Thank you all for your very kind and sympathetic comments.  I really really appreciated each and every one!

My flight out to NH went very smoothly.  No delays whatsoever.  Some of the people on my flight had been stranded overnight, so I felt lucky not to be one of them.  Flying is great when all goes well, otherwise...

Many old friends came to pay their respects on Saturday.  Her old house was many times a gathering place for my husband, his brothers and their many childhood friends.  Till the end of Glennis's life some of those childhood friends were still stopping by to spend time with her.  Amazing.

Their were stories about her picking up kids hitchhiking around town, her infamous Whoopie Pies, the decorated birthday cakes for the boys, and her kind and easy going spirit.  Glennis was not a complex person and lived a simple but rich life.  She and her husband were able to travel to many far away places.  She loved to swim in the lake where they owned a summer place.  I bet it was hard for her being the only girl amongst 4 men, but she held her own.  One of my favorite memories of her was when she was lost in a fit of giggles once when we playing Trivial Pursuit.  She wasn't playing, but she couldn't resist yelling out the answers!  We had a blast that night. 

I'll leave you with a photo of the back of our house taken after we returned.  We didn't just have icicles, we had this crazy mass of ice that formed on the brick from water dripping behind the gutter.  It was huge!  It fell down in one big whoosh, scaring the daylights out of me!  I am sure we need to do something to prevent this from happening again.  And I hear snow and rain are in our forecast once again!

Glennis

I feel like I'm stuck in a revolving door. 

My mother in law died in her sleep on Feb. 9th.  There isn't going to be a funeral or any other kind of service right now, just having friends and family over to her house on Saturday.  She spent her last few days in a beautiful hospice facility.  I'm so glad they were able to move her from the nursing home. 

I am trying to get out there to be with my husband and thus the revolving door!

I am really having trouble getting a flight out of town.  I've changed flights 2 times already and now am going to try to catch a flight early tomorrow morning.  It would have been best if I had camped out at the airport today and waited for an available seat.  The airport in Philadelphia, where I need to change planes, is finally up and running again, but flights are delayed and probably over booked.  This storm had really messed things up. 

My knitting needles and yarn are packed, the cross stitch is staying home this time.  It's much easier to knit than to stitch in poor light and poor conditions. 

Wish me luck!

a little knitting, a little stitching

I am one sorry excuse for a blogger!  That's why I have the "blogging without obligation" gadget LOL.

I've been knitting!  I'm making an baby sweater for one of my managers at work who is due very soon.  I'm pretty sure she will appreciate something handmade since she majored in fashion design in college.  Everytime I knit a sweater I swear I'll never do it again and then proceed to try just one more time.  At least with a baby sweater fit is not so important.  There will be a lot of sewing to do though, something I am not crazy about.  I still need to finish the left front, the sleeves and the neckband.

I also stitched up this Prairie Schooler santa and I'm not sure how I want to finish it yet.  It's stitched on 18 count Floba, a fabric I really like to use for Prairie Schooler designs.  It's got a simple homespun quality about it. 

We've had our fair share of small triumphs and setbacks here in our little household lately.  DS seems to be buckling down (fingers crossed) and working hard at school.  I'm finding that an art major can spend quite a bit on supplies!  DD was accepted at the 5 colleges she applied too but hasn't figured out which one she wants to attend.  4 of the schools are in Ohio and 1 in Indiana.  We'll wait to see what the numbers add up to and make a few visits before she commits.  I am so excited for her...it's almost as if I'm going off to school, not her!  A severe case of senior-itis has set in though and this last semester will be rough for her.

My MIL is now in hospice care and Mark has been with her in New Hampshire for the past 5 days.  We don't expect her to live through the week...it's just a waiting game now.  I may have to hop on a plane and head out there later this week.  Her birthday is in 12 days, her 91st.  Mark and his brother have been by her side for many many hours lately and did the right thing by moving her from a nursing home to the hospice facility.

Hoping we don't get a lot more snow in the next couple of days!   I have been spoiled by a man who loves snow and always does all the shoveling.  I sure do appreciate it.

Haiti

The disaster in Haiti has been much on my mind since it occurred.  A sister of a friend of mine is in Haiti.  I don't know why she is there and my friend has no news of her as yet and I know it is causing her much worry. 

I have been reading and trying to find a good place to donate a little (I emphasize little at this point) and I keep coming back to the organization Partners in Health.  Those of you who may have read Mountains Beyond Mountains are already familiar with the work of Dr. Paul Farmer.  Here is a link to a short op-ed piece for the NY Times by the author, Tracy Kidder: Country Without a Net.

There is just too much sadness in the world.  I hope we can all find just a little bit of joy today. 

Cat in the frying pan

Now that I've captured your attention, let me explain lest you think we are having cat for dinner.  Let me introduce Noodles.  She was Hawaii born and bred and had a need for warmth so she would camp out in this old cast iron pan over the pilot light.  This photo was taken about 25 years ago in the duplex DH and I shared not long after we started dating.  Noodles lived a long life of 20 years.  She was deaf and we actually had to have her ears trimmed away because of ulcers.  Her skin was very sensitive and she loved the sun!

I bought a scanner for the family for Christmas so that we can convert pages and pages of slides that we have and came upon this pic.  We plan to scan lots of old slides from Mark's parents and put them on cd's for everyone.  It make take awhile, but if we scan a little everyday it should be doable. 

I sat down to post last night and ended up spending way too much time fiddling around with the blog.  Tried a 3 column template but some of my gadgets didn't work right so went back to minima.  All that wasted time!  I like my new background though. 

Life in retail is slowing a bit but people are still returning massive amounts of merchandise.  People overbuy, then pick and choose what they want to give as gifts and then return the rest later.  It's always kind of a letdown in a way when we go from crazy busy to the slow times of January and February.  We are all scrambling for hours so that the paychecks aren't too pathetic, though they are even when we have lots of hours LOL.  I finally have weeks with 2 days off in a row and one week with 3 days off!  I have ambitious plans to paint a room and do some other household type stuff.

I was so tired during the holiday madness that I didn't stitch much.  I'm working on Prairie Schooler's 2009 santa now (the one with the skates!).  I'll post pics when it actually looks like something recognizable. But I did manage to finish up an ornie for my wonderful friend Lee.  Here is the pic that I stole from her website since I completely forgot to photograph it before mailing it.  I had a lot of fun stitching this, especially since it was going to Lee.

DH is a nut.  We scrambled to replace our daughter's totaled car so that we wouldn't have car sharing issues and then he decides he will walk the almost 4 miles to work.  Yesterday, in the snow, he rode his bike.  Go figure.  We did find a good little car (a Honda CR-V) for Claire but now she is really timid about driving in all this snow.  There is always a bit of anxiety when choosing a used car.  We came upon this nicely priced CR-V at the Honda place just up the road.  It has many miles on it but they had put lots of money into it to bring it up to snuff and and it is bright and shiny.  Hope that Honda's reputation for long lasting cars proves to be true.

Thank you for visiting!  It really means a lot to me.

The knitted garden

While I was browsing around Joann Fabrics the other day, I came upon this book called Jan Messent's Knitted Gardens. I was charmed and even went as far as suggesting it to my family as a possible Christmas gift for moi.

This is the kind of thing that totally captures my attention but unfortunately I doubt I have the attention span or patience to actually do any of this, but a girl can daydream, can't she?

Just look at those monks tending their cabbages! Aren't they adorable?

You can find more pictures from the book here. Ms. Messent also has books on a knitted farmyard and enchanted castle. So sweet.

Black ice, books and a good afternoon

Had a fine afternoon last week when Lee dropped by before picking up her daughter at college. We went for lunch at a local downtown restaurant and then poked around the Gallery in the Vault next door. Neither of us bought anything but I was a tiny bit tempted. There are shops like this in our downtown but I rarely go in them just because I know I will never buy anything. I don't yearn much for stuff anymore. I suppose if I had the money I would buy a different house and decorate it to my heart's content, but the focus now is on college funding (new parents out there...think wisely and save) and retirement. These kinds of places are great for buying gifts though.

Lee brought us some yummy yummy buckeyes, knowing that my husband is a peanut butter freak. We have all indulged. We keep slicing off little bits so that it doesn't feel like we are pigs. Lee...there are still 2 left! Thank you for the treat!

My poor daughter had a car accident on Sunday. She has only had her car (her first car, paid for by herself) for 1 1/2 months. She was driving home from spending the night at her friend's house and hit a patch of black ice and lost control and slid into a pole. The airbag went off so I guess the impact was pretty hard. She's OK but the car is totaled and she is very sad. It was hard for her to stop crying that day and every time she thinks about it she gets upset. I am thankful that she wasn't hurt and that she thinks she was only going maybe 25 miles an hour.

We have already heard from our insurance company and thank goodness I had gotten the collision insurance and it turns she is getting back more money than she paid for the car. Now we just have to decide if another car will be a possibility. Just a few more gray hairs for dear old mom and dad.

I love the work of the writer Abigail Thomas. I found this cute story by her at the Oprah website. I picked up her book A Three Dog Life last summer on the discount table at Borders and was so glad I did. Sometimes you just find someone that puts your own thoughts into words and it feels so good to know there is someone else out there that thinks and feels like you do. Here is her website.

Taking a breath

Thanksgiving has come and gone and that means that Black Friday has come and gone. The phrase Black Friday sounds so ominous to me, like it should be a day of mourning or something. I did mourn when I had to get out of bed at 12:45am in order to be at work by 2am. That means I got maybe 1 1/2 hours of sleep, shorter than a good nap. I was home by 11am and justifiably wiped out so I slept a good part of the day. I worked 8 days in a row and have a brief respite today with way too many things to do! I don't want to complain about having the hours, but man, I feel burned out.

I am trying hard to at least be helpful and pleasant dealing with customers, but suddenly there are many many needy shoppers out there, asking us to do what seems impossible at times. And the phone calls, OMG. I have to answer the phone while waiting on customers, but first I have to find the phone beneath the piles of returned merchandise. I am sure I sound impatient and rude when I ask to put someone on hold while they are in the middle of a long winded explanation about how they bought something but forgot to get the gift receipts and could they now get the gift receipts? Yikes!

I am stitching a little and still so excited and inspired about it. This is my recent finish which I was furiously working on at Camp Gottastitch. Ran out of 3 colors of thread and had to wait for 1 color that I had forgotten to buy in Berlin at the little cross stitch shop there. Hoping I can get this "finished finished" and sent to my mother for Christmas.

Birds of a Feather Bitter Flower
32 count BOAF barn owl linen
WDW and DMC

Speaking of my mother, she sent me a touching birthday gift last month. This is a letter sent to her by her mother after I was born. I was so touched by receiving this letter. I had no idea mom had saved all of her letters. My father dragged my mom around from state to state when I was young. I was born in Texas and my grandparents lived in Minnesota where my parents were born and raised. I wish we had stayed in Minnesota or in Iowa, which I really liked. There really is something to be said for having roots and family nearby.

Last but not least by any means, here is a snap of this cute Prairie Schooler ornie that was given to me by Lake Stitcher Lee. Thank you ever so much Lee! You are the best!!!

Lee summed up camp pretty well, but I have a few things to add.

1. Do not forget camera.
2. Do not pack every single blessed piece of stitching, fabric and floss.
3. Do not eat for a week before going.
4. Do not worry about what you will stitch when there because they will give you plenty of kits to stitch.
5. Do not worry about not fitting in, because it is so easy to fit in.
6. Do not get all squinty eyed when being photographed because it looks silly.
7. Do not worry about passing Amish buggies on the road. Just take your time and pass with care.
8. DO NOT FORGET CAMERA (did I say that already?)
9. Do not worry about where you will sleep because you will have your own double bed and it is better than a hotel.
10. Let me see, can I think of anything else to not worry about or to not forget? Don't think so!

It's time to stitch!

Camp Gottastitch tomorrow! Yippee! I so need this after a busy week at work and a long day at the election polls. No time for chatting! Gotta pack for 3 days of blissful stitching. Sigh...

Trees trees and more trees

I promise I won't gripe and complain this time! I actually have begun to like yoga a little. I just need to get more bendy. I was thinking Pilates would take care of the jiggly belly but it's going to take a heck of a lot of Pilates to do that! I was just kind of annoyed that they changed the class format without telling us.

We had some of our trees trimmed this week to hopefully fend off any major disasters this winter. We have had our fair share of close calls this year. For a few hours of work it cost $1075! And that was a low estimate! Here's the truck with the cherry picker right outside our sunroom.

This is one of the most beautiful trees on our property soon to be in its full fall glory. It's a ginkgo and beautiful as it is, it does shed some pretty stinky fruit now and again.

Stitching progress has been slow. I do wish I could stitch in the car because we have spent many hours on the road checking out colleges for DD. It was worth it though because it has opened her eyes to the endless possibilities and at the same time has helped her narrow down her choices.

Ouch!

A few weeks ago I signed up for a Pilates class at the place where I exercise. Somewhere along the way it got changed to something called Pilates "Fusion". Pilates on Tuesdays, yoga on Thursdays. I did not want yoga...I signed up for Pilates. Now there is a very tender spot in my back from all the weird twists and turns from the yoga class. You want me to do what???

The instructor was telling us what to do as we did it, without the benefit of watching her first. Do you know how hard it is to watch someone while trying to maintain the downward facing dog pose? When it came to the yoga style push up I pretty much said no, I can't do it. I eventually tried and did manage to get a little way down. I don't know if I'm going back because I can't afford to hurt my back right now. I think I will take a Pilates class somewhere else.

I've been trying to keep consistent with my stitching, but there were a few days this week that I didn't pick up a needle. That's OK, I'm making progress on Bitter Flower and looking forward to the next project and maybe an ornie or two.

I gave up one of my responsibilities at work this week. I made a mistake (not a big one in my eyes but it made a few people unhappy) and the criticism that followed put me in a funk. I don't like to be a quitter, but my goal right now in life is to focus on family and home and finding peace in life...I don't need the stress. Retail is very stressful right now. They have us doing multiple tasks at one time and at the same time maintaining that ever cheerful and helpful demeanor. I can do that most of the time but when I have to work 6-7 hours without getting a break, that kind of puts me over the edge.

I have always felt very insecure in my working life. Even being well educated doesn't always prepare one for the real world environment. I never have felt worthy enough to go back to a job in science and therefore have taken the jobs that are the easiest to come by. Low pay and not much satisfaction.

Thank God for my dear husband, who has stood by me through all my ups and downs and has been in the same job for 30 years. I know he itches to retire but is sticking with it until our kids are out of college (unless we win the lottery!). He never complains, even when it's 90 degrees outside and he is working 7 days a week. A good man.

Thanks for stopping by!

Will we ever see the sun again???

It's been nothing but rainy and or cloudy for days here. I love fall but please, this is a bit too much. Tomorrow there may be sunshine, but then the forecast is rain or cloudy. We need to get the outside painting done!

Painting aside, the weather is great for getting cozy with the cats and stitching, but not for picture taking. I've been working on BOAF Bitter Flower. The WDW overdyed flosses have been a pain this go round, especially the brown and green. They don't even have any variation in the color. I could have used DMC. Now I see that I'm running out of floss and need to find somewhere to pick it up. There is a sale at a store in Canton but I don't see how I'll have the time to get over there.

Speaking of sales, and as you know, I love a good sale, but when I began to price things at Traditional Stitches, I found that I wouldn't really be saving much, if any. I really had the itch to buy stuff! Since I work in retail, one thing I know for sure is that the lowest prices of the season are not necessarily the lowest prices of the season (LPS) and that there is always another sale right around the corner. I have plenty of stash to choose from anyway. There are a few things from market that have caught my eye, but there are tons of older charts that I want to stitch also.

I realized this morning that there is a needlework showcase in Akron this weekend, combined with a craft show. I was quite impressed by the needlework the last time I attended this show. It's held at Stan Hywet Hall, a lovely house on beautiful grounds. We are supposed to go on a college visit this weekend, but we have been considering not going, so I may have a free day.

Are there any stitchers in the Akron area going to this show on Saturday? Drop me a line!

College visits: DD is a senior and we put off the college visits until this fall. Now we are tightly scheduled with visits. It's fun, but stressful planning it all. DD is interested in nutrition, food science and dietetics. If there are any readers out there involved in these fields, any feedback on careers, education, etc. would be helpful.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stash enhancement possibilities, pumpkins and bridges

I just love a good sale. See what's happening at Traditional Stitches. Can I resist? I have through Thursday to find out!

Fair week is over. DH and I only went for a couple of hours one lovely evening. Just enough time to check out the needlework, vegies and artwork. Dinner was french fries with lots of vinegar and salt. I resisted everything else, but I really really wanted some cotton candy!

DD had some of her drawings from last year exhibited. Her Brooklyn Bridge drawing is right under the word Wooster. Her art teacher selected it for a year long exhibition at the Board of Education building which was so very nice of her.

That's a big pumpkin Charlie Brown!

The family that grew this pumpkin is well known in this area for their prize winning pumpkins. This is small in comparison to others they have grown.

Nobody loves me...

Finished this cute stitch the other day. You know how when you are nearing the end of a project and you suddenly find a stitch that you missed here...or there...or you find some other kind of mistake? I know that there are a few little boo-boos but I'm not going back to change them. I am just fine with them.

This was part of Annemarie's "Lovelorn Sisterhood" and I have sent the chart on to Jan in Maryland. Have fun Jan! I'm not crazy about exchanges or round robins, but I think I could get hooked on these traveling charts.

A week and half ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Lakestitcher Lee. She and her DH were in town to see their daughter who is attending college in our town. Hi Lee! Hope we get to meet up again soon, maybe before we go to Camp Gottastitch in Charm Ohio. I won't mind if the weather is bad, but it will only be early November, so maybe we'll have a nice fall weekend. I was thinking that a beachy stitch weekend (or more) would be nice someday.

Someday I want to fulfill my dream of a real beach vacation, warm and sandy and relaxing with lots of good restaurants and coffee shops nearby. This has never come to pass in our family. We have always ended up in Maine at my husband Mark's family place on a lake. Not that I don't like it or appreciate it, I'm just needing something else. Like sun. I wish I had a digital photo to share. The camp is totally surrounded by trees and it would be sacrilege to cut some down. We get a few hours of good sun in the morning and by 1 or 2:00 we are pretty much without direct sun. Brrr...

Thanks for stopping by!

Too much milk

This is so sad. A large dairy farm in our county is shutting down production by killing their cows. Our country is over importing milk apparently. What a rough business to be in.

http://www.the-daily-record.com/news/article/4652849

Framing frustrations

Do you know that when you hit enter in blogger, let's say after entering the post title, your post is published? I think I just did that.

I made it a goal of mine last year when I began to stitch again after a long hiatus, that I would actually "finish finish" my stitching. I think that was one reason I quit stitching. Because nothing ever made it to walls or the tree or where ever. I have been successful in getting a few ornaments sewn up and stuffed and I am quite happy with those, even though my progress has been limited and very slow. I finally decided that I would try to frame a few pieces and scrounged around for some pre-made frames. A few of those might work. I ordered 2 frames from pictureframes.com, refreshed my memory on framing needlework and set out to buy acid free foam core board. Can I find a single sheet of it in our town? Of course not. I think I will have to call a local framer and beg for one.

I had gone to Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago planning to order frames. The guy gave me a song and dance about how you couldn't order just the frame, they want to do the entire thing and said something about adhesive and other scary things. I walked away. I think I will try Michael's at some later point if I can find the time to drive out of town. I may have to go there anyway to get the foam board.

Anyone have any thoughts on the use of regular old foam board? Am I committing a sin if I use it?

Family and more family

We've just heard recently that my mother in law is in the beginning stages of renal failure. She apparently is dehydrated but has little interest in drinking more water. MIL is 90 years old. My poor husband has been working 7 days a week for the past few weeks and won't catch a break for another 2 weeks or so, but he is hoping to get back home (it's 750 miles away) asap. He is so lucky that his brother is nearby to keep the ball rolling on doctor appointments and everything else. MIL still has her house but has lived in a senior residential home for years.

It could prove to be a rough fall. Our calendar is packed with college visits for DD and crazy work and school schedules. DD is planning to work every day after school at the after school program at our ice arena. This will be her 3rd year doing this. I just hope she doesn't get burned out with her studies and pressure to get into college. I will be watching her back every second. Our son will be entering his 3rd year of college and will be concentrating on art. I desperately hope (does that make sense?) that he has a good year.

I was quite concerned about my own mom after seeing her last month. I don't get out to NJ very often anymore for various reasons, so when I do see her, I always see a big change. She is tiny and frail and barely eats. It's almost as if she is not eating on purpose. Someone talked her into getting very expensive dental implants and it just hasn't worked out for her. Therefore, no teeth. She barely goes out anymore but reads, reads and reads some more! No one seems to go to the library for her...I just can't figure that out. My sister is not a reader and I don't think she has a clue as to what to choose. I am hoping that mom will use the book delivery service the library has. She just needs to follow up on it and not just talk about it.

Thanks for listening everyone. I just felt like writing a bit today about what is going on in our family.

Why no websites?

Ever since the start of internet bulletin boards and newsgroups, I've thought that the internet and needlework were a perfect combination. What frustrates the heck out of me is the lack of internet presence by some needlework shops. There are 4 shops within a 45 minute radius from my house, and 2 of them have no website or blog and 1 of them has some decent information (but no email newsletter) and has a "blog" that has no feed so you can't subscribe. The other one doesn't even list the hours. It's like they started to design a website and then gave up.

5 years ago I was seriously thinking of opening a LNS in our town. 2 yarn shops, lots of quilting fabric places, but no needlework. When I found out how much it was going to cost me to open and maintain, I was scared away. The internet was going to be an important tool in this business, with access to Hoffman Distributing and other distributors readily available to customers. My idea was that even if I wouldn't be able to carry each and every fiber, fabric and chart, it would be easy to locate and order, at least the majority of merchandise.

If there are any shop owners out there that might happen upon this post, could you clue me in as to why you wouldn't want to have a website and newsletter? I just can't figure it out...

Just a test

I noticed that the fonts were all different sizes on my blog after my last post. I have deleted my old template for the time being. Just wanted to see how this font shows up. Don't know what I did! I know most people read blogs in their reader, but it is still fun to see how creative people can be with their blog layouts. Also, a link doesn't work though I'm sure I did it right! Frustration.