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!

Give Away for the New Year!!

Happy New Year To Everyone!!

I hope all of you had a wonderful evening last night, whether you spent it quietly at home or out partying the night away! Me? I spent it quietly at home watching some NCIS with Dan and Amy.

Amy has been sick the last few days. We finally had Christmas with Dan's parents yesterday and today we are supposed to go to my parents but they would just as soon we not come in case we might be shedding virus. I understand, they are old and don't need to get sick. The girls are very sad though.

In honor of the new year and because I promised when I had fifty followers I would have one to celebrate, I am announcing my very first give away! Here's what you need to do to be entered:

1. You must be a follower of my blog.
2. You must leave a comment on this post only with your email address saying you wish to be entered.
3. You must tell someone you love that you love them. I'm gonna have to trust you on this one so don't let me down!

Feel free to spread the word about the giveaway and post a link to it if you would like but you don't get a second entry for doing so. Sorry but only one entry per person, I want to keep it nice and simple for my first giveaway.
I will draw a winner on Sunday, January 10th and I will draw it the old fashioned way. Out of a hat!! Now I supposed you would like to know what I will be giving away.


I'm giving the chart, floss and fabric to stitch it, a cute little pair of scissors, 5 fat quarters of coordinating cotton fabric and a cute dancing frog ornament!

After finishing up The Signs of Fall, I pulled the 12 dancing princesses back out of the bag and stitched on it for a couple of hours. Then I frogged it for a couple of hours and finally I stitched on it again for a couple of hours. Here's where it was when last I showed it....


and here it is as of this morning....


That black is just too exciting for words, I tell ya.

Well, Dan has decided to take Amy to the emergicare place to find out if she has a virus or a sinus infection so I better start cooking just in case we do end up going to moms. UPDATE: They are back and she has bronchitis. they put her on a z-pack and said she is fine to go to Grams. Good thing I started cooking!

Enjoy your day!

Thanks for the Village comments and a finish!

Hello!

Thanks for all the lovely comments on the village. I'm glad you enjoyed looking at it. We are already talking about modifications for next year. Have to find someplace for the new buildings to go!

Well, it's over. The presents are unwrapped, the gifts have been oohed and ahhed over, the food has been eaten and my hips have enlarged. All this dispite the fact that Rudolph couldn't make it through the blizzard! It was an interesting holiday this year. The predicted storm set people into panic mode, including the weather forcasters. First the storm was going to hit on Wednesday and there would be a half inch of ice followed by a foot of snow. This resulted in a phone call from the in-laws on Monday night. They were concerned we would be unable to make it up there on Christmas Eve. On top of that, G'ma Jo figured out that with us coming up there, she would have to cook a meal that someone with gout could eat, someone with diabetes could eat and someone with a wheat allergy could eat. Maybe it would be better if they came to us instead. Now this is a very big deal for them. They feel we don't come up there often enough, so an offer from them to come here instead of us going there was earth shattering. I was fine with that. It's easier for me to cook in my own kitchen than in someone elses' anyway and it looked as though I would be cooking. Tuesday arrived and now the storm was going to hit on Thursday and last until Saturday. This again resulted in another phone call. Things weren't sounding so good for Christmas Eve. We were now in lets wait and see and call you tomorrow mode. Wednesday arrived, Adam was released from work at 1:00 so everyone could make it home before the storm hit. He decided that riding it out over here would be better than being stuck all alone in his apartment. Besides he said, the food would be better at home. He arrived that evening and still no real storm. Some sleet, some freezing rain off and on but nothing too bad. The promised phone call arrived from the in-laws. We Think we will come in the morning. We're pretty sure, but we'll call you again in the morning to see what is happening. Now by this time, the forcasters have said the storm, commonly referred to as Snowmageddon in these parts, will arrive Thursday afternoon. The in-laws plan was to get here by 10:30 and leave by 1:00 to beat the worst of it. At this point I am starting to get a bit irritable. I've been shut up in the house for 2 days now with Abby and Amy, they don't play well together for long periods of time. Abby requires a social life to maintain her sunny attitude and there was no social life to be found. So my nerves were fraying and now we can't make a frigging decision to save our soul. We THINK we might come might as well be we ARE coming as I have to start cooking at sometime in order to have it ready for their fly by visit. However, if I start the cooking and they don't come, we are going to be eating a lot of leftovers! I had decided to make brunch. A double batch of 3 cheese ham puff, pumpkin muffins, Brandy bread (both with and without wheat), bacon, sausages, toast, plus grape and orange juice. I made all the breads that night, chopped up what I could for the ham puffs and went to bed. Thursday morning arrived and there was very little happening outside. The 1/2 inch of ice never happened. The snow was no where to be seen. Dan was making fun of the weather guys and going on about the Snowmageddon that wasn't while they kept saying it was coming.... soon. I kept telling him to be quiet, you are tempting fate. The in-laws called and said they were not going to make it. They had 5 inches of snow and it just wasn't a good idea. I agreed but thought that decision could have been made the night before. And then it hit. No ice but a foot of blowing and drifting snow. At times we thought the roof was going to blow right off the house. Amy said she thought about crawling into my bed Christmas Eve night. Church services were canceled all over the city. Christmas Morning arrived and still the snow was coming down. Who's laughing now Dan, huh?? Guess who will be shoveling for the next 3 days? That's right buddy, YOU!! Our normal routine on Christmas Morning is to eat breakfast and then open gifts. In the afternoon, we head over to my parents house. Not this year. This year we had Brunch. Followed by an hour and a half of waiting for Abby's boyfriend to arrive through the blizzard. I thought he should have stayed home but apparently my daughter, princess Abby told him she would TRY not to be mad at him if he couldn't make it. In laymans terms that pretty much means show up or pay through the nose for the next week or two. I didn't know she had done that or I would have said something to her. Well, I said something to her anyway but it was too late by then, he'd managed to make it here and the storm by that time was starting to lessen in intensity. Without 4 wheel drive though, we weren't going to go anywhere and that included my folks' house. So for the first time in my life, I did not have Christmas at my parents. This was somewhat strange for me and surprisingly enough, it really bothered the girls. A taste of things to come. We took our time opening our packages and then the "kids" headed downstairs to play Wii. I sat in my chair and stitched and Dan snored on the sofa. He was storing up the energy he was going to need to dig out, not only us but the 2 widow ladies across the street. So, here it is Sunday night. We have had brunch everyday now for 4 days and still we have more to eat! I'm so sick of pumpkin muffins and brandy bread I could scream. I did freeze some of it but apparently I should have frozen more! Christmas with the in-laws is still somewhat iffy. Abby might have to work New Years Eve and day. Dan's sister has to work the weekend. They are not pleased. We are going to my folks on New years afternoon. But 2 of the cousins will not be attending as they left on a bus yesterday afternoon for Florida to march in the band at the Gator Bowl. The bus was supposed to leave at 4:00am Saturday Morning. The last I heard from my niece it was 1:00p.m., pizza had been ordered and the buses were still 3 hours out. Glad I didn't have to deal with that whole mess!
Dan is moving very slowly today. Digging out is hard work even when you have help. Bet he doesn't mock the weather guys again any time soon! I was unable to make any of the early bird sales at the stores. The plow didn't come by until afternoon by which time everything was pretty picked over. And can you believe they wouldn't honor the early bird prices even though I explained I was unable to get out of the driveway! The nerve of some people. LOL!! Here are a couple pics of the snow for you. Snow just doesn't photograph well, have you noticed that?

Here is our mailbox across the street. The plow went by right when Dan and Adam were done with Margaret's driveway and the snow is now even with the top of the mailboxes!


Here is Adam working over at Theresa's house. The sidewalk was drifted about 3 ft. deep he said.


Our back yard

The drift in front of the basement doors:


And finally our grill. Won't be using that any time soon will we.


All this snow has pretty much obliterated any sign of Fall that was left. We won't be seeing any grass or dried leaves for quite some time to come so I guess it is fitting that I finished my Signs of Fall project. I modified the chart just a bit. Here is a pic with the original chart with my finished piece.



Once again I rambled on and I could continue for days I think but I better call it quits. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and were able to enjoy it with friends and family. Till next time, thanks for stopping by and I love reading the comments so keep them coming!