Mother Clucker

Laura and I decided that Friday night we'd hit up the Ameristar crab leg buffet before school started as one last outing! We met an interesting lady in front of us. If I had to describe her, it would be a mix of a hobbit and troll with smokers voice. She went on to inform us that she had taken 1/2 day off work and came to the slot in hopes to buy her meal at the crab leg buffet. If it wasn't bad enough that this hobbit/troll lady was talking to us, she also ended every other sentence by clucking - yes - clucking like a chicken! When she got out of line to look for her friend, Laura asked, "did she just CLUCK?" I replied, "Oh thank god you heard that too!" We were skeptical that this hobbit/troll actually had friends to eat with, but we did see her with someone normal later that evening at the buffet. After the yumminess of the crab legs and tons of other food, we hit up the black jack machine where I went on to play for 2 hours and came home with some sweet cash! Then after the casino, we hit up the Bass Pro Shop, where I proceeded to blow all my sweet cash on clothes because it was tax free days. And no, I didn't buy any camouflage!

Saturday, my entire world was turned upside down as I learned how to use eBay! I'm a bidding fool now and I believe I spent hours watching that tiny ticker clock count down as to be sure I didn't loose out on my coveted fabric that I was wanting! I got some great deals on quilting fabrics and bought a few new "feet" for my sewing machine to help me quilt!

Today was the official end of summer vacation. :( We decided to BBQ and have a nice family lunch/dinner. After that my mom finished her 1st quilt top (Disappearing 9 Patch)!! I think it looks AMAZING!

Then my mom and I decided to groom the dogs. What a furry mess that was, but it's done! The dogs look great, quilt done, all my stuff is ready for tomorrow, I've got my bids out on eBay, and I'm ready for BED (it's a school night!)

Agility Update

This weekend Gabby & I were able to get into the agility trial in Glen Carbon and we did AWESOME!!! I am very pleased how fast Gabby is running now and someone even made a comment saying, "Woah - that springer actually is fast compared to most!" Gabby and I came home with 3 1st place wins (2 Jumpers w/ Weaves, 1 Standard) and 1 2nd place win (Standard) and we now have the 3 qualifying legs to earn a new title - Novice Standard Preferred! The agility trial photographer got a few good pictures of Gabby flying over the jumps, and was able to put a little collage together for me!

And here is a picture I took in the backyard with all her ribbons!

Quilting, Jazz, & Doghouse Swimming

So I finished my next quilt.  It's a black and white "shoo fly" variation throw quilt.

This was a fun project and I learned about piecing triangles! 

For a break from sewing today, I went up to the Wine, Dine, & Jazz festival downtown and listened to my old band director play in a group.  We saw the Dance of Life Dancer lady, who I never knew had a "name" for her act.  I've seen her various music concerts - you can't miss her in her tutu!  

Also, this morning I took the dogs up to Kim's "Doghouse" to play in the baby pool.  Jackson, Giant Schnauzer and his owner Wendy were there and so were Amy and her Aussie, Megan.  All the dogs played together and had a great time! 

This was the 1st time I'd ever gotten Roxie in a pool!  Tossing the tennis ball in there seemed to ease her worries! 

Under The Big Top

I had a lot of fun at the circus.  There were a ton of kids (which I knew going into the deal) but the one one kid behind me kept kicking me all night which kinda sucked.  Besides that, the whole thing was fun.  There was a crazy tiger tamer man dressed in all black leather pants with fringe, shirtless with long black hair.  He was fun to watch dance around the cage while pretty much 6 out of the 8 tigers did anything but sit.  Then the ringmistress who looked like Gloria Estefan meets a dominatrix had a crazy announcery voice that once you mock it you can't stop it!   They had some really neat acrobatic features and some crazy guys who walked around in this Circle of Destiny thing which needs to be re-named Circle of Death, because that guy almost fell off like 5 times!  Also, there were Shriner's kids hocking merch which was hilarious to witness - "Popcorn, get your popcorn, get it while it's fresh, $1.00!"

I also went to the Greater St. Louis Renaissance Faire on Sunday.  I had a blast (and no I did not dress up in period costume).  I learned about weapons and got to throw stars, knives, and axes. 

 I also learned how to hold a pike and run thru a combat drill with it! 

 There was a good music group called 3 Pints Gone which we listened to for a bit.  Some of their songs are hilarious!  We also saw a joust, though no one actually fell off a horse, it was more like a skill test of what these guys could do on the horse with the poles catching different things.  

I also ate my 1st turkey leg, which will be my last turkey leg - yuck! All in all, it was a great day and was worth the 100 mile round trip to get there! 

Fun In The Sun!

I know it's been awhile, but I thought I'd start back with the blog and post my fun summer adventures!  I've been working hard on getting the pups ready for summer agility trials.  Here they are taking a break after a hard workout earlier in the day! 

I've got some exciting things planned for the summer.  I just started at SIUE again, and will continue working there until "the real school job" starts again in August.  I'm headed to see Rent in a week at the Fox with some of the original cast.  A few trips planned - Medieval Times, Dollywood, Biltmore Estates, Chicago & Michigan! 

I've also been busy learning how to quilt! I made a baby quilt top for my 1st project. I just sent it off to have it finished professionally.  I think I'll try making the whole thing next time. Thanks to Patti for helping me learn how to do all this fun stuff!  I think I'm addicted! 

Tonight is the Shrine parade and the circus tomorrow! Looking forward to all of that!  I'll write more soon - I promise!