Okay, I'm a bad blogger

     I haven't blogged in over a week.  I'm a bad blogger.  I"m sorry, what can I say.  Life (or Two Moons) just got in the way.  I've been busy though, with other things as well.  I have so much to say, I don't know where to start.  Boy.

     I guess today I'll start with mom.  She had a migraine yesterday from the new heart medicine they have her on.  It got rid of the chest pains, but gave her the migraine.  She's not willing to make the trade off (and I can't blame her), so her doctor took her off of it.  IDK what they're gonna do now.  He thinks one of the smaller arteries near the heart is clogged and that's what's causing the pain.  IDK what this med does that it would stop the pain, but it did.  Some days...  I'll keep you all updated.  We seem to be out of the really scary woods though.  So thanks to all who said a prayer for her.  I'm so grateful for all of you that sent their healing thoughts and energies as it has turned out well.  So thanks!!!

     And I'm so proud of myself.  On Saturday, David had a cross town shootout party.  (The crosstown shootout is a basketball game between Xavier University and University of Cincinnati.  It's a HEATED rivalry, as many of you saw on the nightly news.)  Anyways, he invited a friend of his from work, his wife, and their two kids, Amy's sister, her dh, and their two kids, Amy's mom and dad, and mom and I.  I told him I probably wouldn't go.  Too many new people for me.  But I did, and I didn't embarrass him (which was my main concern).  When I get nervous, I talk a lot (about anything that comes into my head, good taste or not) or else I go silent.  I was very quiet, but I was there for about forty five minutes.  (I went pretty late.)  He said he was proud of me, mom said she was too.  It wasn't fun for me, but I did it.  And thank God it's over, lol.  I won't be doing that again anytime soon!

     Then David and Amy went downtown for a birthday celebration.  Amy's friend just turned thirty and they were going to a little bar a block up from her house.  They decided to stay the night down town (so they could get slightly sloshed, I'm sure) and so David asked me to come over around two and let the dog out.  I said sure.  Got to his house at two oh five.  Dog wanted to play.  Not with a toy though.  Oh, no, not Vin.  When David plays with him, he gets down on his hands and knees and they roughhouse.  That's what he wanted.  I was unable to oblige him.  I can't kneel on my poor abused knees, so it was out of the question.  He kept charging me, and I kept throwing toys out of the toy basket.  He kept ignoring them.  Finally, I went into the laundry room and got him a greenie.  Then he was a happy pupper dog.  It was so cute.  I didn't get home till after four AM though!!!  I worked on Queen of Peace, and he ate and drank (he won't eat with no one around) and then I took him out an hour or so later and let him potty.  David got home about ten, and he was a happy dog.

     While at the party, I noticed something on Amy's hand.  You guessed it, she has an engagement ring!!!!!  While I'm thrilled for them, I'm a little hurt that he didn't call me to tell me.  They've decided on a very small wedding, so I doubt I'll be invited.  She's already had the big shebang, and David's very private.  He probably wouldn't want me to announce it on my blog, lol.  (I can see a big party to celebrate at a later time though.)  I'm so happy for them both.  So I called David this week and asked to talk to Amy.  He was hesitant to hand over the phone when I told him girl talk.  He said, "You don't DO girl talk," lol.  I said in this case, I do.  I offered to let her pick out the wedding sampler.  I know she'll appreciate it, unlike my sister.  So she's gonna call me some time when she has some free time and we'll look at wedding samplers.  But I gave her a big hug to welcome her to the family.  And yay, at least half of my in-laws like me!!  I'll have to try and get a piccy of them together.  Maybe at Christmas...

     Speaking of Christmas, I'm almost done shopping.  I have Julie and Rosa to get (both are pissing me off) and Cathy and Jim.  I already know what I'm getting Cathy and Jim.  Rosa and Julie though....  I say, "What do you want for Christmas," and they say, "IDK..."  Grrrrrrrr......   That doesn't help me!!!!!!  Julie may just get a payment made on her layaway at HAED and Rosa IDK.  Maybe I'll make her an ornie.  It won't be done by Christmas, but she likes to decorate, sooooo...  We'll see if either of them come up with anything for me.

     And now for the eye candy.  I have progress piccys of all four of my projects.  I'll start with my ornie as it's been my biggest pain.  Literally.  You can see it here.

  It's been hard on my hand.  I start stitching in hand, and I HAVE to hold the fabby nice and taut.  The problem with this is that my hand starts to cramp after only a few minutes.  I hate it.  So I can work for ten or fifteen minutes and then I have to take a break.  It really sucks.  So this is actually two weeks worth of progress.  IDK how I did it while watching HP and the Deathly Hallows Part Two, but I stitched the whole time.  Maybe it was crampy and I just didn't notice...  IDK.  So that's my small progress on the ornie.  I may actually get it done for Christmas, but I doubt it.

     Next up is Jesus.  You can see him here.

  He's much more manageable now that I'm working on his clothing and his hair.  No more frogging every week, yay.  It's working out well doing him on Thursdays and Sundays.  I'm getting lots done.  I really don't think he'll be done for Christmas, but shortly afterwards.  She still doesn't know about it.  He he he, and I have the rep in my family for not being able to keep a secret!!!  She's gonna be shocked, lol.  I've kept the secret since May!  I told her in May that I was getting her something for Mother's Day, but it wasn't here yet.  (This was true at the time.  The fact that I had no intentions of giving it to her till I embroidered on it doesn't matter, lol.)  She promptly forgot about it.  So I have two pressies in one for her.  I got a long white tube (the sort they store documents in) and I'm gonna roll it up and put it in there for her.  I got the idea from Jill Rensel.  She's gonna be framing my DGM and I thought I would use her idea for mom.  Of course, this means I'll be wrapping it up on Christmas day, but hey, can't win them all!!!

      Next is Tree of Stitches.  It's turning out good.  Part five was Rice Stitch, and I finished them all off.  Progress is here.

  I actually did most of this at the doctor's office.  I had an appointment with my case manager on Tuesday, and I took it with me.  I got there at about two forty and checked in with the receptionist.  She called back to let Heather know I was there.  Then she calls my name, and so I go up to the window.  She asks if I knew my appointment was at four.  I was like, "Um..."  So I decided to stay and work on ToS and so I got a lot done.  I was very pleased with it.  Part six is Cushion Stitch, which looks like it's gonna be very tedious.  You basically use diagonal stitches to make a square shape, then go over top and cross half of the square.  Kinda weird, but okay.  So I have that ready to go for next week.

     And lastly, but certainly not least, is Queen of Peace.  It's really coming along well.  I've spent a lot of time stitching on it.  Progress is here.

  Part of the reason I've gotten a lot done is because I took a couple of books over to David's house the last time I stayed overnight.  (I know, that seems really eosteric, but I'll explain.)  Okay, when I went over to David's house to dog sit last time, I took my book, The Magical Christmas Cat.  It's a compilation of four author's Christmas stories.  One of the stories in it is in the Breeds series by Lora Leigh that I'm reading again.  I got the newest one, but I have to read the older ones again first so I don't miss any references.  (There are twenty five books in the series so far...)  So I read one, and it makes reference to the librarian almost being killed and my brain said, "Halt!!"  I didn't reread that story, so where was the book.  So I went looking.  I didn't find the book (here is where it starts to get relevant), but I did find my old stitching stand.  I was looking for it a few weeks ago, and assumed I must have sold or given it away cause I couldn't find it.  It was on the table.  (I did find the books, later that day too.  So it was all good.)  So I put it together and I've been using it.  It's the one with the clamp on it.  It's supposed to hold a scroll frame up but my scroll frame was too heavy.  With my Q-snap, it leans against my chest a little, but it's not bad.  So I stitch faster two handed, and I was so excited to find it.  So that's what I've been doing the last few days.  Yay me!!!  

     Julie had a great story for me when she got home from work yesterday.  She has a co worker who has a shoddy memory (like me) and so she writes down the special every night.  She got double sat (in normalspeak, this means the hostess sat two tables at almost the same time in her section).  So she went to the first table, and looked at her order pad.  The special was written there.  Beef Chcn.  So she said (this IS a direct quote), "Tonight, the special is Beef Chinchilla."  Since they weren't ready to order yet (they were probably confused by the chinchilla reference), she told them she would greet the next table and be back for their drink order.  She said the same thing to the second table, but the man there called her on it.  He said, "Do you mean Beef Enchiladas?"  And she stood there and turned bright red.  She was like, "OMG, I'm so sorry, a chinchilla is a small, furry animal, right?"  They assured her it was all right, but they were all laughing about it.  She told Julie about it, who of course began to tell everyone else.  It's too funny not to share, lol.  I thought it was hilarious and wanted to share it with y'all (of course).

     And last but not least (again), I'm gonna be starting another SAL next year.  Of course, my three current SALs will be finished, so I can.  I'm gonna stitch Amy's and David's wedding sampler on Sundays in place of mom's project.  And I'm gonna do a SAL with Randi.  We're SALing Noah's Sub as they have just made the pattern available again.  We're not starting till her birthday which is in July, so that's good.  Gives us plenty of time to kit it up, lol.  I can hardly wait.  I LOVE Noah's Sub.  For anyone who's interested, it's available at 123stitch.com in the Stoney Creek section.  I hope this finds you all well and happy.  Until next time!!