June...over much too soon

The lovely grad

 

A party for the girls

Yum...mini-cupcakes in school colors

My new hoodie! Yea Miami University (Ohio...not Florida!)

DH on his grueling 8 1/2 hour 100km mountain bike race...he finished!

Some garden renovation...replacing old lavenders with new and planting bare root roses

My helpers in the garden (wish I could teach them to weed)

I am plugging away on my BOAF Friendship Sampler and am aiming to finish this weekend (I hope, I hope).  I will be sure to post as soon as I finish!  Eager for a new start but I won't let myself 'til this one is done. 

My dear mother, who is dealing with severe osteoporosis, was just diagnosed with AMD, age related macular degeneration.  For a avid reader, this is not good news.  It makes me so sad.  I canceled her subscription to the New York Times, which occupied a nice part of her day since there is so much to read.  No doubt about it, getting old sucks! 

SBQ for June

I haven't answered an SBQ yet because I was too preoccupied with the goings on around here but I have pondered June's question.

Tell us about something that you have stitched or plan to stitch for any father in your life.  Maybe it’s for your father, your father-in-law, your children’s father, your grandfather, your godfather, or someone who was or still is an important father-figure in your life.  Why did you choose this particular piece of stitching?   Tell us the story behind it. 
And because a simple one part question is never adequate, let’s go some more:
Often times we identify our love of needlework and our skills with our mothers or grandmothers or other women.  It’s understandable because often they were are first teachers or role models.  Now let’s think about our stitching life as it relates to our dads.  Is there anything about our approach to stitching that we can recognize as traits of our fathers?  For instance, does your dad (or any other important man in your life) have an approach to one of his interests that you can observe and think, “Hey….if I substitute the word “needlework” for “fly fishing”, we’d be pretty darn similar!”  So tell us about it.

I have never stitched anything for my dad (who has been deceased for about 20 years now) but I did knit him a sweater.  Long sleeves, blue sport weight yarn, with cables.  I wonder where that sweater is now?  I'll have to ask my mom.  He probably never wore the thing which is the way of so many garments that I knitted.

When I first started cross stitching he did see some of my charts and was quite interested in it.  He thought it was pretty cool that someone could make a business out of designing and printing the charts.

What I find really exciting is that his father did needlework and in my mom's living room hangs a self designed and somewhat stylized needlework picture of a house and trees.  I really need to get a picture of it the next time I am there.   I am hoping that someday it will be hanging in my house.

I've never made anything for my husband.  I kind of think he wouldn't appreciate it.  I don't say that in a mean or angry way, that's just the way he is.  If it's not a bike or skis it's not going to wow him.  I don't know if substituting the word needlework for mountain biking works.  We both have a passion for our hobbies but one is so sedentary and one is so active! 
 

Hello world!

What has this absent blogger been doing these days?  Focusing on DD Claire and her end of the year graduating senior activities, gardening and painting, with a little stitching in between.

It doesn't take too long to post so why the delay?  Because I am a born procrastinator!!!  Try as I may, I never quite seem to get beyond that.  At least the most important things get done but procrastinating can be a real brain drain. If you are like me, you'll know exactly what I mean.

Melissa, I was hoping the friendship sampler would be done by the end of April, but I didn't make it, and when May came upon us, there were fewer nights that I took up the needle.  It may be years before you get this traveling chart back!

Lovely daughter Claire and her date David ready for prom

Newly painted green walls in the sun room

The walls change color constantly in this room depending on the time of day and the angle you view the wall.  Maybe not quite how I imagined it, but I still like it.  I've always wanted sage green walls somewhere in the house.

Lastly, the collection of party supplies for Sunday's grad party for Claire and her friend Shannon.  It's forecast to be a warm day, no rain thankfully.  I love a good party but hate to give them, so this is nerve wracking for me.  It's an open house for 100-200 kids (it's all those Facebook invites, so you never really know how many will show up).  Here's hoping that we will have enough food!!!

You know something?  Blogging actually does take a lot of time!  By the time I uploaded and edited photos, restarted my computer because Photoshop crashed, uploaded the photos to Blogger and added text, I think 90 minutes have passed.  Yikes!!!  Gotta go!

Framing finishes and a little griping

Ok, just need to get something off my chest first.  Bear with me.  A friend of mine had been trying to reach me for a couple of days but didn't leave a message on my phone.  When I did get back to her, she only had a question about a restaurant here in town.  "Do you know if they are open and what their hours are?"  I had no idea since we haven't been there for ages so I suggested she call them or look on the web.  So logically I asked her why she needed to know and she said that she and her "girlfriends" go out to lunch once in awhile and were thinking of trying that place.  ?????  What's that all about?  Plan a lunch with your friends and then ask your other "friend" about the restaurant they want to go to???  Nothing like feeling like THE HELP.  You know, I almost called her back (I was so mad) to express my feelings but I just don't feel like it's worth it.  This is not the first time this has happened and it probably won't be the last.  I don't think she'll get it anyway.  Enough said.  Not that it makes me feel any better...

Here's what is making me feel better these days.

Bitter Flower, Birds of a Feather

Look at this!  Finally had some framing done!  This was the big test, to try out Michael's.  Overall I am happy.  I like the frame and the work seems to be good.  With 60% off, the price on this came to about $72.00.  When I picked up my pieces, I realized they had left out the spacers (due to a miscommunication when I placed the order) but the clerk took them apart and put them in while I did my other errands.

Frame detail

I am not quite as happy with my other piece but I take most of the blame for this.  I really didn't know what kind of frame I wanted and ended up with this.  I don't think it was the best choice.  Maybe someday I will reframe it and use this frame for something else.  I think there needs to be more linen showing around the edges and it's also a little crooked.  This one cost about $67. 

Spring Has Come, Prairie Schooler

Michael's doesn't have a huge selection of frames but I will probably use them again.  I will just take more care next time to choose the right frame and be sure of the size. I still plan on doing some of my own framing soon and I really should check out some of the small framing shops in our town.

I've been stitching away but no photos today.  Got a list a mile long and blogging was not on the list!

Another accomplishment!

Dear daughter made her final decision on her choice of college the other day!  I think it was actually a no brainer.  When we revisited last week, we were able to have a very helpful meeting with a faculty member, had lunch in a cafeteria and learned more about the students and the vision of the university.  

Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 

picture perfect campus

home of the Miami RedHawks and the No. 1 overall seed and top-ranked ice hockey team (but they lost to Boston College in the Frozen Four playoffs...boo)

I'm relieved that this is done.  Even though we started late with the college search, it still seemed like it took forever to find the "right" school.  Hopefully this school will be a good fit!

I think I am more excited than she is...

My newest favorite tv show

I love this show!

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution




Stitching and framing pics coming soon!

A little friendship progress

Thank you all for your kind comments on my embarrassing and a little humiliating experience with the pear.  In hindsight I wish I had been more patient and not so hasty in going to the ER.  I know I will have to pay for some of it out of pocket and I will not like doing that.  If that ever happens again, I will do a headstand or something before I run off to the hospital! 

I finally got going on the BOAF friendship sampler after having doubts about my fabric and threads.  I had started it with DMC and broke down and decided to order the rest of the overdyes that I needed.  There are a lot of color changes in this one so it will take a little longer.  I wish I was a faster stitcher...

The next couple of months will be busy with graduation preparations, gardening and stitching.  DD will be making her college choice shortly.  At present, it is down to the University of Dayton and Miami University, both in southwest Ohio (anyone out there have experience with these schools?)  This is an exciting but nerve wracking time for her.  Lots of school work and many hours working at the ice rink because of all the hockey tournaments going on now.  She is the type of person who thinks she is never doing enough and feels guilty about it.  I need some of her energy!

The sun is shining and I feel good today!  Thanks for stopping by.

Just a little bit of pear

The weirdest thing happened yesterday while I was at work.  Overall it had not been a great day.  DD left her car lights on and needed a jump and she had a not so great experience with our new optician...how can use possibly pick out new frames when your eyes are dilated and somewhat crossed???

I was taking my 15 minute break at work and settled down with my nice big red D'Anjou pear.  I cut off a piece and took a bite and before I knew it, it slid right down my throat!  I knew right away, crap, that damn thing is stuck in my throat!  At first I thought I could just swallow and get it down and tried to drink some water.  The water just flowed back out!

Well, I admit I started to panic.  Though I could breath OK and could talk, I didn't know quite what was happening and asked for help.  My coworker wanted to slap me on my back but I told her to do the Heimlich.  I guess the Heimlich doesn't help when something is stuck in your throat and not your airway but I wasn't sure where the pear was stuck.  Then the store manager tried it to no avail.  After trying to cough it up and trying to make myself throw up (ick, I know, it's disgusting) it still wouldn't come out. 

I told him to go ahead and call the EMT's because I didn't think I could handle going home myself and there was no way I was going to be able to work.  I couldn't even swallow saliva!  3 nice guys showed up and encouraged me to go with them to the ER just in case.  So we all walk out of the store (I'm sure it's the talk of the day today) and off we go to the hospital. 

I got settled in at the ER and after taking my vitals, I reclined on the bed and felt that darn piece of pear gently make it's way down my esophagus!  I was relieved, but I couldn't help but feel embarrassed because of all the hoopla.  I did have to wait for the registration lady and then the doc so I could be discharged and they let me go. 

Had to walk home because my car was at work.  We only live maybe 5 blocks away so it was a pleasant walk home in this nice spring like weather but I did find out how little the sidewalks were cleared of snow. 

Today my throat is a little tender and it still feels like something is there, most likely because there may be a little swelling.  One thing I can tell you is that if you are choking, make sure that the people you are with are aware of what is going on and not making fun or joking about it.  It can happen so fast, and if something really cuts off the airway, you need to take immediate action. 

DD tells me that one of her eyes is still dilated today.  She has lazy eye and after the dilation drops, her eyes went a little nutty.  She was seeing double for quite awhile.  She has used contacts since she was 12 (she's 18 now) and hasn't had a pair of glasses for years but she really should have a pair.  The optician assistant told us she can get lenses that aren't coke bottle thick if she chooses the right frame.  I'm not so sure I like the new optician but our previous doctor doesn't accept the vision insurance that we added on this year.  I can't figure that out, because he accepts the state insurance plan (same insurance company) but not the federal plan.  All this insurance stuff is so baffling.

Hope to get some stitching in today and no pears for me thank you!

A knitting finish, a new sampler and my mom

Let me see, let me see...  How could I possibly choose which show to watch?  For those of you that love trash TV for the absolute mindless stupid but very entertaining drivel, the choices on Thursday evening were...

American Idol
Real Housewives of Orange County
Real Housewives of New York City
Project Runway
The Marriage Ref

After talking with my complicated 21 year old DS on the phone last night, I needed as much mindless drivel as I could get.

I missed Idol but watched Marriage Ref and it was fun.  The other shows can wait because they are rerun many times during the week.  Marriage Ref was cute.  Little slices of married life.  Can't understand the woman who thought it was OK to floss her teeth while in bed with her hubby.  Gross!

I finished this and gifted it to a co-worker.  I told her to please not examine it too closely.  Stitching the pieces together can make or break a knitted garment.  I don't think it was too bad, but I wouldn't win any prizes for it at the county fair.

 

I don't need to spend any time deciding what to work on next because I am going to start stitching this cute sampler.  

 

The chart came by way of Teresa and organized by Melissa.  There are 22 stitchers scheduled to stitch this one.  I really like these traveling charts.  Hope that border doesn't make me crazy!  

 

I have just one more thing to blog about.  My mom, who is 86 years old and has osteoporosis, broke 2 ribs last week and doesn't know how she did it.  This is how brittle her bones are now.  Scary.  Her own mother was crippled by it and spent her later years in a wheelchair or in bed.  I know this prospect frightens my mother.  I myself am very aware of the disease and have been having bone scans on a regular basis.  Right now I am just taking lots of vitamins and calcium and trying to exercise regularly (I am bad about this).  I was on Fosamax for a while but quit taking it because I am concerned about the side effects.  I need to be vigilant about my health when it comes to this and am going to be looking for a good doc to help me with this.  

Mom continues to live at home with my sister, but I don't know how much longer this will work since my sister works many hours.  I fear more broken bones.  It will be a difficult future, I am sure.

Thanks for stopping by!  If you have any osteoporosis stories, I sure would love to hear them.

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.