Silk Ribbons

My daughter, Amy, and I are stitching a piece called "My Child's Heart" for my granddaughter, Alana, and I have reached the row where I am going to put in some silk ribbon flowers. I sat down and started stitching, and we realized that the ribbons I had were much to vibrant for the muted sampler. So I went on a hunting expedition this week, trying to find silk ribbons in the muted colors I needed. Not much luck, the stores in this town don't seem to care about silk ribbon embroidery. I bought a couple of kits, even, thinking I may be able to pilfer the ribbons for this project. But I am not sure I have enough of what I need. I plan on sitting down today and then we shall see!

I am so proud of my daughter Amy! After being a regular reader here on my blog, she has decided, quite on her own, to start her own blog. So I would like to introduce "Diaper Days" (see the link at the top of the list at the right. Good job Amy! I hope that many of you will drop in and see her. She is craving some child-rearing advice right now I think!!!

I have sat down several times this week to stitch, and it seems that life keeps getting in the way! I am not making progress on anything. Does anyone else find this irritating? Or is it just me? I always have such good intentions!!

Here is a scan of a my partly finished SB ornament in the Just Cross Stitch series. I had hoped it would be happy dance for the week, but maybe next week!!

We have broken the record here in my home town for consecutive days of rain. I have lost count, but I think we are at over 30 now. Maybe I should start stitching some spring designs!!! LOL!

Home Again, Home again...

I am home from San Diego, after an exhausting day of travel. There were several delays, so it took me almost 12 hours to get home. Not fun! But San Diego is a beautiful city. I drove over to Coronado before I went to the airport yesterday, what a gorgeous place. I want to go back there and stay for a few days. It seemed like classic, golden California in Coronado, a place forgotten in time. Lovely, lovely, lovely.

It IS nice to be home again, back to all the rain. 28 straight days now of rain in Western Washington, tho I missed 7 of them. I heard that the Governor has declared a state of emergency, and the weather reports do not indicate any let up in the next few days. I wish I could transplant the San Diego weather up here!!! Flowers are blooming and the sun is shining!

I did make it back to the needlework shop that had closed for the evening. Big disappointment, it was only knitting and needlepoint yarns. I was kicking myself that I had even spent the time going back. Oh well. So I put this trip to rest....training went well, tho I have alot to process and assimilate when I go back to work. I have Monday off, thank goodness. I'm going to need the extra day to recuperate!! And, if I am really lucky, hold my grandbaby and even stitch!!!

Another Success!

I drove for about 35 minutes yesterday to get to another Needlework shop. At least it was a straight shot on the same street as my class is on. It was Needlework Cottage, clear over by the ocean. I could see the water from the front porch. Very pretty area. I picked up the rest of the Weeks and Gentle Arts threads for the SB ornaments, but nothing else. The shop was good size, but 85% was yarns and threads. Great place for knitters.

Then I drove around for over an hour trying to find the remaining shop in town. Very hard to find. I finally stopped at a Starbucks and asked a lady who looked to be about my age. She knew right where it was. Of course, by the time I got there, it was closed for the night. It was right behind a Hooter's ( !) restaurant, so just peeked in the windows to see if it were worth going back for. I haven't decided if I will go back or not. It's a tricky place to get to.

On my way home, I got slightly lost....I knew I was going in the right direction, just couldn't find the street I wanted. I passed a Marie Calendar's, so stopped for dinner. I LOVE Marie Calendar's, we don't have one at home, so I decided to take advantage of it. I had a wonderful Stroganoff dish and cornbread. I did make it home and then admired all my new threads. Such fun!

Mission Accomplished!

I made it to a real live actual needlework shop on my lunch break. First time in about a year since I have been to one. Oh JOY! I went to Stitch-a-Cross on Mission Gorge Rd in San Diego, about 12 minutes from my class, so I was able to go in an hour. It was a little like going back 20 years, as she still had models from things I had stitched 20 years ago...and of course, 99% of the models did not have patterns in the shop. Oh well. I found some Gentle Arts and Weeks threads that are in the SB ornaments...not all of them of course, but grabbed what she had, and also some Watercolours for the Name Trees. A couple of very small Just Nan patterns that will be nice purse projects. The owner told me the shop I tried to get to Monday had closed only a MONTH ago! She also told me of a shop out near the ocean that I will try to get to after work this evening. At least San Diego is fairly easy to get around in.

Oh Phooey!

They have a web page that is still active. They have a huge ad in the local phone book. They even have a map on how to get there. But when I got there, there was only an empty building with a "For Lease" sign in the window.

Another LNS has bit the dust.

I drove around and around with my little Mapquest map trying to find this place, and it isn't even there! I plan on calling the phone number today, just to double check if they have moved. Probably not, but I will try.

San Diego is warm! I love it. The palm trees are exotic. Class is going well, though I went to bed at 9 PM last night because I was so exhausted. I didn't even do any stitching!!!!

More soon!

So, I discovered that I have internet access here at my computer class in San Diego. Hurray!Now I can keep in touch with everyone.

I put a few stitches in SB#2 on the plane. I don't think I like the color, the pink in the angel dress seems much too bright. I may redo it with a blended needle. Can't remember the thread numbers, the pattern is at the hotel.

It is warm here today in SD. Such an odd feeling going from 40 degrees to almost 80 in one day. I have Bird of Paradise flowering outside my hotel window. It feels so strange. The class is going well, nothing too demanding yet. Had lunch with a couple of gals from Glendale. Figured out that there are two Needlework Shops within 10 minutes of here, I hope to get to them soon! I'll keep you posted on how things are going now that I know I can keep in contact.

Break's over, time for class again! More soon!

San Diego Here I Come!

Well, I am off to San Diego tomorrow morning bright and early. I am pretty well packed up except for the last minute things in the morning, and I still need to clean out my purse and repack into my small one. I have a couple new books, and all my current stitching projects packed, so I should be good to go. I even pulled out my blunt nose scissors for the plane. Though I understand that the restriction for small scissors has been lifted, I am not willing to take a chance loosing my good hardanger points.

I had a call from JoCelle in Aberdeen this morning. Cindy Valentine is in the area, and they are meeting up at Shipwreck Beads tomorrow at noon! I was disappointed, as I will be on my way to SD by then. JoCelle seemed very nice on the phone and we had a great conversation. The plan is to meet up in the Seattle area with all the northwest Victoria Sampler Cyberstitchers the last weekend in March. We are hoping that Thea will be joining us too! Nancy B. lives in Redmond(?) and is planning on putting together a good package deal at a resort/hotel she knows about. Should be a fun weekend.

Here is a teaser of My Child's Heart. It is an unpublished design, so can't show the whole thing, but it is a taste!!

I don't know if I will have internet access when I am gone or not, but if I am able to find some, I will post and let everyone know how it is going. I am going for computer training, but not sure if the company offers Internet access or not!!!

Have a great week everyone, and I will talk to you next week!!

A new project started

Von (On the Dry Side) and I are doing a stitch-along together, doing the Shepherd's Bush ornaments from the JCS ornament issues. Von is doing them all on one piece of 32 ct linen, while I am doing mine on eight small pieces of 28 ct linen, which I plan on piecing together into a bell pull. Here is a picture of the first ornament. It worked up pretty quickly, I did it in a couple of evenings while watching TV. I'm going to go back to My Child's Heart for a couple days, then work on the next ornament. It is fun to finish a "project" in a couple days. Most everything I stitch seems to be a major project.

I'm leaving Sunday morning for San Diego for a week, so I hope to get some stitching done in the evenings after class time (computer stuff). I hope I can keep up in class so that I won't have to do much reviewing at night. I'm looking forward to the trip, tho I will miss my family!!!

Speaking of family, Alana is 6.5 weeks old now and grinning regularly at her mom and dad. I can hardly wait to see a grin meant just for Grandma! I can't resist showing off my favorite picture of her!

The year in review...

It is amazing that 2005 will be over in a few hours. By the time most of you read this, it will be long over. I am challenged to write my Finished in 2005 list by all the other lists I see on Stitching Bloggers...so here is what I accomplished this year:

Heirloom Homecoming Sampler by Victoria Sampler
Stitched for Thea, dark colors, appears in her leaflet.
All Hearts Come Home for Christmas, by Victoria Sampler
Stitched for Thea, choose thread colors for kits
For Always Wedding Sampler, by Victoria Sampler
Stitched for Thea, choose thread colors for kits
Christmas Treasures by Victoria Sampler
Stitched the ornaments for Thea for her class
Two Christmas Stocking tops for new son-in-law and granddaughter
pattern from CS&CC, 1985
Ring Bearers Pillow, my own unpublished design
for Alli and Chris' wedding in September
My Heart's Garden, my own unpublished design
Hardanger, pulled thread, silk ribbon
Sunglow Frame, (working name) my own unpublished design
Hardanger, pulled thread

I don't even want to think about my WIP sitting in my basket. Too many, too little time! My current piece in my rotation is My Child's Garden, my own unpublished design, meant to be a birth sampler for Alana.

Considering the huge changes in my life this year, I am amazed I accomplished as much as I did. Granted, 95% of my finished pieces happened BEFORE I started working full time in August. Then there was the wedding in September, our trip to Hawaii in October, Alana's birth in November and of course, Christmas in December.

Then there is my wish list. Currently, in my "I want to start ASAP" are the Christmas ornaments in the Just Cross Stitch ornaments issues by Shepherd's Bush....the series about the Christmas story. Also, I received G is for Grandma by Victoria Sampler for Christmas from a special friend, and I am longing to get it started too, since I am a Grandma now!!!

Happy New Year everyone!

Holiday Week musings....

We had a lovely Christmas. We are blessed with an ever enlarging family, and now our first Christmas with a grandchild. It was truly good. I decided to cut back on the actual number of gifts given this year, and concentrated on one "expensive" item (in other words, worth more than $50) per person. It was fun, as we had fewer gifts to open, so we took our time, and one person opened one gift and every one ooohh and ahhhed, then the next person, etc. I video taped the whole morning with my new DVD camera, and only realized later that I had no still photos of the morning, only movies!! I may have to try to capture a few frames on the computer for the memory books. Just need to figure out how!!! Then we joined the extended family at my parents house for dinner and more presents.

So I am taking this week off work. It is so nice to sleep late, and stay in my PJ's as long as I desire. My Christmas cards are churning off the printer as I type, and will be in the mail by this afternoon. So, actually, maybe they are New Years cards...but I am getting them done!!!

My granddaughter is coming to visit this afternoon. YES!!

I am leaving in two weeks for a weeks training in San Deigo. Computer training in San Diego. A week by myself in San Diego. Paid for by the credit union, in San Diego. Did I mention I get to go to San Diego? Not that I am excited or anything! Sunshine, blue sky and three needlework shops all in the same city!!! Is that heaven or what??? I hope to have a stash list when I come back! (of course, and know alot more about the computer stuff too!!)

I did find a couple of the Name Christmas trees by M designs in the Just Cross stitch ornaments magazine. Then there was a freebie on the website too, so I have three to choose from. I just need to get to a shop and find some good darker colored overdyes...everything in my stash is too light and spring like for a Christmas design.

Merry Christmas!!!

May you all have a blessed Christmas!

I can't believe how quickly the last two weeks have gone. I had such good intentions of keeping up with this blog, and baking cookies, and watching Christmas movies and here it is, Christmas Eve, and I am just now getting around to it. There's a batch of shortbread cookies in the oven, the pies are ready to be made, and I am finally sitting down to this.

In reflecting on the last 5 months since I started this blog, I am amazed at how dependent I have become on reading the blogs of friends and fellow stitchers. I check in at least once day for a few minutes to catch up on my reading, and miss it dreadfully if I don't. To think that 6 months ago I had no idea that a "regular" person like myself could even HAVE a blog!!!

Which leads me to the conclusion that perhaps I need a companion blog to this one just for talking about my new granddaughter! I sit down to write and she seems to be at the forefront of what I want to talk about!!!

On to stitching news, I actually was able to get Alana's stocking sewed together, but as you might guess, there is presently no name on it! I have plans to sit down in a few minutes and at least get her name stitched on, even if I don't have time for any further pretty things. Two new family members this year (Christopher in September and Alana in November) to stitch stockings for!!!

I have decided this week that I REALLY like the M Designs Name Trees. I need to put them on my list this year and get some done before next Christmas. http://www.m--designs.com/personaltrees.html. I think that somewhere I have one of the little freebies that she has done, I haven't had time to go searching yet. Perhaps one of the JCS ornaments issues? I can't remember. It would be fun to be able to done one for each family name, but I don't think that will happen in one year!!! LOL!

Well, it's time to prepare for my day. My big girls and their hubbys will be with their hubby's families this evening. John, Lizzie and I will have dinner with my parents and then go look at Christmas lights. Tomorrow morning all my kids will be here for presents, then we will all join the rest of the extended family (22 of us this year) for dinner and presents at my parents home. My niece also had a baby this year, and my unmarried sister has a new beau, who is bringing his 12 year daughter, so the table is full. We are thankful. Lizzie is quite delighted of perhaps soon having a cousin just her age. She was the one and only in her age group for the last 10 years!

Merry Christmas to all. And in the words of Tiny Tim, God Bless Us, every one.

Saturday Musings..

John and I slept in late this morning, it was close to 10 before we got up...very unusual for us. But such a nice treat. I cleaned and organized our bedroom and bath, and John did the dishes and vacuumed the house. Then I took Amy, without the baby, and we had our nails done and stopped for a latte at our coffee place. It's been a good day. John and I leave soon for my office Christmas Dinner...mmmh, prime rib I think. Of course any food is good when someone else does the cooking!!!

I've been busy this week trying to get into the Christmas mode. I actually got all the stocking stuffers purchased this week. I normally don't get that done until the 23rd, so I am feeling on top of things. Just wish the big presents were taken care of now. With working full time, I just don't have time to run all over town comparing prices and making decisions. I need one store, a good list, and even better prices. I have a place in mind. Hope I can take care of everyone there.

In the background I can hear the television...Dorothy is singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow. They must have the Wizard of Oz on tonight. We bought a great Christmas DVD this week, the Polar Express. Amy and Max watched it a couple weeks ago and said we MUST see it. It is very good. We are also looking forward to going to the theatre and seeing Chronicles of Narnia. Alli and Chris saw it last night and said it is fantastic. Lizzie and I have tickets to see The Nutcraker Ballet next Saturday afternoon. It has been about 11 years since I have been to the Nutcracker, so I am looking forward to it.

Well, as Thea said in the comments of my last post, we no longer have snow, but it has been very cold. If there were any moisture to come down, it would be snow. I am longing for the warmth of Hawaii!!!

Here is a picture of John and I with Alana this week! LOL. I am a besotted grandmother! until next time....

We have Snow!

I woke up this morning to three inches of beautiful snow! It is a perfect day for staying inside, drinking cocoa and stitching.

Too bad I have to leave for work in an hour!

This is really an unusual occurrance for Western Washington. Last year we did not receive any snow at all. I hope it stays until tomorrow!

A change of scene

I got bored with my old template for this blog, so I decided to change it. But I did something pretty stupid, and forgot to back up my old changes, and I had to redo them all again. Grrrrr. Darn it anyway! And I thought I was being so efficient!

On a brighter note, Alana is home from the hospital and doing very well. Her bilirubin count had dropped 4 points in one day (which is amazing I am told), so Amy and Max were able to leave the hospital this morning. I rushed home at lunch long enough to kiss her and change her diaper. Life is good!

Snow has been predicted for Western Washington tonight. A rare happening for us, especially in November. I sort of hope that we get some, I love the beauty, but I hate to have to drive to work in it.

So, what do you think of this template? If I change it again, I have learned my lesson about saving my changes to another file!!! LOL!

Being a grandma is fun...but

it sure pulls at the heart when things don't go exactly right. Alana is back in the hospital dealing with lethargy/dehydration/jaundice, which is all a vicious catch-22 cycle. Her weight dropped to about 5.75 pounds. Its been rough on everyone having her back in the hospital, especially Amy. We did not think that she would tolerate laying in a bed all day long as she seemed to only sleep well when being held, but she has cooperated very well. Her bilirubin count is coming down and she is eating more each feeding. I hope that the count will be low enough today that she will be released tomorrow.

I know that it is probably grandma prejudice, but both Amy and I are marvelling how as she looses that newborn battered look she gets prettier every day.

On the stitching front, I am really excited about the baby sampler that Amy and I are working on. Amy finished all the kloster blocks and smyrna stitches I had given her to do and did a marvelous job for a first timer. I am really proud of her. I started doing some pulled thread stitches inside the kloster hearts, and then haven't been able to pick it up since Monday. Seems like holding my granddaughter is more fun right now. Who woulda thought?

She's arrived!

Announcing the birth of Alana Jo Rheinhardt, November 21st, 8:40 pm, 6 pounds, 7.5 ounces, 19 inches long. Lots and and lots of LONG black hair. Mom and Baby are doing great. She is a beauty!!! More soon!

Teaching Hardanger

Amy was here spending the night with us Friday night and I showed her a small piece that I had designed last summer called My Heart's Garden with hardanger, pulled thread and ribbon flowers. She absolutely loved it and asked if we could take the same idea and design and stitch a birth sampler for Alana (due to be born November 21st). I said sure, so we sat down with the sketch book and drew up some things she wanted in the sampler. Amy said she would like to help stitch, so I pulled out some hardanger instructions and began to teach her how to do kloster blocks. She caught on very well, and after charting the first couple rows of the new baby sampler on the computer, I gave her the fabric and thread and got her started stitching the hardanger hearts...this will be a special sampler with both Mom and Grandma stitching and designing! I think the name should be something along the lines of My Child's Garden. Wish I had thought to take a picture of Amy stitching away on it!!!

They are going to induce Amy tomorrow, Monday the 21st. We are all so excited to finally see Alana!

Quiet Rainy weekend

A friend gently reminded me that I had not updated my blog this weekend. So I am here to update. Thank you Von.

This has been a very quiet weekend. No baby has been born yet, so we are still hoping it will be very soon. I actually pulled out a WIP yesterday, and got a little done on it...A is for Angel now has a couple more rows done. I had stitched the little A's over one in the armadillo row, and took them out again. The thread Thea used did not show up on my darker fabric, I could hardly see the little stitches to make sure they were crossed! I need something darker that will show up well on the dark fabric, but haven't made a final decision what to use. Dark green maybe.

I've spent a lot of time in front of the TV this weekend stitching and watching DVD's. I feel rested and ready for work this week. My direct supervisor has quit and moved to San Diego, (to be nearer his family) so I am going to apply for his job. I hope that I get this promotion, I am ready for more responsibility. I was asked to function as "lead" while they are going through the decision process. I hope that is a good sign!!!

We have had rainy cold weather here in the Pacific Northwest all weekend. I am wishing I could just bop over to Maui for a few hours to get warmed up again. John and I both realized how much less our bodies hurt while we were there...I think that we may end up being snow birds in about 14 years from now. If we can feel it at our ages now, I can only imagine how it will affect us in the future!!!

A quiet weekend

This was a nice quiet weekend which I enjoyed very much. I purposely tried to do as little as possible. I even got some stitching done. I EVEN finished the piece I was stitching on!!! Not that it was anything huge or involved but just the fact that I finished a piece was extremely gratifying! I had been promising my new son-in-law that I would finally put his name on his Christmas stocking, so that has been done! Yippee!! As I was stitching tho, I realized that my soon to be born granddaughter will be here for Christmas too. I guess I better keep going! Next Friday is Veteran's Day, and the office is closed, so I hope to relax and stitch that day also, if we aren't in the midst of seeing Alana being born!

Back to Reality...

Ahh, Maui was magical, marvelous, mountainous, and any other descriptive word you can think of beginning with "M". After our initial shock at how different it was than Oahu, we quickly settled in to falling in love with the place. I never experienced that feeling on Oahu, tho I think the beaches and turquoise water at Oahu are much prettier. But Maui has captured me. We even bought a time share condo, fee simple, so we own it forever. Now we will always have an excuse to go back. As if I need an excuse!!! Pictures are posted on my picture page, see the link in the left column. I spent many hours on this beach in this picture. I hated to leave. I will go back!

I did not do any stitching at all. I never even felt the hankering to take it out of the bag. Pretty unusual for me. I found a small stitching shop in Lahaina, but they had mainly Hawaiian quilting and needlepoint supplies. I bought a small kit for a Hawaiian quilting design (potholder size) that will be pretty when done.

Hawaii here we come!

We are packing madly...and plan on leaving the house at 6:00 AM for our week on Maui. Boy, am I ever ready to have a vacation! It is really nice to have Chris and Alli staying here taking care of the cats and the house. We won't have to worry about anything. It didn't really hit me that we were leaving until this morning at work. I had a very hard time focusing on things I needed to do.
We had a baby shower for Amy last night. She received so many nice things. Here is a pic of my girls, my mom and my sister Nancy. With baby Alana, it is 4 generations pictured. My grandmothers both passed away before I had children, so these 4 generations are very special to me. We will have to have a very nice one done when the baby is born. Alana is the first daughter, of a first daughter (Amy), of a first daughter (Connie), of a first daughter (my mom, Marge). So this baby really is special. (Too bad my maternal grandmother was a second child!!)

I have been trying to decide for two weeks what stitching project to take with me to Hawaii. I didn't want anything big and bulky, so that ruled out my projects on stretcher bars. I had a hankering to some hardanger with variegated thread, probably my very favorite thing to stitch, so I pulled out an old pattern from Emie Bishop of one of her small Christmas hardanger angels. EXCEPT I am going to stitch her in Waterlilies "Parfait". Pink and lavendar and all sorts of lucious color. This will be a fun experiment to see how my parfait angel turns out! Last time we went to Hawaii I took along an angel pattern from Thea, so I am into angels when I travel I guess!!

Aloha, and talk to you in a week.

I wish I could think of a catchy title...

but my brain just won't come up with anything wonderful. It's been two weeks since my last post, but I feel like I really don't have much to talk about. Life has been very busy, but nothing very extraordinary has been going on. The ladies group at our church had a baby shower for Amy last Saturday, and she received some very sweet things. I am having a shower here for her at my house on Thursday...not very sure when I will have the time to get ready for it!!! Then Friday night I will be packing like mad as we are leaving very early Saturday morning for Maui. I can hardly wait to hit the beach with my sunscreen and book.

I haven't done any stitching in two weeks. I haven't felt like doing any stitching in two weeks!! I have been printing pictures off and on for the wedding scrapbook, and last Saturday I made a "Tag book" with an autumn theme. It turned out really cute, I'd like to make some more with other themes. I downloaded some pictures from the internet of fall leaves and trees and pumpkins, etc. and used those with lots of autumn stickers, sayings and papers. It was gratifying to get a whole project done in less than two hours! I need to decide on a project to take with me to Hawaii, but nothing seems to fit my fancy right now.

I have cross stitched Christmas stockings with names for my three girls in years past, and when Max joined the family I stitched one for him too. The last two years Christopher (Alli's new hubby) has had to make do with a blank stocking...I had told him I would stitch his name when they actually got married! So he is not letting me forget that this year he gets his name on his stocking!!! I guess I had better get busy if I am to be true to my word!!!! I wonder how many strange looks I would get if I did Christmas stitching on a hot day in Maui!! LOL!

Amy was back in the hospital today with contractions. She is at 33 1/2 weeks now, so they gave her 2 shots of terbutiline (Spelling?) to stop the contractions and ordered her to bed for the next two weeks. After that, they are going to let nature run it's course. The poor girl is getting quite uncomfortable now, so she is feeling ready to have the baby anytime. I hope that she waits until we get back from Hawaii!!

Sunday Evening

It is now Sunday evening, and I find myself feeling a bit better tonight. I have spent the last 3 hours going through wedding pictures, editing some of them, and started printing some for scrapbook pages. It still seems to be an overwhelming task with so many photos to go through. So I picked a few themes tonight to work on, i.e. their first dance, cutting the cake, formal pictures of the cake, working on wedding invitations, at the tux shop, etc. It's starting to come together.

I worked on Toccata for a few minutes Friday nite, but didn't get very far. One more square is all. I am also crocheting a sweater for the baby, so I have been concentrating on it. Our ladies group at church is having shower for Amy on the 15th, and then we are having one for her here at the house on the 19th. It won't be long now until I can kiss my granddaughter hello! I can hardly wait!

I have been enjoying going through the Just Cross Stitch ornament issue this week. There are a couple that I will do. I think, but I can't remember for sure, that I stitched the model for the Humour ornament by Victoria Sampler....it's been awhile. I know I stitched the large piece with three of the ornaments on it...maybe Thea can refresh my memory!!! LOL!

Well, it's back to the office tomorrow morning. The house is in fairly good order, lesson plans have been done, and the spiced cider on the stove is smelling very inviting! I think I'll go have some!!

Post-event let down

Weird sounding title for a post, but it seems to be what I am feeling this week. I have finally gotten the wedding done, all the organizing and busy work done (Except for the scrapbooking!!); and gotten Lizzie ready pretty much for homeschool this year, and now with nothing pressing on me to get done yesterday, I am starting to realize that I have the "blues". At least I have been through this often enough to know that if I give myself some time, I will eventually feel better and regain my enthusiasm for life. But today, I am just plain tired and irritable. Nothing that normally brings me joy even appeals to me. So I hunker down and ride it out, and my friends wonder why I have been so quiet. Be patient, for this too shall pass. In three weeks we leave for a week on Maui, and my usual mindset for vacation is seeing everybit of everything there is to see. This time, I just want to find a chair on the beach and stare at the ocean. Considering I do alot of emotional healing at the beach, maybe this is just what I need!

My biggest question this week, how does one whittle down 600 wedding pictures into just one album??

Geocaching

Here is a link to our friend Gary's blog...he took the girls geo-caching while they were here for the wedding...Lizzie had a great time, and was quite proud of the fact that she found one of the cache's.....check it out for a fun story: http://www.garypaulson.net/archives/olympia-geocaching-afternoon-geocaches/

Week of Vacation

Well, the kids came home from their honeymoon at 4 AM Sunday morning, after being unable to find a hotel in Wenatchee Saturday night. They will be staying here with us until they can find a place to rent. We had Chris' family over last night for opening presents and coffee, and we had a wonderful time. They were so pleased with all their gifts... some dear friends (you know who you are) gave them the sheets and comforter that they really wanted, so they immediately headed upstairs to make their bed. It looks so cute!

This week I am on vacation from work. I was so sick all last week, and having to deal with issues with Lizzie's schooling, (as well as recovering from the wedding) that I really need this to recover and try and get my house back in some semblance of order. Today I have some errands to run. The kids have promised to clear out Alli's old room so that I can have my computer room back. I let alot of organizing/dejunking slide this summer because of the wedding, so now all this clutter and mess is bugging me big time.

Saturday night I sat down to watch TV for the first time in ages, and watched three cute TV movies on ABC family. I pulled out a baby sweater pattern for my soon to be born granddaughter, and crocheted about two inches of it. The baby weight yarn looks so nice and delicate, but boy, does it ever take a long time to feel like I am making progress. I love baby sweaters...I always have for some reason. Even with my babies, the little sweaters were my favorite item of clothing. I have already bought two sweaters for this baby, but couldn't resist making one myself. I have some cross stitch items I want to do for her too...so I really need to get busy.

I hope that this evening I will get the balance of the wedding pictures from Chris' family, so that I can begin printing the best ones for Allison and Chris's wedding scrapbook. Alli looked at me kind of funny last night and said, "you ARE giving the book to us and not keeping it for yourself, aren't you!" I laughed and said "of course, but I reserve the right to photocopy the best pages!!"

I found a blog page Saturday that will redesign your blog page, actually make it very personalized, doing all the code writing, etc. I looked at some of their sample pages and was very impressed. The cost is very reasonable (about $40 for a complex page), so I am thinking about talking to them. Don't be surprized if you see some template changes one of these days!

directions to photos

I've been asked how to get to my photo page....look over on the left in the column and with the links there is a link called "my photos". That will take you directly there. I hope to get more photos posted when we received the pix from the photographers. Enjoy!!!

The day was perfect....

and the wedding could not have gone more beautifully! Our girls all were gorgeous, and the bride was absolutely radiant. You can go to my photo album page to see all the pictures, but here are a couple to whet your appetite!

Autumn surprize

It is absolutely gorgeous day here...no breeze, brilliant blue sky, perfect temperature. The days of September are my favorite for the weather here in the Pacific Northwest. I was taking a little tour of my yard this morning, and glanced at my apple tree. I could hardly believe it! It was blooming! In my seven years of growing this tree, I have never seen this happen before! what a nice surprise.....

The wedding is upon us. The rehearsal is this evening. I have taken the next days off work so that I can finish the last minute preparations!

Toccata, 9/1/05