Another week of potpourri……. Have fun! …

Another week of potpourri……. Have fun!

1. Do you own a dishwasher (and if not, do you even want one), or do you have to do your dishes by hand? Definitely have a dishwasher. The week our dishwasher died at the condo earlier this year was a very sad week.
2. Do you put your dishes away immediately after washing them? Depends on when we start the load. If it gets started at bedtime, it is often the next day after work that the dishes get put away.
3. In the warm weather, do you like hanging your laundry out on the clothesline to dry, or do you prefer a dryer? With all of the humidity in Northern Virginia, I don’t think anything would ever really get dry if I stuck it outside. Plus, our yard is full of trees…sticky, moist clothes covered in leaves…sounds like fun:)
4. How many loads of laundry are done in your household each week? Two for clothes and one for towels.
5. Do you own a pet? If so, do you buy them presents for holidays? Do you consider your pet(s) spoiled? If you don’t own one, do you think you will one day? We don’t have pets, we have two furry four legged children (plus one who lives with grandma and grandpa in MD) and yes they are extremely spoiled. Not only do they get presents from Allen and I, but both our sets of parents send them holiday gifts as well. They also regularly get baby food for being cute.
6. It’s Friday evening and you’re planning your weekend. What’s on your agenda? Hanging out with my wonderful husband, stitching and lots of relaxing.

We have now entered and alternate universe… I a…

We have now entered and alternate universe…

I am not sure what is going on, but current kitty behavior suggests that something is gravely wrong (not necessarily in a bad way). While both our kitties are friendly and affectionate, Cooper is a big scardy cat and will not sit on the couch with Allen and I for fear of being “flanked”. Zoe on the other hand loves being cuddled and petted, but her general philosophy is “I am comfortable where I am so bring the loving to me”. For some bizarre reason, both cats have been displaying uncharacter behavior this morning.

When the alarm went off this morning, Zoe was right there waiting to sit on my hip meowing furiously for pets. Cooper was in his usual spot curled up with Allen and he didn’t chase Zoe off. This continued for about a half hour (a hundred times longer than Zoe usually spends in bed with us). The craziness continued as Allen and I settled on the couch for our usual Sunday morning routine and a very vocal Zoe hopped up on the couch between us. She settled, purred and drooled all over the couch…Yuck! Now Cooper is laying on the pillow between Allen and I and Zoe is exploring Cooper’s usual spot on the back of the love seat. 2.5 years of structured kittiness has just been turned on its head. What other wierd things will happen today?!?!?!?!

As for stitching, I stitched on KL for three hours yesterday. I am almost half way done. If I can get a good amount of stitching in, I should finish the project by tomorrow or Tuesday. I love seeing the progress percentages increase on the sidebar of the blog and the potential of actually finishing stuff in a reasonable amount of time. Hopefully, we will also get some good work in on the bedroom today. We finished the first stage of spackling yesterday and did a test area of sanding. I think we have figured out the type of sandpaper we need to use. Today we will do some more sanding and maybe do a test spot of priming to see how well it covers all the spackling we had to do. Man I will be glad when that stupid project is done. I guess it was either do it or live with the horrible wallpaper for the next thirty years. I will have to post a picture of the hideousness the previous owner had put up in their master bedroom.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!!!

I am sleepy… …but I plug along anyway. For s…

I am sleepy…

…but I plug along anyway. For some reason sleep has eluded me over the last week. Oh well, it is the weekend and there WILL be lots of sleeping. Tonight, I took WF off the stand after 20 hours of work. I am very pleased with my progress. I have been a cross stitching fiend ever since finishing Maui sunset. Yeah me!!! Here is what I have completed on WF that I put away to play with another day.

After putting away WF, I broke out my kit for Kitty Litter. I worked for another two hours on that project and finished the right half of the border, the words “kitty litter”, paw print, rolls of thread and yarn ball. As my fingers are getting tired, I think I will pull out a book while I wait for Allen to finish his battle on Advanced Wars (he bought a Nintendo DS the other night, because he needs more video games) before going to be. Have a wonderful weekend all!!!

Dinner party …

Today’s questions brought to us by Nicki, who has come up with a ton of fun ideas, this being the first that struck me.

1. Which three authors would you invite to a dinner party (they can be dead)? I would invite Ellis Peters (author of the Brother Cadfael series), JRR Tolkien, and Barbara Tuchman (historian).
2. Why? I was introduced to all three authors by three different people who are very dear to me, my mom, my husband and my friend Donna. Books by all of these authors appeal to my varied interests and always keep my mind working, plus they all have sentimental connections as well.
3. Would they get along? I think all of these authors would get along well as their books emphasize historical context (both real and fictional) and the importance of strong character development.

On the cross stitching front, today will probably be my last night working on WF before moving on to the next project in my rotation, Kitty Litter. I have already stitched for an hour tonight and will probably do another hour if possible. I am a bit disappointed in myself in that last night was the first night in a long time that I didn’t stitch. Instead I played blasted video games with Allen. Oh well. Hopefully I will have a lot of stitching time this weekend along with spackling and sanding in the master bedroom (will we ever get that room done!?!?!?!)

I also ordered new fabric for Celtic Winter which I will start at the next break after the fabric arrives. I am really looking forward to it. I loved stitching Celtic Spring and stitching the project along with several others will make it that much more enjoyable.

Not Much New…. Nothing much has changed on the …

Not Much New….

Nothing much has changed on the cross stitch front. I worked for another 2.5 hours on WF this evening. Allen is very proud of me for doing so much work on this project, especially since it took me so dang long to complete Maui Sunset. I am not sure why it was so hard to motivate myself to work on that one. Oh well. I am about done with my ten hours on WF and next I think I will start on Kitty Litter as my specialty threads for the wedding sampler in my rotation. I have also decided to join the Celtic Ladies SAL that Carol is organizing. I will be stitching Celtic Winter that Allen bought me for my birthday. I finished Celtic Spring last summer, so they will make a nice pair. I am really looking forward to starting it.

Monday Madness Questions 1. When putting groceri…

Monday Madness Questions

1. When putting groceries away, do you rotate your food so your newest items (cans and such) are in the back, and older food in the front? No, I really suck at doing this which is mostly a problem with the fridge. I try and clean it out every week or ten days, but not always on a grocery day.
2. Do you own a digital camera? If so, how long have you had one? If not, do you plan to purchase one soon? Yes, Allen had a digital camera when we started dating in 2001 and we have gotten a new one since that time as well. I love it.
3. How do you store your precious photos? We upload any good pics onto at least one of our computers. Those that are worth making prints of I am working on scrapbooking. I have completed one of our wedding and plan on starting a pets one soon.
4. It’s 6:00 a.m. and you’ve just lost power due to a severe thunderstorm; they say it will probably take at least 12 hours before power will be restored; what do you do? On a workday, I would head off to work and hope there was power there. On a weekend, I would probably find a game to play or light some candles and read.
5. How many times a year do you (or does someone dear to you) wax your automobile? Now that we have a drive way and access to a hose, Allen and I will probably wax our cars five or six times during the year. Allen likes to pamper his cars.
6. Gas prices; what can we say except they’ve reached an all-time high. How are you dealing with this? My car gets good gas mileage, but since I do drive a lot between schools, I am more diligent in recording my work mileage for reimbursement. Otherwise, everything is so close to home (including family) that I don’t do too much driving every week.
7. Have you ever purchased a book or cd twice, forgetting that you already had it? Every once in a while. When we were dating Allen and I would frequently end up each purchasing copies of the same cds. When we moved in together, we found that we had duplicates of many albums.

Back to work… Well, it was back to work today a…

Back to work…

Well, it was back to work today and boy was it hard to get up. Then it was an eight hour training on crisis management in a school setting. It was very depressing. The training leader is on a national crisis team and has responded to many of the school shootings over the last twenty years. It is sad to imagine what those students and staff went through.

On a lighter note, I have worked four more hours on Woodland Fairy. Only six more hours before it is time to switch to my next project (Wedding Sampler I think). I am stitching WF on 28 count tea stained Irish Linen by Charles Craft. I had ordered the Stoney Point Linen that Mirabilia recommended for stitching, but it was a bit slow in arriving. I just couldn’t wait so I grabbed what I had around the house. I think it looks pretty good. Last night I finished the left portion of the branch that WF is sitting on.

Monday Madness Since today is yesterday was my bi…

Monday Madness

Since today is yesterday was my birthday I thought these would be appropriate to post (eventhough it is not really my b-day any more:(

This week’s questions are all about you! Nothing personal; just for fun…

1. On what day of the week were you born?
I am really not sure..I should ask mom.
2. Do you look forward to birthdays?
I really do enjoy birthdays. When I was little, I wished I had a different b-day since my sister and I had birthdays so close together. We frequently had joint parties as children. As an adult, it just makes them that much more special.
3. How do you usually celebrate your birthday?
Between ages 12 and 21, birthdays meant a week at Duck, NC and dinner at the Weeping Radish. As my sister and I have gotten older, it has been harder to get everyone together at the beach, but we always try. We were able to pull it off this year. YEAH!!! Otherwise, just something fun with Allen and the family somewhere around DC.
4. Do you like surprises?
Depends on the surprise…b-day surprises are ok.
5. Has anyone ever thrown you a surprise party?
No, but Allen keeps talking about it. I am thinking he may already be plotting for 30.
6. How many family and friends’ birthdays can you remember right off the top of your head?
About 15.
7. Do you send cards to your family and friends on their birthday?
Family and very close friends
8. What kind of cake do you like?
German Chocolate
9. What kind of ice cream goes best with it?
No ice cream
10. When is your birthday? (You don’t have to share the year with us if you answer this question.) August 20

Yeah for my computer geek husband who figured out …

Yeah for my computer geek husband who figured out what was the problem with my new links. I knew there was a reason why I kept him around:)

Happy Birthday!! Allen did a wonderful job today …

Happy Birthday!!

Allen did a wonderful job today making my 27th birthday pretty darn good. He took me out for a great lunch, helped me wash and wax my car, did the dishes and made me a beautiful cake. He also got me some great cross stitching stuff that I had been wanting. I got a new scroll frame with 20 inch rods, Celtic Winter and Feather Fairy charts. I also got books(an addiction inherited from my mom) from my sister, new work clothes from mom and a hammock from dad. I have such a wonderful family and an amazing husband.

After lunch, we worked together on a new puzzle (Cooper thinks this is a fun hobby), then I spent two hours working on Woodland Fairy. I have now completed 10 hours and it is looking wonderful. I am very proud of the progress I have made. Hopefully tomorrow’s schedule will allow for some more extended stitching time.

As I am typing this Allen has informed me that some of my links to webshots are acting up so I guess I will go and try to fix them. Sometimes computers can be soooo poopy.