QuiltMouse

I Voted! But Did It Count? Sorta……

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Quiltmouse

First – the people at my polling place were very nice & polite BUT really couldn’t help much. BTW – There were fewer voting machines at our polling place than in previous elections.

Second – I registered to vote on July 28, 2004 – 8 years ago, my polling place is less than 4 blocks from our house, and I have voted at that polling place in previous elections.

Third – I have my Voters Registration Card, and last March, I even went online to the Maryland Board of Elections in March and verified that all my information was correct. I even printed a copy – I KNOW I WAS IN THE COMPUTER SYSTEM!

Fourth – Last night, just because I wanted a sample ballot to write on, I went to the Maryland Voter’s site and checked my Voters Registration – it wasn’t found! I checked my husband’s – it was there. I checked our daughter’s – it was there. I thought this was funny but guessed the system may have been busy. But it was a good thing – I was PREPARED for problems!

So, this morning when my Brother and I walked down to Vote, was I surprised when the volunteers there couldn’t find me on the Voters Roll? I presented them with my Drivers License, My Voters Registration Card and my Print-out of my Online Confirmation from March 2012.

I was not allowed to vote using the voting machines. I was permitted to fill out an application for a Provisional Ballot and then was allowed to vote using a paper ballot.

Although ‘everyone’ was assuring me that my vote would indeed be counted, I wasn’t so sure. According to the Provisional Ballot Application “A provisional ballot is counted if a local board of elections determines that the person is registered and eligible to vote in Maryland.” Well, the WHOLE PROBLEM is that my registration has disappeared and therefore I was NOT Registered and my Provisional Ballot WOULD NOT BE COUNTED! Footnote: Provisional Ballots won’t be counted until the 2nd Wednesday AFTER the Election.

So I called the Local Board of Elections to file a formal complaint about my polling place experience. I spoke with a very nice lady, Mrs. C. She tried to look me up using my name, my address, my date-of-birth, and my voter id number. She looked under deceased/cancelled/moved voters and didn’t find me (guess I’m glad to know I’m not deceased!).

After she checked with someone else, it was found out that my Original Registration had been written over with someone else’s New Registration. It is being ‘fixed’ and I have gotten a new Voter ID#. They have promised to send me a new Registration Card. I’ve repeatedly asked and have been told that when they check my Registration in two weeks when the Provisional Ballots are counted, that it will show I am registered & qualified to vote in the 2012 General/Presidential Election and my vote will count. (Quick Check Online – I still don’t show registered! Crying face )

But did it count?

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Non-Sewing Quilting Adventures

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Quiltmouse

OK, went to the Dentist this AM for Root Canal – Part 2. I walked in not hurting, but walked out hurting. Crying face

So not really feeling up to sewing today. But there are a couple of Quilting Activities that I’ll tell you about.

First thing is an Online Blog Tour which is promoting the soon to be released Quiltmaker 100 Blocks, Vol. 6. This publication will have 100 new blocks designed by 100 quilt designers and will be available on November 13th on Newsstands and in Quilt Shops. Each day from November 5-9, a list of designers’ blogs will be posted and you can pop over and see the block they designed. There will be give-a-ways on Quiltmaker’s Blog as well on the Designers’ Blogs, and you can be eligible by leaving a comment.

So if you want to check out the Designers & their Blocks, head over to the Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks Vol. 6 Blog Tour. Fix you a nice cup of tea, hot chocolate or coffee and browse the participating blogs.

The second event is the MD-VA-DC Quilters’ Quest, which is a shop hop of 10 local (ok, not so local) Quilt Shops located in Maryland & Virginia which will take place Friday, November 9th through Sunday, November 18th.

This will be a fun time. It is impossible to drive to all of the shops in one day – of course you need to schedule time to shop! The shops are in Gaithersburg, Hagerstown, Mt Airy, Catonsville, Towson, Annapolis & La Plata, MD, plus 3 more in Great Falls, Warrenton & Winchester, VA.

DH & I break it down to 3 days – Eastern Loop (La Plata, Annapolis, Towson & Catonsville, MD), Central Loop (Great Falls, VA & Gaithersburg & Mt. Airy, MD) & Western Loop (Warrenton & Winchester, VA & Hagerstown, MD). It will take us about 8 hours each day, which includes driving, shopping & lunch. Several shops have scheduled bus transportation for groups.

Each store has door-prizes, free quilt patterns, Shop Hop Fabric designed by Jinny Beyer, special quilts & projects & more.

If you complete the entire Quest, you will be eligible for some very nice prizes.

Hopefully it will be nice weather and we will have fun spending some ‘quality car time’ together! Here’s the tote that we will get if we get to all of the shops & will save us 10% whenever we bring it with us to shop at a participating store until the 2013 event.

If you are in the Northern Virginia/Maryland area, this is a fun activity. If SuperStorm Sandy hasn’t entirely blown away the leaves, you will get some beautiful fall scenery as you drive from store to store.

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Happy Halloween!

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Quiltmouse

The Rain & the Wind of Hurricane Sandy & the Nor ’easterner have moved out leaving the weather of the recent Indian Summer only a memory. Our Thoughts & Prayers go out to those recovering from the Devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy. We were spared, but the damage covered a large area of the East Coast especial Delaware, New Jersey & New York.

A few years ago, on Halloween, we had just a few Trick-or-Treaters, but in the past several years the number have increased. It seams the neighborhood has gone through a transition. There are now a growing number of families with babies & young children. It is fun to watch the parents walking their little ones all dressed up going door-to-door for their treats.

Here’s a picture of our friend, Alec, Trick or Treating – He’s using one of the Candy Corn Trick or Treat Bags that I posted about here. He’s moving fast, but you can see his Candy Corn Bag is nearly full!

Wishing our Grandson, A.L., a fun Halloween! Because we live so far away, we will miss seeing him dressed up for Trick or Treating.

Hope he enjoys the package we sent him and all the goodies in it.

Grandson’s 2012 Halloween Package

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Tomorrow – It’s November! Where did the year go??

Posted in Family, Holidays | Leave a comment

Sewing & Quilting Activity

Posted on October 28, 2012 by Quiltmouse

Halloween Pillowcases – This time of year there are so many fun novelty fabrics – Halloween, Fall/Winter, Thanksgiving, Christmas & more. Pillowcases with these bright fabrics can bring smiles to young & old alike. Think I’ll make a couple. Wonder if Aiden Lee would like one?

Ta Da!!

I hope a little fella I know will like his pillowcase, but I’m not sure who will get the other one.

Wonder what I’ll make with this fabric?

Thanks to my Thursday Hand Quilting Group for sharing some of their scraps. I now have 14 fabrics. I am going to make a 12-1/2” Block (unfinished size) with these 43 shapes – that’s a lot of seams. I will have to work very hard to have accurate seams and keep my sizes right as I go along.

This should be a pretty block. The colors are bright and cheery!

Posted in Holidays, Quilting, Sewing | 1 Comment

Busy Day in the Kitchen

Posted on October 27, 2012 by Quiltmouse

Not exactly Hurricane Preparation, but Friday morning I started a batch of Greek Yogurt, and put a Turkey Breast in the Slow Pot.

My Turkey Breast – I spritzed the inside with EVO (Extra-Virgin Olive Oil), then sprinkled my Texas Rub. I adjust the Rub Recipe I found at Cooking Light website a bit, adding Poultry Seasoning, Sage and sometimes Italian Seasonings, as the mood leads me. Smile Then I stuffed the cavity with Onion & Apple Slices, & Celery Stalks. After putting the Breast into the Slow Pot, I repeated the process – EVO, Texas Rub, Celery, Onion & Apples. Finally, I added 1/2 cup Apple Cider to the pot, and set it on High. My slow pot has a variable setting from 1 to 5 so I set my Slow Pot on #5.

After about an hour on High, I switched the Slow Pot to 3-1/2 for another 4 hours. It wasn’t quite dinner time, so I then turned it down to 2 to keep it warm until we were ready to cut it.

You can see the ‘pop-up timer’ has popped, but I did check for doneness with my meat thermometer. Doesn’t the rub give it a nice “browned” look? I think we will be eating Turkey for the next several days!

I also made Yeast Rolls – but this was a different Recipe. It was Awesome Bread Machine Yeast Rolls, but I also found the same recipe on the Betty Crocker Website. This recipe was less rich then the last one. This one had water instead of milk. There was only 1 egg in this recipe while the last one had 2 eggs. And most importantly, this recipe had 2 Tbs of Butter but the other one had a whole stick of butter (8 Tbs).

Because there was less liquid (due to 1 less egg & less butter) today’s recipe said it would make 15 Rolls, but I got 17 Rolls. The consensus was that both recipes were good, but the other recipe was better/richer – more ‘melt-in-your-mouth.’ (DUH!) As you can see by the picture above only 9 were left after dinner. Doesn’t look like anybody turned them away!

The Greek Yogurt is in the final stage – Draining. After incubating the heated milk with the Yogurt Cultures all day it is actually yogurt. But for it to become Greek Yogurt it must have some of the Whey drained. I usually allow it to sit in the colander & cheesecloth for between 45 minutes to an hour. My goal is to drain out 32 oz of Whey, which in turn gives me 32 oz of Greek Yogurt from 2 quarts of Milk.

The Whey will be used to make Oatmeal for breakfast. I haven’t found out exactly how you figure out what the nutritional value of homemade whey & Greek yogurt is, but they started from 1% milk. Other than 2-3 Tbs of Greek Yogurt used as starter, this does not have any artificial or natural additives. So 1/2 cup of Whey + 1/2 cup of Greek Yogurt is the nutritional equivalent of a glass of milk

So here is my evening snack – finishing up the previous Greek Yogurt along with some Sugar-Free Homemade Spiced Applesauce with a sprinkle of Cinnamon-Sugar on top,