photos

Nobody sees me these days, except for the people who pop by to pick up Jeff to take him out to lunch, so I really need to make a point to write here. I'm alive, I swear; my ticket queue at work is already too large for me to ever die.

I have mixed feelings about that. I suspect I would have especially strong mixed and smelly feelings, post-mortem.

So let me cheat and give you the life in pictures, lately. I have neither the brain power for introspection nor the ability to take a straight-on shot of my current quilt, so we're just gonna have to improv here, kids.

It was one of those Clean ALL The Things weekends. (If you've never read the comic that inspired that statement, stop now, go read it, and then come back here.)

After a bench scraper, lots of bleach, elbow grease, and the passage of time, my kitchen is no longer a disaster zone. I had to resist the urge to lie on my countertops, to attempt to cuddle with them.

• Spiced peach butter is in progress. (Currently too much cinnamon. I think it needs more peach.)
• A large quantity — some would say "a mess of" — hot and bell peppers have been purchased, for hot pepper jelly.
• A vat of Jody's black-bean-and-corn salsa was made.

Tenzing's opinion of the weekend is obvious:

I present Edmund's nonverbal, but very clear, instructions to Jeff:

As we all know, things on the internet can be changed after the fact, so let's archive a few things relevant to the upcoming weekend:

What do you say to those who insist we cannot know the precise date of Judgment Day?

For one to object to May 21^st, 2011 one must have BIBLICAL AUTHORITY to do so. Objections cannot be based upon consensus, traditions or fear. God has given far too many biblical proofs for anyone to disregard May 21 simply because he or she does not like it. (familyradio.com/facts)

 and

Susanna, the winner of the quilt contest, with her newly-arrived quilt top:

I need to order quilting patterns…I might as well admit that this is neither the first nor the last double wedding ring quilt I have made, or will make.

It's the smile, though. The squeak of excitement. The delight that says "this gift will stay in my life for a LONG time."

If you ever have to ask why, this is why.

I had huge help this weekend from Crystal and Jacob. Because of Jeff's accident, I wasn't able to take my earned holidays for Christmas and New Year's, and since it was nearing the end of March, it was verging on use-or-lose status for them. I'd been babbling incessantly about doing a Great Shelving Project to anyone who would listen (and several people who politely wished I'd just shut up) and we finally got cracking on it. Of course, about halfway through, Jacob had an insight which totally changed the course of the project — more on that insight after the photos.

Previously, the only shelving in the master bedroom had been the tiny corner shelves, which you see empty in this photo. The white ones are all new. Five new sturdy shelves for books I don't want to keep in the main areas, plus the random items that need keeping in a bedroom: