Good day, everyone. Especially you, Jan!((((hugs)))) Ladies, after I wrote the post about our friend Larry getting into MDACC, a friend of mine from BL called to invite me to join the Crosby Meltdown here in town. If you join, you're entitled to go to Curves free until the end of March, so I jumped at the chance to try out the place. We went this morning, I had my trial run-through and really enjoyed myself. The owner of the franchise told me that I could officially start tomorrow through the end of the Meltdown, then switch to a regular membership without the enrollment fees!!! I felt like my old self this whole morning, and I'm still pumped up from the workout! Jan, sometimes you're the bug, sometimes you're the windshield. Life doles it out randomly to all of us, and fortunately at different times, so we're here for you when you need us, and I doubt that I'm not alone in NEVER rolling my eyes about your posts. You need shoulders; we have them! Marci, you'll definitely deserve a night out with your hubby after Valentine parties for little ones. Halloween and Valentine parties were always the "hyper days" in my preschool classroom. MD Anderson is way far away in downtown Houston, and I'm a chicken about driving there, but I hope to get home early enough on Sunday for hubby and me to go see him if we're nice and healthy. I usually drop off a card and/or a little gifty at their home a couple of times a week instead. Larry has just caught so many things besides all the internal problems he's had with blood clots and renal failure that I haven't wanted to expose him to anything. Where is everyone lately? I know that Donna isn't feeling well and that Gretchen is busy, but where is Suzanne, BJ, Peggy, and Maddie? Check in, ladies! Got to get busy making my "Hugs" cards to accompany the "hugs" bags for my friends tomorrow and my Valentine cards for my son and his family to take on Saturday. Wishing everyone a wonderful day! Here is a link that might be useful: Crosby Meltdown

From Mylittlenorway.com: Lutefisk is made from stockfish (air-dried fish) that receives a lengthy and rough treatment before cooking. After drying, the fish is reconstituted in cold water for a week, then soaked in a lye (caustic soda) solution for two days. The name âÂÂlutefiskâ literally means lye fish and bears its name from this treatment. The lye dissolves the muscle proteins, causes the fish to swell to more than its original size, and makes it very poisonous. To make the fish edible again, it needs to soak in water for another ten days - ready to cook and enjoy! Lutefisk is actually very easy to cook; it contains enough water to boil itself! Simply put it in a pan with a tight lid and cook it over medium heat for 10 minutes. The Nordic tradition of lutefisk is very old. It was first mentioned in literature in 1555, when Swedish archbishop Olaus Magnus described how to prepare and eat lutefisk. He also mentioned that the dish was âÂÂhighly valued, even by kingsâÂÂ. A kind of lutefisk also featured in the first ever printed Danish cookbook from 1616, even though Danes donâÂÂt eat lutefisk nowadays. Statistics show that the biggest consumers of lutefisk are middle-aged, medium income, highly educated men -- but the women are catching up. Here is a link that might be useful: the brown stuff is bacon :)

Geraldine, The Fun and Done has a template you can use for cutting and placement/arrangement for each block. (I bought it because it was much easier than to measure all the squares.) The batting is cut about 1" smaller than the backing square and centered on the backing fabric. The strips are sewn directly to the backing and batting. Then you trim the strips down to match the batting size. You will end up with a block where the backing is 1" bigger around than the batting and front fabrics. Sew the blocks together close to the 1" seam so that the raw edges are facing up (your batting will all be next to each other, so no batting gaps). Then turn under that seam to create what looks like sashing and sew it down. You first assemble a row, then put the rows together in the same manner. The tricky part to the whole thing is starting and stopping your seams so they only show where you want them. For instance, when you are sewing down the top strips , if you sew into the 1" backing fabric, that seam will show when you put the blocks together for a row. I used a contrasting thread, so that made mine a little more difficult. I've probably not explained this very well, but I'll try to answer any questions if you have any. Robbi

Hey Luvs! Belle and I posted on the end of the January post. Thank you for starting the new thread. I tried and tried, but the site wouldn't let me. Seems like it won't let me post more than it does anymore. I really should be able to get here more often, but everything takes me so much longer to do with my back giving me so much pain that I rest for a minute, go do something, rest for a minute, go do something. This is my day and it is very frustrating. My dad had me go to the TS with him the other day. I found another packet of those little stocking cutouts like I painted to show y'all last year. I only ever got the one done! lol Feel very pathetic that I haven't painted anything in so long. I find it is easier on my back to lay on the couch and watch a little tv when I'm resting in between jobs and I'm not stopping long enough to paint anything. I did start a little wooden bunny hinged thing that my mom brought me. I got it based and that was a far as I got. ha Oh well, hopefully I'll get to something sooner than later. I really miss it. I've been working on family history groups, taking pics for a slideshow for a little church social, helping the kids and hubby with school and work stuff, taxes, taking care of a sick hamster and other things that come up. I did get my office cleared out and everything recent filed so I do have some room to work. Can't begin to tell you how frustrating this back issue is for me. Luvs, is the weather good enough for you to be working in your yard yet? Our winter has been very mild and has only snowed a little here and there. I'm hoping I will be in better condition when summer gets here to be able to get a few more little things done in our yard. It's a work in progress. ha I have some bushes I want to move this year. Well, guess I'd better go work on supper. Just thought I'd stop in for a second to see how you are doing! ~Anj