Monday Monday, can't trust that day!

So, Monday.
The MOTHER of ALL Mondays.
It started at about 1:00 a.m.

It all started with the dog.

This dog~~ Doesn't she look sweet?

Doesn't she look lovely?

Doesn't she look like no trouble at all?

The DOG was antsy, finally Jim took her out, and she peed.
Good, everyone can go back to bed.
Antsy dog.
Antsy dog.
Antsy dog.
Dog doing something unspeakable on the bedroom carpet.
Grrrrr !@#$^&*&^%$#@$%^&*(&^%$#@!
I took the dog out where she continued to do unspeakable things, but at least they were outside.
Meanwhile, back in the bedroom Jim was cleaning the carpet. After walking up and down the driveway until 2:00, I decided maybe we could come in. I was greeted at the door with the news that the bedroom smelled so bad there was no way we were sleeping in there the rest of the night (rest of the night!! Ha ha ha ha ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh)
So we pulled out the sofa bed, and we all know how comfy THOSE are. The cats meanwhile thought the sofa bed was a great idea! Even better that two WARM humans were going to lay there for them. Now that would have been rather nice, a cat curled up by my legs………….. except they both had to lay ON me and take their baths.
ARRRRRRRRRRRRR GO AWAY!!!
So for the few remaining hours of the night I was trying to sleep, shooo away cats, and keep one ear open for more antsy-ness from the dog.
Then there was the clock ticking away louder and louder, and that nice new yard light shining in the living room window……….. yeah, a lot of sleep happening. Not.
Then Miss V comes downstairs at 5:30 to do her hair, and steps on a dead wasp. We know where that went right?
After some ibuprofen, hugs, and an ice pack I gave up and took a shower.
That was when I noticed that some critter had peed on the dogs second bed. What is WITH these pets?????
Yawn, sigh. Off to work.
Darn, forgot my travel mug and since I refuse to use disposables, I gulped a quick cup of coffee at the coffee shop in a regular mug before heading to work where I discovered that I didn’t have the use of a workstation with a computer today! Great, now it’s the beginning of the week and I’m already BEHIND. We won’t even discuss the crazy elevator that refused to stop at the second floor…………………
Don’t even ask what next because I am headed to bed.
I hope there will actually be sleeping involved tonight.

Back from retreat

Lucky me! I got to spend this past weekend on retreat at St. Anthony's again. Here is my good friend Cookie who always goes with me. Or I go with her. Or perhaps we just go together?
I was so excited to go this weekend because I had decided to give her the wine quilt!!! yeah!!!! She was very surprised and pleased. I really think that is the best part of quilting, giving them to someone when you know it's just exactly right. or maybe everything is really the best part of quilting?



Time for a tour! Last March when we went on retreat there was still about 3 feet of snow on the ground. It was so lovely to see everything still in bloom and the trees beginning to change.Here is a picture of St. Anthony's from the front with one of the many beautiful flower beds in full bloom.










The angel Gabriel I think. There are so many lovely areas to sit and contemplate, or read, (or draw or paint). Many of these areas are designed and fixed up by volunteers.

here is a lovely view from one of the wooded trails, you can see the little river that flows into the Rib River, if you look on the grass you can see the labyrinth, and beyond you can see one side of St. Anthony's. The building is a huge square with 2 inner courtyards, and then a "newer" Ell off one side.













Just some beautiful leaves, stones, and grass. I love how fall leaves look on grass and walkways. I want to paint it or quilt it or something, but at least I got a photo so I can try something later.

Here we have the view out my window. Cookie and I always ask for rooms in the old section. They are just the same as they were in the early 1900's when it was built. Heavy wooden doors with wooden latches. The windows are new as you can tell, and here is my morning coffee ready to be pressed in my new travel size French press (a gift from Cookie) We love the Cappuchins, but we do not love their idea of mass produced coffee. :-)





Here is the grotto with one of the Mary statues. Isn't all the growth lush? The ferns are beautiful. I walked down here barefoot because it felt so gooooooooooooooood!!






Here is one of the inner courtyards. Last fall there were even more grapevines and we got to eat fresh concord grapes! Awesome!
While I was there I did some outdoor oil painting and played with oil pastels. I'll post those pictures next time. I just wanted to share the peace and the beauty of this fabulous weekend with my blog friends. I actually thought of you all while I was there, hence all the pictures. (there are actually 138 more on my camera, but I understand time constraints!

More Colorado pictures

Okay, I bet you think I have no life anymore here in Wisconsin. Well I just am finally catching up on downloading and naming all my Colorado pictures.

this is me on Brads 4 wheeler, that is Brad jog-walking well ahead of me. Anyone want to guess how fast I was zipping down that hill? In my defence I didn't want to run over any of the pretty wildflowers. (SOME people have tended to do an eye roll when I explain that part.)



This is also Brad, holding sweet little Maggie. Brad is the nicest 17 year old

young man you could ever meet. He never once laughed at my lack of speed and daring with his 4 wheeler, and he never rolls his eyes at any of my dorky 45 year old talking.

Here we have the Star Wars Lego master Cory! Cory happens to be the nicest 18 year old man you could meet! His wonderful mother gets the mom of the YEAR (or century?) award for taking him and his 4 Star Wars fan siblings (she was pregnant with sibling number 6 better known as the adorable Maggie) to LOS ANGELES to the Star Wars convention last spring!!! Can you imagine it???

That is Lizzie with her Star Wars Lego thingie (sorry Cory is that one a Tie Fighter?) and Cute as a bug Josh, who could hum the Emperors theme when he was six months old! I am not kidding, I heard it myself!






Aren't some of these sooooooooooooo teeny and neat?

I swear there is a quilt in this all. I am starting to get some ideas for it..................

ACK!

So, are we tired of hearing about my trip to Colorado yet? If so, just skip on to the next blog. :-)


Seriously, one of the most gorgeous places to visit in Colorado Springs is called Garden of the Gods, and I always want to go there.


Naturally my FAVORITE cousin volunteered and took me and two of my favorite kids. Garden of the Gods has these HUGE rock formations that people can get a permit to climb on, and also a wonderful view of the mountains behind them. Naturally I forgot my camera that afternoon, so they took pictures for me whenever I said "oooo take that one".

So sometimes I said "ooooo take that one" even when it was something totally silly, and they did!

or maybe it was me that grabbed the camera to take this picture of a hummer. I'm kind of a dork that way. You may not have noticed that yet?

I think we were pointing at the kissing camels on this one. It's a bit hard to see from this angle, but use your imagination and you can see them.
Well you can kind of see one of them and the head of the other one off to the right at the very top of this rock.

oh just squint a little and then nod and smile!








Mountains!!!



Did I mention that I LOVE MOUNTAINS? Sometimes now that I am back in Wisconsin I look at the cloud banks over the lake and if I squint or take my glasses off I can imagine that the layers of blue clouds are actually different mountain ranges. I'm sure that tells you something about me............... well, let's leave it at that!







This is one of my favorite picture that my favorite cousin took. That's me and Lizzie and Nick walking in the Garden of the Gods. ahhhhhhhhhh Does it get any better??? Okay if I had a cup of coffee it might have been a teeny bit better, but then I couldn't have had my arm around one of them.





OH, and can't have a post without adorable Maggie in her new adorable fall jacket from talented Sue's pattern! This jacket is soooooooo fun and easy and fast to make!

If you have a little one in your life this is really the pattern for you! I know I sound like a commercial here

http://www.quiltyindulgence.com/


but it's just fabulous!

Anne, you know, my FAVORITE cousin, (pictured here with my favorite Maggie), and I want her to design an adult size one too!

I think Anne needs a purple one don't you? And then Maggie better have a purple one also!





And this picture is in honor of my daughter number 3! Yup a BIG thumbs up for the whole trip!

and if you don't watch out.................. there will be MORE trip pictures!
bwaaaaaaaaaaa haaaaaa haaaaaa

Still more show and tell!

Here is Nick! Yes, he is sewing and the quilt he is sewing on is one HE quilted!!! Nick is 9 years old and a wonderful... seamster? ;-)







He picked out a sweet little panel for his new baby sister and then he picked out a quilting design and his wonderful mom- my FAVORITE cousin, let him use her long arm to quilt it and as you can see from this second picture he did a fabulous job!! AND, trust me, he did not pick out a simple beginner pattern! yeah Nick!!




Now here is MY lovely Maggie in her new jacket! This is from the original pattern designed by fellow smallest guild member Flori!
http://www.quiltyindulgence.com/









And here is the lovely Miss Maggie from the back......... equally adorable!

I made the base for this jacket using that lasagna method of sewing strips of scraps together. It looked like candy to me when it was laid out, and on sweet little Maggie it looks like more eye candy.







And here she is in a new bib made from another Quilty Indulgence pattern. There was enough of the yummy strawberry fabric to make her the matching hat. Of course the well dressed baby has a hat to match every outfit, right?
Could that smile warm you heart any more? That's me in the purple shirt walking her around the house........... her willing slave!