Wednesday, April 29, 2009

When It Rains...

It pours. Isn't that the saying? Or that everything comes in 3s? Well in my case I've had a load of bad dumped in my lap the past couple of days. I guess you could say I'm feeling a big helpless. Not hopeless. I do have hope it will all get better but so much of it is out of my control.

Where do I start? Maybe with my sailor. Things are not going so well with us. It's been hard. With the distance and living separate lives in separate states. It's beginning to wear on me. Thus I'm taking it out on him. So can I really blame him when he doesn't talk to me? I don't want to talk to me! But I really am at a lost as to explain to him what I am feeling.

Then there are my aunts and uncles. Let's see, now these are all my great aunts and uncles so with age this is all expected. I have an aunt who is having back surgery next week. It has to do with complications of arthritis. Then I have 2 uncles who it has been discovered that they have spots on their lungs. Both have recently been tested so we are now waiting on the results. One of the uncles was a heavy smoker till 6 months ago, but the man is in his upper 70s. The other one has already had cancer of the jaw back when I was a teenager so for me, this really isn't unexpected.

My friends who are currently adopting a baby now have a fight on their hands. The birth father does not want to relinquish his rights. He doesn't want the baby but I guess in his mind, no one else should have her. She's a baby, not a piece of property!

Finally, there is my sister. She's my baby sister. It's been my responsibility to protect her and make things better. I'm having a hard time doing that when I can't even make things better for myself these days. She recently was in a car accident. Minimum damage to the car but of course now she is having neck issues. Then she found out this week that a close friend of hers is pregnant but this pregnancy is life threatening. I'm not a doctor so I don't know exactly why, but it doesn't sound good. I can't think of a thing to say to even give my sister guidance in this.

To top it all off, I've made myself sick! LOL! I keep everything inside until something has to give. Of course it's either going to be the mental health or the physical health. It's both this time.

I had such big plans beginning in May and going through the summer that I was looking forward to! I am going to Jazz Fest to see Bon Jovi this upcoming weekend. I leave in 2 weeks for a family gathering for a graduation. It's my birthday. I have a trip to Florida in June and, keeping my fingers crossed this is still going to happen, I was looking forward to seeing my sailor in July. But right now, I can't even see past the next minute. I know it will get better, but I'm not patient. I'm more of an instant gratification person. All I have right now is hope.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Stitching Update

I feel like it's been forever since I've had an update. I've been doing a little bit of stitching. It's hard to get it in though with all the beautiful weather we've been having here in South Louisiana and all the activities and fairs going on! But I have been working on Dragon Knot. Not a lot of progress but there is some!

Full effect


Area currently concentrating on

I also started a new HAED, Mad Tea Party, but haven't made very much progress so no pics yet!!!


I am also starting a new one tonight. It will be a small picture of Ariel. It's a request my sister made for a friend of hers. Can't say no to the baby sister!!!

Crawfish Boil

This past weekend was the company's crawfish boil. It was a beautiful Saturday. Mid 80's. Blue skies. Breezy. Sunshine. We all had a good time!

The PAMI Girls

Doug digging in after golf.

Crawfish, corn....and a Diet Coke! I know, should have been a beer!


Kati and Ashley laughing it up!




Jenny and Baby Phil




Sunday, April 19, 2009

Two Finishes in One Week!

This is definitely a first! Two finishes in one week! I stayed up late last night and finished up the Buzz Lightyear!

I will return to working on Dragon Knot but will also start a new HAED, The Mad Tea Party! But on e of my problems now is that I have a growing stack of finished projects that I have done nothing with! I need to start framing or finishing them into pillows or whatever so I can give them to the person it was intended for!

Friday, April 17, 2009

Back to Reality!

After a great weekend in Houston, I came back to reality! Or rather, work. Bleh!!! It wasn't all bad though. I'm still recovering from my trip to Houston but am looking forward to picking up some projects this weekend so I hope to have some progress updates to report very soon!

I did have some fun this week. On Tuesday night, some of the girls and I went to the LSU - UNO baseball game. Most of us are LSU grads with the exception of 2 of the girls. One is a grad from UNO and the other is a grad from Tulane. The one from Tulane couldn't make it because her husband currently has chicken pox and she was monitoring her 7 month baby to see if he was going to come down with it! I am very glad to say that LSU won that night. It was close, 8 to 6, but in the end we triumphed (only to lose the next night to Nichols! Ugh!!!!). We had a really good time even though it was COLD!!!! It's April for goodness sakes!!!




Monday, April 13, 2009

Pooh and Fairy - Finished!

I woke up at the crack of dawn this morning because I had to return the rental car from this weekend's trip. Yeah, my dad rented a car for me because he is just not confident in my car anymore. Had myself a Mazda 3. It was ok. Handled terrible in the wet weather though. That car is definitely off my list of possible vehicle purchases in the future!

Anyway, I had time today to finally sit down and do some stitching! Of course, it's finally completed only a day too late! That's ok, I'll get it framed and mail it off! This is what I did for Cassady Hope's room:

Full view:

Close up of bear and fairy:

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Weekend in Houston

I arrived in Houston on Thursday. Met the new baby Cassady and then off to the LNS, 3 Stitches. I picked up two Dinky Dye patterns with floss and some fabric. I could have spent so much more but I restrained myself.

Other than going to the LNS, the point of the trip was to meet my new niece and to spend Marly's birthday with her.



Friday the kids were off. In the morning Marly and I headed to the mall to do her birthday shopping. We left so early, at the request of her mom, that the mall wasn't open. So we went to Sonic and had French Toast Sticks and talked! We went to several shops in the mall but ended up in a store near her house, Justice for Girls. She picked out a brand new outfit to wear for her birthday on Saturday. That afternoon I took Marly and Parker to lunch and then we got some ice cream and went to the park to eat it and play. We ran around the playground playing chase. There was some excitement when one of the dogs escaped the house and I, along with their grandmother went chasing after the dog. We were so irritated. She ran faster and faster. Finally, the only reason we caught up with her was because the dang dog tired out.




Saturday, being Marly's birthday, we went to the Movie Tavern for the 9 am showing of Hannah Montana. They have a special where you pay for the movie and all you can eat flapjacks (pancakes). It was a cool thing to do. The movie was cute but kind of long. We then went to the tea room for lunch where Marly (and Cassady too) tried on hats. We then spent the afternoon at home opening up presents and then had a barbecue. The night ended with us all watching Bedtime Stories (ok, I must admit, I didn't last the whole movie! lol)



I stayed long enough Sunday morning to see what the Easter bunny had brought and to watch the kids hunt eggs several times. There was severe weather forecasted for the Houston weather and the Baton Rouge area so I left by 10 a.m. It took me forever to get home!!! The rain was so bad, combined with the wind, that you couldn't see anything. So frustrating. But now I am home, but in an empty apartment! Duke is at the boarder till tomorrow afternoon! I can't wait for him to get home!

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Whew!

Ok, so the "big" meeting today turned out to be NOTHING! A week of worrying for nothing! It was basically a pep talk. "We appreciate your working here." "These are the plans we have for the future." "Even though you aren't with us at the main office, we still care." It was FIFTEEN minutes long. That was it!

On other news, I am off to Houston tomorrow to see my niece and nephew! I cannot wait. It's been exactly a year, I think, since I last saw them. I will also be meeting the newest addition to the family! I hope to come back with lots of pics to share! I also plan on making a trip to 3 Stitches, LNS in Spring, Texas! I hope to get some good stuff to share!

No finishes or updates to report. I've had a lot going on personally and did not spend that much time stitching. I know, shame on me!!!! But I hope that once I get back from Houston I can get some progress made!

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Needle and Floss Exchange

Yesterday when I came home I had a package in the mail from Nancy. It contained the following flosses (along with a book of needles):


The picture really doesn't do the colors justice at all! They are all so bright and springy. The second from the left especially! It is such a deep rich purple. I love them all! Thanks Nancy!

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Weekend Update

I have had an overall good weekend! The weather has been beautiful! With the exception of very little sleep on Saturday night, there's not a lot I can complain about!

On Saturday I spent the day with my mom. She went with me to New Orleans as I went to explore Acadian Corner, an LNS. I fell in love with this shop! I was flitting from one display to the next saying "I want this" "I want that." LOL! I finally had to tell my mom I needed to get out of there! I did pick up a few flosses and needles for the ILCS exchange of needles and floss and I picked up material for a new start, HAED pattern Mad Tea Party.

Sunday has been a lazy day. Mostly because I did not sleep well last night. I finished Twilight again and started to read Angels and Demons. That is a really good book so far. I haven't read much but it definitely has me intrigued! I also listened to the LSU baseball game where they beat Georgia (they took 2 out of 3 this weekend to win the series!). I also went out and got me a strawberry shake, yummy!

I haven't done much stitching as I would have liked this weekend but I do have an update on the Winnie the Pooh picture I am doing.



My Heart & Soul

Here's a picture of one of the pieces to my heart & soul. This is my little man, Parker. He is feeding his new baby sister, Cassady Hope. I can't wait till I get to Houston this week to see him, Marly Grace and Cassady. These kids are my life. And with all the confusion in my life right now, I need some time with just my kids and the simplicity of their lives!

I watched Casablanca last night for the first time. I'll admit it, I'm very behind on watching some of the top classic movies. I just watched Godfather within the past year! Anyway, the movie was interesting. I'm not going to say it's my favorite but it did bring up some interesting questions that apply to my life! Are there really people out there that are so selfless that they would let the person they love go knowing that it is the right thing to do? I honestly don't know if I, or anyone I know, is that strong that they could let the one person in the world who completes them to just walk away. Or not even walk away, Humphrey Bogart's character sent the love of his life away!
I need to get some stitching done today! I am behind on a few projects that I am so close to wrapping up! Off I go!

Thursday, April 02, 2009

The Good, The Bad...and the ugly?

I know I am a little bit early on a weekly wrap up, but it's been one of those weeks!

This has been a good week and a bad week. The good parts were that the bad weather finally went away and we were able to clean up and start enjoying spring again. I was able to connect with My Sailor and have lovely nice long conversations with him (it's so rare we get the time to do that!). I've been busy working on some projects and have almost completed some of them! The bad, or not so good, part of the week was that a staff meeting has been called for our subsidiary next week and the COO, CEO, and human resource manager will be there to help with some "personnel matters." Nope, not a clue what that is. The theories are flying though!!! #1 theory: we are all being laid off. There are a bunch of other theories but to be honest, none of us know what it is about. But in today's economy, who knows? I'm amazingly calm about it though. I'm not so sure if that is a good or bad thing?

I will try to have some pictures to put up of completed projects (fingers crossed!). Maybe some pictures of my time with Duke. Hope to get out to the dog park or the levee to give him some time to run and play! That is if it doesn't still look very wet out there. There is nothing worse than wet dog and then having to give him a bath!!!!