New things...

Good morning everyone! Stu is off doing a DB (Disciplinary Barracks) 10K this morning so the kids and I are having a nice slow start, and it is fantastic.

I think the kids have been going to school for 3 weeks now and I really love all that they are coming home with, they are bubbling over with all that they have learned. I adore it when I am standing at the bus stop with some of the other moms and the kids explode out of the bus with their little hands full of their art work and math sheets. It is total chaos for about 20 minutes while they skip home, tell me about their wonderful day, drop their little backpacks, grab a snack, give me a hug then dash outside to play with their friends.

It is not so much WHAT they are learning as the attitude in which learning is approached. Emma and Ethan have been leaving me little scribbled notes all over and they are so beautiful.

So let me get on to my week now that I have gushed a bit about my babies. Sam (my 4 year old) is on all the preschool wait lists in town. So for now he and I are buddies. He has been very helpful this week while I hunt down pairs of Munki Munki PJs. Rachel, my flicker friend, emailed me last week letting me know that Munki Munki PJs are at Marshall's! That was all it took to make me a crazy woman driving all over Kansas and Missouri pawing through racks of "Intimate Apparel". My search was fruitful and now I am the proud owner of Sushi, Ice cream trucks, Martians, and Yoga. I swapped some Yoga with Rachel for tennis. Yes, I know this probably sounds like a code or secret language or sick obsession...but without my lovely fabric collection to rearrange and set up in "color stories" I have to do something! I even called my mom in NC and asked her to go to her Marshall's and see if they had any PJs. All this driving has an upside. I am over my fear of driving in the US (I am still a little apprehensive at roundabouts - so I much prefer it when other cars are in them so I don't have to think about which direction to drive) also I now know where all the fancy shopping areas are in Missouri. I still need to hunt down brick and mortar quilt shops, but I will have heaps of time later.

I went to the guild meeting Thursday night and brought along my version of their challenge quilt. The challenge was "any sized quilt with a bear paw block, a house, and you had to use the colors red and orange" Wellsir...there are some wickedly skilled ladies at the guild here in Kansas. Holy Cow...I felt like a complete baby. It was funny looking at my quilt beside all the other challenges. Mine was the ONLY crazy irregular LOUD piece. The tune "One of things is doing their own thing" kept running through my mind. One of the ladies came up to me after the voting and wanted to buy my little quilt...but I was not sure if she was going to use it in some program about how NOT to quilt or maybe she just felt sorry for me. So I told her it was not finished. I quite like it, myself. Now I am very excited to learn from these ladies. And every other one seems to own a Gammill Long arm which is a dream for me in the future. Their show and tell segment was very humbling for me as well.

Speaking of quilting...I am going to be making another quilt for Michelle Engel Benscko. Hustle up OZ shipment and get here!