A very sad day.....

Hello!

It's a very sad day for me. I was planning to show you a scissor fob that my friend Merrilyn made for me. It was a beautiful beaded fob in shades of green. I even went out and bought a pair of scissors just to go with it. And then, at some point between bedtime last night and breakfast this morning, that no good, very bad Morkie, who attracted to sparkly things, got a hold of it and ate it! Not all of it, I caught her before she did too much damage but the fact remains, it can't be used any more. I'm going to hope that if I throw myself at Merrilyn's feet and promise to pay her for her time, she'll take pity on me and my darn dog and re-do it for me. And if she does re-do it, I'm going to make sure it's put up higher and not on the magnet that is on my Ott light. Apparently, it's not a Morkie proof place! Bad dog! Very bad dog!! I feel awful about the whole thing. I'm sorry Merrilyn! Here's a couple pics of the damage.


In other news.....Amy left for DC and the fall journalism convention on Wednesday. Her schools news broadcast was nominated for a Pacemaker Award. Only 10 schools across the US get nominated so it's a big honor. If you are at all interested, this is the show that was nominated. Anyway, the plane made it there in one piece but Amy is a little worse for wear. As they were descending into DC, the ride got bumpy and she was struck by sudden nausea and a horrible headache. She spent the rest of the day (DO NOT READ THE REST OF THIS SENTENCE IF YOU ARE AT ALL SQUEAMISH) vomiting and having the dry heaves. Can air sickness do that to you? That's what I am hoping it is. The report I got today from her was that she is very sore from being sick but feeling better.

Adam is leaving for Las Vegas tomorrow night. He and some buddies are going for the weekend. This means I get to worry about 2 of my kids flying this weekend. I'm a terrible worrier. I won't rest easy until they are both home safely Sunday night.

The schnauzer's gave Kallie their cold. She's having a terrible time with the sneezing. About half the time she does the reverse sneeze thing where it sounds like she can't breath or is having an asthma attack. Totally freaks Gracie out which stresses the reverse sneezer even more. What possessed me to have 3 dogs? I must have been out of my mind!

In village news, the layout is finally decided on and now construction will begin on the landscaping. this will be a long process. My group of friends that I write the racy village stories about are chomping at the bit for a new chapter. I'm not sure if I should give in or make them wait till the village is done. It's kind of like Brigadoon, the village goes to sleep after the holidays and doesn't wake up for 9 months. Therefore, there wouldn't be any new stories to tell till the village is all done right? So I'm thinking they are just going to have to be patient!

I finished Give Thanks. Have yet to decide what I want to do with it though. It measures approx. 2 x 2 3/4 inches. Is that too big for a floss tag? Again, I haven't ever seen one so I am not sure how large they are supposed to be.


That's about all I have for today, I probably won't blog again till next week as Adam is taking my camera with him to Vegas. Plus, we have to have the shop all ready to open up for business on Monday which means I am going to be very busy this weekend! So have a great weekend everyone! Thanks for stopping in!

Insanity and Stitching

Hey there! So sorry for the lack of posts this past week. Been a busy one around here between sick puppies and trying to get the new location for the frame/cross stitch shop in move-in condition. Hmmmmm.....I'm not sure I mentioned the new shop before. It all kind of happened quickly. I'm having a sense of deja vu though. 6 years ago when I started with what was then American Reflections, we were located in an area called Tara Plaza. A bit over 5 years ago, we moved to a new location and dropped the American part of the name. Now we are back at Tara Plaza, not in the same bay though. Much better location, more foot traffic, there is a quilting store a few doors down and we are located between a popular Mexican Restaurant and Curves. The downside? In order to afford the rent in today's economic climate, we have to share a bay with a vacuum cleaner store. All I'm going to say about that is.....this should be interesting! So if you are in the area, please stop in to say hello. We officially open a week from today on the 16th. Not sure we will be completely settled in at that time but we'll be happy to help you with whatever you might need or if you just want to chat, we can do that too!

Last week Kallie was sick. High fever, lethargic, not eating....$300.00 later and they still didn't know what was wrong. We knew what wasn't wrong though which was good. She's all better now but this past weekend, the schnauzers both came down with something. Lots of sneezing, watery eyes and running noses. They are still eating and drinking just fine so I don't think it's anything serious. I checked in with the vet this morning though just to be sure and she told me what to watch for. I hate sick puppies almost as much as sick babies. They can't tell you whats wrong or how bad it is.

I have been doing some stitching. I stitched the October pinkeep from Maryse This is the first pinkeep I have stitched and the first I have finished. I'm not sure it's done correctly as I have never seen a pinkeep in person but I like how it turned out. What do you think?

I also started a second little project, probably going to end up being a small pillow? I don't know. I've not made one of those before either. But I think I should give it a try. It's a freebie pattern I found at The Stitcherhood website. It's called Give Thanks. Not too far on it but it shouldn't take long.

and finally I have worked on Signs of Fall too. I'm in the home stretch on it as long as you don't count the darn backstitching. I'm not a happy backstitcher. I appreciate it and what it can do for a picture, but I don't enjoy the process. I think it stems from poor backstitching directions on some of the earlier charts I did waaaay back in the day.


Yesterday, Abby and I did some gluten-free bread making. Ah yes, the famous QVC TSV arrived on our doorstep last week. Our maiden voyage was unfortunately, not a successful one. I'm not sure what happened. I used a recipe that everyone on all the blogs raves about. Best sandwich bread ever it says. The texture was good but the taste was A.W.F.U.L!!!! I don't know if my flour was maybe rancid, or perhaps I didn't cook off all the manufacturing oils when we ran it through a cycle empty or what happened but it went right into the trash. I'm going to go buy all new flours and try again I think. After that disaster we tried a recipe for mozzarella sticks (not in the bread machine of course) that did turn out well. You couldn't even tell they were gluten free! First mozzarella sticks Abby has eaten in over a year and boy was she happy. I really am disappointed about the bread though. Oh Well, Better luck next time!

And finally, Dan and I have been working on the base for the Christmas village. I didn't get a shot of it before he started to put the foam on but I think you can get the idea.


This puppy is 18 feet long and 5 feet deep. Saturday morning I went downstairs to see what progress Dan had made and found a note from him that said one word. Insanity. Yep, that pretty much says it all!

Till next time, have a great week and thanks for stopping in and as always, commenting is much appreciated!!