Graduation is Over!

Last week, my youngest graduated high school.  She was attending the school where I taught for 16 years, up until about 4 years ago.  In contemplating my 20 year association with said school, it has been a mixed blessing.  Lots of good memories...a few not so great...but all in all, I enjoyed my time there.  Now, since my daughter is done with school, that chapter in our lives is officially over.  The next things to focus on are a new grandchild who should arrive toward the end of October, and my daughter's wedding, which will take place mid-December.  As one chapter in life closes, a new one opens.  Therein is a beautiful thing!  I am looking forward to the new chapter as an empty-nester.  Hubby and I will celebrate our 25th anniversary this year, and before year's end, we will be alone in our big old house.  Should be interesting!

Spring has Sprung!!!

Ah, Spring!  What a wonderful time of year.  The grass is green. The tulips are blooming, All feels right with the world.  My knee is finally starting to feel somewhat normal after my surgery.  Next week, I can start swimming again, and I am so looking forward to the exercise.  It has been four weeks since I have been able to do any kind of exercise!  I am also back to quilting in earnest trying to catch up on everything that I got behind on while I was out of commission.  I just finished what is definitely one of my best looking quilts ever the other day.  I used Kim Bruner's Twirly Whirly Feathers technique, and it turned out really cool.  I will be using more of that technique in the future, for sure.  Today, I am off to a baby shower for my daughter in law's brother and wife, who also happen to be former students of mine.  Looking forward to seeing everyone there.  After that, hubby and I are headed for a "date" with no particular plan.  I do believe it will include a stop at a greenhouse and the purchase of some flowers for my front porch, though.  Yay!  Spring!

Knee Surgery Stinks!

Wow!  What a crappy week I have had!  Started out with a fun weekend working at my mom's quilt shop for a Shop Hop and ended up with emergency knee surgery and a week laying on my back with my knee above my heart.  I was about to go crazy!  The bad thing was that I have a bunch of quilts that need to be quilted for my long arm business and I just lost over a week of work time.  Right now, I can only work for about and hour and then have to sit with my knee up for awhile.  Slow going.  Luckily, my customers are very understanding ladies and only one of the quilts is a graduation gift that must be finished in the next week or so.  Speaking of which, I better get in there and work on it for awhile!

Spring Shop Hop Begins Today!

This morning, I am just hanging out at work tying up a few loose ends until it is time for me to head to Kearney for the Spring Shop Hop.  It is a once-a-year happening that is really fun.  Women from all over the state travel around and hit as many of the participating quilt shops as they can in a 10 day period.  It is crazy busy at my mom's quilt shop, so I go to help her.  We see some people that we only see once a year during shop hop, and that makes it even more special.  We also get a chance to show off our newest products and samples of new quilts that we have been working on for several months leading up to the Hop.  All in all, it is a long 10 days, but well worth it.  I look forward to it every year.

Exploring other Blogs

So, today I read my first blog post belonging to someone else.  It was actually a letter from one of my former students to his soon to be born baby daughter.  It was so sweet, but so personal.  It's very interesting to me that the "facebook generation" is so open and honest in cyberspace.  My own son has 3 blogs (which I hate to report that I have never read) and his own youtube channel where he posts all kinds of videos.  Privacy, or the concept of privacy that I have always had, really doesn't exist anymore.  For now, I am maintaining my own privacy by not using my full name, or the names of my family.  Maybe, at some point I will be comfortable putting it all out there, but for now, I am simply:  renaissanceSandi