Meari's Musings

Birthday Drive-By

2012-01-25T18:50:00.002-06:00

♫♪♫ I had a really nice birthday! ♪♫♪ Thank you all for the wonderful birthday wishes. This year, I participated in two Birthday Floss Club exchanges.

First up are the lovely cards/floss received from CSE:

I also received a LOT of lovely cards and floss from the Stitching Sisters group:

I've been eyeballing the Jardin Prive charts for a long time. With a lot of ~~prodding and pushing~~ encouragement from my Stitching Sisters, I splurged and bought the charts as a combination graduation/birthday gift to myself.

Sampler aux Bouquet I
Sampler aux Bouquets II
Sampler aux Bouquets III
I plan on stitching them as one long sampler like this:

I received a very cute stitched card and some floss from Berly. Even though we've "known" each other for a longggg time, we didn't meet in person until the 2010 ILCS retreat in St. Louis.

Thank you for thinking of me, Berly!
I even received cards from Discover and Menards! Menards sent me a gift certificate for 14-piece LED lighted screwdriver set. Every time I am in Menards, I have to swipe my Big Card for a chance to win whatever vehicle they're giving away. It's become a joke between the BF and I as to WHO is going to get the vehicle when I win, LOL.

Also, the local movie theater emailed me a certificate for a free admittance to a movie for my birthday.

To end my birthday day, the BF brought over pizza. He said that since it was my birthday, I shouldn't have cook. Awww, ain't that sweet? For a gift, he hinted that he got me something I had said I wanted... Hmmm, what could that be?

A Thera-P Percussion Massager!
Indeed, I have been looking at these things for at least a year. With my neck and shoulder problems, I thought maybe one of these would help with the pain I always have. I LOVE this thing! It has a heat setting, as well as a low/high massage setting that gives a wonderful, deep tissue massage.

My birthday isn't quite over yet! The BF also plans on taking me out to eat this weekend. ☺ Ah, to be spoiled...

Until next time,

Tuesday Tidbits 1/24/2012

2012-01-24T05:17:00.025-06:00

That's right... ME!

SCHOOL
Did you think you were done reading about my educational adventures? Guess what came in the mail last week? My diploma!! I was so happy. As my coworker said: "It makes it more real, doesn't it?" It certainly does! Tucked inside the folio, was my transcript and declarations of the degree. Ahhh, life is good!

WEATHER
On Friday, it snowed and snowed and snowed! It snowed all day and by the time Mother Nature was finished, I had about 7-8" of very fluffy white stuff on my driveway. I went out around 5pm to start shoveling and snowblowing. Bless her little teenage heart, my neighbor girl helped me with the shoveling for about an hour or so. I finished the final snowblowing at 7:30pm. I was so cold, I could barely feel my thumbs!

COOKING
After meals, I accumulate the leftover veggies in plastic container and store them in freezer until there's enough for a pot of soup. Since the cold weather set in, I made vegetable beef barley soup in the crockpot on Friday. What was in the soup, you ask? OK, maybe you didn't ask but I'm going to tell anyway ☺. Broccoli stalks (chopped up), celery, corn, carrots, onion, green beans, potato, and itty-bitty pieces of beef. I added barley toward the end of the cooking time... Yummo. It turned out wonderfully delicious!

See that cute little bowl? It's about the size of a large ramekin. I specifically went treasure hunting for ramekins, but found a 3-piece set of these for $1.49! Not $1.49 each, but for all of them. When I got home, I looked at the bottom and noticed they're from Pier One. New, these bowls would cost $6-7 each. What a deal, eh?

Why was I looking for ramekins? Because I wanted to try my hand at French Onion Soup. It was a bit time consuming to make, but well worth it. Topped with toasted french bread and melted cheese, boy-oh-boy was it tasty!

I'm not a novice cook, however sometimes I think I need a sticker like this. I carmelized the onions for the aforementioned soup in my oven. The pot lid was supposed to be cracked to release the steam, however it must've slid closed when I pushed the rack back in. When I checked the onions the next time, I wasn't thinking. I opened the pan lid and steam rushed out, burning my wrist. I have first degree burns from that lapse in judgement! Ouchie. Note to Self: Do not open hot, steamy pot with wrist in way.

Later as I was cleaning up, I separated the blades of my kitchen shears and put them in the sink to be washed. You *know* where this is going, right? While washing the dishes, I thought I poked myself with the tip of the scissors. Didn't really hurt much so I didn't think anything of it. It wasn't until later in the evening, I noticed I had cut my ring finger on the blade of the scissors! Of course, it's in the right spot that gets the pressure from using the keyboard and calculator! Double ouchie. Can I call in sick at work for this? LOL Second Note to Self: It's probably best not to put the scissors in a sink full of water, especially when the BF *just* sharpened them a couple weeks ago.

STITCHY STUFF
More exciting news! Remember my Little Snowman finish from last week? I emailed Loretta at Stitching the Night Away to show her what I did with her chart. She asked if she could put it in her gallery. How awesome is that? You can see it HERE and read what she said. I also found out that my ornament was featured on Craft Gossip, HERE. I am so stoked!

Last week, I received a stitchy surprise in the mail from Sharon at Cross Stitch Obsession. She said she saw it and immediately thought of me... how sweet of her! What was it, you ask? Oh yeah...

Over the weekend, I worked on Blossom Splendor. All the flowers and confetti stitches are complete. I've stitched all the way over to the left side and down to the bottom. All that's left is filling in various areas. I think I have about another week's worth and the stitching part will be complete. Then I have some Krenik and beading to do before I can do the happy dance jiggity-jig.

Other WIP pics can be seen HERE.
This week, I'll be concentrating on JG. So stay tuned for next week's update ☺

Now that my first 2012 finish has reached it's destination in Belgium, I can show the mailart I created for Patricia. The theme was "Stitchers Mailart" so I created this:

Designer: Prairie Schooler Book 115
Fabric: 18ct Hand-dyed Aida
Fibers: DMC
Embellishments: Pearl Snaps

FAMILY
More news about my nephew. The doctor(s) found a 4th broken vertebrae. He will have to be in a back brace for the next 16 weeks, and need a hospital bed for his home recovery. Thankfully, he landed flat on his back from the 20+ foot height, otherwise he may be paralyzed right now. Poor kid. Thanks for all your well wishes last week. They were appreciated.

Until next time,

TUSAL 1/23/2012

2012-01-23T04:59:00.005-06:00

I just love these old canning jars. It's not often I find them with lids. When I do, I snatch them up.

I chose a pint size one for the 2012 Totally Useless SAL coordinated by Daffycat.

My jar contains threads from:
• Japanese Garden... pretty pastels and sparkly #4 Krenik braid
• Little Snowman... whites, blues, and orange
• Blossom Splendor... blues, purples, and greens
• Oh, and a mailart... reds, browns, and other muted colors

Wow, I've done a lot of stitching so far this month!

Facelift!

2012-01-18T06:00:00.009-06:00

Facelifts are great, aren't they? After adding a little color here and there, things look a lot better! Oh wait, did you think *I* got a facelift? LOL, heavens no. I'll leave that to those who feel they can't grow old gracefully.

So what am I talking about then? The Homestead!

When I moved into The Homestead four years ago (Can you believe it's been that long already?), I inherited some very, very old appliances -- think 25 to 30 years old.

Looks good, right? Almost everytime I used the range, I had to jiggle the burners in order to get a connection so they'd heat up. The drip pans were corroded so bad that they really needed to be replaced. The coils didn't sit flat like they were supposed to so one side of the pan was always cooking too fast or burning. The oven didn't bake evenly, and the self-cleaning didn't work. But hey, I made do.

The best part about the stove was the dashboard light. It gave off the perfect amount of light during the evenings when I really didn't need to turn on the ceiling lights. Stoves on the market now don't have those lights. As you can see, there were drippings behind the glass that made it look like I never cleaned the dashboard.

A couple months ago, one of the 8" burners quit working entirely. Of course it was the one I *always* used. Ever try to use a frying pan on a 6" burner? LOL I was relegated to using the 8" burner at the back of the stove. Remember the jiggling I told you about? A couple weeks ago, I was doing the jiggle dance and by golly if the socket didn't start sparking... and sparking... and sparking, even after I stopped jiggling. It was at that point I decided it was time to ~~get rid of the archaic piece of crap~~ put her to rest. I may have been able to get it repaired, but 3 of the 4 burners needed help and I'd still be stuck with a three-decade old stove.

So I did what any respectable woman would do. I went shopping! ☺ The delivery was made last Sunday. ~~I won't mention the idiot delivery guy.~~ The delivery guy tried to talk me into letting him bring the appliance in my side door, which 1) if I let him do, it would've gotten wedged in the door and 2) would've never gotten between the cabinets if he got it around the corner. He was worried about the stove not fitting between my hedges! I knew from when I bought my refrigerator a couple years ago that if *it* fit through the hedges, the stove would fit... AND the front door is 4" wider than the side door! Finally, I told him I'd put a sheet over it so it wouldn't get scratched. What does he say? "Oh, we have appliance blankets in the truck." Duh!!

Doesn't it look great with the exhaust hood the BF installed last summer? It also matches the refrigerator!

I couldn't get a good photo of the refrigerator since it's on the opposite wall of the stove. The sink and dishwasher are on the same wall as the stove:

Someday, I'd like to do something with the ceramic tile on the wall. Not sure what because other than the yellow color, they are beautifully embossed tiles.

OK, that concludes my kitchen facelift, tour. Up next is the dining room facelift tour!

I'm not sure what the previous owner(s) of The Homestead were going for when they installed a ~~flying saucer~~ very contemporary-looking light fixture in the dining room. It matches nothing in the house whatsoever.

Every once in a while, I like to visit the closest Habitat for Humanity Restore. This time I found an awesome light fixture. Behold....

Even though the shiny brass finish matched the rest of light fixtures in the house, I decided I wanted something a bit more modern. So I set to work.

Took everything apart. Covered sockets. Taped off wires. And then...

Spray Paint!
I was going for a rubbed oil bronze look. When choosing the paint, I made several trips from the lighting dept at Menards to the paint dept. I'm sure the guys who watch the security cameras were wondering what I was up to! I finally decided on a Hammered Dark Bronze paint.

Four days later, the facelift was complete. The curing time (waiting) ~~sucks~~ seems to take forever! OK, maybe not but it sure felt like it.

The BF ~~sweated and toiled in order to~~ installed the fixture. He said we did a great job. Me in the painting and him putting it up, LOL.

Looks 100% better, doesn't it?

Remember I mentioned the Habitat for Humanity Restore? It's a great place to find inexpensive used home remodeling supplies. If you have a creative mind like mine, it can be a treasure trove of goodies! They had two light fixtures like the one I just upscaled. I'm not sure why, but one was $20 and mine was on sale for...

That's right. $10!! So, for less than $20 (including paint and a few screws) I have a "new" light fixture. When I was running back and forth from the paint dept and lighting dept, I did take note of how much similar light fixtures cost. On the low end, a brand-new one was $99. I did good, eh?

Linked Up To:
My Repurposed Life

Marvelous Monday Update 1/16/2012

2012-01-16T06:03:00.009-06:00

WEATHER
Seriously?! One day was 56F and by 5pm the next day, I came home to a 28" snowdrift in front of my garage door. Do you think my neighbors on either side had snow in their driveways? Noooo. Two and a half hours later, I had the drift chopped down and the driveway cleared of snow. It was so cold that my breath kept fogging my glasses so I had to take them off. Talk about a blind person trying to clear snow!

I was so cold, my thighs were bright red. Even a hot bath didn't warm me up... it just thawed me out a little. After sitting under the electric blanket for 45 minutes, I finally became warm enough but my entire body was so sore!

GIVEAWAY
The Southpaw Stitcher is celebrating a one year milestone. Go on over and wish her a Happy Blogversary!

STITCHY STUFF
Happy Dance! Happy Dance! As part of the Ornament SAL, I stitched and finished my January ornament. This is my 2nd finish of 2012.

Little Snowman
Designer: Stitching the Night Away
Fabric: 22ct Red Hardanger
Fibers: DMC, Carries Creations
Embellishments: Runched Ribbon, Beads, Buttons

I changed the colors, added snowflakes, and added the beads and buttons. It turned out so adorable! I used my mag eyes and it made a world of difference in stitching on such a small fabric count.

Normally, I'm not a big fan of stitching on red. But, Vicky of Nutmegger Stitcher's Works recently finished a snowman ornament on red so I decided to try it.

When I wasn't stitching on the snowman, I stitched on JG. It's coming right along. I finished the bamboo stalks and water under the bridge near the 9 o'clock garden.

FAMILY
I received some distressing news yesterday. My 15yr old nephew was involved in a freak snowmobile accident over the weekend. He was competing in a snowcross event (like motorcross, but with snowmobiles) and ended up 20-25 feet in the air. He landed on his back and has fractured three of his vertebrae. He will be OK, but he will have a long painful recovery.

Marvelous Monday Update 1/9/2012

2012-01-09T05:22:00.010-06:00

Well, how did your first week of 2012 go?

WEATHER
The winter weather has been unseasonably mild for this time of year. Christmas came and went with no snow. New Year's came and went with no snow. So far, temps have pretty much stayed in the 30-40's range with a few frigid days here and there. As the sign on my sidebar says, I'm $39.95+ and I've never known there not to be snow on the ground for Christmas and New Year's! Here's what The Homestead looked like between Christmas and New Year's:

See the little patch of snow at the top of the hill?

GIVEAWAY
CraftyMoo is hosting a New Year giveaway on her blog. Click on over and check out her crazies, too!

STITCHY STUFF
I've cleaned out my ort bag so that I'm ready for the 2012 TUSAL coordinated by Daffycat. Here's all the orts from 2011. Whooda thunk I stitched so much?!

I added more things to my stash-for-sale blog, including some John Clayton charts and a Miribilia. If you'd like to see what's available, click HERE or click the link on the sidebar. Stay tuned 'cuz I'll be adding more as time permits.

I finished another page of Blossom Splendor. Only one more page to go!

She has been set aside so that I could create mailart for an exchange I signed up for last year. I started the mailart on Jan 1st and finished it into an envelope four days later! Sorry, can't show the pic until it wings its way to Europe.

Hold on to your seats! I pulled out Japanese Garden and worked on it TWO days in a row. I made some pretty good progress:

Other WIP pics can be seen HERE.
I hand-dyed a piece of blue fabric for Aurora Cabin. I think it turned out fabulous! All I need to do now is stitch it!

Last week I mentioned that Pam and I were doing an ornament SAL together. Since then we've been joined by Shelley of Shelley's Artsy Fartsy Life and Mary Ann of Just Stitching.

DIY
I have an awesome project in the works for The Homestead. Actually, I'll have a couple of things to showcase (probably next week). Now that I'm finished with school, I have more time to get done projects around the house.

Until next time,

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T00:01:00.004-06:00

What stitchy projects do you have lined up for the new year?

I signed up for the Stitchers UFO Challenge in 2012. My goal (and Yes, I *know* I said this last year) is to get Japanese Garden finished... or at least a lot more progress done. I'd also like to get Simply Elegant Scissor Case finished. Those two are my oldest unfinished projects.

Japanese Garden
12/28/2011
Simply Elegant
12/28/2011
Last year I signed up for another mailart exchange. The theme this time is "Stitching Related". It'll probably be my first finish of 2012 since it's due to be mailed out mid-February.

Of course, I am definitely going to finish Blossom Splendor!

Ellen Maurer-Stroh has a new SAL, "Antique Sampler" that I'd like to start.

Pam of My Stitchin -n- Stuff and I are contemplating an ornament SAL since both of us want to do at least an ornament a month in 2012. Anyone want to join in?

Also in 2012, I'd also like to start Aurora Cabin which is a Dimensions Gold Kit converted from Kim Norlien's fine art print called Aurora Bliss.

Aurora Cabin
Aurora Bliss
I think these should keep me busy, don't you?

Wish List, Likes, Dislikes...

2011-12-30T06:12:00.000-06:00

I had a brainstorm idea this morning. (Watch out world!) I belong to several online stitching groups and each group has a questionaire asking about wish lists, likes, dislikes, etc. I find it time consuming to be typing the same things over and over, so I thought... Why not put it all in my blog, and then reference this entry? Good idea, eh? I thought so! So here goes:

FAVORITES

Favorite fabric: 28/32ct evenweave/linen, hand-dyeds

Favorite needles: 26ct petite needles

Favorite Threads: WDW, Victoria Clayton Silks, GAST, Glissen Gloss Colorwash Silks, DMC Linens, SSS (needed floss for the last 2 are in my wish list link below). Love specialty flosses.

Colors (include favorites & least favorites): Favorites: soft pretty colors such as pastels and lighter tans/mottled browns; Dislikes: dark, drab colors.

Themes (include favorites & least favorites): Likes: oriental themes, Fobs, Stitcher Accessories; Least favorite: religious, folksy, abstract, fantasy, Celtic.

Magazines (include favorites & any that are subscriptions): Any UK mags, Stoney Creek , JCS

Favorite Designers: Lorri Birmingham (elegant designs), The Sweetheart Tree (fobs), Joan Elliot (oriental designs), Lizzie Kate as well as a few others.

Favorite Foods/Drink: ice tea (or flavored hot teas), cocoa, skittles, jelly belly jelly beans

Collections (things you collect other than stitching): old cameras (I’m a photographer too)

Scents (include favorite & least favorite): My favorite scent is Lilac. I have allergies and asthma so strong scents don’t work for me.

Favorite ONS:
Needle in a Haystack www.needlestack.com
123 Stitch www.123stitch.com I have a wish list there. My email addy is: mearitaira@yahoo.com
Keepsake Needlearts www.keepsakeneedlearts.com
Hand-Dyed Fibers www.hand-dyedfibers.com

Favorite LNS: Don’t have one close to me. There’s a Walmart, JoAnn Fabrics, Michaels and Hobby Lobby.

WISH LIST

Pictorial Wish List located HERE

Charts wanted: see Pictorial Wish List link above

Kits wanted (including just charts from kits): see Pictorial Wish List link above

Threads/beads wanted: anything but DMC/Anchor floss. I don't use Anchor, and I have 2-3 complete sets of DMC.

Accessories/Gadgets wanted:

Leather Scissor sheaths
#26 Stitch Fixer
DMC Brand Plastic Bobbins

Other
Do you have an online photo album? My Album

How do you store your threads? On bobbins in plastic storage cases

Floss bags or bobbins? (Cardboard or plastic bobbins?) I use both bags and bobbins. Mostly bobbins. I’m in the process of switching from cardboard to plastic DMC bobbins.

Do you have pets? Yes. A little 4lb. dog named Celeste

Vickie's DeStashing!

2011-12-29T18:44:00.001-06:00

Hop on over to see what Vickie of Reading & Stitching did with her craft room. It looks great!

Tuesday Tidbits 12/27/2011

2011-12-27T06:08:00.016-06:00

Can you believe it's already the last week of the year? The years seem to fly by the older I get. Where does time go? Hopefully 2012 will bring some good things my way. ☺

RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS/GIVEAWAY
A couple weeks ago, Daffycat held a "secret giveaway" on her blog.

Froggy is always so inquisitive when I get a package. "Rip It, Rip It!!" he says. Although I didn't take his advice and rip it open, I did unwrap it to find this:

I was thrilled when I thought I won the scissor fob. When the package arrived it came with the scissors, too! ☺☺☺ Thank you, Daffycat!

CHRISTMAS

Here's one last photo of the 12 Days of Christmas exchange I received from Shelley. I love everything! Thank you again, Shelley.

I hope you all had a great holiday. I went to the BF's family gathering. Everyone brought "finger food" and we all had a good time standing around chit-chatting. I've only met the family one other time, but they were so warm and welcoming! The BF got me a large bottle of my favorite perfume and a necklace I put on my "Christmas Ideas" list, lol.

COOKING
Yesterday, the BF and I got to cooking. He's been wanting to make a quiche, so we did. Doesn't it look yummy?

We put whatever I had on hand in it... Thawed spinach, onion, shredded cheese, and shitake mushrooms.

There was some chatter on one of the Yahoo groups about Latkes. I'd never heard of them before. Then on "The Chew", one of cooks made them. They are similar to hashbrown potatoes, but there's egg and onion in them. They're good warm/hot, not so good cold.

HOMESTEAD CHRONICLES
As some of you may know, I have a fireplace. Last year, my Dad gave me a fireplace insert/blower he had stored in "The Shed". The Shed is my Dad's mancave. He has all his stuff there. In conversations if you mention you need something, chances are he probably has it in the shed. He will say, "Let's go up to the shed..." LOL I wasn't particularly looking for a fireplace insert, but he knew I used my fireplace and was concerned about all the heat going up the chimney. Hence, he gave me the insert and doors.

My parents bought and used the blower a long, long time ago before they had a new one installed. It came with a black door trimmed in gold (Think 1980's). When I received it, there was a bit of rust, the fan needed oiling, and the cord needed to be replaced. My Dad got the fan running smoothly again, I repainted it, and the BF replaced the cord. We finally got it installed over the weekend. I opted to forego the doors that came with it since the gold trim was tarnished and rusted pretty badly. Looking at the insert now, you'd never know it didn't come with my fireplace doors. ☺

Before
After

STITCHY STUFF
It's sorta weird going home right after work and not having to jump on the computer to login to my online classes or read pages and pages of textbooks. Instead, I've been going home and have started scanning a bunch of stuff for my stash-for-sale blog. I've barely made a dent in the big box of stuff I'd like to destash! If you're interested in taking a look-see, click HERE or click on the link in my sidebar.

Also... I've had quite a bit more time to stich. Imagine that! Blossom Splendor has received a lot of attention over the past week. I'm almost done with page the current page. I think there's one more page left, plus the backstitching and beads.

Bottom right of the kimono and grass

Until next time,

Marvelous Monday Update 12/19/2011

2011-12-19T05:44:00.013-06:00

Last week was my Mom's birthday. She's always looked good for her age no matter how old she was. I always tell people she was a HOTTIE when she was younger. For her birthday this year, I thought I'd do something special. She has a couple of wallet sized photographs that she had taken when she was 19 or 20... before she married my Dad and came to the U.S. Over the past 40+ years, the photographs have become creased, stained, and damaged. For Mom's birthday, I digitally retouched them: removed the creases and stains, and even recreated portions of the photograph that were missing. Then I made them into 8x10's. Remember the vintage dual 8x10 hinged frame I bought at a thrift store a few weeks ago? I put the photographs in the frame.

Before
After
Before
After
Mom said she liked it and that they turned out really beautiful. She was amazed and asked me how I did it. LOL - Lots of painstaking work!

WEATHER
My area received our first "significant" snowfall on Friday night. I woke up on Saturday to the sounds of snowblowers and 2-3" of the fluffy white stuff. We've been so spoiled this winter with above normal temps that I hadn't even gotten my boots out from last year. Soon, I was out joining the ranks to shove and blow snow off my driveway. By Sunday afternoon, most of the snow was melted.

COOKING
Last week, I ordered chinese takeout/delivery. Shrimp Lo Mein. It wasn't that good. I said to myself: "Self, you can this much better!" Gotta love Google. I looked up Lo Mein on my favorite site: allrecipes.com

SCHOOL
Did you hear the big "WOO HOO!" heard 'round the world? That was me! I am officially done with school. ♪♫♪♫ No more teachers, no more books, lalalalala ♫♪♫♪

Unofficially, I've received a final grade of a B! I'm happy with it since I have no prior experience with Auditing.

STITCHY STUFF
The winner of my blogversary giveaway was Shelleen of Queen Stitcher. I received a very touching thank you email from her.

When I started my blog six years ago, Shelleen was the first person to comment on my new blog. Six years later, she still reads and comments. Thank you Shellen for following me all these years.

I finished the bonus chart from the Sew A Mystery SAL I participated in. I've started assembling the project.

Finally, I was able to put a few hours of work on Blossom Splendor. I've started the grass at the bottom!

Other progress photos can be seen HERE.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS
Whether you're spending it alone as a singleton or spending it with family and/or friends, I hope you have the best time ever!

Baked Macaroni & Cheese

2011-12-13T09:19:00.002-06:00

BAKED MACARONI AND CHEESE

½ lb. macaroni
1 med. onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp. garlic, finely chopped
1 stick of margarine or butter
1/3 pkg. Velveeta cheese
3 tbsp. dried parsley (optional)
1 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 c. shredded Havarti cheese
½ c. milk or half and half
1 c. bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 400F. Prepare macaroni according to box directions. While macaroni is cooking, saute onion, garlic, and butter in a medium sauce pan until done. Add parsley, cheeses, and milk. Put half cooked macaroni in 9x13 baking dish. Add half the cheese mixture, then remaining macaroni. Pour remaining cheese mixture as top layer. Sprinkle with bread crumbs. Bake 25 minutes, or until top is golden brown.

Tis The Season & Happy Dancing!

2011-12-12T05:38:00.033-06:00

Yep, it's looking a lot like Christmas around my house. I hauled both my trees down from the attic, along with my tubs of Christmas decor. The BF helped with decorating the trees -- He even said he had fun doing it. Yikes... It's been a long, long time since I had anyone help me decorate a Christmas tree, let alone saying it was fun. Whatta guy!

Trees
Mantle Lights
The Fireplace
I decided to do a collage of all the stitchy ornaments that hang on my trees. Some I've made and others I've received from exchanges over the years.

(Click on photo to enlarge)
I put "stitched by" on all the ones I kept track of. If anyone sees one they did that I didn't put their name to, feel free to let me know.

STITCHY STUFF
I finished Purple Garden!! It only took me about 8 weeks, LOL. I really did enjoy stitching it up and "personalizing" it with color changes.

Le Jardin Pourpre
Designer: Angie SB, from Argentina
Fabric: 28ct Charles Craft Dusty Rose Monoco
Fibers: DMC
Started: Oct 5, 2011 ~ Finished Dec 9, 2011
Size 14 x 17"
Now to find the perfect frame!
If you're interested in doing a SAL, the designer of Purple Garden is hosting two new ones for 2012. Angie SB has designed Lavender Blue -and- Sweet Flowers. Sign ups end December 15th, so hurry if you want to participate. I'm partial to Sweet Flowers, but I'm going to pass on the SAL since I have a couple of other big projects I want to finish in 2012. Angie's blog is HERE.

I have some progress to show for the Sew A Mystery bonus chart:

GIVEAWAYS
Cucki of Cucki's Stitching Cove is hosting a Christmas giveaway. Hop on over to take a gander at her beautiful stitching.

Jennifer at Feathers in the Nest is also hosting a Christmas giveaway. She has a sweet little dog. Click on over to see what it's all about.

Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe is also having a Christmas giveaway!

Must be the season... Terri at Dixie Samplar is also hosting a Christmas giveaway. ☺

BLOGVERSARY
As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I celebrated my 6 year anniversary of blogging. Hard to believe I've been sharing my crazy thoughts with ya'll for that long. Not only that, a lot of you who started reading me at the beginning are still with me today! Currently, I'm up to 310 followers which amazes me, too.

For several months, I thought about what I wanted to do to celebrate my blogversary. Finally, I decided what to do...

Blessed Be
Designer: Plum Pudding Needleart
Fabric: 28ct Antique White Linen
Fibers: DMC
I changed the wording to Needles and Pins since I knew I was going to make it into a needlebook. This is the second time I've stitched one of these. I was "smart" this time... I used my cross stitch design program and redesigned it for a needlebook cover.

In the next day or so, this needlebook will be winging it's way to a lucky recipient. Who you ask? Shhh... It's a secret! A secret blogversary giveaway. The lucky stitcher will be announced next week. So stay tuned! (There is a method to my madness)

12 Days of Christmas

2011-12-12T05:32:00.000-06:00

Days 11 and 12 have finally arrived. On the 11th day, Shelley sent to me ♪♫♪♫

Festive potholder and dish towel
Christmas Tree Collection by JBW Designs
and the beads/floss to stitch it up
AWESOME!
More treats for Celeste!
She's not going to know what to do with
herself... she's set for treats!

All good things must come to an end *sniffle*... I would like to thank Shelley for all the wonderful gifts. It was great fun opening each and every one of them! (Incidentally, it was her birthday last weekend, so hop over to her blog and wish her a Happy Birthday!)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On the 9th Day of Christmas, Shelley gave to me ♪♫♪♫

A sparkly Peacock Ornament
And on the 10th Day...

Boo Boo Stick
I've been wanting one of these!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

♪♫♪♫ Fa... la... la... la... la... ♪♫♪♫

Another present? Oh yes! It's Day 6. I wonder what it could be?

The cutest pair of snowman socks,
complete with glittery snowflakes!
I'm saving these to wear on Christmas Day.
On the 7th day of Christmas, Shelley gave to me.... ♫♪♫

A pom calendar!
Great timing, since I don't have a 2012 calendar yet.
The 8th present was equally appreciated.

Charles Craft Monoco -- Love this stuff!
I figured out the trick to getting Celeste to eat the treats Shelley sent her. If I break them up into dog food sized pieces, she will scarf them down faster than a seal eating fish!

Here's the little ~~snot~~ darling after her haircut at the groomer's. They don't do the greatest, but the other groomer claims she wouldn't behave, LOL.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On the third, fourth, and fifth days of Christmas, Shelley gave to me...

Day 3: Crafter's Ribbon
Very pretty! Hmm... What can I make with these?

Day 4: Photo Album
It is SO adorable!

Day 5: The Needlework Shop
by Country Cottage Needleworks
This has been on my wishlist for a long time!

Does Shelley know how to spoil a girl or what?!?

Here is Celeste posing with a new friend compliments of Shelley:

"Does it HAVE to touch me?"

"Mom is making me do this!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow (Just not too much!) I woke up this morning to a light dusting of snow on the ground and temps of 17F. On this second day of Christmas, Shelley sent to me:

Mary Engelbreit Goodies!
Magnetic List Pad, Notepad, and Post-It Notes... Perfect, since I'm a notorious list maker!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This year, I participated in the 12 Days of Christmas Exchange hosted on the i-love-cross-stitch group. Shelley not only sent me beautifully wrapped gifties, but also sent Celeste some goodies as well:

My First Christmas Card of the Year!
Cute! Cute!
On the first day of Christmas, Shelley sent to me....
I wonder what it could be???
Ohhh... a package of my favorite sized needles!
These certainly will come in handy.
Here is Celeste carrying around one of the dog "cookies" Shelley sent her. The silly dog never did eat it... just carried it around. LOL

I wonder what tomorrow will bring????

Marvelous Monday Update 12/5/2011

2011-12-05T13:54:00.004-06:00

SCHOOL
I'm in Week 7 now. I wrote my last paper over the weekend. We had to pick an "accounting scandal" and write a 500 ~~page~~ word essay on it. Since I did the research on AIG last semester, I wrote my essay on that company. In my usual editorial style (LOL), I wrote way more than 500 words. Counting this week, I only have TWO.. count them: 1... 2... weeks before I am done, done, done! I'm thinking I'll end up with a "B" in this class.

STITCHY STUFF
I made it! I made it! You're probably thinking to yourself: "What is she carrying on about?" I finished Part 8 of Purple Garden! Can you believe it?

StickLounge had a group imposed deadline of December 31st. After that the chart won't be available. Each section had to be stitched before I could receive the next one. I'm now working on the final part... Part 9! I did take some liberties in adding the pink parts, and switching some colors around.

Parts 1 - 8

I worked on Part 9 over the weekend. I'm sooo close to being finished!

RAK
Isn't it exciting to get goodies in the mail? Picture this scenario:

Me at the postal counter: "I need two sheets of stamps. I want those and those. Oh and I need extra postage on these."

Clerk #1: "OK" (as he digs in the drawer for stamps and steps around the corner of the counter)

Clerk #2: "Are you looking for her package?"

Clerk #1: (quizzical look on his face) "No, I'm looking for stamps."

Clerk #2: "Well she has a package back there." (and goes to get the package)

Me: (who's been waiting for the 12 Days package -and- a RAK) "There was no tag in my box"

Clerk #2: "That package has been here for 2 days."

Pretty "sad" when the postal clerks know me by face/name. LOL As you know, I did get my 12 Days package, and I received the cutest RAK from Sue:

It makes me smile at how thoughtful Sue is. I was thrilled with the China Girl, but then I opened it up and realized the Costumes of Korea was included also! The magazine contains asian inspired charts and some very cute Halloween/Fall charts as well. Thank you for thinking of me, Sue!

My First Time

2011-12-01T18:08:00.008-06:00

Since Julie was brave enough to blog about her first time, I figured I could man-up ~~(or would that be girl-up? woman-up? lady-up?)~~ and share my story.

Even though I was a shy girl, I had no problem going down THAT path and taking the plunge, so to speak. It was easy, really. Unlike Julie, I didn't need coaxing or a diagram that told me exactly how to do it. I just looked at some pictures in my Mom's magazine, and experimented.

At first it was a tangled mess, but it didn't take me long to get into the swing of things. I just went at it slowly and soon I had what I needed. By the time I had finished, I was seeing pretty colors -- blues, pinks, and maybe even a bit of yellow. Ah what an exciting and blissful experience! I could see the writing on the wall. My world would never be the same.

My First
My first project was a birth sampler (mine, actually) that designed myself by using motifs I'd found in one of my Mom's old magazines. I found a piece of basketweave fabric in my Mom's fabric stash and untangled a wad of embroidery floss that was at the bottom of her sewing case. I still have it, and actually know where it's at! The sampler, that is... not the wad of floss, LOL.

Thanksgiving and More

2011-11-29T05:50:00.001-06:00

THANKSGIVING
I hope those in the U.S. had a great Thanksgiving holiday. This year, my sibling families scattered for the holiday, so it was just me, the BF, and my parents. I did something I haven't done in almost 25 years... Cook a Thanksgiving dinner! I did come up with a couple of tips for those who are a bit rusty, like myself:

TIP #1
When using the water method of thawing a turkey, it does not mean to drown the poor thing. After all, it's already dead!

This is what happens when I try to multi-task. I walked away to check my email while the sink was filling up. You know how it is... I got immersed in reading and then "Oh Crap!" Off I ran to the sink. I'm not exaggerating when I say: Five seconds later and water would've been running onto the floor! See how the water went over the right side of the sink and across the stainless steel portion of the counter? Luckily, there's a ridge around it!

TIP #2
When the store bought pie instructions say "keep frozen until baking time" and "let sit for TWO hours after baking", they really do mean it! I couldn't bring myself to take a photo of the resulting pie, but suffice to say I had one very runny apple pie.

Here are the results of my manual labor:

It looks burnt on top, but it really wasn't. The darkness is herbs under the skin of the turkey.

The BF made homemade baked Mac & Cheese. So yummy, and of course calorie free!

My Mom brought Udon (yummo). We also had stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and biscuits. I ate so much my tummy hurt, LOL.

All in all, it was a nice Thanksgiving. I'm lucky I have people in my life who really do care about me - both in R/L and online. With the economy the way it is, I'm also grateful I have enough as I know there are many others who do not.

SCHOOL
I'm in the homestretch now... Week 6. Next week, I have my second paper due in addition to the normal textbook reading, postings, and homework. I'm not feeling so bad that I "don't get" and am not "digesting" the textbook reading assignments since my CPA coworker told me that she didn't get anything out of the auditing class when she took it.

STITCHY STUFF
Not a lot of stitching done last week, but I did finish Part 7 of Purple Garden. Only two more parts to go! I do believe I will make the December 31st deadline required by the SAL.

Other WIP pics can be seen HERE.

I've also been stitching the bonus pin pillow chart that goes with the iStitch "Sew A Mystery" SAL I finished a couple weeks ago. There's not much to show other than the border, so I don't have a pic to share.

I've decided to participate in Daffycat's Totally Useless SAL (TUSAL) for 2012. I am so glad she posted the dates for the new moon, LOL.

Last week was my 6 year blogversary. I've been working on a project for one lucky reader of this blog. Stay tuned!

Until next time,

Marvelous Monday Update 11/28/11

2011-11-21T05:17:00.001-06:00

SCHOOL/GRADUATION
Last week, I had a surprise delivered to the office.

My BFF couldn't make it to the graduation ceremony so she had flowers delivered to the office, and mailed a card to me. How sweet is that?!?

I'm at the midway point in my final semester. I had a midterm exam last week. FOUR more weeks to go. Just four!

GIVEAWAY
Lesli at Fabulous Frogger is hosting a giveaway. The unique part of it is that the more followers she gets, the more things she adds to the giveaway. How fun is that?

STITCHY STUFF
Finally! I finished Parts 4, 5, and 6 of Purple Garden. Only 3 more parts to go.

Marvelous Monday Update 11/14/11

2011-11-14T05:38:00.028-06:00

For all the wonderful comments regarding my commencement ceremony last week. Wow, I'm still amazed and thrilled at how many of you took the time to congratulate me!

STITCHY STUFF
Now that graduation is over, I'm settling into my routine again. I finished the last part of the iStitch Mystery SAL. I ended up frogging the initial box twice and finally decided to use one of the other motifs instead. What a bugger it is to frog over-one stitching. I highly don't recommend it!

I'm also almost finished with Parts 4 and 5 of Purple Garden. I ran out of the purple thread. One would think with as much floss as I have, it'd be there somewhere. Nope! After getting the needed floss, I went to town on stitching. Here's what it looks like now:

Last week, Shanda asked what the backs of projects looks like, so I thought I'd share mine here:

iStitch Mystery SAL

Purple Garden

Treasured Memories Quilt Afghan

Guess what? It's my blogversary at the end of this month! Six years ago I started blogging. Lots of bloggers celebrate by doing a giveaway amongst the commenters of a particular post. I'm going to do something different to celebrate my blogversary! Not gonna tell you what, though... that would take all the fun out of it, LOL. Suffice to say, I'm working on a stitchy project. Shhh! It's secret.

And now onto other stitchy news...

I have had Maia's Winter Majesty on my wishlist for a long, long time. Thanks to some retail therapy on eBay, I was able to get the UK kit for less than 1/2 the price it normally costs! Look at this gorgeous piece of art:

The packaging
What it looks like in its entirety
Look at that beautiful face!

YUM-YUMs
Have you ever had pumpkin muffins? I made some over the weekend and they are DE-lish. This was my first attempt at baking them, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Absolutely scrumptious!!

TREASURE HUNTING
Oh Yeah! (I feel like the kool-aid pitcher guy. Remember him?) I found a hinged double 8x10 frame from the 1960's-70's that I'm going to use as part of a birthday present. More on that present to come in December -- I am so excited about it! Also found a desktop pencil holder like I bought years ago for my desk at work. Why is it when you buy a product in the store and really-really like it, it gets discontinued? Anywho, now I have one for my desk at home for a HUGE fraction of the cost I paid for the one I have at work. Now for the ~~"good"~~ awesome finds:

I flipped through every "project" in this book. The information and photos are great! Easy to understand, and even gives good tips on using various things around the house.

Wouldn't you like to "play around" in this workshop?? I would!

These are photos on the inside cover of this book:

Even though I know how to frame, there is a section in the book that talks about making your own frames. So you know me... Ms DIY... I figured it'll come in handy one day.

Years ago, I tried my hand at making Teddy Bears, and still have supplies to make them. The ones in this book are so adorable. It even tells how to dye the fur, which is really cool! The patterns are full size so it should be easy peasy to whip one or two up. Can you believe this gem was only 10cents?

If you love Victorian stitching, these older Leisure Arts books are wonderful! A couple of projects that caught my eye:

Kissing Ball
Isn't this pretty?
Victorian Santa Ornaments
Santa and his reindeer.
I really, really love this project!

Here's another ten-center. I mainly wanted this magazine for "The Stitcher" project in it.

All of the books/magazines (except for the Crafts Encyclopedia) above were purchased at our local VOICES used bookstore. VOICES is a domestic violence program in my area. Having had to utilize the program about 20 years ago, it does my heart good that my purchases are going to a good cause. If I can get my act together, I'll be gathering up the books I no longer want and donating them to VOICES.

The Graduate!

2011-11-07T05:36:00.008-06:00

No, not the movie... silly people... Moi! I graduated on Saturday with a BSBA, majors in accounting and finance, minor in business management. It's been a long, stressful road, but I did it! I graduated Suma Cum Laude (Highest Honors, 3.9GPA) and made the Dean's List. Thank you all for reading about my trials and tribulations, rants and complaints. The comments ya'll have left me raised my spirits on more than one occassion, so THANK YOU from my heart.

Here's my graduation self-portrait. Yes, I actually took this myself! Don't I look "smart"?!

As commencement day arrived, I wasn't as excited as I thought I would be. It wasn't until we lined up to walk into commencement ceremonies did I get emotional. A little girl came up to the graduate behind me and said to her, "You look SO beautiful!" and gave her a hug. I expressed to the grad how sweet it was. She explained the girl was her niece, and that she had told herself she wasn't going to cry. The grad, that is. I teared up a little at that point.

This was one of our speakers. He has a PhD in history and teaches at one of the other campuses. He spoke really well and it was his words that made me tear up again. Amongst other things, he talked about how the grads spent hours after their work day studying, and while family/friends enjoyed their weekends... grads spent their time doing homework. Everything he said was everything I'd been through over the past 2 years. I've missed out on more than a few things due to having to study or take exams.

Here I am being conferred my diploma.
After graduation, I invited my parents and the BF to my house for food. The BF gave me these beautiful flowers that he had the florist create especially for me. Aren't they beautiful?!

Not to be outdone, my Dad picked a petunia from one of my containers and gave it to me. LOL You'd have to know my Dad... That's his sense of humor!

Marvelous Monday Update 10/31/11

2011-10-31T06:37:00.005-05:00

Here it is... the end of another month. The dreaded S-word inching its way closer and closer. Gotta feel sorry for those folks in the northeast, don't you? Wow, that was a dumping of the heavy white stuff! I, for one, am NOT ready! I haven't even gotten out Little Blow and tuned her up for the upcoming season.

Last week was pretty uneventful. I'm getting into the swing of things with school again. There's not an enormous amount of reading like last semester, and the instructor actually participates in the online discussions. I managed to write my paper on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which is due at the end of this week. (And No, I didn't use the "Dummies" book, I just thought it was a humorous graphic.)

Graduation ceremonies is on Saturday. Can I say a big WOO HOO!?! It's a bit of a buzz kill going through graduation ceremonies knowing that I still have 6 more weeks of class left. So you'll probably hear me belting out an even larger WOO HOO in December when I finish class. *big grin*

On the stiching front, I've got my 12 Days of Christmas presents purchased and just need to wrap them up and get them in the mail to the recipient. I am still singing, "Who Let The Frogs Out?". For some reason, I was having a terrible time with Purple Garden last week. I frogged at *least* six times! Ack. I think I'm on the right track now. Obviously with all that frogging, I didn't finish an entire section. But here's the progress so far:

I need to replace the batteries in my flash.
I think that's why the fabric looks purple instead of pink.
*sigh*
I do have a bit of a rant this week, so excuse me while I carefully step up on soapbox I have. Don't laugh, ya'll know how clumsy I am. OK, now for the rant...

The BF took me out for breakfast yesterday to a small family-style restaurant. I've been there many times, and the waitress we had has worked there a long, long time. I ordered my breakfast with scrambled eggs. I'd say 99.8% of the time, I order scrambled eggs. BF heard me order scrambled eggs. My plate comes with eggs over-easy. I didn't notice right away because I was fiddling with the newspaper while she set the plate down and walked away. As soon as I noticed, I did the little finger gesture (No, the *that* one!) to get her attention. I told her she brought me the wrong eggs. Why did she bring me the wrong ones? Because... She wrote it down wrong. The waitress goes to the kitchen to order more eggs. I thought it a bit odd that she didn't take my plate, but whatever. Five minutes later, she returns with an empty saucer plate and tells me to slide my eggs onto it! A bit odd, but OK. I managed to get the eggs onto the saucer without making a mess. Guess what was swimming in the grease under my eggs? Thankfully, not a bug! There was a hair that wasn't mine!! When the waitress returned to retrieve the over-easy eggs, I told her there was hair on my plate. She then says, "Well, let's just get you a whole new plate", grabs it and walks away. She was nice as pie the rest of breakfast, and I was peeved because truly my meal should've been comp'd. BF says that's the last time we'll eat there. Seriously, what kind of restaurant provides service like that and makes the customer pay for it?!

*steps down off the soapbox*

Who Let The Dogs... errr.... Frogs Out?

2011-10-25T10:49:00.002-05:00

Who let the frogs out?

(rib-bit, rib-it, rib-bit, rib-bit)

When the stitchin’ was nice, the needle was smokin’
Progress was goin'

(Hey, Yippie, Yi, Yo)

Who let the frogs out?

(rib-bit, rib-it, rib-bit, rib-bit)

I see ya hoppin’, your little legs headin’ my way
Get back you hippy-hopper
Go away, get away now!

Who let the frogs out?

Marvelous Monday Update 10/24/11

2011-10-24T05:51:00.007-05:00

STITCHY STUFF
First up, the iStitch SAL, Part 7. I think there's only one more part to go.

Also finished Part 3 of Purple Garden:

SCHOOL
Today marks the beginning of a new semester. As many of you know, this is my last class required for graduating! I'm starting Auditing I. I've already finished this week's reading and two of the three online discussion posts.

Graduation is a bit unusual... The graduation ceremony will be held in two weeks, yet my final semester won't be finished until right before Christmas. It's kind of a bummer to be graduated but still finishing school, LOL.

Until next time,

Marvelous Monday Update 10/17/2011

2011-10-17T05:46:00.019-05:00

SICK 'PUTER
At some point over the past two months, some ~~ingrate who has nothing better to do~~ website managed to download spyware/malware onto my laptop. You can read about the About:Blank problem HERE. It's not a contagious kind of spyware... it just slows your computer wayyyy down. I really noticed it toward the end of this last semester of school. Since I couldn't remove it with the programs I have, I took it to a computer repair place. It seems to be working fine now.. Just in time for the new semester to start.

GIVEAWAYS
Kathy of A Stitcher's Heirloom is hosting her first ever giveaway. I just love the name of her blog, don't you? Click on over to see her stitchy projects!

Lisa of Hockey Mom Stitchin' Hobby is hosting a 3-100-500 giveaway to celebrate her blogversary. Check it out, as well as her beautiful stitching project.

PRIZE and RAK's
Dee in TN (no blog) hosted a reindeer contest. We had to guess how many reindeer charts she had chosen to stitch out of the recent stash haul of magazines she acquired. Becky actually won, but she deferred to the next person (moi!) since she won Dee's last contest. Here's what I won:

Sue of Sue's Stitching, Reading, and Family sent me an awesome RAK! She's such a sweetheart, and the list Mom of ESC. Look what she sent me:

The JCS Halloween Ornament issue
-and-
The October issue of Cross Stitch and Needlework
I've already picked out several things I want to stitch up out of all three mags! Thank you so much Dee and Sue *big smiles*

Lisa of Mad Stitches also RAK'd me a couple of charts. First up is Momiji (I call them Kokeshi) Dolls:

She also sent me Spring Fairy by Joan Elliott:

Thank you, Lisa!
STITCHY STUFF
I was able to complete Part 2 of Purple Garden. I've substituted pink for some of the colors in the design.

Last week, I showed the ornament I sent for the "Words of Christmas" exchange. Over the weekend, I received my ornament from Nancy in CA. I think it turned out beautifully!

Thank you, Nancy!
I'm also working on two "secret" stitching projects, which I can't show yet.

Until next time,

Shouting from the Rooftop!

2011-10-13T05:55:00.000-05:00

Hear ye! Hear ye! The grades are in. The grades are in.

Out of 1000 points available this semester, I earned 943 which makes my grade 94%. An "A". At midterm, I was on the borderline A/B with 91%. I think my final exam grade and term paper grade (195/200pts) bumped me up enough that it wouldn't have mattered if I got lower homework and online discussion grades for the last two weeks. This was a really tough class for me. I practically spent every night studying. Needless to say, I am one happy, happy camper!

The other piece of exciting news....

I was inducted as a new member of Alpha Sigma Lambda! Alpha Sigma Lambda is a national honor society for non-traditional undergraduate students who achieve and maintain outstanding scholastic standards and leadership characteristics while handling additional responsibilities of work and family. In order to be inducted, a student needs to maintain a 3.2 GPA. I've maintained a GPA of 3.9 while working mostly full time and taking care of my home as a single girl. I am so proud of myself!

Words of Christmas

2011-10-10T10:44:00.000-05:00

For the HOE "Words of Christmas" ornament exchange, I stitched up Holiday Spirit by Robin of Samplerbird Stitchery. The ornament made its way to a new home with Kathy and Rory of NY. I really like this design, and it's the second time I've stitched it up. (The first one can be seen HERE.)

Design: Holiday Spirit
Designer: Robin at Samplerbird Stitchery
Fabric: 28ct Gray-Green Linen (brand unknown)
Fibers: Anchor, Kreinik Blending Filament
Embellishments: Gold Star Button, 1/4" Runched Ribbon

Marvelous Monday Update 10/10/2011

2011-10-10T05:50:00.010-05:00

SCHOOL
Woo Hoo!! The latest semester is done and I'm on the home stretch now. Woo Hoo!! A lot of happy dancin' going on here. *big grins* Even though the instructor is two weeks behind on grading our weekly assignments, posting, AND term paper, I took the final and it's automatically graded. I got a 92%!! Woo Hoo! Can you tell I'm happy?? LOL

I'm already enrolled for the next semester and received my textbook for Auditing I. In talking with my performance coach at work, he suggested that I go out on an audit to see what it's like in real life. He's going to run it by the head honchos, so we'll see what they say. It was kinda cool that he offered to get me going on that, though.

PHOTO SHOOT
Last week, a couple of commenters asked about why their photos get blurry when trying to take close up pics.

My guess is that you're getting too close to the subject is why it gets blurry. Every camera has a certain distance it has to be from the subject to remain in focus. Usually, it's around 20 inches for a point-n-shoot camera, but you'd have to look in the manual for the exact length. My 300mm lens requires about 36inches. Some of the point-n-shoot cameras have a macro setting that allows close-up photos.

STITCHY STUFF
Two readers asked about my confetti stitches. Normally, I don't carry my thread from one to the next. There were a few on Blossom that I did. If you look on my sidebar under How-To, there's an explanation on how I've done confetti sitches. I used Method #2. An "anonymous" commenter didn't leave his/her name and asked to see the confetti stitches on the backside of Blossom. Here goes:

Over the past several months, I've been watching a SAL called Le Jardín Pourpre (Purple Garden). The German group has a limited membership so I couldn't get in until now. So, I've started a new project! Here's the fabric and floss toss:

Check out the progress these gals have made: Sharmila and Karen
I was able to finish Part One over the weekend. I really like how the colors pop off the fabric I chose.

I received Part 6 for iStitch SAL and stitched it up in one evening. Who sent the frogs???

COOKING
There were several requests for the recipe I used for pretzels last week, so in the next post I've share it along with my notes. Enjoy!

Soft Pretzels

2011-10-10T05:48:00.002-05:00

4 tsp. active dry yeast
1 tsp. white sugar
1 1/4 c. warm water (110F/45C)
5 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. white sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. vegetable oil

1/2 c. baking soda
4 c. hot water
1/4 c. kosher salt, for topping

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 tsp. sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, and salt. Make a well in the center; add the oil and yeast mixture. Mix and form into dough. If the mixture is dry, add one or two tablespoons of water. Knead the dough until smooth, about 7-8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1-2 hours*.

Preheat oven to 400F (230C). In a large bowl, dissolve baking soda in hot water. When risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 12-16 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope (at least 20-24" long – the dough will expand) and twist into a pretzel shape. Once all of the dough is all shaped, dip each pretzel into the baking soda solution and place on a greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake in preheated oven (Use a higher rack to prevent burning the pretzel bottoms.) for 8 minutes, until browned.

Why is baking soda solution necessary? Old world Germans used to dip their brezels (pretzels) in a solution of sodium hydroxide (lye) and water before baking. Lye is a very strong and caustic alkaline. Because most people aren't comfortable mixing lye and water to make pretzels, baking soda - a much weaker alkaline - is now used in most pretzel recipes. Once the pretzels begin baking, a 'Maillard reaction' occurs. This is a chemical reaction sort of like carmelization which allows the exterior crust to become a deep rich brown color. The reaction accelerates in an alkaline environment, which has been provided by the baking soda bath. The baking soda, and resulting reaction, is also responsible for the unique taste of a pretzel. Without the baking soda bath the pretzel exterior ends up pale/white, and taste more like bread. The baking soda step is paramount in making a pretzel a pretzel.

NOTES:
• Let dough rise in your oven, no heat, just turn on the oven light. This will provide a draft free, warm place for dough to double flawlessly. Also use a damp kitchen town instead of plastic wrap to cover bowl and you won't have a dry crust to your risen dough.

• When rolling out the dough, make them much thinner than you think (about the thickness of a finger, or a little less) because they puff up a lot.

• Bring the soda solution almost to a simmer and remove from heat. (I microwaved the mixture for about a minute and half) Soak the pretzels for about a minute, turning once. I did one pretzel at a time.

• Once baked, these freeze up really well. Just thaw and pop in the oven for a couple minutes for an awesome snack! Or, microwave fraozen pretzel for 30 seconds.

• These can be made using the dough hook on a mixer. Just add flour until the dough is no longer sticky.

• Brush with butter after they come out of the oven. It's what gives pretzels the shiny appearance and keeps them from becoming hard, like dough does after baking.

Review: Yiotas Xstitch

2011-10-04T17:57:00.020-05:00

I recently was contacted by Yiota Xstitch and asked to do an "intitial impressions" review of their kits. I received the Geisha with Daughter kit from in the UK. They offer cross stitch kits and charts, with shipping worldwide.

Shipping took about a week to get to the US. That's pretty fast, I think. Even though there was cardboard in the envelope, the PO managed to bend it a little. Why is it when you put "Do Not Bend", it always gets bent?

The kit was packaged in a resealable clear plastic envelope. The design photo appears to be computer generated (scanned image converted to cross stitch). It would've been nice to see a true photo of the chart stitched up. From a distance, the color photo looks fine. Up close the transitions from the shaded areas to nonshaded areas is not very smooth, and detail is lacking.

The design photo and chart are original (not photocopied) and printed on high quality A4 paper. What's really nice is that the chart is printed large enough to see the black and white symbols easily. Charts are available to purchase separately, if you don't want a kit.

The kit comes with Madiera cotton thread wound on bobbins and labeled. I've never used Madiera before, but it feels really good to the touch! Having it pre-wound on bobbins is a big plus for me. The chart also has DMC conversions, which is nice.

The kit comes with a generous piece of 14ct aida. My design size is 8 x 11 1/2". The aida that came with it was 15 x 17". Plenty big enough. I think it would be nice if evenweave was offered as an alternative, even if it increases the cost a little.

A needle comes with the kit, too. It was stuck into the edge of the fabric. Since I don't plan on stitching it up right away, I put the needle in a tiny ziploc bag left over from one of the other kits I've done.

Yiota's website says if you're not happy with the purchase, you can return it for a refund -- no questions asked.

Marvelous Monday Update 10/3/2011

2011-10-03T05:29:00.008-05:00

YUM-YUMS
Do you like the pretzels from the mall or fairs/festivals? The BF and I made these from scratch yesterday:

SCHOOL
It's the last week of the semester. Yay!!! This class certainly has kept me busy. This week I have four chapters of textbook reading plus homework for each, two postings and reponses to other student postings, and of course the FINAL exam. Last week students were able to rate courses and leave commentary. Overall, I thought the instructor was pretty good, but I did leave comments regarding the overwhelming amount of homework, and the fact that he expected us to turn it all in on time (or get a grade of ZERO) yet his timeliness of grading homework was sorely lacking. We'd get our grades anywhere from two to four weeks after we had to turn them in.

GIVEAWAY
Carolyn at Taking One Stitch at a Time is hosting a Halloween Giveaway in celebration of her blogversary. Hurry, hurry. It ends Oct 7th.

STITCHY STUFF
There's been some questions regarding the flowers and confetti stitches I'm doing on Blossom Splendor, so I thought I'd show a close-up pic:

So far, I've done close to 100 of those pesky confetti stitches.

I was able to finish another page! I only have the bottom portion of her kimono left to stitch.

I've started some of the backstitched details using Krienik #4 Very Fine braid. It sure does make those areas sparkly.

Until next time,

Marvelous Monday Update 9/26/2011

2011-09-26T06:44:00.007-05:00

Marvelous indeed! I became a Great Aunt over the weekend!! Six weeks early, what a tiny little bundle he is. Mom and Baby are doing well.

As you can see, he has his Daddy's first name and his maternal grandfather's (my brother) middle name. Since he's so tiny, no one is allowed to hold him yet. He's being fed through a feeding tube, but everything is developed and he breathes on his own.

SCHOOL
In other good news... I finished my term paper! It's a huge relief to have it done-done-done. I also got 100% on my quiz. The "only" schoolwork I have this week is two chapters of reading, homework, and two postings. Two more weeks to go for this semester... Woo Hoo!!

GIVEAWAYS
Aurelia of Eglantine Stitchery is hosting her first ever Christmas-themed giveaway. Stop on over and check it out. While you're there, also take a look at her beautiful stitching!

CELESTE
I gave Celeste part of a cracker and look what she does:

She walks around the house with it hanging out of her mouth. I think eventually she ate it. If not, I'll find a cracker somewhere.

STITCHY STUFF
I finished Part 5 of the iStitch SAL. We're at the halfway point now.

I also found a bit of time here and there to put a few stitches into Blossom Splendor. So far I've done almost 90 confetti stitches.

Until next time,

Confessions of a Stitcher

2011-09-21T06:46:00.009-05:00

A recent question on one of the Yahoo groups prompted my confession. The question was asked:

"We all have WIP/UFO'S, all the best stitchers do.
How long have you been stitching each project?"
Now I do realize that I don't have as many WIP's and UFO's as some of my stitchy acquaintances, but the ones I do have are getting up there in age. Time does fly, doesn't it?

Without further adieu, I confess. My name is Meari. I have the following UFO's/WIP's:

Elegance of the Orient -- started 2001 or 2002
Japanese Garden -- started in 2006
Simply Elegant -- started 2009
Blossom Splendor -- started 12/2010
iStitch SAL -- started 08/2011

ELEGANCE OF THE ORIENT
This was the first Dimensions kit I'd ever used. Prior to this, I kitted up my own projects. The threads had to be sorted. The fabric is 18ct aida. There is a fine gold thread which is a pain to work with. It was also my first asian-inspired piece. As I stitched it, it just wasn't looking like I thought it should. Over the years, it got pushed aside for other projects while I tried to decide what to do. I lost the chart not once, but twice! Luckily, Dimensions has sent me replacements both times. I am probably going to start this over on evenweave. Does it still count as a UFO if I'm going to start it over? LOL What it's supposed to look like is HERE.

SIMPLY ELEGANT
SCISSOR CASE
Lorri Birmingham is the designer of this kit. I've always thought her elegant designs were really pretty. I used to take this kit with me to do during my lunch hour whenever I worked out of town in another office. I stopped working out of town in December 2009. And stopped working on it. (LOL, that just happens to be a coincidence.) I am not fast at specialty stitches -- they are not my favorite either. I love how they look, just don't like doing 'em. With that said, I have to really have time to concentrate on the stitches, hence why it's taking me so long to finish this tiny project.

JAPANESE GARDEN
I was so excited to start this piece back in 2006. It is the first project I'd ever used evenweave on. It is stitched with silk threads, has specialty stitches, and beaded -- also all new to me at the time. It is one of those pieces I really have to have a big block of time to be able to work on because I have to read the directions several times to figure out what goes where and how. Once I do get going, I find I really do enjoy stitching it. All the WIP pics can be seen HERE.

BLOSSOM SPLENDOR
Ever since I saw her on the cover of a magazine, I wanted her -- to stitch her, that is! In 2009, Viv granted my wish by RAK'ing me the magazine. After hand-dyeing the fabric myself, I started this project in December 2010. Working on it steadily since, my plan is to have it completed by the end of this year. Progress pics can be seen HERE. It's amazing to see a project come to life!

iStitch Mystery SAL
I've been a reader of Carol's iStitch blog for several years. When I saw that she was going to open up her Mystery SAL to an additional 25 people, I jumped on the opportunity. It's a pretty tiny piece, only about 3 1/2 x 5". I'm stitching it over-one on an unknown brand of linen. I'm using a varigated Anchor thread called "Flame". I will probably re-stitch it once the SAL is finished because I'm really not liking how big the holes are on the linen... and I'm not sold on the color. Love the design though!

So there you have it... My secrets exposed, confessions out for the world to see. Now, what's YOUR confession?

Marvelous Monday Update 9/19/11

2011-09-19T05:13:00.007-05:00

SCHOOL
This past week was the easiest of weeks since the semester started. The next three weeks will be busy with homework, quiz, term paper, and finals. This week, I need to register for my LAST class. Woo Hoo!

4 FINISHES!
Different kind of stitchy finishes, but fun nonetheless. It's been ages since I pulled out the sewing machine to do anything other than clothing repairs. To actually "create" was a lot of fun!

Baby Bibs!
One side is cotton, the other side is flannel. Aren't they the cutest? I didn't have a live model, so I opted for the next best thing:

Now, don't laugh at her. She's been "well loved". My Dad brought her home when I was two years old. As my Mom tells it, she was taller than I was. Can you picture a two-year old dragging around a doll bigger than herself? It's no wonder the poor baby doesn't have hair on the back of her head! I still remember her new in the box. I don't remember the clothes she had on, but she came with regular clothes and pastel orange footie pajamas and a bottle that she could hold. Over the years, I lost her clothes and substituted real baby clothes. I used to have an entire suitcase of clothes for her and my baby doll baby. As you can see, at some point I decided she needed a manicure.

This brings me to a question: Do you have any toys from your childhood?

During my sewing escapade, I had to dig through my tubs of fabric.

Some of it is vintage, some is yardage, some are fat quarters. I realized (yet *another* project) that I need to get it more organized so that I can see at a glance what I have if I want to finish a stitched project, or sew something. I got as far as this in organization:

These are folded into fat quarter size (and is only a small portion of my fabric stash). Does anyone have good ideas for storage? I store my fabric bins in an unfinished basement in sealed tubs to keep out creepy-crawlies and protected from water seepage that sometimes occurs.

RAK'd
Jenn from This Witch's Stitches sent me a dragonfly chart. I am thinking about stitching it as a scissor fob. Thank you, Jennifer!

STITCHY STUFF
Over the past couple weeks, a few of my readers have asked about the color floss I'm using the the iStitch SAL. It's a varigated Anchor floss (1315) called "Flame".

Carol sent out Part 4 on Friday and I stitched it up last night.

I stitched a bit on Blossom Splendor, too. Soon, I'll be starting another page!

I did have a stitchy finish, but I can't show it until it arrives at its new home. I finished the "Words of Christmas" HOE ornament.

GIVEAWAY WINNER
If you've made it this far, you're probably wondering "Who's the winner?!?" I used the Random Number Generator thingy (so much easier than putting names in a hat!). The winner is Lynn in TX!

On September 15, 2011 Linda said...
I don't know....3 years? I could go back and look I guess. I love the weekly updates, love your writing style, and especially loved the Boyfriend Chronicles....it's always an upper! Keep it going.

Congratulations, Lynn! Please email me with your address and I'll get the package out to you. Thanks for being a reader all these years! (P.S. I think it's been longer than 3 years, LoL)

Sidebar: The first person to comment on my blog when I started it six years ago, still reads and comments on my blog today. :)

Until next time,

275 Followers Giveaway!

2011-09-12T13:35:00.002-05:00

As promised, here is a photo of the giveaway:

As you can see, it's a "Purple" themed giveaway. Unfortunately, I didn't take a very good photo since you can't really see the scissors! Here's what's included:

3 Purple Flower Pushpins
14ct Purple Hand-dyed Aida (Hand-dyed by me!) - I think it's 12x18, not sure tho
Purple Memo Pad
Purple Tape Measure
Cadbury Milk Chocolate in Purple Wrapper
3 skeins of Purple DMC
1 Pair of Purple Embroidery Scissors
Purple Scissor Fob (I stitched this a while back for the giveaway)
1 Spool of Purple Blending Filament
Package of Needles - Not purple, but who can't use needles?

To get an entry for the drawing, leave a comment on this post only telling me how long you've been reading my blog. Easy as that. I'll draw a name on Sunday, September 18th and announce the winner on my next Marvelous Monday update.

So stay tuned!

Until next time,

Marvelous Monday Update 9/12/11

2011-09-12T06:13:00.014-05:00

... continued from last week.

I did get the clogged pipe issue resolved in my bathroom without having to snake it. Just the thought of what may have come out: Yuck! Since the water was draining s-l-o-w-ly, I decided to try another go round with chemicals. I poured Liquid Plumbr Pipe Snake down both the sink and the tub. The product *does* say multiple applications might be necessary. Second time? Score! Both tub and sink are draining normally again, and I saved about $70 from not having to call a plumber -and- didn't have to perform a real snake job. Yay!

SCHOOL
Some of you may already know (because I was practically shouting from my rooftop!) that Midterms are over. After taking the 3 hour online exam, I scored an 84. Woo Hoo! I was so exhausted afterwards, that I took Sunday off from studying. It all starts back up today after I get done with work.

GARDENING
Just some updated photos of my planters and sunflowers. Aren't they gorgeous?

Other gardening/floral pics can be seen HERE.

STITCHY STUFF
I received Part 3 of the iStitch SAL on Friday. I wasn't able to work on it until yesterday afternoon. I finished Part 3!

I also did a bit of stitching on Blossom Splendor. There were a TON of confetti stitches in this section. Here's what she looks like now:

GIVEAWAYS
Deb over at Cranberry Samplings is hosting a giveaway that ends TODAY! Hurry on over to see what it's all about.

Between Stitches is hosting a giveaway also... In honor of 100 followers.

BLOGGY BITS
Speaking of followers... Last week, I finally reached 275 followers! And, I did it the organic way. I didn't ask readers to become a follower in lieu of a giveaway -- they all followed on their own. *big grin*

I would like to take a moment to thank all my readers, and those who comment -- You really do pick me up when I need it, encourage me on, and just plain make me smile. So thank you!

In celebration of reaching the 275 milestone, I will be hosting a giveaway. I've had this giveaway in mind for months, so stay tuned! I will be posting about it shortly.

Until next time,

Love It? Hate It?

2011-09-12T05:14:00.000-05:00

What do you think of this fabric?

Love It? or Hate It?
(Leave a comment!)

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap - Really?

2011-09-08T17:10:00.006-05:00

Anyone who's read my blog for any length of time knows that I'm a sucker for DIY.

So what am I up to now???

Homemade
Liquid Laundry Soap!
Over the years, I've read about women who've made their own laundry soap with great success. It looked easy, so I figured since I'm close to running out of the commercial stuff, I'd give it a go.

I gathered the important "stuff":

Cost: Less than $7

I shaved 1/3 bar of Fels Naptha soap with my food processor. Btw, it took me longer to get the thing out and put it together than it did to shave the soap! It took like 5 seconds.

See what a good job it did?

Meanwhile, In a 2qt. saucepan, I heated approximately 5 c. of water to a boil on the stove. I added the soap shavings *after* I reduced the water to a simmer and covered with a lid. Once in a while, I stirred it up.

While the soap was melting, I filled a 5-gallon bucket with about 3 gallons of hot water. A 2qt or gallon pitcher works great for this. Then I added 1/2 c. of washing soda and 1 c. of borax. A wooden spoon works good to stir it all together. I could've put in some sort of scent (essential oils) at this point, but I don't have any so I didn't.

After the soap is melted, I added it to the bucket and this is what I got:

Cover and let it "brew"!

I just happened to have a frying pan lid that perfectly fits the top of a 5-gallon bucket. Who would've thunk it?? Incidentally, I did this on my lunch hour. At 9pm, the concoction in the bucket was still warm! I did stir it occassionally.

Different websites varied on what the consistency should be. I think it depends on the amount of borax and washing soda put in, but don't quote me on that. The soap may be watery or gel up in areas, or may be slightly lumpy in areas. Some said theirs came out like pudding. In any case, it's all normal!

24 hours later... Again, on my lunch hour I got to see the fruits of my (15 minutes) labor!

Smells like laundry soap!

Using a measuring cup and funnel, I transferred it to gallon jugs that I had in the basement, complete with directions label. (I'm sooo proud of myself! *giggles*)

Looks like MILK, doesn't it?
It actually made 3 1/2 gallons, but who wants to see half a jug? No one.

If you're like me, you'd be wondering: "This is great and all, but what's the cost breakdown?" (The accountant in me, ya know? Can't help it! Shush.)

Cost break down: (as of 2011)
• Borax: $2.98 for 76 oz. Cost per batch: 63cents (16 oz. needed for recipe)
• Washing Soda: $2.99 for 55 oz. Cost per batch .43cents (8 oz. needed for recipe)
• Ivory Soap: $.99 for 3 3.1 oz. Bars. Cost per batch: 33cents (1 bar of soap needed for recipe)
• Or Fels Naptha $.97 for one bar. Cost per batch: 32cents (1/3 bar needed)

Cost to make: approximately 1.38cents

Yield: 464 oz.
Cost per oz. = .00303

One-half cup (4 oz) is what's needed to wash normally soiled clothes. That makes it 1.2 cents per load of laundry!! How many loads? About 116!

As soon as I finish up the rest of my commercial laundry soap, I'll be trying this and let ya'll know what I think. I've been using borax as a laundry booster for a while, and Fels Naptha is a good stain remover so I'm guessing it'll work just fine.

P.S. This is a low-sudsing soap and works fine with top loading, front loading, and HE machines.

Yes, I'm Surviving

2011-09-06T07:31:00.010-05:00

another week of school. Last week, I had 4 homework assignments, 3 chapters (87pgs) to read, 2 online assignments to post, and 1 paper to write. It was tough, but I made it! The grueling schedule isn't getting much easier: Work, Homework, Sleep. Rinse. Repeat. How many more weeks to go in this semester? Oh yeah... 4 more. That reminds me.. this week is midterms.

CELESTE
She sure has my readers fooled, doesn't she? Looking like she poses all cute and pretty for the camera. Actually, my ~~little snot~~ adorable furbaby hates having her photo taken. She will see me coming and as soon as I put the camera to my face, she will turn her head! I always have to catch her off guard, or use my long zoom lens so that she doesn't know it's her I'm actually photographing, lol. You can see a chronicle of her life HERE. Wasn't she a cute baby??!

STITCHY STUFF
Last week, I finished stitching and beading HOE "Words of Christmas" ornament. All I need to do is finish it into an ornament. No pics -- It's a surprise!

I also got out Blossom Splendor and finished up one page and started another. She now has her other hand and all her hair. The page I'm working on now has a ton of those blue and purple flowers... and lots of confetti stitches.

Other WIP pics can be seen HERE.

THE HOMESTEAD
Lots of repairs going on at The Homestead. Over the weekend, I had to fix one the shelves in my spare room closet. I built these last year. Unfortunately, it didn't occur to me to put the grain of the shelf perpendicular to the brackets. Even though there wasn't much weight on it, the shelf split right down the middle. Solution? Wood glue and supporting bars underneath.

The best part? New Tools!! Actually, I didn't need new tools. I *could have* used screws and my cordless drill. As fun as that might be, I opted for door #2! I'd been wanting a small air compressor for a while, and Menards had a Tool Shop brand on sale for $50 off the normal price. Yes, I *know*. Cheap! Cheap price, cheap made. For what I'll use it for, it'll do.

It came with a stapler, brad nailer, and finishing nailer. I HAD to try them all out when I got home. I ended up using the brad nailer to fix my shelf. Worked great! OK, so one project down.

Back in May, I bought a new laser printer. I replaced my 17-year old HP laser printer. I've only used the new printer a few times, and it's planting thumbprint size spots on the paper. After contacting Brother (that's the brand, not *my* brother, lol), they emailed me a few things to try. The first one didn't work. The second one involves cleaning the drum... Haven't gotten that far.

What else could go wrong? Umm... Last night, I decided to soak in the tub since my back has been bothering me. As I dried off, I heard the tub draining and then... I heard it stop and the sink started gurgling. Water came up about 1/4" in my sink! Not what I wanted to deal with at 8:30PM! So, off to the store I go to get some clog stuff. Did it work? Nope. At least it's draining... albeit s-l-o-w-ly. I did try the plunger on the sink -- black, yucky stuff came up. I think I'll need to snake it.

Stay tuned for next time...

Marvelous Monday Update 8/29/11 (on Tues)

2011-08-30T07:14:00.001-05:00

Hard to believe it's the end of August already? With my nose constantly in textbooks, I missed summer. Boo!

GARDENING
My vegetable garden didn't fare so well this year. With all the rain, the tomatoes split, got buggy, and rotted on the vines. Only one cucumber vine grew and I got two cukes off it. The spinach didn't grow at all. Again, Boo!

Despite the weather conditions, my flowers did great. Remember the sunflower seeds I received in an exchange from Betty in NV? They are taller than my neighbor's garage.

I was really excited last week when I saw the heads were finally starting to bloom and bees were helping the pollination. :)

My double knockout roses are blooming for the third time this summer:

THE BROOD
Celete must be getting older. I took her for a walk on the walking path near my house. In times past, she was able to do the whole thing, albeit a bit ~~pooped~~ worn out by the time we got home. This last time, she stopped about 1/3 of the way and had to rest. Three-quarters of the way, I had to carry her because she refused to walk. After a while, I put her down and she walked. Less than a block from home, she refused to walk again. Poor doggie. It wasn't even hot that day. I've decided to leave her home when I walk the path, because I don't want to be carrying the dog!

Here's a pic of her from last week where she was enjoying the cooler temps. She's also sporting her summer 'do.

Charley. What am I going to do with that bird? She has two issues going on, or maybe I have two issues with her. One, she is projectiling poop (Yes, poop!) all over the walls near her cage. I swear she sticks her ~~stinky butt~~ rear end up to the bars of her cage and let's it fly! I clean it up when I find it, but it's staining the paint on the walls. Any bird owners have that problem? Issue #2 is that she lays eggs and tries to sit on them... for weeks. She pushes them around in the bottom of her cage, and tries to shove her body between the bars to get closer. She's quiet during that time, but as soon as I clean her cage she's back to squawking unless I sit within eyesight.

STITCHY STUFF
Several of my readers have asked about the iStitch Stitch-Along (SAL). It's being hosted by Carol at her iStitch blog. Initially, she agreed to let 100 stitchers participate. Then she opened up 25 more spots. They filled up fast! I think I found out about it during the last 25 openings. Every two weeks, she will release another part to the mystery SAL. If participants stitched it according to Carol's instructions, it can be mounted on a box from Hobby Lobby as seen HERE.

Last Friday, Carol sent out Part 2 of SAL. By Saturday night, I had Part 2 stitched! What do you think?

I also started the ornament for HOE's "Words of Christmas" exchange. I finished the stitched part, and am almost done with the beading part. Then assembly and viola! Finished.

I received my HOE Lizzie Kate-themed ornament today! It came from Jayne at Jayne's Stitching Tales... all the way from the UK.

Thank you, Jayne!
It's adorable.

The postman was really good to me today! I also received the sweetest card from Glenna in KS thanking me for the great job I'm doing as coordinator of BFC in the ILCS group. She also included two skeins of floss... How thoughtful *big smile*. Thank you so much, Glenna!

SCHOOL
School is really sucking ~~the life outta me~~ up all my free time. Last week, we had our first quiz -- Luckily, we get to take them twice. The first time I got a "C"... Yikes. The second time I got 100%. Note to self, print the quiz questions and answers out when you take it the first time in case you don't remember how you answered the questions!

I have a 3-page "descriptive essay" on Monetary Policy due this week. (Let's hope it's not quite as descriptive as my last blog post!) Plus 3 chapters of reading (another 90+ pages), written assignments for each chapter, AND online postings.

Next week is midterm already! No re-takes on that bugger.

Until next time,

Good Riddance!

2011-08-29T19:38:00.030-05:00

Some of my ~~enthralled fans~~ long time readers may recall me sporadically mentioning my second job (unaffectionately called J2). I started working for J2 a year ago. Let's take a walk down memory lane, shall we?

I applied for a job on craigslist. Note to self: Employers who advertise on craigslist are usually cheapskates (don't want to pay for advertising) and are probably undesireable places to work. I digress. I applied, interviewed and was hired on the spot for the wage I quoted.

I was hired to work 8-12 hours a week. I ended up working 16-20 hours a week, while working 32 hours at J1 -and- going to school. I managed to get the books caught up as much as possible considering the "bosses" were never there to answer questions, or ~~refused to~~ ~~inept at~~ using email or pen and paper in response to my emails. I pretty much came to the conclusion: "If they're not going to take responsibility, I can only do so much."

This was last July. By November, I was sooooo ready to resign. In addition to the aforementioned making it difficult to do my job, you can read about the profanity and scantily clad women HERE. I sucked it up and convinced myself to hold out until something better came along.

Next thing I know it's May and still no luck in finding another part-time gig. Everything previously mentioned had not changed. It became a running joke between the BF, BFF, and I as to how many minutes I would be at work before I heard the F-bomb. LOL

I did not know when I was hired how BAD the company was financially. The VP claimed it was due to another company not paying them for a subcontract job they did. I have to disagree since J2 owes their suppliers wayyyyyy more than this company owed. Anywho, in May ~~liquid crap~~ stuff started hitting the fan. First it was direct deposit payroll... All of a sudden, they decided to no longer do direct deposit. Then it was the IRA contributions... no more. That part didn't affect me because I was part time. Since it was part of my job, I DID ensure those contributions were paid until the cease date. Then... we didn't know from week to week whether we were getting paychecks! Ack! You can read more about that HERE.

Let's mosey on to July of this year, shall we? By this time, J2's bank had cut them off. They had maxed out their almost million dollar line of credit, were overdrawn on both the operating and payroll checking accounts, and couldn't make the loan payments. The whole time ~~they were whining~~ complaining about how it's the bank's fault! Whaaat?

Then the brilliant idea was hatched. ~~I think perhaps they tipped a few too many at the pub one night.~~ Start a new company! Then file for bankruptcy with the old one. Read all about it HERE. You really can't get the full effect unless you read it.

Then things really started getting exciting! The PM of the old company (now a partner in the new company) was insisting that the new company be run like a company should be. The bosses of the old company wanted to play "business like always", which is why they were in the predicament they were in with the old company. Btw, did I mention their father owned a company that filed for bankruptcy a decade previous? And they had another company that filed the big "B" about 6 years ago. Do ya see a trend here?? Anywho, the owners of J2 (who were Dad and Uncle of the other partner of the new company) really had the intention of using the PM as a "face" to the new company so that suppliers and potential jobs didn't know who the company really was.

Almost one month to the day of starting the new company, it got to the point where there was no communication between the PM, his partner, or the bosses at J2. The PM quit - I'd like to think he said "F-this! I'm not putting my home on the line for this." He was gone within the week. The bosses at J2 were reportedly telling people the PM was fired. The secretary said it was a lie... She heard him quit. Next thing we know, there's a new PM. Ironically, he was on lay-off from the aforementioned company that owed J2 money, LOL.

By the middle of August, the secretary quit. Afterall, they DID tell her to seek other opportunities. She is a single mom, so I really don't blame her.

Are ya still with me? Riveting, I know! Almost like a soap opera, isn't it?

Last week, I saw that the son of the bosses (Yes, the last remaining partner of the newly formed ~~maybe defunct~~ company) was trying to do J2's payroll. Incredulously I asked, "Are you doing payroll?" As he fumbled around, I could clearly see he was having trouble. I informed him that I knew how to do payroll. The VP (who hired me to do that stuff), looks at me and says, "You do? Huh." All I could think was "O-M-G!". I told them I would do payroll and did.

This past Wednesday, I had to call J2 whereby I found out they hired another secretary/office girl/~~whatever title they came up with~~. So, this is TWO office girls they've hired and ~~neglected~~ chose not to tell me! So, Friday rolls around. Just call me Girl Friday because that's the day I go in to make sure the books are in order, to do tax returns, and union reports, close out month end, etc... since they decided the last secretary could do the other things I did. Now they've hired a new one...

I get there on Friday and introduce myself. She starts complaining about the lack of training. It was all I could do to not ~~say something sarcastic about training~~ to laugh or smirk. I proceeded to tell her that when I started a year ago, I had to pretty much figure it out on my own. I asked her where she worked before and she started bragging about how she had an "accounting background" because she worked in the office of the country club. Oh really? OK. She proceeded to ask what I did at J2... THEN says, "Well, later I'll watch over your shoulder to see what you do." I thought to myself, "The H-ell you will." She also admitted she had no payroll experience other than submitting hours to ADP. So, I showed her how to do payroll. Rather than doing it herself, she had me do it and watched. Usually not a good way of learning, but hey... Who am I to argue?

Let's skip along to when the bosses finally show up, OK? Both were in an office and I asked if they had a minute -and- I closed the door. Very diplomatically, I said: "Now that you've hired someone with accounting experience, what are your long term plans for my position?" I totally caught them off guard! The VP (the guy who hired me, remember?) stammered and could hardly look at me, kept mumbling "I don't know." The president told me that they were looking at getting an investor and he had 5-6 accountants of his own, yadda, yadda, yadda. He eventually said, "Probably 2 weeks to month"

Oh really, and at WHAT POINT were you going to spring this on me? AFTER I train the new girl? I didn't say that, but it's what I was thinking. Talk about an insult to the intelligence! Did I mention the president also said, "We'd understand if another opportunity came up". Sound familiar? It should -- it's basically what they told the secretary. Oh, and did I mention they told me they were starting *another* company (a THIRD one!) if this new investor gets onboard. Again, my guess is the new investor will be the "face" of the company so no one will know who's really involved.

Oky doky. For those who don't know me, I can be pretty good at hiding my emotions. Where as most people would've said "F-You" and stormed out, I calmly went through my day. I finished up payroll (and added the hours I planned on working that day). They signed the paychecks, not even questioning or noticing that my paycheck was twice the normal amount. Two days worth instead of one. I knew if I didn't add my last day's hours to the previous week's, I'd never get paid for it. I closed out the books for the month I was working on, and proceeded to do most of the next. I cleaned everything up and left a note as to how far I got.

The whole day I was fuming inside... not so much about getting let go, I'd been expecting that... it was more about the fact that they *thought* they were going to use me and then lay me off.

Now remember how I said I was ready to resign November of last year? Really, I was. I had a resignation letter ready to go, saved on my desktop at home. On my lunch hour Friday, I went home and got that resignation letter. I put a copy in my employee file. I worked until 5pm, set the alarm, and locked up like I always did. I promptly drove to the post office, put the key in with the resignation letter and mailed it.

I'm sure they've gotten it by now. I did apologize in my resignation letter. "I apologize for the lack of 2-week notice, but due to circumstances beyond my control my resignation is effective immediately." There were many "circumstances" beyond my control that went through my brain... none of which I could state in a letter, though. LOL

Like my coworker at J1 said: Yes, I need the money but I also need my sanity, too. There was too much drama, unprofessionalism, and unethical things going on at J2. Then to insult my intelligence.

Buh-bye!

Freebie Friday

2011-08-26T13:12:00.003-05:00

Breast Cancer Awareness Ornament
by Dragonfly Stitches
(Click HERE for the freebie)

Bird on Blossom

2011-08-24T05:25:00.009-05:00

... finally winged it's way to its new home.

I participated in a private mailart exchange with Evalina of This and That. I sent off the envelope over three weeks ago and was becoming worried it would never get there. Finally, I received word from Evalina that she received it!

Here's what I created for Evalina:

Clickable for Larger Photo
Design: Bird on Blossom
from book, A Cross Stitcher's Odyssey
Designer: Joan Elliott
Fabric: 22ct Hardanger, hand-dyed by moi!
Stitched: One over one
Fibers: DMC
Embellishments: LaMode buttons #4537, fabric trim

So now I'm anxiously waiting for hers to get to me :)

Marvelous Monday Update 8/22/11

2011-08-22T05:50:00.010-05:00

SCHOOL
Whew! Last week was rough. Despite spending the last week of my summer "break" reading the 93 pages for the start of school, the tough schedule had me beat by the end of the week. I managed it all, and got ahead start on this week's homework. We have a quiz this week and I have to start my 3-page descriptive essay on Monetary Policy, so we'll see how IT goes. I'm sure the instructor ~~is on crack~~ thinks students don't have a life outside of the online classroom.

Only 7 more weeks to go.... 7 more weeks

SHOOT THE DOG -OR- THE OWNER?

Now ya'll know that I love animals, right? Right. My northern neighbors not so much. Last year, they decided to ~~take a foray into dog breeding~~ become backyard breeders. They built two small kennels and put two Siberian Huskies in each one. These dogs rarely get to leave the kennels... no walks, no runs, no nothin'. Over the weekend, the female must've gone into heat because the other dogs ~~would not SHUT UP~~ were carrying on something fierce. Finally by 4am Sunday morning, I called the police (Yes, the dogs carried on all day and all night!). Sunday and this morning, the dogs were still whining and yelping because they couldn't get to the female.

So... Do I shoot the dogs? Or, the owners?* LOL

STITCHY STUFF
Since school ~~sucked up and destroyed~~ consumed all my free time last week, I only have a little stitchy "finish" to show. I managed to finish Part 1 of the iStitch SAL.

I did put a few stitches on Blossom Splendor, but not enough to warrant a photo.

Until next time,

*Disclaimer: I would never shoot anyone or anything. It was a rhetorical question

Freebie Friday

2011-08-19T05:56:00.005-05:00

Heart Stitcher by A Mon Ami Pierre
(Click HERE to get the Freebie!)

Dear Santa....

2011-08-17T07:55:00.003-05:00

We've Got Cookies!
And I have a finish that I am going to show :) I *finally* received word that it arrived at its new home with Amy at Cross Stitch and Cupcakes. I sent it over three weeks ago and apparently, Amy was on vacation until recently. Lucky girl!

I stitched this up for the HOE Lizzie Kate Ornament Exchange. It turned out larger than I anticipated, but adorable nonetheless. I found the perfect fabric for the back:

Dear Santa, We've Got Cookies #S50 Snippet
Designer: Lizzie Kate
Fabric: 28ct Hand-dyed Evenweave
(color and brand unknown)
Fibers: DMC
Size: 5x6.25"
Embellishments: Mill Hill Seed Beads,
Miniature Snowflakes
& Runched Ribbon
Here are close-ups of the details:

(Clickable for larger image)

Marvelous Monday Update 8/15/11

2011-08-15T05:27:00.014-05:00

So how did your week go?

First up, is the quick and dirty version. Following is a more detailed look. So grab a snack and get ready for a great read!

• First... I did a block-head thing Tuesday night. I had the corner ornament on JG all stitched up, right? Well, I was stitching some gold very-fine braid between the black rows and "thought" I miscounted the spaces between the black rows. I "thought" I was off by one stitch which meant I'd have to frog everything to the left of it... which was considerable. No, I didn't frog all that! I frogged the little section of black and part of the foliage of the bonsai plant next to it, thinking I'd make up the error there and it wouldn't be noticeable. Well... the next time I sat down to stitch it, I realized I WASN'T off at all. Ugh, lol. So now I have to re-stitch the part I frogged and the bonsai leaves, which is about 10 or 12 stitches. Can't believe I did that!

• Second... I was heading down the basement stairs Thursday morning, and slipped a few from the bottom. In trying to catch myself, my arm scraped against the fireplace wall which is right next to the stairs. I have a scrape halfway down my arm and my wrist was bruised and a bit swollen. I'm fine, though. The worst part is that it’s on the part of the arm where you rest on so every time I’d put my arm down on something… ouchie!

• Third... I was working on a DIY project before work one day last week. I looked in the mirror to find green paint smudges on my face. Ack. So down to the basement I go once again (no, that's not when I fell) to get some paint thinner to remove the paint. Fun stuff. Not.

• Fourth... In preparation of school starting, I spent last week "trying" to get my chapters read to be ahead of the game. I've been so exhausted by the time I get home from work, it was all I could do to get a few pages read. I actually fell asleep while trying to read some of the chapters.

• Lastly... On Saturday, I was cleaning my stove when I noticed blood spatters all over. I’m not sure how it happened, but my theory is that I sliced my finger open while trying to pull the knobs off the stove in order to clean behind them. My finger hurt a bit at the time, but I thought it was due to my trying to shove my pudgy fingers behind those knobs in order to pull them off. Well, I was so busy cleaning and rinsing the dishcloth in the sink, I didn’t realize I sliced my finger open until I saw blood all over. I’ve been wearing a bandage over my index finger since then. Do you know how hard it is to stitch and type? I actually developed a cramp in my hand from trying to stitch with my thumb and middle finger, lol.

And now for the good stuff!

SCHOOL
~~Yippee! Woo Hoo! Yay!~~ Guess what? School officially starts today. I actually started reading the textbook last week. 96 pages due for this week. By the third chapter, I was ready to poke my eyes out with my stitching needles (lol). I've read more about how interest rates are forecasted and the theories behind it than I care to know about. What I really "loved"... NOT... was how I read about a theory 3 times (I'm a little slow, OK? Shush!) only to find out a couple theories later that the first one really isn't accurate because of... blah, blah, blah. Talk about annoying. Thankfully, the last chapter was interesting. At least to me. It was about The Fed, how it works, who's involved, etc.

In case you missed my previous posts: I'm taking a finance class called Financial Markets and Institutions. It's my second to last class before graduating in November. Yippee! Woo Hoo! Yay!

COOKING
Yesterday's weather was awesome... 70's, nice breeze, and no humidity! What better day than to grill out. Who am I kidding? I've been known to grill out in the middle of winter. But, I digress. I found a recipe called Lime Cilantro Kebobs Mexicano. After reading reviews, I decided to change it up a bit. Basically, I marinated the chicken chunks in the lime cilantro mixture. Then the kebobs were brushed (not part of the original recipe) with a chili powder-garlic basting sauce. So, it turned out more like Cajun Lime Cilantro Kebobs. Talk about Yummo!!

This photo was right when I put the kebobs on the grill. When they were done, the chili powder turned black (like blackened fish does). The cooked kebobs smelled so good!

The local grocery store has had strawberries on sale for 99cents a pint for over a month now. They are soooo good. Soon, strawberries are going to be growing out my ears because I keep buying and eating them. Based on a salad I had at the St. Louis stitching retreat a couple years ago, I made my own version of a strawberry salad.

This was made out of a gourmet lettuce that was on sale for 99cents for four heads (Now the store sells it for $1.99!), strawberries, shredded parmesan cheese, vinegarette dressing. Talk about tasty!!

CREATE-DESIGN-INSPIRE
Sometimes, I amaze myself with the things I come up with and the journey it takes me on. I took this:

and made it into this:

Oh, did you want to know about the journey? First, I primered the shelf white. Do you know how many different directions you have to turn a shelf like this to get every nook and cranny painted? A lot! Then I painted it the same color green I used on my scissor display shelf.

Then came the "fun" part. I wanted to put inspirational words on the shelf, but how? I thought about the cool vinyl letters that those fancy-schmancy cricut machines do, but alas, I don't have one. So then I thought about the press on letters. Couldn't find any that were big enough or tiny enough in a font that I liked. I thought, "Maybe I can make my own press-on letters." So I tried various techniques online using my laser printer. Those ideas didn't work either. I could've bought water-slide decal paper, but I really didn't want to pay ~~through the nose~~ that much for the paper. It's kinda expensive.

During this adventure, I had printed the words I wanted on transparency sheets (one of the failed attempts). As I stood in front of my craft armoire looking for inspiration, it came to me! I grabbed my dressmaker transfer paper and proceeded to use it to trace the lettering from the transparency sheet to the shelf. Then I used permanent marker to color it in. Worked like a charm. :) The best part? I could "erase" the excess transfer marks -- Yes, I went outside the lines -- with a damp cloth. It wiped ~~write~~ right off. :)

What am I going to use the shelf for?

Right now, my paints. In the future, who knows?

Materials
Spice Rack found at Thrift Store -- 49cents
Can of Primer -- already had it
Can of Green Paint -- leftover from another project
Dressmaker Paper -- from my high school sewing class days
Transparency Sheet -- who knows where I got that from!
Permanent Sharpie Marker -- school does come in handy :)

STITCHY STUFF
Last week, I received an awesome RAK (random act of kindness) from Vickie at Reading and Stitching. She said she thought of me immediately when she saw them.

What do you think?
Is it me?
I think it is!
Thank you, Vickie, for thinking of me. :)

Now that school is starting, I've put JG back in her pillow case. That's where she resides when I'm not stitching her. Shamelessly, I've started another project. Carol over at iStitch is hosting a Mystery SAL. This is the first SAL I've done, so I am looking forward to seeing how it turns out. I'm not so sure about my thread choice, but I'm just going to go with it, as they say. Here's what my SAL looks like so far:

It's tiny. Carol recommended 40ct over two, but I didn't have any so I went with 36ct over-one.

GIVEAWAY
Sharon, aka Daffycat, is hosting an End-Of-Summer Giveaway on her blog. Go check out the cutest ever gnomes.

OTHER CRAFTY STUFF
Long time readers may remember the fabric-covered bobbins I made last year to store ribbon and lace on.

Since I had the spray cans out, I thought I'd try something different. Did you know I annointed myself "Spray Paint Queen"?

I had some of the cardboard templates cut out with the intention of making more fabric-covered bobbins, but never got around to it. I primered a few of those. Not sure if primering was necessary, but I did it anyway. Then I spray painted them and added the eyelets with my handy-dandy crop-a-dile.

I did some in blue also, but didn't take a photo. It's not quite as decorative as the fabric ones, but they're quicker to make -and- look nicer than brown cardboard.

I was quite crafty last week, wasn't I?

Until next time,

Freebie Friday

2011-08-12T07:02:00.003-05:00

New Haircut by Margaret Sherry
(Click HERE to get the freebie!)

Marvelous Monday Update 8/8/11

2011-08-08T05:51:00.028-05:00

WEATHER
More photos of the July 27/28 flooding. My coworker sent me photos of Galena, Illinois which is another city about 40 minutes west of me. One of my nieces graduated high school there. In the storm where we received 7" of rain, they received 13". The entire downtown area was flooded.

To see what these tracks looked like before the flood, go HERE.
Take note of the car wedged between the pipe and the ground!

MORE SCISSOR /
FLOWER FROGS!If anyone is interested, I have a couple more scissor frogs on my Stash-for-Sale blog. There's a link on my sidebar, or click HERE.

Revised: These are already spoken for.

STITCHY STUFF
Thanks for the compliments on Blossom Splendor and Japanese Garden (aka JG). Lana at A Joyful Stitcher asked who the designer is for Blossom. Blossom Splendor was designed by Joan Elliott. Several of my bloggy readers commented on the cherry blossoms, thinking they were French Knots. Actually, they are Jessica Stitches similar to the one at the right.

I am almost finished with the stitching on the upper left corner ornament on JG! One more specialty stitch and viola! it's done (except for beading).

Not sure how much more I'll be working on this since I have to start studying for school again.

On different stitchy notes:

The BF asked me the repair his winter work overalls. I sent a shoutout for black jean-type material to the Freecycle members and a lady came through for me. She even delivered! In addition to black jeans, she also gave me a black canvas apron. I ended up using the apron because it was a similar to the material the overalls were made of. I didn't even have to cut up the apron... I just took the pocket off the front. The pocket was enough to patch one ~~gaping~~ large hole and two smaller holes. Coincidentally, the lady was the same one who gave me a lawnmower 6 years ago.

A couple weeks ago, my parents stopped over for a visit. Dad proudly admitted that he finally has worn out his jeans and had to dig through his ~~stash~~ stored clothes for new jeans. I finally finished hemming his jeans. He should be good to go for a few years, LOL.

GIVEAWAYS
Sarah of CraftyMoo is hosting a giveeaway relating to her holiday in the Highlands. Pop on over and take a looksee.

Terri at Dixie Samplar is hosing a "Welcome Back to Blogging" giveaway in honor of getting her blog back up and running. Hop on over to read what happened.

TREASURE HUNTING
After my chiro appointment on Saturday, I stopped at a couple of garage sales. At one yard sale, there were gallon sized ziplocs full of ribbons, lace, and cording. The lady running the sale told me they were $1 a piece. Couldn't pass that up, could I? For $3, I got all this stashy goodness:

I also came home with a new purse... a Tommy Hilfiger purse for $3. It's got lots of compartments and well-made compared to the one I was carrying around.

Until next time,

Marvelous Monday Update 8/1/11

2011-08-01T06:59:00.008-05:00

WEATHER
Remember Summer Flood 2010? If not, go HERE. Last Wednesday night, several areas of my county received 5-10" of rain in less than 3 hours. My city received about 7". I spent the next three days sucking up over 140 gallons of water off my basement floor with a 6-gallon wet/dry shopvac. The basement is finally dry again! In addition to the heavy rains, we had torandic rotations and straight-line winds of about 80mph. Several streets and roads were closed due to flooding and downed tree limbs.

Farther west of me, received worse weather. These are photos taken in East Dubuque, Illinois... sent to me by my sister, who used to live there:

On Thursday, I turned on the nightly news. I was surprised to see my aunt, who lives about 20 minutes west of me. She lives alone out in the country near a creek. The creek flooded and she had to be boat-rescued by the county sheriff's department. Her basement filled with water and her car was half under water.

After seeing what other people are going through, 140 gallons of water doesnt seem so bad! One would think after all that wind and rain, the temperatures and humidity would've dropped some. Nope! My tiny window AC unit has been running non-stop. I only go outside when necessary. Too bad the yard can't mow itself, haha.

STITCHY STUFF
With a little prodding from the Peanut Gallery at ILCS, I pulled out JG and worked on it. Much to my dismay, I realized some of the stitching I did last time had to be frogged. I stitched "cherry blossoms" in the wrong color. I had to frog 6 of those tiny buggers and re-stitch them. At least they look like cherry blossoms now instead of brown blobs. Just to prove I did stitch on JG, here's an update:

My plan is work on this until school starts back up, which is about a week away.

Before I decided to put Blossom Splendor on the back burner again, I did get some stitching done on her. I finished stitching the arm of her kimono, started her right hand, and did a bunch of the blossoms.

I finished the ornament for the Lizzie Kate Exchange on HOE. It turned out bigger than I anticipated, but soooooo adorable! No pics until the it arrives at its new home, but here's a tiny preview:

Until next time,

Marvelous Monday Update 7/25/11

2011-07-25T05:24:00.023-05:00

WEATHER
I think this says it all......

As I said in my previous post, the week started out with 16 states under extreme heat advisory. Three days later, there were THIRTY-TWO states under the advisory. Ack! My area had 100+ actual temps and humidity so thick my lungs practically seized up when I stepped outside.

I called my parents (who are senior citizens... shhhhh!) to make sure they were OK seeing as they don't have air conditioning. Well, they have an AC unit but Dad won't put it in the window because it "costs too much". Anyway... I called, they were OK, and Mom explained my Dad's geri-rigged method of getting the cool air from the basement upstairs, lol. I wasn't surprised since he used to do that when I still lived at home. Whatever works, Dad! Mom was thrilled to peaches that I called to check on them.

Over the weekend, we had strong (and LOUD) thunderstorms with quite a bit of rain. I've already sucked up 18 gallons of water off my basement floor! Last night, the humidity broke and it's a beautiful, cool, sunny morning. :)

GARDENING
When I woke up Saturday morning, everything outside was covered in rain drops. I grabbed my camera and took a few shots. The first one is a tiger lily not quite open yet, and the other one is hosta flowers.

I think they turned out awesome!
SCHOOL
Up until last Thursday, I was ~~flipping out~~ stressin' over the final exam... especially after taking the stressful midterm.

Stress Reliever #1: I calculated how many points I'd need on the final to maintain an "A" for the class. I only needed to get a 69!

Stress Reliever #2: Students were supposed to have 2½ hours to take the final. Turns out the instructor forgot to set the timer on the final, which I didn't realize until I was 3/4 done with the exam (The timer wasn't counting down).

Results: I just checked the online classroom, and found out that I got 99.39 out of 100! *happy dancing* Woo Hoo!

Did I mention I only have TWO classes left until I graduate?
T-W-O! Woo Hoo!!! Did I mention I'll be graduating in November?? Yes, sireee!

GIVEAWAYS
Parsely at Seasons of my Mind is hosting a Christmas in July giveaway. She'd like to meet more bloggy friends!

Gabi at Lady of the Floss is also hosting a giveaway in honor of her upcoming blogversary. Click on over and congratulate her.

Peggy at Keep Me in Stitches is also celebrating a blogversary -- one year of bloggy bliss!

STITCHY STUFF
It's been a whole month since I've been able to work on Blossom Splendor. She received quite a bit of attention over the weekend. The other sleeve of her kimono is almost finished!

Until next time,

Marvelous Monday Update 7/18/11

2011-07-18T06:57:00.037-05:00

WEATHER
16 states (Count them... S-I-X-T-E-E-N) are under under heat advisory. Starting last Saturday, temperatures creeped up to the mid 90's and will stay there all this week. Add in humidity, and you have a recipe for turning on the AC and staying in. Indexes are supposed to be 108F+.

Little Celeste has already had her share of the heat. She loves to go outside, and I kept her out with me while I cleaned the garage. A couple hours later, we went in the house... she was panting, wheezing, and drooling all over the place. (Normally, she doesn't drool.) After about 15 minutes, I decided to give her a cold bath. She hates baths but this time, she just laid down in the water and stayed there. Eventually, her panting eased up and the drooling stopped. I was very close to taking her to the vet!

SCHOOL
The good news is... It's finals week. The bad news is... It's finals week. LOL
This week entails reading 3 chapters and a web article, posting about the web article and responding to two other student posts, then studying and taking the final exam.

Ack!

On the upside, I'm enrolled for next semester and received notification my textbook is winging it's way to me via the good 'ole Post Office. CORRECTION: It arrived in today's mail! AND ~ I'll get a week or so breather before I need to get crackin' on the next class.

THEATRE
This past weekend, the local college put on "Once Upon A Mattress". It's a musical comedy that originally opened off-Broadway in May 1959, and then moved to Broadway. The play was written as an adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Princess and the Pea. As usual, the college actors and actresses gave a great performance. It is really awesome to see such talent in my community.

STITCHY STUFF
Guess what?! I finished putting the envelope together. It will go in the mail today. Once the recipient gets it, I'll post photos. In the meantime, here's a teaser...

Bwahahaha... You didn't think I'd show anything really good, did you?
I also finished the stitching for the Lizzie Kate ornament exchange. No photos of it either. Bummer, right? I worked on Blossom Splendor a bit last night. I just have about 10 confetti stitches to do then I can move on to the next page. Woo Hoo! No photo of it either. I know... What's up with that?! I figure I'll wait until after I start the next page.

WORK
More drama continues. The project manager of old company (and supposed 1/2 partner in new company) quit last week and was gone by 10am Friday morning. Prior to PM quitting, the owners of the old company had already interviewed for his replacement. Don'tcha just love when companies expect loyalty and then go behind their employees' backs? My guess is that he's no longer part of the new company either.

TREASURE HUNTING
I found a treasure trove of goodies last week. From the thrift stores, I came home with:

One Yard of Fusible Interfacing
50cents
The timing on this was great as I used the last of my interfacing when I finished my last mailart.

One Yard of Shamrock Fabric - $1.00
I figure this will come in handy for St. Patrick's Day themed projects. Couldn't pass it up when all fabrics were 1/2 off!

$2 for Both
The Calico Crossroads "Strung Out" is actually a kit. I didn't know they made these in kit form. The Garfield leaflet is an OOP chart. I love Garfield!

As some of my long-time readers know, I have a porcelain doll collection. I found this adorable "baby"... only $1.99!

When I brought her home, her face and hands were smudged and dirty. Kids, I tell ya! She patiently waited for her clothes to be washed.

"Ahhhh, all better."
While shopping at JC Penneys, I found this great pair of corduroy slacks for $3 on clearance. They were originally priced at $35.

On craigslist, a lady was selling a complete set of DMC floss, three unopened packages of fabric (one was Belfast linen), and a ziploc bag of "small pieces". Here's a photo of the fabrics:

• 14ct Blue Aida 12x14
• 14ct Antique White Aida 11x17
• 14ct White Aida 14x17
• 14ct White Aida 11x17
• 14ct Black Aida 14x17
• 14ct White Aida 11x16 with 5x6 cutout
• 18ct White Aida 8x14 with 5x5 cutout
• 18ct White Aida 11x14
• 18ct Antique White Aida 19x21
• 22ct White Hardanger 10x11
• 32ct Belfast Linen 17x17
I washed, pressed and labeled them all. Except for the 3 in the package, the above were in the ziploc bag... Small pieces??! The smallest ones are pictured below:

• 18ct White Aida 9x14
• 22ct Yellow Hardanger 5.5x7
• 22ct Yellow Hardanger 7.5x11
• 22ct White Hardanger 5x10
Not sure why the yellow fabric looks goldenrod. It's really more of a sunshine yellow. I didn't get a photo of the DMC set, which is wound onto bobbins -- There are five large bobbin cases. Plus, there were five ziploc bags of DMC still in skein form. All for the low... low... low... price of $10!

If all the colors are there, that makes the cost 4cents/skein, not including the fabric. Belfast Linen is $5-6 at the store! What a dealio :) How could I pass up that stitchy goodness?

Until next time,

Marvelous Monday Update 7/11/11

2011-07-11T05:01:00.022-05:00

GARDENING
My garden this year looks pretty pathetic. About a dozen spinach plants actually sprouted (out of two full rows). The cucumbers are struggling to stay alive. The watermelon sprouted but then either died or something ate them. They're gone now. The only things really thriving are the tomato plants and the sunflowers. My cherry tomato plant already had 4 ripe tomatoes, which I promptly ~~scarfed down~~ ate.

Well... they were thriving until this morning's massive thunderstorm passed through. :(

Here are some updated pics of my flowers:

Lilies
One of my Planters
Miniature Roses
SCHOOL
It's time to register for next semester's classes already. I'll be taking Financial Markets and Institutions. I've looked at the syllabus already and it looks like this class will keep me even busier than the one I'm in now. Every week there will be chapter readings, homework problems, online postings, quizzes, midterm, final, an essay, AND a term paper! Aye-aye-aye!

Next week is the week of finals. I hope I do well enough to maintain my A. Why do midterms and finals have to be worth so much?

RAK'd
Last month, Niina of Ilmattaren ihmemaa (Ilmatar Wonderland) hosted a July 4th blog giveaway. She stitched up "Land That I Love" by Pine Mountain Designs.

I was the lucky winner! In addition, she sent some candy from Finland. The chocolate was yummy. The other candy tasted like salty licorice.

The pillow will go great with all the Pine Mountain kits I won in Amy's giveaway. Thank you Niina!

STITCHY STUFF
I finished the stitching part of my mail art envelope last night. Woo Hoo! I'll be making it into an actual envelope sometime this week. I am so excited about getting it put together. I think the recipient will really like it. I'll have pics soon, so stay tuned!

Until next time,

(A shout out goes to Karen
for my newest siggie!)

In Remembrance

2011-07-07T05:47:00.006-05:00

On June 28th, I received two phone calls telling me that my uncle (Dad's oldest and remaining brother) passed away in his home. My aunt (his sister) found him. He had just turned 73 one month and one day previous.

A "Celebration of Life" service was held at the funeral home where as my sister puts it... "all the family goes when they die". Which is true. I was 9 or 10 the first time I entered the funeral home... when my grandmother passed. Then my uncle. Then my grandpa. Then my aunt. Now my other uncle. Kinda weird, huh?

During the COL ceremony, we were asked to share stories about my uncle. The night before, I couldn't sleep so I was up until after midnight jotting notes and stories about my uncle. I took them with me as "insurance"... as I didn't know if I could share them without crying... and I could just read it if I had to. I was the first to go... and then my brother took a turn. Not many people spoke, even though I know several people had really *good* stories.

My earliest memory of my uncle is when I was 5 or 6 years old. While I was at his house, he had crawled under the kitchen table, flipped his teeth out (Yes, he had dentures where the teeth could be flipped forward and out!) and growled. Then he proceeded to chase after me on his hands and knees. I laughed and ran. He then went back under the table until I was "brave" enough to get closer... at which time he'd come rushing out after me again.

Fast forward about 20 years. He was still full of fun and mischief. My parents had a get-together at their house. They have this huge tree where the center is rotted out. I heard him say, "I want to see what's up in there!" I grabbed my camera and took what became one of my favorite pictures of him.

Clickable for larger pic
My uncle is on the left. His oldest son is on the right -- this photo was taken on his Dad's "Celebration of Life", 15 years after his Dad's photo was taken. Pretty cool, eh?

As I looked through my photo albums, I noticed a theme to the majority of photos I had of my uncle. My uncle LOVED food. I have photos that showed him holding plates of food -- sitting at a picnic table... sitting on a lawn chair. I even have one of him sitting on the ground, propped up against a tree with a plate of food. At family get-togethers, he would always get caught eating things he wasn't supposed to (He was diabetic). Can you blame him? Food at family gatherings is awesome!

My uncle brought our family a lot of good times, and he definitely will be missed.

Realize The Value

2011-07-07T05:40:00.001-05:00

To realize
The value of a sister/brother:
Ask someone who doesn't have one.

To realize
The value of ten years:
Ask a newly divorced couple.

To realize
The value of four years:
Ask a graduate.

To realize
The value of one year:
Ask a student who has failed a final exam.

To realize
The value of nine months:
Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn.

To realize
The value of one month:
Ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.

To realize
The value of one week:
Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realize
The value of one minute:
Ask a person who has missed the train, bus or plane.

To realize
The value of one second:
Ask a person who has survived an accident.

Time waits for no one.

Treasure every moment you have.

You will treasure it even more when
You can share it with someone special.

To realize the value of a friend or family member:
LOSE ONE.

~Author Unknown

Thursday Tidbits 7/7/11

2011-07-07T05:15:00.004-05:00

I hope my friends in the U.S. had a safe and happy holiday!

Mine was a bit hampered by the death of my uncle, but other than that it was pretty good. I didn't go to see the fireworks this year -- I was just too exhausted after the week's events.

The BF and I did grill some awesome wings, though. Check these out:

SCHOOL
Could ya'll hear the sigh of relief when I got the grade for my mid-term exam? Thankfully, the instructor graded on the curve. However, due to our ability to "challenge" questions on the exam, we all lost 2 points on the curve. I earned an 89% on the exam. And I think with the extra 4 points for the curve, I actually ended up with a 91, which I am very happy with!

My scores for last week's quiz, written paper, and online posting equated to.... *drum roll please* ....... 100%! I haven't gotten one of those since the beginning of the semester. Call me pleased!! *big grin*

Five weeks down, three to go!

GIVEAWAYS
Deb over at Threadgatherer is hosting a Go Baby! giveaway. Hop on over and see what it's all about.

Jennifer at Feathers in the Nest is hosting a giveaway also. In honor of Caylee Anthony, she is giving away a pair of Ginghers scissors.

WORK
Job #2 is still having financial difficulties, and more than likely will be filing bankruptcy. As it stands, the bank has to approve payroll expenditures on a week-by-week basis. That means we never know what day we're getting paid. Their huge line of credit (almost $1million) has been maxed and they haven't been paying suppliers or loans.

Last month, the project manager and a son of one of J2's owners got together to form a new company. What is "funny" about this situation is that the PM can't stand the son -- so I'm wondering what's in it for the PM. Incidentally, the very same day they got the paperwork started for the new company, they put an ad on craigslist that sounded very similar to the one I applied to when I was hired for the job. I talked to the secretary about it, and she asked them if she was going to have a job... both sets of owners (J2 and new company) have been evasive. The PM told her that if she wanted a job, she'd have to take a pay cut. So I'm thinking if she has to take a pay cut, they definitely won't be keeping me because I make a whole lot more than the secretary does. Last week, I asked him directly if I was going to have a job and he said I would. However, I think he's stalling so that he can utilize my experience until the new company gets up and running. It's a mixed up mess!

Meanwhile, I've been lining up some alternatives... Hoping that something pans out!

STITCHY STUFF
Surprisingly, I have done a bit of stitching. I'm half done with the LK ornament for HOE. I put it down in order to finish the stitching on my envelope. I am still looking for a cute alphabet to do the addresses with. Since these are for exchanges, I can't show any pics yet. Blossom is sitting patiently on the back of my loveseat waiting to be worked on again.

Marvelous Monday Update 6/27/2011

2011-06-27T05:38:00.024-05:00

WEATHER
Rain, hot temps, and humidity makes a great stew for stormy weather. Let's not forget the fires, tsunamis, tornadoes, and drought in other areas. I'd say Mother Nature is PMS'ing... but it seems more like Menopause to me. Hard to believe it's the end of June already. It was *just* the beginning of June. *sigh* It's officially summer... and what weird summer weather we're having. The weather this past weekend was really nice, though. Upper 70's/Lower 80's and no humidity. I could live with that kind of weather all year long!

SCHOOL
The instructor wasn't kidding when he informed us the midterm exam would be harder than the quizzes, or that we'd be utilizing the full 2.5 hour time allotment to take the exam! My heart sank as I took the exam -- I mean, seriously? I read all the chapters, studied all the power point presentations (twice!), and read all the "extra" (i.e. not required, but recommended) reading materials. And I still feel I didn't do so well. ~~It sucks!~~ Bummer!

DIY
In my last post, I hinted at a new project I started. My inspiration came from the awesome craft room Taffy's son built for her. No, I didn't build a new craft room. I did build a quilt hanger, though!

1 + 1 + 1
equals.....

And here's a close up:

I am really happy with how it turned out!
I couldn't have done it without my newest "toy". (OK, I could have but it wouldn't have been as easy.) It's not really all that new... I bought it back in December, but haven't used it until now.

It's a clamping work table that folds flat for easy storage. Pretty handy, eh?

FAMOUS LAST WORDS
Over a month ago, the BF noticed the knob for the light on the range hood twisted around "too far". He was ~~afraid~~ concerned that it might catch fire. I've been looking at new hoods, but wasn't quite ready to buy yet because the one I really liked was going to cost around $200.

"I just want to look behind here... oh yeah, the ground is broken... crap, I can't get the knob back on." Those are the last words I heard before having to make a trip to Menards to buy a new range hood/exhaust.

Oh, he tried to get the switch box out of the exhaust hood to fix it, but the thing just would not cooperate. I wish I could say this "incident" was unexpected, but it was. I had a feeling the hood was on borrowed time -- the thing was probably installed during the 1960's or 70's! See what I mean....

And so, I went from this:

To this:
The best part? It is the one I wanted
and it was ON SALE!!
The BF was kind enough to install it... and it only cost me 1/2 gallon of ice cream, LOL. Actually, he said he'd do it for free but I know how much he likes the IC!

STITCHY STUFF
I've been a lucky girl recently. I received two fantastic stitchy packages in the mail! The first one was from Christine. She RAK'd me with the August issue of Cross Stitch Gold, a Qsnap Huggie, and the neatest undersea life card.

As my fans, faithful readers, and curious bystanders may recall, I recently participated in a HOE snowman-themed exchange. Melissa from My Life in Stitches sent me the c-u-t-e-s-t snowman ornament.

As you can see... In keeping with the theme, she sent me a snowman notecard. She says the snowman ornie she made for me is a portion of the Winter Wonderland chart by Country Cottage Needleworks. I LOVE that chart!

I am still plugging away at the mailart piece. I'm almost done with the front motif. I am really liking how it's turning out. It's going to be another project that I'm going want to keep.

I signed up for another ornament round on HOE. This one is Lizzie Kate themed. It's not due to mailed out until August, but I wanted to get a head start. Sorry, no pics on this one either.

Blossom Splendor received a bit of attention as well. I've started the left side of the parasol. A little progress is better than none, right?

Other WIP pics can be seen HERE.

Until next time,

Marvelous Monday Update 6/20/11

2011-06-20T05:25:00.029-05:00

I hope everyone honored the Dad's in their life yesterday. I went to see my Dad and take him a little gift. I got him a gift card to Menards and this...

Much to my surprise, he liked the book and duct tape more than the GC. He told my Mom to leave his duct tape alone. My Mom sheepishly smiled and admitted she "stole" his duct tape for something and then hid the roll of tape! lol

IN THE NEWS
My city had quite the commotion going on last week, starting at 6am Monday morning. A building built in the 1800's collapsed out onto one of the main throughfares. It was also located right across from the courthouse.

The streets surrounding that block were closed off all last week. The fire dept said there was danger of the north wall collapsing from the adjacent building (the building on the left side). If you look at the top of the photos, you can see where the wall was separating from the building.

Luckily no one was in the building and no one got hurt. There were people coming to downtown just to "site see", lol.

SCHOOL
Hard to believe it's midterm week already! So far grades are only in through Week 2... I'm holding onto 97%. I'm happy with that. :) The instructor did say that the midterm and final were going to be harder than the quizzes. Geesh, I thought the quizzes were challenging.

GARDENING
The plants and flowers are love-love-loving the rain and temps. The cucumbers, watermelon, and sunflowers are now about 4" above the ground. The herbs and spinach haven't come up yet so I'm thinking maybe the rain washed the seeds away? They were pretty tiny.

Here's a few more pics of my pretties:

Sun Drops
Hens & Chicks
Double-Knockout Roses
Coral Bells
Sedum

With these, you just stick the leaves in dirt and they'll grow. The wind blows them all over my yard. I even pick them out of the cracks in my driveway!

A VISITOR
If you haven't noticed, I love wildlife and nature. I looked out the back window of my four-season room and look who came to visit! I watched him hop all over the yard eating bugs before hopping up on my swing and then fly away.

Sorry the photos are hazy. I took them through the screened window.

STITCHY STUFF
Last week, I focused on the mailart piece. I've got one of the motifs done on the front... can't show pics, though. (I know, I know... you're ~~sick~~ tired of hearing that)

I was invited to join another mailart group, and in looking at their albums I've gotten a few ideas on how I want to finish my latest mailart piece. I am so excited to see how it turns out!

For anyone interested in some history of mailart, go HERE.

I did a tiny bit of stitching on Blossom (couldn't resist it). Here's what she looks like after a couple hours of stitching.

DIY
I started a new "project" over the weekend. I should have it finished by the end of this week. Are you curious? Do inquiring minds want to know? Want to see a preview? Of course you do!

Until next time,

Tuesday Tidbits 6/14/11

2011-06-14T06:10:00.006-05:00

WEATHER
The beginning of last week was unbearably HOT and HUMID. My car thermometer said:

A few days later...

The past couple days the temps have been in the lower 70's with no humidity. My kind of weather!

BIKING
Finally, the weather has been *just right* for a bike ride. I mean the pedal kind, not the motorized kind. lol

I feel lucky that I have a beautiful bike trail nearby. It's surrounded by trees, creeks, pasture, and fields. You can't go far without seeing the local wildlife: chimpmunks, squirrels, cardinals, red-wing blackbirds, and more. For the first time since I've been riding the trail, I saw a mama deer and her fawn. It was very cool! The Jane Addams Trail is rich with history, too.

On Saturday, I rode 17.5 miles. What a ~~stupid~~ crazy thing to do my first time out this season! My legs felt like jello by the time I got back to the parking area. As the evening wore on, my ~~legs~~ thighs ached more and more. Around 8:30pm, I had to take three ibuprofen. I took three more when I went to bed. In addition to the aching, my legs felt like they weighed 50lbs each. I was still recovering yesterday when I went to work. I was glad I have a job where I sit! Today, I'd say I'm 98% recovered.

HOMESTEAD CHRONICLES
When I blogged about my shelf project a couple weeks ago, there were a few people who asked what was going on them and/or *expected* to see stuff on them, lol. For inquiring minds, behold...

These are things I gathered up from various other places in the house. Places where it didn't make sense to store them. You can't see it, but my iron is next to the spray starch and wrinkle releaser.

GARDENING
I'm happy to report that the seeds I planted are starting to come up! Yay. In addition to the veggies I planted, I also planted the sunflower seeds Betty in NV sent me in the mailart exchange. Those, plus the watermelon and cucumbers are up.

Here are more photos of the flowers I have planted at The Homestead:

These are Double Knockout Roses. They bloom all summer long. They are doing very well this year!

A couple years ago, I was driving down a country road one day and another homestead had some roots in a plastic bag with a "Free" sign on them. I took them home not knowing what they were. These are sundrops, I think. They open up when the sun is out and close up at night. Toward the back of the photo are Coneflowers, which aren't blooming yet. Both perrenials are spreaders.

STITCHY STUFF
Thanks to a couple of my blog readers, I've found out the kitty I rescued last week is part of a series called "Cats, Baskets, and Quilts". Originally, it was a series in a stitchy magazine. Now, it's sold as a kit.

Edgar from Blacksheep's Bit of the Web received the HOE snowman-themed ornament I stitched for him. I had a hard time sending it off cuz it's so darn cute!

Design: January Stamp Flip-It
Designer: Lizzie Kate
Fabric: 32ct Silkweaver Solo Evenweave (Turquoise)
Fibers: GAST and DMC
Embellishments: Tiny Snowflakes
and Runched Ribbon
OK, I lied last week when I said I was going to put Blossom on the back burner while I stitched on the mailart. She now has a hand!

I stitched on the mailart, too. No pics, though cuz it's surprise! Whoever sent the frogs my way... Thanks. Thanks a lot! I stitched an entire leaf in three colors and ended up frogging it all. Good news is... I've restitched the entire thing and then some.

Until next time,

To Comment or Not To Comment

2011-06-07T12:08:00.012-05:00

Will blogger let you? THAT is the question.

This is a known issue with blogger, and "probably" the development team is working on it. I found the following information to aid us blogheads in leaving comments.

1. Before attempting to log in, uncheck the "Remember Me" checkbox.

2. Make sure you're running the latest version of your browser. If not, upgrade it.

3. Make sure you have cleared both your COOKIES and CACHE. Directions to do this can be found here: Cookies - Clearing cache and cookies. Once you have done this, shut down the browser. Open it again, and check that the cookies and cache are indeed empty. This is important because the problem seems to be corrupt cookies and cache files. (I think Evalina may have done this and it worked for her.)

4. If the cookies and cache are empty, go to www.blogger.com. Press CTRL+F5 before trying to login.

5. If that doesn't work, try logging into Gmail first, then go to www.blogger.com and try again.

6. If that STILL doesn't work (Is anyone finding this rid-ic-u-lous?!?), try going to http://www2.blogger.com/home.

7. If that doesn't work, try going to draft.blogger.com.

8. If you use IE8 or IE9, try pressing the compatibility button (at the end of the address bar) when you're on the blog page.

9. If all of the above fail, try installing another browser (ie. Firefox, Chrome, Opera, etc) to see if that works. I've heard through the grapevine this has worked for some. For me, this won't work as I use several computers in different locations. I surely am NOT going to install a new browser on each one.

10. You may also want to change your Comments setting from Embed Comments to Pop-Up or Full-Screen until the issue is fixed. To do this go to: Settings --> Comments --> Comment Form Placement --> Select Pop-Up Window (or Full Screen) --> Save Settings. This worked for Niina.

11. I've found that I can leave "anonymous" comments on blogs even if I can't sign in and leave them the normal way. This only works if the blog owner allows anonymous comments. Just be sure to sign your name in the comment box, lol.

Marvelous Monday Update 6/6/11

2011-06-06T05:30:00.021-05:00

HEALTH
When I was in the throws of the shelving project, I noticed a rash on the inside of my forearm. At the time, I thought maybe I had gotten into something while digging for tools and stuff for the building project... or had a reaction to the saw dust. Me with my sensitive skin, and all. Then it spread to my other arm. Then areas on my hip developed the rash. Itched and burned like crazy. I wanted to ~~dig and dig some more~~ gouge out the areas with my nails so bad! It would wake me up in the middle of the night, too. Apparently, I have hives... again. :( I had them last year on my stomach and neck. So, I'm back to taking benedryl at night, and putting hydrocortizone cream during the day along with taking an antihistimine such as claritin.

SCHOOL
The first week of school has kept me on my toes! I had to read 3 chapters, an article, write an essay, write a post and participate in the online discussion, AND take a quiz. I was thrilled to learn, that after taking the quiz, it automatically gets graded and you learn the score right away. How cool is that?! There were a few questions I guessed at -- deductive reasoning, ya know? With that said, I got 100% on my first quiz. Talk about a happy camper!

GARDENING
My hostas and columbine sure have enjoyed the weather we've been having lately. The hostas are huge!

The weather turned HOT and HUMID over the weekend. At least it wasn't raining. I took advantage of my down time (i.e. not doing school work) and got the rest of my garden in. I also was able to get my planters done.

TREASURE HUNTING
I've been remiss on sharing my latest adventures in treasure hunting! I've found some cool-to-me things lately.

First up is this grapevine sugar bowl handcrafted in...

Germany!

I was amazed at the price -- only 29cents!

Next up is another addition to my porcelain doll collection.

Only $1.99! Not sure why she was priced so inexpensively since others were priced from $5.99-$9.99, but I wasn't about to argue. She has a great expression on her face, and a little tuelle underskirt.

I found a tote bag in great condition for the low, low price of $1.99! I figure I can use it to tote around my stitching. Or -- When I go siteseeing, I can put all my "stuff" in there, including my ginormous camera.

It's big enough that I can use it for my school stuff, if I decide to go to the library to study. It even has pockets inside to hold all the little do-dads we think we need, lol.

It's a sad thing when I see stitched projects end up in 2nd hand stores. Don't people realize how much work goes into these things? This little kitty had a price tag of 29cents...

I just *had* to rescue him!

STITCHY STUFF
I worked quite a bit on Blossom last week. She finally has a face! Isn't she pretty?

I've agreed to do a private exchange with a bloggy buddy, so Blossom will be put on the back burner for a while. I've picked out the fabric for the exchange and worked out what design I'm going to use. That's all I'm sayin!

Until next time,

Tuesday Tidbits 5/31/11

2011-05-31T05:42:00.011-05:00

is ALMOST here!
Where did May go?
Why does time fly by so fast when you're an adult,
and so slow when you're a kid?

WEATHER
Wow, we've had another crazy time with the weather. Temps were down to 39F early last week. Yesterday, they were a stiffling 92F! Also, news reports of at least four, if not five tornadoes touched down in the city just 35 miles west of me last week. Luckily, only minor damage was done. Minor in comparison to what happened in Joplin, MO. My heart goes out to all those people. :(

SCHOOL
Another semester of school started this week. Last week, I got a head start on the assignments: 3 chapters of reading, a 300-word essay, and a quiz. How fun is that?!? Actually, it's not bad -- I'm really enjoying reading the textbook. It gives "real life" stories as examples which keeps it interesting. I have even more positive news... Since the online link to the class wasn't open yet, I couldn't figure out where the "web chapters" were so I emailed the instructor late one night. By the time I got up the next morning, I had two responses from him, including links to the web chapters! I'm thinking I'm going to enjoy this class even though it's a lot of work.

STITCHY STUFF
All last week, I worked on the snowman ornament for the exchange I'm involved in. I think it's really cute! I can't show pics of the ornie itself, but I will show the embellishments I used on it.

I found them when I was digging through my stash. Look how *tiny* they are! Aren't they cute? (For those outside the U.S., the coin is a dime which the smallest of our currency.)

After not working on her for almost a month, I was able to put in a few stitches on Blossom Splendor last night. Here's what she looks like now:

Other WIP photos can be seen HERE.

HOMESTEAD CHRONICLES
It's been a while, hasn't it? Lack of time has kept me from doing anything around the house. My "to-do" list gets longer and longer! Since I had an extended weekend due to the Memorial Day holiday, I decided I wanted to get a small project out of the way. I've been wanting to put shelves into a recessed area of the basement stairwell since almost the time I moved to The Homstead 3½ years ago. (Remember Moving Day?)

Unfortunately, I forgot to take the "before" photos like I normally do. The entire stairwell was re-painted before the "custom" shelving was built and installed. Before I painted, the walls were covered with what I'm guessing is a 1950's green and it was grungy from ~~years~~ decades of neglect. I acquired an "oops" gallon of lighter green paint with Kilz already mixed in. It sure brightened up the area!

(Photo clickable for larger image)
One of the previous owners "installed" a piece of brown paneling to cover a hole in the ceiling of the stairwell. As you can see, I painted it to blend in with the rest of the walls. Mucho better!

No job ever -- EVER -- goes as one plans. See what happens when you try to drill into plaster covered metal corner and then brick? Yeah, the fireplace is right behind *that* wall. :(

I repaired the mishap and the project continued. Had to re-think how to attach the shelving since drilling into brick isn't the easiest thing to do. Ended up using angle brackets, and attaching them to the back wall of the cubby area. Perfect!

I couldn't get a good photo due to the small space, but this gives you an idea of what I did. Each of the shelves has a front "lip" so that whatever is put on them can't be accidentally pushed forward (and down the stairs).

Taking into consideration the cubby area is not "square", and that I used "oops" paint and "scrap" budget lumber, I think they turned out awesome! And the space is used much more efficiently.

Until next time,

To Germany Unscathed

2011-05-28T07:38:00.008-05:00

The postal system must've been on high speed delivery! I received news that my partner in Germany received the mailart I stitched for her. Here's what I sent Judith:

(Clickable for larger photo.)
Does it look familiar? It should! It's very similar to the one I made for my Mom. :) I call it Asian Mailart #2, lol.

Designs from book "A Cross Stitcher's Oriental Odyssey" by Joan Elliott
Fabric: 18ct Antique White Aida
Fibers: DMC
Embellishments: Pink fabric lining, Asian coin, and snaps

Marvelous Monday Update 5/23/11

2011-05-23T05:17:00.030-05:00

CELESTE
Doggie breath. Bleah. I had read that spearmint is supposed to help with that. While at the store, I saw these in the pet section:

They have spearmint in them. What dog doesn't love treats, right? Wrong.

Celeste: *sniff, sniff* (walks away)

Me: *thinks* (puts it on the floor, and walks away)

A few hours later, she hadn't touched it.

Me: *thinks to myself,* "I'll "trick" her."

Me: *crumbles the cookie and mixes it with her food* Feeling like the naughty scientist, rubbing his hands together.

The next day...

Would you believe the stinkin' dog ate ALL her food except for the cookie parts?! Not to be disuaded, I tried it again. Again, she ate all the food and no cookie. I was complaining to a friend, who told me to throw them out in the yard for the birds. I put two in the bird feeder, and threw two in the yard. A week later, the ones in the yard were still there when I mowed. Here it is two weeks later and the cookies are *still* in the bird feeder, untouched. My conclusion??? They must be some baaddddd cookies!

SCHOOL
While it's unofficial, I found out my final grade for my Investment class is going to be an "A".
I earned 97% in the class. Now, I can say I only have TWO more classes before graduation! I'll be graduating in November. Yay!

WORK
Job #2 has had financial issues since I started working for them last July. It's owned by two brothers. One hand doesn't talk to the other, so to speak. The financial problems have become more serious in the last two weeks. Suffice it to say, we (and by "we", I mean the employees) don't know when/if we're going to get paid from week to week. Last week (after not getting paid on Wed), I went in on Friday for 30 minutes before leaving because I refused to work an entire day when I didn't get paid from the week before. Two hours later, the secretary texted me to come get my check and cash it before there's no cash left. I ended up working a couple more hours to take care of payroll related issues -- I need the money, but I've had it up to HERE with not knowing whether we're going to get paid, and the bosses not letting the employees know that payroll will be late, etc.

STITCHY STUFF
Last week I wrote about how flower frogs (or scissor frogs, as we like to call them) are used by stitchers to store their scissor collection. As I mentioned, I have a small one on my end table that I keep scissors, seam ripper, and needle puller in. It's perfect since it doesn't take up much space. Due to it being small, though, I have to display my other pairs of scissors another way. Behold...

This hangs in my craft room,
formerly known as "the scary room".

P.S. If anyone is interested, I have another scissor frog on my stash-for-sale blog.

As I've mentioned before, I'm participating in a mailart exchange. I received my mailart early! Before I present the darling envelope, I have a story to tell.

When I went to the PO, I went to the counter first because I had to get some postage amounts for some packages I'll be sending out. I did that, and then went to get my mail out of the box. I was so excited by the fact I got mailart (and had a package being held behind the counter), that I left my keys in my PO box door. On my way back to the counter, I thought "Where the heck did I leave my keys?!". I asked the clerk if I had left my keys there. He said, "No." So, I gave him the card and said I had a package. He looks at me and says, "Did you leave them in the box door?" Duh! He told me to go get my keys, and he'd meet me at the side door to give me my package. The nice guy that he is, he didn't even laugh. As he handed me my package, he said to me, "That's what happens when you get old and senile!" He's older than me! LOL

Without further adieu, here's what Betty in Nevada sent me:

I thought it was really cool how Betty had the sunflower theme going on. :) She included a recipe for a cheese ball topped with sunflower seeds. It has bleu cheese in it, and since I'm not a fan I'll probably try a different cheese ball recipe and put the sunflower seeds on it. I do like how the tortilla chips makes the ball into a sunflower, though. Very cool idea. See the pink and brown bits in the upper right corner? Those are chocolate covered sunflower seeds! Of course, I *had* to try those right away. Yummo! I had to chuckle a bit at the sunflower seed packet... I *almost* bought some over the weekend. Glad I didn't.

Thank you, Betty. Everything was great :)

A couple of weeks ago, I showed my Rabbit Heart finish. Over the weekend, I made it into a scissor fob.

Rabbit Heart
by Alexandrina (Matrioska Biscornu)
Fabric: 22ct Hand-Dyed Purple Hardanger
Fiber: Anchor 112
Stitching Time: 3½ Hrs
Finishing Time: 1½ Hrs
Embellishments: Runched Ribbon
I also finished the mailart for the exchange I'm involved in, but no pics until it arrives at its new home. I also started the snowman ornament for another exchange.

TREASURE HUNTING
After the incident at J2 on Friday, I needed some retail therapy, so I visited the thrift stores in town. I found a few things...

Over a yard of pretty pink trim for 99c. I think this will be great for a pinkeep or a box finish.
Set of stamped pillow cases for $3. I'm not a huge fan of stamped projects, but the quality of the pillow cases is awesome, and I loved the trim. Plus, you can't buy a nice set of pillow cases in the box stores for $3!

Until next time,

(P.S. A big "thanks" goes out to Karen, who sent me both my siggie avatars.)

Flower Frog? Scissor Frog? What?

2011-05-18T13:32:00.004-05:00

For my last post Berly asked, "What is a scissor frog?"

Technically it's a flower frog converted to another use. A flower frog is a device used to help arrange flowers. For stitchers, they're used to store our embroidery scissor collections. Hence the name "scissor frog".

So why are they called flower frogs? Online research reveals a patent was issued for this "invention" in the 1940's. The patent listed this was a holder of flowers and sat in water like a frog. The name "flower frog" stuck. Some articles state flower frogs date back to the 1600's.

Frogs such as the Japanese Kenzan, are made of metal with little pins that hold the stems in place, and fit into a vase or bowl.

Other designs use a number of holes or guides that stems could be fit through for arranging.

Many types of flower frogs are art pieces with holes for flower stems and a container for holding water.

Click Photo to Enlarge

I had an empty one in my previous blog entry. This is the same one filled with my scissors:

Here's the one I use:

Notice I also have my seam ripper in it, along with a needle-puller.

Do you have a scissor frog? If so, let me know... I'd love to see.

Tuesday Tidbits 5/17/2011

2011-05-17T05:36:00.011-05:00

WEATHER

It's just amazing how last week temps here reached into the 90's and last night temps hit the freezing mark! Brrr, was it cold this morning. We might hit 70 by the end of the week. *might*

HEALTH
Thank you for all the comments regarding my back. I started to feel better last Wed, and was probably 98% better by Saturday. Now, I'm all good. :)

SCHOOL
Last week was the final week of the semester. I managed to get my paper finished and submitted. It'll be interesting to see what kind of grade I get seeing as I used the same format as I did last semester. Hey, I figured if the instructor could ~~be lazy and~~ use the same paper assignment and sample paper... then I could use the format of the paper I wrote last semester, too. Granted, I had three times the amount of cited sources this time around. I put a lot of work into both papers. In case anyone is wondering, I did this semester's paper on Caribou Coffee.

I'm signed up for next semester (starts at the end of the month). The class is Comprehensive Financial Planning. I've already ordered the book, which shipped the same day, and arrived within 4 days. Talk about fast service!

For now, I'm just going to.....

STITCHY STUFF
I went treasure hunting a couple weeks ago, and I found a plastic container full of needlework supplies. Nothing had a price tag, so I asked the cashier who asked the store manager who said $1.99. Sold! Here's what I came home with:

The Disney leaflet has the *cutest* Christmas ornies in it!

I'm still working on the mailart for an exchange I'm in. I should have it stitched and assembled by the weekend or early next week. I'll have to start searching for the "perfect" snowman chart for an ornament exchange I'm in. Then I can get back to Blossom Splendor!

For anyone who's interested, I have another flower frog on my stash-for-sale site. I think I counted that this one could hold 33 pairs of scissors if you put them in the perimeter. Also, there are new Lizzie Kate charts. The link is on the sidebar, if you're interested.

Until next time,

Tuesday Tidbits

2011-05-10T13:58:00.011-05:00

HEALTH
Ugh. I've been in pain since Sunday. My Dad came over to till my garden... Well, he needed help loading and unloading the tiller from the back of his truck. While loading it, I hurt my upper back muscles. It was so bad that it was all I could do not to drop the tiller and get it to the tailgate of the truck before falling forward on the tailgate myself. I went to work yesterday. The morning went fine, but by the end of the day the muscles were spasming. Driving home was excrutiating! Instead of doing homework last night, I spent the evening on the sofa with a heating pad. I've been taking Flexeril and liquid vicodin before going to bed. Today, isn't as bad (but the day isn't over, lol).

STITCHY STUFF
For those of you who asked: My Mom really loved the mailart envelope. She put it in her display cabinet and got it out to show my brothers. :)

I'm working on a second mailart and will be starting a snowman ornament soon. Both are for exchanges, so no pics until they arrive at their new homes. After that, I can go back to working on Blossom Splendor.

Several weeks back, I was the winner of Ruth's birthday giveaway. Look what came all the way from Ireland!

Aren't they wonderful goodies? Thank you, Ruth!

WEATHER
From one extreme to the other. Today temps were supposed to be in the low 80's, but ended up getting to 91F! Add in some humidity and it's just wonderful... not! By the weekened it's only supposed to be in the 50's.