Oops - that week went fast!

Life by Yaquina Head lighthouse - This is one of the lighthouses we can see from our beach. Yaquina Head has 2 short light bursts and a long pause. I love seeing it send me it's signal at dusk. I am still unpacking and moving things around. We still don't have the furniture we ordered ... maybe next week. We've had really cool weather on the coast last week. Looks like the same this next week. Should be good weather for setting up a sewing room! I finally have the rest of the house pretty squared away. The spare bedroom here is so cut up - 5 walls with odd angles involved. The one long straight wall has the closet and a door to a bathroom on it. And the one piece of furniture I wanted to keep - it's an entertainment center - is really too big for the room. Don't know how I'll even be able to watch the tv in it! Moving - it's an adventure!

I joined the Newport Quilt Guild last week. Went to the June meeting and it seems to be a good group. They have an annual quilt show every August ... I just left the Lincoln Guild right after their Memorial Day weekend show. So-o, it already seems familiar! Looking forward to picking my favorite quilts to enter in the show.

Last weekend we went down to Ashland for J2's graduation. She received her Masters in Education and her mom got her Bachelor's! It was a gorgeous day, upper 80s and it was quite a celebration. When we came back to the coast it was only 55 and we were glad we had soup in the fridge to warm up for dinner!

Next weekend we'll be up in Portland to babysit Miss P during the neighborhood garage sales. I'll let you know how the sewing room goes! Could someone send me a 6 foot shoe horn, please!

Unpacking in Paradise!

I've been back at the coast for 24 hours now - and there are still too many boxes to unpack! I hate them sitting around. Once in an earlier move, DH actually hid some boxes from me so I would relax!! Sewing room is still boxed in the garage ... of course, I'm anxious to get that set up.

The Newport Quilt guild meets year round and the June meeting is next thursday! So I'm excited that I'll be able to jump right in. I stopped in at the quilt store and got some local quilters to contact too. Looks like they have sewing days at least every month - kind of like Lincoln's workshop maybe? I'll let you know. Last August they had their quilt show - I don't know if they have it every year or every other year. There was an article in the paper's web archive - 900 visitors and 199 quilts. Not too shabby!

The condo is at the south entrance of the harbor - so we get to see at lots of boat traffic going in. The warning horn is alittle annoying - but I'm sure we won't even hear that after a week or so.

After days of rain, rain, rain - we had sunny skies today - walked the beach twice and drove into town for lunch. Walked around, found the library - it's pretty good! and then went to the grocery store AGAIN. It's impossible to restock all those things you don't think about ... like baggies, 3way lightbulbs and olive oil are already on the list for ?tomorrow?

We're HERE!

Well - almost. We're in Portland today and tomorrow - got our half of the truck emptied yesterday and now going to unload L's half. We turn in the truck tomorrow up here in Portland.

We'll get cable and internet connection Friday back in Newport - then we'll feel like we're in business. So far it feels more like a vacation that I really packed way too much for!!!

The ordered furniture is delayed! :< We found that out before we left so kept 3 folding chairs for diningroom furniture! The blow up bed isn't too bad - but the ceilings are so high - 10 - 12 feet! I have to convince R to turn up the heat alittle more than we are used to. I think it's all up at the ceiling level and the temp we kept it in Nebraska is freezing us out in Newport.

The trip went really smooth. Thanks for all your prayers and positive thoughts - I could feel them! Just a little advice for anyone following a rental truck across the nation - tie a piece of fabric around the handle on the back! There's not many Penske trucks in the midwest - but out here ... once I had THREE of them in front of me and they ALL look the same from the back!

An accident happened right in front of us the second day. Guy pulling a trailer lost it and we were numbers 3&4 in the pack. No one else hit him - not even the semi that was passing me at the time! Just the one car/trailer involved - he jack knifed and wheels were flying thru the air! One tire ended up at least 1/4 mile down the road! The middle guard rail seemed to help him not flip. As we edged by - he was dazed but conscious, the first two cars were stopping and the I80 rescue guy was in the east bound lane, he saw it happen and had already stopped. So that got our adrendeline going!

Third day of driving was long - 11 hours to Portland, but beautiful scenery, etc -so it seemed to go smoothly. Newport is just a little longer than 2 hours from L's - even with the truck. We'll be glad to get that brute emptied and out of our hair! R is an awesome driver - but he's tired of manhandling it too. I was the truck groupie! Always right in the middle of the semis. R said he thought of it as more of a stalker! Really!!! What did he expect - my sewing room was in there!!! LOL!

The condo is filled with boxes. The kitchen's not as big as it looked - and the living room is a little bigger than we thought. That's good - still working with the closets, etc! the sewing room boxes are out in the garage - so I'll be working hard to get them inside! There's a method to R's madness!

R and Miss P just came back from a walk - she's so cute and loves her "bom-pop"! I'll write more after we get connected. We'll be in Newport after friday for a week - then down to Ashland for J2's graduation the middle of June. Ain't no way I'll get her quilt done - hope I can even find it by then!!!

Woo hoo! The unpacking's going to feel like a breeze after all the packing and driving! Especially with motivation to get the sewing room set up! Later!

WOOHOO - it all fit on the truck

Now my house is empty! A card table - a blow up mattress ... we're going to a sports bar for dinner just to hear a tv! Tomorrow's closing, cleaning and local errands.

It's all in the truck ... Okay - most of it! We've got a few things here and there that will have to fit in the two cars ... but it really looks pretty good!

Send prayers/positive thoughts for us this weekend. We leave early Friday morning and should arrive in Newport Monday morning.

It's such a relief to get it into the truck. The sewing room made it into the truck!!! What a relief!! woohoo!

T minus 4 days and counting

Help! I'm stuck in a box warehouse and it's driving me crazy! Okay, not really - it's just that my house is filled with boxes and piles here and there for City Mission, my sister, my friend .... I'm sure you get the picture. Two days until the company comes to pack the truck, 4 days until we hit the road and you can't even imagine the MESS!

My friend, C came up from Arkansas to help pack. The first few days didn't work because of family obligations she had in town, but Saturday night we were a smooth packing duo in the kitchen and livingroom! Two friends, J and G, came over today to help and we attacked the sewing room - I couldn't have done it without them. Thanks, gals. Now all I need is some of those Japanese subway "pushers" to get it all in the truck!

I did get some sewing done this weekend too! It had been a week and a half (and 12 hours!) and it's surprising how your life doesn't feel like your own when you can't sew. I finished 2 of 4 graduation quilts owed. Glory Haleluia! The others will have to be mailed from Oregon. The sweat shop is officially closed.

See you on the west coast!

Greetings from the Land of Boxes

I retired last Monday - is it too late to go back to work?? Just as I suspected - I miss sitting at my desk! Gremlins are coming in during the middle of the night and expanding my sewing room. Yes, the same sewing room that I whittled down by a good third for the garage sale ... I had one little bookcase - it took me FIVE boxes to pack it!!! Okay - I did put other stuff in around the edges! But Seriously - FIVE boxes??? I just have to approach it as a 3D puzzle. Fill each box as fully as possible. Unfortunately, that really looks like doni sitting in chaos. eyeballing stuff and doing nothing!!

T minus 12 days to moving day! The buyer wants the final walk through tomorrow?? Something about her going out of town. So we have to rein in all this chaos called packing - oh boy!

Next weekend is the Lincoln Guild quilt show. My aim is to be "all but done" with this packing so I can go and enjoy the show with friends. I'll let you know!

Quilters Production

I'm trying to get back to my twice a week posting. :> It may be a whole lot easier after tomorrow - my last day at work!

My friend J and I went to "Quilters" the musical production Friday night. We had a wonderful time. We went out to dinner first at Crabby Billy's and got their seafood chowder and split the bourbon glazed salmon. Hmmm, delicious! Walked around the corner, got a latte and hot chocolate to go and went to the play. No rush, no fuss - perfect timing all the way around! It was great just chatting and enjoying it together. Thanks for a great time, J!

Quilters was wonderful. You laugh, you tear up. Very moving. Convinces me I was born in the correct century - I wouldn't have made it back then - life was hard for women. I had seen it performed at the University when we first moved back to Lincoln - so probably in the late 80s. I loved it then too. Of course, one of my favorites is the monologue about Sunbonnet Sue quilts ... I feel the same way about them!!

The Loft is a small theatre in the round - so there really aren't any bad seats. I know one of the actresses in the production - it's always so much fun seeing her on stage - she's in her element there. What talented women are in it. Wonderful voices, great acting. It was hard to believe there isn't a quilter in the cast! They said they looked up quilting on the Internet! Can you imagine the amount of information they got! But they even mimicked the motions of quilting or piecing in the correct manner.

This week is the major packing push - 19 days until we move to Oregon!