A Weekend Retreat and Weekday Drive

Molly and I returned yesterday afternoon from quilt retreat. We had a great time with friends and relatives visiting and working on our latest quilts. Molly and I were up until 1AM Saturday morning and 2AM Sunday morning working on our quilts. Both mornings we were awake again around 7. Sleep was not our goal, quilting was. Molly came home with a completed quilt. All she has left to do on it is to hand stitch around the outside edge to attatch the binding. She was complimented over and over for her maturity and ability to stay focused on her project. I was very proud of her. She made the quilt for a young girl whose house burnt down a few months ago and hopefully we can get it to her next week or so. I will try to get a photo of it to post here too. My quilt is in the finishing stages as well and although it is peiced, and pinned with the batting and backing it still needs a bit more quilting stitching on it before adding the binding.

This morning I left home for more trainig for my job with the Census Bureau. The first two hours took me about 3 to drive because of the blizzard that was happening in Minnesota when I left home this morning. I saw at least 20 cars in the ditch before hitting the Iowa border. Even after I was on the interstate the driving was dificult as there was so much slushy snow on the roads. Changing lanes was nearly impossible and was likely what caused most of the cars in the ditch to be there. Once I got into Iowa things setled down a bit as the snow changed to rain and wind. I arrived here at the hotel in Kansas City around 5, about 9 1/2 hours after leaving home. I could have flown at the Bureau's expense but after my last experience with that(last spring I had my flight cancelled home-I ended up going through Houston, Texas to get home!) I didn't want to do that again. Driving doesn't take much longer than flying and I am paid mileage so it works out.

Pray for the family back home, that they function well without me. It is a scheduling nightmare to get everyone cared for when I am away with Shannon's schedule but we think we have it worked out. I believe they have quite a bit of snow up there again-7-10 inches had been predicted when I left home an I know school was let our early because of the snow too.