2009 New Years Eve

What a year it has been! There have been many more laughs this year than tears. I am so thankful for all my friends and family that has made this year special. Tonight my DH an I are gonig to our friends, The Baileys, for our yearly New Years eve party. We basically eat and play games.
I counted up and I have finished 17 stitching projects and I have no idea how many books I have read. I know the total must be over 100 books.
I just want to wish everyone a Happy New Years and for you to be safe while out and about on the roads. Watch out for those crazy people out there!!!!!

Strawberry Shortcake Murders review and other tibets

I have been listening to Strawberry Shortcake Murder by Joanne Fluke. This is the 2nd book in her Hannah Swensen series. Hannah owns the town cookie shop and her cookies/recipes make mouth water!! The book comes with recipes so that you can make the cookies she talks about in her story. In this book, the town is hosting a baking contest and Hannah is helping run the contest. One of the judges winds up murdered in his garage and Hannah has to help solve the case. There is a love triangle between Hannah, Eric- the local police and Norman -the dentist. I am enjoying listening/reading this series. The first book is called The Chocolate Chip mystery. If you are looking for a new series there are 12 books in this one and I am hoping that each one gets better and better!!
Today, I took my mom to the airport. As of right now she is flying to New Delhi India for a 2 week visit with my sister and her family. She called me from the Big Plane in Chicago letting me know she got on the right plane and would be arriving in New Delhi in 15 hours!!! Can you believe that??? 15 hours!!!
I also figured out that if your Shark Steam mop quits steaming..you can put CLR (calicum, lime and rust) cleaner in it and let it sit plugged in for about 10-15 minutes. Give it a few pumps during this time...and it will start steaming again. Mine quit steaming after 3 months, I used this and a big black clog came out and it steams better than when I first got it!!! Just an FYI....

Welcome To Tyler- Whirlwind

I just finished reading Whirlwind by Nancy Martin. This is the first book in the Welcome to Tyler series. I have had these on my bookshelf for awhile so I decided to pull out the first one to read. I have to say, I liked the book. I didn't like how it left things open at the end but this is a series so I am hoping all things will be tied together at somepoint. Liza is returning home to Tyler when her life fell apart in Chicago. She heads to her grandpa's lodge where she promptly has an accident. She winds up sharing the lodge with a crazy guy who prefers to be left alone. He doesn't like people, goes into a panic attack. She drives him INSANE!! She doesn't like her mom, adores her grandfather and doesn't want to talk to her sister. It is a major family drama. There is a little mystery to the book, romance... a small sex scene that is not very detailed at all(it is a harlequin, after all). I can't wait to start the next book.
On the stitching note...I finished stitching my snowman and then I realized I used Ecru instead of white...so a frogging I went...now I am using white!!! UGH!!!

Cinderella Update

What a busy day!! I got up this morning and the cleaning but hit me. I have no idea where it came from but it hit hard. I dressed warm and cleaned out my side of the garage. My side is where we keep all the recycling. My town doesn't have a pick up for recycling, I actually have to box it all up and take it to the recycle center. I had to make two trips with the back of my SUV FULL!! It was just crazy. I then proceeded to sweep out myside and my garage is actually clean!!! Then, I came in the house and took down both my Christmas trees, moved a bookcase from the living room to the bedroom and cleaned my living room while doing a load of laundry. Talk about being tired after all this...whew!!

I worked on my Nora Corbett Cinderella piece. My goal was to finish her sleeves and the beading it entailed. I was a little concerened that the laces wouldn't show up but they look great in the pictures.

I also cut the fabric for my Sandra LittleJohns Summer Ball Design. I now have to convert the key from anchor to DMC. This design is 34" x 14" when completed. There are several people stitching this design with me...so I won't be suffering by myself. This design is only 6 pages...so I feel pretty good about it!!!

I also pulled out my January SAL which the theme is Snowman. I decided to pull out my Mill Hill kit called Snow Day it is from the Button -n-Beads series.

I have another busy day tomorrow. I have to go visit my mom, she is leaving for India on Wednesday. She will be gone for 2 1/2 weeks. She is so excited!!!

Furbabies

I had a couple of people ask me about the Flip Camera and how the videos look so I thought I would upload a video of my furbabies opening their Christmas presents.

Winchestor House

I set a goal to finish Winchestor house by the end of the year. I can honestly say I am not going to make it!! I did however do all of the roofs and the backstitching it entailed. UGH! My fingers cramped on the last roof. I have put it away in my rotation and now working on Cinderella by Nora Corbett.

The rest of this is just me whining...so feel free to stop here if you like!!!
I spent yesterday going through all my emails, group posts etc and realized taht I have gotten just way behind. I couldn't believe how far behind I had gotten. This year has been very hard on me since I lost my grandmother. I have tried and tried to keep a happy face and keep going but I just miss her so much. I never realized how much I would miss her. Sorry...I don't mean to such a downer but that is the way I am feeling right at this moment. I started my school year a week behind and I never caught up which I tried. I got behind in my emails and posts becahse by the time I got home from work..dinner cooked I was just tired. So I stitched and got behind in my groups. Enough about this sad subject.
I have been thinking about somethings I want to change one of them is I am going to start getting my nails done again. I know that may sound silly....but I used to love getting them done and I stopped for some reason. So, I am going to get my nails done this week. On the stitching note I usually keep a database on how much I stitch and how much I have to go...well..I am stopping that because it stressed me out. This is going to be a big habit to break since I have been keep track of my stitching for years. Hopefully, I won't feel that "HAVE" to get so much done in a night to get finished by a certain deadline. Crazy huh?? but I have actually managed to stress myself out by stitching when it was supposed to be relaxing. I am also going to try to finish one of my HAED's this year. I have 2 going right now but I want to finish one of them just to say that I actually stitched a HAED!!!!!

Merry Christmas

I want to take this time to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!! My dear family was snowed in this year. We were supposed to go over to my mom's Christmas Eve but the weather was a little iffy. We live on this hill that if the weather turns we may get down it but we won't be getting back up it. So Mark and I decided to stay home. We spent the evening with the fire going and watching movies. Santa came last night and I woke up to exactly what I wanted!! Santa brought me a Flip Video Camera and I LOVE it. It is so easy to use. Santa brought Mark a gift card to his favorite Casino and Golf Store. So he was a happy camper.
We tried to make it to my grandfathers today however, the roads were horrible. We made it down our hill (there were 3 cars in the ditch) and down to the 2nd interstate exit before we turned around and came home. I felt so bad but that is how it goes. My family understood and we are going down on Sunday. So, I spent today stitching and watching TV. I will post stitching progress later...

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!!

Cherokee Child is Finished!!!

I put the final stitches in Cherokee Child tonight! I am so happy to have her finished. She turned out just beautiful!!!! I was so excited to see the final picture. So now I can spend my Christmas Break working on Winchestor House.

Today was the last day of school until January 4th. I am so happy to have some time off. It is really exciting!!! Now, if only my cat would stop meowing. He wants his wet food but if I get up when he starts meowing then he keeps if up everynight and doesn't stop. So when he is quiet I have to feed him. It is very annoying!!!

I have Finishes!!!

I cannot believe I have not posted since the day before Thanksgiving!! I am a horrible blogger. First of all I would like to announce that I have finished ALL my reading challenges- the 10 book challenge and the Everything Austen challenge!!!! You heard me...both reading challenges are finished. I finished the last stitch in my Jane Austen Challenge this morning. On the personal side...This has to be the smallest bar of soap ever made. Mom and I went to Branson, MO last weekend. This is the bar of soap left on the side of our tub for use to use. It was wrapped in this cute little package. In case you are curious, it is in between two travel size toothpaste tubes.

This past Thursday, I got up at 4:30 am and by 5:00 am was booking our Disney Dining for this summer . It took 45 minutes to book 19 reservations and then booked the fantasmic on the phone at 6:00 am. I had everything booked and ready to go by 6:15. Now I just get to sit and wait on June 8th to come. Only 178 more days!! HEE HEE!!!!