Life is Good~~~~

Life is good today and this is why~~~~~~~~~

my son is safe in this country taking a break from war

my daughter has a boyfriend..........I'm so happy for her!!!!

my husband is happy with his new workshop and made alot of progress today with building workbenches and sorting his guy stuff.

my dogs are happy little fellers napping away.

I had a relaxing day finally getting that pedicure I've been wanting for a while. AHHH!!! nothing is better than a foot and leg massage and pretty toes and fingernails. A nice hair trim completed my pampering.....LOL

Quilt store shopping for fragments of Christmas ornie backings for those new Just Crossstitch ornaments~~~ OH, those colors are to die for in the quilt shop!

eating lunch at Taco Bell in the car looking at the mountains

perusing a primitive store called Bessie Mae's Cottage and inhaling all the Fall soy candles! Ye old Homestead was my favorite.

Passing the vegetable stand and admiring all the pumpkins coming in !!!!!

Walking in the woods by the house and picking up a basketful of acorns. They are so pretty!

Fixing to eat something with my hunny for dinner.

My other 9/11 Heroes............

Ok, I had to lighten up my blog a little.

I have to give credit where credit is due. This is Ren.....when he was about 5 years old. Makes me laugh. Wasn't he a babe magnet???? He thought so back in the day.........his favorite spot to sit when he saw me start cooking supper was the refrigerator so that he could shiver and make his eyes water for pity......AND he usually got something for a treat too........not spoiled at all. He shook so hard for attention, he looked like a hummingbird!

Such a random thought tonight.........but doggie lovers will appreciate it. Ren has watched me stitch many things. He went through trying times of my kids at 3yrs and 5 yrs, dropping him on the floor, playing with him like he was a playmate then. He growled a little.....ok, maybe alot with Brandon. For some reason he was very jealous of Brandon.
He went through the day of 9/11 and the year of 2001-2002 when I was left so BG could serve his Reserve time for a year.


My other hero........when he is serious

and the fun side here. I know it looks like he is in jail, but he really is on a transport bus on a vacation here.

Bodyguard and I had to really laugh at one of the posts this week from Vonna as she thought I was dancing with Dr. Phil. Funny, because alot of people say that. LOL

Hilarious. I think he is a cross between Bruce Willis and Garth Brooks.

He has been in law enforcement for nearly 30 years so he's seen a bit of everything from Southside Chicago to the ghetto of South Georgia. He also had a bit of change in his life with 9/11/01. At 44 he decided to get married and after we did, 5 days later after the wedding, he got activated again in the Reserves for 1 year so we were apart. He was due to retire until 9/11/01 happened and then he and alot of others served their time in contributing to counter terroirism.

Lives changed but sometimes, in looking back, the challenges strengthened us to where we are today.

Hope you are starting your weekend with some heroes in your life!

A Day to Remember 9/11/01

I don't know about you, but I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I first learned what happened on 9/11/01. It's like a moment in time that froze and even though we weren't there at Ground Zero, all of America shuddered at the thought of those frightening images.

BodyGuard and I were engaged to be married only 2 months after this occurred and it was before we moved up to the mountains. I was going into work late that morning at a clinic out of town. I worked for public health at that time.

He dropped by my house to say good morning and while I was rushing about to get ready to leave, he turned on the TV and couldn't believe what they were saying about the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. He came to me and told me and at first I couldn't believe it! Of course, I was in my usual spiral on the way out the door looking for shoes, gathering paperwork, finding keys and he was always talking about disasters and crimes and emergencies and he stopped me and said, "For real, the World Trade Center just got hit". Then I stopped and looked at the TV screen and remember watching the towers fall and the replays were horrible. We thought initially that it was an accidental plane incident. Then, the awful news that it was intentional by terrorists.
We were shocked. Our clinic was canceled. Work was cancelled. I was frightened.
So, we sat and glued to the TV all day, not believing what we saw.

This event changed many people's lives, even if not at Ground Zero. The ripple effects in hindsight were great challenges.

The nation was in chaos and terrorism had a very different meaning. I think 9/11 touched everyone in some way.
.......... the volunteers, firefighters, law enforcement and community and the teamwork.

Since this time, there have been commentaries on 9/11 on TV that were quite interesting and the witnesses, the testimonies of the families, those last phone calls, were bone-chilling to hear.

In our community, each year on 9/11, a restaurant or two will sponsor lunch for the police officers and firefighters, paramedics. I appreciate all that they do to make our world a safer place.

Do you remember what you were doing at the moment you found out 9/11 happened?

Remember who you were with?

It's just one of those days I'll never forget.

A Much Better Day Today

Thank goodness today was my off day at work so I could get a breather after yesterday's episode.

It would have been my inclination to just pull the covers over my head this morning and stay in bed but no, I pushed it, got up, had my coffee and went in to stitch with Terri at my LNS in Hawaisee. The drive there is nice anyways. The mountain views are more intense and I could detect the earliest Fall colors, just a subliminal change, but it's coming I can see.

I took the Blue House Sampler to get one more green skein of floss as the grass has taken up almost 1 already. We had a good time today and I got to mosey around the shop and look at all the neat stuff she has........again.......LOL. I took my Scarlett pattern to show her and ended up deciding on a count fabric to best stitch. My concern with Scarlett is that her dark hair on a ivory background would be not covered well enough. I didn't want to gray Scarlett's hair (although Rhett probably did that for her) LOL so I sampled a few counts over 1, and over 2, and even larger counts over 3. The best one was 22 count which I am going to stitch 2 over 1.......I think that's what we finally came to the conclusion.......Fabric was 20% off today so I went ahead and got Scarlett started.

Another lovely feature that I think is neat is that she serged my material. Love it! She used pink thread, my favorite color.

I picked up a pair of orange scissors and a small, tiny box to make a pumpkin keyfob.

Also got a Xtra large zipper bag to keep larger projects in and the new Christmas ornament issue. Eye candy!

We then went to eat at a great restaurant locally and it was so, so good!!! I had fried chicken wings, turnip greens, carrots, black-eyed peas, fried veggie sticks and a good salad. I didn't have room for dessert!

I brought my goodies home and watched TV a little. Being the nightowl that I am.....I'm so trying to change that...........I'm ending my day on a better note than yesterday.

Friends and stitching are the best cure for anything.

I hope you had a good Thursday today too.

What a day yesterday!

This is just what yesterday looked like for me. Black. Unfortunately, there are people out there in the world, alot we know and deal with everyday who are not very American and that's putting it lightly. They prey on others feelings because they are in a high position, almost like they are God, and nothing will happen to them. Humility and humbleness has never entered their life unfortunately.

Because this is a public domain I will not give names or specifics, most wouldn't know anyway, but I was so upset by some intentional hurtful remarks made from someone at my work that I had a complete meltdown for the entire afternoon and went to bed early. I was not the only one that thought it was horrible, there were 5 witnesses.


I am amazed (I really shouldn't be ) that there are people left in this world who try to hurt others and laugh at the Afghanistan war, make the jokes personal too to hurt. Laugh, my friends, laugh. Can you believe that? It is so remote from anything funny that it's unreal to me. It's not funny to me that my kid is in it either. And for God's sake, don't come up to me while I'm in the professional mode trying to help patients and ask me in a laughing tone how many people my son has killed! I handled it quite well at the moment but then closed the door to a room and had a complete embarrassing meltdown. I think my heart stopped beating so hard and I got my breath about an hour later. I had to finish my day and thank goodness and the mercy of God, that I had coworkers that picked up for me during that time. They were so understanding.

I can't say anymore than this but I have never had anyone try to humiliate me AND their country in a workplace before in my whole life. It showed arrogance, stupidity, callousness, and alot of other words I can think of. I'm proud of my son. He is protecting our country.


The readers of this blog, my stitching friends and all, you have been so supportive and kind that I reluctantly wrote about this today. But, my friends, there are people out there that have no respect for others, their feelings, their country. It's sad.

Time is Precious

Brandon got 2 weeks of leave from Afghanistan. Congrats, Brandon!!!! Welcome back, son. We are proud of you!!!!!!!!

Hope you are having loads of fun at the beach right now!!!!! We miss you! We are praying for you every day. Have as much fun as you can, while you can..........time is precious.

Love, Mama

Busy as a Bead

Here's my today progress on the Blue House Sampler by the Sampler Girl.
I'm getting there. I did most of this at lunch and then last night---corrected---this morning at 2am when I couldn't sleep. I'm trying to get back on my regular schedule. If I'm asleep at least by midnight, that would give me 6 hours. Whew! I did enjoy the days of sleeping till 10am.

Anyways, I plan to go now and watch Anderson Cooper on CNN at 10pm live from Afghanistan for an hour. I really get stitchy when I think about that so I should make some progress from here! Oh, and Nancy Grace at 8p, I need to hurry.



I'm embarrassed about this but I really have to show you my She-Beads. Now, I've never heard of She-Beads before until our trip this past summer to Pigeon Forge TN. We stopped by this quaint shop and they had some on marked down 40 % off and my husband loved them and got these for me. I love them! I wear them with anything. (no , I wasn't a hippie but I did hoola hoop...LOL)
Anyway, full price these are a little........costly. But, but a big but..........he insisted so I just caved and said Ok, if you must........:)
I wore them today. I thought the artsy, craftsy souls out there would like them. They have a website. Just go to She Beads .com. I didn't realize they also have He-beads at the site....I digress. My man wouldn't get them...LOL You can check it out. They are clay beads, individually made in a studio in Chicago and each bead is unique. They are spaced by Swavartzke (how do you spell that) crystals or silver beads.
You have to check them out.


I'm happy today. I'm back at work, in a routine, which is somewhat comforting. It's nice to make a difference in people's lives. Although, I did get shot some sign language from another commuter with road rage today at 5:30pm. Bless his heart! I just drove right on past him! LOL

Well, let me get back to stitching while I wait on Anderson Cooper on CNN at 10pm. Please watch it this week. Every night on CNN he will be live in Afghanistan, the forgotten war. Ironically, more than 60% of Americans think we need to get out of the country, and I don't think the Obaminator is going to get us out. So, go check it out, what's happening with our troops at 10pm Eastern Standard Time.

Funny note I received

I don't know if I'm the only one that receives these wonderful emails which are spam obviously but I mean, I would be a mulibillion dollar billionare if these were true. Oh how I wish they would stop them. Do you know that identity theft is getting crazy out there and this is why, there are some people who believe these notes such as below? Anyway, I had to laugh at this one.
Oh, and I can choose the form of delivery too with all that info. LOL I took out the batch number and reference number.
Can you imagine all the stitching stash we could buy with that?????? ;)



This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of Five hundredthousand,Great Britain
Pound Sterlings (500,000.00) for the month ofSeptember 2009 Lottery promotion which is organized by YAHOO/MSN LOTTERYINC & WINDOWS LIVE.You are to contact the events manager on or before your date of Claim,Winners Shall be paid in accordance with his/her Settlement Centre.These are your identification numbers:Batch number.......................YM ever you will have to fill and submit this form to the events managerfor verification & direction on how you can claim your winning fund.1. Full name...............2. Contact Address........3. Age.....................4. Telephone Number........5. Marital Status..........6. Sex.....................7. Next Of Kin............8. Zip Code...............9. Occupation..............10. Company.................11.State:..................12..Country......... .......13..Nationality............14. Your Reference and Batch number at thetop of this mail: Choose Your Mode Of Delivery Courier or Bank.(CONTACT EVENTS MANAGER)

Stitching can get a little like microscopic biopsy procedures

I felt like this evening I performed microscopic surgery on the area to the left which is supposed to say 1811.
However, I thought that the Pea Pod Green and the Bean Sprout Green would blend and they did, very well. (hey, I stir mine together to eat them) So, well, that after filling it all in, I asked Body Guard
"what does that say?"

he looks and raises his eyebrow and said "is that supposed to be numbers?"--my first clue

then, me "yes, it's a date" ----then he got excited and after I said, "no, a number date silly" he calmed down and said.......

"it looks like maybe.........maybe.......19--07?"

Me. "Nope it's 1811"

That's how it all began.......

I knew my surgical skills were necessary to excise just the 1811 out of the grass area. What a nightmare! I've spent more time doing intrauterine procedures than this.

For a while, I thought I was going to be learning basic hardanger as I almost cut the linen to get out the Pea Pod color. Then as I was thinking about how hard hardanger looked to do, I realized why the word "anger" is in it and smiled..........Oh, I can do it, I can do it..........


Done, I reached into my bag and grabbed whatever color that would contrast but not scream at me and stitched in the places I biopsied practically to remove. LOL

I am happy to say the procedure went well and the patient is recovering. No major complications occured.

Your best tour guide

Tonight we got a picture of BG's mom in South Holland, Ill. She is in the last pic and a tour guide at the Labor Day festivities there. The Paarlberg Fest presented by the South Holland Historical Society. She is the sweetest you'll ever meet, will be 91 very soon.
She has been the tour guide for the historical society in this well-preserved house. The Paarlberg and Dalenberg history is very interesting; however, I am a little biased ;)

The first 4 pics were taken on our trip last year. I just love this house! It's set up like a museum. Alot of Dutch history here. I have lots of pics from last visit but I picked a few for my stitching friends!
Wish we could have been there today!
Embroidered pillow cases.......

The sewing room.

This is Evelyn, my mother-in-law. Smartest lady you'll meet. She can tell you the German alphabet without any trouble. She is not a day without a crossword puzzle and will complete them daily from the newspaper. She also has tatted for years. Almost 91 now. Here she is in her costume at the festivities today. She is the tour guide.

I thought this was a great picture of her. We try to go once a year to visit and that will be soon coming up. Can't wait to go!

Some cooking going on!

Lots of cooking going on right now! Shrimp kabob goodies are now marinating.......in Raspberry Vinegarette Salad Dressing as I ran out of Italian. They will get to know each in the frig for about 2 hours while I finish the cookies. I will cook some sweet corn on the cob on the stove.

Sinfully delicious cookie dough made with Nestles Milk Chocolate Morsels (instead of the semisweet) with a cup or two of pecan pieces

turns into these.

and these

and then eaten right off the pan with a cold glass of milk. Now that's my Labor Day cooking.

Frames and Thangs!

I'm up searching for the perfect frame for the Blue House Sampler. Here is one that I really am seriously considering. It's called Sweet Honey. It might be the one.

This pattern is appealing to me from Brenda Keyes, Grace and Virtue. I've been looking for something a little like this to fit my antique frame (8in) that I got last year when someone was selling out there stash/store. It's been in my stash box for a year. (See frame of mine ----the last pic). This pic is from an Ebay seller, just for you to see the pattern.

I'm stuck amongst greens. I am using the Bean Sprout color, Spinach, and Pea Pod as called for in the pattern. But today I feel like I'm losing my date on the sampler. Maybe I'm too close to it. I will continue on and hope it will all fall together. I've got lots of grass to do. Methinks the Honey frame will be the one to grace it.

There's one thing that this sampler has taught me is that I need a scroll frame. My qsnaps are sliding and stretching this particular brand of linen all bonkers. Yeppers, a scroll frame. I've been looking at some suggested by Deb (thank you) and contemplating the size I need first, then can add slowly later.

Here's my frame I love and it needs a sampler in it, doesn't it?

Well, I woke up this morning to pancakes and coffee, which was really good and then BG is going to grill up some Shrimp Kabobs on his newly made firepit outside. I haven't cooked kabobs in several years. We have some fresh sweet corn to go with it.

Hope you are having a blast of a Labor Day!

It's a Full Moon, can you tell?

Ruby is wondering when we are starting the grill for those Shrimp Kabobs. No, Ruby that's for tomorrow's lunch.

Raven is sleeping like this.

And Thomas is pretty wild tonight hanging over the rails when there is a 30 foot drop. He is a brave soul.

Look at those eyes!

Shoes are a Girl's Best Friend

Please pardon my random postings today of nonstitchy stuff but I had a little fun on Friday when we went on our day trip. I visit there probably every 3 months or so and the particular shoe store I wanted to visit is only open 3 days a week, and I haven't been on a day they were open in about a year so I made up for it (yikes)

The store is called Goody Two Shoes in Augusta Ga. Now, I've gone to Goody Two Shoes for 15 years because this little place in the middle of a very bad section of town has some downright excellent buys. It's in the project section. Carry a gun, if you go. BUT, their shoes are from models that have only worn on the runway once, therefore they practically give them away at the prices. All their shoes are name brand, leather, famous designers. And what's great is you can get 3-4 pair of shoes for the price of one at a Mall. Before I moved here, I worked in Augusta and have memoirs of looking at Goody Two Shoes at lunch. My closet can attest to that.

I love shoes. My closet is full of them. I, being the pac rat, own more shoes than ......well, it's probably illegal. I'm a girlie girl but found these boots, Timberland, waterproof that fit perfectly and are.......snake proof. Now this is an important feature for me and something I've been trying to find for a very long time. I did so many happy dances in the isles of Good Two Shoes that I had to sit down from the adrenaline rush! The heart palpitations and the shortness of breath was overwhelming.


My next lucky pair are for work, more professional but oh, so comfortable.

These felt like a glove. A bedroom slipper. They are naturalizers and I will really wear these alot. These were Body Guards favorites.

And my most favorite find. I fell in deep love with this pair of shoes and when I put them on and they fit. The Body guard hid under the next isle as he didn't want any association with a woman shouting with glee in the store! LOL He did look at me with a raised eyebrow at this pair. But I love them!

He has been amazed from day 1 of our marriage at how many shoes a girl can collect. You should have seen his face when we first moved in after we got married. He was in shock at the shoes. I think he has about 3 pair. Again, he is pretty basic and I am, well, a little complex ;)

Bye, bye Goody Two shoes until next year probably! I love you!!! and miss shopping there on my lunch hour :(

But, again, I don't think we have enough closet space for any more.

Body Guard is still recuperating from the shock of our shoe trip. He took 2 Advil and is feeling better. LOL Not really, just joking, he actually likes to sit back and watch me have fun in the shoe store. He's the one that carries the gun for me to shop in places like this. LOL

Do you love shoes too?

Are you ready for the flu season?

The following is a part of my day, taken at breakfast. For some randomness reason today, I thought I would line up the participants and share.

Every time you turn on the TV, the H1N1 is making its way into the U.S. and I suspect this Fall and Winter we will see a tremendous increase in the flu. They predict 90,000 deaths from H1 N1 in the U.S this year as compared to the regular seasonal flu which usually causes 30,000 deaths. Most of these are from complications.

There are no total guarentees from the Flu; however, along with good nutritional care and exercise, I plan to get both Flu vaccines, the seasonal Flu and then the H1N1 vaccine.

I saw a good show yesterday about some myths about the flu vaccine and I'm so glad they are publicizing and making people aware of risks/benefits of the vaccines. For example, both vaccines are not live viruses so they cannot make you sick. This is probably the most common myth and reason why people don't get flu shots.
In my profession, of course, I have to take precaution as exposure will be a given.

I find that good handwashing and taking my vitamins daily really helps ward infections.
I kinda got slack on taking vitamins the past Spring and could really tell a difference in energy level. I've gotten back regularly on my vitamins for the past month and hopefully, will stay healthier.

Vitamin C and Zinc are 2 very important characters for the immune system. You probably have seen packets of the product "EmergenC" you can buy which helps prevent colds. Its a whopping dose of Vitamin C basically. My hubbie swears by those packets during cold season.

Vitamin D, is actually, showing alot of promising health benefits in the past recent year of studies, especially in Women's Health. Most of us are deficient simply because we don't get as much sunshine during the Winter months. Vitamin D is also excellent for bone health and the immune system. This website actually has some good information on Vitamin D and women's health. A nurse practitioner explains this well.
http://www.womentowomen.com/healthynutrition/vitamind.aspx

Omega 3 Fish Oil, I can't say enough about. Its great for the skin, cardio, and immune system.
Two years ago there was a study that divided participants with Chrohn's disease into 2 groups, one with fish oils and the other with popular Chrohn's medication and the group who took the Fish Oils fared just as well as the group on prescription meds which have alot of side effects.
This is promising for Chrohn's and hopefully applies to other immune system dysfunctions. There have also been studies to show that Fish Oils are essential in regulating moods and preventing depression. I will digress on the mood subject.......... http://www.womentowomen.com/healthynutrition/omega3benefits.aspx


Vitamin B complex, high dose, is important for the nervous system and stress. Who is not under alot of stress in this day and time? This group of vitamins are excreted quickly because they are water soluble so make sure you get the Time Release version. You will see B complex 50, 100, and 150 at the store, even Walmart. Too many B vitamins can cause peripheral nerve issues so I take 100 but everybody is different.

There are many, many supplements you can get at specialty stores but alot is marketing. These are the basics for immune system functioning. This post is not intended to be a substitute for your own personal provider's recommendations but my own personal and professional experiences.