The State of the Stitching and Other End Stuff

First off...Happy New Year everyone!!! (this post may show a 2006 start date but it is finished in 2007)

It is amazing what I hear and get from dd's karate class. The instructor was going on with them about how they practice in class and how it can be representative of how they will perform on the test and about challenging yourself to keep trying harder so things won't be boring. It is so amazing how it can/does apply to life too. Life is a challenge and if we keep trying our best and pushing ourselves to be the best..... it can be amazing the things we can accomplish. I guess that will be my big goal(resolution) for the year is to try my best at everything I do.

Speaking of a new year......... another one is upon us and I guess it is time to start to lay out my goals/dreams for the new year as far as stitching goes. My main goal is to end the year with less WIPs than when I started it. Big dreams.....I know. Life has a habit of getting in my way, but if I can find a workable rotation(another topic for blog), then I think I can accomplish just that.

To be more specific though with this goal, I'd like to say that I finished the following:

Gift of Peace, Apache Wedding, High Flight and dd's teddy bear birth sampler. I also want to finish all of the small L*K Christmas virtues from 2006. I also will need to be involved in an exchange somewhere along the year on the CSC board.

I'd like to say I made significant distance on my first titanic piece, giggles,lady of the flag, queen of freedom and finally simply welcome as well as SAL(enchanted cottage).

2006 was a somewhat disappointing year for stitching but I am trying to improve and make my challenges for 2007!!!

Until next time!!!

Holiday Wishes

I had planned to start this blog entry the other day, but just couldn't find the time or thoughts to kick start it into gear; but now I think they are coming though, this maybe short as I'm at work.

First off I want to send my deepest sympathies and prayers to a friend and her family from the Cross Stitch Crazy board on EZboard. Any time you lose a close loved one is tough; but when it is so young and sudden, it just makes it that much tougher. Love Ya Tina!!!!

Ok...with that said off to make my Christmas wish list as I'm not sure how soon I'll make it over here again and the next time might be after Christmas.

Firstly to all of the gals of the Cross Stitch Crazy board(see link above),

I wish for you smooth stitching days with no frogs, bright and sunny times in life with an occasional problem that isn't too difficult to get through. I only wish for the difficult times, because it helps to make the good times that much better and more noticable and nothing more. You gals are like the sisters I never had. You carry me through the rough times and help me celebrate my successes and I don't think I could be closer to a bunch of people like you. Thanks for always being there!!!

For my family (parents, grandmother,aunts,uncle,cousins& their families)

I wish for nothing but happy, healthy, financially secure times for the coming year. A calm non-eventful year would be nice to make things easier.

For my dd

I wish her nothing but being happy at who she is, what she does, and becoming a responsible young gal. I delight in watching her as she explores her world and finds her true loves out of life. I have loved the journey thus far and can't wait to see what more comes around the bend. I do wish that the lessons that life has to show her aren't as hard as they were on me and that some of the mannerisms don't have a way of having history repeat itself.

For my DH

I wish for him the continued understanding that when I'm in a mood, he has the continued patience to deal with me. He is so much better than I am. He deals with all of the crud(being lazy,moody or whatever) and rarely throws it back at me. I'm so lucky to have found you and have you in my life hon!!!! Thank you for just being you!!!

For the world as a whole

The hope that all people could sit down and agree to disagree over things and perhaps talk them out; deciding that terroristic acts aren't the only way to convince people that one side is right. If the world could understand that, then maybe we wouldn't have to worry about our kid's innocence being lost and what type of a world that we will leave behind for them. We would be able to see what the world has to offer and explore our diversity without causing trouble.

Finally myself

I want for myself, the time and chance to learn the habits of being organized and set to do things because I'm tired of being "last minute Charlie" on everything. I want to find the time for my hobbies without having my house not clean or missing work or whatever. I would love to learn how to do home repairs right and as good as the pros. I would love to be able to build and fix my own computers and design webpages etc well and quickly. I know though that time is the key thing in a lot of these wishes and I don't seem to have it so that would be another wish. More time for myself, friends and family.

With this, I'm closing here except to wish y'all a happy holiday season; no matter which one you celebrate!!!!

Crazy times ahead

Just when I thought I was finding that bit of balance in my life, the holidays have come in full force. You thought I was scarce before, that was nothing compared to the next few months.

DD will be having basketball practices on Saturday during December 9 and 16th and then games start right after the holidays on Saturday’s looks like afternoon times. Karate will have to probably shift from 1 during the week and Saturday back to 2 during the week unless practice is on 1 of those days and then Saturday, or will have to see about getting off early just during those couple of months. She will also have a belt test in there and I think a sparring competition also. So you see the entire amount of running I’m doing.

I’ll also have a hectic work schedule in January because of year-end and extra time will be spent at work, so my life is about to go crazy.

Keeping that in mind while it is a stitchathon month at Cross Stitch Crazy, I’m staying low on goals:

RR’s from another board (have 1 in possession to date and 2nd on way)
Finish Family Home Love by year - end!
Whatever else hits me and time allows!

Been kind of in a slump and just need to find my groove again

Finding Balance

Those two words in my title seem to be a big thing in my life right now. I can't seem to find it for everything I do. It's kind of interesting on how I have come to get to thinking about this. I take dd to her karate classes during the week usually unless a work "emergency" comes up. Last night they were going over form stances and sparring stances and talking about making sure you have a "good foundation" cause it is too easy to lose your balance if you get hit and you don't have a good stance. As we were driving home from class I told dd that remember what you talked about in class because it applies to school and life as well.

I realize that I haven't been finding the right balance lately( been focused in one or 2 things and not enough on others) and I need to refocus my efforts. Course when things throw a monkey wrench into the works like the cable TV showing missing(off air) channels and they actually aren't....well balance gets thrown out the window.

Anyway hopefully I can that balance quickly again and be around the people and things I love most without one thing overwhelming another. In response to last post comment, I have gotten hooked on DOOL(days of our lives) again. I loved watching the Steve and Kayla stuff back in high school and college mainly and was happy to hear they're back. Their storyline has really started to kick into gear and I've found a board or 2 where the people are as passionate about it as I am. I love the chemistry between Mary Beth and Stephen. I know they are good friends both on and off set and it just shows in their work.

Anyway with more news:

We went to dd's conference last night too (busy night). The teacher was pretty pleased with her. She has a habit of rushing through things and not always answering the question asked. She can be forgetful at times and doesn't always finish assignments when need be in teacher's time limits. She misses the honor this time only cause of the "n" in the instrumental music elective. I haven't been pushing like I should for her to practice and that doesn't help her either. Plus she's having a hard time with getting fingerings. Otherwise I think we had a bunch of "s" and sveral "o"'s and like 2 or 3 B's and the rest A's. I'm pretty pleased and we now have a push to get straight top marks and I told her another day of getting nails done. She is doing above level work in both math and language arts so I'm very happy that she seems to be challenged.

I think that's it for now....really need to be working but we just finished a close so a calm Friday isn't a bad thing.

Later!!

Where have I been hiding and Goals??

I just haven't been in the mood to stitch and have gotten hooked into a soap yet again. Plus dd's schedule and problems have seemed to drag me away but I promise I'm reading just not posting.

Anyway my goals for the month:

mainly to stitch on more than just family Home Love

RR's that I have and are coming and a WIP that is calling my name.

I really need to put in more than 2 hours a week stitching but my house, work and stuff are just creating disaster areas that are calling my name.

Catch y'all later

It’s amazing that what’s old is new again in so many things. I’ve been watching TV with my dd in the mornings and at night before she goes to bed, and the toys that we see coming up are things that I used to play with or were the “hot item” just after I outgrew them. She is constantly asking me, did you have this as a kid and if so when did it come out. It is kind of fun to see but also reminds me of just how old I really am. I can see why this stuff is reappearing too, as people from my generation are now parents and want their kids to enjoy the things we used to do and go back to a time, where innocence was bliss and we didn’t have to deal with terrorists, school shootings or the like. It really is amazing that it just takes a kid making up a story to get a school system in a hubbub like it did in the past 2 weeks in my area; and in some respects a shame too. I remember in elementary school having to evacuate our building for a bomb threat. I don’t even remember if they figured out who called it in but people were calm, cool and collected and no over panic. Now it is a terrorist threat, some whacko being dumb, or kids being stupid. It is just a shame that the world has to come to this over a few people who can’t agree to disagree or compromise or whatever.

Anyway let me leave my soapbox…….(there much better)

The past couple of weeks have been crazy on many levels. DD has had issues with a few of the kids in aftercare and also has gotten 2 versions of the stomach bug and I seem to have followed her like a week after each. Also I basically spent the night at work one night to finish up financials. It was nice though as that Friday I got a nice gift card and spent a portion of it on PR’s Enchanted Fairy. The rest will probably go for a nice dinner out. Stitchingwise, I hit a slight slump and speed bump as all of this made things suffer and I really haven’t had time to pick up much of anything except family, home, love during dd’s karate practices. I hope though that the past night or 2 has made things relax and work on it more.
Well that’s what’s been going on….catch y’all soon!!

Stitching stuff and October Goals

September was a pathetic month stitchingwise except for Family, Home Love and it is missing 2 border words and almost 2 brown middle dialog lines (just 1 letter short of that).

So I decided I needed a kick in the buns to be stitching and figured this was a good push as well.

I'm going to do the 10 project challenge as described below( they have 25 and 50 as well and I reserve the right to push the level up to those as I need to/want to). My main exemptions are the last 2 Lizzie Kates of Christmas flip its( I have the other 10 patterns and want complete set), the new PR enchanted fairy and any materials I might need to do said patterns. As the challenge started 9/1/06, I just have my first finish with this last quilt square.

From the Wagon bb:
Purpose of the challenge: to reduce the amount of patterns you have not stitched. This challenge can also be applied to other areas of you stash if you wish (please post your personal modification).

The Rules:
1. Have fun reducing your stash.
2. There is no time limit- people have different size projects they would like to work on.
3. Thou shall not purchase any new patterns until 10, 25, or 50 projects have been stitched. Pattern size does not matter. WIPs and UFOs finishes count.
4. This challenge can also apply to knitting, beading, sewing and crocheting patterns.
5. You can make some exemptions - I am not placing limitations on this due to commitments that people might already have. Remember, though, the goal of this challenge is to reduce stash so too many exemptions will sabotage these efforts. I have declared three exemptions.
6. Gifts, gift cards, trades, RAKs and patterns bought with gift money are not a violation of this challenge. Patterns bought to make gifts for someone else are also exempt.
7. Freebies count as part of your total and you can aquire them at any point.
8. You do not have to declare the projects you intend to work on. (If listing would make you feel better please do so)
9. The offical start date of this challenge was Sept 1, 2006 since I have been posting about it for awhile and want to make sure the everyone's projects have been included. All projects finished on or after this date count for the challenge. Example: you have been working TW's Peacock Tapestry for the past 36 months and you finally finished it on Sept. 12th... it counts as part of your total for the challenge.


I also will get a list together for patterns I want to finish up for a challenge on the Needle nook board. I do know first is to finish Family,Home, Love for 2006.

Gift of Peace,Apache Wedding and High Flight I think are going to be my biggies for 2007 as well as having all of the Lizzie Kate Christmas ones done for the season on 2007.

Anyway here's my October goals:

RR's as they come(have 1 right now)

Family Home Love

New Start of wintry type thing ( 1 of the 4 done) and

I just need to get back to a rotation on some of these pieces I have going...I have some pretty close and I'd like to get them finished!!!!!

2 posts in a few days...wow I must be getting better!!!!

Random Thoughts and such

When is the world going to actually slow down and give me a chance to catch up???

I knew coming into August with dd's birthday, friends spending a weekend with us, karate, and back to school stuff that I just wasn't going to have too much time for anything for me. But here it is toward the end of September and I'm still riding the fast moving coaster. I haven't found that comfortable pattern for dd and I in the mornings and the evenings seem to push along just as fast. Of course there has been some minor upheaval and we are only about a month into the school year but it has got to get better than this. I need the time for me to unwind and not be tired like I was this am.

OK rant over......

I started this post a couple of days ago(9/22 and today is 9/27 in actual) and it just takes something in life to make you think about what's important. For those of you reading from the DC area, you'll know what I'm talking about....the rest of you will get a chance to figure it out.
Yesterday on the news was a major story about a Hit and Run incident. (Yeah you are thinking no big deal right now) The incident itself happened on the road right outside of my office though. I make the turn in the morning usually right at the intersection where the body of the lady was found. If I go out to lunch at Wendy's or McDonalds, one of the last turns I make prior to getting back to my office is the intersection where the lady was struck after attempting to follow her husband across the street, just doing nothing but walking to the metro to head down to DC probably. If you drive on the road, the police markings are there and you can distinctly see the one tire print that was probably where the lady was caught and drug. Why does something so senseless has to happen. It makes you look at relationships and treasure each moment you have left.

OK sad moment over...

Here's the updates........

STITCHING:
I have been working on Family,Home Love

I have 2 of the outside words done and almost 4 of the 6 lines, that's the good news

The bad news is that I haven't been doing much more than that(see my rant above)

DD:

Things are going OK here with her. She has been back to old ways in forgetting to bring stuff home or having it mixed up with a seatmates stuff. That drives me bonkers. She has helped out with the LFI kids at school (disabled kids) and enjoyed it and signed up and got peer mediator, and picked out an instrument that she wants to try for band this year(flute...I used to play clarinets and saxophones). We will see what happens with that. To think she also wants to add basketball this winter....YIKES. I have one busy little gal now, but as long as the grades and stuff doesn't suffer, I don't care, it means less time for friends but they can deal too. She also is getting ready to test for next belt level and is enjoying karate. I love seeing her face light up when she does well with a form or whatever.

ME:

I was made the offer and accepted it with the company. It was right where I'd hope and a bit more. I helped quite a bit with close and with another one just around the corner......we will see what happens.

Well I think this is it for now......I'll try to be better about hitting here and doing other things. I just wish it would calm down so I could find some kind of flow if you get it.

Later!!!

CHhhhannges and what's the saying .........

Most of what I am about to post here goes under one or both portions of the title. Somehow I got the David Bowie song in my mind and with the proverb of when a door closes, a window opens just seem to hit with my life right now. (this portion and the title was posted yesterday)

It just seems amazing to me that I could come up with that after what happened in the UK today. Why can't people at least learn to agree to disagree and get on with their lives? Is it some "manly macho" thing? I can't help but think if women were treated at least somewhat fairly like they are here in the US instead of "property" like they are in the Middle East that maybe some sense would prevail. One could hope at least. I only fear as I have relatives there(in UK) and plans to travel over there sometime in the near future, that maybe things will somewhat finally work themselves out.

Now getting toward the personal side of things......

Job

Monday morning will be my last day at the long term temp spot. I had an interview this morning with a company that was looking temp to perm(only cause of quirky things that happened previously and will probably flip this job over to perm fast...if they like me and I like the job. It is a bit of a longer distance but the long term temp spot was not developing into a spot where I would want to stay,(more like an entry level and I am much more qualified than that) I start the new position Wednesday am....can't wait!!!!!

DD

She had her birthday last week and from us this year, we got her tickets to the Mystics(ladies pro basketball game). She didn't seem happy initially with it but once at the game she loved it and got into the game!!! We also had her name added to the scoreboard which was displayed 3rd quarter. End of game we bought her a game jersey and she bought with money from her granddaddy earrings(slight dangle) with the team logo. The past weekend we did the family party where she got a 2 charms and a bracelet, money and giftcards, and some clothes which I am making her wait til school to wear!!

Stitching:

Did my 1 letter for finishers and maybe bit more on other pieces. I had to entirely frog out family home love cause it is longer than higher and I was stitching it backwards on the fabbie!!! YUCK!!!! Spent 2 hours to pull it all and have recovered pretty well with 1 small word and almost 3 bigger letters of one of the border words done. Hopefully will get a bunch done next week during the stitchathon. Didn't do much more cause I was fighting headaches and an ear thing(clogged ears)

Goals for august...time maybe tight

last quilt square

family home love (home and 1 line done)

finishers piece...want to put a noticeable dent in

Think that's it for now..have friends here and spending a few nights in the house and I need to be up a touch early so I'm off for now!!!! Good night!!!!!

Well here is the latest and greatest

Job:

Got a long term temporary spot that hasn't been too busy right now. Not sure what to think of it but we will see.

Stitching:

Last week or so haven't been stitching cause of a strained neck and it has been causing headaches and pressure in my ears. I think it has finally died down but I'm giving it a day or 2 more til I start up stitching again.

DD:

Got her new belt in a little over a month...went from white to gold!! She's also going to basketball camp this week and had a blast today. Can't believe her birthday is coming soon!!!!

Another month on the books for 2006

Well another month has come and gone and while I stitched some and job interviewed etc. I am not entire happy with how the month went.

Job Searching

This has been the most frustrating thing. I have had people interview me first and second time and then take a pass....I have had stuff offered to me that looked in my eyes and I think in potential future employers eyes as a step down and I've turned those down hoping that something else great would come back. I just want something to help bring $$$ back in house. We aren't in bad shape, I had done something that has given us spots for more $$ but I REALLY don't want to push into it too far. The worst thing is I feel like a reject and if it weren't my board friends...things would really look bad to me.

DD

She is loving camp and karate. So much so that we have special offer that lowers monthly price for a bit and we might be taking advantage of it. Her report card was great too...2 s's and 2b's and the rest was A's and O's. She's being challenged with the B classes so I'm not upset. My biggest beef is that there are spots about completing assignments and were times at school where she lost focus to remember to bring things home. She could be so much better and I know the karate will help with that. She is so loving a wide range of things and loving playing with neighborhood friends too. She has basketball camp at end of month and has a special gift coming on top of that for her birthday. I'll reveal that when it gets closer to the day (about a month away)

Stitching:

June wasn't too bad though did have about a 2 week slump. Finished up 1 piece, started and finished 2 others. I am very happy about that!!!

July...

I want to finish 3 remaining quilt squares
I also want to work highly on Family
I want to do that 1 letter for finishers piece this month early on to go ahead and pass it
I also want to put decent time on WIPS and start few others I have kitted up

Well that's it from now...hugs to my board friends who have been holding me up quite a bit this past month!!!! Hopefully I'll have a job soon and can get back into lots of routines

End of the month wrapup

The month took a big turn right after I wrote my last entry. I was "laid off...aka booted" from my job for "budget streamlining" issues. The company, in my honest opinion, is running scared in some respects only cause they were running low on funds and a deal they made prior to my booting doubled their funds. So I have been on the job market and meeting with different groups. Looks like I might be close to something but we will see.

Ok....my stitching has been really focused on 1 piece..Stitchers Blessing and it is REALLY close to being finished. I have just 1 full block and a portion of the other and it is done. I'll try to figure how to post the pic once I'm finished with it.

As far as family goes, I am afraid that by year end my grandmother will be gone. She doesn't look good after this last chemo/radiation sessions. She hates being a bother to everybody but knows she has to rely on help.

Ok....I want to go do a few other things so here's June's somewhat lofty goals

Finisher's pieces for May and June (may to be exchanged June 3rd)
Quilt blocks
Work on Titanic piece a bit
Center poem portion of Apache Wedding
Work on Gift of Peace
Start High Flight
and if mood and time help....Queen of Freedom and/or Lady of the Flag

Catch y'all later!!!!!

Here it is again....

I neglected this space for yet another month and feel a slight bit of guilt about it.....only slight because I just now realized how long I'd been gone from here. LOL

Things have been moving along that crazy path of life and while I'm trying to keep up, it seems things just seem to fall apart.

So here is the blended upadte of everything going on....

Stitching:

April Goals listed with accomplishment on the side of it.

Finish bookmark in 1st weekend (has to be mailed by 7th)-finished 4/2 and sent 4/10..just a bit late

Stitcher's blessing the 4 corners done- got 4 blocks done and a bit more
1 side of Apache wedding or the middle verse -nope
More on Gift of Peace -nope
Start on High Flight and whatever else calls my name ;-)nope to high flight but started a titanic piece

So you can see I got some time and stuff in but not what I truly wanted to get done.

Here's the simplified May Goals

Work on Finisher's piece once received
Work on Titanic Piece
2 blocks of Stitcher's Blessing
Get some major time in on Apache Wedding, Gift of Peace (can't seem get to working on these again) and perhaps start Lady of Flag,High Flight, Queen of Freedom

Work life:

Work has driven into high drive as I'm involved in several projects and they all seem to require a bit of attention here and there. It isn't a bad thing but I just want to be sure everything is cool and I'm not soooo overwhelmed. We made it through the 1st quarter close;and are ,as I type, in the middle of April close. Friday(tomorrow) will be a day of catch up and hopefully get a few of the small things off of my plate so we are good to go. If not this month then next will be mid year budget and I expect to be highly pushed into it.

Home life:

Somebody please tell me when I got a preteen kid with an attitude and mouth. Also tell me when this starts to get worse and then when it gets better. I can see us having quite a few battles before she hits high school if it is starting now and she's only in 3rd grade. She has always been the seemingly sweet and nice girl but this year has seen our share of problems. She hit honor roll again and also received a character counts award during assembly at the end of April. She showed us those very proudly. Last night, after forgetting either her spelling book or lunch box for what seems like the 2000th time, she hands us a piece of paper that states she got in trouble for mouthing off to a teacher. She said he was taking too long to get to the computer lab and she said finally in a sarcastic tone. this incident happened that same day and she has forgotten to pass it to us since then (basically 3 days later). Yes, we as the parents need to be watching her backpack and stuff; but she also needs to be a responsible person too. I love the gal but sometimes her actions just drive me crazy. Course my mom says she's just like me...since that is the case I am even more amazed with my mother then.

She is playing softball this spring and we have had 1 game thus far with a "doubleheader"(friday, saturday) this week. She made contact both ties she was up and drove in 1 run and scored twice herself during that first game.

Myself:

I have started looking at my life again and am thinking about going back to school online. I am thinking about 2 masters certificates and perhaps with those total credits, I could sit for the CPA if I REALLY wanted to. I also was just "promoted" as a moderator to one of the boards I frequent so I am enjoying my new found power.

I think that's it and what's on my mind right now...sorry it has been so long and I'll try not to be a stranger here so often.....

April Goals and other stuff

Well another month is upon us and I'd really like to get a push on to get things done....

Here's my goal list for the month:

Finish bookmark in 1st weekend (has to be mailed by 7th)
Stitcher's blessing the 4 corners done
1 side of Apache wedding or the middle verse
More on Gift of Peace
Start on High Flight.......and whatever else hits me...

In other news dd got her ears pierced yesterday. We had talked about it last August but decided to wait. Well while waiting for DH to get his haircut, we went in the toy store and then over to Claires. I mentioned about her getting them done and she thought about it. I told her she'd need to be the main one responsible for initial care...and she said she really wanted to do it. So now they are done with her birthstones. They look nice and she said she only wanted to do them once and that was it. We will see when she's older.

Well let me run..it will be late with the hour of sleep we lose tonight.

What a month...

The past week or so has been a whirlwind to say the least. Let me try to break this down.

Firstly familywise. DD has/had a spot around her face which was finally diagnosed as ringworm. We have been prescription topical on it and in the last few days seems to be going away (you have to look really close to find it now so hopefully by spring break it is gone. My grandmother was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer after a Biopsy in the past couple of weeks. I'm not surprised since she has been smoking most of her life though she had cut it back quite significantly many years ago.

Then dealing with those infamous cars.....Wednesday last week we had the buick picked up for charity, figuring we had 2 cars and could go look over the weekend. Well Thursday morning before I left for work, I get a call from DH to get him a rental car place number, something had slipped on the old Saturn (215K + mileage) so we made arrangements over the weekend to get rid of that one which went Tuesday(28th). Friday (24th) we went out to the local Saturn dealership planning on looking for a good used Saturn, either an Ion or another L series. we found a car but not a Saturn...we now co-own a 2002 Honda Accord Sedan that had under 30K on it. Talk about amazed....... We jumped on it and got what we think was a pretty good deal.

So needless to say between all of this going on my stitching hasn't been happening like I would though I have managed to get my bookmark for exchange almost done. I'll post it and other stuff later.

Think that's it for now....will post more if needed

Later!!!

Just a few rambles

I thought I needed to post an update here, while getting my mind focused on the work issues at hand and game planned, so off I go......

Firstly, I wanted to post a shout out to my high school alma mater girl's basketball team on winning the state 1A championship!!!!!! You have made our small towns and community proud by your accomplishment!! For those not in the know(most all of you), my school population was 800 kids (200 a grade 9-12) and not always made up of the most talented kids there. The last time we hoisted a state title girls was back in 1986 for softball and I don't think the guys have had one recent either so something like this is a real big deal!!!!

Secondly, to the gals on http://p104.ezboard.com/bcrossstitchcrazy99277 (Cross Stitch Crazy). I wanted to thank you for your calming vibes last week.

Most of the situation dealt with dd not wanting to go to school or getting worked up at school over Math and a couple of boys teasing her about it. I think it was the boys more than the math, based on the teacher's repsonse to my email about the situation. The teacher told me she got an A on her fraction quiz ( the subject she was having a bit of trouble with) and her teacher also told me that she doesn't worry too much about her and not getting things....dd usually tries to work it out before the teacher can help her. By the end of the week between her talking to the teacher and an email from me, things seemed to be resolved.

Stitching wise I have put the "rotation" if you can call it that on hold while I work on a teacher gift and exchange piece. I should have both done by the end of the week at the latest so I can jump back to sticthers blessing and gift of peace. I am even thinking about starting high flight.....I am getting scary again about starts.

Well back to work and thanks for listening

March Goals and a day makes a difference

Firstly, I just needed to vent because so much was going on all at once. The day after getting work stuff done and just focusing makes the vision that much better. Grandmother's taxes done, dd's game over and my parents were only in the house for just a few minute before we left to go down there certainly helped.

Now to move forward...here's my March Goals:

1. Border (left/center) on Dragon Dreams Stitchers Blessing
2. Finishers piece ( Mirabilia's Angel Proclamation) work on as much as possible
3. 1 side of Apache Wedding Blessing done
4. Time on gift of Peace to keep it from looking like a blob

O one blog type thing before I go.....What color heart

Your Heart Is Pink

In relationships, you like to play innocent - even though you aren't.Each time you fall in love, it's like falling for the first time. Your flirting style: Coy Your lucky first date: Picnic in the park Your dream lover: Is both caring and dominant What you bring to relationships: Romance

Well off to stitch and keep working towards those goals!!!

Why is it.....?

that when you need time to deal with a few things at a time, everything seems to come to a "head" all at once. It's March and month end close, I'm dealing with finishing up ours and my grandmother's taxes, my mom coming down to watch dd's make up basketball game, aunt's birthday, and DH had to decide to talk about the car situation. I just wanted/needed to get through this weekend in peace and then we could deal with the cars. A little background, we have 3 cars ( 1 in his name, 1 in my name and 1 joint) . His has over 110K on it, My solo has over 205K on it and the joint is approaching 100K, (97K but except for roadtrips to folks or friends doesn't get too much mileage on it anymore). We have been waiting for the 2 solos to die but his has been running smoothly lately and mine well except for an exhaust pipe that is rotting away and being very noisy... I think it is running fine. We have a car payment on the joint but it has only 1 year left and we also have payments for new windows but with the tax refund we are getting would kill it, opening a chance to use this money for a new payment. I just wish the timing would be better.

Anyway let me run...I just needed to vent.

Amazing how wonders never cease

Usually I find only maybe once a month to do this, but to hit it twice in one week is truly amazing. I guess with my birthday coming around the corner and the untimely death of a member of several of the stitching bulletin boards I frequent, has got me in a reflective mood.

Just thinking of the reaction to the death of this young lady...she was only in her late 20's.... has me thinking of how many people's lives have I touched and have I touched them in the "right" way? Have I been caring, fun loving and enjoying of their company and have they been of me. Do they look to me as being need of being the center of attention for the conversations I have dominated or knowledgeable and just wanting to help.

Have I set a decent example for dd? I know I am the worst housekeeper and I let things pile up until they need to be done. I have even on occasion ignored dd when she has specifically wanted something only because I have been so focused on what I have wanted/needed to do first. I have yelled at her to get things done or whatever just to get my point across when nothing else seems to get through. I hope that she knows I love her and don't want her to have to make the mistakes I have simply because she is SOOOOOO much like me, it is scary. While there are plenty of things that I like about myself and I hope dd is like me, there have been things in my life that I have messed up and I hope I can keep her from doing too.

The legacy I hope to leave behind is a good one, one that says I enjoyed life lots and did what I can to make a difference in whomever I met or touched. I hope my dd shows those values as well. I hope my family and friends know how much they mean to me, in lots of instances more than words could ever describe. It is just a shame that life has to throw something as senseless or traumatic as this your way to get your attention, get refocused and really evaluate what life is for you. And it is, as wonders never cease, that life finds the right time when you need it most to do it. :)

Here it is again......

Just over a month since I have been back here. Things while not totally crazy haven't let up enough to allow me to catch up in anything. I just hate that. I also have never been the type to get into diaries weekly or whatever. It has always been when the mood hits. It is never a good thing. Right now the TV is off and DD is driving me me nuts trying to do her homework. She's doing aliteration sentences with her spelling words but it has been like "pulling teeth" to get her to do it. Furthermore she forgot her math homework at school and it was supposed to be her basketball practice night. This is 2 in a row we missed. It has been a busy couple of days at work with month end close and the auditors looking over our stuff. I just want to get inot project accounting and get all my projects caught up. I have pictures to download to my website too, only taken this weekend but no time to dump them to put them on the page.

Let me run as I'd like to catch up on a few things before the vicious cycle of work starts again tomorrow.