Good Food Good Friends and Always Fun

 A couple of Monday’s ago I was supposed to go to Quilt Bee but it started at 4 and I didn’t off work until 6 and I still needed to run home in the opposite direction to relieve my poor pooch who is locked up safely in the house. I was really tired so I decided that I would just go home and find something to fix for dinner. I emailed the Hubby that I would be home after all that evening only I hadn't pulled anything out for dinner so it will be a surprise. About an hour before I got off work the Hubby called and said how about we just grab something out to eat. So we decided to try a new place called Tailgate Grill on 2920. There's no inside seating so we decided to bring it home since it was rather humid and hot out. The menu is small but we went with the basic cheeseburgers with jalapenos. Hubby had french fries and I had onion rings. It was good! The burgers were juicy and tasty, the fries were huge and the onion rings were crispy. We'll definitely go back again. Right in front of Tailgate there is this beautiful cactus that's flowering. Isn't it pretty? About a month or more it was full of blooms.





Well upon taking time to snap a photo it came to my attention that the damn flowers left were fake. LOL.


I can’t tell you the number
of times David and I commented on how long cactus blooms must last.

 All I could do was laugh and shake my head.

Our book club recently read Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James and we met up at one of the member's home to discuss the book. Talk about wild and crazy. The discussion had a mind of its own. This particular discussion beat all discussions over the last 15 years to hell and back. OH MY! I never laughed so hard for so long in a long time. This book followed The Shack.  Talk about being on 2 totally different ends of the spectrum. LOL  Fifty Shades of Grey has amazingly out sold Hunger Games, Twilight and Harry Potter. Women around the world are buying this book to see How Christian Grey and Anastasia evolve. Yes there is some plenty of graphic detailed scenes but they’re not too bad really. I say this with my face scrunched up. You might need a cold shower.  A friend told my Hubby to go buy some Viagra. At the time this statement was made I had no idea why they would say that but I do now. There were a few in our group who preferred not to read and that’s okay but a large majority did. The specifics of what was discussed well let’s just say “What happens in the book club stays in the book club.” The book was erotic, funny at times and even sad. Yep I cried at least 3 different times. I just finished 3 a damn I cried a few more times. I couldn’t help myself. I won’t ruin the story for anyone who might read, reading or risk offending someone at this time.

Someone made the comment about it being fantasy well we know people do lead this type of life in the world but I think the fantasy they were talking about was how one couple could oh never mind….. 

Several brought up the fact that if you had some kind of ereader no one knows what you’re reading. Unlike me for example… I’m sitting in the patient room waiting on the doctor to come in.. He comes in, sits down at the little computer, starts looking over my file then glances over at the book sitting in my lap. The Doctor “So is that the book that’s all over the news and ladies are reading like crazy?” Me.. “Oh! Uhh yes.” And I flip the book over and drop into my purse on the floor. LOL
Wonder what he was thinking after that?  

No one at the meeting was gagged, handcuffed, tied up or flogged for any reason well that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Mums the word.
  

Two Saturday’s ago I went to my sorority charity luncheon. It was the 8^th Annual Phi Mu Salsa Luncheon held at the Cadillac Bar and Grill party room. We always have a tasty buffet of fajitas, rice, beans and all the condiments that go with fajitas. Pamela and I had margaritas but at $6.50 a 12oz glass if that big I figured iced tea would be a better drink selection. It was free. I probably would have paid the same price for a larger glass had I gone into the main restaurant and order my drink, might have to do that next year.

We have a silent and live auction to raise money to benefit the Children’s Miracle Network and Texas Children’s Hospital. 100% of the proceeds go to the local affiliate.

 It’s always nice to see the faces of some of the Alumnae that I haven’t seen since last year. Like last year our sorority sister Kathy finally joined us at the luncheon and this year we rode together. She was also chauffer to my Mom and Pamela.

Kathy is the one in pink. And the gal sitting down is of course is another Phi Mu - Carol and her daughter.

Our sorority sister Sheryl saved us a seat at her table with Her Hubby,Son and another Phi Mu sister Linda. This was the first time my mom got join us which was really nice. 
 
Everyone is digging for the paddle for the live auction just in case there's something we want to bid on.

This is Sheryl's son Richard and my daughter Pamela. They've been friends since they were babies.



Now that Pamela is a working girl she was able to bid on some bigger items. She won 2 baskets in the silent auction. One was bakeware and a cookbook and the second basket was wine glasses and wine. Both will be handy at her new apartment she's moving into this week. I managed to win a small basket of trinkets.

This is my Mom and I after the luncheon. When I left the house I had curls but by the time I got to the luncheon my hair was straight. All that work. Oh well.

That’s it for now…..

Oh -- It's doing it again. Blogger is moving paragraphs, changing fonts and deleting pictures when I post. In preview everything looks fine but not when published. Hopefully tonight when I publish this it works right.

 Until next blog...“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that’s all”~ Oscar Wilde~

2 Days, 7 Quilt Shops and Many New Friends

Last year during the packing frenzy to move I took a two day bus trip.. I started in Giddings at All Around the Block Quilt shop with my friend Carol. We traveled to 6 shops in 2 day plus the shop where we caught the bus which make 7 shops to spend money at. What could be better? You are chauffered around, fed lunch and all you have to do is have fun and shop. It’s a quilters dream.  

Well this year started off with water surrounding our house that you can read about in the previous post. That was fun. Not!. The 19 acre lake we live on decided to flood after 14" of rain. I forgot to mention in my last post there were a few houses across the lake on the lower side that did get water in their homes. My heart goes out to them. I can’t even imagine.

When 6am Saturday arrived I was in the car driving out of our very soggy neighborhood toward Bryan/College Station to catch a bus at Lone Star Quiltworks shop.

There are 7 shops that participate in this bus tour and a bus leaves each location at 8:15am Saturday to head to their first stop. We are given 1 hour and 30 minutes to browse and purchase. Timing is everything. Remember that statement. ;o)
Last years bus was loads of fun with our Mr. Bus Mom Harvey and I wasn't disappointed this year on the Lone Star Bus. I decided to leave out of Bryan/College Station instead of Giddings for a couple of reasons. First off it’s closer so I could just drive up the morning of and not get a hotel and best of all that's where my daughter works and lives now. Can't pass up a chance to see my daughter now can I? Of course not!  And she talked me into buying her dinner when the bus got back Sunday close to the time she got off work. Do you see how that worked? Perfect timing. ;o)

So my friend Carol ditched me this year so she could go to Wyoming to see a new grandbaby. Can you imagine the nerve? LOL.  I saw pictures of the new grandbaby and she's a cutie pie. I did found a new roomie though but at the last minute Donna couldn’t go because of family illness. I totally understood her situation. In fact she’s still dealing with it. As of Friday it had been 20 days and they finally figured out what her college son had and provided him some relief. Hoping today if she's at work she'll tell me her son is doing great. I called several folks to see if anyone would be interested but it was at literally the very last minute. While I had several "love to" they followed with but "I can't". I gave up and decided to go on my own. Guess what, I did just fine.

So I boarded the bus at Lone Star Quiltworks ready for an adventure. The shop owner Terry was our Bus Mom. She called roll and asked that we keep track of our buddies but wait I didn't have one. I raised my hand and she said “oh” you’re the one whose buddy couldn’t make it. Well the two gals to my left leaned over and said  "Don't worry Carla we'll make sure you're on the bus before it takes off" and we all laugh. I just made My first 2 new friends Judith and Robin R from Huntsville. Then the gals in front of me said that I could join them at dinner. Oh how exciting I have 2 more  friends Amy and Diana. Amy is from College Station and Diana her Aunt is from Deer Park.  I'm already having fun. It’s 8:15 and the bus takes off for our first stop Tomorrow's Quilts in Waco. I think I’ll read but my motion sickness kicks in so I have to wait.
DAY 1

Tomorrow’s Quilt shop is a really neat little shop. It’s located in Baylor Bear country.. Waco, Tx. They have a corner of batiks to a corner of novelty prints and everything in between. So much to see and touch. This shop was loaded with goodies. The ladies were ready and waiting when we walked in the door. As you walk around the shop you notice big numbers taped to the floor. Mmmm I wonder. Soon someone hollers out to find a number and stand on it. Oh and only one person to a number please. This could start a fight... Maybe a little pushing and shoving among quilters since there were more quilters than numbers but nope. These quilters are a refined group and acted like fine southern women. If the shop called out the number you were standing on then you won a door prize. Oh goodie. Fun but alas I wasn't a winner. Oh well it was still fun. Imagine this I did find some fabric for some baby quilts I need to be making. These girls are having babies faster than I can decide on a pattern and fabric let alone cut, piece and quilt. Time to move on to the next shop.

Next stop is Poppies Quilt n Sew in Georgetown. They had just moved their shop to this bigger space a week ago so things might not be situated. They had the most important item out, fabric. One gal was on a mission for black and white and red. In no time she had 10+ bolts at the cutting table. She was a happy camper.

Poppies Quilt n Sew fed us lunch of deli sandwiches from HEB but by the time I went back to the classroom there were no more sandwichs and she had to order pizza for the last 10 or so people who didn’t get a sandwich. I wasn’t complaining because I liked the pizza. At the table I met 3 more friends, Sharin, another Robin and or fudge I forgot the other friends name. I’ve got the faces down but not the names so much. Oh well Yippee. This is fun. Times up. Head’em up and move’em out and we’re off to the next and final shop of the day.

At some point during the bus ride I did get to read a few pages before getting motion sickness and that’s when the gal behind me reaches between the seats and taps me on the shoulder. I turn around and say “hi” and she asks me “Are you reading Fifty Shades of Grey? I laugh and say yes.  We get to talking about the book and she says she’s already read all 3. I’m reading the 3^rd one now.  Oh my I’ve just made another new friend over a book(s). Her name was Sandy, She is from College Station.

I wanna say it was about now when Terry pulls out her notes and starts by reading some jokes. She told the bus driver O’Neil to bear with us because of the subject which was kinda bashing men.

Terry informed us that she loves jokes but can never remember the punch lines or the basis of the joke so she wrote some down so she could share.
She had a couple of good ones. Now guess who can’t remember the jokes to share…..Me.

 As we drove down the road I snapped this picture just before crossing the Lake Travis dam. I've never seen the lake this low. 

Our last stop of the day is Cotton Cupboard in Lakeway. The shop owner Jessica came out to greet the bus. Your senses are overwhelmed with all the eye candy. Quilts, patterns, fabric, notions, color, frogs. Uh wait did I say frogs. Yep I did. The seem to like those little hopping critters. They have frog prints and patterns and some are in 3-D.  Very few left the shop empty handed. Some had bigger bags than others but it looked like everyone enjoyed the shop. Jessica even stopped cutting long enough for me to take this picture.

Our options for dinner back at the hotel was Luby's, an Indian restaraunt that by the way was closed up and I think a Denny's. Well Terry wasn't too impressed with the options either so she had made prior arrangements with O'Neil the bus driver take us out to the Oasis on Lake Travis to have dinner. What a treat. The view of the lake and the sunsets are great.

They also have music in the club along with dancing. My husband I tend to get here at least once a year. We honeymooned on Lake Travis at the Lakeway Hotel. Looks a lot different 33 1/2 years later.     

                  

This is Amy another new friend from the bus who said I could join her and her aunt at dinner at the beginning of our tour. Amy was our table banker. She had  her handy calculator and separated the bill so we all paid our fair share. She also didn't want her picture taken but I got one.

I'm gonna be in trouble with this one since I'm not sure I'm spelling her name correctly but I think it's Sharin. She posed willing for a picture. We had our hands full but I had written out my info and was able to drop it in her bag when we got back to Bryan. Hopefully she'll get a chance and email me. She doesn't live that far from the house and I hope we can get together one day.

I snapped a couple of pictures of some of the group outside the Oasis. Our tummies were full and we're ready to stretch out.  So we hop on the bus and head to the hotel.   One of the gals named Shiryn needed a roomie so Terry matched us up.

 Shiryn and I were tired and just wanted to stretch out and then I think we must have talked for the next 2 or so hours.  It was great meeting another new friend.

This was the friendliest bus ever.

Day 2

Next morning we're up and at'em. Ready for another day of shopping and fun. We're off to The Quilt Haus in New Braunfels. Another great shop. Lots of stimulation with all the colors, designs, quilts and choices.

 Didn't take long for some of the gals to find something they couldn't live without. Cute purse patterns and samples already made up.. Look at all the pretty colors .

This is my roomie from last night. Her name is Shiryn. She tried to get away but I gave her my sad puppy dog face and said come on please  and she let me take the picture. Thanks Shiryn.

Time flies when you're having fun. Our time is up

and we're off to the next shop in Victoria.

We're about 15 minutes out of Victoria when Terry gets word that the bus from Waco wouldn't start that morning so all those gals are still at the shop and asked if we could hold off for another 15 minutes until the replacement bus got there to pick those gals up. Remember timing is everything... Okay so we pull into a gas station to waste some time. We all go in the station for a stretch, potty break and find a snack. 

Well when we get on the bus I notice my friends Robin and Judith in the seat across from me brought  something to drink. They were ready to party. LOL. I grabbed my
camera and snapped their picture
and then I warned them it would be on my blog.  Cheers girls.
Everyone started laughing.

When we arrive at The Quilters Patch in Victoria the Waco replacement bus hadn't shown up yet. So the shop owner brought our lunches out and we ate on the bus. It was hot so once we finished eating and got off the bus Terry offered all the Waco girls to sit on our cool bus until their bus arrives. The shop isn't big enough for 2 bus loads of women which totals about 80 altogether.

I snapped this picture of the shop owner and another shop worker. They need to be commended for being able to still smile with crowds and demands.. But they have experience in this matter. Last year Quilters Patch bus broke down and didn't pick up their group until 10:30am and the bus from Giddings arrived at 10. Talk about Deja veoux.  Sorry I didn't get their names. Hey I'm not a journalist. I forget things alright. Bad Carla Bad.

So the Waco replacement bus finally arrives and we continue to shop and give them time to get down the road to the next shop. The same one we'll be going to when we're done here. 

We're on the bus and off to the Giddings shop in hopes that we've given the other bus time to get down the road. While riding down the road Sandy and I get to talking books again. And of course we have to talk some more about 50 Shades. She said Bobbie was sitting in the shop reading it on her e-reader. Oh this Bobbie I'm talking about, found out she works with my daughter. Well they work at the same hospital and Bobbie's a director but vaguely remembers the name Pamela from orientation. Small world. Anyway by now our talk about 50 Shades has got Robin and Judith's attention. So we have to tell them about the book. At one point the girls looked at me and said "We have one question...Did you try out any of the techniques from the book?". We all cracked up and I said NO. No Way no how.

Our conversation was interrupted when we heard that the Waco bus was behind us! WHAT?! No way, how did that happen? Oh boy the Giddings shop is gonna get really crowded. To top it off the Waco Gals haven't had lunch yet because it's waiting on them at the Giddings shop. We pull into Giddings and O'Neil slows down just long enough to make sure he turns on the right street when the Waco bus zooms past us. Now I know the gals on the Waco bus weren't laughing but we were. It was like a race of who could get in the shop first.

So both buses arrive at All Around the Block at the same time. This shop looks small but it's slightly deceiving but every inch of it is packed with lots and lots of fabric choices and just enough room for us ladies to squeeze by each other to make our choices.

 

There's Sharin posing for me again. She's a lot of fun.






 

Shop owner and helper are busy ringing up purchases and bagging. They hardly have time to breathe but they're doing a great job and they can still smile. It got a little crowded for a while but I don't believe anyone walked away empty handed. Another great shop.

We're still shopping when the Waco bus pulls out and heads to Terry's shop Lone Star Quiltworks in Bryan. 

By the time we get back to Lone Star Quiltworks  the Waco group are still  shopping away. We unload our bags off the bus, bid O'Neal a good bye and a Thank you and stick our bags in our cars before we go in. Me and some of my new friends exchanged info to stay in touch. 

While standing in line to check out my phone starts ringing the Aggie War Hymm. Great ring tone for Aggieland but not so great when you're in Austin. ;o) Mmm it's the daughter telling me she's off work and hungry. LOL  I finish checking out and go met her for a bite of dinner at BJ's and then head down the road for home.

So ends my two day fun filled saga of 7 quilt shops in 2 days.

I need to rest but I'll be ready for the 3rd Annual Quilter Quest Bus Tour next year.   

Hope you enjoyed my tour as much as I did.

Thanks to all the shops for putting this on and Thanks to our Bus Mom Terry! She did a great job!

So until next blog....... I love sewing and have plenty of material witnesses.

PS: I've tried 3 times to post this darn thing it each time it has changed the font of various paragraphs and move some paragraphs after the ribbon here. Grrr. 4th time is the charm. I hope.

Where's my Life Boat

It's hard to believe that just about this time last year I was packing frantically so we could be out of the Glenway House in 14 days. The house sold in four days and they wanted to move in no later than the last week end of the month. We moved but didn't close by hey that's a story from 2011 so if you're new you can go read the chaos starting in around June in 2011. So this year I'm thinking my lake front property is a little closer than I like. According to our rain gauge we had already received about 6.5" of rain between Sunday and Wednesday with no end in sight. We never expected the 14" that got dumped on us. When I walked out on the patio Thursday morning the rain was coming down hard and our yards were already starting to fill with water in the low areas.

 Forcasts show rain everyday for the next 10 days. Wow really!?



David left for work around 5:15am and while it was raining but he had no problem getting down the road but then when I left at

6:40am it was pouring and as I turned out of the subdivision water was already running across road. It may be hard to see but it was rushing like river.

Down the road there's this house that I couldn't see anything but water, it had no yard. I continued on and wish I hadn't. It got to a point where I couldn't even see the driveways to turn around and it was raining harder and my windows kept fogging up. What's a little fun in the country. I was stressed to the max and started to cry thinking I wish I had stayed at home.

I watched while the cars in front of me drove thru the water to determine the depth of the water flowing across the road. All That flowing water made me very nervous. While stopped I pulled out my camera and just held it up at different points in my travel and snapped. I had no clue if I captured the roads, the sky or the door. I just snapped. Here's what I caught.....

 

I know you can't tell much but that's about what I could see too while driving.

It took me an 1 1/2 hours to get to work that day. Normally it takes around 30 minutes.
Sorry for quality but I just held the camera up and snapped.







Around 11 maybe I don't know what time it was but I called my neighbor and asked her about the lake. She tells me it's out of it's banks. Oh great, so I ask her if maybe she gets a chance to take some pictures and send them to me. She graciously complied.  My heart sank. And here's a couple of the pictures Deborah sent to me just after 1pm. The first picture is of her backyard and garage.
 






This next picture she took off her porch towards my house.

 You can just barely see my flower pots and the back of my garage just pass the white gargage door sitting surrounded by water in the distance..







Around 3pm the rain finally stopped and Deborah was able to walk down to view our house up close. This picture looks like the water is right up to the house slab. My house is the red brick one. Thank goodness there was about 6" between the slab and the water. Then once the water touched slab it would have to rise about another 14-18". We have very high slabs. Someone was thinking ahead maybe.
 





The lake just circled around our house.
 
  





















As I traveled outbound down 290 I passed Sysco Foods originally Texas Instruments/Compact and I noticed that the parking lot was totally submerged!
My friend Lynn works there and they were released around 1pm Thursday before it got any deeper. What I could see was bad enough.


The only way we could get home it seemed was to go out 290 pass our Mueschke exit a few miles down to 2920 and come back toward Mueshke. All other roads before Muescke and between 2920 were flooded and closed. But even 2920 had obsticales like a 3-4 block stretch of the road that had water rushing acossing it.

The water was just rushing of the fields into the ditches and across the roads.

After traveling down 2920 I finally get to Mueschke and travel that last mile to find More water.

To give you an idea how fast all the water was flowing I was able to stop and snap this picture of the water flowing into the lake. It looked just like this on the roads during my morning drive and my drive home. Normally there's no water in this ditch.

It had been 3 1/2 hours since the last rain shower and the lake was starting to recede by the time David and I got home. It took him two hours to get home. It took me an hour and 15 minutes since I already knew what roads to avoid since he'd already tried them. Our front yard was almost clear of water but not the back. HOLY COW!

It was so sunny you'd never know that it had been storming other than the water and debris left behind.

The water had covered the smaller 10x14 patio pad but never came over the top of the main patio and porch Thankfully.

I hope I never see this much water so close to the house again but I'm not sure I'll get that wish. I never dreamed of it getting as high as it did this time

It looks so weird with all the water in our backyard. Only the lake existed. Friday morning the lake had receded almost totally back into it's banks. As of today we are still getting small showers but nothing big Thank God.

This is the side and you can see how close the water got to the workshop/4th bay garage addition.

All that brown trail..........Ants! They're everywhere. Floating on the water and running around like crazy on land.

Now one of the craziest things I saw was this kid riding his bike along the bank of the lake that was underwater. You can see the water covers almost half of the wheel. All it would take is a bump for him to fall in the lake to his right or the ditch to his left that separates the lake and our yards. Now You wouldn't catch me in this water with all the bugs and possible snakes. We have no fear as kids but as adults it's a different story. With age comes knowledge, That can be good and bad.
Friday morning we woke to the lake back in it's banks. I think our back and front yards look much better green grass showing.  So we decide to venture out to see if the roads have cleared.
And here's what we found....
Cypress Rosehill was technically still closed but some were going around the road block @ K-Z road.

The car in front of us wasn't so brave and turned around. We followed suit. We weren't gonna take any chances.

And on Mueschke the water was navigatible if you have a truck. The white building you can kinda see on the left is the Sand Lots/Base Ball Camp where they had to rescue those kids and camp councilors by boat Thursday. David said that when tried to come home that way on Thursday there was an 18 wheeler floating in the middle of the road.

Even this little guy below needed a break from the water. If we had a net we could of collected enough mudbugs and had a crawfish boil. They were along the waters edge of the ditch and up in the yard everywhere. I think every bug and spider gathered at our back door. YUCK!! When David got home and opened the back door it was covered and they started jumping off in the house. David became the great white hunter of crawly things. I hate spiders and snakes. Thank goodness I have not seen any slethering slimmy snakes.

The spiders were hobbile. There were so many of them.  David did lots of spraying while I was away Saturday and Sunday. That's another story for my next post. I have lots of things to write about but for now the rain, the flood and spiders got first post. LOL 

Look what greeted me at the back door Monday morning. From leg to leg he was about 2". Gave me the hibby jibbies. Thank goodness he didn't move. I don't know what kind he was but he is now a smushed up spider. Some how he had survived the Demon Bug Spray but he didn't survive David's big push broom left by the garage wall. Then a mockingbird swoped in and ate him.

(cringing even now)

Well until next post.... Stay safe and dry. Quack Quack