I’m taking Cheryl’s excellent tip to keep my ToL fabric in better condition. Her tip was to start in the upper right corner and work the right sections first. I had already started in the upper left corner, so rather than stopping there and counting over 333 stitches (and more than likely getting it wrong), I’m going to continue to work that smallish top border all the way over to the right. That should bring me over to the correct spot to stitch the top right motif.

I just love samplers!

I was thinking I should explain my hatred of Walmart. I've avoided shopping there for the past few years. Quite frankly, I'd rather do without whatever they have than give them a nickel of my money. But in the past I just had an aversion towards WalMart. Now it's bloomed into hatred.

WalMart has spelled the death of many small stores in my town and in the neighboring towns. I think it's the reason that our local JoAnn's closed, and nothing has reopened in its place. Now WalMart is attacking my small business, too.

Yep, the $4.00 generic prescription scam has come to Pennsylvania. And saving money is one thing, but deceiving people and being cavalier about their health is another. Here is the view of the PPA, Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association:

"First launched in Florida in September, Pennsylvania is one of the states with the Wal-Mart Generics Drug Program that uses the 'bait and switch' to lure Wal-Mart store traffic....Medications on the list of covered generics represent only about 1 percent of the total drugs available in today's market, leaving the remaining 99 percent at questionable rates. Wal-Mart promotes its list of 300 listed medicines but in actuality the list is less than 50 drugs. For example, the Wal-Mart list includes 12 different versions of the antibiotic amoxicillin. "While the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association supports fair competition, it does not believe that such below cost pricing strategies are the solution to the rising costs of prescription drugs in this country," Epple said. "State residents deserve access to affordable and safe prescriptions and not publicity- stunt marketing tactics or gimmicks."

"If there's ever been a case of buyers beware: this is it," Miller warned. "Consumers need to look closely at the fine print of the program, as prescriptions available on Wal-Mart's list frequently are the oldest and weakest in their drug class and may have side effects that newer medications do not."

PPA is deeply concerned about the possible short- and long- term effects of these ploys on patient safety. "These ploys imply that prescription drugs are a commodity to be cranked out fast and at a low price. What does this say about real patient care and safety?" Epple said. "Buying prescription medications is not like buying makeup, shampoo or a pair of jeans. There must be safeguards in place for patients' which cost money and take time -- and this is the critical role community pharmacists play and that is the important cost left out of this equation."

A Nov. 9 survey conducted by the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) two months after the rollout of the Florida Wal- Mart Generic Drug Program found that although 77 percent had heard of the program and 69 percent shopped at Wal- Mart regularly, only about 5 percent had turned to Wal-Mart for their $4 generic drugs. The survey found that fewer than half of those who had tried the program had a positive experience. Those not satisfied complained that the drugs they were taking were not covered, the drugs were not cheaper, or that wait times were long. Sixty percent of survey respondents said Wal-Mart's program did not offer the cost savings it advertised and was more of a way to get customers to shop in other departments. Our nation's consumers are savvy: more than half in the Florida survey agreed Wal-Mart's program was aimed at forcing community pharmacies out of business."

Well folks, we all like to save money, but usually you get what you pay for. That couldn't be more true in this case.

More cleaning saga

This isn’t exactly “tomorrow”, as I promised in my last post. I could say that it took me almost a whole week to fully recover from cleaning my dear daughter’s bedroom, and that might be close to true…but not really. Quite honestly, I don’t know where the time goes.

Colleen’s room wasn’t nearly as fascinating as John’s, unless staggering mountains of junk and trash are interesting to you. I found several of the things that had gone missing from my office/sewing room. Like all of my tape measures, rolls of packaging tape, and my Loran stand.

I’ve decided that I’ll never buy another bottle of body lotion for her. Every time I moved something, it seemed like body lotion fell out of it, until (and I’m not exaggerating) I had amassed at least a dozen bottles/tubes/dispensers of the stuff. Her skin should stay baby-soft well into her eighties. So here’s an insider tip: This may not be a good time to buy stock in Bath and Body Works, because its major purchaser has been cut off, resulting in a sharp dip in their sales. Trust me….

But anyway, both kids returned home to clean rooms, new plastic underbed containers, and neatly folded clothes. And yes, they were actually grateful. Colleen reacted with squeals of happiness, and John gave me a grunt, and has made his bed every morning since his return and has actually sat on his bed doing homework. If that isn’t gratitude, I don’t know what is.

I spent most of the weekend decorating for Christmas, and discovering that most of the lights I use on our garlands and wreaths were burned out. And the light up stuff for the lawn is kaput. So Dave and I were shopping Saturday night.

I had heard on the news that (evil)WalMart reported disappointing sales over the holiday weekend, but if they were disappointed then, I imagine that they were crying in their shitty Sam’s brand coffee last weekend. And here in Fayette County, they weren’t the only ones.

While looking for our lights, Dave and I went to Kmart, Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Target and you could almost hear your footsteps echoing in the aisle. And it was the first of the month…Welfare checks and Social Security checks were all out, usually meaning crowds and traffic for Fayette County, but not this month. Where were the shoppers?

To be fair, I didn’t go to the local mall. Maybe everyone was there. Maybe I’m actually the last person in a 50 mile radius who hasn’t purchased their lights and decorations already. I mean, they’ve been in the stores since mid-October, so I must have missed the rush.

Stitching! I finished “You’re a Star”! I think I finished it a little over a week ago, but I haven’t taken a picture yet – I want to finish it into a pillow and I already have the perfect fabric. I might finish it as a tuck pillow, because I like the fabric so much.

And with that stitching complete, I finally began Jan Houtmann’s Tree of Life, without guilt. To remind you...



It’s lovely, rhythmic stitching. But it’s really huge. So I have a question:

What's the best way to handle all of that fabric?? I stitch in-hand and I worry that this nice 36 count white linen is going to get worn and dirty before I’m anywhere near done.

This is also my first project with silk. I don’t think it’s washable?
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Long boring stories about cleaning

I'm disappointed in myself. I've skipped about a week of posting, and I had such good intentions! It's funny - with the kids gone for the week, I've been away from the computer more than ever. I thought it would be the other way around.

It's been an interesting several days. When I left John and Colleen, I came home to a house that felt like it had been deflated. My first thoughts were, Oh no, if this is what it will be like when they've both left home, I'll be miserable. (Whenever they've both been away before, Dave and I have gone somewhere, too. This time though, he wasn't able to get away from work, so we've been here at home.)

But gradually I became accustomed to the shift of energy. Now it's not so bad. In fact, I feel like this is preparing me for the next phase of my life. That whole "empty nest" thing.

So - - - I've been cleaning. And let me tell you, it had been a LONG time since I had done any deep cleaning in the house. Sure...run the sweeper, pick a few things up and toss them in bedrooms, but that was almost all I had been doing for months and months. The weekend consisted of cleaning all of the living areas and while that was no small task, it was nothing compared to the kids' bedrooms. Mind you, I told them way in advance that I planned to clean their rooms while they were away, and that nothing was sacred, so if they wanted to pre-clean or organize....that might be a good thing. Of course, they didn't touch a thing.

I expected John's room to be the biggest job, so I tackled it Monday night. All in all, it took me about 4 hours and I made a huge difference in there. Now you can open the door and walk from the door to the bed without having something jump out and grab your ankles. And it smells like Murphy's Oil Soap instead of stanky young man. So here are some interesting facts about John's room:

1. He hasn't thrown away a shoebox in well over four years. I found dozens of empty shoe boxes. Dust and cardboard. Lovely. Nor does he throw out shoes. Fortunately, I have no problem throwing that crap out.

2. He has about 50 workout t-shirts. I folded at least 20 that were in laundry baskets around the room, and went to the dresser to put them away, only to find that the dresser drawers were full. Bulging, in fact. Sigh. And those are only the workout/running shirts. That doesn't count the "dressy" t-shirts.

3. I found 4 large bags of plastic army men???

4. And a couple of other things that you might find in an 18 year old boy's room, and I won't go into detail here, but after much thought, I just put it all back where I had found it. It could be worse. Enough said.

Then last night I started on Colleen's room, which I foolishly thought would be a quicker, easier job. And after about two hours, I was close to tears. Yes, I'm 48 years old and I was ready to cry over a messy room. After 4 hours of work, I'm not even close to done in there. How can she seem to be so organized and live in such a disaster?

More tomorrow.

Hi Folks and Happy Thanksgiving! I'm waiting for about 15 more minutes before I start the mashed potatoes and let the turkey rest while all of the rest of the wonderful meal trimmings are assembled and then TA DA! Dinner! But right now we're enjoying the peace of a quiet house and that smell...Oh, that heavenly smell!

Today started out so great. My family ran in the local Turkey Trot in Uniontown.

We gathered up some friends and brought them along to run a 5K this morning and it was terrific! I put up a decent time (third in my age group) and felt relaxed and happy. The race was reasonably flat, but there were a few hills to challenge the hamstrings. And some downhills to catch your breath and stretch your legs. And 210 runners and walkers that participated so that the local Salvation Army realized a $5000 profit. Not bad for a first race.

Then we made two quick visits to relatives and then came home for a shower and to get the turkey started.

Now I'm looking forward to a quiet evening at home with Dave and the kids.

This is a day to remember. Health, friends, family, food, and happiness. We have so much to be thankful for.

See you tomorrow!

Arghhhhh! So Close! But at about 11:30 last night, I just couldn't push through to finish. Maybe I'll finish tonight, if the kids aren't giving me fits about packing for Disney.

The band leaves at 4AM Saturday morning, but the luggage and uniforms must be at the school on Tuesday evening. On the one hand, it's a pain in the rear to have all of this stuff packed by Tuesday. On the other hand, at least we won't be madly rushing around on Friday night.

So anyways, here's where I stopped:

Nope. Didn’t finish. Life with teenagers stole my time away. Well, kind of. I fell asleep pretty quickly, too, so I can’t put the blame completely on them. But life marches on and I’ll finish soon, because even though I had hit the wall on this project, I seem to have my second wind. So it's all good.

Here’s something I’ve been thinking about….my internet “routine” every day. We all probably have one, especially if you're a blogger, I think.

Usually, I get up around 6AM (give or take 15 minutes), pack lunches, make my coffee, and start rousting John from his bed. (Colleen is always up by 5:30, because she’s a fabulous daughter) Then, in between threatening John with buckets of ice water if he doesn’t get his ass out of bed, I sit down at the living room computer for my web routine.

And I know you’re all dying to know what it is.

First I check my email accounts. I check the personal account that I only use for close friends, family, and coworkers. Then I check my Yahoo account. That keeps all of those web newsletters and web contacts. Sometimes I get side tracked there and that’s as far as I get. But if not….

Then I zip through my small number of Yahoo groups – always fun but sometimes frustrating because I miss so many messages if I miss a day or two. And here comes my next opportunity to get sidetracked, when I’m looking at all of the fabulous projects in the photo albums.

I check the weather on Intellicast, and then I skim the online version of the local newspaper.

By that time, it’s about 7:30 and the kids are gone and Dave is well on his way to being gone, and it’s time for me to get to my real life routine. So I push away from the monitor, get dressed and go for a run or start working right away – depending on the day’s schedule.

First thing I do, even before I start Quickbooks: I go to Radio Paradise and get some music going. Another favorite is Smoothjazz.com. Both have great stuff to accompany you while you work.

But there’s no doubt that if my work keeps me at home all day, at some point I’ll drift into “the rich, velvety pointlessness of blog-surfing.” (A wonderful quote stolen from on of the more velvety blogs, Laid Off Dad.) This happens most frequently if I’m doing something repetitive and boring, like entering daily sales for the month. Ugh. I actually have to set a timer, FlyLady style, to make myself finish those tasks.

So….off I go. I go to my own blog, and check my sidebar for recently updated blogs, and I go visit. If work is really pressing, I set a timer again – no more than 15 minutes of blog surfing during the work day. But by 4 or 5PM, if I’m still home, I pop back again and then it’s no holds barred until the family starts to whine that they need to be fed. Pesky family. By then I’m usually finished with the computer and the net for the day. It doesn’t seem to draw me at night.

There now…wasn’t that just the most interesting thing you’ve ever read? It's a good thing that I'm blogging more frequently, or else you'd never know all this stuff.

I WILL finish my stitching tonight. I will...I will...I will!

I don't have one single thing to write about today, but I'm trying to post each day and I have some time to kill before I have to head out to a meeting. I'm completely bummed out by the Steelers, so I've walked away from that game. And here I am.

This is totally out of left field, but I get asked to buy tickets. Lots and lots of tickets. My kids, my friends' kids, church, school, this, that and the other thing...I've bought more tickets than I can count. And they all use the PA Daily Number to choose the winner. And when you are asked to buy, typically there are several numbers from which to choose. I find that I go through and pick my favorite DMC floss numbers. SO, this month I have two calendar tickets: Numbers 930 and 931. I have a month of chances to win money on these numbers, so everyone, please....

THINK BLUE!

This week's SBQ:

How many different brands of “complete” embroidery floss sets do you own? How do you keep track of it? (i.e., spread sheet program, index cards, palm pilot, etc.)

At one time, I had a complete set of DMC, but that was a while ago and DMC has had so many additions that I doubt my set is complete anymore. I keep track of them numerically in a FlossAway box. That system can be a problem because if a color is "living with" a UFO, (short term or long term), it looks to be missing when I need that floss for another project. If I was smart, I would get those flourescent index cards to pop into the space where the floss bag should be...Naaahhh. That would be too much work.

About a year ago, I joined one of those automatic ship programs at Stitching Bits and Bobs, and each month I get 6 skeins of Crescent Colors. Love 'em, but I've yet to use any of them. And you know what? I don't care. I love to get that envelope in the mail each month, and I fondle them and stare at them and then hang them by my sewing machine. And these days, I'll take my stitching happiness where I can find it.

Speaking of auto-ships, at the same time last year I joined a program for Picture This Plus fabrics, and I'm not nearly as happy with that. Some of the colors are just yucky. Do any of you have a favorite hand-dyed linen that you'd recommend? I know that color preferences are individual and subjective, but this year's batch seems to be so....muddy, for lack of a better word. I'd rather have wild and crazy than average and muddy.

I'm just in the door and back from an overnight stay at a college with John. Hold on to your hats, but I think Allegheny College may be an almost perfect fit for him. It was a long couple of days (for me - not Johnny, who had a great time), but it was certainly worth it.

Allegheny is a little further away than I would have liked, but I'll make it work.

Now I want to prop my feet up and relax.

Tomorrow is Veterans' Day, and the kids will march in the local parade. This is a parade that I usually like. At 11:11 everyone stops and a trumpet at the head of the parade plays taps. Then a trumpet at the rear echoes it. And then one a couple of blocks away plays. I'll tell you what....it makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up when they do that. It's like the energies of soldiers living and dead arrives all at once. Seriously.

Now you'll all think I'm a lunatic.

In the end, I just couldn't reconcile with Rick Santorum.

The other day I was parking my car in front of a Methodist church, and there was a big banner on the outside of the church that read:

"Open hearts, Open minds, Open doors."

Sometimes you see something that resonates with you for days on end, and that banner has been on my mind all week. It was such a good touchstone of how I strive to practice my faith and live my life. So, although Santorum has a good record of advocacy for the poor, I couldn't square my life and faith philosophy with his. And so there you have it.

On a lighter note, I've become a big fan of Eliot Morris. His music just sets my toes a-tappin'. And it makes me run....really fast!
Click the link and listen to the songs on his Myspace site.

I'm taking a big leap here and mentioning my personal politics.

Today is election day, and I'm one of the few citizens that will decide if Rick Santorum stays or goes. The weather in Pennsylvania today is dreary, and voter turnout will most likely be light. So yes...I'll be among the few.

This isn't as easy a decision as I thought it would be. On the personal level, he annoys the crap out of me. He comes off as so "holier-than-thou" and intolerant of people different than he is, that I want to smack him in the head. On the other hand, politically he's been an advocate for those living in poverty in the US and around the world.

What to do....What to do?

Maybe it's time to switch gears for a while. Cross stitch isn't calling to me lately. I don't know what it is...maybe it's this project that I just can't seem to finish. Honestly, I haven't had a finish in a long, long time.

I was looking at a quilting blog recently and now I'm thinking about making another small quilt. One of my neighbors wants me to help her start a quilt, too, so maybe that will get my creativity going again.

I have a scarf that I started to knit last year, too. Maybe that's the ticket.

Stay tuned...I'm bound to get something going.

Tonight we begin the banquet circuit. All of the fall sports seem to culminate in a banquet and we parents get to eat fried chicken and rigatoni until we bust.

So - we'll start off this evening at the cross country banquet, where I KNOW that my son (team captain) will be expected to give a speech. Has he written it? No. Has he jotted down a few notes? No. Am I ready to kill the young man? YES. If he embarrasses me, the next news story I post won't have anything to do with squirrels.

Tomorrow night we'll eat at the high school soccer banquet. Then there will be the band banquet. Then there will be the rec. soccer banquet. Thank god there's no referee banquet.

Okay, here is the squirrel story I promised yesterday. Keep reading for my follow-up:

OIL CITY, Pa. - Letter carriers occasionally have to deal with angry
dogs or maybe even a spider's nest in a mailbox, but a mean
squirrel? Barb Dougherty, a 30-year Postal Service employee, said
she was attacked and bitten Monday by a squirrel while delivering
mail in Oil City, about 75 miles north of Pittsburgh.

"It was a freak thing. It was traumatic," Dougherty told The Derrick
in Oil City. "I saw it there on the porch, put the mail in the box
and turned to walk away and it jumped on me."

The animal ran up her leg and onto her back, she said.

"I eventually got a hold of the tail and pulled it off me,"
Dougherty said. "No one was home at the house where I was delivering
the mail, but the neighbor lady heard me screaming and came over."

You know what - I have a similar story. Last year Dave and I were out for a walk with the dog and we came upon this squirrel that just refused to leave our path. This was one hinky squirrel. It just stood there, blocking the road and looking at us sideways out of one eye and kind of standing on its tiptoes. Even our big, strong, labrador retriever started to hide behind our legs.

So...we two adults and our 85 pound dog turned around and walked the
other direction. We were laughing about it, and we felt pretty stupid, but it was one of those times that nature just tells you DON'T FOOL AROUND HERE.

And now I feel vindicated! Thank you, Oil City Squirrel!

Today Dave and I took a lovely fall morning and drove to Annapolis to pick up a car. Dave was jonesing for a change of cars again, but this time I was able to direct his energies into something productive. With John getting ready for college next fall, I can see that we're going to need something big enough to haul stuff. And I carry Gatorade to the away games for much of the fall soccer season, and lugging it in and out of the trunk was killing my back. So I told him to sell his sedan and get a station wagon.

Well, that didn't take long, did it? So now we have a nice, almost-new station wagon. I love it when people do what I ask. Seriously.

And we had a really great day. The 3+ hour drive didn't seem very long. We had a wonderful lunch in Annapolis. Then on the way home I stopped at the Hagerstown outlets and found some good deals on a running coat and hat. I've had a couple of really cold and wet runs, and I had to face the fact that it's only going to get colder and wetter. Ugh. But I got a nice jacket for $25, and the hat was only $5. Sweet. I've picked up one more game to ref this Sunday, so I'll try them out then. (I keep thinking I'm done, but I keep getting called...)

Oh! I have a squirrel story to post for tomorrow or Sunday.
Try to contain your excitement.

Halloween photos

Since lots of us are posting photos of our kids from Halloween, I thought I'd share a few, too.

John has inherited my Anti-Halloween genes, but he's forced into participation because the high school marching band performs in the local Halloween parade. Each section picks a theme, so in the past few years the trumpet section has been gang members, mobsters, and hillbillies. He's been able to manage costumes pretty well for those. But this year the theme was robots. Well, when you combine an odd theme with a kid who doesn't like dressing up AND who is a senior who feels too "old" for all of this...Well, this is what you get:


Colleen, on the other hand, likes to dress up and will happily dress for any occasion. Like Twin Day at school:



So she did pretty well for the Halloween parade when the clarinet section dressed as pirates. This is a picture of her and a friend.


The twirlers dressed as....pizza. Imagine what my son would have done for that. If he had been a twirler.

What a difference a day….or two….makes.

I should know by now that every time life throws me a curve ball that I don’t think I can hit, someone appears in my dugout, coaching me along and telling me that I can do it. Thank you to my blogging friends and to my neighborhood friends. I’m one fortunate gal.

About my dad….it is so incredibly difficult to see things “as they are” instead of how I always thought they would be. And if I think it’s hard, I can only imagine how difficult it is for my mother. There’s no doubt that we have a rough road ahead, but I hope that we can make good decisions and not disintegrate as a family. I have four brothers and sisters, and three of us participate in Dad’s care, while the other two aren’t as involved. I just hope we can all agree and support my mom when decisions are made about my dad.

After a rough week last week, Johnny is bouncing back. I received a nice letter from one of the coaches of his favorite college, saying that he was actively recruiting John for the schools cross country and track teams, and yada, yada, yada. More than likely it was a form letter, but it gave my boy quite a boost, and if it makes him happy, it makes me happy. And (BEWARE: MOTHER-BRAGGING MOMENT AHEAD), he got all of his grades for this report period, and they are outstanding. Even better, he was invited to a friend’s house to watch movies for Halloween, and that gave him a boost, too, because as of Friday he thought he didn’t have a friend in the world.

Now all he needs is for Dave to let him use the Corvette for the Junior Senior Dance….Yeah. Right. That’ll happen.

Oh, hey, you must go here:
Radio Paradise

I'm always on the hunt for great music to listen to while I work at the computer and this is by far the best I've found. Sorry WXPN...now you're #2.

Wow. Sorry that I’ve been away so long, guys. It feels like my life has been pretty hectic, and I’ve been lucky to string a few sentences together at the dinner table, let alone write in my blog. Yikes. But I’ve had a good night’s sleep and even slept in a little this morning, and I don’t have to be at the soccer field until 11:45, so let’s see what I come up with…

Are any of you “Alias” fans? I loved that show. Remember how Jennifer Garner (Sidney) could always compartmentalize her life – not letting one part (i.e. ruthless spy) spill into another part (i.e. sweet college student), so that she had all of these different life roles and did each of them spectacularly well? Hm. I find myself wishing I was more Sidney-like, but then again that was FICTION. In real life, or at least in my real life, everything mushes together. And sometimes it’s beautiful, like colors flowing into each other in a rainbow. But sometimes it’s gross. It’s like one of those nasty KFC chicken-potato-corn-gravy bowl meals. Eww. Whoever came up with that??

So…I think today I’ll compartmentalize my blog.

Children: DS is having a tough time of it lately. Nothing in his life is going well at the moment. Some of it is his fault, but lots of it is beyond his control and my heart is hurting for him. Cross country, school, social life – he’s just running into brick walls. And yes…he takes it out on me most of the time. I keep reminding him (and myself) that this will pass and it’s all part of being a high school senior. He’s got a really bad case of Senioritis, and it would be much more tolerable if just ONE good thing were to happen for him, and soon. Fortunately, DD continues to be an easy teenager, and I adore her for it. If and when I have two of them in this pissy mood at the same time, I may have to do something radical. Murder sounds about right.

Husband: I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before, but Dave has been dealing with some heart problems for the past year or so, and after much badgering, I finally got him to follow up with a doctor. So we began a series of tests and as usual everything is hurry up and wait. Unfortunately, the cardiologist can’t see him until December 8th, and all of this is weighing heavily on his mind. So, he gets pretty cranky, too.

I swear, I should just wear a “kick me” sign on my back.

Parents: My poor dad has gone even further downhill since my visit there last month. He has started wandering in the middle of the night, and he’s either in a state of constant agitation or asleep. My sister called me yesterday because she is so worried about my mother and her state of mind. My mom can be short tempered, and I think she’s had all that she can bear. So as much as we would like to see Dad at home, and as much as my mom would like to believe that she’s handling all of this, Janet and I have come to see that we have to start looking at nursing homes or Alzheimer’s care facilities. To complicate matters even more, as it happens their money situation is not what I thought it was. Such. A. Mess.

My Sports: Soccer is finally over! This morning was my last game of the season, and the field was a quagmire of mud and water. I can’t believe the league didn’t cancel the game. One of the goal boxes had a giant mud puddle just in front of the goal, and believe me, in the first half that keeper took a few mud baths. Then, when he switched sides in the second half, he was wet AND the wind was blowing in his face. At one point, he had the ball and was just standing there, stunned and shivering. I asked him if he was ok, and he didn’t answer – just shook his head. Did he need to come out? He said no. Sorry though, I’m a mom and a referee, and this kid was hurting. So I stopped play and called out his coach. No recreational league game is worth hypothermia. He eventually came back in, with dry clothes and the ability to speak, but since the league president was watching the game, I think he took that as a sign to cancel the rest of the games on that field. Smart move. As for running, I’m keeping up with three miles a day, three and four days each week. I’m looking forward to the upcoming session of Yoga practice, which begins Tuesday night. I can feel a huge difference after having missed September and October! Mentally and physically. It will be wonderful to get back to that class again.

Work: Not much to tell you about there. The homeowners association that I work for has had a recent change in leadership, and it’s been an interesting change. The new president give me much more work to do, though, and I just hope I can keep up. Pharmacy work remains the same. Just a steady stream of bills to pay and so forth.

Stitching: Whaaaa? Do I actually stitch?? Not much. But, I do have some new purchases to photograph and show you and now fall season sports have ended, my favorite pastime will be sitting in front of the TV and stitching. So, I hope to have some stitchy news later.

So, till tomorrow!

Well! I get to answer my own SBQ!

As we all know, stitching in the winter can really be rough on the hands. What do you do to treat your hands well in the cold winter months? Do you have any suggestions for creams or soaps? Or perhaps a special regimen that you would like to share?

This was on my mind because I deal with yucky hands all winter long. Everyone says that working with fabric dries out your skin, and linen can seem particularly rough on my hands sometimes. And truth is, I think that shuffling paper all day is just as drying. My hands dry out, the skin gets brittle, and my knuckles are red, red, red. The split skin on my fingertips is the absolute worst, and when that happens, I haven't found anything more effective than bandaids and neosporin. And truly an ounce of protection is worth a pound of cure. So as for prevention:

As for soaps, I have to steer clear of cheaper soaps and way way far away from any Dial products. Last winter I used J/A/S/O/N Tea Tree Satin soap from GNC, and my hands seemed to fare better. Then I ran out and couldn't find it for a while, so I used Softsoap lotion soap with Shea butter, and it was ok, too, but I liked the GNC soap better.

I like a light cream for my hands during the day, like Zim's Crack Creme for Daytime use. But when I've had lots of cooking and/or cleaning to do (a.k.a. holidays!), my hands get abused and I have to take extra steps.

At bedtime, I run my hands under warm water for a while. Just enough to warm them up and make the skin more supple. Then I use a liberal amount of "Night Use No-Crack Cream", made by the DuMont Company. Then I cover my hands with white dermal gloves and go to bed. Sometimes this helps in just one night, and sometimes it takes me several nights to see any relief, but my hands thank me for it!

I've tried Neutrogena and Burt's Bees and some of the Bath and Body Works products, but this No-Crack cream works best for me. It's simple, and relatively inexpensive, and I swear by it!