The Easter Bunny Has Landed - an Update

Much candy has been had, and new Blue Rays have been played (the new Narnia and the HP Deathly Hallows 1); big dinner, too full for dessert, actually :) Easter was a thankfully quiet day, after the U14 Augusta game that was supposed to be made up got rescheduled (again) for May 8th - who schedules a make-up game for Easter Sunday? THAT'S what happens when you let MEN make schedules; it didn't OCCUR to anyone that 4/24 had nothing scheduled, for a reason??? Didn't feel like dropping $80 for gas to & from, either (will NEVER understand why anyone north of Atlanta plays anyone in Savannah or Augusta).


In other news, there was also some stitching for the week :) Our monthly get together of PINS was Saturday, and as always, was a great time, though way too short. AND our meeting place has new florescent lights up in the part we take over, so after getting used to the dark & dingy, it was almost blindingly bright, especially after the sun finally decided to make an appearance. I worked on Tanglewood for a bit, got another branch done, started the outline of another, did a bunch of leaves; I am now officially well into the 2nd half :) Maybe it ought to be my next concentration???


I also did a little bit on the Roosters & Hens while there; thankfully, the owners weren't there, or didn't come to see what we were up to, so it will be a surprise for them :) I'll have to figure out how to personalize it when I get it done - I figure I'll put the restaurant name on it, at the least. As you can see from the thread hanging down - I ran out of time, and didn't pick it up to finish that thread when I got home:


The rest of the week, I decided to work on Chat Noir, since it hasn't gotten any love since last summer. Every time I walk around that side of the house where all the fur kids are planted, and I see that giant violet that marks Booger, I miss that old cat. Every time either one of the insane dogs bark, I miss that old cat. And now, Chat has eyes! You can't tell without looking really closely at the before picture, but I did a helluva lot of fill-in since last time - and have also discovered there are 2 colors, same symbol in the chart, which might explain why I thought the 680 was such a strange choice for the orange sun - but you know what? I'll improvise - no WAY am I even going to attempt to swap anything....


Now tell me this isn't starting to look like Old Crusty?


As for this week, I am again not sure what to work on; I could keep Chat out another week, and Knotgarden would really like to come out, since it's the next big planned finish :) Or I could put Tanglewood on the stand and see where it is a week from now. L&U is of course screaming at me, and those pesky Chatelaines are hollering from the file cabinet - I WILL NOT START ONE until Knotgarden gets done, dammit! You people are my witnesses...


Happy stitching this week to everyone!

Spring in Full Swing - an Update

We might actually have a spring this year, in that it has been wet and stormy some days, and sunny and pleasantly warm on others; last year, we reached nearly 100 for a couple of days in April, and though we have approached 90 this year, I'm hoping that it stays in the 70s and 80s for the rest of the month :) I'm sure we'll freeze on Mother's Day, like we always do, kind of the last hurrah for winter, and then the heat, humidity , and smog can overtake everything for the next 5 months...


My kid is 98% Lifeguard - they didn't all get done with their CPR training (in 36 hours, how did they NOT get done?), but will be fully certified at his in-park training. Yay! He is really excited about it; every night when he got home, he had to demonstrate everything they learned - on his brother :) Never miss an opportunity to inflict unnecessary pain, the old Williams' family motto :) Graduation is 5 weeks away - will I make it??? More importantly, will he? He's doing the "I'm 18 now, you have no right to tell me what to do" thing; it's about time for the "So long as you live in this house..." thing in return :)


On to the stitching, which includes another FINISH!!!!

Despite last year's slump, despite a ridiculous amount of color changes, and despite yards and yards of multi-ply blending filament, I have finished Lyne's Wedding Sampler!!!!! I really did not think I could get it done this week, but as I got down to the white part of the 2nd bell on Friday night, I began to see the light :) Without further ado, here it is, in all of it's metallic splendor:


We still need to decide if she wants one more line of text on the bottom right - it's is charted to include a location, the model has a town/state, but Lyne thought maybe her church would be better - unless she chooses to leave it off. But until she decides, I'm calling it DONE!!! It's been washed, the MH Treasure added, and I reallllyyy hope she loves it when she has it hung in her home :)

Other than that, I did not do a lot, due to all the running around I had to do all weekend. Since time was short by the time I got Lyne's piece all ironed yesterday, I decided to get the Rooster & Hen piece back out for the rest of the evening, and did some more of the red- and black-work borders, and got a start on the next bird.


This week, I don't really know what I will work on. I have middle school tourney tonight - I am sure they will be done after tonight's game, so if I go, it ought to be the only night I lose this week. So, do I get Knotgarden out and start moving it towards done, or do I spend a week or two on those other long-term WIPs, like L&U or Chat Noir? Starry Nights is closer to being done than Knotgarden is, and Purrfect Summer Day is, too. Decisions, decisions.... I guess I'll just wait & see what I am in the mood for when I actually sit down to do something. Of course, since I am mailing my new furniture/vacation to the IRS today, I may not be in the mood for anything :( So check back next week and see what happens next :) Happy stitching this week to everyone!

Hmmmm....

Definition of PONDER

transitive verb

1

: to weigh in the mind : appraise <pondered their chances of success>

2

: to think about : reflect on <pondered the events of the day>

intransitive verb

: to think or consider especially quietly, soberly, and deeply

Ponderisms.

1. IF my watch has been dead for an unknown number of days, does that mean that I personally am not aging as of that moment, whenever it was?

1b. IF, after discovering my watch has been dead, forgetting about it, and rediscovering it the next day, it becomes apparent that I don't seem too concerned with the fact that I can no longer tell time by looking at my wrist, is it wrong to keep wearing the dead watch out of force of habit?

1c. Why does the thought of going without my watch bother me more than going without any other article of clothing? I am pretty sure almost no one has ever checked out my watch (i.e. "Hey, would you get a load of the watch on her?")....

2. Do we know for a fact that woodchucks CAN'T chuck wood?

3. There are all kinds of studies about how much time we spend commuting based on certain cities, and how much time we spend standing in line. Has anyone ever done a study about how long the average individual stands in front of the microwave, waiting for their lunch? AND the effects of radiation exposure thus had?

4. Why would you name a band "Skillet"? Was Dutch Oven taken? Deep Fat Fryer? Spatula?

5. Do people really do dumb things for Klondike bars? There's not really much involved in running into nearly any convenience or grocery store, opening a door, and picking one up - but maybe I am oversimplifying? And some people just have stupid built in, I know...

6. Is YouTube admissible in a court of law?

Hmmmm....

An April Monday Update

Well, Spring Break is over, the kids are back to school today, and I can relinquish half the dog duty again :) Since I'll be right back to it on the first day of summer break :( Little Kid had a great time on his trip - came back from Universal with Harry Potter's wand, and some tourist chatchkes from the market in Nassau. Big Kid has his lifeguard training this week - good thing he got a straight red his last game before break, so he is not allowed to attend his last 2 games, and though I had to fight for him to be able to attend Senior Night, he won't actually get to do that, either, because he has his first night of training. He doesn't understand why I am a little peeved that we have to fork out $120 for him to get a job - not counting all the gas to get him back & forth to the training for 4 days in a row - you shouldn't have to spend that much money in order to get your very first job... The kid is just not practical, at all (he gets THAT from his dad, 100% of it). I know it'll be money well spent later - it just could have come at a better time (like last year).


In stitching news, there's not a lot; I actually went a WHOLE WEEK without starting anything new!!! I know, hard to believe, the roll I've been on lately :) But then, I was pretty busy all week :) Again, I was busy at lunch all week (since I was the lone SCMnet person all week - which I know means nothing to anyone but me, but just know, it's a process I have to monitor that has the potential to have catastrophic failures across the company when it doesn't work right), but I did touch Tanglewood one day, got a piece of the next branch outlined. Totally not picture-worthy, so I didn't bother. Maybe this week...?


What I did work on that you can see, is Murky manor, to go along with Laura's Halloween SAL :) I got it out Monday, and worked a little bit every night through the week, and a good amount over the weekend, getting a lot done on the right side of the building :) I almost got that other tower roof done, but had to put it up early to go taxi a kid around last night (he can't get a car a minute too soon - and then he'll see).


This week, back to Lyne's sampler - I am actually pretty excited to get it back out and see just how close to done it will be this time next week. this coming weekend is going to be an utter madhouse - DH is supposed to go to Talladega all weekend with the Redneck Brotherhood, Little Kid has a game each day, and Big Kid has his ongoing lifeguard training from 9-9 both Sat & Sun. Somewhere in there, I need to get to the store, do laundry, get the taxes signed and in envelopes with their hot checks, and I need to get BK's graduation announcements addressed & ready to go. I think I need a day off... So check back next week - Tax Day :( - and see if I have cracked under the pressure of it all :)


By the way, as a side note, my multiply blog just passed it's 5 Year Anniversary yesterday; I was going to do something for a give away - but ummm, yeah, one more thing I gotta handle right now. My other blog has its 6th anniversary this fall - so I may do something in the summer, kind of split the difference between the two :)

Spring Break - an Update

Spring Break - not that you'd notice from my activity, since it's just another workweek for me :( But my 14 yo is out touring the world this week with his buddy Noah - gets to go to Universal Studios AND a cruise to the Bahamas. What is wrong with this picture? The 18 yo has nothing planned - and pouted all day yesterday because he was bored. Gee, I had to WORK during spring break of my senior year, since everyone else was out of town on school trips and such. Am I the only parent that thinks high school students have NO business going to FL with all the college spring breakers???? You know, I am totally okay with not being the cool parent...

So on to this week's stitching progress....

I finished a chicken. Or actually, I finished a rooster, to be more precise. This particular piece of Monaco is a little bit "tougher" than the one I got for World Tree - or maybe it's that I am dragging 2 strands through it, instead of the 1 that WT uses. At any rate, it's roughly 1/4 done, a little less, since the black part of the border is considerably more than the red that I have started. I didn't actually flip it over to look to see if my blackwork is even remotely reversible; I doubt it, since I sometimes do the Holbein stitch, sometimes the good ol' backstitch. I am also glad that I changed out the red - the one they called for is WAY too bright, I like this rusty color much better.... These aren't fighting roosters, the red woulda looked like they'd just gone a few rounds, IMO.


I also got a LOT done on Lyne's sampler - I actually think I will have this done in 2 more weeks' worth of stitching time - IF the blending filaments behave :) I can honestly say I hope I never stitch another rose as long as I live :) I love the look of them when they are done, every time it amazes me that those straight lines look like an actual flower when I get done, but wow, enough already! LOL And I though TW used a lot of greens (about half of Triptych was various shades of green) - Stoney Creek got a little carried away on this thing with the greenery around the flowers. To gorgeous effect, of course :)


And speaking of flowers, I was COMPELLED to have a new start on Friday. I've kind of been lusting after some Joan Elliott designs lately, thanks to Chris and all of her stockings that she's cranked out this winter. And then Diane brought her Cross Stitch Collection mag to last week's PINS meeting, and in it is the Iris Fairy. You know - PURPLE and IRISES. I HAD to get it, and it only took 3 trips to find the damn thing - BAM apparently doesn't carry the UK mags (or doesn't now - I could swear they did before?). Finally went down to the B&N in the war zone and got a copy. And had it kitted up and ready to go by Friday (I wound 20+ bobbins in less than an hour, if that tells you how motivated I was :) ) - only because I had the PERFECT fabric in the stash, Silkweaver's Lavender Swirl, one of the ones I got while in their FOTM :) So I put the first stitches in on Friday night:


And worked late into the night, and then again on Saturday after I got my chores done and the kid packed for his trip. I put it away, though, so I could get back to Lyne's piece on Sunday - I was determined to get that bottom ribbon/flowers done on it - and got a good jump on the last bell, too :) I will have to decide on Iris Fairy, since the fabric is 32ct, which, being hand-dyed, is probably more like 33-34ct, if I need to swap the 11/0 beads for 15/0s when I get to that point - the few blanks already there look kinda tight for an 11/0. I might get by with using delicas instead, since they are a lot more uniform than the Czech 11/0s. That's a ways off, plenty of time to bother with that later...


This week, I am joining Laura with a Halloween SAL - I will be getting Murky Manor out tonight. I assume I'll get sucked into that again and keep it out all week - Lyne's piece can wait another week, since I am definitely within sight of the end :) I again did not lunch long enough to work on Tanglewood last week - since the quarter- and year-end crazies are over, I might be able to get that back out this week. I will try my best to NOT start anything else - but I do have Wicked Alphabet all ready to go, too, in honor of Lisa Roswell of the Primitive Needle, and it is a Halloween SAL week. Who knows? We'll see. Since the Kid is gone, I'm pulling extra dog duty :(, so that'll eat up a little bit more time - but I am also doing way less laundry this week :) Check back next week to see if I beat my compulsion to start yet another project, or not :) Happy Stitching this week to everyone - and here's some more purpley-iris goodness for you :)

From 2009 - these haven't bloomed yet this year - but they're coming!

If My Animals Were in High School...

... they'd be these kids:


DumbChuck - clearly the dumb jock of the group. Always ready for action, doesn't know he just got done playing, no injury is too much - but will stop mid-thought for a good scratch. Dumb fleabag... You can never play fetch too much, though you do have to remind him from time to time where he's going and what he's supposed to do when he gets there - you can literally hear the light bulb snap on. And do NOT leave an open beer laying around unprotected, or you'll never see it again. Same goes for your manky socks.


Then there's Lucy, who is the high-strung overachiever. By over-achievement, I mean just totally losing her mind any time ANYTHING in the neighborhood moves enough to attract her attention. And god forbid a BICYCLE or MOTORCYCLE should go by - she is bound and determined to drag someone off of one of those eventually... And, she is the master of begging - she never met a piece of food that she didn't immediately scarf down like she hasn't eaten for days. Part bull dog, part sled dog - that's our GSP Lucy Mae - Fierce Incarnate, so fierce she makes herself sick. Except during thunderstorms...


And then we have Monkey, that new cat. She is the dingbat cheerleader, no doubt about it. She loves you one minute, then is attacking you the next. She tears through the room, comes to a screeching halt, looks around, and you can clearly imagine the giggle as she thinks "Where was I going again? Oh, yeah! I have to go swing on the shower curtain, then when my boyfriend comes back in, I'll have to get him into a wrestling match. So until then, I'm just going to cry, cry, cry and tear stuff up!!!! " - zoooommm... screechhh...crash...giggle...zooommm!


And then you have Beanie, who's so laid back you would swear he's stoned. The only cat I've ever had that comes when you call him, he's more dog than the dogs we have. Being the biggest brute in the neighborhood, you'd never know all he wants is his belly rubbed, while he keeps one eye open for those couple of Siamese kids in the neighborhood. He likes napping in the linen closet - he'll knock if you accidentally close the door, and drinks out of the bathroom tap - but doesn't bother to turn it off. He teases DumbChuck all the time, waving that tail around like bait, then looks at him like "You are SUCH an idiot" as he strolls away. But don't let him fool you; he's a mighty hunter, as evidenced by a complete lack of the skinks we used to have all over, and the fact that the blue jays and thrashers are constantly screaming at him when he's prowling out back. In between 8-hour naps, of course.

All of which makes me either the cafeteria lady, the principle, the gym teacher, or the bus driver.... Yes, I AM a fish person; how'd you guess?