The School Bus Blues

School is back in session in our neck of the woods. As former teachers, hubby and I have the same reaction to back-to-school time. To seeing a school bus. To even thinking about school supplies in the stores.

Anxiety and stress.

Frustration.

A need to run and hide.

To bury our heads in the sand.

A desire to hide our eyes and cover our ears.

An urge to escape. To get as far away from school as possible.

Between the two of us we have almost 60 years experience working in the public school system. We did our time and we don't want to do it again.

We saw more than one school bus this week. And then we looked at our to-do list from summer and it was complete. Like totally finished.

Summer projects completed:

      Wills revised  
Shrubs removed
Gravel laid down
Grass dug out
Rubber mulch down
Quilts for assisted living made
Hundreds of items discarded or donated
Landscape timbers in place
Bike ride every morning (just me, and almost every morning)
Finish travel agent training
Tree trimmed
Sprinkler valves replaced
Garbage cans cleaned
Shred old documents
Be a foster to a momma cat and her five babies

So we decided it was time to really hide and escape and get away from home. Here are some clues as to where we are at right this moment:

• It took two flights to get to today's destination.
• The stopover airport was Seattle.
• The place we are currently in has been experiencing its hottest temperatures ever.
• Smoke hangs in the air from the numerous forest fires. Heavy enough you can smell it.
• We were able to pack lighter because we won't be renting a car this time around so no need for the phone/GPS holder or the handicapped placard.
• No snorkel equipment was packed.
• No sandals or swimsuit cover up was packed.
• We paid all of three dollars ($2 for me, $1 for disabled hubby) to ride the bus from the airport to downtown.
• From the bus we walked across the street to our hotel.
• We saw spectacular views from the airplane window before we got into the smoke-filled skies.

Snow? Nope. Something else cold.

We are on the move tomorrow, so stay tuned to find out what's up.

The Friday 15

It has been a while since I posted about my Friday 15s. How well did I do at discarding and donating 15 items every week since I've been gone?

July 5

Plastic containers I no longer need.

July 12
I decided to take off all the bling off my scooter. We recently had to travel to Seattle for a few days and I was too sick and weak to make the trip. But since it was non-refundable and hubby just had to go (which meant I had to go), I needed to take Scooter along with me. I realized when I was using it I just don't have the same excitement about stuff like I used to. So off goes 20 pieces.

July 19

Two sweatshirts, one pair of shoes, a magazine, and a bedskirt not making it into the picture. An ironing mat, lantern, office chair, two dry erase markers, and a dry eraser with no picture. And a bunch of other things that did make it in a picture. Boy, I did bad in the picture-taking department this week.

July 26

Hubby can tell when I'm getting desperate for 15 items because I get him involved in scrounging the house for more things. Between the two of us we came up with 15. (I still can't believe he gave up his NASCAR favorite driver coffee mug.)

August 2
Sold on eBay: 130 different fabric scraps and a big box of yards of kids' fabrics. Another package of safari fabric and fabric panels to make Back to School books. I think all those fabrics easily count as 15.

And let's not forget my five foster kitties heading for surgery, soon to be ready for adoption at Simply Cats. Goodbye, my good babies.

August 9
More eBay sales: 24 spools of thread

August 16

12 quilts made for the residents of the assisted living center.
eBay sales: One Minions fabric panel, a Clifford the Big Red Dog fabric panel and five quilt patterns.

 

August 23
(No pictures this week as I was trying to get as much as I could out of the house and photos fell by the wayside.)
More eBay sales: One Roku player, one baseball bobblehead, five yards of animal fabric, a Christmas fabric panel, a package of kids' fabric scraps, 100 quilting fat quarters, and over 10 yards of gingham fabric.

Junk from the shed: a TV stand, three bottles of outdated mosquito spray, an unused drawer from the refrigerator, an old brown shelf, a busted set of plastic drawers, a vase, a hedge trimmer, an old mop, and two wooden bedposts.

Things from inside the house: A yard of random fabric, one too-big-for-me shirt, an Idaho DVD, two books, plastic drink pitcher, curtain, flower press, Halloween wall quilt, 24 sewing patterns, three Elite toiletry bags from Princess Cruises, two zippers, a pack of Christmas cards, bag of batting scraps, magazine, brand new cat collar, 10 hanging files, a PowerPoint slide advancer, two metal shelves, and a trinket box.

Whew.

And with that another two months of discarding or donating (or selling) 15+ items a week is done. Since I've been at this almost two years now, I think it's time to take a donate-discard break. 

Unboxing the Ocean Medallion from Princess Cruises

Sailing on a Princess Cruises MedallionClass ship? Want to know what the Medallion looks like? Want to know what you get for free? Check out my video! Watch along as I unbox our Ocean Medallion from our Princess Cruises MedallionClass ship.

Sewing for Good Sunday

And then they were done.

Despite my broken sewing machine, a replacement back-up old machine of mine borrowed off my daughter that was extremely frustrating and time consuming to quilt with, I am DONE.

Twelve quilts done for the four female and eight male residents at the assisted living center.

I even made quilt labels for them.

While I enjoy my Sewing for Good Sundays, I've made 24 26 quilts for others this year out of the goodness of my heart with no expectation of anything in return. (Although an occasional thank you would have been nice.) I'm a bit tired right now and need to take a little break before I start any other new charity quilting projects.

So as excited as I was to start my Sewing for Good Sundays I'm now just as excited to stop for a bit.
Happy Sunday!

Princess Cruises Alaska Expert Right Here!

Looked what arrived in my mailbox today. I even got a pin out of the deal!