Comparative Studies

Challenge within a Challenge

I thought that finishing a quilt in 30 days, even a partially completed one, was a pretty big challenge. I was feeling pretty full of myself that I would take on this great feat, and publicly no less. But no, my friend throws in the mix, in the middle of the mix, a quilt in an afternoon challenge. And I still call her a friend.

Discussing Binding Tape

(very cool invention for quilter's doing crazy challenges)

I was sewing like the devil. My needle was flying. (cue music "Devil Went Down to Georgia" ) The lights were intense over the work stations. I was sewing, sewing. sewing.

(cut music: lights up.

Scene: family spaghetti dinner - discussion: American Political History

Cue elevator Musak - several bars of Girl from Ipanema)

(cut lights: back to sewing stations.

cue music: Devil Went Down to Georgia.)

Oh, it was grueling. But, I was up to the challenge. Filling bobbins, cleaning bobbin casings, letting the thread fly again through the needle. Oh the intensity of it all...

In the end, the devil won. I didn't do it. I wasn't able to construct a quilt in an afternoon. For that matter, I got up there at 1:30 p.m. or so and didn't leave until 10 p.m.-ish. I did get all the way to the binding, that got sewn on but needs adjusting (I kinda screwed up...). There's maybe 45 minutes of work left on the quilt. It's an hour drive home out of the mountains and lord knows the devil takes 'em when they's tired.

My machine is back on the table at home here, but still in the case. I don't want to open the case on an overheated sewing machine. Best to let it cool a bit...

Concentration on Beethoven

It must have been five years ago now that I read a statistic stating listening to Beethoven while studying is conducive to concentration and retention of information. God knows, I have no idea where I came across this stuff. I suppose I could Google it now and find something similar. Of course, I believe everything I find when I am surfing the web. I tried it out back then and to tell the truth it seems to work. Lately, I've been having a hard time staying seated at my desk, getting bills paid, getting stories edited, getting things even written for that matter. I want to do these things. I feel better when the bills are paid and stories are churning out of me. I just have no patience to sit and DO those things. Until this weekend.

This weekend I put on Pandora Radio a Beethoven channel. About the time I feel I "should" be sitting down to get things done I pull up Pandora, click on the Beethoven channel and within a few minutes I feel myself drawn to sit down and start typing - typing all sorts of stuff, for god's sake. This has been going for now for three or four days and I'm having a hard time leaving the desk. This is insane!

Turn off the radio!! Turn off the radio!!

:D

Cheeseheads

Yes, we are Cheeseheads. And PROUD of it! We now have the cheese to prove it. Go Peeackers Go!! I so love SuperBowl Sunday. Valentines Day is nothing compared to SuperBowl Sunday.

Hmm...interesting. I've started writing in the "we" instead of the "I" mode. I come home and either make dinner or get served dinner. No more popcorn for dinner. The girls want a real meal. After dinner last night Thing Two picked up the guitar and played me "Blackbird" from the Beatles. Two nights ago she had come into my room with a handwritten piece of paper of bar chords. She wanted me to show her finger placement. We talked about bar chords, finger strength, learning new stuff. Last night she played a tune for me. Several times she played it actually. I so appreciate the guitar the girls presented to me for my birthday last month. It had been three years since a musical instrument had been in the house. I missed it. Last night I was reminded why.

Family is forever. Music is comforting. Love does last.

Fast Lane

Lee Oskar

Clubbing on a Friday night and then running up 5 flights of stairs from the waterfront to the city, up 5 dark city blocks downtown at 1 am to catch the last bus of the night- don't tell me I don't live in the fast lane. Thank you for running with me. And Lee Oskar, among others, are worth it.

There is nothing like live music - Lee is a must see!

http://www.leeoskar.com/netradio_music.html