Another Finish

Finally, another finish from the UFO bag. Birds of a Feather "Blackbird Sampler". The vines were supposed to be in black, but I thought that was a bit too depressing so I changed it to dark green. The kitchen floor has stopped calling out to me...now it is just a low whimper every now and then. I did give it a good cleaning, but since the kitchen door is our main entrance it is a hopeless battle. The massive food preparation goes on for the party on Saturday night. I finished two large pans of lasagna, and about 120 little meatballs. Now I must put those in the big slow cooker pot and add tomato sauce. Then they make the trip to Joe's boss's house to "hide out" in his industrial sized fridge until I start the cooking process on Saturday afternoon. The two pans of uncooked lasagna are in there too. Both cakes are done....well, half done. The cake parts are made; one chocolate, one vanilla. The chocolate one gets a cheese cake filling and cream cheese icing and the vanilla one gets a chocolate mousse filling and chocolate icing. I think that should be enough variety to suit everyone. So far there are about 20 people attending. But I've been to parties at this place before and they tend to "expand" as the evening progresses.

Done some stitching on the next UFO, "French Sampler", but I see no end in sight. It is not really a top priority item as it is not a gift, just something for our own house. Those type of "for me only" projects tend to fall by the wayside. I am still burning with desire for the new Prairie Schooler booklets.

Speaking of 'burning with desire' I am watching the re-runs of "The Tudors" the Showtime TV series. Ah, the young man who plays the youthful Henry VIII is absolutely gorgeous! His name is Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. The acting is superb and the costumes are stunning. I didn't think I would like a drama from this time period as I have always found that era a bit rough and violent ( lots of heads being chopped off and stuff like that). Now I find myself researching a lot of the details and even plotting to make some of the costumes in doll size.

Well, another interesting evening at the gym last night. Jill has no decided she immediately wants out of coaching Level 4, the group we legitimately "share". She wants to be a bus driver now and coaching at 4:30pm conflicts with her new, now more all-important schedule. I suppose she is still sticking with her domination of Level 5, but I didn't even want to ask. I am just stunned that my boss goes along with this. To just drop a group at the end of the season is rather confusing to the gymnasts. Now wait a minute.........wasn't that the reasoning behind keeping Jill at Level 5 and dumping me!? It is sunny and predicted to be clear and warm (45 degrees F) so I will focus on that and leave this mess behind me for now. Maybe I can bring in my friend Alisha as the other Level 4 coach. She has subbed before and is great with the the girls. The more I think or write about gymnastics, the more upset I get. This is just awful because for over 30 years it has been the center of my life and a very enjoyable part at that. I think I need to distance myself from it and really just consider it "work" simply to get through the next few months. It is really a shame because I do feel that great "fire" again each time I go into the gym and get some success with the girls. It is almost more difficult to be cold and uncaring then it is to be sad and upset. I'll end on a happy note with photos of the two biggest kitties. First is Twinsy, the neighbor cat. Here he is on top of the cabinets on the porch. He doesn' know how to pose very well and is always walking right up to the camera lens.

Then there is big Coal, taking up most of the rocking chair. He is such a loving cat and enjoys posing for photos.