We woke up to snow – about 1/4 of an inch. And they cancelled school so my 13 year old daughter is at home. Not that I mind her being here, I 
love having her around, but it’s supposed to get up to 40 degrees today and the roads are already clear. I don’t get it! Tonight we are supposed to get some freezing rain and more snow – more than 1/4 of an inch. My guess is that they won’t have school again tomorrow. I grew up in the northeast and we might have had an hour delay this morning, but we would have had school. I guess they feel it is better to play it safe.
I felt like a pioneer woman the other day. I was cooking dinner around 6 pm as a cold front was coming through the area. Winds had picked up to about 35-45 mph, but the rain had stopped. It had been 60 degrees that day and was forcasted to get down to 19 that night. The lights flickered and I thought, oh no, let me finish cooking before you go completely out. The flickering happened a few more times before they totally went out at around 6:15. I had just put the chicken into the pan to stir fry it to add to the zucchini tomato mixture that I had already cooked. Now what was I going to do? I thought about finishing it on the gas grill, but the wind was way too strong. I lit candles and placed them in strategic places around the house, hoping all the time that the lights would come back on. That didn’t happen. After 30 minutes, I put the food back in the frig and tried to figure out what we could eat and not need electricity. I also didn’t want to spend time rooting around in the frig in case it was out for a long time. My daughter, Kristen, decided to have cereal, Gary, my husband, had ice cream, and I had a protein bar and potato chips. Great dinner! Kristen spent some time on her laptop (she thanked God for her battery), Gary and I talked for a while (not something we get to do every day), then I worked on my laptop for a while before shutting it down to read by flashlight. I then remembered my Mighty Bright lite and clipped it to the headboard as I read my novel. We all went to bed early after realizing there wasn’t much to do without electricity. Ours came back on around 10 pm, but I heard from others that they were out most of the night. I woke up the next morning to find lights on throughout the house and the TV blaring from downstairs. Oops! I know now why the pioneers rose with the sun and went to bed shortly after it went down.
Since opening Batiks by Design, I’ve pretty much been a one woman business, hiring either my daughter-in-law or my friend Peggy to work before shows to help me get ready. Peggy has also done the quilt shows with me. I finally have gotten to the point where I just couldn’t keep up with everything on my own, so now Peggy is a part-time member of my team. Yeah! Peggy and I have known each other for about 10 years and she used to own a quilt shop in town. We are not only good friends, but we work together very well. I thank God for placing Peggy in my life and my business.
At Quilt Market in October we ordered some new Bali fabrics from Hoffman, Timeless Treasures, and Island Batiks. Many of them have arrived in the last week or so and I have finally gotten them online. You can look at all of the new Balis in the NEW category of our online store.
Keep those lights on and get a Mighty Bright light in case of emergencies!
Patti
