Long, rambly post!

Well, it is now almost a whole new year...only 3 more days until 2007 is a gone thing. I really didn't do so well on most of my stitching goals. I didn't get any big finishes done, although I got lots of small ones finished. I finished all 12 of the Erica Micheal's freebies for the year. Plus some of the other smallish freebies she has...the alphabet sampler minis...I have finished letters A and B. No big finishes though. How disappointing. And to think that for most the year I wasn't working. Even though I started school in the Summer, I still had half a year to stitch, although I had lots of other goals as well, such as my 50 book reading goal for the year. I just finished reading #35, and started #36. So, I didn't reach that goal either, but I got sorta close.

I think part of my problem is my addiction to the computer. I spend WAY too much time on here, playing SIMS, and surfing the web, reading blogs, spending time on Myspace.com...things like that. I think I am going to have to do something about that next year, maybe then I will get more stitching done. Oh well, it's all been fun, so why care? Although now looking back, I wished I had spent more time with needle and thread. Oh well.

I do have a finish to share...the last of the Erica Micheal's freebies for the year. I was able to finish it last night while watching one of the DVD seasons that hubby got me for Christmas, because of another gift my hubby got me...my white thread that I needed! He got me 50 new skeins of floss!!! And! he stuffed my stocking with them...but he wrapped them!!! there were 25 individual wrapped things of thread. well, like there were two to a package... unwrapping them was a pain, and he sat and thought it was hilariously funny! It really sorta was! So, I got floss, but he said I had to work for them....funny funny guy!

So, I have to share with you my finish, and show you my progress on my little snowman mini stocking. ornie.

Now I just have to finish out what I want to do with the quilt I want to make all these into.

next up is my snowman...

I got his little face in almost, just have to finish up his cap and scarf and sweater, and the reast of the stitching on the stocking itself. so, that is what I have been up to. not too much, and i am hoping that next year will produce much more stitching from this end, but we shall see.

I had a great Christmas, along with floss, I told hubby I wanted him to get me things that will keep me occupied while he's away for the year. So, he got me some of my favorite TV DVD series, and some jigsaw puzzles, and a bunch of new SIMS games. So, I think I will be kept happily busy. He refuses to buy me any new books or stitching stash, besides the floss, because I have so much already.

My parents sent a huge box of goodies too, so I made out pretty good!

And things with work are slowing way down...all week I have had short 5 hour shifts, so that allows for more relaxing, but hubby is home this week, so we have been spending time together. He goes back to work on Monday. And we only have 13 more nights to throw the route...thank goodness. Then he leaves for a week to go visit his dad who is leaving to move to japan the middle of Jan, which I can't go with him, because of work, which is fine with me. Then he comes home for a few more weeks and leaves for four weeks for training, then he comes home for two or three weeks then leaves for 6 month deployment.

I just can't wait for the route to be done and over with! I am sick of getting up int he middle of the night and throwing papers int he freezing cold, then having to work in the day, although I think it may take my body a bit to adjust to the new sleeping all night thing again, as I find that even when hubby goes and throws the route all by himself because I have to work I still wake up at 2 am without an alarm. So the first week without the route, I may have to take Tylenol PM or something to help me sleep through the night, and get me back on track with an all night sleeping pattern.

Well, that is about it here, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! sorry this is sort of a rambling post, but had a lot to share!

I hope you have a beautiful holiday filled with family and friends and a ton of blessings!

Happy Saturday...er Sunday!

It feels like a Saturday to me as today is the first of two days off in a row from work for me! I am happy to report that I have completed the 2007 Fall semester!!! I am done! Finals are finished,papers and assignments are all written and turned in, all there is now is to await grades! ::biting nails:: But I am not too worried about it, I feel like I did well, despite the end of the semester being so compacted and hurried with life's other little oddities, but it is finished now, and onto Christmas!!! And stitching!

Ok, during winter when I think of a color that describes this season I think white, what about you? Well, I am currently in the middle of two stitching projects that require this particular color...alot of it! And what do you know? But that I have run completely out!!!! So, I need to stock back up on it, which is weird to me, because I see white and black as two basic colors you should always have on hand, and I have run out of white, HOW DID that happen?! ::shaking head:: oh well, and I am not sure that I want to run right out in the holiday rush to acquire one skein of white, or a few to have on hand, so I shall wait. Hubby keeps asking me for a list of DMC's I need so I will put that on the top in BIG bold letters! So he knows to get plenty, and maybe I will be able to finish these two projects before the first of the year, or!!! I can dip into a kitted project and pull white out of one I don't plan on starting for awhile. I might just do that!

And now for some pictures! Here is my December Freebie by Erica Micheals. as you can see all i have left is white to finish and alas cannot, because of my no white onhand predicament, the outlining of the buildings I added as I didn't think the white stood out enough on the fabric, so I added that so you could actually see the sillhouette of the buildings.

And next up is my little snowman stocking/ornament

This is not a very good picture, sorry, but you can see how much I have done and how much I have left to do. I am not enjoying this piece as much as I thought I would, for such a small project, it sure has a ton of color changes, for the detail and shading. And I'm sure that when it's finished and the backstitching is in, it will look wonderful, right now though, it looks a mess. Probably because he's missing his face! Oh well, maybe today I will have to pop in a DVD and watch something Christmas-y and stitch away on it until he looks much cuter! So between school and work (both jobs) and life, not much stitching has gone on here, but I try to do just a little bit at least once a day, usually before I go to work at the store, as it calms me down and ready to face the mob! Especially this time of the year! Good grief! But now with school out of the way I anticipate alot more stitching. I do see a light at the end of the "going crazy" tunnel now, After Christmas my hours at the store will slow way down, and I will be getting rid of the route in less than 25 days, and then hubby will be leaving for his deployment in less than 2 months, and I am not taking "in classroom" classes next semester just online courses, and 1 less class than last semester so I think things will calm down, they already are with no school right now.

Well I think this post is nice and long enough so I shall sign out and go crawl in the Christmas tree, or behind it, I guess, and see if I can't make this snowman look a bit cuter!

Feeling much better now....

For someone who has limited time, I sure am posting alot, huh? I think this is like therapy for me, though, to just write and get things off my chest!!

Thank you once again to everyone who has left me such kind and encouraging comments, I feel bad that I don't have time to do the same right now. I am reading blogs a little, but no commnets. I am done with one final! Woot! (This is this years new proclaimed word by Merriam Webster...anyone see that? It was on my Yahoo news page...funny!) Anyway, So two more to go! Yay! And I put in my letter of resignation at the paper yesterday, so Jan 10th will be my last official day to throw papers. I am counting down! Finally I will get a full 8 hours night sleep, uninterrupted! Yippee!

Also I am kinda excited, because I am not sure what next weeks schedule at work is, but the following one I have a few short days (5 hours instead of 8) Phew!!! So I think things are gonna start looking up here soon! I can't wait!

Plus, don't faint, after I posted this yesterday, I sat in my chair (yes the one hiding behind the Christmas tree, and ornaments be damned, cause I probably knocked 'em all hither and yawn) and I stitched! Not for very long, mind you, but enough to start feeling a sence of calm come over me. It was very , very nice. So, I went to work yesterday with a renewed sence of calm, and it felt so good! There is nothing like stitching to calm a person down! I don't know what it is about it, is it the consistant motion of the needle going in and out of the fabric, kinda like the motion of a rocking chair when our mom's rocked us to sleep? but that sameness of the motion is soothing somehow!

Also, I want to say a big apology, not that my hubby reads this blog, but I have really slammed at him hard here the past few days, and he's really not the monster I sorta made him out to be! He really is a sweetie, like the other day we were at the grocery store and he was all excited, because he wants to make dinner for me this week, he is gonna make some pot roast dish, and I think it is so sweet! He really is very loving and giving. He's the best there is, I think, it's just when I feel all uptight, he seems to get the brunt of my frustrated feelings. I needed space the past couple of days, and between no sleep and going to work and dealing with a ton of people and then coming home and him being here, I just...ugh! He really is wonderful and I love him like no other! I was just fuming because of other things.

Well, I still have a few hours until I have to go work, so I am going to go stitch again...Poor Christmas tree! It is gonna be all smooshed on one side for all my climbing behind it to get to my stitching chair. But it will just have to understand that that chair is my sanity, so once it understands that I'm sure it won't care. LOL!

Thank you!!!

Wow! Thank you all who left me such wonderful comments on my last post. I half expected people to be like "Suck it up, girl, that's just life!" But I should have known better, stitchers are such a kind lot! =)

When I have a clear head and really think about things, I just have to laugh at myself. I sound so selfish! I think I just got so overwhelmed, it was just too much dumped on me all at once! I go from having all day to do my homework and whatever I want to suddenly having to be somewhere at a certain time, it's kind of a shock to the system! I have to watch my clock again, make sure I get to work on time, and then when I'm at work I count the hours until I get off work. Ugh. LOL!

I think things will be better once I am done with school, and then when the route is gone, it will be even better, I'll be able to get a good nights rest, and when Rob leaves for Iraq in a few months, it will be a downright blessing, I will have something to fill my time to keep me busy until his return. Thank you all for listening to me! Hugs!

It is still sorta frustrating that I don't have all sorts of time to just sit and stitch. I have been much more into my reading lately, because it is easy. Plus my favorite chair that I sit in and stitch while watching the TV is being blocked from the TV right now by the Christmas tree, so I have to share the couch with my husband who is 6 foot 2 and thinks he can take up the entire thing, all sprawled out, leaving me NO room to get comfy with needle and thread, plus my stitching light is over by the chair that is hiding behind the Christmas tree, and with the winter weather here it is just so dark, so not a whole lot of stitching is going on.

You know? I know this is going to sound absolutely terrible, but I am almost looking forward to Hubby leaving for Iraq. NOT the fact of where he is going, but just that he's going! Ok, the other night, he made the LAST frozen pizza for dinner, while I was at work and ate THE ENTIRE THING!!! Leaving me with having to scrounge around for food when I got home. I mean, would it have killed him to save me ONE slice? Plus we're on a budget, and he eats so FRICKEN much! That one pizza could have fed me for 4 days! And he polishes it off in one sitting. And this is a Digiorno pizza! It was no tiny thing!

Here I go again with my venting about life. But since I have no stitching, I am just talking about life and the things that seem to frustrate me now. I hope you don't mind. This Thursday I have the day off, ::sigh:: and Hubby will be at work ::another sigh:: and I will possibly have the entire day to just sit on my comfy couch and stitch. So, hang in there I may get some stitchy news/photos up soon!

Again thank you all for your love and support, and Michelle for your prayer, that is the best thing I could use right now! YOu are allt he best friends a girl could have! And you all live in my computer! he he! I saw a comment for myspace it said "I love my computer, all my friends live in it." sometimes I think that is SO true!

A huge rant!

Hi! Sorry about that last post! Could you tell I was frustrated?! I don't know why, but I have been so mad and depressed and upset lately, EVERYthing and ANYthing can set me on edge, my poor hubby gets his head bit off all the time. Basically it all comes down to the fact that I am a spoiled brat, and now I have to work and I don't like it! How dumb! It's life! I just had the most wonderful year of my life, I worked 2 hours a day and had the rest of the day free to do whatever the heck I wanted, I could read, stitch, bum around, do whatever,work on Homework, now my time is nil. I have NO time to do ANYTHING! and so, what I do when I don't have time is I cut my sleeping time! The first thing to go in my book is sleep! Which I guess makes me VERY grumpy!

Also the fact that I sat and wrote a nice long post last time and then when I went to post it the computer decided to freeze didn't help either. So, if I am short on here, that is why, basically I have no time, but I am trying to make time, so I cut alot of corners so I have time. I cannot wait until I can get rid of the stupid paper route!! Then I can actually get a good decent nights sleep, and still wake up early enough to feel as though I have a little life. Like last night I only got 6 hours of sleep. And my husband!!! I don't go to work until 12 in the afternoon, however, I won't get home until after 9 tonight, and so I made myself CRAWL out of bed at 8:00,and he can't understand why!!!! "You don't have to get up, you don't go to work until 12!" I have laundry to do and dishes and cleaning, and I would like some down time before I go have to deal with a million people in a HUGE noisy store all day, a little quiet would be nice! But I guess he wouldn't know, because guys don't do all that stuff, he gets home from work and relaxes sits and watches TV, and plays his games, I guess he thinks some magical elves come out of nowhere to make sure he has clean clothes, because by the way he was acting, he doesn't think I need to get up and get it done, plus, this is finals week, I have STUFF to do!

I am basically hating life right now, it wouldn't be so bad if I only had to go to the store and work but I have the route, and school on top of that, and taking care of hubby and house, and I thought I was stressed before, I am just over the top pissed off at the world right now.

Sorry about this sad post, it's just how I feel right now. When I get my paycheck I will be happy!

Stitchy junk

December freebie started.

Not much stitchin'

Well, things here have been hectic. This is the last week of classes and then finals are next week...phew! Then I can finally throw myself into the holidays! I haven't been stitching too much, but probably more than I should, what with all the schoolwork, but oh well.

I have gotten my old retail job back, so right now I work the paper route from 2-4 am, or so, then I work at the store for about 8 hours a day, and then I try to study somewhere in there and sleep....just crazy! I can't wait for the pressure of school to be over for the semester, then I will just have to worry about the two jobs, which I am quitting the route come the 10th of January, but by then school will be back in session, so I will be doing school and retail job. I am glad though for getting back into my old work place though, because when hubby leaves for Iraq I am going to be glad of the distraction of going to work, of course I'll be taking classes again too, but I am taking online courses next semester and only two classes, so I can put more time into work,so with those two things I am sure I can stay busy! Not to mention all the stitching I will do, and the reading, as well. I am setting a 65 book goal for next year, which is just crazy since I didn't even complete my 50 book goal for this year. But oh well. I got close, I finished #35 last night and am onto #36, so It is going to be close.

In stitching, like I siad I haven't done much, just work on my little tiny stocking, which is coming along, slowly but surely, and I started my Last Erica Micheal's monthly freebie for the year, so there is one stitching goal down, (to finish all the monthly freebies by their given months), so that is good. I am anticipating a lot more stitching after next week is over and done with, since there will be no more school. I will have a little more time, but then I will be working...wow, if it's not one thing it's another!

Hope you are all having a happy holiday season so far!

Well, it's been awhile since I last posted, mostly because not much stitching has been done at all here! It is coming up the end of the semester...crunch time!!! So, with trying to get things done for the end I have been busy with schoolwork and not much else! but!!! It is the Thanksgiving holiday weekend...so, I'm throwing it to the wind (and let me tell you with this Texas wind, it is LONG gone! lol!) and I shall sit and stitch and read to my happy heart's content!



The weather is just perfect!!! Yesterday it was in the 80's. This morning when I went to get the papers, it was still nice out, drove the convertible with the top down, was fine. Came back to the house, rolled the papers, woke hubby to go with me to throw them, and we were still nice and comfortable, with the top down, Hubby had JUST gotten done stating something to the fact that it was still nice out, because we have been expecting a cold front to come through for the weekend, and how it had not arrived yet, no sooner did the words leave his mouth, and There was a gust of wind and our cold front had arrived, just like that (Snapping fingers here.) It was SOOOO wierd! I mean, we were just going along all comfy no wind, the air wasn't cold, just comfortable and in ONE second, there was a gust of cold air, and the cold front was there.



I have been looking forward to this weekend for about a week, they kept predicting this cold front to hit us for the holiday weekend, and now it's here. You'd have thought I was a kid, this morning I was squealing in happiness driving down the road to the store to pick up last minute odds and ends for Thanksgiving. It was overcast, and windy and cold! Now the sun is out but it is still pretty brisk out there. Perfect fireplace weather for the holiday!!!! ::sigh:: We are even expecting snow maybe on Sunday!



Anyway, now ontot he good stuff...stitching! Thanks for listening to me ramble on about the weather. I can't help myself, the Texas summer heat is finally gone!!! And winter is here! The holidays can officially begin!



So, even though I have not been stitching terribly much due to the onslaught of homework and papers and studying I have had to do in prep for the end of the semester, I have put a little bit of progress on my tiny stocking ornament!
I am doing this one on 18 count navy blue aida. Pattern called for the background color (navy blue) to be stitched in, on a white fabric, but why bother if you can cheat? LOL! I am enjoying this, even though I have not had much of a chance to really get into it. Just a bit here and there, because of school. but I think it is going to be really cute when it's done. I am hoping that maybe I can finish it this weekend, while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade. I am so excited to watch that!! We had not had Television for the last two years, because we didn't see the need, as we would pay for something that we hardly use, but this year we have dish network, and I am watching the parade!!!! It's traditional holiday kickoff, man!!! Once Santa Clause rolls through at the end, that's it! There's no turning back, the holidays are here! Bring on the turkeys and the christmas trees and the santas and the lights, and the festivities, and go crazy for a month, and then make promises to change yourself that you never live up to on the first of the next year-ta da! the end!!! LOL!

I'm really psyched about the holidays this year, can you tell?

And back to our regularly scheduled program!

Hello! I'm back! My mom went hom eon Tuesday, and that was a sad day for me! I spent much of the afternoon and evening after she left crying. I felt so silly. Here I just turned 30 on Saturday and I'm crying for my mommy! You'd have thought the woman had died or something for all the carrying on I did! It seems so silly to me now but it sure wasn't then.

Anyway. I thought I would show you some stitching progress. As I said before, I was working on Snow Valley Express, and have actually gotten quite a bit of progress on it. So first off, I will share with you a photo of my last progress and then what I have now.

This is Snow Valley Express when I picked it up last week and started working on it steadily again. This photo was taken April 16th of this year! wow! I guess I had sort of forgotten it!

And here it is after working on it a bit last week:

I worked alot on the bridge under the train, and that last car got a bit more stitching in on it, and there are a couple of stitches that will belong to the second car behind the engine (The small melon colored blob behind the engine) and I also worked a tiny bit on the backstitching on the very front of the engine. So, slowly it is coming along!

I have also worked a bit on Holiday airing, but I don't think it significant enough of work to share yet. I also started an ornament!!! It is a little stocking with a snowman on it, I want to make one for me and one for Rob andput them on our tree this year. But I only have a few stitches in on it, and would like to get more progress on it until I share a progress photo of it.

Oh, and just to let you know...the Christmas tree is still safely hidden in it's box in the attic!!! Monday, the day we were gonna decorate, I was sick. So, I spent much of my time on the last full day of my mom's visit either in bed or relaxing on the couch! I was so mad!!! My last day to spent with her and had to be sick! Of course she totally understood, but Grrrr!!!!

Well, I think I shall pop a DVD in the player and get to stitchin' on my little stocking. I have a few things I need to get done today, but I didn't get any stitching in yesterday, as I wasn't feeling all that great once again, and so I think I may be up to some stitching today. Maybe I will have enough progress to show you on my tiny stocking tomorrow!

Thank you all for your wonderful birthday wishes and comments! They really make blogging fun!

Having a nice visit...

My mom has been here since last Tuesday, and it has been so much fun. I have even gotten to do a bit of stitching, as we sit and visit.

Yesterday was my birthday, we went to the zoo, and out to eat at the Cracker Barrel, and then had cold stone ice cream cake for my birthday. I got 100$ to spend from my mom for my birthday, I bought jeans, and stitching stash. I filled in holes in my DMC collection and bought some snowman pattern books. I was going tobuy "King of the Hill" a Wolf design put out by Kustom Krafts but I would have had to order it online, and that money was burning a hole in my pocket! LOL!

This past week I have really been going to town on my dad's train, Snow Valley Express, I also worked a little bit on Holiday Airing the other night as well. Other than that not much is going on, just relaxing, and hanging out with mom. She leaves in a few more days, so we decided that we are gonna "have Thanksgiving" today and then tomorrow we are gonna put up Christmas stuff, with her. A bit early, and usually we (Hubby and I) are like "the two weeks before Christmas is fine" kinda people, but we wanted to sorta have the "holidays" with mom here.

So if you drive past my house and see my Christmas tree up, please don't laugh at me! LOL!

The Abbey and Dare to Dream

I don't know what it is, but I guess with my not blogging here for so long, and only posting a mere 110 times this year I have really wanted to write here. Plus having a scanner that works really helps! I can show photos of my progress.

Having said that here are some more progress photos: of The Abbey and Dare to Dream:

This is Dare to Dream a few months ago on the 3rd of August:

This is Progress done since then:

I have filled in the wolf a bit more, his hind leg/hip area, and the border on thr right side is a bit more filled in. So there is the tiniest bit you can see there. I know I spent some time doing some frogging, and recounting and what not, because of a boo boo I'd made I had to do some modifications.Anyway, so that is that one.

and here is The Abbey on March 11th (the last time I shared progress on this one):

And here is the Abby now:

I am especially proud of this one...because it is a 9 page pattern, the largest project I have ever taken on and I have finished page 1 and have moved onto page 2, (well really finished page 5 of the pattern and have started page 4.) So, this is the center of the project. I was afraid I'd make a counting error if I tried to start on page one, so I did the sensible thing and started in the middle. Anyway, I think it is really looking great! I can't wait to get the back stitch in, then it will really look awesome!

Well, I am not sure how much stitching will be done today as my mom is coming out to visit tomorrow and I have a million things to do to get ready for her arrival, and that also means I may not get on here very often this week because I will be busy entertaining, but I do hope to stitch a little bit today and a little while she is here.

But if I do get any stitching in today it will probably be on Snow Valley Express! My father's gift that I have been working on FOREVER!!! I really want to get it done, and i think i have worked out a sensible rotation so I can. We shall see. Happy Monday!

Happy Dance!

And there it is all finished!!! Only one more to go to finish this year!!! I finished this yesterday afternoon.

I am so happy Hubby is home!!! Yippee! It was so nice to have him with me to throw the route this morning...I felt so safe! lol!

And now only two more days until my mom comes in for a visit. She's a crack up! My dad said he's gonna send a letter to the city and tell them to put out a high security alert, because this city will never be the same after me and her run loose in it! lol! And he was teasing my hubby saying he was gonna send bail money to him, just incase! Funny funny dad!

Well, in lieu of finishing that freebie on only the third day of the month,I have really been goingot town on Dare to Dream, but I am too lazy to go get it and post a photo today, maybe tomorrow, after I have done more on it.

That's all i got for today! bye!

ps...Faith ann, I wanted to check out your blog, because i haven't dropped in for a while, and I looked at your profile but only your health blog was noted there, do you still have your stitching one up? If so, can you leave me the address/URL in my comments? Thanks!

Well I am super excited as hubby comes home today! I was not able to finish my November Piece as I had hoped last night but I am VERY close! I have the entire word "November" complete and two more leaves done, now I just have one more leaf and the corn on the left side, and a few little stitches in the corner of the border, and I'm done...I'm sure that will be finished before hubby gets home today!

Then I am thinking that I will work on "Dare to Dream" or "The Abbey".

You know? Last night I was looking at the piece of Fabric I have all the little monthly's on, and I was thinking "You know? All these stitches that make up all these little pieces put together would certainly make quite a bit of progress in a larger piece. What if instead of stitching these tiny things, I had spent the time and energy on one of my BAP then one of them would certainly have quite a bit more work in on it." I was thinking that even when I work on my big pieces they seem to go so SLOW, because they are so big, I guess, but these small ones stitch up SO fast and there is such instant gratification. I am just one of those people who like to see results NOW! So when I sit and stitch on a huge project for a long time and I hardly see any results it is frustrating to me.

Sorry I sorta went off on a little tangent there. Anyone else out there feel this way?

Anyway, I wanted to post this photo of my Mini Sampler Letter A by Erica Micheal's. I finished it quite awhile ago, but my fussy scanner was acting up again, so I couldn't show a photo then. You know what? I just noticed? There are supposed to be little algerians eyelets in the corners...I forgot to put two in, on the top! I guess this one is still a work in progress! ooops!

Anyway, I enjoyed working on this one. I have the B one almost finished, I have one more B to finish stitching, then it is onto C.

Well I hope you all have a wonderful Saturday! Can you believe I have posted Five times in four days?! Amazing! I really slowed down with my posting, this year, which is pobably because of school and what not, but still. I am going to try to post more for the rest of the year! I have "end of the semester-itis" it's kinda like senior-itis, where your motivation just flies out the window, and you just want the semester to be done ad over with. And in just one month and one week, it will all be over! Can I make it?! I am not sure I am gonna take classes next semester, however, I probably will take at least one, because Hubby found out yesterday he leaves for overseas again in March, so I will need something to fill those hours. So, once again fairly soon I shall be bachlorett-ing it up again, for a much longer time than these past 8 days.

Ok, this is a long rambly post, so I'm outta here!

Well, I have been working all day on November Freebie, and this is how far I got, since the scan last night, and this is AFTER I had to do quite a bit of frogging as well. So basically I sat my behind in my stitching chair and watched DVD's and ripped out the boo boo' I'd made yesterday and then kept on going, all day. I made a bit of a change...The little corn on the right, I decided to make it multi colored like the indian corn you can buy for decoration during this time of year, I thought it'd be cute. There is another ear of corn on the left side, I think I may do the same thing with it. I am definitely thinking that after this little break of posting and maybe some reading I will return to this and see if I can't get it finished tonight! Wouldn't that be something! To actually finish a monthly freebie the 2nd day of the month! That would be a record for me!

And here is a scan of the September freebie that I never had a chance to show. I especially like the colors in this one!

Sorry the Scan is a little crooked, but you get the idea! I enjoyed stitching all the little apples!

Well, I am starting to get a bit excited...hubby gets home in less than 24 hours!!! Yippee! I am sure that I can find enough reading and stitching to get me through 24 hours!

YAY!!! photo's finally!

Thank you everyone (Michelle, Pam, Alberta, and Ranae) for your lovely words for my photo of the Air Force Ball. When I got that dress, I planned to be able to use it for formal occasions. something else sorta unique about it...my best friend had the SAME wedding dress only hers was trimmed in a champaign color! In fact, she got her dress before I got mine, and I thought "Wow! It'd be perfect if I could find that dress with a Navy blue trim to match his uniform" Because First off, I am just not a frilly girly girl, so I wouldn't want to buy a dress that had lots of bells and whistles, though they are beautiful, they're not me, plus I figure, if you're gonna spend that much money on any dress you might as well be able to use it more than once, and since he's an Air Force "lifer" (twenty years) I figure it will come in handy alot. And the color will always match his uniform! Perfect!

Thank you also Michelle, for your prayers! They are much needed,and appreciated. Also thank you for my birthday wish as well. It's funny, I hear all these women freak out for their 30th birthday, my sister in law went into a depression. Me? ::shrugs:: Oh well! Just another year! I think I look pretty good for 30 years old, so I'm not phazed by it at all. (Just don't look too closely, I have a few grey hairs.)

Pam~ I know what you mean about the scanner! I LOVE mine, and yes we have a digital camera, but I find that I like scanning my stitching much more than taking a photo, because with digital cameras the lighting has to be just right or if your batteries are low or you didn't pay an arm or a leg for the best thing on the market, then your photos don't always turn out that great, the colors are washed out or whatever, but I have never had much problem with the photo quality of my scanner...when it works! lol!

Anyway, and above you saw my scanned photo of my Erica micheals October freebie, I finished it this morning. AND! The start of my November freebie, which I have to admit, I have to frog some of it out, I miscounted...oops. I will try to show more photos of recent stitching in my next few posts, I still have to show my September freebie, and the first two blocks of E Micheal's mini Sampler alphabet series, which I have done. And there is some progress on "The Abbey" and yesterday I pulled out "Dare to Dream" again after not working on it for awhile. So, I do have lots of stitching to share, but right now I want to go frog out my mistake on November freebie and stitch more. Bye!

Rambelings...

Well, this is the week that wouldn't end!!! Only because dear Hubby is traveling for his job right now and so I'm all alone...sad....and which means also, that I have had to throw the paper route all by myself this week, which I have never done, (Well once, but that was a last minute fluke thing) Ever since that guy threw his shoe at our car while we were doing the route, I kinda just felt much safer having hubby with me.

Well, Hubby left Friday night, late, and so my first shift doing the route by myself was Saturday morning. Unbeknownst to me, which I found out from reading the front page on Sunday morning, Just hours before I threw my route, there was a murder that took place on A STREET that I deliver on!!!! Can you say FREAKED out?!!!?! And here I am having to throw the dumb route BY MYSELF for the rest of the week...and on Halloween no less!!! I am really wanting it to be Saturday right now because then Hubby will be back and I will feel much safer!

I am getting excited too, because my mom, who is my best friend is coming to visit me next week for my birthday. I can't wait!!! I cannot believe I turn 30 in 10 days! I can't believe it is November tomorrow!!! Only two months left until next year!

Which brings me to stitching....My October freebie...not done. Technically I still have 3 1/2 hours until it's "late", but I am thinking that when I am done with this post I am going to go to bed, and try to catch a little shut eye before the route in the wee hours, I really do not sleep well when hubby isn't here, and with the stress from the route and all, I really am not sleeping well, I hear every little creak and noise, and tonight it is windy so there's the added noise, and so good luck to me with that.

So, anyway, not much else going on but that, just impatiently waiting for DH to return home to me. Hurry up Saturday get here, please!


HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

MY SCANNER WORKS!!! HIP HIP HORAY!!!!

I am so excited!!! I thought I would try my scanner and haza!!!! It works!!! This is a photo of Rob and I at the Air Force Ball last month!!! That is my wedding dress, we had the train cut off and made it into a formal dress. It matches his tux/uniform. He looks so good in that uniform!!! Well, I will try to scan stitching photos tomorrow, but for right now I need to try to sleep!

Hi! I'm still alive!

But just barely...just been buried under mountains of homework,and stuff, but the semester is more than half over now, and so I see the light....it's right over there, just a speck, behind that other huge mountain of books that I must climb before I get to "Final Exams Valley". Sigh.

So I have just been busy also, the fact that I have no way of sharing pictures of my stitching, (which yes I have been doing- I took everyone's advice...I must not forgo stitching, or I shall end up bald in an attempt to stay sane while going through this semester.) sorta dampens the whole blogging my stitching projects experience. But! I can still Tell you what I am stitching right? Why not?

Things are going slow mostly to the fact that I have very little time to devote to my stitching, but a little progress here and there is getting done.

I am now more than half way finished with Erica Micheal's Tiny Alphabet sampler letter "B", i plan on starting "C" this week...when I don't know...the week is almost over...wow. Ok, this weekend then...I'll start "C" this weekend. My goal concerning these tiny pieces are: finish one alphabet piece a week, and one monthly piece amonth. which I have been doing so far...well the monthly goals.

I am on October freebie right now, probably about half finished with it...yikes, if I want to finish it by the end of the month I am really gonna have to get going on it!

My other goal is this: to finish one page of "The Abbey" a month. Ha! I thought it was doable...but now...maybe not so, but I am stitching on it as well, I have finished page one and have 8 more to go...I have started page 2, but probably only have maybe 400 stitches in on it, so still a long way to go.

So, anyway, that is what is going on in my world. I am a bit disappointed...Hubby has to leave this weekend for a training session for about a week, and I'm not looking forward to it. But, I have lots to keep me busy until he returns so I think I will be alright. Lots of homeowrk, and stitching, and reading. Those three things alone should keep me hoppin, then there's the fact that my mom is coming to visit the following week, so trying to get things ready for her arrival will also keep me busy. With any luck the time will jst fly by! Lets hope so!

Busy, Busy, Busy

That is what I have been lately, mostly with schoolwork, but with life stuff as well. Stitching, of course! and reading. I have not yet finished HP #7, as I decided to take a break, and read some other books I had in my TBR list...I finished two this past week! which is awesome, I am still working on my 50 book goal this year, and after I finish HP I will only have 20 more to go, I think the goal is attainable!! Yippee!

Stitching wise I have been working on my Erica Micheal's freebies. I am working on one of her monthly series, the one with the checkered backgrounds...January. I am almost done, and stupid me! I put off working on the white of the snowman until very last, and I hate working white on white, and so if I have alot of white to do I will mix it up and work it in every other thread or so, so I don't end up doing all the white all at once, and what do you think I did? I put off Mr. Snowman until last, and now I'm just going along bleakly working white on white forever days!

But I am thinking I will try to finish this one up today and get to work on mini sampler letter "B" I am almost done with A, I just have two more algerian eyelets to do in the corners, which I am finding to be a bit of a challenge on Aida, but what the heck? I'm almost there!

Thank you all for your encouraging comments on my schoolwork...and! I have great news! you know in my last post I was super upset about the way my studying was going for my test, well I took the test and felt iffy about it, but I got my results back this week, I GOT A "B"!!!!! a low B, but I passed!!! So I must have retained more than I thought...phew.

So, anyway, I think I shall get going on my stitching, and try to get Mr.Albino finished. lol!

Oh and my scanner? Yes, we have seen it off to Scanner heaven, but we don't know when we'll be able to get a new one. It could be awhile...sorry guys!

Oh and on emore thing, Lauren you asked if i was working the E.M freebies in Rainbow Gallery threads....no, I am doing them in DMC. I wish I could do them in R.G but I'm not that rich! lol!

And life goes on....

Hello! Well, I just spent about 45 minutes reading through blogs...there is lots of nice stuff out there!

Things here have been pretty good. I am starting to get stressed with school work. this past weekend I actually broke down and practically had a coniption (sp?) I find that as i get older my memory isn't what it used to be. I know, sounds funny, I am not even 30 yet...soon, but not quite. Adn I don't know if it's because I have been out of college for two years and I forgot how to memorize things, but I had a test yesterday and as I was studying, I was getting so frustrated, because I would read my notes then try to quiz myself by reiterating what I'd just read and I kept getting things all bungled up!!! I really don't know how I did on my test, and I want to do well, but I tried, and if I failed, I am going to be so discouraged!

Anyway, enough sad stuff, I have been stitching, which is good. I have been working on Erica Micheal's tiny sampler: letter A. And it seems like it is taking me forever!!! I am almost done with it, but I feel as though I have been stitching on it for a long time. I am anxious to be done with it and onto letter "b".

I finished book 6 of Harry Potter and am now on #7! 7 is going so fast for me! I am really enjoying it, but ina way I am ready to be done with this series. I have enjoyed it, but I have tons of other books that want my attention and I just bought 8 new ones on amazon...ssshhh don't tell the hubby!...and I am just ready to be done with HP.

So, also I have sad news...my scanner is acting up again! So, I don't how how soon I can show photo's of my September freebie and my letter A sampler. I am going ot try it again tomorrow, and then ask hubby to see if he can get it working again and if not...I guess I have to go get a new one.

Well I am off to get a nap in, before going to work at 2 am. Work is crazy! not so much the work itself, but the crazy people that roam the streets of this town at the wee hours of the morning, the other morning I was driving along, there is this kid like 18 or 19 years old just walking down the middle of the road, like in the middle of the lane I was driving in, so I slowed down to see if he was gonna get out of the way or what, and this idiot, takes his shoe off and throws it at my windsheild!!!! He's lucky it didn't do any damage...and I was glad that my husband was with me.

He is so lucky his shoe didn't go into my car, because I was in my convertible with the top down as it is still pretty warm here. And do you think I could find a cop anywhere?! no! But the past three mornings there has been one at that exact entersection, like in the parking lot of the DQ on that corner just patroling, but when I need them?! nowhere!

I am seriously thinking of looking for a new job, sounds like a good idea to me, what do you think?!

They say that the days are 24 hours long, but don't believe them!

Where does time go?!! I just don't get it! Granted, I know I waste alot of it doing things like playing SIMS 2, and playing around online, and stitching. Oh! Wait no! That's not a waste of time! lol! It is especially hard with school, to find time to stitch and when I do take time to stitch then I look back over the day and feel guilty for not using that time to do more productive things..sigh...

Anyway. Today I signed into my blog reader...oh my! I feel horrible, but I had to click on "Read all" for many of them. I just don't have time to keep up. Well, once again it is the weekend, and although I have procrastinated and played around quite a bit this week and not concentrated on homework too hard, I am going to stitch this afternoon. After reading blogs for about an hour, how can I not?! Those blogs are such inspiration fo me! It's just a matter of what I want to pick up. I have half a mind to work on one of my actual BAP's. Namely "The Abbey"...it has been calling to me for a few days now and I keep shushing it, and picking up my smalls, because they are easier to pick up and put down, when the guilty feelings start nagging me to do my homework...But this afternoon, I think that I will pop in a movie and stitch away for a few hours.

Oh! I FINALLY finished Harry Potter #5, and will start 6 later today too. Today will be a "me" day tomorrow I will resume to my regularly scheduled program of house and homework!

Lots of stitchin'!!

Thank you all for such encouraging comments on my last post!!! Yes, I do deserve a break every so often, and this past weekend I sure took one! I am almost finished with the September freebie I started (one day before Sept. actually started!) It took me less than a week to finish!!! Well, that is if I actually sit down after this or tomorrow and finish it...I only have a handful of satin stitched leaves to put on the little apples. Oh the pattern is The word September with an apple tree, and the infamous border that is on all her freebies it seems. I can't believe I have almost finished it!

Now the question is: what next? Do I start the October one, or do I work on the other monthly series of hers? I downloaded the first 4 installments of that one, as well as the first three of the alphabet series, which by the way...I started the letter A already this past weekend as well. I really got quite a bit of stitching in this weekend, and let me tell you it felt really good!

I also got a bit of reading in...still stuck on HP #5...I don't know what it is with that one, but seems to be taking me forever to finish...hmmm...? Probably just between school and other things. Plus I have to admit that when I am in school and I have to do so much required reading that reading for fun just isn't as great as when I'm NOT required to spend so much time reading, does that make sence?

Well, I am so proud of myself, I have also been reading many blogs, and really enjoying them as well, and I am actually under 300 feeds now!!! Yippeee for me!!! So much beautiful stitvching going on out there!

Well, I am off to either 1) finish up my september freebie, 2) play sims 3) what i should do...homework, hmmm...decisions decisions!

SAP's turned into BAP's

Well, I must admit that Thursday I didn't stitch at all. I was good, and worked on homework, and read Harry Potter on my study breaks. Because!!! I knew that this weekend was a long one, so I worked hard on schoolwork Thursday, then I went to classes yesterday and in the afternoon, after class....me and hubby ran a few errands, and afer dinner in the evening, hubby went in and played his game on the computer and I.....

STITCHED THE ENTIRE EVENING AWAY!!!!!! YIIIPPPPEEEE!!!!!!

I watched T.V and started (gulp...a day early!) my September freebie by Erica Micheals! And! I have decide that I really love series! Series of books and stitching series. At RainbowGallery, E. Micheals has two yearly series, the one I am currently working on as well as another one, and of course her wonderful Alphabet mini sampler series too! I have decided to take on ALL THREE!!!! And each one will be made into a quilt! Sooooo....I have quite a goal going on here.

Plus! I decided to do a snowman ornament series from one of my ornament books, as well as a Santa ornament and Winter Fun (different ornies depicting cute animals doing fun wintery things!) ornament series also.

Ok, I can only say that those of you who read my blog know I love BAP's! lol!! SO!!! Now I am taking some SAP's (Small @$$ projects) and turning them into BAP's!!!! Wish me luck...I think I will need it!

Of course I also will be working on some BAP's as well, afterall those WIP's will capture my attention again at some point, I'm sure.

So, I had recently lost my stitching mojo in lieu of schoolwork and this thing we call life, and with this new venture, I am once again EXCITED about my stitching!!!

Whoopppeeee!!!!

I AM GOING TO STITCH!!!

Wow! School is...what's the word? Not hard per se'~ just time consuming. I have decided come hell or high water, tomorrow I am going to treat myself to some stitching time!!! It feels like all I do anymore is study! So, I decided that tomorrow (since it's Thursday and I have classes Monday, Wednesday and Fridays), I am going to sit and watch something completely brain rottening (since according to most parents TV rots your brain) and stitch hapily for at LEAST one hour, probably more, though, and I am going to not feel guilty about it!

AND! Furthermore, I am going to sit and indulge in blog reading for maybe an entire hour as well!! I have over 300 feeds, and sometimes in the morning I will read a few posts here and there and it really gets my stitching fingers itching to go to town and So, tomorrow I am going to have a "me"day. Granted, by after a few hours, I will probably feel guilty for not using my time to work on homework, but I am dying to stitch! I will go without sleep if I have to!!! There are 24 hours in a day, and I can certainly spare 3 of them to do something I enjoy, right?

Started school.
No stitching time!
This sucks!

Harry Potter anyone?

Like the newest layout? I have been reading the series so I thought I would put my friends from Hogwarts up here. I thought the pup was cute too, but harry...come on, admit it, he's cute too! lol! i am a die hard myspacer and love messing around with HTML codes and layouts and I found a layout thingy for blogger...so be ready for lots of changes here...it's addicting!

Anyway...stitching! oh yes, that! well this past week was "The Abbey's" turn to make an appearance, and I got quite a lot done. I am almost finsihed with the first of 9 pages. Yay!

No stitching got done yesterday as we were evacuated from our home on accoun tof LAke fort Phantom overflowing it's banks, and flying down a creek that is just 4 streets over from my house....the whole of abilene was mostly underwater...So Hubby and I went to his work and hung out until the evening when we decided to take a drive through the town and found most of the water receded and we were able to get into our home. and thank God!!! No flooding in our house!!! I was sure there would be, as when we'd left at 11 that mroning the water was up to the garage door and continuing on, but thankfully none got in the house.

Today I sorta had the itch to stitch and picked up several projects but set them back down as nothing appealed to me, as it is monday, that means a new project, and I have yet to decide what to work on...I am tempted to continue on with The Abbey...however school starts up this week again, so I only have a few days to really get much done at all, then I am anticipating very little to no stitching for awhile.

So, anyway, I have to get my scanner up and going again, before we left yesterday in a flurry of hurry we ran though and unplugged all our electronics and we got the computer up and running but the scanner is giving us problems. ugh!

Well I am off to get to some stitching, if I can find a project that calls my name! bye!

August Finished!!!

I finished August Freebie by Erica Micheals! I think it came out really cute. I did somehing different with the center of the flower, though, it called for long stitches coming out from the center, but I didn't think it would look very neat so I used the two different shades of brown to make a sort of checker pattern, and I think it looks more like a sunflower and the seeds in the center of a real sunflower than having long stiches coming out from the center.

This week I pulled out The Abbey to work on , and I am actually really enjoying it! I got alot of progress in yesterday, as DH took the modem to work with him, leaving me internetless for the day...very conducive to stitching!!

I also had a dentist appointment yesterday to get a filling, and one of my front teeth had some discoloration on it, and was sort of an odd shape, and she totally smoothed it out and made it really pretty! I'm so happy with it!!! And with the Air Force Ball next month, I will have my pretty new tooth to show off in our photos!!

Well, I have been trying to catch up on blog reading, I had over 200 feeds today...I have never had that much! Crazy! So, I have been on the computer since I got up about 2 hours ago, practically, and now I think unread feeds be damned...I'm going to go stitch! Although I REALLY am enjoying reading the blogs!!!

Oh! and one more thing! I got my "Howling At The Moon" chart in the mail yesterday...oh my startitis fingers are itching to start it right away,but I will be good!!! I think I shall try to finish something first...do my tiny little monthly freebies count? lol!

Dolphins...blech!

That is so how I felt about my project for last week. I have decided to pull out one project and work on it by the week. So, last week I decided to work on my dolphin domain piece...I didn't make much headway with it, I can tell you that much! I got some fill in on one of the dolphins, but other than that...nada!

I did get some significant work done on my August Freebie, infact it is almost finished. Probably not much more than an hour left to work on it.

I think this week I will work on "The Abbey". All I know is:

NO MORE DOLPHINS!!!

Progress photo

Well here is an update on Dare to Dream. I spent much of yesterday late afternoon and evening working on this while watching episode after episode of CSI...ones I'd already seen so I didn't have to pay close attention!

After a few hours of workin gon this, though I got bored so pulled out Dolphin Domain, and put a few stitches in it too, however not quite enough to warrant a photo for right now. I think I will work on that one this week, and share a photo on Friday. I am thinking one week rotation should work well for me.I'm gonna try it. so, every monday I will switch out my focus piece. And of course I will be workin gon my monthly freebies as well. I still have not kitted up August or got any kind of start on it yet, though I have the pattern all ready to go, just got to pull threads and get to work on it, maybe today.

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful week!

It's Sunday!

Yesterday hubby and I went to the Star Wars Exhibit in Fort Worth abou ta 2 1/2 hour drive away. It was SO awesome! We saw it at the Science and natural history museum. And our ticket price included seeing the planetarium, which was alright, and an IMAX theater production of Order of the Pheonix.

I had never been to an IMAX theater like this one! I have been to the one that the screen is like 50 feet tall, just a regular BIIIIIIIG screen, but this one we saw last night was in a dome! The screen as all around/above you! So, the seats lean back, cause you have to actually look up to see the whole thing. It was so cool! It was odd, when people were talking, because looking at a normal screen you can just sort of shift your eyes, if something is happening from one side of the screen to the other, but here when something is happening at the other side of the screen, it's happening ALLL the way on the other side of the building, so you have to turn your whole head...I felt like I was watching a HUGE Tennis match! Imagine a dome, or a globe...HALF of the globe is the screen. We we were in the extreme middle so that meant looking directly to the left and directly to the right to see everything going on on the screen. It was awesome!

I am obviously impressed!!!!

The Star Wars exhibit was awesome too, LONG though. It was neat to see the different ways that science played in the making of the movie, and seeing the different costumes and models of the ships and stuff they actually used in the movies.

So, anyway, I will leave you with two cute pics:

Me as Padme:

and hubby as Anikan:

Hope you have a beautiful Sunday.

Oh yeah, and no stitching, as I forgot to take some with me, I read a little bit of HP but mostly we just cruised with the music blaring, singing along and acting like two teenagers in love! Today though I hope to get to my stitching though!

Happy Saturday!

GASP!!! Don't faint everyone! I am actually posting again!!! LOL! I don't know why my blogging mojo has gone out the window! It is crazy...when I look back on 2005 archives, I blogged here almost EVERY day and now it's like pulling teeth to get me here, and yet I blog at my other sites regularly! And I still enjoy looking at other's stitching blogs very much, and enjoy watching people's progress and am still very inspired by other blogs, I just haven't wanted to blog here myself.

Yesterday I didn't get any stitching done, but I wanted to show a picture of the chart I want to buy from Herschners:

This is the picture taken off the Herschners website. I am so in love with wolves! And this one is GORGEOUS! I HAVE to have it. I got "The Gaze" awhile back...a wolf with an orange background, and there is another one that I want, but I can't find it on the website right now.

So, anyway, it is still early and I am just waiting for Hubby to get up and get going so we can leave for The city. I think I should try to kit something up for the ride, however, if we have good weather, chances are we will ride with the top down, which means, no stitching as it will be too windy!! Oh well, I'll take it and if I don't get to work on it then oh well, but better to have it and not get to it than to want it and not have it! I may also just take my Harry Potter book I am reading. I am now on #4. Did anyone else who read the Potter series find the beginning of 4 a bit dull and doldrum? Because I have been having a hard time getting into it like I did the first three, but hubby says to hang in there, it gets better. So, that is what I shall do.

Hope you all have a terrific weekend!!

July Freebie...

Well, here is my July Freebie photo that I was chatting about. I have yet to start August. Today has been a really crappy day...which I figured it should be better, seeing as how I am out of school now, but no...got in a fight with DH, and had a panic attack, and paid bills (who likes to do that?!) The one good thing is that I get to buy stash this weekend! Hubby says he's gonna take me to Micheals, but I am gonna ask him to buy me a pattern off the internet instead. There is one at Herschners called "Howling at the Moon" it's really pretty, of a couple of wolves. So, I am going to ask for that instead of going to Micheals, where besides floss, there is a slim chance that I will find anything that truly calls for my attention. Anyway, speaking of projects with Wolves in them...Here is "Dare to Dream," which I have not been able to put down for most of the week!

Sorry the bottom part is a bit wrinkled. I am really enjoying this one... at first it was hard when I picked it up this time, because I had to frog out some area as I had made a bad boo boo on the last time I worked on it, which I think was the cause of my putting it down in the first place. But once I got it sorted out, I have been working on it steadily.


Well, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I don't know how much stitching I'll get done, seeing as how we are going to Fort Worth this weekend, but we'll see....maybe I'll take my August freebie with me, it's nice and small, to work on in the car...a two and half hour ride. Or maybe I'll start something new. I have been wanting to start something new for awhile...which so far I have been able to keep from doing, however, I don't know how much longer I can hold off. The thing is I work on such LARGE pieces, very few small ones, that I get bored of working on them after so long, so I have to switch every so often...and when I get sick of ALL of them, then I get startitis. I think I will try to be good though and wait it out until I have rotated through all my projects I have going now. You'd think that'd be variety enough for me, seeing as how I have about 20-25 projects in the workings right now. But then there is all that lovely stash just sitting in those drawers, taunting me!!! Maybe it is time to start Christmas stitching? Hmmm...NOW there's an idea....

August already?!

Wow! I have still not posted photos, I am being such a lazy blogger! Well, not really, today is my last day for the summer term, I have my final today, and as I am a huge procrastinator I waited until this week to do all my assignments, and so I have been really busy trying to finish everything up and also study for my final. So after today I'm a free woman, until august 25th which starts the fall term. It is really bad! Well, I guess seing as how it's a new month it is time for me to download the August Erica Micheal's monthly freebie! Yesterday I had the itch to get started on it, thinking I had printed the pattern out already, but apparently not, so after I finish here I will do that, and get started on it today!

I have really been going to town on "Dare to Dream". When I'm not reading HP. I am now on the 4th book! They are such fast reads!!! I love them! I am so glad they have gotten longer as the series goes on...more to the story! So, as I finish each book me and DH have been watching the corresponding movie, so last night we bought and watched "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" again. We had a really bad thunderstorm while we watched it too, which was sorta befitting to the movie itself! I kept thinking about picking up my stitching, but never got to it, as I love a good storm and watched the movie with the lights out so I could enjoy watching the wind and lightning and rain out the window! The thunder was so bad at times I thought the windows were gonna vibrate until they broke!

Well, so I wanted to share these pictures with you: The first off is July freebie by Erica Micheals:

AAAKKK! Blogger is not wanting to upload photos today! Stupid thing! Ok, well, I guess I will post pictures later...again! Sorry! Well, I guess it's alright as I need to get going and study some more before my test at 1:00. 5 short hours!!! It's nice to think that in 7 short hours this will all be over!!! Then no school for a 23 days! Yippee!

To celebrate hubby is taking me stash shopping and then we are going to Fort Worth and going to the Science Museum there, for the Star Wars exhibit that is traveling the US right now. So, We are excited about that! my parents took my nephew to go see it at their museum in Anaheim about two months ago, and they were gloating that my hubby (who is a die hard star wars fan) didn't get to see it, (jokingly teasing him!) but now it's here so we get to gloat back! He he!

Wow, it's been awhile...

Hi! I have not been around much lately...sorry about that!!! I seriously just don't know where time goes! I have been reading a lot...I have to confess...I had never read the Harry Potter series...until Saturday that is. My hubby and I went to a HP book release party, because he loves the books, and we had ours reserved to be picked up at 12:01. And So we went and I decided I was finally going to start reading them. I'd been meaning to, but I have a LONG list of books to be read right now. I am an Amazon.com Junky...I love buying used books (although be careful who you buy from...I bought one from someone once and they never sent it to me- 4$ down the drain!) So, I have stacks of books that still need to be read, and so I thought next year maybe I will fit it in. Well, I decided after all the hooplah about the book party friday I was going to start the first one Saturday. I am now on the second. I love them!!! I had seen the movies before but I didn't really appreciate the whole storyline because I hadn't read the books, I think I understand now more what was going on, so I watched HP #1 again last night, and my! how much more sence it seemed to make!! LOL! So, there is a new Harry Potter Freak amongst us!

Anyway, so enough about my reading...this is a stitching blog afterall! So, although I have not been here at my blog I have been reading other blogs and commenting here and there, and I HAVE been stitching.

I think when I left you last I was all gung ho on Holiday Ariing...well not anymore! Nothing happened, no frogs or anything like that, we are still on "friendly terms," but you know me and my flitting infatuations! I have since flitted over to Patchwork Teddy's, and I worked on that for a bit(abou ta week) and then decided that I wanteded to work on Dare to Dream, so have been steadily working on it the past 3 or 4 days. I did finish my July freebie too!

I will share photos later, right now I'm late for an appointment, so gotta fly!

Progress photo Friday!

First up is my July freebie: It seems to be stitching up quite quickly. I think I may even finish it today if I sit down and stitch steadily on it for the afternoon.

Here is my June Freebie...finished! and although I didn't think it possible, I did actually finish it IN June!! That Sand castle was a bear for some reason, but it looks great now! I love the blues in this one! And now for the biggie! The one that reminds me of Sesame streets "Which one doesn't match" game: Holiday Airing! Two summery ones, then I blast you with snow! Sorry!

As you can see, I have made quite the progress on this! The barn is just about finished...I have to finish putting in the wreath, and all the white you see on the barn IS supposed to be white, but I have yet to stitch it in yet. You can see where I've parked my needle for the moment...all that green in the tree line- ugh! Such a pain! You really have to watch the pattern, I hope to finish the tree line by the end of the weekend...We shall see if it actually happens! My other goal for the weekend is to finish the July freebie, then I can pick up something else, although what? I am not sure...I have been having a fit of startitis...but keep pushing it away...so far so good, but if I finish July I may have to start something new, or I guess it would be wiser to reach into my UFO pile and work on something that hasn't seen the light of day for a while, that way it feels new, but isn't! We shall see! Hope you all have a great weekend!

A new Toy for me!

I bet many of you are thinking this is the same post that I wrote a few days ago...but! it's not!!! We got another "new" car- a truck this time! it is a 2003 Ford Ranger Edge. It is nice! It's black, and my husband used to have a 1996 Ford Ranger, but this new one sits higher and looks more "beefy" than just a regular Ranger! I LOVE IT!!!! I am in love with both my cars. Before we sorta bought cars out of necesity, just grab what was affordable at the time, but now I have two cars sitting in my two-car garage that I will have to toss a coin to figure out which one i want to drive that day!

Actually right now my options are limited to one: the Mustang (Oh darn. LOL!), because the Ranger is 5 speed, and I need to learn how to drive it. But once I learn...I will probably take the truck, and Hubby will take the Mustang. I like a car that sits up high, as I am pretty short, (5'2) so I feel "powerful"(and safer) in a bigger car/truck! lol!

So while hubby is home he will probably drive the mustang, and I will drive the truck (once I learn) and then when he's deployed, I get to drive one, one day, and the other the next, and still be as happy as a clam!

So, now after sharing my happy news, I have to share somewhat dissappointing news...my June freebie isn't finished! I still have a little bit to go on it. Last night I couldn't sleep, so I turned on Gilmore Girls and stitched for a bit, but lost interest in a little while, because of the whole cream on cream factor. It's killing my joy for it! Oh well. I am going to try to finish it tonight...keep fingers crossed. Oh and I have not finished the barn. So this weekend between reading, and taking periodic peeks at my new toys sitting in the garage, I will try to finish June Freebie, the barn in Holiday Airing, AND make a start on July freebie. Oh yeah and hubby is taking me to see Fantastic 4 #2 tomorrow, so I have got a busy weekend ahead of me! Hope you are having a great weekend too!

Goals...tiny but goals none the less...

Well today I made a few goals for myself, well two, the first being to finish the book I was reading, as I only had 45 more pages left when I got up this morning...finished! And the second being to finish my June Freebie as June is just about a gone thing for this year and I am not quite done, although give me an hour it should be done! My goal for tomorrow is to finish the barn in Holiday Airing! I am so close!!! I just have one more shade of red to fill in and finish the wreath, I think and that is all for that.

So, I have finished one goal for today-to finish my book (I also started the next one on my list), and now I think if I just get off the computer and go settle in my bed (one of my favorite stitchy spots)with some good music I should see the end product of my June freebie before tomorrow! Wish me luck!

A new toy for me!

Yup, hubby and I bought a new Mustang! Our other one was a 1996, and it was a great car, bought in an emergency when he returned from Iraq to replace the pontiac that some idiot totalled while he was gone.

This one is a 2004 Convertible in a deep cherry red, with light tan top and leather interior! and boy is it FUN! Pictures to follow soon!


I'm ridin' topless!

Happy Thursday!

Well, Hubby went back to work today after having two and half weeks off. Poor guy!!! I have so much cleaning to do now that he is out of my hair, however, I slept in until 11:45, even though I'd set my alarm for 10, because I knew I had a ton of stuff to do! But, I turned it off and went right back to bed. Hmmm...naughty, naughty me!

I am still slogging a long with the "June" freebie from Erica Michaels. You know how a lot of peole hate stitching white on white, well, I do too, and since I am basically stitching cream on cream right now...it's just about the same thing! So, it is slow going...but it IS going. I have not put any stitches into anything yet today, as I am trying to read some blogs, and then will spend the majority of my day cleaning house...oh lucky me! Hopefully tonight I will settle in with thread and needle...

Well, I finished my latest book! "Water for Elephants". It was AWESOME!!! If you can, get it from the library or buy it, it is so good! It is by Sara Gruen, and I think it is so worth the time! I am part of several online reading groups, and I peruuse reading blogs here and there, and that book is everywhere!!! So I thought I might give it a try, and I'm so glad I did! Of course I read the teaser pages at amazon.com and was hooked from then! And then I found it at Books-A-Million for 40% off! I snatched that puppy right up!!!

So, anyway, that is about it for me! I am addicted to Myspace...anyone have a myspace account, wanna be myspace friends, leave me your URL, and I'd love to add you! LOL!

Well, I am off to make my messy house look less like a pig pen and more like a domesticated domicile once again. I don't even know if that last sentence made ANY sence, but it sounded good...hey! I'm goin' for my masters here, I gotta start throwing around those BIG words, so I sound smart! LOL! Happy Thursday everyone! I wish you many x's crossed!

Pictures!

Well, finally this lazy blogger is posting something...pictures of recent projects Wow! So, first up is "June" My monthly Erica Micheal's freebie. I am close to a finish here...sorta. I have to finish the sandcastle. And I haven't decided yet whether or not to backstitch it. The pattern doesn't call for it, but it is very light on the Aida that I am stitching it on, and I wonder...can you see the sandcastle very well? I guess I will see when I finish it how I feel. Can you see that break in the blue outline in the upper left hand corner? I ran out of the blue thread at that point. Not like RAN out, Ran out, but just the thread length I had cut had run out, now I have a to cut a new length for what? 3 stitches?! ::sigh:: That has got to be my pet peeve of stitching!





Anyway, and moving on... the most crooked scan you'll ever see!!! Now if you just stand on your head and turn your head in a very peculiar way...you may be able to make out Holiday Airing...LOL! Sorry the scan is so bad, but the fabric is so big and it won't fit in the scanner very easily. You can see that the barn is almost done...SO close, I've also been putting in some of the green of the tree line in the back ground there. It sorta breaks it up...Lots of red...and a little green...








So, there you are...I finally posted photos, now you all can see, I really do stitch, I don't just call this a stitching blog for no particular reason! LOL!

Schoolwork is coming along alright. Not great, but alright, at the beginning of this week I was about two weeks behind in my reading, now I'm right on track. I haven't yet begun this weeks assignment and it is due in 4 short days, but if I work on it a few hours a day it should afford me plenty of time to stitch, and read, and watch E.R, right? Well, wish me luck!

A lazy blogger

Wow! I've been a really bad blogger lately, huh? I spend most of my time reading other blogs and ignoring my own. I have been stitching a little bit here and there, but not too much between schoolwork and my reading challenge...I have a hard time finding a bit of time for the needle and thread. I have mostly been filling in abit more of the barn on holiday airing, I haven't touched my June freebie for about a week. I need to pull another length of thread and been too lazy to...how sad is that?

Me? Procrastinating? Nah...

Wow! I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with trying to juggle all my hobbies and schoolwork too! I went from having way too much time on my hands to wow! Where did the day go?!

Right now I have school work to do, lots of reading, about 2 30-40 page chapters a week, plus the written assignments for each chapter. Then I have my reading challenge that I decided to do this summer. And then there is stitching, and also trying to get into shape!

Today started early with the Air conditioner repair man coming ot fix my non-working AC, and then I read blogs, and I did a 45 minute step aerobic work out, then I sat and watched Judging Amy and stitched while I did that, which I am really coming along with Holiday Airing. After that, I did some homework, and I felt sleepy, so I laid down, and woke up at 6 o'clock, to my hubby making dinner. He's off work for vacation for two and half weeks! I was sorely disappointed in myself for sleeping for 3-4 hours in the middle of the afternoon! So, then we ate dinner, and then took a walk, and then I got back on the computer and read more blogs, ( I am a participater in three different blogging groups right now, stitching, reading and fictional writing, so you can see how that in itself can be a daunting, but fun task!) Then I got off the computer and did 200 stomach crunches, and floor exercises and wieght training for half an hour and now I'm on the computer again! I think I need to get off the computer and get to the homework, don't you? Since i intended to spend the afternoon with schoolwork and spent it sleeping
instead!

so, there yah have it, a note from the Master Procrastinator of the world! Yes, that would be me, Lana! Anything to not do homework until I am just about pulling my hair out at the roots, and cursing myself for not having taken the time to do it earlier!

Wow! I haven't posted in over a week! Phew! I have been so busy! I started school again last week, and so assignments have been keeping me busy, plus, I started a book blog, and joined the Summer Reading Challenge,(I have chosen to read 10 books from my To Be Read pile fo r it...the challenge is two months long) and I have also been busy with my writing blogs as well, so between all that, things have been pretty busy on this end. I have been stitching, a little. I still watch my two hours of Judging Amy every afternoon, so I stitch then.

I have also been busy with trying to get myself back on track physically. Somehow I find myself 30 pounds over weight!!! So sad for me, since all growing up I fluctuated between 99 and 105, for me to have this much weight on...it's depressing. So, I have decided that I will up my exercising and change my eating habits.

So, I have been busy. Well, this is just a short post to let people know I am still alive, just very busy at the moment, and will probably not be around much until the summer term is over...7 more weeks!

I still try to read blogs, right now I think I have close to 300 posts to read!