I'm So Spoiled!

Ok, I admit it. I'm spoiled. I never thought I was. I didn't want to be. I've told everyone I'm not. But I am. However, I'm not a brat so I won't complain (too much). I'm in San Antonio visiting my aunt and cousin. I came with my sister because she's attending a conference here and it was a chance to spend time with her as well as family. Good plan, right? Wrong.

We met in Dallas and flew together to San Antonio - I'm from Arkansas, she's from Missouri. We rented a car, plugged in her GPS system that she brought with her, and headed for the convention center. The woman on the GPS didn't like us. She told us to take a "hard left" while driving 70 down the Interstate. When we refused she griped like a wild thing. She was a nasty, hateful, mean......well, witch comes to mind. We drove 2 1/2 hours looking for the convention center which is 12 miles from the airport. Tired, hot, hungry we started looking for my aunt's house. Neither of us had been there since she moved to this house so we again tried to rely on the GPS. We were nice. We smiled. We did everything she told us to do. She took us back to the airport. Well, she tried but being the smart cookies we are when we spied the airport signs we unplugged her, tossed her in the back seat, and drug out a map!

Second day, knowing we were so lost the day before that my sister would never make it to the meetings on her own, I volunteered to take my computer with me and go to the convention center so I could give directions while she drove. I figured this will work out fine - I can do my blogging while she's in her meeting because a convention center will surely have wireless. Make sense? Sure. Except wireless at the convention center is $12.95 a day. I was only going to be there a couple of hours. This did not compute with me. So I read instead.

Still the second day, but a different problem. I'm addicted to Starbucks Iced Chai Lattes. I don't buy them at Starbucks because they cost too darn much. I'm savvy, I look on the internet and find the Tazo Chai Concentrate at Coffee AM and order it by the case. I mix my own and I'm an expert at it by now. I'm over 60, I need calcium, so that's how I get it - twice a day. In my own defense, I do use skim milk. Back to the problem - there's a Starbucks in the convention center but they have no chai. I am not happy.

My sister likes to talk on the cell phone while she drives. I have explained that we are getting older and multi-tasking is not something we do well. But, her daughter is getting married and they have to make wedding plans so (still the second day) she and said daughter talk the whole time she is driving. Ergo (don't you just love that word - ergo - it's such a strong, descriptive word) she didn't learn the way there or the way home. Therefore, you guessed it, third day I have to go back to the convention center with her.

Third day and I threaten to kill my only sister if she picks up the phone while driving. She must learn the way there and back home again. She must. But I found the mall and found a Starbucks that has Chai Lattes so I'm thinking I can do this! I can sip a Chai and read, shop a while, have my second chai of the day, read some more, and it will be time to go home. The Chai was awesome. The mall was awful. It's Memorial Day weekend and you can't breathe for the people. So it's back to the convention center for me.

I still haven't found Internet access anywhere I'm willing to use it - because for heavens sake, why would I pay $12.95 just to get on the Internet for an hour or two? That's a yard and a half of fabric! Why with $12.95, if I find it on sale, I might even get 2 yards! Aha, my aunt has Internet. Trick....my aunt is blind. Her Internet talks to her. It is a strange man asking me strange questions which I do not understand. My aunt explains it to me and finally, finally I can blog! No pictures, but I can type! That's when I finally came to realize I'm spoiled. But I like being spoiled and I don't have any intention of changing. There are just some things that are necessary. So friends, for today, I'm wired again (Chai and Internet!) and, hopefully, when I get home on Wednesday I'll be back to my real world where I can mix my own and type to my heart's content.

And The Journey Begins

Remember when I told you I would start Winter Wonderland as soon as I finished the project I was working on? Well, today's the day - the journey began. I always think of big projects like this as journeys because when you make that first stitch it's like the first mile of a trip. You're so excited and you can't wait to see each block finished and start the next but after a while you're like one of the kids saying "are we there yet?" The more you stitch the more you think will I ever be done? Why in the world did I tackle this? There are way too many blocks! Hand embroidery takes forever, I have an embroidery machine, what was I thinking, why didn't I just do it on the machine, maybe I could just take a little bigger stitch on this part and no one would notice, yada, yada. But for right now I'm just on the first block so I'm still excited, just like a little kid bouncing on the seat and wanting to look in all directions at once. I chose to start on what's probably the easiest block - a long skinny one of holly leaves and berries and vines.




Now why in the world would I choose the easiest block to start? Everyone knows you tackle the hardest ones first and get them done so it gets easier with the others. The truth is (I better whisper this cause I don't really want everyone to know) I'm addicted to NCIS and the TWO HOUR SEASON FINALE was tonight. Knowing it was the finale it was a sure bet that someone would die. Little did I know....well if you're addicted like me you already know and if you're not it wouldn't make any sense to you. But, what in the world are they thinking!!!! Back to the redwork.....I had to do the easy one so I could concentrate on the show. Makes perfect sense to me!

And for those of you wondering about the mystery quilt...you won't believe what the pattern was! I'd show you but, alas, I have not finished that last set of blocks, let alone started putting the blocks together. Soon, but not this week. On Friday I'm off to San Antonio with my sister to visit my aunt and cousin. Can't wait to check out some quilt shops I haven't been to, stroll on the River Walk, wander through some missions, oh yes, and visit with my family. :)