He's Home. Again.

 Thank you to everyone who sent sweet birthday wishes!

 Well, I had my birthday all planned out. I was going to to go down to my LNS with my birthday coupon and go crazy. Then we were going to go out to eat at my favorite place and on the way home, we would stop and I would get my free holiday birthday coffee. None of that happened.

 

Two days before my birthday, the Grumpy Ol Gazer landed back in the hospital.This time it was pneumonia and he was on a ventilator again. Luckily he got home about a week  before Christmas. I did not go the first several days because of freezing rain and I did not want to risk  another fall plus the hospital wanted me to wait for some of his test results to come back. So for my birthday, I ate left overs and just hung out by myself. Life happens. I am glad he is home and well.

 

Several nice books for keeping track of my cross stitch arrived from Amazon and now I get to work on filling them out.

 

I also have some PDF printable stitching record sheets from BlackCrowDigital over at Etsy to help me keep up with my stitching.

 

My journals arrived  this week (Journal Junky at Etsy) and I am over the moon happy with them! I was going to save them to start on for the New Year but I am so thrilled with them, I just couldn't wait! I will probably go ahead and order several more after the first of the year to have on hand!! LOL While letting my old bones heal some more, I set up my journaling drawer so I would have everything at my finger tips when needed!

 

My arms are starting to feel a little better. I have been exercising them about 30 minutes a day to loosen them up. I may just pull out a new start now that the Grumpy Ol Gazer is home.I just don't have stitching concentration while he is in the hospital!

 

I had a list of threads and charts I wanted to get at the LNS on my birthday. Instead, I just ordered them. Not as much fun but I still got what I had wanted except for a few items that were out of stock and I can get later. Several other goodies arrived that I will show off later. Plus there is more to come. Double the fun when your birthday is so close to Christmas!

 

Right now I am SO SO ready for some dull days! LOL

 

Until next time, may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart. 

TODAY!

 

Welcome September! Long Post

The first part of September is usually a busy time for us. We celebrated our 44th anniversary! I remember when I was in first grade we had a class on promises. Promises we made to other people, to God and even to ourselves. I was very moved by this lesson and  I made some promises to myself about my life. Over the years I have honored these promises and tried to live my life based on them. I have even added a few over the years. So far, I have not broken one promise. Pretty good for a first grader, huh? One of them was about marriage. We had a nice day and went out for a special dinner.

 

I recently got a phone call about the kidney transplant program!  There are 3-5 steps to be fully accepted. I have passed step 1. I answered the phone! LOL. Talk about being surprised and overwhelmed at the same time. I attended my first class. Very strict rules. I don't know how long I would have to wait for the organ ( or if I will ever get one) but for now I am not worried about it. I am just really honored to be considered. I will probably find out around the end of this month if I have been accepted.

 

Several days later, the Grumpy Ol Gazer will have a birthday (it falls on Labor Day this year). I used to always make him two German Chocolate cakes for his special day. One for home and one to take to work. I stopped making his cakes for several years (because of health reason and life in general)  but I redeemed myself by making one for him this year and it turned out good! He will still get two GC cakes though. He finally quit smoking while he was in the hospital several months ago. I promised him I would make a GC cake for him on his quit anniversary each year if he stuck with it!

 

It has always seemed as though once Labor Day makes it's appearance on the calendar, the rest of the year just flies by! That is fine with me this year!

 

I did not get much stitching done this week because of everything I mentioned above! We have several more appointments this month but nothing back to back. I did go through my stash again. I had fewer WIPs than I thought. That is always a nice surprise!  I decided to work on another WIP as well. I had to dig it out of the WIP pile then I wanted to order some threads. What piece am I talking about? And A Forest Grew by Rosewood Manor. I have been working on this piece for OVER ten years! Time to finish it up!

 

While going through my WIP drawer, I found so many suprises! Fabrics, threads, patterns and other stitching supplies, all unopened! It was better than a Happy Mail day because I was not expecting it! 

 

I also picked up my framing! I had taken it all in on June 16th which was the last day of the sale. Her sale was such a big success this year with everyone staying home due to the Covid virus and stitching more. I will share a few this post and some more next time!

 

It has been hard for me to do much the past few weeks (stitching, cooking, taking out trash) because of my shoulder. I don't know if it is just a persistent case of bursitis or a torn rotator cuff in my shoulder. I am rooting for bursitis so I can just get an injection instead of out patient surgery. I could not get an appointment with him until the 15th of this month!

 

Until next time may you have simple days, an uncluttered heart and stay well.

Christmas is a comin'

I had a birthday earlier this week. I have always enjoyed having my birthday so close to the holidays! All of the music, lights and festivities just make my day even more special! I had a nice day. We had a storm which I used to get some stitching done then the Grumpy Ol Gazer took me out for a birthday dinner at one of my favorite places with no clean up and a new dutch oven that I had mentioned wanting (and needing).

Several day later I stopped by my LNS with my birthday coupon and picked up a new project (like I really need one)! I was looking for a something Christmasy to start on for next year!

I had said once before that I had stopped cooking on Thanksgiving but I broke that little rule this past holiday. Because I had just gotten out of the hospital, I really did not want to stand in any long lines. Christmas is a different story though. I have never cooked on Christmas. We usually had family dinners to attend and when we got home everyone was always so busy "playing" with their gifts so I would just place an order with our local BBQ restaurant for a pan of BBQ with all the fixings and pick it up on the Christmas Eve. Everyone can eat as they please off and on all day (and into the next day sometimes). By now this has become a standing tradition. The BBQ is ordered to pick up on Christmas Eve and this year I added a pan of chicken and dumplings to the order. This (along with Christmas Eve leftovers) should last us several days or more.

I did not get any Christmas stitching done this year. I usually try to do at least one but I missed out this year so I will share several of my favorites from the past. I am already looking for one or two to do next year!

Poor Maidens by Plum Street Samplers

Feliz Navidad by Blackbird Designs

There is no update on A Virtuous Woman this week. I did not get very much done on her this week and I wanted to wait to get more done before showing her off but I am really enjoying this stitch.

Around the end of this month we need to do a big clean out around the house. We just have too much stuff that we never use! Just junky stuff (boxes, old papers...)  It seems like we just did this same thing about this time last year, too! How do we accumulate so much JUNK!

I probably won't post again until after Christmas so I hope everyone has a wonderful and Merry Christmas! Until next time may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart.

Another Year Older

I had another birthday come and go this month. I have always loved being a December baby. It has just always felt like all the lights and hub-bub made my birthday even more special. I celebrated by spending a nice relaxing day with my husband (who always takes vacation at this time of year). What did I get?

A new journal to start the New Year with

The quilt kit pictured in my last post. Bubblegum and Chocolate from Private Source Quilting on Etsy. Be still my heart!!

Every year I buy myself a new coffee mug as a Happy Birthday to Me gift

And a nice dinner at the local steakhouse.

It is time to get my infusion project rounded up and get a head start on it. I will try to get to that before January 1st. I hope everyone has a wonderful Merry Christmas!

Until next time, may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart.

Morning After

Thank you to everyone for the sweet and special birthday wishes. I had a very nice day. DH and I had a few left over errands to take care of and then it was time for some birthday fun!





First we went out to lunch for a super sized burger. Then he took me to the LNS and I picked up several items for my stash! The Green Santa and Black Santa by BOAF and Favorite Spot Sampler by PSS. After I saw the Spot Sampler finished off at the LNS, I knew I would have a new start this weekend so I came home and got everything kitted up for it.



I had yet another realization. I love samplers, no doubt and I certainly don't want to give up on them but I also love smalls. I used to do a lot of smalls. I enjoyed stitching them and finishing them off. They are fun, quick and satisfying. I love baskets and bowls filled with wonderful things. I enjoy stitched pillows, too. I have been working on bigger pieces and only framing. Time to spread my wings again and savor it all!

This is Christmas week and I'm sure everyone will be holiday busy! Enjoy yourself and the season! Thanks for stopping by again.

Back and Cold!

I am back. I have been in a bad funk since the summer months with all that has been happening. I really haven't even been in much of Christmasy mood so far. This past week was pretty quite. I spent time reflecting on a lot of things and people. I took time to visit the blogs I enjoy reading so much. I had a quite birthday several days ago. It hurt to know I wouldn't be getting my Dad's usual call with a big boisterous version of Happy Birthday on the other end but I was happy to hear from several other loved ones. Harold surprised me by coming home early, we went out to eat some good comfort food then came back home and I climbed into my new snuggly jammies for the rest of the evening.

I worked on my stitching some over this past week and it is slowly moving along. I have promised myself that I will not be getting any new designs for awhile. I have 3 boxes of kitted up charts just waiting for their turn at the needle. I am still enjoying getting back into my scrapbooking / journaling / photography. It is good to get these thoughts and feelings down.

No snow in our weather yet but we have been having some mighty cold days and nights. I don't think my poor ol' nose has unthawed completely in a full week! The forecast is calling was calling for a winter mix in our area yesterday. We saw some snow and sleet while we were running some errands yesterday but this morning we woke up to see this. We had alot of ice last night while we slept. Ugh!

Everyone has blogging dry spells and I hope to be better about blogging now. Until next time, may you have simple days and uncluttered heart.

Sherry's Goodie Bag and a Finish

Look what I finally finished! This will probably be my last finish for the year and I am very pleased with it!

Today is my birthday and time for me to start thinking about AARP! LOL! It is also time for Sherry's Birthday Goodie Bag give a way! I decided to make this give a way a surprise but I promise something you will absolutely love (and it is holiday related) and be able to use alot of it for your stitching projects!! Don't you wish I had a birthday everyday with give a ways like this? LOL!

To enter the drawing for this give a way, leave a comment on this post with you email address or a link to your blog so I can contact the winner. I will have hubby help me draw a name on Sunday evening and I will announce the winner on Monday's blog post!

Since the winner will not be announce until Monday, the give a way may not arrive until after Christmas but stitchers can use holiday related goodies all year, can't we?! *wink wink*

Unless Harold takes me out today, I have no plans. No laundry, no cooking, no dusting. Only stitching!

The Legend of the Snow Maiden

Once there was an old couple who had no children. One beautiful winter day, they looked out their window and saw the neighborhood children playing in the snow. At that moment, the couple was overcome with their longing for a child and decided to make a little girl out of the snow. As soon as they finished, color came into the little snow girl’s lips and her eyes opened. She had come to life! The couple was overjoyed, and took the girl into their hut. The snow maiden loved the outdoors and was happiest playing with the animals in the winter weather. However, when spring came around, she became sad and would hide from the sun’s light. One day, when summer had arrived, a group of girls from the village called for her to come and play with them. The snow maiden didn’t want to, but the couple encouraged her, and she went out into the meadows with the girls. It grew into evening and the girls lit a fire. The snow maiden, after hanging back from their games all day, finally gave in and joined the other girls around the fire, laughing, singing and dancing. One by one, the girls began to jump over the little fire they had built. Following her new friends, the snow maiden jumped over the fire as well, but halfway through her jump, she suddenly melted and turned into a white cloud. A faint good-bye was heard as she drifted up to the heavens.

*I would love to find some ribbons and buttons and decorative pins in my stocking*