Quilt Block of the Month, number 1

Hi, for those of you who don't know, I signed up for a quilt block of the month club, it runs from July to December. I honestly have no idea what this thing is going to look like when its done, only that it will be in fall type colors. Here is month one.
This is all a direct result of one of my coworkers taking it upon herself to introduce me and one other lady to her addiction... quilting. She took me around on a "shop hop", which means going around to all the quilt shops on the list to get free patters and/or fabric to make blocks. The one we went on was a state wide thing over the course of two weeks. (No, we did not do all 39 shops, there was no way that we were going to drive across the state. We only hit 21 in the Portland/Eugene/Coast areas. And yes, I spent way to much money.) I picked up some patterns and fabric, if I actually get anything done I will post it here.
In other news I participated in I-Serve, which is a program at my church for community service. So the last weekend in June, I spent the day painting the boys bathroom at the local middle school. It was fun, (hot, muggy, and smelly, but fun.) A lady painting the girls bathroom was singing and it echoed into the boys bathroom, so I joined in and we had a lovely little surround sound thing going.

Flower Power

Today I deprived myself of sleep, and loved it. I went with two coworkers to the Iris gardens. :-) They were so absolutely beautiful. The only way it could have been better is if it hadn't been raining, and we weren't freezing our tails off. (I still loved it.) Some of you may already know, but for the rest of you, Irises happen to be my favorite flower. So, for your veiwing pleasure I have included a few of my favorite things.

Whats a girl to do

So, what do you do when you are bored at 4am? What if your bored at 4am and your mother bought you a subscription to Birds and Blooms magazine? Weird how somethings just happen. Not the best, and no scanner, so only a photo.

Make over...

Well, I don't really know why I did it, but I went out and had my eyebrows waxed. It was a shock to look at myself in the mirror afterward, not to say that I didn't like it, I just thought that I looked so different. Then I asked Becky to take a picture of me to post, and she wanted to do my makeup first. So here is my first glamour shot. Interesting no? I would post a before picture first, but I couldn't find a face shot easily, and as you can tell by the time on the post, it is past my bedtime, so this is all you get. What do you think?

Ok, you can laugh if you want to...

All you native Oregonians probably will laugh, go ahead, I don't mind a bit. Saturday night was a very taxing night at work, and when I got home Sunday morning I was mentally and emotionally drained. It was all I could do to drag myself out of the car and tackle the stairs to my apartment. But when I was half way up the steps, I noticed something on the wall, right about head high. A little pick me up gift from God. It was a Praying Mantis!!! (Cue laughter) I was really excited, I have never seen one, only pictures. So I ran inside and got my camera, and as I was taking pictures of it, it tipped its head back and look straight at me, like it was posing for the camera. The girls at work just smiled and nodded, and giggled, but I am still excited. So Here it is, I named it Bob.

Long overdue update

Ok, so its been a little while since I was on here. All right, more than a little while. Point being its time to update. Well what have I done lately? Not to much, maybe thats why I don't update often. Well in July Matt and I watched the fireworks here in Stayton. We missed about half of the show, but it was still nice. The hospital picnic was in July, but it was less than interesting. Thats about all I rememeber from July. Lets see, in August Becky asked me to baby sit, so I did... during the DAY... I know, you all think that is perfectly normal don't you... well I only have one thing to say about that... phssst, weirdos. I helped a co-worker with her wedding (I severed food and picked up afterward.) Matt took me to the beach again, and we flew a kite. This Thurs I went with one of my supervisors to pick blueberries, but the U-Pick place we went to said the blue berries were all done for the season, so we picked peaches instead. I went to another wedding for a co-worker this Sat, and she wanted me to wear my costume. Then she took a pic of me in front of the bouncy castle that she had rented. Thad and Matt and I went black berry picking yesterday. My hands are all scratched and my finger nails are purple, but I still had a great time. We made out like bandits, and fetched in enough berries for 12 or more pies. Matt is taking several pies worth back to Montana with him when he moves home next month. Thats all I can really think of right now... I know, I should do better, but thats the best I can come up with at 6 something in the morning. Better luck next time.

Vacation

Well, I just got back from vacation in Montana. Matthew and I car pooled up there, we had an absolutely marvelous time. Even the ten hour car trips had a certain element of fun... but that's what you get when you stuff Matt, Marjorie and caffeine in the same car for that long of time. Upon our arrival, Pedro and Mickey nearly mowed us over in effort to prove who had missed us the most. On Tuesday, we drove down to Hamilton and met up with Cheri, who took us flying. We went up in a little four seat Cessna and flew from Hamilton to St Ignacius and back again. The flight was smooth, hardly any turbulence, and great visibility. On Wednesday Matt went back down to the Hamilton area, and I got mom and dad, and the puppies all to myself... oh the suffering. :-) Most of what I did for the rest of the week consisted of popping into Joann's several times to see my coworkers, and sewing(mom helped me fit a dress pattern.) Not very exciting you say? I know, but I liked it. Tom and Adrienne drove down from Helena and Billings respectively to see me on Friday night. We had our annual community birthday party, watched a movie and ate pie. Unfortunately I had to send them off first thing on Saturday, since Tom's brother was getting married, and Tom was in the wedding. After I kicked them out, we all(mom, dad, Matt and I) attended Nick and Alena's wedding reception at the church. We ate cake and watched Carl's toast again (very humorous.) But as all good things must come to an end, we were forced to undertake the journey back to Oregon on Sunday morning. So now I just have to retrain myself to sleep during the day.
In other news, I am posting my most recent babysitting pictures of Titus and Raquelle, because I think they are cute... but then again, I am biased. Also my skirts are coming along, I have two done, almost three. I will admit to exaggerating a bit about the "ten skirts" part. I will only get five, but I will have two shirts plus leftovers. Oh, and I decided to name my car Tarik (nocturnal visitor), sorry Brett, he just isn't a Biff.