Make up my mind!!

Geeze those damned censors need to make up their asshole minds! First my Photobucket is unblocked, then I go to another album and it's blocked, hit the back button, it's ok, hit the back button again and it's blocked, pull down my history menu and everything says blocked. I was happily working away on my photobucket album a little while ago since I noticed I could see things again, then all of a sudden everything is blocked again. What the fuck?

TGIW!! (for those in the real world, it's the same as TGIF)

Woo Hoo, I talked to my DD last night, her DH is having internet/ebay withdrawls and wants the computers back! So now she needs to go to my house where her computers are stored and get her them back, LOLOLOL She also said that my DGS's school system has used up all their snow days and they don't know what they are going to do to make it up. Well DUH, quit taking off all those 1 day here and 2 days there for stupid reasons. She also said that her husband has booked them a hotel in Florida for their "Spring Break" vacation.

So it was another nice day yesterday, another day of 70F weather. I know it won't last a whole lot longer and it will be in the 90's
stitched a bit last night on a project I started on the plane back in December. It was in the Fall Collaboration pack I got from Ozark Sampler. It is just a small pattern by Dinky Dyes they call Autumn Biscornu. This is as far as I've gotten but it's 1/4 done The fabric is actually a pretty creamy yellow and the floss is Dinky Dyes silk floss.

Last night we had burritos from left over ground beef and black beans from last week. They were good.
Gotta go straighten up my floss basket and set some goals for next month.

Tuesday

Happy Dance!!! I finished my SanMan SAL project today. Well I finished it Monday night but just had to the date today. I am not fond of it now that it's done, the backstitching doesn't show up at all, I don't like the fabric, the stitches look horrible up close, all messy. Plus the picture is too dark but I don't have a photo editor program that I like. So now on to something else.
I need to get my stitching organized for March, I hope I can find those smokin' needles that I used to have, the ones that would put in at least 4 hours of stitching every day and at least 5 finished projects a month. I guess those needles must have gotten stolen or broke. March is month long stitchathon time at 2 of my boards, Needle Nook and Cross Stitch Crazy. So many SALS to do and projects I want to finish up or at least stitch a couple days on.

You may notice on the post below I added another picture. I added a picture of what the view out my back door looks like on a regular, non-stormy day so you can compare how the sand storm was. I am still wiping dust off everything inside the house.
Oh, and that clock in the corner, that is what time it is where I am.

The Discovery channels are back on our satellite system now, I hope they get new episodes of some of the tv shows. We're still watching re-runs of shows we saw A YEAR AGO! But I like watching Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations, I like him. These Discovery channels come out of Europe so they aren't the American Discovery shows.

Last night we had the first round of stew leftovers with the rest of the cole slaw I made the other day and some fresh, delicous hard rolls. MMMMM. It hink tonight we're having burritos to clean up the rest of the ground beef and beans from the home made tacos we had the other night.

More winter storm warnings for HOME in New Hampshire, I KNOW my plow contract is expired and we've gone over the 12 contracted storm plows, and there is still a month to go on the contract!


Well I gotta go and send my daily nasty gram to the asshole internet censors to unblock my Photobucket account again. Gotta go buy a birthday present for my youngest Gandson too, his birthday is March 4.

February 25

The picture on the left is a view from my top balcony, the picture in the center was taken out my back door on Saturday, the picture on the far right, was taken on Tuesday, Feb, 26. That is the everyday view.

No sandstorm yet today. The past few days have been yucky here, miserable sandstorms. At least when there are snow storms & rain storms, the snow melts and goes away, the same with the rain but the sand stays. It gets in through every teeny, tiny crack, crevice it can find and piles up. Everything was covered with a layer of dust and sand last night, including my STITCHING AREA!! The wind blew and blew, sand was everywhere yesterday. I tried to take some pictures but pictures posted above just don't show up how bad it really is. It was not a pleasant cool breeze either, it was a hot humid breeze. The cats even stayed in the house all day and slept.

Speaking of my stitching area, I sat down to stitch last night but had to spend the first HOUR cleaning everything off. I had to take everything off the table single item by single item, wipe it off, set it aside and keep going. Sand was on EVERYTHING! I guess there must be tiny cracks in the patio door that is behind my chair. But I got the table cleaned off, one project set aside and another one hopefully set to finish today. I put away the Breast Cancer Mandela I was working on last week. Here is my progress. The picture on the left is November 7, 07 the picture on the right was done Feb 24.

Today I hope to finish my San Man SAL project. I need to finish backstitching and add a few more border stitches.

DH took my envelope with the square for my friends quilt up to the mail office yesterday so we'll see how long it takes to get to it's destination in NC or IF it even makes it.

My Photobucket albums are STILL BLOCKED and it looks like the ENTIRE PHOTOBUCKET DOMAIN IS BLOCKED! I have sent an unblock request every single day and sometimes twice a day and nothing has happened. I have sent an e-mail to the follow up e-mail address that says if nothing is done within 48 hours contact us. I have repeated asked in each e-mail why my album is blocked and why won't they respond to me and I get nothing! My photobucket album is even password blocked from public viewing and they still won't unblock it.

Last nights dinner was home made beef stew which we will be having for the next 2 or 3 nights. Last week we made cheese enchiladas again and one night made chili rellenos which were good but we used the wrong kind of chilies. DH & I cooked together in the kitchen which was fun!

Feb 23

100 days! I made it 100 days without buying a pack or carton of cigarettes! The past couple of days have been miserable though, I have been so fustrated with the damn censors that every time I sit down at the computer I have the urge to light up. Wouldn't do me any good to anyway, there isn't a cigarette or a butt in the house and no one to even bum one from.

I WAS going to post my happy celebration on the CSC board but everyone is having such sadness there I don't want to ask for a celebration and especially since I don't post much there anymore.

I have REPEATEDLY filled out the form to unblock my photobucket album and nothing has happened, so today I filled out another message that said if nothing is done within 48 hours, let us know and boy did I!

I can finally post a recent finish!! I finished this earlier in the month but I couldn't post it because it was part of a stitching challenge on a board I joined earlier this month. I am really proud of it because it's my first attempt at finishing a Pin keep. The pattern is from Dragonfly Stitches and it's stitched on 32 count hand dyed fabric with Dragon Floss.

I picked up my Breast Cancer Mandela project and stitched on that Wednesday and Thursday as part of our Stitch for a Cause SAL on Needle Nook. I really need to finish up my SanMan SAL project too.

A very dear, sweet board member on Cross Stitch Crazy had some very heartbreaking news to share with us. Her husband is dying of cancer. Henny is such a very sweet, older lady and always so cheery but now she needs cheering up herself. This is going to be such a sad time for her. I am donating a Valentine project I stitched this month to help make a quilt for her. I am going to donate my stitched project from Tranquil Stitchers for the quilt.

I just want to sign my name and where I'm from and send it off.

Templates

I am not really sure if I like this template or not. I LOVE my Yankees but I don't really like the layout for this. I know I've lost everything that was on the side bar but I may change it back to the other template.
Does anyone know anyplace to get different templates or backgrounds than here on blogger? How do you make your own?

Feb 18

PLEASE EXCUSE THE TYPOS, FOR SOME STUPID REASON, MY SPELL CHECKER DOES NOT WORK.

More damn stupid censor bullshit. Now my photobucket account is blocked by those assholes. ACCESS TO THIS URL IS NOT ALLOWED! Fuck you! That is MY photo album. Geeze. Not to mention it's getting difficult to get into my blogger because it's in Arabic sccribbling across the top main page so I have to fucking clue how to get the page to come up in English no matter how many times I tell it ENGLISH in my setting page.

I am a Great Aunt! My niece gave birth to a boy last Wednesday. Ryan was born on Feb. 13 at 7Pm weighing 6 1/2 lbs and 19 3/4 inches long. My Sister is a Gramma! I can pick on her now.

So last Thursday, on Valentines day (that is NOT celebrated in this country) we went to the grocery store. I wore my bright pink pants under my black ninja robe. The candy and sweets isle was crowded with people buying candy, the plant/flower area has a couple lovely Valentine arrangements sitting out, there were plenty of red roses sitting in a vase. I didn't check the price because that wasn't what I was looking for. We went out to our favorite Italian resturant for dinner and I had on my bright pink pants with a darker pink top under my black ninja robe. Then we went over to the grocery store to see if they had stuff the other store didn't. They had LOTS and LOTS of Valentine candy. They had heart shaped boxes of chocolates in plain view, they had teddy bears in their display cases, they had red flowers. What a bunch of morons.

Now there is NO FLOUR in this country! I bought the last 2KG bag of flour the store had the other day. I also bought a bag of something called "Kitchen Flour" for pastries. I have no idea what the difference is but I'll have to try it.
Speaking of cooking, last week I fixed Fish and chips and mushy peas on Friday, MMMMM it was good, I finally figured out how to cook the mushy peas right. Saturday was leftovers, Sunday was stir fried vegetables & tofu with shrimp chips over noodles. Tonight will be leftovers from that. Tuesday will be Chilies Rellenos.

We got our Discovery Channels back finally! I bet anything Orbit didn't pay thier re subscription fee to those channels. So now we have Discovery, Discovery Science, Discovery Travel & Leisure, Animal Planet. That adds 4 more English channels in addition the the 6 we already have. Yes there are more channels on the satellite system but only 6 or so that are worth watching.

This past week was the stitchathon on Cross Stitch Crazy. I was really hoping to get the stitching done on my San Man SAL project but as usual I didn't get much done. I only stitched 3 days and didn't put many stitches in at all. 500 stitches total if I'm lucky. In the past, I could have done that many plus more in one day. I need to shut my computer down and unplug it in order to get anything at all done.

This week we are doing a new SAL at Needle Nook. It will be an Awareness SAL. I chose the Breast Cancer Awareness theme for February so I will be working on the Breast Cancer Mandela for B's MIL who passed away in October.

I also need to get busy and start stitching a Sue Hillis project for the SAL at Tranquil Stitchers. I am going to stitch My Heart bleongs to the Sea for my DH

ON another note

I got a newsletter from ABC Stitch Therapy today on their Nashville Needlework Market trip. OH MY! SO many cute items on my wish list now! (Sorry for the long links, if anyone reading this can tell me how to shorten them by adding just 1 or two words, please let me know)
GOTTA get this set:
http://www.abcstitch.com/optioncart/image.php?image=http://www.abcstitch.com/images/s10/685852.jpg&id=685852&item=Cupcake - Boxer Kit&price=12.00&itemtype=chart
http://www.abcstitch.com/optioncart/image.php?image=http://www.abcstitch.com/images/s10/685846.jpg&id=685846&item=To

Now this is just a hoot and a gotta have:
http://www.abcstitch.com/optioncart/image.php?image=http://www.abcstitch.com/images/s10/685802.jpg&id=685802&item=Getting
Update-I ordered it
http://www.abcstitch.com/optioncart/image.php?image=http://www.abcstitch.com/images/s10/685786.jpg&id=685786&item=French
I ordered this one too.

I know I saw a few more that went on my wish list.

I stitched a little bit more on my SanMan SAL last night. At least I got 1 letter done so far, LOL.

This past week we've either had left over chili with cheese enchiladas which were SO GOOD or left over chicken and dumplings which were eh, so so. Don't know what is on the menu for tonight.
Ever since my friend Maria gave me a sinus "massage" on Friday, I haven't been stuffed up, sneezing or runny eyes. I don't know what she did, but I need to hire her. Too bad she is applying for immigration status to Australia.

Stupid morons!

Look what the fucking morons did now!

Red is Banned till Fri.

Monday, 11 February 2008
By Suzan Zawawi
RIYADH - Agents of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice visited flower and gift shops in the capital Saturday night to instruct them to remove all red items - from red roses and wrapping paper to boxes and teddy bears - from their shelves, shop workers said.
"They visited us last night," said a couple of florists Sunday morning. "They gave us warnings and this morning we packed up all the red itmes and displays."
The florists asked not to be identified.
Sunday was the last day people could buy red roses in Riyadh, until Valentine's Day on Feb. 14 passes.
Every year, Commission agents visit flower shops a couple of days before Feb. 14 to issue warnings. On the eve of Valentine's Day, they start their raids and confiscate any red items that are symbols of love, florists here said.
But as a result of the ban, there's a black market in red roses.
"A single rose costs around SR5-7 but today the same rose costs SR10 a piece and the price will go up to SR20-30 on Valentine's Day," said a florist who caters to customers on Valentine's Day from his apartment.
Loyal customers place orders with the florist days and sometimes weeks before Feb. 14. "Sometimes we deliver the bouquets in the middle of the night or early morning, to avoid suspicion," said the florist.
Islamic scholars around the Kingdom such as Sheikh Khaled Al-Dossari preach that celebrating Valentine's Day and other non-Islamic celebrations is a sin. "As Muslims we shouldn't celebrate a non-Muslim celebration especially this one that encourages immoral relations between unmarried men and women," Dossari, a scholar in Islamic Studies and the Shariah, said.
However, many young hearts are planning to celebrate in their own way, whether in secret, abroad or on the Web.
"I send e-cards to all my special friends online," said Famita Hakeem, a young Saudi university student.
"We are planning on going to Dubai Wednesday night to celebrate Valentine's Day as a couple," said Hannan Radi, a Saudi wife and teacher.
With Valentine's Day coinciding with the mid-term break, some Saudis have already left the Kingdom. With Bahrain so close to Al-Khobar, many Saudis who cannot travel further are planning on driving to Manama this weekend.
"I expect the bridge to be packed full," said Mahmood Naseeb, a Khobar resident.
"This happens every year on Valentine's Day but this year it might be worse because many people are on vacation."

Youuuuu Hooooo Tammy!

Those of you who know any Yankee fans should tell them to come check out my new blog template, ROTFLMAO.

My sinus/allergy infection is terrible. I now know I have an allergy to my sweet, lovable kitties. I will just have to suffer and endure this miserable affliction because I REFUSE to get rid of my babies!

Yesterday was my father's 80? birthday! I think he turned 88 but I can't remember. When I called to wish him a happy birthday, he said they were going to Red Lobster for dinner.

Still no new "Grand Nephew" yet, my niece is due any day to have her first baby and my parents are so excited that they will finally get to be near a great grandchild.

DH & I were busy wthis past weekend (Thursday and Friday). We cleaned up our patio, put up new tarps to keep the neighbors out, threw out junk that was accumulating. We still have to pick up the concrete blocks to dig up the tree/bush roots that are pushing up the patio blocks. I got some new floor padding, it's stuff you would actually put down in a shower, bathroom or bathouse or around your pool. I got 4 meters of pretty blue with raindrop patterns on it and laid it infront of my stove and sink then put the kitchen rugs back over it again for more padding. When I stand and chop, cut, mince and cook for a long while, my feet and legs hurt. I also got 2 meters of plain white for under my stitching chair.

On Thursday evening at MIDNIGHT, some woman knocked on the front door! It was the weekend so DH & I were up late, so there's a knock at the door, he answers it, says it's for me. It's some Saudi woman, all covered in black naturally babbling on in Arabic about baby. I speak in English saying "No baby here" she babbles more in Arabic about baby, I said "I have NO baby and I don't speak Arabic" She babbles more and says "No baby?" I said no, so she left. It's after midnight!! Why is this woman knocking on my door asking about a baby? IT's a good thing it's the weekend because she would have gotten an earful if I had to get out of bed! Update - I have no idea what that was all about. None of my neighbors speak English and they all have 5 or 6 kids of variaing ages. Who ever she was, she had her purse with her, she had make up and perfume on, what I could see of her eyes anyway. My guess is that she knocked on the wrong door and since she didn't see/hear kids in my house she started rambling on about a baby. Security would have just said "What do you want us to do?" if they even understood what I was saying.

I finished up my Coloring book page SAL from Tranquil Stitchers, I think I am going to finish it as one of those little door pillow hanger things. It's stitched on 18 count plain, blah white aida with San Man STrands flosses and CPR floss for the center motif.

I did start my SanMan SAL the other night. I am stitching it on black fabric and surprisingly it's aida fabric again.

Pretty soon the boys will be back to playing ball again! WOO HOO can't wait.

Hmmmm the spell check still doesn't work on this thing.

Feb. 4

Hi lurkers, welcome back. I see a lot of you have been here and visited. You may not like my choice of words for the next little bit so if you are easily offended by foul language it would be a good idea to back out now.

The fucking morons that run the internet here have decided to take away 2/3 of the bandwitdth to home users and give it to businesses. If these idiots would wake the fuck up and UPGRADE the internet here or open more "censorship" centers then they wouldn't have to do this! This is just utterly stupid. If you can picture a tournament bracket and how everything eventually filters down to 1 place than that is what the internet is here. Everything filters down to 1 little place to be censored then is sent back out into the real world. It took 4 1/2 minutes to load this page, it takes over 7 minutes to load my message board pages because everyone just has to use fancy, glittery, animated signatures.
There has also been some sort of cable cut in the Mediterrean Sea that has caused the internet to be slow here, so more than likely the assholes will stand there, scratch their asses, pick their noses, scratch their crotches (LIKE THEY DO HERE ALL THE TIME) while they figure out what to do.

WOO HOOOO! THE GIANTS WON THE SUPERBOWL!! What an upset victory! I am excited about this, they ruined the patriots perfect season! I HATE the Patriots and their attitude.

One of my groups that I belong to moved over to Yucko last week. The move went smooth and that board moves a whole lot faster and smoother than the Cross Stitch Crazy board does, I guess it's because there aren't as many members and there aren't all those HUGE, flashy, animated signatures used. Now if I could figure out how to get the chat to work over on Needle Nook, it would be great!
I've been doing some SALS on the boards. I finished stitching AND finishing a Challange project on the Jayne's Attic group and I just can't wait to post it. I am so excited about how I finished it, it's a new finishing techinque to me and I really like it! Not to mention I actually FINISHED something~! The Needle Nook had a Critter SAL over the weekend and I stitched a little bit on a Cat bookmark from Pinn Stitch that I started ?? years ago. Today I might start a "Coloring book page" from the Tranquil Stitchers board. The SanMan 12 Days of Christmas SAL starts Feb 5th and I like this months pattern so I may do that too. So much for finishing up much on that LOOOOOOng list of projects.

Yesterday, Feb, 3 would have been my wedding anniversary if I had stayed married to my 1st husband. What can I say, I was 19, young and stupid. I met him in December, we went out a few times, he asked me to marry him in January, I said Yes. We were married Feb 3, he decided he made a mistake in marrying me 2 1/2 weeks later and went to Santo Domingo, Domician Republic and got a divorce. Our divorce was final on March 3, 1 month after we were married. I don't often remember that anniversary but I had read something on the internet yesterday that made remember that.

As much as I hate to admit this, I have been a LOT sicker since I quit smoking than when I did smoke. I have had one huge sinus/allergy infection since 2 weeks after I quit, my blood pressure has gone UP instead of down, sometimes I can't catch my breath when I run up and down stairs more than twice in a row, I have gained at least 15 pounds since November and my clothes don't fit well, I can't seem to concentrate as well on things as I did when I smoked. Quitting smoking has side effects as much as smoking does. BUT I HAVE NOT SMOKED since the couple of puffs I had in December when I was home, so I still consider my self smoke free for 80+ days, 2 1/2 months now.

Well, anyway, I am going to ATTEMPT to post this BUT nothing is going anywhere at the moment, the assholes must have cut the bandwidth already.

Dinner tonight is home made from scratch chilli. I don't know what I put in it that is not agreeing with me but every time I open the lid to stir, I feel like throwing up. I don't know what has upset my stomach but I just want to throw up.