Traveling in Style

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Mr. Squash and I went out this year being that we're moving on Tuesday! We went to the Salish Lodge at Snoqualmie Falls. Oh -- My! We wish we'd tried this years ago! What a wonderful dinner we had in a historic setting! It was a prix-fixe dinner, which was fine with us. On the 1.5 hour drive to the lodge we discussed the only thing we thought we would miss would be leftovers! Well....we didn't have to worry about it after all! A very nice waiter carved a small turkey at our table and as soon as he was done, he said we would be taking the rest of the bird home with us!! Below is a picture of the menu, a dragonfly tree ornament I bought in the gift shop and the rest of the turkey nicely wrapped up in foil!

When we got home, we put the large bag the turkey was in on the floor for Sophie to play with. She loves paper bags ... don't all cats? Here she is looking rather smug inside the bag - daring us to come near. I think one reason she dove right in was the smell of the turkey!
I took Sophie to the vet last earlier this week for a final check and to see about some sort of sedative for the long drive to the Squash House. Unfortunately the vet detected a rather pronounced heart murmur, which means it isn't safe to give her any kind of sedative. Sophie does not like car rides, either! So he suggested we invest in a larger carrier to help make the trip a bit more comfortable for her.
I went to the pet store this morning and came back with this wonderful soft-sided castle! The sides zip up and down and even the roof has a zippered opening! It fits her lambskin Orvis bed and it you turn it sideways, a small litter box as well! I set it up when I got home, put the bed in and rubbed catnip all over it. She's been in and out, but so far is sleeping on her other bed nearby! Hopefully she'll at least get familiar with it before we leave!

I hope to have one more post before leaving on Tuesday morning. That's my plan, but it may not happen. If for any reason you don't hear from me either in a post or email, it probably means we've turned off our computers here, only to appear on "the other side" shortly!

Are We There Yet?

Better yet ... What's my name, where am I? What a week! We packed, packed, and oh, did I mention we packed? I thought there was so little left to do as the weekend approached. Then Saturday we started on the garage! Years ago we had custom cabinets built for our fly fishing and camping equipment. It has always been well organized, but we decided we needed to go through a lot of the stuff we haven't used for a while. Then there was all the gardening stuff, and Mr. Squash's workbench full of tools and computer equipment. Whew! By the end of yesterday we finally finished! It was a good feeling, but oh, so tiring! All that is left now is a portion of the kitchen, both full baths (minimal), and odds and ends.

Tomorrow morning Mr. Squash is having cataract surgery on one eye. We wanted to finish the bulk of the packing so we could concentrate on this, and we did! I go back to work in the afternoon for more training of my replacement, have Thursday and Friday off, then a partial day (I hope) on Monday - my last day! Tuesday I take off for the Squash House with Sophie. Mr. Squash stays behind to be here while the movers load up, then he joins me on Wednesday.

Believe it or not, up until last week I've been working on a little Fall stitchery in the evenings. I got this from Karen at Farmhouse Woolens. Instead of using the darker muslin that came with it, I'm using a distressed muslin that I got from the Fat Quarter Shop. I apologize that it isn't ironed! I word normally photograph a project fully ironed and neat for viewing, but the iron is packed! The sun, moon, scarecrow hat and leaves will all be wool! I think I'll make it into a pillow. It's adorable! I'll be sure to show you the finished project, which at this point will probably be early next year!

I hope to have another post or two before we leave. I dearly miss keeping up with all of you, but it won't be much longer until life returns to normal!

Upstairs, Downstairs

I always enjoyed the British series Upstairs, Downstairs. Now Mr. Squash and I are going through our own "version"! We did some really serious packing this weekend. Saturday Mr. Squash took down all of the art in the house, dusted the backs, cleaned the glass and stacked them up. Quite a bit is already at the Squash House, this is what we left while the house was on the market. Here are the larger pictures stacked upstairs. I've already packed up the smaller pictures - the movers can do these.

And here is what is stacked up in the living room! We've enjoyed collecting a lot of art over the years - this house has an amazing amount of wall space for all kinds of hanging pictures. The sad thing is that the Squash House does not have as much wall space. A lot of this and what is already there will have to go. We had a huge garage sale last summer and now realize we need to have another after we unpack and the weather warms up!

One thing that has just amazed me as I've emptied closets is how dusty they get! We keeps our closets fairly tidy and neat, but upon pulling things out to pack, I was amazed at how much dust I encountered - ack! I think I'll now make it a rule to empty out closets completely on a rotating basis to keep the dust from building up so much!

I am largely absent from blogland other than to tend to my email. It will just "have to be" until all of this is over. This week I begin training my replacement at work - she's terrific. There is also going to be an office lunch for me on Tuesday. I can't believe what everyone has already done for me...the going away presents have been awesome and very unexpected!

Lucky Friday the 13th Winner!

Who said Friday the 13th is and unlucky day? Jackie over at Jackie's Stitches is the lucky winner of my What Is It contest and Rouenneries Giveaway! Congratulations, Jackie! While she didn't quite guess the right answer, many of you did! I love how creative you all were with your guesses! I think my favorite one was that it might be a clock pendulum! Here is "what it is" below - a toilet flusher handle!!

We have a half bath in our home that we devote entirely to fly fishing! I have collected all sorts of vintage and new fly fishing and outdoor themed items for this small bathroom! It was orginially Mr. Squash's idea - I took it and ran! We've had a lot of fun with it and I can't wait to get the bathroom at the Squash House painted and decorated! There is only one problem with this new little trinket - it doesn't fit the toilet in the fishing bathroom at the Squash House! I was so disappointed when I went to install it - that one and the one in the master bath have side flushers! The only one in the house that would accept it is in the lower level bathroom! Oh well, at least it fits somewhere in the house!

The rest of our time until we move will be devoted to more packing and training my replacement at work! We finally had the appraisal on our house and will be closing sometime between the 20th and 25th! Moving day for me and Sophie the wonder cat is December 1st. Mr. Squash will stay behind to greet the movers on Dec 1st and join me and Sophie the next day! Not long now!

What Is It Contest and Giveaway!

I made it back safe and sound from my overnight quick-trip to the Squash House! It got a little dicey over the pass coming back - lots of snow - but I made it just fine! The next trip over will be with our little cat, Sophie, and it will be home sweet home!

To celebrate our impending move, I thought a contest and giveaway was in order! Everyone loves the new Moda line from the French General - Rouenneries! This charm pack and jelly roll is from the new quilt shop, Stash, near the Squash House!

In order to be eligible to win these great items (and you know me - that's not all that will be included) you just have to guess what the thinga-ma-jig is below! Here's a hint: it goes in one room of our house that is totally devoted to fly fishing. I found it recently at a local gift shop and just had to have it! Don't worry - after the contest ends, I will show it to you in it's proper spot!

Here is a close-up of the trout portion - all hand made in pewter! Please remember when leaving your guess that I must have a way of contacting you should you win! If you are commenting anonymously or as "noreply-comment", please leave me your email address otherwise you will NOT be entered in the drawing. You won't get extra chances by following or posting this on your blog - just leave one comment here - I'll enter all comments - correct guess or not! Contest ends this Thursday, November 12th at 5:00 p.m! Hey - if you win - you won't be able to say Friday the 13th is unlucky!!

I'll leave you today with a photo of the kitchen table we decided to get for the Squash House. This one was a much better fit than the rectangular table I showed you here. We picked it up this weekend so this photo was taken as it sits in our garage! I just love the quarter-sawn oak and I found chairs at Pottery Barn that are a perfect match!

Have Berninas & Fly Rods - Will Travel!

Wonder where I've been? Most of you know I was really busy this past week with the interviews for my replacement at work - as well as getting ready for our move to the Squash House! What a week it was! Out of 81 excellent candidates for my replacement, the one I really wanted got the job! If you're reading this Shelly, congratulations! Not only is she perfect for the job, she knows the work, having come from inside the organization, so the transition will be easy, peasy! Now that is a huge load of stress off me! The other great thing that happened was the appraisal - finally - after weeks of wondering when it was going to happen! Now we can seriously pack!

I am posting this from the Squash House. Mr. Squash stayed home and I came over just for the night to deliver my 3 Bernina's and our precious fly rods. While we have a fantastic moving company, we wanted to bring these prized possessions over ourselves! Here is what the back of my car looked like at 7:30 this morning! You can see two of my sewing machines on the left (one in the blue carrier) and the other is under the Ricoh box!

My Pilot was packed to the hilt with the rest of my studio contents (mostly boxes of fabric), but there was room behind the front seats for the fly rods!
I'm so sorry I haven't been able to visit many blogs this past week. If all goes well next week, I'll have some time in the afternoons to catch up, but I have a feeling from now until December 1st my life is going to be crazy! I am keeping up with email right now, but that's about all I've been able to handle!

Check back again in 2-3 days - I'm going to have a giveaway! It's going to be a fun one, so come back soon!