Friday, May 23, 2008

Gardening





It has been really cold here but I finally got most of the plants in. I've planted tomatoes, peppers, zuchinni, cabbage, cauliflower, marigolds (to help keep the bugs off) and more strawberries. I also planted beans and peas. I still have to plant my watermelon, pumpkin, buttercup squash, cucumbers, basil and lavender. Siobhan wanted to see so I am posting pics for her. She'll be home in a few weeks and will be able to see for herself. Yay!

Friday, May 16, 2008

Tag You're It




John and I went down to the Frugal Muse in Darien this evening to see Thom Hartmann and get a book signed by him. I have mentioned him in this blog before as being the smartest man in radio, and it was so cool to meet him in person. He gave a great talk on how we need to begin healing the Democratic party; the ideological split between right and left; the nation and the world. He talked about how wounded we are as a nation and it's time to try and put that aside and come together. It was an excellent talk. He took a few questions and then signed books. One of the lines he uses a lot to get people to act is "Tag You're It", the first time I think I heard him say it was in the movie "Crude Impact" and I've always loved that so John and I asked him to sign our book that way which he did. There was a lady who was nice enough to take a picture of us together too.
We were talking on the way home about what we can do now since we haven't done a lot lately and I think maybe we are going to work for Obama's campaign. Other than donating money we haven't done much else. Maybe we can go door to door in Wisconsin somewhere, or Indiana.
Last weekend Chris was over and he was talking about how he thought it was important to get the people in the inner cities signed on to the message of change, and that if you did that it could make a tremendous difference. There was a young black kid tonight from the inner city who asked Thom why people didn't seem to even know about the issues in the inner city; he said he would have to go to other places to talk to people. As was pointed out by Thom, they don't really talk much in the suburbs either. I mean we do to family members or whatever, but there really isn't an open discourse. Anyway, I think Obama is starting to bring people together so we can have that communication and start educating each other as to what our realites are, but we at the grass roots level have to to really take that up and run with it.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Coffee Cozies






Ok, I've seen these selling here and there on Etsy, and they are VERY easy to make. I have seen them billed as "sustainable" and "green" but I'm not so sure they are cause even if you use these you still need the freaking paper cup. If you were trully trying to be more conscious of resources you'd do waht Melissa does and bring your own travel cup from home. However, I think they are cute and they do save using the cardboard sleeve, so I guess that's something. I'm keeping the pirate one.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Finished!






I finished quilting the Amish Bars quilt! I really found the whole process relaxing and enjoyable; I see myself doing it again. I didn't keep track of the actual time it took, but it's been just over a month since I started the whole project.I did lots of other things too, so I didn't work on it exclusivley. The routine of machine sewing projects in the morning and then quilting in the afternoons worked well; plus I had a couple of Thursdays at Mom's where I quilted. I'm going to really work on Sio's Crazy Quilt now; it shouldn't really take that long since I'm going to just outline the 10" crazy patch blocks. The only fancy quilting will be in the borders. Since I got the standing hoop I think it will be easier to work on, too.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Chris Matthews is the Man

I was up late last night watching the results from the Indiana and North Carolina primarys; I tried to go to bed a couple of times; the first time I made it as far as John's computer room and then after I went to bed I got back up again and didn't get back to bed right away. By the time I got to sleep it was midnight. Anyway, while Hillary is saying she'll press on (at least she's saying it right now), she won Indiana because of Rush Limbaughs campaign to screw with the vote in this country. Now I am not a Chris Matthews fan, I agree with Stephanie Miller most of the time when she calls him a right wing tool; however last night he stepped up to the plate and hit it out of the park when he denounced Limbaughs Operation Chaos by telling people it was shameful to have participated in it. He said "anyone who voted to screw up the political system of this country with the purpose of mischief should carry that with them the rest their lives". He went on to say it was "a ridiculous way to use the vote for which people fought and died" and "I hope you're proud of yourself". I couldn't agree with him more. Democracy and the will of the people is not a toy to be played with by people who don't understand or deserve the freedoms this Constitution has guaranteed them over the history of this country. My blood boils when I think about how someone could intentionally try to circumvent the process that so many people through out history have tried to protect. At this moment I HATE the right wing neo-cons in this country more passionatly then I ever have; I am beginning to agree with my husband when he says they should all be hung as traitors and war criminals.