Tuesday Tidbits 1/24/2012

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,

Marvelous Monday Update 12/19/2011

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!

Marvelous Monday Update 12/5/2011

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!

Marvelous Monday Update 11/28/11

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

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.