Chirp! Chirp!

A new little friend joined my two blocks yesterday:

This is the mini I'm contemplating using for October's STUD.  KT took me to a quilt fair this spring and I bought the sashing fabric there.  I can't even remember the name of it, but I used it for my front swing pillow too this summer.

Almost all of the neighborhood kids end up at our house over summer vacation.  Most of them end up on the swing.  For the little ones who like to lay down, I made a soft, cushy and happy pillow for them to rest their heads on.

Baby Isaac should be in surgery now to correct his heart defect.  It's about an 8-10 hr procedure.  Prayers for the family are deeply needed and appreciated.

Baby Isaac Update:  9:15 am just told they were taking him back and it would be about an hour before the surgery begins.

Further update!  Isaac is out of surgery.  It's about 5:00 here and my mom just called a short while ago with the news.  He did very well, Mommy and Daddy are with him now.  Thank you for all your prayers!

Kiss your kids!  Hug them tight!

Mountain Home Quilts

http://mountainhomequilts.blogspot.com/2009/09/giveaway-time.html

is having a give away!

Don't you love these!  Having not won anything yet, I persevere.  LOL

Stop on over at her blog for a look at some truly beautiful quilts and a chance to win!

Tossed Scrap Salad

This is what we're serving on the table at our house these days:

These are many of the scraps from the string quilt I'm working on.  Don't you wish you could eat some fabrics!  They're so yummy and scrumptious to look at...you just know they would taste as good as they look!

Remember yesterday me telling you about the cute little block I was working on?  Well, it was lonesome, so last night, I made a friend.  I think this will be the beginnings of the STUD quilt for October.  It's a little tricky getting the white placed just right to have enough space so that when the block is sewn to another, the points all show...lots of ripping, trial and error...but I really like the way this turned out!

A sneak peak for Jenn.

This hex is for Jellybean!

Hope you all have a great day and don't forget to eat your veggies!

Even Parents Need Forgiveness

Everyone in my family will tell you math is not my thing.  LOL  There have been phone calls to my much- smarter-than-me-in-the-math-department hubby about mathematics through the years.  Conversations that go something like this, "Honey, I am not a stupid woman...but this is 3rd grade math!  3rd grade!"

Thankfully, I know I'm not alone (other parents who I think are smart have similar experiences) and that somewhere along the way, some of the words and operations have changed. 

Evidenced tonight: 4th grader and his buddy (who remembered to bring HIS math book home) were doing multiplication problems.  1-16.  Odds.  Somewhere along the way, Bean, the calculator and I were not agreeing on anything.  I was getting frustrated.  Bean was getting frustrated.  Called in Boy Wonder to help the buddy with his corrections...

I ended up raising my voice and Bean ended up in tears.  He thought I was mad at him from my tone and frustration level.  Monday nights are his night with Dad.  Dad and Bean leave rather quickly and we didn't get to finish all his corrections.  They're in the car on their way to another town.  Thank God for cell phones!  A quick dial, Bean on the line and Mom is apologizing and asking for forgiveness.  I didn't want him out thinking Mom was mad at him.  He understood after we talked about it and forgave me.  It sure feels good to have the ones you love on the same wave length!

 

These are the first blocks I saw on a quilting blog.  Ever.  They're from Bloom's February 2009 archive:

http://bloomandblossom.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html

I'm still working on the String Quilt and I've started a quick little block that I want to share as soon as I can figure out how to get my memory card for the camera clear or buy a new one? 

'Night for now.

Swine Flu

Has hit our school.  I haven't really been following this closely on a national level.  I know we've had cases reported in our state.  All of my friends who are in the medical field and everything I've read about it points it out as just another strain of influenza.  A young lady in Javi's class has been tentatively diagnosed with H1N1.  From what I understand, anyone testing positive for TypeA influenza is assumed to have H1N1.

I'm hoping that what we all had a taste of (sounds very similar to H1N1's symptoms) was Swine Flu.  That way we have had it, are over it (almost) and can get on with our lives.  My heart goes out to all of the families and friends worldwide who lost loved ones...but every day we wake up carries risks with it.  That is why it's so important to me that I know exactly in Whom to place my trust and hope. 

Another rainy day.  Middlest has a soccer game this afternoon.  Our team played Thrusday in a constant rain.  Middlest is goal keeper.  Thankfully his goalie jersey covers most of his team jersey on those frontal dives to guard the goal...but the shoes, the socks, the shorts, the shinguards...there's grass and mud in places there shouldn't be.  LOL  His team tied 1-1.  We lost a previous game by a wide margin (think soccer wide, not NBA wide) to them, so this was a sweet outcome.

In addition to soccer, our family has been privileged to be part of the formation of an outreach basketball program this year.  Partnering with the Salvation Army, we have coaches who have/are involved with Boy Scouts of America and the Boys and Girls Clubs.  We have a Varsity, Junior Varsity, Junior High and Prep Team.  The teams are a unique mix of public, private and homeschool boys of all ages.  What a blessing to be part of their lives.  We had news this week (announced in the local paper, front page mind you!) of a grant being awarded to our organization.  The Captain at our home Salvation Army gym wrote the proposal and it was accepted. 

What does this mean for our team?  Still nailing down the exact amount, but our players (many of whom come from an economically depressed city, broken families, and financially challenged homes) will have uniforms, warm-up shirts, shoes, transportation to and from games, our medical bag will be well stocked and media attention for the program that we hope grows to include girls and branches out to baseball, football, etc.  If the maximum amount was granted, our head coach, who has been almost a year without work due to the Boys and Girls Club closing and health problems, will have a part time job ministering to youth in outreach programs at the Salvation Army. 

We ask.  And He gives over abundantly!

Have a great weekend all!

Plain Jane

Logged on this morning to "Bandwidth Exceeded Upgrade Photobucket" on the blog.  Yikes!  Techno wizard me said "Bandwidth"? "Upgrade?", "Photobucket?"...what in the hexagonal squares was going on?


It's now 10 hrs later.  Problem solved.  Without asking hubby.  Without asking brilliant son.  I love Google!  It seems the hoster of the template I was using was hosting their images in a free account and has used up all their space.  LOL  Too bad for them, but I came out without losing any information and just a little bit plainer on the sides.  Sigh.  If only losing weight were this easy!  One push of a button and *poof* it's gone.


Fanatic that I am...I have finished Jenn's quilt for our swap and signed up for Flickr's STUD (no not cute husbands and boyfriends) group.  Yay!  STUD is Swap Til You Drop and each month you're paired with another quilter.  I asked for an invitation to the group (Mom, I know you told us to never invite ourselves anywhere, but the times, they are a changin') and have been accepted.  October's themes are "Woodland World"...pretty self explanatory and "Anything Goes"...also needs no elaboration.  You make a quilt accorrding to the theme picked and swap your quilt with another person's interpretation of the theme.  I think you can customize and design your partner's quilt more around their likes and dislikes.  I'm excited.  They have a picture of one person's wall with several quilts from swaps.


I chose "Anything Goes" ( I feel like I'm playing Jeopardy.  "I'll take Anything Goes for $200 Alex.")  Interestingly enough, Jenn is in this category as well.  What weird quirk of fate would have us paired this time?

Much more fun, hubby took the day off.  We really didn't do too much.  Inclement weather, school schedules.  But he got to putter around in his garage and I think that made him happy to be able to tie up some loose ends and just relax.  Hope you all have a great weekend!

Middlest's New Alarm Clock

We homeschool.  And we private school.  Private school kids have Mom motivated to actually get out of bed and help them start their day.  Homeschool kid is motivated only be sleep.  He is his mother's son. 


He can (and has) slept through tornado warnings, furious electrical storms, bands playing the dorm right behind our old house, screaming baby brother, sweepers, dogs barking, phones ringing...well, you get the picture.  He sleeps like the dead.  I usually have to yell up the stairs about a gazillion times to get him awake and a tragazillion times to get him out of bed.


This morning, I set his alarm clock at the grocery store.  What?  At the store?  "How did you do that?", you ask.  Dun da da dun:

I simply purchased a box of Kellogg's Frosted Chocolate Fudge Poptarts.  It's actually a larger box, so that I have an increased chance of having one too!  I only had to say his name and the magic word "Poptarts".

Once. 

What usually takes 30 minutes of statement, pleading, yelling and threatening was accomplished with a new world's speed record of 20 seconds.  No lie.

Mini Quilt Swap and Christmas!

Jenn over at JellyBean Stitches sent out an invitation last week asking for swap buds.  I'm waiting for her reply back confirming a mail date for our quilts.  This is my first online swap...little bit nervous (it is the internet!), but excited at the same time to see what she creates!  She's an awesome quilter and I first fell in love with her "First Snowfall" quilt for the Holiday/Winter Quilt Swap.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11208235@N04/3830729528/

You can almost hear the snow falling in the hush of the evening.

You can find Jenn at http://jellybeanstitches.blogspot.com/

So, now it's off to her flickr group and blog to get to know her better and try to create a mini quilt she will like!

Update:

I've found what I want to do for Jenn's quilt!  I have the fabric picked out and cut into strips...I've been stitching already this morning. 

I forgot to show you this:

Isn't this the kind of Christmas you'd like to have?

Me too!

Sewing?

Am I finally getting caught up?  Perhaps?  Please, oh please?  LOL

Spent the morning learning about the beginning of what we need to know about sending Oldest off to a higher education next year.  I'm shaking my head at all the hoops you have to go through.  When I went to school, I had a guidance counselor help...our small school has...well, me!  Parents are the guidance counselors, school buses, tutors etc.  There is so much to learn.

Thankfully, the people in Admissions were very helpful.  I have an inkling of what we need to do and how to do it and deadlines to do it by.  I don't feel so far behind the 8 ball anymore!  (for now)

Maybe, just maybe I can sew tomorrow?  Pretty please?  With sugar on top?

First Day of Co-Op

Hello family and friends!  Hope you all had a nice weekend...here in the Midwest, we're winding our way to colder and wetter weather.  Today is a foretaste of the unpredictability of the next few months.  Beautiful day yesterday and this morning we had torrential downpours with thunderboomers for background music!

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year.  Happy memories of being a little girl and "skishing" my shoes through the leaves piled next to limestone gutters in my hometown.  Buckeyes we would find in the "Valley" on our way home from elementary school that we would string together to make bracelets and necklaces.  Making houses with walls outlined in leaves raked from our yard.  The smell of bonfires.  Caramel apples and fall parties.

 

Today was our first day with a homeschool co-op and I loved it!  I think Middlest did too.  Each class has a smaller student ratio than public and private, a teacher and an aid adult to help.  First class was Literature.  Corrie ten Boom's "The Hiding Place" with a review of the events leading up to WWII.

Second class was Science Lab...still haven't figured out what they were constructing, but it looked like a lot of fun and Middlest is excited about next week's disassembling a self-propelled toy car to create a new car while learning about different kinds of energy.

And lastly, Greek and Roman Root Words.  This one was loud and boisterous...right up our alley.  I'll keep you posted on this one, but one of my fave words is now in the dictionary I learned.  "Ginormous", as I've know all along, means extremely large!  Alzheimer's beware, I'm learning something new everyday.

I'm feeling much better today...and thanks to my sweet little donkeys, can sit here and type this instead of do housework as I recover from the flu.  Thanks guys!

Tomorrow is college visit day for our family.  Oldest will be going off to freshman land next year.  We're going for an informational meeting and to talk with advisors about scholarships.  We're hoping for an academic one for him that pays for at least half of his tuition.  Which would be very helpful!  Middlest is going and it will count somehow for school...as a field trip probably. 

Back to weather again...tomorrow's forecast isn't much better than today's.  So it's umbrellas for all and "Thank you, we know where things are, we'll skip the 1 1/2 hr tour through the muck and rain."  LOL

This is what I'm hoping for instead:

On the Subject of Carrots

If you want to get a stubborn mule or donkey to move, you rig up a stick with a string dangling a carrot in front of them just out of their reach. Far enough away from their noses so that they have to keep moving to try and "catch up" with the carrot in order to take a bite...or so the story goes.

Well, let me tell you...today Mom is rigging up a stick and dangling Youth Group out in front of her men.  LOL 

The stomach flu hit our house the latter part of the week.  I've been sick since Wednesday.  Littlest woke up with a headache and sore stomach this morning.  What does this have to do with mules, donkeys, carrots and Youth Group you ask?

There are no clean dishes in the house.  People are out of clean underwear.  The kitty litter box needs changed (desperately!), floors need swept, water bottles need replenished, shirts need ironed, toys need picked up...and the list continues.

So, my two healthy donkeys (I've previously mentioned mules before, but they were offended, so I thought I'd go with something cuter?) have a list of things to do (moving the cart) or there will be no Youth Group tonight (the carrot).  Both enjoy this time out with friends playing games, socializing, and hearing cooler than what we listen to at home music.

Hopefully...this is how our day will end.  The "to do" list done, a happier Mommy, and two little donkeys who get to go to Youth Group!

Amylouwho has a fun invitation for you!

It's "Sew and Tell" time friends!  Over at Amy's blogsite you can find an invitation to sew, show and then tell...

http://www.amylouwho.com/

She's asking us to share our finishes and accomplishments from this week.  And then...tell our friends about it so we can share our beautiful creations and inspire others while being inspired ourselves.  What an awesome idea.

Hope you join in!

Obsession!

Must...have...vintage...retro...cool...blue...pink...yellow...orange...purple...fabric!  LOL

Okay.  It's coming down to not being able to find anything even remotely like what I want in these fabrics arround here.  Thrifting is just not working.  I will be biting the bullet and ordering something soon...I can feel it coming on. 

The image at the right is called "Buttercups Baby Pink".   









This is really all my mom's fault you know.  About 2-3 years ago she gave me a sack full of fabric she had saved from outfits she'd made for me and my sister when we were growing up in the 70's.  I'm not sure if it's the nostalgia, the prints themselves or just a need to be different from everyone else's quilting style and preference here in the Midwest...but I'm hooked.

Wouldn't this make great binding!

I'm a little upset with myself because I can't remember where I found this.  I have this thing for birds.  And these two are the sweetest little things on wings right now!

Over at Sweet Jessie's blog found here:

http://www.sweetjessie.com/

You can find exactly the sort of feeling I get from vintage and retro prints.  Two little girls.  Soft colors.  Safe place to be.  Happy. 

Love you Mom!

"Blue Belt" or "Blueberry"?

When my obsession with watercolor quilts began, I bought every sort of fabric you can imagine.  All colors, mostly florals, impressionistic to realistic.  Darks, mediums and lights.  It takes a lot to make a California King quilt!  I have all of these 2"x2" squares floating around my sewing/sun/Lego room.  What to do?  What to do?

This is Javimeister's senior year.  I knew I wanted to do something meaningful for him.  I mean, after all, I kinda like the kid and all and he's been such a huge help around the house all these years and very patient when I was finishing up just 'one more thing' as I've crafted through his lifetime.  A quilt is a gift of love.  Of sacrifice.  Of learning.  Of growing.  Perfect!

But there's just one problem...kids are expensive!  And we didn't have small, dainty, petite, eat-like-a-bird girls.  We had MEN!  Okay, small men.  Men in training.  Who eat.  A lot.  I mean a whole lot.  Everyday.  Sometimes more than three times a day.  Often...all day long.  And clothes?  Do you know how many pairs of jean knees a boy can blow out in a year?  Too many to count.  Plus doctors, dentists, optometrists, soccer, basketball, Tae Kwan Do, choir, band...and inevitably, a car.  Yikes!

So what's a clever and thrifty mom to do?  What women who have quilted throughout time immorial have always done...head to the scraps!  This is where all of those 2"x2" squares  came in handy.  I was on the move and ready to piece.  Once the blocks and triangles were in place...what possible fabric would compliment them all and set the pattern off?  This one was a stumper until a good friend...a kind, gentle, patient friend...picked out the sashing fabric you see now on the quilt.  I'm forever grateful!

I found the Asian cloud fabric one day at a break in a basketball toruney in our state capitol.  Middlest wanted to stay at the facility and *gasp* socialize with his friends instead of going fabric shopping with mom.  I was crushed (Lord, I know it's wrong to fib, but You and I both know I needed a little alone time).

This has been a WIP for almost a year.  I wanted crisp, white binding and I wasn't yet making my own.  Joann's kept running out of the kind I needed.  I finally finished the binding this week, washed and dried the quilt and gave it to Javi.  In one of the bottom corners, in the binding, are seventeen embroidered hearts.  One for each year he's been my boy and I've been his mommy.  Sniff. 

The good news is that I will get to enjoy this quilt longer than I would have if Javi had decided to dorm it at college.  I'll get to wash it for him and watch him curled up in it on a cold, winter's day.  Aren't our children wonderful!

String Theory?

"String theory is a developing branch of theoretical physics that combines quantum mechanics and general relativity into a quantum theory of gravity."  So say the braniacs at Wikipedia.  They go on to say that string theory involves 1-dimensional strings made up of electrons and quarks.  That the strings can move and vibrate giving the observed particles their flavor, charge, mass and spin.

Okay, 'nuff of the 'way over my head' stuff before I've had enough caffeine!

Here is Dee's String Theory (only necessity for understanding is a McDonald's coke and some raspberry filled doughnut holes leftover from the weekend!):

These are my three dimensional strings made up of scraps and fabric from my stash.  The strings themselves don't move, but the light playing against them and the placement of colors is what gives the quilt its 'flavor', texture, movement, contrast and, I think, appeal.

Flickr has a photo pool called the 'String Quilt Love'.  In it you can see beautiful examples of this type of quilt.  Contributors include talented women such as teaginny, fresh lemmons, midwest psyche, charqsews, filminthefridge, Pikku-Kettu, and Snappy Shop to name a few.  These are of course not their real names, but their account names.  A scroll through their photostreams is a delightful and inspirational journey.

In the book 'Liberated String Quilts' by Gwen Marston, you can learn about the history of the string quilt (few antique samples remain, and they are as 'Southern as cornbread') and see some of the common block patterns such as 'Stars', 'Diamonds', 'Spiderwebs' and 'Snowball'.  All unique patterns based on a foundation piecing (either fabric or paper) of strips or strings of fabric in an eye pleasing arrangement.

Some of the more modern adaptions of string quilting are visually stunning!  The Flickr group especially sees modern fabrics bringing life and light to string quilts!  Brilliant blues, rich reds, deep aquas, lime greens, yummy yellows and outrageous oranges...sometimes blended together like a glorious fruit sald or kept together in specific color combinations for a visually stunning effect.  There is no limit to the imagination in these quilts.

Foundation piecing a string quilt is fun and involves a freedom of creativity that I really enjoy.  It can mean bending the rules and it allows a string to speak to you about what other kind of colored or patterned string it wants to be next to in the piece.  I have found it takes about ten minutes to make a 6"x6" block for me.  That involves anchoring the white center string on the paper, deciding which fabric to sew onto the paper foundation, trimming it to the desired width, sewing the strings on, pressing and squaring up my block. 

Film in the Fridge's Ashley has a clear and concise tutorial at here blogspot.  http://www.filminthefridge.com/2009/04/27/a-string-quilt-block-tutorial-paper-pieced-method/

This is the one I used to get started.  Some tricks I learned that worked will for me were to not glue the whole white center strip, just apply the gluestick to the ends and make sure there is enough 'play' in the strip so that it lies flat and that I can pin each piece of fabric down to the paper before I sew it.  This helps keep the fabric taut enough that it doesn't bunch at the seam.

I highly recommend giving this type of quilt a try!  It's very relaxing and lets me be extremely creative in my piecing.  It reminds me a lot of water color quilting and I find myself using the 'wrong' side of a fabric for a softer look and opens up my range of colors too.  If you're like me, you save every little bit of scrap material and my scrap stash is dwindling!.  Even the tiny traingles come in handy on this quilt because they can be used in the corners of the block.

Here are two more pictures of the quilt I'm working on.  Some of the other ladies on flickr use brighter and bolder colors and fabric, and I love this, but as a soft palett person, I like my colors a little less 'umphey'.

Right now I have 46 blocks finished.  This quilt will be queen sized for our bed.  I'm planning on eyeballing the length (the width is 8 blocks) and sewing a white sash around the string center.  I'm not sure how I will finish it off.  I'm letting the quilt speak to me as I go along!

I Am In The Doghouse!

The dog and I are the only females in the house...well, okay.  The cat is female too...but she doesn't count because she's so old, meows loudly at night and thinks she owns my husband.  We're not sure about the turtle...never thought to ask and I sure as heck don't want to know how you can know!  LOL

Lady is my buddy.  She follows me from room to room.  She's waiting for me when I get home.  Well, she's at least on the couch nearest the garage door...waiting for me.  She loves me when no one else does.

She hates me.

At least whenever I make French Dip.  Which is an overnight dish that must cook in the crockpot.  It involves a huge roast, beef broth, French Onion soup and garlic.  You start cooking it 24 hrs before you're going to serve it.  It can be smelled throughout the house all night long.  It is her favorite little tidbit left on a boy's plate that didn't get eaten but was shared with her.

Lady's crate is in the den...which is next to the kitchen...which is where the French Dip is cooking.  I woke up this morning to this:

Her puppy dog eyes full of disappointment...hurt feelings...disgust at the human who would make her smell this scrumptious delight all night long...and not share.

I told her I was sorry.  How remorseful I was.  How even the guys have to wait 'til tonight to have their sandwiches.  But I promised I would share with her.  That she would have a tasty treat if she was patient and would love me again.

I think she forgives me!

I hope she forgives me!

A Blog Is Born!

My very good friend and sister of the heart has started her own blog!  KT has tons of kids, cats, laundry and a huge love of quilts and all things sewing.  She is the inspiration behind me starting my blog...and now she can be found here:

http://ktquilts4fun.blogspot.com/

Congratulations KT!

The continuing saga of the daytime show 'Fabric Fantasies':

These lucious 1/2 yard cuts can be found at Retro Age Vintage Fabrics out of Geelong, Victoria, Australia.

Their website is:

http://www.vintagefabrics.com.au/store/Default.asp

I highly recommend a browse through their site!

Hubby asked me last night, how many WIP's do I have.  Well, let's just say I keep busy!  LOL

How Much Do You Love Me?

Is the question I just asked hubby-dearest-sweetie-punkin-pooh.  Because I just found dessert:

Do I?  Dare I? 

All the way from the Land Down Under?

At only $9.99-$29.99 per half yard...

and $2.00 shipping (if you live in Australia...which I don't...but maybe I should strongly consider moving?  Packing the boys up and going walk about?  But with a PO box so I could get this fabulous fabric delivered...right to me...into my own greedy little hands.  Wah, hah, hah!)

Okay.  Reality check.  Giving up US citizenship.  Dust.  Dingos.  Rocks.  Snakes.

Maybe I'll just be really good and ask for them for Christmas?

'Night all.

Oy Vey!

This:

is what I was sure invaded my home last night!  A ton of boys up to no good!  LOL

In reality, we only had two extra for an overnighter for Bean's birthday.  About 12:30 I headed out to the top of the stairs and shouted down that it was time for bed.  Big brother had brought home a nifty trick from camp that involved an empty waterbottle, lots of pressure and flying caps.  This trick was banned at the party last night because of the force of velocity it produces and the amount of glass at Mimi's house.  I'm finding water bottles everywhere...without their caps...hmmmmm.

This morning, the rascals showed me their late night accomplishment...

...all in all...not too bad having them over!  LOL  I just have to feed them now!

Happy weekend everyone!

Just to add...

How blessed I am. Middelest is getting ready for the day, and he's singing. I love that. I love being here to hear that and him being here and that happy!

TTLIF

It hasn't been a long week...but we've had our hiccups...pauses...long, deep breaths breathed in and out...and in and out...LOL  Thankful that it's over...wishing it back to fix what went wrong and have the hindsight of knowing what we needed and preparing for it.

A Baby Isaac picture his mommy sent us.  He's doing great considering everything he's gone through and what lies ahead.  Surgery in the near future to help correct the heart defect.  In this picture he's looking up at his mommy.  I loved those smiles and looks of utter adoration my boys gave me.  I'm at the stage now where I'm learning that those smiles and looks will be turned on other girls in their lives.  *Sigh*  It's hard to let go.

A birthday party tonight for the birthday Bean.  Dad took him out last night...another birthday present...we try to make birthdays last as long as we can.  Life is hard enough without a proper celebration of Life!

Over at Wishes True and Kind...waiting to see who won the fabric.  I'm so excited.  Someone is going to have a wonderful package arrive at their door and open a whole new possibility for a quilt or project in a happy, little box!  What fun!  Wouldn't it be neat to see what becomes of the fabric?

Today is 9/11.  Eight years ago today I was at my friend Katie's house.  I had heard about one plane flying into the Tower and everyone still thinking it was an accident.  When we heard of the other plane and what was happening across the nation...I took Bean and we went to spend the day with Katie at her house.  She had two little ones and one on the way.  Neither of us wanted to be alone and our husbands were at work.  She was out of the room when the first Tower fell.  I remember the horror, but the relief she didn't see it happen.  I was worried about her and the pregnancy. 

My thoughts and prayers today for the families and friends of those who perished that day.  Strength.  Courage.  Peace.  Forgiveness.  Remembrance.

Where were you when the world stopped turning?