So Far, So Good!

 Finally! A new fresh month and hopefully a stress free month! The new fridge was delivered but had to be sent back AGAIN because of damage during loading! How could they NOT see things like that? But the store called us immediately and another one will be delivered in about 2 weeks! At least I had no headaches with the delivery guys!

I have been working on Harriat Brown by Stacy Nash a little more. She is definitely going to be a big girl when I finish her up! I made a list of items that I wanted to include in Harriat. So far I have just been "winging it" and putting things in that I want to add and where I want them.  I haven't changed a sampler around like this in a while so I am still getting my bearings but it is fun and I am hoping it will be an extra special piece!

 

I have noticed that there isn't much of Harriat's design in what I have stitched so far. Mostly it seems to be used as a template. I have also noticed that I might be short on fabric so I may have to finish this up and then give Harriat her due with her very own piece!  I will be able to decide as I stitch more.  Most of it is self explanatory. The phrase "stronger than I look" has a special meaning for me. I grew up with epilepsy and  I can remember someone always telling me "You're going to be fine. You're stronger than you look" after I would have a seizure.

 

I got so involved with this piece and our daily routine that my WIPs were ignored this time around.

 

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

Good Bye August! I Won't Miss You!

This says it all!

 

Shame on me. Shame on me. Shame on me. But I really just don't care!!

 

I have always tried to keep my stitching manageable (whether it be one piece at a time or maybe two) so that I don't get overwhelmed. This has been a horrible year so far with all the bad news happening and August was an extremely bad month for me personally and last week was a plain and simple nightmare! Because of this I gave myself permission to go outside of the box!

 

While playing in my stash, I saw so many designs I wanted to start on but I would tell myself NOT to have too many at once. POOH! I started designs that probably would not have been started for another year or longer. I will stitch on them as I feel like. This is my hobby and it is supposed to help me relax -- not stress me out. If I start to feel stressed, I can always put one or two in the WIP pile (which I intend to give regular attention to). I will introduce them as I start them!

 

I finally started on the Jane Tindall 1864 SAL. I have a good size list of others to start too! I am hoping to start a few more in September.

 

I am still working on Bee Skep but I am not stressing out over it! I will give it one or two days a week. I should be able to finish it off by the end of the year! LOL

 

Some Happy Mail arrived which always makes my day a little better. Quaker Bees by From the Heart and My Heart Can Rest by BBD along with threads and some threads for other designs so I complete kitting them up. A couple of blouses I had ordered showed up as well.

 

My new stitching rule is No Promises, No Timelines, No Stress.

 

We re-ordered the refrigerator (same one) but this time we made sure that the warehouse will deliver it to the store and the store delivery will bring it out. The manager told us to do this. Even she was really mad at the people at that warehouse! They did NOT want to do any work AND they did not want to give us a refund! Boy, the store manager really lit into that warehouse supervisor! Because of the appliance shortage, we will not get it until sometime in October which is fine with me as long as I don't have to deal with that warehouse again! We started to just update the old fridge with new shelves and drawers but then we realized it was getting on up in years and would probably die soon after spending that money on it! It will look like this.

 

Well, there were only several days left to August but I should have known that was enough for some more bad coming our way! The counter tops arrived and every single one had been cut to the WRONG size so back they went! I had another bursitis flare that made me miserable for more than several days! Hurry up September but only if you plan to behave yourself! LOL

 

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

Thank Goodness August is Almost Over!

Good Morning! I am sitting here with my coffee and little heater humming away. That's right, I have my space heater running. The men in my family love a cold cold house. I can deal with it most of the time but not when I first get up in the mornings so I run my little heater for a short while to knock the chill off the air!

 

The kitchen is almost finished! The refrigerator should have been installed by now but..... I don't even want to go into detail about the headaches these delivery people caused me! We ordered it at the store (and the people there were great) but it was coming from one of their warehouses. This is where the nightmare began. These warehouse people did not want to do anything they were supposed to! They kept telling us that we had to haul away the old fridge (even though we paid for haul away). It got totally out of hand so we got a refund. The store manager was great and told us to wait a week, come back and she would help us get the fridge WITHOUT dealing with that warehouse!  I was so stressed out for two days I felt sick! Word of advice when you buy a major appliance. Make sure it is delivered by the store and NOT the warehouse! 

 

The new counter tops will arrive next week and then my son and the Grumpy Ol Gazer will get to put them in. I like laminate counter tops. I like the price. They are easy to care for and you can pick styles that look like expensive granite, stone or even butcher block. I kept the floor. I love my splashes of red in each room and my floor does that for the kitchen. The new sink and faucets arrived.  We still need to paint and get new blinds.

 

I am still working on Bee Skep by BBD. This piece really is getting on my bad side! I love the design. I just hate everything that is getting in the way of my stitching time on it! I did not get much stitching done this past week because of bad infusion loaded with several days of side effects. I hope to finish it up by the last day of August.

 

I even put the fabric for the Jane Tindall 1864 SAL over at IG in a hoop. I have made a few stitches on her already but like I said before -- no promises, no time lines! LOL. For all I know, this could be a year long stitch!

 

I have decided to make Saturday and Sunday my WIP Weekends. I really need to give these WIPs some attention and finish them up. I decided to pick up Mother's Tree to work on. The tree was driving me nuts. Just like the house on Bee Skep but it coming close to the end and then I can begin the fun part -- family names!

 

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

Middle of the Month

I am up super early so that I can get some things done around here before my last infusion on Monday. The days are so long on infusion days! But I do get some stitching in and I always get take out for dinner.

We had an earthquake last week! It was a 5.1 and felt over most the state! Of course the Grumpy Ol Gazer slept right through it and so did my oldest son! The Grumpy Ol Gazer grew up across the street from train tracks so it takes a LOT to wake him up! My oldest thought I was kidding when I mentioned it to him. But he looked it up on the internet and came back out all wide eyed and said "Wow, mom! That was a big one!" LOL. Luckily there was no damage and no one was hurt. Of course my cross stitch wall got a good shaking up!

Believe it or not, the quake did some good for us. We have a crack in the foundation of our house that we knew needed fixing and we also knew if was going to cost a good bit! The quake shifted the ground enough to close up that crack! It is still there but it not a wide crack anymore. Just a sliver of a crack that can probably wait a few years before fixing! LOL. Thank you Mother Nature!

I managed to get some stitching done on Bee Skep at my last infusion and some more on my days in between. When I started this piece, I thought it would be a simple, quick and fun stitch! It probably would have been if life had not thrown so many curves my way! Instead, it has taken what seems like forever and that house is becoming a thorn in my side! I absolutely refuse to let it win and become a WIP though!

Happy World Cross Stitch Day!  I was able to play in my stash a little. That is always fun. Admiring my fabrics and day dreaming about how to finish off patterns help relieve some of that stress too!

Have you ever just said "Oh, what the heck" and thrown caution to the wind? That is what I did this week. Some things I have wanted to do but knew I probably did not have time for and were put on hold suddenly came into being a reality! There is a SAL on IG for Jane Tindall 1864. I have had this pattern for what seems like forever. The threads too. With a little prodding I caved and joined in!  No promises or time lines. I will start on it once I get the Bee Skep finished up.While I was ordering a few threads, I threw a few patterns into the basket that I had been eyeing for a while! Oh, what the heck! LOL

The new range arrived. Better late than never. I am thrilled with it. It feels good to have a stove and oven that heats up properly! The old oven was on it's last legs. A 20 minute frozen pizza took 45 minutes to cook! I tried to get a picture of the range and microwave but my kitchen is so small, I could not back up far enough to get it all in!

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

A Busy Week

Two infusions down. Two left to go. Several days after infusion I feel like I was in a big fight and got the **** beat out of me because I am so sore! Yea, a new side effect! LOL.

Summer has definitely hit the South! We had a mild beginning and it was quite comfortable but now the heat and humidity have cranked up to make going outside for long periods, unbearable! Luckily, we have been having some monster thunderstorms each evening to cool things off a bit.

What a busy, busy week!

No finish on Bee Skep yet but I was able to work on it more and the nurse put my IV in a better spot so it did not hinder my stitching. I do not have an update this week but I am getting close to a finish if I can ever get past THAT house! Unfortunately I haven't been able to stitch much while at home due to all the busy-ness going on!

In my last post, I showed a sample picture of the walk in shower we want to get. We are still looking for someone to do that job.There are a few smaller things to do in our bathroom like new faucets for the sink, light fixtures and paint.

I also mentioned that the kitchen has a lot of work to be done. My range died on me last week so we made a trip to the appliance store to put our order in. Did you know that there is an appliance shortage? What I used to get delivered in just two days at the most, now takes a month! There is also a shortage of electrical items (wiring, switches, ect) and pressure treated wood (not to mention change). That figures! We also ordered our counter tops, kitchen sink, new faucets for our bath and the kitchen plus I bought some new glass globes for several ceiling fans.

While we were out looking at appliances, I picked up new light fixtures for the master bath vanity and a new pendant light for the dining area.

We have discussed the outside improvements. We would like to put in a walk way leading from the drive way around the back of house to the deck. When it rains, there are so many puddles to jump over and it would make it much easier when we have groceries to bring in. I would like to have several raised planting beds for veggies, herbs and a few flowers! So we had a guy come out and give us an estimate for these jobs.The walk way was a lot more expensive than we had planned so it looks like we will be puddle jumping a while longer until we find someone with a better price or a DIY project!

We decided that we did not want a big remodel or anything fancy. We just want to make what we have comfortable, convenient and livable.

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