Lyns Creations

Drawing Day!

2012-02-18T09:07:00.000-08:00

I feel like I have made a lot of progress on “Creation” Cat. I have taken time to stitch during the past week and I am feeling pretty good. I do not feel stressed at all right now. I am done with page 1, except for the E-N on the word GIVEN. The pattern is a full 2 pages. Page 2 is the lower half of the cat. He is standing on his hind legs. At his feet is a "mouse flower". I am hoping to give you an updated picture by next week. Maybe I'll even be done? I don't know that for sure. That is a hope, I guess.

Yesterday I woke up before my alarm went off, by at least an hour and I wanted to stitch, but I honestly didn't want to stitch on "Creation Cat" because I wanted to scan him before I stitched on it again. I have a book of smaller cross stitches and I started flipping through them and found a really nice one that I thought my friend who is getting the Irises might like. I found some material that would work for it and discovered that I had all the necessary threads, so I just started stitching away. I did go swimming at the Y yesterday, but didn't really do any chores or get on the computer. I just basically stitched the day away. But you know, that's okay because sometimes we just need to do a time out and not worry about anything at all. I basically stitched 90% of the day and got almost everything done here done. The only thing that I have done on it today was color DMC 333 and DMC white as well as all the backstitching that is done I did today. If everything goes according to what I am thinking, I will have it done some time tomorrow. All I have left to do is finish the backstitching on the bow as well as around the yellow and purple and then backstitching in the phrase. What the phase says is: Friends are the best Presents. It really isn't a huge pattern (57W x 41H) but I just thought Mary-Beth would really enjoy it.

I have always considered her a good friend, even though we have only met in person once and that was just a few years ago. She came to my area with her employment and while she was in the area, she came over and had dinner. We have been friends since we became pen pals way back in fifth grade through Girl Scouts. At the time I lived in California and she lived in Massachusetts. It would have been hard to put many more miles between two girls becoming pen pals through Girl Scouts! We use to write each other once or twice a month. It slowed as we became adults, but we do still keep in contact.

I am so jazzed! I have been looking around for a red rose pattern. My daughter-in-law really likes red roses and I wanted to do a pattern especially for her. I recently was looking at Dickey's completed projects (Dickey from ILCS). I saw this project of a bouquet of red roses in a gold vase and fell in love with it. I e-mailed him and talked with him about this pattern. I told him that I saw this pattern in his completed projects and was wanting to see about where could I get the pattern. We agreed that I would send him a gift certificate to 1-2-3 Stitch and he would send me the pattern. The package form Dickey arrived earlier this week. I am so excited! I know I need to 'kit it up' and get the material too but I really want to have this completed for her as a birthday present. Her birthday is August 31, so I feel like I have plenty of time.

We had car issues again. I went out to the car Saturday morning to get some groceries and the silly thing would not start again. GRRRR! Jack worked on the car all day Saturday (2/11) and got no where but mad. Sarah drove me to the grocery store with her pick up. We got a ride to church on Sunday. On Monday we ended up having the car towed (again). This time we had it towed to Mark’s Auto Electric. They had the car most of the day and figured out that it was some sort of fuse that needed replacing and the area around that fuse needed cleaning. The fee was very minimal. I ended up spending more money between the two times towing the van to get it fixed than the cost of replacing the fuse! (LOL) Thus far it seems to be working fine. I don't want to jinx myself though.

Ordered and received a huggie from Forever Cowgirl. I had originally wanted this huggie before Christmas because I wanted to give it to my sister on a q-snap as a Christmas present, but now I guess I’ll give it to her as a birthday gift. I may do it as a “Just Because” gift, since her birthday isn’t until June. The huggie is made out of a material that has the Marine Corps Symbol on it. My sister’s oldest son was discharged from the Marine Corps in October 2011, after completing a four year stint. He has recently enrolled in college. I am not sure what he is studying, but he is talking about once he is done with college, going back in the Marine Corps but that time going in as an officer. I am very proud of him.

I recently placed an order with Nordic Needle. I am excited about it as well. I am also getting frustrated about it though because it has been over a week now since I placed the order. I called them on Wednesday and was told that the order was shipped out on Tuesday. I have not received it yet and it is Saturday. North Dakota isn't that far from Illinois and previous orders have never taken this long.

In my order I got two different colors of beads. I have a real problem getting my French knots to look right, so I thought I'd try it with the beads. I have done it that way before and liked it. But the last beads I bought were too big to use for French knots. I also got beading needles. I just hope that threading the needle isn't too hard. I also bought some counting pins. I have heard a great deal of good about this tool and thought I'd give them a try. I thought they might come in handy, especially once I do start the HAED. I still need to get my printer working and buy the material for the HAED, but hopefully I will be able to do that soon. I know that there is at least one other thing that I ordered, but I cannot remember what that is right now.

As far as my drawings...

I had Rachel draw for the winner of the first contest and her friend Mariah choose the winner of the second contest. The winner of drawing 1 Is Pam Kifer and the winner of drawing 2 is Ayjah. Congratulations!!! :) I need both of you to send me your addresses and I will mail your packages to you as soon as possible. Ayjah, if you live out side the USA I am not sure how long it will take for your package to arrive, but I will get it off as soon as I can.

Well, that is about it for now. Please take care, everyone. Happy stitching and if everything goes right I'll have at least one finish to report by next week.

There are Two Drawings!

2012-02-10T10:08:00.000-08:00

I apologize for taking so long to do this post...the past couple weeks have been on the crazy side!

1) I had a seizure on a Wednesday afternoon that I didn't really completely recover from for a couple of days. That is unusual for me. I do have seizures, but I generally recover within a few hours from whatever seizure I have. (Yes, I am scheduled to see my doctor in a couple weeks because of this). My seeizures have been happening more frequently, which is scary to us. More frequently in my case is instead of one every seven years or so, is since December 2010 I have probably had four seizures. One in December of 2010 and then one in September 2011. Two of them were the other Wednesday that knocked me silly. I have never ever had two seizures in one day.

2) My van's starter went out.

3) My older daughter's tires needed replacing. Jack and I got two tires at the recycle store and had them mounted.

4) My van did a mysterious, "I won't start" and I had to have it towed just to have it start at the repair shop. This happened the same day Sarah's tires needed replacing, so ended up having both our vehicles towed the same day.

5) My younger daughter developed ear infection.

6) I did finish irises and start "Creation" (the second project I am being paid to complete).

7) I placed an order with Nordic Needle that I am excited about. I am expecting a couple different colors of beads, some beading needles, counting pins, and a tail catcher.

8) I believe I have landed myself a job besides cleaning a couple of houses. I am excited about this. The job won't start until mid-March because the person that is there now isn't leaving the position until then. I will need to be trained and everything first though, so I am okay with it. The pay is very reasonable.

9) Figured out what I wanted to give away in my giveaway here. I sure hope everyone has fun! I have never done a giveaway, so this is new for me, but I have seen giveaways done on other blogs and I hope to do this one similar to what I have seen done. I will put the names entered in a hat and have my daughter draw the name. I will have two drawings.

Drawing #1 will be for a Lap Stand, a wooden hoop 8"x12", a 10" wooden hoop, an 8" wooden hoop, and two 6" wooden hoops.

Drawing #2 will include a 12x16 piece of Aida material that has sparkles through it as well as red and blue threads. It is very pretty. I will also put in Leisure Arts Leaflet 958 'The Lord's Prayer and Dale Burdett Love Bears All Things pamphlet and a personal wares Janlynn 986-42 gold lame fanci ruffled hoop (finished size 4" x 5.5").

If you want to be entered in either one or both drawings, please say if you want to be in drawing 1 or drawing 2. You may enter both if you would like. I will be drawing the names February 18.

I am excited about how my Irises turned out. I have not framed this yet. I am not sure how Mary-Beth wants me to finish it. I have to talk with her about if she wants me to just send it to her as I have it now and then let her frame it or if she wants me to frame it and then send it to her. I think it turned out very nice.

I have started my second cat project that I am being paid for. This one is called "Creation Cat". I think I have made a lot of progress on him. I am still working on page one. I am almost done with the cat part of page one. Then there is a fish between his paws and tree leaves on this page. Fish are growing on the tree much like fruit. Jan wanted me to put this picture on brown material. I wasn't real sure that it would look good on brown material, being that the cat is a tiger stripe kind of cat. I think it is probably going to turn out alright though. Page two is the lower half of the cat...he is standing on his hind legs in the project...like a human does. There is a "flower" by his hind legs. The "flower" has leaves, but the stem is the tail of a mouse and the middle part of the flower is a mouse. The phrase on this one is: If I had been present at creation I would have given some useful hints. The thing I think I am going to have to change in this project because of the material being brown is the color of the lettering is suppose to be DMC 3345 (Hunter Green - dark). I am wondering, with the material being brown, should the phrase be written in a light color? Opinions are welcomed and appreciated.

Well, I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day. I know I will. Jack and I will be celebrating our 24th Anniversary. We were married on Valentine's Day in 1988. We chose that day because my favorite color has always been red and I wanted red in the wedding. My girls wore red taffida dresses. We are planning on having a special dinner out, just the two of us. We don't do that very often.

I Have a Couple of Announcements....

2012-01-24T09:39:00.000-08:00

Hello, Everyone! I wanted to announce that I am going to be having a couple of giveaways. When I reach 100 followers (I have 87 now) I will be having one giveaway to give away several sizes and shapes of wooden embroidery hoops. I will have a second giveaway that will have some patterns, and maybe some floss and a couple of other things. Have not completely decided yet. Will let you know more about both giveaways when I reach 100 followers.

Here is the progress I have made on Irises this week. You can see the flowers much easier since I did the backstitching around them. I now have the length of the project completed. I don't think it will be too much longer before I am done with this project. For the most part it has been a fun stitch. I went and tried out some of my newer threads in the stitching. A blue satin and a yellow light effects. I think they turned out great. The satin threads are very soft, but not hard to stitch with.

I saw some scissors on nordic needle that are specifically made to cut metallic thread. I am thinking of ordering them. Do any of you have a pair meant for metallic threads? Are they worth the price? I was thinking about getting them because I have found myself stitching with metallic threads here and there and don't want to ruin my scissors.

I am getting a pattern of red roses in a vase or bowl of some kind from a fellow stitcher. I am excited. My daughter-in-law loves red roses and I have been looking for a pattern I could do for her. When I saw this stitcher had a pattern, I asked about it. They are sending me the pattern and I sent them a gift certificate to 1-2-3 Stitch. I don't know how big this pattern is but I am sure I will love doing it.

I need to start on 'Creation' cat for Jan. I want to get that done soon, but I also want to finish Irises for Mary-Beth and even the elephant for my Uncle. And then there is the HAED pattern, but I still need to get a printer that does more than scan. So many projects to do!

Irises is the only thing I stitched on this week. I wanted to get back into my routine of working out at the YMCA. I have been doing that. I haven't gone everyday in the last seven, but I have gone several. On Friday I swam 32 laps. That is only 4 laps shy of one mile. I wasn't feeling the best yesterday, but made myself go. I ended up walking on the treadmill. I didn't go very far (only about .84 of a mile) but I can say I did work out. Today I swam 23 laps.

My niece, Danielle, had a baby boy last night. She named him Khaleb and he weighs 7lbs 10oz. and is 21" long. I just spoke with Danielle and she sounds wonderful. She said the labor was relatively easy. From the time of arrival at the hospital to the time of birth was about three hours. She said he does eat a lot. She will be staying at the hospital tonight too, not because anything is really 'wrong' with either of them but because her doctor wants her to be able to rest a bit before going home. Daniele has a 13 month old too.

Sarah went to the eye doctor last week and ended up needing a new prescription. We got one pair that day because I paid for them but we also ordered what we are calling 'the back up pair' because the ones the insurance will pay for are not going to be here for 6 to 8 weeks. Sarah's glasses had broken and she needed a new pair now, that was why I paid for the first pair. I really need to see about getting me a new precription too. I have been able to tell for the past while that I need new glasses.

Jack is doing okay. He made the front page of the local paper last week. The article was about how the city has helped disabled people improve their homes to make it easier for them to get around their homes.

I intended on being home when the reporter was here, but we were having car trouble at the time and so I wasn't here. The night before the reporter came over, we ended up at the Emergency Room with me. I was transported via ambulance. Jack was worried that I was having a heart attack because of where I was having sudden pain that wouldn't go away and having a hard time catching my breath. The hospital released me a few hours later. They did run all the heart related tests and said I did not have a heart attack. When Jack and I went to the car after my release, it would not start. A friend of ours happened to be visiting a friend of his. He took us home. I got a ride back to the hospital the next morning and security tried to jump the car. It would not come to life. I hjad it towed to the shop. They replaced the starter which got the car running and then also fixed the master cylinder, which made my brakes work properly again.

Rachel started practicing with the jazz band after school last week. She will be playing the piano in this band. She is pretty good. She has been playing the piano off and on since she was six. She plays the eliptical in the regular band.

I joined the bell choir at church last week. We practice every Wednesday night at seven o'clock.

Well that's about all I have to announce this week. Hope everyone has a wonderful week. Take care!

Been Stitching to My Heart's Content!

2012-01-17T11:47:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! I have been busy stitching. Not every day, but trying to do something, even if an hour, here and there. I finished "Control Cat" a few days ago. I love how he turned out. This is the first one completed of the three patterns that I am being paid for. I am thinking of delivering all three at the same time. This pattern did not take me very long to complete, once I got started. The 'method of stitching' I used was what I have observed being done with the HAED that I have watched come together from fellow stitchers. I wanted to practice the technique, because I did buy my first HAED pattern a few weeks ago. I haven't been able to get started on it yet, but hopefully I can soon. I need to buy a new printer, because we got the scanner part of our printer running, but the printing part is uncooperative. Until I get a new printer, my HAED and any other pattern I want to print, is just going to have to wait.

I need to start on the second cat, "Creation Cat" and will in the next day or two but I wanted to stitch colors other than brown, blacks, greys for a few days.

I have been stitching a little bit on "Irises" since I finished "Control Cat". Can you tell that these are flowers? When I showed Jack last night, he said he couldn't tell that they were flowers. I think that the backstitching on this project is going to make these irises really pop out. I am so tempted to do some of the backstitching now so that the flowers are more noticeable.

I haven't touched my elephant pattern for quite awhile. I am not really happy with the way the half stitches are laying. Now I am wondering if I just stitch the bull elephant part of this pattern instead of the entire pattern, would that be alright? I am almost done with the Bull Elephant and that thought came to me. I just don't like the way this material is. I'll probably just keep plugging away at the pattern instead of giving up on it, but boy am I frustrated with this one! The elephant is a full 'X' but the scenery is half stitches. You may be able to see where I started some of the scenery at about tusk level on the right side of the elephant. Can you see what I am talking about in the way the half stitches are laying?

I forgot to mention in my last post that my cousin's wife sent me all of her cross stitching supplies at the end of last year. Thank you, Donna! She and my cousin David were the recipients of the first cat project I finished ("Nobody"). Donna sent me everything from DMC threads to hoops, a lap stand, pattern books and material. I am thinking of trying to do some sort of game with a prize or giveaway of some of the stuff because some of the stuff I just wouldn't use. I'd hate to have it just sit in my closet. Any ideas about how I should go about it? Donna use to cross stitch all the time but was forced to stop because of medical issues.

I have received several birthday cards and floss in the first couple weeks of January. Thank you, Everyone!

Both of my girls received their second quarter report cards. Well, actually Rachel was given hers and Sarah's was mailed because the high school takes finals and calculates them into the grade, where the middle school doesn't take finals. Rachel received A's in all but two classes. In those two classes, she received B's. She, once again, made either the Honor Roll or High Honor Roll. This has been the norm for Rachel her entire school life. Sarah, with her finals calculated in, received a couple of A's and the rest B's, if I remember right. Either way, we are proud of both girls and their grades.

The position I was hoping to get has been postponed. My heart kind of sank when I was told this. But, that just means I need to put my head high and keep looking. God will put me where He wants me, when He wants me there!

I bought some goggles and a swim cap with some of my birthday money. Last week I swam 32 laps for the first time ever! I have always had to get out of the pool before I reached that far because the chlorine was burning my eyes badly. I'd end up with blurry vision and sometimes my eyes would swell after my swim sessions because of the chlorine. Last week, when I swam I was using my goggles and swim cap and had no problems because of chlorine. The next time I swim (hopefully tomorrow) I hope to make it to 36 laps. Thirty-six laps at the YMCA pool (where I swim) is equal to one mile. I am not the fastest swimmer, but I get the job done. (Like my stitching!) What slows me with my swimming is my right side paralysis. I cannot kick as well with my right leg or make the motions with my right arm as big as with my left side. But, I can swim!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week and hope to give you another stitching update in the next week. Talk with you later!

The OVERDUE Update!

2012-01-05T12:46:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, its about time! Sorry it has been so long since I updated my blog. I have been wanting to update to the point that I was probably driving Jack crazy. Sorry it has taken so long to update, the last time I updated was a week or so before Thanksgiving, but I really wanted to be able to post pictures with the blog. My printer/scanner was acting up and I don't have a decent camera, so I was unable to take or scan pictures myself.

This picture, "Looking Down" cat is the one I did for my cousin and his wife. I finished it about a week before Christmas and mailed it to David and his wife and asked them to e-mail me. They were very pleased with the picture. They sent me the picture right around my birthday but Jack had been telling me he was going to see about getting my printer/scanner fixed, so was trying to wait till I could post more than one picture. Just yesterday Jack got the printer/scanner to the point that it will scan pictures again. It prints, but not properly. The color is all askew. This means I won't be able to print out my HAED that I bought, which is disheartening. :( I have other things that need printing too, but those of you who have done or are doing HAED know how important it is to print out those patterns. This is a actually true for any patterns you buy on line.

I still do not have a picture pf the Precious Moments finish I gave to my niece. I am hoping she will send me a picture of it soon. When she does, I will post the picture, I promise!

I have been working on three other projects since my last post as well. I worked some more on the elephants for my Uncle Curt. I am actually almost done with this bull elephant. When he is done, the project is probably close to 45 or maybe even 50% done. The other elephants and then the trees and bushes in this pattern are very small in comparison to him. I am doing the elephant on 28ct, which isn't a problem, but it isn't the type of 28ct I have used before and it almost seems like the material is not 'uniform'. It is very frustrating. I like the evenweave much better than this stuff. I am concidering stopping the elephant where it is and then starting all over on a different piece of material. I started to do some of the background bushes (which are a half x) and it looks like I have pulled the stitches wrong somehow, but I know I haven't! GRRRR!

Another thing I have been stitching on is some irises for my long time pen pal and friend who lives in Rhode Island. We started writing each other as pen pals through Girl Scouts when we were in fifth grade. Several years ago I stitched her and her husband a wedding announcement. A couple of years ago they ended up in divorce. She asked me if I wanted the wedding announcement back. I told her no. I told her I'd be happy to make her something else. That was when she told me that she likes irises. A couple months ago I bought a book from a fellow stitcher which had irises in it. I think I am around half way done with this picture. Not sure, exactly. I do know that I decided to use some light effects in both the yellow and blue flowers. I was thinking of doing the same thing for the flowers that require DMC 340 and 341, but I do not have the proper light effects color and do not know what color to buy. I like how it has turned out so far. I think my girl friend will be happy with it.

The third thing I have been stitching is the first of three cat patterns that I am being paid for. I think I am somewhere between 45 and 50% done with this one. This one is called "Control". He is splayed out on a rug stating that he cannot be controlled.

My Thanksgiving was quiet. It was just the four of us for most of the day. Our good friends in town came over after they had eaten at his mom's house and stayed for a couple of hours, but other than that it was just us.

Christmas was quiet too. That was okay because we don't like to make a huge fuss about Christmas. We did have a nice ham for dinner, but we don't go way out on gifts and the like. Jack and I bought ourselves a television for our room with the money my parents sent us. We actually combined it with the money my SIL sent. We had to. The television took up all the money from one and so we used the money from the other to pay for the thing to put it on the wall and everything that entailed as well as the fee of the person installing it. He was reasonable, but still...I also got some pajamas, a coat, a hat and some perfume.

My birthday has been spread over several days. We had a family game night on the actual day, we had the cake and gift the next day and two days after that Sarah took me to get my nails done. I received my parents gift today in the mail (five days after the actual birthday). With the money my parents sent me for my birthday I bought myself a new swim cap and goggles for my swimming at the Y. I have been wanting/needing to do that for awhile and I just did it. I also bought some stitching supplies.

I need to sign off for now. I promise, I'll update more often now that my scanner is working.

Take care everyone!

Stitching Away!

2011-11-22T09:06:00.000-08:00

This picture was taken after working on the elephant project two weeks. I have not worked on the elephant for the past couple of weeks but did make quite a bit of progress between pictures of it. The first picture was taken after one week. That picture is on my post of November 2. Remember how I wanted to give you a picture last time updated but was having issues? This was one of the pictures I wanted to show you. This one and the first picture of the cat, seen below.

In the past two weeks I have been stitching solely on the cat for my cousin and his wife. I just have so many patterns I want to stitch right now that I had to start on the cat too. The first picture of the cat was taken by my friend, Jan, last week. She didn't get around to mailing me the picture until yesterday though and so I ended up doing a lot more stitching on the cat this week. Thank you, Meari for somehow getting the picture the proper direction! I have two friends who offered to help me get the second cat picture to cooperate with me. I sent it to both of them. I opened Meari's first and it worked, so thank you Rob too! I am so glad I have both of you as friends! I have more of the cat's head done now. Last night I finished his right ear and the right side of his face completely, put the black in his forehead, and started on his eyes. I also stitched a little more of the black extending his back.

(Nov 23) Yesterday, after my original post with the sideways cat, I finished his face completely. Now as far as hid head goes, I have just a few stitches on his left ear and the all important backstitching. I also stitched on his back and body. I only used DMC 3022on his back and body last night, but that part of him is starting to look better. Not sure how much I can stitch today since I have to clean the house I do once a week and then of course to the store for a couple of Thanksgiving items.

I have been told this week that I am hired to stitch a couple more cats. This excites me. I have been told for the longest time that my stitching is good enough that I should sell my work. This will be the first time anything of mine has been sold and they are hiring me to boot! She will be taking me to the store to get the material she wants, purchase any thread, etc., I need and then after it is done will pay me for my labor in stitching them.

I got some stoney creek books in the mail this week (thanks Ellen) with some patterns I'd love to stitch. Especially the deer and some flowers. Need to stitch a Noah's Ark pattern for my niece. I also bought my first HAED since my last blog update. So many things to stitch so little time!

Well I need to be going. I wish I could somehow get this picture to face right, but I can't! Happy stitching everyone!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!

Honest, Progress was Made!

2011-11-08T14:11:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

I honestly wanted to have this update with a picture of my elephant progress. Tomorrow will be one week since I updated last. I think I have made a fair to decent amount of progress. But, my scanner is not cooperating. My printer, for whatever reason, will not bring up the tab that says, "download camera or scanner". Thus I cannot get my scanner to work at all. I even had Wes look at it, to try and trouble shoot it for me and he is as confused as I am. I guess I feel good that I'm not the only lost one on this one.

I have done a great deal on the trunk and face of the Bull Elephant, as well as quite a bit of stitching on his left ear. The artist created the pattern on 14CT Adia. I am stitching it on Countfrn Old Lace 28CT. I think it is looking pretty good. I did not have a piece of Adia the proper size for this pattern and I really needed to stitch on something. Thus far in the pattern, I have used five different colors. I have added a couple of the grey type colors, more the colors I think of when I see an elephant than dark browns.

One of the biggest reasons I needed to stitch was I am still trying to quit smoking. I have been successful to now, but I do struggle from time to time and find if I am stitching on something I think of smoking less. The last time I had a cigarette was September 19. I started using the nicotine patch and started phase two (of three) on the patch last week.I really have wanted to quit smoking for quite a long time, some of you may remember when I have tried before. At any rate, I am successful thus far, this time. I honestly think I have the habit kicked, but I want to finish the program. I am stitching and chewing gum as well.

Sarah and Wes are at a movie right now. They are spending as much time as possible together before Wes must report back to the Army. He has to report back on Friday. He will be shipped over to Korea next week. I am uncertain how long he will be there, but I hope he knows how much we love and appreciate him and how much we will miss him. Sarah has told me that they are no longer together as a couple. I am honestly not sure if she is trying to convince her dad and me, herself, or both. They sure seem like a couple, if you ask me!

I have to transfer a load of clothes from washer to dryer and maybe look into some sort of dinner and check on Jack. He has been asleep for a couple of hours now, if not more. It was so good to get him out of the house today for even a couple of hours. I know he said the prosthetic leg was hurting him, but I think just getting out breathing fresh air has got to be good for him. Jack and I went to the church "Drummer Boy Bizarre" and had lunch.

Talk to you again next time. Maybe I can get my scanner working!

Ka-ching! Horsey Girl Hits Jackpot

2011-11-02T08:01:00.000-07:00

Sarah has had a very good start to her seventeenth year to life, I'd have to say. The Monday after I returned from California, she got a call from Subway. She had put in an application with them in August. They wanted to interview her. She had me take her to the restaurant for the interview. She was hired and started the next day. Her Dad took her to the Secretary of State's office and she was able to get her driver's license, without taking any tests because she had done so well in Driver's education and had everything in order. The next week was her birthday (October 18). We got her a laptop to keep her off of my computer.

Her dad and I had discussed that Sarah needed her own vehicle to get around, especially now that she had a job that she needed to get to. We decided to make it a very early Christmas present. Jack had been looking around for quite awhile for her a vehicle. She had said she wanted a pick-up. We went to a Car Auction and found her a 1990 Ford F150 4x4. It has some rust on the bed above the rear tire area on both sides, but what can you expect for Illinois? The rest of it was nice and clean. We bid on the truck and got it for $850. With Auction fees it was $945. We didn't feel that was too bad. It did end up having some brake problems. Jack replaced the front brakes himself but then we took it to a shop to have the rear brakes replaced as well as a new brake line installed. It turns out that the brake line that was there had a major leak. Everything is good on it now though. It is a safe vehicle for her. I don't have a picture of it yet, but I'll post one later. We want to get it detailed out so the paint isn't dull. Maybe I'll take and post the picture after that is completed.

Wes is home right now, he has to report back on November 11. He has helped with some things related to the truck and has bought a new stereo for it and is going to be putting in bigger speakers today when Sarah gets home from school. She has to go to work at 5:00 today and work til 10:00, but then doesn't work again until Monday. She was called yesterday because someone had called in sick, so she ended up working 4:00 to 10:00 last night. Though she really didn't get off til closer to 10:30.

Last week Sarah got her first check from Subway. It was only for her first week of work there, which was only 11 hours, but she was still in shock about how much it was. She was very happy.

While Michele was here I did some beautification of my yard. I planted two light purple mums in the front and 5 mums along the driveway side of the house. Two of those mums are a dark purple and three are yellow. I am not sure how well they will fair, as my dad is really the herbologist. I have always wanted flowers, but my thumb is more brown than green. Hopefully I will not kill these plants. I know I'm suppose to do something to these plants for them to be able to revive this spring, but am uncertain what. I also planted several tulip bulbs in these flower beds. Yes, I did roto-till and weed both beds before I planted anything.

On the stitching front I have been doing an elephant that I am going to give my Uncle. I had a frustrating time at the beginning, I had stitched quite a bit of the first color and moved on to a second color. Then I realized I had gone up three instead of two on a particular row, so I had to frog probably half of what I'd put in. I did get all that corrected. I am stitching the biggest elephant in the pattern. This is the only one "facing". The others are side view. and further back. I am not sure how long it will take to stitch this, but I don't think my Uncle Curt is in a huge hurry for it. I know that he wants it as a memorial for my Aunt Jane. I may see if I can give it to him on what would have been her birthday next year. That gives me quite awhile to work on it. It is a pretty big pattern. Three pages total.

I also want to stitch a cat pattern for my cousin David, a Noah's Ark pattern for my niece's baby due in January, and a couple of others I have in my head to stitch. I found a HAED pattern that I love and want to stitch.

A stitching friend in one of my groups is selling me some nature and animal Stoney Creek pattern books. I have a couple out of those I'd like to stitch as well. Sounds like I will be starting a rotation of some kind.

Rachel's cheer leading season is over. This past weekend there was a cheerleading competition and her team came in third in all categories. She is uncertain at this point if she wants to cheer next year or coach. Her dad and I would like her to see if she could get on the school cheer leading squad.

Well, that's about it for now. Take care everyone!

What A Great Vacation!

2011-10-16T14:34:00.000-07:00

My vacation to California was wonderful! I managed to frame "Hunting Dogs", "The Lord's Prayer", "Isaiah 40:31", and "Amazing Grace".

I gave "Amazing Grace" to my long time girl friend's mom. Mrs. Gardner really loved it. She now has it hanging in her bedroom, Michele told me. She ended up rearranging some things to get it on her wall, but it is up. Mrs. Gardner was very grateful for it and I think she was even impressed. She told me she really likes it.

"The Lord's Prayer" my niece, Brandie now owns. She is a strong Christian woman. I am very proud of how Brandie has turned out. She has had some issues in her life and has put her faith first and is now doing very well. She has a little boy and girl. The boy is older. I cannot remember how old her kids are, but I think they are in third and kindergarten.

"I had promised Sarah "Hunting Dogs" when I first made it when she was getting ready to turn 13, but had never framed it. I had originally wanted to give it to her for that birthday, but I had to stop stitching for three months that year because I had an issue with my left arm, which of course is my stitching hand. Now Sarah will be able to put it on one of the walls of her bedroom, when it is built. She may choose to put it up now in the bedroom she and Rachel share, but there honestly isn't much wall space there. the picture is in a 12x12 frame.

I wasn't able to finish "Precious Moments Girl", but I did make quite a bit of progress on it. I was able to work out with Danielle, (my niece, and mommy to the baby the "Precious Moments Girl" goes to) the proper color for the skin of the girl. The skin is now as close to the baby's skin color as is possible. We put the thread colors against her skin and combined DMC 3772 and DMC 435. I was able to finish the quilt completely while in Fresno. I did all the 'skin' of the girl while in Fresno as well. I did the white of the nightgown on the plane ride home. The pink of the rug that was not completed as well as the pink and light grey of the nightgown I have done since I came home last Saturday. The only thing left to do on this project is the backstitching. I started backstitching a day or two ago. The wording of the phrase is in backstitch as well, thus I'll do it when I adjust the picture to do the upper part of the picture. The bottom of the picture looks dark because there was a shadow, unknown, when the picture was taken. Hopefully when the next picture (probably the completed picture) is done there will not be a shadow. I bought a frame for "Precious Moments Girl" but I left it in California. I'll send it to my mom when it is done and she will frame it and take a picture of it for me. Danielle found out while I was there that she will be having her second child in February. Sounds like I have another baby project in my future! (LOL)

I also framed "Isaiah 40:31" while I was in Fresno. Jack is very happy with it. It will go on our bedroom wall, probably over by 'his side' of the bed.

I am going to have to start thinking pretty soon about what is my next project? My Dad bought me a book of nature animals (it has an elephant and my Uncle would like me to do an elephant for him), the next baby project for Danielle, or a different project...who knows?

My class reunion was alright. Not as many of my class mates showed as I hoped would. My graduating class was 577. Only 81 of us showed. It was a lot of fun though. I was able to reconnect with a couple of people I considered excellent friends in high school. I even exchanged e-mail addresses with them.

I went to a couple of movies (different days) with a classmate that was more like a great protective big brother than any classmate! We saw the "Lion King" in 3-D and Money Ball. We also had dinner. Thank, Jeff! :)

I was also able to reconnect with the person that was a great friend to me before Jack and I married. She was my Maid of Honor. We lost track of each other after I moved out of Fresno, but I looked her up when I was in Fresno and we went out to lunch and exchanged information. She told me that she is a newly wed. Jack and I are so happy for her. I was so glad we were able to reconnect, Gail! :)

My mom and I went to Santa Barbara and visited my Dad's cousin. She is doing very well. She told me she would love to have my "Footprints in the Sand" project. She wants me to send it to her and she will turn it into a pillow. She will send me a picture of it when completed. I really enjoyed seeing her. The last time I saw her was the day Jack and I married. That was over 23 years ago.

Dad, Mom and I also went to Carmel and went to the Aquarium, and Fisherman's Warf there. Dad bought a very nice lunch. I bought various gifts for my friends and family in Illinois. I took pictures of the ocean for Jack while we were there. He said if there is anything about California he misses, it is the ocean.

My friend Michele flew out here the same day I flew home and has been here since. She flies home next Saturday. Sarah led Michele, Rachel and me on a ride out at Thunderwolf earlier today. We all really enjoyed it. In this picture, Rachel is wearing the helmet, something Thunderwolf requires for children 13 and under, Sarah is standing, me, and then Michele. We had just returned from a one hour ride. Sarah will be 17 in two days. I think she will have a great birthday this year.

Well I believe that is all the info I have for you now. I hope everyone is doing well. Have a great week, everyone!

Busy! Busy! Busy!

2011-08-31T11:18:00.000-07:00

Picture one of 'Amazing Grace' was scanned on 8/31, when I originally started trying to update my blog. Picture two was scanned on 9/22.

Wow! I have been very busy the past few weeks! I had wanted to spend more time on the computer, especially when Jack and the girls were in Dallas, but that idea failed when I discovered that one of the girls had somehow jammed the keyboard part of my desk in and I couldn't get it unstuck! Believe me I tried! I was able to spend a few minutes here and there on the computer while they were gone, but I had to have the keyboard either atop the desk or on my lap. When it was atop the desk, it was too high to comfortably use, when on my lap, too low.

I did manage to get in a lot of stitching on 'Amazing Grace' while everyone was gone. Since Jack and the girls have returned from Dallas, I have managed to stitch on it as well. In late August I did a big part of the green vines and outlining of the green leaves at the top as well as the gold on the right. (I originally back-stitched the gold on top in green and then realized that it should have been done in blue so I have frogged most of that.) I have stitched the progress on this project in September, so I feel good about my progress. As you can see between the two pictures (the first scanned in late August and the second scanned September 22) I have managed to get quite a bit of stitching done on 'Amazing Grace' during September. I really believe that if I am allowed to sit and stitch, I'll be able to get it completed by the time I go to California in the end of September. My flight is on the morning of September 28. I will be in California until October 8. I hope to get the 'Precious Moments' pattern done too, but I am uncertain if that is possible. Then again, "All things are possible with God!" My hope is that if I cannot finish one or both patterns before I get to California that I'll be able to finish them while I am there.

Jack and the girls did enjoy themselves a great deal in Dallas. Jack told me the girls behaved themselves on the way down, but on the way home it seemed like one big argument. He said he was so glad that he went. He got to have some serious reconnect time with his sister, which was needed.

Both girls are doing well in school this year. Earlier this week we received their mid-quarter report cards. Rachel has straight A's and Sarah has all A's except in Chemistry and PE. In those classes she has a B.

The central air was installed a couple of days before Jack and the girls returned from Dallas, and is working fabulously! The people who installed whatever necessary to make the basement no longer leak did that a few days after the return from Dallas. We have had one major rain storm, and that was the night after the system installation completed, but the ground was so dry from lack of rain, no one had any flooding. Usually this time of year people are having to mow their grass a minimum of once a week to prevent it from getting too tall. However, that isn't the case right now. I mowed a day or two before everyone went to Dallas and then not again until August 27. I didn't mow it again until last weekend (September 17).

Jack and I bought a new washer and dryer in late August. They were delivered August 30. My dryer has been acting up for awhile and finally just stopped working altogether a few days before we decided on getting the set. My washer died just before the Dallas trip. We looked into getting a used set, but we also wanted one of the washers that doesn't have the agitator in the middle. We could find no used sets w/o agitators. We also talked about if we got a new set, we wouldn't have to worry about breakdown for a long time to come. I believe it is a very good investment.

Also, we have been painting the outside of the house the past few days. The last time we painted the house was a bit more than 12 years ago. I was pregnant with our 12 year old at the time. We painted it Snickerdoodle yellow at the time. Now we are painting it white. It will be trimmed in dark brown. That 12 year old has helped a great deal with the painting. Our 16 year old has helped too, but she wasn't here as much. All of the stucco is painted white. The basement wall and porch are what will be brown. That is near completion. I'd say another few hours of painting and we will be done.

Wes graduated from boot-camp on August 26 and is now at AIT, which is where he will learn to be a mechanic. He is now stationed in Missouri. He will get to come home for the first time since reporting to boot-camp in late October. The countdown is on. We all want to see him. Wes found out last week where he will be stationed when he returns after his time off in late October. He will be going to Korea. He is a bit nervous about that but I think he will be fine. He's not sure how long he will be gone overseas, but he will find out soon, if I understand right.

Jack's birthday was The last weekend of August.. He went and smoked a piece of meat on the smoker/bbq that was given to him for Father's Day. It turned out wonderful! We had some of our best friends over and had a wonderful time. Jack isn't normally big on birthday celebrations but I got the feeling he was happy we had this one.

The one sad thing that has happened recently is on the night of August 20, our little Boston Terrier either ran into a car or was it by a car. I had let her out to do her final business for the night, and she ended up darting into the street. She severely broke her jaw and had a hairline fracture of her pelvis. No other injuries. She was very lucky. We took her to the emergency vet and she was hospitalized for 2 nights. The night it happened and the next night. Her surgery was Monday, August 22 in the morning and she came home later that afternoon. She had to eat soft food until last week. Her jaw is still wired. The wire will be removed in late October. The hairline fracture of her pelvis has healed without any issues. She is back to her jumping all over the place self. It is good to see. Now we just hope she has learned to not run in the street! One of the things I really want to do is put a fence around our back yard, but we just haven't been able to afford it. I am hoping we can find the funds to do that soon though!

Rachel is involved in cheerleading again this year with one of the local youth football teams She is a varsity cheerleader on the Chargers. Jack is 'Uncle Stumpy', the voice of the Chargers again this year. The first year he did the announcing for them was last year, the same year that was Rachel's first year on the squad. Rachel can be on the squad until she reaches high school. Jack is thinking he'd like to stay announcing even after Rachel is too old to cheer. I think it is very good for him. It gives him something to do and he loves football.

Sarah is looking forward to getting her driver's license soon. Here in Illinois the teenagers must have their driving permits at least 9 months and log at least 10 hours at night and 60 hours during daytime hours before they can even try for their actual license. She reached the amount of hours a long time ago and her nine months was up September 9. She is anxious to go down and get it. She will probably go down next week after I am in California. She is a pretty good driver, though she does drive me crazy sometimes, trying to tell me how to drive. I have been driving a lot longer than she has. One day hopefully she will realize that mom does know how to drive. She will turn 17 in mid October. I know she is at the age when she knows everything and mom knows nothing.

I have been getting ready for my trip too and feel just about ready. I need to go to Champaign a bit later today and get my brace adjusted. It seems like I am dragging my foot a bit and I want to get that fixed before I go. I have also trimmed my hair about a week ago. I called my doctor and had them submit a refill for my meds so I'd have enough for the trip and ended up going to the doctor because I have a constant humming in my right ear right now. It has been going on since my last cold (the beginning of September. There is fluid in my inner ear. It isn't infected fluid, just fluid. The doctor put me on a nasal spray and said if it doesn't help by late October that I'll have to go see an ear/nose/throat doctor and have to have a tube put in the ear again. I had one in the ear before and it has fallen out somewhere along the line.

Well I hope to post pictures for you when I get back from my trip. I recently found our 35mm camera and plan on taking it with me. Thanks to everyone for your patience with me. I will try and be better in updating this blog and staying in touch with my groups, but I have to get back from California first. Take care everyone!

Boy, It has Been Quiet!

2011-08-11T14:06:00.000-07:00

Since my last post, I have been stitching on my "Precious Moments" piece for my Great Niece. I scanned this picture today. The last time I stitched on it was yesterday. I am going to rotate back to "Amazing Grace" for a bit now. I feel like I have gotten alot done in the past two or so weeks since I went back to working on 'Precious Moments". I have the full length of the pattern in, most of the small flowers of quilt in (only color left there isw pink), some of the white part of quilt completed, all but the pink part of the rug in, and I have started on the girl's face. What I have left to do is the rest of her face, as well as her hands and feet, the nightgown, the rest of the white in the quilt and the verse as well as the backstitching of the whole thing.

My plan is to work on "Amazing Grace" for a t least a couple of weeks and then swap out again. Now that I figured out the problem with "Amazing Grace" ~~ the flowers between the verses off two to the left ~~ I can start on it again with confidence!

Jack and the girls left Monday morning for Dallas via rental car. They stopped in Memphis for dinner and then East of Little Rock for the night. After starting their drive again, they got to Dallas nine hours later. That was Tuesday early evening. Jack used yesterday to recoup from the drive. He hasn't driven like that since his days of driving a semi. That has been 10 years ago now. Boy, thats hard to believe! Anyway, they got there safe and sound.

I am unsure how to describe what I am feeling. I haven't been this far away from Jack since he stopped driving semi. I have actually watched the television in our family room, played music on my computer, and went to sleep in my recliner. I have been getting some of the cleaning done that I wanted. I also got the girls registered for their respective schools and even went out to lunch with mybest friend from church. I plan on stitching some tonight.

Everyone have a great couple of weeks!

Coming Together

2011-07-29T07:18:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

I finally finished the bookmark for Wes completely. I mailed it off to him, along with a very long letter, telling him about last week's softball games and the other news of the family. How I finished it was by putting a bookmark on the back side to hide the understitching of "ARMY". I stitched on the 'under' bookmark, "Property of Carl Winans". Carl is his first name. He goes by Wes with his family and friends but in the Army he must go by his first name. I 'glued' the two bookmarks together with stitching witchery tape and then trimmed both the top and bottom of the bookmark to hide whatever fraying had occurred and prevent more from happening. I like how it turned out. I haven't heard from him yet, so I do not know how he likes it.

I did finish frogging the verse on 'Amazing Grace' and have started stitching that verse again. I also have quite a bit more of the left side done. I haven't stitched as much this week as I'd like to, but things have been on the busy side here. I may put aside 'Amazing Grace' for a couple of weeks and stitch on the Precious Moments pattern again. I am wondering (once again) if there is a problem with 'Amazing Grace'. The writing of the verse seems off. I am starting to think it may not be the verse, but the flowers between the verse are over 2 to the left too much. I think I need to sit and figure that out for sure. I do know that I am going to go ahead and stitch the flowers, etc., at the top (they look like the flowers to they left) and then the gold down the outside of the right side (just like the gold down the outside of left) to help me make sure I have the thing centered right. It also has a blue line (like the one on the inside of the left) going from the horn across the top. The flowers atop will go between the gold line and the blue line. I think if I do this part, and leave the verse alone for a bit I can see better what, if anything, is wrong with the verse itself. Or if it the flowers between the verses. The picture on the left is the pattern page, and the picture on the right is my piece so far. Do you see anything off. Like I said, it seems like something is off two to the left in the verse, but I know I started the lines of the verse in the correct spot on the left. Does this mean the flowers between the verses is what is off?

I do need to work on the 'Precious Moments' piece more. Wouldn't it be neat if I could have both pieces done to give when I go to California while I am in California? My niece is in Fresno too! I haven't worked on my 'Precious Moments' piece for quite awhile now. I am feeling a bit guilty about that. Maybe if I cannot finish both pieces before I go to California, I can finish them while I am there!

Rachel's team did end up winning first place in the tournament. They were second seed when the tournament started because they had had a loss (only their third) right before the regular season ended. They were undefeated in the tournament itself. They ended up beating the first seed team twice rather handily. They won the first game 22-6 and the second game 12-7. It was a double elimination tournament, which means to be out must lose twice.

Jack and the girls will be renting a car on August 8 and going to Dallas for 10 days to visit Jack's sister. Originally it was going to be just Rachel and Jack, but it turns out Sarah will be able to go. I can't though because I need to stay here and supervise some things we are getting done to the house. The company that will be fixing the leaky basement will be here on August 11. The job will take two or three days. We are also finally getting central air in. We have needed it for quite awhile, especially because of some of Jack's health issues. They will be here during that same week. I love my sister-in-law, and would love to see her too, but I do understand why I cannot go. We also have several pets to consider. We have two dogs, two cats and a rabbit. Besides, I get to go away to California in about two months. I'll be buying my tickets next week.

Take care everyone. Have a great week!

All My News

2011-06-29T07:15:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long time between updates, but I really wanted to post some pictures with this blog, but because of some home improvements around here, our printer was unplugged, thus I couldn't scan anything to show you! We finally were able to reconnect the printer yesterday. I've been keying this blog post for awhile, so is kind of long. Sit down with a cup of coffee and enjoy! Below you will see a picture of Rachel and her softball team and a picture of my progress on 'Amazing Grace'.

My Weight

A little over a week ago, out of the blue, Sarah said to me, 'Your skinny!" I asked her, 'what did you say?" She told me again. I was surprised. I have lost a huge amount of weight, but since I have basically maintained my weight since November, and she hadn't said anything like that, I didn't think of myself that way. I do have a very thin neck now, as well as thin wrists, shoulders and ankles. My upper arms, thighs and stomach have a great deal of loose skin, my legs and arms have more than my stomach though. I think that my loose skin might finally be absorbing I guess would be the term. A few days ago, just to satisfy my curiosity, I measured around my upper arm when I had my arm in a position that made all the loose skin be near my elbow. I then measured the loose skin area of the arm. The difference between the arm with and without the loose skin was three inches! I then did the same thing to my thighs. I sat on my bed and bent my knee up. That made my loose skin roll toward my hips. When I did this, the lower part of my thigh, above my knee no longer looked fat at all. The difference was six inches! This does make me wish that either my insurance would cover the surgery to remove loose skin (but they won't) or that I could afford to pay for the surgery myself (but I can't) :( The insurance company considers it cosmetic surgery, and to a point they are right, on the other hand it is loose skin that weighs quite a bit in and of itself and thus in my eyes is a health issue. My doctor guesstimates my loose skin to weigh at least 30 pounds!

I took Rachel to a local clothing store so she could spend her birthday money and decided I'd try on a size smaller than I currently am wearing, and discovered that it fit! I can honestly say that I haven't worn that size since my early teenage years! I also realized that I am having to tighten my belt another hole to hold up my pants, but then this doesn't surprise me knowing what size pants I own and what size that really fits! (LOL) I am unsure how long it will take for my loose skin to absorb, since I do have a big amount, but I guess I should be encouraged, since I am losing inches again. In the last few weeks I have started losing weight again too. I asked my doctor awhile ago if she considered me overweight anymore because of my 'number', and she said, "no, because I know about how much your loose skin would weigh." That made me feel good!

I had slowed down on my time at the YMCA while Jack was in the hospital and then the nursing home, but now am trying to get back into the rhythm, but still want to go more. It may be helping me lose my loose skin, I don't know.

Even though I haven't actually bought any pants in my current size, I am very pleased with my size and still in shock that I wear that size! I am also in shock that in the past week or so I have worn some shorts! I tried on some shorts the other day at Wal-Mart and they fit, but since Jack wasn't with me, I didn't buy them. I did decide to try on some shorts here at the house and they fit! I didn't have the issue of them riding up between my legs, either! I haven't worn shorts since I was probably ten years old! :)

Girls Softball

I am uncertain why, but Sarah's league didn't take pictures, so I don't have one to post of her, but Rachel's league did. What is funny about the team picture is that Rachel really is taller than Coach. He asked her to bend her knees to make herself seem shorted. He stood on his toes. Rachel really is taller than Coach. She is actually the tallest girl on the team. In the team picture, she is standing right next to Coach in the back row, on his left side.

July1

Sarah played three games last week. She plays every Tuesday and Thursday night. One of the nights is a double header and the other is just a single game, most weeks. Sometimes both nights are double headers. Some of the games, like her last game are rather exciting. Sarah is a very good catcher, and made a lot of very good plays during the game. I remember two pop ups, a throw to second to get a gal trying to steal (Sarah got her) and a couple of very exciting tags at home that went her way. She also got a couple of doubles and hit in 4 RBIs. Sarah is enjoying playing, even though her team has not won a game this season at all.

Rachel's team, on the other hand, has only lost one game. Rachel's team played last night and won, but they had to go past the allotted amount of time to do it! A game is suppose to be either seven innings or two hours. Which ever comes first. Her game last night was two hours and forty minutes! Rachel got a triple her first time up, but didn't get to score. The three other times she was up, she hit the ball, but was thrown out at first. She did get two RBIs. It kind of depressed her that she was unable to reach home herself. However, her team did win, 14-11. The game was exciting. Her team was 'visitor' and after their ups in the fifth inning it was 11-7. When the home team had their ups, they scored 4 runs, which made it 11-11. The two hour time limit was really up during the home team's ups of that inning, but since they were behind when the inning started and they were behind when they started their ups, of course they were allowed to go through all three of their outs. The home team had the bases loaded when the girl batting popped out for the final out of the inning. That made it go into the sixth inning, where our team scored three.during our ups. The home team did get some runners on base but the last out was a gal who struck out.

July 6

Sarah's team lost by one run, though I am uncertain of the score I didn't go to the game this time because4 I wasn't feeling well. Sarah did tell me that she threw out a gal who bunted and a gal who was trying to steal second.

Rachel's team won big...19-5. Rachel didn't tell me anything spectacular that happened in her game.

July 8

The girls were both supposed to have games lst night, Rachel's at 6:00, Sarah's at 8:00, but a Thunderstorm ended up rolling in about 20 minutes before the first game and cancelled the games. Actually, I know that Rachel's game will be played tomorrow at noon, but not sure about Sarah's. What makes it a bummer about last night, is that Jack and I now have tee shirts that we were going to wear to the games. I have one that says 'SWAT' on the front and 'Turtle's Mom' on the back. See, Sarah is the catcher for the team, and she calls herself 'Turtle' because of the gear she must wear. Jack has a shirt promoting he is Rachel's Dad. We both want shirts for the child we don't have a shirt for right now, but it may have to wait.

July 13

Both girls had games last night. Sarah had two games, one at 6:00 and one at 8:00. Her team did lose both games, 8-3 and 13-7 but her coach may take these games to the board and see about forcing the team they played to forfeit. See, if a team is short a player, they can call up from the league lower than them to get a player. In Sarah's league, Twilight, that would mean calling up someone from "A". The opposing team did call up someone from "A". However, they were not short and the gal batted in the first game and played/batted in the second game. This meant the gal who was really in uniform and able to play had to sit the bench. She batted as well, but then she was on the team. Sarah ended up striking out twice in the first game and popping up once and flying out once. In the second game she hit a double, a single and walked twice. In the first game she caught all but the last two innings, and then swapped positions with the right fielder because she needed a break from the catcher's gear. It was very hot and humid yesterday, especially when the game started. She did play catcher all of game two and did very well.

Rachel's game was at 8:00. They won,l 16-6. Rachhel got on base every time she was up, but walked each time. Honestly, I did go back and forth between the two games at 8:00, but I saw more of Sarah's game because Sarah has fewer games than Rachel, so I don't get to see her play as often.

Surprise!

I received a surprise in the mail last week. My class reunion is October 1. I graduated from high school in Fresno, California. I have lived in Illinois for over 20 years and have not been to Fresno since my last class reunion. I have been wanting to go to Fresno for a long time for a visit. Not just my friends, but honestly mostly my parents. My parents are getting up there in age, honestly, and I really want to see them! :) We had planned a trip a few of years ago, but it fell through because part of the money we had set aside for the trip we ended up having to spend on a new water heater because our basement flooded and killed our water heater. :( Anyway, I had told my mom that I was thinking of coming out for the class reunion. My parent surprised me by sending the money for me to make the trip! :) The kicker about the whole thing is my girlfriend since childhood will be flying out on October 8, and we are thinking, 'can I catch the same flight back as Micki?' It would save a trip to Indianapolis for Jack and it could be fun to fly back with Micki. Now I can start seriously looking into the trip. Now I really do need to get 'Amazing Grace' done so I can give it to Mrs. Gardner while I am there. I don't think I'll have a problem finishing it, because it does seem like a pretty fast stitch.

Also, Jack and Rachel are going to go to Dallas in mid-August. Sarah and Rachel have gone to Dallas to see Jack's sister, quite a few summers since Jack's cancer surgery in December 2006. This year Jack and Rachel are going. Sarah is working at Thunderwolf and Jack really wants to see his sister. They will be taking the train down. We had set aside some money for the trip, so it is exciting for the two of them.

Stitching

I have been working soly on 'Amazing Grace' since my last post. The picture was a bit crooked, but not so bad that you can't get the idea of what it is looking like. The thread I am currently stitching with is DMC 3326. It is the last of the colors that goes in the flowers between the verses. It should help me not have to frog any more!! I stopped stitching on verse one and started stitching the part of the picture on the left. It has a huge "A" with an angel as part of the cross bar for the "A". The reason I did this is because I was suspecting that the verse was off by over two and I thought that if I stitched the part that had actual x's it would help me figure that out for sure. I was right. I think what made me get off was that 3326 goes in part of the flowers between the verses, and I didn't remember that when I started stitching the verse. I started the frogging of the verse a few nights ago when I was having trouble sleeping. I am not sure why I had such a terrible time trying to get to sleep, but it did give me time to frog! I probably have about 30 minutes of frogging left.

I had to order some of the DMC 3326 (very light pink) and Kreinik 002 Fine (#8) braid (gold) for the pattern using paypal. I originally ordered it as I started the pattern, but it wasn't here by the end of that week, so I had Jack check on the order. What had happened is Sarah and Jack had ordered something for Sarah that was to use what was left on the paypal account and then our credit card. That order, even though it was placed the day after the 1-2-3 order, cancelled out the 1-2-3- order. So I placed the order again. This time it arrived within the expected amount of time. I have stitched with the Kreinik. I like the way it looks and I also like the way it stitches. This metallic thread doesn't seem to argue like some of the other metallic threads I have used.

In my opinion poll, the majority of the people who responded put that I should use DMC 632 and Light Effects 301, so that's what I will do. I was so glad that you all responded. Thank you! :) I am not sure when I will start stitching on the Precious Moments again, since I now really need to finish 'Amazing Grace' on a deadline, for sure!

I found some tape called 'Stitch Witchery' that I can finish up the Army bookmark with. From what I understand, this is a two sided type of tape that I can put between two pieces of material (one being the stitched bookmark, one being the bookmark to hide the under-stitching) and it will hold the two together once ironed. I will be doing this soon and then sending the bookmark to Wes. The bookmark is stitched on a cream or ecru color, and the under bookmark I have is white. I'll go ahead and stitch Wes's name on what is the backside of the bookmark.

Have a great summer everyone!

What A Summer!

2011-06-18T13:56:00.000-07:00

I have had an interesting summer so far. Both girls have started their softball seasons, Rachel just turned 12 a few of days ago, Sarah is volunteering at Thunderwolf (the stables in the area), Jack getting use to his leg, and then of course me getting back into the routine of the YMCA and then there is my taking care of the house and not to mention my stitching!

Rachel's softball team has had four games thus far. They won the first three, big. All three ended on the mercy rule. The fourth game, Friday night, Rachel was actually calle4d up to the league above her age group because they needed another player and Rachel has greatly improved from last year. Her coach (on her league) has told her she earned the first base position. She is doing very well with it. I am so glad that we were able to get her the glasses she needed w/ the prism because now her double vision is under control. In game one she knocked in three RBI's, game 2 she knocked in two and game three she knocked in two. Last night she walked once and stuck out once. The team she was on last night lost 13-3. Her team (B league) lost 11-8. Part of me wonders if Rachel hadn't been called up if B league would have won? She has her fifth game tonight. Not sure who she is playing.

Sarah's team has had three games so far. They have lost all three. Sarah is the catcher and has been playing that position for several years. Sarah has had several hits and a couple of RBI's as well. The problem, I believe with Sarah's team, is that they didn't get very many practices in before the season started. I think there were a grand total of three before the first game. She has a double header tonight against John Deere.

We had been telling Rachel for the past year that she could have her first cell phone when she turned 12, and that was what we bought her for her birthday. It is a good thing, we believe, because if she is away from the house and needs us, we can be right there. We bought her a Dairy Queen Birthday cake. It was finished in short order. She had the last piece The day after her birthday.

So far this summer Sarah has spent the majority of every day at Thunderwolf. She loves horses and started volunteering out there in Spring of 2010. She is very good with the horses and has her favorite horse that she likes to spoil. His name is Gypsy. She has talked with her boss and will be riding this horse in the Labor Day Parade this year. The funny thing to me about the name of Sarah's favorite horse is when I had a horse before we moved from Fresno years ago, her name was Gypsy.

I am excited because my girlfriend since childhood is going to fly out this fall. I have not seen her for a couple of years and I miss her so very much! Also, I am looking into the possibility of flying home in late September and going to my class reunion. It is hard to believe that it has been 30 years since I graduated. If I do this, I may see if my girlfriend and I can maybe fly back the same flight. That would be so neat to me!

Jack is still adjusting to his prosthetic. All things considered, I think he is doing very well. He is getting around fairly well. He has therapy several times a week. He is just doing Physical Therapy right now, but will be starting therapy in the pool soon. And he has also startede swimming at the YMCA occasionally.

I have worked quite a bit on my Precious Moments Girl for my Great Niece. I like how it is looking. All of the squares between the colored squares call for white. I want to finish all the colored squares before I do the white ones. I had started to do the girls skin, but then Sarah told me that she thought it was too shiny. I wasn't sure about it so frogged that. Had only put in eight or ten stitches of skin, so wasn't too bad. Thought before I did the skin, I'd put up a poll and see what you all thought. Jack and Rachel like choice #2 the best. The girl is to look part Caucasian, part African American. The picture of the baby here is my Great Niece. The poll is at the top of my blog. Would appreciate it if you would give me your opinion. The choices 1 through 6 are stitched on the piece of material to the left in this paragraph. Choice one is the top, choice 6 is the bottom. My stitching on choice 5 was a bit wide, but I think you can get the idea.

Meanwhile, I did start stitching a pattern I am doing for Mrs. Gardner. She is the mom of my long time girlfriend. Micki and I have been friends since we were eight years old. She has been through everything in my life with me. I'd have to say she is my best friend. I have another great friend that I have made since moving to Danville thirteen years ago, and she is my best local friend (Tina). I taught her how to stitch. But, Micki and I have been friends for over forty years. The picture on the right is the one I scanned when I originally started this blog post. I had to stop though because I needed help figuring out how to post the poll for the colors I should use in my Precious Moments picture. For a number of reasons, I was unable to get back to it right away. The picture on the left is my progress as of this morning. I think I may have to frog at least a few stitches in the flowers between the verses, but am not sure about that yet, so am leaving that part alone for now. I placed an order with 1-2-3 Stitch for DMC 3326 and Kreinik Fine (#8) Braid #002 Gold. I was flat out of 3326 and have never used Kreinik. I have heard a great deal about it, so we'll see how it goes. Jacked checked for me this morning and the order was confirmed. If this order is like the other things I have bought at 1-2-3, it should be here in the next couple of days.

That is basically it for now. Have a great day, everyone!

Long Promised Pictures

2011-06-04T12:30:00.000-07:00

I finally have the pictures that I promised. Sarah looked absolutely beautiful for Wes's Senior Prom. I tried several times to crop the picture so you see more of them and less of the cars and back yard, but I couldn't get it to save. GRRRR! Anyway, I think you can see that they look great together and that Sarah is absolutely beautiful. She looks much older than 16 to me.

Wes graduated from high school a couple weeks after the prom. Here is the pictures os him and then him and Sarah at his graduation. Jack and I are very proud of Wes. He will be reporting to Army Boot Camp at Fort Sill (I think is the name) in Oklahoma (I know) in just a couple of weeks.Here is a picture of my Precious Moments project I am working on for my Great Niece. The plan is to give it to her Mother (Danielle) for her daughter's first birthday in early December. I have done a little work on it since I scanned this a couple of days ago, but only on the white part of the pillow.

My Pastor surprised me last week. He is a cross stitcher too and we often 'talk shop'. The other day he gave me a new DMC cross stitching Bag. The one that has compartments in it and an ability to hold several threads on the stitch bow system. (I think its called). I had noticed his bag and we started talking. A few days later he had to go to Hobby Lobby and he ended up buying me one. I use bobbing instead of stitching bows, but I think I can make it work for carrying my supplies. Who knows, I may decide to try the bow system and see if I like it better than the bobbin system! The bag does seem to carry everything I feel I need very well. It looks like everything will stay clean and so forth, since it zips shut.

Yesterday I went to Rachels school for an Honors Assembly. She was on the Honor Roll (again) this quarter. Her report card will be 5 "A"'s and 1 "C". The "C" is in Math. This report card is basically the same one she recieved the other three quarters of school. Sarah had said Rachel was on the Honor Roll because it was Middle School. My response to that is if that was true, why didn't she get on the Honor Roll 4 quarters in a row at that school? Next school year Rachel will be in seventh and Sarah in eleventh. I don't know exactly what Sarah's grades will be. The last day of school is Wednesday and Sarah has finals in her classes on Monday and Tuesday.

Well, I need to be getting some housework done, so I must sign off. Everyone take care in this heat and have a great weekend.

Feels Good to be Able to Report Good News!

2011-04-19T10:45:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

I have so much news and the majority of it good. It feels so good to be able to report good news after being under what appeared like a black cloud of bad news for so very long.

Jack had had to go to a nursing home when he was released from the hospital in mid-January because he was being given an IV antibiotic to kill the staff infection he had in his incision. He was there for exactly two months. He went to the nursing home January 11 and came home March 11. What he had to do to be able to come home before the construction on the house was complete to make it 'disabled friendly' was climb stairs with his one leg. Jack did that a full week before he came home in the therapy department. Then it was the red tape of doctors, insurance etcetra.

During the last three to four weeks at the nursing home, the doctor had put him on something called a 'wound vac', which on one hand was aggravating because he had a vacuum like machine attached to his stump, but on the other was good because it made the rather large tunnel in the wound get smaller. When Jack came home the wound vac was still attached, however, because the tunnel had narrowed so much, he was quickly removed from it. Originally the tunnel was about 7 or 8 cm and the wound on top that the tunnel came off of was about the size of a quarter. Now, the tunnel is gone completely and the wound on top is about as big around as a #2 pencil led. No drainage in the wound at all any more, which until a couple of weeks ago, there was drainage every day.

Jack and I went to the surgeon's office yesterday. While we were there, the prosthetic company came and gave Jack a smaller stump shrinker. He is so excited, as am I. Jack was officially cut lose from the surgeon and was told that he could be fit with his prosthetic leg in two weeks. He is so anxious to get about and do things. He has basically had to spend 98% of his time in bed since November 2008. He hasd gained a good amount of weight and he wants to start going to the YMCA with me and start exercising and maybe get some of the weight off. He is so proud of me for my weight loss, he wants to see what he can do to lose some of his weight.

The construction on the house started the week after Jack came home. First thing done was the tearing down of the back porch, which we consider a kitchen extension since that is where we had our refrigerator, standing freezer, cabinet that held dry goods, and our plastics cupboard.
That happened on a Friday. The Monday of the next week they poured the concrete for the footing of the foundation of the new room. After the cemente had cured, they put the brick to form the foundation. After that cured, they came and put in the walls and floor, then the outside door, window and the door to the basement. The electrician came this week and put in the plugs and wiring for ceiling fixture. The doorway that goes from the kitchen to the dining room was widened this week as well. The roof on the back half of the house is complete. They still need to put the inside of the walls on the new room, put a new roof on the front of the house, widen the doors that go from the kitchen to our room and our room to the bathroom. The also have to still put in the concrete driveway and then the ramp. They will also be painting the room.

The other thing that has needed to be done around here for the longest time is new ceiling fans in both bedrooms and the dining room. All three ceiling fans had died. Last summer was miserable around here because we had only one working ceiling fan and it was in the living room. Jack and I were finally able to purchase new ceiling fans. We hired an electrician to install them last week. It seems odd, in a good way, to have a decent amount of light in my dining room! I am so use to it being dark in that room!

On the stitching front, here is my finish I finished just a day or two after Jack returned home. It is 'Footprints in the Sand'. I am having to show it to you in two pictures because it is so long. I did this on 32 count evenweave. I must say that I have never worked 32 count before and I am not sure I ever will again. It was very frustrating! I know alot of it was words, and maybe that is why I was frustrated, but still... I have no problem with 28 count but 32 count is so much smaller!

The material and light effects color that I ordered from 1-2-3 Stitch arrived last week so I can start the Precious Moments picture for my niece's baby, but I want to finish the bookmark form Wes first.

I am working on a bookmark for my daughter's boyfriend, Wes. He has enlisted in the military and reports to Army Boot Camp in mid-June. He graduates from high school in May. Jack and I are very proud of him. He treats Sarah like she is the most important person in the world. They met last summer when Sarah started volunteering at the stables at the edge of town. They started dating just a couple weeks before school started. It is hard for me to believe we are in the fourth quarter of school. Even with everything this house has been through, the past few months seemed to have flown by.

Wes just arrived here, Sarah got home from softball practice about 20 minutes ago. Wes is now massaging Sarah's feet. She plays on the high school junior varsity team. She plays right field most of the time on this team, but she is the back up catcher. Sarah is also signed up to play summer softball. She has played since she was nine years old. She is considered the best catcher in the league. I haven't heard from Sarah's summer coach yet.

Sarah's shoes for Wes's prom arrived in the mail today. She is very jazzed. She loves the look of them. I would never wear something like them, first of all, they have a picture of a skull on them. Secondly, they are very spiked heels. The dress is probably ready. I took Sarah over to Deena's. She can alter clothing. Deena took my clothes in when I had lost so much weight. She also altered my husband's suit as well as my step-son's suit for my son's wedding.

Rachel is at softball practice right now. She also plays summer softball. She started playing 5 years ago. I heard from her coach a couple of weeks ago and this is her second week of practice.

As far as my running for Alderman in Ward 4 (seat on the City Counsel) I lost. When I originally put my hat in the ring, no one else had. The second person who ran was the husband of someone who was Alderman a few years ago. A good number of people voted for him because they liked his wife. Well known name...he is the person who won. There ended up being a third person on the ballot; a guy who changed his mind about running after he filed, but never took his name off of the ballot. He got 61 votes. I lost by 70.

Our van was hit-and-run at the grocery store a week or so ago. The damage wasn't horrible. Enough that the front passenger door 'popped' when you opened it, but it would open. Sarah and I discovered it when I picked her up from school. I filed a claim with the insurance company and Jack and I took the car to the repair shop Monday. We picked it up Wednesday. They not only fixed the damage from the hit and run, but we had the shop put a new mirror on the left side (that mirror was not wanting to stay in position), fixed the latch on a window which didn't want to work, and figured out and fixed why my brake lights had an attitude, sometimes working, sometimes not. Between the deductable and what we added on, we only had to pay a little over $311. I don't think that is too bad!

Well, I need to be signing off. I promise, I won't wait forever to update again. Take care and happy stitching.

What A Crazy Month!

2011-01-15T05:50:00.000-08:00

Hello, Everyone!

I do apologize for being so scarce on the computer in the last month. Things have been on the crazy side. Besides the normal craziness of the holidays, I mean. Honestly, Christmas itself wasn't that bad, craziness wise. We got each of the girls one gift from us, each at about the same price. Sarah got a Visa Debit Card, and Rachel got an MP3 player. I made 25 pounds of fudge and gave probably 23 pounds of it away. Jack did cook a big Christmas dinner because we were thinking that our son from Chicago would be here, but as it turned out he and his friends were unable to make it. That was a real bummer.

I made out like a bandit on Christmas! I got some cross stitch material, a new purse, earrings, two complete outfits, a scarf, glove and hat set, a robe, and sweat top and bottoms, a wallet, and a bracelet. :) I think there is something else that I am forgetting at the moment, but that is what I get for taking so long to post about Christmas! :(

The girls got their semester report cards a couple days after returning from Christmas break. Sarah got 2 A's, 3 B's and 1 C. Rachel got 5 A's and 1 C. Neither report card is anything to be angry at. They both did very well. We are proud of both of them.

Stitching wise, I did completely finish 'The Lord's Prayer' the day after Christmas. A friend from church took a picture of it for me. Yeah! I then started a bib for my Great-Niece that was born December 5. I was having trouble finishing it because I am out of 301, rust, the color to do the backstitching of the nipples of the bottles, but fortunately my best friend in town had some, so I was able to finish it completely a couple nights ago. I will get it in the mail to my niece in the next day or two.

A few days ago I started 'Footprints'. The pattern says to do it on 32 count material. I had some that I was RAKed awhile back, so I decided to try it. Thanks to Deborah from ILCS, I have the proper size needle, and gold to boot! I like how it is looking so far. I am having trouble with threading those needles though. Is there a trick to them? I can do it, but it takes quite a bit of time, most of the time.

Here are a couple pictures of 'Footprints'. The reason I have been able to get so much stitching done is that Jack had ended up in the hospital again January 3. The incision of his stump became infected and thus he needed intravenous antibiotics. His regular doctor in Champaign was not getting the infection cleared up. It took another doctor jumping in and doing something before he started improving. That something seems so simple when you think about it. He saw a puss pocket and popped the pocket and drained the area. You would think that his normal doctor would of thought to do something so simple. I moved him to a local nursing home to finish out his intravenous antibiotics and taking care of the bandaging of his wound. Not to mention the 70 mile round trip with these gas prices as well as getting him some therapy to maybe go up/down the stairs via crutches. The antibiotics finished yesterday, but now we have the therapy to get him strong enough to get up/down our stairs with crutches.

I did the baby bib while Jack was in the hospital and started 'Footprints' since I moved him to the nursing home. The first picture was taken on Jan 13, the second picture was progress since then, taken today. I feel good about my progress, I guess. Since I moved him to the nursing home I have felt comfortable enough that I could do other things besides sit and stitch. The girls and house need attention.

Poor Sarah has been suffering with a migraine headache off/on since Friday. I took her to the doctor today. I am home with her today. I have caught up on my chores around the house a couple of days ago, including laundry. Last night for dinner I made meatloaf, homemade mashed potatoes, and sweetcorn. It felt good to cook for the girls. They appreciated it too. They both said a big, "Thank you". I have been so torn inside by Jack being in the hospital out of town. How does a person take care of everyone at once when they are in different places? Now that Jack is in town, I feel better, much better. There is a big difference between 6 miles round trip and 70 miles, for sure!!!

Take care until next time, everyone!

Another Friend's Give Away

2010-12-16T09:08:00.000-08:00

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!!

2010-11-28T13:50:00.000-08:00

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

2010-10-18T10:38:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-14T12:04:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-10-08T17:20:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-05T13:24:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-07-16T13:56:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-08T08:22:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-06-03T12:12:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-17T09:10:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-05-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-30T14:28:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-09T16:49:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-22T08:33:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-03-08T06:16:00.000-08:00

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

2010-03-02T12:30:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2010-02-18T05:51:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-02-01T11:16:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-22T15:27:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-18T05:41:00.000-08:00

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.

Winery Hot Pad is Done!

2010-01-15T06:06:00.000-08:00

Hello All! Hope this finds everyone well.

I wanted to let everyone know that my Winery Hot Pad for my Son and Daughter-in-Law is done! I finished it a couple of nights ago, but because my 15 year old is such a computer hog, have been unable to post much of anything, much less spend time blogging! I still need to put the material in the hot pad parts, but it doesn't look too terribly hard. I also need to wash it before I put it together.

I have also been stitching on a baby bib for a new baby on the way of a friend. Her son is expecting his first baby in April. The bib will have four baby chicks on it. I have two done so far and was plugging away on number three, when discovered an oops on number three so now I need to frog. Grrrr! I was going to scan the bib this morning to show you, but decided against it because of the oops. Also, I am getting things ready to stitch IS 40:31. Jack has wanted me to stitch this for three years now, and I am finally going to fill that request!!

I have been oohing and aawing over things on patternsonline.com for quite awhile and earlier this week I finally opened an account there and established a wish list and even bought a pattern! The pattern I bought is of a cat plaubf in the toilet paper and it says, "My name is Stop It, whats yours?" We have had cats play in toilet paper so when I saw it I knew it would be perfect for our house.

Our snow is going away right now, it almost felt warm outside when I let the dogs out to do their business. But, with it being the middle of January, I am sure we will have more here. And soon!

Rachel brought her report card home and had straight A's. She was very happy and we are very proud of her. On her first report card this year she had two B's, but got the grades up in those classes. Sarah had one A, four B's and one C. For high school we don't think that is too bad. We are proud of her as well. That is a B average.

As far as my Aunt passing, I e-mailed my cousin a memory of her and it was read at her service. From what I understand, her service was very nice.

I am needing to go for now, Rachel needs me!

Christmas Season 2009

2009-12-27T09:02:00.000-08:00

Hi there everyone!

I am sorry it has been so long since I have posted. A great deal has been going on here. If I remember right, the last time I posted was right after Thanksgiving. Things have been good here this Christmas Season.

Rachel's appointment in Chicago about her eyes was a long one. She and Jack left here early that day, dropping Sarah at school and then heading up north. The storm that was going on in the Upper Midwest at the time, missed between here and Chicago, so driving in bad weather was averted. They arrived at the hospital in plenty of time. Jack did have a long walk from the parking area to the building, but once in the building, Rachel snagged a wheelchair for him. Matthew, Rachel's oldest brother, met them at the hospital. I finally got a call about three hours after the appointment started, they were being given a short break, while Rachel's eyes were being dilated for the next phase of the appointment. I was told everything was going well at that point. The next time Jack called was about three hours later when he had arrived at Matthew's apartment to drop him off. Matthew only lives about a fifteen minute drive away from the hospital.

In that call, Jack told me that the doctor wants Rachel to see another doctor in Peoria, which is only an hour from here. This doctor would place some sort of prism in Rachel's glasses to help her eyes see single instead of double. If the prism in her glasses work then she would have that prism surgically placed on her eye. If it doesn't work, then we would be back to step one, which is what do we do now? We need to get hold of this doctor and make the appointment to see him, but he was very hard to get hold of during the Holidays!

Jack had to start taking over a great deal of the driving duties because my glasses did a disappearing act in the middle of the night in early December. We still haven't found my good glasses, (I am wondering if our cats played hockey with them!!) but we did find a pair that I can see well enough to drive in during the daylight hours. I discovered I can see well enough to stitch, but not do much computer time. This also means that Jack doesn't really want me to drive when the roads could possibly be bad, which that is fine with me! Also, in a weird way this is a good thing because it is making Jack have to do more moving around. Because of his sciatic nerve pain he spends a great deal of time off his feet.

I do understand that it can be painful for him to be on his leg too much, but I think he needs to be on it a bit every once in awhile. The sciatic nerve problem isn't the only reason he stays off his feet, he has been 'nursing' a bad wound he got on the bottom of his foot Presidential Election Day, 2008. He actually had to have surgery the day after the election. We took him to the Emergency Room after Jack picked me up from being an Election Judge. They started surgery the next morning at 7:00. He was going to the wound clinic weekly until September because of that. The area has reopened and so now we are doing the same things the wound clinic was doing. We are discussing that he will probably need to go back about his foot, but he is trying to delay it until after January 1, because that is my birthday. He wants to be home on my birthday, not stuck in the hospital.

The girls finished up their second quarter of school when Christmas Vacation started. We don't know their grades yet, for certain though because they didn't get their report cards. Rachel thinks that she has straight A's. This would not surprise us, as that has happened most of her quarters of schooling. Sarah isn't really sure of her grades. The last two days before Christmas break, Sarah had to take semester finals. She thinks she did well on her exams, but isn't sure what the percentage of the test will be on her final grade for the semester.

Rachel was in the children's Christmas program at church. She played a Shepard because she is one of the tallest kids in her age group. She did a great job. Jack did take a picture of her in her shepard outfit, but hasn't downloaded the pictures taken yet. GRRR He wants more pictures on the camera before he does any downloading.

On the stitching front, I did finish Sassy about a week before Christmas. I was having trouble scanning her because of the size of the finished piece. Jack took a picture for me, but it didn't turn out right, so Tina ended up taking a picture of her the day we opened presents. She turned out so great!

On Monday of the week before Christmas, Jack and I were talking about what to give Tina and Harold for Christmas. Jack asked me how much of Sassy I had to do and I went and got it and showed him. At the time, I had most of the cloud above her head, some of each color blue, her eyes and the outlining of her left paw. I told Jack that if I was allowed to just sit and stitch that I would be done by Friday. Well, I felt like the week was against me because on Tuesday and Wednesday both we were having car problems. Because of those I was getting little done. On Friday morning I woke up at 6:30 and counted exactly how many X's I had left (plus the eyes and outlining). I had 782 X's to complete. I then sat down and began to stitch. All of the X's were in the actual cloud. Jack dealt with whatever the kids needed as well as everything else. I was only taking short breaks here and there for eating, bathroom, etc. When it came time to outline her left paw, I pulled up the actual picture of her and saw how her paw was laying. Then I drew the outline on my pattern. I originally stitched the outline in the color Tina had picked out for this. Jack looked and thought that the color was too bold for that, and so then he picked out a softer color. I then frogged the first color and replaced with the second color. Then it came time for the pupils of her eyes. I started to do them with black beads as was originally discussed. I was using a size 28 needle for this and the bead was too small to fit over the eye of the needle and broke. I then tried threading an actual beading needle and was having issues finding the eye. Jack started helping me thread the needle using the magnifying glass and then realized that the bead was too small to represent Sassy's pupil. We then looked at buttons, but all my buttons were too big. Then we decided that it would be best for me to do the Satin stitch to fill in the pupil area. Once that was done, she looked so life like to us. Just like she was saying, "My ball!" Sassy loved her tennis balls.

Tina and Harold loved it and started crying when they saw her. They didn't know that I was done with her. Jack and I wanted to frame her, but we couldn't get to it. I was relieved that they loved the finished picture as much as I did.

I have also been stitching on a hot pad/coaster that I wanted to have done by Christmas, but missed the mark. It is for my son in California and his wife. I have told them they will be receiving a late gift. As you can see, I don't really have that much more to do. I hope to be done with this before the first of the year. Then I can start on my next project, which will be IS 40:31. Jack has been wanting me to do that one since he got home from the nursing home after his cancer surgery. I had two different patterns of the project and he finally decided on which pattern he liked better while I was doing Sassy. I could be mistaken, but I do not think it will be too hard to put the parts of this coaster together to complete it properly.

My Christmas from Jack nearly put me in shock. Jack put something on lay-a-way in April. I had no idea what it was, other than suspecting it was a piece of jewelry. I thought maybe a Mother's ring because of the time of year the lay-a-way started. But, boy, was I wrong! He had been debating himself all year whether to give the gift to me for Christmas or my birthday, since the following ring story happened from just after Christmas til the day after my birthday. Most of the people he asked opted for Christmas. I am glad that he gave it to me then! :) The picture isn't the best, but the ring is a new wedding band. See, after Jack had his cancer surgery a couple days after Christmas of 2006, (December 27th) he slipped into coma. During this coma, he and I could communicate. December 31 that year was a Sunday. I went to church with my sister-in-law (the one from Texas) and girls. It was the first time I'd left his side for more than a few minutes since he went into coma. While at the church, just as sure as he was sitting next to me, he said, "Honey, let me die!" In response, I said, "No. The girls and I need you!" A few seconds later I felt a tug at my wedding ring. I looked down and saw that my rings were broken. The wedding band in one spot, the engagement ring in another. Also my diamonds had popped out. My finger was bleeding. I refused to take my ring off. Even though the gold was poking me. On January 1, 2007, my other sister-in-law (the one from California) arrived. As a family we prayed over Jack's bed. He had started improving almost immediately upon the conclusion of the prayer. About 30 minutes after we prayed, Jack was improved enough that the doctors took him off some of the things they had him on. He was out of coma by the morning of January 2nd and well enough to be transferred out of ICU by the afternoon of the second. The eerie thing to some, but not Jack and me, is not how God worked and made him better, but that the first thing Jack said to me when he came out of coma on January 2nd was, "Did I break your ring when I pulled on it? I was so mad when you said 'No, the girls and I need you!' " Earlier this year Jack put my original wedding band in for repair. He wants it to become a family heirloom. An example of how much we loved each other to our future grand children. He said that he wants our wedding bands to be looped together, by his band being cut, put in the circle of my ring and being re-welded.

I did get sad news a few hours ago. My oldest Aunt - she turned 84 October 21 - passed away in her sleep last night. She has been in a nursing home for several years, suffering with Alzheimer's. I started crying because at one time Aunt Dot and I were close but the last time I spent any time with her was before we moved from California and that was in December 1990. Jack helped me feel better. He told me to think of it that she and Uncle Don are finally together again and that could be the best Christmas present she could receive. Uncle Don plus her mansion in Heaven. I do feel better about her death since Jack pointed this out.

Back to the not so sad. The girls enjoyed their Christmas. Jack and I got Sarah a MP3 player and Rachel a sterling silver charm bracelet. They were very happy. Jack received a huge amount of tools. We realized how much he was in need of tools when the car broke down.

The praise report that I have is that we had a large hole in our living room ceiling and a smaller hole in the bathroom wall that needed repair. The ceiling hole happened when the roof had a leak. The leak was fixed, but not the inside damage. The bathroom hole happened when Sarah kicked out when she was straightening her hair while on the bathroom floor. I am still trying to figure that one out! I mentioned this to a church member. He mentioned it to another church member who happened to be part of the local crews to build the Habit for Humanity homes. They came over together a few days later and repaired the holes in a matter of a couple of hours. The Lord is good! :) I was worried about these holes because our heat was escaping right out them and I could just imagine the power bill! The house was warmer almost instantaneously! That did take care of some of my stress. It showed me that the issues I am stressing over will be resolved, eventually.

We are in the midst of our first real snow storm. We had received some snow three different times earlier this year, but no storm even completely hid the grass. Right now it has been snowing dor about eight hours and we have about six inches of snow. It is still falling. Rachel has been having alot of fun, going outside and playing awhile and then coming in for a warm up.

Well, I should be signing off, I have made this long enough, I just wanted to try and get every bit of news in since it had been so long since my last post. I pray everyo9ne had a great Christmas and will have a Happy New Year.

Her Body is DONE!

2009-11-28T07:09:00.000-08:00

Hello, All!

I wanted to let everyone know that I finished Sassy's body on Thanksgiving morning. I wanted to show you all that day, but I haven't been able to really get on the computer, so I hadn't post a picture. I felt so good when I finished Sassy's body, that I took the project over to Harold and Tina's to show them the project. I think I now have Sassy 85% (?) done.

Thanksgiving day went very well for us. Jack made the turkey and cornbread stuffing as well as oyster stuffing. He also made his macaroni salad and one sugar free banana cream pie and a chocolate chocolate chip pie. We went over to our friend's home and Tina made Ham, green bean cassorole, mashed potatoes, and cream cheese pie. Another friend came over and brought the bread and another couple desserts. We ate until we stuffed ourselves and tyhen some ate even more. I ate more on Thanksgiving Day than I had all week because of my stomach issue. I was gladly surprised that my stomach didn't argue about eating!

I ended up going back to the doctor about the thing under my arm on Tuesday before Thanksgiving. She said that it was soft enough that she could drain it. The doctor did put me back on the anti-biotic. When I left the office, the luimp was about the size of a dime, much smaller than it had been. It has since increased in size. It almost feels as big around as it was before she drained the lump. I believe it is now being considered a cyst. It is not painful today, although there are some days that it is painful to the touch. I will call the doctor at the beginning of the week and let her know that the cyst is getting bigger. What worries me so much about this is that Jack is not the healthiest right now and we are looking into eye surgery for Rachel in the near future. (She has evidently been seeing double her entire life. We found out earlier this year!) I need to stay healthy to take care of everyone!!!

Well, I hope everyone had a great holiday and I pray that the rest of the season goes great for you!

My Life This Week

2009-11-19T08:54:00.000-08:00

I have not been able to stitch near as much as I would like in the past week or two. I was hoping to have more of Sassy done than I do by now. I had actually put in quite a bit of the cloud around her left ear, and then started thinking I may have accidentally 'erased' part of her ear when I was creating the pattern on PCStitch, so, rather than keep going on that part of the pattern, I frogged and then started stitching more around her right eye. I am going to take a closer look at the original download of the picture onto PCStitch before I tackle all sides around her left ear. I would rather be safe than sorry. Part of me doesn't feel like I have done very much, but another part says, "yes you did"! You can definitely see where her right eye will be as well as the top of her head and even the bridge of her nose.

I have the coaster/hot plate for my son and DIL kitted up, but I do not know if I will be able to finish it by Christmas. I may take a break from Sassy after I finish her face, so I can work on the coaster/hot plate. I had originally hoped to get Sassy done by her birthday, December 1, but I doubt that can happen, since that is only 10 days away now. I may shoot for her date of death instead now, January 16.

My husband has not been feeling very well the past week or so. He has Meniere's Disease. It is an inner-ear illness that causes dizziness and disorientation. This is what originally took him out of his job. Anyway, the disease comes in spurts, what we have come to call 'spells'. They have tended to come more severely when the weather does a change. The poor man has been in a spell for basically a week! Can you imagine you world on "washer fast spin" for a week? He says things finally appear better this morning. I am so happy at this news! Each spell takes a little more of his hearing away. He will eventually go completely deaf in the effected ear.

Rachel brought home her mid-quarter report of what her report card would look like if she received it now. She was very happy. At this point, she has straight A's! I have to admit, I was a bit surprised because she keeps telling me that she is struggling in math and is having a hard time understanding it. In the past three days, she was having to show the factors of all the numbers between 1 and 100. She was having to show which numbers are "prime". She had three days because on day one, the teacher asked for 1 through 36; day two, she had to show 37 through 60; day three, 61 through 100. The assignment really frustrated her, but she did get it done. Rachel is in fifth grade.

Sarah's mid-quarter report came in the mail because she is in high school, and they don't pass the reports to the students at that level. Her report showed she is struggling in a couple of her classes. Sarah admitted that she probably needs some tutoring in those classes, biology and algebra, but she thinks she should do it by herself. Knowing Sarah, what it comes down to is she hates asking for help. She told me this morning when I was taking her to school that where she is goofing up in biology is on the exams. In the classwork part of the class, she does fine.

This week, one of her classmates has been helping her study for an exam she missed because of a migraine headache. Sarah actually spent two nights at the classmate's home because Sarah has been helping her get around lately. The poor girl massively hurt her foot on the side of the pool at the YMCA and has been on crutches. She will continue to be on crutches for at least another week. Jack and I are proud of Sarah for stepping in and helping her. It makes us feel like we are doing something right. I know earlier this year I stepped in and helped our good friends in town first when the wife had to have neck surgery and was off work for almost three months and then last month again when the wife's mother became ill and died. I think Sarah realized how important really good friends could be when I did that.

We have finally figured out what we are doing for Thanksgiving next week. Jack will make the turkey here. He is also going to make his famous macaroni salad. We will take those over to our friend's home. They are making a ham, green bean casserole, and I don't know what else. Another friend will bring a pumpkin pie and another dessert. We have not heard anything from our son, Matthew, who lives in Chicago about him coming down on the day. We kind of doubt he will though because he has no car. He sold it earlier this year. Our other son, John, lives in California, so we know he won't be coming. It would be too much of a trip for he and his wife and three young children. John's oldest is 5. The youngest just turned 2.

I have a lump under my right arm which the doctor is calling a boil. She put me on an anti-biotic last week, which she said would help it. Thus far, it doesn't seem any better. As a matter of fact, now it is painful to the touch. Before it wasn't. The lump is literally almost the size of my armpit. Jack said he has never seen a boil that big. I am not done with the medicine yet, though. If it doesn't appear any better when I finish the medicine though, trust me, I will return to the doctor!!

I do not feel bad at all. As a matter of fact I feel pretty good. I was able to get alot accomplished around the house this week. Hope everyone is doing well. If I cannot post again before Thanksgiving, I pray everyone has a great day!

What the Week Entailed

2009-11-06T13:13:00.000-08:00

Last week I showed you the progress I had on Sassy. I meant to get more done on her than I did, but I thought you would be interested in the progress I did make. So, here it is! I was able to complete the bottom few rows of the picture on page 4 and then I completely stitched her tennis ball she loved. I also have managed to outline the rest of her head, put some of the color of her face and somewhat outline her eyes. Sassy's eyes were unique in that her left eye is blue and her right eye is brown. I also managed to get the majority of the blak part of her nose done. I guess I should be proud of my progress?

This week at home first of all involved driving the girls around on Saturday night to go trick-or-treating, which was a great deal of fun. Sarah dressed up as a witch, using the little black dress she wore to the homecoming dance and Rachel was a pirate. The only props I had to purchase this year was a hat for Sarah and a sword for Rachel. Rachel's outfit was Sarah's a couple of years ago. They both looked great. A good friend of mine did take a picture of them, but hasn't downloaded the picture yet, so I cannot show you. Part of me wants a camera for things I want to show everyone, the other part of me is scared of not being able to operate everything properly since I am not very savvy when it comes to things like cameras downloading or computers in general.

On Wednesday Rachel went to chime choir practice. She really enjoys that.

Jack and I went to breakfast on Wednesday as well. We had a great time! We are going out on a date tomorrow night. The date tomorrow night requires reservations and is a Western theme. That is all I know. I had to go buy me a jeans skirt yesterday and Saarah and I are getting ready to go shirt shopping. My clothes size has drastically reduced. I bought a size 22 skirt. The last clothes I bought were 30!

This morning I swam 16 laps at the Y. I found out not long ago that 36 laps is eqivalent to a mile.

Well, I must be going. Hope everyone has a great week!!

New at Bolgspot!

2009-10-30T09:17:00.000-07:00

I am new at blogspot, but I felt like I needed to open a blog here. I hope everyone will enjoy my work and my blog. I am very new to this so it may take me awhile to actually build the blog.

I am proud of myself! I finally got the beads put on my blue bookmark that I am giving someone as a gift for Christmas. I think it turned out pretty nice. I was having trouble getting the beads on because the needle I had that a bead would fit on had too small of an eye for me to thread. I thought about it, and finally decided to try a thinner cross stitch needle - ended up using size 26 - and even though it was a tight squeeze, it worked. Thanks to a great friend in ILCS, I don't believe I'll be having that problem anymore. She gave me the tip of using size 28 needle for beading. She said she does all her beading that way, so I think I will try it, next time I need to bead a project. I put a light blue ribbon on the back of this bookmark to hide what I call the under stitching. It hid it well and I like the way it looks.

The other project I finished lately are a baby bib and a bookmark for my church's bizarre. I started work on them a few weeks ago and finished them up in short order, honestly. I had a book of baby bib patterns and was RAKed a book of bookmarks. I used one of the bookmarks from that book for the church bizarre. Maybe next years bizarre I can contribute more than just a couple of items, but I'll have to see how everything goes in life this next year before I can commit to that. I put a yellow ribbon on the back of this bookmark to hide the under stitching. I finally got the blog to work with me about adding more than one picture. YES!!!!!

I have also been working on a project I named "Sassy", because that is the name of the dog. Sassy was our best friend's dog until she passed away in January of this year. Her owners gave me a picture of her that I put on PCStitch and turned into a pattern. I recently reached the being 60% done mark. I scanned a picture of her a couple of days ago. I have done work on her since this picture was taken and feel like I am moving along faster, now that I finally finished her back. I am working on page 4 now, which has a big part of her face in it. Her face does not have NEAR the amount of colors that her back did!

I also want to do a coaster for my step-son and DIL for Christmas but haven't even started that one yet.

I am willing to accept any and all help with this blog. I am so a fish out of water when it comes to computers!

I hope everyone has a great week! I will try to post at least weekly, if not more.