English - very annoyed, angryObviously, I was pondering the difference in the meaning of words between American English and British English. But why that word? Was I annoyed and/or angry? Don't think I was drunk. So ... I hope that tidbit of information is helpful to you in some way.
urban dictionary - pissed (british) - drunk
Her flight left Kansas City at 11:45 - so we subtracted driving time, plus the usual hour pre-flight check-in and determined we needed to leave at 9:00 a.m. Wrong. We needed to leave by 8:30 or possibly 8:00. We realized the math error about halfway to the airport and Dave did his best impersonation of a NASCAR driver, but we arrived 25 minutes before departure and they refused to let her on the plane. I understood their point that the luggage had already been loaded, so I offered to keep her bag (she'll be home again in 2 weeks) if they would just put her on the plane. No dice. Even though we could see the plane still sitting at the gate, a rule is a rule no matter how stupid, so we booked her on a flight out the next morning and took her home. She and Dave left at 3:00 a.m. to make sure she made this flight - which she did with an hour to spare. And once again the plan is moving smoothly. 
On Saturday, I wrote a post about giving up on quilting. I won't bother to recap it here - if you are interested, you can find it here. Basically, it's about doing what I enjoy rather than what I think I should be doing. What's in a name? What is a quilter? Yes, it is someone who makes quilts, but how do you define quilt? It is much more than a large bed sized combination of fabric layers that is harder to push though the harp space of a domestic sewing machine than it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. There are small landscape wall hangings, there are place mats, there are vests, aprons, table runners ,etc. that still fit the classical definition of a small quilt.
And then there is the non-classic, but equally valid definition of quilting ... the piecing together of different aspects of life. I love your book reviews, your Zentangle posts, your points of view on life under construction. If this is not the patchwork of life, then what is?
We all have projects we do not like. Maybe they are a requested color palette for someone else that we ourselves do not care for. Maybe it is a technique that is just not our preference. I love the look of paper piecing and have tried it but it does not float my boat to do it. There are so many worthy books out there that I have given my self permission to not finish those that I have given a fair chance and still hold no appeal to me. You are not quitting because you are not a quitter. You are making a wise choice based on getting to know yourself better. So, by your tight definition, you say you are not a quilter. If you define quilter that way then maybe in your mind you are not. Well change that "l" to a "t" and you are not a quitter, either.
The Ho-Ho-Ho-Readathon has begun! A week of fun with other Christmas-loving book lovers. My goal for the week is to read at least three Christmas-themed books. In my sign-up post I posted a picture of nine un-read Christmas books I found on my own bookcases. From that stack, I have selected "O Little Town" by Don Reid (member of the Statler Brothers) and "Murder Under the Mistletoe" by Jennifer Jordan. 
I also have a Christmas-themed book club selection to read during November, so that is the third book on my goal list - "Christmas Crimes" by Anne Perry ("A Christmas Homecoming" and "A Christmas Garland") On a side note - this book is actually two of Ms. Perry's earlier novels, repackaged and sold to suckers like me who don't read the fine print - one of my biggest book-peeves. But oh well, the price for the Nook Book version was very good for two complete novels. 
The Ho-Ho-Ho-Readathon features seven challenges which are open throughout the week. One of them, The Purr-fect Holiday Reading List Challenge, is hosted by Melissa @ Mocha, Mysteries and Meows. Melissa asks us to share our all-time favorite Christmas books. That's not as easy as it sounds because it's a long list, but these three are on my shelves and have been re-read at least once - sure signs of a favorite book.
Remember the World's Wildest Quilt I've been making for Amanda? It was my first attempt at machine quilting each block individually and then assembling. I finished four blocks and put them together just to see what I thought. I thought I liked the design but hated the process. I forced myself to trudge on and quilt two more blocks, then it sat in stacks on my cutting table - getting in the way of every other project I worked on - just to remind me that I need to get moving. She'll be home December 10th.
In craft-related news. A friend of Dave's bought a commercial building that has been sitting, unused, for years. At one point, there was a second-hand store of some sort in a portion of the building. We could see through the windows that there were shelves and shelves of books, so Dave got permission for us to see if anything was salvageable before they do a mass clean-up. As we figured, dust, water and mice had destroyed most of the books, and many of what remained were Harlequin romances. We did go home with a couple boxes of books, a basket, a couple hand tools, a Burger King toy from mid-90's -still sealed in the package (turns out to be worth about $4), and a promise from the new owner that we get dibs on the sewing machines we spotted, but couldn't get to without unstacking heaps of other junk. Plus - a copy of Do-It-Yourself magazine from 1959. The contents are mostly about jewelry making, nothing I could really use, so I framed it and it will hang in my sewing room - just as soon as I figure out how to hang things on concrete walls.
The first one was so much fun, I decided to make another using some of Asian panels and coordinates that I also picked up at the Shop Hop. Since I only bought a fat quarter of each of the coordinates, the first hurdle was making a 36" strip from a fat quarter. It took a bit to figure out, but I'm pretty proud of how well the pattern lines up at the seam.
The next question was the trim along the curve. Bias strips of the batik coordinate made the first trim, but I like the look of the two trims on the first runner (gray strip plus black rick-rack). I auditioned a blue batik that matches the blue in the butterflies, and then a green that matches the flowers at the bottom. Neither one looked quite right. 
Grab those holiday theme books and bring your holiday spirit. Prepare to enter challenges, win prizes, meet new friends and Twitter chat with us. You can join for a day or sit by the fire and hang out every day. The more you participate the more entries you will earn for the Participant Giveaway.Rules and other details, as well as the spot to sign up, can be found here. I don't see anything about setting a goal for number of books read, pages read, time reading - - just read. So - I'm going to start by selecting from this stack of books that I collected from my own bookshelf:
I'm too old to pull an all-nighter! I had a wonderful readathon, enjoyed it immensely, but it's harder to recover from sleep deprivation than it was in college. By 6:00 a.m. on Sunday (Hour 23) my brain was so muddled that I totally forgot to post the answer to my mini-challenge puzzle. Here are the fourteen books represented in the puzzle:
Another readathon is nearly over, and I'm already looking forward to April. A huge "thank you" to the lovely ladies who put this together. As always, I didn't read as much as I thought I would - but I've learned to live with that. Dewey's Readathon is about reading - but it's also about the community of readers and bloggers. It's about having fun - sometimes in a very nerdy way - with a group of people who totally get it. 
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