Here's my sampler as of last night. I'm sloooowwww. But I'm making progress. I've added three more rows of motifs, and extended the long vertical one at the far right. I'd estimate that I'm about 2/3 done with this vertical segment of the sampler. I keep telling myself that if I just had a few quiet nights in a row, I could finish this segment. Phht. Who am I kidding? Slow is slow, no matter how many nights you get!

I've been burning through books lately, though. And DVD's. Between the frigid temps and the ice and snow, I've been home most of the time. I get my work done pretty quickly, and then there's not much to do. Well, I could clean but....

For book club I finished Snowflower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See. I enjoyed it, and I'll write more about it in my Book Club blog after we meet in a week or so.

I've just finished another book called The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak. It had popped up on some book blogs and people liked it for the most part, with some even listing it as one of their favorite books of 2006. WELL. What a book. It's about a young girl named Liesel who comes to live as foster child in Nazi Germany. She steals books, and her life evolves around these books. I don't want to tell you much more because I'm not a good book reviewer so I worry about spoiling it for you. But I will tell you that in the first several pages the hair on the back of your neck will stand up and you'll remain in that heightened sense of awareness until the very end. Zusak has written descriptions of human emotions that will stay in my memory forever.

By the way, it's categorized as Young Adult Fiction, if you're looking for it in a store.

Right now I'm reading a non-fiction book about a rescue in Alaska that happened at the turn of the century.In a Far Country, by John Taliaferro, is about a missionary who is asked to drive a herd of reindeer to an ice-locked whaling ship in Alaska. Unless he makes this treacherous 700 mile trip, 200 whalers face certain starvation. So far, it's fascinating, and from me that's saying a lot because I usually can't hang with non-fiction.

I'll try to post tomorrow about the DVD's I've been watching.

Here's an interesting website that I've come across this week. Besides the cool articles, it makes me feel like a needlework "insider".

Craft Gossip

Scroll down towards the bottom of today's page to find a neat podcast interview with Heather Holland-Daly, the designer behind Monsterbubbles. I love her quirky designs!

Today's wish: Take me back to the 80's...please!

Just Dave and me, few responsibilities, and the whole world for the taking. Back when snow was exciting and fun.

And if I can't go back in time, let me go South to feel warm and dry.

But anway.

I'm being a really good girl right now because I'm resisting all temptations to buy tons of stuff from all the shops' most recent Market trips. Why am I exhibiting such self-restraint? Because I just bought this:


And this:


I've clearly lost my mind, and the mindless should be kept away from all credit cards and paypal accounts. But they're so beautiful, and if I even finish one I'll be happy. Mindless and happy.

Now I've seen everything....Are you kidding me?? I saw this in the grocery store last night and my eyeballs nearly fell out.

I don't mean to dis Kraft dinner. Although I rarely buy it these days, I've eaten a lot of Kraft dinner in my lifetime, and enjoyed (mostly) every bite. I discovered Kraft dinner when I was in poor and in college and soon learned that it mixed well with lots of things, like tuna or applesauce, or if there were really slim pickings, just ketchup.

But organic? C'mon.

But maybe this is actually a good thing. Time to get off my butt and learn how the food industry defines "organic" , and I'll quit being such a lemming, because now I doubt everything that I've bought that's labeled Organic.

Hey, as long as you're here...I've been fooling with a music player in my sidebar. I've set it so you have to click it to hear it. But I've noticed that it appears and works fine on my computer, but when I go to the kids computer, it's a broken link. Can you tell me if it works for you? Thanks!

I've thought and thought about which movie would go well with my current stitching, and I just can't come up with anything! I think it's because when I'm truly watching a movie, I'm not stitching.

However, I do enjoy listening to the spoken word while I stitch. So maybe I'll choose an audio book, and in this case, I think I'd choose Ahab's Wife, by Sena Jeter Naslund. The publisher says, "At once a family drama, a romantic adventure, and a portrait of a real and loving marriage, Ahab's Wife gives new perspective on the American experience. "

What does this have to do with my Tree of Life sampler? Well, the colors are strong, and Una (the book's main character) is very strong.

The motifs at first glance appear simple, but when I start them they are more intricate than I first imagined. If you look at the cover art for this book, it looks simple. Broken boat on a barren beach. But the story is ever so much more complicated than that, as Una's life unfolds for us. I loved this book.

One of the blogs that I follow is Quilter's Buzz, and they just had an interesting blurb about something an OLQS is offering called Quiltflix. When you order your fabric and pattern kit, you also get a movie appropriately themed for that quilt.

For instance a heart and flower themed quilt gets a romantic movie. A blue and yellow log cabin variation gets Driving Miss Daisy. (I don't quite understand, but maybe I'm missing something...)

The whole premise is that quilting and movies go together. I kind of get it, although if I'm back and forth at my sewing machine there's no way I'm able to watch TV. I can only watch TV when there's handwork involved, like hand applique or at the actual "quilting the quilt" stage.

So it got me thinking about movies to match the theme of my current cross-stitch projects. I watch a lot of TV while I'm stitching but I really don't know if one show feels more "right" than another. I'm going to go away and give this more thought.

Last night was our first book club meeting, and we discussed Thirteen Moons, by Charles Frazier.

I've started a book club blog to summarize our thoughts. It's over here, so go take a peek, if you'd like.

It's going to be interesting to see how this group works out. There are some very strong personalities there, as well as some very quiet folks. I think I'll enjoy watching this group as time goes by.

The kids are home from school again today, because of the bitter cold. This morning the thermometer said -10 degrees. At least the wind quit blowing.

When they're home all the time like this, my house feels like a disaster area. Why can't teenagers pick up after themselves??? My son is a Slob with a capital "S". Four days of clutter and it's making me nuts.

I guess all in all I had a lovely weekend.

Friday night I shoveled snow. Twice.

I spent Saturday literally running around with Colleen.

She was supposed to go on a 50 minute run with the girls track team, but at 9AM, when it was only 1 degree outside and breezy, I wouldn't let her go. I know it was the right decision, so why did I feel guilty?

So...off we went to the gym for a workout. 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer and 20 minutes on the treadmill. B.O.R.I.N.G. But it suited the purpose.

Then some shopping, and home to prepare a nice turkey breast that I had bought earlier in the week, and settled in for an evening at home.

Super Bowl Sunday didn't go exactly as I'd planned...I didn't sit on my butt all day. I always have plans for that, but I never can pull it off. Seriously, I'm not trying to sound like a martyr. I don't think I'm different than most other women who run a house. It's just a matter of fact. You sit down and then after about 15 minutes you think, Oh Hell, I might as well put in a load of wash. So it starts off simply and then all of a sudden you're doing housework without even thinking about it and then here goes your day, shot in the very butt that you had planned to sit on all day.

I did stitch a little though.

It took me a little while to wrap my head around that round motif. I just couldn't mentally break it up into sections. Finally, I stitched it in long vertical sections 5 stitches wide. It was interesting to see the motifs within motifs come out as I finished it. If that makes any sense to you. (Sometimes my written words are so inadequate!)

Oh - and here are our pictures from John's Senior Night. You'll recall that my first choice for an outfit in our school's colors (maroon and white)was this:


However, we settled on this:



Doncha just lurrve the corsage? The school athletic department buys us those monstrosities. I look like I have a second head about to sprout on my shoulder.

Here are a few things I've been thinking about while I've been cruising through some of my favorite blogs.

I really liked the 6 Weird Things About Me posts. Oddly enough, I found most of the weirdness to really be quite charming. It makes us....us. It's funny. There are many things that we'd probably write that we'd never actually speak about. Or maybe it's that nobody IRL ever asks us. Whatever. I think you all have charming and quirky things about you and now I'm glad I know them.
*****
Cathy had some interesting things to say about judging other families parenting skills and giving advice. Her best observation was this. "All we can do as parents is raise our own children, try to be supportive of the other parents around us in our daily lives, and hope that our kids won't grow up to knock over a 7-eleven." Simple words, and we all know it's much more complicated than that, but for the most part: You got it, Cathy.

My darkest parenting moments have been made lighter by a kind word from a fellow parent. There have been times that I didn't even necessarily know the other parent that well. Then there were people who I thought were the PERFECT parents, who knew my family was hurting and so they'd confide their imperfections and suddenly my problems didn't seem so insurmountable any more. And they helped me to forgive myself for my imperfect parenting. So I thank God for those people. And I ignore and/or forgive the rest. Hmph. That sure sounds easy, doesn't it? It's not, though.
*****
If you haven't stopped by The Christmas Ornament SAL blog, you really must. This promises to be an awesome collection of ornaments. From simple to intricate, and something for everybody's tastes. (I'm a member, but not off to a very good start after not getting an ornament done in January. At least I can lurk around)
*****
Lots of Blogger folks are jumping ship and going to WordPress. I tried, but because I had switched to the new Blogger version, my archives won't come with me. That sucks, doesn't it? Although I'll bet that in the near future, nobody will be able to access their archives once they're out of Blogger.
*****
I finished Thirteen Moons for our book club. I'm sorry to say that I was disappointed. The ending....well, feh. I'm keeping this to myself though, and I'll be interested to hear what other clubbers thought of it. But in my opinion, it wasn't half the book that Cold Mountain was.
Our book for March will be Snowflower and the Secret Fan, and I started that earlier this week. I'm enjoying it so far, and I'll tell you more about it when I've read further. In the meantime, I may start another blog based on my book club meeting notes. I'll post if and when that happens.
*****
I'm looking forward to the Super Bowl this weekend. I'm going to sit in front of the TV and sew until my butt hurts. Meals this Sunday will be whatever you care to dig out of the refrigerator. I need a day off. And I mean a REAL day off. As in no chores, no obligations, and a day stretching out in front of you just for the taking. So I'm making that day Super Bowl Sunday.
****
I'm seeing so many French blogs with fabulous collections of freebies. Honestly, these bloggers have created some of the most lovely pieces and they simply post them and give them away.
For instance:
Anne-les-petites-croix
Creations Annick Abrial
Nathalie
Petits Points
Atalie
A Mon Ami Pierre
Les Grilles de Maryse

Go take a look and see if you don't think they're great, too.
*****
Finally, I forgot to tell you that Colleen's braces came off last week. This is one happy young lady!

See you after the Super Bowl!

More from my grandmother's box...


It was on Easter Sunday, around 1970? It was one of those years when both "mini's" and "maxi's" were cool. And definitely the Peasant Dress was cool. The "midi" hadn't come around yet.

I wanted a Maxi, but my mother convinced me that I would look better in a Peasant Mini. I should have convinced her otherwise.

My kids say it looks like I forgot to put on my pants. What they fail to realize is that I was wearing shoes with a chunky heel. That bit of coolness made up for the lack of pants.

The lovelies in this blurry photo include my best Junior High friend, Bernadette (in the orange print maxi), my sister Claudine, me, my brother Paul, and my sister Janet. My youngest brother Robert was probably about a year old, and he's not in the photo.

Stitching - not a whole heck of a lot, but some.


There are some interesting things going on in the blog world, and I want to comment on a few of them, but I need to keep this short today. I try not to work on Wednesdays, but today is an exception, with so much payroll stuff due now...as in today. At least I'm reasonably caught up on these things and there'll be no last minute run to town to catch the 6PM mail pick up!

Here are some photos of the hankies and the little peach pit basket from my grandmother's box. Now that I've looked thru all of it, I think my mom chose bits and pieces from both of my grandmothers' belongings, because there are some things in there that I'm pretty sure belonged to my paternal grandmother, too.

Anyways, about the hankies: I chose some of my favorites to share with you. The edgings were lovely. I doubt that my grandmothers created/attached any of these edgings. My mom thought so, but a few of them still had store tags on them, and while my great-grandmother did lace crocheting and tatting, my grandmothers weren't into that.


However, my mom said that my grandfather had carved this peach pit into a little basket, and I believe she's right. My grandfather was always fiddling with something little. He liked to doodle, whittle, and that sort of thing, so this seems like just the sort of thing he'd play with.



Me - - I haven't been playing with much these days. Work, kids, husband. I feel tired and pressed for time lately. I finished a band on Tree of Life, but it's not worth taking a photo for that little bit. Maybe over the weekend?

In the meantime, Cindy tagged me with this meme...and let me tell you, there are plenty more than six things...but most of them have to do with sleeping.

6 Weird Things About Me:

1. I get the willies if I have to get into an unmade bed. 95% of the time, I've made the bed with Dave practically still in it, just so I won't run the risk of forgetting and arriving home at night to an unmade bed.

2. I can't sleep if I smell anything. Food, perfume, smoke odors. It all keeps me awake.

3. It grosses me out if someone gets into a bed with their clothes on. Like pulling down the covers and getting in with normal clothing. Ugh.

4. I can't stand the thought of anyone touching my fingernails. I've never had a manicure and I never will. Nor a pedicure.

5. I have this obsession about things being "even". It's hard to describe. I like for all of my food to even out on the dinner plate, so that at the end there's one bite of everything left. Kind of like that. Or if I have a bandaid on my right hand, my left hand feels like something is missing. Don't even get me started on sweet and salty....I think it's why I'm a decent bookkeeper - it all has to balance.

6. I can't watch someone brush their teeth. Even the commercials gross me out.

There you have it. The Weirdness of Me. And if you're reading this and care to play along, consider yourself tagged now, too!

I really don't have anything to post about.

But - lucky you - I'm in a moving-things-around mood, and I'm rearranging the office. I came across this box of my grandmother's things that my mom gave me during a recent visit. I must have brought it home, took it in the office, and like so many other things in there, it kind of disappeared.

So I found it today, and it has some terrific stuff in it, like a tiny basket my grandfather carved out of a peach pit, and dozens of really wonderful hankies.

And, like most grandmothers, she had pictures. Most of them were of us grandchildren, and she liked to take pictures. Well, here's a good one:



That's me, in all my pre-teen bored splendor.

Even the fake ducks look confused about the expression on my face. "You're at the beach, girl....Cheer Up!"

I'm guessing it was from the late 60's. It's at my great-grandparents' home in Villas, NJ, and I don't remember going there much in junior high, so I'm guessing I was about 10 or 11.

I'd spend a few weeks with them each summer. There are some memories that hit me quickly when I think of those summers.

Taylor Pork Roll sandwiches and birch beer on the boardwalk.
My grandparents were night owls - always up late watching the Tonight Show.
Homemade potato pancakes.
Puzzle books and comic books.
Going "up street" with my grandmother.
Candy buttons. They always kept a big supply of candy buttons, candy necklaces, and candy bracelets.

Boy oh boy. Such memories.

We finally had some snow today! Just a little, but enough to make you realize it was winter when you stuck your nose out the door.

I'm still not running. Turns out I hurt my Achilles tendon, and it's a slow healing process. But each day it feels a little better, and today I walked pain-free about 75% of the time. Oh - and what can cause a tendon injury like that? Why, running up hills, of course. It's a good thing I have a Master's degree so I don't do stupid things. ;)

Well gang, I joined a book club this week. Some of my neighbor friends have been tossing the idea around for several months, and finally last night about 12 of us got together and made it official.

When do I have time for this?? I don't, but I'm going to give it a good try. Luckily next month's book is one I've been wanting since December: Thirteen Moons, by Charles Frazier. Cold Mountain is one of my all-time favorite books, and when I saw he had written a new book...well, I hinted around at Christmas time, but nobody seemed to pick up on my very subtle hints. "Gee, I would love this book for Christmas...." just didn't do it.

(I'm joking, of course. I received wonderful Christmas gifts. My family really outdid themselves this year in terms of thoughtfulness and generosity.)

But back to the book club thing - We have lists to complete of books we'd like to read in various genres. I haven't analyzed my reading in quite a while, so this will be a nice exercise.

I would guess that most of us bloggers keep a book journal of some kind or another. I've been keeping a list of books I've read since 2002, but kind of fell away from it in 2005. In 2002, I read 17 books. 2003 - 23 books. 2004 - 12 books. I lost track in 2005, and then in 2006 I think I read 10 books. Not too many, and not nearly as many as my fellow clubbers who put that many away in a month!

In kid news, John got his scholarship letter from Allegheny College and it had good news. We're really proud of him - He's worked very hard for this.

I'm always astonished when I think about him leaving for college. I can't imagine him not being at the dinner table, or running out the door late each morning. It's going to be a big adjustment for me. Sigh.

I spent a really lazy weekend. I'm almost ashamed to tell you how very little I did around the house on Saturday and Sunday. I started to write out the details of all of the work I didn't do, but it was embarrassing.

I got a phone call Thursday to referee some indoor soccer games over the weekend, but told the assignor that I'm taking the winter off.

Instead, I putzed around. Took Colleen shopping for new running shoes and makeup. I baked brownies. I watched a couple of movies.

And I spent some quality time with my needle.



But about the brownies: Dave brought home this recipe for brownies that the ladies at work said were fabulous. It goes like this:

1 small box of instant chocolate pudding, prepared as directed on box.
1 box chocolate cake mix
2C semisweet chocolate chips.

Add dry cake mix to prepared pudding. Fold in choc chips. Pour into a greased 9X13 pan. Bake at 350 (f) for about 30 minutes or until done.

They were good. To me, they were much more like a very rich chocolate cake than a brownie, but who's to argue about rich chocolate cake? And certainly easy.

Ouch-ouch-ouch.

I ran in a race on New Years Day, and I ran better than usual and felt pretty darn decent afterwards. Mind you, I finished third from last and two women walking beat me, but for cryin' out loud they were walking fast and they meant business. I was just out for a morning jog that happened to occur during a race and that ended with a sweet roll and a complimentary Bloody Mary, and a hideous lime green race T-shirt.

But I'm getting off topic...

So, with delusions of grandeur I got cocky and decided to change my regular route. I added about a half mile, and most of it was up a hill. A big, steep hill, right smack dab in the middle of my run.

What am I, a moron?

I have a new resolution for 2007. Forget running up life's hills. Either walk up a big hill, or run a series of small hills. But don't be an idiot that makes stupid decisions and then limps about for days later, begging for ibuprofen and sympathy. It's not worth it.

So…. here we are at the beginning of another year, and just like in past years, I find myself looking back and looking ahead at the same time.

I never felt the need to evaluate life like this when I was younger. Maybe life seemed much more stable and permanent back then. Life felt like it would never change, but it’s probably more realistic now to realize that the bravado of youth was hiding life’s instabilities from us.

Mind you, I don’t view these changes with sadness. This year my life has seen many changes, and next year I’m facing huge changes. But I’ve seen myself and those around me grow and develop with these changes, and it’s been a terribly beautiful thing. Of course, sometimes it’s painful. I think there is always some beauty to the pain just as there is always some pain involved in the beauty. Like that whole yin/yang thing.

Looking back: My biggest change was in my personal health. To make a long story short, I lost a lot of excess weight in 2006, and I made huge changes to my physical fitness. (Thanks to Weight Watchers, some good friends, and my wonderful family) I feel incredibly blessed that I had support through the whole thing. All I needed to do was ask for it…and sometimes it came without even asking. Believe me…I don’t take that for granted, not even for a second.

Looking ahead: I’m going to work hard to stay healthy and fit, and to find the joy in doing what I can do, without judging myself or others.

There are lots of other things to look back on and to look ahead towards in 2007, but I think I’ll just leave it at that. You all who read my blog know about my other struggles and goals, and they can be put under a few simple headings and in order of importance:

1. Children
2. Husband
3. Other family (parents, siblings, etc)
4. Friends
5. Work
6. Creative pursuits

And so…bring on the New Year! I’m ready for anything!

Oh…Ahem….stitching news? I worked some on Tree of Life last night, but let the rhythm lull me into laziness, so I missed a change in part of a band and had to spend the second half of my evening picking out the stitches I had completed in the first half of the evening. Silk does NOT like to be picked out. That’ll teach me…

Early in December, I had decided that I was only going to work a minimal amount over the holiday week. I bust my butt all through December, and I really need the time away from drug store nonsense by the end of the month.

Well, as usual, the best laid plans.....I've mentioned before that one of the perils of working at home is that it's hard to get away from work. There's always one more little thing to do. And everyone so hates to bother you on your time off, but could you just do this one itsy bitsy little thing?? And a 10 minute job turns into an hour and so on. Sigh. I've learned to take the good with the bad - but I need to use my Caller ID to its fullest advantage.

Anyways, I did find some time for stitching and ta-da! I was able to work all the way across the top of Tree of Life, and now I've turned the corner to work down the right side. So, here is my sampler so far:





It's so very relaxing. And the silk threads are like magic. Awesome.

I've been pondering a year-end post for a while, too. But that will be tomorrow.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas

I'm just popping in to wish all of you a wonderful holiday season. Starting the blessings of Christmas and Hanukkah and the excitement of new beginnings for the New Year - May you enjoy every moment!

I haven't been around much lately. My mother and dad and sister visited for a few days, and there has been the shopping and the cooking and the kids. It's all good though, (for the most part), and I'll be back after the gifts are opened and my tummy is full of ham!

Well, Cheryl asked about my favorite DIY or craft show.

I haven't come across a needlework or quilting or sewing or knitting show that I particularly love. They are informative, but they seem to take themselves so seriously.

So...my favorite DIY or HGTV show has nothing to do with crafting...It's Good Eats, with Alton Brown. It's entertaining, and I have no doubt that it's made me a better cook.

Today is snowy and gray. It’s very December-ish. I can’t wait until this month is over and the days start getting longer. All of this darkness makes me lazy.

After having the kids’ computer in the family room for two years, I finally did the necessary clicking around to let them use the wireless network for the office printer. Procrastinate? Me?

There’s nothing to write about today. I think I’ll go watch TV.

OK, I’ll tell you my current TV favorites:

1. Favorite Comedy: The Office – Could you get any funnier?

2. Favorite Drama: The Closer – I love Deputy Chief Brenda Lee Johnson and her squad. I love The Shield, too, but it’s not on right now.

3. Favorite Reality Show: The Amazing Race. There’s always someone to love and someone to hate.

4. Favorite Fake News: The Daily Show

5. Favorite Daytime TV: Judge Judy

6. Favorite Talk Show: None. Just not my thing.

Now I’ll go watch TV.