Progress!!

Hello Everyone!

I am proud of myself! Since catching up on my e-mail, last weekend, I have taken time every day, except yesterday, to be on my computer at least long enough to go through my e-mail. On top of that, I am actually getting my blog updated in the time frame I wanted. When I came home from work after church, my in-home care client needed lunch, I announced I wanted to update my blog today. A
couple hours later, my computer was surrendered to me!  :)

Stop That Cat

I have not stitched on "Life's Little Tangles" this week at all, However, I have stitched daily on "Stop That Cat!". I was originally wanting to stitch all of page two. A small amount compared to page one, but that was not to be. (GRRR!!) Here is a picture of what I did get done. Page two actually starts on the far left side of the "s" in "what's". The very bottom right of page one is the 11 stitches of DMC 318. I had started to stitch the 318 on the lower left part of page two and then my skein of 318 disappeared! I had to put my stitching down unexpectedly for several hours yesterday and then, vanish! I had originally gone into the kitchen, for what was to be a couple of minutes, to take my two o'clock meds and I get conned into washing a round of dishes by Rachel and then asked by Jack to do a multiple store run.

Rachel had asked for "help" cleaning the kitchen. She was washing the counters very well, so I did a round of dishes, which, honestly, was probably 95% of them. Then Jack asked me to go to the grocery store and get some things he needed for dinner. He cooks most of the time, so I can do runs to the store. It ended up being multiple stores because the first store didn't carry an item he needed. We had meatloaf, homemade mashed potatoes and gravy and homemade biscuits.

Anyway, when I finally started to sit and stitch again, I picked up the pattern and couldn't find my 318! I decided to fiddle around with something else in my bedroom and then when I did start stitching I did another strand of white. The cat has white in him and of course toilet paper is white. Doing this on white is a bit hard. It will be backstitched in black (the toilet paper, so it will be able to be seen, but  I was thinking I should have used a shade of blue.

I found another skein of 318, but for some reason it was lighter than the one in "Stop That Cat", so I decides I'd have to track down the original skein. I ended up looking through my stitching area completely and then found the missing 318 skein.Yippee!! It had attached itself to a blanket. The black/brown DMC on the far right side is the furthest to the right the pattern will go. I will stitch more on this project this week, but not sure how much. I do want to stitch on other things as well. We'll have to see how it goes.

It dawned on me this week, not sure what took so long, but I realized I have really been at peace, inwardly, for the past couple of weeks. Absolutely nothing would or could upset me. I think I was originally stressed out so much because I was trying and trying to get together with a gal here in town that I had considered my best girl friend for years. Shortly before my 50th birthday, she stopped calling me. I'll be 52 on January 1. I finally realized that if she wasn't putting forth the same kind of effort I was to get together (every time I asked, she'd say, "soon", but we never would) she wasn't the friend I thought she was. Also, another gal in town, whom I considered a friend allowed her daughter to put Sarah down major time. Sarah may have become pregnant before she was married, but so is this girl!! I haven't spoke with her either, for the better part of two months.

Jack is doing well. He got 'skin' put on his prosthetic leg. Now its hard to tell he has on a prosthesis if he's wearing pants. You can only see where the prostheses starts if he is wearing shorts.

I had a scary episode last week. I woke last Sunday at my normal time and my left arm was shaking badly and wouldn't stop. After awhile, I woke Jack and a few minutes later we called 911. The shaking lasted for over seven hours. The hospital ran tests but had no answers. I saw my regular doctor the next afternoon and she ran some tests and got me into a neurologist. One problem we discovered I have is that my upper back, just like my neck, now has Degenerative Disc Disease. Also I am starting to form a hump on my back, similar to the one my grandmother had (maternal). I do not have osteoporosis though.

Well, I better get going. I want to stitch some more tonight! Have a great week everyone!

The Chaos of September!

Hello, Everyone!

Life's Little Tangles Restart

Well, once again it has been near a month since my last update. BRATS! I really do want to start posting more often again.

I have been stitching a lot on "Life's Little Tangles". I cannot remember how fast or slow I did it last time I started, but it seems like I am stitching slower. Maybe it is my imagination. I don't know. What I do know is that I love using the red guide thread on this project!! In this picture you can see on the left that I have some stitches under the completed sections. Page 1 ends one row under the bottom stitch. Page 1 also ends one  column past the short brown line on the right. With me using the red guide thread, I feel like I can more easily count and it will be easier to move from page to page.

Jack mentioned to me that if I finish "Life's Little Tangles" by the beginning of next summer I'd blow them away at the fair. He may be right, but, I have other projects I want to do as well, thus I don't want to ignore them either. I don't want to put too much pressure on myself. This project is 24 pages, 450W and 373T. If I don't finish it by summer of 2015, maybe I can try for the summer of 2016?! Jack is supportive of me either way! I love him so much!!

I have stitched a bit more on "Stop That Cat".I also frogged a bit of Dahlia's birth
date on her announcement. I noticed that I'd put a dash symbol between the 1 and the 4 on the year

Stop That Cat

she was born. It won't take much to fix that. It will  .end up giving me enough room to put the time, like Jack and I had discussed.

I also have a pattern that talks about friendship that for the longest time I've been wanting to do for my girlfriend since second grade. Micki and I have been through everything together. She still lives in Fresno, California, where I was born and raised. After our first year of marriage Jack and I moved from Fresno to Bakersfield, California. The next year we moved to Illinois, largely because of the cost of living in California. We have been here ever since. Micki comes out to see us periodically. We have also gone to Fresno on occasion. Honestly, Micki has been able to come here more than us to there. I think a big

Dahlia May 5 wks old

part of that is because she never married. She is very shy and has trouble introducing herself to people. She is a wonderful person with a huge heart!

Sarah and Chance are in Pennsylvania on business for Chance and to show Dahlia off. They left early Thursday morning and arrived at his mom's house Thursday evening around 9:30, Illinois time. About a fifteen hour adventure. Not too bad, considering they had to stop periodically so Sarah could nurse Dahlia. This picture of Dahlia was taken last week. She was 5 weeks old. The outfit she is wearing a friend of my sister-in-law in Tennessee crocheted for her. She looks adorable in it! I'm not sure if you can tell, but Dahlia has blue eyes. They should be home on Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm not sure which.

The way Chance's hours are at work, it turns out he didn't have to take any time at all off for this business trip. Sarah is working again, but very minimal hours. She's hoping to go full time again before long. They are looking at a home in a town a few miles out of Danville. It is a very cute home, very reasonably priced.

Rachel is still going strong with the fire department. This morning she had to be at the station early because they were going to burn a condemned home as a training exercise. They finished the burn about an hour ago and now they are going out to eat.

Rachel is also doing well in school. Her Dad and I are very proud of her. She had ended up with a couple of low grades on her progress report, but did what was necessary to bring them back up. The first actual report card comes out in mid October.

Jack recently had a birthday. He received a refurbished laptop from his sister. His other laptop died months ago. Considering Jack writes on fan fiction that was very bad news. He recently started a new story that seems like it will be v ery good. The lap top arrived yesterday. He got right to work on it. He is so happy! Which of course makes me happy!!

I have signed up to attend "Stitching Under the Oaks" in Florida late next May. I have it about half paid for now. Lord willing I'll be able to finish paying it off soon. They request you have your portion paid for by March, which makes sense.

A couple weeks ago my sister, who lives in Idaho and cross stitches as well, sent me a huge box full of all kinds of stitching supplies. I was not expecting this at all. I knew she was sending something for Dahlia, but I had no idea about this box that has everything from various colors of adia; in several sizes, and way to much else for me to break down everything. I may see about taking a picture and posting it, but trust me, this box is huge and stuffed to the gills!

During the few days that Sarah and Chance have been away, I was able to be at my computer. On Thursday I caught up on my e-mail. I was very behind. Yesterday Jack "defragged" my computer and I cleaned my desk completely. No more clutter at all! I am very pleased. at the accomplishment. True, I was at it all day yesterday, but it looks so much better! Here' is to hoping it stays that way!! :)

Well I should be signing off now. I have a kitchen to clean and a load of laundry that needs to be started.

Everyone take care and thank you for reading my blog. I appreciate each and every one of you. Feel free to leave me a comment. I try to respond to each one!

Happy stitching to those of you who stitch!