It's finally finished!

The TOP, I should say! Now I need to get it quilted. This is called "Dresden Bloom". I took a class with Lee Ann at the Quilt Box in Kewanee, IL (my lovely hometown). The class was scheduled from 10-3, however Lee Ann, myself and one other die-hard stayed until we were bodily thrown out at 6:55 p.m.! When I left I had the center bloom done and applique'd and all of the other bloom pieces made. I applique'd two more 1/2s at mom's house and finished the rest this weekend. The finished quilt looked so hard, but the toughest part was trying to understand the dang instructions to prepare for the crazy class. Ugh. Once I got there and talked to the teacher, the pattern company could have worded their instructions better. Anyway, move your mouse over the picture and double-click to enlarge for a better view -- if you dare. . .

Halloween Night

Olivia was a purple princess and her girlfriend was the polar opposite (red princess). Augie was "SuperAugie" again. Emmerson was Neo (Thomas Anderson) from The Matrix, his buddy was a "Chick Magnet" with Barbies and Bratz stuck all over him. His brother is the bloody skull in front. They had a great time, weather was absolutely perfect.

Next weekend is area honor band, which Emmerson was chosen to take part in. He has been working on his music with his private instructor and will practice all day Saturday before their Sunday afternoon performance. We are all very much looking forward to hearing "The Great Locomotive Chase", which is a very modern band piece. He just got a new professional Conn D10 and is improving with his new horn and it's new abilities.

We're gearing up for Halloween. I made the kids treat bags with the new machine and Olivia's purple princess costume is ready to run the neighborhood. Emmer and his buddy Tyler are making Halloween Videos on You Tube. Both kids are making plans with friends and ploting their route around the subdivision. Emmerson still hasn't nailed down his costume, however I am thinking he is either going to be a vampire or maybe Neo from The Matrix.

Holy Cow, it's October already!

I just realized I haven't updated since vacation (JULY). We had a Bailleu family reunion again during Labor Day (or Hog Days if you're from kewanee IL) weekend. Cousin Joel Bailleu brought his best friend Dave for a high school reunion. John and Jacki Bailleu came from Texas with a little "Cash": their newest toy poodle. We sat in the shade and visited and ATE! I am still waiting for pictures and copies of photos and momentos that Aunt Frieda brought. I found out my Great Grandmother was confirmed right here in Indianapolis! And, I think I have been to that very church!

Anyway, I am posting a picture of my latest creation. A cowgirl quilt for a sassy young cowgirl in Texas, Miss Kacie Faith. I saw the kit at the Quilt Box in Kewanee and my sister-in-law bought the actual quilt. I had no idea right away who to make it for until I remembered my trip to Texas the year before.

Bassett Rescue

I would be completely remiss if I didn't mention Guardian Angel Bassett Rescue. Link is under the cool links section. We adopted Blossom in January and couldn't be happier. Don't buy an expensive, overpriced pet-store dog from a puppy farm! There are plenty of sweet, family-friendly Bassett Hounds awaiting adoption. Not all rescue dogs are physically abused, abandoned or neglected. Our Blossom was raised with a very loving family who obviously took excellent care of her. I can tell she has had a dog trainer work with her. She doesn't bark, howl, get up on furniture, is crate trained and loves the kids. Bloss is a senior, excuse me, "mature" bassett. A few people have told us that we shouldn't have taken her because of her age. However, she is a real cream puff and we couldn't have asked for a better family dog. She loves going to Dairy Queen in the summer and taking long walks in the snow in the winter. Now that the weather is cooler, she is up at the crack of dawn with us, ready for her morning walk. She has lots of neighborhood buddys including 2 other bassets, 2 dashounds and a blood hound. Please consider adopting a bassett (or another breed of dog if you don't care for bassets) from a rescue organization.

Summer Vacation

Although we have been back for several weeks now, we had another great vacation at the Wisconsin Dells. Grandparents Mannin joined us this year -- they were thinking the Dells were still the same as their last visit during the summer of '78! What a shock. We skipped Cheese Chalet this year and opted for more outlet mall shopping instead. Kids enjoyed 2 days of floating their boats and John kept his shorts on! Quiet, relaxing, vacation for having one's mother-in-law tag along on one's 18th wedding anniversary! Emm and Olivia enjoyed a week of YWCA bowling camp (they were the oldest kids there who were not behavior-disorder). We are very much looking forward to the start of school in just 10.5 short days!!! Augie just completed his Kindergarten interview. Olivia will be in Middle school and Emmerson is in his final year of Middle school. We have been enjoying our neighborhood pool late in the afternoon along with our neighbors. Kids have last weekend of summer vacation bashes planned with their friends next weekend before having to haul out of bed at 5:45 a.m. on August 13th.

Standardized Test Rant

Standardized tests are the biggest waste of tax dollars and classroom time. My school-age kids have taken the ITBS tests and have Lexile scores over 1000. Last week, while cruising through Barnes & Noble to look for summer reading material, a book caught my eye that looked interesting to me. Yellow was in the title, it was a fictional story based during the yellow fever epidemic of 1900 & something. I asked the kids if that looked interesting to them . . . oldest says, "no, we can't read that . . . it's only an 800 lexile and I have to look for books over 1000". Forget the fact that it looks good and we might learn something. So, I decided to look up the Twilight series books we've been reading (which are written for 12+ years old) and their lexile is in the middle 700's! So, I looked up Peace Like a River and it's Lexile is 900, still short of the target. Maybe we can have a word with their teacher about allowing it. Lexile measures text & structure difficulty. However, there are many other factors such as how age-appropriate the story is, interest level of the child to the subject, and the reader's background that cannot be measured. My son's teacher says he can read lower lexile books for his enjoyment outside the classroom, but for class projects he must read at or preferably above his lexile. My son had talked to kids in 7th grade who intentionally answer questions wrong on standardized tests to lower their lexile and read books that interest them. Kids who are involved in sports will also intentionally throw the test to be placed in math or english classes that are below their level to be able to keep up their grades during the sports season. What will these kids do when the football scholarship thing doesn't pan out after goofing off for 4 years in high school? My biggest concern, as a mother, is that this sucks what little joy there is out of school. When kids read something they enjoy and understand they are more likely to retain the information. I worry that they are just learning to be good test takers and honing skills so they can "play the game". Is reading a good book you like 3 times a waste of time? No. I understand the need to motivate lazy kids to read at their evel, rather than picking easy books way beneath their level just to ensure a good grade. The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner is 870 lexile, but my 11 & 13 year olds would not likely understand it. No matter, they wouldn't be allowed to read it for a school project anyway.

New Moon is as good as Twilight and as soon as we read the last Harry Potter book we are going right to the bookstore for Eclipse!

Two new books to recommend

While in the car this summer we are listening to several books. Cesar's Way is a great book, not just about your relationship with your dog but people and work as well. John and I learned a lot about handling and taking care of our dog from this book. We also learned some things we were doing right, without knowing!

"Penny from Heaven" is a fantastic girl book. Although, I think Emm enjoyed listening. It's a very funny book for a girl 8+ and parents too. It gets a little suspenseful/perilous in the middle, by the author ties up the loose ends nicely. It takes place back in the '50's, about a girl named Penny and her disfunctional family.

Right now we started a book called "Twilight", about a teen-age girl who is in love with a vampire . . . It's a long book (11 disks) with 2 books that follow and possibly a movie. So far it's a great book with 1 major flaw: the main male character, Edward. This is a dangerous read for young women/girls. Edward is extremely attractive but down-to-earth, highly intelligent, wealthy, perpetually 17 years old, has an awesome car, an awesome body with super sharp reflexes, and an extremely polite and thoughtful date. The only real men who are like Edward are either a. Vampires; b. gay (or gay vampires); or c. abusive to women. The author, however, does refer to this story as "fantasy" . . .
Update: after reading on we find out that Edward is over 100 years old and never been with a woman before . . . that explains quite a bit.
http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilight.html

Augie's Kids are Back!

We visited Brickworld in suburban Chicago IL on sunday. Kids were positively in heaven. While we were there we bumped into my cousin Eric and his family -- small world. Augie has been spoiled while they older 2 have been at the "Grandkins" house. He can't sleep at night. Evenings are very difficult for him. He keeps asking, "where is Emmerson, my best forever friend?" Very sweet boy. He missed Olivia the first week, missed the Emmer the 2nd week. We found some rare Lego parts that the kids have been looking for and got some ideas for building. Emm has a rather large collection going, but nothing near what some of these folks have.

Augie showcases our new downstairs powder room. We have one of those "production homes" that comes in builder white. John & I find white walls very disturbing. I wanted to paint the downstairs 1/2 bath black, or maybe a dark aubergine. This caused much discussion and I compromised on this faux finish. It's the covered wagon from upstairs hallway with cinnamon stick 50/50 glaze over the top. I hated it, so I went out and bought a star stencil and copper paint. Then John got horribly sick with the flu (4th time I've seen him that sick in 21 years). So, we had the work lights set up in the hallway and paint stuff in the bathroom for a week. Once the glaze dried it looked much better, now I'm a little disappointed with the stars. Painting has been my new hobby for the last 3 years. We lived in a 1000 sq ft mobile home for 18 months (should have started the blog then) then bought a new home. Painted 2/3 of it when my parents decided to "pair down" and we helped paint a lot of their new home. After we finished that we found out John was transferring to Indy and we bought another new house and are over half way painting it. If you ever need help painting, you know who to call! We have an extension ladder, cat walk, 2 paint ladders and halogen work lights. Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends is on and it's time for another cup of tea!

New Family Member

No more Mannins, we have baby robbins on our front porch. Next to their next is another nest their mother shoved aside to make herself a nest for her babies. The other nest belonged to a set of House Finches that have come 2 years in a row. Mom goes out for worms, returns, and vomits worm goo into their mouths. After 2 weeks, they are standing, stomping their feet and spreading their wings to fledge soon. I don't know what will happen when both Finches and Robbins both nestlings imprint on our house and try to return next spring. The house finches hatched the day we moved in last year (May 24), but came a whole month early this spring. I wonder if the robbins tossed them out? Right now I am enjoying a cup of Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong tea that John enjoyed 2 infusions from before returning to work to run more samples.

I bought a gaiwan last weekend. I started drinking tea this past year and found that I don't drink nearly as much soda as I used to. I also hate restaurant tea, especially the bag-in-box stuff. Gaiwan is used to brew larger, loose leaf tea. It also makes smoother, better tasting tea. First time I used it I burned my fingers, but I am getting the hang of it. It does make much better tea. The purple pot is a regular infuser. I thought it looked cool and didn't expect much from it, but it does a good job brewing also. I need to post my collection later.

Blossom is going to be a very lonesome dog for a few days.

3 Kids and a Hound!

Sunday, June 10 12:31 a.m. This is my first entry. Our children are off at Grandma B's house to spend some time with their cousin, whom they dearly love. House is exceptionally quiet.