New York Adventure Part 1

Hello friends!  I went on an adventure!  I decided I wanted to take advantage of a 3 day weekend.  I suggested to my new friend, Shawn, that we go to Kansas City.  He had a much better idea.  He recommended for a little more money but a lot more fun, we could go to Manhattan!  He clearly thinks on a bigger scale than I do.  We had so much fun but, wow, that was A LOT of walking...

As soon as we landed and checked into our hotel, we took the subway from Penn Station to Battery Park.  The subway wasn't scary or gross.  Maybe, I watch too many murder shows...

We didn't take a ferry because, February.  But, we could see the Statue of Liberty from the shore.

WW2 memorial

This is a really cool merry-go-round at the park.

A community garden with a really fun gate.

Native American Museum

I wish we still made buildings this beautiful.

The Bull statue.

The walk up Broadway from Battery Park.

At some point during the day, I got a hot dog from a cart.  It was number 1 on my list of things to do in NYC.

I think this is part of New York City Hall/ Courthouse.  I should have taken better notes.

Federal Courthouse, I think.

World Trade Center

Brooklyn Bridge

St Patrick's Cathedral near Times Square.

Rockafeller Center Ice Rink

Times Square

Radio City Music Hall, in case the sign wasn't enough of a clue.

For dinner, we ate at Sarge's Deli.  This is HALF of a Corned Beef/ Pastrami Sandwich!  We also ate in Little Italy at Benito One.  I was too busy living in the moment to take pics.  We also walked through China Town.  That didn't get any pics either.  It's the place you want to be if you're in the market for a knock-off Gucci.

Walking back to the hotel after dinner, we saw this gorgeous door of the Polish Consulate.

New York Public Library

The view from our hotel.

And, that was just day 1!  Thank God, we started going to the gym a month ago to prep for the trip.  I may not have survived otherwise.  We clocked 8.5 miles.

 

The Holidays

Hello friends, now that the holidays are over, I can share what I've been working on.  I started way too late, as you do, making Christmas gifts.  Then I had a terrible sinus infection for 2 weeks.  And, my printer stopped working.  Only to say that, I didn't get these gifts in the mail until after the new year.

These were all for  my grand daughter Lucy.  They arrived just in time for her 2nd birthday.  Hopefully, I'm forgiven for not getting myself together in time.  We've all been there, right?  I have the stuff to make everything for Miles, also.  But, since I was late for Lucy, I decided to wait for another occasion for Miles.

I thought this book was so cute!

I'm also obsessed with felt work.  I've always loved doing those felt stockings.  These felt books are so much fun to make.  As long as your printer works so that you can download the patterns.  It's important to have the right tools for the job.

The little Santa is loose, so he travels to each page with you and you can come up with your own stories.

Yes, Lucy got a Santa book AFTER Christmas.  Or, did she get one EARLY for next year?  Feel free to come up with your own story.

I LOVE THE SQUIRREL BOOK!  Rich was obsessed with evil squirrels.  It was a running joke that they are spies and are up to no good at all times.  So, I made a spy/squirrel headquarters for Lucy.  I little token of her grandpa's humor.  Complete with little devious smile.

Again, he travels to each page.

We had Christmas in the middle of my kitchen renovation.  The pipes froze, I over cooked the lamb but I had my people.  Miles got a little tool bench in honor of his daddy & grandpa.  And darned, if that kid didn't know exactly what a screwdriver was for!

Did I share the finished dining room?  I went with all florals because there was no one around to stop me!  The curtains are Laura Ashley, which I always wanted in the 80s but couldn't afford.

The house is small but it's very cozy.  The kids have all said how welcoming it is when they come over.  For me, that says it all.

So, Hunter has been working hard on the kitchen & changed out almost all of my light fixtures, replaced a bathroom faucet, etc.  I'll share that later.  I will say that I'm REALLY happy with the direction it's going in.  Better lighting has been a game changer for every room!

At the new year, I decided to really focus on living in the present.  I'm down almost 30 lbs,.  I joined a gym.  Once the kitchen is done, I think I will enjoy cooking again.  My studio has better lighting and I"m quilting a little.  I started dating.  YIKES!  I've been doing a STL park scavenger hunt, that's been fun.  Life is precious, and I'm going to enjoy it while I have it.  All in all, it's been an absolute shit year but the future looks good.  I'm manifesting what I want my life to look like & I'm doing what I can to make it happen.  I hope the new year brings you all peace, love & joy my dear ones!

The Mouse Assassin

Hey guys, I was reminded this weekend that I haven't blogged in a while.  I did a lot in November, and I did nothing at all, all at once.  It was time to slow down and reassess the situation.  Make sure I'm headed in the right direction.  For the most part, I like where I'm at.  I like living in St. Louis.  Being close to everything is really convenient & my neighborhood is nice and quiet.  Plus, this cute cat, Elvira lives next door.  She hangs out in my bushes by the door and sneaks in when my hands are full.  I'd love to know if the former owners had food in here for her, she seems to think I should be better prepared for her visits.

I managed to get the living room together in time for Thanksgiving.  I wanted to have dinner with the kids but not Thanksgiving without Rich.  So, we compromised and had 'November Family Dinner' the Sunday after.  Don't know if that's how I'll feel going forward but that's how I was feeling this year.  Genetics are funny.  I'm just noticing the 3 people in this picture that are my kids, have the same squinty eyed smile...

While I was waiting for the exterminator, I saw this car on Auto Trader and decided to go for it.  Let me unpack that sentence for you.  I had a mouse problem.  None of the DIY solutions were working for me and I'm not willing to live with mouse poop.  In fact, while Miles was over for dinner, we found mouse poop in his toy basket.  No.  Absolutely not.   So, I hired a professional.  I took the day off to meet with my mouse assassin.  While I was waiting for the hit to go down, I went on to Auto Trader to see what kind of car I wouldn't be able to afford.  Then I saw this cute little number and decided she needed to come home with me.  It's a Toyota C-HR, and I love her.  More importantly, no new mouse poop.

In quilty news, I'm almost caught up with Milk Maid's Dilemma.

 I started working on Christmas gifts for Lucy and Miles, I'll share those after the holidays.  You're going to love them.

Tomorrow is supposed to be my 30th Wedding Anniversary and I'm seriously in the dumps about it.  I've been having the same dream every night for a week now.  Rich breaks up with me or leaves me every night.  I beg him to stay, tell him he's wrong and making a huge mistake that he's going to regret.  He just very reasonably and rationally tells me it's over and the sooner I accept it, the better off I'll be.  I think that's probably self-explanatory, but I honestly don't know how to move on more efficiently than I have been.  So, like they say, it is what it is.

Now to figure out how to write a Christmas letter about the worst year of my life...

I don't want to end on such a depressing note.  I'm honestly doing pretty well.  Thinking about starting a gym membership and just concentrating on being a healthier me.  I started yoga again and that's been going well.  I'm joining the Modern Quilt Guild in STL and started my first 'modern' quilt the other day.  

Have a fantastic month!  I'll talk to you soon.

Pepto Pink No More

Hello friends, it's been a crazy month.  Lots of emotional highs and lows.  First off, I painted the studio/office.  I couldn't find any paperwork when I needed it.  I wanted to start a new project, but I couldn't find the stuff or space I needed.  Enough is enough, time to buckle down and get it done.  The room started Pepto Pink.  Look down a few pics for the 'before'!!

Pretty sure this is the very first time, in my entire life, that I have painted a room white...  I used really cheap paint.  2 coats and it kind of glows pink in certain light.  I don't hate it for $30.  Don't the tiny windows read "bomb shelter"?  However, if a bomb does go off.  DO NOT grab hold of any shelving.  I used 'no drill' furniture mounts and I don't have a lot of confidence.

I thought there would be value in keeping the slate clean.  Colored walls have a tendency to cast hues onto whatever you're working on.  I bought a small tv that needs to come out of the box still.  Gotta stream my movies when I'm sewing!

 Things still need some zhuzhing and better lighting but it's a start.  

Literally, the week after this was finished, my daughter Melissa let me know she probably needs to move in with me.  She lost her roommate & job in the same week.  I'm not proud, but I did BREIFLY consider letting my kid be homeless so I wouldn't have to give up my studio.  BREIFLY!  We should know by the end of November what she plans on doing.  Thoughts and prayers are welcome at this time...

Now, for the reason I needed a studio.  My friends Barbara Dyar and Laura Fagen designed the cutest blocks!!  Their family is avid/rabid collectors (you be the judge LOL) of all things awesome.  One of the collections is of wooden butter molds.  So, they took the designs as inspiration & made quilt blocks.  The Hearts n' Hands Quilt Guild is using their designs as the Block of the Month this year.  The Applique Society is doing something similar but on a larger scale!  I'm so excited about the project!  Some people are doing them in applique, some are doing embroidery, and some are doing a little of both.  I chose embroidery and will make them the center of a larger pieced block that has not been determined.

I'm using the Wildflowers pearl cotton by Caron.  A convenient excuse to re-stock my supply.

This floral print is my colorway inspiration.  Not sure what block I'm using to set them, but I do think I need to find teal fabric to do it in.

Any who, Barbara & Laura are part of an extremely talented family!  Here is an example of their sister Janice's paper cutting.  You know how limited my wall space is, and I found room for her work!

My grandson Miles turned 1 and had a Formula 1 birthday party!  I was able to make the cake and cupcakes for the party.  My first time baking in the new house.  Absolute shit show, if I'm honest.  You can see how stressed I was by the line work on the pennant garland...  First off, I put it off longer than I should have.  I usually bake weeks in advance & freeze the cakes.  My mood has not been great & I didn't want it to reflect in my baking.  Bad voodoo.  Then when I finally did it, the chocolate cupcakes overflowed the pan.  The burning batter filled the house with smoke & I had to clean the oven before I could continue.  I didn't want EVERYTHING to taste burned.

Most of my baking supplies were still in a box in the garage.  It took forever to track everything down.  I forgot that I got rid of some of the stuff I needed during the move and had to re-invest.  My food coloring kind of exploded during the move.  I had wrapped them in a bag, just in case, which ended up being a good idea in the end.  It was an unholy mess that I forgot to take a picture of.  I only ended up trashing 5 bottles out of 30ish.  However, the colors remaining all have black, unreadable labels... Carmen had asked for red cupcakes for the party, but I didn't have flavorless red colorant and they tasted like chemical waste!  Little Man wanted nothing to do with his smash cake.  Typical Mantz man, doesn't care for sweets.  But, dang, if he isn't the cutest!  So chill about everything!  I should take notes.

Since my in-laws were in town for the party, we went to visit Rich's ashes.  It was the first time that I had been there since the funeral.  As it turns out, I live 2 miles from his final resting place in Jefferson Barracks.  I've been telling myself that my 'crazy' was starting to stabilize.  After that visit, I think I might have misled myself.  The grief of seeing his name etched in stone was breath taking.  I had the craziest need to crawl in there with him and, I HATE small spaces.  I flashed from wanting to crawl in there to wanting to run away screaming and crying to pretending none of this is actually happening.  I'm realizing the crazy anger from earlier was much easier to deal with than the absolute sadness of our loss.

My MIL, Ann & I thought it was really ironic that a cemetery full of alleged, gun toting, hunter/veterans is a safe haven for the local deer.  This is the view from his vault.

So here I am, trying to pull up my big girl panties and move forward.  We've got a big mess at the IL DMV, transferring cars into the appropriate kid's name.  I'm taking some time off next week to deal with my own MO DMV stuff.  I still have the kitchen and dining rooms to paint.  Organize the garage.  Do something with the ocean of dead leaves in my back yard.  Oh, I almost forgot to mention the mouse I've been living with.  It eats the peanut butter off the traps that I set out.  Then I bought a bunch of bait to scatter around the house & I haven't seen any evidence of my freeloader for a few days.  Fingers crossed that I've committed murder... but no more shopping.  No. More. Shopping.