Picture time!

Finally got my butt in gear and downloaded then uploaded the stitching photos.

First is my "Why Hoard Gold?" from Dragon Dreams. She's stitched on a light greyish blue evenweave. I really love how this one turned out, and Tim also really likes it. She has such a sweet face.




This is the Mirabilia 2001 Cherub, a gift for my coworker at her shower this Thursday. I switched the colors so that the baby blanket and hat is green and the background is blue. She wanted the sex of the baby to be a surprise so I wanted it to be gender neutral. I also changed the beads on the baby's hat from blue to green.




And finally, this has nothing to do with stitching. Tim and I have many nice Christmas ornaments -- those light-up Hallmark ornaments, Lenox ornaments, pewter, etc. So, which one is his favorite? This one:



I received this a few years ago in an ornament exchange, and it is adorable. It's tongue depressor, painted white and with little eyes and a blue hat also painted. Then a button was added to the hat and a little fabric scarf was tied around the "neck." I love this ornament, but it cracks me up that it's Tim's favorite. I have to put it front and center and at his eye level, or else he'll move it there, lol.

Why Hoard Gold is finished -- picture to come shortly

Well, I finished Why Hoard Gold last night. Yay! I even took pictures of it and of the Mirabilia cherub. Of course, I still have to get them from my camera to my computer to my blog, but I should be able to do that tonight, if I can get on the computer. I'm very happy to be done with Why Hoard Gold. It's an adorable design, as all the Dragon Dreams designs are, but that rayon floss drives me crazy. I'll never learn. Every time I start a Dragon Dreams design that uses it I decide to use it because I like the sheen. Halfway through the design, I'm cursing myself for not just using plan old DMC, as it's a very simple conversion. Then, next time, I seem to forget the cursing and, telling myself that it's really not that bad, I use the rayon again.

Football: Eagles vs. Patriots

Wow! That game last night was unbelievable! Of course, it would have been even MORE unbelievable if the Eagles had won, but I'm going to give them a lot of credit for what they did: come closer than any other team this year to beating the undefeated Patriots, a team many "experts" say could be the best team in NFL history. The Eagles were expected to lose by anywhere from 22-25 points, from the news I saw before the game. Many Philadelphians were dreading this game. I wasn't even going to watch it, as I admit I had no hope. Those Patriots have been trouncing every team since the beginning of the season, and the Eagles haven't exactly been playing their best.

Imagine my surprise when, while watching Elf, I turned to NBC to see the score and saw that it was near the end of the third quarter and we were only three points behind. I figured, "To heck with Elf. I've seen that movie before and this game looks pretty interesting." Soon after, the Eagles scored and were ahead! At first, I wasn't sure if it was a touchdown because it was sooooo quiet. Then I remembered they weren't playing here.

The game was so close, right up to the end. That second interception was painful to watch, but I won't beat up Feeley as you could tell that he was beating himself up enough. He really played an amazing game.

So, now the question comes up again regarding quarterbacks. I have nothing against McNabb, but we've been playing better without him for the last few years. Even before that horrible injury put him out for the rest of the season last year, we played better with other QBs. I don't know why, maybe he doesn't have the chemistry with the team that he used to have. I don't pretend to know what goes on in the lockeroom or on the field. However, it seems that the Eagles play better without their starting quarterback, and I'm not the only one who thinks so. I'm glad I'm not the one who has to make these decisions.

So, good for the Eagles for giving the Patriots a run for their money and showing the NFL and fans that nothing is a given and that the underdog can put up a heck of a fight. I'm hoping this helps their morale and that they play better in upcoming games.

Also, I really like that Welcker from the Patriots team. The first guy they interviewed after the game was very cocky. Of course, he's the one who made two interceptions, so I may be biased. :) Welcker seemed like a class act when he was interviewed.

Cat video translation

Bwahahahaha! One of the posters on that same message board posted this, the translation of the video I posted early. This is great!

Celebration of Needlework - May, 2008

I'm posting a lot today, but I figure it's better to make a few small posts than one large post. :)

Karri made our reservations at the Marriott in Nashua, NH for the Celebration of Needlework Festival in May! We're going up April 29 and coming back that Sunday, whatever date that is. It's longer than the Hershey CATS was, but that's OK. I don't think there are as many vendors there as CATS had, but that's OK, too. We mainly go to these things to get away and meet other stitchers and do nothing but stitch for a few days. I'm really looking forward to it. I think we're really going to miss the Hershey Lodge, though.

Talking cats video

Someone shared this on one of the boards I haunt and I HAD to share it here! These little kitties are so cute. I'm wondering what they are talking about. Perhaps one was having a bad day so the other is comforting her/him. Maybe the one on the right wanted to go to a spa and the other one said, "Why spend so much money on a spa when I can give you a bath for free?"

What do you think?

Blog links updated

Wow! My blog links were a mess -- some had changed over a year ago, some blogs had been completely deleted, and many blogs I visit weren't on my list. Sooooo, it should be up-to-date now. If you visit and I don't have your blog listed, please leave the link in a comment and I'll happily add it to my list. My next blog task is to update my other links, although those are mostly OK. I still have to take a picture of my Mirabilia cherub I finished and add it to my sidebar. I'm so bad about that, which is silly -- I used to have to take them in to scan them and I'd get them done quickly. Now I have a digital camera and can get a picture immediately and upload it, and I put it off.

My big plans for today are to get the Christmas trees up. I moved some things around yesterday, but today I have to start by taking all that stuff out of that closet so I can get to the Christmas stuff. That's really the hardest part. My wrist has been acting up so I need to be careful, but I'll wrap it while I'm working and that will help. I do love stitching in the livingroom, watching movies or the History Channel while the big tree and Tim's little tree are up and decorated, all aglow. Maybe this year I'll get pictures of them. Tim's tree is a bit pathetic, as it's one of those 4-foot alpine cheapo trees that are tall and narrow, but it's kinda cute in a Charlie Brown sorta way. His tree has sci-fi and comic book ornaments on it -- and a Sponge Bog ornament, for some reason.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone is enjoying a yummy dinner with family and friends today. It's almost 5PM here and I plan on eating within the hour, depending on when Tim gets home. He had to work today so we're having a late dinner, and nothing big. I have a 3-pound turkey breast cooking (almost done), and we'll also have mixed veggies, potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, crescent rolls, cranberry sauce and sweet potato pie. That's plenty for just the two of us. I'm a lazy Thanksgiving cook -- the only think I cook from scratch is the turkey. Everything else is canned, refrigerated, pre-made, etc. When I cook for more people I cook more food and include homemade sweet bread and some other items, but even then I believe in convenience. I don't like the idea of spending all Thanksgiving in the kitchen when I'm with family -- I prefer to spend more time with them then cooking, but I'm not big on cooking to begin with.

So, today I spent some time rearranging the livingroom a little in preparation for putting up the Christmas tree tomorrow. I was going to do it today, but found out Tim was asked to work tomorrow, so I'll just do it tomorrow instead. I have also spent quite a bit of time working on Dragon Dreams' "Why Hoard Gold?" It's coming along nicely. I *might* be able to finish it by the time I go back to work on Monday. We'll see.

Thanksgiving weekend stuff

Well, I'm still a little down in the dumps but I'll get over it. I was supposed to meet up with my sister in Petersburg, VA for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, she's been traveling a lot for business lately and is simply exhausted. The thought of getting on a plane from San Francisco to Dulles and then driving another 1.5-2 hours to Petersburg during Thanksgiving weekend is too much for her, and I don't blame her. Instead, she's going to have a nice relaxing weekend at home and we'll get together another time. This is better for me, too, although I'm disappointed. I just spent $400 on glasses (!) so my budget is a little tight. Plus, this way I can put my Christmas tree up on Thanksgiving while the turkey is cooking and Tim is at work. It worked out very well that way last year. Smelling that turkey cooking while getting out the Christmas stuff is fabulous. Then I plan on spending the rest of the weekend stitching. :)

I just finished my grocery order and it will arrive tomorrow night. I looooooove ordering my groceries online -- no crowds to fight, no going to the store when I just want to be home. It costs me $10 extra for home delivery from Acme -- well worth the price, I think, especially this time of year. I wasn't planning on having Thanksgiving here, so this was a last-minute order. Usually I'd put the order in so that I'd have the food tonight at the latest, but that's OK. It's just me and Tim so I'm not cooking much.

Last night I finished the 2001 Mirabilia cherub for my coworker's baby shower gift. I really love this design. I figure I can't go wrong with a Mirabilia. I changed it so that the baby's blanket is green and the background is blue. It's stitched on blue spruce linen, and the shade of blue floss blends in nicely with the fabric. Since this one is square I'm going to go ahead and frame her myself over the weekend, as the shower is next Thursday and there's not enough time to get her professionally framed, not to mention my tight budget that I already mentioned. I'll upload a picture of her soon. Hopefully, I'll remember to take a picture this evening.

Thanks

Thanks for the replies for my previous post. I'm not quite sure where I gave off the impression that I thought my lifestyle or my friends' lifestyles were perfect, as I don't think that about either.

I could actually do some more ranting after just getting back from a child's birthday party, but I'll leave it alone. Same ol' stuff. :)

For the record, Tim and I did end up going out on Monday. I took him out to a movie for Veterans Day since we both had the day off and he's a vet. We saw what he wanted to see, "30 Days of Night." Yikes! I like my horror flicks but this was particularly gruesome. Then we came home and watched "Dead Silence" on On Demand. LOL, I had some very freaky dreams THAT night!

Sigh

I wish I had some non-childed friends who lived close by. It's so hard to make plans with friends with small children, as any plans made usually get blown off for some reason or another. I'm usually very understanding of this sort of thing, but when I'm ALWAYS the one blown off for whatever reason (sometimes kid-related, sometimes not) because I'm nice about it and understand, it gets old. Just because I don't have a fit about it doesn't mean that, after about 3-4 years of this, I'm not getting fed up. I'm afraid that if I say anything, my friends will think I'm overreacting or inflexible. You know, friendships take work, too. I don't expect to talk to my friends every day, or even every week. We all have busy lives. But you can't expect me to make plans only to have them canceled time and time again over the course of a few years and have it NOT change the friendship.

I guess I'm just tired of feeling like I'm second best to everyone in my life -- and I mean everyone. I wish just one person would make me feel like I was the most important thing to them, just for a few minutes. I'm sure that sounds selfish, and I don't expect my friends to make their kids second to me, but how hard is it to take one night and go to a movie with me, or go out to dinner? My parents had a sitter almost every Friday for us and they went out to dinner and a movie. Of course, I'm usually the sitter, so that pretty much explains it all, doesn't it?

Meh. I probably come across as a whiny childfree person who has no compassion for parents, but anyone who knows me knows that's not so. I'd just like to feel like someone, somewhere, would even notice if I wasn't around -- and not because they need something from me.

Tim and I both have tomorrow off and are supposed to go out to a movie. I've mentioned this to him, but I have a sinking feeling that something will come up and those plans will get screwed, too.

Well, that's what I get.

I wasn't in the mood for the CSI/Without a Trace thing last night, but was tonight. I knew CSI is always available on demand the next day, so ASSumed Without a Trace would also be. WRONG! Of course, I watched CSI first, then went looking for Without a Trace and now I don't know the ending! I don't want anyone to tell me, as it will eventually be a rerun, but I would have been much better off if I'd checked that the other show was in the On Demand section before I even started.

Lessons learned. :)

It's Smokey Cat time!

I haven't shown off any pictures of my Smokey Cat in a while, but I'm really happy with a few I've taken recently.

The first one I took about 30 minutes ago. He was looking very cute, sprawled out across the back of the couch next to me. I got up to get the camera and sat back down, but of course the fact that I dared to move ruffled him a little. He finally got back to pretty much the same position he was in before, and I snuck a picture of him. Usually he doesn't like to look at the camera but I didn't use the flash and just used a little color correction after I uploaded the picture.

The other one is of him on a pile of blankets. He loves hanging out on a pile of blankets -- one just is NOT enough you know, he might just feel a pea if I put it under the blanket. :)