Getting Prepared for Celebration

Happy 4th of July!

Two days ago, I made a big haul to the grocery store (scoring a cool 39% savings at Safeway, although, admittedly, it was for Gatorade, snacks, chips, and candy for the party), then to another store to get meat for the grill, milk, frozen foods and other necessities.  Kelly sent out invites to his group of soccer fiends to join us for a July 4th BBQ and soccer night--the Sounders are playing the Galaxy in LA and it'll be televised.  I thought it would be a great pre-fireworks show!

Unfortunately, all the invitees have declined due to other plans, so I don't think anyone's coming over, so we'll be having a quiet night at home watching the game, then lighting off fireworks.  We were invited to visit friends further south, who are wonderful hosts and delightful friends, but having done it the last couple of years, we decided we didn't want to stay out that late with the kids again and fight traffic all the way home.  We'll light off the 'works that we have, eat some good tenderloin, maybe I'll pick up some 'tater salad (I've got a coupon!!  Although I'm the only one who'd eat it, so maybe not...), some lettuce salad, fruit (can't seem to keep it stocked in the house), and s'more fixins.

I got the newsletter finished for the quilt guild...yep, Helium Hands strikes again!  Actually, I was volun-told to do it.  Since I offered the services of the Pirates for the Quilt Show, they decided to return the favor and volunteer me for the newly-opened secretary position.  Not sure why, but the secretary suddenly resigned her office last month, so I was asked by my "friends" to finish out the year.  I figured it would be fine to squeeze it in among the other things I'm doing...I think...  I got the July edition done yesterday and sent it out to the membership yesterday, with the exception of two people who don't have computers.  I find that remarkable in this day and age, but one of them I spoke to about it--she said "I'm 75 years old.  I'm not going to try to learn how to use one now."  Besides a steep learning curve, there's a lot of expense with owning and managing a computer--it's almost like owning a car.  Another reason why I think it's silly to have a bank of computers at elementary schools that need constant upgrades, maintenance, virus protection, and replacing abused/broken parts (mice & keyboards).  High school...yes...but only in the library and teachers.  Elementary...no.  Most of us didn't touch a computer until high school or later and turned out just fine.  Anyway, I have Rose's address, but I don't have Carol's.  Not that I can mail it out today anyway...but tomorrow!

I've been picking away at the pile of scraps, bagging them up, and trying to clear the decks in my creative space.  Unfortunately, it seems that the more I work at it, the less clear it gets.  WTF?  I've emptied two boxes and a grocery sack full of scraps, and the stacks just keep getting higher.  I think I have to just move some stuff out of the way so I stop bruising my shins.  Probably the yarns--I'll have to figure out a storage system for that.

I also have a quilt still on the frame that needs to get finished.  I started it more than a week ago, but the organization project put a damper on the progress...but now it needs to get done.  I have about two weeks to get this one and another one or two done before the next guild meeting so I can hand these American Heroes quilts off to Susan.  I've lost count how many of these things I've done...somewhere in the teens, I think.

In the meantime, I have a couple hours to myself--Kelly took the kids to the theatre.  Emma went with two friends *alone*, but since he didn't want her to be alone in the building, he took the younger two to another movie at the same time.  Sadly, it's a 3D movie, which bugs my eyes to watch (it's an amblyopia thing), so I'm trying to get some stuff done around here.

I mean besides shootin' the schmit with Facebook friends...

K