Emails, emails, emails

      I'm drowning in them!!!  I was bouncing, and was gonna let myself bounce till I got caught up.  Then Mary saw that I was bouncing on her group, and she unbounced me.  Ooops, lol.  Oh well, I'm already bouncing again, so I'll do it this time.  I had 1103 in my Incredimail program last night when I started.  I thought, okay, maybe a hundred and fifty emails today.  Y'all, I got down to four ninety eight!!!!  I went through all the Buckeye Stitchers, Friendly Stitchers, Chocoholic Stitchers, Crazy Cool Cross Stitchers, Intricate Cross Stitch, and India Grace Designs emails.  Filled up people's inboxes like mad.  And I started The Stitcherhood emails.  Wow, I was busy!!!!  So today I'm working on them again, and I plan to stitch a little later.  Saturday, I finally got to put some stitches in  my rotation project, Impossible Love.  I'm quite sure I won't make my goal on it, simply cause I forgot I had to grid it.  Ugh, I HATE to grid, but it helps me so much, so I do it.  This time, it was worse than usual, cause I decided (Woe is me, Oh woe is me) to grid it with white so I wouldn't have to take it out.  So it's hard as heck to see where I'm going with it.  I've got in all the grid lines for the first pages across, and the first two grid lines vertically.  I'll put the next ones in when I finish up the first row of ten by tens.  I love the colors in it though.  It's a soft pinkish peachy color right now (one color is soft peach, the other is pinkish, so they sort of blend).  I love it.  I've only got about a hundred and fifty stitches in it so far.  I hope to get some more in later tonight, so maybe three fifty by the time tomorrow rolls around.  I'm trying to do all the confetti stitches first, then will fill in the colors with more stitches later.  Makes it easier for me!!

     Jesus is getting closer.  

I did some of the confetti stitching on his face yesterday, and worked on the shading in the bottom right corner.  I was watching the Pro Bowl (which had a lot of really funny moments in it), and working, so I didn't get a lot done.  A lot of my fave players were there.  AJ Green, the Bengal's WR, had the first AFC touchdown, which was cool.  And Andy Dalton, our QB, threw for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.  For a rookie, he's awesome!!  (Heck, even for a non rookie he'd be awesome.)

     I got a lot of Rhodes stitches done on Tree of Stitches this week.  

It's coming along really well, and I'm anticipating a finish on that in a few weeks too.  I did have a funny to share about the Rhodes Stitch though.  Abi Gurden's instructions mention figuring out how you want you last stitch to look and then moving on one stitch to the right/left so you'll know where to start.  I wanted my last stitch to be from top right to bottom left, so I started in the second hole (it's four holes on a side) from the left on the bottom.  I move in a clockwise direction, and so the first stitch goes down one stitch from the right on the top.  For the first ten stitches, I did the same thing:  count over three to the corner, count up four to the top corner, and count back one to the hole I needed.  Then I realized, Oh, I could just count over two and up four!!!  LOL, it was so funny.  Julie and Rosa have already laughed at me for this, so feel free to join in.  (I laughed about it too.  It IS funny, lol.)  Oh, geez, I need to get a grip, lol.

     I used some of the dark blue for my ornie this week.  

I had to pull out Lust and get the floss out of there, as it was the one I was missing (and the first color of Lust), so I took it out of the ornie floss and put it in Lust.  Luckily, I remembered what I did with it, so I could find it!!!  It's doing okay.  I finished off that pesky tree (and I had to frog it once, after I cramped my hand putting it in!!) and started on the cabin.  I have the cabin with windows to do, and then I have to do the two cardinals in front and it's done.  Then I'll start the lantern one.  It's a candle in a black, old fashioned lantern.  Really pretty.  I think it will look good on the sparkly fabby!

     I'm really pleased that Michele Sayetta didn't refund my two dollar payment to her.  I had to look up the layaway info to send it to her, cause she didn't want it.  I didn't care, and told her to put it towards her legal fees for that whole South African mess.  I got to the chart from Rachel (finally) and it was Earth by Rosario!!!  It's the only one I didn't have, and I was so excited to get it.  Now I have the series.  I can't wait to start one of them (NO, I'm not going to do that until something is FINISHED in my rotation), and I'm thinking I will start with either Water or Fire when the time comes.  Thanks so much Rachel, I love it.  I was so excited when I finally got to it, I had a serious case of the giggles.  It was the middle of the night though, so nobody heard me except Yes Dear, and she already thinks I'm nuts, lol.  Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU!!  But...  It was the regular chart format, and I try and get the large print when I can.  So I emailed Michele and basically said, "Don't you dare just send me the chart.  Tell me your paypal email so I can send you the difference."  Of course, being Michele, she didn't send me her paypal email.  So I had to look it up, and I sent the two dollars with a long note about how if she didn't charge me for a couple of charts I was gifted (and which I now think may have been pirated), I was gonna send her the funds at today's prices.  I've got an email from her, but I haven't gotten to it yet.  I'm sure she'll have something to say.  She doesn't wanna take my money cause I'm a good customer, but she WILL.  Or else, lol.  We shall see...

     And if you all can take a moment, I would appreciate it if you could say a prayer for Randi.  I know she's having a hard time right now, and even though she no longer wants to be friends, I'm still worried about her.  You don't just turn off love, and so if you could spare a second, please say a prayer that God showers her with his blessings.  TIA ladies!!

     I think that's about it for today.  Oh, and one more thing.  GO GIANTS!!!!!!!  (And one more thing.  

Yes Dear hardly ever sits in my stitching chair, but she was the other night.  She was so cute doing it, with her little paws tucked up under her chest, I took a piccy of her being so cute.  Of course, I ALWAYS think she's being cute (unless she's being bad), so I'm prejudiced, lol.  Anyways, here she is, being all cute.) 

I saw the hand of God

     It's frequent that I get frustrated with my life, and forget that God has a plan for me, and no matter what happens, I'm following that plan.  The hurts (both physical and emotional) are meant to do something, to teach me something.  But this morning, I SAW God's hand reach out and touch my life.  In a good way, of course.  I was really ticked off Sunday.  I was finally back on schedule (for me) as I had woken up about two o'clock.  I was following the score on the those who shall not be named game, and doing emails.  Then, at six thirty, the Giants game was on.  I watched the first hour, but I was so tired, I couldn't stay up.  I finally went to bed at about seven thirty thinking I would take a nap.  I slept until five AM the next day.  I was peeved, but figured, okay, sometimes it works out that way.  I was up in the morning, which I hate.  Then, this morning, I was up at seven.  I didn't get to sleep until after midnight, so I'm not happy about being up so early.  And then, I saw how God had touched my life.  (Some background, really quick.  I have a subsidy for my rent.  They figure up my income, and my utitlites.  Then, they figure out one third of my total income.  That's what I pay.  Anything above and beyond that, my subsidy company pays.  This means I pay more than they do, but they kick in the rest.  Otherwise, I could never afford to live on my own.)  At a couple of minutes before ten, there's a knock on my door.  And I'm wondering who it could be.  I look through the peephole, and it's Andre!!!  Andre is the subsidy company's inspector.  He makes sure the water runs, the toilet flushes, and the burners work.  (Oh, and he always checks the smoke detector too.)  If I hadn't had to go to sleep like that on Sunday, I would NEVER have been up!!!  Thank God for small favors.

My ill advised purchases (is there any other kind) and IHSW

     I had to go to Hobby Lobby this morning.  I HAD to.  I was out of white thread, and I needed to grid for Impossible Love.  Then I realized that while I was there, I could pick up that skein of three nineteen I needed for my ornie.  Of course, now that I have picked one up, I'll find the other one.  It's guaranteed, lol.  And then, on my way up to the register, I saw them.  New fat quarters.  And, OMG, they had lots of purple.  I couldn't resist two of them.  I got one of purple and pink variegates.  (Okay, so maybe it's a really light, pinkish purple.  I think it looks pink.)  It was seven dollars.  The other one was ten, and it's purple prints.  I LOVE both of them, and am looking for little things to make into purple ornies.  Aren't they fabulous!!!  (I should never go to Hobby Lobby.  I should make a list and send my mom.  My four dollar and forty cent purchase turned into twenty two dollars and change.  Sigh, I'm so bad at self control.  Still, I won't have to borrow for groceries (I don't think), so I'm in okay shape.)  And they are worth it if I have to eat really cheap for a week.  I can do it, if I have to.  And it looks like I"ll have to.  But that's okay.  Like I said, worth it.  Aren't they beautiful?!?

     And speaking of beautiful, I went over to David's house yesterday.  (No, he is NOT beautiful.  He's a man, for crying out loud.)  LOL, I went over for a beautiful reason though.  I got the fabby for Beach Romance!!  

It's gorgeous, imo.  I love it.  And Amy was impressed with it too.  I was NOT impressed with their speed though.  I ordered it on the sixth, and I got it on Saturday, the twenty first.  Wow, took a long time to get here.  David and Amy approved it (after I greeted Vin and made him so excited he hocked up a slimy ball of, IDK, spit, snot, drool?  Ick.  I was trying to calm him down, and Amy was staring like she'd never seen him before.)  LOL, dogs just love me.  All of them!!!  LOL, Rosa's little dog was dying to sit on my lap one night.  I was afraid to though.  YD was already stalking him every chance she got.  If she saw him sitting on HER mommy's lap, IDK what she would have done.  So I just petted him and kept YD away from him, lol.  It was too funny though.  The neighbors dogs love me too.  They had to drag the little one upstairs because he wanted to get petted more.  Another yorkie, like Rosa's Chewie.  It was funny.  

     I did go downstairs to see the cats again.  Butters came right up to get petted.  Reese stared at me for a long time, then hissed when I tried to pet her.  So I'm making progress with her.  She didn't hiss right away, only when I looked like I was going to pet her.  And she didn't bite me this time, so it's all good.  Then Amy showed me...  THE WEDDING PICCYS!!!  They are fabulous!  They've got some really great shots.  I told Amy to send me one to put on my blog.  The flowers were gorgeous, a purple and blue mix (and they were real).  I don't know what kind of flowers they were, but they were beautiful.  So when I get a pic, I'll be sure and post it here.  They apparently had a great time hamming it up for the camera.  The minister (and my brother) made a heart in the sand with brooms and then David and Amy stood inside it to get married.  It was awesome.  (The minster said David is the first groom that's ever been so much of a control freak that he had to help, lol.  Too funny!!)  I loved some of the pics.  They are just wonderful.  And they're happy about it.  You can tell from their demeanor that they're happy.  

     And now, for some more eye candy.  I worked on Rosa and Jesus for IHSW.  Like a dork, I posted photos on Saturday night, not thinking that it was IHSW and I would have to post again on Monday.  So here is Rosa. 

 I did actually get some more done on her since the last piccy.  It's not much, but some.  I finished the medium row of Kloster Blocks around the trellis.  Next time it comes around, I'm gonna do Rosa's piece.  I'll do the center Klosters, the star stitches, the trellis, and the medium Klosters.  Then I'll start the roses on mine, to see how well I can get the Bullion Knots.  I've never met a knot I liked, so we'll see how I do on these...  Nervous, lol.

     And last but not least is Jesus.  I didn't get a whole lot done on him.  It was a depressed day Sunday.  Those who shall not be named won their game, and that just sucked for me.  I didn't watch it, but I was totally rooting for the Ravens.  And then, when the Giants were on, I was so tired I had to go to bed.  So I got an hour in on Jesus, and that's about it.  There is some progress, though it's hard to see.  I"m almost completely finished with his cloak, as that's what I worked on this time.  You'll be able to see the areas I filled in if you go back to look at the other piccy, I think, but I didn't get a lot done.  The Giants did win, so I'm rooting for them in the SB.  I'm still deciding if I'll watch it though...  Maybe, maybe not.  I REALLY don't like the Giants opponent, so we'll see.  Anyways, here is Jesus in all his glory!!  

     I've got the windows open here today, y'all.  It's so nice outside.  It's fifty six degrees, and I'm loving it.  This is the first time in a long time that it's been nice enough to have the windows open.  (I may have to change clothes though.  I'm in my cami and shorts pj set, and I'm not chilly yet, but...)  We'll see what happens.  I hope you're all having a great day.  I got up at five am again (IDK what it is about that time of day.  I seem to have gotten up at five am for days now.  Ugh!!  I HATE mornings.  Ick!)  So I'm sure it will be early to bed for me tonight.  Maybe tomorrow will be more normal.  Anyways, I'm off to play for a bit.  Y'all hagd, and I'll blog again soon.  (I have a new start this week.  Impossible Love by HAED (Selina Fenech), and so I'll be posting a photo soon, I think.)

Thank you

     I asked for prayers from you all a couple of blogs ago, and I appreciate them all.  Randi has taken down her nasty, vicious attacks on me.  I feel so much better now.  It's hard to know that someone you care about is saying such horrible things about you.  If any of you would like an explanation, please feel free to email me and I can easily explain my actions.  Thanks to Randi's parents, whom I'm sure had something to do with it, and thanks to Randi herself.  I'm tired of crying over it.  (I have really shown a lot of restraint.  My original reaction was to blog about why she was saying all those things about me, but I don't want to hurt her.  So I'm just gonna leave it be.)

     I have been working on Rosa today. 

 I decided not to couch the trellis on it.  I started to do it, and I couldn't get the threads to cross over the holes.  So they were being pulled out of alignment.  So I took out the row I did, and tried to put the threads back where they belong.  I'm hoping putting the roses on them won't pull them off center.  Of course, that's for next time.  I'm working on the middle row of Kloster Blocks.  It's going well.  I have about half of it done.  When I finish it, I'll actually start Rosa's Rosa.  (LOL, I'm making two Rosas.  One for me to practice the new stitches on, and one for Rosa when supposedly I'll know what I'm doing.)  LOL, I'm talking to Rosa and she just said something about little soap roses and my brain said, "Little soap  Rosas???"  It was too funny.

     And Jesus got some love yesterday morning too.  

I got quite a bit done on him in the morning.  (I'm not usually up in the morning, but with everything that's been going on, I haven't been able to sleep.  It's been taking me longer and longer to get to sleep, and so I'm waking up later and later.  My schedule is all crazy atm.  I got up this morning at five am, and I'm usually going to bed around four am.  So I'm all off.)  I didn't work on Jesus on Thursday, because I was sleeping and because I didn't work on my ornie on Wed (because I didn't work on ToS on Tuesday).  So it's been all crazy here.  But Friday and Saturday are supposed to be rotation, so I'm back to where I should be now.  And Jesus is looking good.  I'm filling in the bits and pieces that need to be filled in.  Soon, it will be done.  Yay!!!  Mom will be so happy with him, too.  I can hardly wait to finish him up.  I'll be thrilled to be done with him.

     Tree of Stitches was fun this week.  

I finished up the Norwich Stitch (which I didn't care for), and did almost all of the Star Stitch.  I like Star Stitch.  I did a ton of them for Rosa this week, and then did a whole bunch more for ToS.  They came out so nicely.  I didn't even have to read Abi's tutorial on how to do them, lol.  I was talking to Rosa about the stitch, and I thought it was called Star Stitch, but I wasn't sure.  So I looked at the instructions on ToS, and found out it was the next stitch I was gonna do.  So I didn't have to check the instructions when I finished up the Norwich stitch.  I decided since I was using perle thread (number twelve, I think) on Rosa that I would use two strands of my six stranded floss.  They all look really good to me.  I wish my camera zoomed better as they are so pretty.  I love the way they look, just like they often portray the star over the manger in Bethlehem.

     And lastly, I got some done on my ornie.  

Eventually, I WILL get it done.  It often causes me problems though, as my hand cramps.  Sorry to complain about it, again, but it DOES!!!  I didn't do too badly this time though.  It was Wed, and I worked on it for a while, and then ToS for a while.  I got a lot more done than usual, on both.  I may try it again next week and see how it does.  I'll be sooooo happy to finish this ornie, and go on to the next one.  (The next one is in the middle of the fabby, and I'll sort of be able to put it on my Q snap.)  I would have gotten more done, but I can't remember where I put the darned thread, lol.  I was searching for the floss the other day, and now that I can't find it where I thought it was, I'm wondering if maybe a small thing didn't take it away somewhere.  She does like to play with floss and bobbins, so I wouldn't put it past her.  Hopefully, I'll find it sometime this week.  If not, it's back to Hobby Lobby for me.

     I had to go up to Kroger's this morning.  It was ugly too.  I went out at about five thirty as I was out of tea.  For those who don't know, I drink Crystal Light Peach Tea all day long.  I go through two or three sixty four ounce containers of it a day.  (And, yes, I pee a lot too, lol.)  I was almost totally out.  So I go out to the car, and everything outside is icy.  I grab the handle, and pull, and the door is frozen shut.  Frozen shut, y'all.  I was like REALLY???  I went back in the house and waited till the Kroger's two blocks up the street from me was open (a few minutes before eight, cause I honestly was too lazy to look them up and call to find out when they opened), then I walked up.  It was horrible.  Everything was covered in ice.  It's only two bocks (well, two and a half if you count the parking lot as a block.  It's huge, serving Wal Mart, Kroger's, and Petsmart) but it was so slick I had to take little baby steps.  It took me an hour, including time walking around the store and getting what I needed.  (And a couple of things I didn't need, lol.  I picked up muffins and some of those Reese candy eggs, yummy!!)  I did also stop at the bakery on the way home too.  I got a chocolate donut and a football cupcake.  Cause it's football, lol.  Y'all know how rabid I am about my football.  The girl behind the counter asked who my team was.  I told her the Bengals and others.  And she wanted to know who.  So I started listing, and she started laughing.  It was funny!

     And speaking of funny (and the first part isn't funny, but I'll get around to it), I made what I considered a funny at the bank yesterday.  I've been having trouble with my bank for a while.  It used to be People's Community Bank.  And I liked it then.  But then they were bought out by First Financial Bank, and the problems started.  First, they changed the way transfers go through.  With People's, they went through when you did it, no matter when you did it.  With First, they go through immediately from nine AM to nine PM.  If it's after nine PM, it doesn't go through till the next day.  In order to get to your account, you have to go through several what I consider useless steps.  You can't get to online banking from the main page.  You have to click a link to click a link to click a link to get to the sign in page.  I didn't like the changes, but I was dealing.  Then I had the first processing error.  My account said I was over a thousand dollars negative, when I should have had money in the bank.  Of course, no one was available to answer my call, and they don't have phone banking, where you can check your balance and all that.  I started going through, trying to figure out what had come through that put me so negative.  And finally, I figured out it was a bank error.  It said (during July) that I had been negative since March.  I knew that was baloney, so I called the bank the next day, and it was miraculously fixed.  They did some checking, and found out that the balance is unreliable between nine PM and one AM.  That's when the bank does their processing of all the transactions that have occurred that day.  And so then, I had the problem again.  I don't keep a checkbook as I don't write checks.  I just keep an updated, um, average of what I have.  I round things up when I take out, and round them down when I deposit.  So I carry a running total in my head.  At least, I try to.  So I went to the grocery store around ten at night one night.  It declined my card.  I knew I had money in the bank, and asked them to run it again.  Finally, I asked them to put the cart in the cooler and I ran down to the ATM which informed me I had insufficient funds.  So I went home, and logged on only to find that the bank was processing and showed my account being negative.  I was ticked.  The grocery store had to put everything back on the shelf, and I had to go shop again the next day.  Then, a couple of months later, it happened again.  Same thing.  I called mom, and asked if I could borrow the money and pay her back the next day.  She said sure.  She also asked if I could take a picture of it.  (I totally never would have thought of that.)  So I took a screen shot, and called the next day.  The guy I talked to said to send it in.  I did.  He emailed me back and said that it was during the processing time, and there was nothing they could do about it.  And then it happened again a couple of weeks ago.  I was TICKED!!!!  So I called the bank, explained I knew about the processing error and asked if they had a fix in the works.  He asked me to hold, which I don't mind doing.  He came back, and explained what the error was about.  I told him I knew all that, and was there a fix in the works.  He had the temerity to tell me it wasn't broken, and therefore, didn't need fixed.  At that moment, I decided to switch banks.  So I made some calls to research banks, and asked them all about that.  No one had ever heard of that, and thought it was crazy.  (I did too, lol.)  And then I got a little thingy in the mail.  

     It was from Huntington Bank, and advertised that if you brought in the little card, opened a free checking account before the end of March, and started a qualifying direct deposit, they would deposit a hundred dollars in your account.  They also have a couple of things I like.  No maintenance fees, no matter how low your account gets.  Twenty four hour grace, where if you bounce something by accident, you have until the end of the next business day to make it right without being charged a fee.  Overdraft protection is done with your saving account, and you're not charged a fee.  (I got charged a fee once at my old bank because online banking wasn't available, and I had ordered something via Paypal before going to the bank's website to transfer funds.  Luckily, the online banking system gave me a personal ID to use when calling the bank about the bank error.  They looked it up, and found out it was unavailable.  So they refunded the fee.)  But there, I couldn't link to my savings account for overdraft.  So I like that ability here.  Even if something happened, and I couldn't get on the bank site to transfer funds, I'd still be able to buy what I needed.  So I liked that quite a bit.  I decided to go with them, and get the extra hundred dollars.  (I'll probably send half of it to Rosa, and the other half to Julie as they are both hurting for money right now.  Fun, fun.  Gotta love paypal, lol.)  Anyways, I decided on Huntington, but didn't know when I was gonna do it.  Then I got my bank account statement and panicked.  Someone, I don't know who, had ripped it open and taken the account statement (with my account numbers on it) out of the envelope.  It scared the crap out of me.  First is very careful about account numbers.  They refuse to give them out over the phone.  Period, end of statement.  You have to go in, and if they don't know you well, you have to show ID.  (Learned that one the hard way, lol.)  So, my brain starts going a million miles and hour.  I'm freaking out, thinking someone has my account info, and they're gonna try and withdraw money from my account.  So I think, since I'm gonna switch my account from one bank to the other, now would be a good time to do it.  So, since I have enough money in my wallet to start a new account, I go up to Huntington (which is also closer than my old bank, by quite a bit).  There is an entryway, like all banks.  In this entryway, however, is a metal detector.  Of course, it goes off cause I have my keys in my hand.  The nice teller asks me to put my purse and keys on the shelf and go back through the metal detector.  I do, and it clears me.  Then, she apologizes, and asks me to move stuff around in my purse so they can see inside.  This makes me laugh, cause I carry everything but the kitchen sink in my purse.  I start taking things out, and finally she's all, "Okay, okay," and she's laughing about it.  So she lets me in, and I go up to the counter.  She asks if she can help me, and I say, "I came to shoot you," and started laughing.  (I can't keep a straight face, I find myself too amusing.)  She just laughs at me.  So I open my new accounts, and get all the paperwork.  Then I go to my old bank, to close them down, and talk to the manager.  I tell her what's been going on, and she really can't say anything.  She can't criticize the company she works for, so what can she do?  Luckily, she asked me if I had anything outstanding, which I did and had forgotten about.  I purchased Noah's Sub for Rosa.  She's gonna join Julie and I in our SAL.  And it was her birthday this month, and I hadn't had her down on my calendar.  Luckily, I called her the day before, and she told me it was her birthday the next day, so I did tell her happy birthday.  But I needed a gift, and she was all sappy with it.
Your friendship is enough for me, blah blah blah.  That just feels like a cop out.  So I bought her the chart so she can join us.  We're gonna have so much fun!!  So, just in case someone tried to use my account numbers, I took out everything but enough to cover the charge when it comes in, plus a couple of extra dollars.  And I closed the savings account I shared with my mom, and transferred her part of the money into her checking account.  I left my other checking open cause I didn't think Social Security would be able to change my account before Feb third.  (They can, by the way.  I called on the twentieth to change it over, and the cutoff is the twenty fifth.  It used to take almost three weeks to get changed over.  Progress!)  So now I'm all set.  I just need to go in and close out the other two accounts, and I'm good.  It sounds like I was soooooo busy, lol.  I really wasn't though.  I'm glad I've got it all taken care of though.  I feel better about it now, knowing that I don't have to worry about when I go to the store and stuff, and that even if someone does access my account, they can only get thirty bucks out of it.  Relief!!!!  I guess, all in all, it's been a good day.

     Whew, I really talked your ear off.  If you got through it all, grats to you and thanks for listening.  I guess I just needed to talk today!!!  I hope you all had a great day, and are having a nice evening.  I'm gonna go to bed in a few.  I've been up since about five AM.  Yuck!!  Now if I can just get to sleep.  And maybe without tears tonight, now that I feel better about the whole internet situation.  Y'all hagn, and I'll bbs with more of my adventures!!!

Eye Candy, Whoo Hoo!!

     I have eye candy today, yay.  I took a piccy of everything, cause I can't remember the last time I took piccys.  I've been very busy frogging Rosa.  I spent hours frogging and redoing and frogging and redoing...  The magazine made some changes to Vicki's pattern, so I kept trying to get it right and failing.  Finally, I figured out they had changed the pattern and notified Vicki.  She sent me her version (which is the correct one), and suddenly, my borders are matching up in the right place.  I was up all night, and I finally got to bed around one PM today.  I have something on my mind, and have had for several days.  It all started Thursday night, but I was dog sitting over the weekend, and I had somewhat of a handle on it.  Today though, I just couldn't get it under control.  So we'll see what happens with it all.  But I got a lot done on Rosa.  I had to frog the outer blue border, the middle blue border, the outer star stitch border, and the inner blue border.  It was a pain, but there was a MAJOR happy dance when they started meeting up and being in the right places.  I even jumped up and down.  Ouch!!!  So no more jumping up and down, lol.  But I'm really pleased with the amount of progress I got done.  I wanted (and it's possible, but not likely) to finish up the trellis for this rotation and start on the other Rosa (I'm doing two, a practice one for me and a real one for Rosa).  I've got the trellis lines in place, now I need to couch it, which is gonna be a pain.  Every intersection gets a couching stitch!!!!  So it's gonna take forever.  And I only have Friday and Saturday to work on it, so we'll see how I do.  (If only I hadn't had to frog so much of it!!!  But thems the breaks, sometimes.)  She's looking pretty, and I'm happy I figured out how I got so far off.  

     Next up is my ornie (this is the one piccy I think may be the same as last time). 

 I put in a few rows last week, but can't remember when I did my last update piccy.  I'm really liking how the dark evergreen is coming out.  It looks just like an actual evergreen, and so I'm happy with the color I picked to do the trees in.  It's perfect!!  I like the opalescent fabby too.  I got an email from Lauren of Sassy's Fabbys the other day, about my other opalescents.  She just now got the fabby from her distributor.  It was promised in October!!!  So I answered her and said that's cool, just to let me know how much she owes me.  I told her I had sent her an email too, and if she got it, to just ignore it.  I know her mom (I think) has been having some health problems, so I don't mind that she isn't caught up.  I told her in October whenever she got the fabby was good, and I stand by that.  This opalescent (which came from Anne D., thanks Anne) was sort of a trial run to see if I liked using it.  Since I liked it, I'm doing my Celtic Ladies on opalescent.  The fabby I got for the wedding sampler is opalescent too.  I can't wait to get it.

     Okay, up next is my Portrait of Christ (previously called Jesus).  

He's getting there.  I got most of the rest of his hair done at David's house this week end.  (More on that later.)  I'm starting to get excited for the finish.  I have the one overs to do and some bits and bobs here and there.  I have a few bits of his cloak, and a little bit of hair on the right side of his neck.  Then there are some little bits here and there in his face (especially along the hairline), and he's done.  Finito, whoo hoo!!!  And honestly, I can't wait to be done with him.  This project has caused me so many problems with the almost constant frogging.  I just couldn't seem to get his face right, no matter what I did.  I just kept putting things in the wrong place!!!  But he's getting close to being finished, and so I'm happy about that.  I'm sure mom will be too, lol.  She's been waiting years for him.  So a slightly premature happy dance here.  Oh, and I have to do a little bit of bsing, too.  I almost forgot to mention that.  It's around his eyes and nose.

     My last WIP is Tree of Stitches. 

 It's been so fun to do this project.  And when Vicki and I were talking this morning, I was able to mention several specialty stitches that she could use in her project that she's designing.  (I mentioned the Cushion stitch first.  It's my fave.  I just love the way it looks.)  So that was nice, to be able to put in some useful suggestions.  I'm loving the color I chose for this too.  The dark and light greens are so pretty.  It's turning out beautifully.  Norwich Stitch is the current stitch, and while I don't love it, I can tolerate it.  (It's the first stitch that I haven't really enjoyed, although the eyelets got tedious as I was stressing while doing them.  (I was in the hospital with mom that night.)  But I don't hate them either, like I do French Knots.  I actually just totally skipped the French Knots, cause I totally hate them.  And my tree looks good without them, lol.  BTW, yes, I am going to be filling in that part to the left of the current, um, branch (for lack of a better word).  I'm working from right to left, cause God forbid I should work left to right like most people do, lol.  I had to move the Q snap last week as it was too low for me to reach the top of the tree.  I still have a couple of floral stitches to do down at the bottom, but I haven't got a color picked out for them yet.  I'm thinking maybe the pink I used for Julie, but IDK for sure...

     And the last piccy I have to share (because I can't move piccys from my phone to my computer), is of Cattitude.  Yes, I picked it up from the framers this week, on Thursday.  It was a long day too.  I dogsat for David (and catsat for Amy) this weekend.  They went on a little "vacation" to Florida.  They actually got married there, on the beach.  I hadn't realized that Beach Romance was so apt.  I've got a great piccy of them standing together about ankle deep in the surf, kissing.  It looks fabulous!!  If I could post it here, I would.  But it's on my phone, and I can't transfer it.  Anyways, I left here Thursday afternoon at about four o'clock.  I needed to stop at Michael's for my skein of thread, because it's on the way to David's and Amy's house, and it's cheaper than Hobby Lobby, which is super close to my house.  (David's only about fifteen minutes away, so Michael's isn't but ten minutes.  It's not really out of the way.)  So I go in, pull out PoC, and figure out which floss I'm missing.  I hunt up the floss section, find the bin, and the darned thing is empty.  Go figure.  So back to Hobby Lobby I go.  Since David gives me some money for watching his dog, I also picked up my Cattitude.  Then I head for David's house again, only to get most of the way there and realize, "I forgot my meds," so back home I went.  It was funny, in a way, except that I was wasting gas!!  Over to Michael's, back to Hobby Lobby, over to three blocks from David's back home, back to David's.  Third time's a charm, right!!  Of course, Vin was very happy to see me.  He wiggle butted all over the kitchen, lol.  I took him down and hooked him up.  He went out and did his business.  then I went in to see the cats.  (I had only seen them once before.)  Butters, who is a chunk of cat, was amenable to me being there and gave me rubs and let me pet her and rub her belly.  Reese hates me, and everyone else.  She hissed and spat and bit me.  (I tried to pet her to see if the hissing was all talk.  Nope, she was serious, lol.)  She didn't bite hard, just a warning.  She was growling and mom (on the phone) said she sounded vicious.  Which she did, lol.  So every time I went to see the cats, I let Vin peek in the door.  And a few times, Butters came up to the cat door to sniff at Vin on the other side.  They're still nervous of each other, but I spent some time getting them acclimated.  Butters stood about two feet away and looked her fill, while Vin looked calmly at her.  So I had some success getting them used to each other.  I would just hold Vin across the chest so he knew not to lunge at the cat, and they'd stare at each other.  So I'm hopeful for better things next time we try and get them together.  I did tell David that I'm not dogsitting for him anymore.  I was talking to Amy, and he was in the background.  He asked how the weather was, and I told them frigid.  He laughed in the background.  I told Amy to tell him I would be happy to catsit for her, but next time he wanted to go off to Florida in the middle of winter, he was on his own, lol.  They're very brave.  They got married on Friday the Thirteenth, which I thought was very cool.  (It's one of my fave days of the year, partly because my paternal grandpa loved Friday the Thirteenth.)

     Now that you've read all of that, here is the piccy you've been waiting with bated breath for. 

 I think it turned out fabulous, and for now, I plan to hang it over my purple couch.  (When I finish my desert mandala, it will take up that space, but for now, it's all about the Cattitude.)  I love the mat for this.  It's a textured mat, and you can sort of see the movement of the nap in the photo.  It's like a short, short fur.  It was very soft when I touched it in the store.  This was the cheaper of the two projects I had framed, so it came home first.  I still have Cat Lessons for People that Randi made me there, but it was close to a hundred dollars for that to be framed as it's much larger.  So that one is waiting for me to save up a little bit of money for it.

      I have committed to doing a cross stitch piece for Rosa too.  I've picked out a pattern and fabby, but I'm not sure if she wants me to post it here or not.  And I think I posted here that I've also committed to doing two pieces for Freak.  He offered to pay for the second one's supplies and everything, so I said I would do both.  It's because he likes to read my freaking blog, lol.  He saw the piccys that I showed of my purchases from Witch Stitch'n'Bits, and he loved Enchanted  Web, which I bought for Julie.  He wants me to do one for him, so I'll have to buy the chart again.  God love him, he has no idea how much work goes into a big piece.  His little cross stitch is something like four by four.  I told him it would take years, and he asked if I would mind doing them both, and if I did, not to worry about it.  But I love him to death, so I told him I'd do them both.  In one of my groups, Buckeye stitchers, I think, we're doing a start something new on April Fool's Day challenge.  So I signed up for both Beach Romance and Enchanted Web.  If I remember right, it falls on a Sunday, so I'll probably do a few stitches (twenty maybe) on EW and then work on BR the rest of the day.  BR is taking Jesus's place in my SAL schedule.  And EW is taking the place of ToS.  I'm sure both will be finished before April first.  (And if not, I'll start the new ones anyways, and put them away for a couple of weeks if need be.  I doubt it will be necessary though.)  

     I know this is long, but I want to ask all of your for prayers.  I've asked Randi to do something for me, and I'm hoping she'll do it.  I don't want to go into details yet, but I may later if I have to bring some pressure to bear.  So if you'll all say a prayer that this can be settled without further unpleasantness, I'd appreciate it.  TIA, as I know my wonderful followers will help me out with this!!  I hope you're all having a wonderful night, and that the new year is treating you right!

Spam or Junk Mail? (And WIPacolypse and more)

     So I had to LOL at myself tonight.  It was too funny.  I went out to check the mail.  Now, I may not have mentioned it at the time, but before I got with my current auto and renters insurance company, I did a lot of shopping around and switching.  I was with Allstate for a while, then with Geico for six months, then with Farmers for six months, then with State Farm which has the best rates, and my agent is a really nice guy.  So I get a mailer from Farmers today.  Come back to Farmers, etc.  I didn't even open it, just put it in the recycle.  But it made me laugh cause when I got it out, I thought, "Oh, just some spam," lol.  I meant junk mail, but my head said spam.  Same difference, really...  But I thought it was too funny.  It gave me a good giggle.

     So I messed up the other day, and now I'm so glad that I did.  LOL, I called my brother up tonight to tell him he saved my butt, and he was like, "Um, how?!?"  It was funny, but he did.  He got me a gc to Larosa's for Christmas.  Larosa's is my fave local pizzeria.  Wonderful food.  It's expensive though, as they use really good quality ingredients.  So worth it though.  So he got me a twenty five dollar gift card, and I went to use it the other day.  I knew I had about fifteen dollars left on it, and I went through checkout and did what I normally do ~ pay with card.  Then, when the deliver guy got there, I had to sign and I thought, "Shoot, I did it wrong," but I couldn't do anything about it.  So tonight, I needed to go to the grocery store.  I went to transfer the funds in my account, and low and behold, they're processing.  I was soooooooooooooo pissed.  They add up your withdrawls, but don't add in your deposits.  So my account shows negative by quite a lot, even though it's not really negative.  So I have money in the bank that I can't use.  So I have no way of eating tonight.  And then, it hit me.  Since I used the wrong card last week, I still have money on my gift card.  Whoo hoo!!!!  So I called in an order to Larosa's.  Now I'm waiting for my food.  And may I just say, YUM!!!!  I can hardly wait.

     I do have some eye candy for you, but not much.  Today is the new moon (and I started this entry early this morning before anyone could remind me of it, so I'm really proud of myself for remembering) and I need to post my WIPacolypse progress.  I'm posting Jesus because I did do a little bit on him last night.  

Not a lot, but some.  So here he is, in all his glory.  And I need to go up to Hobby Lobby soon.  I couldn't go on Sunday, but sometime this week, I need to go.  I ran out of a color.  Of course, it's the color I have left on his hair for the most part.  I had a four inch piece left Sunday.  My goal for the week (and I rarely make one) was to finish up his neck and throat and start back on his hair.  So I finished up his neck and throat, and started working on his hair with the four inch piece.  I pulled out the bobbin and thought, "Uh oh," because there was only a little bit still wound on the bobbin.  I knew it wasn't gonna be enough.  I had enough for two twelve inch lengths, and a little more.  (I had two strands from when I started him last time and worked him two over two instead of three over two.)  So I used the last of the floss and now I need to go get more.  (Well, I have a little bit left on the needle.  I used up the one twelve inch length, and now I have about seven inches left of the other.)  So off to Hobby Lobby I go.  I would have gone Sunday, but they're closed on Sunday.  (Luckily, I remembered this BEFORE I went and didn't waste my time and gas.) 

     And I found out something about David and Amy.  I didn't realize it at the time when we picked it out, but they're getting married in Florida this week.  Or maybe next...  IDK...  Mom told me she asked him about it, and they're getting married on the beach while they're on vacation.  I was all excited to hear that.  I bet it's lovely.  I would love to be there, but nope, not gonna happen.  After all, if I wasn't watching the dog, they wouldn't get to go, lol.  I'm so happy for both of them, and I want to see piccys!!!  At least one of the happy couple in their finery.  It's so romantic, though.  A beach wedding...  Awesome!!  I started charting Amy's and David's names for the Wedding Sampler, and it's such a pain.  The squares are tiny, and trying to make the symbols fit in them is difficult.  I've got the A done, and am ready to start the m.  (I was lucky to find a pencil, lol.  I don't have a sharpener, but I had a couple of pencils cause my ex used to like them.  So something good finally came out of that relationship!  Whoo hoo!!!)

     Anyways, I hope everyone's having a good night, and that the new year is treating you right so far.  Happy stitching everyone!!! 

     P.S.  I almost forgot.  I committed to getting a reading (tarot cards) a while back from Roxanne.  Then I forgot about it.  So she posted a reading this week and it reminded me I had committed to her.  So I paid her, and I told her she could post it to her blog.  In some ways, it's remarkably accurate, and in some ways, not so much.  I don't put total stock in those kinds of things (I don't think everything is gonna be right) but I think there are some insights there.  And it makes me think.  I was really pleased with how it turned out.  Thanks so much Roxanne!!  (For the fiction as well.)  If anyone wants to read it, you can see it here.  And she doesn't know me at all as she doesn't follow my blog.  Some of the things she said are so right on they're scary!!

Help me out on a bet, ladies

     Danni T. and I have a bet on tomorrow's games.  She's rooting for the Broncos and the Falcons, and I'm rooting for the Steelers and the Giants.  So we bet five dollars on the outcomes.  Two fifty on each game.  So you guys root for me, okay?  Cause I'm hoping (and this is the reason that Danni is rooting against them) the Pitt wins (Steelers for the uninitiated) so they can get their big can of whoop ass out on those who shall not be named the week after.  (Also for the uninitiated, that would be the team who plays in Foxboro.  I hate them so much I won't even let my friends say their name.  (I bet Randi leaves a comment with their name on it, just cause she's difficult, lol.))  Anyways, root for my teams, ladies, so I can win the five dollars.  Cause I've spent way too much money this month already.

     And speaking of spending money...   I bought a piece of fabby for the new piece I'm doing for my brother and his girlfriend.  If she doesn't like it, I'll keep it and buy another.  (I didn't even show it to her, lol.)  I know it will look good, so I bought it on sale.  I'll show it to her when it gets here, probably within the next few days.  Monday, Tuesday, something like that I think.  Bought it from Silkweavers, and it's called Summer Winds.  It's lovely.  You can see it here.  It's a reflections color, so it shimmers.  Beautiful.  I think it will go well with this.  

 It's lovely.  It's actually lighter than this, but the light was bad, and the flash reflected.  But it's lovely.  This is the Wedding Sampler that David and Amy picked out.  Well, Amy picked out and David agreed with.  I was very happy to see that all the letters of the alphabet are charted in both uppercase and lowercase so I can personalize it without having to have software.  I'm really happy about that.  Now I just have to pray that the fabby is as advertised.   I think it's gonna be lovely.  And if not, I have something else in mind for it.  I have a lovely flamingo chart with just the head and neck visible.  It's beautiful.  I have it on my stash page here.  I think it would be lovely on that fabby, so I'll keep it for that should Amy not like it.

    And then, I bought something else.  I had the Beach Romance kit in my cart, but I hadn't checked out yet.  And then, I got distracted.  So I'm looking at my emails and the 123stitch ad was in my inbox.  Cat patterns were on sale, thirty five percent off.  So I went to the site and put it in my cart too.  Then I ordered them together.  It was only four dollars and change.  It's called You Are What You Eat, from Imaginating.  Designer is Holly Gordon.  It's cute (and in Bengal's colors too).  Here it is: 

 Isn't it cute?  I think it's darling, and hilarious.  Eventually, I'll get to it.  (Or it will go to Julie M.upon my death, lol.  Someone will do it!!!)  Now I'm just waiting on fabby to get here and then I'll call Amy up and go over and see what she thinks of it.  I'm so excited!

     And I'm assuming (I haven't heard anything) that I'm not gonna have my piece of fabby for Celtic Summer by tomorrow.  Erm, Monday.  Sorry, Monday.  (You'll have to excuse me.  It's playoff time, and football was on today, so I feel like it should be Sunday.  You know how it goes.  BTW, I worked on Marguerite and it felt really weird to not work on Jesus while watching football.)  Anyways, piccys of my works this week so far.  I'm posting a piccy of Jesus, but I don't think I've worked on him since last time, so feel free to note that no progress has been made.  I don't think I put in a single stitch on Thursday (but I did do about two hundred emails, so it's all good).

He looks a lot like what the Catholic Church says Jesus should look like.  (I'd like to see someone put out a kit of what her REALLY probably looked like, but I don't think anyone will touch it with a ten foot pole.)  I did get some good progress on him last Sunday, and I'll be working on him tomorrow too.  I want to get the rest of his neck done and start on his hair, but there are only two games tomorrow and I stitch slow.  We'll see how I do.

     Next up is Marguerite.  I don't hate her (yet), but it's a close thing.  I'm so very happy to put her away for the next weeks.  I've frogged till my fingers blistered.  (Okay, not really, but they would have if I had to frog one more time.)  Ay yi yi, it was horrible.  At first, I was all crazy and did the bigger border.  Of course, it didn't match up.  So then I tried (over and over and over again) to get the little border to match up.  I honestly can't count on both hands the number of times I had to frog and redo.  Luckily, as you can see from the piccy, 

there is an inner small border, and outer small border and a medium border.  I'm working on the outer small border, which means I need to do small sections of the medium border.  Yes, it IS confusing, but I think I did most of it right.  Except I need to frog again cause I'm off by one (again).  So I need to frog it when it comes back out.  I'm glad to put it away for now.  Ahhhh, if only I could count!!!  (This is no reflection on the difficulty of the design.  It's truly just me.  I have an awful time counting satin stitches, for some reason.  I do have to frog my cross stitches due to miscounting, but not nearly as often or as repeatedly.)  Unfortunately, since I don't have Celtic Summer, I'm doing Jesus tomorrow then working on Rosa Monday.  Rosa needs to be frogged too, because of the way the magazine did the chart.  Lovely.  So that's what I'll be working on come Monday.  (And I keep forgetting to call Rosa and tell her that.  Ooops!!)

     Last piccy is of my small amount of progress on my ornie.  I didn't get much done again this week, as my hand just doesn't handle it well.  I got a few rows in, but not much.  

This is being done in a very dark green, since they are evergreen trees.  The chart calls for dark blue (I guess they're thinking shadows), but I'm using a dark green.  I changed 939 to 319, for those who want to know.  I think it looks much better with the green than the blue.  (LOL, I did the same thing when I stitched it for my mom, and the floss was still in my out of order bag.  I need to eventually put them all in order and put them away, but I haven't done so yet, so it was still in there.  Lucky me, cause I don't know where my color card has gotten to.)

     Hope you all have a great night, and don't forget, root for the Steelers and Giants tomorrow.  (Or root for one of them.  I told Danni we'll probably both win a game, and not need to transfer funds at all.  Of course, with my luck, both of my teams may lose.)  I know I've said it before, but thanks again for all my followers, and for those who leave me comments.  It's nice to know I'm not talking to myself, lol.

I finished my inbox

     I finished my inbox in Incredimail tonight.  Now I'm downloading.  I have fifteen hundred and thirty one emails on the server, one of which is a pressie from Rachel.  Thanks Rachel!!!  I"ve been looking forward to it (and enjoying the anticipation) for over a week now.  I saw the email the day it came in, and I've been wondering which chart it is.  Randi just about went crazy when I didn't open her pressie right away, and I hope you're not upset that I've been waiting and savoring.  I keep trying to think if I said anything specific about a chart that you could have caught, lol.  I love it.  Thanks so much.  I'm sure I'll say thanks again when I actually get to it.  Yay for pressies!!!

     I sent out a pitiful amount of Christmas cards this year.  I sent a total of ten.  Nine for a Christmas card exchange I did, and one to Randi cause she sent me one.  I'm a pathetic excuse for a human being this year.  I so didn't get into the season.  I made a few batches of cookies with mom.  I didn't decorate a thing in my house.  I didn't go buy a little tree like I wanted to.  I didn't do anything.  I didn't even listen to carols.  It was all bah humbug at my house.  I think it's partly cause I'm not good with money, so I didn't have a lot for gifts.  And partly, it's because of it being Christmas without dad.  It was hard this year.  I went back to my Christmas album from a few years ago, and looked at him smiling and laughing and it just seems so unfair that he had to die so young.  (I really shouldn't say that.  He smoked for over forty years, so the COPD was not a surprise, and it was his choice to continue to smoke till he died.  But I didn't make that choice, so it's unfair that I don't have what I want.  Yes, I CAN be selfish, lol.)  So it was a rough season this year.  I"m hoping next year will be better.  Maybe...

     I worked some on my Christmas ornie today.  I'll take a piccy tomorrow or the next day of it, cause I want to do a little more on it tonight.  My hand is still cramping (I almost said craping, lol), so I'm not getting a lot of progress.  I'm thinking for the next one, I'll be able to put it on the Q snap, at least horizontally.  My fabby is about five inches high, and eight inches across.  But for this ornie, I'm working right at the left edge, and so I can't put it on a Q-snap.  Ouch!!  But I didn't work on it last week or the week before cause I worked on Jesus instead.  I have him mostly finished.  I have some hair to do Thursday, and then it'll be mostly confetti and those two areas of easy stitching until the end.  I'm amazed that he's so close to done.  Thanks to all of you who have been so encouraging to me, so that I could get him finished.  I love my mother dearly, but I HATE Jesus with a passion.  I'll be so glad to take him to the framers!!!!  And I'll thank you all again then.  (Hopefully soon, as I really don't enjoy working on him.  Also, for those of you that worry, I've explained to God the difference between Jesus the being and Jesus the project.  We're good, even though I say I hate Jesus.  After all, I can hardly not capitalize the name even when I'm talking about the project!!)

     Mom is doing all right with her heart, but her blood pressure has been through the roof for some reason.  We can't figure out a trigger.  It started about ten days after she got out of the hospital the second time.  It was well controlled on her previous meds, but now they don't seem to be working.  To the tune of frequent systolic numbers in the one ninety to two hundred range, and diastolic numbers in the ninety to a hundred range.  She seems to be taking it mostly in stride, except for checking it three times a day.  She just started a new med, so we'll see how that does.  (I think I'm stressing about it more than she is to tell you the truth.  It just sounds awful to me.  And she's all blase about it.  "Oh, since it's not high enough to stoke me out, I don't call the doctor every time I take it."  And of course, I'm all OMG, OMG, OMG...  I don't wanna lose my mom too.  She's the glue, ya know?)

     I'm feeling a little bit better now that January is underway.  I sort of mark the beginning of the year with, "I survived another year, and this time I wasn't hospitalized, whoo hoo!!"  You can all celebrate with me.  I haven't had a psyche hospitalization in 2011, and I'm very happy about that!  Hopefully, 2012 will be even better!  I hope you all have a wonderful new year, and that God is good to you and yours.

      And now, what you've all been waiting for:  EYE CANDY!!!  First up, as usual, is Jesus (cause I want to get him out of the way, lol).  

I didn't get a lot done on him Sunday.  Our game (the Bengals) was, well, not bad, but we didn't win either.  We got into the playoffs anyways, and that's a miracle.  In order to get in with a loss to Baltimore, we had to have the Jets lose, the Broncos lose, and the Raiders lose.  I was shocked when they all lost.  It would have been better to get in with a win, but I'll take it however I can get it.  From here on out, it's win or go home.  And considering our QB and number one receiver are rookies, that's damned good.  (Not as good as Rothlisberger's rookie season, but still...)  And then I watched the Sunday Night Football game.  It was Dallas versus New York (the Giants obviously, as the Jets already lost that day).  I was rooting for both teams, because I like them both.  I was teasing Ansel though, and telling him I was rooting for the Giants.  (Apparently, he's never liked them.  He was pissed when they won though.  All snarky and stuff.  Men, lol.)  So it was all exciting and I had to watch every play, so I didn't get a lot done on him.  Still, he's looking good for a Feb finish.  I hope (now that I've said that, something will happen and I won't get him finished).

     Then, I messed up my days and worked on the wrong project.  Marguerite is still in frogland, and I should have worked on it on Monday.  But I thought it was Tuesday, and worked on Tree of Stitches (Abi Gurden) instead. 

 I finished up Jerusalem Stitch and started Floral Stitch, which is a lot of fun.  Then on Tuesday, I thought about working on Marguerite but since she's in frogland, I decided to work on ToS again, lol.  Got quite a bit of the FS done, and so far, it's all in the right place.  I love working on the different stitches.  Despite all the hullabaloo, I'm really glad I got the pattern and am stitching the design.  She's a wonderful designer, despite her other less than sterling qualities.

     And now I"m gonna go read a little bit before bed.  I feel the need to finish up my current book (Wild Card by Lora Leigh) before I hit the hay.  Hope you're all have a super night, and that your day tomorrow (later today) is wonderful.

A Poem

     Someone sent this in to one of my yahoo groups, and I thought it appropriate for this time of year, when parents are struggling to keep up with small children with lots of new toys.

"Oh give me patience when tiny hands,
Tug at me with their small demands.
And give me gentle and smiling eyes,
Keep my lips from sharp replies.

And let not fatigue, confusion, or noise;
Obscure my vision of life's fleeting joys.
So when years later, my house is still,
No bitter memories its rooms may fill."

     Parents, enjoy your children's joy in the holiday season, and try and stay focused on the fact that they're only little for a while...

Epic Fail

     Well, I went over to David's house yesterday, to help introduce Amy's cats to David's dog.  When I say epic fail, I really mean it.  It was a total no go.  We took the dog downstairs, on his leash.  He knew there was something in there, but he didn't know what.  He can see a little bit through the cat door, but not much.  Amy opened the laundry room door, where we temporarily had them cooped up, and called them to come out.  Reese hissed and hid from me (and that's NEVER happened to me before.  Usually animals love me), and Butters stood in the doorway uncertainly.  Of course, I can't blame them.  The dog was beside himself with excitement.  He was wiggling and drooling and blowing spit bubbles and vocalizing and he's huge compared to them...  Sixty pounds of excited boxer isn't exactly reassuring to a cat, ya know.  Butters stood there for a few minutes, then he disappeared into the laundry room too.  Vin got so worked up when he couldn't see them, that David finally said close the door and put something in front of it so he can't see in.  We'll try again later.  David and Amy are going on vacation in January sometime, so I'll be dog and cat sitting.  I'll have to feed them all and sit and play with/pet them.  It will be interesting.  Hopefully, they'll at least tolerate being in each other's presence by that time.  We shall see though.

     After we finished with our epic fail, David went out in the garage to work, and Amy and I were sitting inside.  And I asked her if she wanted to look at wedding samplers.  She, unfortunately, likes simple and no frou frou, so the L & L ones were out.  (I really love both The Wedding and The Bride.  I would love to do them for someone, but I don't really have anyone to do them for.)  Anyways, she was browsing the site at 123stitch.com, and found the perfect one.  It's called Beach Romance, and it says, " Once in awhile, right in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives us a fairy tale."  Amy and I both thought that was beautiful.  David came in, and she gestured him over to see it.  The conversation went like this:

Me:  This is the wedding sampler Amy picked out.

Amy:  I was just gonna close up, but Julie thought you should look at it.

Dave:  Is that the ocean?

Amy:  Yes.

Dave:  Okay.

Amy:  Did you read the words?

Dave:  No

Amy reads words.
Dave:  I don't believe in fairy tales.

     I was like, "REALLY???"  I mean, that's awful.  He doesn't have a romantic bone in his body, lol.  So I told her when Jesus is done, I'll get the supplies together (trying for hand dyed fabby) and get working on it.  If you want to see it, it's on 123stitch.com here.  I think it's very pretty.  I was thinking of getting a nice ice blue fabby to do it on.  Or maybe a variegated blue...  Either would be pretty.  I need to go look at hand dyed fabbies.

     Danni said something funny to me the other day.  She was telling me her plans for her rotation this year, and mentioned that she needed help deciding on her large project.  She had it down to Fred, Monopoly, and an Advent calendar.  I, of course, said, "Fred, because I have him in my rotation too.  But you'll likely finish him before me."  She said she wouldn't be too sure of that, and I said I would only work on Fred about two weeks a year, so I was sure of it.  When she asked me why two weeks, I explained my rotation to her.  Twenty projects at a week at a time equals 2.6 weeks per year per project.  (Yes, I will eventually get something done.  Maybe multiple things.)  And she said, "Wow... You just made my rotation sound manageable," lol.  That just cracked me up.  I thought it was hilarious.  Too funny, Danni, thanks for the laugh. 

     I have to frog Marguerite because my border doesn't meet up.  It's off by one thread.  IDK where it's off, I need to look it over tonight and see what's wrong with it.  I"m hoping it's either very near the end or very near the beginning.  Either could be frogged easily.  I'm thinking with my luck, it's gonna be smack in the middle.  Ugh!!  Wish me luck.  I'll post before and after piccys.

     Happy New Year!!!  It's just past midnight now, and I hope you're all having a wonderful time.  I wish you all the best year ever for 2012!!!

     I'm supposed to go over to mom's house tomorrow.  She's having lunch for me and Jim and Cathy and David and Amy and Joanne and Stan (Amy's parents).  Unfortunately, I didn't get up till seven tonight, so I don't know if I'll be able to get up for the luncheon.  I'm hoping, but who knows.  I think I'm gonna take a couple of sleeping pills and go to bed around three.  Wish me luck again, lol.  I have nothing planned for tonight besides looking over Marguerite, and doing emails, and maybe playing a round in the Tomb of the Black Dragon.  (Yes, there is a black dragon.  He's horrible to kill.  His name is Oread, and I hate him.)  Wishing you all a happy night, and a safe celebration!!