Today was an opportunity for me to spend some time with my mom and for her to spend some time away from Lake Sherwood. And Frank even wanted to go! Surprise, surprise! We picked her up and headed out to eat. That is always an experience because she doesn't like anything cooked too little or too much; anything too spicy hot or actually having any seasoning at all; anything that has a skin on it, be it animal or vegetable; anything that has any fat on it or tastes like it had fat on it once upon a time; a lot of anything or too little of anything; or anything that is randomly chosen from some memory 60 years ago that happens to still be sitting on a shelf in her mind, shaken loose by the car ride. So we went to D'Angelo's and I ordered a White Pizza with Roasted Garlic and Spinach and Roma Tomatoes. Mostly because it was what I wanted and not because it was anything she would ever eat. Another surprise when she actually liked it!
Then we drove to the CAAWS building where I searched for the Spay/Neuter Certificates I am supposed to be picking up but never found. Mom enjoyed looking at the dogs waiting for forever homes and petting 12 of the biggest cats I have ever seen in my life in the Cat Room. We had the run of the Cat Room because the rest of the volunteers are at the Cat Adoption Day at PetsMart trying to find homes for the 16 or so adorable kittens we have in stock. Yet another surprise came when we actually left there without a new cat. (that is Josie over there in case you are wondering. Up for adoption!)
Then on to the Fundraiser for a fellow quilter, who happens to be a man, who is undergoing a bad spell with cancer. Women in the guilds get cancer all the time but no one throws them a fund raiser. But that is another pet peeve I have. Anyway.
We get to the raffle and Frank immediately falls in love with a coral brocade blue jean style jacket bedecked with about 4 gorgeous turquoise necklaces. It is on the Silent Auction Table. I am surprised, very surprised. He wants to bid on it. So I register for a number and receive #168 which I am to use rather than my name. So we become Mr. and Mrs. 168 for the afternoon. I show him how to make a bid by writing #168 and the amount just higher than the last person. He picks it up quickly. He bids $35. And proceeds to stand there for the next 2 hours making sure no one bids higher than he does. I leave him to his devices and mom and I head to the Raffle Room.
The Raffle Room holds treasures you can win by placing a ticket stub with your number on it, 168, into a jar next to the object. At an appointed time, someone calls END! and they begin picking one ticket out of every jar and that ticket wins the object. My mother never grasped the concept.
She was really into several items. So I happily bought her $10 worth of tickets (10 to be exact), wrote 168 on them all and explained what she needed to do. Several times. I walked her though a couple of items and then left her to check on Frank. He was holding steady at $35.
Back to mom. I find her still perusing the tables. Finally, she comes up to me, super surprise, and proudly presents me with about 35 tickets. I realize she has TAKEN tickets rather than PLACED tickets. I have no idea where the tickets came from, so I place the tickets back into some random jars, and beat the devil out of there.
When the numbers were finally called, I'll bet there were some really surprised people who won things they never bid on! I hope I made them happy! My mom was very very happy when we left with her winning item!
Oh, and Frank won his item as well for the $35 he started out with. And he was so excited, he called Carrie and got her all excited with the surprise. She can't wait to come to dinner tomorrow to see what he got for her!
I'd say it was a good day. Frank was happy. Mom was happy. Carrie was happy. And that makes me happy.
glen
Here is my doggy raffle quilt. I am having a problem making it larger. I put the black strip on top and bottom. Then I added another strip of bones. Now it is about 42 by 57. I don't really like it but it was a kit and it was half price and it was dogs.
