Another week goes by

And we are still waiting for the new baby to make her appearance. Amazingly, she has held on longer than any of us expected. Amy Sue is at 36 weeks now, and her doctors have told her they will induce when and if she makes it to 38 weeks. So whatever happens, just two more weeks to go!!!

This week was Halloween. Here's a picture of Alana in her special outfit. The first trick or treater's came to the door, and Alana saw the costumes and freaked out. She ran crying from the room and refused to go near the door again all evening!!! So we drank hot cider, and ate candy and enjoyed our quiet evening at home.

I finished the last Shepherd's Bush ornament in the series this week. There were alot of thread changes so it seemed to take a long time to stitch, but I am happy with the way it turned out. I need to get busy now and figure out how to sew all these ornaments together into a banner. The hardest thing will be going to the fabric store and finding the right fabric to sew it together with. Time for such things is basically non-existent right now.

My next project, which I hope to start today, will be another smocked dress for Alana. I picked up a couple of ready made ones last March at the sewing expo, and I need to get going on them before she outgrows them. I want to do the pink one first, and will spend time with my smocking plates today to come up with a pleasing design. It's a bishop style dress, and I am thinking probably white or dark pink smocking.

Still Waiting....

Baby Gracie has not yet made an appearance. Which, while stressful for those of us waiting, is best for her. Every day is a milestone right now!

Von, I saw your new blog layout...very nice. For some reason, blogger is not letting me get in to make a comment, I think it is at my end...I've noticed it has happened before, and when I restart the computer it takes care of it. I am just too lazy to restart, hence I hope you see this post. Anyway, I liked how you put your Virginia Creeper picture at the top of your sidebar....This is a great way to show off a new picture. Maybe I can be real efficient and change the picture weekly! Probably not, but it is a great idea!!! I started with the Victoria Sampler Washington State heart.

Our lives right now consist of waiting for baby to come, and somehow to always be prepared for that moment....I have taken to constantly carrying my tote bag with me..it has the movie camera, digital camera, extra batteries, a small stitching project, my mp3 player, etc. I have even been taking it to work with me, which has been only two days this week. I am trying to stay on top of the dishes and housework so that I don't have a huge mess to deal with and still be at the hospital with Amy Sue.

The weather has taken a decided turn towards winter. It froze last night, and it is cold in the house even with the heat set at 68 degrees. This now means that the leaves that had not fallen yet will be off in a day or two, having been frozen off. All the flowers that were still blooming will now be brown and hunkering down for winter. We've been drinking alot of apple cider at our house, with a little bit of caramel syrup...yummy! I haven't decorated with any of my fall decorations, since having a two year old in the house means they will not stay put, or even in one piece. I decided not to even bring out the temptation!!!!


We have been watching the news about the California wildfires, along with everyone else I guess. Several old friends of mine have had to evacuate their homes, and one family that I know of lost their home. What is even sadder is that the largest fire has been determined to be caused by arson. It has been amazing to hear first hand reports of how things really are....One gal sent us a picture of some miniature horses being kept in a shopping cart enclosure in the parking lot of a Costco....

A quick update!

For those of you friends and family who have an interest, this is just to update you all on how things are going with Amy Sue. She has been in the hospital since Thursday evening. She started having regular contractions again, and has been on IV drips of magnesium sulfate since then trying to stop her labor. It seems to be working for now. They have also been giving her shots of steroids to develop the baby's lungs. An ultrasound was done Friday afternoon, and the baby weighs approximately 5.5 pounds, and size wise is at about 35.5 weeks. Her actual weeks are 34 weeks today. They have ultimately decided to wean her off of the magnesium over the next 24 hours and just let nature take it's course. So I am expecting baby Gracie Lynn to be born sometime this week...if not tomorrow!!! (Yep, she finally has a name too!!) We are scrambling like mad around here trying to get things prepared, since we had done basically nothing to get ready for the baby at home...

I will try and send more updates as we know anything new and different. Prayers are definitely appreciated and needed!

For those of you who know Amy Sue...

she is now back in blogland while living here with us. She has posted a new entry at Diaper Days! Enjoy!!!

A new look for my blog!

I discovered this evening that Blogger now has some new features to be able to customize their templates, giving us more control over what our blogs look like. I did some experimenting and then lots of fine tuning, and here is the final result. Hope you like it as much as I do!!!!

It's a gorgeous fall day!

The sun is shining brightly, for now at least, and I took the opportunity to snap a picture of one of my dogwood trees showing it's fall color. It is so pretty with the sun shining on the leaves, making them glow from the inside, the picture doesn't do it justice. I cleaned house this morning, my normal Saturday morning chores, and Lizzie, Amy and I are going to go have manicures together this afternoon. John has kindly consented to watch Alana for a couple hours so that we can have some time away.

I finished the Mary and Joseph ornament this week, it stitched up fairly quickly. I pulled the threads and fabric for the final ornament in the series this morning, so I hope to get started on it this evening.

Life is in a nice routine this week, so nothing very exciting or dramatic to talk about. I am savoring this time, as I know when the new baby is born that life will not be "normal" again for quite awhile!!! Oh, but aren't they worth it???

This new granddaughter is still currently without a name. A first name of Samantha was mulled around for a time, but has since been rejected. Amy has her favorites of course, and Max is not wanting to cooperate and make a decision....as Mystie has said in her blog regarding their new baby's name, it may be a matter of who gets their hands on the paperwork at the hospital first before we know the final decision!!!! I keep telling Amy not to worry too much, she didn't have a middle name until after she was born, and then we ended up changing her name legally from Amy Celeste to Amy Sue Celeste when she was about 6 months old. Sometimes babies just need to let you know by their presence what they are to be called, I think!!!

I'm on a roll now....

I have finished another unfinished project last week...this time, Gazebo Roses, by Victoria Sampler. It's been about 4 years in my basket, so I am very excited to have it finished. I modified the pattern just a little to make it fit on my fabric better, changed one row and left off a few of the smaller rows, but I am very pleased with the result. I will probably finish it off into a bell pull one of these days.

I have gotten back to working on the Shepherd's Bush Christmas ornaments from the Just Cross Stitch magazines over the years...I am currently on the 2006 ornament, and now that I have the new ornament issue for 2007, I can finish up this series I hope in time for Christmas this year. I am planning on stitching them together into some kind of a banner, in order, so that it is easier to read the story in the words.

I went this morning and had my flu shot for the year...Ouch! Normally they

don't hurt and I have no lingering effects from the shot, but this time the person did it way up on my shoulder where there is nothing but bone and tendons and it hurt when he did it, and now my whole arm is aching big time. I am guessing it is from the placement of the shot and not the vaccine itself. Argghhh!

It is nice to have more time for stitching now that my test is over and the weather is forcing me indoors on the weekends. Its been cozy, sit with a quilt and hot water bottle type weather...just perfect for stitching and reading!

Binkie Overload!!

Yep! That's three of them all at the same time!!!!

Granddaughter Alana, 9-22-07

Finally, a Finish!!!

After what seems to be a very long time, probably because it WAS a very long time, I have finally finished Perennial Garden by The Drawn Thread. This is one of the unfinished projects that were on my list to finish, so it is very rewarding to be able to cross it off my list. I started this about 4 years ago, and it languished for most of those four years untouched!! Hooray! I am thinking I will finish it into a small wallhanging or pillow, as there is very little fabric left on the sides, not enough for framing.

This last week I was able to start working on Gazebo Roses (The Victoria Sampler) again, after over three years sitting in my UFO basket. It is nearly finished, it has worked up quickly. I am doing the hardanger in the bottom row today, and will start next on the silk ribbon embroidery and beading to finish it off. I hope to have it done this week.


It's hard to accept the fact that today is the first day of autumn. It still seems like late summer, we have been having some fairly good weather and I have lots of flowers still in bloom. The asters have been beautiful, as have my Windflowers (Japanese Anemones). (See picture). I have begun cleaning and winterizing some of the flower beds, but there is still lots to do after everything is finished blooming.

The Bluest Skies...

There is a very old television program (this really dates me now) I believe was in the late 60's, called "Here Come the Brides" (based on a true story) and the theme song was "The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle....." Well, today was one of those days. Since we are only 55 short miles from Seattle, I think I can appropriate the song lyrics for Lacey too.....here's proof:

This is an actual unretouched photo taken just moments ago in my front yard, isn't this an incredible blue???. It has been an absolutely gorgeous late summer day...warm, with just a hint of fall crispness in the air. It was wonderful!!

Life is a little less hectic this weekend compared to last weekend, and we are all settling into sort of a routine around here.

I'm a little closer to finishing Perennial Garden by The Drawn Thread, and have finished the flower border. I discovered when I went to finish up the inside white vine that I had messed up by one thread on one whole side, so it needs to be frogged and restitched, or it will look lopsided. I am guessing it is another couple hours of stitching that I hadn't planned on. Oh well. Thank goodness I am not on any deadlines just now!!!

Long Three Day Weekend

Today is Labor Day in the US, which mainly means a day off work for those of us in offices and financial institutions. The stores are all still open for business, so not everyone has the day off. It's been a nice relaxing day after a very busy week and weekend. Amy, Max and Alana got moved in this weekend, and are pretty well settled now. I have a new stitching corner set up in our bedroom...I found this gorgeous chair in immaculate condition for $35 at the thrift shop, and I am so delighted with it. It's very comfortable and fits my body well. This morning John and I found this cool lamp for $14 with two lights on it, so with my Dazor on the side I am well set up for stitching! Now I just need to find some time to try it out!!

Thursday was the 50th anniversary in our region of the company Amy and I work for, and as a celebration, they took all of us and our families to Six Flags (Wild Waves) for the day. We had a great time, good food, perfect weather, (and huge crowds!!). Alana did not like the rides AT ALL, but absolutely LOVED the water. There was a pool created just for the little ones and she climbed the slide and slid down over and over again. She did NOT want to get out of the water, and insisted on staying in until she was shivering and had blue lips!!!

Here is a picture of Lizzie and I enjoying the wading pool with Alana.

Another busy week ahead of me, as I have the examination for the first section of my General Insurance designation. I will be glad when it is finished. I think I am on target for my exam, but it's still a little nerve wracking until it's finished!!! I can't seem to concentrate on stitching when I know I should be studying!!! I am very close to finishing Perennial Garden by Drawn Thread!!!

I notice that Blogger has a new feature for uploading video, so I am going to try it out. It's a video of Alana playing in the water, as it is the only one I have on my computer at the moment. You may want to skip watching it unless you are family or close friends!! I won't be offended in the least, LOL!!!!

Have a great week everyone!

And my newest grandchild is going to be......

A GIRL!!!!!

Whoohoo! Amy had another ultrasound today and this time the baby was fully cooperative! What a wonderful blessing for all of us!!

I just couldn't wait to share the news.....

things hidden, meanings found

Have you ever had an experience where you think at first what you are going through is just a random thing, and then you later find out it has a much deeper and more extensive meaning than you could ever have realized?

I posted a few weeks ago about being in a purging and cleaning mode, and about all the great de-cluttering that I was doing....come to find out the reason...our daughter #1, son-in-law and granddaughter are moving in with this weekend!!! It all had a good purpose that I must have somehow known was coming!!!

We have been scrambling, since the decision was made a couple weeks ago, to create the space needed for them. We have built two walls in the garage, creating a bedroom for DD#3, Lizzie, a laundry room, an area for the computer desk and a storage space. Then we have had to clear out a bedroom and the computer room (for granddaughter's bedroom) and move everyone and everything into the new spaces. What a job!!! I have been keeping track, and have made 11 trips to Goodwill so far, plus two dump runs, plus the garage sale we had. We have gotten rid of literally, probably over a ton of stuff!!! I still have my stitching closet to clean out, and I have no idea where it all will go. I guess it will have to find a place in the storage part of the garage!

The story behind all this is long, but the short version is: son-in-law Max found a job working about 3 hours north of here on an island in the San Juans. He starts next week. DD Amy is 27 weeks pregnant and does not want to move away from family and her support network right now. So she & the grandkid(s) will stay with us until probably school is out next June, while Max commutes home on the days he is off. Hope that's not TOOOO confusing. It will be fun to have everyone here...but a houseful. When the new baby comes, there will be 9 of us under one roof!!!

Well, best get back to the cleaning and moving!

Grandma's Pride and Joy

Alana Jo

Picture taken August 24, 2007

21 months old

Sore, aching muscles!!!

But that is what I get from trying to clean the whole messy garage in just one day. I got halfway done cleaning said garage yesterday and wished I had taken a "before" picture so that I could proudly post my "after" picture. It really was super duper clean and almost empty...until we moved all the stuff for the garage sale BACK INTO the garage for safe keeping until said sale next Saturday. So it is full of stuff again, but at least it is CLEAN underneath all the stuff and by Saturday night, it will ALL be gone. What doesn't sell will go to Goodwill! (a charity that accepts household goods). It feels good to get that accomplished, tho I have about three boxes here in my computer room that now need to be gone through, but I can do that at my leisure next week.

I'm still in my rabid cleaning and purging mode, as you can tell. A bit of a success that I can share, I got four pieces of stitching "framed". Actually two of them, the old birthsamplers I did for my oldest daughters are now mounted neatly into scrapbook protectors so they can be inserted into their scrapbooks. Here's some pix:


I'm reading a book at the moment I can't seem to put down. My mom found it at the library and said it was excellent. Then my dad read it and said he couldn't put it down. I started it this afternoon and am about half done so far...it's called Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky...about a Knitter, from a family of knitters, who has a baby that changes her family forever. What a good read, when she get's stressed, she knits. I think that Ms. Delinsky must be a knitter/stitcher!!! I highly recommend this book!

Have a great week!!

Blog Anniversary

This week it has been officially 2 years since I started blogging. Amazing how quickly the time has gone by, how many new friends I have made, how many projects I have been inspired to stitch, and UFO's I have been encouraged to finish. It's been a great journey, and I hope it continues for many years more.

In honor of my blogversary, here is my annual picture of my daisies, taken each July in my backyard and posted here for your pleasure, or mine, more likely.

I have been extremely busy the last three weeks with decluttering and purging different nooks and crannies of my home. I feel absolutely compelled to get this all done for some reason, I am not sure why, but I cannot rest until all the extra "stuff" is gone out of my house and life. Maybe I am just tired of looking at the clutter, I don't know, but I have gotten rid of things that have been in my cupboards and storage for over 20 years. Feels pretty good to be a little less encumbered. I have many projects that are also needing to be done, such as a couple of scrapbooks for family members, and transferring years worth of slides into digital pictures, etc. I never seem to run out of things to keep me busy, LOL!!!

Anyway, with all the clearing out, I haven't felt much like stitching and blogging, which is why I have been so quiet.

We are still in the dark as to the gender of Amy's coming baby...the little critter absolutely refused to uncross his/her legs during the ultrasound intended for that purpose. Her insurance will not pay for another one unless deemed medically necessary, so we may not know until the birth day. We are all disappointed, as we wanted to start buying boy things if appropriate (she already has a little girl, Alana Jo, 20 months old).

So, until next time, happy stitches!

It was a wonderful 4th of July!

My wonderful morning....

I complain alot about the rain here in Western Washington, but today I have no complaints as we have absolutely beautiful weather. I spent a wonderful couple hours on the patio with my journal, my coffee and my stitching, a fresh rose from my garden adorning the table. I feasted on fresh raspberries that I picked this morning and thought I must have touched heaven's portal. It was glorious!!

It is the Fourth of July here in the States, Independence Day. My family is joining other friends and family at my brother's house later this afternoon. He lives on a lake, with a great beach, so it is the perfect day for a barbeque, swimming, kayaking, canoeing, fishing, etc. At dusk his neighbors have a contest to see who can set off the biggest and best (i.e., most expensive) fireworks display in the county. It is fantastic, and we watch continuous fireworks for nearly 2 hours. What fun! I arranged to go into work late tomorrow too, so I can enjoy all the festivities and still sleep in tomorrow.

I have been busy stitching and finished another UFO, Terry's Needlecase this time. I haven't taken any pictures yet, but will get those taken and posted soon.

Happy Fourth my American Friends!!!

Lots of pictures!

I have lots of pictures to share today!!! It's my 50-something birthday today too!!! I had a nice day, I took the day off work, and slept in until 8 AM when the phone rang. It was the delivery man saying he would be bringing my birthday present at 10 AM, and he showed up three minutes early! Here is my birthday present, a brand new kitchen range! Isn't it great? I love the glass top burners...no more drip pans to clean! Hurray!!! After getting ready, I headed out the door to find the new LNS I had heard about in Tacoma, about 30 minutes from my home. I arrived, only to find they were closed!!! ARRGGGHHH! It's my birthday, they aren't supposed to be closed and half empty!!! The little teeny sign on the door said they were moving to a new location in the same warehouse mall, so I went down and found where it was so I could get to it easily next time. It's called Krazy Kat Fiberhaus in the Freighthouse Square (near Tacoma Dome) if anyone in Western Washington is reading this and wants to go there. It looks like most of the inventory is indeed fibers, and a pretty good selection from what I could tell. At least it will be closer than the next closest LNS in Issaquah, about 70 minutes away!

So, disappointed, but glad they weren't closed for good, I went and had a manicure, and came home and watched an On-Demand Movie...I think it was called Music and Lyrics, with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. It was pretty cute. Then Dear Hubby and Amy fixed birthday dinner and we enjoyed being together as a family for a couple hours. A nice birthday all around.

I have been busy stitching away on a couple of the smaller projects in my UFO basket the last couple weeks, and have finished both. I finished "The Joy of My Heart" by Lorri Birmingham (the pattern was FULL of errors, and the kit was incomplete), and I also finished stitching a needleroll by Shepherd's Bush, and did the finishing of the needleroll while watching my movie today. I am pleased with the way they both turned out. I still need to do the finishing of the LB piece, probably will be a flat fold. I feel really good that I was able to reduce my long list by two projects. I picked up a third one this evening, also, the Terri's Needlecase by Lorri Birmingham. There is a more to stitch on this one than the others, but it feels so good to be able to get some of these projects out of the basket!!

I pulled 5 boxes out of the garage this week and went through them, most of them contained very old cross stitch pieces and knick knacks from our old house that I never unpacked when we moved into this house 8 years ago. All of the cross stitch and needlework pieces were yellowed and smelled bad, so I soaked them for about 2 days and managed to get the yellow mostly out. I have ironed them up again, and now I need to decide what to do with these pieces. Two of them are birth samplers for my oldest two girls, so I will probably ask them what they would like. One I will reframe (it is a picture of a dollhouse) and give to my granddaughter. One is a stitch sampler that I created in college when I was doing an independent study in needlework. I will probably reframe that one too. It's strange to look at pieces I was so proud of 30+ years ago. DD#2 looked at my stitch sampler (I'll try and remember to post a pix next time) and said, "Wow, Mom, it's soooooo....." "70's?" I asked? "Yeah, that it's, that's some pretty wild colors!" Lime green is predominate in the color scheme I chose!! LOL!

My garden this week has been decimated by a couple of visitors with four legs...see picture. Two yearlings have decided that our neighborhood is the place they want to spend their summer and have given most of my trees and flowers an unwanted pruning, including all my dahlia buds. Bummer. Why can't they eat dandelions instead of the expensive stuff??? They seem to be fairly comfortable around people, as one of them followed Lizzie (DD#3) around the neighborhood one afternoon. It sort of freaked her out, she didn't like being followed by an animal that was nearly as large as she is!

Another Finish!

I completely forgot last week that I had one more unfinished project in my purse as my "take along" project when I was listing all my UFO's. I had had this Washington Heart by Victoria Sampler in my purse for about 3 weeks, and usually only worked on it while I was waiting for Lizzie during her piano lesson. I worked on it again yesterday while we were at a State Park for a couple hours, and was so close to finishing that I pulled it out this morning and put the last stitches in. (Thea, don't look too close...I got off by one thread somewhere!!! LOL!) I have pulled another small Victoria Sampler Beyond Cross Stitch kit to put into my purse to replace this one.

My various irises in the garden are still blooming, here is one that was incredible this week. I am finding that there are some early bloomers and some late bloomers in the iris family also. Most of my pure lavender/purple ones are finished blooming, and now the yellows and peaches are beautiful.

Today is Memorial Day in the United States, and we have the day off work. It is a day where we honor the veterans, family and friends that have passed away by taking flowers to the graves. Amazingly the weather is sunny and beautiful today, usually we have rain. We are going to have a "picnic" at my parents house this afternoon, with all the traditional American picnic food, fried chicken, potato salad, watermelon and chocolate cake. Hmmm...I should have made Apple Pie, not chocolate cake. We have a saying, "As American as Apple Pie". Do any other countries have sayings that are comparable? It would be interesting to find out.

I hope everyone has a great week!

A rainy Satuday afternoon project

This last Saturday, I sat down in my stitching chair and was flipping through my basket where I keep all my unfinished stitching project. (yep, only one basket, but it is crammed full!) One of the pieces caught my fancy, and I wanted to stitch on it, but realized that all the threads for it had somehow migrated into other projects or places, and it would take awhile to gather them all back together again. Then I realized that almost every project in the basket was in the same condition, making it impossible to just sit down and grab something to stitch right quick!!! So having the time, and since it was raining (again!), I decided to re-kit ALL those projects so they would be ready to stitch at a whim.

4 hours later I still had two projects left to finish. I finished those on Sunday morning, but now I am REALLY organized. I am so proud of myself! Not counting the two pieces I am designing I have 12 unfinished projects, and 5 more unstarted but kitted up and ready to go.


Here's my list if anyone is interested. I don't have many good photos, and 17 of them would be too much anyway...These are all in various stages of completion.

Unfinished projects: (in no particular order)
Tudor Needleroll by Teri Richards (SB)
Joy of My Heart by Lorri Birmingham
Heirloom Birth Sampler by Victoria Sampler
Gazebo Roses Sampler by Victoria Sampler
Spring Hardanger table runner by Lorri Birmingham
A is for Angel by Victoria Sampler
Terri's Needle Case by Lorri Birmingham
The Perennial Border by The Drawn Thread
Simply Elegant Needlecase by Lorri Birmingham
Toccata I by The Drawn Thread
June Bellpull by Victoria Sampler



Kitted and ready to start: (again in no particular order)
2006 Christmas ornament, Mary and Joseph, by Shepherd's Bush
Simply Elegant Scissor Case and Fob by Lorri Birmingham
G is for Grandma by Victoria Sampler (did anyone catch two posts ago I am going to be a grandma again?)
Beach Roses by Just Nan
Rhodes Butterfly Beyond Cross Stitch by Victoria Sampler (3rd time for this)
Spider Web Beyond Cross Stitch by Victoria Sampler (2nd time for this)

Current designs of my own being worked on:

Hardanger needlecase in waterlillies, as yet unnamed
Beyond the Garden Gate
Quaker Alphabet

Betcha can't tell who my favorite designers are, LOL!!!!

I don't know if my stash confession will actually motivate me to get more stitching done, but hey, now I can't hide a project and pretend it doesn't exist any longer when I have it down in black and white, right? I still have oodles of patterns in another basket waiting for the right time to be stitched, meaning they will probably join the Unfinished Basket one day. And let's not even think about all the designs waiting to come out of my head!!! I think I already have enough to work on until I retire! (which will be in 13 years I hope!)

Tour my Garden!

I was inspired by another blogger who had given us a tour of her flower garden, so I thought I would do the same and share with you some of the flowers I have in bloom right now in my garden. I won't try and show them all to you, you'd get bored and Blogger would probably freeze up with all the pictures!!!

Let's begin with this beautiful lavender rhododendron...(The state flower of Washington). Were you aware that rhody's bloom in order of color? For instance the light pinks normally are through flowering before the darker colors (red and purple) have flowered. This rhody has alot of sentimental meaning for me, as my father started it from one of his rhody's at our old family home in another town.
Now, we go around to the south side of my house, and my dogwood tree has been very full of blossoms this year. This is the first year it has really bloomed this well, as it is only a few years old. As to the variety, I have no clue. I have four different varieties of dogwood in my yard, this one is the prettiest this year.
Also on the south side of the house is where I have most of my irises. This is actually a deeper purple in real life, it did not photograph well. This one was also a start from my father's garden.
In the front of the house next to the driveway I have a red hot poker plant. This is only about three years old, and grows like a weed. I cut it way down to the bottom of the plant in early spring (about two months ago) and it is already blooming this well!And here is my first rose of the season, a small old fashioned tree rose that climbs a trellis next to my front window. It blooms all summer long as long as I trim off the old blooms.

Hope you've enjoyed my quick tour!

Well, it's official....

My city is among the nation's rainiest places! I knew we get alot of rain, but according to a study by a San Francisco based company, we rank 24th in the nation. We even beat out Seattle and Portland (41 and 42 respectively) because we don't have a rain shadow to hide in like those two cities.

And get this...we have the MOST rainy days a year. The Most in the whole United States!!! we had 63 rainy days last year. Mobile Alabama came in second with 59. Our normal is between 40 and 80 rainy days.

So, it may not be important to you, but it is to me. It is validating to find out I wasn't imagining it!

Also, another announcement of great importance to myself and my family. Amy Sue is going to have a baby in November! Yep, I get to be a grandma again!!! Woo Hoo! We are all very excited!

No new stitching pictures today. However I would like to direct you to a new blog that I have contributed to, that seems to very popular. Pictures of Freebie designs that have been stitched by lots of people. If you are interested in seeing pictures of freebie designs, please check out The Freebie Gallery.

Spring is finally here in full force!

I spent several hours outside on Saturday pulling weeds and doing a general spruce up in my gardens...boy did I ever feel it on Sunday! I was mighty sore! The weather was fantastic and warm all weekend, but it is back to the rain today. I don't have any great stitching pictures or stories this week, but thought you might enjoy some flower pictures. My Japonica is gorgeous this year, it never has bloomed so fully. The apple trees are in their off year, so they don't have many blossoms at all. The lilacs are doing okay, not fantastic this year. My irises are just now beginning to bud, so it will be next week at the earliest before I can enjoy them.

We are planning on having 5 yards of bark delivered next Saturday morning, so John and I will spend the better part of the day distributing it to all the flower beds. Things should look really nice by next Sunday!!

I have been plugging away on stitching a new design that I have been working on since before we left for Hawaii..I have it all planned out, and it is about 3/4 done, but not getting stitched as quickly as I would like. Seems like there is never enough hours in the day!! I also started the Washington State Heart of America by Victoria Sampler, as I needed something to stitch that I could stitch without too much thinking when I was tired...it's about 1/3 done. I'll post a picture one of these days.

Amy, Lizzie and I took Alana (my granddaughter) to the park yesterday. We went to one of the newer parks in town, and I think everyone in town had the same idea...man, the place was packed. There were too many children on the playground equipment and Alana seemed overwhelmed, so we left and found a small neighborhood park where we were the only ones there. She wasn't too excited about the swings and slide, but she did enjoy running around on the grass! Maybe later this summer it will be more fun for her.

Hope everyone has a great week! I am looking forward to Von's report on her wonderful vacation!

A stitching picture

Here is a picture of the extent of my stitching while on vacation! Not very much really...this is Just Nan's Queen's Heart. I have a tiny bit of back stitching and some beads and the charm to add, and it will then be done. It was a fun one to work on, and is much prettier in person than the picture on the pattern!!!

Considering I usually get very little stitching done on vacation, I was pleased to be able to almost finish this!!

Pictures of Maui

I have finally gotten my pictures downloaded onto my computer and have begun sorting through them. I mostly took movies this trip, so I don't have a lot of REALLY good still photos to share...but here are some highlights...

First picture is myself in front of the Io Needle..a beautiful place, with a grim history. I think I have talked about already that this is the valley where King Kamehameha slaughtered many of the island natives in his quest to become King of all the Hawaiian islands. Sort of a sobering place, but very pretty.


The next picture is of John (my DH) walking in front of a strange lava formation called the Dragon's Teeth. The wind was blowing about 45 miles per hour that day, so we were having a hard time even standing up straight.




The next picture was taken at the top of the 10,000 foot Haleakala volcano. Kind of strange to be able to DRIVE up that high within a matter of 1/2 hour. It was beautiful, above the clouds, and very, very COLD! Our car thermometer registered about 36 degrees at the top. A little bit later at the bottom it was 85 degrees again!!!




I have also posted here a picture taken in the grocery store...notice the gallon of milk for $7.75 (this was the cheapest we saw for milk) and the gallon of orange juice for over $9.00. We saw bread at nearly $5.00 a loaf. I am not quite sure how people who live on Maui manage to feed their kids nutritious foods. It's one thing for the luxuries to be expensive (i.e., ice cream at over $8.00 per half gallon), but quite a shock to see basic necessities be so expensive.

I will close this post with a picture taken at sunset of the beach and condo (far right, first floor) we stayed in. I took a huge amount of photos this trip of the sunsets...all of them were glorious!

I will post a picture of the tiny bit of stitching I accomplished on the trip this evening! I still need to get it scanned...

Aloha, Mahalo Maui

It's almost time to head for home, tomorrow, Wednesday, to be exact. This has been the best trip we have had to the islands, and while we hate to say goodbye to Maui for this year, we are about ready to be back on our turf and sleeping in our beds again. The condo has been ideally situated for lots of playing in the ocean and laying in the sun, and we have taken full advantage of it. That's all we have been doing today, playing in the surf and laying in the sun, and now, drinking iced mochas in the internet cafe!

We saw whales up close, drove to the top of the 10,000 foot volcano, shopped till we were ready to drop and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

I'll have some pictures to post on Thursday evening!

So, Maui, thank you (Mahalo) for the wonderful week. We are already looking forward to coming again next time. Aloha nui loa! (very much love)

Aloha!

Lizzie and I are siting in a nice little internet cafe here on Maui, sipping iced mochas and browsing the web, so thought I would make a quick entry on my blog. I have no way to upload any pictures here, so you will need to be content with just descriptions! Sorry!

We had a great plane flight over. (*Side note, the movie they showed on the plane was called Freedom Writers and it was a great movie. If you have a chance to see it, I would really recommend it. John and I were brought to tears several times and we were bawling openly by the end of the movie). We arrived about 1:00 in the afternoon, and after picking up the rental car, headed for the condo. The weather here in April is perfect...about 85 degrees in the afternoon. Very warm, but not too hot. This has been the best weather of all the times we have been here. October and May were both tooooo hot.

We have an ocean front condo on the first floor of the building, just steps from the pool and sundeck, a few more steps to the beach. We don't have to bother with the elevator which is wonderful, so convenient. The weather is cool enough to enjoy our breakfasts on the deck (lanai) outside, and have been sitting out there alot. The sunsets so far have been gorgeous. We have been watching the whales (with binoculours), and getting tan. A little. We are being careful not to sunburn!!!

Yesterday we spent a couple hours at the Marine Center...a small but very cool place. There is a tunnel through the middle of the large aquarium and the sting rays swim right over the top of you....it's like swimming with them...almost surreal. I took lots of cool movies and pictures! We then spent a hour at the Io Needle park, a lovely place. Today we drove to the top of Haleakala volcano, 10,000 feet high! We were way up above the clouds...it was gloriously beautiful. I will post some pictures when we get home!

Tomorrow morning we are going whale watching in a boat...it promises to be a great adventure, the whales have been very active since we have been here. I am looking forward to it!

We have about done everything we really wanted to do this trip, so now we have several days to relax and enjoy the beach and sunshine. Wish you could all join us here! I'll post more early next week, and post pictures when I get home.

Missing you all!

It's been a busy two weeks!

The last two weeks have been very full and busy. Last weekend my dear friend Von came over from Kennewick (other side of the State), and we had a wonderful time visiting and getting caught up with everything. If you are interested in hearing about the weekend, please see Von's blog...she gave such a great run down of all we did, that I don't need to repeat it all here. I will say though that I had a marvelous time with her, as I always do. Thanks for being such a long time friend and stitching buddy Von! I believe we have been friends for nearly 30 years, as we knew each other before we were married! We were married within a month of each other, had our first baby within 2 months of each other, and now we are enjoying being new grandma's together, tho she beat me in that department by a couple of years!!!

So as you can see by the picture, the saga of the leaking shower continues. I took a picture of the lovely hole in my living room ceiling...John spent alot of time last weekend installing the new parts and it still leaks. He says that's what you get when you use free labor!!! LOL! I am not sure what he plans on doing now.

I am also sharing a picture of Catch the Wind since I framed it. I think it turned out pretty well for a do-it-yourself project. Von asked me if I had put spacers between the fabric and the glass...oops, no! I need to fix that soon!

It's been a great Easter Sunday here...even tho it rained and we had to have the egg hunt indoors for the little ones. They seemed to love it in spite of being inside. My whole family, except one sister, came to my parents home for dinner, and we exchanged birthday gifts for all the winter and spring birthdays in the family (let me tell you, it was like Christmas all over again!), then had the egg hunt. We were all amazed that Alana (17 months) picked up so quickly the jist of the game, and she filled her basket to overflowing with very little help! It was so fun!

I was out nearly every evening and most of the day Saturday this last week shopping for things we needed for our trip to Hawaii. I hope that I have everything under control. We just need to get it all into the suitcases now! We leave very early Wednesday the 11th! Woo hoo! I tried to find some Hawaiian music code to have playing as you read this, but everything I found sounded pretty dorky. My favorite site for music was down today. Oh well. At this point, you can start humming Aloha Oe, Aloha Oe....dum dum dum, etc. Then you can still be in the mood!!! Grin.

Tomorrow, Monday is Amy Sue's 25th birthday. We will have them over for dinner and gifts and cheesecake tomorrow evening. Birthday cakes are becoming a thing of the past in this family...most everyone would rather eat cheesecake!! Tuesday we pack, and then I will be gone for 8 days...I leave you with a picture of the view from our balcony at the condo. You can see the island of Lanai in the distant background. Aloha everyone!!!