crazy weeks

As you may have guessed by my lack of blog post last week, the new job is keeping me busy.  I worked three of the four shifts over last weekend where one just has to go in and let dogs out to go potty and feed them.  Short and sweet, but still gotta be done.  Being the new person, and being in training, it made sense.

But I also caught the cold that the whole clinic seems to be sharing, so I was napping a lot when I wasn't at work.  I'm feeling mostly better, but this one is holding on.  It's not the plague that is always in the news (by comparison this cold is cake), but it just doesn't want to quit and boy am I tired of not feeling quite right.

So the news from here is minimal, but before the sore throat started, I managed to get the chicks for the baby quilt put together:

There's 20 little babies in there - and you can see the blue lines where their legs will be embroidered.

Then I went on to embroider some legs - the last task before I feel truly ill.

Lily was keeping track of my efforts and I was pleased that she wasn't chasing my threads very much.  She must have worn herself out earlier in the day being a spaz elsewhere.

I got 15 of the 20 done and ran out of time that day.  The remaining five are still waiting for me to have time and energy to work on them.  I also need to figure out what to do for an eye.  The pattern suggests an "X", but that makes me think they're dead, so maybe just a French knot, or maybe some sort of eyelashes?  I'll have to do some doodling.

I also went through the two boxes of fun prints borrowed from my mom and cut more cat toy pieces.  Salem helped organize the box...

I upended the box and put the fabrics back in neatly as I went.

Lily, on the other hand, had other ideas how to help...

I tried to stop her from jumping in the trash about five times before she managed to do it before I caught her.  She is such a ding dong.  I sent this photo to my hubby with the caption "this cat has no survival instincts" yet she is quite smart.  (This week she realized she can, in fact, get on the kitchen counters, so that surface has been a playland of things that can be pushed to the floor...I'll be glad when THAT becomes less entertaining.)

I plan to start another quilt - this one to be a Christmas present for my sister-in-law.  There is a running joke that my hubby started that I am a chicken.  And that my sis-in-law (hubby's sis) is a ho.  Yes, the rude kind.  She's not, but it's a sibling thing.  So a few weeks back, we were at their house and her youngest son (nearly 13) had a moped helmet that looked like a Santa Claus head.  And our great-niece (2 years old) was terrified of it.  I'm not sure if it was called "ho-ho" before we got there or not, but that's what my sis-in-law was calling it, telling her not to be afraid of "ho-ho."  So I called her "aunt ho-ho."  And she called me "aunt cluck-cluck."  For my birthday, she got me a cake with a chicken on it.

Well.

She's getting this quilt for Christmas.  Hubby says it needs a darker background (she is the lone female in a house of boys, plus a big dog, so that makes sense), but he's all in.  I guess I'd better get busy with the chicken quilt (not a joke for anyone there, just a cute farm theme) and the cat toys (I cut about 4 million I think) so I can get this one done too?  (I haven't even bought the pattern yet, but I'll get there, probably today.)

Though the new job and cold are sucking a lot out of me, reading has been an easy thing to do while relaxing and recovering, so I've finished two books in the last two weeks.

First up:

Everyone knows Charles Lindbergh, but his wife is not so famous.  This is her story.  Or at least the authors imagining of it.  Anne Lindbergh was also a pilot - taught by her husband - who flew with her hubby on a lot of trips, acting as navigator and copilot and all the sorts of things needed.  She also had a number of children - many are familiar with the story of the kidnapping and death of their eldest, but she had three more a few years after that tragedy occurred.

The book, though it seems as though it should be about her, really mostly tells his story through her eyes.  I knew little of the man, but in this book, he seemed cold and calculating, only acting compassionate when he wanted something, and then stubborn until he got it accomplished.  He assumed that whatever he thought or wanted, she also wanted - a behavior I think was more typical of their time, but it could not have been an easy marriage.

I gave it 4 stars because I did learn a lot about both of them and it was fairly enjoyable though I felt like I didn't learn as much about her as I anticipated.

And last week:

In short - witch trials in northern Norway (Finnmark).  But more.  Most of the book develops the characters in a small town where a giant wave took almost every single man while they were out fishing.  The women learn to deal with their absence (though less of this is discussed than I anticipated), but mostly focuses on two women - one local woman, and one who is married and then travels there with her husband, who is a sort of policeman for the town - one with a specialty in witch trials.

Eventually the story winds around to the witch trials - which were occurring around the same time as here in America - though it seemed a little hurried at the end.  (Though who really wants to read the gory details?)

Some of the characters were difficult to keep track of, but the way they are named makes it difficult.  And since they have smaller parts, it might have done me some good to take notes at the start!

It was a quick read, but left me feeling frustrated at, even in a town with almost no men, the women were unable (or unwilling) to band together and fight the accusations of witchcraft.  Of how the women were more likely to unite over accusing another woman than defending her.  Though this was set 400 years ago, women today also often are more likely to unite over dragging someone down than building them up.  And that is sad to me.

But in all, it was a good book.  4.25 stars.

I've read just a few pages in the next book - and there's a used book sale this week!  It's a smaller sale, so not as likely that I'll come home with a lot of books, but I'm excited!

I think my lunch has kicked in and I'm feeling better than I was this morning so I suppose I'd better go sew something before the caffeine (or whatever it is) wears off!

Happy quilting!

Katie