Brrrrrrr! It's Cold Outside!

The temps are in the teens! I'll just stay indoors, thank you very much!

After having Harold home for 2 weeks over the holidays, the house feels empty. I miss him. I really do enjoy having him around. Sometimes we work on our "to do" list which we managed to knock a few items off of, we go out or we just sit around watching old movies and other shows on TV. New Years Eve he wanted to watch a Three Stooges marathon. I never liked the Stooges but this time I couldn't help but laugh some with him.

On Monday, I went to pick out my new glasses! Finally. I have known I needed a stronger prescription and the doctor even agreed by writing one up. I was holding back because of the frames. I like my current frames but have used and reused them to the point that they are on their last go round. The type of frame I wear hasn't been in style for a while. I ended up picking out 4 frames then letting the assistant help me choose by telling me which ones she liked best on me (since I can't see worth a hoot without my glasses). I should have my new glasses in about a week. They will definitely be a big change compared to what I am wearing now and since my eyes are so bad on their own, I really won't know for sure how I like them on me until I pick them up! *fingers crossed*

On a fun note, one of my many challenge layouts from December was a winner over at Category Stories! How neat is that! Also, I thought I would share another corn husk doll with you. This one is a baker. I picked her out of my aunt's collection since I enjoy baking (when I have all the ingredients and no one bothers me).

How many of you are still using stitching rotations? I love the idea but I can never hold myself to them. *big sigh* I love to know how other people stitch, their routines, their favorite fabrics, colors, designers and more. I took some time out to go through my fabric stash and see what might be needed. I hate to run low and running out is just the worst!

Next time, I will post a progress update on MHIBIG. It's coming right along. Five colors in the border and I am almost finished with 1 of them. Till then, may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart! Thanks for stopping by!

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.

Anything Christmas

Yes, I am still working on my stitching. Just taking it slow. For my hand's sake and because of other things keeping me busy right now. I do manage to put a couple stitches in a day though. Life is finally showing some signs of turning around and letting us get back our normal routines.

I admit it. I want it all. I want time to do it all. I want all the walls in my home to be over flowing with stitched pieces. I want our beds and closets to be full of loving quilts I have made. I want to scrapbook and journal our lives, our memories and what everyday means to me. I want a garden that makes you want to pitch a tent and live outdoors among it all. I want a magazine Christmas. You know the perfect tree with everyone all cozied up and happy. Not to mention that the house just looks perfect while doing it all on a budget! LOL. Now I will take a moment for a *big sigh* while reality moves back into place. It's frustrating but it keeps me moving.

This mini album is for a challenge over at Practical Scrappers. It will be a good place to keep photo and memories of Christmas needle arts I make or gifts.

Challenge Layout - Workout #9

I have enjoyed scrapping all these challenge layouts this month. There are even more I hope to get done. This one was done for Workout #9 over at ScrapFit. The layout was to use 1 picture, 1 word, some glitter and have plenty of white space. I journaled on the back that this was a picture of my moma taken during her last Christmas season before she passed away. She is playing with my dog (which was also a Christmas present one year).

December is Here!

I have been gone from my blog way too long! I have been around but life has sort been upside down for the present. It happens. Not often, thank goodness but when it does happen I wait for it to flip back around and give my life a bit of normalcy. Right now, I am waiting.

Wow! It's December already! I missed my November goal of finishing up MHIBIG but I did work on it some. I can always give myself till the end of December to finish it up. It has been awhile since I posted any progress pictures so I will do that today! I did get some greenery done and a few flowers started since last time.

During December I want to work on some layouts from the challenge blogs at the right. During the month there are all types of classes for mini books for documenting up until Christmas or even the entire month. I have chosen to do the entire month of December. I did this once before and really enjoyed it. Who knows, maybe next year I will start at Thanksgiving and go all the way through.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I haven't pulled out any of our Christmas yet which is very unlike me. I usually get it all out and start putting things up on Thanksgiving weekend. Maybe soon.

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit and thank you to all my readers who stick by me during these off moments when I don't blog quite as regularly as I would like.

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

Almost the Weekend!

I worked on sorting out pictures the past several days. I have so many albums already done but I still have boxes and boxes just waiting for some attention. Not all of these will be scrapped so my job was to sort out which ones would and which ones wouldn't. I now have 1 box of photos not to be scrapped and 3 large boxes of photos to scrap! I also have a big pile waiting on several CDs waiting to be printed out so they can go into the scrapbooking pile. *sigh*

I had to pick up several colors I had run out of so that I can finish up My Home is Built in Glory. I am hoping to have it totally finished by November 21st which was my Dad's birthday. That is my goal. I have taken a break from stitching so far this past week and my hands feel great! I guess this means I will be cutting back on my stitching (but not stopping) during the colder months because I really don't want to take any of those strong arthritis meds.

I also worked on several more layouts. This is one I did from the pictures I inherited from my Dad. It is a picture of him at 6 months of age with his nanny, Rose.

Remember to sign up for the giveaway by leaving a comment on the Oct. 25th post. Until next time, may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart! Happy Halloween to all.

Long Days

This weekend we decided to set a goal for ourselves to have the house finally finished up by! I told Harold that I wanted to finally see it how I wanted instead of just dreaming about it! I picked out the colors for the kitchen am so excited to get started again! We did a good bit last summer but came to halt and never got moving on it again! Now's the time! Hopefully I will have to lot to report within the next few months!

The first thing on our agenda is to finish painting. Then re-arrange furniture, get a few new pieces of furniture, a new rug for the living area, get rid of junky clutter (which will be a job for a family of pack rats) and hang all of the pictures, samplers and signs I have made or bought recently. I know it sounds like a lot but actually we have already done a lot of the big stuff and we have most of the paint sitting here just waiting to be used. Pictures are bought and just waiting to be put up. I hope to have a lot of pictures to share showing our progress!

I have spent alot of time working on re-vamping my blog lately. Notice the side bar! Lots of additions and changes! After thinking it over, I have decided to make MOCKINGBIRD by La D Da my next WIP. Yep - another La D Da chart! I am loving their stuff and have quite a few more waiting to get started on!

The new Technique Tuesday stamps, Tool Time and Rocket Man are on my list of TO GET items. I am also anxious to see the new Mustard Moon papers and Autumn Leaves stamps start rolling in from CHA!

I finally heard from my doctor's office and my appointment with the thyroid specialist is on Wednesday! Maybe I can get a few answers then and hopefully be on my way to some sort of treatment that will resolve most of these issues I have been dealing with lately!