Phoenix Update...

My aunt's back surgery was yesterday. She came through with flying colors. We didn't get to see her till about 3 pm while she was in recovery. She looked like she'd just woken up from a nap....LOL She looked great and was amazingly alert for just having gone through surgery. My cousin stayed with her last night.

I just talked to my mom and she said my aunt wasn't doing too well this morning. She's very disoriented and keeps repeating herself. I'm sure that's because of the anesthesia and her Alzheimer's combined. She's also having shooting pain down her legs. Maybe because the nerves are reawakening??? I'm sure my cousin will find all that out when the doctor makes his rounds.

So, being at the hospital all day yesterday, I had tons of stitching time :) All the black is almost done on The Phoenix. Can you imagine how excited I am about that? I think 2 of the most boring colors to stitch are black and white....LOL

And since when did hospital food get tasty??? And the selection was varied and prices were very reasonable. So, needless to say when I wasn't stitching, I had food in my mouth....LOL And right downstairs from the waiting area was the kiosk for frozen yogurt. Don't think I didn't take advantage of that!!! LOL My tummy wasn't too happy with me last night, but I don't care I enjoyed every bite of it.

Quiltmaker

I started the Quiltmaker at least 3 years ago. I put in 21 stitches and put it on the side. Well, I picked it back up again on Thursday and I'm so enjoying stitching her. I have no clue why I stopped working on her. So, my weekend was a mostly a "stitchy" one and low key. The most exciting thing I did this weekend was go grocery shopping and do laundry....LOL

I did watch Wanted with Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman. These are both actors that I adore, but this movie left me wanting! LOL I thought the premise and the fighting scenes along with the special effects were great. Now the acting and the ending were not so great. I suppose not every movie can be a great experience :)

And as far as reading, I'm almost finished with One Last Look by Linda Lael Miller. Those that know me know that I hate starting a series in the middle much less the end which is what this book is. It's the last in the trilogy....sigh.... It's so good that I couldn't put it down though. I'm so loving the heroine. She's that plucky, ballsy kinda chick that gives as good as she gets. And the hero ain't so bad either :)

Strangest place you've ever read??

Every Wednesday in The Times Picayune (New Orleans area newspaper) Living section talks about books. Last Wednesday's edition had an article by Susan Larson titled "Caught in the Act of Reading". She writes about how she loves to see people read and how she tries to be as subtle as possible when she's trying to see what books they're reading.

You can read the article here....

http://www.nola.com/timespic/stories/index.ssf?/base/living-12/122759405278170.xml&coll=1

Nine times out of ten I wouldn't be caught dead without a book in my hands, car, purse....well, you get the gist. You just never know when you'll have an extra 5 minutes to get some reading in, right?

So, that made me wonder where the strangest place you've ever read was? Me? The place itself wasn't strange (my friend's porch), but I was reading during a Mardi Gras party. I can't tell you how much flak I got over that one. It's not that I was being anti-social. It's just that my book was more interesting :) Yes, I finally put the book away and interacted more with the guests :)

So, what strange places/situations have you been caught reading in??

Long Weekend Update.......

This is the latest on Lady of the Flag. I can't believe how much I'm enjoying stitching her again....LOL





And I finished the Faith SAL last night!! Beads and all! Have I ever said how much I don't like beading??? LOL You may not be able to see them, but they're there!!! It seemed like it took me forever.

This past weekend was one of the most low key weekends I've had in months!! I got off of work at 1 pm on Friday afternoon and stitched the whole weekend away. I did the grocery shopping Saturday morning and conquered Mt. Washmore yesterday, but that was the extent of mundane household chores....LOL

I watched a couple of good movies, too. I saw 27 Dresses Friday night. I'm not a huge Katherine Heigl fan, but she was cute in this movie. I've been having crappy luck with my movie choices from Netflix lately. I saw Inside Out w/Steven Weber and Eriq LaSalle yesterday. What a convuluted, psychological crappy movie!! I had to watch it till the end though....LOL Then I tried watched Double Happiness with Sandra Oh. I couldn't get into it though. So, I wound up watching The Bourne Ultimatum with Matt Damon. I didn't like the 2nd one, so I had my doubts on this one, but I enjoyed it. And Matt Damon is easy on the eyes :)

Lady of the Flag

I know I said that I was going to work on The Phoenix till it was finished, but I just wasn't feeling it. So, since I promised myself that I wasn't going to start anything new, I pulled this grand lady out of her prison (her ziplock bag)!! It's probably been about 3 years since I've worked on her. I know....shame on me! I didn't get too much more done than what you see here last night, but I'm going to work on her at least through the end of the week. Then maybe The Phoenix will be calling my name again :)

Finally....a Phoenix update!!!

OK....here's the latest on The Phoenix. I really, really love this pattern. And it truly is an easy stitch, but I'm ready for it to be finished! LOL I made a deal with myself that I wouldn't start a new project until this one is done. Sigh.............why do I make these deals with myself???? LOL

Tomorrow afternoon I'm going for some porch time at my friend's house. It's supposed to warm up into the 60s tomorrow. Those nice temps need to be taken advantage of :) So, no stitching tomorrow, but I plan on getting lots of reading done on Lover Enshrined by J.R. Ward.

Flashback from the past!!!

So, mom was cleaning out her closet today and she found all my old report cards from elementary school and middle school. I have no clue what happened to my high school report cards. Maybe she wasn't as proud of them as she was of the ones from early education.....LOL She also found all these certificates of excellence. I had no clue she was still holding onto all of this. I'm almost 40 years old!!! LOL

I thought it was kind of cool and wanted to share it with y'all.

What should I do with them? Should I save them? For what I don't know....LOL Or just trash them?

Faith SAL

Here's the latest on my Faith SAL. For such an easy project I sure as heck have spent enough time frogging the damn thing! LOL

Now, I'm going to move onto The Phoenix. I've only got a 1/4 left to do and it's done. I hope to finish it in the next couple of weeks. You can see what I've done so far here....
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2849216100101290668rAunWc

Cottage Garden......

is done!!! I finished it last night just in time for Heroes! The pattern's by Cottage Country Needleworks. It came with the Crescent Colour threads. I stitched it on 28 ct jobelan star sapphire fabric. It was a quick stitch, too! I started it on 11/6.

Now onto the Faith Sampler. I did put in a few stitches in it last night, but not much. I was still recoverning from Sunday's fun :)

Excellent read!!!!

Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir by http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/945125.Jennette_Fulda">Jennette Fulda

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
What a hilarious woman Jennette is!!! She had me laughing out loud like I haven't laughed at a book in I don't know how long. I know this girl had a long, hard road losing that weight, but she tells it in such a way that you don't feel sorry for her. You're silently cheering her on while tears of laughter are rolling down your face.

Even if you're thin as a rail, I highly recommend it. She teaches life lessons that can be applied in almost any aspect of your life.

One more BoINK update

Here's the latest update on this MSAL. And, yes TDee, I know I need to finish that first square! LOL But you know me I can procrastinate until the cows come home :)

I started "Country Cottage" by Country Cottage Needleworks last night. And if I'm a good girl about it, I may just be able to finish it this weekend. I dug in my fabric container for the perfect fabric for it and I think I found it. It's a 28 ct jobelan and the color is star sapphire. Very pretty!!

Thank you Linda!!!!

I got another birthday present from my dear friend, Linda, yesterday. This is the wonderful lady from Iceland who sends me biscornus and pin cushions for my collection.

She sent me this...

http://www.123stitch.com/cgi-bin/itemdetail.pl?item=CCN06
http://www.123stitch.com/cgi-bin/itemdetail.pl?item=CCN02

Honey, I love them!!!! I'll be starting on one of them this weekend for sure!!! LOL

Our country has spoken!!

What an amazing night last night. There are not enough words to describe what I was feeling when Brian Williams from NBC announced our 44th president shortly after 10 PM. Our country spoke loud and clear! It's so obvious how desperate this country is for change. And I honestly believe that Obama is the man to do it. He will unite this country together. He will shatter those ugly racial walls that have been up for more years than we care to count.

It is time to hold our heads up with pride and know in our hearts and souls that the sweet smell in the air is the smell of change and love for all!

Who's winning???

Election Day 2008

No matter who winds up in office today, this election is one to go down in history. For the first time ever, we will either have our first African American president or the first woman vice president.

My only hope is that this day goes smoothly. That no one makes a mockery of this historic day. That people vote for who they think is the right person based on the candidates position on the issues and not because of the color of their skin. This country has lived with this racial cloud too long. We, as a country, must move past the black, brown and white colors of our skin and embrace our differences inside AND out! Otherwise this country will never grow. My greatest fear is that this country will forever be stuck with the filth of the past.

BoINK Update

Here's my latest update on this MSAL. I'm really enjoying this one. I better since I'm stitching it, huh?? LOL

Great mail day!!!!

The first pic are birthday presents from Sheila and the second one is from Sandy. These are dear friends from the cross stitch yahoo group I'm in.

Thank you so much, ladies!! I love all my new patterns. Now I just need to find time to stitch it all :)

Weekend update.....

Well, this past weekend was my birthday weekend and I thorougly enjoyed it. Friday I was having a crappy morning. I had taken the day before off to take my mom to a couple of appointments. So I come to work Friday and my desk is piled high with crap. It looked like I had been gone for a week instead of one freaking day! It took me all morning to take care of it all. Well, Gwen (a sales rep) where I work made me a 3 layer red velvet cake. Can I tell y'all it was to DIE for???? It totally made my day.

Saturday we did the normal Wal Mart shopping. Then it was time for lunch with the family at La Pupuseria. I ordered a cheese pupusa and the steak ranchero. It was so good and I was so full after I finished eating everything on my plate that I had no room for the dessert the owner brought out when he sang Happy Birthday to me! LOL I had a couple of bites of flan and gave the rest to my mom and aunt.

After that I went by my friend's house to enjoy some beautiful porch time. And what made it more special was the fact that I had it all to myself! I almost finished reading "Deadly Night" by Heather Graham. Another friend of mine called while I was hanging on the porch and asked me to come over. She lives not 5 minutes away from where I was so I went over there for a bit. And I hit the mother lode on Jodi Picoult novels! She gave 3 that I hadn't read yet. Nineteen Minutes was one of them and I started reading that last night.

Now yesterday my friend, Mari, was supposed to come over and cook steaks but her baby woke up a bit sick so we nixed the idea. I'm kinda glad we did because it was nice to have the day to myself and stitch all day long. I hadn't done that in awhile. Of course, I had a "crappy" movie day, too! I watched "In A Dark Place" which was pretty dumb and the ending sucked. Then I bought "The Happening" On Demand. Well, can I say that movie royally sucked!!!! I was so ticked!!!! LOL

I did get lots of stitching done on the BoINK SAL. I'll post a pic of my progress so far either tonight or tomorrow.

Birthday 2008

My birthday this year is starting off with a bang!! This gorgeous biscornu was made for me by one of my dearest friends, TDee. This picture doesn't do it justice though. WE all know that a photographer I'm not :)

And another friend, Colleen, gave me two patterns by Little House Needleworks. One is this one...

http://www.123stitch.com/cgi-bin/itemdetail.pl?item=07-1010

and the other is this one....

http://www.123stitch.com/cgi-bin/itemdetail.pl?item=05-2918

Thank you ladies for such great presents :)

Weekend Update

It was a gorgeous weekend in the Crescent City!! Beautiful blue, fall skies with great fall temps!! Saturday I got some porch time after work while reading "Dead Sleep" by Greg Iles. Afterwards I went to a party at a friend's house where her brother cooked us a meatless dinner. Did you guess he's a vegetarian?? LOL He made spaghetti w/pesto sauce and roasted tomatoes and garlic. He made some kind of roasted, sliced tomatoes w/mozzarella cheese on top. He also made some kind of soy sausage patties and links which I did NOT like!! Of course, I didn't tell him that. There was also asparagus which I loved. I could've eaten the whole dish of that! LOL

Yesterday was pretty low key for me. I did Wal Mart early in the morning. Then spent the rest of the day stitching. As you can see above, I made progress on the Faith SAL and the Book of Ink Circles MSAL. I also made some cheesy, chicken enchiladas. They turned out good, but next time I make them I need to kick it up a notch. They weren't as spicy as I would've liked. Oh and I'm also finished watching the 1st season of Mad Men. I'm really enjoying this series. I don't know if I could've lived in the 60s, but they sure as hell did have fun w/all the drinking and smoking :)

Angels are Done!!!!

Another one bites the dust!! I finished it late last night and love the way they turned out. I'm really loving these series of angels in this year's Pattern of the Day calendar.

Today is going to be a GREAT day! Boss lady has got jury duty and I'm stitching away on my Faith SAL. If all goes according to plan, I should be caught up with this one before the day is out :)

I'll be hopefully getting some porch time this afternoon. I've only got 4 pages left to finish "Mercy" by Jodi Picoult. She has quickly become my all time favorite author. Her books are so well written full of emotion and about real issues you don't read about much in fiction. If y'all haven't read her yet, I suggest you do. You'll rant, rave and cry right along with the characters she's so richly created.

Gifts from Linda

OK........Linda....I finally got around to taking pictures and actually posting them of the beautiful gifts you made me MONTHS ago!! Better late than never, right??

Linda is a dear friend of mine in Iceland that makes me these beautiful biscornus and mattress pincushions. And all I have to do is send her fabric or specialty threads or little odds and ends that I know she can put to good use.

Thank you so much, honey, for my beautiful gifts :)

Caught up!!!!

At least for now! LOL

So, I picked up the little angels titled "Friendship". I just need to finish their faces and the word at the bottom and I should finish it this week.

For whatever reason towards the end of the year for the past 3 or 4, I've been on a tear to finish as many WIP as I can. Let's hope this year is no exception....LOL

Weekend Wrap up

I took Friday off just 'cuz! LOL I honestly wasn't feeling all that great, but I sure could've gone to work. But I decided to treat myself to a "health day" as a friend calls it. I took mom to get her hair cut and to the bank. Then I treated myself to a pedi and paid a few extra bucks for an extra long massage. It was sooooooooooo worth it! And my toesies are a shiny, deep wine color....perfect for fall! Then Mari came over and we donated blood like good girls. We spent the rest of the day in my patio, having some drinks and reading. Well, I read and she studied. She's got 2 big tests this week.

Saturday mom and I did the Wal Mart thing. Then I did some cleaning and jumped in the shower and headed to Mari's for some porch time. It was such a pretty day, too. It was a little warm and so very breezy. We cooked some garlic sausage and macaroni and cheese for dinner. It was soooo good!!

I'm a few days late, but I finally finished Nouveau Flowers 1 yesterday. I was sooooo thrilled! Now I can concentrate on the Faith Sampler SAL. As a matter of fact, I'm almost caught up with it.....I think :






Ohhhhh.....I got some stash Thursday. I'm planning to jump on the wagon w/a friend after the 1st of the year. That means no buying any new cross stitch stash!! Except for fabric and floss. I honestly don't need any more patterns. I've got enough to last me at least 2 lifetimes. So, I should be good to go! What I got is showing up top b/c I'm too damn frustrated to figure out how to fix it! LOL
So, that's my weekend wrap up. I hope everyone had a great weekend :)

Blah Thursday!!!

Is it time to go home yet??? I've got a co-worker at home battling the flu and I'm hoping like hell he hasn't passed his germies to me!!! I'm not feeling so swift though :(

I want to go home and crawl in bed for a bit and then stitch the afternoon away! I'm "this" close to finishing Nouveau Flowers. I'm hoping to post the finished project tonight. Keep your fingers crossed for me! Or legs, eyes, whatever works for ya :)

This n' That

As you can see, I've accomplished quite a bit on this WIP. Hopefully by mid-week I'll be able to post a FINISH!! LOL

This weekend was a little unusual for me. First off, I woke up Saturday morning with a massive hangover! I can't tell you the last time I felt that miserable. And I had to go to work Saturday :( I don't think I drank more than usual so I have no clue what the deal was. So, needless to say I spent all of Saturday afternoon in bed. This was, of course, AFTER I bought the best enchilada plate from my favorite Central American restaurant. Then I had the nerve to have a cheese pupusa on top of that huge enchilada plate. But I've got to tell you, I had the best nap afterwards....LOL What is it about full bellies and good naps that go so well together??

Yesterday I did Wal Mart with mom. Then I spent the day working on Nouveau Flowers. I started watching "Dexter", the show from Showtime. I've only heard good things about it, but I really couldn't get into it. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it??? I'll give it another shot later in the week. The other DVD I have from Netflix is the series "Mad Money". This one I'm really looking forward to seeing. A good friend told me, "You just HAVE to watch this one!!!" LOL

Random Question........

A customer comes in and asks how much one of the used boxes we sell costs. So, I tell him. His response is, "$1.99?? Love a duck!" Now is that the same as saying, "Fuck a duck?"

Happy Friday!!!

It is almost the weekend!! Yay!!! I do have to work tomorrow morning though. No biggie since I can stitch the morning away :) Hopefully, I won't have many phone calls or customers....LOL

Tonight I'm going to my friend's house for some porch time. I was supposed to babysit her little girl, but she doesn't have to go to work today. So, we get to hang on the porch. She'll be the one w/a wineglass in her hand and I'll have the Coors Light :) We'll be soaking up some of this gorgeous fall weather we've been having. Need to enjoy it while it lasts. Cuz you know down here it doesn't! LOL

I was able to finish "Absolute Fear" last night and the ending totally took me by surprise. I love when books do that. Don't you?? Now I can't wait to read the sequel which is Lost Souls. This one's going to be Kristi's story. I've added it to my Amazon wish list and my GoodReads list. I have to keep with the books I've read and want to read one way or another, right?? LOL

I started reading "Angels & Demons" last night. I love Robert Langdon's character that Dan Brown has so skilfully created. I absolutely LOVED "The DaVinci Code". I read it twice and I bet if I read it a 3rd time I'd find something new....again!!!

It's almost lunchtime around here and belly's starting to grumble!! I'm looking forward to something totally sinful and decadent :)

Happy Wednesday!!!

It is an absolutely gorgeous day here. On my Weatherbug it changed from "heat index" to "wind chill". Now that I can live with.....LOL Too bad the weather can't stay like this year round.

I've been reading "Absolute Fear" by Lisa Jackson. I'm over halfway through and I'm dyin' to find out "who did it". I can't get to the end fast enough. Don't you just love books like that? The kind that keep you guessing as to who the villain is? Just when you "know" who it is, the script gets flipped on you? Can't read fast enough then! LOL

I'm ready to get home so I can go hang out on my patio and enjoy this beautiful fall day. Of course, I'll be having a few brewskis, but this time instead of reading I'm going to bring my stitching out there with me. I'm more than at the half point on my Nouveau Flower and I'd really like to finish it by the weekend.

WIP

This one is Yin Yang by Cross-Stitch Art. I'm stitching this one on a high count oatmeal linen fabric. I haven't stitched on it in a very long time only because there's a huge section that needs to be frogged. And I so don't want to have to do that. Eventually, I'm not going to have a choice because this is the 2nd time I've started this pattern. The first time I screwed up majorly somewhere and pitched the whole thing....LOL

WIP

This is Faith Sampler by Imaginating, Inc. I'm stitching it on 28 ct cashel linen in an antique green color. We're stitching this as an SAL with my Yahoo cross stitching group. It's the 1st of 4 in a series.

WIP

This is one my favorite WIP of the moment. It's called Nouveau Flowers 1 and it's part of a series of 6. It's designed by Cross-Stitch Art and I'm stitching it on 14 ct fiddlers cloth.

One more time....

I've tried this blogging thing before and I've always let it go on the wayside. I'm gonna give it one more college try though :) This blog will more than likely just be dedicated to my cross stitching and reading, but you never know what I might throw in the mix!!