Sandy's quilt, Arizona Mary's Stair Step, 2024 Christmas Letter

I headed to the studio Monday morning (3/31), while Michael headed out on errands (post office, Best Buy, champagne buying, T-Mobile store, Triple A, pet store, Hobby Lobby). 

I spent the day working on more hourglass blocks…I tried a tiny bit of re-arranging to see if I could make the pattern stand out a bit more...I'm not sure it was very successful :~(: 

and loading up a customer quilt:

********************************************************

I finally had an appointment for my back early Tuesday morning (4/1).  I’m now scheduled for a shot in my back later this week (this will not solve the problem, but they are hoping it will lessen the inflammation and give me some relief from the pain), and they want to set up water PT.  It was a long appointment, and I wasn’t home until lunchtime. 

My honey was in and out with 2 appointments of his own: neuropathy & chiro.  I set up the program and kicked off quilting on Sandy’s quilt:

and by the time I quit, I was over halfway done. 

Michael left the for movies and I spent the evening ripping out blocks I had sewn together incorrectly last Thursday at quilting!!!

**********************************************

My honey left super early for a tournament on Wednesday (4/2), so I got up to make him a breakfast sandwich to save him some time…then went back to bed for an hour.  When he came home, he told me that he was eating the sandwich while they were all standing around the putting green, waiting to start. A friend of his went by and said 'oh, I see you hit Mcdonald's before coming here.'' Michael said ''oh no, this was a personally made sandwich by my wife first thing this morning''. The guy looked shocked for a couple of seconds, and then said ''can I borrow her?''

Janice and I had our usual Wednesday morning SKYPE session, then it was back to quilting on Sandy’s quilt.  My honey was home before 3 PM and his team came in 3rd….YAY!!!  Good enough to win prize $$$$$. 

I am working on my hourglass blocks each day….but can’t really ‘’see’’ my progress, so I decided to separate them into color piles:

and I’ve now finished the hot pink pile:

By the time I stopped for dinner, Sandy’s quilt was done:

and my honey helped me fold it up to take to quilting on Thursday, where I will trim it.  I don’t dare try to trim anything at home with my hourglass blocks everywhere :~).

**************************************

Arizona Mary decided to jump on the Stair Step bandwagon:

Remember all of those Christmas/Easter cards that Michael and I got addressed last weekend?  They are beginning to be delivered and apparently bringing joy and much laughter to the recipients…what more could we ask???  So, here’s the story.  When we moved here in 2006, we decided we would start writing an after Christmas newsletter to go into our cards (I was not going to add to any pre-Christmas stress!).  We’ve faithfully done that until last year, when I just couldn’t seem to pull it together.  Michael said he was willing to give it a go, so I got him all set up and over the course of a week around Christmas, he pulled it all together.   And there it sat….and sat….and sat!  We hadn’t pulled together our list of recipients…and my brain said ‘’OK….get it out by Valentines Day…..and then St Patty’s Day’’…..didn’t happen.  Finally, I gave myself a kick in the pants and pulled together the labels and Michael got it copied and away we went last weekend….I did however change the opening paragraph to this:

2024 – Sometimes life gets in the way….and even though you keep trying…you fall further and further behind, but with Easter on the horizon we felt we could still say HAPPY HOLIDAYS (because Easter’s a holiday….right?)  Enjoy!

And I signed all of the cards: HAPPY EASTER!  (the Christmas cards!)

Anyway, here’s our 2024 letter:

January started well with our New Year’s Day potluck brunch, but didn’t end well when Michael fell and broke a bone in his foot :~(.  Four weeks being in a boot with no golfing and no dog walking was no fun!

          February had Michael recovering slowly but surely and back to golfing again. We almost took a trip north to follow the sun again for what would have been our third total solar eclipse, but we found out that the family we would be staying with had several kids and animals in the house, not a deal breaker, BUT – they also had a PYTHON as a pet. We stayed home!

          March was another typical month of the usual activities: golf, errands and doctor’s appointments for Michael; quilting, sewing, knitting, and reading for Deb; and many theater outings for the both of us (high-lighted by the Charlotte Symphony’s interpretation of Rhapsody in Blue, our favorite piece of music).

          April came in like a lamb but finished like a lion because BG visited! Well, it was more of a quilting marathon, rather than a visit! Many projects were started and finished and by the end Deb was totally worn out! All this was in addition to the usual activities we do each month.

          MAY was the month of the CICADAS! Noise, noise, noise and dead bodies all over the sidewalks! Deb went on two mini retreats with new friends and some old ones. Yes, our lives are boringly repetitive – but we do what we want and are happy. We celebrated our 19th anniversary, too!

“Most of your life will not be extraordinary. Most of your life will be simple things, done regularly. If you are only going to be happy:

·         when you’re on vacation

·         after a lush payday

·         after a big career win

…you’re going to spend most of your life really dissatisfied.

You either learn to love the day as it is, or you don’t learn to love life at all. 

Brianna Wiest

June was full of ups and downs. The biggest down was we had to replace our upstairs and downstairs A/C units and furnaces. They lasted 18 years and might have gone a few more but we felt the time was right. Up time was a visit from Edee who had moved to Germany four years ago, and finally came back this year. She was in several plays with Michael and it was great reconnecting with her. Also, we had a Mustang picnic this month with Michael’s new friends from his Mustang club. The weather was glorious for most of June so we used our Lanair to the fullest!

July had a big birthday bash with 2 surprise guests and a very special visitor for Michael. First the birthday - Deb’s number 70 - which she planned herself! And what a tumultuous planning it was! Deb knew exactly what she wanted…a catered tea…and it took until the very last minute to get everything just right. Talk about stress! But it worked out and two very special people showed up (total surprise to Deb) from 1000’s of miles away. BG, her BFF from forever ago and Arizona Mary. Lisa, from Connecticut, and a former student of Michael’s (we are talking AGES ago) came for a visit and reminisced for a couple of days. An emotional and wonderful visit, indeed.

Michael went on a solo golf retreat in August to Boone. His trip happened just before the big hurricane (Helene) hit the area. Meanwhile Deb relaxed each day he was away on the Lanair as the temps were perfect. Half a year gone and Deb has quilted 53 quilts! Also “IN THE KITCHEN WITH MICHAEL & DEB” continues with choux pastry this month!

A real up and down month was September, especially for Deb. She started with a trip to Janice and Dennis’ for a few days. Then out of nowhere, for the first time, she caught COVID! She was down and out for about a week. My sister, Susan and husband Charlie were coming for a visit that week but they wisely cancelled. Luckily, Deb recovered in time for her yearly Fiber Floozie retreat with her best quilting friends. She is eternally grateful for her friends here in SC and CT that are willing to travel hours to be together.

One of the busiest months of the year was October. We had that awful hurricane Helene strike western North Carolina and we made a couple of trips to various places to donate goods to help those victims. Deb donated many quilts, sweaters, knitted hats and scarves, while I made a trip to a donation spot with water bottles, peanut butter, toothbrushes and toothpaste. On a happier note, Michael had a big tournament with the MGA (men’s golf assoc.) and finished in 8th place out of over 70 golfers! We also spent a couple of nights looking for comet Atlas (with success) and if you missed it, it will return in 80,000 years! Deb continued to “MAKE COOKIES WITH IRIS”. At the end of the month, we headed up to the Concord Speedway for a Mustang Unleashed experience. Basically, it was a performance/safety driving school for Michael’s new car with some excellent side trips thrown in.

Believe it or not we have been living in Sun City Carolina Lakes for 18 years! Moved in November 2006. Well things are older as well as ourselves, so no surprise when our TV died as did our two computers. Oh, well. The rest of the month was full of food and fun. Janice came for another visit and we had neighbors over for a Thanksgiving feast. The rest of the month was Deb slaving away in the kitchen making her holiday goodies, and Michael packing them up for worldwide distribution!

          The first week of December was spent on a lovely vacation in Hilton Head with friends Diane & Mark.  The guys got in a bit of golf…the ladies got in a bit of sewing and shopping…and we all played board games every night!  I’m glad the month started off well, because shortly after we got home….our garage freezer died!  We have had so many unexpected expenses this year, but the blessing is that we have been able to afford them.  Deb had her traditional Christmas tea, and we started to watch our stack of Christmas movies.  It turned out to be a calm and relaxing month.

 It’s been a wonderful and very full year….we can’t wait to see what 2025 brings.

And 10 years ago....

-https://foodandfiberfloozie.blogspot.com/2015/04/pat-diane-came-to-pick-me-up-at.html

-(Connie - cute picture of you!) https://foodandfiberfloozie.blogspot.com/2015/04/dough-chocolate-bread-connie-michael.html

-https://foodandfiberfloozie.blogspot.com/2015/04/willa-latest-quilt.html

*** Why is everyone so against sugar? Who stood by you when things went wrong and you were hurting? It wasn't broccoli that's for sure! ***

*** Does refusing to go to the gym....count as resistance training? ***

I just had to add this...if ya know, ya know....a friend sent this to me and I couldn't stop laughing at the truth of it!!!