Tuesday, June 26, 2007

New projects...help meeeeeeee...

What is it with the lure of starting a new project? I have way too many WIPs as it is. Saturday night, I started "Wedding Row" by Bent Creek and have it halfway done already. I am supposed to start a quilt square that's not due until early September, but have I started it yet? Nooooooooooo. *sigh*

So what exactly is calling out to me? To sum it up...everything. LOL! Here's a partial list of what I want to start right now but not in any particular order: any of the Tall Guys I have kitted up, Just Nan's "Icy Hill", any Shepherd's Bush needleroll kits, Shepherd's Bush "Americana" scissor fob, one year's worth of Lizzie Kate's flip-its or stamps on one piece of fabric (especially since I got that new mystery fabric in), Hinzeit's "Rise and Shine" for my kitchen, Hinzeit's "Bath Time" for my bathroom (plus I have the frame - woo hoo!), and sooooo many more. That list just scratches the surface!

I just realized that my last post mentioned "work-outs" in the title but I never addressed that subject. I must confess that I have started a work-out program that I purchased on a set of DVDs. Call me vain but it was worrying me that my poochy belly would look bad in scrubs. LOL! Now that I've tried them on, I see that the shirt is long enough and covers the waist area but still...I want to get a bit more "toned" if ya' know what I mean. :)

I guess that's all I'm going to blog for right now or else I'll just start bitching about various stuff. No need to do that. :-)

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Awesome S.E.X., work-outs, etc...

Let's cover the awesome S.E.X. updates first...

I got my fabric in today from Cross Stitch Haven that I've been anticipating. It's sooooooo purdy! Of course the receipt doesn't list a fabric count or type or anything. *grrrrrrr* Again, I am promising myself that I'll take pictures and post them here. We'll see how long that takes me. ;-)

Today is the day I get to meet with the Tony Stewart lovin' ex-stitcher customer lady. Woo hoo! She gets off work at 6 and I'm going to meet here there. We spoke on the phone earlier and she said she has found her fabric and threads but that she will find her charts/leaflets soon. It's not even 5:15 at the moment and I can't wait until 6. *jumping around, drooling, and having hyper fits*

The mail was good to me Friday and today. Not only did my fabric arrive, but also a RAK package from a fellow board member arrived with a John Deere chart I just adore!!! Looks like the ol' stitching pile is going to get re-prioritized soon. *hee hee* Plus, on Friday, I received a RAK from someone on a board I used to frequent who I thought had long forgotten about me. What a nice surprise! I don't know if I have her e-mail address but I know she'd rather have a "real" thank you through the snail mail anyway so that's a little something I need to take care of this week. It really touched me that she remembered me. It doesn't matter how big or small an RAK is...it truly is the thought that counts.

My scrubs should be arriving this week for me to try on. The size we think I need comes with a 30" or 31" inseam. The sales rep said for me to try them on and see exactly how much length I need to have added on, then I'll mail those back and they'll get to work on my custom order. Hmmm...considering my normal jeans inseam is 36" or 38", I think we're going to have to add a wee bit. *snort* So, sometime this week, I get to see how I look in scrubs for the very first time. Well, capri-style scrubs anyway. LOL!!! Hey, maybe I can start a new trend. BAHhahahahaha!!!

To whoever may be reading...thanks for taking the time to peek into my world. I hope your world is treating you well, too. :)

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Insomniac ramblings again...

Yikes! I let too much time slip by since I last blogged so here goes a bunch of stuff I've been meaning to post. If you read all of this, stay interested, and manage to remain semi-awake, I will bow at your feet upon our next meeting. ;-)

The most important thing to report is that Brad's surgery was a major success! The one large lipoma turned out to be a bunch of small ones. I have no clue if that's good or bad but the surgeon got them all so it doesn't really matter. Yay! He's healing very well with the minor exception that one very small spot is still seeping a teeny amount of blood (like the size of a pin head) but that's it...nothing to call the doctor about at this time. He goes back to the doctor on June 19th to have the sutures removed. Meanwhile, we'll just keep an eye on the incision site. Not hard to do considering it's basically eye-level on his neck. LOL!

Some exciting stitching news (for me, anyway) is that some fabric I ordered from Cross Stitch Haven in Oklahoma City has arrived at their shop. I need to call them tomorrow (er, today) and give them my credit card info so I can get that fabric in my hot little hands. I don't even know the name of the fabric but I saw some models stitched on it and fell totally in love. It's 28 count and I'm not even sure if it's linen or evenweave. How sad is that?!?!? Ha ha ha ha!!! It's got these squares woven in and my LK and BC monthly square patterns will fit perfectly in those squares. It's a neutral color, like a tan, and I just can't wait to get that fabric! *drool drool*

I've been in a "nice" mode lately. I'm trying really hard to be extra-nice to people, both in real life and in cyber life. Why? I don't know for sure. I think my motivation stems from something like a "root for the underdog" kind of thing but on a much deeper level, probably much deeper than even I realize. Regardless, it doesn't hurt anyone. :)

My list of things-to-do is bigger than ever. I have roughly nine weeks left before school starts and still I have a ton of things to do. Tomorrow I will start knocking out some things on my list but I must begin by first writing them down. I'll mark them off as I go so that I can see some accomplishments being made.

I MUST make another date to attempt quitting smoking again. I'm thinking next Monday. (Warning: This blog might get really foul then because I'm sure everyone in the world will piss me off. It won't have anything to do with me being grouchy or irritable, I'm sure.) *hee hee* I wonder if my "nice mode" will suffer. hahahahaha

Why am I wanting to start so many damn projects right now??? I already have five WIPs yet it's a daily fight to not start something new. The Sub, Bluebonnets, MH kit, my afghan, and my all-but-forgotten-about Snapperville is plenty for now, right? Yet I'm dying to start multiple needlerolls, a scissor fob, either (or both - HAH!) of the Just Nan charts I purchased, any of the Tall Guys I have all kitted up (yes, I actually kitted up ALL of them...*thud*), anything on the 40-count linen I bought to try for the very first time, anything over one (again, for the first time), and so much more. *sigh* So far, I have been strong and have promised myself I won't start anything new until I knock out one of the WIPs I already have going. We'll see how strong I remain when my beloved fabric arrives. Aaaaaaaargh, help meeeeeee!

Today, I finished a little snowman for 123 board member's son. It was BC's Snowman Flatbed Zippie chart but I stitched it on 28-count Jobelan over two. I won this pattern in a contest at 123 a few weeks ago so I guess it was meant to be that I stitch it, right? It turned out really cute but when I framed it, somehow it was off 4 stitches too close to the left and 3 stitches too high from the bottom. *sigh* It ate at me and ate at me and ate at me. I couldn't change it or add more stitches because I had already put the dang thing on some of that self-stitck mounting board and put it in the 3.5" X 5" frame. Finally, I called my mother and she suggested that I add a few snowflakes as embellishments or something to even it up. Bingo! I did just that it even Brad and the kids said it looks great. :) Heck, it's for a 5-yr-old boy so it's not like he's gonna care but his mother is a stitcher and might post pictures at 123. *gasp!* I HAD to make it look better and hope it's acceptable to whoever might see it. (No, this project didn't count as one of my WIPs so I can't count it as something knocked out in order to start something new.) :(

Geez, have I rambled enough? *rolling eyes* Congrats if you made it this far. I promise to post pictures...eventually. :) Maybe that'll spruce things up around here. Someday I hope to have a better background, too. Crap -- that just added more stuff on my to-do list. ;-)

Happy stitching and be nice to people, especially me while I'm an aspiring non-smoker next week. LOL!!!

Monday, June 4, 2007

More news and updates...

Okay, scary news and happy news first. I'll save the stitching info for last. :)

Gotta take Brad to the doctor in the morning to hopefully have the lump removed from his neck. We're hoping it's harmless like our family doctor thinks it is. Family doctor also thinks the surgeon can remove it in his office as opposed to a hospital surgery. *crossing everything* The important thing is that the lump really is harmless. Updates to follow as I know more.

I got accepted into the Radiology program! OMG! *thud* We are sooooooo happy and excited, to say the very least. There's lots of things for me to take care of before school starts on August 20th and I'll start tackling those one-by-one after we get through Brad's appointment tomorrow.

Now for the stitching stuff...I got to go to The Silver Needle this past weekend! WOO HOO! It was incredible and more than I had imagined it to be. I behaved pretty good and only spent $160. That was mainly due to the fact that Brad had taken me the day before to Hobby Lobby where we purchased my first Ott Lite. I love it! I used my 40% off coupon and only spent about $100 on the lamp. It's awesome!

At The Silver Needle, I bought my first two Just Nan patterns (4 Wishes and Icy Hill) that came with the beads and charms, two Shepherd's Bush charts (Celebrate Everything and Snow Folio), three Shepherd's Bush needleroll kits (Stitcher's Roll, Americana Roll, and Snow Fall Roll), one Shepherd's Bush scissor fob kit (Americana Scissor Fob), Hinzeit's Charmed Rise and Shine, Smell the Flowers which is the latest release in Bent Creek's Red Thread series, a Pine Mountain pillow kit called Happy Everything, two needle threaders for beading needles, and a Cross Stitch Gauge for a RAK package.

On Saturday, we stopped at Cross Stitch Haven where I purchased a Mill Hill buttoned and beaded kit (On the Range), some white Wisper floss for my mother, two Doodles (Flowers and I'd Pick You), Stoney Creek's More Antique Tractors leaflet, DKT Originals leaflet called Song in My Heart needleroll, and I ordered several cuts of fabric for some LK and BC monthly patterns to do all in one.

When I purchased my Ott Lite, I also found a piece of 27" X 36" 32-ct Latte linen by Permin that was regularly $23.64 but was marked down to $9.50.

What a haul! Woo hoo! I haven't put any of this away yet because I want to stitch on all of it! It's great to get new stash but isn't hard to make yourself keep stitching on stuff you've already started? I don't much self control as it is, but if I didn't have any at all, I'd have 4,671 WIPS. LOL!!!

Recently, I did finish square #5 of 16 on my Town Square afghan. I love that blanket but Brad swears he loves it more than I do. LOL! Crazy man!

Today, I bought two more books at Hasting's. *sigh* I now have 5 books ready to read. I think I'm a borderline book addict. ;)

That's enough for now. Tomorrow might be a long day. Until next time, I hope everyone reading this is doing wonderful and gets many happy hours of stitching.

LoriRay :)