Desperate Housewives do pizza

Every Sunday night when a new episode of Desperate Housewives is airing on ABC, several ladies from my neighborhood get together at alternating homes to have "mom" time. We usually show up at the designated house about a half hour to forty-five minutes early to chat, eat a few munchies, and drink a glass or two of wine. Since there's been so many football games scheduled lately, we've been out of sorts not getting together for our weekly inspirational get-together. So last night we decided to dine out at a local pizza place to fulfill our "girls night out" needs. Here we are at il forno pizzeria in Frederick enjoying Pizza Margherita and Pizza Alla Fiorentina (fresh spinach, ricotta cheese, and fresh garlic). We had a great time together for a few hours and have all decided this should be a regular occurring event for our group to plan.

Pictured here from left to right are: Renu (pottery queen), Jodi (weight loss inspiration), Cindy P. (recently engaged artist), Michelle (jewelry consultant), Desiri (cruise director extraodinaire), Cindy A. (marvelous math teacher), Me (quilting blogger), and Kathy (church pastor)

YUM!

Carolyn "Care Bear" King

Pasta Salad in the Wintertime

I love to eat seasonal foods. I like berries in the springtime, salads and ice cream in the summer, apple recipes and harvest veggie dishes in the fall, and soups, stews, and chili in the winter months. But sometimes I crave the memories of the foods I eat at a different time of the year than I'm in. Today I yearned pasta salad. I'm going to a potluck dinner and needed to bring a dish to pass, so I picked up some tri-colored spiral pasta, red onions, broccoli, pepperoni, and cheese. I had Italian dressing and marinated artichokes in the fridge. I also found some carrots to add to the mix. I like to soak my veggies in the dressing before I toss with the pasta, so they each get a good taste of flavor. Here's a picture of my creation, ready for the main event.

Carolyn "Care Bear" King

Jeff Daniels at the Weinberg Center

Tonight I'm going to see Jeff Daniels in concert. You don't normally think of a movie star as a singer/songwriter, but I understand Daniels has been quite prolific in the songwriting business. Thanks to some friends we know from church we were offered free tickets for tonight's performance at the Weinberg Center in Frederick, Maryland. It's been a long time since I've gone out to a concert, so I'm looking forward to a night on the town with my husband and dinner after with a few friends. I'll let you know what I think!

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Well, we saw him Saturday night and it was definitely a fun show. Jeff Daniels, sporting a scruffy beard and a brown fedora hat, mixed story telling and comedy with events from his personal life and movie-making experiences to sing songs that kept us entertained all evening. He sort of reminded me of Harry Chapin and his folk rock songs like Taxi and Cats in the Cradle. Daniels had a song in honor of the movie he played in with Clint Eastwood called the Dirty Harry Blues. Another song spoke of the memory of his Grandfather's Hat. He told a story and shared a number inspired by the first car he ever drove remembering his old man's Blue Valiant. There were songs about road rage and stories about leaving behind his wife at a gas station while driving the family's rented RV. Later he spoke about when his daughter was learning to drive and she asked him to write a song about her. A not-so-flattering tune talked about her wild, lead-footed, driving and how she learned everything she did from watching her dad. He called up a few members of the audience at times to help him blow a wooden train whistle or dance a shuffle on stage while the crowd kept time with their clapping and laughter. We had an enjoyable night and later had some coffee with our friends Bob and Lynda. It's been a long time since I stayed out past midnight, and I think I'll be recovering Sunday afternoon with a nice nap.

Carolyn "Care Bear" King

Where is your heart's focus?

Is your love "the love of the table, not of the host; a love to the cupboard, not to the master of the house?"  

--Spurgeon's Morning and Evening January 22 PM

If we are seeking all the blessings from God we can receive, all the promises He put forth in His Word, all the positive answers to prayer we can gather without striving for a meaningful relationship with Him, we're missing the point. God wants us to spend time getting to know Him, not waiting for a giant goodie bag in the sky. 


I need to focus more on knowing who God is and discovering the parts of His personality. Only then will I truly be motivated to follow His will and accomplish the things He has designed for my life.

Carolyn "Care Bear" King

Organizational Nightmare?

The average American woman spends 55.2 minutes a day looking for things. Those 55.2 minutes per day add up to a staggering 14 days per year!

-study done by Real SimpleMagazine, 2003

I found some nice websites with great tips for organizing areas in your home and your life. Check them out if you're feeling frazzled!

• Perfectly Placed ~ Home and Office Organization
• Fly Lady.com: Your personal online coach to help you gain control of your house and home
• Efficient Housecleaning Items

Carolyn "Care Bear" King

The Family Christmas Quilt

Well, the Patriotic Family quilt was so successful, my cousin decided we needed to do one for Christmas. This time, however, we only had 9 participants so 3 people agreed to make two different squares. We each made 9 blocks of the same pattern and sent them to my cousin, who divided them up and sent 12 out to each participant.

I decided to try some paper piecing this time and searched the internet for a tree. I found one here and tried it with some scrap material laying around.

It ended up being too long and narrow for my tastes, and I wasn't interested in doing all the work that went into the tree skirt on the original pattern. We were required to make 12 1/2" x 12 1/2" blocks. I ended up scanning the picture and stretching the image fat to make the following square.

The pattern (12 1/2" x 12 1/2" was too big to print on one sheet of copy paper on my printer at home, so I ended up printing it in thirds and taping it together. I definitely recommend using a shortened stitch length when paper piecing to ease in the tearing off of the paper at the end. Here are several of the squares laid out together.

This time we didn't embroider the names on the squares, but my cousin provided a listing printed on fabric of all the squares we could sew to the backs of our quilts.

Here are the squares I received laid out in a pattern on the floor.

I was the only one who used the "blue"...ooops.

I sashed my squares in alternating green and cream fabric and finished with a striped border that I mitered in the corners. (A very tricky technique to get them to match up just right).

The quilt is at the long-arm quilter's house being done in a tannenbaum pattern. I should get it back some time in February.

Here is a photo of my dad's quilt top before quilting.

My uncle finished his quilt and binding first.

My cousin Sandi (the leader of this project) did her quilt with a tree border and a snowflake quilting. She must have been in the long arm quilter's queue early because she was able to get her quilt back before Christmas and enjoy it in 2010. I will have to wait until next December to display mine.

Carolyn "Care Bear" King

The Patriotic Family Quilt

In July 2009 during a family reunion, my cousin Sandi had the brilliant idea to create a family quilt. We had many sewers and quilters in the family, so she thought we could come up with enough people to create a memorable quilt. She asked which family members would like to participate and ended up with 11 people. Since it's difficult to create a quilt of only 11 squares, my dad volunteered to make two different squares.

A few weeks later my cousin sent out a few fabric swatches to each participant, so we could choose colors that would blend together. There's nothing worse than having two different reds that clash and make your eyes hurt. The theme was a patriotic red, white, and blue one.

Each person was asked to make 11 of the same 10"x10" quilt square, send it to her by January 2010, and she would divide them up into 12 sets of squares to send back to each of us. We also decided to embroider each person's name on the squares, so we could remember who made each one.

I made the Waterwheel square out of patriotic fabric. Since I only found a pattern in a 12"x12" size, I had the task of reducing my square to end up 10.5"x10.5". This square is basically a 9-block, so I had to make each smaller square 3 5/6" which is really difficult. I ended up shooting for 3 7/8" blocks and taking in a scant thread-line more. When I squared up each piece I made sure I trimmed an accurate 10 1/2" block.

Here are some of the other squares that were part of the quilt:

"Night and Day" by my Dad Chuck in Florida

"Pigs in a Blanket" also by my dad Chuck in Florida

"Windy Day" by my sister Cheryl in Tennessee

My Uncle Johnny's square in New Jersey

"Heart in a Snowball" by my Aunt Millie

My cousin Sue's square from California

My Aunt Shirley's square from California

"Flag of Slovakia" by my Aunt Betty and her
granddaughter Christina in Ohio

"Oh, Susannah" by my cousin China and
her daughter Katti in Germany

My cousin Sandi's square from California. This
quilt was her idea

"The Wave Edge" Log Cabin by my cousin
Sharon in California

After I received all my squares, then came the task of making the border. I wanted something interesting to finish it off, and since I didn't make all the squares in the quilt I wanted something that required a little more of my handiwork on the border. I came up with these squares.

They were 36 staggered stars and I got the idea from the Quilter's Attic newsletter. They have wonderful ideas. Here's the website to check out their current newsletters: http://www.quiltersattic.com/. I used fabric from my own square, plus some scraps from my sister and my dad along with some additional quarters I picked up at JoAnn's. Each of the squares is different.

I laid out my squares in various patterns on the floor until I got it just right. Here is a picture of my finished quilt top. It looks like I put it together is the exact reverse of my floor layout.

My dad had the top quilted by a lady in his area in Florida. The pattern is a bunch of stars and swirls.

Close-up of the stitching

I have it hanging in my foyer hallway and am very pleased with how it turned out.

Here are a few of the other quilts made by my father, aunt, and uncle.

Here my dad did a similar pattern with the star border
and he varied his red with blue and blue with red

My uncle finished his in a black sashing
for a stained glass window design

My uncle made a few pillows with extra squares.

My aunt's quilt in tans and creams. She
made a ribbon effect with her border.

The back of my aunt's quilt had a picture
of each participant and how they are
related to her printed on fabric.

None of the others has sent me a picture of their finished quilt, but I'm sure they're working on them diligently.

Carolyn "Care Bear" King

Eat, Pray, Love, Reality

I just finished watching the movie Eat, Pray, Love and wondered why everyone liked it so much. It's not that I didn't like the movie, I thought there were some enjoyable parts. I love to eat, but the stark truth is I will gain weight if I continually feed my soul with pasta, pizza, and wine. The "enlightenment" sections didn't speak to me in any real profound way. But I think people are generally missing something in their spiritual lives, and Hollywood has a way of making any non-Christian religion seem wonderfully exciting. They're very good at mocking Christian-like characters, and they never seem to portray true followers of Christ in any of the ways I know real Christians to live.

Our apartment in Seoul: we lived
on the third floor with a restaurant
on the main level.

The scenery was very dreamy and, I think, inspired people to want to visit those places. I know the realities of living in another country. I lived in Seoul, South Korea for seven months and Mannheim, Germany for three years. Granted, I had the advantages of "Little Americas" being near or living on the Army's military posts, but I regularly ventured out into the world. I wouldn't trade the opportunity to have lived overseas for anything.  It was wonderful for my children, as well. People who never are afforded the chance to travel are missing out on many of the experiences life has to offer them.

Our duplex in Germany: flower boxes were big there

There are problems with living in another country though: the language barriers can be frustrating, and so can the different smells. Getting lost or losing a child (a future post) can be very frightening. And nothing can be done without money. Julia Roberts apparently had enough money to quit working for a year and go on a quest to find herself. She lived in decent places (yes, even the run-down apartment in Rome was full of character even if she did have to boil 5 pots of water to bathe) and always had the ability to feed herself.

But real life doesn't always allow you the luxury of picking up and leaving everything behind for a year. Most of us will never be able to afford that kind of experience. That's why movies like this appeal to the imaginations of moviegoers. They can fantasize for 90 minutes and live their lives through the eyes of this woman for a short while.

I enjoy an afternoon of reverie every once in awhile, but then the demands of motherhood and wifehood call to me. I must continue on through the tasks of my life and enjoy the good things I have right in front of me: the things no one in Hollywood is going to make a movie about. I pray I count my blessings regularly and never forget to thank the one true God who gives me everything I need.

Carolyn "Care Bear" King

My interest in Down syndrome

One of my listed interests is Down syndrome, so I should tell you a little about my involvement in that subject.

I have a 14 year old daughter named "B" who likes to act goofy and play pranks on her brother. She is very interested in playing games on the computer, the Wii, her i-touch, or just a simple family game of Sorry or Uno.

Here she is eating a Granny Smith apple while having her picture taken on her i-touch. It's always interesting to find the photos she's placed on her camera when I'm syncing it. I never know what I'll find there. She also records videos of some wild and crazy things too.

B's favorite places to eat are Subway and Olive Garden. Her life is absolutely perfect if she can go to either one of those places with her dad for lunch. (Me, not so much) She is definitely a "Daddy's girl" unless he makes her do something she doesn't want to do.

Carolyn "Care Bear" King

Will anyone ever read this?

OK, so I'm starting my first blog. I'm really determined to learn how to do all this "technology stuff" so I can keep up with the world as it's speeds by at a pace that blows my hair away.


I'm already confused with words like "monetize" and "stats" and "following." Yikes! Time to learn something new. The last thing I need it to get early onset alzheimer's disease. If I keep my brain active and my hands busy, I shouldn't go crazy, right?


Well, bear with me as I delve into the world of blogging. I'm not sure where it will take me, but that can be exciting too.

Carolyn "Care Bear" King