Has it really been a week since I posted? Yikes! Where does the time go? I literally hit the ground running when I got home from NY. And of course, my well-laid plans have changed. It's weird how time seemed to stop while back in NY, but once I got back on the merry-go-round here in MD time is disappearing at an alarming rate!
DS has finished his last test and is offically on vacation, his behind firmly planted on the sofa. What's a Mother to do with a couch potato during the summer months? *Evil grin* I have solved SOME of that problem. I mentioned in the last post that an old boss of mine has offered me my old position back. (He really MUST be desperate!!!) In that offer, he asked how old DS was and then offered him some easy work to do at his shop. DS is interested, but want's more information, I think I'll just say "YES" for him, what else is there for him to do? And he can earn his own spending money for the trips he has planned for this summer. He'll start after his missions trip next week.
Did I mention that I agreed to go back to work? So that means I won't be able to get back up to NY until the beginning of August sometime. It's amazing how the Lord works, because the "stuff" I was going to help my Mom with has been addressed by others in the small town she lives in and she is getting more expert help than I can give her. That takes tremendous pressure off me, I'm so thankful I can't begin to express it in words. I will get back up there to visit her later on. She seems to be doing well whenever I call her (which is as often as I can).
That only leaves one problem, DH and I are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary this year in August. DS was to be out of town the last week in July and we were going to take a trip, just the two of us, to celebrate. My boss is taking a trip that week also and that's why he wanted me to come back to work (told you he was desperate! LOL). So....we changed our plans AGAIN. Somehow I wonder if we'll ever take that trip. *sigh*
With birthday celebrations and Father's day coming up, there are cakes to bake, presents to buy, and special events to plan for each of those days. I'm turning in circles just thinking about where to start. If things don't calm down soon I'll be a candidate for the funny farm! *starting to drool and babble* In case you were wondering, I really haven't had much time to stitch (I did squeeeeeeze in a little time) so therefore no pictures...but I'll do my best to get something online soon.
One last thing to share...DS was chosen to "steal 2nd base" for the Orioles game on the 28th. With that came 4 free tickets, a free team jersey and $75.00 worth of gift certificates to use in the park. I thought DS would jump out of his skin when he heard the news. He'll run from the farthest outfield point to 2nd base, pick it up and run back to where he started during a certain time in the game within a given time period. I'm not sure what he wins if he makes it back before the time is up, but just being chosen was prize enough in his eyes!
I start back to work a week from Monday, anyone need anything framed? LOL I'm psyched because I have a stack of things I put off framing and now will get a discount. Can it get any better than that? The only thing is, I won't have as much time to stitch BUT I will be able to afford my stitching habit now. DH is relieved! So, my new song is.... "I owe, I owe, so it's off to work I go"... I know a lot of my buddies who depended on me for cheap entertainment will be disappointed, but they can always visit me at work! LOL
That's all that's fit to print at the moment...I'll do my best to get pictures posted soon. *Hugs*
Hi Everyone...
I don't know where to start, so I guess I'll start by thanking those who offered prayers for my family and me. They are what carried me through this past month. I know that because I couldn't have endured or had the strength to manage all that I've been through this past month, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
It is exactly one month ago today that I left to visit my parents in New York. The day after I arrived my Father fell ill again and was rushed to the hospital. He was in the hospital for a week where we learned there wasn't much they could do for him so we brought him home and he was placed in hospice care. I cannot say enough about the care he was given in the hospital or with the rescue squad that helped us when we needed them. The caregivers were wonderful and didn't just care for my Dad but for my Mom and me as well. They were angels in disguise.
I cannot say enough about Hospice either. The people they sent to help deal with everything were wonderful. So wonderful, in fact, that I'm thinking of volunteering for them as soon as I'm emotionally able. They provided for every need and were with us through the whole thing, we never felt alone. My Mom and I did everything we could to make his last days peaceful and comfortable and even that made his passing less difficult to deal with. I know the Lord held us in His hand the entire time, He gave us the physical and emotional strength we needed, and I will never regret being there, even though it was probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do.
I am planning another trip home in a few weeks to help my Mom sort through some things and file more paperwork. I do have to say that most of the people we've had to deal with so far have been so kind to my Mom and have gone out of their way to make this stage as stress-free as possible. Many thanks to those people who have reached out to comfort her. I just pray that she has people all along the way to help her not feel alone during the months ahead.
You may not realize, until something like this happens, how well loved or well known you are in the community and even in your own family. We offered people a chance to speak at his memorial service and so many stood up to tell funny stories or fond memories, things I never knew or had forgotten. It was a wonderful way to celebrate his life.
Sorry for rambling on, but I know many of you have been wondering where I've been. I'm back for a little bit now, and haven't had time to stitch or even think about stitching so no new pictures for a bit anyway. I am so behind in so many things (not just stitching!!). Ironically enough, a previous boss of mine called in the midst of all this to ask me to come back to work for him. I'm still trying to sort that out in my head. It is a job that I love to do (picture framing), but it is demanding work (he has a very busy shop) so I'm not sure I'm ready to jump back into that line of work...although the money would be nice! LOL
DS was busy while I was away, attending his Chorus Concert, his Band concert (where he performed a solo!! and got an award for excellence), a Chorus Competition in Hershey, Pennsylvania where their school won 2nd place as well as Esprit d' corp award, and his advancement ceremony from Middle school to High school where he won a Presidential Award for academic achievement. I've been told I have 3 1/2 hours of video to watch (without commercial interruption...yikes!) Break out the popcorn! (*Sigh* I missed all the fun stuff!! ) He was able to skip two finals because no matter what he got on the test he would have gotten an A in the course, he pre-tested in Spanish and will have his Math final tomorrow. Thanks to his wonderful Principle and teachers who helped rearrange his schedule so he could attend his Grandfather's funeral! He leaves in two weeks for a mission trip to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to help with a Vacation Bible School. He's a busy boy!!
Ok, time to get off this machine and get my life back in order...so much to do I don't know where to start, but I think clean clothes is the order of the day! I'm so happy to be back...I missed everyone! Take care....and thanks again for your prayers. *Hugs*
Hello! This week has been total chaos! I'm not sure where to start. The past week has just flown by and I'm not sure really what I've accomplished. I want to apologize to the groups I belong to for not posting but life is a little chaotic at the moment. My Father was admitted to the hospital in the early morning hours on Monday. I wanted to rush to NY right then (I had originally planned on visiting next week anyway) but after talking to my Mother she assured me that it wasn't necessary. Sometimes it's hard to know if she wants her solitude or if she really needs a helping hand. I've been calling often and even spoke with Dad on the phone yesterday, who is now home from the hospital. I don't get to talk to him often as he can't hear well but I was able to get a laugh out of him which sounded like heaven to me! I'll be leaving for NY in a day or two. My family is so busy, it's hard to divide my time, sometimes I think I need a clone!
So let me back up to the retreat. I had the best time! The ladies who go on this retreat are soooooo much fun! I swear my sides are still hurting from all the laughing we did. These ladies are hillarious! I think they liked the bookmarks I made, I didn't hear any complaints anyway...haha. It is a peaceful, lovely setting on the water and in the morning the water was like glass. So calm and peaceful. We watched a swan taking off one morning, and a heron the next (I never realized they were so big!). We stay up late, get up early and unless we are eating, we do nothing but stitch! I took the ASAW SAL with me and they LOVED the patterns and gave me some good ideas about how to proceed. I'll post pictures another day. It rained quite a bit, but it didn't matter, we were too busy stitching! One lady brought some Smith Island cake. You can find a little bit about it here http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88412262 This cake was "created" on Smith Island in the Chesapeake Bay and has become a local legend, not to mention the state cake. It is to die for! They have different kinds, but Pat brought two kinds with her, a chocolate and a strawberry. They have at least 7 layers, most are thinner than 1/4 inch, with frosting in between. We look forward to them every year because there are very few places outside Smith Island that you can get them, and Pat lives in the same town as one of their bakeries. We also play "Yankee Trader" and I "won" a candle, a tin and a pair of stitching girl socks!!! Debbie's husband makes baskets and this year he made each of us one! I'll put up pictures next time, I promise. The ladies are camera shy so I didn't take any pictures of them, but I'll put some pictures up of the cabin next time.
This week I have done nothing but run errands, make appointments, sort out family issues and run myself ragged. I realized last night that I'm uptight because I haven't been able to stitch. It's amazing how much it relaxes me! So I'm catching you up on the news then I have a few more errands to run today, then I'm going to park myself and get some stitching in before tonight's activities take over! My son will be going on a teen lock-in tonight. The church is sponsoring this, they bus them to the local mall where they will have a scavenger hunt, have a quick bite to eat, then back to the church where they will stay up all night playing games and having fun. Ben looks forward to their lock-ins, he always has a great time. One time they had the kids take a huge box and cut and decorate it to look like a car, then they parked them in the gym and watched a "drive-in" movie! There are some creative people in our church that make life fun for the kids! But, while the cat's away, the mice will play! DH and I have plans of our own. We don't get out on our own much so we'll have a "date night" of our own. I'm looking forward to it as much as DS is to his night!
Ok, time to get this day rolling. I don't know when I'll post again, probably not until I get back from NY. Will catch you up on the news then. Take care!
Hello again!
I didn't think I would get a chance to post again before I left, but I decided I had better take pictures of these things before I gave them away. I hope the ladies who are going to the retreat don't see this post before the retreat! LOL
We usually bring something for each lady at the retreat, so I made them all bookmarks. I hope I have enough! I think a few more have been invited at the last minute and even though I know I made more than I thought I would need, I'm hoping there are still enough! I finished the back of them today, which was a challenge in itself! I hemmed and hawed until I just bit the bullet and used stitch witchery and ribbon on the back. I have never used this before so I hope they hold up! Wish me luck! LOL
The little bear holding the egg was a SAL I also finished today. I had shown the stitching to the lady who is in charge of the retreat and she told me I should finish it off and bring it with me. I've never finished anything like this before and so again I was faced with a challenge (seems to be a lot of that going around). Anyway...it's not perfect, but I think it's kinda cute. The finisher for the local LNS will be along on this retreat too, I'm a little embarrassed to show this to her as she always does a lovely job and this is nowhere near her standards, but I wanted to prove to myself that I could finish something if I wanted to.
It's well past midnight and I am supposed to meet a friend tomorrow to run errands. I'm not packed, I haven't made a list of stuff I want to take on the retreat, and I still have some cleaning up to do before I head to bed. YIKES...so why am I still here typing? I usually don't put things off until the last minute, but it seems lately that I'm always two steps behind where I should be. Ok, enough rambling, I'll see you after the retreat!
Hi Everyone! Just wanted to throw a few pictures up of the newest stitch-a-long I've been preoccupied with. First let me tell you that it's intimidating for me...LOL I don't like choosing my own colors, or fibers to use. This is REALLY stretching my comfort zone, but I think it's good for me! I'm actually having fun! I'm learning so much about fabric counts and different fibers, and new and different stitches! I've had to experiment with number of strands and even how I want to stitch things. It's a challenge but I do love it! So...where should I start? This is called A Stitch A Week SAL and I found it on another person's blog. She found it through a Yahoo group called Friendly Stitchers. They are a fun loving bunch of ladies and I'm enjoying getting to know them. The artist of this design is called Abi, and she is phenominal! I hate to put this one down just because the experimentation has been so much fun. I'm stitching this on 32 ct Taupe over 2 threads (don't faint those of you who know I love to stitch over one!!!). I think, because of the size of each of the little graphs and the different stitches I HAVE to do it over two...but I'm enjoying the change of pace. The owl is done in DMC and white rayon, I tried to make it look like a snowy owl. The Lily of the valley flowers are done with white rayon and DMC, and the robin is done all in DMC. The grid work is done with Waterlilies by Caron and the color is Celadon....kind of a varigated light green. I really wanted to start this and take it along on my retreat, but I would have to drag all my DMC and specialty fibers along and that would take up a lot of room. I'm the worst for packing too much so I'll have to think about this, but it would be fun to have the input of some fabulous creative stitchers...decisions, decisions! I'm able to finish several of these little patterns a day and so hopefully I'll catch up quickly as they are already on week 17!!!!
I'm not sure if I will be able to post again before I leave for the retreat. I can hardly wait! I had such a blast last year, I'm really looking forward to getting away from the guys and stitching to my hearts content! I'm nowhere near being ready and have a few busy days ahead. I hope I can finish up what I need to before I leave...wish me luck! I'll see you when I get back!
Good evening everyone! I've been a stitching machine lately! I have to admit, it was a loooong day so I amused myself by stitching the day away!
I made some progress on my Victorine 1897 and have finished the second page. Once I got my act together, I was able to stitch a little without having to frog. Thank heavens! Frogging on 32 ct over one is NOT my favorite past time! I think it's beginning to look pretty good, if I do say so myself! I think you can see the colors of the fabric a little bit better in this photo. But by the time I took these pictures the sun had already set. *sigh* As I said, today was a busy day. Our van needed it's 30,000 mile service. Of course they HAD to find something else to do while they were under the hood....it's like going to the Doctor for a hangnail and finding out you have a broken finger too! LOL Thank heavens it wasn't too serious, just time consuming...I sat there for 3 hours!!! Thankfully I brought along some stitching and the time literally flew by! As I was driving home it was like driving a new car, they did a fabulous job! All the idiot lights had been turned off and everything tightened up....it was great!
Since I was caught up on the Victorine, I had time to start another SAL I've been sitting on for a while. These pieces are available once a week and there will be 56 pieces when the pattern is complete. 25 of them are available right now! I found this on this blog http://squarenews.blogs.com/linsanslautre/stitch-a-long-with-me/ and just LOVE the colors. It's a bit modern...but I like to do all kinds of things, not all of them have to be "antique" looking. I'm using DMC, the colors they suggest, 165, 166, 580, 581, 3685, 3687, 3688, 3689, 3819. I'm stitching it on a 32 ct evenweave over one called Taupe. I love the way these colors look on this fabric (again the picture doesn't do it justice). Either I need a new camera or I need to adjust my computer...something's not quite right! LOL (EEEK It can't POSSIBLY be ME!?!?!?!?! LOL!!)
I met DS walking home from the bus stop as I was coming home. He walked up to me and tears started forming in his eyes as he started to tell me he had "bad news". I was afraid he had been hurt or something, and as he began his story he started to hyperventilate...I was getting worried. When he finally told me what was wrong (he had broken his retianer and it costs $215.00 to replace!!!) he had melted into a sobbing, frightened mess. I guess he thought I would yell at him. He had broken them in first period at school and fretted about it all day long, so it was almost a relief to "confess" but he was also afraid I would be angry. Kids sure are funny. After I lost my job, money was tight and we had told him we were going to cut down on "frivilous" spending and he was being really good. He had been very cautious about asking for money for school events and things he reallly wanted but didn't need and was being very mature about it. So when he realized what these would cost it threw him into a panic. Fortunately our tax returns had just arrived in our checking account so we could breathe a little easier. I felt awful that he panicked and spent the whole day worrying about how he would tell us. Just when you think the terrible teenage years will never end... he worries about something like this...LOL I acted pretty non-chalant about it, called the orthodontist and scheduled an appointment and told him not to worry, we'd get it all sorted out soon. You would have thought I was his new best friend. And just the other day I was the Meanest Mom in the world! LOL *shaking head* Must be the hormones!?!?! Hm...well I hope he remembers this day for a long time...when I was the "bestest" Mom in the whole wide world! LOL
Hi Everyone! I'm doing the happy dance today! This project is giving me gray hair! I love the design, truly I do, but I've had so many problems with it and I've done so much frogging that I'm getting old before my time (it's more frustrating than my teenager if that puts it in perspective! LOL) The good news is, I won't have to deal with this as long as I will my teenager! Life is good! I'm thrilled to have gotten this far today!
This is only the first page, I have already downloaded the second page so I'll still be working on this today. The color I was having difficulty with is the lighter green surrounding the "blossoms". The first color I tried was invisible. The second color was too close to the darker green, but this one is just right! (I feel like I'm baby bear in the story of the three bears! LOL) I'm a little disappointed in the color of the photograph, I tried to fix it but couldn't get it just right. It's odd how the colors of the floss are dead on, but the fabric I'm using is more of a warm medium brown hand dyed fabric. You can't even see the subtle mottling of the colors in the fabric in this picture. It's a dull dreary day here in Maryland, so I can't get good sunlight. I'll try again after I finish page two.
Ok, ready for the details of this little beauty? I found this on this blog http://clarelis.canalblog.com and it's called Abecedaire "Victorine 1879". It is a French website and from what I could tell the owner of the website found this rolled up in a drawer and assumes it was something her mother made in her youth. She decided to chart it for anyone who wants it! I just love the colors! I chose to do this on 32 ct Meadow Rue linen sitching over one thread (it is hand dyed but I can't remember which company, it might be Lakeside Linens or Picture This Plus). I'm using DMC colors 310, 355, 830, 832, and 926. Having used the 310 for all the lettering, I think I might have reconsidered and tried a silk for the black, the letters aren't coming out smooth like I would like them to and so I'm a little disappointed there, but after all the frogging I've done, I'm going to turn a blind eye to that and just keep stitching.
After all the chaos on Monday, Tuesday did turn into Tame Tuesday and I was able to even show up at a local "stitch night" at the local library. It was a pretty day yesterday right up until I left for the stitch night, while we were stitching it poured and thundered and stormed, but it was done by the time I left. We're getting more rain today. I refuse to complain about the weather though, it's causing all kinds of things to bloom near my house...here..take a look! My tulips are beginning to blossom (I take pictures after the first bloom because last year the deer ate them after the first day. Hopefully they'll behave themselves this year. My mother suggested I spray pepper spray on them but the deer have to eat too I suppose! LOL I think this is an azalea that is in my back yard. I have one in the front yard too, but that one always blossoms later. It's loaded with buds, but I'll take the picture when it finally blooms. Till then...take care!
