Hello again Lurkers and friends! Boy was it cool this morning when I let the cats in. DH lets them out when he gets up at 5AM and I let them in again when I get up. At 7:15 this morning it was very cool and breezy, it was 15C (59 for the American group) this morning when I let them in. I love this cooler weather. It is bright and sunny but it's cloudy. No chance of rain but big white puffy clouds.
I wish the inside of the house would be comfortable. The a/c is always on and the thermostat stays the same but it's either too hot or too cold in here. I'm freezing one minute and sweating the next. I have been keeping the patio door open and the screen door closed because it's nice outside and it sort of airs the house out.
I actually stitched last night. Woo Hoo. I stitched on a free pattern from Butterfly Stitches, it's a Valentine heart. I would post a picture but this may be a project on the Jayne's Attic group as a February Challenge so I have to keep it a secret, LOL.
I was straightening up my stitching area and computer area this morning and found that list I had made of all my WIP's and UFO's and boy I didn't think I had that many. So maybe if I post them here I will be embarrassed enough to finish some of them. They are in no particular order
An American Christmas, freebie from Eterna Silk web site - started Dec 07 - 1/4 done
Heather's Wedding Sampler-Sweetheart Tree design- started April 07 - 1/2 done
Autumn Biscornu-Dinky Dyes pattern - started Jan. 3(on a plane) - 1/4 done
Be Merry - Shepherd's Bush - started Dec. 10 2007 - 1/4 done
Monthly Blackwork SAL- San Man patterns - started Jan. 07- Jan-July done
Peace Tree Ornament - M Designs-stitched in 2006, just need to add beads & finish
Breast Cancer Mandela for DD's deceased MIL. - started May 07 - 1/4 done
Noel Blackwork thing-GloryBee freebie-started May 07 on the wrong fabric - 1/4 done
Scooba Dooba by Raise the Roof Designs-started Dec. 2006 for DH - 1/2 done
Liberty Angel, pattern by Leisure Arts - started April 2003 - 1/2 done
Christmas Mystery SAL by Pam Kellogg - started Dec. 2003- 1/3 done
Flip It Stamps 05 by Lizzie Kate - started Jan. 06 - Jan-Sept done
Mill Hill beaded stocking ornament kit - started in 1999 but not sure - less than 1/4 done
Flip Flop Bookmark kit by Sudbury house - started Sept 06 - 1/3 done (airplane project)
Cat bookmark kit by Pinn Stitch - started June 05, LESS than 1/4 done (airplane project)
Flip Flop Welcome Mat kit by Dimensions started October 07 - 1/3 done
Computer Wizard by Alma Lynne, started June 200? - 8 stitches done
Is that not an embarrassing list? The ones in red I have to get done before June. Not to mention a couple projects not listed above for my son's girlfriend and projects for a couple of special exchanges on the message boards. Then there are the last minute SALS I decide to join, LOL. Now if I could only get up the ambition to stitch some of those and get them done.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
A sad anniversary today
The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred in the United States over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of central Florida at 11:39 a.m. EST (16:39 UTC) on January 28 1986. The Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds into its flight after an O-ring seal in its right solid rocket booster failed at liftoff.
Do you remember where you were and what you were doing?
I was living on the otherside of the country from where I am now. I was watching tv and heard it announced. I was in total shock.
Do you remember where you were and what you were doing?
I was living on the otherside of the country from where I am now. I was watching tv and heard it announced. I was in total shock.
January 28
Hi lurkers and friends, how are you all today? Same shit, different day here, got up, dressed, got coffee, let cats in/out, cleaned up kitchen, checked e-mail & message boards. It's another bright sunny day, not a cloud in the sky, it's 25C here at 2:30PM (77F for those in the US). I'm listening to Jimmy Buffet's CD Fruitcakes today, I don't listen to music very often, I like quiet.
I joined another cross stitch forum today called Jayne's Attic. I've read about her shop on the Ozark Sampler board so I thought I'd have a look around. Looks like a fun group, lots of interest and different things going on at the board.
Looks like our Needle Nook group will be moving over to the Yucko, I mean Yuku board this week. I don't look forward to that but hopefully we won't have as many problems and Cross Stitch Crazy board does.
Of course I read my newsletter from The Sweetheart Tree today and went to their website and found lots of cute designs I like. This is quite a switch from the last couple months when I had no desire to look at new designs, charts, fabric etc. I am still going to clean out my charts and get rid of some this summer.
Last night I fixed a "southwestern" style "lasagna" that I fix quite often. Our son's girlfriend likes and and will ask me to make it when they come up. I often refer to stuff like this as "slop in the pan"
You take a 9 x 13(I hope that is a pan size and not just a cross stitch fabric size) inch glass baking dish, heat and place 6 empty tortillas in the bottom & up the sides of the dish. Then put layers of refried beans, ground beef(optional, I don't often use this) black beans. Then I poured a can of enchilada sauce over that then added a can of whole kernel corn, chopped green chillies, chopped black olives, chopped onions, chopped tomatoes. Then covered that mess with shredded cheddar cheese, a can of tomatoes & jalapenos, a little bit of spicy green chili sauce, added chopped green chilies(hot chilies). I cooked that in a 325 oven for about 30-45 minutes. I served it with a side of avocado sauce and sour cream. It was GOOD but too runny, I'll leave out the can of enchilada sauce next time. I now have leftover meals for the next 2 nights. Sorry if things are spelled wrong, for some reason the spell check button at the top of the page doesn't work today.
I joined another cross stitch forum today called Jayne's Attic. I've read about her shop on the Ozark Sampler board so I thought I'd have a look around. Looks like a fun group, lots of interest and different things going on at the board.
Looks like our Needle Nook group will be moving over to the Yucko, I mean Yuku board this week. I don't look forward to that but hopefully we won't have as many problems and Cross Stitch Crazy board does.
Of course I read my newsletter from The Sweetheart Tree today and went to their website and found lots of cute designs I like. This is quite a switch from the last couple months when I had no desire to look at new designs, charts, fabric etc. I am still going to clean out my charts and get rid of some this summer.
Last night I fixed a "southwestern" style "lasagna" that I fix quite often. Our son's girlfriend likes and and will ask me to make it when they come up. I often refer to stuff like this as "slop in the pan"
You take a 9 x 13(I hope that is a pan size and not just a cross stitch fabric size) inch glass baking dish, heat and place 6 empty tortillas in the bottom & up the sides of the dish. Then put layers of refried beans, ground beef(optional, I don't often use this) black beans. Then I poured a can of enchilada sauce over that then added a can of whole kernel corn, chopped green chillies, chopped black olives, chopped onions, chopped tomatoes. Then covered that mess with shredded cheddar cheese, a can of tomatoes & jalapenos, a little bit of spicy green chili sauce, added chopped green chilies(hot chilies). I cooked that in a 325 oven for about 30-45 minutes. I served it with a side of avocado sauce and sour cream. It was GOOD but too runny, I'll leave out the can of enchilada sauce next time. I now have leftover meals for the next 2 nights. Sorry if things are spelled wrong, for some reason the spell check button at the top of the page doesn't work today.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
January 26
11 hours, that is how much sleep I had last night. I went to bed at a RARE 11:30PM, I rolled over woke up and thought it was 5:30AM, rolled over, looked at the clock an it was 12:33AM, went back to sleep woke up at 1:28, 2:38, 3:34, 4:45. Got up at 5:10 to let the cats out & go pee, went back to sleep, got up at 7:30 and couldn't keep my eyes open, went back to bed and woke up at 10:45AM. Every now and then for some reason I sleep all day and this must have been one of those days.
Today is another grey, overcast, cloudy humid day that smells like rain.
I started stitching this project yesterday but didn't get very far. It's by Dragonfly stitches designs. http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v644/dragonfly_stitches/freebies%20from%20Dragonfly%20Stitches/?action=view¤t=valentineheart.jpg I am stitching mine with Love and Laughter floss from Dragon Floss.
Did you know I'm tacky? Some bitch on the 123 board is berating those of us who have tattoos. I would love to find out what her favorite interest is and bash that to the ground, but then that would put me at the same level she is, rude and ignorant, but then I know there are those that think I am already rude and ignorant.
Don't know what is for dinner tonight yet, think I have to make a list.
This is what it says on my Chantix page:
Your Progress
It's been 73 days since you quit.
Not buying cigarettes may have saved you:
$292
This should have been my last week taking the Chantix, but I haven't taken them as much as I should because of the horrible side effect it causes, the awful farting. The craving to smoke is still there and sometimes just as bad as day 1 was but I've gotten through it.
Today is another grey, overcast, cloudy humid day that smells like rain.
I started stitching this project yesterday but didn't get very far. It's by Dragonfly stitches designs. http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v644/dragonfly_stitches/freebies%20from%20Dragonfly%20Stitches/?action=view¤t=valentineheart.jpg I am stitching mine with Love and Laughter floss from Dragon Floss.
Did you know I'm tacky? Some bitch on the 123 board is berating those of us who have tattoos. I would love to find out what her favorite interest is and bash that to the ground, but then that would put me at the same level she is, rude and ignorant, but then I know there are those that think I am already rude and ignorant.
Don't know what is for dinner tonight yet, think I have to make a list.
This is what it says on my Chantix page:
Your Progress
It's been 73 days since you quit.
Not buying cigarettes may have saved you:
$292
This should have been my last week taking the Chantix, but I haven't taken them as much as I should because of the horrible side effect it causes, the awful farting. The craving to smoke is still there and sometimes just as bad as day 1 was but I've gotten through it.
More Blogthings
This is totaly NOT me! I hate 7Up, I prefer Coke or Fresca
You Are 7 Up |
 Understated and subtle, people warm up to you slowly. But once they're hooked, they can't imagine going back to anyone else! Your best soda match: Diet Coke Stay away from: Mountain Dew |
You are a Hippie |
 You are a total hippie. While you may not wear birks or smell of incense, you have the soul of a hippie. You don't trust authority, and you do as you please. You're willing to take a stand, even when what you believe isn't popular. You like to experiment with ideas, lifestyles, and different subcultures. You always gravitate toward what's radical and subversive. Normal, mainstream culture doesn't really resonate with you. |
| You Are a Pear |
 You can accomplish great things, especially when you do them on your own. You are direct, honest, and sometimes even a bit brutal. There's not much that gets in the way of you and your ambition. While you are hard nosed, you do have a much sweeter side to you. It takes times for you to soften toward someone, but once you do, you'll be their friend for life. |
You Are A Realist |
 When it comes to romance, you tend to take a realistic approach. You believe that love takes time, and it's something you have to work hard for. A bit cynical, over the top romance tends to get under your skin. Your heart is difficult to win ... but it's totally worth it. |
Friday, January 25, 2008
Inner Peace
I had to post this here to those whom I don't have e-mail addresses for.
note: THIS IS ONLY A "JOKE" TYPE THING that I thought was tooooo funny.
CALMNESS IN OUR LIVES
I am passing this on to you because it definitely works, and we could all use a little more calmness in our lives. By following simple advice heard on the Dr. Phil show, you too can find inner peace. DrPhil proclaimed, "The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and haven ever finished."
So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished,and before the morning was over I finished off a bottle of White Zinfandel, a bottle of Bailey'sIrish Cream, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos, and a box of chocolates. You have no idea how freaking good I feel right now. Pass this on to those whom you think might be in need of inner peace.
note: THIS IS ONLY A "JOKE" TYPE THING that I thought was tooooo funny.
CALMNESS IN OUR LIVES
I am passing this on to you because it definitely works, and we could all use a little more calmness in our lives. By following simple advice heard on the Dr. Phil show, you too can find inner peace. DrPhil proclaimed, "The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and haven ever finished."
So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished,and before the morning was over I finished off a bottle of White Zinfandel, a bottle of Bailey'sIrish Cream, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos, and a box of chocolates. You have no idea how freaking good I feel right now. Pass this on to those whom you think might be in need of inner peace.
An exciting new finish!
Ok, well I'm excited about my latest finish. I sat down on Thursday at 10AM, (Jan. 24) to stitch a "little bit" on a project and I just couldn't stop. I had already decided that it would be a biscornu. At 7PM I was done!! I felt like jumping up and down on the couch, this was the first time I tried to make something like this. My neck hurts, my right arm and shoulder hurt, my knees hurt because I sat for such long periods of time stitching. I am very pleased with the results, sort of. It's stitched on 32 count pink hand dyed fabric. The top side (left picture) is stitched using Eterna Silk floss and six strand sweets for the heart center. The bottom side (right picture) is stitched with DMC rayon & verigated floss.
After I finished it up, I noticed that some of the pattern stitching was coming out so there isn't much I can do to fix it now. I'll just have to leave it alone and look at it. Oh, I forgot to say the pattern is a MEMBERS ONLY Valentine ornament pattern from the SanMan board.
One of my pay pal transactions finally went through, I hope the other 2 will go through now.
One of my pay pal transactions finally went through, I hope the other 2 will go through now.
It's another grey, overcast, drippy day here. It has blotted rain and we had a 10 minute solid rain again. It's also Friday which is laundry day, check the fridge day and make a list, today for us is like Sunday in the REAL world.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
January 23
Ok, well all of a sudden Yahoo mail started working and so far it's working today.
It's the weekend!!!
I got up, dressed and went out side to check out the rain damage and accumulation from last night and needless to say it's NOT shorts and short sleeve weather out there this morning. It is windy and on the "cooler" side for here. Not a whole lot of water around but again today it's overcast and cloudy and my weather page says rain again today. Now this is VERY rare for here.
I also got side tracked on the net from what I was doing and I found this. I love the saying on it.
http://www.cafepress.com/cp/moredetails.aspx?showBleed=false&ProductNo=61176298&colorNo=17&pr=F
It's the weekend!!!
I got up, dressed and went out side to check out the rain damage and accumulation from last night and needless to say it's NOT shorts and short sleeve weather out there this morning. It is windy and on the "cooler" side for here. Not a whole lot of water around but again today it's overcast and cloudy and my weather page says rain again today. Now this is VERY rare for here.
I also got side tracked on the net from what I was doing and I found this. I love the saying on it.
http://www.cafepress.com/cp/moredetails.aspx?showBleed=false&ProductNo=61176298&colorNo=17&pr=F
I found another must have!
She is called Celestial Mermaid by Polstitches and the hand dyed fabric is called Cosmos also by Polstitches. http://www.polstitchesdesigns.co.uk/index.html For some reason she just jumps out at me more than the Mirabilia mermaids do. Almost the right color hair for me too, LOL.When I sat down at my computer this morning there was this thick black line of itty bitty ants marching across the top part of my computer desk. They went across the desk, up a cord, across the window sill, down the inside of the drape, across the bottom of the wall but I lost their trail behind the bookcase where the voltage regulator, printer and other stuff is. I sprayed all along their trail so I hope they don't come back.
Don't know what we are having for supper tonight, it's Wednesday, the start of the weekend here. Sounds like a good excuse to call for delivery pizza.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
January 22 part 2
Well it's raining. I know some of you may say big fat hairy deal but for it to rain on and off like this all day is strange. It's been blobbing down splots on and off for a few days now but tonight it is raining, the patio is wet and there is about 3 inches of water out there. My poor dumb cat didn't know enough to come in when he was called and now he's all wet. I guess this stuff is just too fascinating for them to pass up. It's supposed to rain more tomorrow too.
Another ARRRGGGGGGGGGGG!! I did something to my Yahoo mail and now I can't get to ANY Yahoo mail at all. I can get to my Yahoo home page just fine, I can see that I have mail in my mail box and when I click on go to mail it does go someplace and just sits here and loads, and loads, and loads but nothing happens. A blank page. I have erased ALL my cookies, erased ALL my temp. internet files, erased ALL my history files, logged in and out, in and out of Yahoo, rebooted the machine several times and I STILL CAN'T GET TO MY MAIL! This is VERY fustrating. This is just NOT MY WEEK!
Tonight we had chicken fried steak, mushy peas and sliced tomatoes, cucumbers & onion. MMMMMM mushy peas, I really like those. I am going to miss getting the "right" peas to make them when we leave here.
Ok, enough is enough. I'm sitting here typing away on my keyboard and I am sweating. It's NOT that hot in here, the A/C is on. If this is menopause then it doesn't look like fun. I know Aunt Flo hasn't visited in a couple months again and when that happens I see more and more signs of menopause. My legs feel like there are bugs or mosquitoes crawling on them and there is nothing there, the stubble sprouts on my chin and I have to pluck every couple of days, the mood swings are as bad as PMS. Yes I know WTMI.
Another ARRRGGGGGGGGGGG!! I did something to my Yahoo mail and now I can't get to ANY Yahoo mail at all. I can get to my Yahoo home page just fine, I can see that I have mail in my mail box and when I click on go to mail it does go someplace and just sits here and loads, and loads, and loads but nothing happens. A blank page. I have erased ALL my cookies, erased ALL my temp. internet files, erased ALL my history files, logged in and out, in and out of Yahoo, rebooted the machine several times and I STILL CAN'T GET TO MY MAIL! This is VERY fustrating. This is just NOT MY WEEK!
Tonight we had chicken fried steak, mushy peas and sliced tomatoes, cucumbers & onion. MMMMMM mushy peas, I really like those. I am going to miss getting the "right" peas to make them when we leave here.
Ok, enough is enough. I'm sitting here typing away on my keyboard and I am sweating. It's NOT that hot in here, the A/C is on. If this is menopause then it doesn't look like fun. I know Aunt Flo hasn't visited in a couple months again and when that happens I see more and more signs of menopause. My legs feel like there are bugs or mosquitoes crawling on them and there is nothing there, the stubble sprouts on my chin and I have to pluck every couple of days, the mood swings are as bad as PMS. Yes I know WTMI.
pamkellogg
pamkellogg
Ummmm ok, I have no idea how this got here. I didn't post this but I think I clicked on the wrong thing in Yuku when I got 3 inbox messages that this board was up. Hmmmmm.
Ummmm ok, I have no idea how this got here. I didn't post this but I think I clicked on the wrong thing in Yuku when I got 3 inbox messages that this board was up. Hmmmmm.
January 22
Well that wet stuff is leaking from the sky today. It's dark, grey, overcast and humid today. That wet stuff that I think is called rain is just blobbing down, not really sprinkling, just blobs from time to time, enough to make the street wet and a few small puddles.
UGGGGGHHHHH, apparently the brats are on some sort of a school break and there is a litter of about 2 dozen running around screaming outside. They've been pulling the leaves & flowers off my bushes in MY yard outside several times and I've run them off. They think it's funny and they can go where ever they want to. They have NO manners, NO respect for ANYTHING OR ANYONE! If this keeps up, I will definately be calling the compound manager and complaining.
Thank goodness last night we cleaned up the last of the wild mushroom & leek soup, it was good the first night , ok the second night but I'm glad it's gone. I think I am going to look for another bag of that and not add as much to it the next time I fix it. It was good! Tonight is Chicken fried steak, steamed vegetables & salad.
The flowers I ordered for Brenda's birthday were delivered on Monday, a day late but that is what I get for ordering them late. I hope she likes them.
There were more CUTE valentine patterns posted last night from the SanMan board. They can be stitched up as ornaments for a Valentine tree. They are for message board members only so I can't post the link for them. I also need to stitch up my Coloring Book page for Tranquil stitchers. That is a cute winter pattern too. Then there are SALS going on at Needle Nook that I need to keep checking on. Maybe I need to make a calendar someplace out of all these to keep me on track and stitching! Guess I better get going and stitch!
UGGGGGHHHHH, apparently the brats are on some sort of a school break and there is a litter of about 2 dozen running around screaming outside. They've been pulling the leaves & flowers off my bushes in MY yard outside several times and I've run them off. They think it's funny and they can go where ever they want to. They have NO manners, NO respect for ANYTHING OR ANYONE! If this keeps up, I will definately be calling the compound manager and complaining.
Thank goodness last night we cleaned up the last of the wild mushroom & leek soup, it was good the first night , ok the second night but I'm glad it's gone. I think I am going to look for another bag of that and not add as much to it the next time I fix it. It was good! Tonight is Chicken fried steak, steamed vegetables & salad.
The flowers I ordered for Brenda's birthday were delivered on Monday, a day late but that is what I get for ordering them late. I hope she likes them.
There were more CUTE valentine patterns posted last night from the SanMan board. They can be stitched up as ornaments for a Valentine tree. They are for message board members only so I can't post the link for them. I also need to stitch up my Coloring Book page for Tranquil stitchers. That is a cute winter pattern too. Then there are SALS going on at Needle Nook that I need to keep checking on. Maybe I need to make a calendar someplace out of all these to keep me on track and stitching! Guess I better get going and stitch!
Monday, January 21, 2008
Another picture
I don't know if I posted this picture or not. This is a little ornament tree that I found at one of those "only at Christmas time" shops in the mall the day after we got to the states in December. It's perfect for my stitched ornaments. It shed all over in my suitcase too.
It's not really as scrawny as it looks but it is kind of bare right now since I took a few ornaments back home with me.January 21
I had to post this. I was reading a news story and this paragraph was at the bottom of the story, kind of makes you say HUH?
"Officials say they rescued several people from the buildings, many of them three-story, wood-framed structures." Ok, were the people three-story wood-framed structures?
I am SO PISSED OFF at PayPal! I TRIED to send 3 payments yesterday for items I have ordered from different people. I have been using PayPal and sending payments to these 3 people for a couple years now from my 'FOREIGN IP ADDRESS". WELL I get notices back from 2 of the people saying that PayPal has limited my account access and says that someone may have used my accout to send these payments! YOU STUPID MORONS! IT WAS ME that made these transactions and now the stupid idiots PayPal have done something so that I can't finish up these disputes and get this cleared up. I have e-mailed them twice and gotten no response. If they don't respond by the end of today, I will call them on Tuesday and I will NOT be very polite to them!
I had to call maintenence this morning because one of our toilets just keep flush, flush, flush, flush. they will send plumber The maintenence men did come and fix my toilet, it took them over an hour to fix it.
I placed 2 separate stash orders today, so much for not buying anymore because I am not interested.
Some people must be really rude or they don't like to reply to certain people's posts. There are 16 views of a message I posted, only 5 replies and there aren't many posters on that board. This is the same board I am having issues with, those damn signatures are HUGE and flashy and really make it almost impossible to post there. Too bad I can't tell people do NOT use your signature when you reply to MY posts, LOLOL, that would piss them off. It takes about 2-3 minutes for a page to load on that board, not to mention this board is having issues with keeping updated.
Some of our best tv channels all of a sudden are gone. Our Discovery channels, Animal planet are gone. I'll bet the Orbit satellite service here didn't pay their provider on time again. I e-mailed them to ask when they will be back on and I bet I get the standard auto reply e-mail, it's technical difficulties.
On the up side, I finally got to watch Ratatoulli all the way through and it's SO cute, I like that movie.
Well enough venting for now.
"Officials say they rescued several people from the buildings, many of them three-story, wood-framed structures." Ok, were the people three-story wood-framed structures?
I am SO PISSED OFF at PayPal! I TRIED to send 3 payments yesterday for items I have ordered from different people. I have been using PayPal and sending payments to these 3 people for a couple years now from my 'FOREIGN IP ADDRESS". WELL I get notices back from 2 of the people saying that PayPal has limited my account access and says that someone may have used my accout to send these payments! YOU STUPID MORONS! IT WAS ME that made these transactions and now the stupid idiots PayPal have done something so that I can't finish up these disputes and get this cleared up. I have e-mailed them twice and gotten no response. If they don't respond by the end of today, I will call them on Tuesday and I will NOT be very polite to them!
I had to call maintenence this morning because one of our toilets just keep flush, flush, flush, flush. they will send plumber The maintenence men did come and fix my toilet, it took them over an hour to fix it.
I placed 2 separate stash orders today, so much for not buying anymore because I am not interested.
Some people must be really rude or they don't like to reply to certain people's posts. There are 16 views of a message I posted, only 5 replies and there aren't many posters on that board. This is the same board I am having issues with, those damn signatures are HUGE and flashy and really make it almost impossible to post there. Too bad I can't tell people do NOT use your signature when you reply to MY posts, LOLOL, that would piss them off. It takes about 2-3 minutes for a page to load on that board, not to mention this board is having issues with keeping updated.
Some of our best tv channels all of a sudden are gone. Our Discovery channels, Animal planet are gone. I'll bet the Orbit satellite service here didn't pay their provider on time again. I e-mailed them to ask when they will be back on and I bet I get the standard auto reply e-mail, it's technical difficulties.
On the up side, I finally got to watch Ratatoulli all the way through and it's SO cute, I like that movie.
Well enough venting for now.
Finally a finish!
I finished the stitching on this tonight. I am going to make another design and make this a biscornu. 
It's a SanMan design special for board members only and it's stitched on 32 count hand dyed fabric with silk threads and Six strand sweets floss. The fabric is actually a pretty pink, hopefully I can get a better picture. It's only 2 1/2 inches x 2 1/2 inches
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Happy Birthday to our daughter!
Today, January 20 is my daughter's 30th birthday and I can't be there to help her celebrate this milestone. I didn't even get around to sending flowers, what a bad mommy I am. I did order her subscriptions to 3 cross stitch magazines and hopefully I will be able to call her later. I feel so horrible about it too. She has had some special birthdays over the years, Superbowl Sundays, presidential inauguration day. I think she got a war for her 13th birthday- I do remember having to cancel that birthday party because the Gulf War started and we were living here at the time. I guess I'll have to search the net and find some kind of I'm sorry flowers to send.
Well they do look better in person than they do in the pictures and they are straight, LOL Someday I hope to stitch my name and our last name.
And again today when I went to log into the blog, it was all in that squiggly chicken scratching that I can't find an English Translation button for. I would really love to know what prompted this all of a sudden! IT is getting VERY annoying.
It never did rain yesterday but it is sure so miserable and humid now and it's back up in the mid 80's again, so I guess Winter is over. The sky is still very cloudy and overcast though.
Last night I fixed a pot of Harry & David Wild Mushroom & Leek soup and it was GOOD! I added more fresh mushrooms, onions and little bits of cooked cut up chicken. We also had a sliced tomato, cucumber, mozzarella & onion plate. Looks like we'll be having soup leftovers tonight too. I'll have to put that soup mix on my list of stuff to get this summer.
Still haven't done anymore stitching. I hope I finish this SanMan project before Valentines' Day though.
Did I ever post the final pictures of my Name*Flakes that I gave as Christmas presents? I e-mailed a special friend on Tranquil Stitchers board and asked her if she had any time to make me a couple of tuck banners for the Name*Flakes that I stitched and she was such a sweetheart to make them for me at such short notice. This is how they turned out, both the girls LOVED them:
Well they do look better in person than they do in the pictures and they are straight, LOL Someday I hope to stitch my name and our last name.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Some pictures
These pictures were taken in the exact same spot, 2 months apart, looking one way up the road in front of our house
and the other way:
I don't have many pictures from CHRISTMAS I was busy watching my kids and grandsons and smiling but here are a couple from our house.
These are my 2 grandsons: 
I wish I had a picture of AFTER the unwrapping was done but I don't.
I wish I had a picture of AFTER the unwrapping was done but I don't.
Happy New Year!
January 19
What is that stuff? I'm sort of in the desert and there is this stuff coming from the sky and it's wet, not cold but wet. I think some people call it rain? Well it's been dripping that stuff on and off for a couple days now. Not a whole lot, just a few drops here and there and just enough to make it miserable humid here. It's grey and overcast today, looks like it could rain again. I guess winter is over too since it's 79F at 10AM.
My sinus and allergies are horrible again, I've been stuffed up for several days and feel miserable. I take allergy stuff and it puts me to sleep, sneeze & blow, my face is swollen, UGH!
Get your valentines stuff while it's out!. We went to the grocery store over the weekend and one store had a whole bunch of Valentines stuff, and it was all written in that scribbly chicken scratching stuff. When it gets closer to valenetines, it will all be gone and there will be an article in the paper about it being banned, illegal and against the law here and you won't be able to buy a single red or white flower of any kind on Feb. 13 or 14.
I went to log into this blog today, and it was all in that scribbly writing that I see all over here. What's up with that? It's also been all changed around too. Someone has edited it and it wasn't me!
I did manage to stitch a little bit for a couple days last week, not a whole lot but some. I started a San Man project using silk floss so it's taking me a bit to finish.
Add Chinese food to the list of stuff I can't eat now, geeze, this is getting SO annoying. We picked up Chinese food the other night and I puffed up like a basketball, my fingers are swollen, my belly is swollen and my stomach hurts. It's making all kinds of noises and rumbling all over. I've never had this reaction before.
My sinus and allergies are horrible again, I've been stuffed up for several days and feel miserable. I take allergy stuff and it puts me to sleep, sneeze & blow, my face is swollen, UGH!
Get your valentines stuff while it's out!. We went to the grocery store over the weekend and one store had a whole bunch of Valentines stuff, and it was all written in that scribbly chicken scratching stuff. When it gets closer to valenetines, it will all be gone and there will be an article in the paper about it being banned, illegal and against the law here and you won't be able to buy a single red or white flower of any kind on Feb. 13 or 14.
I went to log into this blog today, and it was all in that scribbly writing that I see all over here. What's up with that? It's also been all changed around too. Someone has edited it and it wasn't me!
I did manage to stitch a little bit for a couple days last week, not a whole lot but some. I started a San Man project using silk floss so it's taking me a bit to finish.
Add Chinese food to the list of stuff I can't eat now, geeze, this is getting SO annoying. We picked up Chinese food the other night and I puffed up like a basketball, my fingers are swollen, my belly is swollen and my stomach hurts. It's making all kinds of noises and rumbling all over. I've never had this reaction before.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
January 16, 2008
Well I've been at this blogging thing for a year now. I don't always keep it updated. I've noticed several visits to my blog but no comments, maybe I should just make this a private place to vent.
It's been 2 months since I quit smoking. A LONG 2 months, seems more like 2 years. I am still taking those Chantax pills when I remember, I don't feel like they do anything for me. I still have strong urges to smoke but I don't. I had a few puffs when I was home in NH but it made me sick to my stomach and gag. Not bad if I do say so, I could have easily gotten in the car and drove to the corner store and bought some but I didn't and I'm damn proud of myself for not doing that! I didn't even mooch one or two from my DS whick I am damn proud of for not doing either! The house smelt better too.
I haven't stitched since early December and then it wasn't much. I have no desire to stitch anymore, none! I have all this stash and don't want to stitch. I have no idea why but it is really depressing. I got most of my new stash put away and realized now that I won't stitch 1/2 of the charts I have so I am going to get rid of them this summer.
I also dug out my wip's and UFO's to try and finish up. I want to get these done before I start a bunch of new stuff.
I did start a San Man Valentine project last night though. Sandy is so generously giving the message board members patterns for a Valentine tree so I will try and keep up.
I'm also going to try to do another SAL from another board, so far it looks like it's going to be a Happy Everything type of project.
I think I am going to quit going to a couple of the boards. One of them takes forever to load, is very slow and sluggish when I try to scroll up and down and the members seem to have a contest to see who can have the largest, flashiest and animated signatures, plus 1/2 the time it never updates the posts. It's always trying to "update" something that they "thing" will make it run better but it stays messed up for days. All those flashy signatures really don't work with my operating system or my computer and 1/2 the time the page doesn't even load.
It's been winter here for a couple days, the temps have been in the mid 60's at night and mid 70's during the day and breezy, very nice for here. Too bad I can't keep the door open during the day but that damn wailing hour just ruins everything and the monster brats that scream and yell outside.
My daughter's birthday is in a few days so I got her a subscription to a couple cross stitch magazines and I'll order her some flowers. It's really hard not being able to talk to her on the internet now but she seems to be doing fine. Her DH got her a "new" car after Christmas! I was very surprised to hear that. It's not new new but it's a 2004 model. She still has her jeep and we told her not to get rid of it but give it to us if they are going to get rid of it since we did buy it for her and pay for it.
Our son's girlfriend just loved the NameFlake that I made for her for Christmas, she just raved about it, which made me very happy. My daughter loved hers too. I am going to make one for the son's girlfriend's mother now.
It's the weekend here, not a damn thing happening either. One of our friends moved to another city for his job while we were away on vacation so it's quiet around here. We are going to miss him too.
I got my hunk of beef sitting in a huge bowl of brine and got the spices put in to make a corned beef for ST. Patrick's day meal. They don't sell corned beef here so we make our own.
That's about all for now. I will have to get the Christmas pictures off the camera stick and post some of them along with more snow pictures.
It's been 2 months since I quit smoking. A LONG 2 months, seems more like 2 years. I am still taking those Chantax pills when I remember, I don't feel like they do anything for me. I still have strong urges to smoke but I don't. I had a few puffs when I was home in NH but it made me sick to my stomach and gag. Not bad if I do say so, I could have easily gotten in the car and drove to the corner store and bought some but I didn't and I'm damn proud of myself for not doing that! I didn't even mooch one or two from my DS whick I am damn proud of for not doing either! The house smelt better too.
I haven't stitched since early December and then it wasn't much. I have no desire to stitch anymore, none! I have all this stash and don't want to stitch. I have no idea why but it is really depressing. I got most of my new stash put away and realized now that I won't stitch 1/2 of the charts I have so I am going to get rid of them this summer.
I also dug out my wip's and UFO's to try and finish up. I want to get these done before I start a bunch of new stuff.
I did start a San Man Valentine project last night though. Sandy is so generously giving the message board members patterns for a Valentine tree so I will try and keep up.
I'm also going to try to do another SAL from another board, so far it looks like it's going to be a Happy Everything type of project.
I think I am going to quit going to a couple of the boards. One of them takes forever to load, is very slow and sluggish when I try to scroll up and down and the members seem to have a contest to see who can have the largest, flashiest and animated signatures, plus 1/2 the time it never updates the posts. It's always trying to "update" something that they "thing" will make it run better but it stays messed up for days. All those flashy signatures really don't work with my operating system or my computer and 1/2 the time the page doesn't even load.
It's been winter here for a couple days, the temps have been in the mid 60's at night and mid 70's during the day and breezy, very nice for here. Too bad I can't keep the door open during the day but that damn wailing hour just ruins everything and the monster brats that scream and yell outside.
My daughter's birthday is in a few days so I got her a subscription to a couple cross stitch magazines and I'll order her some flowers. It's really hard not being able to talk to her on the internet now but she seems to be doing fine. Her DH got her a "new" car after Christmas! I was very surprised to hear that. It's not new new but it's a 2004 model. She still has her jeep and we told her not to get rid of it but give it to us if they are going to get rid of it since we did buy it for her and pay for it.
Our son's girlfriend just loved the NameFlake that I made for her for Christmas, she just raved about it, which made me very happy. My daughter loved hers too. I am going to make one for the son's girlfriend's mother now.
It's the weekend here, not a damn thing happening either. One of our friends moved to another city for his job while we were away on vacation so it's quiet around here. We are going to miss him too.
I got my hunk of beef sitting in a huge bowl of brine and got the spices put in to make a corned beef for ST. Patrick's day meal. They don't sell corned beef here so we make our own.
That's about all for now. I will have to get the Christmas pictures off the camera stick and post some of them along with more snow pictures.
January 3, 2008
Time to leave, :(
Get up at 6AM, it's -8 plus windchill, so far the coldest day yet. Go go close my suitcase, the zipper breaks!!! DH had to drag one of his old ones down from upstairs and everything fits. Actually, we started stuffing the suitcases with junk becasue neither of the 3 of them were full. We get on the road at 7AM, drive along 1/2 awake and there on the side of the road, in all his glory stands a HUGE male moose! Munching away at breakfast! YAHOOOOO, after 7 years of living in New Hampshire I get to see a moose! I was and still am so excited! If the kids were awake, I would call them! Too bad the cameras were packed.
Get checked in, no problems on this end, check the passports, tickets etc no problem. We just want the luggage when we get there! The flight back to Washington DC is fine, we walk the terminal for hours. Then they call our names to come to the check in counter, what now? Apparently they moved our seats, to an exit row, kids can't sit by exit rows, you got the best seats in the house the guy says. Naturally the flight is overbooked and packed but we have LOTS of leg room. We sit on the plane for an HOUR before takeoff AGAIN! but at least the flight attendant is a very nice lady and talks to us.
January 4 - Get to Paris, have NO clue where we are even though we've been to Paris in October, this is totaly different and since it's EARLY in the morning, nothing is open to even ask as to where we are supposed to be. Finally find it, go to the area since we have never been here before only to find it closed, just stand in line. French security dumped my purse out looking for something but I have no clue. NOTHING is open to get even a bottle of water! Board the flight and wait AGAIN! Sit and sit and sit. The flight is sort of full but still several empty seats. This flight was miserable, the flight crew was rude, my special meal wasn't there but DH's was, my feet kept swelling and I just couldn't get comfortable, the view of the French Alps was absoultely stunning though! They were beautiful from up above.
Land, get through passport control, baggage claim and guess what? Only 1 out of 3 suitcases come off! ARRRRRGGGG, I HATE UNITED! I don't care how cheap the tickets are, I will NEVER fly them again! So off to file a claim form. After an HOUR we were the LAST ones out of customs. At least they didn't need to look in my bags so off we went, home, UGH, back in HELL. At least it was above zero.
Get home to find cat shit and pee all over the living room floor, thank you Roxie. She refuses to pee or shit in a litter box so if you don't let her OUT when she starts screeching she goes on the floor. There is nothing medically wrong with her, she just won't use the litter box.
The cats were so glad to see us and wouldn't get far away but they were glad to go outside.
January 5- Well the luggage went on to the final destination of the flight, to the next city in the country so they will be back here today so DH can go get them. They can't deliver them to the house because you have to take them through customs to be x-rayed and opened for inspection. They wanted to look in mine but didn't take anything this time, thank you.
So that vacation is over, now the countdown to June begins. Outside of the horrors of the traveling, it was ok, short but ok. It seems like we never get to do everything we set out to but it's always an adventure.
Get up at 6AM, it's -8 plus windchill, so far the coldest day yet. Go go close my suitcase, the zipper breaks!!! DH had to drag one of his old ones down from upstairs and everything fits. Actually, we started stuffing the suitcases with junk becasue neither of the 3 of them were full. We get on the road at 7AM, drive along 1/2 awake and there on the side of the road, in all his glory stands a HUGE male moose! Munching away at breakfast! YAHOOOOO, after 7 years of living in New Hampshire I get to see a moose! I was and still am so excited! If the kids were awake, I would call them! Too bad the cameras were packed.
Get checked in, no problems on this end, check the passports, tickets etc no problem. We just want the luggage when we get there! The flight back to Washington DC is fine, we walk the terminal for hours. Then they call our names to come to the check in counter, what now? Apparently they moved our seats, to an exit row, kids can't sit by exit rows, you got the best seats in the house the guy says. Naturally the flight is overbooked and packed but we have LOTS of leg room. We sit on the plane for an HOUR before takeoff AGAIN! but at least the flight attendant is a very nice lady and talks to us.
January 4 - Get to Paris, have NO clue where we are even though we've been to Paris in October, this is totaly different and since it's EARLY in the morning, nothing is open to even ask as to where we are supposed to be. Finally find it, go to the area since we have never been here before only to find it closed, just stand in line. French security dumped my purse out looking for something but I have no clue. NOTHING is open to get even a bottle of water! Board the flight and wait AGAIN! Sit and sit and sit. The flight is sort of full but still several empty seats. This flight was miserable, the flight crew was rude, my special meal wasn't there but DH's was, my feet kept swelling and I just couldn't get comfortable, the view of the French Alps was absoultely stunning though! They were beautiful from up above.
Land, get through passport control, baggage claim and guess what? Only 1 out of 3 suitcases come off! ARRRRRGGGG, I HATE UNITED! I don't care how cheap the tickets are, I will NEVER fly them again! So off to file a claim form. After an HOUR we were the LAST ones out of customs. At least they didn't need to look in my bags so off we went, home, UGH, back in HELL. At least it was above zero.
Get home to find cat shit and pee all over the living room floor, thank you Roxie. She refuses to pee or shit in a litter box so if you don't let her OUT when she starts screeching she goes on the floor. There is nothing medically wrong with her, she just won't use the litter box.
The cats were so glad to see us and wouldn't get far away but they were glad to go outside.
January 5- Well the luggage went on to the final destination of the flight, to the next city in the country so they will be back here today so DH can go get them. They can't deliver them to the house because you have to take them through customs to be x-rayed and opened for inspection. They wanted to look in mine but didn't take anything this time, thank you.
So that vacation is over, now the countdown to June begins. Outside of the horrors of the traveling, it was ok, short but ok. It seems like we never get to do everything we set out to but it's always an adventure.
Where to start?
It's been a month since I updated this. Let's see:
December 13- The flight from here to Rome was great! Friendly service, good food and I got to sleep some on the flight. Rome was a nightmare. Our passports were flaged with a RED ALERT on them when we went to check in on UNITED for our flight to Washington DC! They couldn't find our luggage in the system but finally said oh, yes it's here. Then some miserable bitch United person had to "complete" our check in details so we could get on the flight. She started asking the SAME questions over and over, just wording them differently and would NOT listen to the answers DH gave her! She insisted that we stayed in a hotel here and demanded a payment reciept for our stay, wanted to know where we were going, how long we were staying, WHY we were going to the USA, WHO we were going to see, etc, etc. Did we have checked bags? How many, where were they? She then said something in Italian to the check in clerks at the desk, next thing they were on the phone. Needless to say our luggage was NOT on the plane when we got off in Washington DC. The flight left 45 mintues late so we would miss our connection to New Hampshire since we had the bare minimum amount of time to make it The flight was booked full, the flight attendants were miserable and snotty and we had to pay for drinks! Now I remember why we fly international air carriers and NOT American air carriers.
We get to DC an hour late, our luggage is NOT there, there is NO airline personel around to talk to about our connecting flight nor is there a tote board with flights listed. So we go through security to find out where we are supposed to be and there is NO help anywhere. We find a bank of tv screens but NO flight listed for our destination but see other small commuter flights listed so we go to that terminal. We find the gate where our flight was supposed to leave from to find out the flight was CANCELLED due to a BLIZZARD in New England! GREATTTTT, welcome home, LOL. After several hours, phone calls etc. we did get on a flight on stand by and land in Manchester NH (in a snowstorm) around 11:30PM, well over 24 hours since we left. Got a rental car, drove to a hotel and went to sleep.
December 14-Wake up on Friday to more snow, this is the first time in 7 years we have seen this much snow in one place, LOL and been in this cold.
We hit the mall and shop a bit, got some Christmas presents since our LUGGAGE IS LOST! We went up to see our son, grandson and son's girlfriend. We tried to surprise him by being there when he got home but he came in the patio door so he could see us. WEnt out for dinner and headed HOME!
So we get home a day later than planned but our house was all decorated for Christmas, our son did the decorating and it looked so nice!
December 15-On Saturday we woke up at 5AM, got up at 6, went out at 7 to do grocery shopping and other shopping and were back home by 11! Our daughter and her family came up for the day so we could celebrate our grandson's 8th birthday with him. It was so nice to be able to do that. She brought my stash with her too, LOL. Our son in law was actually in a decent mood too!
December 16-Sunday it started to snow and we started calling about our luggage. We talked to someone named Sean in India, yeah right. All this person does is read back what is on the computer screen, which is our flight itinerary and the fact that our luggage was delivered to our house sometime Friday. Umm, I don't think so, that is why I am CALLING YOU, we DONT' have our luggage. Ok, they will look into it and please to call back in 4 hour. CAll back and they read what we can see on our computer screen too. I don't think they work for United at all but it's some central call center in India where all phone calls go to.
Snow, snow, ice and more snow all week, our plow guy came at least 5 or 6 times in 3 weeks and our contract is for 12 storms between November and the end of March. It's pretty and it covers the trees very nice but enough was enough!
This is a tree in our back yard. I wish I could show up just how pretty the snow was on the tree. Note the propane take in the lower left corner? These tanks are 4 feet tall, notice how buried in the snow they are?
Our car needed more major repairs that we didn't plan on so we had to rent a car for 3 weeks which was an expense we didn't really plan on. At least it works for awhile now. They started working on our garage, and have the foundation laid but it's covered with snow so we can't see it. The yard looks so different with the extra trees down but at least we can see that we have a yard.
Someone has rented the house next door, not sure if it has been sold but there are people living there.
We've called EVERY single day to India to find our luggage, we get the same story every time, they read word for word the exact same page every time we call. We have had to describe our luggage, what is in our luggage, our address, our flight itinerary, "what is NY Yankez? how to spell that?" that is my luggage tag, I'm sorry BUT IF I WAS CALLING ANYWHERE IN THE USA YOU WOULD KNOW WHAT NY YANKEES IS! This is now Wednesday night, they never offered to compensate us for no shampoo, deoderant, clothes etc. NOW they tell us we need to download and fill out MORE forms and FAX them to United. Complete description of luggage, contents and PRICE of contents. They should have told us this 3 days ago when they told DH he needed to send copies of the tickets, baggage claim tickets, boarding passes, and passports. It's a different story every time we call!
Friday Dec 21-we brave the snow, rain and crowds and go to Dover to the mall shopping. School got out early that day, traffic was bumper to bumper, backed up for an hour, almost every parking space was full, it was cold and NOT fun. 9PM the phone rings, it's for DH, United found our luggage and it will be delivered BEFORE Saturday morining! Wahoo. So we decide we have to sleep in the recliner & couch in the living room so we can hear the guy when he comes. Another phone call at 12:45AM, yep, we have your luggage right here, it will be delivered by 5AM, is there someplace safe we can leave it so we don't have to wake you up? I told him the sunporch/mudroom, how many pieces do you have? He has all 3. 4:50AM another phone call, do you live in a big red house? Yes I said, ok thank you, they werent' sure when I asked where the house was. DH gets up, dressed, walks out to the living room and the luggage is sitting in the sunporch, all 3 pieces. The guy must have been in the driveway when he called. YAY YAY We FINALLY got our luggage, over a week after we got here!
Sat. Dec. 22. Checked the luggage, it's really mangled and beat up. That bitch in Rome must have had the gorillas throw it around a bit. The locks were broken off, my NY Yankees luggage tag is missing. It had been opened by the TSA and they even left a note inside saying so, LOL. Not a thing was taken from inside but you could tell it was pawed over, we were just glad to have it. Even the candy was still there! So the kids will get their Christmas presents.
So to make a long story short, the rest of the vacation went fine and too fast. It kept snowing. BOTH our kids and grandsons were with us for Christmas and it felt so good to have my family together! I cooked almost all day on Christmas but we had HAM and not stinky turkey, LOL.
I got a Garmin GPS so I don't get lost now, a plug in coffee cup that plugs into my USB port on my computer, a digital picture frame, a couple of cute camel plant holders, a wall fountain (I love water fountains) a hat/scarf/glove set from my mother that came in REAL handy. I think we all had a very good Christmas.
New Year's Eve was quiet, just the two of us and we both did stay awake until midnight, which was amazing, LOL. We got to watch New Year's Eve from Times Square, I would LOVE to be there someday! I did say Happy New Year when it was midnight in this country too.
That is all for this part of the trip.
December 13- The flight from here to Rome was great! Friendly service, good food and I got to sleep some on the flight. Rome was a nightmare. Our passports were flaged with a RED ALERT on them when we went to check in on UNITED for our flight to Washington DC! They couldn't find our luggage in the system but finally said oh, yes it's here. Then some miserable bitch United person had to "complete" our check in details so we could get on the flight. She started asking the SAME questions over and over, just wording them differently and would NOT listen to the answers DH gave her! She insisted that we stayed in a hotel here and demanded a payment reciept for our stay, wanted to know where we were going, how long we were staying, WHY we were going to the USA, WHO we were going to see, etc, etc. Did we have checked bags? How many, where were they? She then said something in Italian to the check in clerks at the desk, next thing they were on the phone. Needless to say our luggage was NOT on the plane when we got off in Washington DC. The flight left 45 mintues late so we would miss our connection to New Hampshire since we had the bare minimum amount of time to make it The flight was booked full, the flight attendants were miserable and snotty and we had to pay for drinks! Now I remember why we fly international air carriers and NOT American air carriers.
We get to DC an hour late, our luggage is NOT there, there is NO airline personel around to talk to about our connecting flight nor is there a tote board with flights listed. So we go through security to find out where we are supposed to be and there is NO help anywhere. We find a bank of tv screens but NO flight listed for our destination but see other small commuter flights listed so we go to that terminal. We find the gate where our flight was supposed to leave from to find out the flight was CANCELLED due to a BLIZZARD in New England! GREATTTTT, welcome home, LOL. After several hours, phone calls etc. we did get on a flight on stand by and land in Manchester NH (in a snowstorm) around 11:30PM, well over 24 hours since we left. Got a rental car, drove to a hotel and went to sleep.
December 14-Wake up on Friday to more snow, this is the first time in 7 years we have seen this much snow in one place, LOL and been in this cold.
We hit the mall and shop a bit, got some Christmas presents since our LUGGAGE IS LOST! We went up to see our son, grandson and son's girlfriend. We tried to surprise him by being there when he got home but he came in the patio door so he could see us. WEnt out for dinner and headed HOME!
So we get home a day later than planned but our house was all decorated for Christmas, our son did the decorating and it looked so nice!
December 15-On Saturday we woke up at 5AM, got up at 6, went out at 7 to do grocery shopping and other shopping and were back home by 11! Our daughter and her family came up for the day so we could celebrate our grandson's 8th birthday with him. It was so nice to be able to do that. She brought my stash with her too, LOL. Our son in law was actually in a decent mood too!
December 16-Sunday it started to snow and we started calling about our luggage. We talked to someone named Sean in India, yeah right. All this person does is read back what is on the computer screen, which is our flight itinerary and the fact that our luggage was delivered to our house sometime Friday. Umm, I don't think so, that is why I am CALLING YOU, we DONT' have our luggage. Ok, they will look into it and please to call back in 4 hour. CAll back and they read what we can see on our computer screen too. I don't think they work for United at all but it's some central call center in India where all phone calls go to.
Snow, snow, ice and more snow all week, our plow guy came at least 5 or 6 times in 3 weeks and our contract is for 12 storms between November and the end of March. It's pretty and it covers the trees very nice but enough was enough!
This is a tree in our back yard. I wish I could show up just how pretty the snow was on the tree. Note the propane take in the lower left corner? These tanks are 4 feet tall, notice how buried in the snow they are?
Our car needed more major repairs that we didn't plan on so we had to rent a car for 3 weeks which was an expense we didn't really plan on. At least it works for awhile now. They started working on our garage, and have the foundation laid but it's covered with snow so we can't see it. The yard looks so different with the extra trees down but at least we can see that we have a yard.
Someone has rented the house next door, not sure if it has been sold but there are people living there.
We've called EVERY single day to India to find our luggage, we get the same story every time, they read word for word the exact same page every time we call. We have had to describe our luggage, what is in our luggage, our address, our flight itinerary, "what is NY Yankez? how to spell that?" that is my luggage tag, I'm sorry BUT IF I WAS CALLING ANYWHERE IN THE USA YOU WOULD KNOW WHAT NY YANKEES IS! This is now Wednesday night, they never offered to compensate us for no shampoo, deoderant, clothes etc. NOW they tell us we need to download and fill out MORE forms and FAX them to United. Complete description of luggage, contents and PRICE of contents. They should have told us this 3 days ago when they told DH he needed to send copies of the tickets, baggage claim tickets, boarding passes, and passports. It's a different story every time we call!
Friday Dec 21-we brave the snow, rain and crowds and go to Dover to the mall shopping. School got out early that day, traffic was bumper to bumper, backed up for an hour, almost every parking space was full, it was cold and NOT fun. 9PM the phone rings, it's for DH, United found our luggage and it will be delivered BEFORE Saturday morining! Wahoo. So we decide we have to sleep in the recliner & couch in the living room so we can hear the guy when he comes. Another phone call at 12:45AM, yep, we have your luggage right here, it will be delivered by 5AM, is there someplace safe we can leave it so we don't have to wake you up? I told him the sunporch/mudroom, how many pieces do you have? He has all 3. 4:50AM another phone call, do you live in a big red house? Yes I said, ok thank you, they werent' sure when I asked where the house was. DH gets up, dressed, walks out to the living room and the luggage is sitting in the sunporch, all 3 pieces. The guy must have been in the driveway when he called. YAY YAY We FINALLY got our luggage, over a week after we got here!
Sat. Dec. 22. Checked the luggage, it's really mangled and beat up. That bitch in Rome must have had the gorillas throw it around a bit. The locks were broken off, my NY Yankees luggage tag is missing. It had been opened by the TSA and they even left a note inside saying so, LOL. Not a thing was taken from inside but you could tell it was pawed over, we were just glad to have it. Even the candy was still there! So the kids will get their Christmas presents.
So to make a long story short, the rest of the vacation went fine and too fast. It kept snowing. BOTH our kids and grandsons were with us for Christmas and it felt so good to have my family together! I cooked almost all day on Christmas but we had HAM and not stinky turkey, LOL.
I got a Garmin GPS so I don't get lost now, a plug in coffee cup that plugs into my USB port on my computer, a digital picture frame, a couple of cute camel plant holders, a wall fountain (I love water fountains) a hat/scarf/glove set from my mother that came in REAL handy. I think we all had a very good Christmas.
New Year's Eve was quiet, just the two of us and we both did stay awake until midnight, which was amazing, LOL. We got to watch New Year's Eve from Times Square, I would LOVE to be there someday! I did say Happy New Year when it was midnight in this country too.
That is all for this part of the trip.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
January 12/13
2:30AM, I can't sleep, been back a week and I simply can NOT get turned around this time. I have another horrible sinus infection or allergy problem. My thermometer says it's 69 outside compared to the below 0 with wind chill factor and 2 feet of snow weather that we left the US in on Jan. 3.
I have absoultely no desire what so ever to stitch, none! Nothing can even remotely get me in the mood either and I have no idea what the problem is. Maybe if I could quit sleeping all day I could function better.
Oh yeah, it's been 2 months since I quit smoking, why does it seem like 2 years? I had maybe 3 puffs when I was in the states and it was yucky, so I still consider myself successfull. I still do have a strong desire to smoke even though I'm still taking those pills.
I'll post a vacation update another day but UNITED AIRLINES SUCKS! Now I remember why I HATE to fly American air carriers on international flights.
I have absoultely no desire what so ever to stitch, none! Nothing can even remotely get me in the mood either and I have no idea what the problem is. Maybe if I could quit sleeping all day I could function better.
Oh yeah, it's been 2 months since I quit smoking, why does it seem like 2 years? I had maybe 3 puffs when I was in the states and it was yucky, so I still consider myself successfull. I still do have a strong desire to smoke even though I'm still taking those pills.
I'll post a vacation update another day but UNITED AIRLINES SUCKS! Now I remember why I HATE to fly American air carriers on international flights.
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