Birthday Recap( VERY LONG), Grab a cup of coffee before opening!

Happy Thursday!!

It's very cold outside today but at least the sun is shining. We've had a long stretch with no sun and it was really getting to me! I need SPRING!!

Let me start this post with a great big !!THANK YOU!! for the birthday wishes. I appreciate them all. My birthday was good. Mostly. But we'll get to that later. First the good stuff. My celebration actually started on Friday. I arrived at work already knowing I was to be treated to lunch by Mary Ann as she had called me to tell me not to bring my lunch. When I got there, I found a pretty gift bag waiting for me. As some might recall, in March the Last Saturday Stitchers are going away for a weekend of stitching to a B & B about an hour from here. This B & B has many beautiful rooms but it's whats inside some of those rooms that has my heart going pitter patter. Claw Foot Bathtubs! That's right, I am freaking out over a tub and I'm not too proud to admit it!! At this point, you are probably thinking 2 things:

a. why is she going off on a tangent about tubs
b. why is this whacko excited about a tub.

I'll tell you. I'm short. In my bathroom I have this beautiful large jetted tub. I love to soak in the tub and read a good book. It's one of my very favorite things. But in my tub, I have to stick one leg out of the water and brace myself or I slip under and drown. The tub is just too long for my short little legs. The other problem with my tub is the back of it, the place you lean back and relax as you read and soak is straight up and down. How in the world are you supposed to relax in a tub when you have to stick a leg out and sit straight up??? Must have been designed by a tall man is all I can say. Anyway, as a result, I've used the tub maybe a total of 5 times in 13 years. But, a claw foot tub has a wonderfully sloped back and is usually shorter, in other words, Julie size!! So how is this important to the lovely gift bag you ask? When I was researching the B & B and saw the tubs I told Mary Ann that I didn't care which room I got as long as it was one of the ones with a claw foot tub in it. I also informed her that I would most likely be excusing myself several times during our stay to take full advantage of said tub. Mary Ann heard my words, filed them away and as a result she bought me a fabulously perfect birthday gift!! Beautiful isn't it??


Couldn't be more perfect! Now, if you'll excuse me, there's a tub in Lincoln with my name on it!!

In addition to the gift from Mary Ann, 2 of my best stitching buddies came to the shop to visit and stitch. We had a great time and a Brownie's burger was the icing on the cake! So all in all, Friday was an awesome lead in to my big day!

Saturday day was spent moving Adam in and doing laundry as everything that was in his apartment smells of mold!! EVERYTHING!! I don't know how he was living in that place with the smell. Saturday evening, we had pizza for dinner which was great as I didn't have to cook and then I opened my gifts from Dan and the kids. From Dan I received a beautiful necklace, ear ring and ring set. The stone is Mystic Fire. It doesn't photograph well but it has beautiful greens and purples. See?


Adam decided my Sanza Fuze was not good enough for me so he went out and bought me an Ipod Nano!

I wonder how long it's going to take me to learn how to use it to it's full potential? He said something about me having to make play lists? I don't have a clue, technology and I are not good friends! I love it though and it's even green, my favorite color!!

Abby, chose to give me this:

Season 4 of NCIS! I had seasons 1-3 and season 5. So this was a great gift and we started watching it that night.

Amy is feeling the money pinch as she has lost most of her piano students since Christmas so she made me a wonderful birthday card and my in-laws sent me a card with a check in it to use for whatever I want. I'm thinking a couple of books to read whilst I am soaking myself into a prune! I also received wonderful cards from my mom and my sister.

And if that weren't enough great birthday surprises, Dan ordered me my favorite pie, Lemon Silk! It is to die for! And with it's artery clogging ingredients, I probably will but it will be worth it!!


It was an awesome birthday but unfortunately, there was a cloud hanging over it. Missy pup was not doing well by Saturday afternoon. I could tell she was in pain so I put a call into the vet. He wasn't at home but his wife assured me she would give him the message. So I waited for a call. Evening progressed and I could tell she was getting worse as the panting was increasing. Finally at 1:00 in the morning we took her into the Emergency Vet Clinic. You have to pay a small fortune before they even look at your animal. Then they charge you a small fortune to treat them. And if you are lucky they don't screw it up. Can you tell I don't really like the place? They couldn't tell me what was wrong other than to say she was in pain, I didn't have the small fortune to spend on tests and xrays so we opted to treat her with morphine and wait for my vet to call in the morning. Got home from there about 3:30 in the morning and while you could tell the morphine was affecting her, it didn't seem to be making her more comfortable, just unable to walk. It was a long night. Dr. F called in the a.m., said to continue the morphine and the muscle relaxant she was already on but to back the steroid off to one tab/day instead of two. I was to call him in the morning. She seemed to be better that evening until I gave her the steroid and then the panting started in again. In my mind this clinched the idea I had that it was the steroid causing the problem and this was confirmed by the vet the next day. Missy can't tolerate steroids. This is not good news for her back. If the legs get worse again, they will try a different steroid but are doubtful she will be able to tolerate it which leaves only strong pain killers to keep her comfortable as her problem progresses. I'm just going to hope and pray for the best for right now and we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. So my birthday ended poorly but it was fab until then!!

Thought you might enjoy seeing my house and craft room after moving Adam in Saturday.



Looking good isn't it?? I'm hoping the libray and dining room will look better after this coming weekend. Dan and Adam need to put some stuff up in the attic but the garage is such a mess they couldn't get to the attic last weekend. Keep your fingers crossed they make progress this weekend!

I've done a wee bit of stitching, not much but then I've been a little busy so I'm sure you will forgive me.

Quaker Diamonds:

12 Dancing Princesses:

And with that, I best get a move on or I will be late to work. Normally that wouldn't be a big deal but I am supposed to open up today so I need to be on time.

Thanks again for all the lovely comments and birthday wishes. I hope you all have a fantastic day today!

My Birthday and a cube finish

Today is my 50th birthday. It's funny. I don't feel 50. I don't feel any different than I did yesterday, last year, or the year before. Or for that matter, when I turned 16, 21, or 30! In my head I am still the same person that I've always been only better! Sure, my physical appearance has changed, my hair is gray under the wonderful hair dye I use, I have wrinkles, I'm no longer a size 9 and I have body aches and pains that I didn't have when I was younger. BUT! I know more now than I did then, I have experienced many things a younger person hasn't, love, loss, tragedy, incredible new inventions like the internet, cell phones, cancer treatments. I've had 3 babies and watched them grow and change over the years into wonderful adults (most of the time anyway). I'm a kinder, gentler, more tolerant person than I used to be, I'm not in Mother Theresa's league by any means but still an all around better person than I was when I was 25, or 35 or 45. And for the last 30 years I've had the privilege of sharing it all with a man that I love and respect. A man that's my best friend and who loves me for who I am, young or old. So today, instead of feeling bad about being a half century old, I am going to celebrate being a half century young with another half century at least to follow. I'm going to think about all the incredible inventions that are still waiting to be invented, the adventures still to come with the kids, like college graduations, marriages and babies. And I'm going to ponder on what kind of person I will be in another 10, 20 or 30 years. Who knows, by then I might be in Mother T's league! Ya just never know!!! So today, I invite you all to celebrate my next 50 years! Let's make them the best ever!!

As you might remember, we share our framing/cross stitch store with a vacuum cleaner sales and repair store. On Saturdays, Greg, the owner of the vacuum store, works over at his other location so Callie covers the Papillion store for him. We of course couldn't leave well enough alone, we had to suck her in to the addiction known as Cross Stitch. A couple of weeks ago, Callie finished her first project, a Lizzie Kate Quick-It. This week I decided to try my hand at making a cube using Callie's finish. I hadn't made a cube before. But I think it turned out quite nice if I do say so myself!


Can you see the little paw print buttons I put on the sides? They don't show up too well unless you are looking for them. I hope Callie likes it, I didn't tell her I was doing it.

Well, I need to go do some things before Adam arrives with his stuff today. I've procrastinated as long as I can I think. He'll be here in a couple of hours.

Have a great weekend everyone!! Thanks for stopping in!

Bye-bye Craft Room and a stitching update

So I'm sure some of you remember my post on the finishing of my craft room.

http://crossthatleg.blogspot.com/2009/09/its-done-its-done-its-done.html

It was so wonderful to have my space back and looking good. I haven't been able to use it too much as the re-opening of the shop and the busy holiday season sucked up all my time and life has just been crazy busy. Now that things are calming down, I was really looking forward to getting down there and spending a Sunday afternoon scrapping.

Sadly, this is not going to happen. This Saturday, Adam is moving home. He will be moving into the craft room. After 4 years of my telling him he should be smart and come home, pay off his student loans and get some money in the bank and 4 years of him telling me that he knows I am right but it's just not going to happen.....he made the decision to suck it up and move home. Before I finished the craft room, I asked him one last time. Do you want to move home? He said no and leased a new apartment. So it was a bit of a shock when he asked his father and I if he could come home. Of course we said yes but he still had 7 months left of his apartment lease and I didn't think it was really going to happen. I was wrong. I know, one of the few times that has ever happened! LOL!! He made some deal with the owner and they they let him out of his lease. So this week I have been busy rearranging my house to make room for Adam and his stuff. He is selling off most of his furniture but is still bringing his leather sofa, a chair, his bed, 2 TV's, a computer, large TV stand and tons of books and dvd's. He's also bringing digital cable TV which Dan is thrilled with. Adam refuses to just have basic cable so he will pay for the difference. I pointed out that he could save more money if he gave up the digital cable and be able to move back out sooner but was told to not be ridiculous, no way was he giving up the cable. The girls were not terribly happy at the news. Abby especially was not looking forward to cleaning the bathroom now that they would be sharing it with Adam once more. I solved this by telling Adam he has to use the basement bathroom for everything but showering and he would be responsible for keeping it clean. It's going to be an adjustment for everyone but hopefully it won't be too bad and I don't anticipate we will see much of him. He'll stay in the basement for the most part. I am praying he is able to suck it up for long enough to make a serious dent in his loans and save enough money so when he moves out again, he stays moved out. Unfortunately, bets are being placed all over on how long he will last. 6 months seems to be the most popular time limit. I gotta be honest here, that would not be worth the hassle! I'll keep ya updated on how things are going.

I took the Missy pup to the vet yesterday. She was not showing much improvement after a week and he said he needed to see her. Seems the reason for her legs collapsing is not at this time pain related. She has a fairly significant loss of feeling, more so on the right but some on the left too, in her legs and back. He had a name for what he thinks is going on, basically some of her discs are fusing. The condition will worsen over time and she will have flare ups also. He switched her meds and said we should see improvement of the symptoms by Friday.

Adam just sent me a text, he hit a pothole and blew a tire this morning. The potholes around here are large enough to eat a whole car in one gulp! I didn't hit a pothole but the car in front of me this morning threw a boulder at me and now I need to get my windshield fixed. Not a good day for cars in the family. Come to think of it, not a good 2 months for cars in this family!

I finalized the reservations for our Last Saturday Stitcher's getaway in March. We won't be going too far, just to Lincoln, about an hour away from here. We'll be staying at this B & B and will have the house to ourselves. 8 of us will be going which is a nice number but I wish everyone could have gone. The rooms look amazing and they gave us a really sweet deal. I can't wait for March!!

I've made good progress on both of my projects. I was telling Dan that with my new rotation I had a goal of finishing 1 page per month on the Princesses. At that rate, it would only take me 4.5 years to finish the damn beautiful thing. Then reality hit me smack in the face this week. In spite of my best efforts at stitching on this almost every day, a goal I am meeting btw, (go me!) it ain't gonna happen.


The highlighted portion of the page is what I have done since the first of January. Depressing isn't it. Almost makes me want to cry. But I won't by God. This chart will not kick my azz! I'm just going to have to modify my expectations a wee bit. Maybe one page every two months? Only time will tell.....

And last but certainly not least is my progress on Quaker Diamonds. Not much to say about this one. I continue to enjoy stitching on it and it's such an easy stitch compared to the Princesses! It has the added bonus of being able to finish it before I am completely blind! Always a plus in my book!


That's all I got folks. It's almighty hair day as my friend Marsha refers to it. I've been trying to grow my hair out a wee bit, maybe shoulder length but I'm not sure I will make it. It hit the funky isn't doing anything and my cowlicks are acting up big time stage right before Christmas. If Teresa doesn't have a good solution to the multitude of problems I'm having I may just whack it all off again. Only problem with that is I get so darn cold in the winter with no hair on my neck. So at noon today I'm headed out for a cut and color and who knows, I could come home with a purple Mohawk!

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone and thanks for stopping in, reading, leaving comments and just generally being the wonderful people that you are!

Hoarfrost!!

It was a beautiful drive to school today! I wish I could share the beauty with you but by the time I got home, grabbed the camera and went back out, most of the beauty in my hood was already melting. Apparently, the term for this is Hoarfrost! I just thought it was cool! All the trees had this beautiful white coat on today and even Amy, who is normally still comatose on the ride to school noticed. I commented to her on how pretty the trees were and she said, "Yeah, I was just trying to remember if they always looked this way in the morning." Great powers of observation ya got there hon. So my pics aren't the best but I thought I'd share anyway.


Yesterday, on her way out to the car, Amy slipped on the ice. She does this at least once a winter. Normally it's her knees that take the brunt of the fall. She's had 3 knee scopes and still has pain and swelling that bothers her all the time. So yesterday when she knew she was going to fall she tried to save herself by sticking her arm out to prevent hurting her knee. That didn't work too well for her. Both her wrist and shoulder are messed up. One is in a sling while the other is in a brace. I don't think she broke anything but she did severely sprain the wrist and dislocate the shoulder.

Missy pup is still not doing well. I hope the meds kick in soon. I feel so bad for her.

Abby has been complaining lately that there are birds in the attic above her room. This is not the first time she has had this complaint. For years she complained about it and Dan and I ignored her and made jokes about Joe the Hobo that lived up there. She continued to complain until finally, I sent him up there to see what he could see. After he reported his observations back to me I sent a camera up so he could take a picture. She was right. There were birds living above her room. We fixed the problem, cleaned up the mess and went about our business. Until the next spring when she started complaining again. Up Dan went. This time, I scrapbooked the whole thing. (click on picture to make larger)

The boys promised me that this time they had fixed it for good. No way were any birds getting in there again. They were wrong. We've never had them in the winter though so I guess we know which bird it is. The doves aren't here this time of year. Not sure what we will try this time but Dan says he's not going up there until the weather warms up a bit. Abby is just going to have to live with the chirping till spring.

I did not hear from Candi so I asked Adam to choose a number between 1 and 38. He chose 15. The 15th person to post on that thread was..... Meari! So Congratulations to Meari!! I have emailed you!

And finally, here is my progress as of last night on Quaker Diamonds.


Still liking this project a lot! Tonight I'll work on the Princesses again. But first we're going to take my Texas Roadhouse gift card and go out to dinner. I was with a customer today from 11:45 until 3:30 and I never got lunch. This means, I can eat tonight and not feel guilty! It's about time to go so I better get ready. Have a great weekend everyone!! Thanks for stopping by!

Stitching updates

Happy Hump Day!!

The sun is shining this morning which is wonderful with one exception, on my way back from taking Amy to school this morning I absolutely could not see anything in front of me and had I been an inexperienced driver I would have creamed the line of cars that were stopped at the stop light. Lucky for them I have been driving this same route for 7 years now and know the road so I was smart enough to slow down considerably until I could see what was ahead of me. Which was an accident. Apparently not everyone was being careful. Didn't look too bad thankfully.

We've been busy at work planning things for this year. We are heading to Market in February, March we are going to have a weekend stitching getaway and April will be the Cross Stitch Exhibition at the shop. Along with those events we are booking some trunk shows, and scheduling some classes. In the fall we will have our 2nd annual Fall getaway to the Sister's House in the sandhills. Currently I am working on a monthly newsletter. Should be a busy year for us!

I've been doing some stitching in the evenings while watching TV and movies. Have ya'll seen The Ugly Truth? Cute movie I thought but not for kids under 15. I have been trying to work on both the princesses and Quaker Diamonds and so far I have stuck with the rotation. I am quite proud of myself for doing so as I have tried in the past and failed miserably!

Here's the Princesses before:

and as of last night:

I am trying the method of leaving the threads and not cutting and starting and cutting and starting. Still a very slow go for me though. But progress is being made. I know some of you said you didn't think it would take me 29.5 years to finish but with 54 pages, doing 2 pages per year....okay I lied, it's only 27 years to finish. I will be 76 at that time. And blind. So that is why I am trying once again to do a rotation. Maybe I can shave 10 years off of that if I stick with it!

And here is Quaker Diamond before:
and as of last night:

I am loving this one. It's so easy to stitch, I can actually see what I'm doing!

I emailed Candi, the winner of the giveaway on Sunday but haven't heard back from her so I emailed her again this morning. Candi, if you are not getting the emails please let me know. If I don't hear from you by Friday morning, I will draw a new winner.

My Missy pup has hurt her back somehow. She has back problems anyway but has really done a number on it this time. Her back legs won't hold her weight when she tries to get up and the stairs are a major problem. Dr F. gave me some Rimadyl yesterday so I hope that will kick in soon and help. We have a lot of stairs leading to the back yard so going potty is not an easy thing. The other dogs will just pee and poo on the deck if there is snow on it but Missy is such a lady she walks out there and does this high stepping walk to avoid where the yellow snow is. It's funny to watch. Anyway, she'll hold it forever if someone doesn't come out and carry her down the stairs. Thank God it has warmed up a bit around here.

Meari, I think it was, inquired as to what the lighting problem in my family room is. This corner

of my family room is very dark and Amy is always complaining about it.. So I tried putting another end table on that end but that crowded the person at the computer. I would move the curio that is at the other end of the sofa, so I could slide the sofa down to make room for a table, but I don't have anyplace else to put the curio. I tried the floor lamp by the sofa as you see but that looks bad also. The upshot is there IS NOT any good solution for getting light in this corner and believe me, I tried a lot of different ideas! So...I think we will add a light kit to the ceiling fan, which I didn't want to do but I agree with Amy it is dark in that corner and it was all we could come up with that didn't offend my decorating sensibilities to the point where I want to gag when I am in there. Thanks for asking!

Well, that's enough for today I think. I need to eat some breakfast and head to work. Thanks for stopping in and commenting! Make today a good one!

Julie

And the winner is.....

Were you wondering if I was ever going to announce the winner? We took the Christmas decorations down today and I have been trying, without success I might add, to solve a lighting problem in my family room. A certain member of this family who shall remain nameless keeps complaining that their nest is too dark and they need more light to read by. I say, take your nest to your room and read there! I have tried everything to remedy this situation today but so far, I have been unsuccessful. I decided I have messed around with it enough and I am finished for the night.

Adam came over to do laundry today and eat breakfast. I made coffee cake which did not please the celiac that lives here but I didn't know she was going to get up at the crack of dawn and come home this morning. She stayed the night with a girlfriend last night and since they were at the bar I assumed, wrongly as it turns out, that she would sleep late and not be home till lunch time. Oh well, the coffee cake was really good!

Getting back to the subject at hand....

I put everyones name in a hat, a Cox cable hat as a matter of fact. It's never been worn and I didn't want you all getting dirty while being tossed around in a hat!


Then, since Adam was the only one of us that was dressed, I had him do the honors so as not to scare any of you with our rolled out of bed, gonna take the decorations down, not gonna shower or dress till I'm done look. It ain't pretty.


See that blank spot there under Adams arm? That's where one of the trees was. It's not always that way. The curio cabinet is there now. See?

What's that you say? You don't flipping care what's in that bare corner? You just want to know who won? Oh, OK! the winner is.....

wait, are you sure you don't want to see the rest of the room? Maybe solve my lighting problem for me? No? fine, be that way.

Without further ado, drumroll please......the winner of my very first give away is.....


Congratulations Candi! I will email you shortly for your address so I can get your package in the mail to you.

Thanks everyone for participating, it was fun to see all the new people and read the comments. I hope you come back again just because you enjoy the blog and not just for the next giveaway.

And now my friends, I'm tired and I'm dirty so I'm going to go shower and then stitch for an hour. Have a wonderful week!

Update and a new start!

Good Morning!!

It is so cold outside the hair inside your nose freezes with the first breath you take outside!! That's not the worst news though. No siree bob! I listened to the weather man and he said it isn't going to warm up any time soon! More snow is expected tomorrow into Thursday. I gotta tell ya, Arizona is looking mighty good right now!

I want to say a quick thank you to all my regular and brand spanking new followers. I appreciate you all taking the time out of your busy day to read my blog. I will try to keep it as interesting as possible. And those that asked if the give away was open to international stitchers......yes it is!

I was hoping that once the holidays were over, life would slow down a bit. So far that hasn't happened. The car that just last week had a new alternator put in is back in the shop. Apparently, that wasn't the problem. I'm still waiting to find out what the real problem is. In the meantime, I am carless. I hate that feeling!

Abby started a new rotation this semester and is now having to drive to Mercy Hospital in Council Bluffs. It's not that far away but you pretty much have to drive on the interstate to get there. For most people this is not a huge problem. Unfortunately, there are some people in this world that, for the safety of the rest of the world, should never ever ever drive on the interstate. I am one of those people. I am an awesome driver. I don't like to do it but I am good at it until you put me on an interstate with a million other people doing a million things all at the same time and then all hell breaks loose! Abby is worse than I am. I fear for her life and the lives of everyone else on the same road as her. I will be living proof in the next 3 months that artificially colored hair can turn grey. She called when she got there this morning so everyone is safe until this afternoon. Only 89 more trips to get through!

Also on the Abby front, she and her boyfriend of 2 years have split. Not sure if this is a temporary or permanent split but she is hurting and stressed right now and it makes my heart hurt for her.

I have stitched some more on the princesses. More black but at least I am closing in on finishing the 2nd page. That's 2 pages in slightly over a year. At this rate, I'll be finished in 29.5 years!


I started a new project at Last Saturday Stitching. Quaker Diamonds by Rosewood Manor. Didn't get too far on it as I was waiting on customers most of the day but I am loving what I did get to do. The Valdani threads are beautiful!


We had a freebie exchange on Saturday also. Everyone was to kit up a freebie from their stash and we drew numbers to see who would pick a package first. It was fun and interesting to see what people chose to give. Here's what I received :


That's about it for now. Best get to work stretching cross stitch. Don't forget to leave a comment on the January 1st post if you want to be entered in the giveaway! Thanks for stopping in! See ya next time!