Scrappy Hearts

Being Bunkey

Tonight my BFF does what she does best, being Bunkey. Thursdays will be the nights that we hang out together. We have signed up for a quilt class on Thursday nights and on those Thursdays where there is no class, we will hang out at her house and quilt. Just to make sure I remember this, Bunkey bought me a special datebook where I will keep track of all my scheduled appointments with her. She cracks me up! Tonight, just to be sure I was on the ball, she and I coordinated schedules. Everything seems to be working out fine, for now. She has informed me that my work schedule is interfering with her, I have been instructed to work on that. Yup, there she is, being Bunkey!

Movie Night

My husband loves movies. Really loves movies. We are lucky because our local theater offers $5 movies all day on Wednesday. Over the weekend Mark asked if we could have a movie night. Usually, he will go out and I will stay home. Or, because we have Netflix, sometimes he rents movies and then settles down at his computer with the large screen and watches them in his office. Again, I am not as much of a movie person. 

This week was different. 

So, after my mammogram and dinner at Panera. I was ready for a movie. Mark decided we needed to stay in. Little did I know that he had rented a romantic movie that he thought I would like.Before Sunset, with Ethan Hawke was tonight's main feature. We had seen Before Sunrise in December and this is the sequel, 9 years later. Good, good movie. Good, good night!

Project Life 2013, Week 4

Week 4 already, I really can't believe it! This was a pretty uneventful week, as weeks tend to go.There were quite a few photos taken this week. On Sunday and Monday I focused on taking down Christmas. I really enjoyed having the extra day on the weekend. It did snow a bit on Monday, but not enough to even give us a delayed opening on Tuesday. Not that it would have mattered, because at 5:30 I woke up really sick. I have never called out that early in the morning and trying to do lesson plans when I felt as bad as I did was just awful! Fortunately it was just a 24 hour bug and after sleeping all day, I was back to normal on Wednesday.Wednesday I went to the gym. Jess also went to the gym for the first time on Wednesday. She called me as soon as she was heading home. So happy she was able to swim! So happy she posted a picture of herself!

Mark and I tried a couple of "new" vegan recipes for dinner this week.

I tried to stay a bit later at work a couple of nights to try and get a handle on things. I am also trying to get up a little earlier each day. Baby steps...

We had a wonderfully snowy evening on Friday. I just love being inside when the snow is falling outside. I feel so warm and cozy! Saturday was a day for running errands. We went in two separate directions and finally ended up together around 7. I do not like being out and about on the weekends. I need to be more mindful of that during the week so that I can be home more on Saturday and Sunday. Well, there it is, Week Four - complete!

Tonight I will be linking up over at The Mom Creative where Jessica is sharing her process of taking old photos out of magnetic albums and putting them into Project Life photo pages and binders. I think I should do that. My old photos are not in albums, they are in boxes. How often do we really look at the boxes? Time to get them out and into albums where they can be seen. Also, once I see all of the photos, I will be reminded of the stories I want to share and then I can make layouts. I think that's a plan!

Ali Edwards' also posted a couple of her weeks, playing catch up, during this past week. I always love her Project Life spreads!

As always, if you are interested at all in Project Life, please give Becky Higgins a look-see. Have a magical week friends!

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Hello Project Life, 2013

The Short List

Bunkey had this great idea. She has lots of them now that she's retired. She decided that we needed to create a short list, six projects (quilting), that absolutely must be done by the end of June. Not somewhat done, not quilt top done, but completely done. That's a huge challenge for me. I tend to work on many projects at a time. Once done, they may sit for another couple of months waiting for me to do the binding. So, to finish 6 projects, completely, that is nearly impossible. 

So, I played along. I selected six projects. I will try to get them done, but I am not making any promises. Just don't tell Bunkey!

The first, this flannel beauty that has been sitting on my quilt rack, nearly done for over 5 years. I made a mistake and have been avoiding that reality. Time to fix the mistake and get the darn quilt finished! The next project selected is my Chocolate Hugs and Kisses. This is the quilt that I started with Bunkey, back in 2011. Unfortunately, that class began at the same time Bunkey was diagnosed with cancer. The quilt is now nearly done. Just two more borders and then off to the long-arm quilter. I think this is one of my favorites, it's probably one of Mark's favorites also!That quilt may be the easiest to finish, just because it is one that I have been working on recently and I am in the mode of completely it.

Next up, a Valentine's Day applique. Again, a quilt that has a mistake. I tend to hide those quilts and not return to them. But this project is small and manageable. A perfect addition to the short list!Another quilt that made the short list, the 30's buck-a-block that I think I started in 2003. This quilt is pieced, just awaiting a border. That was the issue. The border is called twinkling stars. For a couple of years I had lost the directions. Now that I have the directions, it has just felt a bit too overwhelming to attempt. But, there is no time but the present. I think I will need to plan the finishing of this quilt out. First the cutting, then the piecing of the star blocks, and finally, the addition of the border to the quilt. This quilt will also go to the long-arm ladies so I need to allow enough time for that!The next quilt is one that I started for myself, I think in 2005. It was a mystery and once I saw the dark blue border go on, I became very disallusioned with the quilt. Since it was a mystery, I had no idea where each of the fabrics would fall and I just wasn't happy with the way it was looking. Well, I have had enough of it being un-done. This is on the short list so I can decide, once and for all, will I keep it or not! It will be nearly a king-sized quilt, big enough for my bed. Time to get it done!The last quilt to make the short this is one of my favorites. It is a shabby chic quilt and I picked it up on the shop hop maybe in 2007. It involves sewing together the blocks, slashing them, and then putting them together in a different order. I got myself all hung up on the order of the re-assembly. It hung on the design wall for months. Well, last night I stuck the pieces into pile and planned their re-assembly based on how they turned up in the piles. Done. Now I will sew them and the quilt will be on its way to being done.There it is, the short list. The quilt projects that will be done by June 30th. I am hoping they will not be the only quilts done by that time, but at least it's a start!

Feeding the Addiction

Not me, I blame this on Bunkey. But the truth is, I am not sure how to move ahead. You see, Bunkey was in LA last week. I innocently asked her to check out Starbucks for a city mug. You know how I love them! In any case, today she arrived at my house with two, yes, TWO Los Angeles city mugs. 

The first, a total surprise! The style of mug I had originally started collecting, way back in 2006, on my trip to Las Vegas. And, at that time, I was only able to get the Christmas tree ornament sized mug.My kitchen is blue and white, this style of mug works so well with my kitchen and, it holds 18 ounces. I now have New York, Seattle, the Las Vegas mini and now, LA. I can't believe she found it! 

Next, I was expecting the city mug that I have come so used to collecting, not sure what color it would be, but was I surprised!Wow - I hadn't even considered collecting the newest of the city mugs. Don't you love it? I had seen the new one in New York, but I never bought it. Now, I will need to, just so this LA mug is not lonely.

Anyway, I just love the yellow taxi on the New York mug! 

Thought for a Winter’s Night

Winter is the time of promise

because there is so little to do

- or because you can now and then

permit yourself the luxury of thinking so. 

~Stanley Crawford

Setting Goals

and moving forward. This year I joined the Mullica Hill Tri Club. I had been stalking the group on Facebook, receiving all of their updates and wanting to be a part of the camaraderie last year. So, when membership opened up for this year, I signed up and took the challenge. The challenge I committed to, to do an iron-man tri in the 6 weeks from January 1st until February 11th. Here it is, with less than three weeks to go.Total miles biked, 62.5 leaving 49.5 to go. Total swim, 1 mile with 1.4 miles to go before February 11th. Finally, total miles run, 16.1 with 10.1 to go before the opening rally. I think I am in pretty good shape to finish strong!

I downloaded these handi weekly record keeping pages from here. It makes record keeping very easy. Perhaps next year, if I keep this working out stuff up, I will purchase a log so that I can keep track of food and other variables. But for this year, this is perfect!

Tonight when I walked in the door after my workout, my phone started ringing. Guess who? It was my dear daughter and she too was walking home from the gym. Her first time back in the pool in years. So proud of my baby! I'm not sure, but I think her word for 2013 is "lean". Maybe she's a bit more like her mother than anyone cares to admit!

Project Life 2013, Week 3

The beginning of the year brings with it a great deal of nesting and hanging around the house. Project Life spreads during the early months of the year are pretty simple and to the point. There is not much need for extra inserts and I find myself struggling some days to even take one photo. Such is the rhythm of our lives at this point.There is plenty of sewing, writing and tea drinking happening. Last week Mark was in NYC Sunday and Monday so I had a real quiet couple of days just crafting about. Now that I think about it, I should probably include some of the photos that Mark took while he was out on his political adventures. Oh well, it is a work in progress!

I decided to include the wrappers from our most recent choice of teas. We do tend to drink tea most evenings, a little ritual of sorts. We are still loving all of our Starbucks' mugs, I even let Mark use my most recent acquisition while I savored Christmas tea in my NYC Christmas Starbucks' mug from 2008.With the start of the new year also comes the start of training challenges. Right now I am on track to run 26.2 miles, swim 2.4 miles, and ride 112 miles by February 11th. It feels good to have a schedule of activities.

Mark was out of town again on Thursday so come Friday we were ready for some alone time. Dinner out, for two, was just what we needed. Jessie received the package I sent her at her new office on Friday and posted the picture I included above. I have been better about trying to include photos that she posts, I wish Jason would share some photos! Oh well, I will just have to make the time to visit him!There it is, in all its glory, Project Life 2013, Week 3. Have I ever mentioned how much I just love this project!?!

I will be linking up over at The Mom Creative, where today she talks about her Project Life scrappin' goals for the year. It has really given me a good idea about how to handle all of those photos I currently have in boxes where they are seen by no one! Time to get them out and at least into pages so they can be seen!

It Was Time

Even I felt it, Christmas had to go away. This was the perfect weekend to take care of that - three days of nothing on the agenda. Well, as of tonight, it is almost completely away. There is still one tree standing.This tree is even beautiful without ornaments. The problem with this tree is that it is 10.5 feet tall. It is stored in two tree bags and I alone cannot lift any part of this tree on my own. Once I take it down, the two bags sit in my living-room. I am voting for keeping it up this year, what do you think?

In other news, the rest of our combined Christmas decorations were co-mingled and I was able to eliminate at least two boxes from the storage area in the garage.

Taking down Christmas took all three days and started like this on Saturday.During the off-season, much of Christmas resides in a trunk in our family room. This year I was extremely methodical about the way items were placed in the trunk. My goal was to free up some room in the garage to store all seven of our trees.This year I also took the time to fix broken ornaments before putting them away. I do not like having to do that while I am rushing to get Christmas up. I am feeling very proud of my work this weekend as you can tell.

I think, before I put away the tree, I am also going to take the time to replace any bulbs that are not working. That should make getting ready for the season, next year, a little easier. Next year Thanksgiving is later so we will have less time to get it all together, if you know what I mean!

Now, before setting things up the way they were before the holiday, I am taking some time to think about what I want our living-room to look like. So, for a couple of days at least, our mantel and other flat surfaces will be a bit naked. Oh well, not much to look at, but plenty to think about!

Dinner Date

My husband surprised me by suggesting dinner "out" this evening, and not Panera. Wow, what a treat. We had a wonderful evening of reconnecting after several days of running in separate directions. It was magical!Our meal was delicious and we even treated ourselves to dessert!Although I am not sure how we managed that after eating all of this food! After dinner we spent a good hour browsing at Barnes & Noble. Trouble with a capital "T". We are just too much alike in our love of words and our need to acquire books! It was such a fun evening and the perfect way to start the long weekend. Grateful for this time together after such a hectic week.