What's shakin'?

Well, Virginia, for one thing. Yesterday's earthquake, with the epicenter just 85 miles from me as the crow flies, was my first ever. What a surreal and unsettling experience! I admit to being a bit excited, too, and thankful that our quake was puny compared to those that seem to create devastation in other parts of the country and the world. When I picked my kids up from school yesterday, just an hour after it happened, my 8 year old told me that he was in science class when it happened, and they followed emergency procedures and all hid out in the bathrooms until it was over. His comment, "Mom, it was great! We never had a science class like that in third grade!" (Note to science teachers around the globe - wanna excite your kids about science? Plan for something "scientific" to happen during your class time!)

Since I work at a university with an active Geology department, we have a seismograph here on campus. Here's what the quake looked like here:


Another thing shaking is our (the kids' and my) fists at the movie screen last night. We've been reading The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynn Reid Banks every night for a couple weeks now, and just finished it last night. As a capstone to that lovely story that I remember fondly as a kid and was determined that my kids would read (they loved it!), we decided to watch the movie, too. Ugh! Why must they always take a perfectly good book and mangle it when they make the movie??

Which has me wondering, right now I am reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, and was thinking that I'd watch the movie when I am done. Has anyone read the book and watched the movie? If so, am I going to be disappointed again? What about The Help by Kathryn Stockett? I'm waiting for that book to become available at the library so I can read it in advance of watching the movie. If you have read and seen that one, am I going to be disappointed?

Are any of YOU disappointed that there hasn't been much quilting on my quilting blog lately? I'm so sorry. I've been a little disappointed in the slow nature of my hand quilting, and how little time I've spent in the sewing room lately. Most of my efforts have been towards karate lately - tomorrow, I am scheduled to go through the entire 1.5 hour Black Belt test with my instructor, demonstrating everything I have learned in the past 2.5 years. If I don't pass, I have to take the test again, and again, and again until I do pass, else I can't participate in the official Black Belt Test in front of the public on October 22, when I am hoping to receive my Black Belt. I am SO nervous. I've been practicing for HOURS every day. Wish me luck!

Actually, speaking of luck, I won a giveaway while I was on my staycation. The prize hasn't arrived yet, but this book should be in my mailbox any day now:

Perhaps there will be some applique in my future?