How did this happen? Steve's spring break is over and we never got to sleep in! All week it felt exactly like my head was exploding. (FYI: that's an older photo of me and Linda but it captures my mood perfectly.)

To be honest, I know where spring break went – it went into moving Mom and Christy to Sherman. And, oh happy day, it's done. There are a variety of things that we either forgot to move or chose not to move that, as it turns out, they really wanted us to move.

Martha Gragg is handling the estate sale for us and there are a few things that she is able to send from OKC to Sherman like Mom's pens (who knew the jar of pens was meaningful?), and the TV remote (boy I hope it's the right one). Other things, too big or numerous to send, are just going to be in the estate sale.

I admit to waking up in the night with visions of the mess we left behind. Martha was clear, throw nothing away! In fact she went through the trash (stuff we pitched before she got there) and she said she found a lot of 25 cent items. But I feel a bit sad about the house my mom and dad moved into 27 years ago being left so unceremoniously. And then I think of all the folks, all over the world, who have lost everything and I have to just get over myself and move on. At least they have what they have.

And my goodness, they have a lot. I am amazed at what they have managed to squeeze into 1000 square feet. The little bit that is staying at our house is all put away and Steve can once again park in the garage. My house is clean! Oh happy day again!

On a slightly scary note, my mother is driving again. She has a valid license and her doctor said there isn't a good reason to take her license away. The car has been checked out and is good to go. My sister isn't drivng for a while, but she can ride shotgun and help with directions. I was seriously out-voted.

Steve rode with them to Walmart yesterday and assured me that Mom is OK to drive. She can get her smaller walked into and out of the car by herself. And, truthfully, Mom and Christy have way more places to go than I can take them to. They want to drive around town and see what's here at a leisurely pace. I don't have a leisurely pace in me right now (see photo at top of post). I am going with her to the doctor today. I do hope I can do it without clutching the dash.

Last but not least, click here to read Christopher's post on moving day. It made me re-think that day from his perspective. It's easy to forget that events like this effect different people in very different ways.

Oh, one more thing. We are having a sale on felt stuff and earrings! If you don't get our eNewsletter, check out our site. Links to the new stuff are on the home page.

Mom and Christy have moved – more on that later. Instead of writing a long post on the move right now, I thought I'd sharethis email from Charlotte Warr Anderson. Here she is:

"I thought I'd give you all a heads up about Frixion Erasable pens. A student showed me hers at Road to California in January. She drew a line, thin but quite black, and then ironed it and the line totally disappeared. It looked like the coolest thing ever!

So I went in search of these pens, which you can get a Staples. I bought the pack that has three colors in it – black, red and blue. Being quite the skeptic about things that are too good to be true, I read the back of the package. In small print it says: "Do not expose to extreme temperatures (<14degrees F;> 140 degrees F). If pen is exposed to temperature that reaches 140 degrees F the ink will be colorless when writing. To restore color, cool to at least 14 degrees F and the ink will again write in color."

Aha! I said to myself. If you iron the ink it's going to be way over 140 degrees so it's going to disappear. So I took some fabric and scribbled on it with all three colors. Then I ironed it and, sure enough, all the scribbles disappeared. But then I put it in the freezer for about 10 minutes and all the lines reappeared. I left it for about a week and a half while I went travelling and today I tried to wash the ink out. It didn't come out with soap and hard scrubbing and not even after I put rubbing alchohol on it. So then I ironed the piece dry and all the lines disappeared and then it went back to the freezer and all the lines reappeared (perhaps just a bit fainter).

This experiment was enough to persuade me that these pens are too good to be true and even sort of creepy – the ink is always there even if you can't see it. I wouldn't use them on any fabric or quilt you really cared about.

If I had a blog I would have put this on there but since I don't any of you who want to pass on what I've written can feel free to copy and paste this post

Charlotte"

So, there you go. Charlotte did some great research for all of us and so we don't have to. Thank you, Charlotte!

Mom is supposed to walk for exercise and she's been doing it. She has gone too far in previous days and come back worn out. What is it about mothers – they over-do. I think today she went less far and for that I am thankful. I snuck out and got both of these photos without having her pose for them. She looks pretty serious about her walk in this one:

That thing on her back is the top of her back brace. It's nice that she's following her doctor's ordering and not ignoring the brace. She likes this new walker better than the other one. Having wheels that swivel and a seat are worth paying for.

Mom gets her new hearing aids today. That may mean that I won't be able to blast the Lady Gaga Pandora channel all through house any more until she moves out. Tomorrow we begin the move in earnest. I'll try to take photos to share.

I just got back from teaching for 3 days at the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show. Let me say first that this is a fine show with excellent quilts and vendors. The people were lovely, the classrooms were nice – all in all a wonderful experience.

The show is held in Bloomington, IN. I went to dinner with Sue Nickels, her friends from home, and Frieda Anderson one night to Farm, a restaurant featuring local, organic food. Very good.

These drapes made from old quilts were hanging behind the hostess desk. I thought it was interesting that they had been cut into narrower sections, rather than hanging much one wider whole quilt in this place. The white fabric at the top and the contrasting tabs are a nice touch.

These quilts are not museum specimens and I thought it was a nice way to have them on display.

I spotted these stone (or concrete) pavers set into the grass on the far side of the parking lot from my 3rd floor window. The way they are stacked and staggered suggests piecing to me.

Mary Ellen, a student, was carrying this fun bag. I don't remember what store it came from but that flower would be fun to applique.

I went to a yarn shop where they had this wonderful throw on the back of a leather love seat. I don't crochet but would have considered taking it up if they had had a pattern. But no, they didn't make it, they bought this but couldn't remember where.

It looks like Anthropoligie – and it looks like something I cannot afford.

Believe it or not I got to ride in a swanky stretch limo with Sue back to Indianapolis last night. It took about an hour and we drank wine and lounged on the lovely leather seats. It was a delightful (and rare) occurance. I didn't take a picture, I was enjoying myself too much :-).

On the home front, mom fell once while I was gone. Luckily she didn't break anything. She swears that she will always use her walker now and I do so hope she does. Her intestinal problems are back and she goes to the doctor tomorrow. Let me just say out loud, in print, for all to see, that my husband is a saint for taking care of my mom during a rough patch. Getting old is just hard work.

The move to their new place begins next Saturday. I do so hope that things level out for them both once they are settled in.

I'm teaching at the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show this weekend. I don't remember ever flying into the Indianapolis Airport… it's very nice! Sue Nickels and I arrived at just about the same time so we rode together to Bloomington where the show is held. But on our way out of the airport we spotted some wonderful bench-art pieces:

So we sat on them and had our picture taken!

Upon closer inspection, we found assemblages of little people. Look to the left of me, just on top of the seat of the bench, do you see a little something sticking up? It's this little lady:

There were several more but this is the best photo. Makes me want to go home and put little people around my house!

I left mom home mostly alone. Steve or Lorna and kids are there for lunch and Steve is home for dinner and beyond. She's doing great I'm happy to say. It's nice to see her smiling!

Mom is now a Texan! She's staying with us for a couple of weeks until we complete the move and we are already having fun. It's been a long time since Mom has been able to come here for visit and once she is in her own place she'll only be 5 minutes away.

I brought a lot of papers for her to sort through (at her request). As she weeded through them, she found birth and wedding certificates. When she found hers she looked at me and said that I probably should know something. I was not sure what to expect because she seemed so serious.

It turns out my mother has a first name that I never knew about! My mom is Zena – a warrior princess! (OK, I know they spelled it with an X, but it's pronounced the same.) She hated the name Zena growing up and I don't think she ever went by it. Even now, she's not crazy about people knowing. I told her I was going to blog about it and half of her was sort of pleased and the other half was not so sure. So don't any of you call my mom Zena.

My mother had an Aunt Zena who had black hair, twinkly eyes, and a hot temper. She raised four boys. Mom said her Aunt Zena was always an adament anti-smoker until she got to her 70s and then she 'smoked like a firestack'.

People describe my mother to me as a sweet, thoughtful lady – and she is. She is also tough. She grew up poor in West Virginia coal mining country. She got out of high school and went to work in a law office. She met my dad, they got married and moved to Oklahoma. She raised us, and went back to school when it was unusual for a woman in her 40s to do that. She earned a nursing degree and worked for many years as an RN. Daddy has been gone many years and mom has soldiered on. I think she is a perfect warrior princess!

On a related note, when we named our boys Harley Christopher (who we call Chris) and Arthur Jeffrey (who is Jeff) she said that it was a bad idea to make a kid go by their middle name but she never said that she knew that because she had done it her whole life! We didn't listen and the boys have somehow managed to survive. Mothers can be so funny :-).

PS – Mom does not look remotely like Lucy Lawless.