BOY was Decermber FAST!

Chance's Wolf Pillow

Hello Everyone!

I pray you had a wonderful Christmas and will have a blessed New Year! :) I am so amazed how quickly this month has gone by! It seems like yesterday was Thanksgiving, when we had Sarah, Chance and friends from our old church here for dinner and tomorrow starts 2014! I also have my birthday tomorrow!

I have done a great deal of stitching this month. I finished the wolf. Rachel and I went to Hobby Lobby with the project and

Rose Bowl 3

looked at material. We both liked the forest green color material with the wolf, and a friend did the putting together for me, as my sewing machine has been on the fritz for awhile./ The back of the pillow is solid green and the front has the green on all sides. I would guess it is about 11 or 12 inches on all sides. I gave it to Chance as a Christmas present. He loves it! :)

I have also made a nice amount of progress on "Rose Bowl". I felt like I was making decent progress
 before Christmas, but one of my gifts (thanks, Mom and Dad) was an Ott light. It is a standing Ott light with an arm which has a clip to hold the pattern and an arm with a magnifying glass. The lamp can either be used as a floor lamp (the way I am using it) or a desk/table lamp. Actually, they sent my Christmas money, I went to Joanns and bought this, then had

Ott Lamp and Stitching Area

Jack wrap it and tag it to me from my parents. I feel I got it for a very good price. It was normally $269.00 before tax and I was able to purchase it for $104.38, including tax!! Most of the time when I stitch I sit with back against these pillows and legs out on the bed. There was a lamp attached to this table that I bought a couple of years ago, but taking the lamp part off, which we needed to replace the shade of anyway, and using the Ott light instead works great! Jack tells me this light doesn't bother him. Most of the time I am stitching, Jack is on the other side of the bed reading his fan fiction or doing something else on his computer.

I also purchased two HAED patterns. One rather big and the other will fit in an 8x10 frame. The bigger one is "The Lord's Supper" and the smaller is a "Blue Butterfly". One of my clients loves butterflies and I figured this would cheer her up! I also purchased a hard bound book of Christmas  cross stitch projects, everything from ornis to wall hangings. Not to mention I want to restart "Life's Little Tangles".  I definitely have my stitching plans ahead of me!

The client that I am planning on stitching the butterfly for gave me a cedar chest last week. She said she has no use for it and wanted to know if I could use it. I said of course! I was thinking of trying to organize my stitching supplies better with the use of this cedar chest.

Sarah finished her CNA classes with a week of working at a nursing home for her clinicals part and then the final in the classroom. She passed both with an A, which does not surprise me. Now she has to take her State Boards. The next test for that is February. She can work in the capacity of a CNA for 90 days without taking the State Boards

.Well, I need to be going...I want to spend some time with Jack and stitch! :)Happy New Year Everyone!

What a Week!

Hello, Everyone!

Things have been going pretty well for me since my update last week.

On Thanksgiving Day, Sarah and her boyfriend came over as well as some good friends from our old church. Jack cooked turkey and ham, made macaroni salad, mustard potato salad, mashed potatoes w/ sour cream instead of milk, pepper gravy and giblet gravy. I made homemade bread and pumpkin pies as well as chocolate pie, banana cream pie and a pistachio cool whip dessert. All the desserts were sugar free. Our friends brought over green bean casserole, butternut squash, German potato salad and sodas. We also served jellied cranberry sauce. All the food was delicious!

Jack and I watched the first NFL game. Green Bay and the Lions. We enjoyed the game. The Lions earned the win for sure! We always enjoy a good football game. I grew up watching all kinds of sports and Jack played football when he was in school. We ended up not watching the second game

I cleaned a client's home Friday morning. Saturday I spent the better part of the day on the computer, finally catching up on my e-mails and really facebooking for the first time in a long time. Church on Sunday was very good. Rachel and I went; Jack has had a bad cold and hasn't been able a to do to much as result.Rachel took care of the woman Sarah takes care of most of the week with her CNA duties before church and I took care of her Sunday evening so Rachel could go to church. Rachel is earning money to buy Christmas presents by doing this. I took Rachel to the mall Sunday afternoon and she bought whatever she is giving me for Christmas. Last week she bought what she is giving her friend. Rachel spent Friday night at a friend's hose and went to the movies. Once again, I cannot remember the name of the movie. That kind of thing escapes me. Aggravating!

Chance Wolf 2

I was able to stitch the day away on Monday! :) I made a big dent in the wolf project. I feel good about my progress! Here is the Wolf project at last post and then this post. The last time I stitched on the Wolf was before I went to the doctor this morning. I finished the wolf's face and neck. Using my red guide line thread, I started working on the rest of the wolf. I am currently finishing all of DMC color 640. Then I will complete the next color of the wolf until I have him done. Then I will move on to what is left of the branch and the back stitching. y plan was to give this to Chance for Christmas, but I am unsure how I will finish this. I started wondering if I had enough edge

Chance Wolf 3

to frame it a couple days ago. I wondered about turning it into a pillow. I have the stuffing, but my sewing machine bit the dust a few months ago. Maybe I can take it to the gal who does minor sewing repairs for me and see if she can help me turn it into a pillow. I may be able to find a frame, We'll have to wait and see.

I am excited about a couple of things stitching related. I have been looking for a magazine cross stitch related for quite awhile and have had no luck. A couple weeks ago I found one in the magazines at the grocery store, and only one! They had tons of quilting, crocheting/knitting, and scrap booking. This magazine is called, 'Cross Stitch and Needlework'. Inside the magazine was a coupon for 50% off a one year subscription. I snagged it and mailed it off! :)

The other thing I am excited about is that I went ahead and ordered a couple of HAED during their half off cyber sale! I put the check in the mail yesterday when I was going around town paying various bills. The smaller of the two is called, 'Blue  Morpho'. It is a beautiful butterfly. One of my clients, who has become a friend as well, loves butterflies. The second one is, 'The Last Supper'. I want to stitch that one too, but before I stitch either of them, I will restart, 'Life's Little Tangles'. My plan this time around with it is to put the red guide thread on the material used for the project. I have a feeling it will stitch much faster with that done first. I will put the guide thread ten stitches apart, the same way the pattern is gridded.

Rachel, her friend Bree, and went to Lowe's last night. Rachel and Bree picked out a beautiful tree. We put it in the stand last night and got it standing straight. We will probably decorate it later today.

The past few days it has been rather warm for December here. Today here it was in the mid 50's. Usually this time of year our highs are in the mid to lower 40's. Tomorrow though it is suppose to take a nose dive by the late afternoon and they are calling for snow tomorrow night.

Well, I must be going now. Take care everyone and happy stitching!

The Stitching Continues...

Hello, Everyone!

Wedding Bells pg 2

Wedding Bells pg 1

I have been stitching alot but not on the computer much. I did finish the 'Wedding Bells' for my cousin's son and bride-to-be. I am excited about it. Now I need to figure out the perfect frame for it. Sarah's boyfriend, Chance, took pictures for me. In the pictures that showed the entire project in one picture, you couldn't really read the metallic thread, So I had him take closer pictures of the project, which means it is divided into two pictures. The top half of the project is actually the second picture and the bottom half is the top half of the project. M ycomputer was being silly. GRRR!! In my pictures on the computer, the pictures were showing right side up, but when I went to post the pictures, they were on their sides instead of right side up! Thanks to Jack I was able to get them to post the direction I wanted. I am uncertai.n what he did, but whatever it was, worked. That is all that matters!! :)

Rose Bowl

I have also made a nice amount of progress on 'Rose Bowl'. I am aiming to have it done by next summer. My daughter-in-law's birthday is in late August and I figured it would be a good gift for her. She loves roses and she seems to like my stitching as well. The pattern called for it to go on white 28 count evenweave, but I was thinking it'd look nice on a pale pink, so I bought some 28 count even weave in a color called "Angel Blush" With all of the roses being red, I think it will look wonderful, when its done. This pattern is a total of four pages, however, pages three and four have minimal stitching because the 'bowl' actually looks more like a vase, to me. The beginning of the bowl (vase) is the yellow/gold color in the middle at the bottom of what is stitched.

A few months back I asked Chance to look through my patterns and find one he liked and would like

Chance's Wolf

me to do for him. He saw a wolf in a book I had recently been RAKed with. I am hoping to have it done by Christmas. Since the picture was taken two days ago, I have finished putting the white and ecru on the muzzle and worked on under his muzzle a bit. I still have the rest of the branch in the upper right corner and his shoulder/chest area.

Sarah is nearing the end of her CNA training at the college. She has been receiving top grades the entire time and has even started working for a private party doing CNA work. She still has her job at Subway, where she has been for over two years.

Rachel is doing well. She plays the euphonium in the high school band and recently joined the pep band. She is very talented. She played the piano for several years and then when she went to middle school (what was called junior high when I was in school) she started playing the euphonium. She plays the piano in jazz band at school as well.

I have good news to report on my dear husband as well. Some of you may remember that three years ago Jack had to have his left leg amputated due to diabetes. The prosthetic leg he was originally given was very painful to him and made the stump swell whenever he wore it, so he wore it rarely. The good news is this summer he talked with the VA hospital, since he is a Veteran, and the have made him a prosthetic leg that is very comfortable for him and he uses it frequently. He recently finished his therapy. He walks most of the time with what is called a rollater (a walker on wheels that has a seat to sit on in case the person gets tired). He has also walked half way down a flight of stairs and back up and used a four prong cane to get a few places. He has also started losing weight since he has been moving around.

We are having Thanksgiving dinner at our home. I made two deep dish pumpkin pies late this afternoon. Jack will do a big part of the cooking tomorrow. We have invited over some good friends of ours as well as one of my clients who has no one to celebrate the day with. She and I have become friends. I am looking forward to the day.

Take care, everyone and have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Happy stitching to all.

My Stitching Has Increased!

McGlasson Wedding

Hello Everyone!

I hope everyone is doing well. The doctor has managed to get m y joint pain under control, thankfully! I still have the bicep pain that I have had   since a  fall I took in mid-January. I spoke with my doctor again about the pain and she has scheduled an MRI for me tomorrow morning at seven in the morning. Since my joint pain is under control though, I can stitch without pain! :) Since stitching is my therapy, so to speak, there is no way I would have stopped it anyway, just slow it down. I have managed to do quite a bit of  stitching lately.

The picture in the top left corner is my wedding present to my cousin's son and his wife on their wedding day in June 2014. I'd say I am at least 90% done with it. What I have left is the last section at the bottom that is of blue ribbon and bells  and a couple of small flowers and the bottom border line. I also need to backstitch page two and fix the "A" in RANDY. It somehow came loose at the top.

Rose Bowl Start

Another project I have been stitching on is the Rose Bowl for my Daughter-in-Law. A stitching friend who lives in the Philippians sent this to me. My DIL loves roses and I thought it would be perfect for her. When I ordered the new piece of  fabric to restart "Life's Little Tangles", I ordered a piece of light pink laguna material called 'Angel's Blush' and am putting the red roses pattern on it. Before I restart "Life's Little Tangles" again I am going to grid the pattern 100%, not just a page at a time. I actually started working on the roses just about three days ago.

I have not stitched very much on the wolf in the past few weeks, though I did get a bit done. I cannot show you it though in case the recipient pulls up my blog.

I have some good news regarding my husband! Three years ago he had to have the lower part of his left leg amputated because of a diabetic ulcer. The prosthetic leg that was made for him was very painful, so he used it very minimally. Recently he decided to try and go through the Veterans Affairs hospital to see if they could help him with a prosthetic that would fit better. They have been working with him, and the last time he saw them, he tried on the leg they made and actually took a few steps...pain free. He goes again in a couple of days and if everything goes right, he may leave this time with a working leg.

Sarah and Chance

Sarah has been doing very well in her classes and is now CPR approved. She has been making top grades in her class. Needless to say, we are very proud of her. Her hours at her job have increased, which makes her happy. The picture to the left is Sarah and the young man she has been dating since early February. He is a very nice young man and has done Sarah a world of good.

My younger daughter, Rachel,is doing well too. She asked Christ into her heart and she is keeping busy with school.

This summer Rachel went to San Antonio, Texas with the church youth for a youth convention. She had a great deal of fun. She was gone an entire week. While she was gone, Jack and I went camping for a couple of nights. That was the first 'us' trip we have had since our Honeymoon in February 1988. We had a blast!

Saturday night Jack and I had a candlelight dinner while Rachel was at a friend's. We decided we are going to start doing that more often.

Happy Stitching everyone!

It Has Been a LONG time!

. Hello, Everyone!

It has been a VERY long time since I have updated my blog, and I apologize for that. I have at least three drafts on my blogger dashboard of here I started to update the blog and then things happened and I was unable to post it that day. (GRRR!) I may take bits of info out of those started blog posts and make this blog complete.

I do apologize for not being around  for the past few months except an occasional post on a couple of my groups. Lord willing, that will change. :-)

I was working on the HAED project, ("Life's Little Tangles") for the longest time, trying to repair that what started out as a small hole. It wasn't working (the hole was getting bigger and bigger) and I was getting very frustrated with it. I finally put it down before I cut the project to shreds, unsure what to do. I started stitching on a couple of other projects and framed some completions (pictures will follow). I thought  maybe I could do "Life's Little Tangles" over one. NOT!!! I couldn't see the squares properly to even put my guidelines correctly, so how would I see to stitch the project? I had figured out I had enough of the 25 ct material I'd purchased to do it over one if I did it over one  instead of over two, but it was giving me a headache. I had only completed three pages of the twenty-four page project. Cross stitching, for me, is fun and relaxing and trying to put in the guidelines for over one was anything but relaxing and fun!! It meant I had to order a new piece of material the proper size, so I did that a couple of days ago. It should arrive by next weekend.

When I ordered the new material for "Life's Little Tangles", I also order a light pink shade to put a pattern I have been wanting to do for my Daughter-in-Law that Dickey from ILCS gave me called "Roses in a Black/Gold Cup". That project model picture is to the right. My Daughter-in-Law has no idea I am going to do this for her. I know she loves roses, so I thought this would be the perfect project for her. Thank you, Dickey, for the RAK! :)

I have been meaning to frame a couple of projects I did a while ago, and with Jack's (thank you, Sweetheart) help that was done recently. The poodle I did shortly after our  beloved Petro passed away. This picture looked so much like him, I could not resist! I now have it sitting atop my china hutch.

We also finally framed the project I did for my step-son and his bride shortly after their marriage three years ago. I wanted to give it to them framed. (Pictured Left) I know especially the one I did for John and Denise is rather blurry, but I do not know how to fix that.

I also framed the completed "Zoo Babies" for my great-nephew. He will be two in December, but his mom has seen pictures of it and understands. (Thanks for your patience with me Danielle). I don't have a picture of it framed. :(
 
The two projects I have actually been stitching on lately is a wedding gift for my cousin's son, who is getting married summer of 2014 and a wolf for my daughter, Sarah's, boyfriend. What is pictured to the right here is the wedding gift with page one completed. I had started page two and probably had it 1/3 done. The part of page two I had completed was a row, all the wat accross of pink roses with green leaves. I realized as I put in the last couple of stitches of this section, I had put it over one square too far to the left, so it would not be centered (GRRR!)  I am sooo very glad I got the boo-boo brush and scissors and soft pick! It took me a good two days to get all of the roses section frogged, but I did it with no

harm to the material at all. I got those either for my birthday or with my birthday money. I have the roses about a third stitched again already. 

The wolf is a small project in comparison to the wedding project (8 1/4 x 11 1/2) and the roses
 (12 1/4 x 15.50). It is 7 x 7 1/4.

 Sarah's beau, Chance, is a very nice young man. Jack and I are very impressed by this hard working young man. This past week he repaired the walls of our shed. Two walls had gaping holes in them and needed replacing. He replaced all the walls so it would look uniform. and repaired the roof of the shed as well. The materials were not that much. He will put new doors on it soon. After that he will paint the whole thing. We also had a problem with the van this week and he helped Jack with that. What was wrong was the power steering pump went  out. Fortunately the van had just pulled in the driveway when that happened so everyone was safe.

Today, as the van arrived in Hoopeston to go to the Sweetcorn Festival the coolant hose went out. We had to have the car towed home. Being Labor Day, no one is open. Jack will fix  that tomorrow. Sarah and Chance had asked if they could take the van, since it gets better gas mileage than her pick-up.

I have been working steady at my self-employed house cleaning. I have gained a couple of clients, which is good, but what is even better I received a call from the printing company, at the end of last week, to which I'd turned my card into to get on the list of people who want to be printed on the paper place-mats that go to various restaurants in the area. As of yesterday, I am on the place-mat! Now, hopefully, my business will pick up even more clients!

Winan Baby Bib

Now to give you a summary of what I'd started to post earlier. I finished a baby bib for Wes's sister and gave it to her a week before her son was born in late May. I do not know why the picture of it is sideways here when on my pictures it shows from the top.

Sarah graduated from High School and Rachel was promoted to High School. School started for both of them last week. Sarah is at the Junior College, studying to be a CNA and Rachel is in ninth grade.

We planted several types of flowers this spring and a few small pine trees. The yard looked wonderful when everything was at its peak!

Sarah is showing her love for animals. A couple months ago, she told a woman who is having medical issues she would take care of her cat for her. The woman thought about it and had Sarah get the cat. The cat, who evidently was suppose to have an issue with men, doesn't anymore. Sarah has a couple of young men as friends, one of which is her boyfriend, and that cat jumps from lap to lap, purring the entire time. She also found a puppy in her neighborhood who was lost. She brought it in her house, bathed it, and looked at its tags, which had the owners number on it. Sarah kept it safe in her house until the owner returned home from work. She also has a dog of her own.

We has the largest snowfall in a single storm as Winter was arguing with Spring about what season it

should be. In a big snow storm for us we average four to five inches. We usually get one to two though. The final storm of the season, Lord willing, was a whopping twelve inches in twenty four hours! I felt sorry for Babee Gurl, she was in it up to her belly and she hates snow! The snow storm happened in late March. This picture is the view out our back door. Fortunately it was gone in three days. (Now summer and fall are having that argument).

Jack replaced the bearings on both sides of the car this spring. He had to borrow our next door neighbor's pulley to get the part off and on, but other than that he was able to do it by himself. It took him a good part of one day to do the first bearing but the second bearing, done the next day, didn't take near as long, probably because he knew the exact steps better. We also got new tires and the car aligned this spring.

Rachel played softball this summer. She played first base and did very well. We were very proud of her.

 

We had our cat, Rascal (AKA Stinker) neutered a month or so ago. He was one year in April and had been spraying everything! We took him to the low cost vet place in town and we were able to use some of my house cleaning earnings to take care of the cost. Rascal is the gray one, Boots is black and white. Boots is recovering from a sore of unknown origin.

 

Well, I believe I caught you all up on the happenings around here. Please let me know what you think of my projects or whatever else you feel like commenting on.

Stitching News and Other Stuff

Hello Everyone! Once again I took longer than I intended between updates but I believe I have made a decent amount of progress on "Life's Little Tangles". I apologize if the picture is a bit blurry, but I think you can see it better if you click on it to make it bigger. Not sure about that though. I am nearly done with page three. I'd guess I have somewhere between 625 and 650 to complete page three. I only have 14 more stitches wide to go, and from the bottom to where I started easing over on page four for the repair is about 5 squares of 100 stitches each. I feel pretty good about how its looking and I believe I'll be able to finish repairing the patched area without a problem. I think with me tackling that area from the bottom up it will work great. At least that is my hopes. My mom told me last week she and dad are amazed at my stitching. I didn't really respond to her at the time, but  am thankful they feel that way. I love stitching so very much and it relaxes me beyond belief!

I haven't touched the other project I am working on for a couple of months, even thou I'd say I am somewhere between 85 and 90% done. That is a bib I am doing for Wes's sister who is due to have a baby this spring. I guess I have been putting all of my efforts in the repair of "Life's Little Tangles" so that one just got put down. Maybe I'll start working on it again soon. I really did want to give it to Wes to give to her before the baby is born.

Sarah has put in some projects for request that she wants me to do for her house. There are a total of four; all of them with someone riding a horse: barrel racing, roping, and so forth. She said If I get all four pattens, she will stitch two of them. I taught her how to stitch several years ago. She does have several projects 'under her belt' completed, but has not stitched in a few years. I know she will do great on them. She absolutely loves horses!

I also taught Rachel to cross stitch a few years ago. She hasn't done near the number projects as her sister, but Rachel asked me last week if I had something she could stitch. I told her I had several kits, which meant it included everything she'd need. She looked through my kits and found one she liked. She became a bit frustrated trying to separate the threads out, similar colors and such, but I ended up helping her with that. She started on that project that night, but I don't think she has touched it since then. I am hesitant to ask, because I don't want her to feel nagged into stitching. Maybe now that Easter Break is here, she will take some time too stitch on it.

 This meat grinder is a gift we got Jack for Christmas. He is a very good cook! Jack is the kind of cook that can 'taste' how the meal will turn out in his head. He has been wanting one of these to make his own sausage and such. A few weeks ago he used this and made some boudin with chicken. That one he did follow the recipe in the Cajun Cookbook he has. I have not eaten much boudin over the years, but I'll have to admit this was very good! I am so lucky to have a wonderful cook as one of the many qualities of my husband! For Saint Patrick's Day he did make Corned Beef and Cabbage too. He didn't make a very big batch of it though because he knows that is not the girls and my favorite. I think one of my favorite things he makes is buttermilk biscuits and sausage gravy. He make a wonderful pizza as well!

I have been hitting the neighborhoods again because I have lost some house cleaning clients for various reasons. A couple people said they'd call me in what is this coming week. I sure hope they do because our car is having bearing problems. We need to figure out a way to get it fixed because it is getting to the point of unsafe to drive. Please pray that these new clients come through. Between yesterday and the day before that I probably handed out 200 fliers introducing myself. It is suppose to be warmer (a bit anyway) Saturday than it is today so will probably walk again then. I thought about walking today after completing my client this morning, but then realized the temperature was 31 and with the wind it
felt like 22. Too cold to go door to door. But spring is on its way. It snowed a bit last night, but by mid morning the only places there were snow was in the shady areas.

Back Yard

We are talking about putting on a Customer Appreciation Bar-Be-Que in May to show my customers how much we appreciate them. We are discussing inviting even the couple of clients who had to cancel because of circumstances beyond their control. We won't invite the two jerks that I ended up quitting. One I just could never please no matter how hard I tried and the other was coming on to me, which made me very uncomfortable.

Our last  'big' snow storm here was at the beginning of the month. In this storm Chicago got nearly a foot. We are 139 miles south of Chicago. We got 3.3 inches. The top picture was taken from inside my house during the storm. I was looking out the window on the back door. The picture below was taken from across the street from our home. The picture is our

Front yard and house

humble abode.

I introduced you to Babee-Gurl and Captain, our dogs last entry. Babee-Gurl hates the snow. She is our Boston Terrier. When she goes outside to do her 'business' she finds the spot with the least amount of snow possible.

She is actually very lucky to be alive. Last summer when we let her out to do her night-time 'business', she went a did a very goofy thing. She went and chased a car and ran into it and bounced off the car. We took her to the emergency vet and it turned out all that was broken on her was her pelvis. No surgery need. She stayed in the hospital two nights and then was able to come home. Now she has a weak bladder, so she needs to go in the middle of the night, but if we keep her in our room at bedtime, she will wake either Jack or me up. If we don't, it is possible that she did an oops in the kitchen or dining room.

Captain and Babee-Gurl both turned eight in December. Babee-Gurl was born in early December and Captain was born right before Christmas.

Captain is very loving yet protective. He will give you a kiss and come to you for hugs and petting but if he senses that someone is going to hurt his humans, watch out! We have discovered over the years to listen to Captains instincts about people. There was a couple of times we were talking with someone in the alley behind our home and we could tell he was not happy. We went ahead and looked up these people's names and discovered they were criminals!!

Fun and Crazy Month!

Hello, Everyone!

My daughter, Sarah, bought me a new phone! Thank you, Sarah! I love you! Sarah's phone stopped functioning correctly, so while she was waiting for her new phone to arrive, since her phone was still under warranty, I let her use my cell phone. A problem came up with my cell. Sarah took responsibility and replaced it. She got me a new phone, one with a camera, so now I can share all goings on with various things in and of my life! Maybe, this blog will become more interesting! That is my hope, anyway. I told you in my last blog about me getting several different stitching related items for my birthday. I received alot of then from my on-line birthday club I was a member of last year. Last year's club ended with my birthday. I chose not to rejoin the club this year, not because I did not want to, but because things are so tight financially, I did not want to be considered a tricky trader if I was unable to fulfill my end of the bargain. Other things I bought myself with some of the money my parents sent me for my birthday. Here are pictures of the stitching supplies and kits I received. I have misplaced the list of who gave me which item, sorry! What I bought myself, courtesy of Mom and Dad, I LOVE YOU, was the pressing cloth, the needle keepers, (one I am keeping beading needles in and the other my usual stitching needles), the orange highlighter, cross stitch gauge, cross stitch hole counter, soft touch thread pic, sea turtle magnetic needle minder, hummingbird fiber hider, split handle magnifying glass, a snag repair needle, scissor sheath, bird and flower magnetic bar, beading needles, round frogging box, traveling ort box, magnetic board w/ magnets and stand (showed w/ pattern sheet page 3 on it), pattern tamers, the magnifying glass cleaner and the box which I can place a picture, the soft pic and beading needles. With some of the money my parents sent I was also able to get a laptop computer.EVERYTHING ELSE – the kits, the pattern books, the needles the thread to do the pattern, “Footprints”, a gift certificate which I used yesterday to buy eighteen skeins of 3371, a color used a lot in “Life's Little Tangles”. I am on page three and just started working with my third skein, which is the last one I had here. Even if I don't use all eighteen on my project, 3371 is a popular enough color that I couldn't go wrong by having a bunch of it. I also received a tacky bob, some beads, material, material scissors with safety case, a counting pin, stitching tape, the blue highlighter, counting guide thread, bobbins, floss box, clear view stitch counter, a stitching gauge, a Lizzy Kate CD with several patterns, (no picture), a pattern from Little House Needleworks called”Bear Tree Forest” (no picture), more needles (no picture), frey check, the orange highlighter, the red and white washable lint roller, the boo boo brush and boo boo scissors. Evalina, for some unforeseen reason I did not open the bag all the way so I ended up not noticing everything you gave me until today! I feel like a dummy! If I actually missed listing something you all bought me, I apologize. I know I got pictures of everything, except what discovered today have been stitching on "Life's Little Tangles" every chance I get. I have about 75-80% of the patch covered. I know last blog update I said I wanted to wait on a picture to show you until the patch was completely covered. I have changed my mind. Part of the patch is in the upper left corner of page four of the project. I was getting a bit confused, so I decided to halt on the patch area for now and work on completing page three. I think once I complete page three that the upper left corner of page four will be easier to complete. I like the progress I have made on page three since I stopped focusing just on the patch area. What I may do, as far as completion of the patch area, is go down far enough on page three that I can tackle the area by going from a section below the patch and work my way toward what I have stitched. The area you see sticking out by itself of the light color is the beginning of tackling it that way. The red guide thread really does help a great deal on this project. Since I took the time to add the guide thread, it seems like I am moving faster on the project. I am till not as far as I wanted to be by this date in working this project, but I am trying to remember that I did lay it down for a bit because of the uncertainty of handling the hole and then the hole getting bigger and bigger. :( Then there was the fact that I had a good amount of work there for awhile, the holidays, and more!

 .We have two dogs and two cats. We can tell that our cat, Charlie, who disappeared in February of 2012, right after he turned This picture is of our youngest cat. I was gathering laundry to wash and he decided to play in the pile as it was being gathered. We went through a few names before we finally settled on Rascal he was born in April 2012 and we can tell Charlie is his father. We have seen Charlie around the neighborhood, but we cannot get him in the house anymore. That makes us sad, but at least we know he is alright. Charlie is the gray and white cat in picture of the two cats . He is with Boots, our other cat. Charlie and Boots had a neat relationship. I am uncertain how old Boots is. We got him from the Humane Society four, maybe five, years ago and he was an adult then. Charlie was born in my bedroom closet. His mother had come in our basement to get out of the winter weather and then couldn't get back out because she was near the date she would birth her kittens. When we found her, Sarah was on the back porch, heard a cat meowing and looked at Boots because he was there too. Boots mouth didn't move but Sarah heard another meow. She opened the basement door and there was this very pregnant female cat. We could tell she had come in the basement window to get out of the cold and snow. We decided to allow her to birth her kittens here. We discussed keeping her but getting rid of the kittens, once weened, but chose to keep one kitten instead because the momma cat would attack, with not being provoked,  would attack the other animals we owned. She had six kittens all together. They were all her coloring, except Charlie. Every other kitten was black and white. Charlie was the last one born. We gave all the kittens away when they were weened, except Charlie, and took the momma cat to the Animal Shelter. Boots allowed Charlie to nurse on him, and they cuddled often, but now  Charlie is having too much fun being an outdoor cat to come home!I,

 Sarah and a good friend of hers had been talking about splitting the cost of an apartment or house. They started looking around in December and started gathering the things they would need. In late January they signed a rental agreement on a two bedroom home not too far from our home. There were some issues right away, because the basement flooded, causing the heater to need repair and the landlord tried to say it was Sarah and her friend's responsibility. Sarah knew better. She asked her dad what to do. He told her to tell them she was going to get hold of an attorney and gave her the name of a firm. Sarah did that along with giving the landlord dates when things happened, on paper. Suddenly, the landlord took care of everything properly. Imagine that!!!

Jack and I celebrated our twenty fifth wedding anniversary on Valentines Day. First we went to Champaign and bought me a new dress to wear to dinner. He and the sales lady at JCPenny looked around and found a very nice dress. When we came back to Danville, we went home and Jack started getting ready for the evening and I went and got Rachel from school. When I got back with Rachel, Jack was rea dy for the most part. When he was completely ready, he and Rachel went and picked her up some Chinese food (she loves it) and rented a movie. Shortly after they returned I was ready to go. Jack got a big box he had hidden away and we took it to dinner with us. We went to Montana Mikes and both had salad, baked potatoes and steak. We also had a glass of wine, in the glasses Jack brought in that box – absolutely gorgeous – and then shared a dessert called a Rocky Mountain Mud Slide. It was delicious. We then went to the lake for an hour or so and reflected back on the last twenty-five years and necked. When we came home, Rachel was asleep and we ended up staying up til midnight, talking even more and cuddling.

The glasses Jack purchased are Champagne flute style. They are clear glass on top with silver stems and base. He had the store engrave entwined hears on them, inserting my name in one and his name in the other. He also had the date we married (2-14-88) and the twenty-five year date (2-14-13) and 25 years engraved. I had no idea he had done this but was very happy! I can honestly say I have been married to Jack for half my life – being that on my birthday in January I turned fifty – and I am very happy!!

Baybee Gurl and Capain are our dogs. Baybee Gurl is the Boston terrier and Captain is the Shar Pe. I downloaded a couple of pictures of them, but I will tell you more about them next time.Happy Stitching everyone!

Catching Up

Hello, Everyone!

I am so sorry for not updating in so long. I have had major computer issues as well as working like crazy! My desk top computer had become very slow and in mid-December decided it wasn't going to let me bring up my dashboard to update my blog, Facebook to say, "hello" to anyone or even my groups. Not that I spend near the time on my computer as my daughters do on theirs or even my husband does on his, but I was getting to the  point I was about ready to completely give up on computers all together!!

I have been working rather steadily in my  house cleaning business, I am happy to report. I have a few new clients. Most of my clients are once a month, but I have a few that are every other week and even some weekly. I am happy.  I was praying it would do what it is doing...give me the funds to take care of things like groceries with the economy taking the nose dive it has. I have also been working with my in-home care client..

In early December Nordic Needle featured me in their news letter. I was very proud of what they said.. Thank you, Dawn. or giving me this suggestion. If you wanted to take a peek at the article, you can see it by going to: http://tinyurl.com/bhje8rt

I have been working on "Life's Little Tangles" as much as I could. I have the first three rows (2,560 X's) completed as well as the narrow column going down on the left side (4 stitches wide) all the way to the bottom of the page. This would be because of each square on the graph of the pattern being ten wide by ten high. It is the stitches that would make the previous page the ten by ten. I have also completed some on row four.  I need to take a picture of this project to show you, but I was hoping to cover the hole repair completely before posting another picture. I am working on the patched area right now. The hole was originally small, but became larger, unfortunately, as I was trying to attach the material for the hole. I am having to stitch a bit of the upper left corner of page 4 to cover the hole completely.  Jack and I were talking that because of the hole and repair, I shouldn't enter this into the fair, like I was  originally thinking, but the project would still work for the house.

My Christmas didn't start off the best because my older daughter and I were arguing, however, when the argument was over, I had my daughter back! She finally told me some things she has been keeping inside her for over seven years. Now we are finally healing! I am so happy to have her back! Christmas ended up pretty well. None of us got a huge number of gifts, but Jack and I have always told the girls it isn't about the number of gifts you receive. Christmas is about Christ and His birth.


In December my younger daughter learned a valuable lesson about honesty. I am just praying the lesson sticks. For those of you wondering about Rachel's arm, all has healed.

Sarah, my older daughter, has now completed High School. She only had to attend the first semester this year because she had the proper number of credits and thus did not need to attend the second semester. The first semester ended last week. She and a girlfriend of hers are going to be renting a home not too far from here. They have been gathering the things needed to have your own place. Right now she only has a part-time job, but I am hoping that she lands a full-time one before the move is official. She plans on starting college in the fall, studying first to be a CNA and then a RN.

Wes got home on December 31. He is now looking for work as a mechanic. He is helping Sarah move furniture and so on into her house.

Jack has been talking with the people from Hovaround to see about some sort of scooter for him. He has a jazzy now, but it is really on loan, so he wants to get one of his own.

My birthday was very special to me. I turned 50. I was spoiled! My husband cooked me a wonderful breakfast. I got cake and ice cream in the afternoon, along with a small party. I ended up getting tons of cross stitching related supplies. I belonged to a cross stitching birthday club that actually ended with my birthday on January 1. My parents sent me some money and I ended up buying even more stitching supplies as well as a laptop  computer!
 
i did take a bad fall; Saturday afternoon and could barely move yesterday. Am still sore today, but not nearly as bad as yesterday.

Well, that gives you the highlights of the past several weeks. I hope to have the patch completely covered by my next post. Happy stitching, everyone!