Look what I made!!!

I have been playing with my new embroidery machine and I finally have something I can show off.. Check out the stitching bag I made for my friend Janet:



I love how it turned out!!! The handles are made from ribbons and there is a strip of velcro at the top of the bag to keep it closed. She was so excited to get it! I have to say I love playing with my new machine!!!

Animal Afghan and Faery Tales

On Sunday, I worked on Faery Tales. I was able to put in 660 stitches and I feel like I am actually making progress on this design. I still have 47 pages to go but every stitch I put in puts me closer to reaching that goal.

I finished 2 more letter on my Animal Afghan. The Q is a little off centered and I have no idea how this happened except that I didn't measure it right. DUH!!! I have 9 letters to go! I can't wait to be finished with this design!!!

Brithday Weekend

This past Sunday I turned the dreaded 39! I am not sure why everyone dreads this age but I enjoy my birthdays. Friday night, Mark and I went to Sho-guns Express for sushi. You know you have been going to a place for a while when the sushi guy comes out and asks if I am on a diet. It seems that I usually order 3 or 4 Premium rolls and this time I only ordered 1 and 2 regular rolls. I told him that I was on a diet and everything was wonderful!
Saturday morning I went for a hot stone massage and then ran a few errands. Mark planned a Birthday party for me on Saturday night. We had a huge cookout and ate a wonderful "Better than Sex" cake. It lived up to it's name. We played a game of Buzz- wonderful trivia game for the PS3. After everyone left, tragedy struck, you can read the post below. That kinda put a damper on my evening.
Sunday morning, Mark took me, my mom and brother to brunch at the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs. This is the place we stayed for our wedding. The buffet was wonderful! I tried small bites of everything. I know chocolate covered oreos is not on my diet but they were good!!! My uncle and grandfather came up in the afternoon to visit and bring me my gifts. My uncle brought me a beautiful ruby heart necklace!! We had leftover birthday cake!! Exciting times!!!

Munch traveled Over the Rainbow Bridge

My little Munchie went over the Rainbow Bridge this past Saturday Night. She was 15 years old and still as sweet and loveable as the day I brought her home. Everyone loved her because she loved to be petted. She wasn't very fond of the dogs even thought they tried to get along with her. To say we spoiled her is the least. She had her own guest room and her own queen size bed. We knew that with her age she was going to need her own space to get away from Jag and the dogs. She lived a very happy life, however we are going to miss her dreadfully. She always jumped on my stitching chair around 10:00 pm so we could have a cuddle. The dogs were in bed by that time so she didn't have to mess with them.
This was a sudden passing because she was fine until Friday evening. She didn't come to dinner and I thought she was just tired. I noticed on Saturday morning that she was laying in the middle of the living room floor and her breathing was a little shallow. She never laid in the floor because that would mean she might have to socialize with the dogs. I picked her up and placed on her bed. I brought her some water and she drank it all up. I told Mark if she was still feeling poorly on Monday, he was taking her to the vet. This was around 3:00 pm. I kept an eye on her all evening. She was going downhill and I could see it. Around 10:30, I fed Jag, and went to see if she might want a bit to eat...I picked her up and called for Mark because he breathing was really labored. He came in and she quietly died in my arms. I have to say Mark stepped up to the plate. He helped me find a munchie size box to place her in because it wasn't something I could do. He took her to the vet on Monday to be cremated because our backyard is all rock so she can't be buried there. The vet sent us a lovely sympathy card today. They tell us we can pick her up in a week or so.
I haven't figured out how Jag is handling it. He seems to be a bit more cuddly now so I am not sure if he is missing her or not.

Animal Afghan and Workout update

Here is my Animal Afghan. I finished 2 letters since Sunday evening! They are just so cute!!!

I put up my walking ticker at the beginning of the year before all the snow started. I was doing great stopping and walking at the park after work but then the snow came....I don't like walking in snow, mud or on the treadmill. I don't feel like I am going anywhere when I am on the treadmill. I just HATE it. So my husband asked me if I was interested in the PX90 at home workout system. I did some research and found that that would not be right for me since I am EXTREMELY out of shape. So, we ordered the Power 90 workout system for the people who are so out of shape and/or HATE to exercise. I waited patiently for it to come in and it finally arrived on Saturday. I opened it and read everything. It gives a 5 tiered list of foods from those that are GREAT for you and those that are bad for you. I started the diet officially today (I had to enjoy my Valentine Chocolate...lets get real) and isn't that bad. I just have to eat under 1300 calories every day.




It was suggested that I order their protein shakes, etc but I decided to go to GNC and purchase a protein shake there. As you can see, I purchased this HUGE tub of protein powered shake that will take the place of one meal a deal. I opened said tub and started laughing. I placed a spoon down to the powder since the powdered only filled up 1/2 the container. You mix 1 scoop with either milk, juice or water. I tried it with 5 oz. water and this is the final product. I measured it to my takeout knife. The shake was pretty good and I was full after I drank it. This diet also says that inorder to help the weight loss process, you are not supposed to eat 3 hours before dinner. You go to bed hungry and instead of digesting foods your body attacks your fat cells! so I stopped eating at 8:00 and then I realized that I am a snacker! I love to snack. So I curbed my snacking with a cup of herbal tea (no sugar). The only reason I didn't put sugar in my tea was that I knew I couldn't quit drinking cokes cold turkey so I did have a medium Sonic Coke with extra ice. This was 47 carbs!!! I was in shock when I read that on the Sonic nutrition's guide!!
I did the first workout and found out I am more out of shape than I thought. It was sad!

Faery Tales update

Please excuse the typing tonight, it seems that my 100 lb labrador retriever, Brigen, wants to take a nap on my lap. He is curled up like a giant baby. I worked on Faery Tales a little yesterday. I just wasn't in the mood to stitch much. I put in 300 stitches but hey, that is 3o0 stitches I didn't have in before. Since I am having to reach over my dog to type, I am calling this entry finished.

Mill HIll Finish, Gibbs and Chocolate

In an earlier post, I mentioned we had snow days. Right now, I have missed 10 days of school due to snow and the last day of school is June 14th. Which means, I will have to miss my cross stitch retreat unless they figure out a way to let us make up the days. I did use my time off productively. I made Sinful Chocolate Balls. They are so easy to make and they are so rich! YUM!! In case you want to make them...You need 1 box cake mix, 1 can of icing and a pkg. of almond bark. Bake the cake and let it cool completely. Once cooled, crumble into a bowl and mix in the can of icing..Chill for 2 or 3 hours. Once chilled, take out and form into small chocolate balls. I use a melon scoop to form mine....and then chill the chocolate balls for another 2 or 3 hours. Dip into Almond bark...chill again. Then serve! Easy to make but they take a while to mix up.

I finished the Apothocary building from the Mill Hill Christmas Village Collection. I promise that this picture does not do it justice!!!! I turned out really gorgeous!!!!

Yes, you are looking at Jabba Jag laying on the dog bed taking a nap while the 100 lb dog just lays there and stares at him. Gibbs loves to sleep on his bed but Jabba Jag decided he wanted to lay in the sun so he took over the bed. The dog is too scared to move the cat. I haven't posted in a bit on what Gibbs has eaten. Besides the typical tennis balls, cat food (when he gets in the cat room), cardboard pieces....well, What he ate Friday Night takes the cake!!
I was making dinner for Mark and I, I had placed and started slicing this beautiful pork loin. I turned my back..and yep Gibbs jumped, grabbed it and took off! I was screaming for Mark to help me catch him as we chased him through the house. When we finally caught him, he had almost eaten the pork loin whole...Mark pried his jaws open and I reached my hand down there and pulled it out. Of course it went right into the trash and we had to call for a pizza for dinner! Anyone know any tips to keeping the dog off the counter??? I would appreciate anything you have!!!!

Record Snow Days

The weather man said we would get 2-4 inches of snow....Does this look like 2-4 inches???? Just so you know...we NEVER get snow like this....the most we get is 4 inches. This is Crazy for us!!!!

RR project complete!!

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I finished Sandy's RR project tonight! It turned out so cute. The only thing I didn't stitch was the X in the stars...they called for French knots and I really stink at French knots. You know how I always tell you what Gibbs eats? Well...this is what he brought in last night. It seems he is just like me and LOVES to eat ice. He came in carrying and then chomping on something. I had no idea what it was and when I took it from him...it was ice!! Crazy Puppy!!!!

UFO Sunday-Faery Tales

I did work on my RR piece for a bit today but I spent most of the day working on Faery Tales. I set a goal of 1,000 stitches in my HAED today and I actually completed it!!! It was very easy since the only two colors I was using was Black and Navy!!! So there was no crazy confetti stitches for me to worry about.
Just thought I would give you an update on Gibbs. He has been a very naughty puppy this week. He has eaten 5 tennis balls since Tuesday. I brought home new tennis balls since the ones we had were bald. They like to eat the fuzz....well Gibbs loved eating them! Today, he decided to eat the Hershey Kisses wrapper that Mark had left out on his TV tray. Crazy Dog!!!!

Round Robin, Jabba the cat and snow days

This is my cat Jag. Mark and I have decided to rename him to Jabba the Cat. As you can see, Jag loves his can of wet food he gets everyday. So he has decided to not exercise and has gained quite a bit of weight. He is very heavy and just LOVES to jump right on our stomachs in the middle of the night, or when I am sitting in my rocker trying to stitch. So he has now been renamed to Jabba.

Here are some lovely pictures of my feathered friends who LOVES my backyard during snow days. I think it has something to do with the food I leave out. I haven't taken pictures of my boys in the snow yet...but I will do that this week.

In case you are wondering, today was the first day that we could leave my house. The roads were finally clear to run to Walmart and Sonic.

This is Sandy's RR design that I am working on for her. it is on a piece of perferated paper so I can only work on it for small short periods of time because I am not good at stitching in hand. It makes my fingers cramp up but it is turingin out so cute!!!

Snow Days and Teddy Afghan

Snow and more snow!!! That is all I am experiencing right now. This is the view from my upper deck. On Tuesday afternoon I got up and measure the snow and it was just 6 inches.

So I decided to finally take down my final Christmas tree. I just loved having my Disney tree up. It made me smile so I decided to leave it up longer than usual. I spent the afternoon reading and stitching on my Teddy Bear Afghan. I did some shopping on Ebay! I won 3 auctions and didn't spend a dime of my own money!!!! Wondering how I did that??? I had $11.34 in Ebay bucks so I bought a Yard of fabric, 1 skein of DMC 939 and 1 sheet of stickers. I spent $11.33 and didn't spend a dime out of my own pocket!!

My monthly accomplishment for January was I did not buy any new stash! My goal is not to buy stash this year but to make a wish list and stitch what I have in stock. My expections are my monthly class with Mary from Ozark Samplers, Magazines since you can only get them at that one time and fibers/fabrics for projects in my stash that I want to stitch.

Wednesday I decided to go out and measure the snow again. As you can see, we have 9 inches of snow now and check out our grill! It has a really cute hat!! So I am off to stitch again. I spent the day stitching and reading again.

I finished my Teddy Afghan!!!....well...I finished all the letters. I still need to stitch the name and a Date of Birth but that will happen when the baby is born.
I decided NOT to stitch my Disney Ornament Afghan just yet. I have deleted it from my goals. I can't decide if I want to stitch it on an afghan or individual blocks and make a wall hanging....so until I can decide I am taking it off my list of things to be stitched!!!!