Update of Last Week

Boxes for the Troops
Last week was Veteran's Day. In honor of the day, our little office of 8 put together boxes for the troops. Also, one of our co-workers is the wife of a Major in the marines who has done 2 tours of duty.  She knows first hand how much cheer a box from home can bring.  With the help of my friend Jill and my mom, we had enough stuff to do 11 boxes!  I LOVE putting boxes together for the military.  It's a way to do a good deed for others and to feel good about yourself without a bunch of hoopla!  We all agreed that this is something we would like to do on a regular basis.

Renaissance Fair

Saturday was a beautiful day!  Beautiful blue skies. Sunshine. Cool weather.  It was a perfect day to be outside!  I started the day out by getting my hair cut and colored.  Changed up my color a bit.  Went dark brown with lots of red in it.  You can really see the red in it when out in the sun.  I am so loving it. It was time for a change!!!

Celestine, Jill, Joy and I all piled up in the car and went to Hammond for the Renaissance Fair.  It was a great afternoon spent outdoors looking at the different booths, watching a Birds of Prey show, a joust and the numerous people in costume.  Joy and I had some fun at the hat shop trying on hats.  I swear that Jill and Celestine were there with us, they are camera shy!

Stitching Update

This past week I focused on the Mad Tea Party.  I was just on a roll and felt like I was making great progress so I just had to keep on with it!

Random Thoughts

Stitching Questions
I've had a few questions on why I chose to do 2 over 1 on the Mad Tea Party.  I have successfully completed 2 HAEDs using 1 over 1.  I am currently stitching Dragon Knot 1 over 1.  I decided to do 2 over 1 because I am always reading about other stitchers who do that and I figured, if they can do it, I can do it!!!  Also, I wanted to see what the coverage would be like.  I can say that so far it is very much like a tapestry.  The stitches are very tight.  It's a little bit more difficult, but I am going to continue on with it!!!

Happy Thoughts
I just wanted to share this picture with everyone.  This is my niece Cassady.  This picture captures her so well!!!!  When she smiles, you can't help BUT smile!!!!  I look at this picture when I am feeling alone and blue.  Brightens the day up INSTANTLY!!!!

Updates!

Stitching

I have an update on two projects!  Yay me!!! 

The first one is Mad Tea Party.  This one is a HAED being stitched on 25 count, 2 over 2, correction!  2 over 1.  Thanks Nancy!  You are so right!  I do mean 2 over 1.  Sometimes my brain goes faster than my fingers! This is the first time I've done a HAED with two threads. Typically I only use one.  I like the coverage but it definitely makes it a little bit more difficult.

The second update is the baby quilt I am doing for my newest niece. It is stamped cross stitch.  Let me say it again, for the thousandth time, I LOATHE stamped cross stitch!!!

Weekend

It was such a lovely quiet weekend.  I've been so sick these days, it was great to stay at home and rest!!!  I watched the LSU game.  Yes, we loss. We won't dwell on that.  I also watched the Saints!!!  Who Dat!!!!  Yay!  They are 8-0!!!!  First time in the club's history! 

I also made enchiladas.  Yummy!  I used my grandmother's recipe.  They aren't hard to make but after making them this weekend, I remembered why I don't!  My tiny apartment kitchen just does not have the counterspace to make them!!!  They create such a mess!!! 

Jill came over for dinner.  I always am nervous when cooking for others.  But the enchiladas seemed to have been a hit with her.  I even sent some home with her. And there is, of course, more for leftovers! Yay!  No cooking for the next few days!  That's always a plus!

Totally Free

A co-worker and I ventured out to a local bakery, Totally Free, today.  We just thought we would see what they have.  They make goods WITHOUT gluten, sugar, dairy and eggs.  Yep!  What is possibly left to make a cookie or a muffin? We got some chocolate chip cookies and snickerdoodles.  I love snickerdoodles.  I didn't love these snickerdoodles.  They were very thick and unusual tasting.

Work

Another fun, exciting week of work.  Can you hear the sarcasm drip from the words?  The little man is in a mood, and not a good one either.  I hope I make it through the week.  My tongue may not survive as I may have to bite through it to not say any smart ass remark.  Wish me luck!

Some more random thoughts...

Fun!
I have been having such a blast lately!  I wouldn't trade it for anything!  But there have been consequences!  Laundry is piling up!  Furniture is going undusted! Carpet is not being vaccuumed!  Recorded television shows are piling up!  Oh well!  As Scarlett always said "Tomorrow is another day!"


Social Networking Sites (this is completely my opinion and many may disagree)
Most people, these days, have either a Facebook profile or a MySpace page.  I have both (but have to admit, much prefer the Facebook profile!).  It always amazes me what people will put out there for EVERYONE to see!  I love my Facebook profile because it has allowed me to catch up with so many old friends and family who live far, far away but never has it crossed my mind to put on my profile anything that I wouldn't normally tell any of those people or post something "inappropriate" on someone else's profile.  I have seen other profiles with sexual references or scantily clad pictures.  How inappropriate is that?  Not only can the whole world see it, but some of these people have children and now their children have been exposed to this "behavior." Not to mention the ramifications it can cause in your professional life. I think that at times people have "brain farts" or perhaps they have no brain!?

Ok, enough of me grandstanding on my soap box......

Christmas!
Christmas is coming!  And as the HAED website has so graciously once again put up the countdown, we now know that it is about 51 days away!  And since I have been having so much fun, I am WAY BEHIND on getting my Christmas stitching done!  So my fingers have been flying as fast as they can the past few evenings!!!  To the point that I can literally say that I my blood is in the projects! LOL!  I've pricked my finger one time too many!

V
Who remembers from the 1980s the mini-series and tv show V?  About aliens who come down to Earth to co-exist "peacefully" with humans but actually looking to harvest us as food?  I do!  I was just a little kid but I remember watching it all. I'm not one for aliens but for some reason, the lizard alien people fascinated me! I have two questions: Who is going to watch the new pilot of V?  and Did the tv producers already run out of ideas that they are now having to re-make shows that didn't make it before?

Ok, these were just some random thoughts that have been rambling through my brain lately!  I promise that one of my goals this week is to put up progress pictures on the things I've been stitching/bleeding on!

Halloween Weekend

There was a time, not too long ago, had someone had told me that I would be having so much fun I would not have believed them!  This Halloween weekend was so much fun!

Friday night started the weekend off.  Jill and I went to a late dinner at Zea's where we had some great food!  Then we were off to the 10 pm showing of Rocky Horror at the local community theatre.  The production company that was putting it on is owned by a friend of mine, Chris.  They did an excellent job!  We laughed and smiled so much!!!  Gasps of shock as the actors came out in their lingerie and laughter as the actors mingled among the audience.

Saturday was a beautiful day!  Cool temperatures. Blue skies. A perfect day for Halloween.  Jill and I went down to campus to spend the day. First was the baseball team's national championship ring ceremony.  The whole team was there with the exception of two players.  One was in the Dominican Republic playing baseball and the other was Chad Jones, he was getting ready for the football game.

After the ring ceremony, it was FOOTBALL TIME!  We made it over to the hill in time to see the band come down the hill.  A great tradition everyone should see at least once!  Then on to the game.  We were playing Tulane.  So, while it wasn't exactly an exciting game, it was still a great night!  A win is a win. No matter who it is against.

It was a weekend of firsts for Jill.  She'd never been to Rocky Horror.  Never been in the new Alex Box Stadium.  Never been to an LSU football game. It was a great time!  A wonderful weekend!

New Additions to the Wish List

Today has been a sick day.  I woke up early this morning, before the alarm, with a sore throat.  I did manage to get myself up out of bed and to work on time this morning.  But as the morning progressed I just felt worse and worse. So, I was home by lunch time. 

I have been plopped on the couch all afternoon watching about a week's worth of shows that I had recorded.  I also took some time to browse through some of my favorite cross stitch websites.  Below are just some of the patterns that I wish I could have!

HAED:

Mystic Stitch:

Other patterns:

When I Grow Up....

I frequently think that thought: "When I grow up I want to be ...."  I haven't yet figured that out to be honest.  I have two college degrees, both of which I don't use in my present job. While I enjoy the work I do, hmmmm, I loathe my boss thus making it an uncomfortable situation. Most days I can just ignore him and do my work and put 100% or more into it.  Other days, like today, I just do the minimum to get by.

This weekend, while visiting friends, I was told "You should be a wife, mother, and a teacher."  Hmmm, well, I am none of those. Do they  know something I don't? 

The friend who told me I should be a wife and mother is a very dear, close friend.  We've known each other for twenty years now!  Wow!  That's a very long time!  We know everything about each other. She said that seeing me with my niece and how we interacted, she just knows I would be a great mother.  I'm glad she thinks so. I'm not sure.  I'm good with kids in a short span of time, but I do like to give them back!!!  :)  And as for the wife comment, I'm not sure what she bases that on.  Maybe it is just part of the package of being a mother. But in order to be a wife and mother, well, there needs to be a man.  Hmmm, the jury is still out on that one.  I'm not sure that I want a man in my life.  Yes, yes, yes.  I know.  I just haven't met the right one.  As my sister once said, "I think Mr. Right got hit by a bus!"

The friend who told me I should be a teacher has also known me for a long time also.  Let's see.  We've known each other for....eleven or twelve years. I can't remember exactly when I met her. I know it was before she got married in 1998. Anyway, she tells me I should get my certification because she could see me teaching high school.  I personally think she was smoking something when she said that!  I am such an impatient person.  Plus my communication skills to explain things to people are not that good.  Very rarely can I "think outside the box" to explain something to someone who has never been introduced to a topic.

What do these friends see that I don't?  Am I blind to my own possibilities in life?  Probably so.  I don't like change and I don't like getting hurt. But I am learning not to sweat the small stuff and to roll with the punches.  Life is much better that way. Maybe when I am least expecting it, Mr. Right will walk through the door.  And if not, maybe I will become that teacher.  Or find some other new exciting career.

Until that time when any of those things come true or not, I will ponder: When I grow up, I want to be......