Christmas Round Robin

I am in a Christmas ornament Round Robin with my ILCS (I Love Cross Stitch) yahoo group. If you don't know what a RR is then let me explain. In this RR, there are 6 people wanting to stitch ornaments. We were to pick a minimum of 5 ornaments they wanted to stitched. You send a copy of the pattern, fabric and any specialty fibers/buttons/beads that you want on your design. If you want DMC used then the person who is stitching it uses their dmc.
Vicky L sent me several cute patterns but I finally decided on this little gingerbread design. She sent Blending Filament for use with the color white. I didn't like how it looked so I upgraded her design to having beads...which turned out so cute!!!

Book Challenge

In the month of July I was able to read 11 books. Which brings my total to 51 books. Not as many as I would have liked but I am proud of my progress. This month I read:

1. The next best Thing By Kristen Higgions Lucy is widowed and looking for a man who will make her happy. She loves to bake and works in the family bakery. She has to say goodbye to her friend with benefits in order to find a new husband but she is ok with that...however he is not!! Ethan likes their arrangement but is willing to offer more!!! Fun summer read.

2. Sucker Punched by Sammi Carter: Abby is once again trying to clear a friends name when he is accused of murder. I love this candy shop series. The only problem is I get to craving sweets when I read it since most of it takes place in her candy shop where she is cooking!!!

3. Christmas Letters by Debbie MaCrombe: Katherine has started a small business of writing peoples Christmas letters. She has a knack for making the most horrible situation sound fabulous. Her sister has twin girls who have been behaving horribly and it is due to the fact that their mom has been following this quack Doctors child rearing advice. He believes that children should set their own rules/guidelines etc....the thing is he DOESN'T have children!! Katherine finds out he lives in her building and she just can't keep her mouth shut!!!!

4. To Seduce a Sinner by Elizabeth Holt this is one of my historical romance novels I love! Viscount Jasper Vale must marry and do so quickly! He finds a willing bride that keeps his at arms length. He just doesn't get that she has been in love with him for YEARS!!!

5. Sprinkled with Murder by Jean McKinley Melanie and Abby have given up their jobs in order to start up their own CupCake bakery shop. They haven't been opened long and they get a fantastic offer to cater a socialites wedding...however the socialite winds up dead with their cupcakes on her lips!!! Great Cozy Mystery!

6. Lady Catherine's Necklace by Joan Aiken this is a spinoff of a Pride and Prejudice novel. I didn't enjoy this book at all. It was very hard to finish.....

7. Beach Street Knitting Society by Gil McNeil the setting of this book is in London so the language is a little different. Jo's husband, Nick, is killed in a car accident and everyone is expecting her to play the grieving widow. What they don't know is that just before the accident he informed her he was leaving her for another woman. She takes her boys and moves to a seaside town where she takes over her Gran's knitting store. It is a fun read, but it was a little confusing.

8. 6 Rainer Dr by Debbie MaCrombe: Seth and Justine's Restaurant has burned down and they are trying to put the pieces of their lives back together. All the other crazy characters are back and this is an AWESOME series!!

9. Knit 2 by Kate Jacobs: This picks up 5 years later after the death of their beloved Georgia Walker the founder of Walker and Daughter knitting store. It follows the lives of 5 friends and their troubles/trials. Great book!!!

10. 74 Seaside Drive by Debbie Macrombe: Tess has finally married Bobby and this is their story. It involves, love, threats, kidnappings and the police!! I just love how each book showcases a specific family and then brings in all the other characters.

11. Don't Call Me Ishmel: Teen book...Not worth reading. I hate to say it but I had the hardest time reading this book!!!

Our Vacation

I finally was able to make it home on Monday night around midnight. Mark and I really enjoyed our trip. We were able to visit the Jamestown Settlement and Colonial Williamsburg. I took so many photos that there are Way to many to show. So if you would like to see, click on the name and you can visit my photo album! We enjoyed meeting Marks Goddaughter, Courtney. She is just adorable. While there we did play some very lively games of spades. I have to say, it really stinks to lose!!While visiting the historical places, it was fascinating to see how they lived. I was able to use my flip video camera to record the speeches by the people explaining what life would be like. I took Historical fashions with me and was able to stitch on that.

trying to get home

Mark and I left for our little vacation on Thursday. We've had so much fun!! We saw the Jamestown Settlement, Colional Williamsburg and played some very intense games of spades. We've enjoyed spending time with our friends. I feel that visiting someone elses home is wonderful, however you should not overstay your welcome. We left for the airport Sunday morning because we had a 1;45 pm flight home. We got to the airport around 11:00 so we could go home. We went through the self serve kiosk to check in (what a pain!!!) paid our $25.00 luggage fee and then went through security. In my carry on I packed: my Nook, My GPS (Betty as we call her), both our I-pod, our cribbage board to play on the plane and fashions. My bag had to be run through the xray machine 4 times because the cribbage board looked suspicious! After all that, we had lunch and finally walked to our gate. We checked the board when we first walked in and we were on time to leave! After walking to the gate, we were postponed until 3:30...was able to try and get on a 2:45 standby so we wouldn't miss our connection in Charolette. We didn't make it ...while waiting our flight was cancelled!!! Called US airlines, the best they could do was 8:00 pm MONDAY NIGHT with us getting home at Midnight!!! UGH!! I start back to school on Tuesday!!!! So, we called our friends, they drove us to the airport and back to their house. where we are now, until 5:30 PM and we try to go home again!!!!

Historical Couple #9

Wow..I made a goal that I would not go to bed tonight until I completed couple 9. We are leaving for Virginia on Thursday and I wanted to have that couple completed before we left. I only have 3 more couples to go!!! Talk about exciting!! I can't believe I might actually finish this before the end of this year!!! I haven't decided which project I am going to take on vacation. I will have plenty of time to stitch on the plane so I am tempted to bring fashions so I can work on it. However, I do have an ornament RR that I need to start and finish soon.....decisions decisions!!!
I received an RR from one of my online groups. There are 36 squares and only 5 are filled. I have a feeling it is going to take a bit to get it finished.
I have been working in my classroom for the past few days. It is a total mess! The way it is looking i am not going to be able to get it finished before school starts...however, I say this every year and I always seem to finish it!!!LOL ...