Houston, Here We Come

I have a wonderful friend who is very ill.   I promised myself that I would do my best to set my priorities in their proper order.  Well, in the order that I, personally, considered proper.

1.  Shopping.
2.  Playing with Tom.
3.  Shopping
4.  Eating.
5.  Playing with Tom.
6.  Shopping....

Oh wait, that was the old list.  My new list starts with anything that involves family and friends.  So, here I am in Houston visiting both friends and family.  Such a good girl.   Like this is hard.   The truth is that the hard part is not thinking about what I have facing me when I get home.  Gulp.  Think I will go play with Tom some more.  Amazingly, he can make me forget and smile all at the same time, heh heh.

Good Times for this Quilter

One might not think that beginning your Saturday with a memorial service would be a good thing.  However, the service was really nice.  It had an overall military theme with a male quartet singing patriotic songs, the flowers were red, white, and blue, and the eulogy honored not only on the deceased's exemplary military career, but honored those who served in the military during WWII, in general.  It so reminded me of my father.  That is definitely a good thing.

Afterwards, we were invited to the family's home where we enjoyed gumbo, red beans and rice, and cheesecake.  But, more importantly, we enjoyed getting to talk to friends and neighbors that we seldom get to see.  Again, good times.

Next, we headed to Shreveport for shopping (need I say more???? heh heh), dinner, and finally, we went to the opera.  This was my gift to Brandy for Valentines.  Watching her, watching the opera, was my gift to myself....the best of times.

Woo Woo for this Quilter

You know, sometimes it is difficult to not believe in Woo Woo.  I have a friend all the way from my High School years who I have kept only sporatically in touch with over the years.  She never calls me.  If we are going to get together, it is I who initiates the contact.  In November, when I was in Birmingham for Mother's memorial, I started trying to call this friend.  The phone simply rang and rang.  Then, over the last three months, I have called several times to no avail.  The answering machine never picked up, nothing.  Now, today, she called me...just to talk.  She was completely unaware that I have been calling her.  Like I said,  woo woo......

Now, I hope you will say another kind of WOO WOO when you see my latest work.  Whatchathink?  It is called Sweet Tooth

Another Quilter's Duh Moment

Dianne's and Brandy's schedule:
1.   On Wednesday, completely empty the trailer.  Go to the storage shed and get the sofa.  DONE (Remember, this is two girly-girls lifting a huge leather sofa alllll by themselves)   Load/pack Red Car for the lecture.  Pack/load Black car w/trailer for Arkansas and Alabama.  DONE
2.   Thursday:  Get up at 5 a.m. so we can depart by 7 a.m. for Texas for the Lecture.  DONE  (O.K., so we are 30 minutes late.  Remember, by our definition, we are ON TIME !!!)
3.  Lecture:  "Taking Quilts to Another  Place"  (Photograph them and make your own Notecards, Make your own Gift Wrap, Make your own Wallpaper,  Design your very own cell phone covers, IPad covers, computer covers, etc.....Totally FUN stuff that uses your quilts in a whole new way.  Clap, clap, clap...) 
4.  Drive back to Ruston; change vehicles and drive to Arkansas to deliver the sofa. 
5.  SOFA DOES NOT FIT THROUGH THE DOOR !!!!!  Duh, duh duh.   Could it have been a good idea for Tom to have mentioned at some point that he had to ram the existing sofa through the door?????  Perhaps he could have measured to be sure this new sofa would not have the same issues?  Sigh.
6.  Keep driving to Birmingham....second DUH.  We actually thought we could make it to Birmingham all in the same day as the Texas Lecture......

 Light on, Light off, Light on, Light off, Light off, Light off...... 



So, how about a peek at my newest item that is keeping me awake at night...it suits how I feel in the middle of the night when everyone else in the house is snoring -- all wonky and tilty, half awake, half asleep, kinda leeeaning towards the bed.....how to describe what I am doing in a pattern is gonna keep me up for days, gulp.

Quilter and Who Knows?

Emeril and Dianne at the Napoleon House Bar

There I was, having a nice quiet drink with my husband at the Napoleon House Bar when in comes the press, cameras and all.  Sneaky little guys, they tried to pretend they were not there to catch me in my daily routine so they focused the cameras on some guy in a white shirt.  His name was Emeril La....something. I think he is a cook. Who knows what could happen to this guy with exposure like this.  Someday he might become famous, have his own cooking show, signature cookware, ....the works.  All because he was in the right place at the right time.  Now I know how Lady Di felt, not a moment to myself. 

Mardi Grab

Mardi Gras in a Tree

Our trip to New Orleans was great.  We had incredible food, surprise, surprise.  We ate at the Bon Ton Cafe, at Antoine's, PreJean's, Cafe Mes Amis, and August.  I gained three pounds....sigh.  Why is is so much easier to find pounds than it is to lose them?  I mean, I lose everything else.  Remember, I am on cell phone #8 in two years....Perhaps if I draw a picture of a phone on my hips?

The Ravens and the 49 ers were in town, ready for the Superbowl.  Raven fans were delighted with all of the Purple.  It almost looked like home to them.  Check out the Mardi Gras Tree.  This is something new to me and is quite delightful to see with the sun shining on the beads.  

We actually went down to New Orleans to join friends we made while in grad school lo' these many years ago.  I was amazed at how old those folks looked.  Oh, wait, that is I in those pictures.  I knew there was a reason I hated cameras...

Luckier, not Wiser Quilter

O.K., I love Casinos.  On the way home from that lovely dinner where Tom drove all the way to give me the Ikat fabrics, Brandy and I decided to stop and blow a wad.  We chose El Dorado.  I am not ever going back to El Dorado.  That was probably the worst return, and fastest expenditure I have ever done at a casino.  I mean, to me, it is like going to the movies...I usually set aside about $20 and fully expect to lose it but have fun in the process.  I play the penny slots and think I am rich every time it dings.  10 ding-dings for 10 cents, impressive sounding, at least... Most of the time,  I put in that $20 and am entertained for a couple of hours with free drinks included.  How fun is that?

Well, at El Dorado, I spend $75 of my hard-earned $$$ and got NADA. not even 30 minutes of entertainment and this was a company who has gargantuan billboards boasting best paying slots, SO. NOT. TRUE

Now, move forward to the trip home.  We are feeling good having broken our sales record for a Jefferson show.  Let's go back to the casino -- a different one.  Let's try Harrahs a.k.a., Horseshoe.  They have the coolest slot machine with a three-dimensional genie.  My kind of game--the penny slots and it talks to you and the chair vibrates.  Vibrating is good, heh heh.  By the time we start to leave, we have over $500 bucks.  We cashed in the voucher and then decided, why not blow the original $20, again....Bang, we win another $365.  Greedy little gals that we are, we blew 65 of it before waking up and taking our money and heading home.    Now, we are feeling pretty amazing.

Did I mention that they also gave us a free dinner for two?  So, we had errands to run, why not run them in Shreveport????  You guessed it.  Apparently bad luck is what runs in threes....we blew about half of what we had won and, folks, earned our very own, "Stupid" pin.

When I called Tom to let him know what had happened, he said, "Dianne, I thought you were smarter than that."  What on earth does this have to do with being smart???????????????  It has to do with GREEEEED.  Where I am incredibly Lucky is the part where my husband hangs up laughing.  Like I said, Luckier, not necessarily Wiser.

Even Luckier Quilter

My thinking was, "and, a good time was had by all," until I realized that I probably should not speak for anyone but myself.  So, I, Dianne Springer, had a terrific time at the Jefferson Quilt Show.  Brandy and I set up our booth with time to spare (that means we were not the very last to finish), we saw gobs of great folks, I got in lots of hugs, we set a personal best for time it took to pack the trailer, and, we topped our sales from last year!!  How cool is that?

Thank you, everyone, for your part in making my weekend even funner than I had hoped for !!  You shared your hugs, your stories,  smiles, tears,...your hard earned dollars, but, most of all, thanks for sharing your hearts and passions.  I am definitely one Lucky Gal.

Surprised Quilter

We arrived safe and sound here in Jefferson, Texas.  Of course that was only after arriving late, even by our standards....three hours to unload and set up, gulp.  Naturally, I had to potty.  There I am sitting.  Oh look, the lecture schedule is taped to the wall of the stall.  Reading material for those who like acomplishing two things at once. Hmmmmm.  Let's see.  Lectures: 11:30, Dianne Springer, "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend."  Good to know the time I am scheduled to speak.....

I wonder who else is speaking.  Oh, there I am, again.  I did not realize that I was scheduled to talk about "diamonds" twice.  No prob..... um, wait, it is a different topic!!!  It is my lecture on Ikats.  Holy Cow.  I do not even remember agreeing to do that.  Jeez Pete's what am I going to do?  What else can one do but call 911.  You got it, TOM.  Bless that angel-of-a-man's heart.  He drove from Arkansas, to Ruston, picked up the materials, and then drove to Shreveport to meet us, AND paid for a lovely dinner.  How lucky can one person be?

Listen, my definition of lucky definitely includes loving what one does each day and includes having someone in their life who loves them warts and all.   Well, I do love what I do.  My warts are the size of Mt. Everest, and amazingly, there is someone who loves me in spite of that.   So, color me extremely lucky....just please don't use Beige, heh heh.

Quilter's On the Road

Look out Texas, here we come.  Yep, another year, another show.  Looking for those sweet shiny faces in the crowd.  As I mentioned earlier, come with hugs, smiles, and stories of what you have accomplished over the last 12 months.  Better yet, let's have a show and tell.  I love show and tell.  Tom just surprised me with a visit in the middle of the week.  I think I will go play show and tell with him...see ya.........................................