Busy

I am tempted to do what my friend did and put my stuff in several different blogs, but it's 1:15 in the morning (thank you Tori!), so we'll do this the quicker way. I haven't even had time to sit down and do this earlier, so here I am, doing this now while most are asleep.

Sean had to work on Valentine's Night, but he sent me flowers at work (after my manager thought that some birthday flowers for Peggy were for me. I laughed at the idea of Sean sending me flowers, so she made sure that I gave him a hard time. He felt the pressure and thought he had better send them :) ). They were beautiful! Even if he felt compelled, I was still so excited that they actually came. And I think he put the compelled act on just for show :) Tammie talked to her husband and mentioned to him that my husband sent me flowers and he told her, "Tell her to give you one!"

Since Sean worked that night, Sara invited us over to Mom's for dinner (which she fixed). It was delicious! She made Saucy Hearts and broccoli and cheese, Mom made a pink jell-o salad, and we had rolls. After we let the food settle, we had pie and ice cream too! Mmmm good! Thanks Sara for the wonderful meal!

Friday I did home visits with Caleb's assistant teacher. Mrs. Sandy wasn't able to go and their FSW (Family Service Worker) was sick, so Cozette asked me to go. We tried 17 homes and made 9 visits. It was a real eye-opener. I am glad I got to experience that and hope that I don't have to do it next week. But Mrs. Bonnie is really great and I was so glad to get to know her better. She also did my home visit for Caleb while we had some extra time.

Friday night our kids went to the Sterling and Sean and I went on a date! It's been a while, so it was exciting. We went to the mall and voted on our favorite boo-boo quilt. There was a record 47 quilts there and they were so beautiful! We did a little shopping and then went over to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. We got there around 8:30 and still had to wait about 25 minutes. It was packed! But the food was wonderful (Sean wasn't as pleased, but still went away satisfied). We picked up Tori and then went home and went to bed! The other four camped out on the Sterlings family room floor in sleeping bags with their cousins. It was so cute.

I would have slept in, since most of the little people were gone, but Saturday was Make a Blanket Day at the mall. Dad took Mom and I over and we got there around 8:30 am to find a good spot and set up. There are more and more people every year, so we had to make sure we could get a good place. Sean and the kids stopped by to see the quilts (Isabelle wanted to see Mommy's quilt). I did have to give a disclaimer to everyone on all the girls hair. The all had quite the bed head. :)
When blanket day is at the mall, there is paper piecing to do. Mom and I enjoy putting the blocks together and we like getting a bunch and doing them all together. We didn't have enough plugs to plug in two sewing machines and Mom's travel iron, so one person sewed while the other ironed, lined up pieces and trimmed. It was a lot of fun. All together we made about 16 blocks. With each block that you do, you can try for a prize. They use a ping pong machine and if you get an orange ping pong, you get 10 extra tickets for the special prize drawings. If you get a yellow ping pong, you get to pick a prize off of the door prize table. If you get a white one, well, thanks for trying and here's another block :) Mom is really good at getting the colored balls, so I made her do most of it. She ended up with 2(?) door prize ping pongs and 6 or more special prize tickets ping pongs. She's amazing! She got the first one right away and picked up a kit to make a travel sewing bag with things to go in it. She happens to have one already and it also just so happens that I mentioned to her that I wanted one like that, so she got it for me :) She is so sweet! I got my name called first thing for a door prize and picked up a pair of snippers for rag quilt snipping. I was really excited about both! She also picked up a pair of snippers with her second ping pong ball prize. She got a snuggly scarf when her name was finally called for a door prize. The great thing about Project Linus and this chapter of it is that they are so good to their volunteers! Mary and Cheryl really know how to make these days so wonderful! We sat by our friend, Judy Brumaster. We got to know her at the November, 2006 Appreciation Breakfast and have enjoyed her ever since. She is a wonderful lady with an amazing memory. I saw her at the Feb. make a blanket day in 2007 and she asked when I was due. When I saw her in June, she said she had been keeping an eye out for our birth announcement in the paper and was excited to find it at the end of May. This picture of her is when she won one of the special drawings. We cheered loudly for her. We didn't win any of the special drawings, but the very last drawing that they did, was for a $900 Baby Lock Sewing Machine that was donated by Baby Lock and Stewarts. Those who pre-registered got to enter the drawing and when we put our names in, I told Mary that if Mom won, I got the machine. We all laughed and Mom explained that my machine just broke a few days earlier. I never win any of the big prizes, so I was busy sewing and not paying much attention. When they called my name I freaked out! Mom and I just kept hugging and we were almost crying. Mary had said that every time that they give a sewing machine away, it always seems to go to someone who really needs it, and this time it was no exception. Mom whispered to me, "Oh! I was hoping you would get it! I have been saying a little prayer all day that you would get it!" I love that woman! I am so grateful for my new machine! It truly is a blessing to me! I have already sewn my travel case with it and I love it!!
Mom and I were on the front page of the local section! And my name is at the very end of the article for winning the machine.

http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2008/02/18/news/local/1030159.txt


This is Mary Balagna. She is the Vice Pres. of the National Office for Project Linus and the President of our chapter. She is an amazing woman. I can't believe all that she manages to accomplish. Cheryl Hughes is the Vice Pres. and is wonderful at helping her. I guess that's how Mary does it. Between them and all the volunteers, each Project Linus event is amazing.

Lastly, my mother-in-law came Sunday afternoon. Sean and the four older kids went to Champaign and picked her up. They were so excited! It's always wonderful to have Mamaw here. She love to help and to spoil. I have a video of Livy and Mamaw playing and then I think I might be done. I am ready to go back to bed now that Tori is quiet. I hear Sean sleeping away and my eyes are getting heavy again. One more picture before I go... Nora won't leave Tori alone! Here, she doesn't seem to mind too much :) Yeah, I should have done this in several different blogs. Sorry it's so long!