Happy Zombie

Poof! Somehow it went from December 1st … to the 31st in the blink of an eye. How did this happen? Me thinks my little Heinzelmännchen from Karen had something to do it. And just what is he hiding behind his back anyway? I’m guessing it’s the days of December 2nd - 30th.

Christmas at our house was magical. My parents and brother came up and we all spent a glorious time together and it came and went much too soon. We lounged, we laughed, lounged some more, we ate, laughed some more, lounged some even more, ate some even more and then laughed some even more.

“Oscar” - From Laurie

While it would have been perfect had my oldest son and his family been here from Australia, at least we all got to take turns talking on the phone with him and I had a wonderful converstation with my granddaughter and learned that cookies are called biscuits in the Land of Oz.

The best gift for all of us was finding out that my darling granddaughter started calling our DS1 “daddy” (she’s 6 and DS1 and DDL have been married 2 years now - and DGD’s bio dad is very much a part of her life). Oh my heart swelled like I never thought possible.

From Raesha

The icing on the cake was when DS1 told me how he’s carrying on with some of our fun traditions for Christmas morning. Santa left DGD a note, “Dear J, I had a problem with my sleigh as I was flying over your house. One of your presents has fallen out of my sack and has landed in the palm tree in your backyard. Ask your daddy to get a ladder and fetch it - Love Santa”. And there at the top of the palm tree dangled a brand new pair of ice skates. I get giddy imagining it. And ha… my son hates to wrap presents as much as I do!

From Louise

Holy crap, here it is New Year’s Eve. How the eff did that happen? I’m just NOW getting used to writing “2007″. Guess I better brush up on my 8’s. No big plans for us this evening - we stay home - I don’t like being around drunks or drunk drivers. Glitzy New Year’s is just not my gig. Our epicurean extravaganza will be crafted in the kitchen from  Pizza Schmizza. We’ll be playing Monopoly with DS2 (so he can kick our butts as usual) and then we’ll be watching our delicious Tivo’d stash of 50 zillion episodes of Project Runway that I recorded when they had a marathon last week and today. GOSH I love that show and now see why everyone is so into it. OMG… even the T-man likes it (but you didn’t hear that from me). We’ve seen all of season 1 (I heart Jay - he’s so funny!) and season 3 now. Oh yeah… I’m so hooked! Me thinks Mimi wants to try out for season 5 or season 6. ;) It’s like I can almost hear Tim Gunn telling Mimi, “Mimi… make it happen”.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year. I can’t wait to catch up with everyone in blogland. The blogland train has been waiting in the station for me for weeks now. Oh my Gorsh (shout out to Mary & Chicago), more like closer to a month now. I think my bloglines post count is going to reach 8000 here soon. I have so many blogs to visit, so much to catch up with. But I am the human slug. Soon I hope to get caught up with life so I can get my fat butt back on the blogtrain. My Christmas was filled with such goodness, creativity and kindness from my bloggy friends. It’s amazing when I look back and first started blogging… never in a million years could I have imagined the friendships I have made! I’m beyond words for the gifts I’ve been sent, the cards and emails (still waiting to be answered - please forgive me!). I’ll never stop gushing with joy over the gift of friendships I have received. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

And now I must nap. And then sew - for I have a quickly approaching deadline. And then… then… OMG then… I’m jumping on the blogtrain and I’m going to hop from seat to seat, and I may even run up and down the aisle with scissors. And I’m most definitely going to be flailing my arms out the window! Happy Spoonie New Year!!!

From Mary

Like trying to end a phone call with a dear friend - you’re just about to hang up and a new topic starts.  Ok, after this post I’m REALLY going on my repair/clean-up break.  I said to my self “Self… no more babbling about The Storm - blech, enough already!”  BUT… I thought this was just too cool… and it’s kind of a mental segway for me to go from storm mode back to quilt mode.

The forest across the street from us has to be logged because of The Storm.  I’ve never actually seen logging in action and I’m in awe of the process.   Never in a million years would I have thought a California city-girl like me would be snapping a photo like this from MY driveway. The super skilled guy operating the picker-uper thingamabob makes it all look like a magical dancing tree ballet.

When I first looked at this photo, it reminded me of the a quilt I saw at the NW Quilting Expo in Portland last Fall.  I’m guessing for the quiltmaker it was Art imitating Life.  For me it is Life imitating Art.  I really, really, really, really would love to know who the quiltmaker is!  Anyone know?

Edited in:
Thank you Tami from Lemon Tree Tales for the answer!
From Tami: I saw that same quilt at the 2006 Pacific International Quilt Festival and thought it was amazing. Luckily I took a picture of it and the information sheet. It’s by Janet Fogg of Lake Oswego, OR. It’s called Winding Road Ahead and measures 103″ x 103″.

This is her artist statement about it: “Logging trucks are a common sight for people living in the northwest states. As an artist living in the region, I have always found them to be a powerful visual image. Because I enjoy combining traditional quilt blocks with illustrations to create quilts with a concept, I decided to transport the logs by constructing a logging truck out of log cabin blocks. Hand dyed fabrics by Jeanette Viviano.”

I googled Janet Fogg and found her quilt collection. A must see!

I have internet again! How sweet it is to type with all fingers and not just my thumb. I think I have iPhoneinitus in my thumb, but I’m still grateful I had that little sucker for the on-again off-again excruciatingly slow dial-up internet it provided me after the storm and being able to text with Pam - whoo whoo… I love you Apple! I didn’t realize how much my life was computerized, until we went 6 days without power and 9 days without internet. We heart you Mountain Power of Idaho! We heart EVERYONE who came to help… The US Coast Guard, Oregon National Guard, OR Senator Betsy Johnson, US Senators Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith, Congressman David Wu, Astoria Mayor Willis Van Dusen, Clatsop County Sherrif Tom Bergin, Dean Perez, Pacific Power, Utah Power, Portland General Electric, Charter, Qwest, Trees Inc. and SOOOO many more. Rockstars. Heroes. Knights in shining armor.

And to the TV media in Portland, Oregon… You suck.
You suck, you suck, and you suck.
One more time… you suck!

And once our phone lines did work again… I couldn’t even call Kath or Paula - because where was the bulk of my phone numbers??? I was so happy Kath called me, and I could communicate with Paula via comments and know they were ok too. Blogging - not just for crafting! I’m so going to get me an old fashioned write-in phone book (hoping a certain someone with her fabo new job designs one soon).

We’ve been cleaning, clearing, sawing, sweeping, chopping, blah, blah, blah. And soooo much more left to do. Double the houses, double the fun. What I wouldn’t give to sit at my sewing machine and sew right now. And who knew that I’d long to wash clothes/do laundry and vacuum - certainly not me. Oh how I love you electrical appliances! I love you electricity!

That goes for spell check too (something I couldn’t do when I blogged via my iPhone). DS2 has already tackled the tree that landed behind our house. The tree above is now firewood. Our neighbors watched in horror as it went down, not knowing where it was going to land. Thank you St. Joe-Joe!

Gimme about a week on my glorious restored electricity high… and I just may light candles again. For now… I don’t want to see any flashlights or candles! My fantasy life of living like a pioneer, dressed in a Little House on The Prairie dress and Doc Martin boots is on permanent hold.

I’ve got some before & after pics:

If I haven’t put anyone to sleep with my ramblings about The Storm and you want to see more pics, I’ve got more storm pics on a flickr set here.

Even though I just got my internet back and would so love to bloghop and visit, our life is jam packed with fixing, dealing with the insurance, repairpeeps and cleaning. Not just one house… but two. Our for-sale house is now being rented to my neighbors who’s house was destroyed in The Storm - and we really want to get that house fixed/cleaned even faster now. Oh St. Joe-Joe… I KNEW you were working all along. Anyhoo… I’ll be taking a little blogging break for a few weeks, and then it’s back to fun and quilting (and some bring-me-to-tears wonderful Mailbox Love from Louise, Laurie, and Nanna Jamma that I can’t wait to show!)! I have a ton of emails to still go through and I’m getting to them soon (as well as the Jingle Jolly gallery - OMG you guys kick quilt butt!). Thank you all again for your beautiful words of comfort and caring and I hope you all in the midwest make it through your ice storm as well as we did here. I’m thinking of you all!

PS… As busy as Mother Nature was with The Storm, she still found the time and energy to leave me some raunchy good humor amidst the fallen trees and roof shingles. Mother Nature… you are Mother Naughty.

blogging from my iPhone… Pardon the mess. We had a monster storm (a hurricane - not kidding) in Astoria/the Oregon coast / the SW Wash. Coast and we’ve been without power since Sunday. Lots of damage, cut off, situation unknown by many and media… but we r ok! Two beatiful young guys just out of kindness came up our street and chain sawed us all out - it was one of the most beautiful acts of kindness i’v ever seen! Thank you for all the wonder emails… They have SOOOO lifted my spirits!!!(I can receive but not send) The awesome kickass rockin awesome crews from Mountain Power in Idaho are replacing power poles on my street right now … We may even have power and heat in a few days. And maybe water too.

Astoria is a disaster, but we’re the luckiest community ever with all the help that’s been sent our way (thank you idaho… WE LOVE YOU), our city/county/state government, KAST, KMUN, daily astorian, and best of all… neighbor helping neighbor!!! I LOVE YOU ASTORIA & OREGON!!!!!

It may be a long time before I can reply to emails and I thank you soooo much for your wonderful notes. Thank you all- you all r the best!!!

Updated:
we now have power, heat,water! Still awhile before cable/Internet… But that is soooo ok! Very little damage to our roof, something dh can fix himself. Two mammoth trees just missed our house (thank you St. Joe-Joe!!!). We are the lucky ones in my hood. As bad as it was (20+hours in a hurricane), nothing can top the joy of living in such a wonderful and caring community!!! As crazy as this sounds right now - we live in paradise!

Thank you sooo much for your comments and emails - I heart you all for them! We (my family) really are doing great, but not so much my neighbors and coast. Please keep Astoria, the coast and Vernonia in your prayers.