Reading and Stitching

100+ book challenge

2012-01-31T21:37:00.000-06:00

Book Chick City is hosting a 100+ reading challenge. This challenge does NOT allow me to count my audio books because they feel that you are not reading a book when you are listening to a book. So I have posted my reviews of all the following books in their appropriate category! I hope you will go back and read them!!

Young Adults:
1. Witch Ball
2. Sword Play
3. Pretty little Liars
4. Entwined
5. Fatal Charm

Victorian:
6. The Face of a Stranger

Regency/Victorian
7. Winning the Wallflowers

Romance:
8. Cupcake

Cozy Mystery:
9. Diva Haunts a house

Out Do yourself Challenge

2012-01-31T21:29:00.001-06:00

The Book Vixen is hosting an out do yourself challenge. This challenge allows me to count my audio books so I will be writing their reviews here. My goal is to read 116 books this year. So far I have read and reviewed in other challenge posts:

Young Adults:
1. Witch Ball
2. Sword Play
3. Pretty little Liars
4. Entwined
5. Fatal Charm

Victorian:
6. The Face of a Stranger

Regency/Victorian
7. Winning the Wallflowers

Romance:
8. Cupcake

Cozy Mystery:
9. Diva Haunts a house

Audio Books:

Famous Child Psychologist Alex Delaware takes his lovely wife out for drinks at their favorite hotel which is closing. They see a mysterious young lady sitting in a booth playing a part that is very similar to Audrey Hepburn. Lt. Milo Sturgis stops by the next morning with some police photos for Dr. Delaware to look at because a young lady has had her face blown off and he is hoping to gain some insight in the case. Dr. Delaware is very shocked when he recognizes the outfit the girl is wearing is the same as they young Audrey Hepburn!!!

I love listening to John Rubinstein reading the parts/books of Alex Delaware. I am sad to say this is the only way I will read a kellerman book!!! I just love his voice! Awesome book...lots of twists and turns! I didn't realize who the killer was until the end.

Straight from Amazon:
After Ann Nolan, a California beat cop, adopts the daughter of a notorious drug dealer, the ruthless father vows to take back his only child. In response, Ann flees across the country, changes her name, and starts a new life as an investigator for the Mercy Street Foundation, the billionaire-endowed organization dedicated to finding missing persons. As Emme Caldwell, she takes the lead on the Foundation's first case: Nineteen-year-old Belinda Hudson disappeared from her sorority house leaving behind only one cryptic clue. Retracing the vanished student's steps leads Emme to Heaven's Gate, a fertility clinic, and the mysterious Donor 1735.

This book had me captivated from the very beginning!! I had NO IDEA how it was going to turn out! The killer SHOCKED ME!!!!! it was very good!! I highly recommend!!!

Straight from Amazon:

While home on Christmas break, a seventeen-year-old Senate page takes her dog out for a walk and never returns. The resulting media firestorm quickly ensnares television reporter Cassidy Shaw, Federal Prosecutor Allison Pierce and FBI Special Agent Nicole Hedges. Together, these life-long friends call themselves The Triple Threat--a nickname derived from their favorite dessert and their uncanny ability to crack cases from three unique positions of power.

Together they must find the one face of betrayal amidst a crowd of growing suspects--including a U.S. Senator--before they become the next victims.

This book made me cry! I just felt so sorry for the victim! I didn't figure this one out either! This book had so many twists and turns that the ending left my mouth open!!!!

Young Adult Reading Challenge

2012-01-31T21:00:00.001-06:00

The Eclectic Bookshelf is hosting a young adult reading challenge. Since I teach High School I do have to stay up to date on what my kids are reading. I have contests going on in my room to see who can out read me in teenage books also! So this month I read:

This is the 4th book in the Seer Series by Linda Joy Singleton. Sabine's mother has insisted she move back home to her old friends and to be homeschooled. She has to leave Josh, Dominic, Penny Love and Nona behind. While she is back home, someone is out to kill her. She met up with her old fencing club and her best friend Brianna who betrayed her in the worst way! You can't forget the ghost of Kip, the guy whose death she predicted that caused problems in the first place. He is now haunting her!!

This is the 5th book in the The Seer Series. Sabine is back with her ill grandmother and is still reeling from her fathers guilty secret of a half sister! Sabine, wanting to know more about her half sister Jade, travels out of body by astroprojection to her sisters house. It can't be an easy spying missing...nope she witnesses a murder!!!

kept me curious! Love the friends and Grandma!!

Life in the 7th grade is wonderful especially if one of your friends is Alison, the most popular girl in school. Alison, Aria, Hanna, Spencer and Emily are the clique that every girl wanted to belong to and looked up to all they did. One everday slumber party changed their lives forever!!! Alison disappears and no one knows where she is and the rest of the girls drift apart. Fast forward to 11th grade, when each girl starts receiving letters, text messages, emails from someone with the initials A. Is Alison back????

Great read! The next book is on my desk ready to be read.

The Queen has died, the castle is in morning and the 10 beautiful princess cannot dance! The king has gone to battle to leave the girls to grieve on their own. It is a very sad state in the castle until Princess Azalea finds a secret passage to a magical world where the princesses can dance the night away. The only problem is that there is a catch and it may cost the princesses more than they are willing or able to give!!!

FABULOUS BOOK!!!

Romance Challenge

2012-01-31T20:32:00.002-06:00

Royal Reviews is also hosting a Romance reading challenge. I love reading romance novels. Trashy, sweet, loving, makes me cry books are my favorites!!! The Romance novels I read this month were:

LOVED THIS BOOK!!!!! It was a Free download from Amazon. Darcy Miller owns her own bakery and she is FAT!! She is trying all these different methods to lose weight and nothing is working. It doesn't help that her sister is tiny and is offering her suggestions! Then the hottest guy she has ever seen is opening the store next door! I found myself laughing outloud which wasn't good because Mark was asleep next to me!! HEE HEE!!

I also read Winning the Wallflowers by Eloise James. This book review can be found in the Regency/Victorian post right below this one!!!!

Regency and Victorian Challenge

2012-01-31T20:18:00.001-06:00

Royal Reviews is hosting a Regency and Victorian Reading Challenge. Of course since I love these types of books, I had to join. This month I chose to read:

I really enjoyed it!!! Lucy is not your average simpering miss at the ball. She is too tall and on the shelf. Her parents have arranged a marriage for her to the sexy Ravenscroft. It is a perfectly suitable marriage for both parties involved until Lucy inherits a fortune and her parents make her break the betrothal because she can improve her rank in society. Ravenscroft is clueless about romance and that is what Lucy is wanting!!

Great historical Read!!

Lana's Victorian Challenge

2012-01-31T19:50:00.002-06:00

Lana from Laura's Reviews is hosting a Victorian reading challenge. Since I am a lover of Victorian novels, movies, dress and manners, I decided to join. I have chosen to read one Anne Perry Novel a month. I am reading her William Perry series about a Victorian Detective in London.

William Monk wakes up in a hospital with a splitting headache. He has been in an accident and has lost his entire memory! He is a top notch detective with a major case to solve but he doesn't even know his own name, where he lives or anything!!! A war vetern, Joscelin Grey, has been brutally murdered in his own home and Monk must somehow piece his life together while he pieces together the puzzles of this murder case!

I liked this book...it kept me interested. It was so interesting that last night I had to finish it!! Just had to do it! It was midnight and I couldn't sleep. Usually, I read an ebook but I had to search the web for and e-book of this to download so I could read it. I found of tons of illegal files, torrrent files (don't trust those either) and I finally stumbled onto this website: readfreeonline.net it was wonderful!!!! I was able to finish the book!!!

Floss, floss and awesome Crockpot recipe!!

2012-01-29T23:22:00.001-06:00

Floss needed to be wound

You are looking at my floss that I want to get organized this year. It is a crazy mess!!!! I spent today kitting up all my UFO's and I mean all of them!!! I then proceeded to pull out all my floss to the living room so I could watch TV while I was kitting up the floss. I had to enter all the threads needed by chart into excel then sort it in numerical order.

Floss box full of UFO's threads

The floss boxes looks so pretty when they are all together. I started at 3:30 pm and finally finished around 9:00 pm. Yes...it took that long to sort, wind and organize4 boxes of threads!!!! Mark just looked at all my threads and shook his head...he had no idea what to think about all this.

Zuppa Tuscana Crockpot soup

I found this recipe off 365 days of slow cooking. I tried her original recipe and it is YUMMY!! Since I am trying to lose some weight I modified it and it turned out great!!!!

1 lb ~~bulk Italian sausage~~, Turkey, browned and drained
(I added 1 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning)
2 cans chicken broth
1 cup water
1/4 cup onion, chopped
3 large russet potatoes, cubed
1 garlic clove, minced
Bacon bits
1 ~~cup whipping cream~~ can low fat Evaporated Milk
Kale
Place Italian sausage, chicken broth, garlic, potatoes and onion in slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH for 3-4 hours until potatoes are cooked and soft. Add desired amount of bacon bits, whipping cream and cut up kale right before serving. Top with your choice of cheese; serve with fresh bread. Makes 8 servings.

I highlighted in yellow the changes to the original recipe that I made. It is so yummy!!!! I didn't wipe the bowl after I had heated it in the microwave...sorry, my presentation isn't Iron Chef Material!!!!!

Stitching, Weight, Bert and a Question

2012-01-28T23:44:00.001-06:00

Bert decided he needed a nap today while I was working in my sewing room. Normally this would be surprising that he found a basket to sleep in however, this basket was on the third shelf of a bookshelf with six shelves. How he got up there, Mark and I do not know but he really loved this location.

Here is Summer Ball. I have completed one page. Only five pages left on this UFO. I have decided to remove one of my UFO"s. It is my afghan from Ozark Samplers. I was going through all the patterns today trying to figure out which LK flip-it years I wanted to use to make if a full 24 square afghan. It seems I am missing 3 months of patterns. I emailed Mary and she said that the December patter is at the store for me to pick up. She told me she would put the other two patterns on her to do list. She will get them to us for a class later this year. So I think it really can't be a UFO if I don't have all the patterns or threads to complete it right???

Here is a crazy Stitch thing that happened to me. I went to post on my Mystic Stitch group today and Yahoo says the group doesn't exist!!! How strange is that? All I can assume is the group owner who hasn't been around in years has deleted the group. I have no idea how else it has happened. VERY, VERY strange!!!

Mark was watching golf the other day and I made him take a picture of me as a before picture. I have been watching my diet and have lost a couple of pounds. I have been working out at least 4 times a week using my Biggest Loser Wii game. The game says I am losing more weight than my actual scale does so I am thinking I need a new scale. That is on my to buy list when I get paid next week.

Just and FYI....It is getting to the end of the month so I am going to post several updates for all my reading challenges. One of my reading challenges does not think that Listening to an Audiobook is actually reading. I think it is...What do you think?

Lazy week

2012-01-26T22:22:00.000-06:00

This is me when I get off work. I fall asleep in my chair for about 30 or 40 minutes a night. I go to bed at a decent hour and get up around 6:00 am to do my workout. When I get home, get my stitching on my lap, and Bert snuggled up, I fall asleep. I don't what to do. I think it is because I have been cutting caffeine out of my system. I haven't had a coke all week and/or a glass of tea. I have been drinking water, lots and lots of water.

This is the facebook game that I have played for over 2 years. I do enjoy playing it however, lately it has become more like work than fun. I feel like I am just begging and begging for things. I posted to my friends that starting this week I would only be logging on to the game 2 times a day. I would still send needed items, I was just going to spend more time doing things I want to do rather than feel like I have to continually on Facebook trolling for items for frontier to complete quests. I am always looking for new neighbors if you play btw!! I am just not playing as much. To be honest, I have gone through some withdrawals from it. I am getting more stitching completed though.

I don't have stitching to post because I am still working on Summer Ball and really want to finish this page before I show it off. So I thought I would show you a new picture of Gibbs. This is him from Tuesday night. He brought in this huge stick through his doggie door. As you can see, as he chews on the stick, he makes a mess on the carpet! Silly Dog...Mark has started calling him Defect. Mark was out with his buddies and they were saying that Black Labs were the smartest of the labs and Marks laughed and said not ours....so now he is called defect. Silly Mark!

Summer Ball and Gifts

2012-01-16T11:17:00.002-06:00

I lost track of how many presents I should have opened so I opened them all!!! Probably cheating but I just couldn't wait!!! Sorry Vicky, but I LOVED everything!!! I have them laid out on my floor with the guilty party of why my floor looks so gross. Gibbs brought in another stick and chewed it all up on my nicely vacuumed floor. Silly Puppy...back to the gifts. I received:

1. A stitch a card with a poinsettia and candle

2. A beading Kit

3. A fat quarter of Christmas fabric

4. Note pad and sticky notes with a crown on them because I am queen!! (In my world anyway)

5. Set of coasters with royal symbols: crown, key and 2 filigrees

6. New pair of scissors

7. 18 ct. fiddler cloth

8. Fast and Festive 50 Christmas designs chart

WOW!!! didn't she spoil me????

This week I worked on my Summer Ball by Sandy Littlejohn. I was able to finish the fireplace and columns. I still have floating head but I hope to remedy that the next time I stitch on this project. This week I am headed back to Disney to work on my castle!!

My Dear Husband:
Mark sent me an email last week that said "You have have a surprise next week at 2:00 pm" That was intriguing and I asked for a hint, "It is the color you are when you are sad"

Mark bought us BLUE MAN tickets!!!! We went and saw them yesterday. It was so much fun!!! If you haven't seen them, then if you get the chance go! We had a blast. We then went to the Brew Pub for dinner. It is a local restaurant that brews their own beer. Which is kind of funny, since we don't like beer. We just like the burgers! It was a GREAT date!!!

The Diva Haunts the House

2012-01-09T22:12:00.000-06:00

This is my first cozy mystery of the year. The Diva Haunts the House was written by Krista Davis and is the 5th book in her Diva mystery series. Sophie is a practical domestic diva. She isn't like her ex-husbands new live in girlfriend, Natasha, who is a Martha Stewart type diva. In this book, she is helping run the community haunted house. She has several teenagers who are helping her since they are being graded on this at the High School. She has her young niece staying with her right now and she starts instigating some great pre-teen drama! What would a Haunted house be without a REAL life Vampire who is running loose in the neighborhood. The vampire stories run rampant when a guest at Natasha's over the top Halloween part winds up dead on her front lawn with puncture wounds in his neck!!!

If you haven't read her series, I highly recommend them. They have a great mystery, wonderful advice on how to decorate, and fantastic recipes.

Cinderella Castle and Exchange Gifts

2012-01-08T20:58:00.002-06:00

56.9% complete

I am so glad this week is over and another is starting. I was trying to get back into the swing of things and came home tired everyday. I did stitch on Cinderellas Castle and was able to put in 3200 stitches!!! On Saturday night, Mark went to the Razorback Basketball game. I stayed home stitched on my castle and watched Cars 2 and Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides (part 4). It was a fun Disney Night.

Friday night, we watched the Arkansas Razorbacks win the Cotton Bowl!!! I enjoyed the game but HATED the announcers. They were ALL for Kansas State and that is all they could talk about!!! How great they were and how they were having an off night. Even after we WON they were still talking about great KS was!!! Drove us NUTS!!!!!!

In one of my Yahoo groups, I am in an exchange with Vicky for the 12 days of Christmas exchange. I didn't mail on time because I was waiting for something I ordered her from over the pond. I sent her a Jane Austen Date Book. She loved it. So far, my gifts have been: the December JCS magazine issue, a pretty pen that writes blue (at work I can only write in blue ink) and she sent me something off my wishlist. Mirabilia's Crystal Symphony. I just love this design...so elegant!!!! This may be moved to my must be stitched now!!!!!

Biggest Loser? more like Biggest Weenie

2012-01-05T21:18:00.003-06:00

Yep...I am a weenie. Mark bought me this game for the Wii. When you set up your profile you have to go through a series of challenges to see where you should start. I couldn't make it past the moderate level!!! I do a 20 minute workout on the moderate level and I am so sore it isn't even funny!!!! I feel like such a weenie because I can't do more than that. I am just curious if anyone else out there in blog land is doing this workout?? If you are I would like to hear how you are liking it? I started it because a friend of mine recommended it.

School:
Wow!!! I did not think going back to school after Christmas break would be this hard but wow! I come home from work sit down and promptly fall asleep in my chair. Then I can't go to sleep until after midnight. Which means I have a hard time getting up...so it is a revolving circle!!!! Hopefully, I will get back in the swing of things soon!

Historical Fiction Challenge

2012-01-03T22:16:00.000-06:00

I have decided to add one more book challenge to my list this year. This is a Historical Book challenge. Here are the rules:

Each month, a new post dedicated to the HF Challenge will be created. To participate, you only have to follow the rules:

everyone can participate, even those who don't have a blog (you can add your book title and thoughts in the comment section if you wish)

add the link(s) of your review(s) including your name and book title to the Mister Linky we’ll be adding to our monthly post (please, do not add your blog link, but the correct address that will guide us directly to your review)

any kind of historical fiction is accepted (HF fantasy, HF young adult,...)
During these following 12 months you can choose one of the different reading levels:

Severe Bookaholism: 20 books
Undoubtedly Obsessed: 15 books
Struggling the Addiction: 10 books
Daring & Curious: 5 books
Out of My Comfort Zone: 2 books

So of course I have to chose the Severe Bookaholism because I do love to read!!!!

First day of 2012

2012-01-01T23:33:00.001-06:00

Mark and I spent the day just relaxing and watching a TV series on showtime called Homeland. It is about a POW that has come home from the war and they feel the he was turned while being held prisoner. It is a great drama with twists and turns we NEVER saw coming.

I was able to finish my first book of the year. I started it before Christmas break and have been reading a little bit on it over break. I finished it today. It is the third book in the series. This is a YA novel about a young lady who has the power to see the future. It caused major trouble at home and her previous school so she moved in with her grandmother who is also a Seer (someone who can see the future). She is guiding and teaching her how to use her powers.

I worked on Cinderellas castle yesterday and today. I was able to start the lower half of the castle. I think if I could stay off Facebook I could get more stitched but I keep getting sucked in my Frontierville game.

UFO Cinderella Castle

I don't know if you make resolutions or not. I make the same ones..lose weight, save money, don't buy so much stash...etc. This year I would like to set one month aside to finish a chore I HATE or just been putting off. So The month of January will be the month I clean out my guest room which has become a junk room. There is so much stuff in their it is just sad. I have another hoarding room on my hand. I need to update my paperbacks for paperback swap, clean out the closet, go through baskets of magazines that have articles, recipes etc in them that I wanted.

I did set 3 stitching goals this year and after I set them, I realized I calculated wrong!!! UGH! I thought I needed to finish 35 pages of UFO's to get to the 50% mark, however after looking at my spreadsheet, I realized I put in a number wrong. Sigh...so now My goals read:

1) Finish 58 pages of my UFO's to reach the 50% mark. I only have 135 pages left to be complete!
2) Stitch my Disney Patterns
3) Stitch for ME! Be Selfish and do NOT be afraid to tell someone NO!

Crafty Moo Giveaway!!!

2012-01-01T13:40:00.003-06:00

My friend, Sarah, is having a wonderful giveaway at her blog -CraftyMoo. This is one giveaway you do NOT want to miss!!!!!

Stash Box Winners

2012-01-01T12:34:00.000-06:00

WOW!!! I had over 100 entries into my contest!! I am very happy to have all my new followers. So the winners are Linda from Stitching with my Furbabies and Amanda from One Stitch at a time.

I want to thank everyone who entered...and be on the lookout because I have another stack of stash to get rid of and this one involves Disney!!!!

Last day of the year

2011-12-31T20:57:00.000-06:00

Wow!!! It does not seem like it should be December 31 already!!!! I went to the mailbox today and there was Stitchy Mail!!!!!! I found my 1000 plastic bobbins I ordered from Amazon..

I won a Years worth of Ornament Kits from Celcilia's Samplers in Branson. My first kit came in the mail today!!!! We will be doing 12 ornaments from this book...the first one is the Gingerbread house on the cover. I forgot I was getting this so it was a HUGE surprise.

Finished putting away all my Christmas stuff today. Mark and I went out to dinner and he went to bed at 8:55....he is NOT ringing in the new year with me. I am getting ready to get out my Cinderella's castle out and start working on it. Have a Happy New Year!!!!

Still Organizing, Questions and new Calendars

2011-12-30T23:03:00.001-06:00

Yes, I am still organizing!! Tonight, I focused on putting all my freebies in paper protectors. I still have to place them in a binder by category. I still have several saved on a flashdrive that I have to go through too. Then I have to go through my floss that I have gotten onto bobbins and sort them by number. Sigh, this is a HUGE undertaking. Not to mention I have magazines and I still have to enter all my charts onto an excel spreadsheet!! I do have a magazine question but it down below....

Freebies to organize...sigh...

I bought 3 new calendars this week. Most people are going digital and using their I-pads, i-phones etc to keep up with things. I am a little old school, I do like my outlook calendar for meetings at work. At home I like paper and pen. Strange I know...here is what I bought:

Book Challenges and Daily appointments

I like to write down appointments, dates, etc in an old fashioned datebook. This year, I am going to be adding books that I finished so I can keep up with my reading challenges.

Wall Calendar for the house

Mark and I need a calendar for the wall so we can keep up with each others Dr. appt. Marks travel for work, etc. This is where we keep the dogs appointments for the vet and doggie groomer.

Cross Stitch Calendar

I like to keep up with my stitching. I write down when I start a project, what I work on each day. Very nerdy but I like it. Since I am stitching my Disney patterns this year, I thought this was just darling!!! It tells the story of the Sorcerer's apprentice each week.

As I was browsing in Barnes and Noble today, I flipped through the new JCS issue and found this new building series that is starting this year. I bought this issue and went home and ordered a years subscription (7issues) from Magazine.com. They had a $5.00 off coupon and the cost was only $18.00. Cheaper than buying each individual issue and ordering a subscription from JCS

Magazine Storage Question:
Since I am organizing, I am finding I have a number of magazines that only have 1 or 2 patterns in them that I want to stitch. So here is my question: Do I tear out the charts I want and store them in a binder? or Do I just keep the magazine whole and just put the patterns in my database? There are a few I would keep whole because I just love them....but the rest, I could give or take. What is your opinion???

Stash Hoarding = Giveaway!

2011-12-29T17:46:00.000-06:00

I know you are curious about this title, but like most stitchers we hoard our stash. My hoarding got out of control. I couldn't turn around in my craft room. The dogs and cats loved being in there with me but we all didn't fit...Take a look at everything that was in my little room:

Cross Stitch patterns

Jag hanging out in the empty box

Hoarded Stash

Cleaned out room

Stash

more horded stahs

furniture in room

So as you can see I have a lot of stash!!!! I cleaned most of the night and all day today! I am exhausted. Tonight I plan on winding thread and watching movies. Here is the final product of my cleaning:

Bert and Jag playing while I work

Sewing tools and thread all hanging on the wall

Bookshelves with empty spaces on them!!!!

Cross Stitch wall of exchanges!!!

As you can see I destashed quiet a bit! So I will be having several giveaways in the next few days...Here is the first. I cleaned out enough fabric to fill a Glad trashbag full. So I separated them into two boxes. It has Aida, evenweave, baby towels and who knows what else. To win:

1) One entry for leaving a comment
2) One entry for posting about the contest on your blog (you have to email me the link to the post)

I have Mark pick two winners on Sunday. Someone will start the year as a winner.

Christmas Stitching and presents

2011-12-28T01:44:00.002-06:00

This Christmas tree is my final stitching project of 2011!!! It for the RR I am in for one of my Yahoo groups. This belongs to Berly and when I send it to her then all of her RR will be complete. I am also sending her Judiths which you can see below.

Since I finished stitching all my required stitching and goals for this year, I have been transferring all my floss from floss bags to bobbins. Talk about a very boring process!!! I have been sitting in my chair just winding and winding. I am hoping to have a winding party at one of my friends houses soon but my new bobbins that I ordered from Amazon have to come in before we can. I have a feeling I will be winding for a while.

This is one of Marks Christmas presents. I gave him a 5lb Hershey's candy bar. He was shocked...he did not expect this gift!!! He was very good to me this year. This year, Santa gave me: a Chocolate Diamond Anniversary band, 4 charms for my charm bracelet, 3 new books, a new razorback hat and jacket. The first 3 seasons of Designing Women and keyboard for my I-pad!!!

The Anniversary band is also my valentine gift...it was a two holidays in one but it is so pretty. I tried to take a picture of it but it didn't turn out that well....This gives you an idea of what it looks like.

Finally, You can see pictures of Judith in Germany's RR. It needs to go to Berly for her stitch on and then it will go home to Judith. I did have a slight problem. I was getting it ready to be mailed and went to another room to get the envelope, and when I came back....the patterns were gone! Seems Gibbs needed a mid-morning snack. he ate Judiths patterns!!!! UGH!!! So I had to post to the group that she needed to send Berly the last pattern. Darn dog....he thinks he needs to eat everything!!!!!

Reading Challenges for 2012

2011-12-24T16:34:00.001-06:00

As most of you know that read my blog, I do love to read. This year, along with my stitching goals, I am going to enter some reading challenges. I have been searching and reviewing the different challenges out there. Here are the ones I have decided to enter:

Laura's Victorian Challenge:
For the Victorian Challenge, we will focus on the reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901. We will count books that were written by Victorian authors during this time period, books set during the Victorian age, or books about a Victorian author, history, manners, architecture, Queen Victoria etc. Also besides reading books, short stories, audiobooks and movies will also be accepted. The sky is the limit; I would love to make this a true celebration of all things Victorian.

Regency and Victorian Challenge:
-Any sub-genre of Regency/Victorian Reads counts (paranormal, historical, contemporary, young adult etc.) I need to read 8 books to be considered the princess I know I already am!!!

Romance Challenge:
I need to read 12 romance novels to be considered a Queen!! Love this...because I do love to read romance novels.

100+ Book Challenge:
I have to read over 100 books this year. It can be a cross over challenge so all the books for my challenges above do count except for audiobooks. They don't count. Sad, because I listen to books all the time...but I can do do it!!!

The Young Adult Reading Challenge:
My goal is reach the Mega Level where I have to read 50+ Young adult books. Which is what I need to do so I can keep up with my teenagers at school.

Cruising through the Cozies:
I have to read 13 Cozy Mysteries to be considered a Super sleuth! This is for me!!!

Ok...This is all my Challenges for this year. Which means I will be reading as much as I will be stitching!!!!

Christmas ornament finish and Disney ornaments

2011-12-15T23:04:00.000-06:00

My last post I had asked for opinions on which threads I should use for the swirls. I loved reading all your choices, I chose to use lavender since I do love purple. I also changed the ornament string on the top row or ornaments. It called for white, I changed it to the brown. I have to admit that this picture doesn't do the ornament justice.
So what do you think of the lavender????
Julie and Yes Dear asked me to take picture of all my ornaments on my Minnie Wreath. They are all at the bottom of this post.

Advice needed, Disney Wreath, and New Chart!

2011-12-11T23:44:00.001-06:00

I wanted to show off the wreath I made to go over our fireplace. It was really easy to make and took about 15 minutes. I think it took longer to hang it than it did to make it! In case you are wondering..You get one big wreath and 2 smaller wreaths. Use floral wire to tie the two smaller wreaths to the larger one to make the ears. I added a red and white polka dot bow in the middle for Minnie Mouse. I decorated it with cross stitched Disney ornaments.

Bobbins! I have slowly started switching from floss bags to bobbins. It is a VERY long and boring process. I have one of those floss winders but I don't like it. So I am doing it by hand. I would love any advice you may have for making this easier.

I did try to get my husband to help me while he was watching football. He did a great job right??? I would agree except he didn't write the number on the bobbin or put the thread back in the baggies so I know what to number it. Sigh.......

A HUGE thank you to my friend Cathy on the Mystic Stitch boards. I have been looking for this pattern for a while and she had it in her stash! She sent it to me so I could stitch. It just reminds me of my Jane Austen books/movies. It looks like a house that would be in one of the novels.

This is the ornament I am making for a Christmas Ornament Kit exchange in my Ozark Samplers group. Everyone picks out a pattern from the current year JCS Ornament issue. We kit it up for each person in the exchange. When the day is over, you have around 7 or 8 ornaments kitted up and ready to stitch!!! It is alot of fun! However, I have a predicament. The pattern calls for white snowflakes and swirlys. The fabric I have chosen is below. Basically, you can't see white on white. So should I add a lilac color or just use the pinks/aquas/greens for the swirlys?

YOGA IS FINISHED!!!

2011-12-06T22:46:00.001-06:00

I am so happy to show you the finished Yoga design!!!! I put the final stitches in around 10:30 pm. The first thing I did was email my sister and let her know it was FINISHED!!!!!
I am a little lost right now. I have finished all my projects for 2011!!!! What to do now??? I do have a couple of small exchanges to finish so I will be working on those next.
I will also be organizing my floss! It has taken over my sewing room. Floss is everywhere!!!
I want to thank everyone for the kind support and encouragement on my BAP's this year!!! I do appreciate them all!!!!

Agatha Christie and Yoga

2011-12-05T22:39:00.001-06:00

I have been hooked on watching Agatha Christie's Miss Marple series on Netflix. She is a little old lady who lives in England and has a very sharp mind. She helps the local police solve mysteries everywhere she goes! It is set in the 1920, 30's era. It is interesting to see the clothes, cars and huge English houses.

I stitched quite a bit on Yoga tonight as I watched Miss Marple. She is very close to being finished!!!!

Swagbucks update: I cashed in 2250 swagbucks for 5 - $5 GC to Amazon. Swagbuck rules are you can get 2 prizes a day, and 5 a month. So I am cashing them in each month. Each $5 GC costs 450 swagbucks. As you can see, I am earning them back very quickly. I earn quite a few at night by watching swagbucks TV. Every 10 videos I watch, I get 3 bucks. I earned over 70 on Friday night alone! I was busy!!! I will have my aida very soon!!!

Weightloss has been updated.

Yoga is getting there

2011-12-04T21:36:00.001-06:00

This week I was able to finish the leaves, and all the light gold for the bottom portion of Yoga. I still have the rest of her body to stitch. I am so close to this that I can almost taste it so to speak.
I put up two christmas trees this year. Usually, I have three but one broke last year and I haven't replaced it. I really love my Disney because right now, I have one 7.5 tree that is nothing but Disney ornaments with a Mickey mouse train that circles it. Then in my entry way, I have a 6.0 ft. tree that is my Cinderella tree!! I even ordered more ornaments this week so lord help me.
I have finished almost all my Christmas shopping. I have just a few small presents to pick up. I also have to mail my niece and nephews things to Hong Kong.
I started a new page for my weight loss. I am hoping that if I make myself be accountable for reporting if I worked out and finished my 8 glasses of water, then I won't get frustrated and stop.
Happy Stitching everyone!!!

So close yet so far!!!

2011-11-27T22:07:00.001-06:00

From my previous post, I had said I was going to spend the weekend working on Yoga. I did make quite a bit of progress. The goal I set for myself was to finish all the confetti stitching. I just wanted to leave it where I didn't have to follow the pattern, just color in the lines. I reached that goal. I need to use DMC 3829-dark gold on the small leaf section, DMC 834-light gold green for the bottom and finally DMC 938 for her backside. Yep, I am stitching the Yoga's behind!!!

Black Friday and Small Business Saturday:
I stayed home all day and did not spend a single dime!!!! Can you believe that??? I did go out with my mom on Saturday. We went to lunch at Red Lobster, Build a Bear (Teddy needed some new clothes and a new gingerbread friend), Hobby Lobby for DMC 834 and finally to the Friendly Bookstore that helps support the local library. I bought 4 new to me trashy novels!!! There is something about the smell of a used bookstore that just makes me sigh in contentment.

More Stitchy stuff:
I have to buy a whole bolt of 18 count aida!! Friday night, I pulled up the patterns that are saved on my computer that I want to start next year. Of course, they are all BAP's. The Pemberly house needs an entire yard of fabric just by itself, the four Haunted Mansion cross stitch designs need 26 x 44 for each pattern...and the Afternoon Embroidering...it calls for 16 x 11. I figure I should just by a bolt of fabric. However, I am not buying the fabric until I have enough swagbucks to get it for FREE!!! I found it on Amazon being sold by MCG Textiles and it will cost $95 with shipping. So I need a total of 9000 swagbucks to be able to get it for free. I only need 6606 more. It will probably take me till May to get enough but it will be so worth the wait if I can get the whole bolt for free including shipping!!!
-Recruiting Section:
if you are not a member of swagbucks, then feel free to click the link on the left and join! If you join, I will earn a few swagbucks! So far I have cashed in for: $25 GC to Barnes and Noble, $75 for Amazon where i was able to purchase and entire set of Brother embroidery threads, and another $25 for Amazon. Great place to earn free GC just for searching the internet and taking a daily poll. VERY EASY!!

Back to work tomorrow.....So ready for Christmas Break!!!

Ballerina is framed

2011-11-22T23:45:00.001-06:00

Got a text message from Mary after she had ballerina framed. I think she turned out lovely! The mat really makes it pop!!!! I hope the lady receiving it just loves it.

Here is where I am on Yoga tonight at 11:47 pm. I am planning on stitching on it all weekend so hopefully you will see much more progress on Sunday night.

This is the ONLY picture I have of Karin and I at the actual stitching part of our retreat. Karin is holding her door prize she won just waiting patiently to open it. Doesn't she look lovely with her feathered hair???

Are you ready for Turkey day??? I have my bird already thawing. He will go in the oven tomorrow night around midnight after he gets a good coat of butter. He will then be covered in foil and baked on 200 degrees until around 9:00 am. I wake up to a wonderful turkey smell!!!! YUM!!!!!

A New me and Yoga update!

2011-11-20T20:46:00.001-06:00

A new me!! That is right. For the past year and a half I have been growing out my hair. I really love being able to put it in a pony tail and the long curls. However, I have gotten tired of the Frizzy, wild 80's look when the wind blow. Here is a picture of my hair before my hair cut. I was having to pull it back with a small clip and I had the Elaine Benes hairstyle from Seinfield. As you can see from my self portrait via my Ipad how I looked before

I had my DH take the after picture. I had 6 inches cut off the back. It was cut into a many layered bob. When I went in my hair dresser actually laughed at my hair and said, "Wow!! You really need that cut off!!!"

I am loving the new cut! I finished page 10 of Yoga today!!!!! WHO HOOO!!! I only have 2 pages left to stitch. Since I am on break starting Wednesday for the Thanksgiving holiday, I hope to finish another page this week.

I downloaded a new app for my i-pad. It is the Cross Stitch Collection magazine app. I really liked flipping through the magazine online however, you can't print from it. So my question is, why would you buy a years subscription for this magazine if you can't print a working copy????? Would you buy one??? It is cheap only $40 for the year. What do you think????

Time to color!

2011-11-17T20:21:00.001-06:00

Yep, it is time to color in Yoga. I have finished all the confetti stitches so the only colors left are DMC 938 and 834. Very exciting!
I cashed in some swag bucks and a mypoints certificate for a total of $100 in Amazon GC! I ordered an entire set of Brother embroidery thread and two floss bobbin containers. I am thinking of switching from floss bags to bobbins. My bags are starting to tear easier than before. Plus all my floss takesup an entire shelf and about 10 plastic shoe boxes!

Question: how do you store your floss? I am looking for suggestions.

Stitching weekend!!!

2011-11-16T20:43:00.001-06:00

This was the best weekend!!! Karin and I went to Cecilia Samplers Cross Stitch Retreat in Branson, MO We made this plan way back in February of this year that this would be fun to go to and see what it was like. Karin flew into Bentonville and I picked her up from the airport. The retreat was very casual. No classes, you just came and went as you pleased. There were scheduled activities in the evenings but your days were left open to play and explore.

As soon as we checked in we went to the shop and proceeded to spend the entire $100 GC that we received for attending the retreat. That didn't take long!!!

The first night Karin and I went and looked at Christmas lights. We went to two different drive through displays. The first one was the Festival of Light and as we handed the girl our coupon for $1.00 off the ticket, she laughed and said the coupon we had was for the Trail of lights. OOPS!!! The first was beautiful. It was the regular light displays. We then found the Trail of lights. It was a drive through which had little scenes set up like this teddy bear one below. We really enjoyed it!!!

On Friday, we went shopping!! We hit the outlet malls, the downtown area and we found the Gone with the Wind museum. It was GREAT!!! This is one ladies private collection. Actually, it was only 1/2 of her collection. It seems she rotates things out every 3 or 4 months. It has casting call time sheets, wardrobe/make up lists, Clothes, dolls, etc. We really enjoyed walking through it. The painting we are by was painted by the curator of the museum.

We also stopped by and visited with Santa. Santa is bringing Karin a my little pony. When he asked if I had been good....I had to pause and not say anything. I think it is best not to lie to Santa.

Saturday morning, we got up early and went to breakfast. We went into this buffet and was seated. The breakfast was $4.99. Karin got up and made her plate, came back and I did the same. As soon as I came back, Karin went and fixed us some water. We never saw a wait person. Pretty soon, the bus boy came by and asked if we wanted coffee...we said no. WE finished and no server. We left our money on the table for the breakfast and wouldn't you know it.....the server appeared up front with our checks. It was the bus boy!!!! He never introduced himself or stopped by again. We told him the money was on the table.
We then went to the National Tiger Sanctuary just north of Branson. Karin and I did the behind the scenes tour where we were able to feed the tigers. The worker there was kind enough to take the pictures with my Ipad. We are preparing their snacks and mixing in the vitamins they need.

This is Midnight....we didn't get to feed her but the worker did give her a snack.

This is Vincent, one of the 9 tigers on the property. He likes to stand and eat his snacks. This tiger actually cracked a bowling ball with his teeth!!! It takes 1200 lbs to crack a bowling ball!! WOW!!! There was also a Lion and mountain lion on the property. We really enjoyed this activity...it was so cool to get to feed them and hear their stories. BTW....if anyone has an extra $600 to spare,....Vincent could really use a new ball to play with in his pen.

In case you are wondering about Stitching at the Cross Stitch retreat...I did finish Page 9 of yoga!!!!! We played games on Friday and Saturday night. We both won a door prize. I won a years subscription to the Cecilia Sampler Ornament Club. Karin won an organizer. We made lots of new friends...stitched and played. It was a lot of fun!!!!

Ballerina is FINISHED!!!!!!!

2011-11-06T10:51:00.001-06:00

WHOHOOO!!!!!!! I am so excited!!! I finished ballerina around 1:30 am!!!! She turned out so beautiful!!!! So now I get to focus on Yoga and get her finished. If I finish her by 12-31-11 by 11:59 pm...then I will have met all my modified goals for the year!!!

This is my booth at the local arts and craft vendor store. I have placed 5 quilts to be viewed and then if they would like to special order a quilt they can do that also. I am hoping that it does well...

I had to share this photo. When I came home from work Friday afternoon this is what I saw. I couldn't resist taking their picture...aren't they so cute????

Last night while I was stitching on ballerina, Brigen and Jag decided they needed some cuddle time so they both jumped up and took a small nap on my lap. They did interrupt my stitching time but it was so worth it!!! Aren't they so cute???

Weight loss: I forgot to add this last week. Last week, I lost 0.7 tenths of a pound. Then, this week...I ate VERY VERY bad.....I had McDonalds, Pizza, PF Changs, and Halloween candy. Last week I weighed in at 135.7 and this week 136.0 so...not much weight gain.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Stitching week....I still have a finish to show off but I am waiting to hear if she has received it.

Crafty week and exchanges

2011-10-31T22:32:00.001-05:00

It was a very, very busy week last week. I had parent teacher conferences and I made 5 rag quilts! I finished not one but 2 cross stitch projects and started getting things ready for my booth. I decided to rent a booth at a local arts/craft vendors. The store is opening on Friday. It was supposed to open tomorrow but it wasn't ready. I was rushed to finish my quilts. I am going to make them to order. I will have some on display but they can place an order and I will make a personalized one for them. There is a photo book of the quilt patterns and they can pick and choose the ones they want. Here are three of the five I made up:

Bugs Life Quilt

Mickey and Friends

Princess Quilt

Exchanges

I participated in 2 exchanges this month. First was the Fall exchange. Berly sent me this wonderful package. It was so good Mark is fighting me for one of the contents. She sent me: homemade apple butter, homemade apple sauce, a Disney spoon, Disney cross stitch book, some floss and finally a Mill hill kit! isn't this just AWESOME!!! Does Berly know me or what???

Next, was the Halloween ornament exchange and Vicky actually wanted to keep this....I have no idea why except for it is the CUTEST witches hat EVER!!!! She did a wonderful job stitching and finishing it!!!

Finishes:
This is Sandy's RR piece. The little bunny is just so cute!! The only thing is that when I look at his little face it reminds me of a little kids face he makes when he has to go poop. He is just so cute!!!

I can't show you my other finish until it arrives safe and sound at my exchange partners house. So please be patient. I am off to work on the darn ballerina! My goal is too finish it this week!

Ballerina has fingers!

2011-10-23T23:05:00.001-05:00

The ballerina has fingers and is almost finished! I just have this small section of 4,000 stitches left to complete. Give or take a few hundred stitches that is.... Being this close you would think that I would spend my weekend stitching on her? One, I stitched a gift for someone and am almost finished with Sandy's RR piece. Probably not much stitching time this week either. It is parent teacher conferences among other things.

Weight loss update: I LOST 2.6 lbs this week! I am so excited! I made one big change this week. After school I am usually starving so I have been drinking an Atkins shake then and it just fills me up. When we eat supper, I am not as hungry because I had that protein shake.

Happy stitching everyone!

Embroidery Machine Troubles

2011-10-22T22:32:00.002-05:00

Jag decided to hang out with me while I spent the day in my sewing room. He wasn't happy with me when I took his picture and woke him up.

I LOVE my embroidery machine and was not happy when it stopped working last Sunday afternoon. The needle stopped working and the safety device was activated. The only thing to do was take it into the shop which is a nightmare in itself. The local authorized Brother dealer that is closest to me is not a nice person. I am not the only one who does not like to deal with her. I just dreaded it!! I was thinking of driving an hour and half to a different store just so I didn't have to deal with her. My husband was kind enough to take it in on Monday and pick it up for me on Tuesday! He told me that it needed to be cleaned and that thread was caught under the bobbin case.

I came home from work Tuesday night all excited and ready to use the machine. I loaded up the next design I was working on when it died on Sunday and put in the first color. 1/2 through the first color, the needle fell out. Ok,put that back on and finished. 1/2 through the 2nd color, the presser foot fell off....getting frustrated but I put that back on and continued. Third color, the needle caught again and stopped. Couldn't fix it so back in the shop it went and this time I had to take it in and talk with them.

Wednesday morning, I ran over the sewing store on my prep and the first person I saw was the tech. guy. I explained what happened....he said he would look at it again, fix it with only the cost of parts. This was after I explained everything that had happened on Tuesday evening.

Friday, finally called and they said my machine was ready. It seems the needle plate was bent and he hadn't cleaned it all the way and he found more thread it in it. It cost me $21.75 for the needle plate. It has been VERY busy this weekend.

There is a new local craft shop opening where you can rent a booth and try and sell your craft. I am thinking of renting one and selling my embroidered rag quilts. They are 45 x 54 in size with 15 embroidered designs on them. I am going to charge $60 for each. Do you think that is too much??? Plus, people can place an order for a personalized one. Hopefully, I will make a little extra money for my Christmas Disney Trip next year!!!

Tomorrow is weigh in day! Not sure how I feel about that....little nervous but I have been very good this week! BTW...I have 100 followers now and will be coming up with a prize to be given away soon.

Ballerina update

2011-10-18T23:26:00.001-05:00

Let's try this again. I have tried three times to post this update but as soon as I get to the end, either the cat hits a button or I do and I lose everything and have to restart!

Stitching: here is my progress for 2 weeks. not much to look at but it is part I am not enjoying so I am avoiding stitching by playing video games, reading, or playing with my embroidery machine. That is another post all by itself. My machine is going back onto the shop tomorrow!

Weight loss this week is terrible! I gained 0.4 pounds. I knew it was going to happen because I ate Very badly this past week! Marks dad came into town and we ate late in the evenings. Plus I found a great trail mix with white and chocolate chips, peanut butter chips etc. In it and I ate snacks before bed..so no wonder I gained.

Until this weekend!

Off week

2011-10-09T23:02:00.001-05:00

Ever had one of those weeks when you just want to sit and do nothing? That was my week. The Jag and Bert decided to play in my stash. That is about all the stitch related things that was accomplished. I just didn't feel like stitching, reading or cleaning! I got caught up on my soaps, a masterpiece theater and I spent time with Mark. Saturday night I went to the Razorback game and watched them thump Auburn! I went with my mom and brother.

Weight loss update:
I did not lose a pound this week. I didn't gain either. Mark thinks I am building muscle mass so that could be a reason for no loss. I got up every morning and did my workout. I watched what I ate. Just a little frustrated right now.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

New Etsy Store

2011-10-05T12:44:00.003-05:00

I did it! I started an Etsy store. I have had several people on different message boards tell me they loved the Rag Quilts I made with the embroidered blocks. So, I am putting my embroidery machine to good use. I am making 10 inch denim embroidered quilt blocks. Right now all I have up is a few disney and a few Star Wars designs. I will be adding more in the future.
I added a widget on the right side of my blog and you can see some of the blocks. If there is something you would like embroidered...I can do that to. (or I try really hard!!!!) You can even send me your own pre-cut fabric and I can place it on that!!! Just click the link and it will take right to my store.
My goal is pay off my student loan...to do that I have to sell 7500 blocks at $4.00 each!!! That is very high goal...but I am a big dreamer!!!!!

Ballerina update and Weight Woes

2011-10-02T22:13:00.000-05:00

My fingers are sore!!! I set a goal this weekend to finish another section of ballerina. This week I put in 6,880 stitches in her!!!! I just have one section left to stitch!!! I am hoping to have her finished in two weeks. That is the goal..two weeks! I do have 2 Halloween ornaments that I need to stitch up. They will have to wait...I want her FINISHED!!!

Weight:
The week I am proud to say I lost 0.2 lbs. That is it. I know you are wondering why I am proud of that loss..well..it was a LONG week. First, we had staff development on Monday and Tuesday. They fed us Hamburgers on Monday and Tuesday we went out to eat (1st time). Then Tuesday night, I had a friend in town so we went out to eat (2nd) and I really enjoyed my artichoke and spinach dip with deep fried bow tie pasta for dipping. Wednesday afternoon, Mark sent me an email saying he was going golfing and was wanting to pick me up sushi (3rd) for dinner. That is my weakness...I LOVE sushi!! Friday was payday. On payday, my friend Erin and I always go out for appetizers and something to drink (4th ). I had a treat of 1/2 sweet -1/2 unsweet tea, chips dip, etc. On Saturday, Mark decided we needed Jimmy John sandwiches (5th) for dinner....so as you can see I ate out 5 times this week!!! So I am proud to say even with all this eating out I still lost a VERY small amount of weight!!!

This next week I will do better!!!

Contest winner and ballerina update

2011-09-30T22:52:00.001-05:00

Wow! What a week! First thing first...say congratulations to Julie and Yes dear! They are the winner of my blog contest. Thursday night Mark picked he number 8 as the winner. Julie you will need to email me your addre
I am 1/2 way finished with this section of ballerina. My plan is too work on her all weekend. I hope to finish this page by Sunday night( a girl can dream). Happy stitching everyone!

Huge Update and a Contest

2011-09-25T16:24:00.001-05:00

I swear that when I start a new page of Ballerina I forget how to count. I had to frog the first part of this again just like I had to do the last page! I have 60% of her finished and I am ready to say she is finished!! Look what I brought back in to the rotation!! YOGA!! I haven't worked on this since then end of July. I am working on her 4 days a week and then she is also my car project. This bottom part is all basically the same color so I can work on it while sitting at a stoplight or waiting for something.

Christmas in July Exchange:

Judith sent me this lovely package in July....it arrived on Saturday. Just a few months late but so worth it. She sent me Christmas stickers, two types of floss, a gold heart and a beautifully finished ornament.

Weight:
I lost 1.2 pounds this week which brings me to 138.6!! Yea!! I did work out everyday but Saturday. I blame my not reaching my goal on the fact Mark took me to dinner and movie. I had popcorn at the Movies (it was so good!) and then we went to dinner. This is where I had fried calamari and pizza. Not good but so worth it!!! We went and saw THE HELP....I highly recommend it!!! It is almost as good as the book!!!!

Contest:
I told you a while back I did some ebay shopping. One of the items I bought was an envelope full of British magazine patterns that have been torn out. There are about 30 patterns or more. There is a huge variety of kids, alphabets, flowers, buildings and just a hodgepodge of things. I will send them to someone who leaves a comment on this post. I will have Mark pick a number on Thursday evening.

UFO Challenge Blog

2011-09-21T23:13:00.000-05:00

I decided to start a UFO Blog....I am hoping to get 100 stitchers who would like to join so they can post their UFO progress!!! We can share with each others progress and dance a little for those who finish a UFO!!!

If you would like to join ...please leave me a comment here or on this blog with your email address and I will send you a link to join! You can then post your progress, pictures and if needed stitching woes if that dreaded frog visits!!!

Ballerina update and a future contest

2011-09-18T22:07:00.001-05:00

WHO-HOOOO!! I finished another page on Ballerina!!!! Actually, Mary helped me a bit. She finished some coloring in the lines for me. Ballerina is looking great!!! I may have her finished soon!!! I am going back to my rotation this week. I just have to do some backstitching on her and I will be ready to work on Yoga!!!

Mark worked out with me today!!!! I have been trying to get him to do my circuit workout with me since I started back on my workouts (a week!). He agreed today and now he is so sore!!! He couldn't believe how hard he worked. So now he plans on working out with me every other morning. Just on this routine. I get to do cardio by myself.

I now have 96 followers!!!! When I reach 100, I am going to hold a contest! Not sure of the prize yet...but it will be a good one!!!! Off to backstitch...

The Most Hated Word

2011-09-18T00:32:00.001-05:00

I do believe the most hated word in any females world is the word D I E T!   I know it is mine because right now I am on one! I know I have posted before that I had this big plan to lose all this weight and somehow I just didn't follow through. I think if you want to lose weight you really have to WANT to lose it. You have really work at it. I have thought for the last 2 years that I want to lose weight and I have actually tried a few times but after a couple of days I get frustrated and hungry so I eat and eat!!! My downfall is late night snacks. There is something about popcorn with extra butter late at night is just YUMMMMM.

If you are wondering what brought on this sudden desire to lose weight? You won't believe but it was cat pee. Shaking your head??? I smelled cat pee somewhere in my guest room and it seems that Jag was made a me for some reason and he PEED on my wedding dress bag!!! The dress is fine and hanging on the bookshelf waiting for me to get a new bag. If you know anything about cat pee...once it is on something it doesn't come out. I had to throw away my dress bag (picking a new one up this week). I was looking at my wedding dress (size 6) and I got mad at myself. I realized that when I met Mark I weighed about 35 lbs less than I do now.

I will tell you when I weighed on Sunday (9-11-11) I actually cried. This is the heaviest I have EVER been and I weighed in at 142.2. I couldn't believe it. When I met Mark I weighed 105 lbs. I can't believe how much I have gained.

I made a decision then that I was going to lose this weight! I started that day and have done a 30 to 40 minute workout each day. I am working out 6 days and resting on the 7th (Saturday). I write down on a calender which workouts I do and I can see my progress.

I am not following any special diet because I hate to measure, count and I like to eat real food. So, I am just cutting back on what I eat. I am not denying myself anything. If I want it ..I eat a very small portion of it.   I do not eat 3 hours before bedtime. So If I eat dinner at 7:30 pm...I can't go to bed until 10:30. I am also drinking 64 ounces of water a day. I carry around a huge jug of water every day at school but it makes drinking water easier. Since I know how much I have to drink to reach my goal. I have however, not had a coke in over a week so that is one thing I have cut out of my diet. I don't like diet drinks so if I can't have a real coke....I won't drink them.

I am giving myself a prize if I meet my goal of 2 lbs per week. Just something small such as a new book or magazine.

I weighed this morning and weighed in at 140.0!!!! I lost 2.2 lbs by just cutting back on my food!!! So I bought myself a new book today. I bought The Diva Haunts the House by Krista Davis. Tomorrow is another week.

Diva Takes the Cake

2011-09-12T21:42:00.002-05:00

I just finished the 2nd book in the Diva series written by Krista Davis. If you haven't read this series and you love to laugh, I suggest you start with the first one. The first one is "The Diva Runs our of Thyme". This is a decorating, cooking type of cozy mystery. Sophie's family is just crazy! You feel like you are part of the story!! Sophie's sister Hannah is getting married for the 3rd time and NO ONE likes the groom!!! This wedding has so many hiccups that you just sit there and shake your head wondering what else could go wrong???

Her ex-husband lives down the road with his new girlfriend, Natasha, who by the way is the one person Sophie has competed with her entire life. This Natasha character is one I would love to slap. She would get on my nerves and she treats the dog that Sophie and Mars share custody.

I do recommend this series. One of my wedding tips made it into the book!!!! The author, Krista Davis had a contest to enter wedding tips. I think she only picked 5. My tip was to have a bucket of toys, coloring books etc. for each child so they aren't running around the reception driving people crazy!!! So I won my copy and she even autographed it!!!
I am reading the 3rd one now "The Diva Takes the Town"....halfway through it on the first day and I am loving it!!!!!

Finish and New STASH!!!

2011-09-11T21:02:00.001-05:00

I finished Vicki L's RR from the ILCS group. She sent several patterns and I chose Snow Bunnies from the 2007 Just Cross stitch Christmas issue. It turned out so cute!!!
I do not have an update on Ballerina because all the stitching I did this week had to be frogged and now I am restarting this section!

I have been very busy on Ebay. I need to stop but I just couldn't! I found these three kits that I just had to have!!!

The first one is from the Art of Disney called Puppy Love. I am trying to complete my collections of these patterns. I think this is just too adorable.

The next one is Mickey and Minnies Wedding. This is another Art of Disney pattern. I love the castle in the background.

The last one is from Bucilla Heirloom Collection titled Southern Belles. I love this scene!!!
If you are wondering about Gibbs...he is fine and we are going to the Doctor tomorrow to remove our stitches!!!

Poor Gibbs

2011-09-07T22:51:00.002-05:00

Gibbs had surgery this week! He is home and doing well however, he has staples holding his tummy together. It seems he dug in the trash and found a corn cob. He ate it and about 2 inches of this corn cob got stuck in his small intestines. We did not know this of course, however, he started throwing up on Wednesday night. He threw up all night. It was like having a sick child. Mark took him to the vet in the morning and they did 2 sets of x-rays, some other things and then we got the call. They were going to do surgery on Friday morning because they weren't sure what was wrong with him. He stayed at the vet until Sunday when we were finally able to bring him home. He has to be on very wet food and has to take 5 pills each morning and evening. We are very happy to have him home and he was so happy to be home. He is doing well and is snuggles up in between Mark and I each night. We are aren't sure if it is because he wants to be in the bed or he just feels that he needs to be next to us.

On the stitching note, I have finished the entire top portion of the ballerina. Since I last posted I have put in 6,396 stitches and have completed 47.6% of her. I have also been shopping on ebay...someone stop me!!! I have bought several kits. Once I get them all in I will post a picture of them for everyone to see.
We had a very sad day on Friday at school. Thursday night, one our students was in a car crash and was killed. She had just found out she had been nominated for the homecoming court. It was just a very sad, emotional day for the students.

What a Week!!!

2011-08-28T21:39:00.006-05:00

First, I will start off with stitchy stuff....I worked on Ballerina this week. I have 38.2% of her completed. I was also able to finish 1 page of the 4 page design. She is looking great! I mailed my Disney ornament RR to Berly. Hopefully she will get it soon. I also bought a new stitching magazine that has the first part of a three part Sandy Littlejohn design. The design is titled Ladies Day at Ascot. The link goes to the Cross stitch Collection Facebook photo album. This is the cover but the picture isn't all that clear.

On Saturday, I stopped by my LNS and I bought the JCS Halloween Collector edition. I LOVE IT!!!!! Can't decide which one I want to stitch first and on the note of starting something new...I am hosting a 2012 UFO Challenge if anyone is interested....I want my UFO's finished!!!!!

It has been a week!! I have been to work at 7:00 am every morning and I don't usually leave until 5:30 or 6:00. I LOVE teaching math but I have forgotten what it is like to have needy parents. I have some parents who feel the need to email me numerous times a day over things I don't need to know about! In case your a wondering, I do not need to know about these things: How much you tore during your pregnancy, that your child is having issues with their crotch area, that your child was a bed wetter and anything else that does not deal with educational issues. There are things your childs teacher needs to know...we do need to know about: if your child can read, is being bullied, needs math help etc. These are things I need to know. I am NOT kidding these are things that were told to me this week.
I finally went through all my files and figured out that I get to hold 13 meetings..one for every student on my caseload. The previous teacher, who has since moved out of the district, did not do their paperwork correctly so I am stuck cleaning up the mess. LUCKY ME!!!!
I received the BEST prize in the mail this week. It was my friend Janice who is a local lady in our stitching group. I was unable to go to the stitching meeting last weekend because I was exhausted and just didn't feel all that great. I have to say that she made my week!! I actually teared up when I saw what she sent and because I just needed this pick me up. What did she send me you ask?? Well, She sent me:

Isn't that bag just the cutest??? The flip flop container is filled with Key Lime Mints, Regular mints and a a beautiful star charm. Bert and Jag loved the bags too. Jag had to cover up the puppy and Bert just wanted to see what was inside!

I am so thankful to have such wonderful friends!!! Thank you from the bottom of my hear Janice!!!!!

2012 UFO Challenge

2011-08-27T21:37:00.005-05:00

I know I have said this numerous times that I hate UFO's. Whether they are quilting UFOs, Cross stitching UFOs or any other type of stitching related UFO's. MINNA is holding another Crazy start 15 projects in 2012 for the first 15 days of the year.
I can't do that...I do have a number of projects that I want to start but I have over 15 UFO"s that need to be finished!!!

So I am going to host a "Lets finish 6 UFO's in the year 2012" Challenge. The rules are:

1. Dig out ALL your UFOS (yes Kim M. Kim R. and Becki ALL OF THEM)
2. Post on my blog how many you have
3. Pick 6 you want to finish - this would be one every 2 months
4. Enjoy your finished UFOS

There is a poll in the upper right hand corner for you to answer on your UFO"S. It is all stitch related items.

I can't wait to see how many decide to participate and how much stitching we get finished!!!!! This doesn't start until January 1, 2012 so you have plenty of time to dig and root around until you find them ALL!!!

I have listed all mine on my blog so everyone knows how many I have and what I need to finish.

Off to Rome!!!

2011-08-23T22:58:00.004-05:00

Mark and I talked about it and we are going on the company trip to Rome, Italy!! I am so excited! When he mentioned the trip, I was prepared not to be able to go since the trips are usually in April. However, this time it is in July!! We will be there one of the last two weeks of July. The best part of this trip is that his company will pay for his trip- plane ticket, hotel and a few meals, all because he has been at the company for more than 2 years!!! The spouses get to go for a cost of $1500. I am so thrilled!!!! I can't believe it!!! One week in Rome!

Ballerina update and school has started

2011-08-21T21:52:00.004-05:00

I have completed one week of school. That means only 35 weeks to go! I am enjoying my kids a lot and i get to teach math all day! The only thing I don't like is that I wore yoga pants and shorts most of the summer and it seems I put on some weight because I can't fit in my capris! I have been wearing skirts because they fit! Diet time!
MArk came in yesterday to let me know that the company trip this year is in Rome! He really wants us to go but it all depends on the dates. I have to say I am hoping it is when I can get off work...wouldn't that be so cool?
As you can see, I have worked on ballerina this week. I put in 5,480 stitches this week. You may think. "WOW! That is a lot of stitches!" but I will confess that most were half stitches. She is 30% completed. I did make the decision not to put Cinderella in the fair. I am ok with it...maybe I will do something next year.
Thanks in advance for the compliments, I just love them all!

Ballerina update

2011-08-15T00:06:00.003-05:00

I cannot believe that the first day of school is tomorrow! Summer was just way too short this year! I was in back to school meetings all week. I think my room is ready but if not they will live. I did work on ballerina this week. I was able to put in 2,580 stitches and have completed 21.5% of the design. I have lots of backstitching to work on in this section once I get the regular stitching completed.
I am supposed to take my fair piece to the fairgrounds tomorrow but not sure if I am going to this year. I hate the way they judge and to be honest I am tired of seeing who they pick as the winners. So, Cinderella may or may not go to the fair depends on how I am feeling tomorrow.

Too Hot to Swim so I stitched on Ballerina

2011-08-07T01:22:00.004-05:00

It has been HOT HOT HOT here. Wednesday was a record breaking day at 110 degrees!!! One good thing is that Mark is not setting the house temperature at 72 degrees like he usually does...he bumped the thermostat to 77 degrees...which I LOVE!!!! Usually, I am in sweats and long sleeve shirts in the house because it is too cold for me....but at 77, I am able to wear shorts and tee shirts in the house!!! I went to my water aerobics class this week and the temperature of the water was a warm 86 degrees....they had to add cool water to the pool so we could have class.
Bert and Gibbs spent the hot weather napping together on the dogs bed. At least this time Bert was willing to share the bed with Gibbs...usually Bert is in the middle of the bed and Gibbs is laying on the carpet barking at him because he wants on his bed.

Since it was so hot, I stitched and stitched. I decided that since I have to report to work on the 8th and the kids come back on the 15th...I would start the ballerina's head and body. This portion is full X's instead of the border which is 1/2 stitches. It is looking so life like....

I was also was feeling a little smurfy with the new movie coming out so I am making a smurf rag quilt. No idea what I am going to do with it but isn't this smurf just the smurfiest??? I need to trim the extra threads....I was finally able to get into my class room on Tuesday and get some things organized. I refused to go in on Friday though...my last Friday of summer break so I relaxed. I did take myself to Sonic for a Happy Hour Cherry Dr. Pepper with extra ice!

I need HELP!!!!
I bought myself an external hard drive to store my pictures and my cross stitch charts on it. However, I cannot bring myself to delete my pictures from my computer even though I know they are stored on the external hard drive!!!!!! I need help!!!!!!!!

Cinderella and a FINISHED Scarecrow

2011-07-31T21:36:00.002-05:00

I finally framed Cinderella. I ordered the frame and double mat from Hobby Lobby and did the framing by myself. I love how the two purples really make her dress pop!!I chose a small frame instead of a really big one. I thought the really big ones pulled attention away from the piece. This will be my fair entry this year.

I finished my 3 foot scarecrow!!! I am so excited to say that I actually finished a cross stitch piece this summer! One UFO down and MANY, MANY more to go!!! The next UFO I plan on working on is my cupcakes from an Ozark Sampler RR. Ballerina is coming out of hiding too...summer is over so time to work on the Tutu!

Yoga, Retreat charts, Bert and Insane new projects

2011-07-28T21:36:00.006-05:00

It is Stitch Kitty Bert!!! He decided to hide in my stitching bag today. He so does love stitching!

I finished page 8 of Yoga. I am SICK of this pattern....I have been working on this pattern since the week after my anniversary in May. I am going to HAVE to stitch on something else!!! It does look good....but I can't handle stitching with DMC 422, 834 and 738...this is all page 9 basically is with very few other colors thrown in the mix. I am going to work on Scarecrow I think...

Our annual Cross stitch retreat was held in June and this year I was unable to go. However, since I had paid my deposit I was able to receive the freebies patterns donated by designers. I received a HUGE envelope but these happen to be my favorites!!! I love these!!!! As you can see there is a small theme going on here.....Thank you to Karin for sending them to me!!! I so appreciate it.

My FAVORITE ride at Disney World is The Haunted Mansion!!! I LOVE this ride...When you first go in, you go into the stretching room. These portraits are on the wall...however you only see the top half....when the room stretches you get to see the whole picture. Anyway, I have come to be the proud owner of these portraits in Cross Stitch form. They are each about 18 pages in length and I am planning to stitch EVERYONE OF THEM!!!!!! I am INSANE!!!!

Star Wars Rage Quilt

2011-07-24T01:36:00.003-05:00

I have been very busy embroidery and sewing my nephews Star Wars Rag Quilt. Isaac eats, breathes, and lives for Star Wars. This was the only type of quilt he wanted. Do you know how hard it is to find Star Wars designs?? A needle in a haystack would be easier. I finally found them and set myself to stitching them. I have found that Star Wars designs love the color Black. I used up an entire spool of black threads. I love how it turned out. All I have left to do is the clipping of the seams, and then I need to wash and dry it twice to make it really shaggy...

These are just a few of the designs...if you would like to see the entire quilt and the blocks close up then click HERE and it will take you to my Photobucket account. I do want to say thank you for the comments that are left....I do love reading them!!!

Seasonal 9 Patch RR

2011-07-19T20:54:00.005-05:00

I found these designs in the Just Cross Stitch Magazines and just had to stitch them. I thought they would look cute all together in one design. There are 9 different designs for each of the 4 seasons......

Fall: October 2007
Spring: April 2008
Summer: August 2008
Winter: December 2008

Everyone did wonderful work stitching on my RR. I want to thank everyone for doing a fantastic job!!!! Sandy was kind of enough to send me these two really cute Disney Figurines which are now sitting in my sewing room!! I love them!!!

Yoga Update

2011-07-18T22:39:00.002-05:00

I sat down today and had 600 stitches to complete to finish page 7. My plan was to finish this page today and I did! As you can see I am working on her Henna Tattoo. There was so much confetti stitching on this section that it took me almost all day to stitch it. I was able to put in a few more stitches on page 8. After I finish page 8, almost all the confetti stitching will be finished....so it should go much faster.

Mark could not put his feet down tonight because Bert refused to move off his footstool.

As Seen on TV - THE EGGIE- My Review

2011-07-17T22:50:00.004-05:00

I have been watching the infomercial for the Eggie for a while now. I LOVE hard boiled eggs but I hate to make them so I thought this would be great for me. However, I hate to pay shipping and handling so I waited until I could buy them in the stores (even though the TV commercial says they are only sold on TV). I went to Bed Bath and Beyond. I had a spend $15 get $5 off coupon. The eggie was $9.99 so I picked 4 Yankee Votive Candles and basically got those for free. I came home and washed them out like it said to and then sprayed Pam onto a paper towel and wiped them down with it as the instructions said.

I lined them up in two rows and then cracked the eggs in them. I have fresh country eggs from my dad's chickens so they were small eggs. I did find that in a couple of them the yolk were WAY to big and I kinda had to force it into the Eggie. I am not sure how they will do with large eggs....will let you know later. The instructions say I could add seasoning but I wasn't going to go crazy on my try.

I put them in warm water enough for them to float and brought them to a boil. They boiled for 15 minutes and then I set them on a cutting board to cool. They popped out of the container very easy and sit flat on the plate.

As you can see..they turned out well! I really enjoyed them. So I have to give the Eggie Two thumbs up!!! It was good. I can't wait to try them with just egg whites. I am not a yolk person.

I have to share a picture of Bert. He is napping with Brigen. Aren't they just so cute!!!!!

Scarecrow Disaster Fixed

2011-07-11T00:14:00.004-05:00

The Guilty party who loves to hang out in the Dryer!!!!

The other night I opened a coke, set in on my side table and then proceeded to stitch. Bert decided to chase the bug in the house which is usually cute, but this time he jumped up on my side table. Which sent the coke flying off the table and onto my scarecrow. I screamed so loud it worked Mark up and he came running thinking I was hurt. The coke pooled onto the design and I had to rush it to the sink to soak.

After soaking and then drying in the bathroom for a couple of days. I ironed out the wrinkles and was able to work on it for a couple of hours today. I stitched in the spider in Alpaca Rainbow Gallery threads. I usually do not like fluffy fibers but when using it on 7 ct fabric...it is not hard to work with at all!!! It is coming along nicely..hopefully I will be able to have it stitched and then finished before Halloween.

Half Naked Cowboys

2011-07-08T18:57:00.002-05:00

Gotta love half-Naked Cowboys!!! My mom and I were in Branson a while back where we found this fabric. Mom has a great friend of hers who loves cowboys so mom asked me to make her a pillow. I did and I even spiced it up by putting suede leather fringe around the edges. This was the first time I have added fringe to anything but I do love how it turned out!

I am feeling very restless today...I don't want to stitch, read or sew. I have several projects that need to be completed...but I don't want to do them.I think I am going to have to force myself to work on Yoga...My goal is to finish it this summer. I have 6 pages to go...so hopefully I can do that....

Finished a page on Yoga

2011-07-07T03:42:00.003-05:00

It is 3:43 am and I had to post that I finally finished page 6 of Yoga!!!! That was my goal for the day. I am getting closer to being finished!!! There is so much confetti stitching that I want to work on this as much as I can this summer when I have LOTS of stitching time. The ballerina is a lot of the same stitches so it will go much faster than this design....plus it is only 4 pages so that helps too.
I went to the pool today with a friend and I have to say I am one crispy critter right now. I am so burnt that I actually have on a sweatshirt because I am cold. Mark thought it was funny until he was stuck spreading lotion all over my back and shoulders because it hurt to move them!

Pets and stitching-Advice needed.

2011-07-06T00:56:00.005-05:00

I am in need of some tips. As you can see little Bert LOVES my stitching. He decided to pop his head into my scarecrow while it was on a scroll frame. I have since then moved scarecrow to a qsnap so this does not happen again.
Bert has a tendency to jump on my lap and bat my fabric, thread with his little claws. Which by the way, the claws HURT! We haven't declawed him yet because he has escaped the house and climbed a tree while we were on vacation.
I am worried that I will be working with a delicate piece of fabric and his little claws are going to tear it up....so any advice for stitching with a kitten in the house???? Right now as I type he is asleep on my lap.....he of course will wake up when I finish typing this and start playing with my threads. Sigh...the life with pets.

UFO Scarecrow Update

2011-07-03T22:27:00.003-05:00

I was so busy with my Rag Quilt this week that I didn't work very much on Yoga so no picture to show you. However, I did work on my scarecrow for an hour a day. That doesn't seem like much but when you stitch on it everyday, you can see progress. I also changed my stitching style and use the sewing method with this project since it is on large count fabric. That helps tremendously since this is such a huge project. I was able to finish all the yellow on the shirt, out lining the green and black on the right hand side, fill in the green and buttons down the center and all the pink spots on the right side. I just have the rest of the shirt, bowtie, head spider and crow until finished!!!

Rag Quilt is finished!!!

2011-07-02T23:07:00.003-05:00

I am so excited!!! I finished my niece India's rag quilt! It turned out so cute!! Bert was very helpful also on helping me work on this quilt. He was very lucky he didn't get a needle in the paw. He kept trying to stick his nose in my embroidery machine.

As I mentioned before this is a very random quilt...Here are some of the blocks that are on it. You can also see all the blocks in my Photobucket Folder. This was such fun to make however, it was a little strange. Since when stitching a rag quilt you have to stitch with the seams showing and it means that you have to stitch wrong sides together. I had to rip out a few stitches on this quilt. The Fabric is two types of denim on top, white flannel in the middle and on the back is a brown fabric and a Boyds Bear fabric. My niece does love her bears

Thanks for all your comments on Scary Bear....I found a different bear to use and I liked it better....You can see that in my photobucket account. Thanks so much for your wonderful comments....I love reading them!

Santa RR finally finished

2011-06-29T23:18:00.001-05:00

I finally finished judith's RR project tonight. This poor project had several problems. First, I couldn't read the pattern because the backstitching lines were hard to follow. I probably need new glasses but Judith was kind enough to send me a color copy of the pattern. Then, I went on a ten day vacation and. I refuse to take someone's project with me on vacation because you never know what can happen. Then the darn pattern called for those terrible French knots and I hate. French knots! So judith was kind enough to let me use beads. I was really confused because Santa's coat called for dmc 3371 knots and. That. I brown-black color and I couldn't do that to Santa so I changed it to blue. I hope Judith likes it.

Scary Bear or Not Scary Bear???

2011-06-28T23:35:00.004-05:00

I started the quilt for my niece today. My poor embroidery machine was very busy up this afternoon. India gave me a list of random things.....this is some of the things she wanted on her quilt:

She wanted a green tree, smiley face, horses and a flower. There is a whole list, but I found the cutest bear and I pulled the colors it asked for: Reddish Brown, clay Brown, Dark Grey and Pumpkin. The pumpkin really had me confused but I used it anyway.

This is the bear it produced...Mark took one look at it said..Wow that is SCARY! I think it looks deranged.. So I have a feeling I will be cutting another block to do a different bear....What do you think??? Is it a Scary Bear or a do I keep it????

New Project

2011-06-27T23:54:00.002-05:00

I have started a new project for my niece, India. I am making her a Rag Quilt. The dark denim has sequined butterflies on it and the light denim I am plan on using my embroidery machine to embroider this huge list of random things she has listed she likes. This is going to be such a weird quilt because he list is so random.
I have been working on my RR project. I received it right before my vacation and I didn't feel comfortable taking it with me on my travels that I am having to stitch away on it so I can get it in the mail ASAP!!!
I can tell it is summer vacation. I found myself taking a nap around 3:30 today and it is now midnight and I am wide awake!!!! This is usually what happens. I stay up all night and sleep in the next morning. I love summer break!!!!

Vacation Stitching

2011-06-27T00:46:00.003-05:00

I am finally home from our wonderful vacation. Mark and I were in up in the Northeast section of the United States. I like it but it was VERY cold. I found that I was buying long sleeve shirts in every town we visited. I came home with a new winter wardrobe.

One good thing about traveling is that I can cross stitch in the plane and car. I was able to finish a page and a half of Yoga. Mark just shook his head that I was stitching so much. Riding in the car is good stitching time for me.
I will post more later about our trip. I can honestly say I am happy to be home! I truly missed the summer heat. I also missed Ice. I don't understand why up North, you only get two or three ice cubes in a glass. I always asked for extra ice and still not half of what you get down here!

Tonight I pulled out my scarecrow and worked for 1 hour on it. In one hour, I finished all the yellow you see here. I would have finished more but Bert decided he wanted to grab at the threads.

Site seeing in vermont

2011-06-19T07:39:00.001-05:00

Mark and I went site seeing in his old hometown he took me to where he grew up. I also got to climb a very small potion of the hill he climbed everyday at his ski school. In case you don't know mark went to a ski academy for his high school years he was a very good skier. He would ski for two weeks and study for two weeks. I was able to tour Burke Mountain Academy and see hjisski trails. It was fascinating.

Around noon we met up with our friends from Virginia Beach that joined us on this crazy adventure! Mark had also gotten in touch with some of his old friends that live in Massachusetts and they came up for the day. We all went to lunch and then hung out all afternoon and evening at the Massachusetts boys parents house. Seems This was Marks second home when he was growing up.

Today we are off to see his granny. He is packed and waiting on me so gotta go.

Yoga, Charlie the Tiger, and Bert

2011-06-04T23:53:00.003-05:00

I am stitching on Yoga as fast as my little fingers will let me and when I can stay off Facebook. I play Frontierville and I so enjoy playing so it does cut into some of my stitching time! It is slowly coming along.

I have 2.5 days left with students and then one more teacher workday until I am off for summer break! To be honest, I did not think this year would ever end. It has been a very rough school year.

Our school mascot is a Tiger and my niece India bought me a HUGE tiger, whom she named Charlie, for my classroom. Charlie spends the entire school year sitting on my bookcase guarding my classroom. He has to come home during the summer break. It seems he gets bored over the summer and bothers the janitors. Charlie loves the couch and took it over when he came home on Thursday. Bert decided that he would be buddies with Charlie and now he spends time curled up next to him on the couch!

A Crafty Killing

2011-06-02T22:08:00.004-05:00

I just finished reading a new cozy mystery titled A Crafty Killing by Lorraine Bartlett. In case you are wondering what in the world is a cozy mystery??? A Cozy is a mystery which includes a bloodless crime and contains very little violence, sex, or coarse language. By the end of the story, the criminal is punished and order is restored to the community.The character solving the crime is often an amateur sleuth who becomes involved because of personal reasons but it is also possible for the character to be a professional: police officer, medical examiner, or private detective.
Kate Bonner is a widow who is still mourning the loss of her husband. When one morning she stops Artisans Alley she finds her late husband, and now her current business partner dead on the floor. She now has to decide if she is going to quit her deadbeat job and take over the job as the day to day manager of Artisans Alley. She still has to come to terms with her husbands death and as she digs deeper into her Business Partners death, she then starts to think there was something really wonky about her husbands death also.
I have to say that I NEVER figured out the killer!!! I was SHOCKED when the killer came forward at the end and explained why they killed the Business partner. I never saw it coming!! This book also has recipes at the back. These were the recipes mentioned in the book and they sound really good!!! I cannot wait for the next book in this series!!!

Yoga update and the critters

2011-05-29T22:37:00.003-05:00

I finally have an update on Yoga. I have now finished 4 pages and 8 pages to go. My sister emailed me and wanted to know if I would have it finished by the time she went back to Hong Kong this summer. She goes back around the 2nd week of July. I am probably going to have to say NO...because I am not sure I can finish 8 pages in that around 8 weeks. Maybe if I wasn't going on a 10 day vacation in the middle of June....and if I only worked on Yoga every spare second of my day. It might be possible.

I had to show off my two youngest little furbabies. Mark tells me that Bert has an 80 lb growth always attached to him. As you can see he and Gibbs just love to play. You will usually see Bert trying to walk down the hallway, however, Gibbs has his mouth around his head/neck trying to play with him. The other morning gibbs was bopping him on the head and then Bert would Swipe at him with his little claw. They did this for 5 minutes or so...you would think Gibbs would learn.

Mark has started playing Angry Birds on his computer and Bert just loves to play with him. When Mark is flinging birds, Bert is sitting there watching him. Every once and a while he will swipe at the screen!

IT FINALLY CAME HOME!!!!!

2011-05-26T23:50:00.005-05:00

Nope...not my Ipad...still waiting on that...but my Victorian Village Round Robin FINALLY came home!!!! I mailed this RR to Angela in May, 2009. It came home FINALLY on Sunday, May 22, 2011. Yes, there were many speed bumps in the road for this RR but I do LOVE how it turned out. I fell in love with design when it first came out. It was first published in the US Cross Stitcher Magazine in December, 1993. It was designed to use the entire DMC Flower Thread collection. However, I used just plain ol' DMC. It was also supposed to be stitched on an afghan but I changed it to hand dyed blue aida. I want to thank Angela, Janeth, Mary, Carol, Barb, and a mystery stitcher who didn't sign their name! Especially to Carol who stepped in and stitched a design even though she wasn't on the original list!!!! I still have 5 buildings to stitch but I am so happy to have it home!!!

Just had to throw in a picture of Jag and Bert. This is how I usually find Bert in the morning, with Jabba Jag sitting on top of him. Jag likes to put Bert in his place!

Anniversary, Stitching and animals

2011-05-16T23:16:00.004-05:00

Mark and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on Friday. We went to dinner at a very fancy restaurant. On the way to dinner, Mark gave me a card. It said:

I have ordered an anniversary

present you are sure to love

after it is has been

delivered to the house in

2 to 4 weeks

He said this was all I needed to figure out my gift. I sat there in the car for the entire trip down to Fayetteville (45 minutes in Rainy Friday traffic) trying to figure it out. I first thought Disney and he ruled that out quickly. He said it was something I didn't have but mentioned would love to have and it wasn't Disney related. I was stumped. Finally, I pulled out a magazine and started reading...I saw an ad for something I wanted and took a guess. Still wrong only by number..I guessed an IPAD...nope.. he ordered me an IPAD 2!!! What a fabulous husband. If you look at the first letter in the first column going down...it spells out IPAD2. I got him a new wedding band and some wooden golf tees (5th year is wood). At dinner, my shoe broke. It happened to be my favorite pair of 3 inch strappy gold heels. The strap over the toes broke off so I had to hobble to the car with my shoe flopping...it was kinda funny.

As I picked up Ballerina to work on it this past week....Bert decided it was a good place to lay down and wasn't happy when I made him get up. In the middle picture, you will see the progress I have made on Ballerina. This week is Yoga....Bert loves to nap in strange places and in strange positions. This is him napping on Marks lap.

I haven't forgotten Gibbs and his antics. This week, he decided he wanted to sleep by Mark and he jumped on the bed. He flopped down right beside Mark, unfortuantely Bert was sleeping where he flopped. Mark heard a squeak and had to dig poor Bert out from under Gibbs. Bert was a little dazed and Gibbs had no clue what he had done. Bert proceeded to bite him on the nose to let him know he did not like getting squished. Both puppy and kitten are doing fine. They are actually becoming good friends.

Contest Winner

2011-05-14T10:20:00.003-05:00

Thanks everyone who entered and commented on Bert! He is just so cute and has made himself at home here at the Hartwell house. As most of you know I am a HUGE Disney fan so we named Bert from the movie Mary Poppins for the lovable character Bert played by Dick Van Dyke.

Congratulations to Wanda from my Mystic Stitch group!!! She won the drawing. Please email me your address and I will get a prize in the mail.

As you can see...Jabba Jag has decided he can now eat with the Bert. He was unsure of him for a while and refused to eat with him. Gibbs loves him ....it is hard to see but Gibbs is sitting and staring at him!

Meet Bert and a contest

2011-05-09T21:56:00.005-05:00

This is the newest member of our family. He is very tired from being scared by the boys. The dogs were very excited to meet him...Jag not so much. He is currently residing in the guest bathroom hiding behind the toilet. The boys are sitting outside the bathroom trying to get a peek of him!
In honor of our new family member, I am going to hold a contest. You only get one vote....Can you tell me where we came up with his name - Bert. If you get it correct, your name will go in a hat for a random drawing. Who knows what I will send you!!!

Ballerina -Gibbs and his doggie door

2011-05-01T16:28:00.004-05:00

Ballerina has risen again. I posted early that I ripped a hole in the project and I have started it again. This time I am stitching it on 14 count aida (not evenweave), and I am following the required threads. This makes it interesting. Some symbols call for 6 threads at a time!!!! I am not stressing too much over it.

I did have to change my stitching goals for this year. There is no way I was even going to make a dent in them with all this obligation stitching I have to do. So I am going to focus on my 2 obligations pieces and then my ufo's. I am going to start with one that is almost finished and work way down to the ones which require lots of stitching!!!

Mark installed a doggie door in our kitchen. You would think it would be for the dogs to go in and out of it but no....Gibbs uses it to bring in his logs. As you can see he was trying to put it in the door, Brigen didn't like that idea so he pushed it out the door. So Gibbs is starting all over again. He eventually did get it in the house, and he placed it over with his other treasures he has brought in the doggie door. I keep waiting for him to bring me a rabbit or a chipmunk. UGH!!!

House, Gibbs, Yoga...and a dead ballerina

2011-04-27T23:05:00.003-05:00

Mark and I have been dealing with landscape issues. We really thought about doing it ourselves, then we laughed and hired a landscaper. As you can see...they finished our rock gardens, re-rocked our path down to the backyard. We had them take down a 6 ft chain length fence/pen that was under the deck we used for the dogs. This was before we put in the privacy fence. We added some Railroad ties as a retaining wall and rocked the top part of the backyard. We used to have grass in the backyard, but with living on a hill and having the 3 dogs...the grass was slowing going away. We love how it has turned out!!!

I pulled Yoga out earlier this week. I finished page 3 and now only have 9 pages left to stitch!!!
Sad news about the ballerina.....I tried and tried, frogged and frogged until I ripped a hole in the fabric! So, I am waiting to hear from Mary on what she would like to me to do. I can start all over or just have this project give up the ghost! Will keep you updated.

Gibbs.....I love this little dog but OMG!! He is a handful!!!! When we had them take down the fence under the deck, there was a pile of firewood that Gibbs fell in love with. As you can see, we have a new log every day and it doesn't do much for the carpet. He thinks he is doing something great for us and it would be if it were winter and we could burn them. My log holder is full and ready to go for next year. Gibbs is ready for summer. Mark claims Gibbs attached his teething ring to his own collar...somehow I doubt this. He is equipped with his own floatation device when he goes in his puppy pool!!!!

Epcot International Flower Festival

2011-04-06T21:29:00.011-05:00

Mark and I went to Florida this weekend to check on his dad. His dad is doing well and was very happy to see us. We spent all day Saturday with his family and on Sunday his dad was tired so he gave us some park tickets so we went to Epcot on Sunday. I LOVED the flower festival. So this post is very picture loaded!!! I did have to include one picture of Magic Kingdom.

ballerina and family update

2011-03-27T23:35:00.003-05:00

Family update: We got a phone call on Thursday from Marks sister to call her immediately. This is strange since we haven't talked to her in 2 years. They just don't return phone calls, emails etc. So we called her and got no answer (typical). Mark then called his dad and his dad told us some shocking news. It seems last week, he wasn't feeling well on his way home from work, so he pulled into the local fire station. He then proceeded to have a heart attack and the fireman rushed him to the hospital where he had surgery and they put stints in his heart. We find out after he is HOME from the hospital. He didn't want to worry or bother us about him being sick. Mark then asks me what we should do....I tell him to go to Orlando and see his dad. The dogs and I will miss him...but he needs to go. The next thing I know, Mark has booked us both on a flight to see his dad and we are counting this as our anniversary trip since we are flying to Orlando and staying on Disney property. Marks dad got us 60% off our room...so it was cheaper than staying in a regular hotel. We leave on Friday and will be on Monday. WE have hired our normal house sitter/dog sitter for the weekend.

Stitching update....I have been focused on ballerina and as you can see I have made a bit of progress. I do have to frog a section but I figured out where and now just have to frog it...I think I am going to wait to frog until I get more stitched. It is turning out nice....I think I will take her on the plane with me. I need something to work on during out flight.

Animal afghan is finished!!

2011-03-20T22:09:00.003-05:00

I am happy to say that I finished my Animal Afghan! So both Baby afghans are finished and both babies have been born. Mark dropped off the Teddy Bear Afghan to baby Maggie yesterday. Since I still have this coughing, sniffling crud I decided it wasn't a good idea to go visit a new baby. The Animal afghan will be put in the mail this week. Along with a HUGE stack of things.
This illness has kicked my behind. I don't want to do anything!!! I go to work...come home and sit in my chair. I am so tired of coughing, it is getting ridiculous. I do have a funny story to share You never know what is going to be said in my classroom and you do have to stay on your toes...
Student "Mrs. H, does your butt still hurt?"
Me...thinking really hard where this is going then "No, it doesn't...but thanks for asking"
He knew that I had gone and gotten a steriod shot for my illness....so he was wondering if the place I got my shot was still sore!!! Never know what is going to be said....but he was worried that I might be in pain and/or miss more classes. He worries if I am not there.

Ballerina Project

2011-03-13T17:31:00.002-05:00

Here is the first update of my Ballerina design. Mary had completed everything on the right side and I have stitched everything on the left. It is turning out very lovely...the only problem is that there is a an extra row!!!!! I have two options. Rip out everything on the Right or work around it. I am choosing to work around it! I will make it happen.
Still at home sleeping the days away from my strep throat! I can't believe how much I sleep. I lay down for a nap at 11:00 am and don't wake up until 3:3o pm. Talk about tired. Mark is out of town until Wednesday. So it is just me and the furbabies.

Animal Afgan and Round Robin project

2011-03-12T09:46:00.001-06:00

My animal Afghan is coming along. I only have 6 letters to go!!! I am so excited!!! I finished Ride a Bike for my RR. This one was hard for me because it is stitched backwards for me. I usually stitch ///// then go back with \\\\ well...not this one. She wanted the stitches to go \\\\\\ then ///// which if you don't know, is very hard for your brain to do that. I found myself frogging several times because I stitched my usually way!!!! I hope she likes it. I think it turned out cute!
I have been home with Strep throat since Thursday. I came home Wednesday with a sore throat and then went to the doctor on Thursday. I really jsut thought I had a sore throat..nothing else...nope it was Strep. I have been home since Thursday and not much stitching has been accomplished. I have been sleeping most of my days away.

Puppy Bag

2011-03-08T22:44:00.003-06:00

Becki and I went to JoAnns the other day and she found the cutest fabric for me to make her a stitching bag. She picked all the colors, fabrics and ribbon. I have to say this picture doesn't do it justice. I put her name on it along with "Lily's mom" Lily is her doggie!! I hope she likes how it turned out!!!

An offer I couldn't refuse

2011-03-08T00:04:00.004-06:00

As most of you know, I love big projects. When any of my stitching friends attempt a huge project I try and give some advice on how to make the project easier. We were stitching at my friend Janeths house and Mary kept complaining about her Ballerina. She has been complaining about this ballerina FOREVER!! and I mean FOREVER....so I was watching her stitch and it was the most complicated stitchign I had ever scene....I even told her this so this isn't a shock. She as making it way too hard and I mean way to hard. So she made me an offer....and I took it!!! She offered me in return of stitching the Ballerina design, the rest of this year in FREE Ozark Sampler products. If you don't know already....I take a monthly class with Mary that is $25 a class and there are about 10 classes left this year....this also includes fiber packs....etc. Anything she offers this year...I get for free. I do have to stitch this design. Pretty good deal I think! However, the ballerina is now called the dumba$$ Ballerina. We got tired of listening to Mary complain about it...

Gibbs is one year old!!

2011-03-07T23:42:00.002-06:00

How time flies!!! It is hard to believe that we have had Gibbs for over a year. This little guy has made our lives so interesting since he was adopted. As you can see how tiny he was when we first brought him home...compared to him now. BTW.... The toy in his mouth is a Kong toy, which in theory is the toughest toy around. However, not for Gibbs....he has managed to eat this eat all up and he has proceeded to poop blue for a bit (gross but true). He loves to jump on the middle of the bed and sleep right between Mark and I. He usually waits till were asleep and then moves closer to Mark on the bed.

Look what I made!!!

2011-02-27T20:53:00.004-06:00

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

2011-02-24T00:31:00.002-06:00

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

2011-02-24T00:14:00.003-06:00

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

2011-02-23T23:59:00.003-06:00

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

2011-02-16T21:14:00.005-06:00

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

2011-02-14T21:38:00.003-06:00

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

2011-02-13T01:02:00.004-06:00

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

2011-02-13T00:55:00.004-06:00

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!!

2011-02-07T23:36:00.003-06:00

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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

2011-02-06T21:33:00.002-06:00

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

2011-02-05T22:29:00.003-06:00

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

2011-02-03T01:05:00.004-06:00

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!!!!