Ugly Quilt

I had the brilliant idea to make quilts for my brother and his family. The quilt for my brother looks like pop culture vomited. Of course my brother loves it. 

His kids have described it as “manly” and “beer” and “warm”.   I think they are being kind. 

In case you were wondering this master piece of madness has fabric containing the following:

• Jaws
• Star Wars
• Beer
• Tacos
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Skeletons 
• Walking Dead
• E.T.
• Fighting Robots
• Tattoos
• Blood Splatters
• Silver Screen Monsters

My least favorite fabric is still E.T. He looks like a deformed potato and incredibly hard to match fabric to.  The longer you look at the fabric with his face on it, the weirder and uglier he looks.  By far my favorite fabric is Silver Screen Monsters.  I love old movies and so does my brother, so when I saw the fabric I immediately thought of him.  Despite the fact that some of the fabric used was just plain ugly, I had a lot of fun hunting for fabric and coming up with a pattern.

Touring Troegs

I love factory tours.  I think they are interesting and fun. And often times they have free samples at the end. (I don’t really care about the free samples, but it is nice.) This year for Gat’s birthday, we took a tour of Troegs Brewery.  The brewery tour was only $5 and was totally worth it.


Here are a few of the highlights from the tour:

• They have an art contest every year for their gallery.  Prize is $500. (I want to do this, somehow)
•  They work with local farmers. (The Dear Peter story has forever made me look at apricots differently.)
•  Their full time employees get a case with their paycheck. (Totally awesome.)
•  Caramel malt can not be mistaken as trail mix. (And the chocolate malt is a lie. There is no chocolate involved, it is describing a color not a flavor.)

Gat and I learned a fair bit about beer.  We tried some samples and took a look at the fancy machinery. It was pretty neat to look at everything, and in the event of the world ending, it is certainly a place to take refuge.  If you ever find yourself in the vicinity of Hershey, PA I would recommend to check out Troegs and grab a bite to eat.  The duck confit and poutine is amazing and the bear will put a smile on your face.

Dreams of Sun and Sand

Did you ever have one of those dreams that you can’t forget about? I know that most people don’t remember their dreams at night or don’t even dream.  Every once in a while I can remember fragments of a dream that can leave me scratching my head.  Last week I had a dream and if I close my eyes I can still recall the way parts of it felt. 

::insert wavy dream transition sequence here::

The sun was shining in the cerulean sky. Gat and I had beach chairs slung over our pale white shoulders as we ambled to the shoreline. My friends, Maria and Clint were already set up where the breaking waves could tickle their toes. Maria had a twinkle in her eyes ad her curls bounced in the breeze as she offered me a brown bottle beer as we sat our chairs in the sand. Clint smiled like a salt and pepper Cheshire cat and told us to dig our toes in as his eyes crinkled in glee.  Maria winked and plugged her beer with her thumb as a huge wave crashed over us.  I could feel the grit of sand between my toes as I tried to anchor myself as the clear blue and white water swirled above me and tried to sweep me out to sea. 

::End dream sequence::

There was a second part to the dream, but that I am going to keep to myself.  The dream of sun and sand is a contrast to the ice and gray of winter that I am currently in. If I close my eyes I can still feel the sand between my toes and the way the water tried to tug and pull me away.  I am sure that if I were to consult a dream dictionary it would have some deep and possibly meaningful opinions on what my subconscious was trying to tell me. I am going to remember the way the sand felt between my toes as a wrap another scarf around me in an attempt to keep warm. 

Goats

Goats!



I am a nice and normal person. Or at least I think I am, but every now and then my brain takes a turn and goes down an alley and I have no idea why.   Some people call it a squirrel moments, because they could be normally doing something and BAM! Oh Look ! A  Squirrel! They are utterly distracted and there isn't any particular trigger.

Goats!

I have what I am going to call Goat Moments. It is where I can be carrying on a perfectly normal conversation and then all of a sudden a word is going to strike me as funny. Not funny Uh-Oh, but funny Ha-Ha!  This past weekend that word was Goats and I have no idea.  I was puttering around killing time before meeting some friends for lunch/afternoon beers, and I left my coffee cup by the goats and that is all it took/  For some reason the word goats and the way it rolls off of my tongue stuck me as funny.  Funny like it was the best joke I had ever heard.

Goats!

Funny in a way that I am saying the word goats over and over again in a sing song manner and can't stop laughing at how the word feels as it is uttered. My husband just rolled his eyes as I gasped for air as we left to get beers/ lunch.    Even as I am typing this out, I am saying goats to myself and snickering. It is still funny and it has been a few days since the first goat threw me into a giggling fit.  I have no idea why I find humor in this.  And that is what a Goat Moment is. It is something that is unexplainably funny that comes out of the blue. Maybe some day I will have a better explanation, but that is all I have now. I have goats.


Goats!

Winning at Marriage

My anniversary is coming up and I was trying to figure out what to get my husband to celebrate. Looking for inspiration,  I went to the almighty Hallmark website, to see what was the appropriate gift to mark the numerical year of my anniversary.  I was horrified.

This is what Hallmark had to say.  

Anniversary	Traditional	Modern
1st	Paper	Clocks
2nd	Cotton	China
3rd	Leather	Crystal/Glass
4th	Fruit/Flowers	Appliances
5th	Wood	Silverware
6th	Candy/Iron	Wood
7th	Wool/Copper	Desk Sets
8th	Pottery/Bronze	Linens/Lace
9th	Willow/Pottery	Leather
10th	Tin/Aluminum	Diamond Jewelry
11th	Steel	Fashion Jewelry
12th	Silk/Linen	Pearls
13th	Lace	Textile Furs
14th	Animals*	Gold Jewelry
15th	Crystal	Watches
20th	China	Platinum
25th	Silver	Silver
30th	Pearl	Diamond
35th	Coral	Jade
40th	Ruby	Ruby
45th	Sapphire	Sapphire
50th	Gold	Gold
60th	Diamond	Diamond

* Historically, the traditional 14th anniversary gift was ivory, but endangered elephant populations make this an unethical choice.

I feel cheated that I missed leather.  There are some interesting things that I could have done will leather. Right now I am on Fruit/Flowers or better yet Appliances.  I am not entirely sure that, Honey I love you. Please enjoy this new oven and please don't cook me in it, is the way I want to go. 

I feel like this list had a lot left to be desired. It didn't inspire me, well maybe the leather did, but other than that it didn't give me much to work with. The idea of buying fruit or flowers or appliances doesn't stir the blood. I decided that I would make my own list.  

Anniversary 

1st-Tee Shirts   

2nd- Action figures/ Toys

3rd - Comics/ Books

4th-Movies/Theater/Entertainment

5th- Games

6th- Beverages/ Alcohol

7th- Amusement Park/Fairs/ Concerts

8th- Kitchen Gadgets

9th- Food

10th- Electronics/ Computer 

11th-Themed Conventions

12th- The Great Out Doors 

13th- Winery/ Beer tours

14th- Pajamas/ Costumes

15th- Themed Hotel Room

20th- Destination Trip (hello hobbits)

25th- Jewelry

30th-Museums

35th- Leather/ Weaponry

40th-Art

45th- Mythical Creature

50th- Vow renewal - Themed

55th First edition

60th-Trophy

That's right, for my 60th anniversary, my husband and I should get a trophy for winning at marriage. 

Delilah Dirk and The Turkish Lieutenant

Sometimes I forget that I like things. I lose myself in the hum drum of every day life and forget that I like to do more than just exist. Thankfully I have people in my life that know me better than I know myself.  A week or so ago was Valentine's Day.  Valentine's Day is commercial holiday that is used to sell an idea to the consumer, much like St. Patrick's Day is an excuse to drink beer and talk with a fake Irish accent.  I happen to like the idea behind Valentine's Day, because I see it as a good opportunity to be grateful. My husband looks at is as an excuse to go shopping for things that we both like.

This year my husband picked up a copy of Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant by Tony Cliff for our celebration of appreciation. I don't know how my husband does it, but he manages to find some of the absolute best graphic novels.  This latest acquisition to the comic collection is a great reminder to enjoy the journey and not worry so much about the destination. Not to mention there is always time for a good cup of tea.

I found the Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant to be beautifully drawn and vivid in the colors. The style worked well with the action and dialogue and you get a real feel for who the characters were and what made them tick.  Most importantly, it made me want to continue the journey with Delilah and Selim and see what sort of trouble the inadvertently brew up. I think that it important to feel like you can lose yourself in a story, even just a little bit and Delilah Dirk does that for me.  I definitely recommend this to all those that are interested in a strong female lead character that is not dressed in a provocative manner that challenges preconceived notions that girls can not be globe trotting adventurers, and are more fitted to the roll of side kicks. Delilah is one girl who chooses her own path. This is one of those graphic novels that would be perfect for girls of any age and has enough action and adventure that would make it an interesting read for boys.  I very much look forward to the next installment in this series, encourage you to keep an eye out for Delilah Dirk.