{The LiFe & Times of RaLphie the RodenT}

Once upon a time, in a lovely town in South Jersey, a young fieldmouse decided to go on an adventure into a nice, almost 100 year old house.  This was a great adventure since the large house had lots and lots of walls and closets and radiator connections to explore.  There even was a nice warm stove to crawl under and a turntable in a closet that held food!!!
Now the two ladies who resided in the house were not at all pleased with the mouse's {who became known as Ralphie} presence in their home.  For the longest time the ladies only saw evidence of Ralphie's existence and put up sonar devices in an attempt to convince him that he wasn't welcome.  Over time however, Ralphie became more daring----showing his nose and eventually his whole self to the ladies.
The ladies then declared war on Ralphie and the battle was on.  Traps were set in all the places were the ladies had seen Ralphie and he ignored them.  Obviously, he did not like the peanut butter that was left for him.  About once a week, the ladies would catch another glimse of him.  The ladies considered adding chocolate chips and/or mini marshmallows to the treats.

Then on Sunday, one of the ladies sealed up the opening to the water pipes in the bathroom closet{this was Ralphie's favorite spot to show his nose to the ladies} and the ladies could hear him inside the wall, probably wondering what happened to the hole.

When the ladies arrived home late on Sunday night, they could hear all these crunching sounds and soon found Ralphie in the large trashcan next to the buffet in the dining room trying desperately to "jump" out but not being strong enough to reach the top of the can.  The ladies saw this as their opportunity to get Ralphie out of the house.  After stuffing a bag of recycling on top of the can, it was whisked outside.  The recycling bag was removed and Ralphie continued trying to jump.  But a roller-coaster was his next adventure as the ladies used a broom to roll the can down the front steps.  Whether Ralphie flew out during the ride or took off immediately upon landing in the front yard, the ladies do not know.  Only that the trashcan was empty!!!

And while the ladies will remain vigilant, they hope that Ralphie has gone on to find another home {preferably one with a cat!} so that the ladies can live happily ever after!

Janet

{MonDaY MusinGs}

OK, so I missed Fabric Friday---actually it was a good day for fabric:  finished cutting for the Bauer Project, went to PMQG Sewing Night and of course, bought more fabric.  Such is the peril of having sewing nights in a variety of quilt stores in the greater Philadelphia area.  They all have very different inventories.


And now it's Monday night of what will be another LONG week----Thursday night is the store's annual physical inventory.  I feel like I can do this in my sleep with my hands tied behind my back but it's still a mandatory 12 hour shift from 4pm to 4am.  And then I'm back in at 4pm for a close on Friday!!  Fortunately, sale reset is going well for tonight and tomorrow.


Really enjoying this stretch of time with minimual evening meetings and events.  It's so nice to come home and not have to rush out again.  Feels like I can really work on projects and get things done---like finishing a very special quilt I'm helping a friend with, sorting slides to send in to be digitized into prints, cataloging my cookbook collection, and just sitting and reading.


Finally, some inspirational thoughts from yesterday's sermon.   We're in the middle of a long series on the life of Christ and yesterday we talked about how God's call is what gives us purpose in life and that call will be unique and different for each of us.  That God is intimately involved in relationship with the people He calls and that in following the call we often get in our own way.  Some real things to think about!!! 


More later,
Janet

{faBric friDaY--jan 20}

OK... i forgot about blogging until i got into bed last night....so let's talk fabric since it's Friday....most of you know i've had a love affair with fabric since i was a child....

today was my day off and i actually played with fabric! ... did some put away of stuff i've finished using and new stuff, checked out my "scrap bag swap" from guild on Tuesday and did some more cutting out on a very special quilt i'm making....

my fabric goals for 2012 are {to make at least 12 quilts} and {to make more garments} from my "garment fabric" stash....want to try and keep my stashes "under control" and actually use them instead of just lovingly caring for them.....

at our PMQG meeting this week we talked about and previewed favorite quilting blogs....{oH My GooDneSS}....i really hadn't gone looking for any of these and now i have this whole list of blogs of amazing modern quilting that i feel i need to check regularly....there has to be a fine line between finding all these great quilts to make and actually making them....

Janet

{ReNeW}

 i am in BIG trouble....all i want to do is play with fabric and paper.....and use my baking cookbooks.....

 i'm thinking it's a response to the stresses of work and the need to retreat to my creative space and {ReNeW}.......that's my word for 2012!!!!!

 and yes i'm going to attempt to blog again....i think i miss writing so i'll be musing about all my favorite things:   quilting, scrapbooking, baking, traveling, and books...and probably lots of thoughts from the week's sermon and Bible studies.......

 more tomorrow on the first Fabric Friday!

Janet

Lisa's Blocks

Fabric....then paper.....now fabric again!!! Seems like my creative world is shifting back toward fabrics, especially quilting fabrics, and I'm ReaLLy quite OK with that. And it's quite cool because a new quilting group has started, Philly Modern Quilt Guild. The group is only a couple of months old so we're really just figuring the whole thing out. More on that another day.

One of the cool things about our Nebraska scrapping friends is that they've all gotten into quilting. And they asked me to join this round of their virtual quilting bee. So I just finished my blocks for Lisa. Lots of fun, happy, modern fabrics, and very few rules!! Hope she likes them!!!

Off to find my collection of "food" prints to make potholders!

More later!

Janet

I'm BACK.....

I think I'm ready to starting blogging again. It's been on my "to do" list for weeks now but I feel like I need a place to write a bit and share photos and other stuff. Facebook's a blast, I love connecting with long lost acquaintances, but there's definitely more room here to ramble.

Working on this year's word: SIMPLIFY!!!!

We spend so much time, effort, and money collecting things and then have to spend way TOO much time managing the collection. So.......

----we purged a ton of scrapbook supplies we'll never use and made a sizable amount of store credit at a local scrapbook store's yard sale. YEA!!

----tried to sell some stuff on Saturday at the All-Town Yard Sale. Not so successful :( Lots of stuff to various donations and alot to the trash!

----purging my dressmaking fabric stash and other sewing/craft supplies for a fabric yard sale that Montgomery Co (PA) 4-H is having. Can't wait to donate this stuff to a GREAT cause!


If only the papers in the office were easily tamed!!

More later!!
Janet

One Little Word....

...I've decided to jump on the bandwagon and pick my word for the year. Actually, I was deciding between two... this year's word:

Create more quilts

Create more scrapbooks

Create meaningful relationships

Create a simplified lifestyle

Create a healther me

Create a deeper Christian walk

A photo or two of the outdoor lights:

Come visit me on Facebook!

Enjoy,

Janet