Another Friend's Give Away

First off, I wanted to let everyone know that there is a contest going on. Mel from Calgary, Canada is giving away two different projects. One is Christmas related, the other Halloween. If you want to enter the contest for one or both projects, go to: http://epicstitchin g.blogspot. com

I need to scan a picture [This is where I wish I had a camera that I could take a picture of the whole thing for you!] of "The Lord's Prayer" and show you, but I am nearing done with the stitching of page 4. Then I'll have the backstitching of the hand on page 3 and 4 and the backstitching of the lower corner of page 4. I do so hope I can finish this soon! I have so many projects I want to start and finish in my brain. The baby announcement and the bib for my grand niece (born December 5), the elephant project for my Uncle, the cat project for my bathroom, are just a few that pop to the top of my brain that I want to do.

Jack hasn't got his stitches out yet, and is on round 3 of antibiotics for his amputation. We are hoping that at his next appointment, he will have the stitches removed. The stump is shrinking, but for some reason there are a couple of spots on the stump that do not want to stop seeping. It makes it very frustrating.

I ended up having a seizure December 3, as we were getting ready to leave Jack's appointment with the prosthetic company. The good thing about that is that Jack was forced to drive from that company to the hospital because the ambulance took me to the hospital. He then drove us home from the hospital. Jack had not thought he could drive without the prosthetic leg. This proved him wrong. So he has been doing a great deal of the driving again. Other than taking Sarah to school in the morning. That is just fine with me, because he is better at winter driving, having the experience of driving in the winter weather everywhere, since he was a semi driver for 25+ years before becoming disabled several years ago.

Sarah now has her permit to drive. She is suppose to have 30 hours behind the wheel by a certain date. Not sure what that date is. A certain number of those hours are to be night time, day time, bad weather, etc. Thus far I have allowed her to drive home from school twice and we have gone to the store twice. I want her dad to be the teacher when there is snow or ice on the road, so now she will have to wait a bit. It snowed last night. Probably 3 or 4 inches.

Rachel has a bad cough and is running a slight fever, but insisted on going to school today. It is the last day before Christmas break and she has to turn in three extra credit sheets in math. Today is the end of the second quarter too. She is hoping these extra credit sheets bring up her grade. She really struggles in math, and when her dad was in the hospital earlier in this quarter, she really fell behind.

I will be buying the ingredients to make my fudge later today. I plan on making 5 rounds; chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter, rocky road, and lemon. This will be my Christmas present to several different people in town.

Happy Holidays to everyone.

What a Ride!!

The past six weeks or so have been beyond crazy! Sorry I have not kept you informed, but I think you'll understand once I fill you in. In late October I was trying to take care of my DH's diabetic ulcer on the bottom of his left foot, as I had been for the previous two years. But instead of showing signs of improvement or even staying the same from one week to the next, the wound became dramatically worse. I took him to the emergency room the Wednesday before Halloween, after we awoke that morning to his foot being bright red and the redness spread up the foot through the day. We were told in the emergency room that he would need to be hospitalized for this (no kidding, Sherlock!). The local hospital did keep him overnight, starting him on antibiotics. The hospital wanted him to see the doctor that had been treating the diabetic ulcer the past two years, but that doctor was affiliated with a different hospital, quite honestly one that Jack and I trust more but isn't local, unfortunately. Anyway, the local hospital released Jack with instructions for him to go see the wound care doctor. We did that. The wound care doctor gave Jack orders to go to the hospital affiliated with him before the afternoon was over. He wanted Jack admitted. After Jack had been there a couple of days, the decision was made that he needed to have an amputation. At first the doctor was discussing just amputating a couple of Jack's toes, or from just above his toes. Jack basically said, "if I am going to be amputated, I want it to be high enough that we don't have to do this again, I want it from about 5" below my knee". The doctor's discussed this and they did agree. Jack had weak veins in his lower leg and so it was best to get as high as they could to try and get away from the bad area of his foot and get to an area that could heal properly. Jack was so sick of being sick and tired, literally unable to do much of anything outside of bed.

The amputation ended up being November 3. The surgery lasted about 1 hour 45 minutes. He was taken back to his room a couple hours later. He never had any complications. He was sent to rehabilitation about a week later and released from the hospital all together on November 17th. He is recovering nicely.

I am so frustrated with my city counsel right now I could chew up nails and spit out thumb tacks, as Jack says!! Anyway, the day before Jack was released from the hospital, my older daughter's boyfriend's dad built Jack a ramp. That was such a relief to me, as I had been looking around about getting a ramp built and was hitting brick wall after brick wall. I was very grateful to Wes' dad. In yesterday's mail I received a letter that had been keyed the day before Thanksgiving, giving me until Monday, November 29 to comply, stating that the ramp that was built on our property was a building violation and we had until November 29 to remove it or be fined a huge amount of money. We contacted Wes' dad and he came and disassembled the ramp this morning. We also contacted our Alderman. She came over taking a copy of the letter. She will see what she can do. I told her that this particular issue is one of the reasons I was wanting to be an Alderman so badly myself. To get issues like this one to go away. Sharon completely agrees with me. She cannot see the reasoning behind this, especially since there is no ordinance listed that we violated other than 'other'. What kind of law is 'other'? Sharon and I would both serve as Alderman for Ward 4 if I am elected. There are 2 Alderman per Ward. Sharon is not up for re-election. The spot I am running for is being vacated by my neighbor three doors down.

I can say that my stitching has not suffered because of this though. I did finish out the towel for my parents during the first week or so that Jack was in the hospital. My parents loved the towel. Dad even said it was too pretty to use, that it deserved framing. I have also worked quite a bit on 'The Lord's Prayer'. As I key this blog, I have completed page 3, almost. I have some backstitching left on the hand of that page, but other than that, am done with page 3. I started stitching on page 4 while with Jack at the hospital. I am almost done with the regular stitching part of the hand. I then only have the lower right corner to stitch and the backstitching left on the hand of page 3 and all the backstitching of page 4. Part of me is wishing I was further on this, the other part of me says I have done well with the progress of this project. I did not do the backstitching of the hand of page 3 when really reached it because that was the day of Jack's surgery. I didn't feel like I'd be able to properly concentrate to backstitch, so I went on to page 4's x-ing. Considering I started this in early August, and the stitch count of this project is 140W x 206H, I guess I am not doing too bad.

I guess, for the most part, I have updated you on the goings on here. The girls are fine. Our Thanksgiving was great. Having Jack home from the hospital made it even more wonderful! I am still job hunting, but the Lord is watching out for us. Take care until next time.

A Friends's Give Away

Wanted to let everyone know that my stitching friend, Alyssa, is having a give away. If you wanted to be put in the drawing, her sight for the give away is: http://mystitchingcorner01.blogspot.com/2010/10/another-finish-and-giveaway.html?

As far as my stitching, I have done some on the kitchen towel for my Mom. I am just a few stitches from complete on the left side of the towel, minus the back stitching of course. Next time I post, I will post a progress picture.

Rachel's cheer leading competition was Sunday. Her team got fourth place. I didn't think that was too bad, considering this is the first year there has been a Danville Chargers organization. She was happy with it as well. The team did get a trophy to be displayed at the Headquarters.

Sarah and Wes went to Wes' Homecoming dance Saturday night. Wes took Sarah to Montana Mike's and then they went out to the stables to show the woman they work for what they looked like. After leaving there, they went to the dance. Sarah ended up locking the car keys in the car, but the person who owned the car had a spare set, so she came and opened the car. Problem solved. Wes had Sarah home at a decent hour...about 10:30. I think his parents have a curfew for him of 11:00, and as I think I've said before, he lives a good thirty minutes away.

As far as my job looking, the grocery store manager had not had a chance to talk with the woman he wanted to about me yet when I went there on Friday. He told me to come back in the middle of this week. I think that I will swing by tomorrow. I am also talking with a manager at a loan company about a position there.

I worked out at the YMCA this morning. I did my 2.46 miles on the eliptical, then I decided to try some of the other machines they have there. I did 15-20 reps on the machines that is suppose to help you strengthen and tone your upper arms and then the machines that are to do the same to your thighs. The majority of my weight that still needs to be lost is in my thigh area. My upper arms still have some fat too, but both my thighs and my upper arms have saggy skin from the weight loss. I hope to be able to get rid of that skin. I cannot help but wonder, if I got rid of my loose skin, what would I weight? I don't know if there is really any way of knowing.

I want to start stitching now and have chores around the house to do as well, so I need to be going. Happy Stitching, everyone!

A Stitching Update

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to do a quick update, I promised you I would.

I did scan a picture that shows page 3 of 'The Lord's Prayer'. I have not stitched on it since scanning this a few days ago. I had told you I'd try and show you page 3. You cannot see the entire project in this scan, but You can see my progress I was able to do. Most of the progress was done when I was in Tennessee with my friend. As you can see, I have to stitch the lower left corner completely and then do the backstitching. Then it will be done and I can move to page 4!



I also wanted to show you the towel that I mentioned for my parents as a Thanksgiving gift. I did decide to put aside 'The Lord's Prayer' and stitch this. I do not usually give Thanksgiving gifts, but I just felt I really needed to do this for them this year. I may also add a potholder with the same pattern. It is taking a bit longer than I thought. I have stitched on this around 10 hours. There are 22 color in this pattern, so a great deal of stopping and starting to change colors. I picked up the last color at my LNS today. I think it is turning out nice. The wreath is in the center of the stitching area and the strands go to the end of the sides left to right.



The third thing I wanted to show you was the elephant that I have decided to do for my Uncle Curt, in memory of Aunt Jane. Uncle Curt said she loved elephants. I thought it would be a good tribute to her to give this to my Uncle. We talked about me turning it into a pillow for him. A friend gave me the pattern. I put it on PCStitch and took all the redish background out and put more of a green under the elephant's feet. I cannot get the picture from PCStitch to come up here, so you will have to imagine it, if you can. With just the elephant and ground cover, the picture is about a 5 x 7.



Unrelated to stitching, I do have some good news. I talked with one of the places I turned in an application awhile back yesterday and the manager asked me if I was still looking for a job. I told him yes. He told me they were looking for someone in a certain position but he needed to talk with another employee before it was confirmed. He told me to come to the store Friday morning (tomorrow) and we would talk. To me that sounds like he wants to hire me. Please pray that this happens.

I walked 2.46 miles in 35 minutes on the eliptical at the YMCA today. That is a bit slower than I did a couple of weeks ago, but not by much. My fastest at that time was 2.52 miles in 35 minutes. I still think I did well. I haven't gone to the YMCA as much as I want to, but if I have my way, the amount of time I go will increase. I need to start swimming there again too. I haven't swam in awhile but the last time I swam I did 27 laps (3/4 of a mile) in 2 hours. I know that is slow. I am a slow swimmer because of my right side being paralyzed. My right arm does not fully do the movement necessary, nor does my leg kick very well, but I can swim! The lifeguard is impressed with the way I swim.

Rachel's cheer leading squad is going to competition very soon. She is very nervous. The football team starts their playoffs this weekend.

Sarah turned in a paper today on Tattoos for her Anatomy class today. Actually, she turned the paper part in yesterday and the poster board part today. They were actually due at the same time, but she diden't allow herself enough time this weekend to do it, so she may get 10% off the poster board part.

We heard from John and his family a few days ago. They are fine and chose to move to Modesto, CA. We hope they will be alright there. My DIL's Aunt lives there, so I'm sure she will keep an eye on them.

Jack's foot ulcer appears to be smaller than it was last week, which is a good thing.

Happy Stitching everyone, until next time!

So Many Things Happening!

Hello All!

I have been hoping to post the latest picture that was taken of 'The Lord's Prayer' with this blog, but the gal that took the picture for me hasn't had a chance to e-mail it to me yet, I will write another blog and post it then. This picture of 'The Lord's prayer' was taken when I was in Tennessee with my friend as moral support. I finished page 2 on September 23. I then started on page 3. I was able to do a great deal of stitching during the time we were in Tennessee and almost finished the x's of hand and the words to the line that went through the hand. Since coming home from Tennessee, I have finished the x's of the hand and the words that are on page three as well. I am now stitching the lower left corner. Then I will do the backstitching and be done with it, moving on to page 4, the final page! I want to show you the progress so badly!

Besides stitching, I have been looking into becoming an Alderman for the City of Danville. I need a minimum of 25 signatures and a maximum of 50 to be on the ballot. The signatures are to be turned in November 15. The election is April 5. I have have 30 signatures so far. Jack designed the signs that we will ask my supporters to put in their yards. I will order them in a month or so. I also have my 10 principle of good government on a flyer that I am passing out. So far I am being received very well. I am a bit nervous because the other person who picked up a petition has a very well known name in town. The person who is currently the Alderman is stepping down due tto health issues.

My step-son and Jack ended up having a major blow up in mid-September. The tension had been building for awhile and that day the volcano erupted, so to speak. John packed up his belongings and moved his family back to California. This time he moved to Modesto though, so at least he is no where near the person causing his family problems there. We didn't hear from them at all until last week. We were glad to hear that they are fine.

I picked up all the clothes that I gave the woman to alter for me since my weight loss has begun. It is amazing the amount of clothes I have now! I sent my Mom the picture of me in the blue top that I recently put on my blog, taken just a few weeks ago, and now she wants all kinds of pictures of me. She cannot believe what I look like now.

I am looking for a job too and think that I have a good shot at one that isn't that far from my home. I sure am keeping my fingers crossed anyway!

Sarah and her boyfriend, Wes, go to Wes' Homecoming Dance in a couple of weeks. Sarah is excited. Wes is a Senior this year. Jack and I are very proud of him. He signed the papers last week to join the Army after he graduates from high school. I believe he told me his report date is mid-June 2011.

Rachel's cheer leading squad has competition coming up. She is nervous.

Both girls will get their report cards in a couple of weeks as well. I think both are doing well in school, I guess the report cards will tell for sure!

Well I better go for now. Happy stitching, everyone!

My Lengthy Absence

Hello All,

Sorry I have been gone so long, but it wasn't by my choice! My computer just flat shut itself down, with the message that it was overheating. We didn't know what was wrong, but we knew we couldn't afford a new computer and we were hesitant to pay a store for repairing the computer, so it just sat for a long while. Jack and I discussed that I really did need my computer for a number of reasons, so I went down and bought the compressed air stuff at Wal-Mart and we cleaned the computer that way. It worked and so I have my computer back! :)

During my absence from the computer, my son did marry his long-time girlfriend. We have considered Denise our Daughter-in-Law for a number of years. They have been a couple for eight years. They have three children, This picture was taken yesterday of the kids at the mall. From left to right is Adriana (2 yrs), Maria (4 yrs), and Ethan (6 yrs). We did videotape the wedding at the courthouse, but don't have the proper cord to download a videotape to the computer, or I'd show that to you. What was funny about the wedding was the judge. John and Denise wanted the kids present for the wedding. Denise looked beautiful in her gown. When the judge, whom Jack and I know, found out the children were John and Denise's, she said, "it was 8 years in the coming! You should have donee this years ago!" We all laughed. Jack and I have been trying get them to marry for several years. They almost got married 2 summers ago, when we were planning a trip to California at the time. We canceled the trip because our water heater died because of a flood in the basement due to heavy rain. We had to either fix that or go on the trip. John said he was wanting to get married with us there.

My daughter Rachel started cheer-leading just before the new school year with a local youth football league. She became involved with it through her best friend, Kelsie, who has been a cheerleader for a few years now. Rachel started going to practice with Kelsie in early August and learned all the cheers. The coach called us and asked if Rachel could become a cheerleader as well. We said it was alright with us if she really wanted . Kelsie's younger brother plays football in the league, in the group just below what Rachel and Kelsie cheer. Rachel and Kelsie are cheerleaders for the Junior Varsity team. The team has played three games so far. They lost the first two, badly, but they won yesterday, 12-0. The team is the Danville Chargers. My BFF in town took this picture of Rachel at her home after the game yesterday, when she and Jack arrived after the game. There was a bar-be-que at our friend's home yesterday in honor of the Labor Day Holiday. Jack, Rachel, Kelsie arrived late, but not too horribly late. Harold, the host, had started the coals heating up probably 20 minutes before they got there. Jack and the football coach ended up working out a deal...Jack has everything to do a PA system, except the speakers. The coach made a call. Jack now has speakers. In return, he will call all the games and provide a tape for the National Anthem. Jack is jazzed about this. Rachel is doing well at her new school. She moved up to Middle School this year from Elementary school.

I have been stitching during the month I have been gone. I don't know if you could say that it has been alot, but I feel good about the project and its progress. I started stitching on "The Lord's Prayer" right after my hospital stay during the last week of June. The project's pattern spans 4 pages. I have seen fellow stitchers call each page of projects this large a finish. I did finish page 1 in late August. Jack took the picture of it with the webcam that is attached to his laptop. The picture of page 1 and two's progress was taken last night at my BF's house at the BBQ last night. I did work a bit more on the right corner after this picture, so now the design is around the corner, almost done. I am excited about my progress on this project.

My weight loss has continued. The rate of loss has slowed a lot, but now it is at a healthier pace. Before we discovered my ulcers in late June, we had no idea why I was losing the weight at the rate I was. Anyway, when I had a scope done in late July, the doctor said the ulcers were healed. Since then, I have lost, but at a rate the doctor prefers. Even though my ulcers are gone, I am eating healthier foods and smaller amounts now. I am rather excited about my loss now. I haven't been this small since I was a teenager. At last weigh in, my loss was 155 pounds. I picked up the clothes I took to a gal who does alterations a couple of days ago. I took her some of my newer skirts, the ones I'd bought in January, and a couple of others. She ended up taking at least two of them up six inches. One of them, she completely removed a panel. A friend from church took me out to lunch this week and we went clothes shopping afterward. She bought me a pair of jeans. I haven't worn this size since I was 16 years old!

My husband's foot ulcer is improving, gratefully. I am praying that it will be gone by Christmas, maybe even before. He is diabetic and has had this thing basically since the day Obama was elected.

My town's City Council runs with Alderman. The districts are called Wards. The Alderman in my Ward is retiring at the end of his term, in November 2011 due to health reasons. I am looking into running for the Alderman's spot. I have always wanted to do something productive for my city, but never new exactly what to do. I thought of this, and picked up the packet to see about running. So far I am the only one to pick up the packet. I need to get a maximum of 50 signatures to be on the spring ballot to possibly be the Alderman. The signatures need to be filed by mid November 2010. I am going to start walking the Ward and going to the neighborhood meeting to gather the signatures.

Sarah is still working at the stables, though since school started we only allow her to do this on the weekends. She is doing well her sophomore year of school thus far. She has her first boyfriend now. They both volunteer at the stables. He is a senior in high school at a neighboring town. He has signed up to go into the military after he graduates next spring. He is a very nice young man. She will be 16 in mid-October.

My Dad told me my nephew who has been in the Marine Corps for a couple of years now has made it to a 3 striped Sargent. His unit will be going to Afghanistan in late September or early October. We are so proud of him. We are also praying that God will keep him safe while he is in the military. War time is always hard on everyone.

Well, that is basically everything to catch everyone up. I promise to keep everyone better updated, now that my computer is working again! :)

Happy Stitching, Everyone!

Great News!

I feel like I have been able to stitch quite a bit on 'The Lord's Prayer' the pattern that I started a day or two after I got out of the hospital. I have been out of the hospital two weeks, yesterday. I was released July 1. So this is basically two weeks worth of work. This is page 1. There is a total of four pages in this pattern. All four corners will have a blue border on them. I haven't scanned a picture of the completed project the book gives yet, but I do plan on it. Page 2 will probably be the quickest stitch. Pages 1, 3, and 4, besides having the verse and the corner border, have at least a part of His hands, as if He were praying. Page 2 just has the verse and the corner border. The stitches above the top line of writing in this picture is part of the tips of His hands. The part of the prayer stitched so far, but not completed with back stitch, of course, is 'Thy kingdo (and part of the "m")", "Thy will be do (and part of the "n")", "as it is in h" (of course will be 'heaven'), "Give us this day o (and part of the 'u' of "our", and then the bottom line stitched so far says "and forgive us". Does that description help you see it? Or is it just more confusing? Well at least I am trying to explain.

I went to the doctor earlier this week and was completely cleared to do anything I feel I can do. That made me so happy! The next day I went to the YMCA and swam nine laps, which is equal to 1/4 of a mile. Before this whole thing with my knee, when I wasn't working out on a machine called an 'elliptical' (I think thats it's name anyway) I was swimming as much as 27 laps which equals 3/4 of a mile. The YMCA's pool is Olympic size. Remember, a lap is up and back. Anyway, my swimming ended up taking a back seat to this elliptical machine because the work out on it totaled 35 minutes, including the five minute cool down. I am a slow swimmer, so to do the 27 laps takes me probably two hours. In the 35 minutes on the elliptical, I can go 2.33 miles. The elliptical works my legs and hips mainly, which is where most of my weight is. Swimming of course works everything. She and I discussed that she wants me to consider my weight what the YMCA scale says because she knows that the scale in the office weighs heavy. We also discussed the BMI chart and where I am on it. She said that according to that chart, if I lose 25 more pounds, I will no longer be considered "obese". If I lose 30 pounds more than that, I will no longer be considered overwight. So that means when I lose another 55 pound, I am not overweight any more! :-)

Yesterday the tire blew out on the back left of the car. We were worried about it. The lady who runs the stables told us of this place outside of town. We got the tire, mounting and balancing for $10. Great deal.

Well got to get going and get Rachel her supper. She has a game tonight.

Happy stitching!

My busy June

This has been a very busy month for me. Between Sarah and Rachel both playing softball this summer, my son and his family moving in in May, Jack's foot, my dryer dying - again, and me spending a week in the hospital because of my knee, it has been hard to tell which side is up. Believe it or not, I have managed to complete three projects!

Rachel's team, Police, has a winning record. They started out with back and forth wins/losses, then had seven wins in a row. They then had a couple of losses, but they won their last game, 10 - 15. I saw the last half of the last inning, Tuesday night. I did want to go to the game, it would have been the first one in awhile because my hospital stay was from June 24 to July 1. I was unable to make more of the game because after I dropped Rachel at the park for her warm up with her team, I had to go to the laundry mat and dry a couple loads of clothes. When I was done with the laundry, I went to the store and got me a soda and some baked lays potato chips. Then I went to the game. When I got there, the other team was up. By the time I got to the bleachers, Rachel's team was up. Rachel was the second batter of that inning and she ended up walking. She then stole second and third and then scored when the batter hit. Her next game is tonight.

Sarah's team, SWAT - Softball With Attitude, has wins and losses, but I think their record is more a losing record at this point. I know Sarah's team has lost the last few. She had a double header when I was in the hospital. The first game, they lost 4 -3 and the second game her team lost 11 - 2. She doesn't play again until Monday, July 12. She will have a double header that night and then another double header the next night. Sarah is also keeping herself busy with volunteering at the stables.

My son, and his family are still living in our home. Things are rather crowded and sometimes we all get a bit cranky, but we are surviving. I know John and Denise are looking for an apartment, but they haven't found one. They need a three bedroom because the Illinois law says that you can have no more than two people per bedroom in your home. We are way out of compliance with that law right now, with them here. We have a two bedroom home. With John, Denise and the kids here, there are nine people. We are hoping they find a place soon. John has found work, but I think he's going to need a different job to be able to afford living elsewhere, personally.

Jack's foot ulcer is now the size of a dime. It is on the bottom of his foot, about an inch below his pinky toe. Around Mother's Day, it was close to healed, more the size of a pencil lead. I think it has worsened because he has been on his feet a great deal more than he should be in the past few weeks. I am worried about his possibly losing his foot. I know, I am told I am a worry wart, but lets face it, this foot ulcer thing has been going on since Presidential Election Day 2008. He does use a wheelchair outside the house, has an electric chair for inside that he uses, but he there are times that neither can help him and he has to put weight on the foot. Jack is diabetic, so he takes alot longer to heal.

I ended up in the hospital on June 24 because of my knee. On June 23, I noticed my left kneecap was sensitive to the touch. When I went to bed that night, I noticed it was swollen, like I may have twisted it, it was also a little pink. Jack and I talked about did I fall, or what in the world did I do to make my knee swell. We could think of nothing. When I awoke, the knee was still swollen, and the pink had darkened and spread. We decided to take me to the doctor, but Jack had his weekly wound clinic appointment, so we did that appointment then took me to the walk-in clinic attached to my doctor's office. The doctor there spoke with my doctor and they sent me to the Emergency Room, telling me that I probably had cellulitus, and I needed to be admitted for IV antibiotics. When I got there, the ER doctor wanted to give me a round of Antibiotics there in the ER and then send me home. He said I had cellulitus. I said, "Time out, my doctor said I should be admitted!". He called my doctor and promptly admitted me. The pink of my knee had turned a deep red by this time and had gone from being a small spot, about the size of a quarter, to engulfing my entire knee and about half of the outside of my calf and a little of my thigh as well. By 8:00 that night I was in my room I'd live in for the next week. LOL

I had thought to bring my stitching bag with me to the doctor's appointments, so I did have something to do. I stitched the yellow car, completely, the first car of the car quilt I am doing for my grandson. The piece of material this car is on is long and skinny. What I was thinking was putting a few different color cars, of this same pattern car, on this piece and then putting different style of cars on other pieces to make up the quilt squares. I need to figure out what colors to make my middle piece cars. I found out that there is a store here in town that will give me lessons on how to make a quilt, so as soon as I have these pieces stitched, I will go to them for help in putting it together, since I have never done that before. I took my poodle with me as well. Naturally, I did run out of the color I needed while I was in the hospital, to finish the poodle. Jack brought it to me when it arrived in the mail. We had ordered the color, and a couple of other colors, when I realized I wouldn't have enough to finish him completely. I managed to get all but about 5o stitches done before I was released from the hospital. I did finish it out the first night I was home. I need to wash him, good. It looks like there is a spot the material near his right ear. Not sure what is is. Hopefully dawn dish soap will get it out. Jack brought me a project to work on while I was in the hospital I did have uncut material in my bag, so that was fine and very much welcomed. He picked out a pattern called 'Love Spoken Here'. After I did it, which I did complete during my hospital stay, I asked him what he wanted me to do with it. he said we will be framing it and giving it to our Pastor's wife. She and I have become very good friends. The light purple french knots, I was originally thinking as putting as beads, but I didn't have the right color bead, so I did the french knots. French knots are not the easiest stitch for me to do. I hope it looks alright with them. I started my second project ever on evenweave since my return from the hospital. The first one was Isaiah. Anyway, this one is, 'The Lord's Prayer'. I haven't scanned the project yet. The pattern is in a book that I truly love. I have done some bookmarks out of it. It also has the 'Footprints' pattern that I want to stitch. I am on the hunt for an elephant pattern. My Aunt, who had MS for 40 years, died while I was in the hospital myself. My Uncle told me that she collected elephants, so if I wanted to stitch him something, an elephant would be the thing to stitch. I actually offered to stitch something for him and asked what he wanted and that was what he told me.

During this hospital stay, we finally got some answers about my stomach issues. I may or may not have IBS, as the doctor I had last summer diagnosed, but we discovered I do have stomach ulcers. I recently changed doctors because I had become just plain unhappy with my doctor. The second night in the hospital, my stomach started its pain. I mentioned it to the nurse. She called the doctor, who ordered a CAT scan that night. The next morning I had a scope down my throat.It showed that I had two ulcers in my stomach. One is 4mm and the other is 7mm. They are close together, but not touching. Also the part that goes from my esophagus to my stomach and then my stomach to my intestine is weak. I need to have another scope in 6 weeks from the hospital stay scope to see what is happening with the ulcers. The doctor asked me if I was vomiting blood. I told her, "no", but I guess I need to watch for that to happen. The doctor is having me take prilosec now, so we'll see if that helps.

I need to sign off for now and put my foot up for a bit. My knee/leg is starting to swell. Happy stitching everyone!

Can you tell I am BEAMING?

Last night was my daughter, Rachel's, fifth grade Honors Assembly. She had originally thought about not going because it was also the last practice of her team before their first softball game tomorrow night. Her teacher encouraged her to come, telling her she was going to be receiving a certificate from a past teacher. She received a great more than that! I created an album on my webshots of everything, including the report card she picked up this morning. You can see that album at: http://family.webshots.com/album/577862704fxywCp. This scholarship award was only one thing she received. She was the only girl to receive it. One other award like this was given, but it was to a boy. When they started describing the girl who was going to receive the award, I was wondering if it was Rachel. The first two things they said was that her favorite subject was science and she wanted to be a lawyer as an adult because she was told she is a good at arguing. The whole place busted up at that line BTW. One other award that she received was given by her music teacher. It also came with a plaque.

Sarah has finished her Freshman year of High School as of yesterday, but we don't know her grades yet. Her report card is mailed after the teachers calculate in the student's finals taken the last two days of school.

I forgot to tell most of you that I had posted a picture of me and my family taken on Mother's Day 2010. Here is that picture. The front row has my grand children, Maria (4), Ethan (6) and Adrianna (2); Row two has Rachel (10) Jack (my DH) and Denise (the woman Jack and I call our DIL, mother of all 3 grand kids); the third row has Sarah (15), Matthew my 32 yr old step-son, me and John (my 29 yr old step-son).

I made Rene this the watermelon orni for the exchange in ILCS. The ornament Rene made me is beautiful! Thank you, Rene. The one she gave me is of the basket of strawberries. The orni I did had a watermelon on each side. The orni Rene made me had the basket of strawberries on one side and the word summer on the other.

As far as what I am stitching right now, I started on an Apricot Poodle. This pattern was RAKed to me a couple of years ago. it is basically a 5x7 picture, a total of six colors. Thus far, I have completed one color throughout the entire project. I have done one strand of the second color. I may turn this into a pillow when it is all stitched. I haven't decided. I decided to post the finished pic as well as the progress picture because someone said they had a hard time seeing that it was a poodle. They thought it may be a lion. Same colors, I suppose. Anyway, I am sure it is a good idea to post the 'what it should look like picture' on the first post of the progress. I hope to get more stitching done in the next couple of days. Memorial Day was so relaxing for me. I was literally able to stitch ALL day! Today is Thursday. I haven't stitched since Tuesday morning.

Well, I need to be going. I need to get Sarah to softball practice.

Happy Stitching everyone!

My Family Pictures

Hello everyone,

I know that last time I wrote, I told you the news of my son and his family moving here from California. I have been wanting to get on the computer and share with you some of my pictures of my family. These were taken on Mother's Day by our Pastor at the church. The picture on the left is the entire gang. Rachel is in the white dress with purple, Sarah is next to her. Then its Matthew, me, John, and Denise. Jack is in his wheelchair in the middle of the picture. The grandkids are in the front. The older girl is Maria, then Ethan and then the younger girl, Adrianna. Our kids are on the right. Rachel, Matthew, Sarah and John, from left to right.

Things have been so crazy around here with five extra people!

On the stitching front, I am so close to finishing the ornament. I think Rene will love it. I have the next project lined up.

Happy stitching everyone.

The News Can Be Told Now!

Boy, is this the chaotic week! The news that I have been bursting to say can be said now! Our son, who resides in California is moving his family out here as we speak! He left California last night and is driving here to Illinois. His plan is to be here some time Friday. He and his long time live in girl friend (mother of all three grand children) and the kids will be staying with us until they find their own home. There is a four bedroom home caddy-corner back yard to us available.. I think they are looking at this one. It does require a few weeks of work before it can be lived in, so things will be rather cramped here for awhile, but we are just absolutely ecstatic they will be here in Danville!

Our oldest son will be coming down from Chicago on Saturday evening via the train. He and his friend will stay probably until Sunday evening. This means this will be the first Mother's Day, ever, that I have had all four of my kids, the two step-sons (Matt and John) and our two girls (Sarah and Rachel) as well as all three grand kids here! Boy will my little two bedroom home be full!!!

We are doing the best we can to get the house ready for everyone being here. I have been doing laundry, dishes, etc. Jack fixed the vacuum for me this morning - thank you, Sweetheart! Sarah started mowing yesterday until the mower broke. Jack ordered the parts to fix it this morning. My mind is racing about 1,000 miles an hour with everything I either need or want to do and trying to figure out which is priority task.

I do and I don't want to scan the summer ornament I am stitching for the exchange in ILCS because I don't want to give away what I am doing LOL, but the girls love the way it is looking so far. I am almost to the stage of only backstitching left. I will probably be contacting the group for some ideas of how to put the thing actually together. I showed my pastor Isaiah when he came over yesterday to give Jack communion. He really liked the way it looks. I am excited to do the car for my grandson too.

In my weight loss department, I tried on a pair of shorts the other day at the store. I haven't worn shorts since I was a kid. These shorts actually looked pretty good on me! I have lost another 8 pounds, to make the loss 128 now. I didn't buy the shorts, but just knowing that I look decent in a pair of shorts gave me a great jolt of happiness.

My housework is "calling me" so I need to sign off, but everyone have a great week!

Isaiah is DONE!

I am proud to announce that Isaiah 40:31 was finished Wednesday afternoon! :) Things have been running at full tilt around here, so I haven't had much computer time at all. That is why I didn't tell you sooner. I signed up to be part of an exchange on ILCS of summer ornaments. I was given Rene. I picked the pattern and started stitching it Thursday. I am excited about how it is looking. I am a bit nervous about how it will look when it is an ornament, since I have never completed an ornament. There are a couple of things I have done that I want to be ornaments, but have not finished them out. I promise, Rene, I will finish this one. Maybe some people in ILCS can give me a suggestion or two? LOL.

Rachel is getting along fine with her broken foot. She broke it four weeks ago now. I took her to the doctor today for a check up on the foot. It is healing without any issues. He thinks she will be in the boot at least two more weeks.

Sarah has a big project due for school on Monday that two of her classmates were supposed to help on. So far it has been all Sarah. Jack and I think this is so unfair! This project counts for half the grade in this class.

Sarah is doing a wonderful job at the stables.

Jack's foot got worse last week but then yesterday at doctor found out it is getting better again. It is still a mystery as to why it got so bad so quick.

I have some great news, that is suppose to happen next week. I can't tell yet, but keep your fingers crossed that this event occurs. We will be jumping for joy for sure if it does!

Happy Stitching and have a GREAT day!

I Am Nearing the End of Isaiah!

Hello Everyone!

I know that it has been a couple of weeks or more since I posted anything, and I apologize for that. Life has been very crazy here. I still cannot talk about hardly any of it, but trust me, it has made things very much a roller coaster here. No one is pregnant or anything like that, but I have wanted to run screaming a few days. Actually, last night, I did disappear for a couple of hours because of some of it. I took my stitching and drove about 1/2 mile away and sat and stitched in my locked car!

I thought you might want to see my progress, even though it isn't done, done. Thank you, Dawn W., for your help in getting the picture just right to post! I believe that I am REALLY nearing the end of this project. I had made an error in the writing of the verse. If I hadn't done that I might for real be actually done. Everything that I stitched on Easter afternoon had to be pulled out! I had stitched the line that starts with the 'w' by the eagle's talon to the line that is just below the word 'Lord'. Every word of that area! I think, if I remember right, I even had "upon the" in the frogging. When I got to the line that had Lord, I realized that I had made an oops in the number of squares I had put between the line that says, "and not be weary" and the line that will say, "with wings as eagles". When I started stitching again, after all the frogging, I started with the first word of the verse and decided to work my way down to the lines I know are right. I think I only have one or two strings of thread to finish the verse out. What do you think? When I am done with the verse, all I have left is the back stitching of the eagle and then I am done.

The gal I made the baby bib and burp towel for will probably be giving birth any day now. She was due yesterday. She went to doctor today and is dilated 2cm and is defaced 30 - 40%. Tomorrow is the baby's Nana's birthday. She (the Nana) is excited.

Jack and Rachel went fishing about an hour ago. Rachel has been looking forward to this trip for a long time. She loves to fish with her Daddy. I expect them home late tonight.

We found out Sarah's grades for the third quarter and we are very happy with them. She got 2 A's, 2 B's and 3 C's. She is in ninth grade. Rachel got 3 A's and 2 B's. We are very pleased with her grades as well, but it seems like Rachel doesn't have to work quite as hard for her grades as Sarah does. Rachel is in fifth grade.

I have still been losing weight, though not near as fast as I had been I am okay with that though because the rate of loss was becoming scary. Since mid-January I have lost another 13 pounds. Between mid-May 2009 and January 2010, though, I had lost 100 pounds. I am working out at the YMCA twice a week, if not more. Sometimes I swim, sometimes I go to the part of the Y that has the treadmills, stair streppers, stationary bikes and such. I can now complete a mile in about 22 minutes on the treadmill. Today I did a bit over 2 miles on the steps that move like a stationary bike! I have lost five inches since January off my thighs and gone down another size. On Christmas I had moved into a size 18 skirt and 20 top. I tried on a size 16 in both earlier this week and they both fit great! I am honestly feeling stronger.

Sarah will be starting to volunteer out at the stables at the State Park tomorrow morning. That is not far from here at all. Maybe 8 miles from the house. the Park is on the west edge of town. I am excited for her because she is an animal lover and loves to ride horses. Jack and I think this will be good for her too.

It looks like I'll be all by myself for at least a part of tomorrow because Jack just called and said he and Rachel will be fishing again tomorrow after they take Sarah to the stables. Maybe I'll be able to catch up on my e-mails and complete housework and maybe even stitch on Isaiah a bit! LOL! ;-)

Take care everyone, until next time!

Mostly Stitching News

The baby shower was a success. Margo received a lot of things...from diapers to clothing to crib bumper pad. I made both of these items for her. I had wanted to do the bib and had it done in January. I did the burp towel because the grandma-to-be had bought it to do herself and then realized she wouldn't be able to do the project so she asked me. I finished the towel the day before the shower. Margo was ia bit concerned on how to launder them so I told her.

I have decided when I finish my Isaiah project that I will be doing a yellow car. The more I have thought about it, the more I like the idea of putting several cars patterns together and making a quilt for Ethan, my grandson. I tried to upload the picture to show you, but it doesn't want to load onto here for some reason. I am also going to work on a small pattern of a poodle that I have that reminds me so very much of our dog, Petro. He passed away several years ago from a heart attack. To this day he is sorely missed by all. He passed away June 28, 2003 shortly after turning 10. We now have two dogs, two cats and a rabbit. They are very loved.

I have managed to work on Isaiah some the past week or so. We found our camera, but the pictures of the Isaiah project were too bright. Jack says that because there was too much light. I then went ahead and scanned it. Right after I scanned it, Jack thought to take a picture of Isaiah with the web cam, so that is the picture. You can see I have started working on the trees. The near tree is completely done. I am close to done with the second tree. There are a total of five trees, I think. Then I have the mountains behind the trees and the rest of the verse and of course the back stitching of the eagle. I really want to finish this soon. I am kicking myself for taking this long. Maybe it's bigger than I thought it would be? I know its dimensions are bigger than "Sassy", but "Sassy" took up every square and this one doesn't! I have been working on this for right around two months. The letters are kind of fuzzy on the web cam picture, but at least you can see the whole thing, for once! I went ahead and posted both pics because the picture does look sharper in the scanner photo.

Everyone is doing great here. I have some news, but I cannot share it quite yet. It is exciting for us though.

Have a great stitching week!

THAT DARN FROG BETTER GO AWAY!

I have been dealing with Mr. Frog for a bit over a week! It started with my Isaiah project. What happened is I had gone over one instead of two in some stitches of the feathers, but I had counted the proper width between the section of feathers. When I did the purple part of the mountains, I discovered my error and had to frog about 20 stitches and restitch them so everything aligned properly. Otherwise, I would have had one square of the material showing between the mountains and the cluster of feathers for about five stitches. I also realized that the top line of the verse that I have completed somehow got off a few stitches and so the beginning of the line wasn't as close to the eagle as it should have been. It didn't take that long to fix, so I didn't mention it.

I managed to finish the blue and white parts of the mountains on the right page and put a small start on the first tree of the left page. As far as I know the tree is right. I guess time will tell!

On Saturday I literally stitched and frogged and stitched and frogged and stitched and frogged, mostly frogged! I had decided that I would work on the burp towel that I was asked to do. I didn't think it would really take me that long to do. I started stitching early Saturday morning and everything was going smoothly. I had decided to do two dogs, one barking and the other sitting there, looking at the barking dog with a look of, "Okay, whatever." I stitched the lightest color of the barking dog with no issues. Then I started the lightest color of the sitting dog. When I got near the top of the head of this dog, I realized that I had started his head one line too low, so I had to frog all of his head. I redid the head in that color with no issues. I then started the lighter color on the rest of the sitting dog. I was nearing the end of that color on him, getting ready to stitch the back left leg. I realized that because of the angle the material takes, part of his leg and most of that paw could not be stitched. I was mortified! I frogged all of the lightest color of his body. On this dog, that was practically all of him! I can see the holes where the sitting dog was frogged. I am hoping when I hand wash this that it will not be visible.

I decided to keep the barking dog and put something different to which he was paying attention. Jack's suggestion was a butterfly. We looked at my patterns and I could not find a small enough butterfly. We then discussed putting a ball. The only ball I could find, close to the size that would work, was a soccer ball. I also found a pattern that had three bunnies. I wondered, "what if I just put one of these little guys?" I discovered that would work.! :-) If you look at the burp cloth cloth, you can see a blue dot. That is where the center of the bunny will be. The bunny I am looking at putting is 16W/9H. He is the one on the right in this group of bunnies. I was wondering, should I try to make a small butterfly too? Would that make the burp towel too busy? Any and all suggestions are welcome!! :)

Mr. Frog had better be GONE!!

Have a Stitchy Wonderful week, everyone!

My Stitching and Week

Rachel's appointment last week in Champaign went well. She now has an appointment with the doctor who is to put in the prism tomorrow. I don't think the prism will be placed tomorrow, but I do hope it is soon since she has been suffering from major headaches lately and the doctor has concluded that her headaches are caused by her vision problems. I don't really know about that since her headaches just started last week and her vision has been a problem forever. Her prescription is only 7 months old.

Sarah's attitude became bad for a couple of days about a week after she stopped taking her meds. It is back to the way we like now. I will have to tell you the story of how we got her back to the way she needs to be, her chemical balance back to normal, another time. She is here and I don't want her to know what is happening.

Today was a bit scary for me. It started out fine...taking the kids to school and then going to the YMCA and the grocery store...then on the way home from the store, my right front tire blew out. I did have the cell phone, fortunately! I called Jack immediately because:

• I wanted to let him know what happened to the car

• I wanted to tell him I was off the road and safe

• I wanted to ask him what I should do...who do I call (?).... I am not good in situations like this....Jack told me to call a friend's son first and if he was unavailable to call Roadside Service. Craig's cell was turned off or out of service. I then called Roadside Service.

I called them and told them where I was and what happened. They said they would have help to me shortly to switch out the tire. I called Jack back to tell him what they said. I also prayed. The tow truck arrived about 10 minutes after I prayed. It took him a bit to get the jack under the car because the dirt I was on was soft and the Jack was sinking. The driver finally put a piece of wood underneath the jack and was then able to raise the car so he could take the old tire off and put the spare tire on.

Well, I still haven't actually finished Isaiah 40:31, but I do feel like I am getting close now! I finished the three purple colors in the mountains on the right page and have started on the blue of those same mountains. Then all I have left to do on the right page is the white of the mountains and the rest of the verse. On the left page there are a few mountains, but the left page is mostly trees. The part of the verse on the left page is complete. Maybe I will be done in another week or two? I also need to back stitch most of the eagle.

I am getting frustrated with my scanner! I couldn't get the entire project in, once again. The location of the verse is the only thing you cannot see, but it is still maddening! Also, because my scanner is on a shelf above my head it is hard to get it perfectly straight with this material. It lays perfectly straight when I have it out of the q-snap. But getting it to lay straight on a surface above your head, well.....GRRR!

I need to take a break from the Isaiah project to do the burp towel for my friend's grand daughter to be born next month. The baby shower is March 13. I really don't think it will take me more than a day to do the towel, I am just so focused on Isaiah, it is hard to think of doing a different project right now. I will probably take the break to do the burp towel when I have the mountain part on the right page done. Doing the burp towel will give me a quick finish under my belt for 2010. I think the project I am debating myself on what project to do after Isaiah and the burp towel are complete. I have a pattern of a Apricot Poodle that looks so much like our Petro who passed away almost 8 years ago. I also have downloaded a pattern of a yellow car for my grand son. Both are relatively small projects. I believe the next big project I am going to do is of Yosemite's Half Dome. I downloaded it a few weeks ago. It reminds me of home because I grew up just a bit more than an hour's drive from there. I will probably end up having at least one WIP while I am doing Yosemite's Half Dome. I need to figure out what size material would be best to work it on. Be prepared, stitching friends, when I get ready to do it, I will be posting asking for your opinions!

I hope everyone has a great week.

Happy Crafting!

WHAT A COUPLE OF WEEKS!!!

Things have been rather crazy around here. A week ago yesterday, I started having alot of pain in my left kidney area, swelled up and went to bed at one o'clock in the afternoon, not getting up until Thursday morning. My husband and I discussed taking me to the Emergency Room on Wednesday, but decided to give me some pain meds first to see if that helped. If it didn't we were going to take me in. I was alright Wednesday night and called the doctor first thing Thursday morning. I was able to get in. He put me on an antibiotic, which I finish tonight. I am feeling much better.

Jack's foot was really bothering him last week. He knew he had to probably be hospitalized for whatever was going on, but he was trying to delay going until after our Anniversary. That didn't quite work out. Late Friday afternnon I took him to the Emergency Room because the pain was becoming unbearable. They made the decision rather quickly to admit him because his foot, about an inch below his pinkie toe, had a huge amount of build up of callus and there was an infection underneath the callus. Jack is diabetic. The hospital started him on an IV antibiotic. The surgeon came in Saturday morning and looked at his foot and said that he would do the debreeding Monday morning. He said, "Why ruin a perfectly good weekend?" What the doctor didn't know is that this was our Anniversary weekend. (We were married on Valentine's Day in 1988). I was there two different times on Saturday as well. Saturday I was there in the morning and left after lunch, took the girls to the YMCA for the afternoon, working out myself while they played racket ball. I came back for a couple of hours after the we returned from the YMCA. I spent all Sunday (February 14) afternoon with Jack. Rachel and I went to church and to the store and then I dropped her home and went to the hospital. [Our hospital has a policy in place right now that no one under 18 can visit anyone due to flu season, so the girls could not see their Dad. Several people I spoke with believe that it is time to drop that policy since it started this past fall with the H1N1 scare. No other medical facility around has that kind of thing in place.] Jack was released on Tuesday morning and is doing fairly well. His foot does look much better.

It may be an interesting few weeks coming up. My daughter, who is 15, has in the past three days decided she will not take her medicine. She is on medication to help her control her anger. When she gets angry, she can be very scary. She usually takes her anger out on her little sister, but has also taken it out on me. Jack and I are not going to allow her to hurt us, her sister or herself. If she goes into a scary rage, we are going to call for help. You may want to pray about this situation.

Rachel's eye appointment to see about the doctor who will put the prism in her glasses and then if that works do surgery, is next Wednesday. We are excited and nervous about this because we want Rachel's double vision to go away!

We will celebrate our Anniversary this weekend. We are both looking forward to it.`

On the stitching front, I was able to work on my Isaiah 40:31 project while Jack was hospitalized. Looking at my last picture scanned February 1 and this picture scanned this morning, I didn't make as much progress as I would have liked, but I think I made progress. I took it with me over to our friend's to watch the Superbowl and
stitched here and there, but I sure wanted more stitching time than I had.

I need to find our camera or buy another because I really do need to start taking actual picture instead of scanning my work. That is especially true for this picture. I could not fit all of the picture on the scanner, no matter how hard I tried! What is missing from what I have done is the line that has where the verse is located. Also the tips of the feathers at the top. GRRRR!! Also I was unable to lay it perfect, to show you that the words really are straight, not crooked.

When we went over to our friend's to watch the Superbowl, Jack had cooked before hand. He made several different Cajun type dishes. They were all delicious. We probably should have rooted for Indianapolis since we live under 80 miles from that city, but we were rooting for New Orleans because they had never been to the Super Bowl. We really enjoyed the game.

The friends that we watched the game with are the same ones I made the baby bib for their granddaughter due in April. Tina, the grandma-to-be, asked me to stitch a burp towel for the baby. She is also a stitcher, but is new at it and where the towel is to be stitched, makes her nervous to try and do herself. She bought it when she and I went to Champaign a couple of weeks ago. I need to look through my small patterns and see which one would be good for a burp towel. I don't think it will take me too long to stitch.

Well, I need to be going. I am going to lunch with a friend from church and need to get ready. Hope everyone is doing great.

Happy Stitching!!

Pretty Good Week, All the Way Around!

I would have to say that I have had a very good week!

First of all, I FOUND MY GLASSES! They disappeared in the middle of the night in early December. I say disappeared because I lay them on my dresser before I go to bed every night so when I awake they are right there. One morning in early December, my glasses suddenly were not there! I looked everywhere in on and round the dresser and under the dresser and even thoroughly cleaned my room. No glasses. My younger daughter and husband even looked. My older daughter said it wasn't her problem that I lost my glasses and refused to help look. Yesterday, when I opened a drawer of my dresser to find a pair of nylons for church, my glasses were right in the front of the drawer. I had looked in that drawer last week for something and didn't see them there then. But they are found now! I am so happy!! I was getting beyond frustrated having to go between my single lens glasses good enough that I could drive (though not in bad weather or at night) and sort of watch television and my one lens bifocals that I used to read and cross stitch. I didn't like wearing those outside the house though.

I was asked for a picture of my Isaiah project, so ask and you shall receive! I am also pleased with my progress on IS 40:31. I plan to tackle the eagle's head and then feathers this week. I had really wished I had more stitching time this past week, but I had decided to go to the YMCA a couple of different days and then I had to do lots of laundry - wash here and dry ant laundromat until our dryer either gets replaced or fixed. I also did some cleaning. Sarah and Rachel also got on the cleaning wagon, so now I have a nice looking house!

I spent no time on the computer this weekend because of the housework on Saturday by the girls and on Sunday Sarah's classmate came over and they were working on a biology project. In both cases "teenage" music was being played, and honestly, I can only tolerate that music for so long. Also any and all music that is played in this house must either be done on the computer or karaoke machine. I hope to get up-to-date with everyone shortly.

I will not be on the computer at all tomorrow though, as tomorrow is Election Day here in Illinois and I am an Election Judge. I must be at the polling place at 5:15 in the morning. The polling places open at 6:00AM. We are open until 7:00PM. I will probably be able to leave at about 8:00. By that time I will be way to tired to even think about the computer!

I hope everyone has a great week! Happy stitching!

Good Week For Me

Hello everyone!

I am happy today!

As you may know, I have been losing weight since May of 2009. I started losing, not because I wanted to, really, but because my stomach started constantly hurting. In the summer of 2009 we discovered I had a flare up of IBS that just wasn't going away. Anyway, in October I started going to the YMCA because I figured as long as I was losing weight, I might as well try not to have lots of loose skin. My weight loss has continued. I can afford to lose a great deal of weight, so I am not really worried. I am keeping my doctor informed about the weight loss. Today when I weighed, my loss had reached 100 pounds! The last time I was this weight was when I was in college. I could stand to lose quite a bit more. I am not really trying, though when my stomach does allow me to eat, I eat sensibly.

On the stitching front, I finished the baby bib for my friend's grandchild due in April. The mom had an ultrasound this week and the baby finally revealed that it was a girl. Her first name is Isabella. No middle name has been decided. Tina, the Nana to be, tells me Isabella's parents will love it. I sure hope so! I am thinking about making a couple of other things for the baby, but have not really decided yet. Instead, I may stitch something for my own grandchildren.

I have also stitched on my IS 40:31 project quite a bit this week. I feel like I have made good progress on it. This is the first time I have worked on anything other than adia. It is nowhere near as hard as I thought it would be. You may be able to tell, but what this is so far is the right wing of the eagle and the eagle's body as well as a small part of the left wing. The eagle is flying with trees and mountains behind him. The phrase will be in front and underneath. Jack thinks it is very good looking. I had a couple of different patterns of this project. He liked this pattern the best.

I went to a class a little over a week ago as a refresher course to be an election judge in Illinois' upcoming February election. I received my assignment earlier this week as far as which polling place I will work. I have been a roaming election judge for years for my county. I do live in the city, but I am needed as a judge in the county. I don't expect our election to be anywhere close to as exciting as the Massachusettes election earlier this week. I will bring a stitching project, to give me something to do between voters. I must be at the polling place from 5:00 AM to about 8:00 PM. The polls will open at 6:00 and close at 7:00, but that gives us time to set up and tear town the polling place. I have worked elections that I couldn't even think of pulling out the stitching and then other elections when we went hours between voters. I suspect this one will allow me to stitch.

I am debating myself. Do I spend my election judge earnings: 1) on new clothes for me since I lost weight 2) stash away for Christmas 2010 gifts since Christmas is always tight or 3) buy something very necessary around the house? Any opinions?

This morning I scheduled the appointment for Rachel with the eye doctor who will direct us to where to get her prism glasses made. She sees this doctor in laste February. He will then get us the appointment with the prism doctor. If this prism works, she will no longer see double. We are hopeful.

I need to be sigbning off for now. Hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Stitching Accomplishment

I was able to get some things done in the past couple of days, stitching wise! I worked on the baby bib for my friend's son's baby. I was able to finish everything of it except a portion of the purple flower in the middle. The flower itself is in DMC 209 and DMC 211. It is then back stitched in DMC 208. I had plenty of 211. I also have enough 208 but I discovered that I am out of 209.

Jack and I went to 123 Stitch and ordered DMC 209. I am not sure how long it will take for them to get the thread to me, but from what I understand from everyone who has ordered online, from the time a customer orders to the time received is short. I also ordered the two threads I need to do IS 40:31.

I have been wanting to start IS 40:31 for awhile now, but I had wanted to get the hot pad for my son done. If you missed the finished picture of the winery hot pad, you can either go back one blog or go to: http://community.webshots.com/user/lynnalett if you wantedtake a peek.

Yesterday I did a lot with my stitching. Both by finishing the bib to the point I did and then figuring out what threads I had extra around here. I also looked around for some material to do IS 40:31 on. I discovered I didn't have the right size of Adia, which is what I have always worked on. I was thinking I would have to order some material and then decided to look through my Evenweave type of material. I did have a cream color material that would work. I know that it is said to give yourself a minimum of 2 to 3" on each side after the project is done for framing. The material I had was 2 1/3 inches bigger in one direction and 4" bigger in the other, so I decided to use it. This is the first time I am stitching on anything other than Adia, but it isn't as difficult as I was imagining. I took this picture this morning. It is of the progress I made last night. I plan on stitching more today, but thought I should show you what it looks like thus far. I am ecited about this project. I don't think it is going to take me too terribly long. Unlike Sassy, I do not have to fill in absolutely every square and a big part of the area has the verse written out, so even though the picture is 12" x 9", I don't think it will seem that big, if that makes sense.

Well, my family is waking up, so I need to be signing off. I will be around though, I promise.