Monday Update 7/30/07

Dad's Surgery
My Dad came home from the hospital on Friday. Hard to believe he was able to come home only after 3 days! His left leg is very swollen, but he is walking around... albeit slowly. He said there's over 100 stitches in his leg, and takes pain killers as needed. The doc told him he could go back to work whenever he felt like it. Dad said he was staying home until the stitches were taken out (at least).


Stitchy News
I've washed and pressed Pink Carnations. I still need to put the beads on it, but I'm holding off until I decide whether to do a bourse or box. If I do a bourse, it doesn't make sense to me to put the beads on it. Any opinions?

Me and PC stitch (How's that for proper grammar?) spent about 5 hours together on Saturday. What did we come up with, you might ask? Using various parts of Pink Carnations, I designed a matching scissor fob and needlebook. I even designed the needlebook pages! Now all I need to do is order the pink gingham fabric and I'll be stitching them up. Can't wait!

I worked on Mime again. I did a bunch of backstitching while watching re-runs of Grey's Anatomy and Men in Trees on Thurs night. Even though I've got a ways to go, I'm looking forward to when it's done. It's the oldest UFO I have.

I snagged a few more boxes with lids from the local Aldi's store when I went grocery shopping. While watching Star Trek (of all things! Ick.), I covered the boxes and lids in contact paper for stash storage. I now have 5 boxes total. I've got them labeled: Aida, Linen & Evenweave (small pieces), Linen & Evenweave (large pieces), Kits (small & medium), and Stitchables. I have enough contact paper to make one more matching box.


Need a Stash Fix??? I've added some things to my stash-for-sale blog. In addition to cross stitch stuff, there are some needlepoint canvases. Take a look! I spent a good amount of time organizing my stash on Saturday night and barely have made a dent. :(

I've started the needlebook that matches the Victorian Pansies scissor fob that I finished not too long ago.


Neighbor News
Ha... There's always *something*, isn't there? Wed morning around 5:30am, I could hear the neighbor and her grown daughter arguing. Apparently DD has been spending a lot of time in the bars and not coming home until wee hours of the morning. DD doesn't have a car or job, that I know of. (How's she get $$ for the bars?) I overheard neighbor yelling at DD about how close she was to kicking DD out on on her butt. More trouble in paradise? Wed night, I walked around to the front of the house and neighbor was on the front porch with grandson and a bunch of neighbor boys. Apparently, GS got into a fight with one of the neighbor boys. Does that surprise me? It was kinda amusing, actually. One boy was on the porch and the other at the end of the sidewalk... and they had the stare down going on.


Weekend Fun
Spent Sunday with S celebrating his little one's 3rd birthday. It was held in the garage and I did the decorating. (Guys really do not know how to throw kid parties! LOL) The tot got a lot of clothes, a couple of toys, and a fishing pole as presents... and kept asking "More presents?" The food was good and I think everyone had a good time.


Back To School
Yes, it's THAT time again! Last week, I signed up for two classes: Beginning and Advanced Excel. Both are needed for my Accounting Degree. One is an online class, the other is a campus class. I need to touch base with the instructor again to make sure this will work. I use Excel for work so I don't see a problem, but one never knows. What irked me is that the book for the class costs more than the tuition for class! Grr...

5 Things

I have been tagged by Jade for a 5 things meme.

5 Things I wish to do before I die:
1. I wish to buy a house.
2. I wish to travel more.
3. I wish to finish my formal education.
4. I wish to volunteer more.
5. I wish to retire comfortably.

5 Things I can do:
1. I can use a sewing machine pretty well.
2. I can write well (at least that’s what people tell me).
3. I can do lots of DIY (do-it-yourself) projects.
4. I can cook well.
5. I can change the oil and perform other maintenance tasks on the car.

5 things I cannot do:
1. I cannot drive a motorcycle.
2. I cannot condone my neighbors’ behavior.
3. I cannot be nice to someone who has done me wrong.
4. I cannot see without my glasses.
5. I cannot grow out my nails without them breaking off prematurely.

5 things that attract me to the Opposite Sex:
1. Honesty
2. Integrity
3. Strong work ethic
4. Good hygiene habits
5. Understanding Character

I had to leave off 5 celebrity crushes because I don’t have any.

The following are tagged: Barb, Sharon, Erica, Melanie, and TeeJay.

How Sick Is This?!!?

I just heard a news story on the radio that practically makes my stomach churn. In WI, three men were arrested last fall for digging up a 20yr old woman's body after seeing her photo in the local newspaper. Why did they dig her up?? I have sex with her body!!! How disgusting is that? The court case was dismissed because there is no law in WI against necrophilia.

Culprits!

For the past month or so, something has been eating the leaves of the plants in my garden and pots. I never saw any bugs or critters so it had me stumped. Last weekend, I saw a beetle on a green bean leaf. After some research, talking with coworkers, and checking with my online gardening board, I'm pretty sure it's the Japanese Beetle. You can read more about them HERE and HERE. The little suckers are making lace out of my leaves. Almost every plant I have outside have holes in them!

Today, I made up an organic concoction I found online that's supposed to kill and deter the JB. It contains water, dish soap (which kills them instantly), cayenne pepper, and garlic powder. I'll see in the coming weeks whether or not it works. If not, I'll have to resort to chemical insecticides.

I really don't need this...

My mom and I left the hospital around 7pm so I could drive home while it was still light. I stopped to get gas about 3 blocks from the hospital. Got a good price, too... only $2.99 a gallon.

When I started the car up, the alarm went off, light started flashing, then everything died. Three times I tried and same result. What the?!? I’d been up since 3am and now my car decides to act up? I really did not need car problems!

I went into the gas station to see if the clerk in there could help. He watched as I started the car and was clueless as to what was wrong. While he called a service station, a young woman (early 20’s maybe) overheard part of the conversation. She asked me what was going on. She had me start the car... then she got in and tried it... same results as before. She walked around to the passenger side, stuck the key in the door and turned it to the right. She got in to start the car and it started right up!! She told me that it was a security shutdown feature and I must’ve done something to tick the car off. I asked her how she knew that and she said she’d owned a lot of crappy cars. Thank you Trish, for helping an out-of-state stranger!!

Bypass Surgery

Yesterday, my Dad had bypass artery surgery in his left leg. He's had problems for years and finally it got to the point where he could only walk about 20-30 ft before pain would kick in and he'd have to stop.

I got up at 3am to drive him and my Mom to the hospital which is an hour and a half away from their house, and in another state. I didn’t find out what kind of surgery it was until yesterday morning when I picked my parents up. I looked at my Dad and asked, “Isn’t that serious?!!!” He just chuckled. Sorry, but I didn’t find humor in the fact he was making light of artery bypass surgery! Surgery was supposed to be 5 hours (originally they told my Dad 2 hours). At the end of 5 hours, we found out there were complications and it'd be at least another 2 hours. So, almost 8 hours later, we got the news that Dad was out of surgery and doing well. The doctor talked to us and said there was more extensive disease than they saw when they did the MRI back in Feb (Hello? You'd think they'd do a more recent one!) The doctor also said that Dad has strong leg muscles (compared to most they see who have this surgery) and that he should recover quickly and fairly well. He could be home in 4-5 days.

Dad has his own morphine button that he can inject himself for pain, otherwise he gets one every 10 minutes. Surprisingly, he wasn't complaining about the pain from surgery. Instead he was complaining about pain in his elbows from having his arms over his head for 8 hours during surgery. He must be feeling pretty good because shortly after he came out of anesthesia, he was giving me a hard time about not being out of bed when he called me at 3am!! Then later, after Mom fed him he took the napkin and daintily patted his mouth. LOL

Despite my Dad being in surgery, my Mom and I enjoyed a nice day together. She told me about a real Japanese sushi restaurant a couple blocks away from the hospital. I couldn’t pass up sushi so I told her we could walk there and I’d buy lunch. Mom and I really enjoyed the food and the restaurant. They had TV screens that showed the sushi being made to order. It was pretty cool. Before we left, I bought Moshi which is a Japanese treat usually made and eaten at New Year's. It's made of glutinous rice and bean jelly. I remembered eating it as a kid, and Mom was so excited about seeing it that I HAD to buy some. The ones I bought were tinted pink and green and dipped in powdered sugar. They were actually made in Japan and imported to the US. I also bought a small container of seasoned squid which was very good.

I was so busy (unconsciously) being strong for my Mom yesterday, that the magnitude of the surgery didn’t hit me until this morning. While getting ready for work, the tears started flowing. It freaked me out. I really felt there was no one there for me when I needed it. I also was questioning why I was so upset when I knew my Dad was safely out of surgery.

While waiting yesterday, I finished the stitching on Pink Carnations. Still have to sew on the beads. I'm debating whether I should make it into a bourse -or- find a box to put it on the lid. My idea is to make an entire sewing set (needlecase, fob, scissor case) to match and be able to put them into the bourse or box. Bourse or Box....?

Monday Update 7/23/07

Bit 'O Pampering
Every now and then I make an appointment over my lunch hour to get a facial and brow wax at the local cosmotology school. An entire hour of pampering for the whopping price of $6! Yes, ONLY $6!!! A wax and facial at a salon would cost at least $10 and $35, respectively. If you're lucky enough to have a school near you, you should most definitely take advantage of it. The girl who did my wax and facial on Thursday was soooooo good! I swear I was in and out of consciousness. It was so relaxing!

Healthwise
A couple weeks ago I had the CT scan done on my sinuses. The ENT doc wanted to make sure I didn't have problems there that could be causing the problem with my tonsils. Well, guess what? He said I have a chronic sinus infection and put me on 21 days of antibiotics, plus Flonase. One of the symptoms of CS is "general overall tiredness" which I have had for a long time now. I asked the ENT doc if it was possible to have CS and not know it (i.e. stuffiness, nose blowing, etc.) and he said "Yes". Who'da thunk it? Not I. I have to go back to see him in about 2 weeks.

Stitchy Stuff
I had some most exciting news. I was notified by Anne S in Australia that she added my needlebook instructions to Focus on Finishing!! How cool is that?!

As The Grass Grows
Are you as sick of hearing about this, as I am about writing it??

I got home Saturday night to find a 2x4 ft section of the yard not mowed. What happened was... I was watering my outdoor plants with the hose early Saturday morning when all of a sudden I felt sick to my stomach and thought I was going to throw up. I dropped everything and ran into the house. Well, I forgot that my hose was still on and unwound. So instead of pushing it into the mulched area and mowing that section of the yard, the neighbor mowed AROUND the hose. Talk about LAZY. Unbelievable.

The neighbor also blew grass all over my side of the driveway and didn't clean it up (again!). Interestingly enough, the rest of the driveway and the sidewalks were clean. So, I pushed it over to her side to clean it up. I spent most of the day outside on Sunday doing yard work and cleaning the malaria tank (i.e. swimming pool). Whenever I am outside they will not come out (LOL). I feel sorry for their poor dog whom I'm sure has to go to the bathroom at SOME point. I even overheard them arguing because the grown daughter didn't want to take the trash out to the garage because I was outside. How funny is that?! Anyway... back to the story at hand... the grass. I left for a brief 30 minutes on Sunday and guess what? The grass was swept up while I was gone and neatly deposited up against the wall of the garage on MY side!!!

Weekend Fun
On Saturday, I spent the day with S and his tot. We spent the day enjoying a festival. It started with a parade where the little tot acquired quite the stash of candy and popsicles! At first he didn’t quite know what to do when candy was being thrown in the street, but he soon caught on!! As the parade was going on, there was a small fleet of planes that flew overhead. For dinner, we had a wonderful pork chop dinner with S’s mom and step-father. It was sponsored by the local fire station and they did a great job. Later, we trotted up the street to watch the fireworks display. For a small town, the show was very good.

Gardening Update 7/19/07

I am so stoked about how well my gardens are doing! Despite the horid HOT, HOT, HOT (Did I say "HOT"?) temps, they are flourishing. It's been a lot of work watering them every day, but it makes me happy to see blooming color on my side of the porch and in the yard.




This is what my little corner of the world looked like at the beginning of June:






This is what it looks like now.

I have loads of tomatoes on all three plants. I am taking the advice of someone who left a comment on my blog. I have been pinching off the sucker branches once the flowers start blooming. The plants won't be as bushy as they were last year, but hopefully this will allow the sun to get to the green tomatoes and "help" them turn red.


I even have itsy-bitsy cucumbers on my potted cucumber plant! I can't wait to have fresh cukes off the vine. Mmmmm... Yum!!



More "then" and "now" pics of my gardens can be seen HERE.

SBQ - Proud Moments

Which project (finished or in progress) are you most proud of? Explain why.

I am most proud of "Freedom" by Stoney Creek. I did everything myself: stitching, lacing, mat cutting, and framing. It turned out beautifully and was a lot of work that went for a good cause: The Soldier Memorial Project. It can be seen HERE.

Needlebook Tutorial

Making a needlebook isn't so hard, is it? Of course not! After doing two of them, I was encouraged to teach an online needlebook class. I am so proud of the students and how their needlebooks came out. You can see their projects HERE.

If anyone uses my instructions to make a needlebook, I'd love it if you sent me a pic so I can add it to my album. :)

Here's my step-by-step instructions for making a needlebook:

Materials Needed:
• Whatever you'll need for your stitched piece. You choose the design, fabric, embellishments, etc. Stitched pieces should be approximately 3-4" square. If you want the back cover stitched, you'll have to take that into consideration also.

• Coordinating cotton fabric of your choice. I've found that the quilt fats (18x22" fabric) are perfect. Or look in the odds and ends bin at the fabric stores to see if there's anything that might work. If you want pockets on the inside of your needlebook, you'll need two pieces of fabric. This is the fabric that will go on the inside of your needlebook, so the size depends on the size of your stitched piece, and whether or not you stitched a back cover.

• Matching 1/4" ribbon. Shouldn't need much more than 14".

• Flat quilt batting - again, the amount depends on size of needlebook. 1/4 yd. should do it.

• Piece of coordinating felt. 5x8" piece should work.

• Coordinating thread to sew it all together.

• Scissors to cut fabric, batting, and felt.

• Sewing Machine. You can sew it together by hand, but a machine makes it go faster and easier.

• Iron


Step One:
Decide on what to stitch for your needlebook cover. I chose a freebie design by Brooke Nolan, "J is for Japanese Embroidery" After I stitched it, I thought it might be a bit small but it turned out to be just fine. I stitched this on 28ct waterlily linen with DMC threads and Rainbow Gallery Treasure Braid. It took me 6.25 hours to stitch. I changed the design by adding two additional floating balls and Mill Hill beads to the center of each.



Step Two:
Choose coordinating fabrics for the back cover and inside cover. Cut the back cover the same size as the front cover. Cut the inside cover the same height as the front/back cover, and twice as wide minus 1/2". Cut the quilt batting the same size as the inside cover (Quilt batting not shown in pic). Press all the pieces with an iron, except for batting.


Step Three:
Take front cover and back cover and place right sides together. Stitch right hand side with 1/4" seam allowance.

Notice the pink sewing machine? This is my Happy Lite that I got last year to do small projects such as needlebooks and ornaments. This is the first time I've used it to make a "small".


Step 4:
Press seam open.



Step Five:

Here's where the fun part starts! Assemble your pieces. Front/Back Cover, Inside Cover, Batting, Ribbon.

Note: If you want to put pockets inside your needlebook, you will have to cut a piece of fabric the same width as the Inside Cover, and 2/3 the height PLUS 1/2". Fold 1/2" to the wrong side of the fabric, along the LONG edge. Press flat with iron. On the same long side of fabric, stitch a seam 1/4" from folded over edge. Place Pocket with right side down on table. Place Inside Cover on top with right side down, matching bottom edges. Make 1/4" seam on each short edge. The drawing shows what it should look like with the right side facing you. (There are no pics because I didn't put pockets in this one).

Take your Inside Cover and place it right side down on table. Place batting on top. Set aside.


Place your Front/Back Cover right side up (stitching facing you). Cut two pieces of ribbon 6-8" each. Place ribbon on right and left side of cover. You may want to (temporarily) pin the ribbon in place. There are no pics of this part because I forgot (!!!) to put my ribbon on and had to improvise. However, I have relied on my artistic talents to draw a diagram.


Place the Inside Cover/Batting on top of the Front/Back Cover and Ribbon. You may want to pin all three layers together to make sewing it together easier. I chose not to because I'm experienced in sewing.


You will want to leave a 3" opening at the bottom of your needlebook so that you can turn it inside out. Notice where I started my seam?


Stitch 1/4" seam all the way around the edge of the needlebook, stopping about 3" from where you started. Notice where I stopped?


Once the sewing is done, you can remove the pins. This is what your needlebook should look like once you've sewed the outside seams.


Trim the batting close to the seam. Be careful not to cut the fabric. Once you've trimmed the batting, cut the corners at an angle. This is what it should look like.


Step Six:
Carefully turn your project inside out. Your Front/Back Cover, Inside Cover, and Ribbons should be on the outside. The batting should be on the inside. To help get your corners "pointy", use a slim object to push them out. I used a wood skewer. You can also use a knitting needle, crochet hook, pen with a cap on. Be careful not to poke the object through the fabric.



Using the iron, press the front and back of your needlebook. You will have to tuck in the fabric where the opening is at the bottom of your needlebook.


Step Seven:
Take needle and thread to sew the opening closed. Press both sides of your needlebook again. LOL, can you tell I'm fanatical about wanting my project smooth and flat?


Step Eight:
Cut felt 1/4" smaller than the inside of your needlebook. One piece of felt will make 2 pages. If you wish to have 4 pages, cut 2 pieces of felt. I personally wouldn't do more than 4 pages as it would make the needlebook pretty bulky. Optional: I used pinking shears to cut the edge of the felt.


Place felt in the center of the needlebook. Use pins to hold it in place.


Place needlebook on sewing machine with felt side down and Front/Back Cover facing up. Stitch a line where the front and back covers are seamed together.


This is what it should look like when the felt page(s) are stitched in.


I hand-sewed on the gold cording to match the closure. Tie the ribbon and viola, you have a finished needlebook!


Other needlebooks I've done:
Je Brode/I Embroider
Friendship Grows
Whoo-Me Needlebook
Blessed Be Needlebook #1
Blessed Be Needlebook #2
Victorian Pansies Needlebook






©2007 All rights reserved.

Lucky #21?

The contract I had with my buyer’s agent expired last February. After having her supposedly working for me for over a year and half (almost 2 years), I am still a renter. Out of the 15+ houses she showed me, only TWO were suggested by her. Both of those TWO happened to be listed by her agency. Do you see a problem with this?

Needless to say, I decided to get myself a new buyer’s agent. She’s an older lady who’s been in the real estate business for a long time. I told her my grievances about the other realtor. I figured it’d be good for her to know, and if she had a problem with me or my “issues” then she could tell me to take a hike. LOL

On my lunch hour we looked at 48 properties that matched the criteria I was looking for. For the most part, anyway. I narrowed it down to 7 properties that I wanted to see. The new buyer’s agent showed me 4 out of the 7 last week. Out of the 4, there was one I really liked.

It’s located on the outskirts of town on a fairly large lot with a nice view. Neighboring homes aren’t right “on top” of it. Across the road is the golf course. The lot is covered with trees. The neighbors aren’t too close and a very nice golf course is across the street.

From the front, the house looks pretty “Plain Jane”. The real curb appeal is the back where a balcony comes off the dining room that has a large patio door. The balcony runs 2/3 the length of the house. The 2-stall garage is under part of the house and you’d never know it was there unless you drove around to the back. The walkway up to the back doors is flagstone and flanked by flowerbeds (that are overgrown right now). There is plenty of parking space, with shaded yard in both the front and back.

The house is approximately 1400 sq feet with 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths. When you walk to the basement, there is an efficiency kitchen and two additional finished rooms. The garage is heated and to the front of it is a sectioned off workshop. What really struck me as interesting is that the home is very retro (70’s) -- Like walking back in time and I found it to be very cool. It’s an older home and when it was built, I could tell they spared no expense. There is a lot of closet space and storage areas. The main bathroom has double sinks, lights, and medicine cabinets. The Both the living room and dining room are ample size, with the dining room overlooking the backyard. There’s even a built-in area off the main hallway that was used for sewing. It has doors so all you have to do is close it up. There are things that would need to be changed such as carpet wallpaper, paint, etc. These are things that wouldn't need to be changed right away. Overall, I really like the floor plan, the architectural features, and the yard. I could see myself living there, and I can see the possibilities it has.

I have a suspicion that the electrical service into the home is only 60amp and will need to be upgraded to 200amp. It has electric hot-water baseboard heat (which I have found out is good), but I think the furnace may need to be replaced in the near future. Even though the roof looks good, there are 3 layers on it that will require a complete tear off when it is re-roofed.

It’s listed at assessed value and “as is” condition which means the sellers won’t be doing any repairs in conjunction with the sale. Taking into consideration the location and the values of surrounding properties, I’m pretty sure that if I bought it and invested $5-10K over time that I would make a profit if I ever wanted to sell it.

I took S to look at the outside last weekend and he thinks I should put a bid on it. We have an appointment to see the inside on Tuesday. I have worked up a long list of questions I need answered. Most definitely would want a sale contingent upon an electrical inspection, furnace inspection, well & septic inspection.

So could House #21 be the lucky one? Time will tell...

Thoughts To Ponder

• If you want your dreams to come true, don't oversleep.

• The smallest good deed is better than the grandest intention.

• Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important.

• The best vitamin for making friends....B1.

• The 10 commandments are not multiple choice.

• The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.

• Minds are like parachutes.. .they function only when open.

• Ideas won't work unless YOU do.

• One thing you can't recycle is wasted time.

• One who lacks the courage to start has already finished.

• The heaviest thing to carry is a grudge. (I *really* need to work on this one)

• Don't learn safety rules by accident.

• We lie the loudest when we lie to ourselves.

• Jumping to conclusions can be bad exercise.

• A turtle makes progress when it sticks it's head out.

• One thing you can give and still keep... is your word.

• A friend walks in when everyone else walks out.

AND FINALLY...

• The pursuit of happiness is the Choice of a lifetime!

Monday Madness Galore

It's been a while since I did Monday Madness, so I thought I'd do several at once. Here goes!

7/16/07: PARENTING
1. Do you feel that children these days are disciplined enough? No, I do not.

2. What are your thoughts about the "time out chair?" The time-out chair is a good discipline technique when children are young.

3. When YOU were a child, what form of discipline did your parents use most often? Tone and pitch of voice; spanking ocassionally

4. Did your parents have to constantly remind you of the guidelines they set for you, or did they just have to LOOK at you as a "gentle" reminder? Constantly, no. The “look”, no. See #3

5. What are your thoughts about screaming kids in public places? I cannot stand when parents allow their children to scream and throw temper tantrums in public. Parents should stop what they’re doing and remove the child(ren) from the public arena. Along the same lines, I don't think children should be allowed to "run free" in public places either. They should be taught how to act in public.

6. What do you feel is the BIGGEST mistake parents make when it comes to disciplining children? Not disciplining enough. In most cases, both parents work so when they’re home and with the kids they don’t want to have to deal with discipline. I also see many parents wanting to be “friends” with their kids rather than be parents. Children have friends at school, daycare, etc... At home they need structure and parenting, not another friend.


7/2/07: LAUNDRY
1. Do you do your own laundry or do you send it out? Ha... I do my own.

2. Do you laundry at your home or a laundromat? I do it at home, unless I’m washing large comforters that don’t fit into my washer.

3. Are there certain articles of clothing that you need to have dry-cleaned on a regular basis? I have dry-clean items, but I don't wear them very often so maybe the answer to this would be "no".

4. How often do you do laundry? Is there a certain day of the week that you consider "laundry day?" I do laundry as time permits. It’s nothing for me to throw a load in while getting ready for work, hang it out on the line on my lunch hour, then take it off and put it away after work. No set day.

5. Do you iron your clothes as you pull them out of the dryer or do you wait until just before you wear the clothing to iron? If I pull them out of the dryer right away, usually I don’t have to iron them. If they need ironing, I do it before wearing.

6. Do you hang your clothes outside to dry or do you dry them in a dryer? During warm weather, I hang outside. Can’t beat the smell! Plus it saves energy. During the winter, I use the dryer.

7. Do you own things that need to be hand-washed or do you try to avoid buying things that you can't wash in the washing machine? I try to avoid things that can’t be washed in the machine.


6/25/07: METEOROLOGY
1. How many times a month/year do you see the sunrise? Very few

2. How many times a week/month do you see the sunset? Very few

3. Do you go out at night and "gaze" at the stars? Yes... one of my favorite things

4. Do you ever look for star clusters, such as the big dipper, etc? Yes

5. Do you look for planets at night (with or without a telescope)? No

6. Are you able to see the northern lights where you live? If so, about how often do they come around? Not able to see them

7. Do you like going outside during a thunderstorm and watching the lightning? No

8. Do you have any really neat weather pictures? I do, but I don’t know where they’re at right now.

Monday Update 7/16/07

Another Day Trip
S and I have been daytrippin' fools lately. On Saturday, we took Celeste and went to White Pines State Park. Celeste didn't like walking through water! One would think she was drowning the way she was trying to climb the cement walking stones. LOL

It was a beautiful day with a slight breeze and no humidity. With weather like that, it made hiking through the park a very nice experience. While we both enjoyed the scenic sights, the highlight of our trip was the crane I spotted in a creek flowing parallel to the hiking path we were on. I was able to get two shots before he flew to safety.

Because the lighting was low in the forested areas, some of the shots turned out blurry. I took what would've otherwise been bad pics and turned them into fabulous watercolor images:

Here's a couple of my favorite images of the day:

At the end of our day, we were sitting at a picnic table when a couple of teenagers pulled up an parked. I commented to S: "It's almost 8pm, they're two teenagers, you know they're here to make out." The teenagers walked a short distance away and within 10 minutes they were indeed making out... out in the open:

I couldn't help myself. With the lighting the way it was and the teens embracing like that, the photographer in me had to get the shot! More pics of the park can be seen HERE.

Healthwise
Ever since I was sick back in Jan, I've been extremely tired. I've been to see my primary physician almost every month, and each time she's commented on how big my tonsils were. I was referred to an ears/nose/throat specialist who had CT scan done of my sinuses last Friday. Turns out I have a chronic sinus infection, which probably explains the overall general tiredness I've been feeling for quite a while now. The ENT doc prescribed a 21-day stint of strong antibiotics, each pill being 750mg! He also has me doing Flonaise, which I abhor. I go back in 3 weeks for followup so he can look at my tonsils again.

Date Night
S took me out to dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant on Friday night. He ordered shrimp and they were huge! For dessert, we shared a tiramisu that was presented so elegantly. All of the food was absolutely scrumptious. After dinner, we took a nice long walk along the Jane Addams Trail. It was a nice evening. :)

On The Stitching Front
I spent a little time on Sunday stitching Pink Carnations. So far I have 14 hours invested.

I also organized some of my stash, pulling out charts that I know I won't do and charts that I have duplicates of. Egads... How did that happen?! I'll be putting them in my stash-for-sale blog soon.

Mosquito Breeding Program
Like I mentioned in a previous post, I'd planned on cleaning the pool... which I did on Sunday. I have this nifty little vacuum made for kiddie pools that attaches to the hose. Water runs through it creating some sort of vacuum and catches the debris in a little mesh bag. It works great! I also have a leaf skimmer, and obviously unbeknownst to the neighbor... mosquito larvae treatment tablets! *big eyes, hands on cheeks, jaw dropped* I even have one of those floaty thingies that distributes chlorine and santizes the water. I am very tempted to create a sign "Mosquito Breeding Study in Progress. Beware!" I am sure the landlady would've said something to me the day she was talking to me while I was filling up the pool with the girls... if she didn't want malaria research going on in the backyard.

Trying The Patience of a Saint

Saint, I am not. However, the behavior of my neighbors can try the patience of any Saint! Yes, they are back at it AGAIN. One would think they have better things to do with their time...

A little background: Last weekend, my two nieces stayed with me for the weekend. They are 8 and 9 years old. It was VERY hot, so we set up the kiddie pool and they played in it all weekend. They made plans to come back next weekend, so I left the pool up. My plan was to clean and treat the pool this weekend (once a week is enough, right?). Yesterday, my neighbors saw me outside at least twice. YET, they wait until I leave to stick this into one my plant stand on the porch:


Am I being too nice in my responses to the neighbors? Do I just ignore them and hope they go away? These are the same people who last year had weeds 5 FEET tall on their side of the building. These are also the same people who left 4 FEET of grass unmowed in the front yard just a couple weeks ago. Ya think critters don't breed in there??

I was steamin' when I saw the note. S was like: "It's just a note" No, it represents almost two years of this busy body crap "stuff" and it's really getting on my nerves now.

Another Belated Graduation Gift

I received yet another belated graduation gift! This was a joint effort between Kelly in the UK, Berly in NE, and Rene in NV. What’s great about this is that I was contemplating making that same tin topper. Thanks to you all for the great gifts!!