A roaming kind of day

I feel like it's been forever that I wrote in my blog! It's only been a few days. Our backup computer finally became impossible to use so we had to cave and get a new one. A Walmart special at 398.00. Compaq with all the bells and whistles. I'm very pleased with it.

I'm really very pleased with any computer that types and downloads pics within 2 hours! LOL
I got spoiled. I think a computer is about as important in today's times as a car. I have warranty on my other one but BG will be able to use it when it comes back from getting fixed. He was the one wanting us to get another one. I think he was tired of me jumping up and down on the sofa, swearing, and yelling at the old one. He really, really wanted me to get another one.

The week has flown by. Even today, I just got home, not from work but a full day of girlie stuff like hair appt, errands for girlie things, Walmart trip.......again, quilt shop, thrift store and antique store roaming and all sorts of things girls could get into.


In the middle of my roaming, I ate lunch in the car at Taco Bell, one of my favorite fast food spots. I love their Nachos Supreme!! I watched the cold raindrops roll down my windows. But I was totally in oblivion with Nachos and sour cream.

But anyways, while I was getting my hair cut and colored, I had a complete view in the chair of all the women going in and out of the quilt shop next door. The thought did cross my mind once to take my time with the mud on my head to shop at the quilt shop through their fabrics but I didn't want to scare anyone.....so I waited till I finished there.

Well, it seemed on this rainy day in Ga., that the quilt shop closed 5 minutes when I got there and I desperately needed 2 DMC flosses to finish Northanger Abbey. I mean, there's just so much substituting you can do and then it really changes up the design.


So, there was a man at the door and with both our umbrellas I said, "Oh, no! It's closed?"
He said yes, they had a death in the family. Evidently this was the shop owners husband, who I never met and we had this little conversation in the pouring rain about DMC floss and how rare it is in the area and after this he had a soft heart to open the store and said, OK, if you know where DMC is......he said he had no idea what that was! I giggled and flew right over to the rack and quickly picked out my flosses and then his wife came up from the back dressed in funeral attire and I thanked her a million times for letting me get those threads in the dark store before I headed out for other adventures. She was fine with it.

However, this led to another adventure to another quilt store to find a fat quarter to back one of the January Blackbird Design stockings I finished, plus fusing material. I found both and when I get the stocking completed, I will post you a pic.
Of course this quilt shop was in an old house and has The most fabric ever so I had to roam around in that one too. I picked up a few other fat quarters and headed back out in the rain.

Next, I had to check out a couple thrift stores and did get a couple of "sweater pillows" with some old lace around the edge. I really just like walking around and remembering old things that were out years and years ago. Makes me feel young again. I also found in another old store a book about Mary Lincoln's Marriage. It is really old and looked intriguing to read so it came home with me as well.

Then onward to Wallie World again to find a couple of things. Went to get one thing, came out with 20. You know how that goes. But, again this Walmart has a fabric dept and I can get lost in fabric.

By the time I got home, Body Guard thought someone had captured me, I think. LOL

Now that I have a functioning computer, I can share with you what came in the mail yesterday!!!! This was the biggest mail surprise!

FayeRaye, a blogger friend, emailed me and said she had the two colors I needed for one of the designs I showed in my blog last week--Homespun Elegance design. How thoughtful of her to offer to swap or send if she had those....And lucky me. Not only did she send the 2 colors but also all of this in a package!


The package was beautifully put together. I absolutely loved the note she wrote and the sweet, sweet sampler she made and tucked nicely in a cute piece of prim ribbon. Also the cutest safety pins I've ever seen in my life. Beautiful colors!!!!!! Thank you FayRaye! You are awesome, so crafty and sweet!

Look at the pretty Valentine sampler she made and sent. She said this was one for her Valentine Tree. You just have to check out her blog with all the beautiful Valentine pinkeeps and samplers she put on a tree! Faye's blog is at http://www.carolinastitcher.blogspot.com/


She also included some prim, rick-rack which I love!!!!!! The colors I needed were Week's Dye, Teal Frost, and Bark. Speaking of Bark.....Miss Abbie is speaking right now....LOL

Look at these beautiful pins!! I lead a sheltered life. I've never seen such cute prim safety pins. I can't wait to use this on a pillowkeep.

And her note was made by hand and had beautiful writing on it. I loved it too.

I wish I could be so crafty to make a pretty note like this.

Now is this not the sweetest thing?

FayeRaye, I appreciate your kind note and all that you sent me. I will treasure it forever! The colors are gorgeous and so is your stitching.

I owe you, girl! ;) Big time!

Well, it's still pouring rain outside and we have a cozy fire inside going. The dogs are quiet for a change. I'm working on Northanger Abbey and listening to the news channel and all the aweful pictures of Haiti........my heart goes out to them. Such a disaster!

Hope you're day went well too and you are having a nice evening stitching and staying cozy.

Jennifer

My Soul Is Fed With Needle and Thread

Found this a couple of week's ago and thought I'd share.

It's been one of those weeks that flies by. Can't seem to catch up since I went back to work but I'm getting there.

Can't believe tomorrow is Friday already! I love weekends. Time to hibernate in the winter, a time to explore in the summer.

Listening to alot of people in either emotional or physical pain all week causes me to appreciate the needle and thread when I get home. When I saw this little ceramic sign, it caught my eye, because I know most all stitchers can relate to the saying. I certainly can, that's for sure.

At lunch today I did get a few minutes to put some stitches in Northanger Abbey. I'm determined to finish this by January 24th at which time I will start the Emma sampler by The Sampler Girl while I watch the program on PBS with other Janites.

I'm disapointed in my inability to learn to use a camera. I have tried all things to get the right colors demonstrated on this piece and have tried several settings on my camera and I give up.

The colors are so much more vivid in real life here and I so wish I could show you those vivid colors. For example, the girl's dress is CC Peacock which is a beautiful bright teal and in my pics it looks like a muted blue. So, I do apologize for these pics. I may have just as well put them in black and white.

I changed the tips of the flower bulbs to CC Shamrock and this looked better than the the Deep Sea Blue I had subbed out of my stash.

I should be able to finish this in the next week......should.

It's only 10pm and I"m sleepy. That's very rare but this week I've been in bed early as I'm just so tired. When it gets dark at 5:30pm and it's cold, the night's are longer.

I'm still using the old computer and it's quite a frustration as well; however, I appreciate being able to get online at all, and the fact we had a backup computer even if it's been very slow-going.

A lesson in patience for sure.

I really appreciate all the suggestions on the Altoid tin and I will be checking those out this weekend as I have more time. I love getting feedback from people all over the world with experience far greater than mine. I learn alot every day from blogland!

Tonight we put one of those Duraflame logs that burns for about 3-4 hours and they are much easier than keeping up with wood right now. The effect is the same, cozy and making me sleepy.

Ren is having some hard days in the last week. I've had to literally hold and rock him to calm him. He is very senile. Tonight he will not calm down at all. He paces and paces and is incontinent on his blankets instead of his paper pads and outside. He is extremely agitated.

When he gets this way, it seems nothing satisfies him. Fresh water, many fresh blankets, food, touch. He almost has this Alzheimer's dementia that sets in about 7-8pm at night and goes for hours sometimes. He wants to eat every 30 minutes at night and drinks a gallon of water. It's crazy some nights. It's hard watching him age so much and get so feeble. But we try to make him as comfortable as possible and some nights, like tonight, it has taken all 4 hours to try to accomplish that.

Abbie is well. She is growing a third spot now, all in alignment with each other like large buttons starting from the base of her tail! LOL

In response to Ren's agitations, she tears up her papers because we can't give her alot of attention. It's sometimes like taking care of 2 babies in the evenings but we still love them!

I wonder sometimes if Ren will make it until Brandon comes back from Afghanistan. I hope he does. I hope Brandon comes to see us when he comes back. He used to love to say the word TREAT to get Ren's attention and would play with him alot. I can't believe Brandon was barely 6 years old when I brought Ren home as a puppy. We still haven't heard from Brandon even though we write and send boxes. His fiancee, who I originally thought was quite a beautiful, nice girl and proud of, has demonstrated this year to be quite immature and refuses to communicate with us if he contacts. I just can't understand how people like this sleep at night with those decisions. But I guess if your level of maturity is not quite reached it's goals yet for adulthood, then, it's definitely not surprising at all.

My mind is rambling now and also I think BG needs relief of being the peacemaker/babysitter between Ren and Abbie right now.....so best get back to things. I might put a stitch or two in Northanger Abbey, then again, I might be too sleepy.....

Here's hoping your week is going well.

A new idea with an old item

I've had this tin since we got married. My brother in law, Chuck, sent this to us with alot of goodies in a box and of course it was filled with Altoids but I saved it.....you know me. And I think it could be used for a nice little stitching box. I just don't know how to finish it without showing wrinkling in the fabric. Do you glue the finished piece on ? Do you know of a tutorial somewhere showing how to cover little boxes? I just think it would be a great little needle and thimble box. It could also house a small pair of Kelmscott scissors.
And the shape is unusual. I would like to stitch something small and put on the top of this box, line the inside with red velvet or felt for a cute finish.
When I opened the box I had left the heart papers in there and had the idea to use them for heart templates to make some ornies. What's your ideas?

Jennifer

New Goodies and blessings

Last night after I downloaded those pics and wrote (which on the old computer takes an hour), I got distracted from posting my beautiful mail goodies I opened last night.....and could have kicked myself for not posting that first because they are so awesome. This morning.....I feel a little ......bloated.

Aaaabbbbiiiie! oh, Aaabbiiiieee! Please mute the news so we can show these pics to our friends. Gosh, speaking of bloated. They are still showing it. And he looks like he is jumping out at us in our living room. He's really saying, "Abbie, do you want a treat?" I believe she is going to be Democratic! No, Abbie, no.

Ok, I'm not going to get distracted today. I just won't.

This is the first goody in the mail.

Oh, my! Oh me! My book came in I ordered from the gift certificate from the Secret Santa. It's still bugging me to know who that is, but whoever, I thank you a million times over! This is Blackbird Designs' book, A Fine Collection. I just knew this book would be good. I loved the cover, never ever flipped through it and when I went through it last night, my heart was singing and I was oh, so excited at having this book! The designs in here are awesome. Beautiful, break-taking, and the design of the book is such that each month has a very good nice size piece or two to make.


I don't want to break any rules about taking pics of inside books, so I'll just give you a peek.
The month of February in corner of the calender....isn't it cute?
I just have to do this one one day.......Have too!

The next goody in the mail was this small sampler name
Coasting Day 1911 by The Sampler Girl. I ordered this and the piece of beautiful pink fabric when she had a sale. I love it! How am I going to stitch all these? This is a must too. I love the colors and hope I'm as lucky as she says on her webshop to go to Hancock Fabrics or HobbyLobby to find a frame so cute too.

My favorite color.
The next mail package was a really BIG surprise! This is from Sandy J in New Jersey. She sent me this wonderful, soft, oh, so soft........I can't tell you enough how soft.......neck warmer. Oh, Sandy, that is sooooooooo beautiful. How did you know I loved teal so much? Sandy, you shouldn't have.........but I'm loving it. :0
My hubbie saw it too and he thought it was beautiful too.
He swears there's an angel out there called Sandy in New Jersey. Sandy sent me an Andrew Bocelli Christmas CD and 2 books called the Christmas Jars and the Christmas Jars Reunion back in December. Those magically came on a hard day when we both needed it. The day my dad called us he says "by accident".
Now, this came on the first day back to work after hearing all those "Have you heard for your son? When's the last time you heard from your son? Is he in Afghanistan still? and How was your Christmas?" and on and on, over and over. That's when I have to smile and say "yes, he is still in Afghanistan and no, he doesn't call us or write us back in the combat zone and our Christmas was lovely, how was yours?" and just keep faking it through the day. That's what stomach ulcers are made of.

I digress.....anyways, this is absolutely beautiful and I'm telling you the real truth here.

I couldn't stop running my hands over it because it's so soft and pretty! It reminded me that I started a knitting class last January 09 and didn't get past the first class. And Sandy, I am going to post a pic so you can see that the color I picked was almost the same because besides pink, teal is my next favorite. So, stay-tuned and I'll show you how far I got in knitting class............

Sandy also put a very sweet note and these needles. I can't wait to try them. I've never tried this brand before. They will definitely be used, Sandy! I'm getting my needlebook out now and putting them in it.
You see, I have my Piecemaker needles on the right and some old needles on the left that really need to be tossed. Now I can toss those old needles on the left and put these beauties in there!

I'm serious that those on the left side are old and dull and I'm not even sure what brand they are.
Thanks again, Sandy for your thoughtfulness, and getting out in the snow to take this to the Postoffice! Now that is a caring, kind soul!

Speaking of caring souls, I had to show you this button. I've had it for several years, and have another one too but I put this on my heart hanging on my kitchen towel rack by one of our kissing Dutch couples. This button grounds me. Makes me remember important thoughts! LOL
Abbie is now Democratic.......oh, my gosh, she is pulling my robe tie to go see Obama on TV.
No, Abbie, no. He is not going to really give you a treat, sweetie.

So, I gave her one instead.

Speaking of cleaning up. I"m embarrassed at this but had to show you my work on Sunday. This is what I cleaned out of 3 closets on Sunday. Three of MY closets. Isn't that sad? I had some clothes that I wore in 1992. These had to go. I haven't got to my shoe closet yet. Yes, I keep shoes until the heels fall off and I have been known for a really favorite pair to just go get the heels replaced and use them another 10 years.


And lastly, you can see the idea I have with this piece. I plan to put a couple of white buttons beside the heart on the fabric. This frame is from Hobby Lobby. I got it for 1/2 price at 5.99 last year. I liked it because of it's shape and didn't realize that the glass is not removable until last night. But there is a small space between the glass and the backing so that the buttons will be fine there.

My hubbie who can be stubborn at times, said he will help me cut the backing for this piece tonight. Last night after Mel's diner experience he got sucked into the big chair and didn't move.

Till later,
Jennifer

Mel's Diner and the Flo Experience

Yes, my hubbie couldn't believe I took a pic of black ice tonight outside the car window.

Our Supper Experience

Sliding into Mel's Diner and here's to sliding out! LOL

This chicken had to have alot of estrogen to grow this big! Look at the size of it!

This is my chicken and dressing. It had that jelly like gravy.

We were hungry folks!

Remember Flo, the waitress on Mel's Diner? Yeppers, if you said yes, that makes you vintage!
Come on, 'fess up and oh, my......that was the 70's, wasn't it! Yes, Flo and Alice.

Ok, I thought I had a complete in 3-D experience of Mel's Diner tonight. It was fun actually!

Long Monday, no cooking in tonight led to this conversation on the Onstar phone....


Ring, ring......ring, ring........

me: HewwOH (I was just joking with him) I was jamming with the song "I Need a Lover That Won't Drive me Crazy" ......1980 something yearish. My song stopped. My flashback of my X driving me crazy in the 80's stopped. LOL

Body Guard: Hey, where are you?

me: I'm about half-way home, passing the cows who are shivering in the cold. Listening to the 80's satellite with Bon Jovi on high volume, where are you?

Body Guard: Hey, I found out that new restaurant in town, we should try it, wanta meet there? (He is always thinking about dinner, he thinks about dinner from 12 noon onward)

me: OK.

Body Guard: John says it has good food, just opened back up. We've never been there, let's try it. me: Oh. OK I'm always so agreeable.....NOT........heehehehee.

Onward I went and sat in the parking lot. I didn't know he was inside for a few minutes so I found my old camera in the car and fiddled around trying to take a picture of the pretty, pretty sunset but couldn't really get a good pic.

Finally figured out he was sitting in the restaurant all along.....DUH for me! LOL

So, I walk in and it looked just like Mel's Diner.......but they didn't want it that way....it just was that way. The grease in the background floated in the "buffet".

I'm thinking, Oh Boy, where's my Pepsid......This will be a test to the belly. I looked around and there were very few people there.

We sat down and after the waitress figured out we needed a menu first, then she told us about the buffet, so we strolled through the line of zero people and we got the "meat and 2 vegetables" special". The meats were Chicken in grease, chicken with fried grease tenders, and chicken in gravy/grease with dressing. And the lady serving to us was Flo the waitress......talked just like her.......winked just like her.....hair, just like her!

OMG! I'm listening to 70's and 80's music all the way home and then walk in to Mel's Diner.......like going to a movie in 3D.

My eyes went about 3 times as large as they usually are when she took a huge plate of Chicken and dressing and then I got green beans (I think) and fried okra. My lipid profile is not due this week, so what the heck right?

She smiled and winked at me like Flo, and called me Precious in a long Southern drawl, worse than me! BG laughed and laughed.


Flo said smiling and winking at me: Just 'cause you tiny don't mean you can't eat, Precious! (with a huge Southern drawl)

BG got........Fried Chicken and she plopped the biggest fried chicken breast I've ever seen on a plate and he always gets corn and potatoes no matter where we go, so that was easy. They didn't have corn but macaroni and cheese. All for 4.95 each. We both had food for 2 meals. Food for 4 doses of Pepsid AC, Immodium AD, etc.

All of a sudden I realized, hey, I"ve still got the old camera here so I thought I would share our plates of dinner at Mel's Diner tonight. BG even blew his nose hard out loud in the middle to complete the atmosphere..... and that is no joke at all! It sounded like a goose. Then, as I drove around the back of it, looked like I was in an alley in Philadelphia at midnight and saw they did have a drive-thru window (from previous restaurant owner) that had a piece of paper that had in hand writing on a drive up......"Our Drive Through Ain't Working". That really made me laugh! Only in the South.

I thought it was a fun experience! Hey, we had leftovers for Ren of course. He really liked the chicken. Hope his stomach can handle it tonight.

I got home and had 3 packages and so excited to share those with you...........
I promise my next post will be all the blessings from the mailman today!!!!!!

I will post that separately in a few............I'm just smacking my gum and winking at all ya'll and remembering Flow saying, "you can kiss my Greeeits" to Mel.

Till later,
Jennifer

Back to the Frozen Board......

Well this morning was a great challenge just getting to work. I haven't been out of the house in over a week. Not complaining either. (And by the way, I apologize for the program listing last night. We watched it and it really was nothing new and didn't seem to be what the email said it would be. So, maybe the channel or the time was wrong....who knows?)

I put my thick tights on with a dress and I had woke up at 4 am, went to bed at 12midnight, so I'm running on 4 hours of sleep. I have no idea why I woke at that time, I guess anxiety related to back to work. Wow, I had to put on makeup for the first time in a week and curl my hair.......LOL I'm sure BG is ready for the change. hehehehehe

But anyways, the car was solidly frozen and even spray for the windshield didn't work.

It was 8 degrees at my house. We had moved the car yesterday to town actually so that I wouldn't be sliding all over the mountain road this morning. Thank goodness for that! BG tooke me to the car in his Explorer which has better grip on its tires.

But it was solidly froze up so much I didn't recognize my own car!

The ride I thought was ok. Seems that in Gainesville there were wrecks due to the black ice and they had patrols and salt and stuff blocking the traffic so that was a little frustrating. Other than that....I'm thankful I don't live in New England where this happens alot. :0

Didn't bring any stitching to work for lunch today........so I will probably go through withdrawals but anyway.....

stay warm however that is possible today.

Welcome Monday morning, little Miss Sunshine is back......

Tonight on Fox News--9pm Eastern time/ 8pm Central

A friend sent this to me and to forward to all interested. I will definitely be looking at this tonight. I know this is a bit political and I'm not really into politics......but then again, I think if you are Republican or Democratic, the information would be good to know.

Jennifer

This Sunday at 8:00
pm central 9:00
pm eastern. FOX news

Maybe this is why the White House has
been discounting FOX.

Sounds like this could be History in
the making - someone may go down - either Obama or Fox News.

It may be that Fox has been holding
this information back due to the sensitivity of it and out of
courtesy. But, Obama has taken on Fox and it appears they are ready
to spill the ugly beans of truth about the background of this individual
who has had an extremely radical past.

This Sunday Fox news, is going to air a
very important documentary about Barack Obama, Sunday night at 9 P M
Eastern.

The report will go back to Obama's
earlier days, showing even then his close ties to radical Marxist
professors, friends, spiritual advisers, etc. It will also reveal
details about his ties to Rev. Wright for 20+ years, i.e., how he was
participating with this man, and not for the reasons he states!

The report has uncovered more of
Obama's radical past and we will see things that no one in the media is
willing to put out there. It will be a segment to remember.

Mark your calendar and pass this on to
everyone you know: Sunday night, 8
PM CT; 9
PM ET. Democrat or Republican, this report will open your eyes to
how YOUR country is being sold down the road to Totalitarian
Socialism. If you care about the direction of our country, pass
this notice on to everyone you know.

Spring cleaning a little early this year

Me and my Valentine are cleaning alot today. I've been cleaning out clothes for donations and took everything out of my chest of drawers, closets, and dressers to reorganize. I've got more sweaters than I ever thought possible now!
I think I've gone up and down stairs 30 times to do the laundry and bring up clothes to go through. I should have done this last week one day but today, I felt in the mood for the major cleaning.
I did have a wonderful find though. I found a ring in a sweater that I thought was lost. I didn't have insurance on it and it was worth quite a bit. I have missed it for about 4 months now and it was my Grandmothers ring she left me years and years ago. I wore it alot. It really made me sick to my stomach when I thought I lost it. But, thank goodness I found it today!!!!!!!!
It's amazing how much stuff we accumulate over time. It's hard for me to part with anything even if it's totally out of style or too little or whatever but I'm making it. So far, I have three large bags and more to go.
Definitely getting a lot of exercise today, that's for sure.

It's still quite frigid outside here and the pond below our house is half frozen. I've not seen that since we moved here 8 years ago. The road to our house is very unsafe so we are having to move the car slowly to another place so I can drive it to work tomorrow. One of the hills is just too slippery still.

The TV has been off during all of this purging and cleaning process and it's been nice and quiet here.

Must have gotten a good deal on the tea towel

The only thing I found on the tea towel linen which I think now is a large napkin, very large napkin is this site. The exact table cloth and napkins are quite a bit. Like $ 750.00 for the set!

click here:

http://www.antique-linens.com/23510.html