Good Morning, Everyone. We had snow over night--just a dusting. We are supposed to get a bit more today, but just a bit. I am definitely ready for spring.

I thought I would show a bit of what I have been doing for the last little bit. I think I showed a full picture of the Mother Goose Crib Quilt just before Christmas. Here is a close up of part of the center. I gave it to my sister (the new grandma--again) to give to my niece (her daughter--the new mom--again). Sister liked it but haven't heard anything from the direct recipients.

The main motif of this table scarf has been done for a very long time. I just had to get off my butt and get the hem and lace done. Being me I just couldn't do an invisible tacking stitch to attach the lace. I have a whole lot of embroidery thread in my stash so I decided to use a stem stitch. Turned out pretty nice so I am in the middle of finishing another scarf with more embroidery to finish it off. I will show it when it is done. I have at least two more pieces I finished the embroidery months (years?) ago and just haven't got around to actually finishing the pieces. I am hoping to finish more projects than I start this year. Get the UFO pile down.

Now that I have cleared my design wall by putting the final segments of the quilt in the last picture (below) I have some room for a new one. This one I call 'All the Pretty Horses' because the multi-color fabric has a pattern of brightly colored stylized horses running over it. I stumbled on a technique called 'tube quilting' I hadn't heard of before and decided to try it. It is an interesting way of making small blocks that can be arranged in a number of different patterns. It does work up quickly, though that is not a major concern for me. My pieces get done when they get done and speed piecing doesn't necessarily speed up the process.

Here is the top that just came off the design wall. I call it 'Little Safari.' The worst part of it was setting in the little diamonds but I got proficient enough towards the end that if I do another pattern that needs diamonds I won't be put off. But I won't go out of my way to do another with diamonds.

Good Morning, again, everyone. We have nice bright sun for another day. My goodness but I feel spoiled. In spite of that we still have temps that struggle to break 20 degrees. We have snow on our patio from the last snowfall but neither of us is in any hurry to shovel it. We don't have to go out until Monday. Till then we are still hibernating.

I saw a little item about three weeks ago that got me to thinking. I planned to check out what I needed to get together to apply for Social Security this time next year. Then I saw a question and answer page that talked about surviving spouse benefits. That discussion indicated that a spouse over the age of 60 may qualify even if divorced so long as the marriage lasted at least 10 years. The information I found on line also looked promising and the phone call to the local office sounded even more promising. So Tuesday I will take everything in and see if it comes to fruition.

The conversations Thursday on the iPad amused me a bit. One of the women anchors (I forget which) kept asking if people 'really needed' the iPad. She must have asked that question half a dozen times before one of the men remarked that 'need' wasn't the major factor here. The real master factor in the equation was how badly people 'wanted' it. The mere fact that she asked the question reveals something of what pundits have called the 'new normal' while the man's response shows he is still thinking in the old normal. For a long time now Americans have not considered need but rather want. Being flush with money and/or credit we simply bought what we wanted when we saw it without any regard to what we actually needed. Now that both money and credit are tight we have to take a second (and, maybe, a third or fourth) look at what we want and judge it by a different yard stick--whether it fulfills a genuine need and whether that need has to be filled at that cost. We look at the iPad and it falls into the 'cute but...' category which means we won't be getting one any time soon, if ever. I guess a lot of other consumer gadgets are going to all into that category and that we are not the only ones doing that bit of calculus.

We put in our seed order online with Burpees yesterday. Yes, I have spring fever and am looking out at our snow covered containers with longing for warmer weather. My sister gave us a little terrarium style starting tray they bought and never used. I will try it out this spring. After considerable cogitation on what to order I finally settled on heirloom varieties of tomatoes (Brandywine and Big Rainbow), beets (bull's blood--the foliage should be visually pleasing as well as edible), and spinach (bloomsdale longstanding). We were not happy with the 4th of July tomatoes--too small, too few, and not significantly earlier than the others. We loved the Fresh Salsa tomatoes last year so it will join the other two. We still have some pepper seeds left from last year (Gypsy, Ancho Poblano, and False Alarm) so we will go with those and will also try to plant the seeds I saved from the Mexibelle. That one is questionable since it is a hybrid pepper so it may not sprout and, if it does, it may not produce the kind of pepper we got last year. We have plenty of lettuce seeds from Burpee's heat wave mix. I also have sweet pea, nasturtiums, dwarf marigolds, and viola seeds. I almost forgot--we also ordered stevia seeds so that will get a try out. We will see what happens.

Good Morning, Everyone. It is cold, cold, cold. Yesterday we didn't break out of the teens even though we did get some nice sunshine. We are hibernating.

Well, has everyone seen the new iPad? A lot of ballyhoo and it is interesting. However, I am no longer one of those people who want every new toy coming out. Mom's first question when we saw the excerpts of Job's introduction of the device was 'can we connect it to a printer?' The other problem I have is the tie-in to AT&T. I simply don't like that company. I have Verizon and have had very good service with them. I won't change to get a new toy. We would look at the iPad if we were replacing our computers (which we are not since we had to do that a couple of months ago). I imagine that when we are forced to replace the computers we will give it another look. For us the iPad would be attractive if we could consolidate all computer and phone functions into the same device. However, here is an article on the iPad which follows some of the morning coffee conversations here. The tv news this morning noted an AT&T announcement that the company is shifting a lot of money into capital upgrades after a rising number of complaints about its service with the iPhone customers. It comes down to a matter of numbers. After the telephone and automobiles were introduced it took decades before those items became ubiquitous in our social landscape. With the iPhone millions of customers had to have the device immediately and that was on top of the other smart phone customers with other band hungry devices.

CNBC carried almost continuous coverage of the Bernanke confirmation votes. Yes--that is plural. They required a cloture vote with 60 affirmative (minimum) to cut off the 'debate' and then a separate vote to confirm. The most asinine comment that came out of the whole thing was from the one senator (sorry, I don't remember his name) who lambasted Bernanke to hell and back and, then, said he would vote for to confirm because he was afraid of who Obama would appoint if Bernanke was not confirmed. First, Bernanke was originally a Republican appointee. Now, because he is nominated by a Democrat he has terminal B.O.??? Give me a break!! Second, if Bernanke would be such a disaster why not reject the renomination and then stonewall the process to get someone you like better. It would not matter who Obama nominated given that a super majority is required to cut off debate and move it to a confirmation vote. That sounded like someone trying to have his cake and eat it too. Which was confirmed by the CNBC breakdown of who was voting for and against Bernanke. Republicans facing re-election voted overwhelmingly against the nomination.

Ronni Bennett at Time Goes By has an excellent post on Crabby Old Lady's reaction to the State of the Union. We do need bold and vigorous leadership and we haven't had it, not even from Obama. It appears to me that he is trying to stay above the fray hoping to somehow achieve that nirvana of 'bipartisanship' he has been seeking. We need a president who will get down in the fight and call some of the obstructionists out as the 'economic royalists' they are. FDR was willing to do that but Obama hasn't been. I agree with Ronni that we need patience but we need something to be patient for and I haven't seen that. Instead, everything I see convinces me that people like me are being written off as expendable and I resent it. I can't believe I am the only one.

Good Thursday Morning to all of you. We have a stiffish breeze today with some weak sunshine. We have had brief sightings of the sun between overcast and snow. Thankfully not much of the latter. However we are back in the deep freeze. Temps in the low 20s for highs with wind chill in the negative numbers.

I didn't catch more than the last 20 minutes of President Obama's State of The Union speech last night. What I did see (hear) really did not impress me: the military brass sitting stone faced at the mention of overturning Don't Ask/Don't Tell, the Republicans sitting on their hands at the mention of the idiocy of requiring a super-majority to get anything done, the Supreme Court sitting righteously silent at the mention of their decision to jettison the caps on corporate campaign contributions. Bottom line--I see a reasonable man confronted with a stone wall of unreasonable opposition. Nor did I see the Republican response. What was on the news this morning was what I expected--opposition to the cost of any but security and military appropriations or bail outs for big business. Frankly, the political situation makes me nauseous.

Charles Hughes Smith at oftwominds makes some good points and--yes, I have done the math and have come up with similar results. The first time I did that math was when the mainstream media touted the oil reserves in the Arctic National Wildlife Area during the last Presidential campaign cycle. The estimated reserves would only last the U.S. (maybe) three months at the level of consumption of that time if we could get every last drop out. Smith's point on the reliability of reserve estimates is also very well taken. I don't trust either governments or companies when it comes to data they provide. Too much incentive to put the rosiest spin possible on it.

Hello, again, Everyone. Hope the day will be a good one for you. I plan to do some stitching most of it. Remember the old bumper sticker that said 'a bad day fishing is better than a good day at work'? That is equally applicable to stitching.

Anyway, Archcrone, at The Crone Speaks, very eloquently expresses my conclusions concerning the mess that has been made of Health Care Reform. I, also, vote a resounding NO on the question of mandates. But then I have come to feel that much of the system has become extortionate. Or threatens to become so. Consider the perverse notion that a commission deal with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as a 'deficit reduction' measure. Of course, they aren't talking about the 800+ military bases of varying sizes) world wide. Nor are talking about legislators who make 4 times what the 'average' American family makes in salary alone (not including speaking fees, book deals and any other income them might have on the side).

Robert Reich has a good take on the current political situation. It reflects my own thoughts. Obama was elected on a promise of change, a hope for change. What change was never specified. Now many groups whose hopes haven't materialized are angry and lashing out. Unfortunately, the Republicans are taking comfort in the notion that the nation's voters have seen the light and will come to them for answers. Sorry, they are peddling the same old conservative nostrums that favor big business over the rest of us. The Democrats are scrambling to get ahead of the populist fervor. However, their leadership is not really aligned with populism. The deeds have never matched the rhetoric.

Morning, All. I won't say 'good' because the news is already depressing. I just found this almost first thing this morning. The article by James Ridgeway in the Baltimore Sun has links to the Washington Post story. I have written about this notion of appointing a commission to deal with the budget deficit by cutting Social Security, Medicare and other such programs. It was and is a coward's way out for our Congress Critters. My only hope is that given the structure of the commission it will be in as much of a deadlock as our legislature is. Unfortunately, given Obama's track record I am afraid he will appoint a couple of Democrats who are Republican except for the label.

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It is Friday now. Not much has changed. We get a bit of sun and everyone's mood lifts a bit and then it gets overcast again. About half of the snow we had has disappeared but we are supposed to get more over the weekend along with cooler temperatures.

Along with the potential 'Deficit Reduction Committee' (I put that in quotes because it should really be named 'Let's Get Rid of Social Security and Screw Everyone Who Has Paid Into It' Committee) was another story in which the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to strike down the regulations on corporate political donations. Susan Albert reminded everyone that Clarence Thomas (who voted with the majority) had been a Monsanto corporate lawyer before he became a judge and then a justice. I would dearly love to see the court or, barring that, our legislative representatives do away with that pernicious fiction that corporations are 'individuals' entitled to most of the rights of individuals. Corporate speech is not the same as individual speech and, because corporations enjoy the advantage over individuals of being deathless, have accumulated massive amounts of money they would much rather give to candidates who will push their agenda than to the workers who made their money.

Good Morning, Everyone. It is my day to go the the public library since I have books due. I find that I finish far fewer books that I used to. Not too many years ago I would have slogged through any book I got my hands on no matter what. No longer. It isn't that I am no longer interested in the topics. Rather I have read most of the information and conclusions elsewhere and either I already agree or they don't present any new argument or data to change my mind. Why waste the time. So I got four books this last time and didn't finish any of them. Maybe I will have better luck with new ones.

I really am about to resign my charter membership in the News Junkies Club. Perhaps I should start a News Junkies Anonymous club. The treatment of the Massachusetts special election has had me shouting obscenities at the news writers and readers. I don't know how often I have heard that "the Democrats have lost their majority.' Really??? Scott describes himself as the 41st Republican. Last I heard 59 out of 100 is still a majority and that would belong to the Democrats. Even I you remove the two so-called Independents (I think it was 2 last I heard) you still come up with 57 Democrats/2 Independents/41 Republicans. The Democrats still have a majority. The problem is that while the Republican have presented a nearly united front the Democrats are acting like Democrats--each off in his own self-important Never-Never Land. Frankly, I don't see that this makes a particle of difference as far as governing this country is concerned. We still have grid-lock.

Worse yet is the speculation of what it all means and no one in the media is asking whether both sides in the debate are misreading the results. The Republicans want to believe that Americans en masse are rejecting Obama's agenda and coming around to their way of thinking. The Democrats want to believe that most Americans approve of them but have been spooked by the scare tactics Republicans have so excelled at since the beginning of the Cold War and simply improved at since 9/11. They are both mistaken. What no Democrat wants to acknowledge is that Obama was elected on a promise of Change (with a capital C). But that Change meant different things to different people and not all who supported Change in general supported the change in the particular. There are a lot of people out there punishing the Democrats for having failed to deliver by voting Republican because they have no other means of expressing their displeasure.