Mission accomplished!  I managed to  complete the quilt top from last year's quilt club!!  I started this top in January, 2014, and finished it in June 2015....not too bad!  I even managed to get the stripes to line up on the mitered corners!!!  The official name of the quilt is "Hampton Ridge"

I also finished the quilt top for this 2015 "Around the Neighborhood" club.  I started this one January, 2015, and finished it (just a month late) in June.

I threw myself on the mercies of the ladies at the quilt shop to choose the border print.  I really love it, and would not have picked it out on my own.

They are now ready for me to pick out the backing and binding material, sandwich all together, and ship off to get quilted.  Woohoo!!!

The temp in my car.....

I don't know what the official high was yesterday, but it was hot!  We are forecast for 111-114, depending on where you look, today as well.

Still no movement of Mom's funds.  I'll put in another call this morning, and then 'stop by' the bank if I don't hear back again. Unfortunately, I've been really busy at work, so haven't made the time to follow up like I should have.  Darn.

I have made some progress on my quilts lately!  I pulled out the civil way quilt and fixed what I did wrong (the reason it was sulking in the corner) and am now ready to sew on the border(s).  I have the house quilt done as much as I have material for - that's on my to-do list as well today.  I need to pick up fabric for a wide border on it.  And, I have the 20 blocks for the new quilt done!  Whew!   That quilt is "Aunt Grace Simple Sampler Block of the Month' quilt.

There's just something wrong with the air conditioner kicking on at 5:15 a.m.  Seriously????  It's going to be a hot one today!!!  I think we are forecast to hit 114 today - according to The Weather Channel.  Ick!

I'm one step closer to finishing up Mom's banking.  I took in the new affidavit, and signed docs for a new checking account at my lunch yesterday, and then.....at 4:00 I got a call that they want the affidavit notarized.  Again, seriously????  I can do that, that isn't the problem.  It's just one more step that I have to take.  Sigh......

What do you think - are they planning something, or what????  

There is a blue jay on the lawn (hard to see in the picture) and I think they were both trying to figure out how to catch it.

I'm of to get Alex today - he'll be home for a little while at least.  I think I have a year or so of him on the same continent....

I got good news on the Mom front too - the bank has approved closing Mom's account if I move it into the Trust - without making all of us kids get together at the same time in the same bank!  Since that is what I wanted in the first place, I'm happy.  I still have to perjure myself and give them an affidavit that I am entitled to all of the funds, but since as the Successor Trustee, I am entitled to the funds to move into the Trust account, I can live with that.

Another fail.....yesterday I tried (again) to get access to Mom's bank account.  I drove to Arbuckle and Ft. Bragg over the weekend to get signatures on the affidavit that the attorney prepared, and Dave mailed me his signature, saving me a trip to Susanville.  I went in to the bank yesterday, and the only way I can have funds is if all 4 of us beneficiaries that signed the affidavit are at the same bank at the same time, and then they will cut us each an individual check for 25% of the monies.   Really.  The CSR was great about it, and the next thing 'we' are going to try is for me to change the affidavit and put it all in my name and perjure myself saying I am the sole beneficiary.  Then I can get the check, and put it into an account in the name of the Trust.  That action has to be approved by his manager (since I took in one affidavit already) and she is out until Tuesday.  If that doesn't work......I'm calling a different attorney.

Book Club tonight!!!  The book this month is The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins.  Not my favorite book - matter of fact, I didn't finish it.  I couldn't empathize with the characters, and kept wanting to tell them to just suck it up, grow up, and move on......

Since I didn't finish the book, I didn't personalize the bookmark to the book.  I was tempted to do a train, but got busy and realized on Friday that book club was on Wednesday, and I was going to be gone over the weekend,  Oops!  I scanned Google for ideas for a train, but didn't find anything ready made, and no time to make up my own pattern.  So the next best thing was to celebrate summer in Redding.  I still had to make my own pattern up, but it was pretty simple (much more simple than a train).  I found a pattern on Etsy for them, but didn't think the pattern was worth $5.  I'm pretty happy with them, and I need to write out the pattern before I forget it.  Maybe the next post??  

My artichoke is blooming!!!   I waited too long to pick the only artichoke left after Luna ate all the others, but the flower is worth it!!!

I had a flying trip to Ft Bragg this weekend.  My plans included a trip to Susanville, but that got changed at the last minute.  I finally got the paperwork form the attorney last week, and I needed everyone else's signature on it and I needed some of the paperwork that was still in Susanville.  I was very afraid that if I just mailed everything for signatures, 'someone' would open it, and put it aside to deal with later (my normal modus operndi....) .  So....I took Monday off, drove Saturday and met Jeff at the Arbuckle golf course (who knew???) and then drove over to Ronna's.  I spent the night, enjoying the cooker weather, and drove back to Redding on Sunday.  Monday, I put Alli on the bus, and took off for Susanville.  Dave was on vacation, but I had faxed him the paperwork, and he signed it and left it on the table for me.  As I was gathering everything up on Monday, I noticed that I didn't need anything from Susanville but Dave's signature.  He has been really good about mailing stuff to me, so him I could have mailed!  Too late - he was gone for a week, so....off to Susanville I went.

I got as far as gassing up the car when Dave called me.  He was in Alturas, and thought he'd blown the engine in the RV....he was headed back home, so he could mail his signature to me, so I had a day off, and nowhere to go.  Lucky me!  I did catch up on some of the weekend chores at least!

I sent Alex the following picture the other morning - the temp at 6:30 a.m. was 74 degrees, and the forecast for Tuesday's weather was a high of 108! I don't think we got to 108 (I heard 107....) but still....107????  In June????  We're in trouble....

Later that day, I sent this to him - the temp in my car at lunch.....

When I got to scouts that night, the temp had dropped to 77 degrees, and it was raining.  What a weird day!!!

This was the sky that night at 5:30.  You can't see the clouds building up over the mountains to the north and east.

I finally got the paperwork form the attorney - time to move on to the next step on Mom's stuff.  I need to get signatures from my siblings on the paperwork, so it's time for a road trip!  I'm going to zip over to Arbuckle and Ft. Bragg this weekend to get signatures, and up to Susanville on Monday to get the last signature, go to the bank, call the contractor for Mom's roof repair, call a real estate agent, and....what else???  I'm sure there's something else I need to do.

Yes, summer's officially here....107 degrees yesterday!!!  Alli and I jumped in the pool before dinner, and Margene and I jumped into the pool after Alli went to bed.  The AC keeps the house comfortable, but there is nothing like floating in the pool at night......Today is supposed to be 108.

It's official - Alli is out of high school!!  Yesterday was the last day of regular high school for her.  She has 3 weeks of extend school (i.e. summer school) that starts next week, but she is officially out of high school now. Wow......

We finished up the conservatorship for her this week too.  She went back to court on Monday, and it is official.  Thank goodness!  I went to her annual meeting at Far Northern Regional before it was finalized, and was no longer able to sign her paperwork for her, since she was over 18.  She had to sign 17 times for them - and that was just one meeting.  That philosophy would carry over into everything - medical paperwork, school paperwork, etc.  I'm back to signing lots of paperwork.....

Ralph sent me a couple of pictures this week from home:

Ebony and Ivory:

Chocolate and Vanilla:

I'm on the (almost) final section of my house quilt.  I'm putting the borders on the houses and sashings between them and then next is the outer boarders.  The pattern called for the sashings to be made from two 1 inch squares sewn together - 26 squares per side of each house.  The thought of trying to get all of those little squares sewn together and then making sure my corners matched????  Not my idea of a good time.  Luckily, I wasn't the only one.  I missed the club meeting (itwas the same day as Mom's services) so I went in later to pick up my fabric.  The shop owner was very happy to show me her suggestion of using just plain old fabric as a sashing instead of lots of little blocks.  Not that the fabric is plain - it has a very nice texture look to it, so it definitely isn't boring.

She also suggested using colored fabric as blocks on the corners:

Or quilt blocks:

I'm liking the quilt blocks.  I'm now actually liking how it is looking.  I wasn't impressed with just the houses - it didn't seem to 'go' together well - probably because on my choice of fabrics for  he houses.  Having the borders on the houses and textured fabric sashings really helps!