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!!
