From the doorway:

From the opposite corner:

10″ Cross and Crown (top: start Jul. 12; finish Jul. 13)

12″ Basket (top: start/finish Jul. 19)

12″ Card Trick (top: start Jul. 20; finish Jul. 27)

12″ Churn Dash (top: start/finish Jul. 27)

12″ Dove-in-the-Window (top: start Jul. 27; finish Aug. 2)

12″ Dublin Steps (top: start Aug. 2; finish Aug. 3)

I'm finding it challenging to keep a 1/4-inch seam. In fact, the 10-inch block actually varies from 9 1/2 to almost 10-inches - not quite square! But, it's the first one! I'm thinking about taking a quilting class to help me get over the learning hump and get more comfortable with cutting pieces and sewing and then the actual quilting and finishing of a quilt.

I've signed up to take 2 art quilt workshops taught by Laura Wasilowski of ArtFabrik.com and the Chicago School of Fusing. Fusing is quilting without piecing - i.e., without sewing the pieces together. I'm very excited!

My son is married! Greg and Lauren tied the knot in a simple ceremony on August 8. I flew in Thursday evening and flew back Friday evening after a nice lunch for just the 3 of us after the ceremony. They took off for the weekend on a short honeymoon to the wine country about an hour away from where they live. Then, on Monday, Greg started his new job as an attorney working for a mid-sized litigation firm. Whew - big changes!

My new shoes: The brown Ros Rhommerson Cynthia shoes I wore at my son's marriage ceremony are comfortable - as long as I don't walk in them. Ack!

The muscles in my feet, ankles, knees, and lower back just weren't up to walking in 2 1/2 inch heels! Now, the black Hugh Puppies Sara shoes with a 1 1/4 inch heel don't hurt me nearly as much!

I don't think the problem with the brown shoes is the shoes - as I said, they're comfortable. I do think the problem is that I'm so used to wearing fully-padded New Balance walking shoes with basically no heal height, that the muscles needed to walk in 2 1/2 inch heels just aren't up to snuff! Because of that, I haven't yet worn the black shoes with 2 1/2 inch heels!

Our home: We're having 5 of the windows in our house replaced on Tuesday - livingroom, kitchen (front window), craft room, bathroom, and TV room - by American Vision Windows.

After that's done, we're thinking about hiring a painter to finish painting the outside trim (a project started last summer but not finished) and paint the house (we're still not happy with the medium grey colored stucco). I'm now thinking a creamy light yellow which will work fine with the white trim.

Bryan brought a girl for dinner! My stepson brought his latest girlfriend Brit to our house for dinner last night - something neither Bill nor I can remember him ever doing before!

Together, Bill and I have joked that, since Billy got married on 7/7/2007 and Greg got married on 8/8/2008 that Bryan may get married on 9/9/2009.

In fun, we mentioned that to Bryan several weeks ago and he responded that maybe 12/12/2012 would be the date he gets married! Of course, there's no rush for him to get married! I just thought it interesting that he brought Brit over for dinner.

Crocheting: No crocheting in the past 4 weeks or so. Just not into it right now.

Quilting / sewing: I bought storage containers and many more fat quarters at JoAnn Fabrics (I couldn't resist the 99¢ sale!) to add to my fabric collection. The weather has been hot so it's taken some effort to get around to washing and ironing all the new fabric - but I just finished this afternoon.

NASCAR: Kyle Busch won his 18th race of the year last night! As I type this, he's working on his 9th Cup series win! Tony Stewart hasn't (yet!) won a race, but at this moment he's one of the 12 drivers qualifying to be in the Chase for the Cup and he still has a chance to win this year's championship!

So I tortured myself last Friday shopping for 5 hours at a local mall. I got there too early for Macy's to be open, so I spent 30 minutes in Mervyns (found nothing, not even a bra that fit), then went to Macy's (one pant suit I liked but the zipper was broken and I thought I'd be too hot wearing it - and it was difficult to find a blouse/top to wear with it), then JC Penney (nothing), and finally ended up at Sears.

I'm short and too big for most regular sizes and too small for most Women's sizes. Also, the "popular styles" (big prints in loud colors, baby doll tops, low-waisted pants) just aren't for me. So, finding clothes is difficult.

I ended up leaving Sears with a pair of chocolate brown slacks and a coordinating 2-piece top set with a brown background and small floral print pattern in pinks and creams. Not what I had in mind when I started the day (light colors, possibly lacy top), but it works for me and I can wear it to work and other events that come up. The top is a little too big and I may look into getting it altered when I have more time after the wedding.

Now, shoes are another matter altogether. Because I have lower back issues and I work at a college where the style is causal, I wear New Balance walking shoes all the time - even to work. For the wedding in Maui last year, I was able to get away with a pair of white Keds (because Hawaii is casual). Neither will work with the brown pants for my son's wedding. And none of the cheap pump-style shoes I still have in my closet from 10+ years ago are the right color - and, of course, none of them are comfortable.

Lately, I've been considering looking into buying dress shoes that actually fit my feet and are comfortable, so I can wear something besides New Balance walking shoes for those occasional meetings with administrative personnel at work and when Bill and I go out to "dress up" dinner places once or twice year.

So, I did a Google search for "women's wide width dress shoes", selected the first hit for Zappos.com since I've heard of them before. Zappos has a very nice search engine! You can search by type of shoe (dress, causual, etc.), by size, by color, by width, by heel height, and by price. Shipping to you and return shipping are free!

Last Friday night, I ordered 2 styles of brown shoes in what I hoped would be a size that fit me (the same size as my New Balance shoes - which was all I could start with since I haven't bought dress shoes in many years). They arrived Monday - quick! A little too long and a bit too tight. So, on Tuesday I ordered a smaller, wider pair of one of the brown shoe styles and 2 different styles of black shoes in the New Balance shoe size. Those 3 arrived today - and they all fit! So, the first 2 pair will be returned.

Now, I have 3 pairs of nice looking dress shoes! One in brown (Ros Rhommerson Cynthia), two in black (Hush Puppies Sara, Ros Rhommerson Ritz). I'm kinda excited by the shoes!

And, I am very excited that my son is getting married!

My son is getting married! Yup, I'm gonna have another daughter(-in-law)! Whoop!

Last year, my stepson Billy got married on July 7, 2007 (777 or 7-7-07 or 07-07-07 or 070707) - a popular day to get married last year!

Greg proposed on July 19 in a field while they were picking raspberries and, practical people that they are, they decided to skip a big wedding ceremony (and all that goes with it) and get married right away - on Friday, August 8, 2008 (888 or 8-8-08 or 08-08-08 or 080808). Eight to the Chinese culture is a very lucky number. Neither of them is Chinese, but I'm sure their marriage will by a good one! Lauren and Greg make a great couple!

Greg asked his current boss, a judge, to marry them. The simple ceremony will be at the courthouse.

Parties (more formally known as wedding receptions) will be held at family homes in Oregon and California for family and friends local to those areas. We haven't set a date yet, but at our house, the party will be a small affair with close family and a few close neighbors.

Then, on Monday after the wedding, Greg starts his new job as an attorney for a mid-sized litigation firm. How cool is that?! Married and a new job all in the same 4 days!

On the home front: The new refrigerator fit perfectly! Whoop! We love the clear shelves and drawers - and can now see what's inside the drawers and we can stop forgetting what's in the them!

Bill and I are heading to the lake tomorrow! A whole day off together!

On the crochet front: Two more lap blankets are done (no photos for posting yet) and one more started.

On the quilting front: Yes, I said "quilting"! I began piecing blocks together on July 12 and have finished 4 since then! Also no photos yet.

I opened the refrigerator yesterday morning to get my lunch packed and discovered many of the items were cool, some warm, and a few still cold. Ack! We need a new refrigerator!

Luckily, we use an even older refrigerator in the garage as our "drink fridge". Bill calls it our "beer fridge" It holds water, soda, iced tea, and of course beer - both non-alcoholic and alcoholic versions! The freezer holds chicken, steak, ground turkey, sandwich rolls, bread, and other frozen goods that don't fit in the kitchen fridge.

So, I emptied the garage fridge of drinks and moved all items from the kitchen fridge to the garage fridge. Thank goodness we hadn't done a CostCo trip lately so there was room in the garage freezer for most of the items in the kitchen freezer.

Last night, Bill went to a Sears outlet to find a replacement refrigerator. After a freezer door fell off one refrigerator, he left. Since Bill found our new stove and I'm home from work today (4-day work weeks during the summer!), it was my turn to find a new refrigerator.

The area in which the refrigerator fits is smaller than a majority of the refrigerators manufactured today. The space is 65 1/2 inches high, 35 inches wide, and about 30 inches or so deep. The deeper and/or wider the refrigerator, the more space the door needs to open all the way. The old refrigerator was 65 inches high, 30 inches wide, and 31 inches deep. The door couldn't open all the way without hitting the stove, even with the garbage can out of the way.

I found a Whirlpool refrigerator at Western Appliance that should fit fine. It is 66 1/4 inches high (but the floor model was 65 1/2 inches so we're hoping we can adjust the feet if needed), 32 1/2 inches wide, and 31 1/2 inches deep. The shelves in the door are adjustable so I think they can be situated in such a way that we can open the bottom drawer on the right side without too much trouble.

We've been enjoying 4 working burners since the new stove arrived! Whoop!

Last weekend, Tony Stewart announced his move as a driver from Joe Gibbs Racing to an owner-driver of the newly named Stewart Haas Racing. My #20 Tony Stewart gear will then be nostalgic since next year I'll be cheering on Tony with a different number and sponsor and color!

And, of course, I'll also continue to cheer on Kyle Busch who's enjoying an excellent first year at Joe Gibbs Racing and will remain with them next year.

I bought a Western Digital WDG1T7500N My Book Pro Edition 750 GB from Amazon for $283 - the price is now $329.99. Using the Retrospect backup software that came with the drive, I setup an automatic daily backup running at 12:00am each evening which I may change because the backup doesn't run when the PC is in standby mode.

I tested a restore and it worked great!