Mother's Day Road Trip

So guess where I went for Mother's Day?
Nowhere! We were planning on going to a little restaurant in Snook, Texas - but, after forgoing breakfast in bed, and getting the gang up and ready for travel, we discovered that they weren't even open on Sundays!
So, on Monday, we did it all over again and drove the 70+ miles to Snook, population 568. If we'da blinked, we woulda missed it.


We arrived at Sodolak's Original Country Inn around lunchtime and found all the locals enjoying their giant steaks, Texas toothpicks, and what they're (in)famous for:


Chicken Fried Bacon!
I know. But I saw it featured on the Travel Channel a few months back during the same episode that they highlighted Goodson's Restaurant, 5 minutes from my house in Tomball. See for yourself in this clip from Texas Country Reporter - featuring our waitress, who didn't at all live up to her sign:




At first only Andy was willing to indulge my craving, but MJ decided to try it. Gillian resisted til I gave her a tiny piece to taste, and she was won over.


It was crisp, and not at all 'flubbery' - easy to chew - it practically melted in your mouth. And the country cream gravy was the perfect accompaniment. We definitely shoulda got 2 orders!


We are so going back!


Oh. I forgot. As if we hadn't already done enough to get to workin' on a heart attack, we spotted this on the way home and had to stop for a chocolate malt, a Heath Blizzard and an Oreo Brownie Earthquake.

No dinner Monday night.

Anybody Have a Shoehorn?

So we bought the neighbor's 25 year old farmhouse 6 weeks ago, and we've been slo-o-o-wly moving out of the log cabin, less than 1/4 mile away. Probably about 20% of our stuff has made it over here in the past month and a half. Which makes it really hard to find anything. If it's in the new house, it's in a box. If it's in the cabin, it's in a pile waiting to be put in a box. But that won't happen any time soon for 2 reasons:

1) I'm wanting to re-use the boxes we've already packed/moved so far - but not unpacked yet

2) I'm too cheap to go buy new boxes

It's driving my older daughter and her family nuts. They're waiting to get their stuff unpacked, but can't, as our stuff is still in the rooms, closets, and cubby holes. They'd like to settle into the cabin before the new baby comes in July. I get that. And I want that for them. I just need 6 more arms and legs. (I don't want to be confused with Octomom, though.)

Ok, so where was I going with that?

Oh yeah. A shoehorn.

My temporary studio at the new house is the size of a closet - a nice-sized closet - and I can only get a fraction of my stuff in there. Just to illustrate, here's some shots of my studio at the cabin:

Ok. Now how do I get all that in here:

And the one, sad little closet

It is so not going to happen!

Since these pictures were taken about 2 weeks ago, I've gotten quite a bit in there, after adding a mess of Elfa shelving in the closet, and wrapping folded yardage on more of those Fabric Organizers by DeNiece. And I've gotten my sewing table in there, too. No to the giant cutting table, so I'm using my old Singer Model 42 sewing cabinet (with my 201 inside) as a cutting table. I just finished cutting 240 3.5" squares and I can't get back to vertical...I feel like Quasimoto.

I could squeeze a little more stuff in there, but I've decided to commandeer my husband's new garage instead. He's waited a quarter of a century for a garage (all this time, we've only had a barn with no floor), and I feel kind of bad about it, but really, honey...priorities.

We compromised and decided to split the garage: he gets 25% and I get 75%. That sounds fair to me. The contractor says it should be finished by the end of next week. Maybe.

They put in a new French door and knocked holes in the brick for 4 windows. I'll post some progress photos as they get further along.

And just for fun, this is what I've been working on in my temporary studio: my first feathered star - it'll end up being a little under 60" sq; and an autograph wallhanging with signatures from Paula Nadelstern, Nancy Zieman, Mark Lipinski, Ricky Tims, and 12 other quilting celebrities. I'll post when I get them both finished.

Time to hit the sack...

May 2010 Desktop Calendar

I'm taking a Jan Krentz Lonestar workshop through my guild in a few days, so I've got them on the brain. Hope my real one is as easy to make as this one!
Click to expand image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background. To really jazz up your desktop, right-click on your background and choose a color that coordinates with the calendar - you'll love it!