Sunday, October 28, 2018

Rock'n K keeps rockin on and Quilting time

On Friday, Oct 12 I got off work and headed to Pamela's to babysit the grand-dogs. I took Lilley up so she could play. David had to pick her up on Sunday on his way home from the farm because I took off at Noon Sunday and headed to quilt retreat with 12 other gals.
David went to the farm Friday afternoon and sent me pictures of Jerry hanging out with the cows and the progress inside the house. I've always wanted a display shelf that ran above the
 door/windows the length of the room and I got one in my sewing room. My desk and cabinets were ready for drawer and cabinet fronts and they were going to town on the kitchen cabinets and drawers.
They also got the book shelves installed on each side of the fireplace.
All the shelves in my sewing room, kitchen and the book cases are adjustable. I was excited to see the barn door hung going into my sewing room.
The guest bath has a tub and surround but no faucets. We just finalized that order. I think anyway.

We also have a new baby calf. It might be a couple of weeks old since they never came out of the tree line when we were up last weekend. So our herd grew by 1. We went from 9 to 10 and supposedly there is one more on the way. Fun Fun.

Sunday the 14th I make a stop of my friend Sandy's to buy a Binding Budd-et. She called it a buddy but it's girl not a guy. Anyway I tell her I need to get down the road in case I hit any high water on the roads. She looks at me like I'm crazy and tells me they haven't had any rain in 2 days. Really?! Wow that's crazy because in Bryan just a few miles north of her we got 6 inches of rain. That's crazy. College Station and Bryan are right next to each other. So I hop in my car and head to Huntsville. It was time for some quality time with my quilty friend from the Seamy side. LOL   Well not far from her the Navasota River was out of it's banks but Thank Goodness not over the road but was flowing fast by but Thank Goodness not over the road but was flowing fast by it.
This is what I saw when I hit Hwy 40/William D Fitch and Hwy 30. By Tuesday this and several areas were underwater on Hwy 30.

I met up with my 12 quilting cohorts in crime for next 3 1/2 days, at Mama Juanita's in Huntsville for a bite of lunch and a margarita. 7 of the 12 have been with me since 2013 but the other 6 are joining us for the first time. Thank goodness I had made reservations for dinner. The parking lot was full and so was inside. I think I would give it a 4 star. Food was good, margarita was tasty, and the service was good. I mean the poor guy had to deal with 10 of us. 3 gals were running late and just met us at the retreat.

We're staying at a brand new venue for us. The new gals were asking good questions since they'd never been on retreat with us but some times I had to say I've never been here and not sure of what to expect. We have always gone to LaGrange but when the venue size changed from 14-16 retreaters to  4-6 I had to do my research to find us a new place to go. I didn't want to leave anyone out.
RR Retreats by Margie has changed back to the 14-16 retreater size and we will be going back in the Spring but when the original change size happened I decided it was time to be adventurous and try new places and go back to Margie's at different times. Love her place, food, and the views.

This retreat we are staying at Twelve Pines Retreat Center. It's a one story retreat and very spacious. It's in Huntsville but closer to Madisonville off I-45 in the tall Pines on Hwy 75. We were told to look for the cell tower and green gate. The one week before we arrived they added 2 flags and a turquoise mailbox. The mailbox was the easiest landmark to spot
The Retreat.
The first door was labeled South. Through that door you'd find 4 bedrooms with 4 beds and across the hall was that rooms private bath. Plus each room had their own thermostat. Nice.  The bathrooms were against the work room wall so they buffered all the loud talking and laughing of us night owls.
The second door was to the very spacious work room with 80 linear feet of design walls. No one had to wait to put up their quilt layout.
The third door was into another work room and quilt shop. Whoa, Wait?! Did she say quilt shop????! Yep she had a small quilt shop with lots of purdy stuff. None of us spent any money in there! That's my story and I'm sticking to it. 😏
The fourth door was labeled north. In this door you will find 2 more rooms of 4 bed each.
Behind the retreat was the Owners home. She was going to build a separate home but decided she didn't want to walk outside if it was late at night so she just built onto the retreat itself.

We arrived on Sunday @3 and had to check out on Thursday at noon. Wish I could have gotten Friday as our check out but she was booked. Next time I'll be faster on my booking process but first I'll try a few more new venues out but we will come back. The owner cooked dinner for us Sunday through Wednesday. The food was very tasty. 3 courses - salad, entree and dessert.
The only issue anyone had was the WIFI. It was slow and sometimes would't connect. But in fairness it was pouring down rain and flooding just a few miles to the north and we were in the tall pines. Plus I don't think any of us said anything to the owner to see if that was normal or weather type related. I will ask that the next time we book.

Before the clock struck midnight Vickie, one of my new retreaters finished up a UFO. Too cute! Vickie is a friend of one of my regular retreaters. We're glad she could join us.











Time was moving slowly but now the month of October is almost over.
Stayed tuned for more retreat fun and finishes.

Until next blog....
Carla

Monday, October 8, 2018

Excitement is building. Finally cabinets

Pamela sent me a text the over night to show me how the girls sleep. I had to laugh. Brianna is all comfy with her legs all prompted up on poor Sophie. Sophie doesn't seem to mind actually.  Our dogs can be entertaining.




It's amazing what they get done week to week.  We went up Saturday (9/22) to meet with the builder so he and David could sort out the outdoor kitchen layout and found cabinets in the laundry room, wine rack in the pantry in. I can't imagine why they put a wine rack in there. LOL
       
And both tall boy dressers in the master were installed, then one week later the shoe boxes and clothing poles were in. Wow





This is Letty. She works in the auditing department at CFISD. 
She had 64 Monarch butterflies to release.
I call her the Butterfly whisperer.








She asks different folks in the building to help with each group she releases.  This little guy decided to stick around for a while. I think this is a male anyway because of the 2 black dots on it's tail wings. Cool. 
This was the 2nd group I watched.
I hope the videos work. It's really neat watching the the release as the butterflies fly off at once. You may have to click it a second time to get it running.


Next time we went up to the Rock'n K we walk in and something was different. Oh Wow the fire place was rocked. Too cool.  And David's out door kitchen was set up. He might let me use it if I'm good. It looks really great.
Pamela went with us when we went to pick out tile for the master bath and kitchen back splash and then up to the farm with us. She even let me take a picture of her and her Dad. They're so cute.
This Friday we drove 50 miles to Cat Springs to have all you can eat catfish, french fries, cole slaw, hush puppies, beans and tea for $11 each. It is so good. We met up with our good friends Larry and Sylvia.
We weren't going to go to the farm this weekend until we heard the kitchen cabinets were going in on Saturday. So we got up Sunday morning and drove up to see what progress had been made. They got the cabinets in over my desk in the sewing room.  And then there's the kitchen. Oh boy Oh boy.
It's so big and there's plenty of cabinets and drawers! Lot's of drawers verses the cabinets that you have to get down on your hands and knees to find a lid or pot that got shoved to the back. 
They even got the vegetable drawer cabinet placed in the pantry and they finished the tray ceiling in the master.  It's really coming together. And to think I don't even cook.
Just Kidding. I cook. I made that comment to our builder and he looked at me like what. Then I started laughing and so did he. 
Well now I have to finish gathering my projects and packing for a quilt retreat I've organized that starts on October 14th. David and Lilley will be holding down the fort here. I'm sure they'll do just fine without me.

Oh and before I forget in the past few months David and I gained 1 new great niece in Missouri. 
Maren. She was born in May. Here she is with her adorable big brother Beckett. He has dimples like his dad. 
 And 2 great nephews.  This is Wyatt Robert. Here in Houston. He was born 9/29.





And here is our newest great nephew Preston Dean born on 10/5 in Missouri.
 One in Missouri and one in Houston.

Congratulations to my Nephews and their beautiful brides on their little bundles of joy.

And sometime in January we'll welcome another great nephew from our niece who is expecting. It's raining babies.

That's it for now.
Until next blog....“Convince yourself everyday that you are worthy of a good life. Let go of stress, breathe. Stay positive, all is well.”  ~ Germany Kent