It's WEDNESDAY!

That means the weekend! Woo Hoo! What do we have planned? Who the hell knows. I DO know we NEED a new coffee maker. So far this week one completely doesn't work and the other stand by one only the heating element works. So this week I have had 1 days of instant (gag gag), 1 day of French Press which isn't bad, and two days of heating the water then pouring it through the coffee in the filter on top of the pot.

Dear sweet Miss Annie AKA the Hunter brought me home a second bird the other day and insisted she bring it inside. I told her no and went outside with her so she could show me. She kept growling at her brother everytime he got near her. He just wanted to see!

I walked 3 days this week so far, yesterday my daughter walked with me. I talked to her on the phone while I walked. That was a very enjoyable walk. DH got me a set of 2KG dumbells, that was my birthday present which was fine with me. I don't think I am going to walk today but do my resistance bands, stability ball, dump bells and jump rope (gotta wake up the girls, LOLOL)

I made Meatloaf with brown rice pilaf last night and all in all it was pretty good.

I copied this from Kristin's Blog: http://thefertileinfertile.blogspot.com/

The Rules:
A.) Go to http://musicoutfitters.com/
B.) Enter the year you graduated from high school in the search function and get the list of 100 most popular songs of that year (the top link).
C.) Bold the songs you like, strike through the ones you REALLY hate. I don't know how to make the strike through so the ones I really like are Bold, the ones I hate are red and some I just don't remember.

I graduated from high school in 1975

1. Love Will Keep Us Together, The Captain and Tennille
2. Rhinestone Cowboy, Glen Campbell
3. Philadelphia Freedom, Elton John
4. Before The Next Teardrop Falls, Freddy Fender
5. My Eyes Adored You, Frankie Valli
6. Shining Star, Earth, Wind and Fire
7. Fame, David Bowie
8. Laughter In The Rain, Neil Sedaka
9. One Of These Nights, Eagles
10. Thank God I'm A Country Boy, John Denver
11. Jive Talkin', Bee Gees
12. Best Of My Love, Eagles
13. Lovin' You, Minnie Riperton
14. Kung Fu Fighting, Carl Douglas
15. Black Water, Doobie Brothers
16. Ballroom Blitz, Sweet
17. (Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song, B.J. Thomas
18. He Don't Love You (Like I Love You), Tony Orlando and Dawn
19. At Seventeen, Janis Ian
20. Pick Up The Pieces, Average White Band
21. The Hustle, Van McCoy and The Soul City Symphony
22. Lady Marmalade, Labelle
23. Why Can't We Be Friends?, War
24. Love Wont Let Me Wait, Major Harris
25. Boogie On Reggae Woman, Stevie Wonder
26. Wasted Days And Wasted Nights, Freddy Fender
27. Fight The Power, Pt. 1, Isley Brothers
28. Angie Baby, Helen Reddy
29. Jackie Blue, Ozark Mountain Daredevils
30. Fire, Ohio Players
31. Magic, Pilot
32. Please Mr. Postman, Carpenters
33. Sister Golden Hair, America
34. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Elton John
35. Mandy, Barry Manilow
36. Have You Never Been Mellow, Olivia Newton-John
37. Could It Be Magic, Barry Manilow
38. Cat's In The Cradle, Harry Chapin
39. Wildfire Michael Murphy
40. I'm Not Lisa, Jessi Colter
41. Listen To What The Man Said, Paul Mccartney and Wings
42. I'm Not In Love, 10cc
43. I Can Help, Billy Swan
44. Fallin' In Love, Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds
45. Feelings, Morris Albert
46. Chevy Van, Sammy Johns
47. When Will I Be Loved, Linda Ronstadt
48. You're The First, The Last, My Everthing, Barry White
49. Please Mr Please, Olivia Newton-John
50. You're No Good, Linda Ronstadt
51. Dynomite, Bazuka
52. Walking In Rhythm, Blackbyrds
53. The Way We Were/Try To Remember, Gladys Knight and The Pips
54. Midnight Blue, Melissa Manchester
55. Don't Call Us, We'll Call You, Sugarloaf
56. Poetry Man, Phoebe Snow
57. How Long, Ace
58. Express, B.T. Express
59. That's The Way Of The World, Earth, Wind and Fire
60. Lady, Styx
61. Bad Time, Grand Funk
62. Only Women Bleed, Alice Cooper
63. Doctor's Orders, Carol Douglas
64. Get Down Tonight, K.C. and The Sunshine Band
65. You Are So Beautiful/It's A Sin When You Love Somebody, Joe Cocker
66. One Man Woman-One Woman Man, Paul Anka and Odia Coates
67. Feel Like Makin' Love, Bad Company
68. How Sweet It Is, James Taylor
69. Dance With Me, Orleans
70. Cut The Cake, Average White Band
71. Never Can Say Goodbye, Gloria Gaynor
72. I Don't Like To Sleep Alone, Paul Anka
73. Morning Side Of The Mountain, Donny and Marie Osmond
74. Some Kind Of Wonderful, Grand Funk
75. When Will I See You Again, Three Degrees
76. Get Down, Get Down (Get On The Floor), Joe Simon
77. I'm Sorry/Calypso, John Denver
78. Killer Queen, Queen
79. Shoeshine Boy, Eddie Kendricks
80. Do It (Til You're Satisfied), B.T. Express
81. Can't Get It Out Of My Head, Electric Light Orchestra
82. Sha-La-La (Makes Me Happy), Al Green
83. Lonely People, America
84. You Got The Love, Rufus
85. The Rockford Files, Mike Pos
86. It Only Takes A Minute, Tavares
87. No No Song/Snookeroo, Ringo Starr
88. Junior's Farm/Sally G, Paul McCartney and Wings
89. Bungle In The Jungle, Jethro Tull
90. Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance), Leo Sayer
91. Someone Saved My Life Tonight, Elton John
92. Misty, Ray Stevens
93. Bad Blood, Neil Sedaka
94. Only Yesterday, Carpenters
95. I'm On Fire, Dwight Twilley Band
96. Only You, Ringo Starr
97. Third Rate Romance, Amazing Rhythm Aces
98. You Aint Seen Nothin' Yet/Free Wheelin', Bachman-Turner Overdrive
99. Swearin' To God, Frankie Valli
100. Get Dancin', Disco Tex and The Sex-O-lettes

Thanks for your help everyone who checked my blog for me today. Obviously it works now, LOL. Thanks for your supportive words to, they mean a lot!

It's been a BUSY couple of weeks, but I guess I've adjusted to my new way of life, eating that is. 6 out of 7 days I'm good and stick to what I should. So far 2 weeks of taking my thyroid pills my blood pressure has gone down significantly, I have lost 4 lbs, I walk 2 miles 4 times a week, sometimes 5, I do cardio work outs, I eat lots of fruits & vegetables, fish & tofu. I am supposed to go back the last week in August for more blood work and I will make a point to ask for a nutritionist or explain my food better.

I haven't stitched in over a month but DD & I went to my LNS the other day and I bought a couple skiens of floss & a piece of fabric.

I got my hair cut for Locks Of Love last week & had it highlighted a few days ago. My picture was in the weekly tourist newspaper.

I will do more updating at a later date, my daughter & grandson have been here with me all week but will be leaving tomorrow.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

I finished up those SanMan Doodle projects this evening, I made a biscornu. I stitched the bright one with 4 different flosses from SanMan Strands and CPR Floss and the dark one is SanMan strands Whirlwind. Both of those flosses are no longer made. I stitched them on 18 count white aida

YAY YAY YAY! My daughter & her family made it home from Florida ok! She said it was very busy but they had a GREAT time! I am SO happy to hear that, I will call her on Tuesday to talk to her.

The Yankees beat Clevaland 1-0 and Boston lost! Woo Hoo

The BIG WAHOO for today is I have a piece of paper with a number on it that allows me to get on a Lufthansa airplane on May 28, fly to Germany then get on another Lufthansa airplane and fly to Boston on the 29th! That is 30 days! Happy dancing in the desert!

I had take out again, a yummy Thai chicken wrap sandwich which was VERY good. DH had a salad.

Another weekend

Woo hoo, it's Wednesday, the weekend is here. Probably another fun filled exciting weekend like the last few have been, NOT! I know we'll be fighting the horrible, miserable traffic on Thursday headed someplace to shop.
It's 36.6C (97.7F for you Americans) at noon, ick. May 28 can't come soon enough.

It's now day 139 of my monthly cycle, these hot flashes are nuts! But then with my blood pressure being all over the place, I don't' know if they are hot flashes or some sort of side effect of the bp medication not working. Either way, I had my "dil" make me a Dr apt for July.

I got a couple more stitches put in my exchange project. I would really LOVE to know what my stitching block is this time. This is a simple project, it could have been started in finished in 24 hours! But NOOOOOOOO, I've been stitching it for a week now. I still have a needle roll to stitch, my niece's wedding sampler from LAST July & my DD's breast cancer mandala to finish.

I hope DD is having a great time in Florida, I haven't heard from her which can be either good or bad. She said she wanted to to go Miami Ink and have her ankle tattoo touched up, HAHAHA! Sorry but I don't think she has that kind of cash, it's probably expensive to have them touch it. It would be neat to see if they are actually there. I hope my grandson wasn't bored with Disney world and freaked out by the characters like DD & DS were. That was a HUGE disappointment for me. These kids HATED Disney world with a passion, they wanted to leave, they were bored with Epcot, not thrilled with Sea World, but Universal Studios in California when they saw KITT, that was the most awesome thing in the world! These kids were 5 & 8 at the time. Rome Italy was old rocks and nekkid statues, Disney world sucked, Hawaii was un-impressive, Hong Kong was ok but we had to eat at Burger King instead of local authentic food places, Singapore we never left the airport. That was the month long vacation that year, we flew around the world and it was fun and it was CHEAPER than a round trip ticket to the states and back.

Last night we had home made from scratch "macaroni & cheese" and beef kabobs. I had to use some EXPENSIVE velveeta up so mixed up some pasta rounds, added some real cheese and baked that. Sill have some leftovers so that is probably what we will have for supper.
Off to do my pre weekend cleaning.

A Mother's worry-update

I have been thinking about my daughter and her family since I got up yesterday. Did they make it? Did they stop for the night? Did they drive straight through? Are they ok? I know I should just let them be and have a nice vacation but I just can't help worry about them. They are 30 years old, been married 8 years this July, her husband is a very well trained auto mechanic so car troubles don't bother me, it's their lack of patience when driving through large cities. I may have to break down and see if I can call my daughter later today, just to ease my mind.

I did call DD's cell phone, they were fine, still driving. It took them 4 hours to drive through NJ due to detours, traffic & construction, probably due to the Pope being in NYC over the weekend. They were doing well and in a good mood, excited about getting there. My grandson was being good as well. It's just a mommy thing and mommy feels better now.

Prayers & safe travel vibes needed

Can you please say a prayer and safe travel thoughts for our daughter & her family this week. They are driving from Maine to Orlando & Miami for a weeks vacation. They are going to try and drive straight through. This will be the first ever vacation they have taken as a family. I am excited for them but as a mother I worry while they are on the road.

Another day in paradise

Not much new today. It's 88F at 11:30AM

ONE MORE DAY!!! The boys are BACK!! The Yankees season opener is Monday, March 31 at 1PM, I can't wait. Of course I can't actually watch the game unless I sit in front of my computer all evening on the Yahoo game channel and then it's just a "recap" sort of, not real watching.

Well I'm excited again, that blanket stitching on the outside of the hardanger project actually lined up! I finished the whole outside stitching and came together for a change! I am off a few stitches on the bottom, but who is really gonna know except you who are reading this. I'll post a picture later.

Last night we had stir fried beef & vegetables with rice. I had some leftover beef cubes from the bbq beef so I added a bunch of fresh vegetables mixed with fresh grated ginger, garlic & chili peppers. Tonight is more beef bbq.

I got an e-mail from my DD last night!!! Whoo hooo that means she is back online! I'm so happy, I miss her so much.

OK, well time to go do aerobic housework

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.

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.

July 27

What a week! Where to start? How about Thursday the 19Th
Thursday morning-Went to the eye Dr for a check up and found out that the contacts that I have been wearing are NOT supposed to be extended wear like I had thought! They are supposed to be taken out every night. She checked and there was a little swelling in my eye but nothing overly dramatic, did a glaucoma test and found it was "higher than normal" for what they are comfortable with so she will re test when I go in to pick up my new prescription.
Friday-called to try and get my "yearly" Dr. apt, the earliest they had open was Sept 13!!! Guess I need to call in April or May if I want one while I still have time to pay the bills that come in 2 months after the apt. Then tried to set up a mammogram, they will call back. My GP's office never did call back
Monday-Dr's called back with mammogram apt, October 3! I do NOT have insurance so anytime would have been fine since I have to pay for it. Hopefully I will be able to get the results before I have to go back to that foreign country again!
Still Monday-sit down with a list of calls to make and my phone book. Called my insurance co. about renewing my house insurance-secretary said she was on another line and would call back-never got the call back.
Called 3 places about getting my chimney/fireplace cleaned and inspected-1 place the phone rang and rang, no answer. Place #2-Answering machine said they were on vacation. Place #3 got another answering machine and just hung up.
Called my heating company to come check out my downstairs heating unit since NO ONE called me back in Sept after 3 repeated service calls. This actually went well, they came out in the afternoon and checked it out, it lit and heat came out. He said I need to have general service call for routine yearly maintenance so they can check the heaters (I use propane to heat). OK. He leaves and I go to clean my downstairs bathroom.
I find drips on the floor so I run my hand behind the toilet, a huge bolt falls out in my hand thus gushing water all over the floor. Got the water turned off and called a plumber. She took my message and said someone would call. No one called back so I called at 4PM. It was already AFTER HOURS for them!!! It would cost me $200 for an after hours service call plus $150 for each out after that. If it was not still gushing water, call back in the morning. The service manager finally calls me back in reference to my 2PM call so I tell my story again. I need a new toilet plus whatever fixings go with it. OK, they can't get here until Thursday!!! Damn good thing I am the only one in the house!
Tuesday-more calls, finally got hold of my house insurance company and got that settled. Calling my car insurance company to see if I was still insured since I got a notice from that said one part of the company could no longer carry us because of our son's driving record (won't EVEN go into that!)Our insurance went up $1500 a year! If we put him on a separate policy ours will go down. Took down information.
Called 2 more chimney companies, got 2 more answering machines but left a message finally!
Called and got an apt for a mold test and inspection of the house. $100 plus to get that done, but if that is why the house stinks and I cough so bad, then maybe house insurance will cover repairs.

Thursday - the new toilet comes, the man (who looks like he belongs back in 10Th grade)installs it. $350. Then he says while he was working on the toilet, the well pump/tank kept running and it shouldn't. Yep, we need a new well tank now. He made notes and said to call the office back. The service manager called back, a new well tank will cost about $300 plus parts & labor but they can't get out here until Wednesday the 1st but try not to use too much water!!!!
Get a bill for $67 for my heating call.
ok, I need to go to the store, check oil in the car, it's low so I put it in but the car still doesn't sound right or feel right. Guess I need to make a service appt with the Jeep dealer!

It's been warm and very humid the past few days but at least my son put in my tiny a/c unit. It cools the room to barely above somewhat comfortable so I guess it's better than nothing.

I did finally get an ornament finished last night, to replace one that was lost in the mail on it's way TO THE NEXT STATE OVER~!. I can mail stuff from 1/2 way around the world but it gets lost going to the next state over!

My daughter and grandson will be back for another week on Saturday, I hope we get to do some of the things we planned on in between all these service/repair calls! My son in law is supposed to come up too to do some yard work for me. Hopefully he won't be too miserable and will check my car for me since he's a professional mechanic.

If you got this far, CONGRATULATIONS, I just needed to vent someplace and i don't really like to whine on the message boards I visit.

May 23

My daughter's mother in law had her lumpectomy for breast cancer yesterday and of last night when I talked to my daughter she said her mil was in recovery and the dr.'s had gotten all of the cancer. I think now her mil has to go through chemo treatments. I am sure that is a great relief off her mind.

The Yankees BEAT Boston on Monday night but lost Tuesday night's game.

Tossed more things in my suitcases today, one is almost full.

Tuesday night I started a bookmark for the exchange on Needle Nook, I just hope my partner likes it.

May 12

I talked to my daughter and her mother in law is having a lumpectomy on the 22 then she will have radation after that. My daughter says she is coping well with everything so that is a weight off my mind. I sent her flowers for Mother's Day so I hope that cheers her up a bit.

I sent my mother flowers for Mother's day too and she called this morning to let me know they arrived and she loves them.

I'm still in this funk where I just don't want to do much, I stitch a little bit every day but not much at all. At this rate I won't get the exchanges done that I want to participate in.

May 10

Please join me in lots of prayers for my daughter and her family. They found out yesterday that her Mother in law has breast cancer. She is not in that great of health to start with and now cancer. I know the responsibility for taking care of her will now fall on my daughter even though her MIL doesn't like her much. She works different hours every week and has a 7 year old to take care of as well. I just hope that her MIL has the strength to get through all she will have to go through to be cured.

YAY YAY, Cross Stitch Crazy is back up! That was a long day yesterday with out talking to my friends.

It's the weekend here so not much is happening, It's 102F at 3:15 PM.
I have stitched today on my Summer Stitchery project.

March 10

Stitching update. I sat for 4 more hours stitching my anniversary project today and it doesn't look like I got very far at all. This is going to be a SLOW moving project. I need to pull out the bottom of the L in Pearl and add one more stitch to the side of it to make it even. I HATE having to do that. That blob under my name is supposed to be a flower but it just looks like a blob with green things stitcking out.

After 3 attempts to order something online then having my order cancelled I called the place on my cell phone and was able to place the order. I was trying to order something for my DS as a surprise, I placed the order twice and it got cancelled because of "missing or invalid credit card information" so I checked the information, re-checked, re-ordered and still got cancelled. I told DH about this and he said well when you re-order the item, order me one too. Ok, I reordered again with a different credit card and THAT got cancelled. So I called the place and ordered. The guy had no idea why it got cancelled and he didn't know what to do, so I placed the order again with a live person and it went through. DH checked both of the credit card statements on line and nothing had been charged except the last phone order and all of the information was right on both statements. Now I can't wait until my DS gets the order!
WOO HOO!! An update to the order, it's been shipped! I got an e-mail from them this evening. I can't wait to hear what DS says!

After sitting for almost 4 hours on Thursday re-charting my 30th anniversary project I just found the center of the motif I want as my focal point, found the center of the fabric and started stitching. I am going to center all the other motifs over and under the center one and just go from there, it will eventually be made into a bellpull. Here is what it looks like after 2 days of stitching. Not really much progress. I am stitching it on 28 count white opalescent lugana fabric with Anchor brand floss. This was a kit that I bought from an online shop.



My daughter enjoys cross stitching as well. When people post about new designs they see, we both usually look at them. We saw a new design the other day and we both like it so I think I am going to order it and we can stitch it together during the summer. That will be neat to do a mother/daughter project.

January 21

This is NOT a good day to stitch at all.
Got up, checked email and boards. I got my days mixed up again which is nothing new. One group is starting a blackwork SAL project and another group is starting a stitchathon. So I thought I would check the fabric I cut the other day one more time and start stitching. The fabric is too SMALL AGAIN by atleast 3 inches all around. So off I go to cut another piece. Get that cut, sit down to stitch. Annie cat jumps up in my lap, a white cat that sheds when she breathes and likes to roll around in the dirt so she is always dirty. She tries to rub up against the WHITE fabric, so I let her out. Sit down again, Roxie starts screeching to go out, if you do NOT let her out, she pisses and shits on the floor, so out she goes. Sit down again, put in a couple stitches, realize Hey, it's NOT Monday, it's only Sunday. Put that project away. Let Spot cat in. Drag out Liberty Angel, try to find exactly where I am on this damn project, get settled to stitch. Stitch 7 stitches, change colors, spot cat jumps up on my stitching table and lays across the paper that has my threaded needles in it, put him out. Put in 6 stitches of another color. I HATE this kind of stitching and this project has so many of those. 5 stitches of this color here, 3 stitches of that color there etc. I'm about ready to toss it. Spot cat comes in, jumps on the table again and sprawls out knocking stuff off the table. I give up. Straightened up stiching table and walked away. It's only 2 PM.
I plodded on with Liberty Angel and got maybe a whole 100 stitches done today. not a whole lot of progress there.

YAY YAY YAY! I got to talk to my daughter on IM and all her birthday presents arrived! I am so happy they did! I got her a Vera Bradley lunch tote, a nice bouquet of flowers and a gift certificate to an ONS! Her husband and son got her a GC to FAshion Bug. I just love spoiling my kids!
I sat down to stitch after midnight to starty my SAL & Stitchathon and got in almost 180 stitches before going to bed. Good thing I checked it, I was off by 1 thread and it would have messed up the whole thing.

January 20

Today is my dear daughter's 29th birthday. Unfortunately I'm not there to make her a cake or celebrate with her, so a phone call later will have to do. I did send her a couple of gifts I bought online, I just hope she got them in time.
Got up, went to check e-mail, nothing is working, only 1 board comes up and that is all. Had to reset the stupid DSL box 5 times before anything would work. Checked e-mail, read boards then sat down to stitch for awhile. I am finishing the hemstitching on my January snowflakes sampler and it just breaks my heart to have to cut off a few inches of the beautiful fabric it's stitched on. I have learned though that stitching this series of patterns to stick with the recomended fabric because cutting and hemstitching opalescent Jazlyn instead of plain Jobelan is more difficult since there are more threads to a cut.
I tried to call my daughter in the evening but no one answered. :(
Finished the hemstitching on the sampler so now this project is done.