Spring Weather Blues

Two days ago it was 74 here with sunshine and today it is 43 with gusts of wind and lashings of rain. It could be worse with snowfall but it is getting old.

Dangerously Delicious

Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies

Preheat oven to 325 F. In a microwave safe bowl, melt 5 ounces bittersweet chocolate with a stick of butter being careful not to burn the chocolate (about power level 7 on my oven).
When everything is all melted, stir in 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, a teaspoon of vanilla, and a little salt. After thoroughly mixed, stir in two eggs. Once again stir thoroughly and then add 1/2 cup white flour.

Bake at 325  for about 45 minutes. Ovens vary so yours may take longer or shorter.

When the brownies test done, put on rack to cool thoroughly. When no longer at all warm spread with:

1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup peanut butter mixed at high speed in food processor. When blended add 1 cup confectioner's sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla and blend. Spread on cooled brownies. If desired drizzle with 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and two tablespoons butter melted together and blended.

These really are dangerously delicious. 

Progress On All Fronts

This weekend was the first in a while that I did not have essays to score and I only had one tutoring session. Since the weather was sunny but cold there wasn't much to do in the yard either which all means that I got a lot of quilting done. I am about two-thirds done with the center section so I will be quilting the border area today for sure.

Progress in another area was made as well. My husband nearly finished the double dose section of medicine and he finally remembered that he was told to drink extra fluids. The second part was important since without the extra fluids he was nauseous all the time. Too bad he didn't remember that part earlier; he might have saved himself a great deal of bother.

Online Courses

Harvard is pushing their EdX program for alumni and spouses so my husband and I signed up to take a course in neuroscience. What I have seen so far in the registration process doesn't indicate anything about how much time the course itself takes let alone the time I have to take to learn all this stuff. I am not complaining since it is my choice to take the course but I wish I knew what to expect. As I have indicated in other posts, I get fidgety when uncertainty is involved.

Basted and Ready For Quilting

I realize I have old fashioned tastes in quilting but this did achieve my immediate goal of working on a "pretty" quilt.  I don't think the quilting will take that long although this is just about twin sized. The small block motifs are gently curved and rather than following the exact shape I plan to move from point to point around the "magic circles" so there won't be so many starts and stops. Some fleur de lis in the corners and some furbelows to connect those along with the simple filler background.

I have heard many people bemoan their uncertainty about color choices but at least when the colors and fabrics are ones you choose, your own eye guides you. I have a friend who recently completed a quilt from the Lone Star Quilt Company. The William Morris fabrics chosen by the company, though quite lovely by themselves, lacked her own touch and ended up being too somber for her taste. So all those disparate fabrics I purchased in France--coral, orange, purple, brown, various greens--came together to suit my taste when mixed with fabrics from my stash. 

What Sophomore Understands "King Lear"?

I spent the weekend scoring sophomore essays on "King Lear" in response to the question, "How does Shakespeare use conflict  between parent and child to illuminate the meaning of the play?" I scored one class on Saturday after I finished tutoring and by 5 pm I was almost ready to resign as a reader, my actual job title. Of the 30 students in the class, 29 wrote papers that did not even have thesis statements. What they did have was bad grammar, poor construction, and lots of personal opinion that was both shallow and irrelevant. These students apparently think that Shakespeare's transcendent tragedy is simply another episode of the "Dr. Phil" show. The second class was better but not where they should be at this stage of the school  year. I suggested to the teacher that all students who scored a "4" or lower should rewrite their essays after reviewing both the play and my remarks on the essays.

I must admit I am not looking forward to the regrade.

Fidgets

I cannot remember a time when I could sit still, or at least sit still willingly. When I was very small and living in Heidelberg,courtesy of the US Army, my parents called me zappelphilipp. Even though my siblings were also pretty active I must have stood out. I found out recently that zappelphilipp syndrom is what ADHD is called in German. I suppose that's one reason quilting is so attractive to me. It may look as though I am just sitting there but I am doing something every minute; every stitch I take changes what I am working on and there are instant results though the finished product may take a long time. So now that I have gotten the book and the pattern I ordered I am already relieved that I will have projects to do when I finish the salute to Napoleon. First there is the trapunto project which will take a while. Then there are the two new projects, each of which looks like at least a twelve month commitment. So while I am only sewing the borders on my current quilt, I have something to do in to the future.

Moving Along

salute

Today I finished one of the short side borders so this is what the quilt looks like right now, laid out on the floor but unsewn. I have the other short side about half done so I will be marking and layering this before a week is up unless something unexpected happens. My plan is to extend the laurel branches on the short sides in quilting rather than applique and to put the Napoleonic bees in the four corners in quilting as well. I am as yet undecided about the filler background but it will probably be simple cross hatch.

The weather here is doing its typical March hare jumping around. Yesterday it got up to 66 F and tomorrow it is supposed to snow. Our first daffodils opened up today. The tulips I planted are mid-season bloomers so the plants are up but the flowers are not. It's probably time to spray some more deer repellent. We haven't seen that many deer this winter but tulips are special favorites and I don't want to see them mowed down by marauding deer.

Vice or Virtue

Okay, I admit it--I am acquisitive. I don't work on multiple projects--always completing one before starting the next, so there is that in favor of virtue.  However my fabric collection already fills a room and my quilting books and patterns overflow a bookshelf in my house. And I just bought another book and another pattern--The Garden Quilt, by Barbara Brackman and Indiana Rising Sun pattern, by Michelle Yeo. There is no way in the world I will ever  be able to make all the quilts I have patterns or ideas for so purchasing more seems to be sick and twisted. When I die the local quilters' guild will have a field day.  

Good News

My husband always laughs at me because nearly everything reminds me of either a song or a poem. I wrote the title of this post and began singing the old spiritual.

Anyway, this time the cardioversion worked the first time. What a difference it made and what a difference one jolt rather than five jolts made. Of course the pharmaceutical part of the treatment hasn't changed. When we asked what we should do if he kept vomiting up all his food, the only answer was, "Call us."

Not Going Well

It has been three weeks since the ablation and all the doctors and physician's assistants who have talked to my husband told him it is important for him to return to his normal activities. So he took off for a business trip on Sunday afternoon. Well, it's Tuesday afternoon and he is flying home, scheduled for a cardioversion tomorrow morning at 8:30. The medicines haven't been doing the job they are supposed to and he has been having problems with arrythmia since Sunday on top of which he has been vomiting all food. This is definitely not the outcome we expected.