Here is my new orange floor!  No, not really!  That is what they put down today that will be under the tile.

                                 

And the tile is going to be put down tomorrow!

Here you can see hope of that -

                                  

                                  

And here are the tile samples along with the cabinet door and counter and backsplash samples to see how it looks.  And we were picking grout in a matching color.

                                  

Next time, the floor should look very nice!

The pictures of my kitchen were boring today.  The guys worked hard and it was hot and dusty, and I appreciated every minute they spent working in my house - but the pictures are boring because getting the walls plastered and then getting my central vac hook-ups all hooked up are not very exciting.

After my last post about the Pinwheel Spin quilt, Barbara Cline, who taught that class, asked me about how it was quilted.  So, I took a closer picture of it.  This one shows the back turned up against it -

                                  

And here is a close up of the quilting from the front -

                                  

I love it!  And I got another quilt back yesterday from another friend who does long-arm quilting.  This quilt was a block of the month - type, where you get the fabric and directions each month to make each block, then put it together when you are finished, and it should be done in a year or so.   Ha ha - it works that way if you get your block done each month, which I didn't!  I think I took this class about 4 years ago - maybe even 5 - and I just got it finished this past winter.  I like it now that it is all finished and quilted!  I need to put the binding on that too.  Bindings are next week's project!

                                   

This view shows the borders better -

                                   

Today, I got some housework and ironing done, ran errands, and finally got to working on some hand quilting.  Jim arrives home tomorrow so I still had one more night to figure out dinner by myself with a minimum of work.  Amanda and Sam have a wonderful garden, and they gave me a squash last night, so tonight I cut that up, put it in my toaster oven with some olive oil and salt and oregano, and it was so yummy with my left overs from last night.  Thanks, Amanda, for the squash and the idea for cooking it without an oven!

I am trying to keep taking pictures of the progress of the kitchen, but I think I missed blogging a few steps - but here is what it looked like this morning.  Prior to this, all the new electrical work, etc, was put in place, and there were wires and holes everywhere.  But the plasterer has been here for the past few days, and this is what we had this morning -

                                          

                                          

You can see the lights from the living room shining through the plastic "wall" -

                                          

The plasterer stood on these "stilts" to get to the high spots and the ceiling -

                                          

                                          

                                          

Here is the living room now -

                                          

                                          

                                          

And let's not forget the downstairs, where the water also did some damage, and so repairs are being done there as well -

                                           

                                           

Here is where I set up my "coffee station" - downstairs on our old "school station" - that counter goes all the way around in a U shape, and each girl had a side to sit at and keep her books and all, back in those days.

                                            

                                            

Now it is just a cluttered mess, as I have needed to move things around. 

Did I blog this before?  I got some quilts back from my quilters, that I had pieced but sent out to be machine quilted, and I needed something pretty in the room where I have set up my lap top, while they are waiting for me to get out my sewing machine and put the binding on them -

                                            

That's my Pinwheel Spin, from the class I took from Barbara Cline and Polly Yoder.  The next one is the coffee quilt, which I finished piecing at quilt camp, for Betsy -

                                             

Several years ago now, I finished hand piecing this quilt, and I am STILL working on the hand quilting.  I finally spread it out on one of the downstairs beds, and working on this will be my 4th of July weekend project!

                                              

And in Amanda's old room, I have set up my "desk" - lap top and other stuff I need handy!

                                              

The kitchen looks a little different tonight, after it has been plastered all day long, so I will try to remember to take a picture of it tomorrow morning in the daylight.  And I got another quilt back today, that has been machine quilted and is also waiting for binding!  That'll be for the next blog!

It turned out to be a much better day!  No headache, which was such a blessing!  Got out of the house a good bit of the day - spent a few hours at a friend's house, stitching.  I worked on the Christmas cross stitch stocking that I am determined to finish for Megan this year, before Christmas!  My air conditioner got fixed, for which I am especially thankful as we are about to head into a very hot weekend.  Thank you Sam and Mr. Jimmie!   After the guys finished their work for the day - more banging, dirt flying, dust everywhere, and electricity being turned on and off - I got some housework done in other parts of the house, then went out for a Mexican dinner with my friend, Gina, followed by a fat-free frozen yogurt.  Maybe tomorrow I can get a picture of what the kitchen is looking like these days.  And I am reading this book about the history of quilting during the time of the Underground Railroad - very informative!  Time to get a little knitting done now!

I am not going to cry. . . I am not going to cry. . . I am not going to cry.  Sigh. 

I am going to be grateful for all of the blessings that I have.  I have a wonderful husband (ok, so he is in South Africa this week),  3 wonderful daughters (ok, so one lives in Colorado and one in northern VA), I am healthy (and I have soooo many friends right now who are not), the best two sons-in-law in the whole world (one of them lives in Colorado with that daughter, but the other one has been here every day, working on my kitchen!), the three cutest grandchildren in the entire world, a house to live in that will eventually have a beautiful kitchen, and the opportunity to buy whatever food I want.

So, here is why I feel like crying. . . although I am not going to. . .  really, I'm not. . . .  I am still so exhausted from my week of traveling, I have had 4 days of a headache, I am living is such a mess with the kitchen work being done and everywhere I turn, everything is in disarray, because the large family room downstairs is sort of torn up too, since that water damage came through the ceiling. . . . I spent a day and a half battling with a rental car company that insisted we didn't turn a car in to the Denver airport until two weeks after the wedding and I finally WON that battle because I had airline ticket info and boarding passes that PROVED we really flew out but I had to hunt down everything and fax it all, and spend LOTS of time on the telephone . . . . .therefore, all of the paperwork that I had so neatly ready to sort through and organize and pay bills etc, is now in a mess all over my kitchen table which is in the living room. . . .because there is no kitchen. . . .

I had such a terrible headache this afternoon that I did take my headache medicine and take a nap, and woke up feeling much better. . . sat here trying to figure out if I wanted ANOTHER Lean Cuisine for dinner, or what. . . when my sister-in-law, Joan, called to see if I wanted to come over for a hamburger with them!  I was very happy to do that and SO thankful that they invited me!

Walked in to a very HOT house - I guess the AC isn't working after all the bang, bang, banging work that was done today. . . don't know what is wrong, but Sam will figure it out tomorrow, and I am SO thankful that we have a tad cooler temps outside (80 degrees, but trust me, that is cooler than we have had) so I opened some windows, but the fish in the huge fish tank told me they are not happy.  Oh, well, I fed them and added water to the very sophisticated tank system that is piped in through the walls, and their fan doesn't work - reminder to self to ask Sam about that too), but nothing else I can do for them.

My sewing room is still in a state of disorder after Sam (trust me, I thank the Lord everyday for Sam) put cabinets in there for me and I haven't had a chance to re-organize since I have been either traveling or escaping the loud noise and dust, or sleeping off a headache. 

And doing dishes in a bathroom sink is getting very old, so for these 2 weeks that Jim has been gone, I have used VERY few dishes, but now there is a pile of them to be washed.

THERE!  I vented and I feel better!!!  I need to KNIT!!!   On my "crisis of life" afghan, because it sure does feel like a crisis over here!!!

I am trying to change my xanga profile picture but it doesn't seem to let me.  Does anyone have a suggestion?  I have clicked on "change profile picture", then clicked the one I want, and it looks like it is working, but then nothing.

It's been a week since I blogged about my trip to Philipsburg for my cousin's funeral and promised to show pictures of my tour of Philpsburg!  In the meantime, I drove in the other direction, to Orlando, for an ASL interpreter's conference.  It was wonderful!  More about that another time.

So, the day after MarKay's funeral, while everyone was still in town, MarKay's brother, Bob, who would also be my first cousin, agreed to take me and Lisa - MarKay's daughter, who would be my first cousin once removed, I have since found out, but is just a couple of years younger than me (are you confused yet?) on a tour of Philipsburg because I hadn't been there in 30 + years.  My sister-in-law, Joan, came too!

So, since you all are just soooo interested in this little town which has a LOT of memories for me,  I will give you the tour too!  I was so glad that Bob knew exactly where everything was and was a great tour guide, and Lisa knew all the up-to-date news.  Remember that since I was closer in age to Lisa and Leslie, I shared a lot of memories with them.

First, the high school, where MarKay taught English for many, many years - it is within walking distance of their house -

                                      

Cold Stream dam - which, Lisa told me, is no longer open for swimming, but we used to swim in it when we were growing up. 

                                      

                                      

                                      

Why in the world did I take this picture?  I think, and please, dear cousins of mine, correct me if I am wrong, this is the location where there is a large Santa put up at Christmas, made by a dear friend of my mother's, and as it needs work and updated, MarKay and all the family added to the funds for updating it as a memorial to my mother when she died.  Or maybe I took that because it is a park that wasn't there when I was growing up, some 50 years ago now.

                                      

Across the street from Cold Stream dam is a house that belonged to another, more distant cousin.

                                      

My mother grew up in this house.  She was born in 1920, the youngest child of 5.  When we were back to visit, some 30 + years ago, MarKay and Bill took us past the house, and my mother was in tears at the memory of it.

                                      

This house, like the much of the town, is quite run down.

                                      

                                      

That car, by the way, is the one Bob was renting - the house itself is empty.

                                     

Sadness - sigh - I looked and looked, while Joan and I were out and about that morning, eating breakfast at a local restaurant that Lisa told us to go to for the "cultural experience" (and was wonderful!) - I looked and looked for the store on Front Street and the apartment above it where my Aunt Vada (my mother's oldest sister and MarKay's mother) had lived.  Why couldn't I figure out where it was?  I spent many, many years there at least once every few months!!!  Here is why I couldn't find it -

                                     

It is a parking lot now!!!!!!!   Sigh.  So glad that my poor mother wasn't around to see that!!!  

A pharmacy we went to a lot in those days and where I think that Lisa said had the soda fountain I remember.  Am I right Leslie, Bob, Craig, Kathy, Jordan?  (Lisa doesn't have facebook or xanga!!)

                                      

A very well-known and, at the time, nice, motel with a restaurant where we always ate and where my mother's class reunions were held year after year - the Harbor Inn.  Thanks for taking me past that, Bob!  We were almost finished with our tour and I remembered it and shouted, "Oh, I want to see the Harbor Inn!!!!"   And Bob (I think he was enjoying my exuberance at a VERY run-down landmark), took us right there!

                                       

                                       

                                       

We had made lots of memories for me that afternoon!  I was so happy to have seen everyone, so sad at the loss of MarKay, but glad that I have Facebook and email to keep me in contact with these relatives who are all over the US!!  Then, Joan and I left for the 6-hour trip back home.  I was so glad to have her with me!  Thanks for coming with me, Joan! 

                                       

                                   

                                        

I just got back from a quick trip to Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, my mother's hometown.  She grew up there, then moved to Philly when she was around 18, went to nursing school, met my father, married during the war, moved around, then settled in the Philadelphia area.  So that is where I grew up.  But I spent a lot of those growing up years visiting her sister and her family in Philipsburg.

Last week, my cousin MarKay, daughter of my mother's oldest sister, passed away, at age 75.  I hadn't seen her in about 20 years, but kept in touch via email, especially after my mother died.  MarKay was my mother's very favorite niece, and she and her husband and family were so special, and always not far from our conversations and thoughts when my parents were alive.  I have been saying over and over again this past week that I am so glad my parents were gone already when MarKay died, because they would have grieved terribly.

So, I drove up to PA for the funeral and for the chance to see lots of cousins!  I took lots of pictures, and for those of you who aren't family, you might want to skim over some of them - I am going to be pretty detailed about some things so that my brother has a chance to experience it when he reads this.

My sister-in-law, Joan, went with me, and I was very thankful to have her, for the car ride and company the whole time!

We arrived, last Sunday, in time to check into our hotel and head to the funeral home.  Such a sad time, saying goodbye to MarKay, seeing her family for the first time in many years, now going through such a difficult loss.  Following the graveside ceremony, I took the opportunity to take pictures.

My cousin Bob, center, MarKay's brother, flew in from CA with his son Craig (on your right) and they posed for me with my cousin Leslie's son, Jordan - what does that make him to me?  2nd cousin once removed?  I never could figure out those things!

                                         

                                         

Then back to MarKay and Bill's house, where Leslie had cooked a feast!  Thought I would just sob, seeing that house again - it has been about 30 years, and my parents were with me last time.

                                         

It was so good to see Bob -

                                         

Craig with Bill, MarKay's husband - I was just so glad I came and could spend some time chatting with Bill about some great times and memories I had -

                                         

Lisa (left), Leslie (right) - MarKay and Bill's daughters - we practically grew up together.

                                         

                                         

Lisa with Leslie's son, Jordan -

                                         

Here we were practicing our poses -

                                         

                                         

                                         

So, since Lisa, Leslie, Craig, and Craig's sister, Kathy (who wasn't there) are first cousins to each other, and I am first cousins with their parents, what does that make me to them?  First cousins once removed??  Second cousins?? 

                                         

                                         

                                         

Next time, The Tour of Philipsburg, or should we call it "Donna re-lives her life as a kid?"  I'll try to get it on here in the next couple of days, but I am traveling again and might have limited computer access!

                                         

                                           

Why am I working on this?   Because of this!

                                           

                                           

And here is one of under the wood flooring - I guess they needed to get in there for some reason -

                                            

First, I want to say that I am so thankful for light upstairs on the main floor of our house!  When I wrote last, we only had a few plugs that worked, and it was very, very dark.  But Sam was able to fix whatever needed to be fixed, and all of our lights work!

I am getting a little used to being OUT of the kitchen.  We have grilled a little bit, and microwaved a lot, and eaten out some.   I have been out and about a lot, picking out some furniture, lighting, etc, and I have been busy getting some of the reception details accomplished, with a lot of help from my sister-in-law, Joan!  I had a mini yard sale - I just tagged onto Joan's yard sale and I made $32 - not much, but then I didn't have much!

But it is still stressful, not only being displaced, but all the details that have to be decided on.  So, what do I do when I am stressed?  I KNIT!!!!

Several years ago, following some very difficult life-changing events, Betsy and I started what we call a "Crisis of Life" project.  Now, whenever there is a major life event, even a happy one, like a move, a wedding, or a new kitchen, we start a new project.  And, much as I love to do all kinds of sewing and quilting and cross stitch, for some reason, knitting is what I turn to when I need sort of a "comfort" project.  Seems like an addiction - I always say, I fall back on all of my addictions when I am stressed - I knit, I buy more fabric, I take lots of books out of the library, etc.  Sam told me today that it is better than other possibilities - I don't turn to alcohol or drugs!  And that maybe I should call it my therapy!

So, I found a simple pattern for a small afghan done on big needles - in one of the books I have - and I found that pretty purple yarn on sale at our local yarn shop, and I have been knitting and knitting!

I am also knitting a couple of dishcloths for Joan.  I love hand-knit dishcloths, but they get worn out quickly, and I just knit some new ones.  She was needing new ones, and wanted some plain light-colored ones that she could bleach, so that's what I'm doing for her.

  Here is what my kitchen looks like - actually, it looks a little worse now, because it has even more torn down -                              

                                  

                                  

                                  

                                   

And then the living room right next to it that has everything from the kitchen either in boxes or out on table, if it was something I thought I would readily need over the next couple of months -

                                  

                                  

                                  

And I didn't yet get pictures now that there is plastic around the whole kitchen and more stuff lying around - maybe tomorrow.

It's dark up on that main part of the upstairs now.  Something about the electricity doing odd things as they were turning it on and off, to work on various things.  I have 2 lamps that are in plugs that work, and that's it for that main area.  But my refrigerator is plugged in and working, and for that I am very thankful!  Much of the electricity will be getting fixed up and moved around, or whatever it is you do with it when you remodel.

So, I spend a lot of time, unless I need to fix food, which I have not done much of, in the downstairs, which is large and has the bedrooms that the girls used, as well as our former school area, and a large sitting area.  My laptop and "desk" stuff are in Amanda's old room, and I have been able to get organized in there.  I have a card table set up where I am addressing invitations, and it is pretty bright and cheery down here - except that it is bittersweet because this is where the girls lived and they aren't here!

So, I am going to admit that I am a tad depressed these days.  I just feel out of sorts.  Nothing is where it is suppose to be, and it all looks cluttered, and I am just blah.  And I have such good memories of when we had a kitchen remodeled before, when we lived in Mississippi, and the girls were younger - elementary school age-ish - and we made it fun, and we were all excited to see the progress each day.  So, I am trying to focus on how wonderful the kitchen is going to be when it is all finished, and right about then, Betsy and Andrew, and also Suzanne will be coming home!  And we're going to celebrate the wedding!

But right now. . . it is just making me blah.