Calendar note for today

Start a journal. Use it to track your progress, record your successes and learn from your mistakes. When you have a bad day, use it to remember why you chose your goals and how far you've come to date.

I have a journal that I keep track of my weight, measurements and what I eat.

I finished the May part of the oakhaven sal thing yesterday.

Wednesday night I pulled the fabric and some floss to start another project.

Today I am making the St. Paddy's day dinner since the 17th was on a Tuesday and everyone was working. Corned beef, cabbage, carrots and potatoes, Irish Soda Bread. I will portion my meal.

My sinus or allergies are horrible today, sneezing, itchy nose & eyes, watery eyes. All that vacuuming and cleaning yesterday must have stirred up the dust.

Have a great day.

Deja Vu

Thank you for your comments from yesterday. Sometimes it gets frustrating when I write and write and there aren't any comments. I know lilfe gets busy but even a "hello, I'm here" is nice. Yes, I know I'm bad with even reading blogs.

So, it's 3 years later, Deja Vu. Some of you from the Cross Stitch Crazy board know what happens to DH every 3 years and it's that time again.

For the second day in a row I've done my mile in 20 minutes, WOO HOO. Still no more weight loss, gain the pound, loose 2, gain 3 loose 3. I stayed the same this month. I did well on Thanksgiving, ate only what I should and only gained 1 lb and my blood sugar stayed under control.

I stitched last night for 2 1/2 hours and did 300 stitches! Woo Hoo. It was the last day of our Stitchalongathon on Needle nook. I didn't finish Be Merry, but I'm closer.

DH's friend claims that BA (British Airways-my FAVOURITE airline) is going to resume flights back here. WOO HOO if they do! UPDATE-Ummm, yeah, I checked the BA website. Don't think I'll be flying BA. They leave here at 09:00AM on EACH flight, 5 days a week, arrive in Heathrow at 2PM, i'd fly out at 4:15PM get in Boston at 6PM-Yuck. THEN, on the way BACK HERE, I'd have a 12 HOUR layover in Heathrow and get in HERE at 5AM. I think NOT!

Aint it amazin'

Look what happens when I sit down and stitch:

BEFORE & AFTER stitching for 3 1/2 hours

This week is the stitchathon at Cross stitch crazy but I'm not participating. There are too many ladies that think this is a diehard contest and if you don't stitch 1000 stitches or more a day then your nobody. I used to participate to see how many I could stitch, NOT to beat everyone on the planet then laugh. I'll probably stitch more tonight.

I fixed left over chinese food for supper last night, don't know what is for dinner tonight.

I was playing around with Amtrak time table, $152 round trip to go from Boston to Utica, NY plus it takes 10 hours. No wonder people don't take the train, it's longer than it is to drive. $648 to fly from Manchester NH to Albany.

Then I played around with another map. Picked out a driving route from home to Kennebunkport Maine. There's a Popeys's chicken place at a rest stop on I95. That would be good for a day's enterntainment.

Everyone needs to run over to Helga Mandl's Yahoo group and sign up for her new SAL. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wXSw/ The chart will be released on May 20 and it will be a set of 4 season charts. Everyone needs to over load her board like everyone does the SanMan board and snatch and run with the patterns.

35.2 at 3PM, it's hot.

A new week

Some people really need to get a backbone and grow up, either that or stop whining on a public message board. It's amazing how you can make a comment and it gets totally blown all out of proportion, upside down and inside out to say the totally opposite thing of what you said. And then you are expected to sit with your face glued to that board all day and wait for replies to what you said so you can reply back. Sheesh, get a life! I posted on that 123 board back in November that I was going to quit smoking, 3 people replied good luck, you can do it, etc. Ok fine, I didn't post anymore, no big deal to me, I was taking Chatix anyway and I found things to keep me busy during the day, yes it was a HUGE struggle, YES I still feel the urge to smoke, but I get past it. I have since posted in the past few months good luck and support to others on that board who have posted that they were trying to quit and they didn't make a big deal out of it, but this chicka thinks she needs to make a HUGE deal out of nothing, but then she makes a huge deal out of everything.

DH & I had to go meet a friend this past Thursday so we went browsing in the mall. I walked into this "stuff store" and found the PERFECT Arabesque style hanging lamps for V's house! I fell in love with them and started taking pictures so I could send them to her. Well this guy who worked there came along and wanted to know why I was taking pictures, what for. I tried to explain that it was for a friend's house decoration, to ask her which one she liked, I wasn't going to buy them if she didn't like they. Well are you going to come back here and buy them? he asked. Anyway Velda loved them so sometime this week or next weekend we will have to go back. I did find a pair of purple flip flops in another store that I bought and I HATE shopping for and buying shoes but now when we go back and get the lamps, I might buy a couple more pair in different colors.

Well that hardanger project is ruined. I went back and read that message board again that I joined to help with the project and read that i was supposed to cut closer to the edge than I did, so I re cut carefully, or so I thought. I must have cut 1 too many threads and now the stitching thread has been cut in a couple of places with no way to fix it. I had to put it up. Kind of puts a damper on attempting more hardanger
I stitched more on that August blackwork pattern last night. I am not at all fond of the thread color I used for August, it's way too light and doesn't really show up very nice. Here's a really bad picture of it

Ah well, It's another SAL weekend on NeedleNook anyway so it's time to put August away weather it's done or not. Here's a really bad picture of it
It's the Critters SAL weekend on Needle Nook so I may tie that in with our Extra Special Fob exchange project.
I am not sure yet weather I like the April Stitching challange project on Jaye's Attic or not. I didn't vote for the April pattern. I'll have to wait to see if I have time to stitch it.
I do like the April Coloring Book page from Tranquil stitches and I may try to squeeze that in. I also signed up for the Needleroll Exchange so hopefully I will be able to mail it on May 31.
I do however NEED to get stitching on 2 other special Friendship exchanges. I know what I want to stitch and I have them kitted up, just need to stitch.

Last nights dinner was grilled fish, mushy peas, and colrslaw. We took plain fresh fish, put fresh dill, garlic & butter on, wrapped them in foil and grilled them on the gas grill outside, and they were delicious! I think tonight we're going to have vegetables & fruits again.

LaFemme Nikita starts tonight! Yes, I know it's an OLD programme and it's been over for years but one of the tv stations here is going to start from the first episode tonight. We have seen this show before but we like it and Alias is over.

Well, it's time to do the walk, then the areobic vacuuming & dusing, total bathroom clean. (WHICH ARE SOME OF THE THINGS I CAN DO BETTER NOW THAT I QUIT SMOKING)

I can finally show this!!!

I am SOOOOOOOOO excited about this project. This is the March Stitching Challange stitching project form the Jayne's Attic board. The pattern is Alphabet Tree from Blue Ribbon Designs and it's stitched on 32 count Flax linen with Carrie's Creation threads Blue Lagoon, Emerald and Crescent Colors Polished Brass. The back of the book is a pattern from SanMan Originals.

I finished this into my first ever attempt at a needle book. The inside right side has a little pocket to hold my needle cases, the left side has 2 "pages" to hold loose needles.

So far this year I have attempted and finished 2 biscornus, a pin keep, this needle case, Hardanger and a no sew cube. You know what? I am damn proud of myself too!

A new week

Ok, so I am locking the patio door when I went to bed "last night" at 2AM. I noticed water on the patio, very unusual for 2AM. I go get some shoes, plod around, the water is growing into a little "lake". I walk around the side of my patio to see water bubbling up out of the ground in the neighbors yard and it's running on to my patio. Well to be quite honest, at 2AM there is absoultely nothing anyone can do except let it bubble until 5AM when someone is available to come fix it. Swell, so that means I won't have any water in the morning. So I get up at 8AM, I can see on the patio bricks we have out there that there was at least 3-4 inches of water on my patio but it has receeded quite a bit and appears to be fixed for now.

(let me explain to my new readers, I live on a walled in, self contained, private compound in a major metropolitan city in "the middle east". If something needs to be fixed, we call maintenence and "they will send someone". Our weekends are Thursday and Friday and the work week is Saturday-Wednesday. We don't celebrate any holidays what so ever except the muslim holidays, and most "western" or civilized holidays are forbidden, banned, illegal and not recogonized)

Last night we had pulled beef bbq, a recipe that was on the back of a box of Lipton Onion Mushroom soup mix. It was quite good. I had left over beef cubes so I will fix those tonight instead of heating up the bbq mess.

I sat for another 3 hours last night and worked on my hardanger project. I like the bottom 1/2 of this project a lot better than the top half. Not really much more and it will be done.

So far this month I have done well with my stitching and I think that is mainly due to the SALS on a few boards and the Stitchathon on Cross Stitch Crazy and Needle Nook. I just hope I can keep up the stitchy mood.

2, yes 2 more days until the boys come out to play!!!

I'm on a roll today

Well I hope my connection holds out long enough to post this. If you are from any of the boards I post on and you don't see me for awhile it's because the Internet connection SUCKS here again. It connects but doesn't go anywhere, nothing loads. So I did other things today.


After 3 years, this finally got done, I finished the stitching back in 2005 but finally made the tuck for it today:


It is the Kitty Paw companion ornament to the St. Patrick's Kitty Moon by Stitchy Kitty. I stitched those a couple years ago.


I looked around my craft room to see if I had the right materials to make a "No Sew Cube" for my St. Patrick's March Coloring Book page. I managed to find a few things and got that together but don't have a picture yet.

Today I am stitching on my Dinky Dyes Autumn Biscornu as part of a Geometric SAL on the Needle Nook board. This is my progress as of this morning. I have stitched a little bit today and it's working oup fast

The piece on the left is the top half.

DH said something about going to the travel agent today to check on making vacation reservations. Now mind you this would excite me to no end and have me jumping all over the furniture & beds BUT, 1-I am on a creative roll today and I don't want to stop, 2-we have gotten hooked on watching Alias on one of the tv channels here and this show only airs once a day instead of the other channel that airs tv episodes twice a day and I think tonight's episode is the season finale and this channel does not show re-runs later and 3-TRAFFIC SUCKS, EVERY street is bumper to bumper traffic and just like LA or NYC at 4 PM on Christmas Eve.

Last night's dinner was the re heated chicken Fajita Chili from Friday night but I added tortilla strips on the bottom and top of the stew. IT was pretty good. If we don't get back too late tonight, we'll re heat it but I am hoping we can stop for take out. Haven't had that in weeks.

I talked to Sweet Baby James yesterday. They were having his birthday party that day. He told me he liked his wagon, "I wuv you" aaaawwwwww, just tear up Grammy's heart there buddy. Now I'm waiting for cake face pictures, LOLOL.

Happy Birthday Sweet Baby James!

Today is my sweet baby grandson's 2 nd birthday! I can't believe he's 2 already! I miss him.

I will have to call him later and say Happy Birthday.

So much for feeling so good yesterday. I ended up going to bed early (for me) at 11PM. I had a horrible sinus headache and my neck hurt. I took 2 Tylenol PMs at 11:15 PM Monday night and finally got up at 11AM Tuesday. I did get up a couple of times to see why the cat was screeching so much, (she was just lost and didn't know if anyone was here) and to pee but I just couldn't wake up. At least the headache and sore neck was gone.

I got an e-mail back from my mail lady at HOME and there is at least 3 feet of snow on the roof of our house. I wish I knew someone who shoveled off roofs. It's a good thing we got a new roof this past summer!

Another exciting part to my day, the project I sent to NC arrived! I am so psyched about that, she said it got there yesterday! That is less than a week, I am so impressed! DH had just said yesterday that the guy from the office told him he mailed it out last week.

Last night I started my March Coloring book page from Tranquil stitchers, it's a St. Patrick's Theme so I am stitching it on a piece of Spring hand dyed fabric from Silkweaver with Needle Necessities threads.

Well it looks like I'm flying Luftansa this year, haven't flown them in ?? years. (Yes V, I'm going to Germany, LOL) Last time we went through Frankfurt it was a mess, so we'll see what happens this time. The flight orginates in Eritria or Addis Abbaba, someplace nasty like that, and it is usually full of foul smelling people, and that is NO lie, ever tried to hold your nose for 5 hours? Maybe I can find my cuckoo clock this time, LOLOL. I think I'm getting home on May 31 and leaving with DH again (UGH!) on Oct 10. We'll see how much changes between now and then.n Could have flown Swiss Air and gone to Zurich, haven't been there before but it was an 11 or 12 hour layover, I don't think so.

Last night's dinner was Spinach citrus salad. Spinach leaves with orange segments, walnuts & green onion slices. MMMMMMmmmm. Looks like the same thing again tonight.

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.

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.

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.

January 29

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.

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!

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.

March 20

This is what my sister said in her latest e-mail: My father was FINALLY moved to a room 24 hours after going to the emergency room.

I went to the ER desk and made my displeasure known and am writing a
letter to the Administrator and Public Relations Dept. No lunch ever
appeared so mom went to the kitchenette across the hall and got him graham
crax and coffee He will be there until Thurs. because they are giving him IV
antibiotics because they can give heavier doses over a longer period of
time. He is looking and feeling much better and has stopped coughing and
spitting up blood. The reason they had him on respiratory precautions is
because they thought he might have TB. He is going to be fine. He did ask
the nurse if she could change the channel on his TV in the ER as he was
tired of looking at all those wavy lines. She looked at him like he was
nuts. I said he was just kidding that he knew it was the monitor.

I started another project yesterday, a Flip Flop ornament that I am doing with a SAL on one of my boards.

One more week for the month long stitchathons

Tracy from San Man originals is having his surgery today and I really hope everything goes well, I will keep him and Sandy in my prayers.

March 5

Yesterday was my grandson's 1st birthday and as usual I missed being there. I called to wish him a happy birthday and talked to my son. The baby started walking the night before his birthday. He just pulled himself up on a chair and took off! That must have been so cute! I sent him some Yankees outfits that I ordered online but he hadn't opened his birthday presents yet. He was also getting his own chocolate cake for his birthday. I did get to talk to James and said Happy Birthday. He very distinctly said HI!

I stitched on Scooba Dooba Saturday & Sunday and made a little bit more progress, now it is almost 1/4 done. It's getting too big to put o the scanner now so the pictures won't turn out very good.

Today I started my San Man March Blackwork SAL on the Needle Nook message board. This is the progress I've made so far:

That is what 1363 stitches look like in 4 hours 45 minutes. There was a bit of frogging involved too. I am using San Man strands Picnic in the Park floss for this months project. The color looks a lot better in person that it does here.

I spent most of yesterday updating my online photo website, adding and deleting project pictures and re arranging things. Now I hope I can keep it up to date. http://members.tripod.com/bedounlady-ivil/index.html

March 1

Phew, what a stitching day! I started my SAL project at 10 in the morning, took a few breaks and finished the project at 10:30PM. 7:03 total stitching time, the project actually went fast. I'll get around to making the needleroll sometime. There were 1381 stitches in this, this is a great start to my stitchathon month!

Friday I will finish my March Sampler

It was grey and overcast today, very windy too. If this was anyplace else, I could have said it was going to rain, but not here.