Vacation is almost over

     And boy am I broke, lol.  It was sooooooooo worth it though.  We had a great time while Randi's been here.  (I can't wait to drop her off at the airport though.  I told her as soon as I drop her off, I'm turning up the radio and singing along with every freaking song!!!!)  For two people not used to living together, we did good.  A couple of small disagreements, but nothing major.  She has to be at the airport tomorrow morning at nine ten, which is gonna be ugly for me.  I got up at three today, so nine am will take forever to get here.  She sort of packed up some of her stuff today.  She still has to pack up her book and meds and stuff, but that's no big deal.  It can't be done till she takes her pills tonight though.  She's currently napping, so I don't feel like I've abandoned her to blog, lol.
     I have progress pics.  And an invitation, and an ornie, and a winner, and a friend's call, lol.  It's been busy here.  First, the piccys (cause I know that's why y'all read my blog, lol).  I have progress on both Jesus and Story Keeper today.  Not too much progress on either, though.  I worked some on Story Keeper this week, but not much.  I spent a lot of time getting my flosses organized that I just bought.  It took me several hours.  And then I was afraid to stitch Friday when I was up for so long, cause I knew I'd just have to frog it.  So I didn't get a lot done this week.  You can see the piccy here:

Story Keeper 10/8/2011

     And I worked on Jesus yesterday.  I watched my beloved Bengals win their third game yesterday, against the Jags.  It was a really close game until the last couple of mins when we scored both an offensive touchdown and a defensive touchdown.  So the final score was actually twenty to ten, even though it was close for most of the game.  Our QB, Andy Dalton, is doing pretty well at managing the game.  It's exciting that we haven't lost every game, lol.  (And speaking of losing every game, the Colts have not won a game and the Lions haven't lost a game.  At the end of last year, if you'd told me how it was gonna go, I would have laughed in your face!!)  Anyways, I watched that at one.  Then, my mom called and offered to buy me a tank of gas cause I'm so broke.  I was all over that.  I needed the gas to take Randi to the airport, and I'm broke.  (Rolling pennies for gas broke, as Jeff Foxworthy would say.)  So we went out during the four fifteen game yesterday, and then I did some emails till the eight thirty game was on.  Then I watched the Atlanta Falcons lose to the Green Bay Packers, whoo hoo!!  And the Steelers won too.  I had a good football day, lol.  Jesus was a good boy.  I only had to frog once, and even then it was only about ten stitches.  You can see him here: 

Jesus 10/9/2011

     And now for the invitation.  I'm inviting those of you who are in the Yahoo group The Stitch Specialists to join myself and Rachel in a SAL for ToS.  I've seen the Tree of Stitches on a lot of blogs, and I think it's just gorgeous.  So I finally gave in and joined up.  Rachel mentioned that she hasn't done hers yet either, and would I like to SAL it.  (Of course, this allows me to start a new project without finishing something in my rotation, so I jumped on it, lol.)  If anyone is interested, leave me a comment with the day you prefer.  I'll post pics on my blog if y'all want to send them to me.  It doesn't have to be on the same day every week, but I'm thinking I'll probably post at least one photo per week of my non SAL project, and will post a piccy of the ToS progress the day after the SAL day.  I.E.  SAL is Wed, I'll post a piccy on Thursday of both my rotation project and my ToS.  So whether this is your first tree, or you second, or if you're halfway done, feel free to join us!!
     Okay, next is the ornie.  Karen sent it to me.  If you follow Karen's blog, you know she does an ornie giveaway every month.  I won for September.  Basically, Karen makes two identical ornies.  One for herself, and one for the follower who wins the giveaway.  I'm a follower, so I was automatically entered.  It's too cute.  I put a piccy in my last post with all the pics, but I'll put another one here.  I wish I had her finishing skills, is all I have to say.  It's wonderful.  Thanks so much Karen, I love it.  I'm getting rid of my big tree, but I have quite a few handmade ornies so I'm gonna get a little two or three footer for the desk so I can put up a few ornies!  Piccy is here:

Ornie from Karen front (on the tissue paper she wrapped it in)

Ornie from Karen back

     I also have a winner of the Traveling Stash Box.  I was hoping it would be Randi, so I didn't have to pay for shipping, but it wasn't.  It was Vicky L.  Grats Vicky.  Depending on financial concerns, I'll get the box out to you.  (I have a birthday dinner with my brother and sister Friday night.  When my brother gets me a gift, he usually gets me a gift card to the grocery store.  If he did, I'll have the money this month to ship it to you.  If not, then I'll have to wait for Novembers check to send it out.)  I hope you can find lots of things you like!!  I got some awesome things from it!
     And lastly, the friend's call.  I talked to my gamer friend Freak for about an hour and twenty minutes the other day.  It all started with Randi (thanks Randi) telling me she was gonna move here.  I wanted to check something with my Internet and phone provider.  So I called them, and their computer was down.  So since they couldn't look up my bill, I was asking them general questions about service.  I asked about digital phone for Randi, and they told me twenty nine ninety nine for unlimited long distance to the US, Canada, Guam, and American Samoa.  So I asked if I have that, and she was trying to figure it out when the computers came back up.  So she checked it for me, and said yes, I do have that.  And I was thrilled with that news, cause Freak lives in Canada.  So I called him on his cell phone, and we had an absolutely crappy connection.  So I tried again a few minutes later on his home phone, and that one was crystal clear.  It was great.  He told me something that almost made me cry, y'all.  I was sitting there one day, chatting with the guild and stitching, and he asked where I was.  So I told him I was stitching and chatting and my character had her shop open.  So he was all interested in what kind of stitching I did.  So I told him what I do, and told him to go look at my blog to see what it looks like.  So he did.  He told me a few weeks later that he thought my stuff was cool.  I didn't think anything else of it.  We've talked about different things before, and one of the things we talked about was my love for wolf artwork.  I love wolves.  I can't remember how we got on the subject, and I'm honestly wondering if he maneuvered it.  He told me he's making me a wolf cross stitch.  I was so excited by that.  I love to get handmade gifts, and it means a lot to me that he would do something like that for me!  I almost woke Randi up to tell her when I found out, lol.  He said it's about four inches by four inches, and I assume he got a kit, but I don't know which one.  He hopes to have it done for me for Christmas.  (BTW, if anyone has any ideas of what I could make him, besides something framed, please let me know!!)
     So that's about all that's going on around here today.  We're having pot roast for dinner, yummy!!  (With mashers and gravy and ketchup.  Delicious.)  I haven't had a good pot roast (with the exception of mom's a couple of weeks ago) in a long, long time, so I'm really looking forward to it.  Thanks to everyone who posted a comment on my last few posts.  I really appreciate each and every one (especially the mean ones, lol).  Hope you're all having a great night!!