Advent 3

Maybe you need to be assured that we are celebrating Advent?

Yes, we light the candles for dinner, three this week.

Yes, the Advent Wreath banner is hanging in the kitchen.

Yes, the creche figures of Mary and Joseph and the donkey are making their way around the livingroom under the beneficial eye of the angel.

I'm not working on any quilting. I'm working on a sermon for Sunday afternoon when our congrgation will celebrate the ordination of a son of the parish on the feast day of St. Thomas, the Doubter. The combination of these is my topic. How to interweave them is my problem.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Breakfast with my Reunion group

Shopping for the church Christmas basket

Escapism reading

Errands & Jazz today

Wednesday is always my rushing-around-town day, breakfast out with my Cursillo reunion group, tutoring two elementary school kids in reading for a half hour each, and then getting in 2000 steps at the Meijer's store before grocery shopping. Had a sugar low because I forgot to eat a granola bar after the tutoring, so I went out to lunch unexpectedly!

This Magi turned left when the two others went past the shepherds. Don't know exactly where his home is, but I think his horse is refusing the jump from the Bose to the piano.

We were invited to Ray and Dianne's for dinner and to go out to Noto's for jazz with Mary Rademacher, both of which we enjoyed.

Now I have finished the 20 Hourglass blocks for the Carolina Crossroads addition, but I haven't put the mini-blocks together to make the Ohio Stars. Hope to get that done tomorrow before the Spoolspinners meeting, and maybe have a chance to study Bonnie's additional instructions.
Sara

Steps: 6112 (includes 22 minutes of walking)

Gratitudes:
Reunion group conversations
Avontea's interest in gorilla calendar
Meal and time with Ray, Dianne, and Jean

Christmas Eve

The shepherds have no idea how their lives are going to be disturbed by an angelic visitation. You can see that we have several varieties of sheep to keep located and healthy. At least three of them are European imports, and one is made out of a real wool fuzz ball. Luckily the sheep dog can help gather them together on the commode behind the loveseat.

Tonight the child will arrive at the stable (after church), and I hope to remember to fly the angel over to the shepherds before we leave for St. Louis in the morning. Then they'll have to get along on their own until we return on Jan. 4. It will be a quick trip for the Magi at that point to get to the stable by Epiphany. Maybe we should start them in the morning as well!

Sara

Steps:

Gratitudes:

Getting bladder infection diagnosed before we left town

No upsets iin the travel plans

DS and DDIL with us in church

Arrival at Stable

In a crowded Bethlehem,
far from the airport,
Joseph has found a stable.
Looks like there is hay for a bed
and some friendly animals to warm the air.

Time to move in before Mary's time arrives.
Hope there is a midwife nearby;
he'll ask the innkeeper's wife.
Then he needs to go to the Tax Office to register.

And we think we've got a busy schedule!
I'm looking forward to a sermon about Joseph this morning, since we are in the lectionary year of Matthew. Matthew doesn't care about Mary. All those stories are in Luke. However, I still hope we will sing "The Angel Gabriel from heaven came".

EVENING:

I made the "THE" this afternoon. Decided it should be a little smaller, as a less significant word. Now they are both pinned up at the head of the bed. It would be nice to get "STAR" done before we leave for Costa Rica, but Christmas Eve may not be a good day for working on it. Then again, maybe it will be! With no one coming to visit, I can use my time however I want!
I am trying to imagine how to make the "A" for "STAR" look like a star. Since I am not certain, I don't feel like starting. Guess I'll go to work on the packing, which could make for more time tomorrow before the Christmas Eve service. Maybe I'll have a brainstorm by the morning.

Sara

Steps: 2831 (bad!)

Gratitudes:

Yes! We sang "The Angel Gabriel from heaven came".

FOUR candles lit on dining table.

Pasta with pesto for dinner.

Stable ready for visitors

A quiet day in Lake Wobegon.
I went to the pool and participated in the Swimercize class for 50 minutes.
I sat at the computer and read e-mails and blogs. Finished squaring-up the mystery blocks from Step 2.
Peter and Lynne came over for dinner, bringing three Chinese take-out boxes, and some gifts for us to take to St. Louis. Lynne picked a "sheep with a curly horn" for the shepherds' flock and Peter picked the goose for near the stable. [Note: two mice.] Then he took his baby quilt away with him.
The battery on the pedometer gave out, so I lost the count of steps for today.

Safe travel to all who are starting their trips today!

Sara

Gratitudes:
helpers at the bank and the tailor's
clean house
conversation with adult "kids"

First day with pedometer

Exercise for today: walking for 10 minutes around the Meijers store before starting my grocery shopping. That was just one circuit of the outside walls of the mega-store. Then there was another 25 minutes in the store actually finding the things I meant to buy.
My pedometer reads 3520 for "steps" at 10:45 PM. That isn't very high. I will have to work on making more moves each day.

After I put away the groceries I sewed together some of the strips of blocks for my Secret Sister. Then I rinsed out a couple of new fabrics for the Mystery. I'm getting ready for new instructions tomorrow. Presuming that Bonnie can stay on her own schedule.

After dinner I took out the calf for the creche so that the ox has some company in the stable. My father made the stable from scraps of lumber for us, and included a small light inside the roof. This illuminates the interior and acts as a nightlight for the livingroom all through the season.
Mary, Joseph, the donkey and the angel are still on the window ledge, but moving along.


Sara

Gratitudes:
SUN for most of the day
friends sharing growing old
pleasant clerks at the store

Cute nine-patches

I did indeed finish the 100 little nine-patches for the Carolina Crossroads Mystery quilt. Here's a basket full of them with a sample display of four.

I decided the light yellow that was my second fabric for the "accent" position was too light to read as a medium. This position is supposed to be closer to the dark plaids. Luckily I looked through my Yellow Bin and found a brownish-yellow there that will do a better job. But perhaps these two fabrics will not be enough for the whole mystery! I will have to wait and see, and meanwhile hold back from rushing wildly to the fabric store, my natural inclination. I am going to keep the nine-patches that were already put together with the light yellow. But I replaced all the three-piece-strips with that yellow that had NOT been turned into nine-patches yet. So now there are three yellows in use, but only two that will continue.

These patches are smaller than I usually use, and the blocks are rather cute! I had nearly decided to get rid of my little bin of 1.5' squares and strips, but Bonnie may have converted me. Nevertheless, this is no way to use up very much Stash. I think we have enough blocks so far to make a top of 30" x 60". The final top is going to be 80" x 80", so we have a way to go.

The next Clue will come on Thursday, perhaps. Therefore I will have to work on something else during my quilting time.

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Today an offshoot group was formed from Stashbusters by women who need to have a REWARD in order to exercise. The founder proclaimed that she was going to only quilt AFTER exercising each day, and lots of us think this may work for us. After all, this makes more sense than rewarding oneself with food! Hence a new group.

I have joined and gave myself the following challenge, which I am calliing "Healthy Habits":

1) EXERCISE weekly six days: Strength and Stretch class with Charlie twice, Swimmercise at the community pool twice, and walk at least 20 minutes a day twice.

2) EAT healthy always, and plan my morning and afternoon snacks (so I don't indulge in "easy" pickings).

Then I went out to take my first walk in a long time--45 minutes was my plan, or at least two times around the meadow. Forget it! I went once around the meadow and was winded. Total time = 10 minutes. Guess I need to lower my expectations to 20 minutes, which may be divided into two separate walks. Better to be realistic about my expectations.

Tonight I took out the first shepherd figure for our creche.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Singing Advent hymn "At Jordan's bank the Baptist's cry"

Tuna pesto salad

Discovered three 'lost' evergreen trees in the snow

Advent decorations

We are not having Christmas at our house for the first time in, oh, 38 years. We will rush out of here on Christmas morning heading for St. Louis and a trip with our grandson to Costa Rica for eight days. But we are having Advent, right through Christmas Eve church. So we are having our usual "celebration" for the first 24 days of December.

***We have the Advent wreath on the dining table and we eat dinner solely by the light of the candles lit each week. Dinner is pretty dark right now with only one candle.

***The quilt of an Advent wreath is hanging on the wall behind the kitchen eating bar. The flame and glow of each candle there is pinned onto the background as the weeks progress. I can also see this from outside the house as I drive in the driveway.

***The creche figures are coming out of the box one at a time. So far Mary and Joseph have each had a conversation with the Angel about an unexpected event. They have acquired a donkey, and all four of them are slowly making their way from Nazareth (table by the wing chair) all the way south (along the picture window ledge) to the stable in Bethlehem (table by the loveseat on the other side of the living room). In the days to come various animals will appear in the stable, and the flock of sheep and shepherds will increase on the commode. No children remain at home, yet this activity keeps us asking after dinner is cleaned up, "Did you get a figure out for tonight, or is it my night?"

Sara

Gratitudes:

Iris' birthday lunch

enjoyed cutting fabric

going to a play tonight