There's no place like HOME!

I've been home for 24 days now according to my ticker, wow, where did time go? It's rained for most of the time I've been here.

Flight went well, left on time and arrived on time, pleasent flight. Made the flight connection to get an earlier flight to Boston but it didn't do much good since I had just missed the earlier bus to my sons. I made it to his house by 3PM.

I got home Tuesday afternoon, renewed my driver's license, picked up mail, went grocery shopping and got to my house by 3PM. It IS good to be home. DIL and DGS stayed with me for a few days.

I bought a brand new Jeep on Thursday, picked it up on Friday after I got home. I got to see my Daughter and oldest grandson for a couple days too. I got a 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee, dark steel blue, with lots of nice plusses like satellite radio, a/c that works.

Went to the Dr and they are pleased with my progress and congratulated me. (WOO HOO!)

I haven't stitched but i have fondled my new stash.

My father had a heart attack a couple days after I got home but he is ok now. They still can't do anything for the bad arteries so he is now on oxygen 24/7 for the rest of his life. He is still planning on coming up to visit in September.

It's Bike Week here in New Hampshire, lots of nice bikes all over. I went up to one place today and looked around but I am going to the main event tomorrow just for the thrill!

House looks ok, garage is almost done, nothing leaks that I can tell.

It IS good to be home!

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.

Long time no chat.

It's the start of the 4th of July Holiday here, I have nothing what so ever planned. The tourists have come and all the driveways on my road that are empty most of the year have cars in them now, so it will be a busy, noisy weekend.

I don't post as often as I should because not much happens when I'm on vacation. My olderst Grandson stayed with me for a few days last week we had fun doing things around the house. He will be back again next week for another week.

I made a 6 day trip to visit my parents in NY and got to see my friend Velda. We had a WONDERFUL TIME and she got her lamps. I was so excited to give her lamps to her and lots of other fun stuff too. I'll post pictures later.
I finally got to meet my Grand Nephew Ryan and he is a cutie! He looks exactly like his mommy and with some facial expressions looks like my daughter when she was a baby.
My other niece who had gastric bypass looks FANTASTIC! She looks like a whole other person. My sister is doing great too and we had a GREAT time together.

My DS got his drivers license back! I am SOOOOOOOO happy for him, it means so much. He is also off probation too so he is a free man! Sadly though he is now struggling with high blood pressure and is trying to keep it under control without having to go on medication. He has had to cut out a lot of food and beverages he loves and has lost so much weight that he really doesn't need to loose.

Our garage still isn't done but they said they would be here next week to finish it.
I had some mold remediation work done. Last summer I had tests done for mold in the house and the guy said it was high in the upstairs and he didn't like the way the wall looked downstairs so he came in and cleaned it up. He had to take part of the ceiling down around the fireplace in the living room and spray that down and part of the wall in the downstairs room and spray that. That cost more than we had anticipated but it's done and we're all clean here now.

It's been raining most every day here. A few days have been nice but it seems if it gets over 78 in the house I get so uncomfortable. I did get a new window a/c unit that does a much better job of keeping the place cool. I've tried to stimulate the economy here by shopping, LOL.

I haven't stitched that much, I finished up a Summer exchange piece, a Needleroll for an exchange, and Velda got her Pals project that I finished into a cube. (I need to post pictures of these things.) Now I need to finish one more project for an exchange and mail that off.

I miss my husband and my furbabies but it's nice not to have to cook every day.
The Yankees suck this year, they are not going very well. I did subscribe to MLB.TV so I can watch their games every day. This weekend they play Boston so I will get to watch the games live.

I have had a couple days where I just sit on the couch and channel surf all day. It's not fun to do much else when all it's doing outside is raining.

That's about all for this update. I'll post some things later.

Uh oh

I went to town on Wednesday, there is a new Christmas Tree Shoppe here, I could be in trouble in that shop. What neat stuff! There is also a new Starbucks.

I probably won't be on the boards & groups much for awhile. Too much stuff to do here and I'm just not interested right now.

Thursday was one of those days here that doesn't happen often. I know I am lucky to be able to do it but I did absoultely nothing. I laid/sat on the couch all day with the remote flipping around the 57+ ENGLISH channels. That's all I did.

It has rained and been grey & dark since Monday and will continue until the middle of next week. ICK! It hasn't been above 65 either, chilly to me.

Anyway, if you don't see me for while, I'm fine, just doing other things.

Smell that fresh mountain air!

Ahhh, it smells good, for a minute anyway until the pollen fills my nose and I sneeze. It's so green and nice here. There is this wet stuff leaking from the sky though today.

I made it home to the USA with no problem. Not at all fond of Frankfurt airport. My luggage did make it on the same flight and not a thing was broken, I am excited! My friends lamps made it! No problems at immigration or customs either.

It was very nice when I stepped out of the airport in Boston and it was cool. It felt good.
The house is fine, not leaking that I can see and it doesn't smell either.

Lots of mail & stash to go through.
I stopped at Walmart, Joanne's, Borders & the grocery store yesterday on my way home so I boosted the economy a bit.

My grandson is so cute, he is 2 1/2 and talks up a storm, my grandson who is 8 is also excited to have me home and can't wait to come see me, I can't wait either.

Ok. well back to unpacking and digging through stuff. Been up since 5AM

Another Saturday in Paradise**

** explanation is at the bottom of this post

LOLOL NKOTB continued. Ok, so my Travel Agent niece who was also a huge NKOTB fan who was going to marry Joey 15 years ago is still a huge fan, I am rotflmao. She wants to to to NJ for their concert in Sept. That would be neat but I think that is the day my DH gets home on vacation. I was kidding about watching the today show yesterday, she wasn't, OMG!

No stitching yesterday, I have 2 weeks to get exchanges finished.
Speaking of exchanges, I am in a couple. A needleroll exchange and a Summer Sizzling exchange on Tranquil Stitchers, and 2 other personal exchanges. So far that is all I am doing this year.

1:00PM and it's 37C again. They did get the a/c fixed but now if we try to lower it, it breaks again so inside it is 23C, (74) and feels chilly. It only dips "down" to 80F at night.

I haven't been on my cross stitch boards lately, I read every couple days but I just don't post. A couple of them are almost dead quiet, hardly anything happening, a couple others, the new members are just way too whiny. Apparently that certain designer from a couple weeks ago has gone into hiding again and won't show her face. A LOT more orders are missing and she isn't responding, hmmmmmmm. More "family crisis"?

According to the guy who we have contracted to build our garage at our house, the snow finally all melted from our back yard only a couple weeks ago. I guess that is a draw back to living in a thick, tree covered mountain area. We couldn't get satellite tv if we had to, there is so space to point the dish that has a clear, unobstructed view of the sky, too many tall trees around.

I've been e-baying again. Several years ago, when I started to become a severe cross stitch addict, I was winning at least 5 items a week, all cross stitch items. I quit e-baying after a couple years because I found out I could buy all those items from online shops at just about the same prices. I sold a few items as well. I quit checking e-bay because every time I looked, it had changed and I was lost. So now that DH has been e-baying buying Harley parts I was browsing and won several Tupperware items that I need replacements for. Sheesh, need to stay away from there. That is what happens when you were a dealer 20+ years ago and the stuff is breaking now.

Last night was home made pizza and it was good! Tonight is pasta with fresh sauteed vegetables.

**-Saturday HERE is like a Monday in the real world, Saturday is the start of the work week here.
Speaking of here, some asshole pervert called my cellphone this morning. I answered, he spoke in his native language, I asked him to speak English, what did he want, who was he looking for. The asshole wanted to know my name and said he was looking for sexy love. I hung up, he called back 4 more times but I didn't answer. DH is always at work when this happens.

It's Wednesday

UPDATE: BETTER HURRY AND SIGN UP FOR THE HELGA MANDL SAL ON HER YAHOO GROUP. It starts May 20! If you're not a member, you are going to need a password to get the SAL charts.

Woo Hoo, another weekend.
34.8C at noon it was hotter

I stitched again last night, 1/2 ribbon to go and the top part is done. The other side will be done with silk threads.

I've been browsing e-bay. I found that a certain size Tupperware brand container is GREAT for floss. Unfortunately I only have 1 of the size that I need here so I'm looking to buy more. Unfortunately the size that I measured my container as does not match up with anything in their current line. I've e-mailed Tupperware to see what they say.
UPDATE! I won two of those containers. No wonder I haven't been able to find them, they're discinued but I found some that are NEW, RARE, LOLOL.

Supper last night was a salad with cooked chicken breast, not too bad. Don't know what I'm having tonight.

Another busy Thursday

We went to malls & shops we haven't been to in years, it sure brought back memories. At one of the shops I just HAD to buy these, so it's official, I'm the queen.

Actually, they are little hair combs but I thought they were a hoot!

at 1:50PM it's 34.7C (94.3F) down from 97F at 1PM

3 weeks to go! I can't wait!

One of my close friends could use lots of hugs, good vibes and prayers right now. She and her family are having a bit of a rough patch right now and need lots of good thoughts. I have told her that she has all the thoughts and hugs from me that she can use right now. If I could be there in person for her, I would. I hope things get better quickly!

Last night we had these "beef" sausage kebab bits & some mixed bean salad. The salad was good but the "beef" sausage bits tasted nasty. I don't know what was in them but they were ewwwwww. DH didn't even eat all of his.

More tidbits & SBQ

While we were at this new super-mega mall we kept hearing this beeping and honking. We looked around and there was this boat shaped motorized vehicle driving around the mall. There were 3 boat "cars" attatched to the back with adults riding in it. I laughed. I don't know wheather this takes people to other ends of the mall or if you just ride around in it. From the outside the mall looks like a departure terminal at a HUGE airport.

I also got a new digital camera on Thursday. My old one just quit working all of a sudden.

Another thing to be pissed off about, for some reason I can't get to the Passione Ricamo site. It goes there and all I get is a blank white screen. NOTHING shows up no matter how long the page is there. No matter what area of the site I go to, the main page, the freebie page, nothing. I just don't get it.

Here is the Stitcher's blog question from a couple weeks ago.
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SBQ: Blends - April 23 2008

http://blog.blondelibrarian.net/archives/2008/04/sbq-blends/

How do you handle blended threads? Do you kit the blends up before you start a piece, or do you grab what colors you need and blend when the need arises? If you kit up the blends beforehand, how do you store them? Do you have another option for blends to share?

I thread my needle as I go, using the 2 separate colors then I just but them back with their original color. I try not to use blends very often.

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SBQ Heirlooms April 30, 2008

http://blog.blondelibrarian.net/archives/2008/04/sbq-heirlooms/#comment-5941

Do you have any pieces that you would liked passed on to future generations as family heirlooms?

The only project I bet that will be saved is my L&L Guardian Angel. Maybe there are a few other pieces that my family will save but I don't know.

We went to a new mall on Thursday. We walked 3 1/2 hours browsing and didn't see 1/2 of it. AT one entrance there were 3 of those electric scooter carts. I stood there for quite awhile just debating should I? What would they do if a woman was on one of those since driving is forbidden, illegal, against the law and just not allowed in this country. Does that go for those scooters too?

We started out going to my LNS for some beads, buttons, trim and fabric. I got buttons & trim and a few skeins of floss. The floss here comes from France with different labels on than American floss. That problem with DMC from last week will not affect the American floss.

Friday I couldn't sit still, I kept jumping up and down straightening, cleaning, doing laundry etc.
Thursday we had Popeye's chicken Friday we had the left over slop from Tuesday.

I finally got that floss order from January.

I found out Friday that one of my kitties is going blind. Poor Roxie is deaf, only has 2 teeth, walks with a limp and now she's going blind. I don't know how old she is but we've had her 9 years. We got her from a friend who was leaving and couldn't take her with them.

I haven't stitched since Wednesday, I need to get stitching.

More new toys

Last night we went out to buy my friend her last lamp. This was the big one but now that I have it, it's not really that big, I can fit it into my suitcase no problem. It's 28 inches tall and it's already wired for electric, they even included a 220 V 25W bulb.Then I bought a new purse. I normally hate & detest buying purses, shoes & stuff like that but this one caught my eye because it is woven on the front with what looks like more floss. It has bright colors and it even has it's own storage bag, LOL. I thought that was cute, a purse with it's own carry bag. It came in many different styles and also black but I liked the khaki color.

I also bought another one of those floss fob things. I would have bought more but I ran out of money. Last night we had a spicy Lebanese cheese salad, it was very good. I don't know why I do that to myself, we have started trying a lot of food from over here that we find out we like. Unfortunately when we go back home we won't be able to get these things anymore in our neck of the woods. Tonight I am going to fix Tofu Parmigana that I found a recipe for on my friend Meggie's blog.

I haven't stitched in DAYS again, probably since Wednesday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO 3 OF MY KITTIES! Today Oreos is 19 years old, Spot & Annie are 6 years old. For dinner Spot will get a tiny bit of beef strips, Oreos, Annie and Granny cat Roxie will split a chicken breast. It's not Roxie's birthday but since she lives here she gets to join the party. The birthday kitties got new catnip toys to slobber on.

An idea for floss

I picked up a couple of these items the other day. They look like they were made from floss or thread, braided then wound around. One is the pretty pastel and the other one is very vibrant, bright primary colors. I think you put them on cell phones or those iPod things. I thought they were neat.

I've been browsing the Online Needlework show and found a few things I like. Some cute new fobs from Sekas & Co, a couple new charts from Sue Hillis, Oh La La & One More stitch, Summer Biscornu from Barbara Ana. Then I was looking at the newsletter from ABC Stitch Therapy (my LNS) and saw a cute pattern but I didn't save the picture to my wish list and spent almost all day Friday looking for it again. Then the Stitches N Things newsletter came out and there it is, Moose by Moonlight from Glendon Place, I LOVE it.

I got my friend Velda a couple new lamps on Thursday but need to go back today to get her favorite one. The lamps I've been buying her are really neat, they will make a GREAT addition to her Middle East inspired living room. I also saw a purse I kind of like so I might buy that too. I HATE purse shopping so this is a miracle for me.

My poor boy kitty Spot got beat up the other day by one of the stray cats. He is fine but his leg got scratched and bit up so he's been under house arrest for a few days and he's not at all happy about that. He keeps whining to go out and we won't let him. He's gotta learn to quit being the street bully.

Thursday night I fixed some Aloo Gobi, an Indian dish that we can't get at our favorite Indian restaurant then DH went to the Indian place and got some Chicken Jalfrezi, Butter chicken, dahl, rice and nan bread to go with it. MMMMMMmmmm the rest of the stuff was good but that aloo gobi didn't turn out right like we remember. So we had leftovers on Friday night.