November?!

Gah! How can it be the middle of November already and Thanksgiving a week away? Time has been flying by since we moved back home and I feel so behind with not much to show as to what I've gotten done. I did go to the November quilters retreat that I've been going to for the last 5 out of 7 years. It was so nice being away from home with time to sit at my sewing machine and have no obligations nagging at me. I got the top for one present finished, started a wall hanging for myself and then realized I wasn't given enough border fabric in the kit, and am about half-way through making the blocks to a top I started almost 2 years ago. It doesn't sound like 4 days of sewing, but those blocks are time consuming and different from what I normally piece together. I'm also in the middle of rearranging my sewing area to create room for my quilting frame. I need to go get some clear plastic organizers on rollers to sit under my frame to store the stuff I have to take out of the credenza that is moving back down the stairs. I'm so lucky to have a husband who will only roll his eyes at me when I want to move heavy furniture back downstairs when he asked me to be sure I really wanted that upstairs to begin with. At that time, yes, I HAD to have it upstairs. Now, nope, move that baby to the dining area. I also just completed a purse for a friend of Joy's who sent me the fabric and paid me back in July and needs the purse before January. I really wanted to finish it while in Arizona, but just couldn't do it with moving and Peanut. It's a sunny orange stripe fabric that really boosted my mood while I worked on it and it was cloudy and stormy outside.

Here's a few pictures from Royal Ridges where the retreat was. It was a perfect autumn weekend, sunny yet chilly, and tons of crunchy leaves on the ground. Mike and Peanut drove up Friday morning to check out the place and for some of the retreaters to see Peanut again.

My pregnancy is going well. My midwife is very proactive about my care and really into following my concerns and letting me be an active participant in my prenatal care. Very different from my old OB who I really like, but just too doctor-y in her administration of care. We're now into the 32nd week (or just starting month 8) and probably will be going to weekly visits after my 34th week checkup. We have another ultrasound next week to do some measuring and we're still not wanting to find out the sex. Hopefully the technician can get us some good u/s pics without ruining the surprise for us. I went through Peanut's preemie, newborn and 0-3 month clothes today. It's so difficult to look at how big he is now and remember how teeny tiny he was at birth. So tiny that 0-3 month clothes hung off his feet by the inches and the crotch was below his little dimpled knees. Everything is in the washer now and I'll start packing what I need for the hospital in the next few days. We definitely don't want a repeat of the last hospital bag packing where I barked orders at Mike for what goes in the bag while he wasn't allowed to talk, look at, or touch me. And me being stressed and crying because my favorite shirt and pants where dirty and I didn't have time to wash and dry them before leaving. Ahhh, the joys of labor. I'm keeping my fingers crossed this time I'll manage better since I know what to expect, but I'm sure he'll still not be allowed to talk to, touch, or look at me.

And now these are for my mom who has dial-up and I'm not savvy enough to reduce the picture size so she can get them via email. My little sis Dee and her boyfriend Vern in their awesome Halloween costumes.
Can you figure out who they are? I don't even watch the show and know who they are.

Mike is out of town in Seattle tonight. It's either work 2 days in a row up there every other week or drive up at least once a week. Business has slowed way down, enough to cause some stress when we look to the future and all we can do it hope it picks back up. It did this last year in Tucson so I'm hoping it's just the nature of the business and won't last long.

It's time for me to get back to school work. Not having the laptop set up downstairs (cuz Mike has it) kept me from being able to post while Peanut played or ate or watched Sesame Street so I'm behind on my posting for today and have a bit to do now that he's sleeping.

TTFN ~Crys