed to have a lot of fruit in it to enjoy, but now I can take mostly veggies and just enough fruit to sweeten it. I just don't get it, but I feel so great on the stuff. It's like my body senses all the nutrition coming down the chute and decides to be good so it will get more in the future. It makes a great big colorful mess, and I can't stand cleaning it up. But when I am done and I have that jar of veggie power at the end, it is worth it. Ideally, one should juice often and not store it. Ideally, the person that says that can give me a newer version juicer. For now, I think my way is just fine. So the fridge is clean, my floors have been wiped down, the worms in the compost pile are rejoicing and all is good. As long as I don't look at the laundry pile, that is.

Why I hate juicing.

Why I love it. (Bonus points for naming the compost pile mystery.)

Don't Count Your Chicken Quilt Before it is Matched

too good to be true

Today would have been such a great quilt day. Our meeting was moved for the third week in a row to Friday, so today seems unending. The weather is perfect. Ernst is home, so we get to hang out.

With all that going for me, I took my whole quilting operation outside and set up shop. I cut out all the squares I needed plus the batting. I even ironed the squares, and if you know me you know I abhor ironing. I sewed all the Xs outside in the gorgeous weather, with my faithful companion Molly Malone. So what's the problem?

When my color challenged husband told me some of the squares were not working, I knew things were bad. This is a man who looks at me very puzzled when I describe a red as a "yellow red" verses a "blue red". He is so cute to think all greens are green. So when he decided some of my colors were wrong, I halted the entire project, brought the equipment inside and decided to let my chicken quilt sit for a while.

Well, maybe it's actually a rooster?

The original chicken fabric is so incredibly gorgeous, I really need to do right by it. It was a piece of designer fabric sample that I got at the thrift store. After cutting it, I now know how really cool it is. It has the chickens, but also a more subtle pattern of chicken wire sort of embossed in it too. Somewhere out there is the perfect fabric I need to tie this whole thing together, but after tearing through my depleted stash, I know it isn't here.

So what to do with the perfect day? If I were smart, I would spend some time getting ready for my job interview tomorrow. But maybe a nap would be more productive. This chick needs her beauty rest.

Sewing the Funky Chicken

Upper Lake, CA

We just got back from a weekend to Upper Lake, Ernst had a talk there. We stayed in a house overlooking fields, horses and red barns. The weather cooled down and I am in the quilt mood big time.

a bit of rain this morning cleared the skies

There is a decidedly rural theme going through my latest quilts. Sheep, farms, cows and gingerbread men and women. I don't think this phase is done just yet. I've had a chicken themed quilt in my head for a while, and I think it is time to get it out of my system.

Even Molly was invited by our wonderful hosts!

I may pull that dark fabric, it seems a bit strong

My Moldovan friend Galina has asked me why I have yet to make a quilt named after her. I have been waiting for one with the right character, because she certainly is one. When I first learned her name, I would confuse it with the Romanian word for chicken, so this one will be named after her.

the latest arrivals

I was waiting to pick up one more chicken themed fabric, and I cracked up when I came home last week to find this on our kitchen table. A friend of mine who sews had sent it home with Ernst. It has cows too, but if I cut it up right I can make one chicken quilt and then make a cow quilt in the future. 

this one got the idea in my head

Zidul este terminat

The Great Wall Build of 2011

The original wall we copied

I have a new appreciation for walls. I drive around now and notice them everywhere. I wonder how long they have stood, if there are any boo boos in them, and if professionals or amateurs put them up.

This photo is what existed on our KH property as of last week. It ran the entire length of the east property line. I don't know why this was installed but the rest left undone. The neighbors planted trees and vines and we are enjoying the benefits. Running on the south and west end of the property, there was a mishmash of chain link and wooden fences that looked a bit tattered. I can't believe I didn't take a before and after, but such is life.

For every pro...

...about six newbies

Serious hard hat hair

Nina working hard

Blazing hot, but we had to keep going

Experienced wall builders

Not RBC approved footwear

Striking, joining, or as we said, "spreading the goop"

Enjoying the shade in the neighbor's yard

The lot gets new blacktop and striping this weekend, then it is done

Even the praying mantis was asking for a nice delta breeze, please. But we survived, we drank gobs of water and had loads of fun. The two huge projects on our hall this year were done in either freezing windy downpours or blazing hot weather. And in four languages: Russian, Romanian, Sign Language and English. Yet, we had a blast. But please no more for a while. I have hit the ZID!