Today is December 26th

CAN I GET A HELL YEA FOR CHRISTMAS HANGOVER!!?

We washed and put away all the dishes, vacuumed and mopped all the floors, only ate fruit and veggies, washed all the linens and watched two movies while eating the popcorn from Sammy and Robin! Everything is almost back to pre- Christmas day cleanliness.
We had so much fun yesterday. Briana fell in love with Carter; Don really liked playing grandpa to Farhan, Ezzat, and Emir, and I, well, I just loved all the love. We are grateful for our family!
Merry Christmas all year long,
Dottie

Two Days to Christmas!!

Today is the 23rd.

On my list

Buy Groceries
Get the last two presents still yet to buy
Bake an Apple Pie

Tomorrow

Clean House
Go to Mass
Make Chicken Noodle Soup

Christmas Day

Enjoy all the family and friends
Love Jesus!

Sounds like a great plan!!
Dottie

Snow Ball Winter Formal 2010

OMG!! Am I ever glad that's over!! Briana is did look amazing! AND she had an actual date!!



Does anyone know how to rotate these? I set this one right before I pulled it from iPhoto, but it still goes sideways. GRRR!!

Three Quilts

I just finished two baby quilts!! Yea! They are already in boxes ready to be given to the mommies-to-be! I used the exact same pattern and two different styles of fabric.

The red and white one is more traditional

and the orange and green and banana quilt is a little more modern. Anywho, my friends don't know what sex the babies are, so I had to go with anything other than pink and blue. What a relief!!

I finally, well, almost finished this spider web quilt. It is 50" X 50" with out the binding. It has over 80 different fabric scraps. I really like this showy piece!




Here's a close up of the web.

QUILT

Okay, so I finally finished this Bargello Queen-sized Quilt. I tell ya, I almost gave up my hobby over this bugger. I used 42 different fabrics which equaled 2012 2" X 2" squares. I started this task in July and just finished last weekend. Grrrr! Every piece with the exception of the border and backing was a scrap in my stash!

The cat likes it!!

Adventures in Meat

Have you ever had a turtle burger? I have!!


Two patties, weenies, bacon = Yum!!

Halloween with the Busics

Every year, Don and I go over to Scott and Vicki's house to pass out candy so they can take their tribe trick-or-treating. This year was, as always, lots of fun. Kendall was Tinkerbell.



Cameron, Connor, and Cole we MegaEvil, the Grim Reeper, and Venom, in that order. Funny how in years past, these guys are usually dressed up in some Star Wars or Power Ranger characters. At a certain point, boys go bad!!




Briana was Pebbles, the teenage years!



Fun for ALL!!

It has been a long time, Friend

Wow! I did not realized how many calendar pages had fallen from the peg. I sit here this morning alone and too early even for the cats. Don is out of town, Briana got home super late from an Ashland Shakespeare Festival, and no one is awake even to call two time zones away. That's okay.
I am working one two quilts that are very involved. One is a Queen Size Bargello style with at least 42 different fabrics in it. With just a little more top stitching and an edging, I should have a finished project. I'll post as soon as it is done!! The other is called a spider web. It is a little larger than a lap quilt, but has just as many different colors. The entire thing is made of scraps. I used paper piecing for the first time with this one. That was a trip. Regular printer paper is pretty thick, so cutting the little bits away took an EON!! I am undecided as to what to do with this quilt. Part of me wants to hang it on the wall; it is that showy. Part of me wants to give it as a Christmas present to my friend Monica, and part of me wants to give it to a friend as a baby quilt. I'm stumped. I know three people who are pregnant right now, well, actually, I know six. Only three or four are going to get baby quilts. I suppose that is my next big push. (no pun intended)
School has started. This year I have 181 students currently enrolled in my 6 classes. I think this is a record for me!! Overall, however, the kiddos have been really good. Actually, I'm having lots of fun!
Don has found another property in Central Oregon for us to look at. This time, it is in the town of Culver which is right above Lake Billy Chinook. Can you guess why he likes it? The property is a little over three and half acres with a weird house and a new four car garage/rv/boat enclosure that looks better than anything we have. Bank owned and foreclosed means it comes as is. If you'd like to look it up RMLS#10048509. It has water, septic, electricity which is more than I can say for the last two vacation properties on our wish list. One place only had an outhouse. Ummm, that would creep Don out. He already has issues about the toilet. Anywho, this one is about 40K less than the place in an earlier post. Of course, that one had 20 more acres and amazing views. We'll see.
Last weekend, Don and I went to the Pendleton Woolen Mills Portland store. That was either a mistake or an amazing find. I LOVE this stuff! We bought several signature pieces. Then we went to the largest fabric store in Oregon which is across the street. There we found some luxurious taupe/mushroom herringbone micro fiber upholstery material that just matched the beautiful wool. In the course of dreaming we met an ace upholsterer who just happened to work there on Saturdays. Can you guess where this is going? I went home and took pictures of the couch and love seat in my living room, sent them off to this guy, and set up an appointment to have these two redone. We are going to use the Pendleton Wool as the pillows. Now I'm thinking about painting the living room and the hall and the entry way. I have already decided to paint the Kitchen and Dining Room this great Lobster red! Just what the Doc ordered!!
It looks like a busy fall ahead!! Yippee!!

Summer Vacation 2010

We just spent 15 days in Louisiana and Texas where the order of the day is to eat, sleep, fish, and eat again!! We stopped at Sam's first to pick up Granny

and had a wonderful breakfast with Sam, Karen, Sarah, and Dennis. In the afternoon we travelled to Boerne to visit J5. They have a fantastic setting in the hill country. We went to the Alamo - -

it was hot! Then it rained, and you know what happens when you mix the two - a hot and humid Texas Day!! Love it!!
The next day we went fishing and hanging out at the lake.

Don and I could live there, like, right now!!

Then we drove to Galveston to visit with Steve and Rosie. There we saw Julie and Karen and Joey and Mark and Leah! Steve has a new boat - - it's AHH-MAZing. So the guys and girls went tubing!! Don was have a fantastic time even though he doesn't look too happy!


Briana and Karen soaked up some sun and some waves!!


Our next big adventure in Galveston was an off shore fishing trip on the Good News!! Steve is modeling a spade fish.


We caught lots of red snapper; unfortunately, they were out of season, so we tossed them back. We did get to keep the Mangrove Snapper!


Don also caught a ling, a king, and a trigger fish!

Alas, our time in Galveston had to come to an end, and we journeyed on to Welsh. There we spent time at Granny's house along with EATING!! On Friday we had a Celebrate Sarah Day!!

And for our Celebrate Sarah Day, we went on a swamp tour at Lake Martin. We saw lots of wildlife like this Great Blue Heron


And the American Alligator!



We visited with lots of family like Claire and Shawn and the kiddos, and Susan and Rick and Abby. For my birthday, Granny took us all to DI's for dinner. I had some most excellent boiled crabs!



The tail end of out trip was a Sammy's house where we were able to visit with Joey and Sam and spend some much needed down time before out flight home and the ever present busy schedule.

All in all, Don, Briana, and I had a wonderful vacation. We'd like to thank all of you who housed us and fed us and let us relax and enjoy being with family!!
We miss you all so much already,
Dottie

QUILT

I found these vintage bowtie squares at the antique show about 8 days ago, so I decided to put them together for a sweet little quilt. Happy Belated Birthday, Mom!!

Lobelia

I have these planted in all the pots on my patio. Very pretty!

Hydrangeas

My hydrangeas are loving the really cool weather. This is the summer that wasn't. Can you believe that the high today is only 67 degrees?

Flowers in my Yard

My daylilies are out of control! Here's a close up. Imagine two very long solid rows of these on either side of my driveway all the way to the street!!


I also have Black Hollyhocks. The jury is still out on whether or not I like these.

Don's New Boat

Wow!! Don finally bit the bullet and bought the boat!

It's 18.5 ft. of aluminum with a 90 hs 4 stroke Suzuki with a 9.9 hp Susuki kicker. I think Don has named it the Doris Ann!

HOT DOG!!

Even though the high temp here was 59 and it rained for hours and tomorrow doesn't look any better, I have some really good news!! I don't have to see any of those naughty boys and girls in second and fourth periods again except in passing next year! WOOT WOOT!!!! I cannot say that I will miss any of them, and did you notice the date?? Wow!! It is so late in the year to still be having school! Tomorrow I plan to finish grading all the finals that I administered Monday and as many finals as I can administered today; then I'll only have one class set for Thursday and one class set for Friday. It cannot come soon enough - - I am so done. One of my gangsta boys came in today so high on pot it was glaringly obvious!! I just laughed at him and said, "Pablo, you look like you mixed up some cookie dough, put some on a cookie sheet, slid the pan in the oven, and BAKED them!" He was too stoned to get it but the girl next to him said, "She gotcha!!" Who cares - - this was the ABSOLUTE first time he behaved in class all year; I'll take that!
Well, dinner is on Don - - either pancakes or canned soup - - but I'm not complaining!
Dottie

Today is Friday, May 28th. I've been chewing on a little question lately - - What is inspiration? What inspires? I know this is because I am between quilts and between books, and we are at the end of the school year. The weather is still nasty; Rose Festival is around the corner, and I haven't nailed down my summer plans. Don and I have come to the conclusion that we might as well stay where we are - - it is a little slice of heaven, after all. Aside from some major weeding, I'll have some time on my hands. I'm almost ready to start writing - at least I'm thinking about fixin' to begin collecting ideas. I don't have an overwhelming urge to tell a particular story. Maybe a little poetry could budge my writer's slump. So here goes.

Confines (n)

Have you ever wondered what's really up there?
Stars, galaxies, droplets of infinity
Neurons all firing faster than light
Creases and courses
A waterfall of wings that ride on some colossal current
Bigger than my brain can conceive
No edge or end, no death
All atoms, particles, spaces between orts of matter
Driven by some urge, some pulse never ending
Cogs and ribbons moving to some rhythm
Many, many rhythms.
But why?
I like my thoughts within a frame
A square or rectangle or even a circle
Crazy swirls of maple burl can be forced into one plank of wood
Infinite color and imagination can be confined to a canvas
All manner of expression and situation can be bound in a book
Within a skull an entire lifetime is stored.
It is when one gets to the rim, that dropping-off point,
Words lose meaning
No logic just fear
What really is up there?
Is it forevers?
Can it fit in my skin?

Dottie, 2010

Maybe now I have some direction as to which way to go.

See ya,
D

Rain, Rain, Go Away!!

Last Saturday, Cameron and I planted the entire garden. We LOVED the sunny day, and Cameron climbed nearly to the top of a very tall tree.


Since then it's been raining. My garden is a muddy mud pit, and all work on the Lean To has stopped! I was looking at the seven day forecast, but no relief seems in sight. I need some of that hot desert wind to warm up my bones!
Dottie

Updates and Observations

Well, Friend, it looks like that piece of property in Central Oregon is a non-starter. The house is so poorly built that we'd have to doze it. The dirt road leading to it sports thirty minutes of washouts and rock slides and rattlesnakes. In addition to all that the owner is in jail on thirty counts of who knows what all. Don and I didn't want anything to do with that kind of stinky mojo. I felt so ambivalent about giving up that dream - - it was perfect! Apparently, not. We are still looking, however.

I planted my whole garden last week!! Cameron helped and did a great job moving rocks and digging holes. We truly enjoyed his company last weekend!! On Wednesday, I went out to look out at the garden because I locked myself outside and was waiting for Don to get out of the bathroom - - Wed. was very cold, rainy, and windy - - and all the lettuce that we had seed saved from last year was up!! Two perfect little green rows proudly stood at parade rest in the brown mud. It made me giggle.

I believe living with Don is starting to rub off on me. He may seem like a big gruff man, but his soul is touched by the sweetest things. He LOVES his kitties!! In the mornings, while he waits for me, he pets Shamu. "Dottie, watch his tail; it twitches twice to the left, twice to the right, then once more. If I hold it here, he really gets fiesty!"

In the evenings Noel climbs in his lap. She used to lick his wrist raw, but now she curls up under his left arm with her head tucked in so deep, I can't understand how she breathes. Don will sit still so as not to disturb her for hours.

All manner of lizards, garden snakes, worms, beetles, and spiders have found safe haven at our house. Only one animal is not allowed to enter Don's sanctuary - - that is the lowly mouse. Luckily, Shamu and Noel and, to some extent Charlie, are all excellent hunters. Shamu brought Cameron and me a rather large field mouse Saturday. It was still warm!!

Summer is on the way!! We have 19 1/2 school days left including finals. The students are getting antsy and, frankly, so am I. We will be traveling a little this summer. I want to take some day trips with grandkids. Briana is going to two camps. We will be flying to TX and LA in late July. Other than that, I am taking a writing class and watching my garden grow!!

Don and I will be celebrating of twentieth wedding anniversary in June! We really won't be doing anything extraordinary; I think we are going to buy a new bed and maybe a TV.

Everything else is going well!!
Dottie

Fat Cat and a Quilt

Shambo is FAT. Really FAT and hairy!



I tried something a little different on this quilt. I designed the pattern and used some embellishments like little yoyos and wool leaves. It's cute especially for an experiment!!




In any case, this is for Granny. I think she will like it even if she doesn't get it by Mother's Day!!

Sunday morning reflections

Well, friend, I have not posted for two months. Mostly my nose has been pressed onto the grindstone so hard, there is a permanent grease mark. Times are easing a bit, finally!!
Developments in the Miller household:

Uno.) Here we go again. Don and I are investigating a piece of property in Central Oregon. It is twenty-three miles from Post on a tract of land called Riverside Ranch. Before we get too excited - - this is no fancy community or anything like that; it is just the name for a large swath of no man's land. The property is actually three parcels equalling 24 acres minus a smidgen. On it there is well, an unfinished house, a septic system, an old truck, and views of Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Bachelor and the Three Sisters and the Prineville reservoir.



Notice I didn't say electricity. Yea - - that's a problem. However, the price is right and the dreams that Don and I have fancied all our married life together about moving seriously out and living "off the grid" are closer than ever. Plus, the Prineville reservoir is loaded with Bass. That should be enough for Don!!

Dois.) Briana is seventeen years old and looking into what colleges she'd like to attend when she graduates next year. We, like all families with a junior, are getting overwhelmed with all the college mail. I know that Briana wants to go into some sort of Environmental Sciences with emphasis on renewable energy; plus she wants to minor in German. This may sound like an odd combo, but she will have four years of German when she graduates, and Germany is the leading force in green energy in the world. Secret match, eh? So far there is a college in Maine that she likes - - to the tune of 80 k a year - - - and the University of Portland.

http://www.up.edu/

UP is where I got my masters degree; it is a lovely Catholic university with a student body of only about 2000. Amazingly, it has a kickin' Environmental Sciences college AND a German studies program. It's only an hour away, too! In addition to this, Briana is very involved in St. Henry's Catholic Church - - she's even going on a mission trip this summer - - and the idea of going to a Catholic university and still being able to come home to our parish is very appealing to her. Our only real obstacle is GRADES!!!!!

Tres.) As for around our house, two big projects are under way. Don is building a Lean To on the north side of the barn to put all the fire wood in so we can get it out of the barn so we can pave the floor of the barn so we can move the boat up there so we can use our garage. Got it? The other project is building a retaining was above our garden. Yesterday I rented two wrestlers to come out and move rocks. They moved tons, but you can barely tell it. This is going to be a long, long labor of love!

Quattro.) In June I will have completed 21 years of teaching. Moving on, I have finished three quilts, but I only have a picture of one of them. This little purple toned sweety is completely made of scraps.



I am currently working on an experimental quilt; Don thinks it's ugly, but I think is is interesting. In any case, I'll give it to Granny. Hopefully it will be done this week and I can post a picture of it. I am ready for summer - - nuff said.

Cinco.) As far as extended family, everyone is well and thriving. Vicki and crew are so involved in spring soccer that we don't hear from them often.

Briana and the boys


Miss Kendall

Kristi and Kevin are cruising along - - no baby yet. Staci works with Don now but is looking for a spot somewhere to start her career as an interior designer. She's applying everywhere, but the market is flat and jobs are few. No worries, Staci is as persistent as Don!

Hopefully, I'll be more consistent with the blog. Any who, you are in my thoughts and prayers!
Keep marching,
Dottie

Monday!!

Not like all the other Mondays of the year, today is President's Day. That translates into a day of no work --a bonus day-- a freebee --extra late wake up - - a walk in the yard --a car wash in the driveway --playing with the remote controlled helo --followed by a four day week. It's good all over!!
John John and Margeaux spent the weekend with us - - Friday to Sunday Night. They were lots of fun, but I think they thought we were a bit too boring. Oh, well. I took my sewing machine to the shop for its annual spa treatment. That means I was prowling around looking for something to do. I started knitting a scarf for Don. Briana, Margeaux, and I made alligator shaped cookies. We make paper flowers and I cooked and cooked and cooked! BTW, Briana and Margeaux made a cookie soap opera - - check out Briana's facebook if you want to see it. Nuts!!
In the last seven days Don has purchased 2 RC Helicopters. The first one was $200. It has been in the air about one minute, and Don has been to the hobby shop three times. This last trip to the hobby shop netted another smaller copter that one can crash without breaking rotors, main shafts, landing gears, or rocker bits ( whatever). There is something fundamentally eerie about an entity floating around the living room not connected to anything. It looks like a large flying beetle that has a flashing red light in its head. Spooky little bugger!! He's happy!
School! What can I say. I've been introducing poetry to my advanced students. I thought they would have a better handle on some poetic basics - - I was wrong. I had them write ballads with all the main characteristics. You know, quatrains with ABCB rhyme, a repeated line, 6 to 8 syllables in iambic rhythm. Tears in your beer stories!! They had no idea what to do with it. We got there, though, and some were actually respectable ballads. Next is the sonnet!! Fourteen lines of iambic pentameter-- hahahahahaha! Those little know-it-alls don't know anything!!
Well, I off to the downstairs to fold a ton of clothes and watch Antiques Roadshow. The perfect end to a perfect, free, bonus, extra, unexpected, all up to me day!!
DOT

January Blues

Today is a balmy, humid, overcast day in January. No wind. No rain. Just stillness. I feel a like nothing.

Growing up the youngest is not the greatest thing in the world. It is true, I have no complaints. i have the most wonderful and caring older siblings. They have all been good examples, and I have always been an astute observer. I've learned a great deal about life vicariously through so many of their trials and successes. Surely, I've created a little of my own drama along the way, but much was avoided under their tutelage. I am talking about another problem all together.

The reason why incidents and situations occurring in early childhood have such a lasting and profound impact on an individual is because that person did not have the words or language to explain or understand logically. Without the ability to explore the emotional or psychological reasons for the situation the child brain cannot process the varying responses; therefore the feelings are permanent. They are deep.

This is in no way a forum for me to blame everyone else for my sense of helplessness. They were doing what they were supposed to be doing - - growing up and going away to create their own lives. In a way they were blazing a path for me. At the same time, I think my baby and then child brain experienced the loss - - the leaving of each one. My safe world with so many people around me was diminishing one by one until only I was left. I know that a child is very egocentric - at the exact center of the universe - everyone feels that way.

To this day, however, I still feel the sting when someone I know moves away or leaves. When my friend Susan K retired, I felt a whole in the school. When the Petersons moved, I felt like I had somehow contributed to their reasons for leaving. When Toni got married, I began to miss her even though she just teaches up the hall. The biggest feeling of loss I have right now is the fact that Briana has her license and can go away from me. I miss her terribly. What am I going to do when she is truly grown up and on her own?

The fact that I can identify this feeling when it happens and logically explain it to myself and you, dear blog, doesn't make it any less painful; it does, however, allow me to recognize the emotions and talk or write or pray through them. That's a good thing.

Already, I'm feeling a lot better!!

I've been reading about personality disorders lately. I'm not talking about character flaws or personality traits; these are real disorders. Clinically, these can be proven, and with some treatment and/or therapy some can be reversed. What is so interesting is that the characteristics of the disorders are very subjective, yet they are clearly a part of the whole thing. When would a person with Borderline Personality Disorder, say, know that he needs psychiatric help when his disorder prevents him for understanding what a disorder is? Do other people have to have a sort of intervention on this person? Are family practitioners trained enough to spot the symptoms and not just treat the symptoms but see them as part of the disorder? Does this person have to experience some kind of psychotic break before enough attention is paid that could diagnose the real problem? What if nothing really big ever happens to the person? Does he go his whole life just being that quirky neighbor or annoying sibling?
I realize that some disorders and diseases really don't need intensive treatment. Those people can live a normalish life. Not everyone has to have the perfect 85 years of bliss and peace on this planet. My biggest concern is for the loved ones of the person with the disorder. Children are influenced; spouses are burdened; coworkers can sometimes be blind-sided.

There are so many disorders out there. Today, anything can be a disorder. You have a desire to wash your hands a lot - - - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. You keep all your extra boxes and containers - - Hoarding disorder!! You think you are more important than other people - - Narcissistic Personality Disorder. You get really mad- - Emotional disorder. You get really really mad - - Severe Emotional Disorder!! You don't like leaning over the railing of a really tall building - - Height phobia!! With so many disorders, phobias, syndromes, and disturbances out there, I think a person with no disorders must be considered as having some sort of "no disorder disorder." He would obviously be the rarer of the bunch.

Just my thoughts!!